India Food Services Industry to Add 2 Million Jobs Over the Next Two Years: Nandan Nilekani

Looking at the job scenario, the food services industry is a big driver in the country and will add another 2 million jobs over the next 2 years, said Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani after releasing the fourth edition of the 'India Food Services' report 2019, compiled by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) in Bengaluru. He said presently this industry employees over 7 million to and this is expected to grow to 9 Million.

Indicating formalisation of the food services industry was inevitable in India, Nilekani on Monday advised stakeholders to have a certification system for skills of their employees in the supply chain.

"I urge you to bring out a certification system to raise the skills of millions of people. This will help you build employment for the industry and can go beyond 10 million in the near future," said Nilekani after releasing the fourth edition of the 'India Food Services' report 2019, compiled by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) here.

Noting that multiple forces play a major part in the growth of the multi-crore industry, he said the Goods and Services Tax (GST), digital payments and food quality were the other major factors that would formalise the industry with an ecosystem of its own.

"They are frenemies. Though brick and mortar always thrive, the restaurants need to make sure they have a good supply chain to support the tight timelines the delivery boys have," Nilekani said.

NRAI President Rahul Singh said the Indian restaurant industry employed 73 lakh people in the last fiscal 2018-19.

"The organised food service sector, which is 35 per cent of the total market, contributed a whopping Rs 18,000 crore as taxes in the last fiscal, which is 12 per cent of the total organized market," said Singh.

According to the report, compiled once in 3 years, growing urbanisation, rising income levels and improved investment climate have made the food service sector grow at 11 per cent during the last 3 years and it is estimated to be at Rs 4,23,865 crore in 2018-19.

Growing at 9 per cent, the sector is projected to reach Rs 599,784 crore by 2022-23.

In terms of employment, the organised sector provided jobs to 37 lakh people, or 51 per cent of the total in 2018-19, the unorganised sector to another 36 lakh people (49 per cent) of the total workforce. This is estimated to grow 6 per cent to 92 lakh in 2022-23.

NRAI's Bengaluru chapter head chef Manu Chandra said the average spend per household per month on eating out has been estimated at Rs 3,586 in the tech hub, which was higher than the national average of Rs 2,500.

Empirical Data Blockchain Solution Brings Transparency to CSR Projects

Empirical Data, a new breed blockchain solution provider, today announced the launch and introduction of RedShift, a first of its kind blockchain solution for corporate CSR. This game changing solution provides a robust platform for corporates to ensure smooth CSR project execution. RedShift brings a simple, efficient and affordable enterprise solution that helps corporates to focus and execute humanitarian and social projects.

"A well-executed CSR project is the best way to give back to the society. We are excited to introduce RedShift which will help create greater transparency and visibility in daily corporate CSR transactions. With RedShift we aim to change the way businesses interact with various stakeholders in the CSR activities," said Karthik Ramarao, Founder & CTO at Empirical Data.

Empirical Data is incorporated as the Indian subsidiary of trANa Technologies, headquartered in Singapore, providing groundbreaking enterprise solutions on its blockchain - Fusion Core. By adding leading-edge innovations and enhancements to the open source blockchain framework, Empirical Data has successfully integrated blockchain with sensors, IOT and ML to introduce new breed of solutions for enterprises.

RedShift enables a shared system of immutable single data source for all stakeholders. Its applications reach far beyond the scope of CSR and philanthropy. Apart from providing step by step execution of activities, this tamper proof solution provides a consistent set of records for the whole value chain to see and review. RedShift enables stakeholders and auditors to easily trace the provenance of the data as well as to be prepared for random inquests from government audit bodies.

Blockchain is an enabler for RedShift, providing fundamental change, transparency and empowerment for the execution of CSR in India. Redshift's SXCAL engine is equipped with advanced features such as alarms, flags, invoice creation, payment initiation and more. With RedShift corporate enterprises can now make use of unprecedented benefits such a conservation of time, effort and also get instant reconciliation and updates.

Availability
The Redshift solution is available from the 20th of May 2019.

Homegrown Smart Wearables Startup KaHa Raises US$6.2M in Series B Funding

KaHa, a Singapore-based end-to-end IoT platform startup for smart wearables, has raised US$6.2 million in Series B funding to accelerate its growth in Asia. The funding round was led by ICT Fund, a specialized deep-tech venture capital fund and an existing strategic investor from Europe.

The funds raised in this round will enable the company to boost its research and development and scale its operations in the Asia Pacific region. APAC is the world’s fastest growing smart wearables market, outperforming Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

KaHa will be expanding its presence in Singapore as well as play a more significant role in the country’s IoT ecosystem. This year, the firm launched the COVE R2C IoT Innovation Lab, a multipartite IoT innovation and research lab in one-north technology hub. In close collaboration with public and private partners, KaHa is currently developing innovative use cases on smart wearables. Valuable partners across the IoT development value chain include Singapore research institute A*STAR SIMTech, Bridgestone, Curtis Australia, MHA Manufacture de Haute Accessoirie Partners, Tex Line, and Titan.

“As a company with a mission to create a better and safer environment, it is important to us to bring innovative and relevant technologies into a consumer’s everyday life. Apart from helping us expand our product line, this new round of funding will allow KaHa to discover more breakthrough products that can support the health and wellness, sports and fitness, safety and digital payments needs, as well as increase the COVE platform’s availability internationally and improve our accessibility and affordability,” said Pawan Gandhi, Founder, and CEO of KaHa.  “With the continued support of our existing strategic investor and new partner ICT Fund, we are strategically positioned to make our mission possible.”

Brijesh Pande, managing partner of ICT Fund said: “We are delighted to partner with KaHa, which is well placed to capitalize on the fast-growing market opportunity in smart wearables. Consumer product brands will increasingly need to offer ‘smart’ products to maintain leadership and KaHa, with its innovative end-to-end platform, is a perfect partner for global brands.”

“We are very pleased with KaHa’s progress and track record and it’s been clear that its platform can be scaled across various brands.  We are excited about increasing our investment in KaHa on this next phase as it continues to drive scale and growth in the wearable tech and IoT space," said Andy Raswork, board member of existing strategic investor.

Incorporated in Singapore in 2015, KaHa is one of the few companies in the world to have an end-to-end IoT platform for smart wearables including electronics design, printed circuit board assembly, application framework for iOS and Android, cloud services, data analytics and smart after-sales service tool.  The platform enables partners and customers to incorporate the latest technology without prohibitive financial costs and speed up their go-to-market time for smart products including smart bands, smartwatches, smart accessories and smart apparel. 

Stanley Black & Decker Launches STANLEY Earth With a Solar-Powered Water Pump to Empower Farmers in India

Stanley Black & Decker has launched STANLEY Earth in India, the company’s new brand for purpose-driven product technologies that innovate for social good. With this launch, the company aims to leverage its core technology expertise and broad partnership network to create solutions that address unmet societal needs including critical sustainable development challenges such as water, energy, and climate.

Aligned with the solar agricultural revolution underway in India, STANLEY Earth’s first product is NADI, an eco-friendly, efficient solar-powered brushless DC water pump that facilitates reliable irrigation for agricultural applications for farmers across the country. NADI™, which means “river”, uses STANLEY’s highly efficient brushless direct current (BLDC) motor technology to drive the pump along with solar panels that power the entire system.

Commenting on the launch of STANLEY Earth in India, Jim Loree, President and CEO, Stanley Black & Decker said, “The world around us is facing a growing number of increasingly critical societal issues today. As a company which makes products and services that help create and shape our world, we have an obligation to leverage our resources and expertise to create new solutions to address these very challenges. Our new brand STANLEY Earth is a reflection of our commitment to ‘Innovating with Purpose,’ a core pillar of our CSR Strategy and 22/22 Vision.”

“The launch of products like these will play a key role in helping our company create positive change and get us closer to achieving our goal of enhancing the lives of 500 million people. We want to be reckoned as a force for good in alignment with our purpose, for those who make the world,” Loree added.

NADI offers a sustainable alternative to the 25 million inefficient diesel and alternating current (AC) pumps currently used for agriculture, which draw almost 20% of the electricity generated in the country and pose a huge environmental pollution challenge. The smart pump has an intelligent controller that enables micro-irrigation. It incorporates an IOT-based agricultural platform complete with sensors that connect to the cloud and mobile networks, providing real-time data on the pump health along with key environmental metrics. This will enable farmers to efficiently monitor pump performance and conduct preventive maintenance as needed.

“Nearly two years ago, we set out on a mission to deliver a self-sustaining irrigation solution that can provide millions of farmers in India, a solution to one of their key challenges – reliable and consistent access to clean water,” said Ramana Gogula Vice President of Clean Technology Innovation at Stanley Black & Decker.

He went on to add, “Through the innovation of our STANLEY Earth’s team and collaboration with key partners, we have delivered an affordable solution that can help transform not only the lives of farmers in India, but also the lives of farmers in any part of the world that face water scarcity. NADI™ embodies the mission of STANLEY Earth, but it is the first of many products to come – we’re excited about the difference we can make.”

NADI was piloted in India with a farmer who was initially growing only fruits and vegetables. After installing the technology on his farm, he was able to add rice to his crop mix and manage his water supply well enough to produce multiple harvests per year. The smart pump will be made available to rural farmers across India through a strong partnership network that includes Agri-Retail Networks, distributors and systems integrators.

STANLEY Earth is also forging strategic alliances with key financial partners in the agro-domain, to make this solar technology intervention more affordable for the farmers in the country.  

Bentley Systems Announces Availability of OpenSite Designer

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the availability of OpenSite Designer, its integrated application for civil site and land development workflows across conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design phases. OpenSite Designer advances BIM through comprehensive 3D site design, spanning reality modeling of site conditions from drone imagery and scans, geotechnical analysis, terrain modeling, site layout and grading optimization, stormwater drainage modeling and analysis, underground utilities modeling, detailed drawing production, and enlivened visualizations.

OpenSite Designer enables rapid and iterative conceptual design, leveraging contextual information obtained through point clouds, reality meshes, GIS, and other sources to enhance understanding of existing site conditions. Interoperating with PLAXIS and SoilVision, Bentley’s geotechnical engineering solutions, site plans can be enhanced with new information about the active properties of soil including bearing capacity, stresses, and displacement.

With OpenSite Designer, users can create intelligent 3D models containing site information, terrain data, parking lots, building pads, driveways, sidewalks, parcel layout, and related site features. During preliminary design, the site engineer can complete and subjectively improve the layout while relying on further automated optimizations, which respond to the engineering changes. To complete the project’s digital workflows, OpenSite Designer fully supports the site engineer’s detailed design including the production of all required project deliverables.

For many site engineers, OpenSite Designer will advance civil site design from traditional 2D plans and profiles to a 3D modeling environment, assuring more efficient analysis of hydraulics, geotechnical, geospatial, and earthworks. Incorporating the analytics optimization of Bentley’s SITEOPS technology, OpenSite Designer is the successor to the site design capabilities of Bentley’s PowerCivil, topoGraph, GEOPAK Site, InRoads Site, and MXSite.

Dustin Parkman, vice president, civil infrastructure design integration for Bentley Systems, said, “The collaborative nature of digital workflows converging analysis and simulation with design and modeling is exemplified in our new OpenSite Designer. We’re excited that for the first time there is a complete solution for site design and land development to accelerate site engineers going digital!”

Michael Semeraro, Jr., PE, PP, managing principal, EVP, Langan International, said, “Langan is always looking for opportunities to differentiate ourselves from competitors with technical excellence and expertise. We have depended on SITEOPS for site optimization, earthwork analysis, and cost identification in our planning phase. We now look forward to using OpenSite Designer to also produce our detailed designs and documentation.”

Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems, said, “Interestingly, after three decades of leadership in civil engineering software scope advancement, the culmination is OpenSite Designer – a very accessible and widely-needed application which combines complete fitness for purpose with unprecedented ease of use and adoption. In effect, it brings to bear what we consider to be the indispensable characteristics of infrastructure digital twins – reality from imagery, veracity from simulation and optimization, and fidelity to design intent across revisions. Both site engineers’ work satisfaction, and their site designs, will be vastly enhanced by the breakthroughs in OpenSite Designer."

Larson & Toubro Will Make Mindtree Into a Big Company: AM Naik

The acquisition of Mindtree is the topmost agenda for infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro at the moment and eventually the mid-sized IT firm is going to be transformed into a big company, L&T Group Chairman A M Naik said.

The  $20 billion conglomerate, which has taken its overall holding in Mindtree to about 26%, will launch the open offer to buy additional stake in around 10 days, he added.

“We continuously look for opportunities as they come by, but right now our mind is completely occupied on Mindtree and I hope we will be able to eventually make this into a big company as well,” Naik said.

“We have got around 26% stake in Mindtree and will wait till we get 51%. The open offer will be launched in about 10-12 days,” he added.

Elaborating on Mindtree promoters’ opposition to the takeover bid, Naik said they have started to realise that L&T is also an employee-centric organisation.

“I think slowly they also feel...they wanted to sell it anyway. Altogether it is about 12%(stake) and we are not saying you sell and go. Whenever they sell and if they want to sell it to us, we will buy the stake,” he said.

He added,  “I hope we will do better and do great things in IT and engineering service, once we complete our acquisition of Mindtree, we will be $3 billion and our idea is in three to four years, take it to $5 billion,” he asserted.

He added: “It was zero when I took over....application of new generation of technologies is now a major focus for us with L&T Nxt and I hope we will do a great job in this area.”

Earlier, L&T had purchased around 20% stake of V G Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee Day in Mindtree through a block deal for about Rs 3,210 crore and has since topped that with share purchases from the open market. In all, the infrastructure major is eyeing up to 66% stake in Mindtree for around Rs 10,800 crore. 

Samsung, Instagram Share Tips on the Art of Creating Impactful Videos at Samsung Opera House

 

As a part of its flagship campaign, ‘India, Ready Action’ to engage with Indian millennials, Samsung in association with Instagram, on Thursday, organized a consumer workshop to share tips on creating short impactful videos using smartphones. The event had sessions by representatives from Samsung and Instagram along with a special session by Celebrity Chef Saransh Goila who encouraged the audience to participate in the campaign and spoke about the power of video as a tool to break stereotypes.

Samsung’s recently launched ‘India, Ready Action’ campaign urges Gen Z and Indian millennials to come forward and break stereotypes about India by uploading videos up to 60-seconds showcasing their vision of ‘Real India’. The campaign has already received an overwhelming response with close to 57 million views on YouTube and is providing the youth of the country an unparalleled platform to change perceptions about India.

“At Samsung, we want to enable young Indians to ride the new trend of video creation and break stereotypes about our beautiful country. Our Gen Z and young millennials are a most vivacious, socially conscious lot, driven by a zest for India. Moreover, they are digital natives who live in the ‘Era of Live’ and video is fast becoming their medium of expression. #IndiaReadyAction is tailor made for them to express themselves,” Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung India, said.

“Our recently launched Galaxy A series smartphones and Samsung Smart TVs enable people to move from an Era of Selfie to an Era of Live, where people foster more authentic and meaningful connections,” he added.

‘Indians only play cricket’, ‘Entertainment in India is limited to Bollywood’, ‘India is all about spicy food’, ‘India lacks nightlife’ are some of the stereotypes millennials are attempting to break and showcase the emerging India story to the world. So far, the entries show football gaining traction in the country, fans enjoying music concerts, beautiful streets of India and the varied cuisines from different parts of the country.

The campaign, which has been initiated through the launch of a campaign video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ha4hnu8TLU, has been conceptualized by Samsung’s creative agency Cheil India.

While there has been an exponential growth in video consumption over the years, led by Gen Z and young millennials, this generation of Indians is also leading content creation. Priding themselves on spontaneity and creativity, these digital natives don’t just shoot stills, but create videos. They’re adding filters and experimenting with AR effects and are sharing their life stories through videos across multiple social platforms.

With #IndiaReadyAction, this generation is getting empowered to showcase Real India through their unique videos.

Participants can share their view of Real India through short videos on themes such as food, places, entertainment and culture. Participants can shoot videos using any smartphone and post on their Instagram accounts tagging @SamsungIndia, using the hashtags #IndiaReadyAction, #City and #Theme.

The videos that participants post on Instagram will be populated on a map of India that is hosted on a Samsung India microsite (www.samsung.com/in/IndiaReadyAction). This will create a map of Real India, through the eyes of Gen Z and young millennials.

Every week, Samsung will announce 7 lucky participants who will get the latest Galaxy A70 smartphone that comes with a host of disruptive features, including a 32MP triple rear camera capable of shooting stunning super slow-mo videos, a massive 4500mAh battery with 25W super-fast charging capability and a 6.7 inch sAMOLED Infinity U display to give young consumers the freedom and convenience to share, stream and play all day long.

There’s more. At the end of the campaign, 20 of the most interesting videos will be rewarded with Galaxy A80 smartphones and Samsung 43 inch Smart TVs.

Galaxy A80 is designed for digital natives who want to interact, play and share in the moment and comes with Samsung’s revolutionary 48MP rotating camera enabling consumers to shoot same quality videos from both sides. Galaxy A80 comes with innovative features such as 3D Depth camera capable of shooting Live Focus videos & Ultra-wide camera with super steady mode.

Samsung has also launched its latest Smart TVs with industry first benefits such as Home Cloud that allow users to store their favourite moments on their smartphones wirelessly to the USB drive connected to the TV and Live Cast that empowers consumers to seamlessly stream live moments from any remote location on to their Smart TV.