Also in this letter:
■ ETtech Explainer: Big Tech battle it out for AI control
■ STEM talent needed, just not at technology firms
■ Rajasthan announces Rs 200-crore fund for gig workers
Nykaa Q3 Earnings: Profit declines 68% to Rs 9 crore
FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of Nykaa, reported a 68% fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 9 crore (year-on-year) for the quarter ended December 2022. It was Rs 29 crore in the same quarter last year.
Revenue up: Revenue from operations surged 33% to Rs 1,462 crore for the quarter under review. Revenues in the year-ago quarter stood at Rs 1,098 crore.
Expenses surged 36% to Rs 1,455 crore in the December quarter against Rs 1,067 crore in the same period last year.
EBITDA improves: The company reported an EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of Rs 78 crore for the December quarter, which is up 13% compared to the same quarter in the previous year.
Meanwhile, margins during the quarter came in at 5.3%. The consolidated gross merchandise value (GMV) during the quarter grew 37% YoY to Rs 2,796 crore.
Tech earnings a mixed bag in Q3: Last week was a mixed bag for investors in listed new-age tech companies. While some tech companies narrowed losses, others reported a substantial rise in losses. Most of the listed tech companies have seen stock valuations halve as investors dumped them in favour of established businesses.
ETtech Explainer: Big Tech battle it out for AI control
Microsoft vs Google is back in public discourse as both technology behemoths try to capture the larger chunk of the AI chatbot pie. Last week, Google unveiled Bard, its own AI chatbot and ChatGPT rival powered by its Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) —“to trusted testers”, with the plans of releasing to the general public shortly afterwards.
What’s the hype about? In late 2022, Microsoft-backed AI chatbot ChatGPT was unveiled. It became the fastest online platform to reach 100 million monthly users in just two months. For comparison, TikTok took 9 months to reach there. From Poetry to history lessons to coding, it can do anything. The world is hooked, and Google is worried.
Google’s $100-billion mistake: The demo of Bard answering queries had an error which was picked up by global media and the subsequent backlash cost the firm around $100 billion market value.
Reportedly, some Google employees are criticising its leadership for the “rushed”, “botched” and “un-Googley” launch.
‘Hallucinating’ chatbots: Google’s search engine executive recently warned against the pitfalls of artificial intelligence in chatbots.
“This kind of artificial intelligence we’re talking about right now can sometimes lead to something we call hallucination. This then expresses itself in such a way that a machine provides a convincing but completely made-up answer,” Prabhakar Raghavan, senior vice-president at Google and head of Google Search, said in a newspaper interview.
Also read | Google’s MusicLM turns text into music, will the AI system strike a chord with listeners?
STEM talent needed, just not at technology firms
Companies, including the likes of Bharti Airtel, MakeMyTrip, Flipkart, Uber, PepsiCo, Mastercard, EY and Deloitte, have gone into an overdrive in hiring STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent, at a time when most core technology firms and startups have cut jobs and invoked a hiring freeze.
Who is hiring ? Airtel is hiring STEM talent to build data capabilities, especially in data analysis teams, while PepsiCo is onboarding STEM talent for supply chain and R&D functions.
Flipkart is hiring STEM talent for analytics, data sciences and supply chain teams. Uber is currently hiring professionals — from entry-level to senior leadership positions — across engineering, product, data science, design and tech programme management.
Quote, unquote: “With the evolving economic context and increasing need for businesses to innovate and leverage technology to sustain market leadership, STEM talent has a pivotal role to play, said Pavitra Singh, chief human resources officer, PepsiCo India. “However, there is a huge diversity talent gap,” she said.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Infographic Insight: Mobile shipments yet to recover amid rising prices
The Indian smartphone market showed a degrowth for the second time in two years as consumer demand dwindled on account of high inflation. The entry-level segment saw a sharp decline in shipments even as the supply situation improved in 2022, said market trackers.
They expect a rather difficult and elongated recovery process, as worries around rising prices and excess inventories continue to remain a concern, at least till the first half of 2023. A look at the performance of smartphone brands in 2022 and the way forward.
Rajasthan announces Rs 200-crore fund for gig workers
The Rajasthan government on February 10 said the state will launch Rs 200-crore fund to protect gig workers. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced the enactment of the Gig Workers Welfare Act, the establishment of a board and a welfare fund of Rs 200 crore in his government’s Budget for 2023-24.
Why the fund? “To protect them from harassment, I propose to bring the Gig Workers Welfare Act, under which, along with the formation of the Gig Workers Welfare Board, a Gig Workers Welfare Fund will be established with Rs 200 crore,” Gehlot said in his Budget speech.
IFAT reacts: The Indian Federation of App Based Transport workers (IFAT) hailed the Gehlot government’s announcement of a welfare board for gig workers.
“IFAT believes that this is a monumental moment not only for gig workers, but for entire informal sector workers and industries both. These efforts will go a long way in solving many unanswered and complex questions of the informal economy where over 94%/50 Crores of India’s total workforce are employed,” the union said in a statement.
Why is it important? Concerns have been raised over the working conditions of gig workers as their participation in the labour force grows. A study by research firm Fairwork India said that ride-hailing companies Uber and Ola, quick commerce platform Dunzo, online pharmacy PharmEasy, and delivery platform Amazon Flex provided the poorest conditions for gig workers in India.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra in Mumbai and Erick Massey in New Delhi. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.
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