India’s economic growth picked up pace in the second quarter of the fiscal, helped by strong manufacturing and signs of revival in investment, giving a timely boost to the government as it makes a case for reforms in Parliament. GDP rose 7.4% in the July-September quarter, better than 7% in the April-June period, data released by the statistics office on Monday showed, raising expectations of a further acceleration in growth in the rest of the…

New Jersey-based IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions announced higher bonuses for its 2.19 lakh employees after reporting its biggest jump in quarterly revenue in three years. Cognizant, whose two-third employees are based in India, also raised its annual sales guidance for the third straight quarter on Wednesday. “I’m sending a note out to our entire company right after this call, saying that because of what they’ve delivered on revenue growth, what they’ve delivered on operational…

While digital commerce accounts for less that 1% of retail sales in India, it remains a fast-growing market and Gartner Inc expects it to grow at 40% every year. Accordingly, in order to grow their business, Indian digital commerce players must focus on customer experience, product range, delivery, payment and customer service Gartner says. “Digital commerce is at a nascent stage in India, and it accounts for less than 1 percent of total retail sales…

A month after his meeting with Minister Narendra Modi in California, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who was in Mumbai on Thursday, said Microsoft wants to play a small part in helping India achieve its true potential. During his 45-minute keynote at Future Unleashed, Microsoft’s largest ever customer and partner event in India, Nadella explained how Microsoft has three interlocking ambitions now: Reinvention of productivity and business process and bringing them together; building an intelligent cloud…

Reliance Infrastructure on Wednesday said it has decided to sell its cement manufacturing and road development businesses to focus on defence. The company also said that it has shortlisted 7 potential buyers from 15 interested parties for its cement business which has an annual output of 5.6 million tonnes. The due diligence process for the sale has started and further announcements will be made at the “appropriate stage:, the company said The company also said…

PM Modi arrives in London on November 12 2015 and has a packed schedule during his three-day visit. India and the UK are expected to sign agreements in the financial sector aimed at improving the business climate in India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first official visit to Britain next week. While details of any deals planned have not been released yet, a Financial Times report indicated that recommendations by the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP)…

With its growing number, the Indian-American community’s appetite for authentic Indian restaurants has seen software engineers rise to the occasion and fulfill this need. After a long day at work, when his colleagues at a high-tech firm in Silicon Valley leave the office to unwind, Rohit Rishi gears up for a second shift. He heads to “Shah Restaurant,” an Indo-Pakistani food joint that he owns, located in one of the strip malls on El Camino…

With more than a billion Indians without Internet access, Silicon Valley tech companies are jumping at the chance to get them online — and connected to their services. Over a month ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with all the leading players — Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Facebook (FB, Tech30), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), Tesla (TSLA),Cisco (CISC), Adobe (ADBE) and Qualcomm (QCOM, Tech30) — during his visit to America’s tech hub. His vision to…

Smartphone sales in India soared during the July-September period, rising 20 percent over the same quarter last year, as India approached its festive season, Counterpoint Technology Market Research said in a release Tuesday. Samsung, which retained its lead in the Indian smartphone market, led the 4G segment too, helped by its J series mid-tier smartphones. Sales also reversed the sluggishness of the previous two quarters to increase 12 percent from the April-June period, according to…

Standard Chartered (StanChart) Bank, the largest foreign lender in India in terms of branches, has decided to reduce its unsecured retail and corporate business in India as a part of its global restructuring exercise that will cut 15,000 jobs worldwide. It is not immediately known how many jobs in India will be affected for the Asia-focused bank. Among corporates, the bank has the largest exposure to the infrastructure sector at Rs 9,858 crore, followed by…