Sudhakar Nimmagalla graduated as a mechanical engineer from IIT Bombay in 2014. Since then, he’s been involved — in some or the other capacity — with several startups born at IIT-B. TinyOwl, Housing, Supr Daily... to name a few. 

“I developed a keen interest in logistics and operations as a result,” Sudhakar tells us. An interest that would lead to intent years later. 

In his last role, Sudhakar served as the Mumbai Operations Manager of Supr Daily (a hyperlocal milk-tech platform acquired by Swiggy in 2018). He was responsible for scaling up daily orders in the region from 2,000 to 60,000.

Armed with this rich experience in the hyperlocal food supply chain, Sudhakar founded FnV Farms in early 2019. The startup had one goal: to bring fresh fruits and vegetables from ‘farm-to-table’ across Mumbai households. 

It planned to achieve this through an asset-light model, where inventories would be exhausted daily thus leading to minimal wastage. And, buyers could avail benefits such as ‘no minimum order value’ and ‘free same-day delivery’ at their doorstep.

The Founder-CEO tells YourStory,

“We researched various solutions in this space and found that existing players have occupied only 1 percent of the market so far. This is the only category where consumers are still going from vendor to vendor on the roadside and haggling over prices. Plus, the freshness of the item is always questionable.” 

FnV Farms is attempting to fix this pain point by combining a robust supply chain mechanism with cutting-edge data science. 

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Bulk sourcing from farms 

The Mumbai-based startup procures its harvest in bulk from farmer’s markets in Nashik and adjoining areas in Maharashtra. 

It then transports the harvest to its warehouses and cold-storage units in Vashi in Navi Mumbai and Borivali in West Mumbai, following which it runs stringent quality checks on the items.

Sudhakar says that adulteration is one of the biggest issues, and local vendors often use chemicals and other nutrients to make old harvest appear fresh. FnV Farms is trying to curb adulteration by managing procurement to delivery on the same day. 

Farheen Jamal, Co-founder of FnV Farms, elaborates,

“We procure only those items that have been ordered by customers. That way we do not store anything longer than a few hours. This also allows us to keep our infrastructure investments low, and helps us earn gross margins of 30 percent.”

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The ‘vertical delivery’ model

Besides directly sourcing from farmers, the startup has also devised a unique “vertical delivery” system, which Sudhakar says, takes care of its unit economics. 

FnV Farms identifies high-density areas in a city, on-boards all society complexes within a three-kilometre radius in that area, and delivers crates from the ground floor to the top floor.

At present, its delivery fleet consists of 20 part-time executives, each covering only 500 metres in the fixed radius. 

“This allows us to deliver 30-40 orders in just fours, and bulk orders from each society allows us to reduce per-delivery cost to Rs 5,” Sudhakar explains. 

“We have identified 100+ such locations in Mumbai and are looking to generate about Rs 1 lakh to 2 lakh in orders everyday,” he adds.

By 2025, FnV Farms looks to replicate this model in India’s leading metros, and is targeting a reach of one million customers. It also plans to expand to Pune, thereby utilising its existing farmer network within Maharashtra.

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Price forecasts with machine learning

Before launching its first prototype, the startup collected food inflation data of 24 months, studied patterns in the price fluctuations, and applied machine learning algorithms to forecast prices of fruits and veggies for the next 60 days. 

This forecast also takes into account the rainfall levels across regions.

Based on these predictions, FnV Farms fixes every item’s price for a 15-day period, and allows consumers ordering on its platform to escape day-to-day haggling.

Sudhakar claims this model is working, and buyers are enjoying price benefits of 15-18 percent. “We have a repeat customer rate of 70 percent, and 91 percent of the buyers agree that our prices are lower than what the market offers,” he shares.

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Operations and growth plans 

FnV Farms claims that it has supplied 5.5 tonnes of fresh produce in six months. Its inventory consists of about 75 SKUs, with onion, tomato, potato, ladies finger, banana, apple, and seasonal fruits emerging as the bestselling items. 

There are about 2,100 customers on the platform, which sees 100 to 130 orders being placed daily. Without revealing specifics, the company says that it is growing at 50 percent month-on-month, with average revenue per customer at Rs 1,450. 

Sudhakar shares,

“Our focus now is to build a 1,000-tonne supply chain and delivery mechanism covering India’s top 20 cities. By 2025, we’re looking to generate revenues of Rs 25 billion.”

These are big projections, yes. But considering India’s online food and grocery market is estimated to reach $10.5 billion by 2023 (RedSeer data), it may not be all that impossible to attain. 

What will fuel FnV Farms’ growth plans is the recent backing from 100X.VC, a Mumbai-based early-stage venture fund that looks to invest Rs 200 crore in 100 homegrown startups by the end of 2020. 

The Y Combinator-like entity has already put in Rs 25 lakh as pre-seed investment in the 12-member startup. FnV Farms is planning to raise another round of Rs 4 crore in 2020 to fund its expansion and hiring. 

Sudhakar signs off by saying,

“We’ve ensured price consistency and quality assurance so far. Now, we’re looking to roll out a subscription model too.”

After all, that is where domestic ecommerce is headed! 

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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India will "struggle" to achieve 5 percent GDP growth in 2020 as the significant deceleration in past few quarters was largely owing to credit squeeze, which is a cyclical problem, said noted American economist Steve Hanke.

Hanke, who currently teaches applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, pointed out that India experienced an unsustainable credit boom, and now the chickens were coming to roost with a massive pile of non-performing loans piled up, primarily at the state-owned banks.

"The slowdown in India is related to a credit squeeze, which is a cyclical problem - not a structural problem... As a result, India will struggle to make a GDP growth rate of 5 percent in 2020," he said.

He added that India was already highly protectionist.

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India, which till recently was hailed as the world's fastest-growing major economy, has seen the growth rate decline to a six-year low of 4.5 percent in the September quarter of 2019-20.

This has largely been attributed to the slowdown in investment that has now broadened into consumption, driven by financial stress among rural households and weak job creation.

Hanke, who had served on former US President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers and is a senior fellow and director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the Cato Institute in Washington, further said the Modi government had failed to make any big economic reforms, adding that it seemed to have little interest in making tough and required economic reforms.

"Instead, the Modi government has a focus on two things that are destabilising and potentially explosive: ethnicity and religion. This is a deadly cocktail. Indeed, many believe that under Modi, India is already being transformed from the 'world's largest democracy' into the 'world's largest police state'," the eminent economist said.

Email queries sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) seeking comments did not elicit any response.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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The Harvard Business School has built a case study on Gurugram-based OYO. Now a part of the Harvard Business School curriculum, the case study, titled OYO: Creating Effective Spaces, talks about the company’s journey, challenges, and growth.

Abhinav Sinha, Global Chief Operating Officer, OYO Hotels & Homes and Partner, OYO USA, said: “At OYO, every OYOpreneur has worked passionately and with utmost dedication towards the company’s mission. It makes us immensely happy and proud that OYO’s journey and mission-driven approach to business has led to it being included as a case study at the prestigious Harvard Business School.”

He added: “We have had the opportunity to exchange thoughts with several bright minds at Harvard Business School, and their questions, observations, and suggestions have been extremely thought-provoking and, at the same time, a humbling experience. We hope Ritesh’s remarkable journey encourages budding entrepreneurs at HBS to follow their dreams and work hard towards achieving them.”

In April, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO, had addressed students of Harvard Business School.

The case study has been prepared by Professors Das Narayandas and Sunil Gupta, Associate Director Rachna Tahilyani (India Research Centre) and Research Associate Mahima Rao-Kachroo (India Research Centre).

A disclaimer states: “It was reviewed and approved before publication by a company designate. Funding for the development of this case was provided by Harvard Business School and not by the company. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”

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Inspiring entrepreneurial journeys

Oyo has expanded to over 800 cities in over 80 countries since it moved to a lease-and-brand model. The company claims to have hosted over 50 million guests.

A company statement said: “With this case study that encapsulates real-life scenarios, including business challenges and innovative solutions, OYO aims to inspire several business students at Harvard Business School to create their own entrepreneurial journey.”

The case study quotes Oyo’s largest investor, Softbank, which stated: “They have managed to grow aggressively while being disciplined about their unit economics.”

OYO Hotels’ investors include Airbnb, SoftBank Vision Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, and Hero Enterprise.

The statement added that OYO Hotels continues to bring its successful proposition of combining design, hospitality, and technological expertise, financial acumen and operational capabilities to real estate owners around the world, giving them the ability to get a higher return on investments, access easy financing opportunities, transform their hotels, and offer good quality customer service, thereby significantly increasing occupancy and profitability.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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Leading electric two-wheeler maker Hero Electric has put on hold investment of up to Rs 700 crore by a year with the sector taking a nosedive as FAME II, scheme aimed to promote electric vehicles, has failed to deliver, according to a top company official.

Calling for a complete revamp of the policy, the company wants the government to include low speed two-wheelers for subsidy arguing that for mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India these cost-effective vehicles are critical.

"From an industry standpoint, there was a certain trajectory which was going on when we had FAME I. With the coming in of FAME II, whatever be the logic and reason, the manner in which FAME II was introduced, the whole industry took a downturn and now the industry is recovering from that," Hero Electric Managing Director Naveen Munjal told PTI.

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As per Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicle (SMEV), sales of FAME II qualified electric two-wheelers in April-December 2019 period stood at just 3,000 units as against 48,671 units in the year-ago period when FAME I was in place, a decline of 93.84 percent.

Under FAME I, low speed two-wheelers with top speed of up to 25km/hr had qualified for incentives of up to Rs 17,000 and Rs 22,000 for high speed ones.

However, under FAME II, which came into effect from April 1, 2019, electric two-wheelers are mandated to have a minimum range of 80 km per charge and minimum top speed of 40 kmph to qualify for an incentive of Rs 20,000.

CRISIL had predicted that more than 95 percent of the electric two-wheeler models produced earlier would not be eligible for incentive under FAME-II.

When asked about the impact on the company's future investments, Munjal said, "We had to push back the plans. Fund raise has been pushed back to next year, so are the investments."

Earlier, in August 2019, the company had said it was looking to invest around Rs 700 crore in the next three years to ramp up production capacity of its electric scooters to 500,000 units annually from about 100,000 units. It was looking to raise fund for the same by roping external investors.

Munjal said the company lost four months in the beginning of the year on completely homologating products for FAME II.

"It has taken a lot of time. Technically, one year is almost wiped out from our balance sheet," Munjal said, adding it made no sense to go ahead with investments as the company had to first get the products out of the door.

He, however, said the company is now getting back on track and has started working on capacity increase, "which we should have done six months back".

Calling for a total re-look at FAME II, Munjal said, "FAME II has not delivered for sure... The policy has to be completely changed. If the industry has to pick up then it has to be from ground-up. What we have been saying is that it has to be the low-speed vehicles, which have to be targeted for masses."

Arguing that 95 percent of electric two-wheelers is low-speed in India, he said, "If you have to really make this (EV) industry work, you have to focus at the base of the pyramid and the base is the low-speed. Everything else can ride on top of it, we are not saying you dissuade others."

He cited examples of Europe, China, the US, and Japan, where low speed electric two-wheelers are supported by the government for mass adoption.

"When we look at electric two-wheeler mobility around the world, it is all low-speed," he said, adding efficiencies are at only at a particular speed band in electric two-wheelers and high speed EVs are expensive thereby making it unsuitable for a "price sensitive" market like India.

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About half of the startups dealt in innovative products and over 20 percent had filed patents for their products, a survey by the Reserve Bank of India based on responses from 1,246 startups has found.

The pilot survey on the Indian startup sector was conducted from November 2018 to April 2019. Around three-fourths of respondents were from the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

Startups in six sectors - agriculture, data and analytics, education, health, IT consulting/solution and manufacturing - accounted for nearly 50 percent of the survey respondents.

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"The annual turnover for over one-fourth of the respondents was up to Rs 10 lakh whereas around 20 percent of startups did not report any revenue generation.

"Less than one-fifth of the respondents reported that their turnover exceeded Rs 1 crore," the survey revealed.

Only 14 per cent of startups had more than 10 employees in the first six months of their operation but as the sector matured, the share increased to 40 percent at the time of conducting the survey.

Also, around 36 percent of the startups availed institutional loans (including from banks) to finance their activities.

As per the survey findings, over 70 percent of the participating startups were set up in the last three years (2016-17 to 2018-19).

Further, nearly 88 per cent of the founders had an academic qualification of at least a bachelor's degree. Over 10 percent of the founders were below 25 years of age and another 55 percent were in the age group 25 to 40 years.

The survey also said almost a half (49 percent) of the respondents informed that they were in the early stage of revenue generation while another 31 percent were in the growing stage.

Of the remaining startups, which were yet to generate any revenue, as high as 86 percent were aged below three years, it said.

Also, almost 58 percent of the startups had plans to get listed on the Indian stock exchanges in the next five years, it added.

"Participants reported market/industry demand and team experience as the most important factors for setting up the startups," the RBI said.

Future plans of the startups included hiring staff for supporting business expansion, getting listed on the Indian stock exchanges and seeking acquisition, among others.

Only 14 per cent of startups had more than 10 employees in the first six months of their operation but as the sector matured, the share increased to 40 percent at the time of conducting the survey, revealed the survey findings.

Most of the startups had at least two co-founders.

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Fashor, a Chennai-based online women’s apparel brand, raised $1 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Sprout Venture Partners. IP Ventures, and Venture Catalysts, with participation from a few HNIs. 

Vikram Kankaria, Co-founder of Fashor, said, 

“Fashion is the first category that most consumers buy online and is soon going to emerge as the largest ecom category. Very few brands currently exist and over 80 percent of the $21 billion women’s apparel industry is unbranded. The company is well placed to capitalise on this growth opportunity for branded players and has seen strong traction since inception. The funding will help the company in accelerating growth and will help Fashor become a leading affordable fashion brand.” 

Fashor plans to use the funds to expand to other online and offline channels. 

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Sahil Gupta, Partner, Sprout Venture Partners, said, 

“We like Fashor as there is a need for brands in the women’s wear market owing to a shift to branded clothing, because of the rise in fashion consciousness and increasing disposable incomes.” 

Founded in 2017 by Vikram and Priyanka Kankaria, Fashor is a fashion brand offering trendy Indian and Indo-Western clothing for women. It aims to capitalise on the women’s apparel industry by providing affordable, high-quality products, with a variety of design options to its customers across India. 

The startup claims that it is already India’s largest brand in terms of the number of designs launched. It added that it has over 75,000 customers and over 70 percent of its revenue comes from its website and app.

Sprout Venture Partners, co-founded by Sunil Jain and Sahil Gupta, is an early-stage VC fund, which invests in product technology companies and consumer brands at seed and Pre-series A stage. Founded in 2017, it has already backed startups like Absentia, Goals101, Trell, HealthFin, Fitso, and Advantage Club.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Investment in India's real estate sector is likely to rise by 5 per cent to $6.5 billion (around Rs 46,000 crore) this year, driven mainly by huge demand for commercial office assets from IT firms, according to global property consultant Colliers.

Last year, the real estate sector attracted an investment of $6.2 billion, up 8.7 per cent from 2018 as foreign investors bought many office properties. Foreign funds accounted for about 78 per cent of the total investments in 2019.

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According to Colliers, India's real estate sector has recorded inflows of $56.6 billion (Rs 410,000 crore) since 2008.

"During 2019, investments into the real estate sector touched $6.2 billion (Rs 43,780 crore). During 2020, Colliers projects investments inflows of $6.5 billion in the real estate sector," it said in a report.

The consultant expects investors to remain committed to commercial office assets over the next three years, with strong demand and outlook for further rental appreciation.

"We project that the commercial office sector will account for about 40 per cent of the inflows in 2020," Colliers said.

Commercial office assets accounted for 46 per cent of the total inflows during 2019 at $2.8 billion (Rs 19,900 crore).

Investors interest have risen because of plethora of reforms such as enforcement of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), roll-out of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and a relaxation of foreign direct investment norms, the consultant said.

Colliers recommended investors to look at opportunistic assets including under construction office assets, supported by strong demand dynamics in information technology (IT)-led markets such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.

"Due to the prolonged slowdown in the sector, investors should continue to adopt a more conservative approach towards residential assets in general, as compared to commercial assets," the report said.

Coliving would draw considerable attention from investors as demand for rental homes rises among professionals relocating to cities having employment opportunities, the consultant said.

Warehousing, retail and coworking segments are also on investors' radar.

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In 2019, we came across many businesses that saw success, but a slew of startups was also shrouded in uncertainty and scams, especially towards the end of the year.

The shutdown of startups like Doodhwala and the general slowdown in the economy left the Indian startup ecosystem in a mellow mood towards the end of the year. While 2020 seems to be starting off with the same grim feeling, we can only hope that in a few months it will be the harbinger of better times. Here are the top predictions for startups in the coming year.

Reduced international VC funding

If there is political unrest in the country, international investors will become uncertain about investing in India. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) have already received a lot of international criticism, and it is only a matter of time before it affects business sentiment.

Alienation of border areas like Kashmir will continue, which means development will get stunted if the government continues to prioritise issues related to citizenship rather than focusing on economic development.

Past research and experiments done by Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee shows that refugees and minority groups don’t eat into the jobs that locals desire. That is more myth than reality. Assam and Kashmir have tremendous potential in the travel, tourism, and agritech space, but due to government clamp downs and shutdown of internet, startups are not going to want to set up base there.

The Amazon takeover

With ecommerce giant Amazon upping its game with sourcing of fresh produce from farmers in the grocery delivery business, and increasingly promoting its own products in categories that do well on the platform - all businesses that compete with it should be cautious.

Ecommerce, content, grocery, web services, and retail are all already duopolies, and the power dynamic might shift to favour Amazon more if it goes on unchecked by regulators.

Education

Despite there being a sizeable number of startups in the education space, all of them are likely to see growth. Startups like upGrad, Avani Learning, Byju’s, and InterviewBit, which are all catering to slightly different segments, will have plenty of growth opportunities.

India’s education system seems to be broken due to very limited institutions offering quality education, combined with cut-throat competition for jobs. Also, many reports released this year revealed that the average graduate, engineering or otherwise, was not employable.

This is disheartening both for businesses and for young people. The traditional education system needs to be supported by online academies and courses that are skill-based.

Fintech frays

With the PMC Bank scam fresh in the mind of consumers and high number of cases linked to financial fraud coming to light this year, fintech firms are going to have a tough time convincing consumers.

Online mutual fund platforms have failed to get the traction they expected to get in the last three years, market performance has been muted, and a lot of things that former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had warned us about are coming true.

Individual Indian investors will set themselves bigger targets, especially in B2B

Early-stage investors, who have slowly built a portfolio of tech-based scalable B2B businesses in the last decade, will look to identify more promising startups in 2020. With the economy showing warning signs of slowing down, and Indian businesses getting strapped for cash, HNIs who want to give back to the startup community will set themselves higher targets this year.

We have already seen the trend of startups raising money from groups of individual investors increasing this year, and that is set to grow faster next year.

Hyderabad’s time to shine

The city has been a startup hub for a while, but still doesn’t get enough limelight as Bengaluru and Gurugram. But that’s likely to change in 2020 because the community there is now large enough to command more media attention.

With T-Hub’s investments into the ecosystem and the presence of firms like Jay Robotix, True Push, Neeman’s, AuthBlue, and SkinCraft, the city is likely to get more attention than before, which will further encourage new firms and talent to relocate.

Research has shown that Hyderabad residents are extremely tech savvy, and their education levels and internet penetration are also high. This will encourage new startups to set up their headquarters there.

Average age of Indian startup founder to increase

In India, the average age of the startup founder is about 30. That totally makes sense considering the country’s demographic dividend. But there’s a large pool of successful CEOs, now in their mid to late 50s, who aren’t willing to retire yet.

The ones who identify themselves as “doers” and not investors will want to co-found companies with young people with expertise and exciting ideas. So, we’ll see more of the UpGrad type of partnerships, where Ronnie Screwvala teamed up with youngsters like Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, Ravijot Chugh (they are all co-founders) to startup.

Startup outlook in rural India

There was a time when starting out on your own was looked down upon. People would think you’re starting your own business, because nobody else is willing to hire you. In urban India, of course, that is no longer the case. However, in rural India, a government job is still considered to be a great career achievement.

With the Modi government’s focus on Startup India over the last five years, one can see the change in rural parts of India. The youth are keen to implement agritech solutions, get involved in implementation, and measure social impact as well. Those who’re lucky to get out of the village and pursue higher education in prestigious institutions, are now giving back to the society by going back to their villages and empowering others, instead of taking up well-paying jobs in cities.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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The total UPI (Unified Payment Interface) transactions in the country continued its growth in December 2019, after crossing the one billion transaction mark in October 2019. 

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates UPI and other retail networks, tweeted that the total UPI transactions in the country for December 2019, stood at 1.31 billion.

This is almost a seven percent growth from November 2019, when total UPI transaction in the country stood at 1.22 billion. 

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At the same time, the total value transacted through the network also increased, reaching Rs 2.02 lakh crore. This is again a seven percent increase since November 2019 when the total value of transactions on the network was Rs 1.89 lakh crore.

In the last week of December, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there will be no MDR levied on transactions through homegrown payment networks including RuPay and UPI.

The FM added that all companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crore or more will be mandated by DoR (Department of Revenue) to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit card and UPI QR code to their customers.

Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) is the fee paid by a merchant to a bank for accepting digital payments.

In response to this announcement, the Payments Council of India earlier this week said that removing MDR charges on transactions through RuPay cards and UPI payments will kill the digital payments industry.

Describing the decision as surprising and will stop investment and innovation, Vishwas Patel, Chairman, Payments Council of India, said,

"The zero MDR on RuPay and UPI will kill the industry and make the business model unviable. It's like nationalisation of the payments industry. If the government wants to drive digitisation, then it should bear the cost."

He further added that the current decision of the government will ‘deflate the hard work done by the acquiring industry and that if MDR is not to be charged to merchants, it should be borne by the government.’

The representative of non-banking merchant aggregators also said that a controlled MDR along with tax benefits makes greater sense to implement for pushing India’s digital economy forward.  

Other payment networks

Apart from UPI, in December 2019, IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) transactions grew by 12 percent to 256.47 million from 228.08 million in November 2019. Close to Rs 2.10 lakh crore worth of transactions were transacted through the IMPS network in December 2019. 

When it comes to NETC (National Electronic Toll Collection), the total transactions in December 2019 almost doubled when compared to November. This is owing to the government making FASTags mandatory for vehicles passing tolls.

In December 2019, a total of 64.33 million transactions were made through NETC, with Rs 1,256.84 crore being transacted through the network.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Delhi-based WealthBucket, which runs an online platform for mutual fund investments, raised $3 million (Rs 18 crore) from NorthStar, angel investor Vinod Khatumal and other HNIs. 

WealthBucket was founded by Himanshu Jain and Pulkit Jain in 2018 with an initiative to provide a platform that connects the customers looking to invest in mutual funds. This platform provides investment options including in SIP, Equity Linked Saving Schemes, Lump-sum and other methods of investment.

The founders said in a statement that the fund will be used to increase its employee strength to 100+ and expand its operations PAN India. Along with this, the funds will be used in technology to simplify the KYC and investment process. The startup also plans to enable insurance and investment in stocks via their platform.

“Our aim is to invest this money in building our technology and operational team. We will focus on the underserved segment of the market. That is, the people who are not investing because of the complicated investment process and lack of knowledge,” said Pulkit Jain, co-founder of WealthBucket. 

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The startup already has around 300,000 visitors and has processed around 50,000 transactions to date. The company claims to have generated investments worth Rs 150 crore and more than half are investing for the first time. WealthBucket said the application and the investments are free of cost and one doesn’t need a DMAT account to do the same. 

This one-year-old startup also plans to leverage its own employee/agent network to introduce MFs to tier II and tier III clients. 

Himanshu Jain said, “Today, every millennial is considering a better proposition of investment to real estate and gold. Mutual funds come on the top of the list. Previously, only high-commissioned shares and mutual funds were sold through financial advisors. Our idea is to provide a model, where the investor can choose through a multitude of investment options. Our experts create low-commission portfolios for retail investors and will strive to make investment a hassle-free experience.” 

After the customer submits the online application, WealthBucket’s algorithm connects the investor to the right type of investment (suitable to the needs of the investor).

Himanshu Jain is an alum of ISB Hyderabad and a CFA. He has over 10 years of corporate and consulting experience with McKinsey. Pulkit Jain is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years of experience. Prior to WealthBucket, the duo founded LegalRaasta, which a team of 150.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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The common man has his eyes set on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's second Budget next month for relief in income tax, but an economic slowdown and a sharp reduction in corporate tax rates hint that she has very little flexibility to dole out a big largesse.

Facing flak for not doing enough to revive a slowing economy in her maiden Budget presented on July 5, 2019, Sitharaman in September sprang a surprise by cutting tax paid by companies on profits they earn to their lowest. This dented the Centre's tax kitty by as much as Rs 1.45 lakh crore.

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Alongside, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates were lowered many times in 2019 on several items including housing, electric vehicle, hotel accommodation, diamond job work, and outdoor catering.

The twin impact of tax rate cuts and a slowdown in collections due to shrinking consumption in a sagging economy may reflect in unachieved revenue targets.

Unmindful of this, the common man expects the Modi 2.0 government to dole out some relief to them as well and the key to that holds in Sitharaman's Budget for 2020-21 to be presented on February 1.

Four meetings of GST Council headed by the finance minister were held in 2019 with the last one in December amid a shortfall in revenue collection due to the economic slowdown.

The GDP growth rate hit over a 6-year low of 4.5 per cent in the second quarter forcing the government to take various measures to boost the economy.

Battling a six-year low economic growth and a 45-year high unemployment rate, the government slashed corporate tax rates by almost 10 per cent to 25.17 per cent to bring them at par with Asian rivals such as China and South Korea.

Two-and-half-months after presenting her maiden Budget, that was hailed as "development-friendly" and "future-oriented", Sitharaman in September announced fiscal measures that will cost the government Rs 1.45 lakh crore in revenue annually and may potentially derail the country's fiscal deficit road map.

The government cut base corporate tax rate for existing companies to 22 per cent from current 30 per cent; and for new manufacturing firms, incorporated after October 1, 2019 and starting operations before March 31, 2023, to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

Companies in China, South Korea and Indonesia pay 25 per cent tax, while those in Malaysia pay 24 per cent. Only Japan has a higher tax rate than India at 30.6 per cent. Hong Kong has the lowest corporate tax rate of 16.5 per cent while Singapore has 17 per cent rate and Thailand and Vietnam levy 20 per cent tax on companies.

Giving in to the demands of overseas investors, Sitharaman rolled back enhanced surcharge on foreign portfolio investors levied in the Budget in July.

Surcharge on long and short term capital gains arising from the transfer of equity shares was withdrawn.

Following the increase in surcharge in the Budget, the effective income tax rate for individuals with a taxable income of Rs 2-5 crore went up to 39 per cent from 35.88 per cent and for those above Rs 5 crore to 42.7 per cent.

To mitigate the genuine difficulties of startups and their investors, it was decided to do away with the so-called angel tax' for entities registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clarion call that wealth creators should not be eyed with suspicion and that they should be respected, the tax department adopted a more friendly approach in its dealings with the tax assessees.

In order to address complaints of harassment on account of the issue of notices, summons, orders etc by certain income-tax authorities, it was decided that all these orders shall be issued through a centralized computer system and will contain a computer generated unique Document Identification Number from October 1.

Following the sharp cut in the corporate tax rate, there has been a clamour for relief in the personal income tax.

There is a widespread expectation that there could be some relief on this front during the Budget for boosting consumption.

Although there was some relief given in the interim Budget in February, it primarily benefited only those whose income was below Rs 5 lakh. It was announced that there will be no tax liability if the net taxable income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh.

Another relief for the salaried class was the hike in standard deduction by Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 per year. The standard deduction of Rs 40,000 was introduced in Budget 2018 in lieu of medical reimbursement and conveyance allowance.

With regard to indirect tax, GST remains a matter of concern for various reasons.

The Central GST collection fell short of the Budget Estimate by nearly 40 per cent during April-November, 2019-20, according to government data.

The actual CGST collection during April-November stood at Rs 3,28,365 crore, while the Budget Estimate is of Rs 5,26,000 crore for these months.

In another first, the GST Council resorted to voting to decide whether a uniform tax on lotteries should be levied or a two-rate system be followed.

Decisions in the previous 37 meetings of the GST Council, headed by the Union Finance Minister and comprising representatives of all states and UTs, had been taken unanimously. These included the fixing of tax rates on dozens of goods and services but never had voting been done to decide on the issue.

According to Archit Gupta, CEO of Clear Tax, the new GST return filing system will come into effect from April 1, 2020. GST Council may tweak the law and rules to accommodate the new returns in RET-1 or RET-2 or RET-3 along with annexures in ANX-1 and ANX-2.

The unique Invoice Reference Number assigned to every invoice will help in tracking the goods tagged to such invoice document.

"The GST Council together with GSTN must also check for ways to ease the compliance for small taxpayers devoid of technology, making them self-supporting," Gupta said.

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It’s that time of the year when New Year resolutions are being made, challenges being accepted and to-do lists being created. While studies show that losing weight and saving money are the most popular resolutions across the world, the resolution to read more also features prominently. However, how often does one really keep up with resolutions?

Even if you are an avid reader, how long has it been since you picked up that book you had heard great reviews for, spent a few hours browsing through a bookstore or last updated your catch up list of books you have been long waiting to read? If you haven’t, you’re not alone. Most of us experience this phenomenon called the paucity of time

Listen to the future of ‘reading’

Time is currency in today’s day and age, with long work hours, longer commute and no time to spare. In this scenario, reading is put on the backburner more often than not to make time for other things. However, all that is changing, thanks to Storytel, an audiobook and ebook app service that makes it a whole lot simpler to listen to books on your way to work or any time and anywhere.

Technological advancements are changing the way people unwind. If it was the transition from TV to Netflix for visual entertainment, it is now the addition of audiobooks to the list of streaming entertainment on the go. With Storytel, one gets an unlimited access to the best of titles. Go ahead and create your own bookshelf and read or listen to as many books you want.

The multitasker’s holy grail

In this internet age, where multitasking has become the need of the hour, audiobooks have become a blessing for consuming literature while doing something else.

• Whether it’s household chores, your workout of choice, or your daily commute be it driving or headphones on mass transit, there’s no question that audiobooks help busy readers read more.
• On an average, Indians spend about two hours on the road every day, commuting to and from work. That is two hours of time being frustrated and spent doing nothing productive. Instead of listening to the advertisement-happy radio, it feels better to plug in to your favourite book and let the stories flow to you.

In touch with heritage

What’s more – Storytel is not limited to English language audiobooks alone. It offers a massive collection of audiobooks in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and Urdu, with more regional language titles in the pipeline.

With the English language as the favoured communication at work and in some cases social circles too, being in touch with one’s mother tongue has become challenging. not anymore when you have audiobooks to turn to.

Imagine tuning into Tagore’s poems, Munshi Premchand’s engaging stories or plays by Vijay Tendulkar as you wait at the airport to catch your flight, wait for the signal to turn green or just lay down after a long day at work.

So, if you are among those who can't find the time to read anymore, but don't want to miss out on the pleasure of the written word, this new year, you can stick to your resolution of reading more. Listen to anything you want - be it classics, romance, thrillers, history, fiction, non-fiction or Storytel Originals.

The audiobooks are not just read out but well-narrated by handpicked talents and voice artists. Storytel also has a wonderful collection of audiobooks narrated by celebrities that makes the audiobooks a wholesome listening experience. Some of the celebrities that have lent their voice include Will Wheaton, Meryl Streep, Joe Morton, Lorelei King, Barbara Rosenblat, Ravinder Singh, Kubbra Seth, and Konkona Sen Sharma, among others. Tune in today!

20 BOOKS FOR THE YEAR 2020

You can always make your own list, but there are a few handpicked books we recommend on storytel. These recommendations will get you started on your audiobook journey and help you keep up with your book goals. Tune in to any of these titles and thousands more on @Storytel_in.

Sign up to avail a 30-day free trial using this link http://storytel.com/yourstory

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
4. Twin Beds by Anita Nair
5. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
6. Strategic Doing by Edward Morrison
7. Annabel Maribel by Alexia C. Praks
8. Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh
9. Ashi Pakhare Yeti (Marathi) by Vijay Tendulkar
10. Kafan (Hindi) by Munshi Premchand
11. Main Hindu Kyon Hoon Hindi Translation of Shashi Tharoor's Why I am a Hindu
12. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Diversity
13. An Honest Man by Ben Fergusson
14. Vrukshatle Gandharva (Marathi) by Akshay Watve
15. The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
16. Ramayan ke Amar Patra audio series (Hindi)
17. Bhakti Prem Vidroh audio series (Hindi)
18. Murde Nahi Bolte - Hindi translation of The Dead Stay Dumb 
19. Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection 
20. So You Want to Start a Podcast by Kristen Meinzer

The Indian Space Research Organisation and Chinese mobile manufacturer Xiaomi are in advanced talks on the provision of chipsets that can support NaVIC, the Indian version of Global Positioning System (GPS), an official revealed.

The NavIC-friendly chipset, being manufactured by the US chip manufacturer Qualcomm, is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area, the ISRO has stated earlier.

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"Qualcomm has announced that its chip is going to have NaVIC and they are releasing it. Now, almost Xiaomi is in agreement to have it. Xiaomi may launch its mobile phones with NavIC chipsets," the ISRO official said.

NavIC is the abbreviation of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). According to the ISRO, the IRNSS was developed for terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, and integration with mobile phones.

It would provide Standard Positioning Service (SPS) to all users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service for only authorised users.

The IRNSS is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 metres in the primary service area.

The ISRO official said the international body 3GPP has formally approved usage of NavIC, allowing the ISRO to collaborate with Qualcomm.

Earlier in December, ISRO successfully injected into orbit the country's remote imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1, along with nine other foreign commercial satellites.

The 44.4-metre tall PSLV lifted off majestically with a thunderous sound, leaving plumes of smoke behind, from the first launch pad at the spaceport here at 3.25 pm.

RISAT-2BR1 was placed into orbit around 16 minutes after the lift-off, while the remaining satellites were released into their respective orbits about five minutes later.

ISRO Chairman K Sivan and other scientists greeted each other as all 10 satellites were injected into the desired orbits.

Later, speaking from the Mission Control Centre, Sivan said today's mission was a 'historic' one, coinciding with PSLV's 50th flight. "ISRO has made a historic mission... I am extremely happy to declare that the 50th PSLV vehicle successfully injected RISAT-2BR1 precisely into the 576-km orbit," he said

RISAT BR1 was a "complex" satellite but was built in a short time, he added, lauding the team behind the effort. Terming the mission a great success, he recalled and acknowledged the contribution of "exemplary leaders" like Dr Srinivasan, Dr Madhavan Nair, and others, from the conceptualising-configuration stage to date.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Private equity investments in the country are expected to grow 15-20 per cent in 2020 as investors pin hopes on the country's long growth potential after a blockbuster year when credit flow through regular channels turned slow, according to experts.

While the final figures vary, the amount of PE investments in the year gone by is estimated to be more than the total inflows recorded in 2017 and 2018.

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Reflecting bullish sentiments, PE and VC (venture capital) investments soared 18 per cent to $44.2 billion at the end of November 2019 compared to the entire 2018, mainly on the back of large inflows into the infrastructure sector, according to global professional services organisation EY.

Prashant Mehra, Partner at leading consultancy Grant Thornton India LLP, said PE investments would have been more than USD 31 billion in 2019.

"We think we will end the year (2019) at $48-50 billion of PE/VC investments, which is around 1.7-1.8 percent of GDP. This is in line with Chinese and OECD country norms, and so it appears that PE/VC industry has come of age in India.

"Going forward, we expect PE/VC investments to grow at may be 15-20 per cent in calendar year 2020," Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader, Private Equity Services, EY (India) said.

Experts opined that various government initiatives, improvement in ease of doing business as well as investment structures like Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are helping in attracting new class of investors.

Mehra said PE fund raising would continue to show an encouraging trend and termed domestic economic slowdown a temporary factor.

"The macro-economic factors seem positive and the larger objective of continued long-term potential coupled with weak global cues would retain investor interest in India Inc," he noted.

Soni said with yields in the US, Europe and Japan generally on a declining trend, large pools of global capital are hungry for long dated investments in yield generating assets.

"Hence, we are seeing large global pension funds like Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), CDPQ etc as well as sovereign wealth funds like GIC, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) etc make large investments in the Indian infrastructure sector," he said.

The growth in PE investments was aided by deal sizes becoming larger owing to increasing number of buyouts.

In 2019, there have been at least 99 large deals, valued at more than $100 million, aggregating $32.9 billion. This compares to 81 large deals aggregating $27.9 billion in 2018.

Last year, at least 56 buyout deals worth $ 15.1 billion were recorded. Overall, there were 49 deals valued at $10.4 billion in entire 2018.

Sector wise, in 2019, more than 50 per cent of deal values came again from core sectors such as telecom, infrastructure management, energy & natural resources and banking & financial services. The year 2020 would probably be dominated by BFSI and Consumer/ Retail.

Tarun Bhatia, MD and Head of South Asia at risk management firm Kroll, said post IL&FS crisis in late 2018, the credit market dried up and many companies were left wanting for funds for growth.

"PEs took advantage of this opportunity and have been actively investing at attractive valuations. There is growing interest for taking substantial minority or majority stakes. Even buyout market has picked up. Almost a third of transactions are over 50 per cent stake," he said.

In the upcoming Budget, investors are hoping that the government would focus on economic growth, Bhatia noted.

If they don't see that, then investors will re-evaluate investments. They are increasingly asking questions about geo-political risks and growing social unrest its impact on the broader economy and growing incidence of frauds in listed and private companies, he said.

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ISRO on Wednesday announced that the launch of country's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, may happen next year and said four from the Indian Air Force have been selected for the ambitious Gaganyaan programme, astronaut training for which would commence soon in Russia.

The announcement comes a day after Union Minister Jitendra Singh said India will launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020.

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Addressing a press conference here, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said work related to the third lunar mission was going on smoothly.

It will have a lander, rover, and a propulsion module like its predecessor, he noted.

He also said the launch of Chandrayaan-3 may shift to next year.

Work on both Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan, the country's maiden manned space mission, was going on simultaneously, he added.

Noting that Chandrayaan-2 orbiter's mission life was seven years, he said it would be used for the third lunar mission as well.

Giving an estimate of the project cost for Chandrayaan-3, Sivan said, "It would cost Rs 250 crore."

On the launchpad to come up in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, Sivan said, "Apart from the space port at Sathish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the land acquisition for a second one has been initiated in Tuticorin district."

As regards the choice of location, he said, "It was mainly to get advantages of southward launch especially for SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle)."

Observing that the pad, once set up, would be used for launching SSLVs initially, he said it may be expanded for big ones in future.

On future missions, he said, "Twenty-five missions have been planned for 2020."

"The missions that were planned in 2019 and could not be completed would be finished by March this year," he said.

When asked what went wrong with Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2, he said it was due to velocity reduction failure.

"The velocity reduction failure was due to internal reasons," he said.

Chandrayaan-2 mission was India's first attempt to land on lunar surface. The ISRO had planned the landing on the South Pole of the lunar surface. However, the lander Vikram hard-landed.

Sivan also congratulated the Chennai-based techie who recently located the Vikram lander that hard-landed and maintained that it was the space agency's policy not to release picture of the crashed module.

Elaborating on the country's maiden manned space mission, Gaganyaan, the ISRO chief said, four astronauts have been identified for the mission and their training will start from third week of this month in Russia.

He also mentioned that all the four astronauts chosen for the programme were men from the Indian Air Force.

"We had good progress in 2019 as regards Gaganyaan. And many of the designs were completed and astronauts' selection process is over. Now, four astronauts identified for training purpose.. that process is also completed," Sivan said.

India has signed agreements with Russia and France for cooperation on the Gaganyaan mission.

The ambitious Gaganyaan mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech in 2018.

The space agency has sought an allocation of Rs 14,000 crore from the Centre in the Budget for 2020-21.

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Retail major Walmart India has elevated its Chief Business Officer Sameer Aggarwal to the post of Deputy CEO. Aggarwal's appointment comes into effect from Wednesday. He will report to Walmart India CEO Krish Iyer, the company said in a statement.

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"Sameer Aggarwal has been appointed the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Walmart India effective January 1, 2020. He will continue reporting to Krish Iyer, President and CEO Walmart India and oversee operations, merchandising, people, marketing, real estate, kirana development programme, digital, ecommerce, and strategy," a Walmart India spokesperson said.

Aggarwal has over two decades of experience across industries in general management, strategy, finance, and mergers and acquisitions in various countries.

He holds an MBA degree from the London Business School and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Aggarwal has also worked with McKinsey & Company UK and Australia as an associate for over seven years.

He joined Walmart India in April 2018 as EVP, Chief Strategy and Administrative Officer, and was elevated as the Chief Business Officer in December 2018.

Walmart India operates 28 modern wholesale stores under the brand name, 'Best Price'. Besides, the company has three fulfilment centres, one each in Mumbai, Lucknow, and Hyderabad.

Walmart India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based retailing giant Walmart Inc and came to India in 2007.

Ninjacart, the Bengaluru-headquartered B2B agritech startup, has received a big boost, with global retail giant Walmart and India’s leading ecommerce marketplace Flipkart announcing an undisclosed joint investment in the firm.

The latest development comes after the agritech startup received a $100 million fund infusion from Tiger Global in April 2019.

A press release issued by Flipkart and Walmart said, “Partnering with Ninjacart will help Walmart and Flipkart strengthen direct sourcing of fresh produce for Walmart India’s Best Price B2B cash-and-carry stores and Flipkart’s online grocery business Supermart.”

Ninjacart's other investors include Accel, Steadview Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, and Nandan Nilekani.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)

(Edited by Suman Singh)

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In a survey by smartphone brand Vivo, in association with Cybermedia Research (CMR), revealed that the average Indian spends one-third of their waking hours on their phones, which translates to 1,800 hours per year.

The study titled Smartphone and Their Impact on Human Relationships is aimed at understanding how mobile devices are altering the lives and relationships of users.

It is based on a survey conducted across the top eight cities in India covering 2,000 respondents across ages from 18 to 45, out of which 36 percent were females and 64 percent were males.

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The report finds that 75 percent of the respondents agreed to have owned a smartphone in their teens and of them, 41 percent were hooked to phones even before graduating high-school. As a result, 30 percent fewer people meet family and loved ones multiple times a month now as compared to 10 years ago.

Also, one of the three respondents said that they can't even have a five minutes conversation with friends and family without checking their phones.

About 73 percent agreed that if smartphone usage continues at the current rate or grows, it is likely to impact their mental or physical health. The study finds out that three out of five people say that it's important to have a life separate from the mobile phone, which could help them to lead happier lives.

Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, said,

“While the explosive surge in smartphones in India has enabled Indians with not just communicating with loved ones, but with myriad other uses cases, including in consuming entertainment and in expressing themselves, our survey results demonstrate that the dependency over smartphones has increased. While smartphones will continue to be the primary go-to device, smartphone users have realised that periodically switching-off would help benefit their personal health.”

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Erik Rind, the CEO and Founder of ImagineBC, was driving to the airport when John Lennon’s Imagine was playing on the radio. Hearing Lennon croon about a world without governments, Erik was inspired.

He then decided to start a company and have 'imagine' as a part of its name. Adding ‘BC’ for blockchain, he launched ImagineBC in October 2018 in Gaithersburg, MD (a suburb of Washington DC).

ImagineBC runs a private Ethereum blockchain network within Microsoft’s Azure cloud that helps individuals store and control their personal data like name, email, and mobile number using private keys. In fact, this private network also allows users to monetise intellectual property, and creative property.

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How did it happen?

The idea for ImagineBC started brewing after the birth of Erik’s grandchild, which got him thinking about the kind of world the child would grow up in. Not happy with how things looked, he began to think of what he could do to change it. At the same time, Erik was introduced to Blockchain technology and the subject of decentralisation.

These two events led to the foundation of ImagineBC. The startup is funded by its parent company OneTouchHCM, which injected $2.5 million in it. These funds are used to support the platform infrastructure, update, and grow the platform, and to market it to individual and group members.

The Founder-CEO graduated from George Washington University in 1983 with a bachelor’s in History. Having started his career as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was Price Waterhouse at the time, he spent more than 30 years in technology leadership.

Speaking of what the ImagineBC’s business is all about, Erik says, "I’m old enough to remember a time when everyone was compensated for their intellectual property and creativity."

How does it work?

ImagineBC's ecosystem is divided into two integrated services that sit on the top of a private blockchain Ethereum network, running inside the Microsoft Azure cloud. Individual members interact within the community through a mobile app, which is designed to run natively on both iOS and Android devices.

Erik says the startup turns around the regular social media world we all live in. Instead of content providers and advertisers hitting on the users, ImagineBC’s trusted peer-to-peer platform gives members access to a virtual catalogue where they get to choose and enjoy exclusive content and offerings from members they follow.

"In addition, we give our members tools and access to earn free money just by paying their normal expenses and the ability to earn new money from their personal data. Combine this with an integrated approach to social giving and you have created a community we hope everyone will want to be part of,” he adds.

Third-party members and content providers interact within the community through a web portal called BizBase. Eventually, these parties will be able to recruit full or part-time talent from the community.

A MySQL database is used to store information that cannot be used to directly identify a member. An elastic database is used to support the matching algorithms and there is a security services data repository.

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Revenue model

ImagineBC’s blockchain network stores all the creative property uploaded by its members, to ensure the originality of the property. At present, it has only three full-time employees, with access to 70 experts in the subject matter.

The startup’s ecosystem is designed to allow all its members to earn money from their personal data, creativity, and time. The startup's role within the community is to ensure that all members act honourably and to create earning opportunities for all interested members. Members earn money when a transaction is completed.

It works on a revenue-sharing model among members, including ImagineBC, compensating all parties within the ecosystem with smart contracts.

Erik says these contracts guarantee that the seller in a transaction, irrespective of the cost, keeps 70 percent of every dollar. The startup earns 10 percent and the remaining 20 percent is distributed to the individuals who referred the buyers and sellers to the community.

He said, "If either the buyer or seller have no referrer, the percentage that would have been allocated to them will be donated to one of ImagineBC’s social cause partners."

Future roadmap

The Founder-CEO tells us that the company is expecting to launch new products in January 2020. At present, the team now has more than 35 content providers lined up to create channels within the ecosystem, who will further invite their followers to join. These content providers have social media following in the range of 30,000 to 150,000.

"The next phase of growth for us will be to bring on interested third-parties to leverage our growing community and run ad campaigns, survey campaigns and conduct focus groups. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we are focussed on creating a shift in behaviour where everyone, except the tech giants, is a winner."

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Commuters on Airport Express Line in Delhi can now access the internet using free high-speed WiFi inside train coaches as the Delhi Metro launched the services on Thursday, the first such facility in any country in the South Asian region.

The 22.7-km swankiest line on the Delhi Metro network has six stations, and eight trains ply on this corridor, officials said.

The WiFi facility inside train coaches on the Airport Line was launched by DMRC Chief Mangu Singh in a running train on the express corridor that connects New Delhi and Dwarka Sector 21 stations.

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"This is the first time in India that WiFi facility is being provided in underground metro trains. India has become the fourth country in the world to have this, as at present underground metro train WiFi facility is available in Russia, South Korea, and China," Executive Director of Corporate Communications, DMRC, Anuj Dayal told reporters after the launch.

According to the DMRC, this is also the first time, WiFi facility is being provided in underground metro trains in the South Asian region.

"A few metro cities globally offering WiFi connectivity in underground trains are Moscow and St Petersburg (Russia), Seoul (South Korea) and Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Shanghai (China)," the DMRC said.

Passengers on Airport Express Line will now be able to enjoy all standard internet applications like email, Facebook, YouTube, Google search, WhatsApp, video and audio calls, and more while travelling inside a train.

The plan is also to extend the services to other corridors (Line 1 to 6) – Red Line, Yellow Line Blue Line, Green Line, and Violet Line, Dayal said.

"The timeline for the expansion of the facility to other six corridors (Lines 1 to 6) is roughly one year. Based on the performance, we will see how it can be extended to Lines 7, 8, and 9 – Pink Line, Magenta Line, Grey Line," he said.

For accessing the high-speed internet facility, a passenger needs to log on to 'METROWIFI_FREE' network. After that, they would need to enter the phone number and an OTP (one-time password) will be sent to the mobile number. Once the login is successful, the commuter can enjoy the free WiFi service throughout the journey.

A one-way journey on the swanky corridor takes 24 minutes and about 60,000 people use the line daily, according to the DMRC.

The Airport Express Line has six stations – New Delhi, Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Aerocity, IGI Airport, and Dwarka Sector 21.

This WiFi project was implemented by a consortium of Maxima Digital Pvt Ltd (a partner of Maxima Telecom of Russia), Technosat India Pvt Ltd, and Sifi Technologie, the DMRC said.

"For giving a seamless WiFi experience at the Airport Express Line, the consortium has laid a dedicated 24-km fibre network, 7 km of power cable with 44 base stations (pole as well as frame type) and other active components along the entire length of the line to ensure that trains never lose WiFi connectivity," Dayal said.

Every train (driver car) is equipped with radios to connect to the trackside network (TSN) and every coach in the train has wireless access points for passengers to connect, officials said.

"Three hours of work per day was undertaken for the project, beyond the operational hours of the Airport Express Line," Dayal said.

WiFi facility is already available on platforms of the Airport Express Line and Blue Line, started in October 2016 and 2017 respectively, officials said.

According to a senior official of Maxima Telecom, the WiFi facility inside Moscow Metro trains was launched in 2015.

"Russia was the first to launch such a facility. But in Delhi Metro, the WiFi services would be much better," the official said.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Benjamin Franklin famously said: “If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.”

But how often does the ordinary employee have the time to draw up saving and investment plans that enable him or her to retire wealthy? Enter Bengaluru-based Wealthy, your personal wealth manager that offers tech-driven, tailor-made financial solutions.

The fintech startup aims to ensure wealth creation is “easy and transparent”, by making quality financial advice accessible to everyone. Founded by IITians Prashant Gupta and Aditya Agarwal in 2015, the startup claims to be “built on top of nine time-tested wealth creation and management strategies”.

The ML-powered app allows you to, with just a few swipes, save, invest in debt or equity instruments, and find tax-saving plans. It claims to be safe, secure, paperless, flexible, and offers the option of withdrawing your funds at any time.

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In the beginning

Prashant and Aditya met during their IIT days in Mumbai and graduated in 2005. Both had successful corporate careers before they decided to join hands for their own venture in 2015. The idea came to them after a few friends and relatives complained about savings never being enough to meet their financial commitments.

The founders had one aim: to build a fintech company that allowed ordinary individuals access to wealth managers and enabled them to create wealth. Their initial investment into the startup was around Rs 50 lakh.

"Most people end up with investments that barely beat inflation or meet their life goals," says Prashant Gupta, Co-founder of Wealthy. He adds that our financial system serves neither the consumer nor the so-called relationship/wealth managers.

This problem is what Wealthy wants to solve.

How it works

The fintech platform enables professionals, small business owners, and other such individuals to become financial advisors, and provides them with products, support, and training needed to succeed as entrepreneurs.

Consumer fintech now has many platforms that serve English-speaking and do-it-yourself millennials. These include Policybazaar for insurance, Zerodha for stockbroking, and Paytm Money for mutual funds. These companies, which have built brand equity and trust over time, offer ease-of-use and are focussed on creating a large user base of transacting users for themselves. In B2B, Turtlemint has emerged as a leading player that focusses on existing insurance agents and digitises them.

Wealthy, on the other hand, aims to create a new breed of advisors that combine the benefits of a digital platform and human empathy to provide quality financial advice across a range of needs. Their target customers are people who are not financially savvy and unsure of where to invest their money.

“We offer data-driven and curated products across all financial needs, such as investments, insurance, and financing. Wealthy’s partners, on their part, ensure personalised services by catering to clients’ three key needs: growing, protecting, and creating wealth,” says Aditya, Co-founder of Wealthy.

The marketplace lets individuals choose their wealth managers.

The company is now on-boarding professionals and other individuals across India to help them build their own business using the platform.

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The founders and their strategy

Prashant, who looks after the advisory algorithm, product curation and business tie-ups, completed his BTech from IIT-Madras (2005) and MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad. Prior to starting his entrepreneurial journey, he was the Vice President, Equity Derivatives Structuring at Morgan Stanley, London.

Aditya looks after consumer experience, platform development, and business strategy. He graduated in chemical engineering from IIT-Bombay in 2005. He has a strong entrepreneurial background and was earlier involved in his family’s marble and granite business. Aditya is also an angel investor in companies like Housing.com, Online Tyari, Chaayos, and Globevestor.

Wealthy started in 2015 to offer online-only financial advisory services with an easy-to-use transaction platform. The platform acquired the first few customers through word-of-mouth. However, the founders’ focus shifted from scaling transactions to scaling trust after a chance encounter with their company’s relationship manager from HDFC.

The banker, who was handling their company’s corporate account, revealed his monthly business numbers, which showed that his performance as an individual was better than a team of six people trying to sell online.

“We then shifted our focus from transactions to trust. This was guided by the fact that people take into account the advice of other people, be it their friends, relatives, or their banker, for major financial decisions,” Prashant says.

Most wealth managers end up pushing their products, depending on branch goals, revenue targets, or incentive structures.

“It is a classic case of when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” Aditya says.

They built trust by changing the narrative from selling a wealth product to creating content that guided individuals to choose products based on earnings and financial goals. 

At Wealthy, wealth managers are trained to understand what a client really needs, and then find a product that works for them. The compensation structure and business model allow them this freedom, and they focus on the outcome the clients want.

Wealthy’s suite of financial products, cutting-edge advisory software and a cloud-based operation enables these professionals to build the career they want and increase their income by 5x.

The startup is trying to break the inefficient and bloated financial ecosystem that short-changes both, the consumer and the service provider.

“Our business model connects these two groups, scales trust (not just transactions), and ensures quality,” Prashant says.

Every time a wealth manager makes a sale of any product on the platform, Wealthy earns a fee from the product creator– this is shared equally with the manager.

The backend has been built on Python and the mobile apps on React Native. The web apps, client-side as well as advisor tools, are built on React JS.

The way ahead

As many as 30,000 users use the Wealthy app as of now; together, they have consolidated over Rs 800 crore in savings on the platform.

Wealthy has raised $1.3 million in a seed round led by Good Capital in 2019. EMVC, a fintech-focussed fund, and Tracxn Labs also participated in the round. Aditya, the company’s Co-founder, bought some shares in his personal capacity in this round.

This fundraise was to scale up its partner base and continue building the platform to offer more products and services to partners and clients.

Previous investors in the company include Venture Highway, V1 Capital, Globevestor, and other individuals.

“We have started on-boarding advisors who, in the first phase, will help users rebalance existing portfolios and also serve any other financial needs that they might have,” the founders say.

In the next 18 months, the startup aims to scale its partner base, build software tools for them to advise clients, and add more financial products and services to the Wealthy platform.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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