The Competition Commission of India (CCI) failed to find any evidence proving that ecommerce giants Amazon and Flipkart had exclusive deals with smartphone manufacturers.
As per an ET report, the judge pointed out that “in paragraphs No. 22 and 23 (of the CCI order) that there ‘appears’ to be exclusive partnership between smartphone manufacturers and ecommerce platforms. This finding is based on allegations made in the complaint.”
“The contention urged on behalf of the petitioner (Amazon) that CCI has imagined (the) existence of ‘some agreement’ merits consideration,” the detailed transcript of the court order highlighted.
The CCI had ordered a probe on a complaint filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, who alleged that Amazon and Flipkart give preferential treatment to select sellers and offer deep discounting as well. The association emphasised that such practices were creating an anti-competitive environment, giving the ecommerce players unfair advantage.
The CCI investigation order was issued a day before the arrival of Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in India, i.e January 13, 2020. The CCI had ordered an investigation on Amazon and Flipkart. CCI alleged that the two companies are involved in unethical practices in violation of the competition law.
Many small traders in India have accused Amazon and Flipkart of eating into their businesses by deep discounting, predatory pricing, preferential selling, and exclusive tie-ups with brands and banks.
Besides that, the trader organisations like Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have also been accusing the ecommerce companies of non-compliance with foreign direct investments (FDI). All these grievances were the grounds of CCI’s investigation.
Two weeks ago, Amazon had moved to the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay on the CCI’s investigation. But the CCI clarified that it is not going to stop the investigation as the claims of ecommerce giant were baseless. Amazon told the HC that the CCI passed the order ‘without application of mind’ and they do not have any prima facie evidence to order an investigation into it.
On its part, CCI had informed the HC that it will not stop the investigation as the claims made by Amazon are baseless. CCI’s lawyer for the case, senior counsel Harish Narsappa, also added that Amazon’s claims are ‘mischievous’.
In its submission to the HC, CCI had maintained that the company needs to have full jurisdiction to investigate the anti-competitive activities of Amazon. However, on February 14, the HC put a stay on CCI’s investigation. Plus, it has asked the CCI and traders’ body like CAIT to submit their responses within eight weeks. Moreover, the HC asked the enforcement director to complete its investigation first.
This article is not meant to be a ranking of any kind and is simply a list of angel networks that are the most active based on the deals announced.
For any startup, there is one crucial factor which determines the success of the company — fundraising. If it doesn’t come right on time, it’s more than likely that the startup is left with no option but to wind up shop. So there’s a reason that early backers are called angel investors in the world of startups, and angel networks — or groups of angels — are becoming increasingly common in the Indian context.
Similar to other countries, new startups in India gravitate towards angel investors for the first investment, and they are largely preferred over VCs, thanks to the lower equity demand and the higher chance of VCs rejecting early startups without products. Of course, other options such as family offices, investment banks, and other private companies also exist, but angel investors bring in a unique perspective and open up mentorship and market opportunities, besides helping raise funds.
Angel investors have reached their positions after years of experience in the startup ecosystem. It is this experience which attracts startups and usually angels pool their funds together to invest in startups as a group and hedge the risk. The guidance and mentorship provided by angel investors and these angel networks is something that startups desperately seek, especially those in the early-stage.
While venture capitalists hunt for mature startups that have a proven track record, even startups which are just beginning or have found the initial legs need support through funding. That’s when angel networks provide a lifejacket to these startups in the form of large funding and share the expertise to help them with their day-to-day and larger problems.
The 16 Most Active Angel Networks In India
In India, there are around 30 such angel networks, according to DataLabs By Inc42, which have helped startups such as Myntra, Khatabook, Wow! Momo, BharatPe, Yulu, Testbook among others become the brands they are today.
ah! Ventures
AngelList India
BITS Spark
The Bengaluru Angels
Calcutta Angels Network
Chandigarh Angels Network
The Chennai Angels
CIO Angel Network
Hyderabad Angels
Indian Angel Network
Jito Angel Network
Lead Angels Network
LetsVenture
Mumbai Angels Network
Stanford Angels
Venture Catalysts
Spread across states and cities, these angel networks are a crucial factor in discovering startups from smaller pockets that have the greatest potential to shine in the Indian market. From metros to small towns, angel networks have spread their wings far and wide in India.
Indian Angel Network
Founded in 2006, Indian Angel Network aims at investing up to $1 Mn, with an average ticket size of about $400K-$600K, and exiting in a three-five year period through a strategic sale. IAN is a SEBI-registered early-stage fund with more than 470 investors from around 11 countries. It also runs a VC fund which has raised over $33.2 Mn since its inception in 2017.
Venture Catalysts
Venture Catalysts is a seed investment and innovation platform that wants to improve the “innovation quotient” of India. It invests around $500K to $1 Mn in early-stage startups that have the potential to create enduring value over a long period of time.
Additionally, it helps startups raise money from HNIs and then supports and develops them for a period ranging from 6-12 months. Recently, in an attempt to get family offices directly involved and to open up more deals to these offices, Venture Catalysts launched a FamilyOffice initiative, which connects investors with promising startups.
The Chennai Angels
Established in November 2007, the Chennai Angels works with the objective of fostering entrepreneurship with giving importance to nurturing and mentoring of new generation entrepreneurs. It’s one of the few angel networks in Tamil Nadu focussing on early-stage startups. Since inception, the Chennai Angels has invested a total sum of over INR 75 Cr in 50 startups. 29 of these start-ups are still active in its portfolio. The Chennai Angels claim to have got 10 exits at an average 3.7X return on investments.
Mumbai Angels Network
Founded in 2006, Mumbai Angels Network is an investment platform focused on investments in startups. The angel network currently has over 300 members. Mumbai Angels Network’s investment framework showcases 60 to 70 curated investment opportunities to its member base, chosen from a funnel of 800 to 1000 companies it reviews every month.
Lead Angels Network
Mumbai-based Lead Angels Network was founded in 2014. The network has grown rapidly and currently has a presence in Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. So far, it has invested in 32 startups. The angel network helps startups right from incorporation to acceleration and in advisory services for follow-on funding.
Calcutta Angels Network
Calcutta Angels Network (CAN), which started out in 2013, is the first angel investment network in eastern India. With a membership strength of around 75 members, CAN has invested in 11 startups from across India. In January 2018, Calcutta Angels Network announced a partnership with Mumbai Angels wherein both work together as a single team.
Hyderabad Angels
Founded in 2012, Hyderabad Angels believes in being involved at a deeper level than just funding a startup. It said it always looks to enter deals where it can be a value-add for the startup. Located in Hyderabad, the angel network invests in startups from all over India and other countries including the USA, UK, Singapore and UAE.
Chandigarh Angels Network
Founded in 2015, Chandigarh Angels Network is a community of entrepreneurs turned angel investors in India. One of the leading angel networks in Punjab, Chandigarh Angels Network mainly focusses on helping startups at the seed stage, but also invests in growth-stage deals. Additionally, it helps startups validate their business models.
LetsVenture
Located in the startup capital of India, LetsVenture enables startups looking to raise seed or angel money to create investment ready profiles online, and connect to Investors. LetsVenture also allows startups to get their business plans reviewed by their experts as well as connect to mentors.
AngelList India
Silicon Valley-headquartered AngelList made an entry into India in January 2018 by launching its popular Syndicates platform. The Syndicates platform allows investors to invest in promising tech startups alongside experienced VCs and angel investors.
In 2019, AngelList India launched two new India-focussed funds — The Collective and Angel Fund. The Collective invests around INR 1 Cr each in startups annually. This fund has also given quick capital access to AngelList’s Syndicate leads. On the other hand, Angel Fund enables individuals and institutions to raise small amounts of capital and then deploy it over the course of the next six to twelve months.
CIO Angel Network
CIO Angel Network (CAN) was founded in January 2015. CAN is an angel network located in two cities – Mumbai and Delhi. CAN focusses on technology-enabled startups across sectors. The angel network aims to accelerate seed-stage startups through fundraising support and customer discovery.
ah! Ventures
Founded in 2012, ah! Ventures brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. The angel network leverages a blend of customised services, skill, and industry, and domain experience to help startups as well as investors.
Stanford Angels
Founded in 2019, Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs India (SAE India) is a Stanford Alumni Association group based in India. SAE India seeks to strengthen startups founded by Stanford’s alumni by helping them to build relationships with entrepreneurs and alumni investors. SAE India has been set up in collaboration with Silicon Valley-based SAE, which was founded in 2010.
BITS Spark
BITS Spark was started by an alumni group of BITS-Pilani, in 2015 with an aim to help current and graduated students of the university to get funding and mentorship support. Besides students, university officials, and faculty members also provide their help to these startups which are created mostly at the university itself.
The Bengaluru Angels
The Bengaluru Angels is an angel network platform which helps early-stage startups to grow during their initial phase by providing them with support, funding opportunities, mentorship, among others. Both investors and startups can explore, interact and build business relationships via the Bengaluru Angels.
Jito Angel Network
Jito Angel Network is a part of JIIF, one of the leading angel funding networks and incubation centres in Mumbai. So far, JIIF has incubated 34 startups and funded another 16 over the past two years.
Founded in 2017, JIIF is a subsidiary body of Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO), with an objective of providing mentoring, incubation, and funding support to Indian startups.
During his upcoming visit to India, US President Donald Trump might bring discussions related to digital trade to the table among other regular trade-related discussions which are going to happen next week.
According to Politico, commerce minister Piyush Goyal had a conversation with US trade representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer. Among trade issues like heavy taxes of US-made products such as medical devices, agricultural goods, and even products such as Harley-Davidson, the discussions could also revolve around digital trade issues between the two countries.
Another topic of discussions between Trump and Modi could be ecommerce norms, especially related to foreign direct investments (FDI). In India, an ecommerce company with FDI can not sell own products on the online platform and acts as a marketplace wherein it lists and sells products offered by third-party retailers.
These norms even got a mention in the 2019 US National Trade Estimate which had alarmed the US government about India’s restrictive norms on ecommerce. Earlier in 2018, Amazon and Walmart have raised this issue with the US government.
India’s Digital Boom Hurting Uncle Sam
In the recent past, India has emerged as one of the major digital hubs across the world for services as well as smart devices and products. The growth was fueled by the proliferation of smartphones, cheaper 4G internet and the increased penetration of smartphones in the country.
Impressed with this growth, numerous companies from the US came to India to tap and earn revenues from India’s digital population which is set to grow over 900 Mn by 2023. Besides revenues, data was also one of the key factors which kept these countries to operate in India.
However, in 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made it mandatory for all foreign companies operating payments in India to store their data locally in India which became a key reason behind the friction between US and India. Companies operating digital payments such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal had been forced by the government to store data on local servers in India under this law. Even after rolling out the trials for its payments service, Facebook-owned WhatsApp is still not able to launch WhatsApp Pay till now because of data localisation norms.
On numerous occasions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called data the ‘new oil’ or ‘new gold’ and it looks like that India doesn’t want to give away its new gold. Moreover, the government is also working on a national data protection policy which was introduced in the Parliament in December last year. The draft demands for stricter provisions for data privacy, individual data rights, among others. It is currently being debated in the Parliament.
Chennai-headquartered conglomerate TVS Group’s automobile solutions division has acquired Mumbai-based automobile after-sales services startup CarCrew for an undisclosed amount. People familiar with the development told Inc42 that the deal would help TVS expand its footprint across India.
CarCrew was founded by Vikul Goyal and Vikram Sharma in 2016. With a presence in 20 cities and more than 2,000 workshops in India, the startup offers a technology platform for aftermarket sales and services of automobiles. It is engaged in the business of sale of automobile spare parts, accessories, repair and maintenance services. Its range of services includes car cleaning and detailing to regular maintenance, from running repairs to breakdown services, as well as replacements for genuine spare parts and accessories.
TVS Automobile Solutions had invested $500K in the company in 2016 and later the startup had secured Pre Series A round to the tune of $2 Mn.
Sources told us that TVS is looking to expand its presence across India and CarCrew’s presence in 20 cities would support its plans. TVS will be investing further in the startup over the time for business growth, the sources added.
Talking to Inc42, Vikul Goyal, CEO, CarCrew declined to comment on the acquisition. An email query sent to TVS Automobile solutions team didn’t elicit any response till the time of publication.
While India’s auto industry has been grappling with tough times in terms of slowdown in sales, the automotive after-service market was expected to reach $10.4 Bn (INR 75 K Cr) by 2020. The cost of automobile parts contributes 70-80% of the repair cost and parts sourcing is one of the biggest challenges for workshops in India. CarCrew solved this problem with its supply-side intervention creating a B2B marketplace for spare parts.
It is to be noted that large publicly listed spare parts businesses in the US like Genuine Parts Company (GPC), LKQ, O’Reilly Auto Parts are large parts wholesalers, with a market cap above $10 Bn. So the segment offers big potential upside for the player which cracks the formula.
Through trial and error in the industry, we have seen that the aggregation/franchise model doesn’t work. It is mostly a cash burn business model, where startups like Carnation have tried to make inroads.
In comparison, a full-stack service model works well due to the economies of scale and improved profitability potential. Notably, TVS Automobile Solutions is one of the only successful companies solving the problem at a large scale in India. CarCrew differentiated itself from other startups by focusing on the supply chain, thereby creating a B2B marketplace, solving the garage owners biggest problem of sourcing genuine spare parts.
The partnership is expected to help generate synergies between CarCrew parts supply and technology expertise and TVS full-stack service model including infrastructure, distribution etc to create a pan-India scale.
The deal with TVS will help enhance CarCrew’s direct-to-garage (D2G) technology by integrating with its robust supply chain including logistics, the source said.
With an employee count of over 90, CarCrew reported a revenue of INR 8.17 Cr in FY19. The company filings showed that CarCrew spent INR 12.34 Cr, leading to a loss of INR 4.16 Cr. In February 2018, CarCrew acquired Delhi-based ClickGarage in a stock-and-cash deal to foray into doorstep services.
Indian auto tech servicing startups are bringing distinct business models to introduce new-age features like app-based tracking, live updates, personalised communication, and vehicle photos/videos are adding value to customer experience and creating a huge market opportunity in itself. The startups competing against CarCrew in this category include Bumper, Pitstop, GoMechanic among others.
As the United States of America is going to the polls this November for the Presidency, there is definitely a lot of pressure on social media giants, especially after the role of social networking platforms and the Russian government in the presidential elections of 2016 came to light.
Now, to prevent the spread of fake news, misinformation and targeted ads, Google has decided to opt for the same framework that it did in India in the 2019 General Elections. Saikat Mitra, director of trust and safety at Google India, told ET that Google set up a mechanism that involved machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and human monitoring to track the movement of political information across Google products — Maps, YouTube and Search.
“The work that we did during the India elections has become a gold standard for the rest of the world… The same framework was used for the European elections last year and will be used for the US elections in 2020,” Mitra said.
Mitra clarified that “misinformation-disinformation” is a concerning trend that has been taking place all over the world. “This is a big malice for society. It’s malice over the internet and it’s malice for all the tech companies. It is a big issue,” Mitra added.
Elaborating on the steps taken by Google India, Mitra said that it involved Political Ads Library, Political Advertising Transparency Report, and preventing vandalism by “continuously scanning map”. He noted that the Election Commission of India’s guidelines around ad policy and transparency through reports was one of the keys. Google has also used this framework for other elections across the world.
(Image: Display of election Ad spend data in the US by Google)
“I think the two things that really stood out, where India as a country has led the world is: One, how the Election Commissioner’s office actually laid down standards for ads, and the ads approval process, I think that’s not prevalent in many other countries, so that was unique,” said Mitra.
Google India had announced the new ad framework in January of last year. In line with this, the company updated the election ads policy for India. The policy requires that advertisers running election ads in India provide a pre-certificate issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), or anyone authorized by the ECI, for each ad they wish to run.
After partnering with Hyderabad police to ensure customer safety, Indian cab-hailing service Ola has now partnered with the Bengaluru Police for the same. Ola has now integrated its in-app emergency button with the Bengaluru Police’s Suraksha app.
Bhaskar Rao, the commissioner of Bengaluru City Police said, “Bengaluru City Police now offers great convenience and ensures the citizens of Bengaluru a secure ride-hailing experience by integrating Suraksha app with Ola application.”
Last week, Uber tied up with Delhi Police to add live tracking and emergency calling features that connect to the official Himmat app.
With the new feature, Ola customers can directly call Bengaluru police using the app, and the police also get real-time access to the customer’s information — name, address, emergency contact details, and GPS coordinates. Besides that, the police can also view driver details such as contact number, vehicle number and model and GPS coordinates. Such features enable a quicker response time from the police.
Ola Bulks Up On Safety Features
In January 2020, Ola Cabs, along with Tora Cabs and Prydo, had entered a similar partnership with Hyderabad. For this, Telangana police integrated patrol vehicles with private cab services through the Hawk Eye app. The police wanted to address the safety needs of women passengers through this initiative.
“Once a commuter, especially women in distress, presses the ‘Emergency Button’ in the app, the message will be transmitted to the Hawk Eye app of the police through a back-end operational workflow. This will enable passing on the live location and other details of the cab to the police attending the emergency services in addition to the control room of the cab operator,” said Anitha, Inspector of the information technology cell of Telangana Police.
“Once the information is received, the police will be able to respond immediately to reach the commuter in distress by continuously tracking the movement of the vehicle on the geo-tagged map,” Anitha added.
In December 2019, Ola also announced that it will deploy a special fleet of ‘safety scouts’ and ‘quick response teams’ across Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata for New Year’s eve.
Ola also added that it had collaborated with the police authorities across cities to support their on-ground efforts. The company clarified that women’s safety is its top priority, therefore, the ‘quick response team’ will also have lady police constables on-board to support the existing police fleet and attend to any SOS calls from women.
Walmart-owned Flipkart is reportedly planning to launch its own wholesale business in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21. The company has also appointed senior vice president at Flipkart, Adarsh Menon, to lead the initiative.
As per an ET report, Flipkart has been strengthening its supply chain capabilities and engagements with manufacturers in preparation for the launch.
Besides that, Flipkart is running a pilot with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Delhi NCR, under which the company has started supplying to kirana stores. As per sources, Flipkart is in talks with the Bengaluru-based online B2B food and grocery marketplace Jumbotail for a potential investment, and strategic partnership.
Flipkart spokesperson told ET, “We view the B2B segment as an opportunity to support and grow kiranas and SMEs in the country… Technology can play a critical role in making the kirana ecosystem very robust and efficient.”
The news comes a month after ET reported that Flipkart may acquire Walmart’s loss-making B2B wholesale store, Best Price Modern Wholesale.
As per the report, Flipkart was looking to expand its footprint in the food and grocery segment and strengthen its supply chain with this reverse acquisition. Moreover, Flipkart will share Walmart’s warehouse to fulfil grocery orders, the report added.
Besides reportedly focusing on wholesale business, Flipkart is also working on its own online food and grocery platform FarmerMart. The company has also been running a pilot for FarmerMart in Hyderabad. As per reports, Flipkart has partnered with Chennai-based agritech startup WayCool Foods and Products and other sellers.
Apart from that Flipkart and Walmart, in December 2019, committed to investing in another agritech Ninjacart. Last month, Flipkart did invest INR 71.83 Cr ($10 Mn) in Ninjacart’s Series C round, along with Singapore-based GEC3. As per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs fillings of January 11, accessed by Inc42, Flipkart and GEC3 each have bought 1,175 Series C compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) in Ninjacart for INR 35.73 Cr.
Moreover, Flipkart has also invested $60 Mn in Series D funding round of the logistics startup Shadowfax. Shadowfax currently handles up to 10Mn monthly shipments across several segments — food delivery, groceries, ecommerce orders for fashion, electronics and other categories.
Recently, Walmart announced its metrics for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2020. Talking at the post-earnings presentation to investors and analysts, Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, Flipkart has led its overall ecommerce sales in the same period.
Moreover, Walmart added that the company’s monthly active customers have been growing by 45% and the transactions per customer are increasing by 30% since last year.
Not just Apple and Tesla, popular Indian consumer electronics brand boAt is also suffering from the impact of the manufacturing shutdown in China due to coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease. The startup’s cofounder Aman Gupta said production of new and existing products and availability is likely to be hampered. Gupta added that boAt was planning a sale but had to cancel it in order to hold on its inventory for the next month.
In an interview with Mint, Gupta highlighted that almost 99% of the headphones sold in India, including the ones priced above INR 500, are made outside the country. China is one of the biggest markets for the manufacturing and production of boAt headphones. He noted that if the coronavirus outbreak continues longer, it will lead to a production and product development lag. The company procures its products through contract manufacturers based in India and China.
“We have got products in buffer till 15 March. If the situation doesn’t improve, we will consider getting them by air,” Gupta added.
The company is planning to start manufacturing its product line in India, especially due to the difficulties faced in the ongoing US-China trade war and now the coronavirus outbreak. The company produces its chargers and cables in India already.
boAt Targets INR 500 Cr In 2021
Founded in 2016 by Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAt is a consumer technology brand that manufactures electronics products such as earphones, headphones, speakers, soundbars, travel chargers, and premium rugged cables.
The company followed an omnichannel distribution with its products listed on ecommerce websites such as Amazon, Flipkart and more, as well as through offline retail chains like Croma Retail, Vijay Sales, Poorvika Mobiles, etc.
The company claims to have sold over 8K to 10K units every day in 2019 and hopes to sell over 10K units daily this year. Gupta added that boAt registered gross sales worth INR 100 Cr in the financial year 2018 and plans to achieve INR 500 Cr in 2021. He noted that the company has got a 30% repeat rate.
“Earlier we used to get headphones free with the mobile. Today’s generation owns many pairs of headphones for communication, travel, movies and audio playback. With the screen getting more personal, there is a huge demand for personal devices. The related accessory market including that of headphones is also growing.”
He added that the average selling price (ASP) of boAt products in 2018 was INR 700, whereas this year it has risen to INR 1,100. “We are somewhere between cheap and premium,” the cofounder added.
In July 2019, boAt raised INR 16 Cr (about $2 Mn) in debt funding from venture lending firm InnoVen Capital and $2.9 Mn in venture debt from Sachin Bansal’s BAC Acquisitions. Prior to that, the company had raised $872K (INR 6 Cr) from Fireside Ventures in May 2018.
The Jammu & Kashmir cyber police is reportedly probing more than 1,000 social media handles and has summoned ten people for questioning for alleged misuse of social media.
“We are probing over 1,000 handles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram that have been creating chaos and confusion, spreading fake news, glorifying terrorism, terrorists and secessionism,” cyber police station and anti-militancy unit head Tahir Ashraf was quoted as saying by ET.
Earlier this week, the J&K Police lodged a first information report under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against social media users who used VPNs to bypass the internet ban. “Misuse of virtual private network (VPNs) also comes in the ambit of illegal activity as the government has temporarily banned use of social media in J&K,” Ashraf was quoted as saying.
The internet shutdown by the government within the new union territory of J&K started in early August 2019, after J&K Reorganisation Bill was introduced in the Parliament preceded by a presidential order under Article 370 of the Indian constitution that revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
After five months of ban on internet services, the central government restored 2G services earlier in January. After this, people in Kashmir resorted to VPN or proxy servers to access social media websites. The ban on 3G and 4G services has now been extended until February 24. The situation has seriously impacted the growth prospects of businesses and startups in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh, which was torn off from the state as a separate union territory.
“Filing FIR and ban on social media act as deterrents to ensure peaceful and law-abiding society. People have to understand what is illegal and what is legal. We have summoned 10 people for questioning till now,” Ashraf said. The FIR has been registered under sections 13 of UAPA, 188 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code and 66-A (b) of IT Act.
The decision to file an FIR was reportedly taken after rumours on two videos of ailing Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani were circulated on social media. The police is probing the source of the videos in which Geelani talks about his last wish of burial and his political and religious belief. “We have questioned two people from Geelani’s residence over videos uploaded on social media. They were detained by Budgam Police,” Ashraf said.
In what could be a big setback to the digital payments industry, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has now decided to abolish payment service provider (PSP) fees for all domestic UPI peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions till April 30, 2020.
In short, PSP fees help beneficiary banks and payment service providers earn money on each UPI transaction. Currently, they earn around INR 0.25, INR 1, and INR 5 on transactions worth up to INR 1000, INR 25K, and up to INR 75K respectively.
Based on these fees, UPI payments apps such as PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, BharatPe and others earn around INR 0.30-0.35 on every transaction. However, after abolishing PSP, these platforms would not be able to earn any money from P2M UPI transactions.
It is important to note that companies such as Paytm, Google, Amazon, PhonePe, BharatPe and others have invested millions of dollars in the market to acquire users and in habit-forming for the digital payments ecosystem. The abolishment of PSP fees would make things more difficult for UPI-based platforms as already there is zero merchant discount rate (MDR) charged to users for using digital payments. The PSP fee is a crucial reason behind UPI platforms venturing into merchant payments.
Earlier, Payment Council of India’s (PCI) chairman Vishwas Patel had said that PSPs play a vital role in growing digital payments in the country. “If PSP is not paid then these companies will start withdrawing the existing deployed POS terminals from unviable small shops and establishments,” Patel was quoted as saying by ET.
In a notification, NPCI said that the new decision will be implemented with retrospective effect of Jan 1, 2020. However, NPCI didn’t clarify that what is going to happen to fees which have been collected by banks till now.
NPCI also said that this decision is in line with the Indian government’s decision to revise merchant discount rates (MDR) on transactions via RuPay debit card and UPI from December 30, 2019. MDR, which is usually 1% to 3% of the overall transaction, is the rate charged to a merchant for payment processing services on debit and credit card transactions.
In response to the abolishment of MDR charges, fintech and digital payments companies had requested the government to support them to earn revenue and make it easier to acquire users. However, last month finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the government is not likely to make changes to the zero MDR policy and companies should not expect the government to make up for the losses from transactions.
Twitter has finally decided to do something real to tackle the menace of political lies and fake news coming from political officials and leaders. After claiming for years that it cannot delete tweets by political leaders or take action against them in the interest of public debate, Twitter is finally letting the public speak against lies, threats and misinformation spread by official party channels and politicians.
The platform is experimenting with a new community moderation approach that would allow users to identify misleading information posted by politicians and public figures. After its ban on all political advertisements, albeit with “a few exceptions” for issue-based ads, Twitter is looking to tackle the spread of false information on its platform by politicians.
The feature, similar to Wikipedia, will enable the company to add bright labels and tags directly beneath tweets suspected to have lies or misinformation posted by politicians and other public figures. Such information would be corrected directly beneath the tweet by fact-checkers and journalists who are verified on the platform and possibly by other users who are allowed to participate in a new “community reports” feature.
The feature was leaked in a Twitter demo sent to NBC News and is reportedly one possible step being taken to curb misinformation ahead of the 2020 US Presidential elections.
Image Credit: NBC News
“We’re exploring a number of ways to address misinformation and provide more context for tweets on Twitter. Misinformation is a critical issue and we will be testing many different ways to address it,” a Twitter spokesperson was quoted as saying by the report.
What’s Twitter Doing About Political Content In India?
In India, Twitter had committed to being more stringent on political advertisers ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year. A voluntary code of ethics was developed by the internet and mobile association of India (IAMAI) and was submitted by the Election Commission of India before the general elections.
Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube also agreed to cooperate with the Election Commission of India and said that only pre-authorised Indian advertisers would be allowed to run political ads on their platform. Participants also agreed to take action on content reported by the electoral nodal officers. Recently, leading tech companies including Facebook, Google, Twitter and ByteDance came together to form Information Trust Alliance (ITA) to curb misinformation.
However, that hasn’t stopped Twitter from not acting against certain accounts that are clearly spreading hate speech and targetting individuals across the political aisle. In recent months, Twitter was caught in a controversy over suppressing tweets from accounts belonging to individuals from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and other backward castes. Twitter did not directly respond to allegations of casteism at the time.
While Twitter is right in finally doing something to curb the menace of fake news being so easily spread through its platform, it must also look at concerted efforts being run on behalf of politicians and political parties to mislead citizens in the run-up to crucial elections and around controversial laws.
WeWork India has decided to keep its expansion plans on the back seat to focus more on profitability. Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India, has announced that the company plans to be profitable by October 2020.
The CEO said that the company has slowed down the process of signing lease agreements since September 2019. “We signed leases for 25,000 seats last year and this year it will roughly be the same number; so yes, we have gone slower in signing leases,” Virwani added.
Started in September 2017, WeWork India operates on a brand franchisee model controlled by Embassy Buildcon LLP, which is owned by real estate tycoon Jitu Virwani and son Karan. The company maintains that the Indian unit has not been impacted by the controversies around the global business and We Company.
WeWork India holds 26 operational coworking centres with 57,000 desks across Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Mumbai and Pune. The company recently added two office spaces to its total count. WeWork India set up new office spaces, with the seating capacity 4,350, in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The company had leased out 1.15 Lakh sq ft to develop the new offices. The Mumbai office was built over eight floors at Nesco IT park and has the capacity of 3,400 desks. The workspace also has event space and a brainstorming room.
The Bengaluru office is built over three-office spaces that have a combined seating capacity of 950 employees. The office space has been built across 65K sq. feet. Besides that, WeWork also opened a new workspace in Worli in Mumbai with a seating capacity of 600 employees. Karan said that India will be one of the major markets after Europe and the US to turn profitable. He added, “While we will grow at a rate faster than the industry, it will be a sustainable one rather than growth at all costs.”
While explaining the plans for profitability in December, Karan highlighted, “Pushing costs down is important. If you aren’t growing too fast and your capital expenditure is low, then hiring can also be controlled. Earlier, we hired people in large numbers. The expansion plan is also not just about how many desks we can add but how many we can sell (lease to users).”
Last year, WeWork India was planning to raise $200 Mn (INR 1,400 Cr) from foreign and domestic investors by December 2019 to facilitate its expansion plans. The company highlighted that it wants to expand its seating capacity to 1 Lakh by the end of 2020. Embassy Buildcon had assured that WeWork Inc’s controversies and initial public offering (IPO) failure will not impact its growth in India.
Detel’s refurbished devices unit PreLoved Device has announced the acquisition of Delhi-based refurbished goods platform Overcart in a cash and stock deal.
Talking to Inc42, Yogesh Bhatia, founder, PreLoved Device said that post-acquisition Overcart will be operated under the PreLoved Device brand name. Under the deal, the entire team of Overcart will be joining PreLoved Device and its customer base and products will be migrated as well.
Bhatia told us that PreLoved Device will leverage Overcart’s 1 Mn customers, which would help the company get a huge userbase. He added that over the next week, the company will inform all these customers about the acquisition and that they should use PreLoved Device now.
Based in Gururgam, PreLoved Device entered in the Refurbished market in Mid-2019, with the mission of creating a new experience of buying refurbished products for its aspiring customers. With PreLoved Device, Detel aims to strengthen the entire ecosystem of buying and selling of refurbished and pre-owned devices.
The company claims to ensure the quality by selling the most authenticated products certified and graded by the experts at Detel’s state-of-the-art refurbishment facility.
Founded in 2012 by Alex Souter and Saptarshi Nath, Overcart provides returns management and liquidation services to major e-commerce companies, manufacturers and retailers.
Backed by JSW Ventures etc, Overcart was once valued at INR 200 Cr. It works with leading businesses to liquidate their excess stock and returned goods. It provides quality checks and certification, repair assistance and online returns management for their clients.
In a media statement, Bhatia said, “India is an important market for us and this acquisition will help in considerably scaling-up our domestic business. With this acquisition, we will be able to leverage the technological capabilities, a customer database that Overcart has built in the refurbished industry.”
However, Overcart had been silent for over 2 years now. In November 2017, the company posted a notice stating that it will only cater to bulk orders, however, consumer complaints about not receiving the product were also seen rising post that. The dissatisfied consumers and the overall low product quality have been termed as the reason for startup shutdown.
Bhatia told us that the Overcart founders had shifted base to Singapore to focus on different things. Hence, when PreLoved Device was looking for an acquisition, it worked out well. As part of the deal, investors, as well as founders, have exited Overcart.
According to a report by US-based research firm Persistence Market Research (PMR) global sales of refurbished and used mobile phones are estimated to account for revenues worth $ 19.7 Bn in 2017. By 2025-end, this number is expected to reach nearly $40 Bn. The Indian re-commerce market is poised to be worth $4 Bn by 2020, according to a Deloitte India report.
To celebrate India’s rising startups, Inc42 is profiling a new soonicorn every Friday in the Inc42 UpNext: Unicorns Of Tomorrow series. For the next few months, we will be speaking to founders and cofounders at these potential unicorns and shining light on their journeys and growth stories. This time, we take a look at self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar.
Amid growing urban congestion and air pollution levels, the need for sustainable mobility solutions has become apparent and is something most automotive companies are working towards. Even within the transport tech arena, many players are trying to bag the piece of the pie with solutions ranging from carpooling to self-drive rentals to electric vehicle fleets.
While big mobility startups such as Uber and Ola are yet to introduce electric cars in their fleets in any significant manner. Shared mobility startup Zoomcar has already helped bring more than 500 EVs to the Indian roads.
Talking to Inc42, founder Greg Moran claimed that Zoomcar is set to add another 1000 cars to its fleet within the next year and a further 10K cars by 2021. He also noted Zoomcar is planning to introduce new electric vehicle-related offerings in the next few months.
“The very business model of Zoomcar is centered on reducing the burden of increasing vehicles on the infrastructure and the environment. In my opinion, a car shared takes 20 other cars off the road,” said Moran.
The Sequoia-backed company was founded by David Back and Greg Moran in 2012. Currently, Zoomcar is present in more than 45 cities, including Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and Pune among others. The company serves over three thousand customers every day and has over 48 lakh subscribers and a fleet of over 6.5K cars.
What Will Drive Zoomcar’s Unicorn Status?
Talking about the factors that would help Zoomcar reach a valuation of $1 Bn, Moran said that it would essentially be driven through expansion in terms of market share and overall wherewithal.
“One of our main focus areas has been increasing this exponentially by adding more and more vehicle models which will be offered on a subscription basis. We are also aggressively partnering the major automobile OEMs to offer a subscription as an alternative to vehicle ownership,” Moran emphasised.
India is said to have 127 Mn driving license holders with a ‘cars to people’ ratio of 22:1000 in 2019. The consumer preference leans towards renting bigger, safer and more powerful cars for intercity trips, which can accommodate typical-sized Indian families to the self-driving market size and addressable base.
A Mobility Insights 2019 report estimates the self-driving market to be a $100 Mn opportunity in India, which is currently highly under-penetrated. Moran claims that Zoomcar currently owns about 80% of the market in the self-driven space.
Further, in the shared subscription mobility market Zoomcar also plays the role of the lender for more than 10K cars, as compared to 4K listings on its competition, peer-to-peer car rental company Drivezy.
In October 2019, India’s mobility unicorn Ola also entered self-driving rentals with the launch of Ola Drive. Since then, Zoomcar has been adding funds to its Indian entity. In December 2019, Zoomcar received $4.8 Mn from its US-based parent company Zoomcar Inc. In January 2020, the company again raised $30 Mn from Sony Innovation Fund, the venture capital wing of electronics giant Sony.
Till now, Zoomcar has raised around $100 Mn across funding rounds. Its investors include Trifecta Capital, InnoVen Capital, Sequoia Capital, Empire Angels, Mahindra and Mahindra, among others.
Zoomcar claims to have grown at over 2x this year compared to last year because of the higher platform inventory.
According to its filings for FY19, Zoomcar increased its revenue to INR 266 Cr in FY19 from INR 157 Cr in FY18. However, the company’s expenses also almost doubled to INR 468 Cr as compared to INR 274 Cr in FY18. This also spiked Zoomcar’s losses to INR 201 Cr (FY19) from INR 116 Cr in the previous year.
Last month, Zoomcar had shared plans to invest more towards expanding its presence across India, technology, data science and innovations around the internet of things (IoT).
Building A Smart Fleet For 2020
Doubling down on its commitment to disrupting the status quo, Zoomcar has introduced features such as car data-tracking solution Cadabra and the AI-powered Driver Scorecard. These will complement its primary self-driving business.
In Picture: Greg Moran, Cofounder Zoomcar
Cadabra is a vehicular data tracking solution that plugs into the car’s on-board diagnostics (OBD-II) port and collects information such as distance travelled, fuel usage, engine health, seat belt usage, clutch performance and more. This functionality comes with Bluetooth and 4G connectivity allowing cars to interact with emergency services in case of an accident. In addition to this, the feature helps drivers optimise riding speeds, save fuel, and get engine alerts for maintenance.
The company has also recently launched the Driver Score feature, which vehicle-agnostic. The AI and machine learning algorithm tracks the mechanical condition of the car being driven, the driving style and behaviour, and identifies critical events while driving and rates it on a scale of 0-100, said Moran.
The company plans to invest its recent fundraise towards growth, technology and data science with a strong focus on enhancing an industry-leading IoT layout.
And that could be the key difference for Zoomcar as it battles Drivezy and now Ola in the self-driving space. The Driver Score and Cadabra platforms are extensible to other services and could even be integrated into larger fleets managed by large corporates or within the logistics sector. But for now, Zoomcar is focussed on its strong points and with self-driving becoming a real option in the metros where new car ownership has fallen quite a bit in the last year.
Ahead of the much-awaited India visit by US President Donald Trump, India’s security infrastructure is in overdrive, trying to ensure no gaps in the defences. With Trump beginning his tour to India with a roadshow and a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, on February 24, security has been stepped up across the city.
Besides the standard security measures, India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an anti-drone system will take down any hostile unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone during the roadshow that is expected to kick off Trump’s tour. The anti-drone system has the capability to detect aerial threats and destroy such unauthorised craft.
The special commissioner of police at the crime branch Ajay Tomar added, “Apart from police personnel on the ground, we will also deploy our men on the terraces of roadside houses,”
Speaking to Livemint, Tomar said that rapid action force, state reserve police force, chetak commando and the anti-terrorist squad teams will also help the local police to prevent any untoward incidents.
The National Security Guard (NSG) and the Special Protection Group (SPG) will also work closely with these teams. Some of the important roads will also remain closed on February 24 to ensure optimal security levels are maintained. Around 10K police personnel will be on the ground along with 25 senior officials of the department.
According to the schedule, Trump and Modi are expected to first visit Sabarmati Ashram to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. Post that, the two leaders are expected to proceed towards Motera Cricket Stadium. Trump is going to address over 100K people at the stadium during the event named as ‘Namaste Trump’.
Will Trump Bring Digital Trade Issues On The Table?
During his visit to India, Trump might also bring discussions related to digital trade to the table among other regular trade-related discussions. Apart from issues like heavy taxes of US-made products such as medical devices, agricultural goods, and even products such as Harley-Davidson, the discussions could also revolve around digital trade issues between the two nations.
Another topic of discussions between the two counterparts could be ecommerce norms, especially related to foreign direct investments (FDI). In the 2019 US National Trade Estimate, US officials had alarmed the government about India’s restrictive norms on ecommerce which Trump might now discuss with Modi during the upcoming meeting.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had been probing the antitrust behaviour of ecommerce marketplaces in India. Walmart-owned Flipkart has now raised an objection on the same, with filing a legal challenge against this investigation.
A Reuters report said that Flipkart has filed a court petition on February 18 in Bengaluru said that CCI ordered its probe without initial evidence that the company’s practices were harming competition. Further, the company said that “the CCI order was perverse (and) passed without any application of mind”.
“Such an order exposes responsible corporate entities … to the rigours of an intrusive investigation prejudicially affecting not only its credibility and reputation but also its commercial prospects,” the court filing reportedly said. Flipkart in its filing said the “CCI had failed in its duty to close the frivolous complaint and an investigation would harm the company’s reputation, lead to significant managerial time loss and legal costs.”
A Flipkart spokesperson said that it was a “procedural matter”. The case is likely to be heard next week.
The CCI had ordered a probe on a complaint filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, which alleged that Amazon and Flipkart give preferential treatment to select sellers and offer deep discounting as well. The association emphasised that such practices were creating an anti-competitive environment, giving the ecommerce players an unfair advantage. CCI alleged that the two companies are involved in unethical practices in violation of the competition law.
The CCI investigation order was issued a day before the arrival of Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in India, i.e January 13, 2020. Many small traders in India have accused Amazon and Flipkart of eating into their businesses by deep discounting, predatory pricing, preferential selling, and exclusive tie-ups with brands and banks.
Earlier, Amazon had moved to the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay on the CCI’s investigation. But the CCI clarified that it is not going to stop the investigation as the claims of ecommerce giant were baseless. Amazon told the HC that the CCI passed the order ‘without application of mind’ and they do not have any prima facie evidence to order an investigation into it.
On its part, CCI had informed the HC that it will not stop the investigation as the claims made by Amazon are baseless. CCI’s lawyer for the case, senior counsel Harish Narsappa, also added that Amazon’s claims are ‘mischievous’.
Recently, reports surfaced that CCI failed to find any evidence proving that Amazon and Flipkart had exclusive deals with smartphone manufacturers. The judge pointed out that “in paragraphs No. 22 and 23 (of the CCI order) that there ‘appears’ to be exclusive partnership between smartphone manufacturers and ecommerce platforms. This finding is based on allegations made in the complaint.”
Originating in Wuhan, China, the Covid-19 disease (commonly known as coronavirus) which has affected over 75K people, caused 2.1K deaths across 28 countries mainly China has given a serious jolt to the Chinese economy and the world’s tech industry. It has adversely affected the global economy as well across tourism, logistics, airlines and automotive sectors, beyond consumer tech.
Hong Kong which made quite a buzz across the world due to the large-scale protests in 2019 is now dealing with a host of Covid-19 cases. As a result, the StartmeupHK Festival 2020 which was supposed to be held on February 10, has been postponed.
With no sales tax or value-added tax, no withholding tax, no capital gains tax or estate tax and just a meagre corporate tax rate of 8.25% for startups making profits for the first HK$2 Mn, Hong Kong, has emerged as a tax haven market for startups in the last few years despite being the world’s most expensive city for expats by some estimates. Also, the free trade policy, free port status and its proximity to Mainland China and other Asian countries and its status as a global fintech hub has led many India startups and companies including Freshworks, Zoho, InMobi, Paytm and OYO to expand their operations directly or through JV in the city. The double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with China also makes HK an attractive destination for startups.
Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem: Sectorwise | Image: InvestHK
According to Euromonitor International, Hong Kong is one of the most digitally-equipped cities, with a staggering 232% smartphone penetration and 176% growth in internet subscriptions in 2017. This makes Hong Kong a strong market for Indian tech startups, which are struggling to penetrate deeper into the Indian market.
So what opportunity does Hong Kong offer to Indian startups? And what has been the real impact of Covid-19 and the ongoing protests against China on Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem?
Inc42 spoke to the Invest Hong Kong director general Stephen Phillips to find out, and understand how Indian startups can harvest this opportunity.
Edited excerpts…
Inc42: Given that Hong Kong is a small market and an expensive city for day-to-day living, what exactly is the opportunity that Hong Kong offers to Indian startups?
Stephen Phillips: If we look at Hong Kong, and particularly at the startup scene, we’ve got a really vibrant startup ecosystem. The number of startups over the last two years has grown by 43% to over 3,000, while the jobs created by those startups have grown by over 100% over the last two years, so we’re seeing this rapidly developing ecosystem. I think what’s also relevant to Indian startups is how international the startup scene is in Hong Kong. Around 35% of all startups have got international cofounders onboard. These startups are coming in from multiple sectors, and are technocentric and innovative in nature.
Courtesy: InvestHK
It’s true that the Hong Kong market itself is relatively small. And we’ve got a population of 7.3 Mn people. However, there is a big opportunity for B2B startups. There are big world-class local companies, international companies as well as Hong Kong capitalists. On the consumer side, of course, 7.3 Mn is relatively small but they are affluent.
Inc42: But for startups looking to expand overseas, the cost of living plays an important part in the decision.
Stephen Phillips: Hong Kong is much more than just Hong Kong. Hong Kong is well connected to the Mainland [China] as well as the whole of Asia. And companies set up their businesses in Hong Kong for not just the Hong Kong market. On the question of costs, it’s true, Hong Kong is an expensive city. However, for early-stage startups, there are a lot of coworking spaces in Hong Kong. These are very cost-effective. This could be as low as $300 for a desk.
There are a number of options. And within publicly-funded infrastructure in Hong Kong, for instance, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and Cyberport offer very cost-effective accommodation.
So, the cost is just one side of the equation. The revenue potential is the other side of the equation. And the reality is, Hong Kong has got so many businesses who make that equation work.
Inc42: In my previous conversation with Invest HK’s associate director, the HK Innovation Fund was brought up. What’s the funding allocation in this regard? Is it open for overseas startups too?
Stephen Phillips: Yes, the government has continued to allocate more and more funding on the innovation agenda. In fact, a total of the HK$100 Bn which is around $12 Bn has been allocated over the last few years to support the development of the innovation in four key areas — AI, robotics, fintech, smart cities and biotech. The nature of this funding varies from grants, match funding to funding for research and innovation. The exact amount that companies can get is based upon the precise nature of the business that they’re going to undertake in Hong Kong.
The prerequisite is obviously, that they have a business that’s operating in the city. The funding is available to companies from anywhere so that there’s no discrimination between a local company and an international company, provided the company is operating in Hong Kong has set up a legal entity in Hong Kong, employing people in Hong Kong.
Inc42: At what stage of the life cycle, does the Hong Kong ecosystem seem most suitable for Indian startups? Which are the best market-fits for them?
Stephen Phillips: The bulk of international early-stage startups are really in a growth phase. Although there are incubator and accelerator cohorts running that entrepreneurs apply at very early stages, it’s normally in the growth-stage that we see this.
Invest Hong Kong Director-General Stephen Phillips
There are huge opportunities in fintech, biotech, life sciences, cybersecurity etc. Like India, it really is quite broad. And I think the thing for companies here to bear in mind is that the economy in Hong Kong is quite mature. So in many ways, it’s similar to the US or Europe.
Hence, the needs of both businesses and consumers are at that sort of high level in terms of the quality of the technology and the applications.
Inc42: In what ways does Invest Hong Kong intend to help Indian startups looking to enter the Hong Kong market?
Stephen Phillips: Invest Hong Kong comes under the Hong Kong government. It aims to help international companies to set up their offices in Hong Kong and grow. We have a team in India who would normally have the initial dialogue with the company.
We help them in identifying the business opportunities in Hong Kong, help them through the entire setup process. Setting up the company is incredibly straightforward here. You can do it online and within 24 hours, you can have company up and running.
From regulatory issues to finding the right location and local talent, our team extends in-depth advice to interested companies. They also advise startups on the funding schemes that would be appropriate for them. It’s also very tailored to the individual needs of each business.
Inc42: Coronavirus/Covid-19 has badly affected the Mainland. What’s the situation in Hong Kong and how is Hong Kong government dealing with the issue?
Stephen Phillips: Obviously, coronavirus is a challenging issue. Hong Kong has taken a number of steps to limit the transmission. Currently, we have imposed a number of restrictions in terms of cross border flow, cross-boundary flow between Hong Kong and the Mainland. And that’s really designed to limit transmission in Hong Kong. And so far, there are about 15 cases (as on February 4, 2020) in Hong Kong. So, relatively speaking, the government and health authority are working very hard to limit the impact. And the government has also taken the steps on an interim basis to get civil servants to work from home where possible. The private sector is also following the same model.
However, it might take some time before things are under control. As you may be aware, Hong Kong back in 2003, also was affected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) disease, and through that experience, there are a number of steps already in place. Once everything is under control, the economy will bounce back very quickly.
Right now, it’s a challenging time. But, I think for businesses, it doesn’t mean that you need to stop planning what you’re going to do. So doing the preparation, now is no bad thing.
Inc42: Hong Kong has also been witnessing one of the longest protests in its history. What’s been its impact on the market?
Stephen Phillips: You’re right, Hong Kong is seeing many protests over the last eight months or so. And, in addition, there’s also been some violent incidents. The government is working with the police and is working very hard to restore the law and order. Since last month, we have seen an abatement both the protests and the violence. And the work is ongoing in terms of the government engaging with the community to address the underlying issues.
Inc42: Does this worry expats in terms of safety and security?
Stephen Phillips: The reality is that Hong Kong remains one of the safest cities in the world. Companies that are operating in Hong Kong just have to follow some advice based on common sense like, if there are demonstrations or some violence going on, you avoid those areas. The reality is Hong Kong remains an incredibly safe city.
The media attention on Hong Kong due to the protests has probably amplified the reality of the situation on the ground.
After being one of the earliest entrants in the Indian ecommerce space, Sachin Bansal is now working to disrupt the financial services industry. Bansal has been leading the charge towards digital banking with Navi Technologies, which was launched in December 2018 by Bansal and Ankit Agarwal as BAC Acquisitions.
Further, to further strengthen lending tech, it acquired Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services Private Limited (CRIDS) in September 2019 and Bansal took over as the CEO of the company.
CRIDS, which runs Chaitanya India Fin Credit (CIFCPL), provides the underbanked audience in rural areas access to the credit market through loans for two-wheelers, housing, small business and education. To complement this ambition, CRIDS applied for a universal bank licence through that entity under the Reserve Bank of India’s on-tap licensing policy.
His plans to launch a digital bank have been in the public for long, and now he has come up his vision for the future of banking in the country. In an interview with BloombergQuint, Sachin Bansal said that purely digital banks, which countries like Singapore are experimenting with, are the future of banking. Navi Technologies, he hopes, will be a part of this future.
Financial services in India is still working in the “Web 1.0” era, Bansal said, emphasising that the sector is ripe for technology-driven disruption. “We are tech-first and will be building a lot of technologies in-house and will be flexible, and will move fast. We will be mobile-first, and then there will be physical outlets, which will be a support to the mobile channel, rather than another way around,” Bansal said.
Bansal explained that his plan is to use technology to reach customers in a low-cost manner and then simplify experiences and products to make them more accessible.
Bansal is said to have poured in over $450 Mn into Navi. His investment is being seen in the light of his $1 Bn exit from Flipkart when Walmart acquired the company. To this, Bansal says that he brings “perpetual” capital. “The capital I bring is perpetual capital. I realised very early on that you have to think long term in financial services. You can’t do that with capital that’s short term,” Bansal said.
While so far Navi has seen Sachin Bansal and Ankit Agarwal investing themselves, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is looking to invest $30 Mn for a 4.5% stake in Navi Technologies. According to an IFC disclosure notice, the transaction values the new venture at around $650 Mn (INR 2100 Cr).
DataLabs by Inc42 noted that with $2.6 Bn in total funding, fintech startups recorded 125 deals in 2019. The funding amount is 71% higher than 2018 whereas the deal count plunged by 9% compared to the previous year with Delhi NCR taking the lead.
IT ministry (MeitY) director Ajai Kumar Garg on Thursday (February 20) said that the number of intellectual property rights (IPR) filings from startups have nearly doubled in six years.
Garg told PTI that a “sea change” in this direction came after the centre brought the National IPR Policy in 2016. “The number of IPR filings in India have increased significantly. Earlier there used to be 4,000 to 4,500 IPR filings annually six to seven years ago, but today this number has nearly doubled in India,” he said.
“The governments, both central as well as states, are supporting startups and MSMEs on how to create a better footprint around IPR. We should not work only for others, but also create IP for ourselves. Startups are the only way to do it and if we do not support it then we will forever remain dependent on technology. IPR is the only way to have ownership of technology,” Garg was quoted as saying
Recently, the government had emphasised that the National IPR Policy will pave the way to strengthen intellectual property rights in India. It said that the share of domestic filings for patents has increased from 22% in 2013-14 to 34% in 2018-19.
In terms of filing of IP applications, the number of patents has grown by 18% from 2013-14 to 2018-19, while trademarks have grown 69% in the same period. However, in the case of the disbursal of IPR applications, the number of patents has grown 353% from 2013-14 to 2018-19 and trademarks have grown 395% in the same period.
As a result, on a Y-o-Y basis, the country has been creating a global mark in terms of its innovation. For instance, in 2019, the Global Innovation Index ranked India at 52nd position, from 81st in 2015.
Also, the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2020 pitched for improved intellectual property rights through dedicated policy in this regard. FM Sitharaman pitched a digital platform to facilitate seamless application and capture of intellectual property rights. She said that a centre would be established within an institute of excellence to solve the complexities and contribute to innovation in the field of intellectual property.
The budget also called for knowledge translation clusters, which would facilitate transfer and customisation of available resources and intellectual property rights. These would be set up across different technology sectors including new and emerging areas.
After finding that numerous applications on the Google Play Store were indulging in ad fraud, Google has now removed around 600 such apps from its app storefront. Additionally, Google has also blocked the developer accounts from the Play Store, and Google’s monetisation platforms — Google AdMob and Google Ad Manager.
Without revealing the names of applications or developers impacted in this crackdown, Google’s senior product manager for ad traffic quality Per Bjorke said that the removed applications were installed over 4.5 Bn times. In a blog, Bjorke noted that most of these developers were based in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India and English-speaking users were their primary target.
Further, a report by BuzzFeed News noted that China-based Cheetah Mobile was one of the major developers which were affected by this crackdown. All the 45 apps published by Cheetah Mobile on Google Play Store were removed from the platform. Google has also barred the company from using its ads service, Google Adsense.
Why Did Google Remove 600 Apps?
According to Google’s Per Bjorke, these apps contained disruptive ads which Google defines as ads that these apps display to their users in unexpected ways. Notably, these ads also have the potential to impact the usability of some functions of the smartphone.
Usually, such malicious apps display these ads to users when they are using the application. However, Google has recently discovered that these ads were displayed to users when they were not even active on the application.
Citing examples of these ads, Bjorke said, “Imagine being unexpectedly served a full-screen ad when you attempt to make a phone call, unlock your phone, or while using maps services.”
These ads result in poor user experience and even hamper the normal functioning of the smartphone. Bjorke added that these users often click on these ads by mistake which wastes advertiser spend.
Recently, Google had ramped up its machine learning technology which helped the company to detect and remove these 600 apps. “Malicious developers continue to become savvier in deploying and masking disruptive ads, but we’ve developed new technologies of our own to protect against this behaviour,” Bjorke added.
In the last three years, India witnessed 190% growth from 2016 to 2019 in the total number of app downloads, which is a fastest among the top five app economies of the world, with China at 80%, followed by Indonesia (70%), Brazil (40%), United States (5%) and others (45%), according to App Annie’s latest report — State of Mobile 2020.
The growth was fueled by cheaper internet and smartphone penetration even in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. However, the digital literacy rate in India is still much lower as compared to other nations which make Indian users more vulnerable to these ad frauds.
