Honeywell Expands its Fulgaon Manufacturing Facility in Pune by Doubling Operational Space

Honeywell has  announced the expansion of its Fulgaon manufacturing facility in Pune to meet the growing demand for automation solutions and factory instrumentation more effectively. In line with the growth of the Indian manufacturing sector, Honeywell continues to invest in its local production capabilities by doubling the operational space of the plant to 151,000 square feet. The state-of-the-art facility enables Honeywell to provide enhanced expertise and training capabilities to customers and expand its production range.

Originally built in 2014, the facility integrates advanced engineering, testing and manufacturing of equipment for the process industries such as refining, oil and gas, pulp and paper, power generation, chemicals, life sciences, and metals, minerals and mining. In addition, it offers a customer integration center, thermal solutions and smart metering factories, and a Honeywell Intelligrated® demonstration center. The center provides an immersive experience by letting customers interact with technologies that make manufacturing safer, more secure, comfortable and energy efficient.

“The expansion of our plant allows us to now commercialize new technologies that are researched and developed in Honeywell technology development centers here in India and globally and with that to widen our product range and meet future customer demand,” said Ashish M Gaikwad, managing director, Honeywell Automation India Limited. “In alignment with the government’s ‘Make in India’ mission, we continue to leverage the existing local manufacturing expertise and support our domestic as well as international customers.”

  Honeywell products and solutions manufactured in Fulgaon offer precision, repeatability, and durability for industrial applications across the markets. Honeywell’s flagship product, Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS)—a solution that integrates control and safety systems along with other crucial manufacturing processes, will be assembled at the facility. Some of the other products to be manufactured in this facility include hybrid programmable logic controllers (PLC), load computers, smart transmitters, industrial burners, gas trains, smart meters, sensors, shifters, and switches.

“The Fulgaon facility continues to build Honeywell’s local footprint and expertise to improve our customer service for the automation business in India,” said Vimal Kapur, president, Honeywell Process Solutions. “With production and integration facilities closer to the domestic customers, we can seamlessly integrate customer needs and specifications into our products and solutions—helping us to serve them more quickly and efficiently.”

Aside from the Fulgaon plant, Honeywell has a significant presence in Maharashtra with its automation and turbocharger manufacturing facilities based in Pune.

Cisco Launches START Products Program Designed for SMBs in Gujarat

Cisco has deepened its commitment to Gujarat with the launch of Cisco START- a product portfolio specifically designed to help SMBs in Gujarat build their digital foundation and become globally competitive.  This initiative is aligned with Cisco’s commitment to accelerate Gujarat’s digital transformation and showcase how digitization can fuel economic growth, world-class innovation, sustainable competitiveness, and prosperity.

A digitized state aims to drive GDP growth, create jobs and foster innovation, enhance research and education, stimulate entrepreneurship, accelerate business innovation, develop economic cluster initiatives, and support infrastructure. Towards that, Cisco is the leading technology partner helping states across India become digital hubs of innovation by building sophisticated and forward-thinking IT network ecosystems that allow for greater connectivity, productivity, and security. 

With Gujarat looking to drive growth through digitization, SMBs have become an essential component of the journey as the state houses one of the largest concentration of SMEs in the country. Increasing high-speed broadband coverage, rising adoption of mobile devices, improving connectivity quality and networks are accelerating the growth of Gujarat’s SMB sector. However, SMBs face challenges such as access to right technology, lack of skill sets as well as high entry cost that limit their ability to scale and seize opportunities provided by digitization. An IDC’s survey of SMBs across India shows that the top three business priorities for SMBs are to reduce costs, gain operational efficiency, and improve productivity.

Cisco START aims to make it easy for SMBs and midmarket customers to embrace digitization by providing them with access to a suite of simple, secure and smart enterprise-class technologies, specifically tailored to their needs. More specifically, Cisco START delivers:

The right-sized, right-priced solutions wherever they are on their digital journey Enhanced operations, services, and processes to reduce overheads and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)Improved workforce productivity and innovation to meet the increased demands of today and the evolving opportunities of tomorrow

 Sudhir Nayar, Managing Director, Commercial Sales, Cisco India & SAARC said, “We are excited to be a part of Gujarat’s digital journey and help further the government’s vision to create sustainable competitiveness and prosperity. SMBs are a key pillar of the economy and are a huge source of employment and innovation. SMBs have a much wider geographic footprint than large enterprises and are best placed to democratise the benefits of digitization. We launched Cisco START as a commitment to help SMBs adopt a digital-first mindset that can help them digitize, secure their business and stay ahead of the technology curve.”

SMB is the fastest growing segment for Cisco in India. In the last one year, Cisco has on-boarded over 5,000 new SMB customers, out of which over 300 customers are from Gujarat.

SAP Celebrates India Inc’s Digital Champions at the 11th ACE Awards in Mumbai

Celebrating India’s most successful digital innovators,  SAP SE has announced the winners of the 11th edition of SAP ACE Awards. The coveted ceremony felicitated 21 Indian enterprises who have achieved business excellence and showcased consistent innovation by using technology as the key competitive differentiator.

SAP ACE Awards 2018 received over 300 project nominations competing across 16 major award categories, with a distinct focus on large and midsize companies. Over the last decade, SAP ACE Awards have become an industry benchmark to recognize not only the best-run businesses but also outstanding individuals who are a creating a true digital impact in the Indian business community.

“It is time to navigate from digital schemes to creating digital businesses,” said Deb Deep Sengupta, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent. “In their transformation journey, 
companies must become agile, obtain the necessary skills while simultaneously innovate at a rapid speed. The 11th edition of SAP ACE Awards acknowledges and honors digital leaders who have the mindset to deliver game-changing innovation in their respective fields.”

As part of the methodical process, all the front running nominees were assessed by an eminent jury nominated by management board of SAP India User Group (INDUS).

SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh gets BML Munjal Award 2018 For ‘Business Excellence through Learning & Development’

India’s favourite airline, SpiceJet, was honoured with the ‘BML Munjal Awards 2018’ for ‘Business Excellence through Learning and Development’ at a grand awards banquet held at Taj Palace, New Delhi on April 19, 2018. Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, received the prestigious award from Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the former President of India.

The awards are named after the late Hero Group Chairman and Padma Bhushan Awardee Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal. The annual BML Munjal Awards recognize organizations that have successfully deployed programs and implemented innovative strategies, processes and systems for learning and development, using people development as a tool to achieve Business Excellence.

SpiceJet was awarded for exceptional innovation undertaken towards achieving enhanced customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Focused initiatives like emphasis on consistency in service delivery and customer retention, resulted in enhanced brand loyalty, while the airline’s pursuit for operational efficiency helped it achieve a breakthrough of reducing fuel burn on every flight by 2%.

“I am honoured to receive this award. This is a recognition of SpiceJet’s spectacular comeback and remarkable performance. We have achieved what very few airlines in the world have managed and I share this award with each and every SpiceJetter who has been a part of this magnificent journey,” said Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet.

 SpiceJet, under the leadership of Ajay Singh, has scripted one of the most remarkable turnaround stories of recent times. From staring at an imminent closure to achieving 12 quarters of profit and a load factor of over 90% every month for 35 months in a row (a global aviation record), SpiceJet’s turnaround story has been one which probably has no parallel in the aviation world today. The SpiceJet stock has emerged as world’s best-performing aviation stock.

A distinguished ten-member Jury Panel, which comprised eminent names like Arun Kumar, Chairman & CEO, KPMG India, B. Ashok, CMD, Indian Oil Corporation, R.C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki, Ashish Kumar Chauhan,  MD & CEO, BSE Limited,  D K Sarraf, CMD, ONGC LTD. and T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education selected the winners.

The first quarter of 2018 saw the airline acknowledged with lead industry titles and recognitions such as the ‘CAPA Chairman’s Order of Merit for Excellence in Indian Aviation Award’ and ‘EY Entrepreneur of the year 2017 for Business Transformation’ presented to Ajay Singh besides SpiceJet being conferred with India’s ‘Best Domestic Airline’ Award at Wings India 2018.

Bangalore Brands Dell, Fastrack, Tanishq, Arrow Lead in Most Trust Brands 2018 Across India

The 8^th in its series, The Brand Trust Report 2018, India’s most comprehensive study on Brand Trust, has been released by TRA Research. Bangalore-based brands have made a strong showing with city brands leading 5 of the 38 Super Categories in the report. These leaders repeated from last year are Dell (Personal Technology), Fastrack (Branded Fashion), Tanishq (Jewellery). New Category trust leaders are Arrow (Apparel) and AO Smith (Water Heaters). Significant is that the Bangalore list of Most Trusted Brands turns the All-India list topsy-turvy with its unique culture that mixes the large migrant population with low participation of working women, molding the city’s mind. LG (All-India 3^rd) leads Bangalore’s Most Trusted list followed by in second position by Hewlett Packard (All-India 9^th) and the city’s affinity for spending time in traffic brings BMW (All-India 15^th) to third trusted rank in the city. LIC (All-India 24^th) is at fourth position and GE (All-India 88^th) makes it to fifth Most Trusted from the city. Not surprisingly, city preferences push some brands up on the national list as well. Some of these are – IBM at 6^th (All-India – 45^th), E-Bay at 10^th (All-India 84^th), Intel at 17^th (All-India 71^st), HCL at 18^th (All-India – 64^th).

The All-India Most Trust list is as follows: Samsung leads the second year in a row to become India’s Most Trusted Brand. Sony and LG follow to retain pole positions as India’s second and third Most Trusted Brands in an encore of 2017. The fourth Most Trusted Brand is India’s leading multinational conglomerate, Tata, and is followed by the Cupertino based technology company, Apple, slipping a rank from last year. Also maintaining its position among the top 10 Most Trusted and rising two ranks to attain the 6^th position in 2018 is Dell. Honda is at rank 7. This is followed by Nike which has shown a substantial steadily climbed over the years (rank 49 in 2015, rank 48 in 2016 and rank 37 in 2017) to rank 8 in 2018. Hewlett Packard has a two rank jump over last year to rank 9, while Maruti Suzuki fell by three ranks from 2017 to rank 10 in India’s Most Trusted Brand list.  BTR 2018, the eighth in the series, is launched annually by TRA Research, a brand intelligence and data insights Company. TRA Research is a part of the Comniscient Group.

N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, said on the occasion of the report’s launch, “In a changing India, Bangalore shows the most significant change – and represents true internationalization with a blend of localization, because of exposure to brands which might be unknown elsewhere in India, making it to India’s 20 Most Trusted Brands.  Fox Entertainment, KMF (Karnataka Milk Federation), CVS Pharmacy inclusions in the national list are largely due to Bangalore’s audiences trusting these brands”.

Among India’s 1000 Most Trusted brands in BTR 18, 38 Super-Categories and 335 Categories were listed. The categories with the maximum brands were F&B and FMCG contributing to 25.6% of the total brands in the listings. When compared to last year, 320 new brands made it to the list, 368 brands fell in rank, 307 brands rose in rank, and 5 brands retained their ranks. Some of the important category leaders in Brand Trust are State Bank of India (All-India rank 21) from BFSI, Arrow (All-India rank 43) from Formalwear, Pepsi (All-India rank 44) from F&B, Amazon (All-India rank 53) from Online Retailer - Diversified, American Express (All-India rank 167) from Credit/Debit card, Muthoot Finance (All-India rank 171) from Financial Services, Tanishq (All-India rank 258) from Jewellery, Aviva Life Insurance (All-India rank 459) from Insurance-Private, and Kangaroo Kids (All-India rank 640) leading in Pre-School. Brands that witnessed a falling trend were Bajaj (fallen from rank 6 in 2015 to rank 16 in 2018) and Godrej (fallen from rank 9 in 2015 to rank 17 in 2018).

The Brand Trust Report 2018, the eighth in its series, is the result of a comprehensive primary research conducted on the proprietary 61-Attribute Trust Matrix of TRA. This year’s study involved 15,000 hours of fieldwork, covering 2,488 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India; it generated 5 million datapoints and 9,000 unique brands, from which the top 1000 brands have been listed in this year’s report. The 200-page, hardbound report is available for Rs. 14,000.

Merck Foundation and Manipal Academy of Higher Education Signs MoU to Train Embryologists from Africa and Asia

Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA, Germany, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, MAHE sign MoU to partner in providing embryology training program for Africa and Asia.

During the event Dr. Rasha Kelej stated that, “We are pleased to partner with the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India to provide hands-on practical training to develop embryologists’ platform in Africa and Asia to increase the number of standalone embryologists, and to improve the access to cost-effective fertility care in the developing countries, since the lack of trained and skilled health personnel is the main challenge in Africa and Asia.”

Merck Foundation in partnership with MAHE launched Merck Embryology Training Program, a certificate course in Assistive Reproduction and Embryology through its ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ campaign.

During the eventProf. Poornima Baliga, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of MAHE said, “Merck Foundation is working for a noble cause, and we are excited about this partnership and hope for a long-term partnership with the foundation.”

Prof.Pragna Rao, Dean, Kasturba Medical College, Manipalappreciated the efforts of Merck Foundation, “We are glad to be a part of this wonderful initiative of Merck Foundation. We appreciate the Merck Foundation’s effortsto break the infertility stigma and to build fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries.”

The program aims to bridge the deficit of highly skilled Embryologists in Africa and part of Asia to match the ever-rising demand for fertility care in these countries. “The training program will shoulder the responsibility of fine-tuning and honing the delicate skills of the embryologists in IVF Centres, and emphasize the importance of ethics while handling human sperm, eggs and embryos”, said Prof Satish Adiga who is heading the training program.

Merck Foundation is planning to progressively scale-up to more African and Asian countries in addition to other developing countries. Through the clear benefits demonstrated of improving healthcare capacities, cultural shift to destigmatize infertility, the Merck More Than a Mother has sustained active participation in the different countries since 2015.

About ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ campaign; In many Cultures, childless women suffer discrimination, stigma, and ostracism. Their inability to have children results in great isolation, disinheritance, and assaults. “Merck More Than a Mother” empowers such women through the access to information, health, change of mindsets and economic empowerment.

Merck Foundation provided for more than 50 candidates, three months to six months clinical and practical training for fertility specialists and embryologists in more than 17 countries across Africa and Asia.

Merck Foundation is making history in many African countries where they never had fertility specialists or specialized fertility clinics before ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ intervention, to train the first fertility specialists such as; in Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Niger, Chad, and Guinea. 

Merck Foundation plan supported the establishment of the first public IVF centers in Ethiopia and Uganda through providing the clinical and practical training necessary for their staff. Merck Foundation also plans to support the establishment of the first public IVF in Tanzania soon.

Mobile Device Cloud Redefining Mobile Testing for Enterprises: pCloudy – Hexaware Report

pCloudy.com, the key product of SSTS Inc. and one of the largest cloud platforms to test mobile apps on real devices, and Hexaware Technologies, the fastest growing automation-led providers of IT, BPO and consulting services company, jointly unveiled a whitepaper on the challenges faced by modern enterprises in mobile app testing space and mobile device cloud as a solution to address the challenges. The report finds out how mobile device cloud can help enterprises overcome the challenges such as increase in device fragmentation, demand for faster delivery to market, vast diversity in mobile platforms and operating system, huge number of mobile network operators etc.

With the mobile apps ecosystem growing exponentially with time, enterprises are struggling to form a comprehensive mobile app test strategy that can reduce the cost and enhance the quality of the app with an accelerated time to market. In this context, the pCloudy-Hexaware report identified many other challenges faced by enterprises in mobile app testing, some of which include requirement of real life field testing, data security, need of real devices at each stage of mobile app development lifecycle, optimization of test infrastructure for geographically dispersed teams and continuous testing for faster release. 

The report studies several pre-requisites for the right solutions that can be used across various sectors for continuous integration and delivery by constantly integrating changesto an app at all stages of the delivery chain. Any such solutions should include testing on real devices, a cloud mobile lab infrastructure for collaboration among teams and investment on test automation. However, for integrating changes at each stage of app testing, cost effectiveness, need for continuous and faster delivery and a comprehensive test coverage, mobile device cloud is the only solution which can serve as a single point solution for mobile teams. 

While releasing the report, Avinash Tiwari, Co-founder and Director, pCloudy, said “Our report highlights the huge potential of mobile device cloud in streamlining the test processes to keep pace with the market and technology trends and stay competitive by getting high quality mobile apps into user hands at a faster note. We have also focused on how large organizations can pick and choose the suitable cloud model to carry out their app testing tasks across global office locations leveraging the suitable MDC option.”

He further added, “Mobile device cloud has transformed the app testing and can help large enterprises to reduce cycle times, improve the quality of apps and get the mobile app testing framework in order. With different models suitably created to meet organizational needs, it encourages collaboration and improves DevOps efficiencies for continuous integration and makes it easy to test on a wide variety of devices.”

Commenting on the occasion, Satyendu Mohanty, Global Head, Digital Assurance, Hexaware Technologies Ltd. said, “The high adoption rate of multiple channels for accessing a variety of apps by the customers through their smart devices is adding new revenue streams for organizations. Due to the sheer variety of mobile devices, platforms, the high rate of obsolescence and dynamic features getting introduced rapidly, setting up a dedicated mobile device infrastructure by procuring all the combinations of available devices and platforms for testing is not a commercially viable proposition for many service providers!! pCloudy helps to overcome these challenges by bringing in multiple MDC options. With pCloudy as our partner, larger organizations can pick and choose the suitable cloud across global locations leveraging the suitable MDC option. Organizations which do not need a dedicated annual setup, can opt for pay-per-use models thus significantly optimizing the cost.”

Mahindra Unveils Plush New XUV500 with New Design, Plush Interiors, Enhanced Power, Price Starting at Rs. 12.36 lakhs

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M Ltd.), part of the USD 19 billion Mahindra Group, today launched the Plush New XUV500 which will set a new benchmark in the premium SUV segment with a bold new design, plush, luxurious interiors and its higher power and torque. It offers a more pleasurable ride through an enhanced suspension and comes with a quieter cabin. Starting at an attractive new price of Rs. 12.36 lakhs (ex-showroom Bengaluru, for W5 variant)*, it will be available at Mahindra dealerships across India with immediate effect.

Speaking on the launch of The Plush New XUV500, Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “Since its launch in 2011, the XUV500 has been a trendsetter in the premium SUV segment with its great value proposition of head-turning style, aspirational hi-tech features, unmatched performance and best-in-class safety. The XUV500 was the creator of the premium SUV segment in the Rs. 12 to 18 lakhs price range in India and continues to be the frontrunner in the segment when it comes to setting new trends and pushing boundaries. Today, with the launch of The Plush New XUV500, we have strengthened its value proposition further by creating new benchmarks in luxury and styling. It has been designed to meet the customer’s rising aspirations for more premium and luxurious offerings.”

The Plush New XUV500 sets new benchmarks with differentiated offerings, including:
·         Soft-touch Leather on Dashboard and Door-trims
·         Luxurious Quilted Tan Leather Seats
·         Industry-First Smart Watch Connectivity
·         New 6th generation electronically controlled Variable Geometry Turbocharger (eVGT)
·         Industry-First Connected Apps & Ecosense Technology
·         Arkamys Enhanced Audio
·         45.72 cm (235/60 R18) Diamond-cut Alloy Wheels

The Plush New XUV500 comes with a bold and head-turning new design comprising a new wider grille with chrome inserts, fog lamps with a refreshing new chrome bezel, an all-new, stylish tailgate with spit tail-lamps and a new spoiler, stunning LED DRLs and larger 45.72 cm (235/60 R18) diamond-cut alloys. The interiors of the new XUV500 are now more luxurious and come with a premium new tan and black theme comprising of new quilted tan leather seats, finely crafted soft-touch leather dashboard and door trims and a new piano-black center console. The fit and finish of the new XUV500 has been further refined and its cabin is now even quieter.

Equipped with a more powerful mHawk155 engine the new XUV500 comes with higher power of 114 kW (155 BHP) and higher torque of 360 Nm.  The new 6th generation electronically controlled Variable Geometry Turbocharger (eVGT) has improved the low-end torque further, to ensure an even more pleasurable urban driving experience. The enhanced suspension of the new XUV500 promises a plusher ride. New technology offerings in the XUV500 include the industry-first smart watch connectivity and Arkamys enhanced audio output.

It continues to offer aspirational hi-tech features, which are not available even in vehicles that are double its price. It is high on safety features with 6 airbags, ABS with EBD, ESP with Rollover mitigation, hill hold and hill descent control and disc brakes on all wheels. In addition, the XUV500 also offers the first-in-class safety feature of Emergency Calling.

Available in 5 diesel variants, including an optional pack, namely W5, W7, W9, W11 & W11 OPT, the new XUV500 will also offer one gasoline option of G AT to customers. It also offers the widest range of diesel automatic variants, namely W7 AT, W9 AT, W11 AT, W11 OPT AT and W11 OPT AWD AT.  Customers can now also choose from 7 attractive colors – New Crimson Red, New Mystic Copper, Pearl White, Volcano Black, Moon dust Silver, Opulent Purple and Lake Side Brown

In select cities, prospects can experience the Plush New XUV500 through “Bring the Showroom Home” - a portable, mobile based interactive Virtual Reality experience. This is an all-encompassing and immersive virtual showroom experience wherein customers can explore the XUV500 in 360 degree view through a VR device from the comfort of their home. 

NEW FEATURES AND KEY ENHANCEMENTS IN THE PLUSH NEW XUV500

Bold, new head-turning design
·         Bold new front grille with chrome inserts
·         New redesigned tailgate with split tail-lamps
·         New bigger sporty 45.72 cm (235/60 R18) diamond-cut alloy wheels
·         Stunning new Day-time Running Lights (DRLs)
·         New aerodynamic rear spoiler & D pillar applique
·         Fog lamps with new chrome bezel
·         New chrome cladding on door sill
·         New dual color ski-racks

Enhanced Luxury quotient with plush new interiors
·         New luxurious quilted tan leather seats
·         New black and tan interiors
·         New soft touch leather dashboard & door trims
·         New piano black center console
·         New silver inserts
·         Icy Blue Lounge Lighting
·         Illuminated Scuff Plates
·         Sporty aluminum pedals

Higher Power & Torque
·         More powerful 2.2 litre mHawk155 diesel with a 6th generation eVGT (electronically controlled Variable Geometry Turbocharger)
o   More Power: 114 Kw (155 BHP)
o   More Torque: 360 Nm
o   Improved low and mid-range torque for a pleasurable drive in cities as well as on highways

Refinements in NVH and Ride
·         Quieter cabin
·         More comfortable ride through an enhanced suspension set-up
Cutting Edge & Hi-tech Features
·         Electric Sunroof with Anti-pinch
·         6-way Power-adjustable Driver’s Seat
·         First-in- class Logo Projection Lamps on ORVMs
·         7" Touchscreen Infotainment with GPS Navigation, USB Audio/Video/Picture Viewer, 

Bluetooth, iPod Connectivity, AUX Input
·         Reverse Parking Camera with Dynamic Assist
·         Android Auto
·         Connected Apps
·         Ecosense Technology
·         Fully Automatic Temperature Control (FATC)
·         Smart Watch Connectivity
·         Arkamys audio
·         Tire-Tronics (Tyre Pressure & Temperature Monitoring System)
·         Push Button Start / Stop
·         Passive Keyless Entry
·         Smart Rain and Light Sensors
·         Cruise Control
·         Brake Energy Regeneration System
·         Voice Messaging System
·         Voice Commands with Voice Recognition and SMS Read Out
·         Mahindra BLUE SENSE Technology

Best-in-Class Safety
The Plush New XUV500 continues to offer best-in-class safety in the SUV segment.  It comes with:
·         6 Airbags - 2 front airbags, 2 side airbags and 2 curtain airbags
·         Electronic Stability Program (ESP) with Rollover Mitigation
·         Hill Hold & Hill Descent Control
·         First-in-class Emergency Call
·         ABS with Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)
·         Disc brakes on all 4 wheels
·         Crash protection crumple zones
·         Side impact beams

Industry-First Purple Club Engagement Program
The plush NewXUV500 owners get membership of the premium, industry-first, and international award-winning PURPLE CLUB Program that provides lifestyle and service privileges, offering an ownership experience that no other car/SUV can match.

Hero Motocorp Launches E-Commerce Portal to Retail Hero Genuine Parts in India

Hero MotoCorp Ltd., the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has set a new benchmark in the two-wheeler market by launching an e-commerce portal to retail Hero Genuine Parts and Accessories.

www.hgpmart.com​- an exclusive e​-commerce platform dedicated to Hero customers – will enable them to purchase Hero Genuine P​arts and Hero Genuine Accessories online directly from the Company. The will allow them to buy the correct parts for their motorcycles and scooters, at the click of a button, from the comfort of their homes.

As the market leader, Hero MotoCorp is focused on innovation across its service offerings. Through this is e-commerce website, the Company plans to reach its customers across the country efficiently.
Hero MotoCorp will use a hub and spoke model to ensure deliveries to customers are swift and timely. The Company will service the customers through its extensive reach of close to 100 Parts distributors across the country. Thus, ensuring smooth supply and easy availability of fast-moving parts.

Designed to ensure a simplified purchase experience, the platform will allow customers to buy their products in 3 easy steps –
1.      Select the two-wheeler make/ model
2.      Select the Part Category
3.      ​Select Part  & Click to purchase

The Company has partnered with Delivery, a pan India e-commerce logistics service provider, to deliver parts and accessories to customers across the country.  
Hero MotoCorp had earlier partnered with Snapdeal, through which the company sold over 500,000 two-wheelers, in just over a calendar year.

ALC India Announces its 2nd Batch for ‘Transforming India Initiative’ - India’s 1st Fellowship Social Entrepreneurship Programme

ALC India (www.alcindia.org), has announced the 2nd Batch for ‘Transforming India Initiative’ (TII), a unique 2-year social entrepreneurship programme. The programme is open for anyone with a graduate degree: start-up enthusiasts, corporate professionals who nurture entrepreneurial aspirations and young professionals who want to make an impact for the country.

The 2-year programme has been designed to give in-depth entrepreneurial experience and practical knowledge of how to run a social venture before the candidates start their own ventures. After completion of the programme, each individual will receive incubation and funding support for a period of 6 years to set up a profitable social enterprise. TII is supported by the NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission and is offered in partnership with the prestigious Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).

The first batch of the program witnessed enthusiastic response from 418 candidates from across India. ALC India selected 10 candidates after much deliberation and with a rigorous screening process. The current batch includes people who were earlier working in eminent corporates, start-up founders, educational and environmental enthusiast, etc. and wanted to start up their own enterprise that would tackle pressing social concerns.

ALC India is a 12-year old social enterprise that has been incubating companies belonging to the economically marginalized. Last year, it was recognized by the NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission as an established incubation centre and received scale-up support of Rs 10 crores to incubate social enterprises, including support to the Transforming India Initiative (TII).

Since, its inception in 2005, ALC India has impacted 65,000 households in 17 States through 300 Projects. The organization has helped people in the unorganized sector build sustainable livelihoods and double their incomes. ALC India helps incubate enterprises that the communities own - typically cooperatives or producer companies and develops their technical, managerial and entrepreneurial skills, as they move up in the value chain from just being a producer to an entrepreneur.

Speaking about the success of Transforming India Initiative, Krishnagopal Grandhi, CEO, ALC India said, “In the current economic scenario, entrepreneurs are key to job creation, at the same time they need to evolve solutions that can address the most pressing challenges facing the country today. With the Transforming India Initiative, we are looking for talented youngsters who have the passion and grit to become social entrepreneurs. We will support them with not just education and practical understanding but also with incubation support to set up their enterprises after completing the programme.”

USPs of the Transformation India Initiative (TII)
Transforming India Initiative (TII) is a comprehensive 2-year programme that will equip the fellows to establish profitable social enterprises. Setting it apart from other academic and incubation programmes, TII is designed to enable the fellow students to first understand the developmental challenges of the country. It enables you to develop an entrepreneurial solution, test and evolve the design and establish an enduring enterprise rather than expect to have an innovative idea at the beginning of the programme itself. TII’s uniqueness lies in the integration of academics & incubation. 
Some of its notable USPs are:
·      6-month facilitated learning module certified by the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), including practitioner interactions and reflection workshops
·      18-month experiential learning module certified by the Development Management Institute Patna, where the fellows will work directly with the founders of social enterprises
·      End-to-end incubation support, including seed funding for setting up an enterprise for select entrepreneurs, as decided on merit by the independent committee, will receive a financial grant totaling Rs 30 Lacs as seed fund for their social ventures
·      Each individual will be placed with an enterprise in their preferred sector and be paired with a successful social entrepreneur as a mentor who is aligned to their interests and aspirations.
·      Fellows will be placed with an already existing social enterprise, where they will work directly with the CEO to solve five key organizational challenges and accelerate the enterprise growth.
·      ALC India provides access to seed fund of INR 40 Crores, Incubation Space of 20,000 sq.ft, over 30 Industry Experts, and 350 partners for the initiative

Who is it for?
The first cohort had individuals coming from across India with different background and experiences: corporate professionals, fresh graduates, start-up founders, educational and environmental enthusiast. A graduate degree is a minimum requirement to apply for the programme. Graduates from any discipline or professionals with work experience are eligible to apply for this programme. Interested people of any age group are encouraged to apply and their experience will be taken into account when they are placed with an enterprise during the experiential learning module.

Application Process
Each applicant will go through a four-step process that involves Online Application, Psychometric & Aptitude Test, Telephonic Interview and a 2-day direct Assessment. Interested candidates can know more about the programme and apply, on or before April 26th 2018 by visiting https://www.alcindia.org/tii. For any queries, they can send an email to tiiadmissions@alcindia.org.

The Pioneering Cohort (2017 Batch)
The pioneering cohort of 10 individuals joined Transforming India Initiative’s Social Entrepreneurship Programme in October 2017. The cohort comes from the age group of 21 – 29 years from across India with diverse interest in the social space: education, health, finance, agriculture, livelihoods & policy. Over the course, they have developed skills, mindsets and knowledge required to lead and establish a responsible social-enterprise.

Texas Instruments India host’s “DIY with TI” in Bangalore; Recognizes Best Do-It-Yourself Projects Created by TI Engineers

Texas Instruments (TI) India, today, hosted the “DIY with TI” event designed to encourage its engineers to build innovative solutions for real-life problems, using technology and TI devices. The theme this year was to build projects that help ‘Make the world a better place’. The event saw several innovative solutions – such as driver assistance for preventing accidents, assistive technology for the visually challenged, a low cost and low power solution to enable monitoring and remote control of home appliances for efficient energy usage and much more.

The first prize went to the team that had devised a wearable technology, a belt, to help visually challenged people navigate easily. This device uses a single radar sensor to detect the obstacles around and is connected to smart phone which will be used to navigate the person to the desired location. The belt uses vibration motors and buzzers to warn/navigate the user. The devise is a step towards making the world a better place for visually challenged people.

“Do It Yourselves (DIY) at TI celebrates the spirit of experimenting with technology to build innovative solutions to real-world problems. The event is about stretching your imagination to identify real world problems and find interesting technology solutions for them. Most engineers at TI have hobby projects across diverse interest areas and DIY gives them an opportunity to showcase their ideas – not just through charts and presentations, but working demos. It also drives an ‘innovation’ mind-set. Maybe someday we will see a DIY project evolve into a game changing business idea!, said Santhosh Kumar, President and Managing Director at Texas Instruments India.

‘DIY with TI’ is a global event held across TI’s U.S., Germany, China and India offices. The event aims to nurture a culture of innovation in TI by providing a platform to TIers that helps them explore alternate and newer ways to solve a problem by doing what they love.

Yes Bank Recognized for Equipping Workforce with ‘Future-Ready’ Skills in Dubai

YES BANK has been felicitated with the coveted ‘Golden Peacock National Training Award’ at the ‘28th World Congress on Leadership for Business Excellence & Innovation’ & Golden Peacock Awards, organized by Institute of Directors (IOD) in Dubai. YES BANK was recognized for Best Practices in institutionalizing innovative Training programs aimed at equipping the workforce with ‘Future-Ready’ skills. The Award was presented by H.E. Mr Vipul (Consul General of India in Dubai), Dr. Tayab Kamali (Chairman IOD India UAE Chapter Director General Education and Training Development Ministry of Interior USE) and Lt. Gen. J.S Ahluwalia (President, Institute of Directors India).

The Golden Peacock National Training Award evaluates applications basis organizational needs, training objectives, training design, delivery, outcomes and eventually organisational benefits. Golden Peacock Awards Framework is designed to help explore organizational beliefs and strategy, to look for linkages and measurable activity to test results for long-term success. The Framework is based on IOD Business Excellence Model and is comparable with similar frameworks around the globe (including the Baldrige and European models) and contains all of the requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard series.

Commenting on this achievement, Deodutta Kurane, Group President, Human Capital Management at YES BANK said, “With the onset of an ever-changing, fast-paced and tech-focused work environment, it has become increasingly critical to empower, stimulate and action employees with latest tech and non-tech skills to create a workforce that is ‘Future-Ready’. The award is a testament of YES BANK’s relentless efforts to proactively develop and implement new-age sustainable talent development programs via interactive training sessions and workshops, aimed at accelerating a Future Ready work environment.”

YES BANK focuses on building a high quality robust Human Capital talent pool by adopting a Knowledge & hands-on Training driven approach for giving the bank a sustained competitive advantage. Training initiatives such as YES D.I.C.E Workshop (Design Thinking, Innovation, Creativity led Entrepreneurship) for senior leaders aimed at reinforce and reiterate the value addition of DICE; Mobile Gamification learning modules; Professional Certifications for workforce across business units; Role based certifications and most importantly ‘Future-Ready’ skilling initiatives including new-age tech skills that let employees skill-up at an organizational level.

YES SCHOOL OF BANKING (YSB), the Learning & Development function of YES BANK, ensures conceptualization and deployment of learning solutions that meet business, employee and customer requirements through continued improvement in employee skillset, tech and service quality. Key Human Capital, Organizational Development and Learning initiatives at YES BANK are domiciled under the aegis of YES SCHOOL OF BANKING (YSB), institutionalized in 2007 with a vision to build the Capacity, Capability and Confidence of our Human Capital for making YES BANK the 'Finest Quality Large Bank in India by 2020'.

CRY’s Analysis Reflects A Steady Rise In Sexual Offences Against Children in India; Every 15 Minutes, a Sexual Offence is Committed Against a Child in India

The country rages over the horrid instance of the gang rape and murder of the eight-year-old in Kathua, and similar incidents that were reported from other parts of the country. These, however, are not stand-alone incidents, as for a long time now sexual offences against children have been on a steady rise, reports CRY – Child Rights and You.

In a cumulative analysis, it revealed a significant increase in crimes against minors of more than 500% over the past 10 years (1,06,958 in 2016 over 18,967 in 2006). Further retrospective comparison within the mentioned timeframe points at a sharper rate of rise in the latter quadrennium (2012 to 2016) than that recorded in the former lustrum (2006 to 2011). National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data suggests that crime against children in India has increased by a staggering 14% between 2015 and 2016.

As per a 2016 analysis of crimes under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, sexual offences accounted for 1/3rd of all crimes against children in India. It is alarming to note that a sexual offence is committed against a child in India every 15 minutes.

Going by the nature of crimes and categories those were booked under, child rape is the second largest category of crime against children in terms of number of reported cases, amounting to more than 18% of all crimes, while kidnapping and abduction (K&A) tops the list accounting for more than half of the total number of crimes (51.1%, number of crimes 54723) as recorded in 2016. All crimes under POCSO Act constitute around 33% of total crimes against children. The number of sexual offences registered against children increased by an alarming 300% over the last 5 years.

Speaking about the worrying trend of crime against children, Komal Ganotra, Director Policy & Advocacy at CRY said, “Though the topic has been debated and deliberated at length for quite some time now, in the wake of increased incidences of crime against children , what we really lack is an all-encompassing concerted action by all duty bearers . We have consistently fallen short with not having robust prevention mechanism, poor awareness on the issue, failure in rolling out rigorous policies and programs, poor conviction rates and in inadequate budgetary allocation for child protection”   “It is non-negotiable for the state and other duty bearers to equip themselves in recognising the risks involved, and put robust preventive and responsive systems and processes to assess and eliminate the same,” she added.

Top 5 states for sexual offences (NOT ONLY POCSO)
Uttar Pradesh
Accounts for 14% of all sexual offences in the country
Maharashtra
Accounts for 13% of all sexual offences in the country
Madhya Pradesh
Accounts for 13% of all sexual offences in the country
West Bengal
Accounts for 6% of all sexual offences in the country
Odisha
Accounts for 5% of all sexual offences in the country

Looking at the concentration of reported incidents across the states, more than 50% of crimes against children have been recorded in just five states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi UT and West Bengal. While Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 15% of recorded crimes against children, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh closely follow with 14% and 13% respectively. It is also a matter of grave concern that in 11 out 36 states and UTs, more than 50% of the offences against children are sexual offences and in 25 out of 36 states and UTs more than 1/3rd of the crimes against children are sex crimes. 

BRITZO Unveils 'Make in India' Mobile Phone Brand iVVO; Priced Between Rs 649 and Rs 5,999

In a landmark move that intends to catalyze rural digitization, BRITZO has launched its smart mobile phone brand ‘iVVO’ in India. The brand launch has been followed by the rollout of eight smart 2G feature phones by iVVO that are segmented across five product categories, namely BEATZ, PRIMO, SELFEE, TUFF, and VOLT. The company will also be launching of its first 4G feature phone ‘Skipper’ along with two Android Go 4G smartphones belonging to the smartphone series ‘Storm’. All of the launched products are priced from Rs. 649 to Rs. 5,999 and extend superlative features aimed at the rural population – including multilingual support, feature phone-based WhatsApp and Wi-Fi tethering, facial recognition, shatterproof smartphone screens.

As part of the initial product rollout, three smart feature phones have been launched under the product category BEATZ, two each under PRIMO, one each under TUFF, VOLT, and SELFEE. The entire product range comes with a mix and match of unconventional features such as smart applications, K-type box speakers, shock-proof designs, wireless FM, long-lasting battery life, automatic call recording, and one-touch music access. iVVO is also planning to launch its first 4G feature phone ‘Skipper’ with WhatsApp and Wi-Fi tethering capabilities. In order to boost digital adoption and customer convenience, the company has provided multilingual support for English & several regional languages such as Hindi and Urdu and supports other 22 Indian languages in a readable format.

The brand is also rolling out its visually-appealing and feature-intensive 4G smartphones ‘Storm Lite’ and ‘Storm Pro’. The two smartphones host top-of-the-line specs including the latest Android Oreo (Go edition), 8MP front camera with dual selfie flash, 8MP rear camera with flash and auto-focus, shatterproof screen. They also come loaded with ‘face unlock’ facial recognition feature that enables its users to unlock their smartphones by merely looking at it. The two variants are available with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage space and 2GB RAM and 16GB storage space (expandable up to 128 GB). Both of the devices are based on the Android Go operating system that extends the latest Oreo 8.1 software with an assured OS version update and have been priced at Rs. 4,999 and 5,999 respectively.

Commenting on the launch, Pradipto Ganguly, CEO & Co founder, BRITZO said, “BRITZO has recognized critical pain points of rural consumers and extensively worked towards developing more evolved alternatives to traditional mobile phones. We are very delighted to announce the launch of iVVO, which is a direct outcome of our research and innovation-driven approach, and are confident that the brand will emerge as the flag-bearer of digitization in rural India.”

He added, “Besides offering unmatched features, we have also worked on the pricing and have simultaneously enhanced our channel partnerships and aftersales services to offer a superb customer experience to our end-users. The brand launch also comes in tandem with the rollout of our first smart 4G feature phone and two evolved 4G smartphone offerings, which is in line with our vision of making superior technology accessible to every Indian.”

iVVO customers will be able to enjoy a huge repository of songs and videos, bundled with the brand’s exclusive 201-day replacement warranty as well as 12+3 month product warranty. BRITZO has already established a strong channel network with 200 direct and indirect partners, 20,000 retailers, and over 900 service outlets. In line with its innovation-driven approach, the company has also introduced multiple industry-firsts such as its program ‘iVVO Smart Parivar’ (a single-point solution for all of its partner distributors for on-boarding, training, and tracking), offer credit insurance and allowing an in-bill settlement of the claims. It is, additionally, going to set up an assembling unit in Greater Noida and is planning to mobilize Rs. 100 crores towards the Make in India initiative.

Zeven’s AEON Unveils New Range Footwear Packs in Fun, Fashion and Functionality

With temperatures set to sizzle this summer, Zeven, a multidimensional sportswear brand is revving-up the affordable fashion circuit with an ‘athleisure’ collection for women – AEON. AEON which means “life” is synonymous to the spirit of women worldwide.

The brand’s 2018 spring summer athleisure collection for Women highlights its distinctive philosophy of making sport a part of everyday life. The AEON collection offers the best of athleisure, a growing trend of sporting athletic attire. 

Designed to perform, the AEON collection fits right into the bandwidth of a customer with minimalistic yet functional footwear choices, who likes the elements of being sporty yet enjoys the feel of perfectly fitting shoes that can be worn for light activity or a fun evening out.

AEON is all about Fun, Fashion & Functionality!
Aeon’s minimalist design packs in a surprising amount of functionality that is suited for a wide age range of customers – from sprightly teens to active middle aged women. Weighing just 220 grams, the light weighted pair is made with a stretchable mesh in the forepart, making the shoes fit comfortably like a pair of gloves. Strategically placed elastic around the topline holds the foot of various widths. Perforated insole underneath the foot along with EVA midsole with rubber pods enables the person to walk with a good grip. The punched upper allows breathability and ensures the foot is odorless and perspiration is all natural in hot & humid Indian conditions. The contours are soft and feminine with some distinct design details in the forepart that along with the ZEVEN logo, give it an athleisure look. 

AEON comes in five subtle colors that suits a wide range of summer attire. The athleisure collection is priced at Rs 2150 a pair.

Qubole Releases First Big Data Activation Report Highlighting How Today’s Companies Are Putting Data Into Active Use

New research released today by Qubole, the big data-as-a-service company, based on anonymized data from more than 200 customers, shows that more than three-quarters of companies rely on multiple open source engines to gain insights from their data, while the number of individual users running commands in all three engines has doubled in the last year alone.

The 2018 Big Data Activation Report also reveals that Presto and Apache Spark are the fastest growing engines, with both showing significant spikes in usage. Presto usage has especially surged, experiencing a 420 percent growth in compute hours and 365 percent expansion in total number of commands run.

“What’s most evident from these findings is that organizations are understanding the immense value of data and are adopting new technologies and processes in search for new insights and revenue opportunities,” said Qubole Co-founder and CEO, Ashish Thusoo. “With three-quarters of businesses actively using multiple engines for their data programs, it’s clear that data activation strategies are becoming more nuanced in matching the best tool for the individual job.”

According to the report, Apache Spark also saw a significant increase in both measurements with compute hours growing by 298 percent and overall commands growing by 439 percent. While more modest, Apache Hadoop/Hive did see growth with the number of commands increasing 129 percent throughout the year. Apache Hadoop continued to see the largest number of compute hours however, with 45.5 million hours logged throughout the year.

Additionally, the number of users accessing each platform grew throughout the year, painting a picture of how businesses are making data more accessible, reducing bottlenecks within data teams and addressing the ongoing talent shortage within the data science, engineering and analyst community. Presto saw the largest increase in users running commands on the platform, experiencing a growth of 255 percent in individuals running commands throughout the past year. Apache Spark and Hadoop also both saw significantly more people initiating commands, seeing a growth of 171 percent and 136 percent respectively.

Other key findings from the 2018 Big Data Activation Report included:
The magnitude of big data workloads remains vast: The report shows more than 58 million commands processed across Presto, Apache Hadoop/Hive, and Apache Spark between 2012-2017.

The need for self-sufficiency scales as the company grows: Companies are actively lessening their reliance on administrators as they grow with the report showing an average of 16 users per administrator for small implementations, while medium-sized implementations saw the ratio grow to 48 to 1; and for large-scale implementations it rose to 188 to 1.

Businesses utilizing spot instances to reduce costs: Total usage of Amazon EC2 Spot Instances grew 4.6 times across all three engines since January 2016. Apache Hadoop/Hive 2 saw the highest growth in spot instances per cluster, averaging 61.5 percent and marking a 633 percent growth throughout the year.

New tools are gaining adoption: Almost 30 percent of companies have used Apache Airflow for orchestrating sophisticated data preparation pipelines and operationalizing machine learning using Python code.

The report was released at the Data Platforms Live 2018, the only industry conference focused exclusively on helping data teams build the modern, self-service data platform. This year’s event saw keynote speeches by both Sumit Gupta, VP, AI, Machine Learning and HPC at IBM Cognitive Systems and Ashish Thusoo, Co-founder and CEO at Qubole, who bought their unique insights to how companies can demystify AI and cognitive computing and better implement strategies to gain true business value from their big data programs.

The full report is available here and was based on anonymized data from a sample of over 200 Qubole customers.

Appo Unveils Its Latest F7 Diamond Black Smart Mobile Edition in Bangalore

Oppo has announced the launch of its Oppo F7 Diamond Black 128GB variant in Bangalore, India.This was announced at the Oppo F7 launch event in the city recently, the Diamond Black edition comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. A Solar Red variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage was also due to launch soon. The custom variant adorns a multi-layered metallic and glass back. Subsequently, it is steeply priced at Rs. 26,990 - in contrast, the regular variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage is priced at Rs. 21,990. Starting April 21, the Oppo F7 edition will be available for purchase across Flipkart, Amazon.in, Paytm, and all Oppo offline stores across the country.

Oppo F7 specifications
The dual-SIM (Nano) Oppo F7 runs ColorOS on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. It sports a 6.23-inch full-HD+ (1080x2280 pixels) Full Screen 2.0 display with a 19:9 aspect ratio. The handset is powered by a 64-bit MediaTek Helio P60 SoC, coupled with up to 6GB RAM and up to 128GB of onboard storage.

In terms of camera specifications, the Oppo F7 bears a single 16-megapixel rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture and certain AI recognition features. On the front is a 25-megapixel selfie sensor with f/2.0 aperture and real-time HDR. There is a 3400mAh battery powering the internals from under the hood.

"We always appreciate the feedback of the youth and try and come up with devices that fulfill the demands of our young consumers. We feel the colour of the device will resonate well with the youth as smartphones are an extension of one's personality in today's day and age. With the F7 Diamond Black version we have tried to incorporate an enthralling design with an amazing storage of 128GB to ensure our consumers can store all their precious memories spent with friends and family," said Rishabh Srivastava, Product Manager, OPPO India.

EbixCash Offers you to Buy Gold from your Nearest Kirana Store this Akshay Tritiya

What if one tells you, that you can now walk into the nearest Kirana store in your friendly neighborhood and buy the purest quality gold? EbixCash the country’s pioneer and leading digital payments Fintech, in association with Augmont India, has launched a facility to buy the best quality 24Kt (999) Gold coins by simply walking into any of its 231,500 retail outlets across 5,500 cities, towns and villages.

All that the buyer has to do is walk into the nearest EbixCash’s retail stores, choose the product, make a 20 percent down payment and pay the rest in an EMI spread over 3to9 months. Also, customers have the convenience of physical gold being delivered at the end of the tenure right at their doorstep.

Augmont  is India's biggest and most trusted B2B Bullion supplier, offering top quality gold from their own BIS Accredited Refineries with a purity of 999 (24 karats). While the buyers can currently choose from a variety of gold coins, the platform aims to include jewellery items such as pendants, bracelets, chains and earrings in the near future.

Bhavik Vasa, Chief Growth officer, EbixCash, said, “Physical gold in India is always an emotional, sentimental and religious purchase where trust plays a very critical role. The perfect fusion of the immense goodwill brought in by Augmont with the ease of buying gold through EMI from your neighborhood store is the best way to invest in precious metals.” He added, “With this initiative, we endeavor to empower every individual and help him transition towards a more secured future steadily but in stages with due consideration to his convenience and affordability.”

Ketan Kothari, Director, Augmont, said, “Buying gold is not just a tradition in India, but a proven, solid investment avenue. Contrary to popular perception, gold ownership is higher in rural India than in the metros, indicating that there’s a great demand for smaller denominations and financing support. Being India’s largest gold refiner and jewelry manufacturer, we feel responsible to bring order to a sector that has more than 90% unorganized players that makes quality control almost impossible. Our strong retailer network makes gold available virtually in every pocket and the EMIs make these purchases even simpler. We have curated our offer to ensure that no matter what your pocket size and budget constraints, you can now afford much more gold than you imagine.” 

EbixCash’s association with Augmont gold offers great advantage for individuals who find it difficult to invest a large amount of money in buying gold by encouraging a disciplined practice whereby one can buy gold in grams by making small and regular payments. It also is an excellent savings scheme for middle India and their future aspirations for the yellow metal.

EbixCash offers a range of digital payments and investment solutions, and the company’s association with Augmont India is its latest offering on their ‘Phygital’ network. The idea is to make gold relevant to the country’s last mile.