Genpact & Cisco Launch Global Center of Excellence in Jaipur

Genpact, a global leader in digitally-powered business process management and services, has unveiled the Global Center of Excellence in Jaipur as part of Cisco’s Lighthouse City project, a global initiative designed to deploy next-generation technologies to impact citizens and society. With this initiative, Jaipur will gain access to Cisco’s global network and channel program capabilities helping the city benefit from economic and social transformation as the country embarks on the next phase of the Digital India program. Hosted and operated in Genpact’s state-of-the-art facility in Jaipur, the Center will serve as an innovation lab for Genpact and its partnering technology firms to rapidly test and deploy the latest smart technology advances from Cisco to help Jaipur become a fully responsive, smart and connected city.

“Government leaders today increasingly recognize the importance of digitization as the foundation for economic growth, job creation, and the development of a knowledgeable workforce. Our commitment with the Cisco® lighthouse initiative in Jaipur is to help the state develop an ecosystem of talent, entrepreneurship, and innovation to drive growth, generate jobs, diversify the economy, and support sustainable growth. I greatly admire Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for her strong vision to digitize Rajasthan, and we’re honored to collaborate with the state to help realize its vision of ‘Digital Rajasthan,’” said John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco.

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding among Genpact, Cisco, and the Government of Rajasthan, Genpact is using data gathered from Cisco’s Smart+Connected Digital Platform (CDP), Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences, and Cisco Video Surveillance Manager Solutions to develop analytics-driven technology applications in the Center. These applications are designed to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, allow the government to engage effectively with its citizens, and provide real-time responses to operational challenges for these services.

With the opening of the Center today, the prototypes for Genpact’s first Smart City applications were unveiled for deployment in Jaipur. The initial pilots include applications for real-time identification of vacant parking slots in the city, foot fall forecasting for timely optimization of promotional events, visitor pattern identification for public campaign efficacy, and real-time way-finding and tourist recommendations.

“The government of Rajasthan is proud to be part of a large-scale, pioneering Cisco project like Lighthouse City. The application of advanced digital technologies will benefit the city of Jaipur in its agenda of economic and social progress through enhanced citizen experiences. The collaboration between Genpact, Cisco, and the State of Rajasthan will significantly help Jaipur become a city of the future,” said Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

“Being the largest employer in Jaipur, Genpact is especially excited to combine Cisco’s Smart City technology platform with our analytics expertise, and apply it to improve the everyday lives of the people who live and work in this city,” said NV ‘Tiger’ Tyagarajan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Genpact. “We believe this collaboration will have a resounding ripple effect on a global scale by demonstrating how collaborative innovation can result in making a large city like Jaipur truly smart and connected.”

Genpact will utilize advanced, disruptive technologies such as robotic process automation, machine learning, advanced visualization, and Internet of Things (IoT) to create applications that will be integrated into the operations and future economic development of the city. The Center will use Genpact’s Lean Digital approach that harnesses the combined power of process-centric technologies, design thinking methodologies, and domain expertise, and will collaborate with startups, government agencies, and academic institutions to promote innovation and advance the development of IoT solutions.

Spirent & Tata Elxsi Win Chinese Customer for Joint Advanced V2X Test System

Tata Elxsi, a leading global Design and Technology services provider, announces the adoption of the V2X test system by CAICT (http://www.caict.ac.cn/english/), a scientific research institute directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. This next generation test system is developed in partnership with Spirent, a global leader in test solutions for automotive networking and communications. It provides a flexible, scalable and comprehensive test environment for testing and performance benchmarking of V2X applications, in various stages of the development cycle, right from early research up to pre-production.

Using a combination of Tata Elxsi’s Patent pending V2X Emulator software and Spirent’s advanced solutions for GNSS and radio channel simulation, the integrated V2X test bed offers the ability to bring real-world traffic scenarios into the lab and thereby significantly reduces costs and time associated with extensive field testing.  Various driving scenarios can be emulated under a variety of terrain, Wireless Channel and atmospheric conditions.  The V2X test bed which supports both WAVE-DSRC (US, Asia) and ITS-G5 (Europe) standards, offers a comprehensive platform for both functional and performance assessment of V2V and V2I/I2V safety applications, V2X security testing and test report generation.

“V2X technology is gaining tremendous interest among global OEMs and Tier-1 companies for delivering safer driving experience.  The V2X Test System, developed by us, enables multi-standards compliance testing using a single solution. This system has the capability to emulate over 100 OBUs & RSUs on a single hardware, enabling repeatable testing of complex scenarios, right from early development stages without the high risks and costs associated with live vehicle testing. With China being the largest automotive market in the world, this latest win with CAICT in China is significant for us, and automotive companies targeting this market” says Nitin Pai, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Tata Elxsi.

                                                                                                                                             “V2X communication will contribute significantly to making the autonomous car a safe and secure reality. The U.S. DOT’s newly issued regulation proposal mandating V2V communication for light vehicles is another confirmation of this widely accepted fact. With test solutions for conformance, functionality and performance developed in partnership with Tata Elxsi, Spirent is proud to help our customers ensure that their devices meet all conformance functionality and performance requirements to master these major changes ahead.” says Peter Tan, VP Sales, Greater China and East Asia, Spirent.

Tata Elxsi is showcasing the V2X Test System along with an exciting array of other automotive solutions covering integrated e-cockpit, infotainment, ADAS, autonomous vehicle technology and telematics, at its booth 6223 at CES 2017, Las Vegas.

OPPO & Vodafone India Enhances Better Internet Experience for Customers

The ever-evolving global smartphone brand OPPO, has announced a new exciting offer in association with Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers. As per this offer, Vodafone customers buying an OPPO F1s smartphone, will enjoy 9GB of 2G/3G/4G data free on a recharge of 1GB or above pack (for Prepaid) or a Postpaid plan of 1GB and above.

On this association, OPPO India’s Brand Director, Will Yang said, “OPPO has always invested in offering its consumers the best experience. We believe that this cooperation is a value add to reach out to more consumers and give them a better experience.”

Starting from today, consumers can enjoy this offer till Mar.31, 2017. Buy an F1s, you’ll get this offer three times. This is only available in the region Wherein Vodafone India has requisite 3G and 4G license: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh(East), Haryana, Karnataka, Gujrat, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa, Assam, North East states, Rajasthan, Punjab, Orissa only.

BMA Awards 2016 Given to Nagendra, Bhave, Kiran Kumar, Dr Jawali

At the 63^rd annual Bangalore Management Association (BMA) 2916, eminent personalities like Hindustani vocalist Shymala G Bhave, Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar, cardiac surgeon Dr Vivek Jawali, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's yoga guru S Nagendra have bagged the BMA Lifetime Achievement Awards-2016. BMA promotes modern management practices among professionals in various fields.

The awards were given away on Wednesday by former Chief Justice of India S Rajendra Babu. Space scientist K Kasturirangan and Aloysius P Fernandez (NGO Myrada) are the other recipients of the award.Annual awards: 

The 2016 BMA awards in various categories were given to Bangalore Hospice Trust Karunashraya, Samarthanam Trust, WeSchool, Bengaluru, Bharathi Singh (changemaker), Dr L Appaji (healthcare management) G R Mahesh, (promising entrepreneur), Seethalakshmi S (journalist), C M Reddy (entrepreneur), P Ravindra Pai, (young achiever), Pawan Ranga (innovative manufacturer), Ambika K Narayan, (woman entrepreneur) and Asha Prasannakumar (social entrepreneur).

BGS Hospital Patient Implants ICD-CRT Device Combo With Remote Heart Monitoring System

BGS Global Hospital successfully performed a heart surgery wherein, a combination of Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) pacemaker was implanted to treat a patient suffering from heart failure and thereby prevent Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). A large percentage of patients who suffer from heart failure need special implantable devices for CRT. These patients then require regular monitoring of the CRT pacemaker and their cardiac condition. A CareLink device monitoring system is an important advancement in this regard, allowing patients to receive expert medical advice from their physician while at home or traveling. It remotely monitors the CRT pacemaker and automatically transmits important data from the implanted device and relevant heart data to the electrophysiologist at periodic intervals. It also automatically transmits data if some critical parameters of heart or device become abnormal, between periodic transmissions. The patient  Raghu, presented with breathing difficulty and edema. His heart’s pumping efficiency had been reduced to around 20% as against a desirable 60 per cent. This meant he was at risk of heart failure and SCD. Initial treatment involved medication to manage the correction of the reversible factors. The next course of treatment included an implant of combo device. The surgery which lasted around 90 minutes was successfully completed. With this surgery, recovery is rapid, allowing the patient to be discharged in two days. Dr. Yogesh Kothari, Electrophysiologist and heart failure specialist, BGS Global Hospital said “Patients with heart failure are at a high risk of developing Sudden Cardiac Arrest or SCA. SCA occurs most frequently in adults in their mid-30s to mid-40s, and affects men twice as often as it does women.” Emergency treatment for SCA includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation. CPR keeps enough oxygen in the lungs and gets it to the brain until the normal heart rhythm is restored with an electric shock to the chest (defibrillation). It is CPR plus defibrillation that rescues the patient. According to Thomas Mathew, COO, Global Hospitals Bengaluru, Our integrated team of experienced cardiologists, electrophysiologists, world-class infrastructure, treatments and diagnostic facilities endeavour to ensure that our patients have access to the most advanced cardiac technologies and care standards whenever they need it.

Indian Market Outlook for 2017 Post Brexit, US Presidential Election & Demonetisation

“The New Year might see a negative start, and it might last for a few months. Political uncertainty following Brexit and post- US Presidential election and the demonetisation, we're cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. We suggest that investors should expect lower-than-average returns in the equity markets going into 2017. Key indices could correct by 10-15 percent in 3-6 months if domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sell off. December 2016 is turning out to be the worst month in terms of sell-off from global funds. But we expect things would start to improve in the second half of this year (2HCY-17) fundamentally. 

Post demonetisation, a new fear-factor has emerged in the market amongst the investors. Earnings growth for the next one-two quarters should be little tough from an economy perspective. We expect a fall in cement off take, in automobile, in textiles, in gems and jewellery, retail footfalls. The big liquidity crunch in the economy, that’s having an impact. Earnings growth in 2016-17 (FY17) will only be around 2-3% because of the very low earnings growth in the third and fourth quarters.

Above all, there is the movement of money from emerging markets to developed markets. The situation has become tricky for global fund managers, after the election of Donald Trump as US president.

The fact that President Trump is promising a major fiscal stimulus in February 2017 is obviously making global investors very excited about US markets. So, you have a slowing economy in India, potentially with more slowing growth to come, we have a banking sector which is a third of your stock market cap and the other side of the world you have the world’s largest economy now accelerating. We think the FII outflows to continue.

At the moment domestic institutional investors are holding the market, but if that support goes away, we have got meaningful market downside in the near term.

High valuation is another problem plaguing sectors with a domestic focus. Valuations had gone up without much earnings growth, so they may come down. Export-oriented sectors will also be a big beneficiary of the expected depreciation in the Indian rupee (because of a strengthening dollar). The dollar may go up to Rs 70-72 levels, which will help export-driven sectors to register push 15% CAGR in earnings over next two years.

We expect 2017 will start the year in a bearish way. Basic chart reading reveals a long term pattern with very strong support at 7500 points. Worst case, Nifty index will fall to that level, which still validates a bull market scenario.  In case of any major weakness in Nifty, the fall is likely to halt around 7400-7500 levels. Since 2009, in all panic scenarios, Nifty has been finding support at these levels in the past three to four years. We do not see Nifty even visiting these levels, but in case it does and it should recover much higher from these levels. Pharma and IT in that order will be best bets in uncertain times if someone has investment view of less than one year. City Gas distribution companies will keep doing well in the wake of rising crude prices and also increasing focus on green energy”.

In the last two years, the annual closing has been to the downside or almost flat.  Nifty in 2014 closed at was 8174 and in 2015 end it was 7946.  The ending of 2016 does not look promising.  The P/E level has also been flat during the last three years. During these three years Nifty witnessed the strong resistance at 9,000 levels on the upper side in the coming year, which also looks difficult to cross in the current scenario”.

LatestOne.com Sees 50% Growth of Technology-Based Accessories

While Mobile phone has become a basic necessity, some of the accessories such as chargers, earphones and covers have become essential for a large population. Technology based accessories such as Bluetooth headsets, fitness bands, smart watches, blue tooth selfie sticks, lens, power banks, cables, OTG sticks and VR headsets have increased at 50% YOY, making mobile accessories a Rs. 20,000 crore market in India. As India is expected to surpass US and China in mobile phone market size of the world by 2017, the accessories market is estimated to grow 20-30% year-on-year.

There are three different types of retailers for mobile accessories in India – online, offline and selling on online market places. LatestOne.com has focused exclusively on the online strategy and emerged as the No.1 retailer of mobile accessories in India in a short span of 2 years with a gross revenue of 80 crores and net revenue of 50 crores in 2016.

LatestOne.com also launched a wholesale site for b2b in September 2016. Within 3 months, over 1,500 dealers & retailers have registered and over a 100 have been activated by placing online orders.

Ameen Khwaja, the Founder and CEO of LatestOne.com said, “Rapid surge in mobile phone adoption in both urban and rural areas associated with rising inclination of customers towards latest mobile accessories is the key driving factor for the growth of this segment. LatestOne.com has launched 13 new products in the last 12 months in order to continuously meet these demands of online customers.”

In the calendar year 2017, mobile covers will continue to be the single largest product. Covers like printed and shock proof back covers will be in demand. Smart watches will come embedded with new features and less prices.