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Byju's leadership is in talks with the investors to try to convince them to reverse their decision, the three sources, who declined to be named as the talks are private, told Reuters. Its rise was seen as a boost for India's startup scene as investors including General Atlantic made big bets on Byju's. Two of the sources said the investors took the decision collectively to resign from the board as they were not getting answers from Byju's founder and senior management. The departures mean Byju's board is now only made up of its founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and his brother Riju Raveendran. While the investors are holding talks with Byju's, it has not yet been decided whether or not their decision to resign would change, one of the sources added.

Persons: Chan Zuckerberg, Byju's, Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, Riju Raveendran, Aditya Kalra, Alexander Smith Organizations: Peak XV Partners, Sequoia Capital, Deloitte, Reuters, Byju's, General Atlantic, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Sequoia Capital India, U.S

[1/2] The Starlink logo is seen in front of the Indian flag in this illustration taken, June 21, 2023. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, OneWeb and Starlink parent SpaceX, did not respond. Deloitte says India's satellite broadband service market will grow 36% a year to reach $1.9 billion by 2030. Starlink is waiting for clarity on India's spectrum allocation before firming up its commercial strategy, another source said. "I'd expect Starlink to make high-profile free offers elsewhere in order to try and demonstrate what India could be missing out on," he said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Starlink, India's Ambani, Elon Musk, Mukesh Ambani, Narendra Modi, Musk, Ambani, OneWeb, Tim Farrar, Aditya Kalra, Munsif Vengattil, Aditi Shah, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, DELHI, Reliance, Indian, Ambani's, Telecom Regulatory Authority of, SpaceX, Reuters, Deloitte, Foreign, TMF Associates, Thomson Locations: India, U.S, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

As part of India's anti-tobacco drive, the health ministry last month ordered streaming platforms to insert static health warnings during smoking scenes within three months. IAMAI asked the health ministry to revisit the "onerous" rules, saying a survey had shown viewers were indifferent to depictions of smoking on streaming platforms, the letter said. Beyond Hollywood content, streaming companies Netflix (NFLX.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), Disney (DIS.N) and JioCinema have become increasingly popular in India. Activists have welcomed India's new rules, saying it would discourage smoking in a country where tobacco kills 1.3 million people each year. All smoking and alcohol drinking scenes in movies in India's cinemas and on TV, under law, require health warnings, but there were so far no regulations for the streaming giants.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mukesh Ambani's, IAMAI, Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine, Sanjay Seth, Seth, Aditya Kalra, William Maclean Organizations: Netflix, Disney, REUTERS, Reuters, Internet, Mobile Association of India, Health Foundation, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India

☆ Disney to offer free mobile streaming of cricket in India like rival JioCinema
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 9 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's (DIS.N) Hotstar will offer free streaming of cricket tournaments in India on mobile devices, a move similar to its top rival JioCinema, as it aims to court more users in the cricket-crazy country. Hotstar on Friday said it will offer the Asia Cup and ICC Men's Cricket World Cup tournaments at no cost to users. The company lost the streaming rights for the highly popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament to Reliance Industries' (RELI.NS) JioCinema earlier this year. JioCinema, which made the tournament free to watch, clocked a record 1.47 billion digital views in the first weekend of the tournament. While JioCinema is preparing to start charging users for its content, it plans to keep IPL streaming free, Jyoti Deshpande, president of Reliance's media and content business, told Bloomberg in an April Interview.

Persons: Walt Disney, Hotstar, JioCinema, Jyoti Deshpande, Munsif Vengattil, Priya Sagar, Janane Venkatraman, Jason Neely Organizations: Walt Disney Co's, Asia Cup, ICC Men's Cricket, Indian Premier League, Reliance Industries, Research, IPL, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: India, Hotstar, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ OpenAI against regulation of smaller AI startups, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, June 7 (Reuters) - OpenAI is against regulating smaller startups in the field of artificial intelligence, Sam Altman, Chief Executive of the firm behind ChatGPT, said at a conference in India's New Delhi. "We have explicitly said there should be no regulation on smaller companies. Altman is on a whirlwind tour around the world, meeting heads of states of several countries. OpenAI has so far raised $10 billion from Microsoft (MSFT.O) at a valuation of almost $30 billion as it invests in building computing capacity. Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in New Delhi and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sam Altman, ChatGPT, Altman, Munsif Vengattil, Kashish Tandon, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Economic Times, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India's New Delhi, New Delhi, Bengaluru

[1/2] A smartphone with the Netflix logo lies in front of displayed "Streaming service" words in this illustration taken March 24, 2020. Companies often face legal cases and police complaints their content sometimes hurt religious sentiment, and many have self-censored content over the years. As part of India's anti-tobacco drive, the health ministry this week ordered streaming platforms should within three months insert static health warnings during smoking scenes. The companies, and India's health ministry, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. But in India, companies from Netflix to Amazon (AMZN.O) to Disney (DIS.N), also have popular Hindi content which often shows Bollywood actors smoking, something activists say encourages tobacco use.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mukesh Ambani's, Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine, Ambani's JioCinema, Kaushik Moitra, Dylan Mohan Gray, Aditya Kalra, Biplob Kumar Das, Tony Tharakan, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, David Evans Organizations: Netflix, REUTERS, Disney, Companies, Reuters, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros, Bharucha, Partners, Thomson Locations: India, DELHI, New Delhi, Bengaluru

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU, June 2 (Reuters) - The India and South Asia head of Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) cloud division, Puneet Chandok, has resigned with effect from August 31, the company said on Friday. Chandok had taken the helm of Amazon Web Services in June 2019. Vaishali Kasture, currently head of enterprise for mid-market and global businesses at AWS India and South Asia, would take on the role of interim leader of commercial business for the unit, Amazon India said. The news came over two weeks after Amazon's cloud computing unit revealed plans to invest 1.06 trillion rupees ($12.87 billion) in India by 2030, doubling down on its past investments to cater to the growing demand for such services in Asia's No. The interim provides an opportunity for other cloud companies such as Azure and Google Cloud Platform, along with homegrown players, to make aggressive bids for accounts, said Akshara Bassi, an analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Persons: Inc's, Puneet Chandok, Chandok, Vaishali Kasture, Akshara Bassi, Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra, Varun, Savio D'Souza, Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Sohini Organizations: NEW, Amazon Web Services, India, Amazon, Counterpoint Research, Varun Vyas, Thomson Locations: NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, India, South Asia, Amazon India, Asia's, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ Foxconn to make iPhones in India's Karnataka by next April -state govt
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, June 1 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier Foxconn (2317.TW) will start manufacturing iPhones in the southern Indian state of Karnataka by April 2024, the state government said on Thursday. Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, has set a target of manufacturing 20 million iPhones a year at the plant in Devanahalli, on the outskirts of state capital and tech hub Bengaluru. Apple has been shifting production away from China after the country's strict COVID-related restrictions disrupted the production of new iPhones and other devices in the country. The tech giant is also looking to avoid a hit to its business due to tensions between Beijing and Washington. A spokesperson for Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Persons: Foxconn, Munsif, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, David Goodman, Kim Coghill Organizations: Apple Inc, Apple, Reuters, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, Karnataka, Foxconn, Devanahalli, Bengaluru, China, Beijing, Washington

[1/2] Visitors stand next to a "Make In India" logo during a three-day semiconductor event in Bengaluru, India, April 30, 2022. They were from the Vedanta-Foxconn JV; a global consortium ISMC which counts Tower Semiconductor (TSEM.TA) as a tech partner; and from Singapore-based IGSS Ventures. SETBACK FOR VEDANTAMost of the world's chip output is limited to a few countries like Taiwan, and India is a late entrant. Amid much fanfare, in September, the Vedanta-Foxconn JV announced its chipmaking plans in Gujarat. Modi called the $19.5 billion plan "an important step" in boosting India's chipmaking ambitions.

Persons: Munsif, India's Modi, Taiwan's Foxconn, Narendra Modi, IGSS, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Modi, Foxconn, STMicro, Chandrasekhar, David Reed, Aditya Kalra, Jane Lanhee Lee, Steven Scheer, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Visitors, REUTERS, Companies, Intel, India's Vedanta, Vedanta, IGSS Ventures, JV, Reuters, Orbit, Foxconn JV, Twitter, Thomson Locations: India, Bengaluru, DELHI, OAKLAND , California, Singapore, Gujarat, Taiwan, New Delhi, Oakland , California

☆ India launches electronics repair pilot project to lure manufacturers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, May 31 (Reuters) - India has launched a pilot project to establish itself as an electronics repair hub with certain favourable policy changes, which has already attracted companies like Lenovo and Flex, the country's IT ministry said on Wednesday. The three-month-long Electronics Repair Services Outsourcing (ERSO) program is India's first formal attempt to capitalise on a $100 billion global industry and follows a push by MAIT, an industry group for IT and electronics manufacturers. Besides, China's Lenovo (0092.HK) and Singapore-based Flex (FLEX.O), electronic manufacturers like CTDI, R-Logic, and Aforeserve have volunteered for the program, the ministry said in a statement. While India is seeing increased interest in electronics manufacturing, with companies such as Apple (AAPL.O) pivoting from production in China, its repair outsourcing industry has been beleaguered by certain import-export rules. In the pilot phase India will also permit re-export of the imported electronics goods to countries different from the original one - currently it is banned under foreign trade rules.

Persons: Aforeserve, Varun Vyas, Savio D'Souza Organizations: Lenovo, Flex, Reuters, Services, IT, HK, Apple, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, India, Singapore, China, Bengaluru, Munsif, New Delhi

NEW DELHI, May 30 (Reuters) - India will start a pilot project this week to establish itself as an electronics repair hub by relaxing cumbersome import-export rules, a move that could draw tech majors such as Flex (FLEX.O) to expand such operations in the country. In the pilot phase, which will see participation from companies including Lenovo (0992.HK) and Cisco (CSCO.O), India will also permit re-export of the imported electronics goods to countries different from the original one - currently it is banned under foreign trade rules. "Repair outsourcing will incentivise electronic manufacturers to further expand their production capabilities in India. This is a critical step towards ensuring resilience to supply chain shocks," said Jafri, who estimated the repair industry in India to be worth $20 billion in five years. High repair costs in regions such as Europe and the United States are compelling companies to send goods overseas, Jafri said.

"They are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base," Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in the first public comment by an Indian government official on the talks. Tesla proposed setting up a factory in India to build electric vehicles (EVs) and is also looking at manufacturing EV batteries, Reuters reported. Asked if talks with Tesla included more than just making vehicles, Chandrasekhar said "you don't talk about cars alone" when such discussions take place. "You talk about cars, you talk about energy, you talk about manufacturing technology. Outside the United States, Tesla has a plant in Shanghai - its largest factory worldwide - and one in Brandenburg, Germany.

India's antitrust body in October fined Google $275 million in two cases, which involved abusing its dominant position in the Android operating system market, and pushing developers to use its in-app payment system. "The ministry has to take action," Chandrasekhar said. India's competition watchdog has begun another inquiry into Google after Tinder owner Match Group (MTCH.O) and many startups alleged that a new service fee system Google uses for in-app payments breaches the competition commission's October decision. Google has previously said the service fee supports investments in the Google Play app store and the Android mobile operating system, ensuring it can distribute it for free. About 97% of India's 620 million smartphones run on Android, and the company counts India as a critical growth market.

NEW DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) - India on Wednesday unveiled an expanded incentive scheme to attract big-ticket investments in IT hardware manufacturing, doubling the amount to $2 billion as it aims to spur domestic production of laptops and tablets. "It will create additional incentives for companies to set up their manufacturing base in India," India's deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. These companies are expected to produce nearly $41 billion of IT products and create more than 75,000 jobs, the government said. The original incentive plan was announced in February 2021 with a $1 billion outlay. "We believe this scheme will help IT hardware sector to achieve the same level of success India had with smartphone manufacturing," said Ali Akhtar Jafri, Director General at MAIT.

☆ Cisco to begin manufacturing from India in diversification move
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, May 10 (Reuters) - Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) will begin manufacturing from India in a move to diversify its global supply chain, Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins said on Wednesday, setting a target of $1 billion in domestic production and exports over next few years. Cisco, which sells a range of networking equipment and software to connect devices to the internet, did not reveal the investment size, but said it will support the growing demand from customers in India and expand supply chain capabilities. Modi's government has been working towards establishing India as a global electronics hub, courting suppliers and device assemblers to set up base in the country. "India is of strategic importance for Cisco, and we continue to bet on India. Today's announcement marks a significant milestone to power the next phase of growth for Cisco," country head Daisy Chittilapilly said in a statement.

NEW DELHI, May 8 (Reuters) - Truecaller (TRUEb.ST) will soon start making its caller identification service available over WhatsApp and other messaging apps to help users spot potential spam calls over the internet, the company told Reuters on Monday. The feature, currently in beta phase, will be rolled out globally later in May, Truecaller Chief Executive Alan Mamedi said. Telemarketing and scamming calls have been on the rise in countries like India, where users gets about 17 spam calls per month on average, according to a 2021 report by Truecaller. For Truecaller, India is its biggest market with 250 million users. It has 350 million users globally and earns its revenue from advertising, subscription services, and verified listings from businesses.

☆ Apple stakes future growth on emerging markets, starting with India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Apple CEO Tim Cook gestures during the inauguration of India's first Apple retail store in Mumbai, India, April 18, 2023. Cook is betting that those markets will provide more opportunities for growth, with their youthful populations and relatively few iPhones. "We're putting efforts in a number of these markets and really see, particularly given our low share and the dynamics of the demographics, a great opportunity for us in those markets," Cook told investors during a conference call. India led the growth with a 19% jump, according to Counterpoint, with iPhones accounting for 11% of secondary smartphone sales in India. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Apple's Cook said little of Apple's direct iPhone revenue comes from refurbished devices.

REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Reliance's JioCinema to lock horns with Netflix, DisneyWarner deal to boost English content, local content in focus tooExecutives say Warner deal will boost Reliance streaming plansJioCinema content quality key to beat rivals, analyst saysMUMBAI, April 28 (Reuters) - The video streaming business of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest person, is likely to focus on pricing and local content following a deal with Warner Bros as it seeks to challenge the likes of Disney and Netflix, industry sources said. While Netflix and other rivals boast of content specially created for the India audience, JioCinema's current free offerings largely include old Hindi and local language movies. The big challenge is lack of fresh local and global content on JioCinema, something that will be become even more critical as the IPL season ends next month. They have also diversified into regional local language content. The only way to scale up is to really differentiate your content and make sure execution is right," he said.

☆ Exclusive: Reliance JV Viacom18 strikes deal with Warner for streaming content-sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Aditya Kalra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, April 27 (Reuters) - The broadcast venture of India's Reliance (RELI.NS) has struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery Inc. (WBD.O) for its streaming platform JioCinema, a big push into bringing popular Hollywood content on the platform, two sources with direct knowledge said. The first source said the partnership will be exclusive and see most of Warner's marquee content on the JioCinema platform. "It's a deep exclusive arrangement which will make JioCinema the house of Warner, HBO in India," said the person. The content deal could bring in thousands of hours of streaming content onto JioCinema, which has become popular for streaming the IPL cricket tournament on the platform for free in the ongoing season. Viacom18 won the IPL digital streaming rights from 2023 to 2027 for around $2.9 billion, rights which Disney previously held.

Cook will meet Modi on Wednesday in New Delhi, said the two sources, who included an Indian government official. One of the sources added the Apple chief would also meet India's deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Modi's office declined to comment, while Apple and the IT ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sources did not elaborate, but Cook's meetings come amid Apple's growing focus on India, the world's second-largest smartphone market. The Mumbai store is in the premier Reliance Jio World Drive mall, home to luxury clothing and jewellery brands like Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Swarovski.

☆ India says new IT fact-checking unit will not censor journalism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, April 14 (Reuters) - A proposed Indian government unit to fact-check news on social media is not about censoring journalism nor will it have any impact on media reportage, a federal minister said on Friday. Recently amended IT regulation requires online platforms like Meta Platforms Inc's (META.O) Facebook and Twitter to "make reasonable efforts" to not "publish, share or host" any information relating to the government that is "fake, false or misleading". Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India minister of state for IT, said in an online discussion it was "not true" that the government-appointed unit, which press freedom advocates strongly oppose, was aimed at "censoring journalism". The Editors Guild of India last week described the move as draconian and akin to censorship. Reporting by Shivam Patel, Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW DELHI, April 11 (Reuters) - Three public policy executives of the India team of Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) have resigned, sources told Reuters on Tuesday, in simultaneous departures as the country's biggest smartphone player faces several regulatory headaches. Public policy teams have increasingly critical roles in companies efforts to balance regulatory issues as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has boosted domestic electronics manufacturing while backing tougher regulations on tech firms. Binu George, who looked at corporate affairs and strategy, Surabhi Pant who worked on policy and public affairs, and Nikhil Kaura from the same team quit last week, two sources said. They were part of a seven-member team headed by Rajiv Aggarwal, a former bureaucrat who, before joining Samsung in December, led public policy at Meta (META.O) and Uber (UBER.N) in India. Samsung racked up sales of $10.3 billion in India in fiscal 2021-22, with smartphones making up $6.7 billion.

NEW DELHI, March 24 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) Taiwanese supplier Pegatron Corp (4938.TW) is in talks to open a second India factory, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, as the U.S. tech giant's partners continue to diversify production away from China. Pegatron currently accounts for 10% of Apple's iPhone production in India on an annualised basis, research firm Counterpoint said. The talks for starting a second Pegatron facility on lease are ongoing and it will be located inside Mahindra World City near Chennai, just around where the company inaugurated the first plant in September 2022. India is the second biggest smartphone market in the world, where Apple also plans to assemble iPad tablets and AirPods. Last week, Reuters reported Foxconn has plans to build a $200 million factory in India to produce the wireless earphones for Apple after winning a contract.

☆ Exclusive: Apple supplier Foxconn wins AirPod order, plans $200 mln factory in India - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Yimou Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

One source said Foxconn will invest more than $200 million in the new India AirPod plant in the southern Indian state of Telangana. The decision to set up production in India was requested by Apple, according to the source. Apple and its key suppliers have been shifting production away from China, where strict COVID-19 curbs disrupted Foxconn's biggest iPhone factory last year. Foxconn said on Wednesday it would ramp up investment outside China to meet customer demand and lower its reliance on China for production. It was not immediately clear whether Foxconn's production plan would have impact on current AirPod suppliers, including Luxshare Precision Industry (002475.SZ).

While Xiaomi remained focused on selling mobile phones under 10,000 rupees ($120), Indian consumers were willing to pay up for better looking models with richer features. According to Counterpoint, the market share of the sub-$120 phones in India fell to 26% in 2022 from 41% two years ago. And premium phones - priced above 30,000 ($360) - saw their share double to 11% in the same period. Xiaomi and Samsung both count India as a key growth market, with smartphones their top selling electronic device. And premium phones accounted for only 0%-1% of Xiaomi's total India phone shipments in the last two years, when Samsung's higher-end phones more than doubled their share to 13%, Counterpoint data showed.

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