Breaking: Apple CEO Tim Cook met PM Narendra Modi today and expressed the company's commitment to investing in India. He also met IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Here’s what transpired in the meeting.

One quick thing: Days after delivery partner protests crippled Blinkit's services, the Zomato-owned quick-commerce platform said “most” of its stores have now resumed operations.

• Despite the disruptions, the food delivery platform remains confident that there will be no material impact on its operations or financial performance. Find out more 

In today’s newsletter:

• Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos sees India as a big prize
• India is the poorest country with an Apple Store
• Govt email migration to cloud on the cards

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Despite being one of the costliest video streaming services in India, Netflix is bullish about its prospects in the country.

We Indians love entertainment, as evidenced by the number of movies and shows produced and consumed in the country. Hence, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos believes that India is a "big prize" and they will "ultimately do great" in the country.

• Netflix is increasingly relying on emerging markets such as India for its future growth since mature markets like the US and Europe are witnessing slowing subscriber growth in recent quarters

India has been a tricky market for Netflix to crack due to its price-sensitive nature, despite the country's growing appetite for digital content. 

• One key reason is pricing, since most of its rivals are offering their services for lower prices. Netflix reduced its prices in India by 20-60% in December 2021.

• Another is content, which Sarandos claims is getting better each quarter, both in their films and television series. "We have to get the content that people just really flip out for," he said. 

When Netflix launched globally in 2016 (including India), the streaming service took a uniform pricing approach across most countries, but met with limited success. 

In a shareholder letter today, the company said the price cuts in India, along with an improved content slate, have helped them grow engagement in India by nearly 30% year-on-year, while revenue growth increased to 24% in 2022 versus 19% in 2021. 

• These results guided them to reduce prices in an additional 116 countries in Q1 2023 

Going forward, Netflix plans to refine its pricing strategy to offer a range of price points to customers across the world.

Also read: No more red envelopes: Netflix to end DVD-by-mail business

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the launch of Apple Stores in India and the significance of this market for the company. However, one important fact seems to be overlooked - India is the poorest country where Apple has opened a retail store.

(Yesterday, Apple opened its first retail store in Mumbai, and tomorrow, it will inaugurate its second store in Delhi. You can find our coverage on both stores here and here.)

India, with a per capita income of $7,130 in purchasing parity terms, gets the stores ahead of other emerging economies with higher per capita incomes in PPP terms such as Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc.

Why?

Income distribution is skewed in India, says Pronab Sen, former chief statistician of the Indian government. As a result, a greater number of people in India have the ability to buy an Apple product.

Apple's products are often seen as a symbol of status in the Indian market, giving the people who own these products an edge in terms of social capital.

• Apple is tapping into this very sentiment: It has tied up with banks and e-commerce portals to let people access credit to buy its products

As phones continue to evolve beyond simple communication devices and become more entertainment-focused, an increasing number of consumers are turning to premium phone brands.

That’s not all. Both the state and central governments have been laying out the red carpet to attract tech manufacturing to the country, competing to offer subsidies, incentives, and other benefits. 

But is this enough to spur Apple’s growth in India? Find out here.

Last year, the government proposed restructuring the National Informatics Centre, the ailing body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) that oversees the government's entire IT infrastructure.

One aspect of this restructuring process is the government's email services, which are currently managed by the NIC. Almost 30 lakh government employees have signed up for the NIC's email solution. However, this may change soon.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is looking for a master system integrator to migrate the government's email services to a secure cloud-based email services solution. This move is intended to offer more productivity tools to government employees.

The government has mandated that the proposed email solution should be hosted on a MeitY-approved cloud service provider.

• Email data cannot be shared/replicated outside the boundaries of the country

The ministry has set a requirement for the cloud service provider to have the ability to handle a load of up to 50 lakh employees. Additionally, the provider should have:

• Storage capacities of 100 GB
  
  
• 100 GB for personal file storage
   
• Video conferencing capabilities for 100 participants

Go deeper

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and WhatsApp joined forces in November 2022 to create the world's first transit system with a WhatsApp chatbot-based QR ticketing system. 

In less than five months, the number of QR-code Metro users skyrocketed from 2.1 lakh to 6.6 lakh, according to our research.

What are the factors driving it?

• No more long-queues
  
  
• Free from change problems
  
  
• High penetration of smartphone users
  
  
• One can use the facility without downloading additional apps

Find out more

On April 19, 1975, India made a significant breakthrough in space exploration by launching its first satellite, Aryabhata. The Soviet Union provided assistance in launching Aryabhata into orbit using a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle from the Kapustin Yar launch site in Russia.

Quick trivia: The satellite was quasi-spherical in shape and had 26 sides. It cost more than Rs 3 crore at the time and required 46 watts of energy to operate. (Picture credit: Wikipedia)

• Intel is reportedly discontinuing its Blockscale Bitcoin mining chips as part of cost-cutting measures. Orders for the Blockscale 1000 Series ASICs will stop in October, and shipping will end in April 2024.
  
  
• Former US President Donald Trump has released a new set of digital trading cards, with 47,000 NFTs being minted on Polygon. Each card costs $99 and some include Trump's digital signature.

The numbers are in, and India has officially taken the title of the world's most populous country from China. 

With a population of 1.4286 billion, India has surpassed China's population of 1.4257 billion, according to a United Nations Population Fund report.

This demographic shift is expected to have a significant impact on India's economic growth, particularly given its young population and consumer-driven economy. Find out more

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