Rational Regulatory Regime And Enhanced Tech Interventions Will Drive The Realty Sector: Grant Thornton Bharat - PHDCCI Report

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), in collaboration with Grant Thornton Bharat as Knowledge Partner, hosted the Real Estate Summit 2023, today at the Claridges Hotel in New Delhi. This landmark event brought together the entire real estate ecosystem, comprising of policymakers, industry leaders, capital providers and financial/ tax experts. A thought leadership report titled ‘Realising the potential of real estate’ was released at the event that delves into the potential of the real estate sector, considering the various aspects of evolving regulatory framework, trends, challenges around financing and how tech could transform businesses. 

Addressing the gathering at the event, Vishesh C. Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton Bharat, said, “As India grows towards a USD 7 trillion economy by 2030, the wider real estate ecosystem will become a major part of our GDP - from 6-7% currently to around 18% by 2030. This growth can be propelled even faster through a focus on strong governance, simple single window-type regulations and by leveraging technology as a differentiator, thereby making the sector more attractive to capital.”

Bringing global significance to the forefront, the report also talks about the relationship between ESG and carbon footprint. As a part of their short-term ESG goals, listed developers are targeting a 25% increase in their green portfolio by 2025-2030. With Indian cities projected to add 416 million urban dwellers by 2050, urban development is expected to impact carbon emissions significantly. Sustainable cities are the key to achieving the circular economy model for the real estate sector, facilitating the efficient use of resources, and minimising waste.  

Speaking at the event, Saket Dalmia, President, PDHCCI, said, “The growth of this sector depends on a culmination of regulatory, corporate and sustainability initiatives. As a growing economy with a massive population, the focus needs to shift to making use of alternate sources of energy for building a new India. Carbon neutrality is now a reality, and a juxtaposition of affordable and sustainable housing is the only way forward.” 

From an evolving regulatory landscape, emphasis was laid on implementing a single-window clearance mechanism for projects to streamline the flow of supply and demand, promote ease of doing business, and further attract investments. Moreover, the real estate sector in India is waiting to be granted industry status. This status would enable state and central government agencies to recognize the real estate sector as a distinct industry, allowing for the implementation of special programs and subsidies. 

Embracing technological changes in the real estate industry was the topic of a thought-provoking panel at the summit. Virtual tours, using AI and VR have revolutionised the way clients experience tours. AI has helped agents and brokers better predict the future rent and value of a property in a specific market. The tokenisation of properties using blockchain technology has also made buying and selling properties more transparent and efficient. Technology has improved the RE industry, empowering businesses to stay competitive and provide better experiences for clients. 

Atlassian Launches Atlassian Intelligence Using Generative AI To Empower Teams

* With a unique understanding of teamwork, Atlassian Intelligence helps teams on the go 

Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ: TEAM), a leading provider of team collaboration and productivity software and the maker of Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket, today unveiled Atlassian Intelligence - its new Artificial Intelligence (AI) virtual teammate that deeply understands how teams collaborate to accelerate their work. The news was announced at Atlassian’s annual flagship conference – Team '23. 

Leveraging AI through internal models and the company’s collaboration with OpenAI, Atlassian Intelligence is built into the Atlassian platform, the common technology foundation across all of its cloud products. 

Atlassian Intelligence powers an always-on, virtual teammate in Jira Service Management (JSM) that delivers instant help when teams need it most. It strips away repetitive requests from support teams, allowing them to focus on more important work.  

Atlassian Intelligence provides support for natural language questions, which helps teammates access the company’s institutional knowledge and policies in Confluence, generate insights using data from multiple sources in Atlassian Analytics, and unlock the power of Jira Query Language (JQL) to find issues across all Jira Cloud products.  

It can also help teams summarise and extract information from content, generate new content using natural language prompts, and automatically creates a bespoke on-demand glossary, dictionary, and knowledge graph from company data. 

Sherif Mansour, Head of Product AI, Atlassian said, “With AI technology advancing rapidly, we’re excited to share how we’re bringing its power and magic to the full family of Atlassian Cloud products through Atlassian Intelligence that can unleash the potential of every team. With more than 20 years of data on how millions of software, IT, and business teams plan, track, and deliver work, Atlassian Intelligence has a unique understanding of teamwork.” 

Team '23 has brought together renowned speakers such as director James Cameron and CNN host Van Jones, alongside Atlassian Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, to discuss the topics of Agile & DevOps, ITSM, Open Work Management and Teamwork Culture.  

Atlassian also announced innovations in each of these areas: 

Confluence 

Atlassian has introduced whiteboards in Confluence that allow users to brainstorm as a team; convert notes into any Jira Cloud issues and Confluence pages with just a click; and visualize their work by bringing all Jira issues into one view. 

Atlassian has also acquired Orderly Databases by K15t to bring databases natively into Confluence. Databases are structured dynamic tables that help teams connect and organize information like Jira tasks, Confluence pages, owners, due dates, statuses, and more in one database table.  

The company has also partnered with Atlassian Ventures portfolio company, Hypothesis, to offer a new Chrome Extension app that enables Confluence users to comment and mention team members on web pages, just as they would on Confluence pages. 

Atlassian Analytics 

Atlassian's powerful and flexible visualization platform Atlassian Analytics which was announced in beta a year ago is now generally available in Cloud Enterprise editions of Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and Confluence. It connects data from DevOps, IT and business processes in Atlassian products and a variety of other SaaS apps that customers use. It provides teams and executives with comprehensive insights around development processes, service delivery and marketing effectiveness to help them make better decisions. 

Ways of Working 

Atlassian’s ‘Ways of Working’ offering is designed to help teams work more effectively by codifying and shipping the lessons it learned about modern teamwork to peers, customers, and business leaders. 

Available for free and developed by Modern Work Coaches, these practical step-by-step guides help teams overcome some of the most common teamwork challenges. Resources available include the Atlassian Team Playbook, Atlassian University courses, product templates for team games, and more.  

Read the blog from Atlassian co-founders and co-CEOs Mike Cannon-Brooks and Scott Farquhar here, or watch a summary of the announcements here. Images of the new product capabilities and keynote session are here. 

About Atlassian 

Atlassian unleashes the potential of every team. Our team collaboration and productivity software help teams organize, discuss, and complete shared work. Teams of more than 250,000 customers, across large and small organizations - including Bank of America, Redfin, NASA, Verizon, and Dropbox - use Atlassian’s project tracking, content creation and sharing, and service management products to work better together and deliver quality results on time. Learn more about our products, including Jira Software, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Trello, Bitbucket, and Jira Align at https://atlassian.com/. 

Vi Offers ‘Voice Over Wi-Fi’ (VoWiFi) Calling To users In Karnataka

·         Vi pre-paid and post-paid customers can now experience enhanced  voice calls over Wi-Fi connection when they are at home, workplace, café or other locations with WiFi facility

·         Service is available for all existing Vi users, at no extra charge

India’s leading telecom services provider, Vi has rolled out Voice Over WiFi (VoWiFi) calling service for pre-paid and post-paid customers in Karnataka circle. The service is now available for Vi customers across the state.

Vi VoWiFi calling service provides seamless and extended indoor coverage on all broadband networks. Users can get superior call quality with no call drops at home or office while connected to WiFi.

Vi pre-paid and post-paid customers in Karnataka can now undertake VoWifi calling at no extra charge.

Vi customers can activate VoWiFi calling service on the smartphone absolutely free of cost by following these simple steps:

·         Check if the smartphone supports Wi-Fi calling (www.myvi.in/vi-wifi-calling)

·         Have a Vi Sim with active VoLTE, calling service

·         Get on to a Wi-Fi network, and switch on Wi-Fi calling on the device

About Vodafone Idea Limited:

Vodafone Idea Limited is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. It is amongst India’s leading telecom service provider. The company provides pan India Voice and Data services across 2G, 3G and 4G platforms. Company holds large spectrum portfolio including mid band 5G spectrum in 17 circles and mmWave 5G spectrum in 16 circles. 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’s equity share are listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE in India.

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

For more information, visit: www.MyVi.in

Glenmark Pharma Strengthens Its Presence In India's Respiratory Market

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Glenmark), an innovation-driven, global pharmaceuticals company, has further strengthened its position in the respiratory segment and is ranked #2 in the Indian pharma market*. Glenmark is a trusted brand for its respiratory medicines with brands like Ascoril, Ascoril LS, Ascoril D and Alex. The company's modern and innovative solutions, Bilazap M and Ryaltris AZ/Mono are also popular among patients and healthcare professionals. Over the past one year, its respiratory medicines have been prescribed by more than 1 lakh medical professionals and has helped over 4 crore patients from all age groups across the country.

Glenmark has been a pioneer in modern OAD (Obstructive Airway Disease) management in India, and is one of the first companies to address unmet patient needs in asthma and COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the country. Glenmark has been the first to introduce innovative products in the chronic respiratory space with the launch of Digital Dose Inhalers, Ultra LABA + ICS, Single Inhaler Triple Therapy, and Nebulised LAMA. These solutions have helped patients with chronic respiratory conditions breathe better and manage their symptoms more effectively.

Mr. Alok Malik, Executive Vice President and India Business Head at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, said, “Our innovative products and patient-centric approach have been instrumental in strengthening our position as one of the leaders in the respiratory segment, in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. We are driven by our goal of providing first-in-market medicines for our patients and will continue to bring new medicines that are safe and effective.”

Over the years, the company’s Ascoril brand has grown multifold, having won numerous Guinness World Records for its awareness campaigns. Glenmark's position as one of the leaders in the respiratory segment reflects the Company's commitment to providing innovative and effective solutions for respiratory ailments.

As per an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease data1, India has 32% of the global burden of respiratory diseases and pollution has been the biggest contributor to this burden.

GROW With SAP Brings Proven Cloud ERP Benefits To Midsize Customers In India

At SAP Now, an event attended by 2000 delegates, SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced GROW with SAP, a new offering to help midsize customers in India adopt cloud ERP that enables speed, predictability, and continuous innovation. The GROW with SAP offering also brings together SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, with accelerated adoption services, a global community of experts and free learning resources, helping customers go live in few weeks.

GROW with SAP also includes SAP Business Technology Platform, so customers can define their own processes in a cloud-native way using SAP Build. With SAP Build solutions, business users can create enterprise apps, automate processes, and design business sites without writing code, an important asset for those closest to the business who can create the solutions they need.

As India accelerates its journey to become the world’s third largest economy, midsize companies are a critical enabler of the country’s digital transformation that serves everyone by generating employment and contributing to the GDP.

“Cloud technology is revolutionizing ERP. Midsized companies today are looking for a reliable technology platform that’ll help them scale,” said Kulmeet Bawa, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent. “With 80% of SAP’s customers in India coming from midsize organizations, we have a long history of understanding their requirements. GROW with SAP is our commitment to deliver an offering tailored for this market segment, empowering them with agility and predictability, to help drive business results.”

Addressing India Inc, at SAP Now, Rajeev Chandrashekar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, stated, “Today, India has emerged as a pre-eminent nation in using technology to transform citizen’s lives, democracy and governance. Our early investments in digital public infrastructure and our ease of doing business policies have empowered our startup and innovation ecosystem, catalyzing India's Techade goals. In the coming years, you will also see India as an important player in the electronics and semiconductor GVCs as well as realize our sustainability vision in the years to come."

GROW with SAP customers get the same best practices powering the world’s industry leaders, while benefiting from rapid deployment and frictionless updates.

Commenting at the launch of GROW with SAP, Abhishek Singhvi, Managing Director, of Rajasthan Barytes Limited, a leading Indian producer of industrial minerals, stated, “As a growth-oriented organization, we seek to streamline business processes, including handling complex data environments, financial reporting, production, and inventory planning. SAP’s S/4 HANA Public Cloud, with built-in best industry practices provides us with a single integrated platform that enables organization-wide visibility for both our internal and external stakeholders, transforming us into an intelligent, sustainable tech-led enterprise.”

IDC research shows that many midsize businesses find themselves growing rapidly and need their technology to grow with their business as they encounter the same issues related to global complexity as larger enterprise businesses.

“With GROW with SAP, SAP recognized they need to better fit the business and technology requirements of midsize companies looking for a cloud ERP solution,” IDC enterprise software group vice president Mickey North Rizza said. “This offering reengages the market with a refreshingly new opportunity to unlock the proven strength of SAP’s longtime understanding and leadership in the ERP space in the cloud.” 

Tata Motors Opens Bookings Of The Altroz iCNG – India’s First Twin Cylinder CNG With Uncompromised Boot Space

* No comprise on safety, features, boot space and performance.

In order to revolutionise the CNG market, Tata Motors will soon launch the Altroz iCNG, India’s first twin cylinder CNG technology. Tata Altroz, which is India’s safest premium hatchback is open for bookings in its much-awaited iCNG avatar, from today.  With this vehicle, Tata Motors aims at increasing the acceptance of CNG cars in India, similar to petrol and diesel cars. 

The Altroz iCNG was unveiled at the Auto Expo 2023 in January 2023 and it received a tremendous response from customer for being India’s first twin cylinder CNG technology - a revolutionary technology bringing practical usable boot space to CNG owners, a feature that is unavailable in all current CNG cars. Customers can now book the Altroz iCNG at INR. 21,000. With deliveries commencing in May 2023, the Altroz iCNG is a strong testament to Tata Motors’ successful multi-powertrain strategy, making it the fourth powertrain option in the Altroz range now. 

In addition to the above, the Altroz iCNG will also offer

Innovative Twin Cylinder Technology with a total water capacity of 60 litres (Each cylinder has 30 litres capacity) is placed below the luggage area to ensure a large usable boot space.

Single Advanced ECU - It ensures a seamless and jerk free drive experience while shifting from petrol to CNG mode or vice versa

Direct start in CNG mode – Altroz iCNG will start directly in CNG mode to ensure a hassle-free experience and no worries on switching the fuel mode

Additional safety features - thermal incident protection, gas leak detection feature and micro switch to ensure the car is switched off at the time of refuelling.

Complete peace of mind with standard warranty of 3 year/ 100,000 km

Altroz iCNG will be available in four variants - XE, XM+, XZ and XZ+ and in four colour options- Opera Blue, Downtown Red, Arcade Grey and Avenue White. The Altroz iCNG will also boast of aspirational features like leatherette seats, iRA connected car technology, cruise control, and automatic headlamps amongst others.

To know more about the Altroz iCNG, visit https://cars.tatamotors.com/

3i Infotech Unveils NuRe Bharat Network For Free WiFi Monetizing Project Awarded By RailTel

Highlights

NuRe Bharat Network will be launching an advertising platform targeting passengers of the Indian Railways

NuRe Bharat Network is a 3i Infotech-led consortium with FISST and Yellow Inc. that has signed India’s first multi-year commercial agreement to monetize captive customers of free public WiFi network powered by RailTel, in 6,108 + railway stations 

Free captive WiFi network is one of its kind which connects every region of urban India and semi-urban & rural Bharat

Every day over 1.8 million users connect to the free WiFi captive portal

3i Infotech Limited (BSE: 532628, NSE: 3IINFOTECH), a global Information Technology company unveiled the consortium entity NuRe Bharat Network, in a partnership with RailTel Corporation of India’s WiFi monetization project as the lead consortium partner. The other members of the consortium are Forensics Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies Private Limited (FISST) and Yellow Integrated Content & Communication LLP (Yellow Inc).

NuRe Bharat Network aims to connect all urban, semi-urban, and rural regions, further connecting India and Bharat to the digital medium by offering free captive WiFi solutions across the Indian Railway network. NuRe Bharat Network will completely change the dynamics of reaching through to the world’s second-largest digital consumer in a simplified manner.

The launch comes at the back of a recent announcement made by the company for bagging a 5-year WiFi monetization deal from RailTel, with Rs 1000 crore revenue potential. At the virtual launch, 3i Infotech also revealed the interface and functioning of the captive portal and mobile app that will help the advertisers leverage their services to connect with the 1.8 million users per day across 6,108+ railway networks in the country by providing free WiFi service to the users.

Speaking on the momentous occasion, Mr Sax Krishna, Head of NuRe Bharat Network said, “We are excited to be a part of such an impactful partnership with RailTel as it gives us a platform to service India & Bharat through the means of providing socially applicable and commercially viable products and services. The captive portal and application will open the space for advertisers to connect with the growing India, primarily rural Bharat demographics, thereby utilizing a huge untapped opportunity.”

“The partnership model will also be a major proof point for us to exhibit and demonstrate our capabilities across the Edge ecosystem including Edge Space, Computing and Analytics through the combination and convergence of edge with the WiFi network, we will be able to deploy our fundamental design with the engines of growth in a much better way that we have put together in the form of a company,” he further added.

At the launch of NuRe Bharat Network, Mr Manoj Tandon, Director of Project, Operations and Maintenance, RailTel Corporation of India Limited (RCIL) shared his happiness and wished all success to the new Joint Venture formed for the WiFi monetisation project.

Ramu Bodathula, Head of Technology, NuRe Bharat Network presented the technology stack walk-through of the application and expressed, “We want to go beyond the captive portal and hence, we will soon be launching the mobile app, which will provide beyond `Free Internet’. It will also allow the advertisers to provide travel, infotainment, education, and e-commerce-based services.”

The WiFi captive portal will allow a user to access free WiFi for the first thirty minutes at railway stations across India, after which, the user may or may not extend the free service by watching advertisements. Then, the portal will switch to the paid medium. To access free WiFi, users need to connect to the WiFi network and provide login credentials. This platform will be available in multiple Indian languages apart from English.

The platform will unlock opportunities for advertisers to reach out to the digital consumer via smart advertising solutions and data insights. Thus, the NuRe Bharat Network will be a pivotal contributor in the digital and e-commerce sector, poised to cross US$350 billion by 2030 and become a key advertising platform for larger national brands, upcoming MSMEs and local businesses.

About 3i Infotech 

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, since its inception in 1993, 3i Infotech has been committed to driving business value across multiple industry verticals. 3i Infotech has emerged as a leading name in propelling the current wave of digital transformation initiatives, with deep domain expertise across BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Education, Telecom, Media & Entertainment, Retail and Government sectors. The company has over 5600 employees in 30 offices, 15 countries, and 4 continents. With a digital and cloud-first approach, and a range of IT services and solutions encompassing 5G in Edge Computing, Cognitive AI/ML, Data Science and Analytics and Blockchain, 3i Infotech have successfully transformed business operations of 1,200+ customers across 50 countries. The company has a very strong foothold and client base in geographies like North America, India, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Website: https://www.3i-infotech.com/