Hi š, Tanvi here.
Filter Coffee hits your inbox every morning with notable tech and business news scoops to jump start your day.Ā
Sign up below for free. š
Letās go ahead and get started:
Old insurance merger š¤
Indiaās two prominent insurance players ICICI Lombard and Bharti AXA are merging their non-life insurance business in a share swap deal.Ā
Shareholders of Bharti AXA will receive 2 shares of ICICI Lombard for every 115 shares of the latter company. Mittalās Bharti Enterprises, which owns 51% stake in Bharti AXA, had been trying to exit the space for a long time and even approached Reliance to be a buyer.Ā
The combined new entity is expected to earn about ā¹16,447 crore in revenues and own a market share of just under 9%. Read more.
Movie production greenlitĀ š¬
The Central government has proposed an SOP that will allow for the resumption of production of movies and other TV programmes in India.Ā
Per centerās SOPs, face masks and social distancing are mandated on production sets, unless of course youāre an actor in front of the camera. Outsider visitors and audiences on outdoor shoots have been banned. And coordination with local authorities has been mandated.Ā
The content business underwent a significant transformation amidst the pandemic. Traditional industry has been challenged and digital has risen to prominence like never before. It will be interesting to see how the industry keeps up with the pace of change. Read more.
Bottomline: the entertainment industry hires lakhs of behind-the-scenes workers who make barely-getting-by wages. Blanket bans have been crushing for them and the decision should come as a relief.Ā
While weāre on the subject,Ā
Pandemic battered cinema halls in India are planning to experiment with US-styled drive-in cinemas to be able to bounce back to business by the end of this year or early next year.Ā
PVR Cinemas, INOX Leisure Ltd and Carnival Cinemas are looking at metro regions around Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for potential pilots, with investments in the range of ā¹3-8 crore per property. The tickets for the drive-in theatres may not be cheap and could be priced as high as ā¹600. Read more.Ā
The US has over 300+ drive-in cinemas across the country, which are finding new life in the post pandemic world while Indiaās similar setups have received lukewarm acceptance. You think India is ready?
Whatās the latest in Big Tech? š¤
Finding courage amidst shower of blows, TikTok will be suing the US administration as early as this week, challenging the Presidentās order that bans US businesses from doing business with TikTok, which the company claims is misleadingly open to interpretation.Ā
TikTok management is highlighting its commitment to divesting the companyās assets but believes that the government is interfering with private negotiation, which may not be exactly in accordance with the rule of law.Ā
Moreover, TikTok is also working to ensure that its employees can get paid, in case talks get dragged out and the platform is eventually shut down by the US Gov. Read more.
Turning attention to Apple,Ā
Apple chose to pull itself into another ring match, this time with free-webās darling Wordpress. It started with Apple momentarily pausing updates to Wordpressā FREE IOS app unless Wordpress enables in-app purchases on it. Why? So that Apple could seemingly charge 30% of the transaction amount.Ā
While Wordpress does sell basic extra services - like domain names, themes, etc. on its website, none of that happens via its mobile app, which simply allows you to manage your website for free. Appleās argument on the other hand was - since Wordpress āmentionsā about its premium services inside the App, it should enable a feature to buy these services within, and give Apple its cut. SMH.
Anyway, it didnāt take long for Tech Twitter to cause a furor. And then Apple backed off, and issued a rare on the record apology. Gone too far uh, Tim?Ā
Remote workers attacked š
Distributed remote workers, connected to corporate systems through weakly guarded residential WiFi networks, are quickly becoming the nightmare of corporate security teams.Ā
The US' FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have identified dedicated attacks targeting remote workers on weak corporate VPNs, with motivation to derail corporate operations.Ā
In the latest guidelines, the agencies issue caution against āVoice Phishingā or āVishingā ā wherein using a combination of socially engineered information, phishers voice call employees and pretend to be IT support staff, gaining access to corporate assets for malignant actions.Ā
The latest advisory follows a series of previously issued guidance. Recently the Government of India had issued similar warnings in the wake of Indo-China skirmishes as well. Read on.
Bottomline: corporations are clearly operating in uncharted territory with cyberdefense. 2019 and 2018 in fact saw some of the biggest data breaches we have ever known, expect this year to be far worse. Cybersecurity companies however make bank. Cybersecurity software spending for 2020 is estimated to grow 17% over last year, overtaking $145 billion.Ā
What else are we snackinā šæ
š¼ 5G hiring shows life - Data network solutions provider Sterlite Technologies will hire about 300-400 professionals this fiscal year for growth areas of 5G and wireless ecosystem and to support its plans to take services business global.Ā
š Innovating towards vaccine - Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation is experimenting with trials for Indiaās COVID-19 vaccine candidate, āCovaxinā, through intradermal route ā or just under the skin, as against the intramuscular route. Researchers believe the new move sharply reduces the dosage required for administering the vaccine.Ā
š Serum okayed for anticipatory production - Serum Institute of India, which has partnered with Oxford University to produce covid vaccine, has clarified that Indian government has granted it permission to only manufacture the vaccine and stockpile it for future use, after readers misinterpreted Serumās claims that a vaccine will be launched in 73 days.
š¤Ŗ Mockery of banking trust - looking to squirm its way out of the wrongly-wired debacle, Citigroup has filed a third lawsuit to recoup nearly $1 billion it mistakenly sent to lenders of Revlon. Several hundred million has already been returned but some lenders refuse to part ways with about $500 million. The bankās reputation erodes each standing day.Ā
š¤ Xpeng will raise about a billion - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Xpeng hopes to raise up to $1.11 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) in New York, as the company joins a range of Chinese tech firms looking to woo Wall Street money.Ā
š± WeChat users sue Trump - WeChat users in the US have sued President Donald Trump to block an order which says access to the app will be barred. The complaint cites violation of freedom of speech, freedom of exercise of religion and other constitutional rights.Ā
š Cooking LICās IPO - the government is retaining Deloitte and SBI Capital Securities to help with the eventual IPO of LIC. The advisors will help with evaluation of capital structure of the entity as the government steps up on the gas to liquidate PSUs to help with cash to balance budget deficits.Ā
Tweet of the day:
Travelās clearly on the back burner for 2020. But if youāre shopping for 2021 ideas, here we goā¦ (a girl can dream.)
Heyš , you think any of your friends would enjoy Filter Coffee like you? Connect us!
You can just forward this email or share FC on social media by clicking the button below. Thanks and Ciao!Ā š