Tag: Eye on India

Developers using AI show massive productivity improvement, says expert

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

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic in the tech industry for several years now, and the excitement and interest surrounding its capabilities continues to grow.

According to Mahesh Makhija, Tech Consulting Leader at EY India, there is a massive improvement in productivity when developers get AI tools, which is why CEOs want their teams to apply use cases with AI technology.

“There is huge amount of excitement and the boardroom is really exploded with interest in AI, not just generative AI but AI in general. So every CEO is demanding of his or her team to come back in terms of what are the use cases which can be implemented with this new technology. If you are a SaaS company, you are trying to look at something like an in-app assistant and that is going to become the way we deal with apps. We have seen a massive improvement in productivity when developers start to get AI tools, there is almost like 30-40 percent improvement in productivity,” Makhija told CNBC-TV18.

Moreover, enterprise companies could see functions transform with generative AI, as observed by Makhija. In fact, Dr. Rohini Srivathsa, CTO at Microsoft India, believes that generative AI can be a huge productivity booster in sales, marketing, and commerce. This AI technology generates new content, which means businesses are not limited by existing data or human input.

One of the advantages of generative AI is that it can create insights on sales opportunities based on customer behavior, as noted by Srivathsa. This technology can help businesses identify patterns and trends that they may not have been able to see without AI’s help. With AI tools, companies can analyse large datasets and generate new ideas that can lead to better decision-making and improved business productivity.

The work in artificial intelligence (AI) has been going on since 2017, but it is only in recent years that the technology has made significant progress. One of the most exciting developments is the evolution of new API-driven platforms thanks to AI, as noted by Makhija. This platform allows businesses to integrate AI technology into their operations without having to develop it themselves.

Recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella declared generative AI as the new race as it announced a $10 billion investment in Open AI which is the maker of ChatGPT – an artificially intelligent chatbot.

Since its launch last November, ChatGPT has set a record for garnering the fastest growing user base. With over 100 million users now using generative AI platforms like ChatGPT every day, it’s clear that the potential of this technology is immense.

Fun experiments have led to excited executions with over 100 products built using the ChatGPT interface in just the first week of March. And there is more to come this year, as Google, Meta and pretty much all enterprises rush to keep pace with the revolution, which is set to change how businesses and common users generate creative solutions to problems.

From marketers crafting personalised campaigns to target every single customer and bankers using generative AI to bank the unbanked to influencers easily dubbing their content in several languages and manufacturers overcoming design dead-ends and cutting costs with better predictions—the new industrial churn is here.

Also Read: Why Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thinks it’s ‘showtime’ for tech industry

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

Stress resolution in India; experts discuss the way ahead

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Five years have passed since the enactment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). In this episode of, ‘Eye on India’ take a closer look on how the IBC has fared and the way forward for stress resolution in the country.

Abizer Diwanji, Leader -Financial Svcs at EY India, said, “There is no denying the fact that there is stress in the system and there has to be. RBI in this report has indicated that we are looking at between 7 and 11 percent of stressed assets, going forward.”

“So, the way we look at it is the reason why companies have not come to IBC is now what is happening is among the filers, especially the financial creditors, is that there is a probability assessment of if a company is put into IBC are we likely to see a tangible or a better result that thinking has come into creditors, creditors financial especially, and hence, there is a lack or slack in cases coming into IBC.”

“The other thing is we have had many one-time restructuring (OTR). So, RBI came out with a scheme called one-time restructuring scheme in August last year, and we had two large companies going in for that scheme and with them, roughly 20 to 25 of companies each in the group actually went for this kind of restructuring. So firstly, the pandemic is not yet over and hence there is no certainty of revival. If there was certainty of revival, we will see more filings in IBC. Because IBC has been an effective way of recoveries and resolutions. The other thing is that because of the one-time settlement, people have gone for it.”

The parliamentary standing committee on finance has raised the red flag on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. It goes on to say that the IBC has digressed from its original basic design. It is worried about what it claims a disproportionately high haircuts that are being taken. The panel has recommended that it be imperative to have a benchmark for a quantum of haircut, which is comparable to global standards.

Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said, “The Standing Committee has been scaling and it has called out a number of critical issues. I feel that the suggestions in the report, and also the general conversation actually don’t go far enough. I think we are setting on an opportunity for a much bigger change, almost like an IBC 3.0. I think we should be very careful about either making cosmetic changes or being too prescriptive of what should be the lower level, I don’t think you can really legislate all that.”

He added, “I think there is an opportunity now to go into the deeper causes of why IBC as it stands today, is essentially a failure. The rose coloured kind of glasses of the initial successes, they are finally off. Nobody in the world believes that it is working now. So, this is this is an opportunity for almost a reinvention of IBC.”

Talking about failure, Shroff said, “I think the design was good for some of the initial cases and it worked well for the initial dozen or so cases. I think the biggest thing it has done is that it has dramatically reduced the market for corporate control and one of the biggest contributors to that have been 29A. Why do you have a 95 percent haircut, because there are no buyers? That’s one problem.”

“The second problem has been the institutional failure of the NCLT system and I think the Standing Committee goes into chapter and verse on that as well. When you have half the, you know, bench strength missing, and no time for a hearing, how do you expect this to work? So that’s another reason for for the problem.”

“I think the third critical issue is the unresolved and almost schizophrenic conflict between value maximisation and, and process sanctity. I think that we need to find an innovative solution to that.”

Amit Agarwal, Sr Exec VP – Stressed Assets at Edelweiss, said, “I might be a little minority in this case, but I do think that IBC has done a great job. The offshored capital, first of all looks very clearly on a contract enforcement mechanism.”

“We definitely feel that wherever there is a contract, the sanctity has to be met, if somebody is a secured lender, he should get money before the unsecured lender and so on and so forth. I think IBC gave a lot of semblance, brought a lot of clarity, because the buyers or the capital the offshore capital that is coming in is off couple of varieties.”

For full interview, watch accompanying video…

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