Fourth Batch of the Target Accelerator Program Will Work Wellness, IoT & Retail Technologies

Target India has announced the launch of its accelerator program’s fourth batch. Five startups, Preksh, MintM, Uncanny Vision, Lechal and Lawbot were selected to develop disruptive ideas relevant to Target’s business. Broadening the scope of Target’s accelerator program, the latest batch will work in the areas of wellness, Internet of Things (IoT) and retail technologies.

“Our sustained effort to tap into India’s innovation potential has led to the success of our accelerator program,” said Navneet Kapoor, President and Managing Director, Target India. “We’re excited to have this latest batch focus on potentially game-changing technologies as well as areas of opportunities for Target like wellness and IoT.”

The five startups selected for the Target Accelerator Program include:

·         Preksh leverages visual merchandising in the store to create rich online experiences

·         MintM is an in-store customer engagement platform

·         Uncanny Vision is a computer vision processing library

·         Lechal is an interactive, haptic footwear

·         Lawbot is an automated platform that analyzes legal contracts

As a part of our commitment to foster Target’s entrepreneurial spirit, the fourth batch also includes two internal teams in addition to the startups. These are as follows:

·  A versus C will provide tools to better understand online shopping cart abandonment

·  Hashtag Shopping will enable shopping on social media through conversational commerce    

First India’s Private Sector Bank to Open Dedicated Branch for Startups

RBL Bank, one of India's fastest growing private sector banks today announced the launch of an exclusive branch for start-ups. RBL Bank will be the first private sector Bank to open a specialized branch for start-ups offering a bouquet of banking products to service the end-to-end needs of the emerging entrepreneurial eco-system.

The branch was inaugurated at Koramangala, Bengaluru, has by Nandan Nilekani, noted entrepreneur and former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India. RBL Bank’s Chairman, Narayan Ramachandran and Rajeev Ahuja, Head – Strategy were present on the occasion.

The dedicated branch will assist entrepreneurs in setting up new companies or enterprises and offers a host of banking products including, foreign exchange services, remittances and cash management. The Branch will also provide a range of value added services including registration, legal and tax formalities etc. through its affiliates and partners.

RBL Bank Chairman Narayan Ramachandran said, “At RBL, we stand at the intersection of entrepreneurs, ideas, technology and banking services.  We provide a full range of banking services to fast-growing start-ups, in the language they speak — seamless technology, ease and speed. Our rapidly growing set of innovative start-ups has demanded that we rise to the challenge and deliver services that are responsive to their fast-evolving needs.  As an established bank in a renewed startup avatar, we can empathise with the journey of our startup clients, and have organised the Bank's technical capabilities and speed of response to match this requirement.”

Rajeev Ahuja, Head - Strategy, RBL Bank, noted, “Our latest offering in this comprehensive bouquet of services for innovative companies and start-ups is an exclusive branch for start-ups, located in Koramangala, at the epicentre of India's start-up revolution.  This is not merely a branch where a startup entrepreneur will walk up and ask for a current account or a remittance.  There will be all that and much more.  We expect to have conversations about Application Program Interface (API) banking, large volume electronic payments (IMPS/NEFT/RTGS) and receivables, prepaid cards-based solutions, escrow services, Universal Payment Interface (UPI), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), Direct Money Transfer (DMT) and so on.”

As another arrow in the quiver of offerings, the Bank is also at the forefront of supporting the emerging venture debt market in India. The Bank was an anchor investor in Trifecta Capital’s Venture Debt Fund, the first Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) of its kind in India. As part of its strategy, the Bank is also focusing on industry-wise specialists in wholesale lending, e-commerce and new-tech business. It has also made significant strides in e-lending through tie-ups and partnerships.

Earlier this year, RBL Bank launched India StartUp Club (ISC), a fast track program to support early stage companies with a basket of banking services to jumpstart their operations. This includes a Green Channel for Account Setup, Payroll Services, Cash Management, trade and foreign exchange service, escrow accounts, transaction banking solutions (API banking for managing various payment/receivable needs), Customised Debit Cards and a dedicated hotline to address the 24x7 needs of these high growth companies.

India StartUp Club also partners with various referral service providers and forums to provide a host of value added services for the startup community. The non-banking solutions offered through referral partners include, enterprise registration services (online CA), office space/meeting room services, human resource management system, social media marketing and branding, and customer relationship management. This empowers the start-ups to build and grow their businesses by offering multiple options under one roof at a special price.

BT & CIOs Together Work to Achieve the Digital Transformation

BT has announced the launch of “The Digital Possible”, a global initiative aimed at empowering CIOs to better embrace ambitious digital transformation agendas for large services, building on insight from its most recent research, “The BT CIO report 2016 – the digital CIO”.

According to BT’s survey of 1030 senior IT decision makers based in eleven countries, CIOs around the world are embracing digital transformation to reinvent their organisations’ processes and systems. The impact of digital is such that the importance of the CIO at boardroom level continues to rise; 72 per cent of senior IT decision makers say that the CIO has become more central in the boardroom over the last two years and 43 per cent of CIOs say that they now spend more time dealing with corporate issues.

The flip side of this trend is that CIOs find themselves increasingly challenged to find the time to develop creative solutions for the business. Close to two-thirds (61 per cent) of senior IT decision makers feel that the CIO is spending more time maintaining current IT systems than searching for new solutions. That is a drop from 2014, when the figure was 74 per cent, but shows that despite ambitions for digital transformation, the CIO still has to deal with legacy systems.

The BT CIO report 2016 also shows that CIOs are clear on the most disruptive technology trends – cloud, mobility and collaboration, and data. According to the report, a fifth of global organisations are already completely cloud-centric, and a further 46 per cent have more than half their applications and infrastructure in the cloud.

With the CIO acting as a catalyst, 76 per cent of large organisations across the world have, or plan to adopt, a ‘multi-speed’ approach to technology-led initiatives. This involves more creativity, more flexibility and a more dynamic operating model. According to BT’s research, 65 per cent of CIOs are also noting rapid changes in the KPIs measuring their own performance, with a clear trend putting digital transformation at the centre of all their activities.

In 72 per cent of organisations covered by BT’s latest research, multiple teams are sourcing and commissioning core IT products and services without the involvement of the IT function. The latest research suggests that the IT function is growing more comfortable with providing an overall enablement role, with a particular focus on data security, a suitably powerful infrastructure and ensuring there are no duplications of effort across the organisation. These changing responsibilities underlie the new role of the digital CIO which operates horizontally, across the business as an enabler.

Responding to digital transformation’s remarkable acceleration, BT will announce in the coming weeks and months a new wave of innovative services, accelerating the execution of its Cloud of Clouds portfolio strategy. They will cover the technologies identified by the BT CIO report 2016 as being the most disruptive: cloud, mobility and collaboration, and data.

These new launches will cover all areas of the Global Services portfolio, and include:

·         UK and global mobility services leveraging BT’s recent acquisition of EE;

·         unique real time big data analysis capabilities put to the service of customer relationship management;

·         further expansion of cloud connectivity as well as additional software defined networks and consultancy capabilities;

·         new ways of customising cloud services to meet the needs of individual organisations and industry sectors;

·         new security and professional services capabilities will accompany those investments, empowering CIOs to make the bold decisions required on their digital journey.

“The pace of digital change is creating new opportunities for our customers and those opportunities require quick responses. The role of the digital CIO is one of the most demanding in business. They need to be strategic, creative, growth-minded and cost conscious,” says Luis Alvarez, CEO of Global Services. “They have to understand technology and people, and balance control and safety with enablement and speed. They are becoming the pioneers of change. To be successful, they now require strategic partnerships within and beyond their organisation. We are well placed to be their digital enabler. Today, we are committing to accelerate investments in our Cloud of Clouds portfolio to help them fully uncover and realise their own ‘Digital Possible’.”

73% Indians View Entrepreneurship Positively: Amway India Entrepreneurship Report 2015

Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge), Rajiv Pratap Rudy released the India Entrepreneurship Report 2015 by Amway. The reports aims to understand the latent enthusiasm for entrepreneurship in the country, as well as factors that motivate and obstruct the creation of new enterprises.

Research partner Nielsen India surveyed 250 households in each of the 21 states across 50 different cities. One male and one female member in the 21-65 age group were interviewed from each household taking the total no of respondents to 10,768 individuals (Male 5,402 and Female 5,366).

Unveiling the report, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said, “The contribution of MSME sector (Micro, Small and medium enterprises) in India, is much less as compared to some of the developed nations. This needs to change. It is critical that there is entrepreneurship led boom at the grass root level so that India can leverage the demographic dividend to the maximum possible extent. The understanding of motivations, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, offers valuable insight to the policy makers.”

Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India, said, “We are aiming to engage different stakeholders on what drives entrepreneurship in India and contribute to the on-going discussions on the role of skill development and self-employment in improving employability of the youth.

Entrepreneurship is a way for people to realise a better life for themselves and their families. Entrepreneurs also create jobs and encourage competition. They spur economic growth and bring opportunities to communities. So, it’s important that businesses like Amway know how entrepreneurs think and act in order to better support and encourage them.”

Two-Thirds of Indians view entrepreneurship positively

Entrepreneurship is valued in India. India Entrepreneurship Report 2015 reports tangible enthusiasm for entrepreneurship as being a good prospect to earn a livelihood in India, with nearly two-thirds of the respondents viewing it favourably. Kerala (78 percent), Punjab (77 percent) and Uttarakhand (76 percent) were the states with most positive attitude towards entrepreneurship.

 Access to finance (41 percent) and Family support (35 percent) emerged as the most important factors to start one’s own business. 73 percent of the respondents believe that anyone can be trained/ educated to be an entrepreneur. 62 percent of all respondents thought that the education they had right now was sufficient to start their own business.

Nearly 50% of respondents considering to start their own business

Almost one in two respondents (47 percent), said that they had either thought about starting their own business or are actively pursuing one. Overall, 19 percent of respondents said that they are “very open to starting a new business and in fact are actively pursuing one”. Jharkhand has the highest number of respondents (60 percent) who say that they are actively pursuing a new business, followed by Uttarakhand (40 percent) and Uttar Pradesh (29 percent).

Environment for entrepreneurs to start business in India has improved

Nearly half of all respondents (45 percent) said the environment to begin a business in their state has improved over the past five years. 11 percent of the respondents felt that the environment has ‘improved significantly’.

Financial institutions play a key role

83 percent respondents voted banks as their main port of call for starting a business. This insight clearly point to the role of financial institutions in fostering and facilitating entrepreneurship. Friends and family came second on this index with 78 percent.

Fear of Failure

Across gender, income and age, the fear of failure emerges as a clear obstacle to starting a business with 63 percent of the overall respondents saying so. The fear of failure is composed of different factors. 31 percent of respondents found “financial burdens up to bankruptcy” as the “most important” cause for the fear. Non-conducive market conditions (24 percent) and fear of unemployment (23 percent) were the other key causes of the fear.

LeEco Seeks FIPB Nod for Single-Brand Retail Stores in India

Chinese device maker LeEco today said it has filed an application with the FIPB for opening single-brand retail stores to sell its electronic products.

The smartphone maker said it has “filed an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for undertaking single brand retail trading of electronic products both through brick and mortar stores and ecommerce portal”.

“India is a key market for LeEco and we plan to significantly invest in setting up our business model in the country. We have received a great response from consumers so far for our superphones and now plan to strengthen our presence in the market by opening our own stores and e- commerce portal,” LeEco India Smart Electronics Business COO Atul Jain said in a statement.

The company has also sought relaxation from the 30 per cent domestic sourcing rule so that it can bring in ‘cutting edge’ technology and ‘state-of-the-art’ features to the Indian consumers, the company said in a statement.

With plans to open fully-owned exclusive retail stores in top 8-10 cities, starting with New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, LeEco plans to display its entire ecosystem ranging from phones, TVs, VR Headsets, Bluetooth devices and power banks.

Additionally, the company will also open 500 franchise stores to ensure its consumers experience their breakthrough products and unique content integrated offerings across its device ecosystem.

LeEco, which positions itself as internet eco-system company, entered the Indian market early this year in January, with launch of smart cycle and two smartphone models – Le 1s and Le Max. It sold the two smartphones at subsidised rates.

“We at LeEco are also aligned with the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and also plan to start manufacturing in India very soon,” Jain said.

Earlier this month, the global player also announced setting up of in-house Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) in 10 cities across India by the end of 2016, with an investment of over US$10 million.

LeEco also has plans to set-up research centre in Bengaluru with a staff of 1,000 employees by the end of 2016.

AmazonBusiness.in is Wholesaler for Patanjali Ayurved Products in Bengaluru & Mangaluru

Amazonbusiness.in, the wholesale online business-to-business platform from Amazon has announced the availability of a wide range of products from Patanjali Ayurved to its members in Bengaluru and Mangaluru. Retailers from the two cities will now be able to order for their preferred Patanjali products at any time of the day and get door-step deliveries through Amazon’s reliable delivery service. Patanjali Ayurved currently sells a wide variety of products from Food & Beverages to Health & Personal care and all products listed on AmazonBusiness.in will be easily accessible to retailers in Bengaluru and Mangaluru.

Commenting on the association with Patanjali Ayurved, Kaveesh Chawla, General Manager, AmazonBusiness.in said, “We are happy to partner with Patanjali Ayurved for their products. We expect this partnership to benefit retailers in Bengaluru and Mangaluru tremendously. We also believe that this partnership will immensely benefit Patanjali by helping them reach out to a larger set of retailers who have seen demand for the Patanjali products but may not have been able to access these products easily through the existing distribution channels.”

 "On announcing this exclusive partnership, Adiya Pittie, CEO of Pittie Group, the modern retail distributors for Patanjali said, "We are extremely happy to partner with Amazon business. Keeping in mind Patanjali's mission of providing quality products to every consumer, this partnership will enable our products to reach a larger customer base."

In less than a year since launch, AmazonBusiness.in now carries thousands of branded products across the following categories- Office Products and Stationery, Cleaning and Housekeeping Supplies, Bed and Bath, Kitchen and Dining, Health and Personal Care, and Food and Beverages, serving businesses in Bengaluru and Mangaluru. Members can order from anywhere at any time of the day, pay via multiple payment options provided by Amazon and have the products delivered to their doorstep.

Five Unique Features Drives Tata Motors Hatchback - Tiago in India

By Manu Sharma

With the launch of the Tiago, Tata Motors has moved away from the old Indica design theme to something more functional. It has incorporated some dynamic features usually associated with high-end vehicles. Some of these features include: Multi-drive mode; Advanced Engine Management System (EMS); Advanced 9^th Generation ABS and Corner Stability Control; Rear Parking Sensors and Harman Infotainment System among others.

Tata Motors has announced the commercial launch of its cool new hatchback, the TIAGO in Bangalore on April 18, 2016. It comes with cutting edge design, technology and driving dynamics to create new segment benchmarks in the industry. Some of the unique features include:

Design and Interiors: With inputs from the Pune, UK and Italy design studios, the TIAGO’s appealing exterior design has a dynamic silhouette to emphasize the compact look and sharp design. The new 3-dimensional ‘T’ Logo is placed in a semi vertical position on the signature hexagon grill, giving it a bold, expressive face with a confident, agile stance. TIAGO’s interiors have been crafted with utmost precision for a premium feel. The geometric texture accented with chrome handles, knitted fabrics, colour harmony, layered design theme with a dual tone interior, customisable air vents, premium graphics on the fabric and body hugging seat bolsters all give it an upmarket, inviting feel.

Multi Drive Mode: The stylish design is complemented by enhanced performance and driving dynamics. The TIAGO will be available in petrol and diesel variants with two new engines - Revotron 1.2L (petrol engine) and Revotorq 1.05L (diesel engine). These have been indigenously developed by the company and globally benchmarked for a refined road performance. Both these engines have been designed and programmed to deliver superior fuel economy and a peppy driving experience with a segment-first feature, the Multi-drive mode – City and Eco – making it equivalent to offering two engines in one.

Safety and Other Features: The two drive modes are supported by an advanced Engine Management System (EMS). Tiago’s many safety features include dual front airbags, advance 9^th generation ABS with EBD and corner stability control, rear parking sensors with display on infotainment screen and energy absorbing body structure for superior safety.

Infotainment: Recognising the dynamic consumer world with increasing need for connectivity, TIAGO comes equipped with an infotainment system designed exclusively by Harman. The car comes with new segment-first applications like the Turn-by-Turn Navi app and the Juke-Car app.

Pricing: At a starting price of Rs 3.32 Lakhs, ex-showroom, Bangalore, for the Revotron 1.2L (petrol) variants to Rs 4.89 lakh and Rs 4.08 Lakhs to Rs 5.69 lakh, ex-showroom, Bangalore, for the Revotorq 1.05L (diesel) variants, the TIAGO will be available for sale, across the country in over 597 Tata Motors sales outlets, from April 18, 2016.  

Customer Services: Tata Motors will also take its customer service engagements to the next level with the launch of Tata Motors/Service Connect, a new customer application for TIAGO customers, to make the post-purchase experience easy and stay connected with them at all times for a hassle-free service experience. Besides providing free pick-up and drop service, Tata Motors Service will also offer loaner cars for repair services if it requires the car to be at workshop overnight.  

  

Variants and Colours: Available in 5 dynamic variants – XB, XE, XM, XT and XZ with optional variants in XE, XM and XT and comes in six exciting colour options - Striker Blue, Berry Red, Sunburst Orange, Espresso Brown, Pearlescent White and Platinum Silver.

Warranty: The car will come with a warranty of 2 Years / 75,000 KM (whichever is earlier) with an extended warranty option of 2 years + 1 year (3rd year extended warranty up to 75,000km) or 2 years + 2 years (3rd and 4th year extended warranty up to 1,00,000 kms).

Guenter Butschek, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tata Motors, said, “The TIAGO reflects our passion and commitment to bring exciting, technology driven cars into the market. Class leading features, advanced driving dynamics, outstanding fuel efficiency, offers a great value for a contemporary, young car.”  

According to Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “The TIAGO is the first car to be launched under our Made Of Great campaign and the first to embody our new IMAPCT Design language. This globally benchmarked car, represents the next big leap in our transformation journey.. We are confident that TIAGO’s strong and distinct character will make it stand out in this highly popular but immensely competitive segment.”