By Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Clara Ferreira-Marques BENGALURU, India (Reuters) – After ping pong tables, motivational posters and casual dress codes, India's tech start-ups are following Silicon Valley's lead and embracing the “fail fast” culture credited with fuelling creativity and success in the United States.
Read moreBy Yasmeen Abutaleb NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook raised wages for its contract workers, such as cafeteria staff and janitors, to a minimum of $15 per hour amid rising tension over the wage gap between the technology sector's elite and the lower-paid workers. Contractors will also receive a minimum of 15 days of paid vacation days and a $4,000 new child benefit for parents who do not receive parental leave, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a Wednesday post on Facebook
Read moreUber is testing cash payments in India as the online taxi-hailing company seeks a stronger foothold in a country where many fewer people have credit cards than internet connections. San Francisco-based Uber has grown rapidly in value to be worth around $40 billion. Many analysts say that is because Uber has not adapted its business model enough to suit India's needs
Read moreIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China next week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, his first trip to India's northern neighbor since being elected last year. Modi will be in China from May 14-16, the ministry said in a brief statement. China and India have growing commercial links and deep historical ties, but their recent history has been overshadowed by suspicion and the two have yet to sort out a festering border dispute.
Read moreBy Aman Shah and Devidutta Tripathy MUMBAI (Reuters) – Infosys Ltd, India's second-largest software services exporter, on Friday posted quarterly net profit that lagged most analyst expectations, dampening hopes of a quick turnaround after top management changes. Bengaluru-based Infosys, once seen as the bellwether of India's $150 billion IT services industry, has in recent years struggled to innovate and retain market share due to a staff exodus that also impacted its ability to win lucrative deals.
Read morePaytm, an Indian online payments platform backed by China’s Alibaba, is pushing deeper into India’s booming e-commerce industry with a zero-commission mobile app marketplace targeted at small and medium-sized firms, the mainstay of the country’s economy.
Read moreBy Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander has asked the U.S. intelligence agency to review patent filings by his company to make sure that they do not reveal any secrets or misappropriate any government work
Read moreBy Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A major Indian jewellery chain has withdrawn an advert featuring Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with a dark-skinned boy holding a parasol over her after it was slammed by activists and on social media for being racist and promoting child slavery. Kalyan Jewellers, which employs about 4,000 people across India, said the advertisement featured in a national newspaper on April 17 was intended to present “royalty, timeless beauty and elegance”
Read moreBy Suchitra Mohanty NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India’s top court on Tuesday called on two lawyers to explain comments made in a controversial BBC documentary on the gang rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus, after female advocates said the remarks were “inhumane” and “unjustifiable”.
Read moreBy Jussi Rosendahl HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finnish mobile game maker Supercell tripled sales and doubled core profit last year on the back of hit titles Clash of Clans, Hay Day and Boom Beach, the company said on Tuesday. Chief Executive Ilkka Paananen said in the statement that the rapid growth was thanks to users’ increased play of the company’s existing games, which it updates regularly with extended story lines and features. Supercell has managed so far to avoid the fate of San Francisco-based Zynga and Finnish rival Rovio, which have both struggled to extend their franchises beyond initial hugely popular game titles
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