HENCY R SHAH AND ASSOCIATES

India Loses Billions of Dollars Due to Internet Shutdowns Internet shutdowns are a growing problem around the world. In 2022, there were 114 major deliberate internet outages in 23 countries, affecting 710 million people. These shutdowns had a significant economic and social impact. A study by Top10VPN found that internet shutdowns in 2022 cost the global economy $24.67 billion. This includes losses in productivity, tourism, and foreign investment. The shutdowns also had a negative impact on education and healthcare, as people were unable to access online resources. India lost $1.9 billion in the first half of 2023 due to internet shutdowns. It also found that the shutdowns also led to the loss of 21,000 jobs and $11.8 million in foreign direct investment. The most affected country in 2022 was Russia, which suffered a loss of $21.59 billion due to internet shutdowns. This was followed by Myanmar ($1.09 billion), Iran ($773 million), and India ($582.8 million). The study also foun...

Exploring tech, legal provisions to keep e-Rupee transactions 'anonymous' RBI is exploring technological solutions to keep retail transactions using the digital rupee ‘anonymous’. RBI could also explore legal provisions to keep the transactions anonymous. It will weigh its options as things evolve but will ensure the anonymity of transactions up to a certain limit, which is a basic feature of cash transactions. The basic distinction between Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and digital rupee transactions is that UPI is a payment mode, which involves the intermediation of banks, and the digital rupee is money. So, all UPI transactions hit banks’ core banking solution (CBS). But in the case of a digital rupee, once the money is withdrawn from the bank and reaches the customer’s wallet, the transaction that takes place following this process is essentially a transfer of money between two wallets. Experts have suggested that when a bank ...