JK Tyre Extends Community Support Through Awareness Drives, Health Camps, Food Supplies Across All Manufacturing Plant Locations

Continuing its bid to support the country’s fight against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), India’s leading tyre manufacturer JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has implemented a series of public relief measures to ensure safety and health of citizens across plant locations in Mysore, Banmore, Kankroli, Chennai and Haridwar.

In its ongoing commitment to extend support for immediate on-ground response, the company is reaching out to over 10,000 daily wage earners and migrants with food supplies in every region.

JK Tyre has also organised medical health camps across 25 villages and conducted surveys in residential localities situated in the vicinity of its manufacturing facilities across India.

JK Tyre realises the need for creating mass awareness at the community level and has been organising drives to educate the commercial drivers, suppliers and other vendors about the precautionary measures against spread of COVID-19. To ensure safety of citizens in public places, masks and sanitizers are being distributed across all key locations.

The company has also set up a Corona Task-Force; that undertakes measures for supporting the needs, health and well-being of colleagues, partners, and their families. Initiatives like virtual training sessions and interactive webinars with medical experts are being organised to help them cope with the impact of COVID-19.

Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries, said, “We all are faced with an unprecedented challenge and the world has become as one community in its efforts towards arresting the spread of COVID-19. While we are ensuring the safety of our family and employees, there is a large section of society that remains deprived of basic facilities. We are humbled to play our part in the relief efforts aimed towards the marginalised communities.”

Additionally, the conglomerate, JK Organisation has made a contribution towards the Prime Minister’s Fund and is dedicatedly working towards addressing the immediate needs of communities and migrant labour, at several locations across the country.

Hygiene & Sanitation efforts: More than 20,000 hand sanitizers and masks were distributed covering even the residential colonies across all the locations.

Community-led initiatives: Communities in 150+ villages around the plant locations, across several states have been educated about precautions against COVID-19, by Public address systems, door-to-door visits, banners and posters at prominent locations. Fumigation has been done in nearby villages covering more than 25000 people.

Access to medical aid: 50+ Medical camps were set up in several villages to conduct first-level screening for COVID-19 symptoms among citizens and awareness drives were conducted for 5,000 truck drivers, suppliers/ vendors. Additionally, district health departments have been provided with ambulance, safety materials, masks, soaps and hand gloves. Isolation wards have been created near the plants and infrastructure support is being provided at primary health centers.

Support to Migrant workers: Distribution of food, medicines, sanitizers, drinking water and dry ration to 20000+ people at several locations across the country.

Food Supplies: Extending support to government officials, Police department and government hospital employees with packed food and drinking water with the help of NGO’s.

Care for employees, dealers & channel partners: Awareness sessions are being organised by Doctors from Pushpawati Singhania Hospital & Research Institute (PSRI Hospital), to educate them regarding their safety as well as of their families. Additionally, skill building webinars and online courses are being organised for the employees.

Trend Micro Secures BRAC Bank Ltd Against Advanced Threats Across Networks and Endpoints

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, is now providing a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity solutions to BRAC Bank Ltd, Bangladesh’s leading bank for small and medium-sized businesses. Consisting of Trend Micro Apex One, Trend Micro Deep Discovery Inspector and Trend Micro Deep Discovery Analyzer, the deployment provides BRAC Bank with automatic shielding from vulnerabilities, malware, and ransomware attacks. It also helps the bank with real-time threat monitoring and protection, elevated security posture for endpoints and networks.

With banking sector being a top target for cyberattacks, BRAC Bank Ltd primarily needed an all-inclusive solution which would protect them against advanced persistent threats such as malware infections, targeted attacks, zero-day, vulnerability exploits, and low-level phishing via email, SMS, and website. As a result of the deployment of Trend Micro’s solutions, BRAC Bank Ltd has been able to get 360-degree visibility into the threat landscape. Advanced capabilities such as high-fidelity machine learning, behavioral analysis, exploit protection, file reputation, ransomware variant protection, intrusion prevention, command and control (C&C) blocking, browser exploit protection, application whitelisting, web reputation, and sandbox integration provided complete protection against threats.

“Cybersecurity is a top priority at BRAC Bank Ltd. Trend Micro’s security solutions has protected us against advanced malware and ransomware, as well as against new unknown variants as they emerge. The product’s investigative capabilities are extremely advanced and give us a holistic view of endpoints and networks across the organization,” said B. M. Zahid ul Haque, Head of Information Security, BRAC Bank Ltd.

“As the threat landscape continues to evolve and cybercriminals employ increasingly sophisticated techniques, we need a solution that can also grow and improve our defense against advanced threats and targeted attacks. Trend Micro’s track record of continuous innovation, its laser focus on next-gen endpoint security, and its unmatched standards convinced us that Trend Micro was the right solution for us,” he further added.

Vijendra Katiyar, Director - Enterprise Business, India & SAARC, Trend Micro said, “Given the rapid digital transformation that the banking sector has faced in the last few years, BRAC Bank Ltd realized the importance of implementing Trend Micro’s robust security solution for its networks and endpoints. Trend Micro Deep Discovery addresses advanced persistent threats and provides a comprehensive solution to detect, analyze, adapt, and respond to targeted attacks. The shared threat intelligence feature ingests advanced threat intelligence or indicators of compromise (IoCs) from threat feeds and custom inputs. It also identified malicious communications, and attacker activities that escape standard security defences, enabling BRAC Bank Ltd to block unknown threats.”

BRAC Bank Ltd also chose Trend Micro for the advantageous position of Trend Micro as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms since 2002, its established credibility as a market leader in The Forrester Wave: Endpoint Security Suites (Q2 2018), as well as having earned the rank of “most effective recommended breach detection system” for two years running by NSS Labs. BRAC Bank Ltd looks forward to doing more PoCs with Trend Micro. 

Introducing Aiisma: A Data Marketplace App with COVID-19 Tracking Feature in India

Highlights

* India’s first consumer to business data marketplace that rewards users for sharing data
* The App comes with ‘AiiHealth’ – A Coronavirus tracking feature
* The Aiisma App is in beta and will soon be available on mobile app stores

Aiisma, an India born data marketplace, rewards users for consensually and anonymously trading their data via the Aiisma App. The marketplaces’ location sharing and health mapping features can be used for effective contact tracing, which has been the strongest aid in fighting COVID-19 so far. The insights gathered by the Aiisma ecosystem naturally create a digital fence against the COVID-19 spread, supporting citizens and authorities in the fight against the virus.

Via the Aiisma mobile app users can consensually and anonymously trade their behavioural data for rewards and receive extra compensation for viewing ads on the marketplace. Businesses access this data through the Aiisma dashboard in a legal and economical format, to create relevant products and services offerings. Furthermore, the same channel can deliver highly targeted text, banner and video ads to increase marketing efficiency for businesses.

In light of the current COVID-19 situation, Aiisma has also expedited the release of its health mapping feature for individuals, to manually share and monitor health insights. Increased use of the app will enable authorities with pro-active responses, due to sudden variations in the data pool.  It also intends to release a trigger function for authorities to send anonymous alerts to any Aiisma users who might have come in contact with any positive tested carrier.

Commenting on the launch of services, Mr. Ankit Chaudhari, Founder and CEO of Aiisma said, “India’s large and young population, which is digitally savvy, will make for one of the largest contributors in the approaching data economy. We at Aiisma believe that the users should reap financial rewards for this contribution and intend to do exactly this. A few days before the launch, I discussed with my father, who is a specialist microbiology consultant with the state government and he emphasized the importance of real-time data to fight COVID-19, whilst respecting citizen privacy. This motivated us at Aiisma to expedite the health data feature, which in combination with location sharing will probably become the most used feature of our application over the coming weeks.”

“The economic impact of the pandemic will wreak havoc for small and medium business, where again information from consumer-generated data will act as an enabler for SMB’s to make smart decisions with respect to their path forward. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unfortunate situation for the world, but we are glad that we can make a positive contribution through the technology we have been building,” he further added.

Adding to this, Mr. Nicholas Böhnlein, Co-Founder and COO of Aiisma said, “As a millennial, I understand the power and value of my data, which is regularly monetized under the pretext of freemium by BigTech companies. We at Aiisma want to give the power of data and the huge economic value back to data creators. With the help of Aiisma’s technology ecosystem, consumers can choose the kind of data they wish to share with businesses for a fair value. In our eyes, every individual is a #datapreneur. We look forward to our launch and hope to bring value to Indian consumers. Also, I would like to mention that we are open to sharing anonymous information with the respective authorities to assist them in fighting the pandemic.”

With its #mydatamyasset philosophy, Aiisma intends to create a nationwide trend of returning the power of data back to users. Founded by Ankit Chaudhari and Nicholas Böhnlein in 2018, Aiisma’s goal is to be at the forefront of the approaching data-driven economy. Data has been identified as the new gold and the Founders' vision is to include consumers in a revenue-sharing business model, solidifying the consumers’ value in the digital world.

Blue Dart Deploys its 757 Boeing Freighters to Move Medical and Pharmaceutical Supplies with Additional New Routes

Against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 outbreak, our nation is grappling with a situation never experienced earlier & this has a widespread impact on the economy. Businesses across sectors and geographies are disrupted due to mobility suspension.

In this challenging environment, Blue Dart has mobilized its Business Contingency and Continuity Plan (BCCP), including pandemic operating plans, and is implementing preventive actions as appropriate to ensure least disruption in our services to Indian businesses. Our QRT – Quick Response Team, is working 24x7 towards mitigating potential impacts while ensuring continuity of the supply chain across the nation. Our six 757 Boeing freighters operating day and night across Indian skies have been prioritised to deliver medical equipment & pharmaceuticals amongst other shipments enabling the nation in its fight against the COVID 19 pandemic.

We are continuously monitoring and responding to the various situational challenges caused by COVID-19 keeping the interest of customers, employees and community paramount. We are providing vital updates and necessary information to our customers and employees on precautionary measures and permissible guidelines to operate across geographies during the 21-days nationwide lockdown.

Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart Express Limited said, “In this critical health crisis, our Express logistics services play a critical role, in saving lives – whether it is by sending emergency medical equipment and supplies to healthcare workers; delivering necessity goods to customers; or by finding solutions for companies to continue their operations. To this end, we are working closely with Government bodies and Institutions. Our QRT is responding exceptionally to the situation & industries we are working with have appreciated the response that Blue Dart has been able to put together at short notice. We are working round the clock to deliver in a time-bound manner so that the fight against the pandemic is supplemented & multiplied. Ensuring the air life-line of the nation our aircrafts are deployed”

To ensure essential deliveries are not disrupted, Blue Dart also operated two new air - routes Guwahati and Pune which are not a part of our normal schedule. We are also flying flights as exigencies demand. Additionally, we are exploring international charter to support critical Government requirement.

Blue Dart has listed itself on the dedicated Medical Air Cargo website www.civilaviation.gov.in

Shipments moved:

Across the country we have been delivering testing kits, reagents, enzymes, medical equipment (ventilators), N95 respirators and surgical masks, gloves, & other items requisitioned by State Governments. Customers such as Siemens, Boston scientific, Sun pharmaceuticals and several others have used our aviation service to move essential medical supplies.  

COVID 19 Relief - Toyota Kirloskar Motor Announces ‘Customer Connect’ Program

In-line with its ‘Customer First’ philosophy, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has announced several measures to support customers navigate the uncertainties of COVID 19. As a sign of strengthening its bond with customers, TKM today announced a host of service packages to help them through this unique situation. The new set of services being offered by TKM include extension of Vehicle Warranty (New & Toyota Vehicle Purchased from TOYOTA U-TRUST), Free Maintenance Service, Roadside Assistance, Extended Warranty & SMILES Pre-Paid maintenance package for up to two months.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales & Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “We would like to sincerely thank all our customers for their continued support and understanding over the years. To avoid any inconvenience to customers, we are trying our best to ensure seamless communication and hassle-free processes. Our ‘Customer Connect’ program is a step to build confidence, and show our commitment to our valued customers and our dealer partners, in these times of distress. Taking this opportunity, we would also like to sincerely request all our customers to stay at home and follow the guidelines announced by the Government.”

TKM realizes how important it is to support their customers during a time of crisis and to stay connected with them and extend support wherever required. Keeping these challenges in mind, TKM has announced Free Emergency Support to customers who do not have the coverage till 15 days post the lockdown. TKM along with its Dealerships are actively addressing customer queries (over phone), ensuring they are helped and guided in an effective manner. In case of emergencies where Toyota vehicles are involved, the dealerships are fulfilling customer needs by providing doorstep facilities as Essential Services, with full cooperation from local authorities.

Additionally, TKM is offering an extension until 31st May, 2020 for the customers whose respective Programs or Products may have expired during this lockdown period. To ensure the vehicles remains in the best of the conditions, Vehicle Inspection, Car Cabin Care, Tyre, & Battery will be provided at special prices once the Dealerships are operational.

Considering the situation and the prolonged parking of the vehicle, TKM along with its Dealerships have also provided various maintenance tips to be considered during this lockdown period.

Toyota Dealerships are the face of the company and play a crucial role in engaging with the customers on a day-to-day basis. Thus, it is important to ensure they are ready to handle customer requests once the situation normalizes. Considering the timeline of lockdown, the dealerships are instructed with certain Do’s & Don’ts to be followed once the operations are back to normal.

Airtel Payments Bank, Bharti AXA General Insurance Partners to Offer Insurance Products Covering COVID-19

Airtel Payments Bank, India’s first Payments Bank, has partnered with Bharti AXA General Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups, and AXA, one of the world’s largest insurance companies, to offer simple and focused health insurance plans for providing financial protection against COVID-19 in these challenging times.

Under the partnership, the companies have rolled out two health insurance plans - Bharti AXA Group Health Assure which offers lump sum benefit of Rs 25,000 and Group Hospital Cash which provides daily benefit starting Rs 500 per day - to provide protection against COVID-19.

Bharti AXA Group Health Assure Policy covering COVID-19comes with a fixed cover offering 100 per cent sum insured as a lump sum, if the policy holder is diagnosed positive or gets quarantined in a government hospital or military facility/establishment. In case, the policy holder is diagnosed negative after being quarantined for at least 14 days in a government hospital or military facility/establishment, he or she will be entitled to 50 per cent of the sum insured. The policy offers protection for COVID-19 from day one of the purchase and can be purchased at a price of Rs. 499 (including GST) for fixed sum insured of Rs. 25,000. It can be availed from the Banking Section of the Airtel Thanks App or by visiting the nearest active Banking Point of Airtel Payments Bank.

Group Hospital Cash Policy provides per day fixed allowance on hospitalization with Enhanced ICU Cash. Under this policy, depending on the plan, a customer is entitled to a fixed per day benefit of Rs 500 or Rs 1000 paid for each day of hospitalization, up to maximum for 10 days. This benefit doubles, if the policy holder is treated in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A customer can claim the benefit, if hospitalised for minimum 24 hours. After the initial waiting period of 30 days from the first policy inception date, Group Hospital Cash covers pre-existing diseases and specified conditions. The product also provides coverage for a policy holder who is hospitalised for treatment of COVID-19. It can be purchased from any active Banking Point of Airtel Payments Bank. The product will be soon available under the banking section of Airtel Thanks mobile app.

With no pre-medical check-up required, both the products are currently available for Savings bank account customers of Airtel Payments Bank who are not suffering from COVID-19 or its symptoms.

Mr. Anubrata Biswas, MD and CEO, Airtel Payments Bank, said, “We are delighted to offer insurance products designed to provide financial protection during the current outbreak of COVID-19. With our technology platform and deep distribution reach, we will be immediately able to offer this product to millions of customers at this hour of need. We wanted to ensure health protection for our customers in the challenging times and, therefore, partnered with Bharti AXA General Insurance to offer health products which are easily available. These products affirm our commitment to empower every Indian with digital, contextual and timely solutions.”

Mr. Sanjeev Srinivasan, MD and CEO, Bharti AXA General Insurance, said, “We are happy to join hands with Airtel Payments Bank with our two need-based health insurance plans and leverage the power of digital to maximize the penetration of health insurance in India. We believe that ensuring a safety net against the financial repercussions of COVID-19 or any disease is just as important as exercising precautions against it. As an organization, we have always been responsive to every need of the hour and it is among our foremost endeavors to support our customers in such times of distress. This alliance further strengthens our commitment as a responsible protection partner.”

The validity period of these policies is restricted to one year and will be issued on individual name basis only.

ABB, NASSCOM Partners to Develop Competency Standards for New-Age Technology Jobs in India

In a major push for skill development in the technology industry, ABB, in association with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has developed a standardized qualification criterion for two IoT-related job roles – IoT Network Communications and IoT Cyber Security. This first of its kind industry collaboration will facilitate the much-needed uniformity and formalization by aiding the hiring and evaluation of these high-skilled jobs across the sector. The Qualification Packs (QPs) define the competency standards that will provide a framework for academic institutions to design their course curriculum to better conform to industry hiring standards. The qualification packs for the two job roles have been approved by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), and National Skills Qualifications Committee (NSQC).

These standardized assessments will lead to the creation of skilled and certified talent for IoT from which the industry can hire the right talent for new-age jobs, thereby reducing the cost of hiring and increasing the time for productivity.

The QPs will be promoted across the industry for the purpose of hiring, promotions and curating learning & development (L&D) programs, thereby laying the foundation for standardized employment practices for skilled jobs in the IT-ITeS industry.

NASSCOM estimates that nearly 40% of the country’s workforce needs to be reskilled if they are to work in the artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), machine learning and blockchain spaces. To this effect, the government will popularize the initiative in academic institutions across the country, to help bridge the prominent skill gap that currently exists in the industry. The initiative will allow the Indian Government to streamline the entry of skilled personnel into the industry and ensure minimal retraining and attrition costs across companies.

Commenting on this, Rajarshi Banerjee, Head of ABB Ability Customer Experience and Innovation - AMEA, ABB, said, “At ABB we take pride in being part of this industry-wide endeavour to navigate through the next era of digitalisation and industry 4.0. The rapid pace of technology disruption continues to render significant shifts in human resource requirements. The need of the hour for the industry is a specialized set of skills beyond the traditional course curriculum, as also demonstrated by the current Covid-19 situation where virtual/digital has become integral to operations in most companies. Our joint effort with NASSCOM has led to the creation of these qualification packs that will serve as a guiding light across the industry – recruiters, educational institutes and prospective recruits, as guide-rails both for the curriculum and recruitment. We have created a standardized format for the industry, which we believe will result in developing a quality pool to help companies across sectors, to hire from.”

“An increase in implementation of cybersecurity and other disruptive technologies like IoT, AI etc, has led to an incumbent need for standardizing specialized skill sets, to ensure that the future workforce is equipped with the knowledge and awareness of the applicability that the industry demands and needs,” said Apala Ray, Global Cybersecurity Manager, Industrial Automation Process Industries at ABB. “These Qualification Packs will serve as a compass for the future workforce as well as corporates to navigate new technologies in this space and thereby, capitalize on them. We are proud to have been a key enabler in this first-of-its-kind initiative in India,” she added.

Sharing his thoughts on the partnership, Amit Aggarwal, CEO, IT-ITES Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM, said that, “As the world gets increasingly connected, IoT emerges as an even more prominent technology for our future. With the number of businesses adopting IoT technologies constantly growing, the industry is in need of a qualified workforce that can deliver intelligent solutions for changing consumer and business behaviour. We are certain that this initiative will benefit the sector as a whole and help us in our journey to further consolidate India as a talent hub for new-age technologies.”

NASSCOM has been at the forefront of an industry-driven effort in India to develop ‘Future Skills Competency Standards’ that define the skills required to do jobs in technologies like IoT, AI, Big Data Analytics (BDA), Cloud Computing and several others. NASSCOM has developed these job competency standards together with the industry representatives that have helped create a common language across industry, academia and government on hiring, training and skilling. For an employer, it means the individual is ready to work from day 1, thus creating a win-win for the employee, the employer and the country.

The qualification packs were designed by NASSCOM and ABB in association with other industry partners after detailed functional analysis of the level of knowledge, skills and aptitude required for each of the job roles. This initiative will also form the basis for the government and other tech companies to define job roles and qualification packs for other emerging, new age technologies.