SAMACHAR-MAY, 2022  
 
 
India Edtech Consortium Meeting with AICTE Chairman, Vice Chairman
Representatives of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) along with twelve members from the India Edtech Consortium (IEC) and its Edutech Committee met with Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, and Mr. MP Poonia, Vice Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on May 9, 2022. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the initiatives taken by AICTE.

The AICTE chairman acknowledged that IEC was aligned with the government's vision. He added that the formation of this self-regulatory body was an important step towards protecting learners as more and more students, teachers and stakeholders were becoming a part of the online education ecosystem. Dr. Sahasrabudhe pointed out that institutions with national ranking had the opportunity to tie-up with foreign institutions for academic and research collaboration.

Members of the India Edtech Consortium (IEC) and Edutech Committee with Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman AICTE (Front row: 5th from left) and Mr. MP Poonia, Vice Chairman, AICTE (Front row: 3rd from left)
 
 
Healthtech Committee Submission to NHA
The IAMAI Healthtech Committee, on May 1, 2022, submitted to the National Health Authority (NHA) a set of recommendations on various aspects of the "Consultation Paper on Drug Registry", which was released earlier by the NHA. The consultation paper had proposed a framework for a centralized database for drugs, distributed, manufactured, and sold across India, and the NHA had invited recommendations on the paper. Following are the highlights of the recommendations submitted by the IAMAI Healthtech Committee:
  1. The scope of drug attributes should be broadened. 
  2.  Additional stakeholders should be considered for value/risk analysis of drug registry.
  3. Additional regulatory bodies should be considered for conducting data verification.
  4. The database should be encrypted.
  5. Additional drug terminology standards should be considered.
  6. The mandatory frequency of certification of the drugs by the drug manufacturers should be Increased.
  7. Possible risks of self-certification process
  8. Liability of inaccuracy of data
  9. Self-certification approach should have a maker-checker process.
  10. There should be incentives for stakeholders to provide data.
 
 
Representation to CBIC Commissioner's Office
IAMAI had made a representation and submitted a document, prepared with support of EY, to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Commissioner's office in April seeking clarification on the impact of GST for Gift Cards and Vouchers. Following this representation, the CBIC Commissioner's office approached IAMAI with certain queries regarding the representation. In view of this a follow- up document was sent to them in May, providing clarity on those queries. With the support of EY, a working group is also following up to have the matter taken up in the Law Committee and keep all the members informed of the issue.
 
 
Gift Card and Voucher Committee Meeting
IAMAI conducted a Gift Card and Voucher Committee meeting with members who are involved with the gift card and voucher industry. Issues discussed at the meeting included updates on the GST issue, various areas of support on TDS queries, cross border transactions and opportunities for business development of the industry. As a follow- up, IAMAI is working with EY to gain clarity on TDS and cross border issuance topics with a view to brief the members on the same.
 
 
Suggestions to MeitY on Strategy to Widen Digital Payments in India
In view of a request from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asking for views on building a long-term strategy for widening digital payments in the country, the Payments Council of India (PCI) worked with its members to prepare and submit a set of suggestions to the MeitY. The suggestions focussed on further adoption of digital payments, targeting untapped markets/ segments/ sectors / population as well as taking other initiatives that could boost the growth of the overall digital payments' ecosystem.
 
 
PCI Meetings on RBI Master Directions on Card Issuance
PCI held meetings with members to discuss the recently issued RBI Master Directions on card issuance. The objective PCI's engagement with the members is to obtain feedback and prepare a representation on the RBI Master Directions. These RBI guidelines aim to protect the interests of customers, enhance transparency, and pave the way for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to enter the credit card business.
 
 
BACC Representation to CBDT
Block Chain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) submitted a representation to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), New Delhi, on the implementation of 30 percent tax on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs).
 
 
BACC Representation to CBIC
BACC submitted a representation to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), New Delhi, highlighting the challenges with implementation of 28 percent GST on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs).
 
 
Meeting with Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
BACC organized a meeting between industry representatives and the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in Bengaluru. The meeting discussed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines with respect to Virtual Assets (VAs) and how could the industry meet the risk-challenges mentioned in the FATF guidelines.
 
 
Digital Advertising Council Meeting
IAMAI organised a virtual meeting of the Digital Advertising Council meeting on May 6, 2022. The meeting was chaired by Mr Anant Goenka, Executive Director, Indian Express and Mr Tushar Vyas, President, GroupM-South Asia, the co-chair.

Mr. Goenka highlighted the growth of digital marketing as a sector. He pointed out that digital spends were garnering a big chunk of the total marketing spends by brands. For publishers, he underlined the importance of credibility. Mr. Vyas spoke on the four pillars under which the Digital Advertising Council should focus its efforts: Tech, Terms, Trust and Talent.
 
 
BNPP Subcommittee Meeting
The Billing and Payment Process (BNPP) Subcommittee organised the monthly meeting of IAMAI and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) members, on May 2, 2022, to clear outstanding payments to publishers. The meeting was hosted virtually.
 
 
VC Committee Meetings on Angel Fund Structure
The Venture Capital Committee conducted a number of one-on-one virtual meetings with various angel funds and angel networks to obtain feedback on the angel fund structure and the issues being faced by angel investors.
 
 
Voice for Bharat
The Voice Committee, as part of the Digital Transformation Council, hosted the first ever Voice for Bharat Conference on May 17, 2022 at Sahara Star, Mumbai. The event, which had parallel physical and virtual tracks, covered different aspects of the digital voice technology and its adoption. Topics of discussion included conversational AI, voice-based Ad tech, the rise of audio content in the form of podcasts and other streaming contents and voice-based customer engagement.

A report titled ‘Evolution of Voice Technology, the Next Revolution in User Interaction’ prepared jointly by IAMAI and PwC was launched at the event. The report traces the journey of voice assistants and how businesses have started to leverage voice technology. It also talks about barriers to voice tech adoption and some key considerations for India in the industry.

The Chingaari Audio app was also launched at the conference.

Industry stalwarts such as Mr. Sumit Srivastav, Partner & Leader-Intelligent Automation, PwC; Mr. Sreeraman Thiagarajan, Co-founder & CEO, Agrahyah; Mr. Arpanarghya Saha, Chief Digital Officer, Nippon India Mutual Fund; Dr. Sanjay Arora, Group Medical Director, Dr Lal PathLabs; Mr. Pritesh Y. Chothani, Co-founder & CEO, HiVoco Education & Learning; Mr. Daniel Hulme, Chief Ai Officer at WPP; Mr. Tushar Vyas, President - GroupM- South Asia; Ms. Deepali Naair, CMO IBM India & South Asia; Mr. Shitiz Modi, GTM Lead Google India; Mr. Simon Dunlop, CMO Instreamatic and Mr. Alex Sirdoux, CEO, Respeecher, addressed the conference.

Mr. Sumit Srivastav, Partner & Leader-Intelligent Automation, PwC in conversation with Mr. Sreeraman Thiagarajan, Co-founder & CEO, Agrahyah Technologies in course of the launch of the report, 'Evolution of Voice Technology, the Next Revolution in User Interaction'.
 
 
Karnataka IT Minister Visits Ktech Innovation Hub Mobile10x, Bengaluru
Dr. Ashwath Narayan, Minister, Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, visited the IAMAI workspace, Ktech Innovation Hub Mobile 10x, Bengaluru, and interacted with all the start-ups on their products and solutions. On behalf of IAMAI Sandeep Jhingran briefed the Minister about the Mobile10x program activities.
 
 
Founders Network Meet at Bengaluru
'Founders Network' meet was held on May 13, 2022, at the Ktech Innovation Hub Mobile 10x, Bengaluru, providing an opportunity to start-up founders to network and resolve their problems. Mr. Anish Basu Roy, co-founder and CEO, TagZ Foods, Mr. Ayush Pateria, co- founder and CEO, Snazzy and Ms. Deepshika Yadav, Founder, World We Desire, addressed the meet. The session was organized with the support of Echai Ventures, Startup Karnataka and KITS, Government of Karnataka.
 
 
Virtual Interactive Session on 'Financial Management at Early Stages'
A virtual interactive session on "Financial Management at Early Stages" was held on May 19, 2022. The session was addressed by Mr. Mandar Gupte, founder and director, Bloom Business Consultants. The programme was organized with the support of Startup Karnataka and KITS, Government of Karnataka.
 
 
Developers Meet at Bengaluru
Developers Meet was held on May 27, 2022, at the Ktech Innovation Hub Mobile 10x, Bengaluru. The meet was addressed by Mr. Febin John James, cofounder, Thars, Mr. Siddhant Agarwal, DevRel Lead, Open, and Mr. Prabhat Sahu, founder, Sawo Labs. The session was organized with the support of Echai Ventures, Startup Karnataka and KITS, Government of Karnataka.
 
 
Product Demo Day at Koramangala
The Product Demo Day was held on May 28, 2022, at the Whatfix Towers, Koramangala, Bengaluru. One of the incubated start-ups was given an opportunity to showcase its product to a large audience. This session was addressed by Mr. Khadim Bhatti , co-founder, Whatfix, Mr. Aniketh MJ, AVP-Investments, Ideaspring Capitals, Mr. Bindy Eswara Reddy, principal, Rebright Partners, Mr. Deepak Agarwal, Principal, Dexter Capital, Mr. Deeepanshu Pattanayak, Early Stage Investor, BCapital Group, and Mr. Ravi Srivastava, Partner, Leo Capital.