Page 259 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2024

Innovation and Digital Transformation for a Sustainable World

proposed procedure and standard to decide fair price to be 6. Audit: The government should conduct a biannual audit
given to seller. Retailer will hand over the phone to to monitor the replacement of feature phones with
aggregator for refurbishment, repair and data cleaning smartphones and ensure that the aggregator is
complying with R2:2013 standard and registration maintaining fair pricing.
conditions.
5.3 Economic viability of phone for refurbishment:
The R2:2013 standard, developed by Sustainable Electronics
Recycling International (SERI), is a globally recognized Consider the following price variables:
certification for electronics recycling and refurbishment 1. Ca = price of new product at launch year
operations. Businesses obtain R2 certification by complying 2. Cd = price of the product after depreciation for y years
with audited best practices in managing used and end-of-life 3. Ci = cost of input phone paid to seller after benchmark
electronics, and by paying an annual fee. This standard testing
primarily focuses on responsible electronics recycling but 4. Cr = cost of refurbishment process
also includes provisions for electronics reuse. Certified 5. Pm = Profit Margin of aggregator
companies are authorized to sell only electronics that are 6. Co = output cost of product = Ci + Cr
"ready for resale" if they implement effective testing 7. Cs = cost after subsidy = Co - Sb
methods, quality assurance measures, and product return
protocols. R2 Certification evaluates and monitors 8. Ps = selling price of product = Cs + Pm
businesses' adherence to the R2 Standard, promoting 9. Df = Depreciation factor as function of years y
environmental protection, worker and community health and 10. Pf = Performance factor as function of parameters
safety, and the transition towards a sustainable circular 11. Sb = Subsidy for a phone from government
economy [24].
Target to be achieved: The selling price of the product
To foster buyer trust during the transfer of phone ownership, should be less than depreciated cost of new phone i.e. Ps<Cd.
a centralized database managed by Telecom Service
Providers (such as Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, If Cr>Cd and the remaining useful life of the phone after
etc.) stores the triplet of MSISDN-IMEI-IMSI. This database benchmark testing comes to be less than 1 year, then the
is automatically updated whenever there is a change in the product will not be considered as economically viable for our
mobile handset's owner. Consequently, buyers can be proposed model.
assured of the authenticity and legality of the phone they
acquire. Consider two scenarios: one where no repair or
refurbishment is needed, and another where it is required.
5.2 Terms and Conditions of Registration for Assumptions:
Aggregators 1. For hypothetical cases of no refurbishment required,
refurbishment cost and performance factor are
Following are the terms and conditions to be followed by the considered as Rs.0 and 1 respectively.
aggregator in order to register themselves with the 2. For the sake of illustration, some variables are assumed
government: based on industry patterns.
1. The aggregator must comply with the R2:2013 standard 3. The cost of a smartphone depreciates by 35-40% after
and must be certified as per the standard mentioned one year of use and by further 20-25% after every
above.
2. The aggregator is mandated to extend coverage to all subsequent year.
blocks, having 4G connectivity, by establishing
connections through at least one retail Point of Sale shop Case 1: Let Ca be Rs. 17,000. The Cd over 3 years (y) is Rs.
in each block. 5,700. Since the phone does not require any repairs, the
3. Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act repair cost (Cr) is Rs. 0 and performance factor (Pf) is 1. Ci
compliance: The aggregator should NOT keep or and Co would be Rs. 5,700. Considering a profit margin for
process any of the data of the phones sold to him for the retailer of Rs. 500, the phone can be sold for Rs. 6200. If
refurbishment or repair i.e. the aggregator must comply the buyer belongs to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category,
with the DPDP Act of 2023. they can receive an additional subsidy of Rs. 1,000, bringing
4. The aggregator or retailer is obligated to verify the the effective cost of the smartphone down to Rs. 5,200.
identity of the buyer before selling the phone. If the
buyer belongs to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) Case 2: Let Ca be Rs. 17,000. The Cd over 3 years (y) is Rs.
category, the aggregator must update the records to 5,700. After evaluating the condition of the phone, let the
reflect that a BPL individual has purchased a performance factor be 0.6. Input cost to seller (Ci) is Rs.
smartphone. 3,420. According to performance of mobile, the
5. The people buying the smartphones will exchange their repair/refurbishment cost (Cr) incurred be Rs.1,500.
feature phones and sell that to the retailer or aggregator
in lieu of instant discount. The aggregator can further Considering profit margin for the retailer of Rs. 500, the
sell those feature phones to certified e-waste recycler. phone can be sold for Rs.4,920. If the buyer belongs to the
Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, they can receive an

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