Uber confirmed that the flexible pricing service has expanded.
However, many InDrive drivers in the country have complained about passengers offering them too low prices for their rides.
Moreover, while Uber’s flex pricing model is available for various modes, the raid-hailing giant is not applying it to all modes in one city.
TechCrunch learned that the company was also looking to test the new service model soon in metro cities in India, including Delhi and Mumbai.
In addition to Uber Flex, the San Francisco-headquartered company is testing different services in India to cater to the local demand.
Indian financial services startup MobiKwik seeks to raise about $84.2 million through issue of new shares in an initial public offering in the home market, it said in a draft prospectus filed with the local markets regulator Friday.
This is the second time MobiKwik has filed the paperwork for an IPO.
It does plan to raise about $16 million in a pre-IPO round, it said.
SBI Capital and DAM Capital are the lead book running managers for the IPO process, the prospectus said.
MobiKwik is the latest Indian startup that is looking to go public this year.
Talks of bitcoin spot ETF approval circulate as India blocks exchange sites and crypto is seeing more optimismWelcome back to Chain Reaction.
The crypto space has been off to a strong start for 2024 as reporters and ETF analysts have reported that a bitcoin spot ETF approval in the U.S. could be coming as soon.
This week in web3The latest podFor this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn dove back into the latest developments on spot bitcoin ETF applications in the U.S. as anticipation builds.
As it stands, there are 14 asset management firms, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale and VanEck, hoping to individually win approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for their spot bitcoin ETFs.
We also discussed what a spot bitcoin ETF could mean for investors, institutions and miners, as well as bitcoin’s price.
Financial Intelligence Unit, an Indian government agency which scrutinizes financial transactions, said Thursday nine global crypto exchanges — including Binance, Kraken, Kucoin and Mexc — are operating “illegally” in the country without complying with the local anti-money laundering act and asked the IT Ministry to block their websites.
Global crypto exchanges are required to comply with India’s anti-money laundering rules and cannot evade the guidelines just because they don’t have physical presence in the country, the government agency said.
Cryptocurrencies were brought into the ambit of anti-money laundering / counter financing of terrorism framework in India in March this year.
India began taxing virtual currencies last year, levying a 30% tax on the gains and a 1% deduction on each crypto transaction.
“Most Indian crypto exchanges are FIU registered entities and adhere with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
E-commerce startup FirstCry is seeking to raise $218 million through issue of fresh shares in its initial public offering, the 13-year-old startup said in a draft prospectus filed with the market regulator Thursday, becoming the latest Indian startup to explore the public markets.
FirstCry earlier sought to raise as much as $700 million in its Mumbai IPO, but deterred the plan as the market conditions worsened.
Brainbees Solutions, the parent firm of online baby product marketplace FirstCry, said that some investors including SoftBank.
The startup is eyeing a valuation of about $4 billion, down from previous $6 billion ambitions, according to a person familiar with the matter.
FirstCry said it hadn’t set the price in its draft prospectus.
Apple’s warnings in late October that Indian journalists and opposition figures may have been targeted by state-sponsored attacks prompted a forceful counterattack from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Behind closed doors, senior officials from Modi’s administration went further, demanding Apple soften the political impact of the warnings, Washington Post reports.
Senior officials summoned Apple representatives to insist they provide alternative explanations, even flying in an Apple security expert to meet with ministry leaders, the report adds.
For Apple, maintaining its commitment to user security took priority over risks to its growing India business.
Apple, which opened two official stores in India this year, plans to move 25% of iPhone production to India by 2025, according to JP Morgan analysts.
Arduino is considering manufacturing in India.
Violante considers fake Arduino boards the key reason for this discrepancy.
Therefore, by starting local manufacturing, Arduino would sell its boards in India at reduced prices — in line with those of its Chinese counterparts.
However, most of it results from the growth of local mobile phone manufacturing.
Arduino is currently considering both large international EMS companies and smaller local players in India, which specialize in producing electronic boards or development boards, Violante told TechCrunch.
The bill also mandates biometric verification for subscribers and restricts the number of SIM cards each subscriber uses to limit fraud.
The legacy of the old scammers in the telecom sector will be left behind, and arrangements will be made through this bill to make the telecom sector a sunrise sector,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Indian telecom minister, said while introducing the bill in the parliament.
Interestingly, the telecom bill excludes the term “OTT,” available in its initial draft last year, indicating regulations for over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.
“The bill is regressive as it enhances the government’s colonial-era powers to intercept communications and shut down the internet.
It undermines end-to-end encryption, which is crucial for privacy,” said Namrata Maheshwari, Asia Pacific Policy Counsel at Access Now, in a prepared statement.
Worldcoin is no longer offering its Orb-verification service in India, Brazil, and France, just months after the crypto startup expanded the helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device to those markets.
The Orb, a five-pound chromatic sphere, scans an individual’s eyeballs and verifies their identity.
“The multi-city tour kicked off in Tokyo in April 2023 and marked the first time people in many locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia were able to experience the Orb.
Individuals can download World App, the startup’s protocol-compatible wallet software, and visit an Orb, the startup’s helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device, to receive their World ID.
More to follow…
“India is a massive, massive country with so many diverse needs,” said Miriam Karthika, VP for Google Maps Experience, at the event.
This India-first capability, introduced for developers on Google Maps Platform earlier this year, will be available across over 75 Indian cities.
Apart from launching the global features in India, Google partnered with India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and mobility app Namma Yatri to provide metro schedules and bookings to users directly through Google Maps.
In July last year, Google introduced Street View in India six years after the feature was banned in the country over security concerns.
Today, over 50 million users are viewing Street View in the country, Google said.
