PharmEasy is restructuring the debt agreement with Goldman, negotiating for a lower interest rate on the total loan The epharmacy unicorn is conducting a rights issue worth INR 3,500 Cr at a valuation of $500 Mn – $600 Mn, a far cry from its peak valuation of $5.6 Bn PharmEasy is expected to pay a part of the loan from the proceeds of the right issue, with the total payout to Goldman Sachs being around $100 Mn – $150 Mn PharmEasy is set to pay $100 Mn – $150 Mn of the $300 Mn debt to Goldman Sachs from the proceeds of the expected rights issue next week.  The investment bank is also considering converting around $38 Mn – $40 Mn of the debt into equity at the $424 Mn (INR 3,500 Cr) rights issue. The rights issue will likely value PharmEasy at $500 Mn – $600 Mn, significantly below its peak valuation of $5.6 Bn. In light of binding commitments from existing investors for the upcoming rights issue, PharmEasy is renegotiating its debt terms with Goldman, aiming for a reduced interest rate on the outstanding loan amount, ET reported, citing sources. “The rights issue is slated to start September 4, and based on a commitment from existing investors, the cash position of the firm is looking better than six months ago. This has led to the (discussions about) restructuring debt terms and conversion to equity,” one person aware of the talks told the publication. It is also likely that the payout to Goldman Sachs could reach $200 Mn, given that Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai is also interested in investing in the startup. Pai is expected to invest up to $160 Mn (INR 1,300 Cr) in the epharmacy unicorn, contingent on the amount invested by existing shareholders such as Temasek, Prosus Ventures and CDPQ, who are likely to lead the rights issue. PharmEasy raised the debt to settle an existing debt it secured from Kotak Mahindra Bank for financing the Thyrocare acquisition in 2021. The loan was structured as a five-year agreement with an annual interest rate of 17-18%. Goldman Sachs had set a covenant in the loan agreement, which mandated the epharmacy unicorn to raise INR 1,000 Cr ($120 Mn) in funding within a year of raising the debt. The failure to do so triggered a breach of covenant in June this year. PharmEasy is likely to pay back the remaining debt by March 2025.

For the last few years, the iPhone has always emerged as one of the — if not the — most popular smartphones in the world. It looks like 2023 isn’t going to be any different. Or at least the first half of it as a report by Omdia suggests that the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the most popular smartphone in the world. Notably, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is also the most expensive iPhone one can buy. “The iPhone 14 Pro Max is the most shipped smartphone worldwide in the first half of this year, with Apple shipping a total of 26.5 million units,” noted Omdia’s Smartphone Model Market Tracker. The data is for the first half of 2023. Demand for premium phones on the rise The report also highlights that the global smartphone market is recording negative growth. As per Omdia, this is primarily because the “the mid- to low-end market shrinks due to economic recession and the expansion of the used smartphone market.”The premium smartphone market, on the other hand, is steadily increasing because replacement demand for Apple’s premium models remains solid. “In addition, as the preference for Apple increases as a premium smartphone, especially within emerging markets, the sales volume and proportion of high-end models such as Pro and Max continue to increase among Apple’s iPhone series,” notes the report. The forecast for next year is also not too good for the smartphone market. “The slump in the mid- to low-end market is expected to continue into the second half of this year, and the increasing portion of the premium market is expected to continue in the second half of this year with the launch of the new iPhone 15 series,” said Jusy Hong, senior research manager, Omdia. Hong said that Apple will see a similar trend for iPhones. “Apple’s shipments of Pro and Pro Max will increase due to solid demand for premium models, but overall iPhone shipments this year will be similar to last year or decrease slightly due to weak demand for standard and plus models.”

IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation is collaborating with GITAA, an IIT Madras-incubated company, to offer a cricket analytics course titled ‘Howzzat – Cricstats? Exploring the world of cricket analytics’ for aspiring sports data analysts and sports enthusiasts.The objectives are to help participants explore the field of sports data analytics through real world case studies, introduce industry experts who can share their views on how analytics has influenced sports and to enable students understand the fundamentals of data science from top academicians.The course is offered in online mode and has a duration of eight weeks. Sharing his thoughts on data analytics as a game changer, Professor Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “Sports analytics is a valuable tool that helps sports organisations, coaches, players, and fans gain a deeper understanding of the game and optimize performance. As the sports industry continues to embrace data-driven decision-making, the demand for professionals with expertise in sports analytics is expected to rise. Pursuing a course in Sports Analytics can be a rewarding and promising pathway for those passionate about sports.”Founded by academicians from IIT Madras, GITAA imparts training in Data Sciences, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. IITM Pravartak Technologies is a Section 8 Company housing the Technology Innovation Hub on Sensors, Networking, Actuators and Control Systems. It is funded by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, under its National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems and hosted by IIT Madras.Elaborating on the need for such courses, Hemalatha D Dayalan, an Indian cricketer, right-handed batter, and right-arm off-break bowler, said, “As a cricketer, analytics helps as you get to learn from your past performances and it helps to grow as a player in future. Analytics will help to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Coaches and the players can know in which area the person has to grow. When I want to know more about my batting or bowling, I did like to watch the video replays of my performance and see the analytical observations. Sports analytics is very important for the beginners and the cricketers .For any kind of sport, it is very helpful.”This introductory course aims to offer a deep dive into the world of sports data analytics with an emphasis on cricket. The course is designed to provide the student a solid understanding of the fundamentals of data science along with practical examples from the field of cricket. IITM Pravartak Technologies will facilitate the course and GITAA will be the knowledge partner.Elaborating on this course, Professor Raghunathan Rengasamy, Dean (Global Engagement), IIT Madras, and a Co-Founder of GITAA, said, “Analytics plays an important role in every facet of cricket ranging from scouting to fan engagement to off-field player management. There is not an aspect of the game that data science has not touched.”The course is designed by leading academicians in the data science field from IIT Madras and aims to provide aspiring sports data analysts and students with the skills required to analyze large amounts of data related to various aspects of the sport to gain insights, make informed decisions, and improve team and player performance.Highlighting the unique aspects of this initiative, Dr. Babji Srinivasan, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, said, “Cricket analytics, I believe, is a crucial necessity to not only improve players performance but also raise the overall standard of the game and enhance the experience of every fan.”

SoftBank’s affiliate SVF Growth Singapore plans to sell 10 Cr shares of Zomato at a minimum price of INR 94 per share On August 28, Tiger Global sold its entire 1.44% stake in Zomato for INR 1,123 Cr Since starting operations from Mumbai in late 2018, SoftBank has realised $5.5 Bn in exits from its India portfolio, with $1.5 Bn coming from exits in the past 12 to 18 months Japanese tech investor SoftBank is set to offload a 1.17% stake in Indian foodtech giant Zomato for at least INR 940 Cr.  As per the deal terms, the investment firm’s affiliate SVF Growth Singapore plans to offload 10 Cr Zomato shares at a floor price of INR 94 per share, according to a CNBC report. This price represents a discount of nearly 0.7% compared to Zomato’s stock closing price on August 29. As per the report, Kotak Securities will be the sole book runner for the deal. This comes days after reports said that the tech investor was looking to offload more shares of the foodtech major via block deals. The development follows the expiration of the lock-in period for Blinkit investors, who received Zomato shares following the acquisition of the quick commerce player by the latter, on August 25. SoftBank, which was an investor in Blinkit, received a stake of 3.35% in Zomato post the acquisition last year.  Even at the floor price of INR 94, SoftBank will still be able to book hefty profits as the implied value of the Zomato shares that it received following the Blinkit deal stood at INR 70.76 per share. This is the second major Zomato investor selling a stake in the foodtech giant. Just yesterday, US-based hedge fund Tiger Global exited Zomato by selling 1.44% stake via open market transactions for INR 1,123 Cr. The Japanese tech investor has realised exits to the tune of $5.5 Bn from its India portfolio since starting operations from Mumbai in late 2018. Of this, $1.5 Bn has been made through exits in the past 12 to 18 months. The latest development comes amidst a wave of share sales by major global investment firms in new-age tech startups following a rise in their stock prices this year on change in investor sentiments. Prior to this, Chinese tech investor Tencent sold 2.1% of its stake in PB Fintech, the parent of Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, for INR 562 Cr ($68 Mn). Chinese internet major Ant Group also dumped 3.6% stake in fintech giant Paytm for INR 2,037 Cr through multiple block deals earlier this month.  Meanwhile, Zomato shares have been witnessing an uptick on the bourses on its improving financial numbers. The foodtech major reported a net profit of INR 2 Cr in the June quarter of 2023. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, Zomato shares have zoomed 59.70%. Shares of Zomato ended 2.51% higher at INR 94.65 on the BSE on Tuesday (August 29).

The Bombay High Court recently granted interim relief to Zilingo founder Ankiti Bose in a defamation suit filed by her against Pinstorm founder Mahesh Murthy in relation to certain articles written by him in a magazine. The court has issued a permanent injunction against the defendants from publishing any such remarks in the future. The case revolved around defamatory remarks in an article published in March 2023 by the defendant Murthy. Bose, co-founder of the e-commerce startup Zilingo, had sought a declaration that the comments were defamatory and tortious, causing significant reputational damage. In its decision, the court refuted the defendant’s statement that the article did not refer to the plaintiff directly. Having closely examined the article, the court found that despite the absence of a direct reference to Ankiti Bose, the evidence linked the remarks clearly to her as she is the only female co-founder of the fashion portal named in the article. Consequently, the Court ruled in favour of Ankiti Bose, highlighting its commitment to protecting individuals against misleading comments, even if they are made using indirect language. “We are pleased that the honourable court has taken cognizance of our client’s grievances and granted her injunctive relief. Ms. Bose has undergone significant distress as a result of malicious and unfounded media hitjobs including the “opinion” in Outlook Business authored by Mr. Murthy. Ms Bose has always reposed faith in the wisdom and sanctity of Indian courts and we are pleased that the honourable court has granted our client’s requests. Our client will continue to seek recourse against other malicious misinformation and defamatory campaigns being run by media agencies,” said Pradeep Jain, Singhania & Co LLP.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is in talks with Payments NZ for introduction of UPI in New Zealand Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his counterpart Damien O’Connor, during a meeting, said introduction of UPI would promote ease of doing business between the countries While countries like Bhutan, Nepal, and UAE have already adopted UPI, India is also in talks with many other countries for introduction of the payments system As part of its attempts to make the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) global, India is now in talks with New Zealand to introduce the homegrown payments system in the country to improve the ease of doing business, and trade and tourism between the two. The matter was discussed during a bilateral meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor, as per a joint statement. “Ministers welcomed early discussions between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Payments NZ regarding the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system and agreed that both sides should continue deliberations on this issue. They agreed that introduction of UPI in New Zealand would promote ease of doing business between both the countries and promote trade and tourism as well,” the statement said. It is important to note that India, as part of its trade relationship with New Zealand, imports logs and forestry products, wool and edible fruit and nuts, wood pulp, among others, from the country while exporting precious metals and gems, textiles, and motor vehicles, and more.  Besides, Indian students comprise the second-largest number of international students in New Zealand. Digital payments in India have grown by leaps and bounds since the launch of UPI. Over the last few years, the Centre has signed pacts with different nations for usage of UPI to improve cross border payments and facilitate trading and tourism. In 2022, NPCI’s international arm signed an MoU with France-based Lyra Network for the country to accept UPI and RuPay Cards. In July this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India and France agreed to use UPI.  Meanwhile, Bhutan, Nepal, UAE, and Canada have also adopted the UPI system in their countries.  NPCI’s international arm is also in talks to extend the UPI services to the US, other European countries, and West Asia. India’s UPI transactions almost reached the 1,000 Cr mark in the month of July, rising over 6.6% month-on-month (MoM) to 996 Cr. If compared with the last year, the number of transactions jumped 58% from 628 Cr in July 2022.

Indian IT services sector may have some bad news in store for the coming days. A domestic ratings company named Icra has predicted, as per a report by PTI, that the Indian IT servicessector’s revenue growth will slow down in the current fiscal year. In the previous financial year, the country’s IT services sectors grew by 9.2%. The report has predicted that the revenue growth will slow down to 3% in the current fiscal year.As per the report, the profitability in the Indian IT services sector will also take a beating in this financial year. Moreover, the operating profit margin is also expected to reduce by up to 1% to 20-21%, the report added. The report also attributed the slowdown to softening demand to predict that the topline growth in this sector may also come down to 3-5% in FY24 from the 9.2% posted in FY23.How the IT services sector may be affectedIcra’s sector head Deepak Jotwani said that there has been “persistent uncertainty” in the key markets for IT companies. This has resulted in pauses/deferral of non-critical projects and the slowdown in discretionary IT spending by key sectors like banking, financial services and insurance, retail, technology and communication, Jotwani notes.Nasscom claimed that the sector directly employs over 50 lakh people. Meanwhile, analysts noted that it was crucial for the post-pandemic recovery of the economy. Such analyses were made due to the impressive growth in the sector as demand for technology inputs grew. Jotwani also mentioned that lower operating leverage will limit the impact of slower revenue growth on profitability and the ability of most companies to work with multiple levers. This includes onshore-offshore mix, employee utilisation levels, employee pyramid optimisation and ability to manage costs. The report also said that due to the evolving macroeconomic headwinds in key markets like the US and Europe, the Indian IT services companies saw a sharp moderation in growth momentum between Q3 FY23 to Q1 FY24.The sample used for the report recorded revenue growth of 3.8% in the first quarter (in USD) which was the lowest in the last 10 quarters. The report also said that growth in the US witnessed a sharp moderation compared to that in Europe.How different segments performedBFSI and communication segments were more affected than others. The report noted that softness in mortgage, investment banking, capital markets and insurance segments has impacted the BFSI while the communication segment is facing issues with the weakening revenue profile of telecom companies on 5G investments.However, the order book and pipeline of most companies remain strong even as the revenue conversion of the orders slowed down, the report added. Icra also said that it expects a surge in the growth momentum once the macroeconomic headwinds subside by the end of the current fiscal year. The report also noted that hiring by IT services companies has reduced significantly in the last three quarters and the same is expected to continue in the coming quarters.Jotwani also explained that the sector will further decline over the next few quarters before stabilising at the long-term average of 13-15%.

There are various ways for businesses to put themselves out there, from digital marketing to running a full-blown ad campaign. Podcasts are booming in the modern day, and many businesses have found success in making their own podcast. There is a good list of benefits to starting your own podcast for business purposes. Some of which include expanding your audience and becoming more personable. Let’s get into it and break down the top 3 ways businesses can benefit from starting their own podcast. Reach a Larger Audience Podcasts can offer you great potential in terms of the audience you can reach. With millions of people across the globe now consuming podcasts, all you have to do is pick your niche and create content around the talking points. If you’re a restaurant owner, a food based podcast would be appropriate; if you’re a sports blog, a podcast talking about the top competitions would be appropriate, it’s all about sticking to your niche. The best podcasts are the ones that flow effortlessly into a topic, keep the audience engaged, and stay in touch with the trends. Incorporating this all, should result in you reaching the audience you deserve. Display yourself as an Authority in your Niche Another benefit to starting your own podcast is that you get to display yourself as an authority in your niche. Various people and organisations use podcasts as a sure-fire way of putting themselves out there. By talking on topics relative to your niche, you can position yourself as an authority for it, potentially attracting plenty of new customers to your business, preferably online. In an online world, many can find their way into fame and celebrity, and merely need a little bit of strategy. You don’t even need to immediately immerse yourself in the world of podcasts by creating content per se, you can start off sponsoring certain podcasts covering a topic similar to your business, then potentially create your own if you’re willing to put yourself out there. photo credit: George Milton / Pexels It Helps you Build a Deeper Relationship with your Audience Starting a podcast is not only great for gaining additional listeners, or cementing yourself and your expertise, you can also leverage your podcast to create a deeper connection with your audience. What differentiates podcasts from other modes of media, is the personalisation of it. Unlike television and radio interviews, podcasts are way less commodified, and often run by people like you and me, talking on relatable topics that can bring an audience to grow closer to you on a more personable level. To really make the most of this, in order to be personable you need to speak on personal stories. If you don’t want to go too personal, find creative ways to find these stories, be it from Reddit or other platforms as sources to start off. As a business owner, publishing your own podcast can help in a myriad of ways. Whether it’s attracting a new audience, establishing yourself as an authority, or simply connecting in a deeper way to your audience, there is undoubtedly a huge benefit to starting your own podcast.

In May, Sputnik International, a state-owned Russian media outlet, posted a series of tweets lambasting US foreign policy and attacking the Biden administration. Each prompted a curt but well-crafted rebuttal from an account called CounterCloud, sometimes including a link to a relevant news or opinion article. It generated similar responses to tweets by the Russian embassy and Chinese news outlets criticizing the US. Russian criticism of the US is far from unusual, but CounterCloud’s material pushing back was: The tweets, the articles, and even the journalists and news sites were crafted entirely by artificial intelligence algorithms, according to the person behind the project, who goes by the name Nea Paw and says it is designed to highlight the danger of mass-produced AI disinformation. Paw did not post the CounterCloud tweets and articles publicly but provided them to WIRED and also produced a video outlining the project. Paw claims to be a cybersecurity professional who prefers anonymity because some people may believe the project to be irresponsible. The CounterCloud campaign pushing back on Russian messaging was created using OpenAI’s text generation technology, like that behind ChatGPT, and other easily accessible AI tools for generating photographs and illustrations, Paw says, for a total cost of about $400. Paw says the project shows that widely available generative AI tools make it much easier to create sophisticated information campaigns pushing state-backed propaganda. “I don’t think there is a silver bullet for this, much in the same way there is no silver bullet for phishing attacks, spam, or social engineering,” Paw says in an email. Mitigations are possible, such as educating users to be watchful for manipulative AI-generated content, making generative AI systems try to block misuse, or equipping browsers with AI-detection tools. “But I think none of these things are really elegant or cheap or particularly effective,” Paw says. In recent years, disinformation researchers have warned that AI language models could be used to craft highly personalized propaganda campaigns, and to power social media accounts that interact with users in sophisticated ways. Renee DiResta, technical research manager for the Stanford Internet Observatory, which tracks information campaigns, says the articles and journalist profiles generated as part of the CounterCloud project are fairly convincing. “In addition to government actors, social media management agencies and mercenaries who offer influence operations services will no doubt pick up these tools and incorporate them into their workflows,” DiResta says. Getting fake content widely distributed and shared is challenging, but this can be done by paying influential users to share it, she adds. Some evidence of AI-powered online disinformation campaigns has surfaced already. Academic researchers recently uncovered a crude, crypto-pushing botnet apparently powered by ChatGPT. The team said the discovery suggests that the AI behind the chatbot is likely already being used for more sophisticated information campaigns. Legitimate political campaigns have also turned to using AI ahead of the 2024 US presidential election. In April, the Republican National Committee produced a video attacking Joe Biden that included fake, AI-generated images. And in June, a social media account associated with Ron Desantis included AI-generated images in a video meant to discredit Donald Trump. The Federal Election Commission has said it may limit the use of deepfakes in political ads.

Last March, just two weeks after GPT-4 was released, researchers at Microsoft quietly announced a plan to compile millions of APIs—tools that can do everything from ordering a pizza to solving physics equations to controlling the TV in your living room—into a compendium that would be made accessible to large language models (LLMs). This was just one milestone in the race across industry and academia to find the best ways to teach LLMs how to manipulate tools, which would supercharge the potential of AI more than any of the impressive advancements we’ve seen to date. The Microsoft project aims to teach AI how to use any and all digital tools in one fell swoop, a clever and efficient approach. Today, LLMs can do a pretty good job of recommending pizza toppings to you if you describe your dietary preferences and can draft dialog that you could use when you call the restaurant. But most AI tools can’t place the order, not even online. In contrast, Google’s seven-year-old Assistant tool can synthesize a voice on the telephone and fill out an online order form, but it can’t pick a restaurant or guess your order. By combining these capabilities, though, a tool-using AI could do it all. An LLM with access to your past conversations and tools like calorie calculators, a restaurant menu database, and your digital payment wallet could feasibly judge that you are trying to lose weight and want a low-calorie option, find the nearest restaurant with toppings you like, and place the delivery order. If it has access to your payment history, it could even guess at how generously you usually tip. If it has access to the sensors on your smartwatch or fitness tracker, it might be able to sense when your blood sugar is low and order the pie before you even realize you’re hungry. Perhaps the most compelling potential applications of tool use are those that give AIs the ability to improve themselves. Suppose, for example, you asked a chatbot for help interpreting some facet of ancient Roman law that no one had thought to include examples of in the model’s original training. An LLM empowered to search academic databases and trigger its own training process could fine-tune its understanding of Roman law before answering. Access to specialized tools could even help a model like this better explain itself. While LLMs like GPT-4 already do a fairly good job of explaining their reasoning when asked, these explanations emerge from a “black box” and are vulnerable to errors and hallucinations. But a tool-using LLM could dissect its own internals, offering empirical assessments of its own reasoning and deterministic explanations of why it produced the answer it did. If given access to tools for soliciting human feedback, a tool-using LLM could even generate specialized knowledge that isn’t yet captured on the web. It could post a question to Reddit or Quora or delegate a task to a human on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. It could even seek out data about human preferences by doing survey research, either to provide an answer directly to you or to fine-tune its own training to be able to better answer questions in the future. Over time, tool-using AIs might start to look a lot like tool-using humans. An LLM can generate code much faster than any human programmer, so it can manipulate the systems and services of your computer with ease. It could also use your computer’s keyboard and cursor the way a person would, allowing it to use any program you do. And it could improve its own capabilities, using tools to ask questions, conduct research, and write code to incorporate into itself. It’s easy to see how this kind of tool use comes with tremendous risks. Imagine an LLM being able to find someone’s phone number, call them and surreptitiously record their voice, guess what bank they use based on the largest providers in their area, impersonate them on a phone call with customer service to reset their password, and liquidate their account to make a donation to a political party. Each of these tasks invokes a simple tool—an internet search, a voice synthesizer, a bank app—and the LLM scripts the sequence of actions using the tools. We don’t yet know how successful any of these attempts will be. As remarkably fluent as LLMs are, they weren’t built specifically for the purpose of operating tools, and it remains to be seen how their early successes in tool use will translate to future use cases like the ones described here. As such, giving the current generative AI sudden access to millions of APIs—as Microsoft plans to—could be a little like letting a toddler loose in a weapons depot.