⚡️ Zomato loses another cofounder, online fantasy games to be regulated?

🤩 The Good

The government releases draft rules on online gaming. With over 13 crore users, India is the world’s biggest fantasy sports market, projected to be worth ₹1,65,000 crore by FY25. To protect users against addiction and other harms, the IT ministry has published draft rules that propose establishing a self-regulatory body to certify which online games are permitted. The rules are open for public consultation and are expected to be finalized by February.

Dabur acquires a 51% stake in Badshah Masala. The deal paves the way for Dabur to enter the over ₹25,000 crore spices and seasoning market in India, which is expected to grow to ₹50,000 crore by 2025. Dabur paid ₹587.52 crore for the stake, and said that the remaining 49% will be acquired after five years.

The Supreme Court rules that theatres can prohibit outside food articles. A 2018 decision of the J&K High Court had held that moviegoers could carry their own food into theatres. Overturning this decision, the Supreme Court ruled that cinema halls were private properties and their owners had the right to prohibit outside food. The court also clarified that theatres had to make hygienic water available for free.

Some gadgets may be exempted from mandatory USB-C rules. In late December, the government made it compulsory for all mobile devices to provide USB-C as the standard charging port by March 2025. The decision came at the heels of a similar move by the EU. The objective was to reduce e-waste and make consumers’ lives easier. Now, a senior government official has claimed that this rule will exclude featurephones, wearables, and hearables, after industry players raised cost objections.

👿 The Bad

Sources claim the RBI was “never in the loop” about the 2016 demonetisation. One of the key points of contention in the Supreme Court demonetisation case was whether the RBI had been sufficiently consulted by the government. While the court held that the RBI and the government had been in consultation for six months (p. 204), an official who was a part of the decision making process has claimed that the RBI was “never in the loop.”

Money raised through IPOs halved in 2022 compared to 2021. 40 companies raised ₹59,412 crore through IPOs in 2022 versus an all-time high ₹1,18,723 crore raised in 63 IPOs in 2021. 35%, or ₹20,557 crore, of the amount raised last year was by LIC alone.

🤔 The Wait-and-Watch

Zomato’s cofounder and CTO resigns. After 14 years at the company, Gunjan Patidar became the fourth cofounder to leave Zomato. Another cofounder, Mohit Gupta had resigned, in November. With the number of cofounders joining and leaving, the Ken wrote last year, “At this point, I’m starting to suspect there’s someone at Zomato’s corporate governance team whose full-time job is to periodically update the document that keeps track of who is their co-founder right now, in which company.”

BharatPe’s CEO also quits. Suhail Sameer, who became BharatPe’s CEO in August 2021, is stepping down on January 7 and will become a strategic advisor to the fintech company. Suhail and BharatPe’s cofounder Ashneer Grover had a public spat in 2022. Four senior executives, including the CTO, had exited the company in November.

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