Credit: Giphy
Also in this letter:
■ Techie cofounder would have helped in early days: Nykaa CEO
■ ADIF cries foul as Google pilots third-party billing with Spotify
■ Byju’s named an official sponsor of Fifa World Cup 2022
India’s crypto tax proposals set to become law
India’s Finance Bill 2022, which includes the new tax proposals for crypto assets, were scheduled to be taken up in the Lok Sabha for discussion and consideration on Thursday evening.
The amendments – 39 in total – are likely to be taken up for passage on Friday.
Catch up quick: In her budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a flat 30% capital gains tax on crypto profits, a 1% tax deductible at source (TDS) on all transactions involving crypto, no offsetting of losses, and taxation of crypto gifts.
At first, the government’s proposals sparked excitement and confusion, with some claiming that taxing crypto assets meant the government was legalising them. Sitharaman and others have since clarified that cryptocurrencies remain unregulated in India, and that taxing them does not make them legal.
Death by taxes: On March 21, the government further tightened the screws, clarifying that the cost of mining crypto assets would not be allowed as a tax deduction. It also said losses from one asset could not be set off against gains from another, delivering yet another setback to the industry.
Pushback: The cryptocurrency industry urged the government to review the decisions, saying they were regressive and would discourage investors.
“Treating profits and losses of each market pair separately will discourage crypto participation and throttle the industry’s growth,” said Nischal Shetty, CEO of WazirX. “It’s very unfortunate and we urge the government to reconsider this.”
GST, too? On March 20, PTI reported that the government was working on classifying crypto as goods or services under the GST law, so that the tax could be levied on the entire value of transactions.
Smartphones hit concentration levels: Meanwhile, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told the Lok Sabha on Thursday that 37.15% of children have experienced reduced levels of concentration due to smartphones.
He was citing a study that showed the widespread use of the internet and adoption of mobile devices among children during the pandemic has severely affected their memories.
Nykaa would have grown faster early on with a tech-savvy cofounder: CEO
Nykaa CEO Falguni Nayar
Nykaa would have benefited from having a tech-savvy cofounder in its early days, according to its founder Falguni Nayar.
What she said: “If I were to start again I would definitely have a tech person as a cofounder,” she said. “It would have saved me a lot of early-stage hassle and allowed better acceleration in the early years for sure.” Nayar, who took Nykaa public in November 2021, admitted that the company was a late bloomer on the tech front.
She was speaking at the TiEcon Delhi-NCR’s Unstoppable India, a virtual two-day conclave for business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Big spenders not restricted to metros: Nayar said her company does not see much difference in consumption patterns between users in metro cities and those in the rest of India, even as ecommerce players build multiple platforms to cater to different sets of customers.
She said pockets of prosperity are everywhere and that customer knowledge is more uniform nowadays. “There is a lot of exposure to global phenomena (for people in tier-2 and tier-3 towns),” she added.
Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla on crypto: Meanwhile, billionaire businessman and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said at the event that he would be interested to invest in crypto as long as they were compliant with India’s laws.
“If crypto encourages terrorist funding or for any other illegal trading, then it will be shut down. I’m a fan of using the best of the blockchain, crypto and Web3. However they should be compliant with societal laws,” he said.
He added that healthcare, infrastructure and sustainability, coupled with large transformative tech ideas, were very exciting sectors and these would shape the future of the world in the coming years.
ADIF cries foul as Google pilots third-party billing with Spotify
The Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a grouping of domestic technology firms, said on Thursday that Google’s decision to allow select apps – starting with Spotify – to offer other payment methods on the Play Store is an admission of guilt that the existing policy is unfair and discriminatory.
According to ADIF, users should have a choice of payment methods for all apps and not just those from select companies. It said giving the choice to only a few companies, without offering clarity on the terms and commission rates, reeked of preferential treatment.
Backstory: In 2020, Google had announced that it would require all apps in the Play Store to integrate with its own payments system, Google Play Billing. After facing an intense backlash from developers, it delayed the implementation of the policy to March 31, 2022. But developers in India continued to protest, following which Google extended the deadline for them to October 2022.
Then on Wednesday, the company announced it was launching a pilot designed to explore what it called “user billing choice”. It said it would allow a small number of participating apps, starting with Spotify, to offer alternative payment methods on the Play Store.
Quote: “The announcement does nothing to address the underlying issues and concerns – the anti-competitive nature of the policy or the impending March 30 (global) deadline for enforcing it,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, executive director of ADIF.
Byju’s named official sponsor of Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar
Edtech unicorn Byju’s has been named an official sponsor of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
It comes with perks: The company will now be able to use the Fifa World Cup logo, badge, and assets to build unique promotions and distribute them to football fans all around the world. As part of the partnership, Byju’s will also offer educational content for young fans.
The Fifa World Cup 2022 will take place from November 21 to December 18.
Quote: “We are excited to be sponsoring the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022, the biggest single-sport event in the world. It is a matter of pride for us to represent India on such a prestigious global stage and champion the integration of education and sport,” said Byju Raveendran, the company’s founder and CEO.
Other done deals
■ FanCraze, the digital collectibles company that in January dropped NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of 75 moments from the ICC Men’s World Cup, has raised $100 million in a funding round. The round was led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, with participation from B Capital.
■ Bootstrapped SaaS company Netcore Cloud has announced in a release it will invest $100 million in an all-cash deal to buy a majority stake in San Mateo, California-based Unbxd to sharpen search capabilities in its product suite as it drives towards an IPO in a year.
■ Food robotics company Mukunda Foods has raised $5 million in a funding round led by Zomato, taking the company’s post-money valuation to $30 million. The brand has previously raised funds from Ncubate Capital, Singapore Angel Network, and Indian Angel Network. It has raised around $8 million in total, including the latest round.
Stephen Wilhite, creator of the gif, dies at 74
Credit: Giphy
Stephen Wilhite, who created the gif format in the 1980s, has died due to Covid-related issues. Wilhite, one of America Online’s primary architects, died on March 14, just days after his 74th birthday on March 3.
“Even with all his accomplishments, he remained a very humble, kind, and good man,” his obituary page said.
Father of the meme: Wilhite devised the graphics interchange format, or gif, in 1987 while working at Compuserve. Years later, his innovation became the principal means of expressing emotion and memetic communication on various social media platforms.
The Oxford American Dictionary named gif its word of the year in 2012 and Wilhite was honoured with a Webby Lifetime Achievement award the following year.
Gif or jif? The internet long has argued how to pronounce gif. When he received his Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, Wilhite put an end to the argument. It’s pronounced “jif”, he communicated, using a gif.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Arun Padmanabhan in New Delhi and Zaheer Merchant in Mumbai. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.
