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11Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

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Flipkart to Grow With Careful Considerations to Costs: Binny Bansal

Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal said while the latest funding round provides the fuel the company needs to reach its goal of transforming commerce in India through technology, it should continue to grow its business with careful considerations to costs. "I must stress that we still have some distance to go before fulfilling our mission - to transform commerce in India through technology. And, while this funding round provides the fuel we need need to reach that goal, we have to continue growing our business with careful considerations to costs," he said in a mail shot-off to his employees after raising USD 1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings, Microsoft Corp and eBay Inc. "I look forward to your continued support," he added. The announcement comes in the wake of Flipkart, India's la...

Fino Paytech Plans To Launch Its Payments Bank Within Two Months

11Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

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Fino Paytech Plans To Launch Its Payments Bank Within Two Months

Fino Paytech is seeking help from ICICI Bank to set up its payments bank venture and is aiming to launch the new entity within two months, a top official said. "We are aiming to launch payments bank in one-and-a- half to two months. We're taking assistance from ICICI Bank for setting up the bank," chief executive Rishi Gupta told Pixr8. The ICICI Group owns a 20 per cent stake in the bank. Fino, a banking correspondent company which received the final nod from the Reserve Bank last month, needs one more set of internal approvals before launching the operations which include one from the board for operationalising, he said. Apart from the internal nods, integration with payment systems, which will help interoperability for its customers, will take a bulk of time, Gupta sai...

YouTube Channels Will Monetize Only After Reaching 10,000 Views

9Apr By reutersNo Comments

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YouTube Channels Will Monetize Only After Reaching 10,000 Views

Alphabet's YouTube said on Thursday it would place ads on channels only if they reach 10,000 views as it tries to weed out people who make money on the site by stealing content from other sources. The video streaming service also said once a video channel crosses the threshold, it would review the content to see if it qualifies for the placement of ads. "By keeping the threshold to 10k views, we also ensure that there will be minimal impact on our aspiring creators," Ariel Bardin, YouTube's vice president of product management, said in a blog post. YouTube has come under intense scrutiny for ads appearing alongside videos carrying homophobic or anti-Semitic messages, prompting a number of companies to suspend their digital ads on the video streaming service. The company vowed a...

Ola readies big push for electric vehicles in India

9Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

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Ola readies big push for electric vehicles in India

SoftBank-backed Ola will soon launch a pilot to test electric vehicles on its platform in the country. Ola, which is locked in an intense battle in the Indian market with US-based Uber, is expected to roll out its pilot in cities like Nagpur in the coming months. Ola CEO and co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal today said the company will pilot electric vehicles in Indian cities this year, but did not disclose details. "Electric vehicles can transform transportation completely in India by enabling lower cost of operation and ownership," he said. In December, Softbank Group chairman Masayoshi Son had said Ola may introduce one million electric vehicles in India over the next five years. Ola's push comes even as sales of electric vehicles in India has remained sluggish despite government ...

8Apr By AnkitaNo Comments

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Uber Android App Banned in Italy

An Italian court has banned the use of smartphone apps for the ride-hailing group Uber, saying they contribute to traditional taxis facing unfair competition, local media reported. In a ruling that is subject to appeal, a court in Rome yesterday upheld a complaint filed by taxi unions and gave Uber ten days to end the use of various phone applications on Italian territory, along with the promotion and advertising of them. If Uber does not comply it could face a fine of 10,000 euros for each day it remains in defiance of the court. Uber said it was shocked by the ruling and that it would appeal immediately, seeking suspension of the ruling. The court's ruling follows a decision by a court in Milan two years ago to ban the company's UberPop application, which was deemed under Ita...

Google Backed Online Healthcare Startup Practo Lays Off 150 Employees

7Apr By AdityaNo Comments

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Google Backed Online Healthcare Startup Practo Lays Off 150 Employees

Online healthcare platform Practo has laid off around 10% of its workforce amounting to 150 employees as part of its annual performance appraisal and redundancies due to acquisitions. “Yesterday, 150 of our colleagues left the company to pursue opportunities outside. This is a combination of natural redundancies that emerge as we integrate our 5 acquisitions and evolve our businesses, as well as the performance required for the next phase of Practo’s growth,” a company spokesperson said in an email response. In line with the company’s policy, it provides employees with two months pay, employment and outplacement services to help them find their next great opportunity, the statement added. Practo has acquired five firms -- FitHo, Genii, Insta Health Solutions, Qikwell and Enlightik...

It’s War Against Uber, Company Will Be Profitable in 2 Years: Ola CEO

7Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

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It’s War Against Uber, Company Will Be Profitable in 2 Years: Ola CEO

Indian cab aggregator Ola today said the firm is focussing on building a sustainable business and will turn profitable in two years even as it used the analogy of "Vietnam War" to describe competition with its US-based rival Uber. "...this is corporate war and the competition between us and Uber is very intense... the analogy that I gave about India is that this is like Vietnam War. "We are the local guerillas...We have the Americans carpet bombing us but we will go into the nooks and corners of the country and we will find those opportunities in niche areas and in large areas," Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said at a TiE event here. He added that the Bengaluru-based company is focussing on building "more sustainable" and profitable solutions to grow its market share in ...

Paytm Mall Surpasses Rs 100 Crore Sales in Two Wheeler Category

6Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

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Paytm Mall Surpasses Rs 100 Crore Sales in Two Wheeler Category

Paytm today said its e-commerce platform, Paytm Mall, has crossed sales of Rs 100 crore from the two-wheeler category. "Paytm Mall has noted a massive surge in two-wheeler sales over the last year as sales figures crossed Rs 100 crore. The company is currently witnessing over 3X quarter-on-quarter growth in the number of vehicles sold," Paytm said in a statement. Launched in February 2016, Paytm Mall's two-wheeler booking platform includes offerings from brands like Suzuki, Honda, Hero and Yamaha, among others. The company sold 50,000 units in 2016. The aim is to sell over half a million two-wheelers this year, the statement said. "Our goal is to partner with offline stores by helping them grow their business online rather than to cannibalise their sales. We aim to bring brand ...

YouTube Go Now Available in Beta, an ‘Offline-First’ App for India

5Apr By reutersNo Comments

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YouTube Go Now Available in Beta, an ‘Offline-First’ App for India

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Tuesday it would roll out a mobile YouTube application designed for India, boosting the search company's presence in a burgeoning market with spotty Internet access. Since the fall, Google has been conducting extensive tests in India of YouTube Go, which allows users to save videos to watch offline and monitor their data use. A beta version of the app has been released in the Google Play Store in India, and will be released in other emerging markets later, company executives said in an interview. Analysts have been forecasting a surge in video consumption in India since Reliance Jio, the telecom unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, upended the industry last year with cheap data plans that have prodded rivals to lower prices. Silicon Valley has long regarded In...

Under Pressure, India’s Snapdeal Woos Staff With Promises of Profit

5Apr By reutersNo Comments

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Under Pressure, India’s Snapdeal Woos Staff With Promises of Profit

Seeking to calm employees rattled by reports of a cash crunch, the founders of Indian online retailer Snapdeal have gone directly to them with a string of townhall meetings in past weeks, according to sources, promising profit and brushing off takeover talk. The sources, familiar with the group, declined to be named as the meetings were not public. Like most e-commerce players in India, Snapdeal is burning cash to sustain discounts - and keep customers - in a cut-throat online market. But as the number three player, it also is under growing pressure from investors and its own employees to consider its bottom line, as well as market share. One of the sources said there had been at least five townhalls in recent weeks, with founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal delivering motivationa...

Whatsapp Will Launch P2P Payment Service in India

4Apr By reutersNo Comments

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Whatsapp Will Launch P2P Payment Service in India

Instant messaging app WhatsApp, owned by Facebook Inc, is mulling a foray into digital payment services in India, its first such offering globally, and has advertised to hire a digital transactions lead in the country. A WhatsApp move into digital payments in India, its biggest market that is home to 200 million of its billion plus global users, would replicate similar moves by messaging apps like Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat in China. WhatsApp is working to launch person-to-person payments in India in the next six months, news website The Ken reported earlier on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. A job advertisement on WhatsApp's website said it was looking for a candidate with a technical and financial background - who understands India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the ...

Infosys Denied Any Partiality in COO Salary Increment, Released its Statement

4Apr By AdityaNo Comments

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Infosys Denied Any Partiality in COO Salary Increment, Released its Statement

Bangalore – April 3, 2017: Infosys has the responsibility to attract and retain top quality talent to be effective in the transformation journey that the company has embarked upon. In this context, the company undertook a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies. The compensation structure revised thereafter reduces the proportion of cash component in the total compensation and has introduced higher stock incentives (to be vested over a 4-year period); it was rolled out for the entire senior leadership including Mr. Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer. The details were disclosed in the stock exchange filings on October 14, 2016. Mr. Pravin Rao's compensation revision reflects the philosophy of aligning the...