One important thing: Just like UPI changed how we make payments in India, will we see a shift in how people buy or sell products online? We will know soon.

The first big test of Online Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) started today in Bengaluru with grocery stores and restaurants starting to take orders from users in 16 pincodes across the city. 

It has also published a consultation paper on how e-commerce transactions on the network will be governed.

"In the sentiment of the famous dialogue from Star Trek, we are going somewhere nobody has gone before," ONDC chief T Koshy told us. 

• Read our report from ground zero from kiranas and cloud kitchens

If you are wondering what ONDC is? Do read our explainer

In today's newsletter:

• Zuck’s layoff warning
• Tokenisation: There’s no going back
• Indian SaaS firms go slow on hiring

Big tech firms seemed unstoppable after a dream run in the past couple of years, especially after the onset of the pandemic. But it turns out they are not as invincible after all. 

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees they are enacting a company-wide hiring freeze and restructuring some teams to reduce costs, while warning of potential downsizing in the future.

• In a weekly Q&A session, Zuckerberg said the budget of most teams will be reduced. Individual teams will decide how to handle headcount changes, which could include not filling roles when people leave, shifting people to other teams, or figuring out how to "manage out people who aren't succeeding," according to a Bloomberg report.

Meta has not yet announced layoffs, but they are scrutinising employee performance as the social networking giant looks to reduce its headcount for the first time in its history.

• Meta had more than 83,500 employees as of June 30, adding 5,700 net hires in the quarter.

During the company's earnings call in July, Zuckerberg warned that they will "steadily reduce headcount growth" over the next year as Meta grappled with its first-ever revenue drop due to Apple's iOS 14 privacy policy changes and a weak digital advertising market.

• Many teams are going to shrink so that they can shift energy to other areas, Zuckerberg mentioned in the call. Meta's stock price has slid by 60% so far this year.

Meanwhile, check out what happened at the company’s Creator Day event in Mumbai.

In a separate development, Meta's nemesis Apple also had a terrible day on the US stock market. A rare analyst downgrade wiped out roughly $120 billion from the company's market cap. This also had a knock-on effect on other big tech firms with Alphabet and Microsoft hitting a 52-week low.

Usually, the days leading up to any Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deadline are spent wondering if they will, or will not, extend the deadline. With new credit and debit card norms kicking off tomorrow, we previously reported that the ecosystem is ready to implement tokenisation and that no further extensions are likely.

If there were any doubts, RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar made it clear that such proposals would not be entertained.

"I understand there are a few participants who may not be ready, but that would probably be because of their unwillingness to comply. We don't believe that we should hold back efforts because of such laggards," he said.

Rabi Sankar's remarks came after Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) decision to raise the repo rate by 50 basis points, the fourth consecutive rate hike.

The central bank also lowered the real GDP growth estimate for FY23 to 7% from 7.2%.

Rabi Sankar also stated that 35 crore credit and debit cards have already been tokenized, with tokens accounting for 40% of card transactions in September.

According to data previously shared by the RBI, the number of tokenised cards has increased by nearly 80% from 19.5 crore cards in June.

Governor Das stated in his monetary policy address that offline payment aggregators (PAs) who aid in face-to-face transactions at merchant outlets via Point of Sales (PoS) terminals and Quick Response (QR) Codes will now fall under the regulatory purview of the regulator.

The current regulations only apply to PAs who process online or e-commerce transactions. However, a number of offline-only players had already applied for the RBI's PA licence, with approvals coming in over the last few months.

What similarities do some SaaS companies have with your phone? They are smart! (We hear your sigh; please continue reading.) India's top software companies are advised by investors and HR experts to either freeze hirings or to go slow. Remember the days when every other neighbour of yours worked for Zoho or wore a Freshworks t-shirt? Those days may be gone for a while.

Recession's the villain! The Russia-Ukraine war, a massive hit to supply chains, runaway inflation, and the Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes are all contributing to a recession in the US.

• Experts are also concerned about the impact of the US recession on the rest of the world. Furthermore, despite having their headquarters in India, all of the top SaaS companies have approximately 80% of their business in the United States or Europe.

Apart from the hiring slowdown, the Indian SaaS industry is already experiencing or will experience a severe shortage of the right talent. Niche SaaS segments such as DevOps, B2B marketing, and contract lifecycle management expertise are becoming popular, but talent is still scarce (Psst! freshers and SaaS enthusiasts, take heed.)

Read the story

• Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao talks about dealing with the 'Chinese company' label, delisting USDC stablecoins, and his views on the ongoing push for more crypto regulation.
  
  
• Bitcoin mining company Rhodium Enterprises Inc. plans to go public through a reverse merger with software services provider SilverSun Technologies Inc.

Early in 2021, as the world struggled with the Covid-19 pandemic, all eyes were focused on a struggling video game retailer. Social media was rife with terms like GameStop, Reddit, and WallStreetBets.

So what happened? At the beginning of the year, followers of GameStop completely overturned Wall Street against all odds in a typical David vs Goliath fashion.

Many of us are still perplexed by the GameStop stock situation. But fear not—Eat the Rich: The Game Stop Saga, a Netflix docuseries, is here to educate and amuse us.

Watch the three-part docuseries on Netflix.