TKM Employees Extend Help to Families Affected by Cyclone Fani

In its continuous initiatives towards being at the forefront for supporting the society in addressing critical issues, a group of Toyota employees today gathered to put together ‘Emergency Relief Kits’ for families affected by the aftermath caused by Cyclone Fani earlier this month. This voluntary initiative amassed strong support for swift relief activities currently being undertaken by the authorities.

‘ICARE’ – an employee voluntary initiative is an effort in line with the company’s commitment to sustained community development. This drive actively involves the employees and aims to enhance their understanding on the increasing challenges that victims of such natural disaster face, thus call for priority actions to counter this scenario through a series of interactive programs.

This is Toyota’s seventh employee volunteerism initiative under ICARE that focuses on the theme of Social Contribution. Enthusiastic employees dedicated their personal day to assemble Emergency Relief Kits, packing more than 32,000 ready-to-eat meals, 150 solar lights along with other utility items that will help more than 150 families for the next six months.

As a project to promote proactive involvement of employee in the fields of community engagement covering various areas such as education, environment, health, etc., ICARE was inaugurated in 2017 with the launch of Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) and specialized health camps conducted in Ramanagara district in Karnataka. Under this initiative, Toyota and its employees painted the walls of the 140 year old government school, and staged a play at Garuda Mall to create environment awareness among the general public on current environmental issues such as Lake Restoration, Afforestation & Solid Waste Management.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director – Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “We stand by the people of Odisha in this time of crisis, and hope that our small contribution will bring about a positive change in their lives. We pray that the life in Odisha takes a speedy return to normalcy. At Toyota, we believe in giving back to the society and build a better future for the next generation. Our objective is not only manufacturing ever better cars, but also enrich community lives. ‘ICARE’ is driven solely by the passion of our employees and shared responsibility to make a big difference in the society we live in. These kinds of activities empower our employees to be the change makers in the community and support them grow as individuals with real understanding of the social issues around them. Our employees have been actively involved to drive many CSR interventions in the areas of health, environment and education.”

As a responsible corporate citizen, Toyota Kirloskar Motor [TKM] is constantly working towards the development of people, communities, and the earth at large. The company’s efforts over the years include rebuilding a local residential school, construction of water tanks in rural Bangalore benefitting the community in Ramnagara district, setting up water purification units across the nation benefitting 100,000 lives. The company’s focus is on sustainable interventions in the community with flagship programs such as Development of Model School, Lake Rejuvenation, Project ABCD [A Behavioral Change Demonstration] on school sanitation, Road Safety Training Programs [Toyota Safety Education Program, Safety Model School and Drivers’ Safety Training], etc.

Under Health & Hygiene, TKM has been actively involved in construction of sanitation units in government schools and educating the school children on the usage & maintenance of sanitation units, thus bringing about a change in the holistic behavioral aspects of the children & community at large. Setting up of water purification units to provide safe drinking water to community and launch of Mobile medical unit for the sustained intervention in health care with focus on providing the basic medical equipment to the Primary Health Centers. Through our varied CSR projects, Toyota has touched more than 11,00,000 lives. Toyota will further continue its various CSR interventions from a longer term perspectival development of socio-economic stature of the society, touching many more people’s lives to make a difference in each one’s well-being.

Colgate India Manufacturing Plants Receives TRUE Zero Waste Certification

Colgate India has received TRUE Zero Waste Platinum certification, for all its four manufacturing sites in India, from Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally. GBCI administers TRUE Zero Waste certification, a program for businesses to assess performance in reducing waste and maximizing resource efficiency. Facilities earn TRUE certification by achieving minimum program requirements and attaining points; the program operates on a ranking system, with ‘Platinum’ being the highest certification level.

The TRUE Zero Waste certification program is meant to enable facilities to define, pursue and achieve their zero waste goals, cutting their carbon footprint and supporting public health. TRUE-certified spaces support sustainability and facilities that achieve the highest level of the rating system are acknowledged for minimizing their waste to landfill, incineration (waste-to-energy) or to the environment. All the four manufacturing plants of Colgate India - Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Goa, Sanand (Gujarat), and Sri City (Andhra Pradesh) - have achieved Platinum, the highest level of certification. This makes Colgate India the first Indian company to receive this accreditation.

Mr. Issam Bachaalani, Managing Director, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited, said, “At Colgate India, we have been constantly practicing the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle principle across all our plants and offices. We have built dedicated teams to encourage and educate employees on minimizing waste, and to implement measures that could bring about that change. To cite one example, in 2018 alone, over 1.2 million kgs of residual wastewater solids was diverted to cement factories, to be co-processed into cement, instead of being sent to a landfill. Caring for the health and safety of our environment, people, and communities where we live and work, is an integral part of Colgate, and achieving TRUE Zero Waste Platinum certification is in line with that belief.”

“Zero waste is an important part of any company’s sustainability and corporate social responsibility strategy,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, U.S. Green Building Council and GBCI. “As markets continue to urbanize and industrialize, cities and businesses are faced with an increasing amount of waste that puts strains on resources and communities. Colgate-Palomolive’s dedication to pursuing TRUE certification at their four manufacturing plants in India brings us closer to becoming a zero waste community that’s healthier for all. TRUE-certified facilities are enviromentally responsible, more resource efficient and help turn waste into savings. By closing the loop, they cut greenhouse gases, manage risk, reduce litter and pollution, reinvest resources locally, create jobs and add more value for their company and community. We applaud Colgate-Palmolive for leadership in improving their performance and implementing zero waste strategies, and for helping us build a sustainable future for all.”

In order to achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification, Colgate India not only implemented the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle principle, but also diverted waste, which would have otherwise gone to a landfill, through processes like Composting, Zero Waste Purchasing, Hazardous Waste Prevention, Redesigning, Innovation, Employee Trainings to bring about an attitudinal change, etc. An in-house Green Team encouraged employees at all four Colgate plants to actively think of diverting waste at every possible step, which led to a lot of new ideas. Some examples include sending residual wastewater solids to cement factories; making furniture out of plastic tubes; reusing packaging materials; reusing the drums used for raw materials as dust bins; reducing food wastage by associating with an NGO to take the extra food to underprivileged people, and the leftovers to piggeries; using reusable stainless steel utensils in the cafeteria; composting organic waste to use it as soil-conditioner for the plants/vegetables grown on site.

Facilities achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification by meeting seven minimum program requirements and attaining at least 31 out of 81 credit points in the TRUE Zero Waste Rating System. The number of credit points that a project earns determines the certification level it receives (Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum with ‘Platinum’ being the highest rank). These ranks are dependent on the total points which can be earned under the defined categories.

Morgan Stanley Sets Indian Capital Markets at 45,000 by June 2020

Capital markets are going to take comfort on account of continuity in administration and policies assuming re-election of a majority government, a Morgan Stanley report said while setting the target for BSE Sensex at 45,000 by June 2020.

“The election result trends are implying continuity in administration. Assuming re-election of the majority government turns out to be the eventual result. It means the equity markets can predict policy,” the report said.

It has set BSE Sensex target at 45,000 for June 2020.

The report expects the inflation framework, fiscal consolidation, infrastructure spending, FDI focus and strong external affairs policies to continue.

“The new administration may bring some changes such as increasing cash transfers to poor people, more emphasis on portfolio flows, focus on the country’s external trade and social/constitutional reforms (like Article 370),” it said.

The market will now shift focus to the growth cycle.

The report expects the RBI to be more accommodative and the economy to come out of its soft patch of the past few months.

Earnings could be heading into a new cycle and domestic flows should return with strength, it said.

Some of the key concerns of the investors include fresh wave of bad loans, further slowdown in consumption hurting earnings growth prospects, fiscal slippage, tepid or even negative domestic flows and global headwinds, according to the report.

“We see the RBI policy in early June, ongoing liquidity infusion, verdict on RBI reserves, high frequency growth data, and the Union Budget to redress several of these concerns in the coming weeks, driving share prices higher,” it said.

It expects RBI to cut rates by 25-50 basis points over the next six months and will continue to infuse liquidity and probably take banking sector liquidity to neutral from a deficit.

Over the past 12 months, the RBI has injected Rs 3.2 trillion through open market operations and about Rs 700 billion through USD swaps.

The non-banking financial sector is likely to experience slower growth as the sector builds liquidity and capital, and this will be an opportunity for the large banks.

“In that context, it is also important for the government to consider further capital infusion into the public sector banks which are flush with deposits but are capital constrained from lending,” the report said.

Corporate India Awaits Bold Reforms Post PM Modi’s Landslide Victory

India Inc on Thursday said BJP-led NDA’s stupendous performance in Lok Sabha polls as indicated by trends is an endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decisive leadership, asserting that NDA 2.0 must unleash bold initiatives to transform the economy.

Several corporate honchos, including Anand Mahindra, Adi Godrej, Anil Agarwal and Sunil Mittal cheered as trends pointed towards the BJP and allies returning to power with a thumping majority, saying it was the time for deep reforms entwined with India’s ambition to emerge as a global superpower.

“The government will now re-ignite its reforms agenda to push growth, tackle critical issues like creating more jobs, usher in more tax-friendly laws, strengthen India’s position in global trade while protecting domestic industry from dumping and create more conducive environment to attract FDI in critical segments like mining and Oil & Gas,” Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal said.

Bharti Enterprises Founder & Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said the phenomenal mandate clearly underlines the nation’s unambiguous confidence in Prime Minister Modi’s decisive and visionary leadership.

This solid verdict would further strengthen his resolve to drive forward the economic agenda to ensure that the fruits of the economic momentum continue to reach the poor, so visible during the last five years, he added.

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said that Modi is set to become the most powerful democratically-elected leader in the world after the thumping win.

“Size of the country (Land mass+population) X Size of the Economy X Size of the election mandate = Leader’s Power Quotient. By the measure of this crude formula, @narendramodi is about to become the most powerful, democratically elected leader in the world today... (sic),” Mahindra tweeted.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee termed the verdict as a mandate for development and said, “The election results will reinvigorate the strong and constructive government-industry partnership and dialogue for growth built by the government in its previous term...”

CSS Corp’s Homegrown Intelligent Automation Solution Recognized for Business Innovation Award 2019

CSS Corp, a new age IT services and technology support company, today announced that it has won ‘The Golden Globe Tigers 2019 Awards’ in the Business Innovation category. The results were declared by the CMO Asia group at the Le Meridien hotel in Malaysia. CSS Corp was acknowledged for its intelligent automation capabilities, built with innovative solutions that enable IT operations to become more agile and accessible for enterprises.

CSS Corp’s intelligent automation for IT operations has been designed to leverage the transformative potential of cognitive technologies to drive customer centricity, simplify businesses, and ensure top-notch service delivery and management for enterprises. By infusing intelligence into IT operations, the platform promotes the highest level of predictability and service-level optimization, providing agility, speed, and flexibility.

Speaking about the win, Manish Tandon, Chief Executive Officer, CSS Corp, said, “We are deeply honored to receive this prestigious award for our innovative service model in IT operations. Our cognitive solutions have been a catalyst in transforming traditional IT ecosystems into smarter hybrid frameworks, adding more value to our customers. We continue to work on empowering our customers to drive greater business agility and efficiency through context-driven IT operations.”

Flash Electronics Files Suit in U.S Against Royal Enfield for Patent Infringement

Flash Electronics India Ltd, the leading electronic and electric auto components player has filed a law suit against Royal Enfield challenging patent infringement in the US regarding production of an important component for two wheelers/ motorcycles.

As per the suit filed, Royal Enfield has infringed Flash electronics’ patent on “Regulator Rectifier Device and Method for Regulating an Output Voltage of the Same” duly issued by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) to Flash Electronics on February 20, 2018  after Flash’s R&D department made a breakthrough invention of the component in 2014.  Since then Flash Electronics has been the key manufacturer and supplier of this component to many leading two-wheeler manufacturers in India and overseas.

The regulator-rectifier is a vital component that smoothly and efficiently converts the AC (Alternating Current) voltage produced in motorcycle engines into DC (Direct Current) voltage to charge the batteries, power the headlights, light up the instrument panel hence drives the motorcycle’s electrical systems.

Besides USA, Flash has been granted patent in various other countries including many European countries including Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Austria, Switzerland as well as Turkey  and the company would be filing similar suits in the respective jurisdictions soon.

Commenting on the incident, Mr. Sanjeev Vasdev, Founder and Managing Director, Flash Electronics India Pvt Ltd said “Flash Electronics is a responsible and mature member of the automotive community, manufacturing cutting edge engineering products since decades and is recognized on a global automotive front for its strong in-house R&D capabilities. We have been trusted suppliers to leading auto manufacturers across India and overseas and it’s unfortunate to have to deal with such an unexpected and unprecedented act on the part of Royal Enfield, one of the most prestigious names in the automotive sector. This incident is highly objectionable and has dented the credibility of the brand, at least with us as a partner”.

Further, Mr. Vasdev mentioned that the company was approached by 3 senior officials of Royal Enfield on 12th October 2018 in New Delhi to settle the issue amicably and requested Flash not to file any suit on the matter. Flash waited for the outcome of this meeting but Royal Enfield did not address the issue.

Mr. Vasdev further commented that Flash will take all necessary action required across the world to ensure that Royal Enfield stops infringing the patent and pays compensation for the violation which would run into millions of dollars .He also urged other component manufacturers to be vigilant , on this kind of predatory behaviour.

Companies Set to Re-Design Job Roles Due to Massive Skills Shortage: Shine.com HR Trends Survey

Shine.com, India’s 2nd largest job portal, recently conducted a survey mapping major HR trends for 2019. The survey revealed interesting insights into the evolving jobs landscape and its implications on the nature of jobs across industries. According to the survey, nearly half (47 %) of senior HR professionals are predicting a skills shortage in the country in the near future. As a result, over one-third (37%) are focusing on redesigning jobs to accommodate swiftly changing trends.

Redesigned jobs demand diversified skillsets

As organizations rapidly adopt technology to streamline processes and make them more efficient, traditional job roles are undergoing a massive transformation. Diversified job roles that require more wide-ranging skill sets are emerging. For instance, data related roles are fast-evolving as companies realize the importance of the goldmine of data they are sitting on. Therefore, companies are looking to hire Senior Data Science leaders who possess expertise in data science, and at the same time can understand the business and functional needs to create a strategic roadmap that can leverage the vast data collated by the company for business growth.

Similarly, companies that previously hired traditionally-skilled brand marketers are now eyeing new-age communications experts who can oversee digital marketing, social media, SEO, SEM, influencer marketing, website development, and more. Companies are, therefore, looking for Marketers who can wear multiple hats while delivering multi-dimensional brand communication.

On the other hand, while jobs like UI/UX designing were largely technical in the past, these roles now require a degree of interpersonal skills. Designers must be able to understand the end user's stated and unstated requirements in order to ensure that they are delivering a digital experience that is most suited to their preferences. They need to be able to connect, collaborate, adapt, and improve products and systems based on these customer needs.

Further, UI/UX designers who possess data expertise and can look at UI/UX studies and user flows, and then adapt designs basis the information will be more in demand than traditional designers. The above-mentioned examples make it clear that jobs are transforming at an accelerated pace, and job seekers need to follow suit in order to stay relevant within the rapidly-changing jobs market.

Revamping job applications become a must

As the skill demand in the job landscape moves towards a more tech-centric approach, candidates will also need to modify their job applications, CV and resume formats. Traditional CVs can no longer be expected to stand out of the clutter. A lot of skills from different functional areas must be combined into one role in order to appeal to organizations. Since a candidate may not have all the requisite skills, the aptitude to learn is also becoming an essential skill. Hence, candidates need to go beyond the skills they possess and also highlight their strengths and proxy skills that can show an aptitude for acquiring new skills to remain relevant in the quickly-evolving jobs landscape. 

Speaking on the changing job trends, Zairus Master, CEO, Shine.com, said, “As new job roles enter the market, we are already seeing job descriptions evolve. Skills which wouldn’t typically be found in the same role earlier are now being combined to create more multidimensional profiles. Hence, the traditional resume formats are now becoming irrelevant. Jobseekers will need to amplify the appeal of their resumes by highlighting the relevant job skills that they possess. For instance, data entry professionals will now need to acquire data science skills to be able to land high-value jobs. At this juncture, upskilling/reskilling is a good option for professionals looking to augment their career growth trajectory.”

Upskilling/Reskilling is the need of the hour

Shine.com further emphasized the urgent need to upskill/reskill the workforce to meet the evolving nature of jobs. More than half (54.05%) of the HR professionals surveyed mentioned that they will invest in large-scale upskilling/reskilling in their organizations. Further, until the skills of the workforce are aligned with business goals, 38.04% of the respondents will focus on developing a rewards strategy to attract and retain gig economy workers.

However, since upskilling/reskilling is a relatively gradual process, the focus of organizations will remain on revamping job profiles and hiring professionals who can fulfill these multi-faceted job roles that are more demanding and skill-based than ever before.

HR trends survey key highlights:

Nearly half (47 %) of senior HR professionals are predicting a skills shortage in the country in the near future. 
Over one-third, senior HR professionals (37%) are focusing on redesigning jobs to accommodate swiftly changing trends 
More than half (54.05%) HR professionals surveyed mentioned that they will invest in large-scale upskilling/reskilling in their organizations
The skills of the workforce are aligned with business goals, 38.04% of the respondents will focus on developing a rewards strategy to attract and retain gig economy workers.