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Dear Reader, India’s ambition to achieve defence self-reliance gets a big boost. Sarvam has inked a five-year agreement with the defence ministry to develop AI tech for the armed forces. The Bengaluru-based AI company will design, develop and deploy AI applications for operations, training, and decision-support, and also provide follow-on technical assistance. The deal envisages shared foundation models, agentic infrastructure, and geospatial and perception systems. In other news, the high-stakes boardroom battle at the Tata Group continues. Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata has challenged the resolution to reappoint N Chandrasekaran as the chairman of Tata Sons. The resolution was passed at the board meeting of the Tata conglomerate’s holding company on September 17. According to sources, Noel has called the reappointment “void”, arguing that it was taken out of turn and was not on the meeting’s agenda. Meanwhile, as it reshapes its workforce amid heavy AI investments, Microsoft is offering employees an exit option. The American tech major has announced a voluntary exit programme for eligible employees in India, the US, the UK, and Canada. The package includes one month’s base salary for each completed year of service, besides health insurance and career transition services. Globally, around 60,000 employees are eligible for the programme. Microsoft has about 23,000 employees in India. However, it’s not clear how many would be eligible in the country. Lastly, Wall Street is closely watching the upcoming Big Tech earnings, which could serve as testimony to AI growth in an otherwise turbulent market. In today’s newsletter, we will talk about Why women should build their front row AI automation and its impact on jobs Here’s your trivia for today: At what temperature do Fahrenheit and Celsius match? (Scroll down for the answer) Women in Tech Kripa Venkatachalam of Cadence urges women to build their front row As part of our Women in Tech series, Kripa Venkatachalam, VP, India Technical Field Organisation & Global Customer Success at Cadence Design Systems, reflects on gender barriers, changing workplace policies, mentorship, and the importance of having people who egg you on. Her career spanning more than two decades has taken her through diverse roles across companies, including LSI Logic Corporation, Synopsys, GlobalFoundries, and Siemens EDA. Today, as VP, India Technical Field Organisation & Global Customer Success at Cadence Design Systems, she has what she calls a “front-row seat” to how the world’s chips are designed in India. Key takeaways: Kripa believes women need to seek support, leverage their network, and not always put the burden on themselves. “You have to make your family work for you, your workplace work for you, your society work for you. You have to lean in and take the help,” she says. At informal forums in Cadence, she often speaks about the need for people, especially women, to create their own front row—people cheering for them. “The front row has to assure you. Organisations and managers have to look closer, look harder, and encourage women forward,” she reiterates. As she looks ahead, Kripa resists the idea of tying her ambitions to a title. She describes her career as a jungle gym rather than a ladder, an image she credits to Sheryl Sandberg. <Funding Alert> Startup: Cent Amount: $15M Round: Series A Startup: Simplismart Amount: $14M Round: Series B Startup: Live2.ai Amount: Rs 130 Cr Round: Pre-Series B TechSparks Capital no longer creates jobs: Yatish Rajawat of Hundred Million Jobs At TechSparks 2026, K Yatish Rajawat, Co-founder of Hundred Million Jobs, a non-profit initiative to create 100 million net jobs in India over the next decade, said MSMEs, data laws, entrepreneurship and reskilling will shape the next wave of employment in the country. Key takeaways: Rajawat identified three trends reshaping the economy. One, the old formula, wherein Rs 100 crore of investment generates around 10,000 jobs, no longer holds, said Rajawat. Schemes such as the production-linked incentive are tied to capital rather than employment, he added. The second trend is the impact of AI and automation. AI is already affecting white-collar work across sectors. MSMEs, which he called the country’s largest job engine, are also losing jobs to automation. The third is platform consolidation. Rajawat argued that dominant ecommerce and social media platforms hold consumer data, which new entrepreneurs need, and this kind of monopoly prevents new businesses from succeeding. If entrepreneurship stalls, so does job creation, he said. News & updates Changes to GST: India plans to implement easing rules related to the goods and services tax for post-sale discounts while speeding up provisional refunds for businesses facing inverted duty structures from November 1, according to a government notification. Phone replacement: Apple has acknowledged that some of its iPhone Duo handsets have developed problems with their screens, just days after the highly anticipated smartphone went on sale. It has urged affected users to contact the company for a replacement. Fundraise: Troovy, a food and snacks brand, has raised Rs 100 crore in a Series B round of funding led by Fireside Ventures, with participation from Sharrp Ventures and other investors. The Gurugram-based brand will use the funding for R&D, expanding its manufacturing capacity, and scaling distribution across quick commerce and offline channels, as it looks to launch a wide range of products. At what temperature do Fahrenheit and Celsius match? Answer: Minus 40 degrees We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail nslfeedback@yourstory.com. If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.
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