Union Budget 2016: Expectations from Indian Startups

Unveiling of Union Budget is one such event that is keenly followed by Business Owners, be it small or large. The announcements made during budget shape the financial decisions of many!

With the launch of the ‘Start-Up India Campaign’ and a lot of focus on encouraging start-ups, curiosity has been built around what the budget will offer. How well the government will adopt and accommodate start-up friendly policies and initiatives.

Here are a few quotes from Founders of Startups on their Budget Expectations.

Mr. Sujayath Ali, CEO & Founder, Voonik.com

1. Reward Diversity in Startup workforce: Many startups are preferred places for women, as they get flexible timing, work from home and other benefits. Startups give women a great opportunity to fulfill their personal commitments without compromising success at professional front. I feel, government should encourage diversity, by giving certain tax benefits to encourage inclusion of women in startup workforce.

2. FDI in B2C Ecommerce: Currently there is a lot of confusion in terms of what constitutes B2C ecommerce vs. marketplace and where FDI is allowed. We expect clarity on FDI policy and definition of what entails a marketplace.

3. Removal of Angel / Startup Tax: We are awaiting clarity on the angel tax. While Finance Minister mentioned that provisions will made in the Income Tax Act for exemption to a notified class of investors, we are still awaiting details.

4. Staggered/Laddered Service tax: Even though a 3 year Income tax holiday is given to new startups, the issue of Service tax is not addressed yet. I hope in the new budget, some laddering like that of Income tax slabs is given to startups. This will help us in being able to invest a part of our revenues to business, reduce our dependence on VC funds and once we reach a certain stature we can definitely pay ST at par with other Listed companies.

5. Infrastructure: To make Ecommerce sector profitable, we need a robust delivery system. All ecommerce companies are struggling with delivery delays, package losses in transit etc. For customers, getting their order in time is the bare minimum expectation. On the other hand, for a company to deliver on time through polite courier boys, is a big challenge. Often many courier partners are not equipped to handle cash collected in delivery. In the new Budget, there has to be a more focused plan on improving road & rail infrastructure, so that companies like Voonik can profitably deliver the orders to our customers.

6. Financial innovation for easy credits to SME & small traders: One of the key challenge for our sellers face is the liquidity crunch when they have to suddenly scale up to cater to a huge online demand. I feel, the new budget should encourage NBFCs to create fast, easy and reasonable loans for the sellers who start selling through online retail.

7. Mobile Money: If in the new budget, government can announce rebates/ subsidies through Mobile money platforms, this will help us in encouraging prepaid order placing, thus reducing our cash on delivery handling costs.

Ashish Bhatia – Founder & CEO, Labsadvisor.com

Service tax threshold should be raised significantly: In the Start-up India initiative by the Modi government, start-ups are getting corporate tax exemption for the first three years. However, for most start-ups SERVICE TAX is a bigger concern as it is charged on the revenue or turnover rather than the profit. Companies also have to bear the burden of paying service tax on services that they buy from outside e.g. advertising, web development etc. Service tax raises the cost of doing business significantly. Doing away with the service tax during the first 2-3 years will help vastly and let many more start-ups survive.

TDS deduction should not apply: TDS on employee salaries and contractor payments puts a significant regulatory burden on start-ups. Instead of focusing on operations, the company management has to focus on collecting tax saving documents, deducting and depositing tax, and finally filing the returns. This is not only time consuming but also leads to unnecessary payments to outside agencies like CAs.

Redundancy pay should be tax exempt – Start-ups make mistakes in hiring or have to let go of people due to investment delays. When a company lets go of its employee, generally some redundancy payment is made. This payment should be tax exempt in the hands of the employees. This practice is being followed in UK. Redundancy pay of up to 3 months is tax exempt. This incentive will be very helpful for redundant employees when they are on the lookout for another job.

Mr Kiran Murthi, CEO, AskmeBazaar.com

The roll out of excellent initiatives like Start up India and Digital India by the Indian government is a

step in the right direction as it strives to create a promising environment for budding entrepreneurs. We are hopeful that such campaigns will convert to strong economic growth and increase in overall consumption. We hope that the government will continue giving thrust to various reforms in this sector in the forthcoming Union Budget 2016-17.

As a leading e-commerce brand, with a proud association with millions of SMEs across India, we hope the government will present a futuristic tax policy that will address the complications of the current tax structure. We hope that the GST roadmap will be shared in the budget for FY 2016-17.

Finally we look forward to an ecosystem devoid of red-tapism, paving the way for greater ease in doing business and creating the ground for ‘Innovation’ & ‘Entrepreneurship’.

Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Co-Founder, Capital Float

The Prime Minister’s action plan on startups was the first step to aid the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. We hope that the budget will lay the groundwork to create more opportunities for innovation in the startup sector especially in the Fintech space. We expect this Budget to bring parity between the NBFCs and other financial institutions and kick-start the SARFAESI measures, which has been the long standing demand of the NBFCs thereby bringing the regulatory framework in parity with banks.

We believe that this budget would also look at providing monetary incentives under Skill India to small-scale entrepreneurs to help them impart specific training to unskilled labour and a flush of capital into the Technology Acquisition and Development Fund (TADF), meant to help business to acquire the requisite machinery and technology to expand their operations. Incremental steps promised in the Startup India initiative by the Prime Minister will need to become a reality which can in turn set the stage for something big, bold and a game-changer.

Rajiv Kumar, Founder & CEO of StoreHippo.com

We expect the government to simplify tax regime for startups to foster innovation and create conducive ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the country. As a startup, we welcome the move by PM Modi to offer 3 years of tax exemption under the Start-Up India action plan; but more than exemption on Income tax, the statutory and regulatory compliances related to various filings like Service Tax returns, MCA filings, TDS returns and various state specific compliances should be simplified as the filing of these documents consumes a lot of time and bogs down a startup.

We expect the Govt. to introduce e-commerce and startup friendly initiatives that will boost the e-commerce industry. Exemption of the angel tax (that taxes the capital receipts) will help the startup industry, especially when financing from banks and VCs is unavailable. Even the tax rates for the investors should be rationalized, as they also take a risk by investing in startups. Favorable policy regulations like ease of compliance and tax exemptions will boost the sector and contribute to favourable growth of the economy. 

A Dedicated Corpus of Funds announced by the government under Startup India action plan will definitely help entrepreneurs and startups, as many players struggle with funds in the initial stages. However, the Govt. must make sure that the funds are judiciously allocated so that there is uniform distribution across different industry sectors. Also, there should be limit on funds allocated to one startup.

The ‘Startup India, Standup India’ campaign has created excitement and raised hopes for the startups and entrepreneurs. We hope that the budget will lay down a clear roadmap on the execution of all the policies announced.

Varun Dua, CEO & co-founder – Coverfox.com

“The key expectations from Budget 2016 is deregulation and allowing FDI in fin-tech. Most fin-tech businesses like payment banks / insurance have heavy dependence on domestic capital which is mostly risk averse and thus scarce.

The Budget should also  consider relaxation in structures which make private secondary transactions more liquid from a tax or complication perspective.” –

Pankaj Vermani, CEO, Clovia.com

“The E-commerce industry has seen a boom in 2015. To ensure that the growth continues the Union budget needs to provide greater tax clarity especially related to jurisdiction / taxability issues. We are also hoping for a positive clarification for the Central Sales tax on transactions such as cash on delivery, which involve inter-state movement of goods.In addition, today every region has different laws for eCommerce. To govern the sector better one needs better definition of the category and a centralized law.”

Rajiv Sharma,CEO and Co-Founder, dPronto

Start-ups face a lot of teething troubles; keeping this in mind we would like to see the removal of direct and indirect taxes on start-ups. Would even recommend a tax holiday for start-ups (just like that for IT companies during the 90s) for a period of 3 years. Removal of “angel tax” is equally important since Angel funding is crucial to foster the start-up eco-system in India at a time when banks and venture capital funds are pulling away from providing financial aid to such companies. Start-up companies require innovation to grow fast and hence compliance of stringent norms robs off the ingenuity of new beginners. We would like to replace audits with self-reliance certificates as proposed by Nasscom.

—

One of the pressing issue that most startup entrepreneurs are talking about is clarity in taxation on new businesses and startups. Government needs to definitely bring in more clarity in this budget!

Startups

Foodpanda launches 30 Min Express Delivery in Gurgaon

Foodpanda, popular online food delivery service, has launched a pilot for quick meal delivery in Gurgaon. Promising delivery time of under 30 minutes, the food options range from North Indian to Chinese combo meals from select restaurants; Happy Hakka, Tughlaq, and Biryani Art.

It does not come as a surprise that the offer is not like Dominos where one can get the meal in 30 minutes or less, since that is fast food. Keeping in mind that the preparation of a full fledged meal itself can actually take a lot of time, this is a bold step from Foodpanda to implement it.

Talking about the pilot initiative, Saurabh Kochhar, CEO of Foodpanda India, stated, “The thought behind this originated with the desire to make available pre-set portions of favourite combos within 30 minutes of ordering. We are also cognizant of the fact that most of our corporate users prefer ordering meal combos instead of separate meals. We are doing a pilot run in Gurgaon with 3 restaurants and are confident these curated meals will be enjoyed by our customers.”

Foodpanda will be accepting orders eligible for express delivery from 12:00pm to 4:00pm, which is the lunch time. The meals will not be very expensive, in fact they will cost between Rs 149 to Rs 225 and will be delivered in tower boxes made of plastic, exactly like how we used to have tower tiffin boxes as shown on Indian television.

Well, it makes sense to start the pilot for corporate professionals in Gurgaon, living far away from home to get access to delicious dishes as a combo and not separate food items.

Recent Foodpanda Developments

Foodpanda had recently partnered with IRCTC to deliver food items to train passengers at prominent stations. The food items will have to be booked 2 hours in advance, but you’ll receive completely hot and fresh food delivered to you.

However, Foodpanda has had their share of problems – In December 2015, they fired over 500 employees and stopped delivery in six cities in India.

Foodpanda has invested a lot in India – including acquiring 2 major food delivery startups – TastyKhana and Justeat, but they have found it tough in an already congested food delivery market.

Rumours have been afloat that parent company Rocket Internet has been trying to sell Foodpanda business in India, and even at a very low price tag of $10 to $15 million, they have not been able to find a buyer.

Now, with this development in Gurgaon, it seems they are planning to invest further in this business to make it a success.

We will keep you posted with further developments.

Startups

5 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before Starting Your Own Venture

Starting one’s own venture is a big step. It requires meticulous planning, dedication, time, and funds. In simple words, there’s a lot at stake. Although the risk or failure cannot be completely avoided it can be minimized by extensive research of the new venture idea and by asking yourself some very critical questions.

The answers to these questions will help you decide whether you want to go ahead with the venture or give it some more thought or not pursue it at all. Honest answers at this stage – the idea generation phase, will not only save you lots of time, energy, and funds, but will also help you arrive at an idea that is both feasible to implement and has a market demand.

So before you set out on working on the business idea, take some time to ask and reflect on the following questions.

1. What problem does this idea address?

This is the most critical question. Every business, to be successful, needs to resolve or fulfill a market demand. Before you invest your time and efforts in an idea – ask yourself this question – try to find out how your target customers will benefit from the business – will it save their time, will it help them save money or will it provide a necessary service. Find out how will your business make life easier for your customers. This will also help you in the later stages when you go out to market and sell your product or service.

2. Is it legal?

Check if your business idea is in compliance with the laws and regulations of the country or state that wish to operate in. Study the laws of the country/state that you are planning to launch your venture. Find out the compliance requirements and accepted business and industry practices.

At this point of time you should also decide what kind of legal entity you want to create for your venture – a sole proprietorship, partnership firm, One Person Company, limited liability partnership, private limited company, public limited company. Each type of business structure has its own benefits and restrictions both legally and for acquiring funding from potential investors.

3. What will you name it?

Shakespeare may not have thought much about names, but entrepreneurs need to. Like legal aspects, meanings of words and names differ from culture to culture, country to country. So it is important to arrive at a name that conveys a positive meaning, specially in the country you intend to operate in.

Apart from the meaning of the name, you must also decide whether you want the name to convey the nature of the business you do, the product you sell or a use a generic name which does not specifically relate to the business activities of the firm.

4. Do you have the time?

A new venture is like a baby. It requires your complete attention and full time to prosper. Before you launch the venture, find out if you can work on it 24*7 for a couple of years or at least till it becomes profitable.

5. How will you fund it?

Once you have answered all the above questions, work out how you will fund it. Study your finances and find out if you can bootstrap and for how long. Learn about funding requirements, figure out whom you can pitch your idea to acquire funding.

After this exercise, if you choose to go ahead – the answers to all the above questions will help you set up the basic frame work of your business idea and also help in creating in a well thought out business plan and strategy!

About the author: The article is written by Divya Chauhan, who is co-Founder at  it’spleaZure.

Startups

Indian Startup Now Officially Defined By The Govt; 5 Year Old Company Is Not A Startup Anymore

During last month’s ‘Startup India Stand Up India’ program, one this which was doubted and questioned the most was the definition of a startup – Is it on digital companies making apps or traditional companies having brick-and-mortar outlets can also be described as a startup?

Is Flipkart a startup having founded in 2007 having $15 billion valuation? Can Paytm be described as a startup having 10 million customers and clocking revenues of Rs 300 crore during Diwali sales last year?

We had actually asked this question: What exactly is a startup, just days before the ‘Startup India Stand Up India’ event.

Thanks to a recent notification issued by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, this dilemma is now over.

What Is a Startup?

As per the notification dated February 17, 2016, Ministry of Commerce and Industry has described an entity as a startup if:

a) Its age is less than 5 years from the date of registration/incorporation

b) Turnover for any year is less than Rs 5 crore

c) Its working towards “innovation, development, deployment or commercialization of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property”

These are the three major pillars which shall define any startup in India; and as per these definitions, neither Flipkart nor Paytm is a startup anymore!

Point to be noted here: Any business/corporation which is created by spliting from an existent business shall not be termed as a startup.

What Exactly Is Registration/Incorporation of A Startup?

An entity shall be described as a startup, if it is registered under Companies Act, 2013 or a registered partnership firm, registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932 or a limited liability partnership under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2002.

Except these three types of registration, no entity shall be deemed as a startup.

Besides, the turnover of Rs 5 crore as defined in this notification would be calculated as per Companies Act 2013 (and subsequent rules/regulations)

What Can A Startup Do?

The third point of the notification detailing the definition of a startup says that the entity shall work towards “innovation, development, deployment or commercialization of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property”

Basically, this means that the startup can:

a) Develop and commercialize a new product or service or process by using technology or Intellectual Property

b) A ‘significant’ improvement over existing products/services/process/workflow which will add value to the customer’s experience

Now, note here that there merely developing a product or service won’t suffice anymore. In case a product is developed by a startup but it has no potential for commercialization, then that entity won’t be described as a startup.

Similarly, undifferentiated products/services and those businesses which do not add value to customers/workflow won’t be categorized under startups. (ambiguity persists in this clause: Commercialization of WhatsApp is still not clear!)

The notification also details the procedure of creating a startup, wherein DIPP has said that a special mobile app would be developed using which any citizen can register and incorporate a startup with minimum papers and documents.

You can access the notification issued by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under Ministry of Commerce and Industry here.

Related stories:

Union Budget 2016: Expectations from Indian Startups

More Reforms Introduced in Companies Act 2013

Startup India Action Plan

Draconian Tax On Seed Funding Removed

Startups

LG, Sony to Exit from Entry Level Smartphone Market in India; Stiff Competition from Local Players

LG has been serving India for quite some time now with its range of smartphones in every segment. Sony used to develop smartphones on the expensive side, but recently joined the bandwagon to provide similar experience as on the high-end smartphone on cheaper smartphones. LG’s L series did not take off as expected, while Sony’s Xperia series did not impress those looking for budget phones.

In a news that may not be surprising, but saddening, LG and Sony both have decided to leave the entry level smartphone segment and focus more on the other segments where sales are motivating. Both of them have shown decline over the last few months and the market share of LG has dropped to 0.4% while Sony’s is at 1.5%, in 2015. The respective shares in 2014 were 1% and 4%, nothing to write home about. Domestic smartphone size grew by 20% in 2015 and the leaders have kept their positions intact.

Motorola, acquired by Lenovo, had also planned to follow a similar route, despite of different reasons.

Reason for exit?

The entry-level market is one of the most important segments in India, where the sales have been increasing every year. Better phones are being launched every quarter claiming high-end features in low-end prices, which is making this market very hot right now. The market is dominated by Samsung, Micromax, Intex and Lenovo who have a market share of 26%, 16%, 10% and 9% respectively in 2015.

Sony and LG claim that the local players and Chinese handset makers are eating away into their sales, due to high proliferation in the market and competitive pricing. LG and Sony reek of quality, but fail to deliver the same in terms of pricing and we have seen in the past that Sony usually prices its smartphones higher than the usual norm.

What is the plan forward for LG and Sony?

“Sony Mobile has shifted its focus more on premium segment within the product portfolio. The number of models will reduce as compared to last year as we shift focus purely on the premium segment,” was communicated by a spokesperson. Sony does not have many exciting phones in the mid-range segments either, and the only high-end smartphones in its kitty are Z5 and Z5 Dual, which come boast of excellent camera, display quality and sturdiness. Sony needs time to streamline its operations in India before venturing out into niche segments dominated by other similar smartphone makers.

“We have our smartphone portfolio starting from a price point of Rs 8,000 and we shall continue to bring new devices in this price segment. This is in alignment with our smartphone strategy for India and all our future smartphones that are in the pipeline are all aligned to this strategy,”, said a spokesperson from LG. LG too is restructuring its entry market division and plans to do thorough research before launching a new smartphone in this category. The LG G5 launched at MWC 2016, shows that LG can be one of the best in the premium segment, but the Indian market does not accept low-end smartphones with no outstanding features.

Recent entry of LeEco, Xiaomi and OnePlus have created a stir amongst the citizens of India for offering high-end features in relatively inexpensive smartphones. It is quite possible other players like Samsung face heat in the market, however that is definitely not happening until the end of this decade.

Mobile

You Can Now Give Free Missed Calls Even With Insufficient Balance!

Have you ever been in a situation when you had to contact someone urgently or when you were in an emergency and you didn’t have sufficient balance in your phone?



Many of us have either faced this situation or fear it. Telecom operators block outgoing calls in all prepaid numbers when the subscribers don’t have sufficient balance to make a call.

There are many ways to counter this situation. Some of them are:

Borrow someone’s phone for making a call
WhatsApp the person you want to contact
Recharge your phone online
Visit the nearest PCO
But what would you do when you can’t recharge online and are too shy to ask someone to let you make a call from his phone? What if the person you want to contact doesn’t use any instant messenger and has no digital presence? What if you can’t find a PCO nearby?

When all else fails, then InstaVoice will come to your rescue.

What Does InstaVoice Do?

Kirusa’s InstaVoice lets you give a free missed call to your contacts even when you don’t have sufficient balance to make a call. This app thus helps you reach out to your friends and family by sending them a signal in the form of a ‘missed call’ to get in touch with you.

“An overwhelming majority of users in emerging markets use a prepaid mobile. Making a free missed call should be a right available to every prepaid user. However, when a prepaid user runs out of balance, even urgent calls cannot be made. Here InstaVoice Ring helps, by sending a missed call to the recipient without charging any of the users,” said Surinder Singh Anand, VP of Product Management at Kirusa.

Other features of InstaVoice include free voice mail and voice SMS, free missed call alerts, manage multiple phone numbers, notes, and social sharing.

InstaVoice can act as a lifesaver during the emergencies. Install the app and share your experience with us.

Mobile

Now Uber Will Launch Their Own Closed Digital Wallet Exclusively For Their Indian Riders

48th most powerful company in America, Uber which is worth $62.5 billion worth is not satisfied with their progress in driving consumers to their cab hailing app, yet. They are soon going to launch their own exclusive digital wallet, for catering to their own customers from India.

Credit card, which is the de-facto payment method for Uber customers worldwide may soon be passe`. In India, Uber customers can pay using cash, Paytm wallet or Airtel Money wallet; both of which can be a history considering that Uber will now push for their own wallets across India.

In fact, India would be the first country wherein Uber would be launching their exclusive wallet.

Maybe we can expect a slew of fresh discounts and free rides as well?

The Reason Behind Uber’s New Digital Wallet

As per reports emerging, Uber had been working on their own Digital wallet, ever since Reserve Bank of India imposed the two-step authentication procedure for all credit card payments. This RBI rule came into effect since August 2014, and Uber promptly partnered with Paytm to work upon this rule.

Later, Airtel Money wallet and cash payments were added to assist the customers.

One person close to the developments happening at Uber shared with ET: “Uber has been working on the closed wallet feature (since) right after the RBI mandate was given. It will still continue working with other (digital) wallets.”

Another set of reports mention that user would be able to upload Rs 5000 maximum per month in that wallet; and RBI’s 2-step authentication would not be a requirement for using this app.

Uber has refused to either confirm or deny this news.

But UPI Makes More Sense?

Yesterday, we had reported how NPCI is launching Unified Payment Interface (UPI) which can actually kill all mobile wallets in the country. With their flexibility and innovation, UPI can soon be the one stop destination for making digital payments.

Now, with respect to UPI, a new, separate wallet only for Uber rides seems like a far stretched idea. After all, will you download a separate app, just for Uber?

In case Uber integrated this wallet into their existing app, then it can be a different ball game altogether.

We will keep you updated as more information comes in.

Mobile

Birla’s More Mall To Accept Payments Via Paytm

Mobile wallets adoption is increasing at a rapid rate in India. More and more new players are coming up their own mobile wallet offerings. Back in December 2015, Mahindra Group launched its NFC based digital wallet. We also heard that Reliance would also be launching its Jio Money digital wallet very soon.

In a latest development, Uber, the world’s most valuable start-up, also announced its plans to launch its own digital wallet in India. Uber currently accepts digital payments through Paytm and Airtel Money while supporting other payment modes like card and cash.

Now, Adiyta Birla Group’s retail arm- ‘More’ has tied up with country’s largest mobile wallet company, Paytm. This means that you can pay at ‘More’ malls with your Paytm wallet. No need to swipe your card or make payment in hard cash.

The payment system is being tested for consistency and security since the last month, and will now be available at all 500 ‘More’ outlets throughout the nation.

This will not only improve your shopping experience, but will also add to your convenience and savings. You will earn cashback and discounts when you pay at ‘More’ outlets using your Paytm mobile wallet.

“Now, our customers can shop with ease and convenience through the use of their Paytm wallets and also earn discounts and cashbacks,” said Vishak Kumar, CEO at Aditya Birla Retail.

How Will It Work?

Shoppers will have to follow a very simple procedure for making a payment via Paytm. Here are the steps to follow:

Tell your mobile number that is registered with Paytm to the personnel sitting at the counter.

Now share the one-time-password (OTP) that you’ll receive on your phone with the counter executive.

Payment will be made when this OTP is entered into the retailer’s system. That’s it.

Isn’t it super easy and convenient?

With this payment option, your money remains safe until you spend it and also won’t have to arrange for change to be produced at the counter. You can also send your kid to the nearby ‘More’ mall and rest assured that he will not lose the money and will get what is needed.

This is just the beginning of the penetration of mobile wallet payments in India. I’m pretty sure that other mobile wallet provider will also follow suit and start a revolution while encountering their most formidable competitor, the Unified Payment Interface.

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Mobile

In a major decision which can change

There’s something interesting about one of my previous employers. There was a very friendly & casual work culture and I must say the organization was quite progressive in terms of employee engagement, innovation etc. The constant quest for doing things differently led to something unusually interesting. It was usual practice to have contests & rewards on a regular basis. Blogging, doing things over & above the job description in an innovative way to make processes better etc. were rewarded on a regular basis which ensured a healthy & a vibrant work culture. But the icing on the cake was the reward itself.

Breaking all stereotypes, the rewards were not in the form of cash or some stereotypical gift items or Sodexho passes but PayTM cash. That’s not something you hear often, isn’t it?

Most employees used it for paying internet / mobile bills or for Uber. That sort of gives the flexibility to the winner to use it the way he/wants. Quite functional too because commuting to work is quite painful in most metros especially when you live far from work. There’s nothing like getting a free ride to work (although you’ve earned it).

That got me thinking and I proposed the idea to some other companies that seek some advice from me and it seemed to have picked up quite well. It’s easy for the employers too, especially the Employee engagement officers or the HR team as they don’t have to scout around for gifts, prize items and cash isn’t all that personal and has very little recall value.

A decade ago, nobody would have thought rewards & prizes would be in the form of mobile wallet cash. We have seen the adoption of mobile wallets steadily increasing over the years & in fact saw a very interesting message in one of the stores I had been to recently:

“Grandfathers paid by Cash. Father paid by Card. You can pay by a-certain-mobile-wallet.”

It was quite catchy & is very likely to strike a chord with the millennials of today. Despite the various reports on death of the mobile wallet & all that, one can’t refute the fact that it’s gotten immensely popular especially among the millennials.

Organizations are doing different things to appeal to their employees to offer a great employee experience. After all, employees are the internal customers & it is quite important to keep them motivated, engaged & happy. When the number of millennials is increasing in number, organizations must figure out ways like these to give them something that appeals to them instead of a boring flower vase or a photo frame or worse, cash!

Another trend that I have been observing is the importance that is given to candidate experience. Thanks to portals like Glassdoor etc., companies are becoming increasingly sensitive to the overall experience of all of the parties that deal with them. Be it customers, employees, partners and even prospective employees or candidates who appear for jobs. There are companies that gift a voucher or some small token of appreciation for their candidates for taking the time out to reach out to them and go through the process. These rewards are majorly for candidates who don’t get through the process and are said to be rejected. Nevertheless, to make them feel good & as a good practice of ensuring a great candidate experience, this gesture is getting immensely popular especially among startups.

An easy reward in this scenario can be mobile wallets. The same benefits such as freedom from the hassle of choice for the recruitment team to choose gifts, flexibility to the receiver to use it they way the desire etc. hold good.

It also has the potential to be a part of the payroll to ensure better accountability for Travel Allowance etc. The possibilities are quite unending and many more such applications & use-cases remain to be seen. It also depends on how mobile wallet companies leverage these trends and good marketing can lead to a major cultural change in the way we look at reward cash.

While we are talking about the increasing adoption of mobile wallet, there’s even more reason to rejoice & go this way because of the recent announcement wherein there’ll be no surcharge for transactions done through mobile wallets. Isn’t that even more reason for going all the way to mobile cash?

About the Author: Sai Sundhar Padmanabhan is an experienced Marketing Professional & a Carnatic vocalist based out of Bangalore

Mobile

Infosys To Reduce Bench Strength And Focus On Automation, Says Vishal Sikka

In a major decision which can change equations for the automobile industry in India, Flipkart has decided to go full throttle on selling 2-wheelers via their online commerce portal.

If reports are to be believed, then Flipkart aims to capture 2% of this market by December end, which means that around 3 lakh units of 2-wheelers can be sold only on Flipkart.

Last year, 1.5 crore units of two-wheelers were sold in India, which was an increase of 1.2% compared to 2014.

As per statements issued by Flipkart, it seems that they will target both 4 wheeler and 2 wheeler; and the process will begin with bikes and scooters.

Adarsh Menon, vice-president, electronics and automobiles, at Flipkart said, “We have piloted both four-wheelers and two-wheelers. We have been there with four wheelers and going live with two-wheelers. The size of the market is large for both. But, to begin with, two-wheelers is the logical first step because the customer base for that segment is much more. Ultimately, we will sell four-wheelers and we will sell them this year itself.”

Last year in December, Flipkart officially started selling bikes and cars online, via a pilot project. In November 2015, Snapdeal had launched their exclusive ‘Snapdeal Motors’ for targeting this niche, highly profitable industry.

Automobiles Are Selling Online!

After groceries and food delivery, the sale of automobiles have been a huge hit in India.

For instance, Flipkart started selling car-accessories last April, and till date, they have witnessed an increase of 600% in sales. Such is the anticipation, that Flipkart and Mahindra decided to open online booking of their new KUV100 on Flipkart.

The trend already started way back in 2013, when Snapdeal decided to sell Hero’s new electric bike online.

Interestingly, in 2014, we had reported how 2-wheelers attracted maximum attention of ecommerce buyers during Diwali, and sale of bikes and scooters witnessed all time high records.

Kawasaki and TVS have already tied-up with Flipkart to sell their 2 wheelers via online platform.

Here is how you buy automobiles from Flipkart

How to buy vehicle from FLipkart

Is This A GMV Centric Strategy?

The current ecommerce war is all about increasing the GMV or Gross Merchandise Value of portals which increases their valuation, and their funding prospect.

As per observation by LiveMint, Flipkart has decided to increase their GMV by going after the 2-wheeler market, after focusing heavily on furniture, electronics and home care products, which are typically large priced products.

In case it’s a GMV centric move, then it can raise some alarm bells for offline retailers, who invest considerable amount of money in maintaining and optimizing their showrooms with expensive employees and infrastructure. But the question also remains: Who will provide after-sale service of these online bought vehicles? Will Flipkart delve into automobile servicing as well?

We will keep you updated as more details come in.

Internet

Google Docs Now Supports Voice. Bye-bye Keyboard!

It has been a while since Google Docs was updated with any new cool feature. Many of us use Google Docs for real-time collaboration purposes but Google wants to change that. The big G wants us to use Google Docs for taking notes and capturing our thoughts. Keeping that in mind, it has now enabled Google Docs with voice support.

Starting today, you will be able to write whatever you want in Google Docs without even typing a single word. Yes, you can keep your keyboard aside and dictate whatever you want to write to Google Docs.

“We launched Voice typing in Docs to help you capture ideas, compose a letter, or even write the next great novel—all without touching your keyboard,” said Google in a blog post.

Besides typing, you can also format and edit your documents with voice on Google Docs now.

It is also very easy to get started with this new ‘Voice’ functionality in Google Docs. When you are using Google Docs using Chrome web browser, just go to ‘Tools’ and select ‘Voice typing’. Now, click on the ‘microphone icon’ that appears on the left side and you’re all set.

You can use various voice commands related to text selection, editing and formatting, insert and edit tables, navigating, and resume voice typing from a particular position.

To check the full list of commands just say ‘Voice commands help’ and you’ll see all the supported voice commands.

“Say what comes to mind—then start editing and formatting with commands like ‘copy’, ‘insert table’, and ‘highlight’,” the blog post mentioned.

Google Docs only support a limited number of commands at the moment, and my experience was not as interactive as it should have been. However, it did recognize my Indian accent without any error, which is impressive. As far as the overall experience is concerned, it will get better with various optimisations over time.

It is always better to dictate whatever is in your mind to somebody. Isn’t it?

Try out the voice functionality in Google Docs today and let us know.

Internet

Govt Announces Digital Market Place For Farmers; Wants To Revolutionize Agriculture Using #DigitalIndia

Imagine a digital marketplace for farmers, using which any farmer in any corner of the country can instantly sell their agri-products to any buyer, there by controlling the price and profits.

This is no more a fiction, as PM Modi is all set to revolutionize agriculture in India, by linking it with Digital India mission, and thereby enabling a platform which will empower our farmers.

While speaking at a rally in Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi said, “We are setting up a National Agriculture Market, a virtual and digital platform, in the coming days,”

This unique virtual marketplace will be launched on April 14th, on Ambedkar Jayanti.

As per studies conducted by Reuters, 94% of farmers in India are dependent on fellow farmers for information related with price of crops (which is often biased), sellers’ information while only 4% rely on TV/Radio while 3% depend on Govt. appointed officers.

However, with the rapid, exponential expansion of mobiles and Internet pan-India, Government is now laying the foundation of a Digital based support system, and this is the best thing to have happened to Indian farmers.

Considering that middlemen take away 47% of the price of rice, 25% of the price of groundnuts and 60% of the price of the potatoes, the new Digital Marketplace will be a blessing for our farmers.

As per reports emerging, Government has allocated a massive budget of Rs 200 crore for creating one of its kind National Agriculture Market online trading portal, which will connect 585 mandis all over the country.

In that speech, PM Modi said that Government is aiming to double farmers’ income by 2022, which would be 75th year of Indian independence.

Steps To Assist Farmers

Besides, Government has also announced the approval of ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’, which will greatly benefit the farmers in selling and procuring crops by introducing a unique insurance scheme. For instance, a premium of 2% of the sum insured will be charged from farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops, which means that in case monsoon fails, the farmer will be able to absorb the loss. (More details here)

As per studies, farmer suicides are mainly driven by failure of crop production due to less rain, and this insurance scheme would be taking this issue heads-on.

PM said, “We have covered entire anticipated farm income under the scheme. Even in case a farmer fails to till his fields due to drought-like conditions, he will be compensated to a certain extent,”

14 crore farmers would be covered under this scheme.

PM also stressed on the need to introduce more technology into farming, for making the industry more productive; and also called for startups for introducing solutions in this sector.

Do you think entrepreneurs can contribute to the success of farming by launching startups in this sector? Has Indian entrepreneurs contributed much to farming despite the hype of startups and easy funding? Do share your views by commenting right here.

Internet

Google Revamps Desktop Search, Now No Ads On The Right Side

Googling has become a way of our lives. Google is one of the most used websites that we access tens of times in a day. Many of you might also not like several text ads that appear on the Google Search results page on the right side. Well, this is about to change soon.

Google is about to roll out major updates to its desktop search page and will do away with the right-side ads. Presently, when you fire a query on Google Search, you will be presented 3 ads above the search results, and 8 ads on the right side as shown in screenshot below.

current google desktop search results page

Google is about to replace these right side ads with 4 ads above the search results (it limited to 3 ads currently) and/or a few ads below the search results. Many sources have reported that Google has already rolled out the new Desktop Search update in their region.

Google Search Page New Update

Google Is Looking For More Advertiser Revenue

Google has seen in a decline in its ads revenue recently, and that’s why they want the advertisers to bid aggressively for the 4 ad slots above the search results instead of 8 ads on the right side. This will results in increased cost-per-click (CPC) for the advertisers and hence will increase Google’s ad revenue.

Google mentions that this new layout is in testing for a quite some time now, with very few people seeing it in action. The company also mentions that this layout is tweaked for “highly commercial queries” where the users will get much more relevant results which in turn would lead to better campaigns for the advertisers.

“We’ve been testing this layout for a long time, so some people might see it on a very small number of commercial queries. We’ll continue to make tweaks, but this is designed for highly commercial queries where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers,” said Google’s official statement.

Google also confirmed that this change is rolling out to all Google websites in local languages around the globe. However, this no ads on the right comes with 2 exceptions:

Google will still continue to show Product Listing Ad (PLA) Boxes which appear either above or to the right of the search results.
Ads will still be shown in the knowledge panel.
Google mentions that this new update brings the Google Desktop Search much closer to the mobile search which is what Google has been trying to do since the past couple of years.

Since I was unable to check the new update in action on either Google.com or Google.co.in, I tried Google.co.uk and I was greeted with new search results update. Check out the screenshot below and witness the future of Google’s Desktop Search results.

Internet

Snapdeal, India’s 2nd Most Valued Startup, Is Indirectly Firing 200 Employees? Ugly Truths Emerge..

Controversies are refusing to abandon Snapdeal, which is India’s 2nd most valued startup after recently raising $200 million at a valuation of $6.5-7 billion.

After facing major embarrassment over losing a case involving a promise of delivering iPhone for Rs 68 and Aamir Khan fiasco, it is now the dreaded pink slip controversy which is bringing Snapdeal into the limelight, all for wrong reasons.

As per reports emerging, Snapdeal has created a scenario wherein 200 odd customer care executives would be forced to resign from the company in coming days.

In fact, such is the heat generated that Delhi Government has asked its Labor Ministry to enquire into this incident. Hundreds of Snapdeal customer care executives protested outside their Gurgaon office, shouting “We want justice”.

Firing or Performance Improvement Plan?

In an official statement, Snapdeal has said, “The PIP process is expected to cover about 200 team members. As part of the on-going performance management and development programme, some team members at our contact centre have been offered a performance improvement plan (PIP)”

Now, this alleged Performance Improvement Plan also called PIP in BPO or IT industry is sort of a final warning for the employees. The message is clear: Either perform as per the company’s expectations or get fired.

The issue here is, Snapdeal has imposed such a strict PIP that employees are aware that they will be fired in the next 30 days. And such impossible PIP is all that is forcing the employees to protest and to complain against the management.

Impossible Expectations?

As per the employees, Snapdeal has asked the customer care executives to achieve 85% score in customer service rating, else they will face termination. Now, the existing employees are aware that achieving a customer satisfaction score of more than 65% is almost impossible at Snapdeal, as this has been the record till now.

How will the employees boost the ratings to 85%, that too in a single month?

As per a report, one employee has alleged that most of the products sold at Snapdeal are counterfeit; hence achieving 85% customer satisfaction is not possible. (we condemn this claim, as Snapdeal is India’s 2nd most valued startup, and not ‘every’ product can be a counterfeit!)

In the videos shared on social media, employees are asking why Snapdeal hired so recklessly, when they didn’t had any future projections and plans?

Several employees among these 200 who have been issued PIP have already resigned, looking for other jobs, while the rest are protesting against the harsh demands, and have launched campaigns to stop this.

Snapdeal has also issued a statement to ET, wherein they have said, “There have been no firings or layoffs at Snapdeal. Some employees at our Contact Centre, who were not meeting the required performance parameters have been offered a Performance Improvement Plan, which offers such employees 30 days to improve their performance. “

Last year, Snapdeal reported loss of Rs 1319 crore with a revenue of Rs 938 crore.

We will keep you updated as more details come in.

If you are a Snapdeal employee, then do share the truth right here. You can also email us directly; we will keep all information confidential.

Internet

IAMAI Warns That Failure To Bring GST Will Destroy Ecommerce Sector in India – Will GST Pass This Budget Session?

Rs 1 lakh crore worth of Indian ecommerce sector faces extinction in India, if the proposed Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST Bill) is not passed in the Lok Sabha this year. This warning has been issued by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), three days before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will announce the Union Budget 2016-17 in Parliament.

Subho Roy, President of IAMAI has said, “Right now we have 5-6 states troubling the industry, if the GST doesn’t get passed in the Parliament, we will have all issues with all 28-29 states,”

GST Bill is the ‘One Nation One Tax’ proposal, which will replace several layers of taxes which an entrepreneur needs to pay in-order to do business across India. By implementing the GST bill, the whole tax structure can simplify, greater transparency can come in and overall, business sector will improve.

This historical GST Bill has been passed in Rajya Sabha, but is struck in Lok Sabha, where Congress and other opposition parties are demanding some amendments. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already said, that he “hopes” Congress is able to find the advantages of GST Bill, and let it pass.

Glimpse of Troubles Without GST

Without GST, conducting intra-state business is close to walking on fire.

For instance, in UP, ecommerce portals have stopped delivering products which are priced more than Rs 5000, which is bleeding ecommerce sector as 40-50% of orders originate from Tier 2/3 cities.

PayTm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has clearly said on this hard situation, “We have force ourselves to stop delivery in UP, at the end everybody loses,”

Meanwhile in Uttrakhand, Govt. has imposed a ridiculous tax of 10% on ecommerce transactions, which is creating an unfair advantage for local traders.

Last year, Jabong, Flipkart and others were fined Rs 54 crore for tax evasion in Kerala, and this fine came out only because huge confusion exists related to tax structure for ecommerce firms.

The same tax issue erupted in Karnataka as well, where Amazon was fined by Tax authorities as there are no clean cut guidelines. The issue was resolved when Karnataka Govt. intervened, and asked the tax men to go easy.

IAMAI has clearly said that only GST can help the ecommerce industry to become mainstream in India; else, the industry will die.

In a statement, IAMAI said, “GST will help the digital industry business model flourish by providing uniformity in tax rates and regulations across the country. This will help doing business in India easier, allow free-play to market dynamics and allow deeper penetration of these services,”

PM Modi had promised that GST Bill shall be passed by April, 2016 as the focus is on promoting business and entrepreneurship. We hope that a common referendum is held by various political parties, and GST Bill is passed in this budget session.

We will keep you updated as more details come in.

Related: Assocham says GST is the Brahamastra for Indian GDP

Internet

This is How Leap Year Can Ruin a Developer’s Life

he first leap year was introduced with the Julian calendar over 2000 years ago. It wasn’t until 1582, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted, that special rules were applied to omit three leap years every 400 years to account for a small, yet significant time difference between the solar year and the annual calendar.

February 29th presents a perfect trial for developers. It enforces the idea that programmers must take into account rare yet inevitable events in their application testing.

Time has often tested programmers, and rightfully so. There are 40 different global time zones that are often unrelated to a country’s physical location. There are also many unique ways of implementing daylight savings time that further complicate the situation. So when dealing with time, your best bet is to stick with native classes and proven methods for dealing with the irregularities of the clock.

Creating custom solutions can have disastrous results if not tested properly. On December 31, 2008, thousands of Zunes (Microsoft’s failed response to the iPod) bricked almost simultaneously all due to a small, overlooked flaw in logic that trapped each device in an endless loop. In 2012, Microsoft’s integrated cloud platform, Azure, was down for 12 hours due to a leap year bug.

How is it that this one extra day can cause so much trouble? Well, it’s quite simple actually. Most systems account for a 365 day year. If anything is set on up on an annual basis, it counts down from 365 and then repeats itself. But there are 366 days in a leap year. If this isn’t taken into account, events might occur too early on the backend of an application – or not at all. On the front-end, users might be served inaccurate data or become locked out of a system. This is certainly not the experience any developer wants to be responsible for.

A lesser known, yet harder to manage “leap” event is the leap second. The leap second rectifies the differences between atomic time and solar time caused by irregularities in the Earth’s rotation. Unlike the leap year, the leap second does not occur at regular intervals. This poses a serious challenge to developers as leap seconds are only announced six months prior to their occurrence.

The most famous method of dealing with the leap second is Google’s Smear Technique: they distort time on their servers to account for one extra second by adding milliseconds to each second in a 24 hour time period. This ensures that everything remains relative, and they don’t need to have a record that exists at an irregular 61 second mark.

The trials and tribulations of dealing with time are very real, so be cautious. Anomalies in time will break your code, so sticking with open source packages and the best practices that have been proven to work will save you time – and quite a few headaches.

Technology

Set Top Boxes Become Smarter; DTH Players to Introduce Internet Browsing & Apps

With the launch of Netflix in India, DTH(direct-to-home) companies have become slightly more aware of the needs of us customers. Not only are the plans lethargic, the flexibility is also lacking and the connections are not anything to be written about. Doordarshan also recently joined the bandwagon with it’s own FreeDish which aims to provide 112 free channels this year. However, something is still lacking.

Do you have a smart TV at home? If yes, then you probably needn’t worry much and you’re on the right track.

If you said no, then this could be a game changer for you folks. Videocon D2H and Tata Sky are going to come packed with smarter features like internet browsing and interacting with certain applications on your existing TV.

You will not require a smart TV for the same, the DTH subscriber will automatically convert your existing television into a smart television through the smart set top box.

In a statement about the exciting features to come, Saurabh Dhoot, Videocon D2H Executive Chairman, said, “This launch of gen-next HD smart set top box demonstrates our unrivalled expertise and innovation in creation, delivery and execution of technologically advanced products. This product promises to make your existing TV into a smart TV and ensure connectivity with the world. We are enabling convergence of TV, DTH and internet all in one place.”

It was high-time cable operators provided something on the lines of new content through different means, even internet. Netflix in other nations have nearly killed cable television due to the variety of shows and movies one can watch in one place. However, in a sports-loving country like India, cable operators could have an edge since sports are not currently available on Netflix India.

Tata also seemed to be in support of this move and said that there will be no extra costs for these services. The features will be rolled out in the coming months to all subscribers willing to upgrade their service.

This is a wonderful news for television fans and addicts, since it is expected to make your experience even better. Not able to watch anything good on TV? Switch to YouTube and watch something funny. Tired of watching the same old daily soaps? Open Dailymotion and browse through plethora of trailers.

Think about it, at no additional cost your television could become a smart television with the ability to browse internet and interact through separate applications. We could see a similar move from other giants like Airtel Digital, Reliance Digital TV and Sun Direct to enhance their services and move more towards Digital India

Technology

Now get a Temporary Tech Tattoo to Monitor Your Health

Until now we were only aware of a technology wearable on your wrist which could perform a plethora of functions including paying at retail shops and monitoring your health. Little did we know that the world is evolving at such a rapid pace and little tech companies are revolutionizing the way we live.

Chaotic Moon Studios, a technology startup, has designed a temporary tattoo that does exactly the same thing as that of a health monitor. While it is not as advanced, it definitely gives you basic information about heart rate, stress levels, blood pressure and body temperature. Named ‘Tech Tats’, the tattoo consists of LED lights, a micro-controller, and conductive inks to create a circuit board on the skin.

Check out this video that talks more about Tech Tats



While they look like a tattoo, the main purpose of it is still for the benefit of the user for a short amount of time. Such creations are only stepping stones to bigger inventions by surpassing smaller challenges. The data from the tattoo can be transmitted to a digital device to view body vitals and review them.

What Could be Developed in Near Future?

At the moment, these temporary tattoos are still in testing phase and we might have to wait for some time to actually use one, but there can be plenty of possibilities of usage.

I see some really smart uses in hospitals and nursing homes in India to monitor a patients health within minutes without having to go through the protocol. Patients can enter the hospital, get Tech Tats on their body till the time they wait for their appointment and save a lot of time.

Another area where this can work is NFC payments. A temporary tattoo which can attach NFC chip to it and help pay for the customer at a POS will prove to be very convenient. It could generate random digits to verify the customer’s payment and destroy itself after a point of time. Something like using a One time password, only on a tattoo.

Having a waterproof tattoo will also be helpful during workouts or health regimes to calculate daily intake of calories and calories burnt. This will be a boost for a lot of fitness freaks out there and create an overall healthy environment. The tattoos need to be recyclable so as to be environment friendly, a very important need of today.

There are quite a few other startups that are working towards the same goal of making wearable technology smaller and more temporary. This doesn’t add unnecessary inconvenience to a user and can only be used when needed. While the testing phases have started, the day is not too far when we’ll actually be able to use one more efficiently.

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Technology

Cortana for Windows 10 to be Available in India this Month

Microsoft reportedly is all prepped up to release the first ever update to Windows 10, dubbed as the Threshold 2, on November 10. With the update just around the corner, it is anticipated that Cortana will be available to Indian users as well by the end of this month, among the many other improvements. Earlier in July, Microsoft had hinted that Cortana will be coming to 7 countries soon including India.

The most exciting news for Windows 10 users in India is the possibility of using Cortana in English(India) language without having to go through all the workarounds earlier. Considering Cortana was available in select countries before, this comes as a very positive move from Microsoft in India where there are plenty of Windows users. Cortana is one of the best Artificial Intelligence assistant applications right now and it can perform a variety of tasks like sending Emails, responding to your queries, Bing searches, check weather etc.

Earlier scheduled to be released on November 2, the update has been delayed by nearly a week as communicated by a Microsoft Support Engineer. However, recent reports suggest that the fall update could be released on the 10th of this month. Termed as build 10586 for both mobile and desktop, it is expected to bring enhancements to the user interface and experience, Microsoft Edge and Cortana. Microsoft is also expected to launch a new Messaging app based on Skype.

The update will be tried and tested in Microsoft thoroughly before the release so as to give the users a refined end product. With all the bug fixes in pipeline, Microsoft will be making it a recommended update as compared to an optional update which means unless the users turn off automatic updates, the software patches will be downloaded automatically on their Windows systems. This sounds like an aggressive move from Microsoft to make sure the market share of Windows 10 increases all over the world.

Technology

Lenovo Laptops Again Found To Carry Pre-Installed Spywares Which Sends Usage Data To 3rd Party

Lenovo is again in news; and once again, pre-installed, unauthorized spywares have been located in their refurbished laptops.

As per an investigation by Michael Horowitz from Computer World, it was shockingly discovered that some refurbished laptops sold by Lenovo carry a folder called “Lenovo Customer Feedback Program 64”. On closer investigation, it was found that this folder contains suspicious looking files: “Lenovo.TVT.CustomerFeedback.Agent.exe.config, Lenovo.TVT.CustomerFeedback.InnovApps.dll, and Lenovo.TVT.CustomerFeedback.OmnitureSiteCatalyst.dll.”

These files are sending usage activity to Omniture, which is a 3rd party data analytics firm.

These discoveries were made on IBM ThinkPad T420 and T520 refurbished laptops. Michael was able to find these uncalled for files using a Task Manager tool to check CPU usage.

In Lenovo’s Defense: Its Part Of EULA

However, in case one reads the EULA documents for refurbished laptops, Lenovo have clearly stated that they may include some software components, which will send data to Lenovo. The support document on Lenovo’s website says, “Lenovo systems may include software components that communicate with servers on the internet – All ThinkCentre, All ThinkStation, All ThinkPad.”

And some of the files which Lenovo can include are:

Lenovo.TVT.CustomerFeedback.Agent.exe and LenovoExperienceImprovement.exe

But Why 3rd Party Is Receiving The Data?

Even if we disregard the fact that this small clause is buried deep within hundreds of pages of ‘Terms and Conditions’ for using Lenovo refurbished laptops, the main concern is that the end-user is never informed about the working of this back-door information outflow, and that the data is being sent to a 3rd party Analytics firm.

And, the other problem is that the user is not informed how to stop this unauthorized tracking and surveillance of their laptop. Although the EULA document mentions the steps to stop this analytics task, Michael was not able to locate the specific ‘settings’ for the same.

Interestingly, this document was uploaded after the Superfish fiasco which happened earlier this year; and the refurbished laptops investigated were bought last year.

Lenovo’s Earlier Attempts To Track Userdata

This is not the first instance of Lenovo laptops and smartphones being accused to spying on their users. Early this year, Lenovo’s new laptops were found to carry an adware called ‘SuperFish’, which directly influenced browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, and displayed advertisements and pop-ups to the end-user.

Later, Lenovo admitted their mistake, when their CTO Peter Hortensius said, “I have a bunch of very embarrassed engineers on my staff right now. They missed it.”

Early this month, we had reported that pre-installed spyware apps were found on Lenovo smartphones. However, they later issued a statement wherein the blame was put on third party marketplace and middlemen.

This latest discovery of spyware files on refurbished laptops from Lenovo raises fresh concerns for users’ privacy and data protection.

Technology