Paytm Announces $1.4 B Raise Funding from SoftBank

Paytm, the second largest Internet company run by One97 Communications, on Thursday said that it has raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank Group in one of the largest funding rounds by a single investor in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Besides reducing the burden of Chinese investment by Alibaba, Paytm will find the Japanese conglomerate investment to expand its soon to be launched payments bank operations, expand the user-base and unveil more financial products.

Commenting on the development, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said they the company is at an inflexion point in its journey. “This investment by Softbank and support of the incredible entrepreneur Masayoshi Son is a great endorsement of our team’s execution and vision. We believe that we have a great opportunity to bring financial inclusion to half-a-billion Indians.”

Paytm plans to invest about around Rs 10,000 crore over the next three to five years towards enabling half-a-billion Indians to join the mainstream economy. “As a part of this vision, the company will soon launch the Paytm Payments Bank,” it added.

Paytm, which has around 230 million wallet-users, plans to launch its payments bank on May 23, and will use the money to acquire new 500 million customers and launch a slew of financial service products such as wealth management, deposits, and money lending, among others.

Paytm has tied up with several financial institutions including banks such as ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda and startups such as Capital First and Capital Float to lend to customers on their behalf.

SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said that the company’s investment in Paytm is line with the Indian government's vision to promote digital inclusion. “We are committed to transforming the lives of hundreds of millions of Indian consumers and merchants by providing them digital access to a broad array of financial services, including mobile payments,” said Son.

SoftBank, which was an early investor in Alibaba, has committed investments of over $10 billion in India. It has pumped close to $2 billion into Indian startups like Snapdeal, Ola and Housing.com in last few years. The company had to write off a significant portion of that after the devaluation of those investments.

Agencies

Now Free Tool to Combat WannaCry from K7 Computing

K7 Computing is offering a free tool to scan and remove files affected by WannaCry ransomware, which has been causing widespread damage in the last few days.

No other ransomware has exploited a very recently-discovered Microsoft security flaw to spread this way. This makes WannaCry “the most deadly, successful ransomware attack in history,” said J Kesavardhanan, Founder & CEO, K7 Computing, which provides anti-virus solutions.

K7 scanner

It is important that clients know if the system is infected or not by WannaCry ransomware. K7’s scanner scans the system to identify any WannaCry files and removes them from the machine. The scanner also identifies and removes other dangerous ransomware and bots. The free scanning and removal tool can be utilised by individual users and companies, he told the Hindu group journalists.

WannaCry encrypts the data and offers the decrypt code for a price (a ransomware). It exploits an MS17-010 vulnerability to distribute itself. It is possible that WannaCry can arrive through email, either as a malware attachment or as a malicious link. Effect of WannaCry could be far more than what has been reported in the media, he said.

K7 Computing protects over 15 million customers globally against threats to their IT environment. So far, due to WannaCry, nearly 7,000 machines have been affected, he said.

International anti-virus fraternity, including K7 Computing, is working towards creating a decrypt code to retrieve data, which should be made available at the earliest. In the current scenario, users will have to opt for a diagnostic and preventive solution, he said.

WannaCry can spread to all Windows OS prior to Windows 10 without the users’ knowledge. Particularly vulnerable are those operating systems that have not been updated with the latest patch/update. If allowed to launch, from a malicious email attachment, WannaCry will encrypt files even on a fully-patched Windows OS, whether Windows 10 or earlier, he said.

Agencies

TCLL and XLRI Announce Programs for Working Professionals in India

Times Centre for Learning Ltd (TCLL)., and XLRI-Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur recently signed an MoU to collaborate for promoting quality Executive education in India.

This MOU marks the coming together of two potent forces for professional education:  the unmatched pedigree, history and reputation of XLRI management education practice and TCLL’s physical presence, prowess in delivering learning technology, strong corporate connections and commitment to bringing excellence in education in India.

Commenting on the alliance, Anish Srikrishna, President, Times Centre of Learning Limited, said, “We are delighted to be associated with XLRI, one of India’s top business schools. As TCLL continues to strive towards its vision of providing excellent professional education to learners across the age group, I am confident that this association will be a decisive milestone. We are committed to maintain and exceed the high academic standards that learners have automatically come to associate with XLRI and TCLL.”

Working professionals looking to upgrade their skill-set and move up the corporate ladder can choose from the newly launched and upcoming programs to be delivered in different modes that takes care of the busy life of today’s working executives. Executive Certificate Program on Building Leadership Competencies; focusing on creating space for learning around essential competencies and values for leaders to be successful. The classes would be in the form of live interactive lectures to be beamed directly to the participants’ desktop/laptop. The applications are open for this course.

The Post Graduate Certificate Course in Business Analytics for Management Decision (PGCBAMD) will be a 12 month programme focused on building foundation as well as advanced skills in the domain of business analytics. XLRI aims to create specialists in the field of business analytics with in depth knowledge in the various areas of analytics and who would be able to provide managerial insights by analyzing the data which enables decision making. The application for the course can be done from May 10, 2017.

The classes would be in the form of live interactive lectures to be attended from TCLL centres spread across the country in all major cities.

Father E. Abraham, S.J. Director, XLRI said, “We continually strive to build mutually beneficial partnership and look forward to this engagement with TCLL.  We hope that this alliance will provide great opportunities for both XLRI and TCLL.  We look forward to creating new educational programs and identifying ways for our faculty to interact with executives and other professionals in the region.  This partnership will provide terrific opportunities for sharing of ideas and developing solutions to many of the world's key business issues.”

Samsung Electronics and VMware to Simplify IoT for Industrial and Enterprise Customers

At the Internet of Things World 2017, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and VMware announced a new collaboration to help simplify Internet of Things (IoT) for both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) teams by expanding end-to-end IoT solutions for industrial and enterprise customers. 

The companies will showcase the combination of the SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform with VMware Pulse IoT Center, offering a secure, enterprise-grade, end-to-end IoT infrastructure solution that allows IT and OT teams to have complete control of their IoT use cases, from the edge to the cloud. In addition, the companies will showcase the integration of the SAMSUNG ARTIK 530 with Liota (Little IoT Agent), a vendor-neutral open source software development kit (SDK) developed by VMware, to help enterprise customers with the management, monitoring and securing of their IoT implementation.

Today, enterprises struggle to embrace IoT because of the sheer scale and complexity and security concerns. While SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform provides customers with all the upfront IoT hardware and software they need to kick start their IoT developments, VMware will help manage IoT infrastructure from the edge all the way to the cloud. The combination will provide an end-to-end solution, including the hardware and software components, security, cloud connectivity, building services, and ability to monitor and manage the products over the product’s lifecycle.

“VMware and Samsung have a common goal to help enterprises speed their time to market with their IoT initiatives,” said Mimi Spier, vice president, IoT, VMware. “The SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IOT platform delivers a state-of-the-art IoT platform, and we are collaborating with Samsung to help enterprises simplify their approach to deploying, managing, monitoring and securing their IoT infrastructure and connected devices.”

“Enterprises around the world are looking to develop and deploy IoT solutions to augment their product portfolio or expand into new markets. Being able to monitor and manage these solutions across devices at enterprise scale both on-premise and in the cloud is critical for successful rollouts,” said Curtis Sasaki, vice president of ecosystems, Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center. "We are developing a joint go-to-market plans to address global enterprises looking for at scale, enterprise IoT solutions.  With mutual customers in key industrial and vertical segments, we believe we can jointly address the growing development, deployment, and on going management these customers are looking for."

Ola Launches Progressive Web App in Indian Towns and Cities

Cab aggregator Ola today announced the launch of its 'Progressive Web App' (PWA), a lightweight mobile website that offers users, especially in smaller towns and cities, an app-like experience on simple smartphones.

The company claims that it requires a fraction of the data used by native apps.

Launched together with Google at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco today, PWA will enable the use of the Ola platform across hundreds of cities in India and addresses a significant market opportunity for customers and driver partners, the company said in a release.

It said Ola becomes the first ride hailing app in the APAC region to use PWA technology.

“As the first ride-hailing app in the APAC region that is using PWA technology, this represents an important development that will enable us to reach an ever greater number of customers and driver partners in rural India,” Ola Co-Founder and CTO Ankit Bhati said.

PWA will overcome technological barriers to enter key markets and make Ola the first ride-sharing platform in hundreds of cities across India, where there is limited connectivity and a prevailing use of low-end smartphones, the release added.

”... It’s exciting to see Ola create their PWA, which will ensure their users have an engaging experience from the very first moment,” Google VP Product Management, Chrome Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, said.

Agencies

IT Workers’ Union Against Cognizant Layoffs Shift to Bengaluru

After Chennai and Hyderabad, IT workers’ union FITE has now decided to approach the labour commission in Bengaluru to submit a petition to stop the alleged “illegal terminations” happening at Cognizant. 

Forum for IT Employees, or FITE, is a representative body of employees working in IT companies and call centres. The body has already approached labour commissions in Chennai and Hyderabad, alleging that the US-based firm is illegally terminating thousands of employees by forcing them to resign. “We are all set to approach the labour commission in Bengaluru to submit a petition to stop illegal terminations happening in Cognizant,” FITE Vice President Vasumathi told PTI.

FITE also plans to approach labour commissions in Kolkata and Pune.

Cognizant had rolled out a voluntary separation programme for directors, associate VPs and senior VPs, offering them 6-9 months of salary.

While Cognizant maintains that performance reviews are done to ensure that it has the right employee skill sets, FITE is alleging that the highly-paid experienced professionals are being replaced by those with lesser experience and lower pay.

Indian IT players including Infosys and Wipro have initiated performance reviews, a move that could see thousands of workers being shown the door.

While IT companies have been one of the largest recruiters in the country, increasing automation of processes is expected to lead to reduction in hiring in coming years.

Vasumathi said that depending on the outcome of conciliation meetings, a decision would be taken on whether or not to approach the court to solve the vexed issue.

She said FITE plans to hold a protest rally in Bengaluru, for which she is galvanising support from affected employees through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge had earlier asked the affected IT employees to lodge a complaint with the labour department.

In an interview with PTI recently, Kharge had said the government would look into the matter and provide legal assistance if the affected or laid off employees approached it like their counterparts had in Tamil Nadu.

The labour commissions approached so far, have promised to take action, Vasumathi claimed.

After the Hyderabad meeting on May 11, Cognizant had sought two weeks’ time from the Telangana labour department to come up with a reply on the said issue.

Vasumathi alleged that there is no transparency in the hiring and appraisal activities of the IT industry. “IT firms must be asked to submit white papers on these processes to the government and to the public periodically,” she said demanding that a tribunal be set up for knowledge-based industries.

Agencies

Paytm's Payments Bank to Operate from May 23 Across India

Paytm’s banking arm, Paytm Payment Bank, on Wednesday received formal clearance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to commence operations of its payments bank from May 23, and it set a target of getting 200 million accounts by the end of this year.

In a statement, a Paytm spokesperson said the company is in the process of launching Paytm Payments Bank on May 23. “We recently received approval from RBI for Renu Satti to be the chief executive officer,” said the spokesperson.

One97 Communications Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma was among the 11 applicants to receive RBI’s in-principle nod for a payments bank licence in November 2015.

Sharma said that as per the directions of RBI, the company will be transferring wallet business to the newly incorporated payments bank entity Paytm Payments Bank.

Renu, who is vice president of business at Paytm, will take over as the chief executive officer of Paytm Payments Bank from Shinjini Kumar, a former director at consultancy firm PwC, who was hired in February to lead the payments bank.

Starting her career with One97 Communication, the holding company of Paytm, as human resources manager, Renu has been with Paytm for nearly a decade working on several projects, including Paytm marketplace and Paytm’s wallet business.

According to a company official, Paytm will allow its close to 218 million wallet-users through a written request. Among this, those accounts which are dormant for six months and having zero balance, will be made a part of it by the company when a user places a request.

The company has set a target of 200 million accounts within 12 months of the launch across current and savings accounts, and mobile wallets. Sharma has a vision of taking it to half a billion accounts by 2020.

In an earlier interaction with DH, a Paytm executive had said that the company is investing around Rs 350 crore to begin the journey in the payments business. “We would like to make it into the second largest revenue stream of the parent company. Our branches will have a maximum of two to three members, and it will be mainly in the rural hinterland,” said the official.

Sharma — who along with his firm One97 Communications have together invested Rs 220 crore in Paytm Payments Bank to date — wants to make banking service simple, easy to handle, transparent and penalty-free.