NASSCOM-Akamai Technologies report showcases how internet is changing India

The National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) today launched “The Future of Internet in India” report in partnership with Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), a global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services. The study was researched and created by YourStory.com, a leading media platform for entrepreneurship, in collaboration with Nasscom and with supporting data from Akamai and other sources. The report, launched by Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM and Dr. Tom Leighton, Co-founder, CEO Akamai Technologies, aims to understand the impact of the Internet on the way we live, learn, work, shop and connect; and focuses on the future trends that will change the landscape of India by 2020.

NASSCOM-Akamai Technologies report

Speaking at the launch, Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM stated that, “India’s Internet consumption has already exceeded USA to become No. 2 globally. Keeping into consideration the massive impact that the Internet is creating across sectors, it has become the greatest disruptor of our age by changing the way we work, interact socially and live life in general. By 2020, the Internet is expected to penetrate deeper in the hinterlands of the country, helping to create more opportunities for everyone.”

Predicts ~730 million users in India by 2020 and growth of Internet in verticals such as Hospitality, e-Commerce, Financial Technologies, among others

“The rapid growth of the Internet and its expansion into verticals including e-Commerce, Travel and Hospitality, Public Sector, Financial Technology and Media is a clear indication of the state of things to come,” said Mr. Chandrashekhar.

According to the report, India’s Internet user base is the second largest after China. Globally, the number of Internet users is expected to touch 4170 million by 2020[1]. The growth of the Internet has successfully created a strong ecosystem for new businesses to tap into growing markets and create solutions to address their demands.

“The start-up ecosystem in India, coupled with the government’s initiatives make the Internet accessible to every citizen across the country, is helping India set the stage to enable large numbers of ‘netizens’ to reap the benefits of the Internet. With the rise of digital natives and the increased adoption of smartphones, Internet penetration in India will stretch beyond the large cities, as more services and devices come online. This is also a great opportunity for enterprises to harness the power of the Internet to innovate and scale operations,” said Mr. Sidharth Malik, Vice President and Managing Director, India, Akamai Technologies.

Online shopping will account for two-thirds of the total e-Commerce market, edging out travel

According to the report, the overall e-Commerce market in India was valued $17 billion in FY 2016, and by 2020, India will have an estimated 702 million smart phones in use and mobile phones will emerge as the preferred device for shopping, accounting for 70% of total online shopping. The fashion and lifestyle segment will emerge as the largest e-tailing category with a 35% contribution to e-Commerce GMV by 2020, overtaking the consumer electronics segment which dominates the sales of Indian e-Commerce industry at present.

50% of travel transactions to be online by 2020

Travel across India, for social visits, leisure, shopping and holidays is all set to increase and more people will be booking online, taking advantage of competitive pricing offered by online travel agents (OTAs) and aggregators. An increasing amount of user-generated content online (views on social media, reviews on websites, etc.) is driving aspirational travel, tipping the scales in favour of trips that were once only contemplated, never undertaken.

Media and OTT – All moving online, one app at a time

The availability of affordable smartphones and tablets has encouraged the second screen phenomenon. With the rapid adoption of smartphones and next generation networks, content consumption patterns and consumer engagement channels are rapidly evolving. Even in its nascent phase, the video-on-demand (VOD) market is highly competitive in India.

Financial technology – Disrupting the way India pays online

Fintech is disrupting financial services and is likely to have far more widespread impact on society and the Indian economy, both directly and indirectly. The fintech software market within this was pegged at $1.2 billion (13-15%[2]). The remaining 87% focus on services, primarily in payments (60% of the market, including ATM/Point of Sale [PoS]) and core banking services. Overall, according to the report, India’s fintech market is expected to grow 1.7x between 2015 and 2020. While cash-on-delivery may remain the preferred mode of payment for newer users, keep in mind that use of mobile banking and e-wallets is surging.

The future is bright but there is a greater need to collaborate

In times to come, while mobile will be a key access device, larger devices will continue to be important in areas like education and business. Multiple stakeholders will need to work in tandem to bring the next generation of Internet users (rural based, mobile centric, local language focused) online in India. Further, with digital connectivity, the risk of cyber-crimes also increases. With multitudes of people using e-Commerce and transacting online, there is a huge need for technologies that can prevent data theft. India is witnessing a huge demand for security professionals (technologists and analysts, alike). In line with these growing demands, security has become one of the key focus areas for NASSCOM Sector Skills Council, working towards creating the right cybersecurity skill sets for Indian IT professionals.

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 2100 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPO services, e-Commerce and web services, engineering services and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 3.5 million professionals.

About Akamai®

As a global leader in Content Delivery Network (CDN) services, Akamai makes the Internet fast, reliable and secure for its customers. The company's advanced web performance, mobile performance, cloud security and media delivery solutions are revolutionizing how businesses optimize consumer, enterprise and entertainment experiences for any device, anywhere. To learn how Akamai solutions and its team of Internet experts are helping businesses move faster forward, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

Genpact Social Impact Fellowship Launches in Partnership With EdelGive Foundation

Genpact (NYSE: G), a global leader in digitally-powered business process management and services, today announced the launch of the Genpact Social Impact Fellowship (GSIF) in partnership with EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic division of Edelweiss Group. Designed as a one-year program to work on high-impact projects in India, Genpact has hand-picked seven fellows who will bring all their expertise in process excellence to work with NGOs for generating social impact.

Genpact Social Impact Fellowship

“GSIF is a game-changing initiative. Our objective is to build lasting social organizations that can scale in the communities we are part of globally. Creating sustainable social impact has always been our focus. We bring our areas of strength and our capabilities to these social organizations that have a great vision, mission and passion, and when leveraged with our process expertise and execution experience sets them up to scale up,” said NV ‘Tiger’ Tyagarajan, President and CEO, Genpact.

Extending Genpact’s core competency of process excellence to the social sector, the one-year fellowship program has seven fellows deployed on projects with four NGOs

Working in the area of education with NGOs like Teach for India, Kaivalya Education Foundation and Udayan Care will be seven fellows, including a senior resource with advanced quality certification to improve process capability and help design smarter solutions. They will be deployed on projects ranging from improving instructional hours in government schools to creating blueprints for scaling up a scholarship and mentoring program for meritorious but underprivileged girls.

With mentorship from top leaders all through the journey, fellows will work on the ground to solve for the respective NGOs’ challenges and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their projects. “The ability to make a meaningful impact on the not-for-profit sector without a dent on your corporate career is what is truly special about GSIF. We have many examples at Genpact of process expertise making immense impact on companies. We’re committed to the idea of using our core competencies as an organization to make a real difference to the social sector,” said Sasha Sanyal, SVP – Strategy and Lean Digital Transformation, Genpact.

Having received over a hundred applications from talented and passionate people belonging to various organizations, the pilot batch was put together as a collaborative exercise between Genpact and EdelGive Foundation. “Traditionally, organizations in the social sector have had to face challenges not only around funding, but also around scaling up and organization development. The Genpact Social Impact Fellowship was conceptualized to provide such much needed support by combining the philanthropic expertise of EdelGive with Genpact’s Lean Six Sigma proficiency,” said Naghma Mulla, COO, EdelGive Foundation.

The open fellowship program invites applications from interested people from all backgrounds with a demonstrated passion for social impact. Genpact aims to develop GSIF into a successful, scalable program that can serve as a model for many other organizations wanting to make a lasting difference in the social sector.

About EdelGive Foundation

Established in 2008, EdelGive Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Edelweiss Group, one of India's leading diversified financial services conglomerates providing a broad range of financial products and services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, institutions and individuals. Since its inception, EdelGive has worked towards being a bridge between the users and providers of philanthropic capital and knowledge by bringing the skills, resources and talents of the for- profit world to the not- for- profit arena. This is complemented by well- planned employee engagement initiatives wherein each of our employees is motivated to contribute with their expertise and in turn help the non- profits by guiding them for capacity building projects and financial aid.

About Genpact

Genpact (NYSE: G) stands for “generating business impact.”  We are a global leader in digitally-powered business process management and services. We architect the Lean Digital^SM enterprise through our patented Smart Enterprise Processes (SEP^SM) framework that reimagines our clients’ operating model end-to-end, including the middle and back offices.  This creates Intelligent Operations^SM that we help design, transform, and run. The impact on our clients is a high return on transformation investments through growth, efficiency, and business agility. For two decades, first as a General Electric division and later as an independent company, we have been passionately serving our clients. Today, we generate impact for a few hundred strategic clients, including approximately one-fifth of the Fortune Global 500, and have grown to over 70,000 people in 25 countries, with key offices in New York City. The resulting business process and industry domain expertise and experience running complex operations are a unique heritage and focus that help us drive the best choices across technology, analytics, and organizational design.For additional information, visit www.genpact.com. Follow Genpact on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

NASSCOM welcomes passage of GST Amendment Bill

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) welcomes the government’s initiative to bring in structural changes to the tax regime in India through the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill. The bill is aimed at addressing issue of multiple levies and its cascading effect, ushering in destination-based taxation, simplify compliances and provide for effective dispute resolution mechanisms in a time-bound manner.

The GST regime has over the years promised to subsume multiple levies, and remove cascading effect of taxes, prevalent on businesses so far. The GST constitutional amendment bill passage would now pave way for the enactment of the GST law in the centre and the states. As details are worked out in the next few months, it will have a positive impact for the country in the long term.

Citing his opinion on the GST constitutional amendment bill, Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM stated that, "The passage of the amendment bill will unarguably usher in the most impactful tax reform this country has seen. The services industry at large was administered under a single authority in the centre under the Service Tax regime. The simplicity and certainty that it offered needs to be emulated in the GST law that States and Centre adopt subsequently. The new tax regime should also be future ready and cater to the needs of the emerging digital economy in the country."

Recommends Government–Industry collaborative approach to address implementation and administrative challenges in Model GST Law

The draft GST model law, currently in public domain, requires close collaboration between Industry and Government to ensure that the GST regime lives upto the expectations, including not only maintaining but enhancing the competitiveness of technology products, services and the internet sector. While several provisions like time bound processes, clarity on electronic download classifications etc. are in line with the larger objective of ensuring ease of business, there are several concerns that need to be addressed.

Mr. CP Gurnani, Chairman NASSCOM and CEO & MD, Tech Mahindra, stated that "We congratulate the government and all parties for collaborating together and ensuring passage of the GST Amendment Bill. The industry has been discussing challenges related to multiple registrations in each state and associated complexities that may arise in the GST regime. We are confident that given the Government’s commitment to ease of doing business, we will be able to address the industry concerns in totality."

New age businesses like ecommerce and online aggregators are changing the way business is done and bringing in previously unheard of efficiencies.

Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Chairman, NASSCOM Internet Council and Executive Vice Chairman, Infoedge, said "The GST regime should adapt to these changes with an eye on the future. However, apprehensions prevail on the administrative requirements that could potentially render internet enabled businesses uncompetitive. We believe this is not the intent of the Government and will work closely with Revenue officials towards enabling a simple and enabling GST regime for all."
A quick analysis of the positives and concern areas of the GST Bill are listed below:

Positive Impact of GST Amendment Bill

• Subsumes multiple levies
• Clarifies taxation of electronic downloads
• Robust technology framework for implementation bringing in transparency and process simplification
• Provisions for time bound processes
• Simple, efficient and transparent indirect tax regime is widely expected to accelerate overall growth of GDP in the country with spinoff benefits for all sector including IT-BPM

Key Issues that need to be addressed

• Companies engaged in the supply of services on a pan-India basis, will have to seek registrations in 37 jurisdictions (29 States + 7 Union territories with legislature + Central Government).
• Place of supply provisions may require multiple invoicing for services delivered under single contract if services are delivered from various offices/ centers of the same entity
• Valuation of services can potentially lead to disputes and litigations, leading to Transfer pricing like situation for intra company supplies and will necessarily require refunds.
• Export competitiveness of the IT sector could be impacted due to
• Complex billing and invoicing requirements due to place of supply and valuation
• Reverse charge of GST on import of services used as input for services that are exported, can lead to locking in working capital
• For SEZ units, which were permitted upfront exemptions, there is now no provision for upfront exemptions, and it will necessarily require application for refunds.
• The provision mandating “tax collection at source” for transactions on third-party ecommerce market place are discriminatory and can potentially render such ecommerce marketplace unviable. Moreover, this is likely to negate the beneficial impact of e-commerce on lakhs of small businesses in the country by compelling them to seek refunds compounding their working capital problems.

As deliberations on administration and implementation progress, concerns are emerging on the specific language of the model law and its interpretations. However, this does not in any way undermine the importance and the urgency of ushering in the GST reform. We are confident that the government will look into the specific issues raised by the industry and find mutually acceptable resolutions to the issues.

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM^® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 2100 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of technology products and services, BPM, Engineering R&D, Internet and Ecommerce and startups. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 3.7 million professionals.