Tata Sons Appoints Gopichand Katragadda As Group CTO

Tata Sons announced that Dr Gopichand Katragadda will join Tata Sons as Group Chief Technology Officer, from 3 August, 2014, reporting to the Chairman, Cyrus P. Mistry. In this new role, Dr Katragadda will be responsible for technology at the group level and share his expertise in managing R&D operations, leveraging cross-company synergies, creating technology strategies for white spaces, and acting as an evangelist for innovation across group companies.

Prior to joining Tata Sons, Dr Katragadda has served as Managing Director of the GE India Technology Centre, leading GE’s India technology team of over 5,000 engineers and scientists. In his 12 years with GE, based at the John F. Welch Technology Center in Bangalore,  Dr. Katragadda built new technology teams, facilitated funding of cross-business innovation, championed the commissioning of new research labs, and helped create what is today GE’s largest integrated multidisciplinary R&D centre.

He has over 30 publications and 5 patents.  He has authored a book on innovation, titled ‘SMASH’, published by Wiley.  A champion of innovation across India, he serves as a member of various important forums, like the Government of Karnataka’s Vision Group on Information Technology, and is an advisor to various industry bodies.

Paytm Ties Up With Cleartax.in
Paytm, a largest mobile commerce platform, has added Income Tax filing to its bouquet of services. It has tied up with ClearTax to enable Paytm users to file their tax returns free of cost and hassle free. The single-click tax filing experience enhances customer experience for a difficult process like tax payments – Paytm leading from the front again with the user experience and ease of payments

Shankar Nath, Senior Vice President, Paytm said, “It is our constant attempt to make things simpler and easy for our customers. We are right in the middle of the tax-filing season, and the online tax filing facility will make it convenient for our users. . The partnership with ClearTax  is in its second year and it blends perfectly with our objective of offering simple and uncomplicated  tax filing solutions for our users. The ‘Income Tax’ tab on Paytm.com helps customers navigate through the maze of tax slabs, making this otherwise lengthy process uncomplicated and convenient.”

To start e-filing of the taxes, all one needs to do is click on the ‘Income Tax ’ tab on Paytm. After signing in on the Paytm account, one can choose to either upload a soft copy of the Form 16 or go through the simple step-by-step guide for filling the form. Both processes are simple and super fast. Additionally, one can also solicit the services of a Chartered Account for a nominal fee.

Nokia Networks Invests In Mobile Network Multivendor Optimisation
Nokia Networks has announced that it has bought a broad solution for advanced geolocation capabilities from NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) to enhance the planning and optimization of mobile networks. Nokia Networks gains access to tools, technical expertise, and the right to further develop these capabilities.

Geolocation uses three dimensional modelling aimed at delivering unparalleled accuracy of network performance for multivendor networks. We believe that when combined with Nokia’s services expertise, this technology helps to provide deep insight into traffic trends and the performance of mobile broadband networks.

KeyPoint Tech & Lava Collaborate To Enhance User Experience
KeyPoint Technologies, a user interface company, has announced its partnership with Lava to enhance Iris 402e user-experience with a complete localisation solution for the Indian Market.

“We are very well known for the Adaptxt Keyboard that offers over 120 languages. We have chosen to partner with Lava to provide end-to-end localization services for their flagship device, Iris 402e. Localization is about being relevant to the local culture. By supporting the 10 most used Indian languages, we are convinced that Lava users will enjoy a drastically improved interaction with their smartphones” said Sumit Goswami, CEO at KeyPoint Technologies.

According to recent TRAI data, out of 860 million wireless subscriptions in India, only 15% of the users list English as their language of communication. Addressing this huge and fast growing demand for local content in India, KeyPoint Technologies has come up with a complete localization solution for the Indian market.