Latest news with #PiyushGupta
Hindustan Times
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Noida: Old vehicle owners welcome Supreme Court intervention on ELVs
A day after the Supreme Court of India ordered that no coercive action be taken against the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) owners, the residents of Noida on Wednesday expressed relief saying that the ban should be based on the fitness and emission level of the vehicle rather than its age. To be sure, the ELV bans were first mandated by the National Green Tribunal in 2015 and reinforced by the Supreme Court in 2018 to tackle the NCR's air pollution crisis. (Raj K Raj/HT Photos) According to the Noida transport department data, there are nearly 1 million registered vehicles, including around 40,000 diesel vehicles over 10 years old and 168,000 petrol vehicles older than 15 years in the Gautam Budh Nagar district. Traffic police said 160 ELVs were seized from January to August in Gautam Budh Nagar. Piyush Gupta, who owns a 2005 Tata Indica, is a resident of Noida's Sector 16, said, 'I have read the Supreme Court judgment for ELVs, and for the time being, it is a big relief for me. Recently, when ELVs were banned on the road, I parked my car at home and switched completely to another vehicle.' Gupta's Indica, which was deregistered from Rajasthan and registered again in Noida, is about to expire this October. As the apex court ordered no action for four weeks, he is exploring other options to sell or use the vehicle. 'In my opinion, if any vehicle passes the fitness test, there should be no ban, because if someone is keeping his/her vehicle in good condition, why should it be banned?' He further argued that for the last several years, the technology in cars has advanced as compared to old 20- to 30-year-old vehicles. Despite all additional changes and improvements, the ban is unjustified. To be sure, the ELV bans were first mandated by the National Green Tribunal in 2015 and reinforced by the Supreme Court in 2018 to tackle the NCR's air pollution crisis. Earlier this year, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) announced that the ELV ban in the National Capital would take effect from July 1, with vehicles identified via Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) at fuel stations being denied fuel. The same rule was to be implemented in five NCR districts from November 1 and across the rest of NCR from April 1, 2026. ELV owners further stressed that the COVID lockdown period and the emission levels caused by vehicles should also be considered. 'The temporary relief for four weeks is more for people like us who are confused between selling vehicles or buying a new one,' said Vinay Kumar, a resident of Noida, Sector 55, who owns the Mahindra Scorpio 2010 model. A senior traffic police officer, on condition of anonymity, said, 'We are analysing the Apex Court's order on ELVs. As of now, we are only issuing challans against the ELVs in the district.' On Monday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Bhushan R. Gavai and Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria ordered that no coercive action be taken against ELV owners. The court also issued a notice to the Delhi government and listed the matter for hearing after four weeks.
Fast Company
21 hours ago
- Business
- Fast Company
How to foster innovation at work
When Piyush Gupta took over as the CEO of DBS Bank in Singapore in 2009, he said DBS needed to think of itself not as a bank, but as a technology company providing banking services. Gupta challenged his entire workforce to raise their innovation game. Gupta and his team invested significantly in technology, restructured to improve collaboration, and, most critically, drove a series of cultural interventions to encourage innovation friendly behaviors. Over the next 15 years DBS Bank transformed from an under performer in its local market to the best performing bank in the world. How did Gupta and other leaders who look to foster innovation do it? As a researcher, advisor, (DBS was a consulting client of mine from 2017 to 2019), executive, and now teacher, I have spent 25 years practicing and studying disruptive change. Here are some essential takeaways for nurturing disruptive teams. Recognize the importance of teamwork Innovation stories typically celebrate charismatic leaders like Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos. That sometimes leaves leaders thinking they have to carry the reins of disruption, or need to find a lone genius to drive disruption. Innovation isn't the job of the few. It's highly dependent on teamwork. For example, in the 1960s, Procter & Gamble launched Pampers disposable diapers, which went on to become the first brand in P&G's storied history to cross $10 billion in revenue. Vic Mills (a decorated scientist) chartered a team led by Bob Duncan (whose grandfather played a key part in the development of Tide laundry detergent) that included researchers like Harry Tecklenburg, who went on to have a 30-year career at P&G and wrote a wonderful retrospective about the launch of Pampers in 1990. The job of the leader isn't to be charismatic and do the work alone, it is to create conditions that enable teams to do disruptive work. Embrace uncertainty One key to success is to recognize that disruption is predictably unpredictable. Julia Child's 1961 book Mastering the Art of French Cooking enabled a broader population to enjoy French dishes. Her pioneering cooking shows on television further brought cooking to the masses. Her story echoes every disruptive journey I have studied. Most notably, success required overcoming false starts, fumbles, and failures. She started working on Mastering the Art (with coauthors Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle) in 1951. The goal was to publish the book in 1953. It took an extra eight years, two publisher switches, and one stinging rejection in 1959 that almost killed the project. While you can't predict the specific path a disruptive innovation will follow, you can predict there will be twists and turns along the way. That means that leaders need to make sure that their environments accept and encourage the kind of intelligent failure that accompanies disruptive success. Celebrate failure Disruption's predictable unpredictability also means leaders need to make sure that their environments accept and encourage the kind of intelligent failure that accompanies disruptive success. One technique that can help is to have a formal ceremony to celebrate failure. That's what Finnish gaming company Supercell does. Every time a team successfully launches a new game, everyone gets together, and cracks open a beer. Every time a team admits defeat and decides to shut down a project, everyone gets together and pops a bottle of champagne. The 'reward' for the failure is greater than the reward for success. Saying cheers to failure has two clear benefits. First, it shows that a good, not bad, thing has happened, encouraging other teams to continue to push frontiers. Second, it shows that the effort is finished. Many organizations suffer from what I call 'zombie projects.' The walking undead. Projects that everyone knows will not move the needle but they shuffle and linger on, sucking all of the life out of the organization. Zombies exist because failure carries such a stigma that organizations avoid killing projects. Saying cheers to failure stops zombies from ever spawning and allows teams to move onto the next project—which might actually be the disruptive innovation for which your company has been searching. Accept risk Pursuing disruption is risky. The first reference to gunpowder appears in the book The Kinship of the Three in 142 CE. Its development over the centuries involved alchemists, blacksmiths, peasants, gunners, philosophers, and scientists. There were farmers and fighters experimenting with different uses. There were leaders allocating time and money and directing work. As one historian noted, success required the work of 'daredevils, visionaries, madmen,' many of whom found 'not fortune but disfiguring burns and death.' The burns are more metaphorical today—doubts from colleagues, the pain of a hypothesis proved wrong, the discomfort that always accompanies doing something new—but they still sting. Doing new things is hard. Having things not work out as expected is painful. Disruptive innovators question the status quo. Some people inside organizations love it, some are indifferent to it, some actively seek to subvert or sabotage it. Disruption casts a shadow. When you see someone in your organization who is pushing disruption, encourage them. Celebrate their courage, and tell them how much you appreciate their work. It's a small thing, but big things come from a collection of small things.
CNA
7 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Diversification of income stream helped DBS overcome ‘perfect storm' of uncertainties during Q2, says new CEO
SINGAPORE: Despite a 'perfect storm' of uncertainties, a diversification of its income stream helped DBS to deliver a 'solid' set of results for the second quarter, said its chief executive officer Tan Su Shan on Thursday (Aug 7). The bank's net profit for the April to June quarter was S$2.82 billion (US$2.2 billion), up 1 per cent from the same period a year ago and beating analysts' estimates. It declared an ordinary dividend of S$0.60 per share and a capital return dividend of S$0.15 per share for the period. Lifted by the earnings report, DBS shares soared to all-time highs on Thursday and briefly hit the S$50 mark at 3.30pm. It has since given up some of these gains and was last seen trading at S$49.75, up 1.8 per cent, at 4.49pm. The second-quarter results marked Ms Tan's first quarter at the helm as the CEO of Singapore's largest bank, after taking over from Mr Piyush Gupta on Mar 28. Speaking at a press conference, Ms Tan described the past quarter as a tough one marked by several factors 'that would incur the perfect storm'. These included a plunge in key interest rates in Singapore and Hong Kong, United States President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs on Apr 2 and the uncertainties that followed, as well as global geopolitical tensions. 'But our team delivered pretty resilient financial numbers … and I'd like to think of it as when the markets hit you … you mitigate those hits by increasing your volume, for example,' said Ms Tan. 'And if there (is) increased volatility, which there was, then you mitigate that by having a good trading income and you hedge when you can.' The bank has continued to build resiliency by, for example, taking on 'proactive balance sheet hedging' to help cushion the impact of sharp declines in interest rates. It also powered ahead with growth areas like wealth management and digitalisation, all lending well to the bank's ability to mitigate market volatilities. 'The diversification of (your) income stream (and) creating a fortress balance sheet to mitigate whatever the markets throw at you is important,' said Ms Tan. Strong performers for the bank in the second quarter included fee income and treasury customer sales, which rose to their second-highest quarterly levels. Ms Tan described the bank's fee income as 'firing on all cylinders'. Fees for the wealth management segment surged to S$649 million in the second quarter, up 25 per cent from S$518 million a year earlier, driven by broad-based growth in investment products and bancassurance. Investment banking fees were also higher – at S$31 million in the second quarter, from S$19 million a year ago – due to increased debt and equity capital market activity. Markets trading performance also strengthened, while deposits saw strong growth – a trend that will likely continue through the year. Commenting on the US tariffs, Ms Tan said the bank was 'not affected by the first-order impact of the US tariffs', although it did decide to be 'conservative' and set aside S$205 million of general allowances in light of the escalation in macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. The bank also sees 'almost negligible' first-order impact from the latest US tariffs imposed on India for now, as it is not exposed to the affected sectors such as textiles, jewellery and apparel. Singapore, which is DBS' biggest market, faces the baseline 10 per cent tariff. On whether the US' trade deals with various countries might mean an improvement in the business outlook ahead, Ms Tan said: 'It's a bit of a moving target, because, you know, every day you have a new tariff number.' That said, she remains hopeful that some of the business activities that were paused amid the uncertainty in the second quarter will resume in the months ahead. 'Business people don't like uncertainty, so (in the second quarter), we did see people press the pause button,' she said. '(For the third quarter), I'm hopeful that some of that will come back. We are beginning to see that coming in.' OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD Looking ahead, DBS has maintained its 2025 targets, which include group net interest income to be slightly above 2024 levels and net profit to be below 2024 levels due to the impact of the global minimum tax. While external uncertainties remain, DBS sees opportunities ahead. 'Our proactive management of the balance sheet puts us in a good position to navigate the interest rate cycle, while strong capital and liquidity ensure we are well-placed to support customers,' Ms Tan said. For example, in the realm of wealth management, the bank is seeing a 'real need' for long-term estate planning given that a 'massive wealth transfer' is taking place. 'People are planning for their future generation, no matter rich or not so rich,' said Ms Tan. 'We're seeing that growth (is) very solid across all markets – North Asia, South Asia, international, et cetera.' Digital assets is another area that DBS sees potential in, describing itself as being an active player since 2021 with the capability to list a range of tokenised offerings and having its own digital asset exchange. Noting that there have been positive changes in regulations, such as the US passing a regulatory framework for US dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins, Ms Tan said the bank 'has picked up the pace there' to be nimble in capitalising on potential opportunities. 'We want to be a trusted, regulated bank that plays in the digital asset space. So, we want to innovate, but we also want to do this responsibly,' she added. 'We've had a head start since 2021. We want to continue to build on our head start, build on our experience, build our expertise to be a trusted digital player in this ecosystem.'
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Business Standard
16-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
EB-5: Visa dates for Indian investors jump 6 months, Green Card line clears
The US Department of State's August 2025 Visa Bulletin on Tuesday brought some relief for Indian EB-5 applicants. The Final Action Date for India in the Unreserved EB-5 category has moved forward by over six months to November 15, 2019, one of the sharpest movements in this month's bulletin. 'For Indian applicants who've been waiting in a lengthy queue, this forward movement offers renewed hope,' Vinay Kumar, director – estate and succession planning at Client Associates told Business Standard. 'The reserved categories, including rural and high unemployment areas, remain current, and applicants in these usually receive their green cards within two to three years.' The EB-5 visa programme, which allows foreign investors to obtain US permanent residency, has become increasingly popular among Indian families seeking a direct route to a green card. What is the EB-5 visa? The EB-5 visa is a US immigrant investor programme under the employment-based fifth preference category. It allows foreign nationals to invest a minimum of $800,000 (around ₹7 crore) into a qualifying US business, provided it creates or preserves at least 10 jobs for American workers. The visa covers the investor, their spouse, and unmarried children under the age of 21. Upon approval, the family receives US green cards. Record backlog spurs shift to investor route The jump in priority dates comes at a time when the backlog for other US visa categories has grown sharply. As of July 2025, more than 11 million cases were pending across the US immigration system, including applications from Indian H-1B workers and family-based green card hopefuls. 'With the record backlog crushing hopes for other categories, EB-5 has become the fastest and most assured route to US permanent residency,' Piyush Gupta, vice president for India and Middle East at CanAm Enterprises told Business Standard. 'The six-month jump in priority dates is a welcome development for Indian investors.' Why the dates moved forward In April 2025, the EB-5 Unreserved final action date for India was pushed back due to high demand. However, the August 2025 bulletin notes that unused family-sponsored visas are now available to be reallocated to employment-based categories, including EB-5. This allowed the Department of State to move India's Final Action Date to November 15, 2019. The EB-5 Unreserved category includes investments made outside of designated high-unemployment or rural areas. USCIS cautioned that if the annual cap for EB-5 Unreserved is reached, the category could be made 'unavailable' again with immediate effect. Surge in Indian EB-5 demand According to the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA), demand from Indian nationals has grown sharply since April 2024, driven in part by stricter US controls on student and temporary work visas under President Donald Trump. 'In the first four months of FY2025 alone, Indian applicants filed more than 1,200 I-526E petitions across reserved categories—more than any prior full year,' Nicholas Mastroianni III, president and CMO of United States Immigration Fund (USIF), which runs EB-5 regional centres in the US, told Business Standard. Data published by the AIIA under the Freedom of Information Act shows that Indian EB-5 petition filings since October 2022 have exceeded 1,790. Year-wise Indian EB-5 filings FY2020: Around 290 FY2021: 80–100 (due to COVID-19 impact) FY2022: Over 1,100 (after Reform and Integrity Act) FY2023: Around 650–700 FY2024: Around 600–700 FY2025 (October 2024 to January 2025): Over 1,200 'If this pace continues, India could cross 2,000 filings by the end of FY2025,' said Mastroianni. Why Indians prefer EB-5 over H-1B or student visas 'There's growing uncertainty around temporary visa statuses,' said Gupta. 'With EB-5, investors have a more direct, secure alternative.' One factor making the route more appealing is the concurrent filing option. 'Applicants already in the US—such as students—can file their EB-5 petition and green card application at the same time,' Gupta said. 'This allows them to stay, work and travel while their case is processed.' Mastroianni added, 'It's not just about faster green cards. EB-5 means freedom from H-1B lotteries, employer dependence and annual visa renewals. It gives families more control.' No reliance on lottery systems
Mint
30-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Eight Roads Ventures sells stakes in three firms to TR Capital in $50-million secondary deal
Mumbai: Eight Roads Ventures has sold its stakes in software-as-a-service (Saas) platforms MoEngage and Whatfix as well as logistics firm Shadowfax to TR Capital in a $50-million secondary transaction, the companies said in a statement on Monday. Eight Roads first invested in Shadowfax in 2015, Moengage in 2020 and Whatfix in 2019. MoEngage is a customer engagement platform designed for marketers and product owners to engage, retain and acquire customers across digital touchpoints, while Whatfix provides in-app guidance, training and analytics to help users navigate underlying enterprise software. Shadowfax is a last-mile logistics player that operates in more than 2,500 cities and towns and delivers more than two million shipments daily. Backed by Fidelity, Eight Roads Ventures is a global investment firm that has partnered with more than 300 technology and healthcare companies across India, China, Japan, Europe and the US. Frederic Azemard, managing partner at TR Capital, said, 'Partnering with Eight Roads India showcased that capability: together, we translated a multi-asset opportunity into a win-win transaction for all parties involved. As an acknowledged pioneer of Asia's secondary market, TR Capital will continue expanding its footprint and collaborating with top-tier partners such as Eight Roads to deliver value from complexity,' Secondary transactions are increasing gaining traction in India as several investors at the end of their fund's life cycle are seeking liquidity and gearing up to exit companies they have been invested in for some time. As companies grow and mature, secondary transactions, in which existing investors sell their shares, become a common method for liquidity, according to an EY report. The value of strategic exits and secondary exits grew by 5% to $3.7 billion in 2024 from $3.5 billion in 2023 and is poised to grow further, EY said in January. The increase in secondaries also follows delays in initial public offerings (IPOs) owing to market volatility amid macroeconomic challenges. For instance, LG Electronics delayed its initial public offering (IPO) for its Indian subsidiary, LG Electronics India, due to market volatility earlier this year. Several investment firms such as Multiples and ChrysCapital have pursued continuation funds to remain invested in some of their winning companies while looking to provide exits to their limited partners invested in these funds. These vehicles allow firms to support trophy assets that need more time than the typical fund cycle to reach their full potential while giving limited partners a level of certainty on the returns they will get. India is also seeing a growing appetite for dedicated secondaries funds. Last year Oister Global and Tribe Capital launched a $500 million India-focused secondaries fund. Piyush Gupta, former managing director of venture capital firm Peak XV, launched Kenro Capital to target late-stage secondary deals but didn't disclose details about the size of the fund. TR Capital has increased its focus on India since 2008 and has provided liquidity solutions to several private equity firms through single-asset and portfolio transactions. Its other notable transactions include acquiring stakes from Samara Capital in Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd, First Meridian Business Services Pvt. Ltd, and Paradise Food Court Pvt. Ltd in a $150-million secondary deal in 2023.
