EKA Partners With NuPort Robotics To Introduce "Smart Electric Buses With Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

* EKA And NuPort Will Enable Safer, Greener, And More Efficient Transportation For Indian Roads 

EKA, an electric vehicles & technology company, and a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries Limited, is once again leading the way as they enter a partnership with NuPort Robotics to introduce Level 2 autonomy, advanced driver assistance systems, to their electric bus models. This is a first-of-its-kind-in-the-country initiative towards the utilization and incorporation of progressive Level 2 autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Electric buses on Indian roads. 

EKA begins testing on a range of autonomous features developed by NuPort, an advanced technology that promises to contribute to notable improvements in safety, reducing environmental footprint, and increasing operational efficiency.  Following a period of rigorous testing, the technology will be deployed with over 5000 buses, representing a minimum investment of nearly INR 150 Crores in innovation and contributing to the future of transportation and sustainability. More importantly, when such technologies are deployed in commercial vehicles, they have been associated with reducing crash rates by nearly 50%.   

NuPort Robotics, a Canadian company announced its plans earlier this month to set up operations in India and fully develop and deploy its technology in India for commercial vehicle manufacturers, beginning with electric vehicle manufacturers. NuPort will be following a “Made in India” approach thereby contributing to the advancement of economic development and innovation ecosystem within the country. NuPort’s technology provides level 2 autonomy features specifically targeted for Indian roads, considering the complex nature of Indian traffic, and understanding the Indian driving mindset. NuPort’s partnership with EKA is strategic, as it allows both NuPort and EKA to offer Indian customers cutting-edge innovative vehicles that can be continuously updated to retain that innovative advantage. NuPort is using proprietary AI technology which will progressively enable autonomous features thereby increasing safety, operational efficiency, and reduced carbon footprint. 

Speaking on the partnership, Dr. Sudhir Mehta, Chairman, EKA & Pinnacle Industries Limited, highlighted, “Our partnership with NuPort ensures that our electric buses are not only environmentally friendly but also futuristic through incorporation of Artificial Intelligence thereby making our buses efficient and safer to operate on Indian roads. This collaboration strengthens our goal of positioning EKA as the leader in the electric vehicle industry in India. I am confident that both EKA & NuPort will provide a safer, greener, and much more efficient transportation for Indian roads” 

Speaking on the collaboration, Raghavender Sahdev, CEO of NuPort Robotics said, “The current project with EKA allows us to set the first precedent in India for a Level 2 AI-enabled smart Electric bus. Partnering with EKA on this initiative allows us to work with a leading national manufacturer and learn and develop technology solutions specifically for Indian driving conditions. NuPort’s focus on innovation, sustainability, automation, and artificial intelligence is aligned perfectly with EKA’s principles and vision leading to this strategic partnership between the two companies". 

Through this strategic partnership, NuPort will provide AI-enabled autonomous solutions and EKA will provide the electric vehicle platform. NuPort being an expert in offering artificial intelligence technology and EKA having expertise in the manufacturing of electric vehicles will work together towards the commercialization of the next generation of AI-enabled electric buses in India. 

EKA, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries Limited, is one of the only commercial vehicle manufacturers approved under the Champion OEM Scheme & EV component manufacturing scheme of the Government of India’s Auto PLI policy. This partnership with NuPort is yet another milestone demonstrating EKA’s intent to be a leader in the automotive industry. 

About Pinnacle Industries: 

Started in 1996, Pinnacle Industries Ltd. is India’s leading automotive seating, interiors and special application vehicles company. Pinnacle Industries has continuously expanded its product range through investing in its employees, clientele, and technology partners, with the group today employing over 3000 people in India, Spain & USA. 

Symphony Limited: Robust Profitability of International Business In FY 2021-22

The Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs 6 /- (300%) per equity share of Rs 2/- each amounting to Rs 41.97 cr. for FY 21-22. The total dividend for FY 21-22 aggregates to Rs 9 /- (450%) per equity share of Rs 2/- each amounting to Rs 62.96 cr. which includes two interim dividends aggregating to Rs 3/- (150%) per equity share paid during the year.  

Consolidated Gross Profit Margin at 45% (FY21: 45%) and EBITDA Margin at 19% (FY21: 18%), despite elevated raw material cost and logistic cost 

Consolidated PBIT stood Rs 177 Cr. (+25% YoY Growth).  International Business contributed PBIT of Rs 70 Cr. (FY21: Rs 11 Cr.), registering the growth of 536% on YoY basis. Robust performance from International likely to continue. 

USA business generated sales of Rs 133 Cr. (FY20: Rs 48 Cr.), up by 177% in two years and by 55% in one year.  

Complete normalization of the trade inventory, driven by excellent sales across India 

April 2022 sales (Symphony India) is higher than historical highest ever April sales, after liquidation of massive trade inventory 

Good traction in sales through Large Format Space (LFS) and E-Commerce channels.  

Various measures of cost optimization, value engineering and many other initiatives in last two years yielding the result.  

Outlook  

Upbeat on the domestic & overseas business and the strong sales growth trajectory to continue going forward.  

Close watch on input cost, logistic cost and supply chain  

Agile international supply chain being built to address emerging logistic and raw material cost dynamics 

Increasing traction for LSV, driven by new products, better cost structure, and Above the Line (ATL) advertising spends.  

ABOUT SYMPHONY LIMITED: 

A world leader in evaporative air coolers, Symphony focuses on innovative design to create better and eco-friendly products for domestic, commercial and industrial customers in 60 countries across the globe. At Symphony, design-driven innovation and green engineering is a sustainable competitive advantage. Company delivers market-leading products with engineering and design innovation, improved energy conservation, distinctive styling, and customer-centric design. Established in 1988, Symphony leverages a unique and successful asset-light business model for its residential coolers in India and in-house lean manufacturing for its industrial coolers in Mexico to achieve sustainable and profitable growth. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, Symphony is a global company committed to develop sustainable and responsible products. This means leading the air-cooling industry's efforts to develop breakthrough green technologies to combat climate change. A publicly traded company in India having subsidiary companies in Mexico, China, Australia, USA and Brazil offering products in over 60 countries, Symphony continuously delivers value to its stakeholders in a profitable and predictable way. For the Year ended March 2022, Symphony posted on standalone basis net profit of Rs 111 crore on net sales of Rs 637 crore. 

India Poker Championship And India Online Poker Championship

* Experience the best of both felts this summer with a whopping combined Prize Pool of 36.5 Crore GTD.  

Spartan Poker announced the dates for its leading poker championships. The India Poker Championship (IPC) is heading to Casino Vegas by Big Daddy, Nepal, and will be held from 17th - 22nd May 2022. The 13th edition of the Indian Online Poker Championship (IOPC) will be held from 2nd - 19th June 2022. Indian poker enthusiasts will get to experience the best of both felts this summer with a whopping combined Prize-Pool of 36.5 Crore GTD. 

India Poker Championship, the five-day live event hosted in Casino Vegas by Big Daddy, Nepal, will include four high-octane tournaments with a combined prize pool of 3.5 Crore. The IPC May ’22 MegaStacks edition is also designed in a best-in-class live tournament structure with heavy buy-ins & deep stacks for a high-quality gaming experience. 

The India Online Poker Championship, which follows immediately post IPC, would be the biggest ever online poker series in India with a massive prize pool of 33 Crore GTD! The 18-day-long virtual series will provide an online experience unlike any other gaming event in India. 

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Amin Rozani, CEO of Spartan Poker Group said, “We are excited to host the India Poker Championship live this year and follow it up with our very successful India Online Poker Championship that will be hosted on the Spartan Poker platform, along with other streaming partners like AIO Games, Blitzpoker, PokerHigh, and PokerDaddy. We know how incredible the level of play in these competitions can be! We aim to offer an even better experience for players & fans, and even more opportunities for skilled players to raise their games and win huge prizes.” 

At Spartan Poker, we provide a seamless and a fair gaming experience to the Indian poker community, and we are driven to build Poker as a professional sport in India, along with all its inherent thrill, while also showcasing the country's untapped poker talent. Added Mr. Rozani.  

About Spartan Poker and IPC:  

Spartan Poker is an India-centric one-stop gaming destination for the Indian online poker community, that offers a smooth, multi-player gaming experience. Founded in 2014 by Amin Rozani, Sameer Rattonsey, and Peter Abraham, the Spartan Group started with poker as its forte. They created well-known massive IPs in both the live poker space (India Poker Championship) and the online poker space (India Online Poker Championship) to empower players from across the country to play and compete at the highest levels. The group aims to encourage mind sports as a professional cum entertainment avenue where young aspirants can look at taking up gaming even as a rewarding career. For more information, visit https://www.spartanpoker.com/ 

Vitesco Technologies Receives Major Order For Electric Axle Drive

* Vitesco Technologies will deliver its EMR4 axle drive to Hyundai Motor Group’s global B/C-segment electric vehicle In total the order has a volume in the 2 billion euros magnitude: first mentioned during the annual press conference in March 

* EMR4is a highly integrated 3-in-1drive platform: consisting of an electric machine, power electronics and a gear box EMR4 is the fourth generation of axle drive, developed by Vitesco Technologies and follows the successful EMR3 

Vitesco Technologies, a leading international supplier of modern drive technologies and electrification solutions, is further expanding its strong-going axle drive business: The company has secured a 2billion euros contract to supply its new generation axle drive EMR4 (Electronics Motor Reducer) to Hyundai Motor Group. The order was already mentioned in March at Vitesco Technologies' annual press conference - without naming the customer. The highly integrated 400 V/160 kW 3-in-1 unit will be used by the vehicle manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group in its global B/C-segment electric vehicle. 

“We are proud to contribute to Hyundai Motor Group's upcoming electric vehicle platform with this highly attractive axle drive. This order once again confirms us in our strategy with the very early focus on electric mobility,” said Andreas Wolf, CEO of Vitesco Technologies. 

State-of-the-art axle drive 

The powertrain is a core component of an electric car as it greatly influences its range and the fun of driving. This asks for a high level of efficiency and power density. Also, the electric drive has to be as compact and lightweight as possible to integrate easily into vehicle designs that make use of the new degrees of freedom electro
mobility opens up. EMR4 is built on the enabling groundwork, laid with EMR3. 

Through further optimization measures, the use of new technologies and comprehensive industrialization know-how, the global development team succeeded in making the EMR4 platform even more efficient and powerful. The silicon carbide (SiC)  semiconductors in the inverter of the drive platform, for example, have played a significant role in this. 

The new axle drive design supports a particularly high level of scalability: With the EMR4, complete vehicle platforms and also different vehicle segments can be equipped with just one drive system. This was achieved by applying a consistently modular approach with well-defined interfaces and a design-for- manufacturing philosophy. 

“For our new electric axle drive, we have standardized the internal interfaces, while generating the greatest possible flexibility externally, so that we can offer customized and at the same time cost-optimized solutions,” confirmed Thomas Stierle, member of the Executive Board and head of the Electrification Technology business unit at Vitesco Technologies. 

HDFC ERGO Launches Innovative Motor Insurance Policy Under The ‘Sandbox’ Program Of IRDAI

 -      ‘Pay as you drive’ offers distance-based insurance under the own damage section to reduce the upfront insurance costs

-      The offering has been extended as a pilot with Maruti Suzuki India Limited to its customers buying a new car as a value proposition to save on insurance premium

DFC ERGO General Insurance Company, a leading private sector general insurance company, announced the launch of its ‘Pay as you Drive’ program; an insurance solution that offers distance-based insurance to reduce upfront costs of premium. This policy will be best suited for those customers who prefer to drive less or have multiple cars with some of those driven less than the others. This program, under the regulatory sandbox, is applicable for 10,000 policies or ? 50 lacs of premium whichever happens earlier and is being offered exclusively through Maruti Suzuki Insurance Broking Private Limited.

A lot of customers do not use their vehicles frequently and end up paying the same insurance premiums as daily vehicle users. The “Pay as you drive” program brings the opportunity to pay a premium based on the actual usage of the car. The driving distance will be measured with the assistance of a telematics device in the vehicle, enabling customers to save between 10-20% of their ‘Own Damage’ premium based on the distance slabs chosen by the customer.

Speaking about the launch of the ‘Pay as You Drive’ program, Mr Parthanil Ghosh, President – Motor Business, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company said, “We have always been committed to offering products & services that address the requirement of the customers. With the ‘Pay as you drive’ program, we are addressing a latent need in the market, wherein customers who drive their cars occasionally could pay a lower premium commensurate to the risk exposure. This technology-enabled solution is expected to set a new precedence in the motor insurance segment by offering customers value and saving based on the usage of the car.”

The program will be available for owners of new Maruti Suzuki cars in select cities up to May 14, 2022.

About HDFC ERGO:

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company is a joint venture between HDFC Ltd. and ERGO International AG; the primary insurance entity of the Munich RE Group of Germany. HDFC ERGO is one of India’s largest non-life insurance companies in the private sector. A digital-first company, transforming into an AI-first company, HDFC ERGO is a leader in implementing technology to offer consumers the best-in-class service experience. The company has created a stream of innovative & new products as well as services using technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Processing Language (NLP), Robotics, and IBM Watson. HDFC ERGO offers a range of general insurance products and has a completely digital sales process with ~93% of retail policies issued digitally. The self-help tech platform developed by HDFC ERGO has empowered the customers to avail 58% of the services virtually in a self-help mode on a 24x7 basis with ~40% of the customer requesting services digitally.

The Company offers a complete range of General Insurance products including Health, Motor, Two-wheeler, Home, Travel, Cyber, Agriculture, Credit and Personal Accident in the retail space along with Property, Marine, Engineering, Marine Cargo, Group Health, and Liability Insurance in the corporate space. Be it unique insurance products, integrated customer service models, top-in-class claim processes, or a host of technologically innovative solutions, HDFC ERGO has been able to delight its customers at every touch-point and milestone to ensure consumers are serviced in real-time.

Blocktickets, NFT & Blockchain Ticketing Platform Enters Indian Market

Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) have captivated everyone in the last few years. Blocktickets, a company working in the space of blockchain, and transformative technology has launched a multi chain NFT based ticketing platform rewarding all stakeholders, a  one of its kind platform . Blocktickets has now entered the Indian market and is looking to expand its footprint in the country as Indians adopt the new technology in the coming years.

Blocktickets is making the boring tickets, that were meant to be discarded till now, a beautiful experience. With smart contracts, tokens and NFTs, they are making ever vibrant event industry even more beautiful and exciting for all stakeholders. Blocktickets, with its unique concept, uses blockchain technology to establish a transparent and decentralised system for the minting and sale of smart tickets. It's a platform that allows event organisers to embed a smart contract in their tickets that determines the ticket's floor price, ceiling price, auction and royalties whenever the ticket is sold. It's a one-of-a-kind approach in which marketers may use brand NFTs to creatively engage with ticket buyers, and more income channels can be formed by personalising tickets as special NFTs.

Blocktickets sold more than 2000 NFT tickets in less than half an hour for the World’s First Holi Event on Metaverse on 17th March, and now working with biggest Indian Event organizers and Indian Cinema Industry.

Though our mankind has reached mars, our USD 70 Bn global ticketing industry is antique. USD 15 Bn is the size of secondary ticket sales that end up going to the touts. To make matters worse the sponsors and advertisers that spend USD 65.8 Bn on sponsorship of events, have no data and engagement with the ticket buyers.  Further, There is no place for event organizers to use tickets as collateral and raise finance for their events. In short,  there is no platform that manages the entire lifecycle of tickets by integrating all stakeholders— Event Organizers, Financers, Primary Buyers, Secondary Buyers, Advertisers etc. 

Blocktickets aims to create innovation in smart contracts, blockchain, by integrating all stakeholders into the system, including artists, event organisers, financers, initial ticket buyers, secondary ticket buyers, fans, and advertisers. Blocktickets is a web 3.0 ticketing platform that promises to transform industries like sports, cinema, concerts, expos, airlines, and hotels, as well as marketing and sponsorships.

"We have been observing the trends in blockchain and the innovations that are being done around the world. Metaverse and DeFi has opened up new ventures and has expanded the scope further. NFTs are essential to this whole universe and that's why we feel it can be used to transform the ticketing industry entirely. There's so much that we can do by selling tickets as NFTs. They can become collectibles which will be unique to everyone. It's like creating experiences and memories for a lifetime while also solving some of the most fundamental problems in the industry. Blocktickets is all about that vision and we are optimistic of the support we will receive from Indian market." Says Abhinav Garg and Nishant Chandra, Founder Blocktickets.

To work towards its vision and to take better decisions for creating a premium experience for the users, the company has onboarded Jaspreet Bindra on its board of Advisors. Bindra is the Managing Director and Founder of Tech Whisperer Limited in the United Kingdom, which provides Advisory and Consulting services in the areas of Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and the Future of Work.Bindra has also worked at Mahindra Group as the Group Chief Digital Officer and as a Regional Director at Microsoft India. In 2017, he was named the first 'Digitalist of the Year' by Mint and SAP. He is also a Global Moderator/Educator for Harvard Business, Scholar-in-Residence at the Indian School of Business, and a Partner and Chapter Leader of Singularity University. “I am really excited about the whole idea of Blocktickets and how it aims to transform the ticketing industry. India is a wonderful growing market for NFT, and I believe that Blocktickets, with its early mover advantage, strong founder product fit, MOAT of cinemas and Indian content, will become the name synonymous with NFT based tickets in the country, and across the globe,” he stated.

Suresh Raina To Be The Face Of RummyCulture’s ‘Culture Of Champions’ Campaign

RummyCulture, one of the country’s leading online rummy platforms, has launched the next phase of its ‘Culture of Champions’ campaign, featuring former Indian international cricketer Mr Suresh Raina. RummyCulture—a Gameskraft application—has been providing users with enjoyable skill-based gaming experiences with an emphasis on safety, security, and technology. With the campaign, the company is looking to bring the game to newer generations of players.

Mr Suresh Raina will strengthen the brand’s vision of changing people’s perception of rummy, reaffirming it as a game of skill, like any other sport, that requires mental acumen, concentration and game tactics. A proven champion who knows what it takes to win, Suresh Raina highlights a winning mentality that is at the heart of the campaign.

The campaign sees a TVC being launched during the current IPL campaign on TV, Hotstar, and other digital channels.

Amit Kushwaha, Head - Brand Strategy, Gameskraft, said, “Our latest campaign continues our efforts to introduce rummy to a larger audience and build positive stories around the game. Changing people’s preconceptions through our storytelling, focusing on aspects of skill, concentration, and strategy has always been a priority. And there’s no one better than Suresh Raina to deliver our message and invite people to enjoy online rummy in a safe and secure environment.”

The ‘Culture of Champions’ campaign launched last year and featured sporting legends like Abhinav Bindra, Harbhajan Singh, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Pankaj Advani.

Speaking on his association, Suresh Raina said, “Being successful at rummy requires the same mental skill, concentration, and looking at competitor strategy as judging a difficult situation on the cricket field. RummyCulture’s appeal lies in its focus on becoming the most trusted platform for rummy players and how it brings together players in a fun, easy-to-play environment while constantly testing their skills with real players. I’m glad to champion this ‘culture of champions’ campaign and look forward to the rise of this pure Indian game.”

Watch the campaign video here:

https://youtu.be/ikYQwdE7UFg