Daily Pulse India: India Has More Smartphone Users Than US, TaMo To Change Zica's Name, Rajan’s Hint To Jaitley
Ramya Venugopal
#StrategicCommunications #StrategicPartnerships #Communities. Ex-Meta. Former LinkedIn editor, also ex-Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Economic Times
Startups can breathe easier. Weeks after PM Modi announced his ambitious Startup India Standup India initiative, the RBI plans to make it easier for startups to raise funds. On the agenda are easier rules for foreign VCs to sell stakes in their Indian investments, faster access for startups to rupee loans as ECBs and other similar moves. A timely move, especially as VC funding is slowing down. This was announced in yesterday’s policy review so the details are yet to be ironed out. Meanwhile, on the economy front, Rajan neatly lobbed the ball to the government’s court saying that monetary policy can “only do so much for growth” and that “controlling (government) spending will create more space for monetary policy," aka more rate cuts. Your move now, Jaitley.
What Rajan said, explained, in this 2014 Slideshare presentation.
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We had been expecting it for a while, but it’s happened, finally. India is now officially the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, according to Counterpoint Research, with 220 million users, beating the US’ estimated 190 million. In 2015 alone, India shipped 100 million smartphones. In a nod to Modi’s Make in India push, about half the smartphones sold last year were Made in India. Another agency Cyber Media Research, has pointed out that feature phone sales dropped 27 percent and smart phone sales rose 18 percent, although its view on the Indian smartphone market is less gung-ho. Small wonder that everyone from Apple to Uber is adopting special strategies, just for India.
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Amazon is now elbowing into Quikr territory. It now plans to enter the used goods market, through its unit Junglee, which was its launchpad into India at a time when the foreign investment rules were much stricter. As the traditional online marketplace model is fraught with competition, with Flipkart and Snapdeal going aggressively after the same market, Amazon has clearly figured it’s time to widen the net.
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More noise on the GST Bill: This time it’s Venkaiah Naidu, the parliamentary affairs minister, who has vowed to push through the bill in the budget session, which begins Feb 20. Will it be a case of third time lucky?
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Tata Motors’ new small car was to be called ZippyCar, or Zica. But after the outbreak of the Zika virus and its widespread ramifications, Tata has decided to do the “socially responsible thing” and rebrand the car. Also, weird coincidence: The first reported case of Zika was in Argentina, the home of Zica’s brand ambassador Lionel Messi.
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Cover Image: Contestants at the Asian Olympic Qualifying Competition, which ended yesterday. India may be sending 12 shooters to the Rio Olympics, the highest ever.
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International:
Global Daily Pulse: US Tech Gets a European Break, Tesla Taunts Michigan — Amazon Bookstores?
Deputy Manager - Security and Loss Preventions at Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, ISO 45001, SIX SIGMA, Asset Protection, Vigilance
9 年We are grown up with Positive Thinking, so we think about smart phone users not population.
support associate at BARC
9 年Think about the population in India but you mention about smart phone.
Global Leadership & Talents Development / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
9 年@Dino Manalis I dare say India is Asia's Silicon Valley... way to go :o)
Charles T Sebesta
9 年Interesting