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|In: Education|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Capturing the growing influence of the Internet on the education industry in India, Google and KPMG released a joint report titled; Online Education in India : 2021. The report reveals that the online education industry will grow at a healthy rate of 8x, to become a USD 1.96 billion industry by 2021. The report is based on a comprehensive market research conducted by KPMG, along with a primary research and combined with insights from Google search. The report finds that the paid user base will grow 6x from 1.6 million users in 2016 to 9.6 million users in 2021.

The report revealed that over the last two years, there has been a 2x growth in online searches for education and a 3x growth in searches from a mobile device. Also, 44% of education searches are now coming from beyond the top 6 metros and there has been a 4x growth in education content consumption on YouTube in the last one year.

Highlighting the segment wise growth in the online education space, the report highlights that re-skilling and online certification is currently the largest. In 2016, it was valued at USD 93 million, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 38% to reach 463 million by 2021. As per the report, the primary and secondary education category has the largest addressable audience with a student base of around 260 million when compared to the other categories. Owing to this, the primary and secondary supplementary education segment was the second largest category in 2016, and will grow at a CAGR of 60% to reach USD 773 million, making it the largest category in 2021. The test preparation which is a small segment as of today is likely to grow at an impressive CAGR of 64 per cent to become a USD 515 million category in 2021.

Speaking about the key findings of the report, Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director, Google India said

The online education segment is set to become a multi-billion dollar opportunity in India. There are many factors driving this growth including the perceived convenience, increased reach and personalization offered by online channels. It is also interesting to note, that high growth in education search queries is now coming in from Tier 2 and 3 cities such as Patna, Guwahati, Aligarh and Kota – which points to the opportunities that growing penetration of smartphones and improving quality of internet have opened up.

Talking about the future of the online education industry in India, Sreedhar Prasad, Partner, KPMG India said

There are several evolving trends in the Indian online education segment that are contributing to the growth opportunities ahead. These include emergence of hybrid learning channels, continuous need for working professionals to learn new skills as well as emergence of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence that is enabling online education vendors to design customized content. At the same time, it will be critical for players to deliver differentiated offerings for consumers to see continued value in online education channels.

The complete report Online Education in India : 2021 can be downloaded from here

Report Methodology

The Online Education in India: 2021 report is based on a primary qualitative and quantitative research that covered over 3,600 respondents across 27 geographies including metro and non-metros to understand the growth of consumer paid online education market in India by 2021. The respondents are in the age group of 16-45 years, both male and females, who are online/ offline course takers/intenders and parents of primary/secondary courses. Insights from the primary research have then been combined with KPMG India’s proprietary sizing model as well as Google search trends and KPMG India’s industry intelligence.

|In: Fintech|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Bijlipay, an end to end digital payment solutions company, is the first Indian Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices providing company to enable Bharat QR code on the screens of its POS machines. According to RBI, the Bharat QR Code is the world’s first inter-operable payment acceptance solution.

Image Source – Bijlipay

Jubilant on being the first in the industry, Pradeep Oommen, CEO, Bijlipay, said

We have been providing secure and robust mPoS machines which are certified on stringent European standards to aid the honorable Prime Ministers digitization drive. The intent is to make these POS machines smarter which as yet were used only for physical card acceptance.  . We realized that in this transition from cash to cashless, there are various modes of payments for different people across geographies & demographics. A machine that enables various modes seems like the best solution to meet all needs. And hence as a first step, we introduced the much awaited Bharat QR code on our existing card swiping machines.

Bijlipay firmly believes that it’s not just providing digital payments devices that will cultivate the habit of cashlessness in Indians. It will take a lot more of hand-holding, education & awareness to see the actual conversions to digital payments in tier II-III cities. Hence, Bijlipay ensures that they provide for an end-to-end solutions involving demos, documentation, installation, training, risk profiling, reconciliation, settlement and analytics.]. It’s not the number of machines in the market that gives the true picture on digital payments, it’s the volume that each machine processes which sets the right parameter for a successful digitization of payments.

Bijlipay is poised for tremendous growth in digital payment space, and is planning to launch several digital payment solutions in the Indian market. Apart from acquiring solutions like m-POS & GPRS POS and Swipe4Cash mini ATM products, Bijlipay also provides a best in class issuance platform for prepaid cards/ Forex cards/ Gift cards etc.

About Bijlipay

Skilworth Technologies Pvt. Ltd. was incepted in the year 2012. The company is headquartered in Chennai, with a vision to serve small, medium and large businesses through innovative payment solutions in emerging markets. Its go-to-market brand Bijlipay, started offering m-POS solutions in India, since July 2014.

Bijlipay’s payment solutions are enabled by the technology of Wirecard AG, Europe’s leading payments company and in partnership with India’s leading public sector banks. Bijlipay, unlike other players in the market, offers an end to end payment solution, right from an in house switch for best in class transaction success rates; to end to end operations in terms of on-boarding, risk profiling, payout processing; and in-house customer service with a network of FOS engineers and 24/7 call center. For more information, please visit Bijlipay

|In: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With around 391 million users, India has already become the second highest country in terms of mobile internet users. This is expected to grow rapidly to around 650 million mobile internet users by 2020. At the same time, data consumption by 2020 could potentially increase 10-14 times. The Boston Consulting Group [BCG], along with TiE, have released a report titled The $250 Billion Digital Volcano: Dormant No More that describes this phenomenal digital adoption in the country.

The impending digital salience can be seen from the following indicators:

  • High speed mobile internet adoption is set to reach ~550 Mn users by 2020, almost 85% of the total mobile internet users
  • Average data consumption is projected to reach ~7-10 GB per user per month by 2020
  • India’s internet economy is expected to double from USD 125 Bn to USD 250 Bn, growing from

the current ~5% to ~7.5% of the country’s GDP

The report reveals that while so far mobile internet users have proliferated and Smartphone users have gone up by 4 times, high speed internet users have still been limited only to ~56%. Thus, average data consumption per user continues to be low, standing at less than 1 GB data per month vis-a-vis developing economies like Indonesia and Brazil at 2–3 GB/month and developed economies like Japan and US at 9–11 GB/month. However, the situation is about to change.

Nimisha Jain, a BCG partner and report co-author said

It is essential to understand the three forces that are now synergizing to unlock internet consumption in India. Firstly, by 2020, 4G enabled devices are expected to grow 6 times to 550 Mn devices, constituting 70% devices in use. Secondly, reliable high speed data is becoming both ubiquitous as well as mass affordable (data rates have reduced to less than one-third in just 4–5 months). Lastly, digital content is proliferating as well as improving in quality, thus driving consumption.

Increased high speed internet adoption, the report says, is expected to increase time spent online by 2020 to almost 3-4 times. Moreover, the amount of video consumed online is on the rise especially driven by online media and entertainment. As internet access ceases to be a constraint, consumers will become more quality conscious, resulting in an increase in the average video resolution. Driven by these changes in online consumption, average data consumption per user is set to increase by 10-14 times by 2020.

Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR added

The report comes at a time, when the conversation has moved from ‘Internet of Things’ to ‘Internet of Everything’, and digitization presents a great opportunity for multiple stakeholders.  Innovation is what leads to sustainability, and sustainable growth in the current entrepreneurship ecosystem will enable India to chart its own success story.

India’s internet economy is expected to double to become USD 250 billion by 2020. E-commerce and financial services are projected to lead this growth. For instance, share of digital payment transactions could more than double to go up to 30–40% by 2020. Digital economy will have a much broader influence beyond the direct economic impact. Digital adoption will deliver several citizen-centric social benefits like enhancing ease of doing business, improving access to services and products and transforming governance.

As the new digital paradigm emerges, adapting to change will become critical. For instance the impact on jobs is expected to be transformational. Increased automation will minimize manual and repetitive roles while roles in upcoming spaces become coveted, e.g. Human-machine interaction. Existing roles will also undergo transformation as low-value adding tasks get automated. New ways of working are expected to emerge with an increasingly flexible workforce optimizing for efficiency. At the same time, genesis of new technology-led business models will give impetus to entrepreneurial activity and create new opportunities.

About India Internet Day

India Internet Day is a leadership conference that looks at setting conversations around a long term vision for the industry. The idea of India Internet Day is to look at paradigm shifts in the internet industry globally and what that means for the internet business in India. While based in India, the event seeks to have a strong global connect. The forum also explores the shape of things to come while connecting with the established players, outliers and experimenters – making the forum as a point of reference. In this our fifth year, #iDay2017 goes beyond the predefined boundaries and explore issues of far more relevance and impact. For more information, please visit India Internet Day

|In: Elearning|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Education is something which was once not available in certain parts of the world. Even if there was education available, there were many countries that had issues with getting it to the general public. Technology has changed the way of life of humans. It has a huge impact on different aspects of life and redefined living.

Technology is growing every day and there are many ways that it can be applied to different things. And undoubtedly it plays a major role in education. It has made education to become more readily available than it was in the past. The use of computers in schools and institutes has made it easier for teachers to teach and students to learn.

There are many ways in which technology has changed the world of education in the 21st century. We can understand how essential technology is to education by knowing about the advancements and the impact technology has on education around the world. The use of different technologies in classrooms has a huge impact on the education of students and the process of learning has become more enjoyable and interesting. Students are more interested now in understanding Math concepts than earlier.

Supplemental Teaching tool

Image Source – Education

The introduction of computers and tablets offers an interactive audio-visual experience. Animation software and power-point presentations help students to experience learning in an interactive way. Teachers are equally benefited and they can use projectors and screen to share information visually to a large number of students simultaneously via smart classes. These teaching aids have led to the improvement in attentiveness and attendance of students in class.

Easily accessible information

Image Source – YourHub

The Internet is a huge information base for education. Students can have access to information on literally everything in the world. All a student needs to do is to type the queries in the search engine and users are presented with thousand of search results. Both students and teachers can benefit from this.

Making student’s life easy and enjoyable

Image Source – Pixabay

Students can express themselves with much more than pen and paper. They can make projects and presentations on topics like geometry, Algebra, trigonometry etc by using different software. This will make the topics more interesting which can help in memorizing better. Technology has made a student’s life easier and they can now carry a Tab than carrying big fat books to school.

Robust information storage

Image Source – Michigan State University

Computers and tablets have replaced chalk and board. Computers enable more and better storage of information. Digital libraries does not require any physical space and teachers and teachers and students can access the same library at the same time sitting in different parts of the world. Computer mouse and keyboard have replaced notebooks and the compact memory device is the new notebook. Storing data has become a lot easier, owing to technology.

Students can learn at their own pace

Image Source – PCAdvisor

Every student learns at their own pace and there are many ways that introduction technology into the classroom has helped students learn at the rate they are comfortable. This helps them to retain information for a longer time. Students can also access to study materials and lectures which are easily understandable to them rather than the traditional teaching method.

Prepare students for the future

Image Source – CivicNews

The introduction of technology in education has changed many things. Students can find the subjects they are interested in. The can participate in educational games and check themselves where the stand. These help students to build their interest in education which is very important for their future.  By learning to use technology in the classroom at a young age, a student is developing the skills and knowledge that is essential in today’s world.

As technology changes so will the effect it has on education and one of the best things about technology is that it’s constantly changing. We can look at our past and compare how technology has changed the face of education. Today almost everything in a classroom is done electronically. Technology in the educational field has made the process of knowledge-sharing and learning, a more pleasurable and interactive experience.

About the author

With a degree in Engineering, Shankha Samanta is a content writer by profession. He is a vehement reader apart from writing and blogging along with part-time teaching. He is presently exploring all about the digital education with Byju’s-the Learning App.

|In: CloudComputing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

IBM and Pace Automation Ltd, a leading ‘Solution as a Service Company’ announced a strategic partnership to offer ‘RetailSmart‘, an end-to-end fully integrated solution that will enable local ‘Kirana’ [unorganized] stores to become ecommerce ready. Powered by IBM Cloud, the solution allows Kirana stores to deliver a convenient online shopping experience to consumers and pay safely using a convenient payment mode [irrespective of the size of the purchase].

Image Source – Cloud

According to industry reports, the current number of Kirana stores in India is pegged to be at 15 million. These stores have been facing tremendous headwinds from the organized retail & ecommerce companies. Attractive product presentations, discounts and cash back offers have led consumers to shop online while saving both time and money through these ecommerce portals. In addition, with the government’s demonetisation campaign, it is imperative for Kirana stores to go digital.

To bridge the gap, Pace Automation Ltd. has developed a unique solution, ‘RetailSmart’ on IBM cloud to digitally enable Kirana stores across the country. By implementing the solution, a Kirana store automatically becomes a part of the SmartKirana Network, hosted on IBM Cloud from Chennai data-center. The network digitally interconnects all Kirana stores in the country. Customers can easily access the network of Kirana stores in the neighborhood via smartphone app on Android available on Google Play Store or the SmartKirana web portal. Initially, the service will be available in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and National Capital Region and will be gradually expanded to other states and rural areas via network of distributors.

The solution will also give these stores an immediate access to ecosystem partners in banking, communication, insurance, payment processing and National product data repository. It enables the Kirana stores to:

  • Automate business processes like billing, stock management and accounting with increased efficiency and profitability
  • Receive online orders from customers through a web portal or smartphone app
  • Accept all credit / debit cards, mobile wallets, Aadhar enabled payments or UPI, irrespective of the value of the transaction thus making the transactions Cashless.
  • Put all transactions through the system creating transaction transparency, an integral aspect of GST compliance
  • Provide micro banking and value added services to customers generating additional revenue streams

SG Chandru, Chairman & Mentor, Pace Automation Ltd said

The objective of this project is to digitally empower Kirana stores and help them scale business by adding new revenue streams. For this we have tied up with series of partners to create a successful business ecosystem for Kirana merchants. Our target is to bring 1,50,000 local grocery stores to the network in the next three years & allow customers to order their groceries online from the nearest Kirana shop.

IBM is our technology partner that enabled us to develop and seamlessly deploy the solution on the Cloud. RetailSmart connects all the Kirana Stores across the country in its network digitally through the communication Ecosystem partner. This project is a win-win for all the stakeholders involved – Kirana stores, Manufacturers and Suppliers of goods and the end use customers.

Mukul Mathur, VP, Global Business partners and CSI, IBM India/South Asia said

We are excited about partnering with PACE in their efforts to digitize the unorganised Kirana stores and transform them into organized retail, leveraging the IBM Cloud and Cognitive solutions. IBM cloud is open by design, offering a set of tools, flexibility and agility that helps organizations of all size and developers to easily translate their innovative ideas into technical solutions and business models. This tie-up is an extension of IBM’s commitment to the ecosystem and a great example of how our joint solutions reach deep into the SME segment making the vision of Digital India real.

Powered by IBM Cloud, the solution is fully integrated end-to-end consisting of a custom -built hardware, an intuitive application software, backend / payment processing engines. A physically separated disaster recovery system ensures business continuity.  

PACE has also developed and implemented several solutions on IBM cloud across verticals for retail sector. ServeSmart is the flagship solution of PACE to automate the operations of restaurant retail business and has automated Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) operations in 2004 when they had just 90 outlets which has grown to 1800 plus outlets today.

PACE now provides ‘ServeSmart’ services to more than thirty five hundred restaurant outlets of various leading restaurants in India. PACE hosts all its solutions on an IBM-IaaS Facility at Chennai and at Singapore to provide disaster recovery and business process continuation.

SmartKirana web portal can be accessed here

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Paytm founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma was vocal about being disappointed with the way banks and the financial system in India work. ‘The financial system penalizes a sincere person, but if someone speaks the language of those in the power corridor, he takes a loan of Rs 600 crore and lives in London,’ said Sharma, taking a jibe at the other Vijay, Vijay Mallya.

Speaking at the India Today Conclave 2017 held in Mumbai, during a session titled Master Talk: The e-economy | From the Front-lines of Change, the Founder and CEO of Paytm said, Financial system in India is penalising for those who are sincere, who pay their taxes on time.

Talking about his hope that the RBI will give a nod to Paytm doing banking in the country, he said, ‘If the RBI blesses us, we will be able to have our bank by this month end.’ ‘What happened in 2016 was nothing short of revolution,’ Sharma said, talking about the demonetization drive.

When asked about the key to success of Paytm, Sharma said

The key to success for Paytm is that Paytm works. Paytm works when it is expected to work. Paytm works where it needs to work.

Talking some numbers, he said

Paytm currently has about 21.5 crore subscribers. SBI has 20.7 subscribers. Paytm does about 20 crore transactions while according to RBI all other e-wallets do 19 crore transactions combined.

Paytm’s net worth is around USD 6 billion. The company has seen exponential growth post-demonetization.

About India Today Conclave

Started as part of India Today’s 25th anniversary, India Today Conclave was designed as a meeting point for the best minds from India and around the world to map the geopolitical and economic future of the country. In its inaugural year the theme was India Tomorrow 2002: Opportunities and Threats with Vice President of the USA Al Gore as the chief Guest. The speakers who have been part of this conference each year are current and former heads of state, Nobel Laureates, spiritual leaders, industry captains, social workers, economists, authors, academics, scientist, strategists, activists, cine directors, actors and sportspersons. The past conferences can be accessed here

|In: CloudComputing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Megasoft Limited, a leading technology company, have announced the award of cloud-enabled solution & services contract by the Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. [BELTRON]. The state Government of Bihar, through BELTRON, plans to establish state-of-the-art cloud computing facility for use by its various e-Governance programs and other IT-driven initiatives.

The cloud-enabled State Data Centre [SDC] named ‘Bihar Cloud’ is one of the important elements for supporting initiatives of National e-Governance Plan [NeGP]. The primary purpose of the cloud computing solution is to establish a viable ‘Private’ cloud environment for use by the various e-Governance applications of Bihar.

Megasoft, acclaimed for its sophisticated cloud deployments, will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology solution and services to address various needs of multiple line departments within the state that come under the purview of Bihar Cloud. While the solution is focused primarily on Infrastructure-as-a-Service [IaaS], other services such as Platform-as-a-Service [PaaS], Data-as-a-Service [DaaS] & Software-as-a-Service [SaaS] will complement and be deployed on top of the basic IaaS services.

Rahul Singh, Managing Director, BELTRON said

In the past, applications and websites of state departments were hosted on different servers. In such a scenario, introduction of a new application or website required all other applications and websites to be brought down. With ‘Bihar Cloud’, sufficient space will be allocated to various state Government departments based on their requirements.

The unique feature of this project is that the cloud-based implementation will also further strengthen the security aspect of all the applications. The inauguration of the solution is planned shortly.

G V Kumar, CEO & Managing Director of Megasoft said

Virtualization and the cloud mean much more than mere consolidation. Our Infrastructure-as-a-Service [IaaS] solution will not only ease BELTRON’s infrastructure management efforts but also provide them the ability to automatically scale-up or scale-down services hosted in the cloud, based on user demand.

By addressing the systems and information technology needs from a holistic perspective, our delivery model will ensure that BELTRON implements ‘Bihar Cloud’ in the most effective manner.

Megasoft cloud-enabled solution is agnostic to the underlying hardware, storage, network and operating system. Besides enabling end customers to automatically provision services via a web portal it provides service assurance for maintenance & operations activities performed by the users.

About BELTRON

Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. [BELTRON] is the nodal agency of the Bihar state working towards promotion & implementation of IT and e-Governance. It is the single-point of access to any IT business opportunity in Bihar and encourages various players in the field of IT to come forward and invest in the state.

BELTRON is committed to generate IT business for the public / private sector with a mandate from the Government to develop IT in the state. For more information, please visit BELTRON

|In: Digital|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd [Jio], the world’s fastest growing digital services company and Uber, the country’s preferred ride-sharing app, have announced a strategic partnership aimed at bringing the benefits of Jio Digital Life ecosystem to their users.

As part of the partnership, Jio and Uber will work together and explore various opportunities to progressively enrich and enhance the Digital Life experience of their users through complementary programmes.

JioMoney, the PPI wallet offered by Reliance Payment Solutions Ltd and Uber announced an agreement that will enable Uber riders to pay for their rides using JioMoney & thereby enhance the digital transaction ecosystem in India. Similarly, JioMoney users will soon be able to request and pay for Uber rides from within the JioMoney app. The partnership will give a major boost to cash-free payments in India and provide mobility options to millions of Jio users.

Uber will gradually rollout the JioMoney payment option for its users across the country. This integration provides a hassle-free payment experience to Uber riders and will be an added avenue for digital transactions for JioMoney’s rapidly growing user-base across India.

Anirban S Mukherjee, Business Head, JioMoney said

Jio aims to bring the benefits of evolving digital technologies to every Indian through an entire ecosystem that will allow Indians to live Digital Life to the fullest. JioMoney is an integral part of the Jio ecosystem and is fast emerging as a preferred option for digital transactions due to its ease of use, intuitive interface and growing acceptability. JioMoney’s integration with Uber will power the rapid migration of many more Uber transactions to the digital platform.

Madhu Kannan, Chief Business Officer, India and Emerging Markets for Uber said

We are delighted to partner with Reliance Jio to unlock synergies across two of the largest user bases in India. Digital payments have become part of our everyday lives and by integrating JioMoney as a payment option, our riders will have the ability to use a familiar and consistent payment experience. Through this strategic partnership we are looking to fast forward to digital solutions at scale for the Indian users.

To celebrate the association, JioMoney and Uber will offer exclusive incentives to every user paying for Uber rides through JioMoney. The users of JioMoney will enjoy the hassle free payment experience of JioMoney at multiple avenues along with attractive offers and coupons available through JioMoney app.

About JioMoney

JioMoney is a simple, smart and secure ‘one-app’ solution to everyday transactions on the go. It is much more than just a wallet. It empowers you to pay everywhere in a cash-free way. With JioMoney, users can do mobile and DTH recharges, make everyday payments at physical stores, send/receive money, pay insurance premiums, manage your finances, get great deals, and much more. For more information, please visit JioMoney.