Technology to be the Game Changer for Corporte Compliance in

 TECHNOLOGY TO BE THE GAMECHANGER FOR CORPORATE COMPLIANCE IN INDIA IN 2021: APARAJITHA

 

 Reassessing the priorities for the future

 

With increased regulatory changes and the ‘new normal’ brought forth by COVID-19, Corporate Compliance is all set to become a little more challenging than it used to be earlier. One major trend to watch out in 2021 will be the substantial increase in digital transformation in terms of automation and simplification of compliance-related processes. Technology in compliance management can immensely aid in keeping organizations compliant. In and after 2021, businesses will need to adopt a holistic approach by aligning the compliance strategy into the overall business strategy, feels Nagaraj Krishnan.

 

Working on anticipating change

 

Every year, new laws and policy changes are adding to the complications in compliance operations across industries in India. Steering through the ever-changing regulatory scenario has been a perennial challenge for Corporates across sectors. To gain and sustain a competitive advantage, progressive approaches to compliance management are imperative.

 

Organisations these days have to deal with a wide range of issues that hinder the efficacy of compliance practices. Some of the most pressing issues faced are the following…

 

          Manual and time-consuming compliance processes

          Inability to keep pace with regulatory changes

          Ad hoc approach to governance and risk management

 

 Raising concentration on transformation initiatives

 

Corporates need to have a deep understanding of why it's important to stay up to date on compliances. Putting technology into the compliance management process can help organisations manage and comply with constant regulation shifts proactively. Going forward, companies will necessarily need to adopt path-breaking governance and compliance methods. Such methods will not only enhance operational efficiency but also facilitate decision-making.

 

Co-creating scenarios for the future

 

Internal and external audits are essential to ensure full compliance with the governing laws and regulations. However, the usual audit process with the auditor(s) being physically present poses a risk in terms of health and safety, as we are still not completely out of the COVID-19 shadow. Also, there are still partial travel restrictions in many parts of the country. In such a scenario, technology will play a major role in making remote audits possible. Remote audits are all set to become a regular trend in the post-COVID era due to their flexibility, effectiveness, cost and time advantages.

 

The e-compliance architecture needs to be designed to provide complete visibility and a bird’seye view of the compliance status across the country, state and unit levels. It is equally important for experts to provide round the clock support in updating country-wise Industry-specific laws and auto-configuring the software with an appropriate domain covering laws under Labour, Fiscal, Corporate, Commercial, EHS and industry-specific catering to large global organisations, medium and small firms.

(The author is Managing Director at Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited)

Indus App Bazaar crosses 100 million users in India

App downloads witnessed a 3.5x increase since January 2020, with the usage of Indian-language apps seeing a 2.2x jump during the pandemic

Education, card-based gaming, entertainment apps saw an increase in the installs as well as in the user engagement

Indus App Bazaar, India’s fastest growing and the largest indigenous app store, by Indus OS, has crossed the 100 million users milestone, resulting in 10x growth in its user base, in the last 18 months. The app store that is designed to help users discover new and trending apps in the language of their choice with over 400,000 apps in English and 12 Indian languages, recorded 3.5x times app installs since January 2020. The usage of apps in Indian languages on the platform has increased by 2.2x during the pandemic with Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Bengali emerging as the top languages with most app downloads.

Indus App Bazaar continues to provide a seamless platform for users to explore and consume personalized content and apps. Key features such as no mandatory sign-in through email id, availability of apps in multiple languages; coupled with AI based personalization, which ensures a smooth app discovery experience, has popularized it among users in India.  

The highest number of users on the app store are from the states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh followed by Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, and others. Among cities, Hyderabad has the highest number of users on Indus App Bazaar followed by Mumbai, Thane, Mumbai Sub, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, and Bangalore.

Rakesh Deshmukh, Co-Founder and CEO of Indus OS, said, “We are excited to join the 100-million-users club, and proud of how far we have come. The regional language proposition is strongly rooted in our product's DNA; we want every user to discover and download apps in their preferred language. It is becoming increasingly evident that the next wave of growth in mobile-based services, apps, and content will come from non-urban markets and non-English users. Our success so far indicates that our strategy of developing solutions for these audiences is well-directed and will prove to be a game-changer for the industry in the years ahead. We are proud to be both “Made in India” and “Vocal for Local” as we try and address the needs of Indian consumers.”

Gaming emerged as the highest downloaded app category since the pandemic, followed by entertainment, social media, education, ecommerce, and finance. Finance and e-commerce apps witnessed a significant rise in downloads since March, with people preferring to shop and transact from the safety of their homes. Online games, a fast-growing app segment in India, have seen a further increase in the number of downloads on Indus App Bazaar (up by 15-25%) and the average time spent on the apps by users since March this year. Games involving real or virtual money have been particularly popular, recording 50-200% increase in their month-on-month user base. 

Utilising its proprietary AI-driven app recommendation engine, Indus OS optimises the user experience, delivering higher engagements and bringing app developers, smartphone brands and users on a single India-centric platform. Enabled by increasing smartphone penetration and affordable internet access, mobile content and apps are on the rise across consumer demographics. Indus App Bazaar aims to build a community for Indian developers by providing a platform for them to reach their target audience and empower them with unparalleled insights and various tools to scale and optimize their app performance and maximise the ROI. There is a huge growth potential in India’s app economy, even in the wake of the pandemic, which has opened new lines of thought for various types of businesses.

 

Bhushan Kumar ecstatic as T-Series leads in IFPI Global Music

Bhushan Kumar ecstatic as T-Series leads in IFPI Global Music 

Report with 5 singles and 5 film albums in top 10 list of India

When it comes to the Indian music scenario, Bhushan Kumar's T-Series has been a complete gamechanger. Especially in the last few years, T-Series has been single-handedly ruling the charts, with blockbuster music. While T-Series got the prestigious global recognition by turning out to be the most followed channel on YouTube in the world, 2020 has added another feather to the cap of achievements for the music label. In the IFPI Global Music Report - a recently launched list of top 10 music albums and songs from India, T-Series leads the list with 5 out of 10 in each category.

With sheer determination and passion, the T-Series team has managed to build a solid base and following for itself. Today, they not only hold the record for being the most followed channel globally, but also are the frontrunners in creating great content in terms of film albums, music singles and videos. In the list of top 10 songs according to the report released yesterday, T-Series has 5 of them. Dhvani Bhanushali's Vaaste tops the charts followed by O Saki Saki (Batla House), Pachtaoge, Bekhayali (Kabir Singh) and Dheeme Dheeme (Pati Patni Aur Woh). In the top 10 albums list of 2019, Bhushan Kumar's company alone has 5 entries again. Luka Chuppi, Kabir Singh stand at number 1 and 2 respectively, followed by Batla House, Bharat and Pati Patni Aur Woh in the top 10.

In this time of need, when the world is going through a major health crisis, with the Covid-19 outbreak disrupting all plans, T-Series has still managed to deliver entertainment and music videos to its loyal audience base.

 Bhushan Kumar, who's extremely happy and ecstatic about the achievement, shares, "While the world is going through one of its toughest phases, music is what will keep us going. They say music has healing powers, and we are trying to put out as much valued content as we can, till we all return to our normal lives. Movies have hit a temporary pause because of Covid-19, so it's all the more important to launch new music singles and videos to keep our audience base entertained and happy and the team is definitely doing it well."

What makes this achievement more special is that it's come out on music maestro - the legendary Gulshan Kumar's 65th birth anniversary. Gulshan Kumar had founded T-Series because of his passion towards music and put Indian music on an international podium ever since. Delivering chartbusters every year, T-Series has turned out to be one of the prime Indian companies, especially the one music label with the maximum global reach. So with this news hitting headlines on this auspicious day has made Bhushan and the entire family extremely overwhelmed.

Talking about the achievement in the recently released global report, the head honcho of T-Series says, "The IFPI Global Music Report left all of us at T-Series happy and thrilled. It's extremely special since it has come out on my dad's birthday and I hope he will be proud of the team and the label he had selflessly created. It's also immensely gratifying given the amount of hard work and effort that has been put in to create such varied music content for the listeners. A Luka Chuppi and a Pati Patni OST is very different from a Kabir Singh and a Bharat OST, and with all of them being acknowledged, it's a win-win situation for us at T-Series."

Dhvani Bhanushali comments ,“ I’m overwhelmed and can’t thank my fans enough for showering ‘Vaaste’ with so much love. It’s an exciting time to be part of the global music landscape and to find myself on a list that highlights the best and biggest names in music is truly unbelievable. A big shout out and thank you to Tanishk Bagchi who composed the music for 'Vaaste', Radhika Rao who directed the music video and the entire team who made this song such a success."