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AI (artificial intelligence) has been the talk of town ever since <keyword id="19896272" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="generative-AI" source="keywords">generative AI</keyword> tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and CoPilot gained attention. These AI tools have the potential to assist humans with their day-to-day lives. And companies too have started recognising the benefits of AI and are investing heavily in the space. According to a survey conducted by EY in July this year, business leaders said that they had already begun seeing returns on their investments in artificial intelligence (AI). The survey also added that Among the 95 percent of senior executives who confirmed their organisations were currently investing in AI, the number of companies investing £10 million or more was expected to nearly double to 30% in the coming year, up from 16%. <keyword id="19906778" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Infosys" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> co-founder <keyword id="20294306" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nandan-Nilekani" source="keywords">Nandan Nilekani</keyword> also supports investments in AI. In fact, he believes that not investing in AI will actually end up costing more for companies. <h2>Nandan <keyword id="20829036" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nilekani" source="keywords">Nilekani</keyword> on AI investments </h2> Speaking on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, People by WTF, Nilekani explained how AI is becoming indispensable for businesses and society at large. Responding to concerns about whether current investments in AI might be a bubble, Nilekani was clear: the risk of not investing in AI far outweighs the potential costs of adoption. “They can’t afford not to do it,” he said, referencing global companies that spend as much as $50 billion a year on AI infrastructure. Nilekani added that AI represents a “big platform shift,” and businesses that fail to adapt could find themselves permanently sidelined. The competitive landscape for AI is fierce, especially in the West, where tech giants are racing to dominate this space. Investments in data centres, AI chips, and large-scale research projects are driving AI development forward, bringing down costs and making AI technology more accessible over time. <h2>Power of LLMs in India</h2> During the same podcast, Nilekani also said that he sees massive potential for AI in language processing. <keyword id="19897804" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="large-language-models" source="keywords">Large Language Models</keyword> (LLMs), a type of AI that can understand, generate, and respond to human language, are particularly powerful in India’s multilingual context. Nilekani explained how these models could help bridge communication gaps by providing access to information in local languages. For instance, Nilekani highlighted how a farmer in Uttar Pradesh could ask a question in Hindi, and the AI system could retrieve relevant information, such as farming techniques, in real time. This capability, Nilekani argued, could democratise access to global knowledge and make it available to people in their native tongues. “If you can speak in your language of choice, your mother tongue, then suddenly you can access the entire knowledge in the system,” Nilekani said, underscoring how AI could empower individuals who may not be literate or familiar with English.

Can’t afford not investing in AI, could be out of the game permanently, says Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani

Work-life balance is the buzzword these days and ample studies have shown how GenZ prefers a job which is flexible in terms of timings. In January this year, a study conducted by Randstad revealed that workers prioritise work-life balance over salary when evaluating potential job opportunities. According to the study, 57 percent of employees would reject a job offer if it negatively impacted their work-life balance. However, even though employees want greater work-life balance, there have been billionaires who disagree with the concept and promote hustle culture instead. From advocating for longer work hours to dismissing the idea of balance altogether, these tech leaders have taken stances that have often stirred the hornet's nest. <h2><keyword id="20068610" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="NR-Narayana-Murthy" source="keywords">NR Narayana Murthy</keyword>: Advocating 70-Hour work weeks</h2><keyword id="19906778" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Infosys" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> founder NR <keyword id="19920910" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="narayana-murthy" source="keywords">Narayana Murthy</keyword> made headlines in October 2023 when he suggested that young people in India should be prepared to work 70 hours a week. Speaking on 3one4 Capital's podcast "The Record," Murthy argued that such an intense work ethic is necessary for India to improve its productivity and compete on the global stage. His remarks sparked a wide-ranging debate online, with some agreeing that increased effort is required to drive progress, while others criticised him for promoting an unsustainable work culture. <h2><keyword id="21042158" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alexis-Ohanian" source="keywords">Alexis Ohanian</keyword>: Dismissing work-life balance as a farce</h2>Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian also shared his views on work-life balance, which he dismisses as an unrealistic ideal. In an August 2023 Twitter thread, Ohanian said that work-life balance is a "farce" and that trying to achieve it is misguided. Instead, he emphasised the importance of knowing when to prioritise work and when to focus on personal life, suggesting that balance is more about shifting priorities rather than achieving a perfect equilibrium. <h2><keyword id="20054707" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jeff-Bezos" source="keywords">Jeff Bezos</keyword>: Rejecting the trade-off</h2>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has long been a critic of the term "work-life balance." Speaking at an event in 2018, Bezos explained that he finds the concept debilitating because it implies a trade-off between work and life. He said that he prefers to view it as a "circle" where both aspects are interconnected. In earlier interviews, Bezos had mentioned that his happiness at work positively influences his personal life, and vice versa, suggesting that the two are more intertwined than balanced. <h2> <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword>: Sleeping in offices</h2>Elon Musk, known for his demanding work ethic, has also been vocal about his approach to work-life balance—or the lack thereof. During the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference in 2022, Musk revealed that he used to live in his factories and would sleep on the floor to show his commitment to his work. He believed that demonstrating his dedication in such a visible way would inspire his employees to work harder. Musk has also been critical of what he perceives as a declining work ethic in America, contrasting it with the intense dedication he observes among workers in China. <h2><keyword id="19915280" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jack-Ma" source="keywords">Jack Ma</keyword>: Endorsing China's "996" work culture</h2>Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma had expressed support for China's controversial "996" work schedule, which involves working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. In 2019, Ma referred to the "996" culture as a "huge blessing" for young workers, arguing that the opportunity to work such hours is something to be grateful for, especially if one is passionate about their job. He downplayed concerns about overwork, suggesting that those who love their work won't find such hours burdensome.

70-hour work week to sleeping in offices: Golden words on hustle culture from NR Narayana Murthy, Elon Musk, and other billionaires

It's impossible to talk about workforce innovation without addressing artificial intelligence.During a virtual roundtable, we asked Business Insider's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/workforce-innovation-board-tackles-topics-such-as-c-suite-innovation-ai-worker-wellness-2024-8">Workforce Innovation board</a> to tell us how AI would transform companies over the next year.One major topic was reskilling and upskilling employees. BI's Tim Paradis, who focuses on the future of work, asked whether there were any fears that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vinod-khosla-universal-basic-income-ai-job-loss-2024-9">dire predictions of AI</a> outpacing human capabilities to learn, like those advanced in a recent article by Sun Microsystems cofounder <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.khoslaventures.com/ai-dystopia-or-utopia/">Vinod Khosla</a>, would prove true."The basic drivers of job creation will change with a technology that does not only augment human capabilities, but also may surpass them altogether," Khosla wrote, "leaving education and upskilling — a historical avenue for retraining and relevance — somewhat impotent."Board members rejected the grim prognostication."I disagree with that statement," said Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM's vice president and chief impact officer, though she agreed that AI would exacerbate the digital divide."We made a commitment to scale 2 million people in AI by 2026," Nixon-Saintil said. "There's a sense of urgency in making sure we are not leaving people behind."AARP's Marjorie Powell argued that the global labor shortage was evidence of an enduring need for human workers but that no one can afford to be complacent. "You're going to have to relearn how to do your job," Powell said.Others described the importance of communicating clearly with workers about what AI means for their jobs now and in the future."We're trying to figure out how this transformation is going to occur," said Chris Deri, the president of the corporate advisory businesses at Weber Shandwick. "There has to be transparent communications and stakeholder engagement alongside figuring out these enterprise and strategic matters."The following has been edited for length and clarity.<h3 id="4a721470-9d79-4540-a871-62ad779b2870">How will the most innovative companies be transformed by AI over the next 12 months?</h3><h2 id="58f968af-3acb-493b-870e-b8d2bf021db1">Justina Nixon-Saintil, vice president and chief impact officer, IBM</h2><h3 id="a436d836-8481-4230-8a70-68bd3cfe6353">"Any tasks or jobs in the company that could be automated by AI will happen within the next year."</h3>A lot is going to change. Any tasks or jobs in the company that could be automated by AI will happen within the next year. For any jobs that cannot be automated, workers will need to understand how to work alongside AI.You need to understand what AI means for your role, how to use it to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-use-ai-save-time-work-best-ways-use-chatgpt-2024-9">increase productivity or efficiency</a>, and how to create new products and solutions leveraging AI. That's going to be the big shift, and here we actually continue to upskill our employees to prepare for that shift.Last year, we had an AI challenge across the company, and a huge percentage of our employees participated. They had to get training first, and then they were part of a team to come up with innovative solutions leveraging AI. We did it again this summer. So the company is very focused on how to upskill all employees, because it's going to impact every role in the company.<h2 id="82ccd740-f6d2-4536-8e3d-54d9f225dac0">Anant Adya, EVP, service offering head, and head of Americas delivery, Infosys</h2><h3 id="66cbaa75-725e-4e65-880c-285d5d102e74">"How can we eat our own dog food right before we start telling customers to adopt AI?"</h3>We have two objectives. One is to become an AI-first enterprise. The first task is to see how we can start using AI in everything we do, whether it's in our claims or travel expenses, procurement, or handling invoices.Our philosophy is very simple. AI is not about replacing an individual or replacing an employee but how we can amplify our productivity by using the tools. How can we eat our own dog food right before we start telling customers to adopt AI?Second is that for all the offerings that we have today, we want to make sure we infuse AI into them. When we go and talk to our customers about task-level automation, coding or developing an application, or migrating a workload into the cloud — how can we infuse AI into everything that we do? So it doesn't just become a people-based offering but a people-plus-AI-based offering.<h2 id="961badc0-cb06-4d47-9329-ac1f1b2d70dd">Marjorie Powell, chief HR officer and senior vice president, AARP</h2><h3 id="0aee923e-e647-43c9-bf57-4c2ecc03a872">"It's important that everyone learns how to deal with prompt engineering; we are not going to hire prompt engineers."</h3>We believe there's going to be a greater emphasis on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-will-change-most-jobs-employers-help-workers-keep-up-2024-8">upskilling and reskilling</a> alongside AI technologies.It's important that everyone learns how to deal with prompt engineering; we are not going to hire prompt engineers. It's going to become a skill for employees to craft clear and specific prompts, adjust to the right audience, and utilize elements and problem-solving skills to identify inaccurate responses.It's about adaptability. Employees are going to have to be open to continuous learning and adapting to new AI tools and technologies in their jobs. So we make sure we're providing some kind of atmosphere and culture for being excited and energetic about learning.The workforce will have to problem-solve regardless of the tool and the technology, and it will require test-and-learn approaches. We created a "community of practice" in the company where individuals can join and help with peer learning and have a sandbox to play around with AI, depending on where they are.They can cross-pollinate across business-unit lines, and that has become very exciting. We also use that group to pilot the new technologies we're considering rolling out to the company.Data literacy is going to be very important — understanding how to read and interpret and tell a story of the data.We're also developing power users in the company, people who are really, really good at this that other employees can tap into when they need help.<h2 id="0ef1d87b-57f3-4474-bfdc-21c4f4fc1b74">Alicia Pittman, global people team chair, Boston Consulting Group</h2><h3 id="dd47519b-c973-4a00-b508-f05159afdea8">"Gen AI also offers an opportunity to avoid leakage of human capital, which obviously we all care quite a lot about."</h3>We have 35,000 employees, and north of 70% are active users of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-using-ai-bain-survey-roi-2024-6">generative AI</a> now. We've taken a full-company approach of upskilling and rolling out both custom and off-the-shelf tools, regardless of the job.The bottom-up innovation power of gen AI is super exciting. For example, our teams and employees have created more than a thousand custom GPTs, mini automation machines, to-do scripts, and dashboards to create bespoke analyses and build newsletters — it's super quick, and it doesn't require big investments or processes.That's one thing that's specific to gen AI versus other types of technology innovation — it's sparking a lot of energy and unlocking human capacity.Gen AI also offers an opportunity to avoid leakage of human capital, which obviously we all care quite a lot about. It really changes the game in terms of the amount of learning you can keep within the team and not lose as people move around.We're also seeing how gen AI is creating an exoskeleton for generalists to be able to take on more technical tasks. It's not going to turn a generalist analyst into an expert coder, but actually our analysis would show that they can get 80%-plus there on some coding tasks, which then you still need the expert coder to do quality control.<h2 id="d130e1cc-4600-48d2-941b-e5e5b1eddc1f">Maggie Hulce, chief revenue officer, Indeed</h2><h3 id="d4c2bf89-e522-4f0d-bbff-d8d4f916c1e1">"Do I have to build this huge team of AI engineers? The answer is no."</h3>We're trying to infuse AI in all our externally facing products and solutions to make them more insightful, intuitive, and delightful to use — and, in many ways, to create experiences that mimic what a personalized human experience might be like, but at scale.We also see most roles and workflows becoming augmented with AI. That's becoming more and more obvious as the months go on and as teams engage with AI and find applications and new ways of working.I was at Dreamforce recently in San Francisco. What Salesforce <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2024/09/17/google-autonomous-agent-partnership/">unveiled</a> was how it wants to help companies essentially launch AI agents in sales, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/verizon-is-using-generative-ai-to-streamline-business-relationships-2024-7">customer service</a>, marketing, and commerce.For many companies to get the full power of what AI can do, you have to be able to link up lots of different datasets that are usually in disparate places. It's hard work, and it's very time-consuming. To hear the stories of companies being like, "Guess what, you don't actually have to move that data around anymore," this is going to change how a lot of companies experiment and start to play with AI-oriented applications that will fundamentally change their operations.There are a lot of companies out there that have already started to light it up. We're thinking a lot about how sales, customer service, marketing, and product have operated for a long time in various silos. When you think about customer experiences, they really shouldn't be that way. They should be much more integrated than they are today. Some of these technologies can be part of the accelerants for how customer experiences can be reimagined.Part of what's been hard for people is like, "OK, but do I have to get all of these disparate parts of my company to all work together in a new way? Do I have to build this huge team of AI engineers?" The answer is no. You don't have to be the tip of the spear in terms of sophistication.<h2 id="8b49bd10-b04d-4857-afbc-b2979d5711e9">Kenon Chen, executive vice president of strategy and growth, Clear Capital</h2><h3 id="550eee1b-ffef-4a90-bbea-a94d7a6ba7a2">"As AI accelerates, you also have to accelerate the handling of data in a way that can produce accurate models."</h3>At Clear Capital, we participate in the highly regulated housing-finance industry. To enable AI to be used in accordance with our clients' expectations of governance and quality control, we've taken a three-pronged approach.First, we've been investing in creating good industry standards and working with the industry to ensure there's agreement on how AI models should be tested, how they ensure compliance with antidiscrimination and fairness practices, and how the data should be handled.Second, we've been investing a lot in higher-quality data. As AI accelerates, you also have to accelerate the handling of data in a way that can produce accurate models. So we've invested quite a bit in better digitization and generation of data.Third is fostering collaboration between innovators, industry players, policymakers, and regulators. We participated this year in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's generative-AI tech sprint, where about 80 leaders from different aspects of the housing industry brainstormed ways to apply generative AI to the lending process to improve borrowers' experience.One thing that became clear after participating in that was where we have more tools and more capabilities to accelerate. We always have to go back to the why: What is the mission? And we have to make the mission at the company level that much more clear so that as we apply these new tools, it's always for the sake of the mission.<h2 id="5e045b5f-3490-4435-8321-bab58740eaa8">Chris Deri, president, corporate advisory businesses, The Weber Shandwick Collective</h2><h3 id="79930c20-445b-4959-b644-53f07e252292">"There's a mega-trend need for all of us to adopt AI and understand it, but that means something different for different parts of our organization."</h3>We're a public-relations firm, so we're looking at AI for ourselves and for our clients.In terms of our own people, one lesson we've already learned is that there was an instinct to take a top-down approach, as in everybody's got to figure out how AI is going to change their business, but we need to take a bottom-up approach.In the simplest sense, we do consumer marketing, healthcare marketing, and corporate advisory work. We really need to design training for each of the different practitioner types.There's a mega-trend need for all of us to adopt AI and understand it, but that means something different for different parts of our organization.Another thing we're doing is creating a futuristic think-tank group in our company — three or four people who have been putting together an ecosystem to give us constant learning. We also have academic institutions, investors, technologists, and other practitioners to help.We're also looking at our business model and how we budget and scope. The classic assignment we get is companies call us and say, "We want to map our stakeholders and what their expectations are of us." That used to be a project that we would figure out with just consultant time. Now we're applying AI to do some of that.We need to figure out how to take advantage of those efficiencies to add new value — that human value. So we need to relook at our entire business and service model, and we haven't figured it all out yet.Anant talked about "eating your own dog food." We've mapped out the implementation of that stack for ourselves to test and learn, and then we will start to use that in how we show up as advisors to our clients on the same journey.<h2 id="3bf33684-0da6-43af-856a-e0d807c42725">Sharawn Tipton, chief people and culture officer, LiveRamp</h2><h3 id="2513253b-1145-4ac9-afad-cb752e1513d8">"What we're trying to do is really keep people at the center of this transformation."</h3>We're thinking a lot about the AI trust gap. I'm in San Francisco today, and I was walking around and I saw all these autonomous vehicles, and it dawned on me that my mother would never ride in one. She just does not trust that technology.As a data company, we're thinking a lot about how do we ensure that our customers, our clients, and our partners trust that we're going to protect their data and use AI when appropriate and be certain that we have safeguards for when it isn't appropriate. And then I think the biggest area that my team is focused on with this trust gap is job security and what this means for the average worker.So what we're trying to do is really keep people at the center of this transformation. We're thinking a lot about employee resource groups. That way we've been able to reach all different types of team members. So how do we target our ERGs and think about who are the slow adapters? Who are the folks that typically get left behind, and how do we give them a little extra push?What we want to do is think about how to continue to have our team members trust their leaders, but also trust AI and where we're going, and get them to understand this isn't about replacing jobs. We are really focused on transforming jobs. That is a huge shift and a huge opportunity for us.<h2 id="c0d7e4c7-96a5-41d7-8c3f-29dee443e291">Shane Koller, senior vice president and chief people officer, Ancestry</h2><h3 id="2fb41060-9718-4c06-940a-5ac8246457b5">"The more people we get thinking about governance, the better AI technology will be used."</h3>There are a lot of different points of view on what AI will and will not do and how quickly.I was reading an article in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend that said for every one person who believes that AI is going to replace everyone's jobs, there are three or four who think there's going to be this boom in AI and then it's going to settle down. And that the promise we think AI is going to deliver will probably take longer than we think to come to fruition.One of the things that we've been doing at Ancestry very intentionally is bringing up the subject of governance, because I think we all think of AI as this steamroller that's going to come and either we're going to step aside from it or we're going to get steamrolled.The more people we get thinking about governance, the better AI technology will be used. And I say that within Ancestry as well as within companies in general and within governments. We have more of a role to play in how this rolls out than we think.We've been building AI into our product for over 10 years now, and we've been giving more thought to how would we govern the use of AI within our own company so that we're not, for example, putting our customers' data at risk. We're very conscious that security and privacy is first and foremost in every discussion. It's really about how you govern such an amazing technology.

Leaders from BCG, Infosys, AARP, and more predict how AI will transform top companies in the next 12 months

<keyword id="637412" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="infosys-founder" source="Orion">Infosys founder</keyword> <keyword id="6355623" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="narayana-murthy" source="Orion">Narayana Murthy</keyword>'s advice to youngsters in India, urging them to work 70 hours a week, has sparked sharp reactions from founders and leaders who said that while extended working hours can boost productivity, a balanced approach is equally necessary. During a podcast, Murthy had said that if India wants to compete with developed economies that have made remarkable progress in recent decades, youngsters should work for 70 hours a week. Reacting to Murthy's comment, <keyword id="1353462" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="abhishek-desai" source="Orion">Abhishek Desai</keyword>, founder of CricHeroes, told that while extended working hours can boost productivity in certain contexts, "it's equally vital to focus on work-life balance, employee well-being, and harnessing technology to enhance efficiency". "The success of countries like Japan and Germany is undoubtedly commendable, but we must also acknowledge that their work culture may not be entirely replicable in the Indian context," Desai added. Former BharatPe Co-founder <keyword id="2988161" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ashneer-grover" source="Orion">Ashneer Grover</keyword> said that the public got offended at Murthy's comment as the measure of work done still gets notified based on hours spent rather than the outcome. "I think junta (public) got offended here because work is still being measured in 'hours' rather than 'outcome'. The other thing is people feeling as if youngster's laziness is the only thing keeping India from becoming developed," he posted on X on Friday. Ola CEO <keyword id="1543567" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bhavish-aggarwal" source="Orion">Bhavish Aggarwal</keyword>, however, agreed with Murthy's view. "Totally agree with Murthy's views. It's not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it's our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations," he posted on X. According to Shrijay Sheth, founder of Legalwiz.in, working long hours does not necessarily translate into better work, bigger outcomes and higher returns for the company. "Primarily, it is about enhanced productivity and achieving the organisational goals. Especially for workforces in the Indian context, longer working hours may result in lower efficiency and, thus, impede the realisation of business objectives," he added.

Murthy's 70-hr-a-week work call to youth trigger sharp reactions from founders

<ul><li><keyword id="44604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nandan-Nilekani">Nandan Nilekani</keyword> believes crypto has stored value, just like gold or silver, but lacks transactional value.</li><li>Unlike Musk, though, Nilekani has a balanced approach to <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword> that includes the co-existence of UPI.</li><li>The Indian government was highly reluctant about cryptocurrency in the beginning and banned it in 2018. The Supreme Court overturned that ruling.</li><li>Even crypto exchanges have asked the government to consider cryptocurrencies as an asset.</li></ul>Often considered one of India's most respected voices, <keyword id="207812" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys-co-founder">Infosys co-founder</keyword> Nandan Nilekani feels the country can consider <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=microsite">cryptocurrencies</a> an asset amid rising popularity and lack of regulatory oversight. He believes crypto has stored value, just like gold or silver, but lacks transactional value. "Just like you have some of your assets in gold or real estate, you can have some of your assets in crypto," he spoke to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/874586aa-9fb8-4a72-ba09-083b6afbaf77">Financial Times</a> in an interview. "I think there's a role for crypto as a stored value but certainly not in a transactional sense." Nilekani is often credited for kickstarting the IT boom in India and creating an industry unlike any other. He's also the architect of the Aadhaar biometric identity project that's handled by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India). While the government mulls over regulations, backing from an expert adds a lot of confidence for new investors. A phenomenon that Tesla co-founder Elon Musk currently masters. Unlike Musk, though, Nilekani has a balanced approach to cryptocurrency that includes the co-existence of UPI (Unified Payments Interface). He thinks that the homegrown payments solution is much more effective as it's not volatile and requires minimal energy. UPI is a protocol developed by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) that allows peer-to-peer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/npci-starts-a-campaign-for-digital-payments-called-india-pay-safe-asking-people-to-ditch-cash-during-coronavirus/articleshow/74703544.cms">bank transfer </a>across all banks in the country. The technology has real-time settlement, and transfers barely take a second to go through. Unlike the developed markets, India is one of the few countries to skip the debit or credit card revolution and directly join the mobile payments trend thanks to affordable phones and inexpensive internet connectivity. The system is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/upi-crosses-5-lakh-crore-in-transaction-value-in-march/articleshow/81820799.cms">already designed </a>to handle a billion transactions each day, eliminating the need for cryptocurrencies for payments. At the same time, Nilekani is confident that cryptos can be a solid asset in the coming years. Blockchain as a technology has gained massive momentum, and India's IT companies are at the forefront of it, servicing hundreds of multinational clients. "Indian regulators are also considering a Central Bank Digital Currency or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/china-is-giving-away-digital-yuan-worth-6-2-million-in-a-beijing-lottery-as-it-tests-out-its-cbdc-reports-say/articleshow/83174222.cms">CBDC</a>. I am not sure if we need a stable private coin or if a digital rupee will be good enough. We need to look at how it will help Indians, how MSMEs can access capital using <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=microsite">Bitcoins</a>. No amount of tech is going to sway anyone's view," he further added. With a market cap of more than $1.5 trillion, crypto can allow the community to pour its wealth into the Indian economy. The Indian government was highly reluctant about cryptocurrency in the beginning and banned it in 2018. A Supreme Court ruling overturned the ban soon, however investors remain concerned. This is because some Indian <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/indias-crypto-exchanges-are-reportedly-considering-going-to-court-against-the-countrys-central-bank/articleshow/83034174.cms">banks remain cautious</a>, despite RBI’s clarifications on its 2018 circular. Even crypto exchanges have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/indians-are-holding-on-to-their-cryptos-amidst-all-the-uncertainty/articleshow/82971829.cms">asked</a> the government to consider cryptocurrencies as an asset. And as they await regulations, India’s crypto players have decided to form a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/wazirx-zebpay-crypto-and-others-are-setting-up-their-own-self-regulation-board-in-india/articleshow/83203195.cms">self-regulatory board</a> under the industry-body IAMAI and set some bare minimum guidelines to curb fraud. The cryptocurrency world is exceptionally polarised, and everyone has a differing point of view. Evangelists call it a revolution, technocrats believe in blockchain's potential, the nay-sayers are convinced it's a bubble, while some are just watching the circus do its thing. Smart and sensible cryptocurrency regulations are the need of the hour. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/chinas-war-against-crypto-continues-as-weibo-bans-at-least-a-dozen-popular-cryptocurrency-accounts/articleshow/83309874.cms">China’s war against crypto continues as Weibo bans at least a dozen popular cryptocurrency accounts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/heres-why-fuel-prices-in-india-may-not-come-down-in-a-big-way/slidelist/83299743.cms">Here’s why fuel prices in India may not come down in a big way ⁠— at least not this year</a>

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani wants crypto in India to be treated as an asset class but not a currency

British Prime Minister <keyword id="221875" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rishi-Sunak" source="Orion">Rishi Sunak</keyword> and his wife Akshata Murty have made their debut on the UK's '<keyword id="596197" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="Asian-Rich-list" source="Orion">Asian Rich List</keyword> 2022' topped by the <keyword id="840924" type="General" weightage="90" keywordseo="Hinduja-family" source="Orion">Hinduja family</keyword>. Sunak and his wife, whose father N R Narayana Murthy co-founded Indian IT major <keyword id="6354512" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="infosys" botkeyword="" source="ET" sourcekeytype="COMPANY" meta.keywordsubtype="EQ" meta.aliasname="infosys" meta.entityname="Infosys Ltd." meta.entityid="10960" meta.seoname="infosys-ltd">Infosys</keyword>, are ranked 17th on the list, with an estimated wealth of 790 million pounds. The combined wealth of this year's list sits at 113.2 billion pounds, an increase of 13.5 billion pounds over that of last year. The list is topped by the <keyword id="28125" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hinduja" botkeyword="" source="ET" sourcekeytype="COMPANY" meta.keywordsubtype="EQ" meta.aliasname="hinduja" meta.entityname="Nxtdigital Ltd." meta.entityid="5318" meta.seoname="nxtdigital-ltd">Hinduja</keyword> family for the eighth consecutive time with an estimated wealth of 30.5 billion pounds, an increase of 3 billion pounds from the last year. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan presented a copy of the 'Asian Rich List 2022' to Ritu Chhabria, daughter of Gopichand Hinduja, Co-Chairman of the <keyword id="120582" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="hinduja-group" source="Orion">Hinduja Group</keyword> at the 24th annual Asian Business Awards at the Westminster Park Plaza hotel on Wednesday night. Hinduja Group is an Indian transnational conglomerate. The group is present in eleven sectors. Addressing the gathering, Chief Guest Oliver <keyword id="14278602" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dowden" source="Orion">Dowden</keyword>, MP, Chancellor of Dutchy of Lancaster, said: "every year, we see the British Asian Community continue to grow in stature which comes as no surprise to me personally." "Throughout my life, I have seen first-hand the hard work, determination and entrepreneurship of the British Asian community. And, of course, in my latest job, I have a British Asian Boss, my very good friend Mr Rishi Sunak, the United Kingdom's first-ever British Asian Prime Minister," Dowden said. Sunak made an impressive comeback to become the UK's first Indian-origin Prime Minister on October 25, seven weeks after he had lost the race for 10 Downing Street to Liz Truss. The 42-year-old investment banker-turned-politician is the youngest British Prime Minister in 210 years and also the UK's first Hindu Prime Minister. "I want to say thank you. The British Asian business community is widely recognised as one of the most successful entrepreneurial groups ever. It is a remarkable story of building businesses creating jobs and amassing wealth. And as outlined in this year's Asian Rich List, Asian entrepreneurs have enriched Britain in all aspects of our national life," Dowden said. This year's Asian Rich list boasts 16 billionaires from the UK, one more than the last year with most of the billionaires seeing their wealth increase or stay the same as last year. Sri <keyword id="1834928" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="prakash-lohia" source="Orion">Prakash Lohia</keyword> and his family have seen the biggest increase in wealth on this year's list, a rise of 4 billion pounds to 8.8 billion pounds. Lakshmi Mittal and his son Aditya (12.8 billion pounds) and Prakash Lohia and family (8.8 billion pounds) and Nirmal Sethia (6.5 billion pounds) are other richest on the list. Shailesh R Solanki, the Executive Editor of Asian Marketing Group (AMG) and the host of the event, said: "The Asian Rich list is carefully compiled by a team of experts and it is the definitive guide to Asian wealth in Britain." SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/radiation-emitted-from-mobile-towers-has-no-ill-effects-on-human-health-experts/articleshow/95743681.cms">Radiation emitted from mobile towers has no ill effects on human health: Experts</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/germany-relaxes-schengen-visa-rules-for-indians/articleshow/95757566.cms">Germany relaxes Schengen visa rules for Indians</a>

UK's Asian Rich list: Hinduja family retain top spot, UK PM Sunak, his wife make debut

<ul><li><keyword id="6530028" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kris-gopalakrishnan">Kris Gopalakrishnan</keyword>, co-founder of Infosys and Chairman of Axilor Ventures is betting on India’s <keyword id="675306" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tech-startups">tech startups</keyword> to build on the opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic. </li><li>In an interaction with Sudhir Sethi of Chiratae Ventures, Gopalakrishnan said that Jio’s scoop of investments are just a reminder of India’s magnetic attraction for investments. </li><li>But the Indian venture and private equity capital has 95% to 96% traditionally been international capital and the need for domestic capital is now greater than ever. </li></ul>India has been hoping that the next <keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword>, <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> or <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> will be born on its soil. But what makes a company Indian will be the ownership and that is where investors have been penny wise and the regulations less than conducive. This is the grouse of Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of the seven founders of $40 billion Infosys. “We have to create Indian VC (venture capital) firms. We have to create Indian funds that are billion dollars or ten billion dollars. The wealth is there, you know, whatever data we have shows that you know, maybe two trillion to three trillion dollars of wealth is there in private hands in India. So some of that has to actually flow into this ecosystem,” Gopalakrishnan said. “You can directly invest, you can invest through funds you can invest fund of fund, in other various mechanisms that are available,” he added. In an conversation with Sudhir Sethi of Chiratae Ventures ⁠— which has placed bets on unicorns like FirstCry, Lenskart etc.-- Gopalakrishnan, who now runs the 6-year old Axilor Ventures, cited the slew of investments into Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio showed that foreign investors are looking beyond the COVID-19 crisis and the opportunities in India. <div type="image" title="BI212" msid="76243570" hostid="261"></div> “Google is looking at Vodafone, Microsoft is also looking at Jio. So this is enforcing the story that if you look beyond covid all the things that I talked about India being an attractive destination for talent innovation and markets, all of them are true and that nothing has changed during business we have just taken a temporary break,” said Gopalakrishnan, who invests ₹20 crore in startups every year and has over 100 companies in Axilor’s portfolio. The need for India and India’s needs The Indian government has used the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/pm-narendra-modi-announces-a-20-lakh-crore-financial-stimulus-for-a-self-reliant-india/articleshow/75700217.cms">stimulus</a> meant to fight COVID-19 crash as an opportunity to revive the ‘Make in India’ programme, which aims to boost local manufacturing. The Modi government hopes that companies that are now looking to move facilities out of China ⁠— partly due to the pandemic and partly due to escalating tensions between US and China ⁠— will want to move to India. The government may be hoping for too much too soon. “The changes in the physical space take more time than changes in the digital space,” Gopalakrishnan said, highlighting that immediate opportunities are in the tech sector⁠— from telecom giants like Jio, Vodafone, and Airtel to emerging startups. The space for more unicorns Gopalakrishnan believes that gives Indian startups have an edge over the bigger and older firms and that makes them attractive to both investors and the government. “In my discussions with the government offic ials, they said startups responded faster than established companies because they had less bureaucracy and less worries about you know, what impact it would have on the business etc,” he said, adding that India “will have a large number of unicorns,” and “significant investments coming into India to take advantage of the opportunity.” And some of this money should flow into research and development as well. "..you know less than 0.1% of private investment is going into R&amp;D in India,” he added. Waiting for foreign capital is a loss of opportunity Reliance Jio attracted six new investors in the last six weeks, and all of them were foreign. “Now the Indian venture and private equity capital has 95% to 96% traditionally been international capital… whereas in other countries it is more than fifty percent namely China and technically if you take Europe and the US it's all domestic capital anyway,” Sethi said. Gopalakrishnan couldn't agree more. “We need some of these companies to be owned by Indians, right so that you know, it's not just about ownership it's about the wealth creation effect of this right that's why I would encourage all Indian funds, family offices to look at a portion of their investable wealth to go to these class of assets, these startups,” he chimed in. Will the COVID-19 crisis help the cause or stall it? Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of the co-founders of India’s largest IT company Infosys, had become the CEO of the company in 2007, when it all looked rosy. Within a year of his tenure, he was hit with the financial crisis of 2008. But Gopalakrishnan and Infosys sailed through the crisis and emerged stronger. And now, when India is in the midst of another global crisis – the coronavirus pandemic – Gopalakrishnan believes it's just a temporary break from all the great things Indian companies have set out to achieve. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/transportation/news/evs-in-india-may-not-reduce-oil-dependency-or-low-carbon-emissions-hydrogen-fuel-may-be-better-answer/articleshow/76227728.cms">Oil dependency and carbon emissions — EVs may not be India’s answer to reducing either, say experts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mubadala-to-buy-1-85-pc-stake-in-jio-platforms-for-rs-9093-6-cr/articleshow/76205654.cms">Reliance Industries market value crosses ₹10 lakh crore thanks to Jio's deal with Mubadala</a>

Infosys co-founder explains how the next Google, Facebook or Amazon can be born out of India

After corporate giant <keyword id="10862" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="wipro" source="Orion">Wipro</keyword> showed the exit door to hundreds of freshers who failed to pass the tests, it is the turn of <keyword id="6354512" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="infosys" source="Orion">Infosys</keyword> to sack the probationers for failing to prove their credentials in the internal assessments. Infosys is allegedly letting go of hundreds of employees, who are at the fag end of their training and failed the internal assessment tests. The new recruits will have to undergo comprehensive training before they are added into various teams for full-fledged work. Senior employees in the IT Company stated on condition of anonymity that though there is economic slowdown and recession, the companies are focusing more on quality and productivity. Therefore, average talent is not preferred under the circumstances. "The corona pandemic in the last two years has affected the education, quality of students and their skillsets. There is a clear lack regarding teaching and the honing of skills. Many graduates, who passed out in the last two years, are not in a position to prove themselves and there is extreme pressure on the trainees," they explain. Sources explained that the freshers are provided with two chances to clear their assessment. If they fail, they will not be onboarded. However, the freshers who have been sacked from Infosys maintained that members of the teams which did not get projects are being asked to go and those with projects are not touched. Tech industry insiders are of the opinion that the phase is going to last for a while and pressure on industry will be there till 2024. The freshers won't enjoy the halcyon days, when the job market was hot during the pandemic. "It is evident that the global economic crisis is real as we can see big companies such as <keyword id="6355629" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="google" source="Orion">Google</keyword> and Amazon laying off people. It is going to last for a while. So, I believe that the crisis will remain in the entire 2023 and even probably the first quarter of 2024. It will eventually subside and we all will come back to normalcy. However, it is going to take some time," stated Sumanth Prabhu, Co-Founder and CEO, Ulipsu. "My suggestion for people looking for jobs or the ones who are employed is that getting a job now is precious or they should hold onto the job that they currently have. It's a good thing that the employees are getting retained and valued. If they are valued, they should work hard to ensure that the value is reciprocated," he said. "Also, it is the right time for businesses to cut down costs and be frugal. The global economic crisis is something that teaches all companies that we should not hire unnecessarily and should not commit to costs that are unnecessary or irrelevant. Companies have to lay off during these kinds of crises. So, it is better to hire wisely than to hire illogically and fire people," Sumanth Prabhu explained. IT giant Wipro has laid off more than 400 fresher employees for poor performance in internal assessment tests in January. The company had issued termination letters to all the employees and stated that despite the adequate training, the candidates have failed to perform. The termination letter maintained that the employees are liable to pay Rs 75,000 of training cost which company has spent on them. But, the amount is being waived off. Commenting on the development, Wipro had clarified that, Wipro takes pride in holding itself to the highest standards. As per the standards the aim is set of all. From every entry level employee it is expected to have a certain level of proficiency in their designated area of work. The evaluation process includes to align employees with the requirements of clients and the business objectives of the organisation. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/now-find-ev-charging-stations-in-google-maps-near-you/articleshow/97759525.cms">Now find EV charging stations in Google Maps near you</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/now-find-ev-charging-stations-in-google-maps-near-you/articleshow/97759525.cms"></a><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-unleashes-ai-powered-updates-to-revamp-user-experience-on-maps-search-and-translate/articleshow/97761551.cms">Google unleashes AI-powered updates to revamp user experience on Maps, Search and Translate</a>

After Wipro, Infosys showing exit doors to freshers in Bengaluru say sources

Software giant <keyword id="6354512" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="infosys" source="Orion">Infosys</keyword> softening its stand on <keyword id="64527" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="moonlighting" source="Orion">moonlighting</keyword> has allowed its staffers to take up external work with prior permission, sources stated on Friday. The company has intimated to the employees its new policy through email. The email from the company states that any employee, who wishes to take up gig work, may do so, with the prior consent of their manager and <keyword id="15318360" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bp-hr" source="Orion">BP-HR</keyword>, and in their personal time, for establishments that don't compete with Infosys or Infosys' clients. The corporate world has been discussing moonlighting for quite some time. Techies working for other companies has become a trend and concern in the industry with startups readily offering very attractive offers to utilize the skills of the talent working for other companies. <keyword id="197349" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rishad-premji" source="Orion">Rishad Premji</keyword>, the Chairman of <keyword id="10862" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wipro" source="Orion">Wipro</keyword> repeatedly issued statements against moonlighting and had also asked the startups not to only focus on immediate fortune. The company had earlier announced the firing of hundreds of employees for integrity issues. Rishad Premji also shared how an employee in an important position was shown the doors for lack of integrity and later the company did not give him a clean relieving letter. He also shared that it did not take more than 10 minutes to fire 20 staffers of higher positions who showed a lack of integrity. The insiders in Infosys stated that the step would help the company to find solutions for many challenges that are being faced presently. The decision would help the employee to carry out the work of his or her choice. The step by Infosys will draw sharp criticism and set a new trend in the corporate world, experts say. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tata-consumer-products-profit-grows-36-to-355-crore-in-q2-fy23/articleshow/94992535.cms">Tata Consumer Products profit grows 36% to ₹355 crore in Q2 FY23</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/zerodhas-co-founders-nithin-and-nikhil-kamath-donate-100-crore-in-fy22/slidelist/94991823.cms">Zerodha’s co-founders Nithin and Nikhil Kamath donate ₹100 crore in FY22</a>

Infosys to now allow moonlighting with prior permission, say sources

<keyword id="221874" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="akshata" source="Orion">Akshata</keyword> <keyword id="1806167" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="murty" source="Orion">Murty</keyword>, Britain's incoming Prime Minister <keyword id="221875" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rishi-sunak" source="Orion">Rishi Sunak</keyword>'s wife whose tax status on income from outside the UK had triggered a controversy, earned Rs 126.61 crore (USD 15.3 million) in dividend income in 2022 from her shareholding in India's second-largest IT firm <keyword id="6354512" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="infosys" source="Orion">Infosys</keyword>. Murthy, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, held 3.89 crore shares, or 0.93 per cent, of Infosys at the end of September, according to company filings with the stock exchanges. Her holding is worth Rs 5,956 crore (about USD 721 million) at Tuesday's trading price of Rs 1,527.40 on the BSE. Infosys paid Rs 16 per share final dividend for the 2021-22 fiscal on May 31, this year. For the current year, the firm this month announced an interim dividend of Rs 16.5, according to the company's stock exchange filings. The two dividends totalled Rs 32.5 per share or Rs 126.61 crore for Akshata. Infosys is among the best dividend-paying companies in India. In 2021, it paid a total of Rs 30 per share dividend, which would have given Akshata a total of Rs 119.5 crore in that calendar year. Sunak, 42, on Sunday won the race to lead the Conservative Party and is now set to become Britain's first prime minister of Indian origin and its youngest leader in modern times. While Sunak is a British national, his wife Akshata is an Indian citizen. Her non-domiciled status, which allows her to earn money abroad without paying taxes in Britain for a period of up to 15 years, has been a divisive issue in the UK. Non-domiciled status of Akshata became an issue of discussion in Britain when Sunak first entered the race to become the prime minister in April this year. At that time, her spokesperson had stated that as a citizen of India, she was unable to hold citizenship of another country and that "she has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income." As the controversy snowballed, she at that time announced that she would pay UK tax on all of her worldwide earnings out of a "British sense of fairness".It is not known how much taxes she paid in the UK on the dividend income that accrued to her after April - Rs 16 per share final dividend for the 2021-22 fiscal year (April 2021 to March 2022) paid on May 31, 2022, and Rs 16.5 a share interim dividend for 2022-23 fiscal that is due to be paid on October 27. Born in her mother Sudha Murthy's hometown of Hubballi in northern Karnataka, Akshata did her schooling in Bengaluru, before moving to Claremont McKenna College in California, where she graduated with a dual major in economics and French. She did a fashion designing diploma from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, which followed a short work stint at Deloitte and <keyword id="45009" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="unilever" source="Orion">Unilever</keyword>. She thereafter went on to pursue her MBA at Stanford where she met Rishi Sunak. The two married in 2009. The couple, who own a vast real estate portfolio, has two children, Krishna and Anoushka. They live in a 7 million townhouse in Kensington. They also own a flat in Kensington, a mansion in Rishi's Yorkshire constituency and a penthouse in California. The son of a pharmacist mother and doctor father, Sunak was educated at one of England's most renowned schools, Winchester, and then Oxford. He spent three years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and later gained an MBA from Stanford in California, where he met his wife Akshata Murthy. According to Infosys filings, the promoters hold 13.11 per cent of the company. Of this, the Murty family owns 3.6 per cent (Narayana Murthy holds 0.40 per cent stake, his wife Sudha 0.82 per cent, son Rohan 1.45 per cent and daughter Akshata 0.93 per cent). Other promoters include co-founder S Gopalakrishnan, Nandan M Nilekani and S D Shibulal and their families. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/rishi-sunak-akshata-murtys-combined-fortune-is-2x-that-of-king-charles-iii/articleshow/95074007.cms">Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty's combined fortune is 2x that of King Charles III</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/rishi-sunak-is-the-first-indian-origin-british-pm-know-more-about-one-of-uks-richest-premiers/slidelist/95077247.cms">Rishi Sunak is the first Indian-origin British PM – Know more about one of UK’s richest premiers</a>

Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty earned $15.3 mn dividend income from Infosys in 2022

Cryptocurrency lending company Celsius Network, that recently laid off 150 employees, has now filed for bankruptcy in the US amid extreme market conditions. The platform said that it initiated voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings to provide it with the opportunity to stabilise its business and consummate a comprehensive restructuring transaction that maximises value for all stakeholders. Celsius said late on Wednesday that it has $167 million in cash on hand, which will provide ample liquidity to support certain operations during the restructuring process. The platform, which last month paused all withdrawals, was last valued at $3.25 billion. "Without a pause, the acceleration of withdrawals would have allowed certain customers -- those who were first to act -- to be paid in full while leaving others behind to wait for Celsius to harvest value from illiquid or longer-term asset deployment activities before they receive a recovery," said the company. Alex Mashinsky, Co-Founder and CEO, Celsius, said that this is the right decision for its community and company. "I am confident that when we look back at the history of Celsius, we will see this as a defining moment, where acting with resolve and confidence served the community and strengthened the future of the company," he said. Meanwhile, the founders of another bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund <keyword id="14202326" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="three-arrows-capital" source="Orion">Three Arrows Capital</keyword> (3AC) have vanished and the officials charged with liquidating the company were looking for their whereabouts. The mega fund, founded by Credit Suisse traders <keyword id="14355016" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="zhu-su" source="Orion">Zhu Su</keyword> and <keyword id="835976" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="kyle-davies" source="Orion">Kyle Davies</keyword>, once managed an estimated $10 billion in assets. The Singapore-based 3AC filed for bankruptcy in the US earlier this month to protect its assets from creditors. The bankruptcy came as popular <keyword id="2721952" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum nosedived by nearly 70 per cent from their record highs amid the economic meltdown. 3AC defaulted on a more than $650 million loan provided by crypto broker <keyword id="14344592" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="voyager-digital" source="Orion">Voyager Digital</keyword>, which has also filed for bankruptcy. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/australias-health-minister-warned-that-millions-could-get-covid-19/articleshow/92866659.cms">Australia's Health Minister warned that "millions" could get COVID-19</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mindtree-lampt-infotech-infosys-indusind-bank-and-other-hot-stocks-on-july-14/slidelist/92865161.cms">Mindtree, L&amp;T Infotech, Infosys, IndusInd Bank and other hot stocks on July 14</a>

After firing 150 employees, crypto lending platform Celsius Network files for bankruptcy

Co-founders of Indian IT giant <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> are looking forward to selling out their entire 12.75% stake in the company worth about Rs 28,000 crore. The decision might have been triggered by the unhappiness they have expressed over the manner in which the company has been run ever since they took an exit three years ago. Instead of choosing to lack horns with the company's board and management, the promoters seem to have decided to take a complete break from the company that was founded in 1981 and went public in 1993. The co-founder group, led by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/people/possible-to-protect-job-losses-says-narayana-murthy/articleshow/58946429.cms">N R Narayana Murthy</a> and <keyword id="44604" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nandan-Nilekani">Nandan Nilekani</keyword>, are seen as torch bearers for the Indian middle class that chose to earn a degree and then become an entrepreneur instead of going for salaried jobs. It was because of their efforts that the story of Indian software was spread around the world. The sale of their stakes would most probably take place through stock market block deals and would be done in parts, and a single, block deal would most likely not happen. "Large private equity or sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) won't be enthused to write $4-5 billion cheques to be minority investors without any rights," said a top banker who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/people/narayana-murthy-is-sad-over-recent-layoffs-in-the-it-industry/articleshow/58858342.cms">Narayana Murthy</a> has denied that the promoters are about to sell their holding in the company. "It is not true at all," he told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/infosys-founders-looking-to-sell-their-stake-in-company/articleshow/59062408.cms">ET</a>. Murthy and his family hold the largest promoter stake of 3.44%. When contacted for a statement, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/companies/nilekani-joins-hands-with-helions-sanjeev-aggarwal-to-fund-mid-stage-startups/articleshow/57808952.cms">Nandan Nilekani</a> said, "I do not comment on Infosys." Even though these co-founders, including Murthy, Nilekani, <keyword id="6530028" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kris-Gopalakrishnan">Kris Gopalakrishnan</keyword>, <keyword id="385878" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="SD-Shibulal">SD Shibulal</keyword> and <keyword id="395842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="K-Dinesh">K Dinesh</keyword> are no longer associated with the company as either executives or non-executives, their exit could stir the stock prices, something for which the company might not be ready for amidst the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Only-400-people-asked-to-leave-will-hire-20000-this-year-Infosys/articleshow/58964230.cms">rising pressure</a> that the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/careers/b-tech-degrees-wont-suffice-in-future-in-it-sector-says-this-it-veteran/articleshow/59038028.cms">Indian IT industry</a> is facing.

You Searched For "Infosys cofounder" and got 12 results

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Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani wants crypto in India to be treated as an asset class but not a currency

Shivam Vahia

UK's Asian Rich list: Hinduja family retain top spot, UK PM Sunak, his wife make debut

PTI

Infosys co-founder explains how the next Google, Facebook or Amazon can be born out of India

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After Wipro, Infosys showing exit doors to freshers in Bengaluru say sources

IANS

Infosys to now allow moonlighting with prior permission, say sources

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Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty earned $15.3 mn dividend income from Infosys in 2022

PTI

After firing 150 employees, crypto lending platform Celsius Network files for bankruptcy

IANS

Infosys founders might sell their entire stake in company

BI India Bureau

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