Hinduja Global Solutions Announces Q2 Results for FY2020

Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) (listed in BSE & NSE) today announced its unaudited Second Quarter and Half Year results for FY2020.

Speaking on the results, Partha DeSarkar, CEO of HGS said: “HGS posted a robust revenue growth in Q2 FY2020, driven by demand across Healthcare and CES (Consumer Engagement Services) verticals. Overall revenues for Q2 stood at Rs. 12,906 million, an increase of 11.4% YoY. From a margin perspective, Q2 EBITDA margins improved to 13.3% as per expectations.    Led by growth from existing clients and increased operational efficiencies, all our major geographies have shown strong revenue growth and improved profitability. Healthcare vertical posted strong growth, with higher volumes and new clients going live.

We continue to invest significantly in technology-led BPM services. In Q2, we launched HGS Digital, a new practice focused on providing high-end digital strategy and transformative digital-first solutions to clients. With seven wins in the quarter, we expect HGS Digital to open up big opportunities for us going forward.

The sales pipeline for H2 looks encouraging, and with Open Enrollment and Holiday Season coming up in Q3, HGS is well-positioned to deliver a better second half.” 

Financial Highlight for Q2 FY2020

HGS reported a YoY revenue growth of 11.4% to Rs. 12,906 million
Revenue growth in constant currency terms was 11.5%
EBITDA was Rs. 1,711 million, up by 120.5% YoY; EBITDA margins stood at 13.3%
Net profit was Rs. 491 million, a YoY increase of 9.7%; Net margins stood at 3.8% %
Capital expenditure for the quarter was Rs. 310 million
Generated 179% of the Q2 FY2020 EBITDA into Free Cash due to collections of receivables
Reduction in gross debt of Rs. 270 million in H1 FY2020; As on 30th September, 2019 gross debt was Rs 5,726 million and net cash was Rs 298mn.
Second Interim Dividend of Rs 2.50 /share.

Tata Motors Announces ‘India Ki Doosri Diwali’ Campaign 2019

Extending the festive cheer, Tata Motors announced the launch of its new ‘India ki Doosri Diwali’ campaign, to celebrate the success of its SCV range. Under this offer, for every Tata Motors SCV and Pickup (PU) vehicle bought during the month, the buyer will receive an assured gift through a scratch card system. These gifts range from bumper prizes like gold vouchers of varying denominations worth 5 lakhs, 3 Lakhs & 1 Lakh INR and many more exciting gifts like LED TV, Washing Machine, Mobile Phone, Juicer Mixer & Fuel coupons. The Assured Gift is in addition to the attractive consumer offers on the entire SCV Cargo & Pickup range. The campaign is valid until November 30, 2019.

The campaign has been launched to commemorate the success of Tata Ace, which has sold over 22 lakh units and is the number 1 CV brand in India. Celebrating this achievement, the company has announced a variety of lucrative offers for its SCV, cargo and Pickup customers.

Speaking on the campaign, Mr. Rajesh Kaul, Head – Sales & Marketing, Tata Motors said, “At Tata Motors, we always believe in making customer-centric offerings and maximizing revenues of our customers. Our SCV range offer superior safety, versatile performance in varied conditions, comfort and cost-effectiveness to its customers. We are glad to offer products that have positively changed lives by helping people start and grow their businesses. The buzz around this campaign has led to an increase in footfall across showrooms. We look forward to a boost in sales of all Tata SCVs owing to the ongoing festive spirits as well as the attractive incentives offered on every SCV purchased in this month.”

Tata Motors has planned a marketing campaign across print, radio and digital to communicate the campaign to its customers. The Company continues to keep its promise of delivering best-in-class product and service experiences.

The special offers are applicable to the Tata Motors SCV cargo & pickup range of products comprising of brands such as Ace Gold, Ace HT, Zip, Mega, Super Ace Mint, XL Range, Yodha and the newly launched Tata Intra. The range consists of multiple fuel variants (Diesel & CNG) and applications (ARAI certified Container body, High Deck Load Body, various municipal applications, etc.

USFDA Designates Indian Cytotron as a Breakthrough Device for Treatment of Liver, Pancreas and Breast Cancers

The Centre for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US.FDA) has recently designated the Cytotron as a “Breakthrough Device” in the treatment of Cancer. Cytotron is an Indian Invented Medical Device, which aids in Tissue Engineering of Cancer cells to alter or modify how specific proteins are regulated to cause cancer cells to stop multiplying and spreading. Cytotron, generically known as Rotational Field Quantum Magnetic Resonance uses Fast Radio Bursts (FRB). Fast Radio Bursts are high energy and powerful short Radio bursts, in which both electric and magnetic components of the electromagnetic signals are “circularly” polarized. Fast Radio Bursts are produced when a radio signal is travelling through a powerful instantaneous magnetic field on its path to the target. FRBs can be used to communicate with the cellular command and control, to up or down regulate a specific protein or gene. In cancer cells, Cytotron does two things; first it alters the protein pathways of a pro-apoptosis protein called p53 via p21 thus inducing programmed cell death in the cancer cells, and secondly exposure to Cytotron stops metastasis by inhibiting the Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition cells, responsible for spread of cancer, 90% cancer patients die due to metastasis.  Over the years, Cytotron treatment for cancer has established 36%, 5 year survival and 73.3% with absence of metastasis in terminal cancer patients (Journal of Clinical and Experimental Oncology, 5:2, 2016). The results are far better in early cancer patients.

Cytotron was invented in India by the Indian Researcher, Dr. Rajah Vijay Kumar, at the Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD), after 27 years of research in understanding cellular pathways and interactions with specifically modulated fast radio bursts. “It is been a great feeling that after so many years of hard work against all odds, a prestigious institution like the USFDA is designating our work as a “breakthrough” in the treatment of Liver, Pancreas and Breast Cancers, three notorious ones”, said Dr. R. V. Kumar.

“The Cytotron is intended to be used to cause degeneration of uncontrolled growth of tissues. It is indicated for treating protein-linked, abnormally regenerating disorders such as Neoplastic disease, and allowing extended progression free survival, with pain relief, palliation, improved quality and dignity of life. It is indicated for the treatment of solid tumors of breast, Liver and Pancreas – We are pleased to Inform you that your device and proposed Indication for use meet the criteria and have been granted designation as a Breakthrough Device” said the communication from The Centre for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US.FDA).

Bentley Systems Accelerates Focus on Infrastructure Engineering for Digital Cities

The Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twin cloud services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, has presented its new digital cities initiatives, applying digital twins for more efficient city and regional operations and for more connected and resilient infrastructure. Digital twins converge assets’ 4D-surveyed and engineering representations to enable new collaborative digital workflows to serving planners and engineers in public works, utilities, property management and development, and city stakeholders. Digital twin cloud services provide an intuitive and immersive 4D environment converging digital context and digital components with digital chronology for “evergreen” infrastructure digital twins over asset lifecycles. For infrastructure professionals, BIM and GIS are effectively advanced through 4D digital twins.

Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems said, “Bentley Systems’ major technical thrust is the advancement of digital twins across infrastructure domains. This finally opens up for owners their previously “dark” engineering technologies and data (ET), for federation with traditional information technology (IT) and newly connected operating technologies (OT). Correspondingly, because the opportunities for benefits are so compelling, our major organizational initiative is our new digital cities product advancement group. Our digital cities group’s charter is both to ramp infrastructure engineering digital twins to full city scale, and at the same time to help with going digital through entry points for any engineering department in any municipality.”

“At Bentley Systems we have long and rich histories in respectively geospatial technology (GIS), and in BIM, for municipal infrastructure applications spanning capex and opex,” said Robert Mankowski, vice president, digital cities. “Today, I believe we are the leading innovator in reality modeling and in geotechnical modeling and data management. With our new cloud-based iTwin Services bringing this all together, city and campus digital twins now offer an immediate opportunity to help cities and regions solve a wide range of challenges and problems, enhancing their infrastructure performance and their constituents’ quality of life.”

Infrastructure Digital Twins for Digital Cities

City-scale digital twins begin and are updated through 4D surveying and reality modeling by ContextCapture and Orbit GT to derive as-operated 3D models from photogrammetry (including from UAVs) and/or point clouds. Reality modeling provides engineering-precise, real-world context to support planning, design, construction, and operations. Users of Bentley’s open applications (OpenBuildings, OpenSite, OpenRoads, OpenRail, OpenUtilities) can leverage this digital context to model new and improved buildings, roads, transit systems, tunnels, bridges, utilities, and more.

4D digital twins become a common and federating index for previously siloed information, without requiring source systems to change their existing environments or data formats. The foundation context for any digital twin includes reality meshes, terrain models, imagery, and GIS sources. Engineering models (from any BIM software) of buildings, streets, transit systems, utilities, and other city infrastructure, both surface and subsurface, are semantically aligned and geo-referenced to enhance the richness and relevance of digital twins over time.

Public works departments, property developers, utilities, transportation agencies, and others now have access to a full and current contextual view of the built environment. Engineering and architectural firms will be able to develop new services that contemplate updating and managing digital assets over their lifecycles. And, cities will benefit from living and current digital twins of their infrastructure and surrounding environment.

Sustainability and Resilience Digital Twins

Now, cities can combine their surface and subsurface surveys and engineering data into cohesive 4D digital twins to ensure over time their asset performance, resiliency, and sustainability. Using Bentley’s open simulation applications during asset lifecycles, for example, as-constructed buildings can be evaluated for seismic resilience (STAAD), the evacuation of vehicles and people in stations, stadiums, and other public places can be assessed and optimized (LEGION and CUBE), the impact of flooding events like hurricanes can be determined (OpenFlows FLOOD), and the suitability of subsurface conditions for urban projects can be ensured (PLAXIS, SoilVision).

Geotechnical Digital Twins: Introducing OpenGround

Bentley’s geotechnical engineering and analysis applications empower subsurface digital twins, critical for assessing and managing risks in infrastructure projects and assets. Subsurface digital twins entail modeling of the underground environment, including the geology, hydrology, chemistry, and engineering properties, made possible by Bentley’s geotechnical offerings (PLAXIS, SoilVision, Keynetix and gINT). To further enable subsurface digital twins, Bentley today announced OpenGround, a new cloud service (available end of 2019) to store, manage, report, and share data about natural ground conditions.
         
Water Network Digital Twins

Building upon its deep experience with hydraulics and hydrology software, Bentley is introducing OpenFlows WaterOPS for water and wastewater utility operators. OpenFlows WaterOPS provides water and wastewater utilities with real-time operational support, smart water response planning, and optimized performance and business intelligence, converging IT (GIS) with OT (telemetry, SCADA instrumentation, sensors) and ET (hydraulic simulation). WaterOPS provides real-time operational decision support extending Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) to help users monitor, maintain, and forecast various hydraulics and water quality scenarios.

City Planning Digital Twins

Digital twins for cities have many stakeholders, including constituents not directly involved in engineering or infrastructure. Now hosted in Microsoft Azure, OpenCities Planner delivers cloud-based, city-scale digital twins to improve stakeholder and citizen engagement and to simplify and facilitate urban development. Addressing a wide variety of potential use cases, OpenCities Planner helps users, through devices like web, mobile, touchscreens, and digital billboards, to intuitively visualize and explore 2D, 3D, GIS and other data aligned with the reality modeling of the city.

Digital Co-ventures for Digital Cities

(With Topcon) Cloud-based photogrammetry processing powered by Bentley’s ContextCapture is incorporated in Topcon MAGNET Collage Web, a web-based service for publication, sharing, and analysis of reality capture data. The intrinsic Bentley ContextCapture Cloud Processing Service enables operators to upload UAV imagery direct-to-web without the need for high-end hardware requirements or IT constraints.

National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019 Conferred to 30 Young Entrepreneurs and 6 Organizations

Highlights

* The awards were presented to honor outstanding contributions in entrepreneurship development
* 30 young entrepreneurs and 6 entrepreneurship ecosystem builders were conferred with the award
* The award included a trophy, a certificate and prize money up to Rs 10 lakhs

In the quest to give a boost to entrepreneurship in the country, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) today conferred Awards to 30 Young Entrepreneurs and 6 Organizations /Individuals contributing to entrepreneurship development during the fourth edition of the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA). The award ceremony was held at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi.                The event ceremony was graced by Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship who has been spearheading the Ministry’s vision and focusing extensively on encouraging young skilled youth to take up entrepreneurship bringing the shift from being a job seeker to a job giver.

Due to the concerted ground level effort, this year, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship witnessed a sharp increase not only in the total number of applications, but also in terms of completed applications from a variety of businesses. These ground level initiatives were in the form of targeted meetings, focused workshops, specialized gatherings like MSME meets, seminars at alumni gatherings of various business schools, One-on-One interaction with Entrepreneurs during Fairs and Exhibitions etc. All these collectively could create resounding effect to bring seriousness for completing applications although it meant some amount of hard work by the applicants. The number of completed applications grew from 2379 last year to 4134 this year. This 73% growth of successful entrepreneurs completing their application for National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019 is reflection of the increasing seriousness of young entrepreneurs for the coveted National Entrepreneurship Awards.

Speaking on the entrepreneurial growth culture in India, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, said, "Today, India is at a threshold of startup boom, as we are world’s third fastest growing startup eco-system. With 7,200 startups, India is closely behind UK with 11,864 startups and catching up to US which had 41,500 startups as of 2018. India is changing and soar the aspirations of its people. It is an evidence of drastic improvement in the business environment, Of course fueled by the innovative modules of business that we are witnessing from the youth of the country. It is our priority that we give the right kind of support to the aspiring talent and nurtureand encourage our young minds to dream big and achieve bigger.”

“NEA is a great platform to encourage young aspiring entrepreneurs and recognize the exemplary work that they have done adding to their professional and nation’s overall growth. I wish all of them the very best for their future and hope they further motivate many more to be a part of India’s growth story,” he further added.

For the successful execution of the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019, MSDE partnered with twelve premier institutes and organization which are spread across the country,  including IIT Madras (Lead Partner), IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, XLRI, TISS, NSIC, IIT Guwahati, IRMA, MANAGE, NIF (Co-Lead), NABARD, and RSETI. These institutions were responsible for mobilizing nominations and evaluation process.

The winners were selected by an eminent panel of National level Jury members comprising of Dr. R A Mashelkar, Former Director-General, CSIR; Mr. Milind Kamble, Founder, DICCI; Ms. Neelam Chibber, MD & Managing Trustee Industree Foundation; Mr. Arun Tyagi, Director, Induslnd Bank Limited; Shri Harish Hande, Founder SELCO India Foundation and Mr. Vinayak Nath, Managing Partner, Venture Catalysts.     

The National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by the Ministry of Skill Development &Entrepreneurship in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country and honoring the Young Entrepreneurs and Eco-System Builders for their outstanding efforts in entrepreneurship development.

The Awards ceremony witnessed attendance from senior officials of the ministry, members of the Skill Sector Councils, corporate leaders; successful and budding entrepreneurs among others.

Selected winners and models of excellence include the following: 

Shri Ravindra Bhausaheb Supekar from Maharashtra is an inspiration for many. Despite being 80% physically disabled, Mr. Supekar started, Stree Swabhiman Unit which offers bio-degradable, chemical less, low cost high quality eco-friendly sanitary napkins and  offers the healthcare requirement to the tribal and remote village women and even generating employment.

Shri Jeet Singh Arya, a young entrepreneur from Chhattisgarh, started a travel startup, Unexplored Bastar which focuses on sustainable tourism through community-based approach and it has so far impacted the lives of more than 300 tribal people inthe State.

Smt. Shalini Santhosh Kumar from Pune started Early Foods Ltd, an organic food company for children & new mothers and offers, chemical-free meals & snacks which helps to build healthy future generations.

Shri Bandabiang Dewkhaid and Shri Tynshain Dewkhaid from the North Eastern state of Meghalaya started Shillong Bamboo to provide innovative (eco-friendly) bamboo products made from the bamboo &rattan canes obtained within the state with superior quality and design leading to overall increase in consumption of innovative bamboo products.

Smt. Shivaranjani Ramasubramaniyan and Smt. Nisha Subramaniam from Cuddalore started Sura with an aim to support rural women. Today, Sura offers tote bags Stitched in cotton, matched with kalamkari and ikkats and also successfully set up a running a tailoring center in a remote village.         

Business Sakhis (Biz-Sakhis).

Additionally, NIESBUD in association with UNDP, NIRDPR and TISS jointly developed a new concept and system that is providing mentorship support services of both psycho-social and business supports through a cadre of community mentors called Business Sakhis (Biz-Sakhis).

These mentors will also help in providing backward (with financial institutions for example) and forward (with more lucrative business ideas and market) linkages. Moreover, the mentor will provide the aspiring entrepreneur with the much-needed psychological support that a woman will need to face all the obstacles that prevent her from starting or sustaining her own business.

For developing such community mentors, NIESBUD, UNDP and NIRD have developed and launched today, a certification course curriculum by training them in various mentorship aspects (capacity building and psycho-social support skills including life-skills, soft skills and leadership, business development, market analysis, communication, marketing, financial linkages, etc.).

The Curriculum devised based on various pilot projects implementing in three states in the country, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana where nearly 3000 women entrepreneurs been supported by 300 Biz-Sakhis. The Biz-Sakhi training imparted 5 days of classroom and 20 days of field work for every month totaling 5 months with 25 days of classroom sessions and 100 days of field work. Course is certified by NIESBUD and NIRDPR.

In the context where GoI and Hon. Prime Minister declared the thrust for entrepreneurship and employment, the system of mentorship for fostering women’s entrepreneurship in tire-1, tire-2 cities and rural areas is very much necessary for brining economic empowerment and employment. Various schemes and programes under MoRD, MoMSME, MoWCD, MoAFW and MSDE can make use of this curriculum for promoting both various agricultural and non-agricultural based entrepreneurship.

SBI Group Flags Off 3rd Edition of ‘SBI Green Marathon’ in Bangalore

Highlights

* Abhijit Majumder, CGM, Bangalore Circle, SBI flagged-off the event
* M.R. Poovamma, Arjuna Awardee Indian Athlete & two times Asian Games Gold Medalist was present
* Nearly 3500 runners participated in this marathon in Bangalore
* Bibs of 5 kms runners consist of seeds for tree plantation post Marathon
* Organic T-shirts were given to all participants to promote clean and green city

To celebrate the passion for environmental sustainability and better living for our future generations, country’s largest bank, State Bank of India is back with its 3rd edition of SBI Green Marathon. Abhijit Majumder, CGM, Bangalore Circle, SBI flagged-off the runs that witnessed over 3500 enthusiastic runners.

M.R. Poovamma, Arjuna Awardee Indian Athlete & Asian Games Gold Medalist (2014 and 2018) graced the event. The Sunday morning in the Toll Plaza, Nice road observed participants from across the city running 5, 10, 21 Kms marathon, pledging for a greener future.

Senior officials of the bank also participated in the run along with other participants. All the runners were given organic t-shirts to promote clean and green city. The bibs of 5kms runners consist of seeds which will be planted post marathon.

The 3rd edition of the 15 cities SBI Green Marathon will travel to New Delhi, Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Patna and Jaipur with the inaugural run recently concluded in Lucknow followed by Guwahati and Trivandrum. SBI General Insurance is the health partner for SBI Green Marathon whereas SBI Life and SBI Mutual Funds are also significantly contributing to this zero waste event.

State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers and employees. It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country. As on September 30, 2019, the bank has a deposit base of over Rs. 30 lakh crore with CASA ratio of little more than 45% and advances of more than Rs. 19 lakh crore. SBI commands 35% market share each in home loans and auto loans. The Bank has the largest network of nearly 22,000 branches in India with an ATM / CDM network of over 58,500. The number of customers using internet banking facility are 66 million and mobile banking services stand more than 15 million. Downloads for YONO - an integrated digital and lifestyle platform by SBI - are over 28 million, with more than 16 million logins per day. On social media platforms, SBI has the highest number of followers on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. The Bank tops the list of followers on Facebook and YouTube across all banks worldwide.

Yamaha India Unveils FZ-FI and FZS-FI BS VI Variant Motorcycles

India Yamaha Motor (IYM) Pvt. Ltd. introduces the all new FZ-FI (149 cc) and FZS-FI (149 cc) today in India, thus marking the first BS VI variant rollout from the company in India. Yamaha reiterates its commitment to offer excitement through its products and related experiences with its first launch of BS VI compliant FZs. All colour models of both FZ-FI (149 cc) and FZS-FI (149 cc) will be available in the BS VI line up. Additionally, FZS-FI (149 cc) will have two new colours – Darknight and Metallic Red. The company will further announce the launch of other BS VI compliant line ups in coming time.

Inheriting FZ’s legacy and signature styling, the new FZ-FI and FZS-FI comes with a Blue Core concept driven 149 cc engine with a compression ratio of 9.6:1 and delivering a maximum 12.4 PS power @ 7,250 r/min and 13.6 N.m torque @ 5,500 r/min. The new FZ-FI and FZS-FI BS VI version will feature single channel ABS in the front wheel and front & rear disc brakes along with negative LCD instrument cluster and a single piece two level seat.

During the occasion, Mr. Motofumi Shitara, Chairman, Yamaha Motor India Group of companies said, “Our commitment towards customers in India is underlined in exciting products and experiences by The Call of the Blue that stimulates a stylish motorcycling culture. As Yamaha reveals from its new product line up, the BS VI compliant FZ motorcycles will be available across Yamaha showrooms from November, 2019. FZ is an iconic brand and many motorcyclists have been brought up well from its cradle. This popularity served more concern to the company while planning for its BS VI variant. Yamaha strived for optimum cost control and achieved to peg it around 2.5% higher, only to let FZ’s excitement stay unrestrained in India. The new BS VI models in 150 cc is also expected to yield Yamaha’s strong presence in the deluxe class 2W category.”

The new FZ-FI and FZS-FI with ABS was introduced in India on January 2019. The new models were launched on the backdrop of The Call of the Blue, the new brand campaign launched by Yamaha in 2018. The company is looking forward to stimulate more excitement and sportiness in the Indian two wheeler market by its new initiatives like The Call of the Blue that holds the promise of energizing the passion of motorcycling in India as per the global standards.