We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.

'Only 20 per cent of families in India buy cheese twice once a year.'

American chip behemoth Nvidia Corp and India's retail-to-refining giant Reliance Industries on Thursday unveiled their goal to build a formidable AI computing infrastructure in the country. Highlighting the tie-up, Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, made a broader appeal: India should focus on "manufacturing" AI, rather than racing to build semiconductor fabs. As part of this collaboration, Nvidia will reportedly supply its Blackwell AI processors to power Reliance's one-gigawatt data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

'Alongside economic growth and the Asian century, stress has become an Asian caravan.' 'But stress doesn't arrive in one's country as invitation to taste exhaustion. It comes dressed as a challenge.' 'Its evangelists ask: Are you man enough to shoulder stress?' points out Shyam G Menon.

'These are the two core skill sets that are required for any job, in any profession.'

'So, we would work with our members to ensure that we as an SRO create some sort of due diligence for fintechs.'

'There was a strong undercurrent of deprivation, and also frustration against misuse of power and authority.' 'This election was an opportunity for the manifestation of this discontentment.'

'Responsible AI, which adheres to the principles of explainability, fairness, robustness, transparency, and privacy, will gain importance.'

Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around $8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent.

'My wife, family members as well as members of the workers will be trustees.' 'The trust will take all decisions -- no family member can individually take any decision.'

'Adani can attract vessels at a much lower cost to Vizhinjam as he has the financial muscle to do so.'

The target was for banks to sell Rs 2 trillion worth of non-performing assets to NARCL, the so-called 'bad bank, by 2021-2022. Only 10 per cent of this has been executed.

Its success script: Investing more in local content ecosystem; growing its partnership footprint.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for a global framework for ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as he flagged concerns surrounding bias in such modern technologies and their impact on the society. Days ahead of the G20 Summit, the prime minister also made a strong case for developing an integrated approach to deal with issues concerning cryptocurrencies. Modi, addressing B20 Summit India 2023 organised by CII, said India is preparing a global framework for Green Credit and urged industry leaders to adopt life and businesses with emphasis on planet positive actions.

Modi called business communities and governments to work together to ensure usage of ethical AI as "we have to sense the potential disruptions in different sectors. This problem has to be solved under the global framework."

IT services firm Wipro has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-first ecosystem that will put the technology in every platform, tool, and solution it uses and offers to clients. Along with the launch of Wipro ai360, the company committed to invest $1 billion to advance AI capabilities in the next three years. Wipro ai360, fuelled by this new investment, will help in a new era of value, productivity, and commercial opportunities through the application of AI and generative AI, said the company.

British Indian think tank 1928 Institute organised a special roundtable entitled 'India and the Indo-Pacific' bringing together the High Commissioners of India, Bangladesh, Australia, Canada, Nepal, among others, ahead of the reception in the River Room of the House of Lords on Monday evening.

By 2025, Uber projects that 25,000-30,000 cars -- or 12 to 16 per cent of vehicle additions -- would be EVs, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.

In January, Visa's chief executive officer, Al Kelly, said during an earnings call that "there's been a burst of the balloon in valuations in the fintech world". Noting that the trend of lower valuations "is a helpful characteristic of the current environment", he added: "We will look for capabilities and management teams that will bring more value to Visa than we can bring ourselves." Data from KPMG's Pulse of Fintech H2'22 shows that global fintech investment - via mergers and acquisitions (M&As), private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms - at $164.1 billion in 2022, was down 31 per cent over the year before. Indian fintechs held up better during this timeframe, attracting $6 billion, or a fall of 24 per cent.

Two-thirds of organisations in the Indian technology sector are hiring gig workers as they respond to a changing business landscape, said a report by industry organisation NASSCOM and others on Thursday. Focus on requirement for specialised skills, employee demand and cost optimization enabled organisations to use the gig model for technology roles traditionally restricted to HR and support functions. Software development, UI/UX design, and data analytics were the top three gig skills the technology sector needed.

At the moment, there appears to be no alternative political narrative to the one lying buried under the debris of havoc caused on this front by the fallout of 'August 5, 2019', asserts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.

'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.

'As the demand for transferable skills that can be remotely applied increases, the need for tech-based courses is on the rise/'

'Approach people with respect, mindful that they know their job better than you do, and that you're not superior to them just because you may be better educated or their boss.' Skoda Auto VW India MD Gurpratap S Boparai cites his management credo to Pavan Lall.

The fundamental issue between banks and fintech would be who will own the customer and who will be the service provider.

'This will have a multiplier effect in generating more jobs.'

As the Centre pushes reforms in the power sector, especially for the beleaguered electricity distribution segment, several states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties, are clamouring against it. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerela have voiced their reservations against the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003. The irony is the states opposing the amendments on the ground of threat of privatisation already have private partnerships in power supply. The proposed Bill was slated to be placed on the floor of Parliament in the Monsoon session. But it still awaits Cabinet approval amid several states complaining that they have been not consulted on the issue.

E-commerce giant Amazon and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures have "mutually decided" to not continue their joint venture (JV) beyond the end of its current term. The JV, Prione Business Services, which has been running successfully for the past seven years, was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022. The JV enabled over 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to go online. It also enabled 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities, providing these small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and merchants access to millions of customers across the country.

Government think tank Niti Aayog has suggested 100 per cent income tax exemption for donations and provision of working capital loans with lower interest rates for not-for-profit hospitals to strengthen healthcare services in India. In a report titled 'Not-for-Profit Hospital Model in India', the Aayog also pitched for involving high performing hospitals in public private partnership (PPP) models for managing primary health care (PHCs), operations of government facilities and PSU hospitals. "Income-tax exemption could be increased from the current 50 per cent exemption to 100 per cent exemption for philanthropy toward the identified not-for-profit hospitals.

Tata Motors plans to have 10 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in its domestic product portfolio by 2025 as it looks to drive its business model towards sustainable mobility going ahead, as per Tata Motors chairman N Chandrasekaran. In his message to the shareholders, he noted that the auto major aims to be amongst the world leaders in sustainable mobility solutions and as part of that it is also exploring tie-ups in cell and battery manufacturing to secure supplies for its portfolio of green vehicles. "In India, EV penetration in our portfolio has now doubled to 2 per cent this year and we expect penetration to increase exponentially in the coming years. "Tata Motors will lead this change in the Indian market. By 2025, Tata Motors will have 10 new BEV vehicles and as a Group, we will invest proactively to set up charging infrastructure across the country," Chandrasekaran informed shareholders in the company's Annual Report for 2020-21.

In a strong counter to the narrative building around reasons for the exit of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Ashoka University Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee has said the institution remains committed to academic freedom and intellectual independence while its Board of Trustee Chairman Ashish Dhawan promised an open line of communication.

After years of disappointing growth, the economy and the markets are poised for a breakout, notes Akash Prakash.

There will be a huge market for healthcare professionals, data and security experts and digital marketers, says Navneet Singh, founder, Avsar HR Services.

Xi spoke of the importance of implementing the new development philosophy and advancing the new development paradigm of "dual circulation" in the country's new development phase to ensure a good start for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

Automakers are caught in a chicken-and-egg situation: Prices have to come down if volumes are to increase, and volumes won't increase unless prices come down, notes Pavan Lall.

The country's largest two wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson on Tuesday announced a wide ranging partnership for the Indian market, days after the US cult bike manufacturer announced its exit from the country. As part of the deal, Hero MotoCorp will develop and sell a range of premium motorcycles under the Harley-Davidson brand name in the country. Besides, it will take care of service and parts requirements for the Harley bikes.

According to Jaishankar, much has changed, mostly to India's disadvantage, since November 1950, when Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru had a famous exchange of views on how to approach China.

Experts at coding, Web development, and digital marketing, will be on every organisation's hiring list, points out Narayan Mahadevan.

Reliance Retail will acquire the retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing businesses of the Future Group. Future Group's financial and insurance businesses are not part of the deal.

With cash shortage and plans going awry, the AirAsia owner is looking to cash out of the venture he built with Ratan Tata in 2013.