Deb Deep Sengupta Takes Charge As New MD SAP Indian Subcontinent

SAP has announced the appointment of Deb Deep Sengupta as the new Managing Director for SAP Indian Subcontinent to drive its growth strategy and operations in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Based in New Delhi, Deb Deep Sengupta reports to Adaire Fox-Martin, President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan.

Deb Deep brings more than two decades of wide-ranging IT industry and management experience to the role, with a track record of increasing market share, winning key customers and leading effective teams. Deb Deep was most recently the Chief Operating Officer for SAP Indian Subcontinent where he provides leadership and direction to SAP’s multi-functional sales and operations organizations in India, driving continuous productivity improvements, and significantly contributing to the achievement of revenue and profitability objectives. He has been an integral part of SAP’s leadership team in India for the last decade, more than doubling the size of SAP’s enterprise business in India as the VP for Integrated Large Enterprise Business. Prior to this, he built the SME & Channels team in SAP India and catapulted its ecosystem business into the Top 3 SME business within SAP. Before joining SAP, Deb Deep held various Sales Management and leadership roles in IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which merged with HP.

“As India gears itself up as a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy in a hyper connected era, SAP remains ever relevant to support the transformation of Digital India,” said Adaire Fox-Martin, President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “We are confident that Deb Deep’s track record of customer engagements and deep knowledge of the industry will propel SAP India to continued success, as we increasingly deliver simplicity to our customers to address the complexities of hyper connectivity.”  

LocalOye Shifts HO to Bengaluru; To Hire 125 in City

LocalOye, a leading mobile marketplace for hiring local service professionals has announced the launch of its Bengaluru operations. LocalOye was one the first companies to diversify in to the local professional services market and has enjoyed an extremely successful stint in Mumbai. The startup which currently works with 3000 merchants in Mumbai will now be launching 20 new catagoeries of service in Bengaluru. The launch will also mark the shift of LocalOye’s headquarters from Mumbai to Bengaluru; purely to drive the expansion of its technology team and aggressively ramping up its business.

Commenting on the launch, Aditya Rao, CEO – LocalOye said, “The local services market has not witnessed any kind of innovation in the last decade. We took this as an opportunity  by delivering a mobile based solution to our customers and have successfully managed to do that in Mumbai. 1 lakh customers, 3,000 merchants with an average wallet size of Rs. 7,000 spread across 250 categories in Mumbai – we are looking at going past these numbers in Bengaluru. 28% of our customers give us repeat enquiries, clearly showcasing a trend in the shift in customer preferences.”

The LocalOye app uses an advanced recommendation engine to connect customers with high-quality service professionals within few minutes. Once the requirements have been posted, the vendors are notified and the user details like budget, location, timing etc are sent to them. After a service provider accepts the lead, LocalOye connects both the vendor and customer. This way the customer does not have to search or choose from multiple service providers.

Aditya further added, “We are focussed on our growth and are aiming at significantly scaling up our operations in Bengaluru. We intend to be the go-to platform to provide solutions for the customers’ daily problems by leveraging mobile technology.”

LocalOye, which recently concluded its round of Series A funding of US$5 million from Tiger Global Management and Lightspeed Venture Partners, is on a massive expansion drive. Aditya Rao further added, “Now that we have set up our base in Bengaluru, we will be ramping up our team from 25 to 150 employees in the coming months. It would have probably taken us 18-24 months in Mumbai, but in Bengaluru we should be able to grow much quicker.”

LocalOye will be tapping vendors in Bengaluru present across various service categories like Health & Fitness, Home Maintenance, Education, Events and more.  

Integrated ICT Framework of Smart City Mission On May 21

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has shared its vision on the role of ICT in the 100 Smart Cities Mission. It also announced that a detailed report titled - “Integrated ICT and Geospatial Technologies Framework for 100 Smart Cities Mission” will be launched at the upcoming Smart City Expo in Delhi on May 21, 2015.

Over a 24 week effort, NASSCOM in partnership with several industry members and partners have built a framework to highlight the role of ICT in developing Smart Cities, and categorize ways and means to make relevant ICT interventions that will enable management of future smart cities in a sustainable and transparent manner. This effort was mounted by NASSCOM in response to the suggestion by the Ministry of Urban Development.

India is expected to witness a 3X increase in its urban population by 2031. This rapid urbanization is putting an additional pressure on Indian cities in terms of delivering basic city services and infrastructure to citizens and businesses. Therefore, there is a growing need to embrace innovative approaches to new city development and city management. A Smart City will effectively deliver public services to citizens and businesses with a balanced focus in terms of modernizing city infrastructure and leveraging technology to improve efficiency and capacity of city services. Therefore, it is important for all the stakeholders to think of an integrated framework and come together to build a smart and sustainable future for India.

The ICT Framework suggested by NASSCOM will address the unique challenges faced by the Indian Cities and provide an integrated perspective across the key pillars of physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, environmental and institutional (governance). The framework further defines and assesses the core of each sub system of a potential smart city, identifies ICT governance interventions, organizational requirements, and capability development needs at city levels.

Speaking on the occasion R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, “The Smart Cities Initiative is a much needed step as it aims to broad base urban infrastructure in the country. It is imperative that the ICT application / framework is integrated across the key infrastructure and environmental pillars, especially when procured as a component of individual infrastructure pillars. The report aims to demystify the role of ICT and enable State Governments and Urban Local Bodies to integrate ICT into their future City Master Plans. This also represents an opportunity for the industry to partner with the government, as the total ICT spending for Smart Cities can account for 10-15% of the overall budget. This would translate into as much as  US$30-40 bn over the next 10 years. We also thank the ministry of urban development for reaching out to NASSCOM to device appropriate strategies to leverage the capabilities of ICT in the overall development of India.  ”  

It is also very important that this program has synergies with vital national plans for Urban areas like Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Heritage City Development & Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Accordingly, this report also showcases how these initiatives are aligned with the Smart Cities planning and roll-out”.

Efficient usage of technology can help in the improvement of city sub systems to improve quality of life of citizens, and help improve urban management using mobile and internet channels. Developing Smart cities requires investment and therefore will need different financing institutions and models involving both public and private stakeholders.   

NTT Centerstance Now Becomes Part of NTT DATA

NTT DATA, Inc., a leading IT services provider, has announced that NTT Centerstance, Inc., a consulting company specializing in cloud-enabled business transformation, has become part of NTT DATA. This consolidation creates a world-class Salesforce application and consulting practice within NTT DATA, part of the NTT Group, one of only nine Salesforce Global Strategic consulting partners worldwide.

NTT DATA will immediately offer a variety of purpose-built Salesforce industry solutions to clients in the public sector, automotive, manufacturing, insurance, retail, consumer packaged goods, and customer service industries, solving common business challenges with faster and more efficient implementations. When combined with NTT DATA’s digital business transformation and complex integration expertise, clients have a partner that can help make digital business a reality.

The transaction doubles NTT DATA’s Salesforce delivery capacity and strengthens its already comprehensive cloud application services from consulting, design and implementation services to ongoing support for the world’s most popular cloud applications with onsite, rural shore, nearshore and offshore global delivery centers and one of the industry’s largest teams of certified Salesforce consultants.

“The elite team of technology and business experts at NTT Centerstance have spent the last decade successfully designing and implementing complex business transformation projects for Fortune 500 companies,” stated Marv Mouchawar, President of NTT DATA, Inc.  “Combine that with NTT DATA’s deep application service and systems integration expertise, global delivery footprint, and specialty knowledge of our clients’ markets and you have a partner ready to tackle any digital transformation project.”   

Exclusive Style Based Social Shopping Platform Now in India

Introducing the concept of showcasing ones’ own style and trends to the likeminded people across the vertical, Dilbole.com, a unique style shopping platform, has been launched, bringing a whole new experience online.

DilBole.com aims to be a product bookmarking tool to showcase and discover style to the online community. It a platform for both men and women that offers a variety of category to choose from i.e., apparel, lingerie, accessories, gadgets, footwear, jewellery, cosmetics, furniture, home decor etc. One can choose the products from over 25,000+ online shopping sites including Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Asos, Jabong, Myntra, Xarato, Koovs, Limeroad, Fashionara, FabFurnish etc.

The portal allows users to browse or flip through products from the other portals, create his/her own style & trend , showcase it to others and get the credit as a STYLIST!

Dilbole.com allows users to create a wish-listand categorize them into different mood attires like party wear, formals, casuals, beachwear etc. Users can then showcase their wish-list and can get the credit. Users can also save the products they like from online stores, add the product using the chrome extension or using a link. On an mobile they can directly share product to Dilbole App from other shopping apps like flipkart, myntra etc.

Talking on the same, Khaleel Pasha, the founder of DilBole.com said, ‘’ Dilbole.com aims to bring out the stylist within the person to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and smart buys. Style is just not the periphery of any gender. I would like to invite both Men and Women to join the ‘ Stylocase’ wagon with our portal and app. They can now make their own style statement with the collections and can showcase it the way they like to share with others. We have tried to create a me-time for our users who love shopping”.

In a short span of time, since its launch Dilbole.com has succeeded in attracting and engaging people and won huge accolades. It guarantees loads of fun, fashion and style for fashion junkies and shopaholics at Dilbole.

DilBole.com is the right place to discover people, products and brands based on the style they are looking for. Fashion bloggers, stylists, fashionistas and proud shopaholics are part of the core. With an ever-increasing database of 1,80,000+ products, 25000+ online stores and over 10,000 brands, this is the right place for shopaholics to come to!

It is available both in web portal and mobile application for android users.  

Vijaya Bank Records Full Year Net Profit Jump of 5.65% in 2014-15

Vijaya Bank, a leading PSU Bank has reported the full year net profit jumped by 5.65 per cent to Rs 439.41 crore as compared to Rs 415.91 crore for the previous year ended March 31, 2014. Its total income has increased by 15.21% to Rs 13152.49 crore for the year from Rs 11416.42 crore for the year ended March 31, 2014.

Announcing the financial results, Kishore Kumar Sans, MD & CEO of Vijaya Bank Ltd said that, for the full year net profit jumped by 5.65 per cent to Rs 439.41 crore. 

Sansi said the quarterly drop in net profit is on account of making provision of Rs 208 crore towards increase in salaries arising out of the tenth bipartite settlement with Indian Bank Association. 

However, the bank recorded a 28.7 per cent fall in its March quarter net profit at Rs 96.80 crore owing to a one-time provision of Rs 208 crore for salary increase. 

Sansi said the quarterly drop in net profit is on account of making provision of Rs 208 crore towards increase in salaries arising out of the tenth bipartite settlement with Indian Bank Association. 

For the full financial year, total income increased to Rs 13,152.49 crore from Rs 11,416.42 crore last year, he said. 

On year-on-year business of the bank, Sansi said the total business for the period ended March 31, 2015 registered a growth of 3.54 per cent and increased to Rs 2,14,035 crore from Rs 2,06,721 crore as of March 31, 2014,  said Sansi. 

Sansi said the bank found MMSE and MSE communities as the best industry sectors with a 12 per cent ROI for the last financial year.

Vijaya Bank has informed BSE that the Board of Directors of the Bank at its meeting held on May 12, 2015, inter alia, has recommended a Final Dividend of Rs. 1.50/- per share on Equity share capital of the Bank for the Financial Year 2014-2015.

Three Mega Government Schemes Takes Off From June 1

The Government of India has recently announced the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) in Bangalore. Canara Bank has entered into MoU with LIC for offering PMJJBY insurance cover and United India Insurance Co Ltd (UIICL) for PMSBY insurance cover to eligible candidates. The coverage under these schemes will commence from June 1, 2015 and the coverage period for all subscribers would be from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016.

This would be a path breaking initiative towards providing affordable universal access to essential social security protection in a convenient manner linked to auto-debit facility from the bank account of the subscriber. The two insurance schemes to be launched, namely Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) would provide insurance cover in the unfortunate event of death by any cause / death or disability due to an accident, whereas the pension scheme, Atal Pension Yojana (APY), would address old age income security needs. The convenient delivery mechanism of the schemes is expected to address the situation of very low coverage of life / accident insurance and old age income security products in the country.

PMSBY will offer a renewable one year accidental death cum disability cover of Rupees Two Lakh (Rupees One Lakh for partial permanent disability) to all savings bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 70 years for a premium of Rs. 12/- per annum per subscriber. The scheme would be offered / administered through Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) or other General Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms on the choice of the Bank / RRB / Cooperative Bank concerned.

PMJJBY on the other hand will offer a renewable one year life cover of Rupees Two Lakh to all savings bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 50 years, covering death due to any reason, for a premium of Rs.330/- per annum per subscriber. The scheme would be offered / administered through LIC or other Life Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms on the choice of the Bank / RRB / Cooperative Bank concerned.

APY, the third scheme to be launched, will focus on the unorganised sector and provide subscribers a fixed minimum pension of Rs. 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 or Rs. 5000 per month starting at the age of 60 years, depending on the contribution option exercised on entering at an age between 18 and 40 years. Thus, the period of contribution by any subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more. The fixed minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government. While the scheme is open to back account bank account holders in the prescribed age group, the Central Government would also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, for a period of 5 years for those joining the scheme before 31st December, 2015 and are not members of any statutory social security scheme and are not income tax payers. 

70 Fresh Law Students Graduate From CMR Law School

The CMR Law School, which is part of the prestigious CMR Group of Institutions, celebrated its 8^th Graduation Day on Saturday, with 70 law students passing out of the institution successfully. Justice A.V. Chandrashekara, Judge, High Court of Karnataka, who was the chief guest, advised the students to maintain professional integrity, to emerge successful.

Touching upon some of the important aspects of litigation and constitutional law, Justice Chandrashekara emphasized and reminded the students on the magnitude of their responsibility, having chosen to be the care takers of law and Justice. “I also profusely thank the parents for having allowed their children to take up law with all encouragement as a profession,” he added.

Recollecting the brilliant performance of the students of CMR Law School in the National Moot Court competition held in 2014, Justice Chandrashekara heaped praises on the students and said why it is important for law schools to have a holistic approach to academics, which bring out the best in an individual. Acknowledging the efforts of CMR Law School in nurturing the best legal minds in the country, Justice Chandrashekara wished the organization to keep up its pioneering vision. 

Justice Srinivasa Reddy, former Judge, High Court of Karnataka and Chairman, Governing Council, CMR Law School, the Guest of Honour, administered the CMR Graduation Oath to the outgoing students – 8^th batch of B.A, LL.B (5 years) and 3^rd batch of LL.B (3 years).

K.C. Ramamurthy, Chairman, CMR University and CMR Group of Institutions, in his address, said, “The responsibilities of a legal professional is of noble in nature when administered with all sincerity and discipline and is vital towards cultivating social ethos and a better life environment for the mankind.” He reminded the graduating students the positive impact they could make in the legal ecosystem of the country.

In the past CMR Law School has had the honor to have distinguished legal luminaries, like H. R. Bharadwaj, former Governor of Karnataka, T.N. Chaturvedi, former Governor of Karnataka, Dr. Justice V.S. Malimath, Dr. Justice S.R. Nayak, Justice Santosh Hegde, Dr. Justice Rajendra Babu, Justice Cyriac Joseph and several judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court, address the students as a part of the CMR Memorial Guest Lecture Series. 

The Graduation Day address has been a constant feature designed to deliver parting advice and guidance to the youngsters on the verge of starting their careers.

Dr. Sabitha Ramamurthy, President, CMR Jnanadhara Trust, was the Guest of Honor. Mr. K.C. Ramamurthy, Chairman, CMR Group of Institutions, presided over the event. Dr. Pratima Prabhakar, Principal, CMR Law School; Dr. C.M. Bhaskar Reddy, Director CMR Group of Institutions and Mr. K.C. Jagannath Reddy, Secretary, CMR Jnanadhara Trust, were present on the occasion.  

Marginal Net Profit Rise of Rs 417 cr for Syndicate Bank in Q4

State-owned Syndicate Bank today reported a marginal 2 percent growth in net profit to Rs 417 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014-15.

The bank had posted net profit of Rs 409 crore in the January-March quarter of 2013-14.

The total income of the bank during the quarter increased to Rs 6,599.13 crore, compared with Rs 5,357.40 crore in the year-ago period.

It has recommended a dividend of Rs 4.70 per share (47 percent), for 2014-15, Syndicate Bank said in a statement.

For the entire fiscal 2014-15, the bank posted 11 percent decline in net profit to Rs 1,522.93 crore, compared with Rs 1,711.46 crore in the previous financial year.

The total annual income of the bank increased to Rs 23,724.75 crore, compared with Rs 19,945.21 crore in 2013-14.

The bank's Gross Non-Performing Assets rose to 3.13 per at the end of March 2015, from 2.62 percent a year ago. The net NPAs too rose to 1.90 percent against 1.56 per cent at March 2014.