TMS Ep595: Paytm, AI in 2023, stock laggards, EU pact on migration

Paytm’s parent company, One 97 Communications, has reportedly laid off over 1,000 employees over the last few days. It is realigning its various businesses to cut costs and turn profitable again. These layoffs also come on the heels of Paytm withdrawing from small-ticket consumer lending after RBI’s clampdown on unsecured loans. Find out why Paytm is pivoting away from lending.

When asked about the recent lay-offs, Paytm said that it was aiming to save 10 to 15% in employee costs with Artificial Intelligence-led transformations. And that it would result in a slight reduction in the workforce. Well, 2023 will be remembered as a year when people and companies started taking AI seriously. Listen to the key milestones in the AI industry and finds out what it may reveals about AI’s future.

This year also saw equity markets staging a handsome recovery with benchmarks eyeing to close the year with double-digit gains. But pockets like private banks, metals, and oil have lagged behind. Listen to the reasons and the 2024 outlook for these segments.

After the financial markets, let us now turn our gaze to Europe -- which has recently agreed to a major overhaul of the bloc’s laws on handling asylum-seekers and migrants. This episode of the podcast explains more.