How Technology Is Helping India’s Infrastructure & Construction Industry to Deliver Projects on Time

India’s Infrastructure and construction industry is one of the prominent sectors in the country, yet it has battled to get fine and simple technology on site. However, the role of technology has emerged in current times like never.

India is witnessing rapid urbanization everywhere, and thus, the number of Infrastructure and construction projects are also increasing. But the on-time delivery of these projects remains the biggest concern. According to a recent report by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 552 projects were delayed out of the 1,634 infrastructure projects it monitors that means, one of three large projects is delayed. Moreover, 373 projects also reported cost overruns.

Here, the role of technology can prove to be a savior. The construction and infrastructure sector should implement digitalization, innovative technologies, and new construction techniques to escalate productivity and efficiency.

Tracecost: With insightful and innovative use of technology, Tracecost strives to provide big picture insights and solutions for companies of all sizes. It is a technology company that offers specialized products and services for construction and infrastructure companies such as process consulting, analytics, custom development and cloud management, thus, covers all facets of project execution. Founded in 2019 by Prabh Paul, Madhvi Walia, and Sunny Vohra, the company was incepted by the rapidly growing demand for timely delivery of projects which is primarily driving the global infrastructure market in the direction of re-engineered processes and technologies. At its core, Tracecost specializes in problem-solving and reducing error by reliably offloading the manual work done by humans to a machine.

ArchChat: ArchChat is the world’s first chat platform for design and construction projects. It is one of a kind platform that brings architects, designers, project owners, engineering consultants, contractors, product manufacturers, their dealers and art galleries together. So they can be synced together and communicate about each and every aspect of their projects. While conversing, project collaborators can convert any conversation to a task and improve project management. ArchChat has been launched to the design and construction industry after years of dedication and multiple iterations by the team behind it. There are many new innovations in ArchChat, for which global patents have been applied. The ArchChat team has not stopped innovating. ArchChat aims to reduce costs of design and construction projects by making collaboration, saving time so projects are completed earlier, creating new business opportunities and adding value for product sellers by connecting them to new buyers.

iCore: iCore helps construction professionals manage risk and build quality projects – safely, on time and with budget. From project onboarding to billing and closeout, iCore’s simple and intuitive interface connects your team on a real-time centralized hub and on any device. A flagship product of CitrusLeaft, iCore is a construction business management software. Construction Companies and professional who works on high risk projects  can take help from the core. iCoreprovides construction companies with tools such as: Data Management RFIs (Requests for Information) Daily Log Dashboard Contact Directory Punch List Developed to assist SMEs, this software has a user-friendly interface which presents remarkable features to non-tech users too. Moreover, it is also recognized as one of the Top 10 Construction Management Software by CIOReview in India. 

Urban Company Launches #WearASmile Campaign - An Initiative to Humanise Face Masks Across India

● While masks keep everyone safe, human emotions get buried behind them. The Company’s service professionals will wear smiling face masks as a small step to retain the humanity in service interactions.

● The campaign is now LIVE across digital and social media channels, with new campaign film launched on YouTube.

India and the UAE’s largest tech-enabled home services marketplace, Urban Company today unveiled #WearASmile - an initiative wherein all service professionals will be issued face masks with a smile on it. The company believes that while masks keep consumers and service professionals safe, they make people (service professionals) invisible by hiding their faces and humanity. To this effect, all professionals on the platform will be issued face masks with smiles on them - as a small reminder of the human behind the mask, and a way to humanise the mask itself.

Ever since pandemic-related restrictions were imposed in India March onwards, people have been wearing masks to safeguard themselves and the people around them. Although masks help people stay safe, they take away a basic sense of humanity from day to day life. The warmest human element, a smile, is no longer easily visible on people’s faces. Consequently, human interactions seem devoid of warmth. This is exacerbated for service professionals, who put their lives at risk to ensure consumers are living and working comfortably from home.

Acknowledging this, Urban Company’s #WearASmile campaign aims to allay this diminished human element between consumers and professionals, by adding a smile to the face mask.

Commenting on the initiative, Tarun Menon, Director – Marketing, Urban Company said, “For our service professionals, masks hide their faces, making them unrecognisable; hiding the individuals behind the masks. Through the pandemic, we’ve heard stories from around the world that have reaffirmed our faith in the indomitable human spirit. Our intent with this small change to the masks our service professionals wear is to make the face mask in itself a little more human, with the smallest of reminders of that unbeatable human spirit - a smile.”

This campaign goes live on 08 December with an ad film. Brands such as Uber, OYO, Big Basket, Ola Money and Pharmeasy have extended their support to this initiative - some will change their social media display pictures across platforms to their logos with smiling face masks on them in support.

In addition, Urban Company’s app icon will also change, to reflect the new smiling mask being issued to service professionals. At the outset of the pandemic, Urban Company was one of the first brands to add a facemask to their app icon, underscoring their commitment to offering safe services.

In the first month of the pandemic, Urban Company was quick to roll out a slew of initiatives as a safety net for service professionals, to ensure their livelihoods were not adversely impacted by the uncertainty the pandemic brought on. Some of these measures included:

1.       Provided Interest-free business advances worth Rs. 11 Cr

2.       Investment towards providing safety kits and PPEs to all our service professionals

3.       COVID-19 health insurance and income protection

4.       Relief fund with Srinidhi Foundation

5.       Reimbursements of pre-paid credits with Urban Company worth INR 2 CR

This has resulted in high levels of satisfaction and productivity among service professionals, evidenced in the company’s consistently high partner NPS scores and the company’s growth through the pandemic. Time and again, Urban Company has launched unique initiatives, keeping service professionals in mind.

“It’s a very simple idea, but quite thoughtful. Wearing a mask with a smile definitely adds warmth to our covered faces and will bring some happiness to the customers we are servicing. I’m sure all service professionals will participate in this initiative with equal enthusiasm, ensuring it becomes a resounding success,” said Pinky, Service Professional – Urban Company.

Festivity Brings Back Merriment to Small Businesses: OkCredit Data

• 47% Increase in transactions on OkCredit App; Sale of sweets rose by 60% during this festive season when compared to the previous year

• Kirana and small businesses contributed to nearly 55% growth in transaction on the OkCredit app 

• Overall transactions on the OkCredit app during the festive period accounted for 12% of the transactions for the year 2020

• Transaction bookkeeping value for OkCredit rose by 13% during this year’s festive season / week when compared with 2019. 

• OkCredit witnessed highest growth in terms of new merchant addition in Karnataka which showed a growth of 14% during the festive season

• Over 2 million customers settled all their credit dues on OkCredit, with 80% in Tier 3 cities

Festive season has fetched much needed respite to micro, small and medium enterprise sector. These sectors have witnessed faster recovery, particularly sale of sweets, reveals data gathered by OkCredit, the pioneers in digital bookkeeping apps which are fast becoming a new rage among unorganized retailers and traders in India. 

Basis the behavior of users, OkCredit gathered data of how the businesses performed during the festive season. According to the data, sale of sweets has gone up by 60% during this Diwali compared to year 2019. This indicates the fervor associated with the festival overcame the fear of pandemic. For other items such as rangoli and lamps the sale has been the same as that of the previous year.

OkCredit data indicates that the growth in transaction on the app was led by kirana and small businesses. These contributed to nearly 55% of this growth even as the overall transactions on the app during the festive period accounted for 12% percent of the transactions for the year 2020.

OkCredit also witnessed an increase in ticket size for jewelry by 16% from the preceding months during the festive season. This is in sharp contrast to the overall trend of shrinkage in ticket size by 22% in general and increase in number of transactions by 47% on OkCredit app during Diwali/ festive season this year in comparison to the same period last year. This signals that merchants are lending smaller amounts which can be accounted to the shrinkage in overall economic activity.

On the business transaction side, the transaction bookkeeping value for OkCredit rose by 13% during this year’s festive season / week when compared with 2019. The company also witnessed highest growth in terms of new merchant addition in Karnataka indicating a growth of 14% during the festive season.

Diwali is known as the end of the financial year with the second day of Diwali marking the beginning of the next fiscal year. OkCredit, during the festive season, settled over 2 million accounts with 80% of accounts being settled in Tier 3 cities. This highlights empowering role modern bookkeeping solution is playing and the trend of micro retail players from small towns and hinterlands embracing digital bookkeeping solutions more than ever before, as it makes their book-keeping task simpler, digitized and secure.

According to Harsh Pokharna, Co-founder and CEO, OkCredit, “The overall growth story of digital bookkeeping industry has been very bullish this festive season with actual transaction figures surpassing our expectations comfortably. This shows how comfortable businesses have become with online bookkeeping even in this pandemic hit year. One clear lesson from this festive season is that digital bookkeeping has become more mainstream than ever and it has proven that with the right technology and features the value proposition of digital bookkeeping is immensely powerful.”

The world is by all accounts gradually reeling out from the pandemic that brought almost the entire population to a haltfor months. The good news is that businesses are finally beginning to look up after a bleak streak that lasted months on end thanks to the festive season which is an extremely hectic time for retailers in India.

About OkCredit

OkCredit – ‘Digital India ka Digital Bahi Khata’, PSI PHI Global Solutions Private Limited’s first launched product, makes the book-keeping task simpler, digitized and secure for small businesses. With a mission to help small businesses grow with simple software products, and digitally empower them, OkCredit was launched in 2017 by three IIT KanpurAlumni; Harsh Pokharna, Gaurav Kumar and Aditya Prasad.OkCredit has given a complete digital makeover to the traditional register book - ‘Bahi/Udhar Khata’ and made the daily bookkeeping task simpler and effective for millions of small businesses. The app not just helps small businesses to keep track of credit transactions – both payments and receivables, it sends timely reminders, and also makes it very easier for them to collect and settle balance amounts quickly and accurately, on a click – with an integrated reminderfeature via WhatsApp and SMS. With a vision to accelerate the need for digital transformation for small businesses in India, OkCredit app is completely free to access and ensures 100% safety, data security and accuracy.

With only one user in 2017, this dream project of the three like-minded friends has changed lives for millions of users as of today. The app has already more than 20 Mn downloads and can be accessed in more than 10 Indian languages. Currently, it has over 5Mn active monthly users which include over 100 types of businesses like Kirana store owners, mobile recharge shops, medical stores, apparels amongst others across PAN India. The venture has raised $83 million from investors to date including from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global, and Y Combinator.

India's Leading Digital Healthcare Platform - MediBuddy Reach is 20,000 Plus Locations

MediBuddy, in its vision to making high-quality healthcare accessible to every individual across the length and breadth of the country, has crossed the 20,000 locations where its services are available. This has been possible by working with a single-minded focus to build an unbeatable digital healthcare ecosystem and by enabling the best of healthcare to be accessible from one window.

The Indian Healthcare system is facing major challenges when it comes to making health facilities available, accessible, and affordable for one and all. India has a ratio of 1:1456 as compared to WHO's ideal of 1:1000 coupled with the shortage of specialist doctors has also resulted in patients not being diagnosed correctly or diagnosed too late. However, with the advent of technology and the recent demand for telemedicine (due to the pandemic), the spotlight has been on ensuring easy access to healthcare for all.  MediBuddy, as a leader in the digital healthcare, has played a major role in ensuring that the existing healthcare system in India is infused with energy to be able to cater to the needs for all.

With a team of experienced &specialist doctors & network hospitals available 24x7 for online consultation on its platform, MediBuddy has been able to provide top-quality healthcare even to the remotest parts of the country like Demwe&Lohitpur, Arunachal Pradesh. On its journey towards making high-quality healthcare more accessible across the nation, MediBuddy has ensured that individuals have access to medical supplies even in the remotest towns such as Roing. Labs for health check-ups that have been set up in secluded towns/villages such as ChutaDirakGaon, Assam is another manifestation of the reach and comprehensiveness of coverage of MediBuddy.

Mr. Satish Kannan, Co-founder & CEO, MediBuddy-DocsApp said, “Health has and should always be a number one priority for any individual and we at MediBuddy have embarked on our mission and responsibilities to provide comprehensive healthcare to all Indians via technology.”

The MediBuddy platform empowers individuals to get their healthcare queries solved instantly along with providing them with online doctor consultations, order medicines & lab tests just with a click on their phone or computer - any day, any time. MediBuddy offers a platform for individuals to connect with Specialist doctors across 18 departments via phone, video anytime, anywhere.

Very often especially in remote areas, the clinical service is a remote-attending model that is available from 7 pm to 7 am that includes hospital admissions and cross-cover. With the help of telemedicine, individuals can conveniently ensure that the patient receives the right & timely care, and gain peace of mind. In the past year, the digital healthcare platform has helped over 80Lakh individuals connect to specialist doctors at night-hours.

Babies have a knack for spiking fevers or getting sick in the middle of the night. Rather than rely on an internet search, MediBuddy helps connect parents quickly with specialist doctors who can give answers and provide a diagnosis, and even a prescription, when needed. The platform has also helped 4lakhs parents’ access to timely & quality care at night-hours by connecting them to specialist Doctors in the paediatrics department.

Among the many benefits of an online healthcare platform like MediBuddy are important aspects like saving of time and avoidance of travel & commute leading. It is estimated that more than 12crore kms of travel has been ‘saved’ by people opting for digital healthcare platform. This has resulted in enormous savings of time, money, and efforts.

It has been a fulfilling journey so far however MediBuddy believes that this is just the start. MediBuddy is working towards ensuring that it becomes the most trusted buddy one can rely upon for all their digital healthcare needs.

The Habitats Trust Grants, Founded by Roshni Nadar Malhotra Announces Conservation Champions for 2020

The Habitats Trust, founded by Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCL Technologies, today announced the recipients of The Habitats Trust Grants 2020.The Habitats Trust Grants is an annual initiative aimed at securing India’s biodiversity by bolstering efforts of conservationists on-ground by bridging the resource gap along and providing critical support to make their work more sustainable.

Bat Conservation India Trust received the Lesser-known Species Grant (Rs. 15 Lakh) for its Research and conservation efforts to prevent extinction of the Kolar-leaf Nosed Bat in Bettagerahalli and Hanumanahalli villages in the Kolar district.  Bats play a major role in sustenance of the eco system in multitude ways like seed dispersals, pollination and pest control. Hence it becomes important that these flying mammals and their natural habitats are protected.

Classified as Critically Endangered species as per IUCN Red List, the Kolar-leaf Nosed Bat is on the oblivion with an estimated population of only 150-200 in the last remaining single roost.Bat Conservation India Trust, with support from the Habitats Trust Grants, will work towardsmaintenance and recovery of the Kolar Leaf-Nosed Bat population, increase the area of the recently declared Kolar Leaf-Nosed Bat Conservation Reserve, educate and influence the farmers in surrounding region to adopt organic farming and work towards preventing bat hunting activities.

Congratulating the winners, Ms.Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Founder & Trustee, The Habitats Trust said, “The global pandemic set off ripple effects across nations as it upended every aspect of human life. While to many it may have appearedthat the slow-down of human activity benefited nature, the reality was different, as the pandemic adversely affected natural habitats and wildlife on account of our National Parks and Reserves being left exposed and vulnerable. India saw an increase of 151% in poaching cases during the lockdown as per a report by TRAFFIC. However, we’ve seen conservationists, surmounting numerous hurdles and make heroic efforts to continue pushing ahead with their mission of protecting vulnerable biodiversity even in these difficult times. As part of our commitment, we are honoured to extend our support to them and their projects that are aimed at restoring and protecting critical ecosystems to help better preserve our natural biodiversity.”

The Habitats Trust Grants’ recipients were selected through a rigorous five-stage process that took into account the expected impact, relevance and scalability of the project; the applicants’ capacity to deliver and finally the long-term sustainability of their proposed work post the one year grant period. The Trust received over 4300 registrations this year and chose 12 finalists after conducting a thorough evaluation and due diligence by an external auditor. The Habitats Trust Grants team also visitedthe finalists’ project sites across the country to assess the scope and potential conservation impact of the applicants’ proposed projects.

The four recipientsof the Grants were chosen from a total of 12 finalists (four in each category) by an eminent jury that included Dr. M. K. Ranjitsinh,Wildlife Expert and the prime architect of the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972 (the first central legislation on wildlife conservation in India); Bahar Dutt, Wildlife Biologist, Authorand Environmental Journalist; Brian Heath – Founder and CEO for the Mara Triangle Conservation Area, Kenya and Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCL Technologies, Founder and Trustee of The Habitats Trust.

While The Habitats Trust awarded full financial grants to one recipient in each category, other finalists were also awarded 10 percent of the grant amount in their respective categories, to ensure that their efforts and work is recognized. The total grants awarded by The Habitats Trust Grants 2020 is Rs. 84 lakhs.

About The Habitats Trust

Founded in 2018 by Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the Chairperson of HCL Technologies and Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, and Shikhar Malhotra, the Vice Chairman of HCL Healthcare and Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation, The Habitats Trust is working towards protecting natural habitats and their indigenous species of flora and fauna through strategic partnerships, sustainable on-ground efforts, engaging technology for conservation and generating conservation awareness. The Trust envisions a world where our natural habitats are secured for future generations, and humans live in harmony with the wildlife that share our planet.

About The Habitats Trust Grants

India is a megadiverse country, with only 2.4% of the world's land area, it accounts for 7% -8% of all recorded species, including over 45,000 species of plants and over 91,000 species of animals. Four of the 34 globally identified biodiversity hotspots: The Himalayas, the Western Ghats, the North-East, and the Nicobar Islands, are found in India. However, rampant habitat loss and fragmentation, increasing biotic pressures on forests, and poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife and its parts, pose a grave threat to India’s biodiversity. In 2018, the annual Grants was conceptualised to recognize, and support committed conservationists who have dedicated their lives to securing the country’s vibrant flora and fauna.

Bharti Airtel Accelerates Its Open Hybrid Cloud Network Deployment with IBM and Red Hat

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, have completed the first phase of Airtel’s Open Hybrid Cloud Network built with IBM and Red Hat's portfolio of hybrid cloud and cognitive enterprise capabilities.

With this deployment, Airtel’s customers and ecosystem partners will have a flexible foundation to build and deploy innovative applications on the cloud network. They will also gain enhanced performance, availability, automation and scaling, all the way from the core to the network edge.  

Telecom operators worldwide are expected to spend over $111 Billion by 2022 upgrading their network cloud and platform.1 With the ever increasing customer demand for seamless connectivity services and the continuing exponential growth in data traffic, Airtel has embarked on this massive cloudification program to make its network agile, robust and scalable.

Airtel has been working with IBM to integrate end-to-end advanced automation and plans to embed AI capabilities in the future as a core part of its network transformation. In this first phase, IBM and Airtel have co-developed a “single click” automated hybrid cloud design and deployment capability and “light touch” operations. This will enable Airtel to rapidly improve network connectivity and accelerate its continued core network transformation. As a result, Airtel will be able to scale to meet increased customer demand, onboard new partners more quickly and speed the launch of innovative cloud-based services.

The architecture, which is built on open source technology, including Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat OpenShift, enables Airtel to manage communications across distributed network environments. This gives Airtel’s customers and ecosystem partners the flexibility to create more targeted, cutting edge solutions in the cloud or on-premises location of their choosing. Additionally, this open architecture enables Airtel to embrace open source Radio Access Network (RAN) to improve  interoperability for ecosystem partners using RAN equipment.

Once fully implemented, Bharti Airtel’s Open Hybrid Cloud Network will help millions of partners and customers across industries rapidly harness the power of emerging technologies like 5G and edge computing. For example, a customer could use the network to leverage AI, IoT and edge computing capabilities to power applications that can deliver better insights from factory floors or enable remote doctor visits.

IBM Services is setting up the infrastructure, designing and implementing Airtel’s open hybrid cloud network and executing overall program management. This collaboration draws on IBM Services' deep industry experience in helping strategize, design build and develop hybrid cloud platforms that integrate technologies, like AI and analytics, to enable the automation, management and operations of a virtualized network.

“Airtel has been at the forefront of adopting leading edge technologies to modernize our network architecture. By adopting an open hybrid cloud network with the support of IBM and Red Hat we are building a scalable and future-ready network to serve our customers with best-in-class services.” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel.

“Telco companies are at an inflection point in modernizing their networks and harnessing an open hybrid cloud architecture is fundamental to driving the scale, cost efficiencies and innovation they need. Together with Bharti Airtel, our most recent automation benchmarks have demonstrated our approach can shorten RAN service deployment times from weeks to a few days  -- compelling improvements in innovation for Bharti and their customers” said Steve Canepa, Global Managing Director, Communications Sector and Worldwide Head of Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment Industry, IBM.

“With an open hybrid cloud architecture built on Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat OpenShift, Airtel can fuel faster innovation with greater flexibility, consistency and agility. With IBM and Red Hat, Airtel is strengthening its network foundation so it can rapidly adapt to the shifting needs of its partners and customers and deliver advanced solutions, all the way to the edge,” said Darrell Jordan Smith, Senior Vice President, Industries and Global Accounts, Red Hat.

Practo Telemedicine Health Plans Record 2.5x Growth in Six Months

As video, audio and chat-based doctor consultations become mainstream in India, Practo, India’s leading integrated healthcare company, today announced that its telemedicine health plans, Practo health plans have grown by over 250% in the last six months. Launched early this year, Practo health plans have touched the lives of more than 1.2L people across individual and corporate customers, in this short span of time. The company is targeting a 10x growth in Plus subscribers over the next year.

While most of the health plan users are from metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai, there has been a growth of 30x in the number of users from non-metro cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow. There are more than 20,000+ doctors from over 21 specialties on the Practo Plus health plan network. With an ETA of about 120 seconds, health plan patients get priority access, and can connect with doctors on text, call or video, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.

As people continue to take precautions to avoid infections and seek medical help to protect and improve their health, being able to consult doctors across 21+ specialties, upto 15 times a month, on Practo has been a real boon and offers a peace of mind. What makes these consultations even more effective is the continuity of care they afford by offering free follow-up consultations upto 3 days after the primary consultation.

Practo Plus Plan details:

These telemedicine plans come in monthly and half yearly subscriptions:

·  INR 399/- per month allows a user to consult online with doctors across 20+ specialities, upto 15 times a month

·  INR 1199/- 6 months (approx. 200 per month) allows a user to consult online with doctors across 20+ specialities, upto 15 times a month

Key Insights from health plans user behaviour from the last six months:

·  Millennials account for 60% of the health plan users, majority of whom consult for the elders in the family

·  The second most active user group include those who have chronic health conditions and those who live in remote locations

·  The most consulted speciality include GP, Gynecology, Pediatrics, Dermatology, ENT and sexology, wherein a typical user consults these doctors upto four times a month

·  Other top consulted specialties by health plan users include Mental health specialists 

·  On an average, a health plan user consults a doctor three times a month, as against a national average of three times a year (basis Practo Insights report from last year)

·  Men and women user split stands at 75% vs 25% respectively 

·  Out of all the users, 50% users are new / first time users of telemedicine health plans

“It’s encouraging to see how patients are getting more and more aware and appreciative of this new way of accessing healthcare. What started with the outbreak is sure to shape the future of healthcare in the country. Awareness, access and quality are the three most important pillars for the success of teleconsultations. Health Plans are a great way of making telemedicine more mainstream, and we’re very bullish on both its relevance and growth, over the coming months and years.” Siddhartha Nihalani, VP - Product Growth, Practo. 

With contagious diseases like COVID-19 demanding social distancing, telemedicine has become one of the most viable solutions for obtaining quality healthcare. With the Government’s patronage and growing awareness among people from every part of the country, Indians are embracing telemedicine as the new way of life.

“The pandemic is here to stay and it’s important we get used to the new normal. Technology is here for good, and will have a lasting impact on how we access healthcare. Seeking care is more important than ignoring symptoms and telemedicine opens the doors for doctor-patient interaction seamlessly from the comfort of one's home”, said Prof Dr Supten Sarbadhikari, ex- Project Director, NHP and ex-Dean, IIHMR, currently on WHO Digital Health rooster.

About Practo:

Practo, the country’s leading integrated healthcare company, connects the entire health ecosystem together – patients, doctors, clinics, hospitals, pharmacy, diagnostics, and other partners, to generate exceptional value and service for all, esp. the end consumers. It integrates different parts of the patients’ healthcare journey so they can have one seamless experience, right from finding and booking an appointment with verified doctors, consulting verified doctors online with ETA as low as 60 seconds, getting medicine and lab tests at the doorstep, and accessing insightful health articles authored by verified doctors. Practo also makes software products that help healthcare providers ranging from small clinics to large hospitals digitize and deliver more efficient and higher quality healthcare to millions of patients around the world. 

As technology becomes an integral part of healthcare, Practo has also become an essential enabler in helping doctors understand the nuances of managing and securely storing all health data. Practo encrypts all data with 256-bit encryption, uses HIPAA compliant data centers, and is one of the few healthcare companies to be ISO 27001 certified. Practo is present in 20 countries, helps 18 crore+ patients a year, and connects patients with 1 lakh+ verified doctor partners.