Business & Finance - Current Affairs for May, 2016

T-Hub has announced its portfolio startup Click&Pay which is a mobile based payment solution enterprise has inked a pact with Yes Bank to facilitate cashless transactions for customers.

• Click&Pay will issue Yes Bank sponsored mobile wallet and employ the immediate payment service payments platform for processing instant transactions with person to person and merchants.
• Click&Pay is targeting I million users in a year by issuing Yes Bank sponsored mobile wallet.

Loan and projects agreement for WB assistance of US $100 million for the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernisation project was signed between Government of India/Karnataka and the World Bank.

• Objective was to provide city wide access to continuous piped water supply in eligible cities in the state of Karnataka
• The aim is also to strengthen service delivery arrangements at the city level
• KUIDFC is the implementing agency for this project
• Project will have 4 broad components namely Capital Investment Program, Institution Building, Technical Assistance for Sector Development and Project Management.

Chip maker Intel Corporation has acquired Itseez, a company specialising in computer and machine learning

• The company will bring its expertise in advanced driver advance systems for automobiles ti Intel, as part of Intel’s IoT related ambitions
• The firm also recently acquired Italian company manufacturing safety measures for semiconductors, Yogitech

Tech Mahindra has indicated it will buy financial technology firm Target Group to boost its platform business process as a service offering in the banking sector in a deal valued at more than 112 million pounds.

• In a BSE filing, TechM said the deal had an enterprise value of 112 million pounds per an adjustment for surplus cash of close to 8 million pounds
• Company will pay 64 million pounds upfront and a deferred consideration of up to 16.28 million pounds in 2017
• TechM will pay an amount of 17.1 million pounds on account of loan notes at closing

Porsche AG, the sportswear unit of Volkswagen launchd Porsche Digital GmbH, a division dedicated to development of digital services for the premium segment. Porsche Digital GmbH will become a competence centre and incubator to find ideas which can be turned into business and services

• BMW invests in California based carpooling app Scoop
• Division will be based in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart and have offices in Berlin, China and Silicon Valley
• It will be headed by former digital mobility analyst at consulting firm Gartner, Thilo Kozlowski

New mineral policy has been initiated to bring private investment in sectors other than boosting exploration, according to Union Ministry of Mines. Private investment will be promoted in mineral exploration to be done in a timely manner. The state government has now been asked to focus on exploration with a balance between mining and the environment

• Aim is that environment should be protected and exploration should be enhanced
• Mining is the second biggest sector after agriculture in India
• It contributes 2.4 percent in GDP
• Government has also amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation)Act and abolished discretionary powers of the Centre and the states.
• Mines are currently auctioned through a process that makes it transparent and increases revenue

As per FATCA and CRS, Financial Institutions/FIs can now get self certification through internet banking platform from the user account where the customer has transaction rights. Reps of FIs have informed that a massive number of financial accounts are there and physically obtaining self certification from the account holder is not easy.

• CBDT further clarified that valuation of securities may be done in the values regularly communicated by Depository (CDSL/NSDL) to the depository participants and brokers.
• Referring to issue of Tax Identification Number, apex direct tax group said TIN is not needed to be collected by FIs if TIN is not issued by the country or territory outside India for which person is resident for tax purposes
• TIN is not needed to be collected from persons by FIs in his country or territory of residence who can get TIN, but has not yet obtained it
• FATCA stands for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act which came into effect from September 30 which enabled automatic exchange of financial information between India and United States
• CRS stands for Common Reporting Standard which has been developed response to the G20 request and approved by OECD Council on 15 July 2014.

Intel India aimed at new projects for accelerating digital literacy at the grassroots level. Tech giant introduced the Unnati Kendra at Common Service Centre in Haryana’s Karnal.

• An online portal called Digital Unnati was also launched to encourage entrepreneurs in villages
• Part of the launched 'Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur' initiative, the new UK at CSC facility in Karnal will serve as one of the common access digital learning centers for people of the Haryana state.
• Intel India also aims to open several more of these facilities in the state.

Snapdeal, a leading online marketplace and Puravankara, which is among the top-5 listed real estate developers in the country, have announced the launch of a 'Managed Residences Plan' for their customers in association with international property consultancy JLL India.

• The three-way partnership will enable customers to purchase a ready-to- occupy apartment from Puravankara across Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore and Kochi and lease it back Puravankara for a contracted term of seven years.
• As a part of the contract, Puravankara will secure pre-agreed monthly rentals to the customer and pay the common area maintenance amount to the building association.

RBI asks banks to upgrade ATMs to prevent cloning of cards

RBI on May 26 directed banks to upgrade all ATMs by September 2017 with additional safety measures to prevent skimming and cloning of debit and credit cards.

• Contact Chip processing of EMV Chip and PIN cards at ATMs would not only enhance the safety and security of transactions at ATMs but also facilitate preparedness of the banks for the proposed 'EMV Liability Shift' for ATM transactions
• An another notification, RBI said in order to encourage banks to expand card acceptance infrastructure, banks can put in place their own Board approved policy on merchant acquisition.

CCEA approved Yes Bank’s request for increase in foreign investment to 74% from exist limit of 41.87 percent without any sublimit

• Attaining a total production in excess of INR 7.5 lakh crore by 2025 were among the objectives.

Los Angeles-based startup HelloTech and rival in-home tech support company Geekatoo said that they had merged, in a sign of consolidation in the hotly competitive on-demand sector.

• HelloTech will combine its network of about 150 college students who provide on-demand tech repair to Southern California consumers with Geekatoo's US network of about 5,000 technicians, the companies said in a joint statement.
• The merger connects HelloTech with Geekatoo's national market and provides Geekatoo with more access to venture capital funding, HelloTech co-founder Richard Wolpert said in an interview.
• HelloTech, which launched about a year ago, has raised $17 million from investors, while 5-year-old Geekatoo has raised close to $3 million.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, has invested an undisclosed sum into the digital storytelling platform for women, SheThePeople.TV.The platform was founded by Shaili Chopra.

• Mr. Mahindra has invested in his private capacity in the video platform.The funds that have come in will help SheThePeople part-finance its expansion plans.

TATA Power has acquired a 30 MW wind farm in Maharashtra. A subsidiary of TATA Power namely TATA Power Renewable Energy Ltd, a 100 percent subsidiary of TATA Power has completed shareholding in Info Rama Renewables Jath Limited, a 100 percent subsidiary of Indo Rama Renewable Limited

• IRRJL has a 30 MW operating wind farm in Sangli, Maharashtra and the wind farm completely operational since July 2013 has a long term power purchase agreement with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Ltd.
• TATA Power’s total generation capacity now becomes 9,213 MW and current operating non-fossil based capacity at 1,704 MW.

Founder Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor have made plans to pull out of the payments banks race after getting permission from RBI for the same. Shanghai along with Telenor Financial Services and IDFC Bank were granted in-principle approval to form a payments bank, by the RBI

• A payments bank is a differentiated bank that confines activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services and other specified services.

Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of TATA Sons has invested an undisclosed amount in Niki.ai, a AI based chatbot.

• A chatbot is a computer programme designed to simulate the chatter or conservation of human beings over the internet.
• UTV founder Ronnie Screwvala’s VC firm also participated in the round of funding.
• This firm was established by IIT- Kharagpur alumni Sachin Jaiswal, Keshav Prawasi, Nitin Babel and Shishir Modi.
• niki.ai said it uses technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning to converse with the customers over a simple chat interface.
• It then places their orders within seconds with the partner businesses.

US technology major Microsoft, the owner of Nokia’s mobile device business, has agreed to sell the latter’s branding rights to Finnish firm HMD Global and contract manufacturer Foxconn for $350 million. In a separate agreement, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD Global Oy (HMD), a newly-founded company based in Finland, the exclusive global licence to create Nokia—branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years.

• Under the pact, Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both the brand and the intellectual property rights.
• Microsoft also said it has signed a pact to sell the company’s entry-level feature phone assets to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global Oy for $350 million.

PayU India and Paytm have got amongst the first in-principle approvals for operating as a Bharat Bill Payments Operating Unit (BBPOU), allowing them to offer interoperable bill payment service to consumers.

• Consumers will be able to pay all their bills anytime and anywhere under the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), and the companies will provide platforms to offer these services.

Tiger Global Management, the largest investor in e-commerce major Flipkart has reduced stake in US rival Amazon by 67 percent in the March ended quarter. Hedge fund has cut exposure to 1.04 million shares worth $619 million as of March 31, down from 3.19 million shares worth $2.16 billion as of December 31, as per regulatory filings.

• The fund also reduced its stake in Chinese e-tailer JD.com by nearly 25% and entirely dissolved its minority stake in Alibaba .
• Amazon was Tiger Global's second-largest public holding, after it had picked up 2.44 million shares for about $1 billion in September last year. The hedge fund however lost 22% in the first three months of this year, as Amazon shares dipped by 12% during the period.

European software giant SAP and Microsoft today announced their plans to deliver broad support for SAP HANA platform deployed on Microsoft Azure. The partnership is aimed at simplifying integration between Microsoft Office 365 and cloud solutions from SAP and will provide enhanced management and security for custom SAP Fiori apps.

TATA group business venture TATA Unistore has announced that its e-commerce platform, TATA CLiQ will open to consumers from may 27th across website, mobile site and mobile apps.

• E-commerce has grown faster than brick and mortar commerce in India
• TATA CLiQ will offer consumers fresh shopping experience in electronics, apparel and footwear category.
• According to a Goldman Sachs report, e-commerce market will account for 2.5 percent of India’s GDP by 2030 growing 15 times and reaching USD 300 billion.
• Current size of e-commerce is 20 billion

SBI will merge five associate banks along with Bharathiya Mahila Bank according to a press release. SBI has given in principle approval for the bank to discuss the chance of acquiring associate banks. The 5 associate banks are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur and State Bank of Patiala.

• BMB was created in 2013 to cater to women’s lending needs.
• Associate banks have fixed assets worth INR 4000 crore and lending costs reduced by 100 basis points within a year post this merger.

Government has formed a 5 member committee under former revenue secretary NK Singh to review the working of the 12 year old FRBM Act and examine the fiscal deficit range instead of the fixed target. Other members of the committee include former finance secretary Sumit Bose, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel and NIPFP Director Rathin Roy.

• Committee will submit report to the government by October 31, 2016
• Committee will examine the need and feasibility of a fiscal deficit range as the target in place of existing fixed numbers (percentage of GDP) as goal.
• The way forward is keeping in view the broad objective of fiscal consolidation and prudence and changes required in the context of fiscal consolidation and prudence.
• Instead of fixed numbers as fiscal deficit targets, it is far better to have fiscal deficit range as the target- this provides necessary policy space to the government to deal with dynamic situations.

Domestic power company Mittals Group has launched power trading app called Power Trading Solutions. This is India’s first real time power trading app.

• App has been developed by company’s own startup Invetech Solutions.
• Power trading mobile app will take the concept of power exchange to the next level.
• Power trading has become a major activity in enactment of Electricity Act 2003- one means of selling power is through online bidding in exchanges
• Two such exchanges are operating in India namely Indian Energy Exchange and Power Exchange India Limited which offer products under DAM/Day Ahead Market, TAM/Term Ahead Market and REC/ Renewable Energy Certificate Trade.

As SEBI readies to tighten its rules for controversy-ridden P-Notes, major foreign investors including JPMorgan, HSBC, UBS and Goldman Sachs have supported the proposed provisions for immediate reporting of any breach to the regulator and filing of suspicious transaction reports.In a representation before the capital markets regulator, these investors said the fund managers invest money on behalf of many investors and that needs an entity to pool such investments.

• They also said the establishment of funds in Cayman Islands is independent of their decision to invest in India as these funds invest globally and India is “often just one part of their portfolio.”
• Cayman Islands is followed by Mauritius (11.09 per cent) as the second-biggest location for end-beneficial owners of ODIs.

To further contribute to the Digital India initiative, chip making giant Intel India launched an initiative to strengthen the use of technology in the education ecosystem of the nation

• Intel will be collaborating with PhD Chamber of Commerce and Industry for this.

An anti-counterfeiting group has indicated it was suspending Alibaba Group Holding’s Membership following concerns of some member companies
International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition followed an AP report that group president Robert Barhciese had stocks in Alibaba and he used family membered to help a coalition

• Alibaba has been accused of counterfeiting by several brands like YSL and Gucci.

Government of Jharkhand has appointed Ernst & Young to assist the department of information technology and e-governance to develop guidelines for establishing IT parks and investment promotion in the IT sector in the state

The advertising partnership will provide access to campaign-based analytics and custom research, strategic advertiser tools and resources, and first-to-market advertiser innovation. With Twitter tie-up, LeEco will be the first Chinese brand to get access to First View, a new video-based advertising product from Twitter.

• Twitter’s new First View helps marketers boost audience reach with exclusive ownership of Twitter's advertising real estate for a 24-hour period.
• This means, whenever a Twitter user opens app or logs in to twitter.com, they will see the company's ad at the top in their timelines.

RBI released a discussion paper on the framework for enhancing credit supply to large borrowers which will mitigate risks for banks lending to a unitary corporate.

• Guidelines will ideally reduce the risk for the banking sector from exposure to highly leveraged accounts
• This will encourage alternative funding for the corporates

RBI has issued norms for branch offices from Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and 4 other regions to require prior approval for establishing a foreign branch office project in India. Other countries and regions are as follows: Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan and Hong Kong/Macau. RBI has also released guidelines for foreign officers to open branch or liaison office or project office in India.

• Permission of the same will have to be granted for all three in J&K, NE region and Andaman and Nicobar islands.
• Approval is also required if the principal business of the applicant falls in four sectors- defence, telecom, private security and information & broadcasting.
• Approval is also required for NGO, NPO or Body/Agency/Department of foreign governments.
• Applications from persons residing in other countries will be judged by the bank as per guidelines.

Parrys Sugar Industries Ltd. will merge with EID Parry (India) Ltd. Parrys Sugar is a listed subsidiary of EID Parry.

• The board of EID Parry had already given its nod for the scheme of amalgamation.
• The merger, which will be subject to the approval of the shareholders and relevant regulatory authorities, will take retrospective effect from April 1, 2016, according to a company release.
• Shareholders of Parrys Sugar will receive two equity shares of Re.1 each of E.I.D. Parry for every 13 equity shares of Rs.10 each they hold.

Education startup FitKids has acquired a science and technology education provider ThinkLABS for a non disclosed amount. FitKids provides science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for children from Kindergarten to grade 12.

• The acquisition will help add 100 schools to current portfolio of 160 schools in the country.
• ThinkLABS gives training to teachers to deliver the curriculum.

Tengaga Nasional Berhad selected portfolio of assets for cash consideration of USD 300 million valuing the assets at USD 1 billion

• Funds will be primarily used for repayment of corporate debt
• This would lead to a reduction in GMR Infrastructure’s consolidated corporate debt

Bookmyparts Networks Pvt Ltd has announced the commencement of its operations by launching its digital platform, www.bookmyparts.com.

• As a digital marketplace, the B2B portal is an innovative and a first effort in India that aims to bring the buyers and sellers of machinery parts on a single platform and promises delivery at doorstep.
• Pinkal Shekhali is founder and director,along with Vinay Ganju. Bookmyparts is the first Indian aggregator in this field.

Cloud telephony company Knowlarity Communications on May 9th 2016 acquired Delhi based Smartwards, a customer engagement platform that simplifies loyalty for local businesses and their consumers

• As per the statement, Shantanu Mathur and Dhanraj Singh Bisht- co founders of Smartwards will lead the Indian operations for Knowlarity
• Smartwards started operation in 2013

MGT Capital on may 9th announced that it would change its name to John McAfee Global Technologies Inc

• It is also posed to purchase securities of McAfee company D- Vasive Inc
• Shares of McAfee rose following the announcement

A partnership has been signed between ICICI Bank and NDB who will also leverage a mutually beneficial partnership in other areas such as treasury risk management, account and cash management services and human resource development.It recently announced its first set of loans involving financial assistance of USD 811 million to support building of 2,370 mw of power capacity within the member-countries. Out of this USD 250 million has come to state-run Canara Bank for on-lending to renewable energy projects.

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on 5 May 2016 signed a partnership agreement with Facebook to build a product design initiative in India.

• The agreement focus on assisting the innovation ecosystem by helping product based companies to build solutions in key sectors where technology can play a transformational role.
• This initiative is aimed towards encouraging Indian entrepreneurs to become problem solvers and develop solutions based on innovation and design thinking.

Titan Company Limited will acquire a majority stake in CaratLane, an online jewellery store strengthening its presence in the e-commerce segment, a top official said.

• The acquisition (of CaratLane) will bring significant capabilities in the e-commerce space along with a brand, a customer segment and a business model that is very exciting,” said Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director, Titan Company Limited.
• The board of directors of Titan Company approved on Friday the acquisition of majority stake in Chennai-based Carat Lane Trading Pvt. Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.

Online marketplace Snapdeal has acquired marketing and personalisation service company Targeting Mantra for an undisclosed amount. The start up’s focus is on building products for enhancement of customer buying process.

• Personalisation of services is the ket feature here
• Saurabh Nangia and Rahul Singh founded TargetingMantra in March 2013 based out of Palo Alto and Gurgaon.

Idea Cellular and Google announced a partnership to enable more than 175 million subscribers of the mobile phone operator to do away with the use of a credit card while making purchases on Google Play.

• Under the direct billing system Idea customers, using Google’s application store Google Play, will be charged a separate fee deducted from the subscribers’ prepaid or postpaid account.
• The company didn’t divulge the amount that it will deduct.

India will overtake the US as the second-largest smartphone market next year, and local players, led by Reliance Industries, will benefit in the near term, says Morgan Stanley in its latest report based on a survey.

• While Apple and Samsung are market leaders, Reliance Industries is set to give them stiff competition
• Jio is focused on 4G and has its own handset brand as well called LYF.

Financial inequality is highest in China and India among Asia Pacific countries despite the two being the fastest growing economies.

• As per the IMF, India and China have grown rapidly and lowered poverty sharply, impressive economic performance has been accompanied by increasing levels of inequality
• The report says that China managed to increase middle class in urban areas while India struggled to lift sizeable portions of the population towards higher income levels.
• In China rapid industrialisation in certain regions and concentration of FDI in coastal regions have led to inequality in growth between the two regions
• China intoduced the Minimum Livelihood Guarantee Scheme- Dibao for social protection in the 1990s
• Numerous social programs have been placed to tackle rising inequality in India as well such as the MNREGA and JAM or Jan Dhan-Adhaar-Mobile initiative

GirnarSoft, the parent company of auto classifieds portal CarDekho.com, has acquired virtual reality startup Volob Technologies in an all-cash deal, the company announced on May 3rd.

• This is the eight such transaction entered into by GirnarSoft, which has emerged as one of the most active players in the Indian startup M&A leaderboard over the past 18 months, and comes less than a week after it announced its acquisition of SaaS startup Connecto.
• Founded in 2010 by Tarun Kumar and Shweta Jain, Volob Technologies provides 3D visualisation solutions to various industries, primarily automotive, according to a company-issued statement.

Online cab aggregator Uber has announced a global partnership with third party payment platform Alipay to permit Chinese travellers to get rides through this solution in more than 400 cities, according to companies

• Uber riders can avail of the facility through the Paytm platform
• China’s Alibaba and affiliate Ant Financial had picked up the stake in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm.

Government of India has deferred approval to the Agusta Westland FDI in Indian JV among charges over alleged kickback in the helicopter deal. FIPB has deferred a decision on increase in FDI in the Italian firm’s joint venture with TATA Sons.

• Previously, Rotorcraft, a joint venture of AgustaWestland (Finmeccanica firm) and TATA Sons was set up for an assembly line for AW119Ke helicopters.
• It had sought post facto approval of FIPB for increasing FDi inflow of INR 19.64 crore against INR 17.6 crore approved in September 2011
• Apart from the increased FDI inflow, approval was also sought for a change of foreign investor from Agusta Westland to Finmeccanica by way of merger of the two.

Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) has signed a revised contract with RasGas of Qatar. Petronet LNG Limited has a 7.5 MMTPA FOB LNG supply agreement with RasGas, Qatar on long term basis for 25 years.

• The supply under this agreement commenced in 2004.
• PLL has successfully negotiated the revised price formula for the said contract effective from 1st January, 2016 thereby aligning prices with the world gas market.
• Further, PLL has executed agreement for additional supply of 1.0 MMTPA of LNG from RasGas, Qatar for a period of about 12 years w.e.f. January 1, 2016 at the prevailing market prices.

With 25 industrial licences in its bag, Reliance Defence has emerged as the private sector firm that has the highest number of permits across the spectrum.

• A subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Limited, the company last week received 15 industrial licences for making a wide array of high technology equipment ranging from heavy weapons, armoured vehicles, ammunition, electronic warfare systems, UAVs and directed energy weapon systems.
• Reliance had already got 10 licences before.
• Of the 15 new licences given to it, 10 pertain to land systems, three for the naval systems and remaining two covering niche technologies across the defence spectrum, industry sources said.

The two board members who will be resigning are Lorenzo Grabau and Erik Mitteregger. The members from long standing investor Kinnevik are resigning after Swedish fund hit shares in the German e-commerce firm through cutting valuations for joint holdings.

• Rocket Internet has been funding companies such as Jabong.
• The two would be replaced by board members independent of shareholders- former Deutsche Bank CFO Stefan Krause and Orange deputy chief executive Pierre Louette.

US software giant Oracle Corp will purchase Opower Inc, a maker of software for utilities for USD 548 million in cash. Opower provides cloud data solutions to the utilities industry. Company also analyses close to 600 billion meter readings from 60 million utility customers through cloud service as per Oracle. Data lets subscribers stay ahead of customer and regulatory requirements to attain greater efficiency.

• Borromeo, won a gold medal of 800 m at the 1982 Asian Games held in Delhi and also a part of Indian Olympic contingent that took place at Los Angeles in 1984.
• He joined Tata Steel as sports assistant in 1979 and participated in a number of track and field meets.
• He was honoured as TATA’s best sportsman in the 1980s.
• He resigned following allegations of irregularities in tender allocation.

Hero Group electronics manufacturing company Hero Electronix has made a strategic investment in Bengaluru based Tessolve Semiconductor. The 300 crore Hero Electronix will be holding a majority stake in the company towards the close of the year by buying stakeholders in Tessolve over the next coming months.

• Through this acquisition, Delhi based Hero plans to take a deep dive into electronics manufacturing including wearables, IoT devices and electronic components.
• Tessolve was founded in 2004 by Raja Manickam.

Realty portal Housing.com has said it has appointed former KPMG director Dilip Tuli as senior vice president-Strategy and New Business Initiatives.

Dilip Tuli will assist with strategy and oversee new business initiatives such as transaction facilitation and fulfilment services, Housing.com said in a statement.

Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, signed the agreement with Cox and Kings to strengthen its relationship and expand its presence in the Indian market.

• The agreement will focus on promoting the various aspects of Ras Al Khaimah and popularise it in the Indian market which is one of the fastest outbound markets in the region.
• The agreement, which will take effect from May 1, is aimed at increasing tourism arrivals to Ras Al Khaimah from India.
• India has already cemented its position as one of the emirate’s leading source markets with an 80 per cent increase in visitors year-on-year (2014—2015).

Symantec Corp, best known for its Norton antivirus software, estimated fourth-quarter profit and revenue below analysts' estimates, and said chief executive Michael Brown would step down.

One of the co-founders of Housing.com who left the Mumbai-based realty startup last month, Advitiya Sharma, is launching his new venture in the education space.

• Called Genius, the platform intends to create entrepreneur teachers to help run Genius micro schools from their homes.
• Based on the concept of San Francisco-based AltSchool, Sharma's startup will target students from KG up till eighth grade and launch across the country's top five metros.
• Education technology startups have so far largely targeted the test-prep market as a gargantuan number of Indian students appear for competitive exams every year.