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Regulators meet AI. 

The Reserve Bank of India has selected consultancy firms McKinsey and Company India and Accenture Solutions India to develop systems using AI and ML for its supervisory functions. RBI is looking to use advanced tech to analyse its huge database and improve regulatory supervision over banks and NBFCs.

Meanwhile, Sebi plans to implement a geotagging solution in the current financial year to strengthen the process of its enforcement activities. 

The capital markets regulator is also expected to integrate its e-registration system with agencies like DigiLocker and the National Institute Of Securities Market through an application programming interface to facilitate real-time verification of information submitted by intermediaries.

Speaking of data, the Digital Personal Data Protection bill, passed by Parliament last week, has received President’s assent. Here’s what the new law means. 

ICYMI: An image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope showing a cosmic object in the shape of a question mark has left space observers scratching their heads. Scientists now have a few guesses on what the question mark could be. 

And in more space news, the annual Perseid meteor shower has lit up skies across the world. The phenomenon brings up to 100 meteors an hour, as the Earth slams into the debris left behind from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• India’s growing love for poker 
• Made-in-India footwear brand Abros 
• A fuel station run by women convicts

Here’s your trivia for today: The chemical element uranium was named after which planet?

Gaming 

India’s growing love for poker 

While the gaming industry and the government debate over whether it counts as a skill-based or chance-based game, poker continues to attract more players in India. The game’s compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is estimated at nearly 16.9% and is projected to reach $346 million in size by 2030, as per data by Custom Market Insights. 

Currently, 28 startups in India are dedicated to hosting poker games, as per data from Tracxn. The largest such platform is Pokerbaazi. 

Poker face:

• In 2022, the real-money gaming segment accounted for 77% of India’s gaming sector revenues amounting to Rs 13,500 crore, as per a FICCI-EY report. 
• The growth momentum of poker startups is now under serious threat with the recent decision of the GST Council to impose 28% GST on bets, especially in the realm of online gaming. 
• Five states in India—Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, and Arunachal Pradesh—have outright banned such games.

SMB

Made-in-India footwear brand Abros

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Abros’ Exclusive Brand Outlet

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In FY23, Abros Sports International sold 60 lakh pairs of footwear, generating a revenue of Rs 328 crore. With its entry into the Middle East, the two-and-a-half-year-old company now has its sights set on making it a Rs 1,000 crore business. 

Abros says it has made its pricing suited for the mass market, striking a balance with the quality of the products. Its range of sports shoes starts at Rs 699 and goes up to Rs 3,299, adhering to the norms set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). 

The perfect fit:

• Abros has its roots in a 30-year-old family business–Narmada Polymers–that specialises in soles manufacturing.
• The brand has a wide reach across India, with a network of 16,000 retailers and 70 to 75 distributors. Additionally, it sells through -commerce platforms like Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, and its own website.
• The company opened 11 exclusive stores in FY23 across Delhi, Alwar, and Jaipur in FY23. In the current fiscal, it has plans to open 15 more such stores. 

Social reform

A fuel station run by women convicts

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The Freedom Filling Station in Puzhal, Chennai will be operated by 30 women convicts from the Special Prison for Women, Puzhal.

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On August 10, the Tamil Nadu Department of Prisons and Correctional Services launched a first-of-its-kind fuel station run by women convicts from the Special Prison for Women, Puzhal. Thirty women serving time at the prison have begun working at the petrol retail outlet for a 12-hour shift from 6 am to 6 pm, after which male convicts take over for the night shift.

A better tomorrow:

• A note from the Departments of Prisons said the women prisoners employed at the petrol bunk—named ‘Freedom Filling Station’ on the Ambattur-Puzhal road in the outskirts of Chennai—will earn Rs 6,000 per month each from this job. 
• Amaraesh Pujari, DGP, Prisons and Correctional Services, Tamil Nadu, said the initiative is aimed at de-stigmatisation of women convicts and an opportunity to help them reform, rehabilitate and reintegrate with society.
• In India, only 15 states/union territories have women-only jails. The country has a total of 32 such establishments with a capacity of 6,767 inmates.  However, the number of female prisoners in India at the end of the year 2021 was 22,918.      

News & updates

• Capital inflow: China’s State Council issued guidelines on Sunday that it said would further optimise the country’s foreign investment environment and attract more foreign investment.
• Adani Ports: Gautam Adani’s ports business appointed MSKA & Associates as its statutory auditors after Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP resigned, a move that may again put the spotlight on governance at the Indian conglomerate.
• Taylor’s version: From the next academic year, the University of Ghent in Belgium will add a new elective English literature course featuring singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s work.

The chemical element uranium was named after which planet?

Answer: Uranus. The element was discovered in 1789 by German chemist Martin Klaproth, who isolated an oxide of uranium while analysing samples from a silver mine in the former Kingdom of Bohemia, located in current-day Czechia. He named his discovery “uran” after the planet Uranus.

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