Sify Reports Revenue Of INR 24,320 Million For Financial Year 2020-21

 

MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY

Mr. Raju Vegesna, Chairman, said, “India is in the grip of the second wave of the COVID pandemic and governments have reintroduced lockdowns to deal with the calamity. The first wave was a wakeup call for large companies to increase their investment in automation, and that has helped insulate them to a large measure this time around. Now that the merits of automation have been firmly established, we should see more mid-sized businesses adopt automation aggressively.

The new normal has blurred the lines between work and home environment, calling for businesses to invest in security of their data over public networks. The challenge is in ensuring public networks are as secure and resilient as corporate networks.

That said, we wish for the scourge of the pandemic to be eradicated so that people and livelihoods can return to the old normal”.

Mr. Kamal Nath, CEO, said, “A year into the pandemic, all the industries - small, medium or large have accelerated their digital transformation and cloud adoption drive to be able to sustain and grow their businesses in a changed environment. Work from anywhere, movement to hybrid cloud platform, strengthening of disaster recovery plans to enable business continuity, application modernization – all these market trends find a natural solution in Sify’s “Cloud@core” model and offerings.

The other important highlight is the growth of Hyperscale CSPs and OTT players in India which on one hand is accelerating our Data Centre colocation business and on the other hand strengthening our hybrid cloud offerings.  Overall, we are absolutely on the right side of the trend curve”.

Mr. M P Vijay Kumar, CFO, said, “We continue to show steady growth through 2020-21 despite the challenges that the pandemic has posed. The healthy EBITDA growth has increased our confidence to spend on ramping up both people and tools to increase our digital transformation service capabilities.

We expect contracts to take slightly longer to conclude as clients take time to regain momentum. Our focus is on insulating the organization as we carefully manage our costs, while ensuring that there is no lag in services delivery and customer experience.

We are firm on our commitment to our data center, cloud and network centric expansion plans, and will exercise due caution in terms of both timing and cost structure of these projects.

Considering the resurgent pandemic and the uncertainty on pace of economy recovery, the Board did not recommend the payment of dividend this year and instead advised that capital be conserved.

Following shareholders’ approval, we have given effect to Business Transfer Agreements entered into, during the quarter, for the transfer of Data Center business and Digital Services business to wholly owned subsidiary companies.

Cash balance at end of the year was INR 5438 Million”.

About Sify Technologies

Sify Technologies is the India’s most comprehensive ICT services & solutions provider. With Cloud at the core of our solutions portfolio, Sify is focused on the changing ICT requirements of the emerging Digital economy and the resultant demands from large, mid and small-sized businesses.  Sify’s infrastructure comprising the largest MPLS network, top-of-the-line DCs, partnership with global technology majors, vast expertise in business transformation solutions modelled on the cloud make it the first choice of start-ups, incoming Enterprises and even large Enterprises on the verge of a revamp. More than 10000 businesses across multiple verticals have taken advantage of our unassailable trinity of Data Centers, Networks and Security services and conduct their business seamlessly from more than 1600 cities in India. Internationally, Sify has presence across North America, the United Kingdom and Singapore. Sify, www.sify.com, Sify Technologies and www.sifytechnologies.com are registered trademarks of Sify Technologies Limited.

Canara Bank Retains Interest Rates On Loans/Advances With Effect From 07.05.2021

Canara Bank, a leading Public Sector Bank, has retained its Marginal Cost of Fund Based Lending Rate (MCLR) on Loans / Advances across all tenors with effect from May 7, 2021.

Accordingly, the tenor linked MCLRs of the Bank shall be as under with effect from 07.05.2021:

Tenor                    Interest Rate (in %)

Overnight MCLR           6.70%

One-Month MCLR        6.70%

Three- Month MCLR    6.95%

Six-Month MCLR         7.30%

One Year MCLR           7.35%

Repo Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) continues to be at 6.90%. 

About Canara Bank:

Widely known for customer centricity, Canara Bank was founded by Shri Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a great visionary and philanthropist, in July 1906, at Mangaluru, then a small port town in Karnataka. Canara Bank is the fourth-largest public sector bank in the country after its amalgamation with Syndicate Bank in April 2020. At present, it is functioning with 10,498 Branches, and 13,023 ATMs throughout. The Bank has gone through various phases of its growth trajectory over the hundred years of its existence. The growth of Canara Bank was phenomenal, especially after nationalization in the year 1969, attaining the status of a national level player in terms of geographical reach and clientele segments. In June 2006, the Bank completed a century of operation in the Indian banking industry. The eventful journey of the Bank has been characterized by several memorable milestones. Today, Canara Bank occupies a premier position in the comity of Indian banks.

Crediwatch Seeks To Enable COVID-19 Relief Teams To Verify Suppliers And Combat Fraud

 

Crediwatch (CW), a digital trust platform, has developed tools to help validate medical service providers for Covid-19 relief across India, in a bid to combat fraud in relief efforts. CW aims to enable Covid-19 relief workers, doctors, hospitals and resource teams to quickly ascertain the bonafides of a supplier of medical supplies such as liquid oxygen, medicines, surgical masks and so on.

Unfortunately, this crisis has seen bad actors take advantage of relief work. For example, bogus suppliers have not delivered medical oxygen that they were paid for by aid organisations. Many fraudsters have emerged who claim to offer a service and fail to deliver after collecting premium payments for it.

“Validation of supplier or vendor information on relief networks and websites is a manual process, making it time consuming. This is diverting our resources and reducing the impact of relief work at a crucial time,” said   Meghna Suryakumar  , founder and CEO

of Crediwatch, adding, “As startups and business leaders, we realise that we are in a position to impact this unprecedented situation positively.”

Since the onset of the pandemic, public, private and civic organisations have circulated information about hospital bed availability, medical supplies such as oxygen, masks, sanitiser and so on. This information is largely crowdsourced and has been a collective effort of several voluntary groups, including the startup community, stepping up to help society-at-large. However, much of this information is being shared without adequate verification on social media, messaging platforms and through relief networks.

“Even in these unprecedented times, there have been reports of bad actors trying to pocket money by making false promises and trying to pose as legitimate service providers,” said   , Head of Product at Crediwatch. “In our efforts to curb

disinformation, we have put our AI/ML technology tools to the task of verifying supplier profiles,” he said, adding that this has been possible thanks to supporting partners and networks, who are each doing their bit in this collaborative effort.

How it works

CW’s web platform or APIs (application programming interface) enable relief networks to instantly run checks on businesses claiming to offer a service. CW’s bot infrastructure and proprietary scores will identify any potential risks with a business entity. Only validated businesses can be retained by various relief networks providing critical care across India.

Crediwatch at its core works towards solving the problem of information collection, validation and verification and offers insights based on this data. Relief networks intending to use CW’s web-based platform or APIs could use it in the following ways:

1.        Verify the name of the business entity claiming to offer a service (For example: a hospital, a pharmacy, a restaurant, an oxygen supplier, a cylinder manufacturer). This is done using a combination of proprietary data about businesses along with public information from GSTN data. CW will confirm the existence of an entity (business/proprietor) using information from over 2500 public records.

2.        Verify phone numbers in an automated, API enabled manner. This is intended to give three pieces of information:

a.       The validity of the phone number along with the last tried date/time.

b.      The reachability of the phone number with the last tried date/time.

c.       Whether the business/entity is continuing to accept requests for service. This is based on disclosures by the service provider when contacted by our automated bot via an IVR response.

About Crediwatch

Crediwatch (CW) is an industry-defining AI/ML-powered technology and data science company. CW is a digital trust platform that lenders and businesses rely on for actionable intelligence and predictive analytics on the overall health of businesses. CW does this with no human intervention by deploying the latest practical Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology tools that provide the most reliable comprehensive real time inputs possible.

The automated platform accesses over 2500 public data sets as well as ingests private data under consent to generate risk scores, monitor redflags and leverage AI to predict potential distress with a 12-month lead time. The bot infrastructure enables an exhaustive coverage of over 10 million business entities in India with any form of digital footprint.

Founded in 2016 by Meghna Suryakumar and Sandeep Anandampillai, Crediwatch is backed by leading investors from Silicon Valley as well as strong local investors and has received many recognitions from the likes of HDFC Bank, Citibank and Barclays.

Manipal Institute Of Technology Students Awarded Prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholarship For Master’s Program At Stanford University

Two students of Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE, Manipal, Ms. Akshatha Kamath, Computer Science & Engineering and Mr. Dhruv Suri, Aeronautical Engineering, have been awarded the prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholarship for pursuing Master’s Program at Stanford University, USA. The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is a prestigious award that fosters a multidisciplinary, multicultural community of emerging leaders from around the world and guides them to collaborate, innovate, and communicate as they prepare to address the complex challenges facing the society. Akshatha and Dhruv are the only 2 students selected from India among the total of 76 students representing 26 countries that have made to the program this year.

Ms. Akshatha Kamath hails from Udupi and will be pursuing her Master’s degree in Education Data Science at Stanford Graduate School of Education. She is passionate to develop solutions for personalized learning for diverse learning needs. She has also developed a platform called ‘SantaNet’ to connect the underprivileged orphans with motivated volunteers. Akshatha has also developed several medical technologies winning her the MIT Covid 19 Challenge. She also won the Stanford Health ++ Hackathon at Stanford University, with travel support from the Dr TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Health Informatics, Manipal.

Mr Dhruv Suri is from Delhi and will be pursuing his Master’s degree in energy resources engineering at Stanford School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences. He aspires to work at the nexus of energy and climate and help vulnerable communities overcome access barriers in India and other developing countries. Dhruv is a co-founder of Candela Energy, a last mile distribution organization providing rural villages access to life-improving products and has been awarded by ETH student project house in Switzerland and EarthTech in Australia.

Dr. H. S. Ballal, Pro Chancellor, MAHE, applauded Akshatha Kamath and Dhruv Suri on being awarded the prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. “The scholarship is a recognition of the exceptional talent and innovative approach of Akshatha and Dhruv. They have demonstrated that excellence in education, an entrepreneurial mindset and a genuine compassion for the society transform the lives of people.  They have upheld the vision of MAHE in letter and spirit”.

Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M. D. Venkatesh, Vice Chancellor, MAHE, congratulated Akshatha Kamath and Dhruv Suri on being awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. “It is indeed a great moment of celebration for MAHE that its students have repeatedly proved to be among the best in the world. I extend my best wishes to Akshatha Kamath and Dhruv Suri and look forward to more such glories in the near future”. 

Dr. D Srikanth Rao, Director MIT, MAHE, expressed happiness on the achievement of MIT students. “The students have made MIT proud and hope that they will continue to contribute in solving the problems faced by our society and emerge as future leaders. MIT’s culture of experiential learning and encouragement towards societal outreach has borne fruits”, he opined. 

Aditya Chopra Launches ‘Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative’ To Provide Support To Industry’s Daily Wage Earners

The deadly coronavirus pandemic has plagued the entertainment industry since last year and again the Hindi film industry has come to a halt, given the huge spike in COVID-19 cases due to the second wave of infections. Last year, during the lockdown, Aditya Chopra lent his support to thousands of daily wager earners of the film industry by crediting money directly into their bank accounts. The biggest production house of India, Yash Raj Films, has again decided to come forward in this moment of need and is launching the ‘Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative’ to provide support to thousands of daily workers in the film industry.

Aditya Chopra has taken cognizance of the massive socio-economic and humanitarian crisis that the daily workers of the industry are currently facing and The Yash Chopra Foundation - is rolling out the 'Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative' so that thousands of daily wage earners can tide over these turbulent and highly unpredictable times.

As part of the initiative, the foundation will initiate a direct benefit transfer of Rs 5000 to the women and senior citizens of the industry as well as distribute Ration kits to workers for a family of 4 for an entire month through their NGO partners Youth Feed India. Through an online application process at https://yashchoprafoundation.org, those in need can apply immediately to avail this support from YRF.

Akshaye Widhani, Senior Vice President, Yash Raj Films says, “The Yash Chopra Foundation is committed to constantly and relentlessly being a support system to the Hindi film industry and its workers who have been an integral part of our 50 year journey. The pandemic has pushed the backbone of our industry, the daily workers, to a breaking point and YRF wants to support as many workers and their families who are in need due to the loss of livelihood. Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative is aiming to provide support to the pandemic hit workers of our industry who we urgently need to focus on.”

Influencing Future Of Cloud Security With MITRE ATT&CK For Containers

* Trend Micro contributes to new framework, helping businesses build and deploy secure container environments 

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), the global leader in cloud security, is proud to have contributed research and resources to support MITRE's development of the new Container Framework. 

Trend Micro threat intelligence heavily contributed to the development of ATT&CK for Containers. Trend Micro collaborated with MITRE, providing several years of dedicated research as evidence-based input that was used for the framework.

"Trend Micro was one of the companies that answered our call to the community when we began developing ATT&CK for Containers through the Center for Threat-Informed Defense," said Jen Burns, a lead cybersecurity engineer at MITRE. "We are all working to help companies stay protected against attacks using knowledge bases like ATT&CK as a common language. Contributors like Trend Micro, with expertise and experience with real-world attacks, help us support the security community in reaching that goal." 

Trend Micro provided evidence from real-world attacks to support seven MITRE Techniques. Two of these techniques are new and unique to ATT&CK for Containers. Businesses can use these techniques to better understand how attackers are targeting container environments and how to protect from these threats. 

"It has been a privilege to support MITRE through the development of their new container framework," said Wendy Moore, vice president of product marketing for Trend Micro. "The extensive research community within Trend Micro is always focused on helping protect our customers and the broader digital world from the threats of today and tomorrow. We saw containers as a growing opportunity for attackers several years ago and have worked hard to get ahead of these threats. Partnerships like this with MITRE give our work a broader influence and we are happy to support their efforts." 

Trend Micro Cloud One – Container Security leverages the company's deep research expertise to protect customers. The tool is designed to ease the security of container builds, deployments and runtime workflows while helping developers accelerate innovation and minimize application downtime across their container environments. 

About Trend Micro 

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. 

Funkskool's “Roll Out” Of A Diverse Range Of New Product Offering

* Funskool India Ltd. launches 40 new products across various categories ranging from infant & preschool toys, traditional games, puzzles, creatives and much more.  

The exciting annual tradition continues as Funskool India Ltd., India’s leading toy manufacturer, returns to launch a wide assortment of eagerly awaited engaging and exciting toys, games, and puzzles to help fill children’s summer holidays with non-stop fun. 

The 40 new launches are from a plethora of diverse categories, which   will not only encourage development of multiple skills -cognitive, physical, social and emotional but will also provide an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children during these challenging times. 

Introducing a new meaning of fun, and being true to kids-always, Funskool has launched an exciting range of outdoor traditional games like Kho Kho and Kabaddi, which can now be played as an indoor board game within the safe confines of your home. Lagori, Gilli Danda, Spinning Top and Golli are some of the other exciting outdoor games that have also been launched under the traditional game series.  

All set to raise the bar, Deluxe Chess and Deluxe Chinese Checkers, all made of high-quality wood, with unique designs and enduring durability are just some of the great new generic games that are being introduced this summer. 

Just because school is out doesn’t mean the learning has to stop. Parents can keep their kids engaged and learning with the new range of educational Flash cards comprising of Alphabet, Numbers and Fruits, thereby ensuring a solid learning foundation for pre-schoolers or if your child is a bit older, let their imagination run wild as they discover playing with Science Kits that are STEM based, that enable children to understand theoretical concepts more easily through practical applications. 

Riding around or playing “Doctor” in the summer is a favourite childhood memory for many. Children can ride and play into summer in style with unique role play toys such as The Doctor Dough Kit which aims to help them understand the responsibilities of a doctor and the Complete Kitchen Set which aims to encourage them to imagine themselves as a Master Chef. 

Last but not least, historical tales based on the popular Panchatantra fables and legendary national heroes are converted into intriguing puzzles for children of age 4 and above through the Traditional Indian Story Series and Historic Character Series, attempting to enhance a child’s cultural connect along with creating affinity towards moral values like honesty, punctuality, kindness etc. 

Commenting on the new products launch for summer 2021, Mr. R. Jeswant, CEO, Funskool India said: “Perhaps more than any other season, parents are looking to engage and entertain their children during the summer while they’re out of school. Our goal is to inspire, engage  and entertain every child  by making  them find that perfect new toy as easy and convenient as possible, whether they’re looking for a STEM toy that keeps them learning or playing a board game with family or friends   or even with just a DIY creative  toy for those extra hot days”. 

KRAFTON Announces “Battlegrounds Mobile India” Gaming Event

KRAFTON, the South Korean video game developer, today announced the reveal of BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA. Developed by KRAFTON, the game will offer a world class AAA multiplayer gaming experience on mobile. BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA will release with exclusive in-game events like outfits and features and will have its own esports ecosystem with tournaments and leagues. The game will launch as a free-to-play experience on mobile devices.  

BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA, a battle royale experience, will have a period of pre-registration before the launch. The game will be available to play only in India. KRAFTON will collaborate with partners to build an esports ecosystem while bringing in-game content regularly, starting with a series of India specific in-game events at launch, to be announced later.  

Here’s a first look at the logo of the upcoming game.  

With privacy and data security being a top priority, KRAFTON will be working with partners, to ensure data protection and security, at each stage. This will ensure privacy rights are respected, and all data collection and storage will be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in India and for players here.  

We believe, that at this time, more than ever, your health and safety are a paramount priority.  We urge each one of you as super players, to stay safe, stay at home and wear a mask.  

Third Covid-19 Wave To Be More Dangerous For Children, Motherhood Hospital Issues Advisory Against Rising Infection In Kids

With the second wave of pandemic impacting children severely and third wave in the pipeline, Motherhood Hospital at Bangalore have warned parents on the rising infections in the city. Considering the number of cases being reported among children of age group 0-16 years, parents must be overly cautious in protecting their children and not letting the guard down.  More children are testing positive and require hospitalisation in the second wave of the pandemic, as the different variants and double mutants are highly contagious which is causing the surge in corona cases among children said Dr. Santosh Kumar, Consultant Neonatologist & Paediatrician, Motherhood Hospitals, Bangalore.

Since the new-born babies are vulnerable, exclusive breast feeding is highly recommended to minimise the risks and build baby’s immunity. It is also advisable for parents to strictly follow the vaccination schedule of their babies and not to miss any of the doses, as this will shield the baby from infections and therefore a very crucial element in preventing the covid infection.

Unlike last year, second wave is seeing a huge spike in infection in children. The common symptoms seen are spike in fever, gastroenteritis symptoms, respiratory issues. Most of the parents are not maintaining covid appropriate behaviour and then once they develop symptoms the infection is passed on to the kids. These children are asymptomatic, and carriers of infection and they may intrun infect their grandparents at home. Since there is no vaccination yet for children in the age group of 0 – 10 years, they are exposed and more susceptible to catching infection said Dr. Santosh.

Therefore, prevention of infection must be the top priority, below are some tips that can protect kids from the deadly coronavirus.

·         Follow hand hygeine, washing hands and frequently with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water, as this kills the virus present in the hands.

·         While sneezing and coughing, cover mouth and nose with handkerchief or tissue. After using, discard the tissue into a bin and wash the hands properly. Do not use the same tissue again and again.

·         Follow social distancing of atleast 6 feet while talking to another.

·         Do not touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with your contaminated hands, if you touch frequently, you can transfer the virus from the surface to yourself.

·         If the kid is suffering from high fever, cough and have difficulty in breathing, consult the doctor immediately and share all the symptoms in detail with doctor as this may be due to a respiratory infection or other serious condition.

·         One should never miss the scheduled immunization vaccines for the children. If there is any delay, one must get the pending doses at the earliest in consultation with the doctor.

·         Healthy gut helps build immunity in children. Food like yogurt is rich in probiotics that help in keeping the gut healthy. Encourage remaining active and maintain personal hygiene.

·         Avoid Consumption of raw or undercooked animal products.

·         Avoid going to a crowded place and parents must wear double mask that offers better protection against variants & double mutants.

“Following Covid appropriate behaviour and religiously sticking to the precautions can eliminate chances of infection among kids. In case of any covid like symptoms, it is advisable for parents to consult an experienced paediatrician without any delay and must avoid self-medication, added Dr Santosh.

Trend Micro Announces Next Generation ICS Endpoint Security Solution

* Specially designed to provide cybersecurity without interruption to ICS environments 

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today announced a first-of-its-kind OT-native endpoint security solution, provided as part of its total security solution for smart factories. Developed by TXOne Networks, TXOne StellarProtect is designed to secure all OT endpoints, regardless of environmental conditions, for any mission-critical ICS environment. 

The massive number of ICS endpoints in these working environments provides a large variety of attack surfaces, as they often include many unpatched or otherwise vulnerable devices. Disruption of these endpoints causes significant problems for manufacturers and can jeopardize the entire operation. According to the Trend Micro 2020 annual cybersecurity report, the manufacturing industry became a primary target for highly infectious ransomware attacks, making it more important than ever to secure these assets with technologies tailored to their purpose (https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/research-and-analysis/threat-reports/roundup/a-constant-state-of-flux-trend-micro-2020-annual-cybersecurity-report). 

"The ugly truth of ICS endpoint security is that there has not been any security solution specifically designed for the high-availability needs of modernized equipment in the OT environment," said Akihiko Omikawa, executive vice president of IoT security for Trend Micro and chairman of TXOne Networks. "Cybersecurity solutions for ICS endpoints must consider three elements to meet industry expectations: low impact to performance, zero interruption, and all-terrain protection." 

The unique needs of the shop floor environment create challenges to finding protections that secure the work site while still giving the necessary priority to performance. Traditional solutions, such as signature-based antivirus, can identify known threats but require constant internet connectivity and frequent updates, which is simply not possible for mission critical assets. Advanced machine learning-based solutions are able to identify anomalies and unknown threats quickly, but have a high rate of producing false positives that can easily interfere with operations. While application control or lockdown-based solutions are more streamlined and their trust list makes deployment straightforward, they also rigidly limit a machine to a specific purpose and so are only ideal for fixed-use systems. These single technology solutions serve many useful purposes, however are unable to provide the adaptivity necessary to both safeguard and accommodate the operational integrity of assets dedicated to production. 

TXOne StellarProtect delivers uniquely ICS-native endpoint protection against both known and unknown malware via machine learning and ICS root of trust. To avoid redundant security scans and ensure minimal impact to performance, ICS root of trust collects over 1,000 ICS software certificates and licenses and verifies them in advance. StellarProtect requires no internet connection to defend against malware-free attacks due to its least privilege-based policies. Operational interruption from malicious attacks or even mis-operation by personnel is prevented by its built-in ICS application behavior learning engine.

"ICS endpoint security solutions must accommodate the needs of OT environments, not the other way around," said Dr. Terence Liu, General Manager for TXOne Networks. " TXOne StellarProtect is setting a new milestone for endpoint protection in ICS security. We look forward to helping customers mitigate cyber risk in their environments without any disruption or adjustments." 

About Trend Micro 

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. 

Vedanta Pledges To Setup 'COVID Field Hospitals' With 200 Beds Infra At Karnataka To Combat COVID

* Vedanta to set up COVID field hospitals equipped with critical care facilities at Chitradurga and Hubli in Karnataka, Which will be extension to recognised & reputed healthcare facilities. 

* Vedanta has a plan to set up 200 Bed infrastructure including 20 ICU beds and 180 oxygenated beds at Karnataka. 

As the country battles the second wave of COVID-19, Vedanta has pledged to set up 200 beds state-of-the-art ‘Covid field hospitals’ infrastructure in Karnataka to support the state administration and the local community in combating COVID. These hospitals with critical care facilities will be set up as extension to recognised and reputed healthcare facilities with 100 Beds infrastructure set up, each at Chitradurga & Hubli. 

Vedanta will set up air condition COVID field hospitals at Karnataka, which will be inclusive of 20 ICU Beds and 180 oxygenated beds, in order to extend support for creating COVID care facilities and fight against COVID crisis. 

Critical care facilities in hospitals are incredibly important in the response to the COVID pandemic. The unprecedented medical crisis created by the second wave of the COVID-19, has resulted in an exponential surge in the demand for critical care Covid beds and healthcare facilities. Vedanta’s initiative to boost critical care infrastructure in the state of Karnataka will help in efficiently controlling the pandemic and treatment of the patients. 

Hon’ble Union Minister of Mines Shri Pralhad Joshi in his tweet mentioned, “I had requested Chairman of Vedanta Group Shri Anil Agarwal ji for arranging Makeshift Hospital at Hubballi keeping increasing Covid patients case in the district. He has agreed to provide 100 beds Makeshift Hospital with oxygen provision. I thank Vedanta Group for supporting us on this noble cause.”.(https://twitter.com/JoshiPralhad/status/1388768258061266944)

Mr. Sauvick Mazumdar, CEO, Iron & Steel, Vedanta Limited said, “We at Vedanta are committed to giving back to the community & extend our support to combat this nationwide health emergency posed due to COVID-19. I am hopeful that through our collective efforts we will succeed in tiding over this pandemic & will overcome this unprecedented situation. " 

Mr. Krishna Reddy, Director, Vedanta's Iron Ore Karnataka said, “In line with Vedanta's  philosophy of care, we have pledged to set up 100 bed ‘Covid field hospital’ each, at Hubli in Dharwad District and at Chitradurga District in order to support respective district administrations to ensure the healthcare & safety of communities around. This infrastructure will be useful for the treatment of the patients and upgrade the COVID care facilities at both the districts, which is a genuine need during this COVID Crisis."

To counter the first wave of COVID-19, Vedanta has provided relentless support to the people of Karnataka and frontline warriors such as providing Masks, Sanitizers, groceries supplies during lockdown, Camera with Drone to District administration etc. 

Vedanta has planned several initiatives to support the nationwide fight against the COVID-19 second wave. Implementation of most of these initiatives has already started at various regions across the country.

This Mother’s Day, Pledge To Secure Your Financial Future

Motherhood isn’t easy and is considered even tougher for young and working mothers. Mothers often juggle between their personal and professional roles; their lives are full of challenges and responsibilities both at home and those on the professional front. They are constantly caught between looking after the physical and emotional needs of their kids and family, besides catering to other needs such as financial and medical needs. In this constant juggle they tend to neglect their personal financial planning and protection. 

Motherhood is no child’s play and mothers across life-stages need to take charge of their finances to ensure a smooth journey. Managing income helps you understand how much money you'll need for tax payments, other monthly expenditures and savings, insurance policies, emergencies, retirement etc. According to a recent survey – reflecting women’s changing dynamics with finance, 70 percent of women save for their kid’s education and 54 percent save for their kids’ marriage. Also, 76 percent of women have a life insurance policy, and 29 percent women consider medical emergencies as a greater priority and save for it.

On this Mother’s Day, Vinit Kapahi, Head of Marketing, Aviva India suggests ways for mothers to become financially independent and ensure a secured future for themselves and their family.

Create a budget

Budgeting is very important as it tells you about your income and expenses. Take stock of your income and priority expenses such as EMIs, rent, childcare, groceries, utilities, etc. If you are a working woman, make sure to keep a track on the monthly budget. A housewife can opt for work from home and plan for cash inflows. A budget will help you focus your money on what’s truly important and help curb overspending. 

Invest in term insurance

One of the first steps to ensure financial security is investing in term insurance. Term insurance is a pure protection plan that provides a financial safety net for the children in case of any unfortunate circumstance. A term plan with regular income, or pension after a certain age, could be an ideal option. These policies pay death benefits apart from regular monthly income to the policy-holder or to the nominee.

Maintain an emergency fund

As a thumb rule, at any given point of time, one should have an emergency fund in the form of a regular savings account. As a mother, one should be prepared for eventualities such as job loss, sudden medical emergency etc. For an emergency fund, park your money in a savings account, fixed deposit, and recurring deposit. One should maintain liquidity worth 3-6 months of your current income, and build it up to 6-12 months with time.

Invest as per your financial goals

Budgeting will also help you create avenues for savings and investments. Create an investment plan that caters to your varied life goals. One needs to invest in various assets like equity, debt, deposits, gold/real estate (in case of surplus). Take the time to educate yourself and spouse about investment options, the investment markets, and the various instruments at your disposal.  

Fund your own dreams

The previous generations of mothers put everyone else first, often diverting their personal savings to fund their family’s needs. But one must learn to prioritize your financial needs as well. It’s heartening to see young mothers saving for their children’s education while also shoring something away to pursue their own hobbies and goals. While securing children’s future, it is critical to invest to continue pursuing your own dreams.

Plan for your retirement

As a mother, retirement may not be your top priority. You would first want to take care of your children and other family members. But to have a happy and peaceful retirement, you should put yourself first and plan a retirement that can take care of your needs in your golden years. Making small, monthly contributions to your retirement fund is a good idea.

Invest in government aided schemes

There are several government-aided funds for single mothers, widow women. Also, look at different government schemes like Sukanya Samridhi Yojana for your girl child, PPF and various other schemes to earn decent returns with sovereign guarantee.  While Sukanya Samridhi Yojana fetches interest rate of 6.9% and PPF will get an interest rate of 6.4%, these interest rates are quarterly revised and historically have been above long term bank FD rates.

Financial planning should not be a priority only for male members in families. It is equally important for female members as well. A woman is fully capable of providing a financial umbrella to her family by planning wisely and investing smartly.  But though the approach to investing and the tools of investing has evolved, what hasn’t is the understanding of the importance of a secured financial plan for mothers. So this Mother’s Day, every woman must pledge to secure her financial future herself.

Government’s Vaccine Purchase Plan Defocusing Private Hospitals From Patient Care To Vaccine Procurement: AoH

* Patients waiting for 2nd dose of vaccine at severe risk 

In a meeting of the Managing Committee of the Association of Hospitals (AOH) held last week, the urgent matter of vaccine availability to serve their communities was discussed. The committee agreed with full consensus that government’s current vaccine purchase plan which forces each organization to independently negotiate with the vaccine makers was defocusing private hospitals from patient care. The Association of Hospitals is a group of 53 Trust Hospitals in Mumbai and Pune.

Gautam Khanna, President, Association of Hospitals and CEO, P.D. Hinduja Hospital said, “The community around each hospital expects the hospitals to be a primary point of vaccine administration. In fact, the first round of vaccines provided to hospitals by the government has already been given to tens of thousands patients by hospitals across the country. Several of such patients are anxious since their second dose is due. However, the change in the vaccine purchase policy, asking all organizations including hospitals to directly buy from the vaccine makers is affecting vaccine supply and putting many thousands of patients at risk. Firstly, it is almost impossible for any small or medium sized hospital to connect with, negotiate quantities and deliveries of vaccines for their patients. They neither have the expertise nor the clout to acquire any significant quantities, in light of huge demand from central and state governments, almost eliminating private hospitals as an option to be supporting the Covid vaccination drive. Secondly, this policy is defocusing attention from the urgently needed patient care to vaccine procurement.”

The President of AoH further added, “We fully understand the multiple priorities that are before the Government and respect those. But if Covid has to be beaten, all agencies, especially healthcare delivery institutions like hospitals must be provided vaccines on priority through the State governments, as it was being done earlier. We are also agreeable if the government fixes the prices , since  we consider  vaccination a national health emergency and not a profit making stream. If private hospitals are not given a priority in delivery of vaccines, I am afraid full vaccination will not happen for many months compounding the Covid problem manifold. In light of the current shortage in the country ,Government should also allow import of vaccines by hospitals from across the world ”  

About Association of Hospitals:

The Association of Hospitals has been formed under the Memorandum dated August 6, 1985 and is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The Association is also registered under Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950 as Public Charitable Trust with the office of Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra State.

Presently there are 53 members of the Association and all of them are Public Charitable Trust Hospitals registered under Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950 with the concerned offices of Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra State depending upon the Jurisdiction. The members being not-for-profit charitable hospitals render yeomen service to the public and bear a major share of healthcare service to the people.

Muthoot Finance Initiates A Vaccination Drive Across Karnataka

Muthoot Finance is India’s largest gold loan NBFC. The company has initiated a COVID-19 vaccination support project through its mobile laboratory Muthoot Snehasraya in association with Myvacc.in team that will provide vaccination drives in Karnataka. ‘Muthoot Snehasraya’ is a CSR initiative of Muthoot Finance Ltd, intended for prevention, early detection and awareness of Kidney related diseases and for supporting dialysis patients by financial aid.   MyVacc.in is a platform for vaccinations of children and adults at home, corporates at offices, communities and schools.

Muthoot Finance aims to help the underprivileged 45+ segment to get vaccinated and encourages vaccination to build a protective shield that will help in fighting against the second-wave of COVID-19. This initiative will be carried out free of cost.

Mr. George M Alexander Muthoot, Executive Director, Muthoot Finance said, “The core objective of Muthoot Finance Snehasraya project is to protect and get the underprivileged vaccinated for free. We will expand this vaccination project to other states in the upcoming months.”

Muthoot Finance is extending vaccination drives through Muthoot Snehasraya mobile laboratory with the help of Myvacc.in which will be providing COVID-19 vaccines at the doorstep across several areas in Karnataka.

About Muthoot Finance

Muthoot Finance is the flagship company of The Muthoot Group which has 20 diversified business divisions. With 5000+ branches, the Group serves over 2.5 Lac customers every day. Muthoot Finance is India’s largest gold loan NBFC and India’s No.1 Most Trusted Financial Services Brand, according to the Brand Trusted Report. It is a reputed ‘Systemically Important Non-deposit taking NBFC’. As part of the core business, Muthoot Finance provides loans secured against household gold jewellery at highly affordable rates and amazing product features. Globally, the Group has presence across, USA, UK, UAE, Costa Rica, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

TECNO Appoints Internationally Renowned Actor Chris Evans As Its Global Brand Ambassador

* Chris Evans as TECNO's brand ambassador will debut in TECNO's May 6th product online launch event and global product campaigns thereafter.

TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, today announced its partnership with internationally renowned actor Chris Evans as its brand ambassador. Best known for his role as Captain America in the Marvel Universe series of films, the charismatic Chris Evans embodies many of the qualities that have been synonymous with TECNO, especially TECNO’s ‘Stop at Nothing’ brand philosophy which aims to inspire people to always keep ‘young at heart’ and never stop pursuing excellence.

Talking about the partnership with TECNO, Chris Evans said, “I am happy to partner with TECNO, an innovative smartphone brand which provides consumers in emerging markets with the newest smartphone technology. Whether it’s a phone call with someone you love or an image you capture to keep as a meaningful memory, smartphone technology is at the center of it all. It is really inspiring to  work with such a great brand that stops at nothing to encourage people in those markets to explore more possibilities.”

Stephen Ha, General Manager of TECNO Mobile, said,“TECNO is committed to giving the masses access to latest technology, allowing the consumers to reach beyond their current limitations and uncover a world of possibilities. Chris Evans embodies TECNO's brand motto ‘young at heart’ and the pursuit of excellence. This partnership with him enhances TECNO's continuous global footprint and helps to highlight the brand’s upgraded product design, which is increasingly fashionable, energetic, and constantly pioneering. I firmly believe the association will bring us an opportunity to grow within our existing customer base and enable us to go further on the brand globalization.”

The partnership with Chris Evans is another milestone for TECNO after its association with Manchester City Football Club, and is part of TECNO global brand upgrading strategy, which aim to unlock the best of contemporary technologies in artistic designs, showcasing its mastery of serving the youth-generation consumers through the innovation, technological and artistic progression in the emerging markets worldwide.

Chris Evans will lead the launch of the coming TECNO CAMON 17 on May 6th, and will be featured in TECNO's brand campaigns in emerging markets. He will also see everyone at the virtual launch video on May 6th..

About TECNO

TECNO Mobile is a premium smartphone brand from TRANSSION Holdings. With “Stop At Nothing” as its brand essence, TECNO is committed to unlocking the best contemporary technologies for progressive individuals across global emerging markets, giving them elegantly designed products that inspires consumers to uncover a world of possibilities. TECNO understands the needs of consumers from different markets and provides them with localized innovations which is demonstrated through their mastery of serving consumers who are “young at heart” and never stops pursuing excellence. TECNO’s portfolio spans across smartphones, smart wearables and AIoT devices made for consumers in over 60 emerging markets across the world. TECNO is also the global Official Partner of Manchester City Football Club.

Bahwan CyberTek Patents Intelligent Decision Synchronization Technology

* RETINA’s predictive intelligence spots critical equipment failures, avoids downtimes and reduces operational risk

Bahwan CyberTek, the leading provider of digital transformation solutions in the areas of predictive analytics, digital experience, and digital supply chain management, recently announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a patent on the company’s flagship predictive analytics platform RETINA. The patent titled ‘Intelligent decision synchronization for discrete and continuous process industries’ will help industrial customers improve business productivity by minimizing operational risks.

The ‘Intelligent decision synchronization’ patent defines the capability of the RETINA platform to use historical data, correlate to the business context and provide real-time insights to users in process industries. The platform can combine data from multiple sources, build analytical models to detect potential equipment failures and recommend specific actions to prevent unexpected downtimes.

Everyday operations of process-intensive industries such as Oil & Gas, Power Generation and Manufacturing involve multiple systems that deal with a large set of data. Unfortunately, this data from disparate systems like ERP, control systems, production assets is not integrated into a unified platform. This limits industrial business users from gaining a single source of truth, ultimately resulting in equipment breakdowns and production loss. A platform like RETINA can help customers address this gap. 

Bahwan CyberTek has been actively helping many global industrial customers with RETINA, including renewable power producers, cement manufacturers and petrochemical companies. This USPTO approved patent is an umbrella patent for RETINA. Bahwan CybertTek has increased its R&D investment and continues to work on sub-patents aimed at providing vertical-specific solutions. 

Mr. S. Durgaprasad, Co-Founder, Director and Group CEO, Bahwan CyberTek said, “This is a milestone achievement for an industry-leading IP like RETINA. The patent has come at a time when there is a rapid adoption of digital technologies in the shift towards Industry 4.0. This is likely to fast-track multiple industries into the next stage of evolution and deliver differentiated value to all stakeholders involved.” 

On the patent achievement, Mr. P. Rajasekaran, Chief Product Officer, Bahwan CyberTek said, “RETINA has been helping renewable power producers, especially wind and solar farm owners, to minimize asset downtimes and improve production yield. One of our international customers utilizes the platform to predict future failure of the WTG assets with a higher degree of accuracy by providing early warning apart from day-to-day operational improvement by identifying pitch/yaw system issues for better efficiency. Issues attributing to 1.7% drop in energy production were detected and prioritized for repair to boost performance. With this patent in place, we aim to build more industry-specific products.” 

About Bahwan CyberTek

Established in 1999, Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) is a global provider of IP-based digital transformation solutions leveraging its portfolio of innovative IP in the areas of Digital Experience, Predictive Analytics and Digital Journey Management across North America, the Middle East, Far East, Africa and Asia. Driving innovation through outcome-based business models, proven and powerful IP solutions, BCT is a trusted partner for over 1000+ customers, including Fortune 500 companies. With strong capabilities in digital technologies, BCT has over 3,000 associates with technical and domain expertise, delivering solutions to the Oil & Gas, Telecom, Power, Government, Banking, Retail and SCM / Logistics verticals. Learn more about Bahwan CyberTek at www.bahwancybertek.com.    

About RETINA360

RETINA360 is a flagship predictive analytics platform from the Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) Group, which manages more than 5 GW of power assets across the world. The platform supports multiple process industries and renewable energy farms in Asset Performance Analytics, Smart Maintenance and Energy Management and Forecasting. The cloud-enabled RETINA platform integrates data from multiple sources such as plant control systems, energy meters, process line machines, field and lab equipment, MES, handheld devices, GIS systems, and ERP to provide real-time actionable intelligence for CXOs, Head of Operations and Plant Supervisors. www.retina360.ai.

Reliance General Insurance Introduces An Industry First Initiative To Encourage Covid Vaccination

Reliance General Insurance, a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Capital has reiterated its commitment to ensuring safety for its customers, by actively promoting the COVID-19 vaccination drive and rewarding  customers who have already taken a jab. 

In an industry leading initiative, the company aims to provide additional ease to its customers who are in the process to either buy or renew their Health Infinity insurance policy with RGI, by offering an additional one time 5% discount to customers who have taken the COVID-19vaccination. Starting May 1st anyone above 18 years is eligible for a COVID- 19 vaccination, as the government has sped up the vaccination process, in leading its war against COVID-19. 

Mr. Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance talking on the initiative, said “We want to thank IRDAI for their special approval to Covid Vaccine discount in our Health Infinity product amidst a time where everyone needs to come together and collectively combat the impact of virus. While we have always encouraged individuals to insure them selves against a medical emergency, this time we want to do more. By the means of this incentive, we want to encourage individuals to prioritize their health at this critical hour and get themselves vaccinated at the earliest.” 

The additional one time 5% discount on Reliance Health Infinity policy will be over and above the other discounts applicable at the time of buying the policy, making the premium extremely affordable. The offer can also be availed by existing policyholders on their renewal premium. Customers who have vaccinated themselves even with the first vaccination dose, are eligible to avail this benefit. 

This initiative exemplifies RGI’s philosophy of putting the community first and highlights the integral role organizations can play in the health and well-being of the society as a whole. It is also a step in the right direction as India continues to battle the pandemic. 

About Reliance General Insurance - www.reliancegeneral.co.in 

Reliance General Insurance, a part of Reliance Capital, is one of the leading general insurance companies of India. The Company offers a well-rounded and comprehensive bouquet of products including Motor Insurance, Health Insurance, Travel Insurance, and Home Insurance, and offers customized solutions to meet the protection needs of each customer. 

Reliance General Insurance has a wide network of more than 40,000 intermediaries across 136 branch offices acrossIndia for offeringits products and services to retail, corporates and SME clients.

CO₂ Technology Competes As One Of The Top Three Inventions

* Christoph Gürtler and Prof. Walter Leitner nominated in the Industry category

* CO2 made commercially viable as a raw material

* Technology forms the basis for a large number of marketable products

Covestro's CO2 technology continues to write its success story. The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced the nomination of the two German chemists, Dr. Christoph Gürtler (Covestro AG) and Prof. Walter Leitner (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and RWTH Aachen University), as finalists in the "Industry" category of the 2021 European Inventor Award for their role in developing new technology for using carbon dioxide (CO₂). This technology enables the harmful climate gas CO2 to be used as a valuable raw material for sustainable plastics. Their process deploys chemical catalysts to drive reactions between CO2 and conventional raw material. This process creates so-called polymers in a more sustainable and economically viable way. CO2 is firmly incorporated in the process.

"This nomination is an important confirmation of our efforts towards making chemistry more sustainable. It shows how crucial patents are for the development process of technology," says Christoph Gürtler, who is responsible for the development of new processes and products at Covestro. "It is a tremendous honor to be part of the award ceremony on behalf of the interdisciplinary team from product research, process development, marketing, and the many other minds driving our invention."

Successful cooperation between industry and science

"The plastics industry can make a significant contribution to combating climate change by switching to greenhouse gas-neutral production. To achieve this, we need to break away from petroleum and use alternative raw materials such as CO2", says Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. "The nomination for the European Inventor Award is an endorsement of our company as a pioneer in this field. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the many colleagues, including those at our partners, who contributed to the development of the innovative CO2 technology – a genuine sustainability highlight."

The two nominees, Gürtler and Leitner, have played a significant role in the development and market launch of the platform technology, which originated in the collaboration between application-oriented science and the research-oriented industry. Their involvement in a large number of patents related to the use of CO2 is proof of this: together, the two hold over 100 patents on CO2 technology.

Breakthrough in catalysis research yields success

Covestro and RWTH Aachen University founded the CAT Catalytic Center in 2007. "The scientific community has long had the desire to be able to use carbon dioxide as a supplier of carbon for plastics. Experts have been working on this issue for nearly half a century," explains Walter Leitner.

CO2 forms chemical compounds only with great difficulty. This is the problem that Christoph Gürtler and Walter Leitner's team had to solve.

The team combined industrial and academic expertise. A great deal of creativity, perseverance, and many experiments with catalysts finally culminated in success. The breakthrough was achieved by precisely controlling the reaction between CO2 and the petroleum-based propylene oxide in the presence of a customized catalyst system. "We collaborated closely to develop the right catalyst that led us to success," says Gürtler.

The resulting so-called polyol was introduced to the market by Covestro under the product name cardyon®. It is already being used to produce soft foam for mattresses, adhesives in sports floors, padding in shoes, and in-car interiors. Elastic textile fibers are currently on the threshold of market maturity. Research projects have successfully demonstrated that CO2 can also be deployed for insulating materials made of rigid foam and for surfactants, for example in detergents.

Contributing to resource conservation and the circular economy

The use of CO2 contributes significantly to the circular economy. Replacing conventional crude oil as a carbon source in part with the climate gas CO2 preserves resources. The carbon, in turn, remains in the cycle without being released into the atmosphere. Moreover, initial studies have also shown that this technology makes it possible to produce more recyclable plastics whose components can be more easily recycled. An all-around sustainable innovation.

Launched in 2006, the European Patent Office's Inventor Award distinguishes outstanding European inventors and teams and is one of the most prestigious awards of its kind. The award ceremony will take place online for the first time on June 17 and will be broadcast live on the Internet. Three teams are nominated in the Industry category.

About Covestro:

With sales of €10.7 billion in 2020, Covestro is one of the world's leading polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative, sustainable solutions for products used in many areas of everyday life. In doing so, Covestro is fully aligning itself to the Circular Economy. Its main customers are the automotive and transport industries, the construction industry, the furniture and wood processing industries, and the electrical, electronics, and household appliance industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, healthcare and the chemical industry itself. As of the end of 2020, Covestro produces at 33 sites worldwide and employs around 16,500 people (converted to full-time positions).

Acronis The Global Leader In Cyber Protection, Receives More Than $250M Investment At $2.5B Valuation

* Funding to accelerate growth, expand its portfolio of cyber protection products,

and enable service providers to serve their clients better

Acronis, the global leader in cyber protection, is pleased to announce that it has received more than $250 million funding round from CVC Capital Partners VII and other investors. Acronis will use the funds to further accelerate growth by expanding its unique portfolio of natively integrated cyber protection products. A significant portion of the investment will also be used to further enhance Acronis’ go-to-market initiatives by expanding its broad partner network – most notably, managed service providers (MSPs) – to help them better serve the cyber protection needs of their clients. The investment values the company at more than $2.5 billion.

“Acronis’ talented management and R&D teams have invested significant resources developing an innovative cloud-native ‘MSP in a box’ solution, with integrated backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, remote management, and workflow tools,” said Leif Lindbäck, Senior Managing Director of CVC Capital Partners. “Acronis provides mission-critical solutions to more than 10,000 MSPs and half a million small and medium businesses. CVC has a strong track record in cybersecurity and partnering up with successful entrepreneurs, and we are looking forward to teaming up with Serguei Beloussov and the Acronis team to accelerate the company’s growth.”

Acronis Cyber Protect is the first unified cybersecurity and data protection solution that is natively integrated, so service providers can operate these critical functions through a single pane of glass, delivering comprehensive cyber protection at a lower cost.

“With this additional funding, we will accelerate the development of our product portfolio and invest more in our partners’ success,” said Serguei “SB” Beloussov, founder and CEO of Acronis. “Our goal is to develop market-leading technology and help our partners grow their profits, while providing the best protection for their clients.”

Acronis will continue to invest in staff resources, expanding its global sales, partner account management and partner success teams and hiring new technical talent for its research and development centers in Bulgaria, Israel, and Singapore, as well as Switzerland and the United States.

Focus on partners

Focusing on its growing partner network is critical to the company’s strategy for rapid growth. In February, the company launched the #CyberFit Partner Program to support the development of cloud-focused resellers and service providers. In March, Acronis made available a new version of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud – enabling partners to deliver comprehensive cyber protection for all workloads for little to no upfront cost. In April, Acronis introduced a new partner portal, providing easy access to content, tools, and training for partners.

With the new funding, Acronis will expand the support for cloud partners – providing them with additional sales and marketing resources, faster and localized technical support, dedicated partner success managers, and local data centers in 111 locations worldwide.

Phil Goodwin, Research Director, Cloud Data Management for Protection for IDC notes that the investment from CVC will add to the momentum behind cyber protection. “Acronis has been at the forefront of the cyber protection movement, establishing itself as a pioneer in solutions that unify advanced cybersecurity with innovative data protection. By continuing to expand their technical capabilities and partner network, the value they bring to the market will only increase.”

Service providers who are interested in learning more about how they can benefit from Acronis’ partner-focused approach are encouraged to visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/partners/.

About Acronis

Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity to deliver integrated, automated cyber protection that solves the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of the modern digital world. With flexible deployment models that fit the demands of service providers and IT professionals, Acronis provides superior cyber protection for data, applications, and systems with innovative next-generation antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection management solutions. With award-winning AI-based antimalware and blockchain-based data authentication technologies, Acronis protects any environment – from cloud to hybrid to on-premises – at a low and predictable cost.

Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,600 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries. Its solutions are trusted by more than 5.5 million home users and 500,000 companies, including 100% of the Fortune 1000, and top-tier professional sports teams. Acronis products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.

About CVC Capital Partners

CVC is a leading private equity and investment advisory firm with a network of 23 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the US, with approximately US$118 billion of assets under management. Since its founding in 1981, CVC has secured commitments in excess of US$160 billion from some of the world's leading institutional investors across its private equity and credit strategies. Funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in over 90 companies worldwide, which have combined annual sales of approximately US$100 billion and employ more than 450,000 people.

MyCaptain Announces Appointment Of Three New VP's To The Senior Management Team

MyCaptain, an India-based online learning platform has announced today the appointment of three new members to the company’s senior leadership team.

Mr Ajay Dev Sigh, Mr T Shrikanth & Mr Gopal Sharma has recruited to help scale customer Acquisition across channels and strengthen the Technology Bedrock. Together they bring 70 years of experience and will help MyCaptain foray into pro-courses and further grow the courses which they have. 

"We are pleased to welcome, Mr Ajay Dev Singh, Mr T Shrikanth and Mr Gopal Sharma as the new VP’s," said Mohammed Zeeshan, Co-Founder & CEO, MyCaptain. "They join MyCaptain at an exciting time as we continue to drive our strategy forward and build deeper relationships with our customers to fulfil our purpose of helping them decide the career of their choice. The addition of these VP’s complements our team’s skills and experiences, and we are confident they will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our strategy. We look forward to their contributions and are excited they chose MyCaptain"

Mr Ajay Dev Singh has joined MyCaptain as Vice president of Marketing & Customer acquisition. Prior to MyCaptain Ajay was also the head of Marketing and Digital Strategy at Basic First learning where he spearheaded a revenue of 250 crores in 18 months and then with Reliance as the  Vice president of Media and Entertainment

Mr T Shrikanth has joined MyCaptain as Head of Sales for the Professional course vertical. Prior to MyCaptain Shrikanth was the Vice president of sales at The Hindu & Sulekha

Mr Gopal Sharma has joined MyCaptain as Vice president of technology. Prior to MyCaptain Gopal was also the Head of Delivery at ClaimGenius, and then with Infocepts where he headed the Technology team. Also, he is the Co-Founder at Goodyaara.

MyCaptain is a platform which transforms passion into a career, with mentorship from 200 plus professionals who have made a mark in their respective fields, in the most exciting way possible. This platform aims to bring about an education revolution by enabling millions of students to take the first step in their field of interest, such as photography, app development, or spoken poetry, to name a few, and facilitate their growth in the field. 

JK Tyre Rating Upgrade By CARE Ratings In The Indian Market

CARE Ratings has upgraded JK Tyre & Industries Limited’s (JKTIL) Long-Term Issuer Rating to ‘CARE A/ Stable’ from ‘CARE A- / Stable’. The rating agency has also upgraded the rating of its domestic subsidiary; Cavendish Industries Ltd. (CIL) to ‘CARE A- (CE)’ / Stable from ‘CARE BBB (CE) / Stable’

The rating upgrade reflects, JKTIL better than envisaged operating performance in FY21 on the strength of strong demand from replacement, OEM and export markets, higher operating efficiencies, leaner cost structure and focus on better working capital management, which has resulted in improved profitability and higher cash accruals leading to substantial reduction in debt. The Company has also resorted to aggressive marketing by expanding the dealer network and brand shops in the current financial year to cater to high rural and suburb demand.

The subsidiary of the Company; CIL has well aided in the strong operating performance on the domestic front and successfully turned around with highest ever revenues and profitability this year on the back of higher operating efficiencies resulting from positive demand drivers as mentioned aforesaid. 

This robust performance has triggered positive rating action for both the Companies; JKTIL and CIL.

The acquisition of Cavendish Industries Ltd. (CIL) by JK Tyre in the year 2016 was strategic in nature and well considered decision to increase the manufacturing capacities at a much lower investment cost and also to enter 2/3 wheeler tyre segment. CIL's presence is primarily in the domestic replacement market and has diverse product portfolio in the truck and bus (T&B) bias and radial tyres, two/three-wheeler (2/3W) tyres and non-truck bias tyre segments.

Bentley Systems Announces New Bentley Education Program To Infrastructure Careers

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, today announced the Bentley Education program, which encourages the development of future infrastructure professionals for careers in engineering, design, and architecture. The Bentley Education program is initially available in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Ireland, and Lithuania, with plans to expand to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and India by mid-summer. The program’s student and educator entitlements allow no-cost learning licenses for Bentley infrastructure engineering applications and proven learnings through the new Bentley Education portal. Students and educators from around the globe can register on the Education portal and connect to infrastructure organizations and resources to prepare for and to recruit for infrastructure engineering careers. Bentley also announced the Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021.

The Bentley Education portal provides a single source for an on-demand, frictionless, and fun experience for students as they build and enhance their digital design skills. Students and educators have access to comprehensive resources, including:

insights from leading AEC professionals, sharing what the industry has to offer students and what skills are in high demand;

the latest news and emerging trends in architecture, engineering, and construction; and

firsthand perspective of current engineering students, mentors, and women in infrastructure engineering.

The program offers full access to learning licenses of over 40 of Bentley’s most popular applications used by infrastructure professionals around the globe, including ContextCapture, MicroStation, OpenRoads Designer, STAAD.Pro, and SYNCHRO. The portal can be accessed via https://education.bentley.com.

The Bentley Education program is open to students and educators at community colleges, technical institutes, polytechnics, universities, secondary schools, and homeschooled students. The program is designed to create world-class talent that can rise to the challenge of improving quality of life and positively changing the world using Bentley infrastructure engineering software, applications, and proven learnings. The Bentley Education program will also help students develop digital skills, which are critical for a qualified talent pipeline to support infrastructure growth and resilience worldwide.

The Bentley Education program uses a role-based learning approach, allowing future infrastructure professionals to focus on specific capabilities needed for specific professions. Students can go beyond mere product proficiency and develop a comprehensive understanding of skillsets required to excel in various roles in infrastructure engineering.

“With many nations and institutions committing to infrastructure and digital education initiatives as top priorities for a post-pandemic world, we are excited to launch this much-requested and responsive program now,” said Katriona Lord-Levins, chief success officer, Bentley Systems. “We want to inspire and encourage students to learn about infrastructure engineering as a possible career path, and to introduce these young minds to the vast opportunities that lie ahead, with infrastructure going digital.”

The Bentley Education portal also serves as a gateway for individual students or teams of two to submit their innovative concepts for Bentley’s Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021. The global competition is open to students from community colleges, polytechnics institutes, and universities. Students advancing in the Challenge, based on their ideas that improve quality of life, will work on modeling, simulation, and visualization to develop a design model. The winner of the Future Infrastructure Star Challenge will be announced during the Going Digital Awards at the Year in Infrastructure 2021 Conference.

The inaugural Future Infrastructure Star Challenge is divided into Stage 1 (Conceptualization),

and Stage 2 (Design and Visualization). In Stage 1 (Conceptualization), students are invited to submit their ideas for “a next big infrastructure project” in any of the following categories: road and rail, building and facilities, water and wastewater, cities and mapping, and power generation. While conceptualizing their idea, students should focus on an environmental challenge that affects or is affected by infrastructure development, consider applying the Internet of Things, and emphasize the project’s contribution to the world’s health and welfare.

The top 20 judged projects from Stage 1 (Conceptualization) will each win USD 500, with the top 10 projects moving on to Stage 2 (Design and Visualization). Here, each such entry may take advantage of opportunities to work with infrastructure professionals, and/or to attend masterclasses with Bentley experts, to bring their ideas to life using Bentley applications. In addition to being announced and introduced at the Year in Infrastructure 2021 Conference, the winner of the Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2010 will receive a cash prize of USD 5,000 and recognition in Bentley’s 2021 Infrastructure Yearbook.

Vinayak Trivedi, vice president of Bentley Education, said, “We want to make the Bentley Education portal the place where students can go to learn about and become inspired to make infrastructure engineering their career choice. The goal of the program is to help students who are passionate about infrastructure to get a jump-start on a fulfilling career. The Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021 provides an opportunity for them to be creative and innovative in project designs for improving the quality of life and positively changing the world.”

‘Cov-Tech Ventilation System’, A Compact Ventilation System For PPE Suits Designed By Nihaal Singh Adarsh

It is a known fact that working in PPE suits for long hours is extremely uncomfortable, making it a challenge for frontline and healthcare workers. To fix their problem, Watt Technovations, Nihaal Singh Adarsh a student from K J Somaiya College of Engineering and incubated at riidl, Somaiya Vidyavihar University has designed ‘Cov-Tech Ventilation System’, a compact ventilation system for PPE suits. This product is designed specifically to act as an add-on component to the existing PPE suits to bring comfort to our front-line medical workers. Link: https://www.watttechnovations.com/

Nihaal Singh Adarsh, received the NIDHI Prayas grant of INR 10,00,000 from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for prototype development and product innovation with the help of riidl (Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory), a not-for-profit organization under Somaiya Trust, supported by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Maharashtra State Innovation Society, Government of Maharashtra. The startup also received a support of INR 5,00,000 from New Venture Investment Program (a joint program conducted by riidl & K J Somaiya Institute of Management).

The device truly stands out from the rest and makes the medical workers' life easier. It is an innovation, designed specifically by combining technology with science to bring comfort to the people working during the Covid-19 pandemic. After conducting research, it was realized that such a product was either not economical for the average medical practitioner  or was simply not compact enough to be utilized on a daily basis. The ‘Cov-Tech Ventilation System’ tackles these issues by ensuring a compact, portable and user-friendly device to provide a ventilation system for PPE suits. Video Link: https://www.watttechnovations.com/videos

The sole purpose behind creating the 'Cov-Tech Ventilation System', is to bring comfort to the healthcare professionals working during the Covid-19 pandemic in a safe manner.The demographic that the product caters to is primarily doctors and independent medical practitioners who are currently working in environments of high risk and are quite uncomfortable due to the challenges of wearing a PPE kit for long hours.

Supported by Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Lab India. Dassault Systèmes is among the Fortune 50 list of the largest software companies that develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and more. It is supported by the NIDHI Prayas Program of the Department of Science and Technology. It is also supported by BIRAC and Maharashtra State Innovation Society.

Gaurang Shetty, Chief Innovation Catalyst, riidl said, “We encourage students to innovate. We provide a foster environment to help the innovator to make the best output. A team of teachers and supervisors support the startup and help them at every stage.” 

Capgemini Commits Rupees 50 Crore To Augment Medical Infrastructure In India

* Capgemini’s Social Response Unit (SRU) is partnering with State Government Authorities and UNICEF to provide critical COVID-19 care 

Capgemini has committed Rupees 50 Crore to augment the efforts of the central and state administrations in India towards fighting the second wave of COVID-19. This fund will be used to build COVID care ICU facilities, oxygen generation plants, other long-term medical infrastructure and provide relief operations.

As part of this effort, Capgemini is in discussions with various State government authorities to set up healthcare facilities across those cities where Capgemini has its presence. This contribution will be in addition to the Capgemini CSR statutory fund in India.

“India is at the heart of what we do in Capgemini, and the health and safety of our employees and the communities we live in, remains our top priority. This second wave of the COVID pandemic in India has been particularly challenging, and we want to ensure all our support to fight this pandemic and come out stronger. At this critical time, we are committed to accelerate medical assistance in India through the Capgemini Social Response Unit. This fund will help to enhance the efforts of the Central and State authorities in building long-term medical infrastructure in India,” said Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini.

In addition, Capgemini is also contributing Rupees 5 Crores to UNICEF to provide immediate support across India for critical COVID response care, by setting up 3 oxygen generation plants and RT PCR testing machines to augment the government efforts to fight against COVID-19.

“At Capgemini, we are fully committed to providing timely medical, financial, and emotional support to all our team members and their dependents during these unprecedented times. As we continue to support our colleagues, we are also striving to extend help to the communities we live in by providing access to critical care, which is required immediately for the fight against COVID-19 as well as medical needs in the coming years,” said Ashwin Yardi, CEO of Capgemini in India.

During 2020, in line with Capgemini’s social commitment, Capgemini’s Social Response Unit (SRU) provided 65 fully equipped ICU beds to three BMC hospitals in Mumbai, as well as 100 Oxygen Concentrators (OC) and 65 High Flow Nasal Cannulas (HFNC) to 15 government hospitals across Bengaluru. These ICU beds, which are fully equipped with ventilators, ECG monitors, and other critical ICU patient-monitoring devices, are currently being used to treat patients critically affected by COVID-19.

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of 270,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its strong 50 year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fuelled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2020 global revenues of €16 billion.

Capgemini in India comprises over 125,000 team members working across 13 locations: Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Salem and Tiruchirappalli.