Archives 2023

In what may turn into a massive blow for cryptocurrency sector in India, Centre’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which is under the Finance Ministry, has issued show cause notices to as many as 9 offshore cryptocurrency and virtual digital assets platforms, including Binance and Kucoin. The notifications were issued for non-compliance with anti-money laundering law.

Not just the notices, FIU has even taken the next step by writing to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) to block the URLs of these nine entities that are operating illegally without complying with the provisions of the PML Act in India.

Apart from Binance and Kucoin, the other virtual digital assets service providers (VDA SP) who have been issued notice for not registering as reporting entities with the FIU-India are Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfenex.

The virtual digital assets service providers operating in India (both offshore and onshore) and engaged in activities like exchange between virtual digital assets and fiat currencies, transfer of virtual digital assets, safekeeping or administration of virtual digital assets or instruments enabling control over virtual digital assets etc are required to be registered with FIU IND as ‘Reporting Entity’ and comply with the set of obligations as mandated under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.

The obligation is activity-based and is not contingent on physical presence in India.

The regulation casts reporting, record keeping, and other obligations on the VDA SPs under the PML Act which also includes registration with the FIU IND, the finance ministry said.

“As part of compliance action against the offshore entities, Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) has issued compliance Show Cause Notices to following nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) under Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA),” the ministry said in a statement.

Under the I-T Act, reporting entities are required to file statements of financial transactions (SFT) with the tax department containing details of certain financial transactions or any reportable account maintained by them during the year.

In March, the government had brought VDA SPs into the ambit of the Anti Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT) framework under the provisions of PMLA.

(With inputs from PTI)

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Finance Ministry has issued show cause notices to nine offshore cryptocurrency and virtual digital assets platforms. The show cause notice has been issued for non-compliance with anti-money laundering law. According to a report in news agency PTI, the FIU has also written to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to block the URLs of these nine entities that are said to be operating illegally without complying with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 in India.
In March, the government had brought VDA SPs into the ambit of the Anti Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT) framework under the provisions of PMLA. FIU-IND is the central, national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions to enforcement agencies and foreign FIUs.
Names of the nine entities that have been issued cause notices
The virtual digital assets service providers (VDA SP) who have been issued notice for not registering as reporting entities with the FIU-India are Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfenex.
What the rules say
The virtual digital assets service providers operating in India (both offshore and onshore) and engaged in activities like exchange between virtual digital assets and fiat currencies, transfer of virtual digital assets, safekeeping or administration of virtual digital assets or instruments enabling control over virtual digital assets etc are required to be registered with FIU IND as ‘Reporting Entity’ and comply with the set of obligations as mandated under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.
The obligation is activity-based and is not contingent on physical presence in India.
The regulation casts reporting, record keeping, and other obligations on the VDA SPs under the PML Act which also includes registration with the FIU IND, the finance ministry said.
“As part of compliance action against the offshore entities, Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) has issued compliance Show Cause Notices to following nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) under Section 13 of the PMLA,” the ministry said in a statement.
Under the I-T Act, reporting entities are required to file statements of financial transactions (SFT) with the tax department containing details of certain financial transactions or any reportable account maintained by them during the year. Till date, 31 VDA SPs have registered with FIU IND.

The government is reportedly planning to bring in new regulations for social media companies including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and others. According to a report in Ecoomic Times, the government may mandate permanent deletion of personal data of users who have been “completely away” from their accounts on social media and other internet platforms for at least three years in a row.
The proposal is reportedly part of draft executive rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, which was ratified as a law in August this year. The draft rules will be floated for discussion among stakeholders shortly, before being notified.
The rules, which mandate the deletion of personal data after the specified period, are also likely to be extended to ecommerce companies, online marketplaces, gaming intermediaries and all social media intermediaries, irrespective of the number of users they have in India.
The draft rules are also said to likely to propose that allied healthcare professionals, clinical establishments, medical educational institutes, healthcare professionals, health services and mental healthcare establishments be allowed to use some publicly available personal and non-personal data “in the interest of public health or making of evidence-based research, archiving and statistical purposes”.
Educational institutes that are established, owned, controlled or recognised by the central government, state government or any local authority or academic institutes that have been established for “higher education” or research and scientific and technical education will also be given the exemption to process such data for research purposes, the draft has proposed.
“There will be safeguards such as what is the nature or quantum of data that can be used and what standards and procedures need to be followed by these institutes if they collect sensitive personal medical records from their patients. Given the nature of information, the safety standards for these institutes will also be proportionate,” the official said.
In cases of breach of personal data, the intermediary handling the data must within 72 hours of becoming aware of the attack, inform the Data Protection Board (DPB) of the “facts related to the event, the circumstances and the reasons for the breach”.
Such intermediaries, also called data fiduciaries, must inform their users and the DPB about the nature, description, date, and time at which the fiduciary became aware of the data breach.
Further, the timing, duration, location and extent of the breach in terms of the quantum of data involved and the potential impact of the breach must also be informed to both the user as well as the DPB within 72 hours of the intermediary being made aware or becoming aware of the breach, the draft rules have suggested.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani urged the employees of Reliance Industries Ltd. to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) transformation across all businesses in 2024 as the oil-to-retail conglomerate seeks to stay ahead of rivals in deploying advanced technologies. 

“We need to be at forefront of using data, with AI as an enabler for achieving a quantum jump in productivity and efficiency,” Asia’s richest man told Reliance employees Thursday at an event marking the 91st birth anniversary of the company’s late founder Dhirubhai Ambani. This will help the company to be at the forefront of solving “India’s urgent national priorities in education, healthcare, agriculture and employment generation,” Ambani said.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. is working with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay to launch ‘BharatGPT,’ a large language model that would be tailored to the needs of Indian users, Akash Ambani, the tycoon’s elder son said at an event this week. Akash, who’s helming the group’s telecom and digital ventures, also said Reliance plans to integrate AI across businesses.

Reliance is in the midst of transforming into a digital conglomerate by pushing into digital commerce. It now sells everything from electronics to apparel through its online and offline stores.

In this year-end address to employees, Mukesh urged them to bring AI-led transformation across the company’s key growth engines including digital services, retail, oil and chemical business as well as health and life science by 2024.

The sector is also luring Asia’s second-richest person, Gautam Adani, whose flagship on Thursday announced a joint venture with UAE’s International Holding Co. to explore AI, Internet of Things and blockchain technology for industrial applications. The Adani Group is increasingly looking to diversify into digital services, much like Reliance.

Reliance, which was started by Mukesh’s father Dhirubhai Ambani in 1957, now operates in telecoms, digital services, retail, oil and gas and new energy with a market value of more than $200 billion.

To supports its AI ambitions, in September Reliance signed a deal with U.S. chip firm Nvidia to develop cloud infrastructure and language models, as well as generative applications, Reuters reported.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Amazon will start incorporating advertisements within their Prime Video streaming services soon. A report citing the company’s intimation to Amazon Prime users in the US claims that the standard Amazon Prime plan will show ads while streaming movies and TV shows. This, however, is not a sudden move. The company announced the move in September this year and stated that it would go into effect in early 2024. Now, the action has a date of commencement in select regions. Amazon has not yet confirmed when this limited ads feature will be effective for Prime Video users in India.

A report by The Verge claims that Amazon said in an email to customers in the US that starting January 29, advertisements will be included in movies and TV shows streamed on its Prime Video platform. The move will let them continue investing in great content and increase the amount spent over time, the company claimed in the cited email.

Amazon also noted in the email that they intended to have significantly fewer advertisements than broadcast television and other streaming TV providers. They explained that the current price of Prime membership remains unchanged for all Amazon Prime users in the US and they did not need to take any additional action because of this move.

However, if a user wishes to continue to enjoy their ad-free Prime Video experience, they can enjoy the same by upgrading their current Amazon Prime plan. They will be required to pay an additional $2.99 (roughly Rs. 250) per month. Currently, the standard Amazon Prime subscription costs $14.99 (roughly Rs. 1,200). From January 29, users will need to spend $17.99 (roughly Rs. 1,500) each month to continue to watch movies and TV shows ad-free on Prime Video or continue on their older plan with occasional ads.

Notably, Prime Video membership can also be bought individually, without subscribing to the standard Amazon Prime plan. Presently, users need to pay $8.99 (roughly Rs. 750) per month to access only the Prime Video streaming service. Once the limited ads feature goes into effect, that plan will increase to $11.99 (roughly Rs. 1,000), according to the aforementioned report. Another report by The Guardian claimed the same action will start in the UK and Germany from February 5.

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Software firm MicroStrategy said on Wednesday it had bought bitcoin worth about $615.7 million (Rs. 5,120 crore) in cash, amid growing expectations that the top US markets regulator will soon approve a spot bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF).

The company and its subsidiaries purchased about 14,620 bitcoins at an average price of roughly $42,110 (roughly Rs. 35 lakh) between November 30 and December 26, according to a regulatory filing.

Shares of the Virginia-based company jumped 8 percent in afternoon trading. MicroStrategy has surged over 350 percent this year, while bitcoin has gained nearly 160 percent.

MicroStrategy’s move to buy bitcoin to protect the value of its reserve assets has helped strengthen the appeal of the firm’s stock, which tends to move in tandem with the digital asset.

“This is not a short-term trading strategy but rather reflects a belief that bitcoin will ultimately prove a superior store of value,” said analysts at TD Cowen.

“The company remains an attractive vehicle for investors looking to gain bitcoin exposure,” the brokerage added.

In recent months, a spate of filings, including from traditional finance heavyweights like BlackRock have revived the crypto markets which had been crushed after several high-profile firms such as Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapsed.

A spot crypto ETF would track the market price of the underlying crypto asset, giving investors exposure to the token without having to buy the currency.

MicroStrategy, which began buying the cryptocurrency in 2020, said it together with subsidiaries now holds about 189,150 bitcoins bought for about $5.9 billion (roughly Rs. 49,065 crore).

The company has said its bitcoin investments are intended as long-term holdings and that it expects to continue to accumulate the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency.

“Due to its limited supply, bitcoin offers the opportunity for appreciation in value if its adoption increases and has the potential to serve as a hedge against inflation in the long-term,” the company said in its latest quarterly report.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Even as we inch towards the new year, artificial intelligence developments are not slowing down. Today, December 28, a report revealed that Samsung can unveil a Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+ at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024. The AI fridge will pack features like checking the items inside using a camera and suggesting recipes based on them. In other news, Baidu’s ChatGPT-rival Ernie Bot has surpassed the 100 million user mark. This and more in today’s AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Samsung to unveil AI fridge

Samsung is set to introduce the Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+ at CES, featuring an AI-powered system that generates recipes based on users’ dietary preferences, reported The Verge. The refrigerator includes the “Personalise” feature, driven by enhanced Food AI, enabling customization for various dietary requirements, including gluten-free, pescatarian, dairy-free, and more. The appliance will also incorporate AI Vision Inside, the Anyplace Induction Cooktop, and improvements to the Samsung Food service.

“We are both proud and excited to be showcasing these upgraded AI and connectivity features, which utilise the latest technology to help everyone take their food and kitchen experiences to the next level,” Moohyung Lee, EVP and Head of the Customer Experience Team of Digital Appliances Business at Samsung Electronics said in a statement.

Baidu’s Ernie Bot crosses 100 million users

Baidu’s Ernie Bot has surpassed 100 million users, according to Wang Haifeng, the Chief Technology Officer of the Chinese internet company, reported Reuters. The announcement was made during a deep learning summit in Beijing. The milestone follows the public opening of Ernie Bot in August, preceded by a partial unveiling and a more than five-month trial period for select users. Analysts note that despite the underwhelming initial unveiling in March, Baidu gained a valuable first-mover advantage in a competitive market where numerous Chinese tech companies are developing their own chatbots powered by generative AI.

AI stethoscope can diagnose heart diseases

The Golborne practice, located near London’s Notting Hill, is among 200 GP surgeries in north-west London and Wales to receive an AI stethoscope, marking the UK’s first deployment of this technology in primary care, as per a report by the Financial Times. Nearly half of Golborne’s patients belong to non-white minority ethnic groups, facing a higher risk of death from heart disease. The licensed AI tool, approved for use by general physicians, is the first of its kind capable of prescribing life-saving medication without requiring a specialist review. AI diagnostics in primary care hold the potential to significantly aid the UK’s National Health Service amid increasing demand and challenges, particularly during the winter season.

Students in Ireland can be punished for using AI

Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), Ireland’s watchdog for academic standards, is reportedly considering measures to address academic cheating involving AI, according to a report by the Irish Times. The organization plans to extend academic misconduct legislation to include the use of AI in exams or assessments. QQI is urging educational institutions to review their internal policies on academic integrity to address evolving risks. The potential consequences for students or researchers found engaging in serious academic misconduct include the withdrawal of awards or qualifications.

Pidge launches AI fleet management tool

Pidge, a logistics technology company, has launched Trace, a fleet management solution designed to provide comprehensive intelligence for businesses overseeing on-ground fleets of executives and vehicles, reports Indian Transport & Logistics News. Trace offers features such as fleet and vehicle tracking, effective routing, real-time alerts, customizability, and exception management, allowing for no-touch management for logistics teams. The device-agnostic Trace seamlessly integrates with various fleet tracking tools, including portable devices, mobile applications, and SIM-based tracking. It provides detailed real-time insights, live on-ground events, and immediate alerts to facilitate decentralized teams in promptly addressing exceptions.

Gmail, the email service from Google, is used by millions of people on a daily basis. 2023 saw a slew of new features arrive in Gmail. These features were aimed at boosting productivity, enhance security, and had a dash of AI. Here are five new features Gmail got in 2023:
Help Me Write
It was a big year for Google in terms of AI features. Gmail for its own AI assistant in the form of Help Me Write.This new feature, launched in May, suggests drafts based on the context of your email recipient and subject line. You can choose the tone and length of the response, making it ideal for those quick, professional emails.
Side-by-side view on tablets
Multitasking on tablets in 2023 got easier. Gmail for Android tablets now lets you open links and attachments directly beside your email content in landscape mode. This split-screen view eliminates the need for constant switching between tabs, boosting efficiency and keeping your email flow uninterrupted.
Stronger phishing protection
Gmail’s built-in security received a significant upgrade in October. Now, it offers stronger protection against more sophisticated phishing attempts. Sensitive actions like sending money or downloading attachments trigger additional warning prompts, giving you extra time to double-check the sender’s legitimacy.
Emoji reactions in Google Chat
Google Chat, integrated within Gmail, got a fun and expressive update. You can now react to messages with emojis, adding a touch of personality and instant feedback to your online conversations.
Priority Inbox enhancements
Gmail’s Priority Inbox, which separates important emails from the noise, got smarter in 2023. It now learns from your reading and interaction patterns, automatically adjusting which emails land in your priority section, ensuring you never miss what truly matters.
These were some of the key features Gmail got. In 2024, expect more AI-related features to arrive in Google’s apps and services, including Gmail.

As a part of its strategy to leverage alliances and develop reseller-based partnerships to drive enterprise sales, Web Werks Data Centers India has announced the appointment of Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (VAD Venture) as its Value-Added Distributor.
70% of the Supertron VAD’s business is exclusive. This indicates that exclusivity constitutes a fundamental strength for SupertronVAD. As a result, all resellers and dealers are obligated to purchase products exclusively from Supertron VAD within a designated territory. Furthermore, the company functions as a fulfilment centre for those resellers and System Integrators. Additionally, Supertron VAD’s robust supply chain system and Pan-Indian presence constitute strength.
Since its inception, Web Werks has helped hundreds of organisations accelerate their Digital Transformation milestones through its cohesive range of Colocation, Cloud Computing, Networking, and Managed Services. Located across the major commercial hubs of India, Web Werks operates a ‘String of Digital Pearls’ of 6 advanced Tier III Data Centers in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad with more coming up in Chennai and Kolkata.
What the companies said about the partnership
Amit Agrawal, Chief Business Officer, Web Werks Data Centers India said: “At Web Werks, we estimate that over 50% of our domestic enterprise revenues will be driven by the partner ecosystem. I am delighted to announce SupertronVAD venture as our value-added distributor to lead this effort. I am quite confident that with SupertronVAD, we’ll be able to build a world class partner ecosystem in India & beyond. Organisations across industries are in the midst of digital transformation and looking to cloud solutions for business growth, utilising our solutions will help them to achieve cost savings, enhanced security and agility for operations. Together with SupertronVAD, we aim to provide an end- to-end solution to organisations in their digital transformation journey.”
Debraj Dam, Chief of Value Added Distribution, Supertron said: “The India Data Center Market size is expected to grow from USD 6.12 billion in 2023 to USD 10.89 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 12.22% during the forecast period (2023-2028), and it’s fit in our natural progression in our growth journey to offering world class Iron Mountain’s WebWerks Data Centers India solutions that include information management, digital transformation, secure storage, secure colo data centres, cloud services offerings to our CIB partner community in our Data Center and software domain. It will further solidify our commitment to our partner ecosystems and their customer’s leadership position and also reinforce our position with our strong partner network in Asia Pacific and Middle East market demand to power their cloud journey through this partnership. With the WebWerks our partners will also be able to leverage Nutanix Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) along with our other integrated solutions.”

LoanCare suffered a data breach last month, which resulted in the theft of sensitive customer data, the insurance service company has confirmed.

Roughly 1.3 million people were affected by the breach, the company further explained, as hackers stole people’s full names, physical addresses, Social Security Numbers (SSN), and loan numbers.