Author: News Desk

https://youtu.be/DAI6ccB3zoI Investments worth Rs 91,000 crore will be made for developing existing and new airports Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said this in the Rajya Sabha in written replies.Expansion plansHe informed that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has taken up a development programme to spend around Rs 25,000 crore in the next 4 to 5 years. This is for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals and strengthening of runways, aprons, Airport Navigation Services (ANS), control towers, technical blocks, etc. This is part of the several measures being taken to boost the civil aviation sector.Greenfield airportsThe…

https://youtu.be/eDOxkveWmN8 Fintech Slice has raised $220 mn in a Series B funding round. The round was led by its new investors US investment giant Tiger Global and Insight Partners. Spike in issuing cards Slice provides a Visa card focused on millennials. It allows customers to pay for their purchases in three instalments. Its card issuance spiked from 20,000 in Jan 2021 to the current 200,000 per month. India’s growing appetite for credit triggered this. 41st unicorn Slice is the 41st unicorn in 2021. The company’s turnover for FY21 stood at Rs 35 crore. The startup offers Slice customers a range…

https://youtu.be/sdfWN2VrtOg Tata Chemicals Ltd may buy the battery materials business of London-based Johnson Matthey. This deal can provide an edge to the Tata group in the fast-growing EV market.EV is futureA deal could be struck at a valuation of $500-700 million, a media report said. Johnson Matthey’s battery materials and solutions are accepted globally The deal will help Tata Motors expand its range of EVs. Tata will also be able to reduce the manufacturing cost of its EVs. It will also create an additional source of revenue for the conglomerate.

https://youtu.be/zZ7pjJzMJhI The central government has no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. She said while replying to a question in Lok Sabha that the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions.Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021The government has plans to introduce the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021. It seeks to ban all but a few private cryptos to promote underlying technologies.Not Crypto-friendly nationIndia has had a hot-and-cold relationship with cryptocurrencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RBI governor had cautioned about the use of cryptocurrency. In…

https://youtu.be/jvcILx39Gic The government is trying to launch 5G services by August 15, 2022. The 5G Spectrum auctions are slated to take place around April-May next year.DoT meeting heldCommunications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a review meeting with Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials earlier this week to understand if the commercial launch of 5G services at select circles or locations is a possibility by August 15.Independence dayA limited 5G launch is possible by that date, a media report said. Meanwhile, the industry needs assurance that the reserve price would be brought down. Many countries like the US, China, South Korea and European nations,…

https://youtu.be/5t6cwzPQYJ0 The National Payments Corporation of India has permitted WhatsApp to extend payment services. This service is available to 40 mn Indian users, double of its current cap of 20 million users. Challenges WhatsApp had requested no cap on users for its payment services. It has been working on its payment services for quite some time. It faced several compliance hurdles in data storage and localisation norms. WhatsApp then, did beta testing for a while before going live in November last year Permission for 40 million users WhatsApp Pay is currently available to only 20 million users in India. Now…

https://youtu.be/qyeEoahsgXE Twitter has unanimously appointed its chief technology officer Parag Agrawal as its CEO. This comes after Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from his position.Dorsey ended his nearly 16-year stint with the social media giant on November 29. The resignation of Dorsey will come into effect immediately.Dorsey’s exit”I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said.Dorsey expressed faith in Agrawal, who joined Twitter in 2011.”My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for…

https://youtu.be/gnmWedtq0HY Indian Cryptocurrency firms don’t have a plan B in case of a complete ban on crypto tradeNo Plan B “As an industry, we are in sync with the fact that INR is the only legal tender in India. We need to have faith in our lawmakers,” said Nischal Shetty, Founder, WazirX”Govt will embrace regulations instead of prohibitions, Gaurav Dahake,” Bitbns CEO said. We are not putting in any efforts for any kind of alternate plans,” he said.Most crypto firms are incorporated abroad and a ban would lead to immediate loss.In that case, some would have to transfer operations abroad.

https://youtu.be/nGyMih7kmaA Visa Inc has complained to the US government against India’s RuPay preference. It says India’s “informal and formal” promotion of RuPay hurts Visa in a key market. Visa Inc’s concerns In public, Visa has downplayed concerns about the rise of RuPay, promoted by the Indian government. Visa raised concerns about a “level playing field” in India in a meeting held on August 9. The meeting was between US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and company executives. Meanwhile, Mastercard Inc has raised similar concerns privately with the USTR. RuPay accounted for 63% of India’s 952 million debit and credit cards…

https://youtu.be/02RJWhYrtms A parliamentary panel has recommended treating Twitter, Facebook as publishers. The panel also intends to set up a regulatory body to oversee them. Personal data protection bill Recommendations were made after reviewing the personal data protection bill. It seeks to protect users’ privacy and enforce controls on how online companies collect and store data. The current laws on social media as intermediaries are not sufficient. The current provisions in the personal data protection bill are too broad.The report’s recommendations will be presented in the parliament on November 29.