Digital Financial News

NEW DELHI : India’s ministry of electronics and information technology on Tuesday issued an advisory on regulating artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, commonly known as deepfakes, for all technology companies operating in India. Following meetings with tech companies on 22-23 November, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar issued the advisory.

KIRA, an emerging force in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, has seen its native coin, KEX, soar to unprecedented heights, achieving a remarkable 45.67% surge in just 24 hours. From an initial value of $0.02634, KEX has risen to an impressive $0.1370, setting a new all-time high (ATH) and propelling KIRA to the #1702 position on CoinMarketCap.

AI pioneer Blake Lemoine has warned that Artificial Intelligence may start a war and it could be used in assassination. He is the software engineer who was sacked by the company after he claimed that Google's LaMDA system was capable of having feelings. Google rejected this and fired the software engineer. He has expressed apprehension that the tools other AI makers are creating may be used wrongfully in warfare. Talking to 'The Washington Times', he said, «Using the AI to solve political problems by sending a bullet into the opposition will become seductive, especially if it’s accurate.» He also said, «If you can kill one revolutionary thought leader and prevent a civil war while your hands are clean, you prevented a war. But that leads to ‘Minority Report’ and we don’t want to live in that world.»

Apple on Tuesday appealed a decision to ban imports of its watches based on a complaint from medical monitoring technology company Masimo, after US President Joe Biden's administration declined to veto a government tribunal. The tech giant also filed an emergency request on Tuesday for the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to halt the ban.

Aditya Birla Capital Ltd (ABCL), the financial services arm of Aditya Birla Group, Tuesday said it is infusing ₹850 crore and ₹50 crore in its subsidiaries, Aditya Birla Finance Ltd (ABFL) and Aditya Birla Capital Digital Ltd (ABCDL) respectively on a rights basis. "...we wish to inform you that, Aditya Birla Capital Limited (‘the Company’ or ‘ABCL’) has made investments on a rights basis, in the equity shares of Aditya Birla Finance Limited (‘ABFL’) — ₹849,99,99,456 (Rupees Eight Hundred Forty Nine Crore Ninety Nine Lakh Ninety Nine Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Six Only) and Aditya Birla Capital Digital Limited (ABCDL) — ₹50,00,00,000 (Rupees Fifty Crore Only)," the company in a stock exchange filing.

The real estate business has always been viewed as conservative and resistant to change, but technological advancements profoundly transform its environment. Proptech – the merger of property and technology – is a developing sector that is changing how we purchase, sell, rent, and manage properties worldwide. At its core, it uses technological advances to streamline procedures, improve efficiency, and enhance user experiences in real estate. Proptech is fueling an unparalleled surge of innovation, from virtual property viewings and digital transactions to data analytics and smart home technology.

In the complex world of finance, keeping an eye on the ever-evolving landscape is essential for making successful investment decisions. As we step into 2024, it’s crucial to identify and understand the investment themes that are likely to shape the Indian stock market in the year ahead.

The unsettling narratives of individuals falling victim to AI-based deepfake scams, such as a Kerala man losing ₹40,000, a woman losing Rs 1.4 lakh to an AI voice scam, and a man being duped out of over Rs 5 crore by a scammer employing AI face-swapping technology, are just a glimpse into the broader challenge. In India, financial entities find themselves contending with an emerging and chilling risk – the proliferation of deepfakes.

The Indian real estate market is currently in its best shape since 2014, with healthier developer balance sheets and shorter property sale cycles. While caution is advised to prevent excessive price increase, the next couple of months show promising signs of increase in residential demand and supply, says Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks.

Also Read: Nifty 50 set to clock healthy double-digit gains in 2023; what are the key challenges for the market in 2024? Among key broader indices, the Nifty Smallcap 250 represents 250 companies (companies ranked 251-500) from Nifty 500. This index intends to measure the performance of small market capitalisation (MCap) companies.

EVERY DAY AROUND 3 p.m. when my attention wanes and deadlines loom large, I self-soothe by filtering my Gmail for messages larger than one megabyte and deleting them. Yet, my inbox still brims with unsolicited PDFs, unread newsletters and virtual webinar invites.

Ubisoft said Tuesday it was investigating a suspected data security breach, in the latest cyberattack against a major actor in the video game industry. Hackers attempted to snatch 900 gigabytes from Ubisoft servers but the French studio's security team rebuffed the breach on Thursday, according to malware information website vx-underground.

IQ Option platform is ideal for those who trade on a limited budget. The broker has a low barrier to entry, a good reputation in the market, and many in-built trading tools. Here are some ways to nurture your account to the professional level.

MUMBAI : Brightcom Group Ltd has filed a fresh application before the Securities Appellate Tribunal seeking a stay on the market regulator’s order restraining ace investor Shankar Sharma and others from selling shares in the digital marketing company. The Securities and Exchange Board of India had in August restrained Brightcom’s then chairman and managing director Suresh Kumar Reddy and chief financial officer Narayan Raju from holding directorial positions following an investigation into alleged irregularities in preferential allotment of shares. Brightcom in its petition said the allegations made in Sebi’s order were “baseless and completely unfounded".

₹42,700 crore investment solely to financial stocks during the initial two weeks of December. Data from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) website discloses that, as of December 15, 2023, the assets under custody (AUC) amounted to ₹19,41,167 crores. With investments at such elevated levels, the keen interest of FIIs in this sector becomes evident, indicating the growth potential.

Empower India have given extraordinary returns to their investors in 2023 following the record high streak of the Indian market despite multiple headwinds such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, peak global inflation, rising crude prices, peak US 10-year yield, and consumption slowdown. However, continued foreign and domestic investor inflows, improving macros and the possibility of the incumbent government returning to power kept the markets resilient. Penny stock Hemang Resources proved to be resilient and gave massive returns.

fiscal deficit is likely to breach the government’s target of 5.9% in FY24 owing to higher revenue expenditure and lower than budgeted nominal GDP, ratings agency India Ratings and Research said Tuesday. It noted that although higher tax and non-tax revenue collections may offset the shortfall in divestment earnings, a likely second supplementary demand for grants will upset fiscal calculations, pushing the deficit to 6% of GDP. “Higher-than-budgeted revenue expenditure triggered through the first and likely second supplementary demand for grants in combination with lower-than-budgeted nominal GDP will push the fiscal deficit to 6.0% of GDP, 10bp higher than budgeted 5.9%,” said Ind-Ra researchers. The government recently brought in one supplementary demand for grant of Rs 58,380 crore to cover higher spending on fertiliser subsidy and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme. “Through the first supplementary demand the union government will spend more on prioritised areas/sectors such as food, fertiliser and LPG subsidy and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,” Ind-Ra said. The government is expected to spend Rs 57,360 crore on fertiliser subsidy compared with Rs 44,000 crore budgeted earlier.

₹95,000 crore in investments were channeled through the PLI scheme in 2023, generating employment for about 640,000 individuals, according to a statement on Tuesday from the ministry's department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT). The ministry in 2023 approved 746 applications under the scheme, which targets 14 key sectors, including mobile manufacturing, telecom, pharmaceuticals, and the burgeoning drone industry. Overall, DPIIT said it is working with 24 sub-sectors, including furniture, aluminium, agrochemicals, robotics, and gym equipment, to promote domestic manufacturing, boost exports and reduce imports.

In a remarkable surge, Bitcoin has reached $43,499, marking a 0.71 percent increase on Tuesday. This notable ascent can be largely attributed to the burgeoning interest in Spot Bitcoin ETFs, which are poised to surpass the combined inflows of all 150 crypto ETPs currently in the market.

Sunil Bohra, Group CFO & CEO, UNO Minda, says “we are expecting to build a land bank in each of the auto regions. We already bought around 86 acres of land in Pune, in Maharashtra, we are working to acquire land in Gujarat, in Haryana and also in Tamil Nadu. So overall, in addition to Rs 700-800 crore of capex, we might be spending somewhere around Rs 500 to 600 crore on land in next six to nine months.” Let us talk about the new plant that you are putting up because it is an entry into seat recliners for four-wheelers and the passenger vehicle space. What about the new products that you will start manufacturing there? What is the revenue potential that you foresee? Sunil Bohra: So, the new plant, which we have just commissioned in Gujarat, is for a mechanism for seat recliners, not even the full recliners. When we entered into a JV with Tachi-S, which is the global major in seating, PV seating, our endeavour was to move into seating business step by step. We already are present in the seating business through Harita seating, which we acquired two years back. We are already in two-wheeler seating, CV seating, off-road seating, but we are not in a big way in PV seating. So, that was the background for the joint venture with Tachi-S.

Sunil Subramaniam, MD & CEO, Sundaram Mutual, says “this week, we will see a consolidation because as it gets closer to Christmas, fund managers go on holidays and so there will be less activity but also the remaining profit booking that needs to be done, would be done. I would say that till the new year, I would expect this to consolidate but in January, I expect further inflows to come in from FIIs and take the index to new highs.” The markets are in a holiday mood right now. What has been your observation so far? It has been a very good run. The macro cues are also pretty positive. How much is already getting into the price now? Sunil Subramaniam: I would say that it is not fully into the price and the reason I say that is because this is the period when you have hedge funds booking profits, those who entered six months, a year, year-and-a-half ago, the Indian market has been one of those where they have made the best returns. As you know, hedge fund managers need to book profits before the year end in order to be able to receive their bonuses, so at this time we have suddenly got this flood of good news for India.