Time DIY-challenged Indians learnt to make their own beds

In one of many snarky cartoons epitomising the Swedish furniture company Ikea, which debuted in India this week, a prospective employee is invited to come in and take a seat before an interviewing panel. But the chair is in several knocked-down, disassembled pieces, implying that the interviewee has to assemble it as a first test. Another cartoon shows a young man boasting, “I can handle Ikea furniture without instruction,” causing his female companion to instantly offer to get into the sack, so impressed she is with his new-age machismo.

Such memes are both a tribute to and a take-down of the Swedish giant’s Do-It-Yourself (DIY) concept that largely involves self-service and a certain facility with assembling discrete parts into a logical whole in a precise, sequential manner, a feat that is apparently beyond the scope of most people. In fact, one derisive pie chart shows only a small sliver of time spent putting Ikea furniture (its main offering) together; two large pies go under the head “taking it apart because you did it wrong” and “cursing”. Another greeting card offers the sage advice, “You cannot be ready for marriage until you’ve BOTH survived putting an Ikea furniture kit together.”


All this knocking down and talking up leads one to wonder how Ikea, ubiquitous in 50 countries across the world through 400 outlets, will fare in India, its latest frontier, and as many multinationals have recorded, a unique market. How Ikea will eke out a niche in India will also say as much about India as it will about Ikea, as both cultures discover each other. Already, there are reports that the furniture giant is tweaking some of its principles to suit the Indian ecosystem and market, a cop out that will do little to improve our self-worth.

Consider this: Ikea’s unique selling proposition, its DIY model, is largely wasted in India on two counts: Most Indian middle class is leery of physical work, in part due to an abundance of cheap labour. Why would you pay $99 for delivery and assembly of a chest of drawers or wardrobe worth $299 (a typical rate in the US), when your neighbourhood carpenter would haul it in and bang it together (wrongly?) for a few bucks? Or better still knock off an imitation for half the price? So apparently, Ikea is not going to be testing India’s DIY skills a whole lot to begin with. Later perhaps?

Why Indians are so iffy with anything that involves building or assembling through manual or physical work is a story that goes beyond the availability of cheap labour. Much of socialist India worked its way up through denial, deprivation, or modest means at best. Remember how sacrosanct that one Murphy radio or EC television or Jawa motorbike or Lambretta scooter or Fiat/Ambassador car was back in the ’60s and ’70s? In many homes, touching it, much less opening the back or the engine or the hood was a strict no-no, and invited censure, if not spanking, from the parents.

Besides, Brahminical aspirations did not involve getting one’s hands dirty; that was left to the others — the labour class. The emphasis was on mental callisthenics; not physical labour. As a result, India has produced a vast army of “educated” people who can crack quadratic equations and recite tomes by rote but would be challenged to put four legs on a table, much less change a fried fuse or a busted tyre. Is it any different with the millennials of India in 2018? Not holding my breath.

Still, there will be hopefully some upside to the venture if more people eventually embrace the culture of doing it oneself. For too long, India has been in thrall of its own idea of “jugaad”, seen ideally as an innovative low-cost hack, but also practised widely as a sketchy shortcut solution. Few things in India whether roads or road signs or sidewalks or building codes — involve rules, standards, or precision, and the arrival of the Ikeas and Home Depots will hopefully herald an end to the randomness that is endemic in our everyday life.

After all, for all the caterwauling that accompanied the entry of the KFCs and McDs, back in the 1990s, the one thing they introduced, aside from more starch and grease than we already had, was standards and cleanliness. An open kitchen became the norm even in Indian ‘tiffin’ places serving idli-dosa, and in time the Western chains even mutated their fare to suit Indian palates. What is to say Ikea will not follow suit?

Of course there will always be Cassandras who will say that it will be curtains for Indian carpenters and furniture makers, but we’ve been through this debate before. We survived the food onslaught; we’ll handle the wood too.

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Why ‘disrupt’ is a bad word if you’ve got a healthcare startup

Healthtech startup SigTuple, which recently raised $19 million in series B funding from investors, including Accel Partners and IDG Venture, aims to make screening tests more accurate with the use of robotics, AI and cloud computing. Founded by Tathagato Rai Dastidar, Rohit Kumar Pandey and Apurv Anand in April 2015, the company has grown from a team of five to 90 doctors, robotics engineers, data scientists, platform developers, regulatory and intellectual property experts. The founders tell Shilpa Phadnis and Rachel Chitra about making medical devices in India despite being ‘outsiders’ in the healthcare industry

Was it hard to build medical devices without any background in healthcare?


Pandey: When we started, everyone looked at us with scepticism. We didn’t have a background in healthcare. We wanted to create a data-driven, machine-learned, cloud-based solution for detection of abnormalities and trends in medical data for disease diagnosis. We said we wanted to “disrupt the healthcare space” with use of technology, but we realised we were using the wrong words. Doctors and medical professionals prefer “revolutionise” to disrupt.

Has there been more scepticism after the Theranos debacle (California-based healthtech startup that allegedly made false claims about its diagnostic tests and new products to raise funds)?

Dastidar: Oh lots! It created so many problems for us. Internally, Theranos is the ‘T-word’. We took six months to raise Series A. We found investors who bought into the longer-term vision, but that took time. Most investors said, ‘you have a grand vision but don’t have a background in medical device manufacturing’. The feedback was that our product was too good to be true. We spent the first four months having to explain what AI does.

What is AI100 and how did it come about?

Pandey: We spoke to a lab and found that the most common problem was that slides were still being read manually. There was a need to digitise slides. After much trial and error, we came up with this invention, using an iPhone, microscope and conveyor belt to read 100 slides an hour. But labs were hesitant to adopt it. Lab owners were like, ‘what if my lab assistant steals my iPhone?’ So we went back to the drawing board, and came up with a patented device, AI 100. We have filed 19 patents of which 12 are in the US. Once we came up with a closed box solution, labs were keen on us.

What are the challenges you’ve faced?

Pandey: Mass production of AI 100. We had a great idea, but producing hundreds of the same unit was difficult. We needed to outsource the work to an industrial unit. Here, we hit a major roadblock. So we started developing our own in-house expertise. We hired mechanical and electrical engineers and now we have the capability to assemble 10-15 machines. Around the same time, we found a partner. Another hassle in India with manufacturing is that unless you can guarantee bulk orders, say 1,000 units, manufacturers don’t want to work with you.

How will this product and technology work in rural areas, which do not have the broadband capability of cities?

Pandey: We have added a graphics processing unit to the device. OnQuest was another partner that helped us develop a solution that could be commercialised. In remote locations, when there is no cloud connectivity, the model will run inside the device and the reports will be generated. We’ve named this software Shonit, which means blood in Sanskrit.

Many of your products have unique and interesting names. How do you choose them?

Dastidar: We use Sanskrit words because we wanted to give our products an Indian flavour. We are very proud of the fact that we are an Indian company, selling Indian products. It started with our product, Manthan, whose name is derived from an episode in Indian mythology, Samudra Manthana. Adi means beginning, drishti is eyesight. Then we realised that the naming convection in the healthcare industry is alphanumeric. So we came up with a new name for the hardware AI 100. The next version would be AI 200.

Now that you have the Indian regulator’s approval for AI 100, are you looking to patent it in the US and get FDA approval?

Pandey: We’ve got ISO13485 certification required by anyone in medical device manufacturing in India. We intend to get USFDA approval by the end of this year or early next year, and that’s when pre-marketing efforts in the US will start. Some investors suggested that we set up a US subsidiary but we didn’t want to. We want to be a global story from India and we will not compromise on that. After USFDA, we will get European approval in the next quarter or so. With these two approvals, we can enter any developed market.

WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE THE ALUMNI ADVANTAGE

Entrepreneurs from colleges in tier 2 and 3 cities who don’t have the network that comes with graduating from an A-list institute say they’re more resilient to changes & challenges


When Rajveen Khandelwal, founder of customised apparel brand Wear Your Opinion, started his business in August 2011, he found that the “startup ecosystem is networked in a certain way”. He had graduated from Pune’s Maharashtra Institute of Technology in 2004 and worked at KPMG, but found it hard to get investor meetings. “Fund managers are from IITs and IIMs. Most founders are alumni of the same, and have inroads through first and second degree connections,” he says. “It happens in every industry — familiarity and connections help close business deals quicker.”

DOORS OPEN UP


Girish Mathrubootham, founder and CEO of SaaS (software as a service) startup Freshworks, which entered the unicorn club this week with a valuation of $1.5 billion on the back of its latest fundraise of $100 million, graduated from Shanmugha Arts and Science Academy in Thanjavur in southern Tamil Nadu. He says he’s never considered not being from an IIT or IIM a problem.

“I have, however, seen that young founders from premier institutes have a favourable environment for funding and a lot of times they can also use their alumni network to hire top talent as they scale their startup. Fortunately, having worked for a good 10 years in learning the business, getting funded or being able to attract talent wasn’t very difficult,” he says.

About 44% of the startups created under the government’s Startup India scheme are in tier 2 and 3 cities. That’s what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said recently while interacting with young entrepreneurs from across the country, including Dehradun, Guwahati and Raipur. The government’s initiatives, he claimed, had helped entrepreneurs in smaller cities, towns and villages, and these areas were emerging as vibrant startup centres — but entrepreneurs in these cities say starting up is just half the battle won.

For entrepreneurs from colleges in tier 2 and 3 cities, the challenges are many when one doesn’t have the pedigree and network of an A-list college or a job stint in a multinational. Many say it’s harder to land meetings with VCs, who are inclined toward founders from startup hubs with degrees from IIT/IIMs and a history with a large corporate.

“That bias is definitely there right now because in India we do not work by selection but by elimination,” explains Shashikant Chaudhary, cofounder of Nagpur Angels. A founder from an IIT/IIM “gives investors a lot of comfort” as the investor is sure that certain fundamentals with regard to expertise, network, knowledge and work ethic are in place. “Unless the criterion changes from elimination to selection, this bias will remain for some time,” he says.

NETWORK MATTERS

Investors say a founder or a team from a prestigious institute has advantages as the startup ecosystem is still evolving. “IITians are able to use their network of peers and alumni better than entrepreneurs from other institutes. The speed at which they can build an efficient team — that really opens up a lot of doors,” says Vivek Lath, founder of content distribution company Go-Quest Media, who also invests in startups.

Another challenge, say founders, is that most startup events are held in Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR or other metros and founders from colleges in these cities have the advantage of an existing network. “In terms of getting opportunities to pitch in front of investors, there are fewer in small towns. There are a lot of business contests now and accelerators are waiting for good ideas independent of location but it’s still a struggle,” says Chaudhary of Nagpur Angels.

“Most startup networking events take place in metros, but founders from smaller cities are able to hold their own,” says Jaison Jose, co-founder and COO of startup incubator Xelpmoc, adding that startups from cities such as Bhopal, Patna and Jaipur are making their mark.

Accelerators, many think, are changing the game. At Hyderabadbased T-Hub, 10% of founders are from tier 1 colleges. “While it is true that founders from IITs/IIMs probably have an easier time getting through the door, investors are always looking for great startups, and where the founders are from is never a barrier,” says Srinivas Kollipara, CEO of T-Hub. If the founder is able to demonstrate that he or she understands the problem intimately, has deep insights into potential customers, knows the market, and can show a viable solution, the money will follow.

REDEFINING SUCCESS

Suresh Kumar G, CEO of Chennaibased Macappstudio, agrees that “the system is pre-loaded in favour of those from IITs and IIMs”. So he makes it a point to hire candidates from tier 2 and 3 cities. “They work hard and are disciplined,” he says.

Prasen Lonikar, founder of Nagpur-based fintech firm Klathrate, says founders from tier 2 cities are more resilient. “They’re better at handling business as they do not have the advantages that are handed to founders from large colleges,” he says.

For him, place or pedigree do not come in the way of a great idea. “What startup founders need is paying customers rather than investors or network or pedigree. Today, raising money is seen as success even if you are not earning money. That needs to change. A startup is all about solving a problem. When a problem is solved, customers are ready to pay,” he says.

Find an investor whose vision aligns with yours

After finishing his education in the US, Arshan Vakil returned to India and was quick to spot the fact that jobs were opening up in multiple sectors but the lack of English language skills was holding people back. He founded Kings Learning, an online platform for people to learn spoken English and communication skills, in 2014. The company provides packages, and students can schedule classes as per their convenience.

Its mobile-based app, Enguru, allows users to self-learn general spoken English and job-focused conversational English. It recently raised $2.5 million from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Village Capital and other investors. Vakil talks about his experience of trying to raise funding...


“Every VC asks about ‘competitive advantage’ and it’s important to have a clear answer. One investor told us that a large player like Google or Microsoft could easily replicate our product and make us obsolete. That is partly true, but our competitive advantage lies in the fact that our approach is specific to the unique need for English in India. The content in the Enguru app is tailored to this, and we offer the option to work completely offline. Even if a large company wanted to replicate this, it would not fit into their strategy so why would they? Many investors could not understand this. In such a situation, you keep looking for investors whose vision aligns with yours. That alignment is as important as the capital they provide. Fortunately, a few months later, we found a group of investors who are completely aligned to our work and help us in numerous ways, apart from providing capital.”


ARSHAN VAKIL | Founder & CEO, Kings Learning

Alibaba office app has few fans in China’s workforce

Since December 2014, DingTalk, Alibaba’s workplace communication software, has grown exponentially to become the world’s largest chat service for companies, with 100 million users and 7 million employers across China.


But its rapid rise — propelled by a promise to boost productivity through monitoring of employee movements — has sparked a backlash from workers who say the app fuels an unhealthy work culture. Records from it have been used by companies as evidence to fire employees and dock pay, according to labour lawsuits. DingTalk lets senders see if recipients have read messages, and also has a ‘ding’ feature that can bombard recipients with repeat notifications, text messages and phone-call reminders. Its functions include automatic expense claims, a clock-in system to monitor whereabouts of employees, and a ‘daily report’ for workers to list completed tasks.

Many Chinese workers have vented frustration online, saying the service destroys trust. Li Xiaoyang, a sales agent, had to use DingTalk’s geo-location function at his previous firm when he met a client, and use a face scanner to verify he was attending meetings. “I felt so disgusted,” he said. “They would ding you on holiday and you can’t pretend you didn’t see it.”

DingTalk’s chief executive Wu Zhao said the service was a solution to a common managerial complaint in China: workers fail to reply to messages and later feign ignorance. Wu is aware of the backlash DingTalk is facing, but says the problem is a “toxic work culture at some companies” and misuse by some employers. “The tool itself is not the problem; the way it is used is the problem,” he said.

It’s this criticism that could hobble Ding’s plans to expand into the West. Chen Bikui, a partner at Liuhe Ventures, said he doubts whether DingTalk would succeed abroad, citing privacy concerns. “DingTalk is so much tailored to Chinese companies, it would be hard for it to be adopted by companies from other countries,” he said.

Healthcare needed the kind of model e-commerce has

THE IDEA: An AI-powered healthcare platform to consult doctors online

EUREKA MOMENT: Towards the end of 2016, Ashutosh Lawania and Prasad Kompalli, former senior executives at Myntra, decided to build a company from scratch. They’d helped turn Myntra into a powerful e-commerce consumer brand, but saw that the same was missing in healthcare. In February 2017, mfine was set up as a healthcare platform. While starting up was not new to them, setting up mfine was a learning experience. “Convincing people to join us at a time when mfine was just an idea on paper wasn’t easy,” says Kompalli.


EARLY DAYS: Conversations with hospitals showed them that the consumer experience had to change. “Hospitals need an easy interface with limited typing so we came up with a health keypad that collects data from reports without the user having to type. We ran a beta program and the results were promising,” he says.

CHALLENGES:

Breaking into the healthcare ecosystem as people without a medical or health industry background was a challenge. “Catching the early adopters was difficult. However, people take to availability and convenience soon.”

WHERE I AM NOW:

mfine takes 100-120 cases a day. With audio, video and chat support, it has partnered with 20 hospitals in Bengaluru and has 70 doctors across 10 specialities. In May, it raised a series A round of $4.2 million. It is looking at chronic disease management and IOT in healthcare.


PRASAD KOMPALLI | Co-founder, mfine

Jumpstart your saving habits

Being thrifty is easier than you thought. Inculcate these daily practices to save money in the long run
businessinsider.in

While you

may already be familiar with money-saving tactics such as investing right, there are more creative ways to save money every day. After all, when it comes to money matters, every cent does add up, literally. Bank of America’s recent Better Money Habits Millennial Report found that 73 per cent of millennials (ages 23-37) said their generation overspends on unnecessary indulgences. In addition, 35 per cent of millennials reported not saving enough, while 17 per cent said they spend more than they should. There are many under-theradar ways to save more money each day.


Automate small amounts of money

You may already pay your bills and add to your savings through automatic transfers, but once you start automating smaller amounts, they will add up to bigger ones. “Automate weekly savings for small amounts you won’t miss, even as little as $10 or $20 per week. These small amounts will build quickly over time and you will learn to live without those extra funds,” says Andrea Woroch, a nationally-recognised consumer expert. She also recommended putting the money toward an online savings account that offers a higher interest rate than savings account at traditional banks.

Create a 48-hour rule and remove stored card numbers

The speed and simplicity of online shopping make it easy to fall into the habit of impulse buying clothes and other items. “To prevent impulse purchases, wait 48 hours after identifying something you’d like to purchase,” Chris Whitlow, CEO of workplace financial education company Edukate, says.

This will separate your need spends from your want spends. Similarly, having your credit card numbers stored online may be efficient, but it’s also dangerous as far as spending money is concerned. Plus, the more time you have to think about a purchase, the more likely you’ll make a better financial decision.

Use financial planning apps

There’s nothing like some accountability to keep you on track when you’re trying to reach a certain goal. Use financial planning apps. They provide an almost effortless way to save money each day, as they can connect directly with your accounts to track spending and alert you to problem areas without needing to log your spending each day yourself. Some apps also help you create a budget, as well as alert you when you’re spending too much in one category.

Log every expense

Seeing where your money is going every day can make you aware of unnecessary purchases that you may be making. Plus, cutting out those extra daily purchases can help you put aside more money for the future and avoid unnecessary purchases.

Go through recurring expenses

Byron Ellis, a certified financial planner with United Capital Financial Life Management and founder of Doing Money Right, suggests going through your credit card statements from the last six months. “Grab some paper or make a spreadsheet and list any recurring expenses that you might be able to cut. Also list any high expenses that you might be able to reduce,” he says.


Priyanka Chopra inculcated the habit of saving money as a child. “I used to save my pocket money,” she says


Uday Kotak believes that a lot more savers are moving money away from gold and real estate into banks, mutual funds, insurance and equities


Businessman Mark Cuban looks at his annual budgets for everything, “I look to see where I can save the most money from toothpaste to soup”

Paresh Sukthankar, HDFC Bank Deputy MD, resigns; to replace Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma? Street speculates

HDFC Bank’s Deputy Managing Director Paresh Sukthankar has resigned after having worked with the bank for 24 years since its inception in 1994. He will step down from his position after 90 days (three months) for now, HDFC Bank said on Friday in statement.

Paresh Sukthankar was promoted to the post of Deputy Managing Director from Executive Director in March 2017. “The Board of the Bank places on record its sincere appreciation for the contribution made by Mr. Sukthankar in  his long association with the Bank and wishes him the very best in his future endeavors,” HDFC Bank said in the filing.

HDFC Bank watchers were all praise for Paresh Sukthankar’s role at India’s largest private sector lender. “He was instrumental in taking up the reins after Aditya Puri,” Sanjeev Bhasin, EVP-Markets, IIFL said to CNBC TV18.

However, he added that HDFC Bank has become too big a bank for one person to have a big impact. “But in the short run it will be a negative because since inception of the bank he’s been the driving force behind the bank,” he said.

“He has definitely contributed as much as Aditya Puri. In the last few years Aditya Puri, because of ailing health, was not as much involved as Paresh Sukthankar. So in the short run it will definitely be a setback at least for the present running of the bank,” Sanjeev Bhasin added.

Another analyst too said it would not impact the bank too much, especially since HDFC Bank is used to seeing some high profile exits. “HDFC Bank is not very new to this. Puri (Aditya Puri, CEO) is still going to be there for the next two years. I don’t think it’s a major setback,” Suresh Ganapathy, Banking Analyst, Macquarie told CNBC TV18.

Vacancy at Axis Bank

HDFC Bank did not tell the reason behind the move, but Paresh Sukthankar’s resignation comes amid the ongoing search for a new CEO at rival Axis Bank. This led some experts to guess if he could be the next boss at Axis Bank when its present CEO Shikha Sharma remits office in December.

“If you read between the lines, the circular clearly says a 90 days’ notice — so you are talking about August, September, October — that’s the three-month notice… And Shikha (Shikha Sharma, CEO, Axis Bank) goes off in December. This exactly ties in with his resignation and perhaps the new guy likely to join Axis Bank. So, that’s my guess,” Suresh Ganapathy said.

Paresh Sukthankar is an alumni of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute (Mumbai) and also holds degree in the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the prestigious Harvard Business School.

Meanwhile, HDFC Bank reported 18.17 percent increase on-year in the net profit for Q1 of FY19 at Rs 4,601.44 crore. However, the private lender missed the expectations of the analysts due to an increase in provisions which surged 4.5 percent in April-June quarter to Rs 1,629.37 crore. The provisions surged 5.7 percent on a sequential basis in Q1. Compared with Rs 1,343.2 crore in the year-ago period, loan loss provision  was Rs 1,432.2 crore.

Dear Amazon, Flipkart! You are sitting on goldmine; India’s e-commerce market offers Rs 3.5 lakh crore chance

With rising internet penetration and data usage on mobile phones, India offers a whopping $50 billion (nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crore) opportunity in the e-commerce space, says a joint report by Bain and Company, Google and Omidyar Network. As digital literacy and awareness increases, e-commerce sector will offer more opportunities. By driving awareness, transactions among the existing and the next set of Internet users and consumers, there is a potential to untap over $50 billion opportunity. The joint reports carries inputs of about 3,400 respondents.

In the year 2017, e-commerce sector in the country recorded $20 billion in sales. However, this figure comes much below to the  $459 billion in the US and $935 billion in China, the rate of online spending growth was the highest among the major economies.

Even though country’s e-commerce market is for sure at a much lower base than the US or China, and only contributes 2 percent of the overall retail, the penetration is such low that the segment is only expected to grow at much higher pace in the coming years.

Out of the 390 million active users on Internet in the country, those who transacted online are meager 40 percent that amounts to 160 million. Among these, 90 percent or 140 million belonged to comparatively affluent backgrounds.

However, there are few issues which need to be resolved so that the actual potential of the sector can be explored.  First of all more and more people from the rural background need to come on board. Secondly, more women need to use internet. Thirdly, problem of high user drop-outs need to be resolved.

What happened to your demonetised notes? Will Rs 2,000 notes be withdrawn? Government has this to say

Nearly two years after the announcement of demonetisation, the government on Friday said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has completed the verification of demonetised notes and that the number of demonetised notes deposited was not more than issued, TV news channels reported citing news agency Cogencis.

The government also said that the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 that became redundant after the noteban were verified and then destroyed by the central bank. Last year, an RBI report said that 99% of total demonetised notes came back into the banking system.

While it is not yet clear where the buzz of withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes originated from, the government has reiterated that there is no proposal to withdraw the high-value notes issued after demonetisation. Last year, Arun Jaitley also told the Parliament in a written reply that there was no proposal to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes.

In March this year, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu demanded to ban on high-value notes, saying that it will help prevent corruption in elections. Chandrababu Naidu, who was an ally of the NDA-led government, criticised the decision to introduced Rs 2,000 notes in the system, another high-value note in behalf of Rs 1,000.

In April, some states faced cash crunch as ATMs ran dry, which government said was due to an “unusual spurt in demand” due to the financial year end and festivities. The cash crunch was blamed on the inadequate number of Rs 2,000 notes and that ATM cassettes were not configured to dispense smaller Rs 200 notes.

Massive Independence Day deal! This Rs 44,990 smartphone offered for just Rs 1,947

Festivals are probably the best time to buy a new smartphone these days! Almost all the e-commerce players offer lucrative deals and discounts on mobile phones during the festive season.

Festivals are probably the best time to buy a new smartphone these days! Almost all the e-commerce players offer lucrative deals and discounts on mobile phones during the festive season. To celebrate India’s 72nd Independence Day, smartphone manufacturer Vivo is doing something similar. As part of Independence Day celebrations on August 15, Chinese phone maker Vivo is selling its flagship phone model – Vivo Nex costing Rs 44,990 for just Rs 1,947.

Yes, you read it right! The phone will be available at just Rs 1,947 via an online flash sale. The Independence day offer will be available from August 7 to 9 (beginning on August 6 midnight). The offer will be available on the web portal of Vivo – shop.vivo.com/in.

Commemorating India’s 72nd year of independence, the company is also giving a wide range offers like discounts, coupon deals and cashback offers on a select range of Vivo smartphones and accessories during the sale.

In a statement, Vivo said, “To commemorate India’s 72nd Independence, the company is also giving away Vivo accessories such as earphones, and USB charging cables at just Rs 72 with additional cashback offers. The flash sale for both the smartphones and accessories will commence at 12 noon for all three days and will last till stocks last.”

About Vivo Nex:

The smartphone phone comes with a 6.59-inch full HD+ bezel-less display with an in-display fingerprint sensor and powerful internal hardware including a Snapdragon 845 processor. The Vivo Nex comes with 8 GB RAM, 128 GB on-board storage, 12+5-megapixel dual camera setup on the rear and an 8-megapixel front camera.

This smartphone is running on Vivo’s FunTouch OS 4.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. The smartphone has a power capacity of 4,000 mAh battery with type-C charging.

E-commerce plan is badly conceived

E-commerce plan is badly conceived, best to scrap it
Prove unfair discounting by Amazon/Flipkart, a ban on bulk purchase illogical, special rights for founders retrograde.

Given how Flipkart has been around for more than 10 years now and Amazon for at least five, the government’s e-commerce policy is almost an afterthought. And, since e-tailing seems to be coming along nicely—India now has some 30-35 million online shoppers—and the payments piece, too, is gaining momentum, there is no real need for a full-fledged policy except one to ensure the safeguards are all in place. Instead of doing this, however, the draft e-commerce policy introduces some ideas that are not only retrograde, but even run counter to established fair play and equity. Existing brick and mortar retailers, for instance, are right in saying FDI into e-commerce players has been given a back-door entry. The way to set this right is by allowing 100% FDI in multi-brand retail. Instead, the government is looking to tighten controls over the e-commerce space under the guise of accelerating the pace of the digital economy “by providing a facilitative eco-system for spurring digital innovation”.

At the heart of the draft policy is an agenda that seeks to protect home-grown entrepreneurs. However, too much control will only put paid to whatever initiatives the local businessmen have taken; let’s face it, without the capital, all of which is coming from overseas, no entrepreneur can build a business. So, if the Companies Act is amended to let Indian founders retain control even if they have a small shareholding, it won’t work, apart from it being antithetical to corporate democracy—shareholder rights are proportionate to their equity share. Why would a Walmart pay top dollar and invest billions in Flipkart if it can’t call the shots? The new policy smacks of hypocrisy because this has happened while the government looked the other way when e-commerce players blatantly breached the rules that disallow FDI in an enterprise that engages in B2C sales, pretending to be mere marketplaces when they are, in effect, the sellers. By this logic, even Walmart should be allowed to set up front-end stores in India because it is mostly selling brands made by third-party manufacturers. Multi-brand retail should be thrown open to 100% FDI; the paranoia that small stores will be killed is overdone with little evidence so far that this is happening even with organised retailing having taken off.

If the government is concerned about the steep discounts offered by foreign e-tailers and feels this is unfair price-distortion, it needs to prove this unfair discounting and then act upon it. Trying to fix this by asking related-party sellers like a Cloudtail or a WS Retail to not buy in bulk is unfair since bulk purchases are at the heart of any retail operation, whether offline or online. It is also more than a bit hypocritical for the government to argue that Flipkart/Amazon’s deep discounting is predatory while RJio’s massive discounts are kosher. In the absence of being able to prove that the discounts are unfair, the government has to accept that online shopping has taken off simply because the prices are so attractive, and what the government perceives as price distortions are actually a reflection of the effective demand for a product at a particular price. Price controls will only choke demand, hurt sales and manufacturing and create fewer employment opportunities. Retail is a sector that can generate thousands of jobs across levels. The government’s role is only to ensure that data privacy and data storage rules are respected and that the e-tailers pay their taxes, among others. Critically, it must keep a very close watch on the payments space to make sure consumers are protected against frauds. Any other kind of interference will only backfire. The main reason why India’s IT industry has flourished—and the local boys have become the big stars—is because the government left it alone. There is a lesson here for the government.

Indian Railways taking these 7 steps to improve cleanliness in train coaches and toilets

Cleanliness in train toilets and even coaches has always been a major issue especially for those who commute frequently by Indian Railways. In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Railways Rajen Gohain recently stated that Indian Railways is taking several steps in order to keep the coaches including toilets in a clean condition. The minister, however, also said that complaints regarding cleanliness in coaches and foul smell from train toilets are received from time to time. He also stated that the foul smell in bio-toilets is mostly due to improper use by railway passengers. At present, a third party survey for assessment of cleanliness of 210 crucial trains is being carried out. In order to maintain cleanliness in coaches as well as toilets, Indian Railways says it is taking the following corrective measures:

1) Cleaning of train coaches as well as toilets at both ends including mechanized cleaning.

2) Indian Railways has provided On Board Housekeeping Service (OBHS) for cleaning of toilets, doorways, aisles and passenger compartments in more than 1000 pairs of trains including Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express and other important long distance trains.

3) ‘Clean My Coach’ scheme was introduced, under which, for any cleaning requirement in the coach in trains having OBHS service, passenger can send an SMS on a specified mobile number. Passengers also have an alternative option of using an android app or webpage for logging the request.

4) Indian Railways has upgraded the ‘Clean My Coach’ service to ‘Coach Mitra’ facility, which has been introduced in around 900 pairs of trains. It is a single window interface to register coach related requirements of passengers.

5) Indian Railways introduced Clean Train Station (CTS) scheme for limited mechanized cleaning attention to selected trains including cleaning of toilets during their scheduled stoppages en route at nominated railway stations.

6) In addition to air-conditioned coaches, provision for dustbins is also being made in sleeper class coaches of trains. In toilets of sleeper class coaches, provision of mugs with chains has also been made.

7) Indian Railways is also taking measures in order to improve ventilation in bio-toilets and to provide dustbin inside train toilets. Also, the national transporter is creating awareness for proper use of bio-toilets.

What is Flipkart Plus? This Amazon Prime-like service is set to arrive – What users must know

What is Flipkart Plus? This Amazon Prime-like service is set to arrive – What users must know

E-commerce major Flipkart was recently acquired by Walmart as the US-based company has been on the lookout for effective ammunition to take on Amazon. The e-commerce company has now made an announcement that it will launch Flipkart Plus – its new loyalty programme – on August 15. Flipkart Plus will be a direct counter to Amazon Prime services. However, the most important difference between the two is that Flipkart Plus won’t charge any fee.

Amazon introduced its Prime services in 2016 that initially offered free one-day, two-day deliveries. It was expanded later with Amazon Prime Video and Prime Music. Flipkart is now set to give a head-on blow to Amazon by introducing Flipkart Plus at no extra cost, unlike the monthly and yearly subscriptions required for Prime membership. Amazon charges Rs 129 per month and Rs 999 per year for Prime in India.

While there is no extra cost meted out with Flipkart Plus, the benefits entail the reward points system. In addition to fast deliveries, of course, Flipkart Plus will ensure that members get upgraded customer support and early access to major sale events on the e-commerce platform. This is similar to the early access deals specially available to the Prime members on Amazon. Meanwhile, the Flipkart customers who don’t upgrade will still be able to collect ‘Plus Coins’ for each order, in addition to the Flipkart Plus members, which they can use to get discounts and cashbacks on further purchases. The Flipkart Plus membership can be bought by anyone when it commences on August 15.

Flying cars will be brought to life

An incredible flying car has been developed to bring regular road traffic to the skies. This winged wheeler is called The AeroMobil 2.5, which has a maximum speed in the car of 160 km/h and in airplane mode it can reach over 200 km/h.

Canadian-based aviation firm Opener has unveiled its new BlackFly single-seat aircraft, which it bills as a personal aerial vehicle and the world's first ultra light, all-electric fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Designed by Pierpaolo Lazzarini from Italian company Jet Capsule, the I.F.O is a proposed two seat drone/copter vehicle that looks scarily like a UFO. The drone vehicle is composed of a main central capsule cockpit that measures two meters in diameter and is surrounded by a carbon fiber disk with an overall dimension of 4.70 meters.

Lilium, the German aviation company developing a jet capable of vertical takeoff and landing, has announced $90 million in new funding. The electric jet engines are highly efficient and ultra-low noise, allowing it to operate in densely populated urban areas, while also covering longer distances at high speed with zero emissions

Boston-based Transcend Air Corporation announced the development of the Vy 400, a six-seat, vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and the proposed launch of a new airline service that will deliver business travelers directly to and from major city centers. The $3.5M Vy features a tilt-wing, fly-by-wire design that flies three times faster than traditional helicopters and has a range of 450 miles. It's claimed the aircraft will make the journey from New York to Boston in just 36 minutes.

The company that created a hover bike for the Dubai police department has unveiled a flying car.
The 5-seater vertical take-off and landing air taxi has been dubbed the 'Formula Project' concept and Russia-based Hoversurf says their machines are "ready to use in the real world".

The Kitty Hawk Flyer is an all-electric aircraft. The craft, backed by Google owner Larry Page, is a single-seat flying vehicle that does not require a pilot's license to operate.

British luxury brand Aston Martin is presenting the Volante Vision Concept, a luxury concept aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities.