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Former Goldman Sachs Chairman: China and India Could Hasten US Dollar Demise

Lord Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has stated in an interview with Russian government-funded RT that China and India have the potential to dislodge the US dollar's world reserve currency status. He believes that eventually, the world's most actively used currency will be that of the world's most important economies.

Sequoia Capital to Split into Three Separate Entities for US and Europe, China, and India and Southeast Asia

Sequoia, the largest global brand in venture capital, will be splitting up into three separate firms: Sequoia Capital for the US and Europe, HongShan for China, and Peak XV Partners for India and Southeast Asia.

India Witnesses 2700% Increase in New Bitcoin Users Post-2020 RBI Ban Lift

India has witnessed a massive surge in new Bitcoin users, with a staggering 2700% increase over the past three years. This growth can be attributed to the Supreme Court overturning the Reserve Bank of India's ban on cryptocurrency-related services in 2020, which ushered in a new era of financial innovation and investment opportunities in the country.

India's Central Bank Aims to Expand Global Crypto Narrative Beyond Financial Stability and Integrity

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stated in its annual report that it aims to broaden the global conversation around cryptocurrencies to include the macro-financial and cross-sectoral implications and risks of crypto-assets, rather than just their impact on individual nations and customers. This move is intended to draw attention to how crypto can potentially harm or transform the global economy. The RBI has reiterated its concerns that cryptocurrencies pose a significant threat to financial stability, but has also articulated its "intent" as a key stakeholder in the current global conversation around global crypto rules. India, as the current president of the Group of 20 (G-20) nations, has the power to set the agenda, and the RBI is helping the Finance Ministry to shape it.

Reserve Bank of India Expands Pilot of National Digital Currency to More Locations and Banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expanding its pilot of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to more banks and locations, according to its annual report. The aim is to add more use cases and features to the national digital currency this year. The CBDC-Retail pilot project, which started with four banks, is proposed to be expanded to include more participating banks and locations. Currently, five more banks are in the process of joining the pilot. The digital currency was first introduced in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar, and has since been made available in more cities.

Reliance poised to outpace Amazon and Flipkart in India's e-commerce market

According to a report by Bernstein, Reliance is expected to surpass Amazon and Flipkart in India's $150 billion e-commerce market due to its robust retail network, sweeping mobile network, holistic digital ecosystem, and "home field advantage" in a challenging regulatory landscape. Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, already operates the country's largest retail chain with over 18,000 stores and has made recent acquisitions of retail companies with a focus on e-commerce. In contrast, Flipkart is facing concerns as the country's smartphone shipments slow, and Amazon is losing ground in high-profit categories such as fashion. India's complex regulatory environment also poses a significant obstacle for Amazon and Flipkart, while Reliance's inventory-led model allows it to navigate these challenges with inventory control, pricing autonomy, and an enhanced customer experience.

OpenAI Expands Availability of ChatGPT App for iOS Users in India and 32 Other Countries

OpenAI has made its ChatGPT app available for iOS users in India and 32 other countries, just a week after launching it in the US. The app has already been downloaded over half a million times in the US, making it one of the highest-performing new apps. The app allows users to interact with a generative AI-based chatbot and supports voice input through OpenAI's speech recognition system Whisper. OpenAI plans to release an Android version of the app soon.

NFTs and Blockchain Gaming on the Rise in India Despite Regulatory Uncertainty

India's Web3 industry is seeing increased adoption beyond just cryptocurrencies, with blockchain gaming and NFTs also gaining popularity. NFTs are being utilized for digital assets in the metaverse, as well as for copyright and royalty rights. Despite Indian NFT companies accounting for 5% of the global share and being used to fund creative ventures, regulatory uncertainty remains a hindrance to widespread adoption of NFTs and blockchain gaming in India.

INDIA DECLARES CPU INDEPENDENCE WITH AUM HPC PROCESSOR

India has developed the Aum HPC processor, which could outperform existing Arm processors and compete with Amazon's Graviton3 chip and Ampere Computing's Altra, Altra Max, and AmpereOne processors. The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) designed the Aum processor under the National Supercomputing Mission of the Indian government to bring HPC independence from silicon imports. The Aum CPU is expected to be available in 2024 and will initially deploy in a pilot HPC system with over 1 petaflops of performance. It will also be used in AI and generic cloud computing spaces.

How emerging economies from India to Brazil built alternative payments models

India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a fast-growing payments network that allows free and fast account-to-account transfers using fintech apps such as PhonePe or Google Pay. UPI processed over $1tn in transactions in 2022, equivalent to a third of India’s GDP, and has grown from around 17% of 31bn digital transactions in 2019 to 52% of 88.4bn transactions by 2022. The Indian model is inspiring others, with Brazil launching its own Pix platform for bank-to-bank payments with a small fee that now accounts for some 30% of Brazil’s electronic payments. Open instant-payment systems like UPI are an alternative both to the bank/card model in the rich world and to the closed fintech one in SomeCountry.