business news

Amazon India is gearing up to launch its quick commerce service, codenamed Tez, by late December or early next year, marking the company's first venture into the quick commerce space globally. This move is set to put Amazon in direct competition with established players in the sector, including Zepto, Zomato’s Blinkit, and Swiggy’s Instamart, which currently dominate the market.

Dubai: A unique tea offering at an Indian-origin cafe in Dubai is making headlines, with a cup of ‘Gold Karak’ tea priced at a staggering ₹1 lakh (5,000 AED). The extravagant beverage, created by Sucheta Sharma, the owner of Boho Cafe, has garnered both intrigue and criticism, sparking a debate on social media.

Reddit, a popular social news aggregation and discussion platform, has suffered a second significant outage within 24 hours, impacting thousands of users across the United States. The issue was tracked by Downdetector, which reported over 70,000 outage reports, primarily from Reddit users in the US. The outage left many unable to access both the website and mobile app, disrupting the usual activity on the platform.

India is set to launch a new scheme offering up to $5 billion in incentives to companies that manufacture key electronic components locally. This initiative, aimed at reducing the country's reliance on China for electronics supplies, comes as India’s electronics production has more than doubled over the past six years, reaching an impressive $115 billion in 2024. The scheme is expected to be unveiled in the next two to three months.

Air India has announced its plan to establish a Basic Maintenance Training Organisation (BMTO) in Bengaluru to address the growing demand for skilled aircraft maintenance engineers as the airline expands its fleet. The BMTO will offer a 2+2-year Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME) programme, certified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

In a significant development for the Indian stock market, online food delivery giant Zomato will be included in the prestigious BSE Sensex, replacing JSW Steel from December 23, 2024. This reconstitution of the Sensex, which is announced by Asia Index Private Ltd, a subsidiary of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), will take effect on the specified date.

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, known for his ambitious ventures ranging from electric vehicles to space exploration, has responded to TIME magazine’s December edition, which featured a headline asking, “What’s next on his to-do list?” The magazine’s cover photo of Musk displayed a checklist of major accomplishments and future aspirations, including goals like “Become richest man,” “Buy Twitter,” “Launch rocket,” “Fly to Mars,” and “Implant human brain chip.” However, the list also included unchecked items like “Slash $2 trillion” and “Fly to Mars.”

Ola Electric, the electric vehicle (EV) company led by Bhavish Aggarwal, has announced plans to lay off at least 500 employees as part of a significant restructuring initiative aimed at improving operational efficiency and addressing mounting losses. The company, which has faced controversies, including a government probe and consumer complaints, is making the move to cut redundancies and streamline its workforce in an effort to drive profitability.

In a fresh legal development, Byju Raveendran, the founder of the embattled ed-tech giant Byju's, has been accused of attempting to secretly regain control of the company using hidden loan funds. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Raveendran allegedly hid millions of dollars of loan proceeds to purchase back a software company that had been taken over by an American trustee.

Food delivery giant Zomato has issued a statement addressing the growing concerns about suspicious "one-dish" restaurants on its platform, which were reportedly selling items with vague names at high prices. These restaurants, some of which listed items like "Naughty Strawberry" and "Merry Berry," had raised suspicion among users who feared that the dishes were code names for illicit items such as drugs or vapes.