Digital Bharat Economy Conclave HIGHLIGHTS: How can a market model benefit investors

With this panel, we conclude the 2023 edition of Digital Bharat Economy Conclave. Throughout the event, panels and discussions took place on topics such as artificial intelligence, potential of digital economy, banking and fintech, need for online safety, small and medium enterprises, Indian digital payment structure, among others. The event also witnessed the presence of Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, along with other associated personalities. Follow us on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter for related updates!

“Importance of breach notifications is important. Third party users can make utilisation of these breaches,” Baidyanath Kumar on the need for online data safety practices.

“Look at the email addresses from where spam mails are coming from. Malicious digital bad actors can be avoided through basic human instincts,” Abhishek Kumar on avoidance of digital maliciousness.

“It's difficult to maintain different passwords. We expect there to be no passwords in the next two to three years. It's best if passwords are framed around local languages. From management purview, there are different password managers to help with these practices which can help with synchronisation of passwords,” Hashmi said on the topic.

“We have debated about the boon and bane of social media. There’s a lot of skill development and ed-tech companies are able to sustain during testing situations. In terms of social media, individuals are required to be intuitive about how they are approaching it but there are fall-back methods for it,” Saiwal said on social media safety.

We come to the last session of the panel titled “The need for online safety,” which will have Baidyanath Kumar, CISO and Data Protection Officer, JK Lakshmi Cement, Abhishek Kumar, CTO, ICCS, Anuj Tewari, CISO, TMF Group, Yusuf Hashmi, Global Group CISO, Jubilant Pharmova and Ingrevia, and Evaa Saiwal, Business Head – Liability, Cyber and Financial Risk, Policybazaar. It’ll be hosted by Siddharth Venkataraman, Manager- Revenue and Subscriptions, Indian Express Digital.

Moving forward, the next session is “Digital lending for ease of doing business,” which will comprise of Mukesh Mohan Gupta, President at Chamber of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and CEO, Nodefaulters.com, J. Sridharan, Executive Vice Chairman, Bharat Financial Inclusion, Murali Ramakrishnan, MD and CEO, South India Bank, Jatinder Handoo, CEO, Digital Lenders Association of India, and Santanu Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, Paisalo Digital. It will be hosted by Asim Parashar, Partner – Financial Services Advisory, PwC India

“There are opportunities for standalone companies such as ed-tech, healthtech, among others. Demand across sectors and the market is huge,” Sancheti emphasised around different sectors

“We need to figure out great monetisation models. There's a massive shift of supply chain from China. Startups can benefit in terms of global revenue. AI tools has a big revolution coming up. Technology is replicable in terms of SaaS tools. All that matters is the selling of SaaS products,” Khanduja on the SaaS ecosystem.

“There will be sectors such as logistics, payments, digital learning, among others. India is shining in terms of world businesses,” Kothari highlighted

“I think AI will cause significant changes. With AI, analysts have benefitted a lot. It's the need to adapt to this new technology. It's a game changer as AI can be utilised more for wealth management, for example. AI is yet to understand business models and investment bankers need to figure it out,” Shah on technologies for investment banking.

“Not everybody will look at growth but there's a need for profit. There's a need for profitability, based on a model which confers to market dynamics. It needs to be looked from a business purview,” Khanduja stated

“There's no shortage of capital. There are founders who are making digital innovations. So, we don't see any challenges in raising capital for businesses,” Jain mentioned

“It's an opportunity for founders to build. In short-term, if something happens then morale gets affected but that is the way of business. If we meet any startup founder, then we understand that the game is now a correlation between profitability and growth. We have to find companies to invest,” Kothari said

“The pandemic instilled macroeconomic funds in the economy. I think it's a matter of time before see funds coming back on account of profitability”

We go to the next standalone session titled “From investors' perspective,” which will include Bhavesh Shah, Managing Director, Head, Equirus, Kavish Kothari, Principal, Eight Roads Ventures, Prakhar Khanduja, Investor, MSA Novo, Chetan Prakash Sancheti, Partner, Anicut Capital, Vivek Jain, Director, Stride Ventures, and Maneesh Srivastava, Founding Partner, Alphavalue Consulting

“There's a need for partnerships which have developed among different entities. In future, these partnerships will contribute towards the addition of more users. There's also a need for product safety and security. Privacy is important for transactions' safety, and it's important to use this method for serving users. To ensure long-term growth of digital ecosystem, there's a need for sustainability,” Kaushal concluded

“India has built the foundation for future of e-commerce. The global pandemic has given us certain lessons such as interoperability through UPI, financial technology (fintech) projects for different use cases. In terms of fintech, there's a need for smart tech and other innovations”

Next is another standalone session called “The levers contributing to the growth of digital payments in India,” to be hosted by Deeksha Kaushal, Director, Financial services, partnerships, GPay India

“We have permitted users get access to content in multiple languages through a multilingual feature. 6 crore videos related to digital skills and subjects taught in school in India are on YouTube. 1 out of 2 Indian users currently working utilise YouTube to help develop their career-based skills, and 3 out of 4 Indian teachers agree that YouTube has helped their students learn,” Chatterjee highlighted

“Technology has democratised information. An Oxford Economics study stated that YouTube contributed Rs 10,000 crores towards India's GDP in 2021. There comes a responsibility to connect users with high-quality information. 85% of Indians who searched for healthcare data on YouTube found legit information,” Chatterjee stated

The first session of the event's second half is titled “Building the future of the creator economy in India,” and it'll be conducted by Ishan John Chatterjee, Director, YouTube India

We are about to resume with the second half of the event. Stay tuned!

Now, it's time to break for lunch. The event will resume shortly. Please watch this space for more updates!

“Any business which is not digitally adopting itself will face problems. For MSMEs to be successful, there is a need for forums to share knowledge about digital transformation,” Batra highlighted

“Digital transformation isn't only focused on payments but is mandatory for bringing solutions to the industry”

“Stakeholders can help as per their own policies, which can help MSMEs in this digital finance journey. I believe that these kind of platforms add a lot of value to the MSMEs,” Hedge stated

“We need to understand the audience we are talking about, which concerns women. This market needs to be shaped in the right direction”

“Many of the businesses have overcome the epidemic, and have also digitally transformed themselves. I think there are opportunities in terms of modules for digital transformation. From MSME perspective, management and leadership are required to handle digital challenges. In terms of business growth, initiatives have been taken and government has also helped in that to increase business and revenue,” Bisht highlighted

“People today don't want to adopt digital transformation on account of different challenges. There's a knowledge challenge which needs to be tackled. Younger generations are digital savvy,” Batra mentioned