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As <keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon" source="keywords">Amazon</keyword> celebrates <keyword id="19909269" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="alexa" source="keywords">Alexa</keyword>'s sixth anniversary in India, the company on Thursday said that there has been 200 per cent growth in Alexa-connected smart home devices in the country in the last three years. With a surge in connected devices in the last three years, Amazon also noted that there is also a 100 per cent increase in requests to Alexa for controlling compatible smart home appliances such as smart lights, plugs, fans, TVs, security cameras, ACs, water heaters, and air purifiers. "Since we launched Alexa and Echo smart speakers in India, the smart home sector has evolved significantly, and voice technology has played a massive role in this," <keyword id="20216460" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="parag-gupta" source="keywords">Parag Gupta</keyword>, Director and Country Manager, Amazon Devices, India, said in a statement. "Customers can easily set up a smart home by getting a compatible smart bulb and instantly control with Alexa, or get a smart plug to automate existing appliances. It's clear that more people are seeing how setting up a smart home is not as complex as they had imagined," he added. Moreover, the company said that customers in India are also evolving in their smart home journey. In the last year, usage of Alexa to control smart fans and smart ACs increased by 37 per cent, which is the highest among all smart home appliances. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/affordability-propels-indian-smartwatch-shipments-to-rise-by-50-in-2023/articleshow/107517214.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/affordability-propels-indian-smartwatch-shipments-to-rise-by-50-in-2023/articleshow/107517214.cms" target="_blank">Affordability propels Indian smartwatch shipments to rise by 50% in 2023</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/webstories/top-ten-selling-cars-in-india-in-january-2024/slidelist/107547644.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/webstories/top-ten-selling-cars-in-india-in-january-2024/slidelist/107547644.cms" target="_blank">Baleno regains the top selling car spot as Maruti Suzuki dominates the Jan top-10 list</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/tcs-crosses-15-lakh-crore-market-cap-a-look-at-indias-biggest-companies/slidelist/107478912.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/tcs-crosses-15-lakh-crore-market-cap-a-look-at-indias-biggest-companies/slidelist/107478912.cms" target="_blank">TCS crosses ₹15 lakh crore market cap – A look at India’s biggest companies</a>

200% increase in smart home devices connected to Alexa in last 3 yrs: Amazon

<ul><li>Indians love to stream OTT shows and movies on TV screens, says a NielsenIQ study.</li><li>Video and sound quality, ergonomic benefits, and voice assistants make TVs the preferred option to stream.</li><li>Most Indians want to stream and watch their family and comedy is the preferred genre. </li></ul><keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword> has a new dinner companion — streaming services. As per a study conducted by NielsenIQ commissioned by Amazon for TV streaming trends, 97% of Indians prefer to stream their favourite movies and shows at dinner time. The good news is that they’re not cutting down on family time, as 74% watched these services with family, especially spouses and children. Family streaming also means they all want to watch it together on their big screens. According to the study, 78% respondents prefer streaming content on their TVs through streaming sticks, smart TVs, and set-top-boxes as compared to smartphones, tablets and laptops. TV equals painless streaming In addition to family time, TV watching offers ergonomic comfort. “Viewing on TV may also allow one to maintain a comfortable body posture, alleviating the aches and pains sometimes associated with watching content while holding the phone,” the study says. Adding to this is the active broadband connections at most homes. TVs also provide better video and sound quality, and convenience of accessing a variety of content across OTT providers and online sources. Voice assistants, and the convenience of watching live shows and DTH channels all in one single screen also helps. “Online video streaming has come a long way since its inception, and so has streaming habits of consumers. What has remained a constant is our preference to view content on the biggest screen in our homes – the television,” said <keyword id="20216460" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="parag-gupta" source="keywords">Parag Gupta</keyword>, Director and Country Manager, Amazon Devices India. What does India love to stream? Almost 66% of respondents of the study also said that they streamed five hours daily over the weekend. On weekdays, most of them keep it down to three hours of streaming. As per the study, India loves to watch comedy – which is the most popular genre of content watched. It’s closely followed by sports, thriller, romantic, horror, international TV shows, and news in order of preference. Ormax too recently released a report on the most streamed movies and shows on OTT. <keyword id="19911186" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shahid-kapoor" source="keywords">Shahid Kapoor</keyword>’s Farzi became the most watched Hindi web series with a viewership of around 37 million. Anil Kapoor’s The Night Manager however comes a close second with 28.4 million. Bhuvam Bam starrer Taaza Khabar came at number three with a viewership of 23.5 million. Made in Heaven season 2 ranked at number 10 with 15.7 million. “Farzi is the only show to cross the 30 million viewership mark in 2023, and is now the most-watched subscription video on demand (SVOD) series in India of all time. Two advertising video on demand AVOD shows from JioCinema, i.e., Asur 2 &amp; Taali, feature in the top five most-watched shows of the year,” said Ormax. Bawaal starring <keyword id="19946417" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="varun-dhawan" source="keywords">Varun Dhawan</keyword> and Janhvi Kapoor was the most streamed movie attracting 21.2 million. Shahid Kapoor is back on the list again with his Bloody Daddy becoming the second most watched movie. The much hyped Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies ranked 13 with a viewership of 10 million. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/zoya-akhtars-the-archies-turns-out-to-be-a-damp-squib-and-nothing-like-the-breezy-comic-series/articleshow/105831059.cms">Zoya Akhtar’s ‘The Archies’ turns out to be a damp squib and nothing like the breezy comic series</a>

Dinner with the idiot box: 97% Indians like to stream while they eat

New Delhi, <keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> on Thursday launched the all-new <keyword id="16684414" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="5th-Gen-Echo-Dot" source="Orion">5th Gen Echo Dot</keyword> smart speaker with improved audio, Ultrasound Motion Detection, temperature sensor, and tap gesture controls in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>. The new <keyword id="3269786" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Echo-Dot" source="Orion">Echo Dot</keyword> comes in three colour variants -- black, blue and white, available for purchase from March 2 to 4 across leading online and offline stores at an introductory price of Rs 4,999, according to the company. Users can just use their voice and ask <keyword id="196611" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="alexa" source="Orion">Alexa</keyword> in English, Hindi and Hinglish. "We have now upgraded the audio experience and brought motion detection and temperature sensors to the smart speaker. Customers can leverage new capabilities for a truly ambient experience where tech simply fades in the background -- like walking into a room, and it lights up like magic," Parag Gupta, Director and Country Manager for <keyword id="10634878" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="amazon-devices-india" source="Orion">Amazon Devices India</keyword>, said in a statement. Moreover, the company said that the 5th <keyword id="16684413" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="gen-echo-dot" source="Orion">Gen Echo Dot</keyword> offers clearer vocals and up to double the bass than its previous generations. It also has an accelerometer that enables tap gesture controls, so users can simply tap the top of the device to pause and resume music, dismiss timers, or end Alexa-to-Alexa calls. With in-built Ultrasound Motion Detection, users can automate their day by creating smart home routines such as having Alexa turn on compatible lights or play music when they enter the room. Further, the new Echo Dot comes with an in-built temperature sensor that can sense room temperature. With this feature, users can set up helpful routines such as automatically turning on compatible AC when it gets too warm inside or turning it off when it gets too cold. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-confirms-launch-of-its-first-foldable-phone-in-2023-flip-phone-also-expected/articleshow/98308482.cms">OnePlus confirms launch of its first foldable phone in 2023, flip phone also expected</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/xiaomi-13-pro-launched-in-india-price-launch-offers-and-specifications/articleshow/98296353.cms">Xiaomi 13 Pro launched in India – price, launch offers and specifications</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mukesh-ambanis-jiocinema-to-take-on-disney-hotstar-and-amazon-prime-with-free-4k-ipl-streaming/articleshow/98150380.cms">Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema to take on Disney+ Hotstar, and Amazon Prime with free 4K IPL streaming</a>

Amazon launches 5th Gen Echo Dot with improved audio in India

<ul><li><keyword id="412367" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="consumer-sentiment" source="Orion">Consumer sentiment</keyword> has improved and Indians are eager to celebrate this <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword>, says a survey.</li><li>Consumers are keen to splurge on luxury goods, beauty and personal care products, consumer durables and more.</li><li>With a surge in inquiries, real estate players expect 20% growth in sales this season.</li><li>Online retailers are also expected to see 18-20% in gross merchandise value. </li></ul>Indians are gearing up for the festival season that kicks off with Ganesh Chathurthi this week. As the auspicious months arrive, the real estate sector is upbeat with new launches and more, but the shadow of the monsoons lingers over automobile dealers and jewellers. This season, Indians are not shying away from high-profile purchases this festive season as the real estate sector has reported healthy inquiries – thanks to the high consumer sentiment due to heightened economic activity. “As we approach the festive season, we are already witnessing a surge in inquiries and we are expecting around 20% growth compared to last year’s festive season. This naturally offers a context for consumers to go in for their dream homes as the overall climate is geared towards sustained demand,” said Ramani Sastri, chairman &amp; MD of Sterling Developers. The demand for new homes has been growing and has hit an all-time high, and realtors expect a windfall this season, aided by growth in new launches especially in the mid and luxury categories. Rising homeownership amongst millennials, aided by the higher disposable income and willingness to upgrade to larger, luxurious spaces equipped with better amenities. “Developers are optimistic about the desire for homeownership and anticipate that with attractive schemes and offers, the uptake for homes across cities will be healthy. Further, the unchanged repo rates and the appraisal cycle that coincides with the festive season, will provide a much-needed boost to the residential sales figures in the coming months,” said Kanika Gupta Shori, founder and COO, Square Yards. Consumer goods are also expected to see traction this season, thanks to the underlying need to improve living standards combined with the surge in the need for comfort in households. “People are upgrading to a more premium lifestyle and our products, with their distinct combination of technology, ultra-modern look and cutting-edge features, will continue to find traction. The focus on launching new products, coupled with good deals and enhanced distribution, especially in the tier-2 and tier-3 cities, should help brands during the festive season ahead,” said Parag Kulkarni, senior VP-international and president, A O Smith India, who are known for their water heaters and purifiers. Better than last year The festive mood is also high for other purchases like clothes, luxury goods and more. A survey by global technology company The Trade Desk says that 70% of Indians are ready to spend more this Diwali – that’s a 35% higher than last year. The year of 2022 was one of the first festival seasons which was not masked by fear of Covid-19 in the last few years. This year, sales are expected to be better. “With the broader economy coming back to business-as-usual levels, this festive season is likely to catalyze online consumption demand,” said a report by Redseer. With regards to online shopping, the growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) of sales is expected to be 18-20% higher than what it was in the 2022 festival season – which saw a 10% growth. “The planned increase in consumer spend is led primarily by consumers’ bullish view that their financial situation has improved according to 53%, and consumers’ eagerness to celebrate a lot more this year as per 49%,” The Trade Desk says. A significant majority ie. 84% expressed interest in buying luxury goods and apparel, with 80% on gold, as per Trade Desk survey. Amongst those who plan to spend more, 68% are more likely to spend more on new clothes, the rest on food items, gifts for family and more. Within e-tailing, beauty and personal care products, home and general merchandise, fashion are expected to see high demand – with persistent premiumization. Auto and gold sales rely on rural demand for growth uptick After an upbeat August sales when sales of passenger vehicles and three-wheelers hit an all-time high, the outlook for auto sales too is upbeat. “Based on the performance of last month (August) , we are even more optimistic for demand to pick-up during the festive season, enabled by positive economic outlook and the revival of monsoon after a deficit in August,” said Vinod Aggarwal, the president of industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Two-wheeler sales, however, remained dull due to subdued rural demand on account of insufficient rainfall that could temper sales growth going ahead, as per experts. Consumer demand in this segment has remained ‘ambivalent’ according to yet another industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA). The monsoons have been in a deficit for most of the season, while a pick-up is expected in September. Without that pick-up, combined with low reservoir levels can have both direct and indirect effect on consumption both in rural and urban areas. Low sowing across two cropping seasons can have a devastating effect on inflation — driving down consumer sentiment across auto and other sectors. “After a prolonged period of stagnation, rural demand is showing signs of a positive resurgence. However, this recovery remains tenuous, contingent on the performance of the final phase of the monsoon season. Such developments would be particularly inopportune as they would coincide with the peak of India's festive season, notably Navratri and Deepawali, traditionally periods of heightened consumer activity,” said FADA. Jewellery sales too could be clouded by inflation, say experts, even as the yellow metal’s prices have been inching down on account of various macro economic factors. “With the start of the festive and wedding season, domestic gold demand is expected to gain impetus. However, higher inflation and weaker rural income on account of a less than ideal monsoon could potentially weigh on demand,” says Ghazal Jain, fund manager, alternative investments at Quantum Mutual Fund. Others, however, feel that consumers would be keen on addition to their physical old portfolio driven by the lower prices. Their prices have come down from a high of ₹61,750 per 10 gm in May to ₹59,000 per 10 gm currently — a healthy 20-25% drop from the recent surge. “Festive seasons have consistently witnessed a surge in physical gold demand, particularly in the realm of ornamental jewellery, as consumers seek the latest and trendiest designs. After a period of subdued festivities, the recent years have seen a resurgence in celebrations, rekindling the enthusiasm for gold,” said Jateen Trivedi, VP-research at LKP Securities. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/over-43-of-indian-employees-are-struggling-with-anxious-depressed-or-isolated/articleshow/103661485.cms">More than half of Indian employees are logging off from work exhausted</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/soap-opera-fmcg-players-kick-off-price-war-to-bring-back-whats-lost/articleshow/103657469.cms">Soap Opera: FMCG players kick off price war to bring back what’s lost</a>

India switches on its shopping mode as festivals approach, sales set to jump 20%

Indian consumers spent nearly four hours daily watching content on their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/amazon-fire-tv-cube-streaming-box-launched-in-india-at-12999/articleshow/82178452.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Amazon Fire TV devices</a> in 2021, up from 3 hours per day as compared to 2020, the company said on Monday. One in three <keyword id="2180439" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fire-tv" source="Orion">Fire TV</keyword> customers said farewell to a cable or DTH connection while they interacted with Alexa on an average of once every 4 seconds on Fire TV devices. "Over 150 million Fire TV devices have been sold worldwide, with users streaming billions of hours of content every month," said Parag Gupta, the India Head of Amazon Devices. "We will continue innovating on behalf of our customers to help them seamlessly discover and enjoy new shows, movies, and more," he added. Customers purchased Fire TV devices in 80 per cent of pin codes across the country. "Smaller cities like Hisar, Tiruvallur, Chittoor, Alwar, Imphal, and South Andaman saw an increased growth in sales of Fire TV devices," the company said. Comedy retained its spot as the most preferred TV genre among Fire TV consumers. Smart home control requests by customers using Alexa on their Fire TV devices increased by over 150 per cent in 2021 versus last year, said the company.

Indians watched content for 4 hours daily on Amazon Fire TV devices in 2021

<ul><li>On Monday, Gunjan Patidar, Zomato’s co-founder and chief technology officer tendered his resignation.</li><li><keyword id="7349800" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharatpe" source="Orion">BharatPe</keyword>’s CEO Suhail Sameer has quit the top job to become its strategic advisor.</li><li>There has been a lot of churn in new-age companies like Nykaa, and also big techs like Meta India, WhatsApp Pay, Amazon India and more.</li></ul>New age companies in India have been hit by a flurry of exits by top executives, leaving them scurrying for replacements. This comes at a time when startups have been battling funding winter and elevated inflation, in a rising interest rate regime. BharatPe, a fintech is amongst those with multiple high profile exits, including its co-founder and former managing director Ashneer Grover, along with his wife Madhuri Jain Grover – who not only had to leave the company, but were also sued by BharatPe in December 2022 for ₹88.6 crore. The company alleged that both husband and wife engaged in misappropriation of funds including creating fake bills, enlisting fictitious vendors and so on. Adding to BharatPe’s woes is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/bharatpe-ceo-suhail-sameer-to-step-down-five-months-after-taking-over/articleshow/96703750.cms">departure</a> of its CEO Suhail Sameer on January 3. Sameer took over as the company’s CEO in August 2021, a year after being appointed as the company’s president. He will now serve as a strategic advisor starting January 7, 2023. Before Sameer, BharatPe witnessed the departure of four other high level executives last November. This includes Nehul Malhotra, head of PostPe which is BharatPe’s ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ arm. The others were the CTO Vijay Aggarwal; Rajat Jain, the chief product officer; and Geetanshu Singla, VP of technology. They moved on to pursue their own entrepreneurial passions, the company had then said in a statement. Zomato rocked by multiple top level exits, too Sameer’s resignation comes hours after Gunjan Patidar, Zomato’s co-founder and chief technology officer, tendered his resignation. Patidar was one of the first few employees of Zomato who built the core tech systems of the company. “Over the last ten plus years, he (Patidar) also nurtured a stellar tech leadership team that is capable of taking on the mantle of leading the tech function going forward. His contribution to building Zomato has been invaluable,” said the company. Patidar’s exit is the third high-level exit at the food delivery giant in two months. In November last year, another one of Zomato’s co-founders Mohit Gupta tendered his resignation. Its head of new initiatives Rahul Ganjoo; and Siddharth Jhawar, vice-president of global growth also quit in the same month. The list goes on as in September 2022, Zomato’s deputy CFO Nitin Savara also tendered his resignation. The company has been bleeding money and it reported a consolidated loss of ₹251 crore in Q2 FY23. New age companies’ top heads move in and out of big tech companies There is a lot of churn among top executives of new-age tech companies as well as big techs. Online beauty retailer Nykaa’s CFO Arvind Agarwal, who had been with the company through its IPO, quit and joined fintech major PayU as its India CFO, this November. On the other hand, new-age companies have also been able to attract executives from major companies into their fold as well. Case in point is Sugar Cosmetics who brought in Amit Aggarwal, Marico’s head of finance of its India business, as its CFO. Adding to it, Amazon India’s director of grocery, food and health Sameer Khetarpal resigned and moved to Jubilant FoodWorks as CEO, a franchisee that runs Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin Donuts outlets in India. Meta India country head Ajit Mohan tendered his resignation in November 2022, to join rival Snap as the President of Asia Pacific. Following this, WhatsApp India’s head Abhijit Bose and Meta India’s public policy head Rajiv Aggarwal also resigned. The latter joined Samsung India. WhatsApp Pay’s director and head Manesh Mahatme also left his position in September to join Amazon India as director, product and engineering. Last but not the least, another shocking exit was of Parag Agarwal, former CEO of Twitter who was fired by Elon Musk in October, a year after he was appointed for the position. Soon after his ouster, Agrawal changed his LinkedIn bio to “Not the CEO you are looking for”. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/radiant-cash-management-shares-debut-at-a-10-premium-after-company-reduces-ipo-size/articleshow/96727374.cms">Radiant Cash Management shares debut at a 10% premium after company reduces IPO size</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/shark-tank-indias-season-2s-sharks-meet-the-serial-investors-cas-and-iit-and-iim-alumni/articleshow/96714262.cms">Shark Tank India’s Season 2’s sharks: Meet the serial investors, CAs, and IIT and IIM alumni</a>

Zomato, BharatPe, Nykaa and more: the revolving door for top execs at new age companies

<ul><li>The <keyword id="8435793" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="onida-fire-tv">Onida Fire TV</keyword> Edition has been launched in 32-inch and 43-inch variants.</li><li>The Smart TVs from Onida come with Fire TV experience built in.</li><li>The 32-inch and 43-inch Smart TVs are priced at ₹12,999 and ₹21,999 respectively.</li></ul>E-commerce giant Amazon has partnered with domestic TV brand Onida to launch the Fire TV Edition smart TVs in India. The company has announced the televisions in two sizes for the Indian market – a 32-inch variant and a 43-inch variant. Onida Fire TV Edition pricing and availability The Onida Fire TV Edition 32-inch has been priced at ₹12,999 and the 43-inch variant has been priced at ₹21,999. The TVs will go on sale from Amazon India starting from December 20. The budget smart TV market is currently dominated by brands Xiaomi, TCL and VU, which have opted to launch Android TVs. While VU offers TVs starting from ₹11,499, Xiaomi and TCL offer their 32-inch TVs from ₹12,499. While Amazon already offers access to its Fire TV platform with the Fire TV Stick, the Fire TV Edition comes with the Fire TV experience built-in and there is no need to purchase the Fire TV Stick separately. Onida Fire TV Edition features The Onida Fire TV Edition smart TVs have been launched in two variants – a 32-inch variant and a bigger 43-inch variant. The 32-inch TV features a HD display and the 43-inch TV features a Full HD display. The Onida Fire TV Edition smart TVs feature several OTT apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Sony Liv, Hotstar, YouTube, Zee 5 and more. As this is not an Android TV, you will not find the Google Play Store on this TV. However, we expect the TV to ship with an App store to download third-party apps. In terms of connectivity, both the TVs will feature three HDMI ports, one USB port and one ethernet port. You will also get a voice remote with Alexa support for the TVs. You can use the Alexa Voice Remote to search for movies or shows, control smart home devices, launch apps and more. In addition to voice commands, the remote also offers quick access buttons to launch Prime Video, Netflix, Sony Liv and Zee 5. Commenting on the launch, Parag Gupta, Head of Amazon Devices India said, “We are very excited to bring the complete Fire TV experience on Onida TVs in India. With Fire TV Edition’s excellent picture quality and immersive sound experience, customers can enjoy all their favourite content in one place, whether its streaming content from popular apps like Prime Video, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Zee5 and more, or switching to DTH/cable connection for live TV.”

Amazon to take on Xiaomi's smart TVs with Fire TVs made by Onida

Rohan Shravan was 24 years old when he founded Notion Ink, a <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> that designed India’s first tablet computer Adam. The device was launched five months before Apple placed the first version of the iPad on store shelves. 
 
At its international debut in the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas in January 2010, one of the first to place an order for Adam was an employee at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. However, in the ensuing months as the iPad gained iconic status, Adam dropped by the wayside, felled by the lack of risk capital to grow the business. 
 “When I told venture capitalists that our product will be a challenger to <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and Apple, they laughed at me,” said Shravan, a mechanical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur who initially bootstrapped the firm with personal savings of around Rs 6 lakh. 
 
Shravan’s experience is hardly unique. In the midst of an unprecedented entrepreneurial boom, several of those starting up say there are more hurdles than advantages in the Indian startup sector. Apart from the red tape and the lack of policy support there is also a shortage of true risk capital that can back edgy new ideas. 
 
Customers are unwilling to pay for untested products and many entrepreneurs choose the middle path fearing failure. “I was very aggressive, arrogant and fought like a warrior, the so-called experts advised me to tone down and be nice, which led to our downfall,” said Shravan who trained engineering students to work on Adam as a way to minimise staff costs. “Around 80 per cent of the employees were final year students; they were later snatched by Samsung and Motorola.” 
 
In recent years, several ventures including short messaging service GupShup, personalised news service Frrole and language keypad maker Luna Ergonomics have altered business models when faced with regulatory hurdles or the fear of rejection from investors and customers. 
 This at a time when many global technology companies including WhatsApp, <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>, caller identification service Truecaller, home rental marketplace Airbnb, and question and answer site Quora count India as one of their fastest growing markets. 
 
Nearly 40 million of WhatsApp’s global user base of 450 million is in India. “India is our largest market with about 30 million users and continues to demonstrate great opportunities for us,” said Nami Zarringhalam, cofounder of Sweden’s Truecaller. When Amarpreet Kalkat started his company Frrole in 2011, he wanted to build a product that was tailored to a user’s area of interest. 
 
“I believed it could rival Google News,” said the 35-year-old entrepreneur. Eight months later, Kalkat started looking for funds and he had to answer the dreaded question, over and over again: “How do you make money?” Two years of running the company without external funding almost made him bankrupt. Kalkat was forced to start a new by changing his model to an enterprise product. 
 
At about the same time when Frrole was launched in Silicon Valley, a text and photo sharing app called Snapchat was born. It received $60 million (Rs 361 crore) in initial funding and was handling 150 million photos every day. 
 
Last year, the company rejected a $3 billion (Rs 18,000 crore) buyout deal from Facebook. “There is a very high chance that Frrole would still have been a social newspaper, if we were based in Silicon Valley,” said Kalkat whose company now has a dozen of enterprise customers. 
 
Parag Dhol, managing director at Inventus Capital Partners, said he has some sympathy with the entrepreneurs’ point of view. “But let me throw the question back at them—let us find at least one product from India where there are at least 100 million users,” said the investor who has backed firms such as Savaari Car Rentals, online bus ticketing site redBus and technology company TELibrahma. 
 
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Angel investor Sharad Sharma, who pushed Kalkat to alter his business model, is of the view that in Silicon Valley entrepreneurs can afford to not have a paying business. “Because they have the confidence that they will get bought over, here there is no such scene. It’s all about viability of the business,” said Sharma who participated in a $245,000 angel (Rs 1.4 crore) funding round in Frrole this April. 
India has a far worse ratio of venture capital exits as compared to Israel and the US, according to data compiled by think tank iSpirt and investment bank Signal Hill. Few large companies are interested in buying out startups or using their products, impeding growth of local companies. 
 
“We had all the ingredients to become a large global company,” says Abhijit Bhattacharjee, 43-year-old founder of Luna Ergonomics, the maker of the Indian language keypad Panini. 
 
Named after an ancient Sanskrit grammarian, the technology makes it possible to type quickly and easily in all Indian languages on the mobile phone. The company which has received patents for its Korean language interface did not find takers amongst Indian telecom companies. 
 
“Supporting Indian scripts on digital devices does not suit the strengths and roadmaps of these companies,” said Bhattacharjee, whose company last released an Urdu keypad for iOS, Android, and PC in 2013. “Which large enterprise buys cutting edge technology from startups? When there are not early customers, how can you expect to have $1 billion companies?” asked Ashish Gupta, a senior managing director at Helion Venture Partners that backed group text messaging service GupShup. 
 
The Mumbai-based firm was launched just six months after microblogging site Twitter was launched in the US in July 2006. Within a year of inception the service had racked up 15 million users. 
 GupShup was a free, social, short messaging service that allowed users to communicate and connect with family, <keyword id="343" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Friends">friends</keyword> and followers using ordinary mobile handsets. But the telecom ecosystem and policies were a problem. 
 
“The regulations did not allow advertising. The operators kept the short messaging service rates high,” said Beerud Sheth, cofounder of Webaroo maker of GupShup product. The company had to shift focus from retail consumers and instead offer the messaging platform for enterprises. 
 
“They (government) should invest money in big ideas. They need to stop protecting big industries and start encouraging disruption and risk taking,” said Rahul Sood, partner at Microsoft Ventures and a technology entrepreneur, who sold the luxury computer business VodooPC to Hewlett Packard in 2006. 
 
Compare this to China, where the startup ecosystem is accelerating faster than anywhere in the world. There are around 1300 incubators and accelerators across the country compared with about 35 active accelerators in India. Shravan of Notion Ink has not lost hope yet. 
 
The entrepreneur is placing another bet. This time a personal computing robot called EVE, which he thinks will disrupt the market and will be in the market by 2017. “I will be jealous of my kids, they will be enjoying the rewards our hard work and same is true for the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he said.

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