Group Renault Reveals Launch of the Renault Kiger on January 28

After generating a lot of exhilaration with the showcase of the Renault KIGER Showcar, Group Renault will be globally premiering the eagerly awaited Renault KIGER in India on January 28, 2021. Slated to revolutionise the B-SUV segment in India, Renault KIGER is a Stunning, Smart and Sporty offering to be first launched in India, followed by other markets.  

Renault KIGER has already made a strong impression for its distinctive styling, which is sporty, masculine and modern. Built on the CMFA+ Platform, Renault KIGER will come loaded with several smart attributes and features which will include some best-in-class offerings that will complement the design and styling of the car. Renault KIGER will be powered by an all new turbo engine and will offer an exciting drive.  

Renault KIGER will be the latest in the line of revolutionary products launched by Renault in India. Just like DUSTER, KWID AND TRIBER, KIGER will also change the dynamics in its segment and will be yet another game changer from Renault. Renault KIGER will be launched in the B-segment which accounts for more than 50% of the total industry sales and will be instrumental in growing Renault’s presence across the country.  

A collaboration between the Corporate design teams in France and Renault India design, Renault KIGER will be the third global car from Groupe Renault to be launched in India first, followed by other markets.  

ABOUT RENAULT  

Renault India Pvt. Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of Renault S.A.S. France. Renault India cars are manufactured in the manufacturing facility located in Oragadam, Chennai, with a capacity of 480,000 units per annum. Renault India also has a widespread presence of more than 415 sales and 475+ service touchpoints, which include 200+ Workshop On Wheels locations across the country, with benchmark sales and service quality. 

Renault India’s product line up and services have seen strong recognition among customers and industry experts alike, winning more than 60 titles, making Renault India one of the most awarded automotive brands in a single year in India. The Renault KWID has already bagged 32 awards, including 10 ‘Car of the Year’ Awards.  

IIM A Welcomed into CFA Institute University Affiliation Program

 

CFA Institute is pleased to announce that the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is now part of CFA Institute University Affiliation Program, alongside reputed institutions from across 71 countries.  

The IIMA Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) is one of the most sought after programmes in the country. A significant portion of the content of relevant courses in the program conforms to the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge.  

“To keep pace with industry needs, there is a need for a constant overhaul of the curriculum. And we at IIMA make it a point to rework our curricula basis industry inputs. CFA Institute is committed to building a better investment management profession with a mix of theory and practice with a focus on ethical and professional standards. There is an opportunity for the two institutions to collaborate and build a better industry”, said Errol D’Souza, Director, IIM Ahmedabad. 

“I am delighted to see this partnership between my alma mater and CFA Institute. We hope that this partnership is the start of multiple collaborations in the areas of research and outreach, leading to improvement and growth of investment management practice in India and a stronger talent pool of professionals”, said Vidhu Shekhar, CFA, Country Head, India, at CFA Institute. 

Through this affiliation the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program signals to potential students, employers and all stakeholders that IIM Ahmedabad’s PGP curriculum is in sync with professional practice globally.  Each fiscal year, a fixed number of potential IIMA PGP students will benefit from this partnership, as they will be awarded scholarships to enrol for the CFA Program.  

About CFA Institute 

CFA Institute is the global association of investment professionals that sets the standard for professional excellence and credentials. The organization is a champion of ethical behaviour in investment markets and a respected source of knowledge in the global financial community.  

Our aim is to create an environment where investors’ interests come first, markets function at their best, and economies grow. There are more than 178,000 CFA charterholders worldwide in 162 markets. CFA Institute has nine offices worldwide and there are 159 local societies. For more information, visit or follow us on Twitter at @CFAInstitute and on Facebook.com/CFAInstitute.

About IIM Ahmedabad 

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is a premier B-school in the Asia Pacific region. Globally, the Institute’s programmes have earned high reputation and acclaim, becoming the first Indian institution to receive international accreditation EQUIS. Founded in 1961 as a unique public-private partnership for development through the application of knowledge, today it has overseas presence in Dubai and associates with over 80 foreign B-schools to offer academically superior, market-driven and socially impactful programmes, research and consultancy services. In 2018, IIMA made it to the number four position in the Financial Times (FT) Asia Pacific Top 25 Business School Rank, ahead of all Indian B-Schools. FT conducted the ranking after considering the quality and breadth of all the B-schools programmes. Over the last several years, IIMA is the only Indian B-school to feature in the reputed Economist ranking and emerged at number one position in India Ranking 2020 NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework), released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. 

Over the years, IIMA has benefited more than 38,000 alumni who graduated from its various programmes. Currently, besides its renowned flagship Two-year Master in Business Administration (MBA), earlier known as Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP); the Institute continues to draw top-quality students to its PhD Programme in Management, MBA in Food and Agri-Business Management (FABM), MBA-PGPX (One-Year Full-Time Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives), Faculty Development Programme (FDP), Armed Forces Programme (AFP), e-Post Graduate Programme (ePGP), e-Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Business Analytics (ePGD-ABA), and benefits industry professionals through its short duration Executive Education Programmes. 

Bosch Power Tools Launches BeConnected - Unique QR Code Scanning Techn to Enhance User Experience

* Right information about Bosch Power Tools now at User’s fingertip

* Ensuring complete traceability of a product across the supply chain

* A first-of-its-kind web application in the power tools industry that offers end-to-end product lifecycle information

As numerous industries continue innovative pathways in this technology-infused era, digital User experience has bolstered its position as a game-changer in the evolving market. From construction and agriculture to manufacturing and mining, Users seek to be part of a digital ecosystem that connects them with dealers and products anytime-anywhere. Adhering to its notion of fascinating users through affordable solutions for a better life, Bosch Power Tools aims to enhance user convenience and experience through the launch of its new BeConnected, a QR code-based web application.

By scanning the QR codes on each power  tool, a User can check whether the product is genuine or not along with its complete technical specifications. Additionally, by scanning the QR code on the tool, users can register the tools for e-warranty by uploading the invoice and can also avail exciting offers available from time to time. As a launch offer, Bosch is offering 6 months extended warranty for the power tools with BeConnected QR codes. Currently over 75% of the tools are available with BeConnected QR codes. By Q4 2021, Bosch is planning to roll out 100% BeConnected enabled tools to the India market. BeConnected is a web application that provides its users with useful information such as the location of dealers and service centers, product information, tutorial videos, user reviews, information on new products, and timely reminders to service the tool. The web application extensively covers the aspects of utilities, product security, organization and documentation, and user-oriented sales. In addition to ensuring complete traceability of a product and digitalization services across the supply chain, the app makes after-sales service easily accessible for users in case of problems.

Commenting on this rollout, Nishant Sinha, Regional Business Director, India and SAARC regions, Bosch Power Tools, said, “Over the past 26 years, with its range of power tools, Bosch has helped its users in building up India. We will continue to provide technologically advanced and innovative products, digital offerings thereby fascinating our users with affordable solutions for a better life. As a manufacturing pioneer more than two decades worth of experience, we will foster a collaborative work culture with high-performance standards to provide superior value to our users and stakeholders.”

About Power Tools

The Robert Bosch Power Tools GmbH, a division of the Bosch Group, is one of the world’s leading providers for power tools, power tool accessories and measuring tools. In 2019, its roughly 20,000 associates generated sales of 4.8 billion euros, about 85 percent of which outside of Germany. With brands such as Bosch and Dremel, the division stands for User focus and great engineering progress. The core success factors are innovative strength and pace of innovation. In 2020, Bosch Power Tools will again launch more than 100 new products onto the German market in its four business segments power tools, accessories, measuring tools and garden tools.

About Bosch in India

In India, Bosch is a leading supplier of technology and services in the areas of Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. Additionally, Bosch has in India the largest development center outside Germany, for end to end engineering and technology solutions. The Bosch Group operates in India through twelve companies, viz, Bosch Limited, Bosch Chassis Systems India Private Limited, Bosch Rexroth (India) Private Limited, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Private Limited, Bosch Automotive Electronics India Private Limited, Bosch Electrical Drives India Private Limited, BSH Home Appliances Private Limited, ETAS Automotive India Private Limited, Robert Bosch Automotive Steering Private Limited, Automobility Services and Solutions Private Limited, Newtech Filter India Private Limited and Mivin Engg.Technologies Private Limited. In India, Bosch set-up its manufacturing operation in 1951, which has grown over the years to include 18 manufacturing sites, and seven development and application centers. Bosch Group in India employs over 31,000 associates and generated consolidated revenue of about ₨.21,450 crores* (2.66 billion euros) in 2018 of which ₨. 15,824 crores*(1.96 billion euros) from third party. The Group in India has close to 18,000 research and development associates.

In India, Bosch Limited is the flagship company of the Bosch Group. It earned revenue of over ₨. 12,460 crores (1.54 billion euros) in 2018. Additional information can be accessed at www.bosch.in

About Bosch Group

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 400,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2019). The company generated sales of 77.7 billion euros in 2019. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its User’s connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. Bosch employs some 72,600 associates in research and development at 126 locations across the globe, as well as roughly 30,000 software engineers.

upGrad’s New Year Dhamaka: Rewards 600 Employees with ESOP Grants in India

upGrad was in the news in July for being the first company in India to reverse pay cuts due to covid, retrospectively. Now on the first working day of the year India’s largest online higher education company upGrad has announced the grant of ESOPs to around 600 of its 2500 employees as a reward for the company’s stellar performance in 2020, and in recognition of the tremendous hard work and commitment of all who have completed more than a year with upGrad.

“We have seen our workforce adapting to the remote-work mechanism with sheer diligence and have worked harder throughout the year, contributing to our steep business growth & driving career outcomes for our learners. Hence, it is our conscious call to grant ESOPs to our team as gratitude towards their commitment. We believe this will further foster their & their family’s belongingness to our institution and create a shared ownership, in addition to long term wealth creation opportunity with upGrad,” said Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD, during the company’s quarterly town hall today.

This announcement was accompanied by the introduction of flexible paid time-off/leave policy and a spate of work-friendly policies for its 2500 team members, which will allow the employees to design their own paid-leaves calendar themselves, thus enabling flexible work culture across the board. 

With these initiatives, upGrad aims to strengthen its position as an employer of choice in India, and globally.

“We are cognizant that the personal and professional drivers for our workforce are different and rather than traditional designs of workforce policies and benefits, we are getting personalised in meeting the exact needs of each of our employees. To bring more inclusivity, fluidity, and flexibility in our people practices, we are making sure that we address the drivers that are critical to them – want to upskill and learn, upGrad will provide paid time off to do so; have a family exigency, the organisation will support them in taking time off to be with their loved ones. We want our employees to share our success, hence the ESOPs.  Also, we want to meet the personal needs, hence the flexibility to carve better work-life balance. This is just the beginning of the series of progressive policy changes that will be implemented over the year, our effort to create better employee experience and a happier workforce,” said Preeti Kaul, President - HR, upGrad.

Elated by the announcement, Neha Prasad, Senior Executive - Brand Marketing, upGrad said, “This, by far has been the best thing that has happened after 2020 and to start a new year on such an overwhelming note, is special. I am now waiting for HR’s crash course on ESOPs to truly understand how it can create value for me and my family. Attending town halls is the thing to look forward to now, as they have become the bringer of good news.” 

About upGrad

upGrad is India’s largest online higher education company. Founded in early 2015, upGrad has impacted over 1 million 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, BIMTECH, 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.

IIIT Bangalore and upGrad's PG Diploma in Data Science is India’s first-ever PG Diploma, with over 10,000 alumni & learner-base, to be recommended and validated by the NASSCOM and is aligned to Government approved National Occupational Standards (NOS). ​upGrad ranked​ as India's​ No.1​ startup,​ ​as per the LinkedIn​ ​Top​ ​Startups 2020 list. This is the third time in a row that upGrad has been featured​ ​in the​ top startup list by LinkedIn. ​The edtech major received the title of 'Best Education Brands' by Economic Times in 2020​ for the second time, post winning the same title in 2018. ​The brand made it to the​ prestigious​ GSV Global EdTech 50 List 2020. upGrad has emerged on the list of BW Top Education Brand 2020 and has been titled as the Best E-Learning Company of the year by Business World. ​Owing to its world-class learning platform. upGrad won the 'Best Communication and Teaching Platform' in the Education Innovation Awards 2020 by Entrepreneur India​ as well as received the title of ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019.

Ozone Shelters Fined Rs 10 Lakh by the Courts on Customer Complaint

The growing real estate mafia has been taking prospective home seekers for a ride by not delivering homes as per agreed terms and conditions. This is case which has been fought for seven years but the owner won it hands down as he had all points going in his favour.

The 4th additional Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC) Bengaluru has penalized Ozone Shelters Pvt Limited Rs 10 Lakh (Rupees ten lakhs) for a complaint raised by Devaraj Sharma. The apartment cost was a little over Rs 30 lakhs while the builder promised him to handover in May 2011 with a grace period of three months. The builder kept on delaying the project with new agreement terms which showed that the intentions were not right and was cheating the customer. The customer in this casepaid all money as per terms but failed to move into new house due to the developer’s lackadaisical approach. . The seven year battle with Ozone Shelters came to end finally with the advent of New Year.

The developer used various excuses to evade the delivery of finished home to the customer blaming it on supply issues of raw material, strikes, labour issues, price issues, non availability of material etc. This was questioned by courts diligently for which the developer had no answers.

Hailing the CDRC order A M Iktear Uddin (Anik), Advocate High Court of Karnataka stated, “Being a lawyer is a chance to represent someone who needs help. This order is a testament to the tenacity of our team here at Prime Legal, we stood with our client and fought the case for 6 and a half years and finally, and justice is served. This is a wake-up call to those who think that they can evade the law because of delays in court process. The stringent laws with the best mind at its place have to take care of any delay in delivery of flats to safeguard the interest of the aggrieved”.

About Prime legal- PRIME LEGAL is a full service and one of the best law firm in Bengaluru and brings to the table expertise and experience of more than one decades across various sectors and practice areas including consumer disputes issues. The team is over 25 strong lawyers.

Akamai Partners with MX Player to Deliver Seamless Viewing Experience to Users in India

MX Player has partnered with Akamai Technologies, the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences, to provide its increasing user base in India with seamless digital experience.

Earlier in the year, MX Player was ranked by App Annie as the No. #1 streaming app in India and the onset of the pandemic saw the platform witness not just a massive boost in viewership, but also new subscribers, and a newer audience. This accelerated growth heightened MX Player’s need for infrastructure that could support the scale and availability of the app across different networks and locations. MX Player found Akamai’s world class media delivery solution to be the right choice in order to deliver a high-quality viewing experience to their customers across different cities. The enhancement in performance and user experience was particularly pronounced in the case of MX TakaTak, a popular short video platform, that has seen a rapid surge of users, with a large portion of them coming from tier II and tier III towns.

According to Redseer, the online content consumption in India grew by 35% in April 2020 compared to January 2020. It further stated that short-form video content consumption recorded the most significant jump during the lockdown.

Vivek Jain, Chief Operating Officer, MX Player said, “In the last couple of months, our user base has increased exponentially. The demand to consume content on the go and the need for virtual entertainment amongst the middle, mass, mobile, millennial audience in India is growing faster than ever before. MX Player has seen more than 7x jump in time spent on the app. Even MX TakaTak, which we recently launched, crossed 1Bn video views per day within a month from launch and has quickly become the market leading app in the short video category. We have always obsessed about best-in-class video load times. Akamai is a pioneer in Edge distribution and its presence particularly in tier II and tier III towns has helped us deliver an unmatched viewing experience for our customers across India’s mega cities as well as the hinterlands.”

Commenting on this partnership, Mitesh Jain, India Sales Head, Media & Carrier Division of Akamai said, “Unprecedented demand for content coupled with rapidly evolving user behavior poses a challenge for apps trying to ensure high-quality viewing experience across a complex network topology. We are glad to have partnered with MX Player to help them scale the user base and step up to conform with user expectations of evolving Indian consumers. Given MX player’s ambition, I am sure that this is just a start and we will be accomplishing many more milestones together.”

About Akamai:

Akamai secures and delivers digital experiences for the world’s largest companies. Akamai’s intelligent edge platform surrounds everything, from the enterprise to the cloud, so customers and their businesses can be fast, smart, and secure. Top brands globally rely on Akamai to help them realize competitive advantage through agile solutions that extend the power of their multi-cloud architectures. Akamai keeps decisions, apps, and experiences closer to users than anyone — and attacks and threats far away. Akamai’s portfolio of edge security, web and mobile performance, enterprise access, and video delivery solutions is supported by unmatched customer service, analytics, and 24/7/365 monitoring. To learn why the world’s top brands trust Akamai, visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter.

About MX Player:

MX Player is an entertainment super app that caters to over 200 million Monthly Active users in India, integrating all forms of entertainment on one platform – including video playback, streaming video, music and gaming. Defining “everytainment” for viewers with entertainment that suits every mood, it currently operates on an ad supported model and hosts a wide library of over 2,00,000 hrs of premium content across 10 languages, including a critically acclaimed slate of MX Original/ Exclusives, movies, web series, TV shows, news and audio music. The app is available across Android, iOS, Web, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Android TV and OnePlus TV amongst others.

Having launched its gaming feature in February 2020, Games on MX Player has grown exponentially with 25m Monthly Active Gaming Users and this tournament style slew of hyper casual mobile games is now available across its Android and iOS apps.

From the stable of Times Internet (the digital venture of Times of India, India's largest media and entertainment group), MX Player has now spread its footprints across 12 markets including UAE, US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Srilanka, Maldives, and Bhutan.  MX has further expanded its business with the launch of its short format video app MX TakaTak - a home-grown platform that offers a wide variety of short form content and creation tools across genres that is home to the largest number of 6Mn+ digital influencers as well as MX ShareKaro that is an easy-to-use file sharing app with rapid transfer speed.

Flock Releases ‘How India Corporates Worked Remotely Through Covid in Report 2020’

Flock, the leading workplace communication and collaboration platform has released an extensive report on how Flock users in India which include corporates, decision-makers, senior executives, individual contributors, and more from businesses of all sizes have changed the way they work since March 2020. The study takes a look at data from 48 small businesses and 70 enterprises amassing 53,000+ active users. This report showcases a clear picture that the work from home or work from anywhere age is a welcome change for many organizations during Covid.

The findings of the report state that working habits of employees remained the same more or less: Flock users in India started their day at 8:00 am and ended their day at 6:00 pm on an average. A lot of the user activity dipped between 12:00 pm and 3 pm, during typical lunch time hours. It was also understood that users tend to be online longer on Thursdays, presumably to chase their remaining work at the end of the week. And while most Flock users are offline on Sundays, the platform saw a lot of activity on Saturday afternoons.

Interesting findings on How India worked in 2020:

* An average amount of calendar invites sent per user per day on Flock increased by 22% after March 2020.

* There has been a 13% increase in 1:1 messages sent between individual users since March 2020 as the teams have been working together a lot more

* Thousands of channels have been created to help groups communicate and get the job done: public channels have increased by 76% since March.

* The platform also noticed collaboration and communication occur out in the open more, too—the number of private channels created decreased by 28% in India.

* The collaboration platform also saw small businesses in India increase their amount of files shared by 55%

Commenting on the findings of the report, Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO said, “It’s no surprise that people are working online more than ever now. But it’s the steps they’re taking to ensure their productivity and efficiency increases in the remote workplace. Despite the biases against remote work, businesses and employees alike continue to prove that working from home is indeed an effective alternative. Businesses are continuing to communicate and collaborate in new, innovative ways that are transforming the modern workplace each passing day. And people all around the world are comfortable with a new style of work as it suits their requirements.”

Gaurang Sinha, Director, Go-to-market Strategy at Flock commented, “In 2020, we saw people begin to work their own way, utilizing new tools and the newfound flexibility of the workplace. New features on Flock, like voice notes and Zoom integration empowered our users to build happier, more productive workplaces by adding different ways of communicating with co-workers. We’re optimistic and excited to see the ways people and companies will thrive in the new normal in 2021.”

Flock introduced its voice notes feature in March and since then the number of voice notes posted increased by a massive 379%. Another very interesting finding by the platform states that Flock’s shared to-dos tool, which allows users to assign a task to an individual and set a deadline and reminders, saw its usage increase by 37%. This means employees and managers are being more proactive in getting their tasks done, and sharing their status with others in the team.

Flock’s most used features are video conferencing, to-dos, notes, file sharing, and reminders. Last quarter the platform announced that it had seen massive 40% revenue growth for the past three consecutive quarters.

About Flock

Flock is a real-time communication and collaboration app for companies. It offers a rich and intuitive messenger, as well as modules to help teams manage their people and processes better and automate workflows. Flock comes with a powerful platform that allows users to integrate frequently used external apps and even build custom apps, bots, and integrations. Flock is supported across all platforms, including Desktop (Windows and Mac), Mobile (iOS and Android), and the Web. To know more about Flock, visit ​www.flock.com or follow Flock on​Twitter​,​Facebook​, and LinkedIn.