R Narayan Appointed as the New President of FICCI-CMSME

R Narayan, Founder & CEO, Power2SME has been elected as President of Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CMSME), an affiliated body under the umbrella of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), an apex Chamber of Commerce & Industry of India. FICCI-CMSME’s vision is to empower Indian MSMEs and build their competitiveness.

He took over from outgoing President Sanjay Bhatia at the 6th annual general meeting of FICCI-CMSME which also witnessed the launch of FICCI-CMSME online directory & B2B portal “Connect” in the presence of Shri Arvind Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The event also saw Mr Girish Luthra and Ms Harjinder Kaur, assume offices of Sr Vice-President and Vice-President respectively.

Speaking about his new role, R Narayan said “I am honoured and humbled by the responsibility entrusted on me. We at FICCI CMSME firmly believe that the country’s MSMEs have enormous potential and have displayed great strength and resilience in the wake of the pandemic. This portal launched today has been created to explore new MSME business avenues and strengthen their value chains both backwards and forwards. True development can only be done in inclusivity and not isolation, and therefore a joint effort and collaboration is required from all stakeholders, especially from the government, industry chambers and associations to provide a support infrastructure which enable the growth of the MSME sector”.  

Applauding the efforts made by FICCI towards championing the cause of MSMEs, Shri Arvind Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises announced the creation of 5 taskforces in the domains of Industry 4.0, Exports, Technology Centers, Clusters and modernization schemes to make Indian SMEs future ready.

Established in December 2013 as an affiliate body with the mission of empowering MSMEs, FICCI-CMSME was created to work closely with the MSME sector to identify issues and suggest viable solutions. A pan-India body developed as an aggregator to develop various capabilities in various aspects of their businesses, CMSME plays an active role in connecting MSMEs to investors, incubators, accelerators, and assist MSME capacity building programs and services. It also provides the platform for networking and consistency building in across sectors.  

The FICCI CMSME “Connect” portal aims to become a preferable B2B destination for both buyers & sellers and acts as online directory for SMEs to connect with each other, post business queries for listed enterprises and become a major source of detailed information of listed companies for visitors including PSUs, large corporate etc. The portal can be accessed at http://ficcicmsmeconnect.in/

Sports & Fitness Platform Run Adam Unveils “Playground” to Educate, Inspire, Compete and Engage with Peers and Fans

Run Adam, an omni-channel sports & fitness -aggregation platform, with over 40,000 National and state level athletes registered, has launched Playground, a novel short-video hub for sports achievers to educate, inspire, compete and engage with peers and fans. Run Adam brings together and connects various sportspersons, professionals & businesses under a single digital platform with the primary vision to help sportsperson improve their performance. Run Adam’s Playground comes as a boon when Covid has stalled most sports activities, and more than anything sportspersons struggle to keep their competitive sportsman spirit at its edge. M. S. Dhoni, the ace cricketer, is a significant stakeholder in Run Adam.

Mr. Yeragaselvan Kumarasamy, Founder & CEO of Run Adam said, “Run Adam Playground is a hub for sportspersons to meet, inspire and compete. It is designed like a real playground, where sportspersons meet to test their skills and abilities. This is also a platform for athletes to display their talent to the open world to get noticed by all sports stakeholders, especially their peers and fans.”

“Change is an incessant constant and the Covid-19 pandemic is undoubtedly a marker for a major change in all aspects of life, methods of living and working and of lifestyles. There is a lot talked about how many sections have been affected by the pandemic. However, not much attention has been paid towards sportspersons, athletes, coaches and their supporting staff including nutritionists, physiotherapists, sports psychologists right down to grounds men who have not only hit hard by the pandemic but the effects of it are very damaging for them in many ways. We believe in feeding the spirit of the sportsperson, to keep them psychologically active and at the edge of their sports. Run Adam Playground is doing just that.”

The four types of short videos that are allowed on Run Adam Playground. The first is Skills showcase to open a world of opportunities where sporting talents can upload their skill videos to get noticed by coaches, teams, corporates, and educational institutions to get scouted & sponsored.  The second is Training ability to show the world how champions are made and to motivate the community to take up sports and fitness, Identify and get connected to like-minded people.  The third type of content on the hub are Challenges to help sportspersons compete with peers and to inspire other to compete as well. The fourth type of content is Expert Tips, from the thousands of achievers on the Run Adam platform who share their unique tips for aspirants to learn & grow. 

Swiss-Based Streamr launches Data Challenge for the Indian Developer Ecosystem

Streamr, the world’s leading decentralised network for real-time data, today announced their plans to expand their developer ecosystem to India with the launch of the Streamr Data Challenge, an open innovation program that leverages the Indian developer ecosystem to build digital-first applications that can integrate with Streamr’s Data Union framework. The open innovation program will provide winning projects with up to $5000 in funding along with seed funding opportunities through its investor network and mentoring to build a strong foundation for capital-efficient growth on a case-by-case basis depending on viability.

Through the Data Challenge, Streamr will enable app developers across India to identify solutions that offer data monetisation opportunities to its users, with the aim of decentralising data control away in an emerging global and massive machine data economy. For example, Streamr’s Data Union framework could be integrated into an existing fitness app to enable users to sell their workout-routine information.

Spanning over 4 months, the program includes incentives such as a $200 USD grant to each team that qualifies for the first cohort. The Data challenge will be interspersed by multiple meetups and webinars and will begin with a one-week long mentor session, followed by a two-week-long intensive acceleration period. The ongoing support ranges from access to tech guidance on projects, networking opportunities, PR support, and more.

India is leading the global data consumption market with the increasing mobile data connectivity (3G/4G), falling data tariffs, rising smartphone penetration, and growth in broadband connectivity across India. The exponential data growth in India is projected to continue, with internet traffic expected to increase four-fold from 21 exabytes in 2016 to an estimated 78 exabytes in 2021 as per the report by Omidyar Networks. Streamr understands the huge concern to data privacy and the need to identify feasible concepts solving problems in the big data space and thereby expand their developer base in India. 

“We are very excited to connect with the vibrant developer ecosystem in India! We think that Streamr’s Data Union framework can be used as a meaningful tool to solve key problems in data collection, usage, and availability - problems that consumers and businesses face on a daily basis. The goal of the Streamr Data Challenge is to build new tools to democratize the value of our data and to find new ways for users to own and control their data. ,” said Henri Pihkala, Founder and CEO of Streamr.

Streamr is a distributed, open-source, software project,  founded in 2017 with the mission of creating a decentralized platform to trade and distribute information while allowing people to regain control over the data they produce. Through its Data Union concept, individuals can crowd sell their information through the Streamr Network along with their fellow Data Union members. Designed for safe data delivery and exchange, the Streamr Network is scalable, low-latency, and secure. 

The 16-week ‘Streamr Data Challenge’ hackathon is launched in partnership with Lumos Labs, an innovation management firm specializing in running technology open innovation programs in India. The registrations are open from today for developers across India. For more details on the challenge and the registration process, visit - https://www.streamrdatachallenge.com/

About Streamr - 

Streamr is a distributed open-source project, crowdfunded in 2017. The project’s goal is to build the decentralized infrastructure for real-time data, replacing centralized message brokers with a global peer-to-peer network. By relying on cryptography instead of trust, the open-source network aims to enable data sharing and monetization in IoT and smart cities, business consortia, individual crowd selling through Data Unions and the decentralized web (Web 3.0).

The Streamr tech stack includes a pub/sub messaging network, a data marketplace to trade and crowd sell real-time data, and a real-time data toolkit.

Zeta’s Fusion to Power FamPay’s Cashless Payments for Gen Z in Indian Market

Zeta, India’s leading banking tech company, today announced that its embeddable banking API-based marketplace called ‘Fusion’ will power FamPay’s neo banking solution for Gen Z.

FamPay, India’s first neobank for teenagers, enables its prebanked segment of  users to pay online and offline through their own UPI ID and a numberless prepaid card. The company will integrate Fusion’s card issuance capability and dynamic PIN solution to offer Indian teens an effortless and delightful payments experience. The dynamic ‘Super PIN’ which is part of Zeta’s Access Control Server offering will provide security to all transactions.

Fusion through its API-based marketplace offers all the components needed to build a financial product easily making it a hassle-free process.

Speaking about the association, Murali Nair, President-Banking at Zeta said, “We are excited to partner with FamPay and look forward to supporting them in redefining the GenZ spending segment. The banking ecosystem is fairly complex and building a compliant and secure financial product can be quite time-consuming. But with Fusion’s embeddable banking solution, FamPay will have the advantage to integrate easily with all the fintech components it needs to build its products and go-to-market significantly faster.”

“Partnering with Zeta has given a significant boost to our tech innovation efforts. We had pioneered numberless cards in India by reconfiguring the card supply chain with NPCI, and now with Zeta’s Super PIN feature, the card also enables contactless offline payments in the new normal. While our focus remains on providing teens with the best of digital payments and financial literacy, along with maintaining the GenZ vibe, Zeta is helping us take care of the heavy-lifting in terms of payments and security,” says Kush Taneja, Co-Founder, FamPay.

“It’s great to witness that digital payments are being accepted well among the Gen-Z population – which has a true potential to enrich the digital payment ecosystem. We are glad to be associated with FamPay and Zeta in offering seamless digital finance management experience to young teens of the country. We believe the UPI based FamPay and RuPay powered FamCard will provide a new dimension to behavioral change among teenagers’ in terms of on-boarding into digital payments and financial independence. We, at NCPI are optimistic about seeing an uptick in this exciting new customer segment that is all set to propel India towards a cash-lite economy”, says Praveena Rai, COO of National Payments Corporation of India.

Fusion is Zeta’s API-based marketplace solution that makes embeddable banking an easy possibility for banks and fintechs. It brings together the entire financial ecosystem in one place offering API-based integrations right from banks to card networks, mobile networks to push servers and more. Fusion can

help fintechs and banks build and deploy products such as prepaid accounts, loan accounts, wallets, forex cards, and much more, all compliant with RBI’s regulations and data security norms.

About Zeta

Zeta® is a leading banking tech company  providing technologically advanced solutions for banks and fintechs. It provides a full-stack, cloud-native API first platform including a digital core and a payment engine for issuance of credit, debit, and prepaid products that enable legacy banks and new-age fintech institutions to launch modern retail and corporate fintech products. Co-founded by Bhavin Turakhia (CEO) and Ramki Gaddipati (CTO), Zeta currently provides its platform and products in India, Asia, Europe, and LATAM. In India, Zeta has entered a strategic partnership with Sodexo to provide employee benefits such as meals and gifts to corporates. Zeta is a SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 9008, PCI DSS certified company. Zeta has over 450 employees and clocks over 1 million transactions per day.

To know more about Zeta, log on to www.zeta.tech  or follow Zeta on Twitter,  Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About FamPay

FamPay is India’s first neobank for teenagers and their families. It was founded in 2019 by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee Graduates, Kush Taneja and Sambhav Jain while still in college, which makes them the youngest fintech entrepreneurs in India today. In March 2020, FamPay raised seed funding of US $4.7Mn from Y Combinator, Venture Highway, Sequoia India and Global Founders Capital (GFC). Neeraj Arora, ex-WhatsApp, Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin, Robinhood cofounder Vladimir Tenev, CRED founder Kunal Shah, Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau also participated in the round.

With FamPay and its numberless card, minors can successfully make online (UPI & P2P) and offline payments without the need to set up a bank account. FamPay aims to drive the smart generation of teens (Gen-Z) from cash to digital through a family-friendly app. 

Hero Motocorp Launches - Splendor+ Black and Accent During the Indian Festive Season

Aligned with its new Vision and in continuation of its focus on customer-delight and product innovation, Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, has launched a new edition of the iconic Splendor motorcycle – the Splendor+ Black and Accent.

A first-of-its-kind initiative in the motorcycle category, the Splendor+ Black and Accent can be customized with the graphics of customer’s choice at the time of purchase.

The unique concept is a result of the company’s innovative ‘Hero CoLabs’ contest. As part of the contest, participants from across the country created graphic design themes for the Splendor+ motorcycle. Out of the thousands of entries, the top 3 designs have been put into production.

These three designs are now be available to customers to choose from and have one of them installed on their new motorcycle. Customers can choose to purchase the motorcycle without any graphics as well.

Launched on April 7, 2020, Hero CoLabs provided the ideal platform to enthusiasts, brand fans, students and professionals to showcase their creativity and design skills. The Challenge received over 10,000 registrations. The results were announced on May 16, 2020.

Malo Le Masson, Head of Strategy, Hero MotoCorp said, “This is an excellent example of Hero MotoCorp’s new Vision and Mission of moving ahead with a collaborative approach and achieving synergy between the digital and physical world. Within five months, we have put the winning designs, from the contest, into production and made them available to our customers. We will continue to bring more such creative initiatives in the future.”

Splendor+ Black and Accent with Optional Design Themes

The Splendor+ Black and Accent edition comes in an ‘All-Black’ avatar with black tyres, black engine and black chain cover. The stylish appeal can be further accentuated with a 3D Hero logo, which is available as an accessory.

The Splendor+ Black and Accent will be available at a price of Rs 64,470/- across all Hero MotoCorp dealerships.

*Ex-showroom Delhi

At the time of purchase, customers can choose from three distinct design themes – Beetle Red, Firefly Golden and Bumble Bee Yellow.

The graphic themes are priced attractively at Rs 899/- across the country. Customers can also buy the complete kit including graphics, 3D Hero Logo and Rim Tape at a Rs 1,399/-.

HCL Concerts Launches ‘The Carnatic Quest’ – A Hunt for the Next Carnatic Music Stars

HCL Concerts, a platform aimed at identifying, nurturing and supporting the next generation of talent in the Indian classical performing arts space, today unveiled ‘The Carnatic Quest.’ A one-of-a kind contest,‘The Carnatic Quest’aims at identifying, young prodigious Carnatic musicians across five broad categories including Carnatic vocal, Veena, Violin, Flute and Percussion instruments (Mridangam, Ghatam andKanjeera).Winners of the talent hunt program will be provided an opportunity to perform for the millions of music enthusiasts that follow the HCL Concerts platforms and HCL Music users (a mobile app offering one of the most comprehensive collection of classical music for free).

The Carnatic Questwas conceptualized jointly by HCL Concerts and Chennai based Rhapsody Music Foundation, founded and run by acclaimed ClassicalPianist Anil Srinivasan. It is intended to emerge as a virtual musical pilgrimage, attracting both, conservative and contemporary lovers of Carnatic music while encouraging and promoting the Indian classical music and performing arts.

Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer, HCL Corporation said “At HCL Concerts, we are constantly trying to innovate to bring great music and performances to our followers. The Carnatic Quest is yet another initiative that will allow us to identify the next-generation of Carnatic music stars and showcase their talent to our broad audience-base. At the same time,we will also leverage our multiple platforms including the physical or digital performance platforms and HCL Music app to bring recognition to the talented winners of the program. We look forward to seeing some great entries and winners emerging out of the entire process.”

Classical Pianist, Anil Srinivasan said, “Carnatic music is considered as one of the oldest systems of music in the world. Its aficionados are spread across the world. With ‘The Carnatic Quest’ the aim is to identify prodigious talent from across India and provide them a platform that is global in reach and scale. We atRhapsody Music Foundation are excited to be a part of this journey with HCL Concerts, allowing me to give back to the art while also ensuring that the genre continues to flourish by nurturing new talent.”

The Carnatic Quest will include the following multi-stage talent identification program: -

·         Invitation for entries – Artists can send across their entries in five categories, i.e. Carnatic Vocal, Veena, Violin, Flute and Percussions (Mridangam, Ghatam and Kanjeera) from across the county at https://www.hclconcerts.com/the-carnatic-quest/till  October 31, 2020.

o    There is no application fee

·         Identifying talented performers – Entries will be evaluated by Rhapsody Music Foundation and shortlisted musicians will be contacted for second round.

o   There will be three rounds and results of each round will also be published on the Facebook page of HCL Concerts

·         Winners Announcement – One winner each from Carnatic vocals, Veena, Violin and Flute, along with three winners from Percussion will get an opportunity to perform atthe HCL Concerts platform.

About HCL Concerts: 

The conservation and promotion of India’s art and cultural heritage is very close to HCL’s heart. To this end, HCL has been organizing HCL Concerts for 22 years, dedicated to nurturing and promoting talent rooted in the glorious heritage of Indian classical performing arts. Concerts under the umbrella of HCL Concerts are organized in Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Nagpur, Madurai, Chennai and Bengaluru in India and in New York and San Francisco in the US regularly throughout the year. Over 600 artists have graced this platform and have contributed towards reinvigorating the Indian classical performing arts.

Over the years, more platforms have been developed to contribute to the growth of the Indian performing arts ecosystem. Most notable of these are HCL Concerts Baithak - a series of live, virtual performances by accomplished and upcoming Indian classical music and dance artists, HCL Concerts Soundscapes – showcasing the independent and inclusive music from across the Indian landscape including  genres like Sufi, Folk and Indie-pop; the HCL Music Mobile App, allowing music lovers across the world a chance to enjoy the most comprehensive collection of classical music from the comforts of their home for free, and HCL Digital Concerts, a talent identification and nurturing program aimed at showcasing talented and upcoming classical performing artists to a global audience through a digital medium.

Arjun Mathur Pledges to be an Organ Donor; Comes On-Board for MTV-ORGAN Daan in Association with Knowledge Partner ORGAN India

Popular actor Arjun Mathur has come on-board as the Cause Ambassador for MTV’s noble initiative – MTV-ORGAN Daan, in association with knowledge partner ORGAN India, an initiative of the NGO Parashar Foundation, that aims to drive awareness around the cause of Deceased Organ Donation in India. Having seen the impact of Organ Donation closely in his life, Arjun wishes to encourage the young minds to bust the myths, pledge to sign-up as an organ donor and help those in need, after they are gone.

For Arjun, organ donation is not just a cause but an issue his family has closely encountered and overcome. It all began with his elder brother succumbing to an ailment that left him in need for a kidney. Despite the best efforts, they had to wait for years to get the right donor given the abysmal rate of Deceased Organ Donation in India. With no help in hand, Arjun’s father decided to step in and donate his kidney, until this year, the miracle happened. In early 2020, the actor’s family managed to find the right match and his brother was operated on. Arjun’s strong sense of gratitude for organ donors makes him come forward for MTV-ORGAN Daan to trigger a change in the youth mindset and break myths around this noble cause.

Commenting on the initiative, Arjun said, "Organ Donation is a cause I feel strongly about. It’s disturbing to see a noble cause like this still being clouded by myths and misinformation that is leading to reluctance and apprehension amongst people. It is about time we, as a society work towards fixing this issue and trigger a positive change. MTV ORGAN Daan is a pioneering campaign that urges people to spread awareness and pledge to be an organ donor. I have also signed up as an organ donor with ORGAN India, with whom I have been associated with for a long time. I want to do my bit and couldn’t be more grateful to be the Cause Ambassador for an initiative that deserves serious attention.”

Launched during the Joy of Giving Week, MTV-ORGAN Daan - Your One Time Pass (OTP) to Heaven, in association with Knowledge Partner ORGAN India, an initiative of the NGO Parashar Foundation, aims to educate the masses about the current scenario of Organ donation in the country, spread awareness with the right and relevant information. With a strong meld of humour and quirk at its core, MTV has curated this campaign through a series of interactive posts, infographic and brand films, around the prevalent Indian belief that ‘Punya/Good deeds are a gateway to Heaven’ and Organ Donation can surely help one reserve a spot up there. This call to action thereby aims to encourage sign ups as organ donors on http://www.mtvorgandaan.com.

Official Data suggests that One Organ Donor can save up to 8 lives. * That’s the power of this precious gift of life. Imagine what we can achieve if majority of us choose to do the same. So, without further ado, pledge to make a difference, stand out and get your heaven ka One Time Pass (OTP) with MTV ORGAN Daan!!

*Source: ORGAN India