NPCI to launch payment product for feature phones; Centre restrains WhatsApp’s privacy policy
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Central Bank Digital Currency: What you need to know?!
Central Bank Digital Currency uses a blockchain-based token to represent the country’s official digital currency. Unlike Bitcoin, which is privately owned, a CBDC would be centralized by a country’s monetary authority. The Central Bank, in the case of India, the RBI, will offer us any non-physical digital token issued as a substitute for cash.
According to the RBI, an interest-bearing CBDC would improve an economy’s ability to respond to changes in the policy interest rate and enhance monetary policy transmission. The Indian government, in exploring the world of CBDC, however, has recently condemned people from trading in cryptocurrency. Any individual found holding any digital asset would be penalized. [Read]
#IndiaTech
NPCI is working on a new digital payments product for feature phones; NPCI's COO says, “We need to move into the market which is feature phone-based, moving towards voice-enabled payments will be the trend of digital payments". (FE)
Vodafone Idea's subscription numbers turn out to be wrong, the operator admits to TRAI, it is said there were errors on the side of the company while plotting the total subscription data for UP (West). (FE)
Centre urges Delhi HC to restrain WhatsApp from implementing the new privacy policy; it said the new privacy policy fails to point out the types of sensitive data being collected; it also said that it did not clarify the involvement of third parties. (FE)
#GlobalTech
Twitter to revise policy for violative content posted by world leaders, it also seeks public inputs through a survey after the company banned former US President Donald Trump following the Capital riots.(HT)
WhatsApp is working on playback speed options for voice messages, with three playback options to play voice messages at 1.0x, 1.5x and 2.0x speeds; this feature will be available in the company’s iOS and Android-based beta apps. (HT)
China reports Microsoft's LinkedIn for failing to curb political content; as the only American major social network allowed to operate in China, officials ask LinkedIn to perform a self-evaluation and offer a report to the Internet regulator of China. (HT)
Chinese military restricts Tesla cars in its housing complexes due to the vehicles' external cameras; Tesla owners in China are advised by the Chinese military to park their cars outside the military facility due to an issue that declined to be named. (HT)
Google reports it removed over 3.1 billion advertisements globally for violating its policies in 2020; it removed COVID-19 related promotions on fake vaccine doses. (HT)
#BusinessNews
RBI warns bond markets to avoid raising the interest rates when aiming for a proper yield curve; it also says that certain actions of the investors’ raise the signs of market dysfunction. (FE)
CCI says Reuters story corroborates evidence in the investigation of Amazon; after a Reuters report showed Amazon gave preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform, CCI started its probe following a complaint from a trader group. (HT)
Zomato is planning to file the draft prospectus for its IPO next month; the food delivery startup, which is backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, could raise about $650 million.(HT)
RBI article suggests allowing trading of benchmarks Nifty and Sensex on all stock exchanges; following the NSE outage due to telecom links failure, RBI publishes an article noting," inability to switch operations to the disaster recovery site due to lack of robust risk management system". (FE)
Investments made by NRI-owned Indian entities won't be considered for the calculation of Indirect foreign investment; this is said in a notification by the department of industry and internal trade; some analysts say Foreign Investors may seek control of Indian entities via the NRI route.(FE)
#COVID19
India reports 40,953 new cases, the highest since Nov 28; it also reports 23,653 recoveries and 188 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry. (IE)
WHO approves AstraZeneca vaccine amidst scientists probe on blood clots, WHO's global advisory committee states, "AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine continues to have a positive benefit-risk profile, with tremendous potential to prevent infections." (ET)
CII suggests inoculating the entire adult population in affected states; it also suggested vaccinating at least 60% of the population for herd immunity to protect others. (FE)
#WeekendGyan
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