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Smriti Irani-led HRD Ministry is boasting of a slew of decisions and initiatives taken and also accomplished. 
 
The education ministry claims that it has achieved 100% target completion of construction of separate toilets for boys and girls in schools under Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan during the year 2015. 
 
Under several initiatives taken by the HRD ministry, higher education gains prominence as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced more allocation for higher education. 
 
In 2015-16 budget, Jaitley had marginally reduced overall allocations towards education but had increased the planned higher education budget by nearly 22%. 
 
Jaitley proposed to set aside Rs.69, 074.76 crore for education in 2015-16 and higher education was given a plan allocation of Rs.15, 8555.26 crore as against Rs13,000 crore pegged in the revised budget for 2014-15. 
 
Here are some initiatives take by the HRD ministry under higher education till December 31, 2015 
 
Campus connect programme 
All the central universities in the country are going to be connected through WIFI network at a cost of approximately Rs320 crore. Under this, all the classrooms, libraries, laboratories, hostels and places frequented by the students would be connected through a secured WIFI hotspots providing access to the educational and information resources to the students on 24x7 basis. This project will be implemented by ERNET and is expected to be completed by June 2016. 
 
Promoting start-ups 
37 new startup parks/research parks would be set up this year with the coordination of Dept of Science and Technology (fund sharing on 50:50 basis) covering all the IITs, NITs and some IIITs/Central Universities. These would incubate the start-ups and handhold them till they reach the stage of commercialization, normally for a period of five years. IIT Madras Research Park has already become fully functional. 
 
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 
This was launched connecting higher education and society to enable technology and its use for development of rural areas. Under this all technical and higher education institutions have been asked to adopt five villages each; identify technology gaps and prepare plans for innovations that could substantially increase the incomes and growth in the rural areas. 
 
Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan 
For promotion of innovation, All the IITs have been encouraged to work with the industry to identify areas where innovation is required and come up with solutions that could be brought up to the commercialization level. For this purpose, it is proposed to launch a scheme Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyan by investing Rs 250 crore every year on identified projects proposed by IITs and NITs. 
 
Engineering skills to unemployed youth 
An initiative as a part of the PMKVY is being launched to encourage all the 10,000 technical institutions (engineering and polytechnic) to provide engineering skills (through part-time courses of 6 to 8 months duration) to at least 100 unemployed youth using their infrastructure after college-hours. The training costs would be met by the central government and the placement of the trained youth is the responsibility of the institution. This is expected to provide high quality skilled persons required for the Make in India campaign. 
 
Imprint India 
Imprint India, Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative, aims at direct research in the premier institutions into areas of social relevance. Under this, 10 domains have been identified, which could substantially impact the living standards of the rural areas, including healthcare technology, nano technology, computer science and ICT, manufacturing technology and environment/climate change. The research in each of these areas is being coordinated by one IIT. 
 
Global Initiative for Academics Network (GIAN) 
It was launched as an initiative to attract the best foreign academics to Indian Universities of Excellence. The programme has been launched to facilitate the partnership between higher education institutions of India and other foreign universities. Under this, 352 courses are being offered by foreign faculty from 38 countries. The cost of the travel and honorarium ranging from $8,000 - $12,000 is being met from the scheme funds. 
 
Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) 
The web portal is the Indian electronic e-education platform which proposes to offer courses from the high school stage to post-graduate stage in an interactive electronic platform. The IT platform for SWAYAM is going to be built and is expected to be operationalized by March 31, 2016 with a capacity to host nearly 2,000 courses. This would provide the best quality education to more than three crore students across the country. SWAYAM-MOOCs project is intended to address the needs of school level 9-12 to Under Graduate and Post Graduate students, covering all disciplines.

Budget 2015 report card: Here’s how Smriti Irani-led HRD Ministry fared

Like last year, this time also <keyword id="6391015" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Finance-Minister-Arun-Jaitley">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley</keyword> may cut down corporate tax rate by nearly one per cent. In this Budget 2016-17, Jaitley may end certain exemptions availed by the industry. 
 
In Budget 2015, Jaitley had announced phased reduction in corporate taxes over four years to 25 per cent from present 30 per cent. 
 
"To begin with, one per cent cut in the corporate tax rate, gradual phasing out of accelerated tax depreciation and a sunset clause for the tax deductions, coupled with reduction in MAT, will set the tone for this year's Budget," KPMG (India) Partner Tax Vikas Vasal said. 
 
Economic Laws Practice Partner Rohit Jain said since the government is pushing domestic manufacturing, in the next Budget it would be a challenge to do away with exemptions. 
 
"The reduction could be one per cent or so in the next Budget. The minister might put an end date to certain exemptions and pave the way for gradual withdrawal," Jain added. 
 
Currently, there are various tax concessions under the Income-Tax Act, 1961. The prominent ones are accelerated depreciation on various assets; weighted deduction for capital expenditure incurred on various projects; weighted deduction for expenditure incurred on manufacture or production of specified articles; expenditure incurred on scientific research; various skill development projects etc. 
 
"In an event of a phase out approach, a reduction of 1-1.25 per cent in the corporate tax rate could be expected," Deloitte Haskins &amp; Sells LLP Partner CA Gupta said. 
 
The Finance Minister had earlier said:"We lose out on both counts, i.e. we are considered as having a high corporate tax regime but we do not get that tax due to excessive exemptions. A regime of exemptions has led to pressure groups, litigation and loss of revenue. 
 
"It also gives room for avoidable discretion. I, therefore, propose to reduce the rate of corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next four years."

Arun Jaitley may end tax exemptions, corporate tax in his Budget 2016

For the last one year, Mr Modi has highlighted a stellar performance by his government. We have witnessed him showering praises on the BJP schemes during his foreign trips and campaigns in India. Now, as we inch closer to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=budget">the Union Budget for 2016-17</a>, it’s time to question whether the Prime Minister’s assured rhetoric matches his government’s record so far. 
 
Business Insider found a Finance Ministry list highlighting the promises which have been met relating to the last Budget, including those of subsidy and agriculture. Based on the claims, what follows is a report card on the 2015 Budget promises that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Modi+government">Modi government</a> has been able to fulfill so far. Take a look: 
 
-- D<a href="http://www.unitedbankofindia.com/uploads/dbtl.pdf">irect benefit transfer for LPG called Pahal</a> 
 
The scheme was launched on November 15, 2014 in 54 districts and in the rest of the country on January 1, 2015. Under the scheme, LPG cylinders are sold at one price ie the market rate. Consumers get Rs 558 in their bank accounts so they can buy LPG at market rate of Rs 605 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Subsidised LPG currently costs Rs 417. 
 
As many as 10 crore LPG consumers joined the ambitious scheme of getting cash subsidy in bank accounts to buy market priced cooking fuel, making it the world's largest direct benefit transfer and helping end black marketing. In August, the Prime Minister announced that it helped save Rs 15,000 crore by stopping black marketing and diversions. He also announced that at least 20 lakh people voluntarily gave up their subsidy on LPG helping widen the reach of the scarce fuel. 
 
-- <a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=133703">Digitisation of ration cards</a> 
 Digitisation of <keyword id="52453" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ration-Cards">ration cards</keyword> - one of the important components for making PDS leakproof - is on its way to completion. By April 1, 2016, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be implemented by all states with 100% digitisation of ration cards. It will be achieved soon along with online grievance redressal being introduced in all 36 states and Union territories. 
 
To cite figures, as of first week of December, digitisation of ration cards has been completed in 29 States/UTs. Over 32 crore ration cards have been digitized and over 8.5 crore ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar. 
 
-- Farm credit 
 Budget 2015 focused on development of agriculture with emphasis on reforms, credit facility and financial assistance. The agriculture credit target for 2015-16 was raised by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 8.5 lakh crore. It promised to create a unified national agricultural market to boost agricultural productivity and farmers' income. Banks may not have surpassed this target as <keyword id="42575" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arun-Jaitley">Arun Jaitley</keyword> expected but monitoring of agriculture credit is being done on a quarterly basis. Moreover in view of the challenge two successive droughts and deficient post-monsoon rainfall posed to agriculture last year, the government is mulling increasing institutional credit to farmers from the present Rs 8.5 lakh crores in the upcoming Budget. 
 
-- <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=MNREGA">MNREGA</a> 
 
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the flagship welfare programme of the previous UPA government, appears to be staging a revival of sorts. The July-September quarter witnessed 45.82 crore person-days of employment generated under MGNREGA. This was the highest for the quarter in the last five years. “It was more than even the 42.40 crore person-days during July-September 2012, which also happened to be a not-so-good monsoon year. According to officials, the last quarter (October-December), too, posted a similar trend. 
 
“In October alone, we provided 14.09 crore person-days employment, a record for the month. The data for the entire quarter is still being uploaded in our MIS (management information system) portal, but our expectation of the total person-days of work during October-December is 47 crore. That will again be a five-year-high for the quarter,” they said. Recently, the Finance Ministry made it clear that Budget allocation of Rs 34,699 crore for improving quality and effectiveness of <keyword id="92538" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="MNREGA">MNREGA</keyword> has been approved. 
 
-- 'Paramparagat Krishi Sinchayi Yojna' 
 
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana - a scheme aimed at giving a boost to productivity by ensuring irrigation facilities is also on its way to achieve the desired results. The Vision is to ensure access to some means of protective Irrigation to all agricultural farms. Government claimed that widespread work has been undertaken and lakhs of farmers are being educated about modern irrigation methods to give ‘Per Drop More Crop’. It is also motivating groups of farmers to take up organic farming. 
 
The Finance Ministry recently said Rs 300 crore was allocated in 2015-16 to this scheme against which Rs 178.23 crore has been released so far. In a matter of few months, they will be able to use the rest of the money to complete the demands of this scheme. 
 
(Image credits: TOI)

Modi Government's Report Card: Budget 2015 promises it has fulfilled so far

Indian Prime Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Narendra+Modi">Narendra Modi</a> has vouched for 175 Gigawatts of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=renewable+energy">renewable energy</a> by 2022. He has also promised 12 GW of Power by the end of 2016 - three times the current capacity! In case you forgot, this was at the India Pavilion at the <keyword id="2389731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Paris-Climate-Change-Conference">Paris Climate Change Conference</keyword>. 
 
Awesome as it might sound, that’s a tall claim. Even by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Narendra+Modi">Narendra Modi</a>’s standards. India’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=renewable+energy">renewable energy</a> capacity addition between 2002 and 2014 has been around 20% YoY. However, the total capacity remains only a fraction of the target. 
 
The big question now is, can India reach the ambitious target it has fixed for itself ahead of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Budget+2016">Budget 2016</a>? 
 
Let’s have a look at what the government has done in the sector so far! 
 
· The US has allowed a grant of $4 billion to push India’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=renewable+energy">Renewable energy</a> goals. 
· 266 GW worth commitments were received at the RE-Invest Conference held in February 2015. As many as 27 Banks are ready to finance 72 GW <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=renewable+energy">renewable energy</a> projects. · India has signed a MoU with Germany to promote <keyword id="6357019" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="solar-energy">solar energy</keyword>. As a part of this, Germany will allow low-interest loans in the range of 1 Billion Euro over the next 5 years. 
 
Most analysts don’t see a huge leap in terms of budget allocation for the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=renewable+energy">renewable energy</a> sector. The government’s investments, however, could be in the form of subsidies and tax-free bonds. It’s been doing that with rooftop solar panels for a while.

Budget 2016 – India’s Report Card
for Renewable Energy

Promising Acche Din for budding entrepreneurs, the Modi government announced a slew of initiatives to foster a healthy ecosystem of start-ups in the country. In a bid to allow greater access to new technology for their business, Finance Minister <keyword id="42575" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Arun-Jaitley">Arun Jaitley</keyword> has slashed royalty tax paid by entrepreneurs from 25% to 10%. 
 “This is certainly a move in the right direction for fostering a sound startup ecosystem in our country. Any assistance from the Government would be a shot in the arm for <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> &amp; small businesses. With support towards the ‘self-employment’, being a start-up we comprehend the importance of any kind of support and when it comes from our country’s government, we truly wish to deliver the best for the country and make a difference at large,” said Toshendra Sharma, founder and CEO of Wegilant, a cloud based mobile app security start-up. 
 
Addressing the credit availability challenge faced in the MSME sector, the Centre has announced to set up a Microfinance Unit Development Refinance (MUDRA) bank to tackle the issue. “I propose to create a micro units development refinance agency, Mudra Bank with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore and credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore," said FM Jaitley in the Parliament. 
 
However, the bank is especially aimed at promoting entrepreneurs from the reserved classes in the country. 
Several entrepreneurs in the MSME sector have often complained about lack of finances to run their business. Often, while applying for loans, these companies are asked for large collaterals by the banks, which made their business unsustainable. 
 
“These measures will greatly increase the confidence of our young educated and skilled workers who are able to become the first generation enterprises, and existing small businesses will be able to expand their activities. Just as we are banking the unbanked, we are also funding the unfunded," added Union Minister Jaitley. 
 
The government has also announced to launch an incubation centre in order to create opportunities for self employment and new jobs. The Centre has allocated Rs 1000 crore for this purpose. 
 Commenting on the issue, Alan D Souza, CEO, Vavia Technologies, said, “The government seems to have spoken of another Rs 1000 crore startup <keyword id="44611" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="fund">fund</keyword> with no news about the previous Rs 10,000cr startup fund that was announced during the <keyword id="6358021" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="budget">budget</keyword> last year. Rather than announcing such funds, more focus needs to be given on how utilization of such funds have impacted job creation and then additional support that can be provided for the same.” 
 
Apart from tax reduction and allocating additional funds, the government also reduced the corporate tax from 30% to 25% over the next four years.

Start-ups, MSMEs get a boost in Budget 2015

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9718012@N02/6232110215/in/photolist-auHcf8-auHbNM-auKRRE-auHbVa-auHboc-auHb9D-auKQWE-auHaSa-awtv29-awtuk9-awtuVY-awquUr-awtbNY-awqLJ8-awqJEg-awtt8C-aYrrpg-aYvTwp-aYw2q4-aYLC2V-aYLBU6-aYLC8k-aqhmKs">Flickr/paulmmay</a>The introduction of the MetroCard saved money for everyone.</div></div>In absolute terms, New Yorkers are paying more than ever for public transit.
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-will-fares-rise-on-nyc-transit-2013-10">Planned fare hikes</a> in 2015 and 2017 (each will likely raise prices by about 8.5%) aren't helping.
So it may come as a surprise that, adjusting for inflation and the average price paid per ride, taking the subway and bus actually costs less today than it did in 1996.
It's all thanks to the introduction of the MetroCard.
By 1997, MetroCards could be used anywhere in the <keyword id="72226" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York-City">New York City</keyword> transit system (the old tokens were phased out by 2003).
The cards offered three key benefits, <keyword id="170979" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="MTA">MTA</keyword> spokesperson Aaron Donovan said:
<ol>
<li>For the first time, New Yorkers could buy an unlimited 30-day or 7-day pass. With today's $112 30-day unlimited card, taking the subway or bus 48 times drops the price per ride from $2.50 to $2.33. If you take 60 trips, it drops to $1.87 per ride.</li>
<li>The bonus discount was introduced on pay-per-ride cards. For every dollar a rider spends, he gets $.05 back (it used to be more). A $20 purchase now gets you a MetroCard with $21 on it.</li>
<li>Free bus-to-subway transfers became a real thing. With the tokens, riders who connected from a bus to a subway had to pay two fares. With the MetroCard, they pay one.</li>
</ol>
But if riders were saving a lot of money all of a sudden, why didn't the MTA need to raise fares to make up for the lost revenue?
The benefits of the MetroCard were good enough to bring more riders into the system to bridge the gap, said Bill Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.
"Bus ridership expanded rapidly after MetroCard as riders no longer had to pay an additional fare to complete their trips on a bus," he said.
"Before MetroCard, many people walked to or from the subway to save money, but the transfer made this unnecessary. The unlimited cards were also a big factor in reducing the average fare, and like the transfers, they strongly encouraged increased ridership."
According to a <a href="http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/2013mta.html" target="_blank">July 2013 report</a> by New York City Independent Budget Office, the effects of the MetroCard kept lowering the average fare paid per trip (which accounts for free transfers) for more than 10 years, before costs finally headed north again:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/2013mta.html">NYC Independent Budget Office</a></div></div></div>
Even today, after a March fare hike, the average subway or bus ride costs $0.38 less than it did in 1996, accounting for inflation. A single ride costs only $0.17 more.
The 2015 and 2017 fare hikes <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-will-fares-rise-on-nyc-transit-2013-10" target="_blank">will likely kill that cost advantage</a>. But at least for now, riders can take comfort in knowing that compared to the late 1990s, riding the subway is a good deal.

New Yorkers Are Paying Less To Ride The Subway Than They Did In 1996

The recent budget has been pragmatic that focuses on enhancing the foundations of <keyword id="497931" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Competitiveness">competitiveness</keyword> and <keyword id="2748697" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Social-Wellbeing">social wellbeing</keyword> of its people. The budget, without a doubt, has been visionary in more than one ways and is reflected in the distinct direction that the present regime is trying to push the country towards. The budget tries to serve the poor at the same time being pro-business and pro-investment in sectors like infrastructure, housing, and power. All this in addition to accepting the recent recommendations of the <keyword id="74136" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="finance-commission">Finance Commission</keyword> to devolve a greater share of <keyword id="487578" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tax-collections">tax collections</keyword> up to 42% from the earlier 32%. This suggests that the government clearly appreciates the idea of states as being the primary unit of geography where finer economic development objectives are decided. 
 The focus of the budget has been in solving the problems of the poor through targeted subsidy regime by reducing leakages in transfers. The JAM (<keyword id="6392137" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jan-dhan-Yojana">Jan Dhan Yojana</keyword>, <keyword id="681230" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aadhar-card">Aadhar Card</keyword> and Mobile Phones) Number Trinity as pointed out in the economic survey aims to make the system leak-proof in the coming future. The government has thought long and hard on solving the problems of the poor. It is evident from the schemes meant for the people at various stages that do not have medical or general insurance. The old age pension scheme and the way the other insurance schemes have been designed with benefits to poorest of the poor in times of need in the form of accident premiums at amounts as small as Rs 330 a year, etc. with a coverage of Rs 2 Lakh point towards the same. 
 
Implicit in the design of such schemes is the fact that the government seems to opt for market-based solutions to take care of problems of the people rather than a governmental welfare driven model. It was also evident by the announcement to create a National Skills Mission through the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry that aims to make the workforce employable and stay employable. A look at the provisions also suggests that the government is keen to invest in startups as well as in promoting small businesses by providing funds for entrepreneurship. The opening up a Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 Crore also bolsters this point. There also seems to be an explicit understanding that India of tomorrow will have to be driven by entrepreneurs and a shift in the mindset is required from being job seekers to job creators. The education system also gets a boost, but opening up newer institutions especially IIM’s and IIT’s makes the education system focus on quantity but not quality. This is where the task of the HRD Ministry would be cut out to focus on IIT’s/ IIM’s as a pillar in the ecosystem of creating enterprises. 
 
For the corporate sector and investor community, this is probably the first time that the focus has been on providing internationally competitive tax rates (though deferred over the next four years). Similarly, the indication on a timely implementation of the much-awaited goods and services tax (to be implemented from next year) indicates that the government is keen towards its aim of a common unified market that will integrate the economy and boost growth and enhance regional competitiveness. The focus on reducing red tape by focusing on simplifying norms for opening and complying with rules also indicates the government is keen on improving India’s rank on indices such as the Global Competitiveness Index and the Ease of Doing Business Index by leveraging technology to solve problems. 
 
The push towards infrastructure is evident with an allocation of Rs. 70,000 Crores more to the sector from the previous year despite the reduction in fiscal space. The creation of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), with annual flows of Rs. 20,000 Crore will help the trust to raise debt, and in turn, invest as equity in infrastructure finance companies. It will then enable infrastructure finance companies to leverage extra equity, many folds. Thus, one clearly sees a boost for India’s creaky infrastructure. 
 
The greater devolution to states also means that now the union government is trying to go on the path of cooperative federalism that had been talked about for long. It means states will now have greater freedom to design policies and implement programs suitable to the needs of the people residing therein. The only two caveats i.e., first the states being unable to implement policies and secondly the deepening wedge and greater regional disparity due to better performance of some states. This is where the states will have to understand the competitive federalism and take it in a healthy spirit. The Institute for Competitiveness’s annual State Competitiveness Index ranking may be of benefit for states to see their performance and improve it over time. 
 
The budget thus manages to do well for quality of life of citizens, as well as social progress especially for the common people. It signals a departure from the past with a new economic order in place one that has at its core a focus on states, infrastructure, entrepreneurship, competition and access to markets as the prime drivers of tomorrow’s India. Will the budget have a transformational impact on India’s future? It certainly has the potential; The rest will depend on India's implementational capability. 
 
(Dr. Amit Kapoor is President and CEO of India Council on Competitiveness and Honorary Chairman of Institute for Competitiveness, India. He tweets @kautiliya and can be contacted at <a href="mailto:amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in">amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in</a>)

Enhancing India’s Competitiveness: A New Economic Order in Making

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Good morning. Here's everything you need to know before you head into your first meeting.1. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/publicis-groupe-q4-earnings-2015-2">Publicis Groupe's Q4 results are out.</a> The French <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> agency holding group forecasts that 2015 will be a growth year, following a mixed 2014.2. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/directv-ads-with-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-models-causing-controversy-2015-2">People are not happy with DirectTV's latest ad campaign.</a> It features Sports Illustrated models dressed to look frumpy.3. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/premier-league-broadcast-money-2015-2">The English Premier League's massive new broadcasting rights deal with Sky and BT should terrify the rest of Europe.</a> Going forward, Premier League clubs will be able to spend significantly more on players than their counterparts across Europe, given the 70% increase in the size of the deal this time around.4. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/aol-q4-earnings-call-2015-2">AOL stock tanked 11% on Wednesday following the release of its Q4 earnings.</a> The company missed on revenue, beat on EPS, and CEO Tim Armstrong laid out its 2015 plan on the earnings call.5. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-smarttvs-are-inserting-ads-into-movies-2015-2">Now Samsung SmartTVs are interrupting users' videos with random pop-up ads.</a> Samsung says it is looking into the issue, which so far only appears to affect some SmartTV owners in Australia.6. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-plans-to-crush-facebook-vmware-2015-2">Cisco's CEO said the company plans to "crush" Facebook.</a> John Chambers was referring to Facebook's plan to build a new "white label" network, giving its software and designs for the hardware away for free.7. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buzzfeed-hires-lee-brown-as-chief-revenue-officer-2015-2">BuzzFeed has confirmed the hire of former Tumblr sales exec Lee Brown as its chief revenue officer.</a> Brown has also held leadership roles at Yahoo and Groupon.8. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-buys-niche-an-ad-network-for-vine-stars-2015-2">Twitter has acquired social media talent agency Niche for about $50 million in cash and stock.</a> Niche is a startup that connects rising social media stars with big brand advertisers.9. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/house-of-cards-season-3-early-netflix-release-2015-2">The third season of "House of Cards" was accidentally leaked on Netflix Wednesday night.</a> Netflix insists it was not a marketing stunt. That said, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/house-of-cards-response-to-season-3-leak-2015-2">the official "House of Cards" Twitter account had some fun over the leak.</a>10. <a href="http://www.marketingweek.com/2015/02/11/pepsico-to-move-money-into-shopper-marketing-and-digital-to-maintain-sales-success/">PepsiCo plans to move budget into shopper marketing and digital to maintain its 2014 sales success, Marketing Week reports.</a> But the owner of Pepsi and Doritos won't be increasing its overall budget year over year. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/clash-of-clans-2015-super-bowl-ad-starring-liam-neeson-2015-2">Liam Neeson transformed what could have been an ordinary mobile game ad into a Super Bowl great</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hpYmE0czrM2kzrh6WZS4PPkcjKDJVfQJ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The 10 things in advertising you need to know today

2014 was a dramatic year for the eCommerce industry in India. The year saw mergers and acquisitions, funding from across the globe and witnessed record breaking sales with customers adopting and accepting to this mode of shopping. The Indian eCommerce industry grew at an exponential rate and 2015 seems to be even more promising. The industry is expected to reach $6 billion in 2015, a 70% increase over 2014 revenue of $3.5 billion according to Gartner, Inc. 
 For the entire <keyword id="1664180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-commerce">digital commerce</keyword> industry, whether it is television, mobile or on the Web, I think it is just the beginning. As an entrepreneurial venture and as an industry, we just have cracked the surface. It is impossible to even fathom how big this industry is going to be in the next ten years. The eCommerce growth will not be a mere 2% of our retail, but this could be as big as 20%--this growth won’t happen in ten years but in a much shorter time. 
 
The immediate effect of the growth of the industry will result in employment opportunities and quite a few professionals and young guns will look at joining startups. We will also see growth of the newer categories like grocery and food gaining momentum. Also, the growth of m-commerce is already apparent, but next year will see mobile become the first screen for a large part of the population and is likely to take over web transactions. Also, for TV shopping specifically, we believe mobile will play the role of a complimentary second screen, aiding consumers in deeper discovery and wider choice besides ease of ordering. 
 
The digital commerce industry is all about last mile delivery. So next year, I foresee logistic sector expanding and catching up with the demand and creating a mechanism to reach out to tier III &amp; IV towns of India. Lastly, technology will continue to play an important role in the growth of this industry and Big Data will help in acquiring new customers and reaching out to them with personalized products and promotions. 
 Finally, we are looking forward to the upcoming <keyword id="6358021" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="budget">budget</keyword> for a Uniform <keyword id="6354679" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="GST">GST</keyword> and tax measures, which we feel are crucial to make digital commerce a success story in India. The move will simplify the tax structure and make India one common market by rationalizing the supply chain and thereby, benefiting each member of the value chain-most of all the customers. 
 
(About the author: This article has been written by Sundeep Malhotra, Founder &amp; CEO, HomeShop18) 
 
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