Author: Indrani Bose

Pocket FM launches Pocket Novel; to invest US$40 mn

The platform has witnessed its writers' community flourished to over 150,000 writers with the top-performing writers earning impressive incomes, with some exceeding US$2500 every month. (Image source: Moneycontrol)

The online novel reading platform market in India is yet to be explored at its potential, with the global market projected to exceed US$6.5 billion by 2028

Byju’s downsizes office space in Bengaluru; vacates 400,000 sq ft property

The edtech is dealing with the twin crises of a cash crunch and some of its investors seeking to oust the leadership to reconstitute the board. (Image source: Moneycontrol)(Image source: Moneycontrol)(Image source: Moneycontrol)

Byju’s was paying a rental of about Rs 4 crore per month for the office space and had signed the rental agreement about 3.5 years ago with the Prestige Group.

Who wins from Paytm’s loss?

Pai Platforms is not the first fintech to do this. PhonPe, a rival of Paytm’s too launched Pincode, an app on ONDC last year. (Image sourced from CNBC)

Paytm app downloads fell to 8.67 lakh in the first ten days of February (February 1-10) compared to 10.14 lakh downloads in the ten days prior (January 22-31) to the RBI ban on its banking and wallet activities.

India aims to attract key component players from China, South Korea, Taiwan and US

In a letter to the ministry on February 6, Xiaomi said that the Indian government needs to work on "confidence-building" measures to encourage component suppliers to set up operations locally. (Image source: Moneycontrol)

The government’s goal is to bring a substantial portion of components for mobile handsets to India with the help of the new PLI scheme, which will likely have an outlay of around Rs 20,000 crore

Meta doubles down on WhatsApp Business in India

While conversational and generative AI has made a massive movement as an emerging technology, its integration into a platform as widely adopted as WhatsApp could be a pivotal moment for its mainstream adoption. With billions of users already familiar and comfortable with WhatsApp's messaging interface, the barrier to entry for using conversational AI could be significantly lowered. (Representative Image: Dima Solomin via Unsplash)

Around 60 percent of Meta’s users interact with businesses on the messaging app every week.

Marketers reconsider the logic of traditional media channels

YouTube only allow third-party apps to use their API when they follow their 'API Services Terms of Service', and when they find an app that violates these terms, they take appropriate action to protect the platform, creators, and viewers. (Image source: Moneycontrol)

From a holistic outlook, anything can be advertising as long as it includes an interaction with a brand

FICCI holds first Indian delegation in Saudi Arabia

The four-day FICCI CEOs delegation to Saudi Arabia (Feb 18-21) will chart out ways to strengthen economic bilateral relations between the two nations. (Image source: CNBC TV18)

The delegation will interact with the Saudi-India Business Forum along with discussion with NEOM community on sectors including land mobility, health and well-being, tourism, education, research and innovation along with NEOM Investment Fund.