Wednesday's news, 16 September.
The day belonged to India's payments rails: from October 15 a 0.4% merchant discount rate lands on UPI merchant payments above Rs 2,000, the government said there is no question of a rollback, a plea has reached the Supreme Court, and PhonePe used the new revenue visibility to revive IPO plans for March 2027 while Zerodha and retailers argued about who pays. The other big Indian thread was ownership and regulation, with the RBI filing a caveat in the Bombay High Court over the Tata Sons listing dispute, the CCPA fining Rapido for dark patterns, and the child rights panel summoning Meta India and Capgemini executives over child sexual abuse material. Capital kept moving, with Lam Research committing Rs 10,000 crore to a silicon component plant, Activate closing a $105 million maiden AI fund, Fibe winning Sebi clearance for a Rs 750 crore IPO and Hero Motors taking Rs 300 crore from anchors. Globally, OpenAI was in talks at a $1.2 trillion valuation with its IPO slipping to 2027, Cohere absorbed Aleph Alpha, Novo Nordisk took Anthropic's Claude into drug discovery, and Apple weighed Nvidia's interconnect for an AI server. A Salesforce outage across India, the US, Japan and Europe, Adidas cutting half its Gurgaon tech hub and Amazon's $1.5 billion pay raise rounded out the day.
These are the stories the quiz is written from, so reading on answers it.
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RBI files caveat in HC in move to protect its position in Tata Sons listing dispute
The RBI, which has pushed for a Tata Sons listing and rejected the group's application, has filed a caveat in the Bombay High Court. The filing ensures the central bank is heard before any interim relief is granted to Tata Sons or another party challenging its decision. The Tata Sons board is separately meeting to discuss the listing and whether outgoing chairman N Chandrasekaran should stay on.
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OpenAI eyes $1.2 trillion valuation in fresh funding round as IPO slips to 2027
OpenAI is reportedly discussing a fresh funding round that would value it at about $1.2 trillion, according to the Financial Times. The talks follow its $122 billion fundraise, and CEO Sam Altman has moved the company's IPO timeline to 2027.
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Paying For Insurance, Mutual Fund SIPs, Or OTTs Via UPI? Here's What Changes From Oct 15
From October 15, UPI person-to-merchant payments above Rs 2,000 attract a 0.4% MDR capped at Rs 300, with a flat Rs 5 for categories such as railways, telecom, insurance and fuel. AutoPay mandates for SIPs, OTT subscriptions and utility bills are exempt. A top government official said there is no question of a rollback, and a plea against the levy has been filed in the Supreme Court.
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Salesforce outage: Is the service back? Company shares update; 'we're working on...'
A Salesforce outage hit users in several countries including India, the US, Japan, the UK, France and Germany. The company said customers may continue facing disruption and could not confirm a resolution time. Its client list includes Amazon, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Toyota and IBM.
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NCPCR summons Meta India head again, Capgemini VP as child abuse probes deepen
Top Meta India officials, including country head Arun Srinivas, appeared before the child rights panel again over child sexual abuse material, and a Capgemini vice president was also summoned. Meta has acknowledged errors and agreed to report child abuse content to Indian authorities. Government sources said Meta is a service provider rather than a simple intermediary because its algorithms decide visibility.
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Amazon Unveils $1.5 Billion Pay Hike, Pushing Average Compensation Over $32/Hour
Amazon announced a $1 per hour raise for US operations staff, setting minimum pay at $20 and average pay near $24, with total compensation including benefits above $32 an hour. The $1.5 billion package works out to about 0.06% of its $2.68 trillion market value. It also launched Day 1 Financial, giving qualified employees lifetime access to low-cost banking through First Tech Federal Credit Union.
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Lam Research to invest ₹10,000 cr in first silicon component manufacturing facility in India
Lam Research committed Rs 10,000 crore to build its first silicon component manufacturing facility in India. The company said it has folded India into its global supply chain and trained thousands of people for the semiconductor industry through workforce programmes. It comes as PM Modi meets global semiconductor firms ahead of Semicon India 2026 and a $200 billion target.
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Apple Eyes Return To Server Market, Mulls Use Of Nvidia's NVLink Tech; Shares Climb
Apple is developing an enterprise AI server for developers, businesses and governments, with versions carrying either two or four planned M8 Ultra chips, The Information reported. The company is weighing Nvidia's NVLink Fusion technology for the inference server, marking a possible return to the server market.
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With UPI MDR Clarity, PhonePe Eyes IPO By March 2027
PhonePe is looking at an IPO by March 2027 after the MDR framework on high-value UPI transactions gave it clarity on monetisation, sources told Mint and Inc42. Founder Sameer Nigam called the government's MDR move important for the long-term growth and sustainability of UPI. Paytm shares jumped over 7% on the news of the fee.
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Cohere, Aleph Alpha combine to target enterprise AI market
Cohere and Aleph Alpha are merging to target the enterprise AI market, with the combined business keeping the Cohere name and dual headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. Aleph Alpha's Heidelberg office will focus on research, and its co-chief Ilhan Scheer becomes Cohere's chief operating officer.
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Adidas layoffs: Nearly half of India Tech Hub workforce in Gurgaon let go, says report. Who was affected?
Adidas has reportedly cut between 45% and 50% of the roughly 700 employees at its India Tech Hub in Gurgaon, per a Wocult report. Those affected include software engineers, data scientists and data engineers.
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SK Hynix reportedly in talks with Intel to build memory chips in US
SK Hynix is in talks with Intel about manufacturing memory chips in the United States, according to reports. The company told TechCrunch that no plans or arrangements have been finalised yet.
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Aakrit Vaish’s Activate Closes Maiden VC Fund At $105 Mn To Back AI Startups
Activate, founded by ex-Haptik chief executive Aakrit Vaish, closed its maiden venture fund at $105 million to invest in AI startups. Separately, India Accelerator's investment arm Finvolve announced a first close of Rs 90 crore on its Rs 250 crore growth-stage fund.
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Novo partners with Anthropic to speed up drug development with Claude
Novo Nordisk has partnered with Anthropic to accelerate drug discovery using Claude. The Danish company will initially test Anthropic's models and Claude Science in its research and development workflows and pick scientific problems where the two sides can have the most impact.
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Former Infosys chief’s AI startup nabs another $53M
An AI startup founded by a former Infosys chief executive has raised another $53 million. Based in Palo Alto, the company says it has landed several seven-figure enterprise contracts within months of launching.
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Hero Motors garners ₹300 crore from anchor investors ahead of IPO today
Hero Motors garnered Rs 300 crore from anchor investors ahead of its IPO, with participation from financial institutions and mutual funds. The issue opened on Wednesday at a price band of Rs 79 to Rs 84 and will list on the NSE and BSE.
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CCPA fines Rapido Rs. 10 lakh for dark pattern, orders it to stop tipping prompts
India's consumer protection authority fined Rapido Rs 10 lakh for a dark pattern and ordered it to stop its tipping prompts. Rapido argued tipping is voluntary, but the CCPA found the design, sequencing and language of the prompts amounted to behavioural nudging under the 2023 dark pattern guidelines.
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EU chief to unveil social media, gaming curbs for under-15s
Ursula von der Leyen unveiled EU plans to protect children online by restricting access to social media, video-sharing platforms, games and AI chatbots for under-15s. The proposals came in her annual keynote speech to the European Parliament, with a draft document setting strict limits.
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Fibe gets Sebi approval for Rs 750 crore IPO
Fibe has secured Sebi approval for a Rs 750 crore public issue. Its draft prospectus shows investors including TPG's The Rise Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, Chiratae Ventures, Piramal Finance and Eight Roads Ventures selling shares in the offer.
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Ola Electric payments to Bhavish Aggarwal's Krutrim nearly quadruple in one year
Documents show Ola Electric paid close to Rs 100 crore to Krutrim SI Designs in FY26, almost four times the previous year. Krutrim is the artificial intelligence company owned by Ola Electric chairman Bhavish Aggarwal.
