MC Tech3 | Davos 2024: Ashwini Vaishnaw on India's semiconductor playbook; and more

One quick thing: It appears that ChatGPT's success hasn't rubbed off on Microsoft Bing. The search engine saw only 1% increase in its market share, bringing it to 3.4% of the global search market.

• Google still dominates with 91.6% share. Meanwhile, the search giant will soon let you 'circle' to search anything on your Android phone.

In today’s newsletter:?

• Davos 2024: Ashwini Vaishnaw on India's semiconductor playbook
• Fashinza’s business falters amid leadership churn
• MSwipe swipes left on lending

Davos 2024: Ashwini Vaishnaw on India's semiconductor playbook

For India’s Electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, it has been a busy outing at the World Economic Forum in Davos.?

• He has already conducted around 50-odd meetings and few of them specifically were on the semiconductor ecosystem.?

What happened? Through these meetings, Vaishnaw has come to a conclusion that India has hit the nail right on the head when it comes to the domestic semiconductor policy.?

• “The policy framework that our PM has laid is absolutely right,” Vaishnaw told us in an interview at Davos.?

Dual-pronged approach: Vaishnaw said that a key takeaway from his meetings with senior leaders in the semiconductor ecosystem is that India should focus not only on semiconductor design but also on manufacturing.?

Stricter deep fakes policy: As more internet users fall victim to deep fakes, Vaishnaw said that India will have stricter regulation to address this problem?

• However, for now, as the elections are around the corner, the government will tackle deep fakes with the existing regulatory framework, the minister said.

He also pointed out the praise India received from global investors for maintaining a healthy balance sheet and not accruing excessive debt.?

Also read: Japanese Monetary Authority to adopt India's digital payment models says Ashwini Vaishnaw

More highlights from Davos:

• Despite global geopolitical uncertainties, Bharti Enterprises chairperson Sunil Mittal expressed optimism about India's growth potential, highlighting it as a "bright spot" amid conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, citing a sustained growth of 6-7% over the next decade. Read the full interview
• TCS CEO and MD K Krithivasan said that obtaining clarity on customers' technology budgets for 2024 will be a gradual process, emphasising the shift from sacrosanct budgets as customers are prepared to recalibrate based on emerging opportunities. More on that here
• Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji said that early signs of greenshoots are visible for demand in the IT industry. He also said that Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte and the management team has their full support Read more
• HCLTech chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra said that the company, which has around 170 proof of concepts for generative AI and is working with various industries, is also having conversations around data infrastructure, data strategy, cloud cybersecurity, and upskilling its employees on generative AI. Find out more
• The recently inaugurated 22 km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link is seen by Ajit Gulabchand, Managing Director of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), as a crucial development to enhance connectivity in the city and address the lagging infrastructure. Find out more
• RBI has not initiated any crackdown on unsecured loans, said governor Shaktikanta Das, clarifying that the recent actions taken by the central bank were pre-emptive in nature. Read more

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