Bengaluru Rates Dell As the Most Trusted Brand Across India

Dell has been rated the most trusted brand in Bengaluru by TRA's Most Trusted Brands Report, 2019, which has listed the country's most trusted 1,000 brands based on a primary study with consumer influencers.

The 2nd most trusted brand is Amazon (All-India rank 4th) followed by Tanishq at 3rd. Titan, ranked 4th in the city (All-India rank 39th) is also a leader in the Category of Watches. The report has seven brands from the Super Category of Internet; 3 each from apparels, personal accessories and technology that make it to the list.

N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research said, "The internet-tech scenario and the entrepreneurial spirit in Bengaluru are booming. An evident shift can be seen from software-factory model to a startup mindset. To remain competitive in today’s economic landscape, brands have to keep innovating and nurture trust-relationships with its customers. Bengaluru remains ahead in this and can be evidently seen in the national listing in TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2019."

Dell is followed by Jeep in second position, which also becomes the Most Trusted Automobile Brand of India this year. LIC and Amazon are ranked 3rd and 4th and Apple iPhone is India’s 5th Most Trusted Brand.

The consistent brands from Bengaluru include Foodpanda (up 516 ranks from last year), Swiggy (up by 440 ranks), Big Basket (up 290 ranks), Bharti Axa (up 245 ranks), Café Coffee Day (up 119 ranks), and Canara Bank (up 119 ranks).

Seven brands from the city lost Brand Trust ranks with Wrangler leading the fall with 639 ranks down from last year, BPL down 526 ranks, Myntra eroding 289 ranks and Wipro slipping 219 ranks.

The study covered 2,315 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India. Indian Statistical Institute is TRA’s statistical partner for the research.

Razorpay Powers Cross-Border Trade for Indian Businesses, Launches Digital Payment Support for 100 Currencies

Razorpay, India’s first converged payments solution company, today announced that it now supports 100 currencies for international digital payments - including all popular currencies such as U.S. Dollar (USD), European Dollar (EUR), British Pound (GBP), Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) and Singapore Dollar (SGD). With this offering, the company aims to open new growth avenues for the MSME segment, by enabling them to accept payments from other countries.

For the longest time, businesses in India have been losing out on potential customers and partner businesses due to the inability to accept payments from other countries. However, the past few years have witnessed a range of changes in global trade paradigms, unveiling new emerging markets and channels for global business expansion. During April-February 2018-19, the Indian goods exports grew by 8.85 per cent to $298.47 billion. This depicts how the cross border e-commerce will only see an upward spike through the next five years. Enabling businesses with support for international transactions will play a key role.

Razorpay’s International payments is integrated across the entire range of its product offering including Payment Gateway, Payment Links, Payment Pages, Subscriptions and Invoices. The International Payments capability on the Razorpay platform will help businesses with:

-          accepting payments through cards issued by foreign banks
-          instant payment gateway integration and activation
-          currency conversion

Shashank Kumar, CTO & Co-founder, Razorpay said, “India’s position in global trade has seen a significant shift over the last 5 years, evolving both in product mix and destination markets. Today, with the rising digital influence on consumers globally, online as a channel for trade is witnessing an enormous growth. On the flip side, businesses often report issues about unpaid international invoices and time taken for international transactions. With the launch of support for international payments, we will be able to help businesses tackle these issues quickly, and make payment acceptance for cross-border e-commerce seamless, thereby helping SMEs & MSMEs access a larger pool of consumers across the world.”

India’s rising prominence in the global export markets coupled with growing international opportunities offer scope for Indian players to expand internationally in travel, brands, real estate, SaaS, media and entertainment, among many other verticals. Razorpay through this offering aims at transforming the way businesses find and retain their customers, and make the transaction experience seamless.

The company has been charting an exponential growth since its inception. Razorpay currently powers digital payments for over 2,00,000 small and large businesses, including Airtel, BookMyShow, IRCTC, Aditya Birla Capital, NSE, among others. Razorpay has clocked in a healthy growth rate of 15-20% month-on-month on the merchant count and is geared up to increase this to 3,50,000 this year. This converged payments solution company expects a 5x growth in its revenue by the end of the next fiscal year.

Half of Consumers Would Pay More for Sustainable Products Designed to Be Reused or Recycled: Accenture Survey

More than half of consumers said they would pay more for sustainable products designed to be reused or recycled, according to results of a survey from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

The survey of 6,000 consumers in 11 countries across North America, Europe and Asia, results of which were previewed at the American Chemistry Council (ACC) Annual Meeting today, found that while consumers remain primarily focused on quality and price, 83% believe it’s important or extremely important for companies to design products that are meant to be reused or recycled. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents said they’re currently buying more environmentally friendly products than they were five years ago, and 81% said they expect to buy more over the next five years.

“The shift in consumer buying, with more consumers willing to pay extra for environmentally friendly products, reinforces the need for companies to increase their commitments to responsible business practices,” said Jessica Long, a managing director in Accenture Strategy. “Companies across industries have started to lead with purpose, including embracing the circular economy as a greater opportunity to drive growth and competitive agility.”

Unsurprisingly, quality and price led consumers’ considerations when making purchases, cited by 89% and 84% of respondents, respectively, compared with 49% who cited health and safety considerations and 37% who cited environmental impact.

The survey findings also indicate that consumers believe that the chemical industry — which plays a key role in driving recycled and reusable technologies and materials — lacks concern about its environmental impact. Specifically, one in four consumers (26%) said they believe that the chemical industry is the least concerned of nine industries included in the survey about its impact on the environment.

Consumers also ranked chemical companies the lowest among industries for the reliability of communications regarding the environmental impact of their products and services, with 72% not very confident or not confident at all in these communications.

“While some of the survey results are encouraging, there are also implications for chemical companies, including the need to overcome negative consumer sentiment and to produce sustainable materials at a competitive price,” said Rachael Bartels, a senior managing director at Accenture who leads its chemicals and natural resources practice. “The chemical industry is a critical enabler to the circular economy and can speed up its adoption, and the reality is the industry must get in front of this now, or risk being left behind.”

In other survey findings, plastics was perceived to be the least environmentally friendly type of packaging, cited by more than three-fourths (77%) of consumers, with paper products perceived to be the most environmentally friendly, cited by 55% of respondents.

Resolving these and other challenges could help chemical companies fuel growth. For instance, the ACC estimates that a circular economy for plastics could add 38,500 jobs and billions of dollars to the U.S. economy by expanding the use of pyrolysis and other advanced plastic recycling technologies. Chemical companies have an opportunity to catalyze and capture a significant share of the US$4.5 trillion in opportunity presented by a move to a circular economy, according to circular economy research from Accenture Strategy. 

A.M. Naik-Founded Nirali Memorial Medical Trust to Set Up First Multispecialty Hospital at Navsari

Nirali Memorial Medical Trust (NMMT), established by Mr. A.M. Naik, Group Chairman of Larsen & Toubro, will set up a Multispecialty Hospital at Navsari in Gujarat. The Multispecialty Hospital will be operated and managed by Apollo Hospitals Group. The agreement to this effect was signed by Mr Naik and Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group.

Named in the memory of Nirali, granddaughter of Naik who passed away due to cancer at the age of two, NMMT was set up by Mr Naik and family to help needy patients without access to quality medical treatment.

NMMT, a public charitable trust founded by Mr. Naik to carry out philanthropic activities in medical care, possesses the land parcel for this multispecialty hospital. NMMT will build the infrastructure, install the medical equipment and appoint the qualified doctors and paramedical staff to run the hospital. Apollo Hospitals Group will offer their medical expertise and facilitate operations and maintenance of the hospital.

On the occasion, Mr. A.M. Naik said, “We owe a lot to the society we live in and are indebted to give it back to people. It is endeavour of Nirali Memorial Medical Trust to provide best-in-class secondary and tertiary medical care facilities to rural and underprivileged social groups. The setting up of Multispecialty Hospital is a momentous step in the direction of extending affordable healthcare to all. We are delighted to have reputed healthcare group Apollo Hospitals joining this mission at Navasari in South Gujarat.”

Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals said: “Since our inception thirty-five years ago, the resolute mission of Apollo Hospitals has been to make an international standard of healthcare accessible to every individual. Since then, every endeavour that we have undertaken has been a focused step towards fulfilling our mission. Apollo Hospitals is honoured to support Mr. Naik’s noble efforts in setting up a multi-specialty hospital in Navasari, which will offer succor to the people in the region by facilitating early detection of disease and timely intervention, thereby saving precious lives.”

NMMT has developed ‘A.M. Naik Healthcare Complex’ located at Sisodra (Ganesh), Navsari, Gujarat. The complex spread over across 8 acres houses an under-construction Cancer Hospital, will have a Multispecialty Hospital and other medical care facilities. The under-construction Nirali Cancer Hospital at the complex will be operated and managed by Tata Trusts. Mr. Naik has been instrumental in getting the best-in-class health facilities in the rural hinterlands of South Gujarat.

NMMT runs the 'Nirali Memorial Radiation Centre' in Surat, Multidisciplinary hospital at Powai and provides modern medical facilities at a hospital in Kharel in South Gujarat. Along with NMMT, Mr. Naik has also founded the Naik Charitable Trust (NCT), which is focused on providing quality education and vocational training to the underprivileged sections of the society.

Mr AM Naik is a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and is also Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation. 

Future Generali India Insurance to Conduct Awareness Camps in 9 Districts of Karnataka

Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII), the general insurance arm of the joint venture between retail game-changers Future Group and global insurer Generali is organizing awareness camps starting from yesterday 3rd June in 9 districts of  Karnataka. FGII has been authorized by the Government of Karnataka to implement “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme” (PMFBY) for Loanee and Non-Loanee farmers. Mr. Brijesh Dikshit, Commissioner Agriculture and B.Y Srinivas, Director Agriculture,  Government of Karnataka flagged off the main event at Bangalore.

PMFBY offers an end-to-end insurance cover by providing financial support to the farmers against losses/damage of crops arising out of unforeseen events during the entire cycle of the crop. Activities like dance acts and street plays will be performed in these villages to promote awareness on PMFBY. The street plays will be based on the importance and the benefits of having cover under PMFBY.

Dr. Shreeraj Deshpande (Principal Officer & CEO (Officiating), Future Generali India Insurance Pvt Ltd.said, “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme (PMFBY) is in line with Government’s ‘Minimum Premium, Maximum Insurance for Farmers’ theme and with these roadshows, our aim is to educate farmers in remote areas about PMFBY,  which will help  them to have some financial stability when there is a loss/damage of the crop.”

9 Van Campaigning  teams will travel from the Department of Agriculture, Bangalore to their respective districts. The vans will spread over various villages across below mentioned 9 allocated districts from June onwards.  . 

1) Belgavi
2) Bagalkot
3) Raichur
4) Yadgir
5) Kalaburgi
6) Bengaluru Urban
7)Tumakuru
8) Ramnagara
9) Chamrajnagar

Airtel Upgrades the Wide Range of Exclusive benefits Under #AirtelThanks

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) and ZEE5, India’s fastest growing OTT platform announced that they have further strengthened their strategic partnership to enable a world-class digital content experience for Airtel mobile customers. 

As part of Airtel’s refreshed #AirtelThanks customer rewards program, all Airtel Platinum customers will now get unlimited complimentary access to ZEE5’s vast content catalogue as part of their plan benefits. All Airtel mobile customers on Infinity Postpaid plans of Rs 499/- and above will be eligible for this exclusive benefit. For more details on Airtel Infinity Postpaid please visit here.

ZEE5 has an extensive digital content library that includes the Video on Demand (VOD) network content along with the recently launched ZEE5 Originals, Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos, Lifestyle shows, Kids shows and Plays. Some of the top shows across languages include Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone; Rangbaaz - starring Saqib Saleem, Ranvir Shorey, Aahana Kumra, Ravi Kishan and Tigmanshu Dhulia; Prateik Babbar, Sonal Chauhan and Jisshu Sengupta starrer Skyfire; Arjun Rampal, Sakshi Tanwar, Neeraj Kabi starrer The Final Call; Anjali Patil, Sachin Khedekar, Vikram Gokhale’s Hutatma (Marathi), Auto Shankar (Tamil), Amala Akkineni in High Priestess (Telugu) and upcoming shows like Dia Mirza and Mohit Raina starrer Kaafir; a one-of-its-kind football series with a cause - Bombers and blockbuster movies - Uri – The Surgical Strike, Simmba, Kedarnath, Veere Di Wedding, etc.

Airtel Platinum customers simply need to claim free ZEE5 Subscription offer from Airtel Thanks section of My Airtel app thereby download the ZEE5 app to start accessing this premium content.

Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said: “#AirtelThanks has received phenomenal response and we are delighted to bring ZEE5’s exciting content to our Platinum customers as part of the value proposition. We will continue to expand our ecosystem of partners to enable a differentiated experience for our customers.”

Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, ZEE5 India said, “This partnership is in line with our growth strategy as it is a crucial step towards fulfilling our aim to offer new and exciting content. It will strengthen our reach by the potential proliferation of ZEE5 premium content to a wider and new set of audience. We are happy to partner with Airtel, and via similar partnerships we will continue to enhance our offerings with the customer at the center.”

#AirtelThanks is now tiered in its offering – Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each tier opens a whole new set of benefits for Airtel customers. Airtel Platinum customers get VIP service, premium content, e-books, device protection, and exclusive invites and priority access to events and sales.

The benefits are powered by Airtel’s strong partnerships with leading platforms and brands.

#AirtelThanks is powered by a great app experience, which helps users choose, access and navigate through their benefits in a very simple and user-friendly manner. The upgraded Airtel Thanks app uses strong data-science and segmentation algorithms to customize the user experiences, based on user interests and profiles.   

ZEE5 is home to 1 lakh hours of On Demand Content and 70+ live TV channels. With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation and worldwide. ZEE5 also offers ground breaking features like 11 navigational languages, content download option, seamless video playback and Voice Search.

IPRS Recognised as World’s Fastest Growing Copyright Society by CISAC

The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), India’s only registered copyright society for authors (lyricists), music composers and music publishers was declared as the world's fastest growing Copyright Society by Eric Baptiste, Chairperson of the Board of Directors – CISAC at the recently held CISAC General Assembly 2019 in Tokyo.

Held in Tokyo, CISAC’s General Assembly 2019 is the first event held in many years in Asia and is a part of a new era in Japan. The various representatives of global Copyright societies, including IPRS, attended the event. Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo not only graced the event and met CISAC leaders but also underlined the importance of protecting rights of global creators including Japan. The IPRS team comprised of Mr. Rakesh Nigam CEO, Mr. Aashish Rego, Director IPRS and Mr. Ameet Datta, Counsel of IPRS.

Mr. Rakesh Nigam CEO, IPRS said “IPRS revenue/collections have increased by 350%+ over the last year i.e. from INR 45 Cr to approx INR 165+ Cr. This was possible due to the support and guidance of our Chairman Javed Sahab (Javed Akhtar) and members of our Board. The IPRS team has acquitted itself extremely well. Going forward, I am confident IPRS will continue to grow at this rate because it is supported by the law”.

Furthermore, Mr. Javed Akhtar, Chairman of IPRS said “This recognition that, IPRS is the fastest growing Copyright society in the world, is most welcome. I am extremely pleased and thankful for the support CISAC led by Eric Baptiste-Chairman, Gadi Oron- Director General, Sylvain Piat, Benjamin NG- Regional Director, Asia Pacific at CISAC and the Government of India, gave IPRS during the past year towards IPRS restructuring its constitution and operations and its efforts to become a true representative of all stakeholders of Music in india. This is a team achievement with all stakeholders in IPRS pulling together. The IPRS team led by our CEO Rakesh Nigam is to be commended for their outstanding performance this past year. I am confident that IPRS will continue to grow at a fast rate and serve the interests of its members more effectively.”

Devraj Sanyal, MD & CEO, Universal Music Group, EMI Music India tweeted a congratulatory message to IPRS. He said ‘@IPRSmusic @Javedakhtarjadu & 5 others- It’s been a long time coming and so well earned. Congratulations to everyone.”  Additionally, Indian Music Industry (IMI) chairman and Sony Music India and Middle East president Shridhar Subramaniam congratulated the team. He tweeted, “Great job by the Board and Management Team. Congratulations to all at @IPRSmusic.”