Latest news with #Mumbai
Reuters
an hour ago
- Business
- Reuters
Middle East worries, portfolio inflow hopes feed rupee bears and bulls alike
MUMBAI, June 20 (Reuters) - Lingering concerns over a potential escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict, coupled with expectations of portfolio inflows are fuelling mixed views on the rupee's trajectory for the coming week, traders said. A spike in oil prices from a potential escalation in the conflict could weigh on the rupee, but an upcoming large IPO expected to draw foreign inflows may help recoup recent losses, they added. The rupee has declined little over 1% this month so far, with a large stock of its decline occurring after Israel attacked targets in Iran last Friday. The attacks also raised concerns about disruption of global oil prices, sending Brent crude oil futures to a five-month peak of $79 per barrel hit on Thursday. The currency hit a three-month low on Thursday but eased 0.1% to 86.63 as of 11:05 a.m. on Friday, comforted by a dip in oil prices after the White House said President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will become involved in the Israel-Iran air war. Meanwhile, expectations that Indian lender HDB Financial's $1.5 billion IPO is likely to draw sizeable inflows could are seen as a positive for the rupee, a trader at a private bank said. The trader pointed out that he would prefer to keep tight stop-losses on speculative positions since the risk of two-way moves next week could be elevated. On the technical front, the dollar-rupee pair is "nearing overbought territory, with a possible dip toward 86.35–85.95 before resuming an uptrend toward 87.80–88.00," said FX advisory firm Mecklai Financial said in a Friday note. On the day, most Asian currencies ticked up as well with the Korean won leading gains. The dollar index eased below the 99 handle while India's benchmark equity indexes, the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab and Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab rose about 0.9% each.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
SBI Life crowdsources future-facing AI solutions from India's Next-Gen Talent pool at the 2025 Hack-AI-Thon finale
The initiative underscored SBI Life's focus on innovation, young talent, and building future-ready insurance solutions MUMBAI, India, June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SBI Life Insurance, one of India's most trusted private life insurers, marked the finale of its national innovation initiative — Hack-AI-Thon 2025 — a strategic platform to crowdsource artificial intelligence-driven solutions to real-business challenges faced by the insurance sector. The event culminated weeks of dynamic ideation and collaboration, with 16+ top teams (50+ participants) presenting AI-led innovations, focused on enhancing customer experience, operational efficiency, and digital service delivery. The event was designed to tap into next-gen talent, foster a culture of co-creation, and accelerate digital transformation. The participants, including developers and AI enthusiasts, represented top institutes across Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore, Bhopal, and Delhi to compete on challenges ranging from predictive analytics and process automation to fraud detection and customer engagement. After rigorous jury round and evaluation, the Innovation Brigade team comprising of Ms. Asha Vidyadharan & Mr. Rameez Khan from Bhopal emerged as the winner of Hack-AI-Thon 2025, impressing the panel with their innovative solution at the Hack-AI-Thon 2025 Grand Finale. Similarly, Black Bird from Indore was chosen the 1st runner-up and from Trichy as well as Semantics from Pune were announced the 2nd runners-up. Each of the winning solutions stood out for their innovative thinking, technical viability, and potential to address real-world challenges in the life insurance sector. Speaking on the grand finale of SBI Life's Hack-AI-Thon 2025, Mr. Ravindra Sharma, Chief of Brand, Corporate Communication and CSR, SBI Life Insurance, said, "The Hack-AI-Thon was conceptualised to engage the next generation of problem solvers in shaping the future of insurance. It is encouraging to see how young minds approach complex industry challenges with such clarity and purpose. At SBI Life, we believe that innovation must serve a meaningful purpose, and this initiative reflects our ongoing commitment to fostering technology-led thinking that is human-centric and impactful." He further added, "We have always believed that the true role of insurance goes beyond financial protection—it is about enabling individuals to move forward with confidence, to dream, to build, and to live fully. Hack-AI-Thon is an extension of this belief, as it invites young minds to co-create solutions that make protection more accessible, intuitive, and aligned with people's evolving needs and life goals. It is this blend of innovation and intent that we believe will help shape a more inclusive and empowering future not only for the insurance sector but the nation as a whole." After winning the Hack-AI-Thon 2025, the Innovation Brigade team said, "Participating in SBI Life's Hack-AI-Thon 2025 was a truly enriching experience, with outstanding coordination and expert mentorship at every step. Despite the tough pan-India competition, we are proud to share that we emerged as winners of the event." The Grand Finale jury comprised seasoned experts from technology & insurance, who evaluated teams on innovation, feasibility, scalability, and impact. Select ideas from the Hack-AI-Thon will be explored further for piloting or integration within the company's digital roadmap. With this initiative, SBI Life Insurance reinforces its commitment to fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and customer-first thinking through digital transformation. About SBI Life Insurance SBI Life Insurance ('SBI Life' / 'The Company'), one of the most trusted life insurance companies in India, was incorporated in October 2000 and is registered with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) in March 2001. Serving millions of families across India, SBI Life's diverse range of products caters to individuals as well as group customers through Protection, Pension, Savings and Health solutions. Driven by a 'Customer-First' approach, SBI Life places great emphasis on maintaining world class operating efficiency and providing a hassle-free claim settlement experience to its customers by following high ethical standards of service. Additionally, SBI Life is committed to enhance digital experiences for its customers, distributors and employees alike. SBI Life strives to make insurance accessible to all, with its extensive presence across the country through its 1,110 offices, 26,355 employees, a large and productive network of about 240,304 agents, 60 corporate agents and 13 bancassurance partners with more than 41,000 partner branches, 141 brokers and other insurance marketing firms. In addition to doing what's right for the customers, the company is also committed to provide a healthy and flexible work environment for its employees to excel personally and professionally. SBI Life strongly encourages a culture of giving back to the society and has made substantial contributions in the areas of child education, healthcare, disaster relief and environmental upgrade. In 2024-25, the Company touched over 50,000 direct beneficiaries through various CSR interventions. Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange ('BSE') and the National Stock Exchange ('NSE'), the company has an authorized capital of Rs. 20.0 billion and a paid-up capital of Rs. 10.0 billion. The AuM is Rs.4,480.4 billion. For more information, please visit our website, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. (Numbers & data mentioned above are for the year ended March 31, 2025) Photo: View original content to download multimedia:
Zawya
3 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
Global trading giants step up India presence, fuelling talent rush, exchange upgrades
MUMBAI - Half a dozen global trading giants, from Citadel Securities and IMC Trading to Millennium and Optiver, are ratcheting up their presence in India's booming derivatives markets, fuelling a hiring spree and pushing exchanges to improve technology. The firms' hiring plans, being reported for the first time, come amid expectations that large domestic consumer and investor bases will help shield India from global turmoil sparked by the trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. The South Asian nation made up nearly 60% of global equity derivative trading volumes of 7.3 billion in April, the Futures Industry Association says, while its regulators say notional turnover of the contracts has grown 48 times since March 2018. For Western firms, the gold rush is too big to ignore, particularly after U.S. trading firm Jane Street earned $2.34 billion from its India trading strategy last year, some of the firms' executives said. "We have seen competition increasing both on the trading front, where you see more players going for the same opportunities, and on the job market as well," said Jocelyn Dentand of global high-speed trader IMC Trading. The firm plans to grow its team by more than 50% by the end of 2026 to stand at more than 150, added Dentand, the managing director of its India unit. Foreign investors turned buyers of Indian stocks in April and May, purchasing a net $2.8 billion, as they abandoned their previous selling stance from October 2024 to March 2025, prompted by high valuations and slower growth in earnings. U.S.-based Citadel Securities, a market-making firm founded by well known investor Kenneth Griffin, runs a leaner team of around 10 in India but has ramped up capital allocation to its operations, said a source familiar with its plans. "In India, we're constantly looking for talent and constantly hiring," said the source, who sought anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media and declined to give details of the plan. Hedge fund Millennium is expanding its India desk via Dubai and Singapore, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter, who also sought anonymity on the same grounds. Millennium declined to comment for the story. Citadel Securities did not respond to an email seeking comment. Netherlands-based Optiver, which launched India operations in 2024, plans to grow its team to 100 by the end of 2025, a spokesperson said, up from 70 now. "Optiver is investing ambitiously in India, with a view to expanding to 100 FTEs by year-end and scaling further in the years ahead," the spokesperson added. Amsterdam-based trading firm Da Vinci and London-based Qube Research and Technologies are also recruiting for quantitative trading roles in India, public postings for jobs show. RUSH FOR TECH, TALENT Global trading firms are also looking to expand in India by recruiting aggressively from top domestic universities and poaching from home-grown competitors. They have hired about 300 people in India in the last two years across the trading, technology, compliance, risk, and legal functions, Hong Kong-based recruiter Aquis Search estimates. "We foresee a good run for the next few years," said Annpurna Bist, its head of quant and tech. Intensifying competition has driven up salaries, with even junior traders paid more than double the figure of three years ago, said Bhautik Ambani, head of AlphaGrep Investment Management, one of India's leading quant trading firms. India's top engineering schools have become the favoured hunting grounds for talent. "We almost solely hire our traders and software engineers from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)," said IMC's Dentand, referring to the country's chain of prestigious engineering schools. But hiring efforts are now being widened to the universities beyond the IITs, Dentand said. The influx of global trading firms has opened up opportunities for India's two main exchanges, which are both upgrading their tech infrastructure. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) plans to add 2,000 co-location racks over the next two years while older stalwart the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) aims to scale up to 500 by the end of fiscal 2026, from none in March 2024. Such racks are servers at exchanges that cut trade execution times to microseconds. "We are a late entrant and need to provide additional value for the unfulfilled demand from high-frequency trading firms and quant firms, amongst others, for co-location racks," said BSE Chief Executive Sundararaman Ramamurthy. The exchange has spent between 4.5 billion rupees and 5 billion rupees ($52 million to $58 million) on technology in the last two years, he said. The NSE and regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) did not respond to queries for the report. ($1=85.9675 rupees) (Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay, Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Ira Dugal and Clarence Fernandez)
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Global trading giants step up India presence, fuelling talent rush, exchange upgrades
By Jaspreet Kalra and Jayshree P Upadhyay MUMBAI (Reuters) -Half a dozen global trading giants, from Citadel Securities and IMC Trading to Millennium and Optiver, are ratcheting up their presence in India's booming derivatives markets, fuelling a hiring spree and pushing exchanges to improve technology. The firms' hiring plans, being reported for the first time, come amid expectations that large domestic consumer and investor bases will help shield India from global turmoil sparked by the trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. The South Asian nation made up nearly 60% of global equity derivative trading volumes of 7.3 billion in April, the Futures Industry Association says, while its regulators say notional turnover of the contracts has grown 48 times since March 2018. For Western firms, the gold rush is too big to ignore, particularly after U.S. trading firm Jane Street earned $2.34 billion from its India trading strategy last year, some of the firms' executives said. "We have seen competition increasing both on the trading front, where you see more players going for the same opportunities, and on the job market as well," said Jocelyn Dentand of global high-speed trader IMC Trading. The firm plans to grow its team by more than 50% by the end of 2026 to stand at more than 150, added Dentand, the managing director of its India unit. Foreign investors turned buyers of Indian stocks in April and May, purchasing a net $2.8 billion, as they abandoned their previous selling stance from October 2024 to March 2025, prompted by high valuations and slower growth in earnings. U.S.-based Citadel Securities, a market-making firm founded by well known investor Kenneth Griffin, runs a leaner team of around 10 in India but has ramped up capital allocation to its operations, said a source familiar with its plans. "In India, we're constantly looking for talent and constantly hiring," said the source, who sought anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media and declined to give details of the plan. Hedge fund Millennium is expanding its India desk via Dubai and Singapore, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter, who also sought anonymity on the same grounds. Millennium declined to comment for the story. Citadel Securities did not respond to an email seeking comment. Netherlands-based Optiver, which launched India operations in 2024, plans to grow its team to 100 by the end of 2025, a spokesperson said, up from 70 now. "Optiver is investing ambitiously in India, with a view to expanding to 100 FTEs by year-end and scaling further in the years ahead," the spokesperson added. Amsterdam-based trading firm Da Vinci and London-based Qube Research and Technologies are also recruiting for quantitative trading roles in India, public postings for jobs show. RUSH FOR TECH, TALENT Global trading firms are also looking to expand in India by recruiting aggressively from top domestic universities and poaching from home-grown competitors. They have hired about 300 people in India in the last two years across the trading, technology, compliance, risk, and legal functions, Hong Kong-based recruiter Aquis Search estimates. "We foresee a good run for the next few years," said Annpurna Bist, its head of quant and tech. Intensifying competition has driven up salaries, with even junior traders paid more than double the figure of three years ago, said Bhautik Ambani, head of AlphaGrep Investment Management, one of India's leading quant trading firms. India's top engineering schools have become the favoured hunting grounds for talent. "We almost solely hire our traders and software engineers from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)," said IMC's Dentand, referring to the country's chain of prestigious engineering schools. But hiring efforts are now being widened to the universities beyond the IITs, Dentand said. The influx of global trading firms has opened up opportunities for India's two main exchanges, which are both upgrading their tech infrastructure. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) plans to add 2,000 co-location racks over the next two years while older stalwart the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) aims to scale up to 500 by the end of fiscal 2026, from none in March 2024. Such racks are servers at exchanges that cut trade execution times to microseconds. "We are a late entrant and need to provide additional value for the unfulfilled demand from high-frequency trading firms and quant firms, amongst others, for co-location racks," said BSE Chief Executive Sundararaman Ramamurthy. The exchange has spent between 4.5 billion rupees and 5 billion rupees ($52 million to $58 million) on technology in the last two years, he said. The NSE and regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) did not respond to queries for the report. ($1=85.9675 rupees)
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Global trading giants step up India presence, fuelling talent rush, exchange upgrades
By Jaspreet Kalra and Jayshree P Upadhyay MUMBAI (Reuters) -Half a dozen global trading giants, from Citadel Securities and IMC Trading to Millennium and Optiver, are ratcheting up their presence in India's booming derivatives markets, fuelling a hiring spree and pushing exchanges to improve technology. The firms' hiring plans, being reported for the first time, come amid expectations that large domestic consumer and investor bases will help shield India from global turmoil sparked by the trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. The South Asian nation made up nearly 60% of global equity derivative trading volumes of 7.3 billion in April, the Futures Industry Association says, while its regulators say notional turnover of the contracts has grown 48 times since March 2018. For Western firms, the gold rush is too big to ignore, particularly after U.S. trading firm Jane Street earned $2.34 billion from its India trading strategy last year, some of the firms' executives said. "We have seen competition increasing both on the trading front, where you see more players going for the same opportunities, and on the job market as well," said Jocelyn Dentand of global high-speed trader IMC Trading. The firm plans to grow its team by more than 50% by the end of 2026 to stand at more than 150, added Dentand, the managing director of its India unit. Foreign investors turned buyers of Indian stocks in April and May, purchasing a net $2.8 billion, as they abandoned their previous selling stance from October 2024 to March 2025, prompted by high valuations and slower growth in earnings. U.S.-based Citadel Securities, a market-making firm founded by well known investor Kenneth Griffin, runs a leaner team of around 10 in India but has ramped up capital allocation to its operations, said a source familiar with its plans. "In India, we're constantly looking for talent and constantly hiring," said the source, who sought anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media and declined to give details of the plan. Hedge fund Millennium is expanding its India desk via Dubai and Singapore, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter, who also sought anonymity on the same grounds. Millennium declined to comment for the story. Citadel Securities did not respond to an email seeking comment. Netherlands-based Optiver, which launched India operations in 2024, plans to grow its team to 100 by the end of 2025, a spokesperson said, up from 70 now. "Optiver is investing ambitiously in India, with a view to expanding to 100 FTEs by year-end and scaling further in the years ahead," the spokesperson added. Amsterdam-based trading firm Da Vinci and London-based Qube Research and Technologies are also recruiting for quantitative trading roles in India, public postings for jobs show. RUSH FOR TECH, TALENT Global trading firms are also looking to expand in India by recruiting aggressively from top domestic universities and poaching from home-grown competitors. They have hired about 300 people in India in the last two years across the trading, technology, compliance, risk, and legal functions, Hong Kong-based recruiter Aquis Search estimates. "We foresee a good run for the next few years," said Annpurna Bist, its head of quant and tech. Intensifying competition has driven up salaries, with even junior traders paid more than double the figure of three years ago, said Bhautik Ambani, head of AlphaGrep Investment Management, one of India's leading quant trading firms. India's top engineering schools have become the favoured hunting grounds for talent. "We almost solely hire our traders and software engineers from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)," said IMC's Dentand, referring to the country's chain of prestigious engineering schools. But hiring efforts are now being widened to the universities beyond the IITs, Dentand said. The influx of global trading firms has opened up opportunities for India's two main exchanges, which are both upgrading their tech infrastructure. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) plans to add 2,000 co-location racks over the next two years while older stalwart the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) aims to scale up to 500 by the end of fiscal 2026, from none in March 2024. Such racks are servers at exchanges that cut trade execution times to microseconds. "We are a late entrant and need to provide additional value for the unfulfilled demand from high-frequency trading firms and quant firms, amongst others, for co-location racks," said BSE Chief Executive Sundararaman Ramamurthy. The exchange has spent between 4.5 billion rupees and 5 billion rupees ($52 million to $58 million) on technology in the last two years, he said. The NSE and regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) did not respond to queries for the report. ($1=85.9675 rupees) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
