Latest news with #Somani
Economic Times
25-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Music labels seek new track as streaming hits paywall
Indian music labels are experiencing slower revenue growth. This is due to changes in the audio streaming market. Several platforms like Resso and Hungama have closed. Others such as Gaana are now subscription-based. Saregama's revenue remained flat. Zee Entertainment also saw growth slow down. The industry expects stabilization and renewed growth soon. These shifts impact the music business significantly. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India's music labels are facing a slowdown in revenue growth as the country's audio streaming ecosystem is undergoing a structural shift, according to industry the shutdown of several streaming platforms and others moving behind paywalls, the ad-supported model has come under pressure, creating short-term disruptions across the industry, they said."There has been a lot of short-term pain over the past few quarters, with multiple services shutting down-first Resso, then Hungama and Wynk Music, and now Gaana moving behind a paywall," Vikram Mehra, managing director of Saregama , said on an earnings has led to a halt in revenue from free services, he said, adding, "But in the long run, it's a very healthy sign for the industry's growth."Saregama reported flat revenue in its music licensing and artist management segment for the March quarter at ₹171 crore, unchanged from a year earlier. The company attributed the stagnation in part to the shutdown of Wynk Music in December Somani, head of strategy, M&A and business development at Zee Entertainment , highlighted the impact on Zee's music business. "We have seen growth tapering to single digits, mainly because some of the homegrown streaming platforms have shut down or slowed down. But if you strip them out and look at a like-to-like basis on other platforms, the growth is pretty satisfactory. We expect things to stabilise this year and growth to pick up again," he Zee Entertainment doesn't disclose music revenue separately, the company earns more than ₹400 crore annually from the segment, according to industry the past 18 months, three audio streaming services-Wynk Music, Hungama and ByteDance-owned Resso-have shut down. Others, such as Spotify, Gaana and JioSaavn, have pivoted to subscription-based models from largely ad-supported ones.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
City hosp launches ‘Colofit' to check colorectal cancer
Lucknow: Concerned over the rising incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in India, city-based Apollomedics Hospital launched a comprehensive screening initiative called 'Colofit'. "The aim is to ensure early detection and prevention of this cancer, making treatment more accessible, reducing costs and overcoming the challenge of late diagnosis. Currently, due to delayed identification, treatment becomes more difficult and adds pressure to healthcare systems," said Dr Mayank Somani, MD and note, CRC cases in India appear in over seven men and five women per one lakh population, but the sheer size of India's population translates into a substantial number of cases. Also, the five-year survival rate for this cancer in India is less than 40%—among the lowest Somani said that under the Colofit programme, they would extend the Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) for screening. "This easy, non-invasive and highly effective diagnostic tool can detect hidden blood in the stool, a possible early sign of disease. The advantage of FIT is that it works with just one sample, offers higher accuracy, and does not require any dietary restrictions, ensuring patient comfort and convenience," he stress that colorectal cancer is no longer confined to the elderly—it is increasingly affecting younger individuals too. Yet, most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage—around 50% are detected late, and over 20% already show spread to other organs. This makes early screening and raising awareness absolutely symptoms of colorectal cancer should not be ignored. These include persistent changes in bowel habits (such as chronic diarrhoea or constipation), blood in stool, unexplained weight loss, and ongoing abdominal pain or discomfort. Risk factors include a low-fibre diet, physical inactivity, obesity, a family history of the disease, and certain genetic predispositions.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Government gets bids offering 18,000 GPUs in Round-2 of IndiaAI Mission tender
ETtech Live Events The Centre has received bids proposing to offer 18,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) in the second round of the IndiaAI GPU tender , and expects 15,000 GPUs to finally be offered following technical qualifications and commercial bid-opening, IndiaAI CEO Abhishek Singh first round of the GPU tender has already concluded. In that round, New Delhi is offering 15,000 GPUs on subsidised rates to the country's startups, academics and research Gupta, cofounder and chief executive, Yotta Data Services, told ET that while the company had already offered 8,192 Nvidia H100 GPUs and 1,024 Nvidia L40S GPUs in first round of empanelment, it has now proposed Nvidia Blackwell B200s in this second round of empanelment. IndiaAI Mission has shortlisted seven companies—including partners of Amazon Web Service (AWS), Oracle and Google Cloud—for technical evaluation under the second round of the GPU tender, ET had reported on May Mission has invited the firms—Netmagic IT Services (now known as NTT Global Data Centers & Cloud Infrastructure India, or NTT GDC India), Cyfuture India, Sify Digital Services, Vensysco Technologies, Locuz Enterprise Solutions, Yotta Data Services, and Ishan Infotech—for technical presentation of their proposals on May are already more than 230 applications to India AI for building India-specific large language models (LLMs) / small language models (SLMs) and more than 30,000 GPU requests are in the pipeline."The bid submission is now open for third continuous empanelment," Singh said, indicating that the third round of the GPU tender is now open for accepting companies are planning to bid higher versions of GPUs in the third Somani, founding chief executive of Cloud company ESDS Software Solution told ET, "We are in the process of acquiring the Nvidia Blackwell series of GPUs -- B200 and B300. Once those are deployed in our data centres, we will be submitting the bid for the third round of the IndiaAI Mission's GPU tender which is now open.""We won't be participating with the older generation GPUs," Somani who is also president, Cloud Computing Innovation Council of India, Cloudstrats Technologies who had participated in the pre-bid meeting were interested in bidding for the second round of the tender and had requested IndiaAI for an tender inviting authority did not grant the extension. Cloudstrats is however going to participate in future empanelments, it company told ET, 'With established partnerships with hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft Azure, we are well-positioned and experienced to deliver scalable AI infrastructure covering high-performance compute, secure storage, and cloud-native services."India had formally launched its Rs 10,000-crore India AI Mission in January, under which against the target of 10,000 GPUs outlined in the IndiaAI compute pillar, empanelled bidders have offered 14,517 GPUs at L1 part of the Mission, the government is also incentivising the development of local language models built by academia and industry with investment capital and other support. The move is aimed at building up India's AI prowess.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Govt gets bids offering 18,000 GPUs in Round-2 of IndiaAI Mission tender
In the second round of IndiaAI's GPU tender, bids offering 18,000 GPUs were received, with 15,000 expected to qualify. Seven firms are shortlisted, including AWS and Google Cloud partners. The government aims to boost India's AI capabilities and local language model development under its Rs 10,000-crore mission. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Centre has received bids proposing to offer 18,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) in the second round of the IndiaAI GPU tender , and expects 15,000 GPUs to finally be offered following technical qualifications and commercial bid-opening, IndiaAI CEO Abhishek Singh first round of the GPU tender has already concluded. In that round, New Delhi is offering 15,000 GPUs on subsidised rates to the country's startups, academics and research Gupta, cofounder and chief executive, Yotta Data Services, told ET that while the company had already offered 8,192 Nvidia H100 GPUs and 1,024 Nvidia L40S GPUs in first round of empanelment, it has now proposed Nvidia Blackwell B200s in this second round of empanelment. IndiaAI Mission has shortlisted seven companies—including partners of Amazon Web Service (AWS), Oracle and Google Cloud—for technical evaluation under the second round of the GPU tender, ET had reported on May Mission has invited the firms—Netmagic IT Services (now known as NTT Global Data Centers & Cloud Infrastructure India, or NTT GDC India), Cyfuture India, Sify Digital Services, Vensysco Technologies, Locuz Enterprise Solutions, Yotta Data Services, and Ishan Infotech—for technical presentation of their proposals on May are already more than 230 applications to India AI for building India-specific large language models (LLMs) / small language models (SLMs) and more than 30,000 GPU requests are in the pipeline."The bid submission is now open for third continuous empanelment," Singh said, indicating that the third round of the GPU tender is now open for accepting companies are planning to bid higher versions of GPUs in the third Somani, founding chief executive of Cloud company ESDS Software Solution told ET, "We are in the process of acquiring the Nvidia Blackwell series of GPUs -- B200 and B300. Once those are deployed in our data centres, we will be submitting the bid for the third round of the IndiaAI Mission's GPU tender which is now open.""We won't be participating with the older generation GPUs," Somani who is also president, Cloud Computing Innovation Council of India, Cloudstrats Technologies who had participated in the pre-bid meeting were interested in bidding for the second round of the tender and had requested IndiaAI for an tender inviting authority did not grant the extension. Cloudstrats is however going to participate in future empanelments, it company told ET, 'With established partnerships with hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft Azure, we are well-positioned and experienced to deliver scalable AI infrastructure covering high-performance compute, secure storage, and cloud-native services."India had formally launched its Rs 10,000-crore India AI Mission in January, under which against the target of 10,000 GPUs outlined in the IndiaAI compute pillar, empanelled bidders have offered 14,517 GPUs at L1 part of the Mission, the government is also incentivising the development of local language models built by academia and industry with investment capital and other support. The move is aimed at building up India's AI prowess.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ohio Democrats seek to codify reproductive care, align state law with constitutional amendment
Ohio abortion rights demonstrators. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) Ohio Democratic lawmakers will try to push back against existing abortion regulations and align state law with the state constitution in a new bill to codify reproductive care. State Reps. Anita Somani, D-Dublin, and Desiree Tims, D-Dayton, introduced House Bill 128 this month, which seeks to repeal 'archaic laws in our state that do not improve outcomes or access to care,' Somani said, laws that include 'unnecessary ultrasounds' and hospital transfer agreements that hinder physicians from conducting care at certain clinics or facilities that provide abortion care. 'They were passed to create roadblocks for those seeking abortion care and those providing that care,' Somani said. The bill is a reintroduction of a measure from the last General Assembly that only had one committee hearing, never received a vote and died with the end of a session run by a Republican supermajority which has in the past shown more support for anti-abortion measures than reproductive rights efforts pushed by the Democrats. 'I would hope that all of the stories of women dying because of restrictive abortion laws (nationwide) would help people understand what these restrictive abortion laws do,' Somani told the Capital Journal. Somani's previous bill, House Bill 343, sought to repeal legislation approved by the legislature in 2019 that banned abortion after six weeks of gestation, called the Heartbeat Act by supporters. That law spent most of its existence in court as abortion rights groups fought to have it rejected. The bill couldn't be enforced while it was tied up in multiple courts, and it was ultimately struck down by a Hamilton County judge last October. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In his decision, Judge Christian Jenkins cited the state's constitutional amendment, approved by 57% of Ohio voters in November 2023, which established rights to reproductive health, including abortion, miscarriage care, and fertility treatments. The fate of the 2019 law hasn't been decided yet, however, as Ohio Attorney General (and 2026 governor hopeful) Dave Yost has appealed the decision to the First District Court of Appeals. Yost has said he isn't planning to fight the six-week ban's rejection on appeal, instead aiming his arguments at other provisions of the law, saying not all state regulations that could be considered connected to abortion care can be eliminated. 'The state respects the will of the people regarding the six-week abortion ban, but the state is also obligated to protect provisions in S.B. 23 (the Heartbeat Act) … that the constitutional amendment does not address,' a spokesperson for Yost said when the appeal was filed. It's the idea of litigating law after law that drove Somani to the legislation she hopes to see considered in the new General Assembly. Before, during, and after the passage of the constitutional amendment, reproductive rights advocates went to court to fight laws regarding fetal and embryonic remains disposal, the 24-hour waiting period required before an abortion, a two-visit minimum for pregnant individuals before the procedure can take place, and virtual prescription of medication used for abortions, along with the six-week ban lawsuit. 'Our hope is to align legislation with the constitutional amendment, and not have to go through each piece of previous legislation,' Somani said. As an OB/GYN as well as a legislator, Somani said codifying the care established in the state constitution would also address maternal and infant mortality, issues the state has struggled with for years, particularly when it comes to Black infants and mothers. In recent research from Groundwork Ohio, the state was also one of the worst in the country for low infant birth weight among Medicaid enrollees, with premature birth rates also increasing since 2019. H.B. 128 would also add nondiscrimination, civil, and criminal protections for 'evidence-based care,' according to the bill sponsors. 'This legislation ensures that health care providers can focus on what matters most: providing high-quality, compassionate care to those who need it,' Tims said in a statement on the bill. The bill was referred to the Ohio House Health Committee on Wednesday, where it will be subject to testimony from supporters and opponents before the chamber can vote on the measure. The legislation faces an uphill battle, not only because a Democratic-led bill on reproductive rights is likely to struggle in the Republican supermajority Statehouse, but also because state operating budget negotiations have taken over much of the discussion as the July deadline approaches. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
