Month: November 2021

Funding Rundown: Bessemer’s $220-mn India-dedicated fund, Adda247 raises $20 mn in Series B funding round, Eduncle secures $750K from Mumbai Angels Network

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Here’s a lowdown of the top deals from the start-up space.

Bessemer Venture Partners raises $220 mn fund for Indian start-ups

US-based venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners announced the closure of a $220-million India-focused fund to back the next generation of innovators in India.

As per the company’s blogpost, the fund will focus primarily on early-stage investments, consistent with Bessemer’s approach of starting with seed and Series-A investments and sticking with companies throughout their growth lifecycle with later-stage investments.

Bessemer plans to apply its roadmap-driven investment approach to deploy the new capital over five roadmaps across consumer internet and cloud software, including marketplaces, digital health, social commerce, vertical and global SaaS (software as a service), it added.

The firm has made multi-stage investments in India including in IPO-bound e-pharmacy player Pharmeasy, Tata-backed grocery platform Bigbasket, food delivery major Swiggy and home services platform Urban Company, among others.

Adda247 raises around $20 mn in Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital

Edtech platform Adda247 has raised around $20 million in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The Series B funding round also saw participation from existing investors, including Info Edge, Asha Impact and JM Financials.

The latest infusion of funds will be utilised to optimise technology & product and conduct senior-level hiring. The edtech company is also foreseeing the acquisition of a few companies with complementary offerings, it said in a statement

Founded in 2010, Adda247 offers products like live-video classes, on-demand video courses, mock tests, and books focused on government examinations and claims to have 15 million monthly active users on its platform.

Ykrita Life Sciences bags $1.2 mn seed funding from Venture Catalysts

Ykrita Life Sciences has raised $1.2 million in a seed funding round led by Venture Catalysts. Indian Scientific Innovation Company Limited also participated in this round.

Ykrita Life Sciences is a team of inter-disciplinary scientists and clinicians working together to develop a remedy for acute liver failure, the company said. This project is incubated out of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and was initially funded by Innovationqore and Venture Catalyst with a commitment of up to Rs 4.5 crore.

Venture Catalysts offers funding, mentorship, and network and invests $250K – $1.5 million in early-stage start-ups with incubation support for one year.  They have successfully incubated startups like Fynd, Beardo, PeeSafe, Innov8, vPhrase, Supr, and DSYH, among others.

Fello gets $1 mn in seed round led by Entrepreneur First

Game-based investment start-up Fello has raised $1 million in a seed round led by global talent investor, Entrepreneur First (EF).

Acequia Capital, Kube VC, Upsparks, JITO Angels, Dexter Angels, and independent investors Ashneer Groover, Co-founder, BharatPe, Bala Parthasarathy, CEO & Co-founder, MoneyTap, Faiz Mayalakkara, Director of Investments of Emirates Investment Authority and Charlie Songhurst, also participated in the funding round.

The start-up plans to use the funding to expand its team, scale the product, and gear up for more game-based finance products to disrupt the nascent space in India. The company aims to reach a million users investing and playing on the app in the next three quarters, by penetrating deeper into tier 1 and tier 2 markets across the country, it said in a statement.

Edtech start-up Eduncle raised $750K from Mumbai Angels Network

Mumbai Angels Network, a platform for early-stage investments along with other investors, participated in a $750,000 round for online learning platform Eduncle.

The edtech start-up said it will utilize the freshly infused capital to achieve its expansion objectives and to develop new products for additional exams, commence live classes, and bolster its tech infrastructure.

The platform also plans on augmenting its doubt-solving features with the integration of AI and ML.

“The platform has seen 2x growth in its student base, paid subscribers, and revenue in the last 12 months while being extremely capital efficient. We believe that the fresh capital will allow them to achieve their goals and reach greater heights,” said Nandini Mansinghka, Co-Founder and CEO, Mumbai Angels Network.

Lumos and Gruhas Proptech partner to raise Rs 500 cr property fund

Lumos Alternate Investment Advisors and Gruhas Proptech have partnered to raise a Rs 500-crore real estate fund, focused on structured debt, last-mile funding, and opportunist equity in residential projects across major cities.

Gruhas Proptech, focused on real estate investments and prop tech and promoted by entrepreneur Abhijeet Pai and Zerodha Broking Ltd co-founder Nikhil Kamath, has joined Lumos Alternate Investment as anchor investor and general partner, a statement said.

“We are now actively looking at residential-focused last-mile funding and structured equity deals for our prospective fund,” said Anuranjan Mohnot, Co-founder and Managing Director of private equity fund Lumos.

KK Rathi, founder of FirstBridge Capital Partners LLP and SS Asokan, former senior director at Shriram Properties, have also joined the Gruhas and Lumos board as co-founders.

Recruitment automation start-up Zappyhire raises Rs 3.71 cr in seed round funding

Zappyhire, an intelligent recruitment platform that helps enterprises screen, engage, and hire the best talent faster using Artificial Intelligence, has raised Rs 3.71 crore from the Kerala Angel Network and from Alex K. Babu, Founder, and CMD, Hedge Finance Limited.

The round also witnessed the participation of strategic investors such as Shihab Muhammed, Ex-Co-Founder of Freshservice (Freshdesk), Navas Meeran, Chairman, Eastern Condiments Pvt. Ltd., Dr. M. I. Sahadulla, Rajesh Nair – Associate Partner EY, Chairman & Managing Director, KIMS, and K. Paul Thomas, Founder of ESAF Group of Social Enterprises.

The company looks forward to hiring for multiple positions and accelerating their growth across Asia and North America. “This funding will be utilised to catapult our plan to grow as a global leader in recruitment automation providers. As founders, we invite smart minds to join our incredible team to fuel our next phase of growth,” Jyothis KS and Deepu Xavier, Co-founders of Zappyhire.

Artha Venture Fund leads Rs 3.2 cr seed funding round in wellness start-up InstaAstro

Wellness and spiritual services platform InstaAstro has secured Rs 3.2 crore in a seed funding round led by early-stage micro-venture capital firm Artha Venture Fund (AVF).

This is AVF’s 12th investment from its recently closed Rs 225-crore micro-VC fund. The seed round also saw participation from angel investor Ramakant Sharma’s LogX Ventures.

The start-up said it will utilise the fresh capital for product development, and marketing, and add a gamut of services like Live Astrologer session, Remedies, E-Pooja and E-commerce and others, to its platform, helping them carve a niche in the holistic wellness segment.

InstaAstro offers online predictions and consultancy to bring famous Vedic astrologers, Tarot card readers, numerologists and Vastu experts from India on a single online platform. The firm said their Monthly Recurring Revenues (MRR) and users have grown 20x and 25x, respectively, since February 2021.

Premagic secures Rs 2 cr from 300 Ventures and angel investors

Workflow management platform for photographers Premagic has raised Rs 2 crore in a pre-seed funding round from 300 Ventures.

Angel investors including Sujayath Ali, Co-Founder of ShopUp and Voonik, Sony Joy, Vice-President of Truecaller, Mohammed Hisamuddin, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Entri.app, also pitched in the funding round.

The start-up will use the proceeds in augmenting the engineering team, offering more tools to photographers, and entering addressable markets across key geographies, it said in a statement.

The firm said that it has thousands of photographers from India and other geographies like New Zealand and France and has recently launched its services in the UAE and other GCC countries.

Citi partners with equity management platform Qapita; joins Series A round

SaaS-based equity management platform Qapita has secured a partnership with Citi to accelerate its platform for private company marketplace.

Citi had joined the company in its recent Series A round of $15 million co-led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital. Earlier, Qapita had announced a $15-million ( ₹111 crore) Series A fund round, led by East Ventures through its growth fund and Vulcan Capital, with participation from NYCA and other existing investors including MassMutual Ventures and Endiya Partners.

The company said the partnership with Citi will help it accelerate its platform. Qapita said it plans to facilitate liquidity solutions via a digital marketplace, enabling transactions for companies between investors and employee stakeholders. Qapita said it has built a cap table and employee stock options plans (ESOPs) management platform, and aims to launch a private company marketplace to offer one unified platform to its clients.

“The private market in this part of the world is set to be $1-1.5 trillion in value. This market needs an operating system and transaction rails to make it transparent, accessible and efficient. This partnership with Citi will help us accelerate this mission. We look forward to more such partnerships with ecosystem players,” said Ravi Ravulaparthi, CEO and Co-founder of Qapita.

The platform allows private companies to manage their capitalisation tables and ESOPs.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

What is Metaverse and what are the key projects you should look out for?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The word ‘metaverse’ catapulted into the collective consciousness of the world after Facebook recently announced it was rebranding itself as Meta. The renaming was undertaken as a nod to the term metaverse, which has been discussed in tech circles as the next big revolution after the Internet.

So what exactly is the metaverse, why is it so hyped and what are some interesting projects that are ongoing?

Simply put, the metaverse is the creation of a virtual universe where avatars of human beings will be present through technology. Such metaverses can be created by various companies for various reasons: entertainment, education and business.

Here’s a quick example to understand the metaverse better. The COVID-19 pandemic forced most officegoers to work out of their homes. Several companies realised their staff could work as well from home. But fast forward nearly two years, and many workers are yearning to get back to the office. Why? Many people would say they miss the office environment, the lunches together, and the coffee machine banter. So much so, that the term ‘Zoom fatigue’ has its own Wikipedia page.

Also read: From SAND to MANA, here’s a look at top five metaverse coins currently

Now, what if Zoom developed a pair of virtual reality glasses, which could simulate your office environment while you’re sitting at the desk in your home. The work desk, the boardroom, and the canteen. It won’t be the same as the real thing, but it will be close and will keep getting more and more real over time as technology evolves. In fact, Meta (previously Facebook) has even been working on haptic gloves, which will even create the sensation of touch.

Now all of this may sound a bit futuristic, but companies have begun work on this in earnest. In fact, a research firm believes the size of the metaverse could grow to $829 billion by 2028, up from $48 billion in 2020.

Where will this growth come from? It will be from giant metaverses that will have thriving economies of their own. For instance, you will not just enter the virtual world to meet and interact with people, but you will also try out experiences (read: gaming, entertainment, shopping) and even buy stuff. In fact, the booming world of cryptocurrencies appears to be the perfect medium of exchange for transactions in this virtual world. And companies such as Meta, which have a captive user base of billions, will be best placed to take the race ahead of others with the creation of their metaverse.

Also read: Explained: Metaverse’s cryptocurrencies and how they work

Meanwhile, multiple cryptocurrency creators have been working towards creating their own metaverse projects, with their cryptocurrency tokens becoming the native money in that universe. As of now, many of these projects revolve around creating gaming universes but over time, their size, scale and imagination will only expand.

In fact, Caribbean nation Barbados has become the first sovereign nation with an embassy in the metaverse. The island nation is working with multiple metaverse companies to establish digital sovereign land. The Barbados’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is also seeking to finalise an agreement with other metaverse platforms such as Somnium Space and Superworld.

The metaverse embassy, which is scheduled for launch in January next year, will include identifying and purchasing land, developing facilities to provide services such as “e-visas”, architecting the virtual embassies and constructing a “teleporter” that will allow users to transport their avatars between the various worlds, per a Coindesk report.

Below are the top three metaverse projects.

Decentraland

Decentraland is a virtual reality platform where users can buy, sell and manage virtual property called LAND and other NFTs using its native cryptocurrency MANA (based on the Ethereum blockchain). MANA can be purchased on exchanges like WazirX. Since Facebook’s rebranding as Meta, MANA’s price has risen fivefold.

Founded in 2015 as a 2D reality that later evolved into a 3D world, Decentraland has over 90,000 land parcels that can be bought with the native token MANA in its marketplace. Just days ago, a Canadian investment firm that focuses on decentralized finance (DeFi) called Tokens.com purchased nearly $2.5 million worth of virtual land in the platform Decentraland.

Decentraland is also expanding the NFT space with art galleries where users can buy and sell art and even directly interact with the artists. It also recently partnered with Sotheby, one of the biggest auctioneers in the world. Many lucrative sales have occurred inside these virtual galleries, like the sale of 914 Wonder Woman NFTs from former DC comic artist, Jose Delbo, for $1.85 million, according to a report by datadriveninvestor.

Decentraland is backed by more than 20 investors and reportedly has a trust created by Grayscale with over 20 million MANA tokens locked in it, per datadriveninvestor.

Sandbox

Sandbox, a play to earn metaverse, allows users to buy and sell land and other assets using SAND cryptocurrency. The Sandbox Alpha is expected to launch on November 29. It is expected to have around 5,000 games by the end of 2021 with funding from the Sandbox Foundation.

Sandbox has among the most traded NFT marketplaces in the space. SAND has a total supply of nearly $3 billion with roughly 900 million in circulation. It has partnered with Skybound Entertainment (the company behind The Walking Dead show), Big Fan (esports project), Ubisoft, and even Snoop Dogg. The Sandbox has also been recently supported by SoftBank, one of the biggest investment companies in the world, with a $93 million funding round.

The Sandbox aims to be more and has already initiated integration with the more energy-efficient Polygon besides buying carbon credits, among other things, per a report by datadriveninvestor.

Axie Infinity

An NFT-based blockchain game, players can buy, sell and trade Axies, the game’s cartoon monster that they can use to battle with others. Created by Sky Mavis, a Vietnam-based company, the game offers combat between teams of three Axies. Each Axie gets its powers from its type (plant, bird, bug, etc.) and its body parts. To create new Axies, existing owners must spend currency earned in the game to ‘breed’ the Axie monsters. The earnings can be sold in the open market for real money.

The eight-step process described in the company’s online guide involves downloading not one but two crypto wallets; buying and depositing Ethereum onto the company’s own blockchain; and purchasing at least three Axies, among other tasks, per a Verge report.

Axie also saw the sale of a virtual land plot in the Axie Infinity NFT game for a record price of $2.4 million (550 ether). The plot is part of the “Genesis” land type, which Axie Infinity described as “extremely rare.” Genesis land is located in the center of the Axie Infinity map and is capped at 220 plots, a report by blockcrypto pointed out. In February, nine plots of land on Axie Infinity were reportedly sold for over 888 ETH (around $1.5 million at the time and nearly $4 million at current prices).

Since Facebook’s rebranding as Meta, metaverse cryptocurrency prices have taken off. All the metaverse crypto tokens can be bought on the WazirX platform.

Note: This is a partnered post.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trade setup for Dec 1: Is Nifty50 headed all the way to 16,500? Check out key market cues before Wednesday’s session

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian equity benchmarks ended a choppy session on Tuesday mildly lower, dragged losses in financial, oil & gas and metal shares, though gains in IT and power shares lent some support. The Bank Nifty continued to fall for yet another day, taking its losses to almost five percent in four back-to-back sessions.

What do the charts suggest for Dalal Street now?

The Nifty50 has formed a small negative candle on the daily chart with a long upper shadow, suggesting sell-on-rise type action, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

“One may expect the index to move lower again to the low of 16,782 levels in the short term. The negative chart pattern of lower highs and lower lows is intact on the daily chart, and Tuesday’s high of 17,324 could be considered a new lower high of the sequence,” he said.

ALSO READ: Auto sales, COVID variant likely to impact market

Is Nifty50 headed to 16,500?

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities, pointed out that both Sensex and Nifty closed below the previous month’s lows after a period of 19 months, which “is definitely negative for the market and could lead to further concerns”. He said a closing below 17,450 for the Nifty50 will likely lead to the 16,500 mark in the near term.

Here are key things to know about the market before Wednesday’s session:

SGX Nifty

At 7:54 am on Wednesday, Singapore Exchange Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty50 index — were up 83.5 points or half a percent at  17,147, having gained as much as 88.5 points earlier in the day.

Global markets

Equities in other Asian markets largely moved higher despite overnight losses in the US after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US central bank would consider speeding up tapering of its bond buys as inflation risks increase. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.8 percent at the last count. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.9 percent.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.7 percent in Asian trade. On Tuesday, the three main Wall Street indices tanked 1.6-1.9 percent. The Fed Chair’s remarks put more pressure on a market already nervous about the latest Omicron variant of COVID-19.

What to expect on Dalal Street

The main support for the index on Wednesday will be at 16,880, 16,780 and 16,600 levels, and a closing below 16,880 will be negative for the market, according to Kotak Securities’ Chouhan. He expects selling pressure to continue till the Nifty takes out 17,200 on a closing basis.

HDFC Securities’ Shetti believes the near-term trend of the index remains negative. A display of lack of strength during the bounce could mean further weakness to 16,700 levels in the coming few sessions, he said. Shetti expects the Nifty to hit an immediate downside target of around 16,500-16,300 in 1-2 weeks.

Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst at Deen Dayal Investments, sees the Nifty’s slide below 17,000 on a closing basis as “definitely a matter of concern”, which opens the possibility of 16,500 as its next target.

Key levels to watch out for

Five stocks in the BSE 500 index hit 52-week highs: Raymond, KPIT Technologies, Orient Electric, Sheela Foam and Timken India.

52-week lows

Hero MotoCorp, Spandana, VST Industries, CreditAccess Grameen and Swan Energy were among the nine stocks in the broadest gauge on the bourse that hit the trough.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained: What are nurdles, the tiny plastic bits polluting oceans?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Oceans are not just home to millions of aquatic species in the planet, they are also the sole livelihood for countless individuals and are a source of food for even more.

It is for that reason that most environmental activists, scientists and national authorities are keen on keeping oceanic waters clean and safe. For every high-visibility oil spill — seen as the most polluting element in oceans — there are myriad insidious pollutants, like nurdles, that are fast degrading the oceans. One of the major sources of modern-day pollution, oceanic or otherwise, of course remains plastic.

What are nurdles?

Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets, the size of lentils. They are ‘pre-production plastic pellets’ that are the raw material for most of today’s plastic products. Made out of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and other plastics, these pellets are melted down and cast into the moulds to make various plastic products.

They are to plastic products what sheet steel is to automobiles and other steel products.

They are the main form in which plastic is shipped all over the world after being made in processing factories and then carried to manufacturing factories.

Depending on their density, nurdles can either float to the surface of the water or sink below the surface. In either case, their shape and size lead fishes and birds to often confuse them for food.

Also read: Explained: How COVID-19 face masks are injurious to the environment

Nurdles, if left exposed to the environment, will slowly break down into microplastics. Since nurdles are plastic, they are not biodegradable. These nurdles and their microplastic runoff will be in the environment for decades if not centuries, polluting entire biospheres.

How harmful are nurdles?

Nurdles are the second-largest source of micropollutants in the oceans by weight. Due to their ease of transport, a lack of accountability on large companies and shipping corporations, around 230,000 tonnes of nurdles end up in the world’s oceans annually.

Most of the 230,000 tonnes of plastic is then consumed by fish and birds. The animals often die as a result of consuming these pellets, since they clog up their digestive tracts or sometimes weigh them down until they are unable to swim. They can also be choking hazards.

Also read: Loud and clear: How noise pollution is impacting marine life

The microplastics that are created from broken-down nurdles can also be eaten by wildlife without killing them immediately. This allows the deadly plastics to bioaccumulate in fish species, which is dangerous for other species that are higher up the food chain, including humans. Every species slowly starts accumulating these nanoplastics in their bodies.

But it is not just nanoplastics that are being ingested. Since many of the toxins and chemicals that are polluting the water are hydrophobic in nature, they repel water, instead gathering on the surfaces of the nurdles and microplastics. Additionally, research has shown that nurdles can also carry deadly bacteria like E. coli and cholera if they come near contaminated water.

What is the world doing about it?

Despite the danger and environmental threat posed by nurdles, there is very little being done to prevent their spillage into the environment. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has not deemed nurdles hazardous enough to be regulated by the organisation’s dangerous goods code for safe handling and storage.

The threat from the plastic pellets was known since 1993, when it was highlighted by the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a report, that also talked about how the plastic industry could contribute to reducing spillage.

Also read: Explained: What are dead zones in the ocean and what do they mean

Nurdle spills and effects

The X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and sunk near the Sri Lankan coast earlier in the year, releasing over 1,680 tonnes of nurdles into the ocean. Last year, MV Trans Carrier lost 10 tonnes of pellets, that then washed up on the coasts of Denmark, Sweden and Norway and another spill occurred near South Africa.

In 2019, around 342 containers of nurdles were spilled into the North Sea. In 2018, 49 tonnes of plastic pellets were spilled in an accident that affected 2,000 km of South Africa’s coastline.

Also read: Big Oil’s flagship plastic waste project sinks on the Ganges

Accidents like this not only cause irreparable harm for the local marine life but can have disastrous consequences on the livelihood of the region’s people and their food safety over the long term.

“The sinking of the X-Press Pearl — and spill of chemical products and plastic pellets into the seas of Sri Lanka — caused untold damage to marine life and destroyed local livelihoods,” Hemantha Withanage, Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice in Sri Lanka told the Gaurdian.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Unemployment rate at 9.3% in January-March 2021: NSO survey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The unemployment rate for all ages in urban areas rose to 9.3 percent in January-March 2021 from 9.1 percent in the same month of the previous year, showed a periodic labour force survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Joblessness or unemployment rate (UR) is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.

The UR for CWS (current weekly status) in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above was 10.3 percent in October-December 2020, the ninth Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed. It also showed that the unemployment rate among females in urban areas (age 15 and above) rose to 11.8 percent in January-March 2021 from 10.6 percent a year ago. It was 13.1 percent in October-December 2020.

Among males, the UR in the urban area (age 15 years and above) remained flat at 8.6 percent in January-March 2021 compared to a year ago. It was 9.5 percent in October-December 2020 Labour force participation rate in CWS (current weekly status) in urban areas for persons of 15 years of age and above was 47.5 percent in the January-March quarter of 2021, down from 48.1 percent in the same period a year ago. It was 47.3 percent in October-December 2020.

Labour force refers to the part of the population which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for the production of goods and services and therefore, includes both employed and unemployed persons.

Also Read | Unemployment remains urban Indians’ biggest worry in November 2021: Survey

NSO launched PLFS in April 2017. On the basis of PLFS, a quarterly bulletin is brought out giving estimates of labour force indicators namely UR, Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of work in Current Weekly Status (CWS). The estimates of unemployed persons in CWS give an average picture of unemployment in a short period of seven days during the survey period.

In the CWS approach, a person is considered unemployed if he/she did not work even for one hour on any day during the week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour on any day during the period. The Labour force according to CWS is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week preceding the date of the survey. LFPR is defined as the percentage of the population in the labour force.

WPR (in percent) in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above stood at 43.1 percent in January-March 2021, down from 43.7 percent in the same period a year ago. It was 42.4 percent in October-December 2020. Nine bulletins of PLFS corresponding to quarters ended December 2018, March 2019, June 2019, September 2019, December 2019, March 2020, June 2020, September 2020 and December 2020 have already been released. The latest bulletin is the tenth in the series.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Too early to decide Omicron’s virulence; travel ban may be counter-productive: K Srinath Reddy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continue to keep governments and the medical community on the edge. The WHO has warned that given the mutations, the likelihood of further spread of Omicron at the global level is high.

Meanwhile, the Centre has advised states to keep a strict vigil on international passengers entering the country. States have also been asked to ramp up testing and vaccination for prompt identification of any Omicron cases.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, K Srinath Reddy, President of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) said there is sufficient evidence to believe that the new Omicron variant is likely to be more infectious but it’s too early to decide how virulent it is.

“It is too early yet to decide upon how virulent the virus is. There is sufficient evidence to believe that it is likely to be more infectious based on its changes and multiple mutations which allow it to gain easy entry into the human cells. It also has a greater capacity to multiply faster and even in the throat the viral load is likely to be higher. So, transmissibility is certain but in terms of virulence the number of mutations or the nature of mutations on the surface do not necessarily give evidence of increased virulence.”

Also Read: Unfamiliar but mild symptoms: South African doctor shares her observation on Omicron COVID variant

Compared to the Delta variant, the virulence of Omicron appears to be lower but more study needs to be done, he said.

He said there is a need to increase surveillance at entry points but added that travel bans are likely to be counter-productive.

“In terms of preventing the entry of the virus from outside India into India, we should certainly look at how we can increase our surveillance at the entry points but I believe travel bans are not likely to be useful and are likely to be even counter-productive. We do need to ensure that travellers are tested before they emplane and after they deplane and also track them when they are quarantining or staying at home. So, that degree of surveillance must be maintained but banning flights I don’t think is justified.”

Also Read: Omicron variant threat: India Inc feels next 2-4 weeks will be crucial

To prevent the spread of Omicron in India, people must follow COVID-appropriate behaviour, i.e. physical distancing, wearing masks, etc, he added.

Watch video for more.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Maruti Suzuki hikes prices of Eeco van by Rs 8,000

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday said it has increased prices of all non-cargo variants of its Eeco van by Rs 8,000 owing to the introduction of the passenger airbag. The increase in price is effective from November 30, 2021, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Prices of the passenger version of Eeco starts at Rs 4.3 lakh and goes up to Rs 5.6 lakh, while the ambulance version is priced at Rs 7.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Earlier in September this year, the company had increased the prices of its entire product range, except Celerio, by up to 1.9 percent. It was the third price hike of its passenger vehicles this year.

Also Read | Suzuki S Cross 2022 unveiled; prices may start at Rs 10 lakh

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained: What is Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index touched the lowest level since July 2021 this week to the ‘extreme fear’ level as the Bitcoin price plunged to $42,000 – the lowest level since late September as a hawkish Federal Reserve sapped investors’ appetite for risky assets such as Bitcoin. The number two cryptocurrency, Ethereum-based crypto, Ether also declined 4 percent to $3,200-level.

What is the cryptocurrency fear and greed index?

Like in other markets, there are tools that can help in getting a broad sense of the direction of crypto prices. One such tool that is popular among crypto investors is the Fear and Greed Index.

This index is similar to the stock market fear and greed index, which Investopedia suggests was created by CNNMoney to measure the two primary emotions that influence investors’ market decisions.

The crypto index, which is currently only for Bitcoin, captures bearish and bullish trends by gauging investor sentiment for the coin. As the name suggests, the market trend is identified based on two emotions – fear and greed.

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Alternative.me, a website that provides statistics and lists various software and their alternatives, designed the fear and greed index to determine the performance of crypto assets. While the index is currently applicable only to Bitcoin, other cryptos are expected to be added soon.

Alternative.me explains: “The crypto market behaviour is very emotional. People tend to get greedy when the market is rising which results in FOMO (Fear of missing out). Also, people often sell their coins in the irrational reaction of seeing red numbers. With our Fear and Greed Index, we try to save you from your own emotional overreactions.”

How does it work?

The fear and greed index is on a scale of 0-100, where 0 represents extreme fear, and 100 represents extreme greed. A score of 50 represents neutral, where the investors are neither greedy nor fearful.

In a blog, Alternative.me laid out the two assumptions around investor sentiment. If investors are becoming too fearful, then it could be a good buying opportunity and if they are too greedy, the market may be due for a correction.

The sentiment is analysed based on data from five sources; all of them are valued the same as the day before to represent meaningful progress.

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• Volatility – the current volatility of the coin is measured and compared with the corresponding average values of the last 30 days and 90 days. High volatility indicates more fear.
• Market momentum – current volume and market momentum for the coin are tracked again compared with an average of the last 30 and 90 days. High buying volumes in a positive market on daily basis indicate greed.
• Social media – Twitter posts are monitored to keep a check on how fast and how many interactions they receive in a time frame. A higher interaction rate than normal indicates greed. A Reddit Sentiment Analysis may also be added soon.
• Dominance – this refers to the market cap share compared to the entire crypto market. When bitcoin’s market cap share expands, it indicates investors may be dumping other altcoins due to fear and vice versa.
• Trends – Google trends data for various bitcoin-related search queries is bunched up and search volume changes are monitored to formulate a measurable metric.

Weekly crypto polls were also conducted in conjunction with strawpoll.com (owned by Alternative.me) asking investors their view/outlook on the market. However, such surveys are currently on hold.

At the time of writing this article, the crypto fear and greed index reflected fear, with a score of 33. Typically, a score below 25 would signify extreme fear and might be a good time to explore buying opportunities. A score above 75 might mean extreme greed and an ideal time to start booking profits.

However, investors must keep in mind that a single tool such as this index may not present a complete picture of the trend in crypto prices, and relying on just one tool to make any investment decisions may prove to be risky. It is always advisable to research well to make informed decisions.

Also Read | Explained: What are private cryptocurrencies? How they are different from public ones

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How to manage risks while investing in share markets?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The stock market appears intimidating for many as it is perceived as a speculative business with no certainty of return. It is, thus, widely misconstrued for gambling or betting. The myths surrounding the stock market in India act as a catalyst creating fear of investing and trading.

Common misconceptions hamper potential investors/traders from learning and gaining from the stock market – be it you can only make money by investing huge chunks, expert advice is a must, or high risk means high return.
However, this trend is reversing.

According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, investors opened a record 7.2 million Demat accounts in Q12021. Often, traders fail to understand the importance of risk management, resulting in resistance towards stock trading and investing. With the help of risk management techniques, you too can utilize the wealth creation potential of the market.

If you consider investing in the stock market but are held back by market myths, this is for you.

Technical Analysis

It’s widely said that ‘history repeats itself.’ Maintaining this belief, technical analysis studies the stock price movement and predicts its behavior. It presents a pictorial representation of price history, making it easier to capture the market reactions.

The price and volume information will help you determine indicators such as moving averages, relative strength index, Bollinger bands, etc. These technical indicators will acquaint you with the potential risks involved, and you will be in a better position to minimize them or even turn them into profitable holding positions.

Diversification

One of the most important ways of managing risk is to diversify your portfolio. It means to put your money prudently and judiciously in stocks with varying volatility and unrelated themes. When you divide funds with the expectation that the positive performance of some will offset the negative performance of others, you minimize the risk posed at you by one set of stocks.

The goal of diversification is to reduce the risk. If you invest in things that do not move in the same direction, simultaneously, or at the same pace, you potentially reduce your chances of losing all of your money.

Risk Reward Ratio

The risk-reward ratio acts as a measure to compare the probable returns out of a particular investment/trade to the amount of risk an investor takes to get these returns. To assess the ratio, you need to divide the risk – the amount the investor will lose – if the price moves negatively by the reward – the investor’s profit when the position is closed. You should also maintain a ratio where the potential loss over the investment need not be higher than any predictable profit.

Beware of Unsolicited Stock Tips

Over the past few years, along with the increasing number of retail investors, there has also been an increase in unsolicited stock tip messages, calls, and websites. These are dubious schemes by tipsters where they pick illiquid stocks which typically are not actively traded. The prices of these stocks go up as people flock in with the circulation of messages.

As the price keeps going up, these tipsters keep offloading the stocks in large quantities. Sooner or later, they start hitting lower circuits for months, leaving investors trapped.

You should never invest or trade based on anonymous and fraudulent stock tips. Most of these stocks are window-dressed and illiquid. Always stay away from trading or investing, based on stock tips, messages and calls. If you receive such calls or messages, report them on SEBI and the Exchange tiplines.

Understanding the psychology of a trader

Different traders can analyze the same charts from a different perspective, and this is because of the varying psychologies. In the stock market, when someone is buying the stock and the other is selling it, both think they are right. Often traders get emotionally attached at the time of entering a position. It may happen because when traders put more money at stake, the fear of losing money rises.

In such circumstances, the only way to manage your capital is to pre-define the risk, pre-plan, and prepare yourself for losing. Remember, you can lose any trade. There is an element of uncertainties for any given series of transactions. However, capital management is the only thing that will save you against all odds and help you succeed in the long run.

The author, Anish Singh Thakur, is CEO at Booming Bulls Academy. The views expressed are personal

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow