Archive: January 31, 2023

Pre-budget 2023 Quote on behalf of Mr. Ankur Shrivastava (Founder & Managing Partner, Momentum Capital)

Quote on behalf of Mr. Ankur Shrivastava (Founder & Managing Partner, Momentum Capital):-

“We hope that the government will consider exempting FDI in unlisted companies from capital gains taxes. Currently, the LTCG tax rate on holdings over 24 months is 10% without indexation on FDI. Abolishing this tax like many developed countries have done, like US & Singapore, would spur further FDI inflows into the country and help support economy builders at the earliest stages.

In addition, we hope the ESOP regime is made more friendly for early employees & tax timing is rationalized. The current income tax outlay required when the employees exercise the ESOPs make them unattractive & unaffordable for talent. Delaying the tax ask to when the sale event takes place would enable many more employees to benefit monetarily and help distribute wealth beyond the larger shareholders.”

Momentum Capital:

Momentum Capital is a global micro-VC firm with a presence in Canada, US & India, and invests in Indian technology startups at the pre-seed and seed stages in climate, SaaS, health, and consumer spaces. With a strong set of advisors, investors, and partners having deep investing experience spread across continents & verticals, the firm supercharges global network leverage for Indian founders at the earliest stages.

Ankur Shrivastava, Founder & Managing Partner: Momentum Capital

Ankur Shrivastava is a highly experienced startup investor and is the co-founder of Globevestor, a pioneering cross-border startup investment platform. He led Globevestor’s investments in over 40 startups, including Zoomcar, Springboard, Agnikul, and others across SaaS, tech, health, climate, consumer, and other diverse spaces. His past portfolio firms have together raised about $500 million in capital and are collectively valued at over $2.5 billion now.

HCLTech named as Leader in 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Managed Network Services

HCLTech, a leading global technology company, has been named as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Managed Network Services. This is the second year in a row that HCLTech has received this recognition.

HCLTech is among the leading providers of managed wide area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN) services globally with well-defined service descriptions, operational processes and standardized service delivery for enterprise customers. A vast majority of HCLTech’s client sites are located in Europe and the Americas.

“Network is the unifying digital fabric that empowers enterprises to accelerate their digital journeys, strengthen competitive differentiation and future-proof their business. We believe that this recognition serves as a validation of our investments across multi-edge technologies—SD-WAN, private 5G and edge computing, information technology-operational technology convergence and network automation, while helping our customers unlock value throughout the engagement,” said JagadeshwarGattu, President, Digital Foundation Services, HCLTech.“We believe our recognition is a testament of our vision, strategy, customer success and maturity in the next-generation network (NGN) business.”

HCLTech’s service delivery platform (SDP), with differentiated capabilities in information technology-operational technology convergence, makes it a distinct network player across industry verticals. The company’s feature-rich portal for account management, SLA management, performance reporting and co-management of both LAN and WAN differentiates it from its peers.

Additionally, the company’s extensive support for multi-cloud end users—combined with flexible commercial models—has accelerated its journey towards becoming a true Network Services Orchestrator (NSO).

To read more about the report, visit https://www.hcltech.com/analyst/analyst-reports/hcltech-positionedleader-2022-gartnerr-magic-quadranttm-managed-network

Disclaimer: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services, Ted Corbett, Et Al., 5 December 2022.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

9 Young Chefs Battle Out in Round 1 of the International Young Chef Olympiad in Bengaluru

Bengaluru Jan 31, 2023: 9 young chefs from 9 different countries of the world participated in Round 1 of the International Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) in the Bengaluru campus of the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) today.

The participants of the round-1 were Chong Jia De from Singapore, John Michael Kochev from Scotland, Gor Avetisyan from Armenia, Willy Linardy from Indonesia, Behnaz Zobeiri from Iran, Timothee Goedert from Luxembourg, Nambinintsoa Randriamihaingo from Madagascar, Benjamin Newcombe from Wales and Joseph Kiarie Gitau from Kenya

The culinary battle, that began at 9 am saw these young chefs showcasing their culinary skills in a 3.5 hours starting with skills test, preparation of vegetarian dish and a dessert. The contest concluded at 2:00 PM.

The first round of the Olympiad Competition for Bengaluru was judged by a panel of esteemed international chefs, including Chef Andreas Muller, The Programme Director (International Cuisine) at VTC, Hong Kong, Chef Anupam Gulati, Director of Culinary, Ritz Carlton, and Vijaitha M.R Regional HOD, Food Production, South Region, IIHM, Bangalore as Technical Judges and International judge Chef Sarah Hartnett Pastry Chef & Chocolate Consultant, Creator of Hartnett Artisan Chocolate together with Chef Abhijit Saha, Founder, Managing Director & Principal Consultant, Ace Hospitality as Tasting Judges, and Chef Avijit Ghosh, Director IIPC was the Deputy Adjudicator- Bangalore.

“The competition aimed to test the participants’ culinary skills, creativity, and knowledge of different cuisines, as well as their ability to work under pressure. The judges were impressed with the level of skill and creativity displayed by the young chefs, making it a tough competition to judge. The physical version of YCO is happening after 2 years at the Bengaluru campus and we all are super excited”, apprised Sanchari Chowdhury, Director, IIHM Bengaluru.

The leading 10 competitors from Round 1 will compete in the Grand Finale; the next 10 competitors filling the 11th to 20th positions will compete for the Plate Trophy and the remaining competitors will take part in the YCO Dr Suborno Bose Challenge. The 9th International IIHM Young Chef Olympiad looks all set to be the mega culinary competition and conclave of the year.

The Grand Final’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medallists; the Plate Trophy Winner; the YCO Dr Suborno Bose Challenge Winner and all other Award Winners will be announced at the Closing Awards Ceremony on the evening of 4th February 2023. While the Gold winner will be awarded a US $ 5,000 prize, the Silver winner will bag US $3,000, and the Bronze winner $2,000.

On the occasion, Dr Suborno Bose, Chairman, IIHM, who conceptualised and has passionately guided this event since its inception in 2015, said, “The 9th International Young Chef Olympiad is the first major Culinary Olympiad post pandemic anywhere in the world. In 2023, the theme is the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This assumes great significance in light of India’s G20 Presidency. This year over 60 countries are participating in the Olympiad. This is the first time in the history of the event that there is participation in such large numbers. IIHM campuses across the country are eagerly looking forward to hosting this mega culinary competition which will not only inspire young chefs from around the world to do their best but also sensitise them to the critical importance of sustainability in the field of hospitality.”

2023 being the International Year of Millets, the 9th International IIHM Young Chef Olympiad 2023 is also promoting Millets in a big way, putting a spotlight on them as well as on sustainability.

One of the key highlights was also a masterclass by celebrated chef from UK, Chef Sara Hartnett, who is also one of the judges of the YCO. The masterclass, which took place on Jan 30 at the IIHM Institute of Patisserie and Culinary was an interesting session on ‘Chocolate Bon-Bons; using the best quality chocolate brands.

The YCO PAN India Snack Partners are McCain Foodservice and for Bangalore Chapter the partners are Dolar Engineering Industries, Sula Wines, VRO Hospitality, Novotel, Ritz Carlton, Grand Mercure Gopalan, Nandus, EATFIT, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, SKAL Bangalore and our Tourism Partners are Karnataka, Kerala & TN Tourism.

Nick Venezia joins MOGO as Chief Data Officer

WESTPORT, CT and MUMBAI, INDIA – January 31, 2023 — Mobile Global Esports Inc. (MOGO) (NASDAQ Ticker: MGAM), the mobile esports and social platform company driving collegiate esports tournaments, team, and player development in India, today announced that Nicholas (Nick) Venezia has joined MOGO as Chief Data Officer.

Nick Venezia
Nick has spent the last decade working with clients from various industries, including finance, government, technology, entertainment, non-profit, luxury, Fortune 500, Global 100, and more. Along the way, he has built digital assets that convert directly into increased profit margins. Nick uses complex scientific formulas and analytical mathematics to create unique algorithms and toolsets that guarantee revenue for his clients.

“Nick’s expertise in driving data value while protecting those providing their data is of singular importance as we build out the Indian collegiate esports market,” said Mobile Global Esports CEO Dave Pross. “Behind every data point is a human, and MOGO is determined to build the most robust online sandbox for the Indian esports community that inspires confidence and promotes engagement and interaction with game developers and tournament and arena sponsors. We are at an exciting time in the development of a monetizable India-centric esports continuum featuring India-based data centers and MOGO is pleased to have Nick as an integral part of our team. Our data identity, graph and analytics platform maintained on in-country servers will ensure that Indian data does not leave India.”

“I’m very excited about the opportunity for MOGO to be ahead of the curve in building the infrastructure that will allow for esports to flourish in the new era of internet privacy regulations in India,” said Mobile Global Esports Inc. Chief Data Officer Nick Venezia. “Our job and duty is to protect our players, our customers and our partners. We are engineering an interface for gamers and users to interact with and build on top of, while making the data available to build the games of tomorrow designed and tailored to that specific human. MOGO will be creating extremely valuable datasets that also respect individual consent and align with future privacy standards while delivering qualified and high value audiences.”

Nick Venezia is a mathematician, social data architect, and early contributor to digital-marketing teams at Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. Nick has worked with many consumer brands, helping them define and connect with their constituent audiences and prospective customers. Nick has been publicly recognized by clients and industry partners alike for his contributions and innovations in the field of digital marketing. Nick has also advised public sector stakeholders and agencies on detecting and combatting coordinated social media-driven election meddling and disinformation.

He is the founder and CEO of Social Outlier, and co-founder + Chief Data Officer at DeepPod. With his latest project, Centillion, Nick has brought together a community of visionary data architects, with the mission to help people exercise sovereignty over their personal data and decide by whom, and under what terms their data can be used. Sovereignty over personal data and the ability to securely capture economic value from its use will be essential pillars for any future universal basic income initiatives.

Nick is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and a CFA candidate. He began his career as a registered representative of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

HiLabs offers the highest salary package of Rs 2 crore in their campus hiring to a woman candidate from a top business school

Mumbai, January 31, 2023: HiLabs, a leading provider of artificial intelligence-based data analytics solutions for health plans in the United States has offered a 2 crore salary package to a woman candidate at India’s top business school. The international offer was made on the first day of campus recruitment. During campus hiring for 2022, the company offered a record-breaking 27 offers to highly regarded IIT and ISB students.

A total of three international offers have been made across campuses for hires to join HiLabs’ headquarters in the Washington, DC metro area. In addition to the ₹2 crore international offer to a woman candidate, the company has offered ISB students salaries between ₹40 to ₹60 Lakhs per annum with ESOPs for their India office locations. Also, the IIT India and US offers ranged from ₹29 to ₹80 lakhs per year for candidates who were hired to join any of the data science, engineering and product management teams at HiLabs.

Amit Garg, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder at HiLabs said, “Placements are a quantifiable way to measure the quality and value add of students who attend and thrive at an academic institution. We are delighted that HiLabs has performed well in the placements, resulting in record-breaking job offers to these highly skilled and qualified individuals. We are proud to have the ability to go on a hiring spree now, helping students find great opportunities despite the current job market, which has seen large-scale layoffs and an economic slowdown across the tech industry. HiLabs’ record-breaking campus employment is being driven by our exponential growth and unique culture, which includes giving our fresh graduates opportunities to address real-world challenges on day one and accelerate their experience and career development. HiLabs is focused on improving data quality. To date, we have evaluated over 36 billion health data records and assisted health plans in detecting and correcting over three million data errors related to provider directories, clinical data, claims operations, and value-based care. Those who join HiLabs are highly qualified and understand how to approach challenges in a proactive and innovative manner by utilizing some of the most advanced technology”.

These new hires will immediately begin working with HiLabs’ AI-powered data quality platform, MCheck™, to assist health plans to recover billions in lost productivity due to data quality issues. HiLabs has made a total of six product management offers, including an international offer at the Indian School of Business (ISB) campus in Hyderabad, a significant increase from previous years.

HiLabs is combining cutting-edge, explainable AI with healthcare-specific business ontologies to vastly improve data quality for its health plan clients across provider data, payment accuracy, clinical interoperability, and value-based care. This unique and valuable approach has earned HiLabs business with three of the five largest US health plans. HiLabs core platform, MCheck™ has performed analysis on over 36 billion health data records, covering over one-fifth of the US insured population. It proactively detects and corrects data errors throughout the health plan enterprise, improving operations and analytics, and resulting in significant cost savings and revenue growth opportunities.

How airport expansion is going to assist Coimbatore into being a global city

Eshwar N, Chief Executive Office of G Square

Ever wondered what fast-paced social development looks like? One can have a fair idea and witness the same if they ever lived around an airport. The airport has always been considered one of the most prized public amenities according to modern living standards and an important marker for urban development. This is the same for societies all around the world, vicinities around an airport would often have top-tier development. This top-tier development would include an upgrade of public transportation facilities, the establishment of civic amenities, and advanced infrastructural development. Prominent examples of development around the airport vicinity can be evidently seen in most of the country’s metropolitan cities, upcoming Tier-II and Tier-III cities where residential communities flourish, high-end public transport facilities like metros emerge, and Industrial and IT development takes place. One of the major reasons why big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai are considered the top business destination hubs of the country is due to the presence of major transportation facilities like an airport. This is what boosted industrial and IT software development in these regions, where people from all the around the world could easily reach destinations like this for business purposes. This is also what drove people to migrate to these big cities and ultimately make them high-end metropolitan cities.

There are however few cities in the country where development around the airport vicinity remains unexplored, having the potential to reach the development of Tier-I metropolitan cities. One of the major contenders in this bracket happens to be the city of Coimbatore. Coimbatore, the second-largest city in Tamil Nadu also known as the textile capital of South India and considered one of the most industrialized cities within the state is currently considered to be booming with massive IT software and infrastructural development. The presence of leading software giants like Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI), and other huge IT parks like ELCOT and TIDEL has already catapulted Coimbatore into being a prospect for an emerging global city. This massive development has attracted the attention of many foreign investors, companies, and even the government. In a bid to make the most of this progress, the Central Government recently announced plans to expand the international Coimbatore airport in a Rs. 2000 crore project. The new airport is mandated to expand up to 627.89 acres of which 90 percent has already been acquired further ensuring that the runway is stretched and more airlines and destinations can be connected to Coimbatore.

Why Coimbatore(L & T) Bypass is a goldmine for real-estate investment

Areas in and around 15-20 kilometers of the airport are projected to be propelled to massive development, especially the L&T Bypass Road which is considered to be the upcoming prime location of Coimbatore where the scope for advancement is valued to be at its peak due to its widening of the current 28 km two-lane road into a four-lane road with service roads. The project will drastically improve the value of land in the surrounding localities and contribute immensely to the land appreciation rate. The Rs. 400 crore proposed project will also maintain close proximity with the upcoming 61.62 acres’ largest bus stand project, Vellalore Integrated bus stand, and the Union Defence Industrial Corridor project of Rs. 225 crores which will be responsible for developing new defense equipment manufacturing facilities through foreign investments. Development in these regions will include real estate, IT-sector, and technological development, where prices for land plots would skyrocket, new IT industries and offices would begin to set up and operate and ultimately lead to the establishment of residential societies. These areas are currently the hottest-selling land plots in the city for residential and commercial purposes and are also expected to have essential civic amenities like schools, colleges, healthcare facilities, and entertainment avenues like malls and shopping complexes in the near future.

Numerous real estate analysts are now stating that a mere investment in a plot of land in any of these locations in Coimbatore today is considered an investment in the future, bound to increase in value with a promising ROI in upcoming years. Large-scale residential and commercial living is not far off in these localities and missing this golden opportunity to invest in these places which would reap enormous benefits from the nearby airport development would be quite a blunder for anybody and everybody. With people claiming ‘Coimbatore to be the future’, this might be one’s only chance to invest less now and witness massive social and real-estate development soon.

Union Budget 2023 and the opportunities it presents for real estate

As the Indian real estate market emerges from the shadow of a global epidemic, it has high expectations for Budget 2023. Despite the fact that demand for real estate in India has increased in recent months, the real estate and construction industries are hoping for some specific relief. Even though the Coronavirus pandemic reduced site visits and home demand across the country, the months that followed inspired confidence with a resurgence in housing demand. The demand for residential housing in India’s top eight cities increased by more than 15% year on year. Similarly, a significant rebound is expected in 2023. The real estate industry expects the government to take specific steps to smooth the road to recovery at a time when it is dealing with post-Corona issues such as rising input costs and razor-thin margins.

Here is what industry professionals have to say about the industry expectations from the budget.

Speaking of the same, Gurmit Singh Arora, National President of, the Indian Plumbing Association said, “Stamp duty needs to be reduced. Following the implementation of GST, the industry was burdened, and it is extremely difficult for builders to pass it on to consumers. This can be accomplished by granting waivers rather than incentivizing it. In order to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint, the government should incentivize green building. The government should also encourage and recruit more entrepreneurs.”

There is an express need for more tax sops for home buyers as well as investors. In the opinion of

Nakul Mathur, MD, Avanta India, “Indian real estate stands on a strong footing with a hike of 50% in sales transactions in 2022, compared to the previous calendar year. The positive sentiments will continue in 2023 backed by a healthy economic outlook, expansion in the job market, and a rise in per capita income. Meanwhile, it is also imperative for the governing agencies to take proactive steps to further build consumer demands alongside streamlining the supply cycle. Steps such as reducing GST rates on raw materials such as cement & steel, offering better credit for developers, and single window clearance can immensely help the overall sector.”

Siddharth Maurya, Resource Specialist, Expertise Real-Estate and Fund Management comments, “The government must acknowledge the important role played by the sector and make deep policy reforms to accelerate growth in realty demand. Currently, concession can be availed in income tax on up to 2 lakhs paid as interest on home loans. This should be revised and increased to build healthy demand in the sector. Likewise, waivers or reductions should be offered on GSTs on raw materials such as cement, steel, etc. Raw material prices are increasing and reduction in GST rates can give a lot of relief to the developer fraternity. Giving infrastructure status to the sector is also long due as it can help in building liquidity in the sector.”

As per Ankit Goel, Director, Goel Ganga Developments, “In this budget, the government should mull impetus such as an increase in home loan interest deduction. Under section 24 of the Income Tax, one can avail of a deduction of up to INR 2 Lacs of home loan interest on the income tax. If the government can increase the limit to INR 5 Lacs, it can be a great help for both buyers as well as developers, as due to other succeeding/ successful factors, the prices and EMIs of homes have gone up, so it is a must to increase the deduction for the same”.

Adding to the same, Mr. Suren Goyal, Partner, RPS Group states, ” Indian real estate constitutes close to 8% of the Indian economy. It is also the second-largest job creator after the agriculture sector and close to 250 ancillary industries are dependent on it. This further reflects the importance of the sector and it is essential that GOI take concentrated efforts to help the industry. Overall the industry looks upbeat but the rise in interest rates can decelerate the growth juggernaut. Hence the government should step up and take proactive steps to reduce lending rates. If directly reducing the rates is not feasible then it should at least try other means such as offering incentives to first-time home buyers and rendering more lucrative deductions in income tax returns.”

Looking back at the year 2022 as the most eventful years for Indian real estate with sales recovery observed in many of the major markets in the country, Ankit Aggarwal, MD, Devika Group said, “The real estate industry is considering a few tax breaks, such as a 2 lakh reimbursement increase under Section 24, because gross margins are already low in the immediate wake of the global epidemic, and developers must compensate for lost time. For many years, there has been a demand for a single window clearance framework. Furthermore, now would be an ideal time to confer industry status on the sector of real estate in order for it to obtain lower-cost credit from financial institutions.”

Pre-Budget Expectations Quote EV Sector – Neuron Energy

“In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs) have become increasingly popular in India owing to growing eco-consciousness, efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and rising fuel costs. The Union budget for 2023 is expected to be a turning point for the sector. The EV industry is expecting a GST cut from 18% to 5% on lithium-ion battery packs and cells. The Indian electric vehicle (EV) sector, which mainly relies on batteries, would benefit if this transformation were to occur.

Furthermore, to boost the manufacturing and adoption of EVs the sector is counting on the government to promote carbon credits by enacting regulations that encourage businesses to cut their carbon emissions. Firms that emit less than the government-imposed limit can trade or sell the extra credits to companies that must satisfy the limit under a cap-and-trade system. As a result, companies receive financial rewards for spending money on sustainable energy technology and lowering their carbon footprints. Furthermore, the FAME II Subsidy Program has been effective in encouraging EV adoption in India and it’s expected to be extended beyond March 2024. Also, it is expected that the government will implement a PLI scheme for battery pack manufacturers as a means of supporting the EV market and making electric vehicles more affordable and accessible to customers. This will ensure that sufficient capacity will be available to meet the anticipated demand for electric vehicle batteries.”-Mr. Pratik Kamdar, Co-Founder of Neuron Energy