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☆ India’s booming tech sector suffers a big blow as Byju’s and Paytm plunge into crisis
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A subsequent audit "revealed persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns in the bank," the central bank said on Jan. 31. Yet to be profitable, Paytm is also reportedly being probed by the federal anti-fraud agency on possible violations of foreign exchange laws. On Feb. 26, One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, said in an exchange filing that founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had resigned from the board of Paytm Payments Bank. During the pandemic, Paytm capitalized on the digital payments boom in India, reporting a 3.5 times growth in transactions. SoftBank and Ant Group are now reportedly cutting their stakes in the payments company, according to local media.

Persons: Anindito Mukerjee, There's, Karan Mohla, Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, SoftBank Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, B Capital, Reserve Bank of India, One97 Communications, Paytm Payments, Alibaba, Ant, Ant Group Locations: Greater Noida, India

☆ India's Byju's to merge businesses, slash around 5,500 jobs – ET
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

People walk past an advertising hoarding of Byju's, an Education Technology company and one of India's biggest startup, outside one of its branch in New Delhi, India, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSept 26 (Reuters) - Indian education firm Byju's plans to cut around 5,500 jobs to decrease costs amid a restructuring of its business, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. The firm, valued at $22 billion last year, has experienced a series of business setbacks, including its auditor and board members quitting. In the last few months, it has also been negotiating the repayment of a $1.2 billion loan. (This story has been corrected to change Arjun Mohan's designation to say CEO of Byju's India business, not the company, in paragraph 2)Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai私たちの行動規範：トムソン・ロイター「信頼の原則」

Persons: Adnan Abidi, Arjun Mohan, Byju's, Arjun, Shivani Tanna, Pooja Desai 私 Organizations: Education Technology, REUTERS, Economic Times Locations: New Delhi, India, Bengaluru

☆ India’s fintech partygoers nurse a needed hangover
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Shritama Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MUMBAI, Sept 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India’s financial technology industry is suffering from overindulgence. And it was on full display at a sombre Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai last week. The South Asian country is the world’s third-largest fintech market by number of unicorns. Poster child Byju’s is squabbling with lenders as investors walk away and financial reports get delayed. Follow @ShritamaBose on XCONTEXT NEWSThe Global Fintech Fest organised by the National Payments Corporation of India and industry association Payments Council of India was held between Sept. 5 and 7 in Mumbai.

Persons: securitisation, ’, hesitatingly, Vishwas Patel, they’re, fintechs, Mukesh Ambani’s, Antony Currie, Katrina Hamlin, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Founders, Boston Consulting Group, Venture, Reserve Bank, One97 Communications, FSN, Commerce Ventures, Innoven Triple Blue Capital, XV Partners, Financial, National Payments Corporation of India, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Mumbai, India, fintech, Sequoia Capital’s India, Southeast Asia, Rwanda, Japan, Germany, Peru

☆ Byju’s blowup makes its investors look bad
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Pranav Kiran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo/File PhotoBENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Byju’s says it provides learning programs to over 150 million students. The biggest lesson may be for the Indian education giant’s global investors including Prosus (PRX.AS) and Peak XV, formerly part of Sequoia, who watched founder power run amok in a country they have pinned high hopes on. But so long as the blowup at the hot startup once valued at $22 billion goes from bad to worse, its backers will struggle to create enough distance. For early supporter Peak XV Partners, the mess comes at a sensitive time, hot on the heels of announcing a separation from its U.S. parent. Representatives of the Amsterdam-listed investor and Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia’s India unit, both quit Byju’s board in June.

Persons: Adnan Abidi, Byju Raveendran, Davidson, Byju’s, Reuters Breakingviews, Prosus, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Bloomberg, XV Partners, HK, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, BENGALURU, Sequoia, U.S, Byju’s, Amsterdam, China, Delaware

☆ Commonwealth Games hit a financial wall
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MELBOURNE, July 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Anyone who signs up for a marathon soon hears about the metaphorical wall that exhausted runners often hit around three-quarters of the way through the race. Australia’s state of Victoria has just crashed into the financial equivalent, much earlier, in its preparations for hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Rio de Janeiro lost $2 billion hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, for instance. Andrews’ government, though, also wanted the Games to be hosted in several different cities – and added more sports, per the Commonwealth Games organising body. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Daniel Andrews, Andrews, Antony Currie, Robyn Mak, Thomas Shum Organizations: MELBOURNE, Reuters, Victoria, Games, Commonwealth Games, Twitter, Cathay, Thomson Locations: Australia’s, Victoria, Rio de Janeiro

☆ Argenx drug boost is mixed blessing for suitors
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Argenx (ARGX.BR) has long been a presumed takeover target for drugmakers like Pfizer (PFE.N). Many of its remedies like Vyvgart, which delivered positive drug trial results on Monday, are likely to reach their peak just as the big drugmakers’ revenues come under patent pressure. Still, the more successful Argenx becomes the more expensive it will be for a potential bidder. Since then the company’s shares have nearly doubled, including a 26% bump on Monday thanks to the positive trial results. Argenx’s drug trial success may give bidders comfort they are not buying a dud, but that reassurance comes with a downside.

Persons: Argenx, Prometheus, Aimee Donnellan, George Hay, Pranav Kiran Organizations: Reuters, Pfizer, Big Pharma, Twitter, Cathay, Thomson Locations: Belgian

☆ Luxury tests limits of its immunity to downturns
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Compagnie Financiere Richemont (CFR.S) is testing the limits of luxury’s immunity to downturns. Shares of other big luxury players, including $236 billion Hermes International (HRMS.PA) and $502 billion LVMH (LVMH.PA), also fell 4.2% and 3.7% respectively. The top 5% of wealthiest shoppers who are probably less sensitive to inflation drove around 40% of global luxury sales last year, according to Boston Consulting Group. Shares in the European luxury sector are on average up 69% since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Meanwhile, revenue in Asia, which makes up 40% of Richemont's revenue, grew 40% year-on-year in the last quarter.

Persons: Cartier, U.S . downer, Karen Kwok, George Hay, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, Financiere, Hermes, Boston Consulting, Citi, U.S ., Twitter, Cathay, Thomson Locations: Asia

☆ Byju’s virtue-signalling is late but valuable
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

India’s once-most valuable startup is luring big talent even after its auditor Deloitte resigned and three investors including Prosus (PRX.AS) quit the company’s board. His experience navigating government departments will be handy as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs ordered an inspection of Byju’s books per Bloomberg. It also could shore up Byju’s hopes of raising cash from new investors to meet creditor demands for early repayment of a $1.2 billion loan. Prosus for example thinks the company is only worth $5.1 billion, down from a peak valuation of $22 billion. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Rajnish Kumar, Mohandas Pai, India’s, Kumar, Pai, Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, Pranav Kiran, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, State Bank of India, Infosys, Deloitte, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Bloomberg, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ 5G push catches European telecom kit makers short
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The race to roll out faster 5G networks in the past two years has turned into a trap for telecom kit makers in Europe. The Finnish telecom gear group surprised investors with a profit warning; it cut its full-year net sales guidance to between 23.2 billion euros and 24.6 billion euros ($26.05 billion and $27.62 billion) from 24.6 billion euros to 26.2 billion euros previously. Mobile networks in big markets like the United States invested aggressively to roll out 5G equipment in 2021 and 2022, ending up with excessively high inventories. Yet this came just as mobile equipment makers’ customers started to rein in spending on the back of inflation, exacerbating their problem. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Karen Kwok, Lisa Jucca, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Nokia, Ericsson, U.S, Twitter, Cathay, Thomson Locations: Europe, Swedish, Scandinavian, United States, India

☆ Cathay Pacific’s recovery finds its wings
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, July 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Cathay Pacific (0293.HK) is regaining its mojo. The return to profitability for the $7 billion airline, which expects earnings of as much as HK$4.5 billion, is well-timed. Dividends owed on the preference shares are due to rise from 3% to 5% in August and would continue to rise to as much as 9%. Buying back the shares, as the company plans to do within the next 12 months, will avoid the higher coupons. But as Cathay aims to return to 100% of pre-pandemic capacity by the end of 2024, confidence is returning to Hong Kong’s skies.

Persons: Ronald Lam, Thomas Shum, Una Galani, Pranav Kiran Organizations: Reuters, Cathay, HK, Hong, Pilots, Twitter, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, HK, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Hong

☆ Indian Tech’s Promise of Rivaling China Is Falling Apart
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Megha Mandavia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Technology-education company Byju’s is the most highly valued Indian startup—on paper. Photo: manjunath kiran/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe Indian edtech company Byju’s was the poster child of the Asian country’s startup boom, attracting a lofty valuation while meeting the needs of millions of students across the country as the pandemic hurt their access to schools and education. It is now turning out to be a symbol of everything that went wrong with India’s promise of creating internet companies to rival such Chinese titans as Alibaba and Tencent. The country’s hot startup ecosystem, which lured such investors as SoftBank and Tiger Global, is facing questions on financial accountability and discipline, expensive acquisitions, heady valuations and whether investors overestimated India’s total addressable market, or TAM. Public listings have been delayed, and layoffs are now almost a daily occurrence.

☆ Edtech giant leverages up in financial expertise
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, April 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Indian education technology giant Byju’s has a new chief financial officer. Ajay Goel, who recently left a similar role at the Mumbai-listed natural resources firm Vedanta (VDAN.NS), will now steer the debt-laden company’s finances. Prosus-backed (PRX.AS) Byju’s, meanwhile, in December sought easier terms on a year-old $1.2 billion loan private placement. That provides some breathing room, but with the company’s top line shrinking and losses mounting, the battle-hardened Goel’s start date cannot come too soon. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ India’s Education Tech Giant Struggles With Math
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Megha Mandavia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Private-equity and venture-capital investors in Byju’s, India’s most valuable startup, caught a break this week—the company isn’t listed yet. If it had been, gyrating markets seem very likely to have caused some serious vertigo. The Indian education-technology company finally released audited financial statements for the financial year ended in March 2021 on Wednesday, after an 18-month delay. Losses ballooned but revenue was nearly flat at the equivalent of $304.6 million—an unpleasant surprise since Indian edtech companies logged massive user growth when schools shut down during the pandemic.

☆ India’s edtech startup flunks the growth class
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Children recite the preamble to the Constitution of India during an assembly at a school in Mumbai, India, January 27, 2020. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasMUMBAI, Sept 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India’s most valuable startup is not growing much at all. It reveals the company’s top line shrunk 3% to $304 million while losses ballooned around 14 times to roughly $570 million. But the endless controversy around the Indian company is also ammunition for those calling for more regulation of the red hot-industry. (By Una Galani)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterFollow @Breakingviews on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.

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