RS clears online gaming bill; Bike taxis back in Bengaluru
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Rajya Sabha clears Online Gaming Bill 2025
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Nazara faces PokerBaazi write-off risk
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Bike taxis back on the roads in Bengaluru, Karnataka HC says govt can't prohibit trade
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Rapido fined Rs 10 lakh for misleading ads
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Smart glasses shipments soar 110% in H1 2025, led by Ray-Ban Meta
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The contentious online gaming bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, now awaiting the President's assent. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ New Google Pixel■ DeepSeek's V3 model■ Chart-ed: Smart glasses in vogueIndia moved a step closer to reshaping its online gaming ecosystem on Thursday as the Rajya Sabha passed the Online Gaming Bill, 2025 , even as the Opposition raised objections.The bill bans all real-money online games and lays the groundwork for a regulatory framework to promote e-sports and social gaming. Offenders could face up to three years in prison or fines of up to Rs 1 crore.Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told lawmakers the bill classifies online games into three categories: e-sports, online social games (like chess or sudoku), and online money gaming, which he labelled a 'public health risk.'The Bill also proposes setting up a regulator to determine which games can legally operate, casting doubt on the future of fantasy sports, rummy, poker, and other real-money formats. This puts the business models of companies such as Dream11, Gameskraft, Games24x7, PokerBaazi, and WinZO in the firing line.India had 591 million gamers in 2024, accounting for 20% of the global gaming population. The domestic gaming market was valued at Rs 31,938 crore last year and is projected to hit Rs 78,551 crore by 2029, according to a report by WinZo Games. Real-money gaming contributed 85.7% of revenue in 2024, signalling massive disruption ahead.Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara TechnologiesNazara Technologies could take a significant hit following the Parliament's clearance of the Online Gaming Bill. The company has invested Rs 805 crore in PokerBaazi's parent, Moonshine Technologies, which may now face a full write-off if the real-money gaming ban is enforced.Nazara's stock tumbled another 11% on Thursday, extending its two-day slide to 23% , closing at Rs 1,085 on BSE. Brokerage ICICI Securities slashed its price target from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,100, valuing Moonshine at zero.Joint MD and CEO Nitish Mittersain sought to calm investor nerves. 'Even going forward, since we are not having any contribution from real money gaming in our financial numbers that we report, there is no disturbance with what we will report,' he told CNBC-TV18.Nazara earns 80% of its revenues from international markets and has built a diversified portfolio across gamified learning, publishing, and e-sports. While analysts expect short-term volatility, the company's non-RMG segments remain solid. Still, investor sentiment around PokerBaazi could remain a drag until the new rules are enforced.Bike taxis are back on the streets of Bengaluru after a two-month pause, thanks to a Karnataka High Court intervention. Aggregators like Uber, Rapido, and Ola have resumed services, and commuters are already hopping on.The High Court questioned the government's decision to halt operations and asked why the trade couldn't simply be regulated. A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi was hearing appeals by Ola, Uber, and Rapido. The court noted that many livelihoods were involved and urged the government to give the issue a 'serious thought.'There was no formal order permitting operations. However, both Uber and Rapido quietly brought back the bike taxi option on their apps. Transport minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters that the court has given the state one month to decide whether to formulate a bike taxi policy. He clarified that service providers haven't been officially allowed to resume operations just yet.Karnataka banned bike taxis on June 16 , pushing daily commuters to rely on costlier alternatives such as autos, cabs, or public transport.India's consumer watchdog has slapped Rapido with a Rs 10 lakh fine for misleading advertisements. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) also directed the company to compensate users who were denied promised payouts under its 'Auto in 5 minutes or Get Rs 50' scheme.The CCPA found that Rapido's disclaimers were hidden in tiny, unreadable fonts, and the Rs 50 compensation was actually in 'Rapido coins' – valid only for bike rides and expired in a week. Worse, Rapido shifted responsibility to its drivers instead of owning the guarantee.ET Soonicorns Summit 2025: AI-powered not enough, building moats is the real deal!Entrepreneurial journeys, worth a story! The ET Soonicorns Summit 2025, on August 22 in Bengaluru, will bring together some fascinating aspects of the Indian startup ecosystem.Curated high-octane sessions will unravel market leadership, the mindset of the market makers, and India as a technological powerhouse. Piyush Shah, President & COO, Glance, and Co-founder, InMobi and Saahil Goel, MD and CEO at Shiprocket, will decipher AI moats for a new era of leadership. The 35-minute session will focus on 'Unravelling AI Moats for Market Leadership' and building lasting competitive advantages through them.Meanwhile, Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Founders of Licious, will construe the lessons from building India's first scaled meat brand in an impactful Fireside chat titled: The Mindset of Market Makers. Join Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, founders of Ultraviolette Automotive, as they present India as the next technological powerhouse in mobility and uncover their unique story, when these entrepreneurs dared to challenge India's mileage-first mentality in the two-wheeler segment.What are you waiting for? Do book your seats before they are filled!Google unveiled its Pixel 10 smartphone lineup on Wednesday, placing AI front and centre instead of flashy hardware upgrades. The launch featured four new smartphones — Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and the foldable Pixel 10 Pro Fold — alongside the Pixel Watch 4 and new Pixel Buds.The devices run on the new Tensor G5 chip, which delivers 34% faster performance and supports Gemini Nano, Google's on-device AI model. For the first time, the base Pixel 10 adds a telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom.Features include Magic Cue for contextual suggestions, Live Translate for phone calls, and a Daily Hub assistant baked into Android 16. The Pixel 10 Fold introduces 'Instant View', letting users preview and retake photos more easily on its large screen.Google is pitching its devices as an AI gateway , even though Pixels hold just 1.1% of the global smartphone market. Shipments are strongest in the US, Japan and the UK.Closer home, the Pixel 10 starts at Rs 79,999, while the foldable tops out globally at $1,799.Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has launched an upgraded version of its V3 model on Thursday, now tuned for local hardware.The new DeepSeek-V3.1 adds support for FP8 precision — a data format designed to optimise performance on next-generation Chinese semiconductors. It also debuts a hybrid inference mode that toggles between reasoning and non-reasoning tasks, available through a 'deep thinking' switch on both the app and the platform.DeepSeek made headlines earlier this year with models that rivalled OpenAI's ChatGPT while offering significantly lower operating costs . The latest update goes a step further, dovetailing Beijing's tech agenda by reducing dependency on US-made chips. The company has also announced revised API pricing from September 6, signalling its intent to start monetising broader adoption.China accounts for nearly 20% of the global AI talent but continues to face chip bottlenecks. DeepSeek's localisation play could give homegrown players a leg up on foreign competitors, especially within China's tightly controlled tech space.Smart glasses shipments jumped 110% year-on-year (YoY) in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), according to Counterpoint's global tracker. The success of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses primarily drove the surge.AI-powered models made up 78% of total shipments in H1 2025, up from 46% a year ago and 66% in H2 2024. The AI category alone recorded over 250% YoY growth, far outpacing the overall market. Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses saw shipments rise more than 200% year-on-year, fuelled by strong demand and ramped-up production by Meta's partner Luxottica. This gave Meta a commanding 73% share of the global smart glasses market.
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