Continuing its winning streak, Reliance Jio added 3.4 Mn wireless subscribers to its kitty in September, as per monthly subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Taking the second spot on the charts was the country’s second biggest telecom operator Bharti Airtel which accounted for 1.3 Mn subscriber additions during the month. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued to lose users in droves as it shed 2.32 Mn subscribers in the month of September.

State-owned BSNL and MTNL also saw heavy user churn as they lost 7.49 Lakh and 2,596 wireless users, respectively, during the course of the month. 

The Indian wireless telecom ecosystem saw a net addition of 1.7 Mn subscribers in the month against 1.39 Mn in August 2023. Overall, the number of active wireless subscribers in September hovered around the 1.04 Bn mark.

Meanwhile, Jio continued its stranglehold over the Indian telecom space, accounting for a market share of 39.06%, followed closely by Airtel with 32.85%. VI’s market share stood at 19.78% while BSNL contributed 8.14%. 

The country’s overall teledensity improved to 82.54% in September, up from 82.48% in the previous month. The push was largely led by rural India where teledensity improved further to 57.75% during the month under review compared to 57.67% in August. 

The total number of broadband users (both wireless and wireline) in the country stood at 885 Mn at the end of September with Jio grabbing more than half, 51.86% to be precise, of the total market. Airtel stood at 29.11% while VI took the third spot with 14.29% market share in the broadband market. 

In addition, 12.65 Mn subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in September, taking the total requests submitted till date beyond the 890 Mn mark. A majority of these, 7.21 Mn, emerged from Zone-I (Northern and Western India) while the remaining 5.44 Mn came from Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India).

The data comes close on the heels of the Centre tabling the much-awaited Telecommunications Bill, 2023 before the Parliament. The proposed law seeks to replace the archaic century-old Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, as well as the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933.

Not heeding to the demands of the telcos, the Bill kept OTT platforms outside the ambit of the regulatory framework but critics claimed that the proposed legislation covertly brings internet-enabled services under its purview. 

The Bill also charted out a new definition for ‘telecommunication’ and reiterated a host of compliance mandates for the operators. It also set the stage for the allocation of satellite communication licences through administrative process to private players, ruling against an auction process for the same. 

With this, the fight between telecom giants Jio and Airtel is expected to spill into the satcom domain as their arms Jio Satellite Communications and OneWeb respectively, have licences to offer such services.

The two players have also begun to roll out unlimited 5G data packs for their prepaid and postpaid users as they look to monetise the new generation technology for which they spent billions of dollars for spectrum in auction.

The post Reliance Jio Continues Winning Streak, Adds 3.4 Mn Subscribers In September appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The cyber crime unit of the Maharashtra Police has arrested a key figure behind the betting platform FairPlay India for allegedly infringing the IPL-related intellectual property rights (IPRs) of Reliance-backed Viacom18.

Gulam Abbas Muni was arrested on December 12 after the company filed a criminal complaint against the platform, its owners and distributors with the Maharashtra Cyber Digital Crime Unit (MCDCU). 

As per a statement by Viacom18, Muni was produced before a court on the same day and has now been remanded to police custody until the unspecified next date of hearing.

The complaint spans allegations of copyright infringement, criminal conspiracy, cheating, among other offences. It also names two other accused, Penny and Joe, in the case. The betting platform is said to have allegedly unlawfully streamed the cricket tournament on the FairPlay app.

Viacom18 had secured the digital rights for streaming the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches from BCCI for a period of five years, 

Commenting on the development, Viacom18’s general counsel Anil Lale said, “The unlawful streaming made it imperative for us to intervene promptly. After almost a whole year of persistence we now have one of the perpetrators behind bars. In such cases prompt action is of utmost importance. The damage caused was not just financial but also to our reputation. At Viacom18, we consistently strive to stay ahead of infringers/pirates through proactive legal measures and will continue to do so.”

The case harks back to late last year when Viacom18’s JioCinema announced that it would stream IPL 2023 matches for free on its app. Around the time when the OTT platform began streaming the tournament earlier this year, FairPlay is said to have pushed ads as well as put up hoardings in Mumbai and other major cities and associated itself with the tournament. 

As per Viacom18, the company advertised taglines such as ‘Watch IPL for Free, LIVE’ and the betting site was later found to have unlawfully streamed the matches on the FairPlay platform.

Acting on this, the digital juggernaut approached the Madras High Court (HC) and sought a pre-infringement injunction. In April this year, the Court also granted Viacom18’s request for an injunction against FairPlay and barred the latter from unauthorised streaming of IPL 2023 on its website, including any advertisements. 

Prior to this, in December 2022, the HC had also passed an order that restrained more than 4,750 websites, internet service providers (ISPs), and other unknown parties from streaming content that violated Viacom18’s IPL rights. 

Afterwards, the company also filed a complaint with the MCDCU, which resulted in Muni’s arrest. 

The post Viacom18 Vs FairPlay: Betting Platform Operator Arrested For Unlawfully Streaming IPL 2023 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Technology giant Microsoft has announced a hike in prices of its commercial on-premises software and online services, which include Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365, in India by 6%, effective from February 1.

This marks Microsoft India’s third consecutive year of price increase amid a challenging global economic pressure. The move is to align pricing between India and the Asian region, the company said in a statement.

“Starting February 1, 2024, Indian rupee prices for commercial on-premises software will increase by 6%, online services will also increase by 6% to realign close to prevailing USD pricing levels in the Asian region,” the statement said. 

“On Microsoft.com, revised Indian rupee prices for direct sales to India based customers for a select set of online services such as Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365 will be reflected as of February 1, 2024.  For business customers, these changes will not affect existing orders under volume licensing agreements for products that are subject to price protection,” it added.

Amid a surge in adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the pandemic, Microsoft India increased prices by 20% in February 2022, marking the first hike in nearly a decade. 

Subsequently, in February this year, prices were raised by an additional 11%, showcasing Microsoft’s focus on leveraging its increased user base in India amid global economic challenges and a slowdown in cloud adoption. 

These successive price increases may impact small businesses and SMEs with constrained technology budgets that recently embraced Microsoft’s services for digitisation.

Microsoft India’s operating revenue stood at INR 19,229.4 Cr in FY23, a 1.2X increase from INR 13,819.5 Cr in FY22.

Its net profit rose 30% to INR 648.6 Cr from INR 498.2 Cr in the previous fiscal. 

The post Microsoft India To Hike Price of Software And Online Services By 6% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

TM Forum, in partnership with Reliance’s telecom arm Jio, has opened the first TM Forum Innovation Hub in Mumbai, which will focus on scaling up the development of generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs) and open digital architecture (ODA).

TM Forum is a global alliance of telecom and tech firms working to remove technology barriers between digital service providers, technology suppliers, consultancies and systems integrators. It has a network in 111 countries and counts the world’s top 10 network and communications providers among its members.

The innovation centre, located at the Reliance Corporate IT Park in Navi Mumbai, will house hybrid teams of talent from across the telecom and tech industry.

The Innovation Hub programme was unveiled two months ago at TM Forum’s annual DTW –Ignite conference in Copenhagen. The pilot phase of the programme is expected to conclude by March next year, with a third pilot project starting shortly. 

The forum will initially focus on the development of TMF Guru, a conversational search-solution capability, for seamless GenAI integration into the telecom landscape to combat challenges related to security, privacy, accuracy, performance and scalability. 

TM Forum further said that the second focus will be accelerating the development of ODA, a modular, componentised, and reusable cloud-native software to replace traditional business support systems (BSS) and operational support systems (OSS). 

Commenting on he development, Reliance Jio chairman Akash Amabni said, “The TM Forum Innovation Hub is about delivering real-world solutions that will change our industry and there is no better way than to lean on talent from across the industry to solve our existing challenges as well as finding better ways to overcome future obstacles.” 

The development comes at a time when the GenAI landscape is booming in India, as well as globally. While Gen AI has existed for a few years, the success of ChatGPT has given a renewed boost to the technology, with startups and corporations aggressively adopting the technology now.

Earlier this year, Reliance Group chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said India needs to harness AI for innovation and growth to stay competitive.

Jio also announced a partnership with chip designing giant NVIDIA to build an advanced cloud-based AI computing infrastructure.

As per Inc42 data, India is home to more than 70 GenAI startups. These startups together raised over $440 Mn between 2019 and Q3 2023.

The post Jio, TM Forum Open Innovation Hub In Mumbai To Step Up Gen AI, LLM Play In Telecom Space appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listed mapping and geotech startup MapmyIndia is looking to raise up to INR 500 Cr by issuing equity shares through a qualified institutional placement (QIP).

In an exchange filing on Monday, MapmyIndia said its board has approved the “raising of funds by way of issuance of such number of equity shares having face value of INR 2 each of the company, for an aggregate amount not exceeding INR 500 Cr or an equivalent amount thereof by way of qualified institutional placement (QIP)”.

A QIP allows listed Indian companies to raise funds in the domestic market by selling shares to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs).

MapmyIndia would now require the approval of the shareholders for the QIP. In the filing, the company also said that it would form a QIP committee to conclude the fundraising effort.

MapmyIndia reported a 30.4% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 33.1 Cr in the September quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), helped by positive momentum across business verticals.

Its EBITDA stood at INR 40.5 Cr during the quarter under review as against INR 30.6 Cr in Q2 FY23.

MapmyIndia went public in an IPO worth INR 1,040 Cr in 2021. The startup competes with Google on the maps and geospatial data front in India, having teamed up with companies such as Ola to offer mapping services.

Speaking at Inc42’s The Makers Summit 2023, the company’s CEO Rohan Verma said it would take on Google in the B2C space starting FY24. “We’ve built a consumer app, and the challenge on the consumer side is to get the product into the hands of many consumers,” he added.

According to Verma, the company has two offerings for B2C users – the s Mappls app and the Mappls gadget ecosystem. 

These gadgets include CarEye, a dashcam which allows users to monitor their vehicles remotely via the Mappls app, infotainment systems, and a heads-up display helmet for two-wheeler riders, Navisor. Besides the smart helmet, MapMyIndia also offers trackers for vehicles, dashcams, and audio-video navigation systems.

Meanwhile, MapmyIndia’s decision to go for a QIP issue comes days after another new-age tech company, RateGain, decided to take the same route to raise funds. Last week, the traveltech SaaS startup announced the completion of INR 600 Cr capital raised through the QIP route.

The post MapmyIndia To Raise Up To INR 500 Cr Via Qualified Institutional Placement appeared first on Inc42 Media.

As Indian fans lined up to watch the India-Australia T20 series on JioCinema, many were left disappointed as users faced outages during the live streaming of the match on the streaming platform. 

This was the first match streamed by the Reliance-owned JioCinema after winning the rights to telecast the Indian cricket team’s domestic matches in September this year. 

As per UpdownRadar, the outage started somewhere before 7 PM and peaked around 8 PM when 384 users reported that the streaming service was not available. 

Several users also took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their frustration about the glitch. 

“#JioCinema Server Down Supremacy,” said a user.

Screenshots posted by various users showed error messages that read ‘Oops! Failed to play content’ and ‘404: No Playback URLs found.’

A mail sent by Inc42 to JioCinema on the matter didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. 

However, the company, in a post on X, conceded that users were facing technical issues and said it was working to resolve the issue. 

“Hi! Many of our viewers are reporting technical issues during the IndVsAus match tonight. Our team is working to ensure these issues are resolved ASAP. We regret the inconvenience caused. Thanks for bearing with us, and stay tuned for updates!” said JioCinema. 

This is not the first time when JioCinema has faced the ire of users for technical glitches during the broadcast of high-profile tournaments. In November last year, JioCinema faced users’ anger after the app suffered buffering issues during the inaugural match of FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. 

The latest technical issues come close on the heels of Disney+ Hotstar streaming the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 without any major technical glitches. The platform clocked 5.6 Cr users at peak during the tournament and operated without any hitch. 

The development also comes at a time when JioCinema has been poaching back-to-back media rights from Disney+ Hotstar and sprucing up its content library to woo users. JioCinema has also signed content licensing deals for multiple sports to further ramp up its offerings. 

The post Netizens Complain Of Glitches As JioCinema Faces Outage During India-Aus Match appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio has initiated discussions with major manufacturers like HP, Acer and Lenovo for a cloud laptop rollout soon, as the telecom player aims to disrupt the Indian PC market.

The upcoming laptop, which will cost around INR 15,000, will function as a “dumb terminal”, according to a report by ET. 

This means that all storage and processing tasks will be handled by the Jio cloud. This approach is expected to significantly reduce the current ownership cost, which is around INR 50,000. Additionally, users will be able to access services at high speeds.

According to the sources cited by the ET, currently it is conducting trials with HP Chromebook for the proposed cloud PC. Jio plans to offer a monthly subscription for the cloud PC, pricing for which will be finalised later. For those, who don’t want to buy a new device, the cloud PC software can be installed on any desktop or even a smart TV to access computing features.

“The cost of a laptop depends on its hardware like memory, processing power, chipset etc. The greater capacity of these hardware increases costs as well as battery power. What we are doing is, we are stripping all this and the whole processing of the laptop will happen at the back end in the Jio cloud,” and official told the publication.

Jio is making a second entry into the laptop market. Earlier this year, the company unveiled JioBook, a 4G-powered laptop priced at INR 16,499. The JioBook operated on the JioOS system. However, the upcoming cloud PC is anticipated to run on different operating systems, including Windows.

Last year in October, Jio introduced the JioBook, and on July 31, it unveiled a new version of the laptop.

Jio aims to establish a notable presence in the digital services market, recognising the substantial opportunity, especially in the context of hybrid workplaces. With the increasing trend of hybrid work, companies seek secure environments for their data assets. Jio is focused on providing digital services that prioritise security, even in a remote work setting.

As per ET, the company is first trying to provide ubiquitous connectivity to all the people and after that, it will start offering digital services, which will bring incremental revenue.

Reliance Jio has a history of targeting budget-conscious consumers with its offerings. From the initial launch of its telecom network, which included free internet and affordable mobile phones, Jio has come a long way.

Reliance Jio reported a 12.5% increase in its consolidated net profit to INR 5,098 Cr during the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2023-24.

In the July-September quarter of 2023, India’s personal computer (PC) shipments, encompassing desktops, notebooks, and workstations, reached a record 4.5 Mn units. This reflects a notable 14% year-on-year (YoY) increase, according to data from the International Data Corp (IDC).

The post Reliance Jio Set To Disrupt Indian PC Market With Cloud Laptop appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a major boost to scale up India’s kids entertainment segment, Jio Cinema, the entertainment arm of Reliance, has inked a pact with Japan’s The Pokemon Company to stream children’s shows and movies on its platform. However, the financial details of the deal are still under the wraps. 

As a part of this deal, Jio Cinema will be the exclusive streaming partner of Pokemon in India, where the content major will stream more than 1,000 episodes and around 21 movies of the Japanese anime series. Starting with season 12, every Thursday, Jio Cinema will unveil a new season on its platform. 

Through strategic partnerships with leading local and global studios including Cartoon Network Studios, Dreamworks, EOne, The Pokemon Company & Animaccord, among others, the offering will add fresh content every week. The OTT platform said that it will stream kids’ content in five languages.

Commenting on the development, a Jio Cinema spokesperson said, “Our newly added kids and family category will unlock access to millions of families across India and enrich family consumption. With the best content from India and around the world, available in multiple languages, we aim to be inclusive and an enabler of wider consumption with fewer barriers.”

Jio Cinema is geared up to stay ahead in the big Indian (over-the-top) OTT race. In the global content space, the OTT giant has also entered into an exclusive partnership with Warner Bros to bag the streaming rights of HBO, Max Original and Warner Bros content. 

It is also in the race with other OTT players for streaming rights of a number of sports events. After bagging the digital streaming rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), it announced that the OTT generated more revenue than its rival Disney which had the telecasting rights. It also created the world record of bagging the highest number (32 Mn) of concurrent views during the final match of the last IPL.

However, Jio Cinema just got a big blow from its competitor Disney+Hotstar as the latter ticked a 5.3 Cr live views during the first semi-final match between India and New Zealand of the ongoing cricket world cup. 

Lately, the OTT platform has been exploring variations in content. In August, it entered into the esports arena by partnering with the game development platform Krafton India to livestream the official Battlegrounds Mobile India Series (BGIS). To grab more audience, it announced that all the matches of BGIS will be dubbed in Hindi and English. 

Besides bagging streaming rights for international content, the OTT major is also planning to take on the regional ones. It recently partnered with the Bengali OTT platform hoichoi to stream the Hindi dubbed versions of its content.

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The year was 2015 and Reliance Jio was emerging as a potential game changer. Reliance had tried to become a telecom player in the first 2G wave, even though this proved to be only a limited success. In 2015, Reliance Jio revisited its device-plus-network strategy from 2004, this time for 4G. And this time around, it worked wonders.

The Indian tech ecosystem, as we know it today, would arguably not be possible without Jio’s cheap mobile internet and affordable 4G devices.

Buoyed by this success, Reliance Jio has evolved beyond a mere telecom operator today and Reliance itself is changing from a petrochemical giant to a tech behemoth in so many ways. Alongside Reliance Jio, there’s Reliance Retail with its many massive marketplaces and an array of brands and Jio Financial Services, which is set to disrupt banks and the fintech ecosystem.

With eyes on the hardware manufacturing ecosystem (especially affordable smartphones and mobile devices), the Mukesh Ambani-led company has created a unique stack — from infrastructure and a mobile network to consumer and enterprise services across ecommerce, retail, financial services, entertainment, and most large sectors.

While the ‘Reliance Jio Stack’ is not just about Jio, the moniker fits because everything is centred around Jio and the internet that is powering the machine.

At the same time, however, one cannot ignore the elephant in the room. Today, Jio, Reliance Retail and JFS have become key competitors for major startups and tech companies in India. From enablers to rivals, the role of Reliance has changed just as it has transformed itself. And all of this has happened in less than a decade.

With Mukesh Ambani stepping aside from key companies such as Jio and Reliance Retail to pass on the baton to the next generation, there’s a lot at stake even for Reliance. Akash Ambani and Isha Ambani will lead the company into the next phase, as it looks to cross the 10 Lakh Cr mark for revenue in FY24.

Through conversations with key players in the industry as well as those who have seen the early days of Jio, we were able to piece together a picture of the grander vision of Reliance and Jio, and what it means for startups in the long run.

Reliance Jio did not respond to our questions about the organisational structure and how the various companies work together. 

The Starting Point: Reliance Jio & 4G

It’s no surprise that it all began with 4G. Even though the timing of Reliance’s 4G launch was fortunate, it did not have the 3G baggage of Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and others. It forced players to not just consolidate but focus on retaining subscribers rather than network expansion.

With its deep pockets, Reliance Jio forced many of these players to become 4G first and start again. For India’s internet companies though, Jio’s entry brought a whole generation of users online.

“Anyone who has seen India’s internet ecosystem mature knows that Mukesh Ambani tried this before with CDMA in 2000, but this time around it was a different market altogether. The mobile industry had evolved; consumer internet was changing and businesses were going digital for the first time; it was the right time for 4G,” recalled Elevation Capital partner Mayank Khanduja.

Khanduja, who began taking investment decisions in 2015 as a principal at venture capital firm Elevation Capital (then SAIF Partners), saw first-hand the emergence of the early stage ecosystem, startups that are today unicorns or value creators in the Indian market.

Between 2016 and 2019, Reliance Jio 4G spread like wildfire, and pretty much cast the competition aside. Reliance Jio added 90 Mn subscribers in 2019 to sit at a total of 370 Mn subscribers in just a matter of three years. Today, it commands a huge lead in the market with 439 Mn subscribers as per its FY2023 disclosures.

And somewhere along the way — between 2018 and 2020 — it began pressing home this market share.

The company’s net profit jumped to INR 5,297 Cr in Q2 FY24. Jio Platforms, the umbrella entity created around Jio, had a quarterly revenue of INR 26,875 Cr (roughly $3.3 Bn).

Targeted Acquisitions: Building The Reliance Jio Stack

“One of the things about Reliance is that it saw waves early on and acquired companies to fill those gaps. When these acquisitions happen, they seem small, but they can snowball,” according to an entrepreneur and investor, whose startup was acquired by Reliance (RIL) in 2019.

In 2019, Reliance Industries signed eight acquisition deals, including the likes of retail tech startup Fynd, marketing SaaS platform Haptik, and digitalisation enabler Nowfloats among others.

The acquisitions in 2019 and since form the backbone of Reliance’s growing prowess in the SaaS space.

The entrepreneur quoted above believes there’s no entity like Reliance anywhere in the world. “Amazon has ecommerce and AWS [besides OTT], Microsoft and Google have a huge array of services; Meta has social media power and Apple rules hardware, but Reliance has the capability to enter each of these spaces. And let’s face it, most of them, in India, they have to work with Reliance,” the entrepreneur added.

The acquisitions laid the foundation for what was to come. While RIL was using its years of profits to buy these companies, eventually they moved to a new umbrella entity encompassing all the digital services and products.

The Age Of Jio Platforms 

“Jio gave Reliance the pipeline through which it can feed all these services in the future,” added another Mumbai-based investor, who was a key figure at Jio for nearly six years when Reliance acquired these various startups and raised the funding from marquee names.

After acquiring these companies, the next big challenge was integrating them into one central vision. And this is where Jio Platforms came into the picture.

“The launch of Jio Platforms is not only a corporate structure, but it also was the first step in the transition of leadership from Mukesh Ambani to Akash Ambani. We then saw a similar thing with Reliance Retail and Isha [Ambani], so these new companies are not just an evolution of Reliance but a passing of the baton in many ways,” added the Mumbai-based investor, who did not wish to be named as they are close to the Reliance group.

Set up in late 2019, Jio Platforms was launched to encompass Reliance-owned digital businesses including Reliance Jio which offered the 4G telecom service, and key B2B and B2C apps and products such as JioMeet or JioCloud.

In 2020, Jio Platforms raised nearly $16 Bn from Google, Facebook, General Atlantic, KKR, ADIA, Mubadala, Qualcomm, Intel Capital among others. This fundraising spree not only gave Jio a capital boost, but also got it ready for a future IPO. But most importantly it signalled a new dawn for Jio and other Reliance companies.

Because, soon after, Reliance Retail began its fundraising spree and became a piece of the Reliance Jio Stack as well.

A majority of Jio’s investors lined up to back what is India’s largest retail operator now. Reliance Retail had raised close to $6 Bn in the year from strategic and financial investors, and went on its own spree of acquisitions.

From A Retail Giant…

It would be folly to think that Reliance has only emerged as a retail force in the last few years. In fact, the seeds were sown more than two decades ago with the launch of Reliance Fresh, Reliance Digital and other retail chains.

Reliance Retail also signed exclusivity deals with a host of renowned brands and labels to bring them to India. Reliance also has a grip on the FMCG segment with a number of private labels that leverage not just its own store network but also non-native retail channels.

The below graphic does not include brands such as Marks & Spencer, for which Reliance Retail had a JV which has now been dissolved. 

Interestingly, a number of international brands that may be more popular on other marketplaces are also owned by Reliance Retail in some way or the other.

“The retail scale is mind-boggling. Most people would not know that Reliance has a piece in bringing such brands to India. This allows the company to really get a huge share of the wallet and when it comes to retail, it’s hard to look around and not see a Reliance brand,” according to Ankur Bisen, a senior partner at Technopak.

..To Building An Ecommerce Empire

The ecommerce opportunity presented after Jio’s internet revolution meant that Reliance also had to double down on marketplaces and online-first brands.

Reliance began its ecommerce journey with AJIO in 2016, followed by JioMart in 2020 and added Tira in 2023. It also entered new areas through acquisitions such as epharmacy Netmeds, Urban Ladder, Just Dial, Milkbasket, lingerie maker Clovia and Alia Bhatt’s D2C brand Ed-a-mamma between 2020 and 2023.

For many years, AJIO was the lone horse battling the likes of Myntra, Nykaa, Flipkart and Amazon. Besides this, Reliance put up its brands on marketplaces to get the right revenue mix.

The addition of JioMart and Tira as channels will prove critical for Reliance in the long run because native revenue is any day more profitable than non-native channels.

Analysts believe that having an array of exclusive brands will be advantageous for fashion through AJIO or beauty and personal care through Tira in the long run, since Reliance can create a walled garden effect.

On the horizontal marketplace side, JioMart is expected to face stern competition not just from Tata-owned BigBasket, Amazon or Flipkart, but also quick commerce players that have emerged as real disruptors in the metros.

Talking about the Reliance Jio Stack, Bisen added that when Jio entered telco, it disrupted lives for existing players.

Reliance’s track record in establishing and nurturing new platforms is evident from its experience with AJIO, which it supported for many years. Additionally, its ability to attract the best talent and provide exposure to new platforms gives it a competitive edge. Those watching Reliance expect a similar strategy to be adopted for Tira, which is the latest platform to emerge from Reliance Retail.

The Tira offline store is expected to have technology-enabled features such as virtual try-on rooms, skin analyser, personalisation engines and smart assistance. This is said to be its key differentiation in retail.

“For Tira, a big chunk of revenue will initially go towards marketing and customer acquisition, at least for the first couple of years, as it is a new brand. More than marketing, Reliance will look at discounting more prominently. Reliance will try to give higher discounts compared to other players,” according to Karan Taurani of Elara Advisors.

Reliance’s Media Dominance Growing

It’s hard to believe that JioCinema, a service that did not exist till late 2022, is the biggest OTT platform in India today. With Disney+ Hotstar expected to be acquired by JioCinema, it would also very soon be the biggest streaming platform for live sports in India.

In the past one year, JioCinema has snatched the digital streaming rights for the IPL and other marquee properties from Disney+ Hotstar. JioCinema is today billing itself as the home of Indian cricket, which naturally brings in millions of subscribers.

Analysts now expect JioCinema to turn on the monetisation pipeline. It has already launched a subscription tier and is likely to put IPL 2024 behind a paywall of some kind. In just under eight months after its launch, JioCinema has 221 Mn monthly active users as of June 2023, according to reports.

Of course, beyond OTT and streaming, Reliance has the might and reach of Network18 with its various TV channels and digital publications, as well as production houses for motion pictures, and Mumbai Indians, which has won the IPL five times. These form a key part of the distribution side of the Reliance Jio Stack as well.

They help drive Reliance’s empire of products and services, as was evident during the IPL 2023, when Reliance products such as Tira and AJIO featured heavily during ad breaks.

JioCinema has the potential to become a very cost-effective sales funnel for Reliance platforms in the long run. Reliance can leverage the scale to succeed at formats such as live commerce, which have so far failed to take off due to the lack of vertical integration.

“The Reliance Jio Stack, or whatever you want to call it, is all about unlocking this vertical integration across all segments, unlike ever done before,” says the Mumbai-based investor quoted above.

The Final Frontier: Financial Services

While we expected Reliance to do something about fintech in the long run, the launch of Jio Financial Services this year was still something of a surprise. From payments to insurance to investment tech, JFS is set to disrupt several key fintech segments and pose a significant threat to existing players — both startups as well as legacy BFSI companies.

At launch, JFS is the world’s highest capitalised financial services platform and this safety net is a key to success for Jio’s fintech ambitions.

“The cost of fintech is still very high in India, whether you look at payments or insurance broking or any other service which relies on commissions. Having capital means JFS can be bullish on expansion. It can acquire some customers very easily due to Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail,” according to the founder of a Delhi-based B2B and B2C lending tech startup.

What works out for JFS is the fact that Reliance Jio boasts of over 439 Mn subscribers, while Reliance Retail has close to 250 Mn registered customers and 3 Mn merchants. These will be the anchors for scaling up Jio Financial Services over the next few quarters as it looks to push personal loans and consumer durable loans.

All this makes ominous reading for India’s fintech startups, which have so far banked on Reliance Jio’s internet services as a growth ladder. But now, startups not only have to solve the revenue puzzle that has plagued fintech for long, but also compete with a giant such as JFS, backed by Reliance’s technological prowess, retail network and significant reach across sectors.

As is evident from Reliance’s journey in the past eight years, the company looks to dominate the verticals it enters with a mix of capital-led growth and inorganic acquisitions.

Will we see a similar burst of acquisitions for JFS? It’s very much on the cards given the wider problems in the fintech space. Startups are struggling with revenue growth and JFS could use its deep pockets to acquire some of these ailing startups.

Even established players such as Paytm, Zerodha, Groww, PhonePe, Policybazaar, Lendingkart and others are very likely to see JFS as a challenge in payments, investment broking, insurance and other areas.

Startups have faced regulatory headwinds, a funding winter and Reliance’s mega entry means another massive player to compete with. A potential consolidation wave of fintech startups cannot be ruled out, which brings us to the final point about this “Reliance Jio Stack”.

Reliance Jio’s Big Tech Avatar

By all indications, Reliance is not about to halt its juggernaut any time soon.

Jio Financial Services is only the latest piece of the empire, which may soon include automotives and electric vehicles besides hardware manufacturing. Reliance is essentially aiming to become an everything-tech company.

And for many startups that have so far leaned on Reliance for growth, this is a scary proposition. There are fears about a monopoly in certain segments such as streaming as well as retail, but more ominously, entrepreneurs and other ecosystem stakeholders are worried about potentially having to cede ground to Reliance in other areas as well.

“No one can dispute that Reliance has taken Indian tech to a new place, but at the same time, there needs to be a check on where this is going. We have seen cases in CCI about monopolistic practices of foreign giants like Google or Meta, and the same argument can be extended to Reliance in many areas,” says the Delhi NCR-based entrepreneur and investor quoted first in this story.

Others pointed out that the Future Retail battle with Amazon shows that as Reliance tries to stretch further it will attract more such opposition. The potential Disney+ Hotstar deal will be an acid test for these concerns. Will there be some opposition to the fact that Reliance would pretty much be in a dominant position in the digital media space?

On the JFS front, many fintech founders have raised concerns in the past few weeks. “JFS will earn the fruits of our years of working with regulators and banks to form this foundation we have today,” the Delhi-based lending startup founder added.

Their primary contention is that Reliance gets an unfair advantage of having seen regulations evolve and mature, which are headwinds that fintech founders have fought back. Similar concerns were raised about Reliance Retail using its financial muscle in the Future Retail saga.

There’s little doubt eight years ago, Reliance Jio changed India forever and gave new wings to Indian tech. Today, in late 2023, the clear signs of the Reliance Jio Stack threaten to do it once again. How will it change Indian tech next?

The post The ‘Jio Stack’: The Making Of Reliance’s Digital Empire appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Internet giant Info Edge has written off a total loss of INR 532.25 Cr in Rahul Yadav’s proptech startup 4B Networks in Q2 FY23. Info Edge had invested in the company via its partly owned subsidiary Allcheckdeals India Pvt  Ltd. 

This consists of INR 80.77 Cr for net assets, INR 12.32 Cr for ICD (Inter-corporate deposits)  given and reduced by Non-Controlling Interest payable of INR 2,80.27 Cr, as per Indian accounting standards (IND AS), as mentioned in the filing with Ministry Of Corporate Affairs.

While Info Edge’s cash infusion in the startup stood at INR 288 Cr, the rest is the notional loss from a higher valuation than the startup commanded earlier. The startup had a valuation of INR 719 Cr, mentioned as Goodwill in the MCA filing before Info Edge had to write down its entire investment made through its wholly owned subsidiary ALLcheckdeals India.

The company has cited reasons such as excessive cash burn, prevailing liquidity issues and significant uncertainty towards funding options as the reason for write-off. 

“The Company continues to explore various options in best interest of stakeholders and will re-evaluate such position, if and when underlying assumptions relating to survival and sustainability of investee company,” as mentioned in Info Edge’s Q2 FY23 financial statement.

To be noted, Info Edge had returned to black in the previous quarter after reporting a net loss of INR 503.2 Cr in the March quarter of FY23 amid write-off of investment in Rahul Yadav’s 4B Networks and Bijnis.

The internet giant reported a consolidated net profit of INR 239.7 Cr in the September quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), a jump of 155.3% from INR 93.9 Cr in the year-ago quarter helped by cost control measures and growth in two verticals – Naukri.com and 99acres.com.

In May 2022, Info Edge acquired a majority stake in 4B Networks, investing INR 137 Cr in the Mumbai-based startup and increasing its stake to 57.16% on a fully diluted basis. Overall, it has invested about INR 280 Cr+ and holds over 65% stake in the company.

4B Networks, which was incorporated in November 2020, is engaged in the business of enabling real estate developers and brokers to communicate with each other and conduct their business via the Broker Network Platform.

In the past few months, several criminal complaints have been filed against Yadav and others at the company. In October this year,  Info Edge also filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police against Broker Network founder and former Housing.com cofounder Rahul Yadav over alleged cheating to the tune of INR 288 Cr. 

These are currently being investigated by Mumbai Police as well as other law enforcement authorities (more on these later). An earlier deep dive by Inc42 into Yadav’s fifth startup 4B Networks suggested that the startup is on the brink of collapse. 

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Drone manufacturer ideaForge’s profit after tax (PAT) tanked more than 77% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 89.2 Lakh in the second quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) on account of a sharp decline in revenue. 

The startup had clocked a PAT of INR 3.96 Cr in the year-ago period. Sequentially, PAT fell 95% from INR 18.8 Cr. 

Revenue from operations declined 41% to INR 23.7 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 40.2 Cr in the year-ago period. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, operating revenue declined more than 75% from INR 97 Cr. 

During the quarter under review, ideaForge earned 69% of its revenue from defence contracts while the remaining came from the civil business. 

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) declined 28% to INR 7 Cr in Q2 FY24 as against INR 9.82 Cr in Q2 FY23. 

“This quarter has been a building phase for ideaForge… We have strengthened our operations to gear up for the deliveries in the next few quarters and meet our annual revenue target. The order book has improved on the back of new orders received in this quarter,” said ideaForge chief executive officer (CEO) Ankit Mehta.

Meanwhile, total expenses rose marginally to INR 37.3 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 36.6 Cr in the year-ago period. Cost of materials consumed during the quarter under review stood at INR 35.6 Cr.

Employee benefit expenditure fell steeply to INR 8.3 Cr from INR 12.7 Cr in the year-ago period. However, other expenses jumped to INR 9.49 Cr compared to INR 7.87 Cr in Q2 FY23. 

Meanwhile, the startup continues to be focussed on expansion. As per Mehta, ideaForge has made ‘progress’ in the development of middle-mile logistics and quadcopter UAVs which will propel the growth in the coming years. He also said the ‘successful’ proof of concept (PoC) of its drone-as-service (DraaS) offerings are moving towards potential commercial contracts. 

“Successful PoCs of Drone as a Service (DraaS) are moving towards potential commercial contracts. Obtaining the SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organism, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) licence to stock and sell the systems in the US through our US subsidiary and successful product demonstrations on the field bolster our confidence to establish our presence in the international market,” Mehta added. 

On the operational front,ideaForge bagged new orders worth INR 169 Cr during the quarter under review. The manufacturer also claimed that its drones completed a cumulative 4 Lakh flights on the field in Q2 FY24. 

The drone manufacturer listed on the bourses at a 94% premium to the issue price in July this year.

ideaForge’s shares ended Tuesday’s session 4.44% higher at INR 872.80 on the BSE.

The post ideaForge Q2 PAT Slumps 77% YoY To INR 89 Lakh, Revenue Falls 41% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Online classifieds major Info Edge reported a consolidated net profit of INR 239.7 Cr in the September quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), a jump of 155.3% from INR 93.9 Cr in the year-ago quarter helped by cost control measures and growth in two verticals – Naukri.com and 99acres.com.

Sequentially, net profit rose almost 63% from INR 147.4 Cr. 

It must be noted that Info Edge made an exceptional gain of INR 46.01 Cr during the quarter under review. While it incurred a loss of INR 15 Cr from the provision for diminution in the carrying value of its investments during the reported quarter, Info Edge said it gained INR 61.10 Cr from disposal of a joint venture.

Info Edge’s operating revenue jumped to INR 625.8 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 604.1 Cr in Q2 FY23. 

However, on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the company’s operating revenue remained almost flat compared to INR 625.9 Cr posted in the June quarter of the current fiscal.

Meanwhile, Info Edge’s other income jumped over 161% QoQ to INR 166.2 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Info Edge’s online recruitment platform Naukri.com posted revenue of INR 468 Cr, a 7.4% rise YoY, while its real estate portal 99acres.com’s revenue jumped 27% YoY to INR 87.3 Cr.

Meanwhile, its other segments, which comprise matrimony portal Jeevansathi.com and education platform Shiksha, witnessed a decline in income to INR 70.6 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 98.6 Cr in the corresponding period of last year.

Info Edge also announced an interim dividend of INR 10 per share for FY24, which would be paid on or after November 29, 2023.

Following the announcements, the company’s shares fell and were trading marginally lower at INR 4,306 on the BSE by 2.30 PM IST.

Info Edge’s Expenses In Q2

The company’s total expenditure increased 7.7% YoY and 1% QoQ to INR 455.3 Cr in Q2 FY24, with employee benefits expenses continuing to comprise the largest portion of it.

However, Info Edge managed to bring down its employee cost on YoY and QoQ basis to INR 276.4 Cr in the quarter under review. The company spent INR 299.6 Cr in Q2 FY23 and INR 281.7 Cr in Q1 FY24 towards employee benefits.

Info Edge’s advertising and promotion cost also declined almost 18% YoY to INR 86.5 Cr in the September quarter this year. However, this was a slight increase from INR 85.6 Cr in Q1 FY24.

Other expenses more than halved YoY to INR 40 Cr in Q2 FY24, while network, internet and other direct charges increased almost 11% YoY to INR 18.3 Cr during the quarter.

We must note that Info Edge had returned to black in the previous quarter after reporting a net loss of INR 503.2 Cr in the March quarter of FY23 due to the writing-off of its investment in Rahul Yadav’s 4B Networks and Bijnis.

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As a part of the Reliance Jio internet and connectivity universe, Reliance has launched JioMotive, a new pocket-sized on-board diagnostics (OBD) device, which, it claims, can transform any car into a ‘smart car’. 

The new device can be plugged-in to a car’s OBD port located under the dashboard and can connect the car to the Jio network via an integrated eSIM.

The device is available on Reliance Digital website, JioMart, and Amazon at INR 4,999. It offers features such as real-time location, vehicle health, driving behaviour, anti-tow and theft alert, accident detection, Wi-Fi hotspot, among others. 

To install JioMotive, users will have to access the JioThings App available on Google and Apple app stores and sign up with their Jio phone number to get started.

Lately, Jio has been on a spree to launch new products. Recently, at the Indian Mobile Congress 2023 (IMC), the conglomerate launched the ‘JioPhone Prima 4G’ feature phone. Back then, it said that the phone would be made available in the market around Diwali. 

Prior to that, it launched another range of internet-enabled phones, called Jio Bharat feature phones and priced at INR 999. At the time of the launch, Jio said that the device will be powered by the Jio Bharat platform which will leverage device and network capabilities to offer internet-enabled services on feature phones. 

Recently, Jio also launched India’s  first satellite-based giga-fibre service. The service is designed  to provide last-mile fast and reliable internet connectivity. The company said it plans to make JioSpaceFiber accessible nationwide at cost-effective rates. 

Jio Platforms reported a 12% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its consolidated net profit to INR 5,297 Cr in Q2 of FY24. Meanwhile, digital and new commerce businesses contributed 18% to the total revenue of Reliance Retail, its retail arm, in the September quarter.

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Airtel Digital’s chief executive officer Adarsh Nair has tendered his resignation following a five-year stint with the telecom operator.

Airtel Digital is the digital services arm of Bharti Airtel. Nair was also the chief product officer of the company.

“We wish to inform you that Nair, chief product officer of the company has resigned and accordingly, ceases to be a senior management personnel of the company. His resignation has been accepted on November 03, 2023 and he will be relieved from his duties upon closure of business hours on February 15, 2024,” Bharti Airtel said in an exchange filing.

As per his resignation letter, Nair plans to relocate to the US in the early part of the upcoming year.

Nair, in the letter to Airtel MD Gopal Vittal, said, “I am deeply grateful to Airtel, Sunil and you for the multitude of opportunities given to me over the past 5 years in crafting and scaling our digital organisation.”

As per his LinkedIn profile, Nair scaled Wynk Music app to 75 Mn users and built fintech app Airtel Finance, Xstream video app, cloud communication platform Airtel IQ, and Airtel IOT platform.

Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel reported a consolidated net profit of INR 2,093.2 Cr on operating revenue of INR 37,043.8 Cr in Q2 FY24. The revenue for India business stood at INR 26,995 Cr, while average revenue per user for mobile stood at INR 203 per month.

Meanwhile, Jio Platforms, which houses Airtel’s rival Jio Infocomm Ltd, reported a 12% year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to INR 5,297 Cr in Q2. ARPU stood at INR 181.7 per month.

Airtel’s 5G services are currently available across 5,000 towns and 20,000 villages and the company is aiming to roll out 5G services across the country by March 2024. 

The post Airtel Digital CEO Adarsh Nair Resigns appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Tech giant Intel on Friday (November 03) announced that it has collaborated with eight electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) in India to manufacture laptops in the nation.

The names of Intel’s manufacturing partners include Bhagwati Products, Dixon Technologies India, Kaynes Technology India, Optiemus Electronics, Panache Digilife, Smile Electronics, Syrma SGS Technology, and VVDN Technologies 

“I am very pleased that global organisations like Intel are partnering with India helping to build and catalyse the electronics manufacturing ecosystem for laptops and computers,” MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on the development. 

He added that such collaborations align with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of India’s $1 Tn digital economy and to develop an electronic devices manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

As part of the deal, Intel will offer its expertise to the partners to boost the production of complete entry-level laptops in the country, including utilisation of SMT lines, setting up a quality control process for components and even benchmarking the finished products. 

Commenting on the development, Intel’s India VP and MD Santhosh Viswanathan said, “By enabling the laptop manufacturing process – from surface mount technology assembly to finished product – we are not only meeting the demands of the Make in India initiative but also contributing to the technological progress of the nation.”

The development comes a day after the Indian government approved 100 applications for importing laptops, computers and other IT hardware items. The government has received about 111 requests from several tech majors, including HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, and Samsung, among others.

The approval of the applications came as a result of the government’s decision to roll back the restrictions on the import of such products, which were imposed months back. 

After the restrictions were imposed, the government received applications from some global IT and hardware companies for the PLI Scheme 2.0 to begin domestic manufacturing of such products. 

Unsure of the situation, many global tech giants have turned towards India for manufacturing their products. Recently, Samsung was reported to be planning to commence laptop manufacturing at its Delhi NCR unit. According to media reports, if things go as planned, Samsung will be the first global company to manufacture laptops in India.

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Geotech startup MapmyIndia on Monday (October 31) reported a 30.4% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 33.1 Cr in the September quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), helped by positive momentum across business verticals.

MapmyIndia’s PAT stood at INR 25.4 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year. 

On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the company’s profit grew a muted 3.4%.

Operating revenue jumped 19.4% to INR 91.1 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 76.3 Cr reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Sequentially, operating revenue grew a mere 1.9%. 

Speaking on the financials, Rakesh Verma, chairman and MD at MapmyIndia, said the company posted all-time high revenue, EBITDA, and PAT during the quarter under review. 

Its EBITDA stood at INR 40.5 Cr in the quarter under review as against INR 30.6 Cr in Q2 FY23.

“Map-led business EBITDA margin was strong at 56.4%. IoT-led business EBITDA margin continued to expand quarterly to 8.2% in Q2 FY24 versus 6.3% of Q1 FY24, due to improved product mix and operational efficiency,” said Verma.

As per the company, besides its core B2B and B2B2C business, the B2C Mappls app has received significant traction. The app has already seen over 11 Mn lifetime downloads.

Zooming Into The Expenses 

On the expenditure side, MapmyIndia saw almost a 13% jump to INR 54.6 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 48.3 Cr in last year’s quarter. 

However, the company managed to bring down its expenses 2.2% from INR 55.8 Cr reported in the previous quarter – Q1 FY24, largely due to the QoQ decline in total cost of materials. 

Total cost of materials include spending towards software and hardware.

MapmyIndia’s total cost of materials stood at INR 13.2 Cr in Q2 as against INR 14.2 Cr in Q1 FY24.

On a YoY basis, MapmyIndia’s total cost of materials increased 2.4%. On the other hand, marketing and business promotion expenses fell over 43% YoY to INR 2.2 Cr in the quarter under review.

The company also spent INR 19.2 Cr towards employee benefits, which increased almost 14% YoY.

Ahead of its Q2 earnings report, shares of MapmyIndia ended today’s trading session marginally higher at INR 2,085.25 on the BSE.

The post MapmyIndia’s Q2 PAT Jumps 30% YoY To INR 33.1 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Months after it launched internet-enabled Jio Bharat feature phones, Reliance Jio unveiled ‘JioPhone Prima 4G’ feature phone at the Indian Mobile Congress 2023 (IMC), held last week. 

The new feature phone is reported to be available in the market around Diwali this year. 

As per reports, the new phone was seen on Reliance Digital and JioMart platforms at a price of INR 2,599. However, Inc42 couldn’t independently verify this. Jio has not yet officially declared the feature phone’s pricing.

JioPhone Prima 4G features a 2.4-inch TFT display with a keypad for input and navigation. It is available in blue and yellow colours. Additionally, the phone is equipped with a flashlight, FM radio, and a 0.3MP primary camera.

The phone is powered by KaiOS, an open-source project-based mobile operating system, and offers access to a variety of popular apps, such as WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and Google Maps.

Additionally, it supports Bluetooth 5.0 and FM Radio. The phone comes pre-installed with various Jio apps, including Jio TV, Jio Cinema, Jio Saavn, Jio News, JioChat, and JioPay for UPI payments. It is also compatible with 23 different languages.

It comes with 512MB of RAM and a microSD slot for storage expansion of up to 128GB and an 1800mAh battery. 

In comparison, the Jio Bharat feature phone is priced at INR 999. 

The launch of the feature phones is part of Reliance Jio’s plan to expand into the devices space and upgrade feature phone users in the country to 4G services.

Meanwhile, Reliance Jio continues to scale up its 5G network. During the IMC, Reliance Jio Infocomm chairman Akash Ambani said the company has installed over 10 Lakh 5G cells across all 22 circuits of India.

During the event, the company also introduced JioSpaceFiber, India’s first satellite-based giga-fibre service to deliver fast and dependable internet connectivity to remote and hard-to-reach areas.

Jio Platforms, which houses telecom operator Reliance Jio, reported a 12% year-on-year jump in its consolidated net profit to INR 5,297 Cr during the quarter ended September 2023, while revenue from operations zoomed 10.7% to INR 26,875 Cr.

Ambani said ubiquitous 5G, JioBharat and JioAirFiber are the three big growth engines which would accelerate Jio’s market share gains and profitability.

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Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Friday (October 27) said that the telco’s satcom venture OneWeb will be ready to offer services across the country from next month. 

Addressing the inaugural session of India Mobile Congress 2023, Mittal said that OneWeb’s constellation of satellites was ready and that users from remote parts of the country would be able to benefit from these services. 

“OneWeb constellation is ready to serve the globe and is ready to serve the country. Anybody, anywhere in the country, in remote parts or in difficult areas, wherever they are located can be connected from next month from the satellite ground station that has been set up in Gujarat’s Mehsana,” Mittal said.

Touting the ‘new technology’, Airtel chairman said that satellite communications would serve ‘every inch’ of the country and the globe. He added that OneWeb was able to launch 72 satellites last year, with the help of ISRO’s GSLV (geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle) Mark-III. 

Speaking on the 5G rollout, Mittal said that Airtel currently covers 5,000 towns and cities as well as 20,000 villages across the country. He also promised a pan-India rollout of the next-generation internet services by March 2024. 

The announcement comes a month after OneWeb merged with Eutelsat and rebranded itself as Eutelsat OneWeb. With operations based out of London, Eutelsat OneWeb counts Bharti Enterprises as its largest shareholder and has a 21.2% stake in the combined firm. 

As of now, OneWeb claims to have formulated a constellation of more than 618 low earth orbit satellites that would offer internet services across the country. 

Mittal’s comment came on the same day as competitor Reliance Jio Infocomm announced its satellite-based giga-fibre service JioSpaceFiber. Just like OneWeb, Reliance’s new offering aims to offer fast and reliable internet connectivity to remote regions at affordable rates. 

Meanwhile, the competition in the satcom space appears to be heating up as a host of global and domestic giants have lined up to get a licence to offer the service. The contenders include Reliance Industries, Bharti Global, Elon Musk-backed Starlink, and Amazon’s Kuiper. 

So far, only two companies in the country have satcom licences – Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications, which Reliance operates in a joint venture with Luxembourg-based SES. However, Amazon is also looking to catch up as reports surfaced, earlier this month, that the ecommerce major was seeking approval from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).

The fight between some of the richest men in India and globally points to the opportunity that the nascent satcom space offers. The government itself believes that satcom will play a key role in delivering internet services to 1.2 Bn Indians by 2025-26.

As per a report, the global satellite communications market is projected to grow to a market size of $192 Bn by 2032.

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Reliance-backed digital juggernaut Jio Platforms reported a 12% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its consolidated net profit to INR 5,297 Cr in the second quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). The company’s net profit stood at INR 4,729 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Sequentially, Jio platforms’ net profit jumped nearly 4% from INR 5,098 Cr.

Revenue from operations rose 10.7% to INR 26,875 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 24,275 Cr in Q2 FY23. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, operating revenue jumped 2.9% from INR 26,115 Cr.

The company attributed the increase in its top and bottom lines to a healthy growth in subscriber numbers. “Strong subscriber growth across mobility and wireline services and scale up of digital services platform drove Jio Platform’s consolidated revenue and EBITDA growth,” Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) jumped 2.5% YoY to INR 181.7 per month during the quarter under review, driven largely by a better subscriber mix across mobility and wireline services. ARPU stood at INR 180.5 in the preceding June quarter.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 12.6% YoY to INR 13,528 Cr due to growth in the number of users and ARPU.

Commenting on the results, RelianceJio Infocomm chairman Akash Ambani said, “… Ubiquitous 5G, JioBharat and JioAirFiber are three big growth engines for Jio which would accelerate market share gains and profitability.”

The company’s subscriber base stood at 459.7 Mn at the end of September 2023, up 7.5% from 427.6 Mn a year ago.

Earlier today, the telecom operator debuted the ‘country’s first’ satellite-based gigabit fibre services at India Mobile Congress 2023. This adds to a flurry of new launches by the company in the past few months.

Jio also said that its newly launched JioBharat feature phone has gained ‘substantial market share’ in the non-smartphone segment since its launch in July this year. The telco now plans to expand the JioBharat platform to multiple SKUs to ‘widen the reach and address demand across various price points’.

On the other hand, the telecom operator’s 5G rollout continues on full scale. Jio claims to have so far deployed more than 10 Lakh 5G cells that cover nearly 8,000 cities and towns. In contrast, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Friday said the company’s 5G network now covers 5,000 cities and towns and 20,000 villages.

Jio also introduced the Jio True 5G Developer Platform and Jio 5G Lab in August to foster development of 5G use cases by startups on the telco’s 5G network, edge computing and partner solutions.

In addition, Jio Platforms is also collaborating with semiconductor giant NVIDIA to build cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the country.

Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm’s standalone revenue rose 10% YoY to INR 24,750 Cr, while net profit rose nearly 12% to INR 5,058 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Overall, RIL’s net profit rose 29.7% YoY to INR 19,878 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Shares of RIL ended Friday’s session 1.75% higher at INR 2,265.25 on the BSE.

The post Jio Platforms’ Q2 Profit Jumps 12% To INR 5,297 Cr, ARPU At INR 181.7 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm has introduced JioSpaceFiber, India’s first satellite-based giga-fibre service. The offering is designed to provide fast and reliable internet connectivity to remote and challenging-to-reach regions.

The company said it plans to make JioSpaceFiber accessible nationwide at cost-effective rates. Jio introduced its satellite broadband service during the India Mobile Congress on October 27.

As per the company, today, high-speed broadband fixed line and wireless services are provided to over 450 Mn Indian consumers by Jio. To enhance digital inclusivity for every household in India, Jio has incorporated JioSpaceFiber into its leading range of broadband services, including JioFiber and JioAirFiber.

“With Jio, consumers and businesses have unprecedented access to reliable, low latency, and high-speed internet and entertainment services, regardless of location. The satellite network will also support additional capacity for mobile backhaul, further enhancing the availability and scale of Jio True5G in the remotest parts of the country,” the company said in a statement.

JioSpaceFiber has connected remote locations like Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Nabarangpur in Odisha, and ONGC-Jorhat in Assam.

Jio and SES have also joined forces to access medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite technology. This MEO constellation is unique in its ability to deliver high-speed, fibre-like services from space. With access to both SES’s O3b and the new O3b mPOWER satellites, Jio is the exclusive provider of game-changing technology, offering scalable and affordable broadband coverage across India.

The global satellite internet market was pegged at $2.93 Bn in 2020 and is expected to rise to $18.59 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 20.4% during the 2021-2030 period, according to a report.

In September 2022, Jio Infocomm received approval from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to offer global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) services in India.

In February 2022, Ambani’s company announced a joint venture to provide satellite-based broadband services across India, entering the competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Sunil Mittal’s OneWeb to offer reliable, high-speed internet access.

Jio Platforms had previously revealed a partnership with Luxembourg-based SES to deliver satellite-based broadband services in India.

In October 2022, SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink, submitted a license application to the DoT for introducing satellite-based broadband services in India. 

On launching its satellite services, Jio has joined the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Bharti Enterprises’ OneWeb, which already provide satellite-based broadband services across the globe.

Satellites in orbit can bring high-speed internet to remote areas without requiring fibre-optic infrastructure. Reliance, in its partnership with SES, aims to extend internet services to distant towns and cities across India through satellite broadband.

According to an Inc42 report, the Indian commercial spacetech market is expected to grow to $77 Bn by 2030.

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US tech giant Microsoft’s India entity Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited’s operating revenue surged 39% in the year ended March 31, 2023. Operating revenue stood at INR 19,229.4 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), a 1.2X increase from INR 13,819.5 Cr in FY22. 

Microsoft India earned a majority of its revenue from services. In FY23, it earned INR 13,103 Cr from sale of services, a 46% increase from INR 8,951.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Service revenue mostly comprises subscription revenue earned from Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Xbox 360, LinkedIn, among others. 

Meanwhile, it earned INR 4,508.3 Cr from sale of products in FY23, a 28% increase from INR 3,518.9 Cr in FY22. Microsoft’s product portfolio comprises operating system, cross-device productivity applications, server applications, business solution applications, desktop and server management tools, software development tools, among others.

Including other income, Microsoft India reported a total revenue of INR 19,353.7 Cr during the year under review, a 39% increase from INR 13,922.5 Cr from the previous year. 

In line with the increase in revenue, Microsoft India’s net profit rose 30% to INR 648.6 Cr from INR 498.2 Cr in the previous fiscal. 

Meanwhile, expenses stood at INR 18,472 Cr in FY23, a 39.5% increase from INR 10,480.7 Cr in FY22. Microsoft India’s biggest expense was royalty cost. In FY23, the Indian entity spent INR 13,139 Cr on royalty cost, an increase of 51.8% from INR 8,654.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

In simple terms, royalty cost is the amount paid by a company to the owner of a product or patent for the use of that product or patent. 

Employee benefit cost was another major contributor to Microsoft India’s growing expenses. The company spent INR 1,411.3 Cr on employee benefits expenses in FY23, an increase of 16.5% from INR 1,210.8 Cr in the previous year. 

It is worth noting that Microsoft, which has offices across the world, has laid off over 10,000 employees across verticals this year. 

Microsoft India spent INR 372 Cr on advertising and promotional activities, a decline of 15% from INR 436.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

In July this year, Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari resigned from his position after serving the company for almost seven years.

A Microsoft spokesperson said, “Anant has decided to leave Microsoft to pursue a role outside the company. We would like to thank Anant for his many contributions to our business and culture in India.”

The post Microsoft India’s FY23 Profit Jumps 30%, Revenue Rises To INR 19,229 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indian IT giant Infosys will expand its partnership with tech major Google Cloud to develop industry-specific artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for enterprises. 

Under the expansion plan, Infosys will establish global generative AI Labs to accelerate development of AI solutions for enterprises that can be embedded in business processes. These new offerings will be built by leveraging Google Cloud’s generative AI solutions and Infosys’ in-house Topaz offerings. 

Infosys will also train 20,000 practitioners on Google Cloud’s various AI solutions to ensure resources and expertise are available to develop, implement, and manage generative AI projects. 

Besides, the IT major is also working with the tech giant to develop a suite of generative AI solutions and platforms to solve ‘large and complex problems’ across both business and technology domains. These products will cover use cases such as consumer AI, autonomous supply chain, anti-money laundering, among others. 

The partnership will also leverage Infosys’ existing trove of data, analytics and expertise in the AI space to build effective solutions, the company said. 

“Infosys has been long making investments in the AI space… The combined strength of Google Cloud’s generative AI capabilities, Infosys Cobalt, and Infosys Topaz will help enterprises transform and future-proof their business, built on strong digital, cloud, and next-generation AI capabilities,” said Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) Salil Parekh.

Commenting on the announcement, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said, “… Through our expanded partnership with Infosys, we will give our mutual customers the resources and skills needed to use generative AI today to create real-world value for their organisations.”

The joint partnership will also enable Infosys to enhance its existing suite of products with generative AI capabilities. This will help both companies accelerate the adoption of generative AI among enterprises and drive operational efficiency. 

The development comes at a time when more and more companies are looking to leverage and adopt generative solutions. The debut of ChatGPT has sparked an AI boom as companies look to deploy such solutions to improve efficiency while IT companies eye building AI-based offerings for clients. 

Just last month, Indian conglomerates Reliance and Tata Group inked pacts with US-based chipmaker NVIDIA to build and scale cloud-based AI computing infrastructure. Tata Group is the parent of Infosys’ archrival TCS. 

Meanwhile, the Centre is also pushing homegrown players to develop India-specific AI solutions, while a majority of Indian entrepreneurs too seems to have a positive outlook towards the emerging technology. 

Google has also followed this curve and introduced a slew of generative AI offerings for its customers as well as B2B clients. From new gen-AI search capabilities for healthcare professionals to unveiling chatbot Bard, Google has left no stone unturned to cash in on the AI wave. 

AI is expected to be the new frontier of competition for companies globally. As per a report, the global AI market is projected to reach a size of $738.8 Bn by 2030.

The post Infosys Partners Google Cloud To Accelerate Adoption Of Generative AI Among Enterprises appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a digital era where information is a brand-new currency, governments are taking considerable measures to guard the privacy and security of individuals’ personal data. 

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 (DPDPA) is one such progressive legislation that seeks to protect the digital private data of India’s citizens. 

Understanding The DPDPA Transition Period

The DPDPA, which was passed into law on August 11, 2023, and is scheduled to commence on January 1, 2024, includes a transition period that allows businesses the opportunity to align their data processing procedures with the new regulations.

This isn’t just a grace phase but a strategic window for businesses to bolster compliance and foster deeper trust with their clientele. It offers a unique opportunity for large tech corporations, fintech companies, and ecommerce platforms to strategically align their operations with the new data privacy law. 

Strategic Implementation Of Data Privacy

For big tech companies, fintech firms, and ecommerce platforms, strategic implementation during the transition period is crucial. Here’s how they can leverage this period effectively:

Review And Revise Data Processing Practices

The first step is to conduct a thorough review of data processing activities. Identify what data is collected, stored, shared, and transferred. This assessment should cover both personal and sensitive data. 

Once identified, ensure that data processing aligns with the principles outlined in the DPDPA, such as consent, purpose limitation, data minimisation, and accuracy. Automated compliance check platforms can simplify this assessment, ensuring alignment with DPDPA’s foundational tenets.

Obtain Valid Consent

Consent is at the heart of the DPDPA. During the transition period, organizations should focus on obtaining proper consent from individuals before processing their personal data, ideally leveraging advanced digital verification systems to build trust and transparency. Transparency is key – inform users about the purpose and manner of data processing to build trust.

Enhance Data Security Measures

Data breaches can have severe consequences under the DPDPA. Use this juncture to amplify data security, integrating AI-driven fraud detection systems and setting up agile protocols for timely notifications in case of breaches. – for notifying both the Data Protection Board of India (DPBI) and affected individuals in case of breaches.

Respect Individual Rights

The DPDPA grants individuals various rights, including access to their data, correction, erasure, and the right to raise grievances. Organizations should prepare consent management mechanisms to facilitate these rights during the transition period. Building user-friendly interfaces for data access and correction requests can improve the customer experience.

Appoint Data Protection Officers

Significant data fiduciaries handling substantial or sensitive data are required to appoint Data Protection Officers (DPOs). Use the transition period to identify suitable candidates and ensure they are well-versed in data privacy regulations. DPOs play a crucial role in compliance.

Conduct Privacy Impact Assessments

High-risk data processing activities should undergo privacy impact assessments (PIAs). These assessments focus on identifying privacy and rights risks. The transition period is an ideal time to conduct these assessments and make necessary adjustments to mitigate risks.

Prepare For Data Audits

Be ready for data audits by DPBI-approved independent auditors. Your current systems might be ready for the new era already – use the new features.The reports submitted to the regulatory body should reflect compliance with the DPDPA. Also use this period to align your internal processes with audit requirements.

Age-Gating To Protect Minors

The DPDPA contains rules that are extremely important with regard to the protection of the personal information of minors. 

Before collecting or using the personal information of a child who is younger than 18 years old, the Act requires that platforms first get the verifiable agreement of the child’s parent or legal guardian. 

Digital age-gating mechanisms can be instrumental, ensuring compliance by calibrating access based on age verification.

Government’s Role In Setting Specific Rules

While the DPDPA does provide an all-encompassing framework, some particular regulations and principles are still in the process of being developed. The federal government is working on getting these regulations published within the next several months. 

It is essential for companies to keep a careful eye on these developments and alter their strategy in accordance with the new information. Participating in government consultations and the activities of industry organisations can provide extremely useful insights into the ever-changing regulatory landscape.

The Timelines For Compliance

A strategic, graded approach to compliance timelines under the DPDPA 2023 was unveiled. This approach prioritized big tech companies initially, followed by start-ups and less digitized entities like MSMEs. 

Crucially, these timelines will be collaboratively determined through industry consultations, ensuring they align with business continuity needs. This pragmatic strategy not only upholds data protection standards but also fosters an environment where diverse businesses can adapt to the DPDPA without undue disruption, reflecting a balanced approach to data privacy implementation.

In conclusion, the DPDPA 2023 transition period is not merely a compliance hurdle; it’s a strategic opportunity for big tech companies, fintech firms, and ecommerce platforms to strengthen their data protection practices, enhance customer trust, and gain a competitive edge. 

By proactively aligning their operations with the DPDPA’s principles, leveraging software platforms, and preparing for the specific rules to come, organizations can emerge as leaders in responsible data management and privacy in the digital era.

The post A Deep Dive Into India’s DPDPA 2023 And Its Impact On Business appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Internet giant Info Edge has filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police against Broker Network founder and former Housing.com cofounder Rahul Yadav over alleged cheating to the tune of INR 288 Cr.

Besides Yadav, the EOW complaint names 4B Networks Private Limited, and cofounder and director Pratik Chaudhary as well as Devesh Singh (Yadav’s brother-in-law), Yadav’s wife Karishma Khokhar, and RY Advisory LLP, the partnership firm which was set up by the Broker Network founder.

Key employees and business heads involved with Broker Network such as Sanjay Saini, Vivek Jagtap (former CTO), Ashish Chandna, and Manish Agrawal have been named as co-accused in the complaint.

It’s imperative to note that the complaint filed on August 22, 2023, has not yet been registered as an FIR by the EOW. A copy of the complaint, seen by Inc42, is signed by Allcheckdeals India Private Limited’s Amitendra Singh Antal, Info Edge’s senior lead counsel. Allcheckdeals is an Info Edge subsidiary created to invest in startups.

Sources close to Broker Network and Info Edge corroborated its existence, but Info Edge declined to respond to questions about the complaint.

Overall, Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led Info Edge invested INR 276 Cr as equity investment as well as INR 12 Cr as bridge funding to pay employees and vendors, through Allcheckdeals. Info Edge has attached the entire amount in the complaint.

The complaint has been filed for the alleged commission of offences under Sections 415, 418, 420, 405, 406, 411, 421, 422, 424, most of which deal with cheating and dishonesty, concealment of properties, as well as misappropriation of funds.

Besides this, Mumbai Police’s EOW is probing another case involving Broker Network and founder Yadav, which has been registered as an FIR.

Info Edge Vs Rahul Yadav: Financial Web Untangled 

Many parts of Info Edge’s complaint deal with the transfer and routing of funds as exposed by Inc42’s original deep investigation into the financial web created by Yadav at Broker Network. Several key former employees at the company pointed out the syphoning of funds and invested capital by Yadav as well as many of the others named in Info Edge’s complaint.

For instance, the criminal complaint points to the use of related entities such as RY Advisory, Aceuser Private Limited, Kult App Private Limited and 4B Realtech Private Limited, all of which figured in Inc42’s original investigation in June this year.

Further, the complain names E-Cipher Technologies LLP, Rush Techmart Solutions Private Limited, and Switchme Technologies and Services Private Limited, as being part of the alleged syphoning and routing of funds.

Much of the syphoning has been alleged to have been done as part of payments to vendors as well as loans against advance salary taken by key employees, who soon quit the company. The loan amount has been alleged to have been transferred either to Yadav or the companies named above and other entities controlled by Yadav and/or his family.

“From December 2022-January 2023, the Accused no. 2 [4B Networks] advanced a loan of Rs. 10,00,00,000/- to 4B Realtech. The Complainant company [Allcheckdeals] has reasons to believe that a substantial amount from such loan was transferred by 4B Realtech to Aceuser Pvt. Ltd,” Info Edge alleges.

The Noida-headquartered internet giant also claimed to believe that transactions were made with a view to deliberately moving money from 4B Networks through multiple entities. Even as the complaint lists a range of allegations, it also hints at a more extensive network of questionable transactions.

“The transactions are not isolated incidents but rather part of a larger pattern of illegal, suspicious, and unwarranted activities. We strongly suspect the involvement of the accused persons and other parties in a broader range of similar transactions,” the complaint reads.

The EOW complaint comes after Info Edge claimed Yadav and others at Broker Network have been uncooperative in forensic audits of the company’s books and financials, after the company wrote off the entire investment in Broker Network. This led to an investigation into the books and accounts by Info Edge, which also empanelled a Big Four audit firm to look into the books and cash flow.

The alleged resistance led to legal proceedings before the Delhi High Court and an arbitral tribunal. Those arbitration proceedings are still pending, and as per sources close to Info Edge, the EOW complaint has been filed to account for the possibility that those proceedings might not yield results for Info Edge.

Rahul Yadav’s Second Brush With EOW

While the eventual fate of Info Edge’s complaint is uncertain as the EOW has not yet registered an FIR, the agency’s Mumbai wing is probing another case involving Broker Network and founder Yadav.

The FIR filed by Vikas Nowal, country head and cofounder of Interspace Communications, has been registered under sections 406, 409, 420, 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The EOW at Mumbai Police had issued a lookout notice against Yadav in August, and his bank account is said to have been frozen, with searches conducted at his residence.

Interspace Communications is an advertising agency that was empanelled by Broker Network to carry out outdoor advertising campaigns in February 2022. In his FIR, Nowal has alleged that the company has defrauded Interspace, which is owed INR 10 Cr by Broker Network (4B Networks) for the activity undertaken in 2022.

The FIR claims that a total of 83 ad hoardings were installed by Interspace in Pune from April to August 2022. The issue is related to Broker Network having multiple vendors for several activities but not paying their invoices till date, more than a year after the work was completed.

At the moment, it’s not clear whether these two cases will be combined and investigated as one by the Economic Offences Wing. Sources close to Info Edge did not offer much clarity on any approaches by the EOW, but told us that the agency has been given access to all books and documents related to the Broker Network.

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