The electronics ministry may come up with a report on non-personal data such as community data, anonymised data and ecommerce data held by companies including Uber, Google and Amazon— which will be used to chalk out a policy on non-personal data regulation. A senior official told ET that the government may also consider leaving it to the ministries or regulators concerned to define which kind of data should come under the purview of such a policy. This comes after the latest round of select stakeholder consultation over the draft Personal Data Protection (PDP)

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 31, 2019

It’s August 2019, and the Indian startup ecosystem has already seen 25 unicorns flourish. Startups in India have become mainstream today, and have in their innovative leaps, changed the way consumers eat, shop, and travel. However, while we are celebrating startups and their growth curve, it is important to remember that up to 25 to 30 percent of all startups fail. A majority shut down within two years of starting up. Kunal Shah, Founder of Cred, who is a second-time entrepreneur and was an investment advisor for Sequoia Capital and Y-Combinator says

Publication : Yourstory

Date : August 30, 2019

Among the slew of policy measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on August 23 to boost the slowing economy, exemption from ‘angel tax’ for startups registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) was a much welcome one. Under the Startup India initiative launched by the Modi government in January 2016, eligible companies can avail this and a host of other tax benefits. All they need to do is be recognised as startups under the initiative by the DPIIT. As per a Forbes report, around 24,000 of the 50,000 startups in India are registered with the DPIIT.

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : August 30, 2019

Domestic retailers may get a boost with new foreign direct investment rules allowing contractors to the status of “manufacturer”, giving them access to 100 percent FDI, reports the Economic Times. The rules may come as a relief for brands such as Fabindia and Urban Ladder, which depend on third-party sourcing for their products. They would be able to raise foreign funds to expand the business, the report said. Fabindia Vice Chairman William Bissel praised the move as positive for all Indian brands. “With yesterday’s (August 28) announcement, the government has scored a hat trick, which will be good for ‘Make in India’, employ in India, and invest in India,” Bissel told ET.

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : August 30, 2019

E- commerce companies such as Flipkart, Amazon and Bigbasket will have to find alternatives to single-use plastic, as the government is likely to restrict its use for packaging from October 2. The government is also thinking of ways to make ecommerce companies recycle the waste that they generate. This will, in turn, push these companies to come up with alternative packaging materials quickly. “They (ecommerce companies) are the ones creating all this waste, so the onus of recycling it has to be put on them as well,” said environment secretary CK Mishra, without confirming whether the government was indeed proposing to ban single-use plastics.

Publication : ET Tech

Date : September 02, 2019

Among the many ways Amazon has changed the rules of the game for retail is the way it’s shifted consumer expectations about returns. For the nation’s 100 million Prime members (and remember, the U.S. has only 128 million households) returns are free unless otherwise noted.  Retailers that want to compete with the Everything Store feel pressured to offer something similarly enticing — but doing it wrong can wreck a company’s bottom line.Consider the stats: while brick-and-mortar returns hover at between 8% and 10% of purchases, returns from e-Commerce purchases range from 20% to 40%. The number is closer to 50% for high-end goods.

Publication : Retail Touchpoints

Date : September 02, 2019

In August, Ikea launched online shopping in Mumbai even before it opened an offline store in the city — a first for the Swedish MNC in the Indian market. The move by the world’s largest furniture retailer should have sent its competitors into a tizzy. But Ambareesh Murty, cofounder and CEO of Pepperfry, the largest online marketplace for furniture in India, tells Suman Layak that any hype around Ikea in Mumbai will only help Pepperfy sell more. For us, dominance in the online furniture retail market has already been achieved.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 31, 2019

The Indian economy is large enough for both e commerce and small retailers to coexist said Niti Ayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar on Friday. Kumar also said that while it was important to ensure e-commerce player do not get unprecedented market power, India could not have a situation where data was controlled by a central authority. Kumar also said that if e-commerce companies were to also bring large brick and mortar stores, it could create an anti-competitive landscape. “The market in our country would be large enough. Our economy as it improve as it grows”

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 30, 2019