Rajagopal Swaminathan

[Rajagopal Swaminathan @RajagopalSwami2]

@sjchiru We need your immediate attention to the request for deferring the last instalment of 15% for TurnbullsTowers as there is delay expected in the delivery schedule. Allottees had sent a memorandum a few weeks ago. Looking forward to your kind intervention in this matter.

[Parimal @Fintech03]

Bangalore, 1999. Six friends try to build Amazon in a country with barely 3 million internet users, 8 years before Flipkart existed.

Everyone credits Flipkart's Bansals for starting Indian e-commerce in 2007. Almost nobody remembers that a man named K. Vaitheeswaran had already built the same idea, live, on the internet, 8 years earlier.

In June 1999, Vaitheeswaran, after 14 years working at the Murugappa Group and Wipro Infotech, teamed up with 5 colleagues, including V.S. Sudhakar, Hari Menon, and Sundeep Thakran, and founded what is widely credited as India's first dedicated online retail company.

Fabmart[dot]com went live around Sep 1999, starting with music CDs, then adding books, movies, watches, and groceries through 2000.

There were a few other scattered 1999 e-commerce experiments in India, Fabmart is the one that persisted into a full store and stayed in the public memory.

India, at the time, had ~0.27% internet penetration, somewhere around 2.7 million users in a population nearing a billion.

Most people had never typed a card number into a website in their life, assuming they even had a card to begin with.

It is tempting to say they built the entire e-commerce stack from a blank page, but that will be an overstatement, IMO. Courier networks existed (India Post, a handful of private couriers), and bank cards existed in primitive form.

What genuinely did not exist was anything resembling an e-commerce-ready system, nothing built for the specific problem of "stranger orders a book online, needs to trust it will arrive, needs to pay for it safely."

So Fabmart's team introduced / popularized tools that are now considered baseline: cash-on-delivery, a PIN-code-based payment arrangement, e-wallets, and electronic gift certificates.

Vaitheeswaran has called it the world's first PIN-based payment gateway....

In 2002, they opened their first offline grocery store in Bangalore under the brand Fabmall, a genuine early attempt at combining online and offline retail, years before "omnichannel" was a term anyone used.

It grew into a real supermarket business, and through the Trinethra Super Retail deal, was acquired by Aditya Birla Retail around 2006-07 and rebranded into a chain most Indians have actually shopped at: More.

Interestingly, some of the original founding circle later went on to work in the grocery-tech space that would eventually include BigBasket :))

The online arm, meanwhile, was renamed after acquiring a US-based site, becoming Indiaplaza[dot]com around 2007.

Indiaplaza did keep competing into the late 2000s and early 2010s, and did raise real capital, including ~$5M from IndoUS Venture Partners and Kalaari in 2011, with Vaitheeswaran describing total lifetime fundraising around $9M.

That was real money, just nowhere near Flipkart / Snapdeal's funded war chests during the aggressive discounting era.

A business that had spent a decade bootstrapping infrastructure with no real funding cushion simply could not match the burn rate. Indiaplaza shut down in 2013.

There is no fraud here, no scandal, no villain. Just brutal, honest timing, by Vaitheeswaran's own candid account, the end involved unpaid vendors, goods seized from the office, and real personal and financial strain, not just a wistful "we were too early" narrative.

India's e-commerce user base only truly went mass-market later, once cheap mobile data and smartphones arrived. The company vacated its Bangalore office in August 2013, and the site was effectively dead by 2014.

He wrote about all of it in his 2017 book, Failing to Succeed: The Story of India's First E-Commerce Company and has credited a later Mint profile with reframing how he saw the whole arc, telling him plainly that the pioneering itself mattered regardless of the outcome.

He has gone on to advise companies like Tata and Deloitte, speak at TEDx and IIMs, and later co-founded a beverage company, Again Drinks.

Startup media often calls him the "father of Indian e-commerce", though it is a title that has stayed inside startup circles, never quite reaching household-name status :((

[Rajagopal Swaminathan @RajagopalSwami2]

My brother Dr Swami Manohar is the first from left! nice to see this photo after years!

[The Rocket Media @TheRocketMediaX]

A blood test that can detect cancer before a scan can. Built in Bengaluru by four computer scientists who decided in the 1990s that medicine's most important unsolved problems were, at their core, computational.

The founders of Strand Life Sciences are not doctors. Vijay Chandru, who did his PhD in operations research at MIT, and Ramesh Hariharan, who earned his doctorate at NYU's Courant Institute, were professors of computer science at IISc in Bengaluru. They were not looking for a disease to cure. They were looking for a hard problem that their mathematical tools could solve.

"Medical science was poised to turn into a big data revolution requiring novel algorithms, databases and multi-disciplinary approaches," Chandru has said.

The push to actually build a company came from an unexpected direction. Ratan Tata, then the president of IISc's court, suggested that the institute's professors consider entrepreneurship. Chandru, Hariharan, and two colleagues, Swami Manohar and V. Vinay, stepped forward. In October 2000, they founded Strand Genomics, the first company ever to be spun out of an academic institution in India, and in doing so, gave birth to IISc's own commercialisation infrastructure.

Nobody in India believed a genomics market existed here. It took eight years to break even. "From a business perspective, we were addressing a niche market," Hariharan said of those years, "but we broke even in 2008."

Today, Strand Life Sciences has over 500 scientists working on genomic data analysis for cancer diagnostics, inherited disease, and pharmaceutical research. Reliance Industries acquired a controlling stake in 2021. In July 2026, the company received a patent for CBLytics, a blood-based cancer detection test.

A scan can catch cancer. A blood test can catch it earlier, at a fraction of the cost, in a country where most diagnostic infrastructure remains beyond the reach of most people.

Two computer scientists trained at MIT and NYU built India's answer to that gap, from IISc, twenty-five years before the world was ready to notice.

[Rajagopal Swaminathan @RajagopalSwami2]

@TheRocketMediaX Did not know that Reliance took over Strand! Well done team.

[Chandu Nair @chandunair]

@chennaicorp Who under-valued the assessments and on what basis? Not the citizens

[Sameer @BesuraTaansane]

During CONg rule Terrorist Zakir Naik would say “kill kafirs” openly on Indian soil

He was felicitated by scoundrel Digvijay Singh & he even donated money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundn

Under Modi Govt the bastard is hiding in Malaysia

This is the difference

[K.Annamalai @annamalai_k]

நாமக்கல் மாவட்டம், ராசிபுரம் ஒன்றியம், காக்காவேரி ஊராட்சி புதுகாலனியில் பட்டியல் சமூக குழந்தைகளுக்கு தனியாகவும், பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட குழந்தைகளுக்கு தனியாகவும் பல ஆண்டுகளாக இரண்டு அங்கன்வாடி மையங்கள் செயல்படுவது கடுமையாக கண்டிக்கத்தக்கது.

21ஆம் நூற்றாண்டில் கூட, இப்படி ஜாதிப் பாகுபாடு நடைபெறுவது வெட்கக்கேடு. ஏதுமறியா குழந்தைகளிடம், பிரிவினையை விதைக்கும் இந்த செயல், அரசியலமைப்பின் சமத்துவக் கொள்கைக்கு அவமானச் சின்னம். இத்தனை ஆண்டுகளாக இதனைக் கண்டுகொள்ளாமல் இருப்பது, அரசின் முழுமையான தோல்வி.

உடனடியாக இந்த பிரிவினை முறையை நிறுத்தி, அனைத்துக் குழந்தைகளுக்கும் சம உரிமையுடன் ஒரே அங்கன்வாடியில் கல்வி மற்றும் ஊட்டச்சத்து வழங்க தமிழக அரசு நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும்.

[K.Annamalai @annamalai_k]

In the outskirts of Chennai, in broad daylight, surrounded by people, in a residential area, a gang brutally murdered a man a week ago, and the visuals have emerged now.

This is the state of law and order in Tamil Nadu under the present DMK govt.

People stood there, shocked and terrorised by the absolute brutality. For the common people of TN, even the most basic sense of safety now feels like a distant memory.

[Rajagopal Swaminathan @RajagopalSwami2]

Here are my priorities for Tamil Nadu! 🗳️

[Monica Verma @TrulyMonica]

The legal brain behind the controversial petition that led to UGC equity rules is none other than Indira Jaising. The same lady whose NGO’s FCRA license was cancelled due to shady funding.

Connect the dots…

[Sridhar Vembu @svembu]

Professor Kamakoti works in deep tech: micro-processor design. He is the Director of IIT-Madras, the best technological institution in India. He serves in the NSAB.

He richly deserves the honour.

I have defended him on scientific grounds and I will do so again: cow dung and cow urine have excellent microbiome that could be valuable for humans.

It is the slavish colonial mindset that thinks these are not scientific propositions worthy of investigation. Some day, when Harvard or MIT publish a study on this, these enslaved minds would worship that as the gospel truth.

[K.Annamalai @annamalai_k]

Had seen a few misguided individuals roaming around with a can of black paint, striking Hindi Letters in opposition to the three-language formula in the New National Education Policy. We would humbly suggest that they visit the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Office with the same can of black paint. They can check for the addresses of these offices from the corrupt DMK Ministers as they frequently visit these places.

The DMK party is a bunch of confused nincompoops who have different standards for their families and others. They either run CBSE/Matriculation schools, which offer an option of 3 languages or ensure that their children/grandchildren are enrolled in such schools. After securing their children's future, they go around spreading fallacies and propaganda against the three-language policy; irony of things.

We strongly recommend that Thiru @mkstalin not hide behind the imaginary Hindi Imposition and answer these questions.

-While the DMK ministers to councillors enrol their children in private schools where 3 languages or more are taught, why is it deprived of students studying in government schools?

-Why are Hindi, other Indian Languages, and International Languages taught to students in the CBSE/ Matriculation schools run by DMK leaders? Why is the right to learn a third language refused only for students studying in government schools? Is the right to learn an additional language a privilege only for those who can afford it?

-Our Hon. Minister, Thiru @dpradhanbjp avl, has clarified many times that the three-language policy does not mandate Hindi as the third language and is only an optional third language among many other languages. The same is proposed in the National Education Policy 2020. Why is the DMK deliberately confusing people?

-Over 25 languages are defined as Dravidian languages. Having named your party the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, why is the State Government opposed to Government school students learning a third language such as Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam?

-Did your party founder, Thiru Annadurai, not say that Tamil Nadu is willing to adopt Three language formula if other states also adopt it?

The people of Tamil Nadu deserve transparency, not hypocrisy. Will Thiru @mkstalin dare to answer these questions, or will he continue to hide behind false narratives?

Thiru @mkstalin should also bring his I.N.D.I. Alliance partners to TN and give them also a box of black paint.

[Vijay Patel @vijaygajera]

I know they can finish me in just one day.

And people will forget me in just a few days.

This is not a simple warning.

Let me tell you all: if I die in an accident, heart attack, or suicide, please consider it as murder by the same people whom I am exposing for you people.

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Startling disclosure by @Uppolice: Sambhal riots were meticulously planned, with the express aim to trap and ambush @Vishnu_Jain1 inside the Jama Masjid mosque and assassinate him.

Dear @narendramodi. If you want to save Hindu civilisation, save Vishnu. Protect him. At all cost.

[JVC Sreeram (Bulls Eye) @sreeramjvc]

One Product a Day.

#TruthAboutGST

#FactsOnGST

Sanitary Napkins

Taxation on this product created huge controversy during the introduction of GST. Most people were unaware that this product was taxed in the Pre GST regime.

Can se share this widely

Pre GST: 12%

GST: NIL 0%

[JVC Sreeram (Bulls Eye) @sreeramjvc]

One Product a Day.

#TruthAboutGST

#FactsOnGST

Refrigerator

Fridge is no more a luxury & it an essential for any family. Even in the homes of Economically Weaker Sections this is a must.
This fact was recognised in the GST regime & reduced.

Before GST: 31.3%

Post GST: 18%

[Capt.Amarinder Singh @capt_amarinder]

My statement on the current Indo-Canadian situation.

[Rajagopal Swaminathan @RajagopalSwami2]

@MadrasMobile Welcome to Kotturpuram. I welcome all on behalf of Kotturgardens Residents Welfare Association (KGRA). Any logistical support needed can be arranged. I can be contacted at [email protected]

[✨💥கைப்புள்ள💥✨ @kaippulla123]

சூப்பர் சார் 🔥🔥🔥

[Baba Banaras™ @RealBababanaras]

This video should be on the phone of every Hindu. If you think 𝐆𝐚𝐣𝐰𝐚-𝐄-𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐝 is a joke, you gave gone. My humble request from every Hindu, Repost this video, download this video & share with every Hindu. At least you can do this.

[✨💥கைப்புள்ள💥✨ @kaippulla123]

“தமிழக ஊடகங்களால் திட்டமிட்டு மறைக்கப்பட்ட தலைவர் சுப்பர் ஸ்டார் ரஜினி அவர்களின் உரை”🙏❤️🔥