Startup news and updates: daily roundup (January 5, 2023)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Thursday, January 5, 2023.
Mastercard appoints Gautam Aggarwal as Division President, South Asia and Country Corporate Officer, India
has appointed Gautam Aggarwal as Division President for South Asia & Country Corporate Officer, India, effective January 1. Gautam takes the mantle from Nikhil Sahni, who is assuming a new regional role within the company.
Gautam will oversee all of Mastercard’s activities across South Asia and India, including product management, engagements with customers and regulators, marketing and more.
In addition, as head of the payment technology firm’s South Asia division, based out of Mumbai, he will lead operations across the sub-continent, covering Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, and Bhutan, in addition to India.
Gautam Aggarwal
Tagbin to organise Digital Exhibition at 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas Indore
Since 2003, India has been celebrating Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas on January 9 to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's return from South Africa in 1915. Through this event, India acknowledges the support and contributions made by non-resident Indians to the welfare and development of the nation.
To mark the occasion, this year a digital exhibition is being organised in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on the theme “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM)—Contribution of Diaspora in Indian Freedom Struggle” during the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas Convention.
The complete Digital exhibition is being designed and executed by Tagbin, a technology innovation company that designed and managed Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya (PM Museum).
The exhibition will be inaugurated on January 9, 2023, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of India Shrimati Droupadi Murmu, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, amongst others.
LenDenClub appoints Nirmal K. Rewaria as Chief Business Officer–Investments
, a peer-to-peer lending platform is building a formidable leadership team as it prepares for its next growth phase. To this effect, the RBI-registered NBFC-P2P has made a key leadership appointment and hired Nirmal K Rewaria as its Chief Business Officer—Investments.
At LenDenClub, Nirmal would be responsible for enhancing the channel partner network to help financial advisors provide alternative investment opportunities to allocate their clients' assets. Additionally, he would also be responsible for expanding crucial partnerships across the distribution landscape to make LenDenClub's P2P lending offerings more accessible.
Duroflex appoints Rajat Rastogi as the new CFO
has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Rajat Rastogi as Chief Financial Officer. Rajat will oversee all facets of finance and accounting as the company embarks on its growth phase.
He has over 20 years of corporate finance experience across a variety of industries, from FMCG to ecommerce. Previously, he held the role of Finance Head at Udaan.com and has also worked at Livspace, Flipkart, Coca-Cola, and Fosroc Chemicals.
As CFO at Duroflex, Rajat will be responsible for ensuring the organisation's strong financial health. He will oversee FP&A & Controllership functions, lead funding discussions, work with department heads to analyse financial data and develop the company's financial strategy. He will also consult with the Board of Directors and business heads of Duroflex.
NetApp India strengthens its sales leadership team
, a global cloud-led, data-centric software company has appointed Ritesh Doshi as Director, Commercial for India and SAARC, and a member of the NetApp India sales leadership team.
With this, NetApp has stepped up its commitment to help customers unlock the best of cloud, and enjoy an optimised and secure environment. Ritesh Doshi’s appointment aligns with this vision and enables NetApp to continue providing best-in-class hybrid multi-cloud services to its customers.
IBM launches new way to partner through IBM Partner Plus
IBM has rolled out IBM Partner Plus, a new programme that reimagines how the company engages with its business partners through unprecedented access to IBM resources, incentives and tailored support to deepen its technical expertise and help speed time to market.
The programme is designed to fuel growth for new and existing partners, including resellers, hyperscalers, technology providers, independent software vendors and systems integrators, by putting them in control of their earning potential.
Flipkart launches an e-store for sustainable products
Homegrown ecommerce marketplace, today launched ‘Flipkart Green’, a dedicated virtual store on its app, bringing together lakhs of sustainable products to cater to customers looking to adopt a sustainable lifestyle.
The store has a vast selection of fashion, beauty and makeup, grooming, healthcare, food, home and lifestyle products from over 40 brands. In the future, it will offer products from other categories including healthcare, food, sports and fitness, toys, stationery, electronics, and appliances.
ISRO, Microsoft partner to support spacetech startups
(ISRO) and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fuel the growth of space technology startups in India. The MoU seeks to empower space tech startups across the country with technology tools and platforms, go-to-market support and mentoring to help them scale and become enterprise ready.
Through this tie-up, the space tech startups identified by ISRO will be onboarded onto the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub platform. Spacetech startup founders in India will have free access to the tech tools, and resources they need to build and run their business through the platform.
Founders will also have access to Microsoft Learn for tailored startup centric training content and programmes to help them build connections with the industry and potential customers.
Axis Bank, OPEN to launch fully digital current account proposition for businesses
has partnered with OPEN to provide a fully native digital current account journey for its customers including SMEs, freelancers, homepreneurs, and influencers.
This partnership would offer the larger business community access to Axis Bank’s holistic banking experience coupled with OPEN’s end-to-end financial automation tools for business management including payments, accounting, payroll, compliance, expense management and several other services.
All existing Axis bank account holders will get access to OPEN’s all-in-one digital banking platform.
Hamdard signs agreement with Reliance MET City
Model Economic Township Limited (MET City), a wholly owned subsidiary of has signed a definitive agreement with Hamdard Group for setting up a manufacturing facility in Haryana.
Hamdard plans to develop its Hamdard Food Park Cluster (HFPC) to manufacture some of its core foods categories at MET City. It plans to spend up to Rs 150 crore in the first phase of development of its manufacturing facilities.
MediBuddy’s sale to offer tax exemptions under Section 80D
Digital healthcare platform has rolled out a #HealthPeWealth sale, offering customers discounts on its various preventive healthcare packages and tax-saving benefits under section 80D of the Income Tax act.
“The tax saving exemption under the 80D section will encourage the masses to come forward and take advantage of the #HealthPeWealth sale to get a preventive health check done. We see this as a critical step forward in achieving our goal of reaching every Indian and making high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable to one and all,” Satish Kannan, Co-founder and CEO of MediBuddy, said in a media statement.
Salaried or self-employed individuals who invest in insurance policies amounting to a maximum of Rs 25000 for the age category of below 60 and Rs 50000 for those above the age of 60 are eligible for tax exemptions under section 80D of The Income Tax Act.
The sale is from January 10 to 15. Existing as well as new users can avail the benefits of this sale on the MediBuddy app.
(The copy will be updated throughout the day with the latest news.)
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti
