iWorld
Chingari ropes in Salman Khan as global brand ambassador & investor
MUMBAI: Homegrown short video format app Chingari has signed popular Bollywood actor Salman Khan as global brand ambassador and investor.
The association with the Dabangg star comes as Chingari is looking to augment its position as the market leader in the Made in India short video-sharing space.
Chingari app co-founder & CEO Sumit Ghosh said, “This is a really significant partnership for Chingari, our ethos is to reach out to every state of Bharat and it’s our pleasure to have Salman Khan on-board as one of our global brand ambassadors and investors. We are confident that our association will power Chingari to scale greater heights in the near future.”
Co-founder & COO Deepak Salvi remarked that Khan’s mass appeal will attract more users onto the platform. Khan, who is in tune with the pulse of the nation and whose popularity cuts across all genres and geography, was the best choice to be the face of the brand, added co-founder & CSO Aditya Kothari.
Salman Khan said, “Chingari is amongst the most popular entertainment apps in India, and it has focused on adding value to its consumers and content creators. I like how Chingari has shaped up in such a short span of time, a platform for millions from rural to urban to showcase their unique talents and be seen by another millions in no time.”
The short video space has been expanding exponentially in India, with millions getting hooked to the content being showcased on these platforms by talented creators. Chingari, which was launched on Google Play Store in November 2018, gained its second wind last year following the ban on TikTok, the then market leader in India. By December 2020, Chingari had already raised well over $1.4 million from its blue-chip backers in India and globally, and has clocked more than 56 million users in the country.
iWorld
What SMS letters G, T, S and P mean and how they help spot scams
Small alphabet tags on messages reveal whether texts are government or ads.
MUMBAI: Sometimes the smallest letter in a message can be the biggest clue. In an age where smartphone users receive dozens of alerts every day, the tiny alphabet appearing at the end of many SMS messages can reveal whether a text is official, transactional, service related or simply promotional. Understanding these tags can help users quickly identify legitimate messages and stay alert to potential scams.
Under telecom regulations in India, SMS senders are required to categorise messages based on their purpose. As a result, many texts end with a single letter that indicates the type of communication being sent.
If an SMS ends with the letter G, it typically means the message has been sent by a government authority. These alerts may include information about public services, government schemes, safety advisories or emergency notifications such as natural disaster warnings.
A message ending with the letter T signals a transactional SMS. These are usually sent by banks, financial institutions or digital services to confirm activities such as payments, account updates or one time passwords (OTPs).
The letter S represents a service related message. These notifications commonly come from companies and online platforms providing updates about services or orders. For instance, e commerce platforms like Amazon or Flipkart often send delivery updates and order confirmations that end with the letter S.
Meanwhile, SMS messages ending with the letter P are promotional in nature. These texts are typically marketing communications sent by businesses advertising products, offers or services such as education programmes, fashion sales or loan schemes.
Understanding these simple tags can also help users stay cautious about fraudulent messages. Cybersecurity experts note that scam messages often do not follow these regulated formats and may arrive without any category letter at the end.
While the absence of a tag does not automatically mean a message is fraudulent, it can serve as an early warning sign encouraging users to verify the source before clicking links or sharing personal information.
For those who wish to reduce marketing texts altogether, telecom operators also provide Do Not Disturb (DND) options.
Users of Jio can activate DND through the MyJio app by navigating to the menu, selecting settings and enabling the DND option with preferred filters.
Similarly, subscribers of Airtel and Vi can enable the same feature through their respective mobile apps to block promotional messages.
In a digital world flooded with alerts and notifications, recognising what a single letter means could make the difference between a harmless update and a potential scam.
