Kalyan Jewellers to Open New Showroom at Marathahalli, Bengaluru on August 9, 2018

Kalyan Jewellers, one of India’s most trusted and leading jewellery brands, has today announced that it will be opening a brand new showroom on Varthur Main Road, Marathahalli - their 5th in the garden city. Brand Ambassadors Shri Shivrajkumar and Shri Nagarjuna along with the company’s Chairman and Managing Director T.S. Kalyanaraman and Executive Directors Rajesh Kalyanaraman and Ramesh Kalyanaraman, will inaugurate the same on 9th August, 2018 at 11:30 am.

The new showroom in Marathahalli will be the 130th showroom of the brand globally and will offer exquisite gold, diamond and studded jewellery. As part of the launch offer, - customers will get 1 gold coin free* on purchase of precious stone jewellery worth Rs. 25,000/- or 2 gold coins free with every purchase of uncut, diamond and polki jewellery worth the same amount. The customers will also able to get a 100% value on exchange of old gold.*

Kalyan Jewellers Chairman and Managing Director T.S. Kalyanaraman said, “Kalyan Jewellers has been warmly received in Bengaluru, and it is this that encouraged us to launch a new outlet in Marathahalli. Customers can expect quality jewellery, extensive range of designs, great ambience along with a world of privileges at this new showroom. Bengaluru is an important growth market for the brand and the state of Karnataka has always shown tremendous potential. The investment in Marathahalli is part of our strategy to establish a stronger presence in this city and also make Kalyan Jewellers more accessible to our customers. ’’

Kalyan will offer its patrons, Muhurat, the bridal jewellery line curated from across India along with exclusive sections featuring Kalyan’s popular house brands such as Tejasvi – Polki jewellery, Mudhra - handcrafted antique jewellery, Nimah – temple Jewellery, Glo – dancing diamonds, Ziah – Solitaire like diamond jewellery, Anokhi – uncut diamonds, Apoorva – diamonds for special occasions, Antara – wedding Diamonds and Hera – daily wear diamonds and Rang – precious stones jewellery. Kalyan will draw from its portfolio of over one lakh contemporary and traditional designs and will offer selections for everyday as well as bridal wear and festive occasions.

Thales Data Threat Report 2018: 93% of Indian Respondents Plan on Increasing IT Security Spending in 2018

Thales, a leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data security, announces the findings of its 2018 Thales Data Threat Report, India edition, issued in conjunction with analyst firm 451 Research. The report finds that a striking 93% of Indian respondents plan on increasing IT security spending this year, the highest among all countries surveyed and well above the global average (78%).

This year’s findings demonstrate a mix of good and bad news for Indian organisations in adopting security strategies to prevent the breach of sensitive data at their workplaces.

According to the report, digital transformation across the globe has led to the growth of new business models that are focused on driving growth and profitability for organisations including cloud, IoT, big data and blockchain. Indians recognise encryption with Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) capabilities as the top security tool for securing sensitive data in cloud environments and continue to spend their resources on the same technology.

The report also states that the government’s steps toward ensuring transparency under the ‘Aadhaar programme’ have resulted in an increase in IT security spending by Indian organisations. At the same time, reports of successful data breaches in India are second only to Sweden among all geographical and vertical markets.

Key findings:

* In India, the top choice for satisfying data privacy laws is encryption (30% vs. 42% globally, where it is also the top choice), followed by tokenization (25% vs. 20% globally) 
* Around 52% of Indian respondents reported a data breach last year, way above the global average (36%). Further, a full three quarters (75%) of respondents in India reported being breached at some time in the past, compared with just 67% globally.
* 62% of Indian respondents report feeling ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ vulnerable to attacks on sensitive data (37% ‘extremely’ vulnerable), well ahead of the global average (44%).
* Indian organisations are apparently not spending their valuable IT security funds in the right places.
* 91% list analysis and correlation as the most effective weapons to stop data breaches followed closely by data-in-motion/data-at-rest defenses at 90% each
* Endpoint/mobile defenses are ranked least effective (81%)
* Yet endpoint/mobile defenses are ranked at the top in terms of spending plans (81%), with data-at-rest at the bottom (54%).
* 85% of Indian respondents say compliance is either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ effective at stopping breaches, again way ahead of the global average (64%).
* Indian respondents are relatively unconcerned about storing sensitive data in cloud environments, with 92% of Indian respondents reporting that their organisations store sensitive data in some form of public cloud (either IaaS, PaaS or SaaS), well ahead of the global average of 74%.
* Concerns about performance impacts and business processes are the top barriers cited in India to IT security, followed by perceptions of complexity (48%) and perceived need (37%).

The data in the report is based on detailed inputs from over 100 senior IT security managers in India – all part of the Thales 2018 Global Data Threat Report, which polled 1,200 IT security managers in eight countries and across four major vertical markets.

“The world today revolves around technology and more and more organisations are reshaping the way they do business with digital transformation. As the world becomes more connected, it also becomes more vulnerable. Cybersecurity has become an indispensable part of our digital technologies. At Thales, we have been helping our customers to think smarter and act faster during the complexities that arise each day and mitigate the challenges successfully.

“This year’s India Data Threat Report 2018 emphasizes the need for change in security strategies to prevent the continuous increase in data breaches and also highlights privacy and data protection practices,” said Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, VP & Country Director, Thales in India.

“The report reveals data about increasing cyber threats in India and is a call to action for organisations to strengthen their security posture and take steps towards protecting their data. We’re now at the point where we have to admit that data breaches are the new reality with over half of organizations in India suffering a breach in the last year. In this increasingly data-driven world it is therefore hugely important that organizations take steps to protect that data wherever it is created, shared or stored. Thales provides everything an organization needs to protect and manage its data, identities and intellectual property, and meet regulatory compliance – through encryption, advanced key management, tokenization, privileged-user control and high-assurance solutions,” said James Cook, Sales Director South Asia, Thales eSecurity.

This Start-Up Fought WhatsApp False News and Prevented Two Tragedies in Chennai

When Verify.Wiki LLC - a start-up that fights False News through a methodology called "reverse virality" - by combining crowdsourcing with social networking- saw the recent lynching incidents in India due to False WhatsApp messages, it immediately sprang into action. The company picked Chennai as a pilot city to test if it could prevent another tragedy.

On July 13th, 2018, the company noticed two suspected False News stories propagating via WhatsApp, one asking people to punish a school teacher in Perambur, Chennai for hitting and kicking little children, and another circulating a young female doctor's photo, claiming she was treating patients for free in Chennai. Both these posts went viral on WhatsApp and Facebook in Chennai.

"The team immediately kicked off the pilot. They first learnt that the video that was circulated was from a school in Egypt, recorded in 2014, not from Perambur, Chennai. They also quickly uncovered the other story about the doctor was also false, propagated by a person who steals profile photos of young women from Facebook", said Siva Nadarajah, an adviser and investor at Verify.Wiki who recently requested the company to help with the deadly False News crisis in India.

Once the stories were verified to be false through crowdsourced research, Verify.Wiki said its "reverse virality" approach ensured the propagation of the False News was stopped within hours. With reverse virality, the corrected version of the False News, was propagated back through the same path the story originated, via WhatsApp and Facebook, targeting those who might have consumed the False News.

"We were able to stop both the False News stories within a few hours. We also noticed the propagation of those two false stories completely stopping within 24 hours.", added Siva Nadarajah.

 "Imagine if Wikipedia and Facebook had a baby. You combine crowdsourcing with social networking. It's so powerful when it comes to transparency and credibility in fighting False News. We stopped seven False News stories just within two weeks of our pilot in Chennai. Some are harmless and some are deadly. The nice thing is anyone can anonymously submit a suspected False News and everyone can participate in the verification activities. It's a democratic process to fight False News", added Siva Nadarajah. 

Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp recently took full page newspaper advertisements to warn people of False News propagating via WhatsApp, after lynching incidents killed dozens of people across India.

Infinix Brings Dual VoLTE in Sub 6K Segment Available on Flipkart from Rs 5,999 Onwards

Infinix Mobile, the online smartphone brand from TRANSSION Holdings, today announced the launch of its global “SMART” series in India. The SMART 2 flaunts many industry-first innovations in the sub 6K smartphone segment such as the 18:9 Full View display, 8MP Low Light selfie with Dual LED Flash, Dual SIM, Dual VoLTE (4G+4G), and Face Unlock. 

Speaking on the occasion, Anish Kapoor, CEO Infinix India said, “As India is undergoing rapid technology changes with 4G LTE expected to be adopted by 85% of the Indian market by 2018 (Source: published ET news), hence, there is a pressing need in the market for Dual-VoLTE smartphones in the budget segment. We at Infinix have a clear goal in mind of bringing exceptional devices across all price segments which empowers our customers with premium smartphone experience sans the premium pricing. SMART 2 is a validation of the same.”

He further added, “Infinix SMART 2 is a future ready budget smartphone which can enable two 4G VoLTE SIM cards active in your phone simultaneously.  Filling-in the gap for generation next, this latest smartphone ticks every box for consumer looking for a perfect package in the budget segment under 6K by offering the combination of features such as 18:9 Full View display, 8MP Selfie Camera with Dual LED Flash and Dual SIM, Dual VoLTE (4G+4G) and Face Unlock.”

To celebrate the launch of Smart 2 on Flipkart, Mr. Ayyappan Rajagopal, Senior Director - Mobiles at Flipkart said, “We are excited to launch the new Infinix Smart 2 on Flipkart. This product truly ensures an uncompromising smartphone experience for the masses at an affordable price. This offering will play a key role for Flipkart in the sub 8K segment by ensuring quality smartphones with the latest features are democratized and made accessible to all.”

Some of the key features include:

Full View display

As for display, yet again the brand has not compromised Infinix SMART 2 is endowed with 5.45” HD+ Full View display with 18:9 aspect ratio with easy one hand operation. The smartphone is bestowed with a larger screen-to-body percentage of 83% and 500 nits’ brightness to add to an immersive visual experience. Moreover, the screen also features an Eye Care mode to protect you from eye strain caused due to long hours of smartphone usage.

Enhance your selfie experience

Adding another industry-first feather in the cap, Infinix is first to offer the 8MP Low Light selfie camera with Dual LED Flash and f/2.0 aperture in the sub 6K segment.

Its large f/2.0 aperture lets more amount of light to enter the sensor and with customisable Dual LED Flash, SMART 2 captures sharper and brighter selfies even in low lighting condition. SMART 2 is equipped with 9 level of beauty levels to give you perfect selfies. Also Its Bokeh selfie mode lets you stand out of the crowd by putting you in focus and blur rest everything in the background.

Rear 13MP PDAF camera with Dual LED Flash

The smartphone is also equipped with a rear camera sporting a 13MP PDAF, f/ 2.0 with 5P Lens and Dual LED Flash, which helps in getting sharper and brighter photographs. It also supports HDR, Beauty, Night and Panorama modes to elevate the photography experience.

Future ready smartphone with Dual SIM, Dual VoLTE (DSDV)

Infinix SMART 2 is first in the segment and redefines with category by providing Dual VoLTE SIM (4G+4G) solution. With SMART 2, consumer can use 4G VoLTE in both the SIM cards at the same time. It also features a dedicated microSD card slot, which can support expandable memory upto 128GB.

Upping the ante of performance & security in budget category

Infinix SMART 2 comes with a MediaTek 6739 64-bit 1.5GHz Quad-Core processor for superior performance. On the software front, It comes with XOS 3.3 powered by latest Android Oreo 8.1 operating system. As smartphone privacy and security is key these days, SMART 2 comes with advance face recognition technology which provides quick Face Unlock under 0.3 sec.

In terms of battery life, the new Infinix SMART 2 comes with big capacity 3050mAh battery, which provide 21hrs of 4G talk-time and keeps up with fast paced life.

The device will be available in two variants - 2GB RAM + 16GB storage for Rs 5,999 and 3GB RAM +32GB storage for Rs 6,999

With this latest smartphone in the portfolio, Infinix is now 5 SKU strong with SMART 2, HOT 6 Pro, HOT S3, NOTE 4 & ZERO 5. The new smartphone will be available exclusively via Flipkart India starting from 10th Aug, 2018. SMART 2 will be available in four colours of Sandstone Black, Serene Gold, Bordeaux Red and City Blue.

Altair to Set Up Altair Design Innovation Center in collaboration with KLE Technological University, Hubballi

Altair Engineering India and KLE Technological University (KLE Tech) are interested to set up an Altair Design Innovation center (ADIC) at KLE University, Hubballi campus. Following are the core objective of this engagement and henceforth both Altair and KLE TECH will work towards achieving below goals and deliverables.

Objective of this Industry-Academia Interaction through Altair Design Innovation Center is to develop and facilitate competency on commercial FEM software from Altair called HyperWorks. Also aid students research activity with the help of our FEM code. This also helps in proving Skilled man power which are in turn useful to Altair customers and prospects. This Innovation Centre is based on HyperWorks Suite of Products. The goals include:

1.      Provide Unlimited Student-License to any active student of KLE Tech during his degree or Post graduation degree course for his personal Laptop/Desktop so that he can actively pursue Altair HyperWorks Technology.

2.      Facilitate Various Online Learning and certification courses (listed in Annexure). No limit to the number of students taking part in this initiative. Only certified students list will be published in Altair Industry outreach portal to facilitate Internship and placement at Altair, Altair Customers, Altair Distributors, and Altair Prospects.

3.      Following eBooks to be used for framing Syllabus and as a reference book for the planned Industry oriented courses at KLE Tech. Note that these are by default used as Reference book for the certification courses of Altair. This will help KLE TECH to facilitate Syllabus making for Mechanical P.G and U.G courses.

a.FEM: Practical Aspects of Finite Element Simulation (A Study Guide)
b. Optimization: Practical Aspects of Structural Optimization (A Study Guide)
c. Multi Body Dynamics: Practical Aspects of Multi-Body Simulation with HyperWorks
d. Non- Linear Explicit Simulation: Crash Analysis with RADIOSS – A Study Guide
e. DOE Studies: Design of Experiments with HyperStudy – A Study Guide
f. Additive Manufacturing: A Practical Introduction to solidThinking Inspire                                      g. Composites: Introduction to Practical aspects of Composites
h. Ease of Simulation: A practical introduction to Inspire
i. Dynamics: Learn Dynamic Analysis with Altair OptiStruct
j. Machine Learning: Introduction into Fit Approximations with Altair HyperStudy

4.      Altair to help KLE Tech on following: It will help the institution to move up to the next level of competency in FEM techniques.
a.       Assistance to sponsored Industry R&D projects, 
b.      Intensive Faculty Development Program (FDP) – 2 in a year, 2/3 days each
c.       Access to our Altair calendar Training to faculties – Train the Trainer program
d.      Project work to students (One batch, max 3 students per batch)

Speaking on the occasion, Pavan Kumar, Managing Director, Altair India, said, “We are honoured to be selected as the technology partner for KLE Technological University. We are sure that the partnership will result in KLE producing future ready engineers.”

Speaking on the partnership, Dr.Ashok Shettar, Vice Chancellor, KLE Technological University, Hubballi said “Collaboration with Altair will help us to expose our students to industry relevant technologies and tools making them industry-ready.”

KLE TECH is a Treasure of Knowledge. Altair to pursue in converting this knowledge to applied science useful to society. This MOU is a walk towards bigger collaboration to create win-win situation.

Fullerton India Offers Garima Loan to Promote Sanitation in Rural India

Fullerton India Credit Company Limited (Fullerton India), a leading non-banking financial company with a strong pan-India presence, has successfully booked more than 150 Garima Loans – a toilet construction loan, in the pilot phase, benefitting over 1000 lives across 35 locations in rural India. Garima Loan offered under Fullerton India’s rural business arm, Gramshakti, aims to encourage inhabitants of rural areas to lead a hygienic lifestyle and elevate their standard of living by constructing toilets.

Garima loan can be availed by a homeowner across 35 branches of Gramshakti in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The ticket size of the loan ranges from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000, which can be repaid in easy instalments within the tenure of 6 to 24 months, depending on loan amount.  Borrowers can also avail the subsidies offered under Swachh Bharat Mission while applying for the loan.

Commenting on the launch, Vishal Wadhwa, Head- Rural Business, Fullerton India Credit Company Limited, said, “A number of households in rural areas are deprived of clean and hygienic toilets, which leads to infections and other health issues. Identifying this gap, Fullerton India launched Garima Loan to enable a dignified standard of living in India’s rural hinterlands. We have witnessed a high demand for the loan pan-India with as many as 25 loans disbursed in Godhra, Gujarat in a single day. This highlights the need for such products in rural and semi-urban areas. The launch of Garima further reinstates Gramshakti’s commitment to be the one-stop player for rural credit needs.

To accelerate the efforts to achieve rural sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation, Garima loan can be availed by borrowers either to construct new toilets or to reconstruct their existing toilets. Gramshkati will soon offer this product across all its branches by engaging with rural communities in improvement of their sanitation status through an intensive awareness campaign.”

Vivo Brings 72 Hours of Special Offers this 72nd Independence Day

Vivo, the premium global smartphone brand, today announced their exciting Independence Day offers starting from 7th to 9th August (sale starts at midnight of 6th August) exclusively on its e-commerce store, shop.vivo.com/in. During Vivo’s ‘Freedom Carnival’,  customers can avail attractive discounts, coupon deals and cashback offers on select range of Vivo smartphones and accessories during the three day online sale.

Get the NEX and V9 @ INR 1947 and Accessories @ INR 72

Commemorating India’s 72 years of Independence, Vivo will be offering their latest best-sellers – NEX and V9 via flash sale for just INR 1947. Additionally, consumers will also stand a chance to purchase Vivo accessories such as earphones, and USB wires at an attractive price of INR 72 only. The flash for both the smartphones and accessories will commence at 12 noon for all three days and will last till stocks last.

Speaking on the announcement, Jerome Chen, CMO, Vivo India, said, “Vivo wanted to make the 72nd Independence Day special for all its customers. Our Freedom Carnival brings exclusive offers on our latest products and provides the freedom for everybody to celebrate and express themselves through Vivo smartphones and accessories.” 

Cash back on all credit and debit card transactions

During the three days carnival, customers get up to INR 4000 cashback on select models.  In addition, Vivo is offering 12-month zero-cost EMI scheme on all Vivo smartphones. Besides cashbacks and interest free shopping, customers will also get Bluetooth earphones worth INR 1200, free on purchase of NEX, X21 and V9.

Coupon Deals

Customers can further sweeten their purchase with the help of readily available discount coupons redeemable on select smartphones and accessories.