Zee Live Partners with Zee Studios to Launch ‘Supermoon Drive-In’ this October

Enhancing the movie-viewing experience for audiences in the new normal, Zee Live, the live events vertical of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. in partnership with Zee Studios has announced ‘Supermoon Drive In’, a first of its kind drive in theatre experience following the global standards of safety, social distancing measures and sanitization, keeping in mind the utmost safety of viewers. The drive in will also have a contact-less ticketing process along with contact-less F&B to ensure a safe environment for the movie goers.

Supermoon Drive-In will offer the finest moving-viewing experience for audience within the safety of their cars, following all the required hygiene and safety norms as advised by the Government of India. With limited out of home entertainment options available over the last six months, movie goers have been missing the excitement of catching the latest flick at a movie theatre. To cater to this need gap, Zee Live & Zee Studios will host the premieres of the Bollywood romance action film ‘Khaali Peeli’ and the Tamil drama ‘Ka Pae Ranasingam’ at its first drive-in movie festival.

To be hosted from October 2-4, 2020, Supermoon Drive In will feature 11 shows over 3 days in 2 cities. Audiences can catch their favourite films on the below mentioned location & dates:

·         *Gurgaon:  Backyard Sports Club, sector 59 | 2nd -4th Oct Khaali Peeli

·         *Bangalore: Phoenix Marketcity, Whitefield | 2nd-4th Oct Khaali Peeli & Ka Pae Ranasingam

Tickets available on BookMyShow and Insider.com

Speaking on the launch of the initiative, Swaroop Banerjee, COO and business head, Zee Live said, “We are excited to launch ‘Supermoon Drive In’ at a time when there is an existing dearth of authentic theatre-viewing experience. A movie outing has always been one of the most common forms of outdoor environment which the audiences were missing owing to the lockdown. We are delighted to associate with Zee Studios to bring in two very exciting movies with a talented star cast. With this partnership we aim to give our audiences the freedom to step out of their homes while maintaining the necessary safety and hygiene standards of the whole experience from the comforts of their car.”

Shariq Patel, CEO, Zee Studios added, “We are exhilarated to host the largest outdoor movie premiers in the country with the release of ‘Khaali Peeli’ and ‘Ka Pae Ranasingam’. Both these movies with its stellar cast and engaging story lines are sure to strike a chord with our viewers who were missing the grandeur of cinema experience. The entire event is going to serve as an exciting and much-needed experience for all movie aficionados.”

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Launches Its Much-Awaited Compact SUV in India - The All-New Toyota Urban Cruiser

Features

 ·         All-new compact SUV is powered with new powerful K-Series 1.5 litre, four-cylinder Petrol Engine with choice of seamless Manual Transmission (MT)/Automatic Transmission (AT)

·         All AT variants equipped with Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery with Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) comprising Torque Assist Function, Idle Start Stop Function, Brake Energy Regeneration Function for enhanced fuel efficiency

·         Distinct and dynamic Two-Slat Wedge Cut Front Grille with Chrome Surrounds & Grey Finish with trapezoidal bold fog area and R16 Diamond Cut Alloy Wheels for a wide and strong SUV presence

An LED light package comprising dual-chamber LED Projector Headlamps with dual-function LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL) cum indicators, LED Fog Lamps, LED Rear Split Type Tail Lamps and LED High-mounted Stop Lamp to provide great looks and safer drive

·         Dual Front Airbags, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) and Advanced Body Structure for ensuring the utmost safety of passengers

·         Alluring and plush dual-tone Dark Brown Premium Interiors, ergonomically laid out and wide spacious cabin for added comfort

·         Complete entertainment and connected experience with Smart Playcast touchscreen audio with Android Auto/Apple Carplay and Smartphone-based Navigation and reverse parking camera

·         Rain Sensing Wipers, Cruise Control and Electrochromic Inside Rear View Mirror (IRVM) to add to amazing comfort and convenience

·         In addition to top-end features, smart entry with an engine push start and stop button and Auto AC are standard features across all variants

·         All-new Urban Cruiser available in exclusive to Toyota mono-tone colour of Rustic Brown and special dual-tone colours - Rustic Brown with Sizzling Black Roof and Groovy Orange with Sunny White Roof

·         Also available in a range of other eye-catching mono-tone colours - Suave Silver, Groovy Orange, Iconic Grey, Spunky Blue and Sunny White and exciting dual-tone Spunky Blue with Sizzling Black Roof

·         Price ranges from Rs. 840,000 to Rs. 11,30,000 (Ex-showroom, Delhi)

·         Dual Tone, available only in the premium variant of both MT & AT options, are priced at Rs. 998,000 and Rs. 11,55,000 respectively

·         The best-in-class Petrol fuel efficiency of 18.76 kmpl for the Automatic variant

·         The Urban Cruiser is backed by a superior warranty of 3 years or 1 lakh km, whichever comes earlier

Key Features of the All-New Toyota Urban Cruiser

Performance Features:

·         All-New K-Series 1.5 L, 4 Cylinder Gasoline Engine

·         Choice of MT or AT on all grades

·         All AT variants equipped with advanced Lithium-Ion Battery with ISG comprising Torque Assist Function, Idle Start Stop Function, Brake Energy Regeneration Function for enhanced fuel efficiency

·         Superior Fuel Efficiency of 17.03 kmpl (MT) and 18.76 kmpl (AT)*

·         Advanced Body Structure to ensure superior crash resiliency, higher rigidity and better Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) performance

Exterior Features:

·         Dual Chamber LED Projector Headlamps with Chrome Accents

·         Two-Slat Wedge Cut Front Grille with Chrome Surrounds & Grey Finish

·         Dual Function LED DRL & Turn Indicator in Headlamps

·         Split LED Rear Combination Lamps

·         Front LED Fog lamps with Chrome Accents

·         16-inch Diamond Cut Alloy Wheels

·         Gun Metal Grey Finished Roof Rails

·         Stylish Dual Tone Exterior

Safety & Security Features:

·         Dual Front Airbags

·         ABS with EBD

·         Advanced Body Structure

·         Electrochromic IRVM

·         Hill Hold Control

·         Reverse Parking Camera with Display in Audio

·         ISOFIX Child Seat Restraint System

·         Anti-Pinch Driver Side Power Window

Interior Features:

·         Dual Tone Interior

·         New 17.78 cm Smart Playcast Touchscreen Audio (with Android Auto/Apple Carplay) and Smartphone-based Navigation

·         Premium Dark Brown Fabric Seats

·         4 Door Speakers and 2 Tweeters

·         Front Centre Sliding Armrest with Storage

·         Combimeter Vibe Lights (5 colours)

·         Leather Wrapped Steering Wheel

·         Upper Cooled Glove Box

Comfort & Convenience:

·         Smart Entry with Engine Push Start/Stop button

·         Rain Sensing Wipers

·         Auto AC

·         60:40 Split Rear Seats and Rear Seat Flip and Fold

·         Cruise Control

·         Driver Seat Height Adjust

·         Outside Rear-view Mirror Electric Adjust / Electric Retract & Auto fold on Lock

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today launched its youngest SUV, the all-new Toyota Urban Cruiser to fortify its offerings in the segment and further cater to its growing number of young customers. The Toyota Urban Cruiser is the second model to be launched in India under the global Toyota-Suzuki alliance following the emphatic success of the premium hatchback, the Toyota Glanza.

The #UrbanCruiser is designed for today’s young achievers who are aspirational and believe in the concept that #RespectStandsTall. The much-awaited compact SUV was launched in a stellar event today graced by TKM Managing Director Mr. Masakazu Yoshimura, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service and Mr. Tadashi Asazuma, Vice President, Sales and Marketing. The special guest of honour, youth icon and popular Indian superstar and singer Mr. Ayushmann Khurrana, also took part in the launch event and spoke about his inspiring journey from being a Radio Jockey to a successful actor.

The all-new Urban Cruiser will feature the new powerful K-Series 1.5 litre four-cylinder Petrol Engine and will be available in a choice of Manual Transmission (MT) and Automatic Transmission (AT) with a superior fuel efficiency of 17.03 kmpl and 18.76 kmpl respectively. The compact SUV offers all the high-end features that customers today seek in their cars. Moreover, it offers an early entry into the Toyota SUV family for the young and comes with Toyota’s famed global standards of sales and after-sales service. As always, safety is a top priority for Toyota – the Urban Cruiser offers Dual Front Airbags, ABS with EBD, Advanced Body Structure, Electrochromic IRVM, Hill Hold Control, Reverse Parking Camera with Display in Audio and ISOFIX Child Seat Restraint System.

Sharing his views on the launch of Toyota Urban Cruiser, Mr. Masakazu Yoshimura, Managing Director, TKM said, “Our entry into the compact SUV space comes at a time when the segment has gained much popularity due to its body type and superior road presence thereby garnering greater connect and appeal among today’s youth. At TKM, the focus is always on delivering the best products and services to our customers who have remained loyal to the brand over the years while looking for ways to welcome more customers, particularly the youth, to the Toyota family. The launch of the all-new Toyota Urban Cruiser is an important step in that direction. It is our ambition to enable more people to buy and experience a Toyota vehicle and our renowned after-sales service, which is a differentiator for us in this segment. We will continue to emphasize on introducing ever-better cars, better technologies and environment-friendly products and services. Our alliance with Suzuki allows us to surge ahead on that path while building a self-sustaining local ecosystem of suppliers and partners.”

Speaking on the new offering, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service, TKM, said, “We are truly humbled by the faith reposed by the customers who made the bookings without even knowing the price points and the full list of features. To demonstrate our gratitude and provide an early-movers advantage for customers who pre-booked the Urban Cruiser, we recently announced the ‘Respect Package’, no-cost periodic maintenance for up to two years (or 20,000 kms whichever is earlier), that our customers are appreciating. Further, we are confident that the all-new Toyota Urban Cruiser will exceed their expectations and delight them in every aspect, be it performance, comfort and convenience or safety. We are glad to bring our new offering in time for customers to make their festive season purchase decisions. We are anticipating increased demand for SUVs in the coming months and years ahead.  The Toyota Urban Cruiser will play an important role in catering to this demand particularly from first-time Toyota buyers who are brand conscious and want to experience an international brand.”

Bookings for the Toyota Urban Cruiser are open. Customers can either book the car online (www.toyotabharat.com) or visit their nearest Toyota dealership.

Druva Delivers Industry’s First SaaS-Based Data Protection for Kubernetes

Druva, Inc., the leader in Cloud Data Protection and Management, today announced beta support for Kubernetes workloads which delivers complete application protection that is accessible by all teams, including the central IT team and DevOps. Offered through Druva Cloud Platform, users can quickly recover, migrate, or clone Kubernetes workloads, alongside existing data center, and cloud workloads from a unified  interface. Combining the simplicity and savings of a cloud-native architecture, companies can now unify data protection for emerging applications, traditional workloads, and hybrid environments.

Kubernetes, the dominant container orchestrator with more than 89 percent market share according to a recent report from Sysdig, allows users to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications with a highly modular open-source architecture. However, users still lack an easy-to-manage enterprise data protection solution to secure the entire application, including dependencies on external storage and databases. Teams also need to protect their Kubernetes workloads against threats including user error, site outages, and ransomware attacks. Now, instead of adopting yet another point backup tool specifically for Kubernetes, businesses can protect Kubernetes applications and their underlying infrastructure within Druva alongside their existing workloads.

As the industry’s first SaaS-based data protection for Kubernetes, users can expect features including:

Application consistent data protection

Comprehensive application protection, including resources inside and outside Kubernetes clusters

Secure SaaS management, with a platform built on AWS for global control

Centralized protection, management, and compliance with self-service recovery for DevOps and application owners

Unified protection for Kubernetes, data center, cloud and device workloads

"Businesses are expanding their use of containers and Kubernetes to stateful applications, but existing protection tools are siloed and do not meet enterprise protection requirements,” said Stephen Manley, Chief Technologist, Druva. “With Kubernetes usage on the rise, too many production workloads lack adequate data protection. Now, central teams can securely and seamlessly incorporate Kubernetes protection into their existing policies, while enabling application owners to recover, migrate, and clone applications when necessary.”

Druva’s application-centric solution identifies and protects critical resources both inside and outside Kubernetes deployments. As application owners build and update their environment, Druva automatically and securely stores snapshots of the entire environment, so applications or operations teams can quickly and easily recover their applications. Moreover, these snapshots can be restored to a new location for migration, cloning, or troubleshooting of production workloads. Finally, the central team can fulfill compliance requirements with retention of backups in offsite locations, all through Druva's intuitive user interface.

“Now that Kubernetes has become the major container orchestration framework, IT and application development teams are embracing enterprise container platforms to help build new apps and modernize existing apps on distributed Kubernetes clusters,” said Phil Goodwin, Research Director, IDC. “In the race to adopt containers, unfortunately, protection often gets left behind. Druva aims to offer a singular solution that can fold Kubernetes protection to an existing data management system, offering a compelling option for businesses expanding their use of container workloads.”

Availability

Druva customers can protect production application deployments by choosing the “Kubernetes” option in CloudRanger. Early access will be available in Q4, with wider availability expected in the first half of 2021.

Druva at VMworld 2020

Watch our live session on Kubernetes with Stephen Manley on Wednesday, Sept. 30 and Thursday, Oct. 1, and learn more about Druva’s data protection capabilities for VMware here.

Additional Information

Read more about DevOps with Kubernetes in the cloud on the Druva blog

Listen to our latest podcast episode, where we dive into Kubernetes and data protection

Learn why the Druva Cloud Platform is the data protection solution for your data center, cloud, and endpoint workloads

About Druva

Druva delivers Data Protection and Management for the cloud era. Druva Cloud Platform is built on AWS and offered as-a-Service; customers drive down costs by up to 50 percent by freeing themselves from the burden of unnecessary hardware, capacity planning, and software management. Druva is trusted worldwide by over 4,000 companies at the forefront of embracing the cloud. Druva is a privately held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and is funded by Sequoia Capital, Viking Global Investors, Tenaya Capital, Riverwood Capital and Nexus Partners. 

ServiceNow Delivers New Native Workflows in Microsoft Teams to Power the Future of Work

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the company that makes work, work better for people, today announced the expansion of its partnership with Microsoft to deliver elevated digital experiences that meet employees where they are. At Microsoft Ignite 2020, ServiceNow introduced new workflows embedded in Microsoft Teams to improve employee productivity with seamless self-service and faster case resolution. Powered by ServiceNow’s leading digital workflow platform, the Now Platform, the new capabilities also improve agent productivity by enabling them to more effectively collaborate and complete key tasks in Microsoft Teams.

Teams is Microsoft’s fastest-growing business app to date. This was true in 2018, long before lockdowns started driving up numbers for remote work and learning. As of April 29, Microsoft Teams had 75 million daily active users, up 70% from just six weeks prior. That month, Microsoft saw more than 200 million meeting participants in a single day, generating more than 4.1 billion meeting minutes.

“We're helping customers solve for once-in-a-generation challenges as they capitalize on the promise of digital transformation,” said Chirantan “CJ” Desai, chief product officer at ServiceNow. “We are doubling down on Teams to find innovative ways for workflows to elevate engagement, culture, collaboration, and productivity – no matter where people are.”

“Now more than ever, people need to stay connected and organized together from anywhere,” said Rajesh Jha, executive vice president, Experiences and Devices, Microsoft. “ServiceNow is delivering end-to-end Teams experiences for the new normal. For example, meeting extensibility lets service agents more easily interact with the ServiceNow platform, collaborate in group chats, channels, and conferences, and respond to incidents.”

The new capabilities announced today include:

Employee experiences in Microsoft Teams: Companies want to provide employees with support for whatever tools and devices they choose to use. By embedding ServiceNow natively within Teams, employees can submit requests, receive updates on in-progress requests, take action on notifications, chat with virtual agents for automated assistance, and connect with live agents when virtual agents cannot assist – all without ever leaving Microsoft Teams.

Agent capabilities in Microsoft Teams: Agents spend most of their time in ServiceNow IT Service Management but want to more easily leverage the collaboration functionality in Teams to communicate with employees and collaborate with other agents. Now, agents can use Notify to launch the Teams client to engage with peers directly, push major incident updates to business stakeholders, and open direct chats with employees from an incident or request.  When used with the new Teams Meeting Extensibility feature, ServiceNow workflows enable agents to be more productive by resolving major incidents directly from within a Microsoft Teams meeting. 

The new capabilities are available for select customers as part of the Beta program today. 

“Organizations are relying on collaboration platforms more than ever before. Companies like ServiceNow are creating tools that complement and enhance the Microsoft Teams experience. Accenture is eager to test and deploy this new offering,” said Thomas Bruss, Director of Enterprise Services at Accenture.

Today’s updates come on the heels of the ServiceNow Now Platform Paris release, which features several high-demand Microsoft integrations to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Customers can use these integrations to:

Optimize hybrid cloud spending and usage with Microsoft Azure support for ServiceNow Cloud Insights,

Streamline new hire onboarding with ServiceNow employee experiences and Microsoft Azure Active Directory, and

Gain greater control and visibility into organizational assets with ServiceNow Software Asset Management and Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

Additionally, the ServiceNow Virtual Agent Lite plugin for Microsoft Teams, also released in Paris, offers a limited version of Virtual Agent for IT Service Management standard customers. It launched with three prebuilt conversations for common IT support requests. These keyword-based conversations run in the web chat client and in a virtual agent messaging integration with Microsoft Teams.  

Today’s announcement furthers the companies’ partnership announcement from 2019 to accelerate digital transformation for joint customers. Customers are accessing the value of this partnership with more than 25 joint solutions available between Microsoft and ServiceNow today. The companies have committed to continued ServiceNow-Teams innovation to enable richer employee experiences from anywhere, at scale.

Sharekhan Forays Into Discount Broking with Espresso Offers a ‘Pay When You Profit’ Pricing Model

Sharekhan, a full subsidiary of BNP Paribas, and one of the leading retail full-service brokers in India, announced today the launch of Espresso (myespresso.com), a new discount broker via a separate company.

Three months ago, Beta testing of the project (Project Leapp) had commenced. Simplified Login (using mobile number/ email id), Holding Report, Ledger Report, and Tax Report have been considered as ‘above expectations’ by our Beta-testers. Key take away from Beta-testers is that the new platform was meeting their needs and requirements with specific features especially appreciated.

Importantly, beyond platform innovation, Espresso doesn’t believe that discount broking should be all about lower brokerage. It can serve a much larger &required purpose. Based on this mindset, Espresso sees itself as a brand that has been built with the purpose “We care that you succeed”. As a testimony to this philosophy and taking into account that most traders would have both, winning and losing trades, no brokerage will be charged on loss-making intraday trades. In addition, Delivery trades will be free of brokerage.

In order to help clients experience Espresso, a special 3 months FREE BROKERAGE offer will be provided to any customer opening an account before 22nd Oct 2020

Sharekhan’s CEO Jaideep Arora says, “For us it was not about when we enter discount broking. Our quest was to find the right value proposition for the new generation of traders & investors. Once we arrived at ‘we care for your success’ as our main reason to be, the resulting ‘Pay When You Profit’ part was a natural outcome. We will continue to find more such promises to help people become better at trading & investing. Only then can one truly champion retail participation in equity markets.”

R. Kalyanaraman Espresso’s Chief Customer Officer says,“Our unique Beta testing approach shows we are -“ a listening organisation” and that is how we want to deliver Espresso’s promise of “We care for your success”. Only by listening to customers will we be able to work for their success and make their journey smooth and profitable.”

The Espresso ‘founding’ team, as they like to call themselves, are experienced Sharekhan hands -R.Kalyanaraman will be the Chief Customer Officer (20yrs at Sharekhan), Chandresh Khona will play the role of  Product Offerings Head ( 10yrs at Sharekhan) and Rizwan Khan will be the Technology Innovation Head (18 yrs at Sharekhan)

Espresso’s “We care for your success” promise will be delivered via:

* Pay Rs.20 per order Only When You Profit (for Intraday trades across segments –Equity, F&O, Commodity & Currency)

* The brokerage waiver is only on one side (buy/sell) of the order

* Zero Delivery Brokerage

* 1 yr Premium Subscription free for MoneyFlix, wherein there are 100+ videos that have trading & investing strategies movie-fied

* Inaugural offer of 50% off on Trade Booster Program – a 7 day online course to learn disciplined trading

About Sharekhan:

Sharekhan was founded in 2000 and is a full subsidiary of BNP Paribas, a leading European banking institution. Sharekhan services more than 20 lakhs clients aggregating more than 51041 Cr of assets (AUM)*, operates via 142 branches all over India and more than 3050 franchisees. It provides equity & derivatives execution,  DP services,  Portfolio Management, Mutual Funds & Corporate Deposits. Sharekhan executes on average more than 1.08Mn trades/day** and performed 1.8 bn trades since inception.

*AUM as of 31st Aug 2020

**Trades as daily average in Q2(Apr-June) of 2020

India's Homegrown Startup -The Black Lover - Introduces Only Black Clothing Line

Black is your favorite and we know it. Hence, the all-new homegrown website The Black Lover has launched their brand to satiate your perennial love for black. A state-of-the-art e-commerce fashion store that has a curated array of all black and only black commodities for both men and women. For the first time, the ardent black lovers can shop all their favorite black products from a single website.

Millennials’ penchant for the raven-hue has encouraged us to include a wide range of sections. The men in black and women in black stores comprise a highly stylised collection of formals. Whereas casual for men and women store is here to suffice the everyday necessity of leisure outfits. It does not end here; we also have a diverse collection of traditional wears under The Made in India Store for all of those who cannot leave out black even on traditional ceremonies. The unparalleled need for black in our everyday lives and our household has compelled us to have an all-Black Store that includes a wide range of stools, cushions, mugs, sippers and backpacks. The most fascinating idea of The Black lover is that you can personalise your outfit which will be styled by professional designers and launched on our website on your birthday with your name and picture. While facilitating an easy purchase through COD within a price range of Rs 99- Rs 999, we do not compensate on the quality of the products either. Thereby, creating a synergy between supreme quality and reasonable prices to deliver products of the finest standards. For iOS and Android users our app of the namesake is readily available on Play Store and App Store.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Akshay Kumar, CEO, and Founder – “We are excited about the official launch of our brand. The Black Lover is not just an e-commerce website it is my childhood dream and adulthood passion. With our incandescent effort, we envision to make it a favorite amongst everyone. At The Black Lover, customers are our king and we will put every effort possible to serve our customers at best. Our goal is to help our consumers to buy the best quality black clothing at the most affordable prices.”

About The Black Lover

The Black Lover Pvt. Ltd. Is an e-commerce company founded in 2020 by Akshay Kumar. The Black lover has launched its product range under the name 'TBL apparels & merchandise' with categories including men in black, women in black, men's casual, women's casual, Blackstone & seasons special. It has a unique store for all your fashion & lifestyle needs being the first e-commerce Store for Black lovers. We aim to provide a hassle-free & enjoyable shopping experience to shoppers across India, Italy & Australia with the widest range of products on its portal. The brand is making a conscious effort to bring the power of fashion to shoppers with the latest & trendiest products available in black colour.

Website:- https://www.theblacklover.com/about/    

upGrad Hosts a One-of-a-Kind Virtual Valedictorian Ceremony with MICA, Ahmedabad

India’s largest online higher education company upGrad in partnership with MICA hosted an online Valedictorian Ceremony, held over the weekend for approximately 1291 learners. Gracing the event with their presence were Chief Guest Tushar Vyas, President of GroupM and Dr. Anita Basalingappa, Chairperson of Online Programmes at MICA, along with the upGrad Co-founder and MD, Mayank Kumar.

MICA and upGrad celebrated the successful completion of PG Certification in Digital Marketing and Communications of around 1,300 learners. These learners included seasoned working professionals with an average work experience of 3-25 years, with organisations including Fortune 500 Companies. MICA and upGrad also recognised over 20 learners. These included learners who scored the highest CGPA and those who went beyond the academic curriculum including those who went out of their way to help their peers, some set inspirational benchmarks for others, pushing them to do better, while many achieved stellar career transitions.

Addressing the learners, Dr. Anita Basalingappa, Chairperson of Online Programmes at MICA said, “We welcome you to the MICAn Community and it’s strange yet wonderful to see that you’re receiving your certificate in a completely digital environment. The scope of Digital Marketing, powered by Data Science is endless as even governments are interested in creating digital solutions.” She also mentioned the importance of security and privacy in this arena and advised learners to keep an eye on that space of the Digital Marketing industry as well.

President,  GroupM, South Asia, Tushar Vyas was the guest speaker at the Valedictorian Ceremony and spoke at length about his experience of being one of those at the cusp of the digital revolution. Talking about starting the first digital unit in his company he said, “I started my journey with "Why digital”  – you are fortunate that you are not going to face the “Why” question anymore and that will allow you to focus more on the “What” and “How” of Digital marketing.” He is himself a MICA Alumni who passed out about 22 years ago.

He acknowledged the pace of the changing digital world and said, “Digital education like this can help you navigate, but what will help you thrive is an adaptive approach to different terrains of the new normal world and childlike curiosity. Be prepared to keep transforming! One must see these challenges and seek fresh opportunities and for this, We need to observe, explore, ask questions, and again venture into the unknown.”

Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder, and MD, upGrad concluded the Valedictorian Ceremony with a Vote of Thanks that encompassed the MICA and upGrad community and the learners who made this day possible. He said, “This event is yet another milestone achieved. We are delighted to be a part of the MICA journey and enable our learners to attain meaningful outcomes. Such academic titles not only help individuals complete the learning experience but also prepare them for a rapidly growing industry, without them having to worry about the external barriers and other travel constraints.”

The graduation ceremony was made extra special for the students with a live performance by When Chai Met Toast, a four-member neo-folk Indie band from Cochin who has recently released three new singles. The PG Certificate in Digital Marketing and Communications has been offered by MICA online for the past seven years along with a partnership with upGrad since 2017.

You can also click on this link to watch the full recorded ceremony video: https://youtu.be/Km88UiGpv_k

About upGrad:

upGrad is India’s largest online higher education company. Founded in early 2015, upGrad has on-boarded over 34.5K paid learners and impacted around 8 lakh individuals globally, within a short span of 5 years.

upGrad provides online programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology, Management and Law to college students, working professionals and enterprises. These programs are designed and delivered in collaboration with top-notch universities like IIT Madras, IIIT Bangalore, MICA, NMIMS Global Access, Jindal Global Law School, Duke CE, Deakin University, Liverpool John Moores University and others.

With an 80% program completion rate, robust tech platform, outcome-based learning approach, industry-relevant curriculum, finest university credentials, strong mentorship, and steadfast placement support, upGrad has established its position as the leader in the Indian education system.

upGrad Elevate, a virtual hiring drive for upGrad users/alumni offers the opportunity to interview with 300+ hiring partners ensuring successful career outcomes they deserve.

IIIT Bangalore and upGrad's PG Diploma in Data Science is India’s first-ever PG Diploma to be recommended and validated by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). The program is India's largest Data Science program with over 10,000 alumni & learner-base, which now provides learners with certification from NASSCOM FutureSkills, thereby making the program aligned to Government approved National Occupational Standards (NOS) to facilitate the upskilling of India’s IT workforce and make them abreast of the new-age skills. Through this first-of-its-kind collaboration, upGrad joins NASSCOM’s mission to make India a hub for innovation and a global hotspot for a skilled talent pool.

In the most recent news, LinkedIn ranked the edtech major upGrad as no. 1 in the #LinkedInTopStartups 2020. This is the third time in a row that upGrad has been featured in the top list. upGrad has been awarded the title of ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019. Also, received the ‘Best Education Brands’ award by Economic Times in 2018, and Most Innovative Companies in India' by Fast Company in 2017.