Bharat BillPay, the one stop bill payment ecosystem launched by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is becoming popular with each passing month. The ecosystem has facilitated 31.5 million bill payment transactions in March 2018 compared with 18 million in March 2017 recording a growth of 75%.
Consumers can currently pay for the following in the BHARAT BILLPAY Ecosystem–
· Electricity
· Water
· Direct-To-Home (DTH)
· Telecom (Mobile-Postpaid, landline-Postpaid and Broadband)
· Gas pipe-line bills
There are multiple channels available to a consumer for paying bills which includes Internet banking, Website, Mobile banking/mobile app, or physical collection points like Kirana shops/agents/BCs and bank-branches. Besides that, there are multiple payment options namely, Debit card, Internet banking, Mobile banking wallets, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cash etc. Once bills are paid, the consumer receives instant confirmation in the form of SMS / email or printed receipt.
A.R.Ramesh, Chief Project Officer, Bharat Bill Payment System said, “The primary reason behind growing acceptance of Bharat BillPay among consumers is the ease of making instant and safe bill payments to any biller of any state, city or region from anywhere in India. The consumer has the option of using Bharat BillPay enabled internet banking, mobile banking or Bharat BillPay enabled website/app/agent assisted collection points. By just seeing the BHARAT BILLPAY logo, consumer can access the touch points and pay their bills in one go. Instead of using multiple apps or logging in to different websites or even travelling to various collection points, the brand empowers and promises a one stop destination for payment of all utility bills. Consumers save cost and time instead of travelling to different places or visiting various websites.”
A biller is a service provider/utility company who receives payment for the service rendered. Currently, the ecosystem has enabled 75 billers (Electricity: 49; DTH:3; Mobile Postpaid: 4; Landline Postpaid: 2; Broadband: 3; Gas: 10; Water; 4) who are spread across 20 states and 3 Union Territories in India, of which 13 billers are available across India. The objective has been to rapidly enhance the biller base to enable easier bill payment for consumers under one single ecosystem (Bharat Bill Payment System). As of date 1.7 million agents have been on-boarded.
In line with the efforts to indigenise the defence sector under ‘Make in India’ initiative, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), India’s multinational engineering conglomerate, and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a leading public sector enterprise in defence electronics and tactical systems, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cater to the needs of evolving domestic and export markets for defence products and systems.
The MoU seeks to leverage the capabilities of both the firms for meeting the growing requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. The MoU also intends to leverage the well-developed supply chain, vast experience and expertise of BEL and L&T to synergise and enhance exports in the defence sector.
Jayant Patil, Whole-time Director (Defence) and Member of L&T Board, said: “This MoU offers an opportunity for public-private sector partnership between two industry leaders in Defence Equipment & Systems to synergise their strengths to deliver to the Indian Armed Forces and to the export market contemporary products with high indigenous content.”
The decision to formalise the partnership through this MoU, a key milestone for both L&T and for BEL in their long-term relationship, was made after extensive evaluation and identifying the core competencies and strong synergies between the two of them. L&T and BEL have collaborated and partnered on co-development and production of major sub-systems involving complex technologies and sophisticated weapon systems such as Akash Missile launchers and other radar platforms for Indian MoD orders.
L&T has been delivering a range of launcher systems, fire control systems and airframes / sub-systems for various indigenous weapon programmes as development partners and production agency to DRDO and DPSUs. By synergising L&T’s manufacturing, system design & integration capabilities and extensive global footprint with BEL’s core competencies in electronic equipment & systems, the companies look forward to enhancing their product range, jointly evolve new products and enhance business prospects.
SpiceJet, the country’s favourite low-cost carrier, today announced the commencement of operations from Hubli effective 14th May, 2018. SpiceJet was awarded Hubli under the second round of UDAN, and it will be its fifth destination under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.
With the addition of Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad UDAN routes, SpiceJet will operate six daily UDAN flights. The airline had launched services on the Mumbai-Porbandar, Mumbai-Kandla, Jaipur-Jaisalmer and Hyderabad-Puducherry routes under the UDAN scheme last year.
SpiceJet is the first and only airline to connect Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad with direct flights. The airline will also connect Hubli with key metro cities of Bengaluru and Mumbai, both of which are non-RCS sectors.
To celebrate the launch, SpiceJet has announced a limited period special introductory all-inclusive one-way fare for each of the new routes starting as low as Rs. 2694/- applicable for bookings made on a first come first serve basis.
With the introduction of the new flights, passengers from Hubli can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet’s domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from the metros routed.
On the occasion, Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Sales & Revenue Officer, SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is delighted to connect Hubli on to its pan India network. UDAN has been one of the biggest success stories of this government and we are proud to be a part of Prime Minister’s grand vision to ensure that every Indian can fly. Our flight services from Hubli will provide greater flexibility and convenience to both leisure and business travelers.”
Hubli, the second largest city in Karnataka, houses the largest number of government offices in the state. Earmarked for the smart city project, it is also a major trading centre for commodities like cotton and iron.
Bookings for tickets are now open on www.spicejet.com, SpiceJet’s mobile app and through online travel portals and travel agents.
Samsung India has launched a digital campaign showcasing its new Digital Inverter Refrigerators through a heart-warming story of the relationship between a mother and a daughter.
Conceptualised by Cheil, the campaign film, which shows a modern, young, evolved working woman gifting her mother a refrigerator that runs on both inverter and solar power for a better, improved and hassle-free life, has gone viral with over 50 million views on YouTube in the first 20 days of its launch.
“This heart-warming campaign shows the strong bond between a mother and daughter. The campaign showcases the brand ethos of Samsung of caring about consumers at every step and bringing in innovative technologies to solve real life problems. Through this emotional story, we wanted to communicate how our new refrigerator line runs non-stop on the home inverter, making life better for a modern young Indian women. The campaign crossing 50 million views on YouTube in India is a testimony of consumer love and trust in brand Samsung,” said Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung India.
In the film, the mother is seen entering the daughter’s house while she is away at work. The mother brings with herself kheer that she has prepared lovingly for her daughter. She keeps it in her daughter’s fridge for her to enjoy when she is back from work. Just as she is leaving, there is a power cut. When the daughter returns home the power outage is still there but she is elated to see the kheer in the fridge. She calls her mother to appreciate her love but the mother is concerned that the kheer might have gone bad because of the long power cut. It is here that the daughter tells her not to worry because her new refrigerator even works on the home inverter.
The 60-second film focuses on a real life situation, of the difficulty faced by individuals when food gets spoilt due to power cuts during summer months. The film captures a young working woman in conversation with her mother that touches hearts with different emotions of joy, love and care.
The end of the film shows the daughter buying a similar refrigerator for her mother, hoping that the refrigerator takes care of her mother like her mother takes care of her.
“Samsung is a brand that stands for innovation. The task at hand was to show how this offering of a refrigerator that runs on an inverter can make a world of a difference in the consumers’ life, in a very real way. This film is crafted in a way that makes the viewer feel that this is a situation straight out of their lives. The narrative beautifully connects the ad to its viewers and we are seeing a lot of positive response to the campaign. We hope to garner more brand love through this emotional campaign,” said Aneesh Jaisinghani, Executive Creative Director, Cheil India.
Manufacturing businesses in India are keen to invest in digital technologies but are struggling to derive tangible business benefits due to an imbalanced approach to digital investments, according to Reinventing Business with Industry X.0, a new report from Accenture.
Ninety-three percent of the executives surveyed – who represent 29 manufacturing and production companies in India with an annual turnover of at least US$1 billion – want to leverage digital for growth, with 76 percent intending to use digital to create new, experience-driven revenue opportunities. However, only 31 percent plan to use digital to drive greater operational efficiencies, likely missing out on bottom-line improvements.
“There appears to be a singular focus on revenue growth, with businesses neglecting an important requirement of the digital era: the transformation of operations to unlock trapped value,” said Anindya Basu, geographic unit and country senior managing director – Accenture in India. “Businesses in India must place equal emphasis on using digital to drive efficiencies at the heart of the business and using the freed-up funds to drive strategic investments in new products, customer experiences and business models that create long-term value.”
For example, Accenture research has found that industrial equipment companies globally could reduce their total cost per employee by almost 20 percent and increase their market capitalization by nearly 25 percent if they combine innovative technologies such as autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and 3D-printing.
Indian manufacturers have been struggling to achieve globally competitive scale and productivity. While the industrial sector in India has grown 6 percent annually since 2011, to more than US$700 billion in 2016, the value addition per employee is one of the lowest in the world, at only US$6,000.
An Action Plan for Success
The Accenture report suggests that the right combination of digital technologies could help Indian industrial companies address this issue, as the technologies hold the potential to drive dramatic efficiency improvements and exponential revenue growth. Specifically, the report recommends that companies adopt a new approach that Accenture refers to as Industry X.0. It is an action plan for becoming more adept at embracing technological change and digital technologies to manage the shift from industrial manufacturing to producing and delivering digital products and services and supporting them in the field.
According to the report, Indian businesses should take six actions to derive value from Industry X.0:
Transform the core: Drive new levels of efficiency by building core engineering and production systems around digital technologies. Ensure that physical machines and software systems are tightly integrated for predictive maintenance, and help scale automation to optimize production runs and improve overall equipment effectiveness.
Create hyper-personalized experiences: Design and deploy products, services and platforms that constantly adapt to changing customer needs. Use big data to generate real-time insights to enable decision making, and enhance the customer and workforce experience through smart, digital touchpoints.
Innovate business models: Create new business models to drive differentiated customer value propositions well beyond the point-of-sale interaction. Use the internet of things (IoT) and Industrial IoT to develop connected and intelligent products that can be monetized via software-based-services and pay-per-use revenue models.
Build a digital ready workforce: Recruit, train and retain talent with skills, such as software engineering and machine learning, for the digital enterprise. Encourage collaboration between people and machines.
Build new ecosystems: Build an ecosystem of supply chain partners including start-ups and customers to scale new digital business models rapidly. Tap into internal and external sources for new ideas, while nurturing innovation clusters to prototype early-stage technology use cases.
Pivot Wisely: Synchronize innovation and growth through balanced investments in the core business and in new business. Stay focused on traditional performance metrics while keeping an eye on disruptors, and continuously inject digital technologies into mainstream operations.
“Industry X.0 will unleash a new level of energy into the manufacturing industry,” said Raghu Gullapalli, managing director - industrial, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AAPAC), Accenture. “To harness the true potential of digital for profitable growth in the future, Indian companies need to look at immediate-term value extraction from legacy data and build a progressive roadmap for connecting their products, equipment, supply chain, people and customers. Companies that embark on this journey in a holistic manner today will emerge as the digital leaders of tomorrow.”
Research Methodology
Accenture surveyed senior executives from 29 companies across 12 manufacturing and production industries in India with annual turnover in excess of US$1 billion. The companies were a part of a larger survey of more than 900 senior executives from large industrial companies across 21 different nations to understand how companies deploy digital technologies and the benefits they derive from them. The research identified a set of 10 technologies critical for Industry X.0: 3D printing, artificial intelligence, augmented/virtual reality, autonomous robots, autonomous vehicles, big data analytics, blockchain, digital twin, machine learning and mobile computing. Using both survey data and company financial data, researchers performed an Economic Value Modelling analysis to identify the technology combinations with the biggest impact on top- and bottom-line value release, as measured by market capitalization and cost-per-employee. They then identified the optimum mix of technologies by combining results from machine learning and principal component analysis.
Quantum Corp has announced that its complete line of scale-out tiered storage, archive and data protection solutions for video surveillance environments is now available through Convergint Technologies. Certified with the industry-leading camera, VMS and analytics offerings, these award-winning, intelligent solutions will provide Convergint’s global user community with the foundation for next-generation security, analytics and AI infrastructures — a key challenge facing customers in this evolving market.
Multitiered Storage for an Expansive Range of Video Surveillance Environments
With an extensive heritage of implementations for environments such as federal installations, transportation, healthcare, higher education and city surveillance, Quantum’s storage portfolio for video surveillance offers a logical fit with Convergint’s strategic direction. The partnership with Quantum enables Convergint to provide its video surveillance and security customers with an expanded range of integrated, scalable solutions for data protection and retention.
Powered by its StorNext parallel file system and data management platform, Quantum’s multitier storage makes the combination of storage performance and data retention more affordable. As a result, customers can not only keep surveillance data longer but also have more budget available to spend on cameras and real-time analytics, for a more effective video surveillance environment.
Visit Convergint and Quantum at ISC West
Convergint Technologies (booth 14099) and Quantum (booth 22125) will highlight their solutions for video surveillance environments at ISC West 2018, Las Vegas, April 11-13.
Supporting Quotes
Tony Varco, vice president, security division, Convergint Technologies
“Convergint’s success stems from the level of service we provide to our clients, and we are continually looking to enhance our ability to meet our customers’ needs. Our partnership with Quantum allows us to maintain our growth strategy with intelligent storage solutions to further deepen and expand the portfolio we offer to customers.”
Wayne Arvidson, vice president, intelligence, surveillance and security solutions, Quantum
“Retention time for surveillance data continues to increase, and Convergint understands the value of storage as part of the surveillance and security infrastructure. With their global reach, reputation of excellence, and extensive qualification and vetting process, I’m pleased to have Quantum included among Convergint’s select list of offerings.”
Samsung, India’s biggest and most trusted consumer electronics and mobile phones brand, is bringing Samsung Carnival to Flipkart, giving instant discount, exciting exchange offers and no-cost EMI schemes on select products from April 10 to April 12, 2018.
Consumers buying Galaxy On Nxt 64GB during Samsung Carnival on Flipkart will get the smartphone at Rs 11,900 after flat Rs 1,000 off. Galaxy On Max, which excels in low-light photography, will be available at Rs 12,900 after flat Rs 2,000 off. Galaxy On Nxt 16GB can be bought for an exciting price of Rs 9,490. Galaxy On5 and Galaxy J3 Pro will be up for grabs at Rs 5,990 and Rs 6,990 respectively during the Samsung Carnival on Flipkart.
There are exciting offers on consumer durables too. Samsung’s 49" M6300 Full HD Curved SMART TV will be available at a special price of INR 66,900. This season, customers can look forward to a cooler summer as the carnival brings attractive offers on refrigerators as well. Samsung’s 253L 2 Star Frost-Free Refrigerator and Top Mount Freezer with Convertible 5-in-1 will be available at a special price of Rs 23,790 and Rs 36,090 respectively.
Adding to this summer bonanza, customers can avail instant discount, no-cost EMI and exciting exchange offers on select products.
“We are happy to announce Samsung Carnival on Flipkart with attractive offers. During the Carnival, we will have instant discount, exciting exchange offers and attractive no cost EMI on select products that will allow consumers to purchase and enjoy their favourite Samsung products,” Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President, Online Business, Samsung India, said.
"Flipkart has always stood for customer centricity and ensuring maximum value for every purchase made. Samsung Carnival, between 10-12 April, is Flipkart’s yet another way of offering great products at some of the most affordable prices" Ayyappan Rajagopal, Senior Director, Flipkart, said.
Partner offers:
Instant Discount: 10% instant discount* with ICICI Bank Credit and Debit Cards (*T&C apply)
Best exchange value: Customers can exchange their existing prodcuts and get great value for their old device.
No Cost EMI: No cost EMI financing schemes available on select products with select Credit/Debit cards.
