GoI Programme to Push Indigenous Designing Capabilities of Indian Manufacturing Industry

The Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar, has announced Government of India's ambitious 'Design in India' policy, which will be an extension of the ongoing 'Make in India' programme. As he stated, the 'Design in India' policy will aim at building, enhancing and promoting designing capabilities of Indian manufacturers and entrepreneurs so that they can design products of world-class standards to compete with global counterparts and take advantage of 'Make in India' programme.

Parrikar announced the same at the inauguration of a three-day International Conference and Exhibition on Reinforced Plastics, 2017 (ICERP 2017), which commenced in Mumbai today. The Conference is organised by FRP Institute, an association of Indian Reinforced Plastics or Composites sector.

Responding to a long standing demand of Indian Composites Industry to source defence equipments, components and ancillary material domestically from Indian manufacturers of composite products and extend support under the 'Make in India' programme, Parrikar assured the players of Indian composite industry  that the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) will soon include composite products developed indigenously. He maintained that the DPP will be updated soon and see its implementation with necessary procedures clarified.

Adding further, Parrikar said, "We are introducing a 'Design in India' policy, which will boost up a 'Make in India' programme. It will be an opportunity for domestic manufacturers to enhance designing capabilities to compete with global standards. As far as the defence industry is concerned, there is huge potential to source material, equipments domestically, but quality standards and innovations in designing are highly essential. Indian composites industry can certainly enhance supplies to the defence sector if they provide products of global standards in terms of quality and designing. We will soon include composites products in the Defence Procurement Policy, which will allow domestic composites manufacturers to supply to Indian Defence Industry."

The Rs 5,000 crore Indian Composites Industry, had made a strong pitch for support from the Government and mainly from the Defence Ministry comes amid rising supplies of Russian and Chinese composites raw material in Indian defence sector. Further, the Indian industry, which has been growing at a CAGR of just six per cent as against the global average of 12 per cent, also urged for the Government's support. 

On the inauguration of ICERP, 2017, Pradip Thakkar, Chairman of FRP urged the Defence Minister to extend the Government's support to the Indian composites industry to unleash its full potential. He stated, "The Indian Composites Industry is fully capable of supplying 100% of requirements of the defence sector, if given due support. Composite materials are emerging as an innovative alternative for steel and aluminium and hence, can be used in defence equipment manufacturing."

Shekhar Sardesai, a member of FRP and CMD of Keneco Limited emphasised that the industry should rise above the levels and produce world-class products for which innovation and standards were necessary. He urged the Defence Minister to scale-up procurement of composites not only for Tier I categories such as OEMs, but also for Tier II and III categories where raw materials and components also could be sourced from domestic manufacturers.

Said Prof S C Lakkad, Chairman, FRP Institute, “Composites market in India is not fully tapped and offers tremendous growth opportunities for Composites manufacturing in the coming years. This makes an apt case for ‘Make in India’."

Dr. Selvan, Former Chairman, FRP Institute offered the vote of thanks and requested the members of the industry to meet with the standards expected and embrace opportunity. The Industry is continually evolving with development of newer materials, technology, applications and processing. While the conventional composites continue to find newer applications, the high tech Composites like the carbon fibre based composites are finding greater interest in terms of their applications in Defence, aerospace, and other applications to keep pace with the global trends.

LTTS’s First Ever Engineering Technology Challenge TECHgium Attracts Over 170 Colleges

By Manu Sharma

The third and final year engineering students have a unique opportunity to display their innovative skills by participating in a first ever real-time technology challenge addressing engineering problems. Termed TechGium, the tech challenge is an initiative by LnT Technology Services Ltd (LTTS) and offers 5000 engineering graduates from over 170 engineering institutes across India to work on futuristic technology ideas. LTTS has invited students from top tier Indian engineering institutes to work on projects and Proof of Concepts (PoCs) that will address current needs and future challenges of LTTS’ global clients.

One of the key highlights of TECHgium is that it will lead to the creation of a new breed of associates with niche engineering skills and capabilities in a way that has simply not been done before. LTTS will help young engineers channel their spirit of curiosity and enquiry and empower them to discover untapped technical skills and innovative approaches to challenges that need engineering-based solutions. This challenge will give the participants an invaluable opportunity to work on futuristic technologies and augment the solution development team of LTTS, while getting recognized as a TECHgium innovator. 

Keshab Panda, CEO and MD, LnT Technology Services said, “We have our DNA outside India and operate in multi vertical segment. Usually innovation stops at 40 years and so are always looking at youngsters with fresh ideas to drive innovation and are inspired by the Make in India movement. We want to encourage the thrust on research that will deliver a sustainable competitive advantage.“

He adds that our TECHgium initiative is a pivotal step towards creating a new ecosystem that brings together customers, academia and students to be part of the nation’s capacity building objectives and also trigger new-age innovations conceptualized by fresh minds.

On 0ctober 15, 2015, LTTS sent out invitations and over 900 colleges registered but out of them, 5000 students from 170 colleges have confirmed their participation by signing the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). In Stage 1 of the challenge, student registrations were open from November 28, 2016 to December 9, 2016.

As part of the Stage 2, from December 12, 2016 the participants need to submit the concept papers and have time till January 12, 2017. A total number of 30 challenges were posted online and these spread across transportation, industrial products, process industry, telecom and semiconductors and the participants along with over 150 mentors will work on the above challenges and come out with the concept papers.   

Stage 3 will witness Technical Presentation where in participants will submit full technical papers from January 21-28, 2017 followed by in-person presentations from January 30 to February 1, 2017 across LTTS offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Baroda.

The final leg i.e. Stage 4 will see selected participants making a Proof of Concept (POC) demonstration from April 19-21, 2017 at the Bangalore office followed by the grand finale on April 21, 2017 also at the Bangalore office.

Successful candidates will be eligible for absorption into the company based on the merit of their solutions. There is also three cash rewards of Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh for the top innovations developed by students. 

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.