News.

Meta’s India and Southeast Asia VP joins OpenAI

Sandhya Devanathan is leaving Meta for OpenAI after more than a decade. Her new remit covers Southeast Asia and Australia from Singapore, and does not include India.

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Uber, Eternal and Porter quit Karnataka gig board

Uber, Eternal and Porter have exited the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers Welfare Board while Amazon India stays on. The exit reason is attributed to ET reporting, not confirmed by the companies.

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FSSAI proposes red hexagon warnings on packaged food

FSSAI has proposed a red hexagonal front-of-pack warning system for high sugar, saturated fat and salt, rolled out in two phases. The nutrient thresholds are not specified in the proposal as reported, and no implementation date has been given.

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FSSAI’s five claim words, and Nestle’s CEO backing

Nestle's global chief has backed FSSAI's line on misleading labels, and the specific claim words now under scrutiny are the part packaged food brands should act on.

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ChatGPT ads: what is actually left for agencies

WPP and Omnicom are the first agency partners on ChatGPT Ads in India, the arrangement is non-exclusive, and a self-serve buying model leaves an open question about what agencies are for here.

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Where ChatGPT ads sit and what data comes back

Ads sit below a ChatGPT response, labelled and visually separated from the answer, and advertisers get aggregate impressions and clicks rather than conversations.

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OpenAI opens ChatGPT Ads in India at Rs 725 a day

ChatGPT Ads is live in India for Free and Go tier users, with daily campaign budgets starting at Rs 725 and self-serve access to the Ads Manager opening on 4 September.

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Nitro lets Shopify sellers build apps by prompt

Nitro Commerce has launched Nitro Apps, which builds and installs private Shopify applications from a prompt, with more than 700 created during its private beta.

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Curaa raises Rs 40 Cr Series A led by 3one4 Capital

Two-year-old kitchenware brand Curaa has raised Rs 40 Cr to widen its range and build warehousing, with existing backers doubling down alongside 3one4 Capital.

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boAt FY26: profit up 38% as revenue slips

boAt lifted net profit 38% to Rs 84.5 Cr in FY26 while operating revenue fell to Rs 2,931 Cr, with wearables swinging to a segment profit.

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Flipkart Minutes edges past Instamart in CLSA count

A CLSA note puts Flipkart Minutes 12 stores ahead of Swiggy Instamart across India's top 10 cities, in a count that leaves out Amazon and JioMart entirely.

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Purple Style Labs: Rs 680 crore all-fresh-issue IPO

Purple Style Labs, parent of Pernia's Pop Up Shop, has filed its RHP for a Rs 680 crore IPO, up from Rs 660 crore, with no offer for sale. The largest use of proceeds is lease liabilities on its experience centre network.

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Epigamia: $20 Mn secondary, no fresh capital in

Verlinvest, the Mirchandani family and new entrant Sauce.vc have bought about $20 million of Epigamia shares from existing investors. It is a secondary transaction, so the company itself received no money.

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DealShare: sale talks reported as options narrow

Entrackr reports that DealShare is in acquisition talks with TrueMeds and Captain Fresh, citing unnamed sources who requested anonymity. No party contacted for the story confirmed anything, and no deal value is stated.

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AI ad spend by FY27: a forecast, not a finding

One practitioner expects AI to control 65 to 75 per cent of digital media spend by FY27. Another named in the same piece puts FY27 at 50 to 70 per cent. Neither number comes from a published report, and the only report-sourced figures measure something else.

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Dark stores become the shelf as festive ad rates rise

Six quick commerce platforms are processing around 9.5 million orders a day, and festive placement costs are rising to match. The dark store now works as shelf space, but the costs the reporting actually discloses are advertising costs, not rent.

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Amazon and Flipkart tighten seller fees before festive

Amazon has moved its seller cancellation charge to a percentage of order value and raises closing fees from 7 September. Flipkart's dispatch penalties went live on 23 August. Both changes land weeks before the festive peak, and the two published accounts do not agree on scope.

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SEBI proposes curbs on bond ad claim words

A SEBI consultation paper would make online bond platform providers back six named claim phrases with real information, with comments open until 11 September 2026.

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Amazon expands rail freight on the Western DFC

Amazon India has expanded operations on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor with Indian Railways and DFCCIL, with the first JPP-RCS train flagged off on 18 August 2026.

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DGFT frees atta, maida and rava exports

A DGFT notification moves wheat flour, maida, semolina and atta from prohibited to free, reopening a channel that has been shut since 2022.

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Colgate India puts 60 percent of ad money in digital

Advertising and promotion has moved from a historical 12 to 13 percent of sales to near 16 percent, and the majority of it is now pointed at digital.

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Third Wave Coffee raises Rs 408 crore led by WestBridge

The chain is funding nine new cities and a dessert line extension at once, off an FY25 P and L that lost Rs 94 crore on Rs 285 crore of operating revenue.

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Asaya raises Rs 88 crore at Rs 400 crore valuation

The D2C skincare brand is live on ten Indian platforms including all three major quick commerce apps, and says the next moves are deeper quick commerce and offline retail partnerships.

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Wakefit up 16.69 percent leads new-age tech stocks this week

PM Modi asks ministries to adopt Indian digital platforms

Colgate-Palmolive India names Manish Anandani MD and CEO

Ministry removes the 10 plus 2 TV advertising cap

FSSAI cancels Amazon warehouse licence, 150 plus notices issued

Accel and AVP sell Amagi shares in Rs 587.3 Cr block deals

Greenjoules raises Rs 62 Cr from Amazon and Singularity fund

Omega Seiki raises another Rs 50 Cr for Africa expansion

Battery Smart raises Rs 185.5 Cr Series C at Rs 4,075 Cr

Be Clinical raises Rs 21 Cr led by Sauce for clinical skincare

Zomato pilots Zomato Now food pods in Gurugram offices

Bata puts 45 percent of spends on digital, exits retainer creative

Festive quick commerce ad budgets rise 25 to 35 percent

CBI FIR names BluSmart founders in Rs 672 Cr IREDA case

MeitY notifies Rs 62,500 Cr mobile manufacturing scheme

Gurugram FIR over alleged pesticide sale through Meesho

SC directs Matrimony.com and Jodi365 to explore settlement

Zetwerk UDRHP: Rs 2,600 Cr fresh issue, 70% to debt

Upstox begins preliminary IPO talks, $400 Mn eyed: report

Phi Commerce board approves Rs 38.54 Cr round at Rs 1,505 Cr

Fleetx.ai acquires TMS provider Pando.ai, value undisclosed

Zaydn raises $681K seed led by Inflection Point Ventures

D2C watch brand Bruno Milano raises Rs 7.5 Cr led by Sauce VC

Nobel Hygiene files DRHP: Rs 150 Cr fresh issue plus OFS

Atomberg FY26: revenue up 34.8%, net loss widens to Rs 148.9 Cr

Deepinder Goyal’s Temple Wearable Shrinks Ahead of 2026 Launch

Madras High Court Restrains Matrimony.com From Using Jodii

UBS Sees a Blinkit Moment in Home Services, Urban Company Jumps

Walmart Q2: Flipkart Ads Lifts Global Advertising Business

Zaggle jumps 12% after Kedia Securities buys 1.48% stake

Cashify turns public limited, names independent directors

Cashfree FY26 revenue Rs 967 Cr, loss narrows to Rs 118.5 Cr

Navi raises $100 Mn from Prosus at a reported markdown

Yantra Packs raises Rs 12 Cr seed led by Caret Capital

Orange Health FY26: Rs 138.6 Cr revenue, Rs 146 Cr real loss

BGauss raises Rs 110 Cr at about Rs 1,000 Cr valuation

Peeko raises $7 Mn to double Bengaluru dark store count