AI is changing the world. In our lifetimes, we have seen a cloud revolution come in, then came in the mobiles. Now is the time for AI revolution. Similar sentiment was expressed by Sundar Pichai recently, when he said “I think we will evolve in computing from a mobile-first to an AI-first w…
Opinion
Currency Switch Impact | Who gains, who loses
It has been a little under two weeks since Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will no longer be legal tender. Although it is still early days, the impact of the move to squeeze 86% of India’s currency in circulation is beginning to take effect. While the sudden m…
Why small finance faces a big wipeout
The media generally believes that demonetisation has been a political success, that it has put opposition parties on the back foot, and won the hearts of millions who think Modi is the only politician willing to take tough decisions to hit black money. Middle-class folks standing in long queues m…
Know how a start-up should expand?
The speed of scaling up is one among the myriad challenges startups face today. Every now and then they are posed with the question of whether to launch in multiple cities at high speed to attain market leadership or to take a slow and steady pace of city-by-city launch to establish a strong base…
How start-ups can turbocharge global productivity growth
We have witnessed in recent years the emergence of technology start-up ecosystems across the world. New technology trends are reducing the costs as well as the barriers of access to markets and resources for developing technology start-ups. If in the 1990s, an entrepreneur needed $2 million and m…
SoftBank & its uneasy ties with India’s start-ups
Those listening in on SoftBank Group Corp.’s second-quarter earnings briefing would have picked up an interesting anecdote in the question and answer session with founder and CEO Masayoshi Son. Back when Uber was still quite small, Son passed up a chance to invest in the San Francisco-based cab-h…
Creating a skilled workforce
Prime Minister Modi shares the dreams and aspirations of a billion plus people of the country “to make India a global economic leader”. To make this dream a reality, Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, Startup India and Swachh Bharat programmes, among others, have been launche…
Services NBFCs are providing to SMEs to support their growth
The Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector has been playing a key role in the emergence of India as one of the leading economies of the world. The sector is fomenting inclusive growth of our country by creating employment opportunities through industrialisation in the rural and semi-urban areas…
Expert view: Key takeaways from the new GST rates
Uncertainty on rates for gold is not warranted as gold is a key determinant of the rate structure, said Prashant Deshpande, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, while commenting on the 4-tier indirect tax structure announced by the GST Council today. He further said: “The four rate st…
Make in India eyes bigger role for MSMEs, but the sector sounds alert
At a time when the government’s Make-in-India initiative envisages a bigger role for MSMEs, a caution has been sounded: Contribution of manufacturing MSMEs in the GDP and total manufacturing output has decreased steadily in the recent past from 7.7% to 7% and from 42.2% to 37.3%, respectively, du…