Fullerton India Home Finance Company Limited which operates under the brand Grihashakti reinstates its commitment and growth plans for Karnataka by establishing two new branches in Bengaluru and Hubli located at #21, Raja Glitz, KH Road, Bengaluru and Office No 106, 1st Floor, Wali Nirvana Tradewinds, Opp KSRTC Depot, Hosur, Vidhya Nagar, Hubli, respectively. Grihashakti is currently present in the state through its branches located at Bijapur, Gulbarga, Shimoga, Belgaum, and Mysore, in addition to its recently opened branches in Bengaluru and Hubli. Grihashakti was earlier operating in the cities through a shared premise with its parent company Fullerton India, located at Bhramananda Court and Koppikar Road.
Grihashakti offers home loans in Bengaluru and Hubli to individuals majorly in the affordable housing segment. The Company also offers services across non-housing categories, which includes Commercial Property Loans and Loan against Property. The loans offered are competitively priced and the ticket size ranges from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 crore. Grihashakti has also launched ‘Grihalakshmi’ – a home loan product specially designed for women borrowers last year. This product encourages salaried and entrepreneurial women in urban and semi-urban India to help build a home for their family and create asset ownership on the basis of their income. The rate of interest on these loans is competitively priced, from 8.99% onwards for housing loans and 10.50% onwards for non-housing loans. Karnataka is a key market for Grihashakti with a stable asset quality, online records of property transaction, and robust land revenue record system.
Commenting on the expansion plans, Rakesh Makkar, Chief Executive Officer, Grihashakti –Fullerton India Home Finance Company Limited said “Karnataka is the nation’s largest IT and start-up hub, and this has acted as an impetus to its booming economy. This has subsequently led to an increasing demand for home loans as well as Loan against Property among working professionals who wish to further their career in the state. Bengaluru and Hubli continue to be important markets for Grihashakti and with the launch of these new and bigger branches, we wish to reinstate our commitment of bringing in more people under the umbrella of organised credit.”
One of the leading imaging companies in the country, Canon India through its flagship CSR endeavour- ‘Adopt a Village’, adopts villages and undertakes the charge of their development in areas of 4E’s - Education, Environment, Eye care and Empowerment. Today, the organization marks a new milestone with the 4th anniversary of the adoption of Maharaja Katte Village at Kanakapura Taluk. Adopted in 2014, Canon India has focused on the development of over 1300 villagers, with a special focus on the all-inclusive development of children in the village school.
To commemorate the occasion, Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO of Canon India, along with 50 employees from the organisations’ Bangalore and Canon ISDC (India Systems Development Centre) offices visited the village. Encouraging holistic development among children and as extension to the ‘Learning Beyond Books’ initiative, sports and cultural activities were organized. With the Independence Day of the country approaching, children enthusiastically participated in activities around the subject of ‘Freedom’. Sports activities like three leg race, lemon spoon race were also organized to encourage increased participation of children in extra curricular activities. All participants were felicitated by Mr. Kobayashi.
Speaking on the occasion, Kobayashi, said, “Through our constructive endeavours of ‘Canon India Involve’, we are committed towards driving meaningful and welfare centric initiatives that impact lives and make communities future ready. Having understood the needs and requirements of the village, we have undertaken several development activities towards infrastructure and the holistic improvement of the children, over the course of last four years. For us the real impact of our iniatives is measured by the number of smiling faces, reduced school drop out ratio, improved attendance, increased count of girl child, among other integral factors. We aim to help them to aspire more, dream bigger and work harder towards achieving their dreams.”
“On way forward, we further see immense scope of improvement and with our employees and partners committed towards the cause of community development, I am confident we will bring about increased change. With over two decades of strong presence in the country, we have further fortified our dedication of offering back to the community.”
Adopt a Village’s journey with Maharaja Katte Village
In the past 4 years, Maharaja Katte Village has witnessed noticeable developments through Canon India’s implementation of a wide range of activities, under its four core areas, including Education, Eye Care, Environment and Empowerment.
* Education has been focused upon, with the establishment of a ‘Resource Center’ with learning and playing material accessible to about 74 students from 1st to 7th grade. Through a dedicated teacher each for English, Maths and Science subjects, remedial education and teaching assistance is provided to identified children in the school. Children are encouraged to make newspaper reading a habit here and inculcate e-learning as part of their education
* Eye Care has been strengthened with establishment of a ‘Vision Center’, where free of cost eye checkups are provided to the villagers and children, under the supervision of eye technicians. The activities under this domain also include health camps, blood donation camps and health related awareness sessions
* Environment activities include regular tree plantation drives, ground levelling activities and environmental awareness sessions, which are conducted with the involvement of Canon employees. 37 Solar Street Lights have been installed in the village to contribute to the environment along with ensuring safety of the villagers. Plans to open kitchen gardens and provision of open garbage pits are also in progress
* With an objective of self-sustainable living, under Empowerment, vocational training center has been established in the village, equipped with 12 computers and a set time table, encouraging digital education. Here a dedicated trainer provides computer literacy through desktops and laptops to 52 school students along with 15 village youth. The organization is identifying establishment of financial literacy to select community members, in the near future. As per a baseline survey conducted, 59% of the household showed interest in tailoring skill training session. Hence, the organization will also be providing tailoring and design training to identified community members
In terms of infrastructure, Canon India has made significant changes in the village, keeping in mind the ease and convenience for villagers. Along with constructing additional classrooms and maintaining separate toilets for boys and girls, a stage has also been raised in the school to provide a platform for children to exhibit their talent and gain confidence. With health of the villagers as a key concern for Canon, a water purifier has been installed, providing them access to clean and safe drinking water.
The initiative has further extended to add another very important vertical – ‘Learning beyond books’ where the children of the villages adopted by Canon India would be introduced to more of practical experiences and out of book learnings. Children are made to visit the world outside their horizons and learn from real life examples, which would enable an extension in their holistic development.
Canon India has three more adopted villages presently under its flagship CSR initiative – ‘Adopt a Village’. These include Village Maheshwari in Haryana, Karanjoti Village in Mumbai and Sol Gohalia in Kolkata.
BBMP’s (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) decision and drive to cut-off Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) of the telecom and internet service providers is leading to huge outages and inconvenience to the citizens in densely populated areas across the city. BBMP is treating all over-the-ground cables as unauthorized, though the industry had obtained permissions and had originally laid them underground. However, the service providers were constrained to lay them overhead with the permission of BBMP as and when the same were unintentionally cut/removed during various civil works carried out by BBMP, BESCOM, BWSSB etc. The disconnection of the cable by BBMP is a huge blow to the Digital Bengaluru plan, which will severely impact essential services including Point of sale purchase applications at retail outlets and various Government services in Bengaluru. It will also result in a complete communication black-out threatening emergency situations if calls can’t be connected and data connectivity is lost. This action will not only jeopardise the operations of companies/industries at India’s Silicon Valley, but will also have a huge impact on consumers and citizens.
BBMP must stop this retrograde and regressive fibre cutting drive immediately, as it is damaging operations of businesses and individual customers. At present, there is no comprehensive policy in Bengaluru which can ensure smooth provisioning of telecom infrastructure. Hence, Karnataka Government should formulate a comprehensive State tower policy that is aligned with Right of Way rules dated November 2016 issued by the Government of India to facilitate smooth deployment of telecom infrastructure across the city.
In order to streamline the issue, the telecom industry is ready to help and Municipal body to provide and discuss the best practices being followed in other states regarding RoW rules, 2016.
The Right of Way rules, 2016 issued by the central government for provisioning of the underground/over the ground telecom infrastructure has enabling features such as no restriction on location of telecom towers, single window clearance mechanism, defined time-period for approvals, appointment of Nodal officers, nominal administrative fees and deemed approval etc. extensively supporting the Digital India mission.
Speaking on the massive crisis that is brewing, which would bring the city to a virtual standstill, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI stated, “Such fibre cutting activities will hurt businesses, citizens and Government services in the Silicon Valley of India immensely. In the consumers’ interest, industry is seeking an early appointment with the relevant authorities to discuss, deliberate and arrive at a mutually agreeable solution, as soon as possible, and seek stoppage of any form of coercive measures to force a solution.”
“The TSPs are keen and willing to fully co-operate with the concerned authorities and government departments/agencies to regularise the cable laying process. The industry is open to dialogue and resolution immediately,” he further added.
T.R. Dua, Director General, Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) commented, “Before taking any suo-moto coercive action, BBMP should have called industry for a bilateral discussion to resolve the subject matter of concerns. This impulsive action will impact the overall internet connectivity and businesses especially IT firms in Bangalore. In 2012, BBMP in an affidavit filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka clearly stated not to cut or claim any rent till such time appropriate rules/bye-laws/regulations are made. Since then, there are no rules/ by-laws/ regulations notified by the BBMP. In order to streamline the issue, first step for the state of Karnataka is to align its draft policy with the Right of Way rules issued in November 2016 issued by the Department of Telecommunication to ensure deployment of critical telecom tower infrastructure with ease and lawfully. Once notified, the focus should come on implementation of the policy downline so that they are no such Suo-moto coercive actions are taken. The retrograde and arbitrary action destroys all the serious efforts that industry has been taking to turn the vision of Digital India, Smart City and cashless economy into a reality.”
Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) also in support of the concerns added, “BBMP should come with an OH (Over Head) policy as major developmental work is going on in the City. All cities, Nationally and Internationally, have OH cables.”
The telecom industry has made immense investments in setting-up infrastructure in the Karnataka circle to provide fast connectivity to the citizens, as well as to the IT industry. Over 1,30,200 Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed in Karnataka state to support telephone, mobile and internet communications. This alone equals INR 13,000 crores in network investments. The sector also generates approx. INR 6,000 crores per annum in revenue in Karnataka alone, from which it contributes over approx. INR 1,600 crores to the State exchequer by way of levies and taxes. Such coercive actions from BBMP are expected to bring the entire city to a virtual halt and cause immense setback to its robust digital economy, while bringing no benefit to the BBMP government.
Indra Nooyi has ruled out joining politics and will now focus on her family after her long-innings at the world’s second largest food and beverage giant PepsiCo.
PepsiCo announced on Monday that its Board of Directors have unanimously elected Ramon Laguarta, 54, to succeed Indian-origin Nooyi as Chief Executive Officer.
Nooyi, 62, will step down on October 3, after 24 years with the company, the last 12 as CEO. She will remain Chairman until early 2019 to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. Nooyi’s departure in two months will further diminish the already small group of female Fortune 500 CEOs, she is one of just 25.
“It concerns me in that we can actually count how many there are, as opposed to saying there are hundreds,” she told Fortune in an interview.
Nooyi said in the interview that she did not yet know what she wanted to do next, but added that she would not be running for office. “I’m not good at politics,” the Chennai-born said.
“I’m just a good worker bee”, Nooyi, who has not been afraid to get political, said.
After the 2016 US presidential elections, Nooyi had said Democrat Hillary Clinton’s loss to Republican Donald Trump left her daughters and PepsiCo’s employees devastated and there were serious concerns among the company’s workers, especially the non-white employees, about their safety in an America with Trump as its president.
Nooyi said that after her departure from PepsiCo, her focus will be on her family.
Being the CEO of a company is “all consuming,” she said. “When you are the CEO, especially of such a large company, there’s only one priority, and that priority is being CEO. I think my family was short-changed a lot. The last 24 years, the PepsiCo family always came first.”
She added, “Now is the the time to shift my priorities to my family.” Nooyi got married in 1980 to Raj Nooyi, President of AmSoft Systems. They have two daughters.
Post operationalization of Jio Payments Bank (a 70:30 JV between RIL and SBI) Jio and SBI are deepening their partnership to bring next generation bilateral frictionless experience with exclusive digital Banking, Payments and Commerce journeys for their customers.
Jio and SBI are entering into a digital partnership aimed to increase SBI’s digital customer base multi-fold. SBI YONO is a revolutionary omni channel platform offering digital banking, commerce and financial superstore services to customers. YONO’s digital banking features and solutions will be enabled through the MyJio platform for a seamless, integrated and superior customer experience. MyJio, one of India’s largest over-the-top (OTT) mobile applications will now bring in financial services capabilities of SBI and Jio Payments Bank.
Jio and SBI customers will benefit from Jio Prime, a consumer engagement and commerce platform from Reliance. Jio Prime will offer exclusive deals from Reliance Retail, Jio, partner brands and merchants. In addition, with an integration between SBI Rewardz (existing loyalty program from SBI) and Jio Prime, customers of SBI will be offered additional loyalty reward earning opportunities as well as broader redemption within Reliance, Jio and other online and physical partner ecosystems.
SBI will be engaging Jio as one of its preferred partners for designing and providing network and connectivity solutions. Jio’s highest quality network in urban and rural regions will allow SBI to launch customer centric services such as video banking and other on-demand services. Additionally, Jio Phones will be available on special offers for SBI customers.
Speaking on the partnership, Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI said, “As India’s largest Bank with leadership in digital banking, we are delighted to partner with Jio the world’s largest network. All the areas of co-operation are mutually beneficial enhancing the digital foot-print for SBI customers with superior and rewarding customer experiences.”
Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Limited said, “The scale of the SBI customer base is unmatched globally. Jio is committed to using its superior network and platforms combined with the Retail ecosystem to accelerate digital adoption serving all the needs for SBI’s and Jio’s customers.”
Building a future where anyone irrespective of their economic background will have access to timely justice says, Kundan Shahi, Founder and CEO of advok8.in
Compared to different common law jurisdictions, India has comparatively fewer hurdles in its way to Litigation finance. Judicial precedent since 1876 has held that the common law doctrines of champerty and maintenance are not applicable to India in stricto sensu. Therefore, litigation funding has not been held, per se, ineligible and hence, enforceable in most cases. This progressive outlook, therefore, provides fertile ground for the event of third-party funding in India.
Advok8.in help litigants raise funds for their lawsuit, proving them capital when they need it the most.
Advok8.in is single-handedly dominating the litigation funding market in India. The company came into existence in 2016 and offers a host of services from litigation funding, case tracking, and digital appointment. Advok8.in sees a significant number of daily visits from its mobile app with 10000+ lawyers reading legal articles and the latest legal news on its Legisl8 platform. The mobile app also enables lawyers to see the latest developments in their case anywhere they wish to. Apart from it, a bulk of litigation funding requests also comes from the mobile app.
Advok8.in has received more than 350 requests for litigation funding till date.
These cases were submitted by lawyers, law firms, individual litigants and business houses. After a careful evaluation, Advok8.in has finalized 4 cases for funding and 2 cases out of 4 have been successfully funded. The cases that were shortlisted are commercial disputes in nature like, Breach of Contract, Trademark infringement, Medical Negligence and Patent infringement.
The process includes inviting individual investors to invest in verified legal claim, with moderate investment cycle which typically matures within 2-4 years, shorter than any other asset class. The average funding size of a case is approx. 5 lakhs. The value of the claims varies from 1 crore to 4 crores. Advok8.in has opened a different asset class for investment in India. The return on this investment is in an average of 150% to 200%. These Legal claims are uncorrelated to broader capital markets and macroeconomic factors.
As in-house counsel people are constantly trying to find ways to turn the cost center into a revenue center. By making use of advok8.in third-party funding, what was once a costly burden, now can transform into a functioning profit center.
Advok8 carefully vets every case listed on its portal through their expert case selection team, thereby mitigating any risk. The success ratio of cases on Advok8.in portal is very high. Thus, an investor just has to invest in a legal claim and track the progress of the case through Proprietary of advok8.in in case tracking system. Once the case is finalized Investors get the return from the recovery amount as decided in their contract. The entire process is very simple and transparent and advok8.in takes all endeavors to ensure the interest of the case investors are protected throughout the process.
It is with great excitement that Fossil brand announces its fourth generation of smartwatches under its Fossil Q line. With several new technology features, this new line provides consumers with the tech functionality they have been asking for in beautiful designs and styles they have come to expect from Fossil. With a robust list of new features, it is the brand's intent to provide customers with one all-inclusive device—both in function and design.
As one of the first fashion brands to introduce this level of technology to their collection, Fossil shows consumers you don’t have to sacrifice fashion for function. Powered with Wear OS by Google and the Qualcomm® Snapdragon Wear™ 2100 Platform, the new devices offer enhancements to every facet of the day, with hardware including Heart-Rate Tracking, NFC, Untethered GPS and Swimproof Functionality. Thanks to optimized charge time, users can now charge their device within an hour to last all day.
Fossil entered the smartwatch market to fill the growing desire for tech that was beautifully designed and could be personalized. This new generation is no different: it is packed with the unique design traits allowing users to customize from strap to dial. There are 36+ exclusive dials, from fashion forward to novelty dials, and users can integrate an increasing number of third party apps to their device experience, as well as set social media photos as watch face backgrounds. Fossil is continuing to design smartwatches as only Fossil can, with a vintage-inspired approach to modern technology that lets customers find a watch that perfectly suits their authentic selves.
“Since our entry to the smartwatch market, it has always been our first priority to be nimble and adapt quickly to innovations-both in technology and design’’ says Steve Evans, EVP of Fossil. “We know a lot of watch wearers have both a traditional watch and some kind of an activity tracker— by adding significant features in terms of technology, without compromising our design standards, this new generation of smartwatch will provide consumers with one device that fits all of their needs. Ensuring the best possible experience for our customers has always been important, which drove the innovation of this product; we cannot wait to see the consumer response around the globe.’’
Called Fossil Q Venture HR and Fossil Q Explorist HR, these devices can transition through all parts of daily life thanks to added functionality packed into fashionable designs. This new generation of smartwatches ushers in a more holistic user experience from a Fossil smartwatch with key features and personalization options that consumers care about.
Key updates include:
Heart-Rate Tracking:
Heart rate functionality was an important ask from consumers and a top priority for the Generation 4 Fossil Q line. Additionally, Fossil wanted to create exclusive watch dials that allowed users to easily access manual readings directly from their watch face. Whether going for a run outside or hitting the gym, you can automatically track your heart rate during logged exercises with Google Fit.
- Take a manual heart rate reading and automatically track heart rate across multiple types of workouts using Google Fit
- Heart rate graphs show progress throughout a large variety of workouts and improves workout tracking experience
- Exclusive-to-Fossil dials have heart rate integrated into the designs, showing users their beats per minute on their watch face at a quick glance
NFC
NFC allows users to have payment and transit capabilities directly on their device. Exclusively compatible with Google Pay (transit and pay currently available in select countries), NFC prevents users from having to pull out their card every time they need to complete a transaction. With a few taps, your card is ready on watch to streamline any checkout experience. Security is an obvious consideration, and users set up a unique lock code on their watch to help protect from any identity or data theft.
Untethered GPS
New untethered GPS capabilities allow the users track walks, and runs, hikes, bike rides, and more via Google Fit and third-party fitness apps without having to bring your phone along. Your watch will automatically map and track your location and distance during logged workouts!
Thanks to added swimproof functionality, users can track swim workouts, hang poolside or hop in the shower without risk of damaging their smartwatch. For consumers ready to hit the trails for a run or ride without taking their phone, music can be downloaded from third party apps directly to device.
With this new generation of watch, Fossil is bringing a unique, fun take on technology. With function-based dials, social sharing abilities and an immense amount of personalization opportunities, these watches truly allows users to “Make it Your Own.” The added functions like Heart Rate, NFC, and GPS will give users a 360-holistic way to track all parts of their lives, while keeping true to the authentic creative spirit of innovative watch design that Fossil was founded on more than 30 years ago.
The range of Generation 4 Fossil Q products will be available in India by the end of October 2018.
This watch retails for INR 19,995 – INR 21,995
Features include:
● Stainless steel case (Q Venture HR: 40mm / Q Explorist HR: 45mm)
● Stunning touchscreen digital display
● 24+ hours battery life (based on usage)
● Interchangeable straps and bracelets (Q Venture HR: 18mm / Q Explorist HR: 22mm)
● Connect via Bluetooth technology
● Wireless syncing + magnetic charging
● Compatible with iOS 9.3+ and Android 4.4+ (excluding Go edition)
● Sensors: Heart Rate, NFC, GPS, Altimeter, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Ambient Light, Microphone
● Powered with Wear OS by Google
● Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 Platform
