consumer

Consumer lending firms are set for difficult days ahead as a central bank diktat on reining in unsecured loans has choked off much-needed credit lines. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.Also in this letter:■ GenAI startup Sarvam AI raises $41 million in funding■ Indian AI startups hop on to LLM bandwagon■ Indian talent gets senior-level roles as GCCs mushroomUnsecured loans in focus, fintechs see NBFC credit taps drying up Hi, this is Pratik Bhakta in Bengaluru. For consumer lending startups, ‘winter…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Digital goods are products or services that can only be purchased, transferred, and delivered online (e.g., e-books, downloadable music, online games). Such goods can generate significant benefits for consumers, but because most of them are free, the benefits are largely unmeasured in national accounts such as gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity.…

MUMBAI - Venture capital fund Fireside Ventures Investment Fund plans to sell its partial stake in Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer through block deals on Tuesday, according to reports. The VC firm is offering 61 lakh shares or 1.9% stake in the personal care products maker. The deal is expected to be worth Rs 230 crore.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitNorthwestern UniversityKellogg Post…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new survey, analyzed by the University of Bristol and commissioned by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, shows nearly two-thirds (65%) of households, amounting to 18.4 million, have consumer debt and more than 4 in 10 households (44% or 12.5 million) have taken out new borrowing in the past six months. …

Days after a privacy complaint was lodged against Meta in the European Union over its latest controversial shift of legal basis claimed for processing people’s data for ads, consumer groups across the region are filing their own complaints about what the tracking giant is up to. A coalition of almost 20 consumer protection organizations is united in the view that Meta’s switch to railroading users into agreeing to being tracked and profiled so it can keep profiting from microtargeting them is “unfair” and “illegal” —…

Consumer Reports has published an extensive ranking of vehicle reliability, and the results pour cold water on the dependability of EVs and plug-in hybrids. The survey says electric vehicles suffer from 79 percent more maintenance issues than gas- or diesel-powered ones, while plug-in hybrids have 146 percent more problems. The troubles portray the industry’s growing pains with the relatively new technology as the planet sets record temperatures, and scientists warn of rapidly approaching deadlines to thwart global…

Google will impose new restrictions on personalized ads related to consumer financial products and services next year, when it updates its Personalized ads policy in February. Google’s “credit in personalized ads” policy will be broadened to include “consumer finance in personalized ads.”“We’ve long had personalized ads policies that prohibit advertisers from targeting people on the basis of sensitive categories. This update strengthens our…

Hussain Elius is best known as the co-founder of Pathao, one of Bangladesh’s top ride-sharing apps. For his latest startup, however, Elius is exploring the world of DeFi with Wind.app, a self-custodial, smart contract wallet with three main features. The first is enabling businesses to send payments to remote employees around the world. The second is allowing people to use Wind.app as a virtual bank account. And the third is is the on-ramp/off-ramp infrastructure that the company is building to enable users to change…

Tata Electronics, which recently acquired an iPhone assembly plant in Kolar, from Taiwan’s Wistron, aims to double the size of its iPhone-casing unit in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.Also in the letter:■ Race on for Dealshare CEO post■ Startups innovate interview formats■ Sorin’s Sanjay Nayar teams up with Peak for Cleantech PlayTata Electronics to expand its iPhone unit in HosurTata Electronics, a part of the Tata Group, is planning to double the size of its existing iPhone-casing…

Ah, the digital detox—much discussed, harder to come by. In recent years, stepping away from smartphones has carried a hefty price tag and an exclusive air, from international retreats to slimmed-down devices, like Kendrick Lamar’s recent limited-edition Light 2 (which sold out in a day).But an unlikely champion dares to ask: What if curtailing the ubiquity of the smartphone looked a little less glamorous? Less 2080, more 2008?The Iris Flip, a new feature phone (preferred industry parlance for “dumbphone”) by Consumer…