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International Business Times
4 days ago
- Business
- International Business Times
Transforming IT: Best Practices for Network Resilience
Imagine a global manufacturing company's IT team scrambling as their network falters during a critical production run, with assembly lines stalled and supply chain systems frozen, delaying shipments to clients. Or a factory's tech crew racing to fix a glitch that's halting inventory updates, leaving suppliers in the dark. In 2025, with global network management software markets exceeding $9 billion, according to industry estimates, businesses rely on fast, reliable fixes to keep their digital engines running. When things go wrong, every minute counts; downtime can cost millions, and trust hangs in the balance. Sanjay Poddar, a Network Security Expert working for a large Cybersecurity vendor, saw this chaos and built a better way. By crafting best practice deployment and troubleshooting methodologies, he slashed issue resolution times by 35%, turning frantic fire drills into smooth recoveries for global enterprises. Taming the Network Storm Network outages plague IT teams managing thousands of employees across retail stores, bank branches, or factories. A global enterprise faced relentless challenges: slow deployments, delayed new site openings, and troubleshooting was a maze, with teams chasing errors across continents. A single glitch could cripple a factory's production management system or stall supply chain tracking, frustrating IT admins like Anil Gupta and disrupting operations for clients awaiting deliveries. Best practice methodologies, developed by Sanjay Poddar at a leading network security firm, transformed this chaos into clarity. These deployment guides standardized setups for firewalls and Secure SD-WAN, acting like a GPS for IT teams. Troubleshooting frameworks, built on live analytics and packet diagnostics, pinpoint issues with precision. The industry saw resolution times drop by 35%, enabling retail checkouts to recover in minutes, not hours. Maria fixed glitches before they escalated, and customers experienced minimal disruptions, strengthening trust in network reliability. Crafting a Clear Path The methodologies streamlined complex network management. Deploying firewalls or SD-WAN across hundreds of sites once meant inconsistent setups and errors. A standardized guide, using centralized management tools, ensured uniform configurations with security policies, web filtering to block phishing, antivirus to stop malware, and zero-trust access (ZTNA) to verify users. BGP routing protocols optimize communication between networks, ensuring seamless data flow for a factory in Shanghai or a warehouse in Chicago. Troubleshooting frameworks improved issue resolution. IT teams, previously bogged down by logs, now leverage live analytics to detect patterns like traffic spikes signaling DDoS attacks or misconfigured VPNs slowing connections. Deep packet analysis, guided by tools like Wireshark, accelerated fixes. A factory's production system, stalled by a firewall glitch, was restored in 10 minutes, saving thousands in output. A supply chain platform, hit by a BGP routing issue, was back online swiftly, maintaining delivery schedules. These frameworks reduced downtime costs, freeing resources for customer benefits like loyalty programs or faster loan approvals, and set a model for industry efficiency. Empowering Teams, Easing Lives These methodologies empowered IT teams, turning stress into confidence. Maria, once overwhelmed by late-night outage calls, followed clear troubleshooting guides to resolve issues quickly. Virtual meetings, led by Poddar, simplified complex tools and shared advanced knowledge, teaching teams to navigate dashboards or debug BGP errors. A junior engineer resolved a VPN failure by tracing a misconfigured tunnel, fixing it in minutes. This training enabled teams to focus on innovation, like integrating cloud apps or 5G links, rather than emergencies. For clients, the impact was reliability. A supplier in Mexico, reliant on live inventory updates, maintained production without interruptions. In manufacturing, plant managers kept assembly lines running, supporting timely deliveries to retailers or distributors. In logistics, supply chain data flowed smoothly, ensuring global coordination. By minimizing downtime, the enterprise reinvested savings into new jobs, new branches, and better services, reaching underserved rural areas where reliable tech bolstered local economies. These frameworks became a blueprint for scalable, resilient networks across industries. Raising the Bar The methodologies reshaped network security standards. At a 2024 industry conference, IT leaders shared how similar deployment strategies accelerated Secure SD-WAN rollouts for banks, retailers, and manufacturers. Troubleshooting frameworks, shared online, became a resource for smaller firms, enabling cost-effective network management. By cutting resolution times by 35%, these approaches proved that efficiency and security could coexist, inspiring adoption across the $9 billion network management market. Automation, using integrated security fabrics, freed IT teams from manual fixes, allowing strategic focus. Centralized management tools made analytics accessible, turning data into insights. For enterprises handling billions in transactions, this meant staying ahead of cyber threats while scaling to new markets. Smaller businesses adopted these frameworks, streamlining networks without heavy investment. User-friendly documentation empowered non-experts like Anil, enabling complex projects like cloud integration or 5G deployment, setting a new benchmark for industry resilience. Looking to Tomorrow These methodologies lay a foundation for future networks, think 5G-powered retail or AI-driven banking. Predictive analytics could catch glitches before they disrupt, like flagging a firewall issue during a holiday sale. Sanjay Poddar's contributions ensure enterprises remain agile as cyber threats evolve, supporting the industry's shift toward proactive resilience. Retail clerks like Maria focus on customers, not crashes. Small businesses trust secure transactions, and communities thrive with reliable tech. By streamlining operations, these frameworks free up time for growth and innovation, proving network resilience is as human as it is technical.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Time of India
DPCC to revive real-time source apportionment study, audit five-star hotels for groundwater use
New Delhi: Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has planned to revive the supersite of the real-time source apportionment study in partnership with Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. Previously, IIT Kanpur operated the site until their contract concluded in 2023. DPCC has also decided to conduct an audit of five-star hotels in Delhi to assess the actual usage of groundwater. The real-time source apportionment study was conducted by DPCC in association with IIT Kanpur from Nov 2022 to 2023. The methodology of the study was found to be "unsatisfactory" by DPCC. Last year, the committee took over the infrastructure and equipment, including the supersite (lab) at Rouse Avenue and a mobile van that can collect data from various locations. "The board directed that CAQM be pursued to develop a well-validated methodology through national-level experts. The board desired that the environment department be kept informed about the progress. It was decided that the running of the supersite and mobile lab be expedited in consultation with all at the earliest," according to the latest minutes of the DPCC's board meeting, which was held on July 18. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi The environment department has been informed about the progress. During the board meeting, it was also decided that there should be more focused inspection by the DPCC regarding the reuse of water in hotels, instead of analysing the data provided by hotel owners. TOI earlier reported that data analysis of 40, mostly five-star hotels, by DPCC showed that out of 7,708 KLD of wastewater being treated at the respective STPs of these hotels, 760 KLD of treated water was being discharged into the sewer. However, the remaining treated water was utilised for non-drinking purposes, including flushing and horticulture. "Ground reality needs to be verified. Hotels may not have separate pipelines for flushing, etc., which need to be checked during inspection. A proper report needs to be prepared for the analysis of water consumption. It was decided that a few hotels be audited in detail for the purpose of study (not for regulatory purposes) of water mass balance," stated the minutes of the meeting. Anil Gupta, a member of the DPCC's board, said, "The entire wastewater from the hotels should be utilised so that there is zero liquid discharge."
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coinbase Stock Dives as Company Misses Q2 Revenue Forecasts
Coinbase clocked $1.5 billion in total revenue, a 25% drop from the previous financial quarter, as the trading platform faced financial fallout from its May data breach but also experienced upside from its investment in the recently publicly listed stablecoin issuer Circle, the company said in its second-quarter earnings statement. The trading platform's second-quarter revenue came in roughly 6% below analysts' forecasts of $1.59 billion, according to FactSet data. Adjusted earnings (ebitda) of $512 million dropped more than 13% from the same quarter a year ago. The company posted $1.4 billion in net income, up from the $66 million in Q1 with the jump due to the value of its stake in Circle and crypto holdings appreciating, the company said. "Crypto markets were softer in quarter two compared to quarter are not linear," Coinbase's Vice President of Investor Relations Anil Gupta told Decrypt, noting crypto prices and volatility trended down in the second quarter."Those were kind of two big macro factors that were headwinds to the overall trading environment," he said. (edited) Coinbase's latest earnings come as the firm has looked to expand and been buoyed by the crypto favoring political environment in the U.S. On Thursday, the company divulged its plan for a new "everything exchange" that would launch first in the U.S. and then in foreign markets over the next couple of months, CNBC reported on Thursday. The platform will offer tokenizied real-world assets equities, derivatives, and early-stage token sales, in addition to contracts for real-world event outcomes, Coinbase's vice president of product told CNBC. But the firm also faces challenges, including growing geopolitical tensions and increased competition. Crypto prices took a hit briefly as Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire earlier last month, but investors largely shook off other uncertainties, including U.S. President Donald Trump's back-and-forth trade talks that roiled global markets in April. Bitcoin's price rose roughly 26% in the three-month period ending on June 30, with the token surpassing $107,000 on that day. (The token gained even more ground since then, hitting a record high near 122,850 in July before retreating to its current level near $118,000). Coinbase's stock was down more than 6% in after markets trading to change hands at $353. COIN hit a record high near $420 in July and is up roughly 45% since the beginning of 2025. In May 2025, Coinbase bought Deribit, an options trading platform that controls roughly 80% of the digital assets derivatives market, for nearly $3 billion, making it the largest acquisition in crypto industry history. The company has so far acquired six businesses this year. Why Robinhood's CEO Touted Tokenization 11 Times on Its Q2 Earning Call The exchange is one of several major crypto industry players snapping up service providers across the digital asset landscape as the blockchain industry is poised for significant growth under self-proclaimed crypto champion President Trump's administration. The crypto industry's mergers-and-acquisitions activity increased from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of this year, with digital asset firms announcing 61 deals in the first three months of 2025, according to data provider Architect Partners. UPDATE (July 31, 2025, 5:25 p.m. ET): Adds quote from Coinbase. UPDATE (July 31, 2025, 5:46 p.m. ET): Adds paragraph about "everything exchange." Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Mint
28-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Banks, NBFCs continue to battle rising stress in unsecured loans in Q1
Mumbai: Indian banks continued to experience stress in their unsecured loan books in the first quarter of the current financial year, with select lenders and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) flagging higher bad debt in new segments such as credit for small businesses and retail commercial vehicles. Notably, the pockets of unsecured stress were seen in various segments such as microfinance, retail commercial vehicle, MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) and personal loans and credit cards, according to bankers' post-earnings analyst calls in recent days. Add to that the cyclical impact of higher farm loan slippages, and most lenders saw elevated provisions for potential loan losses and credit cost weighing on their balance sheet during the three months through June. 'Lenders are still cautious amid the asset quality stress in unsecured segment, which is reflected in slow loan growth in this segment. This continues to tighten liquidity for the borrowers and their ability to refinance the existing loans, which in turn is leading to asset quality stress for lenders. The big challenge for the lenders is assessment of income," said Anil Gupta, senior vice president, Icra. The country's largest private sector lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank highlighted a seasonal jump in agriculture slippages. Axis Bank was also an outlier in terms of bad-loan provisions, which surged due to a shift in its classification methodology for certain loan segments such as retail cash credit and one-time settlement of stressed loans. While Axis Bank said that the shift in methodology was to align the bank's stress recognition as per industry best practices, the country's largest consumer finance lender Bajaj Finance reported a substantial rise in delinquencies in MSME and business banking loans for the first time, besides the auto finance portfolio. 'MSME business has shown some strain since February so it's coming a little too suddenly. We've taken a whole host of actions to prune business. It's likely that both these businesses will grow a lot more slowly in the current year," Rajeev Jain, vice-chairman, Bajaj Finance, said in a post-earnings call on Friday. 'Credit costs were principally elevated in two-wheeler and three-wheeler business, which is a winding down business. That's a good news. The captive book has given us a lot of trouble, or continues to give us trouble," Jain added. However Shriram Finance was an outlier, seeing a sequential drop in credit cost to 1.9% in the first quarter from 2.4% in the preceding three months. 'The questions from investors have been that their numbers always come with a lag and hence we are not confident," said Suresh Ganapathy, managing director of Macquarie Research. "Plus, the guidance on margins and consequent delivery of the same has been a disappointment, as per investors." Loan jolt Banks such as IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bandhan Bank reported weaker profitability on the back of a rise in microfinance slippages. The management of these banks said that while stress in the sector is expected to remain elevated in the current quarter, it seems to have peaked. As such, lenders highlighted early signs of easing and said that they expect the asset quality of the portfolio to start improving Q3 (October-December) onwards. 'The MFI book is a typically 24-30-month kind of book and therefore, it obviously runs off pretty fast. Currently, the new disbursements we are doing is in about the same level of run-offs. So the book will kind of stabilise and start climbing again once disbursements pick up," Kotak Bank's managing director and chief executive officer Ashok Vaswani said on 26 July. Kotak Bank and HDB Financial, the NBFC arm of HDFC Bank, also flagged a rise in commercial vehicle slippages, which the bank attributed to overall macro-economic slowdown, especially in the logistics and infrastructure sectors, and delayed payments from central and state governments. Some large banks such as HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda also made additional prudent provisions in order to beef up their buffers. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank said that, outside of the agriculture loan book, they are bracing for the possibility of asset quality worsening through the rest of the year. 'The credit cost continues to be benign, and some point in time, it will revert to the mean. What that means is a moot point, and how long it takes is also a moot point, but as of now, it continues to be benign and healthy," HDFC Bank's chief financial officer Srinivasan Vaidyanathan said in a post-Q1 analyst call. ICICI Bank's finance chief Anindya Banerjee said while the current sort of credit behaviour and asset quality is extremely benign, the bank will 'probably see some increase going forward". 'Credit costs today are negligible. So, they may go up slightly," he said in the analyst call.
Indian Express
02-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Backed by strong profit growth, PSBs' FY25 dividend transfers up 166% in 4 years
Driven by robust growth in profitability, public sector banks (PSBs) have seen a 166 per cent surge in total dividend payouts to shareholders, including to the government, between 2021-22 and 2024-25. The total dividend paid by state-run banks to shareholders increased from Rs 13,170 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 34,992 crore in the financial year ended March 2025, data compiled by The Indian Express showed. As a result, the central government is also likely to see a jump of 160 per cent in dividend from public sector banks to Rs 22,773.96 crore in 2024-25 from Rs 8,761 crore paid in 2021-22 on account of its majority stake in these lenders. The Centre's stake in PSBs ranges from 57 per cent to 95 per cent as of end-March 2025. Among public sector banks, the government gets the highest dividend from State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, in which it holds 57.43 per cent stake. In 2024-25, the government is expected to receive Rs 8,149 crore as dividend from SBI. 'The 166 per cent increase in dividends (paid by state-run banks) also has to do with the way profitability has grown. So, if you look at it as a percentage of profit, the dividend distribution rate of public sector banks has been hovering between the 20-22 per cent of net profit,' said Saswata Guha, Senior Director, Financial Institutions (Banks), Fitch Ratings. 'Moreover, the Prompt Corrective Framework also prescribes clear conditions for financial soundness and dividend distribution, which banks must meet to pay dividends. Considering the sector's improved financial health, lenders also satisfy those conditions,' he said. Under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework, banks have to monitor and maintain certain minimum levels of common equity tier-1 ratio, net non-performing asset (NPA) ratio, and return on assets. Any breach of a risk threshold by a bank results in the invocation of the PCA, which leads to the imposition of a variety of business restrictions. In the last four financial years, state-run lenders' profit rose 144 per cent to Rs 1.78 lakh crore from Rs 73,142 crore in 2021-22. PSBs have become more profitable in the last four years on account of improvement in various financial metrics, including higher loan growth and reduction in NPAs, mainly due to loans being written off, analysts said. 'The improvement in asset quality and capital position after the massive recapitalisation of PSBs by the government has supported their loan book growth as well as earnings leading to consistent increase in dividend payments,' said Anil Gupta, Senior Vice President and Co Group Head – Financial Sector Ratings, Icra Ltd. As of end March 2025, gross NPAs of public sector banks declined to 2.8 per cent from 5.9 per cent as of March 2022, while net NPAs fell to 0.5 per cent from 1.7 per cent, according to the RBI data. Analysts believe state-run lenders may not be able to maintain the pace of dividend transfers to shareholders in 2025-26 due to a likely fall in profitability. The decline in profit may be on account of a lower net interest margin (NIM) following a 100 basis points (bps) reduction in the policy repo rate by the RBI so far in 2025. Whenever there is a reduction in the repo rate, banks' interest income from loans falls immediately, while their interest outgo on deposits readjusts with a lag. This puts pressure on their profit margins. 'As the loan book growth is expected to moderate further in 2025-26, which coupled with pressure on net interest margins is expected to translate in a muted earnings growth for the banking sector, including PSBs,' said Icra Ltd's Gupta. According to a recent report by CareEdge Ratings, NIMs of domestic banks is expected to decline around 20–25 bps in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25 due to a declining interest rate scenario, with yield on advances expected to fall more than the cost of deposits in the current financial year. Overall, profitability of banks may be impacted by around 12-15 bps, with estimated Return on Total Assets of 1.15 per cent in 2025-26, down from 1.34 per cent in 2024-25 due to pressure on NIMs and uptick in credit costs, the CareEdge report said. Banking analysts also said that qualified institutional placement (QIP) by certain public sector lenders — to meet the minimum public shareholding criteria in some cases — will lead to a reduction in the government's stake in these banks, resulting in lower dividend transfers in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25. The country's largest lender, SBI, is in the process of raising up to Rs 25,000 crore through the QIP route. Last month, state-run lender Union Bank of India received board approval to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore of equity capital through public issue or rights issue or private placement, including QIP. 'The moderate growth in earnings for banks coupled with expected dilution in shareholding of government upon the capital raise by few PSBs could translate in muted growth in dividends receipts of the government,' said Gupta from Icra Ltd.
