Dec 30, 2015 - Online rental firm Roomys to raise $1 million in three months

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Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk It's perhaps a sign of our hyper-competitive times that international car companies are falling all over each other in announcing when they will launch fully autonomous cars. Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a breakthrough technology pioneered by Google, still very much in the R&D phase? Suddenly, everyone from Tesla to Nissan to Toyota is giving estimated dates of launch for their automated cars. What about the regulators? What about the ethical dilemma when a car is in the situation of an unavoidable accident? What about public opinion, when such a case does eventually arise? There's a lot that needs to be resolved before autonomous cars become a regular feature on roads. And that's just in the developed world. The developing world training data set is something else Indian road conditions could easily because Google's self-driving car to self-destruct! - Comment Online rental firm Roomys to raise $1 million in three months This is the first major round of fundraising for the company, which earlier got about $1,00,000 from angel investors. Advt:Affordable Housing Schemes in Dubai with Post hand over payment plans Affordable Housing Schemes in Dubai with Post hand over payment plans With Arundhati Bhattacharya completing her term in 2016, SBI hot seat up for grabs Anshula Kant, Dinesh Khara and Praveen Kumar Gupta are the aspirants for the top post at State Bank of India. Another sluggish quarter for banks? The banking index has underperformed the Sensex, reflecting concerns over asset quality and expectations of sluggish profitability in December quarter How Manmohan Singh paved the way for computerisation of banks By 1994-95 and in the years that followed, the newly licenced private banks in India leveraged technology in a big way, differentiating themselves from state-run banks. Why the payment bank ecosystem looks up to these men? The RBI gave out 10 small finance bank licences mostly to micro finance institutions including Utkarsh Micro Finance, Ujjivan and Au Financiers. Will Raghuram Rajan get another term as RBI Governor? Just a look back at Rajans debut speech at the RBI on September 4, 2013 could show what is still left to be done at the banking regulator. India’s share of world market capitalization lower than GDP share India’s share in world GDP has inched up close to 3%, but its share in world market capitalization is lower at 2.3%, down 10 basis points from a year ago United Spirits seeks shareholders’ nod to report sick to BIFR Move comes as United Spirit’s accumulated losses as on 31 March have touched 86% of peak net worth during the past four fiscal years Government to push cooperative banks to get note-sorting machines in a bid to curb fake currency In a meeting between banks, finance ministry and intelligence agencies, it was observed that a number of branches do not have such machines. Bumper raises $500,000 in seed funding from SAIF Partners, others Bumper plans to use the money to expand technology teams and on customer experience solutions Link all credit accounts to biometric identifier: RBI A Reserve Bank of India panel has recommended that banks open a separate window offering interest-free deposits and advances to address financial exclusion based on faith. SpiceJet to raise funds worth up to Rs5,000 crore At SpiceJet’s annual general meeting, shareholders also approve the appointment of promoter Ajay Singh and his wife Shivani Singh as directors Investors give up rights for shares in startups Institutional investors began buying common stock—generally owned by employees of startups—often directly from workers or from platforms that sell employee shares Foodpanda fires over 500 employees, will stop own delivery in six cities The layoffs have taken place across sales, marketing, vendor service, customer delight, business intelligence and call centre Housing.com begins stake sale talk with Snapdeal, News Corp; deal possible by second quarter of 2016 The Mumbai-based company is searching for backers to recover from a year of turmoil which has hurt its standing in the online real estate market. BNP to swap joint venture stake for 5% in Srei Infra French bank has invested at least Rs925 crore in the JV so far, while the 5% stake in the parent firm is worth Rs150 crore currently Wallet Patents: After FreeCharge, Mobikwik files patent for power wallet platform that integrates with payment platform of retailers This comes soon after Snapdeal-owned Free-Charge indigenously developed an authentication alternative to the SMS-based one-time-password. Amazon and Alphabet cap record-busting 2015 with new all-time highs A record-breaking 2015 for Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. is closing with more of the same. Flipkart's book sales doing fine, paperbacks fight off competition from devices Now one of the country’s largest e-commerce players, Flipkart kicked off business i Apparel businesses are fairly commoditised: Analyst Anand Tandon "The market continuously remains fairly fragmented whether you take an Arvind or you take an Aditya Birla Group company or you take a Raymond." Spanish retail hiring growth returns to pre-crisis levels Hiring by up was up 1.8 per cent year on year, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Tuesday, a pace last reached in December 2007. Among EMs, mobile broadband least affordable in india Although prices of telecom services are lower in absolute terms compared to other emerging market and developed economies, they are much higher in terms of GNI per capita. Fear of Facebook colonising digital space looms over IT capital Bengaluru, the information technology capital of India, is vehemently opposing social network Facebook’s controversial Internet service as it fears a ‘digital colonisation by the West.’ The people India may have 50 crore internet subscribers in 2016: Telecom Min NEW DELHI: Indian telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) customers can enjoy pan-India free incoming ... A year in review : 2015 for telecom industry, full of Ups and downs It was a towering feat for the telecom industry in 2015 to cross 100-crore subscriber mark, but the call-drop menace spoiled the party and the operators are now pulling up their socks to face greater competition with the imminent entry of Reliance Jio in 2016. Telecom Firms Cross 100-Crore Subscribers Mark But Call-Drops Spoil Party It was a towering feat for the telecom industry in 2015 to cross 100-crore subscriber mark, but the call-drop menace spoiled the party. 2016 looks to be another year of strong evolving opportunities Given the positive GDP growth projection of above 6.4% from IMF, 2016 looks set to be another year of strong but evolving opportunities for the Indian.. Lack of data airwaves pushes Telenor India into a corner Sources say its talks to buy Videocon Telecom's airwaves in two circles as well as those with the Tatas have run into valuation hurdles. Chetan Bhagat is the most loved author on Flipkart; Shilpa Shetty Kundra emerges as the top-selling non-fiction writer Shilpa Shetty Kundra emerges as the top-selling non-fiction writer Chinese mobile makers to feel heat as e-com discounts end: Micromax In October, top Chinese vendors such as Lenovo, Xiaomi and Vivo witnessed a healthy month-on-month sales growth of 18% Myntra to pilot a programme to help large brands to drive the latters offline sales through a multi-channel approach Indian retailers have already begun to look at merging the offline and online experiences Delivery boys suffer back problems: The backbone of Indian e-commerce boom faces serious breakdown As ecommerce companies try to meet the dearth of feet on the ground and wheels on the road, the pressure is building on delivery boys. Sebi eyes e-tail for mutual funds; To clear the decks for mutual funds via e-commerce at an out-of-turn board meeting next month To clear the decks for mutual funds via e-commerce at an out-of-turn board meeting next month Xolo, sub-brand of homebred handset maker Lava International sees slumping sales : Triggers restructuring and employee exits Its performance has been a drag on the parent, which, some estimates show, has dropped two positions since last year to the No. 5 spot. IT growth from 2015-17 will be secular and holistic across verticals, says Nasscom chief "Startups can innovate at a faster pace than large companies, and often have the perfect size and culture to breed new technology and ideas." Nine startup founders including Zomato, Paytm, Mouthshut.com appeal TRAI to preserve open internet In a letter, addressed to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman RS Sharma, the nine founders made an appeal to preserve the open nature of the internet. Investment in Indian start-ups at $5.18 billion in 464 deals Nearly two thirds of the investments or 632 deals were made by angel and seed investors Cisco wins US patent dispute over Wi-Fi technology Cisco Systems Inc did not infringe a patent holding company's Wi-Fi technology, a US appeals court ruled on Monday, reversing a near $64-million judgment against the networking equipment maker in the long-running patent dispute. Twitter will provide real-time public transport information The Delhi government has tied up with Twitter to bring real-time information on public transport for commuters on the social media during the 15 days the odd-even scheme is implemented. US court asks Indian company to pay $100000 for using pirated software Headquartered in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, Pratibha Syntex Ltd exports cloths to top American companies including Walmart. 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Dec 29, 2015 - The year of the great oil shakedown

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Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk Here are 2 stories that put to rest any questions about India's prowess in fundamental science and technology. Pandorum Technologies, a biotech startup, has made India's first artificial human liver tissue using 3D printing. While, the technology to make a complete organ may be a few years away, the tissue can be used to speed up drug testing in the early-development phase, among other applications. In another story, scientist at IISc have devised a new way to etch nano-circuits on silicon chips at room temperature, which could potentially accelerate research efforts at the fundamental chip level. The team pegs the current patterning cost at Rs 2.5-3 crore, which they expect to drop to Rs 10-25 lakh with their technology - Comment The year of the great oil shakedown Gulf oil exporters have waged an attritional struggle to capture the market Advt:Affordable Housing Schemes in Dubai with Post hand over payment plans Affordable Housing Schemes in Dubai with Post hand over payment plans Address financial exclusion based on faith: RBI panel A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) committee on financial inclusion has suggested that the government should transfer cash directly to persons instead of giving subsidies, and should replace interest subvention on agriculture loans with affordable Bombay High Court asks Vedanta, Cairn India to explain merger The petition alleged that these transactions violated rules under the Companies Act, and has asked the court to cancel the approval to merge Cairn India with Vedanta. India Post 's payment bank to start from March 2017: Ravi Shankar Prasad The Reserve Bank granted in-principle approval to 11 applicants, including Postal Department, in August to set up payments banks. Blackstone, Birla Corp and Baring Private Equity Asia in final race to acquire Reliance Cement The three have been shortlisted for the final round of negotiations from seven suitors that had shown initial interest, said multiple sources. Clearwater Capital reduces stake in Oricon by 4.39% Private equity firm Clearwater Capital Partner has reduced its stake in Oricon Enterprises by 4.39 per cent, selling 69.02 lakh shares in the open market. RBI's concerns on banking and economic stability The performance of public sector banks (PSBs) was sub-optimal compared to private sector banks (PVBs) as profitability and credit growth both declined. 10 stock ideas to capture India growth story in 2016 As Dalal Street bids adieu to an eventful and frustrating 2015, market watchers are increasingly becoming optimistic about calendar 2016. Banks pin hopes on RBI as discom revival plan unclear Lenders await clear govt instructions to proceed with plan, which carries with it risk of a portion of more than `4 trillion in debt owed by discoms ending up as bad loans Mega refinery, petrochemicals hub proposed in Maharashtra Refinery will be built in association with all the three state-owned oil marketing companies—Indian Oil Corp., BPCL and HPCL Reserve Bank of India releases report on financial inclusion RBI committee has noted that there has been a significant jump in financial inclusion-related activities Consumers with income above Rs.10 lakh to lose gas subsidy The move is based on the assumption that each consumer who will be denied the subsidy would be using five to eight cylinders a year JSW Cement, Birla Corp. among bidders for Reliance Infrastructure cement assets Reliance Infrastructure gets three bids in total; analysts do not expect assets to be sold at a high valuation Age of killer start-ups and online medium bring Bharat & India closer Though late, India Inc has now started recognising the disruption Subway to switch to cage-free eggs by 2025 Due to pressure from consumers and animal-rights groups, Subway is looking beyond the cage for its eggs. Snapdeal to invest more in logistics to speed up delivery, get edge over rivals Snapdeal will spend more on logistics and technology to better compete with Flipkart and Amazon's Indian unit, its co-founder said on Monday. US holiday retail sales grow a 'solid' 7.9 per cent: MasterCard US retail sales, excluding automobiles and gas, had grown 5.5 per cent in the period between Black Friday and Christmas Eve last year. Reliance Foundation pilot project in AP trains 15 youth for retail biz Reliance Foundation’s Skilling Entrepreneurship and Alternate Livelihood Support progr Exploiting opportunity: Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemoller to have four stores in India by end-March Hunkemöller, which opened its first store at Delhis DLF Promenade mall, will open two more outlets in the National Capital Region in the next two months. Voylla in talks with Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Retail to sell its fashion jewellery Voylla is in talks with Aditya Birla Group and Reliance Retail to sell its products in their multi-brand stores. The online jeweller has recently entered bricks-and-mortar retail. Mark Zuckerberg dials Nasscom, start-up leaders over Free Basics TRAI is aiming to solve the issues and based on the feedback received from various stakeholders it will come up with final guidelines for net neutrality by early 2016 Mobile powers e-tail, unicorns and more, best is yet to come Eight Indian unicorns already, hyper-local comes of age and with 50 mn shoppers, e-tail did $10 bn in GMV... that’s the pace of change & best is yet to come. Airtel Project Leap to disclose telecom coverage details in your area Project Leap, the Rs 60,000 crore network investment program of Bharti Airtel has taken yet another leap by disclosing coverage of voice and high speed broadband services in your respective localities. Sunil Mittal promoted Airtel will be sharing details of cellular sites being set up, shut down of sites due to external issues, etc. Airtel Mark Zuckerberg has personally answered Facebook's Indian critics His opinion piece in the Times of India argued for the country to allow a free internet service that has stirred controversy. China Telecom head Xiaochu Wang under scanner Beijing, Dec 27 (IANS) Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Unicom and current chair of China Telecom, is being investigated for graft, authorities said on Sunday. Chang was under investigation for suspected "severe disciplinary violations", Xinhua... Microsoft India to set up Centre of Excellence in Vizag Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hosted a breakfast meeting for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella -- who is currently on a visit to Hyderab.. It's Now Time For Mobile Wallet vs Credit Cards in India Mobile wallets are slowly yet steadily gaining a foothold in India. In the year 2015, not only mobile wallets become mainstream but they also become popular UT approves 24 mobile tower locations The UT administration has approved 24 new locations for mobile towers across Chandigarh.This has been a longstanding demand of cellular companies, which wanted better connectivity. Don't blame towers for poor service, says Trai With a penalty regime set to kick in for call drops from the New Year, telecom regulator Trai has warned mobile operators against using “excuses“ such as tower and spectrum shortage for providing deficient services to customers. Reliance Jio launches 4G for employees The soft launch of Jio's 4G broadband wireless services, beginning today, will test the strength and quality of network ahead of the commercial roll-out next year How scientists based in Canada are vital cog in success of Paytm The headquarters of Paytm, Indias largest mobile payment and commerce platform, is located in Noida, but the lifeblood of the company is far, far away. Will Indian companies take steps to contain cyber threats in 2016? Experts say that the frequency and ferocity of cyberattacks will only go up in 2016, as economic progress invariably attracts more such predators. Bumper, a mobile marketplace and booking platform for car servicing, secures $500,000 in seed funding from venture capital firm SAIF Partners Bumper competes with Cartisan, MotorExpert and SparesHub in the online car servicing space. Rubique brings onboard Myntras Anadi Misra as CTO and Manish Aggarwal from Reliance Jio as Business Head Rubique brings onboard Myntra’s Anadi Misra as CTO and Manish Aggarwal from Reliance Jio as Business Head, , myntra, reliance jio, Rubique, corporate movements Town Essentials, Bangalore-based grocery eCommerce firm, raises $1 million (Rs. 6.7 crore) in angel funding from a clutch of HNIs Town Essentials, Bangalore-based an online grocer has raised $1 million (Rs. 6.7 crore) in angel funding from a clutch of HNIs. With cyber threats to increase in 2016, will Indian companies take steps to be safe? Experts say that the frequency and ferocity of cyberattacks will only go up in 2016, as economic progress invariably attracts more such predators. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlights projects to help in connecting rural India Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella highlighted the role the White Spaces project by Microsoft could play in connecting rural India. Mark Zuckerberg seeks help from Nasscom, start-up leaders over Free Basics Standing firm on his crusade for Free Basics, Facebook's founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg on Monday reinstated that his pet project supports net neutrality and is not a walled garden of select applications. In an oped on Times of Facebook ready for third party audit of Free Basics plan : Open for Twitter, Google Countering allegations of gatekeeping in website selection on its free internet platform Free Basics, Facebook said it is open to the scrutiny of the process by any third party agency. How Infosys is connecting tech-hungry and mobile-friendly workforce with ‘InfyBubble’? In 2011, Infosys introduced InfyBubble, the enterprise networking platform. The external world was embracing social networking, and the need for an internal platform was felt on the ground as well. Infosys to unveil its largest 447 acre campus in Hyderabad in February The upcoming Pocharam campus of the IT giant would be spread over 447 acre, and built with a total investment of Rs 1,250 crore. Big data deployments will become mainstream in 2016, says Oracle Oracle has 12 development centres in India, including facilities in many emerging cities like Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram, Noida and Ahmedabad. TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives India Business Brief | India Retail News | India Food Brief | India Telecom Brief | India Finance Brief | India Software Brief | India Digital Brief | India Ecommerce Brief | India Franchise Brief | India HR Brief | India Logistics Brief | India Construction Brief About Us  |  Advertise Privacy Policy    Unsubscribe You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs. Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India