Yes Bank Raises Rs. 1,930 Crores Through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) Route

Yes Bank, pursuant to the allotment of its equity shares on August 15, 2019, has raised Rs. 1930 crores through the Qualified Institution Placement (QIP) route. The QIP opened on August 08, 2019 and closed on August 14, 2019.

The Bank allotted 23.1 crores equity shares of face value of Rs. 2 each to eligible qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) at Rs 83.55 per Equity Share, in accordance with the pricing formula provided under Regulation 176(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.

The QIP increases the Bank’s Total Capital Adequacy Ratio to 16.2%*, Tier I Ratio to 11.3%* and Core Equity Tier I Ratio to 8.6%*, ensuring that the Bank remains capitalized well above the regulatory limits.

*Post QIP Issuance considering position as at June 30, 2019(including profits for the Q1FY20)

The issue saw strong response from foreign as well as from domestic QIBs. The overall allocation to foreign institutional investors is approximately 34% from USA/Europe, 40% from Asia, and balance from domestic insurance companies and mutual funds highlighting a well-diversified representation and demand from across the world. The QIP also enables a further diversification of the shareholder base of YES BANK.

CLSA India Private Limited, JM Financial Limited, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors Private Limited, Prime Securities Limited and YES Securities (India) Limited were the Global coordinators and Book Running Lead Managers to the QIP issue. The Legal Advisors to the transaction were AZB & Partners, Linklaters Singapore Pte. Ltd. and L&L Partners (formerly known as Luthra & Luthra Law Offices). The Statutory Auditors were BSR & Co LLP.

On the successful completion of the equity allotment, Ravneet Gill, Managing Director and CEO of YES BANK, said, “We are delighted with how our fund raise has been supported by marquee global and domestic investors. We maximised the size to the extent of the (up to) 10% dilution limit currently approved by our shareholders. The success of the QIP is extremely satisfying given the strong global and domestic headwinds and a credit environment beset with challenges. We see this as a strong endorsement by the investor community of the inherent strengths of the YES BANK franchise and its future growth prospects.”

Legal Disclaimer:  These materials are not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia). These materials do not constitute or form a part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States. The Securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”).

The Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. There will be no public offer of securities in the United States.

Voltas.Beko Launches India’s First 5 Star Rated Washing Machines

Voltbek Home Appliances Private Limited (Voltbek) - a JV between India’s No. 1 AC Brand, Voltas and Europe’s leading free standing consumer durables player, Arçelik, launched India’s first 5 Star rated washing machines today. These products provide superior wash quality with minimal water usage and are energy efficient. The brand Voltas.Beko has an extensive range of 5 star rated products including 21 models of Twin Tub, Semi-automatic Washing Machines with Dual Power Rain feature and 2 models of Front Load Washing Machines.

This range of washing machines incorporate Voltas.Beko’s state-of-the-art energy efficient technologies including:

* ProSmart Inverter Motor technology which helps the washing machine provide superior energy efficiency, low mechanical friction, lowers noise levels and improves durability.
* 5 Star rating – Consumes less energy and water, provides better washing
* Home Whiz – Internet enabled machine, connect and operate the washing machine from your smart phone

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Pradeep Bakshi, Managing Director & CEO, Voltas Limited, said, “As a Tata group Company, we have always endeavored to be a frontrunner in introducing technologically advanced products in the market. Right since the introduction of the first energy efficient ACs in 2007, we have ensured that our products are customer centric, made for India, environment friendly and technologically superior. Our 5 star rated washing machines provide customers with superior wash quality with minimal water consumption, and are also available at very attractive prices. With this launch, Voltas.Beko has reinforced its commitment to the environment by bringing the latest IoT enabled green technology to the Indian market.”

Sydney Local Health District Improves Treatment of Back Pain Using Qlik-Powered App

Qlik has announced Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) has utilized the Qlik platform to power its award-winning STARS (Sydney Local Health District Targeted Activity and Reporting System) Back Pain App. The app enables healthcare professionals to treat lower back pain by delivering meaningful data to the frontline.

It is estimated that 540 million people worldwide are affected by back pain at any one time, while in Australia more than 3.7 million people experienced this type of pain. A study by Monash University, indicated that back pain reduces Australia’s GDP by $3.2 billion a year. Within NSW alone, emergency departments (ED) see 50,000 patients for back pain annually. Of these patients, 70 per cent are given opioids despite known harms, 30 per cent receive unnecessary imaging, and 17 per cent are admitted to hospital. These practices are discordant with guideline recommendations.

The STARS Back Pain App provides ED clinicians with key information relevant to the management of lower back pain, whilst also efficiently providing a mechanism to identify and explore any clinical variation. The app is driving positive changes in clinical practice through audit and continuous feedback, helping to avoid the inappropriate use of tests and treatment for lower back pain, which in the past has included the prescription of dangerous opioids.

Benchmarking the Treatment of Lower Back Pain

To create a benchmark, the team set out to collate a strong dataset of existing options for lower back pain management. Standard information such as patients’ demographics, diagnoses, allied health service review, pain medicines used, pathology tests, diagnostic imaging, costs of care and patients’ admission status are all routinely collected in a variety of electronic medical record systems.  Where the STARS Back Pain App differentiates itself is its ability to link these previously siloed data sets in a governed, near real-time manner and present the information back to clinicians through an intuitive interface.

“Building this application in Qlik has brought people in our organization together and started some really valuable conversations. Through the collaboration of our research team with the clinicians and performance unit, we can now see what part of the intervention worked, what didn't, and what we can change moving forward. One of the best things about this app is that each individual can ask their own questions, interrogate the data, and arrive at conclusions without doing extensive and time-consuming audits,” said Dr Bethan Richards, Director of Rheumatology at RPA Hospital who led a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, researchers and IT specialists, to design the STARS Back Pain App.

Information Sharing to Improve Patient Outcomes

In use across three participating emergency departments across NSW including RPA Hospital, Concord Repatriation General Hospital and Canterbury Hospital, the STARS Back Pain App provides clinicians with a summary of patients with lower back pain while highlighting clinical variations. Through access to the app, healthcare professionals can now compare data across hospitals, which ignites conversations about trends, prescription rates and overall patient care.

“With the type of benchmarking now available, clinicians can see how they're performing against other hospitals,” said Charlie Farah, Director, Healthcare & Public Sector APAC at Qlik. “This leads to changes in behavior without intervention. Healthcare professionals have been empowered to start asking questions on their own and debunk myths they have about their performance: Why are we different? Is it that we're getting sicker patients at this hospital versus another hospital? The data initiates a conversation and starts to create its own momentum.”

Initiating Actionable Change

In addition to having access to the data, the SLHD team knew clinicians needed the tools necessary to act on the information and trends they were identifying. A new model of care for back pain was implemented and educational resources for both doctors and patients were created to help encourage the use of other effective, safe, pain management strategies rather than simply using strong opioid medicines. Having access to data also empowered clinicians to provide counsel to their patients on possible treatments and recovery timelines, thus enabling them to make more informed decisions.

“Data can be used for evidence-based management of back pain, which means we can ensure our patients are receiving the best care possible. In addition, clinicians are more likely to use the platform because it gives them a view on their own real-world data. The data is in front of them and ready to be leveraged. The app has already changed the way clinicians in our trial are treating patients,” said Dr Gustavo Machado, Research Fellow at the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health’s NHMRC who led the emergency department trial of the app.

Building on the success of the STARS Back Pain app, SLHD is currently working with the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation on rolling it out across all NSW emergency departments and has commenced work with Monash University to begin a similar project in Victoria. Moving forward, the District is also looking at other ways to extend the use of technology and analytics outside of back pain to other areas of clinical practice which could benefit from such analytics and insights.

Trend Micro Nurtures Global Cyber Security Talent Development

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced its fifth annual Capture The Flag (CTF) competition. The Trend Micro CTF 2019 – Raimund Genes Cup invites teams from around the world to test their skills in today’s most critical areas of security risk. This cornerstone event is one of many ways Trend Micro is working to equip cybersecurity talent in the workforce.

The annual global CTF helps participants develop and hone their skills in today’s most critical areas of need, including forensics and exploitation, IoT, reverse engineering, open source intelligence, mobile, and machine learning. Teams face challenges that involve these key areas, providing real-world practice with critical scenarios.

“Without enough equipped professionals across the globe to actually implement security solutions for all businesses, then the attackers will win,” said Hernan Armbruster, senior vice president, Americas & Strategic Products for Trend Micro. “Growing talent across the board is a necessity to help the world be safer for exchanging digital information. As an industry leader, we strive to do our part to add strong practitioners through this event along with many other global initiatives.”

This year’s Global CTF consists of two rounds, an online qualifier and the finals. Taking place on September 7-8 (Japan time), the online qualifier will include Jeopardy style questions that challenge teams to solve various security problems quickly. The top 10 teams will qualify for the finals, which will take place in Tokyo, Japan on November 23-24. This year’s finals will utilize a new “Dynamic Value” Jeopardy format to further test the teams’ skills.

The winning team from the finals receives JPY1,000,000, which is about USD $9,000. Additionally, each player from the winning team receives 15,000 Zero Day Initiative Rewards Program points, which helps program submitters earn exclusive awards and benefits. The second and third place teams receive JPY300,000 and JPY200,000, which is nearly USD $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.

“A lack of qualified professionals is the most consistent security concern we hear from businesses,” said Mark Liggett, senior security analyst from Tulane University. “Trend Micro is one of very few global companies that is actively working to help change this. Equipping new professionals from all walks of life is key to helping more businesses effectively manage their security stack and mitigate the risk of attack.”

Trend Micro hosts and supports more than 50 similar competitions each year around the world, including the main global event, and hosts 15 contests in collaboration with the Organization of American States, which are specific to women across the Americas.

Additionally, the company recruits and trains new cybersecurity professionals in five global centers around the world. In total, these centers will support the development of more than 2,500 new cybersecurity professionals by 2022.

To further grow diversity and skills in the industry, Trend Micro is also a global partner with Girls in Tech to encourage security education among their network of female professionals.

To register a team for the online qualifier, please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/campaigns/capture-the-flag.html.

Five Gifting Ideas for Men’s Grooming Day Celebration on August 19!

August 19 is celebrated as ‘Men’s Grooming Day’. So, here is an easy guide on choicest gifts you could offer grooming conscious gentleman in your life. Right from accessories to grooming kits, perfumes and much more!

1)  Park Avenue Gift set

Add to his accessory collection by gifting him the Park Avenue Gift set that is available in various colours. The set includes a tie in an unconventional design with matching cufflinks adorned with a semi-precious stone. It comes in a sleek gift box adding to its regal appeal.

Price – Rupees 1,350

2) Forest Essentials Gift Box

Especially curated for men, this comprehensive grooming collection features high-performance  skin care essentials including a Face Wash  made with gentle, naturally derived foaming agents that leave the skin feeling clean without drying it out, a hydrating Moisturizer and an After shave spray infused with Sandalwood & Orange Peel.  It is the perfect gift for the men who like to take care of their skin.

Price- Rupees 4,275

3) Park Avenue Grooming Gift Collection

The Park Avenue Grooming Gift Collection includes a shaving gel, deo, after-shave lotion, face wash, styling gel and beer shampoo.  All which are absolutely necessary for a gentleman who values being well-groomed.

Price- Rupees 748

4) Raymond Gift Box

This gift box by Raymond includes a tie, cufflinks coupled with Raymond Eau De Parfum (50ml). It is the perfect gifting solution for grooming conscious men. A tie and cufflinks help a man look dapper whereas the right fragrance adds to the appeal of the entire ensemble.

Price - Rupees 2,499

5) Beardo Combo Gift Box

Beardo Gift Box contains the essentials required for maintaining a good beard. It is indeed one of the important aspects of grooming with regards to men.  It contains a beard oil, beard wash and a moustache wax stick.

Price- Rupees 980

JK Tyre Expands India Footprint with the Opening of 500th Brand Shop

In a landmark achievement bolstering its position as the definitive leader in the Indian tyre industry, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd inaugurated its 500th Brand Shop – JK Tyre Steel Wheels Centre in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Strengthening the tyre major’s PAN India network, the launch is a reaffirmation of JK Tyre’s vision of expanding its visibility and availability across the country to efficiently cater to the expanding car and SUV tyre segment. 

JK Tyre’s Brand Shops are purpose-built with customer centricity at their core and serve as a one-stop destination for the company’s all-round tyre portfolio and innovative service solutions. With a strategy in place to be available where its customers are, JK Tyre’s Brand Shops are already present in all metros as well as commercial hubs in India. The company is now aggressively expanding its presence across Tier 2 cities and towns to ensure availability to its brand loyalists in the country’s hinterlands.

Concurrently, JK Tyre is ramping up its R&D investments to lead by innovation and reinventing the tyre. To this end, JK Tyre recently ventured into the world of connected mobility with the launch of Smart Tyre technology - TREEL Sensor. These sensors are now available across the network of JK Tyre’s 500 brand shops in India.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Vikram Malhotra, Marketing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd said, “We are delighted to celebrate the milestone opening of our 500th brand shop, JK Tyre Centre in Muzaffarpur. As pioneers of radial technology in the country, this adds yet another feather to our cap and is a testimony to our commitment to providing top-of-the-line customer experience with a widespread presence across India. It is our vision to build the most robust retail network to optimize our availability in every location where demand exists. In less than two years, we have added over 300 brand shops, a reflection of our leadership in the after-sales market. We are confident that our expansive retail network will bring our brand closer to our customers and add cheer to their lives through new products offerings and innovative solutions.”

In 2016, JK Tyre became the first Indian tyre manufacturer to sell 10 million Truck and Bus radial tyres in India. JK Tyre has evolved as a 360-degree service solutions provider and is currently the No. 1 franchise network that provides tyre care solutions through its network of service centres spread across the country. With the inauguration of this Steel Wheels Centre, the company now has 372 Steel Wheels and 128 Xpress Wheels Centers in India.  

Puravankara and Makkala Jagriti to Give Government School a Makeover

With a growing focus on supporting and providing education with a meaning, Puravankara has always been in the forefront to leverage the existing capabilities and expertise of various organisations to create viable impact in the community. On the similar lines Puravankara Limited and the Makkala Jagriti, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) today come together to give the government school at Hunasamaranahalli village in Bangalore a new look.

On August 15, 2019 Puravankara Limited completes 44 glorious years on the realty landscape of India. To celebrate this momentous number, the employees of Puravankara and Makkala Jagriti visited the government school at the Hunasamaranahalli village with an intent to create a conducive learning environment which motivates the students to learn quickly.

The employees of Puravankara along with employees of Makkala Jagriti took on the clean-up drive in and around school. The employees painted murals on the walls of the premises under the guidance of an artist. The theme was sports & learning, and the employees depicted different sport activities, yoga and games (that enhance reading, writing, listening and speaking skills) in the murals.  The objective is to bring in information about the subjects they are taught in school and to have a better understanding of the topics.

Speaking on the collaboration Amanda Puravankara, Director of Provident Housing Limited, said, “We, at Puravankara, firmly believe that education is the first step to building a good society. Quality education is like a strong foundation. This initiative aligns with our Founder and Chairman Ravi Puravankara’s vision of giving back to the society through education of the children. We are glad to partner with Makkala Jagriti to make the learning more fun and engaging for students and at the same time give our employees a platform to engage with communities. Going forward, Puravankara will continue on the path of being committed to being a valued partner in the community and contribute viability to create a lasting impact in larger ecosystem. Starting from this year, the Week of 15th August, every year, will be deemed as the ‘Week of Giving’ and we will take this program to every city across the country.”

Flag Hoisting Ceremony at Manipal Hospitals on the Occasion of India's 73rd Independence Day

Manipal  Hospitals saluting the nation and its freedom fighters on the eve of its 73rd Independence Day by holding a unique march past highlighting the cultural diversity of India.

Every year on 15th August the country celebrates freedom from the British rule. As we celebrate independence, we also celebrate the rich Indian culture and tradition. Independence Day is a national holiday and is celebrated with much passion across the nation.

According to Mr.Salil Jain an Industrialist, an Educationist, a Cancer Survivor and a Cancer Survivorship Coach – We Indian have become self-reliant in many fields like science, airways and in healthcare industry. Manipal Hospitals has worked very well & contributed so much to the country. By launching new technologies, Providing services based on scientific knowledge and best practice & Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences.

"Let us together pledge for a New India & Cancer free India. Jai Hind Jai Bharat.

Hyperlocal Connectivity App ‘Bhonga’ Teams Up with Ex-Army Men

Bhonga, a hyper-local connectivity app which connects users within a kilometer of radius; has now teamed up with ex-servicemen to take care of emergencies on its platform. The user can use the app to reach out to everyone around for posting messages which may be an emergency, an offer, a query or even an opinion or information which he believes may be of help to people around him. The app only shares location coordinates for security and anonymity reasons and supports photos and audio.

Radhika Agarwal, Director, Linkus Infratech said; “Reliability, discipline, commitment to work and the eagerness to take responsibility are the traits that make defense personnel perfectly on top of the form for administering the emergencies on the platform. Thus, we decided to have ex-servicemen scrutinize all the emergencies shared on the app."

The team will be led by ex-military Captain Mahendra Gopal Ghag who has served the Indian Army for 32 years. Captain Ghag will now guide the citizens facing various kinds of emergencies. The team is also keen to travel across Mumbai if needed.

Commenting on the same Captain Ghag said; “Every year 60,000 soldiers retire with little option but to take up miscellaneous security jobs. I feel that Bhonga can not only leverage the experience of retired armed forces personnel but also offer valuable help to the locality and at the same time offer a great opportunity to army men to live a meaningful life by serving the nation”

Linkus Infratech plans to partner with the Army Welfare Placement Organization (AWPO), which comes under the Ministry of Defence, to enable and empower army veterans and encourage them to come and help the civilians.

“The app is meant to empower citizens and ex-servicemen monitoring emergencies would multiply the value of the platform. We plan to have 37 ex-servicemen monitoring every constituency of Mumbai on our payrolls by the end of FY 2020-21” concluded Radhika.  

Estimation and Tendering Software ‘EASY-BID’ to Embrace Most Infrastructure Projects in India

India’s leading end-to-end Information Technology (IT) solutions provider for the infrastructure industry, Highbar Technocrat Ltd accelerates ‘Easy-Bid’ - its next-generation ‘Estimation and Tendering’ software. With a 360-degree view of the overall project cost, Easy-Bid can streamline the estimation process and increase efficiency.

Estimation is one of the core processes for the Engineering, Construction & Operations (EC&O) industry. Traditionally, knowledge and information while preparing estimates resided with individual estimators. Dependence on individuals, improper planning and missing costs etc. often led to inaccurate estimates and budget escalations during estimation. Accessing of historical information quickly and easily, ensuring apt assessments in item rates, lump sum, cost plus and cover for all models like BOT, EPC, etc. for a time-bound submission makes the task complex and challenging.

“Trying out various estimation scenarios manually/ with excel sheets/ improper software requires a lot of time and efforts. Given the time crunch, companies must not miss the opportunity and get an accurate estimation. Dependence on individuals, improper planning and missing costs lead to inaccurate estimates and budget escalations during estimation. Highbar Technocrat has demonstrated expertise in handling end-to-end business transformation for private, public and government sectors. Our depth of understanding of the infrastructure and construction domain covering both urban and industrial infrastructure has enabled us to offer future-ready and fool-proof Estimation and Tendering insights for our prestigious customer” said Ashok Wani – Head Innovation and Technology, Highbar Technocrat.

Easy-Bid a productivity enhancement solution is a very user-friendly solution. It reduces the learning curve for the users to a great extent and stabilizes the system in a short period. Highbar, with its alliance partners, provides estimation solution which covers all scenarios of estimation and tendering. Integration with major ERPs facilitates the use of estimate data during the execution phase. The resource libraries enable to store the knowledge and information of experts and make it part of the system. Multiple users can work parallelly on the same projects and components saving time.

This Rakshabandhan, Capture the Best Moments on TECNO PHANTOM 9

Within the sweet-spot price segment of INR 6-15 K, there is a stiff competition in the Indian smartphone market. TECNO is one such brand that has been constantly improvising the segment by pushing norms to make advanced camera technology and meaningful localized features available to consumers at a competitive price-points, ever since the brand’s launch in 2017

Post the success of CAMON i4 which led the crown of best smartphone with triple rear camera under 10K, the brand has taken another step forward recently by launching its Flagship ‘PHANTOM 9’ available on Flipkart in India.

Priced at INR 14999, what makes TECNO PHANTOM 9 a bang-for-the-buck smartphone is its in-display fingerprint sensor, 6GB+ 128GB configuration and Hair Crack Dual LED Front Flashlight, which isn’t available in any other smartphone in this segment.  It is designed for today’s tech savvy millennials who do not want to compromise on style along with advanced features, without going too deep in their pockets.

With a small dot notch display and minimal bezels, the design of TECNO PHANTOM 9 offers a premium feel with its dual-tone gradient finish & Lapland Aurora inspired styling. The device features a bright and colorful 6.4-inch full HD+ AMOLED display. The phone is slim and weighs around 164 grams, making it ultra-light and easy to carry.

‘Camera’ being the core strength of TECNO, the PHANTOM 9 ticks every box of premium smartphone camera features that today’s youth looks for while buying a smartphone. TECNO PHANTOM 9 possesses a triple rear camera setup with Super Quad LED flash comprising of a 16MP primary sensor, 2MP depth sensor and an 8MP Ultra wide-lens captures 120°cinematic shots, it has an additional feature of microspur that supports focusing on objects within 2.5 cm. This collectively help capture superior quality images with ample detailing and brighter pictures irrespective of low light conditions. The front camera is equipped with a 32MP high resolution selfie camera that uses the second generation of camera technology ‘4-in-1’ pixel for high-definition resolution. The unique Dual Flashlight ensures brighter, more stunning selfies irrespective of any scenes, especially lowlight ones. You can also tweak the brightness of the flash upfront by a simple swipe up/down gesture on the camera app. The selfie snapper supports features like HDR, Beauty, Wide Selfie, Animoji, and Night Algorithm 2.0. Using these features, one can capture some appealing and powerful selfies.

Talking about the performance, TECNO PHANTOM 9 comes with a 3,500 mAh battery and 12nm technology based Octa-core processor which makes the smartphone faster and power efficient. Running on Android 9.0 Pie, the phone boots the HiOS 5.0 and provides user-friendly features such as Quick Toolbar, Smart Panel, and Reading mode.

Overall, TECNO PHANTOM 9 is a great piece of innovation packed with high-end features. The versatile triple rear-camera, 32MP selfie camera, and super responsive in-display fingerprint are the key highlights of the product, making it the most desirable smartphone under this price bracket. To top it all, TECNO PHANTOM 9 comes with an exceptional promise of “111” under which a consumer is entitled to a 1-time screen replacement for six months, 100 days’ free replacement, and 1-month extended warranty, which is yet again a unique service promise in the online space.

IEEE Innovators Offer Inspired Approaches to E-waste Globally

As technology advances rapidly, the question of how to sustainably manufacture new products and how to dispose of old ones are both of increasing importance. After all, the average lifespan of devices is shrinking, and the United Nations is projecting that people will generate 52.2 million metric tons of e-waste globally by 2021.

New Opportunities

When we talk about our waste problem with experts in the IEEE community, a recurring idea is that these resourcing questions present a series of opportunities to innovate in other ways. Kaikai Xu, IEEE Senior member, Professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, is adamant on this front: “Opportunities often coexist with challenges,” he says. An example on Xu’s mind? “We will save a lot of energy and materials if we can reduce the power consumption and size of chips in the semiconductor industry, as there is a huge demand for electronic products all over the world. There will be a huge market for the design of low-power chips.”

For Paige Kassalan, IEEE Graduate Student member, “One industry that has a lot of opportunity is building and construction. For Solar Impulse, we had very efficient insulation to keep the pilots in a bearable temperature at 8.5km. That insulation is now used in refrigerators to allow for less energy to be lost.” Through advances in research and manufacturing, we can decrease the amount of material needed to produce items (meaning less waste), as well as make those items more efficient (meaning less energy use). Already, smart manufacturing is developing rapidly. The concept revolves around using an integrated computing platform that encompasses the full production process – engineering, manufacturing and delivery. By creating a holistic set of data, efficiency can be greatly improved.

Using Sensors and Data

Sensors, data and software have roles to play both in manufacturing and waste disposal. Disposing of waste has long been a complex issue. After all, no one wants to live near a landfill, or to have other people’s trash brought into their neighborhood. The issue gets exacerbated as electronic materials like chips, batteries and screens enter the waste stream. As a result, “Waste management and disposal continues to increase in costs while trying to adhere to tighter constraints to remain environmentally sustainable,” says Karen Panetta, IEEE Fellow and Dean of Graduate Education at Tufts University. Environmental regulation and cost pressures are helping drive innovation in making technologies smaller, as well as making the production process less wasteful. While this stands to improve the future, there’s still the question of disposing of many outdated electronics, which can be hazardous if handled improperly. To address health concerns, Panetta says, “some of the newest technological advances are utilizing low-cost sensor technologies and wireless communications to measure the decay in landfills and to monitor waste flow in open water and the effects on wildlife, humans and the environment.”

By using sensors to get tangible numbers, it becomes easier to make better policy decisions when it comes to waste, according to Panetta. And that doesn’t just apply to sites that contain e-waste – it’s also applicable to all types of landfill contents, as well as local infrastructure like drinking water. “For instance,” Panetta says, “consider the water quality issues that plagued cities in Michigan. Engineers took the initiative to collect the data, work with residents to conduct the water testing and proved to the municipality that there was a true health issue, which contradicted the municipality’s position. The results and conclusions from this data science approach were indisputable.”

Adfactors PR, upGrad Team Up for Training 300 PR Professionals in Digital Mktg, Comms

India’s largest PR firm Adfactors PR has signed a MoU with leading education company upGrad to train 300 of its client-servicing employees in a post-graduate certification program on digital marketing and communications. The core program has been designed by experts from MICA, India’s premier marketing focused B-School, with additional modules co-created with Adfactors PR, for PR professionals.

The objective of this transformational initiative is to foster a 360-degree digital ecosystem-readiness within the firm by building a deep understanding of social media, online reputation management, multimedia content capabilities, content marketing, digital analytics, campaign planning, and digital crisis management skills.

While the first batch of over 100 employees, drawn from the Delhi and Bengaluru offices of Adfactors PR, have already started their training, two other batches of 100 each will start from 16th August and 1st October, respectively. The course will have participation across levels from Account Executives to Vice-Presidents.

The entire program is funded by Adfactors PR for all its employees. The Phase 1 of this program, to be completed by June 2020, will be followed by Phase 2, where the remaining 300 client-servicing executives will complete this training.

upGrad Co-founder & Managing Director Mayank Kumar said, “Adfactors PR’s endeavour is the largest digital transformation initiative that we have seen from a non-IT company. This unique enterprise partnership fits in wonderfully with upGrad’s own vision that in an ever-changing industry, professionals need to continuously upskill themselves in order to stay relevant. We are extremely happy to see that a new-age PR firm is also committed to a similar goal.”

Adfactors PR Co-founder and Managing Director Madan Bahal said, “As India’s leading PR firm, we have to be future-ready to meet the evolving needs of our clients. For our employees, such comprehensive education will serve as a bridge to migrate to the digital future. By March 2021, we expect every single employee of the firm to have post-graduate capabilities in digital marketing and communications.”

Bahal adds “We chose upGrad as our digital training partner after a comprehensive evaluation exercise. We found the course best in class from the options available – contemporary and enriched by industry expertise. The upGrad enterprise team was very helpful in successfully launching this program tailored to our needs.

The course will allow learners’ unparalleled guidance from key industry experts, dedicated student mentors and engaging interactive activities with peers at special offline base camps, and a chance to network with 2,000-plus digital marketers and experts. It entails a structured curriculum of 8-12 hours of learning modules per week for each course.

MICA, Chairperson – Online Programs, Dr. Anita Basalingappa said, "Continuous updating of knowledge and skills is a given in today's times. We at MICA look forward to enabling more such partnerships in collaboration with upGrad".

Adfactors PR: Founded in 1997, Adfactors PR is India’s largest and most-awarded PR firm. The consultancy services over 380 retained clients, including some of the largest corporations and financial institutions – both Indian and multinational. The firm is founded on values such as freedom and empowerment, transparency, continuous learning, customer-centricity, simplicity and humility.

A multi-specialist, full-service firm, Adfactors PR has a market-leading position in multiple practice areas, including strategic communications, financial communications, media relations, advocacy, litigation and crisis communications. The firm has expertise across a range of sectors, which represent critical components of the Indian economy.

Adfactors PR has a professional staff of over 700, who operate out of a network of 40 locations in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Five Companies Making Human and Technology Collaborate

When humans collaborate with technology, magic happens. Shifting focus from the competition and on to the co-existence between automation amongst other advanced technologies and the human workforce, allows the ambitious organisations of today to be future-ready. Some of the leading tech-driven enterprises have been giving the extra edge to human talent, helping them unlock their greatest potential. Let’s find out more:

LogMeIn creating Bot + Human harmony through Bold360

Chatbots and humans have very different and distinctive strengths that can be leveraged to create unprecedented synergies for achieving the goals and objectives. LogMeIn, one of the world’s top 10 public SaaS companies, is making the most of what each has to offer through its customer engagement solution – Bold360.

The chatbots by Bold360 not only take care of addressing customer queries round the clock and offering resolutions with a smile but also work overtime behind the scenes, advising agents for better customer outcomes. As the industry's most tightly integrated agent and bot solution, Bold360 ensures a seamless transition from bot to agent in the same chat window or across channels of engagement for seamless customer experience.

And that’s not all! The AI-powered bots by Bold360 assist the agent's workflow and recommend content to use for greater efficiency and better outcomes. Agents will have the information they need, when they need it, for the ultimate assistance. Lastly, with bots by their side, newly hired agents are never alone. Because of the extra help powered by AI, agent training time and costs can be substantially reduced. And as interactions with customers become more positive and productive, job satisfaction increases.

Staqu is empowering the Indian police with AI assistance

The police forces are entrusted with the crucial task of ensuring optimum security, curbing crime before it even occurs, and yet have not been provided with any major tech advancements. However, the Gurgaon-based AI start-up, Staqu has taken up the important task of empowering police forces at Ground 0 with its proprietary AI-enabled solution.

Staqu disrupted the status quo with the launch of AI-enabled app for the police forces that not only helped them digitise the existing criminal and missing people records but also retrieve the information in real-time at routine patrolling, checkpoints, for tenant verification etc. Staqu, furthermore, launched its AI software on Smart Glasses for the police forces to ensure optimum security at live events like political rallies, conferences, processions and more.

The solution by Staqu is currently live at Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. The latest Uttar Pradesh launch (Trinetra) comes with trailblazing innovations like Geo-Fencing and Hotspot analysis that assist police forces in generating the most optimum leads right when the crime is committed or person is reported missing. With Gang Analysis, the solution also helps the task forces nab other members of the gang, who may be active in other districts. The approach is only made better with GAIT Analysis that utilise the video surveillance footage to nab criminals with their distinctive mannerisms of walking.

Human agents as bot builders at Haptik

Helmed as India’s largest conversational AI platform, Haptik has designed and deployed over 100 chatbots, managing more than 1.2 Million daily messages. While these stats alone speak for the growth prospects of chatbots in the market, it is also intriguing to observe the fine amalgamation between human agents & chatbots.

The company’s unique model utilized the expertise of human agents in training chatbots to adequately handle various queries by users. Instead of fearing for their jobs becoming obsolete, human agents become an integral part of the process, helping Haptik enhance the chat experience. As of today, over 100 such human agents have graduated to handle the responsibilities of bot builders, trainers, QA and more. They continue to work in tandem with the machine learning and other technical teams, to deliver a perfect experience.

The ‘I’ in Surveillance, ONVU Technologies

Innovative, intelligent, and efficient – there’s little doubt why ONVU Technologies is, perhaps, the ‘eye’ in surveillance. The technology vendor provides AI- and video-analytics-enabled solutions via its subsidiary, ONVU Learning, to schools and colleges. This drives an effective and non-intrusive teacher training amongst academic institutions, ultimately enhancing the learning curve of students and causing persistent skill development of the teachers. Its other subsidiary Oncam leverages the same technology for industry surveillance and cloud-based business intelligence, a system which has been deployed across convention centres (such as India Habitat Centre), art galleries and museums, restaurants (such as U.S.-based Burger King), logistics companies, traffic departments, and smart as well as safe cities (such as Samastipur), etc.

Amplifying User Engagements, Amplify:

Delivering an unparalleled customer experience is the key to success for present-day enterprises. Failing to do so, furthermore, these days invite a severe online backlash, which would make it difficult for the companies to recuperate from. To the same end, Amplify.ai, a Noida- and Silicon Valley-based company has developed the world's first and only enterprise-class AI solution to cater to customer queries and drive user engagement while also gauging first-hand user-centric data and brand perception through sentiment analysis. The company is working towards helping customer-facing employees to decode complex human emotions by leveraging Tensor Flow, a machine learning library, in addition to existing data sets of the chatbots' conversations with 200+ million end-users. Brands have a clear pay-off in understanding human emotions. The approach, furthermore, enables a brand to create consistent and personalized messaging for every user and enhance customer engagement.

Jio GigaFiber Offers Free FullHD TV for Jio Forever Plan Users: Mukesh Ambani at AGM 2019

JIOFIBER is now official.  Reliance Jio will provide free FullHD TV or a Home PC to users who opt for Jio Forever Plan. This announcement was made by Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) where he revealed details of the JIOFIBER launch.

The JIOFIBER is launching on September 5 and while the details are still not fully revealed Ambani has said that customers who opt for long-term JIOFIBER plans will get free TVs. This plan is called "Jio Fiber Welcome plan".

Under the JIOFIBER Welcome offer Reliance Jio will give users a free FullHD TV. For now, the details of TV brands are not yet revealed. It is also not known if the TVs will entirely be free or if there will be a security deposit before customers get it. Ambani has just revealed that the free TVs are part of Jio Welcome Offer that the company will be rolling out for early JIOFIBER users.

Let's take a quick look at everything we know about JIOFIBER Welcome offer right now:

--With Jio Welcome Offer, JIOFIBER users will have the option to get a free FullHD TV when GigaFiber services launch on September 5.

--Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani said that JIOFIBER users will get a free FullHD TV with long term plans.

--For now no other details like the brand of the TV have been revealed.

--JIOFIBER will launch on September 5 and will come with speed of up to 1Gbps.

--The price of the Forever plan hasn't been revealed yet. The company has confirmed that Forever plan is an annual pack.

For now, details of the Jio Fiber Welcome offer are scarce. Reliance Jio is expected to announce everything about the Welcome offer when the service goes official on September 5. Right now all we know is Jio will offer free TV to users opting for Jio Forever plan. The price of the Jio Forever plan is yet to be revealed by the company.

Jio also hasn't revealed whether the users will need to pay a security deposit or not to get the free TV. There are no details whether the company will take back the free TV if the user decides to opt for some other connection. We expect Jio to reveal more details about the Jio Welcome offer and Jio Forever plan in the days to come.

At RIL AGM 2019, Mukesh Ambani announced that Jio Fiber will be available in India starting September 5 -- that is when Jio turns three. The company is yet to reveal the Jio Fiber plans but the company did mention that the Jio Fiber plan price will range between Rs 700 to Rs 10,000.

Jio and Microsoft Announce Alliance to Accelerate Digital Transformation in India

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, and Microsoft Corp. are embarking on a unique, comprehensive, long-term strategic relationship aimed at accelerating the digital transformation of the Indian economy and society. This 10-year commitment combines the world-class capabilities of both companies to offer a detailed set of solutions comprising connectivity, computing, storage solutions, and other technology services and applications essential for Indian businesses and will span the broad Reliance Industries ecosystem including its existing and new businesses.

In combining efforts, Jio and Microsoft aim to enhance the adoption of leading technologies like data analytics, AI, cognitive services, blockchain, Internet of Things, and edge computing among small and medium enterprises to make them ready to compete and grow, while helping accelerate technology-led GDP growth in India and driving adoption of next-gen technology solutions at scale.

As part of this new agreement:

1.    Jio will provide its internal workforce with cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools available with Microsoft 365 and will migrate its non-network applications to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

2.    Jio’s connectivity infrastructure that aims to connect everyone, everything, everywhere will promote the adoption of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform within its growing ecosystem of startups, as part of Jio’s cloud-first strategy.

3.    Jio will set up datacenters in locations across India, consisting of next-generation compute, storage and networking capabilities, and Microsoft will deploy its Azure platform in these datacenters to support Jio’s offerings. The initial two datacenters, which can house IT equipment consuming up to 7.5 MW of power, are being set up in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. These are targeted to be fully operational in calendar year 2020.

4.    Jio will leverage the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to develop innovative cloud solutions focused on the needs of Indian businesses. Through these Jio-developed solutions:

Indian startups will have access to efficient and affordable cloud infrastructure and platform services, enabling them to develop innovative products and services faster and more cost-effectively.
Small and medium businesses in India will have access to a range of cloud-based productivity, collaboration and business applications including Office 365, enabling them to compete more effectively in the Indian marketplace.
Large companies will be able to accelerate their own digital transformations by leveraging new Jio solutions that can work with Microsoft offerings already in use today within many large enterprises.
The partner ecosystem in India will have the opportunity to leverage Jio’s new offerings to serve the unique needs of their customers and rapidly grow their businesses.

5.    Jio will be executing on its vision of integrated speech and computer vision solutions for Indian customers by working together with Microsoft to develop solutions that support major Indian languages and dialects, which will promote the adoption of technology across all cross-sections of Indian society.

“Jio is delighted to partner with Microsoft in our efforts to further deepen the use of technology on scale to all Indians,” said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries. “This is a unique and first-of-its-kind partnership that brings the capabilities of two large companies focused on creating significant value to Indian enterprises — small and large. By working together to develop innovative and affordable cloud-enabled digital solutions built around Jio’s world-class digital infrastructure and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, we will accelerate the digitization of the Indian economy and make Indian businesses globally competitive. This will be a showcase to the world to demonstrate tech-enabled value creation that is both exponential and inclusive.”

“We have an incredible opportunity to apply advances in technology to help organizations across India innovate and grow,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “The combination of Jio’s leading connectivity and digital solutions with Azure, Azure AI and Office 365 will bring powerful tools and platforms for compute, storage, productivity and more to millions of businesses in the country.”

Manipal Hospitals Bangalore Successfully Removes Fetus Like Tumor From 7-Month Old Baby Boy

Manipal Hospitals Bangalore achieves yet another medical miracle and gives new lease of life to 7-month-old baby, Master Abhir Mondal from West Bengal.  In a very rare and peculiar case, baby Abhir came to Manipal Hospitals with a very large abdominal swelling, a cause which many doctors failed to detect. When Dr. Radhakrishna, HOD & Consultant, Pediatric Surgeon & Urologist, Manipal Hospitals, Manipal Pediatrics clinic Kormangala examined the abdominal distension, he was stunned to discover the tumor was made of Liquid and Solid elements including bones

Baby’s parents Mr. Tanmoy Mondal & Mrs. Bijiya Mondal settled in Shantiniketan, West Bengal were married for 6 years. They are wall-designing artists by profession and when Bijiya was pregnant, they underwent regular tests and scans, which did not detect any abnormalities with the baby. However, the baby was born premature in the 7th month of pregnancy and when Abhir was 2 months old, his father suspected an abnormal swelling in the abdomen and consulted many doctors to understand the condition. Later a doctor from Kolkata did detect an abnormal tumor and suggested they travel to Manipal Hospitals Bangalore for treatment, as the case seemed to be quite rare and complicated.

Explaining about this rare case, Dr. Radhakrishna, HOD & Consultant, Pediatric Surgeon & Urologist, Manipal Hospitals , Manipal Pediatrics clinic Kormangala “The parents came to me in a very anxious state as they were unable to understand the strange condition of the baby. The baby had a very large tumour arising from the posterior abdominal wall and extending anteriorly. I could see that there was a mix of both liquid and solid elements inside the abdomen. These masses are referred to as teratomas, which means that they are composed of tissues not normally present at that site. These are thought to develop from germ cells, which are cells that can change into and divide to form any organ in the body. This resembled a very rare condition known as Fetus in Fetu. Fetus in fetu (FIF) is a rare congenital anomaly. It is a condition in which malformed and parasitic fetus is located in the body of its twin.”

“The stomach, pancreas and the major blood vessels supplying the intestine were also displaced and had close proximity to the tumor. It took careful and meticulous dissection to finally separate the tumor from the rest of the body organs. Careful examination revealed some peculiar facts as the specimen had a sac filled with fluid in which solid components were present including brain, hair, intestinal tissue and bones, almost giving the appearance of an incompletely formed fetus” Dr. Radhakrishna added.

According to medical literature, Fetus in fetu (FIF) is an extremely rare occurrence and only a few hundreds of such cases have been recorded so far. In fact, the diagnosis is not easy and the period may range from few months to years as well.

Expressing gratitude, parents of Master Abhir said, “This is no less than a miracle for us. We had lost all hopes as the condition of our baby went undetected and none of the doctors could diagnose the problem. Abhir has recovered very well and we are now going back to West Bengal. We are grateful to Dr. Radhakrishna and the team of doctors at Manipal Hospitals for their great support and giving new life to our son.”

The Art of Procurement Essential for the Success of Any Project

By Arnab Ghosh, Director, Synergy Property Development Services

Procurement as a function today is an essential factor behind the success of any project. It starts with procuring the right team of design and specialist consultants, then moves to construction vendors and finally ends with setting up the right annual maintenance contract (AMC) vendors.

Successful procurement is based on the experience and market information available with the manager in charge of procurement. Establishing a procurement strategy at the inception of the process is the key to a successful outcome. The strategy must focus on aspects like – speed, workflow, cost, quality, specific project constraints, asset ownership, financing, among others.

Procurement as a function if not done right can lead to extensive cost and time overruns in a project. It is important that the procurement lead is completely conversant with the current financial health of the prequalified vendors. He should know about their recent projects and how they have fared in them. The performance of a vendor / service provider is dependent on various factors. A good procurement strategy should consider all those factors before it is put into practice. The nature of the project and its scale has to be considered in the same strategy.

Client procurement verticals tend to finalise vendors who has the lowest quote assuming they are taking advantage of the competition. However more often than not, there is no benchmarking done to evaluate the right cost of a product or service. This leads to an unhappy situation later. The pressure to finalise vendors within a target budget is immense and the lack of ownership of the procurement vertical after finalisation of vendors lead to frictions with the project delivery team.

Here are a few procurement practices to ensure best-in-class projects, which not only optimises the costs but also improves process efficiency.

Prequalification of Vendors

Prequalification of vendors is the most important exercise in a procurement workflow. The idea is to choose a set of prequalified vendors, all of whom are equally capable to execute the contract in question. This is the premise based on which technical and commercial evaluation will be done and the most competitive agency will be appointed. There are various templates to prequalify vendors with varying weightage against turnover, staffing, locational and miscellaneous information. Going wrong at this stage can substantially increase the project risk percentage.

Maintaining Transparency                                                                                                                         

Making procurement functions transparent is one of the basic pre-requisites in order to unlock potential savings and achieve operational excellence. It ensures accountability in the process besides minimising opportunities for fraud. Defining and implementing procurement policies properly, monitoring and documenting every step of the process and conducting frequent audits helps in maintaining transparency in the process.

Governing the Supply Chain

Having a leader to monitor the supply chain helps align organisation’s strategy with the overall strategy. It is often noticed how a supply chain organisation struggles for recognition, because their objectives and strategies do not coincide with that of their clients. A supply chain head can control that by providing consolation and validation with respect to client’s ideas to match corporate standards. This is also relevant for developers and corporates, if they consider the end users of their built spaces as clients.

Sustainable Procurement

Real estate developers and PMCs have undertaken major initiatives towards reducing impacts that are detrimental to the environment. It is time we ingrain our sustainable initiatives in our procurement strategy to address the issue at its root. It is crucial to design eco-friendly systems and procure materials & equipment to keep in check the building’s carbon footprint.

Vendors as Partners

The practice of not considering vendors as partners and treating them as mere suppliers of goods and services is detrimental to the project. Vendors when treated as equal partners will always be more accommodative. A partnership indicates transparency and trust. A true partner will take risks on your behalf, recommend solutions to address your business needs and will be respectful of your budget. The quality of interaction between the procurement lead and prospective vendors is extremely important to create this environment of collaboration.

Ensure Integrity

Procurement teams must ensure the integrity of the procurement process. If there is any doubt regarding the integrity of the process, the contracting officer should consider suspending the procurement process until the issue is resolved. Also, it is very important to keep the upper management in the loop about minor details of the process during procurement.

91springboard Celebrated ‘International Coworking Day’ with Three Days of Festivities Across Gurgaon

August 9 marks a special day in the coworking industry worldwide. Christened ‘International Coworking Day’ it was an occasion to celebrate coworking, collaboration, creativity and community.  On this special occasion,  91springboard celebrated the essence of coworking through a unique campaign titled ‘Happy Birthday Coworking’. As a part of the celebrations, people were invited to experience the marvels of a community driven coworking space at 91springboard hubs across Gurgaon.

Anand Vemuri, CEO, 91springboard said, “It is certainly exciting to see the growth and evolution of coworking in India. Although International Coworking Day has been celebrated across the world for the last 13 years, the celebrations by 91springboard, Gurugram brought the attention back to the birth of coworking and gave people an understanding of how and why it works. Our ‘Happy Birhday Coworking’ campaign was a creative expression that gave attendees an actual experience of coworking in all its glory”

The campaign began with an interesting event titled “Founders’ Catch Up” where founders  and entrepreneurs of startups from across sectors came together for a curated networking session.  With around 30 Co-founders attending the event, the focus was on moderated discussions where learnings were shared and attempted to provide effective solutions for common problems. Prominent moderators included Sambhav Mehrotra, Founder of Startup Movers, who solved for compliance issues for startups, Puneet Sharma, Founder of Krenovate Solutions, who focused on digital marketing as an effective tool, and Saumya Sharma, Founder, The Butterfly Effect, who talked about coping with the emotional pressures of being a Founder.

The second day began with yet another innovative event titled, ‘Life’s a pitch’ where 11 startups from various stages and across categories presented their idea in a three minute elevator pitch  to 15 investors. The startups that presented their pitches include Invacia Labs Private Limited - A Fintech blockchain startup, Aker Foods Agrotech Pvt. Ltd - a supply chain startup for hospitality brands, GoAyu - a legal tech brand, Perfume booth - an e-commerce platform for perfumes, Agrotech - a blockchain operator, Revolt - a service provided for EVs (charging, emergency assistance), Refer Hire, a peer to peer social hiring network, Zoo Fresh Food  - an ecommerce platform for meats, Womaniya - website dedicated to women and Rhymly  - a content and entertainment platform. More than 100 entrepreneurs attended this event

Speaking about the event, Anurag Kapoor, Investor, Greenhouse Ventures  said, “ Life’s a pitch is a great platform for startups as well as investors.  It reflects upon the fact that investing is not all about deal sourcing but it is also about understanding the technological revolutions happening at the ground level, the evolution of the startup ecosystem, scope of potential collaborations and much more.”

Sanchita Bamnote, Investment team, Blume Ventures added, “ Life’s a pitch was a great event. I was excited to see startups presenting a three minute elevator pitch that was amazingly crunched, concise and to the point. Another thing that I was happy to see was the curation of startups  that ranged from Agritech, EV, future of work and not all of them were at the same stage. It was a great mix of seed, series A & B’’

The last day saw the Big Birthday Bash  roll out an experiential flea market with a great mix of freelancers, SMEs and Startups coming together to not only celebrate International coworking day but also do some serious networking.

Idea Cellular Extends its Partnership with Route Mobile to Manage the International A2P SMS Traffic into their Network Range

Route Mobile Limited (“Route Mobile”), a cloud communications platform service provider, today announced that Idea Cellular, the largest mobile operator in India with almost 400 million subscribers has extended its partnership with Route Mobile Limited for a further two years. Route Mobile had deployed a multi-layered A2P Messaging HUB, its gateway connectivity and firewall managed service solution for the Idea Cellular side of the merged network entity a year ago.

“We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Idea Cellular”, said Mr. Rajdipkumar Gupta, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Route Mobile Limited. "We had been optimistic of our This is an absolute reaffirmation of how our customer’s requirements are at the heart of our offerings and I am delighted that we have been able to successfully address, improve and monetize the A2P SMS sector for the Idea Cellular infrastructure. This is a testament of the premium customer experience we deliver for our clients in India and the world over through tailor-made analytics and cloud communication solutions”

With its multi-layered SMS Firewall, Analytics and Monetisation solution, Route Mobile has provided a secure SMS channel to the Idea Cellular part of the merged network to protect revenue leakage, open-up new and secure revenue channels. The messaging hub and firewall solution ensures that the brand’s International A2P SMS traffic enters Idea Cellular’s (India) network via authorized A2P SMS gateways. The international traffic includes messages originating from internationally sourced routes that terminate domestically and is filtered as per mutually identified and agreed security terms with Idea Cellular.