India could have flying taxis in the next four years as Indian-American businessman Chirinjeev Kathuria has announced that his company plans to set up a manufacturing unit in India along with the US. Kathuria’s Jaunt Air Mobility has tied up with L&T Technology Services to develop urban air mobility (UAM) solution in India.

The company has also got an order for 250 air taxis from an Indian chopper operator, a TOI report said.

Jaunt Air also manufactures the RQ-35 Heidrun intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone currently being used in war -hit Ukraine. Kathuria said that these drones could also be made in India from next year for the defence market, the doctor-turned-businessman told TOI.

“The first manufacturing unit is in the US and the second will be in India. We hope to start manufacturing them in both the countries by 2025. Heidrun drone production could start in India from next year itself. Our plans for India are immediate and not some distant future,” the Delhi-born businessman said.

“In 1999, I started a commercial company to launch and fund manned space programmes. The foray into unmanned aerial vehicles was made seven years back. But whatever I did,But whatever I did, my heart has always been in India. In mid-1990s, I helped set up the first US investment bank office in India and served in Morgan Stanley here. Even now I keep asking myself can we do something in India,” Dr Kathuria told TOI.

As per TOI report the company plan to start air taxi services in Canada and the US by 2026-27.

With Russia-Ukraine war refusing to abate, inflation surging, central banks not pausing on interest rates and crypto bubble bursting, billionaires had it tough in 2022. Nearly half the planet’s 2,640 billionaires are poorer than they were in 2022. What more, 254 people dropped off the Forbes Billionaire 2023 list completely, including Wayfair’s Niraj Shah, the Indian-American businessman has slipped out of the list. He is currently worth $600 million, which used to be $1.6 billion not so long ago. The falling off from the list has been attributed to slowing demand for sofas, beds and rugs from online home goods retailer Wayfair. In January, Shah (CEO and co-chairman) and Steve Conine (co-chairman) announced around 1,700 layoffs as part of a cost-savings plan.

Wayfair was launched in 2002 by co-founder, co-chairman, and CEO Niraj Shah with co-founder Steve Conine after his stint as co-founder/CEO of Simplify Mobile, an enterprise software company, which was sold in 2001. Headquartered in Boston, with operations throughout North America and Europe, the online retail giant quickly grew over the last two decades

Niraj Shah, a graduate of Cornell University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School has been recognised for his entrepreneurial achievements and has received numerous awards and honors, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2016.

Wayfair, an e-commerce platform, sells home improvement products which includes furniture, decor and pillow, rugs, lighting, kitchen and tabletops, bed and bath, sofas, outdoor, renovation, appliances, mattresses, pets, closet, storage furniture, home improvement, and other products.

Meanwhile, Ambani regained his top spot as Asia’s richest person, and among newcomers who made it to the coveted list include 36-year-old Nikhil Kamath, who co-founded discount brokerage Zerodha with his older sibling Nithin Kamath (also a newcomer). The Bengaluru-based brothers are worth $1.1 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively.

Four people returned to the list this year after previously falling off, including Keshub Mahindra, chairman emeritus of Mahindra & Mahindra. The 99-year-old patriarch is the oldest Indian billionaire and has a net worth of $1.2 billion.

Twenty-three people from last year’s list didn’t make the cut this time, including metals magnate Anil Agarwal, who’s weighed down by debt, and payments pioneer Vijay Shekhar Sharma, whose One97 Communications has seen its shares steadily fall since its IPO in late 2021 amid increasing competition for its Paytm payments app and prominent investors, such as SoftBank and Alibaba, paring their stakes.

Scores of Indian-Americans held a peaceful rally in California to register their protest against a Democratic senator for introducing a bill in the state’s Senate seeking to explicitly ban caste-based discrimination.

State Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state legislature, introduced the bill in the California Senate on March 22. If the bill gets passed, California, America’s most populous state, could also become the country’s first state to outlaw caste-based bias.

At the peace rally organised by the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) on Wednesday, participants said that the legislation introduced by Senator Wahab goes against the fundamental principles of equality and justice for all, regardless of their race, religion and ancestry.

“This bill presumes guilt, profiles and stereotypes Hindus and Asians, which will increase hate and target our kids,” said Harsh Singh, a Fremont city resident and tech worker.

Displaying posters and banners against the legislation, the protesters appealed to California lawmakers to not single out Hindus or presume that they are guilty of being oppressive simply due to their birth.

Participants of the peaceful rally in front of Senator Wahab’s Office said that legislation SB-403 proposes to add “caste” as a protected category in California.

They said it is based on unproven and biased data that targets South Asians, along with other people of colour such as those from the Japanese, African and South American communities.

“If passed, the bill violates the civil rights of South Asians and other people of colour and denies them equal protection and due process,” CoHNA said.

The bill was introduced exactly one month after Seattle became the first US city to outlaw caste discrimination after its local council passed a resolution moved by an Indian-American politician and economist.

The resolution, moved by Kshama Sawant, an upper-caste Hindu, was approved by the Seattle City Council by six to one vote.

Sudha Jagannathan, Bahujan Hindu American and a mother, said it angers and frustrates her that America is forcing this identity on her while “all my life this was never an issue”.

“SB 403 will entrench the false and dangerous concept of caste as solely connected to Hindus. It reinforces the very discrimination that its supporters claim to stop via SB 403! My children and children will be branded with a caste, despite not knowing what it is!” she said.

“I am dismayed at how hate groups like Equality Labs seek to co-opt my identity and weaponise it against the very traditions that nourished and gave succour to millions through the ages,” said Aldrin Deepak, tech worker, LGBTQ and Dalit American activist. They seek to deny the place of Valmiki and Vyasa, authors of the world’s most glorious and influential epics-the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the activist said.

“They negate the thousands upon thousands of subaltern-led temples that dot the landscape and attempt to refashion our sacred spaces to fit preconceived notions more grounded in monotheism.

“I reject the attempts from Equality Labs and California lawmakers to speak for me or my community. SB403 will profile us and leave us subject to being judged by so-called experts, based on subjective criteria like last names, dietary preferences, skin colour and more,” Mr. Deepak said.

After the peace rally, nearly 100 people went to speak at Fremont City Hall to make their concerns heard.

After introducing the legislation last month, Ms. Wahab told reporters that the “historic legislation is about workers’ rights, women’s rights, queer rights, and civil rights”.

“We want to ensure organisations and companies do not entrench caste discrimination in their practices or policies, and in order to do that we need to make it plainly clear that discrimination based on caste is against the law,” she had said at a news conference in Sacramento, California.

“Caste goes beyond religion and nationality. This legislation primarily protects millions who live in silence and have never had such protection because there is little understanding of this issue. This bill is about protecting people who are vulnerable,” Ms. Wahab said.

Equality Labs, the brain behind the anti-caste discrimination resolution in Seattle which has been spearheading a nationwide campaign, had claimed that in California, caste discrimination occurs across industries, including technology, education, construction, restaurants, domestic work, and medicine.

Many Indian Americans fear that codifying caste in public policy will further fuel instances of Hinduphobia in the US.

Over the last three years, ten Hindu temples and five statues, including those of Mahatma Gandhi and Maratha emperor Shivaji, have been vandalised across the US as an intimidation tactic against the Hindu community.

Indian Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the U.S. According to data from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS), which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States.

India banned caste discrimination in 1948 and enshrined that policy in the Constitution in 1950.

Five Indian-Americans are in Barron’s fourth annual list of the 100 Most Influential Women in US Finance for achieving positions of prominence in the financial services industry and are helping to shape its future.

The list includes Anu Aiyengar of JP Morgan, Rupal J. Bhansali of Ariel Investments, Meena Lakdawala-Flynn of Goldman Sachs Group, Sonal Desai from Franklin Templeton, and Savita Subramanian of BofA Securities.

Aiyengar is the global head of Mergers and Acquisitions at JP Morgan — a role she assumed in January after serving as co-head of the division since 2020.

She offers clients equal measures of expertise and steadiness when navigating challenging markets.

According to Barron`s, she “has long credited her love of number crunching, legal contracts, and building client relationships for bringing her to the mergers-and-acquisitions sphere”.

Bhansali, 55, chief investment officer and portfolio manager of Ariel Investments` global equity strategies, sees the current state of the market as a time when investors should reposition their portfolios because what worked in the past is “unlikely to work in the next decade”.

She believes that managing money is what she was born to do, and is passionate about encouraging women to work in finance.

Desai, 58, became the first woman chief investment officer in Franklin Templeton`s history in 2018. She oversees $137 billion in assets.

She joined the firm in 2009 after working for the International Monetary Fund, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and Thames River Capital.

Lakdawala-Flynn, Co-Head, Global Private Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs Group, wears several hats, including co-chairing the global inclusion and diversity committee.

According to Barron, her career in finance began soon after a sports injury. A zealous gymnast who at one point wanted to compete in the Olympics, Lakdawala-Flynn had to stay at George Washington University one summer to rehabilitate her knee.

She did an internship at Friedman, Billings, and Ramsey Group, working on the institutional equity sales desk.

Subramanian is head of US equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America Securities. She is responsible for recommending US sector allocations for equities and determining forecasts for the S&P 500 and other major US indices, as well as developing and marketing the firm`s quantitative equity strategy to institutional and individual clients.

Barron`s is a leading source of financial news, providing in-depth analysis and commentary on stocks, investments and how markets are moving across the world.