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Times Internet Looks to Join USD 1 Billion Club in next 5 years

8Jan By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

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Times Internet Looks to Join USD 1 Billion Club in next 5 years

Times Internet, the digital product company owned by media conglomerate BCCL, is looking to be a billion dollar firm in the next five years, riding on the back of greater reach and high growth of internet penetration. As part of the strategy, Times Internet will adopt an "aggressive" approach and pursue organic as well as inorganic growth and try to enhance and monetize its reach. "Times Internet would cross Rs 1,000 crore in terms of net revenue during this fiscal and is aiming to become a billion dollar company (revenues) by 2021," Times Internet CEO Gautam Sinha told Pixr8. "Times Internet has a current compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46 per cent and expects to increase it to 51 per cent, going forward." Times Internet, according to him, has evolved itself as the biggest...

14 Billion Messages Sent on WhatsApp in India

8Jan By PriyankaNo Comments

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14 Billion Messages Sent on WhatsApp in India

New Year's eve saw a whopping 14 billion messages being sent on WhatsApp in India as more people opted to send season's greetings through the instant messaging platform than traditional routes like SMS and greeting cards. India is the largest market for the Facebook-owned company, accounting for about 160 million of its over 1 billion users. According to data shared by WhatsApp, 14 billion messages were sent on December 31, 2016 alone, an all-time high from India. With telecom operators charging a premium for SMS on occasions like New Year and Diwali, WhatsApp has been gaining popularity as an alternative as it is available free for users (apart from data charges). The traffic on the last day of 2016 was higher than WhatsApp's last record of 8 billion messages in one day on Diwali ...

First Time Apple Cuts Tim Cook’s Payment

7Jan By NitishNo Comments

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First Time Apple Cuts Tim Cook’s Payment

iPhone maker Apple has cut its CEO Tim Cook's salary by a whopping 15 percent for 2016 as annual sales declined for the year, missing targets that also led to the tech giant's first annual revenue decline in 15 years. The company gave the 56-year-old USD 8.75 million in total compensation last year, down from the USD 10.28 million he received in 2015, according to a Securities and Exchange (SEC) filing released yesterday. Cook's salary rose to USD 3 million from USD 2 million last year, a 50 percent increase, his cash bonus took a hit. Apple awarded Cook and other executives 89.5 percent of their target, instead of the maximum amount like in recent years. Hence, Cook's cash bonus fell to USD 5.4 million in 2016, down from USD 8 million the year before and declining for the firs...

After Raising 25 Crore, Bengaluru Based Eatfresh Shuts Down its Food Delivery Operation

6Jan By NitishNo Comments

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After Raising 25 Crore, Bengaluru Based Eatfresh Shuts Down its Food Delivery Operation

Bengaluru-based EatFresh, a food-tech startup operated by Chennai-based Ubiquitous Foods Pvt Ltd that also runs the bakery chain Ovenfresh, has shut down its retail food delivery services. The company had altogether raised Rs 25 crore from kalaari capital. The online food venture was launched in August 2015 by Rajiv Subramanian, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus and former investment banker with Lehman Brothers, operated a full-stack model and offered Indian and international cuisine in a daily rotating menu at nearly 20 locations in Bengaluru. It used to prepare food at a commissary kitchen and then send the products to 10 distribution hubs. Ovenfresh, a retail bakery chain founded eight years ago caters to 10,000 customers a day across 50 locations in Chennai and Bangalore, according to Su...

Mobikwik Looking to Hire 1000 People From Ahmedabad, Lucknow & Others Cities

6Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

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Mobikwik Looking to Hire 1000 People From Ahmedabad, Lucknow & Others Cities

Digital payments firm MobiKwik said it will invest over Rs 50 crore and hire 1,000 people during this quarter as it looks to expand its footprint across cities like Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Vijayawada among others. Aimed at enabling 150 million users in India to transact on its platform by early 2018, MobiKwik is setting up offices in 13 cities by the end of the first quarter of 2017. "We will be investing over Rs 50 crore in setting up new offices to cater to regional requirements and will be hiring over 1,000 employees, pan India, across technical and non-technical requirements," MobiKwik co-founder Upasana Taku said in a statement. These cities include Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Noida, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Kochi, Jaipur and Chandigarh. "Po...

Samsung Sets up “Smart Class” in 373 Navodaya Schools

5Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

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Samsung Sets up “Smart Class” in 373 Navodaya Schools

Samsung India said today it has set up "smart class" in 373 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in different parts of the country since 2013, allowing more than two lakh students access to easy and digitally interactive learning opportunities. In this period, over 7,400 teachers have been trained on how to use interactive technology to teach, the Korean electronics major said in a statement here. The company has launched the "Samsung Smart Class" programme in collaboration with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, a system of alternate schools under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. Every such smart class is equipped with an interactive Samsung Smartboard, Samsung laptops/tablet, a printer, Wi-Fi connectivity and power backup. Samsung Smart Class supplements regular lessons in ...

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai Thought “Abey Saale” Was Friendly Greeting

5Jan By AdityaNo Comments

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When Google CEO Sundar Pichai Thought “Abey Saale” Was Friendly Greeting

Abey Saale is how Googles tactful and tactical chief executive Sundar Pichai had yelled out to a friend across the mess at his alma mater, IIT- Kharagpur more than two-and-half-decades back thinking its a way of greeting people. Chennai-born Pichai, who returned to his alma mater after 23 years, said his comment led to "temporarily" shutting down of the mess. "I came from Chennai. I learnt Hindi in school but I never spoke it much. So, just listening to how people are speaking, I just thought you address people this way. So one day, there was someone in the mess and I had to call him. I called him Abey Saale," he reminisced to an audience of over 3,000 people. "In the first couple of weeks, I thought you call people that way. Next thing I know is the folks in the mess were quite u...

Gawker Media Pays Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, Inventor Of Email, $750,000 Settlement

5Jan By NitishNo Comments

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Gawker Media Pays Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, Inventor Of Email, $750,000 Settlement

Gawker Media has paid Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai a $750,000 settlement payment and later this month will permanently remove its libelous article about him, which denied Dr. Ayyadurai's invention of email. Victory over Gawker Media "This is a historic victory for truth," declared Dr. Ayyadurai. "Americans have no tolerance for fake news, lies or cyberbullying. A 14-year-old kid working in Newark, New Jersey in 1978 invented email. This settlement honors that innovation." There is no reasonable dispute that Dr. Ayyadurai is the inventor of email. The full press kit contains more than 20 testimonials from leading technology experts and numerous Ph.D.s. The press kit also includes two extensive research papers prepared by well-respected academic university professors and scientists exp...

Sundar Pichai Announced Google Digital Unloack Initiatives For Small, Medium Business

4Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

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Sundar Pichai Announced Google Digital Unloack Initiatives For Small, Medium Business

Technology giant Google today announced a slew of initiatives, including a new app Primer and training modules under its My Business offering, as it looks to further tap the 51-million strong small and medium businesses (SMB) market in India. Making the announcements, Google's India-born CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is working on products for India that can be expanded globally. "When we solve for a place like India, we solve for everyone around the world. That has led us to grow our team here and spend more time and ensure the products are useful for everyone," he said. Google's My Business will help small businesses set up website from their mobile devices and all they need is a smart phone and a few minutes, he said. The company has also launched Digital Unlocked, an educati...

IBM Names Karan Bajwa as Managing Director of India Operations

4Jan By NitishNo Comments

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IBM Names Karan Bajwa as Managing Director of India Operations

IBM today announced the appointment of Karan Bajwa as Managing Director of IBM India Pvt. Ltd, succeeding Vanitha Narayana who is appointed as Chairman of IBM India Pvt. Ltd. These leadership announcements further demonstrate IBM’s commitment in the region. Karan joined IBM in 2016 as Executive for Strategy and Transformation in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to this he was the Managing Director, Microsoft India where, besides leading the India business for the company, he also the led the Cloud Transition and the Ecosystem engagement. Prior to that he has served in various roles in Microsoft and Cisco. Karan is not new to IBM, having worked for five years leading IBM’s networking business and based in Singapore from 2001 - 2005. “I am humbled and excited as I take on this role of...

Paytm Gets RBI Licence For Payments Bank

3Jan By NitishNo Comments

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Paytm Gets RBI Licence For Payments Bank

Today, Reserve Bank of India gave permission to formally launch Paytm Payments Bank. On its blog, Paytm announced this news. However, Airtel is the first company which already start a pilot project of payment bank in Rajasthan. In a statement Paytm said, "At Paytm Payments Bank, our aim is to build a new business model in banking industry, focused on bringing financial services to 100’s of millions of unserved or undeserved Indians." With power of technology and innovation-at-scale, we aim to become a benchmark in world of banking. This is our chance to build something that every Indian can be proud of. No other role or responsibility means as much to me as the privilege of building Paytm Payments Bank, and I intend to take a full-time executive role in the Bank. Earlier today,...

Adventz Group Declined To Acquire Paytm stake, Sunil Munjal Still in Race

3Jan By AdityaNo Comments

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Adventz Group Declined To Acquire Paytm stake, Sunil Munjal Still in Race

Saroj Poddar-controlled Adventz group today said it was approached for buying a minority stake in Paytm, but has decided against it. If the deal were successfully performed then it will reportedly value the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led firm at about USD 5-5.6 billion, an increase from USD 4.8 billion valuations in August 2016. "We were approached by a few merchant bankers for a minority stake in Paytm. But we have decided not to go ahead with it," a top official of the group told Pixr8 today. According to sources, Saroj Poddars son Akshay Poddar was negotiating the deal. Valuation is the key reason for not buying into the leading wallet company, the sources indicated. The deal was offered Rs 50 crore worth secondary stock at Rs 8,000 per share. According to media reports, indust...