ISM Has Become Member Of The Most Connected Startup Network In The World!

International Strategic Management Inc. (ISM) has become a member of the most connected startup network in the world!  Startup Grind allows those within the startup and tech industries to connect through an exclusive global network and access opportunities such as investor introductions, roundtables, curated content, discounts, and more.

“We are excited to join the ranks of such a highly engaged global community,” says ISM CEO Faris Alami. “ISM represents a few other major brands, and it is an honor to represent StartupGrind in our communities, and we look forward to leveraging the network to impact the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Metro Detroit.”

ISM plays a major role in setting up the establishment and growth of entrepreneurship ecosystems globally, through the facilitation of discussions and in the implementation of strategies that were created.  In Detroit, ISM has been part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem for several decades, through the engagement of government and private sectors, providing education to entrepreneurs, and supporting those entrepreneurs as they establish and grow their businesses.

“Detroit already has a strong ecosystem today, but by adding this program to ISM’s portfolio, and to the community at large, we can enhance that ecosystem’s experience both locally and globally” says Faris. “Introducing entrepreneurs to this platform, exposing them to other ideas and discussions right in their hometown will only add to the strong entrepreneurship ecosystem that exists today.”

Madeline Ulivieri, Chapter Lead of Startup Grind adds, "We are thrilled to have the Chapter in Detroit relaunch this year. Detroit is an exciting place with a ton of opportunities and we are looking forward to Faris bringing the community together. Our mission is to give startups the education and opportunities they need to build, grow, and scale their companies. We're thrilled to be accomplishing this in Detroit.”

At StarupGrind, each month has different themes, each theme highlighting a specific topic, industry, or idea.  May is Women’s Month. We will be celebrating women entrepreneurs sharing their story and their journey for starting and growing businesses. Search and use #SGWomen to join the discussion and find virtual events.

About International Strategic Management

International Strategic Management (ISM), located in Troy, Michigan, is a global executive, leadership and entrepreneurial ecosystem development program and management consulting company, offering programs worldwide on leadership, entrepreneurship, management and cultural/diversity training for youth and executives as well as companies nationwide and internationally.  

About Startup Grind

Startup Grind helps founders, entrepreneurs, and startups succeed, regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic circumstance. We believe a better tomorrow is possible by supporting the innovators and risk-takers of today. 50% of our team are founders themselves, so we know from experience how difficult it can be. It cannot be done alone, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created an even greater sense of urgency. This is why we built a safe haven for emerging startups that share our belief that a better future is on the horizon — because we know it’s up to us to make it happen. 

Elgi Equipments Limited Records Fourth Positive Quarter And FY 2020-21 Results

Elgi Equipments Ltd, manufacturer of Air Compressors, announced today the results for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 31st March 2021. Consolidated PAT for the quarter was Rs. 43.36 Crore compared to Rs.1.05 Crore in the same period in 2019-2020. Consolidated PAT for the financial year was Rs.102.49 Crore compared to Rs. 42.57 Crore in 2019-20.

Consolidated sales for the fourth quarter was Rs. 610 Crore as against Rs. 455 Crore in the corresponding quarter in 2019-2020. Consolidated sales for the financial year 2020-21 was Rs. 1924 Crores as against Rs.1829 Crores in 2019-20.

The standalone PAT for the fourth quarter was Rs. 48.85 Crore compared to Rs. 42.01 Crore in the same period in 2019-20. The standalone PAT for the year was Rs. 105.09 Crore compared to Rs. 100.42 Crore in 2019-20

The Board has recommended a dividend of Re.0.80 per share (80%) for the year 2020-21, subject to approval of the shareholders.

The compressor business performance in the domestic market was commendable in the fourth quarter while performance on an annualized basis saw marginal growth over last year. The business has performed well in all of the global markets it is present in.

In a very challenging environment, sales of the automotive business witnessed improvement over the same period of last year.

Outlook for 2021-22

The effects and longevity of the pandemics are still unknown and this would certainly have a bearing on the business for 2021-22. Barring this, the Company expects to perform reasonably well.

About ELGi: Elgi Equipments Limited is a global air compressor manufacturer with a broad line of innovative and technologically superior compressed air systems. ELGi has consistently worked towards ensuring that its customers achieve their productivity goals while keeping the cost of ownership low. ELGi offers a complete range of compressed air solutions from oil lubricated and oil free rotary screw compressors, oil lubricated and oil free reciprocating compressors and centrifugal compressors, to dryers, filters and downstream accessories. The company’s portfolio of over 400 products has found wide application across industries. 

Hero Motocorp To Ramp Up Production With All Manufacturing Plants Resuming Operating From May 24, 2021

Hero MotoCorp - the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters – is gearing up towards a gradual resumption of operations by starting production at all its manufacturing plants in India from Monday, May 24th.

The Company had already commenced single shift production at three of its plants – Gurugram and Dharuhera in Haryana and at Haridwar in the northern hill state of Uttarakhand – from Monday, May 17. 

The other plants of Hero MotoCorp in India – Neemrana in Rajasthan, Halol in Gujarat and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, will also start single shift operations from May 24th.  The Global Parts Centre (GPC) at Neemrana will also be operational from May 24th.

In addition to producing for the domestic market in India, these plants will also have enhanced focus on catering to the Global Business (GB) markets across the world. 

The Company continues to monitor the situation closely and will move to double-shift production gradually. 

Hero MotoCorp has commenced a concerted initiative across the organization as top priority to get the employees in the age group of 18-45 vaccinated. More than 90% of Hero MotoCorp employees above the age of 45 have already been vaccinated. 

Strict safety and hygiene protocols are in place at all plant locations and offices in preparation for the gradual resumption of operations. 

Snap Announces New Features, Latest Updates And AR Experiences At Annual Partner Summit

* Announces New Augmented Reality Tools and Camera Experiences

* Introduces the Next Generation of Spectacles

* Launches Story Studio: a New Standalone app Offering  Powerful Editing Tools to Creators

Snap Inc. held its third Snap Partner Summit virtually with a keynote address by co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, as well as other team members from across the company, announcing new products and partnerships across developer, creator and augmented reality platforms.

This year’s Partner Summit is the most comprehensive look at the company’s long-term vision for its camera— showcasing over a dozen new partnerships and partner-powered innovations that help people express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

The company announced that Snapchat reaches over 500 million monthly active users with roughly 40% of its community located outside of North America and Europe. In India, Snapchat has grown DAU over 100% year-over-year in each of the last five quarters.

Snap believes these announcements will help deepen Snapchatter engagement across the services, onboard more developers and creators to power experiences its community loves. This ultimately gives business and ad partners new ways to leverage Snapchat, from AR to Maps to Minis, that drive their businesses. A core theme of the summit this year is also ‘utility’ — whilst these announcements are fun, they also deliver concrete business solutions for the partners, and utility for the community.

The announcements span three key areas — Augmented Reality, Developers, and Creators.

Augmented Reality

New Spectacles bringing AR to life

Snap Inc. unveiled the next generation of Spectacles, its first pair of glasses that bring augmented reality to life. Not for sale and designed for creators, Spectacles enable augmented reality creators to discover new ways to fuse creativity and utility through immersive experiences built in Lens Studio. Designed from a human-centric approach, Spectacles tap into the senses of sight, touch and sound to bring 3D Lenses to life.

Spectacles are fully integrated with Lens Studio. This powerful desktop application designed for augmented reality creators and developers is used to build and distribute Lenses across Snap’s AR platform. Through Lens Studio, creators can wirelessly push their Lenses to Spectacles directly for rapid testing and iteration, allowing creators to build and interact with their Lenses in real time. Snap’s Spatial Engine within Lens Studio enables creators to build reactive, multi-faceted Lenses that leverage six degrees of freedom and hand, marker, and surface tracking, grounding Lenses in the physical world and realistically bringing AR creations to life.

Introducing Scan to the home screen + Screenshop for e-commerce

More than 170 million Snapchatters use Scan every month, and now Snapchat is adding Scan to the home camera screen. Scan matches what you see through the camera with relevant AR experiences.

Screenshop is a new Scan feature: when you Scan a friend’s outfit or your own saved photos, it helps you shop similar looks with recommendations from hundreds of brands. This builds on the existing Scan capabilities, which can use the Snapchat camera to identify types of plants, dog breeds, wine bottles, car models, songs etc. through partner integrations.

AR Shopping and Business Solutions

With over 200 million Snapchatters engaging with AR daily, Snap has added a new round of technically-advanced and fashion-forward features that make virtual shopping and ‘try-on’ experiences that much more realistic, accurate, and easy to use. Snap is introducing several new AR try-on experiences alongside fashion partners:

Farfetch is reimagining retail using 3D Body Mesh and new voice-enabled controls, letting Snapchatters now say what items they’re looking to browse and try on in AR.

Prada is tapping into new gesture recognition capabilities that let shoppers signal to the camera when they want to try on another item.

Public Profiles for Businesses

Now any partner can establish a permanent presence on Snapchat to showcase their best AR Lenses and Stories — plus a ‘Shop’ page where Snapchatters can browse and buy, which turns Snapchat into a new organic point of sale. Snap has been beta testing this since July 2020. Eventually, Public Profiles will also enable businesses to integrate with the Map, adding more reach across the core tabs of the app.

Launch of Connected Lenses

For the first time, friends can interact with each other through Lenses, from across the room or across the world. For example, build a LEGO kit together, wherever you are.

New API-powered Lenses

Brands can soon seamlessly build AR Shopping Lenses by simply uploading their product catalogues and 3D product assets through the API in Business Manager. Snapchatters using these Lenses will get real-time product and pricing updates, and brands will see new analytics on Lens usage. In addition to shopping, partners like Major League Baseball and Strava will now feed real-time scores and stats right into Lenses through Snap’s API.

Introducing Lens Studio 4.0

Snap’s AR creator ecosystem is booming: with 200,000+ Lens Creators around the world, who have made nearly 2 million Lenses, that have been viewed by Snapchatters more than 2 trillion times. The updated Lens Studio, which is free desktop software, adds 3D Body Mesh, Cloth Simulation, and a Visual Effects Editor that make AR look and move more realistically.

Developers

Snapchat is an increasingly indispensable platform for developers — there are now over 250,000 developers with Snap Kit, nearly 30 million people playing Snap Games every month. Snap also announced a new feature called Map Layers.

Introducing Map Layers

This important new feature layers specialized experiences from partners and Snap right on the Map, personalized for you. Partner brands like  Infatuation’s Layer shows you great restaurants, Ticketmaster’s Layer shows you which concerts are playing where, and a Snapchatter’s own Memories Layer shows you on the Map where you took your favorite saved Snaps. Snap is starting with select partners.

New Camera Kit partnerships with Disney and Bumble

They bring the technology and fun of the Snapchat camera right into partners applications. This fall, in celebration of the Walt Disney World® Resort 50th anniversary, Snap is collaborating with Disney PhotoPass® Service to bring Snap’s Camera technology to Walt Disney World Resort through Camera Kit. Launching today, Bumble matches can send video notes with Snapchat AR to make their “getting-to-know-you” chats more engaging.

Poshmark & Ticketmaster Minis + prominent new home for Games & Minis

Introducing the Poshmark Mini to join daily shopping events, and Ticketmaster Mini to browse shows and find friends to go with. And you can now find Minis and Games in a more accessible ‘tray’ in the app — just swipe down from the home Camera screen. This is where Snap Map was found before it was moved to a main tab.

Bitmoji partnership with Unity

Beginning today game developers can bring Bitmoji into their mobile, PC and console games, right through the Unity platform.

Sticker Kit

This new integration for app developers brings the 34+ million Bitmoji, Stickers, and GIFs from Snapchat right into your app, and at your community’s fingertips.

Creators

Snapchat is a place where Creators can grow their audience, build their business and entertain the community.

Launch of Story Studio

Story Studio is Snap’s new standalone app that offers powerful editing tools to make professional content for mobile, on mobile. It’s a fast and fun way to make more advanced, engaging vertical videos that share right to Snapchat - and anywhere else. Built with Creators in mind, Story Studio will offer insights into trends happening on Snapchat. It is launching later this year on iOS and will be available for free. The app’s suite of tools and features include:

Insights into trending #Topics, Sounds and Lenses across Snapchat

Access to Snap’s robust catalog of licensed music and audio clips for use in video projects

Frame-precise trimming, slicing and cutting, as well as frame-precise placement of creative elements like captions, stickers, Sounds and other media layers

Visual effects using Snap's unique augmented reality technology via Lenses and cross-clip transitions

The ability to save and edit projects until you’re ready to share

Direct posting of the finished video to Spotlight or Stories (via Creative Kit), download to your camera roll, or open it in other installed apps

Easy login with Snapchat (via Login Kit)

Gifting

Subscribers can now send Gifts to official Snap Stars to kickstart conversations. Snap Stars earn a share of the revenue from Gifts, which are received through Story Replies and purchased via in Snapchat Tokens.

Spotlight on the web

A new destination at snapchat.com/spotlight where Creators can upload video into Spotlight directly from Chrome or Safari, and anyone, even without a Snapchat account, can see the best of what’s happening.

Launch of Creator Marketplace

Brands can use this new portal in the self-serve Business Manager to find and contact verified creators, starting with top AR Lens Creators and, in the future, Snap Stars and Creators on Spotlight.

Inclusive Camera efforts

Snapchat’s camera is one of the most widely used in the world, and the company recently announced plans to make it more inclusive, working with several noted directors of photography from the film industry to learn techniques they use to best capture actors with darker skin tones. These features will become available in Camera Kit, so developers all over the world can easily make their cameras more inclusive.

About Snap Inc.

Snap Inc. is a camera company. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. 

Godrej Donates Advanced Medical Refrigerators To Safeguard Covid-19 Vaccines

* Bengaluru based Urban Primary Health Centre received specialized Godrej Vaccine Refrigerator to safely store covid-19 vaccines

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced recently that its business, Godrej Appliances, one of India’s leading consumer durables company, has donated a specialized 99-litre vaccine refrigerator to Urban Primary Health Centre, BBMP West Zone, Bengaluru to strengthen their preparedness towards tackling the Covid immunization drive.

Godrej has been partnering the ongoing Covid vaccination drive by the government, with its made in India, advanced cold storage solutions for vaccines and life-saving supplies.

The advanced 99 litre Godrej vaccine refrigerator was recently handed over by representative of Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co. Ltd to Dr. Sujatha S Hiremath, Medical Officer, Urban Primary Health Centre, BBMP West Zone, Bengaluru in a formal ceremony.

This was part of the Godrej & Boyce’s COVID Outreach initiative, under which the brand is donating 40 units of advanced medical refrigerators to various hospitals and public health centres pan India. Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the diversified Godrej group, is widely known for its commitment towards nation building and society.

About Godrej Appliances

Godrej Appliances, a business unit of the highly diversified Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. is one of the leading Home Appliances players in India. Godrej was the first Indian Company in 1958 to manufacture Refrigerators and has since then, expanded its portfolio across many other categories like Washing Machines, Air Conditioners, Microwave Ovens, futuristic Thermo-electric cooling solutions, Air Coolers, Deep Freezers, highly specialized Medical Refrigerators and more recently, UVC Technology-Based Disinfecting devices and Dishwashers, all powered by the driving philosophy of 'Things made thoughtfully’/ ‘Soch Ke Banaya Hai’. 

This thought extends from human-centric design to planet centric design. Environment is a core value at Godrej Appliances. Both manufacturing units of Godrej Appliances’ - in Maharashtra and Punjab, became the first in the country to win the coveted Platinum Plus Green Co certification for their pioneering green manufacturing practices. 

The brand takes pride in not just its carefully designed products and environment-friendly technologies, but also best in class after-sales service delivered through over 680 service centers and more than 4500 SmartBuddy service experts spread all over the country.

Bayer sets up Oxygen Plant at Haria L.G. Rotary Hospital in Vapi under its Covid relief initiatives

* Bayer has set up a ~35 NM3 per hour capacity Oxygen Plant at a local hospital in Vapi

* 50 hospital beds can be supported with uninterrupted flow of high quality medical-grade oxygen

* Initiative aims to enhance hospital’s in-house oxygen capacity for the treatment of Covid-19 patients and also cater to future requirements

* Oxygen Plant set up in record time of three weeks by converting existing Nitrogen Plant at Bayer’s Vapi site

With surging cases of Covid-19 in India and the increased demand for medical-grade oxygen, Bayer, a global life science company with 125 years of presence in India, has set up an Oxygen Plant at the Haria L.G. Rotary Hospital  in Vapi, Gujarat. The Oxygen Plant was officially commissioned today and handed over by Narendra Shah, Director & Site Manager, Bayer Vapi Pvt. Ltd. to Dr.S.S.Singh, Superintendent, Haria L.G. Rotary Hospital, Vapi.

Bayer set up the Oxygen Plant in a record time of three weeks’ by converting its existing 200 NM3 per hour Nitrogen Plant at its Vapi site to manufacture medical-grade oxygen with a purity level of 91 to 93%. The plant has a capacity of ~35 NM3 per hour of Oxygen (1.18 metric tons per day), and will provide round-the-clock oxygen supply for the treatment of patients ailing with Covid-19. With the additional oxygen capacities, upto 50 beds can be supported with an uninterrupted 10 litres per minute flow of high quality medical-grade oxygen. In addition, the plant will have an oxygen storage tank with a capacity of 2 kilo litres.

Speaking about the initiative, Narendra Shah, Director & Site Manager, Bayer Vapi Pvt. Ltd., said, “We want to extend our support towards India’s fight against Covid-19. The set up of the oxygen generating plant at the Haria L.G. Rotary Hospital is a small step in this direction, to contribute towards safeguarding the health & lives of patients in Vapi and neighboring cities. We are fully committed to support our employees, stakeholders and local communities to emerge stronger together from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic."

The Haria L.G. Rotary Hospital at Vapi in Gujarat, has 200 beds in total, of which 52 beds are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The hospital has dedicated 75 beds for treatment of Covid-19 patients. “Until now, we were dependent on private contractors for supply of oxygen cylinders and were facing multiple challenges for replenishing supplies. We are very grateful to Bayer for their end-to-end support from setting up of the Oxygen Plant, to testing, training and deployment. This in-house oxygen facility will help us treat critically-ill patients with more confidence and will expand our infrastructure to make us better equipped for future requirements," said Dr.S.S.Singh, Director, Medical Services, Haria L.G. Rotary Hospital, Vapi.

Besides setting up the Oxygen Plant, Bayer has conducted a detailed risk assessment, multiple trials and quality control tests to ensure the correct pressure is maintained in the oxygen supply pipeline and there are no leakages. The purity of the oxygen manufactured at the plant has also been tested by a laboratory to conform to required specifications of medical-grade oxygen used in hospitals. This project is a part of Bayer’s larger Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives across India to fight the surge of Covid-19. Bayer has also distributed three-ply masks to frontline workers and oxygen concentrators to Primary Health Centers to serve local communities in need.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros. 

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports, which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Esper Announces $30 Million In Series B Funding To Fuel DevOps Innovation

* Scale Venture Partners leads round to accelerate the deployment of Android edge devices globally

Esper, the industry’s leading Android DevOps platform for intelligent edge devices, today announced $30 million in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors including Madrona Venture Group, Root Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, and Haystack. The investment brings Esper's total funding to $40.6 million, following a $7.6 million Series A fundraise in February 2020.

With the number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices projected to increase from 14 billion units in 2021 to 31 billion units in 2025, companies are learning how best to scale their core business applications. But with thousands of device manufacturers on Android alone, achieving scale brings significant challenges. Esper’s platform helps companies securely streamline deployment and management for distributed fleets of Android edge devices, creating positive user experiences that can rapidly scale.

“Android is the most widely-used operating system in APAC. Enterprises require the right set of tools and processes to scale their edge device deployment and provide quality mobile experiences for their customers,” said Shiv Sundar, COO and Co-founder at Esper. “Esper’s Android DevOps platform powers mission-critical device deployment for Logistics, Retail, and Education customers in India and U.S. markets.”

In 2020, the company saw significant customer growth, across a number of industries, including Teach For India, Ordermark, Spire Health, Intelity turning to Esper to bring them to market faster as the demand for seamless digital experiences spiked. At year-end, the number of devices running on Esper grew 15x, with 70x year-over-year revenue growth. With the new funding, Esper plans to continue to build out its product portfolio and expand its infrastructure platform to support even larger workloads. Additionally, Esper plans to expand its team in India and the US and be hiring for engineering in cloud, Android, and full-stack, in addition to product and program management, user experience, marketing, and sales. 

“The pandemic has transformed industries like connected fitness, digital health, hospitality, and food delivery, further accelerating the adoption of intelligent edge devices. But with each new use case, better software automation is required,” said Yadhu Gopalan, CEO and co-founder at Esper. “Esper’s mature cloud infrastructure incorporates the functionality cloud developers have come to expect, re-imagined for devices.” 

“The world of edge devices is growing daily - from the ubiquitous tablets in retail, restaurants and warehouses, to fitness equipment and kiosks. All these devices need provisioning, scaled deployments, and frequent and remote updates,” said Andy Vitus, partner at Scale Venture Partners. “Esper is the DevOps infrastructure for the millions of fleets of devices out there in the hands of non-IT staff users - consumers, restaurant workers, shoppers, and more. We led their Series B because we see similarities to other DevOps companies and Esper has already established themselves as the leader in the exploding need for Device DevOps.”

A pioneer of the DevOps revolution, Esper CEO and Co-Founder Yadhu Gopalan designed back-end solutions for Amazon’s FireOS, AWS cloud services, and led systems engineering for Amazon Go. Over time, he saw an opportunity to bring the “DevOps mindset” to the world of intelligent edge devices. Seeing firsthand how much of a critical role modern infrastructure played in the success of cloud services, he applied similar tools and concepts to power the connected future for Android devices, founding Esper in 2018 with Shiv Sundar. Sundar, COO of Esper, previously led Android ecosystem teams at Samsung, Huawei and Cyanogen.

“Just as AWS rapidly accelerated the time to bring a web application to market, Esper gives developers and engineers the platform to bring their dedicated devices and associated apps to market exponentially faster,” said Yadhu Gopalan, CEO and co-founder of Esper. “Regardless of your hardware choices or roadmap, Esper presents the infrastructure as a single pane of glass. We innovate for you on the infrastructure level, so you can innovate at the application level.”

About Esper

Esper offers a DevOps SaaS platform for intelligent edge devices. As the industry’s leading solution for Android DevOps, Esper is on a mission to let software teams ship without worrying about the hardware. Esper’s device infrastructure enables developers, mid-market organizations, and enterprise fleets of 100,000+ devices to deliver their software as a service. Esper operates out of Bengaluru and Seattle and has rapidly-growing global customer adoption among some of the world’s most innovative major brands in retail, hospitality, logistics, healthcare, education and more. 

About Scale Venture Partners

Scale is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital investment firm with $1.9B under management. We were early investors in SaaS pioneers like Bill.com (NYSE:BILL), DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU), HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS), JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG) and Root (NASDAQ: ROOT). Today we’re focused on the next generation of enterprise software companies building Cognitive Applications like: Comet.ml, Observe.ai, Techsee and Viz.ai.

Experian Launches Enhanced Version Of “CrossCore, A Combination Of Risk-Based Authentication, Identity Proofing And Fraud Detection”

With accelerated digitisation, frauds and online financial attacks in India are growing exponentially. Data from Experian’s Global Insights Report (January/February 2021), shows that 46% of businesses in India have seen an increase in fraud.  

With the advent of e-commerce, digital fraud has been a huge challenge for businesses. Despite the growing risk of fraud, 40% of Indian businesses indicate that they are placing more emphasis on revenue generation rather than fraud detection, which can lead to increase in losses and a decline in customer confidence. Considering that 56% of consumers in India cite online privacy as a significant concern, it is imperative for businesses to take robust actions to safeguard themselves and their customers against potential digital risks.    

While 90% of businesses in India say they have implemented strategies related to recognising their customers across their various platforms – the highest among all regions surveyed in the global report – only 18% of organisations surveyed in India are confident in preventing new types of fraud.  

To counter the rising threat of fraud, Experian – the world’s leading global information services company – has upgraded and enhanced one of its flagship products, CrossCore. The enhanced version of CrossCore cuts complexity, increases efficiency and helps businesses to quickly respond to today’s emerging fraud threats.  

Experian’s CrossCore is the first identity and fraud platform that empowers businesses to connect, access, and orchestrate decisions across multiple solutions seamlessly. This new version features a cloud architecture, progressive risk assessments, faster response times, self-service workflows, and various reporting dashboards. These features allow businesses to manage checks required for every application and transaction, analyse key performance indicators in near real-time, and detect fraud quickly – without impacting the customer experience.  

With CrossCore, Businesses Can Look Forward To The Following Benefits: 

All-in-one, faster, frictionless solution - a one-point solution for identity and document verification, video KYC, fraud detection and more for faster business decisions. 

Advanced technologies for identity verification and fraud prevention - identifying customers through advanced machine learning, artificial intelligence, device intelligence, behavioural biometrics and Experian’s fraud consortium, Hunter. 

Faster decisions for superior customer experience - making real-time fraud prevention decisions and providing superior customer experience. 

Improved business metrics - decreasing manual review costs and fraud losses. 

Neeraj Dhawan, Managing Director, Experian India, said: “The pandemic has resulted in a behavioural shift in adopting digital mediums as the primary operational channel. This shift has intensified concerns over cyber threats and new kinds of frauds. Experian’s enhanced CrossCore presents an opportunity for businesses to put consumers at the heart of the relationship. CrossCore connects disparate fraud systems with an open platform, delivering both visibility and agility. With the latest version of CrossCore, Experian empowers businesses by consolidating numerous fraud risk signals into a single, holistic assessment, enabling them to improve operational processes, stay ahead of fraudsters, and protect their customers.” 

Steve Griffiths, Managing Director, Decision Analytics, Experian Asia Pacific, said: “India has now become one of the largest and fastest-growing technology markets in this world. Businesses need to build a digital infrastructure that is agile and adaptive to these changing dynamics. While 90% of businesses in India say they have implemented strategies related to recognising their customers across their various platforms, without a focus on fraud prevention, they remain prone to losses in the long-term. Businesses who put all their money into the digital experience at the expense of fraud prevention will be targeted by fraudsters, who have sophisticated ways of identifying weaker online platforms and targeting them. The enhanced version of CrossCore provides businesses a strong mechanism to combat evolving fraud threats in real-time.”  

The new version of CrossCore has enhanced capabilities to deal with Account Takeover Fraud, as well as Account Opening frauds, along with supporting fraud data sharing for a range of different fraud indicators.  

Twitter Rolls Out New Verification Application Process Shaped By Public Feedback

Twitter has relaunched its verification application, and has rolled out a new process for application and for reviewing verification requests. This rollout is a step towards giving more transparency, credibility and clarity to verification on the service.

The blue badge is how people distinguish the authenticity of accounts that are of high public interest. It gives people on Twitter more context about who they’re having conversations with, thus enabling more informed conversations. To this end, Twitter has been working to bring clarity to the verification process with a policy shaped by public feedback.

With the revised application process, Twitter is also introducing some new guidelines for verified accounts to encourage healthy conversations for the betterment of the Twitter community overall. They follow the philosophy to lead by example, Tweet others how they want to be Tweeted, and serve the public conversation authentically, respectfully and with consideration. Verified accounts that repeatedly violate the Twitter Rules are subject to have the blue badge removed. In fact, Twitter has already started automatically removing the verified badge from accounts that no longer meet the updated criteria for verification.

Who’s eligible?

To qualify for verification, you must fit the criteria of one of the six categories listed below.:

Government

Companies, brands and organizations

News organizations and journalists

Entertainment

Sports and gaming

Activists, organizers, and other influential individuals

In addition to the category-specific eligibility criteria outlined in the verification policy, an account must also be complete - with a profile name, a profile image, a confirmed email address, and a phone number - to be considered for verification. Moreover,  the account must also be active within the last six months and have a record of adherence to the Twitter Rules.

How can one apply to get verified?

Over the next few weeks, everyone on Twitter will start to see the new verification application directly in the Account Settings tab directly in the app. In India, the application will also be available in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada.

Here’s what the application flow will look like:

After receiving an application, Twitter will respond with an email within a month, either confirming verification or informing if  the application didn’t meet the new verification criteria. 

Once an application is approved, the blue badge will automatically appear on a verified profile. People can reapply for verification after 30 days from receiving Twitter’s decision to their initial application.

Karnataka CM, B. S. Yediyurappa Received Cheque, Oxygen Concentrators, Essential Medical Equipment's From TVS Motor

TVS Motor Company, along with Sundaram-Clayton Limited, through their social arm, Srinivasan Services Trust, contributed Rs. 1 crore towards Chief Minister’s Relief Fund - COVID-19.  Additionally, 300 oxygen concentrators, essential medical supplies and equipments worth of Rs. 3 crores were also donated to the Government of Karnataka. Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri. B. S. Yediyurappa received the cheque, oxygen concentrators, essential medical supplies and equipments from Mr. V. R. Karunakara Reddy, Vice President - Corporate Relations, TVS Motor Company and Mr. Sethuraman,  Associate Vice President, TVS Motor Company.

DBT Beneficiaries Can Withdraw PM KisanYojana Funds From Fino Banking Points

Fino Payments Bank’s merchant points across the country are geared up to help India’s farming community amid the pandemic by providing access to cash to the beneficiaries of government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, the PM KisanYojana.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced the benefit transfer of over ₹19000 crores directly into the accounts of more than 9.5 crore beneficiary farmer families. Each farmer beneficiary receives₹2,000 in his or her bank account.

The beneficiaries of the DBT scheme having account in any bank can visit the nearest Fino point to withdraw cash or do any other banking transaction. Fino points are the neighbourhood small merchants such as kirana, medical stores, dairy shops and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) outlets equipped with micro ATM and Aadhaar enabled payment system (AePS) devices.

To find the nearest Fino point, people can click on the URL https://fino.latlong.in/ or can scan the QR code.

“Always available banking services are the need of the hour,” says Shailesh Pandey, CSO, Fino Payments Bank. “With restrictions on movement, Fino’s Hamesha available neighbourhood outlets are open for extended hours providing convenience to people during these tough times. Beneficiaries can walk-in into the points at any time or avail doorstep services to withdraw cash or send money to their family. Most importantly cash is always available at our points, including at BPCL outlets. Our objective is to provide access to convenient banking to the farming community in this hour of need.”

The PM KisanYojana provides financial benefit of ₹6000 per year to the eligible farmer families, payable in three equal 4-monthly instalments of ₹2,000 each. The 14th May payment is the first instalment for FY21-22.

During lockdown in 2020, Fino’s merchant network facilitated neighbourhood and door step banking to people in urban and rural areas. The Fino merchant being familiar in the locality was called by people for any cash requirement at any time of the day. The service provided great comfort to senior citizens, women and pensioners.

Majority of the withdrawals were done by DBT beneficiaries of schemes such as social security pension, PMJDY, PM KisanYojana etc.

At Fino points, people can also open a new account and also avail cash deposit, money transfer, utility bill and loan EMI payment services, and buy health, life and motor insurance. All in the neighborhood and completely paperless - Hamesha!

Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative Enhances Position As World’s Largest Vulnerability Disclosure Player

* Independent Omdia study finds ZDI reported 60.5% of appraised bugs in 2020 

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today announced its Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) accounted for 60.5% of the vulnerabilities disclosed in a new Omdia study. The ZDI maintains its position as the world’s largest vendor-agnostic bug bounty program for the 13th consecutive year. The ZDI had the most disclosures across all severity levels, with 77% of their disclosures being critical or high severity rating. 

The analyst firm’s independent report, Quantifying the Public Vulnerability Market: 2021 Edition, offers a comprehensive comparative analysis of 11 of the world’s most prolific security research and vulnerability disclosure organizations. Click here to read the full report: https://resources.trendmicro.com/rs/945-CXD-062/images/Omdia_Vulnerability-Project-Whitepaper.pdf. 

“As recent events around Microsoft Exchange Server have highlighted yet again, vulnerabilities remain at the heart of the challenge for those fighting on the frontline against threat actors,” said Brian Gorenc, senior director of vulnerability research for Trend Micro. “That’s why we remain committed to incentivizing researchers to find and responsibly disclose bugs. This benefits users everywhere, and especially Trend Micro TippingPoint customers who were protected for 81 days on average before the release of a vendor patch in 2020.”

Omdia appraised 1,365 unique, verified vulnerabilities disclosed in 2020 claimed by the 11 vendors. Of these, ZDI disclosed 825 bugs, three times more than the next vendor, which disclosed 242. The ZDI increased its market coverage by 8.2% from the previous year, strengthening its position as industry leader even further. 

The report also recognized the ZDI Research Rewards program, which, similar to frequent flyer miles from an airline, enables researchers to earn increased rewards and bonuses by continuing to work with the ZDI. 

“The number of vulnerabilities discovered by all independent researchers totaled less than half of those offered by Trend Micro,” said Tanner Johnson, principal analyst for Omdia. “The ZDI focuses on vulnerabilities in a broad range of services, with a great deal of its effort directed toward vulnerabilities in networking and PDF software, which are critical to enterprise security.” 

Founded in 2005, Trend Micro’s ZDI pioneered the development of the responsible disclosure market for vulnerabilities, which leverages bug bounty rewards to incentivize researchers. The program has reported more than 7,500 flaws to affected vendors to date. Over 10,000 researchers globally have now been paid more than $25 million in bounties. 

ROHM’s ‘Environmental Vision 2050’: Aiming To Achieve Zero Carbon And Zero Emissions By 2050

* ROHM’s ‘Environmental Vision 2050’ contributes to achieving a sustainable society by 2050

In addition to pursuing zero carbon and zero emissions (zero CO2 emissions) based on the three themes of ‘climate change’, ‘resource recycling’, and ‘coexistence with nature’, ROHM will promote business activities in harmony with the natural cycle to protect biodiversity.

ROHM’s corporate objective is: ‘Quality is our top priority at all times’. Since our company’s foundation, we have been actively contributing to society and the progress of our culture through a consistent supply, under all circumstances, of high quality products in large volumes to the global market.

The role of semiconductors – ROHM’s main products – is becoming increasingly important to achieving a decarbonized society. In particular, improving the efficiency of motors and power supplies, which are said to account for the most of the world’s electricity consumption, has become our major mission.

Against this backdrop, our management vision for 2020 is: ‘Focus on power and analog products to solve social challenges by delivering greater energy savings and miniaturization in customer products.’ In order to further contribute to society, we will clarify the direction we should take while raising awareness among all group employees. 

In addition to contributing through these products, it is important to reduce the environmental impact of business activities in general, including the production process. ROHM accomplishes this vision by working to establish an eco-friendly business structure by using 100% renewable energy at both its main domestic offices (Kyoto Station Building, Shin-Yokohama Station Building) and in the primary production process for SiC wafer manufacturing from this fiscal year.

ROHM is committed to continuing to promote technological innovation in power and analog products, which are key devices for improving efficiency, based on our corporate objectives and management vision. At the same time, we are actively involved in a variety of environmental conservation activities and environmental investments. The core aims: Slowing down the climate change, applying resource recycling and acting in coexistence with nature – in accordance with our newly established environmental vision to achieve a sustainable society.

ThoughtWorks Report Reveals Key Success Factors In Digital Transformations

 

* Business executives and senior technology leaders indicate that a change-embracing culture and selecting the right transformation partners are critical to enterprise modernization

ThoughtWorks, a global technology company, commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate how companies are designing, building and maintaining new customer-facing technology. The findings of the in-depth survey of 400+ digital transformation and modernization decision makers at organizations who have had successful transformation initiatives across China, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States are included in the study entitled, ”The Secrets of Successful Digital Transformation.”

The survey results show successful organizations approach modernization in a multi-faceted way, with investments in modern digital technologies making up merely one aspect of success. Key findings of the survey include:

The right talent is hard to come by regardless of how successful firms are with their enterprise modernization efforts. Successful firms recruit, invest and retain knowledgeable staff (71%) and work with trusted partners (76%) to compensate for whatever skill and culture gaps that may exist within their organization.

The majority of decision-makers (81%) agree that utilizing a trusted partner’s skills and expertise is as or more important for success than the technology solution they provided.

Modernization efforts are not one-and-done initiatives. Decision-makers realize continuous improvement (81%) and dedicated budget (71%) are critical factors of success.

The primary transformational journey enterprises are undertaking today is the move to a more digital and innovative organization that can both react and adapt to business needs quickly. As the challenges of the pandemic have heightened the demand to achieve the right mix of technology, talent and processes to accelerate this journey, the study offers actionable insights to driving transformations that deliver strong business value.

“As the survey results found, the business benefits of transformation efforts are many-fold. Successful organizations gain increased agility and productivity while shortening time to market and significantly increasing customer satisfaction,” said Mike Mason, global head of technology, ThoughtWorks. “Interestingly, having the right people, skills mix and collaboration techniques are actually more important than specific technology choices such as which cloud provider to use in a modernization effort.”

Join @thoughtworks on Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 11:00 am EDT for a webinar featuring Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst, Jeffrey Hammond. 

About ThoughtWorks

We are a software consultancy and community of passionate purpose-led individuals, 8,000+ people strong across 48 offices in 17 countries. Over our 25+ year history, we have helped our clients solve complex business problems where technology is the differentiator. When the only constant is change, we prepare you for the unpredictable.

Vardhman Health Specialities India Is Now Part Of The Aknamed Group

* The combined entity will be a boon in transforming and building India’s largest Healthcare Supply chain platform

* The transaction enables Aknamed to further promote excellence in delivery of healthcare essentials, with an enhanced pan-India footprint with leadership in therapeutic areas such as oncology, immunotherapy and virology

* Boosted by additional investment by existing investor of Aknamed- Lightrock, part of LGT Group (a global private banking and asset management firm with over $250B assets under management), accelerating the successful completion of the transaction

* This is the 3rd addition to the Aknamed Group in last 12 months, scaling its business to ~$200M in annualized revenues

* Aknamed aims to widen its footprint to 35 locations with the ability to serve over 500 cities and towns by end of 2021

Aknamed (Akna Medical Pvt. Ltd.), India’s largest tech-enabled hospital-focused supply chain platform announced the successful transaction with Vardhman Health Specialties (Vardhman), one of the largest specialty products provider to hospitals with expertise in therapeutic areas such as oncology, immunotherapy and virology. The integrated organization with the strong proficiency in hospital focused distribution, will work towards transforming and building India’s largest healthcare supply chain platform.

The transaction marks the 3rd addition to the Aknamed Group in last 12 months, scaling the business to $200M in annualized revenues. Over the next 2 years, Aknamed is aiming to invest significant additional capital to fuel the group’s organic and inorganic growth plans, while continuing to invest in people, technology and infrastructure. In fact, by the end of the current year, Aknamed will be present in 35 locations with the ability to serve over 500 cities and towns. 

Mr. Naresh Chowhan, CEO of Vardhman spelling out the motivation for the transaction, remarked “We are extremely pleased in partnering with Aknamed. This partnership underlines the growing importance of consolidation in the pharma supply chain industry in India. It opens up significantly larger opportunities, apart from the synergies derived from the combined businesses of Vardhman and Aknamed. The improved value proposition for our clients and stakeholders will allow us to serve them better. The combination propels us to an unequivocal leadership position to tap the large growth potential of the Indian market.”  

Commenting on the completion of the deal, Mr. Saurabh Pandey, Founder and CEO, Aknamed, said, “We are delighted to welcome Vardhman as part of the Aknamed Group. The vision of Aknamed has always been on delivering excellence in customer service, transparent business processes and practices with all stakeholders and developing exceptional technology based supply chain processes in niche and therapeutic areas. Our vision and goal have resonated very well with the Vardhman team as their business has been built on the similar values over the years. The focus is now to provide a top-notch supply chain service to the hospitals across country.”

Sharing his views on the completion of the transaction, Mahadevan (Mahad) Narayanamoni, Co-Founder & Chairman, Aknamed, said, “I am excited about the combination of Aknamed and Vardhman as it will solve a significant number of procurement challenges, and will broaden the horizon of healthcare supply chain in India. We also thank the continued support and guidance from our financial partners, Lightrock from LGT Group. We remain strongly committed in our endeavour to make a meaningful contribution to the digital health aspirations of hospitals in the country.”

Deloitte Corporate Finance were the exclusive financial advisors to Vardhman on the transaction.

ABOUT VARDHMAN

Vardhman Health Specialities (Vardhman), led by Jayantilal Chowhan (Founder & Chairman), Naresh Chowhan (Co-Founder & CEO) and Kalpesh Chowhan (Director), pioneered the distribution of specialty pharmaceutical products across India which are primarily used in therapies such as Oncology, Nephrology, Hepatology, Virology, Cardiology and Neurology, among others. It’s innovative business models and high-quality service orientation, has enabled Vardhman to grown at an industry-leading pace to become a pan-India leader in specialty pharmaceutical distribution with 18 branches serving over 1,200 hospitals and specialty clinics all across India. With two decades of experience in Healthcare and Pharma industry, Vardhman diversified into providing in-depth Healthcare and pharmaceutical solutions. The company has invested into pharma 4.0 initiatives in creating digital healthcare platforms. The company has long standing partnerships with world-leading pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Abbott, Astellas, BMS, Cipla, DRL, Eli Lilly, Glenmark, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and Sanofi amongst others. It continues to leverage best-in-class logistics capabilities & network to serve over 1,500 international and national pharmaceutical brands across India. It is clearly the ‘preferred choice’ for speciality pharmaceutical distribution serving many reputed pan-India hospital network such as HCG, Manipal, American Oncology, Fortis, TATA Memorial, and Reliance Hospitals.

ABOUT AKNAMED:

Aknamed (Akna Medical Pvt. Ltd.) is India’s largest hospital-focused supply chain platform, enabling hospitals to simplify, optimise and monitor procurement and consumption using a cloud-based technology platform, national infrastructure and a comprehensive product basket. Founded by a team of people with decades of healthcare industry experience, led by Mahadevan (Mahad) Narayanamoni (Chairman) and Saurabh Pandey (CEO), Aknamed has built an organisation focused on delivering excellence in customer service, transparent business processes and practices with all stakeholders and developing deep capabilities in supply chain processes, technology and niche therapeutic areas. Aknamed aims to use scale, data and technology to transform the procurement function of the hospital into a strategic function, enabling the procurement and SCM teams at hospitals drive operational efficiency and profitability. The company partners with hospitals to optimise their procurement costs by using technology and scale and in turn with partners with manufacturers (OEMs) to take their products to hospitals most efficiently across the country. Aknamed currently has direct physical presence in 16 locations across the country and is in the process of expanding to over 30 locations in the coming months. The Company has the largest product portfolio in the country from a hospital consumption perspective, comprising over 10,000 products across surgical and generic / specialty pharmaceuticals including vaccines and other cold-chain products.   

NiyoX Equitas Digital Savings Account On-Boards 100,000 Customers In 50 Days

* Customer convenience, no min balance required, high interest rate driving the growth of 2-in-1 account

NiyoX – a 2-in-1 wealth plus savings account powered by India’s leading digital banking fintech Niyo – on-boards 100,000 customers in less than two months of its launch. At a time when more than 80% of the country is under lockdown-like restrictions, the relevance and need of having a digital savings account has increased exponentially. NiyoX is on track to on-board 2 million customers by FY21-22.

NiyoX has seen 90% of sign-ups from the working millennial population, these customers are spread over 9000 pin codes across the country. NiyoX account opening is one of the fastest in the country with median customers opening their account in under 5 minutes. Besides banking transactions, customers can invest in mutual funds with amount as low as Rs.100.

On achieving this milestone, Niyo’s Cofounder and CEO Vinay Bagri said, “The remarkable success of NiyoX stands testimony to the increasing acceptability of digital products and services among Indian consumers and how a gradual digital transformation is taking place across the country. It has been our constant endeavour to enhance customer experience by offering advanced services and features in the most user-friendly manner. Digital banking is the need of the hour and it is redefining the way financial services are perceived in India. ”

In partnership with Equitas Small Finance Bank and Visa, Niyo recently launched NiyoX - a state-of-the-art mobile banking solution for millennials. Being the first neo-banking platform to go live in India, NiyoX account comes with a VISA Platinum Debit Card, an industry-high 7%* p.a. interest rate on account balance and a promise of no minimum account balance requirement; making it ideal for the fast-paced lifestyle of today’s aspirational millennial Indian.

Virender Bisht, Niyo’s co-founder and CTO said, “Riding on the back of rapid mobile adoption, neo-banks have already democratized banking for customers in the western countries like the UK, USA & Europe. The pandemic has also triggered traditional banking customers in India to now switch to digital banks for the convenience, simplicity, advanced features and prompt support that NiyoX provides. Niyo has been creating path breaking products since inception. We still feel that our innovation journey has just begun, and plan to introduce several market first products in coming quarters. On the back of our innovative products and bank partnerships, Niyo will maintain pole position in this rapidly expanding market. ”

NiyoX account provides access to a full wealth management suite besides the savings account. The comprehensive wealth management suite powered by Niyo Money offers zero commission mutual funds, facility to track all your investments at one place, robo advisory and a feature that analyzes your investment, savings and expenses. Niyo will soon launch domestic and international stocks on the platform.

NiyoX also brings in a multilayer reward system comprising referral incentive, rewards points and scratch card-based cashback. This is topped up with some exclusive offers for the users curated by the team. Earlier this month, the company launched two ad campaigns “#JustCantWait” and “#WantMore” aimed towards millennials and GenZ.

About Niyo:

Niyo is a digital banking Fintech conceptualized in 2015, it currently operates in 4 major business lines: NiyoX is a next gen savings account for millennials, Niyo Money is a power packed of suite of wealth products, Niyo Global Card provides the best banking experience and value for international travelers, and Niyo Bharat Payroll solutions provides modern salary accounts for India’s large blue-collar workforce.

Niyo operates out of corporate offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, and has sales presence in more than 20 states and union territories, currently serving a customer base of around 2 Million and over 7,000 corporates. Niyo currently has around 500 employees, over 250 of which are dedicated to Tech, Product and Design. Niyo’s team includes individuals from a variety of backgrounds and leading universities including IITs, IIMs, ISB, and Ivy league institutions.

TECNO Announces A 60 Days Warranty Extension Policy Amidst Second Wave Of COVID 19

The welfare and safety of our consumers is of utmost priority. Thus, to ensure the same, TECNO India has implemented a two-month warranty extension policy, which is valid for all TECNO smartphones whose warranty expires during the period between 15/04/21 to 15/06/21, will be automatically extended for 2 months. 

To avail this warranty period, follow the below steps:

Step 1 : Download carlcare app  from Google Play store

Step 2 : Open the carlcare app and click Warranty button on the home page

Step 3: Check the validity of your device by entering IMEI of the current device in carlcare app

Step 4: If your device is eligible for extension, you will see 60 days extended warranty option. Click on receive to extend the warranty.

Step 5: Register before 30/06/21, to avail warranty extension

As a socially responsible brand, we will continue to ensure highest safety standards  and assist our consumers and partners in every way possible.

Equitas Small Finance Bank Becomes The First SFB To Offer End-To-End Online Process For NRI Account Opening

* Only small finance bank to have VRM based on time zones

Equitas Small Finance Bank has now become the first small finance bank to offer its NRI customer segment the ease of account opening online. The company will also be the only one in the small finance bank sector to have Virtual Relationship Managers based on time zones.   

The online process of account opening for NRIs can done via smart phone or computer connected to Internet. The applicants will have a span of 90 days to courier documents after account opening.  With this pioneering move, Equitas Small Finance Bank is seamlessly increasing opportunities for its NRI account holders to manage their investments, deposits and the income earned in India. The Equitas Net banking would also facilitate investment in mutual funds and Portfolio Management Services for the NRI account holders.  

Through banking alliances, Equitas Bank also offers online and offline remittance facilities to its NRI customers at the best exchange rates thereby making it easier and beneficial to transfer their overseas earnings to India seamlessly. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Murali Vaidyanathan, President & Country Head, Branch Banking Liabilities Product & Wealth Equitas Small Finance Bank said, “Digitization of banking at ESFB has helped to offer the services at the convenience, safety and wellbeing of our customers and employees being our paramount concern.  The seamless online process for NRI account opening launched will enable hassle free account opening and help our NR customers to enjoy the complete banking services with ease and comfort of their country / place of their residence ably supported by a team of VRMs based on the time zone of the customer. We at Equitas Small Finance Bank continue to offer the Best in Class Interest rates of 6.8% per annum on Fixed Deposits and 7% per annum on SB Balances between Rs. 1 Lac to Rs. 2 Crores for NRI accounts making it an enriching experience”.  

Non-Resident accounts are the most stable books in the branch portfolio for Equitas Small Finance Bank. Additionally, high average Relationship Value of NR accounts hints at a promising outcome for the bank’s focus on increasing its NRI customer base.  

About Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited [ESFBL]  

Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited is the largest SFB in India in terms of number of banking outlets, and the second largest SFB in India in terms of assets under management and total deposits in Fiscal 2019. (Source: CRISIL report). Its focus customer segments include individuals with limited access to formal financing channels on account of their informal, variable and cash-based income profile. It offers a range of financial products and services that address the specific requirements of these customer segments by taking into account their income profile, nature of business and type of security available. Its asset products are suited to a range of customers with varying profiles. 

Samsung India Donates Medical Kits, Oxygen Concentrators And Oxygen Cylinders To Help Karnataka Fight Against COVID-19

* 14,000 Medical Kits sourced locally and 24 Oxygen Concentrators, 150 Oxygen Cylinders flown from South Korea

Company also supporting employees with end-to-end Covid care

Samsung India has donated 14,000 Medical Kits, 24 Oxygen Concentrators and 150 Oxygen Cylinders to Karnataka, supporting its fight against the current surge of Covid-19.

As part of this support, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore (SRI-B), the largest R&D centre of Samsung outside Korea, has collaborated with Shrimad Rajchandra Sarvamangal Trust (SRST) for donating Medical Kits to Government of Karnataka. These medical kits are prescribed by the Government of Karnataka and will be used by Covid patients in home isolation.

SRI-B has donated 14 Oxygen Concentrators to charitable hospitals working towards Covid-19 relief. These Oxygen Concentrators, which have been flown in from South Korea, will be used by patients from weaker sections of the society. Another 10 Oxygen Concentrators were handed over to the Government of Karnataka.

In addition to the aid for Karnataka, Samsung had earlier pledged USD 5 million (INR 37 crores) to India's fight against Covid-19, providing donations to central and state governments, and boosting the healthcare sector with essential medical equipment for hospitals including 100 Oxygen Concentrators, 3,000 Oxygen Cylinders and one million LDS syringes.

At Samsung, employee health, safety and well-being is of utmost priority. As part of its people's initiative, Samsung has also announced it will cover the vaccination costs for over 50,000 eligible employees and beneficiaries in India.

SRI-B has extended end-to-end Covid care to its employees, providing tele-consultation with doctors, RT-PCR tests, home packages with remote medical care, food and medical kit for people staying alone, paid time off for recovery, ambulance on call, Covid Care Centre for isolation and hospitalization, if required.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.  

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the world of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. 

Edukemy Announces "100% COVID Support Scholarship On PYQ Courses For UPSC Aspirants"

Edukemy, India’s first EdTech Company in the non-STEM segment, today announced a COVID Support Scholarship Program to support students preparing for the upcoming UPSC examinations. Students can avail a 100% scholarship on Previous Year Question (PYQ) sessions for GS and Optional subjects.  

The course structure has been designed meticulously and comprises of Booster PYQ (Previous Year Questions) Sessions for answer writing in GS and Optional subjects of UPSC Mains 2021. Students will learn to sculpt effective answers using model handwritten answers and will learn the art of incorporating current affairs and factual information into answer-writing to improve the overall score. 

As the UPSC Prelim Exams have been postponed to 10th Oct 2021, students are seeking expert advice and Edukemy has come forward to support UPSC aspirants in these trying times. The expert faculty of Edukemy has devised a unique strategy in light of postponement of UPSC 2021 thus, enabling students to ace mains and prelims for UPSC 2021 at the comfort of their home. 

Sharing his views on the exclusive scholarship, Mr. Chandrahas Panigrahi, CEO and Co-Founder, Edukemy said, “As India is navigating through a challenging time with the current wave of COVID, we remain committed to supporting students in these tough times. This is a step forward in accelerating our mission of taking students closer to their goals.” 

Classes commence from May 24th, 2021 and students can visit https://www.edukemy.com to register and avail the scholarship. Additionally, downloadable study material and model answers will be provided so that students can revise important topics and prepare effectively.  

To be a part of the empowered UPSC community and to learn more about the COVID Support Scholarship Program on PYQ sessions, aspirants can join Edukemy's Telegram Channel - Edukemy for UPSC:  https://t.me/WithEdukemy4IAS  

Huawei Commits To India’s Fight Against COVID-19, Extends Support For Strengthening Medical Care Facilities

* Facilitating 400 Oxygen Concentrators, 400 Contactless Vital Parameter Monitoring devices, 25 HFNC CPAP Oxygen therapy system, other medical supplies worth INR 5CR

* Commits to setting up a 50-bed Covid-19 medical care facility in Gurugram

As an effort to accelerate Covid-19 relief efforts in India, Huawei has collaborated with local NGOs, specialised institutions to facilitate medical resources to strengthen the efforts in managing the crisis.

Huawei India is facilitating the availability of 400 Oxygen Concentrators, 400 Contactless Remote Vital Parameter Monitoring devices, 25 HFNC CPAP Oxygen therapy systems, and other medical supplies worth INR 5 crore for Indian public hospitals, makeshift hospitals, and other facilities for Covid-19. The initiative is also providing aid for scaling-up and incubation support to partner organisations.

Speaking on the initiatives, David Li, CEO, Huawei India, said, “Given the urgency of healthcare requirements, we decided to join hands with local partners to accelerate the facilitation of urgent medical supplies to support those most affected. We firmly believe that this situation can be overcome with joint, comprehensive, and targeted community efforts. We at Huawei are committed to standing strong with the nation during these challenging times.”

Separately, the company is also working on setting up a 50-bed Covid care facility in partnership with a local medical institution in Gurugram for patients requiring mild medical support. The facility will be equipped with medical equipment like Oxygen concentrators, BiPAP, patient monitoring, etc., and will be operated by a partner medical institution.

In addition to its direct response, Huawei is contributing to provide meal support for more than 18,000 government school children whose families are affected by Covid-19.

Storytel Makes Listening To Audiobooks In Indian Languages Pocket Friendly

* Priced at ₹149 pm, get unlimited access to audiobooks in 11 Indian languages

Demand for content in regional languages has gone up significantly in the last few years and continues to be on rise. With focus on regional languages, Storytel is expanding its starter subscription plan - Select -  which allows customers to access audiobooks in 11 regional languages. 

Storytel had piloted Select services with thousands of audiobooks & ebooks in Marathi language only in 2020. Now the offering is expanded to 11 languages including Kannada Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Assamese, Gujarati, Odia &  Urdu to choose from, at an affordable price point of ₹149 per month. You can subscribe for the plan here

Consumers will now get two paying options -  “Select “payment option priced at Rs 149/-  with access to regional languages and another one '’Unlimited' priced at Rs 299 with access to all 11 languages along with English. The aim is to keep the offer choice to people who want to listen to Indian languages only or also the premium International titles in English.

Book lovers and literary enthusiasts will find many sought-after titles on the Storytel app, from Nagamandala, Samaskara, Ammachi Yemmba Nenapu, Sandhyaraga as well as contemporary bestseller such as Ghachar Ghochar,Life is Beautiful, Grastha, Teru . Storytel is associated with some of the best publishing houses and  many more.

One can listen to Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Moorkhana Mathugalu and many more titles that are added in the app every month.

Expanding Storytel Select is the next step in Storytel’s journey to offer customers options that they have been asking for, which is very much in sync with our strategy of going local and understanding customer needs better.

“Our aim is to get people more and more closer to stories and literature that stems from their roots.With expanding Select as a product, we want to give users the power to choose and pay for what they actually consume. We were seeing doubled interest in the consumption of audiobooks in languages other than English, which is when we decided to launch an India specific plan- which lets one enjoy audiobooks in their language at an affordable pricing. ” said Yogesh Dashrath, Country Manager, Storytel India.

Storytel is an audiobook and ebook app streaming service launched in India on 27th Nov 2017. The company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and currently present in 25 markets across the globe. In India, the app currently hosts more than 2 lac+ audiobooks and ebooks across 12 languages namely English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Assamese, Gujarati & Kannada . Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic place with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime

Availability: Storytel is available on both Google Play store http://bit.ly/2rriZaU and iOS App store https://apple.co/2zUcGkG

About Storytel

Storytel is one of the world’s largest subscribed audiobook and ebook streaming services and offers listening and reading of more than 500 000 titles on a global scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime. Storytel’s streaming business is conducted under the brands Storytel and Mofibo. Storytel’s publishing business area is carried out through the audiobook publisher StorySide and acclaimed Nordic publishing houses such as Norstedts, People’s and Gummerus. Storytel operates in over 20 markets around the globe and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

Google Rolls Out News Showcase In India; To Train 50,000 Scribes, Students On Digital Skills

* Google is also expanding its efforts under Google News Initiative (GNI) efforts in India

Google said it is rolling out its News Showcase in India with 30 news organisations, a move aimed at incentivising and supporting publishers in the country to curate high-quality content on Google's News and Discover platforms.

The tech giant is also stepping up its efforts to strengthen digital skills in newsrooms and journalism schools across India and will train 50,000 journalists and journalism students over the next three years.

"We are launching News Showcase now to help publishers reach people with trustworthy news, especially in this critical time with the Covid crisis continuing. News Showcase panels highlight the articles publishers want, allow them to give additional context about a story, so audiences can better understand what's going on around them," Google Vice President (Product Management) Brad Bender said.

He added that these news panels ensure branding, and drive all traffic back to the website of the publishers that helps deepen the relationship with readers.

"We are also paying publishers for access to paywalled content to provide users free access to select content, enabling people to try content that they may not have otherwise seen on their journey to becoming a subscriber," he added. 

Google News Showcase is rolling out in India with 30 news publishers including national, regional and local news organisations. Discussions are underway with more news partners to further expand the offering.

This builds on News Showcase deals signed by 700 news publications in more than a dozen countries, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the UK, Australia, Czechia, Italy and Argentina.  

Bender said Google sends 24 billion visits to news websites globally every month, helping people discover content via Google Search and also helps publishers monetise their platforms through a suite of products.

News has been a deep focus and commitment for Google and the company has been helping a large number of journalists and media players to reach out to customers, Google Country Head and Vice President, India Sanjay Gupta said.

Gupta noted that while consumption of news across print, television and digital is growing, there are changing consumer habits wherein more young consumers are leveraging reach of digital to access news and that this poses two significant challenges - branding and monetisation. 

"We were very keen to get the Showcase to India... When you solve for India, you need to solve for languages in a very significant way and that's one capability that the product team was developing to help launch... Over the last 8-9 months, we spent a lot of time talking to each one of the publisher partners to see how we can both enable them and work with them," he said.

Content from Google's Indian publisher partners in English and Hindi will begin to appear in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover, and additional Indic languages will follow later.

Google Program Manager Tanuja Gupta stated that Google has not changed any of the ways that stories appear in the user's feed.

"...We have not artificially injected ranking or anything. We have swapped out regular articles with these premium content panels, making the brands more noticeable... Users can click on them and read other articles from publishers," she added.

Google is also expanding its efforts under Google News Initiative (GNI) efforts in India. Over the next three years, with increased support from the News Lab, the company intends to train 50,000 journalists and journalism students. 

"We'll focus on digital tools to aid verification and combat misinformation online, and we'll expand our programs to connect Indian journalists and fact-checkers. Second, we are introducing several new programmes to help small and mid-sized publications achieve financial sustainability – all part of the GNI Digital Growth Program," Gupta said.

The programme has already trained executives at 100 Indian news organisations since its launch last year. 

The new initiatives include new business training workshops, delivered virtually, to help news organisations address the needs of their audiences, grow their readership and deepen reader engagement. 

These workshops will be available for free to Indian publishers, alongside Google's existing workshops to support business success for news organisations. 

The GNI Advertising Lab will include training sessions and implementation support to help more than 800 small and mid-sized Indian news organizations grow their digital ad revenue, while the GNI Transformation Lab is a more comprehensive programme for 20 local small and mid-sized Indian news organizations to help them succeed online.

Gupta said these new and expanded programs build on years of investment in India.

In 2018, Google had launched the GNI India Training Network in partnership with BoomLive, DataLeads and Internews. To date, it has trained over 25,000 Indian journalists in 10 languages, touching more than 1,000 news organisations and more than 700 universities. 

In response to COVID-19, the company has provided financial support to 228 news organisations in India through the GNI Journalism Emergency Relief Fund. 

QuEST Global Set To Expand Its Operations In Pune To Accelerate Growth; To Hire 2000+ Engineers

QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, announced that its plans to expand operations in Pune and hire more than 2000 engineers in the next three years. The company currently has an employee strength of more than 350 engineers working out of its Pune center with capabilities in software and digital engineering capabilities and plays a crucial role in supporting customers in hi-tech verticals globally. By increasing its headcount in the city, the company aims at enhancing its focus on new age digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, etc.

As part of its expansion plan, the company will hire engineers with expertise in technologies like Cloud, JAVA, Android & iOS, Web Technologies, Angular, React, Restful API technologies, and .NET/C++. Last year, the company had also launched a dedicated Center for Excellence (CoE) for Microsoft Azure in Pune. Along with this, QuEST will also hire local talent from well-known educational institutions in Pune. In an effort to bridge the gap between the industry and academia, QuEST has been associating with engineering colleges in Belgaum, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, and other Indian cities where they operate in.

In the recent past, QuEST's Pune center had played a crucial role in developing a fleet management solution for UNDP in partnership with Microsoft. Apart from this, the engineers at Pune center have developed and demoed solutions such as Third Eye AI Solutions, AR360 for Equipment Training & servicing, Fleet management, Energy management platforms, Intelligent & Multi-platform Test Automation Framework. Being at the forefront of the convergence of Mechanical, Electronics, Software, and Digital Engineering Innovations, the company has been delivering transformative engineering solutions based on the emerging needs of customers worldwide.

Piyush Jain, Vice President and Global Delivery Head - Software and Digital Services, QuEST Global said, "The Pune center is an integral part of our growth story, and we are delighted to expand our footprint in the city. Over the past two decades, QuEST has been at the forefront of creating innovative solutions to solve customer problems, thereby cementing its position as a game-changer in the industry. Our plan to strengthen the Pune center is a testimony of our deep commitment towards the strategic customers and the local economy, where we will create multiple employment opportunities for passionate engineering professionals. QuEST is committed to invest and bring more engineering jobs to the region that will enable us to drive transformation for our customers through engineering solutions."

With the pandemic accelerating digital transformation across sectors, enterprises across the globe are investing heavily in digital solutions to lead and take advantage of this wave of software product engineering. Being a trusted thinking partner to its customers, QuEST has been helping them solve some of the toughest problems they face to create new products, open new markets and maximize efficiency. Along with this, the company also provides an opportunity to its employees to learn and grow without limitations, develop expertise, collectively achieve aspirations and experience a rewarding journey.

About QuEST Global

For more than 20 years, QuEST Global has been a trusted global product engineering and lifecycle services partner to many of the world’s most recognized companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries. With a presence in 13 countries, 56 global delivery centers and 11,250+ personnel, QuEST Global is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner and sustainable world. QuEST Global’s deep domain knowledge and digital expertise help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient.