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2015 was a landmark year for <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> in India. The world stood up and took notice of the amazing startup ecosystem here with investments for over<a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/12/indian-startups-raise-9billion-2015/"> 1000 startups valued at $9 billion</a>.The spotlight was on how startups would be the pillars of India's economy and give a much needed impetus to India's growth by providing employment to millions. 

	<o:p> And, with <keyword id="2783177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Budget-2016">Budget 2016</keyword>, being just a few days away, we thought it'd be interesting to</o:p> talk about the highlights one by one: 
	 
	 

	<o:p> </o:p>

	<keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword>: As I watched the entire startup community descend at Vigyan Bhawan to flag off the Startup India initiative, it was heartening to see the government recognise entrepreneurs as a driving force of modern change. Many new taxation and regulatory changes were promised and we eagerly wait to see how well they are implemented. TRAI's recent ruling on Free Basics is one of the first steps to ensure that any startup can leverage a free and open Internet to disrupt the status quo. Government needs to increase their focus on connecting millions through an open Internet and nip in the bud restrictive practices introduced by corporates only then would an initiative like Startup India be successful. Internet can give a voice to the unheard and to the new, and I hope government supports the startup ecosystem by aggressively ensuring that an unrestricted Internet is within everyone's reach. 
	 
	 

	<o:p> </o:p>

	<keyword id="6354869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="make-in-India">Make in India</keyword>: I was blown away by the fact that the government had attracted investments worth $222 billion towards the Make In India initiative. Strengthening manufacturing is one of the core priorities and given India’s growing potential to be one of the top economic powerhouses in the world, I have no doubt that we can definitely achieve this. Focusing on quality STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine) education and supplementing blue collar workers with modern manufacturing skills is the 1st step towards this. In order to achieve economies of scale, automation is a crucial step and we need to note how it impacts millions of jobs.

	<o:p> </o:p> 
	 
	Where Startup India will meet Make In India: "Coding is the new ABC" and must be taught in schools and colleges. Make In India will only be successful if we view technology as a tool for massive, positive societal change. Think about it-Google disrupted libraries, Amazon disrupted shopping malls, Uber disrupted public transportation, and<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=mobikwik"> MobiKwik</a> is disrupting cash. In order to see startups make in india the government needs to encourage more hardware startups by the means of doing away with certain import duties.

	If India is to give birth to many Silicon Valleys and encourage indigenous manufacturing then we need to start thinking on the lines of 3D Printing, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the like. It will propel us towards living up the ‘Make in India’ vision. 
	 
	 

	<o:p> </o:p>

	On the Wallet Sector: Internally at <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobikwik">MobiKwik</keyword> we have a saying that "MobiKwik exists so that cash does not". According to a recent report until 2015 over 200 million still remain unbanked in India and <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Industry/v4zrym0BCjNvXg3qcUD30K/Indias-unbanked-population-halves-to-233-million.html">even the remaining don’t have 100% access to all the banking services</a>. The propagation and rapid adoption of mobile wallets is a step in addressing this gap. Government needs to start right at the grassroots-level and allow tax rebates to retailers in order to increase wallet usage. <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/indias-e-commerce-revenue-may-touch-38-bn-in-2016-assocham/">Cash-on-delivery still accounts for over 45 percent of e-commerce orders</a> since people are apprehensive or don’t have means to make online payments. Government needs to relax its banking norms so that mobile wallet companies can function better than banks and offer financially inclusive services to millions more. 
	 (This article is authored by <keyword id="1132860" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bipin-Preet-Singh">Bipin Preet Singh</keyword>, CEO of MobiKwik)

	<o:p> </o:p>

Start in India to 'Make in India': A startup CEO's plea for Budget 2016

There’s a game setter in every business, one that makes a rather low-key entry but its sudden insight and innovations completely transforms the rules of the game. Everyone else then has to follow its rules otherwise they may cease to exist. It wouldn’t be going too far if we say <keyword id="2550719" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">OYO Rooms</keyword> may become that game setter for the Indian <keyword id="68179" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Hospitality-industry">hospitality industry</keyword> in the times to come. 
 After having tied up with <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobikwik">MobiKwik</keyword> and <keyword id="830092" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zomato">Zomato</keyword> to solve basic problems of travel, payment and food, the company is now busy finding ways to do away with check-in formalities and time-consuming manual check-out procedures – two tedious processes each and every Indian customer has to go through at every hotel in the country. The idea is to ensure easy walk-ins and walk-outs for a hassle-free experience. 
 <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword>, the 21-year-old CEO of the OYO Rooms who has already inspired one whole generation of youth with his start-up, says he wants that his customers savor luxury, service and comfort of staying at a hotel but also feel at home at the same time. It’s not possible, however, by adhering to the conventional ways of running the hotel business, he feels. 
 
“Showing your ID while entering or doing a manual check-out when leaving – are these the things you do at home? No. If I have them in hotels, how will you feel at home during your stay then?” asks Ritesh. But the question is how is OYO planning to ease the process of payments? 
 
Via tech-based initiatives is Mr Agarwal’s answer! 
 
So for example, the company has seamlessly integrated the MobiKwik wallet into the OYO app. “It facilitates one tap payment. It’s like checking-out of a hotel without the need of stopping to pay,” says Ritesh, adding that such valued partnerships are helping him in maximizing the consumer experience as well as making OYO services better. 
 
For that matter, even his partnerships with OLA and Zomato have helped him in a similar way – finding transport to OYO properties and making the nearest food options accessible to the customers. Both being basic needs of OYO customers that needed to be addressed. 
 
So, OYO's strategy is simple – identifying the pain points first and rather intelligently (which many in the game have failed to see or perhaps ignored) and immediately addressing them by providing the customer easy on-the-go options. 
 
Even though the budget hotel aggregator has no plans of foraying into other sectors as of now, with the launch of OYO WE it is definitely trying to diversify within the sector. 
 
The idea of WE was born after OYO, Ritesh says, was flooded with queries from customers asking if there were any women specific properties. 
 
Realizing that there was a demand for it, he was quick to launch WE in January this year. “It met with tremendous response and excellent feedback from the women guests. Now, we want to provide more women with a comfortable zone which gives them their privacy and space,” says Ritesh. 
 
Notably, WE has all women staff, a toiletry kit customized for women, on-call beauty parlor services and a special selection of books. Currently, there are three WE properties in Gurgaon, Delhi and Noida. The plan is to have fifteen WE properties across 10 cities by the end of this year. 
 
That’s not all. Talks are also on between OYO and Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation for bringing in occupants for MTDC's unsold rooms in resorts. The deal may be sealed under a revenue-share agreement model. 
 
“It’s a great opportunity and will enable us to bring our experience of operation and sales to a large number of properties. Also, through this partnership we will gain access to running some of Maharashtra’s favorite hotels, and we can’t be more thrilled about it. We are still in the process of finalizing things with them,” says Ritesh. 
 
So much on OYO's future plans. 
 
For now, it has announced offers keeping in mind the upcoming festive season. It’s running a flat 30% off pan India, for check-in/check-out till 31 October. (Coupon Code: OYOS30); a flat 50% off on OYO’s select premium properties, Pan India on properties above 2000 INR (Code: PR50). Those heading to Goa during the peak season (October, November and December), there's good news as the company is giving 30% discount across all its properties there. (Code: GOA30). 
 
As the demand graph for OYO Rooms goes up among customers as well as hotels, it plans to expand to 150 cities and to have 50,000 rooms in the country by the end of the year. The bigger aspiration, however, is to be present everywhere in India while focusing on transforming the sector on its way. 
 
Hospitality industry, are you listening? Watch out! If nothing else, this new kid on the block definitely poses a huge threat to your conventional ways of running the business. You might want to think about that.

Exclusive: OYO Rooms’ CEO says soon staying at OYO hotels will be like staying at luxurious homes! Easy walk-in, easy walk-out

<keyword id="2823188" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="One-Mobikwik-Systems">One MobiKwik Systems</keyword>, the owner and operator of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-How-MobiKwik-managed-to-stay-on-top-of-the-Digital-Wallet-market-despite-stiff-competition-from-Paytm/articleshow/50201287.cms">MobiKwik</a>, the online recharge and mobile wallet, has managed to raise around $50 million (Rs 332.6 crore) in a new fresh capital round led by Japan's <keyword id="3346730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="GMO-Payment-Gateway">GMO Payment Gateway</keyword> and Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company <keyword id="6369515" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mediatek">MediaTek</keyword>. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/One-wallet-to-pay-for-them-all-MobiKwik-ties-up-with-Zomato-OYORooms/articleshow/49324049.cms">One wallet to pay for them all: MobiKwik ties up with Zomato, OYORooms</a> 
 The Series-C round was closed last month and also had the company's existing investors <keyword id="122716" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sequoia-Capital">Sequoia Capital</keyword> and Asia-focused hedge fund <keyword id="2799728" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tree-Line-Asia">Tree Line Asia</keyword> participating in it. However, the amount at which the company was valued after getting the funding was not disclosed. 
 
"<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/After-Snapdeal-Mobikwik-files-patent-for-payment-platform/articleshow/50379128.cms">MobiKwik</a> is excited to have raised an undisclosed amount in the Series-C round of funding led by GMO and MediaTek. GMO is Japan's leading payment gateway and MediaTek is the world's leading semiconductor company," said a mail that the company spokesperson wrote to ET, without commenting on the specifics of the deal. 
 It was in March that <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobikwik">MobiKwik</keyword>'s CEO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Start-in-India-to-Make-in-India-A-startup-CEOs-message-for-Budget-2016/articleshow/51093247.cms">Bipin Preet Singh</a> had said that the company was looking to raise an amount between ranging from $40 to 50 million. 
 
According to a statement released by GMO Payment Gateway, the company has made the investment through GMO Global Payment Fund, a $15-million fund that is backed by major financial institutions, including, credit card issuers and acquiring banks. The fund targets investment opportunities among payments companies throughout Asia, while putting a strong focus on South East Asia. 
 
<a href="http://i1.wp.com/apptricker.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Mobikwik-Wallet-Offers.jpg">Image source</a>

MobiKwik’s parent raises $50million in funding

There is a new industry that is rising with the motive of making banking easier for customers, and to top it all, it’s still away from regulators. The financial technology sector, or <keyword id="2461546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="FinTech">fintech</keyword> as it is christened by users, is attracting talented individuals from all the industries. 
 
It was last week that Flipkart hired for two high-profile jobs in the fintech business, following Paytm, which had roped in PwC's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shinjini-Kumar-to-head-Paytm-payments-bank/articleshow/51056601.cms">Shinjini Kumar</a> to be the CEO of its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IT-giants-like-Infosys-TCS-want-to-pull-off-a-deal-worth-Rs-125-crore-with-Paytm-for-its-payments-bank/articleshow/51102984.cms">payments bank</a> that is yet to be launched. Not only this, Krishna Hegde, Barclays’ top executive, and Vipin Surelia, former DGM at RBI, were also hired. 
 
Fintech, the umbrella term, covers technology-based companies operating in insurance, payment, and asset management, etc. It is already transforming banking business, challenging mammoth banks, which is why headhunters are observing talents moving towards it. 
 
"Finance technology is a booming segment in India with the opening of numerous mobile wallet companies, non-banking financing companies and now payments banks - all running on robust digital platforms," said AG Rao, group managing director of ManpowerGroup India. Being relatively new, the segment is already generating a lot of new jobs, with most of them clustered around mobile, user experience and financial analysis. 
 
More than 117 million Indians use smartphones and over 160 million of us are connected to the Internet, which is why a large number of companies are coming up with products that can assist their customers. Financial sector is not far behind in this, as technology is developing at a rate alarming for traditional banking. 
 These low-cost, high-tech technology models deal with low-value, high-volume financial customers, which is why companies like <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobikwik">Mobikwik</keyword>, <keyword id="2461194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Capital-Float">Capital Float</keyword>, <keyword id="1745661" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mswipe">MSwipe</keyword>, <keyword id="6580234" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CITRUS-PAY">Citrus Pay</keyword> and <keyword id="6519244" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ezetap">Ezetap</keyword> have raised more than $150 million in India. 
 
"Considering this is a newly evolved industry, it will see at least a 20% increase in hiring due to new e-wallets and payments banks. It will be due to large scale of business (ecommerce) and financials going online," Ajay Shah, assistant vice president at Teamlease Services, told ET. 
 
Talking about the future of fintech in India, it is as of now synonymous with just payment technology; however, globally speaking, there are 11 lending fintech unicorns. Nonetheless, the sector is expected to spread its wings in India, covering hitherto untapped areas such as lending and personal finance. 
 
<a href="http://hollandfintech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fintech-apps.jpg">Image source</a>

Fintech sector spreading its wings in India, attracting talents from across industries

Consumers are trying out new methods of payments, especially <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=digital+wallets">digital wallets</a>. This trend saw transactions by <keyword id="6358031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="digital-wallets">digital wallets</keyword> grow three times between February and April. 
 
A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=RTI">Right to Information</a> application filed with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=RBI">Reserve Bank of India</a> (RBI) revealed that around 6.7 crore transactions worth Rs 1,196 crore were recorded through digital wallets in April compared with 2.4 crore payments totalling Rs 876 crore in February. 
 
The total number of digital wallets as of April 2015 is 101.86 million. Through digital wallets, people can pay through mobilephones. 
 
Economic Times reported that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Paytm">Paytm</a> spent around Rs 100 crore on advertising its e-wallet services during February-April. 
 "February was the time when the cricket world cup took place and we first started advertising on television. As a result, we attracted new users. While existing users have become comfortable in making high-value transactions, new users are still experimenting with the product,” Amit Lakhotiya, vice-president at <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword>, told ET. 
 Meanwhile, investors are attracted to the growth of digital wallets and in past few months, Paytm raised $375 million and <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobikwik">MobiKwik</keyword> got $25 million. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=electronic+payment">E-wallet</a> companies MobiKwik and <keyword id="1493568" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="PayU">PayU</keyword> told the financial daily that they plan to spend over Rs 100 crore and Rs 60 crore, respectively, on advertising over the next few months to boost digital transactions. 
 
"If we created a wallet for every mobile number that ever used our platform, then MobiKwik would have 100-120 million wallets today," Bipin Preet Singh, founder and CEO of MobiKwik, told ET. 
 
(Image: Thinkstock)

Digital wallets becoming popular among consumers, reveals RTI

Can you imagine turning one Indian village digital every day? <keyword id="6653" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="ICICI-bank">ICICI Bank</keyword> claims it will do it. 
 ICICI <keyword id="6355272" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bank">Bank</keyword>, today announced that it will transform 100 villages into Digital Villages through a number of measures. 
 
These villages will enable villagers to use digital channels for banking and payments transactions. There, villagers will be able to open bank accounts using Aadhar-based e-KYC and make cashless payments to retail stores through a unique SMS/USSD-based mobile solution. 
 Additionally, ICICI Bank in association with <keyword id="339601" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICICI-Foundation">ICICI Foundation</keyword> will impart vocational training to nearly 10,000 underprivileged villagers, especially women, to help them earn a sustainable livelihood. The bank will also extend credit facilities to the trained villagers in a bid to boost self-employment opportunities in the villages. 
 This ambitious move is inspired by the success of India’s first digital village, created by ICICI Bank at <keyword id="3896834" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="akodara">Akodara</keyword> in <keyword id="48360" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sabarkantha">Sabarkantha</keyword> district of Gujarat. Ms. <keyword id="45875" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chanda-Kochhar">Chanda Kochhar</keyword>, MD &amp; CEO, ICICI Bank said , “We strongly feel that technology can play an important role in putting development on a fast lane.” 
 
The bank will create a cashless ecosystem at these villages, provide vocational training to 10,000 villagers in first 100 days and offer them credit linkages so that the villagers can start their own business ventures. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/MobiKwik-launches-a-light-lite-app-to-integrate-all-Indians/articleshow/55662642.cms">ALSO READ: MobiKwik launches a 'lite' app for seamless transactions, even on basic connection</a> 
 
ICICI Bank will use <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Inside-Paytm-the-first-24-hours-after-demonetization/articleshow/55581182.cms">tablet-based banking and Aadhar-based e-KYC </a>to help villagers open accounts in few hours without submitting physical documents. All adults in the villages will have saving accounts, which will be linked to <keyword id="155319" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aadhar">Aadhar</keyword> to enable direct transfer of government benefits into these accounts. There will be dedicated branch and ATM of ICICI Bank to service these accounts. 
 
The bank will provide a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Is-your-credit-card-a-debt-sentence/articleshow/55617326.cms">unique SMS &amp; USSD based mobile service</a> which will facilitate the villagers to transfer funds, receive alerts &amp; statements and make payments to retail stores by using their mobile phones. This SMS banking will be available in regional languages and will function on basic mobile phones. The Bank will also set up end-to-end merchant infrastructure that will enable the retailers at the village to accept mobile based payments. 
 
The bank will also create a cashless, digital payment ecosystem for the predominant commercial activity of these villages and set up Point-of-Sale (POS) machines at seed and fertilizer outlets for cashless transactions using Rupay cards. 
 All this is being done in the wake of <keyword id="6362150" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="demonetization">demonetization</keyword> when the country's villages are suffering the most. As someone who saw how Akodara's citizens were reaping benefits from the digitization, this move is not only lauded but necessary right now.

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Start in India to 'Make in India': A startup CEO's plea for Budget 2016

Guest Author

Exclusive: OYO Rooms’ CEO says soon staying at OYO hotels will be like staying at luxurious homes! Easy walk-in, easy walk-out

Anushree Singh

MobiKwik’s parent raises $50million in funding

BI India Bureau

Fintech sector spreading its wings in India, attracting talents from across industries

BI India Bureau

Digital wallets becoming popular among consumers, reveals RTI

BI India Bureau

ICICI Bank to transform 100 villages into ‘Digital Villages’ in 100 days

Tanya Dubey

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