Who's listening to your Alexa? Students warned against fake US varsities, and more news

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Thousands of people around the world may be listening to your conversations with your Alexa device, according to a Bloomberg report, which says that Amazon workers listen to commands to help the artificial assistant better comprehend human speech. The global team is "the latest example of a cloud-based service that purports to use an algorithm that actually has a team of humans behind it,” says CNET. Amazon has said it does not store any audio.

US-bound students have been advised to do “due diligence” of the universities they plan to join, months after nearly 130 Indians got into trouble over immigration fraud. The Indian Embassy has shared three pointers to spot a bona fide institution: it should have a campus, faculty, and a proper curriculum with regular classes. In January, the American authorities busted a ‘pay to stay’ visa racket, arresting 129 Indians for joining a fake university set up to expose immigration fraud. The US remains a big draw among higher education destinations: it pulled 1.96 lakh Indian students in 2017-18, up from 1.86 lakh in 2016-17.

Mumbai, Chennai and Pune have the strongest appraisal sentiment this year, says a Shine.com survey. A majority of professionals in these cities – across sectors such as BFSI, automotive and BPO/ITeS – expect a raise of 20% or more. But those in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR aren’t very upbeat: they see salary hikes capped at 10%. Bengaluru’s weak sentiment seems to be emanating from its e-commerce and IT industries, good paymasters traditionally known for handsome raises. Earlier, an Aon survey said India Inc employees can expect an average hike of 9.7% this year.

Contract manufacturer Foxconn will start making the iPhoneX range at its Chennai plant from July, Economic Times reports, citing sources. The plan is to ramp up output and diversify to other models, depending on the “continuation of a favourable incentive regime,” an unidentified company official said. Foxconn’s rival Wistron Corp. already produces older Apple models, such as the iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7, at a Bengaluru facility. Local production will help Apple avoid a steep import duty of 20%, helping its fortunes in a market where it has a minuscule 1.2% share. Here's what people are saying.

The Income-Tax Department is re-analysing AY2012-13 returns of over 100,000 taxpayers, mostly high net-worth individuals, Business Standard reports. Sources told the publication the taxman has issued notices to the identified individuals, saying some portions of their income had escaped assessment. The notices – issued just before the six-year deadline – seek taxpayers’ AY2012-13 income details within 30 days. To be sure, IT sleuths can reopen even 10-year-old cases if searches reveal undisclosed income and assets over ?50 lakh. Experts say reopening of past tax assessments is on the rise due to 360-degree profiling of assessees. 

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal could soon be running a microfinance company. Economic Times reports, quoting unidentified sources that the 37-year-old billionaire is close to acquiring 75% stake in Chaitanya India Fin Credit’s parent for about ?200 crore through his holding company BACQ. If the deal goes through, Bansal would become CEO of the Bengaluru-based lender, which has a loan book of about ?625 crore across Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar. After exiting Flipkart with ?6,700 crore, Bansal has backed Ola, Ather Energy and a bunch of other ventures.

Idea of the Day: Businesses must tap into what’s going on in people’s homes and communities, behavioural economist Greg McKenna tells LinkedIn.

“It's attractive to employees as well as it is attractive to customers who want to go there. Because they know that as an organisation, it's trying to do the best thing for the community in which it operates.”

— Abhigyan Chand and Adith Charlie/Share this using #DailyRundown

Thursday’s Rundown attracted responses to the general election and travails of the aviation industry. Top Commenter Tejasvi S Tomar pointed out an enlightening statistic that quantifies the value of a single vote: $8, in a nation where 60% live on around $3 a day. Join the conversation here.