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< Back What made Meesho the most downloaded shopping app globally? Ishita Nigam 23 Aug 2023 Meesho, backed by Meta, surpassed amazon and Flipkart as the fastest growing app with 500 million downloads in 2022. Meesho, launched in 2015, has defied the eCommerce norms to become the most downloaded shopping app in the world. Unlike amazon and Flipkart, that aim at the top 5% buyers of home appliances and smartphones, Meesho focuses on unbranded items like jeans, kurtas, gadgets, and footwear for the non-metro, small town audience. It offers branded products too, like boAt, Paragon, Zebronics, Decathlon, and Portronics in its app-in-app 'Meesho Mall'. What sets it apart from competitors is that it permits users to resell their purchased items to family and friends by posting product listings on WhatsApp. Moreover, its zero commission model allows sellers to offer their products at much cheaper prices. But that's not it. To strengthen its reach in small towns, it reduced the size of its app to 13.6 MB so it can be easily downloaded and installed in areas with limited internet connectivity. It reached 500 million downloads in 2022, surpassing Amazon and Flipkart. Previous Next

< Back First electric plane flies passengers 130 km for ₹694 23 Jun 2025 Beta Technologies’ CX300 became the first electric plane to take flight on June 3rd, 2025. Beta Technologies created history on June 3rd when their ALIA CX300, a CTOL (Conventional Take-off and Landing) electric plane, flew from East Hampton to JFK Airport, New York. The plane carried four passengers and a pilot, who reported a quiet cabin ambience without any engine noise. Charging the plane and the 35-minute plane ride cost the company ₹694 ($8), excluding pilot fees. A helicopter ride on this route typically costs over ₹13,000 ($160) for fuel. ALIA CX300 is expected to receive the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval by 2025 end. Fully charging takes less than an hour, and it can fly up to 463 km on a single charge. It can carry up to five passengers and cargo up to 200 cubic feet. Archer Aviation will be the official air taxi partner for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. It is awaiting FAA approval and plans to begin operations by 2026. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back CG Semi to roll out first Made-in-India chip soon 30 Aug 2025 IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated CG Semi’s pilot OSAT facility in Sanand on Thursday. CG Semi’s Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test plant in Sanand, Gujarat, is India’s first end-to-end facility. Built in collaboration with Renesas Electronics and Stars Microelectronics with a 6.8% and 0.9% stake. The ₹7,600 crore project comprises two units: the pilot unit G1 and the larger commercial plant G2. The ₹600 crore G1 unit employs around 200 staff. It was inaugurated on August 28th and began production on the same day. It will produce 0.5 million chips daily. The ₹7,000 crore G2 will employ around 1,000 people. Together, the two units could produce around 15 million chips daily or 4.7 billion annually within five years. Micron, Tata, and Kaynes are also developing their semiconductor plants in Sanand. Micron’s should be ready by January 2026. The India Semiconductor Mission approved 10 units, of which four are in Gujarat, 2 in Odisha, and one each in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Assam. Check out my new book, THE BLACK FLAMES , on Amazon Kindle. Previous Next

Le fab s’appellera « Shakti » et sera établie en Inde en 2025. < Back L’Inde va construire l’une des premières usines nationales de fabrication de semi-conducteurs au monde Le fab s’appellera « Shakti » et sera établie en Inde en 2025. A la suite des entretiens entre le Premier ministre indien Narendra Modi et le président américain Joe Biden à Wilmington, les deux pays ont annoncé le lancement d’une usine nationale de fabrication de semi-conducteurs. Il s’agit du premier partenariat de fabrication de semi-conducteurs entre les deux pays. L’usine fabriquera des semi-conducteurs infrarouges, en nitrure de gallium et en carbure de silicium. Elle beneficiera du soutien de la mission indienne sur les semi-conducteurs et d’un partenariat stratégique entre 3rdiTech, Bharat Semi, et l’US Space Force. Outre les télécommunications de la prochaine génération, l’usine créera des puces pour l’électronique de puissance et la détection avancée pour la sécurité nationale, ainsi que des applications dans le domaine de l’énergie verte. Il s’agira de la première installation de fabrication multi-matériaux pour la sécurité nationale. L’usine fournira des puces aux forces armées américaines, aux armées alliées et aux forces de défense indiennes. Previous Next

< Back Old scooter brands Luna and LML Star to go electric in 2024 23 Jan 2024 The 70s iconic brands are relaunching the mega successful brands as electric scooters this year. Market demand and governmental push are driving old brands from the 70s and 80s to return this year revamped as EVs. Bajaj Chetak’s electric scooter, launched in January 2020, became a thrashing success. This prompted the two-wheeler makers to follow suit. 8,59,000 electric two-wheelers were sold in India in 2023, a jump of 36% compared to 2022. E-Luna will be launched by March with a price tag of around ₹80,000, and LML’s Star electric scooter between April and June this year for around ₹1 lakh . Bajaj, TVS, Ola, and Ather control over 90% of the EV two-wheeler market. Suzuki, Yamaha, and Honda plan to enter the segment by this year's end. Kinetic’s e-Luna will be designed to carry B2B and last mile deliveries, too, and offer a top speed of up to 50-52 kmph. Besides, Okinawa and Gogoro 2 series electric scooters will also be launched by year end. Previous Next

< Back Pursuing growth, IT companies turn away from subcontracting 17 Sept 2024 FY24 saw a rapid decline in subcontracting shares of several IT giants, hitting the lowest figures in almost eight years. The Indian IT industry has relied on subcontracting, especially during the pandemic, to meet hiring needs and close in-house skill gaps. Often, these companies need subcontracting to meet the client's requirements on time. This practice gradually increased the costs of subcontracting talent from third-party agencies, which hiked further in the past 18 months, mainly due to high attrition. The declining margins and slowing industrial growth pushed IT companies away from subcontracting to lower their costs. TCS recorded subcontracting costs at 4% of its total revenue in Q1 FY25, the lowest since FY16. Wipro logged it at 11.3% in the same period, again the lowest since FY16. Tech Mahindra’s costs were 12.6%, the lowest since FY19, and Infosys recorded 8.1% last financial year, the lowest since FY21. They are also focusing on strengthening in-house skillsets to optimise cost efficiency, better utilisation of billable hours, and control administrative expenses to boost margins. Previous Next

< Back Jio, Airtel and Vi increase mobile tariffs from this week 1 Jul 2024 Jio and Airtel announced tariff hikes effective from July 3rd, while Vi will raise them from July 4th to improve their Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). After two and a half years, Jio announced a 12-25% increase in all prepaid and postpaid mobile tariff plans from July 3rd. There will be no change in data allowance, calling minutes, or complementary OTT subscription. Airtel will raise its tariff by 11-21% and Vi by 11-24% on all prepaid and postpaid plans. Prepaid users can recharge before July 3rd to save money, although postpaid users will see hikes in their subsequent billing cycles. The move comes after much lobbying and efforts by telecom players to raise tariffs to stay afloat. Jio and Airtel need to improve their returns after they paid hefty amounts for 5G bandwidth in 2022, while Vi needs to fuel its ₹23,000 crore equity fundraising efforts and boost a bleeding balance sheet. Airtel and Jio are making profits, while Vi is not. The tariff hikes are expected to improve the ARPU by 13-17% for these telecoms. Previous Next

< Back UK, US sending team to investigate AI plane crash 13 Jun 2025 Of the two black boxes aboard AI 171, the rear unit has been retrieved along with a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the Air India AI 171 plane crash investigation. The leading and global assisting teams will follow the international protocols of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) sent an investigation team. Led by British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, they will work under the ‘expert status’ following the death of 53 British nationals in the crash. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor, is a British citizen of Indian origin. The US is sending the National Transportation Safety Board officials to assist with the investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) team will offer technical support and review safety data. Boeing and GE Aerospace engineers will analyse the crash wreckage and engine performance. The crash site temperature reached nearly 1,000 degrees, making the rescue attempts difficult. Tata Group has offered the victims' families an ₹1 crore ex-gratia payment. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Microsoft introduces agentic AI model Magma 21 Feb 2025 It combines language and visual processing to control software and robotic systems. Microsoft’s Magma can process multimodal data like texts, images, and videos and act on it. That’s irrespective of whether it is navigating a user interface, like clicking buttons and filling forms or manipulating physical objects, like commanding a robot to pick up things and move objects. It has been developed by researchers from Microsoft, the University of Maryland, KAIST, the University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Microsoft’s ChatGPT for Robotics and Google’s RT-2 and PALM-E are AI-based robotics models that use large language models (LLMs) as interfaces and require separate models for perception and control. Magma integrates both abilities into a single base model. Microsoft is positioning it as agentic AI that can formulate plans and act on them rather than just answer questions. OpenAI’s Operator and Google’s Gemini 2.0 are endeavours towards agentic AI. Microsoft also launched Muse, a videogame AI model that generates visuals and actions. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Amazon opens up its fulfillment infrastructure for non-partner sellers Ishita Nigam 1 Sept 2023 The eCommerce giant announced the launch of Multi-Channel Fulfillment, allowing small businesses and D2C brands to use Amazon’s logistics and supply chain services. Amazon announced on Thursday the launch of its Multi Channel Fulfillment, allowing non-partner small businesses and D2C brands to use its logistics and supply chain services. This will enable these non-partner sellers to use Amazon’s warehouses and storage facilities for storing, picking, packing, and shipping their products through multiple sales channels, including their own website. Amazon recently signed an MoU with India Post to facilitate cross-border logistics so its sellers in India can smoothly send their products abroad. It is also partnering with Indian Railways’ Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India to offer seamless domestic logistics solutions to its sellers in the country. The eCommerce giant pledged to log $8 billion of exports from India in 2023. On the tech front, Amazon will soon roll out a generative AI tool and virtual assistant, Amazon Sahai, to help sellers on its platform clarify queries, list products, and analyse trends. Previous Next

< Back Rapido's Ownly to charge 8-15% commission from restaurants 11 Jun 2025 Rapido worked with the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) for six months to develop the commercial structure. Ownly, the food delivery app by the ride-hailing platform Rapido, will be launched in Bengaluru by month end. Swiggy and Zomato charge the restaurants 15-20% commission per order. It will levy a ₹25 fee per order for orders up to ₹400 and ₹50 for orders above ₹400. It will charge the customers a ₹20 delivery fee, but no platform fee. This model will ensure the restaurants will not incur losses due to the discounts offered by the food delivery apps to their customers. For restaurants unwilling to offer discounts, Ownly will provide tools and data to offer discounts to selected customers. Effectively, the cost of ordering from a restaurant will be the same as dining in. Rapido will start charging the restaurants a subscription fee to make the business viable. Zomato recently announced a new fee of ₹20 for deliveries between 4-6 km, and ₹40 for deliveries beyond 6 km. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Network18 to merge TV18 and e-Eighteen.com into itself 7 Dec 2023 The media giant received the Board’s nod to create a single listed entity with these two companies. TV18 will be dissolved without winding up. Network18 announced plans to merge its two entities: TV18, which owns a 13.54% stake in Viacom18, and e-Eighteen.com , which owns Moneycontrol.com . Network18 secured the nod from the Board of both companies to consolidate digital media and broadcasting businesses and form a single listed entity under its brand name. The new entity will include TV18’s TV portfolio comprising CNBCTV18.com and 20 new channels in 16 languages, Network18’s digital assets comprising News18.com in 13 languages and Firstpost, and Moneycontrol.com website and app. The move will create India’s largest news media platform with the widest range of languages covered via TV and digital media. It will lead to operational collaborations, cost optimisation, and higher revenue. Earlier, Network18 held a 91.89% stake in e-Eighteen.com , an unlisted entity, and a 51.17% stake in TV18, a listed entity. TV18 shareholders will receive 100 equity shares of Network18 at ₹5 each for every 172 shares of TV18. Previous Next