One important thing: Global tech giants are rushing to capitalise on the generative AI boom. 

• Meta is unifying its generative AI efforts across the company into a new product group that will focus on integrating the technology into all of its products including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. So, what is Mark Zuckerberg's plan? Read more

• Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who co-founded the AI research lab OpenAI during its non-profit avatar in 2015 and later quit in 2018, has reportedly approached AI researchers in recent weeks to form a new research lab to develop a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT

In today’s newsletter:

• ONDC adopts an old ecomm trick
• Startups in for a chilly summer
• Govt's social media watchdog is live

Presenting Moneycontrol's India Fintech Conclave. We have a star-studded lineup featuring a Union Minister, RBI official, policymakers, bankers and top founders who are reshaping the fintech landscape in India. 

• It's happening on March 7 in Mumbai. RSVP here.

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In an effort to bring in customers, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is using a tried-and-tested method in the realm of online shopping: Discounts!

The Indian government-backed interoperable e-commerce protocol has started offering discounts to encourage users to purchase food, groceries, and home decor.

• It plans to offer discounts through March and scale transactions to 5,000 per day

ONDC expects network participants like buyer apps and seller apps to fund similar discounts in the future, sources told us.

• The platform has already gone live in 167 cities and onboarded more than 10,000 sellers

ONDC announced an incentive scheme to attract more merchants to the network shortly before the end of 2022. However, the scheme was soon revised after network participants pointed out issues.

• The new scheme offers buyers a Rs 50 discount or cashback per transaction

• Logistics providers will receive Rs 40 per transaction as delivery subsidy

ONDC will also set up monitoring systems and have regular audits to check for the mis-utilisation of incentives

Read our in-depth explainer on ONDC here

It's still February, a month to savour the last of the cosy winter before spring arrives. This year, however, the heat wave has other plans. If weather forecasts are to be believed, we are in for a record-hot summer.

Even so, it’s chilly for some in the startup ecosystem who are still reeling from the horrors of the prolonged funding winter.

There appears to be no relief from the funding crunch, as PE/VC investments in India's startup ecosystem fell 77% in February compared to the same month last year.

• Startups recorded only 91 deals worth $1.32 billion this month, against 308 deals worth $4.77 billion in February last year

Inflection Point Ventures, a former backer of BharatPe, became the most active VC this month, followed by TVS Capital Funds and Sequoia Capital.

• Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners, which raised large India-dedicated funds in 2022, did not participate in a single deal

• Accel, which also raised a $650 million India-dedicated fund, closed just one deal in February 2023

"Most funds are sitting on a considerable amount of dry powder. However, they are being cautious in writing new cheques as they may have to support some of their portfolio companies," said Ankur Mittal, co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures.

Investors believe that caution in fund deployment impacts the deal pipeline, which appears to be drying up since late last year.

Go deeper

Almost a year after the Indian government proposed a mechanism to deal with the ineffective functioning of the existing grievance redressal mechanism system of social media companies, the IT ministry today launched an online portal to deal with user grievances.

• Users can use this portal to file an appeal if they are dissatisfied with the decision of the grievance officer of an intermediary like Meta, Google, Twitter, etc.

The Grievance Appeal Committee (GAC) portal, created by the National Informatics Centre, will serve as a 'traffic signal' for segregating and directing complaints to the 3 GACs that were constituted by the government earlier.

• Users will need to verify their identity using Aadhaar for using the portal
  
  
• They can file an appeal on the decision of a grievance officer of an intermediary within 30 days
   
• The government said that the committee ‘endeavours’ to address the appeals within 30 days

While launching the online portal, Minister of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the GAC will put pressure on “existing grievance redressal mechanism to perform”.

• A user can view the entire appeal process on the portal, from filing the appeal to the decision

Last year, when this provision was first floated by the government, MeitY had said that they were open to the formation of a self-regulatory body created by the industry. However, they went ahead with the government-appointed GACs, after intermediaries failed to arrive at a consensus regarding self-regulation. 

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Happy National Science Day to all the science enthusiasts out there! Today, we honour the genius of physicist Sir CV Raman, who discovered the Raman effect in 1928, and revolutionised the field of optics.

The Raman effect or Raman scattering is the change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.

• For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930

• US payment giants Visa and Mastercard are reportedly putting on hold plans to launch crypto-related products and services as well as forge new partnerships with crypto firms after a string of high-profile collapses. They now plan to wait until the market conditions and the regulatory environment improve to launch these services.
  
  
• Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it will suspend trading of Binance USD on March 13 because the stablecoin doesn't meet its listing standards.

Last year, Bengaluru-based space tech startup Pixxel launched three satellites aboard a SpaceX and an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket. 

The startup injected hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellites into space to mine insights from the data; and now, the company has released their first set of images from these satellites for general viewing. 

• The set of six images shows the Krishna river delta, Palm Islands of Dubai, Super Pit in Australia, Saloud River Delta in Senegal, Granny Smith gold mine and Brockman in Australia

Check these spellbinding images here! 

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