Airtel, Vodafone to lose billions, the agencies probing Infosys, and more top news

The news professionals are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation on today's stories in the comments.

Telcos may have to pay as much as $13 billion to the government. The Supreme Court has ruled in the Centre's favour on the 14-year-old issue of computing adjusted gross revenue — used to calculate spectrum charges and licence fees. For Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, this means a collective payout of $7 billion while Jio owes just $1.8 million. “The question that arises is whether this is the financial straw that finally breaks the back of operators,” COAI director General Rajan Mathews told a news agency. Explainer: All you wanted to know about AGR. Join the conversation.

SEBI has launched a three-pronged probe into the allegations of unethical accounting practices at Infosys. Firstly, it has asked the IT services giant to furnish the findings of its audit committee on the whistleblower group’s complaints. The market regulator is also probing a huge buildup of derivatives positions in Infosys’ stock before the allegations became public and investigating if the Bangalore-based firm should have been more proactive in its disclosures. This comes just days after The Rosen Law Firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Infosys and the US’ Securities and Exchange Commission initiated its own investigation. Join the conversation.

India jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, which officials ascribed to the country’s ‘Make in India’ programme and reforms in insolvency laws. The 2020 report commends India’s reform efforts “given the size” of its economy. It also figured among the 10 most improved countries for the third time. The new ranking places India 13 spots away from a government goal to break into the Top 50, but comes days after several global institutions scaled back the country’s growth projection (paywall). Join the conversation.

Indians travelling overseas could soon make payments through their digital wallets. Quoting unidentified sources, Economic Times reports that the National Payments Corporation of India is looking to expand its UPI payments system to other countries. The company is targeting Singapore and the UAE as its first international destinations and could launch there in six months. Both countries already accept the NPCI’s RuPay cards for payment. Domestically, UPI – which underpins Paytm and Google Pay – has overtaken Visa and Mastercard in digital transactions (paywall). Join the conversation.

In coming years, robots aren’t going to wipe out workers, but they may make their jobs worse. That’s according to a study from the University of Illinois, which found that warehouse automation increased pressure for employees to work harder, faster and under more scrutiny. While technology can help reduce monotonous and physically strenuous activities, it can also negatively affect health, safety, morale and attrition, ReCode reports. “The next decade is a story not about job loss, but more so about changes in job quality,” said a co-author of the study. Join the conversation.

Idea of the day: Without trust, there is no assurance, says author and digital analyst Brian Solis.

“Trust is a critical pillar in any relationship, in every transaction and action, in every capacity of our lives.”

What's your take on today’s stories? Share your thoughts in the comments.

— Mandar M Bakre, Dipti Jain, Shajil Kumar and Nirajita Banerjee