One important thing: A Parliamentary panel criticises govt for delay in bringing DPDP rules, Digital India Bill

• It also flagged concerns over PhonePe, Google Pay’s dominance in UPI market

In today’s newsletter:

• Fake screenshot scam rocks Bengaluru  
• Pai-tm saga: New lapses emerge
• Freshworks CEO charts a roadmap to profitability

But first… Former prime ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Charan Singh, and agricultural scientist Dr MS Swaminathan are being awarded with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. 

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Imagine you are travelling in a cab. The ride ends and the driver shows a fare through a fake screenshot that is almost five times the fare you saw while booking. However, when you check on the ride-hailing app, it says an 'unfulfilled trip/cancelled ride'

You are now stuck between an errant driver and unhelpful cab aggregator, with no call center to get immediate relief. Depending on your urgency and patience, you may even end up paying the exorbitant fare. 

Quite a scary scenario right? This has been happening in the India’s tech capital, Bengaluru, where cab users allege to have fallen victim to a similar scam by a cab driver for the past few months, as revealed by our investigation.

We tracked down five victims (both Ola and Uber users) who were charged Rs 5,194, which was almost (or sometimes more than) five times the regular fare. 

• All victims, who booked cabs from Ola and Uber zones at Bengaluru airport, were allegedly scammed by the same driver over the past few months.

The modus operandi was quite similar to the above mentioned scenario and he evaded any regulatory action, as no formal complaints were registered with the state police. 

Hours after our story was published, many cab users shared similar experiences on social media from multiple cities like Hyderabad, Delhi, and Chennai. 

• They reported being cheated in a similar manner, with unscrupulous drivers using fake fare screenshots.

The question that now arises is whether aggregators will take decisive action against such drivers, and whether the police will register an FIR to take action.

• We hope this also results in a better support experience for passengers who are currently forced to file complaints only by raising tickets on the app, a process that can be slow and offer no immediate resolution

Read our investigation

If a regulatory crisis threatening its survival was not enough of a problem, Paytm Payments Bank has another battle to fight.

Two independent directors have exited the payments bank’s board recently.

Sources said that Shinjini Kumar, a finserv veteran who has worked with the RBI and Citibank, left the bank’s board in December. 

•  Yet, she attended two board meetings after her exit as a ‘special invitee’ on the bank’s request due to its condition to have more independent directors than executive directors on the board

Meanwhile, it has emerged that another independent director quit from the board in the immediate aftermath of RBI’s latest diktat to the bank.

• Manju Agarwal, who left the board on February 1, is a former Deputy Managing Director of SBI

On late Friday, Paytm however said it has formed a Group Advisory Committee under former Sebi chief M Damodaran that will work closely with the company’s board on compliance and regulatory matters.

Meanwhile, new lapses have emerged in Paytm’s banking unit

Sources tell us Paytm Payments Bank didn’t pay heed to RBI warnings on transactions involving politically exposed persons

• The regulator's audit of the bank’s risk management system revealed deficiencies in the due diligence process for onboarding politically exposed people

• It also failed to properly file Suspicious Transaction Reports to the government's Financial Intelligence Unit

Airtel Payments Bank is seeing a spurt in applications for account sign-ups since Jan 31. 

• Airtel Payment Bank chief Anubrata Biswas spoke with us about adhering to regulations, future growth opportunities, revenue streams and more.

Read the interview

Amidst all this drama, a Paytm-related entity is in the advanced stages of closing a deal to acquire Bitsila, an interoperable e-commerce startup. 

• While Paytm is already a buyer-side app on the Open Network for Digital Commerce, Bitsila is the third largest seller-side app

The acquisition comes as Paytm e-commerce, an entity where Paytm founder Vijay Shekar Sharma and others are investors in their individual capacity, has renamed itself to Pai Platforms.

From going public in the US in 2021 to making an operating profit (non-GAAP) in 2023, Freshworks' CEO Girish Mathrubootham is ticking off one goal after the other on his checklist.  But, the list is long and extensive! 

The SaaS industry in 2023 witnessed a lot of negative headwinds. Fed rates went up, demand slowed down and investors aggressively pushed for efficiency and profitability, which resulted in large software firms undertaking massive layoffs.

• In an interview with us, Mathrubootham said that the year was a tough one and expansion revenues came down for the firm.

“During the IPO, I said that I feel like an Indian athlete who has won the Olympic gold...But the training and the work that an athlete has to do every day is hard. So, we are in the training process and the big celebration will happen when we hit another milestone,” he said. 

• What has helped the company maintain healthy revenue growth is its ability to transition to large enterprise customers while integrating AI capabilities into its products.

Mathrubootham's days ahead seem super busy as he shares Freshworks’ roadmap of achieving GAAP operating profitability in the coming year, reaching $1 billion in revenue and managing the top-level rejig within the organisation.

"As a captain of the team, I need to make sure I'm fielding the best team to win, right," the CEO said.

His remarks come as there have been a slew of management changes within the SaaS firm. 

• Most recently, Chief Revenue Officer Pradeep Rathinam left the firm. Freshworks later hired Abe Smith for this role. 

Read our interview

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with investors including the United Arab Emirates government to raise funds for an AI chip initiative that could require as much as $5 trillion to $7 trillion.

• Over 200 companies including OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Anthropic, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, and Palantir, are joining a new US consortium that supports the safe development and deployment of generative AI.

A fearless local journalist begins an investigation into harrowing cases of abuse being covered up at a shelter home for young girls. 

That's the story of the Bhumi Pednekar-starrer film Bhakshak, produced by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment. 

Watch it on Netflix