Welcome to the world of facts and news: July 2022

Dubious loan apps are back; Reliance’s Grab.in joins ONDC

The recovery agents, having got hold of his contact list, also called his aunt and demanded that she coerce him to pay up. She was abused and threatened over the phone, leading her to cut ties with his family.

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Chargebee’s SaaS suite looks to help clients earn more

​Chargebee had made successive acquisitions in the past 18 months — Brightback, numberz and RevLock in the subscription and cash flow management space — which have been turned around for the customer retention suite.

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Oracle’s India cloud unit targets triple-digit growth in next few years

This comes as Oracle’s India business has been a strong growth engine for the company – with the OCI unit clocking over 100% growth for the third year in succession and the software-as-a-services (SaaS) business also more than doubling for each of the last two years.

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Logistics startup Grab.in integrates with government’s ONDC

While Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo is already on the ONDC as one of the logistics partners, Grab's entry marks Reliance's formal entry into the much-hyped network, pitched as a disruptor to break the dominance of ecommerce companies Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart by bringing unorganised retailers online.

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India set for accelerated 5G infrastructure deployment: Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies has introduced software-driven storage innovations that provide insights, security, and increased productivity for Indian businesses.

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Google denies shutting down its cloud gaming service Stadia

"Stadia is not shutting down," the official Stadia Twitter account told a concerned fan in a tweet spotted by PC Gamer.

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EVs going mainstream, fire incidents help industry mature: Ather Energy CEO

In April this year cases of electric two-wheelers of manufacturers -- such as Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech and PureEV -- catching fire were reported. It prompted the government to form a panel to examine.

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Meta's Mark Zuckerberg: Company's pandemic-era forecast was too rosy

Mark Zuckerberg, responding to an employee question at a company-wide meeting on Thursday, said he had hired too aggressively and failed to account for the possibility of an economic downturn, according to a person who heard the remarks.

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Elon Musk files countersuit under seal vs Twitter over $44 billion deal

Elon Musk's lawsuit was filed hours after Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered a five-day trial beginning Oct. 17 to determine if Musk can walk away from the deal.

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Reels helps Instagram cash in on TikTok ban in India

Since its launch in 2020, Reels has evolved with a range of features – from 30-60-90 seconds reels, the Reels tab, Remix, Reels visual replies, and audio features such as save sounds and audio browser.

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'Absolute rubbish, we will never merge': Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal on reports of merger talks with Uber

Bhavish Aggarwal said in a tweet that Ola is very profitable and growing well and if some other companies want to exit their business from India they are welcome to.

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Is Meta losing its way?

The company is pouring billions into its virtual reality division in hopes of Big-Banging the metaverse into existence, but back in the real world, revenue and user growth are stalling.

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Cognizant aims to maintain financial services growth rate amid digital pivot

Company pares revenue guidance, CEO says 'no significant slowdown' in IT services demand

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Ola to sack 1,000 workers; Aarogya Setu data protocols were discontinued in May

The restructuring exercise – which is expected to last a few more weeks – is aimed at increasing Ola’s focus on its electric mobility business, for which it is hiring “aggressively”, according to executives engaged in the recruitment process.

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Battlegrounds Mobile India, Indian version of PUBG taken down

A Krafton spokesperson said: "We are clarifying how BGMI was removed from the Google Play store and the App store and will let you know once we get specific information.”

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Ola to fire about 1,000 employees across verticals even as focus shifts to electric mobility

The entire restructuring exercise – which is expected to be on for a few weeks more - is to focus more on its electric mobility business, where it is hiring “aggressively”, according to executives engaged in the recruitment process. The process has been ongoing across verticals including mobility, hyperlocal, fintech, and its used cars businesses.

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Focus is on payments, distribution of lending products: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Vijay Shekhar Sharma reiterated that the company continues to be on track to achieve operating profitability by September 2023.

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Swiggy workers go on strike again, this time in Delhi

Swiggy delivery personnel went on strike in Bengaluru last week and in Mumbai earlier.

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Vedanta says semiconductor business can rake in $3 billion annually

Vedanta executives said at the conference that the company would target volumes of 240,000 sheets a month for its integrated display fab built at a $12 billion investment, and about 50,000 Wafer Starts Per Month (WSPM) from the semiconductor factory.

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Swiggy begins selling private label brand Supreme Harvest on Instamart

The brand is marketed by Scootsy Logistics Pvt Ltd and sells pulses, oils, spices, mixed seeds, flour, and other cooking essentials.

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Retail clients in Europe, UK seek to accelerate transformation: TCS

Eight out of 10 retail clients are seeking to deliver their business plans faster than ever and are also open to 100% offshoring to meet these goals, said Abhijit Niyogi, vice president and business unit head - retail UK & Europe, TCS.

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VCs are flooded with unprecedented funds but in no rush to deploy capital

While the pace of early-stage deals is still moderately higher, there is no rush to issue a term sheet (an agreement sent by an investor before finalising funding), indicating a reversal of sentiment from 2021 among the investor community.

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Tech giants plan self-regulation; PhonePe’s shareholding may mirror Flipkart’s after separation

The proposal is likely to be taken up for detailed discussion with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology by the end of this week or the next week, the sources said.

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Semiconductor sops plan held up by mission CEO selection delay

On an India visit, Tower Semiconductor CEO Russell C Ellwanger met Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday, besides holding discussions with other officials in the ministry.

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Social companies eye self-regulatory body to tackle content issues

“We are willing to take the onus of the self-regulated body under the guidance of the ministry. Once the structure is finalised, we will present it to the government for their approval,” said one industry executive on condition of anonymity.

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Wipro wins five-year digitally transformation deal from Nokia

For Nokia, this represents a major step towards digitalisation of its operations by leveraging Wipro’s transformation and innovation capabilities, the filing added.

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Bengaluru institute exports ‘open-source Aadhaar’; GoM suggests 28% GST only on betting component

The programme is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BGMF), Tata Trusts, Norad, and Omidyar Network, which have cumulatively provided Rs 150 crore in funding.

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Tech Mahindra’s Q1 net profit down 16.4% on high talent costs

On a sequential basis, Tech Mahindra's profit fell 24.8% and revenue grew 4.9%.

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Crypto trading platform Crypso raises $3 million in funding from Hashed Emergent, others

Crypso will use the fresh capital to grow its user base and increase the breadth of product offerings and technology.

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Crypto trading platform Crypso raises $3 million in funding from Hashed Emergent, others

Crypso will use the fresh capital to grow its user base and increase the breadth of product offerings and technology.

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Rupa & Co scions take over Cloudtail’s home, kitchen and sports business

RetailEZ is among many new sellers that are taking over Cloudtail’s business following Amazon’s acquisition of the latter’s parent company Prione.

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Zomato’s market cap falls below private valuation as share lock-in period ends

Zomato’s market capitalisation at Rs 37,000 crore ($4.6 billion) is now below its last private valuation of $5.5 billion

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Private equity fund Xponentia gets Rs 365 crore in 1st close of second funding

The PE firm, Xponentia Capital Partners is looking to mop up Rs 750 crore towards the final close of the fund.

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PolicyBazaar parent notifies exchanges about IT systems breach

PB Fintech informed exchanges that ‘identified vulnerabilities’ in the IT systems that took place on July 19 had been fixed and that no significant customer data had been exposed.

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Can smartphones take the Web3 wave to the masses?

A few companies have announced the world's first Web3 smartphones. What are they, and can they achieve mass adoption one day?

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Infosys Q1 profit rises 3.17% YoY to Rs 5,360 cr



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Infosys Q1 Results: Profit up 3.2% YoY to Rs 5,360 crore; FY23 revenue guidance increased

Infosys managed to beat Street estimates on the revenue front but disappointed on both PAT and margins.

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Hacker offers 5.4 million Twitter account details for $30,000: Report

According to AppleInsider, a hack of 5.4 million users is small compared to the 478 million T-Mobile customers affected in August 2021. It is even small compared to the 70 million users of AT&T affected later that same month.

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Elon Musk questions Twitter's 'monetisable' daily active user numbers

Tesla CEO questioned the company's way of measuring its user base, which it uniquely calls "monetisable daily active users".

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iOS 16: Androidisation and some better tweaks

iPhone users get new features with an OS upgrade and this year it is iOS 16.

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North Korea denounces U.S. over Washington's remarks on cryptocurrency stealing

North Korea is widely believed to have thousands of trained hackers and stealing of cryptocurrencies has become a major source of funding for the sanctions-hit country and its weapons programmes.

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Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta is calling it quits

Instacart announced that CEO Fidji Simo had been appointed as Chair of the Board of Directors, effective as Mehta moves out from the board once Instacart becomes a public company.

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Uber admits covering up 2016 hacking, avoids prosecution in US settlement

Uber is also cooperating with the prosecution of a former security chief, Joseph Sullivan, over his alleged role in concealing the hacking.

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Mostly independent members in social media grievance forum

To ensure independent functioning of panel; changes to IT rules to be finalised in a fortnight

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Twitter blames Elon Musk, weak ad market for drop in revenue

The results come as Twitter has sued Musk for dropping his offer to buy the company, and is now preparing for a legal showdown in a trial set to begin in October. The deal uncertainty has worried Twitter's advertisers and caused chaos inside the company.

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Google fires software engineer who claimed its AI chatbot is sentient

Google, which placed software engineer Blake Lemoine on leave last month, said he had violated company policies and that it found his claims on LaMDA to be "wholly unfounded."

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Lawmakers discuss predatory pricing, regulations and more with Indian tech firms

Top executives, startup founders and CEOs of Indian internet firms including Flipkart, Paytm, Oyo Hotels & Homes, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Makemytrip and others met a high-powered parliamentary panel headed by former minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha of the BJP on Thursday to discuss ‘anti-competitive practices by Big-tech companies’.

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Jersey sponsor Byju's allegedly owes Rs 86.21 crore to BCCI, Paytm wants to exit as title sponsor

Indian cricket team's jersey sponsor Byju's allegedly owes Rs 86.21 crore as dues to the BCCI while title sponsor Paytm has requested the board to transfer its rights to a third party.

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Meta, Alphabet see m-cap erosion on Snap's poor results

The drop in Alphabet's shares cut its market capitalization by over $40 billion, and Meta's loss reduced its market capitalization by about $25 billion. The drop in Snap's shares evaporated $7 billion of its value.

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Yellow.ai deploys 30% of global generative AI bots domestically

While markets like the US are mostly using GenAI for customer support in a bid to cut costs, India Inc. is using them as an opportunity to g...