July 2021 Monthly Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 7     Submission to CCI on extant confidentiality regime IAMAI made a submission to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), highlighting some of the key concerns over proposed amendments made to the latter's confidentiality regulations. The proposed amendments included setting up of 'confidentiality rings' which will comprise the authorised representatives (internal as well as external) of the parties who would be able to review the entire case records in an unredacted form subject to appropriate undertakings against disclosure. The submission maintained that the rule should specify that in normal circumstances the disclosure of identity of the informant should be through the confidentiality ring, and that any disclosure beyond that (usually for reason of lack of bona fides) should be preceded by a right of hearing for the informant to present its case on why its name should not be disclosed. The proposed amendments stated that evidence collected during the course of the investigation, but not used, shall not be shared within the confidentiality ring. In this regard, IAMAI submission argued that such segregation of evidence / documents that may be shared is incorrect. (Link to the regulations) Integration of e-commerce companies' database with NATGRID will breach privacy rights National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has proposed connecting databases from various Providing Organizations (POs) and leverage Information Technology to access, collate, analyse, correlate, predict and provide speedy dissemination of information to Law Enforcement and Intelligence agencies. With respect to this, IAMAI has highlighted that e-commerce platforms, being multi-sided platforms involve data generation of multiple parties - buyers, sellers, logistics providers and the platform itself, sharing of consumer-specific data without the explicit consent of the consumers (outside the ambit of applicable law) is likely to run contrary to the privacy rights of the consumers. Additionally, the data on purchasing trends, user patterns, etc, is an extremely valuable trade secret and are proprietary to several e-commerce entities. Amendments in various sections of Income-Tax Act, 1961 to impact deductors/collectors The Finance Bill 2021 introduced changes in the Tax Deduction at Source (TDS)/Tax Collection at Source (TCS) through; Section 206AA, Section 206AB and Section 206CCA in the Income-Tax Act, 1961 ("TA"). These provisions require payers (in case of TDS) / payees (in case of TCS) to check whether the other party has filed tax return and accordingly do a higher withholding for a person who has not filed income tax return in the last two years and the due date for filing return has expired. In its submission to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), IAMAI highlighted the challenges deductors/collectors may face in complying with the provisions. In the absence of any automated mechanism enabled by the Income-tax department, the deductor/collector would need to manually collect and validate the supporting documents which will significantly increase the compliance burden. The submission urged CBDT to release a utility/functionality/ mechanism for the deductors/collectors similar to the one provided to banks / post offices / SCBs for the purpose of section 194N, for determining the applicability of provisions of section 206AB/206CAA and appropriate TDS / TCS rate / ITR filing status. Submission to UGC on concept note on blended mode of teaching & learning UGC in its draft note had covered important features of Blended Teaching & Learning, covering role of technology, teachers, credit schemes, LMS and evaluations. It also highlighted aspects of synchronous and asynchronous modes of learning and resource development. IAMAI in its submission suggested ways on how to further boost digital content, infrastructure and capacity building, other digital essentials like cloud computing which can match unmatched scalability, agility and security. Comprehensive Gaming Policy needed to realise full potential of gaming sector The Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka has sought the state's response to a PIL about regulating online gaming (Sharada DR v. State of Karnataka, WP 13714/2020) during the hearing held on June 01, 2021. IAMAI in its submission highlighted the progress of the gaming industry, and that why there is a need for a comprehensive gaming policy to fully realise the potential of the sunrise sector. It was requested to the State Government that the distinction between online games of skill, and online games of chance is one that is fundamental, and critical, and therefore due importance to this aspect may be accorded as the government frames their response to the PIL. Through this submission, it was shared that the industry is keen to be a part of a consultative process for devising a regulatory framework. Drop the word 'Addictive' in the disclaimer laid down by ASCI on online gaming Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in its guidelines for online gaming on November 24, 2020, had made it mandatory for gaming companies to use the word 'addictive' in the disclaimer. In this regard, IAMAI stated that the industry in-principle supports the initiative taken by ASCI to protect consumer against any misleading advertisements and welcome the guidelines suggested by it. However, the word 'addictive' is not going well for the gaming industry and gives an image which correlates itself to Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act). Panel Discussion: Location Tech: Enhancing EV Fleet Efficiency with Smart Mobility Solutions | 2nd June, 2021 EV adoption is at a nascent phase but is witnessing an upward trend due to urbanization and smart mobility solutions. The panel discussion revolved around how to enable electric mobility ecosystem, how to integrate charging infrastructure, smart grid solutions and battery hardware. path. Key Speakers: Shatanik Goswami, Director, Deloitte Digital; Abhijit Sengupta, Director and Head of Sales, Southeast Asia and India, Here Technologies; Ashwin Morey, Technical Lead, Meru Mobility Tech; Kartikey Hariyani, Founder & CEO, TecSo Charge Zone; Ramesh Dorairajan, Head - Sales, Marketing and Customer Care, Electric Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors; Rushabh Shah, Co-Founder, Cityflo; Sripriya GN, GM & Head of Product: Vehicle IOT & Data Platform, Ather Energy; Sulaizah Saptoe, APAC Product Marketing Lead, Here Technologies; Vineet Sharma, Founder & CEO, Fleetx.io; Vaibhav Raheja, Director, Napino Auto and Electronics; Yogender Verma, CTO, CarzonRent. Virtual Webinar: Deliver Experiences, Not Services: Unlocking Financial CX | 16th June, 2021 Of late, CX has emerged as the key differentiator across industries. The session discussed the current customer trends, transformation brought about by digitization and most importantly, why speed matters in delivering service experiences. Key Speakers: Ankur Jain, Chief Product Officer, BharatPe; Himanshu Singh, Head of Solution Engineering & Public Sector Growth, Freshworks; Honey Madaan, Senior Vice President - Customer Experience, Airtel Payments Bank; Marcus Terry, Head of Customer Experience Strategy, PhonePe; Rahul Shukla, VP - Engineering, Lendingkart; Harshit Desai, Head of CX, Alliances & Automation, Aditya Birla Finance. Event Pubvision - The Business of Digital Publishing | 25th June, 2021 IAMAI organised the first edition of Pubvision - the largest gathering of digital publishing companies. The one-day conference threw light on how digital media is embracing the changing revenue landscape, tackling fake news and catering to rising subscriber base model. It covered the three important aspects of digital publishing today - Scale, Impact and Sustainability. Key Speakers: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament, Government of India; Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India; Bharat Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Jagran New Media; Puneet Gupt, Chief Operating Officer, Times Internet; Puneet Singhvi, CEO - Digital & President - Corporate Strategy, Network18 Media & Investments; Rajesh Kalra, Executive Chairman, Asianet News Media & Entertainment Pvt Ltd; Salil Kumar,  Chief Executive Officer, TV Today (Digital), among others. Interactive Session - 'Journey of Entrepreneurship' a discussion with students of PDA College of Engineering by Mr Murugan Manoj Kumar, Founder and CEO, Roado | 21st June 2021 The interactive session on 'Journey of Entrepreneurship' was addressed by Mr Murugan Manoj Kumar, wherein he shared his experiences on the exciting and challenging journey of entrepreneurship with students and provided deep insights to them on the topic. Students were provided with detailed insights on entrepreneurial mindset, idea selection, importance of execution, product-market fit. The session was organised with the support of PDA College of Engineering, Startup Karnataka and KITS, Govt. of Karnataka. Interactive Session - 'GTM Strategies' - a session with Madhusudhan P, Director, Catalyst Services | 24th June 2021 The interactive session on GTM strategies was addressed by Mr Madhusudhan P, wherein he interacted with startups and understood the strategies that they focused on and shared the new strategies and terminologies in the business. Also, he gave insights on funding, and how GTM is important for every startup product business. The session was organised with the support of Startup Karnataka and KITS, Govt. of Karnataka. IAMAI Logistics Committee Meeting was held on June 17th, 2021. Founders and representatives from organizations like HERE Technologies, NextBillion.ai, Delhivery, A.P. Moller Maersk, WebXpress, Amazon, Blackbuck, Flipkart, Swiggy, WareIQ, Big Basket, etc, participated in the meeting. Various business and policy related discussions took place at the meeting. The discussions included the possibilities of creating a multi-modal logistics model/ simulations for one of the metro cities, promoting policies and regulations around sustainability in logistics. IAMAI Automation Committee Meeting was held on June 9th, 2021. Representatives from organizations Automation Anywhere, UiPath, Pharynxai, Kryon, Nividous, Zinnov, L&T, PwC, Voxta and Automation Edge participated in the meeting. One of the key discussion pointers was around data localization. The committee looked especially into the B2G perspective, where organisations work with the government on digital transformation projects. They deliberated on how holistic skilling and educational initiatives on automation is imperative for equipping the existing workforce. IAMAI D2C Committee; conducted a session on ESOP Strategy on June 15th, 2021, for the founders of D2C companies and brands from personal care, health & hygiene, electronics, food & beverages, etc. Over 40 founders attended the session and interacted with Kunal Shah, Founder, Cred; Harshil Mathur, Co-Founder, Razorpay; Parampreet Singh Bhasin, Vice President, ChrysCapital; and; Harshu Ghate, Co-Founder and MD, ESOP Direct. The session was moderated by Manish Chowdhary, Co-Founder of WoW Skin Science & co-chair of IAMAI's D2C committee. IoT Committee Meeting was held on June 16th, 2021. Representatives from organizations such as Accenture, Dentsu, PES, Somany, Unlimit and AT&T participated in the meeting. The discussions included regulatory challenges with respect to security aspects of the connected ecosystem; e-SIMs guidelines for M2M; consistent and periodic standardisations and certifications; KYC verifications; and on issues of skilling and training for post-sale services. The participants also discussed gaps that presently exist from a regulator's perspective when it comes to creating regulations and policies for the connected devices ecosystem.