1 quick thing: Uber has asked its drivers in India to ensure backseat seatbelts in their vehicles are accessible to passengers, and they work, days after former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry died in a crash involving his private car.

In today's newsletter:

• Fintechs get RBI backing
• WinZO sues Google
• Byju’s showcases 'Divyaastra'

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das is extending an olive branch to fintechs indicating that the central bank is still their friend.

This comes over a month after the digital lending norms created havoc for firms that enabled lending through prepaid cards and wallets.

• At the Global Fintech Fest, the Governor repeatedly said that the RBI supports innovation. “I assure fintechs that we are here to support innovation. We will come two steps ahead if you (fintech) come one step forward,” he said.

Das noted that the innovation of fintechs during the pandemic allowed the country, the economy, and the financial markets to continue operating as usual.

Friendship however does not necessarily mean putting up with your friends' mistakes.

The Governor said that while innovation is encouraged, fintechs must keep their focus on good corporate governance and operating within the purview of regulations.

• While innovations are “very much welcome,” they should be responsible and benefit consumers, the governor said, adding that fair practices, and robust governance will go a long way in sustaining fintechs’ business models.

Das’ comments come against the backdrop of the digital lending norms released by the RBI on August 10. As per the norms, all loan disbursals and repayments through digital lending apps are to be executed only between the bank accounts of the borrower and the regulated entity without any pass-through or pool account, including prepaid instruments.

The Governor also took this opportunity to once again voice RBI’s concerns on the risks of BigTech in fintech. He elaborated that innovation has ushered in an era where enormous amounts of consumer data is being generated and leveraged by a few entities or the so-called BigTech in fintechs.

In June, Das had said that the entry of big fintech firms into the financial sector can create systemic concerns, including those pertaining to overleverage. Given their increasingly dominant role in the payments ecosystem, the RBI, under Vision 2025, had said that the regulator will release a discussion paper on the need for proportionate regulation on such fintechs.

Big Tech companies probably run hundreds of pilot programmes every year but what if you get sued over one?

Indian gaming platform WinZO has sued Google over the tech giant's recent pilot to permit daily fantasy sports and rummy apps in its app marketplace Google Play, alleging that it is not only anti-competitive but also a "death-knell to innovation".

Google has had a strict policy of not allowing real-money games on its Play Store for years. However, it announced a limited one-year pilot earlier this month to offer daily fantasy sports and rummy apps from India-incorporated firms to users in the country from September 28, 2022.

• The app distribution is limited to only India at present and they cannot use Google's in-app billing or be available as a paid app on the app marketplace.

WinZO claims that this pilot unfairly favours only daily fantasy sports and rummy games which could cause market distortion in the long term.

WinZO offers over 100 real-money games spanning six genres, including casual, e-sports, fantasy, and quizzes, several of which are currently not accepted in this pilot.

“This policy will not only reduce the marketing cost for players in monopoly to 1/4th of their earlier spends but also create a false perception of legitimation of DFS (daily fantasy sports) and Rummy over all other games such as Carrom, Chess, Quiz etc” said WinZO co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore.

WinZO has sought a ruling that Google should allow all apps offering games of skill on its app marketplace.

• Google has previously said they will take a measured approach through this pilot programme that will help them collate learnings and "retain an enjoyable and safe experience for our users"

Also read: Google Play's pilot for fantasy and rummy apps gets mixed response from startup founders

Almost a week after its FY21 results went live, Byju’s, the world’s most-valued edtech company, revealed a new astra to counter media scrutiny of the company.

After days of anonymous social media handles and influencers attempting to salvage Byju's reputation, the company's co-founder Divya Gokulnath took to LinkedIn, calling Byju's release of its FY21 results the second blockbuster of 2022 after Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt's Brahmastra.

Both the blockbusters, however, are struggling to cover their expenses.

Gokulnath criticised media publications for sensationalising headlines. She also called out a few headlines, which in her opinion, were biased.

"It’s easy to forget in the flood of negative headlines that we are 18 months post FY21, and that Byju's has grown more than 4 times in this span,” Gokulnath said in her LinkedIn post.

She also claimed that Byju’s bagged more than Rs 1,000 crore in revenue every month this year.

Byju’s became the world’s most expensive edtech company after its revenue declined in FY21, albeit marginally.

• For FY21, Byju’s had a revenue multiple of over 40, the most for any edtech company in the world, and far more than its consumer-facing edtech peers.

Compared to some listed education companies in India, too, Byju’s’ revenue multiple was far higher. Moreover, global edtech companies, too, are sitting on far lower multiples than that of Byju’s, according to data from Moneycontrol research and Tracxn.

Go deeper…

Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers) is one of the largest technology investors, known for marquee domestic investments such as Swiggy, BYJU’s, Meesho and PharmEasy to name a few.

In an interesting turn of events, the consumer tech-focussed venture capital firm is now scouting deals in the B2B and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) space as well—a move driven by the ongoing funding slowdown and macro uncertainties weighing on start-up valuations.

“While we are quite bullish about India in the long term, we are taking a slightly more conservative stance in the mid-term due to rate hikes and geopolitical uncertainty,” says the firm’s head of investments for India, Ashutosh Sharma about the current market scenario

In an interview with Moneycontrol, Sharma gets candid about:

• The VC firm’s newly tweaked investment strategy
• Outlook on start-up valuations witnessing further corrections
• How portfolio bets Meesho and PharmEasy are paying off
• Sectors the investment firm is bullish on

Read our interview

• Coinbase Global Inc., the largest crypto exchange in the United States, is changing its fee structure, which may raise costs for some users while lowering them for others.
  
  
• In a lawsuit against crypto influencer Ian Balina, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed that because the majority of nodes are run in the US, Ethereum transactions automatically fall under the jurisdiction of the US government.
  
  
• Wintermute, a cryptocurrency market maker, was hacked for about $160 million in its decentralized-finance business, the latest in a string of exploits affecting the digital assets industry.

When it comes to choosing between our favourite dishes, the majority of us frequently struggle. Every foodie in India finds themselves in this predicament, where they have the luxury of selecting from the many different types of cuisine the nation has to offer.

We need a food map!

Based on recent RedSeer data, the map above depicts a regional breakdown of India's $65 billion food services market.