PNB fraud: India hunts for Nirav Modi, Paytm vs WhatsApp on Twitter, and more trending news

Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma has fired a Twitter broadside against WhatsApp. The founder of the Noida-headquartered company has accused the Facebook-owned app of “killing” an open UPI system with its payment feature. "After failing to win against India’s open Internet with cheap tricks, Facebook is again in play," he tweeted. WhatsApp, which recently rolled out its payments service in beta mode, doesn't allow users to scan and pay, limiting the movement of funds to other UPI IDs. The instant-messaging app is also in talks with brands to enable payments, which will pit it directly against Paytm.

The Enforcement Directorate is raiding properties belonging to jewelry billionaire Nirav Modi, Gitanjali Gems owner Mehul Choksi and two Punjab National Bank officials in connection to the $1.8 billion fraud unearthed at the bank. Multiple properties in Mumbai, Surat and Delhi are under the scanner. The PNB officials allegedly raised payment notes to overseas branches (of other banks) by bypassing the bank’s core banking system. Meanwhile, Modi has written to PNB with a vague offer of returning a part of the swindled money. Shares of PNB nosedived by 12% on the BSE today. Learn more about the scam here.

India’s Silicon Valley could soon be left high and dry. A BBC report says that Bengaluru is among the 12 cities globally likely to run out of drinking water in the near future. The reasons range from the city’s spiralling growth to its antiquated plumbing to water bodies that are severely polluted: 85% of Bengaluru’s lake water is usable for just irrigation and industrial cooling. Presently, the biggest water crisis is unfolding in South Africa’s Cape Town, which will turn off the faucet on April 18 after three years of drought.

Life just got better for the “King of Good Times” in London. A UK Court has more than trebled Vijay Mallya’s weekly living allowance to ￡18,325 (?16 lakh) — equivalent to the annual package of a British high school graduate, Times of India reports. Mallya's lawyers had petitioned the court for a raise to counter a $1.5-billion global freezing order on his assets. The self-exiled billionaire is fighting his extradition back to India on charges of defrauding lenders to the tune of ?9,000 crore.

India's top B-schools are swamped with job offers. Mint reports that IIM Calcutta and XLRI Jamshedpur have achieved 100% placements within four days. At IIM Bangalore, 38% of the outgoing batch has offers even before the final placement schedule commences. Consulting and financial services companies accounted for the lion’s share of offers, the publication said. The bottomline: there’s a strong revival in the job market. Mercer’s India Total Remuneration Survey suggests India Inc will ramp up hiring in 2018 and salaries may rise by 10% across sectors.

Idea of the Day: Instead of working toward the murky notion of becoming your “best” self, focus on what Compete to Create co-founder Michael Gervais calls your “personal philosophy.” The world’s most successful people operate with clear principles that guide them, he explains.

“Your personal philosophy guides every decision you make, influences the friends you choose, the love you find, the purchases you make, jobs you inhabit, where you live in the world, the way you feel about yourself, and the possibilities you hold for yourself.”

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