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Hello,

“Pay me what you owe me.”

Said Rihanna and thousands of EV customers across India. 

After the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) found that EV firms had overcharged customers, violating FAME II EV subsidy guidelines, electric vehicle makers Ather Energy, Ola Electric, and TVS Motor Company will be issuing refunds accordingly. Hero MotoCorp is also likely to do the same.

Meanwhile, Zoho is entering the web browser market. On Thursday, the SaaS unicorn launched Ulaa, a privacy-centred browser equipped to block tracking and surveillance universally. A free-to-use product, Ulaa’s desktop version is ready, while its iOS and Android versions are in the beta testing phase. 

ICYMI: Astronomers saw a dying star swallowing a planet…

A similar fate awaits Earth too but not for another 5 billion years. 

Comforting thought.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Cognizant to lay off 3,500 people
• Blusmart plans to expand fleet 
• Strands of hope against cancer

Here’s your trivia for today: Who initiated the use of fingerprints in India?

Technology 

Cognizant’s gloomy prediction

IT services company Cognizant has a few painful quarters ahead as it plans to lay off employees and reduce its real estate space even as it reported a 3% rise in net profit for the first quarter of 2023.

The company’s cost-cutting measures are a part of its new initiative called the “NextGen programme” where it aims to simplify its operating model, optimise corporate functions, and consolidate its office space to reflect the post-pandemic hybrid work environment.

Tightening purse:

• The rejig at Cognizant will incur costs of around $400 million, which will be spread across this year and 2024.
• The company’s revenue growth on a year-on-year basis for the first three months of 2023 remained flat at $4.8 billion. The company also saw a decline in operating profit margins to 14.6% on a YoY basis.
• In addition, it also provided weak revenue guidance for the second quarter and the full year. It expects the revenue growth to remain more or less flat. 

<Funding Alert>

Startup: BluSmart Mobility

Amount: $42M

Round: Series A2

Startup: Kazam 

Amount: $3.6M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: EduFund 

Amount: $3.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Electric vehicles

BluSmart raises more money to build fleet

BluSmart Mobility now has $42 million, which it raised in a mix of equity and debt, to fuel its expansion plans. The EV startup hopes to expand its fleet size to 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs)—from 4,500 EVs across India currently, the company’s co-founder Punit Goyal told YourStory.

Plug in:

• The fresh capital in BluSmart’s Series A2 round brings its Series A total to $85 million.
• BP Ventures, the investment arm of energy company BP, participated in the funding round. 
• BluSmart said it has built over 4,000 charging points in massive charging hubs across Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. It plans to build more stations, especially in central areas.

Inspiration

Strands of hope against cancer

Premi Mathew’s journey of surviving breast cancer and finding out that her nephew Dylan was donating his hair to cancer patients pushed her to do something for the cause. Her organisation—Hair for Hope India—has inspired youngsters from across the country to donate their hair to cancer patients, while her campaign Protect Your Mom International has turned thousands of children into advocates of early cancer detection.  

Stand strong:

• Hair for Hope India, launched in 2013, is led by hair donors—as young as three-year-old—who grow their hair to a minimum of 12 inches before donating it. 
• Over the last decade, Mathew has trained more than 60 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to convert donated hair into wigs, which they give free of cost to cancer patients. 
• Protect Your Mom (PYM) International encourages children to hold their mothers accountable—encouraging them to check for lumps and early signs of breast cancer every month through self-examination. 

News & updates

• Bearing fruit: Alibaba Group’s international online shopping unit is exploring a US IPO as it weighs options to spur growth for the business that includes major ecommerce brands, Lazada and AliExpress. The firm is in the early stages of consideration and the IPO’s size has yet to be determined.
• Double take: Shopify posted a surprise first-quarter profit and said it would lay off 20% of its workforce in a second round of mass job cuts. The company also agreed to sell the logistics arm it built over the past few years to freight forwarder Flexport in an all-stock deal.
• Stacks of cash: Shell has been accused of a “profiteering bonanza” after it made record first-quarter profits of more than $9.6 billion and showered shareholders with more than $6 billion, even as oil and gas prices tumbled from last year’s highs.

Who initiated the use of fingerprints in India?

Answer: Sir William James Herschel, in 1858, for contracts and deeds.

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