Premiumising WhatsApp :

To realize Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for WhatsApp, Kunal Shah could also consider ‘Premiumising’ it, in the Indian market, to begin with. Those WhatsApp users, who wish to avail this feature, could be made to pay a nominal annual subscription fee.
   
Features could include:

1.     A section – ‘Deals of the day’ on which various entities cutting across sectors and segments, could post their special offers/deals on a day-to-day basis. Such entities could include:

·       Key e-commerce/Quick commerce players like Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Instamart etc,
·       Food delivery platforms, 
·       Financial institutions such as Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Foreign Banks and other regulated entities of the RBI,  besides Insurance companies,
·       Airlines,
·       Hospitality sector etc etc
 
All those entities desirous of reaching out to WhatsApp users, through this section, could be made to pay an annual subscription fee, besides a percentage of the deal so materialized, through this section.   

‘Cred’ can be given a preferential treatment for reaching out to WhatsApp users, without any annual subscription fee, but perhaps on revenue sharing basis.  

Key benefit for the WhatsApp users - getting all the deals/special offers on their respective WhatsApps itself, without having to visit multiple apps/websites etc. For such entities, the key benefit would be the kind of mileage and reach they would get, and at much economical price, besides, higher probability of getting good business,

2.     ‘Attractive Reward Points’ could to be worked out, to motivate the WhatsApp users use ‘WhatsApp Pay’ for such and other transactions. Such points could be redeemed through ‘Special Promotional Offers’, by the partner establishments of WhatsApp.

3.     For professional as well as personal needs, an AI feature, which acts as a personal assistant for all users can be added. For e.g. in a social group if someone posts :

“Looking a suitable match for my son/daughter ….”

Some weeks later, an AI prompt could suggest to that user, “Would you like to repeat this message in say X social group?” and/or the AI prompt could suggest, “Someone in some other group posted similar message using words …… Would you also like to rephrase your post similarly?”

Then, in a corporate/professional group, if someone posts:

“Today is the 25th of the month, I need all of you to post your quarterly progress reports by the close of business hours of 31st of this month.”

Now, if the 25th of next month happens to be a Sunday, then on the 24th of the month, an AI prompt could suggest, “Today is the 24th and tomorrow being a Sunday, would you like to repost that message as, “Today is 24th of the month, I need all of you to post your quarterly progress reports on the 31st of this month”, and /or the AI prompt could suggest “A better way of phrasing your earlier message …………, could be …… Would you like to consider the same?”  

And so on..

Vision for 'Reliance Intelligence'

Reliance Industries 49th AGM was indeed a milestone in itself, as Chairman Mukesh Ambani, spelt out his ambition to disrupt the economics of artificial intelligence, by making it highly affordable and widely accessible in India.

Quite aptly, RIL is approaching AI not as a standalone product but as an ecosystem.

No one can doubt the wisdom behind Mr. Mukesh Ambani's vision for RIL, which has repeatedly re-invented itself ever since his illustrious father began his journey as a visionary. His legacy is being carried forward by the third generation, led by Aakash and Isha Ambani.

Their "ecosystem approach" should essentially entail their "core systems" and offerings, built by both though their in-house talent, as well as by incubating some of our promising start-ups, besides identifying and nurturing the other critical AI talent needed to fulfil their vision.

Furthermore, strategic alliances with leading technology players cutting across geographies could definitely add the much needed "international flavor" to Reliance Intelligence, to make it a formidable global player, with difficult for anyone to replicate it's USP, in this AI domain.

"Easy to use, easy to customize, but difficult to replicate," should be the watch words, for Reliance Intelligence.

Corporate Governance in this age of AI

Some years back, had attended the 'International Round Table on Corporate Governance' organized by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Made the following observations:

a) Can Corporate Governance, even in the most progressive organizations withstand the onslaughts from adverse business conditions, which can even threaten the very existence of such organizations? Thus, if the "name of the game" becomes just remaining focused on the top line for the sake of survival, then can the compliance and internal controls of the organization be compromised to some extent? Our boards are under immense pressure to perform, not just from Sebi but from shareholders, rating agencies and civil society as well. As businesses grow more complex, and stakeholders’ expectations rise, the traditional approach to board evaluation simply won’t suffice,          

b) What can be the role of Corporate Governance in ensuring the financial stability of an economy, with special reference some adverse news from banking system with specific reference to lapses in some of the leading banks, and

c) Why is Corporate Governance generally synonymous with the finance domain of an organization? Yes, it is very important, but then as Corporate Governance is all about the conduct of certain key people in an organization, why can't its essence also give a flavor to the progressive Human Resource practices as well, which can percolate down to the last functionary in the organization?

Reflecting the above in this era of AI, it's reasonable to imagine the role of Agentic AI systems, to evaluate and support, the functioning of the Boards of any progressive organization.

Taking the banking industry in particular, one can visualize a LLM based Agentic AI system at the RBI, which is connected to each bank and other Regulated Entities. LLMs provide the core language understanding and generation capabilities, that enable agents to interact with humans, analyze information and make decisions.

Each aspect of a bank’s/Regulated Entity's functioning, right from Board of Directors, to audit reports, quarterly financial statements etc could be inputted in the system, and based on some well defined norms, the Agentic AI system could identify lapses (if any) and make suggestions accordingly to the bank/RE in question.

Secondly, any such feedback by the Agentic AI system, need not be confined to the bank/RE in question. Rather to be shared as proactive measure, with all the banks and RE’s, in the interests of the stability of our financial system, without of course disclosing the identity of the bank for which the said feedback/s was originally meant.

The RBI top brass should also be in receipt of such lapses so identified by the system, for the necessary corrective actions at their end. This idea can be extended to many other aspects of our banking system.

That, we could then be a role-model for the banking systems in other leading economies as well, is a 'no-brainer'.