Tech industry mired with layoffs fear
Amazon recently informed that 18,000 employees from Amazon Stores and PXT organizations were laid off this month.
Amidst uncertain economic conditions, unstable markets, and fear of recession, a fresh wave of layoffs has once again hit the tech industry. In November last year, almost every tech giant handed the boot to a percentage of their employees.
Over 1,000 companies laid off more than 1.5 lakh employees last year as per the data from Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks layoffs in the tech industry. According to the same website, around 91 tech companies have laid off more than 24,000 employees across the globe in just the first 15 days of the month.
Amazon recently informed that 18,000 employees from Amazon Stores and PXT organizations were laid off this month. Salesforce also announced the termination of around 10 per cent of its total workforce. Meta and Twitter too have cut several positions to downsize in anticipation of an impending recession.
Not just multinational companies, but Indian companies are also making headlines for their share of pink slips.
Bangalore-based Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd. which owns ShareChat and Moj on Monday announced that it will let go of 20 per cent of its “talented employees.” Likewise, delivery service company Dunzo fired three per cent of its staff. It said the move is a cost-cutting measure.
Data suggests that on average, at least 1,600 tech employees have been laid off every day of 2023 so far – a situation that signals worse days ahead.
Paytm Payments Bank wins final RBI nod
Reserve Bank of India gave its final approval to the Paytm Payments Bank on Monday to operate as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU).
Under the Bharat Bill Payment System which is owned by the National Payments Corporation of India, a BBPOU is allowed to facilitate bill payment services for electricity, phone, water, gas insurance, loan repayments, FASTag recharge, education fees, credit card bill, and municipal taxes.
So far, PPBL has been undertaking this activity under authorisation from RBI. Now, with the approval, it will display all agent institutions on its website and aims to increase the adoption of digital payments.
Microsoft expands ChatGPT access to Azure
As speculations of Microsoft investing around $1 billion in American artificial intelligence company OpenAI are rife, the tech giant has extended access to the latter’s popular software ChatGPT.
Microsoft announced that the interactive chatbot ChatGPT will now be fully available for its Azure users. Earlier, the startup’s tech was previewed to its cloud-computing customers in a program called the Azure OpenAI Service.
The move widening access for this futuristic AI tech is bound to bring in multiple first-time users.
Indian gaming companies’ request to govt
Around 40 Indian video games and eSport companies have joined forces to bring the government’s attention to an issue. The group requests the authorities to create a clear regulatory distinction between video games and real money gaming apps.
A representation letter has been sent to the Indian government, which includes both companies in the business of video games and online games. They also seek a formal meeting with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology which was recently made responsible for eSports.
It is common knowledge in the gaming industry that some games available are only for entertainment purposes and others are played for stakes, which were banned recently.
Earlier this month, the government released intermediary guidelines that suggest a self-regulatory mechanism, compulsory verification of players, and other rules. Under the same amendment, it put actual video games and real money gaming under the same scope of regulation.
— Epsita Gunti with agency inputs
