X, formerly known as Twitter, said Wednesday it is withholding specific accounts and posts in India, action it said the firm disagrees with, in response to executive orders issued by the Indian government.
Non-compliance with the executive orders, X said, would have subjected the firm to “potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment.”X’s Global Government Affairs said legal restrictions prevent it from publishing the executive orders, but “we believe that making them public is essential for transparency.” X will file a writ appeal challenging the Indian government’s blocking orders, it said, and has notified users who are impacted by the orders.
The disclosure from X follows New Delhi ordering to temporarily block about 177 accounts and posts surrounding farmers’ protests in the country.
As privacy advocate Apar Gupta wrote in a recent post on X:Blocking orders for Twitter accounts of farm leaders have been issued in advance.
This is not surprising, what does provide anguish is the vile commentary against farmers on social media.
India has updated official rules in the space sector to attract global investors and companies, after opening it up to private players four years ago.
The new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy raises limits on foreign investment, potentially spurring renewed interest in the South Asian space community.
Private and public actors in India have been taking measures to increase participation in the country’s space sector.
India has around 190 space tech startups, offering solutions including launch vehicles, space situational awareness and hyperspectral imagery.
Investments in Indian space startups reached over $124 million last year, per government data.
However, awareness of the monetary and environmental benefits associated with carbon credits is low.
It was early, as no methodologies were available at the time to create carbon credits from agriculture.
However, the 34-year-old entrepreneur decided to start his venture once the methodologies started appearing in developed markets, including the U.S. and Europe.
Unlike nature-based credits, carbon credits from renewable energy projects are easy to measure and record and do not involve co-benefits to nature.
That said, the rigorous oversight helps bring high-quality carbon credits that can be sold globally.
“Your products will be featured in a special store on Amazon, making them easy for customers to find,” the company wrote in the communication.
TechCrunch reported earlier this month, citing job recruitment posts, that Amazon was looking to expand its focus on fast fashion.
Top player Flipkart leads the category but faces mounting competition from Ambani’s Ajio, which has amassed about 30% market share, according to research firm Bernstein.
The fashion market is extremely fragmented offline, and the online market is seeing similar trends with multiple players emerging to gain share.
(Amazon is instead doubling down on AWS in India, and plans to deploy $12.7 billion in the cloud business in the country by 2030.)
Uber has quietly started testing a feature that lets gig workers pick up prepaid items from local stores and deliver them to customers in India.
It suggests that Uber sees a business opportunity in delivering items from local stores in India — just like in the U.S.
For instance, the item set for pickup at the local store needs to be five kilograms (11 lbs) or less.
In addition to Store Pickup, Uber offers its regular Connect feature to let customers deliver packages through its app.
However, the Store Pickup feature is specifically for arranging deliveries from local stores.
PhonePe aims to be a top Google Play alternative in India — but it has a challenging road aheadWalmart-backed PhonePe is set to launch its Android app store this week with zero commission for in-app purchases for developers.
Later that month, a bunch of Indian startups banded together to form a coalition and explore an alternative app store.
Over the years, other startup executives have also complained about Play Store’s 30% fee and have pushed for a “Made in India” app store.
In 2021, Google dropped its commission from 30% to 15% for the first $1 million a developer earned from the Play Store each year.
If you are a developer publishing your app on alternative app stores, I’d love to hear from you on im@ivanmehta.com
State of venture investments in India, according to Lightspeed Lightspeed partners examine right-sizing VC funds in India, spectrum of startup investing and the country's prospects in the global AI race.
Over 150 investors, including Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek and Malaysia’s Khazanah, gathered at Mumbai’s five-star Trident Oberoi hotel on a recent Friday for venture firm Lightspeed India Partners’ “Lift Off” summit.
In 2021, $33 billion of venture capital (early and late stage) was invested in India.
So 2023 is also not necessarily reflective of the venture market opportunity in India,” he added.
“We had a lot of funds not based in India but investing in India because of the opportunity the country offered to them outside their own.
Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, said it has raised a funding round that values it at $1 billion.
It’s also the first Indian AI startup to become a unicorn, it said.
Matrix Partners India — which has also backed Aggarwal’s other two startups, ride-hailing firm Ola and EV startup Ola Electric — led the $50 million “first round” in Krutrim, it said Friday.
The startup plans to launch a conversational AI assistant that understands and speaks multiple Indian languages, the startup said.
The startup plans to make a beta version of its eponymous chatbot available to consumers next month and follow it with rolling out APIs to developers and enterprises.
OnePlus launched the OnePlus 12 series globally today, bringing an R-series device to North America and Europe for the first time.
The company also launched the $99 OnePlus Buds 3 wireless buds apart from the OnePlus 12 (starting at $799) and the OnePlus 12R (starting at $499).
Last year, OnePlus launched just the $699 OnePlus 11 in the U.S., while the OnePlus 11R was limited to India and China.
The OnePlus 12 boasts a 6.82-inch 1440p display with the company claiming it reaches up to 4,500 nits of brightness.
OnePlus is opting for a triple camera setup in the OnePlus 12 with a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-808 sensor, which has a f/1.6 aperture.
Sony called off the merger between its India unit and Zee Entertainment on Monday, ending a two-year acquisition deliberation that would have created a $10 billion media powerhouse in the South Asian market.
Sony said in a statement that it has sent a termination letter to Zee after the Indian firm failed to meet the conditions, despite a 30-day extension.
Sony also sought for Zee to improve its finances, something that has only grown worse in recent quarters.
The deal would have created a $10 billion media powerhouse in India, where billionaire Mukesh Ambani is increasingly flexing his wealth and reach.
Zee and Sony have been important fixtures in the Indian TV industry for the last 25 years.
