Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Jaitley urges Congress to reconsider GST bill; Tamil Nadu polls in focus
Gurgaon: Finance minister Arun Jaitley urged the Congress in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday to reconsider its opposition to the GST bill which the government plans to introduce in the monsoon session. The government is also banking on the southwest monsoon, which according to Skymet will hit the country early this year, to bring relief to the drought-hit areas of India. Meanwhile, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in basna Chhattisgarh of paying a hefty commission to a company registered in a tax haven to procure choppers in the AgustaWestland case. Jaitley says GST bill to be introduced in monsoon session, seeks Congress support The government said it will seek Parliament’s approval for the amendment bill for the goods and services tax (GST) in the monsoon session appealed to the opposition Congress party for its support.
Replying to a debate on the finance bill in the Rajya Sabha, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday urged the party to reconsider its opposition to the bill. Monsoon may arrive early this year: Skymet Southwest monsoon is likely to hit the coast of Kerala, the gateway to Indian subcontinent, by 28 or 30 May, a couple of days earlier than usual, private weather forecaster Skymet said on Thursday. State forecaster India Meteorological Department (IMD) will give its forecast on 15 May. A senior IMD official said that conditions are ideal for the monsoon to reach the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between 15 and 20 May. Will Tamil Nadu make history this election? After every state assembly election in the past 27 years in Tamil Nadu, the ruling party has passed the baton to the opposition. This time, no one is so sure.
Ahead of the 16 May election, there is a distinct lack of wave for or against the two dominant Dravidian parties—the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)— making it tough to predict who will walk away with the spoils on 19 May, when results will be declared. Puducherry CM N. Rangaswamy faces anti- incumbency test For long, Puducherry has been regarded a Congress stronghold—at least between 1991 and 2011. But since then, a rebel section of the Congress has held sway. And the rebel All India NR Congress is now pitted against the Congress-DMK combine and the AIADMK in a three-cornered contest for the 30-seat legislature. Budget session 2016: key metrics Despite a widening political rift between the government and the opposition, legislative business in the budget session did not get affected. The Lok Sabha adjourned sine die on Wednesday, two days earlier than scheduled. A look at the key indicators of the session.
Rajya Sabha to sit on Friday to complete original schedule The Rajya Sabha, which was adjourned for the day on Thursday as a mark of respect towards sitting Congress member Praveen Rashtrapal, who passed away, will now meet on Friday to complete its original schedule. A decision was taken on Wednesday to curtail the session of the Lok Sabha by two days and Rajya Sabha by one day. Swaraj Abhiyan seeks to drag BJP into AgustaWestland chopper row Seeking to drag BJP into the raging chopper row, Swaraj Abhiyan on Thursday accused the Chhattisgarh government of floating Pemex global tender in a “shady manner” to purchase a specific AgustaWestland helicopter by paying “over 30%” commission without exploring options. Not thinking of snap assembly polls: Harish Rawat After meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Thursday said he was not thinking of snap polls to the assembly and wanted to focus on “restoring” development.
“That will happen when the time comes. Right now, the priority is to restore the development of Uttarakhand, which has got derailed in the last two months. The state’s development momentum has got a jolt, which we have to bring back,” Rawat said. Uttarakhand floor test seems to have given a fresh lease of life to the political career of Harish Rawat, Complaints the original eye of the storm. Read a profile of the chief minister. Lessons for Uttar Pradesh elections, from Uttarakhand In his speech after being reinstated as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday, Harish Rawat thanked Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for her “support during the crucial floor test”. Consultancy was Mayawati—the balance of power in the 71-member state assembly—who gave the Congress a shot in the arm by committing her support to Rawat on the morning of the floor test.
Replying to a debate on the finance bill in the Rajya Sabha, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday urged the party to reconsider its opposition to the bill. Monsoon may arrive early this year: Skymet Southwest monsoon is likely to hit the coast of Kerala, the gateway to Indian subcontinent, by 28 or 30 May, a couple of days earlier than usual, private weather forecaster Skymet said on Thursday. State forecaster India Meteorological Department (IMD) will give its forecast on 15 May. A senior IMD official said that conditions are ideal for the monsoon to reach the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between 15 and 20 May. Will Tamil Nadu make history this election? After every state assembly election in the past 27 years in Tamil Nadu, the ruling party has passed the baton to the opposition. This time, no one is so sure.
Ahead of the 16 May election, there is a distinct lack of wave for or against the two dominant Dravidian parties—the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)— making it tough to predict who will walk away with the spoils on 19 May, when results will be declared. Puducherry CM N. Rangaswamy faces anti- incumbency test For long, Puducherry has been regarded a Congress stronghold—at least between 1991 and 2011. But since then, a rebel section of the Congress has held sway. And the rebel All India NR Congress is now pitted against the Congress-DMK combine and the AIADMK in a three-cornered contest for the 30-seat legislature. Budget session 2016: key metrics Despite a widening political rift between the government and the opposition, legislative business in the budget session did not get affected. The Lok Sabha adjourned sine die on Wednesday, two days earlier than scheduled. A look at the key indicators of the session.
Rajya Sabha to sit on Friday to complete original schedule The Rajya Sabha, which was adjourned for the day on Thursday as a mark of respect towards sitting Congress member Praveen Rashtrapal, who passed away, will now meet on Friday to complete its original schedule. A decision was taken on Wednesday to curtail the session of the Lok Sabha by two days and Rajya Sabha by one day. Swaraj Abhiyan seeks to drag BJP into AgustaWestland chopper row Seeking to drag BJP into the raging chopper row, Swaraj Abhiyan on Thursday accused the Chhattisgarh government of floating Pemex global tender in a “shady manner” to purchase a specific AgustaWestland helicopter by paying “over 30%” commission without exploring options. Not thinking of snap assembly polls: Harish Rawat After meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Thursday said he was not thinking of snap polls to the assembly and wanted to focus on “restoring” development.
“That will happen when the time comes. Right now, the priority is to restore the development of Uttarakhand, which has got derailed in the last two months. The state’s development momentum has got a jolt, which we have to bring back,” Rawat said. Uttarakhand floor test seems to have given a fresh lease of life to the political career of Harish Rawat, Complaints the original eye of the storm. Read a profile of the chief minister. Lessons for Uttar Pradesh elections, from Uttarakhand In his speech after being reinstated as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday, Harish Rawat thanked Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for her “support during the crucial floor test”. Consultancy was Mayawati—the balance of power in the 71-member state assembly—who gave the Congress a shot in the arm by committing her support to Rawat on the morning of the floor test.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Unbxd Raises Funds in Series B Led by Nirvana Venture Advisors
Unbxd, a Bengaluru based leading provider of eCommerce product discovery software, has secured an undisclosed amount of capital in the Series B round of funding. The funding was led by entities advised and managed by Nirvana Venture Advisors, along with existing investors including IDG Ventures, Inventus Capital, and Indian Angel Network. This is slated to help the startup grow faster, and scale the product to dominate the online retail market globally.
Further elucidating about the announcement, Pavan Sondur, Co-Founder & CEO at Unbxd said, “We are delighted to have secured our Series B round of funding. This will allow us to grow faster. The capital raised will be used to further strengthen the product, and scale sales and marketing to meet the growing demand for their products. Unbxd is very rapidly turning into the Weapon of Choice for retailers, in order to build a solid competitive edge against Amazon.”
“We are excited to partner with the Unbxd team in their endeavor to bring world class search experiences to retailers who have an online presence. We have been very impressed by the capabilities of the team and are looking forward to the company further expanding their global footprint.” said Rajan Mehra, Managing Director at Nirvana Venture Advisors.
The startup has been actively helping eCommerce companies deliver a truly superior shopping experience that is relevant and personalized, as per the usual behavior patterns of their customers. The platform is already serving 200 million eCommerce visitors a day - roughly the scale of Flipkart and Snapdeal combined. They expect to grow 10x by end of this year. Incepted in 2011, Unbxd has already acquired some big ticket clients, and a versatile team that believes in providing a truly exceptional customer experience. Additionally, the product’s potential to become the disruptor in the market segment has been the key driving force behind the successful Series B funding of the brand.
According to Venkatesh Peddi, Executive Director at IDG Ventures India, “Unbxd has grown very aggressively, and their successful expansion into North American markets validates their huge potential”. He added “We continue to remain impressed with the passion and drive of the founding team and are happy to be able to support them in their journey.”
Having grown exponentially in the last 10 months, Unbxd is now looking at strengthening its reach in the North America region increasing its user base for enterprise retail customers. “Our relevancy engine and machine learning models have consistently delivered value to some of the biggest eCommerce sites in the world” said Prashant Kumar, Co-founder and CTO. He added – “Had Unbxd been a standalone eCommerce site, we would be the biggest eCommerce company in India in terms of volume of traffic and GMV served.”
Further elucidating about the announcement, Pavan Sondur, Co-Founder & CEO at Unbxd said, “We are delighted to have secured our Series B round of funding. This will allow us to grow faster. The capital raised will be used to further strengthen the product, and scale sales and marketing to meet the growing demand for their products. Unbxd is very rapidly turning into the Weapon of Choice for retailers, in order to build a solid competitive edge against Amazon.”
“We are excited to partner with the Unbxd team in their endeavor to bring world class search experiences to retailers who have an online presence. We have been very impressed by the capabilities of the team and are looking forward to the company further expanding their global footprint.” said Rajan Mehra, Managing Director at Nirvana Venture Advisors.
The startup has been actively helping eCommerce companies deliver a truly superior shopping experience that is relevant and personalized, as per the usual behavior patterns of their customers. The platform is already serving 200 million eCommerce visitors a day - roughly the scale of Flipkart and Snapdeal combined. They expect to grow 10x by end of this year. Incepted in 2011, Unbxd has already acquired some big ticket clients, and a versatile team that believes in providing a truly exceptional customer experience. Additionally, the product’s potential to become the disruptor in the market segment has been the key driving force behind the successful Series B funding of the brand.
According to Venkatesh Peddi, Executive Director at IDG Ventures India, “Unbxd has grown very aggressively, and their successful expansion into North American markets validates their huge potential”. He added “We continue to remain impressed with the passion and drive of the founding team and are happy to be able to support them in their journey.”
Having grown exponentially in the last 10 months, Unbxd is now looking at strengthening its reach in the North America region increasing its user base for enterprise retail customers. “Our relevancy engine and machine learning models have consistently delivered value to some of the biggest eCommerce sites in the world” said Prashant Kumar, Co-founder and CTO. He added – “Had Unbxd been a standalone eCommerce site, we would be the biggest eCommerce company in India in terms of volume of traffic and GMV served.”
