India’s central bank Reserve Bank of India has officially set up its innovation hub to boost financial technology startups in the country.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, the co-founder of Infosys and founder of Axilor Ventures, has been appointed as the Chairperson of the hub.

The RBI also announced the first cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox with two startups – Natural Support Consultancy Services and Nucleus Software Exports.

India’s central bank Reserve Bank of India has officially set up its innovation hub to boost financial technology startups in the country. In an official statement the central bank said that the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) will promote innovation across the financial sector by leveraging technology and creating an environment that would facilitate and foster innovation.

The battle between Amazon and Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd (FRL)  took another twist on Monday with the US-based company seemingly seeking to control assets worth about Rs 30,000 crore through an investment of just Rs 1,431 crore in an arm of Future Group.

Amazon's investment exposure is limited to Rs 1,431 crore in Future Coupons Ltd (FCL) alone. It would be noteworthy to note that Future Group's assets (including retail and wholesale trade, logistics and warehousing, and FMCG outsourcing businesses) are worth in excess of Rs 30,000 crore.

The Future Group employs around 50,000 employees. Banks and financial institutions have an exposure in excess of Rs 18,000 crore towards unpaid debts from Future Group's accounts. Suppliers and vendors will also have an exposure in excess of Rs 7,500 crore towards unpaid bills from Future Group's accounts.

Mukesh Ambai-led Reliance Industries' retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures has bought a 96 per cent stake in online furniture retailer Urban Ladder for ₹ 182.12 crore ($24.4 million), in an attempt to expand its presence in India's online retail market. Reliance said in a stock exchange filing today (November 15) that the acquisition will further enable the group's digital and new commerce initiatives and widen the bouquet of consumer products provided by the group. The conglomerate is looking to expand its new commerce venture, which connects neighborhood stores to Reliance for online deliveries of groceries, electronics, and apparel in order to emerge as a potent competitor to current e-commerce leaders such as Walmart Inc's Flipkart and Jeff Bezos's Amazon.

A legal spat between Amazon.com Inc. and its Indian partner that started before an arbitrator in Singapore just got fiercer in a court in New Delhi.

The U.S. e-commerce giant and Future Group, whose assets billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. recently agreed to buy for $3.4 billion, are locked in a dispute over that deal. Amazon says Future violated a contract with the sale to its rival and wants to halt it, while the indebted Mumbai-based firm says it would collapse if the transaction were to fail.

The Jeff Bezos-led e-tailer has accused Future and its founder Kishore Biyani of flouting disclosure rules, according to court filings seen by Bloomberg. Future’s disclosures were “made as per the applicable requirements,” the company said in an email, refuting the allegations. Amazon has also written to the Competition Commission of India asking it not to approve the takeover until arbitration proceedings are complete.

Retail inflation, calculated on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI), continued to rise in October, reaching 7.61 per cent on the back of rise on food prices. The consumer price inflation was recorded at 7.27 per cent in the previous month. Inflation in food basket, or Consumer Food Price Index, increased to 11.07 per cent in October from 10.68 per cent in September.

Inflation in vegetable prices remained high during the month under review at 22.51 per cent. Prices for portein products also were steep with inflation in meat and fish at 18.70 per cent and that for eggs at 21.81 per cent. Pulses and related products got costlier too with inflation rate at 18.34 per cent.

With this, retail inflation has remained above RBI's upper tolerance level of 6 per cent for the seventh month in a row.