Tata Motors’ Introduces ‘SAMARTH’ Program for Commercial Vehicle Drivers in India

Key highlights:

·         This program will be executed by TATA AIG, Oriental Insurance Company, ICICI prudential, TATA Mutual Fund and Toppr Technologies Private Limited (Toppr), across India for all TATA CV drivers and owner drivers

·         Over 5 lakh drivers may avail benefit from this program every year

·         Drivers enrolled under Swasthya Samarth may avail 2 comprehensive health checkups covering 6 health profiles/57 tests & INR 50,000 hospitalization coverage for drivers and owner drivers per year, per vehicle and renewable every year

·         24*7 telephonic assistance for health related queries on toll free number 1800-4254033

·         Drivers enrolled under Surakshit Samarth may avail Accidental Death or Disability Cover up to Rs.10, 00,000/- per year, per vehicle for drivers and owner drivers

·         Drivers enrolled under Sampatti Samarth may avail Nationwide Financial Literacy Camps to encourages investment habits among drivers and owner drivers through SIP

·         Drivers enrolled under Siksha Samarth may avail online tutoring and career counselling for children of all enrolled drivers and owner drivers. Meritorious students of customers, owner-drivers and drivers in Class 8 to Class 10 who are eligible under the scholarship scheme of Tata motors will receive one year free subscription of Toppr for relevant academic year.

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle player today launched a first-of-its-kind Pioneer program, with an aim to acknowledge and promote the driving profession in the trucking space. Under this initiative, Tata Motors Samarth will endeavour to address four critical areas for the drivers’ well-being, which are presently identified as Swasthya (Wellness program), Sampatti (Finance program) and Siksha (Education program) along with Surakshit Samarth (driver on wheel insurance). The program will be launched PAN India and will attempt to reach out to more than 5 Lakh drivers every year.

Extending the benefits to the driver’s family and securing their future, Tata Motors along with Oriental Insurance Company has introduced Surakshit Samarth, which provides an accidental death or disability cover up to INR 10,00,000 per year, per vehicle for drivers and owner drivers linked to the Chassis, since 2011. Today, in association with Tata AIG General Insurance Company, Swasthya Samarth aims to provide health insurance products including 2 comprehensive health checkups covering 6 health profiles/57 tests and INR 50,000 hospitalization coverage, with an option to upgrade to family cover. The program will be linked to new vehicle sales and the policy will be issued by Tata AIG. TATA AIG will also be setting up free medical camps at Tata  Motors defined locations.

On the launch of TATA Motors SAMARTH program, Mr. Girish Wagh, President, CVBU, Tata Motors said, “True to the philosophy of connecting aspirations, we at Tata Motors are driving our efforts towards driver empowerment and welfare. Our program ‘SAMARTH’ is tailored to make the entire trucking profession dignified. We intend to cement our long-lasting relationship with our customers and their drivers to safeguard their health, ensuring overall wellbeing of their families and in the process uplift the quality of life for them.”

Along with healthcare benefits, Sampatti Samarth plans to encourage investment habits among drivers through its SIP offering by ICICI Prudential and TATA Mutual Funds, with a lock-in period of 3 years, as well as conduct financial literacy camps for drivers and owner drivers across India.Furthermore, Tata Motors has joined hands with Toppr and introduced Siksha Samarth. Toppr is a learning app for classes 5th to 12th that helps students prepare for every board, competitive and scholastic exam. Toppr personalizes learning by creating a unique path for each student based on their strengths and weaknesses. On Toppr, students can watch free video lectures, practice questions designed for them, attempt mock tests and get their doubts solved 24x7. More than 7 million students trust Toppr to learn better. Meritorious students of customers, owner-drivers and drivers in Class 8 to Class 10 who are eligible under the scholarship scheme of Tata motors will receive one year free subscription of Toppr for relevant academic year.

Apart from the grueling work schedule, extended periods away from home, commercial vehicle drivers and owner drivers have the additional pressure of healthcare costs. The launch of the all-encompassing initiative by Tata Motors is designed to positively impact the Commercial Vehicle community and work towards improving society’s perception of this profession.

Through TATA Motors Samarth Program, the company is providing a common platform for various industry stakeholders to reach out and address the Health, Education and Finance needs of drivers’ community via their customize product offerings.

Terms and Conditions of the respective Associates i.e. TATA AIG, Oriental Insurance Company, ICICI prudential, TATA Mutual Fund and Toppr Technologies Private Limited (Toppr) shall apply. Participants may contact Tata Motors Dealerships for any details pertaining to the program, including its respective terms and conditions, and enrollment therein.  

Sathya Kalyanasundaram Appointed Country MD at its Operations at Experian India

Experian India, one of the leading data analytics, decisioning companies and the first credit bureau to be licensed in India under the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, has further fortified its senior leadership team. The company has announced the appointment of Sathya Kalyanasundaram as Country Managing Director, Experian India.

Sathya will be responsible for driving further growth of the overall India operations of Experian with a focused vision on vertical market strategy and strategic clients. He will leverage Experian’s global strength in leading the strategic development of Experian solutions for India, aligning with the company’s global product and industry leaders in Decision Analytics, Credit Services, Data Quality and Consumer Services. Experian India’s leadership team will report into him to implement the organisation’s business plans.

Sathya brings with him over 20 years of experience from Consulting, Finance and FinTech leadership roles. Most recently, he was the CEO of MobME Wireless Solutions Limited, a technology conglomerate and fintech solution provider in India where he was responsible for creating market strategies and formulating expansion plans including directing new product & portfolio development and conceptualizing MobME's customer interfacing solutions. Prior to this, Sathya led the India operations of global MNCs such as Scientific Games (a USD 3 billion diversified gaming company), and Texas Instruments (a USD 15 billion leader in semiconductors). He was also associated with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) as Senior Member - Economic Affairs Panel.

Commenting on the appointment, Ben Elliott, CEO Experian Asia Pacific said, “We are delighted to welcome Sathya to the Experian family. His extensive experience across a variety of sectors will ensure that we take Experian India to the next level. We are confident that his appointment to lead Experian will strengthen our presence in India, with a focus on building innovative solutions for India’s consumers.”

Sathya Kalyanasundaram, Country Managing Director, Experian India said, “Financial institutions investing in data and analytics have been changing the narrative on providing differentiated experiences for their consumers. I believe Experian India, being the pioneer in the field of data analytics and decisioning, has a tremendous role to play in this and I look forward to driving our growth strategy and taking the company forward as we embrace the opportunities ahead.”

Lustrum FY15-19 Saw Sharp Increase in Fresh Investment: Projects Today Survey

The 74th Survey of projects investment in India conducted by Projects Today indicates that during the five-year period FY15-19, 47,911 new projects were announced with a total investment of Rs 60,51,281 crore as against 43,876 new projects worth Rs 29,28,125 crore announced in the preceding five-year period FY10-14, a rise of 106.7 percent.

The buoyancy in announcement of fresh investment was observed across all major sectors except the Electricity sector, which recorded absolute decline both in number of new projects and investment committed therein. While fresh investment increased by more than 100 percent in the Manufacturing, Mining, Infrastructure and Irrigation sectors, the Manufacturing and Irrigation sectors saw less number of new projects announced during the latest five-year period ending 31 March 2019.

Though the Manufacturing sector attracted 1,325 less projects during the FY15-19 period, thanks to increase in the number of mega projects (with cost of Rs 1,000 crore or more), total fresh investment expanded by 130.5 percent from Rs 7,00,725 crore to Rs 16,15,456 crore. As a result, the share of Manufacturing in total fresh investment increased from 23.9 percent in FY10-14 to 26.7 percent in FY15-19. Among the sub-sectors, Fertilisers, Steel, Cement, Refinery and Electronics segments received increased fresh investment commitments during the FY15-19 period.

The FY15-19 period saw announcement of 253 mega projects. Of these, 218 were owned by private promoters. The preceding five-year period had seen announcement of 131 mega projects.

Reflecting the emphasis of the current government on infrastructure building, fresh investment intensions multiplied three times from Rs 11,46,208 crore in FY10-14 to Rs 34,09,300 crore in FY15-19. The sector comprising transport and social infrastructure saw announcement of 39,509 new projects in FY15-19 as against 33,145 projects announced during the FY10-14 period.

The extra emphasis laid by the Central government on expanding highways led to trebling of fresh investment in the Roadways from Rs 3,64,809 crore in FY10-14 to Rs 11,24,996 crore in FY15-19.

The Construction sector comprising Commercial Complexes, Industrial Parks and Real Estate saw a fall in number of new projects during the five-year period FY15-19. Though fresh investment commitments increased from Rs 2,18,439 crore in FY10-14 to Rs 6,42,657 crore in FY15-19, the twin-balance sheet phenomenon affected this sector the most. Further, demonetisation, GST and the RERA Act disrupted the basic functioning of the industry.

The Power sector, during the FY15-19 period, witnessed more stalling of the existing projects than announcement of new projects. Most of the large-size thermal power projects announced during the FY10-14 period could not make much progress due to non-availability of land, lack of finance and delays in signing of PPA agreements.

As against 639 thermal projects worth Rs 7,90,227 crore announced during FY10-14 only 98 new thermal projects worth Rs 2,19,568 crore were announced during FY15-19. On the other hand, new investment in renewable power projects (mainly Solar and Wind) expanded by 294.5 percent from Rs 92,760 crore during FY10-14 to Rs 3,65,953 crore during FY15-19.

Cumulative fresh investment in the Irrigation sector increased sharply from Rs 57,934 crore in FY10-14 to Rs 1,98,869 crore during FY15-19. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana were the large investors in this sector.

The Supreme Court's decision to cancel 214 coal blocks allocated to developers, not only stalled fresh investments flowing into this sector, but also affected the functioning of power plants with an aggregate capacity of 28,000 MW. Though the Central government re-allocated or auctioned 86 coal mines, actual production has begun in only 23 mines as of December 2018.

The FY15-19 period saw announcement of 763 new projects worth Rs 1,88,272 crore as against 627 projects worth Rs 89,711 crore announced during FY10-14. The Private sector is involved in around 60 oil exploration projects and 25 coal mining projects.

Private Sector Investment: Showing signs of revival

Private investment after picking up in FY15 and FY16 slumped in FY17 and FY18 only to recover in FY19. However, all along the five years (FY15-19) private fresh investment remained higher than the lower figures seen in FY12, FY13 and FY14.

Policy paralysis and financial mismanagement saw large scale stalling of projects in the last three years of the FY10-14 period. Further, heavy borrowings and mismanagement of funds forced owners of such projects to default on their debts mostly borrowed from Indian banks. The resultant “twin-balance sheet” issue weighed heavily on financing the ongoing projects, which in turn forced even the genuine promoters to go slow on new projects announcement.

During FY15-19, total fresh investment by the Private sector increased by 55 percent (thanks to mega projects), however, the number of new projects fell sharply when compared to FY10-14 statistics. This indicates the uneasiness of small- and medium-size private companies that are still awaiting revival in domestic demand to chalk out their expansion plans.

Stalling of Projects continued in FY15-19

The Survey indicates that during the FY15-19 period 3,642 projects worth Rs 16,59,353 crore were put on the back-burner as against 3,791 projects Rs 10,94,945 crore in the FY10-14 period indicating an increase of 51.6 percent in toxic projects during the latest five-year period, FY15-19. Around 82 percent of the total projects investment vanished during FY15-19 was in the Manufacturing and Electricity sectors.

On the positive note, the total quantum of stalled projects after hitting the recent high of Rs 1,95,795 crore in the first quarter of FY18 dropped sharply to Rs 12,477 crore in the last quarter of FY19. This is the lowest quarter figure recorded in the last eighteen quarters. 

Prashant Jain Moves from Siemens to Head GE Steam Power Across South Asian Region

General Electric (GE) on Friday announced appointment of Prashant Jain to lead the global conglomerate’s steam power business in South Asia. Prashant will officially assume the role of Regional General Manager GE Steam Power South Asia and Managing Director GE Power India on April 17, 2019, a company statement said.

He joins GE from Siemens where he was most recently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Power Generation Services. He succeeds Andrew H DeLeone, who was previously the Managing Director of GE Power India.

Prashant was with Siemens for 17 years, and prior to that he was with Schneider Electric. He has been instrumental in increasing responsibility across energy and industrial sectors, including power generation and renewable energy.

Café Coffee Day has Launched its Exclusive - Coffee Day Square in Hyderabad

The Square complements the city’s rich Nawabi legacy by offering a royal and redefined coffee brewing and culinary experience with international styled presentations, global cooking practices and alternate brewing techniques.

Located in the prime neighbourhood of Jubilee Hills on Road number 10, it also has ‘The Huddle Room’, which is an 8-seater full-fledged meeting room. Spread across 2,750 sq ft, the new Coffee Day Square can host 76 guests at a time.

Venu Madhav, CEO, Café Coffee Day said, “The Coffee Day Square is a reflection of the new and best in coffees and culinary experience. Residents of Hyderabad can take delight in the innovative beverages and appetising food items it has to offer.”

Vertiv Announces Dynamic Online Mode and New, Smaller Modules of High Power Density UPS Family

Vertiv announced a new feature for the Liebert EXL S1 line of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, adding Dynamic Online mode, which allows operating efficiency of up to 99 percent. In addition, Vertiv introduced 500 and 600 kVA 400V module ratings for the Liebert EXL S1. The UPS family is available now in India in seven capacity ratings from 300 kVA to 1200 kVA, 400V. The UPS is also available in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America in a variety of input and output voltages. Dynamic Online mode is available for Liebert EXL S1 globally.

Vertiv introduced Dynamic Online mode to the Liebert EXL S1 to meet the needs of cloud, colocation and enterprise data centers that cannot sacrifice any level of availability for incremental gains in efficiency. With efficiency up to 99 percent, the Liebert EXL S1 operating in Dynamic Online mode offers substantial energy savings over legacy UPS systems which average 94 percent efficiency, and even improves on modern UPS systems that approach 97 percent efficiency. Over five years, a 1000 kVA Liebert EXL S1 can save more than $230,000 over a same-capacity 94 percent efficient UPS system and more than $140,000 over a same-capacity 97 percent efficient UPS system.

“In the fast-evolving Indian digital landscape, optimization, availability, and energy efficiency are critical elements of IT environments that support 24X7 businesses,” said Vikas Srivastava – director of product management for power, Vertiv in India. “The addition of high efficiency mode and extension of our Liebert EXL S1 UPS line allows our customers access to the best industry UPS systems, and highest levels of availability to their IT infrastructure.”

While in Dynamic Online mode, the Liebert EXL S1 inverter can instantaneously assume the load and maintain the output voltage well within the IEC 62040-3 Class 1 specification. That means systems equipped with Dynamic Online mode can safely transition from high-efficiency (Voltage Independent) mode to inverter mode with a near-zero-millisecond transfer, thus providing absolute load power protection under virtually any input power outage condition.

The new models of Liebert EXL S1 are up to 40 percent smaller than competitive systems and designed to meet the reliability and flexibility demands of the modern data center. Redundant DC variable speed fans enable the UPS to support 100 percent load even with multiple fan failures. Various input/output options add flexibility and reduce capital and installation costs. As with previously released Liebert EXL S1 modules, customers can parallel up to eight units and leverage Intelligent Parallel mode to automatically optimize efficiency at reduced load levels.

The system’s touchscreen interface offers a status-at-a-glance LED light bar, customizable views and multiple security options, while intelligent controls ensure seamless integration with multiple Vertiv and third-party building management and data center infrastructure management systems. All sizes of the Liebert EXL S1 UPS are available with lithium-ion batteries, flywheels, Albér battery monitoring, and LIFE Services.

Blockchain Based Supply Chain Mgt By Student of Nitte MIT, Bengaluru Emerge Winners at Unisys Cloud 20/20 2019 Contest

Unisys Corporation has announced the winners of the 10th annual Unisys Cloud 20/20 contest, one of India's largest and most popular annual student innovation programs. This year's contest featured more than 270 colleges and over 300 projects, as students were challenged to think outside the box and develop innovative ideas.       

The project titled Vesa – Blockchain Based Supply Chain Management by Sarang Parikh, Amith K K, Swathi R and Deeptha M of the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, was picked as the winner. Eniyanilavan R, Hemachandiran S, Eathindhar M and Gautham A of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, Puducherry College, earned second place for their project titled su PILVI. Third place was awarded to Amogh A Rao, Sana Parveen Salar, Suchithra Devadiga and Sharadhi Arun Patil of Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering, Mangalore, for their project, Smart Telematics System.   

The contest aims to bridge the gap between academia and the IT industry and encourage the participants to create innovative projects with practical application. Disruptive technology trends featured in this year's competition included cloud-based applications and microservices, cloud computing infrastructure, security and multimodal biometrics. After entries opened in July 2018, Unisys shortlisted the top 113 teams and provided them each with a mentor for guidance in project development.         

Winning teams were awarded cash prizes up to 4.25 lakhs and a trophy. In addition, Unisys has offered more than 20 internships and eight job placements to the finalists and winners of this year's competition. 

"Technical contests help build creativity and thinking capacity in students, and I am extremely happy with the impact that Cloud 20/20 has gained over the last 10 years. We are proud that Unisys has played a key role in creating and supporting talent from across the country," said Vishal Gupta, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Unisys. "Cloud 20/20 serves as a platform to equip students with the requisite skills to drive innovation in an ever-competitive industry like the IT industry." 

Sumed Marwaha, managing director, Unisys India and regional vice president, Services, Unisys added, "Unisys has been a torchbearer in technical and innovation led contests. In the last 10 years, Cloud 20/20 has been a platform for thousands of students across India to unveil their talents in some extraordinary projects and innovative ideas around disruptive technologies. This year our focus is on molding ideas to real life solutions. This recognizes that the Indian IT industry is constantly changing and requires these bright minds to create the technology of the future."   

Launched in 2009, Cloud 20/20 has traditionally been a collaboration between Unisys and academia. Over the last decade more than 25,000 teams have participated, making it one of India's most popular technical contests for engineering students. 

Under the Cloud 20/20 umbrella, Unisys has also conducted various programs created for different strata of the IT industry including annual hackathons for freshers, developers and programmers, Tech Series and Tech Connect for experienced professionals across the industry to meet and share ideas and construct a framework for future technologies. These programs also incorporate various trending themes such as virtual simulation, biometrics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.