VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

Contribution of every business vertical is important to make an economy grow, at the same time government also promote business enterprises. In a growing economy like India, government is encouraging business enterprises especially MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and SMEs to get digitise as they contribute a major revenue part in the economy.  After the introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax), to digitally empower MSMEs, Ministry of MSME has launched Digital MSME scheme. It will help MSMEs, the major contributors of Indian economy, to go digital easily.  The objectives behind this are to encourage MSMEs towards new approach i.e Cloud Computing for ICT adoption, adoption of best practices to improve quality of products and services, standardization of their business processes etc.... Read More

Infosys has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Brilliant Basics. With Infosys Digital Studios span the globe, the addition of Brilliant Basics will enhance the company’s expertise in financial services, retail and telco sectors across Europe and the Middle East, company revealed in a statement. “Adding Brilliant Basics’ design and CX capabilities has already proven to be invaluable, helping Infosys close large deals with a deep blend of skills,” said Ravi Kumar S, President & Deputy COO, Infosys. “Brilliant Basics will leverage the breadth and depth of Infosys Digital to drive Digital Transformation solutions, which connect our clients’ Systems of Record to new Systems of Engagement.” Read More

A new variant of the Svpeng mobile banking Trojan that features keylogging functionality, a technique more commonly associated with targeted threat actors. The modified Trojan steals entered text such as banking credentials by abusing Android’s accessibility services and with this Trojan to grant itself other permissions and rights and to counteract attempts to uninstall it. Hence, it is suggested that simply keeping device software up to date does not protect against this Trojan. To address the issue, Kaspersky Lab researchers discovered that Svpeng had evolved to abuse this system feature to steal entered text from other apps on the device and grant itself a number of additional rights.... Read More

Ricoh India has appointed Noboru Akahane as Director / Non-Executive Chairman of Ricoh, effective from August 3, 2017. This decision has been taken in a Board of Directors meeting held today. He has succeeded Ian Winham, who has resigned from the position with immediate effect.  Before being appointed as Director / Non-Executive Chairman, Akahane was the Corporate Vice-President of Ricoh Company. He was responsible for Internal Controls since April .... Read More

According to news report, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has given a nod for merger between Bharti Airtel and Telenor. NCLT has directed both the companies to hold a meeting of equity shareholders and unsecured creditors. In June, Bharti Airtel has already received a clBharti Airtelearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi), BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India. With this acquisition, Bharti Airtel will be strengthening its 4G spectrum holdings and revenue share. After the closure of the deal, Airtel will get hold of Telenor’s 43.4 units of 4G spectrum in 1,800 MHz band which will help the company to reinforce its position in the battle with Reliance Jio Infocomm.... Read More

Vodafone India has invested Rs.1,300 crore on ramping up network and distribution in Kolkata and Rest of Bengal circles over FY 17 and FY 18. Already, the preferred mobile services provider Vodafone, in terms of Subscriber base, Revenue Market Share, Retail touch points, has been focussing on closer engagement and enhancing customer experience in an endeavour to be future-ready.  Strengthening and expanding of network across multiple regions of Bengal brought 37,049 villages within its network. Vodafone has covered 2,380 towns, including all the key towns like Darjeeling, Gangtok, Bashirhat, Nabadwip, Bardhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur, Krishnanagar, Midnapore, Kharagpur, Berhampore and others in Bengal circle with 4G SuperNet.The company has invested over Rs.10,000+ crore till date and ~Rs.1,300 crore in the last year in Kolkata and Rest of Bengal.... Read More

Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK), Department of ITE&C, Government of Telangana, and Red Hat have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to offer Red Hat Academy training and certification programs to engineering students in the State of Telangana.  As part of the MoU, TASK and Red Hat will discuss areas for collaboration to equip all TASK Partner colleges with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for the purpose of training and services for their labs and to subsidize the cost of training and certification for faculty. With this MoU, TASK and Red Hat are aiming to prepare enterprise-ready talent in India.  Red Hat Academy is an academic training program designed by Red Hat to help institutions differentiate themselves by providing an enterprise-ready Linux and open-source curriculum. As part of the program, TASK member-institutions can receive no-cost instructor training and support, Red Hat Technology for use in the lab environments at the colleges wit...

MobiKwik is moving towards India's emerging Unicorn.  Mobikwik , a company into Digipayment and Indian mobile payments network company, with a base of connecting 55+ million users with 10,50,000+ retailers ,growing at the rate 250% Y-o-Y, by using the wallet has raised Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finance. it had “entered into a Subscription Agreement with One MobiKwik for acquisition of 10 Equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS).”  Bajaj Finance has also entered into a shareholders agreement which would become effective on conclusion of the transaction and the value of the transaction is approximately Rs. 225 Crores. Post conversion of CCPS, Bajaj Finance would hold approximately 10.83% of equity in MobiKwik on a fully diluted basis, approximately valuing it over Rs 2,000 crore..... Read More

USISPF, a new Industry representative body - US- India Strategic Partnership Forum - is being set up to further enhance business relations between the two countries. It aims to promote bilateral trade and work on creating "meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens", with an objective of driving the economic growth. USISPF said in a statement.  John Chambers, Chairman Cisco, who has recently appointed, as the Chairman of the newly formed US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), as a strategic organisation we will work on how, the two nations can work together to create opportunities in both nations and the he said, firms taking Indians to the US for cost arbitrage, displacing American workers, was a “mistake” and it is important that jobs are created in both countries to ensure sustainable growth... Read More

Realizing the importance of data protection and keeping personal data of citizens secure and protected, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India has, on 31st July 2017, constituted a Committee of Experts under the Chairmanship of Justice B N Srikrishna, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India.  Protection of Data is expected to provide a boost to Digital economy of the country which is a top priority and to address this ten-member expert committee has been formed. The committee includes representatives from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the IT ministry, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the academic community. The committee will not only study the various issues around data protection in India but will also draft a data protection bill that will be taken up for consideration by the Centre. Protection of Data is expected to provide big boost to Digital economy of the country.... Read More

Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of Government’s Niti Aayog, in a recent announcement announced his resignation from the post on 31st August after serving for two-and-a-half years.  NITI Aayog, after replacing the Planning Commission, was constituted as a premier “think tank” to formulate policies for the Government of India, which is meant to provide both directional and policy inputs.  Arvind Panagariya (64) is an economist chosen by PM Modi in January 2015 as vice-chairman of Niti Aayog. According to reports, India-born Panagariya didn’t have a fixed term and is returning back to Columbia University, where he has been serving as a professor of Indian Political Economy.... Read More

You can make your own network secured with your own interface, so that the generated data can be used in multiple ways. Since, we are living in the age of data science, To further protect the customer of Paytm, sources revelled , Paytm is expected to launch a chat messenger in its app to allow its user base of over 230 million( the no. is increasing day by day) ,active users in a month, to communicate effectively within its network.  The messaging service - letting users send audio, video, pictures and text - within its app by the end of the month. The move will see Paytm offer up serious competition to WhatsApp.... Read More

After six months of negotiations, the e-tailer giant, Snapdeal has closed all talks with Flipkart about its merger. According to the news report, a company spokesperson has said that the company has been exploring strategic options for the past several months, but it has now decided to follow an independent path. Snapdeal has always focussed on creating a life-changing experience for the buyers and sellers and to take it further. The company is expected to be financially self-sustainable with the sale of certain non-core assets..... Read More

Concentrix Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation, has announced that it has closed its recently announced acquisition of Tigerspike.  Tigerspike is a high-value digital products and strategy company founded in 2003. The company has operations in Australia, Singapore, UAE, Japan, USA, Poland, and the UK. Alex Burke, CEO of Tigerspike joins Concentrix' senior executive staff, reporting to Chris Caldwell, President of Concentrix.  This transaction aligns with Concentrix' stated strategy to further invest in digital and enabling technologies to create effortless, personalized customer engagements and improved business intelligence and performance for its clients..... Read More

After serving the company for nearly five years, Arvind Vohra has stepped down as Gionee India's chief executive officer and managing director. He however will continue in the company as its executive director.  The Chinese smartphone brand will announce the replacement for the post of CEO soon, most likely to be someone from China operations.  "I will not be taking care of daily operations, but I will continue in the company as executive director. This is a decision taken by the chairman," he said. The company is expected to name a replacement soon which is likely to be a senior executive from China operations.... Read More

HBO has suffered a major cyber attack which has resulted in the leak of upcoming episodes of a couple of series and at least one alleged script or treatment. With this HBO has joined the ranks of Hollywood entertainment companies that have been a victim of such cyber incidents in the past. The leaked content have been put online by hackers who breached the company’s systems and are threatening to come up soon with more such attacks. So far, an upcoming episode of Ballers and Room 104 have apparently been put online. There is also written material that’s allegedly from next week’s fourth episode of Game of Thrones. Altogether hackers claim to have obtained 1.5 terabytes of data from the company.... Read More

As per news report, Cisco has roped in Sameer Garde as President, India and SAARC operations. He has succeeded Dinesh Malkani. Sameer will take over the responsibilities from August 1, 2017. Sameer will be responsible for top-level external engagement which includes government and industry associations.  Malkhani is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities, but he will be associated with the company as a strategic advisor till September 2017 to ensure a smooth .... Read More

Growth in smartwatch industry is increasing over a period of time with a potential to reach $32.9 billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 67.6% from 2014 to 2020. Global market for Smartwatch is gaining prominence due to its potential to replace traditional watches and functionality similar to smartphones and secondly, health and fitness remain a dominant segment of the smartwatch market, providing healthcare workers and hospitals with savings opportunities. With this the leading companies are collaborating with their suppliers and re-sellers to penetrate into this market through the right selection of channel, geography and target audience.  Demand for smartwatches has attracted consumers with extra functionalities beyond timekeeping and Fitbit becomes most recalled brand in the household when it comes to fitness tracker. Fitbit took over Pebble, Vector as well as mobile payment company Coin . Rumors of Fitbit's "Project Higgs" GPS smartwatch have been around fo...

Apple and Nokia have been fighting over the patents for five months after they had sued each other over royalty payments and the legal battel between the two companies and Apple filed an antitrust lawsuit (PDF) against Nokia, accusing the company of moving "massive numbers of patents" to patent assertion entities and Nokia counter-attacked the following day by accusing Apple of infringing fully 32 of its smartphone patents. According to Nokia, every version of the iPhone, from the iPhone 7 all the way back to the 3GS, infringed Nokia patents.  In response, Nokia filed lawsuits in 11 countries, including Germany and the United States, aiming to defend its intellectual property. Nokia said that Apple should pay for technology used in smartphones, tablets and other devices.... Read More

ACT Fibernet will launch 150 Mbps broadband speed in Delhi beginning 1st August 2017, and will revise its existing fixed term broadband plans that will allow customers to enjoy higher speeds at no additional cost.  Under the retail customer plan umbrella, ACT Bronze will be upgraded to 75 Mbps with 250 GB data transfer (125 GB FUP Up+ 125 GB FUP down), ACT Silver will be upgraded to 75 Mbps speed and 350 GB data transfer (175 GB up + 175 GB down), ACT Gold will be upgraded to 100 Mbps speed with 500 GB data transfer (250 GB up + 250 GB down) and ACT Platinum will be upgraded to 150 Mbps speed with total of 600 GB data transfer (300 GB up + 300 GB down) limit. All of these plans have been upgraded with higher data and faster speeds at no extra cost.... Read More