SigmaWay Blog

Messaging application WhatsApp has initiated discussions with Indian banks and other institutions to allow its users to make payments via United Payments Interface (UPI), which facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform. With UPI allowing instant settlement of funds between peers, all banks need to do is to integrate their systems with WhatsApp, which can identify the correct recipient. Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/you-may-transfer-money-via-whatsapp-soon/good-news-for-you/slideshow/59281092.cms

Infrastructure players are happy when they can complete a project in a short period of time. Regulatory changes may now undo all the good work the government has put in and may be the cause for project delays across India. The GST regime is estimated an 8-9% “tax impact”. Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the lenders appoint their own person to run the show and virtually take over the assets, leading to liquidation within 180-270 days which has worried the banks about their own survival.  Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/banks-or-india-inc-who-will-come-back-from-the-brink-first/articleshow/59404105.cms

Drone economics are classically disruptive. Already drones can accomplish tasks in some hours that take people days. They can provide deeply detailed visual data for a tiny fraction of the cost of acquiring the same data by other means. They’re becoming crucial in workplace safety, removing people from precarious processes such as cell-tower inspection. And they offer, literally, a new view into business: Their low-overhead perspective is bringing new insights and capabilities to fields and factories alike. The drone economy is real, and you need a strategy for exploiting it. Here’s how to think about what’s happening — and what’s going to happen. 1) Capturing reality for the cost of a nice lunch 2) Rising from the ground to fill the missing middle 3) Autonomous, small and countless 4) The rise of cloud robotics 5) Cool is not enough. Drones as ubiquitous as sprinklers: We’ve come a long way from weapons, sci-fi movies, and headlines. But in the prosaic applications of advanced technologies lie their real impact. Read more at: https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/05/drones-go-to-work

Telecommunication sector in India is one of the fastest growing entities,contributing significantly to the GDP. It is expected to provide huge employment opportunities in the next five years and the smartphone market will surpass the US to be the second largest in the world.There has been high FDI and companies like Bharti Airtel,Apple,Reliance have realised the benefits of investing in this area. The government too has been proactive to ensure that customers get access to a smooth and hassle free network. India is estimated to have 700 million internet users by 2025 and the introduction of 5G spectrum in the near future provides a bright future ahead for the Indian telecom market.Read more at: https://www.ibef.org/industry/telecommunications.aspx

WhatsApp messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be  decoded by even the company itself. Though some claim that end-to-end encryption is not safe from the social point of view, violation of privacy of billions poses a counter logic. One can also opt out of advertisements by Facebook on the app by simply not sharing his/her phone number. So we can briefly conclude that our privacy is safely protected in WhatsApp.Read more at: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/internet/how-secure-is-whatsapp-whatsapp-security-encryption-explained-3637780/

Central government jobs are estimated to increase by 2.83 lakh in 2018,growing from 32.84 lakh in 2016. The major recruiter will be the Police department followed by postal service. The Ministries of Home,External Affairs,Skill Development and Entrepreneurship,Civil Aviation,Mines and many others will add substantially to their already existing workforce. The Ministry of Water Resources estimates an addition of 3632 members for River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The scenario is quite encouraging for the young generation of the country as the government is emphasizing on employability and enhanced skill development. Read more at:  http://indianexpress.com/article/business/budget/union-budget-2017-jaitley-about-2-83-lakh-estimated-central-government-jobs-by-2018-4520572/

The best way to save money is to have a savings goal. A savings account has to be chosen wisely and a fixed amount every month must be deposited in that account. Setting up an emergency fund is necessary. Carefully considering the monthly expenditure is another aspect and setting up a budget for future from that is advisable. One should find smart ways in shopping like comparing between sites and be tech-savvy in using apps which offer attractive discounts time and again. A Flexible Spending Account(FAS) for emergency purposes is a way to save money before tax deduction. Finally,tracking the progress throughout in regular intervals will ensure better savings in the present day.Read more at: http://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/10-saving-money-tips-for-2017-make-it-the-year-you-finally-get-serious-about-saving/

BHIM(Bharat Interface for Money) is a government initiative and developed by the National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI). It is an app where only one UPI-enabled bank account can be added. BHIM offers attractive features like free unlimited transactions between accounts with no commission and hidden charges. It is synced directly with the bank account and there is no need of any wallet recharge like other private payment apps like Paytm and Mobikwik. The inclusion of more people into the digitized world through BHIM,however,remains a challenge for NPCI and it must initiate programmes to spread the technology and ensure that it is accepted at physical and online stores and public transports. Read more at:  http://www.bhimguide.in/2017/01/difference-between-bhim-upi-this-app-is.html?m=1

A research on airline pricing has revealed that flight carriers adopt a pricing system which is far different from the conventional dynamic pricing. Seats are priced over a time series before a flight's departure,not by the number of seats available at a time. Ticket prices have the probability to be the cheapest 5-7 weeks prior to the departure. Flight companies always want to ensure full capacity takeoffs. So the 'seat bucket' at lower prices increase when they perceive that sale is not up to the mark. Moreover,there is a 'seat bucket' for a particular price. Ten days before departure,price to decrease has the least probability. Hence a customer who waits last-minute discounts might fail to absorb his intended benefits.Read more at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2017/05/20/the-hidden-sides-of-dynamic-pricing-for-airline-tickets/

Things to look out for while buying a used car include checking the car's interior and exterior,performing a test drive,checking out fuel leakage,to have a professional mechanic inspect it,reading reviews online,reviewing the demanded price,decoding the VIN,looking into the vehicle's performance report and going through all the papers and documents of the car. A used car can be a buyer's headache if not examined properly before purchase.Read more at: https://blog.allstate.com/10-things-to-look-for-when-buying-a-used-car/

In June 2017, the Government of India, launched Startup India Hub to provide a platform for sharing knowledge and skills about startups in India. It has invested 10,000 crores in this regard to help new companies combat the lack of capital. With the definition of a startup being changed (a market existence of 7 or lesser number of years); startups are a major employer at present. The implementation and entrepreneurship has to be improved and a conducive atmosphere has to be created alongside for posting a positive message to the thriving and aspiring startups in India. Read more at: http://www.forbesindia.com/article/leaderboard/startup-india-on-track-gradually/47395/1  

The biggest threats to cyber security in 2017 were:  (i) Shadow Brokers, a hacking group hacked NSA-linked operations which are a huge threat to all software users. (ii) Wannacry, a ransom wire which crippled public utilities and large corporations. (iii) Petya/NotPetya/Nyetia/Goldeneye which affected the infrastructure of Ukraine. (iv) Wikileaks CIA Vault 7 stole various CIA securities in March. (v) Cloudbleed, a bug in the Cloud fare platform managed to hack numerous sensitive customer data. (vi) 198 Million Voters Record Exposed in June in the US. (vii) Macron Campaign Hack, a campaign that hacked a 9 GB basket of emails of the Presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron in France. Read more at: https://www.wired.com/story/2017-biggest-hacks-so-far/

A researcher in University of Washington in Seattle has developed a phone that can be used to talk and text even without a battery. Backscatter, a technology which enables devices to communicate by reflecting incoming radio waves have been innovated which works on analog signals. There is a base station which transmits power to the device within a range of 15 meters. The device comes in a small LED display and one cannot talk and listen at a time. The technology is at its primary stage and considering that it is much cheaper than a normal phone; people will not have to worry about carrying power banks in the near future. Read more at: https://www.wired.com/story/this-cell-phone-can-make-calls-even-without-a-battery/

Google Photos has brought out a new feature in their app- Suggested Sharing. The feature will use facial recognition and machine learning technology and will identify people who are most frequent on our sharing list. It also compartmentalizes photos according to the location and can be shared via email and text. When invited to a particular shared album, one can add his/her photos. There is another feature- Shared Libraries which will let to share an entire album or a selected number of photos with someone and recipients can choose the files they want to save. The new features, much like Facebook Moments add more feathers to Google Photos' hat. Read more at:  https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/28/google-photos-adds-smarter-sharing-suggestions-and-shared-libraries/

Research has estimated a loss of about 6 - 7.5 million jobs in the US within the next 10 years due to automation. The worst hit will be the retail sector where the sales division is most likely to get automated. Women working mostly as cashiers are the most vulnerable. 'Stock shelves' and 'inventory control' will be made easy by robots. With increasing wages in the retail sector and stiff competition from e-stores like Amazon, automation is beneficial from the producer's point of view but the idea is devastating for employability in the retail sector. Read more at: http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/19/technology/future/retail-job-robots/index.html

The new HR trends for 2017 are: i. Absorbing the generation Z and discarding the traditional idea of recruiting millennial. ii. Build strong morale and ethics in the employees and not just pressurize them for numbers. iii. Demeaning the annual performance report is not enough as some companies have done and HR's are emphasizing more on data collection and chance managed management. iv. A new technique like peer-based evaluation is an alternative to annual reports but it is difficult to separate pay from performance. v. Contingent workforce is on the rise and HR's are developing new methods to train them accordingly. Read more at: https://www.fastcompany.com/3066976/the-top-five-hr-trends-for-2017

Capital is the backbone of every new business and is the most concerning issue for every startup. However, a new business can be set up at a minimal cost if one has the acumen to achieve big. Creating a market with proper strategies can be a matter of time. In India, there are several options to start a business with only 10,000 in your pocket. To name a few, these are: Travel, Breakfast Joints, Fruit Juice Kiosk, Online Bakery, Blogging, Event Management, Online Courses, Customized Jewellery and Garments, Fashion Designing, Script Writing and Consultancy Services. Dreams, once chased, can be realized and the whole world can be conquered with these small steps. Read more at: https://yourstory.com/2017/02/start-small-go-big/

The logistics industry in India is growing rapidly because of the growth in retail, e-commerce and manufacturing sectors. Though it has been underperforming over the years, it has received importance recently and is expected to reach a worth of $2 billion by 2019. Lack of facilities, technology and manpower have been reasons for the loss in the perishables sector. Better infrastructure, better storage, better network and warehouse facilities are the way forward. The sector is currently using IT solutions and the hub-and-spoke model for freight movement. It provides end-to-end supply chains to the consumers and being a key player in the economy, it is expected to grow by 10-15% annually in years to come.Read more at: http://www.iamwire.com/2017/04/indian-logistics-industry-scenario/151331