ICICI Foundation To Donate Over 100 State-Of-The-Art Dialysis Machines

* The machines will be donated across 60 districts in 14 states

ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation), the CSR arm of the ICICI Group, announced that it will donate over 100 dialysis machines to enhance the healthcare infrastructure in the country. ICICI Foundation will provide these machines to various hospitals free-of-cost. This initiative is aimed at providing affordable treatment to the lesser privileged across 60 districts in 14 states in the country.

ICICI Foundation is procuring these state-of-the-art imported machines and providing them to the identified hospitals with a four year warranty in order to ensure uninterrupted operations at the dialysis centres.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Saurabh Singh, President, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth said, “ICICI Group has a long-standing legacy of contributing to nation-building. In line with this philosophy, ICICI Foundation has worked continuously to improve the well-being of citizens. As a step towards promoting healthcare, we are donating over 100 dialysis machines. This will make affordable dialysis treatment available for patients in towns of various districts, closer to their homes. We believe that this initiative will offer conveniences of time and cost saving for the patients, as they no longer have to travel to big cities for dialysis.”

This move is a step in the direction to augment the availability of dialysis machines across various states, where the availability of these machines is lower. This initiative is in line with the vision of ‘Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme’, under the National Health Mission, for providing free dialysis services to the poor. 

About ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth

ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation) is the CSR arm of the ICICI Group. ICICI Foundation works on promoting Inclusive Growth across the country. It focusses on developing/strengthening value chains as a part of its Rural Livelihood program. The program works on enabling sustainable livelihood at around 1,000 villages across the country with more than 3,00,000 beneficiaries till date. ICICI Academy for Skills imparts Skill development training to the underprivileged youth for employment opportunities. Over 1,55,000 youth have been trained at the 28 academies across the country. ICICI Foundation also manages the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes that provide self-employment oriented training to the rural youth. The RSETIs at Udaipur and Jodhpur have trained over 108,000 people. Overall, ICICI Foundation has trained and enabled sustainable livelihood for over 5,66,000 people. Promoting sustainable use of natural resources, nature and wildlife conservation are integrated in the programs of ICICI Foundation.

Certain statements in this release relating to a future period of time (including inter alia concerning our future business plans or growth prospect s) are forward - looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under applicable securities laws including the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward - looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward - looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to statutory and regulatory changes, international economic and business conditions; political or economic instability in the jurisdictions where we have operations, increase in non - performing loans, unanticipated changes in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, equity prices or other rates or prices, our growth and expansion in business, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, the actual growth in demand for banking products and services, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks, changes in India’s sovereign rating, as well as other risks detailed in the reports fi led by us with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this release. ICICI Bank undertakes no obligation to update forward - looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Panasonic, McAfee Agree To Jointly Start Building Vehicle SOC For Commercialization Of Vehicle Security Monitoring Services

Panasonic Corporation and McAfee Corp. (Nasdaq: MCFE), have agreed to jointly start building a Vehicle Security Operation Center (hereinafter, Vehicle SOC) to commercialize vehicle security monitoring services. To protect connected vehicles around the world against cyber-attacks, the companies will build vehicle SOCs that enable accurate detection and early response to attacks and help strengthen Cybersecurity measures in the automotive industry.

Panasonic has already been operating SOCs for factories since 2016 to protect systems and networks that manage and control factory equipment and production processes against cyber-attacks – prior to SOC for automobiles. For automobiles, they have developed a Automotive Intrusion Detection System that mounts on a vehicle, detects the occurrence of a cyber-attack and the type of attack, and transmits analysis data to the vehicle SOC and a Security Information and Event Management System that analyzes and visualizes a large amount of data received from the Automotive Intrusion Detection System in the vehicle SOC. McAfee supports world-class SOCs and Managed Security Services (MSSs), and has the know-how cultivated by building and operationally supporting numerous SOCs. The Company will bring these together and start building vehicle SOCs to monitor cyber-attacks that may be conducted against vehicles around the world.

With the innovative development of autonomous driving, the advancement of digitalization, and the increasing number of connected cars, the risk of cyber-attacks against automobiles is increasing every year. It has become urgent for the automotive industry to establish mechanisms to protect and monitor vehicles from cyber-attacks. The Vehicle Security Operation Center will enable the provision of monitoring services to monitor connected cars around the world and contribute to the development of a safe and secure mobility society.

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a global leader developing innovative technologies and solutions for wide-ranging applications in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, and B2B sectors. The company, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2018, operates 528 subsidiaries and 72 associated companies worldwide and reported consolidated net sales of 7.49 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2020. Committed to pursuing new value through collaborative innovation, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for customers. 

About McAfee

McAfee is the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company. Inspired by the power of working together, McAfee creates consumer and business solutions that make the world a safer place. https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-us/home.html

McAfee® and the McAfee logo are trademarks of McAfee, Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other marks and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

WhiteHat Jr Collaborates With Leading Space Company EnduroSat To Deliver Advanced Learning Opportunities To Students

* The unique collaboration will allow students to transmit commands to, and access data from a satellite operating in space

WhiteHat Jr, a leading EdTech company known for delivering 1:1 live online classes in Coding & Math, has entered into a multi-year partnership with EnduroSat, a leading space company. The contract entails a satellite launch in December 2021, which will have a payload dedicated to WhiteHat Jr, that provides its students with exciting learning opportunities related to space. In addition, WhiteHat Jr students will also have access to another Satellite on a trial basis scheduled for launch in June 2021. Both satellites will leverage SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare.

The unique collaboration between WhiteHat Jr and EnduroSat will create fascinating applied science opportunities for students who will be able to send commands to, and access data from a satellite operating in space. From analyzing sensor data (there are 30+ sensors onboard each satellite, including infrared, temperature, sun sensor, gyroscope, etc.) to controlling cameras (taking pictures of various space objects), to relaying messages to and fro, the applied science opportunities that students would get are endless. Moreover, students would be able to participate in different ways of orchestrating space data on WhiteHat Jr’s payload computer (a Raspberry Pi 4 with a direct link to the main onboard computer). All of these learning experiences would be seamlessly integrated with WhiteHat Jr’s curriculum and would follow a gamified content aimed to ensure maximum student engagement.

“We have always believed in the power of creation through exploration. This partnership is a testament to our mission of enabling kids to think beyond the obvious and aim for the stars, quite literally, Mr. Karan Bajaj, Founder & CEO at WhiteHat Jr. “We are absolutely thrilled to offer this unique learning opportunity to our students, and are in the process of involving multiple strategic and corporate partners to popularize it globally,”. 

“We are really excited to partner with WhiteHat Jr. This marks the first mission where a partner is fully dedicated to advancing the education of children from an early age. EnduroSat has long advocated for space education to be democratized and made available to everyone through our own Spaceport Academy,” said Mr. Raycho Raychev, Founder and CEO at EnduroSat. “We hope that the mission will inspire a new generation of space enthusiasts and are excited at the prospect of sharing it with thousands of kids,” said Mr. Raycho Raychev, Founder and CEO at EnduroSat.

About WhiteHat Jr:

WhiteHat Jr has been launched with the singular mission of enabling kids to become creators versus consumers of technology. The company has been able to channel students’ natural creativity through an engaging curriculum and personalized live 1:1 teacher attention. WhiteHat Jr. currently has more than 175,000+ students from around the world. The company’s 11,000 strong women-only teacher workforce conducts 40,000+ 1:1 LIVE Coding and Math online classes every day on its proprietary platform.

About EnduroSat:

EnduroSat provides exceptional NanoSats and space services for business, exploration, and science teams. The company’s Shared Sat Service enables streamlined space operations at a fraction of the current market cost. Its goal is to provide easy access to space for multiple payloads and diverse mission concepts. EnduroSat’s online NanoSat store includes a comprehensive space modules catalogue with the industry’s first satellite configurator. EnduroSat currently serves 100+ clients worldwide.

IRFC Mop Up Rs 1,375 Crore From Domestic Market Through 20-Year Bond At 6.8 Percent

The Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), the dedicated financing arm of the Indian Railways, on Friday, raised Rs 1,375 crore through issuance of domestic bonds.

The fund has been raised at 6.80 percent coupon rate with 20-year maturity which is about 18 basis points lower than the benchmark par yield Government security as per yesterday’s close in CCIL.  This is one of the rare occasions when a top-rated government issuer has pierced the sovereign curve in the domestic market with such a huge margin. This shows the confidence reposed by the large debt investors in the country for IRFC papers scotching the speculations in certain quarters about rising cost and heightened risk perception post IPO and dilution of Government stake.

“The bond issuance received a very good response from the investors comprising long term / ultra-long-term investors including primarily the provident funds. The issue was oversubscribed by six times as compared to the base issue size of Rs 500 crore,” said a company statement.

The company has decided to retain a sum of Rs.1375 crore, based on the borrowing target mandated by the ministry of Railways for the current fiscal, it further said.

With the current issuance, the cumulative fund raising through 20-year bond issuance in the domestic capital market during the current fiscal has touched around Rs.13,970 Crore. The corporate bonds in the domestic market are liquid for tenor up to 10 years. Such large issuances by IRFC has deepened the corporate bond market for long / ultra-long tenors and has set a new benchmark yield curve for pricing similar issuances in the future.

IRFC has been playing a critical role in the growth, expansion and modernization of Indian Railways.

The company was assigned an annual borrowing target in excess of Rs. 1 trillion during the current fiscal. The CAGR of yearly disbursements by IRFC to Indian Railways over the last 6 years has logged a level of around 45.70%.

The annual borrowing target has been successfully met through borrowing from diversified sources both from domestic and overseas market including highest single year external commercial borrowings of around USD 4.08 billion. The external commercial borrowings include USD 750 Million overseas bond issuances for a tenor of 10 years in the Reg-S / 144A format under the Company’s Global Medium Term Note Programme (GMTN) and borrowing of USD 3 Billion through foreign currency loan from a leading public sector bank for tenor ranging from 7 to 10 years. The 10 year USD 750 Million bond issuance got overwhelming response with oversubscription by almost 4 times. Despite the fact that the Company’s bond issuances are not eligible for inclusion in the EMBI Index post IPO, it managed to get the tightest pricing possible of 2.80% (167.5 bps over 10 year UST). The pricing obtained by IRFC is a departure from the usual market convention of premium over the secondary market yield. Bonds issued by IRFC were priced at 7 to 10 bps lower than its secondary market yields of its own listed papers.

One Must Consider Rs 1 Crore Health Cover For Comprehensive Health Coverage Across India

1 Crore Health policies are ideal for those with family history of critical ailments like heart diseases, cancer and diabetes

The year 2020 was like none other. It was a year that not only saw a small virus change the world that we live in, but also changed our perceptions about the importance and need for health insurance. As on March 2021, almost 120 million people across the world had been infected with the deadly Coronavirus which killed over 2.6 million of them. Only in India, over 11 million infections were reported by mid-March, second only to the US.

What is shocking then is that less than four per cent of COVID-19 patients in India had health insurance coverage. And a majority of those who did have a health cover, found their coverage to be inadequate. When the Coronavirus was at its peak, the cost of a 15-day-hospitalisation at a super-specialty hospital in the national capital could have run up to Rs 10 lakh per person. And with COVID-19 being a highly infectious virus, there have been thousands of cases where whole families contracted the virus and thus needed expensive medical care, taking the collective expenses to tens of lakhs for the whole family.

1 Crore Health Cover – A Game Changer

“To address these concerns, there are Rs 1 Crore sum insured health insurance plans available in the market that provides comprehensive coverage to the customers. While you may wonder this would cost a bomb, but that is not the case. These Rs 1 crore policies are designed as a combination of a base plan coupled with a super top-up, which substantially brings down the premium for such policies. People buying health insurance plans with higher sum insured have increased drastically. Earlier, the share of people buying health insurance plans with Rs. 20 Lacs – Rs. 1 Cr sum insured was less than 5 per cent, however, the share has now increased to 50 per cent over the last 12 months. These policies are ideal for those with family history of critical ailments like heart diseases, cancer and diabetes. They not only cover the cost of hospitalisation, but also cover pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses, ambulance expenses and organ donor expenses. And all this comes at a reasonable premium amount if you buy such a plan at an early age” said, Amit Chhabra, Head- Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com on 1 Crore Health Cover.

Buy Early to Save on Premium

Many young people feel that they are fit and do not need such a high cover. But most of these policies cost only a marginally higher premium than policies with Rs 25-30 lakh cover. Also buying a policy with high sum assured at a young age means you lock it down at a lower premium than if you buy the same policy at a later age. For instance, a Rs 1 crore health insurance can cost as low as Rs 10,680 per annum if you buy it at 25 years of age. However, if you buy the same policy when you are 45-years-old, it could cost you almost Rs 17,000 per annum. So people should buy a Rs 1 Crore health insurance cover in their 20s and 30s, rather than waiting till they are in their 40s and 50s. Especially in today’s time when our lifestyles are becoming more and more sedentary, there is an increased risk of health issues at an older age.

Lower Sum Insured Health Plans No More Sufficient

With a common false perception in India that a family-floater policy with Rs 7-10 lakh sum insured is enough to take care of the medical needs of a family, many found themselves in a situation where they had to exhaust their lifetime savings on their treatment, and even had to borrow money from family and friends to cover the cost. However, it is not only a pandemic that could put one in such a situation. As per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the number of cancer cases in India could increase by 1.5 million by 2025, up from 1.39 million in 2020. Not only that, the cases of heart diseases are also rising in the country and its prevalence, along with stroke, has increased by over 50 per cent over the last three decades. Moreover, more and more cases of diabetes and hypertension are reported every day, that increases one’s risk of developing chronic kidney diseases.

Wyvern Edu Solutions In Association With Microsoft Organised Digital Genesis – Mission TechVistara 2021 In Bangalore

Wyvern Edu Solutions in association with Microsoft organised Digital Genesis – Mission TechVistara 2021 at Hyatt Centric, MG Road in Bangalore. The Technology Education Conclave held for Educational Institutions & Principals, to understand how technology can be a support and guide in daily teaching practice and influence the learning outcome. Wyvern Edu Solutions, India-began its journey with a group of passionate former Principals of Schools and Colleges, supported by the personalities who are the members of the Policy makers of NEP & NCF 2020.

Shri. PGR Sindhia – State Chief Commissioner, Bharat Scouts & Guides, Smt. KR Pallavi – Joint Commissioner BBMP, Smt. Prameela R Naidu – Karnataka State Women Commission- Chairperson & Mr. Shashi Kumar – Gen Secretary, Associated Managements of English Mediums Schools in Karnataka.

Dr. Latha Murthy, Founder & Director, Wyvern Edu Solutions said, “Our desire is to lead and support the stakeholders in the Education field, across Bangalore and India.  We are the change and be the change makers in the education World. Our motive is to give free training to the teachers fraternity and student’s folk to embrace the tools and technics in the era of the new normal technology world.”

Wyvern Edu Solutions is sustainability focused, for the 21st century digital transformation of schools and colleges, empowering the teachers to become innovative educators. They also emphasize on the Learning Outcomes!

The Visionaries of Wyvern Edu Solutions, are dedicated to transform educational institutions to become future ready according to UNESCO Vision.

Irrespective of any Board, Technology is incorporated seamlessly by engaging and providing a comprehensive platform in training and interventions to make the entire institution a Technically Empowered and Enabled Entity in the Society.

Wyvern has a target of more than a lakh teacher to be trained to enable the student fraternity to be at par with their global peers.

Wyvern Edu Solutions provides sustainable 100% recycled paper products for educational institutions, so that what we teach we should preach and ensure that we save our Mother Earth, by saving Trees, saving water, and saving Energy. We as Educators send a message to the society -

Practice on Save Trees-Save Water-Save Energy.

Wyvern Edu Solutions considers responsibility to educate and technically empower and reach BBMP schools as CSR projects by providing free trainings for Teachers and Students with statutory permissions. To help and support this cause, we are conducted Technology Education Conference called “Digital Genesis-Mission TechVistara 2021.”

India Offers Bouquet Of 49 Technologies To Bangladesh Under The RuTAG Program

FICCI and ThinkThrough Consulting Bangladesh announced partnership to jointly promote and commercialize grassroot technologies developed in India and Bangladesh. The announcement was made as part of the RuTAG Technology Commercialization Programme which is led by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and implemented by FICCI.

A bouquet of 49 technologies received under the RuTAG (Rural Technology Action Group) programme will be offered to industry, social Start-ups and NGOs in Bangladesh. These technologies have been developed at RuTAG centres housed across seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in India and focus on problems associated with marginal communities in rural areas. RuTAG innovations such as floating fish cages for inland aquaculture, powerless solar dryer for food processing, cold storage powered by pico hydro among others respond to real life problems faced by rural populations.

The technologies are across a wide range of sectors including environment, agriculture and farming, textiles, manufacturing, food processing and aquaculture among others. Besides technology transfer, capacity building support and virtual training sessions will also be provided to Bangladesh entrepreneurs to seamlessly absorb the Indian technologies.

The announcement was made on the side-lines of the visit of Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh.

Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India stated, “Science and Technology collaboration between India and Bangladesh is towards social and economic development in the region. Both nations can gain immensely through knowledge exchange and technology partnerships. The RuTAG program provides a wide range of grass root innovations that have the ability to create rural livelihood opportunities in Bangladesh.”

Dr Ketaki Bapat, Senior Scientist and Co-ordinator RuTAG program, at the Office of the PSA said, “The RuTAG technologies have been developed at the finest institutions in India. We wish to share these technologies with social entrepreneurs in Bangladesh assuring complete handholding support and leveraging digital technologies for successfully adopting these technologies.”

Mr Sanjay Nayak, Chair, FICCI S&T Committee and MD, Tejas Networks reiterated, “Through the RuTAG Program, FICCI remains committed to scale Indian innovations in BIMSTEC countries with a special focus on Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been a long-standing development partner of India and there is tremendous potential for our nations on collaborating on the technology front.”

Speaking on the partnership, Mr Parul Soni, Global Managing Partner, Think through Consulting stated, “We are delighted to partner with the RuTAG Technology Commercialization Programme. Technological innovations can help rural communities in the world by increasing their income and their yields. While these reduce their risks arising on account of climate change and other natural disasters, these increase their opportunities too.”