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Good morning and Happy Friyay. It’s been a big week. Hope you manage to get some truly needed R&R this weekend and we’ll see you next Monday like clockwork :)

- Ruchrngd Sharma & Shatakshi Sharma  

🧵 In today’s issue:

• 📊 Markets recap

• 📜 Self-declaration

• 📱 SMS vs WhatsApp

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • Fraud no more

  • More layoffs

  • Zomato celebrates the environment

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’? (quick links)

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

📊 Markets

🇮🇳 India

• Sensex and Nifty rose again due to positive global signals, potential Federal Reserve rate cuts, and NDA's governmental progress. Tech, banking, and energy stocks increased, while FMCG and pharma fell. Midcap and smallcap indices surged 2-3% in sectors like realty, media, PSU banks, and oil & gas, reflecting increased investor risk appetite amidst reduced political uncertainty.

🌍️ International

• S&P 500 and Nasdaq dipped from record highs on Thursday, with minor gains in Dow, as investors awaited U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. However, hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut and the European Central Bank's first rate hike since 2019 limited the losses. A 68% chance of a September rate cut by the Fed is currently anticipated.

📜 Self-declaration

Recently, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) did something rather interesting -  they mandated a "self-declaration" certificate for all new advertisements from June 18, following the Supreme Court's directions.

Why? To ensure transparency, consumer protection, and responsible advertising practices.

Here's how this new "self-declaration" process will work:

• For TV and radio advertisements, agencies must submit the declaration, signed by an authorised advertiser representative, to the MIB's Broadcast Seva Portal.

• Declarations for print and digital advertisements should be submitted to the Press Council of India's portal.

• The mandatory declaration requires advertisers to certify that their ads do not contain "misleading claims" and that they comply with all relevant regulatory guidelines.

• The representative signing the declaration must provide their contact details and ad details, including product/service description, full script, audio/visual elements or PDF, and the proposed broadcast/publishing date.

Why now?

• The Supreme Court's directive came in response to the lack of a "robust mechanism" for monitoring advertiser compliance with the Central Consumer Protection Authority's guidelines on preventing misleading advertisements.

• While the deadline is June 18, authorities have offered a two-week buffer period for ad agencies to familiarise themselves with the new norms.

Despite this, the move has faced opposition from industry stakeholders like Anupam Mittal, who considers the mandates "completely unviable" and detrimental to the global digital competitiveness of Indian ad agencies.

And he’s not wrong…

Most companies with a fully developed marketing department produce hundreds of ad creatives weekly or monthly. The requirement to sign a declaration for each of these ads will increase costs and inefficiencies, potentially slowing down companies.

Overall: As the government prepares to implement these mandates, it remains to be seen whether stakeholder concerns will prompt any revisions, especially considering India's rapidly growing digital advertising market.

Read more: Inc 42

📱 SMS vs WhatsApp

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) recently approached Telecom Minister Meeraj Mittal expressing concerns about Microsoft and Amazon using WhatsApp as their primary platform for enterprise communication, impacting their revenue.

In response, major tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have stopped using WhatsApp to send one-time passwords (OTPs) and other authentication messages to their customers in India.

This decision was made two months after Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, introduced new pricing and regulations for sending international authentication messages through the app.

Here are the key developments:

• Since March, this change has caused international SMS traffic for Indian telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea to surge by 50-70%.

• Although Meta has not responded, experts suggest that factors other than cost considerations are driving this shift.

Why does this matter?

• In March, WhatsApp introduced a new "authentication-international" category for OTPs sent by international firms in India and Indonesia. They started charging Rs 2.3 per message, which, while cheaper than standard SMS fees, represented a 20-fold increase.

• An even greater concern for tech giants is WhatsApp's new rule, requiring them to disclose their primary business location when sending messages.

Overall: The definition of "international traffic" in Indian telecom regulations is unclear. Operators categorise these firms as foreign because they use overseas servers, but the companies argue that they are registered Indian businesses sending locally generated SMS via domestic networks.

According to Nitin Singhal from Sinch, it remains to be seen how WhatsApp's new authentication category, set to launch in July, will impact the situation. However, major tech companies are currently resorting back to traditional SMS to avoid sharing data with Meta and potential regulatory issues.

Read more: Times of India

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🎭️ Fraud no more - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formed a committee headed to help build a specialized digital public infrastructure platform to tackle fraud in the online payments ecosystem. The committee includes representatives from NPCI, SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and payment industry leaders. It will define operational guidelines for the platform, determining data sharing requirements from banks and fintechs to identify fraudulent transactions to be reported to the Central Payments Fraud Information Repository (CPFIR). The panel will also recommend ways for the platform's financial sustainability, ensure customer data protection, and suggest fraud mitigation measures. This comes as the RBI steps up efforts against rising digital banking frauds, with around 36,000 cases reported in FY24 compared to 9,000 in FY22.

💰️ More layoffs - BNPL startup Simpl has undertaken a second round of layoffs in less than a month, firing around 30 employees across departments including some senior executives. The company says this is a continuation of organization-wide efforts to become fiscally prudent and achieve profitability by mid-2025. It had laid off 160 employees last month, citing a focus on profitability. Sources indicate more layoffs may follow as Simpl has overhired and is aiming for operational efficiencies after exponential business scaling in recent years.

♻️ Zomato celebrates the environment - To commemorate World Environment Day 2024, food delivery platform Zomato launched an ad film highlighting its commitment to transition to 100% electric vehicle (EV) based deliveries by 2030. The humorous film depicts a delivery partner comically trying various unconventional transport methods like camels, roller skates and paragliding to make pollution-free deliveries, before showcasing Zomato's actual four-pronged approach. This includes improving EV rental access for delivery partners, onboarding EV logistics providers, supporting EV ownership through financial collaborations, and enhancing awareness about EV benefits through activations.

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

• US to send new $225M military aid package to Ukraine, officials say.

• ‘Buckle up!’ Social media reacts to news of Roaring Kitty’s first livestream in 3 years.

• India offers $500B investment opportunity in clean energy: Commerce secretary.

• Amazon acquires video streaming platform MX Player.

• Food safety violations at Blinkit warehouse: Telangana authority to issue notice.

• Wipro bags $500M deal from US communications provider.

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• United States shocks heavyweight Pakistan at T20 World Cup after forcing super over.

• India played out a goalless draw against Kuwait in Sunil Chhetri's last international match.

• Swiatek crushes Gauff to set up French Open final with late blooming Paolini.

• Season 4 of The Boys will debut on June 13.