How BluSmart plans to fight Uber, Ola in EV cab biz; Spacecom policy notification soon

Also in this letter:
■ Automation versus tech to counter cyberattacks
■ Fired by Big Tech, hired by homegrown companies
■ AI training to drive demand for talent: RWS

ETtech In-depth: How BluSmart plans to fight the Uber, Ola onslaught in buzzy EV cab business

Hi, this is Pranav Balakrishnan in Bengaluru. Along with my colleague Pranav Mukul in New Delhi, we report on the state of the EV cab hailing sector.

While electric cars have been around for a while and ride-hailing platforms have adopted EVs, globally, this transition has been slow as far as India is concerned.

But that might be about to change as ride-hailing giant Uber signed a deal with Tata Motors to deploy 25,000 electric cars and Ola said it’s going to roll out 10,000 electric cars in a year, across Bengaluru.

Fighting the two biggies is all-electric cab startup BluSmart, with its no cancellation and zero surge offering, which has gained traction over the last few years in Delhi-NCR.

Not easy to electrify cabs: The supply of electric cars is yet to catch up with demand. Tata Motors is by far the biggest supplier and its production capacity is just 50,000 annually, though it has plans to double it in the next financial year.

Not just that, running EV cabs require a separate algorithm at the backend, which again cannot be copy pasted from other countries.

Also read | Uber India president says Tata Motors EV deal biggest for any ride-hailing platform

Quote, unquote: “Form factors available in India tend to have a lower range than what is available in international markets, public charging infrastructure is still taking shape, most of the fleet operators have some captive charging capacity in place, so the technology should reflect that. This is a work in progress journey,” Prabhjeet Singh, president of Uber India and South Asia told ET.

Work-in-progress: Even as Ola and Uber have announced big plans to electrify their fleet, the process will be slow. Uber’s Singh said that deploying the 25,000 electric cars will be a three-year process. BluSmart’s senior leaders believe by the time Ola and Uber figure out the basics, the company would have reached a significant scale in India’s top six cities.

Spacecom policy notifications soon, may specify FDI limits

The Spacecom policy is expected to be unveiled within the next few months. The policy is likely to introduce multiple foreign direct investment (FDI) limits for key businesses in the sector. Satellite broadband services will likely be given the highest allowance for foreign ownership to attract global investors.

What is the policy about? According to Lt Gen AK Bhatt, who is the Director General of the Indian Space Association, the government’s policy objective is to establish distinct FDI limits for three specific categories of satellite businesses, namely, satellite applications and broadband services, satellite manufacturing, and satellite launch vehicle operations.

Quote, unquote: AK Bhatt, Director General, Indian Space Association: “Spacecom policy is likely to outline the most liberal FDI norms for satellite applications, to encourage global firms to invest aggressively in the segment”

Which companies will it affect? The policy holds significant importance for companies such as Bharti-backed OneWeb, Elon Musk’s Starlink, Reliance Jio, and Tata-backed Nelco, who are looking to expand their global satellite bandwidth capacity in India and launch high-speed broadband services from space.

Experts split over automation vs human intervention to fend off cyberattacks

Cybersecurity experts are worried about an increase in multi-vector attacks and cyber threats on companies using Metaverse and Internet of Things to run pilot projects. According to them, currently most companies use tools and solutions from multiple vendors and often don’t have end-to-end visibility on their cybersecurity infrastructure.

Increasing cyberattacks: According to a recent threat prediction report by Seqrite, the enterprise solutions offering of Quick Heal Technologies, researchers have estimated that supply chain attacks on open-source repositories in India have surged by 633% year-on-year since 2019 and are expected to intensify. The report indicates that as of October 2022, more than 88,000 known instances of these vulnerabilities have been recorded.

Talent crunch: The shortage of skilled professionals in the cybersecurity industry is growing, creating a gap between the number of required professionals and the actual number available. To address this issue, experts suggest leveraging technology and automation for basic security processes, while relying on experts for more complex tasks. However, small and medium enterprises are particularly vulnerable to cyber threats due to their limited resources and knowledge of high-end security measures.

Homegrown firms hire as Big Tech sheds staff

In response to the layoffs at major tech companies such as Meta Inc, Twitter, and ShareChat, several Indian startups, including microblogging platform Koo, e-commerce entity Pinnacle Solutions, and augmented reality tech platform mirrAR, are taking advantage of the opportunity to recruit experienced employees.

Startups at the forefront: According to experts this is a good time for startups to hire tech talent available on the market at reasonable salaries. Though the startups themselves are going through funding woes, the roles they are hiring for span product, growth, digital marketing and analytics. Global Capability Centres (GCCs), or captives, and Indian enterprises running a digitalisation agenda are also roping in those handed pink slips recently, said Vijay Sivaram, CEO, Quess IT Staffing. Startups that have received funding recently are also expected to add staff, he said.

Grim situation: For those who were fired by Big Tech companies, it is a grim situation, said internet expert Prasanto K Roy. These employees are staring at unemployment or reduced salaries at companies that were not in their preferred list of places. This comes with the additional uncertainty regarding stability at a local homegrown firm.

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AI training solutions will drive demand for talent amidst rise of generative AI: RWS group CEO

Ian El-Mokadem, CEO of RWS Group, a technology-enabled language, content and intellectual property services provider, in an interaction with ET, said that despite the slowdown in hiring by global tech companies, the increasing prevalence of generative AI solutions will drive demand for talent in the industry and enterprise sectors, particularly in the development of AI training solutions for specific use cases.

Access to local markets: RWS Group noted a growing demand for access to local markets, with major clients such as Coca-Cola, Nielsen, and Jaguar Land Rover being served by the company globally. Although the tech recruitment bubble has primarily burst in the US West Coast markets, RWS Group is still seeing strong demand in other areas. Given that the Indian market is currently their primary focus, the company is actively recruiting in the region.

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