India and Singapore UPI-PayNow linkage goes live; Capgemini forecasts slower growth in 2023

India and Singapore have linked their digital payments systems, UPI and PayNow, to support instant and low-cost cross-border payments. The system went live yesterday. Capgemini forecast weaker revenue growth and said it would slow down hiring in 2023 amid a global economic slowdown, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, Wipro is asking some recruits to join at lower pay, according to Economic Times. Also in this brief, the US Supreme court is hearing an important case against Google; and a British trial of four-day work weeks results in many participants sticking with it. Notes: America’s Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in a case against Google that some feared could alter an important US law, with implications for free speech on the internet, CNBC reports. The country’s top judges, however, expressed hesitation in changing the fine balance set by the current rules, according to CNBC. The case is known as Gonzalez v. Google, brought by the family of an American who died in a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. The petitioners argued that Google and its subsidiary YouTube did not do enough to remove or stop promoting ISIS terrorist videos seeking to recruit members, which they argue is a violation of America’s Anti-Terrorism Act. India and Singapore have linked their digital payments systems, UPI and PayNow, to support instant and low-cost fund transfers in a major push to disrupt the cross-border flow of money between the two nations that amounts to over $1 billion each year, TechCrunch reports. The linkage between the two systems went live yesterday, officials from the two countries' central banks said at a press conference, according to TechCrunch. Eight banks including DBS, Liquid Group, Axis Bank and State Bank of India from Singapore and India are currently participating in the collaboration, they said. Indians and Singaporeans can use their local payments systems to send money across in real-time, according to the officials, TechCrunch reports. For now, an Indian user can remit up to Rs. 60,000 or about 1000 Singapore dollars a day, the Reserve Bank of India said in a press release yesterday. The plan for this linkage was first announced in 2021. Wipro has asked fresh recruits holding job offers from the company to join at half the salary that was originally offered, Economic Times reports, citing an e-mail from the company to the job seekers. The recruits – for roles such as project engineer – had originally been offered Rs. 6.5 lakh as annual compensation and they are now being asked to join the company at a salary of Rs. 3.5 lakh, according to ET. Larger rival Capgemini, yesterday, forecast weaker revenue growth and said it would slow down hiring in 2023 amid a global economic slowdown, Reuters reports. Capgemini's shares ended down 2.78 percent yesterday on the Euronext Paris stock exchange. Capgemini expects 2023 revenue to grow between 4 percent and 7 percent in constant currency, compared with 16.6 percent last year. Several British employers trialling a four-day working week have mostly decided to stick with it after a pilot, hailed as a breakthrough by campaigners for better work-life balance, Reuters reported yesterday.