A 28 Year Old Girl Suffering from Wilson Disease Successfully Underwent a Liver Transplant at Fortis Hospital

A 28 year old girl suffering from Wilson’s disease successfully underwent a liver transplant at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta road. Wilson disease is a rare inherited disorder that causes copper to accumulate in liver, brain and other vital organs. The team of doctors was led by Dr. Mahesh Gopasetty- Sr. Consultant Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Liver Transplant Surgery, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore.

The patient came with a complaint of inability to consume food and water. Being specially-abled since birth, the patient was also unable to perform her daily chores. Further it was diagnosed that she had repeated infections and there was water accumulation in her body. The patient’s condition was deteriorating and there was an urgent need for liver transplant, so a cadaver liver transplant procedure was followed for her.

Dr. Mahesh Gopasetty, Sr. Consultant Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Liver Transplant Surgery, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore, said, “It was a complex case for us as the patient has Wilson disease. It was difficult for us to understand the symptoms, as mostly in such cases, patient with wilson disease also suffer from neurological and psychological disorder. In this case also, the patient had psychological issues since her birth. On diagnosis, we found out that there was copper accumulation in her liver, so we had to perform immediate liver transplant surgery. Post consent from the family, we went ahead with the liver transplant and the patient withstood the procedure well. We hope that with this transplant, she would have a healthy life ahead.”

Ms Hemalatha (name changed), Mother of the patient said, “We are grateful to the doctors, staff and Hospital who guided and treated my daughter well. We are fortunate enough to get the liver transplant done successfully.

According to reports by NCBI, “Approximately Wilson disease affects 1 in 30,000 to 40,000 individuals. Around 15-20 cases are registered annually, out of which two-thirds are a cause of acute liver failure.”

Subex Wins Multi-Year Deal from Econet Wireless Zimbabwe to Deploy Analytics Centre of Trust

Subex, a leading telecom analytics solution provider, has announced a deal with Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (EWZ), a leading telecom operator in Zimbabwe, for the deployment of its Analytics Centre of Trust (ACT) offering. Through the deployment, Econet will be able to transform into an independent data driven organization, thereby improving operational efficiency.

Licensed as a mobile telecommunications operator in 1998, Econet is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, and is part of the pan-African, diversified Econet Wireless Group. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is building a strong, consumer-centric ethos that is committed to providing innovative, accessible and refreshingly simple communication solutions that suit customers’ everyday needs.

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe was looking to further improve their operational efficiency by effectively leveraging their data to make business decisions. To this end, Subex was selected based on its proven expertise in implementing an analytics solution which is flexible across business cases around Customer, Technology, Product, Sales & Distribution, Risk and Revenue.

Through the deployment of ACT, Econet will have access to an array of benefits. The ACT deployment, beyond optimizing Econet’s day-to-day operations, will also allow the telecom player to employ predictive & prescriptive analytics in areas such as Customer 360, Product Optimisation and Cell-Site intelligence.

Moreover, Subex’s ‘Man + Machine’ model will provide Econet with the flexibility to shift from one focus area to another and make accurate business decisions faster. ACT will also help Econet build intelligence to analyze performance of products, identify new products, and explore areas where consumption can be increased. The deployment will also help Econet identify potential sites for 4G upgrades, identify critical and competitive zones based on customer segmentation and deliver many other additional benefits.

“Subex has been a pioneer in the telecom analytics domain, and we are delighted to extend our ACT solution to Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. Our expertise in handling large volumes of data to derive digital insights significantly help our customers in both strategic and operational aspects of their business. This win with Econet allows us to increase footprint for our Analytics solution, which is an important part in our growth strategy towards being the leaders in Digital Trust,” said Vinod Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, Subex.

“Econet’s focus is to continue being Zimbabwe’s preferred telecommunications provider, which will be achieved only by evolving into a stronger and future-ready organization. The analytical support from Subex will give impetus to Econet’s strategic expansion. This partnership will further improve the telecom sector in Zimbabwe and reinforce our ability to tap into the power of our services and make demonstrable difference in many areas of our customers’ lives,” said Mr. Douglas Mboweni, CEO, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Group.

Innoviti Bags ‘Innovation Wizards’ Award at REACH – Mastercard Acceptance Summit 2019, Mumbai

Leading payments company, Innoviti Payment Solutions won “Innovation Wizards” award at REACH – Mastercard Acceptance Summit 2019 in Mumbai for its product Innoviti POS which is designed to accelerate the adoption of digital payments acceptance amongst small retailers in Tier 2/3 towns across India. The prestigious event is one of India’s largest conferences focusing on accelerating merchant digital payment acceptance and witnessed exciting talks and panel discussions with senior executives from Mastercard, leading banks like SBI, RBL Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank, and leading fintech players.

The award-winning Innoviti-POS product focuses on specific concerns of merchants who are used to cash acceptance and see little or no benefit in going digital because they feel their cost of doing business goes up by 1-2% due to applicable Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) processing fees.  Further, they perceive an unwanted loss of flexibility in not being able to immediately use their daily sales proceeds from transactions on a given day, as typically settlement of digital transactions happens on the next bank working day, which can be even 2-3 days later in case of intervening holidays. Moreover, they prefer not to get entangled into the intimidating installation-onboarding-activation cycle that takes upwards of 20 days.

To ease the transition from cash-to-cards for such first-time card-accepting merchants, Innoviti-POS is designed as a ready-to-use product which can be unpacked, installed and activated on the spot. In keeping with its positioning, the Innoviti-POS package also relieves the merchant of the need to open new current accounts to receive card settlements or sign new bank agreements, as they can now simply route them to any of their existing bank accounts by entering their basic KYC details into the Innoviti-POS Onboarding App. It transfers settlement funds for all transactions done on a particular day till 6 p.m., to merchants’ accounts by 8 p.m. on the very same day, thus enabling withdrawal of the day’s sales proceeds via an ATM or via issuance of cheques on the very same day. Moreover, Innoviti-POS assures this same day settlement service on all 365-days of the year irrespective of bank holidays.

Innoviti POS is targeted specifically at speeding up the enrolment of such small retail stores in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns across India, like Jaipur, Jammu, Ambala, Karnal, Dehradun, Surat, Nagpur, Indore, etc. Its unique benefits have attracted over 1500 merchants across 12 mainly Tier 2/3 cities, during the pilot between September 2018 to March 2019, to adopt Innoviti-POS and start migrating their business from cash to card. The average monthly transaction on these terminals is ₹ 98,000.

Innoviti will now be commercially launching this product across the country for smaller retail merchants. The company’s payment platform serves a marquee client base of merchants including Reliance Retail, Titan, Landmark Group, INOX, Indigo, Walmart and several others. Leading banks such as HDFC, ICICI, Axis, SBI, Standard Chartered, Kotak and Citibank use their platform to access customers for processing their payments and distributing loans to them.

“Innovating to find solutions to real-life problems of Indian retail merchants is at the core of Innoviti’s DNA, and we are naturally delighted at receiving the Innovation Wizards award at such a prestigious forum for expanding digital payment acceptance.  Small town merchants till now have only seen the cost side of accepting digital payments and increased hassles. With Innoviti-POS, they are being exposed to the real power of digital technology, where their hard-earned money can earn more money for them. We strongly believe our same day, everyday fund transfer technology will help new merchants enter card acceptance with an experience that is as good, if not better than cash. This potentially holds the key to plugging the currently yawning supply-demand gap in terms of POS infrastructure in India retail.”– said Mr. Rajeev Agrawal, CEO, Innoviti.

Vikas Saraogi, Vice President, Acceptance, Market Development, South Asia, Mastercard, said “Merchants are a critical element of India’s digital economy. In Mastercard’s vision of reaching 10 million merchants by 2020, partnerships with stakeholders in the digital payments ecosystem play a vital role. We are delighted to acknowledge Innoviti’s contributions to help make this vision a reality and congratulate them for winning the award for ‘New Innovation Wizards’. Innoviti’s instantly-installable Innoviti-POS with its Same Day Money promise is an excellent example of innovative acceptance solutions that address key merchant challenges and deliver a more friction-free on-boarding experience. We look forward to strengthening this partnership in the long run.”

New Land Rover Defender Reaches 1.2 Millions Kilometre Test and Development Milestone

Highlights

●      Ready for anything: New Defender reaches development milestone on World Land Rover Day as prototype fleet hits 1.2 million km landmark
●      New challenge awaits: Specially-camouflaged prototype model is preparing to embark on field-testing with global Land Rover conservation partner, the Tusk Trust
●      Unstoppable capability: Prototype will be put to work towing, wading and carrying supplies at the Borana Conservancy in Kenya to support vital conservation work
●      Tested to the extreme: Development fleet will complete more than 45 000 individual tests in some of the world’s most inhospitable places
●      World Land Rover Day: Land Rover celebrates 71 years of all-terrain expertise on 30 April – the anniversary of its original debut at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show

To celebrate World Land Rover Day, Land Rover has announced plans for the new Defender to complete a final phase of field testing with the Tusk Trust, on location in Kenya.

A Defender prototype wearing a unique camouflage will experience life at the Borana Conservancy as part of Land Rover’s 15-year partnership with the Tusk Trust.

The prototype will tow heavy loads, wade through rivers and carry supplies across unforgiving terrain in a series of real-world trials at the 14 000 hectare reserve.

By the time the new Defender makes its public debut later this year, it will have passed more than 45 000 individual tests in some of the most extreme environments on earth. Land Rover engineers have taken the test fleet to the 50-degree heat of the desert, the sub 40-degree cold of the Arctic, as well as up to 10 000 ft altitude of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to ensure the new Defender will take everyday life in its stride, for even its most adventurous customers.

Nick Rogers, Director Group Engineering, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “In addition to the extensive simulation and rig testing, we’ve driven new Defender 1.2 million km across all terrains and in extreme climates to ensure that it is the toughest and most capable Land Rover ever made. The incredible opportunity to put it to the test in the field, supporting operations at the Borana Conservancy in Kenya, with Tusk, will allow our engineers to verify that we are meeting this target as we enter the final phase of our development programme.”

With on-road dynamics honed at the Nürburgring facility in Germany and all-terrain credentials tested on the muddy roads of Eastnor, UK, the rocky trails of Moab in Utah, and the sand dunes of Dubai, the new 4x4 promises to bring unparalleled breadth of capability and new levels of comfort and driveability to the Defender family.

The new Defender has been designed and developed in the UK, at Gaydon, home to Land Rover’s world-class design, engineering and testing facilities. The new home of global Defender production will be Land Rover’s recently opened state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Nitra, Slovakia.

Land Rover has been an official partner of the Tusk Trust wildlife conservation charity for 15 years, helping to reach some of the world’s most remote locations. News of the testing initiative has been announced to mark World Land Rover Day, which is celebrated on 30 April every year to mark the world premiere of the original Land Rover at the Amsterdam Motor Show on this day in 1948.

Submission Period for Green Talents Award has Now Began Globally

Become a Green Talent, connect with an outstanding network of excellent scientists and Germany’s sustainability research elite and promote your ideas.

How can we realise good and healthy living conditions for everyone around the world when global climate change challenges today’s economies and life styles? How can we preserve our planet’s resources for future generations? How can research contribute to more sustainability? These questions are at the centre of the “Green Talents – International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development”. It invites applications from the creative and open-minded scientist to apply with their project to showcase the research to a broader public, to discuss with renowned experts, and to conduct the research in Germany.

With this year’s special focus on the question of how digitalisation can promote more sustainability in science and our societies, the motto of the 2019 competition is “Smart Green Planet – Solutions for a Sustainable Future”. However, applications from all disciplines are highly welcome and the research does not need to have a direct link to digitalisation.

As a successful Green Talent 2019, the winner will receive

-  an invitation to the fully funded two-week Green Talents Science Forum 2019, consisting of

-      visits to leading German sustainability facilities, institutions and companies with exclusive insights into their pioneering research and projects,

-      individual appointments with German experts of your choosing to discuss possibilities for upcoming joint research and cooperation efforts,

-      networking opportunities at the 10-year-anniversary Green Talents alumni conference in Berlin with key representatives of the German sustainability landscape,

-    a fully funded research stay of up to three months at an institution of your own choice in Germany in 2020,

-   exclusive access for you to the prestigious Green Talents alumni network.

Deadline for submission: 22 May 2019, 2 p.m. CEST.

For more information please refer to our website www.greentalents.de where both the competition flyer as well as the award trailer are accessible.

Further information :  The “Green Talents – International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development” programme has been hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the past 10 years. It is held under the patronage of the German Minister of Education and Research, Ms Anja Karliczek. Honouring 25 young international researchers each year, the programme has successfully fostered  the global exchange of innovative green ideas within the field of sustainability. Since 2009, 232 outstanding scientists from 65 countries have been awarded for  their achievements and contributions to making their communities, countries and societies more sustainable.Eligible to apply are master students, PhD students, postdocs, as well as young professionals, with no more than three years of professional work experience (excluding professional work experiences gained within the scope of an educational degree) and a strong focus on sustainable development. Applicants must prove excellent command of English and above-average grade. Further, only applications from non-German citizens or residents can be considered.

TVS Motor Company's Revenue Grew by 19.3%, Operating EBITDA Grew by 22%, Total Sales Grew by 12.9% in FY 2018-19

TVS Motor Company, today reported its financial results for the year 2018-19.   With total sales of 39.14 Lakh units for the year, the Company’s total revenue excluding Excise Duty / GST grew by 19.3% to Rs. 18,217.5 Crores. During the year, the Company strengthened its presence in the commuter motorcycle segment with the successful launch of TVS Radeon.

Q4 PERFORMANCE (January 2019 – March 2019):

TVS Motor Company reported a growth of 9.2% with total revenue excluding Excise Duty / GST going up from Rs. 4,016.8 Crores in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 to Rs. 4,387.6 Crores in the fourth quarter of 2018-19. The Company reported Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs. 183.9 Crores and Profit After Tax of Rs. 134.3 Crores for the quarter under review.

EBITDA for the Quarter ended March 2019 is Rs. 308.1 Crores compared to Rs. 295.2 Crores for the quarter ended March 2018, a growth of 4.4% .  EBITDA for the quarter is at 7.0%.

The Company’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) for the quarter ended March 2019 is Rs. 183.9 Crores as against Rs. 192.1 Crores for the quarter ended March 2018.

Profit After Tax (PAT) for the quarter ended March 2019 is Rs. 133.8 Crores as against Rs. 165.6 Crores reported for the quarter ended March 2018.

During the quarter ended March 2019, the overall two-wheeler and three-wheeler sales including exports grew from 8.89 Lakh units in the quarter ended March 2018 to 9.07 Lakh units.   Motorcycle sales grew by 8.4% from 3.46 Lakh units in the quarter ended March 2018 to 3.75 Lakh units in fourth quarter of 2018 - 19.  Scooter sales for the quarter ended 31st March 2019 is 2.71 Lakh units against the sale of 2.80 Lakh units in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The Company’s total export of two-wheelers and three-wheelers is 1.96 Lakh units in the quarter under review against 1.61 Lakh units in the quarter ended March 2018 registering a growth of 21.7%.  Three-wheeler sales grew by 44.8 % from 0.29 Lakh units in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 to 0.42 Lakh units in the quarter under review.

FULL YEAR PERFORMANCE (April 2018 to March 2019):

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE:

Total revenue excluding Excise Duty for the year recorded a growth of 19.3% increasing from     Rs. 15,274.4 Crores in the year ended March 2018 to Rs. 18,217.5 Crores in the year ended   March 2019.

Operating EBITDA increased from Rs. 1,175.0 Crores during the year ended March 2018 to   Rs. 1,433.3 Crores in the year ended March 2019 registering a growth of 22.0%.

Profit before tax (PBT) for the year ended March 2019 is Rs.  961.0 Crores as against Rs. 878.6 Crores for the year ended March 2018, which included notional fair valuation gain of Rs. 68.3 Crores and one-time GST discount of Rs. 16.5 Crores.  Hence the current year PBT of Rs. 961.0 Crores when compared with operating PBT of Rs. 826.8 Crores for the year ended March 2018 after adjusting the above item represents an increase of 16.2 %.

Profit after tax (PAT) for the year ended March 2019 is Rs. 670.1 Crores as against Rs. 662.6 Crores registered in the year ended March 2018.  Operating PAT for the year ended March 2018 prior to consideration of fair valuation gains and one-time GST discount (net of tax) is Rs. 606.7 Crores. The growth in operating PAT for the year ended March 2019 is 10.5%.

SALES:
During the year ended March 2019, the overall two-wheeler sales of TVS Motor Company, including exports grew by 11.6% increasing from 33.67 Lakh units registered in the year 2017-18 to 37.57 Lakh units in the year 2018-19. Motorcycle sales during the fiscal year grew by 15.0% increasing from 13.56 Lakh units in the year ended March 2018 to 15.59 Lakh units in the year ended March 2019. Scooter sales grew by 14.6% increasing from 11.35 Lakh units in the year ended March 2018 to 13.01 Lakh units in the year ended March 2019. Three-wheeler sales increased by 57.6% from 0.99 Lakh units in the year ended March 2018 to 1.56 Lakh units in the year ended March 2019. The total export of the Company recorded a growth of 32.8% increasing from 5.74 Lakh units in the year ended March 2018 to 7.62 Lakh units in the year ended   March 2019.

INTERIM DIVIDENDS:

The Board of Directors of the Company declared two interim dividends for the year 2018-19. The total dividend paid for the year ended March 2019 aggregated to Rs. 3.50 per share (350%) on 47,50,87,114 equity shares of Re.1/- each. The Board does not recommend any further dividend for the year under consideration.

AWARDS:
TVS Motor Company won the Two-Wheeler Manufacturer of the Year Award at Car and Bike India Awards 2019 and Excellence in Business Performance at The Economic Times Awards, Tamil Nadu 2019.  During the year, TVS NTORQ 125, swept the prestigious Scooter of the Year 2019 awards from leading publication houses including Autocar, Bike India and Times Auto Awards. TVS Radeon won multiple awards - namely Bike of the Year upto 125cc Commuter Bike of the Year at Motor Vikatan Award 2019 and Bike of the Year up to 125cc at Exhibit Auto Tech Awards 2019. TVS Apache RR 310 won Bike of the Year up to 400cc at Car and Bike India Awards 2019.

The Company bagged the prestigious awards for Corporate Excellence and Corporate Social Responsibility at the CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2018.  It was also awarded Green Era Award for Sustainability & Quality and Business Excellence Award at the International Awards by Otherways Management & Consulting, France, along with Best CSR initiative (Two-Wheeler) at Autocar India Awards 2019.

Twitter Serves Public Conversation with #TwitterDialogues During this Indian Election Season

Hosted by renowned journalist, news anchor and founder of Editorji (@editorji), Vikram Chandra (@vikramchandra), #TwitterDialogues provides a truly interactive platform this election season.  The series has featured Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot), Jyotiraditya Scindia (@JM_Scindia), and Uma Bharti (@umasribharti), and will continue to bring power-packed interviews like Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal), Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari), Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley), P Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN), Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor), Sheila Dikshit (@SheilaDikshit), Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah), Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman), and KTR (@KTRTRS) in the coming weeks.

#TwitterDialogues offers Twitter users a tangible way to connect with their elected leaders. The show encourages Twitter users to engage in a direct, open and public conversation with politicians, while it offers political leaders a platform to reach out to a large, engaged digital audience from across the country. The show, native to Twitter and first on the platform, prioritizes the 'voice of the people' above political rhetoric or ideology.

The bilingual conversations in Hindi and English have garnered over 340,000 Video Views and 1.49 million impressions since the series first went live on April 21st, 2019.