| | DECEMBER 20248As India makes strides in artificial intelligence (AI), SoftBank's Founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has said that the country can become the AI chip capital of the world.During a meeting with prominent Indian startup founders in the national capital, Son, who has invested in several companies across the country, expressed his intention to increase his investments in AI in India in the coming years. This marked his first visit to India in nearly two years. He was also reported to have met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though no official statement regarding the meeting has been released.SoftBank has invested in several Indian startups, including Snapdeal, Ola, Oyo, Housing.com, and Grofers (now Blinkit and a Zomato company).Son had earlier declared that SoftBank would invest $10 billion in India over the coming years.As the generative AI race heats up, SoftBank CEO was reportedly aiming to raise about $100 billion for his AI venture, reports surfaced earlier this year.Japan's investment major swung to its biggest quarterly profit in two years in the September quarter, owing to the growing number of IPOs in the Indian markets.SoftBank reported a net income of 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion) for the September quarter, a stark turnaround from last year's net loss of 931 billion yen. The tech conglomerate's gains were driven by rising share prices of publicly listed Indian companies within its Vision Fund investments."After we were making large losses in the Vision Funds, we were very conservative. So now we were able to generate good profits as a result of learning from that", SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said after the earnings.The two Vision Funds fully or partially exited investments totaling $1.85 billion. This included complete exits from 10 portfolio companies, such as the digital payment firm Paytm. FCB Interface, a part of FCB Group India, has announced that Sangeet Chaudhary has been appointed as Executive Vice President and Head of Office for its Delhi operations. Sangeet has over 18 years of strong and varied experience in marketing and advertising across fields such as telecom, automobile, FMCG, consumer durables, and more.Throughout her career, Sangeet has worked on leading brands like Samsung, Bacardi, BMW, Dabur, and many others, successfully delivering impactful marketing solutions and driving business growth.Gaurav Dudeja, CEO of FCB Interface, commented, "Our Gurgaon office has been on a rapid growth path, and it now needs a leadership core to propel it to the next level. Sangeet's diverse experience and strategic mindset make her a perfect fit for this mandate. She has handled large and complex mandates in her earlier roles in marketing and advertising agencies. I'm confident that under her leadership, we will significantly scale up the office to deliver our very high ambitions of growth and glory".Sharing her excitement about this new role, Sangeet said, "I am truly excited to join FCB Interface and to collaborate with such inspiring leaders as Dheeraj, Gaurav, and Rakesh. FCB's legacy of excellence and commitment to a holistic approach in serving clients is remarkable, and I am eager to help build a culture driven by growth and creativity". IN FOCUSSOFTBANK CEO MASAYOSHI SON: INDIA CAN BECOME THE AI CHIP CAPITAL OF THE WORLDFCB INTERFACE APPOINTS SANGEET CHAUDHARY AS EVP AND HEAD OF OFFICEIN FOCUS
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