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Industry News
Nazara invests in Sportskeeda and Qunami, ups stake in Halaplay
Publication- Glaws
Edition- Online
Date- 14 July, 2019
Online game publisher Nazara Technologies Limited is reportedly on the verge of closing a Rs. 36 crore deal to gain majority stake in Absolute Sports Private Limited, the parent company of leading online sports content and news website Sportskeeda. According to an exclusive report on online news portal Inc42, Nazara is proposing to acquire 118,000 equity shares of Absolute Sports in a cash plus stock deal.
For the acquisition, Nazara is paying an issue price of Rs. 10 to purchase shares from existing investors, promoters and key managerial personnel and is additionally also offering the existing shareholders of the company a total of 491,100 shares of Nazara Technologies at a premium of Rs. 724 per share. According to the Inc42 report, Nazara is further planning to purchase equity shares worth Rs. 7.09 crores in Sports Unity Private Limited, the company that operates the real money quiz app Qunami.
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Indian OTT Startup MX Player Reportedly Raising $100 Mn from Tencent, PayTM
Publication- Indian Web2
Edition- Online
Date- 14 July, 2019
Indian OTT platform and a global offline video player, MX Player, is raising about US$100 million from China-based Tencent Holdings and Paytm, reported a China daily. Citing its sources, a report by South China Morning Post said “The WeChat operator and Paytm, India’s digital payments leader, are in the final stages of discussions but specific terms may still change”
Created by J2 Interactive, MX player was bought for for $140 million (₹1000 crore) in last year by Times Internet, the digital media arm of The Times Group, India’s largest media conglomerate. Tencent, which just launched its first overseas steaming video service in Thailand, will receive ready-made market and foothold in India where content streaming market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 22% to 120 billion rupees (US$1.7 billion) by 2023, according to PwC. For Paytm and its parent One97 Communications, MX Player’s 30 million registered users adds to a plethora of offerings from food delivery and e-commerce to financial services.
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Accenture appoints Julie Sweet Chief Executive Officer
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 13 July, 2019
Accenture’s board of directors announced that Julie Sweet has been appointed chief executive officer. David Rowland, currently interim chief executive officer, has been appointed executive chairman. Marge Magner, currently non-executive chair of the board, will resume her role as lead independent director. These changes are effective Sept. 1, 2019. Sweet is currently chief executive officer of Accenture’s business in North America, which is the company’s largest market with revenues of about $18 billion for fiscal 2018. Prior to that, Sweet was Accenture’s general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer and has been a member of Accenture’s senior leadership team for nearly a decade. Prior to joining Accenture, Sweet was a partner for 10 years in the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.
Following Upon assuming the role of chief executive officer, Sweet will join the company’s board of directors. “Julie is the right person to lead Accenture into the future, given her strong command of our business and proven ability to drive results in our largest market,” said Rowland. “We are on a positive growth trajectory at Accenture and are very well-positioned to continue building on our strong momentum. I am so pleased and proud that Julie will lead our company, and I am excited to work with her — along with our entire senior leadership team — to ensure a seamless transition and on Accenture’s next phase of growth and market leadership.”
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Tamil Nadu government implements Blockchain technology in egovernance sector services
Publication- Elets Online
Edition- Online
Date- 13 July, 2019
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on behalf of Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) has announced new egovernance measures for better e-service delivery to the state’s citizens. The first measure is named Zero knowledge proof identity based predictive Government Service Delivery. Within this, the application software used for issuing various certificates will be suitably modified so that the document issued shall electronically hit the Makkal Number created by TNeGA.
Based on the numbers, the certificates will electronically reach the Citizen Vaults, which will be created for each resident of Tamil Nadu. The citizens can then fetch the certificates/documents in his vault using his/her mobile number as user ID and OTP as password.
TNeGA mentions, “A system on Blockchain will prompt the software of each Government Department/Agency to issue the certificate/document, as and when the citizen becomes eligible for it.” According to TNeGA, Government Departments, Agencies or employers can verify the authenticity of the qualifications based on the citizen’s consent.”
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Tata Comm, Thales partner for SIM security of IoT devices
Publication- Gadgets Now
Edition- Online
Date- 13 July, 2019
Tata Communications has partnered with Rafale aircraft vendor Thales to develop a secure connectivity solution for internet of things (IoT) devices. Tata Communications' mobility and IoT platform MOVE and Thales' T-Sure technology will collaborate for securing data generated by connected devices such as cars and trucks under the agrement. "Thales will provide its T-Sure warranted digital identity solution to Tata Communications Move SIM cards, based on technologies from Gemalto, a Thales company," a joint statement from Tata Communications and Thales said.
In a survey conducted by Tata Communications, 30 per cent of IT decision makers cited security and 25 per cent cited privacy issues as the biggest barriers to IoT adoption. In a survey conducted by Tata Communications, 30 per cent of IT decision makers cited security and 25 per cent cited privacy issues as the biggest barriers to IoT adoption.
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Smart Cities, National Urban Livelihood and more; Budget 2019 has a lot to ensure ease of living
Publication- Business Today
Edition- Online
Date- 13 July, 2019
Ease of living continues to be one of the key themes in Budget 2019. Across the rural and urban populace, ease of living essentially refers to (a) infrastructure connectivity to / from the village or city; (b) availability of basic amenities like electricity, water, sanitation etc. at the household level; (c) ability of the citizen to avail government services remotely with the need for physical interactions being reduced to a bare minimum and (d) availability of adequate livelihood opportunities.
While Budget 2019 has occasionally distinguished between ease of living and ease of doing business (in case of farmers, for example), it has more or less continued to focus on the issues outlined above in a comprehensive manner. Accordingly, for Grameen Bharat or Rural India, the focus on schemes and initiatives like PMAY (Rural) for housing, Ujjwala for LPG connections, Saubhagya for electricity connections, Swachh Bharat for sanitation and waste management continues. As was expected, a notable addition in this year's budget has been the Har Ghar Jal component under the Jal Jivan Mission, which aims to provide piped water to all households by 2024.
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Opinion: Has India missed the Blockchain tech Express?
Publication- Livemint
Edition- Online
Date- 14 July, 2019
Globally, blockchain technology is beginning to reprogramme our digital infrastructure and reshape the way we think about data, information and value. Consequently, this has created a seismic shift in the global labour market—blockchain-related jobs are the second-fastest growing in today’s labour market; there are now 14 job openings for every blockchain developer.
Unlocking human potential in blockchain
Unfortunately, there’s a mismatch with the low supply and high demand of skilled blockchain developers. In fact, a study has found that 99.75% of Indian developers do not have the right skills to work on blockchain platforms. This issue becomes compounded by the lack of regulatory clarity to experiment with blockchain and digital assets in India, meaning that proficient blockchain developers may be forced to move abroad or work only on foreign projects.
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