Tech M&A in focus as Competition Amendment Bill introduced; Intel goes ‘net water positive’ in India

India’s Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022 was introduced in the parliament on Aug 5 to give the competition regulator more power, including recruiting experts to help scrutinise tech mergers and acquisitions more closely. Intel achieved ‘net positive’ water status in India, meaning it returned more fresh water through recycling and conservation efforts than it consumed. Notes: India’s Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022 was introduced in parliament on Friday, to empower the competition regulator to scrutinise tech mergers and acquisitions more closely. The introduction was tracked by PRS Legislative Research. One important aspect of the amendment is the expansion of the scope of the areas that the competitions authority will cover, giving it the power to recruit experts in the field of technology. In recent years, the Competition Commission of India has taken up multiple investigations of big tech companies including Google, Apple and Amazon. Intel achieved ‘net positive’ water status in India, meaning it returned more fresh water through recycling and conservation efforts, than it consumed, Economic Times reports, citing the semiconductor giant’s country head. This makes India the third market where Intel has achieved this status, ahead of its 2030 deadline, according to ET. Last week, Intel announced its first green bond to raise $1.25 billion for sustainability projects in six areas. These include green buildings, energy efficiency, circular economy and waste management, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, water stewardship, and renewable electricity. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, said on Friday it doesn’t own India-based platform WazirX, two and a half years after it said it had acquired WazirX, TechCrunch reports. Changpeng Zhao, founder and chief executive of Binance, said in a series of tweets that the company has been “trying to conclude the deal for the past few years,” but hasn’t completed the transaction yet citing “a few issues” that he didn’t elaborate on, according to TechCrunch. The clarification follows India’s Enforcement Directorate's freezing of WazirX’s assets worth over $8 million, citing suspected violation of foreign exchange rule. WazirX is the largest crypto exchange in India by volume, according to TechCrunch. Amazon is acquiring iRobot, the maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, for $1.7 billion in an all-cash deal, the companies announced Friday, according to CNBC. The deal will deepen Amazon’s presence in consumer robotics, where the ecommerce giant unveiled a home robot last year, called Astro. That robot, which costs about $1,450, is equipped with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant and can follow people around their homes. Amazon, Google, and Samsung are among the tech giants developing smart home technologies, while many startups are in the game as well. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds