Abbott and 1mg Bring Continuous Glucose Monitoring Solutions Closer to Indian homes

Glucose Monitoring System

* Abbott’s FreeStyle® Libre Pro, a professional flash glucose monitoring system, will be made available online on 1mg for the first time in India

* 1mg will provide an onsite phlebotomy* service at the patient’s home to help administer the sensor and take readings of the data after 14 days, enabling them to start using the device in the comfort of their home

* Continuous glucose monitoring empowers people to help their glucose levels stay within recommended limits 

In a move to expand access and empower Indian patients to take charge of their health, Abbott and leading online pharmacy and healthcare platform, 1mg today announced their collaboration to make Abbott’s continuous glucose monitoring products available online, including its professional flash glucose monitoring system, FreeStyle® Libre Pro. Patients in India can upload a healthcare practitioner’s prescription and purchase the product online on 1mg. An on-site phlebotomy* service will be provided at the patient’s home with a phlebotomist helping the patient administer the sensor and take readings of the data after 14 days, enabling them to start using the device.

Abbott′s FreeStyle Libre Pro consists of a small, round sensor — slightly larger than a 10-rupee coin. A phlebotomist applies the discreet, water-resistant1 and disposable sensor on the back of the upper arm of a patient. The sensor is held in place with a self-adhesive pad and remains on the back of the upper arm for up to 14 days, requiring no patient interaction with the sensor.

 “Innovations like the FreeStyle Libre Pro system have transformed the way people manage their glucose levels,” said Kalyan Sattaru, general manager of Abbott’s diabetes care business in India. “Making this life-changing technology available online enables more patients to remotely access the care they need, which is especially critical and timely given the current pandemic environment. Our world-leading continuous glucose monitoring will help many more people in India take charge of their condition, and ultimately improve their health.”

Commenting on the partnership Prashant Tandon, Co-Founder and CEO of 1mg said, “1mg provides a comprehensive suite of high-quality services for diabetes care, ranging from medicines to doctor consultations, delivered to patients in the comfort and safety of their homes. We are pleased to bring Abbott’s continuous glucose monitoring solutions closer to Indian homes by ensuring easy online access and expert phlebotomy services for FreeStyle Libre Pro application. This is in continuation to our commitment to bring greater access to technology enabled quality care to healthcare consumers.”

India’s population living with diabetes today is 77 million, and that number is expected to cross 100 million by 2030[2]. Poor diabetes control, a factor that has been observed in the Indian population with diabetes, puts them at increased risk of health complications including nerve problems, heart diseases, retinopathy and foot ulcers[3].

Dr. Shashank Joshi, a leading Endocrinologist and Diabetologist and President, Association of Physicians of India said, “Continuous glucose monitoring helps doctors understand glucose level patterns and equip patients to tailor their lifestyles to achieve their health goals. Making these devices available through an online service that integrates with the convenience of experiencing application will help patients manage their glucose levels better.”

Continuous glucose monitoring devices provides a visual display of a patient’s glucose levels over time and how they vary. With this information, patients and their doctors can personalize a treatment plan to help improve patient glucose levels have a greater time in range, i.e., they remain within the recommended limits for longer durations. Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre Pro provides this information through continuous glucose monitoring in a visual, easy-to-read graphical format. FreeStyle Libre Pro was launched in India in 2015. Abbott’s world-leading continuous glucose monitoring portfolio has benefitted more than 2 million people living with diabetes worldwide.

A New Season Every Week: How Myntra is Using Data to Disrupt the Fashion Industry

Using Azure Machine Learning, Myntra is enabling international and domestic fashion brands to cater better to consumer demands in the current COVID world and beyond.

As the threat of COVID-19 started emerging in the country, the biggest worry on Amar Nagaram’s mind was the safety of his employees, delivery partners, and customers. As the CEO of Myntra, India’s leading online fashion retailer, Nagaram and his management team not only had to think about business continuity but more importantly the role the organization could play in a world so profoundly changed by the pandemic.

Like almost every business, Myntra also had to move all their employees to work from home overnight just days before one of their biggest annual sale events.

“From a vibrant office to working from home, I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we adapted to working from home. Thanks to being on Azure, we were able to deliver one of our most successful End of Reason Sale remotely,” Nagaram says.

Taking stock

For Myntra, which has a strong delivery network across 27,000 PIN codes in India, one of the first order of business was to secure essential personal protective equipment like face masks, which were in acute short supply and difficult to procure.

“We realized that face masks were the need of the hour. Together, with our partners, we decided to serve our customers in the most meaningful way right at their doorsteps,” says Nagaram.

Myntra partnered with Wildcraft, India’s fastest-growing outdoor gear, clothing, and footwear brand, to manufacture and sell face masks on its platform. Within days, other brands too launched their masks and a new category for masks emerged on Myntra.

“One of the things I’ve realized in the past three months, after how we regrouped, recouped, and reimagined our business, is that the pandemic showcased the significant role we can play in an unfortunate situation like this,” Nagaram adds.

Selling what customers want

Face masks were just the beginning. With physical brick and mortar stores shut due to lockdowns and consumers staying away from shopping centres, major fashion brands had to reimagine their go-to-market strategy overnight. Myntra found itself uniquely placed to help them.

Right before the pandemic, Myntra had migrated its entire data platform including supply chain management, inventory, and website capabilities to Microsoft Azure. Apart from providing Myntra the elasticity to cater to demand spikes, Azure’s built-in Machine Learning tools expedited the development of advanced analytics capabilities to understand their consumers better.

“The amount of data from which we learn today is six to seven times more than the pre-COVID world. Microsoft Azure has enabled us to scale-up overnight and Azure Machine Learning gave us the right kind of levers to expedite our learnings,” explains Nagaram.

As a result, right from the early days of the lockdown Myntra was able to provide actionable insights to partner brands about what consumers were looking for and helped them prioritize their offerings accordingly.

Some of the immediate insights from what consumers were searching, viewing, and buying, highlighted how a larger set of customers was now staying at home, balancing between work and household chores, and needed clothes that were functional yet comfortable.

As a result, Myntra was one of the first out of the block to identify these changing needs and introduced ‘Work from Home Edit’ on its app that focussed on categories like comfort wear, loungewear, athleisure, home wear, and ethnic wear.

“The use of technology to generate actionable insights is a big reason for the success of our recent End of Reason Sale. We’re now selling what consumers want and not what we want to sell. The credit also goes to the brands that responded to these insights in a matter of days and not weeks,” Nagaram says.

Apart from gleaning insights from what consumers are searching and buying, Myntra is also understanding the aspirations of its consumers thanks to Myntra Studio. A personalized content destination, it features fashion style guides from influencers and brands that users can shop directly from Myntra.

During the early days of the lockdown, insights from customer behavior on Myntra Studio suggested a spike in interaction with certain categories like DIY makeup, among others. These insights enabled Myntra’s partner brands to move their inventory from their physical stores, which were shut due to the lockdown, to Myntra.

“We saw that COVID blurred the lines between online and offline retail. The economy is going to be more digital for sure, but retail isn’t going to be online only. It will be a mix of online and offline,” Nagaram says. “We have witnessed offline retail embracing technology at a large scale in the last three months. Some of the brands that used our omni-channel technology during the End of Reason were able to sell inventories out of their stores that they could not sell due to the lockdown.”

Making data fashionable

Nagaram’s vision for the use of technology in fashion goes far beyond helping brands navigate the current uncertainties. The way Myntra has managed to help brands in their go-to-market strategy at the onset of the pandemic is just the beginning of using data insights to make the industry more consumer focussed.

“I’ve always believed the fashion industry could use technology to disrupt some of the orthodox practices that have been going on for a very long time and make them more eco-friendly and business friendly,” he says. “The industry has always relied on the concept of seasons—Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter. The trends are decided a year in advance, and they go into production. It is the bets that the industry makes—this design will work, and that pattern will work— that leads to the unsold inventory problem which the industry faces.”

Myntra is disrupting the age-old practices of the fashion industry with data and machine learning. It is now able to provide brands with consumer insights that take into account not only the consumer’s profile but also variables like their location, the weather patterns, and what other consumers with similar parameters are buying.

“We’re no longer following the traditional seasons of the fashion industry. The calendar has been expedited, it is no longer an annual calendar, in many ways it is a weekly calendar,” he says.         

The Holy Grail, however, is to be able to provide a personalized fashion shopping experience to consumers. Myntra already has implemented one of the most comprehensive sizes and fit recommendations when customers are buying on its platform, which has brought down returns significantly. The next phase is to be able to provide highly customized experiences to its users.

“We’re trying to learn about our consumers at an individual level. So when you open our app, we should be able to show things based on your style preferences,” Nagaram says. “Having the right Cloud and AI partner is key to enable this. We’re happy to have Microsoft on our side as a partner to make it happen.” 

In the age of digital interactions and experiences, data is fashionable.

ZEE5 Launches ‘ZEE5 CLUB’ @ ₹365/Year; Democratises Access To Premium Content For Every Indian

ZEE5, India’s Entertainment Super-app today announced the launch of ‘ZEE5 Club’, a unique proposition for every Indian @₹365/year. This is in line with its commitment to democratise access to bespoke content for diverse Indian audiences across genres, languages and a spectrum of devices.

ZEE5 Club, a complete OTT television entertainment pack is set to delight the consumers with exclusive access to most popular shows before telecast on TV,   apart from select ZEE5 and Alt Balaji shows, - 1000+ blockbuster movies, ZEE Zindagi shows and over 90+ Live TV channels. With ZEE5 Club, subscribers will be able to enjoy - engaging entertainment content without any intrusive ads and across devices.

Speaking about this new offering, Rahul Maroli, Senior Vice President and Head SVOD, ZEE5 India said, “We are a customer obsessed OTT platform and the launch of ZEE5 Club is a result of the feedback we received from our consumers. Furthermore, democratising access for all Indians to their favourite entertainment content, at a value price, was brewing as an idea for the longest time. With a strong consumer value proposition, ZEE5 Club will help us to board every Indian and provide them with a hyper-personalised and a seamless content viewing experience all at ₹365/year.”

The launch of ZEE5 Club would enable millions of Indians to sample their favourite TV shows and OTT exclusives at their convenience at an affordable price. The Club Pack has been created keeping in mind the platform’s diverse user behaviour, regional preferences and viewership patterns. 

Some of Zee’s popular TV shows like Kumum Bhagya and Kundali Bhagya in Hindi, Sembaruthi in Tamil, Jothe Jotheyali in Kannada and Mazya Navryachi Bayko in Marathi and many more would be now available on ZEE5 Club before telecast on Television, making anytime a new prime time for consumers to catch up on their favourite shows.

FAITH Revises Indian Tourism Value at Risk Guidance to ₹ 15 Lakh Cr

‘Now or Never’ Point 

* Worst period ever for tourism in 100 years. 

* Till a vaccine is found, concept of tourism will be in dire threat

* Tourism COVID Support Fund needed

* RBI must give a multi-year moratorium on principal & interest to tourism.  

* Stop the clock on all central & state Government for statutory payments

* 75% value or minimum 9 months of the almost 10% of India’s GDP from Tourism at risk from collapse 

* Generations of tourism businesses and crores of jobs getting impacted

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality,the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) & cause partner AIRDA has further revised upwards it’s value at risk to Indian tourism to ₹ 15 lakh crores. 

FAITH’s first guidance which was calculated and was shared with the Government in March 2020 had put tourism’s economic value at risk at ₹ 5 lakh crores from this pandemic.  FAITH revised this further during the quarter as the situation deteriorated and the value at risk was put at ₹ 10 lakh crores. This has been revised again to touch a value at risk of upto ₹ 15 lakh crores in terms of the economic output of tourism in India 

Given the way the virus is progressing, tourism supply chains have  broken down in India across all its key inbound, domestic & outbound markets and is not expected to recover for the next  5 months too making the total impact to a minimum of 9 months starting from March this year. 

The direct and indirect economic impact of Tourism industry in India is approximately estimated at ~ 10% of India’s GDP.  This roughly puts the full year economic multiplier value of tourism in India at ~ ₹ 20 lakh crores. Minimum three quarters of tourism will be fully impacted 

This value covers the whole tourism value chain from airlines, travel agents, hotels, tour operators, tourism destinations restaurants, tourist transportation, tourist guides. Each of these segments of tourism is non - performing or under performing and will stay that way for many months of this year.

This is evident across all segments of tourism. Pending refunds for travel agents,  shut down or vacant  hotels & restaurants,  empty or locked down conventions and meeting or wedding halls, no order pipelines for tour operators, tourist transport lying locked in parking lots, laid off or leave without pay staff , managers, the summer domestic and outbound holiday season gone,  no visible bookings for the peak October - March season, meetings shifted to virtual apps , non - essential travel closed and so on. 

Be it leisure ( inbound, outbound, domestic) corporate travel, heritage, adventure, meetings incentives, exhibitions & events religious, spiritual and in upcoming high value niche tourism products such as sea & river cruises, camping, rafting, golf  film tourism, jungle tourism, agri tourism and many more across all states, this will the worst performing year for tourism in a century. 

Tourism has one of the largest economic multipliers and FAITH based upon its industry estimates believes that each rupee spent on tourism could have an economic multiplier of upwards of  3- 4 times more for India given its most globally unique natural and cultural heritage spread across the Indian hinterlands. The cumulative job losses for the full year both in organised & unorganised category of tourism could go as high as 4 crores. 

FAITH has been requesting over the past 5 months that for revival of any demand in tourism, it is first important that the survival of tourism businesses in India has to first remain intact. 

Tourism sector requires a very customised sector specific relief package and it cannot be delayed any further,  FAITH spokesperson said.

The following are immediately critical to maintaining the survival of tourism businesses 

* A Tourism fund which can be used by tourism enterprises in India for taking care of their employees. 

* A multi-year moratorium by RBI on principal and interest payments by tourism, travel & hospitalty businesses. 

* An immediate full year waiver of all central and state statutory liabilities be it PF , ESi, income taxes, GST , fixed power and utilities tariffs, property , excise , inter-state tourist transportation taxes and license fees, all without any accumulated or penal interest has to be done immediately. 

* Robust booking payments refund mechanism for travel agents & tour operators from airlines, railways, state tourism parks and other suppliers. 

Only this will keep the Indian tourism track and hospitality industry alive for a revival, it will keep the jobs intact and it will protect the exposure of the banking sector to tourism preventing their loans from becoming NPAs. 

Post the Unlock tourism is seeing some spur, but that too very limited, very  short -  haul  domestic travel and not enough to make any tourism business viable. 

FAITH has already raised requests over the past five months to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, to each of the 28 chief ministers , to the RBI, Niti Aayog, to tourism parliamentary panel, ministries of aviation, commerce, Finance and to more than 600 parliamentarians and is closely in coordination with ministry of tourism.  

It has also requested the Parliamentarians to raise the question as to ‘why not tourism’ for sector specific support when tourism industry contributes to pan India jobs across urban & rural, forex , robust IT & GST collections, capex driven GDP & so on. 

Tourism is a very unique business and is a discretionary activity.  Tourism is a means of unwinding, letting oneself immerse in local experiences. With each aspect of the travel journey now under the threat of virus from contact, this puts tourism at risk. Till the time there is a vaccine found, the very concept of tourism will be in question.  

This will be reflected in all data points of the Government whether in GST collections, banking data, PF, ESI or state level fixed charges. 

Tourism cannot be treated economically like any other business and needs NOW a Fiscal & Monetary structured package coordinated among all arms of Governments. 

The whole value chain of Indian tourism will be under threat - which catered to almost 10.8 million incoming foreign travellers , almost 1.8 billion Indian domestic tourism visits, almost 5 mn- + expats Indians visiting back,  almost 28 mn + outbound travelling Indians & almost $ 29 bn + forex earnings.

Freyr Energy Launches SunPro+, "A Revolutionary App" in India

Freyr Energy Pvt Ltd, a leading tech-enabled solar company announced the launch of SunPro+ mobile app to make it easier than ever for homeowners and businesses to transition to solar. Using SunPro+, customers will be able to learn about solar, order a system, track installation progress and monitor system performance on their own.

Today, many businesses and homeowners face high electricity bills. Investing in a solar rooftop system, that has a life of 25 years, ensures reduced dependency on grid power and decreases electricity bill up to 90%.

While benefits of solar are well established, transitioning to solar has not always been easy for customers.  Many customers defer their solar purchase due to unavailability of accurate and relevant information to help with decision making. Lack of transparency, hidden costs and no after-sales support are other hindrances customers face regularly. Finally, customers also end up with the hassle of dealing with 3-4 different entities through the journey of owning a solar system. These things undermine customer experience and slow down adoption of rooftop solar.

With the SunPro+ App, anyone interested in solar can download the app, get a quote, place an order, track system installation and monitor system performance. The AI-enabled technology ensures that users get information relevant and specific to their needs. In addition to this, the chat feature – SunBot addresses queries instantly. Post-installation, customers also get useful notifications, e.g., when to clean the solar panels, how much electricity was generated, and savings realised. All system related documents such as purchase order, warranty certificates, work competition reports etc are available in SunPro+ ensuring customer has all required information for the lifetime of the solar system. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Saurabh Marda, Managing Director, Freyr Energy Pvt Ltd, said, “At Freyr, we believe that anyone who uses electricity from grid or diesel can switch to solar and become part of this green energy movement. With the SunPro+ App, we want to set a benchmark in terms of what customer experience should be when he/she decides to go for a solar system. SunPro+ helps customers make the switch to solar confidently and realize their goals, whether that is maximizing savings in electricity bills, switching to a clean source of power amongst other benefits.” 

SunPro+ App is supplemented by Freyr Energy’s Pan-India sales and installation network to provide a seamless solar experience and value for money for its customers.

About Freyr Energy Pvt Ltd:

Freyr Energy Pvt Ltd was founded in 2014, with a goal to make solar energy affordable and accessible for homes and businesses across the country. It is one of the fastest-growing solar companies in India with 1,500+ customers across 22 states.

Spinny Sees 400% Increase in Queries and Home-Test Drive Requests from Women

Spinny – a complete online-to-offline retail platform for buying and selling preowned or used cars – has sold more than 1,200 cars since lockdown 4.0 began. The company has observed a 400% increase in queries from women buyers since preowned cars are now considered a ‘necessity’ for urban households. For the safety of all customers and employees, Spinny has processed all orders #WithExtraCare via a contactless delivery system. 

As women are inconvenienced by social distancing and other COVID-19 related restrictions, owning a car is now seen as the swiftest, safest way of personal mobility. Due to the liquidity crunch, however, along with other customers, women are opting for preowned cars. Therefore, Spinny is providing a safe modern-day solution at each touch-point keeping ‘Customer Convenience’ and safety at the center of every experience. Since the lockdown, the number of women customers is estimated to be 20% compared to 10% women car buyers in 2019.

Commenting on the trend of women preferring preowned cars, Niraj Singh, CEO  & Co-Founder – Spinny said: “The ongoing pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for customers, including women. Be it buying, selling, online ordering, home-test drives or home deliveries, we have set industry standards in zero-contact processes.  Men try but women helm the responsibilities of the safety of the family in a household, and with the rising enquires, it's evident that women wouldn't compromise in safety in transportation for any household.''

 In its Home Test Drive #WithExtraCare, Spinny rigorously follows the necessary precautions as per WHO guidelines, with safety as the top priority. Once on the website or app, buyers go through three simple steps for zero-contact home delivery of their chosen car. Thereby, Spinny has processed numerous orders since lockdown 4.0. In facilitating online purchases, the process is wholly transparent. The car’s entire history is online with HD images covering every angle of the vehicle. Customers are given a real-time virtual tour in viewing the car. All Spinny cars displayed on the portal are available for a home-test drive at the customer’s convenience.

Besides, Spinny stringently ensures employee hygiene. Screened for temperatures daily, the staff adheres to all social distancing norms while attending to customers. Across cities, Spinny car hubs function as deep sanitization zones where each car is sanitized before and after every test drive with special focus on frequently-touched areas. During the test drive, customers receive a complimentary safety kit comprising masks, gloves and sanitizers. Once satisfied, the customer can buy the car on the spot after the test drive or request home delivery. 

Spinny is redefining the auto retail of preowned cars via its seamless ‘phygital’ purchase process. Since its inception, Spinny has earned the trust of 10,000-plus customers. Currently, it operates in six cities – Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune – via 10 car hubs. With its No Haggling Fixed Price Assurance, 1-Year Warranty and 5-Day No Questions Asked Money-Back Guarantee, Spinny has gained customers’ trust while augmenting their premium buying experience.

About Spinny

Spinny is a full-stack car-buying platform for the young Indian, enabling a car buying experience that is simple and delightful. Though in the early stages, Spinny has been appreciated by its customers with an above 4.5 out of 5 ratings from Spinny car owners – and a 78% NPS and 35% referral purchases. Headquartered in Gurgaon, Spinny employs 500-plus people across 6 cities in India.

An IIT-Delhi alumnus, Niraj Singh (Founder & CEO) is a serial entrepreneur and investor. Spinny was born out of his desire to deal with a core area that directly addresses the customer’s challenge – in this case, a car. He noticed the absence of a platform that offers a completely trustworthy and premium experience to people purchasing second-hand cars, even though they are spending a significant amount and the purchase is a very aspirational one for them. He was determined to solve this problem by eliminating the distrust and making the process simple and straightforward for customers.

Aakash Educational Services Offers Digitized Futuristic Platform for Education Community with SAP S/4HANA

With the aim to digitize education and transform student experiences, by steering innovative mindsets in the current COVID era, Aakash Educational Services Ltd. (AESL), a national leader in test preparation services, embarked on a digital transformation journey with SAP S/4HANA. This SAP adoption is an important step towards enabling AESL to offer a digital futuristic platform for the education community at large.

With the education industry shifting from a classroom to an online setup in the current pandemic environment, AESL made a swift decision to standardize their business processes and bring in operational efficiencies that can offer quality digital education services to internal as well as external stakeholders. They chose SAP’s next-generation Digital Core, SAP S/4HANA an intelligent, integrated ERP system that helps revolutionize business processes with intelligent automation. This digital upgradation will further lay the foundation of AESL towards financial transformation on which the company can scale, grow and be future-ready.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr Aakash Chaudhry, Director and CEO of Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), said: “We are investing heavily in technology to digitize our entire business model and systems, so that we stay with times and improve our offerings to our next-gene customers.  We trusted SAP S/4 HANA to become our technology architecture that seamlessly integrates our processes and services to align with the future plans of the company.” 

“India has the world’s largest population of about 500 million students in the age bracket of 5-24 years and this provides a great opportunity for the education sector. There is a huge need to adopt transformative and innovative approaches for further development in the education system,” said Parvesh Ghai, Vice President Sales, North & East India, Bangladesh, SAP. “We support institutes like AESL that believe in ‘digital transformations’ by bringing vast opportunities for taking the education and learning experience to the next level.”

AESL also plans to adopt industry best practices and gain a competitive advantage to stay ahead in the industry. This step towards digital transformation further lays the foundation of business growth and expansion planned for the coming years.

About Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL)

Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) provides comprehensive test preparatory services for students preparing for Medical and Engineering Entrance Examinations, School/Board Exams and Competitive Exams such as NTSE, KVPY, and Olympiads. AESL believes that the “Aakash” brand is associated with quality coaching and a proven student selection track record in various Medical and Engineering Entrance Examinations, Scholarship exams & Olympiads. 

With over 32 years of operational experience in the test preparatory industry, the company has a large number of selections in Medical & Engineering Entrance Exams and several Foundation level Scholarship exams/Olympiads, a pan India network of 200+ Aakash Centers (including franchisee), and a student count of more than 250,000.

The Aakash group also owns famous K-12 EdTech brand, Meritnation.com as well.