M. G. George Muthoot, Chairman, The Muthoot Group handed over a cheque for Rs.1.5 crore to Chief Minister Shri Pinarayi Vijayan towards the flood relief fund in the presence of Shri. George Alexander Muthoot, MD and Shri George Jacob Muthoot, JMD and other officials today.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman M. G. George Muthoot said that, “It is part of the Group’s endeavour to involve in the massive flood relief activities and render all necessary support to alleviate the unprecedented sufferings of the flood affected people across the state.
He further added, “We hope the situation returns to normalcy at the earliest. The Group extends its condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones.“
The Muthoot Group has a family business legacy of over 800 years. The Group started as a small trading business enterprise in Kozhencherry, a remote village in the state of Kerala. Since its formation, the company, under the leadership of its key management - Shri M G George Muthoot (Chairman), Shri George Alexander Muthoot (Managing Director), Shri George Thomas Muthoot (Jt. Managing Director) and George Jacob Muthoot (Jt. Managing Director) has broadened its scale and widened its geographic scope of retail operations.
Today, The Muthoot Group is a multi-faceted business conglomerate comprising 18 diversified divisions including Financial Services, Wealth Management, Money Transfer, Forex, Securities, Vehicle & Asset Finance, Media, IT, Healthcare, Housing & Infrastructure, Education, Power Generation, Leisure & Hospitality, Plantation & Estates, Precious Metals, Travel Services, Housing Finance & Overseas Operations.
The Muthoot Group has been involved in a plethora of CSR initiatives across the country ranging from Education and Healthcare to Public Welfare and Disaster Relief.
Headquartered in Kochi and having its Corporate Office in New Delhi, The Muthoot Group has a dominant presence in all States & Union Territories of India. It also has its presence in USA, UK, UAE, Sri Lanka and Central America.
CGI, in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation, announced the launch of its first Digital Literacy Centre located in the KR Puram area of Bangalore as part of its commitment to advancing the community’s technical literacy.
The centre aims to benefit approximately 1,000 people in the underserved community, providing training on how to use computers, mobile phones and other digital devices. The training will focus on how to send email, connect on social media, buy from e-commerce websites, pay bills online, transact through digital payment modes, use online maps, and check the weather forecast. They will also learn how to use the Internet to access various government services such as Aadhar cards, ration cards, and PAN cards, as well as how to protect themselves against identity theft and other forms of cyber attacks while browsing the internet.
“CGI has a strong commitment to improving the social, economic and environmental well-being of the communities in which we live and work,” said George Mattackal, President of CGI’s Asia Pacific Global Delivery Centres of Excellence. The digital literacy centre is part of fulfilling our strategic goal of being a caring and responsible corporate citizen. We plan to launch more Digital Literacy Centres across India in support of education and literacy initiatives and the National Digital Literacy Mission.”
The National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) works to help beneficiaries from across India reap the full benefits of a Digital India. NDLM is a dynamic and integrated platform for digital literacy awareness, education and capacity building programmes that enables rural and underserved communities to participate fully in the global digital economy.
NASSCOM Foundation has trained more than 31,000 people in Bangalore since 2014, and aims to train 15,000 more people by the end of this year.
Shrikant Sinha, CEO of the NASSCOM Foundation said, “How we as a country fare in a digital first global economy, depends on how equipped our citizens are with the use of basic digital technology. We are glad to have great partners in CGI who share this vision and are helping us fulfil it. Through our first digital literacy centre with CGI, we hope to give a chance to the underserved people living around the KR Puram area in Bangalore to become a part of the Digital Karnataka and Digital India revolution.”
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has scheduled the launch of the Chandrayaan-2 early 2019. Earlier, it was decided to launch the satellite in late 2018.
"We have planned to launch Chandrayaan-2 mission on January 3. We are trying to fix the date. But this can go up to March also. As we are coming closer to the date, we may miss the target," an ISRO official said.
“Certain important changes have been made in the design so that it could easily land on the lunar surface” he said.
According to reports, the weight of the satellite has been increased by 600 kilograms so that Chandrayaan-2 does not shake after ejecting the moon lander.
In the history of ISRO, the space agency is planning to launch 22 satellites in 2019.
“Next year from February to December we plan to launch 22 missions with almost at least two missions per month, which is a very important activity. This tight schedule of programmes we are doing for the first time in Indian satellite history” an ISRO official said.
“Our target is set. Though 22 satellites a year is a very huge target. The last quarter of 2018 is also going to be tough for us as ISRO is planning to launch at least two missions every month” he said.
“The focus area of these launches was to enhance the communication so that rural India gets high bandwidth data connectivity, somewhere between 80 GBPS to 100 GBPS” he said.
India and Hong Kong based PTron, leading mobile accessories brand expands operations to international markets. PTron joins hands with global distributors/ channel partner network to expand its reach. As a part of this strategy, PTron has announced appointment of Cellpay as its exclusive distributor for USA. It is the second largest market in the world for mid-market, semi branded mobile accessories in the world, after China.
PTron Already has Distribution Channels & Partners in Israel, Indonesia, Italy and Canada.
Global mobile accessories market is expected to reach USD 255Bn by 2023. The single largest segment globally, is the mid market segment which is estimated at USD 102Bn. PTron has established its own design, testing, procurement and sales operations in China and a sales office in Hong Kong to avail products to its international customers.
Commenting on the launch of international operations, Ameen Khwaja, Founder & CEO of PTron said, "We have an in- depth knowledge and understanding of our consumers and mobile accessories market. PTron stands for quality products and unbeatable prices. It is an honor to partner with all the six distributors. We are confident that their rich background in the industry and an exceptional distribution reach will help us strengthen our goal of increased market penetration in the FY 2018 - 2019. Cellpay is an established player in the mobile industry and have a strong reach to the retail market. We look forward to working with them to make PTron successful in the US market”.
Peter Jasani of Cellpay, distributor for the USA, said “We are pleased to partner with Palred and bring PTron brand to a larger US consumer base. There is a tremendous opportunity for these world-class mobile accessories due to their competitive prices and quality. We are aware that they are one of the largest brands in India and this partnership is a validation of our faith in PTron. We strongly believe that this is a long term partnership with commitment from both parties and will lead to a win-win scenario for both of us.”
Talking on this announcement, international sales manager of PTron, Alice Shen said “We are pleased to have found a strong partner in US, as it is one of the most strategic markets for PTron products. Success in the US market will establish our credibility to penetrate other markets more easily”.
PTron has already delivered over 5 Million items to valued customers over multiple online platforms in India. After a successful consumer base online, PTron recently entered the offline market in India and expanded its distribution channel of PTron products over 12 states in India, in a short span of 6 months. PTron brand is known for its wide range of quality products and very competitive pricing.
KeyPoint Technologies, a global leader in innovative language technology and localization services, today, announced the appointment of Roman Sofianos as Director to drive business development for the localization division. In this capacity, Roman will be responsible for driving KeyPoint’s localization business and growth strategy globally.
Roman has over two decades of experience in the translation and technology space. Prior to joining KeyPoint, he was the Strategic Accounts Director for enterprise solutions at TransPerfect. During his localization career, he has had the opportunity to lead relationships with global accounts such as Cisco, SAP and Juniper Networks.
Speaking on the appointment, Nutan Chokkareddy, CEO KeyPoint Technologies said, “We are delighted to have a veteran like Roman join the team. Roman has a proven leadership record, having successfully led international localization businesses. Given his in-depth industry experience, he is sure to play a pivotal role in expanding KeyPoint’s presence overseas.”
Quote from Roman Sofianos: “I am very happy to join the KeyPoint family of companies. The breadth of experience across the team is impressive and extensive. The expansion of the operations in North America will continue to facilitate the global growth of KPT Localization’s product and services”.
Samsung Electronics has organized the Global Startup Acceleration Program in Bangalore in partnership with the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) to mentor startups in varied fields in order to support the sustainable growth of local entrepreneurs in the country.
Thirty one employees from Samsung’s global headquarters in Korea and five university students from Korea have been mentoring 20 shortlisted startups remotely for the last two months as part of the Samsung Employee Volunteer Program. These volunteers are using their own vacation time for this program.
From August 6, the startups and their assigned mentors came together for a five-day bootcamp at IIIT-B to better understand the hurdles faced by the startups in developing their products and services.
The startups and their mentors showcased their business models to several Venture Capital firms that were present at IIIT-B on August 9. On August 10, the startups gave individual pitch presentations to a panel comprising Dr. Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore, DV Jagadish, CEO, Outreach at IIIT-B and representatives of two venture funds.
Hexpressions, which offers affordable, ready to assemble homes made out of Composite Paper Honeycomb panels, was the winner of the Global Startup Acceleration Program award and was given a prize of INR 200,000. The first runners up Ziroh Labs that works in the area of privacy engineering and runtime encryption of data was given a prize of INR 150,000 while the second runners up Olly Credit, with a business model around mobile micro credit cards for millennials was given a prize of INR 100,000.
Social enterprise Geriatric Care Network, which provides preventive and wellness focused healthcare solutions for the elderly, and BrownPacket, a mobile app for hyperlocal medicines and wellness products delivery, won the Best Improvement Award for showing the most improvement through the two month mentoring process.
Geriatric Care Network also won the Best Potential Award, which was also given to Susurla VS Suresh of Startoon Labs, which offers a solution that assists physiotherapists to accurately measure recovery of mobility and muscle strength of patients undergoing physiotherapy.
The Best Social Impact Award was given to Avidia Labs that offers immersive learning experiences for schools using augmented reality and virtual reality
“At Samsung we strive to encourage young minds and nurture the spirit of innovation. With the Global Startup Acceleration Program, our experts and engineers from different domains are volunteering to support the sustainable growth of local entrepreneurs in the early stage,” said Dr. Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore.
Since 2010, about 1,500 employees have joined this program in 43 countries. This year, Samsung is focused on supporting local entrepreneurs and helping them build their businesses for a sustainable impact on society.
This program is being held globally in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, South Africa between July and September with 80 selected startups. Among winners in four countries, five startup will be invited to Samsung headquarters in Korea.
The 20 selected startups in India work in a wide array of areas such as security for cloud data, AI powered solutions for educators and students, information management systems for schools, AR, VR, healthcare solutions for the elderly, use of IoT for healthcare, energy efficient IoT devices and ready to assemble homes, among others.
Samsung employees who are mentoring the startups as part of the Samsung Employee Volunteer Program bring their global business experience and expertise in domains such as B2B market research, pricing strategies, strategic planning in the area of IoT, AI, cloud, data, strategic investments and planning, databases, machine leaning algorithms, Android programming, healthcare business, computer vision technology, biomedical engineering, among many others.
In India, IIIT- B invited applications from startups for the Global Startup Acceleration Program starting May. Of the applications that were received, Samsung Electronics and IIIT-B shortlisted 20 startups based on the problems that they were trying to solve, their business model, motivation levels of participants and their passion towards their venture, amongst other factors. Based on the domain of the startups, mentoring teams were allocated to address their business problems.
As part of its corporate social responsibility, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore (SRI-B) signed a MoU with IIIT-B under which three startups will get extended support from the local incubation center at IIIT-B for the next 24 months.
“The kind of support a startup receives in its initial phase can define its success. As a company that strongly believes in co-prosperity as one of our core values, we are proud to partner with a prestigious institution such as IIIT-B to provide best infrastructure and mentorship to early-stage startups, helping grow the local startup ecosystem,” said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore.
Simplilearn, one of the leading digital economy training providers, in partnership with People Matters, announced the launch of a research study on “Trends & Best Practices in Onboarding”. The findings of the report provide insights into how Indian companies are approaching employee onboarding.
The survey saw the participation of 106 organizations and some of the key findings of the report include:
i . The Current State of Onboarding: Trends and Challenges
· 93 percent of companies have a formal onboarding process, and of which 61 percent have different programs for fresher and lateral hires
· Orientation programs (70 percent), an impeccable Day 1 experience (80 percent), and engagement activities during pre-boarding like technical skill-training, projects and mentoring sessions by leaders and managers, etc. (68 percent) are the most sought-after methods by companies to engage and assimilate new hires
· Getting new hires accustomed (44 percent), involvement of managers (44 percent), and learning engagement (42 percent) are among the top challenges companies face in their onboarding programs
· However, only 27 percent companies are satisfied with the outcomes of their current onboarding programs
ii. Use of Technology in Onboarding Process
· The overall adoption of technology solutions in onboarding is yet to reach critical mass in India. A whopping 76 percent of the participating companies responded that they do not have a dedicated onboarding technology solution
· The top areas where technologies are being leveraged in onboarding programs across organizations include orientation (57 percent), constant communication during pre-boarding (46 percent), first-day experiences (45 percent), goal setting and expectation management (44 percent), and training & assessments (36 percent)
· The top technical domains for upskilling new hires according to the survey are Big Data, AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Programming, Cyber Security and Data Science & Business Intelligence
iii. How Can Organizations Improve Their Onboarding Practices?
· The study revealed that it takes 3-6 months to train campus hires and make them productive for the job. Hence, it is necessary for organizations to begin their onboarding right from the time the campus hire accepts the offer, i.e. Pre-boarding.
· 44 percent of the companies said that they begin pre-boarding the new hires while they are still on campus.
· 58 percent of the participating companies confirmed having a planned engagement during pre-boarding. However, the pre-engagement activities primarily included communication and new hire documentation. It was also unusual to find that while Indian companies have expressed their discontent with skilled talent available to perform jobs on new technologies, only few of them (32 percent) are implementing skilling and training initiatives for new hires while they are still on campus.
Speaking on the findings of the report, Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO at Simplilearn said, “Onboarding is the golden period for companies and new hires to get aligned. In this age of digital transformation where upskilling is a critical focus, it was surprising to observe that only 24 percent of the companies leverage technology in onboarding. Companies are in an endeavor to save time and costs to get their new hires up to speed with core technical skills required for the job. I believe there is a huge potential for companies to leverage technology to engage and offer training during onboarding which leads to employee productivity and clear business ROI.”
“Onboarding is often overlooked as a formality rather than a key strategy to ensure well-performing new employees become productive and culturally aligned in an organization”, said Ester Martinez, CEO & Editor-in-Chief at People Matters. “Onboarding offers a great opportunity to augment competitive advantage by creating a committed talent pool that gives the desired performance. It remains an untapped area of creating an impact to the bottom line.”
