nextbigwhat newsletter: build. grow. repeat. Welcome to nextbigwhat newsletter that brings you curated news, books, products and insights from 100+ sources. [NBW ]( Today's recommended book FACTFULNESS The international bestseller, inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world, and make you realise things are better than you thought. [Get it]( #ShortNews Bharat Web3 Association voices concerns about India's high crypto tax In a draft of concerns it sent to the Indian Finance Ministry, which is undertaking consultations ahead of the budget for 2023–24, Bharat Web3 Association underlined the high taxation and regulatory uncertainties. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) representatives and BWA representatives are set to meet with members of the Indian finance minister the following week. Pakistan prepares new bill to launch CBDC by 2025 To enable the prompt issue of a CBDC in the next three years, the State Bank of Pakistan enacted new legislation for Electronic Money Institutions - non-bank organizations that provide digital payment instruments. EMIs will receive licences from the state bank, SBP, for CBDC issuing. Employing EMIs to advance the digital economy will protect financial institutions from cybersecurity risks. --------------------------------------------------------------- Download NBW app: Short tech news that makes you smarter. [Android](, [iOS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- RULoans introduces partner onboarding digital platform The end-to-end digital platform for RULoans Distribution Services was established in order to provide quicker and easier partner onboarding as well as paperless and completely compliant loan file processing. The company's goals to increase loan disbursement to more than Rs 1,00,000 crore and channel partner network strength to more than 75,000 by 2025 will be powered by the digital platform. HealthKart secures $135 million from Temasek in new funding round The 11-year-old startup was valued at roughly $350 million when Temasek led the Series H fundraising for the company headquartered in Gurgaon. Up until now, the business has raised around $225 million. Protein supplements and other accessories retailer HealthKart claimed it is now on track to achieve annual revenue of more than $122 million. Razorpay enables merchants to accept credit card payments via UPI Razorpay merchants can start accepting credit card payments on UPI with little modification to their current setup now that RuPay credit cards are enabled on UPI. The action is made possible thanks to a collaboration with Axis Bank. The NPCI approved the integration of RuPay credit cards with the BHIM UPI app on October 4. Stablecoin issuer Circle pulls plan to go public as it scraps SPAC deal Circle has withdrawn from its plan to go public by terminating its contract with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Concord Acquisition Corp. The stablecoin issuer has previously stated that it intended to go public in July 2021 with a $4.5 billion valuation. Later, when the firms revised its conditions in February, the valuation was doubled. PepsiCo is set to slash hundreds of jobs As a sign that layoffs are starting to affect businesses outside of the technology and media industries, PepsiCo Inc. is dismissing employees from its North American snack and beverage groups at its headquarters. PepsiCo described that the purpose of the layoffs was to "simplify" the business. Musk's Neuralink is under federal probe over potential Animal Welfare Act violations In response to internal employee allegations that Neuralink's animal testing is being rushed, leading to unnecessary suffering and deaths, the company is currently under federal investigation for possible animal welfare breaches. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General initiated the federal investigation recently at the request of a federal prosecutor. The investigation primarily focuses on Animal Welfare Act violations. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield will leave his position in January Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, played a key role in the platform's seamless integration of Slack into Salesforce Customer 360. The business also disclosed that Lidiane Jones, executive VP and general manager for Salesforce's digital experiences clouds, would succeed Butterfield. RBI deputy governor T Rabi Sankar: Banks have given up UPI space to fintech firms “How is it that a system of transactions between two bank accounts has evolved in a way, where most of the business is owned by non-banks? Clearly, banks have missed a step here,” said T Rabi Sankar. UPI apps facilitated transactions of $1.4 trillion between January and November 2022, with banks contributing less than 2% of that total. [I'm an image] [contact](mailto:team@nextbigwhat.com)| [unsubscribe](