Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's venture capital firm Catamaran plans to expand its portfolio by investing in precision manufacturing startups, which can export and make components in deep tech, and automobiles, a senior company official has said. While speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the Digital Acceleration and Transformation Expo (DATE), Catamaran Chairman MD Ranganath on Friday said the valuation expectation in startups have come down in India compared to 2022, but good ideas with good business models will continue to attract investments. "Our current focus, in addition to services, is on precision manufacturing. Now, India is attracting a lot of manufacturing investments. We are trying to invest in those companies which can export and make components in deep tech, and automobiles," Ranganath said. Catamaran has invested in companies like SpaceX, deep-tech energy startup Log 9, B2B e-commerce firm udaan, edtech firm udemy, and fintech firm Acko, among others. "Overall, in
Software icon N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday advocated accelerating the National Education Policy's outcome by inviting 10,000 retired, highly accomplished teachers from the developed world and from India in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas to create 2,500 "Train the Teacher" colleges in the country's 28 states and eight union territories. This course alone is not sufficient, Murthy said. "We must show much respect and pay better salaries to our teachers and researchers. We must also provide better facilities to our researchers. We must honour them. They are role models for our youngsters. That is why we instituted the Infosys Prize in 2009. It is our small contribution to further the cause of research in India," he added. The "Train the Teacher" programme should be year-long, he said at a press conference here, where the Infosys Science Foundation announced the Infosys Prize 2023 in six categories. "Experts tell me that each set of four trainers can
But Indians work less than smaller countries with small populations such as Bhutan, the Congo, Lesotho, and Gambia
A 70-hour work week could raise compliance issues as it violates labour laws, a senior official of staffing company TeamLease said on Friday. "If somebody is spending 70 hours (in office), they are going beyond 9 hours. There is a fundamental disconnect, when you are an employee labour law allows you to work 9 hours," Vice President and Business Head for TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship Dhriti Prasanna Mahanta said. Former Infosys CEO N R Narayana Murthy had recently advocated for a 70-hour work week, drawing reactions from across the spectrum. The cost of employment, if a 70-hour work week is made possible, will also increase, and in a lot of places you are not allowed to pay overtime, he said. He pointed that this works for entrepreneurs and self-motivated individuals but cannot be accepted due to labour law compliance norms in place. Speaking to PTI on hiring trends, Mahanta said around 65 per cent of the demand is coming from non-tech sectors for job roles in AI, machine learni
The insight that the more you work, the less you produce in your extra hours on the job has a long history
Leading office furniture brand Godrej Interio has "never" been approached by any corporate client asking for solutions to help an employee put in elongated work hours, a top official said on Tuesday. Corporate clients are more focused on making employees more productive, ensuring that they work as a team and also aspects like sustainability, its parent firm Godrej & Boyce chief executive Anil Verma said. "The short answer is... I never got a customer saying 'I want my people to work so many hours'," Verma told PTI, replying to a specific question if the company has seen corporates seeking such help. Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy recently triggered a flutter by suggesting a 70-hour work week to help in faster growth of the economy. As companies get employees back to work ending the pandemic period practice of work from home, there is a sharp decline of over 70 per cent in the revenues from individuals, Godrej Interio's business head Swapneel Nagarkar said. However, the ...
Aequs, which operates a precision manufacturing platform in aerospace and other verticals, will use the growth capital to launch a new Advanced Technology Products (ATP) vertical
While some corporate leaders endorsed Murthy's "sane advice" at a time when "we are in a nation-building stage", others said productivity was not linked to hours employees put in
'We need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity. I think unless we do that, what can poor government do?' Murthy said in a podcast
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However, a source close to the development said that the application is still in the regulatory stage.
It has shifted focus from early-stage investments to growth and late-stage bets
Akshata Murty married UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2009 and the latter made a quick rise to power in the years that followed
India needs a culture of honesty, no favouritism, quicker decision making and hassle less transactions to prosper as a country, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy said on Thursday. Speaking at the Asia Economic Dialogue organised by the Ministry of External Affairs here, Murthy said only a small section works hard in the country and a majority of people have not imbibed the culture which is essential to fulfil the aspirations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "We need to build a culture of quick decision making, quick implementation, hassle less transactions, honesty in transactions, no favouritism," Murthy said, adding that the only common aspect joining all the developed countries are such cultural attributes. He said both India and China were of the same size in the late 1940s, but the northern neighbour has grown to be six times the size of India courtesy the culture it has imbibed. "There is a small section of India which works hard, which is honest, which has good work eth
'I was completely wrong,' Murthy rues not allowing founders' children to join the company
With many in India expressing their happiness, including Sunak's father-in-law and founder of Infosys Narayana Murthy, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has stirred up a storm on Twitter
"We are proud of him and wish him success," Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy said in his first comments on the elevation of his son-in-law Rishi Sunak as Britain's prime minister. Sunak, 42, on Sunday won the race to lead the Conservative Party and is now set to become Britain's first prime minister of Indian origin. "Congratulations to Rishi. We are proud of him and we wish him success," Murthy said in first first reaction emailed to PTI. "We are confident he will do his best for the people of the United Kingdom." The son of a pharmacist mother and doctor father, Sunak was educated at one of England's most renowned schools, Winchester, and then Oxford. He spent three years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and later gained an MBA from Stanford in California, where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. He married Akshata in 2009 and the couple has two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.
Says that isn't a good thing as an IPO comes with great responsibilities; points to pressure from VCs as a reason for IPO move by companies
The probe also covered further revelations around Sunak having a Green Card two years after being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK Cabinet
There is no denying that Infosys must take a major part of the blame for the problem