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Paytm wallet's return; Inside Jensen Huang’s Nvidia exit
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Paytm has received RBI's in-principle approval to restart its wallet business. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ Zetwerk’s Q2 net loss widens
■ Social media firms on child safety rules
■ Microsoft global outage on Day 2
Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Paytm has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to restart its digital wallet business through subsidiary Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL), almost three years after regulatory action against Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) halted the offering, the company said in an exchange filing.
Driving the news: The approval allows PPSL to issue and operate prepaid payment instruments, including digital wallets, subject to final authorisation.
Background: The wallet was once among Paytm’s flagship consumer offerings. In January 2024, RBI barred PPBL from accepting fresh deposits and credits, including wallet top-ups, citing persistent compliance concerns. The restrictions took effect in March that year and forced Paytm to shift its payments operations to other banking partners.
Also Read: Paytm’s Q2 profit jumps 10-fold to Rs 225 crore, revenue up 28%
Stock reaction: The regulatory setbacks had also triggered a steep decline in Paytm's share prices, which fell to a record low of Rs 310 in May 2024. The stock has since recovered sharply, crossing Rs 1,900 on Thursday for the first time since its November 2021 listing — when it was priced at Rs 2,150.
Source: Google Finance
On Friday, it closed 0.7% up at Rs 1,939.9 on the BSE.
After a week of uncertainty, the Nvidia crisis culminated on Thursday with chief executive Jensen Huang resigning unconditionally. Bloomberg reported that at the end, Huang’s usual confident demeanour had vanished and he’d started using phrases like “whatever” and “I don’t care.”
He has since called himself a “piece of sh--,” people who spoke with him said. He now holds no formal role at the company he cofounded.
How it unfolded: News in late October of Jensen Huang’s close ties to Alice Huang, a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, drew little board action. However, later, a Financial Times story cited US officials reporting that the relationship was romantic. General counsel Tim Teter confronted Huang, who confessed, and the board launched an investigation.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported a second relationship, with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell. The board met late into the night and gave Huang no choice but to resign.
.jpg "Fall of a titan - slide 1 (2)")
What’s next: CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO. She will hold an all-hands meeting on November 18, a day after Nvidia reports its results.
Indians among probable CEOs: Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian have emerged as two preferred external choices to replace Jensen Huang as the chief executive of Nvidia, FT reported.
Also Read: Fall of a titan: A timeline of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s steady rise and dizzying fall
(L-R) Srinath Ramakkrushnan and Amrit Acharya, cofounders, Zetwerk
Manufacturing platform Zetwerk’s net loss widened year-on-year in the September quarter as revenue growth slowed, in the company’s first earnings announcement since its listing.
Financials:
Manufacturing growth slows: Revenue from Zetwerk's manufacturing business, which supplies products and components across energy, precision engineering, and capital goods sectors, grew 15% to Rs 2,546.46 crore from Rs 2,216.92 crore a year earlier. Growth had stood at 28% in the June quarter.
Costs and IPO: Finance costs rose to Rs 132.42 crore from Rs 100.14 crore, and Esop expenses jumped to Rs 64.38 crore from Rs 12.95 crore. Of Zetwerk’s Rs 5,012 crore IPO, Rs 2,130 crore is earmarked for debt repayment.
Also Read: Zetwerk eyes manufacturing demand from AI, clean energy
Social media platforms have cautioned the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against adding a separate age-assurance obligation to its proposed online child safety guidelines.
They argued that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) framework already covers it, people in the know told us.
What’s the issue: In a meeting held by NCPCR on Thursday, platforms such as Google, Meta, Snap, Reddit, and Roblox said age-assurance and parental-consent mechanisms under the data protection regime should be harmonised with any NCPCR guidelines, so that the platforms aren’t governed by parallel obligations.
Flexibility sought: The companies said safeguards should be proportionate to each service and its users, and that the guidelines should focus on safety outcomes rather than prescribing product features.
NCPCR has not prescribed any particular technology or method for age assurance. Instead, it has asked the platforms to explain whether their existing systems addressed its concerns.
Microsoft said it is still working to identify the cause of a global outage that has disrupted Outlook, Teams, and other services for a second day, including in India. In a statement, the company said it is not aware of any malicious activity behind it.
The company said it has completed recovery actions across parts of its affected infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region and traffic is being gradually restored.
Cause unknown: On Friday morning, Microsoft’s health page showed “service degradation” for business, enterprise, and consumer customers. "We're identifying alternate (sic) workstreams that can be applied to increase capacity," the tech giant added, without saying when service was expected to be fully restored.
What’s affected: Features that depend on Exchange Online and email are hit. Users may be unable to open mailboxes in Outlook, and email delivery may be delayed. Copilot Chat may fail to load or respond. Core Teams functions such as calls, meetings, and chats work, but scheduling and viewing meetings may fail.
Also in the letter:
■ Zetwerk’s Q2 net loss widens
■ Social media firms on child safety rules
■ Microsoft global outage on Day 2
Paytm gets RBI's in-principle nod to revive wallet business
Paytm has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to restart its digital wallet business through subsidiary Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL), almost three years after regulatory action against Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) halted the offering, the company said in an exchange filing.
Driving the news: The approval allows PPSL to issue and operate prepaid payment instruments, including digital wallets, subject to final authorisation.
- Paytm Payments Services must complete a systems audit, including a cybersecurity audit, and submit the report to the RBI within six months.
- The approval will lapse if it misses the deadline.
- The company had applied for the licence in December 2025 and disclosed the application in its June-quarter earnings release.
Background: The wallet was once among Paytm’s flagship consumer offerings. In January 2024, RBI barred PPBL from accepting fresh deposits and credits, including wallet top-ups, citing persistent compliance concerns. The restrictions took effect in March that year and forced Paytm to shift its payments operations to other banking partners.
Also Read: Paytm’s Q2 profit jumps 10-fold to Rs 225 crore, revenue up 28%
Stock reaction: The regulatory setbacks had also triggered a steep decline in Paytm's share prices, which fell to a record low of Rs 310 in May 2024. The stock has since recovered sharply, crossing Rs 1,900 on Thursday for the first time since its November 2021 listing — when it was priced at Rs 2,150.
On Friday, it closed 0.7% up at Rs 1,939.9 on the BSE.
‘I’m a piece of sh--’: Jensen Huang’s last hours as Nvidia CEO
After a week of uncertainty, the Nvidia crisis culminated on Thursday with chief executive Jensen Huang resigning unconditionally. Bloomberg reported that at the end, Huang’s usual confident demeanour had vanished and he’d started using phrases like “whatever” and “I don’t care.”
He has since called himself a “piece of sh--,” people who spoke with him said. He now holds no formal role at the company he cofounded.
How it unfolded: News in late October of Jensen Huang’s close ties to Alice Huang, a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, drew little board action. However, later, a Financial Times story cited US officials reporting that the relationship was romantic. General counsel Tim Teter confronted Huang, who confessed, and the board launched an investigation.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported a second relationship, with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell. The board met late into the night and gave Huang no choice but to resign.
What’s next: CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO. She will hold an all-hands meeting on November 18, a day after Nvidia reports its results.
Indians among probable CEOs: Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian have emerged as two preferred external choices to replace Jensen Huang as the chief executive of Nvidia, FT reported.
Also Read: Fall of a titan: A timeline of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s steady rise and dizzying fall
Zetwerk’s Q2 net loss widens 43% to Rs 88 crore, revenue rises 18%
Manufacturing platform Zetwerk’s net loss widened year-on-year in the September quarter as revenue growth slowed, in the company’s first earnings announcement since its listing.
Financials:
- Net loss: Increased 43% to Rs 88.11 crore from Rs 61.55 crore a year earlier.
- Revenue from operations: Up 18% to Rs 4,599.36 crore
- Discontinued civil infrastructure business accounted for a loss of Rs 34.29 crore during the quarter.
Manufacturing growth slows: Revenue from Zetwerk's manufacturing business, which supplies products and components across energy, precision engineering, and capital goods sectors, grew 15% to Rs 2,546.46 crore from Rs 2,216.92 crore a year earlier. Growth had stood at 28% in the June quarter.
Costs and IPO: Finance costs rose to Rs 132.42 crore from Rs 100.14 crore, and Esop expenses jumped to Rs 64.38 crore from Rs 12.95 crore. Of Zetwerk’s Rs 5,012 crore IPO, Rs 2,130 crore is earmarked for debt repayment.
Also Read: Zetwerk eyes manufacturing demand from AI, clean energy
Platforms seek NCPCR’s alignment with DPDP child safety guidelines
Social media platforms have cautioned the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against adding a separate age-assurance obligation to its proposed online child safety guidelines.
They argued that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) framework already covers it, people in the know told us.
What’s the issue: In a meeting held by NCPCR on Thursday, platforms such as Google, Meta, Snap, Reddit, and Roblox said age-assurance and parental-consent mechanisms under the data protection regime should be harmonised with any NCPCR guidelines, so that the platforms aren’t governed by parallel obligations.
Flexibility sought: The companies said safeguards should be proportionate to each service and its users, and that the guidelines should focus on safety outcomes rather than prescribing product features.
NCPCR has not prescribed any particular technology or method for age assurance. Instead, it has asked the platforms to explain whether their existing systems addressed its concerns.
Microsoft outage: Company can’t pinpoint cause, disruptions to Outlook, Teams continue
Microsoft said it is still working to identify the cause of a global outage that has disrupted Outlook, Teams, and other services for a second day, including in India. In a statement, the company said it is not aware of any malicious activity behind it.
The company said it has completed recovery actions across parts of its affected infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region and traffic is being gradually restored.
Cause unknown: On Friday morning, Microsoft’s health page showed “service degradation” for business, enterprise, and consumer customers. "We're identifying alternate (sic) workstreams that can be applied to increase capacity," the tech giant added, without saying when service was expected to be fully restored.
What’s affected: Features that depend on Exchange Online and email are hit. Users may be unable to open mailboxes in Outlook, and email delivery may be delayed. Copilot Chat may fail to load or respond. Core Teams functions such as calls, meetings, and chats work, but scheduling and viewing meetings may fail.
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I agree to receive newsletters and marketing communications via e-mail