Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

British musician <keyword id="19900290" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ed-sheeran" source="keywords">Ed Sheeran</keyword> is bringing his Mathematics Tour back to India in 2025 with performances planned in six cities, the organisers announced on Friday. The announcement comes after a sold-out show in Mumbai in March this year, where Sheeran promised fans he would return soon to the country. Delivering on the promise, the musician is set to embark on his most expansive tour of the country to date, beginning in Pune on January 30 at Yash Lawns, followed by Hyderabad on February 2 at Ramoji Film City, Chennai on February 5 at YMCA Ground, and Bengaluru on February 8 at NICE Grounds. Sheeran, 33, will then perform in Shillong on February 12 at JN Stadium before concluding in Delhi NCR on February 15 at Leisure Valley Ground. The <keyword id="24221668" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mathematics-Tour-2025" source="Orion">Mathematics Tour 2025</keyword> in India is promoted by AEG Presents Asia and <keyword id="20583251" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BookMyShow-Live" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="BookMyShow Live" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="BookMyShow Live">BookMyShow Live</keyword>, the live entertainment experiential division of BookMyShow. Each performance promises an intimate experience with the British artist in his purest form armed with only his guitar and Loopstation. "The 2025 India tour promises to deliver an intimate and electrifying concert experience, focusing on close-up performances that showcase Sheeran's raw talent and deep connection with his fans. A more traditional stage design will complement Sheeran's captivating storytelling front and centre, highlighting his soulful vocals, acoustic brilliance and heartfelt lyrics," said the organisers. Tickets for the tour will be available on BookMyShow and Sheeran's official website. The tour will draw from all of his albums since 2011, starting with "Plus", "Multiply" (2014), "Divide" (2017), "Equals" (2021) and "Subtract" (2023). The tour also includes a song from 2019's "No. 6 Collaborations Project" ("Blow"). Sheeran had first performed in Mumbai in 2015 and had returned to the city with another performance in 2017.

Ed Sheeran announces six-city India tour for 2025!

British singer-songwriter <keyword id="1432681" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ed-sheeran" source="Orion">Ed Sheeran</keyword> is all set to perform in India once again. The 'Shape of You' hitmaker will bring his '+ - = / x' tour to the country as part of his Asia and Europe Tour in 2024. As per a statement shared by <keyword id="600792" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bookmyshow" source="Orion">BookmyShow</keyword> Live, Sheeran's gig will take place at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mumbai, on March 16, 2024. Interestingly, Calum Scott will mark his presence at the show. This visit marks Sheeran's return to Mumbai six years after his successful Divide Tour in 2017. This year alone, Sheeran released two albums, '-' (Subtract) and Autumn Variations. Released to critical acclaim in May and September respectively, Sheeran worked with The National's Aaron Dessner on both LPs. Sheeran's two-hour + - = / x Tour will draw from all of his albums since 2011 - "Plus," "Multiply" (2014), "Divide" (2017), "Equals" (2021) and the new "Subtract," and also includes a song from 2019's "No. 6 Collaborations Project" ("Blow"). Sheeran's first performance in India was held in 2015. In November 2017, he returned for the second time for a show at Jio World Garden in Bandra Kurla Complex despite being injured. He was also spotted partying with Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor with wife Mira, Malaika Arora and others at filmmaker Farah Khan's residence, who hosted the much-publicised night in honour of the 'Shape Of You' hitmaker.

Ed Sheeran returning to India with his Mathematics tour

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 13 (ANI): Ahead of his Mumbai gig, British singer <keyword id="19900290" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ed-sheeran" source="keywords">Ed Sheeran</keyword> is making fans go crazy with his moves to the tunes of Allu Arjun's song '<keyword id="20941486" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="butta-bomma" source="keywords">Butta Bomma</keyword>' with singer Armaan Malik. The videos and pictures of Ed Sheeran, who is in India, are going viral on social media. Armaan Malik took to Instagram and shared a video featuring himself and Ed Sheeran. Armaan got the 'Shape of You' singer dance to Allu Arjun's Butta Bomma song from Telugu hit 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo'. Song 'Butta Bomma', is sung by Armaan Malik and features in Allu Arjun's movie. At the end of the video, Ed Sheeran and Armaan do <keyword id="19895142" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shah-rukh-khan" source="keywords">Shah Rukh Khan</keyword>'s iconic pose. Sharing the clip, he wrote, "Favourite person in my city @teddysphotos." As soon as the video was shared, fans showed their excitement and flooded the comment section. Singer Harshdeep Kaur wrote, "So precious." One of the users wrote, "ED and Armaan dancing on buttabomma wasn't on my 2024 bingo card , OMGG SO CUTEEEE THIS ISSSS." On Tuesday, Ed Sheeran met actor <keyword id="19935806" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ayushmann-khurrana" source="keywords">Ayushmann Khurrana</keyword>. Interestingly, Ayushmann made Ed Sheeran taste his mother's homemade pinni. Talking about his meeting with the 'Perfect' hitmaker, Ayuhsmann said, "I have admired Ed Sheeran as an artiste for years now. As a fellow musician, I have always wanted to connect with him and discuss how his mind works. I surprised him with my mother's homemade Pinni! This is how we have always welcomed anyone at our home. He is at our home and we need to tell him how much we love him and his music too. So, I hope this gift will be a memorable one!" Ayushmann also shared a picture with Ed Sheeran. He is all set to perform in Mumbai for the final leg of his +-=/x Tour (Mathematics) on March 16 as part of his Asia and Europe Tour in 2024. Singer <keyword id="20055846" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prateek-kuhad" source="keywords">Prateek Kuhad</keyword> will perform for the crowd before the main act. (ANI)

What do Ed Sheeran and Allu Arjun have in common? A Butta Bomma

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sam Altman is a man on a mission: Sell the world on AI.</li><li>The OpenAI chief completed a global tour this month akin to a mission.</li></ul>Sam Altman knows he's at an inflection point.On June 9, at a fireside chat in Seoul, Korea, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hpuPi7YZX8&amp;t=1s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the OpenAI CEO acknowledged</a> he was on a "diplomatic mission." It's closer to a religious mission, one that's seen Altman and his team whiz across 16 countries in the space of three months, including, recently, <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1665320086415060992?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, India and Korea</a>.In Tel Aviv, as his OpenAI commanders attended a dinner with a group of techies and entrepreneurs introduced as the "Templar Knights of Innovation," Altman prepared to meet the country's president, Isaac Herzog. He's also met with Narendra Modi in India, Yoon Suk Yeol in South Korea, Emmanuel Macron in France, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-ai-openai-quality-of-life-superintelligence-2023-6">Rishi Sunak in the UK</a> and influential lawmakers. It's a reception more fitting for a world leader than a startup CEO. But Altman knows he's the man of the moment. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">ChatGPT has sparked a new AI era</a> that leaders are scrambling to understand. This is a fork-in-the-road moment as they decide what's most politically expedient — encouraging AI through funding and a friendly regulatory regime, or to regulate it into oblivion.OpenAI's goal is to cement AI's future importance to humanity. According to people on the ground during Altman's tour, he achieved what he set out to do. OpenAI declined to comment for this story. <h2>Pitch 1: You can be included or excluded from the AI revolution</h2>Altman's sales pitch has rested on two central pillars. The first: AI will only work for you if you work with it. The second: AI is inevitable so get onboard before it's too late.During his pit-stop in Delhi, Altman's audience heard how <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-government-workers-told-no-classified-information-sensitive-chatgpt-2023-6">a tool like ChatGPT</a> could adapt to "a land of languages like India," said Varshal Gupta, founder of AI startup Dubverse.This may be a smart way to overcome Indian wariness towards US tech firms.India <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/more-than-19500-mother-tongues-spoken-in-india-census-5241056/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has more than 100 languages</a> and significantly more dialects, though its lingua franca remains English. The country has suffered from years of brain drain as <a href="https://cset.georgetown.edu/article/china-india-face-tech-brain-drain-through-us-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">technical and mathematical talent</a> leave for the US, exemplified by both Google and Microsoft's CEOs being India-born. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has taken an increasingly nationalistic approach to technology and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-government-withdraws-data-protection-bill-2022-08-03/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remains wary</a> of sharing its citizens' data with US companies.Additionally, AI is a potential risk to India's outsourcing economy – which dominates <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-outsourcing-giants-cut-hiring-disheartening-economy-students-2023-06-12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the IT sector and accounts for 8% of the country's GDP</a> – by replacing human customer sales reps with chatbots. Gupta said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gpt4-openai-chatgpt-everything-you-need-to-know-4-2023-3">OpenAI's underlying AI model, GPT</a>, would need to be trained on vats of foreign-language data; as it stands, the vast majority of the data GPT <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-non-english-languages-ai-revolution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is trained on is in English</a>. "The Indian government will have hoards of data which will not be there on the internet, which OpenAI will not have access to," Gupta said. "That might be why Sam is interested in doing some sort of high-level partnership, to get that data so they can make something for India and do some custom stuff."<h2>Pitch 2: This is the next internet</h2>Survival shouldn't be the focus, the OpenAI chief claimed in Seoul, when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-chatgpt-ai-artificial-intelligenct-as-important-pc-internet-2023-2">humanity is "about to enter the greatest age of human possibility, technological development, economic growth"</a> thanks to AI. For Dovi Frances, a US-Israeli venture capitalist and founding partner of Group 11 who met with OpenAI, that much is already apparent. He thinks no nation can afford to ignore apps like ChatGPT."If you have artificial intelligence at the highest level, if you have a workforce of people who are proficient with it… then you have a competitive edge in 2030," he said.Droobi Health chief executive officer Jacob Mathew, who saw OpenAI in Doha, recalled a "memorable exchange" during a panel at the Qatar National Library where a high school student asked a question about the role ChatGPT could play in diplomacy.The response? "Sam replied that he did not know and asked the student to tell him in ten years," Mathew said. Altman's approach is working, both in terms of winning over opinion and in tangibly influencing policy — despite warnings about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-technology-chatgpt-openai-bing-threat-society-economy-social-media-2023-3">the harms of AI</a> for the labor market and misinformation. <a href="https://time.com/6288245/openai-eu-lobbying-ai-act/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Time reported this month</a> that OpenAI successfully lobbied the European Union to water down rules governing ChatGPT in its EU AI Act. And Elyas Felfoul, director of policy development and partnerships at WISE, an education initiative in Qatar, said he feels Altman was "genuine about raising awareness" on AI having hosted a panel with him."He's humble about the fact that they created something much bigger than them," Felfoul said. "There is a serious commitment to try to broaden the conversation."Altman seems to be setting the conversation's tone. But for now, he seems to have people's trust. Or as Felfoul puts it: "The first impression is positive. I hope I'm not wrong about this."

Sam Altman is AI's compelling preacher. The world is ready to bow down.

<ul><li>Today's parents are concerned about their children's disconnectedness from their culture and heritage.</li><li>However, technology is making it possible to bring stories related to our past and history to children in an engaging way.</li><li>Dr <keyword id="4755913" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rishi-mohan-bhatnagar" source="Orion">Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar</keyword>, President at <keyword id="4123476" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aeris-communications" source="Orion">Aeris Communications</keyword> writes about the potential that technology has to keep the next generation connected to our rich history.</li></ul>There is widespread concern among Indian parents today about the risk that our children might lose their rootedness to our culture. With busy lifestyles, parents are finding it hard to devote the time to impart these cultural values themselves. This gap is often filled by <keyword id="12806323" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="audio-visual-content" source="Orion">audio-visual content</keyword> on various electronic devices. Children can access global content on these devices; given their large budgets and extensive creative teams, it is inevitable that children will be drawn to games and videos from content studios in the West. This leads to a homogenization of cultural signals that children are receiving - they will be more aware of the food, culture, and norms of the West than of their own country. Some children are lucky to have their grandparents living with them, and sharing with these kids the rich stories from our itihasas and puranas. But even with grandparents around, children might prefer the sleekly designed, action-packed games and video content on their tablets! Thus, there is a very real risk that our next generation will grow up without much awareness of our rich and ancient culture. As a parent of young children, this is a very personal question for me. While technology could be blamed for some of these problems, I look at it differently. I believe technology can be the greatest tool to take our culture, tradition, and values to the next generation. Provided of course, that we use technology in bold and innovative ways. Here are some thoughts on how we can leverage tech to take Bharat’s treasures to our children: Powerful audio-visual storytelling India is full of great stories and storytellers. Our classical and folk music also have been vehicles to communicate stories from our itihasas and puranas. For urban children of the previous generations who did not have access to folk storytellers, the <keyword id="173109" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amar-chitra-katha" source="Orion">Amar Chitra Katha</keyword> comics were an excellent gateway to the magical world of our gods and culture. What if we upgraded our comic books for tablet-based consumption? What if one could tap onto the page and listen to the sounds of the war from the <keyword id="49038" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mahabharata" source="Orion">Mahabharata</keyword>? If we make digital comics that are really compelling, we can out-compete the alternate options out there. VR-tours of Indian temples and monuments India is a land of architectural marvels. Imagine if our children can put on a <keyword id="2409754" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vr-headset" source="Orion">VR headset</keyword> and go on a virtual tour through the Rajput palaces, or up to the icy slopes of Mount Kailash? The VR experience can include powerful storytelling that educates and excites the children, so that they will want to seek out these monuments by themselves. We can even incorporate games into the VR experience. When games like <keyword id="1011585" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Temple-Run" source="Orion">Temple Run</keyword> are popular, these virtual reality games in real ancient temples can become even more attractive among our children. Holograms of historical figures What if we could bring home some of the figures of our history, in 3-D holographic form? Imagine a birthday party with holograms of little Krishna or Shivaji the great. The personalities from our past will leap out of the pages of our kids’ history books and into their drawing rooms. Will this not plant the desire in them to learn more about these legends? Compelling digital (and physical) games India has a $1.5B market for physical games and toys. Game creators are pushing the boundaries in creativity, and there are games these days that do not just engage children but also educate. But these learning-centric games typically focus on mathematics, general knowledge, and logic. I believe that for our children to be successful, it is equally important for them to have a grounding in Indian value systems. This is not a ‘nice to have’, but a ‘must have’. I have observed many successful people, and their rootedness gives them the strength and clarity to push toward success. The need of the hour is for well-crafted digital and digital-cum-physical games that are built around Indic stories and values. We should embrace tech and use it creatively to our advantage. That is the way forward.

Technology: Helping take culture and heritage to the next generation

There are as many as 50+ lenders in India who will be willing to give you a <keyword id="6354730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Home-loan">Home Loan</keyword>. But whom should you choose? Do not tread the easy way of taking it from whosoever arrives first. 
 Here are 5 most important things you should ask the home loan lender to ensure that you get the <keyword id="2908399" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="best-home-loan-offer">best home loan offer</keyword>: 
 
1. Do not chase the cheapest rate of interest. Find out a competitive rate and focus on the other aspects of the loan. Cheapest is not the best deal so look beyond it. 
 
2. Choose a floating rate of interest over fixed, even if the latter has an attractive rate offer. There will be twists in fixed products. Many of you miss to note that there's a foreclosure penalty applicable within the fixed term. And moreover, the margin changes after the fixed period is over, if the offer rate was for teaser period. 
 3. Ensure you opt for a lender who offers daily reducing balance and not monthly. It will not make any difference unless you plan a partial repayment. In a monthly reducing balance plan, even if you partially close an amount in between two <keyword id="6357050" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="EMI">EMI</keyword> dates, they consider the repayment only from the next EMI date, thus making you pay interest even on the repaid sum for those days! You will not know, but it will cost you heavy. 
 4. Do not get biased by your previous experience with another product, or what your friends, relatives &amp; colleagues. This is <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword>, a pure mathematical product, so do your maths &amp; decide accordingly. 
 
5. Read all online remarks, which you will anyways do. But 99% of them are otherwise motivated. You will find that those who are badmouthing a lender probably use funny dummy ID-s like kingpin, lisahayden, bigboy, greatguns, etc. So before taking their comments seriously have a look at the IDs they’ve used. 
 6. Your wealth manager, bank relationship manager, <keyword id="6358896" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chartered-Accountant">chartered accountant</keyword>, tax-planner and your finance controller or <keyword id="2908396" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="CFO-in-office">CFO in office</keyword> are great. Seek their guidance to reach the right <keyword id="367050" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="mortgage-broker">mortgage broker</keyword>. Mortgage is a specialised product. Have you ever heard a heart surgeon treating patients for skin rashes? Similarly, a mortgage broker selling mutual fund and <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> will be as good as a <keyword id="252520" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="real-estate-broker">real estate broker</keyword> selling tour-tickets and running an STD shop with photocopy machine! Therefore, chose the best in industry. 
 
7. Try opting for a new-age product which saves you money. Standard vanilla home loan are cliche' and won't work for most of my clients who have surplus funds and taking the loan for tax-savings or waiting another property to be sold and pay off their debts. These days, borrowers have various requirement rather than just borrowing for the need of money. 
 
8. Look at the service perspective carefully; you are getting into a long-term relationship. Don't jump on the first lender approaching you or the lowest rate of interest or may be, what your friend's father suggests. You will need a lot of services like- tax certificates, provisional amortisation, list of documents, part closure services, reduction in the tenure/EMI upon partial repayment. If you are going to continue a loan for a long term, there may be a requirement of change of address if as you may shift from one city or country to another. Therefore, never compromise on the aspect of post-sales service. 
 9. Always ask for a comparison between at least 6 major lenders from your <keyword id="2908397" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="mortgage-adviser">mortgage adviser</keyword>. And again, do not decide on basis of the lowest rate. Look at the base rate, the margin offered, whether any other product is being pushed, how many times the lender has reduced rate in past two years, what is the maximum tenure offered, and how is the eligibility calculated and most importantly whether a property similar to yours has been funded by this lender earlier. 
 
10. Time taken for processing the loan. This may sound unimportant, but my noting it last doesn't indicate that at all. When the builder starts sending you delay-penalty notices or the seller withdraws from the deal or increases the sale value, trust me, this becomes the top priority on the chart. What will be the point of checking out so many lenders and settling for the one who can only offer, but cannot execute? 
(Image: Thinkstock) 
 

(About the author: This article has been contributed by Sukanya Kumar, founder and director of RetailLending.com.)

10 tips to get the best home loan offer

Cornell professor Steven Strogatz has some clever ideas about chaos theory and beautiful theorems - and how to teach math so it isn't so boring

In 2006, two freshmen from IIT-Delhi gathered enough spunk to knock at the door of Kalyanaraman Srinivasan, Amazon’s <keyword id="2463621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-technology-head">global technology head</keyword> for retail, who was in India to set up a development center at Chennai and a regular at the Bangalore office of the global ecommerce biggie. The duo requested fifteen minutes of ‘we-time’ as they bubbled over a few ideas they considered path-breaking. They wanted to know which one they should focus on. “I took 1.5 seconds and said if they really wanted to be entrepreneurs, they must replicate Amazon in India and be patient about it,” says Srinivasan, in a southern accent cradling a Midwestern twang. The duo turned out to be Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal who founded Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart the very next year, recently raising a billion dollars from investors to take on Amazon’s Indian foray. 
 Srinivasan’s advice bode well for the youngsters and made them very rich indeed but the operative word was “patient”. Despite zero signs of profitability in the ecommerce eddies, Srinivasan remains positive. After all, more than 20% of the GDP of the world comes from emerging markets with barely 3% of capital investment therein. In other words, there are not many tradable liquid securities out here, he reasons, adding that companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal and <keyword id="761157" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infibeam">Infibeam</keyword>, where he has personally invested, will raise the tide. 
 
“The rising tide will raise all the boats first and every company will get irrational valuations but those who focus on customer experience in the long term, will stay there and go higher, and those who don’t, will fall off,” says Srinivasan. As a precursor, he points to the dotcom boom in the US in 1999-2000. “Trillions of dollars went into valuations there but the customer experience only got better…so the irrationality of valuations is relative,” he points out, observing the Indian ecommerce market potential to be in the $100-200 range and with only $6 billion active market, excluding train and flight tickets, Flipkart’s valuation of $5 billion makes perfect sense. 
 Today, the 44-year-old Kalyanaraman Srinivasan is Chief Operating Officer, <keyword id="384914" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Groupon">Groupon</keyword>, a portmanteau for group coupon, and at one time, the fastest growing company in the world that grew from $1 million in seed money to $1 billion in two years. On a whistlestop tour covering Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and India, he met up with CD in the Delhi office of Groupon, housed in a rundown commercial complex in the southern part of the capital city. That’s where, over cuppa and crackers, he deconstructs the journey of a 15-year-old from poverty to power, politics at the workplace, lessons from Sam Walton, problem-solving from Amazon to startups, and how somewhere in between, he came to be known as Kal Raman. 
 
Education is salvation 
 
Born and raised in Mannarkoil in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district, down south of Chennai, Raman’s father, a tehsildar, passed away when he was all of 15. The family of four siblings struggled through the odds on his mother’s monthly pension of Rs 420. She was, however, uncompromising on her children’s education. That explains how liberally Raman uses this phrase—“Education is salvation.” 
 
After high school, Raman got through both medical and engineering college. While the medical college stood in his district, he opted for engineering in Chennai where he knew nobody. “I wanted to see how far I can fly,” he reminisces. Till today, Raman has a knack of making the tougher choice. It’s as if he’s conditioned that way. “The longer it takes to get something, the longer it stays with you….most of the things that look easy, are not good in the long term,” he says. 
 
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	&#xa0;</div>
Not quite okay, Tata 
 
Raman’s first job was in Mumbai with Tata Consulting Engineers, where he landed up in slippers on his first day at work, sending his boss into a fit of rage. Upon hearing his story, he was not only given money to buy shoes but also fixed up at his friend’s Mumbai residence. Within a month, his boss sent him to Bangalore where he computerized the entire office administration. Thus started Raman’s steady rise in the world of information technology, and he did a lot of learning on his own, including ‘C’ programming. Just as he was about to get confirmed, he gave in his resignation since he signed up with TCS at Chennai. As a code jock, he ended up in Edinburgh servicing the Scottish Equitable Insurance Company and that’s where the first signs of friction with his boss became evident. 
 
As Raman deep-dove into the world of insurance, he figured the mathematical model of the company was completely flawed—if the company had more than 15% reimbursement, the resultant number would be a big negative, while the marketing documents of the company said that people would get 23% redemption. He tried explaining it to his boss but got cold shouldered. 
 
Raman would come in late and work well into the night. Being the last to leave, he was noticed by someone by the name Chris, who asked him why he stayed up so late despite being a programmer from an outsourced company. Upon being told of a questionable business model, Chris got curious and stayed up with Raman till 2 am one morning. A few days later, as Raman came in to work, his boss was pacing up anddown the room and glanced at him menacingly. He said that the European general manager of TCS had been called by the company and they were all going to see the management and that it concerned him. “If I were you, I would have packed my bags for India,” the boss said. Eventually, the trio entered a room with suits and at the head of the table, Chris sat in bespoke CEO attire. Before a word was uttered, Raman’s boss started making excuses and virtually disowned him, labeling him as a rotten apple in the TCS pantheon of “good and loyal workers”. That’s when Chris got up and silenced him, explaining why TCS needed to hire more people like Raman. “What my CPO and CIO couldn’t solve, a 22-yearold has done, and I thought it to be pertinent to acknowledge it in front of his bosses,” he said. 
 
The American Dream 
 For Raman, there was no looking back. With the help of Chris, he applied to companies in the US and got through <keyword id="46675" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wal-Mart">Wal-Mart</keyword>, where he rose to become the giant retailer’s technology director within a year. In fact, he admittedly got promoted 18 times that year from the lowest employee to the top rung, catching the eye of Wal-Mart promoters Sam and Rob Walton. He also picked up the invaluable lessons of long-term planning and customer-centricity from Sam Walton, the father of modern retail. That’s where Raman learnt business execution under his mentor, Doyle Graham, who again passed away at 45, exactly the age his father had died. Orphaned twice, Raman had no will to forge on. He hung around for six months before signing up with Blockbuster, the biggest DVD rental company then and as he predicted its doom, which eventually paved the way for newbies like Netflix, he started out afresh as CEO of drugstore.com. At Drugstore, he had an enviable board of directors, which included among others, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Bill Gates’ wife and philanthropist Melissa Gates, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. 
 
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	&#xa0;</div>
He ran Drugstore through the tumultuous 9/11 years as corporate America took a beating and share prices tumbled. When his recovery plan was rejected by the board, Raman knew it was time. However, Bezos sought him out and wanted him to go to Seattle to take a shot at some of the problems at Amazon. Raman, of course, chose the toughest one to crack—the non-media businesses were growing faster than media and Amazon was losing $200 million worth of free cash flow back then. He identified the problem and automated the entire retail infrastructure to solve it at one go. At that juncture, there were 6,000 people working at Amazon and he had 3,000 under him. Mission accomplished, Raman moved on to start his own venture Global Scholar with venture capitalist Michael Milken until selling out in 2010 and signing up as COO of Groupon in May 2012. “Now I joined Groupon when everyone wrote the company off and I love being the underdog,” he says. 
 
Galvanizing Groupon 
 
In 2012, Groupon’s international business was crumbling and it was left to Raman to steady the ship. Today, along with the domestic US business, the international division is in the black. “We are building a category, we are not building a company…. what Groupon is now, Amazon was in 2001,” he says. 
 
As he pumps in adrenaline to the business, Raman has a roadmap. He’s applying all that he learnt at Wal-Mart, keeping the merchant community engaged and customers happy by offering the lowest prices and an efficient delivery mechanism. Will he be able to pull it off? “We’re more worried about the long term and so we’re trying to get more efficient by passing off the savings to our merchants and customers so that they become more loyal to Groupon and check our website first before they go for any other transactions….we have about 1,600 people in technology to do that out of 12,000 worldwide,” he says. At $2.5 billion revenue and with zero debt, Raman’s optimism is well-founded. And while valuations like $8 billion scorch the terrace, he maintains a straight face and waits for the tide to raise the boats. What then, after he steers Groupon to the safe shores of supra-growth and profitability? “I’ll do something very big in education in India, with or without Groupon,” he says.

You Searched For "Mathematics Tour India" and got 8 results

Ed Sheeran announces six-city India tour for 2025!

PTI

Ed Sheeran returning to India with his Mathematics tour

ANI

What do Ed Sheeran and Allu Arjun have in common? A Butta Bomma

ANI

Sam Altman is AI's compelling preacher. The world is ready to bow down.

Hasan Chowdhury

Technology: Helping take culture and heritage to the next generation

Guest Author

10 tips to get the best home loan offer

Guest Author

Cornell professor Steven Strogatz has some clever ideas about chaos theory and beautiful theorems - and how to teach math so it isn't so boring

Elena Holodny

Meet Kal Raman, Groupon COO & Mentor To Flipkart’s Bansals

Moinak Mitra

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides