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One of India’s leading entertainment conglomerates, Kwan today announced the acquisition of the entertainment start-up Gigstart. Gigstart is an online marketplace that facilitates swift and transparent connections between entertainers and event and party planners. The company also announced the launch of a highly user-friendly mobile app. A first of its kind of booking service, Gigstart verifies and reviews all the artists before listing them on the site. The newly launched mobile app will further provide easy access to the various entertainment options, guiding party planners to the best-suited artists and...

While the GST rates are yet to be announced, handset makers are concerned that the regime may result in concessions currently offered by different states coming to an end. Mobile phones could become dearer by 7-8 per cent after the GST comes into effect, Chinese handset maker Coolpad said on Wednesday. “Depending on the rate of GST, prices could go up 7-8 per cent,” PTI report published in HT quoted Coolpad India CEO Syed Tajuddin as saying. However, Tajuddin said GST will result in a “big jump” in online sales of mobile...

Honeywell Automation India Limited today announced that Ashish Gaikwad has been appointed as its managing director effective October 1, 2016. Gaikwad succeeds Vikas Chadha, who was recently named president, Honeywell India. Speaking about the appointment, Suresh Senapaty, chairman, HAIL, said, “HAIL has a 25-year legacy in India, in developing and manufacturing technologies that serve a diverse and extensive customer base across verticals including oil and gas, power, metals, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, mining, infrastructure, IT/ITeS, telecom, banking, healthcare, hospitality, automobiles, defense, aerospace, transportation, and the residential sector. With more than 25 years...

A new update to the Worldwide Semiannual Public Cloud Services Spending guide from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows worldwide revenues from public cloud services reaching more than USD 195 billion in 2020. This will be more than double the USD 96.5 billion in revenues forecast for 2016 and represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.4 per cent over the 2015-2020 forecast period. Cloud software – the service enablement of products in all three primary software markets: applications as a service, system infrastructure software (SIS) as a service (which combine to...

India’s three best known brands in e-commerce have come under fire from CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders) for violating the forms prescribed for FDI related entities in the company. According to the CAIT, Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal have contravened the government’s FDI policy, which prevents securing investments from abroad in entities working on an inventory based model in the area, and a complaint has been made with the DIPP. One may even recall that in March this year, the government had allowed e-commerce entities to avail 100 per cent...

Worldwide spending on information security products and services will reach USD 81.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 7.9 per cent over 2015, according to the latest forecast from Gartner. Consulting and IT outsourcing are currently the largest categories of spending on information security. Until the end of 2020, the highest growth is expected to come from security testing, IT outsourcing and data loss prevention (DLP). Preventive security will continue to show strong growth, as many security practitioners continue to have a buying preference for preventive measures. However, solutions such...

Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) on Tuesday announced several changes to the portfolio of its senior management team, including the announcement of a new chief operating officer (COO). Srinivasan V has been appointed as the new COO. He will take over from from Sridhar T, who has been moved to a newly created strategic initiatives portfolio. Srinivasan was executive VP, products and resources at CTS. “The market is undergoing a major shift in the pace of digital technology adoption by clients, driven by new social, mobile, analytics, cloud, artificial intelligence, the...

The Government is reportedly contemplating to give an ease to E Commerce players by liberalizing the E Commerce policy. The move is aimed at giving a boost to the sector. The government is looking for a possible rethink of online marketplace rules that were issued in March. If the government adopts amendments in the policy that are favorable to OLS, it could provide a boost for E Commerce leaders Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and other small online marketplaces. According to the ET report, a high-level committee has been set up under Niti...

Facebook has announced that the social networking company will start serving ads to its desktop users, including to those who have ad-blocking software installed and running. In a blog post announcing the changes, Andrew Bosworth, vice-president, Ads & Business Platform said, “People don’t like to see ads that are irrelevant to them or that disrupt or break their experience. People also want to have control over the kinds of ads they see. As a result of what we’ve learned, we’ve introduced tools to help people control their experience, improved how we decide...

Popular professional networking website LinkedIn on Wednesday announced that it has crossed the 100-million member mark in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), and with 37 million members, India is its largest market in the region. Globally, India retains its spot as the second largest market after the US, a company statementsaid. LinkedIn has doubled its member base in the region from 50 million to 100 million in just two years. The region now represents 22 percent of LinkedIn’s global member base of over 450 million. “At this scale, LinkedIn is in an...