China to allow full foreign ownership of e-commerce businesses

China will allow full foreign ownership of some e-commerce businesses, aiming to encourage foreign investment and the development and competitiveness of the industry, the ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.

The move, effective immediately, will apply to "online data handling and trade handling services", the ministry said in a statement on its website. It was not immediately clear how this would affect e-commerce companies already operating in China.

China's e-commerce industry has been booming, with companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc benefitting from a rising middle class with more disposable income.

Other players include US online retailer Amazon.com Inc, Vipshop Holdings Ltd and US supermarket chain Wal Mart Stores Inc, through its stake in shopping site Yihaodian.

Allowing full foreign ownership "supports our country's e-commerce development, encourages and brings in the active participation of foreign investment, and further excites market competition," the ministry said.

In recent years, the government has lent its support to the industry by keeping taxes low and loosening restrictions on cross-border trade, among other concessions.

E-commerce and the internet sector more broadly have been shining stars for Chinese industry.

Companies including Alibaba, social networking and online entertainment firm Tencent Holdings Ltd and search leader Baidu Inc account for hundreds of billions of dollars in stock market capitalization.

Their success comes as the world's second-largest economy grows at its slowest pace in three decades and Beijing looks to catalyze a shift away from a dependence on manufacturing and towards higher-value services.

Reliance Jio denies chat app sends unsecured data

A group of hackers has claimed that Reliance Jio Infocomm's (RJIL's) mobile messaging app Jio Chat transmits users' data in unsecured form to servers located in China, a charge denied by the company.

"We took apart Reliance Jio app and found they are using Chinese geolocation mapping service. It shows that Reliance is using a geolocation which is China-based service," said AnonOpsIndia, a twitter account claiming to represent a group of hackers. "There is no encryption between the person using Jio chat app and Chinese company amap. Hence, it makes it lot easier for the Chinese hackers to snoop over your data," AnonOpsIndia tweeted. agencies

RJIL, however, termed it "unfounded and malicious allegations".

Microsoft strengthens startup programme

Microsoft Ventures, which runs one of the leading startup accelerator programmes in India, has launched a new corporate engagement initiative.

Called Innovation for Corporates (ICI), the programme aims to help corporates build deeper engagements with upcoming startups in India.

"We have been working with various corporates for years to help them address their business problems with innovations from startups. We are now institutionalizing these efforts under ICI and we expect this will help us scale up and help even more businesses," Ravi Narayan, director of Microsoft Ventures in India, said at a press conference on the occasion of the company's annual conclave of startups, Think Next.

Microsoft also announced a partnership with Brand Capital, the strategic investment arm of Bennett, Coleman & Co (Times of India Group), under which the latter will provide necessary resources for entrepreneurs to build their brand, including an investment of Rs 1 crore in marketing funds for the Microsoft-accelerated startups.

Under ICI, there will be three programmes - the Market Access Programme, which seeks to bring startups and enterprise businesses together, the Partner in Acceleration Programme, which allows corporates to leverage Microsoft Ventures' resources and network, and the High Performance Programme, which will work with startups nominated by corporates and build them into stronger businesses.

Microsoft Ventures has previously partnered with Reliance Industries and Nasscom for startup acceleration programmes. "Our partnership with Microsoft has been very successful. We have been able to mentor the startups and help them gain traction very fast," said Vivek Rai Gupta, part of the Reliance-Microsoft accelerator programme GenNext Innovation Hub.

E-com portals to file tax returns every quarter

In a first for the city, Delhi government's Value Added Tax department has decided to bring all big and small players on e-commerce platforms under the scanner to check evasion of tax.

A notification is under way to make it mandatory for all online portals like Flipkart and Snapdeal to file tax returns quarterly. All dealers operating through these platforms will also be expected to file their returns. Failure to do so will evoke action.

The department has prepared a detailed set of guidelines on the process to be followed for all online portals and even the dealers transacting through them.

"The Delhi Value Added Tax Act gives us the power to ask everyone doing trade of taxable goods to file their returns. We are citing Section 70 of the Act which empowers to bring in a notification for this purpose. This will also enable us to identify the dealers registered with the VAT department and operating on these platforms. This will eventually ensure that the non-registered dealers also comply and register with the department," VAT commissioner, Sanjeev Khirwar said.

The dealers will be expected to declare their details with regards to transactions executed through these portals both in Delhi and outside.

Khirwar said the notification can be expected in a day or two. "We will later check the data of registered dealers who are also selling and purchasing through online portals to check for any discrepancy in their statements filed as part of the tax returns," he said.

States like Karnataka, Kerala and Rajasthan too have been working on bringing e-commerce operators under the scanner by way of compulsory filing of returns. With Delhi ready to notify the process, the department is hopeful that this will be a step to check tax evasion by dealers.

In 2014, the VAT department had started an exercise to scan the transaction records of big online portals as part of a drive to check bogus dealers from misusing the e-commerce platform. The government had also asked registered dealers operating on online portals to submit their tax declarations for the past two financial years.

IT-geek constable’s crime fighting tools go national

Dilip Thakor, 38, a constable with Ahmedabad police, first saw a computer 1997 when each of the district headquarters were allotted one PC each. Most policemen were perplexed by the machine but Thakor, a diploma in diesel mechanics, began to explore the computer on his own.

On seeing his keen interest, his seniors enrolled him for private coaching in computers. The investment paid off. Over years, Thakor has developed more than a dozen software aimed at enhancing police efficiency in crime prevention and detection.

His best work Pinac and Eklavya will be demonstrated to senior cops from across India at the two-day national seminar beginning Thursday organized at Hyderabad by the National Police Academy (NPA) on 'IT applications in Indian Police'. "Besides Hyderabad, the software will also be demonstrated to senior police officers in BPR&D, New Delhi and," said Deepan Bhadran, DCP (crime), Ahmedabad.

Pinac can be used to search a database for criminals' records while Eklavya is used to check for vehicle information. Crime branch officials say police of other states have already shown interest in the software.

Rated one of the best police applications by experts of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in Bhopal, Pinac has helped in over 200 detections. In December 2014, the software helped nab Paresh Jani, a conman, who duped senior citizens. Jani used to move around in expensive SUV and identified himself as a builder in need of some money. After a complaint, police ran a search on his modus operandi and found a match in Jani, involved in 12 cases. The victim also identified him from the photograph shown. On the basis of the information, crime branch caught Jani in a few days.

Eklavya, too, has played a significant role in the 100% increase (from 17% to 35%) in detection of vehicle theft in Ahmedabad city. Both softwares have been implemented by police in Gujarat's major cities. Digitization of records for access via the software is also underway.

Amazon gets warning from EU antitrust commissioner

Europe's anti-trust chief warned Amazon against using its dominance to thwart rivals, a week after launching an investigation into the US online retailer's e-book deals with publishers.

European Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced last week she would examine whether clauses in Amazon's contracts prevent publishers from offering more favourable deals to competitors.

E-books are a fast-growing industry and Amazon, which popularised the product, is Europe's biggest player. However, it should not abuse its market dominance, Vestager said.

"Amazon should not use its strong position to close the door behind it and prevent companies with new ideas from contesting the market," she told a conference.

The company could be fined up to 10% of its global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU rules.

The investigation is one of two against Amazon. It is also in the European Commission's crosshairs for deals with Luxembourg which allow it to pay extremely low taxes.

The EU competition authority is investigating whether the case gives Amazon an unfair advantage.

Vestager also said she was wary of too many mergers in the telecoms sector, warning that consumers could end up with higher bills and less innovative companies.

"Incumbent operators argue that if they cannot merge with their rivals in the same country they will be unable to increase their investment. I've heard this claim quite often, but I have not seen evidence that this is the case," she said.

"Instead, there is ample evidence that excessive consolidation may lead not only to less competition and more expensive bills for consumers, but that it also reduces the incentives in national markets to innovate."

Vestager's comments come as she scrutinizes a proposal by Norwegian telecoms company Telenor and Swedish peer TeliaSonera to combine their Danish mobile businesses.

She has already expressed concerns the deal may lead to higher prices.

A bigger deal is expected to land on her desk in the coming months: Hutchison Whampoa's bid to become Britain's biggest operator by buying Telefonica's British business, O2 UK, for 10.3 billion pounds ($16 billion).

Amsterdam to get 3D-printed bridge

Will you dare to cross a deep canal on a "printed" bridge? You may get a chance to try that soon.

A 3D printing company based in Amsterdam has developed a revolutionary robotic 3D printer that can 'draw' structures in the air. The developers are now planning to build a bridge over a canal in the city, CNET reported.

We research and develop ground-breaking, cost-effective robotic technology with which we can 3D print beautiful, functional objects in almost any form," wrote the firm MX3D on the project web page.

Printing an intricate, ornate metal bridge for a special location to show what our robots and software, engineers, craftsmen and designers can do." The bridge will be designed by artist and designer Joris Laarman, who helped develop the robotic 3D printer that combined the MX3D-Resin with a welder to be able to "draw" fast-setting metal structures.

In this technique, small increments of molten metal are welded to the existing structure, creating lines of steel and the same is used to print the bridge out of steel. By printing multiple lines, the printer will be able to create a strong, complex structure that spans the canal - printing its own supports along the way so that it can operate autonomously. The construction of the bridge is scheduled to begin in September this year. ians