MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), and Meta, here 13th Sep 2022, announced the launch of an accelerator programme to support and accelerate XR technology startups across India.

 

This initiative, XR Startup Program focuses on skilling and building technological capabilities for the metaverse, and will help shape the ecosystem for these emerging technologies, including Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in the country.

 

The Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said, “It is an important day in terms of achieving Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji’s vision of making the next 10 years as India’s Techade - full of opportunities for young Indians. It is also an important milestone in area of Metaverse which is an important part of emerging future of the internet. I look forward to the collaboration with Meta and I hope it provides the necessary impetus towards fueling the growth of investments in future technologies in line with the government vision for making India a trillion-dollar economy by 2025.”

 

Emphasising on the potential of Indian Startups from tier 2/3 cities & how the Narendra Modi government is committed in encouraging them, the Minister further added, “Young Indian Startups, especially from tier 2/3 cities, will play a significant role in emerging tech areas like Web 3.0, blockchain, AI, Metaverse etc. and will shape the future of Technology and the internet for India and the world.

 

The Accelerator Program will support 40 early-stage start-ups working in XR technologies with a grant of Rs 20 lakhs each. Further, the Grand Challenge will encourage early-stage innovators in sectors like Education, Learning and Skills, Healthcare, Gaming and Entertainment, Agritech & Climate Action and Tourism & Sustainability.

 

The innovators will be provided support to upscale from the R&D phase to developing workable products and services. At first 80 innovators will be shortlisted to attend a bootcamp, out of which, a total of 16 innovators will be provided grants of Rs 20 lakhs each and further support to help them develop Minimum Viable Product (MVP)/ prototypes..

Source : PIB

Adani Group will build 3 giga factories for manufacturing solar modules, wind turbines and hydrogen electrolyzers as part of a $70 billion investment in clean energy by 2030.

The Chairman of Adani Group, Gautam Adani, said the Group will generate an additional 45 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy to add to its existing 20 GW capacity, as well as 3 million tonnes of hydrogen, all of which will be completed before 2030. 

 

“This value chain will be fully indigenous and aligned with the geopolitical needs of our nation. However, I believe we can further accelerate our goals with support from companies in the US that are willing to work with us. Both of us stand to benefit,” he said after receiving the USIBC Global Leadership Award. On semiconductor, he said it is essential to almost all sectors.

 

The ongoing war has only accelerated this recognition. “The paradox of capitalism is that India continues to be the best global pool for millions of engineers – especially for the US companies – but the primary value addition to the businesses happens outside India..

Source : New Indian Express

Bharti Airtel has launched a pilot project in partnership with TP Northern Odisha Distribution to offer bill payment solutions to more than two million registered customers of the utility, said a senior executive at India’s second largest telecom operator.

 

The initiative will mobilise the 4,000 banking points of Airtel Payment Banks (APB) in north Odisha to facilitate bill payments. Customers of the joint venture between Tata Power and the Odisha government simply need to visit the store and provide their contact numbers and consumer numbers at the banking point.

 

Airtel IQ business head Abhishek Biswal told ET that the company’s ambition is to scale this project across Odisha and eventually partner with other state electricity boards for similar solutions. APB has nearly 500,000 outlets across the country.

 

Airtel IQ is a unit of Airtel’s enterprise business. For the quarter to June, Airtel Business reported revenue of Rs 4,365.6 crore, up 15% year-on-year. Its contribution to the overall revenue stood at 19%..

Source : Economic Times

Engineering services firm L&T Technology Services announced on Monday(29th Aug 2022) that it has won a five-year, multi-million-dollar deal from European luxury automaker BMW Group to provide high-end engineering services for its suite of infotainment consoles targeted for its family of hybrid vehicles.

 

The LTTS team of engineers will be providing services in the areas of software build and integration, infotainment validation and defect management, the company said in a statement.

 

"The large deal was awarded to LTTS because of its deep domain expertise and engineering leadership in transportation technologies and LTTS' proven ability to offer unique opportunities to scale up existing projects and work on new ones," it said.

 

LTTS said it has an existing near shore centre which provides engineering and R&D services for BMW Group's suite of infotainment consoles and its family of hybrid electric vehicles.

 

The proximity to BMW Group's campus will enable LTTS' engineers to work on a variety of solutions and offer services in real time, it stated..

Source : Business Standard

* India's top oil refiner, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has planned to invest more than Rs 2 lakh crore (or $25 billion) to achieve net-zero emissions from its operations by 2046.

 

* The target set is in line with India's aim to reach net-zero emissions by 2070.

 

* IOC oil refining and petrochemicals business has a total emission of 21.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2)

 

* IOC has already prepared a road map to achieve its net zero scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Source : Deccan Chronicle

Digital financial services firm Paytm on Tuesday(16th Aug 2022) said it partnered with Samsung stores across India to facilitate smart payments as well as its loan service Paytm Postpaid through deployment of point of sale devices.

 

The partnership will enable consumers purchasing Samsung devices -- laptops, smartphones, television, smart watches etc -- from any authorised store in the country to pay through Paytm payment instruments, including UPI, wallet, buy now pay later scheme, debit cards and credit cards.

 

"We continue to drive innovation in the offline payments market and with our PoS (Point of Sale) devices, merchants are able to drive higher customer loyalty. The partnership with Samsung stores will enable us to further extend the convenience of smart payments to a larger customer base," said Bhavesh Gupta, Paytm CEO - Lending and Head Payments.

 

Paytm through its postpaid or buy-now-pay-later service will provide credit limit of up to Rs 60,000 per month. It will also give customers an option to avail personal loan of up to Rs 2 lakh through financial institution partners of Paytm, according to the company statement.

 

Paytm claims to be the leader in offline payments, having deployed 4.1 million devices across the country as of July 2022.

Source : Business Standard

The board of infrastructure company Reliance Infrastructure has authorised the issuance of up to $400 million, 5 per cent unsecured Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) on a private placement basis.

 

The FCCBs shall be convertible into equity shares of ₹10 each of the company as per the FCCBs term, at ₹123 (including a premium of ₹113) per equity share.

 

The tenure of the bonds will be ten years.

 

Each FCCB of $1,000,000 is equivalent to ₹7.94 crore..

Source : The Hindu Businessline

India's largest private business conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. has been ranked 104th, with $93,982 million ($93.9 billion) in revenue in 2021-22, up 49.4% from the year 2020-21. RIL's rank in Fortune's Global 500 jumped 51 spots in one year.

India has nine companies in the Fortune's Global 500 list -- five from the public sector, and four from the private sector..

Source : Fortuneindia

Nine Indian public and private companies have made it to the prestigious 2022 Fortune Global 500 list, with insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India ranking 98th on the list with revenue worth $97,266.7 million ($97.2 billion), up 2.6% YoY, in 2021-22. The company broke into the list this year after it was listed on domestic stock exchanges in May this year.

 

India's largest private business conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. has been ranked 104th, with $93,982 million ($93.9 billion) in revenue in 2021-22, up 49.4% from the year 2020-21. RIL's rank in Fortune's Global 500 jumped 51 spots in one year.

Source : Fortuneindia

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction has reached 6 billion in July 2022, the highest ever since its inception in 2016.

 

According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the UPI has reported 6.28 billion transactions amounting to Rs 10.62 trillion.

 

Month-on-month, the volume of transactions was up 7.16% and value increased 4.76%.

 

Year-on-year (YoY), the volume of transactions nearly doubled while value of transactions was up 75%..

Source : Business Standard