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- Arvind's Newsletter
1.GivingPledge:India’s philanthropist club swells, but donations shrink from covid peak
The elite club of Indian philanthropists donating ₹5 crore or more to charity expanded to a record 119 individuals in 2022-23, but their average donation size has halved from the pandemic-era peak, showed the latest EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy list. In 2021-22, a total 108 individuals had made it to the list.
HCL Tech founder Shiv Nadar retained his position of most generous Indian for the third year in a row by giving away Rs 2042 crore, or Rs 5.6 crore a day. Wipro’s Azim Premji came next, with an annual donation of Rs 1,774 crore.
Nadar’s donation, 76% higher than a year ago, came to more than the amount donated by the rest of the philanthropists in the top 10, barring Premji. Mukesh Ambani was third on the list, with donations amounting to Rs 376 crore, a fall of 8% from a year ago. Seven women made it to the list, with philanthropist Rohini Nilekani donating the most at Rs 170 crore.
2.Zurich Insurance to acquire 51% stake in Kotak General Insurance for ₹4,051 crore (~$488 mn).
In a major deal in the non-life insurance segment, Switzerland-based Zurich Insurance Group is acquiring 51 per cent stake in Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company (Kotak General Insurance) for about Rs 4,051 crore, through a combination of fresh capital infusion and share purchase. Within the next three years, Zurich Insurance Company intends to acquire an additional 19 per cent stake, taking its total stake in the Indian general insurance firm to up to 70 per cent
The proposed transaction values Kotak General Insurance at approximately Rs 7,943 crore or $955 million (INR-dollar rate of 83.19) on a post-money valuation, subject to customary closing adjustments.
This is the single-largest investment by a global strategic insurer in an Indian non-life insurer.
3.China, the U.S., and the U.K. were among 28 nations who signed an agreement to ensure artificial intelligence is developed in a “human-centric, trustworthy and responsible” way, reports Financial Times.
The “Bletchley Declaration,” named for the famous English World War II codebreaking site, recognises that advanced AI could cause “potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm.”
The summit was also attended by tech leaders, including the CEOs of Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI, as well as Elon Musk. China, the G-7, and the U.S. all recently took steps towards regulating the safe rollout of AI.The pledge forms part of a communique signed by major powers including Brazil, India and Saudi Arabia, at the inaugural AI Safety Summit.
4.Top business schools are enrolling more women students, according to the Forté Foundation, which compiles data based on 58 member schools, reports Wall Street Journal. Oxford, Johns Hopkins, Penn State and George Washington University all hit gender parity this year.
Overall, women represent 42% of full-time M.B.A. students at the foundation’s partner schools, which include more than 50 of the top schools in the U.S., Canada and Europe. That is up from 33% a decade ago.The rising share of female M.B.A. candidates reflects business schools’ concerted efforts to recruit more women in recent years.
5.Collins Dictionary's 2023 word of the year is tech's most talked-about abbreviation: AI
The Collins Dictionary word of the year is AI—the widely-used abbreviation for artificial intelligence.The Collins Dictionary word of the year is AI—the widely-used abbreviation for artificial intelligence.
“Considered to be the next great technological revolution, AI has seen rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023,” the UK dictionary, published by HarperCollins in Glasgow, announced in a blog post today.
Some other contenders for Collins’ word of the year for 2023
De-influencing: When social media influencers “warn followers to avoid certain commercial products, lifestyle choices, etc.”
Nepo baby: The label applied to someone “whose career is believed to have been advanced by having famous parents.”
Semaglutide: The active ingredient in type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy, both of which are made by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, now one of the most valuable companies in Europe.