Amazon Prime Video, Excel Media and Entertainment Confirm Oct 23 Release for Second Season of Amazon Original Mirzapur

 

* The star-studded cast features Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Rasika Dugal and Harshita Shekhar Gaur as they navigate the dark and intense world of Mirzapur 

* Mirzapur season 2 will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in 200 countries and territories, in multiple Indian languages, including Hindu, Telugu and Tamil

* Prime offers incredible value with unlimited streaming of the latest and exclusive movies, TV shows, stand-up comedy 

* Amazon Original series, ad-free music listening through Amazon Prime Music, free fast delivery on India’s largest selection of products, early access to top deals, unlimited reading with Prime Reading and mobile gaming content with Prime Gaming, all available only for ₹129 a month 

Amazon Prime Video has announced that the second season of its much anticipated Amazon Original Series Mirzapur, will launch on 23rd October, 2020. Set in Mirzapur, the hinterland of North India, season 1 of the crime drama had taken the audiences into a dark, complex world of guns, drugs and lawlessness. It’s relentless pace, well etched-out characters and nuanced narrative had left the fans wanting more.  With Season 2, the canvas of Mirzapur gets bigger but the rules remain the same! With a stellar ensemble cast featuring Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal , Divyenndu, Shweta Tripathi Sharma , Rasika Dugal , Harshita Shekhar Gaur , Amit Sial, Anjum Sharma, Sheeba Chaddha,  Manu Rishi Chadha and Rajesh Tailang returning to the action-packed series,  get ready for a  journey into the stylish yet rustic world, where crime, drugs and violence rule and one needs to fight to survive. The sequel of the show will also feature Vijay Varma, Priyanshu Painyuli, and Isha Talwar. The much awaited Amazon Original Series is created and produced by Excel Media and Entertainment and will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Speaking on this momentous announcement, Aparna Purohit, Head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video, commented, “Mirzapur has truly been a game-changer title for us. The show heralded a new idiom of storytelling for Indian audiences - its characters have become a part of the popular culture. We are certain that the riveting narrative of season 2 will leave our audiences mesmerized once again. ”

“Excel Entertainment has received immense love for constantly pushing the envelope when it comes to creating impactful and powerful content,” said Ritesh Sidhwani, Producer, Excel Entertainment. “Mirzapur was a step in that endeavor. It was not just about breaking boundaries for the audiences, but also for ourselves as content creators. Bringing thrilling and untold stories from India’s hinterland without losing authenticity has been our biggest win. All the praise that season one of Mirzapur has received, not just in India, but across the globe, is heartening. It pushes Excel Entertainment and Amazon Prime Video to continue the momentum with the second season of the show.”

“The love and appreciation that the show has garnered since its launch has been simply overwhelming. Taking it a notch higher, we’re certain that the audiences are in for a visual treat in the sequel” said Creator Puneet Krishna. “Seeing their excitement for the season 2 for months now made each one of us deliver a performance that matches up to the scale at which the show has now placed itself. We are thrilled to take the fans to another dynamic world of Mirzapur that they have been waiting for a very long time.”

The series is produced by Excel Media and Entertainment, created by Puneet Krishna and directed by Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai.

YouTube Link of the date announcement video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5ZU8uS6KEM

Mirzapur season 2 will join the thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and Bollywood in the Prime Video catalog. These include Indian films Gulabo Sitabo, Shakuntala Devi, Ponmagal Vandhal, LAW, French Biriyani, Sufiyum Sujatayum and Penguin along with Indian-produced Amazon Original series like Bandish Bandits, Breathe: Into The Shadows, Paatal Lok, Four More Shots Please, The Family Man, Inside Edge, and Made In Heaven and the award-winning and critically acclaimed global Amazon Original series like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Boys, Hunters, Fleabag, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. All this is available at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members. The service includes titles in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Bengali.

Show credits of Mirzapur 2:

Directed by - Gurmmeet Singh & Mihir Desai

Created by - Puneet Krishna

Executive Producers - Ritesh Sidhwani & Farhan Akhtar 

Prime members will be able to watch all episodes of Mirzapur Season 2  anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV, Airtel, Vodafone, etc. In the Prime Video app, Prime members can download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost. Prime Video is available in India  at no extra cost to a Prime membership for just ₹999 annually or ₹129 monthly, new customers can find out more at  www.amazon.in/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial.

Godrej Appliances Forays into Health and Hygiene Space with Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0

The COVID 19 pandemic has made a significant change in Indian consumer behavior when it comes to the priority accorded to safety and hygiene. Consumers are doing their best to protect themselves from the COVID 19 virus, investing time and effort in washing or sanitizing or quarantining things for daily use and consumption that come into the house – without any certainty of the effectiveness of the methods deployed. A consumer dipstick conducted by the company revealed that more than 60% consumers are isolating all parcels and packets for more than a day, washing vegetables and leaving them aside for more than a day and in some cases even washing them in soap water!

Godrej Appliances, a leading Indian consumer durables manufacturer for 62 years, has always endeavored to offer relevant technology suited to Indian consumer needs. During this pandemic, the brand again rises to the occasion to offer another relevant India made product for the Indian consumer to help them tide over these testing times – Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0, a UV-C technology-based device which disinfects against more than 99% COVID 19 Virus in 2-6 minutes. It operates at ~254nm UV wavelength which is optimal for neutralising COVID – 19, other viruses and bacteria. The brand which is known for its trusted offerings has ensured that VIROSHIELD is tested and certified by ICMR empanelled lab for its UVC Irradiance. 

Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0 is designed to ensure that both safety and hygiene are addressed. With UV surround technology, Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0 uses 4 UV-C tubes & 6 Side Reflective Interiors, which is the highest in the market in its capacity segment, ensuring 360° UVC coverage. Moreover, the cubic design of VIROSHIELD helps in uniform dissemination of the UV-C rays. It is well placed to disinfect anything - from grocery packs to vegetables, mobile phones and masks to gold ornaments, headphones to car keys, toys to currency notes, wallets to spectacles, etc.

Its larger volume of 30 L helps you disinfect more Items together at one go or larger item and saves time & energy. No more spending time washing, soaking, isolating things without knowing if it is helping enough. 

The brand is very particular about consumer safety. Prolonged direct exposure to UVC is harmful to human health. And hence, VIROSHIELD is designed with no see-through surfaces, thick side & door walls, and a gasket-based magnetic sealing system and Auto Cut-off facility as soon as the door is opened, Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0 is thus 100% UV leak-proof for human safety. Its leak-proof effectiveness has also been tested and certified. 

The Godrej VIROSHIELD comes with a 1-year comprehensive warranty including on the UVC Lamps and is backed by the highest-ranked Godrej after-sales service assurance. 

Available in pure white, the feature-rich, 30 L, Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0 is attractively priced at Rs. 9490, inclusive of taxes. 

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Kamal Nandi, Business Head and EVP – Godrej Appliances said, “The pandemic has clearly impacted consumer behaviour. Health and hygiene are paramount concerns of our consumers currently. We have always endeavoured to put forth offerings based on consumer insights and current needs, staying true to the brand philosophy of ’Things made thoughtfully’. We are working on various technologies and innovations, around the themes of health, hygiene, and effort minimisation. In line with the same, we bring to our consumers – Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0, a UV-C technology-based disinfecting device that can protect our consumers and their loved ones from COVID-19, other viruses and bacteria. We want our consumers to not take any chances and be worry-free as they embrace the new normal.” 

Mr. Anup Bhargava, Product Group Head – Refrigerators, Godrej Appliances, further added, “Happy to share that we are launching the brand-new Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0 to safeguard our consumers from COVID – 19, other viruses and bacteria, as they deal with the fear of pandemic every day. Certified by ICMR empaneled lab for UVC irradiance, it delivers 99%+ disinfection against COVID-19 in just 2 to 6 minutes. With 360° UV Surround Technology, the 100% UV leak proof Godrej VIROSHIELD 4.0 is feature-rich and very competitively priced for a 30 L offering. With this unique offering, we are targeting a revenue of INR 40 Crore in the year of launch. It has been made available on Amazon already, during its annual event. We are working closely with our e-com partners for online promotions as well. We will be making it available pan India across our network this month itself. Its superior value proposition and positive trade feedback give us the confidence to target a 20% share in this financial year. 

Acronis True Image 2021 Unites Award-Winning Backup With Advanced Antimalware, Creates Personal Cyber Protection Solution

Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, has today announced the release of Acronis True Image 2021. The new release integrates advanced cybersecurity capabilities with unmatched personal backup to create the first complete personal cyber protection solution for home users, prosumers, and small businesses around the world.

Delivery comes as the COVID-19 pandemic exposes gaps in traditional solutions and strategies. Securing home machines has never been more important, yet a recent Acronis survey found nearly half (47%) of remote workers never received clear guidance on working from home.

Incorporating cybersecurity capabilities such as real-time antimalware protection, on-demand antivirus scans, web filtering, and videoconference protection into Acronis True Image ensures users have complete cyber protection. For individuals and small business users, unifying these vital capabilities in one solution makes their protection easier to manage and more affordable, while greatly improving the security.

“As more people work or attend classes from home, the FBI documents a 400% increase in cyberattacks because hackers know home systems are not usually as well-defended as an office,” said Serguei “SB” Beloussov, founder and CEO of Acronis. “Backup without cybersecurity is an incomplete option in that situation, as is cybersecurity without backup. Acronis True Image 2021 delivers the easy, efficient, and secure cyber protection needed today.”

Standalone backup and cybersecurity are obsolete

With the modern reliance on everyday devices like computers, smartphones, and tablets, the data they contain has an inherent value. Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their attacks to reach that data, which is why security research firms such as AV-Test report more than 350,000 new malware threats every day.

Since backup software and files are often the targets of these new attacks to prevent recovery, backup alone no longer provides suitable protection for users. Similarly, conventional cybersecurity solutions do not provide the data protection and recovery capabilities users need.

Relying on multiple products that were not designed to work together creates security gaps, is more complex to manage, and is more costly. With a single, integrated solution, Acronis True Image 2021 users can proactively stop any malware attack and then quickly restore affected files. The single, intuitive interface reduces the complexity of managing their security and backups.

Integration delivers superior cyber protection

For the last few years, Acronis True Image has been the only personal backup solution with a built-in antiransomware that stops attacks in real-time, while automatically restoring any affected files.

With the launch of Acronis True Image 2021, those capabilities are expanded with the addition of the company’s advanced antimalware technology, which is currently deployed in Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud. This next-gen, full-stack antimalware has been shown by independent security labs such as Virus Bulletin and AV-Test to return a 100% detection rate with zero false-positives.

As a result, home users gain advanced capabilities with Acronis True Image 2021, including:

* Real-time protection, driven by AI-enhanced behavioral heuristics, which stops all malware – including zero-day attacks by never-before-seen threats

* On-demand antivirus scans of the full system or quick scans of at-risk files, either of which can be scheduled in advance or run instantly

* Web filtering that automatically blocks Windows users from accessing malicious websites that harbor malware, disinformation, scams, and phishing attacks

* Videoconference protection prevent hackers and malware injection attacks from exploiting popular apps like Zoom, Cisco Webex, and Microsoft Teams

* Comprehensive detection, with both behavioral analysis and signature-based analysis engines

These advanced antimalware capabilities are included with Advanced and Premium licenses, and offered as a three-month trial with Standard and Essential licenses.

Acronis True Image 2021 gives individuals and small businesses access to the same protection technologies relied on by global companies and top teams in the world’s most high-pressure professional sports.

“Cyber protection is a top priority for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” explains Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. “When our races were on pause, Acronis continued to provide protection for our team working remotely. Now, with Acronis True Image, everyone can safeguard their personal data against the worst-case scenario.”

Pricing and availability

Four versions of Acronis True Image are available: Standard, Essential, Advanced and Premium. One-computer licenses starting at $59.99 for Standard and $49.99 for Essential. Special launch prices for Advanced and Premium licenses (starting at $69.99 and $99.99, respectively) are available until November 2020, at which time the full MSRP will be in effect (starting at $89.99 and $124.99, respectively).

It’s Time to Play the Game with VOOT Select’s All New Original – The Gone Game

 

Voot Select, India’s fastest growing premium video-on-demand service, is all set to launch its next big original The Gone Game. Coming on the back of critically acclaimed and popular shows like Asur, Marzi, The Raikar Case and Illegal, the next from  VOOT Select - made for stories is The Gone Game – A show that breaks the barriers of space and location to deliver on a gripping and compelling story. Punctuated with moments of deception, suspicion, and unexpected twists, the show will provide an edge of the seat experience and take the viewers on a thrilling ride.

Set in a global pandemic, with a nation in lockdown, the story starts amidst a mysterious disappearance.  Sahil Gujral is gone. Did he fall prey to the virus? Or is something more sinister at play? 2020 has changed the world forever, but for the Gujral family, the nightmare has just begun.Backed with a power-packed cast including Sanjay Kapoor, Arjun Mathur, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Rukhsar Rehman, Lubna Salim, Indraneil Sengupta, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and produced by Bodhi Tree Multimedia, The Gone Game will stream on Voot Select 20th August, 2020 onwards. 

Shot entirely in isolation during the lockdown, The Gone Game has been executed through remote direction, ingenious cinematography and limited equipment. Marked by nuanced performances and inimitable viewing experience, the show will build intrigue and unravel a mystery at every step of the way. Directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, The Gone Game is a one of a kind and a never-seen-before concept that put creative freedom in the hands of the cast of the series to innovate while shooting from their homes.  

Commenting on the launch of The Gone Game, Ferzad Palia, Head – Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Viacom18 said, “Voot Select has had a tremendous first 150 days. Subscriber growth has surpassed all estimates by a long, long way. This spectacular success of the platform comes on the back of Originals, Before TV Content & our International offering. The lockdown has provided a further boost to the rapid rise in subscriber growth. We have innovatively navigated through the challenges of the lockdown and continued to create the best in content and viewing experience for our audience. The Gone Game has a gripping storyline, top drawer cast, and has been shot entirely from home with utmost precision and skill. The thrill and excitement of the show will deliver top-notch entertainment.”

Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat said, “The Gone Game is an original series in every sense. Be it the storyline, the characters, or the overall visual appeal, we have tried to make it authentic while keeping the current lockdown scenario as the backdrop of the show.  We also had to use some innovative techniques to ensure that the performances do not suffer because of the constraint of physical proximity. We learned and unlearned many aspects from our test shoots as due to the conditions, the process was limited, but it also gave the actors and the technicians a lot of freedom to innovate. It has been an unconventional journey and we hope that the audience will appreciate our vision.”

Sukesh Motwani of Bodhi Tree Multimedia said, “It will not be wrong to say that we made it from scratch as we were working with very limited resources and shooting entirely from home. It was challenging but our entire team in association with Voot Select and Nikhil Nagesh Bhat built the concept and storyline of the show creatively without compromising on the output. We were lucky to have a fantastic cast and crew that collectively helped us put a great show together. We are certain that the audience are in for a thrilling ride.”

Veteran actor, Sanjay Kapoor said, “Creating a show from home has been an incredible experience. We had to take care of everything from makeup to costumes, on our own. The family members became our crew companions and tirelessly helped us put a great show together. Our director Nikhil has done a phenomenal job in managing all of us virtually and the outcome is fantastic. Shooting for The Gone Game has been one of the best experiences and I hope the audience enjoys watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.”

Arjun Mathur said, “I never thought of shooting for a show remotely, but I am so glad that I was a part of the crew that made it happen. The Gone Game has a mix of everything - creativity, a gripping plot, fantastic crew, and of course a multi-talented director. It was not an easy task coordinating with so many people virtually but we made it happen. While I cannot wait to go back on sets, no taking away from the fact that this was indeed a fantastic experience. Kudos to Voot Select for introducing the audience to a concept like that. I am sure, they are going to enjoy it.”

Digital star Shriya Pilgaonkar said, “ Working on The Gone Game was so exciting and a wonderful learning experience . Everyone from the cast and crew was extremely patient and amazing to work with. It is great that platforms like Voot Select are introducing such concepts to their viewers and making sure that they always have some good  content to consume no matter what the circumstance . This experience will always be memorable and I am so glad that Voot Select has given all of us this unique concept to work with.”

Shweta Tripathi Sharma said, “  As an actor, I am always looking to do some creatively challenging work. The Gone Game is something I was always confident of only because of the makers of the show . I just loved the concept when I heard it and I instantly decided to take it up. The entire experience has been one of a kind. It is not easy to bring out emotions when you are shooting remotely but the creators of the show impeccably brought alive every emotion on screen. I loved the experience and I hope the audience loves it too.”

“The Gone Game – Streaming from August 20, 2020 on Voot Select”

Revive Both Demand and Supply Drivers Say FAITH Bodies to Ministry of Tourism

 - Dual task forces strategy

- Safe gatherings learning from holy temple site templates

- Focused multi - language social media product advertising spurts

- Free E visa across categories

- Uniform quarantine policies

- Create consumer confidence, dispel fear

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) had an inter association meeting with ministry of tourism.

FAITH and its 10 member associations in a multi association meeting with Ministry of Tourism proposed multi-step strategies for revival of tourism. These issues were identified to enhance tourism demand while protecting tourism supply in India.

Tourism encompasses multiple ministries and happens across states. It thus requires a coordinated approach across all the ministries at the central government level and between centre and state. FAITH Associations have proposed a dual task force strategy. An inter- ministerial task force at the central government level and an inter- state task force. These two task forces need to be empowered and need to be agile to fast track decision making as tourism will be the last sector to revive.

To stimulate domestic tourism FAITH associations recommended dispelling consumer fear and confusion by ensuring uniform inter-quarantine air & land border policy across all states. This will provide confidence and give knowledge to bath business and leisure tourists.

FAITH 10 associations proposed incentivising two segments domestic conferences and domestic consumers to travel within India by creating structured tax breaks.

As travel bubbles have started between India and international countries, FAITH associations proposed a multi-year e-visa holiday for all visa categories as and when till inbound demand to India stabilises. This needs to be complemented by publicising widely the revised 96 hour RT PCR policy for COVID testing and ensuring standardisation across all airports.

They also discussed holding the Indian Tourism Mart for international tour operators to establish confidence and showcase the incredible Indian tourism products in the first or the fourth week of November.

Marketing communication of tourism should be kickstarted which should focus on positivity & safety of Indian tourism while weaving these messages around different product segments, destinations, and incredible concepts of Indian tourism.

These could be multiple series of social media ads each with different versions of Indian and international languages to help stimulate both domestic & international tourism

Tourism demand can truly be activated if the tourism supply and value chain is healthy and doesn’t break down anywhere across travel agents, hotels, tour operators, tourist transporters or restaurants. Faith associations recommended multiple support and revival strategies for the same.

Tour operators and travel agents recognised by tourism ministry should be allowed to operate tours for adventure, religious, or education purposes which are recognised as LTC enabled agents & operators.

For the tourist hinterlands, remote last mile air connectivity must be enabled through a hub & spoke system under the Udaan policy with increased state support till private demand picks up. To ensure best practices in adventure, satellite phones and helicopter search and rescue needs to be enabled for adventure tours across the beautiful Indian adventure spots.

The meetings segment has to begin its revival process and FAITH associations said guidelines must be  considered to be revised upwards by allowing 300 indoors and upto 500 in open areas. A fine example of safe gatherings is the inauguration of the holy temple site by the honourable PM which can be showcased as a role model gatherings format. Meetings segment must now formally also include, recognise and officially support all forms social gatherings and movie shoots and virtual meetings. It is also critical for IGST to be enabled for hospitality industry which will enhance cross-state Indian meetings industry movement with companies getting gst credit while using hotels for meetings tourism in other states

FAITH Associations have requested Delhi Hotels to be unlocked as Delhi is the gateway of North India. They have also requested for all states to support hospitality by giving a statutory waiver on all fixed liabilities power costs, liquor permits, property cesses and so on. They have suggested that GST be rationalised for hotels above ₹7500 to be brought down to 12% from 18% which will stimulate domestic travel.

FAITH Associations to revive restaurants also requested for the GST option with full setoff made available for restaurants and restaurant GST be delinked from hotel tariffs.

To financially protect the tourism companies, till the resolution plan is set in motion by the RBI, FAITH Associations proposed extension of the moratorium of tourism & hospitality companies. They have also requested for automatic extension of all tourist transport and tour operators  permits , liquor licenses and other extensions.

The Indian travel agents are key enablers of the travel distribution. FAITH Associations requested for an even more healthy partnership approach between Indian travel agents, IATA & Air India. Travel agents and consumers also need to insured against airline payment defaults of their advances and cancellations and mechanisms need to be put in place.

FAITH spokesperson said that the FAITH Associations are hopeful that the demand generation measures and supply protection measures for tourism will be implemented quickly to kick start Indian tourism and express their gratitude to Tourism Ministry for initiating this exercise.

 About FAITH: FAITH, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, is the National Federation of the 10 National Tourism, Travel and Hospitality organisations of India. These associations are ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI & TAFI.

IDBI Bank Launches “IDBI Swarna Kalash” - Specialized Gold Loan Branches

IDBI Bank announced the launch of four specialized gold loan branches branded as “IDBI Swarna Kalash”, by remodeling its existing branches. These branches are located at Neelamangalam, Sivaganga, Vijaya Nagar, Bengaluru and L .B. Nagar, Hyderabad.

IDBI Bank in their Q1 FY21 Financial Results reported an increase in the growth trajectory with Gold Loans as one of the premium product with minimum delinquencies.

These specialized Gold Loan Branches will facilitate quick, transparent and hassle free Gold Loan financing. The Gold Loans are offered at a competitive interest rate, starting from 8% p.a., to cater to the increasing credit demand in the Agri, PSL, and rural markets. Overdraft facility is also available under these loans and can be applied via a digital platform.

Shri. Rakesh Sharma, MD & CEO, through a virtual mode, inaugurated these four branches in the presence of Deputy Managing Directors Shri Samuel Joseph and Shri Suresh Khatanhar, and Executive Director Shri Rajeev Kumar.

Speaking at the launch program, Shri Rakesh Sharma MD & CEO said that “We have witnessed a surge in the demand gold loan and have conceptualized “Swarna Kalash” as a premium offering of IDBI Bank. Our focus is on creation of such specialized branches to cater to the demand in the market and facilitate an easy access to our gold loan customers.”

Indian Short-Form Video App Mitron Clocks 9 Billion Videos in a Month

Video App

* Mitron app has been downloaded by more than 33 million users on Google Play Store since launch.

* Strong traction reported from smaller cities and towns

Mitron, a short-form video app, has garnered a massive viewership on its platform with a total of 9 billion videos viewed in one month since the government’s ban on Chinese apps. The company also announced that Mitron app crossed 33 million downloads on Google Store.

Speaking on the development, Shivank Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Mitron said “The idea behind the development of the app was to provide a platform that lets users upload and watch an array of short videos. It is heartening to see the app popularity gained by Mitron within a short span of time. 

It is incredible to see millions of new videos created on the Mitron platform. We thank all our users who have been using this app as their daily dose of entertainment.” 

With a mission to create a short-form video app that reimagines digital engagement and entertainment, co-founders Shivank Agarwal, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, and Anish Khandelwal, an alumnus of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology in Nagpur, launched the Mitron app in April, 2020.

“We are seeing strong traction from smaller cities and towns across the country, with towns like Karnal, Hubli, Bhavnagar, Aligarh, Ludhiana and Vijayawada clocking more than 100,000 users”, Shivank added.

Anish Khandelwal, co-founder & CTO said, “While our user growth is very encouraging, we are keenly focusing our efforts on increasing engagement and retention of the users. On an average each user is watching 80 videos per day and with many new product features, we are confident of increasing engagement further".

Central Square Foundation and Omidyar Network India Release ‘State of the Sector Report on Private Schools’

Central Square Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works towards ensuring quality school education, and Omidyar Network India, an investment firm focussed on social impact, released the first-of-its-kind report today on the state of the private school sector in India. The report highlights the need to improve learning outcomes in private schools which educate nearly half of India’s school-going children.

The report is a comprehensive analysis of existing research and evidence on the sector. It suggests reforms to streamline the operations of private schools with a focus on improving student learning. It aims to be a ready reckoner for policymakers, academicians, researchers, philanthropists and educationists amongst other stakeholders associated with the sector.

About 70% children in urban centres and a quarter from rural households attend private schools. Over 50% students in 16 Indian states are enrolled in private schools. The increased enrollment can be attributed to the rising demand by aspirational parents. A large number of parents — about 70% — pay less than Rs. 1000 per month as school fees. The report finds that 73% of parents with children in private schools believe these schools provide a better learning environment. However, student performance in private schools is only marginally better than government schools after adjusting for disadvantages in student backgrounds. About 35% of rural private school students in Grade 5 are unable to read a basic Grade 2-level paragraph.

The report finds that parents lack the means to make informed decisions while choosing schools based on learning performance. Board Examinations, among the only few reliable and standardised metrics to assess learning, are held in the last few years of schooling making it difficult for parents to judge the quality of schools during the early years of education. Moreover, nearly 60% of the private schools across India do not go up to a Board Examination grade.

Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, released the report at a digital event and said, “An educated and literate India is not possible without the private sector working towards our nation building. We must pay attention to getting it right. We need to bring reforms using access, equity and quality as guiding factors. More importantly, we need to shift the focus from monitoring of inputs to monitoring of outcomes. Quality education has been this government’s priority and NITI Aayog is drafting a model regulatory act in consultation with all stakeholders. We believe we will see fruitful results based on the references and results underlined in this report."

Highlighting the fact that private schooling is not popular among the elite alone, Mr Ashish Dhawan, the Founder-Chairman of CSF, emphasised that many families from underprivileged households send their children to private schools as well. “Today the private school sector in India is the third-largest school system in the world. These numbers are mainly made up of parents from low- and middle-income backgrounds who believe their children will have better learning outcomes in private schools. It’s critical now to institute a system that will give parents assessment-based information based on key stage examinations at Grades 3, 5, and 8, as the NEP suggests. They can use this information to compare school quality and pick the best school for their child.”

And speaking about the creating a demand for quality education among parents, Roopa Kudva, Managing Director, Omidyar Network India, said, “We need to empower parents to make informed decisions based on learning quality when choosing a school. In the absence of meaningful information on how schools perform on learning, parents tend to give weightage to tangible parameters like school infrastructure or English as the medium of instruction. Philanthropy capital can play a vital role in setting the ground in three main areas: greater awareness building, increased transparency from the schools themselves and improving the quality of engagement between parents and the schools.”

About the Report Launch

Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education delivered a special address and spoke about the need for bold reforms to improve the quality of education and help India’s children acquire 21st Century skills for gainful employment. Other key speakers included Baijayant Panda, National Vice President & spokesperson of BJP; and Gurcharan Das, author and former CEO of Procter & Gamble India.

The release of the report was followed by two panel discussions. The first session on ‘Never waste a crisis: re-engineering the private school sector post Covid-19’ witnessed Baijayant Panda; Gurcharan Das; Arun Bharat Ram, Chairman, SRF Limited; and Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, Chair of Education Economics and International Development at the Institute of Education discuss how learning can be incentivised for private schools. The session was moderated by Ashish Dhawan.

The second session on ‘The need for reforms in the private school sector: Voices from the ground’ saw a very engaging discussion on the impediments in running and scaling private schools between Prabhat Jain, Co-Founder, Pathways World Schools & Pathways Early Years; Kulbhushan Sharma, President of NISA, and President, Federation of Private Schools Association, Haryana; Bhuvana Anand, Director, Research at Centre for Civil Society; and Vikas Jhunjhunwala, Founder & CEO of Sunshine Schools. Dilip Thakore, Co-founder and Managing Editor of EducationWorld moderated the session.

State of the Sector Report on Private Schools in India: About the Report

The report highlights the importance of private schools in educating India’s children. It provides details on the size of the sector, deep-dives into the challenges and outlines potential reforms to ensure improved learning outcomes for students. Specifically, the report stresses on two key challenges that need to be addressed urgently:

Under-regulation of learning outcomes

73% of parents believe their children will receive a quality education and have better learning outcomes in private schools. However, in the absence of a standard metric to measure learning outcomes, it may be hard for them to judge how much their children are learning in school in absolute terms, or how good their school actually is in comparison to other schools in their neighbourhood that charge similar fees. Grade 10 and 12 board exam pass percentages, sometimes used as a school learning marker, do not cover 60% of India’s private schools which end at Grades 5 or 8. Subsequently, parents tend to choose schools based on proxies for learning like "English medium" or the "School Infrastructure".

The information gap that exists for parents also means that schools are less likely to invest in learning-focused, invisible improvements like teacher training and quality, and more likely to spend on things that are observable by parents but may not lead to much improvement in learning - like computer labs, or marketing that proclaims English medium instruction.

Over-regulation of inputs

The second barrier is the over-regulation of inputs and a lack of policy focus on learning. Input-focused regulations prescribing playgrounds, computer labs, teacher salaries, etc., tend to be contextually unfit for under-resourced low-fee schools which make day-to-day operations difficult for them. Extensive licensing requirements deter quality providers from entering the sector and limits competition. For instance, opening a private school in Delhi calls for 125 documents, and applications move through at least 155 steps within the Directorate of Education. The non-profit nature of the education sector also discourages high-quality providers from entering or scaling up. These regulations have a direct impact on the capacity of private schools to deliver high-quality education.

The report also dives into the five-pillar sectoral reforms that account for the above-mentioned challenges and can help improve learning outcomes:

Create a universal learning indicator to help parents compare learning performance across schools and make informed decisions

Develop a pragmatic accreditation framework that factors in constraints of low fee schools and state capacity to implement while focussing on learning outcomes and child safety                    

Establish an independent regulatory agency for the private school sector

Review non-profit mandate and existing fee regulations to attract investment and enable easy access to credit for schools

Strengthen RTE Section 12(1)(c) which mandates 25% reservations for underprivileged children to ensure more robust targeting and fee reimbursements

While the report focuses on private schools, many of the regulatory issues raised in the report are also relevant for the public education domain.

OVHcloud Launches Managed Web Hosting Offers for India Businesses

OVHcloud is responding to India’s rapidly growing digital economy by introducing a new all-in-one web hosting and domain names solution, to further its commitment to partners and resellers competing in the web hosting market. In addition to its extensive portfolio of Cloud solutions, OVHcloud offers small and medium tech businesses, regional web hosting service providers, and web and digital agencies a comprehensive suite of solutions with the best price-performance ratio to give them an edge in pursuing small office/home office (SOHO) and small and medium enterprise (SME) markets.

OVHcloud’s decision to provide its web hosting and domain names offerings in India to resellers and partners comes at a time where businesses are looking to accelerate or kickstart their digital presence upon witnessing the digital economy’s massive potential in the current digital-first world. It has been predicted that by 2021, digital transformation will add an estimated US$154 billion to India’s GDP, and increase the growth rate by 1.0% annually. Beyond Asia Pacific, the web hosting and domain name offerings are also available in Europe, Latin America and Canada, enabling OVHcloud to support international scaling and development.

A secure offer, a predictive price, a powerful plan

The addition of web hosting and domain names enhances OVHcloud’s Asia Pacific portfolio of solutions which already consists of Dedicated Servers and Public Cloud offerings. From the design of servers, management of datacenters to the orchestration of the fiber optic network, OVHcloud maintains the integrity of the entire chain in order to generate maximum value, ease of use and seicurity.

With a diverse set of tools, OVHcloud’s new offerings are easy to use and scale for a wide variety of users, ranging from small businesses to large multi-faceted organisations, making it simple for resellers and partners to support professional websites, blogs, online retailers – any project that needs the support of the cloud to launch and scale.

In India, OVHcloud's web hosting offers guaranteed optimal online visibility and centralisation of all services, with the Performance Hosting package catering to web agencies, developers and resellers in particular. Designed for the most complex or growing web activities, including multi-sites or ecommerce sites, the Performance Hosting package allows the easy adjustment of resources to manage the most demanding projects on an ad hoc basis, using the Boost option or permanently leveraging the four performance levels.

These adjustments ensure users always have the resources guaranteed to help to absorb peak loads. In an all-inclusive offer with content delivery network (CDN), structured query language (SQL) and SSL, the Performance offer will support the development of online stores, web agencies and developers, small and medium enterprises, software as a service (SaaS) publishers, resellers and corporate websites. The high performance and ultra-competitive hosting include unlimited monthly traffic, anti-DDoS protection, free domain name for the first year, free Let’s Encrypt Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, choice of four content management system (CMS) modules and the following features:

1 free domain name

500 GB of disk space

Boost Option

Up to 1000 email addresses

Optimised for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Prestashop

An idea, a project, a domain name

Every web project starts with a domain name that is included* across all hosting options. With over 800 extensions available (generic, thematic, geographic), professionals and distributors can build a project in their own image. They also benefit from OVHcloud's security expertise to safeguard their digital identity and protect against fraudulent transfers.

Additionally, the ultra-competitive price and the absence of hidden fees upon renewal makes OVHcloud domain names the ideal offer to optimise the lifespan of online projects. Advantages of OVHcloud domain names include:

Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC): protection against cache poisoning (Domain Name System (DNS) server poisoning)

Easy Redirect: simplified implementation of a redirection from your domain name to a social network, for example

DNS zone management for greater flexibility and customisation

Renewal without hidden fees

For Indian users, OVHcloud will provide local extension i.e. “in” as a TLD (Top Level Domain) for businesses looking to create country-targeted websites; Will be available at US$ 10.49 (ex. GST) per year.

OVHcloud will also provide SLDs (Second-Level Domain) such as .co. in, firm.in and .ind.in

Since 1999, OVHcloud has established itself in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific as the Cloud alternative, perfecting an open, reversible and transparent model that places freedom of choice and data protection at the heart of its priorities. Today, the European leader in Cloud solutions powers more than 3 million websites and 18 million applications in its 30 data centres around the world, with strict respect for the digital sovereignty of each of its users.

OVHcloud also supports local customers with Sales, Research & Development and Support teams based in Bengaluru.

*Free domain name offered for the first year on all hosting offers

About OVHcloud

OVHcloud is a global player and the leading European cloud provider operating 400,000 servers within its own 30 data centres across 4 continents. For 20 years, the Group has been leveraging an integrated model that provides full control of our value chain, from designing our servers to managing our data centres through to orchestrating our fibre-optic network. This unique approach enables OVHcloud to cover, independently, the full spectrum of use cases for our 1.5 million customers in more than 130 countries. OVHcloud now offers customers latest-generation solutions that combine high performance, predictable pricing and full data sovereignty to support their unfettered growth. 

Indian founded companies may a beeline for TiE50

TiEcon 2009, the world's largest conference for entrepreneurs, has announced the finalists for the TiE50 Awards. Out of the total 150 companies vying to make it into the final 50, 32 are Indian founded. Selected from nearly 1,200 nominated companies, the finalists represent the hottest emerging startups in five focus segments: Consumer Web, Internet Infrastructure, Cleantech, Wireless and Software.

The selection process for TiE50 winners will be based on a combination of a public poll and private judges' vote. Voting is open to the public beginning Tuesday, April 28, 2009 and closes on Thursday, May 7, 2009. Polls can be accessed at http://www.tie50.net/polling. TiEcon has also established a partnership with social media site Vator.tv to help promote the finalists. Finalists are also encouraged to set up a profile at http://vator.tv/news/show/2009-04-27-tie50-vator-competition-launches.

In addition to the results of the public poll, the finalist companies will be judged on their product or service, market size and dynamics' leadership team, business model and progress since founding. The winning companies will be announced on May 9, 2009. The TiE50 winners will be honored at an award ceremony on Thursday, May 14 in Santa Clara.

"The TiE50 finalists represent some of the most exciting emerging companies that are driving growth and innovation in their specific industry - from cleantech to wireless," said Gary Gauba and Shaukat Shamim, both TiE Silicon Valley Board Members and Co-conveners for TiEcon 2009. "These companies provide a model for aspiring entrepreneurs and while they may not be household names yet, they have the promise to become tomorrow's stars."

TiE50 winners will also present their companies in a live showcase over the two days of TiEcon 2009, on May 15th and 16th in Santa Clara, CA. In addition to being featured at TiEcon 2009, the TiE50 will also receive ongoing support and increased visibility throughout the year. For more information on the TiE50 visit http://tiecon.org/home/tie.

The Indian founded companies in the list include: Signet Solar, Inc., Beceem Communications, Hellosoft, NIKSUN INC., Nokeena, Paloaltonetworks, Vembu, Vrismo Networks, Virident, Yume, Zscaler, Mportal, Mywaves, QIK inc, Reqall, Skyfire, Buzzintown (Wortal Inc), Intent, Jivox, Kosmix, Like.com, Lumosity, Offerpal Media, PlaySpan, Posterous, TheFind.com, Trackle, Zunavision, Adchemy, AlertEnterprise, Aster Data Systems, InMage Systems and xprotean.

Agencies