Apple India stores post sales record; PharmEasy breaches loan covenant; and Amazon’s ten-year India journey

Happy Thursday! Apple’s Mumbai and Delhi stores clocked record sales in their first month in India.

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Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies to invest $3 million in Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure

Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies will make the investment over two years through non-profit Co-Develop. The CDPI is currently engaged with five countries: the Philippines, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

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EU, US to ready voluntary AI code of conduct

After talks with EU officials in Sweden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Western partners felt the "fierce urgency" to act following the emergence of the technology, in which China has been a growing force.

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Amazon workers stage walkout over company’s climate impact, return-to-office mandate

The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon's annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week.

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US FTC settles privacy lawsuit with Amazon.com's Ring

As part of the FTC agreement with Ring, which is good for 20 years, Ring is required to disclose to customers how much access to their data the company and its contractors have.

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No targeted ads for those below 18 years: AIGF in draft model charter for self regulatory body

AIGF, which is the apex industry body for online skill gaming in India has put together a draft of a model charter for the Self-Regulatory Body for online gaming intermediaries in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

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Elizabeth Holmes in prison custody to begin 11-year sentence for notorious blood-testing hoax

As she begins her sentence, Holmes will be leaving behind two young children - a son born in July 2021 and a 3-month old daughter.

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Call of Duty Mobile, Candy Crush among most user data-hungry games in India: Report

Of the 50 most popular mobile gaming apps in India, 38 employ or share user data for third-party advertising purposes, the report stated.

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Binance Australia customers selling bitcoin at discount to rival exchanges

Earlier this month, the Binance unit said some customers in Australia will not be able to deposit or withdraw money after a third-party service provider cut off its service.

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Sam Bankman-Fried's arguments to dismiss charges are meritless: Prosecutors

In papers filed in the Manhattan federal court, prosecutors responded to early May filings in which Bankman-Fried's lawyers insisted that the United States overreached in its case against Bankman-Fried, making federal crimes out of regulatory issues.

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Ant group’s early investor Primavera closes fourth fund at $4 billion

The fundraising by Primavera, which invests primarily in China but has diversified into Southeast Asia and North America over the years, comes amid global macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges that have weighed on dealmaking activities.

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Top four IT companies log 40% drop in large client additions in FY23

Top four IT majors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech and Wipro, added 80 large clients which are classified as deals in the $10 million to $100 million range in the fiscal ending 2023 versus 132 clients in FY22, according to ET’s analysis.

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Used car startups take a U-turn as sales remain sluggish

With profitability still a far cry for venture-backed companies like Spinny, Cars24 and CarDekho, these platforms are either putting the brakes on business expansion or exiting the segment completely.

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AI political fakery sparks fears for US 2024 race

The 2024 presidential race is expected to be the first American election that will see the widespread use of advanced tools powered by artificial intelligence that have increasingly blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction.

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World’s most valuable chipmaker Nvidia unveils more AI products after $184-billion rally

The wide-ranging new lineup includes an AI supercomputer platform called DGX GH200, which will help tech companies create successors to ChatGPT.

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Arm rolls out new smartphone tech and MediaTek signs up to use

MediaTek, a longtime supplier of low- and mid-tier smart phone chips, has been pushing into the market to supply chips for premium smartphones, once dominated by rival Qualcomm Inc, which has been in a legal battle with Arm since last year over chip licensing agreements.

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Exclusive: Sebi may review regulations for VC & PE funds, Cred‘s rejigging its lending strategy to tap more users

Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought suggestions from venture capital and private equity funds to potentially simplify regulations for the sector.

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Explainability key to easing AI worries, large-scale usage in biz: TCS’ Nidhi Srivastava

​​Last week, TCS announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud and the launch of its new offering, TCS Generative AI which leverages Google Cloud’s generative AI services.

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Bhavish Aggarwal announces Ola Prime Plus service in Bengaluru

Aggarwal took to Twitter to announce the new service ‘Prime Plus’ which will offer “best drivers and top cars” for users.

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Zypp Electric to deploy two lakh vehicles in its fleet, invest $300 million for expansion

​​The company, which is planning to enter new cities like Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad is targeting a revenue of Rs 500 crore this year, up from Rs 125 crore last year.

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Here's what happens when your lawyer uses ChatGPT

As AI sweeps the online world, it has conjured dystopian visions of computers replacing not only human interaction but also human labor. The fear has been especially intense for knowledge workers, many of whom worry that their daily activities may not be as rarefied as the world thinks - but for which the world pays billable hours.

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Netflix starts to crack down on password sharing

The streaming giant sent out an email Tuesday to US members who are sharing their account with people living outside their household that made clear it would begin kicking people off the service if they were using someone's account for more than 30 days while at a different location.

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US judge rejects challenges to Apple's $50 million keyboard settlement

The plaintiffs' lawyers announced the deal a year ago. Apple denied any wrongdoing.Class members will receive $50 up to $395 based on the number and nature of repairs made to a keyboard.

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China, South Korea agree to strengthen talks on semiconductor industry

China's commerce minister Wang Wentao met with South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Detroit.

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InfoEdge writes off investment in Bijnis; remains upbeat about investing in Indian startups

InfoEdge said write-off was “following the principles of conservatism and prudence”, after taking into account the B2B startup’s continued cash burn and limited availability of cash.

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Twitter cannot hide from EU rules after exit from code, EU's Breton says

Companies which signed up to the code are required to provide regular progress reports with data on how much advertising revenue they had averted from disinformation actors.

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US jury says Google owes Sonos $32.5 million in smart-speaker patent case

The case is part of a sprawling intellectual property dispute between the former collaborators that includes other lawsuits in the US, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

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India's leading business and tech schools explore coexistence with artificial intelligence

While some institutes are jittery about students using artificial intelligence-driven language programmes to put together assignments and projects, most look at it as the next innovation frontier that is impossible to ignore, top officials told ET.

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Jobs in startupland shrink 30%; hikes fall amid funding freeze

Employees at startups are seeing only 10% annual hikes on the higher side, while many are even forced to take a 10% cut, show findings of a report.

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Tencent offloads 2% stake in PB Fintech for Rs 562 crore

Tencent sold the shares for Rs 596.6 a piece, roughly 39% below PB Fintech’s IPO price of Rs 980. As per the latest transaction, Tencent's shareholding in PB Fintech has reduced to 6.28% from 8.37% (as of March 2023).

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I-T department invites comments on draft rules for valuing startup investment by non-residents

Under the existing norms, only investments by domestic investors or residents in closely held companies were taxed over and above the fair market value. This was commonly referred to as an angel tax.

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Hyundai, LG announce $4.3-billion plant in Georgia to build batteries for electric vehicles

The Hyundai-LG plant is supposed to be able to supply batteries for 300,000 electric vehicles per year, which is the initial projected production of the adjoining vehicle assembly plant.

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OpenAI offers $100,000 grants for ideas on AI governance

The $100,000 grants will go to recipients who present compelling frameworks for answering such questions as whether AI ought to criticize public figures and what it should consider the "median individual" in the world, according to a blog post announcing the fund.

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Some betting apps continue advertising despite ban; fintechs push for decentralised KYC regime

Happy Friday. A bunch of gaming and getting firms continue operations and ads across online platforms despite a government ban. This and more in today’s edition of ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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What is Volt Typhoon, the alleged China-backed hacking group?

Nearly every country in the world uses hackers to gather intelligence. Major powers like the US and Russia have large stables of such groups - many of which have been given colourful nicknames by cybersecurity experts, like “Equation Group” or “Fancy Bear.”

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Acquirer of Silicon Valley Bank announces layoffs at the failed institution; no impact on team based in India

CEO Frank Holding said the move would only affect "select" corporate Silicon Valley Bank positions, adding that neither employees in customer-facing jobs, nor members of a team based in India, would be impacted.

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Twitter crashes during Ron DeSantis US presidential run announcement

Twitter outages have been more numerous under Musk's ownership. In March, thousands of users reported problems accessing links posted on the platform.

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Nvidia's results spark nearly $300 billion rally in AI stocks

Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue more than 50% above Wall Street estimates, with Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang saying in a statement the company is "significantly increasing our supply to meet surging demand" for its data center chips.

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Facebook owner Meta slashes business teams in final round of layoffs

Dozens of employees working in teams such as marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy and corporate communications took to LinkedIn to announce that they were laid off.

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Tatas eye bigger play in electronics, semicon manufacturing; Matrix closes largest India fund at $550 million

Ahead of its possible foray into the semiconductor space, Tata Group is scouting land near its electronics manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu to expand operations, sources told us. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Matrix logs in largest India fund at $550 million to help retain ownership in companies for longer

Matrix Partners began deploying its fourth India dedicated fund, originally intended to close at $450 million in size, a year ago, and has since backed 18-20 companies from the pool of capital.

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Is Musk's DeSantis show a winning ticket for Twitter?

DeSantis is considered a credible challenger to seizing the Republican nomination from frontrunner Donald Trump in the 2024 election, and his tie-up with Musk's Twitter has generated buzz.

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Fast-fashion giant Shein plans Mexico factory

Shein was founded in China and manufactures most of its products there, but is seeking to diversify. The company sells $10 dresses and $5 tops and has taken market share from other affordable fashion retailers.

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Sequoia weighs La Renon Healthcare exit

Plans are still on the drawing board and the storied Silicon Valley venture capitalist (VC) may not necessarily follow through with them, the sources cautioned. Menlo Park-headquartered Sequoia Capital had invested a sum of $16 million in Pankaj Singh-founded La Renon Healthcare in June 2015 at a valuation of around $100 million.

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Banks, lenders wary as RBI tags C-KYC high risk; Snap bulking up India team in monetisation push

Centralised Know Your Customer (C-KYC) database, which was conceived as a solution to KYC challenges faced by financial institutions, has been flagged as high risk by the Reserve Bank of India, making lenders wary. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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New FDI policy for space likely to be out in three months: IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka

Policy may allow FDI under automatic route in satellites, launch vehicles, sub-systems

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Netflix expands password-sharing crackdown worldwide

Netflix said early this year that more than 100 million households were sharing accounts at the service, "impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films."

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Delhivery denies talks to acquire logistics firm Gati: filing

Media reports earlier on Tuesday said that Delhivery is in early talks with All Cargo Group's company Gati, citing sources.

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Allen Career Institute appoints former Meta executive Abha Maheshwari as CEO of edtech biz

Having entered the edtech sector in June last year, Allen wants to provide digital learning modules and crash courses for IIT Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Exam (NEET) segments.

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TCS to pocket about 80% of Rs 15,000 crore BSNL order

TCS informed the exchanges on Monday that it has received advance purchase orders (APOs) worth Rs 15,000 crore out of the around Rs 25,000 crore deal.

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