MG Motor India Signs Up 6 More Start-Ups Under “MG Developer Program & Grant”

MG (Morris Garages) Motor India has announced that it has signed up 6 more start-ups for its ongoing MG Developer Program & Grant. The 6 finalists include Highway Delite, Socialcore, InCabEx, CamCom, ClearQuote, and the Alexa-based project Meeseeks. The start-ups will receive a grant and mentoring from technology experts and may get an opportunity to work directly with specialized MG teams on selected projects.

Demonstrating its firm focus on encouraging innovation within the start-up community, MG Motor India has already supported over 60 start-ups since 2017 to drive innovation in the automobile space of India. Such start-ups are working in the fields of engine & emissions, technology, child in-car safety, navigation, connectivity, and electric vehicles ecosystem alongside others. The overall objective of the program is to support the local start-up community by creating a specialized grant. The brand intends to indigenously foster innovation and contribute towards the development of the start-up ecosystem in India, thereby holistically contributing to the society.

The MG Developer Program & Grant is a part of the carmaker’s focus on innovation as a core pillar of the organization. Launched in partnership with several tech giants including Adobe, Cognizant, SAP, Airtel, TomTom, Unlimit, and others, the program aims to nurture ground-breaking solutions within the Indian urban mobility space.

Speaking on the development, Rajeev Chaba, President & MD, MG Motor India said, “MG thrives on innovation and has developed a symbiotic relationship with the Indian start-up ecosystem. Our goal is to indigenously develop a comprehensive, sustainable, and smart infrastructure for urban mobility in our country. The MG Developer Program has received an overwhelming response and we welcome all teams who have been signed as a part of the initiative. We look forward to mentoring and closely working with them. MG will also explore synergies with these start-ups and may deploy their solutions in its upcoming vehicles.”

The program had received over 300 entries, out of which, 60 teams were shortlisted in the first round. These teams were provided mentorship by 25 industry experts including MG India’s leadership as well as its technology ecosystem partners, making it one of the largest mentoring programs’ in the automotive segment.

Amongst the selected candidates, Highway Delite is India’s first free travel app to make highway travel and road trips both safe and fun. Meeseeks leverages Alexa/MG’s Voice Assistant to digitally manage and improve customer’s service experience.

Socialcore uses Artificial Intelligence to enhance customer interactions with sales improvement and cost reduction, while InCabEx creates a better in-cabin experience by personalizing car profiles as per users’ preferences.

CamCom is an AI-based start-up that provides defect and damage assessment while ClearQuote generates repair estimates via images/videos of a damaged car.

The 6 start-ups will be joining the already signed companies including Voxomos, Driftly, and Innvolution under the MG Developer Program & Grant.

MG’s journey with start-ups started back in 2017 with its first MG Innovation Hunt that was launched in partnership with TiE Delhi. Since then, MG India has conducted a total of 6 start-up programs, in partnership with India’s start-up community and leading educational institutions, all coming together in the MG Developer Program & Grant. The various MG start-up programs have attracted over 750 applications from start-ups and innovators so far in auto tech across India. 

About MG Motor India

Founded in the UK in 1924, Morris Garages vehicles were world famous for their sports cars, roadsters, and cabriolet series. MG vehicles were much sought after by many celebrities, including the British Prime Ministers and even the British Royal Family, for their styling, elegance, and spirited performance. The MG Car Club, set up in 1930 at Abingdon in the UK, has thousands of loyal fans, making it by far one of the world’s largest clubs for a car brand. MG has evolved into a modern, futuristic and innovative brand over the last 96 years. MG Motor India has commenced its manufacturing operations at its car manufacturing plant at Halol in Gujarat.

All-New Series ‘Jeremy Wade’s Dark Waters Premires on Animal Planet and Discovery Plus on July 06

Biologist Jeremy Wade has spent the last 35 years solving mysteries that lurk in our planet’s rivers, lakes and seas. In 2017, he hung up his rod after nine seasons on Animal Planet’s one of the top-rated series, River Monsters, where he reeled in some of the rarest, most elusive and most dangerous creatures lurking beneath the water’s surface. But the waters of the world run deep; they’re dark and forever changing and many mysteries remain. Jeremy returns to Animal Planet in a captivating new series that brings him back to the water’s edge to investigate reports of the unimaginable and unexplained in JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS premiering July 6 at 9 PM on Animal Planet, Animal Planet HD and Discovery Plus app.

In JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS, Wade spotlights the bizarre, the weird and the mysterious as he investigates baffling, unsolved mysteries. He takes Animal Planet’s audiences on journeys beneath the water in remote areas, to islands lost in time and out into the open ocean to investigate reports that include, among others, entire fish species suddenly disappearing; unexplained sightings of mythical beasts; once thriving rivers now empty; and genetic oddities that may have produced the biggest monsters yet. 

“These are detective stories with a difference - fishy tales from remote waters, and from right under our noses,” said Wade. “If anybody thought that by now, I’d seen it all, you’re in for a surprise - as I was.”

“Jeremy is adventurous, passionate and one of our best storytellers. We look forward to sharing new stories and mysteries with our audiences across all screens around the globe,” said Global President of Animal Planet Susanna Dinnage.

JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS episodes this season will include:

* Italy’s Lake Monster - According to legend, one of Europe’s most beautiful lakes guards an ancient secret. First reported in the 16th century, the Lake Garda Monster has been described as a huge humped beast - half snake, half dinosaur. Jeremy travels to Northern Italy to investigate but is faced with more than one possible culprit. It turns out these lakes and rivers, despite being in one of Italy’s most populous regions, could be hiding more than one enormous beast worthy of the monster title. 

* Alaska’s Lost River Kings - Jeremy Wade travels to Alaska to investigate reports of the mysterious disappearance of the majestic King Salmon. His search for answers takes him from the state’s most heavily fished rivers to the mighty Yukon River where the King Salmon is the lifeblood of the native communities and out into the ocean, following a trail of evidence that leads him to encounters with some of Alaska’s most formidable predators. Who or what is killing the kings? 

* Return of the Outback Beast – A report of an underwater attack in Australia has caught Jeremy Wade’s attention. The story of a diver tangling with a colossal fish is intriguing, but according to most people, there shouldn’t be any fish of significant size in the area. Chasing a lead, Jeremy travels to eastern Australia to investigate, and discovers that the fish responsible for the attack could be a species back from the brink of extinction.

JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS is produced for Animal Planet by Icon Films where Laura Marshall and Andie Clare serve as executive producers with Nicholas Head as showrunner. For Animal Planet, Lisa Lucas is executive producer with Patrick Keegan as supervising producer. 

About Animal Planet

Animal Planet is India’s number 1 wildlife channel that immerses viewers in entire spectrum of life in the animal kingdom with high quality content. For more than 20 years in India, Animal Planet has carried purposeful programming from every corner of the world capturing the beauty and splendor of the animal kingdom. The channel has recently adopted a new brand philosophy ‘Humans Like Us’.  As a part of the new brand purpose, Animal Planet has sharpened focus on stories linked to animal conservation as it aims to awaken viewers to the need for animal welfare and conservation. 

SAP Launches MSMEs Initiative “Global Bharat” to Make them Globally Competitive

SAP India announces the launch of Global Bharat, a program designed to enable Indian MSMEs become globally competitive by equipping them with digital technologies. In association with NASSCOM Foundation, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Pratham InfoTech Foundation, the program further compliments Government of India’s vision to empower MSME sector by providing them access to global marketplace, digital skilling for the workforce and transforming business processes.

Given the current business environment and state of economies, Global Bharat will enable Indian MSMEs to become future-ready while driving greater efficiencies by adopting these 3 initiatives:

Gaining Access to Global Marketplace: MSMEs will have open access to SAP Ariba Discovery where any buyer can post sourcing needs and any of the four million suppliers on Ariba Network can respond with their ability to deliver the goods and services required with no fees through December 31, 2020. Ariba Network is the largest digital B2B marketplace where more than USD $3.3 trillion in global commerce flows annually. By accessing the SAP Ariba Discovery offer, Indian MSMEs can enroll themselves as suppliers and access a global customer market.

 

Digitally Skilling Workforce: Business owners will have access to SAP India’s Code Unnati, a coveted Golden Peacock Award winning digital skilling initiative. MSMEs will be provided accessibility to 240 courses (more getting added in a few months) on Digital Financial, Soft Skills, Productivity Technologies that will digitally skill the workforce and adapt to the new working environments. The curated courses will be made available through a mobile application for people to access via their android smartphone devices. Under this digital literacy program, SAP India has already trained over 1 million youth with the help of 1500 physical training centers

Digitally Transform Businesses: Global Bharat brings affordable and accessible enterprise technology for MSMEs. Through Bharat ERP initiative, they can now adopt SAP’s world class ERP; Business One Starter Pack on the cloud.  We understand from SAP’s partner ecosystem that they will make available this cloud offering for Rs 3999 per user per month with accessibility for maximum of 5 users per MSME. This Digital transformation will enhance efficiencies for businesses while enabling them to provide better products and services to their customers.

Speaking about the program, Deb Deep Sengupta, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent said, “The impact of pandemic on economy and businesses has been felt majorly by MSMEs across the country. Being a potential contributor to India’s GDP (29%) and providing employment to over 111 million people, it is imperative to strengthen the sector for the revival of the country’s economy. Global Bharat, is our endeavour to enable MSMEs to augment business operations and re-access critical processes that overcome inefficiencies and make them globally competitive.”

Subramanian Ananthapadmanabhan, Vice President and Head of General Business, SAP Indian Subcontinent further states, “80% of SAP’s customer base are SMEs that have adopted digital technologies and witnessed exponential growth. As India opens up to a post-COVID business landscape, we are excited to partner with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises on their digital journeys and support them with technologies and skills necessary to gain scale and compete in the new environment.”

MSMEs can access these offerings under the Global Bharat program at www.GrowthMattersForum.com 

PNB Sanctions Loans of Rs. 6757 Crore to Around 3 Lakh MSMEs Under Credit Guarantee Scheme

Punjab National Bank, India’s second-largest public sector lender has been one of the top lenders to small businesses under the government’s emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS). As of 25th June, PNB has sanctioned Rs 6757 crore in 296753 eligible MSME accounts under 3 Lakh crore Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) out of which disbursements have been made to 59204 accounts amounting to Rs 2030 crore.

27th June is observed as the International Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Day by the United Nation since 2017. This year’s global theme reflects on “MSMEs: first responders to societal needs”. Government of India has acknowledged and focused on the MSMEs as it is the building block of the country; the sector is also the second largest employer.

Post pandemic reigniting their operation will bring back vibrancy to the economy and social fabric of the country  

On the occasion of International MSME Day, Sri S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao, MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank assured its customers in the statement, “PNB values its esteemed MSME customers and the bank will stand by them and support them through this crisis. This year we commit our support to overcome this crisis and reignite the country’s economy."

Indian MSMEs are in need of urgent credit to reinitiate their working capital and business operation. MSMEs have suffered losses and were unable to pay the previous loan because of the current economic distress. The government have extended a lifeline by giving them 100 per cent guarantee credit from the date of announcement till 31st October. 

Timken Foundation of Canton in Collaboration with Association of 41, Round Table, Ladies Circle has Provided PPE Kits to Hospital Warriors

Kits for Warriors

* 7500 High Risk Personal Protective Kits

* 500  Ration Kits has been distributed to Hombegowda Nagar, Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for India and the world with the number of infected people on a steady rise. Timken Foundation of Canton in collaboration with Association of 41 India, Round Table India and  Ladies Circle India  has made several  efforts to support people in distress &  ramping up its community outreach programmes and reaching out to all stakeholders in this battle against the pandemic.

With the objective to ensure the protection of those who protect us by jeopardizing their lives and leading from the front during emergencies, Timken Foundation of Canton in collaboration with Association of 41 India Round Table India and  Ladies Circle India  has provided a total of 7500 HIGH RISK Personal Protective kits to Dr.B.N.Gangadhar, Director, NIMHANS, Mr.Venugopal Reddy, Finanace Director,Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, Dr.H.S.Chandrashekar, Director, Sanjay Gandhi institute of Trauma and Orthopedics, Dr.Ramesh, Prof and HOD, Radiology,Indira Gandhi institute of Child Health. Dr.Ramachandra, Director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology and Dr.Manjunath K.R, Director-cum-Dean, Bowring and Lady Curzon Medical College.

Also Timken Foundation of Canton in Collaboration with Association of 41 India ans Round Table India and Ladies Circle India  distributed over 500 Ration Kits has been distributed to Hombegowda Nagar, Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden to the vulnerable and most needy sections of society, who have been harshly impacted by the pandemic and have faced significant disruption in their livelihoods.

Mr. Sanjay Koul Chairman and Managing Director of Timken India Ltd , said, "This situation has united us all to help each other and I am hopeful that through our collective efforts, we will succeed in fighting this dreadful pandemic. Timken as a responsible corporate has been ramping up varied community outreach programs to reach out to the ones in need to battle against this pandemic."

Timken Foundation of Canton in collaboration with Association of 41 India, Round Table India and Ladies Circle India has recently, handed over One Lakh of 2 Ply Honeycomb Masks and 2 Ply Pure Cotton Masks to to Mr. Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City to support the Covid-19 Warriors.

Also present were   Prasanth Shah- Share your joy convenor 41 India & Round Table India Foundation Trustee. R Girish, National President, Round Table India 2003/04 & member 41 India, Rajesh Raghunandan, Chairman, Area5 Round Table India,  Srinivasu Saraswatula, Chairman Area IV, 41 India,  Anil Kesavan,  Yaps Convenor 41 India, Mahabir Somani Area 6 Project Convenor, Vikram Talreja, AHT, Area6 Round Tabler and Abhishek Agarwal - AHT Area6.

Blue Dart Ranked Amongst the ‘Top 50 of India’s Best Companies to Work For – 2020’

Blue Dart, India’s leading logistics services provider, as part of Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL), has been ranked amongst the Top 50 of India’s Best Companies to Work For – 2020 by the Great Place to Work® (GPTW) Institute and The Economic Times. In addition, Blue Dart has been awarded with the elite ‘Laureate Medal’ for being in the top 100 best organizations to have been featured in ‘India’s Best Companies to Work For’ list for 10 years. 

Commenting on being ranked amongst India’s Best Companies to Work For – 2020, Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart Express Limited said, “We are extremely honoured that Blue Dart has been recognised amongst the Top 50 of India’s Best Companies to Work For – 2020. We are even happier that our company has received the elite ‘Laureate Medal’ for featuring in the Top 100 Organizations recognised by Great Place to Work® for 10 years in a row. Blue Dart has always been an organisation that prioritizes its people. Our Blue Darters, the heart of our business, are the ones who make us market leaders with strong brand equity and market leadership. It is with their consistent prowess that we can call ourselves a Provider of Choice and an Investment of Choice to our customers. It is what makes us ensure that we remain an Employer of Choice for them. Through our ‘People First Philosophy’, we continue to invest in our people and create an enabling environment for their all-round development, which in turn drives and exceeds our customer and stakeholder expectations at all times. I am humbled to be part of this team.”

Rajendra Ghag, CHRO, Blue Dart Express Limited added, “We understand that the foundation of our business are our Blue Darters. ‘Highly engaged Blue Darters encourage Happy Customers’; this has been our motto from the very beginning. At Blue Dart, we understand that a good foundation for an organisation stems from strong brand values. We therefore instil, in our teams, our four values of Passion, Can Do, Right First Time and As One. We ensure our teams are taken care of through various HR initiatives, a few of which include, the Death Benevolent Fund (DBF) which aims to help resolve the financial crisis of the family rising due to the death of a team member as well as Upstairs, a program that aims to help children of team members by offering a scholarship program that provides them with Rs.1,00,000 per year along with a mentor.”

Since its inception in 1983, Blue Dart has been an organisation with a great workplace culture and strong talent retention. Most of the senior management team consists of home grown talent who have risen through the ranks. The organisation encourages growth and provides ample opportunity to skilled individuals ensuring they have a multitude of day one Blue Darters, including the current Managing Director, Balfour Manuel.

Recognized for their Best Practices such as the ‘Blue Way’ delivery program, an innovative initiative that allows every Blue Darter to participate in last mile delivery to ensure customer delight, Blue Dart paves the way as an organization that will always keep its people first and ensures dignity of labour. The Blue Way program sees the Senior Management Team, including the Managing Director, part-take in the delivery process. Blue Dart is South Asia’s undisputed express logistics leader that drives a culture of innovation, agility, excellence with a high focus on customer centricity.

Every year the Great Place to Work® study, which assesses the experience of over 12 million employees in more than 10,000 organisations across industries, recognises ‘India’s Best Companies to Work For’ based on their employee survey and people practices assessment. Bifurcating this further, Great Place to Work® (GPTW) Institute further recognizes 100 Best Organisations with an employee strength of over 500 which represent over 21 industry sectors.

GPTW primarily uses 3 dimensions to evaluate and identify the best cultures:

The first dimension measures the quality of employee experience through their globally validated survey instrument known as Trust IndexTM. The survey helps in seeking anonymous feedback from employees.

The second dimension is called the Culture AuditTM, a proprietary tool of the Institute that evaluates the people practices of an organisation, covering the entire employee life-cycle.

The third dimension is called Great Place To Work FOR ALLTM and ensures that everyone irrespective of their job role, tenure, age or gender at the Best Workplaces is having a consistently positive experience.

Dvara KGFS Facilitates Digital Banking Amongst the Remote India

Dvara KGFS, a leading NBFC in India, with a mission to maximise the financial well-being of every individual and every enterprise by providing complete access to financial services in remote rural India, announced transactions worth INR 7 crore achieved since 19th April, 2020 through its Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) which was implemented in the remote rural areas that they operate in.

Since the lockdown from 24th March 2020, the villagers, especially living in the remote rural areas were greatly encumbered to draw cash for daily use as there was scarce or no access to banks or ATMs. Looking at this challenge, Dvara KGFS initiated AEPS and rolled it out from 19th April 2020 to benefit the rural population that they cater to. This service was also made available at the door step of customers right on time as the government was transferring wages under MNREGA scheme & relief under COVID package directly to the Jan Dhan account of rural women. Started as a pilot in one branch on 19th April in partnership with RBL Bank, this has now scaled to 300 branches with a steady 1000+ daily cash withdrawals amounting to INR 25 – 30 lakhs per day.

Practising absolute safety and social distancing norms, more than 1000 wealth managers of Dvara KGFS, spread extensive awareness and acquainted the villagers with AEPS with the help of respective village heads and was able to facilitate over 36,000 cash withdrawals & 60,000 balance enquiries through this platform.

Commenting on the success of AEPS, Mr. Joby C. O., CEO, Dvara KGFS, said, “Since lockdown and the  announcement of Loan Moratorium by RBI, there has been limited activities across our branches on the loan disbursements & collections front & we have used this opportunity to reach out to our customers and support them to tide over the current situation. We are happy that we were able to provide AEPS service to around 45,000 villagers and facilitate a gross cash withdrawal of more than 7 Crores through our 300 odd branches in such a short span of time. Our Wealth Managers have received a lot of appreciation from the villagers on facilitating this service and we are seeing this as an effective tool which will help us move closer towards our mission of maximising financial well-being for every individual in remote rural India.”

About Dvara KGFS -  

Dvara KGFS, a systematically important NBFC in the Dvara Group regulated by RBI, works with a mission to maximise the financial well-being of every individual and every enterprise by providing complete access to financial services in remote rural India. Dvara KGFS has a strong presence in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, spread across 48 Districts with 297 branches and more than 1 million enrolled customers.