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<ul><li>Jobs platform and professional network <keyword id="9861237" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="apna-co" source="Orion">apna.co</keyword> has witnessed robust growth since its inception in 2019. Today it has a consumer base of 20 million, a number it plans to double in the next 12-18 months.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="7634738" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rahul-deorah" source="Orion">Rahul Deorah</keyword>, Head of Marketing, apna.co to understand his plans for achieving this target.</li></ul>Most people looking for jobs on different job portals have come across fake job postings but there are still many who end up falling for these fraudulent postings. Jobs platform and professional network apna.co is on a mission to ensure its platform is as clean as possible and that it is able to connect jobseekers to relevant, genuine employers. The platform brought Rahul Deorah, who was previously a part of <keyword id="8681398" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="urban-company" source="Orion">Urban Company</keyword>, on board as its head of marketing in November last year. Deorah already has his plan charted out. Deorah feels apna has embarked on a Herculean task, to solve the earth-scale problems of unemployment, poverty and upskilling. He plans to do it by strengthening the platform, giving both jobseekers and prospective employers a good experience. He walks us through his plans of ensuring apna is able to achieve the ambitious goals it has set for itself in the next few years to come. Excerpts: Q) It’s been around 3 years since apna came into being. How has the journey been so far? Let me walk you through our journey so far. We launched apna in 2019 and our job is to connect job seekers with recruiters, and vice versa. Fast forward to 2022, we have over 20 million users, with a presence in over 50 cities. We have about 2 lakh people who trust us. Last month, we facilitated close to 20 million interviews through the platform. We try to create and expose opportunities to the rising workforce of India. Everyday we hear people asking, where are the jobs? At the same time, if you speak to prospective employers, they say they’re not finding the right candidates. So this is an asymmetry of information in the market that apna is trying to bridge by firstly ensuring that people who are posting jobs are deeply verified and have the right intent. At the same time, the candidates who are applying to jobs are well-filtered so that when they are connected to the employers, both sides get a relevant lead, ensuring higher chances of conversion. That's what we do today. In the future, we are working towards building a strong professional social network for the rising workforce of India, just like <keyword id="28120" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="linkedin" source="Orion">LinkedIn</keyword> does for you and me. We also want to create upskilling opportunities for our target audience to help them move ahead in their careers. Q) The pandemic brought about a seismic change in the world around us. How did it affect apna’s business? During the pandemic, especially the second wave, we felt that we had a huge responsibility, to ensure that all with the reverse migration, people could find enough opportunities to help set up their lives all over again. And during those 4-5 months of the second wave, we grew by almost 70% because we were working overtime to ensure that everything is at the right place for the candidates to find the right opportunities and the employers to post the right kind of jobs. Q) How have you been communicating with your audience? How have you been able to grow your reach? Apna is a network effects product. More employers will bring more candidates and vice versa. And the second network effect is a professional network that you create for these candidates, where people from similar vocation can speak to each other, just like we do on LinkedIn. So the power of the product has helped us grow over the last couple of years. Secondly, we have put together some innovative marketing campaigns. We’ve worked a lot to ensure that our value propositions which we swear by and execute are communicated to the candidate. There is a lot of asymmetry of information in the market and a lot of job postings on the internet are fake. That's something we’re extremely mindful of. When a candidate comes to apna, he or she knows that the jobs on our platform won’t be fake. And that helps us. Once they find the job, they refer us to multiple of their friends and family. So walking the talk is our second critical piece. Marketing can only take you so far. If you're selling something that is not right for me, I won’t care about how beautiful your ads are. Q) Word-of-mouth has worked well for you then? Absolutely. And word-of-mouth is a function of good execution. Q) You spoke about some innovative marketing. Can you give me a few examples? Marketing has two parts. The first is what you say and the second is how and where say it. The ‘where you say it’ part has been democratized over the last 5-6 years because people are spending more and more time on their phones. So when about 30-35% of their attention span in a day ends up being on the mobile phone, that becomes a conduit for us to reach our audience. What we say becomes extremely critical because we primarily focus on our value propositions. The reality is that this is a market that is plagued by mistrust. So if you walk the talk, your audiences and consumers will absolutely love you. We ensure that we only talk about things that we can actually execute and pull off and I call that innovative because you're doing the regular things but you're doing it well. We don't discount any mediums. We use anything that helps us reach out to our audiences. Q) Where does the majority of your target audience reside? Is it metros or smaller cities? We don't really segregate it that way. We try to understand where are the right opportunities for the right candidates. Our internal data says that over 50% of people in say a city like Agra are looking for jobs in Delhi. So while we target them in Agra, we tell them about jobs in different cities. Q) Can you talk us about your growth? Where are you currently and where do you want to go? Today, there are over 20 million consumers who trust us. Our aim is to at least double this number in the next 12-18 months because you can't do enough for the country. We want to ensure that we keep working hard and delivering on what our aim and ambition is, and hopefully add to the growth of the country. Q) There are already many players in the segment who have been around longer and already have a wide consumer base. What gives apna an edge? Internally, we don't really worry about or discuss competition because if we know what the right thing to do is, we just execute on that. So what gives us the edge is, over the last couple of years, we have very deeply focused on ensuring that the experience of the candidates as well as the employers is absolutely fantastic because that would make people come back to our platform. We make sure every call is genuine. Of course, if today we’re good, in the future we want to be exceptional. So we have a long way to go. If we keep doing the right things consistently, we only have the size of our ambition to worry about. Q) Is there a community communication side to apna as well, similar to what we have on LinkedIn? Absolutely! That’s one of our core focus areas. We launched a community product or groups for Indian professionals where they can send each other connection requests and connect with each other. Some of our groups like government job preparation or beautician groups are buzzing. We have included this in our Android app. We see people sharing helpful tips to each other, they try to help each other find jobs. And it's a very safe and professional place to communicate with each other and build a professional network for the rising workforce in India. Q) How big is the team currently? How are you expanding it further? We have about 500 people across India. We need to at least double this number over the next 18-24 months if we want to hit our ambitious goals because there's a lot we want to do. Q) Going ahead, what are a key focus areas for you going to be? A key focus area for us for this year as well as for the next 4-5 years is to keep improving the platform, the candidate and employee experience and our community. We already have over 70 communities and groups for different kinds of vocations, our task is to keep improving on those so that people look forward to coming online, sharing and exploring better opportunities for themselves at all times. As a company, we believe that for the rising workforce of India, there's a glass ceiling that people around them have created for them. They are told they can’t go beyond that and they themselves start believing that. We want to break that glass ceiling. Secondly, our aim would be to take our brand story to the world. Today, how much we can help people is not very well-known within our target audience. So our job would be to take that message to the right people in the right way which will help catapult growth.

Today 20 million consumers trust us, we aim to at least double this number in the next 12-18 months: Rahul Deorah, apna.co

<ul><li>In our latest interview series, we talk to brands to understand how they are coping with the new normal and their strategies towards navigating these difficult times.</li><li>As <keyword id="8681398" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Urban-Company">Urban Company</keyword> starts operating in a few selective green zones, we speak to Rahul Deorah, Vice President - Marketing, Urban Company to understand how its regaining its consumers trust, what kind of employee wellness programs it has introduced to ensure they feel motivated, and its larger marketing strategy for the lockdown. </li></ul>Urban Company (earlier UrbanClap) has seen an uptick in the demand for home cleaning and hygiene services as people are becoming more health-conscious. The app had become quite popular for its home repair and salon services before the pandemic broke out. However, people have been wary about letting outsiders inside their homes lately. Urban Company rose to the challenge and tweaked its marketing strategy. It started communicating every day about the changes it introduced in its services and SOPs. With gradual relaxations in the lockdown, Urban Company is slowly and steadily opening up its services. And after seeing a high demand for home cleaning, it has also started offering disinfection services for cars and commercial spaces. It has opened its salon services in a few selective green zones. And now that people are under house arrest and have limited access to various services, Urban Company did some social listening and mapped out a few trends. It tweaked its logo across platforms to convey the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask. Apart from that, it realised that people are looking for a lot of DIY videos to make the best of their time. Therefore, it started uploading beauty and wellness video tips to help its consumers surf through the challenges they are posed with. It is also conducting live sessions to engage with its consumers. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> We caught up with Rahul Deorah, Vice President - Marketing, Urban Company to further understand what kind of precautions the organisation has taken to ensure the safety of its employees, the idea behind its latest mental-wellness initiative, UC Academy, and its larger marketing strategy. Excerpts: Q. How challenging have the last few weeks been for you as a brand? The past few weeks have been challenging for us. As a brand, we have tried to ensure that we are in touch with our consumers. We are keeping them posted about the changes in service SOPs and the complete shift towards hygiene and safety to ensure that they get the best possible service experience in the safety of their homes. Q. From your wide umbrella of services, which ones are you offering right now? Since the last month, we have been slowly and steadily opening our services. Our Home Repairs and Maintenance services - appliances repairs, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and cleaning – are available across non-containment zones. Seeing the huge request and requirements, we also launched Disinfection Services for cars, home and commercial spaces. Lately, we also opened up our beauty and salon services in a few cities. Q. Now that salon services have begun, what precautions have you taken to ensure the safety of your employees? What kind of response have you seen for the same? We have made the following changes in our SOPs: 1. All UC professionals are equipped with 3-ply masks, gloves and hand sanitizers. 2. Usage of single use products and disposables to ensure zero cross-contamination 3. All service partners have been trained according to WHO prescribed hygiene standards. 4. Sanitization of all tools and equipment prior to the services 5. All our professionals are required to undergo a daily temperature check, which is visible to the consumer on their app 6. Low contact roll-on waxing and threading for maximum hygiene We have seen really good feedback to start with. Customers are liking the way we are providing the services with utmost caution. Q. People are becoming more health-conscious and finally maintaining hygiene at their homes, so have you seen an increase in demand for your home cleaning services as well? Yes, we are noticing increased demand in cleaning and disinfection services. Q. What has your marketing strategy been during the lockdown weeks? Have you changed your media mix, investing more on platforms like Digital since a few other mediums like OOH/Print have been suffering due to the lockdown? We have been always present on digital platforms for our marketing campaigns. Although over the past few months, we have decreased our spends and pivoted towards organic modes of communication. Q. A lot of brands have started doing webinars, have you joined the bandwagon? What kind of response have you seen around it? We are participating in a few webinars for sure. We also host fireside chats with industry leaders but currently these can be attended by employees only. We haven’t yet started an in-house webinar series that’s open to all. Q. Have you seen any changes in consumer behaviour? Yes, a lot. Consumers have become a lot more aware about the issue. They are taking a lot of measures themselves to ensure safety and hygiene is maintained. The following are the changes: a. Media Consumption: Usage of TV, OTT has increased b. Self Care: People are spending a lot of time for fitness and personal care c. DIY solutions to problems d. Online Deliveries for essentials have increased e. Need for self hygiene has increased Q. How are you utilising this time to upskill your employees? Have you introduced any mental health awareness and/or health care programs? We have introduced a program called UC Academy within our company wherein the company’s leadership have been taking online sessions for upskilling. The topics are across different functions and problems. Q. How are you preparing yourself for when things come back to normal? Because we think it will not be the same. Things won’t be the same as before for sure, at least not until a vaccine or cure is found. I believe as a company we have already taken several measures with respect to partner and consumer safety, such as introducing an 8-step safety process for each service category. Apart from this, we have procured and delivered safety kits (comprising gloves, masks, eye goggles, hand sanitiser) for all our partners and will continue to invest in this round the year.

Marketing in the times of COVID-19: Urban Company

(Image source- Reuters) The 11th of December is not a day that the Modi government will forget easily. In addition to conceding ground in Telangana, India’s ruling party, the <keyword id="58687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (BJP), was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/we-accept-the-peoples-mandate-indias-state-election-results-prove-a-huge-setback-for-pm-narendra-modis-bjp/articleshow/67053526.cms">beaten</a> in <keyword id="6355644" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="elections">elections</keyword> in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh by the main opposition party -- the Indian National <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword>. It wouldn’t be remiss to say that the BJP was expecting a better performance in the three states, all of which lie in the Hindu heartland. While the party suffered heavy defeats in Rajasthan, where power has alternated between the BJP and Congress since 1993, and Chattisgarh, it fell short of the Congress by a few seats in Madhya Pradesh, where it was campaigning for its record fourth consecutive term. And so begins a period of introspection for India’s ruling party, which up until yesterday, seemed insurmountable in the face of a divided opposition. While the BJP blames the results on <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/local-issues-determined-outcome-will-do-better-in-2019-bjp/articleshow/67049584.cms">“local issues,”</a> in effect, downplaying any apprehensions they have about their strength ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections, it remains to be seen what exactly went wrong. Here are a few possible reasons: The anti-incumbency wave One of the primary explanations here seems to be that the BJP underestimated the anti-incumbency problem and how it was mostly targeted at chief ministers. Despite its diverse makeup, the Indian electorate can be remarkably consistent when it comes to voting for change. Anti-incumbency is always a key consideration in the minds of voters come election time and this time it was no different The BJP was the ruler in all three states that it lost to the Congress, and failed to make a good enough case for re-election. This was compounded by the general resentment of upper-caste voters, who felt shunted by recent changes to the SC/ST Act. The BJP wasn’t able to demonstrate that it had made good on its promises. For example, in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, did not deliver on her goal of creating 1.5 million new jobs. Meanwhile its rival Congress swayed voters with promises of better welfare schemes a change in the way of doing things. Farmer distress A number of factors have dominated the public conversation in India all year: High fuel prices, youth unemployment, lack of funds for small businesses and most importantly, the need for farmers to secure debt relief. The BJP suffered heavy losses in rural constituencies as compared to urban ones, and this may be due to the fact that it didn’t cater to a crucial voter bloc. Madhya Pradesh is largely a rural state, and a significant proportion of its voters are farmers. In fact, the BJP lost a number of seats in <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/distressed-farmers-speak-out-via-ballots/articleshow/67053185.cms">two key regions in the state</a> that were notable for farmer suicides and protests. In contrast, the Congress made farmers a key part of its election proposals. In addition to promising an increase in the minimum support price for agricultural commodities, <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> alluded to a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/rahul-gandhi-hints-at-nationwide-farm-loan-waiver/articleshow/66962964.cms">national waiver</a> for all farmers - an unrealistic proposal, but one that resonated nonetheless - while criticising the Modi administration’s supposed approach to writing off the bad loans of large companies. The BJP was unable to present an adequate response or counter-offer to the Congress’s pitch to farmers. A failure of leadership Anonymous sources told the <a href="https://indianexpress.com/elections/state-assembly-elections-2018-rumbling-in-bjp-just-as-they-take-credit-top-should-share-blame-too-5489279/">Indian Express </a>that the BJP’s core leadership played a very heavy hand in deciding electoral strategies in each state and did not decentralise power to the chiefs of state units, which resulted in them overlooking issues of local importance. In addition, there were reports of conflicts between state chiefs and party leaders, as seen in the tussle between Raje and BJP President <keyword id="6355521" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="amit-shah">Amit Shah</keyword> over the <a href="https://scroll.in/article/901550/rajasthan-elections-amit-shah-vasundhara-raje-now-at-loggerheads-over-ticket-distribution">distribution of tickets in Rajasthan.</a> There were also complaints of “overconfidence” among the party’s leaders, a plausible claim given the BJP’s strong showing in multiple state elections over the last few years. More importantly, its decision to play into the Hindutva nationalism narrative, as evidenced by sending UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the campaign trail and bringing up the Ram Temple issue, did not pay off. The electoral victory is the most significant one for the Opposition since the BJP stormed to power in the general elections of 2014 on a wave of popular support for Brand Modi. It may be too soon to say if the Modi star is dimming, however. In fact, the string of losses will likely propel the ruling party to rely more on its star figure and hand out more sweeteners to allies and farmers as campaigning for the general elections ramps up. The Congress showed that it is still a force to reckon with in the Hindi-speaking belt of India and will now have a renewed vigour when it comes to sealing alliances with other opposition parties. Having presented the election results as a collective assessment on the Modi government, it is in a strong position to take on India’s ruling party in next year’s Lok Sabha elections. However, it remains to be seen if the promise of loan waivers and freebies can fuel its campaign. The stage is set for an interesting 2019. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/we-accept-the-peoples-mandate-indias-state-election-results-prove-a-huge-setback-for-pm-narendra-modis-bjp/articleshow/67053526.cms">'We accept the people's mandate': India's state election results prove a huge setback for PM Narendra Modi's BJP</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-top-two-political-parties-in-india-are-bickering-over-whos-better-at-building-toilets/articleshow/63941200.cms">The top two political parties in India are bickering over who’s better at building toilets</a>

Here are some reasons why India’s ruling party lost to its main rival in three very important state elections

<ul><li>2020 turned the marketing world upside down. All businesses had to adapt and relook at their strategies. </li><li>More traditional brands moved online and increased their investments in digital marketing. </li><li>As we end our series, in today’s feature, we speak to new-age brands to find out how the pandemic impacted their perspectives towards marketing and a few trends that they expect to see this year. </li></ul>The ongoing pandemic has revolutionised how businesses function in the entire world. While COVID-19 pushed Indian brands to move online, it also made them relook at the tone of their marketing campaigns. As consumers tried to adjust to the new normal and heightened stress levels due to an uncertain future, advertising became more conversational and empathetic in 2020. Brands reminded their consumers and even their competitors that we are all in this together. According to Zeno, when a brand is perceived to have a strong Purpose, consumers were four times more likely to purchase from the brand and 95% of surveyed Indian consumers were likely to continue to support brands in the event that they were to make a misstep or receive public criticism. The pandemic has given the brandverse some time to pause, reflect, rework their strategies and they even kept aside competition to prioritise consumer interest. Consumers have started appreciating <keyword id="10689248" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="empathetic-advertising">empathetic advertising</keyword> instead of adversarial advertising, especially in stressed situations like extended WFH, threat of Covid and living away from their family members and friends. Apart from that, there was more conversation on AI, MI and XR. There will be more focus on videos, influencer marketing and hybrid events. With a new-found appreciation for life and altered perspectives towards marketing, we reached out to new-age brands to understand how did COVID-19 change their marketing approach and what are some of the trends that they expect to see in 2021. Here is what they said: Mayur Hola, Head of Global Brand, <keyword id="7036155" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Hotels-Homes">OYO Hotels &amp; Homes</keyword>: <div type="image" title="Mayur Hola, Head of Global Brand, OYO Hotels &amp;amp; Homes" msid="80636771" hostid="261"></div> I thought I’d do some research for this one and read pieces posted by global consulting firms, A&amp;M publications, gurus, digital agencies et all. They were all super and gave guidance on personalisation, look-alike cohorts, selling on social, VR, chat bots, influencer marketing, programmatic, omnichannel, SEO, mailers, PNs, video content and so many other helpful things. But. We’re doing all this already. So is doubling down on what’s already working the new trend? I thought that was called common sense. Here’s the one trend I see in 2021. Delivering on your promise. Brands will speak 1:1 with their consumers more than ever and look to deliver what is asked of them. Because false promises and random unconnected purpose is being seen through and called out. Doing right by your consumers. There’s your purpose. Now put out some awesome creatives based on that. Rahul Deorah, Vice President- Marketing at Urban Company: <div type="image" title="Rahul Deo urban clap" msid="80636860" hostid="261"></div> Marketing has always been about understanding how a consumer reacts to certain triggers and how brands can use that to influence them. The year 2020 made us all think on our feet. Everyone had to go back to the drawing board to think of how to communicate the “safety” of purchasing or availing their products and services. However, in 2021, the trend I foresee emerging is deeper investment in the core consumer offering and, with consumer media habits changing, a declining trend in the absolute investments by brands to reach customers, with deeper efficiencies in the media mix. Naresh Krishnaswamy, Growth &amp; Marketing Head, Cure.fit: <div type="image" title="naresh-krishnaswamy-curefit" msid="80636918" hostid="261"></div> We have seen massive upheavals last year in terms of marketing with consumer focus shifting primarily to digital channels owing to the pandemic. While such changes and shifts in trends happen each year, last year in particular saw a faster pace of change in marketing strategies and execution, opening up a great vistas for innovation and experimentation. Going into 2021, I expect the trends from 2020 to still continue. This coming year might mark a comeback for some companies who may up their marketing strategies in accordance with lessons learned from 2020. To solidify their positions in the market, brands need to focus on the development of a deeper level of trust with their customers. People will continue to place a higher premium on trust and transparency and companies need to be able to communicate efficiently with their customer base. Moreover, with some pandemic-related restrictions still in place, virtual events and platforms will continue well into the coming months. While there is some amount of burn out from online events, there is also scope for further innovation. Marketers will have to be prepared for technological advancements. Emerging technologies, automation, AI/ML, augmented reality, etc. can heighten the immersiveness of such experiences and create space for more one-on-one interaction with audiences. More marketers should shift their focus on creating more enhanced consumer experiences online while we wait to physically get back to our previous lives. Kartik Johari, Vice President, Nobel Hygiene: <div type="image" title="Kartik johari nobel" msid="80636931" hostid="261"></div> Consumer Trends: Consumer spending will moderately rise, but economic woes will start weighing down on people. So far, we have survived the lockdown and the macroeconomic situation by burning our accumulated wealth and health. Sooner or later, there is bound to be a deep impact on our collective national psyche, of worsening unemployment, of a worsening economy, healthcare, etc. Additionally, areas such as healthcare and personal care have taken an irrevocable step forward. We will see more growth on this front. People will focus on their physical health and will reorganize their time around it. There will be new problems to face, with a growing threat from medicine-resistant bacteria, growing now due to a heightened consumption of hand-sanitisers. Value-based spending and ecologically sensitive spending is here to stay. People will henceforth buy/support brands with a similar ethos (true or not, is immaterial). Similarly, brands' efforts towards minimizing their carbon footprint will be appreciated by consumers. Market Trends: Hygiene and FMCG will trend upwards, while other indicators will remain muted. Even IF the vaccine is successful, our market dynamics have not improved overnight. We are still an agrarian economy, without adequate public infrastructure on healthcare and education. We will require massive government spending to boost our market performance. Markets will remain in a state of limbo as they are now, wildly volatile and without impetus. We are now going into the 13th year without a market correction; at some point, this is bound to catch up. Online Trends: Video content all the way, and a permanent boost to eCommerce. People have become comfortable consuming content and making transactions online, including using E-Wallets. However, apart from the obvious, only time will tell which long-term trends will sustain. There will be a boost in services that can help effectively target individuals in this new crowded realm, and some that can help them make sense of the breadth of content and services available. Teaching and Training will have permanently moved online, and the sector will continue to grow tremendously, and will also help other sectors to aid in ancillary teaching services in person. Dunzo's brand team: <div type="image" title="dunzo mascots" msid="80636941" hostid="261"></div> One of the most important takeaways from 2020 for all content lovers has been the stories that uplift and inspire them. In a changing world, stories of the human spirit and the impact we as individuals and brands can have in our world, resonate most with users and customers. Going forward, we hope to keep that positive trend going with more stories from our community, touching on important human issues, and delivering some hope and delight with every post. Another trend we foresee is the continuation of moment marketing and putting our brand's unique spin on a viral sensation. It's always like an inside joke that is shared by a large audience, with no need for explanations or context. Finally, as we focus on quality over quantity, we plan to dive deeper into some of Dunzo's impact and inner workings through mediums such as podcasts and blogs. Using a combination of all three trends, we hope to expand our audience as well drive stronger engagement and shareability of content.

Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2021

<ul><li><keyword id="220321" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lenovo-India">Lenovo India</keyword> is targeting a yearly growth of at least 30% this financial year despite the economic slowdown.</li><li>Rahul Agarwal, CEO of Lenovo India, told Business Insider that the slowdown has only resulted in a minor dip in its consumer business while the company’s commercial business continues to grow.</li><li>Lenovo is expanding its portfolio beyond PCs with IoT and smart devices to help it grow even has the PC stagnates. </li></ul>Unlike many other companies in India, the world’s largest PC maker — Lenovo — is eyeing 30-40% revenue growth this financial year. The company which has an enterprise and a consumer business, has two different stories to tell. Its commercial market is growing at a healthy double digit rate, while its consumer business however has shown a minor contraction of 3-4%. This too, is not a result of the ongoing slowdown in India. "It’s too early to draw a large trend. Because if I look at the last 5-6 years, the market has been fairly stagnant, so if there’s a minus -2% or -3% — that happened four years ago as well," Lenovo India’s CEO and Managing Director, Rahul Agarwal, told Business Insider India. Upgrade cycle The real challenge they face is not lack of interest but that any movement they see in the laptop market is purely a replacement of devices. It means the market is not gaining any new consumers. "The people who are spending, let's say ₹40,000 rupees, their life cannot be without a laptop. Once you get used to a laptop, then in another 4-5 years, you will need a new laptop," he explains. "The challenge in the PC market is that the growth is happening on the revenue front, which means people are spending more and more money buying the same number of laptops," says Agarwal. In these circumstances, Lenovo has a two-pronged strategy for fast growth. The first part of Lenovo’s plan to grow its revenue is maintaining its traditional stronghold, which includes its consumer and enterprise business, large government deals and SMB businesses. At the same time, it is also planning to expand into new categories. Beating the slowdown According to him, the slowdown is primarily focused on rural India and the demand for PC’s in that segment is fairly low since the company’s consumers are mostly located in the urban and semi-urban areas. "So, I wouldn’t call it (the drop in consumer demand) a major trend," says Agarwal. Yet, from here on, Lenovo is eyeing growth across these segments and more. The first part of Lenovo’s plan to grow its revenue is maintaining its traditional stronghold, which includes its consumer and enterprise business, large government deals and SMB businesses. At the same time, it is also planning to expand into new categories. Beyond the PC market Yesterday, Lenovo announced its foray into commercial Internet of Things (IoT) and security solutions. The ThinkSmart Hub, for instance, is an all-in-one purpose built device to simply video conferencing. Previously, the company launched consumer-facing smart products like clocks and home assistants focused on providing a video interface. Lenovo is also expanding its service portfolio simultaneously to better serve its clients. The company is now offering stand-by laptops to consumers that submit their devices to be fixed. It’s also providing round the clock service to better serve its customers. "There are two or three streams which are really helping us grow despite things not looking so great," explains Agarwal. Lenovo hopes these new-age businesses will help it thrive in a market where the PC market is shrinking, and slowdown is taking over.

The world’s largest PC maker expects at least 30% jump in India revenue despite selling fewer laptops

<ul><li>Shah Rukh Khan topped the report in 2019 and <keyword id="6354832" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ms-dhoni">MS Dhoni</keyword> was at No. 1 in 2020.</li><li>As per IIHB’s report, Dream11 was the most spontaneously recalled brand in this year’s survey.</li></ul>Versatile actor <keyword id="106133" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ranveer-Singh">Ranveer Singh</keyword> versus Captain Cool MS Dhoni? Well, both seem to have done equally well in the annual IPL ad recall research of the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) conducted ten days after the start of the League this year. The research polled 879 respondents in the age-group of 18-35 years (M=481, F=398) across India. The interviews were conducted telephonically. Dream11 was the most spontaneously recalled brand in this year’s survey, which possibly also helped enhance both the brand equity and recall of MS Dhoni who anchored the 12-ad series for the brand as its ambassador and protagonist. Jio Fiber, with multiple IPL teams featured with an effervescent Ranveer Singh gyrating with a sing-song brand message, came in second on recall in the research, also helping the celebrity endorser to considerably strengthen his personal recall. Byju’s was the most spontaneously recalled brand on the IPL last year; though its celebrity endorser Shah Rukh Khan trailed behind other celebrities. Virat Kohli, as expected, did well on recall too, and came third in the recall rankings. Salman Khan did surprisingly well in this year’s survey and came in at No. 4, ahead of Rishabh Pant, Rahul Dravid, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Saurav Ganguly who followed in that sequence. Ajay Devgn, Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shah Rukh Khan, Boman Irani, Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Ayushmann Khurrana and Akshay Kumar, on the other hand, had very few mentions and scored very poorly on respondent recall. There were sporadic mentions of Virender Sehwag and Priyanka Chopra too. In the last survey conducted in October 2020, MS Dhoni had the highest spontaneous recall as a celebrity endorser. Virat Kohli was a not-so-close second. Akshay Kumar was at rank 3; Ayushmann Khurrana at rank 4. “MS Dhoni and Ranveer Singh had a disproportionate share of visibility and recall in the IPL research we just conducted. This was in sync with the ultra-high recall of the brands they respectively endorse”, said Dr. Sandeep Goyal, Chief Mentor of IIHB. “It is interesting nevertheless to note that brands without celebrities like Phone Pe, Byju’s and others too have done well wherever media investments are heavy”. IIHB team used its proprietorial CELEBAR tool based on Celebrity Brand Association &amp; Recognition to assign a metric score to each celebrity and associated brand. The tool takes into account: <ul><li>Spontaneous recall of the brand</li><li>Spontaneous recall of the celebrity</li><li>Association between brand &amp; celebrity together </li><li>Recency of communication </li><li>Media weight behind campaign</li><li>Solus versus multiple brands using the celebrity</li></ul>MS Dhoni had a CELEBAR score of 87, up from 82 at the last IPL. His spontaneous recall was an unusually high 82%. His association with Dream 11 was also very constant at 79% from the last edition. He got 9% association with IPL/Star TV, 8% brand association with Indigo Paints, 6% with Orient Fans for Orient Fans and Livfast Solar. 2% recall came from SunFeast Yippee. So, most of Dhoni’s brand goodness got hijacked by Dream 11, much like last year. If Dhoni had only been endorsing Dream 11, his CELEBAR score would have been near 100, given his strong association with that one brand, to almost the relative exclusion of the other brands he endorses. Ranveer achieved a CELEBAR score of 86, empirically almost equal to that of MS Dhoni. But his association was more democratically spread with Jio Fiber at 56%, JD mart at 48%, My11 Circle at 22% and Bingo at 18%. Names of some other brands were mentioned by respondents but these were filtered out as they were not part of the IPL broadcast. Both MS Dhoni and Ranveer gained massively also on account of their main brands spending disproportionately large amounts of media monies which made them exponentially more visible than other competing celebrities. Virat Kohli trailed far behind the Top 2. His score of 45 on CELEBAR is mostly derived by his 94% association with MRF tyres. Bluestar is in low single digits on association. Salman Khan at a CELEBAR of 38, owes 82% recall to Rajshree elaichi and the balance to Pepsi. Rishabh Pant climbed up interestingly to No. 5 on the strength of his JSW appearances. Varun Dhawan had 76% of his recall from Lux Cozi and much lower from Frooti. Alia owed most of her recall also to Frooti with scattered mentions of Dark Fantasy. Interestingly, the IPL seems to be running no/few ads with Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, and even with cricketers Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul or Hardik Pandya, or the media weightages behind those ads were too insignificant to be noticed by viewers. The Cred ad for Rahul Dravid was spontaneously recalled by 17% respondents but only 2% remembered Jackie Shroff and only 1% mentioned Kumar Sanu for the same brand. Mutual Funds (AMFI) ads had 22% recall but most respondents got the protagonists mixed up, with the most attributing the messaging to Dhoni and Kohli. Dream 11’s association with multiple cricketers was mentioned by many respondents but most were not sure if they remembered current creatives. Only the connect with MS Dhoni was unambiguous. Despite heavy media weights, Vimal elaichi ad featuring Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan had only an 8% recall. Netmeds with Kareena Kapoor and Renuka Shahane had a good 9% recall. Priyanka Chopra’s Appy Fizz and Katrina’s Slice were almost not recalled. Hema Malini managed 3% recall on Kent RO. Randhir Kapoor’s Asian Paints managed 4% while Kareena Kapoor’s and Pankaj Tripathi’s Berger creatives both got below 1%. Ayushmann was remembered by less than 1% in Urban Company. Gajaraj Rao was mentioned in less than 1% for Voltas. Unacademy featuring Sunil Gavaskar and Harsha Bhogle too scored poorly at 2%. Gamezy featuring KL Rahul got less than 1% recall. On the ads without celebrities, the most remembered were Phone Pe (32%), Byju’s (31%), Vivo (22%), One Plus (21%), Groww (20%), Upstox (20%), Kia (19%), MPL (18%), Bisleri (11%), PharmEasy (11%), Thums Up(9%), Coca Cola (6%), Renault Kiger (6%), Tata Safari (6%), Skoda (3%), Ajio (3%), Dark Fantasy (2%), LikedIn (2%), Raymond (2%) and Tuborg (1%). As more gets added to the broadcast as the IPL progresses, both standings of celebrities and recall of brands may change.

Ranveer Singh and MS Dhoni are the most recalled brand ambassadors this IPL: IIHB Report

<ul><li>Finance Minister <keyword id="129243" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nirmala-sitharaman" source="Orion">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> announced that the government will set up an Animation, Visual Effects, <keyword id="6357332" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="gaming" source="Orion">Gaming</keyword> and Comics (<keyword id="1920258" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="avgc" source="Orion">AVGC</keyword>) promotion task force for boosting talent in the animation and gaming sector.</li><li>We speak to experts from the industry to understand the larger implications of the move and how it will help the industry.</li></ul>During her Union Budget speech yesterday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force for boosting talent in the animation and gaming sector. Sitharaman said the AVGC sector will provide a huge opportunity for young professionals and also create new job opportunities for the youth. “The AVGC sector offers immense potential to employ youth. An AVGC Promotion taskforce with all stakeholders will be set up to recommend ways to realize this and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand,” Sitharaman said during her speech. The move is expected to attract new talent and give them the required support to take the AVGC sector global. The AVGC sectors, and especially the gaming industry has been witnessing a healthy growth. Most industry reports have predicted that the next few years will contribute to immense growth for the industry. A recent report by Sequoia India and BCG had said that while the gaming industry in India is currently smaller than that of the US and China and is 1% of the global gaming market, it is generating $1.5 billion revenue and is expected to triple to over $5 billion by 2025 on the back of the ‘mobile first’ phenomenon. So the government’s move comes at an opportune time. To understand the larger implications of the move, we spoke to experts from the gaming industry and here’s how they thought the government's move will give a boost to the segment: <keyword id="2388996" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sai-srinivas" source="Orion">Sai Srinivas</keyword>, Co-Founder and CEO, Mobile Premier League It is very encouraging to see that the Union Budget has taken into consideration some of the long-pending suggestions for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) sector, while noting the strong potential this industry holds for employment-generation as well as taking ‘Made in India’ game titles global. We welcome the Hon’ble Finance Minister's announcement to set up an AVGC Promotion Task Force to provide a much-needed boost to the sector. This announcement highlights the need to build capacity to serve both domestic and global markets, and is a strong indicator of the impetus that the government is willing to provide for its growth. It is also heartening to see the government's commitment to work with the industry, allowing for a balanced approach that accommodates the needs of all stakeholders and strengthens the ecosystem holistically. A progressive tax regime, predictable regulatory framework and supportive funding policies will allow the industry to compete on the world stage and fulfil the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for the Indian digital gaming sector to be a global powerhouse. Moreover, it will also help develop a workforce of young and employable AVGC professionals to usher in the next tech revolution from within India. With a renewed focus on the AVGC sector, blended financing for deep tech and IT, hardware and electronics manufacturing combined with deployment of 5G and affordable internet in underserved areas, it is clear that the government is committed to take the Indian startup ecosystem to the next level. We are hopeful that with the positive support of the government, the coming years will see online gaming, VFX and esports startups leading the charge in the global economy. By developing deep tech intellectual property and exporting services, they can help cement India’s position as a world leader in the sector. Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, JetSynthesys I strongly welcome the formation of a AVGC task force for promotion, something that we as an industry have been pushing for a long time. It is high time that animation, visual effects and gaming are recognised as an industry because of the sheer potential that they carry. Skyrocketing further owing to the pandemic, these industries have the power to create large employment as well as give Indian gaming companies an opportunity to become globally competitive and play an increasingly larger role at a global level. Building a task force that will address the needs of this industry across various ministries would be a very proactive approach towards strengthening this industry, in my opinion. The aim to rollout 5G services in FY 2022-23 along with affordable broadband services and efficient connectivity to allow equal access to e-services in remote and urban areas has also been long due. The focus of Hon FM on new emerging technologies particularly like Blockchain and AI, a word which was repeated several times during the speech is again a very positive move to show that digitalisation is truly the future, and a strong focus area for government. Digitalisation was applied across agriculture, healthcare, skills, education and appeared in various shapes and forms throughout the budget speech. Additionally, the national tele-mental health programme is a great initiative by the government as the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of people to an unfathomable extent. Various channels and platforms like ThinkRight.me by JetSynthesys and others in the space can together help tackle India's mental health issues. In all, we’re truly excited about the future of digital India and what this means to JetSynthesys which is here to play a key role in the daily digital lives of a billion Indians. As a country, we hope to move forward with jet speed and transform our country into an atmanirbhar, technologically and digitally forward nation. Vishwalok Nath, Director, World Esports Cup We welcome the steps by the Finance Minister of India as part of Budget 2022-2023 including the creation of the AVGC task force. We hope that this task force can help promote the creation of a robust infrastructure for game development with gradual benefits to the esports community. We are also looking forward to the 5G spectrum auction this year. 5G can further promote the latest innovations and mass adoption of technologies like cloud gaming in the country. There is a huge scope of employment for the youth in the gaming industry. Esports/Video Games is a versatile industry and there is a huge scope for professional gamers as well as other jobs like casters, commentators, and other support staff appointed by the esports tournaments like producers, editors, analysts, product managers, game testers, referees, production crew members, event managers, social media managers, etc. Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India &amp; Vice President, Asian Esports Federation It is encouraging to finally see the seriousness from our Government towards this sector which has been long neglected. This will definitely help in setting up the policies which would encourage and build our capacities and capabilities to export to the rest of the world; leading to more domestic video game development studios and more investments in the AVGC sector. Spectrum auctions for 5G is a welcome move for the gaming industry as well, 5G can disrupt the industry by enhancing the live streaming of games and cloud gaming as well. The task force should consist largely of people who have been part of the ‘Video Game’ industry and are playing an active role in shaping up the Indian video game industry. <keyword id="263906" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jehil-thakkar" source="Orion">Jehil Thakkar</keyword>, Partner and Media and Entertainment Sector Leader, Deloitte India The setting up of the AVGC promotion task force announced in the Union Budget will help India achieve its potential of achieving 20 lakh jobs according to Deloitte projections. These are critical skills for growth of the metaverse and India is poised to take advantage of this ecosystem. Sagar Nair, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Qlan It is this continued acceptance that will lead to the progress of the Indian gaming and esports industry. First was esports’ entry in the Asian Games as an official event followed by a government dedicated task force to work with the AVGC sector. I have no doubt that these initiatives as part of the national budget policy highlight the true potential of the Indian gaming &amp; esports segment not only in India but also on the global circuit. The statement clearly indicates the backing of homegrown game developers, tournament organizers, and esports companies and recommendations from the appointed task force will help build domestic capacity for serving out markets and the global demand as well. Sunil Yadav, CEO, PlayerzPot The AVGC sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, and attracts a huge interest from a large cross section of the population. The announcement of the new AVGC task force is a welcome one, as we expect it will help to build domestic capacity and also serve the global demand. The task force has come at the right time, for those pursuing a career in gaming as the sector is booming right now and needs more talented youngsters to grow. With the government introducing digital rupee and a visible trend in crypto adoption, NFT’s will grow significantly. 5G services auction within FY 22-23 across the country will play an important role in the growth by further penetrating in the markets and also enhancing the gaming experience. As the honorable minister mentioned in her budget presentation, the gaming sector has the potential to become the torchbearer of 'Create in India' &amp; 'Brand India', on the same lines we were hoping for transparent and progressive regulation that will help differentiate games of skill from those of chance, because this is a key area of concern for the industry as a whole. Dilsher Singh Malhi, Founder &amp; CEO, Zupee The creation of the AVGC promotion task force is a welcome move. The initiative with industry participation will help in establishing uniform, progressive policies that will promote growth and investments in the sector, which in turn, will lead to job creation, revenue generation, and engagement opportunities. This will be a crucial step towards bridging the digital divide and unlocking a fully connected and empowered digital India. We believe that this initiative will pave the way for the Indian gaming industry to establish itself on a global stage. Rahul Tewari, Chief Financial Officer, Games24x7 The gaming industry welcomes the decision to set up a task force for Animation, Visual Effect, Gaming and Comics. AVGC taskforce can provide the long-term policy impetus and bring together the various stakeholders to turbocharge the vibrant ecosystem in gaming and animation. India has a deep and very high-quality talent pool of developers and creative artists who will transform India into a global player in the interactive entertainment space in the coming years. We hope this paves way for regularity clarity for gaming, a sector that has contributed immensely to India’s start-up success in the last few years. Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies Ltd. The government’s announcement of an AVGC task force to seek recommendation to create the way forward is a welcome move. As we know, India presently commands around 10% of the global AVGC market and has the potential to reach 20-25% by 2027. This taskforce will facilitate employment for the youth, build domestic capacity to serve the Indian markets and also meet global demand. <keyword id="3471731" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="roland-landers" source="Orion">Roland Landers</keyword>, CEO, The All-India Gaming Federation I am pleased that the government has announced a progressive budget; stating the gaming industry as a sector that generates various job opportunities for the youth while boosting the economy of the country. The ideas proposed for the sector are very encouraging. We are thrilled and look forward to the AVGC task force that will give a major boost to the game development sector by building scale and adding to the overall online skill gaming industry’s momentum. AIGF and the skill games council of domain experts will be happy to assist, if need be, in playing a consultative role for the same Likewise, the tax extension to four years will benefit the entire start-up ecosystem in online gaming which is in the excess of 300 companies. Furthermore, the Hon’ble FM’s announcement of the digital rupee launch will increase purchases of virtual goods in games through microtransactions. Finally, 5G auctions when implemented will enhance the gamer experience dramatically as well as facilitate the adoption of new technologies in gaming. Overall, the budget has opened more avenues for the gaming industry.

The gaming industry lauds the government’s decision to set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics promotion task force

The Delhi chapter of <keyword id="139680" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Indus-Entrepreneurs">The Indus Entrepreneurs</keyword> (TiE) will host on Thursday the 8th iteration of the <keyword id="4390638" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="India-Internet-Day">India Internet Day</keyword>, one of the largest conferences for Internet entrepreneurs in the country. India Internet Day 2019 targets entrepreneurs which attracts start-ups, unicorns, industry leaders, investors, mentors, policy-makers, and many more key domain experts from across the country every year India is presently home to over 500 million internet users and 21 unicorns. With the aim of raising a hundred start-ups and enterprises to become billion-dollar companies on the back of their internet-centric innovations, TiE Delhi-NCR is hosting the 8th iteration of India Internet Day. The vision of #iDay2019 is encapsulated in the headline of the event’s main theme: “India Internet Unboxed: Getting ready for a 100 Unicorns”. Enabling the next generation of leaders At iDay 2019, leaders of the internet and entrepreneurial community will deliver content for the benefit of young entrepreneurs, enabling the next generation of leaders to gain a deeper insight into the opportunities and evolving trends in the industry, Tie said in a statement. Building on the theme of ‘unboxing’, iDay2019 plans to have focused and thought-provoking discussions during the session line-up on topics including: Unboxing Indian Tech Going Global, Unboxing Funding, Unboxing Talent, Entrepreneurial Milestones: Unboxing Pivots &amp; Pirouettes to Exits, Unboxing 2nd Innings, Unboxing Valuations. It will also have a special focus on the Chinese startup ecosystem, key speakers will speak on Unboxing China, its Landscape &amp; Overview, Chinese VCs in India - A perspective and Cross Border Learnings. Additionally, entrepreneurs will be provided with a platform to showcase internet-centric innovations and get constructive feedback on their ventures. All about networking The conference is one of the most anticipated entrepreneurial conferences across the world as it gathers entrepreneurs and vision-holders in the midst of key investors, industry leaders, and policy-makers under the same roof. It will have sessions that will chaired by prominent industry leaders including Vani Kola, MD, Kalaari Capital, and Rajesh Sawhney, CEO &amp; Co Founder of Innerchef, the conference will open with a keynote address by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder &amp; CEO of PayTM. The opening address will be followed by conversations with industry experts including Anant Maheshwari, President - Microsoft India and Rajan Anandan, Vice President, Google &amp; President, TiE Delhi-NCR. Other ace speakers include Lathika Pai, Country Head - Microsoft for <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">Startups</keyword> MENA and SAARC , Gaurav Deepak, Co-founder &amp; MD - Avendus Capital, Anand Lunia, General Partner – India Quotient, Helen Wong, Partner at Qiming Venture, Yun Lou, Founder &amp; CEO of Clubfactory, Hans Tung - Partner, GGVC Kunal Shah, Founder &amp; CEO – Cred, Amrish Rau, Ex CEO – CitrusPay, Aprameya Radhakrishna, Founder &amp; CEO of Vokal, Raul Rai, Co-Founder of Nicobar.com, and Mukund Kulashekaran from Urban Clap. Power Breakfast with the iDay Committee The event will kick off with a breakfast with industry leaders and the best in the startup ecosystem. The committee members who will be a part of this event include Rajan Anandan, Vice President, Google &amp; President, TiE Delhi-NCR; Alok Mittal, Co-Founder, Indifi Technologies; Amarjit Singh Batra, Managing Director, Spotify India; Arvind Jha, Multipreneur, Movico Technologies; Miten Sampat, VP, Times Internet; Deep Kalra, Founder &amp; Group CEO, MakeMyTrip; Gautam Gandhi, Angel Investor; Prasanto K Roy, Policy Consultant ; Karan Mohla, Partner &amp; Executive Director of Chiratae Ventures; Ravi Gururaj, Founder &amp; CEO, Qikpod; Dev Khare, Partner, Lightspeed India Partners. B2B Founders' Lunch Ace B2B founders who will be part of this session include Shridhar Gupta, Co-Founder - Loconav; Pranav Tyagi, Founder - Eigen; Ajay Chauhan, Co- Founder -SalezShark; Sachin Bhatia, Co-Founder &amp; Ex VP - Drishtisoft solutions; Rahul Bhalla, CEO &amp; Co Founder -Zeanatix will be part of the lunch tables Fintech Lunch Leading Fintech founders who will be part of the lunch include Ajay Vikram Singh, Consumer Business Head- Clix Capital ; Jonathan Bill, CEO &amp; Co- Founder – Creditmate; Kshitij Puri, CEO &amp; Co- Founder - Ziploan ;Sandeep Srinivas, Co-Founder &amp; CMO - Redcarpet Tech ; Kapil Mehta, Co - Founder – SecureNow; Alok Bansal, Co-Founder &amp; CFO – PolicyBazaar ; Mukesh P Kalra, Founder &amp; CEO – ETMoney #iDay Launchpad A platform at India Internet Day where tech businesses have a chance to demo/launch their new products/services in front of a large relevant audience of VCs, entrepreneurs etc. The start-ups will be selected by an influential jury panel #iDay Workshop A stellar workshop on product management professionals with Anshumani Ruddra, VP of Product (Social &amp; Gaming) – Hotstar will equip participants with new strategies &amp; principles to ace their field Gala Evening Network, interact, explore synergies over dinner and jive the evening away with a rocking band performance! The conference will take place from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on 25th April, 2019, at Leela Ambience, Gurugram. Register here now! <a href="https://www.iday.in/">https://www.iday.in/</a> Note: Business Insider India is a media partner at the event.

Here’s all that you need to know about the upcoming India Internet Day 2019

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Bill and Melinda Gates FoundationBill Gates held up a beaker of human feces at the reinvented toilet expo in Beijing on November 6, 2018 to prove a point: unsanitary conditions are dangerous for our health.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Worm toilets require no traditional flushing and aren't hooked up to a sewer system - instead, worms compost human waste.</li><li>More than 4,000 such "Tiger Toilets" have been installed to date across India, in homes of people who were previously defecating in the open.</li><li>The worm toilets smell a lot better than a pit latrine, and don't breed mosquitoes either.</li><li>Here's how a $350 toilet powered by worms could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/bill-gates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">change the world</a> and save lives. </li></ul>Worms may not have spines, but they're doing some back-breaking sewer work in more than 4,000 toilets across India. Since 2015, a creative new type of toilet called the Tiger Toilet has been popping up outside homes and schools around the country. From the outside, this toilet looks like any other pit latrine. But it doesn't smell like one. Instead, it comes with a built-in population of tiger worms. "Their natural breeding, natural habitat is in cow dung heaps, or horse sh*t heaps, that kind of thing," Ajeet Oak, director of the Tiger Toilet company, told Business Insider. "Poop. That's where they like to live."The toilets involve no traditional flushing and aren't hooked up to a sewer system. Instead, the worms are contained in a container below the toilet, and they feast on feces. The creatures' activity leaves behind a mix of water, carbon dioxide, and a small amount of wormy compost (that's technically the worms' poo, though it's much less toxic and more nutrient-rich than ours).The resulting water isn't clean enough to drink, but it "can go into the ground and it sort of gets filtered naturally from there on," Oak said. No wastewater treatment plant needed. To get the worm system to market, <a href="http://www.primoveindia.com/Tiger%20Toilet%20Broucher.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a> awarded at least <a href="https://docs.gatesfoundation.org/Documents/wsh-strategy-overview.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$4.8 million</a> in grant money to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine <a href="http://www.primoveindia.com/Tiger%20Toilet%20Broucher.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to perfect the technology</a>. Tiger Toilets also received <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/div/portfolio/bvv-tiger" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$170,000 for initial testing in India, Myanmar and Uganda from USAID</a>. Now, after years of development and field testing around the world, the technology is finally reaching people who need it most."These are people who are getting toilets for the first time," Oak said, adding that before getting a Tiger Toilet, "they would go out in the field." Bill Gates <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-wants-world-to-move-past-flush-toilets-2018-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently told a crowd in Beijing</a> that he's ready to spend an additional $200 million developing technology for next-generation toilets like these that can operate without mainframe sewer systems. "We estimate that by 2030, the opportunity here is over $6 billion a year," Gates said.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-wants-world-to-move-past-flush-toilets-2018-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Gates is so obsessed with redesigning the world's toilets, he brought a jar of poop onstage in Beijing to prove it</a><h2>How worms clean excrement</h2>Tiger worms, or Eisenia fetida if you prefer the scientific term, are animals that love to eat waste. This makes them a perfect composting solution, and they especially love what falls into their Tiger Toilet compartment. "These worms, they won't escape on their own, because they won't survive in just soil," Oak said. They need our human waste to live.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of Bear Valley VenturesThese worms love eating human waste. The byproduct they create is mostly just water.</div></div></div>The Tiger Toilet system costs about $350 USD to install and requires no connection to drainage pipes or a mainline sewer.Once a person does their business in the toilet, they send their waste down into the worm-filled compartment below using a pour-flush system, usually with a little bucket of water. (There are no handles or automatic flushing devices in the Tiger Toilet.)The toilet's cleaning stats are <a href="https://iwaponline.com/washdev/article-abstract/4/2/231/30367/Processing-of-human-faeces-by-wet-vermifiltration?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impressive</a>: they <a href="http://www.primoveindia.com/Tiger%20Toilet%20Broucher.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">process feces, remove 99% of the pathogens, and leave behind no more than 15% of the waste</a> by weight, in the form of compost material. The rest becomes water (around 60-70%) and carbon dioxide. That's better performance than a septic tank.Plus, the leftover byproduct makes for "excellent fertilizer," Oak said, because its mix of nitrogen, phosphorous, carbon, and potassium is good for growing plants. Tiger Toilets (and Tiger worm-powered treatment plants, like the one pictured below) also don't breed mosquitoes or attract other flying menaces.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Tiger Toilets</div></div></div>"Users find the toilets preferable to traditional latrines," <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/global-waters/march-2015/thinking-outside-latrine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USAID wrote of the toilets</a> during field testing in 2015. "Because the worms break down the solid waste, the toilets emit fewer odors and attract fewer flies than traditional latrines."The earliest editions of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278035736_The_Tiger_Toilet_From_Concept_to_Reality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tiger Toilets</a> are now more than five years old and their worm compartments haven't needed any maintenance yet - the slimy creatures are still chomping away. Eventually, after about eight to 10 years, the company expects some toilet maintenance to be required. At that point, the worm bin, which isn't visible to toilet users, must be emptied.It's not a terrible job - "you don't have to handle sludge," Oak said. Simply remove the lid of the toilet, exposing the top layer of worm castings - their leftovers from years of hard work. Then shovel it out and use it in a garden as fertilizer. Then the worm population will be ready to work again. <h2>Why people need worm toilets</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Rohit Joshi</div></div></div>The tiny worms that make their home in filth are performing a lifesaving task for humans. Across the developing world, people without a safe place to go to the bathroom can die because of unsanitary conditions. Diarrhea kills 525,000 children under five annually around the world "as a result of poor hygiene," according to the <a href="http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diarrhoeal-disease">World Health Organization</a>. Improper hygiene also causes the global economy to miss out on an <a href="https://www.lixil.com/en/makeasplash/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated $223 billion USD</a> per year.Additionally, open defecation can be a dangerous situation for women. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5100257/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A 2016 study in India</a> found that women who defecate in the open are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted by a stranger as those who have a toilet in their house. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Gouri ThakarMangal Shirke who lives in the village of Adachiwadi celebrates outside her first at-home toilet.</div></div></div>In India, millions of people relieve themselves outdoors on a daily basis - 40% of the country's population, according to the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.ODFC.ZS?locations=IN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Bank's estimate</a> from 2015. <a href="http://sbm.gov.in/sbmReport/home.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The country has set a</a> "Swachh Bharat Mission" goal of becoming open-defecation free this year, but it's unlikely to be fully successful, since even people who can access a toilet don't always use it. A <a href="https://riceinstitute.org/research/changes-in-open-defecation-in-rural-north-india-2014-2018-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2018 survey</a> of more than 9,800 people and 150 local government officials across India found that one in four people in rural northern provinces have access to latrines but don't use them. Some people choose to relieve themselves in the open for compelling reasons. An Indian woman identified only as "Veer" told Meenakshi Dalal, a program and communications specialist with USAID/India, that men block the way to her community toilet, taunting and harassing women."They dress up as women, they get in line with us, they might touch us," <a href="https://medium.com/usaid-global-waters/open-defecation-vs-community-toilets-a-complicated-choice-a5cfe84dcd4d?fbclid=IwAR16gd7yzeUwFUIl_hisJi6fGlYsXlAqqkdZSZZosF5I5fR1rH2ADflSpW8">Dalal recalled Veer telling her</a>. "Every few days someone is raped. On one side of the toilet is where we live and on the other side it's jungle. They can pull us there."Tiger toilets is testing out some options for crowded slums like Veer's - a kind of downsized, city-friendly version of the worm toilet - but they're not ready yet."The challenge is to have something for a family which can be put in a very small house," Oak said. "We're calling it the Urban Tiger Toilet." India's government has also started offering cash incentives to people who install toilets in their homes, which makes a Tiger Toilet even more affordable for families who are getting their first toilet. <h2>Bringing worm toilets to the world</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Rohit Patankar</div></div></div>Lixil Group, the parent company that owns toilet-industry giants American Standard and Grohe, is also interested in Tiger Toilets. The company recently signed a letter of intent to bring Tiger Toilets to scale."Eventually we want to have something that's really sleek and you can place anywhere," Daigo Ishiyama, Lixil's marketing and technology director, told Business Insider.But he said that will take some time: "We're dealing with living creatures - you know, worms."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Rahul Aluri</div></div></div>Still, this kind of game-changing new invention - a toilet that requires no traditional sewer system - is an exciting prospect for Gates. He has even compared it to the invention of the personal computer. "A whole new product category is being introduced here," he said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waterless-toilet-future-backed-bill-gates-foundation-2017-5">Bill Gates is backing the waterless toilet of the future - here's how it works</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A $350 toilet powered by worms may be the ingenious future of sanitation that Bill Gates has been dreaming about

Son-in-law of Congress party’s President <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword>, <keyword id="12593" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Robert-Vadra">Robert Vadra</keyword>, may get into trouble as <keyword id="58687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (BJP)-led <keyword id="74452" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Haryana-government">Haryana Government</keyword> will soon set up a panel to probe his land deals in the state. 
 
The state government is in final stages of setting up the panel, which is likely to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Swatanter Kumar. 
 
BJP’s Haryana in-charge and national general secretary Anil Jain said the commission is in formative stage. 
 
"We are surely going ahead with forming a commission to look into all the land deals, if we spot any aberration, the panel will look into it. Right now the commission is in the formative stage," said Jain. 
 
Former Haryana Chief Minister B.S. Hooda, who is also named by the BJP, said there was nothing illegal in Vadra deals. 
Congress party also came out to support Vadra. 
 
"These kinds of tactics won't work on us. If there is truth to it let them bring it out, why make statements?" said senior Congress party leader Mallikarjun Kharge. 
 
Party spokesperson P.C. Chacko played down the panel, saying there was nothing new in the charges levelled by the government. 
 
However, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij was confident about the probe initiated against "Rahul Gandhi's suited-booted brother-in-law". 
 
"When will it happen, who will do it, only CM Khattar will take a call on it," Vij said. 
 
In March, CAG had said that the previous Hooda government had granted undue favours to builders, including Vadra's firm, Skylight Hospitality. 
 
Congress party has insisted the CAG report has neither indicted the former Congress government of Haryana or Vadra or his Skylight Hospitality Private Limited for any violation of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, or any rules or policy. 
 Skylight Hospitality sold a prime 3.5 acre piece of land in Manesar in Gurgaon district to <keyword id="6362997" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="DLF">DLF</keyword> in 2008 for Rs 58 crore. The land had, however, only cost his company 
around Rs 15 crore and was sold to DLF after obtaining change of land use and other permissions. 
 Vadra is a flamboyant businessman who married Sonia Gandhi’s daughter <keyword id="12587" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Priyanka-Gandhi">Priyanka Gandhi</keyword> in 1997. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

BJP spells trouble for Robert Vadra, to probe land deals

Companies and startups are ready to raid engineering and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=B-school+">B-school</a> campuses across India this placement season, adding to the fierce war for talent already raging between large e-Commerce companies and established old-world recruiters. 
 
The startups which are looking for fresh talents include ShopClues, LocalOye, Urban-Clap, PropTiger, Indus Insights, MyRefers, CodeNation, Embibe, Jombay, Lybrate and ShadowFax. 
 
Moreover, a survey of 11 startups suggests they will step up overall <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=campus+hiring+">campus hiring</a> to 770 students from the Class of 2016 compared with only 250 that they hired from the last batch. 
 
Bulk of this hiring will be across top engineering colleges and B-schools, including Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management. 
 
Don’t be disappointed if you are not studying in the above mentioned institutes as a handful will also recruit at leading undergraduate colleges including Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College and St Stephen's, and design schools such as National Institute of Design and National Institute of Fashion Technology. 
 
Now comes the most interesting part- salary! Average salaries offered by these startups range between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 18 lakh at engineering colleges and B-schools, say campus sources. Prop-Tiger, for instance, is paying upwards of Rs 15 lakh plus benefits at tech schools; CodeNation will pay around Rs 24 lakh. 
 
At least three of these startups — Lybrate, LocalOye and ShadowFax — are first-timers on campus while others, at the very least, are doubling last year's numbers. In some cases, hiring targets are going up five-fold or even 16-fold compared with last year. 
 
The strategies behind the hiring are discussed below: 
1. Depending on the kind of institutes, students are being hired for a variety of roles: from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=software+development+engineers">software development engineers</a>; core management &amp; data scientists; product, operations and marketing; merchant acquisition and servicing, to human resource management, product and graphic designers and even entrepreneurs in residence. Sanjay Mehta, a Mumbai-based angel investor who participated in and led 11 angel deals in 2015, says the reason why startups are so gung-ho about <keyword id="511161" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="campus-hiring">campus hiring</keyword> is because they want to put this talent to work on cutting-edge technology and new delivery models. Not surprisingly, several institutes where placements have started, including Birla Institute of Technology &amp; Science-Pilani and <keyword id="75110" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="NITs">NITs</keyword>, are seeing these startups go head-to-head with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=traditional+recruiters+">traditional recruiters</a> to hire talent. At other B-schools and <keyword id="49737" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="IITs">IITs</keyword> where pre-placement offers (PPOs) have started flowing in, it is again the startups that are leading the pack. 
 
2. Much high in numbers: The numbers speak for themselves. If ShopClues is revising its hiring intake from around 100 last year to 180-250 this time, realty portal PropTiger is doubling its target to 50. Even five-month-old B2B (business-to-business) hyperlocal delivery startup ShadowFax, which raised $300,000 from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal">Snapdeal</a>'s founders and others in August followed by a $8.5-million Series A round by Fidelity's proprietary investment arm Eight Roads Ventures barely a month later, is looking to hire from IITs, <keyword id="46923" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIMs">IIMs</keyword> and other leading management institutes for its technology, data science and operations teams. 
 
3. Tapping more institutes: In the process, these companies are reaching out to many more institutes this year. "If there is a campus that attracts bright minds of the country, we want to be there. This includes other engineering colleges as well as top colleges in economics and commerce," says Saurabh Sharma, founder &amp; chief executive officer of Indus Insights. The Big Data firm made 40 offers last year, mostly at the top IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Madras). This year, it plans to make 100-plus, including at NITs (Trichy, Warangal, etc), SRCC, LSR, Christ College and Indian School of Business. 
 Similarly, Delhi-based mobile services marketplace UrbanClap, which hired 30 business development and operations specialists from <keyword id="6360099" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Delhi-University">Delhi University</keyword> last year, is extending its reach to several new institutes, including <keyword id="6431668" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIT-Delhi">IIT-Delhi</keyword> and IIM-Ahmedabad as it gears up to take on 80-100 this year. 
 
Salaries apart, the other drawing factors include the opportunity to work on challenging problems. "We don't have any glass ceilings. Freshers could be running entire teams within six months of joining," says Aditi Avasthi, founder and CEO, Embibe. "Students are opting for startups aggressively as some of the roles offered by them are quite challenging and inclined with their aspirations," sums up Rahul Katyal, placement manager at IIT-Bombay. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Gear up to face interviews! Engineering and business schools to witness over three-fold jump in recruitments in India

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">MakeSpaceAdam LeVasseur, Sam Rosen, and Rahul Gandhi, co-founders at MakeSpace</div></div></div><a href="https://www.makespace.com/" target="_blank">MakeSpace</a>, an on-demand storage startup, just raised an $8 million Series A round. During Hurricane Sandy, MakeSpace co-founder Sam Rosen had to help move out his girlfriend when her apartment got flooded.
Mostly everything got destroyed. Everything they could salvage, they put in a storage locker in Hoboken, New Jersey. 
That same night, Rosen says, there was a snowstorm. His girlfriend needed her snow boots, but she couldn't find what she had literally just packed away. 
That's when a light bulb went off in Rosen's head. 
"Why couldn't we search for her winter boots, as opposed to tracking down the box that says 'Shoes,' and then having to dig through it," Rosen says. 
Last September, MakeSpace launched in New York to offer people cloud storage for their physical items. Just today, MakeSpace announced that it has raised an $8 million Series A round led by Upfront Ventures, bringing its total funding to $10 million.
Here's how it works. You schedule a pickup online or by phone, and a someone will drop off at least four bins at your door. Each bin is 27x17x12.5 inches, and can hold up to 100 pounds. Pack your bins, write a quick description, like "shoes," and notify someone to pick them up. MakeSpace then takes pictures of all of your items and scans each bin's bar code to create an online visual catalog of your items. You can order any of your items back for return within 48 hours for $29. 
That may sound laborious, but Rosen insists that it will become easier over time. 
"MakeSpace is continually streamlining, refining, and automating the technology around our photo process, making it increasingly easier to accomplish in a short time," Rosen says. "MakeSpace is also developing a feature in their upcoming iPhone app to give consumers the ability to catalog their belongings in even more detail."
The pickup service is currently live in New York, Hoboken, and Jersey City. But MakeSpace Air lets anyone mail belongings to MakeSpace, and then MakeSpace will send them back to you upon request. 
MakeSpace's service is significantly cheaper than Manhattan Mini Storage, for example. MakeSpace charges $25 a month to store four boxes worth of items. Manhattan Mini Storage, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.manhattanministorage.com/search" target="_blank">costs at least $70 per month</a>.
"We pass along the cost savings of storing bins outside of NYC to customers," Rosen says. "We pay less for real estate outside of the city [in New Jersey] than we would in Manhattan, allowing us to keep our costs low."
But MakeSpace isn't the only startup trying to tackle the storage space. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boxbee-2014-2" target="_blank">Boxbee, the winner of the Launch Festival, aims to make urban living more convenient by helping you save space</a>.
"I think they're significantly smaller than us," Rosen says about Boxbee, which has raised just $2.3 million. 
Just as Uber is widely seen as the dominant company in the transportation space, Rosen says, MakeSpace will be the Uber of the storage space. 
MakeSpace plans to launch its iPhone app next spring. In April, MakeSpace had a record-setting month, where it made more money than it did in all previous months combined. 
"I view MakeSpace as reverse Amazon," Upfront Ventures General Partner and MakeSpace board member Mark Suster says. "Amazon blew up the distribution model of retail. It said, 'Do you really need to have expensive real estate near your house in order for you to get goods' and made it hard for local retailers to compete by having huge cost advantages. Because MakeSpace can store your stuff in a remote location, yet ship it to you at a moment's notice, we have huge scale advantages to the archaic physical storage infrastructure. It's a classic Innovator's Dilemma."
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Screenshot/MakeSpace</div></div></div>

A Startup That Solves A Major Problem For People Who Live In Cities Just Raised $8 Million

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>NEW DELHI/PARIS (Reuters) - Almost four years ago a handful of people gathered in Airbus sales chief John Leahy's spacious country house outside Toulouse and argued long into the evening over curry and cigars.
Last weekend they met up again at a Parisian hotel for more haggling, with breaks taken at a nearby cafe where the informality of old business friendships mingled with hard-nosed negotiations typical of the aircraft industry.
The sum total of money discussed over these meals? About $40 billion at catalogue prices, and the bill was for 430 jets, all sold to the same Indian airline -- IndiGo, the low-cost carrier which has grown to become the country's biggest airline in eight years of operating.
Represented according to insiders by co-founder Rakesh Gangwal and President Aditya Ghosh, IndiGo has now made aircraft industry history twice in four years -- each time by placing record orders for Airbus planes, including last Wednesday's announcement that it will buy 250 A320neo jets.
The largest order in India's aviation history is IndiGo's most aggressive bet yet that Indian air travel is on the cusp of a huge expansion, and that the model that made it the nation's only profitable carrier will keep working as competition intensifies.
"IndiGo is showing us the level of confidence it has in its own sustainability, in the long-term growth of aviation and in the future performance of the Indian economy," said Harsh Vardhan, chairman at Delhi-based Starair Consulting.
Airline industry executives are hoping India's weak economy will rebound under new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that the government will press for cuts to jet fuel tax and build more airports, slashing costs and opening up new markets.
Higher disposable incomes, an expanding middle class and rapid urbanization have made India one of the world's fastest-growing domestic aviation markets, where passenger numbers are expected to grow by more than 75 percent in the next six years to exceed 217 million.
According to Airbus executive vice-president and the president of its India operations Kiran Rao, optimism about growth in Indian aircraft demand is rising.
But few airlines have translated that optimism into new orders on the scale of IndiGo's since most are losing money.
"People are too focused on India's negatives. IndiGo is aware of the challenges and it is adept at steering itself around them. That is how it became India's largest carrier," said one source familiar with the airline's thinking.
"There is, however, a great deal of optimism about the future within the airline and that comes right from the top."
Ghosh told Reuters last week India was a "highly underpenetrated market" and that a lot of the new planes would be for growth rather than replacing older aircraft.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>
<h3>STAYING IN PROFIT</h3>
Despite more Indians flying, fierce competition and high costs have left airlines including SpiceJet, Jet Airways and state-run Air India losing cash fast. The sector will lose up to $1.4 billion more this financial year, according to consultancy CAPA.
Privately held, IndiGo does not disclose its full accounts but is the only major Indian carrier which says it is profitable. It reported a sixfold rise in net profit to 7.87 billion rupees ($128 million) in the 2012-13 financial year, and has since expanded its market share to about 32 percent.
Founded in 2006 by travel entrepreneur Rahul Bhatia and Gangwal, a former chief executive of U.S. Airways and an old hand in executing game-changing aircraft orders, IndiGo has relied almost entirely on the sale and leaseback model to fuel its growth.
IndiGo buys a single line of planes in bulk at discounts, and then sells them to leasing companies around the time they are delivered, leasing the planes back and retiring the aircraft within six years to avoid depreciation and maintenance costs.
This keeps capital costs low and its balance sheet light, and is a strategy some analysts say hands it up-front cash to meet operating costs and tips it into profitability as rivals succumb to losses.
"IndiGo is also a good customer and in a good cash flow position, which means that there is little chance of default. In India IndiGo is probably the best customer for lessors," said one person familiar with the leasing negotiations.
IndiGo denies that the sale and leaseback model is the reason it makes money, and instead points to an advertising budget which is less than 1 percent of revenues, the fast turnaround of its fleet and its high level of seat sales as a proportion of capacity compared with its rivals.
The airline says it will also stick to the standard low-cost operator's strategy of flying a single type of narrow body plane within India and to a handful of overseas destinations. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>
<h3>COMPETITION AND AMBITION</h3>
IndiGo's ascent is not without its risks, however.
An end to the era of cheap borrowing to finance its plane orders would raise its costs, and should India's fragile economic recovery wilt IndiGo would be left facing delivery of 250 Airbus planes from 2018 that it would struggle to fill.
Increased competition in a notoriously cut-throat Indian market plagued by overcapacity could throw up the biggest hurdle to IndiGo's ambitions, analysts say.
Once-profitable airlines like Jet, which went from market leader in the 1990s to today's sprawling <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> carrier, have turned loss-making in the last two years as fares fell faster than they could cut costs.
Meanwhile Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia launched its first Indian flight in June, bringing in an airline which manages to operate with one of the lowest unit costs per kilometer flown in the industry. AirAsia India did not respond to requests for comment on IndiGo.
"The biggest risk for IndiGo is how the competition behaves, whether AirAsia and others respond more aggressively now," said Starair's Vardhan.
(1 US dollar = 61.6200 Indian rupees)
(The story is refiled to fix spelling of additional reporter credit)
(With additional reporting by Siva Govindasamy in Singapore; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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