Swiggy, Akshaya Patra Collaborate To Undertake COVID-19 Relief Feeding In Multiple Locations Across The Country

* With Swiggy’s support, Akshaya Patra will provide over 2.5 lakh packed cooked meals to vulnerable populations across Delhi, Bangalore, Lucknow, Hyderabad, etc.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation and Swiggy have collaborated to extend COVID-19 food relief in multiple locations across the country. The partnership will enable Akshaya Patra to feed more than 2.5 lakh meals to daily-wage earners, migrant labourers and rough sleepers in various locations. In the first phase, 1 lakh meals were served in Delhi, Bangalore, Lucknow and Hyderabad during Aug-Sept 2021.

Shivcharan, Pulugurtha, SVP, Business said, "Swiggy is synonymous with delivering food to tens of millions of users throughout the country. We also understand we have a role in democratizing access to food among the most vulnerable population in our country.  We're partnering with Akshaya Patra in our commitment to reducing food insecurities in the different communities in the country by taking food to those who need it the most."

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Sundeep Talwar, CMO, Akshaya Patra, said, “We are honoured to associate with Swiggy and thankful for their support towards our relief feeding efforts in these times of adversity. Such partnerships play a crucial role in ensuring the sustainability that is integral to humanitarian relief efforts. Their contribution will enable us to serve over 2.5 lakh packed meals to people from vulnerable communities in several cities across the country. We are glad to have Swiggy as our partner and hope that this collaboration will be the first of many to follow.”

He further added, “I want to thank the Central Government and State Governments for providing us this opportunity to serve children and communities during the pandemic, and supporting and encouraging our efforts all along.”

Akshaya Patra has been extending food relief in 20 states and one union territory (UT) since March 2020. It has been serving cooked meals and distributing various types of essential groceries kits to vulnerable populations, each type designed for a specific group. As of 31 August, 2021, the Foundation has cumulatively served over 17.53 crore meals to vulnerable populations across 20 states and one UT.

About The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Government and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.

In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and the inestimable support of many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools to becoming the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,039 schools across 13 states and one union territory in India.

About Swiggy

Founded in 2014, Swiggy is India’s leading convenience platform.  With a vision to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience, it connects consumers to over 1,80,000 restaurant partners and stores in over 500 cities. Using innovative technology, Swiggy provides a hassle-free, fast and reliable delivery experience. Every order delivered by Swiggy’s dedicated fleet of delivery partners engaged on a principal-to-principal basis, ensures a host of customer-centric features like lightning-fast delivery, no minimum order value, live order tracking, and 24/7 customer support.

TECNO Strengthens Its SPARK 8 Portfolio; Unveils The All-New SPARK 8 With 16MP AI Camera Priced At INR 9299

* Priced at INR 9299, SPARK 8 (3GB) features the best in class design, display and camera, paired with 32GB storage is designed to meet consumer’s daily storage need and give them a holistic smartphone experience

* The new smartphone is available in retail stores all across India starting today.

TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, today unveiled the all-new variant under its most popular SPARK series; the SPARK 8, 3+ 32GB storage variant that flaunts segment leading features at an aggressive price point of INR 9299. Equipped with disruptive features such as 16MP AI Enhanced Dual Rear High-resolution camera, 6.56” 

HD + Dot-notch Display, and a massive 5000 mAh battery, SPARK 8 is designed to give holistic smartphone experience to its customers.

TECNO’s SPARK series is known for its superior camera, display, and overall smartphone experience in the affordable segment. Inline to the brand ethos, the SPARK 8 is equipped with category defining features such as a Helio G25 Gaming Processor for a faster and smoother gaming experience as well as an 8MP front camera with dual flash to click flawless and sharp selfies. The smartphone also comes with an appealing design with the all-new metal coding to take our consumers fashion element a notch higher. The new variant also comes with an improved Indian Language Support feature to help our consumers interact and express with their loved ones in their own local language.

Commenting on the launch, Mr Arijeet Talapatra, CEO -TRANSSION India, said, “At TECNO, the focus of all product innovations has been to address the daily needs of our consumers. With the new SPARK 8 3GB variant, our intent is to create products that solves the needs of our consumers by providing them best in class features at affordable prices. We are certain that with this new 3GB variant of SPARK 8 smartphone, we will be successful in meeting the expectations of our consumers like always.”

The new smartphone comes in three new of vibrant colours, including Atlantic Blue, Turquoise Cyan and Iris Purple.

Key USP’s of SPARK 8 3GB Variant:

16MP AI-enhanced dual Rear High-Quality Camera

The SPARK 8 3GB variant is equipped with a 16MP AI Dual Rear Camera with an F1.8 large aperture and Quad flashlight for capturing super clear pictures even in low light. Moreover, it supports various Pro shooting modes like AI Beauty, Smile Shot, AI Portrait, HDR, AR Shot, Filters, Time-Lapse, Panorama, Slow Motion, Video Bokeh and many more to help you click professional photos and videos.

For selfie enthusiasts, Spark 8 3GB variant comes with an 8MP front camera with dual front flash, Wide Selfie, AR shot and many other modes for a perfect selfie even in low light.

New Metal Coding Design for a premium feel

The SPARK 8 flaunts a bold, appealing, energetic and youth-centric design. Its Integrated rear camera designs, the visually slim frame, and the cutting edge NCVM coloring process provides a premium feel and look designed for young and trendy youth.

Improved Indian Language Support Feature

The SPARK 8 comes with an Indian Language Support feature to break all the language barriers. It allows you to interact with the loved one and express oneself in their own local language. SPARK 8 3GB variant supports all major Indian local languages to help one communicate freely

Grand 6.56"FHD+Dot Notch display for superior viewing

The SPARK 8 3GB variant features a large 6.56" HD+Dot Notch display, making it perfect binge for entertainment. The 480 nits’ brightness makes the screen vivid and better for day light. The screen size is perfect for playing games, watching videos or to do online activities like e-learning, meetings etc.

Helio G25 Gaming Processor

The Spark 8 3GB variant comes with a 2.0 GHz Helio G25 gaming processor which endures 8 cores for faster operations. Its HyperEngine technology provides a seamless performance during gaming.

Mercedes-Benz Strengthens Its Presence In Bengaluru; Inaugurates New Workshop Under The ‘MAR 2020’ Brand Presentation

 
* Mercedes-Benz India also relaunches its popular service initiative’ Premier Express Prime 2.0’ in Bengaluru: Servicing a Mercedes-Benz now under 3 hours*

* Akshaya Motors’ new workshop is based on Mercedes-Benz’s new brand presentation in retail, known as MAR 2020

* The key focus of MAR 2020 is on the four pillars of Design, Architecture, Customer oriented processes, and Digital enhancements

* First-of-its-kind service lobby, where customers directly arrive with their cars inside the facility and are received by a Star Assistant for the next planned steps

* Investment of Rs. 4.5 crores | Spread across a massive area of approx. 20,000 sq. ft.| 50 professionally trained staff | 11 bays (of which 6 productive )|  Can service 4500+ cars per year

* The workshop can service all models of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars including that of the EQC luxury EV

* Premium Express Prime 2.0:  Mercedes-Benz is relaunching PEP Service in the Akshaya Motors’ facility. With this, customers can have their cars serviced under 3 hours*

* This is the 4th workshop of Mercedes-Benz in Bengaluru; Mercedes-Benz is now present in 47 cities across India with close to 100 customer-touch points

India’s largest luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz today inaugurated a state-of-art new workshop facility of Akshaya Motors, at Bengaluru’s prime location of Hosur Road. 

This is Mercedes-Benz’s first facility in the southern market based on MAR 2020, the new brand presentation of the Three Pointed Star. MAR 2020 brand presentation includes a combination of spatial design, innovative advisory processes and the introduction of digitalization in service, ensuring ‘Best Customer Experience’.

Mr. Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India and Mr. Shekhar Bhide, Vice President, Customer Services & Corporate Affairs, Mercedes-Benz India in presence of Dr. MP Shyam Shetty, Managing Director, Akshaya Motors inaugurated the new service facility of Akshaya Motors in Bengaluru today.

Martin Schwenk, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented, “2021 has been an important year for Mercedes-Benz India in terms of introducing some benchmark customer service initiatives. From introducing industry best 8 years warranty for the new generation cars, to the introduction of MB Value Service, we strive to provide hassle free ownership experience to our customers. The addition of this new service facility will further support our customers with all service requirements in this market”

He further added, “Karnataka continues to be an important market for Mercedes-Benz India and Akshaya Motors is an integral part of our success story in this market. 

The new workshop is strategically located and equipped with end-to-end service solutions for our customers in the area. It is Mercedes-Benz India’s first ‘MAR 2020’ facility in South India, underlining the new retail presentation focusing on Design & Architecture, Format & Structure, People & Processes and Digitization. The new service facility with a combination of digital and physical elements will create a true luxury ownership experience for our Bengaluru customers.”

MAR 2020 is a modern retail presentation format from Mercedes-Benz implemented across the globe. It offers a unique experience with the combination of the digital and physical worlds. The new modern design and signature architecture enable seamless customer journey. With the new format, people’s role and processes are realigned to ensure seamless coordination between various touchpoints and operations, for higher customer convenience. The modern format creates an enriching ownership experience for our customers with state-of-the-art concepts and designs.

MP Shyam Shetty, Managing Director, Akshaya Motors said, “We are proud of our association with Mercedes-Benz and excited to further expand our service network to delight our discerning customers. Akshaya Motors has rich experience in luxury automotive business and our customer centricity has been key to the success over the years. Since 2011, we have sold more than 4800 Mercedes-Benz vehicles and rendered 49,000 Star Services. Today, we employ a 198-member team to deliver the Star Experience across all our touch points. We are confident of delivering and fulfilling the needs of customers with this new state-of-the-art workshop in Bengaluru. This modern luxury workshop, aligned to the new brand presence of Mercedes-Benz will offer an unparalleled vehicle ownership experience.”

Highlights of Mercedes-Benz Akshaya Motors Workshop:

·         Akshaya Motors’ third workshop is based on the new brand presentation in Retail of Mercedes-Benz with a focus on the four pillars of Design, Architecture, Customer oriented processes, and Digital

·         First-of-its-kind service lobby, where customers directly arrive with their cars inside the facility and are received by Star Assistants for next planned steps

·         Investment of Rs. 4.5 crores | Spread across a massive area of approx. 20,000 sq. ft.| 50 professionally trained staff |11 service bays (of which 6 productive PMGR) | Can service 4500+ cars per year

·         The workshop can service all models of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars including EQC

Mercedes-Benz Premier Express Prime 2.0:

Mercedes-Benz also relaunched its popular Premier Express Prime 2.0 (PEP 2.0) service programme with the inauguration of the new service facility at Akshaya Motors. 

With PEP 2.0 customers can now get their Mercedes-Benz services under three hours. If not completed in 3 hours, the service will be offered free of cost* (Conditions apply). This service initiative will be rolled-out in phases across the country, covering 18 outlets in 11 cities by Q1 2022.

Services covered under Premier Express Prime are:

·         Service A type - Oil and oil filter check and replacement, Brake Fluid replacement, Dust Filter Replacement, Wheel rotation, Coolant Antifreeze mixture ratio check, Washing, Interior & Exterior Cleaning

·         Service B type - Oil and oil filter check and replacement, Brake Fluid replacement, Dust Filter Replacement, Wheel rotation, Coolant Antifreeze mixture ratio check, Washing, Interior & Exterior Cleaning, Fuel Filter check, Air Filter replacement.

·         Diesel Fuel filter | Brake discs  and Brake pads | Wheel Balancing

·         This entire customer service journey has been made completely digital by incorporating with Mercedes DSD Nxt

Website-www.mercedes-benz.co.in

WardWizard Innovations & Mobility Launches New Brand Campaign For Its Electric 2wheeler Brand ‘Joy e-bike’

* #BachatOnTheMove

* Co-presents, ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’

Country’s one of the leading EV manufacturer WardWizard Innovations and Mobility Ltd (BSE Code: 538970) collaborated with the one of the most famous TV laughter entertainment show, ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ with its new campaign #BachatOnTheMove.

The brand has further announced its collaboration with the highly acclaimed laughter entertainment show of Indian television ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’. Under the collaboration, the Joy e-bike will be co-presenting the episodes for eight weeks, and the new TVC will run during all the intervals of the show. Joy e-bike has more than 400 touchpoints across the nation and its products are in high demands.

The campaign aims to spread awareness on the necessity of electric two-wheeler vehicles to beat high-cost commuting expenses. The brand campaign further highlights cost-effectiveness and low running cost advantage by the entire range of Joy e-bike to its customers.

Speaking on the new TV launch and partnership, Ms Sneha Shouche, Chief Financial Officer – WardWizard Innovations and Mobility Ltd, said, “Our new campaign focuses on the growing need for electric mobility in every household. It further aims to expand brand’s presence across the country. Partnership with ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ is the most suitable platform to present our theme of #BachatOnTheMove as the show is the power booster of every household and hence we are getting an opportunity to present our world-class range of electric two-wheelers across the nation. I wish for successful collaboration for both of us."

About WardWizard Innovations & Mobility Limited

WardWizard Innovations & Mobility Ltd is a leading auto manufacturing company in the Electric Vehicle (EV) segment under the brand name Joy E-Bike. Being the first listed entity on BSE in Electric Vehicle manufacturing, it is mainly focused on the growth potential in the Indian EV segment to provide clean and greener alternatives to the existing usage of mobility, aligned with its philosophy of driving a positive change. Through Joy E-Bikes, the Company has been providing a greener alternative to traditional fuel-driven bikes. It has footprints in more than 25 major cities across India and aspires to boost this number throughout the country.

Bank Of Baroda Announces Financial Results For Q2FY22

* BOB quadruples Net profit in HY ended Sep’21 over HY ended Sep’20 

* Net profit for the quarter up by 24.39% YoY 

* Gross NPA ratio declined to 8.11% in Sep’21 from 9.14% in Sep’20 

* Domestic CASA up by 13.01% YoY, domestic CASA Ratio improved by 368 bps YoY 

* Cost to income ratio improved by 61 bps to 48.54% in H1FY22 as against 49.15% in H1FY21. 

* Healthy Capital base – CRAR improved to 15.55% in Sep’21 from 13.26% in Sep’20 

Key Highlights 

The domestic CASA of the Bank marked a growth of 13.01% on a YoY basis.  

Operating profit grew by 5.76% on a YoY basis.  

Net profit of the Bank marked a YoY growth of 24.39%, increased to INR 2,088 crore in Q2FY22 against INR 1,679 crore in Q2FY21. Net profit increased to INR 3,296 crore 

in H1FY22 from INR 814 crore in H1FY21. 

Gross NPA of the Bank significantly improved to 8.11% in Sep’21 from 9.14% in Sep’20. 

Global Net Interest Margin (NIM) increased to 2.85% in Sep’21 from 2.78% in Sep’20. 

Global Advances of the Bank increased by 2.10% YoY to INR 7,34,033 crore. 

Domestic Advances of the Bank increased to INR 6,23,368 crore, up by 2.99% on a YoY basis. 

Business Performance 

Global Deposits increased by 0.54% to INR 9,59,483 crore on a YoY basis. Domestic Deposits increased by 3.43% to INR 8,64,603 crore in Sep’21. 

Domestic Current Account Deposits stood at INR 60,098 crore, registering a YoY growth of 15.34% and Domestic Savings Bank Deposits grew by 12.58% to INR 3,15,668 

crore. Overall Domestic CASA registered a growth of 13.01% on a YoY basis. 

Organic Retail loan portfolio of the Bank grew by 10.25% on a YoY basis, led by growth in Personal loan portfolio which stood at 33.12%, 23.17% growth in Auto loan and 

11.09% in Education loan. 

Agriculture loan portfolio grew by 7.39% on a YoY basis and stood at INR 1,00,748 crore 

Organic MSME portfolio of the Bank increased by 4.12% and stood at INR 89,339 crore. 

Profitability 

Net Interest Income (NII) increased to INR 7,566 crore in Q2FY22 as against INR 7,410 crore in Q2FY21, registering a growth 2.11% YoY.  

Non-Interest Income during Q2FY22 increased by 22.99% YoY to INR 3,579 crore  

Operating Income of the Bank increased by 8.00% YoY to INR 11,145 crore in Q2FY22. 

Operating Income for H1FY22 registered a growth of 12.71% and stood at INR 21,901 crore as against INR 19,432 crore in H1FY21.  

Cost of Deposits reduced to 3.52% in Sep’21 as against 3.99% in Sep’20. Yield on Advances stood at 6.55% in Sep’21 as compared with 7.08% in Sep’20. 

Operating Profit of the Bank increased to INR 5,670 crore in Q2FY22, up by 5.76% on a YoY basis. 

Bank reported a standalone Net Profit of INR 2,088 crore in Q2FY22 as against INR 1,679 crore in Q2FY21, registering a growth of 24.39% YoY. 

Global NIM increased to 2.85% in Q2FY22 from 2.78% in Q2FY21.  

Return on Assets (RoA) improved to 0.73% in Sep’21 from 0.59% in Sep’20. 

For the consolidated entity, Net Profit stood at INR 2,168 crore in Q2FY22 as against INR 1,771 crore in Q2FY21. 

Asset Quality 

The Gross NPA of the Bank reduced to INR 59,504 crore in Q2FY22 from the level of INR 65,698 crore in Q2FY21. Subsequently the Gross NPA Ratio improved to 8.11% in 

Q2FY22 from 9.14% in Q2FY21. 

The Net NPA Ratio of the Bank stood at 2.83% in Q2FY22 as compared with 2.51% in Q2FY21. 

The Provision Coverage Ratio of the Bank stood at 83.42% including TWO and 67.06% excluding TWO in Q2FY22. 

Capital Adequacy 

CRAR of the Bank improved to 15.55% in Sep’21 from 13.26% in Sep’20. Tier-I stood at 13.21% (CET-1 at 11.39%, AT1 at 1.82%) and Tier-II stood at 2.34% as of Sep’21.  

The CRAR and CET-1 of consolidated entity is at 16.06% and 12.02% respectively.

Microsoft Announces General Availability Of Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management In India

* Enables businesses to meet customer expectations by improving their omnichannel buying experience and supply chain efficiency using AI and machine learning

Microsoft India has announced the general availability of Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, a cloud-based solution that uses AI and machine learning to adapt quickly and efficiently to meet the needs of digital commerce in India. The solution supports contemporary buying methods like purchasing online or from an app for in-store or pickup. With Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, businesses get real-time recommendations for each order, so they are fulfilled accurately and in a more cost-effective manner, improving supply chain efficiency to better meet customer expectations.

As businesses scale to meet demand, inflexible legacy infrastructure can prevent organizations from leveraging new business partners for fulfillment and delivery. Modern companies need a more intelligent, distributed order management solution to take advantage of real-time inventory, AI, and machine learning and rapidly scale with new sources of order intake, orchestration, and fulfillment. Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management enables businesses to fulfil flows and automate with an intelligent rule-based system. It is an integrated, real-time inventory visibility service, that is highly scalable and extensible, providing a single, global view of inventory positions across systems.

Commenting on the announcement, Rajiv Sodhi, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft India, said, “At Microsoft, we view the rise of digital native consumers and omnichannel retail as an opportunity to turn order management into a competitive advantage. With Intelligent Order Management, we are providing businesses with the ability to meet these growing digital commerce needs and drive organizational agility by empowering them to scale rapidly with partner connectors, accelerate time to market with a flexible architecture and improve order accuracy with fulfillment insights.”

With Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, businesses can gain real-time cross-channel inventory visibility and advanced analytical capabilities for better decision-making processes. Using AI-powered order insights, they can re-model and orchestrate the order fulfillment journey with easy-to-use drag and drop tools, and proactively overcome bottlenecks— all the while driving efficiencies across the supply chain to ensure that their customers’ needs are met on time and cost-effectively.

Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management uses AI and machine learning to learn how organizations react to customer orders and provide better recommendations each time. The solution is easy to implement and scales with pre-built connectors to various ERP, order intake,

fulfillment, and delivery partners within a low-code or no-code environment. It provides a comprehensive view of both inventory and orders across all legal entities, partners, and channels in real-time. Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management comes equipped with a visual interface that lets business users quickly change order management rules across multiple channels. It provides lowest cost or least distance to select the optimal delivery option. Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management offers several benefits to organizations:

Manage the entire order lifecycle: Centrally manage orders from intake to fulfillment using customizable and easily configurable dashboards that leverage AI and machine learning to deliver real-time inventory insights.

Adapt quickly to evolving business models: Empower business users to easily model and automate responses to fulfillment constraints using the embedded policy designer to configure order flows with drag and drop actions.

Automate and optimize fulfillment: Free your organization from a one-size-fits-all order journey with a solution that allows you to customize as many order flows as you need to meet the unique requirements of your business.

Scale rapidly: Enable nimble operations to capitalize on new opportunities faster with an adaptable system that can accept orders from anywhere.

Improve customer experience: Meet customers where they are with the experience, they desire by providing the flexibility to buy in-store, buy online pick-up in-store, pick-up at curbside, or deliver to home.

Microsoft has a rich legacy in enabling organizations accelerate digital transformation and innovation with cloud adoption. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, organizations can now rely on an agile business application that can be deployed quickly, integrated seamlessly with other existing systems while collecting and unifying extensive amounts of data from various touchpoints to unlock siloed data. It will empower businesses to enable their supply chain team to overcome constraints and improve operational efficiency to better meet customer expectations.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 16,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organizations.

Vi Partners Nokia To Trial 5G And Bring Connectivity Across Indian Rural Areas

* Using Nokia’s 5G solution, Vi is able to demonstrate high-speeds of over 100Mbps beyond 17kms in its ongoing 5G trials on Govt.allocated 5G spectrum in Gandhinagar

Leading telecom operator, Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) along with its technology partner, Nokia, today announced that it has successfully conducted a trial of 5G. The trial utilized 5G in the 3.5GHz spectrum band allocated by the Govt. for 5G trials, to provide rural broadband connectivity in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Using Nokia’s solution, Vi successfully trialed providing 5G connectivity across an area covering 17.1 km while delivering speeds of more than 100Mbps.

This 5G trial by Vi along with Nokia, supports the Indian government’s Digital India vision of providing reliable and high-speed connectivity in rural areas.

Vi is also using Nokia’s AirScale radio portfolio and Microwave E-band solution for the trial that support enterprises, both large and small and medium businesses with reliable connectivity.

Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said: “Accelerated digitalisation over the last two years has led to growing dependency on high-speed broadband and an urgency to connect the unconnected. Vi GIGAnet, India’s fastest network, is enabling users in urban and rural areas, and enterprises, to stay ahead in this digital era. With our 5G ready network and our partner Nokia's, field-proven solution, we are now working on providing solutions and use cases based on high-speed 5G coverage in rural areas.”

Sanjay Malik, Senior Vice President and Head of India Market, Nokia, said:  “Our Fixed Wireless Access 5G solution is enabling service providers, like Vodafone Idea, to extend 5G coverage to remote areas, plug coverage gaps and increase service levels in rural areas. Vodafone Idea is our long-standing partner and we are pleased to support them in successfully testing 5G for delivering high-speed connectivity in rural areas.”

Nokia’s high gain FWA CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) enables operators to extend ultra-high-speed and low latency 5G connectivity to remote and rural areas.

About Vodafone Idea Limited

Vodafone Idea Limited is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. It is India’s leading telecom service provider. The Company provides pan India Voice and Data services across 2G, 3G and 4G platform. With the large spectrum portfolio to support the growing demand for data and voice, the company is committed to deliver delightful customer experiences and contribute towards creating a truly ‘Digital India’ by enabling millions of citizens to connect and build a better tomorrow. The Company is developing infrastructure to introduce newer and smarter technologies, making both retail and enterprise customers future ready with innovative offerings, conveniently accessible through an ecosystem of digital channels as well as extensive on-ground presence. The Company is listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.

The company offers products and services to its customers in India under the TM Brand name “Vi”.

For more information, please visit: www.MyVi.in and www.vodafoneidea.com

Post Office Studios Creates A Freshly Innovative Promotional Film For Hershey’s Exclusive New Packaging Of Its Spreads

* The animation and new media tech studio has created the dynamic new pack revealing film for Hershey’s Spreads using avant-garde 3D animation technology and softwares

Post Office Studios, a leading animation and design studio, has come together with iconic confectionery brand Hershey’s for creating a promotional video content presenting its brand new packaging of the two Hershey’s Spreads - ‘Cocoa’ and ‘Cocoa with Almond.’

The multi-talented collective of designers, animators and visual-effects artists at Post Office Studios have conceptualized a powerful and engaging visual language with the objective to communicate the graphic change for Hershey’s existing Spreads to create organizational excitement and buzz amongst its consumer base. Always catering through innovation, the animation and new media tech studio has showcased the transition from the old package design to the new one with extraordinary creativity. The film zooms into the packaging contents like swirls of chocolate, almonds and cocoa powder, as well as the application of the spreads before finally revealing the exclusive new pack design on a breakfast table in all its glory. The creamy, rich chocolate swirling around the levitating Hershey’s Spreads bottles makes this film a magnificent chocolatey journey.

While 3D animation softwares such as Cinema 4D and Octane Render were used to create elements providing an authentic touch to the product, the marvellous choco swirl seen in the film was the result of many fluid simulations carried out using Houdini. The Photo Scanning technique was also applied to make the creative production culturally and geographically specific. All in all, the meticulous animation process has delivered an aesthetically pleasing and appealing film, making it a tempting paradise for every chocolate lover’s desires.

Speaking about the collaboration, Harsh Sharma - Sr Creative Director - Post Office Studios, said, “Chocolate is always mouth-watering - be it in real life or on the screen in reel life. We understood the brand’s precise requirement and seized the opportunity. The idea was to reveal the new packaging through a spectacular film. Creating visuals of luscious chocolate dishes proved to be more exciting than we could imagine. Using a perfect blend of photorealistic visuals and surreal renders, we conveyed the brand message in a simple, strong, yet tempting way.”

The design-driven innovative studio has built a strong record for itself, having specialized in motion design, cel animation, VFX, and more. Its team of designers and animators have always been passionate about turning ideas into motion by testing limits and breaking traditional creative boundaries with radical approaches and cutting-edge technologies. Steered by a love for storytelling through creating brand affinity animated content, Post Office Studios has been taking one giant leap after another in the young and thriving Indian animation industry - and Hershey’s new packaging reveal project is a testament to this.

Airtel And Oracle Double Down On Partnership To Accelerate India’s Digital Economy

* Oracle to leverage Nxtra by Airtel’s data centre network to expand its cloud presence in India

* Airtel Business to offer Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to its million plus enterprise customers

* Companies to set up joint Cloud Centre of Excellence in Gurgaon for emerging cloud technologies, IP development

Oracle and Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, have extended their partnership to support the growth of India’s digital economy by bringing a range of industry leading cloud solutions to more than 1 million enterprise customers.

The number of active Internet users in India is projected to grow from 622 million in 2020 to over 900 million by 2025[1], driven by affordable smartphones and data tariffs. With 5G services expected to begin in 2022, the Indian economy will see a further surge in demand for digital services and applications. Additionally, organisations are moving to cloud-based applications to accelerate their digital transformation journeys. As a result, India’s public cloud market is expected to grow from USD 3.6 billion in 2020 to USD 9.5 billion by 2025[2].

Oracle Cloud to expand in India with Nxtra by Airtel 

To support the increasing demand for cloud services in India, Oracle will expand its India West  (Mumbai) region capacity with Nxtra by Airtel – the data centre subsidiary of Airtel. The expanded Oracle Cloud Mumbai Region will be available in 2022. Nxtra by Airtel operates India’s largest data centre network of 10 hyper data centres and 120 edge data centres and plans to invest Rs. 5000 cr (USD 760 million) by 2025 to expand capacity by 3X to over 400 MW.

The expanded Mumbai Region will complement Oracle’s existing MeitY-empanelled cloud regions[3] in Hyderabad and Mumbai, which already serve hundreds of customers in the country, spanning the private and public sectors. The expanded region will enable more customers to leverage Oracle’s next-generation cloud infrastructure and Airtel Business network to innovate and accelerate their business growth.

Airtel Business to offer Oracle Cloud

As part of the collaboration, Airtel Business and Oracle will also jointly market Oracle Cloud solutions to enterprise customers in the private and public sectors. Airtel Business serves over one million enterprises in India, including large corporations, start-ups, governments and SMEs. Oracle Cloud solutions will now be available to these customers as part of Airtel Business’ integrated portfolio.

Co-innovation for the Indian market

Oracle and Airtel will also set up a Cloud Centre of Excellence in Gurgaon with a dedicated team of specialists from both organisations. These experts will help modernise Airtel’s internal workloads as well as enable customers to adopt cloud and fully benefit from it. Airtel and Oracle will also work on joint IP solution development to support emerging technology growth areas. These include multicloud solutions, B2B customer experience solutions, unified communications solutions among others.

“The demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is on the rise. We’ve witnessed triple-digit growth in the business last year with more and more organizations, of all sizes ranging from top banks and telcos to governments and unicorns, in Asia, turning to OCI to run their mission-critical workloads. We want to help customers build true business continuity and disaster protection, while helping them address their in-country data residence requirements,” said Garrett Ilg, President, Oracle Japan and Asia Pacific. “Our partnership with Airtel is a milestone and together we can truly help Indian businesses fast-track growth and help boost India’s economy.” 

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said: “We are delighted to strengthen our close working relationship with Oracle even further. Airtel’s world-class data centre network will support Oracle’s cloud growth in India as they expand their cloud region in the country. Both companies will also partner to co-innovate cloud solutions for India’s digital economy and take these to the market by leveraging Airtel’s leadership in the enterprise segment. With its 5G ready network and large investments in digital infrastructure including data centers, Airtel is well positioned to tap the emerging growth opportunities in the enterprise segment as businesses accelerate their digital transformation journeys.”

About Airtel 

Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 480 Mn customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its networks cover over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. Airtel’s retail portfolio includes high speed 4G/4.5G mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and on-demand entertainment, streaming services spanning music and video, digital payments and financial services. For enterprise customers, Airtel offers a gamut of solutions that includes secure connectivity, cloud and data centre services, cyber security, IoT, Ad Tech and cloud based communication. For more details visit www.airtel.com  

About Oracle

Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

Trademarks

Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

Takeda Receives The Arogaya CIBioD Innovation And Enterprise Leadership Award

* Takeda was recognized for its holistic initiatives designed to improve the quality of life and standards of care for patients

* The company recently pioneered the 'Blueprint for rare diseases' initiative designed for multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration focused on rare diseases in India

* The initiative has helped create various innovative technology-based solutions to improve access to healthcare

Takeda India, a core country in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited’s Growth and Emerging Markets Business Unit, has been awarded the Arogaya CIBioD Innovation and Enterprise Leadership Award at the Tech4Seva Summit. The award was received for the company's holistic initiatives designed to improve the quality of life and standards of care for patients, including the 'Blueprint for rare diseases' initiative

The awarding body, The Center for Innovation and BioDesign (CIBioD), is an initiative of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) aimed at promoting research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the Indian Healthcare System. The award was received at the Tech4Seva Summit, which acts as a platform to mobilize the creative abilities of technology providers from stakeholders to provide scientific and sustainable solutions to the issues that are identified at a grass-roots level.

This honor underscores the company's unwavering commitment to address unmet medical needs and create a brighter future for the nation. Commenting on the recognition, Mr Simon Gallagher, (Interim) General Manager for Takeda India, said, " On behalf of Takeda, a global, values-based, R&D, and data-driven biopharmaceutical leader, I am proud that Takeda India has been recognized with this prestigious award. At Takeda, we believe in the power of Public-Private Partnerships and innovations to broaden patient access to treatment and care in a sustainable way. By leveraging our internal research capabilities while also actively engaging with innovative ecosystems around us, we remain committed to translating science into highly transformative solutions for the joint better health of the nation.”

He continued, “With the same spirit, we recently conceptualized our 'Blueprint for rare diseases' initiative. We aim to go beyond identifying access gaps and their potential solutions and instead enable participants to commit to concrete plans of action to achieve these solutions. The honor motivates us to do more for healthcare systems of the world and aim to help patients lead the best quality of life possible."  

Takeda's 'Blueprint for rare diseases' initiative was pioneered together with all the relevant stakeholders in the healthcare value chain, including the Ministry of Health – central and state, Patient Groups, notified Centre of Excellence, NGOs, and industry bodies. As a part of this initiative, a charter would be developed for stakeholders to commit to improving care and management of Lysosomal Storage Diseases (LSDs) in evolving healthcare systems. It bolsters the nation's commitment towards better health outcomes for collective solution-based innovative approaches and shared responsibilities. The company has also developed innovative technology-based solutions to improve easy access and coverage to healthcare by connecting healthcare providers and patients. Besides steering innovation in the healthcare ecosystem, Takeda adheres to an access-first approach that ensures continuous access to innovations in healthcare and creates a positive impact on the lives of patients, particularly those with rare and complex diseases in underserved communities around the world.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We focus on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving patients' quality of life and working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.

For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Bahwan CyberTek Appraised At CMMI Maturity Level 5 For Continuous Improvement

* This recognition is a testimony to our continuous improvement processes, quantitative techniques, and adherence to established practices

Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) Group, a global provider of digital transformation solutions, announced that it has been appraised at Maturity Level 5, the highest maturity level of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).

This appraisal validates BCT’s commitment to service excellence and is a testimony to our continuous improvement processes, quantitative techniques, and adherence to established practices. Level 5 maturity indicates that BCT is performing at an ‘optimizing’ level. At this level, an organization continually improves its processes based on quantitative understanding of its business objectives and performance needs.

Speaking about the recognition, Mr. S Durgaprasad, Co-Founder, Director and Group CEO, Bahwan CyberTek Group, said, “This is a proud moment for us. The recognition is an indicator of the synergy between our people, process, and technology, coming together to help our customers with the right products, solutions, and services to accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Recognition from a renowned entity like CMMI endorses our relentless pursuit of excellence to help our customers become future fit.”

CMMI is a capability improvement framework that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. CMMI Institute is a global leader in the advancement of best practices in people, process, and technology.

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 CMMI

CMMI Institute (CMMIinstitute.com) is the global leader in the advancement of best practices in people, process, and technology. CMMI Institute’s promise is to inspire cultures of continuous improvement that elevate performance and create sustainable competitive advantage.

CMMI Institute offers market-driven solutions that provide insights for baselining and optimizing key organizational capabilities, cybermaturity, and data assets to elevate business performance. For over 25 years, thousands of high-performing organizations in a variety of industries, including aerospace, finance, healthcare, information technology, software, defense, transportation, and telecommunications, have achieved sustainable business success through adopting the CMMI and proved they are capable business partners and suppliers.  

BharatPe Announces 305 Winners Of The ‘BharatPe Lagao, World Cup Jao’ Contest

* Merchants win an all-expenses paid 3 days, 2 nights trip to the city of Dubai

BharatPe, India’s leading Fintech Company for merchants, today announced that it has flown 305 top performing merchants to Dubai, as a part of its ‘BharatPe Lagao, World Cup Jao’ contest. The winners of the contest won a 3 days, 2 nights all-expenses paid trip to Dubai as well as got a chance to watch the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 matches live. The winners include top transacting merchant partners from 38 cities across India, during the time the contest was live.

As a part of the trip, the BharatPe merchants not only watched live cricket action at the Dubai International Stadium, but also visited popular tourist locations including Jumeirah beach, Burj-Al Arab, Dubai Museum, Atlantis The Palm  & Dubai Creek. They also got an opportunity to visit the top shopping destinations in the city, including the Dubai Mall. The winners included merchants from tier-1, 2 and 3 towns and cities of India. Merchants from the following cities travelled to Dubai - Agra, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Faridabad, Guntur, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Karimnagar, Kolkata, Kurnool, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Nalgonda, Nashik, Nellore, Patna, Pune, Surat, Vadodara, Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam and Warangal.

Speaking about the campaign, Mr. Nishant Jain, Chief Business Officer, BharatPe, said, “We believe in building long-term relationships and hence, run contests from time to time to rewards our merchant partners for their trust in us. The ‘BharatPe Lagao, World Cup Jao’ campaign was a huge success. We saw overwhelming participation from merchants across 140+ cities in the country. Cricket is a great unifier in India and merchants were excited to get an opportunity to visit the cosmopolitan city of Dubai and  watch live international cricket matches . We hope to continue offering such top-class experiences to our top transacting as well as loyal merchant partners in the future as well. I would like to reiterate that merchants will always be our key focus and will continue to launch products that can empower their businesses and aid positive growth.”

The ‘BharatPe Lagao, World Cup Jao’ contest was active from August 15 to September 30, 2021. The contest included three milestones based on number of transactions or TPV on the BharatPe QR. The merchants who completed Milestone 3 could get an all-inclusive package to Dubai to watch India play the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The winners were decided based on a lucky draw.

BharatPe has witnessed a phenomenal growth over the last financial year, with the company witnessing a 5x growth in payments and a 10x growth in lending business. The company has been aggressively expanding across cities and currently has a presence in 140+ cities in India. BharatPe recently ventured into consumer Fintech with the launch of 12% Club- that allows customers to lend and earn interest of upto 12% as well as take loans at 12% annual rate of interest. It also forayed into the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) category with the launch of postpe. BharatPe is aggressively building the lending vertical and has set a target to build a loan book of Rs. 40,000 crores (US$ 5 billion) in the next 5 years.

About BharatPe

BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision of making financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. In 2018, BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, the first zero MDR payment acceptance service. In 2020, post-Covid, BharatPe also launched India’s only zero MDR card acceptance terminals – BharatSwipe. Currently serving over 75 lakh merchants across 140+ cities, the company is a leader in UPI offline transactions, processing 11 crores+ UPI transactions per month (annualized Transaction Processed Value of US$ 11+ Bn). The company has already facilitated disbursement of loans totaling to over Rs. 2,800 crores to over 300,000 merchants, since launch. BharatPe’s POS business processes payments of over Rs. 1,400 crores/ month. BharatPe has raised over US$ 650 million in equity and debt, till date. The company’s list of marquee investors includes Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital.  In June 2021, the company announced the acquisition of PAYBACK India, the country’s largest multi-brand loyalty program company with 100 million+ members. In June 2021, it was also given an in-principle approval by Reserve Bank of India to establish a Small Finance Bank, in partnership with Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum), the established and profitable NBFC arm of the Centrum Group. In August 2021, BharatPe forayed into the consumer space with the launch of its first-of-its-kind consumer investment+ lending product- 12% Club. In October 2021, the consortium of Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum) and BharatPe, was issued a Small Finance Bank (SFB) license by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). BharatPe also made its grand entry in the Buy Now Pay Later segment with the launch of postpe in October.

Infogain Appoints Vivek Sharma As Head Of Sales- Europe Will Expand UK & European Footprint

Infogain, a Silicon Valley-based leader in human-centered digital platform and software engineering services, today announced the appointment of Vivek Sharma as the company’s new VP & Head of Sales- Europe. Vivek brings more than 20 years of experience in technology sales, consulting, client services and operations.

“We are excited to welcome Vivek to our team,” said Rohit Nagpal, Chief Business Officer at Infogain. Vivek’s experience in the consumer, travel & transportation, manufacturing & technology, energy & utilities, and media & telecom verticals complement Infogain's focus areas. He will be instrumental in ensuring we achieve our aggressive growth plans for Europe.” 

Prior to joining Infogain, Sharma held leadership positions at Wipro Technologies. There, he served in several executive roles with a focus on retail, consumer goods, consumer business and transportation for European markets. He brings a highly successful track record in providing digital, business services and technology services to clients, private equity companies and market makers. 

At Infogain, Vivek will be responsible for sales and business development, expanding the Infogain footprint and enabling leading UK and European enterprises to create intelligent, extensible digital platforms that unlock more meaningful and authentic interactions with their customers.

“Commenting on his appointment, Vivek Sharma said, “I am delighted to join Infogain and drive their ambitious growth plans in Europe.

About Infogain

Infogain is a human-centered digital platform and software engineering company based out of Silicon Valley. We engineer business outcomes for Fortune 500 companies and digital natives in the technology, healthcare, insurance, travel, telecom, and retail/CPG industries using the cloud, microservices, automation, IoT, and artificial intelligence. We accelerate experience-led transformation in the delivery of digital platforms. Infogain is also a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Gold Partner and Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP).

Infogain, an Apax Funds portfolio company, has offices in California, Washington, Texas, the UK, the UAE, and Singapore, with delivery centers in Seattle, Houston, Austin, Kraków, Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurgaon, and Mumbai. To learn more, visit www.infogain.com.

L&T Technology Services Partners With Microsoft To Offer IIoT-Based Smart Manufacturing Solutions

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure-play engineering services company, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Microsoft to offer LTTS’ Energy & Sustainability Manager Solution on Microsoft Azure to digitally transform and create sustainable factories of the future.

LTTS’ Energy & Sustainability Manager is a comprehensive compliance and standard-driven solution that tracks energy losses across plants - the goal being to sustainably reduce wastage throughout a business and providing visibility into utilities and plant equipment. Deployed on Azure, the solution will be taken jointly to end-customers as IP-Cosell solution across a variety of industries.

This latest agreement is part of LTTS’ expanded collaboration with Microsoft to enable enterprises around the world to leverage LTTS’ cutting-edge Manufacturing Solution suite hosted on Azure enterprise cloud-first, mobile-first infrastructure.

In a smart factory setup, it has become mandatory to track and audit all forms of energy consumption and at the same time achieve sustainability goals. Keeping energy efficiency objectives in mind, a company-wide commitment towards energy conservation is imperative with visibility into resource utilization across the water, air, natural gas, electricity, and steam to improve the energy map, comply with statutory regulations, save on energy cost, and achieve net-zero carbon emission.

Abhishek Sinha, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board, L&T Technology Services said, “Energy savings and sustainability have become key goals of all major digital transformation exercises. In such circumstances, it is paramount that manufacturing companies achieve environmental compliance and standards, while ensuring that environmental goals are observed across the organization. With efficient business operations, enhanced energy management and state-of-the-art green technologies as its pillars, LTTS’ Energy & Sustainability Manager solution will help companies achieve significant energy savings and also attain sustainability goals.”

Venkat Krishnan, Executive Director, Global Partner Solutions, Microsoft India said, “With sustainability at the core of our business, Microsoft has been helping companies achieve the highest levels of environmental sustainability. We are supporting organizations to explore energy innovations for next-gen sustainable technology, while reimagining business models and building a better planet. This collaboration with an engineering services’ leader like LTTS, can transform legacy plants and truly create factories of the future.”

Previously, LTTS has also helped develop the World's Smartest Office Campus in Israel in collaboration with Microsoft. The futuristic campus is being run on LTTS’ smart campus platform i-BEMS (Intelligent Building Experience Management System), considered the backbone of the modern smart building that provide energy saving technology and cloud- based asset management to complement Microsoft’s Digital User Experience design solutions.

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 57 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 17,900 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 72 innovation labs as of September 30, 2021. For more information please visit https://www.ltts.com/

DMI Finance Partners With Reliance Retail For Digital Finance Options To Customers Across India

DMI Finance Private Limited (“DMI”) today announced its partnership with Reliance Retail Limited (“RRL”) to provide a first-of-its-kind suite of digital finance options for RRL consumer electronics customers across India. 

Through a completely paperless digital journey, DMI will offer financing solutions to RRL consumer electronic customers at merchant locations across India. This partnership will kick-off with loans for the newly-launched JioPhone Next by Reliance.

This transformational partnership brings to all RRL customers an end-to-end paperless journey that that will provide instant, flexible, and affordable EMI options. The loan tenor for the JioPhone Next will be for 18 and 24 months with Jio providing a free and attractive plan for the duration. 

The spokesperson at DMI said: “In todays world, a smartphone is not just a consumer product, but a tool for financial inclusion at large. We, at DMI, are proud to partner with Reliance Retail to provide financing for a range of consumer electronics starting with the JioPhone Next, that will enable access to a digital life for hundreds of millions of Indians and bring them a step closer to realizing their dream of a more prosperous future.”

About the DMI Group:

Founded in 2008 and supported by a deeply experienced team across 40 offices in India, DMI is a Pan-India credit platform with core businesses in digital consumer and MSME finance, housing finance, wholesale finance, and asset management. It is a technology-first lender with class-leading digital finance initiatives. It is supported by global institutional investors, strategic family offices, leading banks, and public market creditors in India. For more details, please visit www.dmifinance.in. 

The 24th Edition Of Bengaluru Tech Summit From Nov 17-19, 2021

As the world and nation prepare to move forward in a post-pandemic scenario, technology will play an even more critical and all-pervasive role in the successful functioning of businesses and industries across sectors and governments, said C.N Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka’s Minister for Electronics, IT, BT and S&T, Higher Education, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood.

Speaking at the curtainraiser of the 24th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS2021) in Bengaluru on November 9, Mr. Narayan said, “Technological innovations are redefining the future, and it is in this context that Bengaluru Tech Summit 2021 becomes more relevant. It has emerged as a trendsetter event globally and has become India’s leading technology summit.”

Emphasing the importance of Indian IT sector, S. Gopalakrishnan (Kris), co-founder of Infosys and Chairman of Karnataka Vision Group on Information Technology, said the entire world increased its dependency on Indian IT during the COVID-19 crisis and the industry came out with flying colors.

“We witnessed rapid adoption of digital technologies during the COVID-19 crisis. It is essential that industry and tech leaders come together to understand and strategise on the emerging opportunities in the IT field. The tech event gives the IT industry the platform to present the most recent and upcoming technological innovations in the new normal,” he added.

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited and Chairperson, Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology, said, “For this event, we have curated sessions that will highlight the most recent technological and scientific advancements in the field of biotech, like mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technologies.”

The theme chosen for BTS2021 is ‘Driving The Next’, highlighting the role of digital and technological innovations which drove and supported the growth of multiple sectors in a post-pandemic world. The event will witness the coming together of global tech leaders, Indian corporates and startups from IT, deep tech and biotech, showcasing disruptive technologies, forging partnerships and alliances.

Sajan Pillai Promoted McLaren Technology Acquisition Corp. Announces Closing Of $201,250,000 IPO At NASDAQ

US-based digital transformation leader and serial investor, Sajan Pillai promoted McLaren Technology Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: MLAIU) announces the closing of $201,250,000 Initial Public Offering, which is approximately INR 1500 CR. The offering included $2.625 million units issued to underwriters upon full exercise of their overallotment option. This is the second Indian promoted SPAC to go for a listing at Nasdaq and the first banking and insuretech focused SPAC of Indian origin. The stock debuted on Nasdaq at $10.05 and closed at $10.07 on November 3 on a volume of 15,344,818. 

With the goal to rev up investments and incubate B2B tech start-ups in India, McLaren is the first of its kind fintech start-up acquisition company, promoted by Sajan Pillai, to further boost the tech startup sector while riding on the digital transformation wave. Anchored on India’s booming fintech segment, the SPAC aims to identify and acquire promising start-ups focusing on the banking, financial services, and insurance sectors that leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital technology in their offerings. Companies with enterprise valuation between $600 million and $2 billion falls under the focus area of the SPAC.

The offering consisted of one share of the Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant. The holders of each whole warrant were entitled to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, shares of the Class A common stock and warrants are already listed on Nasdaq under the symbols 'MLAI' and 'MLAIW,' respectively.

California based McLaren Tech. Acq. Corp is a blank check company targeting merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Previously, Sajan’s Season Two Ventures and McLaren Strategic Ventures have already made some key acquisitions within deep tech.

“The overwhelming response to the Nasdaq IPO will enable McLaren to aggressively on-board proven deep tech start-ups and growing companies in banking, financial services and insurance sector, primarily from India. We already have experience of mentoring a promising line-up of 8 early-stage startups from India, including Warehouse Now, 4baseCare, Uvik, Aerchain. Soon we will be deploying a senior-level team for an India roadshow to collaborate with later-stage companies who are looking to go public on Nasdaq along with active handholding on business growth” said Sajan Pillai, Chairman and CEO, McLaren Technology Acquisition Corporation.

Rajeev Nair and Murali Gopalan serve as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, of McLaren Technology Acquisition Corporation respectively. Mizuho Securities USA LLC acted as the sole book-running manager for the offering.

About McLaren Technology Acquisition Corp.

McLaren Technology Acquisition Corp. is a newly organized blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Their search is focused on companies in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (“BFSI”) sector that have a strong, tech-intensive approach.

Sunfeast Reimagines The Dark Shell Vanilla Crème Biscuits With The Launch Of Dark Fantasy Vanilla Fills

* Redefines the vanilla crème biscuits segment with a dark choco shell cookie filled with luscious molten vanilla crème 

Sunfeast Dark Fantasy, one of India’s beloved premium cookie brands from ITC Ltd. has launched the Dark Fantasy Vanilla Fills. The Vanilla Fills are passionately crafted to bring the signature, Fills experience to the vanilla crème & dark shell biscuit segment. The rich crème vanilla filling encased in a dark choco shell offers a luscious flavour burst. 

As per Nielsen data, the market size of the crème biscuit category in India is pegged at INR 6,123 Cr for FY 21. Sunfeast Dark Fantasy has been the pioneer of the centre filled crème biscuit category with the Choco Fills cookies. With the launch of Dark Fantasy Vanilla Fills, it has introduced a new, exciting vanilla filled cookie and has brought in a ‘new experience’ to the dark shell vanilla crème biscuit segment.  

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Ali Harris Shere, Chief Operating Officer, Biscuits & Cakes Cluster, Foods Division, ITC Limited,said, “Sunfeast Dark Fantasy is known for its indulgent choco creations and is a pioneer in the centre filled cookie category. During consumer interactions we found out that consumers are looking for fresh and innovative products in the crème category. Also, there has not been any big innovation or improvement in the sandwich crème biscuit category. We picked this up as an opportunity to upgrade the sandwich crème category with a superior centre filled experience. Dark Fantasy Vanilla Fills is a manifestation of our continued efforts to provide exciting new experiences to the new age consumers. Sunfeast Dark Fantasy has been a beloved cookie brand for over a decade, and we look forward to receiving love and support from our consumers". 

Priced at Rs. 20 for 75g, Sunfeast Dark Fantasy Vanilla Fills will be available across retail stores and select modern trade stores in the Southern and Western region along with the www.itcstore.in. The launch of the Sunfeast Dark Fantasy Vanilla fills will be accompanied by a 360-degree communication campaign intended to bring the brand's latest innovation. 

ExxonMobil Lubricants India Renews Endorsement Deals With Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu & Bajrang Punia; Felicitates Them In A Event

ExxonMobil Lubricants Pvt Ltd announced today the renewal of its brand ambassador association with the Tokyo Olympics medallists - Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu, and Bajrang Punia - for Mobil India. The announcement was made during a gala felicitation ceremony at New Delhi in the presence of the company’s top retailers.

Tokyo 2020 was India’s most successful Olympic campaign with a tally of seven medals. While Neeraj Chopra became the first track & field athlete and the second Indian to win an individual Gold medal, Mirabai Chanu is the first Indian weightlifter to win a Silver. Bajrang Punia, who won a Bronze at the event, is the only Indian wrestler to win three medals at the World Wrestling Championships. A common thread among these sportspersons is that they symbolize a powerful story of transformation, rising from humble beginnings to representing India at the Olympics.

Commenting on the development, Deepankar Banerjee, CEO, ExxonMobil Lubricants, said, “We feel extremely proud to renew our brand association with Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu and Bajrang Punia. Our engagement with them began before they achieved world fame, and hence it gives us immense pleasure to see them become the very best in their respective fields, winning major titles and medals at the Olympics. Like the athletes have made a difference to India and the sport they represent, we too will continue to work hard, building on Mobil’s world-class brands, synthetic leadership, and scale to bring trusted, high-quality performance products and solutions to the country.”

Speaking during the event, Imtiaz Ahmed, GM-Marketing Deployment, Consumer Marketing, ExxonMobil Lubricants, said, “The three champions personify Farak Laakar Dekhiye, what we stand for in India, which is not only our expertise, innovation and performance but also about giving people the confidence to unlock their ambitions for tomorrow. The athletes are a natural fit for us and we couldn’t be more pleased to be able to continue our association.”

During the felicitation ceremony, ExxonMobil Lubricants also showcased its latest products, Mobil Super SUV Pro and the Mobil Super Moto 2W engine oil upgraded range, which were recently introduced through an advertising campaign featuring Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu, and Bajrang Punia.

'Farmer-To-Farmer 'Rent-An-Equipment' – A Boon For Farmers After The Pandemic

By Mr.Ravindra K Agrawal, Promoter Managing Director, KisanKraft

Agriculture remains one of the biggest employers and sources of livelihood across the country, especially in rural India. It has been the dedication of our farmers and government which helped India in becoming self-reliant in food following the successful green revolution.

Income level of majority of farmers is very low, because of small plot sizes and scarcity of farm labour. Mechanization, especially for small farmers has remained very low, despite governments continuous intervention.

Additionally, our farmers face many challenges because of the changing climate conditions, scarcity of water, increasingly unpredictable instances of floods and drought. To top this,  the overall input costs are rising, especially seeds and fertilizers. Smallholder farmers are the backbone of the agricultural sector and food value chain in India. However, these small and marginal farmers are the ones who have suffered the most because of the above conditions in recent times.  

KisanKraft, has created a one-of-a-kind app, with a special service to facilitate farmer-to-farmer farm equipment rentals. Rental income can help supplement farmer incomes significantly.  Many farmers have found their income from renting their equipment lucrative and it has become an important source of income for them.  Many farmers have developed farm equipment rental as a side business, with some even purchasing multiple farm equipment exclusively for purposes of renting.

The KisanKraft app is a service to help both the equipment owner and farmers without equipment, and to bridge the gap with a unique digital application through their mobile phones. AS Covid aggravated farm-labour shortage, the KisanKraft rent-a-equipment facility has come as a boon to farmers.

The KisanKraft app is available in 11 languages, and within a few months of launch it has been downloaded by lakhs of farmers. KisanKraft is a seed-to-harvest company with a vision to improve livelihood and quality-of-life of small & marginal farmers and serve their needs in every facet of agriculture. The company’s equipment assists farmers in most aspects of cultivation, from soil preparation, planting, crop management, harvesting and post harvesting operations.

The farm labour shortage has been a continuing problem for years, causing under-utilization of farms, only to be further compounded due to the pandemic. KisanKraft is committed to to bringing affordable, appropriate, and accessible technologies to help better farmer’s livelihoods.

About KisanKraft app

KisanKraft is supporting government’s digital agriculture mission and has developed the KisanKraft app to provide agronomy and other important information on productivity improvement, disease & pest identification and management, appropriate fertilizer usage, soil management, weather forecasts, mandi prices, agricultural news, and best agricultural practices for around 90 crops. The app is also the first-of-its-kind for farmer-to-farmer equipment rental helping farmers supplement their incomes. This is a free platform available in 11 Indian languages for farmers.

About KisanKraft

KisanKraft was founded in 2005 with a vision to improve the livelihoods and quality-of-life of small & marginal farmers by serving their needs in every facet of agriculture. As a company to serving the entire seed-to-harvest cycle of small farmers, it assists them in most aspects of cultivation, from soil preparation, planting, crop management, harvesting and post harvesting operations. KisanKraft has served more than 50 lakh small farmers through mechanization adoption, to increase farmer earnings, crop productivity and cultivated area. The company has grown organically, beginning from a small garage and three people in 2005, to a pan-India organization serving lakhs of farmers across India through its’ 14 regional offices, 500+ employees and a large network of 5,000+ dealers.

Lava Showcases India's Prowess With The Launch Of Its First 5G Super Smartphone- AGNI

·         Powered by Mediatek Dimensity 810 chipset

·         8GB RAM + 128 GB ROM

·         64+ 5+ 2 +2 MP rear & 16MP selfie camera

·         Pre-Booking offer to get Rs. 2000 off

Indian smartphone brand, Lava International Limited, launched the first Indian 5G smartphone- AGNI. This super smartphone is powered by Mediatek's latest chipset- Dimensity 810. This power packed chipset, running cores with maximum clock speed of 2.4 GHz, provides lightning fast speed to perform tasks and supports multiple applications and games simultaneously.

Lava AGNI 5G comes with 8GB RAM (uMCP) for a high end & lag free user experience and 128 GB ROM based on the latest Universal Flash Storage (UFS) standard to store your important documents & pictures. Its Quad camera sits beautifully in a fiery blue matte finish fingerprint resistant body. The 64MP primary camera, along with a 5 MP wide angle camera, 2 MP Depth camera, and a 2 MP Macro camera gives you a superior photography experience. The phone also has a 16 MP front camera for all your selfies. The phone comes with 10 inbuilt camera modes like UltraHD, UltraWide, SuperNight, Pro Mode, AI Mode etc.

Lava AGNI 5G has a large 5000 mAh battery for uninterrupted usage and comes with a 30W superfast charger that gets the phone ready with full charge in less than 90 minutes. AGNI 5G has an optimised battery consumption due to its 6nm chipset which ensures lower power consumption. The phone also has a battery saver mode to make the phone last longer during low battery or emergency situations.

Speaking on the launch, Sunil Raina, President & Business Head, Lava International Limited said AGNI 5G is the fire power of India. A phone that truly represents what India & Indians can achieve in the field of technology. It is packed with all the latest features that makes it a torch bearer in the global smartphone industry. This best-in-class smartphone, completely conceived and made in India, is dedicated to every #ProudlyIndian smartphone user that dreams of seeing their country as the next tech superpower.

MediaTek has had a long-standing association with the leading Indian smartphone brand, Lava. The Lava Agni 5G is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 810, a single chip platform with a fully integrated 5G modem and exclusive MediaTek 5G UltraSave Technologies, to deliver powerful mainstream 5G smartphone experiences. The chip supports the smartphone's 64 MP camera with AI-color & AI-bokeh enhancements to deliver incredible photos, videos & streaming. The new 5G smartphone is aimed at making disruptive and new-age technology available across segments of society, said Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India. This collaboration is a part of our commitment to the Make in India initiative and spearheading cutting-edge product development from India.

The Lava AGNI 5G features a large 6.78 inch FHD+ IPS punch hole display with a 90 Hz refresh rate which will give a crystal clear and lag free viewing experience during gaming or while watching videos. The phone's screen has Corning Gorilla Glass protection for higher durability. The phone also features latest security features with a side mounted ultra-fast fingerprint unlock that gets the phone ready in just 0.034 seconds and face unlock in just 0.22 seconds. The Lava AGNI 5G will be available across retails outlets & through Amazon & Flipkart from 18th November 2021 at Rs. 19,999.

The phone comes with a special pre-booking offer that lets the buyer avail a discount of Rs.2000 on the phone. The Pre-booking window is open for users from 9th November to 17th November on the Lava e-store & on Amazon by paying a pre booking amount of Rs. 500. All Pre-booked orders can grab the Lava AGNI 5G at a special price of Rs. 17,999.

For Pre-Booking AGNI 5G on the Lava e-store, please click on:

https://www.lavamobiles.com/smartphones/agni5g

Business Leaders And Employees Disagree Significantly On Future Of Work: NTT

* 79% of organizations believe employees prefer to work in an office – but just 39% of employees would prefer to work from an office full time

* CEOs 41% more likely than operations staff to be satisfied with their organization’s employee experience capabilities

* 57% of employees will now select an employer based on work/life balance

NTT Ltd., a global technology and business solutions provider,  today releases the 2021 edition of the Global Workplace Report, providing vital insight into the future of work as businesses around the world prepare for a post-pandemic reality. The report finds that business leaders are significantly more satisfied with how they have adjusted to new working norms than their employees are, and points to the need for clearer organizational insight into how employees have reevaluated what they need from their workplace.

Shared awareness, divergent outlooks

Conducting 1,146 (430 in APAC) interviews across 23 countries, NTT found near-universal agreement that remote working has introduced difficulties, with 82% (83%) of respondents saying that it has challenged organizational performance and 81% (82%) saying that it has been challenging for employees. 63% of CHROs (58% of organizations in APAC), meanwhile, say that employee wellbeing has deteriorated over the course of the pandemic.

Broad awareness of the issue is not always translating into a realistic assessment of organizational capability, however. Compared to operations staff, CEOs are 20 percentage points more likely to believe that their organization is very effective at managing working hours, 28 points more likely to believe that they are effective at preventing burnout, and 41 points more likely to be very satisfied with their organization’s employee experience (EX) capabilities.

This awareness gap mirrors a serious lack of employee confidence, with just 38% saying that their employer fully values their health and wellbeing, and only 23% saying they are very happy working for their employer.

The great work-life reassessment

Underlying the satisfaction gap between employers and employees, the research found a significant degree of diversity in employee attitudes towards their own future working preferences. Voice of the Employee (VoE) data shows that, when offered a choice of at-home, hybrid, or in-office working arrangements, employees are relatively evenly split between the three, at 30%, 30%, and 39%, respectively.

This finding contradicts the belief, shared by 79% of organizations, that employees prefer office working – when in fact, VoE data finds that just 39% of employees desire full time office working.

“Currently, the narrative is all about remote working – but the reality of employees’ needs is much more complicated, and any failure to accurately assess and respond to that fact presents a serious risk to organizations”, comments Alex Bennett, Global Senior Vice President, GTM Solutions at NTT Ltd. “These are not mild preferences: we found that work-life balance and commute times are now the two biggest factors people look at when deciding where to work, and so performing well on workforce and workplace strategy will be a real competitive advantage.”

The need to lead by Example

Acting on the basis of a clear view of employees’ outlooks is being made more difficult by a lack of thorough data and insight collection. In terms of data priorities, 52% (55%) of businesses report VoE being a top focus, second only to workplace analytics at 54% (57%). In spite of this, however, just 39% (41%) of organizations have structured VoE programs, and 37% (38%) employ real-time sentiment analysis, compared to 54% (57%) utilizing employee surveys.

The research also demonstrated that the application of these kinds of data for improving an organization’s EX needs to go much further than day-to-day quality-of-life improvements; at 40%, a company’s purpose and values is now the third most important factor for choosing where to work. In this area, employees and business leaders are in sync, with 89% (90%) agreeing that environment, social and governance (ESG) objectives are at the heart of the organization’s agenda.

“I would look at this as a call to shift our thinking from being about actions to being about outcomes”, concludes Bennett. “What’s important is not what we do to improve the workplace, but how it actually benefits the workforce – and an organization cannot know that without a mature approach to measuring employees’ sentiment. Surprisingly, two thirds of employees say they’re not yet equipped with all the tools they need to work from home, and just 55% (56%) of organizations say they are strongly satisfied that office spaces are ready for hybrid working. Nonetheless, 82% (83%) of organizations are engaged in reshaping their office space over the next 12 months to foster an environment of innovation and social connection. Clearly, there’s an awareness on some level that immature workforce strategies will lead to employee discontent, and that work should be led by what people actually need.”

APAC (incl ANZ) stats – indicated in turquoise

About NTT Ltd.

NTT Ltd. is a leading global technology services company. Working with organizations around the world, we achieve business outcomes through intelligent technology solutions. For us, intelligent means data driven, connected, digital and secure. Our global assets and integrated ICT stack capabilities provide unique offerings in cloud-enabling networking, hybrid cloud, data centers, digital transformation, client experience, workplace and cybersecurity. As a global ICT provider, we employ more than 40,000 people in a diverse and dynamic workplace that spans 57 countries, trading in 73 countries and delivering services in over 200 countries and regions. Together we enable the connected future.