Innholdsfortegnelse for 26-Jul-20 i Business Today

IN the midst of the covid-19 lockdown, Siemens India, which makes turbines and turbo compressors, motors and generators, transformers and advanced medical imaging equipment, had to commission some machines in far-off locations. On normal days, its engineers would have flown to each site and got the machines up and running. With air, rail and road travel not possible due to the lockdown, it had to work remotely, using a technology that wasn’t the first choice of many of its clients until that moment. The Siemens engineers, sitting in their homes, looked at the digital imprint of the machine which was captured real time through a 3D-glass worn by a person at the site. Directions were given remotely, for example which wire needs to be connected where, just as the engineer…

Let’s just accept it. Telecom is no longer exciting, the way it used to be about 20 years ago, when mobile telephony was just picking up in India and call rates were so high that only high networth individuals and senior executives could afford them. Free incoming calls, which started in 2003, unleashed market potential the way Reliance Jio has changed the data market by bringing down the per-gigabyte cost to dirt-cheap level. If one were to divide the history of the telecom sector according to its landmark moments, the 1999 New Telecom Policy, the 2012 Supreme Court verdict in the 2G case and the 2016 entry of Jio would stand out. Now, there’s another big trend under way which has the potential to change the face of telecom forever.…

HUL, through its Suvidha app, has been encouraging kirana stores to order inventory online. Its Apna Store initiative helps kiranas create their own online store Reliance Retail enables kiranas to put inventory online through its PoS device. It also helps them manage inventory and billing. It wants to get over five-million kirana retailers into its fold The coronavirus pandemic has forced kirana stores to think about building a digital presence To begin with, a large segment of kirana retailers have started using WhatsApp to accept orders and even put up inventory The stores are signing up with independent distribution companies such as ShopX and Udaan and ordering inventory online A bulk of kirana digitisation solution providers are start-ups such as Near.Store, Snapbizz, Khatabook and StoreSe Ecommerce retailers such as Amazon,…

Three types of start-ups are coming up—those offering a freight e-market place and connecting shippers and carriers; those focussing on intra-city parcel delivery; and those offering SaaS-based platform for logistics services Warehouse space is being digitised on a single platform for optimal utilisation of assets Both carriers and shippers are moving to a freight aggregating platform, leading to consolidation in the sector Established players are building tech capabilities either in-house or by investing in new-age firms Companies are entering into more stringent service level agreements and developing capabilities to meet requirements…

BYJU’S added 15 million users in the last three months Till date, it has over 57 million registered students In June, it raised an undisclosed amount from Bond, an investment firm co-founded by Mary Meeker, at a valuation of $10.5 billion VEDANTU’S number of registered students increased by 220 per cent to 8 lakh in the last three months COURSERA has made its offering, Coursera for Campus, free till July 31 Around 3,765 programmes across universities like Symbiosis Institute of Technology, World University of Design, BML Munjal University are being offered online GREAT LEARNING, an ed-tech firm for working professionals, is offering its online learning platform, Olympus, to higher education institutes; around 120 universities are in different stages of trying it out It will launch a three-year online undergraduate course…

“REMAIN HUNGRY FOR GROWTH AND CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO”RAJIV BHALLA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BARCO INDIA Q: What was the problem that you were grappling with? A: I joined Barco in May 2016, following stints in Intel, NEC and Microsoft. The company was in the midst of consolidating its position in the market and the focus was on enabling growth and boosting sales. I realised that despite Barco being a leader in visualisation technologies, and India being a great centre of excellence, we were facing a challenge in terms of sales and the teams were not able to fully leverage on-site capabilities. There was a need to turn around this situation. Q: Who did you approach and why? A: While trying to resolve this issue, I sought inspiration from the experience and…

Over the past 50 years, the Hindujas have epitomised bonding, as they dined, prayed and holidayed together, even as the family expanded from the second generation to the third and fourth generations. The business empire also grew as they moved headquarters from Shikarpur in Sindh province of today’s Pakistan to Tehran and then London, though most of their businesses are headquartered in India. In fact, it was the unity of the second generation – the four sons of patriarch Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja – Srichand (84), Gopichand (80), Prakash (75) and Ashok (70)– that helped them sail through political controversies, including the one in London in which a British cabinet minister lost his job, and the Bofors scandal, which shook Indian politics in the late 80s. That was then. Today, the…

During demonetisation, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and small finance banks were forced to disburse loans by depositing the amount directly in bank accounts of borrowers, instead of the then usual practice of handing out cash on the site. The result: Within a few months, disbursals switched completely to bank accounts. After three-and-a-half years, the financial services sector is staring at a similar transformation on the loan collection (EMI) front. “EMI collection numbers through digital channels have surprised us during the lockdown months,” says Baskar Babu Ramachandran, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Suryoday Small Finance Bank. So, while not every borrower is tech-savvy, friends and relatives are often stepping in to fill the digital gap through Google Pay, Paytm and other channels. And this is just the beginning of the…

Giving enterprise solutions. Jio has tied up with Microsoft to bring Azure cloud on its network targeting SMEs Partnerships with industries such as healthcare, education, entertainment. Airtel is selling HDFC & Bharti AXA insurance plans Vodafone Idea has launched a business continuity plan to ensure its enterprise customers do not face disruption in services Leveraging cloud, AI, automation and blockchain. Jio bought Haptik last year to challenge Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant in IoT market As connected devices and drones pick up, and automated cars become reality, all telcos are building capabilities to serve these large markets…

Cost pressures are pushing clients to renegotiate service contracts and focus on an agile opex model (money spent on a day-to-day basis for a business) of IT infrastructure for faster innovation Stress on user experience, cloud strategy, virtual network, cyber security and increased automation likely to increase digital revenues for companies Move to reduce delivery costs, engage more gig/temporary workers through remote capabilities will create more virtual, offshore delivery services Traditional time and material (T&M) deals are making way for a mix of fixed and variable and risk-sharing deal structures Large clients are looking to replace small vendors as cost pressures force companies to look at consolidation and end-to-end solutions…

The shift towards tech-based startups has raised service levels in terms of tracking of consignments The cost of logistics is expected to come down by 10 per cent, benefitting end-users There are expectations that a few large players would be offering the whole range of services. Start-ups are developing technologically scalable systems to corner old players Advanced technologies such as fleet visualisation, geo-coding and IoT are making logistics more efficient and competitive Use of robotics and investment in conveyor systems are expected to make warehousing contactless…

The central banking Journal, which has leading former central bankers on its editorial advisory board — including former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y.V. Reddy—published a survey on digital currency in its May issue. Sharing the results of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Survey, conducted in February, it cautioned that a lot of the attention being given to digital currencies is overdone and that very few central banks plan to issue CBDCs, in any form, within the next five years. But it also said that numerous central banks are “actively evaluating CBDCs, publishing in-depth reports on issues looking at financial stability, financial market infrastructure and macro-economic implication.” A large number of central banks, including in India, may not be in a hurry to launch digital currencies, but the…

POLICY: Between 2014 and 2016, India reduced import duties on many electronic items and machinery EFFECT: Imports from China increased significantly between 2013 and 2018 for electronic goods, solar panels/modules and other machinery POLICY: To protect domestic industry, safeguard and anti-dumping duties imposed on steel from China between 2015 and 2016 EFFECT: Steel imports from mainland China and Hong Kong peaked in 2014/15; they have declined since then POLICY: India starts increasing import duties on mobile phones, LED and CRT TVs, computers, etc, from Budget 2016/17, and more significantly, in 2017/18 and 2018/19 EFFECT: Import of electronic items, machinery and solar equipment, which peaked in 2017/18, began declining after that. It coincided with a downturn in India’s economy IN STORE FOR THE FUTURE: On June 23, India imposed anti-dumping duty…

July 1, 2014: The brothers reportedly sign an agreement that assets held by one brother belong to all and appoint each other as their executors 2015: Srichand Hinduja sought to disavow the agreement signed with the other three brothers; the family dispute started Sep 4 2019: Hinduja Global Solutions board accepts resignations of cousins Ramkrishan Hinduja (chairman), Shanu Hinduja (co-chairperson) and Vinoo Hinduja (director) June 23, 2020: Vinoo, on behalf of Srichand, moves High Court of Justice in London seeking separation. Wants her family to control Hinduja Bank…

Vravichandran is a fourth-generation farmer from Poongulam village in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvarur district. The 62-year-old owns 52 acres of land on which he grows rice, cotton, pulses, sugarcane and black gram. For years, pests had been attacking his black gram crop, and it took days, even weeks, to consult agricultural experts. By the time he got the remedies, the infection spread, resulting in crop loss. Not anymore. Last year, just as he spotted shrunken leaves, he downloaded an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven application on his phone and uploaded photographs of the leaves. The app, Plantix, took minutes to diagnose that the crop had crinkle virus infection and suggested remedies. The disease, if detected early, is easily controllable by tackling aphid, small sapsucking insects that act as vectors for the virus. “The…

While browsing through online tutoring platform Vedantu, 22-year-old Natasha came across a live class on ‘How to write Marvel-style comic books’. There were quizzes and interactive games, including some ‘fastest fingers first’ questions that would give anyone an adrenaline rush. The class of 584 did not feel a bit overcrowded. Students could send in their comments on the ‘public chat’ forum option. The instructor addressed all queries, and even welcomed ‘late joiners’. Natasha had fun posing as a 15-year-old, and the acknowledgement served as an incentive to finish the lesson. India’s ed-tech space is dominated by players such as Byju’s, Vedantu, Toppr, Unacademy, White Hat Jr, Great Learning and Coursera, all of whom are seeing phenomenal growth. With schools and colleges shut during the lockdown and around 320 million students…

Call it dahi in the north, or thayir in the south, if there is one food item that unites all of India, it has to be curd. Be it soft or thick, what matters is getting the consistency right every time. That, of course, is not easily achieved. It is this challenge of preparing curd day-after-day with the right consistency that South Korea’s Samsung has addressed with its Curd Maestro refrigerator. Launched in January, it has been designed keeping in mind consumer insights. Not surprisingly, Curd Maestro — that prepares fresh curd in six-seven hours — has emerged as an instant hit in Indian households. After all, curd is not just an essential food item, but is considered auspicious — curd with sugar — to have before important events. “Our…

Token Development & Exchange has brought in institutional validation to what used to be an entrepreneur-issued coin Bitcoin wallet service is gaining greater merchant acceptance as service providers enrol more and more merchants Stablecoin as a service is bring primarily used for utility payments Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin Trading & Exchange Model is gaining acceptance among people Blockchain solutions/services are being used to develop applications to make businesses more efficient…