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Nationwide groups exploit big-tech platforms to defraud users, while regulations fall short and self-governance continues
Several changes in the draft—primarily the ones on OTT services and the telecom regulator—are likely to be unveiled in December
Since its 2019 payments fiasco, Truecaller has been trying hard to be on the right side of the Indian government. It’s got some new products, a stronger balance sheet but telecom agencies could upset its applecart if the national caller ID plan gets dialled up
Now in talks with Indian government-owned oil and gas producer BPCL to become its primary channel of communication, WhatsApp Business has come the closest to replacing text messages for good
Japanese messaging app LINE joined Indonesia’s digital bank race in June, hoping to convert its millions of chat users into banking customers. However, LINE has lost at least 25 million users since 2017 to a growing list of competitors, including WhatsApp
It has been a year since Reliance rolled out JioMart in 200 cities, but things haven’t gone according to design. JioMart has stumbled in its plans to woo kiranas and is still a ways from becoming a full-fledged e-commerce store, even as it has made gains as an e-grocer
WhatsApp is made for chat, but some Southeast Asian startups are using it in ways it wasn’t conceived. With a little creativity, they’ve birthed digital businesses that have raised millions from investors
India's edtechs had a breakout year in 2020. Byju's now boasts over 70 million users, while Unacademy entered unicorn territory. What these edtech behemoths haven't done, though, is go beyond India's privileged students or prove their efficacy. Now, a patchwork of non-profits is working with state governments to take e-learning to the masses, while also proving their methods work
India is witnessing the emergence of a few “super corporations” that dominate across sectors, both on their own and in partnership with each other. This does not bode well for their current or potential competitors
WhatsApp Business—Facebook-owned WhatsApp's app for businesses—should've seen a surge during Covid as more customers choose to buy online. But in India, retailers on WhatsApp often prefer the regular consumer-facing app. Or, at least, they find themselves resorting to it
Armed with data from mobile app analytics firms Apptopia and AppsFlyer, The Ken takes a closer look at TikTok, Zoom, Facebook, Grab, Agoda, and a bunch of new games that have recently made their way into phones in the region
One hour more than the global average. That's how much screen-time most people living in Southeast Asia get. The data reveals a fair bit: Facebook frenzy, a Chinese dark horse, Grab's stronghold, and more
WhatsApp payments is stuck at the RBI's door in India. Facebook's workaround? To open up conversational commerce on the messaging app for financial inclusion and rural services. Except for healthcare. After all, WhatsApp's willing 400 million active user base is ripe for the picking
Paytm has launched a subscription-based loyalty programme to hold on to its users, but there’s a lot that just doesn’t add up
Netflix entered India in January 2016. Three years later is as good a time as any to examine how far the company has come
For a social media company that has close to 294 million users in India, the largest user base in the world, few seem to know the scale of Facebook’s operations in the country. Fewer still are certain if whatever little they know is correct. Knowledge plummets even further; nobody is actually quite sure of the size of the overall digital advertising market
Virag Gupta and others have spent years crusading against what they see as a lack of regulation when it comes to online businesses operating in India—an arena of policy that's seeing legal battles rapidly flare up
The venture capital investing party should continue well into 2019. Expect bigger companies to raise more dollars at sizzling hot valuations. Expect them to go beyond their core business and build or buy newer businesses. All of the above, with little regard to missing tech IPOs, and meaningful outcomes (exits) for investors and their LPs, who were sold the India story
To leave a company one co-founded for a top job at a leading tech company is a tricky thing. Does Abhijit Bose’s departure herald a new phase in the Indian startup world?
Around the world, the blind belief in self-regulation as the guiding principle for the internet is slowly fading. Indian regulators may have found part of the answer in reining in the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook, which have, for long, been left unregulated. Will others follow suit?
The home-grown social network—part Instagram, part Facebook, part Twitter, all vernacular—has millions of users flocking to it. The hard part will be retaining and monetising them
Once India’s fastest entrant into the hallowed unicorn club, Hike is now a shadow of its former self. Formerly touted as a WhatsApp beater, Hike has been reduced to creating its own metrics to tout its success
Have Facebook’s recent troubles over data leaks and breaches opened up an opportunity for an Indian company to build a home-grown social networking alternative?
Four years after he sold the messaging app to Facebook for $19 billion, Jan Koum has left the company. His departure brings an end to years of resistance, on what Facebook could do with WhatsApp. In a way, it opens a can of worms. Also, opportunity
Much like freedom of expression, increased user privacy is a complex issue which works for and against the interests of free and fair polls. With Karnataka elections here (and 2019 around the corner) is the EC any closer to solutions?
With general elections in about 12 months, the run-up to Karnataka assembly polls gives us a sneak peek into what India’s digital election campaigns would probably look like
If ever there was an opportunity to bring global technology issues like data protection, privacy, and the murky world of tech and politics to the dinner table, this was it. But in India, it just didn’t happen
As India’s digital payments sector explodes in usage, it becomes a battleground for the world’s largest tech companies. And smack in the middle of that fight stands the National Payments Corporation, an entity like no other
WhatsApp’s newly launched payments feature in India is a joy to use. It is also a clear attempt to co-opt an open protocol. But are regulators realising this?
The Ken analyses how the UPI payment apps stacked up in the last 17 months. And here is the thing, there are no winners
For many years now, Just Dial has remained a rare, listed-on-the-stock-exchange, money-making enterprise in the technology-enabled businesses in India. Then again, for many years now, Just Dial has been at a crossroads—protecting its listings business and profitability over everything else. Today, the fate of the company hangs in a precipitous balance
India’s messenger unicorn, Hike, valued at more than $1 billion, is going back to its roots. Back to telecom, piggybacking on Airtel, in search of new users
Size Zero Unicorn?
Two ministries want to ride the AI wave. Do we know how much data are we individually fuelling into it? Algorithms read, use, and most alarmingly, assess our levels of stupidity (and vulnerability). Especially on apps like WhatsApp
RBI’s latest prepaid instruments guidelines took away all that wallets had going for them. Those users are up for grabs now that the reset button on payments has been hit
After Uber, Truecaller and WhatsApp, Google is the latest international tech giant to roll out a payment product in India. As early as Monday.
A stagnant user base, falling ad rates, insipid strategy and demoralised teams. It’ll take a miracle for Twitter India to break out of its rut
Five charts and a timeline reveal the messaging app’s reality
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is working on launching payments in India. UPI appears to have won over wallets as the mechanism
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