August SPO INDIA 2018

www.spoindia.org Vol. III | Issue 03 | August 2018 | Rs. 50

Bharat Ratna

ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE DEC 25, 1924 - AUG 16, 2018

The big e-commerce story unfolds!

Mukesh Ambani Chairman & Managing Director - Reliance Industries

Jack Ma Co-founder and Executive Chairman - Alibaba Group

Kishore Biyani Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Future Group www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 1

SUPPORT ONE OLD MAN FOR SOCIETAL UPLIFTMENT

(Society registered under section 25 Company Act 1956)

FOR A NOBLE CAUSE! You worked hard all your life, hoping that someday you could put your feet up on a sunny porch and do nothing more than reading a book. But when that day does arrive, you start missing the frantic pace – feeling left out and without purpose. Most of the Indian families take good care of their elders but unfortunately there are people who treat their parents as liabilities making them feel neglected. We want to provide them the much needed relief and a life of dignity.

Real CSR! You are not the only one who feel this way. Many senior executives in the corporate sector think of how they can bring a smile in one needy Old man’s life. Understanding the need of a Senior citizen on how exactly they feel only help us serve them better. The problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubt, while the stupid people are full of confidence. Sometimes grown-ups fail to realize their duty and are so much engrossed in their personal lives that they feel it a burden to keep their parents with them. Hundreds of organizations in the country are working to make life easy for such destitute parents by developing old age homes in India.

SPOI is Registered society under section 12A and all investment, they will get the tax exemption certificate and then 80G certification.

SPOI will empower the existing old age homes for the senior citizens and aged people in places such as Delhi and he NCR region. Our passion is to serve & empower the senior citizen by providing a roof over their heads as we understand that an old age home is a critical need for the elders who are destitute, sick and abandoned by their family.

SPOI INITIATIVES

• Computerization Supporting • Elderly Citizens

• Hygiene Support • Edutainment

• Medical Support SOCIO POLITICAL OBSERVER OF INDIA A-84A/3, Rose Apartment, Paryavaran Complex, IGNOU Road, New Delhi - 110030 Mob: 9818928406 | Fax: 011 46061809 2 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

For more information www.spoindia.org

COVER STORY| 22 Editor-in-Chief: Deepak Kumar Sahu Executive Editor: S Mohini Ratna Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah Copy Editor: C. M. Dutta Art Director: Rakesh Kumar Network Administrator: Ashok Kumar Singh Manager-IT: Subhash Mohanta Manager-SEO: Bidyadhar Behera

Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee – a Tribute

BUSINESS: Vice President: Prasanna Rout General Manager: Ashok Ranjan Dash Marketing Manager: Dipendra Kumar

CORPORATE OFFICE: A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex IGNOU Road, New Delhi - 110 030 Tel: 011-41656383, 46061809 Email: edit@spoindia.org

(1924 - 2018 )

Bangalore: Bureau office Marketing Manager: S. Kamala Kar D-103 G.F., Ashish JK Apartments Thubarahalli Extended Road Bangaluru - 560066, Tel: 080-49530399 Mobile: 08904205750/9916134482

Mumbai: Bureau office Regional Manager (West): Anil Kumar Anurag Residency, 203 - “B” Wing, Plot No-5, Sector-9, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai - 410 209 Tel: 022-65561292, Mobile: 08108017479

Chennai: Bureau office

NEWS 6 - 15 16

26

SPOI ANALYSIS Can a Data Protection law soon become a Reality for India?

30

SPO FOUNDATION Oracle looks to delivering high-profile CSR projects with CAF and other non-profit grantees

34

SPO ANALYSIS Is Alibaba ready to take up challenges?

36

ROUND ABOUT

INTERVIEW

Branch Manager: Mr.Parthiban K A2, R.C.Residency, Cholambedu Road, Thiruvenkada nagar, Ambathur, Chennai - 600 053 Mobile: 09840055626

Hyderabad: Bureau office Branch Manager: Sunil Kumar 32-161/3, 202 Neha Paradise, Nr. Maissamma Temple, Venketeswara colony, Ramakrishna Puram Hyderabad - 500056, Telangana, Tel: 040-32989844/ Cell No. 08100298033

Kolkata: Bureau office Marketing Officer: Kiran Kumar 67 Sarada Park, Garia, Kolkata - 700 084 Mobile: 09903088480 Printed by Deepak Kumar Sahu and Published by Deepak Kumar Sahu on behalf of Deepak Kumar Sahu and Printed at Pushpak Press Pvt. Ltd. Shed No. 203 - 204, DSIDC Complex, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi-110 020 and Published at A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, IGNOU Road, New Delhi - 110 030 Editor - Deepak Kumar Sahu

Newgen giving Wings to the Leaders of Tomorrow

18

SPOI ANALYSIS

E-commerce In India: Unlimited Opportunity

22

COVER STORY

Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee – a Tribute

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Kalinga Digital Media Pvt. Ltd. © All rights are reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. (2015) * All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi only.

Complex and Crowded E-Commerce Space in India

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 3

Information security is constantly evolving

I was wondering for an answer - which one to accept or not to accept becomes a million-dollar question. I am talking about the three important things which have become part of today’s life - digitization, transformation, and disruption of our own innovation.

The answer can be just like the ‘chicken or the egg’ dilemma – which came first the chicken or the egg - and with both a favourable and unfavourable consequence to it.

It is somewhat similar to a situation where we slowdown our vehicle whenever any object comes in front of us, despitethe kind of vehicle we are driving. It is very much fundamental, else one has to face the consequences.

Recently, a very good data protection law has been initiated, which suggests the Indian consumers to protect their personal data, suggesting that consumers to be given the right to choice, consent and to be forgotten to safeguard their privacy, which is under approval from the Parliament.But now the American companies have raised their issues with a fear of penalties for violation. The fact is that the user data should not be exploited, manipulated or taken advantage of without the explicit consent of the users.

The Indian data protection law if implemented is going to become a model globally, blending security, privacy, safety, and innovation.

As far as data storage is concerned, the report identifies circumstances under which data has to be mandatorily stored in India and cases where it can be stored with mirroring provisions.

Rapid digitization in all sectors in India has made the country critically prone to targeted cyber-attacks like ‘WannaCry’ ransomware attack (This is said to be just the tip of the iceberg). Owing to the government’s initiatives and efforts, coupled with booming penetration of smartphones, PCs and high-speed internet access, the challenges associated with such attacks amplify significantly.

There are so many companies who are talking about cyber Security and everyone says we are the best. Then why are there so many vulnerabilities on a regular basis?

Everywhere businesses are investing a remarkable amount of money into hiring security professionals, maintaining customer privacy and avoiding ransomware attacks. Hackers constantly search for loopholes and weaknesses so that they can exploit to infiltrate systems, steal data or generally wreak havoc. Sadly, there seems to be no end to hackers who want to access your business and customer data and then use that information to their own malicious ends.

Information security is constantly evolving. Just as soon as vulnerabilities get patched or a virus is identified and stopped, bad guys look for new ways to infiltrate your systems. The trends like Automation, IoT, AI have given way to more data that needs to be secured.

See to the revolution of e-commerce companies, where it is simply dumping off the capital with the predatory pricing/offerings, where different companies are coming up with their own business plans to acquire the audience. They just want to increase the market share and stock price and no one is showing their loss even as the market development expenses rise. Very soon you are going to get the second-hand goods being dumped in India. Policy makers and influencers are already ready with their documents to challenge the law. Does anyone bother a question to be asked here?

Deepak Kumar Sahu Publisher & Editor-in-Chief 4 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 5

NEWS/GOVT.

NITI Aayog launches Reports on Sustainable Development in Indian Himalayan Region

Ministry of Railways to spread awareness about Indian Railways Heritage

Ministry of AYUSH introducesto promote Pharmacovigilance of AYUSH Drugs

Ministry of Railways signs record for India Japan Cooperation in Rail Safety

Recognizing the uniqueness of the Himalayas and the challenges for sustainable development, NITI Aayog had set up 5 Working Groups (WGs) in June 2017 to prepare a roadmap for actions in 5 thematic areas. The themes include - Inventory and Revival of Springs in Himalayas for Water Security, Sustainable Tourism in Indian Himalayan Region, Tr a n s f o r m a t ive Approach to Shifting Cultivation, Strengthening Skill & Entrepreneurship Landscape in Himalayas and Data/Information for Informed Decision Making.

The reports lists challenges in all 5 thematic areas. Himalayan Tourism growing annually at 6.8% has crated huge challenge related to solid waste, water, traffic, loss of bio-cultural diversity etc.With the projected arrival of tourists in IHR States to more than double by 2025, urgent actions will be needed to address critical issues of waste management and water crisis in addition to other environmental and social issues.

Ministry of AYUSH has introduced new Central Sector scheme for promoting pharmacovigilance of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) Drugs. The prime objective of the scheme is to develop the culture of documenting adverse effects and undertake safety monitoring of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy drugs and surveillance of misleading advertisements appearing in the print and electronic media.

The Standing Finance Committee (SFC) chaired by Secretary (AYUSH) approved the scheme on 1st November, 2017 and thereafter it was rolled out for implementation in the country near the end of financial year 2017-18.

The scheme intends to facilitate the establishment of threetier network of National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPvCC), Intermediary Pharmacovigilance Centres (IPvCCs) and Peripheral Pharmacovigilance Centres (PPvCC). All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi, an autonomous body under the Ministry of AYUSH, has been designated as National Pharmacovigilance Centre for coordinating various activities of the initiative.

6 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

In the wake of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for creating digital museums at stations using QR code, Ministry of Railway has made “digital screens” operational at 22 stations on this Independence Day as an innovative low cost solution to spread awareness among public about the opulent heritage of Indian Railways.

Being initiated on a pilot basis, the project aims at showcasing the legacy of Indian Railways through one to two minute-long movie clips on digital LED screens at the entrance gate of railway stations and also at different comfort areas. The short films will showcase heritage buildings, locomotives and much more to make people aware of the rich heritage of Indian Railways.

In addition, QR code based posters on Railway Heritage are also being displayed at these stations. Passenger can scan the QR code on their mobile to view a streaming video on their mobile on various facades of Railway heritage.

Record of Discussion (ROD) for the project on Capacity Development on Rail Safety was signed between Ministry of Railways and Japan International Cooperation Agency by Shri S. K. Mishra, Principal Executive Director, Railway Board and Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency in the presence of officials of Railway Board, Department of Economic Affairs and Japan International Cooperation. The ROD is formalization of the agreement reached between Ministry of Railways, India with Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Japan through a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) signed on 17th February, 2017.

ToR Missions from Japan comprising representatives of Japan’s MLIT, Railway Technical Research Institute, East Japan Railway Company (JR East), West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and Indian Railway Freight (IR Freight) visited India thrice between August and November, 2017 for this purpose.

NEWS/GOVT.

Film Actor Akshay Kumar is the Brand Ambassador for Road Safety Campaigns

Australia recommences its adoption programme with India

NDMC launches Smart City projects inaugurated by Rajnath Singh

Nitin Gadkari inaugurates 20 Ghats in Kanpur and Bithoor

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari today launched three short films for generating public awareness towards road safety. Film actor Shri Akshay Kumar has featured in these films, which are directed by Shri R.Balki.

In a function attended by MoS Shri Mansukh L Mandavia in New Delhi, Shri Gadkari announced the appointment of Shri Akshay Kumar as Road Safety Brand Ambassador.

Appreciating Akshay Kumar’s concern for social activism, the Minister recalled his recent movies ‘Padman’and ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ which have gone a long way in passing the government’s message of cleanliness and hygiene. Shri Gadkari called upon people to adopt good practices in road safety to build a better society free of accidents.

Shri Akshay Kumar shared his experiences of producing the short films. He said, he feels proud to join the government’s efforts to make Indian roads safe, and is participating in road safety campaign for the betterment of the society.

The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a slew of Smart City projects undertaken by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) at the Charkha Park in Connaught Place. He pointed out that the rollout of the Smart City projects will help New Delhi emerge as a world class city.

Rajnath Singh said that NDMC has set an example before other aspiring Smart Cities in the country to follow.

He recalls that New Delhi was among the 20 cities included in January, 2016 in the First Phase of the Smart City Mission announced by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Other various projects inaugurated by Shri Rajnath Singh include Smart Poles, Solar Tree, Ideation Centre, 50 LED interactive screens, Ambedkar Vatika and two hi-tech nurseries, four mechanical road sweepers, two litter picking machines and ten auto tippers.

The Government of Australia has decided to recommence the Adoption Programme with India, as per Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption. The adoptions from India had earlier been put on hold by the Government of Australia eight years ago, on the reported charges of trafficking of children for Intercountry adoption by some of the recognized Indian placement agencies.

The regulation of Inter-country adoptions have been made strict by the Government of India with the enactment of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and notification of Adoption Regulations, 2017. The Ministry of Women & Child Development along with Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) have been constantly engaging with Australian Government for recommencement of the Adoption Programme. The recommencement of the adoption programmes will now enable large number of prospective adoptive parents including those of Indian origin settled in Australia.

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated 20 newly constructed/ restored Ghats on river Ganga in Kanpur and Bithoor.The Minister also announced projects to tackle pollution from two of Kanpur’s biggest pollution hotspots – Jajmau- a source of industrial effluents and Sisamau – source of domestic sewage. Shri Gadkari announced that a20 MLD Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) has been approved forJajmau at an estimated cost of Rs. 554 crore (phase-1) for the treatment of effluent from tanneries.In addition, he also announced that the complete tapping of SisamauNalawould be done by October this year. 140 MLD of sewage from this nalla used to fall untreated into Ganga earlier. Of this, 80 MLD of sewage has already been diverted to Bingawan STP. The remaining diversion will be complete by October this year.

Speaking at a ceremony at Chandrasekhar Azad University in Kanpur, ShriGadkari said that his Ministry is fully committed to cleaning Ganga and its tributary rivers, and there is no shortage of funds for this purpose. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 7

CSR/CORPORATE

RB with World Toilet Vodafone lends help to affected Organization sets up World Toilet people in the aftermath of Kerala College for sanitation workers floods RB (erstwhile Reckitt Benckiser), in association with the World Toilet Organization (Singapore) and Jagran Pehel has laid the foundation of India’s first World Toilet College for sanitation workers in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

Through an effective curriculum, the World Toilet College aims to introduce an enabling program for sanitation workers. The event was attended by eminent dignitaries including Jack Sim, Founder of World Toilet Organization; Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati Ji, President - Parmarth Niketan Ashram and CoFounder Global Interfaith Wash Alliance; Sadhavi Bhagwati Saraswati Ji, Secretary General, Global Interfaith Wash Alliance; Nipun Vinayak – Commissioner, Aurangabad; Dr. Rekha Bahanwal, General Secretary, All India Walmiki Mahasabha; Narasimhan Eswar, Senior Vice President, South Asia-RB Home Hygiene; S.M Sharma, Founder Chairman and Chief Advisory, Pehel & Group Advisor to the Board of Dainik Jagran among others and Senior Members of partner agencies.

Kerala has been experiencing its worst downpour in over a century and the devastation that has followed has seen the loss of many lives, unprecedented damage to the state’s infrastructure and immense disruption to normal lives of citizens.

The company has mobilized its vast network of employees, customers, partners, vendors and supporters for relief work, channelizing its resources and efforts to the best of its ability, to provide help and assistance to the affected people in this hour of need.

Vodafone has initiated s e v e r a l measures to provide assistance to those who are affected by this ongoing crisis in Kerala. To enable its customers in Kerala to remain connected in this hour of dire need, on an immediate basis, Vodafone is offering a ‘Talk Time’ credit of up to Rs. 30 to all Vodafone prepaid mobile customers. To activate this Chota credit, Vodafone prepaid customers can SMS ‘CREDIT’ to 144 or dial *130*1#.

Additionally, 1 GB of mobile data is being auto credited free of cost to all Vodafone prepaid smart phone users in Kerala.

Ambuja Cement with DDU-GKY announces its skill development initiative

ICICI Bank contributes Rs.10 crore towards Kerala flood relief

Ambuja Cements has announced its skill development project in partnership with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), which has been inaugurated by Shri. Purnendu Basu, Hon’ble Minister, Technical Education and Training and Skill Development, Government of West Bengal.

The project initiated under the DDU-GKY, a skilling and placement scheme of the country’s Ministry of Rural Development, aims at enhancing the employability of underprivileged youth, thereby promoting rural livelihood. Implementation of this DDU-GKY will be carried out by Ambuja Cement’s CSR arm Ambuja Cement Foundation in coordination with West Bengal’s flagship skill training program ‘Utkarsh Bangla’.

Speaking at the inauguration program held at Ambuja Cement’s Sankrail plant, Shri. Purnendu Basu, Hon’ble Minister said, “Millions of people are entering the labour market in the country. To ensure their inclusive growth, there is an urgent need for a greater focus on youth skill development initiatives."

8 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

ICICI Bank has announced that it will contribute Rs.10 crore to aid the state government and the local authorities in their efforts to provide relief and assistance in the flood affected regions of Kerala. The majority of the contribution will be extended to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

The Bank will also contribute to the District Collectors’ efforts in all the 14 districts of the state to help in the supply of essential commodities like clothes, food items, medicines, sanitation & hygiene products and others.

In addition, ICICI Bank has announced a slew of measures to help the flood-hit customers of the state. The Bank will waive off penalties on late payment of EMI for all retail loans—home, car and personal—for our customers in Kerala in the month of August. Also, there will be no penalty for late payment of credit card dues as well as no cheque bouncing charges for the Bank’s customers in Kerala this month.

CSR/CORPORATE

Dabur organizes Oral & Personal Hygiene Awareness program in Assam

Strengthening its community development initiatives in Assam, Dabur India has announced a mega health awareness campaign that seeks to educate school-going children in Tezpur about best Oral and Personal Hygiene practices. The first of its awareness camp was organized at the Dhekidol Lower Primary School, which saw participation from 158 students from four schools in the neighbourhood.

The camp, organized by Dabur’s CSR arm Jivanti Welfare & Charitable Trust, sought to improve the oral health of school kids and create awareness about Ayurveda and Ayurvedic remedies for dental and oral care. School kids from Dhekidol Lower Primary School, Binapani Lower Primary School, Sesa Panbari Lower Primary School and Chapaguri Lower Primary School participated in the camp.

As part of this programme, the children were also educated about the good personal hygiene practices like regular and proper bathing, trimming of nails, washing hands with soap, besides maintaining cleanliness within their household and school.

Help the people in distress in Kerala with K7 Computing

K7 computing has extended a helping hand towards people who are affected by the unprecedented rains and flood in Kerala.

The company has decided to contribute 100% of its online sales that takes place between the 22nd and 23rd August towards Kerala Relief Fund. All the contributions and donations will be made through The Hindu’s ‘Help us Help Kerala’ initiative.

K 7 Computing has requested everyone to visit its online store to purchase the company’s award-winning IT security solutions and do their bit to help the people of Kerala.

K7 Computing is a global provider of leading IT security solutions for enterprises and consumers. Incorporated in 1991, K7 Computing has its registered office in Chennai and a strong presence in all Indian states. With more than 20,000 channel partners, K7 Computing is protecting more than 25 million customers worldwide against the threats to their IT environment.

Stellar launches “Free Data Recovery Consultation Service” for flood victims

Stellar Data Recovery has announced a “Free Data Recovery Consultation Service” for customers affected by massive floods in five states – Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam. The company has received multiple service requests from these locations for data recovery from waterdamaged hard drives.

Stellar has always been at the forefront of helping out organizations and individuals alike during the catastrophic data loss situations and played a catalyst role during last year massive floods in Gujarat and North East region by helping several people in the recovery of their critical and personal information. In addition to the Free Data Recovery Consultation service, to help distressed people across India to reclaim their digital information, Stellar has announced a 15% discount on all data recovery requests from water-damaged hard drives nationwide.

Corning opens a new school building in Pune

Corning India has celebrated the opening of a new building for Varale ZP School in Pune, India, constructed through the efforts of Corning as part of its community outreach activities.

The school, located about one mile from Corning’s optical fibre manufacturing facility in Pune, will house more than 90 students from classes first through fourth.

Attending the opening celebration were Indira Aswar, Sharad Buttepatil and Sanjay Naikade from the Zilha Parishad, Pune District; Babytai Buttepatil, Sagar Andre and Vishwas Buttepatil from the Grampanchayat Varale; and Amit Bansal, Managing Director, Corning India. The event also featured a performance by some of the school’s students. The new school building replaces a deteriorating 30-year-old structure that housed about 58 students.

“At Corning, we strive every day to make a positive difference in the world by preserving our environment, engaging in responsible business and manufacturing processes, and most importantly, supporting our people and the communities in which we operate,” Bansal said. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 9

CSR/PSU

ONGC providesrelief support for flood-affected Kerala

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited has pressed into action three helicopters- two from Mumbai and one from Kakinada to airlift relief materials for the flood-hit people of Kerala. Four ONGC doctors have also been flown in to provide medical supports.

Medicines, foodstuff, dry provisions, bed sheets and other relief materials have already been sent from Mumbai and Kakinada. The helicopters will also be used in tandem with other disaster management groups for the rescue operations.

While expressing huge concerns over a great deal of ordeal the people are faced with due to the unprecedented flood situation, Shashi Shanker CMD ONGC said, '”Being a national company it is our primary responsibility to mobilise all possible resources for disaster management. ONGC will continue to render all supports to the affected people of Kerala to help overcome this crisis.”

NBCC receives Rs. 250 crore order from SAIL

NBCC (India) Limited has bagged an order from Steel Authority of India Limited worth Rs 250 crore for the construction of Ispat Post-Graduate Medical Institute and Super-Speciality Hospital at Rourkela Steel Plant, Rourkela. The proposed hospital will have 156 beds accommodating super-specialities like cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurology and nephrology. The new super-speciality block, 500-seater Auditorium and the medical institute will be spread across 3 lakh sq ft.

NBCC will plan and design the building as a ‘Steel Intensive’ structure and execute the works as Project Management Consultant.

Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NBCC said, “We have extensive experience in delivering worldclass educational and healthcare facilities across the country.

Sustainable development is our constant endeavour, which we institutionalise right from the concept stage to ensure quality and timely delivery.”

BEML flags off the country’s first RINL Achieved a turn Around: 150T Electric Dump Truck CMD, RINL BEML LIMITED has launched an indigenously developed nation’s first 150T Electric Drive Rear Dump Truck, with an objective of strengthening the 'Make in India' initiative of the Hon’ble Prime Minister that will address the growing demand for

higher capacity equipment in the Mining Industry.

Shri Deepak Kumar Hota, CMD BEML, at a function held at Mysore on 15th August 2018, flagged off the 150T Dump Truck for its use in the coal fields of CIL’s subsidiary M/s. South Eastern Coal Fields Ltd., for the Gevra Project.

This new innovative product not only showcases the technical prowess of BEML but also is qualitatively comparable to any global brands of its kind. The product has significant features like high power performance, enhanced productivity, increased reliability, excellent serviceability, exceptional manoeuvrability, superior operating comfort and improved safety.

10 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

The RINL-Vizag Steel Plant has joined the nation in celebrating the 72nd Independence Day with patriotic fervour in Ukkunagaram. Shri P Raychaudhury, CMD, RINL unfurled the National Flag, took the salute and inspected the guard of honour accorded by the CISF jawans, home guards and school children of Ukkunagaram at the sprawling Trishna Grounds in the township.

Addressing the employees and their family members on the occasion, Shri Raychaudhury stated that the Indian economy had started stabilizing from the impact of currency reform and implementation of GST which will propel the steel demand.

Shri Raychaudhury mentioned that RINL signed off 201718 on a positive note by posting an Operating profit of Rs 332 crores after a gap of two years and disclosed that the company has registered a turnaround in the first quarter of the current fiscal posting a Net Profit and providing the desired momentum to move from strength to strength for a remarkable performance in 2018-19.

CSR/PSU

NTPC and IWAI explore inland waterways possibility for Fly Ash

To increase the Fly Ash utilization, NTPC along with team of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Ministry of Shipping, GoI are exploring the possibility for transporting fly ash through Inland Waterways from NTPC- Kahalgaon.

Sustainable Fly Ash utilisation is one of the key initiatives at NTPC. There is a huge demand for Fly Ash but due to the limitation of transporting it through only railway system, not enough can be utilised.

Transporting the Fly Ash through Inland waterways has been commenced as a pilot project from NTPC Kahalgaon to Pandu (In Assam) for use in cement manufacturing. For this pilot project, first mile activity of bagging and loading of Fly Ash into barges will be done by NTPC and cost of transportation will be taken care by IWAI and Star cement.

The first load of Fly Ash has already been loaded by NTPC Kahalgaon after IWAI moved its barges vessel from Kolkata to Kahalgaon and two barge vessels of 1000 tonne capacity each reached Kahalgaon on 17th August, 2018. The vessels will go to Pandu port through National waterway and via IBP (IndoBangla) route.

NCL sets up National Level Residential Athletics Academy

Northern Coalfields Limited has started a Residential Athletics Academy in its Jayant Opencast Project (OCP).

The free ‘Residential Athletics Academy’ aims to produce competent sportsperson for countrywide competitions. Thanks to NCL, Singrauli region has witnessed first of its kind Athletics Academy. This is also the first academy in any Coal India subsidiary to be established to nurture budding athletes.

The first batch of athletes comprising of 18 young athletes were inducted in the academy recently in the inauguration ceremony held in Vijay Stadium of Jayant.

The academy will not only provide free sports coaching to all the players but also bear all the expenses incurred during the course of training towards the athletes’ lodging, diet, academics, sports kits and medical care.

The academy has 20 rooms with double occupancy, one gym room, dining hall, kitchen and reception area. Athletes inducted in the academy were selected from among 200 who participated in the selection trials held locally on knock-out format.

Mines Secretary lays Foundation NRDC, IOCL, APIS jointly Stone of NALCO’s Alloy Wire Rod organise roadshow Dr. H. Purushotham, CMD, National Research Development unit Corporation has informed that NRDC -Intellectual Property National Aluminium Company Limited has unveiled its plan to set up an Alloy Wire Rod manufacturing facility at its existing Smelter Plant at Angul, Odisha. Shri Anil Mukim, IAS, Secretary (Mines), Government of India, formally laid the Foundation Stone (through video conferencing) for the proposed Alloy Wire Rod m a nu f a c t u r i n g facility at a function held today at the NALCO Corporate Office, Bhubaneswar in presence of Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, NALCO. The upcoming Alloy Wire Rod manufacturing facility to be set up at a cost of about Rs.131 crores and will have an installed capacity of 40000 TPY (Alloy Grade) /60000 TPY (EC Grade).

Shri Mukim, said, NALCO has become the pride of India in non-ferrous sector and the cost focus of management has made NALCO recognised as the lowest cost producer of alumina in the world.

Facilitation Centre in collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation Limited and AP Innovation Society organized a roadshow on 4th August, 2018 at Hill No. 3, AP Innovation Society, Rushikonda, Vishakhapatnam with an aim to create awareness to the potential Entrepreneurs/Start-ups about the Start-up Funding opportunities available under the IOCL Start-up Scheme.

More than 70 delegates from MSMEs, Start-ups, Industries, Universities and Academia, attended the event to avail an opportunity to turn their bright ideas into reality.

IOCL representative TSR Gopala Rao, CGM, Indian Oil R&D center, Faridabad briefed about the IOCL Start-up schemes (TPRE & BPRE) and funding mechanism in detail. Sanjeeva Gandhi, Sr. Manager, Indian Oil R&D centre, Faridabad, informed that IOCL is the first Indian company which stands in the first position in the fortune 500 companies listed.

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 11

NEWS/URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Pune ranked India’s most liveable city for 2018

Pune, Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai from Maharashtra were ranked India's three most liveable places on the government's inaugural 'Ease of Living Index', where the national capital came at 65th place out of total 111 cities.

Rampur in Uttar Pradesh figured at the bottom of the liveability index released by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. Chennai has been ranked 14th, while Kolkata did not participate in the survey.

Kohima (Nagaland) and Patna (Bihar) were also placed in the bottom-three.

In the top-ten, the three cities from Maharashtra were followed by Tirupati, Chandigarh, Thane, Raipur, Indore, Vijayawada and Bhopal.

Varanasi is at 33rd place, Ahmedabad at 23rd and Hyderabad at 27th.

The ministry said evaluation of cities has been done on a 100-point scale across 78 indicators - institutional and social pillars carried 25 points each, 5 points were given for economic pillar and 45 points for the physical pillar.

Centre to states, UTs - display PM Awas Yojna logo on houses built

The Centre has advised states and Union territories to display the "standard logo" of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) on all houses constructed under PMAY (U), Rajya Sabha was told. In a written reply to a question, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the move is intended to spread awareness among people about PMAY (U), a flagship scheme of the central government.

According to the ministry, 53.79 lakh houses have been sanctioned against the estimated one crore housing units to be constructed till 2022 under the government's vision of "Housing for All by 2022" in the country. The ministry of housing and urban affairs is implementing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and providing assistance to states and UTs in addressing the housing requirements in urban areas.

"To spread awareness among people about the scheme, this ministry has advised all states/Union territory governments to display the standard logo of PMAY (U) in all houses constructed under the PMAY (U)," Puri said.

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ISSDA suggest stainless steel to be the best for water management

Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) is actively working with the Ministry of Drinking Water, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to promote the use of stainless steel to ensure sustainable water management practices. It organised a national seminar on ‘Sustainable Stainless Steel Solutions for Water Management’ in Delhi under the aegis of Ministry of Steel. The seminar deliberated on sustainable infrastructural solutions for the growing issue of safe water management with OEMs and policymakers.

Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, Jindal Stainless said, “The Delhi Jal Board loses 48% of treated water. A significant reason for that is attributed to leaky pipelines, which in turn also contaminates the water through harmful pathogens entering the water supply. A Water Aid report estimates that more than 500 children under the age of five die each day from diarrhoea in India alone. To stop this loss of life and finances, it is pertinent that we switch to stainless steel for integrated water management."

Uber launches 'Movement' in four Indian cities fordata-driven urban planning

Uber has introduced 'Movement' last year in 10 cities globally, including locations like London and Cincinnati. As part of the second phase, 12 more cities, including four Indian cities, are being added, Uber said in a statement.

These cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore Hyderabad, Amsterdam, Brisbane, Cairo, Melbourne, Nairobi, Perth, Pittsburgh, and Toronto, it added.The tool uses "anonymised data from millions of trips" taken through its platform and can help planners and policymakers to analyse transportation patterns, and make smart investments on future infrastructure projects, the statement said.

“The tool can also help commuters discover patterns and analyse the impact of events, rush hours, and road closures in cities and help optimise travel time,” it added.

“This is a promising first step and we intend to engage with policy-makers, academia and civic authorities across the country to apprise them of the potential of 'Movement' in the coming days," Uber India and South Asia regional general manager Prabhjeet Singh said.

NEWS/DIGITAL INDIA

Logitech through its Digi@ campaign empowers 100 schools

India ranks low in urbanrural mobile ownership

Logitech has initiated the drive of radial empowerment by providing 100 schools in Uttar Pradesh, Devanagiri enabled Hindi keyboards. Committed to bridge the digital divide in the country, Logitech through its Digi@ initiative, aims to help students cross linguistic barriers in the use and adoption of digital technologies.

Sumanta Datta, Managing Director, India and SWA, Logitech Asia Pacific said, “At Logitech we firmly believe that use and adoption of technology should be democratised and language should not be a knowledge barrier. Today, we are extremely proud and humbled to have reached out to 100 schools across Uttar Pradesh, under our Digi@ initiative, empowering many dreams through the power of technology."

Under the Digi@ campaign, students across the 100 schools in Uttar Pradesh will now have the ability to select Hindi as a language in their keyboard with the new Logitech MK235 Wireless Devanagari Keyboard Combo as well as the wired Devanagari keyboard K120.

India has 22% gap between urban and rural mobile phone ownership and trails behind even less-developing countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kenya, a new finding has revealed.

Kenya has 9% urban-rural handset ownership divide, Bangladesh 7%, and Pakistan has mere 5% disparity.

The statistics however presents a worrying state of affairs in the Infor mation Communication Technology (ICT) domain and that too at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s prestigious Digital India program is entering into the fifth-year with an initial target to achieve 100% tele-density by 2018-19, a timeline which has now been revised to 2022.

“There is a 22% gap between urban and rural population in mobile ownership, which is the largest gap among the Asian countries studied,” LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka-based pro-poor think tank in a statement said.

Tata projects bags Rs 3,000 cr Bharat Net project for Chhattisgarh

National Digital Library tojoin hands Digital Libraries globally

Tata projects has said that its 'Smart Cities Business Unit' has been awarded Bharat Net project worth Rs 3057 crore in Chhattisgarh.

According to a company press release, the project involves laying of Optical Fibre Network that follows ring architecture with Internet Protocol - Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP-MPLS) technology.

Conceived under the Digital India initiative of the Centre, the project will link 85 Blocks and 5,987 Gram Panchayats across the 27 districts in the state by providing broadband and mobile phone connectivity, it said.

Managing Director of Tata Projects Limited, Vinayak Deshpande said, "We are very delighted to receive this prestigious project under the central government's ambitious Digital India initiative.

We are confident that once the project is completed it will help in strengthening the state's economy and enable local people to lead their lives with much ease."

The National Digital Library of India (NDLI) is all set to collaborate with several top digital libraries from across the world. Giving this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh said that NDLI has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with British Library for integrating c o n t e n t s of its "Two Centuries of Indian Print Project".

A p a r t from this, NDLI is also working closely with European Foundation (Digital Library of EU) in creating a platform for content and technology interchange between over a dozen digital libraries of the world.

NDLI has also become a member of RightsStatements. org and sits on its Steering Committee to promote proper dissemination of copyrighted and non-copyrighted digital heritage items.

Besides NDLI has also integrated contents from several international sources like OECD Library, PubMed, WHO and a few leading global publishers. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 13

NEWS/NGO

NASSCOM Foundation partners with Tesco to set up Karnataka’s first Career Development Centre

YUVA Unstoppablewith HGS launches Smart Class Program in Govt. schools

Smile Foundation becomes the charity partner for Satyameva Jayate

World Vision India provides relief to flood affected districts in Kerala

Tesco in Bengaluru has collaborated with NASSCOM Foundation to establish the state’s first community Career Development Centre (CDC). To be located at Ambedkar Nagar near Whitefield, the CDC will begin intake of beneficiaries for the course after the formal inauguration in October this year.

Driven by Tesco’s commitment to enhance the socio-economic status of youth from underprivileged communities through digital inclusion, the CDC will host a digital literacy programme in line with the curriculum of the National Digital Literacy Mission.

NASSCOM Foundation will implement the three-tiered programme, which aims to touch 700 lives in the initial phase.

Designed to increase job readiness in the IT/ITES and retail sectors, the course will be a comprehensive mix of digital and financial literacy, English language training, personality development and vocational training, where modules include data entry, Business Process Outsourcing, Business Correspondence and Accounting.

In a one of its kind of attempt to understand and directly connect with the children of underprivileged sections of the society and to raise awareness on the subject of importance of Education, the action entertainer movie, “Satyameva Jayate” produced by T-Series and Emmay Entertainment, starring John Abraham, Manoj Vajpayee and the debutant Aisha Sharma has joined hands with Smile Foundation, a national level development organization.

Under this partnership, Smile Foundation has become the charity partner of this movie and the movie will be supporting #MyMissionEducation.

The film has provided a wonderful platform to the underprivileged children to share a scene with the cast – John Abraham and debutant Aisha Sharma, in the famous “Paniyo Sa” song, sung by Atif Aslam and Tulsi Kumar composed by Rochak Kohli and written by Kumaar. Jaya Chourasiya, Bharat Karki, Sania Jaiswar, Aman Saini, Anita Gupta are some of the children of Smile Foundation in Mumbai who can be seen in the cameo role in the song in this movie.

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Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) has announced the launch of its Smart Class Program, a CSR initiative to drive overall educational development of underprivileged children in 16 Government schools – 10 in Indore and 6 in Chennai. HGS has associated with YUVA Unstoppable, one of India’s leading NGOs, for the program, which is expected to benefit 1,200 children by leveraging a technology integrated learning model.

Partha DeSarkar, Global CEO – HGS said, “HGS believes in creating meaningful impact on society through our corporate social responsibility program. With the increasing presence of technology in our lives, a technology integrated model in government schools can make learning fun while also developing a feeling of aspirational inclusion for the underserved community.”

HGS’ Smart Class Program is expected to play a crucial role in transforming and improving the overall student learning outcomes and teacher effectiveness in the 16 schools adopted by the Company.

World Vision India, a child focused humanitarian organization with expertise in disaster management, has begun relief work in two severely flood affected districts of Palakkad and Malappuram. The two districts are home to small and marginalized farmers, daily wage workers and tribal families whose houses and land have been washed away.

Over 54,000 people have been shifted to 439 relief camps across the state. World Vision India aims to reach out to 8000 families in total and to 3000 families for dry ration in the first phase with a budget of Rs. 28 Lakhs. World Vision India is working on relief and is assessing the worst affected areas of the two districts. The assessment findings will help in addressing their immediate needs and also work on rehabilitation process.

With more than half of the state of Kerala reeling under severe floods, one of the worst floods to hit the state since 1924, several people have been displaced and left homeless.

Financially too, the state has already suffered a huge loss.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Swaraj Division to enhance Customer Connect for farmers

Swaraj Division, a part of the US 20.7 billion Mahindra Group has launched its new ‘Mera Swaraj App’ to enhance its already strong connection with its customers, the farmers. This new tech driven initiative adds a new dimension to the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities and is part of the company’s customer centricity initiatives.

With this mobile application, Swaraj Tractors will significantly enhance its services to the customers, allowing them to receive services such as Door Step Service, Stand By Tractors and Fixed Day Fixed Location Service Events.

Talking about the new “Mera Swaraj” App, Viren Popli, COO, Swaraj Division said, “Today our customers have a personal connect to the Swaraj brand referring to it as “Mera Swaraj”. With this mobile App, we will further strengthen our unique bond with our customers by allowing them to access our products and services and give us relevant feedback. We will soon integrate more services features, making this app a one stop shop for Indian farmers and tractor owners”.

MEE launches its Wallet App

The MEE Wallet App has been launched by Ratan P. Watal, Member-Secretary, Economic Advisory Council to Hon’ble Prime Minister & Principal Advisor, Niti Aayog, at the MEE fuel station, Khalapur, near Mumbai. K. Rajeshwara Rao Advisor, Economic Advisory Council also graced the occasion.

The fuelling industry has been traditionally a cash transactionbased industry. In the past decade, companies have tried to shift to noncash/digitized route with introduction of fuel cards and EDC machines but none of them were able to build an entire end-toend digitized process.

MEE fuel stations are unique as they offer complete user control, providing a fully automated fuelling experience where every drop filled is accounted for because of end-to-end automation implemented by MEE. There is quantity as well as quality assurance, personalized and priority services and user control through the MEE Wallet App, enabling the consumers to load, fuel and track the billing and usage on the phone, eradicating the filler – driver syndicate or other ways of pilferages and fuel adulterations.

Telefonica and Comviva to launch electronic money solution for farmers

Banco Agrario, a prominent state-run bank focused on rural and agricultural sector, Telefonica Colombia and Comviva have come together for a mobile wallet pilot project in Colombia.

The project will focus on leveraging the ubiquity of mobile phones in Colombia to extend digital financial services to agricultural producers and the rural population.

In the pilot phase, customers will be able to open a mobile account, deposit money into account, withdraw cash from the account, transfer money to other users, pay utility bills and recharge their prepaid mobile connection, among other transactions.

The electronic money service – AGROMOVIL will be available through mobile app as well as USSD ensuring that all users, whether they have smartphone or feature-phone are able to access the service. The pilot project will run for six months and will be executed in some towns with around 1,000 customers using the service.

Bank of India launches BoI Mobile App

Bank of India has introduced a unique Mobile Banking facility that offers convenient and secured transaction facilities for its customers.

Launching the bank’s New Mobile Banking Application “BOI Mobile”, G. Padmanabhan Chairman, Bank of India, said, “The Mobile Banking App offers one-stop solution for daily banking needs of our customers.

The facility would create not only view or fund transfer profile but would also provide with online services like mPassbook, immediate fund transfer facility, cheque-related requests, ATM and Branch locator, etc.”

Bank of India aims to enhance the services from time to time to provide superior and proactive banking services to its diverse customer base. This facility will make banking convenient and secured and allowed immediate fund transfer and many more facilities for its customers. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 15

INTERVIEW

Newgen giving Wings to the Leaders of Tomorrow The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a paradigm for businesses to follow has evolved from its early days. It should not be considered as charity or mere donations but a way of creating shared values and contributing to social and environmental good besides business as usual. It is no longer just a fashionable trend to adopt but a serious business requirement Newgen hasactively contributed to the socio-economic development of the communities in which it operates, thus building a better, sustainable

way of life for the weaker sections of society and raising the country's human development index. It is its prime duty to be a socially responsible corporate citizens.Hence, the objective of the CSR framework at Newgen is to encourage the stakeholders to have a more meaningful engagement with the business rather than the oft-prevalent one-sided expectation.

“The CSR initiative taken by Newgen is to impact the lives of the less privileged children, making their

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classroom learning fun, interactive and interesting through digital education.

There is emphasis on personality development, health, hygiene, and everyday life skills to make the children independent, self-sufficient and responsible youth of tomorrow,” saysPriyadarshini Nigam, CSR Head, Newgen Software.

For Newgen, reaching out to the under-served communities is in its DNA. Hence, it decided to cater to theless-privileged kids who are still not able to get the education they deserve. They still have to combat various circumstances to attend school everyday. However, many of them possess the potential equal to their privileged counterparts. It is just a matter of equal opportunities being presented to them to prove their worth.

Sadbhavna is one such initiative in Newgen’s CSR journey. The programme was commenced 12 years ago, in 2006, to support the education of less-privileged children and equip them with basic life skills. Interestingly, Sadbhavna, an informal programme, started by Newgen volunteers has garnered several success stories ever

since.

“Some of the children who came to Newgen through the initiative were toddlers, some were seven or eight years old, while others were just entering their teens. Today, with their strong determination and hard work, some of them are pursuing professional courses, whereas others have taken up part-time jobs and are doing well. The students, who are in school, also aspire to pass with flying colours,” explains Priyadarshini.

It was the positive experience with Sadbhavna children which gave the company the passion and courage to initiate its core CSR programme, Newgen Digital Discovery Paathshala (NDDP). It was specially designed to develop the e-learning skills amongst students and to impart knowledge in schools through webbased technology. This stems from the company’s Managing Director, Diwakar Nigam'svision to transform classroom sessions into fun-learning activities and to make the school curriculum more meaningful.

The objective behind it is to stimulate young minds through

modern-day IT innovations, like iPads and internet. The facilitators use various methodologies to impart knowledge such as role plays, quiz sessions, movies, and presentations while conducting the sessions. These not only enhance e-learning skills of the students but also generate curiosity amongst them.

Newgen approached the State Education Department and proposed to conduct the NDDP programme for a duration of 5 years at the Government Girls' Senior Secondary School, Harkesh Nagar, Okhla. The school was officially adopted on 1st April 2016. During the academic year, April 2016 to March 2017, over 900 students

of classes 6th and 7th attended the Digital Paathshala sessions. In April 2017, students of class 8th also joined the NDDP programme and Newgen furnished the classrooms for another 450 students. There was no looking back after that. Now, 1300+ children attend sessions every week at Harkesh Nagar School. After that, Newgen adoptedSoami Nagar Model School for 150+ children in 2017.

In July 2018, Newgenadopted another Government Girl’s Senior Secondary School in Tekhand with 1400+ children of class 6th, 7th and 8th. Right now it is in the process of setting up their computer lab.

Another CSR initiative undertaken

by Newgen is its collaborate with SOS Children's Villages of India since 2014 to ensure holistic development of the children and their mothers living in three Family Homes in the Greenfields Village, Faridabad. It further expanded its SOS family by adopting three more SOS homes in Bhopal, becoming the first corporate to adopt these families in a non-metro.

To enhance the overall development of the children of Sadbhavna and SOS Youth Hostel, Newgen conducted personality development sessions with ‘I AM’ at regular intervals. Today, there are nearly 60 to 80 children who attend the sessions regularly.

Flipkart launches 2GUD for refurbished products The market for used and refurbished mobile phones has skyrocketed in the last couple of years. Technology has become a necessity with each passing day as the population as well as the penetration of phones is extensively high. The expansion of e-commerce and retail chains has made the availability of used and refurbished mobile phones easy and this easy accessibility has triggered a strong growth in India too.

Experts and analysts expect that the market for refurbished phones will rise by a compounded 27% over 2019 and 2020. New players will join existing online marketplaces like Amazon, Cashify, Shopclues and Togofogo. In India, millions of mobile phone users still purchase second-hand phones as they prefer buying refurbished or used phones with the features they need in less price than settling for a new phone at a comparatively higher price with lower specifications. The Refurbished mobile phones category is thus growing at 400% year-on-year and its contribution to overall mobile phone sales has almost doubled in 2017.

India’s appetite for refurbished or second-hand smartphones is set to grow in the next two years, alongside the expanding market for new phones, driven by demand for aspirational brands such as Apple and Samsung at heavily discounted prices. The growing desire to upgrade to a new model has given the used and refurbished market an impetus and is expected to maintain its

pace over the coming years.

To meet the growing demand of the consumers from across the globe, the companies offering refurbished and used mobile phones are collaborating with e-Commerce companies and product suppliers for increasing their business revenue and adopting new innovation strategies. These initiatives are expected to enable the vendors of used and refurbished mobiles phones to reach out to new potential customers in emerging markets and also explore and venture into untapped markets.

The government also expects the Make in India programme to encourage companies to set up refurbishing operations in the country, which in turn will propel infrastructural growth for the

segment.

The refurbished products market is anticipated to reach $12-15 billion in the year 2020. This space, which is largely driven by unorganized local retailers and various grey markets in key metros in India is getting addressed by organised players slowly and steadily by creating a dynamic marketplace where consumers can choose products with warranty and services attached with the help of service providers.

Various organisations are into this services that includes GreenDust, Reboot, Overcart, Togofogo, Surpluss on one hand and eBay(Shutdown of eBay India operation) and Amazon on the other; many organised players are tapping into the opportunity. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 17

SPOI ANALYSIS

E-commerce In India: Unlimited Opportunity India’s e-commerce industry is transforming to the next era of transformation. It is like who can take maximum attention of the prospective buyer by using various technology tools. The war is between two super powers - USA and China and among Amazon, Alibaba and Walmart. To make the shopping experience more convenient, brick and mortar developers are focusing on enhancing the convenience of shopping centre automate mode.

Experts say that India is poised to become one of the largest and fastest e-commerce growth markets in the next decade. The Government of India is also supporting this growth wave by permitting foreign retailers to own stakes of as much as 51% in multi-brand retail ventures, after securing government approval.

The online retail sector is expected to grow at 30% a year to reach a gross merchandise value of $200bn by 2026.

With 1.3 billion population, India sees a 18 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

rapid growth of internet users, with 430 million people in India having access to the internet, which is a third of the South Asian country's population. It is the most promising market in the globe and no one wants to miss the bus.

playing field for others. It will source globally the cheapest material and will dump in the country to wipe out the competition. As of now, no rule or law exists which can put restrictions on such practises of any company.

India's retail boom is being driven by resurgence in the economy. Modern retail still has around 6% share of the total retail spend in the country that is estimated at around US $400 billion.

Thus, the potential for modern retail growth in India is huge. Currently, leading retailers in mature markets occupy the top three slots by turnover, employment and value creation. As the Indian economy matures, it is upon us to make the same happen in our country.

With the recent launch of Flipkart's 2GUD to target the pre-used products/ refurbished products that includes smartphones, laptops, headphones, watches, small appliances and many more, the pre-owned devices market can be said to be slowly opening up in India.

The refurbished goods market in India will be worth an estimated $20 billion in the next five to six years.

Post-acquisition of Flipkart by US retail giant Walmart (having taken a 77% stake for $16 billion), the industry fears that the latter will penetrate the retail trade through e-commerce, and indulge in predatory pricing and deep discounting, thereby creating an uneven

Some say that Old is Gold but very Old is Roll Gold. Here we need to understand whether the old devices are from inside the country or they are imported from other country and are sold in India through on-line and offline. A time will come even foreign investment partners like Walmart will manage to do the supply chain from

outside of the country. This will give the buyers the option of buying new/old products from online. However, security will be a great concern over the preowned products.

It will be a very difficult task for the authority to maintain a check and balance to understand whether any new or old products are getting shipped into the country. Can we say then that there is no grey market; rather when you buy the pre-owned devices online, it will become legal. The policy makers have already formalized the draft accordingly, but the e-commerce player has to show very clearly in its website, whether it is a new or an old product.

The Indian e-commerce market is at an inflection point, thanks largely to the disruption of the telecom landscape, with dramatic reduction in data rates and rapid adoption of 4G smartphones and feature phones.

Amazon vs. Alibaba in India...

The key to Amazon’s strategy in India is its ability to think globally but act locally – leveraging its massive scale, logistics capabilities and balance sheet while creating customized local offerings developed ground-up for the Indian market. This “Glocal” strategy is in sharp contrast with other U.S. companies.

Amazon entered the India space in

2013; it is the second big player in India currently worth $16 billion, already deeply committed to the country, where it has pledged to deploy more than $5 billion to grow its business. In this short span of 5 years it has captured about 30% market share in the Indian ecommerce market, and is poised to grow that 23% annually until 2027. After picking 10 percent stake in Shopper Stop for 180 crore approx. last year, Amazon already kicked off investment in India’s $70 billion retail market. Now, Amazon is in talks with Future group to buy 10% stake in the company for an amount of $600 Million.

Recently, Amazon is on the advance foot step to acquire 42-49% in Aditya Birla Retail entity - More supermarket chain. Amazon is also joining hands with India-focused private equity firm Samara Capital for a complete buyout of More from the Aditya Birla Group for ₹4,200-4,400 crore. Amazon’s team speaks of the value that they are creating for consumers and sellers. It seems a lot of hard work has gone into offering the Go-local strategy.

Technology plays a crucial role in defining the business criticality; there is no doubt on Amazon pioneering in understanding the power of AI and technology disruption. With the help of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, it started the mission long back to prepare an industry-ready workforce and nurture start-ups in the country to nurture

Alibaba has also announced that it will invest 100 billion yuan over five years to build a global logistics network, while working on an aggressive overseas expansion plan.

Jack Ma Co-founder and Executive Chairman - Alibaba Group

The Big O2O (Online to Offline) story Amazon is currently the second biggest player in India worth $16 billion, and has pledged to deploy more than $5 billion to grow its business.

After picking 10 percent stake in Shopper Stop for 180 crore approx. , Amazon is in talks with Future group to buy 10% stake in the company for an amount of $600 Million.

Alibaba is exploring joint venture with Reliance Retail to form a mega Indian retail joint venture (JV), with an investment of at least $5 billion plus. t is also focusing on using the older investments in Paytm Mall, Zomato, Big Basket and TicketNew to propose new partnerships.

Offline retail subsidiary of Reliance Industries, Reliance Retail has forayed into online sales of smartphones and electronic appliances.

To complement this, Reliance Digital and smaller Jio stores act as fulfilment centres for the online orders.

Future Group plans to open 10,000 Easyday stores to make it a Rs 1.5-trillion business opportunity by 2022 as part of its Retail 3.0 vision.

Each such store will have an investment of around Rs 15 lakh. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 19

SPOI ANALYSIS talent in India. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive, evolving cloud computing platform provided

by Amazon. It provides a mix of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and packaged software as a service (SaaS) offerings.

The company is working very closely with the entire accelerator and incubator space in India. AWS has various programmes that it runs in India that help all the stakeholders further drive invested or incubated companies move forward on new-age technologies.

The fact is India is an open market and opportunity is available for everyone to explore with their innovative marketing strategies.

In the case of Alibaba, the global e-commerce giant is increasing its investment to support its New Retail strategy - a series of initiatives to integrate the online and offline shopping experiences for consumers across a number of products and services, which is the reality of life.

Alibaba’s core commerce revenue rose 61 per cent to 69.2 billion yuan by creating a formidable omni channel (aka O2O) business in China through its ecosystem consisting of payments, supply chain, and offline retail. It further created 31 million jobs in China, with the unique business module. Alibaba is seeing great success by adopting an ‘online-to-offline’ model in China to support the unorganised and small to medium retail business. “Omnichannel or multi-channel retailing” provides shoppers with a consistent and seamless buying experience across online and offline stores, which it wants to replicate in India, by giving jobs to the youngsters. This seems possible by taking the route to invest in companies like Reliance Group, Tata Group and Future Retail.

Strong investments by Alibaba into various ventures in India have proved its uniqueness - Jack Maa, the founder of Alibaba has better understood India to succeed the India business through its Omni-channel model.

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A major chunk of online retailers in India have realised that India can’t be built without strong offline support. Right from Amazon to Myntra, Pepperfry including many others are slowly leveraging offline outlets as experience centres as well as a medium of sales channel. Paytm Mall recently also expressed interest in launching a physical store. The idea is simple - when every e-commerce company is selling at a cheap price, then the choice of the consumer will shift towards trust and brand evaluation.

Alibaba has been pushing plans in India since Walmart acquired Flipkart and the strong focus of Amazon by increasing investment up to $5Bn in the last five years of its operations. According to the report, Alibaba is also planning to hold talks with other companies beyond Future Group, Reliance and Tata. The question is with whom the deal is going close.

Alibaba is exploring joint venture with Reliance Retail to form a mega Indian retail joint venture (JV), with an investment of at least $5 billion plus to challenge the dominance of Flipkart and Amazon in the world’s fastest-growing

“Our New Retail initiatives are substantially growing Alibaba’s total addressable market in e-commerce,” Joseph Tsai, the executive vice-chairman at Alibaba said.

Lastly, Alibaba has also announced that it will invest 100 billion yuan over five years to build a global logistics network, while working on an aggressive overseas expansion plan.

Advantage Reliance Digital...

With the strong omni-channel expansion of Reliance Digital, it now becomes India’s largest electronic brickand-mortar retail chain. It has disrupted the market with its low-cost business models targeting the masses and aggressive pricing in its offline stores. It is expected that by the festive season Reliance Digital will look at acquiring a significant market share in the consumer electronics and smartphones sector by giving a strong competition to Flipkart and Amazon.

Reliance Retail, the offline retail subsidiary of India’s top billionaire Mukesh

Reliance Digital and smaller Jio stores act as fulfilment centres for the online orders.

Reliance Digital has 305 + brick-and-mortar stores in India and Jio is the Reliance Industries-owned mobile network operator which sells its offerings through more than 1700 stores across the country.

Mukesh Ambani Chairman & MD Reliance Industries

economy. It is also focusing on using the older investments in Paytm Mall, Zomato, Big Basket and TicketNew to propose new partnerships and open a new synergy. It has been pushing Paytm Mall to approach the market with the O2O model which is running successfully in China, unlike other players who rely on a mix of inventory and marketplace model in India.

Ambani's Reliance Industries has forayed into online sales of smartphones and electronic appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and televisions. To complement this, Reliance Digital and smaller Jio stores act as fulfilment centres for the online orders. Reliance Digital has 305 + brick-and-mortar stores in India

Advantage Future Group...

Kishore Biyani Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Future Group and Jio is the Reliance Industries-owned mobile network operator which sells its offerings through more than 1700 stores across the country.

Whereas, Reliance Retail is the largest retailer in India in terms of revenue, its retail outlets offer food, groceries, apparels, lifestyle and home-care products,

Indian modern retail rests on the strength of two pillars – scale and efficiencies. As front-runners in both areas, Future Group firmly believes in providing protection to customers from the overall rate of inflation. While the scale and size of its operations helps to improve efficiencies, it also ensures that it delivers greater value to its customers.

The retail thrust is focused on four principal verticals of Food, Fashion, General Merchandise and Home. These four categories together account for nearly 65% of the consumption in the country and represent mass consumer aspirations.

Future Group’s controlled neighbour format stores, EasyDay service customers within a radius of 2-2.5 kms. It allows consumers to buy from the convenience of their home and avail the membership benefits of faster delivery and great deals. With the present of 950 stores in the country, Future has plans to increase to 10K by 2022. Since fruits and vegetables are a great way to get customers frequently and are daily products; this would help them in getting the first mover advantage. Delivering fresh fruits and vegetables from a central warehouse to customers’ house (which most ecommerce players do at present) is unimaginable. consumer electronics, farm implements and so on. Reliance Retail is doing a great business in India of Rs. 2,529 cr. PBITA, as of 31st march 2018 and is present in 5,200 towns and cities, with 8,533 stores including 4,530 Jio Points. The number is still increasing.

acquire a large stake in Reliance Retail to create a behemoth in the digital marketplace and also expand Alibaba’s physical retail businesses in India, this might sound the arrival of two deep-pocketed companies planning to come together to take on the market leaders.

Also with Alibaba Group proposing to

WhatsApp to choose Hyderabad as its India HQ

The recent visit of Chris Daniels, CEO - WhatsApp to India happens to be the first ever visit by any WhatsApp chief executive to the country.

He chose himself to visit the country on a five-day tour that has a huge pull of subscribers with over 250 million monthly active users.

Ever since WhatsApp payments started to pilot in India, the instant messenger has been facing a tough time in the country. Right from the issues of fake news to lynching and setting up local operations for its UPI-based payments, the company has left no stone unturned to settle the issues with the Indian government.

Daniel, who recently met Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is now looking to set up a local office in the IT city of Hyderabad by meeting Telangana IT minister K T Rama Rao to discuss all the possible aspects in this regard. Its parent company Facebook which also has a large presence in the country has its India office in Hyderabad since 2010.

Following the government’s direction, WhatsApp had agreed to meet all the norms except the message traceability. According to the company, building traceability would undermine end-to-end encryption and the private nature of WhatsApp, creating the potential for serious misuse.

In the Linkedin page of Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister has confirmed that the CEO of Whatsapp Chris Daniels had met him.

"I requested him to appoint a grievance officer in India, set up a corporate entity of Whatsapp in India to ensure compliance with Indian laws, work with Indian law enforcement agencies and undertake public awareness campaigns to prevent misuse of #Whatsapp.

He assured me to comply with all these requests," the Minister tweeted.

WhatsApp had said that it is headhunting for two leadership positions, India Head and Head of Policy.

The WhatsApp management in India also needs to have a corporate social responsibility to ensure monitoring and control of unethical spreading of unwanted, anti-social and hateful messages through it. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 21

COVER STORY

Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee – a Tribute (1924 - 2018 )

Known as the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian Politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayeewas conferred India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee in 2015. With his death, a vacuum has been created in polity and an end of an era of politics in this country Atal Bihar Vajpayee is the former Prime Minister of India born on 25th December 1924 in Gwalior and was elected to the position twice in 1996 and 1999. A member of the Bharatiya Janta Party, Vajpayee is also known for his great oratory skills.

Apart from being a politician, he is also an acclaimed writer who has written various poems. He was a member of the Indian Parliament for over four decades, having been elected to the Lok Sabha - the lower house ten times and twice to the Rajya Sabha - the upper house. He served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh until 2009 when he retired from active politics due to health concerns.

He was awarded India's highest civilian honor Bharat Ratna in 2015 on his birthday.

His birthday, 25th December was also declared as the Good Governance Day by the Narendra Modi government.

He breathed his last on 16 August 2018 after a prolonged illness at the age of 93.

Early years…

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born into a middle-class family in Gwalior. His father was Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, a school teacher and poet, and his mother was Krishna Devi. He attended the Saraswati 22 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

Shishu Mandir and later went to Victoria College from where he graduated with distinction in Hindi, English and Sanskrit.

He enrolled at DAV College, Kanpur to complete his post-graduation and earned his M.A. in Political science.

He was a patriot at heart and participated in India’s struggle for freedom even as a student and edited several nationalist Hindi newspapers.

Vajpayee had joined the Quit India Movement in 1942 as a student leader.

Vajpayee joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at an early age in 1939, only to be drawn towards the Communist ideology in 1942. He followed the path till 1945, after which he once again looked towards the RSS for ideological guidance and joined the organisation as a full-time worker in 1947 and worked as a journalist for a short period before he joined BJP. He was the first non-congress political leader who became the Prime Minister of India.

He went to jail during the JP Narayan movement when emergency was declared by the Indira Gandhi government.

Vajpayee's personality and political career is a guiding force for the nation.

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament

in 1957 and he rose through the ranks of the BJS(Bharatiya Jana Sangh), becoming president of the party in the late ’60s and guiding the philosophy of the party through various iterations.

He was a noted poet, writing in Hindi.

His published works include ‘Kaidi Kavirai ki Kundalian’, a collection of poems written when he was imprisoned during the 1975–77 emergency, and ‘Amar Aag Hai’.

A true patriot and a multi-faceted personality, he was also well-known for his native language Hindi—he was the first person to deliver a speech in Hindi at the U.N. General assembly. He was very famous for his oratory skills and held several prestigious positions in Indian politics before being elected the Prime minister.

With regard to his poetry he wrote, "My poetry is a declaration of war, not an exordium to defeat. It is not the defeated soldier's drumbeat of despair, but the fighting warrior's will to win. It is not the dispirited voice of dejection but the stirring shout of victory.”

Vajpayee’s contribution to bring Hindu nationalism into the mainstream as well

as a man of progress and science will be remembered for ever.

Vajpayee remained a bachelor throughout his entire life. He adopted and raised as his own child Namita Bhattacharya, the daughter of long-time friend Rajkumari Kaul and BN Kaul. His adopted family lived with him.

Career as the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the only parliamentarian who had been elected from four different states at different times, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. He made his foray into politics during the pre-independence era when he took part in the Quit India Movement which led to his arrest and imprisonment.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party in Lok Sabha in the 1996 general elections. Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister in May 1996. However, he resigned after 13 days since BJP could not obtain a majority.

He was again sworn in as the Prime Minister in 1998 after BJP emerged as the single largest party and formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with other political parties. This government lasted for a little over a year when fresh elections were held.

It was during his tenure that India conducted underground nuclear tests in Pokhran in May 1998, just a month after the government came into power. These tests were regarded as a national milestone.

The Kargil War between India and Pakistan took place between May and July 1999. By the end of the war, the Indian Army and Air force had recaptured the areas infiltrated by the Pakistani militants.

The Kargil victory cemented the reputation of Vajpayee as a strong and able leader of the nation.

The BJP-led NDA again emerged as the largest political alliance in the 1999 general elections in the wake of the Kargil War victory. Vajpayee was made the Prime Minister for the third time in October 1999.

He introduced many economic and infrastructural reforms like strengthening of private sectors, encouraging private research and development, bringing about privatization of certain government owned corporations, etc. Vajpayee’s privatization campaigns were however criticized by trade unions and government employees as excessive privatization was not in their favour. His major projects were National Highway Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

US President Bill Clinton paid a state visit to India in March 2000. This was the first visit by a US President to the country in more than two decades. It has been a very significant step in improving the foreign trade and economic relations between the two nations.

In 2001, he invited the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to India with a view to improve Indo-Pak relations.

However, this attempt could not achieve much success for India.

He launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2001, with the aim of universalization of elementary education.

The Parliament House in New Delhi was attacked in December 2001 by Pakistan trained terrorists. Investigations pointed to a conspiracy hatched in Pakistan. For a long time the threat of a full-fledged

war between the two nations loomed.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was enacted in the aftermath of the attack during the reign of Vajpayee.

The Vajpayee government implemented several economic reforms during 200203 which resulted in a record growth rate of 6-7% in the GDP. The international image of India also improved due to the rapid developments that took place in the country during this period.

Vajpayee's biggest contribution to modern India is arguably the work he has put in on the National Telecom Policy in 1999. The landmark reform passed under Vajpayee's governance helped the industry overcome some of its toughest challenges in its early days. The result we are seeing today is the result of the reforms initiated by Vajpayee. He was responsible for opening up the telecom sector and for providing policy impetus to expand the telecommunication sector in India.

Vajpayee is also credited with separating the Department of Telecom from the service provider arm BSNL. This particular move led to BSNL gaining a significant market share.

Vajpayee resigned as Prime Minister in 2004 after Congress emerged as the single largest party in the general elections.

He announced his retirement from active politics in 2005 and didn’t contest the 2009 parliamentary elections. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 23

COVER STORY

Reactions poured in from across the Nation and globe

On the morning of 17 August, Vajpayee's body draped with the Indian flag was taken to the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters where party workers paid their tributes till 1 PM. Later that afternoon at 4 PM, Vajpayee was cremated with full state honours at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal near Raj Ghat. His pyre was lit by his foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya. Thousands of people and many dignitaries attended his funeral procession including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind. On 19 August, his ashes were immersed in the Ganga river in Haridwar by his daughter Namita.

half-mast during this period.

India reacted to Vajpayee's death with grief and thousands of tributes poured in through social media platforms.

Thousands of people paid their respect during his funeral procession. Vajpayee will be remembered as a guardian for the BJP and various other political parties in India. A seven-day state mourning was announced by the central government throughout India. The national flag flew

Afghanistan: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai was among several foreign dignitaries present at former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s funeral in New Delhi. He recalled that the departed leader was "the first to offer us civilian planes, Airbuses at the time we were starting out".

24 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

Vajpayee's personality and political career is a guiding force for the nation. He had this firm belief that the nation is more important than the party, and the party is more important than the individual. He also held the conviction that trust begets trust and that politics must be peopleoriented and not power-oriented.

As every Indian paid rich tributes to the Ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, condolences also poured in from across the globe. His demise was widely covered by foreign country and media too -

Bangladesh:

Bangladesh

Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed "deep shock" at the demise of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said it is a day of great sadness for the people of Bangladesh. Paying tribute to Vajpayee, Hasina termed him as "one of the most famous sons of India" and a highly respected person in Bangladesh.

Bhutan: Bhutan king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck too attended the funeral ceremony in New Delhi.

China: In a statement, the ministry of foreign affairs said that the Indian leader was an "outstanding Indian statesman and had made outstanding contributions to the development of Sino-Indian relations".

"China expresses its deep condolences on his death and sincere condolences to the Indian government and people and the relatives of Mr Vajpayee. Premier Li Keqiang has sent a condolence message to the leaders of India," the statement said.

Japan: Remembering Vajpayee's visit to Japan in 2001, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe said, "On behalf of the Government and people of Japan, I would like to convey my sincerest condolences to the Government and people of India and the bereaved family.”

Terming Vajpayee as an eminent leader of India, Abe added, "I pray from the bottom of my heart that his soul may rest in peace".

Mauritius: On 17 August, the government of Mauritius announced that both Mauritian and Indian flags would fly at half-mast in honour of Vajpayee.

During the World Hindi Conference in Mauritius, PM Pravind Jugnauth announced that the cyber tower towards which Vajpayee contributed to be set up in Mauritius would be henceforth named as Atal Bihari Vajpayee tower.

Pakistan: Pakistan's interim Minister for Law and Information, Syed Ali

During his tenure as the prime minister of India, he carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. Vajpayee sought to improve diplomatic relations with Pakistan, travelling to Lahore by bus to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. After the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan, he sought to restore relations through engaging with President Pervez Musharraf, inviting him to India for a summit at Agra.

During his time in the Prime Minister's office, he took a number of key steps that helped India grow exponentially in the field of science and technology. He also signed off many several projects that have helped many cities to progress into technological hubs.

Zafar met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and extended Pakistan's condolence on the death of former

Major Achievements • Nuclear tests conducted in 1998 during his reign unambiguously established India as a nuclear state and the country was able to develop a minimum credible deterrent to ward off threats to its security.

• The National Highways Develop Project (NHDP) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) were two projects that were very close to his heart. NHDP involves connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. PMGSY is a nationwide plan to provide good all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages.

• He is highly respected for the economic reforms and privatization policies he brought about during his tenure as the Prime Minister of India. His diplomacy and leadership while handling political issues during the Kargil War and terrorist attacks further strengthened his image as a wise and capable leader of India.

Awards & Achievements • Vajpayee was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in India in 1992 for his distinguished contribution in public affairs.

• He was honoured with Best Parliamentarian Award in 1994.

• In 2015, he was honoured with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India.

prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Zafar was among the foreign dignitaries who attended Vajpayee's funeral in New Delhi. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf mourned the demise of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, calling him a great man. He said that Vajpayee’s demise was a great loss for both India as well as Pakistan.

Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message of condolence to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the demise of Vajpayee. Putin termed the former prime minister as an "outstanding statesman".

"Atal Bihari Vajpayee rightly commanded great respect around the world,” he said.

Sri Lanka: In a tweet, President Maithripala Sirisena said, "Today, we have lost a great humanist and a true friend of Sri Lanka. Former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a visionary leader and an ardent defender of democracy. My condolences to his family and millions of his admirers around the world". Leader of Opposition R. Sampanthan said India has lost one of its "most regarded intellectual and statesman".

United States: U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Vajpayee recognised early that the US-India partnership would contribute to the world's economic prosperity and security and the two democracies continue to benefit from his vision. "On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the people of India on the recent passing of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee", Pompeo said in a statement.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee enjoyed due respect in India and globally for his tireless work for the welfare of the people of India, which will continue to inspire future generations of leaders. FormerPrime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called him the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian Politics. With his death, a vacuum has been created in polity and resulted in the end of an era of politics in this country.

His hard work towards acceleration of inclusive economic growth in India will be remembered for ever. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 25

SPOI ANALYSIS

Can a Data Protection law soon become a Reality for India?

THOUGH NOT DEVOID OF LOOPHOLES, THE DRAFT DATA PROTECTION AS WELL AS THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL, 2018 WILL FORM THE FRAMEWORK FOR INDIA’S DATA PROTECTION LAWS, PRESCRIBING HOW ORGANISATIONS SHOULD COLLECT, PROCESS, AND STORE CITIZENS’ DATA -

Now that the justice BN Srikrishna committee has submitted a draft Data Protection as well as the Personal Data Protection bill, 2018 (pdf) to the Narendra Modi government, the wait for comprehensive data protection rights may soon be over.Though it is not devoid of loopholes, this bill will form the framework for India’s data protection laws, prescribing how organisations should collect, process, and store citizens’ data.

The committee’s report recommends that the law should be applicable to processing of personal data if such data has been used, shared, disclosed, collected or otherwise processed in India. However, it asserts that in respect of processing by fiduciariesthat are not present in India, the law shall apply to those carrying on business in India or other activities such as profiling which could cause privacy harms to data principals in India.

Additionally, personal data collected, 26 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

used, shared, disclosed or otherwise processed by companies incorporated under Indian law will be covered, irrespective of where it is actually processed in India. However, it empowers the Centre to exempt companies which only process the personal data of foreign nationals not present in India.

The Data Protection Bill if acceptedwill mandate companies to store one copy of all personal data within the country.

The committee however has left it to the government to define which kind of personal data can be qualified as “critical” which will have to be stored only in India.

The Bill that will be subject to further review once it is introduced in parliament, showcases India’s growing concern for data privacy.The government has also sought comments from the general public on the draft Data Protection Bill which can be submitted by September 10. An August 14 notification on its The Ministry of

Ramesh Mamgain Area Vice President, India and SAARC Region, Commvault

Electronics and Information Technology website reads, "MeitY solicits comments from general public on the Draft Personal Data Protection Bill by 10th September 2018."

Experts have said that the Bill has been modelled partly on the European Union's General Data Protection legislation and India’s Information Technology Act, 2000.

It runs into a total of 112 sections.

Data Protection in current scenario…

If looked into the internet, data protection is the process of protecting data and involves the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data and technology, the public perception and expectation of privacy and the political and legal underpinnings surrounding that data. It aims to strike a balance between individual privacy rights while still allowing data to be used for business purposes.

According to experts, data protection should always be applied to all forms of data, whether it be personal or corporate.

It deals with both the integrity of the data, protection from corruption or errors, and privacy of data, it being accessible to only those that have access privilege to it.

Data protection today is the need of the hour for global citizens as well as enterprises and governments. Data protection has generally been weak on the priority list of organisations for far too long,but the scenario is slowly changing for many of them. The EU's GDPR guidelines that came into effect in May this year may have been the guiding force behind initiating a debate on this matter.

In the era of internet, anyone sitting anywhere in the world can access the data assets residing anywhere in the world.

However there has been a discussion going on around the fact of whether there is any threat if the data resides outside the country.

“If the concern is around the data protection then data localization without appropriate data protection regime wouldn’t serve any purpose,” asserts Rana Gupta, Vice President – APAC Sales, Identity and Data Protection, Gemalto. “However if the concern is around company sharing the data to foreign government under the local judgment/directions, then it helps mandating companies to keep data locally.”

He continues, “But considering that in many cases, the interaction data being generated (say for example on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc) will involve interactions between individuals from multiple nationalities, then it is perceivable that the same data will be available in

Jayant Saran Partner, Forensic – Financial Advisory, Deloitte India

multiple geographies. Especially in cases where the localization is being sought, there do will be a foreign/MNC entity involved unless it is just intended to force Indian companies to not use the foreign CSP.” Considering most organizations today allow for reasonable use of company issued computers and other IT assets for personal use, it is likely that a significant amount of personal data resides on these assets.

This may pose a challenge while seeking assets for investigations or other proactive fraud detection measures undertaken by the organization. In line with these new guidelines, organizations may need to relook at their internal IT policy and their fraud response policy and ensure that employee approvals are obtained prior to accessing personal data.

What industry expects from the Bill?

As a security company, Rana seeks to have this bill do following things –

Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy Country Manager India, BSA |The Software Alliance

Farrhad Acidwalla media entrepreneur and founder - CYBERNETIV

• Mandatory breach notification so that we all start to understand the severity of problem. One cannot address a problem if one doesn’t understand the extent of the problem itself.

• Categorization in terms of penalties to be imposed on different kinds of organizations. The biggest burden should be put on the Government Departments, Defense Organizations and PSUs as any breaches into those organizations will likely have the biggest dent on India as a society.

• It is hoped that this bill raises the importance of data centric security and seeks to have the organizations apply the concept of privacy by design (encryption) and by default (processing the minimum amount of sensitive data).

Once the Data Privacy Bill mandates certain requirement, it is bound to shake up the existing ecosystem and customers will ask of simpler ways to implement the security requirements as asked for by the Data Privacy Bill. It is expected that in longer term it shall simplify the adoption of security practices by nudging the organizations to build privacy by design rather than thinking of it as an afterthought.

Says Jayant Saran, Partner, Forensic – Financial Advisory, Deloitte India, www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 27

SPOI ANALYSIS data and the proposed retention period of the collected data to a competent Authority as defined by the bill.

Further, data fiduciaries and data processors alike may be liable for damages in case there is a violation of the terms of the bill such as

Amba Kak Policy Advisor in India

“The Bill covers diverse aspects of data protection including collection, processing and analysing of personal data. It also lays emphasis on protection of personal and sensitive data of children. The bill has placed emphasis on defining various stakeholders and participants such as fiduciary (entity requesting processing of personal data), processor (analyser of said personal data), and principal (individual to whom the personal data belongs). This is a welcome move considering several other developed economies already have stringent data protection laws.

The Bill also proposes significant financial penalties for noncompliance which will compel organisations to relook at how they treat personal data and take appropriate measures to remain compliant.

Specifically, in the context of corporate fraud investigation and related scrutiny of transactions, the Bill covers the rights of data principals even during allegations of fraud and subsequent investigations. For example, • In order for the data fiduciary (the client) to forensically preserve data of the company issued IT assets (laptops/ desktops/mobile phones etc.) of the data principal (suspect/target/ custodian) to conduct the investigation, consent and prior intimation for collecting the data of said data principal will be required as these devices may contain personal information relating to the data principal.

• The data fiduciary will also have to disclose the reason for collecting the 28 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

• During a personal data security breach • If the data processor acts outside the instructions of the data fiduciary, • If either the data processor or the data fiduciary is negligent or does not incorporate adequate safeguards while analysing the data.”

“The committee’s recommendation for setting up a Data Protection Authority (DPA) which will be responsible for monitoring, enforcement, standard setting, awareness creation and grievance handling is a reflection of a comprehensive approach towards data management in India. With several instances of data leaks on both individual as well as organizational level that have taken place in the past had created an alarming situation across the country. With the regulation taking form, citizens of the country can now be assured of the safety of their sensitive data. Similar to EU’s GDPR, the Data Protection Law in India is a much needed regulation which will institutionalize processes for organizations across all sectors to better manage both primary and secondary,” says Ramesh Mamgain, Area Vice President, India and SAARC Region, Commvault.

“Our member companies are at the forefront of data-driven innovation and recognize the importance of fostering trust and confidence in the online environment.

We therefore support the effort to create a comprehensive legislation to protect the personal information of citizens in India,” says Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy, Country Manager India, BSA | The Software Alliance. “However, including data localisation requirements in such legislation is contrary to the goals of promoting a Digital India, as global data transfers are critical to cloud computing, data analytics, and other modern and emerging technologies and services that underpin global economic growth. BSA recommends that India’s Personal Data Protection Bill avoid imposing undue restrictions on the ability to securely transfer personal data

Rana Gupta Vice President – APAC Sales, Identity and Data Protection, Gemalto

outside of India.”

“The Srikrishna panel report has laid down numerous vital points when it comes to protecting the data of Indian citizens- the most crucial being the creation of DPAI the intended watchdog for data protection in India. Privacy advocates across the country will be hoping that DPAI's powers are not thinned when finally executed.

The panel has also included provisions to prohibit organizations from using privacy as a veil to stall transparency. The penalities proposed by the panel report, if administered as is, will be a great deterrent and effectively ensure data assurance for Indian citizens,” comments Farrhad Acidwalla, media entrepreneur and founder of CYBERNETIV. However the Bill is not without loopholes, as pointed out by Amba Kak, Policy Advisor in India. The panel is facing criticism for being too lenient and lacking in clarity on key issues and many has emphasised that the Bill in its current form should not be introduced in Parliament and further consultations must take place.

“This bill provides a strong foundation of protection for Indians’ privacy, but it is not without defects - in particular, the requirement to store a copy of all personal data within India, creating broad permissions for government use of data, and the independence of the regulator’s adjudicatory authority. We welcome the Government’s commitment to a public consultation process, which we hope will rectify the cracks in this foundation,”Amba says. n

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 29

SPO FOUNDATION

Oracle looks to delivering high-profile CSR projects with CAF and other non-profit grantees Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India in collaboration with Oracle had last month organised three regional workshops across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to help build the capacity of 71 Oracle-supported NGOs to effectively implement CSR projects. The workshops focused on grant management, financial management, programme implementation cycles, legal compliance, and use of digital media to highlight programme impact.

During a chat with SPOI, Rajendra Tripathi, Senior Manager - Corporate Citizenship – India explains how these workshops help the NGOs and non-profit grantees from diverse areas by bringing them together onto a single platform Could you tell us more about these workshops?

Oracle is supporting 71 non-profits working to advance education, protect the environment, and enrich communities in India. This requires us to monitor and support projects across 21 states to effectively drive our corporate citizenship strategy.

Regional workshops like these are vital to build the capacities of non-profits so that they can deliver a lasting, positive impact on the ground.

The workshops bring together implementing partners working in diverse areas. The workshops are envisioned as a way to strengthen the working relationships among CAF India, Oracle, and Oracle-supported NGOs and explore how to deliver high-impact CSR projects and programmes that will improve and transform the lives of the marginalised population, help students stay in school and develop valuable skills, and protect the natural world for generations to come. In that spirit, the workshops aim at turning ideas into impact, and objectives into accomplishments, as non-profits are provided a platform to develop mutually agreed upon systems and processes in connection with their Oracle grants.

Can you brief us about the CSR policies and the projects that are going on at Oracle?

Under the aegis of corporate citizenship, Oracle has 3 categorical pillars – education, where our mission is to advance education wherever we are present as a business entity. In India we have a total of 40 projects in education spanning across regions and the idea is to work across several beneficiaries in the system, which means we work with schools, teachers, students to advance STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) abilities. We also work with organizations which encourage and promote lifelong leaning with regards to having books and promoting reading as a habit. We also work with organizations that provide scholarships to unserved bright kids from underprivileged backgrounds.

The second categorical pillar is environment in which our mission is to protect and preserve it through different projects which we have undertaken. We have a total of 15 projects that are centred on the environmental citizenship pillar. We are a part of the Big Cats Initiative with WWF, in which we safeguard the corridors and critical habitats of different big cat species and is one of the larger projects for us. We are involved with another project with Wildlife Trust of India in Chhattisgarh where we 30 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

protect the endangered Asiatic buffaloes and preserve their environment. We also work on global climate change and global warming.

The third pillar is the community, where our idea is to strengthen the communities wherever we are working. We are working in projects with differently-abled people by helping them find employment and enhancing their approach for making themselves fit in the society. So we have got close to 50 projects in the community space. The whole idea is to work with non-profit organizations, understand the key areas and the priorities where help is required for India as a country and have the complete purpose of CSR fit into different sections of the society.

What best practices does Oracle follow in terms of CSR? If I have to outline the best practices, we select the organizations that we want to work with very categorically. If I am on-boarding a non-profit grantee in any of the citizenship pillars, that non-profit grantee must be having a well-defined credential to start with, should have sound leadership abilities, earmark strong CSR strategies and then understand the project that they want to have support for from Oracle. We also check for how grounded that project is and whether it fits into our CSR objectives and goals. So this is how we define our best practices year on year because we have to carefully choose the partner as a project collaborator."

Meenakshi Batra CEO - CAF INDIA “Partnership with Oracle and close to 105 NGOs across the country is very important for CAF India. It really enables us to achieve a lot in multiple sectors, though our focus is on education, environment and development. It is really helping us to reach out to a large number of people across the country who are in need as there is a lot of innovation happening in most of the projects. We are engaged in some of the most off-beat projects that pertains to conservation and doing things creatively and innovatively. Most of these projects reach out to the rural as well as urban communities; so overall they are all balanced projects with a good outreach.

Institutional capacity of the NGOs has been the area of concern for the last few years. The support that the Doners traditionally used to provide to NGOs to enable them to strengthen their institutions and ensure compliances are not the same anymore. CAF has therefore come forward as a DONER partner to request them to look into this. Oracle was very keen on this right from the beginning and they have been very supportive of the whole cause. They came forward to support and have seen a very positive impact of the workshop on the participating NGOs. At the same time we also help these NGOs to build their brand and gain more visibility so that they can attract more support, not just financial but also voluntary support. We are keen to go to the next step where we are thinking of setting up a volunteer program for these organizations.

Additionally the experience that we have with Oracle and the NGO partners really helps us in our own work that we do with various other government organizations. When we were asked by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to draft the CSR standards for the country, we basically looked at our own experiences of working with these partners - both the DONER and the NGO and that helped us in bringing out many interesting elements in the draft.

We are also beginning to do many work with NITI Aayog and present before them the concerns that we receive from the NGOs. They participate in these dialogues in a more constructive and informative manner.

We have also created our own stakeholder engagement platforms for corporate communicators, HR and CSR professionals. The knowledge and understanding that is gained from such platforms is found useful by the wider community. So the benefits of such workshops really go beyond and we are very committed to improve the institutional strengths of the organizations as well as ensure that the NGOs gain the trust of the community so that lot more people can come out to support the work and participate in the development processes.

To take a CSR project from idea to impact, it is important for all stakeholders to come together on a common platform. CAF India has been working to strengthen the organizational capacity of NGOs in order to create maximum impact for their beneficiaries. We have witnessed several gaps in NGO management ranging from governance and overall management to reporting. Socially responsible companies like Oracle realize the importance of helping their grantees adopt best practices in project management, fiscal discipline, and rigor in the evaluation of their projects’ impacts.”

Kasturi Paladhi Lead - Corporate Communications, Genesis Foundation “The Oracle partnership has been very useful for us. Oracle reached out to us directly for the kind of fund-raisings, audience connect that we had, the work that we are doing and so they asked us to work with them. We recently started working with them for a project called Save Little Hearts, where Oracle promised us 1000 US$ and we are looking to save the lives of close to 150 critically ill children. The project is happening in 3 phases – we would be impacting lives directly by conducting surgeries, the second part would be to raise more funds where the fund money would go into curating events to get Doners come together and raise more funds. We organize an event called CEO Sing thrice in a year in different cities in the country from which we have been able to raise money for children in need. The third part would be working with volunteers from Oracle who are going to support us. So we have this three pronged approach.

Knowledge sharing always yields best results and so the workshop has been quite insightful and extremely helpful in terms of meeting with partners and share their learnings. It has been a very enlightening session. We have just started working with Oracle and the processes are starting to get aligned with what other partners are doing.”

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 31

SPO FOUNDATION Deepak Tokas Development Associate, SAFE WATER NETWORK “It’s been 2 years that we have been working with Oracle and we are very grateful for the grant that we received last year; with that grant we have provided more than 20,500 people access to safe and affordable drinking water. Earlier there was no clean source of drinking water but this year we are installing more such stations and expanding the drive. We are looking forward to continuing this association and take it forward with more such projects.

By participating in this workshop we came to understand the statutory and legal compliances that need to be completed whenever we are reporting to CAF or Oracle.

So we got to know the reporting method through this session and also served as a good networking platform to get to know our fellow NGOs and institutions that are working with Oracle.”

Amitav Nath State Head - QUEST ALLIANCE “As a part of the larger QUEST agenda, we are working in Bihar under the education program called Anandshala, which is a flagship program of QUEST. In this we are creating a conducive environment for the students and the teachers & educators where they can interact in a very free manner. After the implementation of the program, the students are coming to school very regularly and the teachers also feel very empowered enough to create that lively environment for the students. So this is the larger idea of the program that we are working for.

So we work at 2 level – the system and the school level. At the system level, we try to create an empowered learning environment and at the school level, the students execute that kind of a thinking that they receive though the program. Oracle supported this program in a big way and this is the second year that we have been connected. While designing this program in a much more conducive manner, we try to ensure that technology plays a very important role so that it can create an opportunity for teachers to interact with the content available outside and use it in the

classroom environment.

Sometimes when you are working in a program you happen to work in silos. But this opportunity is really great where we come together to work as a team and get the opportunity to interact with others. Also as part of the learning there are systems and processes that needs to be followed. While working in the field you get disassociated with these processes. So workshops like these are a good learning exercise where you learn how an organization can excel in their work or whatever work they are doing in the field. From a statutory point of view you are told how you should share your work in the social media and your impact is much more visible to the larger audience.”

Karishma Sawhney Manager - Corporate Partnerships, Conservation Alliances, WWF-INDIA “With Oracle this is the fifth year of partnership and they have been helping us on tiger conservation work. Currently we are working in Assam and the idea is to work with multiple stakeholders there - like the forest dept., the community everyone involved needs to understand tiger conservation and how can they be a part of it.

For a person who is implementing the project, it is always important to understand the importance of being compliant with CSR and ensuring that they complete their processes.

One needs to do regular monitoring and though we have processes in place for that, we can still do that on a monthly or a quarterly basis so that we ensure that we are on track for what exactly we have planned for the project.”

32 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 33

SPO ANALYSIS

Is Alibaba ready to take up challenges?

Intention and attitude has to go parallel and that reflects in the deep strategy of Alibaba. The company has geared up to its Cloud team to disrupt AWS, Microsoft and Google in India too. Alibaba’s enterprise strategy is to mostly focus on its cloud business Aliyun and its top objective is to beat Amazon.

Alibaba provides online and mobile marketplaces in retail and wholesale trade, as well as cloud computing and other services. Alibaba’s investment arm (Ant Financial) made large investments in Snapdeal and Paytm; second is its investments into Big Basket, Zomato and XpressBees and third would be targeting the Indian start-up eco system. One has to deeply understand the strategy for India specific.

different business model than Amazon’s.

For tech giants, India is the last major single growth market with hundreds of millions of potential consumers, firsttime internet users, and a high growth smartphone market. Now Alibaba is expanding into the media industry, with revenues rising by triple percentage points

On the record, Alibaba along with its payments affiliate Ant Financial, owns a 40% stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications.

Bengaluru-based Big Basket raised $300 Mn Series E funding in a round led by Chinese conglomerate Alibaba in February this year.

Alibaba is ready to invest $10 billion in the entertainment space in India.

The pre-defined vision of Alibaba’s investments into companies fall into three corners of the triangle which is popularly known as its Iron Triangle strategy (logistics, e-commerce and payments).

Alibaba’s iron triangle is a combination of e-commerce, logistics and finance.

It all hinges on the massive amounts of commerce data that Alibaba generates. All this data is stored and processed on the Aliyun cloud. As per Harvard Business Review, Alibaba is not only a very successful disruptive company in China, but also brings to the table a completely 34 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

to invest, but to develop and groom.

He has developed Alibaba into a world record holding company. The world has witnessed the most debated IPO of Alibaba in the United States (US), which turned out to be the world’s biggest public offering. Jack Maa believes in integrity and has frequent collaboration with people who share his vision. The decision of Jack Ma to choose to invest in Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm and his dream points to this fact. Jack Ma had a meeting with Vijay Shekhar Sharma that stretched from a pre-scheduled 20 minutes to a good 2 hours.

The crux of Paytm Founder’s vision is “to bring half a billion Indians to the mainstream economy and help millions of small businesses leverage this large m-commerce opportunity” and ecommerce sector with Paytm Mall in February this year. Alibaba at present owns majority stake in Paytm’s ecommerce entity.

year on year.

The best thing Jack Maa, co-founder and executive chairman of Alibaba, understood is how to win the heart of India, as globalisation is one of the key strategies for the company now. India is a very strategic market for Alibaba to look at. For a market like India, the key strategy is to help the local enterprises grow.

Jack Ma has come to India not just

Alibaba has also invested into LogiNext, a logistics management solutions provider and a market leader in the making.

Its expertise lies not just in superior software capabilities, but also in its application of big data analytics. Again it fulfils the vision of Jack Ma, as he has mentioned before, “You need the right people with you, not the best people”.

Let’s understand from the ecommerce business - the total industry Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) for ecommerce this year is going to be less than $20 Bn, whereas China is close to $ 1 Tn today. So it shows things are really

moving forward, though it is still in its early days.

Alibaba along with Tencent and Baidu entered into the Indian start-up space as investors with 48 deals in 2014 and has invested $2.0 billion approx. in Indian start-ups. As per our data, Alibaba has made above 85 investments across geographies. It remains to be seen what Alibaba’s long-term strategy for India by using various platforms will be.

As per Daniel Zhang, CEO, Alibaba Group Holding, India holds immense potential and is a “very important” target for the ecommerce behemoth in its global strategy.

Cloud computing is beginning to transform the way enterprises buy and use technology resources, and will become even more prominent in the coming

On the record, Alibaba along with its payments affiliate Ant Financial, owns a 40% stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications. Bengaluru-based Big Basket raised $300 Mn Series E funding in a round led

by Chinese conglomerate Alibaba in February this year.

Alibaba is ready to invest $10 billion in the entertainment space in India. years. Amazon and Alibaba are two big ecommerce giants and are competing against each other to be the leader in the global ecommerce market, facing tough competition among themselves for expanding into new markets.

Alibaba has been building its strong presence in India , and sees its position as a key differentiator when it comes

to competing with AWS, Microsoft and Google, with a strong strategy for disrupting a highly competitive cloud computing market by offering a broad range of cloud computing services, from basic infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) capabilities like elastic computing, storage and database solutions, to application services and advanced analytics capabilities like machine learning and IoT.

NEWS

AAI and ALIMCO ink MoU to conduct Cochlear Implant surgeries Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Artificial Limbs Manufacturing (ALIMCO) have signed an MoU at AAI Headquarters, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, New Delhi for Rs. 13.4 Crores to conduct Cochlear Implant surgeries of 200 Hearing Impaired Children on pan India basis under the Corporate Social Responsibility of AAI .The above MoU is signed in presence of Anuj Aggarwal, Member (HR & Planning), AAI; D.R. Sarin, CMD, ALIMCO and Sanjeev Jindal, GMCSR, AAI. This is the largest Cochlear Implant project in the country under CSR. Airports Authority of India, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India. AAI) manages a total of 125 Airports, which include 11 International Airports, 08 Customs Airports, 81 Domestic Airports and 25 Civil Enclaves at Defence Airfields etc.

ALIMCO is a “Not for Profit” Central Public Sector Undertaking working under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, registered under section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 and has been manufacturing various types of quality aids & appliances for last 45 years to meet the requirements of the Divyangjan, across the country. ALIMCO has been serving on an average around two lakhs of disabled population every year and has supplied approx 42 lakhs of aids & appliances.

Under this MoU, AAI will sponsor Cochlear Implants surgeries for 200 Hearing Impaired children through ALIMCO. An estimate shows that more than 10,000 children in India are born with congenital hearing loss and require Cochlear Implant annually. This is a major CSR initiative of AAI which will help the children to completely overcome their hearing disability, thereby enabling them to hear and speak coherently. AAI has already sponsored 115 Cochlear Implants previous years under its CSR initiative which was a grand success. www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 35

ROUND ABOUT

Complex and Crowded E-Commerce Space in India If e-commerce is a barometer to measure the penetration of internet in a country, one can assume that India is in its fast pace towards a fully-wired and online society. E-commerce is growing by leaps and bounds. Whether it is real or hyped-up is something that analysts can foretell.

A few illustrative descriptions may be relevant in this regard. The foremost is about the war between two American e-commerce companies – Amazon India and Walmart for supremacy in the Indian market. Amazon might have established its Indian subsidiary before Walmart. But the latter’s takeover of the homespun online distribution company – Flipkart – has changed the profile and reach of the U.S. online giant. Close to US$17-billion takeover deal, which will be hopefully completed by the end of this year, has created flutter in the corporate circles across the world. E-commerce companies have realized the potential of India as a future market for online business.

Does it mean that the brick-and-mortar distributive trade is on the back burner or it would cease to exist? If you visit some of the websites, which dish out data on online users, one may get perplexed and will conclude that physical retail will not have any time span left. I believe that the brick-and-mortar stores will continue to exist with enhanced and new business model.

Available data gives a different picture. The latest figures released by the Census Bureau of the US Department of Commerce says that the estimates of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2018, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, were $123.7 billion, an increase of 3.9 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2017. Total retail sales for the first quarter of 2018 were estimated at $1,3067 billion, an increase of 0.2 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2017. The first quarter 2018 e-commerce estimate increased 16 per cent from the first quarter of 2017, while total retail sales increased 4.5 per cent in the same period. E-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2018 accounted for 9.5 per 36 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

cent of the total sales. On a net adjusted basis, the estimate of U.S. retail-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2018 totalled $114.4 billion, a decrease of 19.9 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2017.

Less than 10% share of the e-commerce to the total retail trade in the US does not foretell a sweep of online trade in the coming years. Since the U.S. is one of the countries where e-commerce is relatively well entrenched, the low percentage of e-commerce penetration calls for introspection. It is definitely not a cake walk of the e-commerce over the conventional trade mode. The proportion of retail trade transacted in India and even China would be much lesser. Though the exact figures are not available, some analysts put that figure for India at around 3% of the total retail trade. China and India are the two countries, which can greatly influence the quantum of e-commerce transacted and people taking to online for trading. The reasons are that both countries are imbued with a large population, nearly half of world’s population, and a large proportion of tech-savvy people. Even if one targets at bringing close to 10% of the population to the online trading, it could be a fabulous catchment of people and that too in the upper-income group.

E-commerce also promotes disruption.

Let us take new devices being innovated

by Amazon and Walmart to reach out to their clients and ease their problems being faced in transacting businesses. They have technology platforms that are linked to banks to enable customers transact through dedicated banks. Walmart and Amazon are going to hire thousands of technical people for disrupting technologies to reach out to their customers and also to make their payments easy. For instance, Amazon, Google, Walmart and Facebook are entering the UPI payment system in India to help their clients to transact businesses through specific apps that they have developed. Most of the global operations based on disruptive technologies are being carried out in India, creating a large number of gainful jobs.

One of the handicaps that the

e-commerce companies are facing in India is the last-mile connectivity.

Many wondered where the U.S. companies had gone and predicted the Chinese and Japanese dominance would be a bygone story. Amazon was present but was not aggressive enough to gobble up the market. Walmart’s presence was mostly in the business-to- business (B2B) segment and not in the online retail per se.

In less than a year, things have changed.

Now, the Chinese and Japanese companies are lying low and selling their stake.

Recently, SoftBank sold its stake in Flipkart to Walmart at over US$ 4 billion. So are the cases with other foreign e-commerce companies which have invested in the Indian companies.

E-commerce, in spite of opportunities, also has many challenges. Internet is the backbone of e-commerce. Unfortunately, internet penetration in India is so far low compared to many developed and developing countries. But India has a very high penetration of mobile phones. It should be leveraged to bring e-commerce closer to the common people.

Loopholes in cyberlaws to regulate transactions in the net are another handicap. Large-scale theft of data and use of stored data for illegal purposes have led to widespread concerns across the world.

India is not an exception.

www.spoindia.org August 2018 | 37

MOVEMENT Dr G Satheesh Reddy appointed as secretary of DDRD & chairman of DRDO

Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to the defence minister has been appointed as the secretary, department of defence research and development (DDRD) and chairman of defence research development organisation (DRDO). His appointment is for a period of two years.

Dr Satheesh is an Indian aerospace scientist with immense contributions in the field of diversified missiles and strategic systems, guided weapons, avionics technologies etc. A graduate in electronics and communication engineering from JNTU, Anantapur, he did his MS and PhD also from JNTU.

Akshay Kumar joins IOCL as Director (Pipelines)

K S Srinivas appointed as Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority

IAS officer K S Srinivas has taken over as Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

Prior to this appointment, he had served as Joint Secretary in Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare in Ministry of Agriculture. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). MPEDA is a nodal coordinating state owned agency engaged in fishery production and allied activities.

Central government notify the appointment of Chief Justices of four

Akshay Kumar Singh has joined as Director (Pipelines) of Indian Oil Corporation. Earlier, he was Executive Director in GAIL (India) Ltd. Singh will be in charge of Indian Oil’s 13,400-km network of crude oil, petroleum product and gas pipelines with a throughput capacity of 94.79 million metric tonnes per annum of oil and 9.5 million metric standard cubic metres per day of gas. With about 32 years of experience in the petroleum & natural gas sector, Singh has executed challenging, complex and mega-size cross-country pipeline projects with stiff time schedules and costs.

high courts

Justice Gita Mittal to become the first

R. K. Chauhan assumes charge as

woman Chief Justice of the High Court

Director (Projects), POWERGRID

IAS Ishita Roy’s deputation tenure for

ACC gives its nod for inter-cadre

one more than a year

deputation of 2 IPS officers

Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice Gita Mittal has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. She is set to become the first woman Chief Justice of the High Court.

She is currently chairing the court committees on the Delhi High Court’s Mediation and Conciliation Centre as well as the committee monitoring the Implementation of Judicial Guidelines for Dealing with Cases of Sexual Offences and Child Witnesses. She also spearheaded the Vulnerable Witness Court Project in the trial courts in Delhi.

The Central government has relaxed its policy to extend the central deputation tenure of Ishita Roy, a 1991 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer and joint secretary in the department of higher education, for a period till June 30, 2019, “beyond the approved combined tenure of seven years up to 01.09.2018, in relaxation of the policy”. The DoPT issued the order saying that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had approved the relaxation. Since March 2015, she has been in Delhi serving as a joint secretary in the department of higher education under the ministry of HRD. 38 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

The Central government has notified the appointment of judges as Chief Justices of four high courts. The names are as follows - Chief Justice MR Shah for the Patna High Court (formerly Judge of the Gujarat High Court); Chief Justice Rajendra Menon for the Delhi High Court (formerly Chief Justice of Patna High Court; Chief Justice Gita Mittal for the Jammu and Kashmir High Court (formerly Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court).

Rajeev Kumar Chauhan has assumed the charge of Director (Projects) of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID). He has been associated with the company since 1994 and has contributed to all segments of Power System Management in POWERGRID i.e Project Management, Site Execution, Operation & Maintenance, Consultancy, CTU Planning, Design & Engineering (EHV AC & HVDC), Procurement, DMS and Commercial Functions in POWERGRID under various capacities. He has also served for 10 years in NTPC prior to joining POWERGRID in 1994.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) for inter cadre deputation of Vikram Jeet Duggal, 2007 batch Telangana cadre IPS from Telangana cadre to Punjab cadre for three years on “personal ground”. The 38-year-old IPS officer did his B.Tech in electronics and communications before he was selected as an IPS. He served as Superintendent of Police (SP) in Nizamabad district, among other postings in the state of Telangana. India’s youngest and 29th state, Telangana, was formed on June 2, 2014.

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40 | August 2018 www.spoindia.org

40 pages including cover