OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES Older people who cycled for exercise walked more efficiently than people whose primary exercise is placid walkingPage 10 The worst affected economy NEW DELHI SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020, 28 Pages, `10 (Patna `11, Raipur `10) F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , WHAT'S INSIDE C H A N D I G A R H , Nurturing nature Permaculture farming, a self-sufficient and sustainable practice where nature does most of the work, is finding an increasing number of takers in the country today. The aim is to grow and harvest one's own food, as well as create a piece of nature for future generations ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 Tales from a revolution A well-curated book that tells the stories of the ugly aftermath when Delhi burnt ROHNIT PHORE C H E N N A I , Long relegated to the shadows, lyricists are now raising the pitch demanding fair and equal credit for their work Page 7 READ TO LEAD H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , EASE OF DOING BIZ Andhra on top again, UP soars to 2nd spot ● Haryana, Gujarat slip in ranking based on Business Reforms Action Plan 2019 ■ SPOTLIGHT, P5 LEISURE ALYRICALPROTEST FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY B E N G A L U R U , A deep dive Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL .XVIII NO. 97 ODD & EVEN Marine tourism has gone beyond dolphin-watching, incorporating tech, education and fun Page 6 FOR SUCCESSFUL AGEING, PICK UP THE PACE OR MIX IT UP ACROSS THE AISLE , P CHIDAMBARAM P U B L I S H E D FE LINES FE BUREAU New Delhi, September 5 ANDHRAPRADESHLED thepack inimplementingreformsunder the Centre’s ease of doing businessinitiativeforathirdstraight year, as per the ranks based on Business Reforms Action Plan 2019releasedonSaturday. Importantly, in a first, the latest ranking of states are based purely on stakeholders’ comments on all reform measures, instead of a mix of their claims (verified) and userfeedback. This is in sync with a practice adopted by the World Bank when it ranks countries on ease of doing business. Importantly, Uttar Pradesh moved up by 10 notches from the last ranking to grab the second position in the latestindex, remaining the best performer among major states. However, The top 10 Ranking 2017 2019 16 12 9 7 2 1 1 Andhra 2 4 3 5 6 6 7 10 9 5 MP Jharkhand Himachal West Bengal Chhattisgarh Rajasthan Gujarat Ranking in 2018 didn’t take place Source: DIPP UP Telangana 4 10 8 INDIA'S COMMITMENT TO REFORM BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY FOREIGN INVESTORS — NIRMALA SITHARAMAN , FM Haryana and Gujarat, which occupied the third and fifth positions, respectively, in BusinessReformsActionPlan2017, sawtheirrankingslidingto16th and 10th now..The ranking of statesisbeingdonebytheWorld Bank, and the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) assumes the role of a facilitator between the Bank and states.The ranking,based on Business Reforms Action Plan 2018, wasn’t released last year, partly due to the general polls. Interestingly, Delhi — the mostimportantofthethreedestinations(theothersbeingMumbai and Bengaluru) in theWorld Bank’s surveys forranking India amongothercountriesineaseof RAJNATH-WEI MEET M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E MAKE IN INDIA India can attract auto cos moving out of China: Siam doing business — improved its ranking by 11 notches to the 12th position among 36 states andUnionterritories.Thisisgood newsforIndia’srankingbecause, despitemarkedimprovementin recentyearstoarecord63rdpositionlastyear,Delhi’spoorperformancecontinuedtopartlyweigh downthecountry’sranking. Comments of as many as 35,000 users were sought on over 180 reforms parameters for the latest ranking exercise. Releasing the ranking of states, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's commitmenttoreformisbeing taken seriously by foreign investors,whichisevidentfrom the good inflow of FDI even during the time of Covid-19. Between April-July, the foreign direct investment (FDI) into India stood at $20 billion. “India'scommitmenttoreform is taken seriously by investors abroadandtheytakeIndiatobe a very desirable destination, otherwise we wouldn't be seeinggoodamountofFDIcoming evenduringthepandemictime whenIndia,asmanyofourcritics would say, had the strictest lockdown,”Sitharaman said. ● Local sourcing possible for electronics, some grades of steel, tooling, EV parts Continued on Page 17 Continued on Page 17 PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, September 5 MANY COMPANIES IN China are relocating or putting plants in other countries to cover geopolitical risks and the auto and components sector must bring those investments or tie up with them to produce in India, newlyelected president of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Kenichi Ayukawa said on Saturday. Speaking at the annual session of the Auto Components Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA),Ayukawa,who is also MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, said he would make efforts to organise some businessexplorationmeetings with manufacturers of Japan to push make in India. Kenichi Ayukawa, president, Siam Discourage imports: Gadkari Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday askedIndian automobile and components industry not to depend on imports and develop local substitutes for products bought from overseas, saying the country's auto sectorhas the potential to be the top global manufacturing hub. — FE BUREAU Report on Page 3 PANDEMIC ESSENTIALS India insists on full pullback, WFH, e-learning spur tablet demand warns against further action RISHI RANJAN KALA New Delhi, September 5 QuickPicks Softbank invests in Oyo Latam in move for more oversight SOFTBANK GROUP is taking a direct role in managing its virus-hit hospitality start-up Oyo's operations in Latin America through a joint venture which will control all hotels in the region, said head of Oyo Brazil on Friday, reports Reuters. Softbank will use part of its $5-billion Latin America fund to invest in the newly formed company called Oyo Latam. ● Beijing says responsibility entirely with India; Delhi says China violated agreements KRISHN KAUSHIK New Delhi, September 5 IN FIRST REMARKS after defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe met in Moscow to discuss the Ladakh crisis, India Saturday Railways to run 80 more special trains from Sept 12 the India-China border as ‘very nasty’,US President Donald Trump has said the Chinese are“going at it much more strongly” than a lot of people understand and he would “love to get involved and help”ease Stricter law not knee-jerk bans needed to ensure data privacy INSTEAD OF BANNING Chinese apps at frequent intervals by invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, analysts feel it would be better forthegovernmenttolaydown a lawthat all such existing apps can onlybe allowed to function if they store data within the country. The basic pretext of banning these apps is the allegationthattheysurreptitiously transmitusers’datainanunauthorisedmannertoserversthat have locations outside India. If the servers are made to be located within India bylaw,the problem would be over and the governmentwould not be seen to be invoking Section 69A so frequently and open itself to ■ Experts say the servers should be made to be located within India by law instead of banning apps ■ Govt has no information regarding how many Chinese apps are available to be downloaded ■ Govt had banned 59 apps in June and 47 more in July ■ On Sept 2 the govt banned 118 Chinese apps charges of using the law indiscriminately,analysts feel. Sothatdomesticdatastorage norms are not seen to be targeting only a specific country and alsonotupsettingbigplayerslike Facebook,Google orWhatsApp, thegovernmentcouldjustputin Continued on Page 17 Ready to help ease tension: Trump APP CRACKDOWN DATA MONITORING said Singh told the Chinese to “work with the Indian side for complete disengagement at the earliest from all friction areas including Pangong Lake as well as de-escalation in border areas in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols”. In a statement,the ministry DESCRIBING THE SITUATION along THE RAILWAYS will run 40 pairs of new special trains per day from September 12 in addition to the 230 already in operation, reports FE Bureau. The reservation for these 80 new trains will begin from September 10. Railways had suspended passenger, mail and express trains from March 25 in the wake of the nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. FE BUREAU New Delhi, September 5 Rajnath Singh of defence quoted Singh saying the“currentsituationshouldbe handled responsibly”and“neithersideshouldtakeanyfurther actionthatcouldeithercomplicate the situation or escalate matters in the borderareas”. The Chinese statement on the meeting quoted Wei saying “the relationship between the two countries and the armed forces has been severelyaffected bythe border issue recently” and the “cause and truth of the current tension on the border between China and India are very clear, and the responsibility lies entirelywith India”. a guideline that apps of companies that are based in countries which share land border with India need to store data in domestic servers and such data cannotgooutsidethecountry. Continued on Page 17 the tension. “While we’re at it, we’re talking aboutChinaandIndiaaregoingatit pretty good on the border, as you know. It’s been very nasty,” Trump told reporters on Friday at a White House news conference. — PTI WORK FROM HOME (WFH) and learning from home (LFH) have resulted in a strong demand for tablets during the April-June quarter in 2020, with consumers preferring tablets with a display of 10 inches and more. As per CyberMedia Research (CMR), a strong consumer demand and good supplyside dynamics bybothvendors and channel ecosystem fuelled the domestic tablet market with shipments increasingby23%quarter-onquarter (Q-o-Q). “This was primarily fuelled bythe Covid-related lockdown and consumer demand for WFHandLFHneeds.Shipment of tablets with WiFi capabilities grew a whopping 98% Qo-Q in Q2 2020,”CMR said. Menka Kumari, analyst (Industry Intelligence Group) at CMR, noted that as Indians continue to operate in a homebound economy, the tablet is emerging as a preferred companion device for education, remote work and for content consumption.“FuelledbyWFH India tablet market April-June 2020 Market share (%) Lenovo Samsung 15 14 Q2 2019 32 17 12 Apple iball 3 Q2 2020 48 29 Source: CMR and LFH needs,the tablet market grew remarkably in Q2 2020, bucking historical faltering growth trends. In addition to the consumer demand, the tablet market grew on the back of agility shown by vendors and channel partners to offer attractive discounts to capitalise on the demand.” Given their portability and larger screen size and, more importantly, much more affordable pricing, these devices are democratising access to digital content for all family members, said Prabhu Ram, head (Industry Intelligence Group) at CMR. Among companies,Lenovo continued to lead the Indian market with 48% market share and capitalising on opportunities in the enterprise and consumer vertical, while the number two, Samsung garnered 29% market share.Its TAB A series did well, with the GalaxyTabA10.1 LTE & Wi-Fi (2019) series contributing close to 25% of the Korean electronics major’s market share. Applewas third in Q2 2020 with 12% market share. The iPad 7 Series contributed close to 7% of market share and is one of its most favoured models.Apple also launched a new iPad Pro 2020 version with keypad,which is suitable forelearning and content creators. Is online gaming the new battleground for telcos? ● Top operators can exploit 5G to monetise their subscriber base through gaming FE BUREAU New Delhi, September 5 AFTER THE RACE for sub- scriber addition and adding more and more entertainment-related video streaming overthe top (OTT) apps in their offerings, the next contest emerging between the country’stoptwotelecomoperators — Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel — is in online gaming. Aspartof theirdigital strategy,both operators are keen on focusing on gaming and grad- ● GAME ON ■ Of the three gaming sub-sectors — casual, real-money, and PC/console gaming — Jio is focusing on casual and set-top box/TV gaming while Bharti is more on fantasy sports ■ The fantasy sports market in India is fragmented with more than 140 platforms ■ The top player, which is Dream 11, and the next four-five players control 95% of the market share ■ Around 700 million smartphone users in India, of which 400-500 million could be the potential market for online fantasy sports uallymonetisetheirsubscriber base. According to analysts at Bank of America Securities, similar to their content strategy, both the operators are looking to collaboratewith the gamingcompaniesratherthan making their own games. Generally,analysts feel that Jio currently has a well-etched strategyingaming,whileBharti isexploringafewmoreareas.Of thethreegamingsub-sectors— casual,real-money,andPC/consolegaming—Jioisfocusingon casualandset-topbox/TVgamingwhileBhartiismoreonfantasysports currently. Analysts feel that both the telcosareexpandingtheirfixed broadband and in a couple of years will launch 5G services. Over time, with better broadband speeds and by leveraging artificialandvirtualrealitythey would be well placed to mone- New Delhi tisetheirsubscriberbase.Moreover,5Gwill also allowthem to focus on high bandwidth-consuming cloud games. While this may not appeal to a wide subscriber base, the target audience would likely be the high average revenue per user (Arpu) paying high-end users. AsperarecentKPMGreport onbusinessoffantasysports,in the last threeyears,the gaming sector is seeing good traction both in the usage and engagement. Monetisation has seen a significantimprovementinthe real moneygaming business in thepast24months.Thefantasy sports model and the offerings inIndiaareprettymuchinsync withwhatisbeingofferedglobally. The market has also become very fragmented with more than 140 platforms. Continued on Page 17