india

India’s securities depository CDSL says malware compromised its network • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 18, 2022Posted in cybersecurity, india, SecurityNo Comments

India’s leading central securities depository, Central Depository Services Limited, or CDSL, says its systems have been compromised by malware. On Friday, the securities depository said in a filing with India’s National Stock Exchange that it detected malware affecting “a few of its internal machines.” “As a matter of abundant caution, the company immediately isolated the machines and disconnected itself from other constituents of the capital market,” the filing said. CSDL said it continues to investigate, and that it has so far “no reason to believe that any confidential information or the investor data has been compromised” due to the incident. CDSL has not yet revealed the exact details of the malware. At the time of writing, the company’s website was down. The company declined to say if the two are related. Banali Banerjee, an agency spokesperson, said CDSL also declined to answer our other questions, including if the company stores logs that would allow it to determine what, if any, data was exfiltrated from its network. “We are working towards resolutions,” the spokesperson said. Mumbai-based CDSL claims to maintain and service nearly 75 million trader accounts — locally called demat accounts — of investors across the country. The company also counts Bombay Stock Exchange, Standard Chartered Bank, and Life Insurance Corporation among its significant shareholders. Founded in 1999, CDSL is India’s only publicly listed and the country’s second-largest depository after the National Depository Services Limited, or NDSL, the oldest securities depository. CDSL allows the holding of securities and their transactions in electronic form and facilitates trade settlements on stock exchanges. “The CDSL team has reported the incident to the relevant authorities and is working with its cyber security advisors to analyze the impact,” the company said in its stock exchange filing.

India proposes permitting cross-border data transfers with certain countries in new privacy bill • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 18, 2022Posted in data protection, Government & Policy, indiaNo Comments

India has proposed a new comprehensive data privacy law that will mandate how companies handle data of its citizens, including permitting cross-border transfer of information with certain nations, three months after it abruptly withdrew the previous proposal amid scrutiny and concerns from privacy advocates and tech giants. The nation’s IT ministry published a draft of the proposed rules (PDF), called the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022, on Friday for public consultation. It will hear views from the public until December 17. “The purpose of this Act is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,” the draft says. The draft permits cross-border interactions of data with “certain notified countries and territories,” in a move that is seen as a win for tech companies. “The Central Government may, after an assessment of such factors as it may consider necessary, notify such countries or territories outside India to which a Data Fiduciary may transfer personal data, in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be specified,” the draft says, without naming the countries. Asia Internet Coalition, a lobby group that represents Meta, Google, Amazon and many other tech firms, had requested New Delhi to permit cross-border transfer of data. “Cross-border transfer decisions should be free from executive or political interference, and should ideally be minimally regulated,” they wrote in a letter to the IT ministry earlier this year. “Placing restrictions on cross-border data flows is likely to result in higher business failure rates, introduce barriers for start-ups, and lead to more expensive product offerings from existing market players. Ultimately, the above mandates will affect digital inclusion and the ability of Indian consumers to access a truly global internet and quality of services,” the group had said. The draft also proposes that companies only use the data they have collected on users for the purpose they obtained them originally. It also seeks accountability from the firms that they ensure that they are processing the personal data for the users for the precise purpose they collected it. It also asks that companies do not store the data perpetually by default. “The storage should be limited to such duration as is necessary for the stated purpose for which personal data was collected,” a note from the ministry said. The draft proposes a penalty of up to $30.6 million in the event a firm fails to provide “reasonable security safeguards to prevent personal data breach.” Another $24.5 million fine if the firm fails to notify the local authority and users for failure to disclose personal data breach. The earlier proposed rules were touted to help protect the citizens’ personal data by categorizing it into different segments based on their nature, such as sensitive or critical. However, the new version does not segregate data as such, according to the draft. Similar to Europe’s GDPR and the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) in the U.S., India’s proposed Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 will apply to businesses operating in the country and to any entities processing the data of Indian citizens. The proposed rules, which are expected to be discussed in the parliament after receiving public consultation, would not bring any changes to select controversial laws in the country that were drafted more than a decade ago. New Delhi is, though, working on updating its two-decade-old IT law that would debut as the Digital India Act. It will segregate intermediaries and come as the endgame, India’s minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told ZebethMedia in a recent interview. In August, the Indian government withdrew its earlier Personal Data Protection Bill that was unveiled in 2019 after much anticipation and judicial pressure. At the time, India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the withdrawal was considered to “present a new bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework.” Meta, Google and Amazon were some of the companies that had expressed concerns about some of the recommendations by the joint parliamentary committee on the proposed bill. The move to bring a data protection law came privacy was declared as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court of India in 2017. However, the country faced strong criticism over its earlier data protection bills due to their intrinsic nature of granting government agencies the power to access citizens’ data. At one of the sessions during the G-20 Summit in Bali earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the principle of “Data for development” and said that the country would work with G-20 partners to bring “digital transformation in the life of every human being” during its next year’s presidency for the 19 countries-comprising intergovernmental forum.

India’s first private rocket, built by startup Skyroot, makes successful launch • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 18, 2022Posted in india, isro, Skyroot, SpaceNo Comments

India’s space agency has successfully launched the Vikram-S after much anticipation and years-long work in a boost to the private sector of the nation’s space industry. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) kicked off the suborbital rocket at 11.30 a.m. local time Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India’s east coast. The Vikram-S, developed by four-year-old startup Skyroot, is a single-stage, spin-stabilized solid propellant rocket with a mass of around 550 kilograms. It carries three customer payloads, including one from a customer outside India. Made of all-carbon fibre core structure, the 6-meter-long rocket was developed in two years. Image Credits: Skyroot The demonstration mission, named Prarambh (“the beginning” in Sanskrit), is the first by Hyderabad-based Skyroot. The startup is building a series of launch vehicles named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space program. In June 2020, the Indian government passed the space sector reforms and established the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) to allow private companies to use ISRO’s infrastructure. New Delhi also set up NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) as the space agency’s commercial arm to work closely with private companies and startups to bolster space developments in the South Asian country. Founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot successfully tested fire India’s privately-made solid rocket stage in December 2020. It was also the country’s first startup in 2021 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the ISRO to launch its rockets. The startup has raised $68 million in total, including $51 million in a Series B round led by Singapore-based GIC in September, and has a valuation of $165 million. According to the data shared by Indian Space Association (ISpA) with ZebethMedia, Indian space startups have raised over $245.35 million, where $108.52 million were infused in 2022 alone. The association counts Skyroot as one of its members, alongside private companies including Bharti Airtel and OneWeb as founding members. The government is currently working on a new space policy to increase private participation and encourage investment in the country’s space sector. In a recent interview with ZebethMedia, ISpA Director General Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt said the space policy would address some issues raised by the industry players, including a single sanction window and spectrum allocation for satellite-based communication services through the Department of Telecommunications. The industry players have also requested the government to open foreign direct investment policy and incentives on taxes, import duties and domestic manufacturing of space equipment that are yet to be addressed.

Binance chief says crypto exchange doesn’t currently see a viable business in India • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 17, 2022Posted in Binance, CoinDCX, Coinswitch Kuber, Crypto, indiaNo Comments

Scores of crypto-focused venture capital firms have raced to India in the past two years, hoping to turn the world’s second largest internet market’s large developer community into a key web3 power house. But what does Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, arguably the most powerful and influential figure in the crypto industry, think about the potential of India? Not much, as of today. “To be honest, I don’t think India is a very crypto-friendly environment,” said Zhao at ZebethMedia Crypto conference Thursday. Zhao is not alone with such grim view about the Indian market. Dozens of investors and startup entrepreneurs I have spoken to have privately shared similar concerns, but Zhao’s comment is remarkable because nobody else with such stature has publicly expressed such view. Zhao blamed the country’s high tax environment for making the market not so viable for global players. “If you are going to tax 1% on each transaction, there is not going to be that many transactions,” he said. To be sure, Binance, by far the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, is operational for users in India. “A user could trade 50 times a day and they will lose like 70% of their money. There is not going to be any volume for an order book type of exchange. So we don’t see a viable business in India today. We just have to wait. We are in conversation with a number of industry associations and influential people and trying to put some logic there,” he said, adding that charging a high tax on each transaction is resulting in lower tax accumulation broadly. “We are trying to get this message across, but tax policies typically take long time to change,” Zhao cautioned. “Binance goes to countries where regulations are pro-crypto and pro-business. We don’t go to countries where we won’t have a sustainable business — or any business, regardless of whether or not we go.” Zhao dismissed any concerns that the firm is seeing less potential in India because of the troubled deal deliberations with local exchange WazirX. India enforced a law earlier this year for taxing virtual currencies. It is taxing income from the transfer of any virtual assets at 30%. To capture details of all such crypto transactions, New Delhi is taking away a 1% tax deduction at source on payments made related to purchase of virtual assets. The nation’s move, alongside the market downturn, has brutally wiped the transactions local exchanges CoinSwitch Kuber, backed by Sequoia India and Andreessen Horowitz, and CoinDCX, backed by Pantera, observe on their platforms. WazirX was processing volumes of about $500 million a day during the peak crypto bull cycle of last year. The figure had dropped below $5 million as of a month ago, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Other global exchanges have attempted to make a push in India. Coinbase, which has backed both CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber, launched its crypto platform in the country earlier this year but quickly rolled back the service amid regulatory scare. Coinbase co-founder and chief executive Brian Armstrong said in May that the firm disabled Coinbase’s support for local payments infra UPI “because of some informal pressure from the [central bank] Reserve Bank of India.”

Google Play finally adds UPI subscriptions in India • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 15, 2022Posted in Apps, Google, Google Play, india, UPINo Comments

Unified Payments Interface — commonly known as UPI — has become the most popular mobile payment route for P2P and merchant payments in India, and now Google’s stepping up with an updated UPI functionality to meet demand. Google Play has enabled users in the South Asian country to make subscription-based purchases using UPI. On Tuesday, Google announced that it introduced UPI Autopay as a payment option on the Play Store to allow its users in the country to purchase subscriptions using UPI. The update comes months after Google launched UPI as a payment method for buying apps, games and in-app content through the Play Store in 2019. Users need to select the ‘Pay with UPI’ option after selecting a subscription plan using Google Play Billing to use UPI for recurring payments. Google confirmed to ZebethMedia that adding the new payment option will not bring any other changes to its billing system. This means it will continue to take commissions from subscription-based purchases through the Play Store in the country. The UPI Autopay option is available alongside the existing credit and debit card, net banking, direct carrier billing and gift cards options. Image Credits: Google “With the introduction of UPI Autopay on the platform, we aim to extend the convenience of UPI to subscription-based purchases, helping many more people access helpful and delightful services – while enabling local developers to grow their subscription-based businesses on Google Play,” said Saurabh Agarwal, Head of Google Play Retail & Payments Activation – India, Vietnam, Australia & New Zealand, in a prepared statement. The governing body overseeing UPI, the National Payment Corporation of India, launched the UPI Autopay service in 2020 to expand UPI to recurring transactions. It, however, received little interest last year when companies including Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar in the country enabled UPI Autopay on their apps. This resulted from the Reserve Bank of India’s payments rule that requires banks, financial institutions and payment gateways to obtain additional approval for auto-recurring transactions worth over 5,000 Indian rupees ($62). Last month, India’s antitrust body fined Google $113 million for abusing the dominant position of its Play Store in the country and ordered the company not to restrict app developers from using third-party payment processing services for in-app purchases and purchasing apps through the Play Store. As a result, Google indefinitely paused its policy’s enforcement requiring developers to use Play Store’s billing system for user transactions in the country. The Android maker is also testing alternative payment systems for the Play Store in countries including South Korea, Australia, Japan and most recently in the U.S. to resist regulatory pressure.

India lifts download ban on VLC • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 14, 2022Posted in Apps, india, Media & Entertainment, Videolan, VLCNo Comments

India has lifted the download ban on VLC media player, more than a month after the popular software’s developer filed a legal notice seeking explanation from the nation’s IT and Telecom ministries. The Ministry of Electronics and IT has removed its ban on the website of VLC media player, New Delhi-based advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation, which provided legal support to VideoLAN, said on Monday. VideoLAN confirmed the order. Indian telecom operators began blocking VideoLAN’s official website, where it lists links to downloading VLC, in February of this year, VideoLAN president and lead developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf told ZebethMedia in an earlier interview. India is one of the largest markets for VLC. The vast majority of people rely on VLC’s official website to download the popular application. “Most major ISPs [internet service providers] are banning the site, with diverse techniques,” Kempf said of the blocking in India. In light of the blocking, the site immediately observed a drop of 80% in traffic from the South Asian market, he told ZebethMedia. Last month, VideoLAN and Internet Freedom Foundation used legal means to get answers and redressal surrounding the ban. India’s IT ministry never made public the order of the ban, yet all telecom operators in the country complied with it. In its legal notice last month, VideoLAN sought a copy of the blocking order. Indian telecom operators never disclosed why they were blocking the VideoLan website, but some speculated that it could be because of a misinterpretation of a security warning from earlier this year. Security firm Symantec reported in April this year that the hacker group Cicada, which has ties with the Chinese government, was exploiting VLC Media Player as well as several other popular applications to gain remote access to the victim’s computers. Kempf said he was never contacted by any government agency. VLC, downloaded over 3.5 billion times worldwide, is a local media player that doesn’t require internet access or connection to any particular service online for the vast majority of its features. A block on its website didn’t considerably impact the existing install base of VLC. But by blocking the website, India was pushing its citizens to “shady websites that are running hacked version of VLC. So they are endangering their own citizens with this ban,” Kempf added.

Citi backs Indian SaaS startup Lentra as it plans to expand internationally • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 14, 2022Posted in citi ventures, Fintech, india, SaaS, StartupsNo Comments

India initially made its name in the tech world years ago when it staked out reputation as a key hub for business process outsourcing. Now that legacy has taken a very different turn in fintech with outsourcing of a very different kind, with the emergence of embedded finance technology. In the latest development, Lentra, an Indian embedded AI-based finance startup, has raised $60 million — a Series B that values the startup at “over $400 million,” D Venkatesh, the founder and CEO of the startup, told ZebethMedia in an interview. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Susquehanna International Group (SIG) led the round with strategic participation also from Citi Ventures, a subsidiary of the New York-based investment banking giant Citigroup. This is Citi Ventures’ first investment in a fintech out of India, and that and this round overall underscores how far the fintech and embedded finance ecosystem have come along in recent years. Lentra, which is profitable, has been growing at a very fast clip. In 2019, its first year of operations, it registered $1 million from its “annual consumption rate” — this term relates to the amount of revenue Lentra makes based on usage of its APIs. As of this year, that figure is up to $10 million, and it is projected to hit $100 million in 2024. The Mumbai-based startup works with commercial banks to power their digital loan services. HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, Standard Chartered and IDFC First Bank are some of its key customers. Overall, Lentra has more than 50 clients and has processed over 13 billion transactions and $21 billion worth of loans since its launch. Venkatesh said the startup achieved all this growth without hiring a single sales executive until April this year. The company’s mission is not unlike that of a number of other fintechs that have thrown their hats into the ring to work with — rather than completely upend and disrupt — legacy financial services providers, which have found themselves unable to keep up with innovation from faster moving, tech based competitors. “We want to help and empower the banks, who are our clients, to lend better, lend completely on a digital platform and improve on all parameters,” said Venkatesh. Those parameters are the same for banks the world over. Yes, banks want to lend more, and to be more accessible to more potential borrowers — hence moving to digital platforms to help them scale and compete better against digital-first offerings. But banks have had their feet burned many a time already: they don’t want to take on a load of bad debt in the process of scaling, so they need better tech to improve how they vet borrowers, and also to have a better grip on forecasting what they might expect to get in returns (and losses) as a result. The four-year-old fintech helps them do this through a variety of loan tools. Lentra Lending Cloud, which gives ready-to-use third-party API connectors to various data sources, as well as a Loan Management System (LMS) and a no-code Business rules engine (BREx) with modules for clients to use out-of-the-box. The startup also has a platform called GoNoGo in its catalog that helps banks ascertain whether a loan should be given to a customer once they get their application. Venkatesh said that in India, 90% of lending frauds occur by way of ID proof thefts, where bad actors impersonate someone with a better credit record to get a loan quickly. Lentra uses AI to triangulate data to identify potential fraud attempts. “If you solve ID theft fraud, you minimize the approach or the stance that the bank will have towards a non-performing asset or bad loan,” the founder said. He claimed while banks had only been able to whittle down the loan process — applying, processing and approving or denying applications — to between six and seven days, Lentra’s technology has reduced that turnaround to a few seconds. Even though a number of startups are trying to ease lending for banks, interestingly Lentra sees Salesforce as one of its biggest competitors when it comes to loan origination. “Our number one target is anyone who’s using Salesforce for loan origination. We go, latch on to them, and then we convert them,” Venkatesh said. Citi is not just interested in tapping more into India’s tech ecosystem, but to leverage it for its own global growth, too. “Lentra is our first fintech investment in India, and we are very excited about the team’s ability to develop and scale low-friction software solutions for lenders,” said Everett Leonidas, Director & APAC Lead Investor for Citi Ventures, in a statement. “As a global bank, we look forward to Lentra scaling their products and platform internationally.” Venkatesh told ZebethMedia that Lentra plans to utilize the funding to continue updating its platform, add new features and make it more robust and faster. The startup is also set to expand beyond India and establish its business outside the country, starting with three economies in Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Post the initial expansion, the startup plans to go beyond Asia and enter the U.S. Offices in the three new Asian countries will become operational starting as early as January, the founder said. Lentra already has its presence in Singapore since it acquired an AI startup TheDataTeam in June this year that had an office in the Lion City. Venkatesh said that the office in Singapore would become the vehicle for the startup to go into the ASEAN economies. Alongside improving the offering and expanding the business, Lentra has plans to acquire complementary businesses. The founder told ZebethMedia that its acquisition plans focus on three areas — robotic process automation, payment systems or solutions that are not regulated entities and teams working on statistical modeling or building heuristics model within statistics. “Lentra is empowering lenders to fuel the dreams of millions with effective financial inclusion and credit decisioning,” said Vishal Gupta, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We were really impressed with

Even Healthcare lands additional capital to advance primary care adoption in India • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in Biotech & Health, Even Healthcare, funding, india, primary careNo Comments

Even Healthcare, an Indian “healthcare membership” company, landed new financial support in the form of $15 million to further drive its mission of providing affordable care to communities across India. Even isn’t insurance, but allows members to access primary and preventative care at any of over 100 partnered hospitals. Typically, the way Indians access healthcare is through emergency services as opposed to the preventative care model followed in Western countries. They most often pay for services out of pocket, but Even provides what it describes as a more affordable, comprehensive care model. The company said last year when they last raised money that less than 5% of the Indian population has insurance and plans that do exist mainly cover emergency services. “For us, Even is about giving members access to complete healthcare and building trust like a family doctor,” said co-founder Matilde Giglio. “Right from preventive care to diagnostics to hospitalization, our members will be assured of our support throughout their healthcare journey.” Depending on a user’s financial capabilities, there are three plans they can choose from. The cheapest is ₹ 40 per month ($0.50 USD) which includes unlimited consultations and a care team, but according to the company is meant for individuals looking to still pay for some services out of pocket. The plan gives users a glimpse at the care provided to then transition individuals to the second tier plan, Even Lite. Even Lite costs users ₹ 320 ($4 USD) per month and includes tests, consultations and a care team. For ₹ 528 ($6.54 USD) per month care becomes more comprehensive including COVID-19-specific services, emergency care across India and cashless hospitalization. The company’s standard pricing is for individuals, but it does have group plans for companies and groups. Even currently has 20,000 active members and has partnered with over 100 hospitals since its launch in 2020. Just a year ago the company had 5,000 on a waitlist. The Bangalore-based company asks new users to talk to a doctor to collect health information and assess risk for underlying conditions. According to Giglio, conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol, high BP and obesity are common in India, but often go uncontrolled due to a lack of primary care. The company claims half their new users learned they suffered from diabetes during the onboarding process. The new capital raised comes from Alpha Wave and Aspada (Lightrock). They are joining existing investors Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Lachy Groom, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, CRED CEO Kunal Shah and DST Global partner Tom Stafford. Even first raised a $5 million seed round in 2021 led by Khosla Ventures. This round’s funds will be used to expand its clinical team and scale preventive care in conditions like diabetes, PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and obesity.

General Atlantic values media tech Amagi at $1.4 billion in new funding • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in Amagi, general atlantic, india, Media & Entertainment, StartupsNo Comments

Amagi, which offers cloud broadcast and targeted advertising software to scores of media and entertainment giants, has raised a large new funding round as it looks to expand its tech offerings and invest in AI-powered personalization stack. General Atlantic led a new round of over $100 million, which included about $20 million in secondary buybacks, the New York and Bengaluru-headquartered startup said in a statement. The Series F funding has propelled Amagi’s valuation to $1.4 billion, up from $100 million in March this year. The startup, which has raised about $350 million to date (according to insight firm Tracxn), said it crossed the $100 million annualized recurring revenue (ARR) for the second time in the quarter that ended in September. Amagi’s platform allows its clients to create content that can be monetized and distributed via broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms such as The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus and Pluto TV. The company already supports more than 2,000 channels on its platform across dozens of countries including Australia, Germany and South Korea — markets where it recently expanded. The startup — whose backers include Accel, Norwest Venture Partners, Avataar Ventures, and Premji Invest — told ZebethMedia in an earlier interview that it has simplified its tech stack to a point that even a client without much technology resources can use and scale with it. Amagi said at the time that it had helped customers bring down their operational cost savings by up to 40%, compared to traditional delivery models as ad impressions shot up by up to 10 times. Its clients include NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Network, ABS-CBN, A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, Curiosity Stream, Gannett, Gusto TV and Vice Media. “We have set ourselves the ambitious goal of developing futuristic technology solutions that can help media companies deliver premium personalised content and engaging advertising experiences to their consumers,” said Baskar Subramanian, Co-founder and CEO of Amagi. Amagi plans to deploy the fresh funds to expand its infrastructure offerings and invest in AI-driven personalisation, advertising, and live streaming solutions, it said. “Amagi has demonstrated a consistent ability to anticipate key trends, acting as an early mover in the rise of free ad-supported streaming TV. The company has also championed the use of cloud technology to optimise results for their broadcast and streaming partners globally,” said Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director and Head of India at General Atlantic, in a statement.