<ul><li>The cost for studying in the US has gone up by Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh per year.</li><li>Indian students abroad are also facing problems in finding accommodation. </li><li><keyword id="87" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="germany" source="Orion">Germany</keyword>, Spain, France, <keyword id="6359079" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="portugal" source="Orion">Portugal</keyword> and the UAE have emerged as the preferential places to <keyword id="68134" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="study-abroad" source="Orion">study abroad</keyword>.</li></ul> Studying abroad has become costlier amid a sharp fall in rupee. The cost for studying in the US has gone up by Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh per year. The increase in tuition fees in the US, the UK and <keyword id="6355478" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="australia" source="Orion">Australia</keyword> by 10 to 20 per cent is another reason behind the costlier education abroad. Also, the airfares have increased in recent times, which has added burden on students studying abroad. Adding to the woes, the visas of lakhs of Indian students have not been approved in countries like the US, the UK, <keyword id="6356687" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="canada" source="Orion">Canada</keyword> and Australia. There are long delays in getting student visas while at the same time those students, whose visas have been approved, are facing inflation due to rupee depreciation. Indian students abroad are also facing problems in finding accommodation due to the increase in the prices of hostels and homestays. Germany seems to be reaping the benefits due to this delay in the approval of student visas by other countries. According to a recent report by the <keyword id="432632" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="german-academic-exchange-service" source="Orion">German Academic Exchange Service</keyword> (DAAD), the number of Indian students studying in Germany increased from 17,570 in 2017 to 34,134 in 2021. Actually, education is subsidised by the German government. All international students studying in state-funded universities in Germany do not have to pay tuition fees. This is one of the biggest benefits for the international students in Germany and a major relief for Indian students amid the costlier education in other popular countries. Although various courses are available at low cost to Indian students in countries like Germany, the students do not change their preferences easily. <keyword id="2733148" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sumeet-jain" source="Orion">Sumeet Jain</keyword>, co-founder, <keyword id="4136682" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="yocket" source="Orion">Yocket</keyword>, a community-based platform for overseas studies, said, "Due to the rupee depreciation, the average additional cost to study in the US has gone up by Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh per year. Despite this, the students do not make decisions without comprehensively evaluating various aspects. Some students, who want to pursue post research, for them there is no point in moving to other countries. While many students keep their options open. Students prefer the US for <keyword id="435553" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="stem" source="Orion">STEM</keyword> courses while for non-STEM courses they opt for the UK and Australia. Experts believe that the continued delays in visas have jeopardised the competitiveness of popular places of study. While earlier countries like the US, the UK, Australia and Canada were the first choice of the students, now Germany, Spain, France, Portugal and the UAE have emerged as the preferential places to study abroad. Significantly, the Covid-19 pandemic has proved to be a major obstacle for students who wish to pursue higher education abroad. In the US and some European countries, students are getting a waiting period of one to two years for visas. This simply means that an Indian student enrolling in a US university will be able to get a US visa after one or two years. According to industry experts, the number of Indian students moving to countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand stood at around 10 lakh in early 2022, almost double the levels before the pandemic. Similarly, the number of visa applications has increased much more than before, due to which now there is a delay in the visa approval. S. Ghosh, a student from Kolkata, said it is taking around 440 days to get a visa. SEE ALSO:

Falling rupee makes studying abroad costlier

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47067152.cms" /> A change of <keyword id="6386905" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="guard">guard</keyword> in mobile maker, <keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword>’s management team has pushed up some notable changes. It’s soon climbing up at no. 2 position in terms of sales and becoming India’s largest home-grown manufacturer of mobile phones, Micromax is keen on selling a 25% stake to a consortium led by Ant <keyword id="6354241" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Financial-Services">Financial Services</keyword> Group, China's leading online financial services company that owns Alipay. As per a news report by The Economic Times, Micromax has been valued at around $4-5 billion (approximatelyRs 24,000-30,000 crore). 
 The ET report states, Alipay, China's top online payment solution company and part of the <keyword id="163405" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alibaba-Group">Alibaba Group</keyword>, is bringing in two to three partners. The proposed deal would see both infusion of capital and exits, partial or total, by existing investors, said the people quoted earlier. An exit will give existing investors significant returns on their investments, sources known to the ET has confirmed. 
 
TA Associates, for instance, currently owns 15% in Micromax, for which it paid around Rs 225 crore five years ago when the company was valued at around Rs 1,500 crore. 
 However, bringing the deal to fruition would partly depend on resolving differences that are said to have cropped up between the company's promoters and its <keyword id="6364480" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chairman">chairman</keyword> Sanjay Kapoor, a former <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> of Bharti Airtel's Indian business, over the company's future direction. The four founder promoters — Rahul Sharma, Rajesh Agarwal, Sumeet Kumar and Vikas Jain — own a little less than 80% of the company. 
 
A person having knowledge of the deal confirmed that the "new guard", mainly Kapoor, feels that Micromax should focus mainly on online sales, but the promoters differ, noting that 70% of its revenue still comes from offline, or traditional retail channels. "There are also disagreements over the positioning of the phones and technology adoption. Kapoor believes Micromax should increase its average selling price while promoters feel there is still immense potential in the mass market," one of the people aware of the fact told the financial daily. Despite the differences the deal with Ant Financial Services is on track, said the people cited above. 
 
While Alipay and Micromax have declined to comment, the latter, in an emailed statement on behalf of the company, its promoters and the chairman, added that Kapoor continues to be its chairman and an integral part of the company. 
 One of the people aware of the development has said, to compete with market leader <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and China’s fast growing Xiaomi, the Indian phone makers need something in unique like Alipay to survive the cut-throat competition. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

Micromax is striking a rather lucrative friendship with China’s Alipay. Know how

India’s leading digital payments and financial services firm <keyword id="6357120" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="paytm" source="Orion">Paytm</keyword> swung to an operating profit for the first time in Q3FY23, significantly ahead of its target of September 2023. The QR and mobile payments pioneer posted EBITDA before ESOP costs of ₹31 crore, showing an improvement of ₹424 crore from a year ago. Paytm said its revenue from operations rose 42% year-on-year to ₹2,062 crore in the October-December quarter, with growth driven by increase in merchant subscription revenues, growth in loan distribution and momentum in commerce business. Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma tweeted, “Paytm, a business built from scratch with conviction on Digital India. From our first app release to becoming a verb in India to operating EBITDA profitability milestone - all in 10 years! Super Proud of Paytm team.” <div type="twitter" handle="kunalb11" handlename="Kunal Shah" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1190747917998546944/D3U5FNa7_normal.jpg" favoritecount="243" retweetcount="3" status="@vijayshekhar @Paytm Congrats, Vijay." createdat="1675442785000" id="1621550689112543232"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="RajanAnandan" handlename="Rajan Anandan" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000840024871/fb10b21c1166534dc307442c4f07f406_normal.jpeg" favoritecount="31" retweetcount="4" status="Congratulations @vijayshekhar and team @Paytm! https://t.co/y322QUVfHL" createdat="1675443652000" id="1621554324408242176"></div> The news of Paytm's profitability has been met with celebration from the startup and investor community, with CRED Founder Kunal Shah and Sequoia Capital India MD Rajan Anandan taking to social media to congratulate the company and its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Alan Mamedi, the Co-Founder and CEO of Truecaller and noted YouTuber and investor Tanmay Bhat also congratulated Sharma. <div type="twitter" handle="thetanmay" handlename="Tanmay Bhat" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/870589688465182720/RhRnOiGG_normal.jpg" favoritecount="86" retweetcount="0" status="@vijayshekhar @Paytm Awesome stuff! Congrats VSS!" createdat="1675443083000" id="1621551938314866691"></div> “Good first steps in the Marathon that lies ahead Vijay,” wrote UpGrad co-founder and serial entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala. <div type="twitter" handle="helloanand" handlename="Anand Jain" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1460472641647611908/wW0e3qqx_normal.jpg" favoritecount="2" retweetcount="0" status="@vijayshekhar @Paytm Superb boss 🙏" createdat="1675445233000" id="1621560956546605061"></div> Edtech startups LEAD’s Sumeet Yashpal Mehta, Stage.in’s Vinay Singhal, HalloApp’s Neeraj Arora, logistics aggregator Raaho’s Imthiaz and CleverTap’s Anand Jain were among the founders who celebrated Paytm’s success and expressed their excitement for the company’s future. <div type="twitter" handle="neerajarora" handlename="neeraj arora" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1528054943671672833/1415qxDr_normal.jpg" favoritecount="23" retweetcount="0" status="@vijayshekhar @Paytm well done, a great milestone not only for Paytm but also the tech ecosystem." createdat="1675452310000" id="1621590637270245379"></div> HalloApp Founder and former Chief Business Officer of WhatsApp Neeraj Arora, who is also an independent director on Paytm’s board, called the development a great milestone not only for Paytm but for the entire tech ecosystem. Paytm's journey to profitability has become a source of inspiration for many other startups. “Inspiring for us. Headed in the same direction!” LEAD’s Sumeet Yashpal Mehta responded to Sharma’s tweet. “The sharp execution that you’ve privately been known for, was publicly visible in every single announcement over last few quarters .. was only a matter of time Excited about following the journey to $100Bn!!" wrote Leverage Edu’s founder Akshay Chaturvedi. <div type="twitter" handle="kapoortej" handlename="kapoortej" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1382138723261829122/6EwS2Nlj_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="Many congratulations @vijayshekhar and team @Paytm ! 🚀 https://t.co/fO44JQUZLc" createdat="1675443834000" id="1621555086622343168"></div> Several venture capitalists including IvyCap Ventures’ Tej Kapoor, Ritesh Banglani of Stellaris Venture Partners and Pankaj Jain of Saka Ventures applauded Paytm’s feat. “Congratulations Vijay and the whole Paytm team! May this quarter be the first step in a long, profitable future,” said Banglani. <div type="twitter" handle="banglani" handlename="Ritesh Banglani" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1595727692581986307/7UC1g2J8_normal.jpg" favoritecount="2" retweetcount="0" status="@vijayshekhar @Paytm Congratulations Vijay and the whole Paytm team! May this quarter be the first step in a long, profitable future." createdat="1675449019000" id="1621576835476918273"></div> Several social media users congratulated Sharma on Paytm’s profitability milestone and inspiring youngsters across India. In a letter to shareholders, Paytm’s Sharma said he is confident the company will soon achieve its next milestone of becoming a free cash flow generating company. Disclaimer: This article is generated and published by the Insider Studios team. You can get in touch with them on insiderstudios@businessinsider.in

Indian startup founders celebrate Paytm’s success as company posts first operating profit

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/58143748.cms" />The net worth of all the <keyword id="4408438" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-IT-billionaires">Indian IT billionaires</keyword> has gone down. Ever since US President <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=donald+trump&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Donald Trump</a> has vowed to bring back jobs to Americans and promised a clampdown on H1-B visas, it has eroded the Indian IT sector. 
 
Ever since Trump government took over, net worth of IT tycoons in India went down as clamour for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=H1B+visa&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">H1-B visa</a> reform and protectionist stance gained steam. 
 <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword>, chairman of Wipro Ltd. and India's fifth-richest man, and Shiv Nadar, the sixth-richest person in the country and chairman of HCL Technologies, have seen their shares slide. Narayana Murthy, <keyword id="44604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nandan-Nilekani">Nandan Nilekani</keyword> and three other founders of Infosys Ltd., all among the top 100 of India's richest billionaires, have taken a hit too. IT stocks have dropped about 3 percent over that stretch, while the benchmark index has climbed 0.6 percent. 
 
"Whether these changes are a precursor for more radical measures is what is worrying companies," DD Mishra, a Pune-based research director at Gartner, told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-11/every-tech-billionaire-in-india-takes-hit-from-trump-visa-reform">Bloomberg</a>. 
 
“Infosys, which reports earnings April 13, may have the most at stake. The Bangalore-based company is most vulnerable to U.S. visa reforms because it has the lowest percentage of local hires in the U.S.,” stated Goldman Sachs analysts Sumeet Jain and Saurabh Thadani. 
 
Bloomberg reported information technology is the largest employer in the private sector, providing a livelihood to nearly 4 million, and contributes about 9 percent of gross domestic product. India's software and services exports total about $110 billion, with nearly two thirds of that revenue coming from the U.S. 
 
"Difficulties in getting visas or rising salaries of H-1B employees will have a material impact on companies," Rostow Ravanan, chief executive officer of Mindtree Ltd., a Bangalore-based outsourcer that uses hundreds of H-1B visas every year, told Bloomberg. 
 
Ever since the protectionist stance, Indian IT companies have been devising plans to counter the heat. 
 
Nitin Rakesh, chief executive officer of tech services provider Mphasis Ltd. is optimistic. He told Bloomberg the industry has gone through four or five reincarnations since the outsourcing business began. A Trump crackdown may lead to more innovation in the model.

Net worth of Indian IT billionaires has gone down, thanks to Donald Trump. Here is the list

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/48709361.cms" /> 
Not all’s well at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=micromax">Micromax</a>. Insiders at company suggest that the chairman of Micromax <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sanjay+Kapoor+">Sanjay Kapoor</a> has put in his papers. Kapoor, who had joined the company just more than a year ago, resigned because of his growing differences with promoters. 
 
 While the Indian born handset maker didn't elaborate on the reasons of Kapoor’s resignation, the company in an email to The Economic Times has said, "Appropriate announcements will be made in due course. We would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him luck for all his future endeavours." 
 
 Discussions are underway regarding the financial terms of his exit, one of the sources revealed. When <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Sanjay-Kapoor-Becomes-the-Chairman-Of-Micromax-India/articleshow/36110042.cms">he joined in June 2014</a>, Kapoor had been entrusted for making Micromax a global brand, helping it raise money and boost its software capabilities. His primary tasks included focussing on new products and grow on areas such as data, access, storage, analytics, applications and content, apart from devices. 
 
 "Differences regarding these and more have been rising over a period of time. But now they have reached a point that they can't be reconciled," sources disclosed to the financial daily. 
 
Kapoor, a former <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Bharti+Airtel+">Bharti Airtel</a> chief executive for India and South Asia, is also a director at PVR and Bennett, Coleman &amp; Company Ltd. 
 
 
 At the time Kapoor joined, Micromax also hired Samsung India mobile head Vineet Taneja and another Bharti Airtel veteran Badal Bagri to power growth and build a bigger brand before an initial public offering (IPO). Taneja and Bagri remain firmly entrenched in the company, the people said. 
 
 The IPO plan included bringing in strategic investors to fuel Micromax's next phase of growth. That involved likely funding from a consortium led by Ant Financial Services Group, China's leading online financial services company that owns <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Alipay">Alipay</a>. This is also said to be going slow, because of the outgoing chairman and the promoters not being on the same page and also due to differing valuation expectations. The four founder promoters - Rahul Sharma, Rajesh Agarwal, Sumeet Kumar and Vikas Jain - own a little less than 80% of the company. Micromax had announced plans two years ago to enter Russia by the end of 2013 and other European countries subsequently. It has a negligible presence in Russia and hasn't gone further afield, although it has ventured into parts of South Asia. 
 
 
Its efforts to invest in app makers with the aim of becoming a services company rather than just a mobile phone vendor and its launch of youth brand Yureka have been helmed by cofounder Sharma. Micromax is also a licensee for the emerging Cyanogen mobile operating system. 
 
 
 Being on top after a tough fight, Micromax has dropped to second position in terms of market share, which is 17%, as per an IDC data.

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Falling rupee makes studying abroad costlier

IANS

Micromax is striking a rather lucrative friendship with China’s Alipay. Know how

BI India Bureau

Indian startup founders celebrate Paytm’s success as company posts first operating profit

Insider Studios

Net worth of Indian IT billionaires has gone down, thanks to Donald Trump. Here is the list

BI India Bureau

Micromax chairman Sanjay Kapoor resigns?

BI India Bureau