Manipal Hospitals is Highest Referral Centre in South East Asia for HIPEC & PIPAC will Pledge for a Cancer Free Future

Key Highlights

* Nearly over 350 cases successfully treated using the state of the art Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)
* Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Centre is one of the highest referral centres  for  Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC) in South East Asia & India

Manipal Hospitals, foremost multi-specialty healthcare provider committed to clinical excellence and patient care pledged for cancer free society on “World Cancer Day.” Ms. Ganavi Laxman , Kannada Actress graced the occasion to lend her support for this initiative. Team of doctors lead by Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman Manipal Hospitals, Dr. Somashekhar S.P, MBBS, MS, MCh (Onco), FRCS. Edinburgh, Chairman  & HOD Surgical Oncology-MHEPL, Consultant

Surgical & Gynec. Onco & Robotic Surgeon, HIPEC Super Specialist, Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Center emphasized the need to raise awareness on cancer and early screening to detect and defeat cancer.

Cancer is a disease caused primarily due to environmental and genetic factors. It can affect almost any part of the body. According to National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), an estimated number of around 2.25 million people are living with cancer.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. H. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman Manipal Hospitals said, “ The alarming statistics of cancer is the cause of great concern Globally. Lack of awareness, delayed diagnosis and often denial and ignorance are the primary culprits. Management of cancer is the key and this can be achieved through world-class treatment. Fortunately, at Manipal Hospitals we invest in the latest technology in terms of treatment and create opportunities to make them accessible to public thereby reducing the burden of transportation. In fact, we have been supporting the cause of cancer awareness for years now with various initiatives. Therefore curing cancer through Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC) is providing a ray of hope to people battling cancer. We have the expertise to handle the most challenging and complex cases thus facilitating better patient outcomes and even curbing reoccurrence of Cancer.”

Sharing her thoughts on the occasion, Ms. Ganavi Laxman , Kannada Actress said, “Cancer is indeed deadly and very traumatizing. However, we can overcome it by adapting a positive attitude and healthy lifestyle. It is important to maintain healthy lifestyle and avoid consumption of tobacco and alcohol. However, there is need for creating awareness on cancer, early detection and working towards preventing the disease. I am glad to be a part of this initiative by Manipal Hospitals where I can encourage people and contribute towards the cause to some extent. ”

Elaborating on Immunotherapy and HIPEC & PIPEC, Dr. Somashekhar S.P, MBBS, MS, MCh (Onco), FRCS. Edinburgh, Chairman & HOD Surgical Oncology-MHEPL, Consultant, Surgical & Gynec, Onco &

Surgeon, HIPEC Super Specialist, Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Center said, “Significant proportion of cancers can be cured by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy and immunotherapy, especially if they are detected early. However, with advancements in cancer treatments like Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC), the burden of cancer care has reduced. In fact, Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Center at Manipal Hospital is the referral Center for HIPEC and PIPAC across South East Asia and India for advanced ovarian cancer and GI peritoneal cancers and highest number of HIPEC and PIPAC in entire Asia are done here. Both the techniques have great advantages like reducing chemotherapy side effects, improving chemotherapy absorption and susceptibility of cancer cells and so on.”

He further added, “Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) refers to the aggressive surgery that entails removal of all visible tumors present throughout the peritoneal surfaces. It lasts for 6 to 8 hours involves number of complicated surgical procedures that can be  accomplished only by skilled surgeons in every attempt to remove all visible tumour in the peritoneal cavity. Hyperthermic Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) refers to the intraoperative administration of heated chemotherapy fluid into the peritoneal cavity immediately after CRS is completed. Pressurized Intra Peritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC) is the newest method of giving chemotherapy to patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis."

Federation of Indian Granite and Stone Industry (FIGSI) to Host STONA 2020 from Feb 6-9, 2020

Federation of Indian Granite and Stone Industry (FIGSI) which was formerly known as All ndia Granite and Stone Association (AIGSA) is  the only all India body for the Natural Stone Industry of the country. FIGSI has been striving for the betterment and addressing the challenges faced by the industry. The Federation has about 1250 members from all over the country.

The sole object of the Federation is to promote natural stone industry of India across the globe and to resolve the issues faced by the Natural Stone Industry.

India is a country which is endowed with high quality natural stones like granite, marble, sandstone, slate, limestone and quartzite etc that are widespread in every corner of the nation. India has more than 11% export share in total world's stone trade. Indian share is more than 27% of the total stones produced throughout the world. India is recognized as one of the largest dimensional block producer in the world. Indian slabs, tiles, and monuments are supplied to more than 90 countries. Presently, stone industry is recognized as one of the fastest growing mineral industry in boosting the Indian economy and providing large employment opportunity in the rural sector after Agriculture.

Federation has been well recognised by all the state governments and central governments as the only national body to promote the Natural stone Industry. FIGSI is also member of various committees formed by the central and state governments.

Achievements of the Federation:

a)  Formation of Granite Development council by Government of India
b)  Formation of Group on Marble development by Government of India
c) The Granite conservation and Development rules 1999 for Granite Development was framed by Central Government for the entire country.
d) The marble conservation and development rules was framed for the development of Marble trade in India
e) Conducting of STONA fair from 1987onwards for promoting the Natural stone products in the domestic as well as international market (The export which was at Rs. 50 cr ores in 1987 has increased to Rs. 14,000 crores in 2016-17).
f) Participation in various fairs across the world to promote the Indian natural stones.
g) Impressed the Government  and has brought the marble blocks import under OGL scheme
h) Impressed the government to reduce the GST on polished slabs and tiles to 18% from 28%.
i) Now the federation is taking up the issue of GCDR which has been recommended by the sub-committee of GDC
j)  Taken up the issue of treating EOUs at par with the SEZs
  The federation has lined up various programme for the development of the Stone Industry as follows

 To develop R & D centre for Natural Stone Industry

Training institute of International standard to impart training to operate high tech machines used in quarrying and processing sectors.
World class stone museum
Trade Centre
Stone Testing laboratory
Artisans development
Exhibition Centre
 As a Federation apart from seeking policy support and promoting the event STONA we have also taken up the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes in a big way.

1) The Federation in joint venture with Chamrajnagar quarry owners association has installed an RO Water Treatment Plant in the village of Rechambally Chamrajnagar. The said RO plant has been donated to Kagalavadi Panchyat of Chamrajnagar district.

2) Where the mining/quarrying hub/ industries have come up in those areas for the benefit of the workers and for the nearby villages the ambulances have been donated for medical emergency in the area of Jigani, Anekal Taluk Karnataka  and Jalore in Rajasthan.

Following are the salient features of STONA 2020

Display of new material in separate area
Display of Handmade Handicraft Granite Items display
Architect Seminar on Natural Stone for Sustainability - the business opportunities. On 7thFebruary 2020 at 10.30 A.M
Geology Seminar on  Sustainable Natural Stones- Prospects, Problems, Policies – on 8thFebruary 2020 at  10.30 A.M
Wonsa Seminar on Natural stones on 7thFebruary 2020 at 2 P.M

STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY:-

India has the second largest deposit of Natural Stones in the world with 15% of the world Natural Stone reserves which is about 46.23 billion cubic meters. India is one of the top 5 Granite producing countries along with China, Brazil and others.
India is the largest producer of dimensional granite blocks (about 35 Million tonnes) major producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat etc.
India stands in 3rd position in the Natural Stone trade in the world. The total No. of people employed in the Natural Stone trade in India is about 1.5 million.
Indian exports have crossed $2.2 Billions (14,000 Crores) in 2018.
India has adopted the latest technology in quarrying sector for cutting, drilling & handling, which has lead to improved production, less environmental damage and safe quarrying.
The latest technology of wire saw cutting,  circular saw cutting and breakage powders has lead to  zero blasting, thereby leading to safe working environment with less pollution yielding more production.
The Indian quarrying sector pays the highest royalty in the world i.e., we pay about 15%  on invoice value, where as the world average royalty is 3%. We now contribute a percentage on royalty towards DMF (district Mineral Fund) which is utilized for infrastructure development and for providing basic facilities like education, health, drinking water, sanitation, roads etc in the particular district where the quarrying takes place. Thereby improving the quality of life for local people living in the quarrying areas.All the States have supported the policy in fixing the percentage. For eg in Rajasthan, DMF is fixed at 10 percent on royalty, Andhra 12.5 percent on royalty and Karnataka have fixed at 30 percent on royalty. Similarly all the States have fixed between 10 percent to 30 percent.
The processing sector has developed very well in the last 10 years. The processing units have been setup  in almost all the districts where quarrying activities takes place, since it is  easy to procure the raw material. Of late, the processing industry are starving for want of raw materials. In order to support the processing industry more quarries are required to be granted by the govt.
Today, India is exporting more than 80% of the stone products in value added form to more than 90 countries all over the world.
Since the closure of most of the quarries in Tamilnadu and Karnataka due to the State Government policy decisions, the processing units are importing marble  under OGL and EOU’S are importing both marble and granite blocks to overcome the shortage of supplies.  The need of the hour is to allow free import of Granite also under OGL to mitigate the problem of shortage of raw material.


POLICY SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENT WHICH  THE INDUSTRY REQUIRED

Long term quarry lease ranging from 30-50 years with guaranteed renewals. The support of the government by way of suggestion is that regarding the grant of mineral concessions on first – cum-first- served basis and not through auction. Presently, except the State of Telangana all other States have resorted to the auction policy. Therefore it requires to be revisited in framing the policy. The auction system does not suit the dimensional block as the mineral is natural in nature and recovery cannot be guaranteed. Natural Stones mining is mainly the production of blocks of considerable size and weight

Rajasthan model of royalty collection seems to be very practicable and other state governments may adopt this model with requisite modifications suitable to them. As a Federation, we too agree with the recommendation of IBM. This policy would end up in less corruption, and a drastic reduction in the illegal quarrying and transportation apart from earning more revenue to the State Exchequer.
Grant of quarry leases in a time bound manner as the States deem fit.
Import of granite blocks to be allowed freely which will add variety and will enable us to take up projects all over the world.
Reduce GST to 5% on blocks & 12% on slabs & Tiles.
The quarrying activities are in progress for the past 4 to 5 decades and largely quarrying activities are confined to smaller areas in extent. Pursuant to the order passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India the lesser extent quarries are covered by environment clearance. However, the conditions imposed in the environmental clearance are on par with the condition imposed for major minerals which is larger in extent. Therefore, there is a requirement of relaxation in conditions prescribed in environment clearance to suit the requirement of the smaller areas for better compliances.
The future of the quarrying industry would be there in disposing of the huge accumulation of wastes which is a major threat to environment. In this context the wastes can be constructively utilised not only as a value added product but also to meet the societal needs like prevention of coastal erosion, the aggregates, M-Sand as a replacement to natural river sand, for usage  in the road construction and other works on par with building materials. The waste should not be considered as a real waste but to be treated more sensibly as an asset as in the quarries which is seen abroad mostly in China with proper management.
Recovery  percentage for saleable blocks to be rationalized The percentage recovery of dimensional granite blocks on the whole is quite low and varies from 5% to 20% due to inconsistency in colour and texture, geological disturbances like hairline fractures/streaks, joint spacing, integration of mineral constituents along planes giving non-uniform pattern etc. Such limiting factors vary from place to place in a single quarry and quarry to quarry having the same rock formation.
The Status of Natural Stone Quarrying Sector to be declared as an Industry
CHALLENGES:-

Competition from other countries like China, Turkey, Brazil, Iran etc.
Competition from other similar products like quartz, ceramic, porcelain, glass etc.
False propoganda like usage of child labour ,Radiation from  stones  etc.
FUTURE OUTLOOK:-

With policy support, the industry can grow 10-15% annually.
Increase exports by 15-20%.
Investment  can go up to Rs 1 lakh crores from Present Rs 50,000 crores
Provide employment to additional 15 lakh skilled and semiskilled people in rural & semi urban areas.
Over a period of time natural stone will prove that they are superior compared to other competitive products.
For all this, measures require proper policy and government support. Long term mining/quarrying leases, fast processing of quarrying/mining applications, fixing of royalty rates at a reasonable level on par with the neighbouring states and countries, easing of environmental laws for better implementation required.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Launches Social Academy of Learning by Toyota to Train and Empower NGO

Toyota Kirloskar Motor, in its sustained outreach to create a better ecosystem in the area of CSR, today announced the launch of the first-of-its-kind ‘Social Academy of Learning (SALT) by Toyota. With this program Toyota aims to further build the capacity of NPOs, ensure quality management, work excellence following the Toyota Way. The first ever five-day residential cohort of the Social Academy of Learning by Toyota will be organized from 2nd -7th February, 2020 at the Toyota plant in Bidadi with the support of KPMG India and Common Purpose in India.

SALT, conceived to develop NPO leaders to become more entrepreneurial, strategic and high-performing in order to create large-scale social change saw an overwhelming response from NPOs working for diverse cause. The pilot program aims to be an opportune platform for senior leaders of NPOs to express their challenges, explore best practices and develop capabilities by leveraging the strengths of sector experts and peers from within the group. The sessions will explore a number of areas such as project planning, tax and regulations, branding and communication, sustainability and monitoring and evaluation which ultimately results in an effective delivery of a project.

Participating NPOs were selected on parameters such as specialization, number of years in service, fund flow and funding pattern, complete documentation for incorporation.  At the end of the training, NPOs will benefit from a result and process oriented session along with a thorough assessment report that allows them to evaluate themselves and their organization, thereby helping them position themselves in the market.

Commenting on the launch of this distinctive learning program, Mr. Vikram Gulati, Senior Vice President, External Affairs, Corporate Social Responsibility & Public Relations, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, "At Toyota Kirloskar Motor, social contribution activities are vital part of our business DNA. Since 2000, we have been focusing on the holistic development of the community partnering with various NGO partners to ensure large scale impact at grass root level.  NPO’s have played a vital role in educating community and making the community responsible for maintenance of facilities in our CSR interventions.   It gives us a pleasure in introducing this learning and training program for NPO’s who have participated from across India. “Social Academy of Learning by Toyota” is a

unique approach aimed at arming NPOs with requisite professional skills to effectively develop and manage their organisation, which in turn will result in better delivery of the intended benefits to the society. This is our attempt to reach out to relevant organization who make a significant impact. Rather than focusing on a single project that may have minimal impact, we aim to improve the quality of delivery of a large number of NPOs which we hope will make a difference to a wider group.”

Pre and post assessment of the organization will also be conducted. The gap analysis report would be submitted to these organizations to improve the processes at their end. The respective organization will submit the implementation report which will be evaluated and recognized as per their performance

India’s rapid progress and emergence of manufacturing sector has turned tables and caused focus to shift to compliance of CSR regulations and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030, thereby encouraging patterns of social sector funding. Sensing this shift, Toyota conceptualized SALT to develop conscious and effective leaders to deliver largescale social change.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has had an illustrious journey of two decades in India and throughout this journey, it has taken various CSR initiatives to bring in a positive change in the society, supporting and enriching them through sustainable solutions. The company constantly working towards harmonious, scalable and sustainable development of society emphasizing on Education, Health & Hygiene, Road Safety, Environment and Skill Developments through various CSR initiatives. The effectiveness of such CSR should reflect to bring in a big difference in one’s life, nurturing the well-being.

CSR has been the integral part of Toyota since its inception, from 2001 onwards. TKM was recently awarded 10th position in CSR & Sustainability. According to the report ‘Responsible Business Rankings’ this recognition commemorates Toyota’s commendable efforts under Corporate Social Responsibility in creating a socially responsible and sustainable society through its Sanitation projects.

Further, TKM remains committed to responsibly drive its business & social commitments with an aim to live in harmony with nature and enrich many more lives, bringing joy to the community with diverse needs, in a sustainable manner.

Researcher from Queen’s University Belfast Develops Algorithm to Make Artificial Intelligence Fairer

Dr Deepak Padmanabhan, a researcher from Queen’s University Belfast has developed an innovative new algorithm that will help make artificial intelligence (AI) fairer and less biased when processing data. Dr Padmanabhan has been leading an international project, working with experts at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (Savitha Abraham and Sowmya Sundaram), to tackle the discrimination problem within clustering algorithms.

Companies often use AI technologies to sift through huge amounts of data in situations such as an oversubscribed job vacancy or in policing when there is a large volume of CCTV data linked to a crime. AI sorts through the data, grouping it to form a manageable number of clusters, which are groups of data with common characteristics. It is then much easier for an organisation to analyse manually and either shortlist or reject the entire group. However, while AI can save on time, the process is often biased in terms of race, gender, age, religion and country of origin.

A researcher in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology at Queen’s, Dr Padmanabhan explains: “AI techniques for data processing, known as clustering algorithms, are often criticised as being biased in terms of ‘sensitive attributes’ such as race, gender, age, religion and country of origin. It is important that AI techniques be fair while aiding shortlisting decisions, to ensure that they are not discriminatory on such attributes.”

It has been reported that white-sounding names received 50 per cent more call-backs than those with black-sounding names. Studies also suggest that call-back rates tend to fall substantially for workers in their 40s and beyond. Another discriminatory trend is the ‘motherhood penalty’, where working mothers are disadvantaged in the job market while working fathers do better, in what is known as the ‘fatherhood bonus’.

Dr Padmanabhan says: “When a company is faced with a process that involves lots of data, it is impossible to manually sift through this. Clustering is a common process to use in processes such as recruitment where there are thousands of applications submitted. While this may cut back on time in terms of sifting through large numbers of applications, there is a big catch. It is often observed that this clustering process exacerbates workplace discrimination by producing clusters that are highly skewed.”

Over the last few years ‘fair clustering’ techniques have been developed and these prevent bias in a single chosen attribute, such as gender. However, Dr Padmanabhan has now created a method that, for the first time, can achieve fairness in many attributes. Dr Padmanabhan comments: “Our fair clustering algorithm, called FairKM, can be invoked with any number of specified sensitive attributes, leading to a much fairer process. “In a way, FairKM takes a significant step towards algorithms assuming the role of ensuring fairness in shortlisting, especially in terms of human resources. With a fairer process in place, the selection committees can focus on other core job-related criteria.

“FairKM can be applied across a number of data scenarios where AI is being used to aid decision making, such as pro-active policing for crime prevention and detection of suspicious activities. This, we believe, marks a significant step forward towards building fair machine learning algorithms that can deal with the demands of our modern democratic society.”

Savitha Abraham, researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, commented: “Fairness in AI techniques is of significance in developing countries such as India. These countries experience drastic social and economic disparities and these are reflected in the data.

“Employing AI techniques directly on raw data results in biased insights, which influence public policy and this could amplify existing disparities. The uptake of fairer AI methods is critical, especially in the public sector, when it comes to such scenarios.”

The research, which was conducted at Queen’s University’s Computer Science building, will be presented in Copenhagen in April 2020 at the EDBT 2020 conference, which is renowned for data science research.

Haptik Develops Virtual Assistant for Kotak Life: KAYA for 24X7 Assistance, Easy Instant Solutions

Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company (Kotak Life) has announced the launch of its voice assistant KAYA – AI-driven conversational assistance to get instant solutions. Kotak Life At Your Assistance (KAYA) has been developed by Kotak Life and Haptik – one of the world’s largest conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform developers. KAYA provides 24X7 assistance and easy instant solutions to consumers thereby enhancing customer experience by resolving queries about premium payment, policy renewals, policy statements, policy information and bonus / fund value.
Presently, Kotak Life’s customer service department handles a huge number of customer queries on a day-to-day basis. KAYA’s integration into customer service department significantly reduces human dependency and call waiting time, and importantly, ensures queries do not go unattended.

Kirti Patil, Chief Technology Officer, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd. said, “KAYA is a major milestone in Kotak Life’s digitalization journey. KAYA has reduced the wait time for our customers by as much as four times, and has reduced human dependence to resolve a large number of routine queries. With its self-learning architecture, KAYA can connect to various sections of the support team for a smooth customer experience.”

KAYA, with a comprehensive understanding of the complex processes, is self-learning and is also equipped with advanced agent chat solution, where complex queries outside its scope are seamlessly transferred to Kotak Life’s customer support teams. Quite a few processes were re-imagined and re-designed to provide simplicity for customers.

Kartik Poddar, Business Head, Haptik said, “Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) is really transforming the customer support function by providing real time, accurate and emphatic resolution at scale. We are delighted by KAYA’s immediate impact as she resolves large number of queries while offering consistent experience to each caller. Together, we will keep evolving the virtual assistant KAYA as she becomes the epicenter of customer engagement at Kotak Life.”

Users can start conversations with KAYA on Kotak Life’s website.

Singapore Tourism Board Partners with Zomato to Bring the Singapore Food Experience to Bangalore

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has partnered with Zomato for Zomaland Season 2, a multicity food and entertainment carnival across ten cities in two formats – Zomaland in Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai; and Zomaland Picnics in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad. Please refer to Annex A for details on the upcoming Zomaland and Zomaland Picnics.

This association is an integral part of STB’s efforts to engage with foodies in India through a designated “Singapore Experience Zone” at Zomaland by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Over the weekend, the Singapore Experience Zone at Zomaland Bangalore saw attendees participating in the fun and interactive games, indulge inauthentic Singapore cuisine like Kaya toast, Ice Milo, Kueh Pie Tee and other popular Singaporean dishes like Chicken Satay, Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) from restaurant chain, Nasi & Mee and pose for photographs against iconic structures of attractions in Singapore like Gardens By The Bay, Sentosa, Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Jewel Changi Airport. Attendees for the event also interacted with one of the biggest draws for the zone - the Singapore’s Merlion mascot ‘Merli’.

Speaking about this association with Zomato, GB Srithar, Regional Director – India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA), Singapore Tourism Board said, “We are happy to partner with Zomato, for the very first time, to engage with the Indian audiences on a favourite topic that both Indians and Singaporeans are passionate about – food. As part of our continuing efforts to engage the Indian consumers in innovative ways, we look forward to participating in this important consumer outreach initiative across ten cities. In line with our brand Passion Made Possible, we will highlight culinary offerings, appealing to the Foodie passion tribe. We look forward to engaging families and young Indians through this lifestyle, events, entertainment and food event series.”

Speaking about STB’s partnership with Zomaland, Ms. Lim Si Ting, Area Director, India and South Asia said, “We are happy to partner with Zomato for the first time, and believe Zomaland brings us closer to the Indian audiences through a common love and passion for food. By highlighting authentic Singaporean cuisine and the varied dining options, we hope to entice more Foodies in India to visit Singapore for even more culinary delights. We look forward to sharing more of such immersive experiences at Zomaland Bangalore and the other upcoming Zomaland events.”

The STB has, in recent months rolled out a series of activities to engage the Foodies, including a 3-part video series titled #CheatWeek in Singapore  with popular Indian celebrity chef Saransh Goila highlighting the culinary offers in Singapore.

Paytm Launches All-in-One Android POS for Indian Small Businesses and Merchant Partners

Highlights

* Paytm All-in-One Android POS accepts payment through all methods – Cards, Paytm Wallet, All UPI apps, and even cash
* It has All-in-One QR code that supports all contact and contactless payments
* The device comes with integrated billing software and customized solutions for different industry sectors ranging from ticketing, catering to parking among others
* The handheld compact device features an in-built printer, a scanner and generates bills

India's largest payments platform Paytm (owned by One97 Communications Limited) today announced the launch of All-in-One Android POS device for merchant partners across the country. This device helps merchants to accept payments through Paytm Wallet, all UPI based apps, Debit & Credit Cards and most importantly - Cash. Besides accepting payments, merchants will also be able to generate GST compliant bills and manage all transactions and settlements through their 'Paytm for Business' app at one go.

Paytm All-in-One Android POS is a fully-loaded payment acceptance device with many industry-first features & services. The android based device comes with a full-size display and is pre-bundled with cloud-based software for billing, payments, and customer management. The device can be used to accept payments, print bills and scan items for faster checkout at the counter. The device works on Wi-Fi and also comes with a pre-installed sim card ensuring round the clock connectivity with all of Paytm's bouquet of services.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO of Paytm said, "Over the past 18 months, we have invested a lot of time in understanding the needs of small businesses around digital payments. Today, we are launching this incredible Paytm All-in-One POS device with a super sleek android form factor with cloud services. This device offers a comprehensive business tool right on the desk of millions of small businesses. We strongly believe that offerings like these will help expand the market and drive further acceptance of digital payments, and at the same time enable our merchant partners to operate their business more efficiently."

Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder and Chairman, Infosys and founding Chairman UIDAI said, "What Paytm is doing is exactly what we envisioned which is democratizing payments. And nobody has done a better job than them. Paytm is a pioneer and I am grateful for their contribution. I think Paytm All-in-One Android POS is a very important device. We do have multiple options and this device brings all together. If small merchants across the country can accept digital payments, that's should be the future. I am glad that Paytm is doing this."

Paytm All-in-One Android POS also supports many industry-specific solutions that will help SMEs to automate their business processes and be more efficient. E.g. Its ‘Restaurant Management’ can accept orders of individual tables and directly relay them to the kitchen. The machine is equipped to generate and maintain separate bills for every table in the outlet. Similarly, it is bundled with TicketNew and Insider.in, two of the biggest ticketing and events platforms in the country. Event organizers, as well as movie halls, can directly issue tickets with the All-in-POS android machine and accept payments. Event organizers can even let go of the hassle of creating box-offices during open-air concerts and can sell tickets using this handheld device. The company aims to include support for many more industries going forward, all of which could be updated and made available automatically in the future without change of device.

Paytm has done a series of successful pilots in different spaces including bus ticketing service, parking management, BFSI, logistics, and home delivery. One of Paytm's most valuable partner - IRCTC is using the Paytm All-in-One Android POS machines to bill food items sold inside trains. It helps in keeping track of sales and is turning out to be a strong tool for inventory management.