Kuchipudi Parampara Foundation - Presents its Seventh Edition Natya Parampara Utsav 2020

Kuchipudi Parampara Foundation,Bengaluru Presents its Seventh edition Natya Parampara Utsav 2020 on Saturday Oct 31, 2020,  6.30PM live streamed online on Kuchipudi Parampara Foundation Youtube channel, Facebook page and Instagram.

Programmes will include Recognition & Honouring of the works of senior Kuchipudi Guru of Kuchipudi village Pasumarthi Keshavprasad, Bharatanatyam danseuse Mamatha Karanth Bangalore, Kuchipudi Solos presentation by Raktim chanda disciple of Guru Deepa Narayanan Sashindran, Padmaragini Puttu from Moscow Russia, Geetha Padmakumar from Kerala, Anna Mashak from St Petersburg Russia, Mohiniattam by Gopika Nath from Kerala and concludes with an talk by Guest Guru Sailaja, Kuchipudi Exponent from Chennai.

The event is curated by Deepa Narayanan Sashindran, Kuchipudi Exponent and Life Trustee Kuchipudi Parampara Foundation, Bangalore.

Kuchipudi Parampara Foundation, Bengaluru a Non Profit Trust founded by Kuchipudi Exponent and Managing Trustee Deepa Narayanan is presently offering systematic Kuchipudi dance training and choreography in Bengaluru to bring forth artists of high calibre.

For more information’s contact kpf.bangalore@gmail.com/ 9845315272.

www.kuchipudiparamparafoundation.com

Bank of Baroda with Toyota Kirloskar Motor Introduces Finance Options for Customers & Dealers

In pursuance of its customer-first approach, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today announced the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the country’s leading public sector bank, Bank of Baroda, to enable finance options for both - its customers and dealers - across a vast number of cities and towns in India.

Following the tie-up, Bank of Baroda will be one of the preferred financiers for the entire range of vehicles sold by TKM. The new service facilitates customers to avail customised solutions such as high on-road funding of 90 per cent, long repayment period of 84 months, no prepayment or foreclosure charges. On the other hand, TKM dealers will benefit from the best Digitized Supply Chain Finance with competitive interest rates.

Sharing his thoughts on the alliance, Mr. Murali Ramaswami, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda, said, “We are delighted to be associated with one of the India’s valuable passenger car manufacturers. This alliance gives us an opportunity to penetrate deep into the relationship with automobile dealers and augmenting our Dealer Finance Portfolio through our branches spread across the country. Given the huge potential to cross-sell our other products to these dealers, we are hopeful that this agreement would give us mutual synergies by way of strengthening  our presence in  supply chain financing segments on one hand and increases market penetration for TKM on the other hand.

Talking about the MoU, Mr. Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda, said, “We are very pleased to sign a MoU with Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd for the Auto Loan Finance. This alliance augments our focus on Retail Auto Finance business and will give value to our Customers and Toyota’s customers. With our wide branch network of over 9000 branches, we will be able to finance customers across the country and further penetrate into Auto Loan market share. This relationship will further unleash the potential of both organizations and will augment our MSME segment with Dealer Finance Program and Retail segment with Auto Loan Finance.”

Commenting on the tie-up, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service, TKM, said, “The association is part of our efforts to enable new-age banking and finance solutions for a hassle-free and seamless experience for both our customers and dealers. Under our customer-first approach, we will continue to innovate and offer more options to our customers and dealers reflecting the prevailing needs and emerging market demand. The MoU with Bank of Baroda comes at an opportune time for us, with our recent foray into the B-segment with new models like the all-new Toyota Urban Cruiser. We have also been witnessing good demand from both large and small cities and towns for both Urban Cruiser & Glanza. Under the association, we will have access to their extensive network spread across the country including metros and Tier II and III cities and towns. They are an ideal partner for us and we are delighted and look forward to working closely with them to increase the reach of Toyota products to every nook and corner of India.”

TKM always strives to enhance the customer experience throughout the life cycle by launching timely and relevant schemes for easy finance, sale of old vehicles, service etc. This new association with Bank of Baroda will promote various finance options to customers and dealers at all the branches of the bank to help them with quick and easy access to loans.

JK Tyre Financial Results for Second Quarter - PBT at RS.167 Crore

Indian Tyre Industry major, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. (JK Tyre) today announced its results for the second Quarter of the current financial year.  On a consolidated basis, it recorded a Sale of Rs.2290 Crores, while Operating Profit was Rs.368 Crores and the Profit before Tax was Rs.167 crores.

Commenting on the results, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director of the Company said, “JK Tyre achieved higher sales on the back of economic recovery, more so in the automotive sector, which has taken place during the quarter. The Company was well positioned to take benefit of this emerging opportunity, and as a matter of fact, it could achieve healthy sales in the replacement market, doing better than the industry.  The renewed thrust on exports resulted in higher Export Sales of Rs. 337 Crores during the quarter.”

Dr Singhania added that “Profitability improved significantly due to aggressive cost cutting, more particularly Fixed costs. The Company could achieve savings in interest costs due to its ability to reduce its working capital requirements.”

Dr Singhania further mentioned that Company’s subsidiaries i.e., Cavendish and JK Tornel, Mexico, contributed significantly to both, improved Sales and Profitability”.

The Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Anshuman Singhania as Managing Director of JK Tyre & Industries effective 21st October, 2020.  Mr. Anshuman joined the Company as an Executive and over the years has been deeply involved in various activities of the Company in different positions, current being Dy. Managing Director.  During this period, he has demonstrated leadership and vision under the mentorship of Dr. Raghupati Singhania, CMD and the Board.

Dr Singhania concluded, that he expects the Indian economy to sustain its growth momentum in the coming quarters as well.

JK Tyre & Industries Limited

The flagship company of JK Organisation, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd is amongst the top 25 manufacturers in the world. Pioneers of radial technology, the Company produced the first radial tyre in 1977 and is currently the market leader in Truck Bus Radial segment. The Company provides end-to-end solutions across segments of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, farming, Off-the-Road and two & three-wheelers.

A global force, JK Tyre is present in 105 countries with over 180 Global distributors.  The Company has 12 globally benchmarked ‘sustainable’ manufacturing facilities - 9 in India and 3 in Mexico – that collectively produce around 35 million tyres annually. The Company also has a strong network of over 4000 dealers and 550+ dedicated Brand shops called as Steel Wheels and Xpress Wheels.

JK Tyre’s unwavering commitment towards innovation is reflected through its state-of-the-art global research and technology centre – the Raghupati Singhania Centre of Excellence - in Mysore, which houses some of the world’s finest technologies and techniques.

JK Tyre launched India’s first ever ‘Smart Tyre’ technology-and introduced Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) which monitors the tyre’s vital statistics, including pressure and temperature. The company recently rolled out its 20 millionth Truck/Bus Radial tyre becoming the first and the only Indian company to achieve this milestone.

It is the only Indian tyre manufacturer to be included in the list of Superbrands India in 2019 for the seventh consecutive year. JK Tyre has been conferred the Sword of Honour for Safety across its plants by the British Safety Council, UK. The company entered the Limca Book of Records with the country’s largest off-the-road tyre - VEM 04.

JK Tyre is also synonymous with motorsport in the country. For over three decades, the Company has relentlessly worked towards shaping India’s positioning as the motorsport hub of Asia, developing the right infrastructure for the sport and promoting young talent in the arena.

IBM Drives Capabilities for Clients to Run Business-Critical SAP Software Workloads on Hybrid Cloud

* Coca-Cola European Partners, Cementos Pacasmayo, Primadonna Collection adopt IBM Cloud to run SAP® software workloads in a secured and open environment

* SAP and IBM grow ecosystem of GSIs and ISVs including Syniti, TCS, Tech Mahindra

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new services, partnerships and capabilities designed to help clients accelerate their hybrid cloud journeys and deploy and run SAP® software workloads wherever they choose – from the IBM public cloud to on-premises. These new offerings expand on IBM and SAP’s global alliance partnership to help clients optimize their SAP software workloads.

Global clients across industries are choosing to run their SAP software workloads on IBM Cloud, including Peruvian construction company Cementos Pacasmayo, Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler based on revenue, and Italian fashion footwear retailer Primadonna Collection. Reinforcing IBM’s commitment to investing in a hybrid cloud ecosystem, IBM and SAP are also expanding their ecosystem of GSI and ISV partners, to include Syniti, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra and others, to help simplify and speed how clients run their SAP software workloads on IBM Cloud.  

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, enterprises around the world are looking to modernize their operations. According to a recent IBM IBV study,64 percent of executives surveyed now plan to shift to a more cloud-based business model over the next two years. With this acceleration comes the need for deploying complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business process workloads in a way that provides clients with the industry’s highest levels of security. Based on IBM Hyper Protect Crypto Service, the only service in the industry built on FIPS 140-2 Level 4-certified hardware.

"The global pandemic has seen a year's worth of digital transformation efforts with the acceleration of cloud adoption compressed into months,” said Harish Grama, general manager, public cloud, IBM. “Clients across industries are looking to shift to cloud and this is the core focus of our collaboration with SAP – giving our clients the ability to embrace the benefits of cloud without compromising on security and controls. This is all done through an open hybrid cloud architecture so our clients have a choice in how they approach their digital transformation, guided by the industry expertise needed to be successful in their journey.”

Clients globally choose hybrid deployments to run SAP software workloads:

Clients working to deploy their SAP software workloads to IBM Cloud include:

·        Peruvian construction company Cementos Pacasmayo, who deployed its SAP S/4HANA suite to IBM public cloud as it sought to expand beyond construction sales to value-added services, which allowed it to handle the additional ERP complexity that came with its new business line.

·        Coca-Cola European Partners, who is deploying several large SAP software workloads -- including the SAP ERP application and the SAP BW/4 HANA® solution -- as part of its hybrid transformation. The work is designed to help CCEP deliver higher levels of service to its customers by leveraging advanced analytics while retaining a reliable infrastructure.

·        Italian footwear retailer Primadonna Collection, who deployed its IT infrastructure to a certified SAP software environment on IBM public cloud for VMware to improve manageability and performance. This is designed to help Primadonna Collection modernize its business-critical processes, such as sales and customer care, as it looks to expand its global footprint.  

IBM launches new partnerships, services, and capabilities to support SAP software deployments:

New partnerships, services and capabilities are designed to make it easier for businesses to deploy their SAP applications to IBM public cloud – or another environment of their choice.

·        Expansion of partner ecosystem: To help clients more quickly and easily deploy SAP technologies in the cloud, IBM is expanding its SAP ecosystem of GSI and ISV partners with the addition of Syniti, TCS, BlueIT, H.T. High Technology, and Tech Mahindra. Syniti’s Knowledge Platform™ Cloud Edition on IBM Cloud is helping speed project times by up to 46 percent for clients deploying complex datasets to SAP S/4HANA. SAP also sells the SAP Advanced Data Migration application by Syniti, with a cloud edition delivered on IBM Cloud. Syniti is an SAP partner offering solution extensions to SAP software. IBM and TCS are engaging in joint go-to-market initiatives focused on accelerating cloud transformation journeys with TCS industry solutions and extensions for large enterprises.

·        New offerings through IBM Services: To help ease and speed clients’ cloud deployment processes, services including IBM Rapid Move for SAP by IBM, are powered by IBM Cloud to help clients deploy to SAP S/4HANA. The services are bundled to include access to IBM Services, IBM Cloud and IBM Global Financing. IBM Services offers clients a hybrid option to allow customers to selectively deploy applications to the new cloud-based platform.  

·        New SAP certifications: IBM recently acquired several new SAP certifications – adding to its portfolio of more than 100 solutions tested and certified by SAP -- to allow customers more choices around where and how to run their SAP software workloads. These will allow clients running SAP software workloads on an IBM infrastructure to access SAP applications in an optimized, quality-controlled way. The new certifications include:

o        IBM Power Systems Virtual Server – helps customers modernize their SAP software workloads with the option to run them in a virtualized infrastructure hosted in IBM data centers. With this certification, IBM can run applications based on SAP HANA® or the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform within its virtual server stack. IBM Power Systems Virtual Server is a private infrastructure-as-a-service offering with access to the full catalog of IBM Cloud offerings.

o        2nd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor-based servers on virtual private cloud -- enterprises can grow business value with faster data insights from SAP certified instances on IBM Cloud with Intel technologies.

o        NetApp certified storage for SAP workloads – gives clients running large and highly complex enterprise workloads access to ultra-high performance storage. IBM is now offering up to 180,000 IOPS of NetApp-based storage in the cloud – previously available only on-premises – to deliver high levels of performance, resilience and reliability.

As part of their global alliance partnership, IBM and SAP have worked with hundreds of clients across the globe on more than 5,500 individual projects to modernize their systems and business processes based on an open, hybrid cloud approach. IBM brings deep industry expertise and experience gained from 37,000 SAP-certified professionals, and is one of the most awarded SAP partners, named an SAP Pinnacle Award winner 36 times.  https://www.ibm.com/blogs/digital-transformation/in-en/blog/the-ibm-sap-digital-transformation-partnership/

About IBM Cloud For further information visit: www.ibm.com/cloud/.

Intel, the Intel logo, the Intel Inside logo, and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds Introduces “One India One Gold Rate”

 

Malabar Gold & Diamonds, one of the leading gold and diamonds jewellery retail chains in the country launches ‘One India One Gold Rate’ - an initiative offering uniform gold rate across all states in the country for 100% BIS hallmarked and responsible sourced gold without compromising on the quality and purity of gold. 

While the international gold prices are transparent and uniform custom duty and taxes are applied across the globe, in India, there exists a disparity across states in the rates of gold, even though gold is primarily sourced from the same designated banks. Such differentiated pricing of gold, which is essentially a commodity of specified and measurable quality, does not favour consumer interest. In some cases, the price difference between the states with highest gold rates and lowest rates is as high as Rs.400 per gram. Malabar Gold & Diamonds, over the years has recognized this issue and worked towards creating a uniform pricing policy to safeguard gold buyers across the country.  

In India, gold is not only considered auspicious, it also is a primary instrument of saving and investment across strata. The One India One Gold Rate initiative will ensure the customers across the country purchase gold at fair price. Also, the gold they are buying is conflict-free and pure by ensuring responsible sourcing. Another key aspect from Malabar is the buyback assurance to the customer whenever they want to sell or exchange their gold all across India.  

Commenting on the new initiative, Ahammed MP, Chairman, Malabar Group said, “While the Covid-19 pandemic has caused severe turmoil across sectors, the demand for gold has stayed consistently high. This shows the Indian consumer’ affinity towards the yellow metal as a saving and wealth creation instrument. Our initiative of One India One Gold Rate aims to further protect the consumer interest by providing them with a uniform gold rate without compromising on purity. Gold is a part of Indian tradition since centuries and is a part of all auspicious occasions. However, for it to be truly auspicious, it needs to be procured responsibly without exploitation of the stakeholders. We at Malabar, believe in our key principles – consumer interest, transparent business practices, and sustainable and inclusive growth. This is one big step towards our commitment to our customers across the country.” 

As the customers gear up for Dhanteras and Diwali, Malabar’s initiative on uniform gold pricing would be implemented across its 120 showrooms in the country. Malabar Gold & Diamonds is known for its quality and exquisite designs. The company prides itself in maintaining complete transparency and ensures responsible sourcing of gold, diamond, and platinum to provide its customers conflict-free products. 

Enthusiastic about the One India One Gold Rate, Asher Ottamoochikkal, MD India Operations, Malabar Gold and Diamonds said, “It is time for the Indian gold sector to set a standard in pricing, sourcing responsibly, and exchange policies to build a sustainable ecosystem. The only differential between buying gold from one manufacturer to another should be the value of designing the ornament and the auxiliary benefits provided to the customer during and after purchase. One India One Gold Rate is a step in this direction and demonstrates our market leadership as far as customer centricity is concerned. At Malabar, we believe that by being transparent and by empowering the customer, we can create an ecosystem built on trust for the sector.” 

The sector has several challenges in term of supply chain, certifications and documentation needed to deter unscrupulous business practices. For this, the industry needs to seek transparency throughout, from the mining source and enabling tracking mechanisms till it reaches various establishments. Tracking of gold throughout the supply chain will help arrest malpractices and strict provisions from the govt will bolster the sector. Lowering duty and other levies will also discourage and help eliminate smuggling of gold, which is a major concern for the sector. Malabar’ One India One Gold Rate is a step in the direction to create a transparent and level playing field, while ensuring the benefit to the consumer as the primary objective.  

The best part is One India One Gold Rate is not an offer campaign, but this is Malabar Promise to its patrons. Malabar Promise’ is a set of assurances offered by the brand exclusively to its customers to enable worry-free shopping as well as to safeguard their purchases for their lifetime.  All existing privileges such as 0% deduction on exchange and best value on buyback continue like before. Malabar Gold & Diamonds has been offering 100% BIS hallmarked gold ornaments for more than two decades despite no government mandate to ensure the same in the interest of customers. 

Godrej Appliances Makes its Refrigerators Work Harder for Consumers, with 6 in 1 Convertible Freezer Technology

 ~ Available in two of its Frost-Free refrigerator ranges -Godrej Eon Vibe and Godrej Eon Valor, the 6 in 1 Convertible Technology delivers maximum flexibility

~The technology can deliver a freezer temperature of -25°C, lowest in the category, ideal for long-lasting preservation.

Staying true to its philosophy of ’Things made thoughtfully’, Godrej Appliances, leading consumer durables manufacturer, brings yet another smart technology for its consumers - Convertible freezer Technology with 6 in 1 Freezer Modes – from Freezer to Deep Freezer and even, Cold Storage Mode. 

Owing to the pandemic and fear of infection, people continue to stock more in their refrigerator – more fruits and vegetables, more cooked food, more food prep for the next set of meals, more frozen foods. New practices are being adopted by consumers – borrowing from each other – of more meal preparation and more long-term preservation hacks. Herbs and Vegetables are being chopped and frozen, kulfis and ice creams are replacing store-bought ice creams, newer items are finding their way into the freezer and fridge for longer preservation and so on. Where in earlier days, freezers were not used enough, today more often than not the freezers are going full. And so is the main compartment. 

This is where 6 in convertible freezer technology comes into play. It lets you pick from 6 unique custom cooling options-

·         Auto Mode – the default setting which intelligently controls freezer temperature 

·         Low Load Mode – consumes less power even when the freezer is loaded

·         Ice Cream mode – just the ideal temperature for ice creams

·         High Load Mode – even when the main compartment is stuffed, the high load mode continues to maintain the right freezer temperatures

·         Deep Freezer Mode –provides frozen food preservation at temperatures as low as -18°C ideal for frozen desserts, frozen peas.

·         Cold Storage Mode - provides frozen food preservation at temperatures as low as -25°C, ideal for frozen meat.

Available in two Frost Free refrigerator ranges -Godrej Eon Vibe and Godrej Eon Valor, powered by Intelligent Inverter Technology, the refrigerators adjust cooling with variable compressor speed, resulting in greater efficiency, durability and silent operation. With the PUF thickness of 2.75 inches, these refrigerator models provide best-in-class cooling retention, giving long-lasting freshness. It also offers a large vegetable tray of 27 litres which gives consumers enough space to store all their veggies. In times of lockdown, consumers’ food preservation and storage habits are changing and the new Godrej EON VIBE and EON VALOR are an endeavor to meet these needs better. Available in 261L and 290L capacities, these models start from INR Rs. 23,500 (+ taxes).

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Kamal Nandi, Business Head and EVP – Godrej Appliances said, “The fear of pandemic is driving shifts in consumer behaviour and decision making. Storage space, flexibility and convenience are features that consumers seek even more today as they can in turn deliver higher safety to consumers reducing frequent trips outside and help them manage their umpteen chores better. At Godrej, we endeavour to bring meaningful innovations that transform the lives of our consumers, based on insights gathered from their current needs. Our new Godrej 6 in 1 Convertible Freezer Technology is one such attempt at addressing the core concern of our consumers. With consumers seeking the right value proposition in today’s difficult times, we are confident this unique technology will help them in their day to day lives.”

Mr. Anup Bhargava, Product Group Head – Refrigerators, Godrej Appliances, further added, “Our recently launched Convertible Freezer Technology with 6 in 1 Freezer modes allows consumers to get more convenience out of their refrigerator. Stylish and sleek, these are uniquely designed to cater to the underlying need for more storage and lasting preservation, especially during this pandemic. We are confident this new range will generate a revenue of INR 250 Cr in this year and further strengthen our position in the refrigerator category.”

Truecaller Introduces Call Reason - Next Step in Evolution of Caller ID & Releases SMS Scheduling and Message Translation

Building upon its core proposition of making communication safer and more efficient for their users, Truecaller has rolled out three highly anticipated features: Call Reason, Schedule SMS and SMS Translate for users globally.

Truecaller has been the pioneer in the mobile identity space, and has pushed the innovation of Caller ID to great heights. Consumers trust Truecaller to tell them who is calling but now they will also know why they are calling. Call Reason enables users to set a reason for their call, enabling the receiver to check what the call is about, whether the incoming call is personal, business or something urgent. This would increase pick up rates, especially when callers are calling from new numbers.  

The new 'Schedule SMS' extends the platform’s Caller ID feature to enable users to schedule a message reminder of any events, meetings, or what groceries you need to pick up at the end of the day. Additionally, the SMS Translate feature allows users to instantly translate the content of their messages directly in Truecaller without leaving the app. This feature works for both SMS and instant messages (IM). All these features will be free for all consumers.

Commenting on the feature, Rishit Jhunjhunwala, Chief Product Officer at Truecaller said, “We are thrilled at the launch of Call reason, Schedule SMS and SMS Translate. We have been working towards building an innovative communication suite for our users and these three features are the next big step in line with this mission. Communication in 2020 is easier in many ways, but also complicated by the vast ways in which people connect for information. As a brand, we strive to stay true to the core principle of building a product for masses while always acting in the public interest. We are constantly listening to our users and want to help them by putting more power in their hands.”

About Call Reason

The new Truecaller is bringing your communication home, by organising everything for you more easily and smartly. Call Reason was one of the most requested features in 2020 from Truecaller users around the world. With this, the new feature extends the platform’s Caller ID feature to help users to send a note in their outgoing calls. This would empower users in higher pick-up rates on outgoing calls as the receiver would know "what reason the call has been placed". Businesses can set a customized text before every call which would increase engagement with their customers .

This feature will start rolling out today to all Android users and will be launching for iOS early next year.

Schedule your SMS

Users can schedule SMS by simply selecting the icon while messaging and choose a date and time. Your message will be sent then, and you will always be able to see it scheduled in your chat. This feature is available for Android users only.

SMS Translate

The app automatically detects if a foreign language is used in the messaging screen and will show that a translation is available. This feature is powered by Google’s ML Kit and all messages are processed locally in the phone, which means the content of your messages never leaves your device. Language packs are downloaded to your device before translation begins. Users can also download additional languages to use them offline, anytime and anywhere. SMS Translate will only be available for Android.

About Truecaller:

People use Truecaller to stay ahead. It helps them know who’s getting in touch, filter out unwanted calls and SMS, and focus on what matters. The company provides a suite of unique services such as a dialer that offers caller ID, spam detection, messaging and more. Truecaller’s mission is to build trust everywhere by making communication safe and efficient. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the company was founded in 2009 by Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Atomico and Kleiner Perkins.