Also in this letter:
■ MapmyIndia shares list at 53% premium on debut
■ Revised draft ecommerce rules soon, says govt
■ Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey take digs at Web3
India bans 20 YouTube channels, two websites under new IT rules
India banned 20 YouTube channels and two websites on Monday for allegedly running “anti-India propaganda”. Of the 20 YouTube channels banned, 15 are owned by an entity called Naya Pakistan; others include ‘The Naked Truth’, ’48 News’ and ‘Junaid Halim official’.
Significance: This is the first time India has invoked emergency powers under the new IT rules.
How it unfolded: The content was initially flagged by India’s security agencies, after which the I&B ministry conducted an inquiry. I&B secretary Apurva Chandra then wrote to YouTube and the department of telecom, telling them to immediately block the content as it affected the sovereignty and integrity of India, sources told us.
‘National security’: Officials claimed the propaganda was being run with the help of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. They claimed Naya Pakistan had more than two million YouTube subscribers and was putting out “false news” on various issues.
“The inquiry revealed that these websites were being run from Pakistan. The content run on these channels is blasphemous and hugely impinges on national security,” said the official, who was part of the review.
What’s next? Officials said the decision to ban and block these channels and websites will be presented before the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) in 48 hours, following which it will be ratified by a committee under the IT Rules, 2021.
- The new IT rules, which came into effect on May 26, require social media platforms and messaging apps to be able to trace the first originator of any message the government deems problematic.
- They also require large social media platforms to set up grievance redressal and compliance mechanisms, and appoint a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person.
- The new rules also require these platforms to submit monthly reports on complaints received from users and actions taken.
Rules challenged in court: The rules, which were notified in February, have been challenged in court by WhatsApp and Twitter, by individuals such as the vocalist TM Krishna, and by several digital news media companies, including The Wire and LiveLaw.
MapmyIndia shares list at 53% premium on debut
Shares of CE Info Systems, parent firm of MapmyIndia, made a strong debut on Dalal Street on Tuesday.
Listing pop: The stock debuted at Rs 1,581 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, a 53% premium over the issue price of Rs 1,033, and at Rs 1,565 on the National Stock Exchange, 51% more than the issue price.
However, it witnessed strong profit booking during the session as the stock tanked about 19% from its issue price to a low of Rs 1,282.20 on the BSE. It closed the day at Rs 1394.55. A day ahead of its debut, the scrip was commanding a premium of Rs 500 per share in the grey market, hurt by the dampened sentiment at Dalal Street.
Also read: MapmyIndia founders strike gold on stellar debut, now worth $586 mn
Strong IPO: The Rs 1,039.61 crore IPO was open for subscription from December 9-13. The company had fixed the price band in the range of Rs 1,000-1,033 per share. The issue was subscribed 155 times, thanks to strong bidding from QIB and HNI investors. Their portions were subscribed 196 times and 425 times, respectively, while the retail quota was subscribed 15 times.
Snapdeal files for IPO: Meanwhile, Snapdeal filed preliminary documents for an IPO on Tuesday. It plans to raise Rs 1,250 crore ($165 million) through the sale of new shares, according to its draft red herring prospectus. In addition, existing stockholders including SoftBank plan to sell as many as 30.77 million shares in the offer for sale.
Spinny buys back stock options: Pre-owned car retailing platform Spinny announced the completion of a $12 million (about Rs 90 crore) stock option buyback for its current and former employees. This is the first stock option buyback that Spinny has facilitated. The company recently brought former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on board as a strategic investor.
Done deals: Jumbotail, a business-to-business e-commerce company that supplies groceries to mom-and-pop stores, said that it has raised a Series C round of $85 million. The funding was led by Artal Asia Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of Invus, a global equity investment firm with over $10 billion of capital under management.
■ Flo Mobility, a startup building vision-based autonomous driving technologies for a range of vehicles, has raised $400,000 from DevX Venture Fund, Venture Garage Angels and Blume Founders Fund, apart from other angels.
■ Captain Fresh, a business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace for seafood, has raised $40 million in a new round of funding co-led by Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures.
Revised draft ecommerce rules soon, says government
The government is in the final stages of drafting new ecommerce rules, tweaking an earlier draft that had sought to tighten the regulations for foreign-owned marketplaces, including barring their affiliated entities from selling on the platforms and restricting flash sales.
- The new version will be released soon, said a senior official of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, who did not wish to be named.
Tying up loose ends: Top industry bodies representing the Tatas, Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart and others had opposed some of the proposed clauses in the earlier draft. Some of the key provisions had also not found favour with the finance and corporate affairs ministries, and the government’s public policy think tank, Niti Aayog.
Given the differences, the Department of Consumer Affairs held discussions with several companies and industry associations on the proposed amendments, said the official.
Sector outlook: The e-commerce sector is expected to grow to $188 billion by 2025 from $64 billion in 2020, according to estimates by accounting and advisory firm Grant Thornton.
The online retail sector — despite being one of the biggest job creators — has faced flak from small traders and offline retailers for alleged predatory pricing, preferential treatment to related parties and flouting of several regulations.
Tweet of the day
Apple starts trial production of iPhone 13 in India
Apple has started trial production of its flagship iPhone 13 in the Foxconn plant near Chennai as the US technology major prepares to make almost all of its top-selling smartphone models in the country, two industry executives told us.
The company expects to start commercial production of iPhone 13 in India for both the domestic market and exports by February.
Also read: Foxconn plant near Chennai to stay shut this week after protests
Supply chain challenges: Apple said that securing a supply of semiconductor chips – which are in short supply across the world — has helped it plan an expansion of its production in India.
Production of iPhone 13 in India will help Apple to improve supplies of the model into its global markets since around 20-30% of its phones produced in India are usually exported, the executives said.
The Indian market: Apple already produces iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 in the Foxconn plant and iPhone SE in the Wistron plant in Bengaluru. As per estimates, Apple produces almost 70% of the smartphones that it sells in India within the country.
By the numbers: As per Counterpoint Research, Apple was the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the July-September quarter with 212% year-on-year growth, and led the premium smartphone market (handsets priced above Rs 30,000) with a 44% share. It also maintained its leading position in the ultra-premium segment (handsets priced above Rs 45,000), with a 74% share.
Apple India increased its revenue from operations by a five-year high of 68% in 2020-21 to Rs 22,845 crore, while net profit surged by 32% at Rs 1,226 crore, as per its latest regulatory filings.
Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey take digs at Web3
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, as well known for his Twitter controversies as his business acumen, took a dig at one of the biggest trends in tech in a tweet on Tuesday.
The world’s richest person took to Twitter to write: “Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.”
What is Web3? Web3 refers to a decentralised online ecosystem based on blockchain technology. In the eyes of some it represents the next evolution of the currency centralised internet, in which a handful of companies act as gatekeepers. Apps and platforms built on Web3 won’t be owned by a single company—they will instead be owned by the users themselves. In its current form, Web3 encompasses categories such as cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralised finance (DeFi), and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO).
Jack weighs in: Responding to Musk’s tweet, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said “it’s somewhere between a and z,” taking a dig at the venture capital firm A16z founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
Earlier in the day, Dorsey took to the social media platform he cofounded to express his displeasure with Web3 technology and the involvement of venture capital firms such as Andreesen Horowitz, which he accused of trying to “own” Web3.
“You don’t own ‘web3’,” Dorsey tweeted. “The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives,” he wrote.
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.
