Startups, Infosys, KUKA - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Infosys

Explanation:
Infosys has invested in Trifacta, a leading provider of data wrangling software that enables non-technical users to easily transform data for analysis.Infosys Q4 net profit at Rs 3,597 crore, beats estimates for fourth straight quarter

ANSWER: Sanghamitra Bandopadhyaya

Explanation:
The ninth edition of the Infosys prizes was announced on 15th Nov in Bengaluru. Scientists and professionals from the research field were named by a jury which included Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, former Chief Economist Kaushik Basu and geneticist Inder Verma.

Among the winners was Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata for engineering and computer science.

Her discoveries include genetic marking for breast cancer and the role of white blood cells in Alzheimer's disease.

Ananya J. Kabir, Professor of English at Kings College, London was awarded the prize for humanities.

Upinder Singh Bhalla from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) got it for life sciences. His contribution includes research on the brain's computational machinery.

Ritabrata Munshi from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, was named for mathematical sciences, and Yamuna Krishnan, from the Department of Chemistry at University of Chicago was chosen for physical sciences for her work in the fledgling field of DNA architecture.

In the category of social sciences, Lawrence Liang, from School of Law, Ambedkar University in Delhi and the co-founder of Alternative Law Forum was named for "creative scholarship" on law and society. The prizes will be given to the six winners on January 10, 2018 in Bengaluru.

Nobel laureate Kip Thorne will felicitate the awardees with prize money worth INR 65 lakh each and a 22-Carat gold medallion.

The Infosys Science Foundation was formed by the trustees of the software company, Infosys, in 2009 to encourage "basic science research."

ANSWER: 13000 crores

Explanation:
Infosys on Nov 17th said share buyback would begin on November 30 and close on December 14.

The IT services major has issued an offer letter for the buyback of shares.

It said that the necessary forms along with the letter would be dispatched to the eligible shareholders whose names appeared on the record date of November 1.

Infosys: Know More

• Industry: IT services, IT consulting
• Founded: 7 July 1981; 36 years ago
• Founders:
  • N. R. Narayana Murthy
  • Nandan Nilekani
  • S. Gopalakrishnan
  • S. D. Shibulal
  • K. Dinesh
  • N. S. Raghavan
• Ashok Arora
• Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
• Services: IT, business consulting and outsourcing services

ANSWER: Salil S. Parekh

Explanation:
Infosys, India's No.2 IT services company, named Salil S Parekh as chief executive on Saturday, picking an outsider for the job a second time and handing him the twin challenges of reviving growth and making peace between its founders and board.

Parekh, who will join from consultancy firm Capgemini where he is currently an executive, has been given a 5-year term effective January 2, an Infosys filing to exchanges showed.

UB Pravin Rao who was serving as the interim CEO has been re-designated as chief operating officer from January 2, Infosys said.

Parekh has Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Former CEO Vishal Sikka announced a sudden exit in August after a protracted public spat with the company's founding executives, led by Narayana Murthy, over strategy and alleged corporate governance lapses.

Sikka, who joined from German software maker SAP SE in 2014, was the first outsider to be appointed CEO of the Bengaluru-headquartered company.

His exit and the prolonged public row led to a reshuffling of the Infosys' board with Nandan Nilekani, a co-founder and former CEO, returning as non-executive chairman.

ANSWER: Both a and c

Explanation:
Sanjay Rajagopalan, senior vice-president, Infosys, who headed design and research, has quit the company, according to a posting on his personal page on the networking site, LinkedIn.

He quit Infosys a month ago after working for more than three years with the firm. Earlier, he was a senior vice-president with the German software maker, SAP from 2004 to 2014.

Former CEO & MD of Infosys, Vishal Sikka, had quit the company last month following a spat with the co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.

Infosys: Know More

• Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational corporation that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services.
• It has its headquarters in Bengaluru, India.
• Infosys is the second-largest Indian IT firm by 2016 revenues.
• Founded: 7 July 1981, Pune
• CEO: U. B. Pravin Rao (2017)
• Revenue: 10.21 billion USD (2017)
• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Founders: N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani
• Key Subsidiaries: Panaya, Infosys BPO, EdgeVerve, Skava

ANSWER: PLuS Alliance Prize

Explanation:
Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy and Mumbai-born scientist Veena Sahajwalla have been conferred the PLuS Alliance Prize.

This is a prestigious honour that recognises Research Innovation, Education Innovation, Global Leadership and Global Innovation.

The Prize of USD 50,000 was awarded in two categories; Education Innovation and Research Innovation.

Both winners were recognized for the development and implementation of innovative solutions to significant global issues.

ANSWER: Ravi Venkatesan

Explanation:
Infosys on April 13, 2017 appointed Independent Director Ravi Venkatesan co-Chairman amid calls from founders to diversify the board.

The Board expansion comes against the backdrop of an ongoing tussle between the founders and the management over contentious issues such as CEO salary hike, severance package to former employees and corporate governance standards.

Venkatesan, who has been on the Infosys Board since April 2011, has made valuable contribution to the development of strategic direction of the company during his tenure, according to a company statement.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
Union Cabinet on 22^nd March 2017 approves the proposal to establish the Fund of Funds of Startups or FFS.

Union Cabinet in 2016 approved the proposal to establish a Fund of Funds for Startups with total corpus of INR 10,000 crore.

AIFs supported by FFS should invest at least twice the amount of contribution received from FFS in Startups.

If the account committed for a startup has not been released before a startup ceases, the balance funding can continue thereafter.

Operating expenses out of the FFS to the extent of 0.50 percent of the commitments made to AIFs and outstanding.

Operating expenses include carrying due diligence, legal and technical appraisal, meeting of Venture Capital Investment Committee etc.

Operating expenses will be debited to fund at the beginning of each half year on April and October 1.

Fund of Funds for Startups was approved by Union Government in 2016.

Fund of Funds for Startups is being managed by SIDBI.

FFS contributes to SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds that may go up to a maximum of 35 percent of the corpus of the AIF concerned.

ANSWER: Lyft

Explanation:
Ride sharing app aggregator Lyft has acquired Pune based FinitePaths for an undisclosed amount.

Trail Answers, the app created by FinitePaths will be shut down and cofounders will join the Lyft team.

FinitePaths was set up in November 2015 with the move to leverage technology to enable people to take better decisions.

The app Trail Answers enabled answers to questions using social, contextual and local signals.

The company has been founded by Vinay Kakade and Balaji Raghavan, who worked with Amazon and Google respectively before setting up the firm.

The cofounders will now work with Lyft to help in expanding its infrastructure and services.

Following this acquisition, the company has stopped signing up new users and will shut down the app over the next two weeks.

Lyft: Know More

• Founded: 2012
• CEO: Logan Green (Jun 2012)
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
• Founders: Logan Green, John Zimmer

ANSWER: Hubballi

Explanation:
The Deshpande Foundation, the philanthropy arm of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande, will launch the country’s largest start-up incubation centre at Hubballi.

The foundation aims to promote entrepreneurship in India’s tier-II and tier-III cities.

It is investing INR 30 crore in the centre, to be opened this September and able to seat 1,200 people at any point.

Housing a makers lab, a 3D printing lab, hardware labs and an IOT lab, the centre will try to attract entrepreneurs from across sectors and any background, to build new-age solutions.

A ‘sandbox’ location has been created to allow entrepreneurs to test and nurture their ideas into businesses.

His foundation has set up two more sandboxes. One is in Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and another in neighbouring Telangana.

The Hubballi centre will continue to be funded by the Deshpande Foundation.

About Deshpande Foundation

• Deshpande Foundation is a non-governmental organization founded in 1996 by Gururaj and Jaishree Deshpande.
• Founded: 1996
• Headquarters: Massachusetts
• Type: Non-governmental organization