Baba Ramdev's 'Swadeshi WhatsApp' Kimbho A Disaster, Copy-Paste of Another App

Within just a day after Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali launched a messaging application, "Kimbho", attempting to challenge to Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp, a lot have happened and revealed about the amateurish attempt of the Yoga guru into tech space, which he never been a part of. Within a day of its launch Kimbho app has been removed from Android store.

Thanks to french security researcher Elliot Alderson, who has earlier also revealed security flaws of Oneplus, UIDAI/Aadhaar as well as data leaks by Narendra Modi App.

A day after Patanjali's Kimbho went live, Alderson, in a tweet, claimed he could access the messages of all Kimbho app users, calling it a "security disaster." Thereafter, the app disappeared from Google Play store due to security flaws it has, as being speculated.

This @KimbhoApp is a joke, next time before making press statements, hire competent developers... If it is not clear, for the moment don't install this app. #Kimbho #KimbhoApp pic.twitter.com/wLWzO6lhSR

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) May 30, 2018

Kimbho, which claims to encrypt all your messages to the highest standard, turns out to be failure when it comes to 'basic' security practices. Alderson claimed that he can pick up user data and can share it with anyone who’s got the knowledge to take it apart. He also claimed to be able to access the messages of all the users of Kimbho.

Hi @KimbhoApp before trying to compete #WhatsApp, you can try to secure your app. It's possible to choose a security code between 0001 and 9999 and send it to the number of your choice #kimbhoApp pic.twitter.com/YQqK8lfIeI

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) May 30, 2018

Ripp-off, Copy-Paste of Another App Called 'Bolo'

Alderson further claimed that the app was a copy of a similar application called 'Bolo', an app developed by Appdios Inc, which was launched a year back but taken down and closed for public use, after a year or so. Appdios is an California, US-based company founded in 2012 by Aditi Kamal and Sumit Kumar.

The @KimbhoApp is a copy paste of another #application. The description and the screenshots in the app stores are the same. Moreover, the #Kimbho app is making request to bolomessenger[.]com pic.twitter.com/gOKOhash5X

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) May 31, 2018

Evidently, the description and the screenshots of both - Bolo and Patajali's Kimbho, in the app stores are the same. Moreover, the OTP SMS format of Kimbho app mentions 'Bolo app'. Even the description n pics used are same as Bolo app.



Notably, Patanjali has had hired Appdios founder Aditi Kamal to develop the swadeshi messaging app Kimbho. Aditi, who has also worked at Yahoo Mail and Oracle, was a former Google techie (team leader at Google Hangouts).

Yog Guru Ramdev's Patanjali Products Will Soon Be Available On Amazon, Flipkart

Yoga Guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda, after making headway into several markets, is planning to enter the e-commerce industries, reported Economic Times.

The company will be tying up with up to eight big e-commerce giants, including Amazon and Flipkart.

SK Tijarawala, Ramdev's spokesperson, said in a tweet, "Patanjali Ayurveda has started working on a massive online push. The announcement of agreement with world's largest e-commerce companies will happen soon. A new chapter of online shopping of Patanjali products from many portals will begin soon."

One of the fastest growing companies, Patanjali climbed from 45th place last year to 19th this year, in the Forbes magazine's Annual India Rich List.

Earlier in last year, Patanjali became only startup (kind of) in India to get full tax exemption. Patanjali Yogpeeth trust is fully entitled to seek I-T exempt status under the sections 11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act.

Yog Guru Ramdev's Patanjali Products Will Soon Be Available On Amazon, Flipkart

Yoga Guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda, after making headway into several markets, is planning to enter the e-commerce industries, reported Economic Times.

The company will be tying up with up to eight big e-commerce giants, including Amazon and Flipkart.

SK Tijarawala, Ramdev's spokesperson, said in a tweet, "Patanjali Ayurveda has started working on a massive online push. The announcement of agreement with world's largest e-commerce companies will happen soon. A new chapter of online shopping of Patanjali products from many portals will begin soon."

One of the fastest growing companies, Patanjali climbed from 45th place last year to 19th this year, in the Forbes magazine's Annual India Rich List.

Earlier in last year, Patanjali became only startup (kind of) in India to get full tax exemption. Patanjali Yogpeeth trust is fully entitled to seek I-T exempt status under the sections 11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act.

This is The Only Startup That Just Got Full Tax Exemption Because of Yoga Tag

Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, who has become world-famous over the years for his endeavours in Ayurveda, business, politics and agriculture has a big reason to smile. One of his ventures, Patanjali Yogpeeth, which is a public charitable trust, has come out victorious in its appeal before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which has finally accepted the Haridwar, Uttarakhand-based trust's tax-exempt status.

According to the reasoning provided by the Delhi bench of ITAT behind its decision, it concluded, since Yoga entails providing medical relief and the camps are also known to provide people both 'medical relief ' and`education,' hence it falls within the umbrella meaning of charitable purpose, thus the Patanjali Yogpeeth trust is fully entitled to seek I-T exempt status under the sections 11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act.

In its order dated February 9, 2017, ITAT said, "The finding of I-T authorities that propagation of yoga by Patanjali Yogpeeth does not qualify as medical relief or imparting of education is not justified."

While the litigation settled by ITAT's Delhi bench specifically caters to the 200809, the Tribunal has also taken into consideration the new subsequent amendment in the I-T Act, which came into action last year on April 1, 2016. This particular amendment in the spotlight specifically added the word 'yoga' within the definition of a 'charitable purpose'.

If the ITAT wouldn't have upheld Patanjali Yogpeeth's exempt status, it would have become liable to pay income tax to the Indian government like a regular company. It is interesting to note that the Yogpeeth's total income never came out in the open in the ITAT order.

In addition to the upholding the tax-exempt status, the ITAT also concluded that the whopping corpus of Rs 43.98 crore received by the Haridwar, Uttarakhand-based trust in donations, primarily for the purpose of construction of cottages under its Vanprasth Ashram Scheme (which caters to providing accommodation to people attending residential yoga courses at the Yogpeeth), were capital receipts and hence not liable to income tax. In its order, The ITAT mentioned, "Corpus donations are not taxable, even in circumstances where the trust is not eligible for I-T exemption".

The Delhi bench of ITAT even ended up deleting the various additions made by the I-T authorities to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth's income. This included a Rs 96 lakh addition made for services the trust extended to Vedic Broadcasting in which Acharya Balkrishnan, a trustee and close aide of Baba Ramdev holds substantial interest. According to the ITAT, it deleted the additions because the I-T authorities on the ground had failed to understand the facts. In fact, towards the end, the ITAT also ended up agreeing with the submissions made by the trust and concluded that some of the inferences made by the I-T authorities such as receipt of anonymous donations or the provision of benefits to certain persons were made without fully understanding and appreciating the facts.

Well, the final conclusion is that Ramdev's Patanjali will be doing tax-free business from now onwards, and the one thing that really made this possible was its 'Yoga' Tag.