A budget for farmers, middle class; A Recipe Book for you

With the 17th general elections in a couple of months, the Interim Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal amply reflected the interests of Kisan, mazdoor aur ghar. Expectations from the industry and the startup ecosystem were not sky high but the Budget acknowledged the contribution of the ecosystem.

Go-Jek set to raise $2 billion

Go-Jek is all set to raise $2 billion in funding at a valuation of $9.5 billion. The Indonesian bike taxi service is reported to have finalised the first closing of its ongoing Series F fundraising efforts. The first close is reported to be at $920 million led by Google, Tencent and JD.com. The round is reported to see participation from Provident Capital and Mitsubishi Corporation as well.

Budget bonanza for farmers

Huge bonanza for the agricultural sector! The Interim Budget saw the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, where farmers with land holdings of up to two hectares will receive Rs 6,000 every year in three instalments. The scheme, fully funded by the Government of India, is expected to benefit nearly 12 crore farmers. The total outlay for this project is estimated at Rs 75,000 crore.

Facebook has 1.52 billion daily users

Despite a rocky year, growing privacy concerns and the much-talked-about Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has logged a record revenue for the quarter ending December 2018. The social media giant also reported a growth in user base, up by 9 percent from the year earlier, to 1.52 billion daily active users (DAUs) in Q4. And who’s driving this growth? India.

RBI announces Ombudsman Scheme

On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it has launched the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT) for redressal of complaints regarding digital transactions undertaken by customers of system participants. The Scheme will provide a free-of-cost and expeditious complaint redressal mechanism relating to deficiency in customer services in digital transactions.

#TheNextNew with Vikram Ahuja

Networking and mentorship are on top of the list along with funding, but very often access isn’t easy. In a conversation with YourStory, Vikram Ahuja, Chair of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO), and Founding Partner, Kyron Global Accelerator, reveals why entrepreneurs need to learn from each other, what makes the new India initiative EO CARES unique, and their focus on the #TheNextNew.

A Recipe Book - for all

Hunger pangs can have a ripple effect on people - some turn into Masterchefs, some get stressed, while others stay hungry and foolish (literally). Faced with similar ‘kitchen conundrums’, three young techies created Recipe Book to make cooking easy with hundreds of recipes, local or global. Incubated at the NASSCOM Warehouse in Kochi, Recipe Book app curates recipes across cuisines like Indian, Korean, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Malaysian, Arabian and German.

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