India Business

Wechat is being hailed as the up and coming competitor to Whatsapp. The app has picked up in the Indian market which is itself getting accustomed to smartphones and the handheld device revolution. It was launched in India in July last year in partnership with Ibibo as Tencent has minority stake in the company. There were speculations about it starting to charge money from its customers but Dennis Hau of Tencent has cleared the rumors and said that it would remain free for its customers. Wechat is the first Chinese ‘social media’ application which has the potential to go global, despite some home bound cynical remarks from the dissidents and politicians. Internet messaging has become indispensable since the advent of smartphone. WeChat has adopted good business models and outreach programs to ensure good marketability and monetary buoyancy  The app is the product of one of China’s biggest internet developer companies – Tencent and is known as ‘Weixin’ there. The app can send voice messages, snapshots and emoticons. Tencent has adopted a very unique and focused market strategy for the app. Collaborations with college festivals and sponsorship rows were to be seen across the country which opened it up to the youth, the biggest user base of smartphones in India. Asked about monetization plans, the company officials indicate towards a possibility of launching games on the chat interface. Barclays analyst estimates the total number of WeChat users will reach at least 400 million by the end of 2013 and the company is likely to earn up to 2.16 billion yuan (US$348 million) from WeChat integrated games. Wechat has clear intentions of staying and expanding. It acquired stake in Korean mobile telecommunications app Kakaotalk. With rising user base and net revenues, would WeChat be able to surpass the success story of its predecessor and competitor Whatsapp? You can download the app here. Image Courtesy |  imandarin Looking For A Social Media Agency?? - Contact WATConsult - India's Leading Social Media Agency

Oil Ministry has moved a Cabinet note to raise the price of natural gas produced by state-owned ONGC and OIL as well as private firms like Reliance Industries to USD 6.7, less than USD 8-8.5 hike previously expected.

The number of identified sick industrial units in Jammu and Kashmir is rising and industrialists say the government is not taking adequate measures to arrest the degrowth in the sector.

Samsung Electronics on Monday launched Galaxy Grand Quattro, a new addition to the Galaxy Grand series launched earlier this year.

In a bid to strengthen its revenue even further, Indian music streaming service Dhingana has rolled out ‘Premium Video Advertising” – video ads that run for 10-30 seconds, and which are displayed on-screen before or after a song is played. For now, they’re available within Dhingana’s iOS app, with Android to follow. Speaking about the launching video ads, Rohit Bhatia, CEO of Dhingana ”Video is one of the best forms of advertising, delivering two-to-four times higher performance over regular display banner ads on mobile devices. Our video ads are carefully integrated to be shown when the user is already engaged with our music for several minutes to maximize the impact for the advertising brand without compromising the listening experience.”  The video ads service will enable advertisers and brands to engage consumers with pre-roll and post-roll TV quality commercials for 10-30 seconds, in place of album art or anything else that’s on the Now playing screen within the app. Launching for iOS — both iPhone and iPad — the ads will come to the Android app soon. I believe ads are a big turn off and hope the addition of video ads does not affects Dhingana’s user base. Dhingana launched its ad platform last year, selling out ads on their portal and targeting advertisers such as movie production studios, music labels, independent musicians and telecom operators. The streaming service founded by twin brothers,  Snehal and Swapnil Shinde recently partnered with Coca Cola  to launch their new campaign. In March Dhingana launched 16 online radio stations. Dhingana app which has been downloaded over 3.5 million times, offers more than 500,000 songs across 35 languages and claims a monthly active user base of more than 15 million. Currently, Dhingana is the only service which has an app for every Mobile Operating System (OS) including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and even the ageing, proprietary Nokia Phone OS. The way music is distributed and consumed has changed over the past few years. A report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents the global recording industry, found that streaming services accounted for 20 per cent of the $5.8 billion of digital revenues earned by the music industry in 2012. Image Courtesy |  lsvp Looking For A Social Media Agency?? - Contact WATConsult - India's Leading Social Media Agency

Saradha Group director Debjani Mukherjee, a co-accused in the multi-crore fund scam, was remanded in judicial custody till May 31 in various cases by a West Bengal court Monday.

Polaris Financial Technology, a major player in banking, financial services and insurance software, has begun its organisational restructuring process even without hiring a consultant, said a senior company official.

Ravi Gururaj, a seasoned executive at software firm Citrix Systems has initiated a new startup incubator.  Titled Frictionless Ventures the program will attempt at nurturing Concepts & Experimental platforms. The co-founder of the Harvard Business Angels (India chapter) explained the concept, “We follow a slightly different model at Frictionless Ventures. Unlike other incubators, we will put the money first in an idea and then incubate it. This is what we call a reverse angel investing. Once we invest in an idea, we will build a team around it, provide mentorship, develop the product and help it go to market”. What he seemed to imply was that Frictionless Ventures will take a risk in a promising startup first & then work alongside the team to ensure it grows into a financially stable company. In a typical setting, a startup has to first struggle & establish a working company that is able to clearly point out it can be a sustainable source of income, before a Venture Capital firm takes serious interest. In case of Frictionless Ventures, the program will nurture the fledgling for as long as it takes further clarified Gururaj, “Also, there is no time-frame for incubation here. It can be anywhere between six months and one year or even longer. What we are trying to do here is a company-building approach around a concept,” Currently, the focus areas of the Incubator are concepts that are applicable to cloud computing, mobility and Big Data space. Furthermore the company is open to idea generators from India as well as abroad. As for the financial support, the company is willing to put in anywhere between US$ 50,000 – US$ 250,000 (Rs. 27 Lakh-Rs 1.3 Crore) in a concept. Following the unique concept of funding, Frictionless Ventures has already picked out a mobile contact management app company SyncUsUp. The company was incidentally a finalist at the Harvard Business School – New Venture Contest. There has been a flurry of activity in the Indian Startup ecosystem, as well as companies who are willing to back these startups with Funds & Managerial Support. Will such a reverse funding technique work in mutual favor? Looking For A Social Media Agency?? - Contact WATConsult - India's Leading Social Media Agency

After entering the land of social media with a Twitter account in March, the Indian Army has now landed on Facebook. The Indian Army has rolled out its official Facebook page ADGPI – Indian Army . Launched on 15th May, 2013, the page has already surpassed 10,000 likes and is gaining a fan presence quickly. The Indian Army Facebook page mainly boasts of photos from the Yudh Abhyas – 2013, an Indo US Joint Exercise under the United Nations charter and the recruitment drive that is happening at Leimakhong, Imphal. It also showcases content like welfare schemes available for soldiers and news about army like Border Personnel Meeting with Chinese Army. Indian Army’s Twitter handle @adgpi, currently has over 15,500 followers also gives all the latest updates and developments related to the army and jawans. Moreover, it also has photos of various Army ceremonies, jawan training and camps and so on. This is not the first time Indian Army has gone all tech. Last year it entered the mobile app space with Eyewatch app, designed especially for army personnel and their families. Today, social media has gone beyond personal sharing and has snowballed into an ecosystem that can be used in many ways. I personally applaud the Indian Army’s move to go social and let the masses especially youth see the important events and meetings that are happening in the country which otherwise are sidelined. I believe that this initiative will help today’s youth to know more about our army thereby encourage them to join it. Image Courtesy |  facebook  & Twitter Looking For A Social Media Agency?? - Contact WATConsult - India's Leading Social Media Agency

ENAH, a fashion e-commerce store recently launched its Facebook integrated e-commerce app. This means, that fans and followers can now shop all ENAH products from Facebook. All they have to do is click on the ‘ENAH Fcommerce’ tab on the brand’s page and they will be directed to the app. I tried using the app and browsed through the products, etc. The layout of the app is exactly similar to the website. This universality will help customers who are used to shopping on the website as they won’t have to adapt to a new user-interface. The shopping experience is easy and comfortable to navigate. The check-out option is hassle-free too. You are required to sign-up or you can sign-in via Facebook. I tried signing in via Facebook to process my payment, but the page wouldn’t load. I guess they need to fine-tune the app so as to get it to work properly. No point of F-commerce if you cannot process payments from the platform! Speaking on launch of the Facebook e-commerce app, Neha Shah, founder of ENAH.in said, “F-commerce is the next step of social commerce where people are socially engaged and trust on friend’s recommendation. I want to believe in making ENAH easily accessible to the end consumer, where an individual can make a purchase decision, while socializing.” Shopping on Facebook is not new. There are many local brands which create a Facebook page, upload pictures of their products and get their fans/followers to make a purchase by emailing the product code and address details. These models work on the cash-on-delivery mode. Adopting the F-commerce method allows brands to integrate the online payment option and add the feel of actual e-commerce to their brand/product while conducting business on the social media platform. I think F-commerce will result in the rise of many local brands and give birth to multiple entrepreneurs. Of course, this is a good thing for shoppers and Facebook alike. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? - Contact WATConsult - India's Leading Social Media Agency