india

Google pauses enforcement of Play Store billing requirement in India following antitrust order • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Android, Apps, Gaming, Google, Google Play, indiaNo Comments

Google is indefinitely pausing the enforcement of its policy requiring developers to use Play Store’s billing system for user transactions in India following an order by the country’s antitrust body. The Android maker on Tuesday updated a support page to disclose the move and said that the requirement to use Google Play’s billing system still applies for in-app purchases outside of India. Last week, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered Google not to restrict app developers from using third-party payment processing services for in-app purchases and purchasing apps through the Play Store. The antitrust watchdog also fined the company $113 million for abusing the dominant position of its Play Store in the country. “Following the CCI’s recent ruling, we are pausing enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play’s billing system for the purchase of digital goods and services for transactions by users in India,” the company said, adding that it is reviewing its legal options in the country, suggesting it may challenge the competition regulator’s decision. Google had previously extended the deadline for following its Play Store billing requirement in the South Asian market until October 31. The regulator announced its decision after interviewing a number of industry players and smartphone makers, including Samsung, Xiaomi and Microsoft. It had also slapped another $162 million fine on Google for anti-competitive practices related to Android.

Bengaluru launches QR train ticketing service on WhatsApp • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 31, 2022Posted in india, Social, WhatsAppNo Comments

WhatsApp users in the city of Bengaluru can now use the instant messaging app to purchase train tickets and recharge their travel passes, the Meta-owned platform said Monday in what it described as “the first-ever QR ticketing service” for its app. WhatsApp and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) said they have partnered to launch a WhatsApp chatbot-based QR ticketing service for the city’s rapid transit system named Namma Metro. Available in English and Kannada, the chatbot allows commuters to purchase their single-journey transit tickets, recharge metro travel pass, check updated fare tables and view transit timetable. Commuters need to send ‘Hi’ to the phone number +918105556677 to initiate their interactions with the chatbot. “This is yet another great example of how organizations across sectors, from the largest transportation service to the smallest retail business, can transform their customers’ experience using the WhatsApp Platform,” said Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp India, in a prepared statement. WhatsApp users can make payments for their tickets and recharges using UPI after choosing their travel details on the app. The QR ticket, once generated, can be scanned at the terminal for contactless entry and exit. “It is a proud moment for us as BMRCL becomes the first transit service globally to launch QR ticketing service on WhatsApp,” said A.S. Shankar, Executive Director (O&M), BMRC, in a statement. WhatsApp considers India as its biggest market globally, with more than 400 million users. Earlier this year, the Meta-owned messaging service also got the approval to extend its UPI-powered payments service to 100 million users in the country after a series of delays and setbacks.

India to create committees with veto power over social media content moderation • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in Facebook, Google, Government & Policy, india, meta, TwitterNo Comments

India will set up grievance committees with the veto power to reverse content moderation decisions of social media firms, it said today, moving ahead with a proposal that has rattled Meta, Google and Twitter. The panels, called Grievance Appellate Committee, will be created within three months, it said. In an amendment to the nation’s new IT law that went into effect last year, the Indian government said any individual aggrieved by the social media’s appointed grievance officer may appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee, which will comprise a chairperson and two whole time members appointed by the government. The Grievance Appellate Committee will have the power to reverse the social media firm’s decision, the government said. “Every order passed by the Grievance Appellate Committee shall be complied with by the intermediary concerned and a report to that effect shall be uploaded on its website,” New Delhi said in a statement. Shortly after India proposed creating such panels, the US-India Business Council (USIBC), part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), both raised concerns about the independence of such committees if the government controlled their formation. Both the firms represent tech giants including Google, Meta and Twitter. (More to follow)

Lightspeed-backed Indian commerce Udaan raises $120 million • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in Commerce, india, UdaanNo Comments

Indian business-to-business e-commerce startup Udaan has raised $120 million in convertible notes and debt led by existing shareholders and bondholders, a top executive told employees in an email Thursday seen by ZebethMedia, as the company readies being public in 12-18 months. (More to follow)

Apis in talks to back fintech Money View at $1 billion valuation despite market slump • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in Accel, Apis Partners, Fintech, india, Startups, tiger globalNo Comments

India’s Money View is in talks to raise a new round of funding at a unicorn valuation, two sources familiar with the matter told ZebethMedia, in a boost to the local fintech community that has been rattled by the central bank’s stringent guidelines and funding crunch in recent months. Apis Partners is deliberating leading a funding round of about $125 million to $150 million in the Bengaluru-headquartered startup at a valuation of about $1 billion, the sources said. The round, a Series E, hasn’t been finalized, so terms of the deal may still change, the sources cautioned, requesting anonymity speaking about nonpublic information. Apis Partners, Money View and the startup’s founders did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening local time. The eight-year-old startup, which was valued at $615 million in a Series D funding round in March this year, offers lending to individuals who can’t avail credit from banks and other financial institutions. The startup has said in the past that the majority of its customers live in small Indian cities and towns. “India is one of the most underserved large economies when it comes to access to credit. More than 70% of the credit provided by banks is only given to the top 10% of affluent Indians,” it describes on its website. “The most underserved segments are people who earn less than 5L [$6,070] a year. Money View aims to bridge this credit gap by providing personalized loan offers for its customers through its robust data and risk assessment model. The company’s proprietary data models provide a 360-degree risk assessment, enabling credit for the underserved segments.” Money View — which counts Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and Accel among its existing backers — has been profitable for over a year, its founder Puneet Agarwal said in a press statement in May, and was on pace to clock an annualized revenue run rate of about $80 million. “In the age of cash burning businesses, we are one of the very few fintech startups to be profitable for more than a year now,” Agarwal said in a press release in May. Its new funding deliberations come at a time when the dealflow activity has slowed down dramatically in the South Asian market as investors grow cautious of writing new checks and evaluate their underwriting models after valuations of publicly listed firms take a tumble. Indian startups raised $3 billion in the quarter that ended in September, down 57% from the previous quarter and 80% year-over-year, according to market intelligence platform Tracxn.

Google hit with $113 million fine in India for anti-competitive practices with Play Store policies • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in Android, Apps, Google, Google India, Government & Policy, indiaNo Comments

India’s antitrust watchdog has hit Google with $113 million fine for abusing the dominant position of its app store, the second such penalty on the Android-maker in just as many weeks in the key overseas market. The Competition Commission of India, which opened the investigation in late 2020, said mandating developers to use Google’s own billing system for paid apps and in-app purchases through Play Store “constitutes an imposition of unfair condition” and thus violates provisions of the nation’s Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act. The investigation also found: Google is found to be following discriminatory practices by not using GPBS for its own applications i.e., YouTube. This also amount to imposition of discriminatory conditions as well as pricing as YouTube is not paying the service fee as being imposed on other apps covered in the GPBS requirements. Thus, Google is found to be in violation of Section 4(2)(a)(i) and 4(2)(a)(ii) of the Act. Mandatory imposition of GPBS disturbs innovation incentives and the ability of both the payment processors as well as app developers to undertake technical development and innovate and thus, tantamount to limiting technical development in the market for in-app payment processing services. in violation of the provisions of the Act. Thus, Google is found to be in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(b)(ii) of the Act. Mandatory imposition of GPBS by Google, also results in denial of market access for payment aggregators as well as app developers, in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(c) of the Act. The practices followed by Google results in leveraging its dominance in market for licensable mobile OS and app stores for Android OS, to protect its position in the downstream markets, in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act. Different methodologies used by Google to integrate, its own UPI app vis-à-vis other rival UPI apps, with the Play Store results in violation of Sections 4(2)(a)(ii), 4(2)(c) and 4(2)(e) of the Act. India is Google’s largest market by users. The company has poured billions of dollars in the South Asian market over the past decade as it aggressively searched to find major untapped regions worldwide to supercharge its growth. The company reaches nearly all of India’s 600 million internet users. Android commands 97% of the local smartphone market. Google has pledged to invest $10 billion in India over the coming years. It has already invested up to $5.5 billion in the local telecom giants Jio Platforms and Airtel. On Thursday, the competition regulator fined Google $161.9 million for anti-competitive practices related to Android mobile devices and made a series of stringent redressal measures. The watchdog was investigating whether Google had assumed dominant position in five different markets: licensable OS for smartphones, app store, web search services, non-OS specific mobile web browsers and online video hosting platform in India. Google was dominant in all of those relevant markets, the regulator concluded. The antitrust watchdog said that device manufacturers should not be forced to install Google’s bouquet of apps and the search giant should not deny access to its Play Services APIs and monetary and other incentives to vendors. Amazon told the regulator that over half a dozen hardware vendors had indicated that they could not enter into a TV manufacturing relationship with the e-commerce group over fear of retaliation from Google. (More to follow)

Sequoia India eyes $50 million investment in K12 despite market slump • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in Asia, edtech, Education, india, Sequoia India, Startups, VentureNo Comments

Sequoia India is in advanced stages of deliberations to invest over $50 million in K12 Techno Services, a startup that offers a range of services to education institutions and also runs its own chain of schools, doubling down on a firm that it first backed over a decade ago, two sources familiar with the matter told ZebethMedia. K12 Techno Services — which has raised over $75 million in previous rounds, according to Tracxn — also engaged with TPG and Accel in recent weeks but has decided to move ahead with existing backer Sequoia India, one of the sources said. The round hasn’t closed, so the terms of the investment may change, sources cautioned, requesting anonymity sharing nonpublic information. It’s unclear if anyone other than Sequoia is also investing in the round. K12 Techno Services runs Orchids – The International School chain in over two dozen cities in India. It operates over 90 schools where it teaches a range of subjects from robotics to philosophy for an individual’s “360-degree development.” Orchids has served over 75,000 students, according to its website. It also offers integrated curriculum, platform for online classes, and other school management applications to over 300 schools through its arm called Let’s Eduvate. “Our comprehensive solutions are scale-able and adaptable that work effectively for all types of schools. They are efficacious for various school management activities as designed for the overall growth of students, hence for schools,” it describes on its website. Sparkle Box, another arm of K12, runs an e-commerce store for custom-made activity kits aimed at children. K12 didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday, whereas Sequoia India declined to comment. The deal represents Sequoia’s aggressive and multi-faceted approach to tackling the edtech market in India, where over 300 million students go to school and participate in competitive college entrance exams. It’s one of the earliest backers of Byju’s, Unacademy and Doubtnut that serve students from kindergarten to those preparing to enter colleges. It’s also an investor in Eruditus, which offers higher education to students in dozens of markets. Edtech startups in India — and beyond — are some of the most impacted by the ongoing market downturn that has reversed much of the gains made in the 13 years long bull run. The edtech industry in the South Asian market has cut nearly 5,000 jobs this year.

India’s Wire retracts reports on Meta citing discrepancies • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 23, 2022Posted in Facebook, india, Media & Entertainment, meta, SocialNo Comments

Wire has retracted its reports on Meta after discovering “certain discrepancies” in its news pieces, the Indian outlet said Sunday, marking what should be an end to the high-profile drama with the social juggernaut that captured the interest of newsrooms and tech companies globally for two weeks. The move follows Wire, a small but gutsy Indian news outlet, setting up an internal review process to evaluate its reporting earlier this week after Meta, the subject of the original story, and the independent sources it relied on vehemently denied the newsroom’s reports. “Our investigation, which is ongoing, does not as yet allow us to take a conclusive view about the authenticity and bona fides of the sources with whom a member of our reporting team says he has been in touch over an extended period of time,” Wire said in a statement. Wire reported earlier this month that Meta gave the governing party BJP’s top digital operative an unchecked ability to remove content from Instagram and ran a series of follow-ups, asserting Meta was insincere in its public denials of the reporting. In one of the stories, Wire cited what it claimed was an internal email from Meta comms Andy Stone. In another, it cited testimonies from independent security researchers vouching for the authenticity of Stone’s email to Wire. (Both Meta and security researchers have disputed the reports.) The Indian news organization said Sunday that “certain discrepancies have emerged in the material used.” “These include the inability of our investigators to authenticate both the email purportedly sent from a*****@fb.com as well as the email purportedly received from Ujjwal Kumar (an expert cited in the reporting as having endorsed one of the findings, but who has, in fact, categorically denied sending such an email). As a result, The Wire believes it is appropriate to retract the stories.” (More to follow)

Reliance to hive off and list Jio Financial Services • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 21, 2022Posted in Fintech, india, Jio Platforms, reliance, VentureNo Comments

Indian conglomerate Reliance will spin off and list its financial services, a move that it said will allow the oil-to-telecom giant to enter and expand into financial services such as consumer and merchant lending business. Reliance, run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, said in a statement that it will be incubating (read: acquire) new firms in the new unit, which is called Jio Financial Services, to broaden its offerings to add insurance, payments, digital broking and asset management. “JFS will be a truly transformational, customer centric and digital-first financial services enterprise offering simple, affordable, innovative and intuitive financial services products to all Indians,” said Ambani in a statement late Friday. “JFS will be a technology-led business, delivering financial products digitally by leveraging the nation-wide omni-channel presence of Reliance’s consumer businesses. JFS is uniquely positioned to capture multiple growth opportunities in financial services bringing millions of Indians into formal financial institutions.” (More to follow)

Google says Indian competition regulator’s order ‘major setback’ for consumers and businesses • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 21, 2022Posted in Google, Google India, Government & Policy, indiaNo Comments

Google says the Indian competition regulator’s order is a “major setback for Indian consumers and businesses” and it is reviewing the decision to evaluate “next steps.” The Competition Commission of India fined Google $161.9 million on Thursday for anti-competitive practices related to Android mobile devices and ordered a number of redressal measures that could force Google to make fundamental changes to its business strategies. A Google told ZebethMedia in a statement that the regulator’s order also opens “serious security risks for Indians who trust Android’s security features,” and raises the “cost of mobile devices for Indians.” The company did not say what steps it may take, but industry analysts believe that Google will very likely challenge the order. The antitrust watchdog said in its statement Thursday that device manufacturers should not be forced to install Google’s bouquet of apps and the search giant should not deny access to its Play Services APIs and monetary and other incentives to vendors. India is Google’s largest market by users. Google’s Android operating system powers 97% of the country’s 600 million smartphones, according to research firm Counterpoint. Google in 2020 pledged to invest $10 billion in the South Asian market over the coming years. It has already financed up to $5.5 billion in the local telecom giants Jio Platforms and Airtel. The watchdog was investigating whether Google had assumed dominant position in five different markets: licensable OS for smartphones, app store, web search services, non-OS specific mobile web browsers and online video hosting platform in India. Google was dominant in all of those relevant markets, the regulator concluded.