Also in this letter:
■ Automakers train in-house talent, hire from rivals in EV race
■ Govt asks Byju’s to explain delay in filing audited accounts: report
■ Bengaluru ranks 2nd in list of top APAC tech hubs
Now, ED raids CoinSwitch Kuber in money laundering probe
The ED on Thursday carried out searches at five locations linked to crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber, sources privy to the development told us.
The searches were part of the ED’s money-laundering probe into the instant micro loan app scam, they said.
Strike three: This is the third exchange under the ED’s scanner for allegedly diverting the proceeds of crime of about 365 instant loan apps that charged exorbitant rates and used illegal means to recover the money.
CoinSwitch, which is backed by the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital India, has over 18 million registered users. According to its website, crypto worth over Rs 1 lakh crore has been traded on its platform.
Catch up quick: We reported on August 11 that ED is probing at least 10 crypto exchanges for allegedly laundering more than Rs 1,000 crore for instant loan apps, many with links to China. Similar action is expected against other exchanges under investigation.
Earlier this month, the ED seized assets worth Rs 370 crore from the Flipvolt crypto exchange, the Indian arm of Singapore crypto platform Vauld.
Before that the agency conducted searches against one of the directors of Zanmai Labs, which owns crypto exchange WazirX, froze its bank balances totalling Rs 64.67 crore.
Car makers train in-house talent, hire from rivals in EV race
With auto companies going full throttle on electric and demand for talent outstripping supply, companies such as Mercedes Benz, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland are focusing on skilling in-house talent for their electric vehicle (EV) divisions.
Demand spikes: Demand for EV talent at the mid- and senior-level grew more than 55% year on-year in the June quarter, according to staffing firm ManpowerGroup estimates. Rival CIEL HR Services said the demand for manpower in the EV domain has gone up over 100% in the last two years.
And with several new EV models, including nearly two dozen passenger vehicles, set to hit Indian roads in the next three to four years, the fight for talent will only get fiercer.
Who’s doing what: Martin Schwenk, managing director of Mercedes-Benz India, said the company has started extensive upskilling initiatives for both employees and dealerships for manufacturing locally, selling, and servicing high-end EVs.
- Ashok Leyland’s EV arm Switch Mobility is co-creating modules to enhance the skillsets of its existing employees.
- Tata Motors is hiring at different levels across product development, advanced engineering, supply chain, operations, and commercial functions. The company expects its EV sales to more than double to 50,000 units this fiscal, and again to 100,000 units in FY24.
- Companies are also looking to hire experts from countries such as South Korea, China and the US, experts said.
Govt asks Byju’s to explain delay in filing audited accounts: report
Byju Raveendran
The Indian government has asked edtech startup Byju’s why it has delayed the filing of its audited financial accounts for financial year 2020-21 (FY21), Bloomberg reported, quoting people familiar with the matter.
The report said the Ministry of Corporate Affairs sent a letter to Byju’s parent company Think & Learn earlier this month, asking it to explain the 17-month delay in filing audited accounts.
A person familiar with the development said Byju’s told the ministry the filing has been delayed as it is consolidating the accounts of a number of companies it acquired in FY21.
False alarm: On July 4, Byju’s said it would announce its latest audited financials in the next 10 days. Its audited financial statements for the last two financial years are yet to be filed with the Registrar of Companies.
A delay by Deloitte in signing Byju’s FY21 financial statement has also led to compliance issues for the edtech startup, we reported on August 15.
Bengaluru ranks 2nd in list of top APAC tech hubs
Bengaluru is close behind Beijing as one of the top tech hubs across the Asia-Pacific, followed by Chennai, Hyderabad, and Delhi, said a report by Cushman and Wakefield.
Globally, 46 top tech markets were identified from more than 115 tech cities in total. Six of the 14 cities in the Asia Pacific region were in India.
India findings: The country has added more than 500,000 jobs in IT over the past financial year, the study said.
- In Bengaluru, the tech sector accounts for 38-40% of annual leasing, higher than the national average of 35%, the report said.
- Hyderabad, home to Microsoft and Facebook in India, has more than 44 million square feet of office projects under construction.
- Chennai is the second largest software exporter and one of the largest data centre markets in India.
Google removed 2,000 loan apps from India Play Store this year
Google India removed as many as 2,000 credit disbursement apps between January and June for violating its Play Store policies as well as rules around money lending by the Reserve Bank of India and law enforcement agencies, and on user feedback, the company said on Thursday.
Driving the news: The search giant is in the process of introducing stricter policies for listing loan offering apps on the Play Store, said Saikat Mitra, a senior director and the head of trust and safety at Google in Asia-Pacific.
The changes would further increase scrutiny on such apps, he said on the sidelines of the second edition of the Safer with Google event.
Google India introduced a new Play Store policy in May, requiring apps that offer loans in any form to display prominently for users the bank which underwrites these loans, the rate of interest being offered, and other details.
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Delhi HC dismisses WhatsApp and Meta appeals against CCI probe
The Delhi High Court dismissed a petition by Facebook Inc (now Meta) and WhatsApp, which sought to quash the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into the instant messaging platform’s updated privacy policy of 2021.
Driving the news: A bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said that the single judge’s order was well-reasoned and that WhatsApp’s appeals were devoid of merit.
Meta had challenged the regulator’s order in June, arguing that there was not even prima facie material for the CCI to launch a probe. However, the CCI brushed aside its claims, saying that the investigation concerned WhatsApp’s anti-competitive data sharing practices with Facebook, which could harm users.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Rakuten launches largest overseas office in India: Rakuten India announced the formal launch of its new office in Bengaluru, its largest outside Japan, on Thursday. The Bengaluru facility will service the company’s existing businesses as well as new credit and banking solutions to be launched in the US next year, Sunil Gopinathan, CEO of Rakuten India, told ET.
IT companies juggle multiple issues: Variable pay or performance-linked incentives for tech professionals, moonlighting, and receding tailwinds brought along by Covid-19 have put Indian information technology (IT) firms in a spot of bother. Wipro was the first Indian IT major to announce it was holding back the variable pay of certain employees for the first quarter of FY23 owing to poor operating margins.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Get used to startups trying to reinvent housing (Wired)
■ Twitter labelled factual information about covid-19 as misinformation (The Washington Post)
■ Peloton’s quarterly loss tops $1.2 billion (WSJ)
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