Friday, March 29

News

Reliance Group in Partnership With Cisco Launched IoT Services Venture ‘UNLIMIT’
News

Reliance Group in Partnership With Cisco Launched IoT Services Venture ‘UNLIMIT’

Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Group today announced a strategic partnership with Cisco Jasper for the launch of its new venture 'UNLIMIT' to provide Internet of Things (IoT) services to enterprise customers across India. The outlook for IoT services in India is virtually UNLIMITed, with the number of connected devices projected to rise from 200 million today to around 3 billion by 2020, and revenues set to increase from USD 5.6 billion today to USD 15 billion in 2020," Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Group Managing Director, Reliance Group said. IoT, fuelled by machine-to-machine communication, essentially refers to microprocessor and sensor-fitted gadgets or things within a network talking to each other, swapping real-time data and information to perform specific actions. Examples of con...
Accion Venture Lab Completes First Successful Exit in India
News

Accion Venture Lab Completes First Successful Exit in India

Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment vehicle of financial inclusion leader Accion, announced today that it has successfully exited an investment for the first time. Venture Lab has sold its stake in Varthana, a company providing specialized loans and support to affordable private schools in India, promoting access to and the quality of education for India's poor and emerging middle class. Venture Lab led the first institutional investment round in Varthana in May 2013. As of August 2016, with Venture Lab's active support, Varthana has supported more than 2,000 schools, 38,000 teachers, and one million students, and has disbursed more than $35 million to schools that serve lower and middle income Indians. "Varthana has reached great heights as an innovative financial services...
Tata-Mistry Spat Unlikely to Hit TCS Operations: Analysts
News

Tata-Mistry Spat Unlikely to Hit TCS Operations: Analysts

The bitter boardroom battle at Tata Sons is unlikely to impact operations of the USD 100-billion conglomerate's crown jewel TCS, but if its chief N Chandrasekaran is elevated to the top at the group level, it could be a blip on the firm's business, say analysts. "Customers care about delivery and long-term stability, not so much about boorish boardroom behaviours... If Chandrasekaran does assume leadership at the group level, it could well prove to be a short-term loss for TCS," Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst & CEO, Greyhound Research said. Under Chandrasekaran's leadership, Tata Consultancy Services has stood its ground amidst formidable competition from the likes of Infosys, Tech Mahindra, IBM, Accenture, Wipro, HCL among others, he added. Last week, Tata Sons - the majority...
London Woos Indian Startups; Key to Growth, Jobs Post Brexit
News

London Woos Indian Startups; Key to Growth, Jobs Post Brexit

London's technology sector is wooing Indian startups and software firms, which are among the key drivers of growth and jobs for the capital city and the wider UK economy. "India is the second largest investor into London, after the US... Despite concerns over foreign investment inflows after the Brexit referendum, it will continue to be a top investor for us," Rajesh Agrawal, deputy mayor of London for business, told PTI here. Agrawal also chairs London & Partners, the official promotional company for London. The deputy mayor is visiting India on an international trade mission aimed at strengthening tech and trade links between London and India. He revealed that London is home to 39 per cent of the fastest growing Indian companies based in the UK, compared to 25 per cent last year....
Alibaba Rakes Up Record $17.6 Billion on Singles Day Sales
CHINA, News

Alibaba Rakes Up Record $17.6 Billion on Singles Day Sales

Alibaba Group, the e-commerce giant behind the 24-hour Singles' Day shopping blitz, has raked up a record USD 17.6 billion in the Singles Day online sales, creating a new record in global retail sales for any single day. Consumers spent more than 120 billion yuan (USD 17.6 billion) shopping online on leading e-commerce platform Alibaba in their annual buying spree yesterday, sources with Alibaba Group said today. Online transactions totaled 120.748 billion yuan in the 24 hours that ended as the clocks struck 12PM yesterday, a record amount in global retail for any single day, data provided by Alibaba said. The shopping spree hit a climactic high just nine minutes after midnight on Friday morning, with an average 120,000 transactions handled per second on Alipay, Alibaba's mobile pa...
Paytm Introduces Nearby, a Seamless Way to Find Your Nearest Paytm Merchant
News

Paytm Introduces Nearby, a Seamless Way to Find Your Nearest Paytm Merchant

As part of its ongoing mission of helping India go cashless, Paytm, India’s largest mobile payments and commerce platform, today introduced the ‘Nearby’ feature on its platform. This will enable Paytm customers to get information about their nearest Paytm merchant. Paytm ‘Nearby’ will carry a directory of 800,000 of offline merchants and partners across India. In the first phase, this list is 200,000+ & will continue to grow everyday. Customers on their Paytm app or web can now browse through a list of shops & locations near them that offer services like accepting adding cash to e-wallet & upgrading accounts by doing KYC. This not only provides convenience to customers but also provides visibility to thousands of small and medium merchants by connecting them to millions of ...
E-commerce Giant Amazon’s Cash on Delivery Orders Back on Track
News

E-commerce Giant Amazon’s Cash on Delivery Orders Back on Track

E-commerce giant Amazon today said it has resumed cash on delivery (CoD) service for customers, two days after it had halted the option following the government's move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Apart from cash, Amazon India will allow customers to pay using credit and debit cards at the time of delivery of the order. "As of November 11, we are re-introducing CoD to enable options to pay at the time of delivery. This accommodates customers who face challenges of paying online, but are still able to use electronic instruments at delivery," an Amazon India spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the delivery agents have been trained to help customers who opt for card payments at the time of order delivery or valid currency notes, including the newly introduced Rs...
Jabong Records 50% Growth in Net Revenues, 40% Increase in App installation
News

Jabong Records 50% Growth in Net Revenues, 40% Increase in App installation

Fashion e-tailer Jabong said it saw 50 percent revenue growth month-on-month in October, closing the month with positive unit economics for the first time in its history. The Myntra-owned company achieved a positive gross profit for the first time ever, propelled by revenue growth and fulfillment cost reduction, Jabong said in a statement. However, the company did not specify the gross profit made or the total revenues for October. "Jabong has closed October with the first ever positive unit economics month, becoming only the second online e-commerce company in India to do so after Myntra," it added. Jabong said the growth was accompanied by a surge in customer net promoter score (NPS) -- a measurement of customer satisfaction -- to 50 percent. The company held its sale in October...
Paytm Hire 10,000 Paytm Agents to Expand Offline Payments Network
News

Paytm Hire 10,000 Paytm Agents to Expand Offline Payments Network

Largest mobile payments and commerce platform Paytm is looking to hire over 10,000 Paytm agents as it seeks to aggressively expand its offline merchant network to over 20 lakh touch-points by the end of the current fiscal year. Paytm's cashless payments are widely accepted across India owing to the ease, convenience and safety they offer. Thanks to the country's overwhelming response to Paytm, it is setting bolder targets to acquire more offline merchants in the coming months. "As millions of consumers across India have taken to using their Paytm Wallets to transact offline, our biggest opportunity is to be available in every town and city in the country. We want to reach there faster, are looking to further strengthen our on-boarding teams as we continue to build India's biggest...
Shoppers Stop Eyes 2 Million Online Users, 15% Online Sales By 2020
News

Shoppers Stop Eyes 2 Million Online Users, 15% Online Sales By 2020

Fashion retailer Shoppers Stop is looking at doubling its mobile application downloads to 2 million and 15 per cent sales through its digital touch points by 2020, a senior executive said. "We are following a four-pronged strategy to grow our business by enhancing the customer experience, offering a wider assortment, leveraging technology and focusing on innovation to meet our 2020 target of 15 per cent sales through digital touch points," Shoppers Stop Customer Care Associate and MD Govind Shrikhande told reporters here. "Our mobile application, launched six months back, presently has over 9 lakh downloads and we are looking to double that by 2020," he added. The retail company, which is celebrating its 25th year, presently offers 60 per cent of its products online and plans t...
Ecommerce Firms Paytm & Amazon Temporarily Halting COD Orders, Issue Advisories
News

Ecommerce Firms Paytm & Amazon Temporarily Halting COD Orders, Issue Advisories

Ecommerce companies are struggling to handle cash on delivery (COD) orders, following the government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, with firms like Amazon and Paytm temporarily halting the facility for customers. Some companies like Uber and BigBasket have issued advisories urging customers to pay in lower denominations, while others like Flipkart and Snapdeal have set limits to the value of orders that can be delivered through COD. According to industry estimates, about 70 per cent of the shoppers opt for cash while buying a product. "We have temporarily stopped cash as a payment option for new orders. Customers who had already placed COD orders before midnight 8/11 can pay for their orders using debit or credit cards or currency of valid denominations ...
Tata Motors Shuts Down Loss Making Small Car Tata Nano Production
News

Tata Motors Shuts Down Loss Making Small Car Tata Nano Production

Days after ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry blamed Nano for bleeding Tata Motors, the company today said it has significantly written off development cost and investments related to the car and is now refocusing its strategy on "growing and attractive segments" of the passenger vehicles market. The company, however, refuted Mistry's allegations that another reason for it not shutting down the Nano, besides emotional reasons, was the supply of gliders to an electric car maker in which Ratan Tata has a stake. "... due to combination of several factors including project delays, due to change in location of the factory and the perception of being a low-priced car, the volumes initially anticipated did not materialise and utilisation of capacities are significantly lower," Tata Motors ...