Idea Rolls Out e-KYC ‘Aadhaar’ Based SIM Activation across its Service Centres

Idea Cellular, India’s fastest growing telecom operator has announced the roll out of ‘electronic – Know Your Customer (e-KYC)’based activations for both Prepaid and Postpaid customers across its service centres in 22 circles. The pan-India roll-out of e-KYC has been enabled after the successful pilot by Idea in Delhi circle, in association with UIDAI, and as per the DoT guidelines. 

The e-KYC solution allows users to avail instant verification using their ‘Aadhaar’ Number, enabling quicker SIM activation.

The facility for enabling biometric verification of customers is being rolled out across all exclusive Idea stores, and will be extended to multi-branded prepaid outlets, in a phased manner.

Speaking about the initiative,  Navanit Narayan, Chief Service Delivery Officer, Idea Cellular said, “The roll-out of paperless and completely digital mode of customer acquisition based on ‘Aadhaar’, is in line with Idea’s customer centric approach. It will ensure quicker customer acquisition and greater convenience for new customers. This is also a step towards achieving a greener environment through reduced paper usage and is key to enabling the vision of Digital India by facilitating many e-Governance services to be rolled out in future.”

Customers can now walk in to any Idea Company Retail Store or My Idea outlet and avail a fast, paperless and secured activation service for both postpaid and prepaid, using the Aadhaar No. and biometric verification process.

The e-KYC process is in addition to the existing format of issuance of mobile connection to subscribers and is not be applicable for bulk, outstation and foreign customers.

ROHM’s Power Saving BLDC Motor Solutions to Revolutionize Indian Fan Industry

India suffers from a massive electricity deficit with large areas of the country undergoing power blackouts of as long as 8-10 hours on a regular basis. During summer months the problem becomes even more acute when house appliances like fans, air coolers, air conditioners are being used in an increasing number of homes and offices. After air conditioners and refrigerators, energy-efficient fans are making their way into homes ahead of autumn/winter this year. 

Japanese major ROHM Semiconductor India Pvt. Ltd. (RSI) has announced the introduction of its path breaking Solutions for driving BLDC motors in India. These solutions, compared to the less expensive AC Induction motor, are easy to control and around 50% more efficient, thereby reducing power consumption in home appliances and Industrial equipment.

The solutions are designed with features to reduce the design time and hence enable a faster time to market. These drivers along with the easily customizable reference designs will propel local design, which is the key to manufacturing locally.

The Government of India through its various initiatives, is starting to focus on energy conservation by propagating use of energy efficient BLDC ceiling fans, CFL and LED bulbs as opposed to conventional fans using AC induction motor and filament bulbs.

Speaking to the media, Daisuke Nakamura, Managing Director, ROHM Semiconductor India said, “With the government’s initiative towards BLDC ceiling fans, we see that all the ceiling fan manufacturers are trying to create a solution that is both efficient and cost effective. This technology transition has presented an opportunity for new entrants too."

Nakamura adds saying that most of the ceiling fan companies have design capability for the electrical motors, but not so much research for the electronics design, which eventually contributes to efficiency and energy conservation. This is where ROHM India has come in, by providing a wide range of reference solutions that will match most of the customers and market requirements.

Consumer durables companies like Orient, Superfan, Panasonic have all launching fans with BLDC technology (Brushless Direct Current motors) that use just about 50% of the energy used by regular fans.

Traditionally, fans consume about 70 watt of electricity an hour, and companies say that fans with BLDC technology would consume only 32 watt an hour. So fans with BLDC motors typically cost about Rs 300 to Rs 500 more than regular fans, but considering that they consume about 50% less power, the user would get back his investment in about a year,” says Brito Victor, Head India Design Centre of ROHM Semiconductor India.

In 2015, India manufactured around 40 Million ceiling fans, with around 10% growth year-on-year. If every single ceiling fan manufactured from here on is made into an energy efficient BLDC ceiling fan, rough calculation indicates that, by 2025, the country can reduce peak-power capacity addition by around 10 GW, which is equivalent to saving around 5 midsized power plants.

Features of ROHM BLDC motor solution

The solution is made up of 3 major blocks - (1) The Power Factor Controller (PFC), (2) The BLDC controller and (3) The control block. The Power Factor Control block, besides converting the AC source into DC, also corrects the Power Factor (PF). This block also provides an auxiliary power supply to the microcontroller. The BLDC controller block drives the BLDC motor; the supply voltage for this block is from the PFC block, and the control signals are from the microcontroller. High voltage also equates to high efficiency as the losses in the power stage is reduced due to the lower operating currents. This is achieved by precise electronic switching of the currents to the windings. Keeping in mind the Indian market conditions, the solution has also been designed to withstand the harshest of the voltage fluctuations seen every day. The solution can also be used in the following applications:

Impact on Ceiling fan manufacturing – Make in India

The ESDM (Electronics and Semiconductor Device Manufacturing) Industry in India is in crisis as it is bombarded by imports. “Make in India” is a key Initiative that can give some respite to the ever growing trade deficit. The deficit will reach US$200 billion by 2025. India being the world’s largest manufacturing base for the ceiling fan can use this technology transition as an opportunity to stimulate the electronics manufacturing industry. 

In the BLDC ceiling fan, the electronic components will cost about one–third of the total fan cost. Also, the Indian ceiling fan manufacturers can assemble the electronics board by themselves or engage EMS companies. Either way, the BLDC motor solution will have a positive impact on the ESDM industry in India.

BEEP Guidelines for Energy Efficient Public Buildings across Karnataka

The Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP), in collaboration with the state government, launched the Guidelines for Energy-Efficient and Thermally Comfortable Public Buildings in Karnataka. The guidelines have been developed keeping in view different climatic regions found in Karnataka and provides a step by step approach to designing efficient public buildings.

The project BEEP is a bilateral cooperation project between the Ministry of Power (MOP), Government of India and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) of the Government of Switzerland. The project is being implemented by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Government of India, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The overall objective of BEEP is to reduce energy consumption in new buildings and disseminate best practices for the construction of low-energy residential and public buildings.

Daniel Ziegerer, Director of Cooperation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland, in his special address at the launch event said, "Already today, buildings are consuming a considerable share of energy in India and this share is likely to increase further in the future. Improving the energy efficiency of new buildings therefore directly contributes to ensuring India's future energy security. Public institutions should lead in this by example. I am thus particularly glad that SDC could contribute to the elaboration of guidelines for designing energy-efficient public buildings in Karnataka with technical assistance provided through the Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP)."

Karnataka has seen its share of struggle in meeting rising electricity demand. Despite significant capacity addition since 2010, supply continues to be over-stripped by demand. In view of this, the state needs to not only produce more electricity, but also adopt strict energy-efficiency measures that make optimum use of the electricity available. This is why energy-efficient buildings take on special significance in offering opportunities to save electricity while reducing carbon footprint.

For popularizing the concept of integrated approach to achieve a cost-effective energy-efficient building design in India, BEEP has provided assistance to the Public Work Departments (PWDs) of some of the states in designing Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) compliant buildings. BEEP began its partnership with the PWD Karnataka in June 2013 and has extended technical support ever since. This partnership has resulted in the formulation of this technical document, titled Guidelines for Energy-Efficient and Thermally Comfortable Public Buildings in Karnataka.

The launch of the guideline document was followed by a training programme highlighting integrated design process, climate analysis for Karnataka, climate responsive design, efficient cooling systems and solar energy integration. It is hoped that the guidelines will be useful for architects, engineers and building project managers and will create awareness among the stakeholders about green building materials and energy efficiency measures.

India’s First Digital Marketing Expense Card from Startup Happay

Happay, a Bangalore based start-up, has announces the launch of its new product Happay Digital Marketing Expense Card, a pre-paid card designed to track, monitor and control marketing spends and conversions on daily, weekly and monthly basis. The new card is exclusively designed to suit the monetary requirement of a marketing team and give them detailed financial summary of expenses and track the transactions on real time basis.

Loaded with unique features to monitor the marketing budget and expense on real-time basis

ü  Complete real- time visibility of all digital spends

ü  Setting limits & policies on marketing expenses : This ensures 'zero' over spending 

ü  Monitor spends on multiple platforms concurrently 

ü  Data analysis on tap of a button

Unique by all standards, Happay’s digital expense card is able to monitor expenses across digital platforms on a single screen, set the limit on the amount that can be spent and plan budgets with more accuracy. The simple mechanism of the Happay expense card involves furnishing the card with specific amount allocated for digital marketing and linking the card to all the online tools & different ad-networks. You can then execute your marketing campaigns effortlessly. 

Speaking about the launch, Anshul Rai, CEO and Co-founder, Happay said “In a world dominated by technology & digitization, every company spends heavily on online marketing & advertising platform. In the absence of an appropriate data analysis tool it becomes extremely difficult to monitor all expenses and control it on real time basis. We feel extremely delighted to launch our new product, Happay Digital Marketing Expense card, a first of its kind in India which is designed to monitor all the data & analytics on a single screen and control spends systematically.”

On this occasion, Varun Rathi, COO and Co-founder, Happay, said “We believe in innovation and technology and have always been abided by our objective to bring a transformation in expense management system in India. Our new product is an endeavor to bring a change in the way expenses are managed and controlled by the companies. Today, we can proudly say that in a short span of time, we have successfully established a strong foot-hold in our client list with more than 1500 SMEs and Enterprises which range from Hospitality, Education, Manufacturing and Hyper local to Consulting NGOs.”

With prompt and timely summary of expenses on a regular basis, Happay’s clientele have been able to furnish business payments seamlessly, streamline expense reporting, automate enforcement policy and manage cash flows competently using data analytics. With a single swipe of the card, one can capture images of receipts, record cash expenses and submit the same speedily, while ‘on-the-go’.

According PWC report, India’s Internet advertising spends are increasing at 20.4% CAGR and although India might surpass the $1B mark on digital ad spending next year, the finance department is still struggling to put all the spends together on a daily basis.  As high as 43% of marketers claim that proving ROI on marketing activities is a challenge.

INOX & Innoviti Partner for Contactless Card Payments at Multiplexes

INOX Leisure Ltd, India’s favourite multiplex chain, announced a strategic partnership with Innoviti Payment Solutions that promises to not only enhance but upgrade customer experience like never before. Through this association customers can now buy a movie ticket or food and beverage items by simply waving the credit or debit card at the contactless card acceptance terminals installed across various INOX multiplexes. This is the first instance across the country where movie-goers will have the opportunity to benefit from the convenience of faster and secure contactless card payment options.  

The terminals are currently installed at 40 multiplexes across the 7 metro cities. Gradually, this will be implemented in the remaining multiplexes also. This new technology aims to help movie-goers to make their transactions faster and in a more convenient manner. Moreover, since the card does not need to be handed over to the merchant, it provides an inherent element of security. 

Using the well-established Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, these new contactless terminals are compatible with the Visa payWave platform, and can read any of the contactless credit and debit cards being issued by various banks to their cardholders.

Commenting on this partnership, Jitender Verma, Chief Technology Officer at INOX said: “Consumers today are a discerning lot and look for best- in-class service from any provider. We are excited to be able to innovate and create such opportunities. INOX has forever been at the forefront of technological innovations and this alliance with Innoviti Payment Solutions is another significant move towards ensuring a comprehensive customer service experience for all our guests.”

TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa said, “Visa payWave technology is gaining momentum with increasing adoption among merchants and an easier, faster and secure option for consumers to pay. As the payments ecosystem develops, Visa will continue to deliver innovative solutions across segments and categories to drive usage in familiar environments. We are delighted to welcome INOX to the family of establishments accepting Visa payWave contactless cards.”

Ravi Manik, Head of Payments and Consumer Lending business at Innoviti says, “We have consistently been at the forefront of innovation in India’s rapidly evolving payments scenario, and are delighted to partner INOX in providing their customers with this greater payment flexibility. We feel making such easy contactless payment available could be the trigger that is needed to shift a large chunk of purchases away from cash, and towards cards and other non-cash instruments.” 

As per RBI guidelines, for transactions up to Rs 2000, Visa payWave cardholders can use their contactless cards without having to enter a PIN or sign transaction receipts. The Visa payWave enabled contactless cards ensure that transactions are secure, as the card never leaves the hands of the customer thereby reducing the risk of card loss and fraud. It also reduces queueing time for customers as it is a faster way to pay.

With this added feature, the entire end-to-end experience will be enhanced, giving movie-goers an overall delightful experience. INOX in the recent past has introduced various facilities such as Q-Busters, In Cinema FnB Ordering, Beacons and Paperless ticketing.

Synechron’s Blockchain Accelerator Applications Now in the Cloud

Synechron Inc., a global financial services consulting and technology services provider, has today announced the launch of its Blockchain Accelerator Program that includes its first six blockchain applications available in the cloud. These applications enable financial services firms to be up-and-running on a blockchain network or in a ‘sandbox’ environment within weeks. This rapid time-to-market provides a first-mover advantage to firms that leverage blockchain as a revolutionary technology with the potential to change the fundamental economics of their businesses.

The Accelerator Program delivers an end-to-end solution complete with business consulting services ranging from functional specifications to technical architecture design; blockchain technology delivery and training programs through Synechron’s FinLabs; and UX design that will enable financial institutions to customize their blockchain application to their unique business needs. As experts in banking operations, technology and digital transformation, Synechron’s FinLabs team of 50 business and technology experts located in New York, London and Bangalore is uniquely qualified to provide these services.

Synechron has identified six areas where market participants have the potential to experience blockchain’s most tangible benefits in enhancing business operations, minimizing operating costs and combatting fraudulent activity.

Synechron’s Blockchain Accelerators:

 1. Blockchain Accelerator for Global Payments – allowing firms to pay any bank connected to the cryptocurrency rails using a single reserve, minimizing the amount of capital required to make transactions easier, cheaper and faster.

 2.  Blockchain Accelerator for Trade Finance – creating digital versions of transactions, generating smart contracts, centralizing underlying collateral information on a distributed ledger across a private network to increase efficiency, eliminate “double spend” fraud, enhance data quality and reduce settlement time.

 3. Blockchain Accelerator for Smart Margin Calls – using smart contracts to determine the valuation of the trade portfolio, handle margin calls and initiate track and validate margin payments for increased efficiency, automated settlements, enhanced accuracy and significant cost-reduction.

 4. Blockchain Accelerator for Insurance Claims Processing – using smart contracts, enabling auto-execution of insurance claims and payments on an authoritative data feed for reduced risk and fraud and decreased processing costs.

 5. Blockchain Accelerator for KYC – creating a centralized KYC utility model allowing utilities to differentiate themselves and enhance anti-money laundering (AML) and credit controls.

6. Blockchain Accelerator for Mortgage Financing and Processing – allowing loans that currently are documented in a company’s private ledger to transition to a centralized ledger to increase transparency, expedite loan settlement and reduce overall risk.

Synechron’s Blockchain Applications are available in a cloud environment and deliver working modular code and a sandbox environment to minimize development time, infrastructure and investment. These applications use an agile design approach and industry-leading blockchain technologies such as Ethereum, Hyperledger, Eris and Ripple. As Synechron’s blockchain apps are available via the cloud and compatible with today’s hybrid cloud environment, firms will have the ability to experiment without additional infrastructure expense and will get to market faster.

Faisal Husain, Synechron Co-Founder and CEO, says, “We believe in blockchain’s transformative potential for the financial services industry. By collaborating with our clients we have developed blockchain applications that solve real-world problems. These Blockchain Accelerators provide working code enabling our clients to experiment with and refine their blockchain strategies. In the race to deploy the technology, this program offers them the ability to gain a first-mover advantage.”

Audi A4 Hits the Indian Automobile Market; SUV Likely to Follow Shortly

The Audi A4 has been launched in India at Rs. 38.10 lakh and will be available in two variants - Premium Plus and Technology. The German auto major held a roadshow in Bengaluru recently.

Audi's Virtual Cockpit only available in the Technology Variant which costs Rs. 41.2 lakh. The car will be available in two variants, Premium Plus and Technology. Price of Premium Plus - Rs. 38.10 lakh, Technology Rs. 41.2 lakh (ex-delhi and Maharashtra).

Well, if you were wondering where the genesis of the new Audi A4 lies, here's a chart that will bring you up-yo-date. From the B1 to the current B9, a journey that spans more than four decades.

With the new generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3 Series, Volvo S60 and Jaguar XE, the fifth generation Audi A4 will be facing tough competition in the segment. 

The 1.4-litre petrol engine powering the new A4 is a sophisticated unit as the exhaust manifold has been integrated into the cylinder head with very high-pressure fuel injection and separate cooling circuits for the crankcase and cylinder head. So it shouts performance as well as efficiency.

On that note, Audi claims that the new A4 returns a fuel efficiency figure of 17 km/l. The new gen Audi A4 gets a longer wheelbase compared to its predecessor - 2,820mm to be precise. This makes the model 12mm longer than the outgoing version, making for improved cabin space. instrument cluster completely. The new cockpit display showcases all details of the car complete from navigation, car systems to the infotainment system.

The new generation Audi A4, the model is 120 kg lighter than its predecessor with aluminium used in abundance in its construction; whereas Volkswagen's flexible MLB Evo platform underpins the sedan. The design is evolutionary on the model, with the front getting a curved bonnet, followed by the single-frame trapezoidal grille and the distinctive new headlights with Matrix LEDs. 

You also get the new signature LED DRLs on the A4, which give the model its unique identity within the Audi stable. The side profile retains the poised appearance, while the rear gets sharp LED tail lights, and tapered boot-lid, which looks sleek and athletic.