Latest news with #HarshJain
Economic Times
a day ago
- Business
- Economic Times
China's rare earth curbs hit India; Groww eyes bonds
China's rare earth export controls are concerning Indian electronic manufacturers. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5. Also in the letter: ■ IT stocks tank■ Explained: Sebi's new Esop norms■ Microsoft vs OpenAI Alarms ring at speaker, wearables, TV makers on Chinese rare earth squeeze China's curbs on rare earth exports have set off alarm bells across the electronics industry, with speaker, wearable, and television manufacturers warning of looming shortages of permanent magnets. Production could grind to a halt unless supplies resume, industry executives and associations said. Driving the news: Of the seven rare earth metals now under export curbs, terbium and dysprosium are essential for making neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets. These magnets are widely used in high-performance, portable and compact audio products. They typically account for 5–7% of the bill of materials, and Indian electronics makers remain almost entirely dependent on Chinese imports, according to a white paper by the Electronics Industries Association of India (ELCINA). Current state: China is holding back shipments of these magnets and related products at its ports, demanding end-use declarations before allowing export. This has disrupted operations at speaker assembly units in India and caused delays in deliveries to local TV and audio brands, according to ELCINA. To navigate the bottleneck, speaker manufacturers and importers have sought government help to secure end-use certificates, which Chinese exporters now require to obtain export licences, backed by full traceability documentation. Tell me more: Alternative sourcing from Japan, Vietnam, or even recycled magnets within India comes at a steep cost. ELCINA's price analysis shows these options nearly double input costs, with supply remaining patchy and unreliable. Also Read: G-7 eyes rare earth action plan as China's magnet control raises alarm Groww looks to offer trading in corporate bonds, to apply for Sebi licence (L-R) Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, Lalit Keshre and Ishan Bansal, founders, Groww Online stockbroker Groww is planning to expand its mobile app to include trading in corporate bonds. Driving the news: The Bengaluru-based firm plans to apply for an Online Bond Platform Provider (OBPP) licence, sources told us. While it already facilitates the primary sale of newly listed corporate bonds, it aims to offer secondary trading once it secures regulatory approval. Significance: The OBPP licence will allow Groww to compete with platforms such as Wint Wealth and Grip Invest. It also positions the company to tap into India's underpenetrated bond distribution market, where retail participation has been steadily growing. That said, recent concerns around issuers like BluSmart have shaken confidence in the space. Expansion bid: With an initial public offering (IPO) on the horizon, Groww is steadily diversifying beyond stockbroking. It recently entered the credit space after receiving a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The firm has expanded into wealth management with its acquisition of Fisdom and began offering margin trade funding to investors last year. Background: In May, Groww confidentially filed its draft red herring prospectus with Sebi, aiming to raise between $700 million and $1 billion. The company recently raised $250 million in a funding round led by GIC, which valued it at $6.5 billion. For FY25, it reported total revenue of Rs 4,056 crore and a net profit of Rs 1,819 crore. Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: ETtech Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and employees. The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers. Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community. Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals. What's next: Interested? Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship opportunities. IT stocks slip up to 3.5% after Fed holds rates, flags persistent inflation Indian IT stocks slipped in Thursday's trade after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, with LTIMindtree and Tech Mahindra leading the losses. What happened: The Fed held its benchmark rate steady at 4.25% to 4.5%, citing ongoing inflation concerns and a cautious economic outlook. This marks the sixth consecutive meeting without a rate change. However, the latest 'dot plot'— a chart that reflects individual policymakers' forecasts—shows policymakers still expect two cuts in 2025. Big losers: Here's how major IT firms reacted: LTIMindtree: Dropped 3.5% intraday, closed 1.6% lower. Tech Mahindra: Fell nearly 3%, closed down about 2%. The Nifty IT index slipped 1.4%. Infosys also slipped, closing down about 0.1%. Mid-sized firms, including Persistent Systems, Coforge, and Mphasis, declined between 1% and 2.6%. Why this matters: The Fed's cautious stance raises uncertainty around US growth and inflation. For Indian IT firms, which derive significant revenue from US clients, this could dampen client spending and contract pipelines. Explained: Sebi's new Esop norms for IPO-bound startup founders, reverse-flipping The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved several measures to ease doing business, including a long-awaited change for startup founders. What's the news: The market regulator will allow startup founders to retain their employee stock options (Esops) even after their companies go public. Old rules: Founders were classified as 'promoters' at the time of initial public offering (IPO) filings, which barred them from holding or being granted Esops. If they held any, they had to liquidate them. Founders were classified as 'promoters' at the time of initial public offering (IPO) filings, which barred them from holding or being granted Esops. If they held any, they had to liquidate them. New norms: Founders who received Esops at least one year before filing the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) can now retain them post-listing. Founders who received Esops at least one year before filing the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) can now retain them post-listing. Flipback: Sebi will now also permit equity shares resulting from the conversion of Compulsorily Convertible Securities (CCS) to be included in an Offer for Sale (OFS), facilitating capital raising through public issues. About time: Sebi has recognised past regulatory grey areas. Founders have long argued that the rules were unfair, often forcing them to exit early and miss out on long-term value creation. Microsoft prepared to abandon high-stakes talks with OpenAI OpenAI CEO Sam Altman with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Microsoft is prepared to step back from 'high-stakes' talks with OpenAI over the future of their alliance, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Driving the news: The tech giant is reportedly considering pausing negotiations if the parties cannot reach an agreement on key issues, including the size of Microsoft's future stake in OpenAI. For now, Microsoft plans to lean on its existing commercial deal, which gives it access to OpenAI's technology through 2030, the FT report added. Meanwhile: OpenAI executives have discussed accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive behaviour, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The two companies are also renegotiating the terms of Microsoft's investment, including its future equity position in the AI firm. Also Read: Microsoft planning thousands more job cuts aimed at salespeople Updated On Jun 19, 2025, 07:25 PM IST
Economic Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
MakeMyTrip is buying out its Chinese stakeholders; these startups have also reduced Chinese holdings
After coming under fire from rivals for allegedly being a China-controlled company, MakeMyTrip is set to join a group of companies that have lowered the stake of their Chinese largest online travel platform plans to raise $3 billion through a mix of debt and equity to buy back shares from Group. Following this, stake in MakeMyTrip will drop to 19.99% from 45.34% currently, and its board representation will shrink to two directors from Indian companies have also been reducing the stakes held by Chinese investors after geopolitical tensions between the two nations. Let's take a look: Paytm Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, was a major early investor in Paytm and had a stake of about 25%. Over the past few years, Antfin Netherlands Holding has gradually reduced its stake in Paytm's parent One 97 Communications to under 5%. This began in 2023 when Antfin cut its approximately 23% stake to 20% by selling shares worth Rs 2,307 crore. Later in the year, founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma acquired a 10.3% stake worth $628 million from Ant, reducing its holding to 9.8%. Last month, Antfin sold a 4.1% stake in One97 Communications, through a block deal worth Rs 2,200 crore. ZomatoAlibaba was an investor in the food and grocery delivery firm through two entities: Ant Financial and Alipay Singapore Holding. The Ant Group had invested Rs 3,246 crore in the company through several tranches between 2018 and 2020. In 2023, Alipay sold its entire stake in Zomato for about Rs 3,336 crore through a block deal. Meanwhile, Ant Group sold Zomato shares worth more than Rs 4,772 crore in two block deals last August, netting 4x returns and bringing its stake down to 2.1%. At the time of Gurugram-based Zomato's initial public offering in 2021, Ant Group was the second largest shareholder in the company after Info Edge, an early backer that still has a 13.7% stake. BigBasket In 2021, the Tata Group and Big Basket finalised a $1.2 billion deal giving the salt-to-software conglomerate a 60% stake in the e-grocer. The deal provided a full exit to Alibaba. Dream11 Chinese firm Tencent invested $100 million in Dream11 in 2018 during a Series D funding round for a stake of approximately 10%. Over time, it has reduced that holding due to the challenging regulatory environment. In an interview with ETtech, CEO Harsh Jain said Tencent now owns less than 10% of Dream Sports. He added that the company won't raise any fresh capital from Chinese investors in the future. Delhivery China's Fosun International in 2021 sold a portion of its stake in logistics company Delhivery to Addition, a company founded by former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel, and late-stage equity fund Bay Capital. Fosun held around 3.8% in Delhivery and sold 1.3%, sources had told ET then. The company had also said it was looking to exit Delhivery altogether before its public issue. Pratilipi Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi on April 3 raised $20 million in a funding round led by Jungle Ventures. The round included $8 million in secondary deals, and provided an exit of Chinese investors Qiming Venture Partners and Shunwei Capital.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
MakeMyTrip is buying out its Chinese stakeholders; these startups have also reduced Chinese holdings
After coming under fire from rivals for allegedly being a China-controlled company, MakeMyTrip is set to join a group of companies that have lowered the stake of their Chinese investors. India's largest online travel platform plans to raise $3 billion through a mix of debt and equity to buy back shares from Group. Following this, stake in MakeMyTrip will drop to 19.99% from 45.34% currently, and its board representation will shrink to two directors from five. Other Indian companies have also been reducing the stakes held by Chinese investors after geopolitical tensions between the two nations. Let's take a look: Paytm Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, was a major early investor in Paytm and had a stake of about 25%. Over the past few years, Antfin Netherlands Holding has gradually reduced its stake in Paytm's parent One 97 Communications to under 5%. Live Events This began in 2023 when Antfin cut its approximately 23% stake to 20% by selling shares worth Rs 2,307 crore. Later in the year, founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma acquired a 10.3% stake worth $628 million from Ant, reducing its holding to 9.8%. Last month, Antfin sold a 4.1% stake in One97 Communications, through a block deal worth Rs 2,200 crore. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Zomato Alibaba was an investor in the food and grocery delivery firm through two entities: Ant Financial and Alipay Singapore Holding. The Ant Group had invested Rs 3,246 crore in the company through several tranches between 2018 and 2020. In 2023, Alipay sold its entire stake in Zomato for about Rs 3,336 crore through a block deal. Meanwhile, Ant Group sold Zomato shares worth more than Rs 4,772 crore in two block deals last August , netting 4x returns and bringing its stake down to 2.1%. At the time of Gurugram-based Zomato's initial public offering in 2021, Ant Group was the second largest shareholder in the company after Info Edge, an early backer that still has a 13.7% stake. BigBasket In 2021, the Tata Group and Big Basket finalised a $1.2 billion deal giving the salt-to-software conglomerate a 60% stake in the e-grocer. The deal provided a full exit to Alibaba. Dream11 Chinese firm Tencent invested $100 million in Dream11 in 2018 during a Series D funding round for a stake of approximately 10%. Over time, it has reduced that holding due to the challenging regulatory environment. In an interview with ETtech , CEO Harsh Jain said Tencent now owns less than 10% of Dream Sports. He added that the company won't raise any fresh capital from Chinese investors in the future. Delhivery China's Fosun International in 2021 sold a portion of its stake in logistics company Delhivery to Addition, a company founded by former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel, and late-stage equity fund Bay Capital. Fosun held around 3.8% in Delhivery and sold 1.3%, sources had told ET then. The company had also said it was looking to exit Delhivery altogether before its public issue. Pratilipi Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi on April 3 raised $20 million in a funding round led by Jungle Ventures. The round included $8 million in secondary deals, and provided an exit of Chinese investors Qiming Venture Partners and Shunwei Capital.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Groww FY25 profit triples; Qcomm growth beyond metros
Next Groww FY25 profit triples; Qcomm growth beyond metros Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: Groww triples FY25 profit, raises fresh funds at $7 billion valuation ahead of IPO By the numbers: Net profit rose 3X to Rs 1,819 crore in FY25. Revenue grew 31% to Rs 4,056 crore. Closed $200 million funding at a $7 billion valuation, led by Singapore's GIC with Iconiq Capital joining. ET first reported about the funding round on March 26. Catch up quick: The reverse flip impact: Why it matters: Also Read: S Quick commerce fuels niche D2C boom in smaller cities Uptick in revenue contribution: Shift from ecommerce: Qcomm expansion: Also Read: Centre's no MDR stance derails fintech's UPI monetisation plans Driving the news: Despite operating without MDR for several years, the payments industry hadn't given up hope that it would be reinstated, at least for large transactions, the chief executive of a major payment processor told us. A senior banker noted that reintroducing MDR was always going to be challenging after the government accustomed the merchant ecosystem to free digital payments. Tell me more: Indian digital businesses are innovating faster with Data + AI: Databricks founder India market: AI backing: Also Read: Other Top Stories By Our Reporters India needs infra to train larger AI models: Krutrim exec | Paytm, Mobikwik shares tumble after finance ministry rules out MDR on UPI transactions: HCLTech bags engineering deal from Volvo Group: Global Picks We Are Reading Happy Friday! IPO-bound fintech major Groww has reported a three-fold jump in its net profit for FY25. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ No MDR: Fintechs face revenue loss■ Databricks founder on India■ Krutrim launches AI agent(L-R) Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, Lalit Keshre and Ishan Bansal, founders, GrowwBengaluru-based wealth platform Groww posted a sharp jump in profitability ahead of its public confidentially filed IPO papers with Sebi in May, aiming to raise $700 million– $1 billion. Its valuation has more than doubled from $3 billion in 2021, when it last raised a major round. In FY24, Groww had posted a net loss of Rs 805 crore due to a one-time Rs 1,340 crore tax payout linked to shifting its domicile from the US back to has pulled ahead as India's largest stockbroker by active NSE clients (13 million), outpacing rivals Zerodha and Angel One. Its financial performance makes it one of the most profitable IPO-bound fintechs in expansion of quick commerce into smaller cities and towns is fuelling demand for niche direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in categories ranging from intimacy products and sexual wellness to curly hair care and fitness accessories, where convenience and discreet delivery are key which sells intimacy products, gets almost a third of its revenue from non-metro regions, while men's sexual health and wellness brand Bold Care derives over 40% of its total revenue from tier II and III cities, company executives to Satish Meena, adviser at Datum Intelligence, a set of customers who previously shopped on ecommerce platforms are shifting to quick commerce for certain categories of products for instant gratification. Many consumers who haven't used ecommerce before are also trying rapid delivery because of its ease and brands focus on smaller cities, quick commerce platforms are also ramping up their presence in these regions. BigBasket said it is recording about 50,000 orders per day from tier-II cities, with tier-III cities contributing around 7,000 daily the finance ministry clarified that there was no plan to reintroduce the merchant discount rate (MDR) on payments via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), fintechs' monetisation plans went for a toss Stocks of listed payment firms dived a day after the ministry said such speculations were 'completely false, baseless and misleading'.This comes months after industry chatter grew about the government considering bringing back MDR, but only for large purchases. Industry insiders also pointed out that fintech firms have been encouraging customers to move to instruments like mobile wallets or prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) and credit cards, i.e. MDR-generating Ghodsi, founder, DatabricksDigital businesses in India are AI-hungry and ahead of global peers in terms of innovation with data and artificial intelligence (AI), Ali Ghodsi, founder and chief executive of Databricks, told the sidelines of the company's summit in San Francisco, Ghodsi said Databricks is bullish on Asian markets India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, which are moving faster than the rest of the world on AI because of the relaxed regulatory close the AI talent gap, Databricks also announced the free edition of its platform, along with a $100 million global investment in data and AI education. This initiative gives students, professionals, and institutions free access to Databricks tools and Aggarwal, founder, KrutrimOla's AI arm Krutrim is looking at getting the base infrastructure , from semiconductor to hardware, to be the fast and cost-effective model as the company scales up its AI services, said A Navendu, senior vice president and head of sold Paytm and Mobikwik shares on Thursday, a day after the Finance Ministry denied reports of charges on UPI transactions. Paytm shares dropped 10% in trade today, before recovering later. Mobikwik's market value dropped to Rs 2,121 crore, before recovering slightly to Rs 2,128 IT player HCLTech bagged an engineering services deal from Swedish truck maker Volvo Group, the third largest software services exporter announced on Thursday.■ The problem of AI chatbots telling people what they want to hear ( FT ■ Vibe coding is coming for engineering jobs ( Wired ■ Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys? ( MIT Technology Review
NDTV
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- NDTV
Dream 11 CEO Slams Elon Musk's Tesla For Returning His $1,000 Booking Amount
Harsh Jain, the CEO and co-founder of Dream11, recently took to social media to call out Elon Musk's company Tesla for not caring about customers' feelings, especially in India. In his post, Mr Jain said that in 2017, when Tesla was supposed to debut in India, he had paid $1,000 to reserve a Model 3. However, after nearly a decade, Mr Jain's reservation has been returned to him as Tesla's long-awaited debut in India has still not materialised, and Model 3 has also been discontinued. Unhappy with this decision, the Indian CEO tagged Elon Musk in his post and claimed that such actions would turn all Indian Tesla fans into haters. "Wow @elonmusk do you know how @Tesla is turning ALL its fans and early believers in India into haters? I had paid $1k for a priority slot in March 2017 for Tesla's India launch. Now that Tesla is FINALLY launching almost 10 YEARS later they're only going to refund me $1k and take away my priority slot? Even if I had just invested this $1k in Tesla in March 2017, it would be worth $20k now. Way to show fans that @Tesla doesn't care," Mr Jain wrote while sharing a screenshot of the message he received from the company. Wow @elonmusk do you know how @Tesla is turning ALL its fans and early believers in India into haters? I had paid $1k for a priority slot in March 2017 for Tesla's India launch. Now that Tesla is FINALLY launching almost 10 YEARS later they're only going to refund me $1k and… — Harsh Jain (@harshjain85) June 10, 2025 In its message, Tesla told Mr Jain that it is in the process of finalising its product offerings in India. The company also informed the CEO that it would return the $1,000 fee he paid to reserve a Model 3 back in 2017. "Thank you for your support in Tesla and being an early reservation holder of the Model 3. As Tesla continues to grow, our product lineup continues to evolve. In the past few years, many of our products back at the time have been replaced, and many new products have been introduced. The original Model 3 in your reservation was one of the products that have been replaced," Tesla wrote in the email. "Model 3 in your reservation was one of the products that have been replaced. As such, we would like to return your reservation fee for the time being. When we finalize our product offerings in India, we will reach out in the market again. We hope to see you back with us once we are ready to launch and deliver in the country. Your patience and support are greatly appreciated, and Tesla won't be where we are today without early supporters like you," it added. Notably, Mr Jain's post comes at a time when Tesla has already begun operations in India. In February, the company posted a number of mid-level jobs in India. In June, PTI reported that Tesla has taken on lease a warehousing space in Mumbai. It is yet to be known whether the company will manufacture cars in the country.
