5105: India AI mission chief Abhishek Singh to leave MeitY; Brand risks loom for influencers after proposed IT rules; Pune's pay for IT jobs scam; and Inside Eloelo's pitch deck and the micro drama boom | MC Tech3

0:00India AI mission chief Abhishek Singh to leave Mayti appointed DG of the National Testing Agency. Randrisks loom for influencers after proposed IT rules. Pune's pay for jobs scam, a grand report. Inside L.O. L.O. switch deck and the micro drama boom. EBS said to become costlier in Karnataka. You are listening to Money Controls Tech 3 podcast. Hello listeners, welcome to Money Controls Tech 3 podcast. Your go-to show for the sharpest startup and tech updates. You can catch us on the Money Control website, Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. Before we get into our top story, some breaking news this evening. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has transferred Abhishek Singh out of Mayti. Now remember apart from being the additional Secretary of Mayti, he was also the head of the India AI mission.

1:02Yes, so he was also NIC Director General. He will now take over as Director General of the National Testing Agency under the Ministry of Education. The move comes at a time when the NTA is under scrutiny over national level exams at Mayti. Singh was leading the 10,000 crore India AI mission and overseeing the government's digital infrastructure arm. The government's proposed IT rules may soon bring user generated news content under Titus scrutiny and this is sending jitters across India's influencer ecosystem. Yes, brands are now being closed attention. If these rules come into force influencers talking about news or politics could see brand deals shrink. So advertisers tend to avoid regulatory and reputational risk. The interesting part is that users themselves are not being classified as publishers but their content could still be reviewed under the same oversight framework which means platforms may step up moderation to stay compliant.

2:03That could lead to more takedowns, reduce reach or content being flat more frequently. If the ripple effect is behavioral here, creators may simply avoid sensitive topics altogether. Now that matters because 6-12% of India's 4.5 million creators engage with news or political content with 38% indents relying on creators for news. So the impact goes beyond creators to audiences as simplified accessible explainers may begin to disappear. Now to a story from Pune that highlights the darker side of the hiring market, a jobs scam involving multiple IT firms like quantum soft technologies, flyknot sas and data tech has left hundreds of candidates without jobs and with significant financial losses. Yes, the model was quite interesting straight forward but very damaging candidates were asked to pay fees sometimes up to 3.5 lakhs in exchange for job offers with promise salaries.

3:04But once they joined, many found there were no real projects, salaries were delayed and basic benefits like pf contributions were missing. At least 10 such IT companies have been identified across Pune in world in similar scams as per the form of IT employees. And over 100 complaints raised against quantum soft at Wimman Nagar police station. Now it is basically a reminder that even in a formal sector like IT gaps in hiring oversight can create serious risk for job seekers. Let's move to content and entertainment. Your attention span might be shrinking but investor interest in the micro drama space is only increasing. Welcome to the era of the two-minute binge. Yes, in focus today is micro drama platform L.O. L.O. which is looking to raise fresh funding of $50 million and the numbers that the company is projecting in that pitch deck that money control has access is quite striking. Now L.O. claims its annualized revenue run rate has grown nearly 10 times in just a few months

4:07but this is calculated by annualizing recent monthly revenue which brings us back to the ongoing ARR debate. Yes, even with that caveat the broader trend is quite clear. Short mobile first content is seeing strong engagement with millions of users spending significant time on these platforms. And investors are tracking that shift as consumption patterns move towards shorter formats. Capital is following attention. Finally, a policy shift that could affect electric vehicle buyers especially in Karnataka. Yes, the state government plans to end its full road tax exemption on EVs introducing a slab-based tax depending on the price of the vehicle. So EVs priced up to Rs 10 lakhs will attract a 5% tax. Those between 10 lakhs and 25 lakhs will wait at Rs 8% and vehicles above 25 lakhs will attract a 10% tax. Karnataka has been living lifetime tax only on EVs priced above Rs 25 lakhs since 2024.

5:07Karnataka had exempted all EVs from road tax in March 2016 to promote adoption. That means EVs which earlier enjoyed complete exemption will now see added up run costs. Yes, officials say any taxes will still be lower than traditional vehicles but the change comes at a time when adoption is still building in India. So the key question is whether this impacts demand in the short term especially as buyers become more price sensitive. The policy will come into effect once it receives final approval but it already signals a shift in how states are balancing incentives with revenue. Alright, that's your wrap for today's episode of Tech V from Money Control. A big shout out to our reporters in the tech and startup team for the stories we covered today. Thank you for listening. We air every Monday to Friday between 7 p.m and 8 p.m. So tune in for more news minus the boring bits. This is Chandra and Bhavya signing off. You were listening to Money Control's Tech 3 podcast.