The Weekly Dispatch

Wipro CEO Delaporte resigns; Srinivas Pallia to succeed as CEO

Wipro has announced the resignation of CEO Thierry Delaporte from his position, according to a statement submitted to the exchanges. In his stead, Srinivas Pallia has been appointed as the new CEO, the company confirmed. Wipro said in a company filing, “The Board of Directors noted the resignation of Mr. Thierry Delaporte with effect from April 6, 2024. He will be relieved from the employment of the company with effect from the close of business hours on May 31, 2024.”

Malay Joshi succeeds Srini Pallia as CEO of Wipro’s Americas 1

Wipro has appointed Malay Joshi as CEO of Wipro America's 1 Strategic Market Unit, effective immediately. Joshi succeeded Srini Pallia, who was appointed as CEO and MD of Wipro on April 6. Joshi will also join the Wipro Executive Board. In his last role, Joshi was the Sr. VP and business unit head, leading the communications, media, tech, retail, travel, hospitality, and public sector industries, which make up one of Wipro’s largest business units globally.?

US-Based Altair to Hire Upto 1000 Employees in India

Altair, a global leader in computational intelligence, product development, high-performance computing (HPC), and data analytics, has opened its new office in Chennai, India. Along with the opening of the new office, the firm has announced plans to expand its India team up to 1000 employees by the end of 2024. Currently, Altair has 840 employees across 5 cities in India making it the 2nd-largest company in terms of workforce outside the US.

Google to invest $1 billion to boost connectivity to Japan via two subsea cables

Google will invest $1 billion to improve digital connectivity between the U.S. and Japan through 2 new subsea cables, the Alphabet-owned firm said amid a visit by the Japanese prime minister to boost ties between the countries. The two subsea cables, Proa and Taihei, will improve connectivity between the U.S., Japan and multiple Pacific island countries and territories, Google said in a blog post. Subsea cables are the backbone of the internet, carrying 99% of the world's data traffic.

Meta debuts new generation of AI chip

Meta Platforms unveiled details about the next generation of the company's in-house AI accelerator chip. Reuters reported earlier this year that Meta planned to deploy a new version of a custom data center chip to address the swelling amount of computing power necessary to run AI products on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The chip, referred to internally as "Artemis," will help Meta reduce its reliance on Nvida's AI chips and reduce its energy costs overall.

GCCs directing focus towards AI, ML and data analytics capabilities: report

As many as 80% of global capability centers (GCC) in India are directing their focus towards digital capabilities such as AI/ML and data analytics, at a time when 74% of CIOs ranked AI as a top 3 priority in fiscal year 2024, a new report by GCC solutions consulting firm ANSR. The top five emerging and future-oriented skills in demand at GCCs are in the fields of generative AI, AI/ML, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and RPA, as per ANSR’s quarterly GCC report.

WhatsApp testing Meta AI chatbot in India, other markets

WhatsApp has said that it is testing its LLM-powered chatbot Meta AI, with users in India and some other markets, in an effort to tap the massive user base to up its AI offerings. The tech giant recently started testing the AI chatbot in select markets, including the US. In addition, the company confirmed earlier this week that it will launch Llama 3, its next open-source LLM, in the coming month. With over 500 million WhatsApp users, India is the instant messaging service's largest market.

Swiggy expands definition of parenthood to include pet parents

Swiggy has rolled out the 'Paw-ternity Policy' for pet parents on the occasion of National Pet Day, which is observed on April 11 every year. The initiative is designed to provide comprehensive support to employees who are pet parents, the company said. "We understand that parenthood comes in various forms,” Swiggy said in a statement. “Building on our gender-neutral parental policy introduced in 2020, which provides substantial paid leave for primary and secondary caregivers, we are now expanding our definition of parenthood to include pet parents as well.”

Amazon adds AI expert Andrew Ng to board as GenAI race heats up

Amazon.com added Andrew Ng, the computer scientist who led AI projects at Alphabet's Google and China's Baidu, to its board amid rising competition among big techs to add users for their GenAI products. Amazon's cloud unit is facing pressure from Microsoft's early pact with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and integration of its technology into Azure, while Alexa voice assistant is in a race with genAI chat tools from OpenAI and Google.

Adobe introduces next generation of Frame.io to accelerate content workflow

Adobe has introduced Frame.io V4, a flexible, fast and intuitive creative collaboration platform that streamlines and simplifies workflows across content creation and production. Frame.io V4 is designed to meet the complex needs of creative teams delivering personalized content at scale by centralizing feedback, helping to reduce rounds of revisions and accelerating the delivery of media assets, said the company.

CriticalRiver ropes in Phaneesh Murthy, Raju Reddy

CriticalRiver Inc., a digital transformation and technology consulting company, has strengthened its board by roping in industry veterans Phaneesh Murthy and Raju Reddy. It also appointed Narayana Murthy as the Executive VP and Global Delivery Head, and Sunil Sharma as the Global Head of Innovation and Digital Solutions of the company. Phaneesh Murthy has been appointed as a Senior Executive Advisory Board Member and Raju Reddy has been appointed as an Independent Director on the board.

Apple warns some Indian users their iPhone may be bugged by Pegasus-type spyware

Apple has sent a fresh round of threat notifications to some of its users in India, along with 91 other countries, warning them that their iPhone could have been potentially attacked by “mercenary spyware,” including the Israeli NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus malware. Apple has not attributed the recent wave of attacks to any stakeholder. Last October, it had sent a similar notification to opposition leaders across parties.

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu announces new power tools venture Karuvi

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu said that a small team of engineers has created a new line up of power tools that are ready for commercial production. “We have a suite of tools ready to start commercial production. The brand name is Karuvi, the Tamil word for instrument or tool,” Vembu said in a tweet on X. The potential of this venture to create rural jobs attracted him, he added. He explained that the idea was first mooted by a Zoho customer Abdul Gafoor, who is a distributor of electrical and electronics products in the Middle East.

Kraft Heinz India GCC appoints Priyanka Sharma as HR head

Kraft Heinz India GCC has appointed Priyanka Sharma as its new HR head. In this role, she is responsible for providing strategic direction and operational guidance to senior leadership and employees alike. Priyanka is a seasoned HR leader with nearly two decades of rich experience in HRM, spanning diverse sectors such as IT/ITES, Healthcare, Pharma, and Entertainment.??

Microsoft to launch AI hub in London

Microsoft has announced plans for a new AI hub in London, focused on product development and research. The unit will be led by Mustafa Suleyman, the Co-founder of Google DeepMind, whom Microsoft hired last month. Last month, Microsoft hired DeepMind cofounder Suleyman to run its in-house Microsoft AI division. Suleyman quit his own recently-formed company, Inflection AI, to join Microsoft, taking dozens of staff members with him.

TCS hires more than 10,000 freshers from top engineering colleges: Report

TCS hired more than 10,000 freshers in its latest recruitment drive, according to media sources. The IT company has increased its hiring as it remains hopeful of a demand revival this financial year, it added. The company announced last month that it had begun fresher hiring via the National Qualifier Test (NQT) for which the last day to apply was April 10.??TCS announced tests will be held on April 26.

Telecom Tariff hike imminent; expect 15-17% rise post election: Analyst report

The telecom industry is expected to take a 15-17% tariff hike post general elections, according to an analyst report that termed the tariff increase in the sector as "imminent" with Airtel as the biggest beneficiary. The last hike of about 20%??was in December 2021, it said. Bharti's Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) expected to rise by FY27. Airtel poised for financial growth with 2G upgrades, enterprise expansion, and reduced capex post 5G rollout amid persistent competition.