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WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India, though regulators there have capped its in-app WhatsApp Pay service to only 100 million people. People shopping on WhatsApp could also pay using popular services like Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Pay, Paytm (PAYT.NS) and Walmart's (WMT.N) PhonePe but only after being redirected outside WhatsApp. Payments via those rival services - and any others that run on India's instant money transfer system UPI - will now be possible directly within WhatsApp, Meta said in a blog post. While WhatsApp Pay users will remain capped in India, there is no such limit on the number of users permitted to transact with businesses on WhatsApp using the other methods, a Meta spokesperson said. With some 300 million people spending about $180 billion via India's using UPI each month, the new transaction options could serve as a powerful lure to attract businesses to pay Meta for access to WhatsApp users.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, WhatsApp, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's, Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Kalra, Katie Paul, Munsif Vengattil, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: REUTERS, Meta, Google, UPI, Facebook, Thomson Locations: India, WhatsApp, Chennai, Bangaluru, New Delhi, New York

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBENGALURU, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. chip firm Nvidia and telecom-to-retail giant Reliance on Friday announced an AI partnership to create language models, generative apps and a cloud infrastructure platform for AI development in the South Asian nation. "Reliance will create AI applications and services for their 450 million Jio (telecom) customers and provide energy-efficient AI infrastructure to scientists, developers and startups across India," Nvidia said. Nvidia globally has a near-monopoly on the computing systems used to power services like ChatGPT, OpenAI's blockbuster generative AI chatbot. Reliance said the new AI infrastructure will speed up a range of India's key AI projects, including chatbots, drug discovery, and climate research. Separately, India's Tata Group too is set to announce an AI partnership with Nvidia later during Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mukesh Ambani, Grace Hopper Superchip, Reliance, Neil Shah, Munsif, Aditya Kalra, Sharon Singleton, Kim Coghill, David Evans Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Rights, Nvidia, Reliance, Counterpoint Research, Reuters, India's Tata Group, Thomson Locations: India, Bengaluru, Dhwani Pandya, Mumbai, New Delhi

Reliance, whose interest in making semiconductors has not been previously reported, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. India's IT ministry and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office also did not respond to requests for comment. The country does not as yet have any chip manufacturing plants, although India's Vedanta (VDAN.NS) and Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW) are both looking at building facilities. India's government has forecast the domestic chip market will be worth $80 billion by 2028 compared with $23 billion currently. But chip manufacturing is an industry that has historically been beset with boom and bust cycles and requires much expertise.

Persons: Amit Dave, Mukesh, Narendra Modi's, Modi, Vedanta, Taiwan's Foxconn, Arun Mampazhy, –, Foxconn, Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Reliance Industries, Gujarat Global Trade, REUTERS, Reliance, Google, U.S, Vedanta, Ventures, Semiconductor, Intel, Orbit Ventures, Thomson Locations: Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India, DELHI, Abu Dhabi

That implies a potential $2.5 billion investment will be equivalent to a 2.5% stake in the company. "Several marquee global strategic and financial investors have shown strong interest in Reliance Retail. Ambani said in 2019 that the group planned to list the retail business in five years. Reliance Retail has more than 18,000 retail outlets, but also a growing e-commerce operation where it competes with the likes of Amazon (AMZN.O) and Walmart's (WMT.N) Flipkart. Reliance Retail reported a consolidated net profit of 91.81 billion Indian rupees ($1.11 billion) for the financial year that ended in March 2023, on revenue of 2.6 trillion rupees.

Persons: Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's, Reliance, Morgan Stanley, QIA, Ambani's, Isha Ambani, Aditya Kalra, Scott Murdoch, Sriram, Munsif Vengattil, Susan Fenton Organizations: Retail Ventures, Reuters, Qatar Investment Authority, India's, Burberry, Reliance, Reliance Retail, KKR, Saudi Public Investment Fund, General Atlantic, United Arab, Unilever, Thomson Locations: SYDNEY, Qatar, U.S, China, United Arab Emirates, New Delhi, Sydney, Mumbai

But Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani snatched IPL rights away in a $2.9 billion bid last year, and then streamed games for free. Soon, Disney subscribers fled - out of 61 million users in October, roughly 21 million had left by July. It retains digital streaming rights but last year licensed the TV broadcast rights to Indian's Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) for around $1.5 billion, a source said. In the United States, ad-free Disney+ streaming service subscription rates are set to rise by 27% to $13.99 per month. By contrast in India, Disney+ Hotstar service costs $3.62 a month.

Persons: Anushree, India's Ambani Hotstar, Walt Disney, Disney, Mukesh Ambani, That's, JioCinema, Sivanandan, Daoud Jackson, Bob Iger's, Nancy Lee, Ambani, Aditya Kalra, Munsif, Dawn Chmielewski, Muralikumar Organizations: ICC Men's Cricket, REUTERS, Companies Disney India, Century Fox, Indian Premier League, Disney, Reuters, Asia, Cricket, Indian's Zee Entertainment, IPL, Blume Ventures, Hotstar, Staff, Media Partners, Netflix, JioCinema, Thomson Locations: Gurugram, India, Burbank, Disney India, United States, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Dawn, Los Angeles

[1/2] Mukesh Ambani (R), Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, poses with (from 2nd R to L) wife Nita Ambani, children Isha Ambani, Anant Ambani, and Akash Ambani before addressing the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai, India July 21, 2017. With Mukesh Ambani in his late 60s, "the time is probably right ... "This is also an attempt by Mukesh Ambani to ensure the next generation of Ambani siblings stay close to one another and do not have any discord." He is already the chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, the telecom arm of Reliance. Akash's twin sister Isha is driving the expansion of Reliance Retail into new categories and geographies, and is already a director on the boards of the retail unit, Reliance Retail Ventures, which houses the conglomerate's bets in India's brick-and-mortar and e-commerce industries.

Persons: Mukesh Ambani, Nita Ambani, Isha Ambani, Anant Ambani, Akash Ambani, Shailesh Andrade, Isha, Akash, Ambani, Anant, Arun Dasmahapatra, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh, Anil, Nita, Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra, Tom Hogue, Mark Potter Organizations: Reliance Industries, REUTERS, India's Reliance Industries Ltd, Monday, Reliance, Brown University, Meta, Infocomm, Reliance Retail, Reliance Retail Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority, Investors, giga, Thomson Locations: Mumbai, India, BENGALURU, Jio, Bengaluru

The Deloitte company logo is seen at their office in Gurugram, India, June 13, 2023. The auditor's resignation has brought fresh scrutiny of the financial management at Adani Group, led by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. "The Audit Committee (of Adani Ports) was of the view that the grounds advanced by Deloitte for resignation as Statutory Auditor were not convincing or sufficient to warrant such a move," it said. Adani Ports has named MSKA & Associates, an independent member firm of BDO International, as its new auditor, it said in the statement. Deloitte in May first pointed to certain transactions flagged by Hindenburg in its report and gave only a qualified opinion related to Adani Ports, indicating concerns by a company's auditor.

Persons: Anushree, Gautam Adani, Hindenburg, Aditya Kalra, Ros Russell Organizations: Deloitte, REUTERS, U.S, Adani Group, GQG Partners, Sanghi Industries, Associates, BDO International, Thomson Locations: Gurugram, India, Adani Ports, Australia, New Delhi

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationBENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Indian e-commerce startup Meesho has posted its first-ever profit and is targeting a stock market listing in the next 12-18 months, a senior company executive said in an interview. An initial public offering (IPO) is now being planned in the next 12-18 months, Bansal added. Meesho, which was founded by Indian Institute of Technology graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, clocked more than 1 billion orders in the last 12 months. Many Indian startups have fired thousands of employees and cut costs aggressively in recent months. Last week, Indian food delivery giant Zomato (ZOMT.NS) also posted its first-ever profit.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Meesho, Japan's SoftBank, Dhiresh Bansal, Bansal, Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho's, Munsif, Aditya Kalra Organizations: REUTERS, Amazon, Meesho, Reuters, Indian Institute of Technology, Vidit, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

Visitors gather at Applied Materials and Micron Technology kiosks before the start of 'SemiconIndia 2023', India's annual semiconductor conference, in Gandhinagar, India, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Amit DaveNEW DELHI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Applied Materials (AMAT.O) wants its suppliers from Europe, Japan and elsewhere to set up operations in India, as the semiconductor toolmaker works to expand the local supply chain, its India head told Reuters. Applied Materials does not manufacture in India - and has no plans to - but having suppliers based locally will help its new engineering centre speed up technology development and testing. Such investment creates opportunities for Applied Materials, the world's biggest maker of tools used in manufacturing chips. Applied Materials started its India operations in 2002 and has about 7,500 employees in the country working in product development, software and other business operations.

Persons: Amit Dave NEW DELHI, Srinivas Satya, Narendra Modi's, Satya, Modi, Gary Dickerson, Munsif, Acharya, Sumit Khanna, Aditya Kalra, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Materials, Micron Technology, REUTERS, Reuters, U.S, Applied Materials, Devices, Micron, Applied, Thomson Locations: Gandhinagar, India, Europe, Japan, Bengaluru, Applied Materials India, South Korea, U.S, Gujarat, Washington, New Delhi

REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File PhotoNEW DELHI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - India has restricted imports of laptops, tablets and personal computers with immediate effect, according to a government notice on Thursday, in a bid to push local manufacturing. In April-June, electronics imports, which include laptops, tablets and personal computers, was $19.7 billion, up 6.25% year-on-year. Electronics imports range between 7% to 10% of the country's total merchandise imports. "The move's spirit is to push manufacturing to India. India has been trying to push local manufacturing by giving production-linked incentives in over two dozen sectors, including electronics.

Persons: Adnan Abidi, It's, Ali Akhtar Jafri, Madhavi Arora, Shivam Patel, Shivangi Singh, Sudipto Ganguly, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Electronics, Dell, Samsung, LG Electronics, Apple Inc, Lenovo, HK, HP Inc, Dixon Technologies, Emkay, India Cellular and Electronics Association, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, China, Mumbai

☆ Foxconn to invest $600 million in India's Karnataka to make iPhone components, chip equipment
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Munsif Vengattil | Thomson Reuters | Munsif Vengattil Is A Reuters' India Technology Correspondent | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters was first to report the investment plans on Wednesday. The investment decisions follow a meeting between Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, Karnataka's IT minister Priyank Kharge, and Industries Minister MB Patil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also attracting investors for semiconductor manufacturing, which is his key business agenda currently. In Karnataka, Foxconn will collaborate with Applied Materials on a project for making semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and create jobs for around 1,000 people. India's Tamil Nadu state has also announced that Foxconn will invest $194 million in a new electronic components manufacturing facility that will create 6,000 jobs.

Persons: Ann Wang, Foxconn, Young Liu, Priyank Kharge, Liu, Narendra Modi, Munsif, Aditya Kalra, Himani Sarkar, Jane Merriman, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Applied Materials, Reuters, Industries, Patil, Micron, Materials, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, BENGALURU, India's Karnataka, China, Karnataka, India, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru

'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File PhotoNEW DELHI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Social media platform X has sought to quash an Indian court decision that found it non-compliant with content removal orders, arguing the ruling could embolden the government to block more content. X, formerly known as Twitter, in July 2022 sought to overturn some government orders to remove content from its platform, without specifying which. A court in June 2023 quashed that request and imposed a fine of 5 million rupees ($60,560). ($1 = 82.5625 Indian rupees)Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi in New Delhi and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Carlos Barria, Elon Musk, Aditya Kalra, Arpan Chaturvedi, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Poovayya, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, New Delhi, Bengaluru

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-The logo of Foxconn is pictured on top of a company's building in Taipei, Taiwan October 31, 2022. The facility will be separate from the current sprawling campus near Chennai where Foxconn assembles Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones and employs more than 35,000 people, the source said. "This is a major achievement for the state," Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa said in a statement, after Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and other representatives met with the state officials including its chief minister. Reuters reported last week that the Foxconn subsidiary was in talks with Tamil Nadu about the investment, with the company aiming for the plant's completion in 2024. Foxconn plans to quadruple the workforce at its iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu by late 2024 in a bid to spread its bets beyond China, Reuters reported last year.

Persons: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Foxconn, Industries TRB Rajaa, Young Liu, Liu, Foxconn's, Munsif, Yi, Mou Lee, Aditya Kalra, Jamie Freed, Himani Organizations: REUTERS, Industrial, Tamil Nadu Minister, Industries, Foxconn, Sunday, Reuters, Tamil, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, CHENNAI, Kancheepuram, Chennai, Tamil, India, Tamil Nadu, China, Bengaluru, Praveen

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-A smartphone with a displayed AMD logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoGANDHINAGAR, India, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) said on Friday it will invest around $400 million in India over the next five years and will build its largest design center in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Despite being a late entrant, the Modi government has been courting investments into India's nascent chip sector to establish its credentials as a chipmaking hub. "Our India teams will continue to play a pivotal role in delivering the high-performance and adaptive solutions that support AMD customers worldwide," Papermaster said. Unlike its top rival Intel, AMD outsources production of chips it designs to third-party manufacturers like Taiwan's TSMC.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mark Papermaster, Narendra Modi's, Young Liu, Sanjay Mehrotra, Modi, Papermaster, Munsif, Aditya Kalra, Sonali Paul Organizations: REUTERS, Devices, Micron, AMD, India, Nvidia Corp, Intel, South, Samsung, Applied, chipmaker Micron, Thomson Locations: GANDHINAGAR, India, Bengaluru, Gujarat, Santa Clara , California, U.S, Gandhinagar

REUTERS/Amit DaveGANDHINAGAR, India, July 28 (Reuters) - India wants to become a trusted partner for the semiconductor industry and a chip maker for the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, as global companies including Foxconn (2317.TW) announced investment plans in the South Asian nation. "To expedite the growth of the semiconductor sector in the country, we are continuously undertaking policy reforms," said Modi, who has made chipmaking the top priority of his economic policy. Modi was speaking at the government's SemiconIndia annual conference in his home state of Gujarat which is being attended by top semiconductor industry executives. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Liu said Foxconn had yet to find another partner for its India chipmaking venture. At the event, Micron Technology (MU.O) CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said a planned $2.7 billion semiconductor testing and packaging unit in Gujarat would help create about 5,000 jobs in the state.

Persons: Mark Papermaster, Young Liu, India's, Narendra Modi, Amit Dave GANDHINAGAR, TW, Modi, Foxconn, Liu, Modi's, Sanjay Mehrotra, Munsif Vengattil, Sumit Khanna, Indranil Sarkar, Aditya Kalra, Jacqueline Wong, Muralikumar Organizations: Devices, REUTERS, Foxconn, CNBC, TV18, Vedanta, Semiconductor, Reuters, Hai Technology, Micron Technology, Thomson Locations: Gandhinagar, India, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Tamil, Taiwan, Foxconn

NEW DELHI, July 27 (Reuters) - Walt Disney's (DIS.N) India streaming service plans to start enforcing a policy of allowing its premium users to login from only four devices, an effort aimed at limiting password sharing in a key market, two sources with direct knowledge said. In India, a premium account of Disney+ Hotstar streaming service still allows logins on as many as 10 devices, even though its website currently says "number of devices that can be logged in" is four. Industry data says Hotstar is market leader in terms of users with approximately 50 million. The new planned restriction will also apply to its cheaper plan which will limit usage across two devices, the second source added. Disney's Hotstar topped India's streaming market between January 2022 and March 2023 with a 38% share of viewership, while rivals Netflix and Prime Video held 5% each, data from research firm Media Partners Asia showed.

Persons: Walt Disney's, Disney's, Disney, Mukesh Ambani's JioCinema, Hotstar, Walt Disney, Aditya Kalra, Munsif Vengattil, Jane Merriman Organizations: Netflix, Disney, Media Partners, Media Partners Asia, Thomson Locations: DELHI, DIS.N, India

CHENNAI, India, July 26 (Reuters) - A Foxconn (2317.TW) subsidiary is in talks with India's Tamil Nadu state to invest up to $200 million to build a new plant for electronic components in the southern region, two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters on Wednesday. Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, and a spokesperson for Tamil Nadu's industries department declined to comment. Foxconn already has a sprawling campus near Chennai city in Tamil Nadu where it assembles Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones. Foxconn is also in talks with western Gujarat state as it eyes entry into India's semiconductor sector. Last week, Karnataka state government in south India said it held talks with FII, which had committed to invest $1.07 billion for a new plant.

Persons: Brand Cheng, Foxconn, Young Liu, Praveen, Sarah Wu, Aditya Kalra, Richard Chang Organizations: Reuters, Foxconn Industrial, Tamil, FII, Thomson Locations: CHENNAI, India, Tamil, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bengaluru, Taipei

[1/3] Visitors gather at Applied Materials and Micron Technology kiosks before the start of 'SemiconIndia 2023', India's annual semiconductor conference, in Gandhinagar, India, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Amit DaveGANDHINAGAR, India July 26 (Reuters) - Top executives from Foxconn and semiconductor firms Micron and AMD will this week attend a conference in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, as the government tries to lure investments into India's nascent chip industry. Modi will inaugurate the annual SemiconIndia conference in Gandhinagar, in western state of Gujarat, on Friday. The event comes just weeks after Foxconn backed out of a $19.5 billion chips joint venture with Vedanta, saying "the project was not moving fast enough". Which explains the skepticism of global chip giants to come here and set shop," said Arun Mampazhy, a former India manager of U.S.-based chipmaker GlobalFoundries.

Persons: Amit Dave GANDHINAGAR, Narendra Modi's, Modi, Young Liu, Sanjay Mehrotra, Mark Papermaster, Foxconn, Arun Mampazhy, Munsif, Sumit Khanna, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Materials, Micron Technology, REUTERS, Micron, AMD, Vedanta, Devices, Semiconductor, Thomson Locations: Gandhinagar, India, Taiwan, Gujarat, Bengaluru

But while 44% of India's smartphones sales are now online, the brick-and-mortar segment remains the bigger play and Xiaomi expects it to grow further. "Our market position in offline is substantially lower than what it is online," Xiaomi's India head, Muralikrishnan B., said in an interview on Friday. The South Korean giant has a 20% market share in India, while Xiaomi, which historically focussed on budget phones, has 16%. Xiaomi plans to hire more store promoters - salespeople who lure, pitch and sell phones to prospective buyers inside outlets. Another significant India challenge for Xiaomi is a federal agency's $673 million freeze on its bank assets since last year.

Persons: Xiaomi, Flipkart, Muralikrishnan, Tarun Pathak, We'll, Aditya Kalra, Munsif Vengattil, William Mallard Organizations: DELHI, HK, South, Samsung, Research, Thomson Locations: India, Hong Kong

The proposal was delivered to the streaming platforms at a June 20 meeting at the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The government highlighted the need for a "more proactive approach" to ensure that streaming content, "including international content", aligns with a so-called code of ethics, the minutes showed. That code already mandates providers to exercise caution on content that could incite violence or be sensitive for religious reasons. The proposal also comes as streaming giants protest a government order to add 50-second tobacco health warnings in each piece of content, and two years after India ordered the setting up self-regulatory bodies for complaints about streaming content. Suhasini Maniratnam of the Digital Publisher Content Grievance Council, told the gathering pre-censorship could hurt the industry growth and cost jobs, and that given the high volume of content "there is a need to specifically act" against obscene and vulgar content.

Persons: OTT, Anurag Thakur, Thakur, Suhasini, Aditya Kalra, Robert Birsel Organizations: Netflix, Disney, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Reuters, Media Partners, Amazon, Apple, Industry, Broadcasting, Thomson Locations: India, DELHI, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ India's Gujarat in talks with Foxconn for its semiconductor plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AHMEDABAD, India July 12 (Reuters) - India's Gujarat state is holding talks with Foxconn over a semiconductor plant, a top government official told Reuters, days after the Taiwanese giant broke off a $19.5 billion joint-venture plan with India's Vedanta. "We are in touch with multiple prospective investors, including Foxconn ... Gujarat is uniquely positioned to attract top chipmakers," said Vijay Nehra, secretary of the science and technology department in Gujarat. Foxconn (2317.TW) this week exited its project with Vedanta (VDAN.NS), which was also planned for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, citing issues such as slow progress. The breakup of the JV was a setback for Modi's vision to establish India as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. Its talks with Gujarat come weeks after Micron Technology (MU.O) said it will invest up to $825 million in a semiconductor testing and packaging facility in the state.

Persons: Vijay Nehra, Narendra Modi's, Foxconn, Modi, Lee, Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Reuters, Vedanta, JV, IGSS Ventures, ISMC, LinkedIn, Micron Technology, Thomson Locations: AHMEDABAD, India, Gujarat, ., Foxconn, Singapore

Foxconn (2317.TW) withdrew from the JV with the Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate on Monday, in a setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chipmaking plans for India. "Foxconn is committed to India and sees the country successfully establishing a robust semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem." India expects its semiconductor market to be worth $63 billion by 2026, but Modi's plan has so far floundered. The $3 billion ISMC project is stalled because Tower is being acquired by Intel, while another $3 billion plan by IGSS was also halted because it wanted to re-submit its application, Reuters has reported. Like Foxconn, the Indian government has said the breakup of the JV had "no impact" on India's semiconductor plans, adding that both companies were "valued investors" in the country.

Persons: India Foxconn, Foxconn, Narendra Modi's chipmaking, Modi, IGSS, Ann Wang, Vedanta, Anil Agarwal, Vedanta's, Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard, Tanvi Mehta, Aditya Kalra, Jacqueline Wong, Sonali Paul, Alexander Smith Organizations: India, JV, Vedanta, TW, Semiconductors, IGSS Ventures, ISMC, Intel, Reuters, REUTERS, Vedanta's, Vedanta Ltd, Vedanta Resources, Thomson Locations: chipmaking, India, TAIPEI, MUMBAI, Singapore, New Taipei City, Taiwan, Vedanta's India, Vedanta's London, Taipei, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pandya, Bengaluru

TAIPEI/BENGALURU, July 10 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn said on Monday it has withdrawn from a $19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture with Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta, in a setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chipmaking plans for India. Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, and Vedanta signed a pact last year to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Modi's home state of Gujarat. "Foxconn (2354.TW) has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta," the electronics maker said in a statement, without elaborating on the reasons. India, which expects its semiconductor market to be worth $63 billion by 2026, last year received three applications to set up plants under a $10 billion incentive scheme. These were from the Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture, a global consortium ISMC which counts Tower Semiconductor (TSEM.TA) as a tech partner and from Singapore-based IGSS Ventures.

Persons: Taiwan's Foxconn, Narendra Modi's chipmaking, Vedanta, Foxconn, Modi, STMicro, IGSS, Munsif, Ben Blanchard, Aditya Kalra, Louise Heavens, Jason Neely, Alexander Smith Organizations: Vedanta, Apple, Reuters, IGSS Ventures, Intel, Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, BENGALURU, India, Gujarat, Singapore, Bengaluru, Taipei, New Delhi

☆ India raised questions over Foxconn-Vedanta chip incentive plan -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BENGALURU, July 10 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn pulled out of a semiconductor joint venture with Vedanta after India's government raised questions over its application for an incentive scheme for chip production, a source familiar with the matter said. Foxconn and Vedanta did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Foxconn, Vedanta, Aditya Kalra, David Goodman Organizations: Vedanta, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, New Delhi, Bengaluru

The resignations of GV Ravishankar of Peak XV Partners, earlier Sequoia Capital India, Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's Vivian Wu mean Byju's board now only comprises the founder's family. In a statement to Reuters on Friday, Byju's said it is in discussions with investors about reshaping the board, including the addition of independent directors. A "few" investors had to vacate their board seats as their shareholding dropped below the required minimum threshold, necessitating a board reshuffle, it said. The confirmation of the resignations comes after Reuters and other media outlets reported on Thursday that three Byju's board members had quit recently. On Friday, sources told Reuters that the edtech was asking its three global investors to reconsider their decision to quit its board.

Persons: Russell Dreisenstock, Chan Zuckerberg, Vivian Wu, Byju's, Akriti Sharma, Shivani Tanna, Shounak Dasgupta, Anil D'Silva Organizations: GV, XV Partners, Sequoia Capital, Blackrock, Reuters, Deloitte, Thomson Locations: Sequoia, Sequoia Capital India, Bengaluru

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