india

India’s Oyo, once valued at $10 billion, seeks new funding at 70% discount

Startups /

Oyo, the Indian budget-hotel chain startup, is negotiating with investors to raise a new round of funding that could cut the Indian firm’s valuation to $3 billion or lower, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The startup is engaging with investors, including Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, for the new funding, the sources […]

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India urges political parties to avoid using deepfakes in election campaigns

AI /

India’s Election Commission has issued an advisory to all political parties, urging them to refrain from using deepfakes and other forms of misinformation in their social media posts during the country’s ongoing general elections. The move comes after the constitutional body faced criticism for not doing enough to combat such campaigns in the world’s most

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India urges political parties to avoid using deepfakes in election campaigns

Government & Policy /

India’s Election Commission has issued an advisory to all political parties, urging them to refrain from using deepfakes and other forms of misinformation in their social media posts during the country’s ongoing general elections. The move comes after the constitutional body faced criticism for not doing enough to combat such campaigns in the world’s most

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India’s Ola removes CEO in four months, cuts 180 jobs in profitability push

Transportation /

Ola has let go its chief executive, Hemant Bakshi, merely four months after appointing him to the post, and is cutting about 180 additional jobs, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The move from the Indian ride-hailing startup is aimed at “improving profitability,” its founder and chairman, Bhavish Aggarwal, told employees in an

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India’s ICICI Bank exposed thousands of credit cards to ‘wrong’ users

Security /

ICICI Bank, one of India’s top private banks, exposed the sensitive data of thousands of new credit cards to customers who were not their intended recipients. The Mumbai-based bank confirmed to TechCrunch Thursday that its digital channels “erroneously mapped” about 17,000 credit cards issued in the past few days to “wrong” users. The issue came

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RBI bars Kotak Bank from adding new online customers and credit cards

Fintech /

India’s central bank on Wednesday ordered Kotak Mahindra Bank to immediately cease onboarding new customers via its online and mobile banking channels and to stop issuing fresh credit cards, citing serious deficiencies in the bank’s IT systems and risk management practices. Kotak Mahindra Bank is India’s fourth most valuable bank. It’s also one of the

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Fintech CRED secures in-principle approval for payment aggregator license

Fintech /

CRED has received the in-principle approval for a payment aggregator license in a boost to the Indian fintech startup that could help it better serve its customers and launch new products and experiment with ideas faster. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, valued at $6.4 billion, received the in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for

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India’s VerSe acquires Apple News+ rival Magzter

Media & Entertainment /

VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of Indian news aggregator app Dailyhunt, has acquired the popular digital newsstand platform Magzter, the two companies said on Thursday. VerSe, based in Bengaluru, didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal. Magzter, which is headquartered in New York, counted Singapore Press Holdings among its backers. The acquisition of Magzter,

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Indian government’s cloud spilled citizens’ personal data online for years

Privacy /

The Indian government has finally resolved a years-long cybersecurity issue that exposed reams of sensitive data about its citizens. A security researcher exclusively told TechCrunch he found at least hundreds of documents containing citizens’ personal information — including Aadhaar numbers, COVID-19 vaccination data, and passport details — spilling online for anyone to access. At fault

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