Audio
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Ultraviolette's founders on the F77 — Part 2: Hard challenges, investors, products and plans
In this episode, Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, co-founders of Ultraviolette, talk about their early choices with the F77, a performance electric motorcycle that's caught the attention of enthusiasts, young and old. This is part 2 of our conversation, in which the entrepreneurs talk about how sticking to their conviction that building their motorcycle as a premium performance bike was the way to go, avoiding the mass-market segment, is now beginning to pay off
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India should build its own internet — cool idea or catastrophic distraction?
Should India build its own internet in a bid to make ourselves more secure against cyber-attacks? This was one view attributed to a top technocrat in an interview in the Mint newspaper today. We asked Prateek Waghre, policy director at the Internet Freedom Foundation, to join us on ToThePoint today to help us make sense of the implications of such an exercise. The short answer to the question is "no" Prateek says. The more involved aspects around this topic range from security and geopolitical strategy to more subtle forms of restrictions even without isolating ourselves, he says
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Google to set up a centre in GIFT City — will this boost the fintech ecosystem in India?
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said recently that Google will set up a global fintech operations centre in India's GIFT City in Gujarat. On ToThePoint today, we asked Varsha Meghani, who's been reporting on the fintech ecosystem in India, to give us a sense of what the big picture is here. And we also speculate a bit on where this all leaves WhatsApp, which also offers a payments option in India via the country's unified payments interface infrastructure
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India joins Artemis Accords: What's the geopolitical message, and will ISRO get more money?
India finally joins the Artemis Accords, the multilateral space initiative led by the US. This was one of the many historic announcements that have come out of Prime Minister Modi's state visit. We asked Narayan Prasad, co-founder and COO of Satsearch and co-founder of Spaceport SARABHAI, India's first space think tank, to explain the significance. India has a lead over many countries with its space programme, and we should continue to invest as much as we can to maintain that strength and build on self reliance, Narayan argues, irrespective of being part of any international effort
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$10 bln Sony-Zee merger: What happens after Sebi's ban against Zee promoters?
Sony Pictures Entertainment is taking "seriously" the ban on Zee Entertainment's founder and CEO from holding board positions by the markets regulator Securities Exchange Board of India, Reuters reported yesterday. This is Sony's first comment since SEBI imposed a one-year ban, earlier this month, on Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra and CEO Punit Goenka, saying they had been actively involved in diverting company funds to the group's related entities. Forbes India's Nasrin Sultana joins us today on ToThePoint to help us make sense of the backstory
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Tesla cars and Starlink internet — can Modi fan Elon Musk deliver in India?
Tesla cars, solar Energy, Satellite Link broadband internet, and an Aspirational brand (TESLA) that's captured India's imagination rivalling Apple. Can Twitter's mercurial owner soon bring his hi-tech electric cars and Starlink satellite connections to India? Forbes India's Manu Balachandran joins us on ToThePoint today to talk about why India and Tesla might need each other—from a boost to India's EV plans and internet in the remotest corners of the country to a new, stable base for the American company in the global south, ready to ship to the world
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Ultraviolette's founders on the evolution of the F77 — Part 1: the hangar and the tech
Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, co-founders of Ultraviolette, talk about the evolution of their first product, the F77, a performance electric motorcycle that's drawn interest from around the world. This is part 1 of our two-part conversation, a simple walkthrough of the Bengaluru company's first showroom, which the entrepreneurs call their first hangar because they say everything about their bike is inspired by aviation. They also spoke about the innovations that went into the bike's battery and overall design to make it a genuine motorcycle first and an EV next
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IndiGo makes history, and what's next for India's aviation market?
Interglobe Aviation, better known to Indian air travellers as IndiGo, made global aviation history yesterday, placing a world record order of 500 A320 family narrow-body aircraft with Airbus on day one of the Paris Air Show. Forbes India's Manu Balachandran, who tracks the aviation industry closely, joins us today on ToThePoint to talk about the significance of this order, which outclassed the 470 planes booked by Tata Group's Air India recently. Manu walks us through how IndiGo, by far the biggest Indian domestic carrier, got here and what's next
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Mojocare, GoMechanic, the infinite B-roll of startups fudging numbers—is the VC model to blame?
Another day in India's vibrant startup scene, and another venture's founders fess up to fudging numbers under pressure. Forbes India's Rajiv Singh joins us on ToThePoint today to ask who is to blame—the founders, the VC investors or the ecosystem itself. In the heady days of crazy funding less than two years ago, the rising tide masked the sleaze, Rajiv argues. Amidst a funding winter, there is more scrutiny, and Mojocare certainly won't be the last. Investors may have to live with this, but for the founders, "it's their name at stake," he says
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Inside our defence and aviation special
In our latest issue, reporters take a crack at a topic that affects the entire nation—not as a consumer but as citizens who care about national security and India's preparedness for it. Looking at the private defence manufacturing organisations in India, the issue touches upon the Make in India, digitalisation, and even a startup-within-a-corporate aspect of the sector. Manu Balachandran, who anchored the defence and aerospace special, dives deep into the pages
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Manchester United: Will a change of hands bring back glory?
With news breaking that a consortium led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, one of Qatar's richest men, is in exclusive talks to buy the iconic English sports club for $6 billion, Naini Thaker and our Editor Brian Carvalho discuss the rise of the influence of the middle eastern emirates in European football. They also spoke about how football fan following in India has come a long way from Doordarshan telecasts of India's own legendary clubs like Mohun Bagan and Salgaokar FC