Sir David Attenborough’s Debut with Series Zoo Quest on Sony BBC Earth from July 19

“We were rebels”, said Young David Attenborough 66 years ago as he stepped into the world of natural history to bring one of the most pioneering and groundbreaking series - Zoo Quest. First broadcasted in 1954, Zoo Quest showcased the diversity of our beautiful planet by visiting parts of the natural world, as well as remote tribal communities, that were not filmed before. Not only did it change the way viewers saw the natural world but also launched Sir David Attenborough’s career as a wildlife presenter. 6 decades later, Sony BBC Earth brings a rare opportunity for his fans to re-visit Sir David Attenborough’s early adventures with ‘Zoo Quest in Colour’, and here’s why you shouldn’t miss out:

Launched 10 years before colour television even became available, Zoo Quest was originally broadcasted in black and white. However, using extraordinary 16 mm films, the series is now available in all colours and shades of the natural world

Coupled with behind-the-scene stories from David Attenborough and cameraman Charles Lagus, this series showcases the best of Zoo Quest in stunning HD colours for the very first time. Sir David reveals how they captured the incredible sequences back then and how the advancement of technology has enhanced our understanding of the natural world now

Sir David Attenborough was only 28 years old and Lagus 26 when they began filming the series and travelling to West Africa, Guiana, and Indonesia, in search of creatures to take back to London Zoo. They faced number of challenges and nerve-wrecking situations all through their journey

While filming Komodo Dragons on a remote island in Indonesia, Attenborough and Lagus faced a fatal situation and were stuck into a whirlpool when the boat they were travelling in hit a major tropical storm

Lagus describes the dangerous situation as: “Quite honestly neither of us were sure that we would ever see each other again, it was that dicey.”

Sir David Attenborough, remembering the old days said, “They were good days and I wouldn’t change them. Looking back, I don’t think anyone would let two kids in their 20s just go off like that and nobody asked us anything about health and safety or anything else. We just disappeared, and they said, when will you be back? Oh, just before Christmas, I think. Oh right-o, goodbye. So happy days.”

Watch the early adventures of Sir David Attenborough, the Godfather of natural history, in ‘Zoo Quest in Colour’ on 19th July at 9:00 pm only on Sony BBC Earth.

Jaguar Land Rover Celebrates Clean Engine Manufacturing with Milestone of 1.5 Million and Counting

Milestones

* More than 1.5 million Jaguar Land Rover Ingenium engines have now been produced

* The Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC) houses the full line up of Ingenium powertrain technologies

* New straight-six diesel joins the Ingenium family which also includes Electric Drive Units (EDU) assembled at the Wolverhampton facility, UK

* Innovative manufacturing facility supports the move to electrification and is part of the company’s Destination Zero mission 

Jaguar Land Rover has now produced over 1.5 million Ingenium engines, as the UK manufacturer celebrates its leading facility adding a new, advanced powertrain offering.

The Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, UK, produces the ultra-efficient Ingenium powertrain family, providing a range of clean and electrified powertrains for all Jaguar and Land Rover models*. 

The advanced Ingenium family, which includes a range of clean, refined and efficient diesel, petrol and electrified engines, are built to maximise performance whilst at the same time reducing the environmental impact and running costs for customers. Developed and manufactured in-house in the UK, Jaguar and Land Rover’s all-aluminium Ingenium engine designs are modular, flexible and scalable, with common core technologies. 

The latest addition to the Ingenium range is the six-cylinder diesel engine, which offers enhanced performance, smoothness and efficiency, powering the new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport. The advanced in-line Ingenium diesel engine, featuring mild hybrid technology, joins the range of clean and efficient six-cylinder petrol and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines manufactured at Jaguar Land Rover’s facility in the West Midlands.

The evolving, efficient Ingenium family supports the company’s long-term commitment to reduce vehicle emissions and improve fuel economy across its vehicle range. This is part of its Destination Zero mission and a commitment to reducing emissions and making environments cleaner through relentless innovation.  

Jaguar Land Rover will continue to develop its Ingenium technology, continue to advance the electrification of its model line-up and establish a concept hydrogen fuel cell powertrain solution**. The Engine Manufacturing Centre also houses the assembly of Electric Drive Units (EDUs), offering full flexibility between new petrol and diesel engines and EDUs for those customers who want to make the switch from conventional to electrified vehicles.

The Wolverhampton site is complemented by a growing electrification ecosystem in the Midlands, with the innovative and technologically advanced Battery Assembly Centre at nearby Hams Hall assembling PHEV and BEV batteries. Together, they will power the next generation of Jaguar and Land Rover electrified vehicles.

Ken Close, Jaguar Land Rover Powertrain Operations Launch Director, said: “We are experiencing unprecedented demand for cleaner-running vehicles, so it’s more important than ever to deliver clean and efficient engines without compromising on the performance or all-terrain capabilities our customers have come to expect. 

“Our Ingenium powertrains offer the very best of both worlds – better fuel efficiency and lower emissions, and even greater torque for a more responsive and engaging drive."

The Engine Manufacturing Centre supplies engines to Jaguar Land Rover’s global vehicle operations, with a large majority of those powertrain units used in UK based facilities including Solihull, home of the recently announced new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport.

The latest six-cylinder diesel shares its manufacturing facilities with the six-cylinder petrol engine, which was successfully launched last year. These include machining of the key architecture, cylinder head, cylinder block and crankshaft, as well as the assembly and testing of the engine. The Engine Manufacturing Centre has utilised its extensive modern machining, assembly, test and metrology capability to successfully deliver one of the world’s leading clean diesel engines.

Sylo Partners with Indian Exchange Bitbns to Serve the Indian Market

Global software development house Sylo has officially partnered with premiere Indian exchange, Bitbns, to better serve the Indian market’s growing demand for legitimate crypto-projects.

A unique place where the old and new worlds collide, it’s clearer every day to those watching the market that #IndiaWantsCrypto

Bitbns, a bona fide cryptocurrency exchange and one of India’s first, represents a significant partnership for Sylo that is positioned to help extend key functionalities into the experience of Sylo Smart Wallet users. 

The Sylo-Bitbns alliance is one that makes sense across business and product levels - with both partners sharing the belief that “digital currencies are the future of money” and are an area to which users need straightforward access.

Through their partnership, Sylo and Bitbns aim to take cryptocurrency usage to the mainstream in India.

Often deemed complex, Sylo solves one of the biggest hurdles to the normalisation of cryptocurrency through the Sylo Smart Wallet, a highly-usable app designed from conception to “make crypto simple”.

The move for a more dedicated expansion into India will not come as a surprise to anyone keeping an eye on the Sylo success story. Recently, the tech firm revealed that in Q2 2020, they had already seen a 500% growth in sign ups to the Sylo Smart Wallet app from India, with Indian users now making up 30% of the app’s more than 250,000 strong overall user-base.

"India's new-found enthusiasm for digital assets and privacy after the restriction of certain privacy-hogging apps like WeChat and TikTok, has presented a significant opportunity to offer India a ‘WeChat’ of sorts that incorporates all the best elements of new generation communications tech, without the privacy concerns, and with the added benefits of crypto assets,” says Bitbns CEO Gaurav Dahake. 

“This is an area where the Sylo Smart Wallet, being developed on decentralised infrastructure, is primed to address, and a key reason we’re excited about this partnership opportunity.”

Sylo also offers a solution for the unbanked of India. In terms of barriers to get started on Sylo, there are very few - neither a sign up cost nor the mandatory provision of an email address or phone number is required in order to create a Sylo Smart Wallet account.

The result of this forward-thinking is the ability to instantly provide millions of people with access to de-fi services. Using the Sylo Smart Wallet, users can request and receive payments in chat, store and interact with digital assets  such as Bitcoin or any ERC-20 compatible token, such as Ether or BAT, in the non-custodial wallet.

“We realised a long time ago that in order to see widespread adoption, we needed to make interacting with crypto as simple as any other activity you might do on a smartphone,” says Dorian Johannink, Sylo Co-Founder and Business Director. “That’s why sending and receiving cryptocurrency in the Sylo Smart Wallet is as straightforward as sending a message.”

“Our design team have worked hard to create an app that is clean, fast, intuitive, and astonishingly simple to use. The Sylo Smart Wallet user statistics speak for themselves, the app has been available for just ten months and already has over a quarter of a million users. We’re confident that Sylo can meet India’s desire to get in the crypto game.”

Other features of the app include the ability to send messages, make audio and video calls, utilise a Web3 Ethereum dApp browser to spend crypto, and to pay using cryptocurrency in the real world at relevant vending machines.

The Sylo-Bitbns partnership will also see the SYLO token, an ERC20-compatible utility token that fuels the Sylo Network, listed on the Bitbns platform as of July 23, 2020.

Hyundai Motor India Announces Nationwide Hygiene Drive in India

Hygiene Drive

* 17 Day Sanitization Drive to ensure complete hygiene and safety of Vehicles across all workshops in India

* Wide range of benefits on interior smoke sanitization, interior surface sanitization, Free 50-point check-up & much more

 

Hyundai Motor India Ltd., country’s first smart mobility solutions provider and largest exporter since inception, today announced the commencement of Nationwide Hygiene Drive across all Hyundai workshops, with an aim to promote complete sanitization of vehicles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers can avail special incentives and offers on sanitization for their Hyundai cars. This 17-day Hygiene Drive will begin from 15th July and go on till 31st July’20.

Commenting on the Hyundai Hygiene Drive, Mr. Tarun Garg, Director – Sales, Marketing & Service, said, “At Hyundai, we place our customers’ safety and hygiene on top priority. The Hyundai Hygiene Drive is an initiative aimed at providing a seamless car sanitization experience for our valued customers at various touch points for their complete peace of mind. With over 1300 service outlets, HMIL is committed to provide the most comprehensive and qualitative service.”

Keeping in line with respective State regulations, all Hyundai Showrooms and Workshops are adhering to the government guidelines that promote safety and hygiene among Customers and Employees. Customers’ offers and benefits for Hyundai Hygiene Drive include:

Free 50 points general check-up and hi-touch points sanitization

Complete interior smoke sanitization starting at ₹ 599

Complete interior surface sanitization starting at ₹ 999

Exterior Dry Wash starting at ₹ 340

Special offers on new car purchase

 

Hyundai service facilities can also be experienced via 360° Digital & Contact-less Service. From online service booking through Hyundai Care App, Vehicle status update via WhatsApp, Pick and Drop from home/office and online payment facility, a touch free service experience is ensured for the customers, wherever they are and whenever they want to. Hyundai has always outpaced the industry with best service initiatives and our ranking as No.1 by JD Power in Customer Service Index for 3 years consecutively is a strong testimony of that.”

Bengaluru’s Residential Prices Fell by Almost 3% in Last Quarter: Magicbricks Propindex Report Q2 2020

COVID-19 Effect

* Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Bellary Road and Electronic City were the top 4 micromarkets in the city

* Strong demand for smaller size 2 & 3BHKs; together accounting for 88% of the property searches

* COVID-19 induced a price decline of 1-3% across most budget segment

Amidst COVID-19, Bengaluru’s residential prices have witnessed a QoQ decrease of approx. 3% in the second quarter of 2020, revealed the latest edition of Magicbricks’ PropIndex (Q2, 2020). Bengaluru residential market maintained a steady momentum in the last 5 years with 17.7% and 33.3% surges in ready to move and the under construction segment prices, respectively. However, the QoQ 2.8% price decline in the ready-to-move segment washed away the gains made during the previous six quarters.

The under-construction segment had a decent 33% growth in the last 5 years, but the recent pandemic brought a decline of 0.8% in Q2 2020.  Shortage of labour, supply chain disruption and extension in the RERA deadline by 3 months in Bengaluru is likely to shift delivery of some under construction projects by a few months.

According to the Propindex, Bengaluru thrives on a healthy mid-segment demand, with both 2 and 3 BHKs each accounting for more than 40% of the demand and supply. Together they account for 88% of the property searches and 92% of the supply. However the market is slowly shifting to the affordable segment, and a small demand-supply mismatch is emerging in the less than INR 5,000 per sqft price bucket. The demand for 1 BHK and 2 BHK configurations is likely to further increase due to the reduction of stamp duty between 3% to 5% for properties costing upto INR 35 lakh.

Commenting on the PropIndex, Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks, said, “India’s real sector is gradually adopting to the new normalcy. The economy had almost come to a stand-still in March but now hopefully we are on the road to recovery. At a pan-India level, the price decline has been just 1.5% QoQ while repo rates have been lowered by more than 100 points. This augurs well for the industry. Our data also suggests that consumer interest has not tapered off and developers have to grab the attention of the home buyers through attractive deals and offers. There is a pent-up demand for ready-to-move in properties as our data suggests that the 80% of searches are happening in this segment and the rest for under-construction.”

Post COVID-19 pandemic, government has allowed partial sales of plots In the layouts to ease the liquidity situation of developers and accelerate the layout development process. State government allows the regularization of over 75,000 land parcels, which were initially a part of the BDA development scheme but were under unauthorized possession for more than 12 years, by payment of penalty.

Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Bellary Road and Electronic City were the top 4 micromarkets in the city, supported by factors such as affordability, better access to IT hubs and sound connectivity to the airport. The extension of metro lines from Baiyappanahalli – Whitefield and RV Road – Bommasandra is likely to boost the demand for the economic hubs of Whitefield and Electronic City in the future

However, it will be interesting to see how these factors play out as the market recovers from the outbreak of COVID-19 and the ensuing national lockdown. Magicbricks data indicates that overall, consumers are back to the marketplace, albeit in lower numbers. Developers are running various schemes and promotions to entice home buyers and drive transactions. The next three to six months will remain key to determine any developing trend in prices and transaction volumes. It has become even more of a buyers’ market with the onus on sellers to make the right interventions to enable the real estate market bounce back.

About Magicbricks: India's no 1 property site

Magicbricks is India’s No.1 property site. With monthly traffic exceeding 20 million visits and with an active base of over 1.4 million+ property listings, Magicbricks provides the largest platform for buyers and sellers of property to connect with each other in a clear, transparent manner. With this in mind, Magicbricks has innovated several product features, content and research services, which have helped us, build the largest audience pool.

51.4% of MSMEs Assessed were First Time Borrowers, Says NeoGrowth Research

An exhaustive study by NeoGrowth Credit on a base of over 17,000 MSMEs across cities including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad, revealed some interesting insights about the MSME industry.

Credit bureau scores have been traditionally used as a report card of one's credit history and repayment behavior. The lack of sufficient credit history or no credit history usually makes it difficult for the borrower to get loan approvals. According to NeoGrowth Research, over 51.4% of the MSMEs assessed were first-time borrowers

According to the Sixth Economic Census released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 2018, womenconstitute around 14% of the total entrepreneur base in India i.e. 8.05 million out of the total 58.5 million entrepreneurs.  10.8% of the total disbursements of the 17,000 MSMEs assessed for FY2019-20 were towards businesses that were run by women either as sole proprietors, partners, or directors.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem in India has been conventionally led by experienced players that have been reigning in their respective markets for generations. While first generation entrepreneurs are finally emerging in the scenario, they are starved of growth opportunities majorly due to a lack of credit. NeoGrowth Research establishes that about 77.6% of the MSMEs assessed were revealed to be first-generation entrepreneurs.

With digital connectivity growing rapidly and emergence of smart cities, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are the new business hubs, employment centres and consumer markets of the country. About 19% of the MSMEs assessed in the study, were originating from Tier-2 cities.

The Indian Government considers MSMEs and entrepreneurship as key to driving economic growth, innovation, job creation and social upliftment across the nation. By generating 120 million employment opportunities, MSMEs boast of being the second largest job creators in the country. As per the study, 28% of the MSMEs assessed showed an increase in the number of their employees’ post availing a business loan.

These insights form part of an annual assessment conducted by NeoGrowth. Over these years, NeoGrowth the company has successfully maintained its unique product proposition by providing collateral free, short-term, quick, and customized business loans on flexible repayment terms. Having disbursed loans amounting to more than INR 5,500 crores, NeoGrowth has been funding and enabling MSMEs to grow and sustain their businesses while continuing to tread on its initial journey of achieving inclusive growth.

Mr. Dhruv Khaitan, Founder and Chairman, NeoGrowth said, “We are happy to share our Sixth Social Impact Report, an annual effort to engage with our key stakeholders – MSMEs, to understand their financial needs, challenges faced by them and assess the impact of lending activities on their lives. At NeoGrowth, we have always focused on creating strong positive social impact on MSMEs by lending to first generation entrepreneurs, assisting women entrepreneurs and enabling our customers in job creation and improvement of credit scores via our loans.”

NeoGrowth Research is the in-house research team of NeoGrowth that keeps a continuous track on the emerging trends in the payments, fintech and MSME sectors and publishes insights.

SAP Appoints Kulmeet Bawa as President and Managing Director of Indian Subcontinent

SAP SE has announced the appointment of Kulmeet Bawa as President and Managing Director for SAP Indian Subcontinent, effective July 20, 2020. Kulmeet will be responsible for driving and delivering an exceptional SAP experience for employees and customers across our ecosystem, as well as guide businesses in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to adopt a digital-first mindset. Based in Gurgaon, Kulmeet will report directly to Scott Russell, President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ).

“The current pandemic environment requires companies to take swift action and accelerate digital transformation to become intelligent enterprises. At SAP we are committed to support our customers and help them transform, scale and win,” said Scott Russell, President, SAP APJ. “We are confident that Kulmeet’s track record of a customer-centric approach, his focus on people and effective team-work, coupled with deep industry knowledge, will propel SAP India to continued success,” he added.

Most recently, Kulmeet was the Chief Operating Officer for Resulticks where he led the growth strategy and execution of go-to-market for the organization. With cross functional experience of more than 25 years, Kulmeet has served with the Indian Army in the Armored Corps, subsequently moving to the corporate side. He led the India & South Asia market for Adobe orchestrating businesses to digitally transform and drive excellence in customer experience, prior to that he was with Microsoft Corporation and Sun Microsystems, managing enterprise strategies across industries and portfolios. 

“As India acclimatizes to the new reality in the new normal, it is important for businesses to permeate digital technologies in every industry, institution, business process, and individual experience,” said Kulmeet. “I am excited to move from Singapore back to India working closely with local customers, helping them adopt innovative technologies to achieve successful business outcomes,” he added.

Under the guidance and leadership of Deb Deep Sengupta, current SAP India MD and SAP veteran of two decades, the organization achieved significant success with strong growth across several business areas. Deep will work closely with Kulmeet to ensure a smooth leadership transition for our customers and partners. Deep’s next position will be announced in due course.

About SAP

As the Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives.