Reliance has backed the Philadelphia-based AI and robotics startup Exyn, the Indian conglomerate disclosed in a stock exchange filing on Thursday, making further inroads in startup backings globally. Reliance Strategic Business Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has acquired a 23.3% stake in Exyn for $25 million, the Indian firm said. The Indian firm's investment is part of a larger $35 million Series B funding of the Philadelphia startup, which operates a robotic autonomy for complex, GPS-denied environments. Exyn's robots are able to autonomously navigate in previously inaccessible environments without a prior map, existing infrastructure (GPS, communications, etc.), or an operator in the loop," according to a description on its site. Reliance, which operates India's largest retail chain as well as the top telecom operator in the nation, said it will find synergies with the startup on the Indian conglomerate's initiatives surrounding drone, industrial safety, security and robotics areas, while accelerating "Exyn's product and technology development across multiple application areas and commercialization." The startup had a turnover of $4.32 million, $1.83 million and $0.16 million in CY 2021, CY 2020 and CY 2019 respectively, the Indian firm added. Reliance Industries, or one of its units, has made a series of investments this year, including hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo and Google-backed Android lockscreen platform Glance. In March, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures said it planned to invest up to $221 million in U.S. electronics firm Sanmina to set up a joint venture as the Indian giant looks to expand its electronics manufacturing. The joint venture aims to create a "world-class" electronic manufacturing hub in India, the two said. Earlier on Thursday, Reliance said it had agreed to acquire the India unit of Metro AG for $344 million. Metro, which entered the Indian market nearly two decades ago, operates 31 wholesale distribution centers across the country. "With our mission of decreasing the amount of injuries and fatalities in'physical' industries gathering data in dangerous environments, having this investment will accelerate Exyn's impact and growth.

Nearly 87 per cent of enterprises in India are likely to increase annual artificial intelligence (AI) spending by more than 10 per cent in the next three years, a new report showed on Tuesday. Approximately 80 per cent of enterprises in the country have at least one AI model in production, indicating an extensive penetration of AI/machine learning (ML) across enterprises. Within providers, too, 64 per cent have AI/ML as a core element for many of their products, as against 56 per cent of their global counterparts, according to the report by Bain & Company's, in collaboration with Microsoft and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). "While the availability of data and cloud-based infrastructure have aided AI adoption, concerns related to data security, infrastructure, and management continue to be the most significant barriers for enterprises," said Velu Sinha, Partner, Bain & Company and co-author of the report. The report was launched by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, in the presence of top executives from the companies.

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) These are still early days for Cloud as globally, the enterprises still reserve 97 per cent of their IT spend for on-premises jobs and devote just 3 per cent to the Cloud. In India, the story is no different but with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) now driving Cloud, the year 2020 is going to witness more businesses in the country moving their workloads to the Cloud, according to the industry experts. The Cloud market in India is poised to grow three-fold to $7.1 billion by 2022, according to a latest NASSCOM report. According to Shailender Kumar, Regional Managing Director, Oracle India, even though we see Cloud taking centre-stage today, its adoption has to accelerate at a much faster rate in the country. "Will our enterprises be ready? By 2025, 80 per cent of all enterprise workloads will move to the Cloud. AI will double productivity, automate customer engagement and will be an inherent feature in applications. Automation will become central to the success of corporations," Kumar told IANS.

The retail industry in India, and globally, has been in a state of flux. With the euphoria around e-commerce having tempered, online retailers understood the importance of selling through stores even as offline players realised how significant the internet is for future growth. Yet, despite acknowledging the importance to co-exist through an "omnichannel model," most Indian retailers have not managed to successfully crack the code of offering shoppers the best of both worlds. But there's some inspiration they can take from Tesco, UK's leading supermarket. The 100-year old company operates in nine markets, including China, India, Malaysia, Poland, and Slovakia.

A recent Intel India commissioned report, undertaken by the International Data Corporation (IDC) that surveyed 194 Indian organizations across sectors, unveiled an increasing appetite towards the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which in turn is expected to spike organization spends on this technology, over the next 18 months. Nearly 75% of the firms surveyed, anticipate benefits in business process efficiency and employee productivity with the use of AI, and 64% of the respondents believe that this technology can empower them in revenue augmentation through better targeting of offers and improved sales processes. While these present some great incentives for AI in India, the other side of the coin shows that 76% of the companies are or believe that they will face a shortage of skilled personnel to harness the power of AI. In this context, Prakash Mallya, Managing Director, Sales & Marketing Group, Intel India said, "We all talk about the opportunity that India presents for AI, but often the types of industries that will embrace AI, the challenges that AI can address, and the roadblocks in implementation, are vague. This research is a small step towards comprehending this knowledge, and enabling companies such as ours, shape strategy and move ahead in the right direction."

BENGALURU: As firms' appetite for the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) grows, a report on Thursday said 68.6 per cent Indian organisations might deploy it before 2020. The Intel India commissioned report, undertaken by the International Data Corporation (IDC) that surveyed 194 Indian organisations across sectors, said 71 per cent are looking at increased process automation as a key benefit which could drive spike spends on this technology by 2020. The report also said that nearly 75 per cent of the firms surveyed anticipate benefits in business process efficiency and employee productivity with the use of AI. While 64 per cent of the respondents believe that this technology can empower them in revenue augmentation through better targeting of offers and improved sales processes, 76 per cent of the companies are or believe that they will face a shortage of skilled personnel to harness the power of AI. "This research is a small step towards comprehending this knowledge, and enabling companies, such as ours, shape strategy and move ahead in the right direction," Prakash Mallya, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel India, said in a statement. Intel currently powers 97 per cent of data centre servers running AI workloads worldwide and has been investing in the development of the ecosystem in India.