Today is a crazy day because we have not one but TWO important things.

Scoop: Infosys said its employees can take up external gigs with the consent of their managers, in what is the first such move by a large Indian IT company.

•  Infosys endorsing gig work signifies a step forward amidst the raging debate on moonlighting. It could not only become a trendsetter for the IT industry but also a defining moment for the entire white-collar sector in India.  

Significantly, it would also help the company tackle moonlighting, keep employees motivated and stanch attrition, in a challenging macro environment. 

Google faces CCI penalty: Also, the Competition Commission of India today imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem.

In today’s newsletter:

• Delhivery tumbles on weak forecast 
• Nazara Technologies CEO steps down
• Tracxn sees traction on debut

Delhivery's share price plunged 16 percent today, falling below its IPO issue price to settle at Rs 471 per share.

• This comes after the company sounded an alarm over inflation hurting e-commerce demand and said that its growth will remain moderate for the rest of FY23.

• Delhivery has also said that average user spends and total active shoppers in e-commerce have remained flat or declined during the ongoing festive season.

With Delhivery being one of the major players in third-party e-commerce logistics, the company's guidance on flat festive sales and moderate growth in FY23 is expected to have an impact on the outlook for the broader e-commerce segment.

• We reported last month that inflation and the full-fledged return of consumers to offline stores might lead to a muted festive sales growth for e-commerce this year

• However, according to a report by Redseer, the first week of festive sales (September 24-30) witnessed a 27 percent growth over the same period last year

• A lot of this initial spike was due to the return of deep discounting and mega ad spends in the last week of September

• But in India, the festive season usually lasts until Diwali and makes up about 20% of all e-commerce sales for the year

The logistics player said that it will remain watchful of market sentiments going forward. It also seems to have deferred decisions on major investments to FY24.

• Delhivery’s revenue from operations dropped 16 percent sequentially to Rs 1,746 crore in the June quarter

• Its net loss during Q1 rose 233 percent to Rs 399 crore, compared to the preceding quarter

• ICICI Securities downgraded the stock from hold to sell in August, while maintaining a target price of Rs 484 apiece.

Changes are afoot at India’s first publicly-listed gaming company, Nazara Technologies.

Manish Agarwal is stepping down as the chief executive of Nazara Technologies after a stint of nearly seven and half years. Nitish Mittersain, the company's founder, will take on this role along with his present one as joint managing director.

The move comes at a time when Nazara Technologies plans to expand its portfolio of companies across five key verticals in which it operates: gamified learning, freemium, AdTech, eSports, and skill-based real money gaming.

• The firm recently acquired WildWorks to strengthen its presence in gamified learning. 

• It is eyeing deals to expand its freemium gaming business and also foray into Web3 gaming.

In addition, Sudhir Kamath has joined Nazara Technologies as COO, effective today. Kamath previously founded Sparskills Technologies, wherein he developed and scaled the online poker platform 9stacks.

On a day that was unremarkable for benchmark indices and even less so for new-age VC-backed companies, shares of Sequoia Capital-backed Tracxn Technologies exhibited strong momentum on listing day.

Tracxn Technologies was listed at Rs 84.50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), against the issue price of Rs 80. 

• The stock settled at Rs 93.25 on the NSE, up 16.56 percent

The benchmark indices, on the other hand, ended almost flat with marginal gains, while shares of new-age VC-backed companies like Zomato, Paytm, PB Fintech, and Delhivery fell between 1 and 15%.

Tracxn went public at a time when many VC-backed companies are waiting for the markets to recover before going public. 

• The stock performance of Tracxn will therefore be closely watched by these companies.

 Tracxn is also the first SaaS company to list in India this year. Its promising listing may thus open the door to future SaaS IPOs.

 As the founders of Tracxn put it in an interview with us, “Startups should consider public listing in India as a genuine option.”

Read more about their journey, the company, and the people who started it.

The following are the statements of someone who has long worked at Meta and is also one of its harshest critics.

• Frankly, the documents that they (the Wire) presented were too succinct, too clear.
  
  
• There will not (sic) exist any document which will say, 'we are responsible, we did the bad thing'. 
  
  
• The fact that there are so many incorrect (enforcement) actions in the first place is a large part of the motive behind why the cross-check system exists

Whistleblower Sophie Zhang, who previously worked as a data scientist at Meta (formerly Facebook), recently made public internal Facebook documents revealing that the company failed to take down a network of fake accounts linked to a BJP Parliamentarian.

Zhang's remarks are in response to the ongoing Meta-The Wire controversy, which led to the publication suspending its articles while an internal inquiry is conducted.

In an interview with us via Google Meet, Zhang talked about her experience with Meta's X-Check (pronounced "crosscheck") programme, her thoughts on how the platform handles content moderation, and other things. Read the full interview

• Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has made a strategic investment in Dream11 parent-backed cricket non-fungible token (NFT) platform Rario. As part of this deal, Tendulkar will act as a brand ambassador for the startup and exclusively offer his own digital collectibles on the platform.
  
  
• Sam Bankman-Fried, a crypto billionaire, has come up with a plan to limit the damage done by hacks and exploits that have been plaguing the industry. His plan includes capping the maximum bounty for attackers at $5 million. In a blog post, Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX, proposed what he called a "5-5 standard," which says that hackers can keep either 5% of the amount they stole from a protocol or $5 million, whichever is less.
  
  
• According to a memo sent out by the investment firm, institutional clients of Fidelity Digital Assets will be able to trade ether (ETH) starting on October 28. This is the latest step that Fidelity, the company that owns Fidelity Digital Assets, has taken to make crypto available to institutional clients.
  
  
• In order to function legally, cryptocurrency financial organisations in South Africa must apply for a licence between 1 June and 20 November 2023, according to the country's financial conduct regulator.

LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co. have labelled the current period of time for women in leadership roles in corporate America the "Great Breakup."

About 10.5% of women leaders left their company in 2021, compared with 9% of male leaders, Lean In and McKinsey & Co.'s "Women in the Workplace" report shows. 

"Women leaders are leaving their companies at the highest rate we've ever seen. They aren't leaving the workforce entirely but are choosing to leave for companies with better career opportunities, flexibility, and a real commitment to DEI," said Sheryl Sandberg, founder of Lean In. 

Key findings

• Women leaders are 2x as likely as men leaders to be mistaken for someone more junior.
  
  
• For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of colour are promoted.

• 37% of women leaders have had a coworker get credit for their idea, compared to 27% of men leaders.

• 43% of women leaders are burned out, compared to only 31% of men at their level.

Check out the full report

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