Legrand Launches “Myrius Next Gen” Steps Into A New Range Of Wiring Across Indian Market

Legrand India, a global leader in electrical and digital building infrastructure today launched its  new range of wiring device ‘Myrius Next Gen’,  the premium product assortment. Myrius Next Gen is expected to build a value and  strengthen Legrand’s presence in the premium segment with its modern technology. The product range is targeted at the residential and commercial segment with also a focus on architects , builders, electricians, consultants, contractors, developers, system integrators and  retailers. 

This collection is very unique as the Legrand team has developed specially curated Motif collection plates inspired by our Indian culture and heritage. One of the examples; Dark Fade plates are inspired by the dense, impenetrable jungles of South West India cocoons the mysterious spicery of pepper. Taking after the sprawling pepper plantations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Dark Fade adds zing to any mundane interior. IMD technology has been used here, which is a breakthrough as it’s the first in this category. With this technology it adds to the finesse and durability of the products and also goes with the latest style of home décor.  

This new range of products have been developed  using the intelligence of IoT which includes wireless technology, controlling it remotely (even when away from home), voice control, app control, can monitor electricity usage & get alerts. With this the brand promises its customers savings, safety, convenience, and control, additionally, for comfort and peace of mind. Legrand’s IoT enabled Home/ Away Wireless Master Switch lets its users switch on or off multiple things like all lights, shutters or  sockets by just pressing one switch at home or by tapping the app on your phone, even when you are not home. All the products in this range are designed in such a way that it is retrofittable, now the customers don’t need to worry about changing the electrical infrastructure.  

Mr. Tony Berland, CEO & Managing Director, Legrand India said, “ Due to the pandemic, 2020 was a difficult year for the entire world and Indian electrical brands were no different. But despite such tough conditions we decided to launch a whole new range of wiring device which  focuses on designeering & technology for our customers. New products development has been an integral part of our growth engine & we plan to stick to that philosophy.  We are extremely proud  to add a new range to our premium product assortment with the new brand – Myrius Next Gen.”  

Mr. Sameer Saxena, Director- Marketing, Legrand India said, “Legrand strongly believes that customers are at the heart of the Innovation. Keeping in mind that customers are our priority we decided to launch Myrius Next Gen. Feedback from our  customers helped us a lot to anticipate the trends and their future expectation. The idea behind this range of products was to assure comfort to our customers with the latest IOT technology. To ensure that all our customers have unique experience and choices, we specially designed our motif collection truly inspired by our Indian heritage and rich culture.” 

The brand has been conceptualised and inspired  by its customers health and hygiene being a priority, especially during the times of COVID. Powered by the silver ion’s, Legrand has created anti-bacterial feature which inhibits the growth of bacteria on frequently touched  switches and plates.  

Legrand is world’s leading electrical and digital building solution provider company with global turnover of 5.5 billion Euros. The company enjoys leadership in premium wiring devices as well as MCB in the Indian market. Its products are widely used in residential, commercial, industrial and hospitality industry.  Legrand India takes a further leap with its Smart connected Home offerings. Through its entry in the IoT space it takes a further leap from the brand in its Smart Connected.

About Legrand Group in India: 

A global specialist in the electrical & digital building infrastructure, Legrand is a Euro 5.5* billion (470.2864 cr) group based in   Limoges, France. The group has manufacturing facilities   in   90 countries   and   its products   are   sold   in   over   180   countries.   Globally, Legrand is a leader   in wiring    devices    and    cable management with a global market share of  over  20%  and  14% respectively. Legrand also enjoys leadership positions in at least one of its major business areas in a  number  of  countries  including  France,  Italy, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, China, and of course India. 

Legrand India offers a wide range of products in the categories of  Energy distribution, Wiring devices, Home    Automation,    Structured    Cabling,    Lighting    Management    Solutions,    Cable Management    and Industrial application products. It is an undisputed leader in MCBs, RCDs and DBs and a strong No. 2 in wiring devices Apart from this, the company also holds a leading position in Home Automation, MCCBs and Cable management systems. 

The company’s geographical reach, across market segments, caters to new requirements of customers with smart solutions that make Legrand a multipolar group.  And this multipolar nature, and the global philosophy of Listen, Design, Make and Support has enabled it to provide innovative and smart solutions. Legrand’s products are amongst the top in the market and have undisputable brand equity. 

Legrand products and services comply with the three criteria of simplicity – simplicity of use, simplicity of installation and simplicity of distribution - which enables the company to quickly penetrate new markets. With an employee base of over 1000 in India, the company is fast emerging   as   a   leader   in   its   core business by extending products and services that suit every segment in the local market. 

Headquartered in Mumbai, Legrand operates across India through 26 offices, 600 stockiest, 11500 retail outlets with three state-of-the-art manufacturing units, seven training centers and two R&D center. Technological innovations, simple   and   rapid   product   combinations   to   form communicating systems, clever installation ideas etc. are the focus of the R&D team at Legrand. 

WinZO Sponsorships India’s First Ever XO Space; To Boost Esports Penetration In "Bharat Supporting 12+ Languages"

WinZO, India’s largest vernacular social gaming platform, is the official sponsor of XO Space. XO Space is India’s first ever Gaming House that is being hosted by its parent company Esports XO.  

The gaming house will feature India’s 40 biggest and most followed Freefire Youtubers and streamers with a combined subscriber base of 75 million+. Pro Freefire Gamers such as ProNation and Dev Alone will be participating in this 11-month long competition which will be live streamed on WinZO and YouTube. The content will be hosted on the vernacular app, WinZO, in multiple languages to propel the reach to the deeper parts of Bharat. Within a week of launch, this event is projected to garner 1 Billion+ eyeballs, alone over YouTube.  XO Space is also witnessing participation from Indian Sub-continent and countries such as  Bangladesh, Nepal and other South East Asian countries. While this is an opportunity to build further on the streaming ecosystem, the winning  team of the XO space will be rewarded with a Cash prize worth Rs.11 lacs.   

Post PUBG ban and cancellation of offline eSports globally due to COVID 19 pandemic, XO Space is a boost to the  pursuit of Indian gaming talent to rise to international fame. 

In an unprecedented move, over the last 3 months, WinZO has partnered with 100,000 ByteDance influencers (Helo and TikTok)  from tier II and smaller cities/towns who were affected by the shutdown of the operations of TikTok post government ban over the Chinese apps. WinZO has deployed resources to upskill these influencers through extensive and structured training programs on gaming content creation and streaming technologies. The Vernacular focused Gaming and Streaming platform is not only distributing culturally relevant regional content but also democratising content making at a massive scale. This is a positive step in the support of PM Modi’s Atmanibhar Campaign.  

One such beneficiary of WinZO’s upskilling program is Pro Freefire Player and streamer Mr. Lokesh Raj, popularly known as “Lokesh Gamer”. Lokesh started with WinZO at a very nascent stage with 200k subscribers and today enjoys 7.5M+ subscribers on his official YouTube channel. Mr. Raj said “WinZO played a pivotal role in upgrading my skills. Their training on regional content creation and streaming tech helped me create industry standard content to engage my users effectively and has resulted in swift growth. I leverage significantly from the traffic that can from WinZO to my channel,  growing my channel from sub 200K to above 7MM follower base within 12 months. ” 

WinZO also developed a cutting edge tool; WinZO Developer Console (console.winzogames.com) to democratize game publishing for the game developers who can access the ready market of 30M+ registered user base of WinZO and effectively monetize their games. WinZO’s user base consists of transacting users who reportedly make 1 billion+ microtransactions per month on the platform. This effective monetization model allows developers to earn 100X more revenues than their play store and apple store IAP and Ad based revenues. 

Mr. Ranjan Shrestha, of Bhoos Entertainment, who runs a ten-membered game studio and was one of the beneficiaries of WinZO’s developer’s fund-I of $1.5 million corpus said: “We had multiple games which were not doing so well on play store and other stores in terms of revenue generation. However, after the partnership and integration of those games on WinZO, we have received huge traction from the same games, thanks to the specialization of WinZO in promotion and marketing. Algorithms to push the content to the relevant audience helped drive the engagement further. We have seen 100x more returns than any other sources and we do not need to worry about the monetization and distribution at all. Our sole focus is to build high-quality games.” 

As an extension of its Game Developer-I fund, WinZO also recently announced the Game Developer Fund-II with a corpus of $5 Million with the vision to support and nurture the game development,ESports, Streaming. So far, it has received 1000+ submissions on the Game Developer Console against the announced fund. WinZO has also opened its offices for these developers to collaborate & build together with the team. 

Earlier in September 2020, WinZO announced its Series-B funding of $18 Million led by global interactive entertainment fund Makers Fund based in Singapore, New York-based Courtside Venture, and Steve Pagliuca, the Co-Chairman of Bain Capital and investor in Epic Games - developers of massively popular game, Fortnite. 

About WinZO: 

WinZO is the largest vernacular social gaming platform in India, launched in early 2018. The company partners with third party game studios to host their games on their Android app, creating a Netflix-like experience for users, who can enjoy multiplayer gaming formats with their friends or strangers online in a localized and personalized fashion. The platform is available in 12 languages with over 30+ million registered users. Clocking over 1 billion micro-transactions per month, WinZO offers 70+ games across various multiplayer formats. This vernacular social gaming platform focuses on building a community of gamers and game influencers in Tier 2 – Tier 5 cities of India. WinZO is designed to deliver strong positive unit economics in the Indian gaming ecosystem, which experiences one of the highest engagements globally, through a unique micro-transaction led model. 

WinZO was founded by Paavan Nanda, a second time entrepreneur, and Saumya Singh Rathore. It boasts a team of 60 members. Some of the major investors backing WinZO are - Makers Fund, Courtside, Kalaari Capital. WinZO is also backed by Stephan Pagliuca - Co-Chairman of Bain Capital and Co-owner of the popular NBA Basketball team, Boston Celtics.  

More Enterprises Trust Eka To Accelerate Their Digital Transformation

* Eka grew 60% in overall Annual Contract Value (ACV) in 2020 as enterprises adopted new digital capabilities on its Cloud Platform

Eka Software Solutions,  the leading cloud platform for commodities and direct materials today announced stellar growth as customers selected its award winning platform to enhance their supply chain resiliency. With a strategic focus on customers, Eka recently revamped its technology platform to align to their priorities, resulting in new solutions and significant growth of over US$ 70 million in Total Contract Value (TCV).

Throughout 2020, enterprises in commodity management and direct materials sought to digitalize their supply chain and end their reliance on traditional, siloed legacy systems. Business leaders now understand that the ability to connect the dots between systems, data and their people is the key to maintain business continuity, remain competitive and ensure sustained growth.

Eka is leading this shift with the only Cloud Platform built to accelerate digital transformation for enterprises in the direct materials industry. The cloud company introduced an integrated suite of solutions to  manage complex direct materials and commodities supply chains. These solutions help customers to mitigate risk and respond quickly in volatile markets. With real-time visibility and automation of critical processes customers can dynamically adjust operations and better manage disruptions.

“One thing is clear; businesses have significantly accelerated their move to digital. Our customers demanded new ways of working and best of breed technology and we were ahead of the curve. Our Cloud Platform and deep industry talent allowed us to respond swiftly and deliver on our customers’ key priorities, while helping them maintain business continuity and gain tangible value,” said Manav Garg, CEO and Founder, Eka Software Solutions.

At the start of the pandemic Eka quickly adopted a remote implementation methodology to accelerate key projects, leading to 100% remote delivery with increased collaboration, communication and seamless execution. The company implemented a record number of 20 new projects remotely amidst the COVID-19 lockdown that included customers such as Cargill, Alvean,  Mex Gas International, Fujax, CHS Broadbent and TPorts.

Eka was also recognized by Risk Market Technology Awards as the best trading system for commodities. Additionally, Chartis and Energy Risk ranked Eka among the top five energy solutions provider for its Platform driven Energy Trade & Risk Management (ETRM) solutions.

Eka has a continuous innovation philosophy where the company invests 30% of annual revenues in its Cloud Platform to ensure it is aligned with customers’ strategic priorities and future technologies. Some of the key focus areas are E-sourcing, Financial Management, Sustainability and Direct Material Procurement.

About Eka Software Solutions

Eka Software Solutions is a global leader in providing innovative solutions that help customers digitize and improve their direct materials business functions across agriculture, energy, metals, mining, and manufacturing industries. Built to accelerate customer’s digital journey to the cloud, Eka’s platform-driven solutions enable businesses to quickly adapt and overcome complex challenges in trading and risk, supply chain, business collaboration and financial management. Eka supports over 100 customers globally and has proven industry expertise in helping customers achieve digital transformation, solving complex business challenges in an environment of continuous change.

CSS Corp Ranks 6th Globally In HFS Research For Top Digital Associates Services Companies

* Recognized for its digital delivery capabilities and technology solutions that drive business outcomes

CSS Corp, a new-age IT services and technology support company today announced that it has secured the 6th rank globally in HFS Research’s Digital Associates Services Global Top 10 study and 5th rank in voice of the customer category. This report assessed top service providers in the industry for how well they are helping their clients embrace and realize results from deploying technology-driven digital associates solutions in a wide array of business and IT functions.

CSS Corp’s cognitive solutions have evolved from process enabling bots into next generation of digital co-workers. These digital co-workers or digital associates infuse intelligence across the operational ecosystem, driving intelligent automation while empowering and augmenting human workers’ capabilities across enterprise functions like customer service, technical support, IT, HR and more. This drives better strategic business outcomes and improves the overall stakeholder experience. HFS Research recognized CSS Corp for showcasing differentiated use cases driven by proprietary solutions such as its customer experience transformation platform for contact center operations and its advanced AIOps platform, Contelli for IT, and infrastructure operations.

Commenting on the recognition, Manish Tandon, Chief Executive Officer, CSS Corp said, “The on-going global crisis exposed the fragility of a siloed approach to digital transformation attempted through standalone AI and automation initiatives. Businesses worldwide have realized the need to break the organizational siloes and integrate technology across enterprise functions to supplement people and processes with shared intelligence and insights. CSS Corp’s cognitive solutions are more than showcases of cutting-edge innovation as they solve real business problems and drive tangible outcomes across our clients’ enterprises. We are incredibly proud to be the only mid-sized service provider in HFS Digital Associates Services Top 10 list. It motivates us to keep pushing the bar with world-class services and pioneering digital solutions.”

"CSS Corp has significantly and steadily improved its capabilities for greater conversational sophistication and to drive business outcomes for clients across a wider range of services capabilities. The firm showcased some differentiated use cases featuring emerging technology, particularly for its capabilities with incorporating augmented and virtual reality.  This combined with strong ratings from reference clients landed CSS Corp at #5 rank for Voice of the Customer and #6 overall in our ranking.” said Melissa O’Brien, Research VP at HFS Research.  

HFS Top 10 Digital Associates Services report, rates 17 reputed service providers on how well each of them performed across a defined series of execution, innovation, and voice of the customer criteria, showcasing the overall leaders and top 10 performers by sub-category.

About CSS Corp

CSS Corp is a new-age IT services and technology support company that harnesses the power of AI, automation, analytics, cloud, and digital to address customer needs. The company partners with leading enterprises to help realize their strategic business outcomes. Its team of 8,000+ technology and business services professionals across 18 global locations is passionate about helping customers differentiate and succeed.

About HFS Research

HFS’ mission is to provide visionary insight into major innovations impacting business operations, including automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital business models, and smart analytics. They focus on the future of operations across key industries. They influence the strategies of enterprise customers to develop operational backbones to stay competitive and partner with capable services providers, technology suppliers, and third-party advisors.

Singapore’s Tourism Sector Emerges From 2020 With Greater Resilience And Reinvention

* Industries adapted to the domestic audience and operating models, while doing their part in the national effort against COVID-19

Despite enduring its toughest year on record, Singapore’s tourism sector has taken strides to reimagine its offerings and experiences, while supporting nationwide efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism-related companies have benefited from various government support measures to transform their products and offerings, while building new capabilities to position themselves for future growth opportunities.

Mr Keith Tan, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said: “Singapore’s tourism sector has had to fight for survival in 2020. Our tourism businesses have displayed immense resilience and adaptability throughout this difficult period, reinventing their business models and leveraging technology to find solutions in a COVID-19 world. I am also grateful for their commitment to keep Singaporeans and residents safe and well. STB remains confident in Singapore’s position as one of the world’s safest and most attractive leisure and business destination, and the long-term prospects of Singapore’s tourism sector. While mass international travel is unlikely to resume in a major way in 2021, STB will continue standing together with our industry partners to prepare for recovery and to start building a better and more sustainable future for tourism.”

To ensure that Singapore remains top of mind even while travel is curtailed, STB’s regional offices launched new initiatives to engage its fans and strengthen Singapore’s brand image around the world. STB partnered with technology, media and tourism industry players in key source markets to jointly promote Singapore as an attractive destination for future travellers.

India is an important visitor source market for Singapore. and  The Singapore Tourism Board and its tourism partners have been leveraging technology and the digital medium for consumer outreach in the India market since the beginning of the lockdown as they have realised that it is important to continue engaging with and entertaining the audience in such extraordinary times and keep Singapore close to their hearts and minds.

Interesting virtual consumer activations with brands such as Zomato, BookMyShow, NH7 Weekender, Windmill Festival, St+art India Foundation, Tripoto have been executed where Indian artistes and influencers have collaborated with Singaporean artistes where they were also to showcase their passions and talents and connect with the Indian audiences virtually.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, STB India has undertaken the #UnitedWeStand trade engagement theme to ramp up trade engagement efforts. Video messages showcasing solidarity and unity with the travel fraternity, launch of a whatsapp business channel, update sessions and webinars on Destination Singapore to upskill their partners’ leisure and MICE product knowledge, etc. were some of the initiatives undertaken by STB in the market.

Recently, STB concluded its first virtual travel trade engagement roadshows for 2021 in India. Based on this year’s theme, “Charting Our Pathways to Tourism Recovery”, the roadshows aimed at strengthening partnerships and planning on how to grow the tourism business and prepare for travel restart once the situation normalises. During the roadshow, the STB shared updates on the COVID-19 situation in Singapore and how the country is preparing for tourism re-start and recovery in 2021 and beyond. The roadshows included close to 48 key stakeholders from Singapore representing hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and cruise operators and were attended by over 3000 buyers from India.

Mr GB Srithar, Regional Director (India, Middle East and South Asia), Singapore Tourism Board while talking about outlook for the India market adds: “Singapore has made progress in its gradual and calibrated return to some normalcy. We had entered the third phase of a three-phased ‘A Safe Singapore’ transition since 28 December 2020 and are adopting a deliberate and cautious re-opening of our borders for international travel, with necessary safeguards in place. We are prepared for recovery to be a slow and deliberate process but we are confident that we can overcome this pandemic.

STB is confident that along with our valued partner-friends and tourism partners, we will come together to share and exchange ideas and jointly configure the pathways to recovery for travel and tourism.”

Contributing to COVID-19 efforts amid adversity

Due to unprecedented global travel restrictions and border closures, Singapore saw a decline in both visitor arrivals and tourism receipts in 2020. Visitor arrivals (VA) fell by 85.7 per cent in 2020 to reach 2.7 million visitors (nearly all from the first two months of 2020), while tourism receipts (TR) declined by 78.4 per cent to S$4.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2020.

Even during this difficult year, tourism businesses played a key role in Singapore’s battle against COVID-19. Hotels offered their properties for various accommodation purposes, including Government Quarantine Facilities, Swab Isolation Facilities and Stay-Home Notice Dedicated Facilities (SDFs). Many tourist guides stepped up as Safe Distancing Ambassadors (SDAs), capitalizing on their people and language skills to urge compliance to safe management measures (SMMs).

Resuming Operations Safely

As Singapore’s economy gradually re-opened in the second half of 2020, the tourism sector faced a new challenge: working out how to resume operations safely while providing meaningful customer experiences. STB engaged industry stakeholders to develop their re-opening proposals and implement the necessary SMMs. As of 25 January 2021, 45 attractions, 270 hotels, and 1,686 tour itineraries have received approval to resume operations.

From November 2020, Singapore also piloted cruises with enhanced safety protocols and no ports of call for two of Singapore’s homeported cruise lines – Genting Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International. To rebuild consumer confidence and demand for cruise, STB established the world’s first CruiseSafe Certification – a mandatory audit and certification programme for cruise lines before they commence sailing.

Many tourism establishments have also been certified SG Clean, a national mark of excellence that indicates our businesses adhere to high standards of environmental public hygiene on their premises. As of 25 January 2021, STB has issued more than 1,390 SG Clean Quality Mark certificates to tourism-related premises.

Resuming MICE and leisure events

From 1 October 2020, STB began accepting applications for organisers to pilot MICE events of up to 250 attendees. As of 31 December 2020, Singapore has held 29 MICE event pilots, with the first being the Singapore International Energy Week in end October 2020. Singapore also developed testing protocols for foreign delegates and other visitors arriving for events such as TravelRevive and the ONE Championship events, to safeguard public health.

Supporting Transformation of Singapore’s travel industry

Since the start of the outbreak, STB has worked closely with industry partners to chart a new path for the tourism sector. In February 2020, the Tourism Recovery Action Task Force (TRAC), comprising tourism leaders from both the private and public sectors, was set up to develop and implement joint recovery strategies.

Looking ahead

Even with the development of vaccines, it will take time for mass leisure travel and travellers’ confidence to return. Therefore, STB expects tourism arrivals and tourism receipts to remain weak in 2021.

In 2021, STB will continue to support quality tourism businesses to sustain key capabilities and build new ones, and to innovate in order to meet evolving consumer needs and emerging travel trends once cross-border travel resumes in a significant way.

About Singapore Tourism Board

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is the lead development agency for tourism, one of Singapore’s key economic sectors. Together with industry partners and the community, we shape a dynamic Singapore tourism landscape. We bring the Passion Made Possible brand to life by differentiating Singapore as a vibrant destination that inspires people to share and deepen their passions. 

Epson Launches Its First Signage Printer Range To Feature Multi-Purpose Resin Ink

Epson, a world leader in digital imaging and printing solutions today announced the launch of two new Signage Printers that feature multi-purpose resin ink. The innovative signage printers, SC-R5030L and SC-R5030 produce exceptional-quality prints for a diverse range of applications, with immediate lamination and high scratch resistance.

These new printer models are designed to provide outstanding quality prints and Higher color reproduction and consistency making them suitable for a wide range of applications in signage printing on a variety of media. The printers are targeted at print shops and jobbers for outdoor signage, indoor signage and wall graphics. Using Epson’s water-based resin inks, the SC-R5030L and SC-R5030 enables printing on a wider variety of media such as vinyl, banner, canvas, film, textile, paper and wall covering media. Moreover, Epson's water-based resin inks are environmentally certified and odorless, making printing applications safe for use.

Priced at Rs.17,06,559 for SC-R5030 & Rs.20,07,959 for SC-R5030L, Epson's new 64-inch signage printers are an evolution of trusted printing technology and provide enhanced functions to increase business efficiency. The printheads can now be replaced by users themselves, reducing external dependency and down time, which make business operations more efficient. The bulk ink solution features a 1.5 liter ink bag option for medium print volume output, and two swappable ink sets for high print volume (available on the SC-R5030L). Fully controlled heating technology, combined with long-life PrecisionCore Micro TFP printheads, provide reliable color consistency across the full length of the print run, which in turn helps avoid the need for reprints due to colour mismatched, enabling lamination and same-day delivery, and reducing turnaround times.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Vasudevan, General Manager - LFP/IE said, “With the launch of the SC-R5030L and SC-R5030, Epson strengthens its position in the resin ink printer market in India. With the new 64-inch signage printers and UltraChrome water-based resin inks, customers can now get a wider range of applications for display in retail environments, graphic printing as well as high-value applications such as wallpaper, soft signage and decoration. In order to reach the consistent quality level that customers demand, Epson manufactures all the components including the revolutionary PrecisionCore Printheads, water-based resin inks, firmware and software.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to becoming indispensable to society by connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. The company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics. Epson is proud of its contributions to realizing a sustainable society and its ongoing efforts to realizing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of more than JPY 1 trillion. global.epson.com/

About Epson India

Epson India Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in the year 2000. Epson products address the needs of homes, businesses and commercial enterprises as those of consumers with specialized needs in India. With a commitment to providing products and services that surpass people’s expectations, Epson India today has an enviable reputation for quality and value. Headquartered in Bangalore, the company markets and supports Epson Inkjet Printers, Inkjet All-in-Ones, Point of Sale Printers, 3LCD Projectors, Scanners, Large Format Printers, Robots and Dot-Matrix Printers. In all of these categories, Epson is either the No. 1 or No. 2 brand in India and growing fast.

HCL Foundation Announces Rs 16.5 Crore ($2.27 M) Grant To NGOs In Sixth Edition Of HCL Grant

 * By supporting NGOs to build frameworks of social change, HCL Grant aims to co-create stories of developmental transformation 

HCL Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of HCL Technologies Ltd announced the winners of the sixth round of the HCL Grant, a flagship program dedicated to strengthening India’s “fifth estate” of NGOs working towards nation building.  

The three NGOs, one each in the development areas of environment, health, and education, will each receive a grant of INR 5 crore ($685,000) for a three to five-year project. In addition, two finalists in each category will receive a one-year grant of INR 25 lakhs ($34,000), making a total grant of INR 16.5 crore.  

HCL Foundation, which this year celebrates a decade of building strong and robust communities, is committed to contributing to the nation’s growth curve. Under its HCL Grant program, the Foundation has so far committed a more than INR 60 crore ($8.26 Million), excluding this year’s grants. Recognized as one of the most sought-after validations amongst NGO ecosystems in India, the HCL Grant has in the past five years reached over 733,000 beneficiaries. The Grant aims to touch the lives of at least 1.72 million people in 8,598 villages in 70 districts across 18 states and two union territories of India . 

The winning NGOs of HCL Grant 2021 were:  

Sahas (Environment) 

India Health Action Trust (Health) 

Child Rights and You (Education) 

The NGOs were chosen after an 8-month review of thousands of applications by an eminent jury, monitored and audited by Grant Thornton, the governance partner of HCL Grant. The jury consisted of: Ms. Robin Abrams, Director, HCL Technologies, and Chairperson of the jury; Mr. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestle India Limited; Mr. B. S. Baswan, former Director, Indian Institute of Public Administration, and former Secretary, Human Resource Development ministry; Ms. Pallavi Shroff, Managing Partner,  Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. law firm; Dr. Richard Lariviere, President Emeritus, Field Museum (Chicago), and former President, University of Oregon; and Mr. Shiv Nadar, Founder of HCL, Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Technologies, and Founder and Chairman of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. 

“The past year was a unique year of resilience and transformation that taught us how to transcend barriers and keep going even in the face of adversity,” said Ms. Abrams. “Despite the pandemic, the robustness demonstrated by our NGO partners, experts, jury members and the entire team is commendable. The passion and zeal of our NGO partners to bring in scalable and replicable solutions have created systemic shifts across geographies, lending velocity to the sustainable development agenda. The winners and finalists of this year’s Grant also have significant stories to tell, with visible on-the-ground impact. My best wishes to these NGOs, who are addressing some of the most pressing issues in the key development categories of environment, health, and education in the most remote corners of the country.” 

Ms. Nidhi Pundhir, Director, HCL Foundation, said: “The year 2020 has been both special and unusual. Special, in that the Foundation is completing ten years of facilitating high-impact, sustainable socio-economic development in rural India. Unusual, in that the NGOs we support had to deal with unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic and various natural disasters, while initiating and implementing their developmental projects. What is inspiring about these NGOs is that they are treating COVID-19 as the ‘new normal’ and are continuing with their path-breaking projects without a pause, creating a much-needed last-mile support framework.” 

On the occasion of the grant awards, the HCL Foundation released “Fifth Estate – NGOs Transforming Rural India in Environment, Health and Education,” a compendium featuring the top 30 NGOs selected in the sub-jury round, as well as the previous year’s winning NGOs. 

About HCL Grant  

HCL Grant is a flagship program of HCL Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of HCL Technologies, to strengthen The Fifth Estate – the NGOs. Driven by a commitment to nation building, the HCL Grant enables NGOs to play a decisive role in building an equitable, inclusive and future-ready India. It supports NGOs to build new frameworks of social change and surfaces path-breaking models of  rural transformation in the areas of Environment, Health and Education.