New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) India has become a global leader not only in curative healthcare but also in preventive healthcare owing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of universal healthcare for all, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, said on Saturday.

Presenting the ‘Times Now’ Doctor Awards to eminent medical professionals in different specialities from across the country, the minister emphasised preventive healthcare in youth.

“Increasing prevalence of morbidities of later age happening in younger age like type 2 diabetes, young Heart attacks, malignancies etc are not only a health challenge but also threaten to drain away the vital youth energy and youth potential which would otherwise be contributing to the task of nation building and realising the vision of India 2047,” the minister noted.

“Doctors are prime movers of PM Modi’s vision of universal healthcare for all,” said Singh on the eve of the Doctors’ Day.

The Union Minister said that India acknowledges the sacrifices made by doctors, especially during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Doctors’ Day is a special occasion to honour the tireless dedication and invaluable contributions of our doctors and medical professionals,” he added.

He categorically mentioned the role of digital healthcare and its impact on reaching the remotest location by telemedicine.

–IANS

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Mumbai, June 29 (IANS) Tata Consumer Products Ltd on Saturday said it has received an income tax demand of Rs 171.83 crore for the assessment year 2019-20.

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In a stock exchange filing, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major said the “demand is not maintainable and it is in the process of preferring an appeal and rectification against the said order”.

“There is no immediate impact on the financials, operations or other activities of the company on account of the aforementioned order,” said the Tata Group company.

In the filing, the company stated that it had received an “Assessment Order dated June 27, 2024, under section 143(3) read with section 144C(13) of Income-tax Act, 1961, for the income tax return filed for the financial year 2019-20, wherein certain additions/ disallowances with respect to returned income, have been proposed by the assessing officer”.

“The demand raised is Rs.171.83 crs (including interest),” it added.

The stock of the company closed at Rs 1,098, up 1.14 per cent on the BSE.

In the fourth quarter ended March 31, Tata Consumer Products’ net profit dropped 19.3 per cent to Rs 217 crore.

The company’s revenue went up 8.5 per cent at Rs 3,927 crore during the quarter, with a strong performance in the India business.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach towards digital public infrastructure has been relentless and meticulous, delivering rich dividends for Indian citizens, said G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Saturday.

Praising PM Modi leadership, Kant said that people in India do 130 billion fast payment transactions in a year today.

“Today in India, we do 130 billion fast payment transactions in a year and the success story of India’s digital payments has been scripted under PM @narendramodi’s leadership,” the G20 Sherpa wrote in a post on X.

He also mentioned that when he was CEO at NITI Aayog in 2017, PM Modi “gave us the mandate to conduct 100 Digital Melas across 100 cities in 100 days to fast track the adoption of digital payments”.

“Since then, there has been no looking back,” Kant said.

According to the report by Praxis Global Alliance, from FY19 till FY23, digital transactions surged by 44 per cent (year-on-year) — from Rs 46,616 crore to Rs 92,267 crore.

In another post, the former NITI Aayog CEO said that during the extremely tough negotiations at India’s G20 presidency, PM Modi redefined “Indian leadership & pushed for an extremely ambitious and decisive outcome which resulted in the 100 per cent consensus of all countries”.

“His tenacity in foreign policy and outreach to the G7 as well as the Global South, bilaterally & across international forums enabled us to achieve phenomenal results for India,” he added.

–IANS

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Gandhinagar, June 29 (IANS) IT major IBM and the Gujarat government on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish and promote an artificial intelligence (AI) Cluster in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT city), leveraging IBM’s ‘watsonx’ technology solutions to foster innovation and collaboration among financial institutions.

As part of this collaboration, financial institutions will gain access to ‘AI Sandbox’, assistance in providing proof of concept, AI literacy programmes and digital assistant solutions.

“This MoU with IBM will help Gujarat to lead the country in efforts to adopt AI and drive digital transformation,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel.

IBM will provide software technologies and platforms over a cloud environment enabling financial institutions to customise and fine-tune large language AI models in a sandbox environment.

“This collaboration is a significant step in our continued association with the Government of Gujarat to accelerate the digital transformation of the state,” said Sandip Patel, MD, IBM India and South Asia.

“By establishing this AI cluster, our aim is to make the latest AI solutions easily accessible to the vibrant and growing number of financial institutions in GIFT city,” he added.

The IT major will also aim to build a digital assistant-based solution that facilitates the onboarding and integration of these customised large language models for financial institutions.

Aligned with its commitment to skill 30 million people by 2023 and train 2 million learners in AI by the end of 2026, the company said it will develop an AI curriculum for schools and universities across the state.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) About 17 Indian startups have raised $196.4 million in funding across 17 deals this week.

This represents a decrease of 75 per cent from the $800.5 million secured by the startups last week across 21 deals, reports Inc42.

The largest funding round was witnessed by non-banking financial company (NBFC) Northern Arc this week. It raised $75 million via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO.

The Fintech sector emerged as the investors’ favourite this week as the startups in the space cumulatively secured $77.4 million across three deals.

Startups in the e-commerce sector raised $48.3 million across five deals, enterprise tech raised $25.8 million across three deals, real estate tech raised $20.2 million across one deal, and health tech raised $10.5 million.

However, seed funding dropped this week by 69 per cent to $6.9 million from last week’s $22.7 million, according to the report.

Softeware-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Rocketlane raised $24 million in its Series B funding round co-led by 8VC, Matrix Partners India and Nexus Venture Partners.

Co-working space solutions provider Smartworks has secured $20.24 million (Rs 168 crore) from a group of investors including Keppel, Ananta Capital Ventures Fund I, Plutus Capital, family trusts, and HNIs.

Meanwhile, a Nasscom report has said that India now ranks sixth among the top nine deep-tech ecosystems globally with 3,600 such startups, which received $850 million in funding last year.

–IANS

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