Innholdsfortegnelse for July 12, 2021 i India Today

Amid all the gloom and doom of the pandemic, here is a cover story to bring you some cheer. The Indian start-up universe has never been better. Last year, India added its largest number of start-ups, more than 1,600, at a rate of roughly four a day.IT industry body Nasscom rates India as the world’s third-largest tech start-up hub. Technology-driven, disruptive and privately-owned, these bold new enterprises are not just rewriting the traditional rules of business but also collapsing timelines. In 2005, it took an Indian start-up 15 years on average to break into the ‘unicorn’ club. By 2016, this time frame had shrunk to just 2.4 years. Privately-owned startups that cross $1 billion (Rs 7,430 crore) are called unicorns, named after the mythological horse-like creature with a horn on…

On July 1, the Communist Party of China (CPC) turned 100, an occasion that was celebrated on a grand scale across the length and breadth of the People’s Republic of China. Founded in 1921 by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the CPC held its first Congress in July 1921 at Shanghai and has had a turbulent history ever since. Soon after its founding, the CPC was embroiled in a civil war with the Nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek. The Red Army—today referred to as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)—was formed in 1927 as the armed forces of the CPC. So, though the PLA became China’s army after 1949, its first loyalty lies with the CPC, of which it is an integral and indivisible part. From their early beginnings, the…

Ancient Indian legends talk of a nimble, fleet-footed mythological horse-like creature called the ekashringa, or unicorn, taking its name from the single horn on its forehead. The horn, if you drank from it, was said to have magical healing properties. Meanwhile, in the jungle that is today’s business environment, unicorns—defined as technology-driven, disruptive, privately-owned start-up companies valued at over $1 billion (Rs 7,430 crore)—have shown a rare immunity against the waves of the Covid-19 pandemic that have brought most other businesses down to their knees. In 2021, amidst a debilitating Second Wave, India acquired 11 new unicorns, taking the total to 48, the third largest number in the world, after the US and China. Leading the pack is Byju’s, a Bengaluru-based edtech firm founded by Byju Raveendran, 40, and Divya…

FOUNDERSPEAK“We haven’t found the need to raise funds. We are one of the most profitable internet companies. We are nimble, have never spent on marketing. We are not answerable to any investor—we are constantly chasing a product”— Nithin Kamath CEO, Zerodha What An online stockbroking platform to invest in stocks, derivatives and mutual funds. Reported a profit-after-tax of Rs 450 crore in FY21. It is the largest stockbroker in India in terms of active retail clients. Who Founded by brothers Nithin, 41, and Nikhil Kamath, 35, school dropouts who have been trading since they were 17. When August 15, 2010 The Big Idea Bringing transparency to the world of trading, doing away with complicated brokerage structure and instead charging a flat fee across transaction size. Until 2013, the platform was…

FLIPKART E-commerce/ General Founders: Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal Entry: 2012 Location: Bengaluru Valuation: $24.9 bn Select investors: Accel, Tiger Global, Naspers, SoftBank, Tencent Sold to Walmart in 2018 SNAPDEAL E-Commerce/ General Founders: Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal Entry: 2014 Location: Delhi Valuation: $2.4 bn Select investors: Kalaari Capital, Nexus Ventures, Bessemer, SoftBank, Alibaba Valuation fell as its board rejected a Flipkart offer in 2017; firm said to be scripting a turnaround QUIKR Marketplace/ Classifieds Founders: Pranay Chulet, Jiby Thomas Entry: 2015 Location: Bengaluru Valuation: $1.5 bn Select investors: Matrix Partners, Omidyar Network, Norwest, Kinnevik Fell off the list in 2017 after re-valuation by one of the investors HIKE Social Media/ Messaging Founders: Kavin Bharti Mittal Entry: 2016 Location: Delhi Valuation: $1.4 bn Select investors: Tiger Global, Tencent, Foxconn Ceased operations in…

Four and a quarter films shot. Two sports learnt. One award won and one viral video (“Biggini Shoot”) shared on Instagram. Also, three vacations abroad, including one in Bollywood’s favourite destination, the Maldives. Taapsee Pannu’s calendar has been full since May 2020, when the nationwide lockdown was lifted, until March this year. No actor has been busier during the pandemic. But Pannu hadn’t intended any of this. She alternated between two dramas, Rashmi Rocket and Looop Lapeta—both of which required training in running—and then immediately shot for Anurag Kashyap’s Dobaaraa. “I couldn’t delay the films any further,” she says. “I wanted to complete my 2020 commitments before something worse happened, which it did [the second wave].” The 16-hour workdays for four months, preparing for one film and shooting for another,…

Q. How much has Satyajit Ray inspired the actor you are? I believe all creativity should happen within restrictions. Greats like Ray worked with those constraints. He was succinct and definitive in what he did and what he wanted from actors. I come from a generation of actors that knows how much a raw stock of film costs, so we must know what we are doing. It keeps you on your toes. Q. Is OTT empowering enough that you don’t have to worry about bagging a lead part in a film? If [Disney+ Hotstar series] Special Ops was a film starring Kay Kay Menon, it would not have got as wide a release in theatres. The dynamics of the theatrical business are different. On an OTT platform, there is a…

The BJP-controlled Jaipur Greater Corporation in the state capital of Rajasthan is in a shambles. Mayor Somya Gurjar has been suspended, and her husband, Rajaram Gurjar, along with Omkar Sapre, head of corporate administration of BVG India Ltd, a Rs 2,000 crore integrated services provider contracted for garbage collection in Jaipur, have been arrested in a bribery scam. On June 29, the state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) also named Nimba Ram, head of the RSS in the state, in the scam. The Rajasthan High Court has upheld Somya’s suspension (on June 6) after an incident where municipal corporation commissioner Yagyamitra Singhdeo was manhandled by three councillors in her chamber. ACB director-general B.L. Soni says they are investigating the video and audio tapes that came out on June 10, which allegedly show…

What  Byju’s Classes, an education technology company Who Founded by Byju Raveendran, 40, and Divya Gokulnath, 34. Until about six years ago, Byju’s was a completely offline model but today it is a 100 per cent online education model. In June 2020, Byju’s became the most valuable Indian unicorn or, more specifically, a ‘decacorn’ (worth $10 billion or more) with its valuation soaring to $16.5 billion. Raveendran started his journey as a maths teacher in 2006 (Divya, his wife, was one of his students). The Byju’s app was developed by Think & Learn Private Limited, established by the duo in 2011. Raveendran describes himself as a “teacher by choice, an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by chance”. When December 2015 The Big Idea Use video lessons and interactive tools…

FOUNDERSPEAK“Our aim is to usher in the new normal in construction, and to reshape the world’s largest ecosystem through technology”— AADITYA SHARDA Founder, Infra.Market What Infra.Market is a business-to-business commerce platform operating in the infrastructure and construction sector. Who The firm was founded by Souvik Sengupta, 36, and Aaditya Sharda, 35, both of whom had about a decade worth of experience in infrastructure and construction when they began the company. Both are IIM alumni and are qualified chartered accountants. When July 15, 2016 TheBig Idea To create a product house through distributed manufacturing and build a vertically integrated platform to provide end-to-end products and services to all stakeholders in the construction ecosystem. The firm has an annual revenue of $500 million. The Eureka Moment The manufacture of many products used…

FOUNDERSPEAK“In a start-up, the new team member joins the founder, not the company; joins the mission, not the business; joins the value, not the valuation. Treat them well and you will have the culture of your start-up”— AMRISH RAU, CEO, Pine Labs What Pine Labs offers credit card and customer insight solutions to offline merchants in India and Asia. Who Lokvir Kapoor, 54, the founder, is an engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur with an MBA from IIM Bangalore.Co-founders include Rajul Garg (BTech, IIT Delhi), and Tarun Upaday (MSc, IIT Delhi). When May 18, 1998 The Big Idea It began as a provider of automated card-based payment and loyalty solutions for the Indian retail petroleum sector. Through the pandemic, it has been helping merchants shift to digital payment models. The Eureka…

Phase two of India’s biggest post-independence military reform is likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2021. The defence ministry will initiate the setting up of India’s first two integrated military theatres—an integrated maritime theatre command based in Karwar and an integrated air defence command based in Allahabad. Of the two theatres, one will pool warships, patrol craft, soldiers and fighter jets, and the other missile and gun regiments with a network of ground and air radars. They will be a precursor to creating two more theatre commands—a western and eastern theatre command. These land-specific commands will begin consolidation by August 15, 2022, and will be raised within a year. The first phase of the military reforms unfolded…

His strengths… ■ Hindutva mascot: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has emerged as the undisputed Hindutva icon of the BJP. His government launched projects worth over Rs 25,000 crore for the revamp of Hindu pilgrimage/ cultural centres in Ayodhya, Mathura, Varanasi, Mirzapur and other places. ■ Modi’s man: Enjoys the trust of PM Narendra Modi and other BJP bigwigs. In 2019, Adityanath played a key role in securing 64 of 80 Lok Sabha seats for the BJP alliance in UP. He is a star campaigner in elections across states. ■ Strict administrator: Adityanath faces no corruption charge. His government claims to have taken action against over 1,000 corrupt officials. The CM has enforced strict work discipline in the secretariat. ■ Crackdown on crime: Taken organised crime head-on. Between January 2020 and…

The four-hour length shorts that make up the Netflix anthology film Ray all differ in tone and treatment. They adapt and make contemporary the Bengali fiction of Satyajit Ray, but the results, like the responses to the film, are mixed.InSrijitMukherji’s Bahurupiya, a revenge-seeking make-up artiste beds a prostitute with a mask of his unattainable lover on her face, while in Vasan Bala’s Spotlight, a Bollywood heartthrob finds himself in a “Kafkaesque” nightmare. Though there is much Satyajit Ray can tell us about the times in which we live, one thinks, while watching Ray, if it’s a good idea at all to give his timeless writing a contemporary spin. Abhishek Chaubey’s Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa, for instance, stays faithful to Ray’s original plot in Barin Bhowmik’s Ailment. Screenwriter Niren Bhatt only…

The years 2020 and 2021 are now widely referred to as years of ‘languishing’. So, it is somehow fitting that Suryakant Sawhney’s a.k.a. Lifafa’s latest album, Superpower 2020, is releasing halfway into 2021. Almost two and a half years afterthereleaseof Jaago,Sawhneyis back with his familiar vocals—that seemingly emanate from a vintage record—with accompanying sounds that belong anywhere betweenalivingroom mehfil, to the most hip joint in the city. Superpower 2020 is an eight-song album of 48 minutes, arguably showcasing the artist at his most politically vocal. Song titles include ‘Achhe Din’, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ and ‘Mandir’. “The album was born from the kaleidoscope of feelings I have had. The desire to lead a life free from politics while realising it is impossible,” says Sawhney. Even the album title, a reference to…

Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses that either perished or struggled to survive during this pandemic, e-commerce has flourished. The reasons are not hard to see: for essential goods, including groceries and fresh foods, and much else, e-tailers have became the default option for a large urban middle class. Their success, however, has come at a cost to traditional businesses in these areas, who will take heart from the new set of norms the Centre has proposed to ostensibly create a more “level playing field”. On June 21, the ministry of consumer affairs announced changes in the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 and sought comments and suggestions from the public by July 6. According to the proposal, e-commerce companies will not be allowed to hold ‘flash sales’ in India. These refer to an…

COUNTING THEIR CHICKENS The assembly election in Karnataka may be two years away, but the scramble for the chief minister’s post has already begun in the opposition Congress. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s supporters want the party to declare him the candidate. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar would like Congress to stick to tradition and appoint the state unit chief as the chief minister. The aides of former KPCC president G. Parameshwara would love to see him as the state’s first Dalit chief minister. Former ministers M.B. Patil and Tanveer Sait have also thrown their hats in the ring. The votaries of all these leaders have been firing memorandums to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi. There is, of course, the minor pending matter of…

DEC. 15, 1999 Kargil Review Committee report recommends a comprehensive overhaul of national security MAY 2001 GoM submits report on national security overhaul. Sweeping recommendations include the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff DEC. 2016 Lt Gen. D.B. Shekatkar committee recommends CDS and establishing theatre commands AUG. 15, 2019 PM Modi announces the appointment of the first CDS, creation of theatre commands DEC. 31, 2019 General Bipin Rawat appointed the first CDS, mandated by the government to set up theatres AUG. 15, 2021 Creation of first two integrated theatre commands—air and maritime—to be announced AUG. 15, 2022 Theatre commanders to be appointed for first two theatres. Land-based theatres—western and eastern—to commence formation AUG. 15, 2023 First four theatre commands to be fully raised…

Farah Bashir’s memoir, Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir, is a tender and mournful account of growing up in a land in which, as her dedication puts it, children “know nothing of a normal childhood”. How could they, given that Kashmiri lives in the past three decades have been ravaged by violence that has displaced many and made others prisoners in their own homes? Those who have not left the Valley live under the surveillance and intrusions of a security apparatus that acts to instil fear into all. Rumours of Spring tells of a girl coming into adulthood as she navigates the world outside her home while noting how nothing at home remains the same. Daily routines are disrupted, sometimes spectacularly, by curfews and crackdowns, but more often by…