Top Stories

•  McDonald's Cheese Crackdown Sparks Statewide Fast-Food Inspections

•  Paytm Retains Merchant Trust Amid RBI Restrictions, Survey Reveals

• Skoda and Ford Set Sights on India's EV Market Revolution

• NCLT Issues Notice to Byju's Amidst Multiple Insolvency Pleas

McDonald's Cheese Crackdown Sparks Statewide Fast-Food Inspections

• Maharashtra's FDA investigates global fast-food chains for misleading cheese content claims.

• Inspection initiated after McDonald's outlet found using cheese substitutes.

• Statewide checks to include all McDonald's outlets, with potential expansion to other brands.

• FDA's move aims to ensure food transparency and compliance with standards.

• Westlife, McDonald's operator in India, commits to high standards and welcomes inspections.

• Incident impacts Westlife's stock but shows recovery amid corrective actions.
  

Paytm Retains Merchant Trust Amid RBI Restrictions, Survey Reveals:

• Datum Intelligence Survey: Engaged 2,000 merchants across 12 cities to assess the impact of RBI's restrictions on Paytm.

• Merchants' Trust Remains: 59% of merchants continue to use Paytm, with only 13% considering a switch to other platforms.

• Paytm's Market Dominance: Remains the preferred payment app for 58% of merchants, outperforming PhonePe, Google Pay, and BharatPe in merchant preference.

• Positive Response to Paytm's Outreach: 71% of merchants are reassured to continue using Paytm following direct communication from the company.

• Limited Business Impact: The RBI's actions have minimally affected merchant operations, with Paytm actively working to mitigate concerns.

Skoda and Ford Set Sights on India's EV Market Revolution

• Skoda Auto and Ford target India's affordable EV market, with Skoda testing the Enyaq SUV and considering partnerships for cost efficiency.

• Despite Ford's manufacturing exit from India, the growing EV sector and consumer demand signal a potential re-entry.

• Both face stiff competition, particularly from Tata Motors, with success depending on production localization, battery technology, and improved charging infrastructure.

NCLT Issues Notice to Byju's Amidst Multiple Insolvency Pleas

• NCLT issued a notice to Byju's on an insolvency plea by Glas Trust Company LLC.

• Byju's is directed to respond by April 2024, regarding the $1.2-billion loan guarantee for Byju's Alpha Inc.

• Glas Trust represents over 100 lenders from Byju's' US entity's bankruptcy case.This is the fourth insolvency plea against Byju's in under six months.

• Other insolvency pleas include those from BCCI, Teleperformance Business Services, and Surfer Technologies, claiming unpaid dues.

Briefs, You Can’t Miss

1. Ola, Uber challenger Namma Yatri crosses 5 mn users, $50 mn in driver earnings

2. India ranks no. 1, 2, 3 in Ikea's priority market list for investment: Jesper Brodin, Global CEO, Ingka Group

3. Threads widens the gap with X, with triple the daily downloads on iOS

4. Zoho Corp rolls out modern PoS solution for retail stores

5. Domestic manufacturing of semiconductors is the next big space: MeitY Secy

6. Mumbai breaks into world’s top 10 luxury residential markets, now ranks 8th

7. RIL-Disney deal: Nita Ambani may be named chairperson

8. India slowly taking export market share from China: Study

World Briefs

1. Russia diverts LNG supplies for Asia around Africa to avoid Red Sea, LSEG data shows

2. SynFlora is working on bioengineering a skincare revolution

AI Briefs

1. Nvidia explores AI partnerships with Indian government for building sovereign AI using DPIs

2. Tumblr and WordPress user data to be sold to Midjourney and OpenAI: Report

3. GitHub Copilot launches premium enterprise AI coding assistant