India's economic engine is revving up, but navigating the global headwinds requires sharp strategy. The rupee's recent volatility against the dollar underscores the complexities facing Indian businesses, impacting everything from import-export trade to domestic inflation. This week alone, we've seen significant shifts in the IT sector, with major players announcing restructuring and a renewed focus on AI-driven solutions. Meanwhile, the burgeoning startup ecosystem continues to attract substantial funding, despite a cautious global investor sentiment. The government's recent policy announcements on infrastructure development and digitalization are poised to further shape the business landscape, creating both opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs and established corporations alike. Understanding these market dynamics is crucial for success in today's rapidly evolving Indian economy. Stay informed with Abtak.com for the latest insights and analysis on key sectors including finance, manufacturing, and technology – empowering your business decisions in a dynamic market. Explore the complete business news section now to stay ahead of the curve.
Bengaluru, Jul 17 (PTI) Homegrown technology company Zoho on Thursday announced its proprietary large language (LLM) model designed for enterprises using its suite of products, the latest move reflecting bold ambitions of Indian firms to build and innovate on their own AI stacks in the global tech race. Zoho said it is also rolling out automatic speech recognition models for speech-to-text conversion in English and Hindi. The Chennai-headquartered company plans to further expand the available languages, beginning with other Indian and European languages. Zoho top management said it has not seen these AI advances impact jobs and hirings. The company further said it grew 32 per cent in 2024 in India, its second largest market globally after the US. The growth was driven by industries such as ITeS, banking financial services and insurance or BFSI, manufacturing, retail, and education. At the Zoholics India -- its annual user conference held this year in Bengaluru -- the company announced proprietary large language model Zia LLM, prebuild AI agents and 'no code' agent builder. Zoho CEO Mani Vembu said, "Our LLM model is trained specifically for business use cases, keeping privacy and governance at its core, which has resulted in lowering the inference cost, passing on that value to the customers, while also ensuring that they are able to utilise AI productively and efficiently." To a question on whether, the company would look to re-engineer or re-purpose its enterprise specific LLM for customers-centric GenAI model at some point in future, to rival, say a ChatGPT, especially given India's sovereign AI vision, Vembu said for the near future, the focus will be on enabling business customers, given vast opportunities and needs in this space. "Based on our experience and research, we will decide on next course of action," he said at a briefing. Zoho said its own large language model is built completely in-house by leveraging NVIDIA's AI accelerated computing platform. "Trained with Zoho product use cases in mind, ranging from structured data extraction, summarisation... and code generation, Zia LLM comprises three models with 1.3 billion, 2.6 billion, and 7 billion parameters, each separately trained and optimised for contextual applicability that benchmark competitively against comparable open source models in the market," the company said in a release. In the near term, Zoho will scale the LLM model sizes, starting with the first set of parameter increases by the end of 2025. "While Zoho supports many LLM integrations for users, including ChatGPT, Llama, and DeepSeek, Zia LLM continues Zoho's commitment to data privacy by allowing customers to keep their data on Zoho servers, leveraging the latest AI capabilities without sending their data to AI cloud providers," the company said. Zia LLM has been deployed across Zoho's data centres in the US, India, and Europe. The model is testing for internal use cases across Zoho's broad app portfolio, and will be available for customer use in coming months. To enable immediate adoption of agentic technology, Zoho has developed a roster of AI agents contextually infused right into its products. These agents can be used across various business activities, handling relevant actions based on the role of the user. These include customer service agent for Zoho Desk that can process incoming customer requests, understand the context, and either answer directly or triage them to a human representative, acting as an efficient first line of assistance. Zoho's platform-wide conversational AI assistant, Ask Zia, is bolstered with additional skills, tailored to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists, while supporting all users within an organisation. At the time of deployment, an "agent" can be provisioned as a digital employee, maintaining the user access permission structure defined within the organisation. Admins can perform behavioural audits as well as performance and impact analyses on "digital employees", ensuring that every agent is working as effectively as possible and within clear guardrails. Citing examples of use cases, it said, several pre-built agents are available for users, such as candidate screener, which identifies and ranks the most suitable candidates for a specific job opening based on role requirements, skills, experience, and other key attributes; deal analyser, which can analyse deals and provide insights such as win probability, next best action, and follow-up suggestions, and revenue growth specialist, which suggests opportunities for upsell and cross-sell for existing customers. The company has also launched AI agents specifically for Indian businesses for verification of PAN card, Voter ID, Udyog Aadhaar, GSTIN, driving licence, LPG connection and electricity bill. These can be utilised for a variety of use cases, such as employee background verification by HR teams or for document verification in financial services organisations. PTI MBI TRB
Air India launched a Black Friday Sale with discounts up to 20% on domestic flights and up to 12% on international flights to various destinations. The sale is available through the airline's website and mobile apps. Additional savings are possible with waived convenience fees and specific payment methods. The airline continues offering student and senior citizen discounts.Air India on Friday launched a limited-time Black Friday Sale offering discounts of up to 20 per cent off base fares for domestic flights within India. The Tata-owned airlines will also offer up to 12 per cent off base fares ...Read More >
* Commoditisation and similarity of products and services with competitors will have the most significant impact on how businesses deliver customer experiences over the next two years, according to the latest IDC InfoBrief commissioned by Affinidi * However, businesses who are looking to hyper-personalise their products as a competitive differentiator are facing several obstacles in addressing the privacy-personalisation dilemma, with 56% of them highlighting data collection and management to be a key challenge. * To truly enhance customer experiences through more personalised insights, they m ...Read More >
Till now there has been no update on the SSC CGL result announcement date and time yet. The Commission conducted the Tier I CGL examination from September 9 to September 24, 2024. The examination was held across the country at various exam centres. The Tier-I exam consisted of Objective-Type, multiple-choice questions on General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude, and English Comprehension. Each section had 25 questions, and the maximum mark was 50. The questions were set in English and Hindi except for English Comprehension. The provisional answer key was r ...Read More >
Bengaluru, 4th December 2024- PURE EV, one of India's leading electric two-wheeler manufacturers, has unveiled an ambitious roadmap to strengthen its presence nationwide and expand globally while introducing innovative solutions for sustainable mobility. Over the next 30 months, the company aims to add 250 new dealerships, taking its total network to over 320 across India. The expansion will be driven by the growing demand for long-range scooters, electric motorcycles, large B2B contracts, and the company's entry into the house-hold brand space. Dr. Nishanth Dongari, Founder & MD of PURE EV, ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], December 6 (ANI): After a steep correction in October 2024, where the Nifty 50 index fell around 6 per cent and closed 8 per cent lower than its all-time highs, FII outflows reduced in November, a sharp drop from October outflows says a report by JM Financials. The benchmark index remained largely flat in November, reflecting a calmer trading environment. Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) activity also exhibited a notable slowdown in selling pressure. FII outflows reduced to Rs182 billion (USD 2.2 billion) in November, a sharp drop from Rs919 billion (USD 10.9 billion) ...Read More >
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], December 13: IIFL Capital Services Limited (formerly IIFL Securities Limited) today announced the unveiling of its state-of-the-art office in Bengaluru, dedicated to wealth management services for High Networth Individuals (HNIs) and Ultra High Networth Individuals (UHNIs). IIFL Capital Services is one of the largest wealth managers in India, with about $30 billion (Rs 2.5 lac crore) worth of assets under management, advice and custody. Also Read | Big score is just around the corner for Steve Smith, Skipper Pat Cummins Backs Star Batter Ahead of IND vs AUS 3rd ...Read More >
LONDON - The Rank Group (LON:RNK) Plc, a British gambling company, announced today the appointment of Mr. Christian Nothhaft as a non-executive director, effective immediately. This change comes as Mr. Chew Seong Aun retires from the board, also effective today. Mr. Nothhaft brings a broad range of experience to the Rank board, including expertise in digital transformation. Alex Thursby, Rank's chairman, expressed confidence in Nothhaft's abilities, stating that his international and strategic experience will be valuable to the company. Nothhaft has a notable background in business managemen ...Read More >
In an exclusive interview with FinTech Magazine at Money20/20, Matthew Van Buskirk, Co-founder and CEO of Hummingbird Regtech, discusses how the company is enabling data to be labelled at ease through the use of artificial intelligence. Hummingbird positions itself as an AI enablement company, addressing a critical challenge in the financial sector: the lack of well-labelled, clean training data. "From the day we launched, we saw that deploying effective machine learning or AI capabilities in this industry is incredibly difficult because we don't have clean training data. Instead, we have th ...Read More >
Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced several pre-election promises targeting auto drivers. These include a ₹10 lakh insurance policy, ₹1 lakh for daughters' marriages, a biannual ₹2,500 uniform allowance, free coaching for their children, and the relaunch of the 'PoochO' ride-booking app. Kejriwal and the AAP are campaigning to secure a third term in the upcoming February elections.Ahead of crucial Delhi assembly polls, Arvind Kejriwal promised several measures for auto dri ...Read More >
ess than 24 hours after he asserted in Nigeria's Abuja that stepping out of the comfort zone, innovating and creating new paths has now become the very essence of today's India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday told the gathering of world's most influential leaders converged in Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Summit that the main reason for India's success lies in his government's 'back to basics' and 'march to the future' approach. Addressing the G20 session on 'Social Inclusion and the Fight Against Hunger and Poverty' at the bayside museum of modern art during the two-day 19th G20 Summit, ...Read More >
Chennai, Dec 10 (PTI) Standalone health insurance company Star Health Insurance has targeted doubling its business in Tamil Nadu over the next four years, a top official said. As part of its growth strategy, the company plans to add 12,000 new agents across Tamil Nadu and expand its footprint with 25 new offices in both rural and urban areas in FY2025. Also Read | 7th Pay Commission Latest News: Narendra Modi Government Likely To Hike DA for Employees by 3% in January 2025, Check Details. Star ...Read More >
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed further recovery of an outstanding tax demand from news portal NewsClick, directing the company's banker not to release any more money to the tax department based on a 2023 notice, and allowing the portal to use its two bank accounts for daily operations. The order was passed by a bench headed by justice BV Nagarathna on an application moved by PPK Newsclick Studio Limited, which alleged that ICICI Bank was not allowing the company to use its accounts despite a top court order to this effect passed on August 9. The tax department had raised the demand again ...Read More >
Infosys has announced an average 85% performance bonus for eligible employees in Q2 FY25, reflecting its strong financial performance. The bonus, paid to mid- and junior-level staff, will be credited with the November salaries, with individual payouts varying based on performance. This follows Infosys' impressive 4.7% rise in Q2 net profit and a revenue increase of 5.1%, leading to an upward revision of its FY25 revenue guidance. The bonus payout surpasses the previous quarter's 80%, with Infosys outpacing rivals like TCS. Employees are also awaiting salary hikes, with revisions expected from ...Read More >
Melbourne: A celebrity and "public relations maven" from Australia Roxy Jacenko has said she regrets turning her daughter, Pixie Curtis, into a child social media influencer. The 13-year-old's Instagram account had long been used by her mother to generate income via brand sponsorships and online businesses such as Pixie's Bows and Pixie's Toys. But Jacenko is now saying the money wasn't worth the negative effects of Pixie's public persona, which included being bullied at school. This admission, along with the government's decision to ban social media for under-16s, is a timely reminder for p ...Read More >
Sunmei Hotels Group has announced the launch of Sunmei Group International (SGI) and three new overseas brands—SHANKEE, PENRO, and LANOU—marking its expansion into the UAE market. The company plans to introduce SHANKEE Hotels, a smart economy brand, to cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. SGI focuses on smart marketing, modular renovations, and intelligent operations, leveraging big data and AI to enhance service and guest experiences. Chairman Ma Yingyao aims to open 100 hotels globally within the next decade, doubling revenue and establishing a strong international presence for Chinese ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], December 4 (ANI): The GSEC in Hyderabad will be the first of its kind in the APAC region after Tokyo and only the fifth globally, with similar facilities in Dublin, Munich, and Malaga, according to a statement. This GSEC is a specialised international cybersecurity hub designed to play a crucial role in developing advanced security and online safety products tailored for the Indian context. The centre will focus on cutting-edge research, AI-driven security solutions, and creating a collaborative platform for leading experts and researchers in cybersecurity. It also aims to ...Read More >
Gurugram (Haryana) [India], December 12: Navanc, a pioneering FinTech startup building India's first AI-powered property score and stack for secured lending and insurance practices, has successfully raised USD 1 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Prarambh Ventures, with participation from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), Brigade REAP FirstPort Capital, and marquee angel investors Also Read | US: Joe Biden Commutes Roughly 1,500 Sentences and Pardons 39 People in Biggest Single-Day Act of Clemency. The funds will be directed toward expanding operations across India, with a ...Read More >
PRNewswire Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], December 13: Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited, the first standalone health insurance company in India, today announced the launch of its revolutionary retail health insurance product, 'SUPER STAR'. This innovative policy offers a long-term policy for the retail health segment, combining advanced features and highly customisable covers to address the growing complexities of modern lifestyles, rising medical expenses, and unforeseen emergencies. * Offers a long-term policy and unparalleled, highly customisable solutions for evolving heal ...Read More >
- Renewed homepage of Samyang's industrial water treatment solution brand, 'TRILITE' ... Featuring AI chatbot 'TRIGENT' and Design programs 'TriAngle' - Providing tailored and technical information to the user's queries ... Service available in over 100 languages. - Innovative Water Treatment Design Softwares... Ion Exchange Resin and RO membrane SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Samyang Corporation (CEO Kang Ho-sung) introduced its new website for its water treatment solutions brand, 'TRILITE' (http://www.samyangtrilite.com), along with the launch of an innovative Artificia ...Read More >
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal inaugurated an online Hindi course on the Constitution of India, celebrating 75 years of the document. The initiative aims to make constitutional principles more accessible. Developed with NALSAR University, it aims to educate citizens on their rights and democratic duties. In a significant step marking 75 years of India's Constitution, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has launched an online Hindi course designed to make constitutional education more accessible to the public. This initiative, a collaboration between the Department of Legal Affairs and ...Read More >
OnePlus has released a new OxygenOS 15 update (CPH2573_15.0.0.305) for the OnePlus 12, bringing promised AI features such as AI Retouch, clarity enhancement, unblur, and reflection removal for photos, along with AI Notes. The update also enables live photo sharing with nearby iOS devices and includes the November 2024 Android security patch. Currently rolling out in batches in India, the update will expand to North America, Europe, and global markets next week. The update enhances both functionality and security, delivering on OnePlus' commitment to improving user experience with innovative AI ...Read More >
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 28: Pioneering furniture fittings solutions brand Hettich India is proud to announce that it has been officially certified as a Great Place to Work, a recognition that celebrates the company's unwavering commitment to creating an ecosystem where everybody thrives. Also Read | Diljit Dosanjh Concert in Kolkata 2024: Planning to Attend Dil-Luminati Tour, Don't Miss These 5 Must-Try Local Foods. This honor is especially meaningful, with an overwhelming 95% participation from employees helping Hettich India. It reflects a shared commitment to creating a fam ...Read More >
Anuj Kumar, Director & CEO of CAMS, highlights that despite recent market corrections, the company expects FY25 to be one of its strongest years. CAMS continues to dominate by winning 70-80% of new bids, focusing on execution and margin expansion, and anticipates significant revenue and profit growth driven by mutual funds and associated business lines.Anuj Kumar, Director & CEO, CAMS, says there has been some market correction and some flattening of the mood in the last two months. But as things come back, we should be holding our projections and FY25 should be one of the strongest years in t ...Read More >
The Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2024, one of India's largest platforms for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, is set to culminate in its Grand Finale at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee from 11th to 15th December 2024. As part of its 7th edition, SIH 2024 continues to exemplify the vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji to make India self-reliant and globally competitive through youth empowerment and innovation. He will interact with young innovators at the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2024 on 11th December 2024, at around 4:30 PM, via video con ...Read More >
As businesses increasingly adopt AI, customizing large language models (LLMs) like GPT and Claude is key to meeting industry-specific needs. Techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and in-context learning are gaining popularity. RAG enables real-time data retrieval, ideal for tasks requiring up-to-date information, while in-context learning provides guidance within the task prompt. Recent advancements in LLMs, such as larger context windows, offer new possibilities but also present challenges, including cost and efficiency. A hybrid approach combining RAG and long-context models m ...Read More >
NewsVoir Gurugram (Haryana) [India], December 12: Navanc, a pioneering FinTech startup building India's first AI-powered property score and stack for secured lending and insurance practices, has successfully raised USD 1 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Prarambh Ventures, with participation from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), Brigade REAP FirstPort Capital, and marquee angel investors The funds will be directed toward expanding operations across India, with a focus on strengthening Navanc's presence in urban and semi-urban areas. Additionally, the startup will bolster ...Read More >
By Shankar Bhaskaran, Managing Director - India, MetricStream In recent years, operational risk management (ORM) has garnered significant attention from banking and financial services (BFS) regulators. The increasingly unpredictable operational landscape -- characterised by fluctuating business prospects, a rise in regulations and updates, escalating service costs, and internal challenges such as operational lapses, fraud, and employee disengagement -- has created a pressing need for robust operational risk management strategies in BFS organisations. Fortunately, the leaders of BFS organisat ...Read More >
JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon has envisioned a future where artificial intelligence (AI) could cut the traditional work week down to just 3.5 days. Speaking at the recent JPMorgan's annual investor day, Dimon said that AI would not just make businesses better but also improve work-life balance for employees, Fortune reports. He highlighted the historical benefits of technology but also noted job displacement risks from AI. In a chat with Bloomberg TV, Dimon disclosed that thousands at JP Morgan are already using AI. He called the tech a "living breathing thing" that keeps evolving. Despite the r ...Read More >
Palo Alto Networks, released its 2025 cybersecurity predictions for the Asia Pacific region, outlining five key trends that cyber practitioners can expect to unfold in the coming twelve months and position their organisations for a more secure future. Organisations across the APAC region have emphasised embedding AI into business processes in 2024. This includes cybersecurity processes, where organisations and their adversaries are engaged in an AI arms race. But alarmingly, according to a recent PwC report, more than 40% of leaders say they do not understand the cyber risks posed by emerging ...Read More >
ICICI Lombard partners with Arya.ai to leverage the Arya Apex AI platform, resulting in 98% workflow automation and enhanced customer satisfaction. This collaboration sets a new standard in the insurance industry by significantly boosting operational speed, scalability, and customer experience in just three months. ICICI Lombard, a major player in the Indian private-sector insurance market, has teamed up with Arya.ai, a leader in AI-driven enterprise solutions. Together, they are revolutionizing the industry with Arya Apex, an all-encompassing AI API platform that has achieved a remarkable 98 ...Read More >