By Erick Scroll down to see two new segments I’ve introduced to the TWITI format, thanks to your feedback and suggestions. Keep them coming!
Wherever you are, I hope you are safe… and have all the LPG you need until the LPG crisis is sorted out. And I hope it is sorted out soon. For now, this LPG shortage has made the Indian Oil One mobile app the top app on the Google Play Store this week.
The news these days are full of the US/Israel – Iran war coverage, which enters its third week as of the date this TWITI is published. I am following the news very closely (I live in the region – I’m an NRI residing in Qatar) and I’m sure your news feed is full of coverage of this war. Hence, apart from the LPG big above, I was hoping to avoid touching on the war in this week’s TWITI… until the first bit of news below broke out.
Meta Pauses 2Africa Subsea Cable Project
Meta paused work on a large segment of its 2Africa subsea cable project, which is Meta’s massive 45,000 km project that is meant to connect the UK to India and beyond. The cable was supposed to terminate at Mumbai (and also, Karachi among other places).
This pause is directly linked to the Iran war. Its major contractor Alcatel (a French telecom / hardware company that’s older than Meta) submitted a Force Majeure, effectively declaring that work had to be paused due to geopolitical situation.
Meta and the cable’s consortium had expected to launch a section traveling up the Strait of Hormuz this year. When work resumes – it will connect to landing stations in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia.
The delay comes just four months after Meta announced that the Red Sea portion of the cable was delayed due to Houthi attacks on ships. Other cables were damaged by a cargo ship’s anchor after the vessel was hit by a missile strike.
This is a reminder that any kind of geopolitical situation can have an impact on tech – especially hardware and especially something as delicate as a subsea cable project. Subsea cables can also be easily damaged – easily, by a fishing net itself, let alone by a navy ship that has sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
Go back and read this piece I wrote about the importance of subsea cables for the internet overall.
Jio IPO “Roadblock” Removed
So you know how last week we talked about a potential roadblock that Jio was waiting for the Government to officially remove? Well, it took less than a week for that to happen.
The roadblock was that Government rules require that atleast 5% of the paid up capital of a company be listed on a stock exchange for an IPO, and Jio wanted only 2.5% of their capital to be listed. So, the SEBI in September approved a rule-change which got ratified by the Government this week.
Hence, Jio is now on track to raise 2.5% of its capital through an IPO. Still a massive amount.
Razorpay Launches “AI-native” Fintech Platform
Well, Razorpay announced something called “Sprint 26” which is a web page advertising 100+ announcements that are not really coherent – and I counted only six announcements. But let me summarize it for you.
Razorpay is announcing they are an Agent Payment platform, which aims to have AI embedded in every step from KYC to follow-up and closure. The promise is that the platform will do things for you – that you need to have done – without you needing to spell out every singe instruction.
This does not make me comfortable. There are a lot of things I won’t trust AI with, and money is the last of them. The promise is there though, very much the promise of AI doing more things for you.
Though if there’s one company that may be able to do it right, it looks like it’s Razorpay. They were the first to get all three RBI licenses for non-bank payment aggregators.
Netflix Unveils Visual Effects Studio in Hyderabad
In the US, Netflix has been in the news for walking away from a deal to buy Warner Brothers, after a Trump-backed competitive “hostile” bid from Elison-owned Paramount Skydance is now expected to sail through. Whatever.
In India, Netflix is in the news after they opened a Visual Effects (VFX) facility in Hyderabad. This is not an office (Netflix’s corporate office in India is in BKC, Mumbai) but is the fifth global location of its VFX arm Eyeline Studios.
Spanning 32,000 sq ft, the new facility will focus on advanced visual effects, virtual production, and next-generation production technology. Eyeline studios is credited with VFX on popular movies and TV shows recently, including Wednesday.
Again, I suspect – this is a workaround the H1B Visa scam (atleast part of the reason for this Hyderabad location) and better access to Indian talent and market. The four other (existing) locations of Eyeline Studios are Los Angeles, Seoul, Vancouver and London.
Flipkart completes reverse flip to India
It’s official now. IPO-bound Flipkart is now 100% an Indian company as of this week. That’s all.
Eternal Injects ₹450 Crores into Blinkit
Parent company Eternal – whose CEO is now former Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa – is reported to have injected this insane amount into its Quick Commerce arm Blinkit.
I wonder why. Eternal did the same thing in 2025 – in total, over ₹2,000 crore into Blinkit, of course before the gig worker strikes. But unlike Zomato, Blinkit took less than 10 years to turn profitable – they officially became profitable in December 2025.
This is the latest in a trend of these companies infusing insane amounts into Quick Commerce. Swiggy, Amazon, Reliance all recently put money in the industry. Is it a sign of big things coming, or is this a glorified Ponzi scheme? Let’s wait and watch.
Maharashtra Government Shuts Down Bike Taxis Again
Maharashtra revokes licenses of bike-taxi operators that were provisionally grated to aggregators like Uber, Ola and Rapido.
Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said the companies had been granted temporary permission for a month but failed to submit the required documents and comply with conditions under the state’s e bike taxi policy.
Under the policy, vehicles were required to be electric and aggregators were asked to complete all compliance requirements – and furnish documentation – within 30 days before applying for permanent licenses. However, the companies allegedly continued operations without meeting the conditions.
Uber Launches Inter-city Bus Booking
Uber partners with AbhiBus (the bus ticketing arm of Ixigo) to launch inter-city bus ticket booking in India. This is its first global rollout of such a service.
This enables customers across the country to search and book on intercity bus journeys directly on the app. And as with the introduction of any new service, there is an introductory discount being offered on the app for this service.
GainBitcoin Scam: CBI Makes Arrests
Every now and then we need a reminder that crypto scams are a very real thing. This is one of the biggest of them till date. And one of the scariest.
As per the PIB, “the case pertains to the alleged GainBitcoin Ponzi scheme floated by Variabletech Pvt Ltd., wherein investors were induced to invest in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme on the promise of high returns. The funds collected from investors were subsequently misappropriated. The case is being investigated under Sections 120B, 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.”
This scam has been going on since COVID times atleast. And is a multi-thousand crore scam.
Potential New ₹1 lakh crore Fund for Semiconductor Manufacturing
India plans 1 lakh crore fund to boost semiconductor manufacturing. Okay that’s reporting and not confirmed yet, but there’s a nice statement from PIB which congratulates Tech India overall for becoming a global hub for semiconductor manufacturing. These achievements include one fully functioning fab facility and three that are doing pilot productions. And more. Nice.
Five Tech Finds of the Week
This is the first of the new segments based on your feedback – thank you and keep them coming!
Disclosure: the product links below are affiliate links and if you use them to make a purchase, I may be supported with some affiliate income. This does not in any way impact my independence and integrity. Read my code of ethics for more details and reach out to me if you have a concern.
This week’s theme is LPG-shortage-related – and unfortunately, there is already news that induction cooktops are out of stock due to surge in demand. But there are other things you can use to keep your food cooked:
- This smart pot from Nutricook that can make a decent porridge among other things. Nutricook even hands out free recipes.
- If you just want to make rice or pulao or fried rice, this rice cooker is more than enough. And according to this site, you can even bake a cake in a rice cooker.
- There’s this electric frying pan and steamer – genius.
- You can’t go wrong with a “Korean Style” electric grill – we have one in our household and it’s surprisingly versatile.
- And finally, the good old “cheese toast” sandwich maker. But the non-tech one is timeless.
Tech Voice of India
This is my second new segment based on your feedback. Okay please give me feedback on the name of this segment.
Answer this one question below to see how you compare with the vast public of tech enthusiasts in India. The results of this survey will be posted in next week’s TWITI.
That’s it for now! Don’t forget you can see the weekly TWITI video on by YouTube channel, or listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you’d like to receive the weekly news roundup directly to your inbox, subscribe to me on Substack. This is all free so share with a friend. See you next week!