{"id":41624,"date":"2024-05-03T02:20:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T02:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/03\/premji-invest-eyes-nainital-bank-stake-ranjan-pai-may-back-rupeek\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T02:20:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T02:20:09","slug":"premji-invest-eyes-nainital-bank-stake-ranjan-pai-may-back-rupeek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/03\/premji-invest-eyes-nainital-bank-stake-ranjan-pai-may-back-rupeek\/","title":{"rendered":"Premji Invest eyes Nainital Bank stake; Ranjan Pai may back Rupeek"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Premji<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

Happy Friday! Azim Premji\u2019s family office is eyeing a majority stake in Bank of Baroda-owned Nainital Bank. This and more in today\u2019s packed edition of ETtech Morning Dispatch.<\/p>\n

Also in this letter:
<\/span>\u25a0 Hiring spike at midcap IT firms
\u25a0 Freshworks CEO steps down
\u25a0 Rakesh Singh is new Paytm Money CEO<\/p>\n

\n

Premji Invest in talks to acquire majority stake in Nainital Bank<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Premji Invest, the family office of Wipro founder Azim Premji, is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Nainital Bank<\/a>, people in the know told us. <\/p>\n

Driving the news:<\/span> Premji Invest is set to acquire around 51% stake in Nainital Bank, which is owned by public sector lender Bank of Baroda. The discussions are at an advanced stage and the due diligence process has been completed, said people in the know. But the final decision is yet to be made on the investment.<\/p>\n

\"premji<\/div>\n

Deal details:<\/span> If the deal goes through, the Uttarakhand-based bank will be valued at Rs 800 crore.Bank of Baroda, which owns around 98% in the bank, is looking to divest its entire stake in the entity. TechCrunch reported in October <\/a>last year that Zerodha, MobiKwik and Premji Invest were in talks to acquire the bank.<\/p>\n

The big picture:<\/span> If the transaction fructifies, Nainital Bank will join the list of other smaller lenders which have recently been acquired. BharatPe bought a 49% stake in Unity Small Finance Bank,<\/a> while fintech unicorn Slice is in the process of merging with North East Small Finance Bank.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Ranjan Pai, Axis Bank may back gold loan startup Rupeek<\/p>\n

\"Ranjan<\/div>\n

Gold loan startup Rupeek is in talks with Manipal Group founder Ranjan Pai <\/a>for a fresh round of equity funding. Private sector lender Axis Bank could also participate in the round, sources in the know told us.<\/p>\n

Driving the news:<\/span> Peak XV and Accel-backed Rupeek has been seeking fresh funds for some time now. In March it secured Rs 50 crore from asset management firm 360 One<\/a> (erstwhile IIFL Wealth). Axis Bank, which is keen to partner with Rupeek for its gold loan business, could also invest in this round along with Pai. The Manipal group owner had emerged as one of the most prominent domestic tech investors in recent years with some aggressive bets in companies like Aakash<\/a> and Caratlane. <\/p>\n

Tell me more:<\/span> Bengaluru-based Rupeek was valued at $600-million in its last financing in 2022. But given the slowdown in the firm\u2019s growth and the overall regulatory scrutiny on the sector, the 2015-founded startup has not been able to sustain this valuation. Sources told us that the current round could take place at a valuation of around $250 million.<\/p>\n

Quote, unquote:<\/span> During a previous interaction with ET, Rupeek CEO Sumit Maniyar commented on the valuation discount. \u201cValuation is defined by market forces and valuations for the best of companies swing up and down; what matters is that we are creating real value for customers in the credit ecosystem and the markets will reward it in the long term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Also read | <\/span>Ranjan Pai has a \u2018Powar\u2019 plan for family office Claypond Capital<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Midcap IT firms add employees, yet headcount lower than FY23<\/p>\n

\"IT<\/div>\n

A few mid-sized information technology providers have registered a net increase in workforce in fiscal 2024<\/a>, offering a sharp contrast to the steep decline in headcount at India\u2019s top-tier IT firms.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the matter:<\/span> In a year marked by tapering demand for technology services due to macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, at least six mid-sized IT firms, including the likes of L&T Technology Services (LTTS) and Birlasoft, posted net additions of nearly 7,000 employees for the full year ending March 2024.<\/p>\n

\"midcap<\/div>\n

\u201cThe primary driver for the positive headcount movement of the mid-tier firms is what we call “the pond they fish in,\u201d said Deepti S, business head for tech staff augmentation at recruitment firm Xpheno.<\/p>\n

By the numbers: <\/span>To be sure, mid-tier IT firms had emerged as strong recruiters even earlier, having posted a net headcount addition of almost 10,500 employees in FY23. However, the overall weakness in demand for technology services in FY24 shaved off one-third of fresh hiring even at these firms.<\/p>\n

In the same period, India\u2019s largest IT firms including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, posted a headcount reduction of nearly 70,000 for fiscal 2024<\/a>. In contrast, these firms had recruited a total of 81,610 employees in FY23.<\/p>\n

\n

Other Top Stories By Our Reporters<\/p>\n

\"Freshworks<\/div>\n

Freshworks founder & CEO Girish Mathrubootham<\/em><\/p>\n

Girish Mathrubootham steps down as Freshworks CEO; Dennis Woodside takes charge |<\/span> Nasdaq-listed Freshworks said on Wednesday its founder Girish Mathrubootham had stepped down as the company’s chief executive<\/a> effective immediately. Shares in the company tanked 25% on the news. The Chennai and San Mateo, California-headquartered SaaS firm has named its president Dennis Woodside as the new CEO. Read more about him here<\/a><\/p>\n

Rakesh Singh replaces Varun Sridhar as Paytm Money CEO |<\/span> Paytm Money, the wealth management platform of One 97 Communications, has appointed Rakesh Singh as its chief executive, replacing Varun Sridhar<\/a>, people aware of the matter said. Sridhar, the company\u2019s CEO since 2020, has been moved to a different role within the group, one of the people said.<\/p>\n

Centre seeks stakeholder input on manufacturing PLI scheme:<\/span> The government has started reaching out to companies and industry groups to seek inputs to formulate policies which will incentivise more electronics manufacturing companies,<\/a> including the likes of Apple, to start designing more in India, sources told us.<\/p>\n

Data streaming company Confluent to boost India headcount by 25% |<\/span> Data streaming company Confluent will boost its workforce in India by 25%<\/a> this year to support growing demand, a top company executive said. Jay Kreps, chief executive of Confluent, said India has become its biggest workforce based outside of the US.<\/p>\n

\n

Global Picks We Are Reading<\/p>\n

\u25a0 Extremist militias are coordinating in more than 100 Facebook groups (Wired<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u25a0 What TikTok and Tesla tell us about pragmatism in the US and China (FT<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u25a0 Musk has a vision for Tesla\u2019s Robotaxi. Others can\u2019t see it. (WSJ<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
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Happy Friday! Azim Premji\u2019s family office is eyeing a majority stake in Bank of Baroda-owned Nainital Bank. This and more in today\u2019s packed edition of ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in this letter:\u25a0 Hiring spike at midcap IT firms \u25a0 Freshworks CEO steps down\u25a0 Rakesh Singh is new Paytm Money CEO Premji Invest in talks to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-109799516\/Wipro%20founder%20Azim%20Premji%20Premji%20Invest%20acquire%20a%20majority%20stake%20in%20Nainital%20Bank.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[34749,673,41802,1587,4363,382,43380,39609,43349,25171,34755,43348,15664,15660,1324,2341],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41626,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41624\/revisions\/41626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}