Quick heads up: I was on the latest edition of The WSJ‘s “The Journal” podcast talking about my recent story on U.S. tech giants facing pushback here in India.
I was happy to join in as I’ve long admired the show, and this was my first appearance.
You can listen online here or in your favorite podcast app. Just search for “The Journal.” The episode was out yesterday, December 10, and is called “India Rewrites the Rules for Big Tech.”
That’s the headline on my most recent story, with my colleague Justin Scheck.
It was on the front page of Friday’s WSJ.
NEW DELHI–Silicon Valley venture capital is funding a wave of fintech startups in India that use data from borrowers’ cellphones to collect on debts in ways that are illegal in both India and the U.S.
The startups are providing much-needed credit in India, where consumer lending has been limited by a lack of credit scores and by banks that are reluctant to make personal loans. While the newcomers’ tactics are illegal, they are ignored by Indian regulators who want to encourage lending, according to analysts and company insiders. The startups also use personal data to make lending decisions.
It is the latest example of Silicon Valley pushing legal and ethical boundaries in a global race for customers and profit. Lured by the promise of massive populations of people who are just beginning to transact online, tech companies are moving into banking in emerging markets, where cultural norms are complex, regulations are often weak, and many consumers lack credit histories or even official identification.
I also discussed the story on our What’s News podcast. You can listen on Spotify here or search your favorite podcast app for WSJ What’s News.
That’s the headline on my newest story, out yesterday. It begins:
NEW DELHI—The parent company of popular Indian mobile-payments startup Paytm said it has secured $1 billion in fresh funds from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and China’s Ant Financial Services Group, giving it more firepower in a fast-growing but crowded market.
The investment values the parent company, One97 Communications Ltd., at $16 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, making it one of Asia’s most valuable startups.
The Noida, India-based company makes a smartphone app that allows users to pay for goods and services such as groceries, auto rickshaw rides, movie tickets and electricity bills. It also has an e-commerce platform and offers financial products such as mutual funds and savings accounts.
The investment is a “reaffirmation of our commitment” to provide “new age financial services,” founder and Chief Executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in a statement Monday in India.
Last week – November 4 – marked two years since we adopted Ginger.
She continues to be a delight. She is clever, loyal, playful, energetic, silly, and sometimes slightly devious. And she definitely loves her long walks.
The photo at the top is from a Lodhi Garden trip. She loves that place. Here’s another pic of her there:
And here she is at rest in the sun at home:
One of her most endearing traits is her love of pouncing. Here’s a video of her hopping on me when I called her recently! 
Dogs: What would life be without them?
Previously:
New Delhi can be very dog-unfriendly.
It’s hard to walk canines here, and most restaurants and cafes don’t allow furry companions.
So we were excited today to discover that Sunder Nursery, a recently opened park that friends have raved about, lets you bring in pooches – provided you clean up after them, and keep them leashed, and off the grass (humans must also stick to most pathways).
Located near Humayun’s Tomb in central Delhi, it opened earlier this year after being renovated. It houses a 16th century tomb, various gardens and lawns, and is meticulously maintained. You can find it on Google Maps here.
An added bonus: There’s a farmers’ market every Sunday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. You can buy coffee and juices, snacks, produce and more. There are tables to sit down and eat, as well.
The complex is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. There’s a small admission charge for entry.
You can find more info on the Sunder Nursery Wikipedia page, and on TripAdvisor. Scroll down for pics — and a photo of the rules posted outside the entrance stipulating that canines are allowed in.
Highly recommended by us – and Ginger.
Sunder Nursery
Just inside the entrance
The place is surprisingly un-crowded
Acres of green
The farmers market
The farmers market
Produce
Stare-down with some local dogs
See point number nine.
A monsoon season sky here in the Indian capital on a recent afternoon.
That’s the headline on my latest story, out today.
NEW DELHI–The leading player in the battle for mobile payments in India isn’t either of China’s pioneers, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. or Tencent Holdings Ltd. It isn’t Apple Inc., Visa Inc. or even PayPal Holdings Inc. It’s Google.
The Alphabet Inc. unit has for years tried to diversify its revenues beyond advertising by pushing into new fields like cloud computing and hardware. While its profits remain healthy, it needs new ways to make money as the specter of regulation looms at home and around the globe. Its booming new business in the world’s largest untapped digital market could be the engine of expansion that it has been looking for.
In India today, the company has one of its fastest-growing hits ever with Google Pay, a two-year-old app that millions of consumers are using to spend and transfer tens of billions of dollars.
Resembling a chat app and available in local languages, Google Pay was the most downloaded financial technology app world-wide last year, according to SensorTower, a research and marketing firm for the app industry.
Click through to read the rest.
Spotted this guy near Connaught Place yesterday. A simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly way to sharpen blades!
Hi, friends. Welcome to the latest edition of Newley’s Notes.
My latest story, out last Tuesday and teased on the WSJ front page Wednesday: The Hottest Phones for the Next Billion Users Aren’t Smartphones. It begins:
NEW DELHI–The hottest phones for the world’s next billion users aren’t made by smartphone leaders Samsung Electronics Co. or Apple Inc. In fact, they aren’t even smartphones.
Millions of first-time internet consumers from the Ivory Coast to India and Indonesia are connecting to the web on a new breed of device that only costs about $25. The gadgets look like the inexpensive Nokia Corp. phones that were big about two decades ago. But these hybrid phones, fueled by inexpensive mobile data, provide some basic apps and internet access in addition to calling and texting.
As I mention in the story, as part of our reporting we spoke with a fruit vendor here in New Delhi who makes about $80 per month. He couldn’t afford even the cheapest smartphones, but is now online – streaming Bollywood music and watching movies with his family night – thanks to a “smart feature phone” that cost only about $20.
Click through to read the rest.
1) Apple contractors ‘regularly hear confidential details’ on Siri recordings [The Guardian]
“Although Apple does not explicitly disclose it in its consumer-facing privacy documentation, a small proportion of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors working for the company around the world.”
2) The Most Gullible Man in Cambridge [New York/The Cut]
“A Harvard Law professor who teaches a class on judgment wouldn’t seem like an obvious mark, would he?”
3) Tech-related longread of the week: The Hidden Costs of Automated Thinking [The New Yorker]
“In the past, intellectual debt has been confined to a few areas amenable to trial-and-error discovery, such as medicine. But that may be changing, as new techniques in artificial intelligence – specifically, machine learning – increase our collective intellectual credit line.”
4) In Hong Kong Protests, Faces Become Weapons [New York Times]
“Hong Kong is at the bleeding edge of a significant change in the authorities’ ability to track dangerous criminals and legitimate political protesters alike – and in their targets’ ability to fight back.”
5) U.S. teen wins $3 million at video game tournament Fortnite World Cup [Reuters]
“Geirsdorf, 16, from Pennsylvania, was one of at least 100 players competing for $30 million in total prize money, as the booming popularity of video and online games has drawn top-dollar investments and fueled the emerging professional sport. ”
6) Sony’s Wearable Air Conditioner Should Be Ready for Next Year’s Heat Wave [Gizmodo]
“…Sony is crowdfunding a portable wearable air conditioner/heater so you can flip the bird to mother nature and live your best, climate-controlled life.”
7) How Legal Marijuana Is Helping the Black Market [Politico]
“Expensive regulation and high demand across the country have made the illicit trade more profitable than going legit.”
8) Notre Dame Fire Revives Demand For Skilled Stone Carvers In France [NPR]
“In the workshops of the Hector Guimard high school, less than three miles from the cathedral, young stone carvers are training for that task.”
9) A Global Feast in an Unlikely Spot: Lancaster, Pa. [New York Times]
“This small city, best-known for its Amish and Mennonite communities, is a welcoming home for immigrants, refugees and their cooking.”
(Thanks, Jess!)
10) Hi! Can i interest you in a ball?!?! [Reddit]
Quote of the week:
“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day." – Charlie Munger
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Fist bump from New Delhi,
Newley
That’s the headline on my most recent story, which came out Tuesday.
NEW DELHI—The hottest phones for the world’s next billion users aren’t made by smartphone leaders Samsung Electronics Co. or Apple Inc. In fact, they aren’t even smartphones.
Millions of first-time internet consumers from the Ivory Coast to India and Indonesia are connecting to the web on a new breed of device that only costs about $25. The gadgets look like the inexpensive Nokia Corp. phones that were big about two decades ago. But these hybrid phones, fueled by inexpensive mobile data, provide some basic apps and internet access in addition to calling and texting.
Smart feature phones, as they are known, are one of the mobile-phone industry’s fastest-growing and least-known segments, providing a simple way for some of the world’s poorest people to enter the internet economy.
While global smartphone sales began sliding last year as markets became saturated, smart feature phone shipments tripled to around 75 million from 2017, according to research firm Counterpoint. Some 84 million are likely to be shipped this year.