In Brief: Parliamentary panel raises concerns over Data Protection Bill

Several members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), formed to examine the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, have reportedly raised concerns over various clauses of the law. As per an Economic Times report, citing people familiar with the matter, the members have questioned multiple aspects of the proposed bill, including the data access exemption given to the government to maintain national security and public order, as well as the case of data localisation, absence of judicial representation in the selection panel for Data Protection Authority’s chairperson, and the inclusion of non-personal data under the purview of the bill. The members are also split over user verification requirements for social media platforms and the ‘child’ age bar for parental consent.

Paytm Money offers IPO investment services

Digital payments platform Paytm said that its wealth management arm, Paytm Money, will offer customers IPO investment services on its mobile app and website. The facility will help retail investors across the country subscribe to the latest IPOs by making payment through the UPI ID linked to their bank account, Paytm said, adding that the service aims to cut the entire IPO application turnaround time to three-four days and comes with the option to make changes, cancel or reapply the bidding application within the IPO window. Users can also track upcoming IPOs, view performance of past IPOs, see company history and download its prospectus, it said.

ZEE5 partners with XroadMedia to upgrade video, social media offerings

OTT player ZEE5 said it has partnered with Vienna headquartered XroadMedia, a specialist in content personalisation solutions, to upgrade its video-on-demand offerings and social media services. As part of the collaboration, ZEE5, in a statement, said it would integrate XroadMedia’s Ncanto back-end solution to offer its users advanced content discovery, recommendations and real-time dynamic personalisation, based on their interests and watching behaviour. The company will also use XroadMedia’s expertise to scale up its new short-form video service, called HiPi, the statement said.