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Bajaj Finserv's AI push; Govt's UPI fix
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Bajaj Finserv chairman Sanjiv Bajaj says the company will launch a dedicated fund for AI startups. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ CoinDCX turns digital fraud watchdog
■ France's Mistral powers up
■ Nokia lays off thousands
Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Finserv
Bajaj Finserv is stepping on the gas on artificial intelligence (AI) with a twin-track plan: a dedicated private equity fund for AI startups and direct balance sheet bets, chairman Sanjiv Bajaj told us.
New fund:
Significance: More than two dozen venture capital firms have poured over a billion dollars into 890 startups in India’s young AI ecosystem, but it is still rare for a corporate group to launch a dedicated AI fund alongside its direct investments.
Intelligence at scale: Bajaj said the group engages with more than 200 startups each year, backing only those with clear differentiation.
The strategy, he said, is to move “beyond deploying algorithms to backing intelligence at scale,” using the group’s distribution and ecosystem to quickly scale use cases.
The firm closed two deals this month, including a previously unreported investment in NowPurchase, which uses AI to help small and mid-sized steel makers lift output.
Also Read: Early stage investors fight to stay competitive
The government has asked banks to work with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to cut high failure rates in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and shore up reliability.
What's happening? Frequent glitches and user errors are beginning to dent trust in India’s fastest-growing payments system. Failures are higher at smaller banks, especially regional rural banks, where weaker tech and low customer awareness have made things worse.
NPCI is reviewing banks’ performance and recommending fixes to improve success rates. Talks have been on for about two months as part of a broader push to harden India’s digital payments stack.
Tell me more:
Also Read: NPCI counts on Bharat, Northeast to accelerate UPI adoption
(L-R) Neeraj Khandelwal and Sumit Gupta, founders, CoinDCX
CoinDCX has set aside Rs 100 crore to bolster cybersecurity, combat digital fraud, and boost consumer awareness, cofounder Sumit Gupta said. The move comes shortly after the company’s founders were arrested in connection with an alleged investment scam.
Fund details: Gupta framed it as a response to surging cybercrime, noting that Indians lost around Rs 22,000 crore to digital scams in 2025 alone.
The corpus will be deployed across four fronts:
What happened? Gupta and cofounder Neeraj Khandelwal were arrested in a fraud case and later granted bail. Gupta said the complaint was linked to a similar-sounding platform, not CoinDCX itself, and that no money flowed through the exchange. He added that the complainant confirmed there was no interaction with CoinDCX and that the company received a clean chit.
Warning call: “If a scammer uses your brand, your name, your face in a fake website and defrauds someone, you can be arrested. Not the scammer. You. This Could Happen to Any founder, Any Business,” he wrote in a post on X.
Arthur Mensch, founder, Mistral AI
AI firm Mistral has raised $830 million in debt financing to buy 13,800 Nvidia chips for a large new data centre near Paris.
Funding details: The deal was stitched together by a syndicate of seven banks, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC and MUFG, the company said.
This is Mistral's first debt raise and signals rising investor confidence in European AI and the region’s push to take on US giants such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
Tell me more: The Bruyères-le-Châtel data centre is expected to go live in the second quarter of 2026. Mistral has also announced plans for a second facility in Sweden and aims to secure 200 megawatts of capacity across Europe by the end of 2027.
Also Read: Mistral sees AI as utility, emphasis more on efficiency: Founder Arthur Mensch
Meet Attie: Bluesky's AI assistant can customise your social feed
Jack Dorsey, founder, Bluesky
The team behind Bluesky has unveiled a new AI tool called Attie to help users design their own algorithms and personalised feeds.
Users type what they want in natural language, like chatting with a bot, and the app, currently in private beta, spins up a customised feed.
Also Read: Meta faces $310 billion market value drop on legal, AI concerns
Nokia is preparing to lay off thousands of employees, cutting its global workforce by 20% as part of a sweeping restructuring, according to media reports.
Yes, and: Nokia employs around 74,000 people worldwide, so the cuts could hit more than 14,000 roles, including in India. The job reductions coincide with a reshuffle in the company's India leadership.
Business: Mobile networks remain Nokia's core franchise, but the company has been leaning into AI, including through its acquisition of US optical networking firm Infinera. Its India network sales jumped 75% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025.
Also Read: Epic Games layoffs: CEO responds to backlash over impact on cancer-stricken employee
Also in the letter:
■ CoinDCX turns digital fraud watchdog
■ France's Mistral powers up
■ Nokia lays off thousands
Bajaj Finserv lines up AI-only fund, direct bets
Bajaj Finserv is stepping on the gas on artificial intelligence (AI) with a twin-track plan: a dedicated private equity fund for AI startups and direct balance sheet bets, chairman Sanjiv Bajaj told us.
New fund:
- The company plans to deploy Rs 400-450 crore in FY27 across these two routes.
- The new fund, to be managed by Bajaj Alts, is set to be among India’s largest AI-focused vehicles.
- In parallel, Bajaj Finserv will keep backing early-stage startups directly, after already making about half a dozen bets.
Significance: More than two dozen venture capital firms have poured over a billion dollars into 890 startups in India’s young AI ecosystem, but it is still rare for a corporate group to launch a dedicated AI fund alongside its direct investments.
Intelligence at scale: Bajaj said the group engages with more than 200 startups each year, backing only those with clear differentiation.
The strategy, he said, is to move “beyond deploying algorithms to backing intelligence at scale,” using the group’s distribution and ecosystem to quickly scale use cases.
The firm closed two deals this month, including a previously unreported investment in NowPurchase, which uses AI to help small and mid-sized steel makers lift output.
Also Read: Early stage investors fight to stay competitive
UPI cleanup drive: Govt asks banks, NPCI to curb failures, boost success rates
The government has asked banks to work with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to cut high failure rates in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and shore up reliability.
What's happening? Frequent glitches and user errors are beginning to dent trust in India’s fastest-growing payments system. Failures are higher at smaller banks, especially regional rural banks, where weaker tech and low customer awareness have made things worse.
NPCI is reviewing banks’ performance and recommending fixes to improve success rates. Talks have been on for about two months as part of a broader push to harden India’s digital payments stack.
Tell me more:
- Transactions can fail due to technical issues such as outages and network problems, or because of user errors like wrong PINs or breaching transaction limits.
- Airtel Payments Bank logged the highest business-decline failure rate at 21.97% in February.
- Baroda UP Bank reported the highest technical failure rate at 7.26%.
- NPCI flagged outages across 11 banks in February, with Bank of India suffering the longest downtime at about 14 hours.
Also Read: NPCI counts on Bharat, Northeast to accelerate UPI adoption
CoinDCX to set aside Rs 100 crore for fraud prevention, consumer awareness following founders' arrest
CoinDCX has set aside Rs 100 crore to bolster cybersecurity, combat digital fraud, and boost consumer awareness, cofounder Sumit Gupta said. The move comes shortly after the company’s founders were arrested in connection with an alleged investment scam.
Fund details: Gupta framed it as a response to surging cybercrime, noting that Indians lost around Rs 22,000 crore to digital scams in 2025 alone.
The corpus will be deployed across four fronts:
- An AI-powered WhatsApp helpline to verify links and offers.
- An API to share details of more than 1,200 fraudulent websites in real time with exchanges, banks and fintech firms.
- Cyber-safety training programmes for law-enforcement agencies.
- A nationwide fraud-prevention campaign.
What happened? Gupta and cofounder Neeraj Khandelwal were arrested in a fraud case and later granted bail. Gupta said the complaint was linked to a similar-sounding platform, not CoinDCX itself, and that no money flowed through the exchange. He added that the complainant confirmed there was no interaction with CoinDCX and that the company received a clean chit.
Warning call: “If a scammer uses your brand, your name, your face in a fake website and defrauds someone, you can be arrested. Not the scammer. You. This Could Happen to Any founder, Any Business,” he wrote in a post on X.
France's Mistral raises $830 million in debt for AI data centre ramp-up
AI firm Mistral has raised $830 million in debt financing to buy 13,800 Nvidia chips for a large new data centre near Paris.
Funding details: The deal was stitched together by a syndicate of seven banks, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC and MUFG, the company said.
This is Mistral's first debt raise and signals rising investor confidence in European AI and the region’s push to take on US giants such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
Tell me more: The Bruyères-le-Châtel data centre is expected to go live in the second quarter of 2026. Mistral has also announced plans for a second facility in Sweden and aims to secure 200 megawatts of capacity across Europe by the end of 2027.
Also Read: Mistral sees AI as utility, emphasis more on efficiency: Founder Arthur Mensch
Meet Attie: Bluesky's AI assistant can customise your social feed
The team behind Bluesky has unveiled a new AI tool called Attie to help users design their own algorithms and personalised feeds.
Users type what they want in natural language, like chatting with a bot, and the app, currently in private beta, spins up a customised feed.
Also Read: Meta faces $310 billion market value drop on legal, AI concerns
Nokia cuts 20% of global workforce; 14,000 roles at risk: Report
Nokia is preparing to lay off thousands of employees, cutting its global workforce by 20% as part of a sweeping restructuring, according to media reports.
Yes, and: Nokia employs around 74,000 people worldwide, so the cuts could hit more than 14,000 roles, including in India. The job reductions coincide with a reshuffle in the company's India leadership.
- Samar Mittal has come in as business head for India, with a mandate to deepen ties with telecom operators, AI firms and cloud providers.
- Vibha Mehra will take over as country manager from April 1, overseeing Nokia’s India presence, communications, government relations and site strategy.
Business: Mobile networks remain Nokia's core franchise, but the company has been leaning into AI, including through its acquisition of US optical networking firm Infinera. Its India network sales jumped 75% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025.
Also Read: Epic Games layoffs: CEO responds to backlash over impact on cancer-stricken employee
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