A closer look at Ola Electric’s DRHP; LLMs for India

India’s second-largest IT services provider Infosys has lost the $1.5-billion deal with a global company, which it had announced earlier this year. 

On September 14, Infosys said that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with a global company to provide enhanced digital experiences, along with modernisation and business operations services, leveraging its platforms and AI solutions. Infosys hasn’t disclosed the name of the company. 

In other news, BYJU'S parent company Think & Learn Pvt's consolidated revenue from operations rose 2X to Rs 5,015 crore in FY22 from Rs 2,280.2 crore in FY21. However, its losses swelled 1.8x to Rs 8,245 crore from Rs 4,564 crore, according to a report by NDTV Profit.

The edtech giant had recently faced the ire of shareholders, including PeakXV and Prosus, with most of them resigning from the board.

ICYMI: A clean energy milestone and a treaty for oceans–a look back at nine breakthrough climate wins in 2023. 

Oh, and film historian and author Jeremy Arnold has settled the long-term debate over whether or not Die Hard, the 1988 action masterpiece, is a Christmas movie. 

Speaking of holidays, here are 10 underrated Christmas films. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• A closer look at Ola Electric’s DRHP 
• LLMs that understand Indian languages 
• Indian sweets to try this festive season

Here’s your trivia for today: Which popular Christmas song was originally written for Thanksgiving?

EV

A closer look at Ola Electric’s DRHP 

On Friday, Infosys became the first pure-play electric vehicle maker in India to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). The nearly 450-page-long document includes interesting information about the company’s fund utilisation plans, updates on new products, technologies, and financial health, among many other details.

Key takeaways:

• Earlier this August, Ola Electric announced a line-up of four new electric motorcycles as well as the addition of three scooters namely Ola S1 X (2 kWh), Ola S1 X (3 kWh), and Ola S1 X+ to its current EV portfolio.
• As per the DRHP, the company is aiming to commence deliveries of scooters by the first half of fiscal 2025 and bikes by the first half of fiscal 2026. 
• Ola plans to utilise Rs 1,226 crore to fund its capital expenditure requirements for expanding Ola Gigafactory’s manufacturing capacity from 5 GWh to 6.4 GWh.

Technology 

LLMs that understand Indian languages 

OpenAI’s ChatGPT marked the tipping point for generative AI (Gen AI), which was followed by a series of other open models such as Bard, Mistral, and Llama 2. However, these models have limited or no support for Indian languages. Sensing an opportunity here, several homegrown LLMs have emerged and are gaining significant momentum in the AI landscape.

Language:

• Bengaluru-based Krutrim SI Designs, an AI startup founded by Ola Co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, recently launched India’s own AI model developed from scratch. 
• Gen AI startup Sarvam AI has released OpenHathi-Hi-v0.1, the first Hindi LLM in the OpenHathi series. OpenHathi is improving the way computers understand Hindi. 
• Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), ARTPARK (AI & Robotics Technology Park), and Google have collaborated on Project Vaani, which was revealed at the ‘Google for India 2022’ event. 

Food

Indian sweets to try this festive season

Nothing says Christmas better than the good old plum cake! While most of us are accustomed to sinking our teeth into the moist dessert loaded with dry fruits, soaked in rum or whisky, there are many sweet treats from different parts of the country that deserve equal attention. 

Tasty:

• Nevri or Nevreo, as it is locally called in Goa, is a crescent-shaped sweet puff generously filled with coconut, semolina or cardamom. 
• Kerala’s Achappam Rose, a sweet largely popular in Kerala, is also served by the Anglo-Indian community and Christians in Goa and Mangaluru.
• Inspired by the Portuguese Filhoses Enroladas, kulkuls translates to ‘worms’ in Konkani, largely because of their shape. An integral part of the kuswar or the Goan Christmas sweet platter, this sweet treat is characterised by its textured ridges or curls that are generally combed with a fork to make them look more well-defined.

News & updates

• Gaming rules: China's draft online video gaming rules were designed to promote the healthy development of the industry, regulators said on Saturday, adding that the government would further improve the proposed rules after "earnestly studying" public views.
• Extinction: Java Stingarees are the first marine fish to be declared extinct due to human activity. This troubling news was released with the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) latest update of its Red List of Threatened Species last week.
• Record fine: Truck engine maker Cummins Inc. has agreed in principle to pay a $1.675 billion fine for installing devices on hundreds of thousands of engines to allow them to emit excess pollution, the largest-ever civil penalty for a Clean Air Act violation, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Which popular Christmas song was originally written for Thanksgiving?

Answer: Jingle Bells. Written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857, “Jingle Bells” was originally a song for Thanksgiving.

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