RBL Bank, Tide Collaborate To Serve Banking Needs Of Indian SMEs

* Tide, a leading UK-based fintech, will launch in India as its first overseas market

* Aims to acquire 25,000 customers in the first year of the launch

RBL Bank ties-up with Tide India, part of Tide UK, UK’s leading business banking fintech, to provide banking infrastructure for Tide’s India platform focused on the SME segment. This collaboration will enable Tide to bring its platform to the Indian markets with a full-fledged launch. With one in 20 SMEs in the UK (equivalent to over 5% market share) using Tide to manage their business banking and administration, it has over 320,000 SME members.

Under the tie-up, businesses – especially small and medium-sized enterprises – have an option to open current and savings accounts at RBL Bank through Tide’s business platform. Depending on customer requirements, the Bank can also integrate its payment APIs to enable Tide users to make seamless transactions from Tide’s platform.

Founded in 2015, Tide has a long-term ambition to be a leading player in markets accounting for 25% of global SMEs. RBL Bank’s geographical presence across the country, superior digital banking services, robust product portfolio in the SME space and an agile technical stack will allow Tide to quickly scale up its business in India. Apart from supporting the organised SME sector, Tide will also focus on serving the unregistered and unorganised sector, helping bring these SMEs into the mainstream by providing them access to RBL Bank’s plethora of business banking products and services. Tide plans to acquire 25,000 customers in the next financial year and scale up to two million customers in the next five years.

Surinder Chawla, Head – Branch Banking, RBL Bank said, "We are excited about this strategic tie-up with Tide, that shares our mission of reaching out to the underserved segment. RBL Bank has agile technological capabilities and compelling customer offerings to help Tide build a strong foundation in the country and scale up its business. Together, we are passionate about delivering innovative and integrated services that will improve the overall banking experience for the SME segment."

Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Oliver Prill, Tide CEO said, “We could not have a better banking partner than RBL Bank as we embark on the next stage of Tide’s journey, building a business financial platform to serve SMEs in the Indian market. RBL Bank offers industry leading banking, payments and security technology, giving Tide the foundations that will enable us to build the best possible service to help SME owners save time and money through its digital banking capabilities. With this partnership, we are ready to begin initial testing of Tide India, before entering into similar partnerships with other leading fintech providers to build our platform during the course of 2021”

About RBL Bank

RBL Bank is one of India’s fastest growing private sector banks with an expanding presence across the country. The Bank offers specialized services under six business verticals namely: Corporate & Institutional Banking, Commercial Banking, Branch & Business Banking, Retail Assets, Development Banking and Financial Inclusion, Treasury and Financial Markets Operations. It currently services over 9.08 million customers through a network of 403 branches, 1,344 business correspondent branches (of which 259 banking outlets) and 412 ATMs spread across 28 Indian states and Union Territories.

RBL Bank is listed on both NSE and BSE (RBLBANK). 

About Tide

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, London-based Tide is now the leading business financial platform in the UK. Tide helps MSMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative solutions. Tide has over 320,000 SME members in the UK (5% market share). Tide has raised over £100 million in investment from Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest and The SBI Group. It employs 300+ professionals worldwide, is LinkedIn’s top 10 hottest UK companies to work for and among the Sunday Times Fast Track Disruptors to Watch. Tide has a long-term ambition to operate in markets accounting for 25% of global SMEs. 

IIFL Home Finance Launches India’s First Handbook For Affordable Green Housing

India’s leading home loan company, IIFL Home Finance has launched India’s first handbook for affordable green housing to provide consumers, builders and the construction ecosystem with a definitive framework for building green homes. 

The handbook conceived by IIFL and renowned architect Mr Ashok Lall was recently launched at a virtual event attended by leaders from the industry regulator, corporates, funds and socially responsible housing community.

Speaking at launch, Mr S.K. Hota, MD, National Housing Bank, the housing finance sector regulator said, “The need of the hour is to take green buildings to residential housing and more particularly to the ones in affordable housing segment. It is a myth that green housing is only for the premium segment and is not viable for the affordable housing segment.”

Mr S Sridhar, Chairman, IIFL Housing Finance Ltd said, “Our vision is to mainstream sustainable housing and by sustainable housing we mean green affordable housing in India.”

Mr Monu Ratra, CEO, IIFL Home Finance, who has been a pioneer through his green housing in India and brain behind this book said, “Books last forever and this handbook is our contribution towards sustainable affordable housing in India.”

IIFL Home Finance has already been propagating the idea of affordable green housing in India, through ‘Kutumb’ and addressing issues of financing, technical know-how and creating a common platform for solution. With the intent of reducing carbon footprint and supporting climate action in the long-run, IIFL Home Finance provides extensive support from inception to delivery of the project through their highly skilled technical team of ‘Green Value Partner’.  Considering the housing needs of a billion plus population, green affordable housing is the only way forward to prevent climate crisis while ensuring social impact.

Appreciating, IIFL Home Finance’s efforts, Susan Olsen, Senior Specialist, Private Sector Financial Institutions, South Asia – ADB said, “We need to find more companies like IIFL Home Finance Ltd. who have the vision to support green affordable housing construction.”

Green Housing to attract investments and support climate action

With increased focus on climate action globally, finance institutions and funds across the world are recalibrating their financing and investment strategy and providing higher allocation to businesses that have adopted sustainable approaches.

Mr N Srinivasan, MD and Head of South Asia, CDC Group said, “If we are not following the lines of green agenda, global institutions will not invest in the country.”

Agreeing to Mr Srinivasan’s views, Mr Nirmal Jain, Founder and Chairman of IIFL Group said, “Investment will automatically flow to the private sector if they ensure green and sustainable development in India and housing is a major part of it.”

In this context the role of the housing sector becomes extremely important as the construction industry is one of the biggest consumers of non-renewable resources. Even after completion, most buildings continue to be responsible for huge CO2 emissions. Buildings in India already accounts for more than 30% of India’s electricity use, and two-thirds of the buildings that will exist in India by 2030 are yet to be built. There is a sizable opportunity in pre-empting these consequences considering that much of this growth in floor spaces.

Mr R Venkataraman, MD, IIFL Finance said, “This is why green construction is so important. To quantify the benefits, green construction has potential to reduce global CO2 emission by as much as 84 gigatonnes by 2050.”

Mr Sean Kidney, CEO, Climate Bonds initiative said, “We need to grow, expand, promote and ensure appropriate labeling scales that address the performance of built in environment, to ensure sustainable development and reverse climate change.”

Social impact

Green housing for a large economy like India will have a massive social impact in India where ‘housing for all’ is a social agenda. IIFL Home Finance aims to work closely with government, industry bodies, multilateral agencies and certification agencies to ensure “affordable green housing for all.” This book is a resource to take that agenda forward.

Ms. Sejal Patel,  Head, International Office, CEPT University said, “As we move forward and talk about green financing, it is important to converge the definition of affordable housing and while doing so we need to ensure how it reaches to EWS & LIG Segment in the country.”

Ms. Neha Kumar, India representative, Climate Bonds Initiative, “Ministry of Finance has put a sustainable finance task force in place for green affordable housing development in India.”

To ensure adoption of green housing on a large scale, right certification is a necessity. Many corporates, certification agencies and industry bodies are working towards the same. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), and Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) aims to enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025. 

Mr V Suresh, Chairman, IGBC said, “Taking the green path will be our way forward to contribute to and achieve Sustainable Developments Goals 2030.”

Commenting on the book, author and renowned architect Mr Ashok B Lall said, “This is work in progress and this is making the right beginning towards sustainable affordable housing development in India.”

Gig Economy In India Has The Potential To Serve Up To 90 Million Jobs, Add 1.25% To India’s GDP

While the ‘gig’ economy has grown significantly in the past decade with the advent of technology platforms like Ola, Uber, Swiggy, UrbanCompany, among others, it still has lots of room to grow. According to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) the gig economy has the potential to serve up to 90 million jobs, add nearly 1.25% to India’s GDP, while creating millions of jobs for low-income workers. The report was developed in partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

The study titled ‘Unlocking the Potential of the Gig Economy in India’ provides a detailed look at the gig economy’s potential and sheds light on its dynamics, pain points and opportunities for action. In addition to identifying the potential to serve up to 30% of India’s non-farm employment, the report identifies nearly 5 million jobs in shared services roles and about 12 million jobs in households that could potentially be served via the gig economy. Most of the jobs served will be in the MSME and Households sectors.

“The gig economy presents a real opportunity for India to drive job creation and economic growth. Technology platforms operating at-scale within an ecosystem of information and services can help unlock efficiencies, bring demand-supply transparency, and drive greater formalization and financial inclusion. Our work puts numbers, specificity and a roadmap to unlock this potential for India”, explains Rajah Augustinraj, BCG Principal and the lead author of the report.

The report also presents findings from detailed primary research with gig workers showing that they are not a homogeneous group. Instead, gig workers fall into eight distinct segments with each segment picking up gig work for different reasons and prioritizing different sets of job drivers. Depending on the industry and type of service, the report details pre-requisites from the workers’ perspective to engage with and continue using gig work as a source of livelihood and income.

“During the lockdown, we saw a steady increase in the number of gig workers in India. People who had lost jobs were finding gig opportunities closer to home. The gig economy has the potential to help people in the unorganised sector learn new skills, and help them build a better quality of life for themselves and their families.” explains Rahil Rangwala, Director India Programs, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

Finally, the report outlines a roadmap for unlocking India’s gig economy at-scale and the roles that entrepreneurs, investors, non-governmental organizations, and policy makers must play to create an ecosystem that is vibrant, flexible, and inclusive of all workers. While many platforms have built compelling offerings on their own, unlocking the gig economy’s full potential will require an ecosystem of public policy, information and data flow architecture, and supporting services.

“Our intent through this report is to build a narrative that would equip business leaders, policymakers, and social entrepreneurs with the data and insights needed to create livelihood pathways for low-income workers while delivering economic growth via the gig economy”, explains Vikash Jain, Managing Director and Partner, Tech, Media, & Telecom Practice, BCG.

About Michael & Susan Dell Foundation:

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in India is focused on enabling children and youth in from low-income communities in India reach their goals through improved education and employment opportunities. This focus is driven by investments in education, jobs & livelihood, and financial inclusion. With over $200 million in investments over the past 15 years, the foundation has impacted the lives of over 12 million children and families in the country.

About Boston Consulting Group:

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation—inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact.

To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures—and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive.

CREDAI’s New President Harsh Vardhan Patodia Announces Free COVID-19 Vaccination For 2.5 Crore Construction Work Force

* Announces the CREDAI Start-up Angel Network and Incubation & Acceleration Center to support start-ups in real estate sector

* CREDAI to set-up its own Research and Analytics Centre

The apex body of private real estate developers, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), with a strong membership base of 13,000+ developers in 21 States and 217 Cities, across India, today, announced Mr. Harsh Vardhan Patodia, MD, Unimark Group, Kolkata, as the new National President for the term 2021-23.

The tenure of outgoing President Mr. Satish Magar ends on March 31st 2021. At the installation ceremony, the new Office bearers and Chairman of various committees were also announced:

The new team for the FY 2021-23 comprises of:

* Mr. Satish Magar, Chairman, CREDAI National

* Mr. Harsh Vardhan Patodia , President, CREDAI National

* Mr. Boman Irani, President Elect, CREDAI National

* Mr. Pankaj Goel, Secretary, CREDAI National

* Mr. Deepak Goradia, Treasurer, CREDAI National

Mr. Patodia in his maiden address announced Free COVID-19 Vaccination drive for 2.5 crore construction workers at the sites of member developers across India. Through this vaccination drive, CREDAI aims at accelerating Government’s mission of free vaccination to the needy population at the earliest and further help in restraining the spread of Coronavirus. The vaccines will be provided in strict accordance with all the Government-approved protocols.

He also announced the ‘CREDAI Start-up Angel Network and Incubation & Acceleration Centre’ an enterprising initiative with the aim to help and support tech start-ups in the real estate space by handholding them and providing them access to its members network for business development.

In his efforts to pace CREDAI’s future growth and advancement, Mr. Patodia announced setting-up of CREDAI’s own Research and Analytics Centre. The government’s effort towards digitization initiatives has been contributing towards the development of IT infrastructure. The coronavirus pandemic has further ignited the need for the internet, and hence data consumption. Therefore, the data assimilation and monitoring has become important for any business. The CREDAI Research and Analytics Centre will facilitate the availability of real time and authentic data for future growth strategies.

Mr. Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI National said “I am honored with the trust reposed in me by the entire CREDAI family and look forward to continuing the good work done under Mr. Magar's leadership. With the current challenges that the sector is facing, I, along with my able team, will focus on driving efforts to revive the real estate sector and provide a stimulus to boost the business environment. We will also further our commitment to skill development, green buildings, and labor welfare."

Mr. Patodia and his team aims to strengthen Indian real estate with the adoption of technology and build in performance-oriented and customer-centric values to the sector, along with focused development of the realty sector in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities coupled with a robust skilling ecosystem.

His efforts will also be focused on the interest of housing and sustainable habitats in a post-pandemic world.

Handing over the mantle to his successor, the outgoing President Mr. Satish Magar said, “I would like to congratulate Mr. Patodia and wish him all the best for his new role as President of CREDAI National. The industry has faced challenging times, especially due to global pandemic and nation-wide lockdown. However, our efforts throughout were focused to revive the sector and bring desired attention of the Government to do the same. We believe CREDAI will now reach newer heights under the able leadership of Mr Patodia, given his experience and holistic outlook towards the sector.”

About CREDAI

Established in 1999, The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India, is the apex body for private real estate developers in India, representing over 13,000 developers through 21 states and 217 city chapters across the country. CREDAI has worked hard to make the industry more organized and progressive by networking closely with government representatives, policymakers, investors. CREDAI works towards the improvement of ethical standards & business practices in real estate. CREDAI is well-recognized by the Central and State Governments in all its endeavours.

Emirates To Operate Special Flight Marking UAE Vaccination Milestone

* Emirates is showcasing the UAE's remarkable progress in its vaccination program with a special flight that will carry only fully vaccinated crew and passengers onboard

Special flight EK2021 will depart Dubai International Airport at 12:00hrs local time, to cruise over various areas across the UAE. The flight will return to Dubai at 14:30hrs local time.

The one-off flight EK2021 is a unique event that not only celebrates the success of the UAE's vaccination program to date but also highlights Emirates' progress in vaccinating its staff and in particular its pilots and cabin crew. Aviation has been and continues to be an irreplaceable force for good, connecting people and cities, facilitating important trade flows and passenger journeys that bring economic prosperity and joy to millions of people.

Passengers will have the opportunity to experience Emirates' newest A380 aircraft which features the airline's brand-new Premium Economy seats and refreshed cabin interiors across all cabin classes.

The Emirates A380 remains a customer favorite for its unmatched comfort and spaciousness. From the award-winning ice inflight entertainment experience to the iconic A380 Onboard Lounge service for Business and First Class passengers, from a full-course gourmet meal in all classes to the friendly Emirates cabin crew, flyers can expect the full Emirates experience on board this special flight.

Passengers traveling on EK2021 will be able to experience all of Dubai International Airport's services and amenities on the ground before boarding.

In addition, customers can also try out first-hand, all the latest measures to help travelers enjoy a safe and smooth journey, including the new biometric and contactless technology which Emirates has recently implemented at the check-in areas and boarding gates at Dubai airport.

This month, Airbus has launched a travel companion app called "Tripset". The application aggregates and provides flight and travel information to ease and restore passenger's trust in their end-to-end journey when traveling by air during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tripset allows for passengers to be informed of the latest and most relevant travel conditions, restrictions and health requirements in place, without having to consult a variety of sources.

The UAE is one of the world's leading countries in administered vaccinations for citizens and residents and has made four COVID-19 vaccines available for free to everyone. To date, over 8 million vaccine shots have been administered in the UAE, protecting over half of the UAE's population.

The Emirates Group has supported the national vaccination program by making COVID-19 vaccines readily available to its UAE-based workforce at multiple locations within the company's premises. To date, over 35,000 Emirates employees have received their COVID-19 vaccine shot from one of the company's vaccination centers, with over 85% of the airline's pilots and cabin crew already receiving two doses of the vaccine. 

ABB And Amazon Web Services Steer Fleets To An All-Electric Future

ABB and Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, announced a collaboration to jointly develop a cloud-based digital solution for the real-time fleet management of EVs. The solution will optimize the efficient use of EVs and speed up the electrification of transport fleets, helping operators worldwide maintain 100 percent business continuity as they transition to fully electric.

The collaboration will combine eMobility leader ABB’s extensive experience in energy management, charging technology and e-mobility solutions with AWS’s unparalleled portfolio of cloud technologies and software expertise.

The new platform, which is planned for roll out in the second half of 2021, will offer a tailored user experience in a single-view platform. From the EV charge point to the fleet data dashboard, it will make EV fleet management more efficient and maximize reliability.

Frank Muehlon, President of ABB’s eMobility Division, comments: “ABB and AWS share a similar vision around the potential of eMobility to transform society. Our combined expertise supports the common goal of making EV fleet management simpler and more accessible. This new solution will revolutionize the world of electric mobility, integrating EV hardware and software into one ecosystem to provide a seamless user experience. We are confident that by working together we can propel the use of electric fleet vehicles by giving operators the confidence to make the switch.”

At present, 23 percent of global, energy-related greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the transport sector.1 Electrification of traffic can substantially reduce CO2 levels and large fleets can play a crucial role with nearly 400,000 electric delivery vans and trucks on the roads globally.2 However, many fleets are met with similar challenges when it comes to real-time vehicle and charging status information, maintenance of EV’s and managing access to charging infrastructure.

Today, most fleet operators opt for third-party charging management software. This offers limited functionality and ability to customize based on the range of EV models and breadth of charging infrastructure. The speed at which charging technology continues to develop is increasing, and the resulting adaptations needed can be costly and take a lot of resources. As such, fleet operators are looking for scalable, secure and easily tailored advanced software solutions, combined with easy to manage charging hardware, that enable them to plug and go.

To drive progress in EV fleets, ABB has created a pureplay venture in Berlin that will develop tailored, scalable and cost-effective technologies for fleet operators which can be used by all vehicle OEMs. Working with AWS, this new venture will design the interoperable fleet management solution to work with all vehicle types and charging infrastructure. Using machine learning and analytics, it will include a compelling set of features including charge planning and real-time monitoring with insight and actions for vehicle health and servicing, along with EV route optimization based on time of day, weather and use patterns.

“As industries forge ahead with electrification of their vehicle fleets, customers need reliable and intuitive services to help them adapt to the new operating model and optimize how they utilize their fleets. This collaboration between AWS and ABB will combine our companies’ deep expertise in the automotive, logistics and electrification spaces with leadership in the cloud to deliver a hardware-agnostic, intelligent electric fleet management solution,” said Jon Allen, Director, Professional Services, Automotive at AWS. “Together, ABB and AWS will bring the insights, agility and scale the cloud provides to the electric vehicle industry and help our customers successfully transition to a lower-emission future.”

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.

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