Shouvik Das

🚨 Important data security story on @livemint P1 today. TL;DR: if you get a call where someone offers you unclaimed money, be careful—this could well be from a government platform that left your precise address exposed for years. Here’s what happened: ✒️ Last weekend, @logicbomb_1 found a key flaw in @RBI’s unclaimed deposits platform that could very well have exposed your exact address to absolutely anyone. ✒️ On Sunday, Avinash wrote to @IndianCERT highlighting this flaw. Prima facie, it appears to be a design flaw, than a data breach. ✒️ The data exposure report, however, got no response from the nodal cyber security agency. Since then, over the past 72 hours, Avinash and I have emailed all relevant authorities at Cert-In, @GoI_MeitY and the RBI, bringing this matter and its importance to their notice. Today, we went live with the story. ✒️ Why is this important? The ability to access a person’s precise residential address can easily help a scammer with intent trace down other stolen identification details as well. Eventually, it would only be a matter of time before an unknown person with malice knows everything about you: where you stay, your related family names, and even that you have an unclaimed bank account lying dormant for a decade or more. This is how digital arrests were born. This is why this story was important to tell. Read the story online here: livemint.com/industry/bankin…, and please spread the word so that people are aware of such a flaw.

On @livemint P1 today, a special ground report on where stands one of India’s most populous industrial belts, a day after wage protests gave way to stone pelting and ruckus in Noida. UP’s crown jewel hosts almost a third of all of its factories, and is a crucial part of India’s electronics ecosystem. On Tuesday, based on an advisory from @dmgbnagar, most shut their doors. Some, even with doors shut, faced vandalism. The police, too, started cracking down. Story with @abee_law and @krishna__65 on the real impact and cause of the current worker protests, with inputs from @noidapolice, labour lobbies of @BMSkendra and @cpimspeak's Hannan Mollah. PS: Even after all this time, it’s still always exciting to spot my own work at a public stand, and to see people read at airport lounges. These, make no mistake, are the little but very important joys of journalism. @noida_authority #noidaprotest #workerprotest #wagehike #minimumwage #groundreport

An excellent P1 on @livemint today, capturing crucial points for two of India’s most important consumer industries: phones, and plane travel. 📌 On Monday alone, at least three brands sent price hike emails to their distribution network. Smartphones, now, are pricier by as much as over 50%! Imagine finding a phone today at ₹30k, only to find it at ₹45k by tomorrow. Buyers aren’t buying, but the doubling of chip costs means brands and retailers are pushed into a corner too. Full story in print, with a link to its online version in comments below. With inputs from @navkendarsingh of @IDC, @LakhyaniKailash of @AimraIndia, and @Tarunpathak of @CounterPointTR. 📌 As we sweep into April, @DipaliBanka reports that the last financial year was the worst of late for the aviation industry. Why? Look back at 2025, and you see a year riddled with the worst plane crash in India in decades, a maddening disruption that nearly derailed India’s top airline, and various delays and disruptions hurting the industry. Full story on P1, and in the links in comments. 📌 Then, of course, is Dipali’s second break: the resignation of Campbell Wilson. Link attached in the comments too. Grab a copy of Mint today. Now, more than ever, it’s important to ensure that you read the right news. #news #breakingnews #analysis #smartphones #aviation #pricehike #vivo #oppo #samsung #airindia #indigo #iranwar #chipshortage

(2/3) Industry insiders said OpenAI localising ChatGPT data in India is in anticipation of the upcoming compliance needs of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. Earlier, Altman said to @AshwiniVaishnaw that India was OpenAI’s second-largest market globally.

Shaping up now: a $600k class-action suit against @WazirXIndia, for their handling of customer funds. A @livemint exclusive on today's front (back) page narrates how victims, some of whom claim to have well over $30,000 stuck in their accounts, are feeling short-changed by the exchange. At the core is an escapist stance by cofounder @NischalShetty—who has, over the past three months, tried to blame @binance, and also said that the company needs to hold 34% of users' cash to fund their own legal troubles. Now, the $233-million hack of a single wallet is raising more questions than security negligence by #WazirX, asking the company why it is acceptable to use customer money for their own operations. As of day-before, WazirX had 4.3 million users and $298 million. In September, its net balance with user cash was $546 million. Read the full story online, here: livemint.com/companies/news/…. With inputs from @RehaanAdv, @ashish343 of @CoinSwitch, @VikramSubburaj of @giottus, @sidharthsogani of @CREBACOGlobal, Uttkarsh Bhatnagar of @cyrilamarchand, and more. #crypto #wazirx #wazirxhack #cryptoindia #nischalshetty #coinswitch #cryptotrading #bitcoin #cryptoregulations #ethereum @IndiasCrypto

Opinion: The @Meta Orion AR glasses look very close to the Holy Grail of augmented reality—spectacles that can replace smartphones, sans any wire or bulky head-load. At #MetaConnect2024, Mark Zuckerberg spoke of how big a deal it is. And it looks its part too—most demos that have been offered look like it is very much the real deal. Why is this important? Much like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner co-working with AR in #TheAvengers, spectacles such as a future version of Orion can let you and your friend do exactly that. In effect: say hello to the next big format of computing. In our generation, we’ve already gone from web/PCs to mobile—safe to say, taking to your spectacles, blinking to open apps and flicking fingers to reply to chats will soon be the new thing. Read our full take here: livemint.com/technology/meta…, or on Page 3 in print on @livemint today—with inputs from @kashyapkompella. #metaorion #metaverse #augmentedreality #mixedreality #vr #ar #snapspectacles #microsofthololens #applevisionpro #htcvive

Last week, @isro’s Chandrayaan-4 mission got $251 million from the government. Why, though, do we need to spend so much to bring back soil from the moon? That’s a fair question to ask, and an important one too. The answers you glean from it tell you that the success of India’s next moon mission is intricately linked to our geopolitical relations, and most importantly, perception. This fact is further heightened by Russia now being out of favour with the West, and China being a closed economy. India, interestingly enough, turns out to be a strategically crucial space economy—especially for the West, which dominates the space industry today. All of this and more, answered in today’s edition of the @livemint primer. Grab a copy, or read online here: livemint.com/industry/fly-me…. #moon #moonmission #moonlanding #chandrayaan4 #isro #space #cabinet #spaceresearch #geopolitics #china #russia

Why do we speak so much about the iPhone? Yesterday, viral videos of long queues reaffirmed one thing—no matter the criticism, in India, we still find Apple aspirational. Perhaps that’s what justifies the fact that us at @livemint, as well as our “rival” newspaper, have both written very similar stories on the first-day iPhone sale this year, in the papers today. Cumulatively, our words reach millions every day. *SO, why the hoopla?* The messaging, this year, is that after 16 years since Apple sold an iPhone in India officially for the very first time, getting your hands on an Apple product need not be outside your potential reach. This is important, because the iPhone-o-meter is an interesting gauge for the state of the economy’s sentiment. Note: NOT the economy, but its sentiment. Thanks to the legendary Steve Jobs, we’ve all come to associate Apple as a brand that walks around with a halo. Is that true? That’ll depend on whom you ask—the ardent fans will tell you, “You see, even the haters love to talk about how they don’t like the company. You can’t ignore them.” *Is it ONLY pop culture fanaticism?* That’s true, but not just because of pop-culture mud-slinging. You see, Apple in India, until five years ago, had a market share of 0.9%. Today, it is already over 6%—by 2027, analysts expect this to touch 10%. If one in every 10 of us seemingly have enough money to buy $800 phones, one thing is very clear—we’re no longer the ‘low value-only’ market that we, until very recently, were. Give our story a read—it’s on the front/back page in print, and online here: livemint.com/companies/iphon…. Do not miss the very interesting opening-day data on iPhone prices in India right now! Inputs, courtesy some of India’s top Apple retailers (who unfortunately didn’t want to be named), @navkendarsingh of @IDC, and @Tarunpathak of @CounterPointTR. #apple #iPhone16 #iPhoneSale #appleindia #applestore #iPhonevideo #iPhone16Pro #smartphones #ecommerce #phonesales

#Breaking: @Google launches Veo, a generative video model. With this, it’s war time between them and @OpenAI Sora. #genai #openai #gemini

A @livemint exclusive: trouble at @fiitjee—one of India’s oldest test-prep firms. For ~5yrs now, anonymous employee reviews on @ambitionbox_com, @Glassdoor and @Quora have spoken about sudden salary cuts, and blamed their employees for the falling profits. (1/5)

Not just that, Fortis’ ICU floor has dust, splinters and nails lying around. To all of this, one question: is this critical healthcare? And, whom do we hold accountable for all of this? cc: @mansukhmandviya @OfficeOf_MM #hospital #medicare

More instances of the amazing critical care corridor at @fortis_hospital: live drilling outside critical care facilities. Security guards here insist patients’ families do not sit here, because they’ll bring dust and harmful germs to this floor. But, loud woodwork is no issue.

The following video you see is of @fortis_hospital’s Noida, Sector 62 facility — on the floor where rooms called ‘High Dependency Units’ (HDUs) are located. They are critical life-support facilities — but apparently also a full-on construction zone. @MoHFW_INDIA @AyushmanNHA

Wow @Airtel_Presence. Context: Been trying to get someone to come and check home wifi, which has stopped working. But… “well, they tried.”

On @livemint today: the #DPDP Rules to be released by 2 Jan. #BigTech may get 6mo to comply, small firms/govt agencies ~12-18mo. MoS IT, @Rajeev_GoI says rules outline consent framework + guide on age-gating. w/ @gulveenaulakh_. Full story: livemint.com/news/data-priva…

Breaking: @Maruti_Corp notifies exchanges it'll increase car prices starting January 2024. Maruti's says reasons behind this price hike are "increased cost pressure driven by inflation", and "increased commodity prices". Details to follow. #breakingnews #auto #suzuki

Thanks to @VernikaAwal, ended up watching ‘A Man Called Otto’ last night. It’s not exceptional, but it is what we’ve all felt, quietly or vocally, at some point in life. It also shows how, as you get older, you understand why older generations were so resilient. #AManCalledOtto

Love gives you the greatest highs, and leaves in you the deepest gashes of hurt. It is the healer, and the wound too. It leads you to grief — but, grief itself is like a dried leaf caught in a stray gust of wind, reminding you that like spring, love was here.