Paytm Money opens R&D centre in Pune to drive innovation in wealth management

Paytm Money, the wealth management arm of Indian fintech giant Paytm, on Thursday said it had opened a new research and development centre in Pune to drive product innovation in equity, digital gold, and mutual funds. The startup said it planned to hire over 250 front and back-end engineers, and data scientists to build new wealth products and services.

Chingari raises $13M in a round led by OnMobile [Funding]

Homegrown short-form video app Chingari has raised $13 million in an investment round led by OnMobile, the telecom technology company focused on mobile entertainment. Chingari plans to use this capital to enhance its content portfolio, hire talent, and accelerate its growing user base. As part of this funding round, OnMobile will integrate and distribute its direct-to-consumer gaming platform, ONMO, on the Chingari app and collaborate on other mobile product integrations.

Government to withdraw cut in interest on small savings: Finance Minister

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government will withdraw orders to cut the interest rate on small savings schemes and assured to restore the rates to the last quarter of the financial year ended March 31. The Finance Ministry on Wednesday had reduced the interest rate by up to 1.1 percent across various small savings schemes including National Savings Certificates (NSC) and Public Provident Fund (PPF).

Government extends deadline for linking PAN-Aadhaar by 3 months till June 30

The government on Wednesday extended the deadline for linking PAN with biometric Aadhaar by three months till June 30. The income tax department said it had received representations from taxpayers that the last date for intimating the Aadhaar number may be further extended in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Easebuzz raises $4M in Series A round from 8i Ventures, Varanium Capital, Guild Capital [Funding]

Easebuzz, a B2B-focused, API-driven full-stack payments solution provider, has raised $4 million in a Series A round led by 8i Ventures, Varanium Capital, and Guild Capital. Former Citrus Pay founders Amrish Rau and Jitendra Gupta also participated as angel investors in this round. The startup will use this fresh round of funding to strengthen the product team, enhance sales and marketing efforts, and offer more payment APIs and solutions for small and mid-size enterprises.

Over 110 Apple manufacturing partners to move to 100 pc renewable energy for production

Tech major Apple said over 110 of its manufacturing partners around the world are moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy for production of Apple devices as part of its sustainability efforts. This will see nearly eight gigawatts of planned clean energy come online. Once completed, these commitments will avoid over 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the equivalent of taking more than 3.4 million cars off the road each year, it added.