PwC India Launches GST Compliance Solution to Assist Companies in India

PwC India has launched a customised software solution that will help companies in India in end-to-end automation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) compliance. This software will help automate month-end tax compliances and reporting for companies with options for interfacing with multiple enterprise resource planning (ERP) environments.

The software solution has been developed by PwC, a leader in Tax technology and has been used very successfully and extensively in Europe and other parts of the world.

Elaborating on the solution, Pratik Jain, Partner and Leader Indirect Tax, PwC India, said: “Under GST, most companies will move towards a managed tax compliance model, wherein all the filings would be done centrally. Today’s tax tools may be inadequate in catering to the needs of tomorrow’stechnology-driven GST compliance requirements and this would be a big challenge for corporates. There was a need for a solution to help our clients navigate these issues, especially in the Indian context.

We are getting very encouraging feedback from clients on our tool. We are in the process of deploying it with many large companies”, he added.

Effective 1 July, GST will entail electronic filing of multiple monthly state-wise returns, transaction-level data upload, numerous reconciliations (revenue reconciliation, reconciliation with vendor details, upload on GST Network) and complex tax computation.

PwC’s GST Compliance Solution has several key benefits:

·  Comprehensive compliance coverage

·  Seamless interface with GSTN for information upload/download

·  100+ data validation checks to ensure factual as well as legal precision

·  Extensive reporting/business intelligence modules providing relevant insights to the

concerned stakeholders

·  Intuitive dashboards for different user profiles

·  Continuous monitoring of compliances for timely completion of related activities

·  Secured infrastructure

·  Access control mechanism to ensure users see only what is necessary

·  Audit trail for both internal as well as external stakeholders

·  Integration with PwC’s GST App (GST with PwC)

All this and more is backed by a strong team of PwC India’s indirect tax and technology professionals who will provide implementation and ongoing support for the compliance solution.

Sula Wines Appoints Sula Nick Pringle as Chief Operating Officer

Sula is pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Pringle as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. In his capacity as the COO of India’s leading wine company and fastest growing alcobev company, Nick will work closely with Rajeev Samant, Founder and CEO, Sula Vineyards, while overlooking the company’s strategy and operations.

Rajeev Samant commented, “I am delighted that Nick Pringle is joining Sula as COO. Nick brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at Accolade Wines and AB InBev and is the right person to help steer Sula Vineyards, one of Asia’s fastest growing wine and alcobev companies, to even greater heights!”

Nick has over 20 years of experience in the wine and spirits industry. He has worked extensively in international markets to create a significant category across emerging markets for wine and spirits consumption and he strongly believes that numerous opportunities lie in the Indian alcobev industry.

Nick Pringle stated, “India is a very young and dynamic market. It has immense potential to grow in the wine sector and the enthusiasm, with great people that Sula possesses is infectious! Despite barriers, Sula entered the wine industry here in India and carved a niche for itself as both, the best and leading wine company. Sula recognized the changing industry trends and launched Sula Selections and Artisan Spirits to diversify itself, becoming a genuine front runner in the industry. I am proud to be associated with a brand that has turned things around for the industry altogether and look forward to creating more milestones for us to achieve together.”

Prior to this, Nick worked at AB InBev for 12 years. He later joined Constellation to assume a variety of roles and eventually joined Accolade Wines to strengthen Hardys globally in 2011.

At Accolade Wines, Nick was in charge of emerging markets and responsible for travel retail relationships across regions spanning Africa, the Middle East, South and Central America, Asia Sub-Continent and Southern Europe. Key markets for growth from his regions were Central and South America, Africa and India, which became a passion for him, while in India an increasing number of consumers were experimenting and progressing from beer and spirits to the wine category, during this time he was working in partnership with Sula. In 2016, Nick was appointed as Head of Accolade Wines for China, a significantly growing market for the company, before being given this amazing opportunity with Sula.

Before working in the wine and spirits industry, Nick was a professional cricketer and played for his home county - Somerset, from 1986 to 1991. Now he loves to see his son, Mathew play cricket and enjoys playing with him too. A thorough sportsman, he also used to play rugby and he loves watching football. Nick is a fitness enthusiast and also takes keen interest in music and travelling.

2nd edition of the IoT India Congress 2017 Opens Entries for IoT Start-Up Awards and the IoT Thought Leadership Awards

Call for entries for the two prestigious awards at the second edition of the IoT India Congress, 2017 opens today. The two signature awards, IoT Start-up Award and Thought Leadership Award aims to recognize excellence in the IoT ecosystem.

The IoT Start-up Awards will identify start-ups with breakthrough innovations in IoT and a winning strategy to monetize their product/services and propagate the evolving movement of IoT in India. The Thought Leadership Award is uniquely designed to honour individuals with over 1-5 years of experience of leading an IoT project that is transformational in nature or worked towards building and sustaining awareness on IoT. Members of the jury for the awards include Dr Richard Soley, Executive Director, Industrial Internet Consortium, Arun Jain, Director, Sales & Marketing Texas Instruments India Pvt Ltd, Sanjeev Malhotra, CEO – IOT Centre of Excellence Nasscom, Shradha Sharma, Founder & CEO YourStory Media and Vivek Sharma, Managing Director STMicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd.

The IoT India Congress 2017, a platform-of-platforms for empowering business outcomes using the Internet of Things in India, will be a two-day mega event to be held on 14-15 September 2017 at Park Plaza, Bangalore. The IoT India Congress is conceptualized and designed by the members of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (The IET) IoT Panel – an independent and neutral visionary think-tank led by select industry leaders. The panel envisions laying a solid foundation in the next step of adoption of IoT by supporting policy makers, and bringing together the practitioners and IoT enablers to work together and create a platform that is industry efficient as well as robust.

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, Art of Living will be the Chief Guest for the IoT Thought Leadership Awards on September 14, 2017. Submissions for nominations for both the awards close on July 30, 2017.

Nomination for the eligible IoT enthusiasts / company can be made by submitting the details in the form provided on the website – http://www.iotindiacongress.com/awards/

In this context, Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, Chairman of the IET India IoT Panel said, “The IoT India Congress is a neutral platform that extends beyond the borders of organisations for people to come together and create the roadmap for IoT adoption. We wish to replicate the success seen at the Congress last year by identifying and recognizing exciting work done in the field of IoT by start-ups and individuals through these awards. These are exciting times and we look forward to seeing some great nominations.”

NI Showcases Smart Platforms and Tools for the Indian Aerospace & Defence Industry

NI, the provider of systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, hosted the India Defence and Aerospace Symposium 2017 in association with Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies and Industries (SIATI). The symposium which witnessed a footfall of 500, was attended by engineers, scientists, managers and professionals in the aviation, space and defence industries and focused on navigation, RADAR, Electronics Warfare, Military Communications, Satellites as well as test rig construction and HIL.

At the event, NI showcased how the design, development and test challenges of the Indian Aerospace & Defence (A&D) Industry can be integrated by smart platforms & tools powered by ready-made technology.The diverse set of industry experts present, shared their ideas on revolution in simulation and test solutions, challenges of RADAR design & test, advanced techniques for phase aligned RF signal generation & acquisition and data acquisition systems for A&D applications.

Commenting on the importance of system design for the Aerospace and Defence industry, Tarun Gupta, Business Development Manager, National Instruments India, said, “India is an established technology hub for engineering services and product development for the global defence market. At National Instruments, it is our endeavor to provide the best-in-class testing solutions for enabling this industry rapidly develop and deploy systems. The India Defence and Aerospace Symposium 2017 gives us a platform to showcase the advanced technologies that can help build modern & reliable automated test systems for the aerospace & defence segments.”

At the event, NI showcased:

·         Smarter approach to system design in Aerospace & Defence

·         Prototyping & Testing modern Electronic Warfare (EW) Systems and RADARs

·         Gigahertz Record & Playback Systems & Using Software Defined Radios (SDRs) for prototyping communications systems for A&D industry

·         Validating and Testing of Avionic Systems & Advanced Techniques for Phase Aligned signal generation and acquisition

·         Architecting Flexible HIL Test Systems for Embedded Controllers & Data Acquisition Systems for A&D Industry

The annual National Instruments Defence & Aerospace event aims to bring together and share domain knowledge and best practices from partners in the Indian Aerospace and Defence industry.

TCS iON Partners in the Digital Transformation of Andhra University

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization today announced a definitive agreement with Andhra University to help transform the Andhra University School of Distance Education (AUSDE) into a digital university enabling easy access to a larger number of students wanting to avail courses offered by the prestigious institute.

As part of the agreement, AUSDE will deploy the TCS iON Platform to help bring online all key services offered by the University School including student admissions, academic course content, examination management as well as regular administrative services. With the services of AUSDE going online, students will be able to enroll onto and access courses of their choice, pay fees, get their examination hall tickets and also see their examination results, all of these, at a click of a button.

The TCS iON Platform provides a comprehensive end-to-end solution that enables a university to digitize all functions and services offered by it. The TCS iON Platform supports in building smarter university campuses with solutions that simplify learning, teaching and support processes to drive educational excellence. The iON Platform manages the Admission to Alumni life cycle of the student processes by providing a digital interface to the student.  Digitization of services offered by the university helps it reach out to a larger section of students at a lower cost without compromising on the quality of education imparted.  The AUSDE is offering Certificate, Diploma, Under Graduation, Post-Graduation and professional courses to over 60,000 students currently and the digitization of the university will help provide a superior experience to all the stakeholders.

Commenting on the agreement, V. Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON said, “In today’s context, digitalization of any university is imperative to sustain excellence. We are extremely proud to be the partner of choice for Andhra University in their transformation journey.  With AUSDE going digital using the TCS iON Platform, every stakeholder of the university will be able to engage with ease and be confident of getting the highest level of services on-time without any deficiency.  Streamlining of the university’s services will also ensure that the university can focus more on driving academic excellence amongst students without being distracted by regular administrative functions.”

Speaking about the agreement, Vice Chancellor Prof G Nageswara Rao said, “Considering the need of upgrading technology, online and web-based operations, we had set up a panel in November last year to decide and advise the university on the necessary steps to be taken. The proposal received from TCS to help the university go digital for assisting in general enquiries, admissions, pre-examination and post-examination activities was seen to be the right one in helping AUSDE transform. We are delighted to enter into an agreement with TCS and be a part of the Digital India movement. Our plan ahead is to expand this initiative to the regular stream of education in addition to the distance education program.”

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Specs has Snapdragon 820, 4G LTE Support Unveiled at Rs 47,990 in India

Samsung is all set to launch its flagship Android-based tablet, aka the Galaxy Tab S3, in India on Tuesday. The company is hosting a press conference in Bengaluru where it will launch the Galaxy Tab S2 successor.

The Galaxy Tab S3 was first unveiled at MWC2017 in Barcelona. It costs $599.99 in the US which is approximately Rs 39,000. It is successor to the Galaxy Tab S2 which was launched in India back in 2015 at Rs 39,400.

The Galaxy Tab S3 sports a 9.7-inch AMOLED QXGA screen with a resolution of 1536x2048 pixels. The back of the device is built of glass with metal framing. There is also a fingerprint sensor placed within the home button at the front.  The tablet comes with a 6,000mAh battery with fast charging.

The Galaxy Tab S3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15 GHz coupled with Adreno 530 GPU and 4GB RAM. The tablet comes with 32GB internal storage which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD.

The Galaxy Tab S3 supports Stylus Pen input. In fact, this is the first time that a Samsung tablet will ship with an S Pen in the box. The tablet also supports a keyboard cover accessory on the lines of Apple's iPad Pro.

On the photography front, the Tab S3 packs in a 5MP front camera and a 13 MP rear camera with flash. The Tab S3 also boasts of quad core speakers placed at the top and bottom of the device. These speakers have been tuned by AKG.

Nokia Unveils Three New Android Smartphones - Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6 - in India

HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones has announced the sales start for the Nokia 3 – a stunning new smartphone designed to deliver an outstanding experience with unprecedented value. With a precision machined aluminium frame forged out of a single piece of aluminium, laminated 5 display with sculpted Corning Gorilla Glass and seamlessly integrated 8MP wide aperture cameras (front and back), the Nokia 3 packs a truly premium quality smartphone experience into its compact and elegant form. The Nokia 3 delivers Android in its pure form, giving you the ability to use your phone, your way. Nokia 3 will be available across top mobile retail stores in the country at a recommended best buy price of Rs. 9,499. The company delivered the Nokia 3 to first consumers at Sangeetha Retail in Bangalore.

“Premium is an experience, not a price point. We’ve been extremely thoughtful about the overall performance of the Nokia 3, to ensure that a premium high quality experience is fully accessible for everyone,” said Pranav Shroff, ‎Director, Global Portfolio Strategy, HMD Global. “We’ve thought hard about how the phone will be used, and then crafted a beautiful device to make sure it looks as good as it performs.”

Superior craftsmanship at an affordable price

The Nokia 3 has looks that will turn heads. With a precision machined aluminium frame, delivering exceptional structural integrity, and polycarbonate back, the Nokia 3’s robust design provides protection where it counts. Matte Black, Silver White, Tempered Blue and Copper White – the Nokia 3 boasts quality craftsmanship at an unprecedented price.

Exceptional viewing experience

Featuring a fully laminated IPS display with no airgap and sculpted Corning® Gorilla® Glass, the Nokia 3 screen offers durability and superb clarity delivering a viewing experience that is second to none. With fewer reflections thanks to the polarised screen, the experience is crisp and clear offering unbeatable visibility even in bright sunlight.

Capture the moment

The Nokia 3 has been designed to give a premium experience at an affordable price. The 8MP autofocus rear and front facing cameras have been balanced with large pixel size and aperture to deliver great images, particularly in low light situations. Combined with the exclusive camera user interface, to provide automatic scene detection, it is easy to take great shots every time. And with unlimited free cloud storage via Google Photos[i], you can snap all you want safe in the knowledge that every moment you capture can be automatically and securely backed up.

Always Pure Android With the Nokia 3 you will have a pure Android experience for your device. With monthly security updates your Nokia 3 is safe, up-to-date as well as clutter-free – putting choice at the heart of the consumer experience. And with the latest Android comes the latest features including Doze, which saves battery life while the phone is stored. The new Nokia 3 features Google’s most recent innovation, the Google Assistant, building further on a great Android experience. Our teams have worked together to ensure conversations with the Google Assistant happen seamlessly on Nokia smartphones.

Availability

On Nokia 3, the Vodafone consumers will get 5GB data per month @ Rs. 149 per month for 3 months. Consumers will also get Rs. 2500 off (Rs. 1800 on hotels & Rs.700 off on domestic flights) on Makemytrip.com

HMD Global has appointed over 400 distributors in India to support its range of smartphones and feature phones. Through this network, Nokia smartphones and feature phones will be available at more than 80,000 retail outlets across the country.

The company is also investing in a robust after-sales network branded Nokia Mobile Care. By June end, over 300 cities will have a Nokia Mobile Care presence. In addition, consumers will have the opportunity to avail a device pick-up/drop service in 100 more cities. For the new age millennial consumer, we will also have Nokia Mobile Care support in the form of voice and web support.

Accessories

We offer a range of accessories perfectly tailored to suit the Nokia 3. The Nokia Stereo Headset WH-201, with an in-ear design for passive background noise reduction and audio leakage prevention, has been specially crafted to suit the Nokia 3.

Technical Specifications

• EMEA & APAC Networks: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 WCDMA: Band 1, 2, 5, 8 LTE: Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40
• Network speed: LTE Cat. 4, 150Mbps DL/50Mbps UL
• Available in dual SIM variants
• OS: Android Nougat
• CPU: MTK 6737, Quad-core 1.3Ghz
• RAM: 2 GB LPPDDR 3
• Storage: 16 GB internal user memory[ii] with MicroSD card slot (support up to 128 GB support)
• Form factor: Touch monoblock with capacitive system keys
• Display: 5.0” IPS LCD HD (1280 x 720, 16:9), sculpted Corning Gorilla Glass, Polariser, 450 nits
• Camera: Primary camera: 8MP AF, 1.12um, f/2, flash, Front facing camera: 8MP AF, 1.12um, f/2, FOV 84˚ display flash
• Connectivity & Sensors: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, BT 4.2, GPS/AGPS, FM/RDS, NFC, Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer (G-sensor), E-compass, Gyroscope, Micro USB (USB 2.0), OTG, 3.5mm ADJ
• Battery: Integrated 2630 mAh battery
• Audio: Single speaker
• Dimensions: 143.4 x 71.4 x 8.48 mm (camera bump: 8.68mm)