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<p>Allow me to take you back to the time when e-commerce had just begun making its presence felt. Retail outlets, window shopping, street shopping and going to the mall were the norm back then; what changed everything was the convenience of accessing a variety of things under one roof at the touch of a button. </p> <p>Ecommerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba, IndiaMart and so on, not just domestically but globally, fit the entire world of necessities, luxury, and basic purchases into one screen. All these were byproducts of the introduction and easy access to the internet and smartphones. While some may believe that e-commerce is for those in metropolitan cities, the truth is that even our next-door ‘kirana stores’ have tried, tested, and adopted this concept either by being sellers on these giant platforms or by having something as simple as a WhatsApp group to take and deliver orders. </p> <p>Consumers, thanks to e-commerce today, are spoilt for choice. It may be the Great Indian Sale or a Pink Fashion Sale, something as particular as the Black Friday Sale or just another festivity sale - both aggregators and consumers wait to make the most of it. This has essentially led to a mindset change among the masses.</p> <p>The pandemic saw another wave of mass acceptance and adoption of the model. Be it food delivery apps such as Swiggy, Zomato or Dunzo which is a synonym for transferring products from point A to point B, the number of users on board grew multifold in 2020. This change in the bigger cities has caused a ripple effect in the smaller cities, towns, and even rural areas. The density of orders may not be as high, but the need for such business models is on the rise. </p> <p>The e-commerce industry has been around for 30 years now and has seen huge growth in the last 10 years thanks to advancements in technology and the internet. Thanks to its easier accessibility, e-commerce is part of our everyday lives. The question, however, is where do we go from here?</p> The upcoming decade will be fascinating, mainly because of the open hands towards cutting-edge emerging technologies. <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/metaverse-calling-a-deep-dive-into-business-opportunities-of-tomorrow/all-about-tech/">Metaverse</a> will redefine how we buy stuff online in the near future. We cannot discuss eCommerce’s future without delving into the debate — physical retail space versus online. Technology is constantly growing, and there are many factors that will ensure brighter and bigger e-commerce. <h3><strong>Customer Centric</strong></h3> <p>E-commerce is an extremely competitive industry. Every day, it gets easier to start your own online business, which is a great advancement for the economy. But it comes at the cost of higher marketing costs for the entire industry, which means a reduced return on investment (ROI).</p> <p>This means that as we move forward, there will be more and more e-commerce businesses following similar marketing strategies with very little opportunity to differentiate from their competitors. Soon enough, online shops and businesses will have to focus more on retaining their current customer base and appealing to their needs than investing in finding new ones. Therefore, the future of e-commerce will evolve to become more customer-centric, focusing on improving customer services and the customer experience to optimize retention.</p> <h3><strong>Optimize mobile ecommerce experience</strong></h3> <p>Mobile responsiveness has always been important, but this year is different. An estimated 54% of total e-commerce sales are expected to come from mobile devices this year. It’s essential to make all e-commerce experiences, present and future, mobile-friendly with customer engagement being a core factor. Your e-commerce store could be getting between 70-90% mobile traffic. Naturally, you’ll want to convert those visitors into loyal customers, and your best chance is to create a mobile-friendly shopping experience. Here’s the thing, responsive design is only one aspect of a good mobile experience. A growing number of mobile shoppers expect a seamless and immersive virtual shopping experience using elements like precise location and augmented reality (AR). </p> <h3><strong>The race to find new delivery systems</strong></h3> Despite the reduced costs of operating online, the cost of fulfilment has made even the largest players struggle to turn a profit. The retail winners of 2026 will be those that can get goods to consumers the <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/disrupting-the-retail-space-with-quick-commerce/all-about-tech/">fastest</a> and most cost-efficiently. The largest players will invest in their own delivery systems in order to gain differentiation, as Amazon has already done. However, the use of drones and driverless cars for delivery will not be widespread by 2026, largely due to security and safety issues and added regulatory requirements. Concerns on this front will be a catalyst for investment in another model; for example, Uber-style delivery will reach the mass market. By 2026, though, the click-and-collect model will be well established at all the major retail chains in key markets, and the other winning methods of collection will be clear, so delivery service is unlikely to remain the key differentiator at the retail level. <h3><strong>Pop-up shops</strong></h3> <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/379046/worldwide-retail-e-commerce-sales/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20retail%20e%2Dcommerce,8.1%20trillion%20dollars%20by%202026.">E-commerce growth trends</a> are already catching up to sales at traditional brick-and-mortar shops. However, shoppers aren’t ready to totally abandon the in-person shopping experience altogether. Especially when excitement can be generated around a limited-time opportunity. This presents pop-up shops, interactive kiosks, and multichannel shops as important pockets for online store marketing. E-commerce giant Amazon has jumped on the trend with Amazon Go Grocery. The popular pet subscription service BarkShop.com embraced the chance to bring its internet shop to life with a popup shop called BarkShop Live. <p>Beyond these, there are numerous other possibilities and combinations that will eventually disrupt the e-commerce space for the better, such as new marketing channels, voice search, automation, AI & AR, sustainability, subscription models, post-purchase experience and much more. It will be exciting to see what untapped potential e-commerce holds for the future.</p>
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<p>In its truest form, agriculture is the backbone of India’s economy, providing livelihoods to more than half of the country’s population. The sector proudly contributes about 17% of India’s GDP and is the primary source of food for the country’s growing population. This segment, however, is plagued with numerous challenges—unorganized markets, poor market linkages, low productivity, small landholdings, a lack of access to financial services, and so on—that prevent it from achieving its full potential. A combination of large markets and deep problems is often the breeding ground for new opportunities. Over the last decade, many Agritech startups have leveraged technology and data to address key challenges faced by Indian agriculture. Today, there are 1000+ startups that have cumulatively raised $3B+ in funding and are estimated to drive $4B+ in GMV which is likely to grow eight times in the next 5 years. <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143777 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd62f939db-3.png" alt="agritech landscape" width="1200" height="800"> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143778 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd632d7a63-4.png" alt="agriculture landscape" width="1200" height="800"> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143779 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd6358ab1a-5.png" alt="agriculture landscape of India" width="1200" height="800"> <h2>Agritech Investments</h2><blockquote>“Indian agritech sector to address $34 billion market by 2027”</blockquote><p> Policymakers everywhere are now seeking sustainable methods to leverage technology in agricultural practices to alleviate this crisis. It has catapulted the attention given to emerging agriculture technology (agritech), with startups raising $26.1 billion in funds in 2020 worldwide. This was a 35.4% growth over 2019. In fact, the global agritech market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1% between 2020-27. India, too, is competing in this segment alongside China and the US. Developments in agritech are hugely relevant to India’s economy. Its agriculture sector, which is worth $370 billion, it continues to remain the main source of livelihood for over 40% of the population and contributes 19.9% (FY 2021) to the national GDP. However, despite the sector’s contribution, it remains mired in structural weaknesses that inhibit growth and productivity. In order to address these challenges and improve farmers' incomes, Indian agriculture needs technology-aided modernization backed by resilient reforms; this is where agritech is expected to play a significant role. India currently has over 1300 agriculture startups that are actively employing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), etc. to increase efficiency and productivity in the sector. The COVID pandemic has now put them on an upward growth trajectory. The states of Karnataka and Maharashtra and the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) are major hubs for agri-startups in India. Indian agricultural sector broadly comprises farming (crops and horticulture), forestry, livestock (milk, eggs, meat), and fisheries. Ranking second after China, it accounts for 11.9% of the global agriculture gross value added (GVA) of $3,320.4 billion and contributes 12% to India’s exports. Additionally, the sector also impacts consumption and production dynamics in non-agricultural segments, such as consumer products, retail, chemicals, and e-commerce. Since 2015, investments in <a href="https://www.cnbctv18.com/economy/agritech-era-make-india-farming-powerhouse-enam-gdp-gmv-usa-brazil-china-17341221.htm">Indian agritech</a> have expanded multifold, with the total investment in 2020 (until October) being $242 million. In 2020, within the agritech industry, the meat delivery segment of startups received the maximum funding of $124 million, followed by startups engaged in marketplaces and e-distribution ($83 million). The trends of 2019 were ruled by the marketplace and e-distribution startups, which received the lion’s share of funding at $203 million out of a total of $257 million, while the meat delivery startups received merely $20 million in funding. <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143776 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd638dc50b-2.png" alt="companies that grow with agritech " width="1200" height="800"> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143780 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd63d25a11-7.png" alt="Agritech companies in India" width="1200" height="800"> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143781 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd6410ee53-8.png" alt="Agritech companies in India" width="1200" height="800"> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143782 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd644aa8c0-9.png" alt="Image" width="1200" height="800"> </p><h2>Technologies Shaping the Agriculture Landscape</h2><b>AI</b><p> has taken the world by storm, and the agriculture sector isn’t too far behind in adopting what AI has to offer. AI can be incredibly beneficial in building meaningful solutions, AI can be transformative in helping the farming community optimize water usage and energy consumption and even determine what crops should be grown depending on the weather conditions and soil quality. The technology is now revolutionizing the Agritech segment in several ways, including through predictive modelling, supply chain management, and automation to improve efficiency and minimize costs. Similarly, <b>blockchain</b> is another groundbreaking technology in the Agritech ecosystem. Its potential is only now being discovered, and even then, we have barely scratched the surface of it. By leveraging blockchain, agritech platforms can reinforce the dynamics of Agri trade, which is necessary given the rise in demand for food supply and security, and enable transparency in the agriculture ecosystem. Blockchain’s power can also be harnessed for multiple other purposes, including ensuring data authenticity, food quality, and real-time tracking of transactions. In fact, blockchain is one of the only technologies that enable traceability in the food supply chain. With more agritech platforms integrating blockchain into their operations, the technology is likely to uplift the agriculture sector sooner than anticipated. Apart from Blockchain and AI, technologies like<b> IoT</b> play a crucial role in the agritech segment. Like AI, IoT has become an integral part of our daily lives. In agriculture, IoT is often used to efficiently measure and monitor soil health and data, the chemical and physical composition of crops, and weather conditions. Coupled with Machine Learning algorithms, IoT can be used to create insightful maps of the farm for more efficient farming and a high-quality yield. IoT has truly earned its place in agritech, and its usage will continue to increase for optimizing resources and costs and for better farming practices. Further, <b>agricultural robotics</b> and drones are now being tested and deployed in certain areas of farming to minimize manual labour and enable farmers to make more informed decisions. For instance, agriculture robotics can be categorized into three ways based on their functionalities - weeding, crop-harvesting and aerial imagery & seed-planting drones. Today, robots are used to pick fruits, harvest vegetables as well as weeds. They are machines with motors and sensors. They perform operational tasks while intelligently responding to their environment. Some of the leading manufacturers of farm robots in India include Binary Robotics, Robo Technos, Nadaf Agro Industries, Hari Agro Industries and Shpine Technologies. From hunters to humanless McDonalds outlets, food production and consumption have come a long way. As many would agree, we are now on the cusp of a population explosion. What matters is how we help make changes today to improve the quality of land, water, and produce for those in extreme situations and for future generations. Only by leveraging <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/tech-trends-that-will-shape-up-2023/all-about-tech/">technology trends</a> seamlessly in our essential sectors, like agritech can we create a sustainable ecosystem for the future. Agritech advancements and the ready adoption of tools are the need of the hour to sustain our booming population and economy. With this in mind, emerging and existing agritech startups are aiming for the big guns. India can lead agritech in the coming years with favorable government policies and ample interest and investment. </p></p>
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<p>The digital age has been plagued by poor cybersecurity making organisations, individuals and communities vulnerable to security threats and breaches. Recently, one such attack engulfed Indonesia’s biggest Islamic Bank - Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). The bank suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted its services from May 8th to the 11th. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir confirmed that the bank's system was compromised due to a hacker attack, and BSI's management has been making efforts to transition to improve its information technology system in response. <h2>What happened?</h2><p> The state-owned Bank Syariah Indonesia fell victim to a cyber attack by a ransomware group anointed “LockBit3.0”. Based on consolidated sources, it was revealed that LockBit had leaked 8,133 files that belonged to BSI, including the personal information of 24,437 BSI employees and internal documents. It was also brought to the public eye that the ransom requested during the breach was $20 million, which was negotiated to $100,000 before it went up to US$10 million. The depth of the complaint by the bank’s customers involves blocked balances, unclear fund transfers, as well as the BSI mobile banking application that were down for a long time. The customer's personal data information along with customer loan information at the bank has been confirmed to have been leaked. </p><h2>What is the state of cybersecurity in Indonesia?</h2><p> Based on the report from NCSI - National Cyber Security Index, the cybersecurity index of Indonesia as of March 2023 ranked 84th. The index uses 12 primary indicators including cybersecurity policy development, personal data protection, and the fight against cybercrimes. The report shows that Indonesia’s cybersecurity index is relatively low compared to other countries. Indonesia ranked the third lowest among the G20 member countries, only higher than Mexico and South Africa. The NCSI report is justifiable if we consider some particular facts in Indonesia. 44,776.891 traffic anomalies occurred in Indonesia throughout August 2022, according to the Public Monthly Report on Cybersecurity Monitoring Result of August 2022 issued by the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (NCCA). A traffic anomaly is a deviation from the normal anomaly that indicates cyber attacks. NCCA report also shows high email phishing case amounts in Indonesia during August 2022, in addition to the high traffic anomalies. Email phishing is an act to obtain personal information such as user ID, password, and other sensitive information by impersonating other people or authorized organizations. If pool polls the perpetrators successfully obtain it, they will use that information to conduct criminal acts. According to the report, 6,342 email phishing cases happened in August 2022. Last but not least, the report also writes about website hacking cases in Indonesia. In August 2022 alone, there were 148 sites hacked by trespassers. The websites they hacked varied from government, law officers, to educational sites. There have been 62 cases of website hacking involving local government sites, followed by 54 cases involving educational sites, 19 cases involving law enforcement, and other cases. The high traffic anomalies, email phishing, and website hacking depict a clear picture that Indonesia’s cybersecurity system is still inadequate to deal with cyber attacks that harm people and national security. </p><h2>Factors for the poor security</h2><p> In the first place, existing regulations do not adequately regulate cyberspace activities. Currently, Indonesia has only two acts that regulate cyber activities, namely Law No. 11 of 2008 on Information and Electronic Transactions as amended by Law No. 19 of 2016 (EIT Law) and Law No. 27 of 2022 on Personal Data Protection (PDP Law). In spite of the fact that they already have some technical derivative regulations, the two acts are not adequate to regulate cyber activities in the country. Due to the rapid growth of the internet, cybercrime evolves with it, thus EIT Law and PDP Law cannot handle them alone. Cyber activities and cybercrimes in Indonesia need to be regulated by specific laws. Secondly, Indonesia even today lacks a supporting information technology infrastructure. In order to reap the benefits of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, society needs to be prepared to deal with the rapid growth of information technology. This requires an adequate information technology infrastructure. Instead of developing information technology infrastructure, the government is still focusing on physical infrastructure. In cities and rural areas, information technology infrastructure is unequally distributed. Lastly, the digital literacy index of Indonesia is relatively low. Based on a report from the Directorate General for Telematics Application on Digital Literacy Index 2021 shows Indonesia’s digital literacy index scores of 3.49. However, if we observe closely, Digital Safety–one of its indicators–falls from 3.24 to 3.10. </p><h2>Where is Indonesia headed?</h2><p> While everything from finance to health records, from retail to real estate, education to logistics, is adopting digital. The end consumers are finding it difficult to keep faith in the overall system. There are hundreds and thousands of digital attacks of varied sizes, both accounted for and unaccounted for, on a daily basis. And Indonesia, being one of the fastest-growing economies reliant on digital means, faces a major share of these attacks. How do we overcome this? What is needed is a new approach to tackling digital-first needs. Apt regulations against cyber attacks and attackers will to a great extent streamline the scenario. But there’s an urgent need to have a change of mindset—one that borders on urgency and solution-relevant efforts. The government's recent initiative to build a new capital, moving from Jakarta to Nusantara may hold an answer. Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s President wants the new capital to be a high-tech city, as he stressed, “We want a new work ethic, new mindset, new green economy.” The new place will call for novel ideas, architecture, industries and ideologies. Tech adaptation will be a default setting to best connect Indonesia with the world. Technology usage will in turn call for promising solutions for the security of the data generated, stored and used across vertices. As a firm routinely engaged with scaling companies and senior technologists, we understand the depths of these issues, how grave their impacts are, and the consequences of a simple miss. A deep understanding of the market is as important as a thorough knowledge of technology. Experts at Purple Quarter with years of industry know-how are adept in analyzing the needs and mapping the right tech leader fit for tech organizations —be it cybersecurity or technology as a whole. It is crucial to have expert technologists and IT specialists who can dissect the most complex of problems to provide the best security solutions. With rising cybercrimes, their security is of utmost importance. The new capital, if well developed with the right provision for emerging technologies to thrive with added security, can become an investment magnet, positioning Indonesia as the Tech Capital of Southeast Asia in the making. </p><h3><strong>Authored by Richa</strong></h3><p> For more information, please reach out to the <a title="This contact has been encoded by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser." href="mailto:ma*******@pu***********.com" data-original-string="kaI6eq8rq398qgTZYy7BpgMCi4Ug5NeuXxEIQwTPOH4=">Marketing Team.</a></p></p>
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<h3><strong>Growth of Fintech in UAE</strong><p> While the UAE’s economy has been primarily accelerated by oil exports, the rise of cutting-edge technology and strong banking services such as Embedded finance and blockchain-based payment systems in recent years has enabled the UAE to establish itself as an emerging global financial hub. Currently, the UAE is rated very highly among the fintech centres in the world. More than 134 fintech companies with over 2000 employees operate in the country. The United Arab Emirates' call for technology is rooted in the UAE’s National Vision 2021 to "transition to a knowledge-based economy” and to “become among the best in the world in entrepreneurship.” The UAE has appointed ministers of advanced sciences and artificial intelligence, established tech-focused organizations like Smart Dubai, the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, and the Dubai Future Foundation, and started programs like Hub71 and Area 2071 to aid entrepreneurs in various technology-related verticals. <img class="aligncenter wp-image-143137 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd64dad7b3-1-1-1024x683.png" alt="FinTech Funding MENA" width="1024" height="683"> </p><h3><strong>UAE Government Exploring Sustainable Initiatives</strong></h3><p> With a rise in Fintech companies, the government of the UAE is also keen on launching Sustainable Finance initiatives to complement an equitable economy. The UAE government is committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), a set of 17 interconnected goals intended to advance sustainable development in various environmental, economic, and social facets. UAE’s legislators want to “Leave no one behind”, moving towards a more resilient and environment-friendly path during the official enactment of the UN SDGs. The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment’s Sustainable Finance Framework 2021-2031 shows a multi-pronged approach towards sustainable finance, including enhancing the supply and demand for sustainable finance products, strengthening the enabling environment for climate and green investments, and lastly, promoting stakeholder collaboration. </p><h3><strong>Embedded Finance via Banking as a Service (BaaS)</strong></h3><img class="aligncenter wp-image-143140 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd6508daa0-2-1024x683.png" alt="Banking as a Service" width="1024" height="683"><p> The Fintech ecosystem is expanding with the economy’s advancement in the digital sphere, opening up hitherto undiscovered prospects that will aid regional businesses in revolution, integration, and future acceleration. Embedded finance refers to the integration of traditional financial services into non-financial services companies’ buying experiences. It is anticipated that Embedded Finance or Banking as a Service (BaaS) will act as a disruption and become a “must-have” in the consumer’s online experience, allowing major corporations to easily transform into Fintech companies. According to the Gulf News Survey in the UAE, over 83% of consumers wish to shift to brands offering “buy now pay later” services. Diverse opportunities are being produced by embedded finance's rapid expansion. To maximize advantages, a range of stakeholders have been joining the market, including traditional financial institutions (FIs), non-financial companies, business owners, Fintechs, and investors. Embedded finance has provided conventional FIs with the chance to increase infrastructure efficiency and scale economies. Now that technology is treated as a "commodity," banks can only differentiate themselves by utilizing their tech stack more effectively. By giving others in the market access to plug-and-play technologies and expanding their clientele, BaaS assisted the banks in diversifying their sources of income. According to research, banks that offer BaaS solutions are 2 to 3 times more profitable than traditional banks. Considering the wall of client expectations and the velocity of change, both financial and non-financial companies need to incorporate financial services products at a rapid pace. A smooth transition can be accomplished by either developing internal skills or partnering with Fintech firms and other ecosystem actors. However, while the transition is in progress, business continuity cannot be compromised. This might be difficult due to technological know-how and staff capacity restrictions. The transition differs by industry, where banks and other established players frequently have legacy IT systems that make adopting new technology difficult. Despite this incumbency, disruptive technologies are readily driving embedded finance and the ideas that support it are BaaS, Open APIs, data analytics, and so on. Fintech investment has doubled in the past year, and reports by the UAE government propose that Venture Capitalist funding for Fintech companies in the region will reach US$2.5 billion by the end of 2022. </p><h3><strong>Sustainability led by Technology and Investments</strong></h3><img class="aligncenter wp-image-143143 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd653f1846-3-1024x683.png" alt="Sustainability " width="1024" height="683"><p> With an evolving Fintech sector and massive interest by Middle Eastern countries towards sustainability, there is a significant role and impact that technology, led by appropriate tech resources, has to play. Today, investors are keen on funding companies with a technology vision in terms of future sustainability models. Thus, embedded finance dominates banking because it offers huge returns to institutions that can embed their offers across a wide range of consumer situations. Furthermore, it is not a zero-sum game. There is ample room for all providers to coexist, including incumbents, challengers, and neobanks. This is especially true in developing economies and underdeveloped markets. Partnerships between financial institutions and fintech are mutually beneficial. For banks, an open-banking solution that uses new technology can help them reach more customers, reach more markets, and make more money. Fintechs, on the other hand, can improve their services by working with banks and getting access to their systems through open banking APIs. An API marketplace, which includes an API manager, gateway, security, publisher, and developer, helps bring together financial institutions and fintechs. Neobanks such as Wio, Yap and Zand Bank have gained ground since they began providing digital banking services in the UAE. Inevitably, the stress on technological advances in the UAE’s financial market to create a sustainable ecosystem has gained ground. Proper utilization of technical resources and capitalizing on the abilities of tech geniuses can lead the way. Creating a tech-first ecosystem that is beneficial across businesses requires directed efforts, and the UAE government, with its recent initiatives and endeavours, is making considerable headway. </p><h3>Authored by <strong>Nishka Agrawal</strong></h3><p> For more information, please reach out to the <a title="This contact has been encoded by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser." href="mailto:ma*******@pu***********.com" data-original-string="kaI6eq8rq398qgTZYy7BpgMCi4Ug5NeuXxEIQwTPOH4=">Marketing Team.</a></p></h3>
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<p>In recent weeks, there has been an incessant buzz around ONDC's reasonable pricing. Netizens are going gaga seeing the price differences between food apps like Zomato and <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/dale-vaz-cto-shares-swiggys-time-management-of-orders-using-technology/industry-expert-narratives/">Swiggy</a> against that of ONDC. What is ONDC you might ask? Simply put, it stands for Open Network for Digital Commerce backed by the Government of India. It allows different kinds of businesses to be a part of the network and sell their services to end consumers without any third-party interference. Be it restaurants, groceries, home décor, cleaning essentials, fashion, beauty, and so on, all players can come under the same network of ONDC. The open network for the e-commerce model was presented by DPIIT - Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, a unit of the Ministry of Commerce. In September 2022, Bengaluru was the first city chosen for the pilot project. As of January 2023, the daily transactions were 50, which has now seen a major jump to a whopping 25,000 transactions a day. The number of retail merchants on ONDC also rose to 35,000 from 800 in January of this year. ONDC has successfully expanded its footprint from 85 cities to more than 230 cities as of the first week of May. ONDC works on an open-sourced method as a network of interconnected e-marketplaces, connecting sellers, including brands, to list and sell their products directly to customers minus any middle agents. Unlike popular applications, ONDC doesn’t work as an app, but ONDC can be accessed via other apps and platforms, like Paytm, Mystore, Craftsvilla, Spice Money, Meesho, Magicpin, and Pincode. <b>How does it work?</b> A buyer has to open the app to search for the particular product in question. The app displays nearby local stores and retailers based on the customer's then-current location. Once the store is selected, one can explore the prices and place an order. When you order a product or service from the ONDC platform via an app like Paytm, the platform takes a small commission, and then the order is handed over to the specific business. Paytm's ONDC adoption has seen immense traction among users ordering food. Typically, a user types in ONDC in the search bar of Paytm; and you see a variety of options ranging from cleaning, groceries, essentials, and furniture to the food store. In the case of ordering food from a restaurant, ONDC Food is the option to go for, and then check out the cuisine that you wish to order and place the order. Similar to other food delivery platforms, several restaurants are on the offering. It is to be noted that, since ONDC is relatively new, many restaurants/brands have yet to board the ONDC ship. <b>Benefits for sellers </b> ONDC helps sellers and other local businesses compete with e-commerce giants such as Flipkart and Amazon. The network makes them easily discoverable online to numerous customers, resulting in increased reach. Through ONDC, both buyers and sellers don't necessarily have to be on the same app to carry out a transaction. Furthermore, ONDC-compatible applications can be used by sellers without being governed by the specific policies of an e-commerce platform. ONDC holds the promise of transforming the e-commerce landscape in India by creating a fair game for all players to coexist and benefit. With ONDC, consumers, sellers, and logistics service providers will have access to limitless visibility and discovery opportunities. Additionally, as the seller’s access key to go anywhere on the network, ONDC plans on reducing the seller's and e-commerce platform’s costs. By bridging the gap between content and commerce, ONDC can shift the advertising model from impressions to transactions to reduce customer acquisition costs. <b>What is the future of ONDC?</b> “Democratising Digital Commerce in India” a report by Mckinsey highlights the possibility of ONDC revolutionizing the digital commerce landscape in India. ONDC can, by providing a level playing field for small & medium businesses, unlock economic value in India’s digital consumption to $340 billion by 2023, which currently stood at $65 billion in 2020. The report states that the number of transactions carried out digitally among Indian consumers will considerably increase from 450-500 million by 2030. A virtuous cycle of growth will ensue due to the democratization of e-commerce, which will allow more businesses to participate in the digital economy. Overall, the ONDC may prove to be a game-changer for the Indian digital economy, giving consumers the authority to have more choices and better prices, and making India a global leader in digital technology. <b>ONDC to connect the e-commerce ecosystem</b> ONDC will develop the e-commerce ecosystem from an operator-driven platform-centric model to a facilitator-driven interoperable decentralised network. All consumers and sellers will be entitled to equal opportunities on the platform. With no need for large investments, barriers to sellers’ entry into digital marketplaces will be eliminated. As value creation will not be locked in large platforms, the representation of local start-ups in e-commerce could increase. With more sellers on the digital platform, ONDC will present consumers with the freedom of choice with varied options to buy across a range of price points. Matching demand with the nearest available supply, ONDC will also enable consumers to choose their preferred local businesses. Digitising the entire value chain, ONDC would not only standardise operations but also ultimately promote local supplier inclusion, curb digital monopoly, drive logistical efficiencies, and enhance consumer value. Several participants are already on the ONDC network. What will take it to the next level is offering a seamless, instant, and convenient experience to improve conversion on the network. In the next 5 years, ONDC plans to sign up 900 million buyers and 1.2 million sellers to generate a GMV of $48 billion. The GMV for the e-tail sector in India was $38 billion in 2020. It is projected to reach $140 billion in 2025 and $350 billion in 2030. If it goes in the right direction, ONDC can be the next successful case study of the Indian government, akin to <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/unlocking-indias-financial-future-how-upi-is-driving-the-fintech-revolution/all-about-tech/">UPI'</a>s success and adaptation. As ONDC extends access to customer data, businesses will be empowered to derive analytically actionable understandings for selling their products across multiple digital platforms. Eventually, ONDC could go global, following UPI’s shining example. By predicting an advanced standardisation framework for the global e-commerce ecosystem to adopt, ONDC can ensure consistency across an online store, notwithstanding the presence of a large volume of sellers (domestic or cross-border). <h3><strong>Authored by Richa</strong></h3><p> For more information, please reach out to the <a title="This contact has been encoded by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser." href="mailto:ma*******@pu***********.com" data-original-string="kaI6eq8rq398qgTZYy7BpgMCi4Ug5NeuXxEIQwTPOH4=">Marketing Team.</a></p></p>
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<p><p>The field of artificial intelligence has been ablaze with activity and innovation with OpenAI’s ChatGPT disrupting the space altogether. Following the massive response to GPT-3, GPT-4 built upon the impressive foundation of the former by further refining advanced reasoning, input settings, and fine-tuning behaviour. <p>The potential applications of GPT-4 are truly staggering. However, the application requires one to painstakingly craft AI prompts and carefully calibrate their behaviour to get the complex results they want. Imagine simply stating your goals to the AI and letting it do all the work for you. Enter autonomous AI agents - the game-changing technology that's already here. Auto-GPT is a Python-based experimental and open-source application that harnesses the power of GPT-4 to function autonomously. In essence, AutoGPT can self-prompt and function with minimal human intervention. Released on March 30, 2023, on GitHub by the developer Significant Gravitas, the application has taken the internet by storm. With its advanced capabilities and remarkable ability to write its code, some are even dubbing AutoGPT an early-age AGI. </p><p>The rise of autonomous agents has been underway for decades but gained prominence only during the recent explosion of AI technologies. AutoGPT is changing the game when it comes to automation. These AI agents can run independently and complete tasks for you, allowing you to focus on more important matters. AutoGPTs have an impressive range of features, including the ability to assign tasks and goals, which can be automatically worked on until completion. AutoGPTs also can chain together multiple GPT-4s to collaborate on tasks, internet access, and the ability to read and write files. They are equipped with long-term to keep track of what has been done.</p><p> </p><h4><b>What Sets AutoGPT Apart From ChatGPT?</b></h4><p>GPT stands for "Generative Pre-trained Transformer", these models are pre-trained on large amounts of text data, making them able to generate natural language responses to prompts. AutoGPT and ChatGPT are both variants of the original GPT model, with some key differences. </p><p>So how do these models differ in practice? Auto-GPT sets itself apart from ChatGPT by having the capability to make autonomous decisions, a feature lacking in ChatGPT. Auto-GPT can generate all the prompts required to accomplish a task and can self-prompt. ChatGPT, on the other hand, requires human prompts to operate and accomplish tasks. An experimental AI tool, Auto-GPT relies on AI agents to take action based on predefined rules and goals. AutoGPT can handle more complex tasks, aggregating multiple APIs and working with different plugins, which enables it to perform multiple operations at once. ChatGPT is better suited for simpler, conversational tasks. </p><p>Additionally, AutoGPT has a higher computational cost, meaning that it requires more powerful hardware to run effectively.</p><p>Both AutoGPT and ChatGPT are incredibly powerful tools for automating tasks and generating natural language responses. Whether you're a programmer looking to automate your workflow or a business owner looking to create a chatbot, these models have the potential to revolutionize the way we work and communicate.</p><p> </p><h4><b>What can AutoGPT do for you?</b></h4><p>AutoGPT can be compared to a personal assistant who not only assists with daily tasks but can also learn and improve. It can take on tasks and complete them autonomously, freeing up your time to focus on important things. Just like a personal assistant who learns your preferences and habits, AutoGPT can also learn and adapt to your coding style and preferences, making your coding experience smoother and more efficient. The revolutionary technology uses GPT-4 and Python scripts to debug, develop, and self-improve its programming skills by utilising a sophisticated feedback loop that involves planning, analyzing, acting, reading feedback, and planning again.</p><p>AutoGPT has a variety of features, including internet access, long-term and short-term memory management, text generation, accessing GPT-4 for analysis and integration with 11 Labs' AI text-to-speech generator. It operates automatically without any need for human intervention. </p><p>BabyAGI, another popular autonomous AI agent, has the capability of creating tasks, accomplishing them, creating new tasks, and even reprioritizing its list of tasks. They can be programmed to do almost any kind of task, be it investing in the market, coming up with an idea for a book, or even managing a social media account.</p><p>A <a href="https://twitter.com/SullyOmarr/status/1645205292756418562?s=20">Twitter thread</a> by @SullyOmar shows how AutoGPT can be used as a Marketing Assistant:</p><p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-142319" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd66b670b2-Screenshot-2023-04-26-at-11.17.49-AM.png" alt="Tweet from Sully Omar" width="595" height="507"></p><p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-142320" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd66e5ec85-Screenshot-2023-04-26-at-11.21.19-AM.png" alt="Tweet from Sully Omar 2" width="592" height="732"></p><p>According to the top trending repositories on GitHub, the three most popular self-prompting "primitive AGI" projects are BabyAGI by Yohei Nakajima, AutoGPT by Significant Gravitas, and Microsoft Jarvis. Some other examples of autonomous agents include AgentGPT, Godmode, and CAMEL. These projects, combined with scaling, could take AutoGPTs to the next level and overcome current limitations. AutoGPT by Significant Gravitas recently achieved a major milestone by becoming the second open-source project in AI to receive 100k stars on GitHub.</p><p> </p><h4><b>Privacy Concerns and Ethical Challenges</b></h4><p>As with any new technology, there are concerns about the potential negative impacts of autonomous agents. For example, there is the possibility of job displacement as certain tasks become automated. AutoGPTs have the potential to automate multiple tasks, such as customer service, product research, personal financial guidance, etc. While this technology can significantly help small businesses that do not have the resources to hire specialised teams, the thought of AI replacing humans is scary. The US alone has 2.8 million customer service jobs - what happens when a significant number of them are replaced? </p><p>There are also concerns about privacy and security, as autonomous AI agents may have access to sensitive data. Developing these agents raises ethical concerns such as privacy, cybersecurity, and liability. An ethical framework is needed to ensure that these agents operate in a transparent and accountable way.</p><p> </p><p>While AutoGPTs are still experimental and have some limitations, for example, the output may not be suitable for complex, real-world business scenarios. However, they are rapidly evolving thanks to the daily improvements made by developers. With numerous use cases, the development of intelligent autonomous agents has great potential to transform many industries. As these agents become more sophisticated and reliable, they will likely become even more prevalent in our daily lives.</p><h3><strong>Authored by Shloka. N</strong></h3><p><!-- /wp:heading --></p><p><!-- wp:paragraph -->For more information, please reach out to the <a href="mailto:marketing@purplequarter.com">Marketing Team.</a></p><p> </p><p> </p></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p>
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