India exits recession phase, witness an annual growth of 34% in 4 years
+ Mukesh Ambani becomes the richest Asian again; Slack added 14,000 paying customers last year
Hey!
Welcome to a fresh edition of NextBigWhat’s newsletter, which brings you all the important headlines from the tech and business space.
If you like what you are seeing, press the *heart* button!
#ShortNewsOverChai
India exits recession phase, GDP for Q3 ended December 2020 stood at 0.4%
Further relaxations on business activities resulted in economic recovery.
India witness an annual growth of 34% in 4 years; needs nine times of ‘digitally skilled’ workers by 2025: Report
Business leaders said India played a key role as the global exporter of digital expertise.
Mukesh Ambani becomes the richest Asian again as China’s Zhong Loses $22 Billion
Hong Kong, China markets among the biggest decliners this week.
Jio is losing customers owing to poor network experience: Opensignal
Both operators were neck and neck in the net users gained.
Personal details millions of VPN users stolen; user databases of three popular Android VPN services have been hacked
Databases from SuperVPN, GeckoVPN, and ChatVPN, together containing a total of 21 million user records.
RBI reportedly forbids Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Flipkart, and Zomato to store credit card details of customers
RBI believes it would put customers at the risk of cybersecurity breaches.
50% of Indian businesses will deploy Robotic intelligent Automation By 2024: IDC Report
Also, 57% of firms are investing in RPA and intelligent automation to build resilience post-covid.
India tab market returns to growth with 2.8 million unit shipments in 2020, registers 14.7% growth in 2020: IDC Report
Consumer shipments reported an “exceptional” 59.8% growth over 2019, IDC added.
Bharti Airtel will acquire a 20 per cent stake in Bharti Telemedia; seek shareholders’ nod to issue 3.64 crore share
The transaction will be through the issuance of about 3.64 crores shares of Airtel at a price of INR 600 per share.
BSNL seeks concessions on domestic vendor clause; expects 4G rollout within a period of 10 months
BSNL’s Telecom department has communicated to the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the 4G rollout.
Micromax to scale up in 5G phones at ‘aggressive price points’, says Co-founder Rahul Sharma
The company is already working on a 5G device, would hit the market in the 2nd half of the year.
Xiaomi India announces to expand manufacturing capabilities with the new smartphone, smart TV plants
The company has partnered with DBG and BYD to start the manufacturing plants in Haryana, Tamil Nadu.
Highlight:
Around 90 lakh MSMEs were given credit worth INR 2.4 lakh crore under special schemes for India’s startups: PM Modi
Modi says Atmanirbhar Bharat will be built by our MSMEs and startups. He also asks banks and financial institutions to come out with innovative services for startups, fintech.
#Dhandha Corner
Maruti Suzuki, IIM Bangalore will jointly foster and guide 26 start-ups in the mobility sector
The incubation program will help start-ups become large-scale businesses.
Airbnb’s stock rose to 16% after earnings; analysts calls it ‘the best asset in travel’
It posted a net loss of $3.89 billion, but its Q4 revenue of $859 million was ahead of analysts’ expectations.
FMCG major Nestle plans to reach around 1.2 lakh villages to expand its business over the next 2-3 years
Nestle is working on D2C channels to reach customers at their doorsteps.
Infra.Market, the newest unicorn in the Indian market, raises $100 million in a Series C funding led by Tiger Global
The Indian startup is valued at $1 billion.
Hindustan Times makes a strategic investment in podcast hosting company Hubhopper
The amount raised has not been disclosed by either party.
Bounce lays off nearly 80% of staff, at least 300 more people as a part of cost-cutting exercise due to pandemic
2020 has affected mobility more than any sector.
Slack added 14,000 paying customers last year
The number of customers paying at least $1 million a year has also grown by more than half.
About The #TechGiants
Amazon-owned Twitch removes parent company’s anti-union ads from its platform
Twitch said that such ads shouldn’t have been permitted on its platform.
Google launches a new API for apps to easily track your sleep patterns
The company says it is an ‘Activity Recognition’ API that will surface information about a users sleep.
Apple changes iPhone and MacBook’s reparability scores to comply with French law
The new French law came into effect with anti-waste legislation.
Facebook launches “BARS” app that helps rappers create and share their raps using professionally premade beats
BARS also suggests rhymes as the user writes out the lyrics.
Snapchat test its ‘Spotlight’ feature in India to take on Instagram Reels
The company also said that people are uploading more than 175,000 videos per day using the Spotlight feature.
Apple, Google to train their virtual assistants to understand and adapt to users with atypical (shutter) speech
Apple’s Siri will be able to detect if someone speaks with a shutter.
More #GlobalTechNews
NASA awards Astra Space the contract to deliver six cube satellites to space for the TROPIC Mission
The contract is valued at $7.95 million, will focus on storm processes.
Elon Musk tweets, “It would be awesome” if SEC investigates his tweets that promoted Dogecoin
Musk’s “on the actual moon” tweet sent Dogecoin prices 25% higher.
Bitcoin Inventor’s identity could seriously deteriorate markets of Bitcoin and Ethereum: Coinbase
Bitcoin inventor has so far been a mystery, though it was first pseudonymously named back in 2010.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin delays the debut launch of next-generation rocket New Glenn until 2022
As a key Pentagon contract was lost to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.
Dell Technologies reports a surge in demand for business computers for remote workers and students
Dell also reported an overall profit of $3.5 billion for fiscal 2021.
South Korea’s 5G subscriptions report almost 13 million in January: Report
Overall mobile subscriptions stood at 70.69 million last month, with 4G subscriptions at 51.9 million.
#NationalNews
Travellers from Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab must be COVID-19 negative to enter Delhi
The test must be taken 72 hours before their air travel.
Students of class 9,10 and Plus One declared “all pass” by the TN government
The students will not have to take up the exams this year due to pandemic.
Ayodhya airport in UP to be named as Maryada Purushottam Sriram airport, after Lord Ram
Ayodhya is called the city of god and is considered equivalent to heaven.
Tamil Nadu Government launches WhatsApp channel to address public grievances
The newly launched WhatsApp system is currently available in English and Tamil languages.
I definitely love your news letter but would it possible to get links to the news items?