The Gujarat government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with big tech major IBM to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) cluster at the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City. 

In a statement, IBM said that the cluster will leverage the tech giant’s GenAI platform watsonx to foster innovation and collaboration among financial institutions at the City. 

As part of the pact, IBM will also offer financial institutions assistance in providing proof of concept and access to AI Sandbox, AI literacy programmes, and digital assistant solutions. 

In essence, the US-based tech juggernaut will offer cloud-based platforms to enable financial institutions to fine-tune large language AI models (LLMs) in a sandbox environment. Meanwhile, the potential digital assistant solutions will facilitate the deployment of these customised LLMs for financial institutions.

In addition, IBM will also develop a curriculum centred on AI for schools and universities across the state. Under the partnership, IBM will also offer certification programmes for professionals in Gujarat to upskill them in the emerging technology. IBM said that the initiative is part of its larger plan to train 30 Mn people globally by 2030 and 2 Mn learners in AI by the end of 2026.

“This MoU with IBM will help Gujarat to lead the country in efforts to adopt AI and drive digital transformation,” said Gujarat chief minister Bhupendrabhai Patel.

Commenting on the announcement, IBM India and South Asia managing director Sandip Patel added, “This collaboration is a significant step in our continued association with the Government of Gujarat to accelerate the digital transformation of the state. By establishing this AI cluster, our aim is to make the latest AI solutions easily accessible to the vibrant and growing number of financial institutions in GIFT City”.

The slew of initiatives are expected to give a major fillip to GIFT City by deploying GenAI. The development came on the same day as Nifty IX said that GIFT Nifty recorded its highest ever monthly turnover of 21.23 lakh contracts worth INR 7.97 Lakh Cr ($95.55 Bn) during the month of June.

This comes at a time when the Indian financial services and fintech sector is rapidly adopting the technology to improve customer service, efficiency, and reduce costs.

Vatsal Kanakiya, CTO at 100X.VC, recently told Inc42 that GenAI could see use cases in digitising and automating multiple redundant manual business processes within the sector. But, these company-specific LLMs are difficult to build from scratch. 

As a result, a slew of new Indian startups have emerged with offerings focussed on the sector including names such as Gnani.ai, Slang Labs, Vitrai.AI, and Alltius. As a result, the booming Indian GenAI space is witnessing healthy interest from investors. 

As per Inc42, homegrown GenAI startups have raised more than $600 Mn between 2019 and 2023. And the number is only expected to go up. 

The GenAI push also comes at a time when the Centre has rapidly ramped up its focus on promoting GIFT City as a global financial hub and a virtual offshore destination for startups and investors. 

As a result, both global and domestic investors are making a beeline for the much touted City. Earlier this month, Chennai-based VC firm Unifi Capital launched two new funds at IFSCA while the union government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also inked a $23 Mn loan agreement to spur research and innovation in the fintech space at the City in March. 

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Telecom operator Reliance Jio will hike the tariffs for its prepaid and postpaid plans by 12% to 25% from July 3. 

While the cost of its lowest plan of INR 155 has been increased by 21% to INR 189, the INR 239 recharge will now be available at INR 299. 

Besides, the company also announced the launch of its new “unlimited” plans and increased the tariffs of its data packs. However, the price hike will not be applicable to JioBharat and JioPhone users. 

In a statement, Jio said that the “introduction of new plans” will enable it to drive sustainable growth and invest more in 5G and artificial intelligence (AI).

Commenting on the price hike, Reliance Jio Infocomm chairman Akash Ambani said, “The introduction of new plans is a step in the direction of furthering industry innovation and driving sustainable growth through investments in 5G and AI technology. Ubiquitous, high-quality, affordable internet is the backbone of Digital India and Jio takes pride in contributing to this. Jio will always put our country and customer first and will continue to invest for India.”

Meanwhile, the company has limited free 5G usage to high-end data packs. Jio said that unlimited 5G data will now only be available on packs that offer at least 2GB data per day. 

The price hike is expected to further shore up the telecom operator’s topline and improve its average revenue per user (ARPU). Additionally, the higher revenue inflow could also help the company bolster its play as its expenses continue to rise on account of 5G rollout and deployment of technologies such as AI. 

Meanwhile, Jio also announced the launch of two new apps – JioSafe and JioTranslate.

JioSafe is a “quantum-secure communication” app that will offer services such as calling, messaging and file transfers, and will be available for INR 199 a month. On the other hand, JioTranslate is an AI-powered app that will allow users to translate voice call, voice message, text and image. This offering will be priced at INR 99 per month.

However, both the apps will be accessible for free for Jio users for a year, the company said. 

Giving an update on its 5G rollout, Jio claimed that the telco accounted for 85% of the total 5G cells operationalised in India.

The development comes at a time when Jio has been witnessing net subscriber additions to its total user base for more than a year now. As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, Jio was the sole telecom operator in the country which saw widening of its subscriber base in April 2024. 

At the end of April 2024, Jio’s total active user base stood at 43.34 Cr and it accounted for a 40.48% market share of the country’s total wireless market. 

Jio’s parent Jio Platforms reported a 12% YoY increase in consolidated net profit to INR 5,583 Cr in Q4 FY24, while operating revenue jumped 13.4% YoY to INR 28,871 Cr during the quarter under review. 

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Infosys CEO Salil Parekh has settled charges of insider trading violations with the Securities and Exchange Board of India by agreeing to pay a fine of INR 25 Lakh (around $30,000).

The High Powered Advisory Committee (HPAC) recommended the settlement, which was accepted by SEBI’s Panel of Whole Time Members on May 21, 2024. The payment was made on June 7, and SEBI confirmed receipt of the amount, as per the markets regulator.

Reuters reported the development first.

The case stems from SEBI’s probe which found that Infosys violated provisions of the SEBI Act and Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations, 2015, between June 29, 2020, and September 27, 2021.

The investigation found that Infosys had not appropriately classified certain information as Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI).

As CEO and MD, Parekh was responsible for implementing effective systems of internal control to ensure compliance and prevent insider trading. The settlement does not imply an admission of guilt, as Parekh proposed to settle the proceedings without admitting or denying the charges.

The insider trading case is linked to Infosys’ partnership with Vanguard in 2020. SEBI’s investigation revealed that Infosys had recognised the strategic importance of this partnership for its business expansion and revenue growth. The information regarding the partnership was deemed UPSI under the PIT Regulations, 2015.

This comes at a time when SEBI is set to vote on new regulations for unregistered financial influencers (“finfluencers”) at its board meeting today. The proposed rules aim to curb unregistered finfluencers’ revenue models, prohibit SEBI-regulated entities from engaging with them, and require registered finfluencers to display credentials. 

Meanwhile, Infosys continues to make strides in artificial intelligence. At the company’s 43rd annual general meeting on June 26, Chairman Nandan Nilekani announced that Infosys is working on 225 generative AI programs for its clients and has trained over 2.5 lakh employees in GenAI technologies. 

The company has also filed more than 46 AI patents and 70 AI client advocacies in FY24, positioning itself at the forefront of the AI revolution in the enterprise space.

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Infosys cofounder and chairman Nandan Nilekani said that the IT major is working on 225 generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) programs for its clients. 

In his address to the shareholders at the company’s 43rd annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday (June 26), Nikelani also said that the IT juggernaut has so far trained more than 2.5 Lakh employees in GenAI technologies. 

“Infosys is one of the largest adopters of GitHub Copilot globally. Our employees have already generated over 3 Mn lines of code using generative AI large language models,” Nilekani added. 

The software company also said that it filed more than 46 AI patents and 70 AI client advocacies in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). 

Noting that the GenAI “revolution” is still in its nascent stages, Nilekani said that enterprise AI will take several years to unfold, unlike consumer-focussed AI space. 

The Infosys chairman’s comments come at a time when GenAI mania has gripped the world. Ever since OpenAI debuted its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, in late 2022, the emerging technology has seen rapid adoption. India too is racing to catch the bus. 

Be it the country’s first unicorn Krutrim or Sarvam AI, the homegrown GenAI landscape has made rapid strides in the past one year with the emergence of use cases in areas such as customer support, fintech, among others. 

As a result, investors are lining up to invest in startups leveraging the emerging technology. As per an Inc42 report, Indian GenAI startups raised more than $600 Mn between 2019 and 2023. Inc42 also estimates the homegrown GenAI market to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030. 

Besides, the Centre has also earmarked INR 10,372 Cr for its India AI Mission. A recent Deloitte report said that India is at the top among 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region in terms of GenAI use and adoption.

Additionally, Infosys competitor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also unveiled a new platform recently to aggregate multiple GenAI services and LLM models under a single umbrella to enable businesses to adopt GenAI at scale. 

However, some issues still remain. There are issues about upskilling the country’s talent pool in the emerging technology and regulatory bottlenecks. The technology has also spawned issues such as misuse, deepfakes and misinformation. 

As a result, the government has been looking to crack the whip on the misuse of GenAI. Earlier this year, it issued an advisory that directed platforms to label undertrial AI models and ensure that no unlawful content is hosted on their sites. The move was met with criticism from industry stakeholders, including founders and industry bodies, following which the advisory was withdrawn. 

Many including SaaS unicorn Zoho cofounder and boss Sridhar Vembu have even termed GenAI catastrophic, saying that adopting new technologies without appropriate safeguards could cause unprecedented disruption of the existing social order and could lead to job losses. 

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Shares of C.E. Info Systems, the parent company of MapmyIndia, plunged over 6% during Wednesday’s (June 26) trading session as promoter and founder Rakesh Verma intends to sell 5 Lakh shares of the company in a block deal.

MapmyIndia shares touched a low of INR 2,271 during the early trading hours on Wednesday, as compared to INR 2,416.10 at its previous close. The shares were trading at INR 2,297.95 at 11:40 AM IST.

After reports emerged on Tuesday that Verma was selling 5 Lakh shares, MapmyIndia confirmed the development in an exchange filing today.

“…the Company has received an intimation from Mr. Rakesh Kumar Verma, Chairman and Managing Director of the Company, for an intention to sell up to 5,00,000 equity shares via bulk or block deals on the stock exchanges, which is less than 1% of paid-up capital of the company,” read the disclosure.

“Mr. Rakesh Verma has been doing philanthropy and investing in startup companies as per his passion and commitment to an Aatmanirbhar, Sarvottam Bharat. To continue to do so, this is the first time he is providing liquidity since IPO. On a post-sale basis, the Promoter Group will continue to have 51.9% stake in C.E. Info Systems Limited,” it added.

Around 6.1 Lakh shares, equivalent to 1.1% equity worth INR 142.6 Cr, of CE Info Systems were traded at INR 2,332 per share today.

As per a CNBC report,  Verma said that the promoters have no intention of selling any further shares in the company.

As per the BSE data, Verma held almost 2.32 Cr shares of MapmyIndia, or a 42.84% stake in the company, as of the quarter ended March 2024. Promoters together held a majority 52.91% stake in the company.

On June 21, shares of MapmyIndia touched an all-time high at INR 2,745.05 after Goldman Sachs projected a 40% upside to its share price from the INR 2,000 level.

The brokerage, in its initiation note, also rated the stock with ‘buy’.

Goldman Sachs believes that the company will benefit from an early-leadership position in fast-growth end-markets, including automotive navigation, mapping devices, connected vehicles, telematics and government digitisation.

MapmyIndia’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) surged by 35% in the March quarter of FY24 to INR 38.2 Cr, from INR 28.3 Cr it had posted in the same period a year ago. On a quarterly basis, the startup’s net profit surged by 23.2%, as compared to INR 31.04 Cr it had posted in the December quarter.

The startup’s operating revenue increased to INR 106.9 Cr in Q4 FY24, a 47.5% higher than INR 72.4 Cr in Q4 FY23. On a quarterly basis, its operating revenue increased by 16%, from INR 92 Cr in the previous quarter.

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Geotech company MapmyIndia’s promoter and founder Rakesh Verma is reportedly selling 5 Lakh shares of the company through a block deal.

As per a CNBC-Awaaz report, the floor price of the deal is set at INR 2,293.2 per equity share, which implies a 5% discount to the stock’s last closing price of INR 2,416.1 on the BSE on Tuesday (June 25).

JM Financial is likely the broker for the block deal.

As per the BSE data, Verma held almost 2.32 Cr shares of MapmyIndia, or a 42.84% stake in the company, as of the quarter ended March 2024.

Promoters together hold a majority 52.91% stake in the company.

It is pertinent to note that the stock has been surging since last week. On June 21, shares of MapmyIndia touched an all-time high at INR 2,745.05 after Goldman Sachs projected a 40% upside to its share price from the INR 2,000 level.

The brokerage, in its initiation note, also rated the stock with ‘buy’.

Goldman Sachs believes that the company will benefit from an early-leadership position in fast-growth end-markets, including automotive navigation, mapping devices, connected vehicles, telematics, and government digitisation.

From pickup in navigation systems attach rates from the EV growth tailwinds in India and use of drone technology from Indrones investment to enrich maps and DaaS business to the contribution from the integration of KOGO’s platform with its Mappls App, the brokerage sees multiple growth levers for the company.

MapmyIndia shares have gained over 24% year to date. 

Meanwhile, earlier this week, MapmyIndia founders Rakesh Verma and Rashmi Verma announced the launch of a new AI venture ClarityX, in partnership with MapmyIndia, to offer insights and real-time data to enterprises for making efficient decisions.

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Geotech startup MapmyIndia’s founders Rakesh Verma and Rashmi Verma have rolled out a new AI venture to offer insights and real-time data to enterprises for making efficient decisions.

The AI driven data and consulting platform ClarityX, in partnership with MapmyIndia, will help enterprise consumers in identifying newer markets and expansion opportunities, optimise costs and resources as well as to reduce risks and frauds, according to a statement.

It is pertinent to note that the new platform is also cofounded by Rakhi Prasad, who is currently serving as the non executive director at MapmyIndia.

“MapmyIndia’s geospatial data with multi-dimensional static and real-time data and extract sophisticated AI driven insights enable ClarityX to go to customers faster with solutions that are concise and accurate. And clarity thus obtained enables businesses to multiply their bottom lines by growing revenues, optimising costs and  reducing risks. The ‘X’ factor, in ClarityX solutions,” said Prasad.

ClarityX claims to offer a “full stack solution” with its own proprietary indices, customisable AI-based analytical models and consultancy solutions. The product line includes district potential index, rural potential index ,sales projection model, risk assessment model, origin-destination analysis, category trend analysis and catchment analysis.

Incorporated a few months earlier to its launch, ClarityX claims to have assisted undisclosed companies with strategic analysis of locations for their expansion.

This comes at a time when Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the stock of MapmyIndia with a ‘buy’ rating followed by its stock hitting an all-time high of INR 2,745.05 during the intraday trading on the BSE on Friday (June 21).

Founded in 1995, MapmyIndia provides digital map data and GPS-based IoT (Internet of Things) devices for personal navigation, location based SaaS for enterprises.

MapmyIndia’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) surged by 35% for the March quarter to INR 38.2 Cr, from INR 28.3 Cr for Q4 last year. On a quarterly basis, its net profit surged by 23.2% as compared to INR 31.04 Cr it posted in the December quarter.

The development comes at a time when AI-based data solutions are rapidly being adapted for efficient research.

For instance, US-based tech giant Oracle is reportedly planning to increase its investments in India on AI and data.

It has also unveiled the Oracle Database 23ai, featuring Oracle AI Vector Search which allows users to search for documents, images and private business data across Oracle databases in real-time by leveraging AI algorithms.

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A day after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the stock with a ‘buy’ rating, shares of geotech startup MapmyIndia reached an all-time high of INR 2,745.05 during the intraday trading on the BSE on Friday (June 21).

The company’s shares opened today at INR 2,547, marking a more than 6% increase from the previous close, before hitting the new peak.

Goldman Sachs initiated its coverage of MapmyIndia with a price target of INR 2,800. Following this, the stock jumped 20% and touched its upper circuit at INR 2,401.9 on the BSE on Thursday.

In its report, Goldman Sachs highlighted MapmyIndia’s advantageous early market position in high-growth sectors such as automotive navigation, mapping devices, connected vehicles, telematics, and government digitisation. 

The brokerage forecasts a revenue CAGR of 38% in the FY24-FY27 period, with a steady EBITDA margin in the 38% to 41% range.

MapmyIndia is a deeptech company focused on maps, navigation, tracking, analytics, GIS, GPS, IoT, and location technologies.

It offers its proprietary digital maps as a service, software as a service, and platform as a service, including its advanced digital map data, software products, platforms, application programming interfaces, IoT and solutions to new-age tech companies, large businesses, automotive OEMs, government organisations, developers and consumers.

MapmyIndia divides its revenue into two market categories – automotive and mobility technology (A&M) and consumer technology and enterprise digital transformation (C&E). The revenue of the C&E segment grew 49% year-on-year to INR 194 crore in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), while A&M revenue increased 23% to INR 186 Cr.

During the FY24 earnings announcement, MapmyIndia highlighted that over 2.5 Mn new vehicles, spanning four-wheelers, two-wheelers, and commercial vehicles in both traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric vehicle (EV) segments, integrated MapmyIndia Mappls — a 32% increase from the previous year.

Overall, MapmyIndia’s operating revenue stood at INR 379.4 Cr in FY24, an increase of 35% YoY. Its profit after tax rose 25% YoY to INR 134.3 Cr in the last fiscal.

Shares of MapmyIndia shed some of the gains after reaching the all-time high and were trading 5.2% higher at INR 2,526.60 on the BSE at 11:25 AM.

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Shares of geotech startup MapmyIndia jumped 20% to touch the upper circuit at INR 2,401.9 during the intraday trading on the BSE on Thursday (June 20) after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the stock with a ‘buy’ rating.

The international brokerage set a price target of INR 2,800 on the stock, which implies an upside of almost 40% to MapmyIndia’s close at INR 2,001.6 on Wednesday. 

Goldman Sachs said the startup is well-poised to benefit from an early leadership position in fast-growth end-markets, including automotive navigation, mapping devices, connected vehicles, telematics, and government digitisation.

The brokerage believes that MapmyIndia’s core profit pool lies in its IP-protected digital mapping service built over more than three decades and overlaid with valuable data such as demographics, law and order, natural resources, infrastructure, and other insights. It forecasts a revenue CAGR of 38% in the FY24-FY27 period, with a steady EBITDA margin in the 38% to 41% range. 

MapmyIndia divides its market-wise revenue into two categories – automotive and mobility tech business (A&M) and consumer tech and enterprise digital transformation (C&E). Its C&E revenue grew 49% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 194 Cr in FY24, while A&M revenue rose 23% to INR 186 Cr.

The startup said during its FY24 earnings that over 2.5 Mn new vehicles, including four-wheelers, two-wheelers and CVs, across ICE and EV segments, had built-in MapmyIndia Mappls in FY24, up 32% YoY.

On the other hand, MapmyIndia divides its product-wise revenue into two segments – map and data and platform and IoT. In FY24, its map and data revenue grew 23% YoY to INR 138 Cr and platform and IoT revenue jumped 42% to INR 241 Cr.

“We expect the company to maintain high margins driven by a pickup in loT-led business growth (offers more revenue opportunity for high-margin mapping), supported by newer opportunities in people/goods mobility and the auto aftermarket versus the legacy auto OEM business,” said Goldman Sachs in its research report.

“We offer incremental perspective on Mapmyindia’s loT margin potential and contrast how profitability evolved at similar hardware led businesses at peers like Trimble, and assess growth optionality from rising SUV + EV penetration,” the brokerage added.

MapmyIndia’s operating revenue stood at INR 379.4 Cr in FY24, witnessing a 35% YoY jump. Its profit after tax increased 25% YoY to INR 134.3 Cr in the last fiscal.

Shares of MapmyIndia were locked at the 20% upper circuit on the BSE today and ended the day’s trading at INR 2,401.9.

The stock is currently trading 23.5% higher year to date.

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Venture capital firm Celesta Capital on Tuesday (June 18) offloaded 3.57 Lakh shares of drone manufacturer ideaForge in a block deal for INR 27.46 Cr. 

As per NSE data, the VC firm sold 3,57,600 shares at INR 768.08 apiece. Shares of ideaForge ended Tuesday’s session 6.7% higher at INR 830.85 on the BSE. 

In addition, the drone manufacturer also saw investors such as Aakraya Research, QE Securities, NK Securities, among others, execute bulk deals worth INR 136.3 Cr. 

The shares that flooded the market were lapped up by Graviton Research, QE Securities, HRTI Private Limited, among others. 

Founded in 2007 by Ankit Mehta, Ashish Bhat, Rahul Singh, and Vipul Joshi, ideaForge is a drone manufacturing startup that makes UAV systems for inspection, surveillance and mapping. 

The startup listed on the bourses in June 2023. Its IPO comprised a fresh issue of shares worth INR 240 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of 48.7 Lakh shares.

The bulk deals come a month after the drone maker reported its financial numbers. The startup’s net profit declined 30% sequentially to INR 10.3 Cr in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). It had reported a net loss of INR 5.4 Cr in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, operating revenue jumped 12.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to INR 102.3 Cr in the period under review. 

Last week, the startup also expanded the pool size of its employee stock option plan (ESOP) by allocating 1,678 ESOPs to its employees.

The bulk deals also come at a time when a number of listed Indian new-age tech companies are seeing such deals. Last week, UK-based hedge fund Marshall Wace offloaded 5.85 Lakh shares of fintech major Paytm in an INR 25.08 Cr deal. 

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs and Marshall Wace together offloaded Paytm shares worth INR 208.35 Cr in multiple block deals. 

Earlier this month, Fireside Ventures and Sofina also sold their stakes in D2C unicorn Mamaearth in multiple block deals worth nearly INR 291 Cr. In May, insurtech major PB Fintech’s chairman and CEO Yashish Dahiya and vice chairman Alok Bansal together sold 83.7 Lakh shares in the company via open market transactions for INR 1,109 Cr. 

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Reliance Jio’s gaming platform, JioGames, has roped in former chief executive officer of NODWIN Gaming Sidharth Kedia as its head.

Kedia, who quit Nazara-backed NODWIN Gaming last October, has joined JioGames as senior vice president and head in June.

This is Kedia’s second stint with Reliance group. Earlier, he worked with its media divisions, Viacom18 and Network18 in different roles, from 2015-19.

“In 2015, I had joined RIL’s media business. Jio was in it’s final stages of development. In December of 2015, I was called upon by the chairman’s office to run the PMO for Jio ‘friends and family’ launch. Now that I look back, I swell with pride to have been part of such a momentous initiative,” Kedia wrote on Linkedln.

“A decade later, I feel pretty stoked to be called back in the RIL family and be entrusted with the opportunity to scale Jiogames and build a gaming behemoth that India awaits,” he added.

It is pertinent to note that he joined NODWIN Gaming in 2019 after his Reliance’s first stint, while listed gaming giant Nazara acquired majority stake in the former in 2018. During his stint, NODWIN Gaming grew to be one of the leading esports companies in the country, with diversification in multiple genres beyond mere tournaments.

The appointment indicates that JioGames might now aggressively push its new efforts in the market. The gaming division of Mukesh Ambani’s Jio plans to target both gamers, and game developers.

Last year, Jio inked a 10-year strategic partnership with French firm Gamestream, whose partners include Ubisoft. The French firm offers clients white-labeling cloud gaming solutions, . Jio said the partnership will help it scale its cloud gaming platform JioGamesCloud.

JioGamesCloud is a cloud gaming platform offering a vast catalogue of games, from AAA titles to hyper-casual games catering to various genres, categories, and age groups, the official website says. With JioGamesCloud, users can simply connect to the internet and enjoy a seamless gaming experience on PC, mobile, TV, and web browsers.

As per a Lumikai report, India’s gaming market is expected to hit $3.1 Bn in FY23 and is projected to reach $7.5 Bn by FY28. India continued to be the second-largest gaming market with 15.4 Bn game downloads in FY23, following China.

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Drone maker ideaForge has expanded the pool size of its employee stock option plan (ESOP) by allocating 1,678 equity shares to its employees.

“We wish to inform you that the executive committee of the board of the ideaForge Technology Limited (Company) on June 14, 2024, has approved the allotment of 1,678 equity shares having a face value of INR 10/- each towards the exercise of vested stock options under the ideaForge Employees Stock Option Scheme, 2018,” the company said in an exchange filing.

However, it didn’t reveal the number of employees who will benefit from this plan. 

With this allotment, the total number of shares issued increased from 4,28,88,323 to 4,28,90,000.

As per the stock’s closing price on Friday (June 14), the newly allotted shares are worth INR 13 lakh.

This comes at a time when several listed startups in the likes of Nykaa, DeHaat, Delhivery, Meesho, Paytm and Policybazar among others, have issued their ESOPs. 

ideaForge posted more than a 30% decline in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to INR 10.3 Cr in the March quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 14.8 Cr in the December quarter, partially hurt by a sharp jump in spending towards inventories and employee benefits.

The startup had posted a net loss of INR 5.4 Cr in Q4 FY23.

Its operating revenue saw a 12.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase to INR 102.3 Cr in the reported quarter. This was also an over 164% jump from INR 38.7 Cr operating revenue reported in Q4 FY23.

Founded in 2007 by Ankit Mehta, Ashish Bhat, Rahul Singh, Vipul Joshi, ideaForge is a drone manufacturing startup that makes UAV systems for inspection, surveillance and mapping. Its offering has utility in sectors such as defence, homeland security, mining, construction, agriculture, energy and utilities.

The startup was listed in June last year with a premium of 94% to its IPO price. Its IPO comprised an offer for sale (OFS) component of 48.7 Lakh shares and a fresh issue of shares worth INR 240 Cr. 

Meanwhile, spacetech sector is among the most burgeoning sectors in India with as many as 100 spacetech startups getting registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last year. On the investment front, the sector garnered $233 Mn in funding across 30+ deals between 2014 and July 2023. 

According to Inc42’s Indian Spacetech Startup Landscape & Market Opportunity Report 2023, the spacetech sector is estimated to reach a market size of $77 Bn by 2030.

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Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms has taken a step ahead in the satellite internet race as the company’s joint venture with Luxembourg-based SES to provide gigabit fibre internet has reportedly won approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites there.

As per a Reuters report, the approvals were issued to Orbit Connect India, which aims to provide satellite-based high-speed internet access. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) reportedly granted the authorisations in April and June. 

It would allow Orbit Connect to operate satellites above India. However, further approvals are still needed from the Department of telecoms to begin operations.

The development comes at a time when tech majors including Amazon and Elon Musk’s Starlink have been waiting for the go-ahead to launch their satellite communication services in India.

IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka informed the news agency that Inmarsat, another company aiming to provide high-speed satellite-based internet, has also received the approval to operate satellites over India.

“Comparatively low pricing of communication services in India will compel global players to drive innovation to reduce their pricing,” Goenka was quoted as saying. 

He also informed the news agency that IN-SPACe would soon authorise private companies to operate ground stations, which would enable satellite operators to download data as they pass over India.

It is to be noted that Bharti Enterprises’ OneWeb received all the approvals late last year to offer satellite-based internet services.

Meanwhile, India has been pushing to grow the country’s space industry significantly over the last few years. The Indian government this year also fulfilled a long-standing demand of the industry by liberalising the FDI regime for the sector, which would now allow up to 100% FDI via the automatic route for certain sub-segments in the space sector.

Goenka informed the news agency that following FDI liberalisation, investors’ interest has increased significantly in India’s space sector.

“Last year investments into private companies were $2 Mn-$7 Mn. This year they are talking $20 Mn-$30 Mn,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, as per a last year’s report by Deloitte, India’s satellite broadband service market is expected to grow 36% per year over the next five years to reach $1.9 Bn by 2030.

The post Jio Platforms Gets Indian Space Regulator’s Nod To Launch Internet Satellite appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In the last decade, ‘fintech’ has been the most quintessential buzzword in finance; evolving everything from traditional banking to payments, credit, savings, remittances, and insurance. It’s leading the charge in digitising and empowering the entire financial services ecosystem.

Family offices in India have been the custodians of intergenerational wealth management. A report by Empaxis states that an estimated 300 family offices collectively have an average AUM of $30 Bn as of 2023. 

The total wealth management market in India reached $429.1 Bn in 2023. This reflects a significant share of the wealth that family offices manage against the total wealth management market in the country.

However, as custodians of substantial assets, these private entities have traditionally been characterised by meticulous manual processes, extensive paper trails, and a reluctance to embrace technological advancements. 

This is where a change is imperative for family offices to modernise their operations or risk being left behind in an increasingly digitised world. Family offices are still in the nascent stages of determining the most effective systems for their daily operations.

As the Ernst and Young report rightly reflects, with the immense variety of tools and platforms available, navigating this landscape can be overwhelming, especially with the barrage of options from the sell side. 

For family offices, integration goes beyond mere aggregation of tools; it’s about unifying functionalities to provide a comprehensive view. This entails more than a conventional dashboard as a PwC Report states that family offices require dynamic, participative platforms that can keep up with their evolving needs. 

Strategising The Path Forward 

Would you believe that the implementation of a single robust platform can revolutionise family office operations, potentially saving up to 60% of time spent on routine tasks?

The adoption of technology among family offices follows a U-shaped curve, with initial resistance giving way to gradual acceptance and eventual habit formation. Technology remains a key factor, necessitating a shift in behaviours and habits but realising these efficiency gains requires a concerted effort towards intent and behaviour change.

In addition to providing a holistic view of portfolios, platforms must facilitate collaboration, information sharing, and timely execution of routine tasks on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. 

These functionalities are essential for fostering efficiency and transparency within family offices. Family offices view themselves as businesses, necessitating the adoption of professional platforms tailored specifically to their needs. These platforms should streamline operations while accommodating the unique complexities of family office management.

Disparate systems persist due to their familiarity and ease of operation. Rather than complete reinvention, the solution lies in marrying familiar interfaces with modern backend systems, ensuring a smooth transition to digitalisation. 

Family offices are eager to embrace new platforms, provided the process is seamless, quick, and requires minimal intervention.

High turnover rates pose a challenge for family offices, as new team members must navigate steep learning curves. Platforms designed with user-friendliness in mind can mitigate this barrier, ensuring continuity even amidst personnel changes. 

As family offices grow in size, complexity, and jurisdictional reach, virtual platforms become indispensable for preserving institutional knowledge and ensuring continuity across generations. 

As the saying goes, “Tomorrow is a very different picture”, family offices that embrace change today will emerge as resilient institutions capable of navigating the complexities of tomorrow’s wealth management landscape. 

The number of family offices is expected to reach about 1000 from 300, as per Empaxis. If 60% of the time spent by family offices is refrained from routine tasks, it is evidently indicative that family offices will take ownership of a significantly substantial amount of the total wealth management in the country. 

By integrating robust platforms and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, family offices can not only enhance their operational efficiency but also strengthen their position as key players in India’s evolving financial ecosystem.

The post The Missing Platformization In The Family Office Space appeared first on Inc42 Media.

One app to rule them all: that’s the fintech story in India over the past couple of years. And now Jio Financial Services (JFS) is ready to show off its own super app.

With the launch of the ‘JioFinance’ app, JFS is looking to integrate digital banking, UPI, bill payments, and insurance advisory in one app, and the company is also adding digital lending and an investments platform to the mix.

Even though it is in the beta phase at the moment, JioFinance is going to be a major headache for the competition due to Reliance’s vast network of retail stores and its various SME partners. If Jio 4G was a key growth factor for fintech apps (Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay et al), JioFinance threatens to eat their lunch.

So, how does Jio’s entry change things for these startups and companies that have defined fintech in India till now? This is what we will look to answer this Sunday but after a look at the top stories from our newsroom over this past week, incidentally featuring two of JioFinance’s big rivals:

• • Into The CREDverse: Super apps are a strong theme in the fintech world and CRED exemplifies this movement with its acquisition-led platform play. A deep dive into how the platform has expanded in the past year.
  • Paytm’s Lost Merchant Magic: Paytm took the super app route for merchant services and it paid off massively till 2024, but now this vertical is reeling under operational challenges and compliance lapses. Can the fintech giant bounce back?
  • The ‘30 Startups’ Spotlight: Going from scaled up giants to early-stage innovators — a look at the May edition of our coveted list of the most innovative startups in India that are cracking PMF and gaining traction.

Jio Goes The Paytm Way

Jio’s strategy of having products in key verticals is similar to Paytm’s playbook, right down to the payments bank licence. JioFinance app’s key features on debut include digital banking centred around the Jio Payments Bank as well as insurance broking and secured loans against mutual funds.

“Our end goal is to simplify everything related to finance in a single platform for any user across all demographics, with a comprehensive suite of offerings like lending, investment, insurance, payments and transactions and make financial services more transparent, affordable and intuitive,” a JFS statement said.

The payments bank account is likely to sit at the centre of the super app platform, just as Paytm Payments Bank did for Paytm till February 2024 before the RBI action against the bank, and the subsequent changes in Paytm’s backend banking partnerships for lending and payments.

Till the RBI action, most analysts saw the payments bank licence as a major competitive advantage for Paytm. It also enabled the payments app to offer faster transaction times and lower failure rates.

The same advantage will be critical for JioFinance to stand out among a sea of payments apps today. JFS also plans to include secured lending products such as loans against mutual fund investments and home loans in the future. Besides this, it plans to enter the mutual fund business through the JV signed with BlackRock.

During the Q4 FY24 post-earnings call with analysts, JFS managing director and CEO Hitesh Kumar Sethia said, “In the past quarter, the [payments] bank has revamped its digital savings account offerings and also launched virtual debit cards leading to a rapid increase in the number of customers acquired. In the coming quarters, we expect to ramp up our business correspondent touch points to facilitate further growth.”

But given the current market, the payments play will be the central large funnel through which Jio Financial Services acquires users for other services. JFS’ go-to-market strategy will be critical given the competition.

The Fintech Super App Field

While most large fintech companies have gone the super app way, their GTM strategy has differed.

Paytm relied heavily on acquiring digital payment consumers at a very early stage with its wallet business and built inroads into other services including UPI. Till very recently, in fact, UPI was not a big focus for Paytm given how much more profitable the wallet business is and the better terms for merchant discount rates on wallets compared to UPI.

Google Pay and PhonePe used Paytm’s example and doubled down on customer acquisition as well, before slowly adding more and more pieces to their platforms. PhonePe’s entry into the secured lending space, announced this week, is an example of how the Bengaluru-based decacorn is building a larger fintech empire leveraging its lead in UPI.

BharatPe took the B2B route and is now slowly adding B2C products to its mix. BharatPe’s JV for the Unity Small Finance Bank is another competitive advantage for the Peak XV Partners-backed company.

CRED started by tapping the creditworthy creamy layer of the urban population and built on that with more products, while Groww built a sizable lead in the investments space before jumping into lending and payments.

Zerodha which has the second largest active investor base after Groww is another formidable competitor for JFS in the investments space.

Each of these companies is also looking at payment aggregator licences to build further products that help them own a bigger piece of the digital financial services value chain. Jio too has a PA licence which will be leveraged for its B2B verticals.

While the super app field is growing wide, and rightly so given the untapped depth in the market, these specific GTM strategies indicate that owning a single niche is vital. This forms the spine against which the other parts can be added.

What strategy will Jio Financial Services and JioFinance rely on? And how will the fintech platform look to tackle the scale of existing players in each of these verticals? How will the larger Reliance universe link to JFS?

The Jio Financial Services Advantage

By all indications, JFS is more focussed on the wealth management opportunity. The JV with BlackRock has been expanded to cover wealth management and broking, in addition to the asset management.

The strategy questions will be more important for Jio to answer because it is already on course to raise funds and is expected to garner plenty of interest from institutional investors, sovereign funds and private equity giants.

The company is also looking to raise the limit of foreign investment in its equity capital up to 49%, for which it has sought a shareholder nod. JFS’ formation as part of a demerger from Reliance Industries in mid-2023 meant it was already a heavily capitalised business, but its new platform push will require further fresh infusion.

Remember the Jio Platforms funding spree in 2020, and then a similar run for Reliance Retail in 2023? It’s time for Jio Financial Services to be the next big Reliance bet.

Besides investments in the JV with BlackRock, Jio will also use the funds to scale up its merchant business and take on the likes of Paytm which are currently struggling. JFS launched Voice Boxes last year and plans to add to its PoS and devices network in 2024.

Its subsidiary Jio Payment Solutions Limited, which operates the payment aggregator business, will drive the merchants business, and here Jio will also have to fight off Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BharatPe, CRED, Pine Labs and others that have scaled up their PoS businesses.

Not to mention the big investments needed on the consumer side for payments. If Jio hopes to drive scale for its platforms rapidly, it will need to invest heavily on customer and merchant acquisition. The Jio telecom subscriber base of 470 Mn (47+ Cr) users will very likely be JFS’ first target.

Adani Group is also eyeing a fintech super app and has partnered with ICICI Bank for its payments play. The Adani One super app logged INR 750 Cr in sales in FY24, according to reports, the group could leverage ONDC for its ecommerce and payments businesses. Along with Jio, Adani also poses a major threat to the fintech startup ecosystem.

Given the intense competition, Sethia told analysts in April this year that JFS’ advantage can be broken down into three aspects: “Number 1, the Jio brand; number 2, capital; and number 3, customer adjacency from our ecosystem,” he said.

Will these three be enough for the JFS super app? The competition has the deeper fintech experience, and startups such as Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BharatPe, CRED have shown that they rapidly implement new technology and have built tech stacks that can support scale of millions. These are brands in their own rights too and are digitally-native companies that are also investable.

JFS will definitely have the pedigree of Reliance and the Jio brand and even the capital, but fintech is proving to be more than that. Can Jio Financial Services step up?

Sunday Roundup: Tech Stocks, Startup Funding & More

• Indian startups raised more than $217 Mn across 31 deals, this past week, a massive 273% week-on-week jump, taking the May 2024 tally to just over $650 Mn. Stay tuned for our full report
• Coworking space provider Awfis made a strong market debut this week, with its shares listing at a substantial premium of 12.8% on the BSE

• Online travel aggregator Yatra slipped into losses in FY24, just like software development company Yudiz, which reported a loss of INR 2.9 Cr
• On the other hand, recently listed B2B travel portal TBO Tek posted a 64% jump in profit at INR 46.4 Cr for Q4 FY24
• Paytm CHRO Swati Rustagi has quit the company, adding to the recent leadership exodus as the fintech company goes through a reorganisation

The post The Jio Threat To Fintech Startups appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Adding another feather to its cap, IPL’s official streaming partner JioCinema has wrapped up the 17th season of the tournament with a record 2,600 Cr views, a 53% growth compared to IPL 2023.

The Mukesh Ambani-led OTT platform logged a watch time of more than 35,000 Cr minutes during the IPL 2024, which concluded on May 26.

The season also saw JioCinema’s audience reach growing by more than 38%, reaching a total of 62 Cr viewers.

The connected TV audience expanded substantially as the 12 language feeds, 4K viewing, multi-cam views, and stadium-like experience through AR/VR and 360-degree viewing led to an average time spent touching 75 minutes from over 60 minutes last season.

Notably, the streaming platform achieved a record-breaking viewership on Day 1 of the IPL, with over 11.3 Cr people tuning in to watch the T20 match.

Further, JioCinema registered 59 Cr video views on the opening day of IPL 2024, garnering 660 Cr minutes of watch time.

The OTT platform opened the tournament on a strong note, with top brands such as Dream11, Charged By Thums Up, Parle Products, Britannia, Dalmia Cements and HDFC Bank kicking off their IPL campaigns within the first six overs of the inaugural game under the newly-launched JioCinema Brand Spotlight.

JioCinema claimed it was able to attract 28 sponsors and more than 1400 advertisers by the end of the IPL 2024 tournament.

“We conclude the TATA IPL 2024 with a promise to continue to redefine the way sports is consumed in India. The growth we are seeing year-on-year assures us that our viewer-centric presentation is engaged with and appreciated. We remain on course to make JioCinema the most sought-after platform,” a spokesperson for Viacom18 said.

This comes close on the heels of reports that Reliance and Disney+Hotstar have inked a deal to merge the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India.

The joint venture, reportedly valued at $8.5 Bn, is potentially the biggest media network in India.

Following the merger announcement, JioCinema has bagged the streaming rights for various sports tournaments, including the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

It has also beaten off competition and signed agreements with HBO and NBCUniversal to stream premium English content on its platform.

As per media reports, India’s booming OTT industry is expected to zoom more than 2X to reach a valuation of $7 Bn by 2027 from $3 Bn in 2022.

The post JioCinema’s New Viewership Milestone, Logs 62 Cr Reach In IPL 2024 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

On the back of strong growth in transacting users and payments volume, Airtel Payments Bank saw its net profit jump more than 60% to INR 34.5 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 21.1 Cr in FY23. 

Revenue also soared more than 42% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 1,836 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2024. Q4 FY24 emerged as the strongest quarter for the payments bank, with revenues to the tune of INR 539 Cr, up 15% sequentially. 

Firing on all cylinders, Airtel Payments Bank also claimed that its monthly transacting users (MTUs) stood at 8.04 Cr while customer deposits surpassed the INR 2,801 Cr mark. 

It also clocked a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR 2.55 Lakh Cr during the fiscal year under review. 

“… Our strong financial performance underscores the trust and confidence placed in us by our customers and partners. As we witness sustained demand for our digital offerings and accelerate customer acquisitions, we remain steadfast in our mission to empower every Indian with safe, simple and rewarding digital banking services,” Airtel Payments Bank’s CEO and managing director Anubrata Biswas said.

The company’s financial results come two months after the appointment of ex-MasterCard India executive Anuj Bansal as its chief financial officer (CFO). 

Not just this, the fintech arm of the Bharti Group also announced a partnership with French biometric solutions provider IDEMIA and Nokia parent HMD Global to launch an offline system for facilitating digital rupee payments on feature phones. 

Last month, fintech unicorn Razorpay also announced the launch of its own unified payment interface (UPI) in collaboration with Airtel Payments Bank.

Airtel Payments Bank commenced operations in early 2017 with a seed investment of $440 Mn. It is one of the only two profitable payments banks in the country, the other one being Fino Payments Bank. 

The post Airtel Payments Bank’s FY24 Profit Grows 60% YoY To INR 35 Cr, Deposits Surpass INR 2,801 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The word “AI” (artificial intelligence) took centre stage on the first day of Microsoft’s three-day Build developer conference.

Attended by 4,000 people in Seattle, the event will see the tech major announcing as many as 60 new products and solutions over the three-day period. 

The biggest takeaway from the conference was the launch of OpenAI’s latest large language model (LLM) “GPT-4o” on Azure AI Studio and as an API. As per Microsoft, the latest LLM will be a multimodal model that will take text, image and audio as inputs. 

Not just this, the company also unveiled its newest multimodal model in the Phi-3 family of small language models (SLMs) called Phi-3-vision. Available on Azure, the latest SLM offers the ability to input images and text and receive text responses. 

Bolstering its hardware pitch, Microsoft also announced the roll out of its new virtual machines in partnership with AMD to cater to the AI training and inferencing needs of its clients. 

“We are the first cloud provider to bring AMD’s leading MI300X AI accelerator chip to power customers’ AI training and inferencing needs, with the general availability of the Azure ND MI300X v5 virtual machine series optimised for demanding AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads like Azure OpenAI Service,” said the company. 

Another major takeaway of the event was the launch of a new category of AI-powered Windows PCs called “Copilot+ PCs”. Starting at $999 (around INR 83,000), the new desktops come with speeds up to 40+ TOPS (trillion operations per second) and access to AI models. The PCs will be rolled out in partnership with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung from June 18.

At the event, the big tech major also previewed its new Cobalt 100 Arm-based virtual machines (VMs). These VMs are powered by Cobalt 100, Microsoft’s custom-designed compute processor, which is built on an Arm architecture and is specifically made to run general-purpose and cloud-native workloads. 

At the event, the big tech giant also announced the expansion of Copilot for Microsoft 365, offering additional upcoming new functionalities. 

“Microsoft Copilot Studio is introducing new agent capabilities, empowering developers to build copilots that can proactively respond to data and events, tailored to specific tasks and functions. Copilots built with this new category of capabilities can now independently manage complex, long-running business processes…,” said the company. 

Additionally, the company has unveiled new plugins that allow developers to connect the Copilot to new data sources and applications. Not just this, GitHub also launched its maiden set of Copilot extensions. 

The developments come at a time when Microsoft has bolstered its AI pitch globally. Back home in India, the slew of new offerings will enable the company to ride the AI wave and attract a new breed of customers looking to adopt the emerging technology.

The tech giant recently bought 48 acres of land in Hyderabad in a transaction valued at INR 267 Cr to expand its data centre business and develop one of the biggest data centres in the region. Not just this, it also plans to train 2 Mn Indians in AI by 2025. 

A recent report noted that more than 92% Indian “knowledge” workers were using AI tools in the workplace. This, in turn, represents a major opportunity for AI startups looking to tap into businesses deploying AI offerings. Not just this, AI percolation reportedly appears to span sectors from BFSI and healthcare to IT and fintech sector. 

Such has been the clamour that Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose recently said that  nearly 500 of the big tech giant’s customers had moved to Azure OpenAI. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The hardware and compute ecosystem also represents a huge market as GenAI penetration deepens and GPU demand surges even further. 

Overall, Inc42 estimates the Indian GenAI market to reach a size of $17 Bn by 2030.

The post From GPT-4o To AI-Powered Windows PCs, Microsoft Debuts New AI Tools appeared first on Inc42 Media.

It was May 17, 1973, and the world was formally celebrating its first World Telecommunication Day. Just a month ago, Motorola had demonstrated the world’s first handheld cellular mobile phone, and with it, the global telecommunications ecosystem had come to life.

In India, the telecom space was still taking baby steps as trunk dialling and PCOs (public call offices as they were called back then) were still the norm. Despite boasting one of the world’s oldest postal and telecom sectors, India was nowhere on the global telecommunication map at that time. 

Five decades later, as India celebrates World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2024, we foster the world’s second-largest telecom network. Not just this, India was home to 119 Cr telecom users at the end of March 2024.

At the end of 2023, the country had 82 Cr active internet users who consumed an average of 24.1 GB of data a month per user. In total, Indian subscribers consumed 17.4 exabytes (or 17.4 Bn GB) of data last year. 

Fuelling this rapid internet adoption has been the pan-India 4G services that cover most of the country, even as 5G is witnessing a rapid rollout. Banking on high-speed internet and dirt-cheap data prices, the country’s digital economy has witnessed a growth explosion, akin to a proverbial supernova.

However, this was not the case a decade ago (around 2015) when the average cost of one GB of data was around INR 226, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data. Interestingly, this cost first declined to INR 75 the next year, INR 19.35 per GB in 2017, and INR 11.78 in 2018.

As data costs continued to plummet, the nation’s digital prowess soared, so much so that today we are the world’s third-largest new-age tech ecosystem. 

The Era Of Cheap Mobile Data, Free Calls

It was September 2016, and mobile phone users were queuing up in droves for a SIM card. At the centre of this mania was Reliance Jio, which offered free calling and data usage to its customers across the country.

Between 2016 and 2019, Reliance Jio 4G spread like wildfire. It added 90 Mn users in 2019, bringing its total subscriber base to 370 Mn in just three years. At the end of March 2024, the company was commanding a market share of more than 40.3%. 

Thanks to the fierce competition ignited by Reliance Jio, other telecommunication companies were forced to significantly reduce their data prices. Those unable to adapt faced harsh consequences, either went bankrupt, exited the Indian market entirely, or were acquired by larger players. 

Some of these names included Aircel, Videocon Telecom, MTS India, Telenor India, and Tata Docomo, among others. Vodafone and Idea were forced to merge amid the Jio onslaught.

While the competition ignited by Jio paved the way for cheap data and free voice calls, it was time for 5G to shine. 

The Arrival Of 5G 

While 3G and 4G brought faster connectivity on the move for Indians, 5G, launched in October 2022, aimed to upend the entire landscape by offering data speeds to the tune of 1 Gigabyte per second (GBPS), with the number theoretically going all the way up to 10 GBPS. 

The speeds offered by the 5G network opened an endless world of possibilities. For instance, online gamers could now enjoy low latency and little lags, while experts also cited potential use cases in deploying autonomous vehicles and the world of metaverse. 

Such has been the chatter about this new technology that 5G spectrum auctions fetched the government a record INR 1.5 Lakh Cr in 2022. And the telecom operators spent billions of dollars to acquire these licences.

Since then, the 5G rollout has seen Airtel and Reliance Jio spend extensively on expanding its network of towers to offer pan-India 5G access so that more and more netizens could upgrade from their outdated 3G or 4G networks. 

Pertinent to note that Vodafone-Idea (Vi) has been a laggard in terms of the 5G rollout and expects to start the process by year-end or next year. 

On the agenda of telcos is a new breed of data-guzzling urban Indian users with their novel needs. But, it could take some time before the Indian hinterlands get a whiff of 5G. To bring the internet to these treacherous terrains, the government seems to have much going on behind the scenes. 

Making Way For Satcom & India’s 6G Leadership 

In February 2023, the Centre said that more than 45,000 villages across the country still had no 4G services. Partly to blame for this inaccessibility are the country’s tough-to-reach terrains, posing mammoth challenges for Indian telcos. 

In the past, the Centre has made no qualms about its ‘Antyodaya’ approach – ensuring the development of the last person in society. So, how does the internet reach areas where it is commercially non-viable and physically not feasible?

Here is where satellite communication, or satcom, comes into the picture. This futuristic technology skips the need for extensive capital expenditure and can be accessed via on-ground satellite access stations.

Owing to these considerations, the Centre recently announced that satcom spectrum will be available without auctioning and there will be administrative allocation of the licence. This could spur the entry of both global as well as domestic players in the segment and foster India’s spacetech ecosystem.

With an eye on the future, the country aims to lead the world in 6G development. To achieve this, the Centre has constituted a dedicated 6G task force, launched the country’s first 6G test bed at IIT-Madras and even unveiled the ‘Bharat 6G Mission’ roadmap to turn India into a 6G hub.

All this has culminated in one of the world’s biggest telecom revolutions, with India at the centre of it. But, all lofty ambitions aside, the theme of World Telecom Day 2024 seems to offer a guiding light for India’s roadmap ahead — “Digital Innovation for Sustainable Development”.

As India treads the path of growth and digital transformation, the country seems to be under the spotlight as the next wave of innovation in the telecom space awaits.

The post From PCOs To Satcom: Tracing India’s Telecom Journey This World Telecom Day appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Delhi NCR-based online classified company Info Edge reported a consolidated net profit of INR 87.9 Cr in Q4 of financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as against a net loss of INR 503 Cr in the year-ago quarter. The company incurred a loss in Q4 FY23 largely due to impairment of its investment in Rahul Yadav’s 4B Network.

However, Info Edge’s profit dropped 26% during the quarter under review from INR 119.4 Cr profit it posted in Q3 FY24. 

For the full fiscal year FY24, Info Edge reported a profit of INR 594.5 Cr as against a net loss of INR 70.4 Cr in FY23. 

Meanwhile, the company, which is an investor in startups like Zomato and PB Fintech, reported an operating revenue of INR 657.4 Cr in the last quarter of FY24, an increase of 8.7% from INR 604.7 Cr in the year-ago quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue rose 4.8% from INR 627.1 Cr.

On an annual basis, the startup’s operating revenue increased 8% to INR 2,536.3 Cr in FY24 from INR 2,345.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The company’s total revenue increased 7.7% to INR 2,950 Cr in FY24 from INR 2,738.5 Cr in FY23.

How Did Info Edge Earn Revenue? 

Info Edge’s recruitment business Naukri.com earned a revenue of INR 480.5 Cr in Q4 FY24, an increase of 4.5% from INR 459.6 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. 

Its real estate platform 99acres saw revenue jump 17.4% to INR 92.5 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 75.5 Cr in Q4 FY23. 

Other segment, which comprises matrimony portal Jeevansathi and education platform Shiksha, reported a revenue of INR 84.3 Cr during the quarter under review, an increase of 21.1% from INR 69.5 Cr reported in the year-ago quarter. 

Meanwhile, Info Edge’s total expenditure increased 6.4% to INR 469.3 Cr in Q4 FY24 from INR 440.9 Cr in Q4 FY23.

The company’s board also approved a dividend of INR 12 per share.  

In a separate filing, Info Edge also announced an investment of INR 15 Cr in agritech startup Gramophone, which would increase its stake to 39.5%.

The post Info Edge Q4: Posts Profit Of INR 88 Cr, Sales Soar To INR 657 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Sanjeev Bikchandani-led internet company Info Edge is further increasing its stake in agritech startup Gramophone with an investment of INR 15 Cr (about $1.8 Mn).

In an exchange filing, the company said it would invest in Agstack Technologies Pvt Ltd, the parent of Gramophone, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Startup Investments (Holding) Ltd (SIHL) in two tranches.

While SHIL would disburse INR 7.5 Cr within a month, the remaining amount would be disbursed within 6 months, subject to fulfilment of certain conditions.

“SIHL has agreed to acquire 69,790 compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares having a face value of INR 10/- each as part of a larger round in two tranches,” the filing said. 

Info Edge’s stake in Gramophone, held via SHIL, would increase to 39.5% following the investment.

In addition the company, which is an investor in Zomato and PB Fintech, said that Gramophone is looking to raise additional funds. 

Founded in 2016 by Ashish Rajan Singh, Harshit Gupta, Nishant Mahatre, and Tauseef Khan, Gramophone sells seeds, fertilisers, nutrients, pesticides, farming equipment, among others, to farmers directly and through small retailers via an omnichannel model. 

The startup has raised a total funding of about $20.5 Mn till date and counts the likes of Z3 Partners, Asha Impact, and Siana Capital among its investors.

Info Edge said Gramophone’s turnover stood at INR 98.5 Cr in the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24). 

Info Edge has been an early backer of the startup and has been gradually increasing its stake in it. In January last year, Info Edge said it would invest INR 9.3 Cr in Gramophone to increase its stake to 32.89%.

Besides the investment in the agritech startup, Info Edge’s board, during its meeting on Thursday (May 16), also approved divestment of SIHL’s 34.93% holding in B2B catalogue company Wishbook Infoservices.

“The said investment has already been impaired during FY 2019-20. Further, taking into consideration the independent valuation report, the sale value of the investment is determined as about Rs. 14,112.9/-,” the filing said. 

The post Info Edge To Invest Another INR 15 Cr In Agritech Startup Gramophone appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Drone manufacturer ideaForge posted more than a 30% decline in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to INR 10.3 Cr in the March quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 14.8 Cr in the December quarter, partially hurt by a sharp jump in spending towards inventories and employee benefits.

The startup had posted a net loss of INR 5.4 Cr in Q4 FY23.

ideaForge’s operating revenue saw a 12.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase to INR 102.3 Cr in the reported quarter. This was also an over 164% jump from INR 38.7 Cr operating revenue reported in Q4 FY23.

The startup’s EBITDA declined to INR 20.2 Cr in Q4 FY24 from INR 26.2 Cr in Q3 FY24. EBITDA margin expanded to 19.8% during the quarter under review as against 14% in Q4 FY23. However, it contracted from 28.8% in the preceding December quarter.

Commenting on the company’s Q4 performance, ideaForge CEO Ankit Mehta said that the quarter was a combination of execution and building phases. 

“We were able to fulfill our delivery commitments before schedule, underscoring our dedication to customers and emphasising our ability to stay true to our commitments,” he said. “We witnessed significant progress in our diversification initiatives. We conducted live demos with end customers in the US with our systems carrying out real-world missions and received affirmative and encouraging responses from these customers.” 

Mehta also said that successful progress of its drone-as-a-service pilot programmes and early paid pilots with anchor customers provided the necessary boost to the company’s plans.

In Q4 FY24, defence contributed the largest portion (57%) to its revenue while 31% revenue came from the civil sector.

Meanwhile, in the fiscal year 2024, ideaForge’s PAT jumped 41.5% YoY to INR 45.3 Cr and operating revenue surged almost 70% to INR 314 Cr.

“Q4 and FY24 results reinforce our belief that to evaluate our business, one must look at it holistically, with a combination of financial results, our efforts and achievements in diversification and product development and the moat we are creating through focusing on IP creation, and the growth trajectory of the UAV industry, and the defence space,” added Mehta

Zooming Into Expenses

In line with its business expansion, ideaForge’s total expenses surged almost 21% QoQ and 116% YoY to INR 93.5 Cr in Q4 FY24.

Employee Cost: The startup’s employee benefit expenses almost doubled to INR 19 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 9.8 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Cost of Materials Consumed: The company’s spending in this bucket witnessed only about a 5% rise QoQ to INR 50 Cr in Q4 FY24.

Changes in Inventories: ideaForge spent INR 8.4 Cr due to changes in inventories of finished goods and work-in-progress.

Meanwhile, ideaForge said that it was granted six new patents in Q4 and also obtained Type certification for its Q6 UAV.

Ahead of its earnings announcement, shares of ideaForge ended Tuesday’s (May 14) trading session 4.2% higher at INR 696.85 on the BSE.

The post ideaForge PAT Slips 30% QoQ To INR 10.3 Cr In Q4 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Geotech startup MapmyIndia’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) surged by 35% in the March quarter of FY24 to INR 38.2 Cr, from INR 28.3 Cr it had posted in the same period a year ago.

On a quarterly basis, the startup’s net profit surged by 23.2%, as compared to INR 31.04 Cr it had posted in the December quarter.

On an annual basis, MapmyIndia’s PAT increased by 25% to INR 134.3 Cr, from INR 107.5 Cr in FY23. 

The startup’s operating revenue increased to INR 106.9 Cr in Q4 FY24, a 47.5% higher than INR 72.4 Cr in Q4 FY23. On a quarterly basis, its operating revenue increased by 16%, from INR 92 Cr in the previous quarter. On an annual basis, the startup’s operating revenue increased by 35% to INR 379.4 Cr in FY24, from INR 281.4 Cr in FY23. 

While the topline increased, so did the startup’s total expenses due to a rise in employee benefit expenses. In Q4 FY24, the startup’s total expenditure stood at INR 72.3 Cr, a 49% higher than INR 48.4 Cr in Q4 FY23. On a quarterly basis, the startup’s expenditure increased by 19% from INR 60.5 Cr. 

On an annual basis, MapmyIndia’s total expenditure increased to INR 240.9 Cr in FY24, a 37% higher than INR 176.2 Cr. 

Besides disclosing the financials, the startup further announced that the startup’s board has approved the declaration and payment of a final dividend of INR 3.5 per equity share. This is now subject to approval of shareholders in the forthcoming AGM of the startup. 

Besides this, the company has also appointed Rashmi Verma, as the whole-time director of the company and Rajagopalan Sundar as non-executive Independent Director.

The post MapmyIndia’s Q4 PAT Jumps 35% YoY To INR 38 Cr, Announces Dividend Of INR 3.5 Per Share appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Technology consulting and digital solutions company LTIMindtree has announced collaboration with tech giant IBM to set up a global, joint Generative AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in India.

The centre aims to offer an extensive range of services by integrating LTIMindtree’s proficiency in data, machine learning model customisation and full-stack engineering with IBM’s WatsonX technology suite, including WatsonX.AI, WatsonX.Data, WatsonX.Governance and AI assistants, as per a company statement.

Situated in India, this centre will concentrate on developing specific solutions to expedite clients’ adoption of GenAI technologies. 

LTIMindtree’s COO and whole-time director Nachiket Deshpande said, “Open innovation is the cornerstone of progress in the digital era. By joining forces with IBM, LTIMindtree aims to be at the forefront of advancing AI technologies and empowering businesses to achieve unparalleled success with governance.”

Through this partnership, the two tech giants are planning to offer a comprehensive suite of services which are:

• IBM WatsonX.Governance: This will be integrated with Canvas.ai platform to help users with the structure and processes necessary to help them navigate the complexities of the regulatory landscape while also adhering to ethical standards, compliance requirements, and responsible AI practices.
• IBM WatsonX.data: This service will provide the framework and tools for data warehouse consumers to augment the performance of their existing data warehouse capabilities using the power of IBM WatsonX.data and LTIMindtree’s expertise in crafting tailored solutions.
• IBM Watsonx.ai: LTIMindtree’s proficiency in full-stack engineering, combined with the powerful IBM watsonX.ai studio, will help enterprises train, validate, tune and deploy AI models while simplifying their modernisation efforts.

“Our collaboration, distinguished by the Centre of Excellence, is an opportunity for our companies to work closely together to help funnel the latest AI research and innovations into technologies solving real-world business challenges,” said Kate Woolley, general manager, IBM Ecosystem. 

Woolley further added that this tie-up is aimed at helping companies maximise the benefits of generative AI through all phases of their AI adoption journey. 

The centre aims to play a pivotal role in expanding the scope of generative AI applications for digital initiatives of clients, utilising the IBM WatsonX platform and AI assistants, machine learning, speech recognition, natural language processing, and conversational AI to augment end-user experience.

IBM has been actively working on boosting AI adoption in India for some time now. Last year, it collaborated with the Indian government’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). 

The two sides signed three MoUs to accelerate innovation in AI, along with other areas such as semiconductor and quantum technology.

The post LTIMindtree, IBM Join Hands To Build GenAI Centre For India appeared first on Inc42 Media.