400% Digital Lending Platform Growth in Delhi & NCR for Capital Float

Capital Float, the largest digital lending platform in India, witnessed a meteoric rise in performance in Delhi NCR in 2016. Over 1000 small and medium-sized businesses availed the online credit products, making this a year of great growth and development for the company in this region. The company delivered 400% growth both in terms of value of loans disbursed and the number of customers. Strategic partnerships with companies like Snapdeal, Shopclues, PayTM, OfBusiness and Industrybuying, among others, have also aided Capital Float to make the most of the opportunity in this fast growing market.

The total loan disbursals of the company’s products in the market rose steeply with Pay Later and Unsecured Business Loan being the top performing products with 140% and 300% growth respectively over 2015. Additionally, the Online Seller Finance contributed over 30% in volume. Newly-introduced products like Merchant Cash Advance and Vehicle Finance are poised for similar growth numbers given the rising market interest in these products. To better serve this growing market, Capital Float has opened a new office in Karol Bagh, New Delhi to accommodate a larger team with all the latest infrastructure.

The SME lending market in India is worth almost $300 billion today and the digital finance segment constitutes 10% of it. The northern region makes up about 35-38% of the total addressable market which is worth about $10 billion. The CAGR is expected to remain 17-20% for the next 5 years and post-demonetization, it might even surpass 20%.

“Our disbursal volumes and values have skyrocketed in Delhi NCR in 2016. In the coming year, we are expecting a 500% rise in disbursals for all our products, while increasing our customer base by 600%” said Gaurav Hinduja, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Capital Float. “Since our reach in this market has grown exponentially, we have opened a new office with a strong team to better serve customers. We hope to build on this momentum in the coming year, not just in this market but across India,” he added.

Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana are the top 4 states from northern India showing tremendous growth rates and the MSMEs in these states enjoy the benefits of being close to a large market and the fast-growing urban centre of Delhi NCR. They also benefit from a strong agricultural base and a growing population across northern India, which is fuelling demand for various products and services which makes this a market highly potential.

Accenture & Blue Prism Team to Provide Robotic Process Automation

Accenture and Blue Prism, a leading provider of enterprise robotic process automation (RPA) software, are working together to provide RPA solutions to help organizations across industries automate a wide range of business processes for reduced costs, improved compliance and increased productivity. More than 40 organizations have already selected Accenture and Blue Prism to help achieve this, including international retailer Circle K and Raiffeisen Bank International.

The alliance combines Accenture’s global reach and cross industry expertise with Blue Prism’s RPA software robots to provide the next generation of the “digital workforce.” As part of this, Accenture plans to certify more than 600 professionals on Blue Prism technology and implementation to provide critical advice and guidance to companies navigating a complex automation landscape.

Circle K Europe (previously Statoil Fuel and Retail) has streamlined its Finance, IT, Customer Service, Fuel and HR operations at the Riga and Warsaw Business Centres. Automation has allowed Circle K to standardize and improve services which has helped reduce processing times and make Circle K an even more attractive place to work.

“RPA has changed the way we structure and allocate work, allowing us to spend more time on improvement initiatives,” says Kristian Kjernsmo, managing director Circle K Business Centre at Circle K Europe. “By automating routine tasks, we allow our skilled people to focus on the more interesting and challenging parts of their jobs, which has the dual benefit of engaging our people and improving the customer experience. Accenture has been with us from the beginning, helping us in the exploratory phases of RPA right through to the implementation.”

As a multi-national European bank operating in 14 countries with more than 40,000 employees, Raifessen Bank International worked with Accenture to implement Blue Prism technology to automate business processes in four countries with further roll out planned in 2017.

“We had been considering RPA as a way to accelerate business results, but we needed a solution that could be housed internally, scale rapidly, and be up and running within two months,” said Markus Stanek, head of Group Efficiency of Raiffeisen Bank International. “Thanks to Accenture’s knowledge and Blue Prism’s enterprise-class RPA software, we want to create an in-house robotics Centre of Excellence within a very short time frame. We have successfully piloted our RPA program in four countries to date, and based on our early positive outcome, intend to continue RPA roll-outs in 2017."

“This relationship builds on Accenture’s history of helping organizations capture new business value through automation and complements our efforts to apply the technology quickly and at scale to ensure benefits are realised early,” said Manish Sharma, group operating officer, Accenture Operations. “The cost and productivity benefits of RPA are enabling firms to operate smarter and are offering the human workforce the opportunity to engage in more stimulating and strategic work.”

Alastair Bathgate, CEO and co-founder of Blue Prism, commented, “We are delighted to be working with Accenture to deliver the value of a digital workforce to many different types of organizations across the globe. With 40 firms already on board to benefit from this alliance, we are seeing a clear appetite for RPA as firms quickly realize the vast array of benefits to business performance and productivity.”

“RPA has the potential to deliver significant benefits to enterprises in terms of cost, efficiency and productivity,” said Sarah Burnett, vice president, Everest Group. “For RPA technology vendors, collaboration with service providers and system integrators is a powerful way to meet growing client demand for RPA technology across continents and industry verticals.” 

Genpact & Cisco Launch Global Center of Excellence in Jaipur

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OPPO & Vodafone India Enhances Better Internet Experience for Customers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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