Amazon India’s leading seller, Appario Retail, is seeking a new joint venture partner to ensure uninterrupted operations after being delisted by Amazon. The company, which is scripting a change of plans for its future, wants to continue selling on the Indian marketplace. Several new seller firms on Amazon have found it difficult to operate smoothly due to Indian regulations that prevent foreign-owned entities from owning stakes in sellers or having control over their inventory.

In other news, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is focused on making digital currency payments as easy as cash. Offline, feature phone-based payments and purpose-defined payments are the next big charters for the RBI and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to stimulate the adoption of central bank digital currency (CBDC). The RBI is running a pilot with around 14 banks for CBDC transactions. The target is to achieve a million transactions per day.

Food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy are planning to approach goods and services tax (GST) authorities to clarify their position after receiving notices seeking tax on delivery fees collected from consumers. The issue could have wider implications, as other companies collecting such fees could also be asked to pay tax on the amount. Typically, gig workers operate as delivery partners for these platforms, and customers are charged a fee for the delivery.

An explainer on artificial general intelligence (AGI) highlights its risks and differences from genAI. AGI refers to software with the general cognitive abilities of human beings, while genAI learns from data fed into its model and can generate new data. AGI systems pose risks of going beyond human control or not aligning with human values. They can also pose existential risks.

Additionally, there are other top stories in the tech industry. The Indian government is set to introduce new regulations to control deep-fake content. Taj Hotels recently experienced a data breach that may have exposed the personal information of about 1.5 million customers. The RBI’s cautionary stand on unsecured lending is expected to impact the securitization of such loans. Furthermore, global picks include articles on the blowup at OpenAI and the dark history of digital hate in India.