One quick thing: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma vows comeback in Tokyo amid mounting troubles back home 

• Meanwhile, smaller UPI apps are seeking NPCI’s support to challenge the dominance of PhonePe, Google Pay

In today’s newsletter: 

• Google dangles olive branch with a catch 
• Inside a UPI scammer's playbook
• Swiggy now delivers to trains

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Google is extending an olive branch to Indian app developers amid the ongoing Play Store billing policy row, all thanks to the intervention of IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Google will temporarily restore the apps of prominent Indian internet firms it recently pulled from the Play Store amid a billing dispute. 

• The decision follows a series of meetings between the minister, Google India, and several local Internet firms affected by the app takedown in recent days

Google will begin charging these companies the applicable service fee in the interim, but payment timelines will be extended while both parties work towards an amenable solution. 

• Currently, Google charges developers a 15-30% fee on in-app purchases and subscriptions
  
  
• For developers who choose its third-party billing option, a reduced fee of 11-26% applies

On March 1, Google took down over 100 apps from prominent internet firms, including Matrimony, Shaadi.com, and Info Edge, for not complying with its payment policy for an extended period.

• This was after the Supreme Court didn't offer any protection to these firms from being delisted from the Play Store on February 9. The apex court is set to hear the pleas of these firms on March 19

While the issue appears to be temporarily resolved, it remains to be seen whether Google and local internet firms can find a mutually acceptable long-term solution in the coming months.

Imagine a seemingly routine morning turning into a nightmare. You receive a call claiming to be from FedEx, informing you of a concerning issue – a package containing illegal items held by authorities, with your details attached.

• They even recite your personal details like Aadhaar number and address, building a false sense of legitimacy.

Before you can process the information, the "cops" intervene, escalating the situation further. 

This, unfortunately, isn't fiction. It's a sophisticated UPI fraud tactic

Rima Sharma (name changed), a well-educated professional, became the target of a meticulously crafted scam. 

• Rima was led to believe that her identity had been stolen to open multiple fake bank accounts linked to Nawab Malik, the NCP leader arrested last year in a money laundering case

The scammers created a fake Skype account posing as Mumbai police to carry out a supposed investigation.

• Adding a layer of authenticity, they produced fake letters from CBI, RBI, and the financial department 

In the guise of verifying her account for illegal transactions, Rima was coerced into transferring a significant sum to a financial department ID via a UPI app.

Fortunately, Rima's brother intervened, preventing further financial loss. She reported the incident to cybercrime authorities, unveiling the intricacies of this UPI fraud.

Rima's case is not an isolated incident. UPI-related frauds have witnessed a staggering surge in recent years, despite governmental efforts to spread awareness. 

• Around 23,000 cybercrimes were reported daily between January 2020 and March 2023, with 47% involving UPI scams, according to a report

Also read: Govt working with RBI on mechanism to block fraudsters from using victims' money: Vaishnaw

Read full details of the scam

Are you tired of the pantry meals on trains? Look no further. 

This is Swiggy’s newest pitch to users at a time when it is preparing to go for an initial public offer and the food delivery market is battling a slowdown in growth.

Swiggy and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) have signed an agreement for food delivery services to train passengers travelling through Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada. 

• The partnership aims to extend the service to more than 59 stations in the next six months

• IRCTC said that it is considering 350 railway stations which fall in categories A and A1 for food delivery as trains stop for more time at these points

"We are already working with 17 aggregators, including Zomato. We are giving 60,000 meals per day and almost at a zero percent complaint rate," IRCTC chief Sanjay Kumar Jain said.

The railway catering company has already raked in Rs 30 crore from online deliveries this year

To give users a better experience, Swiggy said that it will designate a separate fleet of riders near railway stations. 

• Users would be able to place their orders both on the Swiggy and IRCTC apps

Find out more 

Picture credit: Kalaido

The race for the title of the most powerful AI tool has reignited, this time with former employees of OpenAI challenging industry giants such as ChatGPT and Gemini. 

• Anthropic, a startup backed by Google and Amazon, has launched three improved generative AI models succeeding its earlier Claude 2.1 version

• The startup claims that its lower-end version, Haiku, stands out as the fastest and most cost-effective AI model currently available in the market

What else? The company states that its higher-end version, Opus, has shown significant improvements in giving accurate answers.

Find out more

• The Competition Commission of India will soon launch a market study on AI to understand its impact on competition and develop strategies to promote innovation and fairness.
  
  
• China plans to bolster its technological self-sufficiency by formulating development plans for emerging fields like quantum computing and AI, launching an "AI-plus" initiative, and initiating major science and technology programmes.

While free cricket streaming of IPL and ICC World Cup last year was great for consumers, it was always going to hurt India's paid streaming market. Now we're seeing just how much.

• India's paid video subscriptions dropped to 97 million in 2023, from 99 million in 2022, as per a FICCI-EY report released today. Revenue growth also slowed to just 6% in 2023 to reach Rs 7,260 crore.

Speaking of the business of sports and sportsmen, check out our interview with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Deepak Chahar on building sports brands and life as a startup founder. 

Picture credit: Kalaido

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