All stories by SURAJEET DAS GUPTA
New rules will make Ola, Uber's life tougher
Rediff.com22 Dec 2020Just a few weeks ago, the Centre has come out with the long-awaited Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, which have drawn a dismayed response from the companies concerned.
Sunil Mittal's $2 bn gamble on space
Rediff.com18 Dec 2020Bharti Global is planning to put up more satellites and has set a stiff deadline to launch commercial Internet services by October in the UK, Alaska, northern Russia and northern Europe.
Sovereign fund flow: India replaces China as most sought-after destination
Rediff.com17 Dec 2020In the year 2020 to date, these funds deployed capital worth a record $14.8 billion in India, which is nearly three times more than what they have put in China - $4.5 billion.
Will Reliance be real estate's new disruptor?
Rediff.com16 Dec 2020A stake sale of Reliance's real estate portfolio would help it raise anything between $1-5 billion and could be one of the triggers for the company's shares to break out.
Sunil Mittal's son Shravin ups his reputation as VC investor
Rediff.com10 Dec 2020Shravin Mittal's venture capital firm, Unbound Advisors, has made investments worth over $500 million so far
Telcos want level-playing field with satellite companies
Rediff.com18 Nov 2020The move comes a few days after billionaire businessman Elon Musk tweeted that his Starlink internet services would be available in India as soon as it gets regulatory approvals next year. Musk's Starlink, which plans to have a constellation of 40,000 low-orbit satellites, recently started offering high-speed internet in the US as part of its beta launch phase.
Covid-19 pandemic was a boon for online biz
Rediff.com17 Nov 2020Education technology, grocery, fashion, food delivery and UPI payments surpassed volumes or revenues of February, in the September-October period.
Food focus keeps PepsiCo going, but Coke struggles amid pandemic
Rediff.com5 Nov 2020The good news for PepsiCo is that the foods segment has normalised much faster to pre-pandemic levels than beverages.
Airtel overtakes Jio for first time in new 4G subscriptions
Rediff.com2 Nov 2020Analysts say that Jio's substantial slowing down in net additions is possibly because the company has dramatically reduced its bundled 4G feature phone offering, which contributed an average 30-40 per cent of its net additions.
Subhash Chandra's net worth sinks below Rs 10 crore amid deluge of debt
Rediff.com28 Oct 2020The reduction in value of Chandra's assets comes close on the heels of the group's debt burgeoning to over Rs 12,000 crore, much of which he had raised by pledging his shares to banks and mutual funds in his flagship company ZEEL after many of the groups infrastructure bets did not take off.
Planning to buy an Apple iPhone 12 in India? Think again
Rediff.com27 Oct 2020A Dubai trip plus Apple iPhone 12 is cheaper than buying the phone in India. Various models of the iPhone 12 Pro and Max are cheaper in Dubai by up to Rs 35,000 owing to higher GST, Customs duty in India.
A new battle rages on between Jio and Airtel
Rediff.com20 Oct 2020While only 78.15 per cent of Jio's total subscriber base was active, Airtel boasts of 98.14 per cent active customers.
Vistara plans to spread its wings beyond India skies
Rediff.com16 Oct 2020By 2023, Vistara's hangars will house a total of 70 aircraft, up from the current 42.
India may pip China and Vietnam to become mobile export hub
Rediff.com15 Oct 2020The government gave clearance to five global and five Indian players that have made a commitment to a production value of 12.5-trillion phones in five years under the Production Linked Incentive scheme.
Airtel, Vi bat for tariff hike, but Jio is sitting tight
Rediff.com12 Oct 2020Vodafone and Bharti have pointed out that, for data, their revenue realisation should be at Rs 30-35 per GB for them to cover their costs as opposed to the current figure of over Rs 11 per GB. But Jio has suggested a gradual increase to Rs 15 per GB and then maybe to Rs 20 per GB after six to nine months.
Cricket apps climb up the order in play store downloads
Rediff.com6 Oct 2020The dizzying ascent of these cricket apps, some from near oblivion, after the IPL tournament began on September 19 in the UAE, has been meteoric.
Covid woes: Mumbai, Delhi bring little cheer for telcos
Rediff.com30 Sep 2020Telecom operators say the reason for the low increase in ARPU in the two metros could be linked to the massive reverse migration of labour.
Indian telcos' 5G rollout is mired in controversy
Rediff.com23 Sep 2020The operators say that the move to have an India-specific standard will raise the costs not only of telecom networks but of chipsets for mobile devices because they will have to be made for the local market and, as such, will not enjoy global economies of scale.
How IT cos' WFH plan is turning the planet green
Rediff.com22 Sep 2020Indirect emissions account for a major chunk of emissions by Indian IT firms. Business travel and commutation, together, are a key reason for it. If travel and daily commuting go down, so does carbon emissions.
Kia Sonet: Made in India, made for the world
Rediff.com22 Sep 2020The compact segment where Sonet will be launched is crowded with the Maruti Vitara and Brezza, which top the sales' list, and a bevy of models from Mahindra & Mahindra apart from Hyundai's offering. But volumes in this are slightly higher than those in the mid-segment, making it attractive, says Surajeet Das Gupta.