The Crescendo January 2021 Edition

FROM THE EDITOR

YOUR MENTAL HEALTH IS IMPORANT TO US Team Crescendo gives equal value and attention to your mental health as much as we do to keep you apprised of the entrepreneurial world. Educating yourself is the least we can do to support others. Most people face mental health challenges at one point or another in their lifetime. Occasional stress, and sadness are natural but if things become too much for you to cope with alone, there is no shame in asking for help. Talk to family and friends or reach out to these places of support. KOLKATA SERVE -9830785060 DEFEAT DEPRESSION -9830027975 CLIPPINGS -9830027976 NEW DELHI SECUNDRABAD SANJIVINI - 011-40769002/ ROSHNI FOUNDATION - 040- 011-41092787 66202001/040-66202000 SUMAITRI - 011-23389090 HYDERABAD BANGALORE ONE LIFE -7893078930 ORG SAHAI - 08025497777 MUMBAI SAMARITANS - 8422984528/ 8422984529/ 8422984530 ICALL(Operated by TISS) - 022-25521111/9152987821

“Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience. – Adam Smith

WHAT's INSIDE Capitalism -The advantage is the problem What's up with Whatsapp Dynamism of WSH Exclusive Interview of Dr. Srimathy Kesan Menstruation: The \"Luxury\"



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THE CRESCENDO by Shreeansh Agarwal 4

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THE CRESCENDO EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 12

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THE CRESCENDO THE CRYPTO BY - HEMANT CHAUDHARY WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY ? 19

THE CRESCENDO HOW SECURE ARE CRYPTOCURRENCIES? IS CRYPTO BETTER THAN REAL WORLD CURRENCIES? WHAT FUTURE HOLDS FOR CRYPTO IN INDIA? 20

THE CRESCENDO MagThe c The Wand GST collections from December 2020 made it to front pages and news ashes of mainstream news platforms. What followed was hard chest-thumping and blowing of celebratory bugles to respect the nation’s victory against evil spirits that dis- turbed the euphoric Indian state. This tendency of Indian psych to These are common living room argu- ments which are best suited to seek clean sweeping arguments to nu- digest with pakoras. A small e ort, anced and deep-seated national chal- put in honest research will indicate lenges pops out the simplistic ‘living otherwise. This lens of viewing issues room’ solutions. enforces the organisation in power Too many people? to act as a political party and not like the government. Let us take the -Population control example of the reactions to GST col- Troubling neighbours? lection headline to understand why we need to escape the ctional -nuke ‘em in a war abode of simplistic euphoria. Slowing economy? -Get a dictator 21

THE CRESCENDO The GST collections The GST collection gures for December 2020 stood at somewhere around rupees 1.15 lakh crore which is the highest since Indians citizens’ tribute to the govern- ment has come under the GST regime. The Goods and Services Tax was a govern- ment project stuck in the pipeline for over a decade. The primary motive was to organise the scattered Indian tax structure. The following table shows the GST collection trends from FY2018 to December 2020. The collection gures are in Rs lakh crores. MONTH 2018 2019 2020 %change %change(19 (18-19) -20) January - 1.02 1.108 - 8.6 February - .972 1.053 - 8.3 March - 1.06 .976 - -7.9 April 1.035 1.138 .32 9.9 -71 May 0.94 1.002 .62 6.5 -38 June .956 .999 .909 4.4 -9 July .964 1.02 .874 5.8 -14 August .939 .982 .864 4.5 -12 September .944 .919 .954 -2.6 3.8 October 1.007 .954 1.05 -5.2 10 November .976 1.035 1.04 6 0.4 December .947 1.031 1.15 8.8 11.5 The data is from FY2018 to avoid non-uniformities because of recurrent changes in GST regulations for months after implementation. Our point of focus here would be the percentage change in collections. We will also try to look behind the possible explanations behind the December gure. There are extreme di erenc- es in these gures. Neglecting the data from the summer of 2020, a common trend in the 2019 gures is the positive values of percentage growth. 22

THE CRESCENDO All months follow this trend except September and October 2019. This brings me to an important remark to the reader that a month is a small time frame to reach any conclusion, especially in economic matters. Thorough and patient observa- tion through a large database is essential to declare trends. These gures and my observed conclusion from these gures is for the sake of this article and because of the lack of a long time frame. GST is merely three and a half years old in India. Analysis The growth gure of 11.5% is highest in the mentioned data but it is not out of the expected ballpark considering that gures near 10% have been ob- tained a few times in the limited time frame given, the absence of ‘miracles’. Revenue gures are expected to grow with time, especially in the case of a developing country like India. Any trend otherwise is actually a matter of con- cern. A clari cation I want to make here is that I am not implying that these gures are not rea rming. I just want to clear out distracting speculations of return of the ‘golden’ times. High revenue collections from December is a well-known trend. A point to remember here is that revenue collections for a month indicate come from the sales in the last month. Hence, your expenditure from November accounts for December’s collection gures. In 2019, Diwali was celebrated in the month of October which means that consumers’shopping for Diwali were accounted for in November 2019 gures which are actually impressive, simi- larly, Diwali on 14th November in 2020 surely backed the December gures. High collections in December are supported by the holiday season and in the Indian case, the wedding season as well. We can never neglect the fact that these are post-covid times. It is a common understanding that markets show strong bouncebacks for a year or two after crises situations. By November people gained enough con dence in health care services and started going to the markets. The general dread due to COVID pandemic has surely seen a decline. This is the biggest backing to the ‘V’ shaped recovery theory that is casually bounced around. Deeper studies though indicate that these recoveries are generally ‘W’ shaped. Here are tax revenue gures from our BRICS counterparts. 23

THE CRESCENDO The credit, where it is due goes to the government, they deserve praise for the way the tax collection system is being constantly improved with each passing year, it is becoming easier and convenient to pay your dues when it comes to direct tax collections. The implementation of GST is also reaching a comfort- able standing, past the initial farrago which has improved indirect collection as well. 24

THE CRESCENDO Magical spells don’t work ₹₹ There is a large part of the Indian population, (which is) very truculent and believes that quick decisive manoeuvres de ne the ideal leadership. This ideology has roots in what can only be de ned as the “Indian Dream” which came from congeries of Indian expectations after independence. A socialist republic, roots of which are based on unity, equality and development. Since then, incompetence in politicians is assumed to be the biggest boul- der in our way to becoming a superpower. ₹ The immediate e ect of a step on our daily lives is often associated with its success. The forgiving and borderline negligent nature(in analysis) of the Indian polity has helped immensely popular leaders to get away with ad- ministerial blunders and in more cases than not, debacles(caused due to irrational persistence). ₹ This tendency to simplify a problem and viewing the solution unidimen- sionally works against the rationale. The developmental will of the govern- ment(which at root is a political party working to stay in power) cannot be encouraged with such opinions. The heart of the support towards parties is public opinion. ₹ There have been repetitive occurrences of these political ‘masterstrokes’ which operate on simplistic ‘principles’ and feed on sensationalism. Such steps are scattered throughout regimes and cut across ideologies or politi- cal beliefs of the party in power. These arise from compulsions which are designed to display authority and responsiveness. ₹ This line of thinking when transcended into actions, not only opens the country to chaotic vulnerabilities(thus to possibilities of dreadful circum- stances) but also ends up being a waste of resources. Other than this, the system faces huge shocks and it shatters the con dence of managerial stal- warts and those in bureaucracy, to make honest attempts of bringing about necessary changes. The attitude of public banks’ management in the last few years is a prime example. 25

Beauty Industry LIPSTICK Period of Financial Distress 2

THE CRESCENDO THE GOOD,BAD AND UGLY ECONOMICS OF THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY 27

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THE CRESCENDO ON DARK WEB DATA LEAKED BY-KANIKA MITTAL 29

According to a report by Gadgets360 ,the data THE CRESCENDO not only included personal details but also their card expiry dates, customer IDs, and masked card the Juspay founder the multiple algorithms used numbers. However, particular transaction or cannot be decrypted even if given enough order details were not apparently a part of the resources. However, the researcher did not leak. Another report by Inc42 reveals that the agree with the founder and worries the leaked data on the dark web includes \"user’s card algorithms could be known and informed brand (VISA/Mastercard), card expiry date, the Gadgets 360 that he noticed a configuration last four digits of the card, the masked card issue on the company's site that is currently number, the type of card (credit/debit), the name redirecting to malicious websites. on the card, card fingerprint, card ISIN, customer ID and merchant account ID, among several other This is not the first time the cases of data leaks details. Moreover, 16 fields of data relating to have surfaced on the internet. Earlier in their payment cards have been leaked for at least November, the online grocery store became the 2 crore users, as conceded by Juspay, a subset of target of hackers. According to cyber intelligence the total number of user records (10 crore) that firm Cyble, sensitive data of BigBasket users have been leaked.\" Reportedly, another subset of such as full names, email IDs, password hashes, data was leaked which included the phone contact numbers, addresses have been accessed numbers and email addresses of users. by hackers and exposed on the dark web. In April-May 2020 ,The CSC BHIM website, used to “On 18 August 2020, an unauthorised attempt on promote UPI payments app BHIM, reportedly our servers was detected and terminated when in suffered a massive data breach. Sensitive data of progress. No card numbers, financial credentials lakhs of Indians was stored in cloud storage or transaction data were compromised. Some without security protocols on the account to data records containing non-anonymised, plain- ensure safety. text email and phone numbers were compromised, which form a fraction of the 10 The data leaks in India is becoming common day crore data records,” Juspay founder Vimal Kumar by day as the country is shifting from cash said. Cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar transactions to digital mode of payment. Such Rajaharia discovered about this leak and incidents leaves a negative impression on the informed that Hacker was contacting buyers digital payments platforms as the trust of the through telegram and asking for payments in customers is compromised and any financial bitcoin. He compared the data fields available in fraud could take place with such personal the MySQL dump samples files he received information. The lack of a privacy protection law from the hacker with a Juspay API Document file is also putting no compulsion on companies in order to confirm its association with juspay operating in the country to protect their user and found it exactly same. data firmly. Without proper regulations on cybersecurity the country is expanding its digital Though the leaked information was not sensitive infrastructure day by day. There is a need to but the contact information along with some strict the regulations and take measures in order other data could be proved fatal and can lead to to prevent such incidents and maintaining the phishing attack if got into wrong hands. As per trust of the people. 30

Entrepreneur of the monthTHECRESCENDO #twitter #business #work Jack Dorseyove #fridayfeeling #tbt #l ndia #money #Monday- Jack Patrick Dorsey is an American technology entrepreneur who Motivation#fridayfeelinghas been the CEO of both Twitter and small payments company Square since 2015. He along with Noah Glass, Evans Williams and #money #entrepreneur #Christopher Stone co-founded the online microblogging service Twittsertina20r06t.-up#mindset #succe ss #life #goals #design #f ashion #motivationalquo tes #follow #branding #i nspire #leadership #pos itivity #bitcoin #wealth # marketing #fitness #covi d #lifestyle #businesswo man #start-up #workout #inspire #indvsaus #love #jackdorsey #friday #tbt 31 nspire #leadership #pos

#twitter # business #food #lovAs a teenager, Dorsey became interested in dispatch routing(assigning employ- ees or vehicles to customers). He set up a company that used the internet to handle the dispatching of couriers and emergency vehicles as well as taxis while ove #fridayfeeling #tbt #lndiahe was attending the New York University. Some of the open-source software he ndia #money #MondayMoti-created is still used by taxicab companies. In 2000, inspired by AOL Instant messenger he thought of a web-based real-time status/short message communication service. Six years later he approached vation#fridayfeeling #moneyStone and Williams with his idea and together they developed a prototype of #entrepreneur #mindset #tbtiwhatbecametheTwitterplatform. Soon this microblogging platform became popular. It experienced its rapid initial growth in 2007. Dorsey served as CEO till 2008 and then became chairman of the start-up#mindset #success #loboard. He returned in 2015 and was named permanent CEO on October 5, 2015. In 2009,Dorsey cofounded Square, a mobile-payments venture that o ered devic- es and software to facilitate credit card transactions with Jim Mckelvey and then ss #life #goals #design #finantook it public in 2015.It launched in 2010 and by 2012 had more than two million users. Square initially was available only in North America, but it expanded to overseas markets in 2013 when its services became available in Japan. That year ashion #motivationalquotes #Dorsey also became a member of Disney Company’s board of directors. tes #follow #branding #insighIn 2015, Jack after some time returning to Twitter tweeted “I'm giving ~1/3rd of my Twitter stock (exactly 1% of the company) to our employee equity pool to rein- vest directly in our people.’’This move wasn’t just symbolic. Returning hundreds of nspire #leadership #positivitymillions of dollars in stock to employees is not something that’s often done lightly. #bitcoin #wealth # marketingDorsey has been living his best life as he achieved all his dreams and has an amaz- ing lifestyle which all the people aspire for. But sometimes eras come to an end. In Feb 2020, the activist hedge fund Elliot Management that has $40 billion in the #fitness #covid-19 #twitter #loassets, asked Twitter to make some changes in the social network after purchas- ing 1 billion of its stock. Paul Singer who leads Elliot Management was looking to oust Dorsey and nominate four directors to Twitter’s board, including Elliot’s d #lifestyle #businesswomensenior portfolio manager. However, Dorsey received support from many entrepre- neurs such as Elon Musk, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and thus Dorsey and his board shrugged o the threat. The two parties reached an agreement man #start-up #workout #snkdays later with Dorsey remaining CEO. #inspire #indvsaus #love #peaAfter announcing in April 2020 that he was donating $1 billion, around 28% of his total wealth, to relief programs related to coronavirus research, joining the other celebrities and tech-titans-including Je Bezos, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Oprah, and #jackdorsey #friday #tbt #wc1Rihana who are donating millions to help coronavirus relief and research e orts he was adored a lot by his employees and by many in the public. Dorsey appears nspire #leadership #positivityto be really kind and compassionate when it comes to people.

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Aditya Singh Rudraksh Gupta Shruti Gupta Shreeansh Sadhya Singh Raghav Garg Neelmani The ED Cell Team Adamya kaushik Hardik Pandya Rajdeep Chattopadhyay Aditya Ambwani Hemant Chaudhary Resham chawra Aditya Gupta Ishika Riya Nath Aditya Singh Kanika Mittal Rudraksh Gupta Aditya Tulsiyan Kartikey Tiwari S Ramesh kumar Aishwarya Roy Khush Sanganeria Sadhya Singh Ankita Khushi Gupta Saket Sai Suresh Arcot Anurag Trivedi Kshitij Vijayvergiya Sanatan Shrivastava Anushka Joshi Manaswita Singh Sanchit Dadhich ARPAN jain Mandeep Goyat Shreeansh Aryan Bhadhrecha Navneet Shah Shruti Gupta B V Srividya Navya Kunwar Shubh Singhal Bhavika Jangid Neelmani Shweta Rajput Bhuvan Gupta Neeraj Prabhu Siddhant Jha Darpan gupta Ojasva jain Sneh Aashish Gupta Dharmesh Sharma Prathmesh Sharma Sushanth Singh Thakur Dhruv Soni Pratiksha Tanmay Indwar Divy Patil Preeti Vanshika Thakur Gaurav Agarwal Priyanshu Sharma Vipul Gaurav Luhariwala Raghav Garg

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