For the second year in a row, Philips Lighting India has been recognized as one of India’s Best Companies to work for in a survey conducted jointly by The Economic Times and Great Place to Work® Institute. As a part of the top 100 list, Philips Lighting has been acclaimed for its excellent work culture and key organizational values that the company believes in. Amongst 800 leading companies that participated in the survey this year, Philips Lighting India has made a significant progress from 82nd rank last year to the 69th spot this year.
Commenting on this achievement, Sumit Joshi, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Philips Lighting India, said, “We are delighted to be recognized as one of India’s 100 Best Companies to work for, second year in a row. I am extremely proud of our team in India for their invaluable contribution in creating an incredible company culture and work environment over the years. This recognition is a strong affirmation of our key organizational values that form an integral part of our company DNA.”
The survey independently evaluates participating companies on various parameters that define a great workplace, assessed through employee feedback and critical evaluation of company policies and practices.
In a quest to continuously make the work environment better, Philips Lighting India has designed several platforms for the employees to bring forward their feedback, ideas and suggestions and over the last year they have worked towards improving the identified areas. The company also makes strong efforts to recognize and reward meaningful contributions by their employees across different functions and roles, through an innovative app called Light Up, using which employees can recognize their peers. Team leaders can also reward their team members under different category of awards, which makes them eligible for Light Up points that can be redeemed on popular shopping and travel websites.
Signify became the new company name of Philips Lighting as of May 16, 2018. The legal name of Signify will be adapted in India in the beginning of 2019.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 13088 units in the domestic market this month of June 2018. The company exported 1014 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 14102 units. TKM had sold 1973 units in the domestic market and exported 1655 units of the Etios series in June 2017 as a conscious decision to lower the volumes to lessen any impact on the dealers owing to the uncertainty surrounding implementation of GST in July 2017
The company has been able to register 23% growth in the first half of 2018 from Jan –June 2018 as compared to the same period last year.
Commenting on the sales performance, N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “We have achieved triple digit growth this month as compared to June 2017 owing to last year’s GST scenario, wherein we supplied as per the market demand which was impacted due to impending GST implementation. The real scenario of June-July sales will be clear after July end compared to Jun –July 2017.
The positive growth in the first six months of 2018 over 2017 has been very encouraging. We have registered a 23% growth in Jan –June 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017. Thanks to the persistent support and trust from our loyal customers, Innova Crysta has recorded 43% growth in April-June 2018 as compared to the same quarter last year. Being the segment leader for more than a decade, it gives us the confidence that we have been able to win customer hearts through unmatchable quality, safety and innovation.
We are happy that Yaris continues to enjoy good traction from customers.
We will continue to push our boundaries to cater to customer needs in the country.
Underwriters Laboratories (UL NFP), the not-for-profit parent of UL has flagged off a unique and multi-dimensional initiative across 10 cities in India, the National Safety Science Campaign (NSSC). Promoting safety education for children is a key initiative for the UL NFP in advancing the organization’s public safety mission. The NSSC is a sustained commitment to improve the safety culture in India by harnessing the academic and creative potential of students to transform them as safety ambassadors.
The campaign is an evolution of UL’s National Safety Science Quiz (NSSQ), a multi-format competition that invited participation from 85,000 students from grade IX to XII across 10 cities in the country in its fourth edition in 2017. Building on the success of the NSSQ, the comprehensive plan for NSSC involves expanding the outreach to children from younger age groups and involving several stakeholders in the school set up – teachers, principals and parents and eventually, policy makers in the education sector.
With an aim to engage over 10 million youngsters across the country, the three-pronged NSSC is designed as an all-year agenda where participating schools will get many opportunities to increase awareness around topics such as electrical, road, fire, cyber, environment and food safety that are relevant to everyday life.
In addition to the NSSQ (focused on students of grades 9 – 12), the NSSC will include new avenues of expression through a poster and slogan contest (for students of grades 5 – 8) and a school contact program to establish safety clubs and provide safety mentorship training for teachers. The poster and slogan competition will be hosted digitally on the NSSC microsite and the quiz and school contact program will be held in the shortlisted cities – Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata – covering all parts of India.
Commenting on the launch of the NSSC 2018, Suresh Sugavanam, Vice President and Managing Director, UL - South Asia, said, “UL believes that inculcating safety education in children is an important step to promote safety awareness in society. We are inspired by the response to the NSSQ over the years and we wanted to deepen our engagement with school community to build a grass-root movement for adopting safer practices in our daily life. While the NSSQ remains the cornerstone of the campaign, the other elements of the NSSC enables us to establish an inclusive platform to involve children of varying academic and creative potential, as well as the school ecosystem, in the journey to bring marked improvements in India’s safety culture.”
Payments Council of India (PCI), the apex body representing the companies in the payments and settlement system, in its latest Annual General Meeting, has announced the appointment of Vishwas Patel, Director, Infibeam Avenues, as its new Chairman. Vishwas has been associated with PCI ever since its inception in 2013 and was serving as its Co-Chairman of Payments Council of India. He takes over from Naveen Surya, who has been elevated to the post of Chairman Emeritus. PCI has also announced the appointment of Loney Antony, Managing Director, Hitachi Payment Services as its new Co-Chairman.
In his capacity as the Chairman of PCI, Vishwas will drive the agenda of creating a sustainable environment conducive to the development of digital payments industry in India. He along with Loney and Naveen will strive towards achieving the government’s target of growing the volume of digital transactions to 30 billion for the financial year 2018-19. The newly appointed leadership team will lay considerable focus on ironing out the micro issues faced by the industry such as Implementation of Interoperability of Prepaid Payments Instruments, , reimbursement issues related to Debit Card MDR for transactions upto Rs. 2000, and simplification of outward remittance regulations among others
Speaking on the occasion, Vishwas Patel, Chairman, PCI, said “I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the members of the Payment Council of India. I am honored and humbled that they have placed their trust in me. With their trust, I will work tirelessly on PCI’s behalf to help address challenges, and to secure lasting and meaningful solutions to all the issues faced by our payments industry. The industry has huge potential in our country and simultaneously my considerable efforts will be laid on leapfrogging the industry to great heights.”
A veteran in the digital payments industry, Vishwas has been instrumental in driving the industry initiative of equitable distribution of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) between acquirers and merchants. As a voice of the payments industry, he has also spoken at multiple government and industry forums highlighting the challenges faced by the net banking, debit and credit cards industry and possible recommendations to take the industry forward.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Naveen Surya, Chairman Emeritus, PCI, said ‘’I would like to congratulate Vishwas and Loney. Both are innovators and great leaders, who understand the nitty-grittys of the industry. The digital payments industry in India has seen uncharted growths in the last few years and I am confident that under their able leadership, the industry will reach new milestones. I wish them all the success.’’
President Ram Nath Kovind has said the Indian economy is set for a surge with the GDP size seen at doubling to USD 5 trillion probably by 2025.
He was speaking after launching the platinum jubilee celebrations of chartered accountants' apex body ICAI.
"Indian economy is set for a surge and in the next decade, probably even by 2025, India is expected to double the size of the GDP to USD 5 trillion," Kovind said.
Emphasising that adherence to fair taxation system is much more than merely providing revenue to the government, Kovind said chartered accountants are the watchdogs of public trust.
Chartered accountants have a key role to play and are facilitators of tax payers as well as taxation system.
Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary said the government's fight against black money is continuing and that around 2.25 lakh suspected shell companies have been identified.
These entities are being analysed and suitable action would be taken, he added.
ICAI President Naveen N D Gupta said the world congress of accountants would be held in India in 2022.
Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha also spoke at the function.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has more than 2.80 lakh members.
92.7 BIG FM, one of India’s largest radio networks brings back Yaadon Ka Idiot Box with Neelesh Misra – an iconic show that truly pioneered the storytelling genre on radio. Captivating listeners with enchanting tales for the last four successful seasons, the show has been an absolute favourite not only with the audience but also among advertisers across categories.Narrated by magician storyteller Neelesh Misra, who has the knack of creating a theatre of the mind experience for listeners,Yaadon Ka Idiot Boxis all set to raise the bar in its fifth edition and provide a premier storytelling experience to the audience.
Airing across 53 stations, the latest offering will feature regular people’s extraordinary stories and is slated to go on-air from 2ndJuly 2018 on weekdays between 10 pm-11pm.
On the launch of Season 5 of Yaadon Ka Idiot Box with NeeleshMisra, Asheesh Chatterjee, Chief Financial Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited said, “Yaadon Ka Idiot Box Season 5 has a huge brand recall and loyal listenership across the network. It is a show that creates a huge impact for brands and a great opportunity for us to present unique clutter breaking solutions for advertisers. We are already in talks with brands for long term deals with integrated offerings, bundled FCT and digital spike for the show.”
Speaking about Yaadon Ka Idiot Box with Neelesh Misra Season 5, Sunil Kumaran, Country Head, Thwink BIG said, “The format of the show coupled with Neelesh’s exceptional style made for a formidable combination in creating one of the most engaging and first-of-its-kind offerings on radio. Neelesh is one of the best orators in the country and he brings his distinctive style to the show. Given its innate popularity, the show has been well received and will continue to serve as a beneficial offering for all the stakeholders involved. The new season will be a reflection on the transformation that India is going through as it leaps ahead on the development path.We are confident that the show will set new standards in radio listenership.”
Talking about his association with BIG FM and Yaadon Ka Idiot Box Season 5, Neelesh Misra said, “BIG FM is probably the only network that had the conviction to take a risk of launching a storytelling show on radio, when we first introduced YaadonKa Idiot Box back in 2011. With their absolute belief in the format and the network’s reach, BIG FM did complete justice to the show. I am glad be a part of the BIG family once again as we look to bring back Yaadon Ka Idiot Box.”
With an intent to take listeners on yet another exhilarating experience, Neelesh Misra and his team of prolific writershave scripted soul-stirring stories weaved around the transforming nation that we live in.Yaadon Ka Idiot Box has garnered unprecedented success and created a legacy of its own; making path breaking records by reaching millions of listeners in its past seasons. As India’s most awarded radio show, the offering has received accolades for titles like Best Radio programme under Hindi category and RJ of the year at IRF in 2016 in addition to several other awards.
Japanese auto major Nissan Motor Co signed an MoU with the Kerala government to establish a new global centre for digital operations in India.
The Nissan Digital Hub will be the first of a number of software and information technology development centres in Asia, Europe and North America, which will comprehensively transform the company's business by placing digital technology at the heart of key operations and services.
"The hub will allow Nissan to provide best-in-class user experiences, product development capabilities, security and connectivity as the automotive industry evolves, with growing use of autonomous, connected and electric vehicle technology," a release said.
The first centre will initially be in Technopark – a technology park owned by the state government in Thiruvananthapuram – before moving to a permanent location in the city. Once fully operational, it will provide a range of in-house services to strengthen Nissan’s digital capabilities in India and other global markets.
Peyman Kargar, Chairman of Nissan’s Africa, Middle East and India region, said, “The creation of Nissan’s first global digital hub in India reflects our commitment to this growing market and our belief in investing in India for the long term. Harnessing the skills and talents of the workforce in India is another way that Nissan is working to capture the full potential of the region.”
