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6,000 Riders Keep the Classic Spirit Alive on International Jawa-Yezdi Day
6,000 Riders Keep the Classic Spirit Alive on International Jawa-Yezdi Day

Hans India

time16-07-2025

  • Automotive
  • Hans India

6,000 Riders Keep the Classic Spirit Alive on International Jawa-Yezdi Day

Riders from all corners of India came together to mark the second Sunday of July, which has come to mean something special in the world of classic motorcycles: International Jawa-Yezdi Day. From early morning rumble-outs in the hills of Manipur to sunset rides through the streets of Kochi and beaches of Konkan, fans of classic motorcycle brands Jawa and Yezdi showed up in style, riding retro, riding proud. This fan-designated day has grown into a phenomenon, and Jawa Yezdi Motorcycles is proud to celebrate the cultural pulse powered by the two iconic brands' rider communities and dealerships. Over 6,000 riders from 12 states, 20 cities, and 18 riding communities, 120 dealerships of Jawa Yezdi Motorcycles participated this year. From the Capital Jawa Yezdi Club Delhi, Haryana Jawa Yezdi Club, and Rajasthan Jawa Yezdi Club in the north to the southern riding communities of Kanyakumari Jawa Yezdi Club, BJYMC Bengaluru, Reborn Riders Chennai, and Smoking Barrels Trivandrum, the day saw a passionate turnout. Riders from the northeast's Jawa Yezdi Motorcycle Club Manipur, west India's YJOC Western Maharashtra and Jawa Yezdi Club Pune, and riding communities in Mangalore, Nagercoil, Palakkad, Varanasi, Chandigarh, and Chhattisgarh brought their signature character to the rides. The day became a nationwide celebration of machines that carry stories in their tanks and memories in their mirrors. Judging by this year's turnout, Jawa and Yezdi motorcycles continue to spark passion across generations, earning riders' love for carrying the lineage of steel, simplicity, and an honest classic soul forward. Riders who have clocked over thousands of kilometres on their 90s classic cruisers rode shoulder-to-shoulder with Gen Z bikers astride modern Jawas and Yezdis. New-age riders with GoPros and playlists; old-schoolers with toolkits and tales. All united by a common love for Jawa Yezdi motorcycling. Sharad Agarwal, Chief Business Officer, Classic Legends, said, 'This growing wave of interest from younger riders shows how classic motorcycling is not about age or nostalgia but about character. Classic and neo-classic machines speak to something deeper. They feel and ride differently. And they are increasingly being seen by present generations as not just throwbacks, but as a statement.' Jawa and Yezdi were built for riders who go their own way, and if over 6,000 of them choose to mark a day for their machines, Classic Legends is honoured to tip its helmet to them on this International Jawa-Yezdi Day. Every year, this fan-driven celebration only grows louder. And every year, it reminds us: Classic does not fade. It rides on.

Emirates NBD eyes RBL Bank stake for India, Asia play
Emirates NBD eyes RBL Bank stake for India, Asia play

Time of India

time02-07-2025

  • Business
  • Time of India

Emirates NBD eyes RBL Bank stake for India, Asia play

MUMBAI: Emirates NBD Bank PJSC , owned by the Dubai government , is exploring the acquisition of a significant minority stake in RBL Bank as it looks to expand its footprint in Asia, said people aware of the matter. The investment in the form of a preferential allotment is expected to be a primary infusion of capital into the Indian private sector lender bank, they said. RBL is 100% publicly owned with several domestic institutions owning small stakes. The bigger of these are held by Quant Mutual Fund (6.65%), Nippon Life India (3.11%), ICICI Prudential Life (1.06%) and Life Insurance Corp. of India (1.19%). Mahindra and Mahindra has a 3.48% shareholding that was acquired in 2023, while Nithin Kamath-led Zerodha owns 1.24%. British International Investment, the UK's sovereign investment arm, sold its 3.82% stake in April. The shares of the widely held Indian private bank jumped over 4% on Tuesday, extending gains for the fourth consecutive session. Its shares have galloped over 21% in the past month and over 64% in the past six. It's risen over 7% in the past five days. It closed at Rs 259.95 on the BSE Tuesday, up 4.6%, for a market value of Rs 15,831.21 crore. The deal structure will be somewhat similar to the recent SMBC-Yes Bank transaction, said the people cited. Here too, the UAE bank is likely to end up owning around 15-20% of the expanded equity capital base, below the open offer threshold, subject to regulatory approvals. That would translate to a Rs 3,166.24 crore investment. However, the deal is likely to take place at a premium to the current price, said one of the sources. The stock, which recorded gains in seven out of the past eight sessions, is still trading slightly below its book value, making it one of the cheapest in the sector, analysts said. It currently has a P/E ratio of over 21. Live Events To be sure, talks may remain inconclusive and fail to result in a transaction, said the people cited. The bank is also exploring the raising of capital from institutional investors as a backup option. RBL and Sharad Agarwal , CEO of Emirates NBD in India, didn't respond to queries. The Indian lender's leadership has been closely following developments in Yes Bank and is keen on a similar transaction. Emirates NBD, which has been in pursuit of IDBI Bank since 2023, is said to have zeroed in on RBL in recent weeks, working closely with an advisor. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in May granted in-principle approval to Emirates NBD Bank PJSC for setting up a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) in India through the conversion of its branches in Chennai, Gurugram and Mumbai. The Dubai bank recently launched investment banking services in the country. 'There is a deep connect between UAE and India, both diplomatic and commercial. The bank has been eyeing opportunities but has not been very keen to buy into NBFCs (non-banking finance companies) unlike some of their peers,' said an industry executive. 'There is also a lot of synergy in wealth and other product distribution.' Emirates NBD is the second-largest bank in the UAE and fourth among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. If a transaction materialises, this will be the second investment from West Asia this quarter in an Indian bank. In April, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Warburg Pincus agreed to deploy Rs 7,500 crore in IDFC First Bank to fuel the lender's next phase of growth. RBL Bank was started 70 years ago in Maharashtra as a local bank. The lender began its reinvention as a pan-India bank in 2010 with the induction of professional management, bringing in large institutional investors and infusing capital, along with investments in technology, people, branches and branding. Its greater focus on credit cards and microfinance is seen as a differentiated asset strategy, albeit prone to cycles. Analysts see a slowdown in growth in its core segments and stress in unsecured lending as key risks. March quarter net profit fell 80% to Rs 68.7 crore, despite an increase in other income, from the December quarter. Other income for the quarter stood at Rs 1,000 crore. The lender's net interest income (NII) fell 2.3% from the year-ago period to Rs 1,563 crore in the March quarter, while asset quality was lower compared with the preceding (yes) one. 'Business growth is gaining traction and slippages are expected to normalise by 2QFY26,' said Motilal Oswal analyst Nitin Aggarwal. 'Margins will be flattish to lower before it will claw back up. The trajectory is expected to improve starting FY26. The cards business is expected to grow in the mid-single digits.'

Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground
Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground

Economic Times

time10-06-2025

  • Business
  • Economic Times

Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground

ETtech Live Events ETtech Indian data centre companies are looking to attract neocloud firms such as Coreweave , Lambda Labs, Crusoe and Nebius, which offer high-end computing for generative artificial intelligence training at nearly one-third the price of hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft by large investors, neoclouds, or 'babyscalers'—boutique operators offering specialised infrastructure and flexible GPU rentals—are fast snagging business from Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. A study by digital infrastructure consultancy Uptime Institute showed that the average hourly cost of an Nvidia DGX H100 GPU system from a hyperscaler was $98, while neocloud players offer it at about $34—a 66% attractive prices, along with cheap data centre space and power in India, make a powerful case for neocloud companies to invest here, industry experts said. Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Chennai-based data centre services provider Sify Infinit Spaces, said neocloud companies are watching the Indian market keenly, especially because of the world's lowest rack rentals and power costs here. Many neocloud operators evolved from Bitcoin mining, gaming and high-frequency trading backgrounds. As AI chips grew in demand post ChatGPT's release in 2022, these firms quickly amassed thousands of chips to offer on Wall Street financiers have created a lucrative debt market for the neocloud firms which use the funds to acquire thousands of Nvidia chips and further rent out on hourly/monthly usage neocloud firms are cash rich. Large private equity firms like Blackstone, Carlyle and BlackRock have pumped in $11 billion in this new cohort of companies. Coreweave made an impressive $23-billion debut on Nasdaq this to semiconductor research firm Semianalysis, besides the four neocloud leaders, there are 131 emerging players in the segment globally who offer GPU rentals at discounted Infinit Spaces has introduced a pay-per-use pricing model, offering power and rack space to neocloud companies deploying GPU clusters in India. 'Our pay-per-use pricing model is a disruptor to the data centre industry,' Agarwal said. 'Huge entry cost is a barrier for emerging cloud infra firms to expand in foreign markets, and hence this pricing structure could derisk companies' fixed cost.'Hiranandani Group's Yotta Data Services – which by itself is India's sovereign neocloud -- said it has listed 8000 Nvidia H100 GPUs on Nvidia's marketplace alongside Lambda Labs, Coreweave and Nebius to offer their GPUs-as-a-service. 'This shift from hyperscalers to AI-specialised clouds is not just a competitive realignment—it's critical for democratising access to high-performance compute and accelerating innovation,' said Sunil Gupta, cofounder, CEO and managing director of Yotta Data Services, which has deployed its own sovereign neocloud with IndiaAI Mission, NIC, and Group's Blackbox said it is tapping North America and Europe expansion of neocloud firms to provide cabling, design, and construction services, and participate in their 'multi-billion gigawatt-scale expansion.'Blackbox is also pursuing global rollouts of gigawatt-scale campuses of neocloud operators for a range of services. 'These include structured cabling, data centre design, and turnkey construction services for both greenfield and retrofit projects,' said Sanjeev Verma, president and CEO of Black current discussions are focused on North America and Europe markets, expansion in India is not a question of if, but when, Verma added. CtrlS Datacenters is also in early talks with neocloud firms 'to deploy GPU clusters in India, driven by increasing AI model training and inference workloads, especially in sectors like BFSI, healthcare and manufacturing,' said Ranjit Metrani, president, managed services, at CtrlS say it is the right time for India's infrastructure players to strike long-term partnerships with neocloud firms as the industry is growing rapidly and India is evolving to be one of the largest markets for AI use. 'Neocloud companies are gaining market share globally at an incredibly fast pace comparable to the early growth of hyperscalers,' said Jitesh Karlekar, director-research at real estate research and advisory firm JLL.'This is a fundamental shift in the cloud business model… Neocloud firms are architected for the AI-native era. They offer more specialised infrastructure, lower latency, flexible pricing, and are often better optimised for high-performance computing workloads.' Therefore, it is crucial for India's infrastructure players to catch on this momentum early,' he said.

Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground
Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground

Time of India

time10-06-2025

  • Business
  • Time of India

Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground

Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Indian data centre companies are looking to attract neocloud firms such as Coreweave , Lambda Labs, Crusoe and Nebius, which offer high-end computing for generative artificial intelligence training at nearly one-third the price of hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft by large investors, neoclouds, or 'babyscalers'—boutique operators offering specialised infrastructure and flexible GPU rentals—are fast snagging business from Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. A study by digital infrastructure consultancy Uptime Institute showed that the average hourly cost of an Nvidia DGX H100 GPU system from a hyperscaler was $98, while neocloud players offer it at about $34—a 66% attractive prices, along with cheap data centre space and power in India, make a powerful case for neocloud companies to invest here, industry experts said. Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Chennai-based data centre services provider Sify Infinit Spaces, said neocloud companies are watching the Indian market keenly, especially because of the world's lowest rack rentals and power costs here. Many neocloud operators evolved from Bitcoin mining, gaming and high-frequency trading backgrounds. As AI chips grew in demand post ChatGPT's release in 2022, these firms quickly amassed thousands of chips to offer on Wall Street financiers have created a lucrative debt market for the neocloud firms which use the funds to acquire thousands of Nvidia chips and further rent out on hourly/monthly usage neocloud firms are cash rich. Large private equity firms like Blackstone, Carlyle and BlackRock have pumped in $11 billion in this new cohort of companies. Coreweave made an impressive $23-billion debut on Nasdaq this to semiconductor research firm Semianalysis, besides the four neocloud leaders, there are 131 emerging players in the segment globally who offer GPU rentals at discounted Infinit Spaces has introduced a pay-per-use pricing model, offering power and rack space to neocloud companies deploying GPU clusters in India. 'Our pay-per-use pricing model is a disruptor to the data centre industry,' Agarwal said. 'Huge entry cost is a barrier for emerging cloud infra firms to expand in foreign markets, and hence this pricing structure could derisk companies' fixed cost.'Hiranandani Group's Yotta Data Services – which by itself is India's sovereign neocloud -- said it has listed 8000 Nvidia H100 GPUs on Nvidia's marketplace alongside Lambda Labs, Coreweave and Nebius to offer their GPUs-as-a-service. 'This shift from hyperscalers to AI-specialised clouds is not just a competitive realignment—it's critical for democratising access to high-performance compute and accelerating innovation,' said Sunil Gupta, cofounder, CEO and managing director of Yotta Data Services, which has deployed its own sovereign neocloud with IndiaAI Mission, NIC, and Group's Blackbox said it is tapping North America and Europe expansion of neocloud firms to provide cabling, design, and construction services, and participate in their 'multi-billion gigawatt-scale expansion.'Blackbox is also pursuing global rollouts of gigawatt-scale campuses of neocloud operators for a range of services. 'These include structured cabling, data centre design, and turnkey construction services for both greenfield and retrofit projects,' said Sanjeev Verma, president and CEO of Black current discussions are focused on North America and Europe markets, expansion in India is not a question of if, but when, Verma added. CtrlS Datacenters is also in early talks with neocloud firms 'to deploy GPU clusters in India, driven by increasing AI model training and inference workloads, especially in sectors like BFSI, healthcare and manufacturing,' said Ranjit Metrani, president, managed services, at CtrlS say it is the right time for India's infrastructure players to strike long-term partnerships with neocloud firms as the industry is growing rapidly and India is evolving to be one of the largest markets for AI use. 'Neocloud companies are gaining market share globally at an incredibly fast pace comparable to the early growth of hyperscalers,' said Jitesh Karlekar, director-research at real estate research and advisory firm JLL.'This is a fundamental shift in the cloud business model… Neocloud firms are architected for the AI-native era. They offer more specialised infrastructure, lower latency, flexible pricing, and are often better optimised for high-performance computing workloads.' Therefore, it is crucial for India's infrastructure players to catch on this momentum early,' he said.

Classic Legends aims to go full throttle, double sales in FY26
Classic Legends aims to go full throttle, double sales in FY26

Time of India

time05-06-2025

  • Automotive
  • Time of India

Classic Legends aims to go full throttle, double sales in FY26

Mahindra-backed Classic Legends hopes to double sales in this financial year, going full steam on its growth plans with new motorcycle launches, aggressive global expansion and a wider dealer network, even as discretionary spending remains under pressure. The Mumbai-based manufacturer of classic brands is looking to mount a stronger challenge to segment leader Royal Enfield , which sold a record one million motorcycles last year, according to company executives. As part of its global expansion, Classic Legends plans to enter seven new markets including US, Europe and South America. Exports to US have been pushed to July from January on regulatory uncertainties. "Discretionary consumption has clearly been hit, but the stock market gives a false sense of comfort," Anupam Thareja, co-founder of Classic Legends, told ET. "Despite that, we believe our category-classic and adventure motorcycles-is relatively insulated. We're staying bullish." Classic Legends, which owns the Jawa , Yezdi and BSA brands, ended 2024-25 with retail sales of 32,343 units, up 0.18% from 31,016 units in the previous year, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. The company expects to do better this year. It plans to launch four new models across its brands, expand into global markets and increase its retail outlets in India to 500 from 300 by the festive season, said Sharad Agarwal, the company's chief business officer. On Wednesday, the company launched the Yezdi Adventure . With prices ranging from ₹2,17,900 to ₹2,26,900, it competes with the Royal Enfield Himalayan. In 2023, Classic Legends earmarked an investment of ₹1,000 crore till 2025-26, of which ₹350 crore has been spent. The remaining funds will go toward product development, expanding distribution and boosting exports. Of the projected 80,000 units this year, 25,000-30,000 are expected to be exported to markets such as the US, Europe and South America.

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