May 2021 Monthly Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 5     RBI extends timeline to comply with processing of e-mandates notification The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the implementation timeline by six months for processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions. Payments Council of India (PCI) has made a wide number of suggestions to various government bodies on the issue of timeline extension for complying to the notification on processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions. PCI noted that the infrastructure requirements for the payments companies were not met by the issuer banks and hence, industry wide compliance to these guidelines was not possible till the proposed timeline of 31st March, 2021. It had also reached out to multiple government bodies with the request for providing additional time to payment companies to comply with these guidelines. Submission to RBI on the principle-based tokenization solutions to be implemented by industry in lieu of the storage of card details After extensive discussions and multiple submissions by Payment Council of India (PCI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the timeline by six months for complying with the storage of customer card data restrictions as mentioned in its Guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways. In its guidelines, RBI also advised the participants to put in place workable solutions, such as tokenization, to support the smooth functioning of the ecosystem. In this regard, PCI submitted its suggestions on the principle-based solutions that would cover the benefits of tokenization. It requested the RBI to release its guidelines for a similar uniform set of principles that the industry can look at while implementing its individual solutions. FCC sets up committee to oversee technical aspects in compliance with regulatory practices IAMAI’s Fintech Convergence Council has formed a new committee to cater to the technical aspects in compliance with the regulatory practices of the fintech and payments ecosystem. The mandate of the committee would be to oversee the technical aspects of the existing and emerging regulations. It also looks to support the government with technical inputs in the Data Protection Bill, submitting suggestions around evolving technologies while proposing regulations, etc. The first committee meeting was organized on 16th April 2021. Government Engagement on IT rules, 2021 IAMAI has facilitated fruitful dialogue between the government and social media intermediaries on IT rules, 2021. IAMAI will be taking these engagements forward. Submission on exempting licensing requirements for healthcare devices IAMAI made a representation to the Ministry of Health and Family welfare for exempting licensing requirements for the sellers of thermometers, nebulizers, glucometers and BP monitoring machines. Considering the excessive burden on the public health infrastructure, IAMAI found that it was imperative to allow liberalised sale of devices which allow treatment and monitoring at home. IAMAI's submission cited the safety of citizens who are dependent on these devices as well as the burden on the medical fraternity, particularly in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Submission to Ministry of Home Affairs on E-commerce restrictions IAMAI has urged the government to remove the arbitrary and subjective distinctions between essential and non-essential items imposed by various state government. Local restrictions imposed on the movement of goods is creating problems for the inter-state and intra-state movement of goods. It suggested that the government should issue advisory to allow free movement of goods and allow the movement of goods without e-passes. Interactive Session on "Let’s Go To Market!", by Rahul Mohandas, Co-founder, WeAreProduct & Vishal Desai, Co-Founders, WeAreProduct, on 1st April 2021. The session was organised with an aim to provide understanding on GTM strategies and identify key factors that can drive adoption, the role of key players in the value chain and implementing effective feedback mechanisms. The session was attended by IAMAI Mobile10x incubatee startups and many other growing startups of the country.  "How to make your start up Investable" session, by G Ramasubramanian (Subbu), General Partner, Sirius One Capital Fund, on 15th April 2021.  The session was primarily focused on providing understanding of fundamentals of investments.  The investments are integral part of a startup’s lifecycle.  During the discussions, Mr Ramasubramanian gave detailed insights on the principles which are to be followed in order to make a startup investment ready. "CX Transformation– Enable seamless omni-channel experiences with mobile identity" session held on 15th April 2021. The session saw discussion around -- how smartphones have become a necessity, rather than a luxury in today’s modern world with most of the information now available 24x7 on the go. Infobip was the partner for the session. The speakers joining the session were: Aliasgar Bhopalwala, Product Sales Expert (SaaS)-India, Bangladesh, Nepal & Sri Lanka, Infobip; Ankit Goel, VP & Head Engineering- Digital Enterprise Business, Airtel X Labs; Aparna Thomas, Enterprise Sales Manager, Infobip; Anand Dubey, Head- Marketing, Mahindra Finance; Ankush Mehra, Head- Digital & Ecommerce, AirAsia India; Priyang Agarwal, Director- Marketing & Growth, 1mg; Sanjay Singh, Sr Vice President, Paytm "CX Transformation Thursday -- Redefining engagement with RCS business messaging for a connected customer experience" session held on 22nd April 2021. Rich Communication Service (RCS) is a successor to SMS, offering rich features of a mobile app in a messaging environment, with a response rate up to 150 % higher than SMS. This statistic becomes even more compelling as we consider that 49% of consumers have made impulse purchases as a result of a more personalized customer experience. The discussion took place around -- How do you get a powerful engine that can drive engagement and conversion through the messages? The partner for the session was Infobip. Speakers joining us for the session were: Ajay Dhyani, Head- Marketing & Ecommerce, Timex Group; Ashish Mithal, Partnerships lead for Communications Products, Google; Nitish Narayanan, Senior Presales Engineer, Infobip; Pravu Sahoo, Cluster Digital Director - South India, Hyatt Hotels Corporation; Sakshi Chadha, Head- Marketing & Communication, Pay Back; Shankar Iyer, Head - Customer Success, Infobip; Shradha Thapa, Solution Sales Expert, Infobip "CX Trends 2021: Spotlight on CX in the New Economy" session held on 22nd April 2021. In the digital economy, buying is an experience, not just a transaction, and as customers look for innovative digital experiences from the brands, they do business with, those same brands and seek emerging and maturing technologies to deliver the personalized and contextualized experiences that customers expect. The partner for the session was Zendesk. Speakers joining us for the session were: Anant Saurabh, Global Head Digital Transformation, Tata Technologies; Aneesh Chaudhry, CDO, HUL & VP Analytics, Technology & Business Services (South Asia), Unilever; Arvind Mohan, Head - Client Experience, Delhivery; Ashok Cherian, Chief Information Officer, Page Industries Ltd; Deepak Kishanchand, Head – IT, South Asia and Middle East, Levi Strauss & Co, Jayateerth Mirji, VP - Technology, TeamLease; KT Prasad, MD & RVP, India & SAARC, Zendesk; Rishi Aurora, Partner and Leader- Strategy & Interactive Services, IBM India & South Asia; Sanjay Jambhale, VP & Head - Practice & Delivery, Digital Experience Services & Solutions, Zensar Technologies; Sudeep Dey, Head Analytics, Applications & IT Operations, Fortis Healthcare; Tejaswini Parmar, Enterprise Account Manager, Zendesk; Udayvir Singh Bhadouria, Vice President - Customer Services, Amdocs; Vishal Argekar, General Manager & IT Head - India Business, Lupin India "CX Trends 2021: The Digital Tipping Point" session held on 28th April 2021. Being digital-first and, in many cases, digital-only meant companies had to rapidly acquire new technologies to reach customers and connect remote teams and while companies work within their resources to adopt new technologies and processes, there’s a risk of falling behind higher performing peers as customer expectations rise. The speakers for the session were Khillan Haria, VP - Product Management, Razorpay; Puneet Gupta, SVP Technology & Head of Engineering, HomeLane; Vibhav Viswanathan, VP - Products Management, MPL; Saraswati Chandra, Head of Product Development, Classklap; Rupendra Nigam, Head - IT (VP), Spykar Lifestyles; Nikhil Joy, Head of Products, Zest Money; Nithin Chandra, SVP – Product & Engineering, NestAway Technologies; Yeshas Prasad, Head - Commercial Business, Zendesk