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Why legacy insurance brands are logging off from online marketplaces

HDFC Ergo recently delisted its products from web aggregators and online third-party brokers. In withdrawing its health and motor insurance policies, the insurer joined a small yet growing band of incumbents in India’s legacy insurance industry, which includes the largest private sector general insurer ICICI Lombard and public sector behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India, which have either partially or completely stayed away from listing their products on third-party online brokers. These “strategic” calls by insurers may seem counterintuitive as the Covid-19 pandemic-led digitisation of the consumer economy is driving significant traffic to online sales of insurance plans. But insurance industry insiders say this could be an indication of a larger pushback from insurance companies to gain more autonomy in the increasingly digitising world of retail insurance in India. Insurance industry sources say several companies are scouting for new self-sufficient distribution models to boost their digital ambitions, while also reducing dependency on third-party platforms, which are increasingly commanding online sales of insurance policies. According to US-based investment bank Jefferies, nearly one-fifth of premium revenue for India’s health and life insurers could be through online channels by FY25. The share has already grown from 0.1% in FY15 to nearly 4% (or $1.3 billion in premium) in FY20.

Monthly active user base for shortform apps in India poised to touch 650 mn by 2025

‘Shortform’ apps segment – which includes platforms like Reels, Josh, Moj, and Roposo – is expected to see its monthly active user base to grow more than 2x to reach about 650 million users by 2025, according to a report by research firm RedSeer. It said that the shortform space in India is set to be the second biggest segment in terms of time spent in one year after Internet mammoths like Facebook and Google. This growth is expected to be driven by a number of factors. The monthly active users of the segment are expected to grow more than 2x to reach about 650 million users by CY25 clocking the second spot after television. This significant growth is largely expected to be driven by the new 300 million Internet users that will be added by 2025. The report noted that the shortform creator base has grown 2x and now stands at 40-45 million. These creators are mostly from smaller towns and cities. “The Indian shortform apps have surged ahead in terms of creator experience. Consequently, there is an increase in user base and engagement on these platforms,” it said. The report noted that shortform content has been the biggest winner at an aggregate level, and is likely to overtake OTT video content in the coming year. Most of the platforms have ensured stringent content compliance standards and monetisation opportunities.

Bengaluru enters the elite list of top ten global tech innovation hubs

Indian IT capital, Bengaluru has emerged among the top ten tech innovative hubs across the globe. Also Bengaluru is the only IT hub outside Silicon Valley, San Francisco, according to a latest KPMG report that also ranked India third in the list of countries and jurisdictions that show the most promise for developing disruptive technologies. According to the annual report titled, “Technology innovation hubs”, that surveyed more than 800 industry leaders and showed that Covid-19 has rapidly accelerated new ways of working, but the world’s ‘technology hubs’ are here to stay although they may not be in the Silicon Valley. India’s presence among the top three countries, for the second successive year, for promoting disruptive technologies proves the nation’s tremendous emphasis on developing well-organised technology hubs for fostering all-round economic growth. Despite the pandemic, India’s silicon valley — Bengaluru has been ranked eighth in the list of top ten world-class tech hubs. According to the report, about 39% of industry leaders believe hub cities including London, Singapore, and Tel Aviv will continue to play a vital role, enabling talent to coalesce and collaborate in communities with a solid digital infrastructure. Only 22% believe hubs are no longer important. The well-structured infrastructure and resources machinery of the city has enabled many global tech corporations to operate smoothly from the city. Apart from talent and investment, Bengaluru is also known for accelerators and incubators to help tech companies at every level of their growth story. I am confident that, in coming years, Bengaluru will further establish itself as a key tech hub globally.

Quick Commerce led by Dunzo & Swiggy to grow 10-15x in 5 years 

According to the report ‘Quick Commerce: A $5 billion market by 2025’ by RedSeer, the market penetration of Quick commerce is estimated at USD $~0.3 Bn in CY2021 and is expected to grow 10-15x in the next 5 years, that is $5 billion by 2025. ~20 million households are addressable by quick commerce in India with an estimated addressable market size of USD $~50 Bn in 2020, as per the report. Quick commerce is defined as delivery of consumables within a span of 45 minutes with a nominal delivery charge. Indian Quick Commerce (Q-Commerce) market offers two main opportunities including Consumables (Fresh, Staples, Packaged Foods, Beverages, Home Care and Personal Care, OTC medicines, alcohol, Tobacco, Pet supplies) and adjacent or Long-Tail categories (flowers, gifts, books, small electronics, etc.). Consumables market in India is projected to grow sustainably for the next 5 years at ~6% CAGR to hit USD $~1 Trillion by 2025 from $725 billion in CY20. Further, Quick Commerce penetration within the online consumables market is ~7% and is expected to grow to 12-13% by 2025. Currently at USD $~3.8 billion, the online consumables market is expected to grow exponentially and is expected to reach $30+ Bn by 2025, of which ~50% will come from Metro and Tier-1 cities.The major drivers for this market are willingness to pay for premium products, growing market for easy-to-cook products at home delivery, demand for healthy and nutritional products, rising consumption of newer products through global experiences. These consumers include Gen Z, ambitious millennials, Gen X-active buyers and Gen X- Passive buyers. Gen Z- impulse purchasers and ambitious millennials dominate in unplanned purchases and their fulfilment methods are based on speed and convenience.

Twitter brings new features for real-time conversations around Tokyo Olympics

Twitter is going to feature premium content, real-time reactions, and conversations before, during, and after Tokyo Olympics which kickstarted on 23rd July 2021, as fans worldwide cheer for the top athletes from across the planet. The platform will also offer a deep roster of features to help get the most out of the event this summer. Fans worldwide can use the official Olympics Twitter emoji throughout the Games. The emoji will unlock when you Tweet #Olympics and related hashtags in more than 30 languages. Twitter will also have emojis for each country competing, unlocked when you Tweet three-character country hashtags. Lastly, fans can cheer on the Refugee Olympic Team during the Games by Tweeting #EOR to unlock their team emoji. At every Olympics, people confidently Tweet their ‘expert’ opinions on sports when they might not know much about it. This time Twitter will be turning fans into real experts. Simply by Tweeting #ExpertEngine @Olympics and any sporting event hashtag, such as #basketball or #swimming, fans will automatically receive a video reply teaching them all about that sport. When the users are on the Twitter app or on desktop, Explore catches them up on a range of subjects, curated in a customized manner for the user. During the Games, the platform will have a custom Explore tab that will highlight Event Pages, Partner Moments, Twitter Moments, and select Topics, and Lists. This will be a resource to help find the best content and conversation from the Games. Twitter has created a series of custom Topics for the Games that will keep the user’s timeline popular with top Tweets and content. They can also see Topics in search results, helping them to stay on top of what’s happening in Tokyo. Across all sports, the custom Event Pages will feature top Tweets from trusted accounts. The users will be able to follow the action and reactions as they happen for the marquee events and top games. Twitter will also have custom Event Pages dedicated to different countries. These will be home to top Tweets which capture that country’s experience.

Koo app calls on users to apply for its yellow-tick verification system

Following the furore over Twitter’s blue tick verification applications and the selection criteria, Indian microblogging platform Koo is calling on users to apply for Eminence, it’s yellow tick verification mechanism on the platform. Koo said the yellow tick called ‘Eminence’ recognises and celebrates a user’s eminence, stature, achievements, abilities and professional standing. “It implies that the user is well-regarded in the Indian framework be it an artist, scholar, sportsperson, politician, businessperson or a user from any other field,” the company said in a statement. Koo said requests for eminence are evaluated based on internal research, third-party public resources and the Indian context. The Eminence criteria is reviewed by a team at Koo in March, June, September and December each year. The platform said the Eminence yellow tick has been confirmed for approximately one percent of requests received and the ’eminent’ voices are given prominence in their respective language communities.

 

 



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