< Back Satellite communication to become mainstream in the next few years Ishita Nigam 19 Oct 2023 MediaTek and Qualcomm have developed chipsets to support satcom, giving customers access to satellite communication for messages, calls, and broadband data. Prominent chipmakers like MediaTek and Qualcomm have developed mobile chipsets that can use satellite communication or Satcom for sending messages, making calls, and using broadband data. This technology can facilitate information and data flow at high speeds across inaccessible or difficult to reach regions. This technology can become mainstream if more Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) adopt it as per global open standards and develop it on a mass scale. Currently, five to six devices worldwide, including iPhone 14 and 15, offer satellite connectivity. If companies adopt company-specific standards, this technology will be difficult to adopt on a mass scale. Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon have this direct to device satellite connectivity services and are pushing their own standards. As of now, Satcom is used only for network coverage in emergencies and gives access only to messages. But in the next few years, it will also enable calling and data usage. Previous Next

< Back SEBI mandates standard brokering charges for all stockbrokers 4 Jul 2024 In its circular on July 1st, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) directed the exchanges to scrap the slab-based pricing system for stockbrokers. Stock exchanges offer slab-based pricing and rebates to stockbrokers based on the trade volumes they generate per month. This translates as the higher the trading volume, the bigger the discount, and helps stock exchanges improve trading across segments. This is bound to stop from October 2nd 2024. The circular states that Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) like stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations must be “True to label” in their fee structure effective October 2nd, 2024. It directed market intermediaries to stop offering stockbrokers rebates for issuing large trading volumes. It further asked stockbrokers to charge their customers only the amount they need to pass on to the exchanges and not seek rebates from exchanges. This impacts stockbrokers, traders and investing customers (retail investors). Discount brokers like Zerodha, Groww, AngelOne, and Upstox built their brand image around zero or lower brokerage fees, which will be impacted. Previous Next

< Back IT Ministry’s Digital Brand Identity Manual to strengthen govt websites 19 Feb 2025 The Manual (DBIM) will help prepare a standard design language for government websites. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)’s DBIM framework, launched on Tuesday, will facilitate the government’s digital footprint across different ministries and agencies. The commerce ministry’s website is set for launch. Digital India Corporation, which operates under MeitY, is developing Digital India Bhashini as part of the National Language Translation Mission to offer translation services in 22 Indian languages. Meanwhile, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is creating an AI hub to facilitate the smooth flow of information on government projects and enable multilingual content translation in many Indian languages. Several IITs, along with IIM Indore and the Department of Science and Technology, are developing BharatGen, the first government-funded multimodal large language model (LLM) in the world. AI4Bharat is working on Chitralekha, an open-source video transcreation platform. As per the Stanford AI Index 2024, India leads the AI skill penetration worldwide and owns 16% of the global AI talent. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Banu Mushtaq: The second Indian to win International Booker Prize 22 May 2025 Geetanjali Shree was the first Indian to win the award in 2022 for her book ‘Tomb of Sand’, translated from Hindi to English by Daisy Rockwell. Banu Mushtaq, a lawyer and women’s rights activist, and her translator, Deepa Bhasti, won the International Booker Prize 2025 for her novel Heart Lamp ( Edeya Hanate in Kannada). It is a collection of 12 short stories on the Dalits and women, selected from her works published between 1990 and 2023. Mushtaq, born in 1948 in Hassan, Karnataka, emerged as a coveted literary voice during the Bandaya Sahitya (Rebel Literature) movement in the 1970s. Around 20 years ago, she faced a knife attack for advocating women’s rights to pray in mosques. The International Booker Prize includes a £50,000 cash reward, split equally between the writer and the translator. Each shortlisted author and translator receives £2,500. This is the first time a collection of short stories has won the British literary honour, and the second time a Kannada to English novel has been shortlisted. The first was U.R. Ananthamurthy’s body of work. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Porter turns unicorn after an internal funding round 17 May 2024 Around 20 people, family and friends, bought shares worth ₹25 crore from Porter’s Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) at a valuation of $1 billion. Porter became the third unicorn this year after Ola’s AI company, Krutrim, and fintech startup Perfios. Backed by PeakXV, Porter’s primary valuation was $514 million in 2021 after raising $101 million in a Series E round from investors, including Tiger Global, Lightrock India, and Vitruvian Partners. Porter offers on-demand last-mile delivery through light commercial vehicles. This secondary funding round was supposed to be at a discount of 25-30% from the primary valuation, as per the norm. However, its leadership pinned its valuation at $1 billion. Launched in 2014, Porter focuses on the two-wheeler intra-city courier service for revenue generation. Its revenue doubled in FY2023 from ₹848 crore to approximately ₹1,754 crore despite 43% higher losses worth ₹175 crore. Indian startups are facing slowed secondary funding. Up to one-fifth of the big venture capital deals from 2023 to April 2024 saw a steep reduction in valuations, the highest since 2015. Previous Next

< Back Union Cabinet unanimously approves One Nation, One Election report 19 Sept 2024 The panel led by former Indian president Ram Nath Kovind had presented the report in March ahead of the Lok Sabha election announcement. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ report was part of the Law Ministry’s 100-day agenda for the new government. The bill could be introduced during Parliament’s winter session. It suggests several changes in the election format, including simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, thus reducing the election frequency to save resources and boost social cohesion. The polls of local bodies like Municipalities and Panchayats are proposed to be held within 100 days of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. It also recommended introducing common voter ID and electoral roll cards by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and establishing a specialised Implementation Group to ensure proper execution of this panel’s recommendations. Its complete implementation requires amendments to the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act. A PTI report states that the Law Commission may recommend simultaneous elections at the central, state, and local levels starting in 2029. Previous Next

< Back India’s renewable power generation rises 86% since 2014 9 Oct 2024 Global investors pledged to invest ₹32 lakh crore at the RE-Invest 2024 Summit. India’s renewable energy (RE) rose to 360 billion units in 2024 from 193.5 billion units in 2014. Its capacity has increased 175% from 75 gigawatts (GW) to 208 GW against its target of 500 GW renewable energy by 2030. Projects for 91 GW of power are currently in tendering. India now ranks 4th globally in renewable energy installed and wind power capacity. Its solar energy capacity has grown 33 times since 2014. In 2023, India achieved two Nationally Determined Contribution targets ahead of time. Between 2005 and 2019, the share of carbon emissions intensity to GDP was reduced by 33%, against the target of 33-35% by 2030. It also had a target to achieve an overall electric power installed capacity from renewable sources of around 40% by 2030. On October 31st, 2023, it recorded this capacity from renewable sources at 186.46 MW, which is 43.81% of the total installed capacity. Previous Next

< Back Payment aggregators seeking new revenue streams a year after RBI ban 5 Dec 2023 RBI banned new merchant acquisition for Paytm in November 2022, Razorpay and Cashfree in December 2022, and PayU in January 2023. It’s been a year since RBI banned new merchant acquisitions for payment aggregators (PAs) like Paytm, Razorpay, Cashfree, and PayU. These fintech giants were asked to reapply for the Payment Aggregator (PA) license. Merchant onboarding is the major earnings generator for these companies. None of them expected the embargo to last for a year. The inability to monitor and control access to sensitive data and improper audits triggered the ban. The regulator is minutely scrutinizing the PAs who have reapplied for the license. In September 2023, RBI asked the fintech industry to form a self-regulatory authority. New entrants like CCAvenue and Pine Lab's Plural are heavily acquiring merchants, eating away their market share. Looking for other revenue means, Razorpay launched new value adds for the payments and D2C channel. Paytm shifted focus to offline merchant transactions done through NFC and QR codes. PayU turned to existing merchant transactions and Wibmo subscriptions. Previous Next

< Back No funding, unsellable EVs deepen BluSmart’s troubles 8 Apr 2025 Gensol Engineering, BluSmart’s sister concern, witnessed its market cap slide from ₹4,250 crore in May 2024 to now ₹665 crore. On March 28th, Refex withdrew its deal to buy 2,997 EVs from Gensol. Gensol, founded in 2012, is a listed solar engineering and construction enterprise. BluSmart, founded in 2019, is its sister concern. Anmol Singh Jaggi founded both companies. BluSmart’s rise in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru is attributed to better-quality cabs, punctuality, and well-trained drivers with minimal cancellations. It raised USD24 million in July 2024 from MS Dhoni’s Family Office, ReNew, and Zurich-based responsibility Investments. BluSmart positioned as a sustainable alternative to Uber and Ola, who hire drivers having their own cars. Gensol took loans from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to buy EVs, which BluSmart picked up. BluSmart’s profits did not benefit Gensol as they are separate entities. Gensol now has IREDA’s unpaid loans worth ₹470 crores, thus affecting its credit rating, reputation, and share price. BluSmart entered a leasing partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra, Kinto, and Orix. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

Le traitement de la demande touristique prendra 48 à 72 heures et coûtera 10 livres sterling. < Back À partir de mars 2025, les européens devront obtenir un visa électronique pour se rendre au Royaume-Uni Le traitement de la demande touristique prendra 48 à 72 heures et coûtera 10 livres sterling. À partir de mars 2025, les voyageurs de 83 pays, dont les Français, devront demander une autorisation de voyage électronique. Cette règle sera obligatoire pour tous les voyageurs de courte durée et de transit. Seuls les citoyens des îles britanniques et de l’Irlande ne seront pas affectés. La plateforme de candidature commencera à fonctionner le 27 novembre 2024 pour les citoyens non européens, qui devront soumettre leurs applications avant le 8 janvier 2025. Pour les européens, l’enregistrement débutera le 2 mars 2025. Le ministère de l’intérieur britannique a déclaré sur son site web « Cette décision s’inscrit dans le cadre des reformes post-Brexit qui visent à renforcer la sécurité aux frontières et à gérer efficacement les flux migratoires. » Ce règlement est entre en vigueur dans de nombreux pays du Golfe tels que le Koweït, les Émirats arabes unis, le Qatar, Oman, L’Arabie saoudite et le Bahreïn. Previous Next

< Back TikTok to shut down in the US on Jan 19 17 Jan 2025 A federal ban on TikTok will take effect on Sunday as per the law signed in April 2024. Outgoing President Joe Biden signed a law in April 2024 mandating ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to divest its American assets to a non-Chinese buyer by January 19th, 2025, or face a ban on the app’s downloads on Android and Apple stores. To comply with the law, TikTok announced its plan to shut down its US app on Sunday. However, President-elect Donald Trump is contemplating an executive order to suspend enforcing this law by 60 to 90 days. His term begins on January 20th. Trump’s National Security Advisor designate, Mike Waltz, said that the administration is searching for a way to let TikTok operate in the US while protecting user data. TikTok’s CEO has also been invited to attend the President-elect’s inauguration and sit in a position of honour on the dais. Many US officials are supporting TikTok to be granted more time to sell the app and avoid the ban. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram. Previous Next

Hi! I am Ishita. After a decade in Sales, I created Salestors to share articles & anecdotes on the life of Sales Creators, aka Salestors. Hi, I’m Ishitta! I spent 10 years in Sales across aviation, Market Research & Business Advisory and Digital Vouchers industries. I created Sales torrs to share insights of the profession in the era of Sales-From-Home and some quirky anecdotes. Salestorrs made it to Deb Calvert's Monday Morning Sales Rally six months after launch. Some of my articles have been published on KoolKanya.com , Himalayan Writing Retreat and Unscreen as well. Salestors on Other Writing Platforms I'd Love to Hear From You. Here's How You Can Reach Me Get In Touch