SoftBank eyes five Indian start-ups; may invest up to $100 mn in each
SoftBank is in talks with about four to five Indian start-ups, with valuations ranging from $400 to $500 million, to invest and support them in their next stage of growth and eventually help them become unicorns. The areas the investment giant is looking at include the B2C space, enterprise, and media, said sources aware of the development.
The Masayoshi Son-led Japanese tech investor plans to put in $50-100 million in each of these companies. This is far lower than what the legendary investor has put in many of his companies in the country. Read more...
BSNL looks to ring in 100 million 4G customers in a couple of years
State-run BSNL seeks to get 100 million customers to use its 4G service in the next 12-24 months as it rolls out the services across the country, Union Minister of Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw told Business Standard. Currently, there are about 769 million 4G users in the country, out of total 1,100 million total telecom users.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and MTNL have a combined 105 million total telecom subscribers, or around 9.1 per cent of the total market, though they are 2G or 3G users. Read more...
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ED raids on foreign-registered online gaming portals at 25 locations
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it detected illegal foreign remittances of about Rs 4,000 crore after it carried out multi-state raids against foreign-registered online gaming websites and companies operating in the country in alleged violation of the foreign exchange law.
In a statement, it said that Rs 19.55 lakh and more than $ 2,695 in cash were seized apart from freezing 55 bank accounts during this operation carried out under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Read more...
Indian IT firms to see revenue decelerate by 5%: S&P Global Ratings
Macroeconomic (macro) concerns, along with a cautious approach towards discretionary information technology (IT) spending, will see the revenue for Indian IT firms decelerate by 5 per cent through 2024-25 (FY25), from the highs of 12-18 per cent in 2022-23, said analysts from S&P Global Ratings.
“The reason behind this slow growth is a macro slowdown. Customers are cutting their discretionary IT spending, especially on projects that take longer to deliver quantifiable outcomes. We also acknowledge that there are still strong economic headwinds for the next few years,” said Spencer Ng, associate director, corporate ratings, S&P Global Ratings, over a call in a media briefing. Read more...
With $43.45-bn fortune, Hinduja family tops 35th Sunday Times rich list
Gopi Hinduja and family, which owns Hinduja group, has topped the 35th Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £35 billion (about $43.45 billion). The number of billionaires fell for the first time since the 2007-08 financial crisis.There are 171 billionaires — down six from 2022. Read more...
