Latest Developments

Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Tata unit says 'extensive damage' from fire at Delhi data centre hampers recovery

The cause of the fire is not yet clear, and Delhi fire authorities said it occurred in lithium battery units. (Representational image) A fire at a New Delhi data centre owned by Singapore’s ‌ST Telemedia and Tata Communications caused “extensive damage” to parts of the facility, making data recovery challenging, ​a Tata letter seen by Reuters shows. The firm, part of the salt-to-aviation Tata conglomerate, told Indian stock ⁠exchanges on June 5 it had activated business continuity protocols to minimise disruptions after an early morning fire at the STT Global Data Centres India facility. One data centre client, India’s Matrix Cellular, which provides international SIM cards, told Reuters it is struggling to recover two decades ‌of data lost in the blaze. Some of Google Cloud’s intermittent network disruptions in India also relate to the incident, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. Television news images from inside the facility ‌on the day of the fire showed server racks and electrical infrastructure that appeared to be completely burnt, with ‌ceiling ⁠panels collapsed and debris littering the floor. The fire was “so severe that it caused extensive damage” to parts of ⁠the facility and hindered services, Tata Communications unit Novamesh told a client in the June 15 letter, which has not previously been reported. “Despite our ongoing best efforts to recover the data, the severity of the damage ... presents significant challenges to the recovery of the affected data and systems,” it ​said in the letter sent to Matrix Cellular and ‌reviewed by Reuters. The cause of the fire is not yet clear, and Delhi fire authorities said it occurred in lithium battery units. “Matrix has potentially lost access to over 20 years of accumulated operational and business data stored in the affected Tata data centre,” CEO Gaurav ‌Khanna told Reuters. “It’s been 20 days and they have not restored backup. If there is a backup it ​should have been restored by now.” On June 9 Google said on its incidents page “a fire at a third-party data center facility required an emergency power shutdown of networking equipment”, without naming Tata.

Tata unit says 'extensive damage' from fire at Delhi data centre hampers recovery
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

West Bengal framing rules to incentivise fresh investment; benefits must match neighbouring states, says FM Swapan Dasgupta

West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta on Wednesday said the government is working on framing the necessary rules to incentivise fresh investment in the State, underlining that, at the outset, such incentives need to be on par with those of neighbouring States like Odisha and Assam to ensure a level playing field for attracting investment. “I understand that we must make the structure, the government incentives etc on par with the rest of the neighbouring states. So that Assam doesn’t have a disproportionate advantage. Odisha doesn’t benefit too much because we didn’t quite get our sums right. So, we should have a level playing field. And, mercifully today both Odisha and Assam, our immediate two neighbouring states, have grown sufficiently in self-confidence thanks to why we have declined,” Dasgupta said at an Assocham event. Presenting the first Budget of the new BJP government in the State on Monday, the Finance Minister said the government will introduce a “West Bengal Investment Promotion Framework” to stimulate economic growth, promote industrial investment and generate employment. Its main thrust will be on industrial development through a cluster approach along industrial corridors. Notably, industry bodies were urging the reinstatement of industrial incentives, which had been withdrawn by the erstwhile Trinamool Congress government, to restore investor confidence and provide policy certainty. Speaking at the Assocham event, Dasgupta said, “Actually, it is West Bengal which needs to give extra ( incentives to industries compared with Odisha and Assam) just to catch up to where we have gone behind.” Criticising the previous governments of West Bengal, he said Bengal suffered from deindustrialisation, a unique feature for any State. “We have suffered a problem of woefully mismanaged public finances, which resulted in a crippling public debt. And more importantly we suffered from the problem of a very hostile anti-business environment,” Dasgupta said. According to him, the most important contribution the new government can make in the coming days is to assure everyone that there is a tectonic shift in West Bengal’s public culture and that, from a position of being contrarian, the State is now part of the mainstream. “We are pro-business and unequivocally so, emphatically so, pro-business. And more importantly, we want to link our economy to the national economy. I think it was that disengagement from the national economy which cost us a lot.” Dasgupta said a government should be receptive to listening to “legitimate concerns” of different industries and try to address those. “We cannot sit back and say that look we sort of carry the position of neutrality to such an extent. We don’t want to be neutral. We want to be pro-business. And I think that’s the change which we want to see,” the Finance Minister added. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

West Bengal framing rules to incentivise fresh investment; benefits must match neighbouring states, says FM Swapan Dasgupta
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp as Meta pumps $900 mn into CRED

Meta is investing $900 million (about ₹8,550 crore) into fintech start-up CRED, valuing the company at $4.5 billion, while founder Kunal Shah will step away from the business to take over as the global head of WhatsApp, marking one of the most high-profile leadership transitions in India’s start-up ecosystem. The investment, part of a Series H funding round comprising primary and secondary share purchases, gives Meta a minority stake, specific details of which were not provided, in CRED adding that it will not get access to Cred customer data. As part of the deal, Shah will relinquish his operating responsibilities at CRED and join Meta’s senior leadership ranks as the next global head of WhatsApp. While he will initially continue to be based in India, he is expected to spend significant time travelling between India and Meta’s headquarters in California before relocating permanently. “He will start from India and travel in between, though he will eventually join the team in MPK(short for Menlo Park, California),” a Meta spokesperson said. At CRED’s $4 billion pre-money valuation, a $900 million investment implies a stake of around 20 per cent. But with nearly half the deal structured as secondary share purchases from existing investors, likely at a discount to the headline valuation, Meta is expected to emerge with a larger-than-20 per cent ownership position in the fintech start-up. People familiar with the matter said Shah will continue to remain a shareholder in CRED but will not be part of the board and will have no involvement in the company’s day-to-day operations. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Shah’s experience building and scaling CRED made him the right choice to lead WhatsApp, a platform that has increasingly become central to the company’s commerce and payments ambitions. Meta said its investment reflects confidence in both India’s digital economy and CRED’s growth prospects. “CRED is one of India’s most promising technology companies that provides financial services helping India’s economy grow. We’re excited about the progress to date and to see how this investment will fuel continued success for CRED,” a company spokesperson said. Industry observers view Shah’s appointment through the lens of WhatsApp’s monetisation challenge. “One of the issues WhatsApp is facing is how to monetise. They have launched WhatsApp Payments in India, but the uptake was not significant,” said Satish Meena, adviser at Datum Intelligence. According to Meena, India is likely to become the primary testing ground for new monetisation initiatives under Shah’s leadership, spanning payments, advertising and business-focused services. “His role will be to monetise WhatsApp globally, and India will be where most of the experimentation will happen,” he said. With Shah departing, Chief Financial Officer Miten Sampat will take charge as interim chief executive as CRED prepares for its next phase of growth and an eventual public market debut. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp as Meta pumps $900 mn into CRED
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Meta’s Cox sought Kunal Shah’s WhatsApp advice — then made him leader

Meta Platforms Inc.’s decision to hand leadership of WhatsApp to Kunal Shah, one of India’s most prominent angel investors and the founder of fintech star Cred, started with a cold email. Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox reached out to Shah directly in the spring, seeking advice on picking the future leader of WhatsApp. Cox had been calling entrepreneurs and investors in places like India, Brazil and Mexico, countries where WhatsApp is a dominant part of business and culture, and Shah’s ideas about the future of the app left an immediate impression. “He had an incredible set of answers,” Cox recalled in an interview with Bloomberg. “At the end of the call, I asked him if maybe he and I should talk about him doing it.” Shah on Monday was announced as the new global head of WhatsApp, one of world’s largest communications services and a potentially lucrative driver of Meta’s future revenue. Despite an audience of more than three billion monthly users, WhatsApp’s business remains relatively underdeveloped for its size. It makes billions each year from paid messaging and ads that push users into WhatsApp chats with businesses, but is still in the early stages of rolling out other key money-making products, including subscriptions and artificial intelligence agents. “While it’s come very far,” Shah posted on X, “the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive.” Maximizing the potential now falls to the 47-year-old entrepreneur, who has a track record of building and identifying successful ventures in India’s incredibly competitive online arena. A former adviser to Sequoia Capital India, Shah has made angel investments in more than 250 startups, including Indonesian super-app Gojek and Indian payments company Razorpay. He’s also founded multiple companies, most recently Cred, which offers its 17 million monthly users rewards for paying their credit card bills on time. As part of his recruitment to run WhatsApp, Meta invested $900 million into Cred, taking a roughly 20% stake. Cred is now valued at $4.5 billion post-money, though the business has yet to turn an annual profit in its eight years of operation. Shah’s experience growing a business in India is a significant part of his lure for Cox and Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, with Zuckerberg lauding his “builder mentality.” Over the three-month hiring process that involved multiple trips for Shah to Meta’s headquarters in California, including dinner at Zuckerberg’s house, Cox developed a keen sense that Meta would benefit from someone who lives with WhatsApp in a way that few in the US can fully appreciate. “It’s almost like speaking a language,” Cox said of understanding the app’s usage in markets like India. “There’s a lot of intuition that comes with that that’s hard to gather by having someone explain it to you or even learning it on a research trip.” Shah was born in Ahmedabad, a city in western India, and raised in the financial capital of Mumbai. He studied philosophy at Wilson College in the city before enrolling in a management course, but he didn’t stay long; he left after a few months to pursue entrepreneurship, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s created multiple successful startups. In 2010, Shah started FreeCharge, a startup that rewarded users recharging prepaid mobile phones with discount coupons before expanding into digital payments. Five years later, he sold FreeCharge to SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Snapdeal, then one of India’s largest e-commerce companies, for about $450 million. Shah founded Cred in 2018, which rewards consumers with strong credit scores for paying off their credit cards in a timely manner. It has since expanded into lending, payments, insurance and wealth management, and its investors include Peak XV Partners, DST Global and Tiger Global. And, of course, Meta.

Meta’s Cox sought Kunal Shah’s WhatsApp advice — then made him leader
Europe
BBC Business

Stanford was their golden ticket - could AI help or hinder that?

ByLily JamaliNorth America technology correspondent, at StanfordAmerican college graduates have made one thing clear to this year's batch of commencement speakers - beware of bringing up artificial intelligence (AI). Some of the biggest names in tech, including former Google boss Eric Schmidt, have been booed when they mention the technology. At Stanford University recently, in the heart of the American tech hub of Silicon Valley, Sundar Pichai - the CEO of Google, a major AI developer - joked about having been told to avoid the topic. Some students carried signs with them as they left - one sign read "ICE spies with Google AI", while others were seen waving Palestinian flags. Stanford occupies a unique position in the American tech ecosystem. It's regarded as a hotbed of innovation and resides in the shadow of some of the most influential Big Tech companies on the planet, including many pioneers in the AI field. Its elite students enter the job market with an undeniable edge. The BBC spoke to Stanford graduates shortly after Pichai finished his address and they expressed a wide range of views on AI. Some are scared. Some are excited. But nearly everyone agrees that AI is already changing the world around them, whether they like it or not. Ifdita Hasan is among the hopeful. And she knows a thing or two about the technology - it's her degree subject. "I feel optimistic about AI," said the graduating computer science and AI major. "I think AI gives us the opportunity to learn more about the universe. It's a tool that people should try to use and try to adapt to." But, she added, she's not surprised by the backlash, noting that early pessimism is common with emerging technologies. "This is what happens. It happened with the internet," she said. "But I would encourage people to be optimistic about AI - to try to learn and explore more." Some Stanford graduates are less sanguine about AI's arrival. They are, after all, entering the corporate world just as AI is transforming it. What frightens Atash Heil is the uncertainty of what an AI-dominated future might look like - and the speed of the transformation graduates have witnessed during their college years.

Stanford was their golden ticket - could AI help or hinder that?
Europe
BBC Business

Tech stocks tumble on concerns over AI spending

Financial markets received a sharp wake-up call on Tuesday following a sudden wave of selling in major technology shares, triggering widespread doubt over the sustainability of the AI boom. The tech-focused Nasdaq index fell about 3% by close of trade alongside international chipmakers, reigniting fears that dizzying market valuations have finally run out of momentum after a relentless three-month climb. At the same time, the newly public SpaceX has faced an incredibly choppy session. The aerospace giant's share price plunged below the $150 (£114) mark– its initial floatation price–before staging a modest recovery to close at $156 despite the broader market anxiety. For months, international stock exchanges have climbed on pure optimism. While this enthusiasm repeatedly pushed indices to unprecedented highs, the sustained 90-day rally left stock prices looking incredibly inflated. On Tuesday, that upward drive vanished as market watchers questioned whether actual corporate adoption of AI can truly justify such expensive price tags. The downturn hit semiconductor players such as Nvidia and Intel the hardest, causing a primary index of global chip firms to slide. This turnaround follows a period where the wider tech sector had more than doubled stock prices from cyclical lows in 2022. It suggests that investors may have moved far too quickly to fund the hardware behind the AI shift. The anxious mood quickly spread to other high-profile assets. Elon Musk's newly public aerospace firm was caught in the crossfire. Texas-based SpaceX has endured highly volatile trading session since going public on 12 June, proving just how vulnerable newly listed companies are when general tech sentiment turns sour. The stock dropped past its widely watched $150 opening price early in the day. However, it managed a slight rebound to settle around $156. Some optimistic traders interpreted the quick bounce as a sign of steady underlying interest in the commercial space sector. Conversely, sceptics argue that these massive price swings only expose the highly speculative nature of today's market.

Tech stocks tumble on concerns over AI spending
Europe
The Guardian

US AI stock sell-off shakes markets from Wall Street to Asia

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on 22 June 2026. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/ReutersView image in fullscreenTraders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on 22 June 2026. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/ReutersStock marketsUS AI stock sell-off shakes markets from Wall Street to AsiaLosses spread globally as investors questioned soaring valuations and spending on AI infrastructure A tech sell-off shook global markets on Tuesday as attention turned away from developments in the US war with Iran and toward the future of AI companies and chipmakers that have driven stock markets to record highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed 2.2% lower on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was also down by Tuesday afternoon, dropping 1.43% while the Dow remained steady. All three major US indices have hit record highs this year, riding off a rush of funding to support AI technology and infrastructure. Nasdaq is up 10% for the year, while the Dow jumped 6% so far this year, breaching past 51,000 points, and the S&P 500 is up 7.3%. But some economists have warned that the influx of AI spending is a bubble reminiscent of the dot-com bubble that burst in the early 2000s. Seven tech companies make up 30% of the S&P 500’s value. The heavy reliance on a single industry and a few key companies has some investors wondering if it’s a matter of when, not if, there will be a burst. Those concerns have been heightened by signals from the Federal Reserve last week that it may increase interest rates, and therefore the cost of borrowing, in order to tackle rising inflation. Those looking for signs of stumbling may have found confirmation after a series of developments on Monday. The stock market drop started when Google-parent, Alphabet, had its worst day on the market in over a year. A pair of high-profile AI researchers left the company last week, worrying investors. Alphabet’s share price had dropped 5% by closing Monday. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which debuted on the market on 12 June to much fanfare, dropped 16% on Monday as the company’s post-initial public offering (IPO) boost continued to ebb. On Monday, the company announced it was looking to raise $20bn in a bond sale, even after the company gained more than $85bn through its IPO, sparking concerns over the massive cost of the company’s projects. After the US stock market closed for the day on Monday, stocks in Asia appeared shaken by the drops around AI and tech companies. South Korea’s benchmark closed 10% down on Tuesday after the country’s largest chipmakers, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, both closed over 12% lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 3.5% at the close of trading. Some markets were able to avoid the sell-off, with London’s FTSE 100 steady at closing Tuesday.

US AI stock sell-off shakes markets from Wall Street to Asia
Europe
The Guardian

Will California’s billionaire tax proposal make it to ballots?

Hi and welcome to TechScape. Nick Robins-Early and Dara Kerr here, filling in for your usual host Blake Montgomery who is out on vacation. We’ll be talking about the fight over a proposed billionaire tax in California, the UK’s social media ban and SpaceX making a big buy in the AI arms race. The California wealth tax showdown comes to a head this week. After gathering more than double the necessary number of signatures to qualify for the November ballot, there’s still uncertainty that the proposal for a one-time tax on billionaires will make it to voters this fall. This comes even after back-room dealing last week that led the proposal’s proponents to drop the tax from 5% of the wealth of any California resident worth more than $1bn down to a levy of 2%. Tech billionaires have been spending big and lobbying state lawmakers to block the measure. Silicon Valley moguls, including former Google executives Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, have donated tens of millions of dollars to Super Pacs aimed at defeating the proposal. Crypto titan Chris Larsen launched an attack ad in May called “Reckless”, which warns the tax “will backfire and hurt you”. Other tech billionaires, like Google co-founder Larry Page, Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, have already fled California or are making moves to leave. And more have funded efforts to kill the tax, including Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, Ring founder James Siminoff, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. Gavin Newsom, the state’s tech-friendly governor, has vowed to quash the proposal. He has said such state-level wealth taxes “drive a race to the bottom” and will chase billionaires out of California and strip the state of revenue. The measure is backed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) as a means of funding California’s strained healthcare, food assistance and education programs. Newsom has reportedly been whipping together a coalition to help him negotiate a deal with the union to withdraw the proposal before California’s secretary of state certifies it by a 25 June deadline. He’s yet to respond to SEIU-UHW’s proposal to back a one-off 2% tax. David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University who studies the California ballot measure process, told the Guardian it was likely the union would continue talks. “From the get-go, SEIU-UHW has designed this measure as a ‘gun-behind-the-door’ to negotiate a better deal,” McCuan said. Rather than “go nuclear in a ballot measure battle that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the goal has been to threaten to go to war”. Tech billionaires are spending unprecedented sums in California races. Experts say it’s the tip of the iceberg View image in fullscreenA mobile billboard outside Downing Street in London, displaying a message directed at the prime minister ahead of his decision on a proposed social media ban, on 11 June. Photograph: David Parry/PAThe UK presented its plans last week to ban children under 16 years old from using what the government deems as “high-risk” social media apps – a list that includes TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat and others – while placing additional restrictions on the use of other tech platforms such as romantic chatbots. While the policy is set to face judicial review, it is one of the most intensive bans of its kind by any democratic government and part of a growing movement to restrict children’s access to social media. Australia enacted a similar ban last year, with Canada introducing a social media bill to parliament earlier this month and European countries considering their own legislation.

Will California’s billionaire tax proposal make it to ballots?
Europe
BBC Business

Who could be the UK's next chancellor?

Image source, Getty ImagesByMitchell LabiakBusiness reporterPublished1 hour agoWith Sir Keir Starmer resigning, Andy Burnham, the newly-elected Makerfield MP, is almost certain to be the next UK prime minister. And many believe he will want a new chancellor to replace the current occupant of Number 11 Downing Street, Rachel Reeves. That person will face quite the in-tray – high debt, low growth, welfare reform, defence spending, and the economic fallout from the US-Israel war with Iran to name a few issues. Here are the names of those believed to be in the running for the job and what they could mean for your finances. Image source, Getty ImagesThe bookies' favourite to be chancellor is a former contender for the leadership, Wes Streeting. Having instead thrown his weight behind Burnham, the thinking is the former health secretary could be awarded the number two job in British politics for his loyalty. However, economist and cross-bench peer Lord Jim O'Neill, who has been providing advice to Burnham, has warned against this approach. While not naming any specific person, he tells the BBC: "There are clearly some people pushing to be chancellor who feel they are owed it for their support." Though Burnham may appreciate Streeting's backing, the pair's politics differ - with Burnham seen to be inclined to spend more than Streeting. Simon French, chief economist at consultancy Panmure Liberum, says Streeting is a "relatively market-friendly option" because of his pro-growth comments, but also a political risk because he might someday want to be prime minister. As for the idea that Streeting could get the job because of his support rather than his abilities, French said: "Politics is what politics is. It's a popularity contest." Image source, Getty ImagesMiliband is the bookmakers' second favourite pick, with the former Labour party leader politically closer to Burnham than Streeting.

Who could be the UK's next chancellor?