Chaitanya’s Credit Ratings Upgraded to A- (Stable) Amidst Lockdown

Chaitanya (A Navi group company), has been rated A- (Stable) by CRISIL for the Company’s bank borrowings of up to Rs 500 crore.

This rating has come at a time when the industry is reeling under lockdown, mandated to curb the dangerous COVID-19. The credit rating agencies’ ratings are driven by the strong execution and capital position of Chaitanya.

As per CRISIL, the rating also factors in the long track record of Chaitanya and experience of the promoters in the microfinance business, stable asset quality in microfinance segment post-demonetisation and improving resource profile.

Chaitanya’s ratings have also been upgraded to BBB+ (Stable) /A2+ by ICRA for financial instruments amounting to Rs 358 crore. As per ICRA, the stable outlook factors in the comfortable capital and liquidity profile of the group, which would support its medium-term growth plans.

The association with Navi is expected to result in high degree of operational synergies with improved risk management systems, the rating agencies have noted.

Anand Rao, CEO, Chaitanya, said, “The rating upgrade Chaitanya has got in these challenging times, reflects our strong capital position post becoming part of Navi group. This together with our solid track record and synergies with Navi will help us continue our growth once we move beyond the current COVID situation.”

Sachin Bansal, MD & CEO, Navi, said, “The ratings upgrade is particularly welcome at this time as it recognises the robust fundamentals of the Group. The Group is expected to venture into and, scale-up lending portfolio in new asset classes, including digital lending in the near term.”

Furthermore, the additional funding commitment given by Navi would aid Chaitanya’s growth plans over the medium term.

About Chaitanya: Chaitanya was founded in the year 2009 with an amicable goal of helping the many low income families who have been traditionally away from the formal banking sector. Chaitanya’s product portfolio included two wheeler loans, and housing loans apart from microfinance. Today Chaitanya operates in 5 states (Karnataka, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Jharkhand) with over 230 branches serving over 4.6 Lakh clients.

About Navi: Navi (erstwhile known as BACQ) is founded in 2018 with the aim of making the financial services simple, affordable and accessible and to build consumer-centric and technology-driven businesses in the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance) space.

How To Buy Gold Through PhonePe This Akshaya Tritiya Festival

PhonePe is a leading digital payment platform in India. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, make utility payments and buy gold. Did you know that buying Gold on PhonePe takes just a few seconds?

Customers can buy certified 24 Karat (K) Gold at live, competitive and transparent prices from the comfort of their homes on the PhonePe app. For a seamless Gold purchase on the app, PhonePe has partnered with SafeGold and MMTC-PAMP India’s accredited Gold refineries to create a Gold marketplace for its customers.

With the festive season around the corner, PhonePe’s Gold Partners have launched exclusive offers for its customers where they can get up to Rs.100 cashback on Gold purchases. Gold purchased by customers on the app will be stored in a free bank-grade insured locker facility.

To start with: Download the PhonePe app if you haven’t already and proceed as outlined below.

Open the PhonePe app, Click on “My Money”,  Under Investment → click on the Gold Icon,  Select Gold Provider - Safegold OR MMTC-PAMP.  You can buy Gold at 99.50% purity with Safegold and at 99.99% purity with MMTC-PAMP. Gold coins/bars from both providers are certified for purity by government-appointed assay certifying agencies.

Enter the amount of Gold you want to buy (in grams or rupees), Gold prices are linked to real-time rates in the commercial bullion market and updated every 5 minutes by Safegold & MMTC-PAMP. The price displayed on the app includes 3 percent GST with no additional charges for customers.

Click on the “Proceed To Payment” button at the bottom of the screen.  Use your preferred payment method - UPI/Debit Card/Credit Card/Wallet to complete the transaction.

Neuberg's Anywhere Anytime Services for ‘Health from Home’ Across Indian Cities

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic that has restricted the movements of every citizen of the country,Neuberg Diagnostics Private Limited, a StartUp in the PathLab chain segment, has ramped up itsAnywhere Anytime services.The Anywhere Anytime service is first in the diagnostics space in the country and will offer Free Round the Clock lab services at doorstep during the lockdown. The full-fledged sample collection (Blood, Urine) and ECG services are offered in Chennai, Bangalore, Cochin and Hyderabad.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Aishwarya Vasudevan,Group Chief Operating Officer, Neuberg Diagnostics Private Limited said, “While the lockdown is a much-needed move to limit the community's chance of exposure to the Coronavirus, Neuberg believes that medical care should be made available to people in the most convenient manner possible even in the present scenario. In this context, we have combined the use of technology and patient care to make our Anywhere Anytime services available to our patients within the confines and comfort of their homes.

As part of the ‘ANYWHERE ANYTIME’ initiative, samplescan be collected at any time from apatient’s home, subject to the place maintaining basic standards of hygiene and privacy. The service would be catered by Neuberg’scertified and experienced phlebotomists who have been trained to follow safety protocols before and after collecting samples, ensuring maximum safety for the patient and themselves.

“This is an ideal moment when technology and convenience should take the lead in terms of facilitatinghealthcare delivery. So when ‘work from home’ can become a way of life during these difficult times, why not ‘Health from Home’,especially for Older adults and people who have chronic conditions who need to be at the top of their health to stay fit to fight infections.” adds Aishwarya.

Neuberg strictly follows a 7-point protocol for home collection services…

* Exclusive, sealed, hygienic sample collection kit for every patient
* Sealed needles are opened in front of the patient
* A new face mask is worn before entering the venue of sample collection
* Hands are sanitised using 70 percent Isopropyl Alcohol before and after sample collection
* A fresh pair of gloves is used for every collection
* In case the patients exhibits COVID-19 symptoms, they are handed a face mask before the collection
* All sample collection materials are discarded appropriately including the customer’s mask

About Neuberg Diagnostics

The best-in-class laboratories from across India, UAE & South Africa have united under the banner of Neuberg Diagnostics to bring the latest technology and techniques within the reach of developing countries. Utilizing their combined strengths, the Neuberg alliance brings capabilities to perform over 6000 varieties of Pathological investigations and will promote Prevention & Early Diagnosis, Focused Wellness Programs and Structured Disease Management programs for rare diseases using the most advanced technologies assisted by Data science and AI tools. Today, Neuberg Diagnostics is among the top diagnostics companies of Indian origin and the fastest growing healthcare start-up in India. The founding members of the Neuberg consortium - Anand Diagnostic Laboratory (Bangalore), Supratech Micropath (Ahmedabad), Ehrlich Laboratory (Chennai), Global Labs (South Africa), and Minerva Diagnostics (Dubai) bring their combined heritage of over 200 years and process over 20 million tests annually. Some of the best Pathologists, Biochemists, Geneticists, Microbiologists and several other Clinical Lab Professionals from around the world are working closely, sharing knowledge and using the latest generation of diagnostics techniques to take accurate and timely diagnosis to the next level.

Tesco Bengaluru Pledges Community Upliftment Amidst COVID-19

In a bid to reiterate its commitment towards colleagues and customers, Tesco Bengaluru, the global services arm for Tesco PLC, has broadened its community outreach programme amidst the pandemic situation and is contributing towards creating a significant social impact to the community it serves.

Tesco Bengaluru and its colleagues have come forward to support the deprived daily wage workers and marginalized community one of the most affected groups of the present criticality. By providing dry groceries to daily workers and their family across the Whitefield area, Tesco is touching around 500 lives on a daily basis since the lockdown.

In addition to this, Tesco has collaborated with GIVEINDIA, is running a special campaign with colleagues to voluntarily donate towards the relief fund. This aggregated donation will be utilised in providing essentials to towards the upliftment of vulnerable communities in and around the Whitefield area.

Likewise, through our existing partnership with AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION, Tesco Bengaluru is providing dry ration to children through their schools on a weekly basis and intends to touch lives of around 6000 children in the next few weeks.  The company is also contributing a sum of INR 25 Lakhs to PM CARES, a dedicated national fund with a primary objective of dealing with any emergency or distress, COVID-19 in this case.

Dr. Sumit Mitra, CEO, Tesco Business Services & Tesco Bengaluru said, “At Tesco, we have a culture that every little help makes a big difference. In this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, people are going through difficult times and we have taken a series of conscious measures to provide maximum support to the marginalized society. I believe it is our duty now more than ever to ensure as corporates we support our local communities during this crisis. We also appreciate the swift efforts by Central and State Governments of India to curb this pandemic and we stand in support and pledge to continue our efforts to support the nation.”

About Tesco in Bengaluru:

Tesco in Bengaluru is a multi-disciplinary team serving our shoppers a little better every day across markets. Our goal is to create a sustainable competitive advantage for Tesco by standardising processes, delivering cost savings, enabling agility through technology solutions and empowering our colleagues to do even more for our customers. With cross-functional expertise, a wide network of teams and strong governance, we reduce complexity, thereby offering high-quality services for our customers.

Tesco in Bengaluru, established in 2004 to enable standardisation and build centralised capabilities and competencies, makes the experience better for our millions of customers worldwide and simpler for over 4,00,000 colleagues.

PMI Offers Free Online Courses in the Wake of COVID-19 in India

Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project management profession has compiled a variety of free online resources and courses for at-home workers to help connect with the global community, build skills and prepare to advance in a post-COVID-19 world. The resources offerings are listed in a Virtual Resource Hub that will continue to be updated with additional services as needed.

The nature of work has shifted in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. There are still opportunities to bring the world closer and grow, even while social distancing. PMI is making a wide range of project management training materials available online for free to help at-home workers and bolster their skills as organizations rethink work processes and procedures. The free online courses include Project Management for Beginners, Agile in the Project Management Office, and Business Continuity.

Dr. Srini Srinivasan, Managing Director, PMI India, said, “In these trying times, organizations and employees are working from home and are juggling different tasks on day to day basis. This is where project management skills come into the picture, allowing individuals to align their tasks for the day, work more efficiently, and to stay relevant in such challenging times. We are providing free online courses that are not only relevant for project management and IT professionals but also for professionals from different industries. These resources can help businesses, managers, and employees as they continue to navigate their work and operations in the times of COVID-19.”

The Project Management for Beginners course introduces participants to the foundational knowledge necessary to join a project team and provides insights into taking steps on the path to a project management career. The Agile in the Project Management course walks participants through their role as a project management office director and introduces a series of scenarios designed to improve their project management office’s performance using agile principles and processes. The Business Continuity course offers information and lessons on rethinking work processes, which may be particularly helpful today as companies and their leaders and workers seek ways to cope with continuing their operations during the pandemic.

Other free offerings on the PMI resource hub include:

·         ProjectManagement.com Website, an online PMI project management community, where project managers from around the world can communicate, participate in discussions, play games, and access a variety of related resources.

·         Standards+  Online Guide (Beta), the online version of PMBOK® Guide, which provides information, digitized tools, templates, and case studies.

·         Snippets Resource (Beta), an online resource for small, bite-sized chunks of information about project management for busy professionals.

·         Navigator Portal (Beta), a career development platform for project professionals. Included are opportunities for comprehensive self-assessment of skills, interests, and goals, while offering action plans to achieve objectives.

·         Projectified Podcast series, which provides conversations about hot topics and emerging trends impacting the world of project managers, from digital transformation to artificial intelligence to career development.

·         Tower Game, a project management exercise offered through the PMI Educational Foundation, the Tower Game teaches participants to consider time, cost, quality, and risk as they explore project management.

·         PMI® Study Hall Resource (Beta), which provides sneak peeks into new Project Management Professional (PMP) exam resources, including outlines of exam content, daily practice questions, tips from experts, and resources for preparing for the exam.

·         PMXPO Virtual Conference, an annual virtual conference, for which PMI provides a link to its most recent event, which will remain available for on-demand viewing until June 26.

Emirates SkyCargo Scales Up Operations for Transport of Essential Commodities

The air cargo carrier currently operates flights to 51 destinations globally, out of which 19 cities are served by the Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777 freighter aircraft offering up to 100 tonnes of capacity per flight and 38 destinations are served by dedicated cargo flights on Emirates' Boeing 777 passenger aircraft offering up to 50 tonnes belly capacity. (For a full list of destination and schedules, visit the Emirates SkyCargo website)

London Heathrow airport is served by both Boeing 777-300ER passenger freighters and Boeing 777 freighters and is currently receiving four passenger freighter and two full freighter flights per week, as well as adhoc charter flights. As a road feeder location, cargo from London Heathrow is also transported by Emirates’ partner trucks to other UK cities and destinations including London Stansted, Dublin, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow.

Last week, Emirates moved 125 tonnes of urgent foodstuffs to Dubai. Also in the last week, Emirates have moved over 75 tonnes of pharmaceuticals and medicines from the UK to the United Arab Emirates, China, Pakistan, Australia and Japan. Flights have also been transporting electronic and e-commerce goods from the UK. On imports, Emirates SkyCargo flights have been transporting essential supplies including fruit and vegetables and on Tuesday 14th April, a special charter flight flew in 100 tons of hand sanitisers and other commodities into London Heathrow.

Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president, Emirates, said: "We have particularly ramped up operations for transporting cargo in the bellyhold of our passenger aircraft in the last two weeks. Emirates SkyCargo has been expanding its network on a daily basis and some of the latest destinations for our cargo flights on passenger aircraft include Bangkok, Casablanca, Johannesburg, Singapore and Taipei. Air cargo remains the fastest means of connecting essential supplies to those that need them and our expanded network allows for increased connectivity across different global origins and destinations."

Go on a Space Odyssey with Platanista Games’ Space Finder

Are you looking for an exciting virtual ride into outer space? Then, get ready for ‘Space Finder’! After successfully engaging gaming fans in fun-interactive experiences with ‘Surgical Strike – Border Escape’, a shooting game, and most-recently launched ‘Super Keeper’, a cricket game, Platanista Games is back with a new offering for mobile phone game lovers. Today, IN10 Media’s gaming studio that’s aimed at creating immersive, interactive experiences for consumers across all demographics, announces the launch of ‘Space Finder’, an endless casual game for iOS and Android users.

Set on planet Earth, in the all-new, space odyssey game the player has to launch a rocket and then safely transition to space filled with planets, stars and other celestial objects. As the rocket explores the uncharted space the player's duty is to guide the rocket to take the safest route, protect from an unrelenting list of obstacles, collect gears to create new spaceships / rockets and help the astronauts discover new planets.

Space Finder Game Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNklM_--C_w&feature=youtu.be

Commenting on the launch of ‘Space Finder’, Mansi Darbar, Vice President - Corporate Strategy and Development, IN10 Media, says, “At Platanista Games, we focus on creating fun, locally-appealing interactive games for a wide range of players equipped with different levels of gaming skills. Research shows that casual games in the country is fast emerging into a favourite entertaining activity for consumers of all age-groups. With Space Finder, we are hoping to continue building a rich catalogue of games and offering immersive experiences to gamers in the country.”

Along with Apple Store on iOS and Google Play Store on Android, players can download ‘Space Finder’ from Cherry Mobile, Multilaser, 9 Apps, Catappult, Apptoide, Bemobi, Appxplore, Indus IOS, GetJar, Amazon Apps, SlideMe and Samsung Apps.