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GST Council’s recent decision to levy a 28% tax on online gaming bets is having ripple effects.

Nazara Technologies said the tax hike will impact its skill-based real money segment, which contributes 5.2% to its revenues. The company is confident of mitigating any potential impact.

This comes after the gaming company opened 6.6% lower on the bourses in the aftermath of the tax slab increase. It closed 3.3% lower on the NSE.

Speaking of shares, domestic equities witnessed some slide on the stock market. Due to the last-minute reselling of HDFC shares after its merger with HDFC Bank, Nifty closed 55 points lower at 19,384 while Sensex fell 223 points.

In other news, IT services firm HCL Technologies reported a muted performance for Q1 FY24. While it reported a 7% YoY rise in net profit on the back of new order wins, the net profit fell 11% to Rs 3,543 crore when compared to its earnings in January-March 2023.

Meanwhile, Disney is looking at various strategic options for Star India and Hotstar, including a joint venture or a sale. 

While Star, which owns various TV channels and a movie production house, struggles to compete with streaming services, its online counterpart is reeling from losing the bidding war to stream Indian Premier League matches and losing subscribers. 

Oh, and ahead of the release of Barbie, check out the life-size dream house displayed at the “World of Barbie” exhibition in Santa Monica, US. The 22,000 sq ft house is an ode to the iconic doll’s ‘material world’.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• TCS’ net profit rises 16.8% in Q1
• Wipro bets on artificial intelligence 
• An 8-year-old who climbed Mt Kilimanjaro

Here’s your trivia for today: Which language has the most number of words?

IT services

TCS Q1 net profit up 16.8%

Macroeconomic challenges from its key markets of North America and Europe weighed on the performance of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services exporter. 

The company reported a 16.8% rise in net profit for the three-month period between April and June for the current fiscal year even as it signalled that the demand continues to remain weak.

Key takeaways:

• The revenue for Q1 FY24 stood at Rs 59,381 crore, which was a 12.6% year-on-year (YoY) rise, but showed flattish growth when compared to the first three months of the year.
• TCS emphasised that its order book in terms of total contract value (TCV) stood at $10.2 billion.
• It doled out an average wage hike of 6% to its employees, with high performers getting 12-15% in Q1 FY24.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Neuron Energy

Amount:  $2.4M

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: Adcount 

Amount: $2.2M

Round: Series A

Startup: Hectar Global 

Amount: $2.1M

Round: Seed

Artificial intelligence

Wipro outlines a $1B plan for AI

IT services company Wipro has outlined an investment plan of $1 billion to advance its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities over the next three years. It will also train all its 2.5 lakh employees on AI fundamentals and responsible use of AI over the next 12 months.

Into the future:

• The company has launched the Wipro ai360 ecosystem, an AI-first innovation ecosystem with the goal of integrating AI into every platform, tool, and solution used internally and offered to clients. 
• The company will also accelerate investments in cutting-edge startups through Wipro Ventures. 
• It will also launch a GenAI Seed Accelerator programme, which will provide select generative AI-focused startups with the training needed to become enterprise-ready.

Inspiration 

An 8-year-old who climbed Mt Kilimanjaro

Eight-year-old Aadya Bennur has summited Mount Kilimanjaro to become one of the youngest in the world to scale the 19,340 ft peak in Africa. She also trekked to the Everest Base Camp in June last year.

Her next goal is Mount Elbrus in Russia in September this year.

The peak:

• The young girl’s interest in climbing sparked when she accompanied her father, Harsha, on small hiking and trekking trips on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
• Harsha says that they climbed for more than 10 hours every day to scale Mount Kilimanjaro.
• In between all the climbing, the young girl is also concerned about the environment. She would often pick up trash and hold it until she found a dustbin while on the climb to Everest Base Camp.

News & updates

• Jobs at risk: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said more than a quarter of jobs in the 38-member bloc rely on skills that could be easily automated in the coming artificial intelligence revolution, and workers fear they could lose their jobs.
• Loss of fortune: As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Alibaba Group Co-founder Jack Ma has a net worth of approximately $30 billion. This is less than half of its value just three years ago. He lost $4.1 billion in just the last year due to a fall in the valuation of Ant Group.
• Money owed: Global public debt surged to a record $92 trillion in 2022 as governments borrowed to counter crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with the burden being felt acutely by developing countries, a United Nations report said. Domestic and external debt worldwide has increased more than five times in the last two decades.

Which language has the most number of words?

Answer: Korean. Its dictionary, Woori Mal Saem, has over 1.1 million words.

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