Indian Startup News

India-born Google CEO Sundar Pichai has received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, IIT-Kharagpur.

Pichai took to Instagram to share pictures and wrote, “My parents always hoped I would get my doctorate, I think an honorary one still counts.“

“The access to education and technology at IIT put me on a path to Google and helping more people access technology. IIT’s role in technology will only grow in importance with the AI revolution, and I will always be thankful for my time there,“ Pichai added.

The ceremony, which was held in San Francisco, also recognised Pichai's wife, Anjali Pichai, with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

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#google #iitkharagpur #iit #award #success #indianstartupnews

While addressing a public rally in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government has set a target of eliminating diesel and petrol vehicles within 10 years.

“I want to eliminate diesel and petrol vehicles from this country within 10 years. Nowadays, electric scooter, car and bus have come. While you spend Rs 100 on diesel, they consume electricity worth Rs 4,“ Gadkari said.

According to the Vahan portal (a portal that tracks numbers related to vehicles in the country), India has already witnessed a rise in the adoption of electric vehicles and there has been a consistent increase in the sales of electric vehicles from April 2023 to April 2024.

#electricvehicles #petrol #diesel #cars #India #Indianstartupnews

Logistics company DTDC Express has partnered with Gurugram-based Skye Air Mobility to launch last-mile drone-based delivery services.

Notably, the company first executed drone delivery from Bilaspur to Gurgaon sector 92, covering a distance of 7.5 km in just 3-4 minutes, compared to the usual 15 minutes by road.

DTDC plans to extend this service to other locations across the country.

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#logistics #drone #delivery #gurugram #startup #indianstartupnews

Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, in a recent post on X, said that it is Tesla's loss, not India's.

His comments came after a report said that Tesla's executives have ceased communications with the Indian government.

“If true, this is Tesla’s loss, not India’s. While the Indian EV and Lithium ecosystem is early, we’re gaining momentum quickly. It’ll be too late for Tesla when they look at India seriously again in a few years,“ Aggarwal said.

According to Bloomberg, Musk's team has not followed up with New Delhi officials after the billionaire postponed a visit to India in late April.

The report said that Tesla is facing capital issues and does not plan to invest in India in the near future.

#elonmusk #tesla #india #electriccars #olaelectric #Indianstartupnews

Aditya Birla Group-owned UltraTech Cement has approved the acquisition of a 32.72% stake in India Cements from its promoters and associates for Rs 3,954 crore.

With this deal, UltraTech's total ownership in the Chennai-based cement company will rise to 55.49%.

Notably, UltraTech has also announced an open offer to buy up to a 26% additional stake from public shareholders, worth about Rs 3,142.39 crore.

#cement #ultratechcement #business #company #indianstartupnews

Satya Nadella-led Microsoft Windows has suffered a major global outage, causing chaos around the world, with banking, railways, airlines, TV channels, and healthcare services were badly impacted.

Even IT operations of the Paris Olympics 2024, brokerages, including Nuvama, Edelweiss, Motilal Oswal, and the London Stock Exchange, have been affected by the outage.

US-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which saw its share price decline over 10%, admitted that the problem was caused by an update to its Falcon antivirus software, which is designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks.

On the other hand, the tech giant said it is taking “mitigation action“ to deal with “the lingering impact“ of the outage.

“We're investigating an issue impacting users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services. We're continuing to reroute the affected traffic to healthy infrastructure,“ the tech giant.

Meanwhile, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming“.

Many airports and airlines, including United Airlines, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa, were affected.

The situation was worse for budget carrier IndiGo, which had to cancel around 200 flights.

Other airlines faced flight delays and cancellations both domestically and internationally.

According to CrowdStrike founder George Kurtz, the problems were caused by a “defect“ in a “content update“ for Microsoft Windows devices.

He also clarified that this was not a security incident or cyberattack.

“The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,“ he said.

#microsoft #windows #airport #airline #banks #technology #services #indianstartupnews

65% of India's rapidly growing population is under the age of 35, and many lack the skills required by a modern economy.

According to the Economic Survey 2024, approximately 51.25% of the youth are considered employable.

This means that about one in two young individuals are not immediately employable upon graduating from college. However, it is important to note that this percentage has improved significantly, rising from around 34% to 51.3% over the past decade.

#employment #freshers #skills #college #technology #Indianstartupnews

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal has reportedly sold his remaining 7.5% stake in Ola Electric rival Ather Energy.

According to an ET report, Bansal sold a 2.2% stake to two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp for Rs 124 crore, with the rest sold to billionaire Nikhil Kamath.

Bansal, one of the first investors in Ather Energy, invested around Rs 400 crore over the years, starting in 2014.

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D2C consumer organic grocery brand Two Brothers Organic Farms has raised Rs 58.25 crore in a Series A funding round led by Rainmatter.

Rainmatter invested Rs 50 crore, while Raju Chekuri, a notable Silicon Valley entrepreneur and founder of NetEnrich, infused the remaining amount.

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#d2c #funding #investors #grocery #rainmatter #farmers #startup #indianstartupnews

Kotak AMC CEO Nilesh Shah, recently in the podcast “Invest Aaj For Kal with Anant Ladha”, said that working 84 hours a week could boost India's growth and elevate everyone to “middle and upper-income levels.“

Shah's remarks follow those of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, who advocated for a 70-hour work week, which sparked a storm on social media and ignited a debate about work-life balance.

“Charlie Munger wrote in one of his books that for one generation, people in Korea worked 84 hours a week. That means 12 hours a day, every day, every month, every year,“ Shah noted.

He added, “Recently in India, Narayana Murthy mentioned working 70 hours a week, which stirred controversy. He said that Indians need to work like Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese. If we work hard, there is no doubt that India's growth will continue, the pace will accelerate, and a time will come when there will be no sub-Saharan Africa-level poverty in India. We will have lifted everyone to middle-income and upper-income levels.“

#work #hardwork #success #money #india #business #Indianstartupenws

Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, in a recent post on X, advised other EV makers to save on marketing costs and focus more on supply chains and technology.

“I see some EV companies trying to make ‘cute’ ads in a bid to grow their stagnant sales,“ Aggarwal wrote. He said the electric vehicles is a supply chain and manufacturing business.

“Save the marketing and sales ₹₹ and invest it into supply chains and tech to lower your product costs,“ Aggarwal added.

#olaelectric #marketing #business #startup #scooter #indianstartupnews

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said it is ready to invest the mandated $500 million in its Indian business.

However, the carmaker has made one condition before making this investment.

The company said it will only invest the mandated amount, as prescribed in the EV policy, if the 5% GST on EVs stays for the next ten years, TOI reported.

Mercedes-Benz has been an early adopter of electric mobility in India and is actively expanding its green car portfolio to include six models.

Its current electric lineup features the EQS limousine, EQB MPV, and EQE SUV, all assembled at its factory outside Pune.

The company also plans to launch its smallest electric SUV, the EQA and is finalizing plans to introduce the EQS Maybach and electric G Class SUVs to the market.

Notably, Mercedes-Benz India sold 9,262 units in the first half of 2024, marking its highest-ever half-yearly sales in the country.

#mercedesbenz #india #electriccars #luxuary #EV #tax #news #indianstartupnews