Also in the letter:
■ Acko prepares life insurance product
■ Green shoots appear in IT contracting
■ Micropayments: the Internet 'bag' moment
Indian Crypto Bettors Flock To Binance To Trade Using Rupees
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is allowing users in India to trade using rupees — either through online fund transfers from national bank accounts, or using services like GPay, or even physical cash delivery.
driving the news: This is a case where an offshore stock exchange is pretty much equalizing local and foreign traders even though the payment is settled here in rupees. Binance simply acts as a neutral third party, providing a sort of 'escrow' facility for the transfer of crypto assets.
Binance holds the user's cryptocurrency, and when the buyer and seller agree to an exchange, the latter has time to move the money. Once the seller confirms, the assets are released.
Break the rules? The transactions are known to have attracted the attention of regulators in India. Technically, while Binance may not be strictly breaking any Indian laws, local traders are likely breaking foreign exchange and money laundering regulations.
deeper details: A fortnight ago, the local cryptocurrency and digital asset industry shared a video with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), demonstrating a cryptocurrency exchange on Binance using an Indian digital wallet to make payment in rupees.
The local crypto industry: stifled by high taxes and the absence of banking services Fearing a backlash from the RBI, he hopes the video will draw regulatory and government attention to transactions that flout rules imposed by New Delhi and the central bank.
Read also | The bust of the cryptocurrency boom
Video of the Binance trade was shared with RBI officials shortly after industry body Bharat Web3 Association petitioned the central bank to allow UPI/payment services to resume for the VDA (virtual digital asset) sector.
Between quotation marks: “Someone can sell cryptocurrency from a wallet open with Binance. Nobody gets to know. Taxes are not paid, but trade continues. Some of the transactions are quite large,” a trader told us.
Gamespotting: MeitY receives three applications to form SRO
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technologies (MeitY) has received at least three proposals for the formation of independent self-regulatory organizations (SROs) for online gaming. The latest of these was submitted just before the July 6 deadline.
Who is who? The latest proposal to establish an SRO is from the non-profit Esports Players Welfare Association (EPWA). He follows two others already presented at MeitY, one of which is a grouping backed by two gaming industry associations, the E Gaming Federation (EGF) and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS). The other submission was made by a self-regulator backed by the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF).
The Guardians: According to the rules of the online game, the SRO must be incorporated as a legal entity under Section 8 of the Companies Act. Its members will include a person with experience in the online gaming industry; another with experience in promoting the interests of players; an educator; a mental health expert; an expert in information and communication technologies; a current or former member of an organization dealing with children's rights; an expert in public policy, law enforcement, or public finance; and any other person approved by the government.
the way to follow: An IT ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed receiving the applications and said the government would soon take a call to determine whether they comply with the new rules. “If an SRO is not notified in time, the rules provide for MeitY to step in and certify the games as allowed or not allowed,” the official said.
In April, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, had said that the government initially plans to notify only three SROsand depending on your workload, you will consider notifying more at a later time.
Life insurance ready for disruption as Acko prepares product
Varun Dua, Founder and CEO of Acko
India's life insurance space is ripe for a new player after nearly a decade as the startup Acko prepares to launch its first product in the next two months. The last time a new life insurance company was licensed was in 2011.
New kid in the neighborhood: Bangalore-based insurance startup Acko is in the final stages of launching its first life product in August or September. “It will be a pure term life product, aimed at customers who are comfortable buying products online,” said a person familiar with the matter. Acko has hired Amit Tiwari, a former Amazon India executive, to run his life insurance business.
Easy peasy: Acko might be looking for a simple and easy to understand term insurance product where there is no money back, just the sum insured in the event of an early death.
“The thinking at the company is simple: the future is online, the next generation of consumers will be looking for products online, and that's where Acko wants to be. Even if that means growth is slow, Acko's management team is comfortable with a steady but slower growth curve. But he intends to build a direct relationship with the customer," the sources said.
waiting to be interrupted: The share of the life insurance business in India (76%) is much larger than the P&C space. With $96 billion in premiums collected for the life business, this is indeed a huge market, which has only grown since Covid. There is also increased awareness of term insurance products.
Green shoots appear in IT hiring, mandates up 10% in July
After months of slowdown in technology hiring, the IT sector has started to see some green shoots indicating a rebound in demand in the next quarter.
What's happening? Staffing companies have flagged good news for the industry, as data shows there has been a 10% increase in hiring requirements in July compared to last month.
expert opinion: "IT services are expected to open up to some degree this quarter. This is because recruitment has been on the back burner for quite some time and utilization levels have peaked at over 80-85%," said Sunil C, CEO of Team Lease Digital.
Saravanan Balasundaram, chief executive of staffing firm Handigital, said the current surge in demand has only started in the last two to three weeks and will likely result in deals only in the October-December quarter.
why does it matter? The increase in demand is led by companies with better demand visibility. Despite the rebound, the recovery rate remains slower than anticipated.
Micropayments: the Internet 'bag' moment
Whether it is paying 10 dollars for an online tarot card reading, or 50 for an online game, or offering Rs 30 on a temple website, UPI-enabled micropayments are powering new-age users to consume a variety of services on the Internet. This route can lead to great business.
Mic what? Micropayments are small transactions that can cost as little as Rs 10. In this way, applications can offer users exclusive features or access to specific content at an affordable price. Platforms also take advantage of micropayments to build trust by allowing users to test the product before committing to a larger transaction.
Micro-money: Apps like Pocket FM and Astrotalk rely heavily on micropayments. But it's not just apps that deliver content and services that are benefiting from the rise of micropayments. Microinvestment platforms like Deciml and Jar are also riding the micropayment wave.
Beyond the ads: Developers see micropayments as a revenue-generating opportunity outside of subscriptions and ads. They feel that having flexible payment options gives them the freedom to test unique options and whether they are in line with audience preferences.
Other featured stories from our reporters
Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari resigns: Anant Maheshwari, President of Microsoft India has resigned from his position and will be leaving the company to pursue other interests. The company confirmed Maheshwari's departure in a statement. This comes amid a shakeup among top-level executives at the software company.
Take a look at the lock screen content in regional languages: A larger number of users of the Glance lock screen platform are consuming content in regional languagesand its share is growing quarter-over-quarter, a senior official at mobile advertising giant InMobi told ET.
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