Audio
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Ankit Jain and Sidhant Pai on StepChange's new funding, and climate decision platform for large financial clients
In this episode, Ankit Jain and Sidhant Pai talk about how they arrived at their sharper focus on large enterprise customers for their software platform, StepChange, for climate change-based decision-making. Of particular interest is their ability to help large financial clients model the likely implications and trajectories of investments from a climate impact perspective and form an impact-due-to-climate point of view. The entrepreneurs recently raised $4 million in seed money, which will help them invest in further product development and target a 4-5X increase in their customer portfolio t
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The US debt ceiling crisis, what you should know and why you should care
In ToThePoint today, Forbes India's Neha Bothra caught us up on what the jitters are all about on the US' looming loan default crisis, for the 79th time this time around—when US lawmakers need to agree on their government's borrowing, so it can pay bills, save job losses and prevent the economy from spiralling into a bad recession. It's only a matter of days before a decision needs to be made. And Neha points out that while historically there seems to be no playbook on this, the US has always avoided catastrophe
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Why Indians aren't buying laptops anymore and should you buy one today
In ToThePoint today we catch up with Forbes India's Rajiv Singh, who's been tracking PC and smartphone sales in India and around the world. Rajiv gives us his perspective on why consumers are holding back on laptop purchases, and the dilemma between upgrading a phone versus a laptop. We also speculate a bit on what Apple might do to go after a bigger share of India's smartphone market—dominated by the much more affordable Android phones
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Rajen Vagadia unpacks Qualcomm's invent-and-licence model that made Snapdragon a household name
In this episode, Rajen Vagadia, vice president at Qualcomm and president of its India and SAARC operations, explains the semiconductor company's hugely successful invent-and-licence model, with its chips such as the Snapdragon line being a dominant force in smartphones around the world. They will increasingly be found in connected vehicles as well, he says. Vagadia also gives us an overview of the company's operations in India, where Qualcomm has been present for 27 years, and today employs 17,000 engineers, who helped generate more than 1,600 patents for the company last year
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The 2000 rupee withdrawal from circulation and what you should know about it
In ToThePoint today, we asked Forbes India's resident expert on banking and money, Salil Panchal, about the Reserve Bank of India's recent move to withdraw the Rs2000 currency note from circulation, while it will remain legal tender. Panchal explains how this is very different from the demonetisation of November 2016, and why this will likely only have a limited, short-term impact on individuals and businesses alike. He also talks about high-value currencies and inflation and how withdrawing notes should not be a frequent exercise
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Unpacking the semiconductor plan of Vedanta Resources
This issue's cover story is about Anil Agarwal and Vedanta Resouces' ambitious semiconductor project in partnership with Foxconn. Manu Balachandran gets into the details of the plan of the mining conglomerate that was in the right place at the right time. He also talks about Vedanta's debt issue, its natural resources forte, focusing on sunrise industries, and more
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What to do about Fake ChatGPT apps and other AI-infused mobile menaces
In ToThePoint today, we chat with Forbes India's Naandika Tripathi, on fake ChatGPT apps and how we ought to be vigilant about them, even as OpenAI moves to release its official version, starting with an app for Apple's iOS and in the US. One can expect an Android version soon and for the apps to eventually reach other markets around the world. We also talk a bit about our rudimentary use of generative AI at work and what we're seeing around us about how this tech can also make us more productive and creative
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Inside the Hinduja family feud: What happens to their $14bn-fortune now?
After the death of family patriarch SP Hinduja earlier this week, several questions arise about the feuding brothers' path ahead. What can we expect to happen next, and who takes charge? Forbes India's Manu Balachandran takes us through the possibilities
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20 percent tax on international credit card use: What does this mean for you?
In One Thing Today, we discuss the rationale and the impact of the Finance Ministry's amendment to existing FEMA regulations, announced last night, whereby credit card spends made overseas in foreign currency will attract tax collected at source (TCS). Forbes India's Salil Panchal spoke with Amit Singhania, partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas &Co to understand the rationale behind this move, how your spending could be impacted, what it means for the card issuing banks and spending patterns
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Climake's Shravan Shankar and Simmi Sareen on the glass-half-full climate tech finance scene in India
Shravan Shankar and Simmi Sareen, co-founders of Climake, a platform for climate tech funding and market access, discuss the latest edition of their flagship annual report—The State of Climate Finance in India 2023. Equity funding for climate tech decreased by 34 percent in 2022 from the previous year, although 2021 numbers were a bit skewed by eight large strategic, IPO, and post-IPO deals, they note. They also found that, on the positive side, investments in sectors beyond renewables—like agritech and waste and circularity—which urgently need to grow, increased
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OneThingToday: PVR Inox's challenges, rise of OTT and the post-Covid cinema experience
In One Thing Today, we discuss the challenges faced by PVR Inox and multiplexes in general, in a sort of a continuation of our conversation yesterday about Hotstar and the rise of OTT content. Forbes India's Naini Thaker spoke with Karan Taurani, senior VP and research analyst for media, consumer discretionary and internet, at Elara Capital to analyse some of this. Among the takeaways are nuggets about what might get people enthused enough about the cinema to ditch their living room couches and head for the big-screen experience