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Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk Retirement is a Western invention from days gone by that's based on broken assumptions that we want - and can afford - to do nothing. Okinawa, Japan has one of the longest disability-free life expectancies in the world. A study by Dan Buettner and fellow researchers in National Geographic unearthed some reasons why. They eat off smaller plates, have social groups that are life-long and most importantly, have the concept of ikigai (pronounced "icky guy") which roughly translates to "the reason you wake up in the morning". It's the thing that drives you the most. Okinawans don't have a word for retirement - Comment Property Listing: Goyal Orchid Whitefield, Bangalore 1/2/3 BHK apartments, starting from Rs 35 Lacs.   Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk So, is your business a hedgehog or a fox? Jim Collins in his book 'Good to Great' refers to this concept to explain companies that are great vs those that are average. Every time the fox tries to attack the hedgehog, the hedgehog simply rolls into a spiky ball and drives the threat away. The fox keeps trying various tactics, but the hedgehog defence is simple and impenetrable. Great companies have an ability to understand what their 'hedgehog' factor is (the one thing they are really good at) and consistently execute their way to greatness, using their single biggest differentiator as the competitive advantage. This is especially true for startups, which are resource constrained and don't have the luxury to operate multiple strategies - Comment Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk Why do we NOT feel the GDP growth in India right now? This article tries to address this question through the MSME story. India has over 45 million MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises). Financial data on these are hard to come by, but the RBI recently released financial averages of over 2.3 lakh small enterprises that are registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (there are 15 lakh companies registered overall, only 6000 are listed in the stock markets). What we read about in the media is mostly about these 6000 odd large listed companies. While sales growth in listed firms dropped from 9.1% to 4.7% to 1.4% in the past 3 years, that of SMEs was 13.3%, 8.7% and 12% respectively. Net profits showed an even more contrasting trend, where SMEs showed growth (16%, 23.6%, 12.3%), while listed firms had negative growth (-2%, -5.1%, -0.7%). MSME's contribute 35% of India's GDP and are probably doing some of the heavy lifting right now - Comment Property Listing: Godrej Infinity, Keshav Nagar, Pune Luxury 2/3 BHK apartments, from Rs 38 Lacs - Rs 92 Lacs.   Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk Can an algorithm be biased, possibly even racist? Today, algorithms decide how fast an Uber gets to you, whether you're approved for a loan, whether a prisoner gets parole, who the police should monitor. Ultimately, algorithms are products of human imagination, which means they can be biased. "Algorithms are like a very small child," says Suresh Venkatasubramanian. "They learn from their environment." Venkatasubramanian is a computer science professor at the University of Utah. He's someone who thinks about algorithmic fairness. Algorithmic accountability is a growing discipline across a number of fields. Computer scientists, legal scholars, and policy wonks are all grappling with ways to identify or prevent bias in algorithms, along with the best ways to establish standards for accountability in business and government. Who do you hold accountable when an algorithm makes a biased decision? More here - Comment Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk What are Facebook's ambitions? This Economist article takes a stab at this question. Facebook has become more like a holding company for popular communications platforms than a social network. But even that description understates Mr Zuckerberg's ambitions. He is making big bets on the future of communication, mainly messaging services, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. "There were three existential threats to Facebook: WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat," says Jeremy Philips of Spark Capital, a venture-capital firm. "Zuckerberg bought two of them for a little more than 10% of Facebook's market cap." Aside from the blockbuster acquisitions a little-noticed deal has also proved shrewd. Facebook's bought Onavo, an Israeli startup involved in mobile analytics, for a rumoured $120m in 2013. Onavo helps Facebook track which apps are becoming popular and could be worth purchasing - Comment SunEdison said to plan bankruptcy filing as soon as Sunday SunEdison is in talks with creditors to determine which businesses to keep and which to sell in bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter said Vodafone invites banks to pitch for India initial public offer mandate Vodafone Group has set the ball rolling for its long-awaited India IPO by inviting banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, to submit pitches to manage it, people with direct kno Sport merchandise start-up Zeven to open brand stores To adopt omni channel approachto reach customers Infosys co-founder launches app tracing India's IT history On Sunday, Gopalakrishnan launched a new smartphone app called Itihaasa that aims to extensively narrate the history of Indias IT revolution over the past six decades. Online or offline, which will win the game in the Indian retail landscape? Latest statistics reveal there are 14 million retail outlets in India, which implies a demographic distribution of an average of 1,000 shops for 11 users. 4G war: Vodafone Pug vs Airtel Girl The fight for ad space on your television screens issued by leading telecom players Airtel and Vodafone for their 4G offering is just a precursor to the big war. With more players poised to enter the arena, is the player with the biggest ad budget going to win?   Airtel shows the way for 4G in India? Airtel's recent deals with existing players Videocon and Aircel will bring it's 4G spectrum in all circles across India. This is good for Airtel and to fast track growth of data services. It is also a clear fallout of the recent reform in spectrum rules that now allow spectrum trading between operators. The telecom man If the phone is ubiquitous in India today, it is largely due to the amazing journey of one man — Satyanarayan (abbreviated to ‘Sam’ by an HR clerk who couldn’t get her tongue around the name) Pitroda Janalakshmi Financial Services raises $210 million via equity round led by TPG “This latest round of capital will fuel further expansion of the products and services we offer,” said Ramesh Ramanathan, Chairman of Janalakshmi. Put down the phone, that hoax call is not funny A Mumbai-bound Jet Airways flight was grounded at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel International Airport on Wednesday morning following a bomb threat. After Zomato, Snapdeal, Grofers, more startups brace for second round of layoffs Employee costs at Indias leading startups account for about 35% of their overall cash-burn rates, according to industry analysts. FDI inflows up 37% to $39.32 billion in 2015; Computer hardware and software sector attracts the highest FDI The foreign investment inflows stood at USD 28.78 billion in 2014, according to data by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). SBI chief flays over-focus on retail, ignoring infra lending "Every other bank is now being goaded on towards the same model (of focussing on retail segment)," Bhattacharya said at a banking conference organised by industry lobby IMC here. Research team lead by Indian engineer build technology to double WiFi speed Research team lead by Indian engineer build technology to double WiFi speed - The team's find can greatly imrpove WiFi speeds on small devices like smartphones and tablets. Vijay Mallya’s business model could be at fault: Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley says the airline sector as such is doing well in India with many carriers making good profits HDFC Standard Life announces IPO; Parent HDFC to sell 10% stake The mortgage lender will dilute 10 per cent of its 61.63 per cent stake in HDFC Standard Life, making it Indias first insurance IPO. Next IMF chief should be from emerging economy: India India has told the IMF that the next managing director of the top global financial body should be from an emerging economy and not from Europe. Fino PayTech may start operations by year-end Fino is a financial solutions company engaged in domestic remittances, rural engaged in domestic remittances, rural lending and insurance. RBI's foreign reserves with overseas banks have more than tripled RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has long warned of volatility in global financial markets because of divergent monetary policies. India, US stress need to cooperate on tackling offshore tax evasion Govt suspends Vijay Mallya’s diplomatic passport for 4 weeks on the request of the ED, which is probing money laundering allegations against him IndiaFirst Life eyeing 30 per cent growth in retail business The target is lower than 38 per cent growth achieved by the 3-way joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and UK's Legal and General. Should bank defaulters’ list be made public? Tarring all defaulters and bankers with the same brush will choke the flow of funds to business, scare bankers and kill entrepreneurship Oriental Bank of Commerce to raise Rs 178 crore by issuing shares to LIC The decision to issue over 2 crore shares to LIC was taken at the bank's extra-ordinary general meeting held on March 29, it said in a filing. SC sets aside HC order that allowed partial FTIL asset transfer The Company Law Board, in June last year, restricted FTIL from creating third-party rights on its assets and investments TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives About Us  |  Advertise Privacy Policy    Unsubscribe You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs. Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India