Fintech Jamtara, versions of Digital India Act, problem of plenty and more

by James · March 14, 2023

Fintech Jamtara!

As businesses grow and become popular, there’s a whole new world of Jamtara (remember the Netflix series?) technicians planning a sophisticated con. This lending fintech startup has created several awareness campaigns for its users and public only to expose how some fake callers are using this startup’s name to offer loans and scam people. Apparently the callers use a very similar name to offer loans and ask for OTPs to approve the loan. The problem arose when one of the managers in this very own start-up received a call from the fraudsters and asked if there was a need for a loan. Fintech has sleepless nights to overcome this problem!

Much ado about nothing

AI is the flavor of the season. While startups put blockchain in their bio to improve their chances of securing funding a while back, the new buzzword they’re milking is AI. What is interesting is that even several government departments will join the AI craze. Top AI researchers in the country say they are summoned by various arms of the executive branch every now and then for proposals. There is a lot of brainstorming going on. But the needle rarely moves. “The terminology used to describe intended policies has changed over the past 5 years, but where is the action?” asks an upset soul. However, they are also hopeful that the focus on AI in the latest budget can help turn over a new leaf.

So which version is it in the end?

It was a bit of a surprise to stakeholders when MeitY decided to hold a consultation on the Digital India Act, even before the government released the bill. According to insiders, the need for a preliminary hearing came about because the government wants to take input from stakeholders and incorporate them into the final version of the bill for consultation. A bird told us that the current form of the bill doing rounds in the ministry is the third version of the Digital India Act. In order to avoid further such extraversions of this “extremely complicated” bill, the ministry hopes that the input from these hearings will be useful.

An unexpected crash

The unrest continues on a homemade social platform. There have been senior exits for a few months. Now we hear that the multi-agreements they made with brands are also being withdrawn. There are also rumors that a few top executives from the company allegedly indulged in kickbacks. Does this story sound familiar about the decline of a major ad network? Oops! Did we spill too many beans?

The problem of abundance

Senior marketers and researchers join advertising agencies. We’re hearing that many senior marketers from slow-growing categories are aggressively looking to join agencies in advisory roles and CXO levels. There are also new agency CXOs who have come from different sides of the business. Most of these deals are based on old friendships, is what we hear. However, we wonder what agencies will do with so many CXOs. As they say, too many cooks…

Will the funding crisis play havoc with the sport?

Many in an opposition party down south believe that victory is well within their reach and they hope the battle for the CM post between the two leading candidates will be resolved amicably and the party high command will be forced to choose the candidate who is said to have the support of most MLAs . But the other controls the treasury, which is very decisive in the election to this state.

So we hear, the former are desperately calling their well-wishers and others for election funding, but apparently no one is sending any money. With assembly elections less than 50 days away, the buzz is that this frontrunner is struggling very hard to mobilize some money to help those close to him. Last heard – no luck so far.

Top cop to a pure constable!

A top cop who quit IPS a year ago to join politics has realized that it is a completely different game. He was the chief of police and had enormous powers. Had cultivated the media and some civil society groups. Was under the impression that he could easily mobilize the masses to realize his long cherished goal of becoming a legislator from a law enforcer. Joined AAP and no one took him seriously there. He had kept a secret line of communication open with both the Congress and the BJP. Congress cold-shouldered him after he demanded too much from them. BJP brought him into the party just to embarrass AAP. After joining BJP, he slowly realizes that he is like an employee of IT firms!
In BJP meetings and offices, nobody cares and they treat him like an apprentice.
The last joke is “for him it’s like a constable at the police chief’s office!”.

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