News Aggregation App ‘News That Matters’ With Multiple Keyword-Based Searches From 1000 Curated News Sites Launched

* Free Platinum services for one year for registrations before 22nd April 2021

News That Matters, an android exclusive news aggregation app, providing multiple keyword news searches aggregated from nearly 1000 curated online websites was launched today. The app addresses a key challenge that online news consumers face in being unable to create multiple keywords alerts in a single platform. The keywords alerts can be edited on-the-go, and an unlimited number of keywords and news are available for Platinum subscribers. The app is available free-to-download on Google Playstore, and the Platinum subscription is being offered free for one year for all downloads till 22nd April, 2021.

Deepak Rai, Product Lead, News That Matters, said, “The app is aimed at increasing news consumption for the young generation from curated and authentic sources as a counter to generic search engine results which yield results from all sources, authentic or not. News That Matters is verifies genuine online news sites before these are made a part of its search list. By redirecting the user to the online news websites, the app will help content creators to garner more user traffic also.”

News consumers have constantly changing needs in the type of news they consume, and the speed of news updates can be critical in many cases. ‘News That Matters’ focuses on such critical needs of the news consumers empowering them to choose the news they consumer. Subscribers can change their keywords at will and news updating frequency is up to 30 times a day. Apart from the specific news consumer, there are eighteen sector-based news also covered, making this app invaluable to journalists, newsmakers, corporate communications, research, organizations, public relations agencies, and others who need to keep up with sector trends.

“Further, news consumption patterns are extremely personal, and a research by the company shows that that only specific news types are of interest at any given time. News consumption patterns change depending on changes in personal interests, happenings in the world, interest in personalities or companies, events, etc.  While new technologies are changing the way news is consumed, they have remained static when it comes to user needs and interests providing them with only the news they choose, without cluttering them with other unwanted content”, Rai added.

Hero Motocorp Sells 5.77 Lakh Units Of Two-Wheelers In March 2021

Capping off the FY’21 on a positive note, Hero MotoCorp Ltd., the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer sold 576,957 units of motorcycles and scooters in March 2021, registering a growth of 72% over the corresponding month in the previous year. The company had sold 334,647 units in March 2020.

In March last year, sales were adversely impacted due to the impending transition to BSVI from April 2020, in addition to the nationwide lockdown towards the latter half of the month due to coronavirus pandemic.

Significantly, the Company registered its highest-ever sales in Global Business (GB) in a single month by clocking 32,617 units in the month of March, a growth of 82% over the corresponding month in 2020 when it had sold 17,962 units in its global markets.

Mr. Sanjay Bhan, Head – Global Business, Hero MotoCorp said, “Hero MotoCorp’s global business has been gaining traction and we are optimistic of maintaining the healthy growth trajectory across geographies in the coming months. The recovery in consumer demand and efficient collaboration with our global distributors has enabled us to achieve these numbers. While the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the global auto industry, we are witnessing strong preference for the wide range of motorcycles and scooters – including the premium motorcycles Xpulse and Hunk 160R - across markets, especially in Latin America.”

In FY’21, the auto industry witnessed significant disruptions triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic, restricting customer movement. Despite these challenges, Hero MotoCorp sold 57,91,539 units of two-wheelers in the fiscal year (April 2020-March 2021).

Mr. Naveen Chauhan, Head – Sales and After-Sales, Hero MotoCorp said, “The financial year 2020-21 for us has been a period of sharp revival and setting new milestones, despite the backdrop of a significant downturn in the automotive market. During the fiscal, we surpassed the monumental milestone of 100 million units in cumulative sales since our inception. We are currently offering the broadest-ever range of scooters and motorcycles, each with its own distinctive personality that resonates with our customers. In keeping with our vision to ‘Be the Future of Mobility’, Hero MotoCorp will be launching a host of new motorcycles and scooters over the next five years.”

Nissan India And ExxonMobil Join Hands To Supply Lubricants For The Passenger Vehicles Business

* The new range of engine oils is suitable for India’s latest BS-VI standards and is compatible with older generation BS-III or BS-IV Nissan models

* All-new range of engine oils from ExxonMobil enables Nissan vehicles to achieve optimal performance reliability and potential fuel economy benefits

ExxonMobil Lubricants Pvt. Ltd. today announced that it has signed an agreement with Nissan Motor India to supply lubricants for the passenger vehicles (PV) aftermarket business.

Commencing in April 2021, ExxonMobil will supply an extensive range of engine oils to Nissan India that is suitable for India’s BS-VI standards, while remaining compatible with older generation BS-III or BS-IV Nissan passenger vehicles. This partnership provides Nissan car owners access to advanced lubricant technology that meets the latest specifications for optimal performance reliability and potential fuel economy benefits.

Speaking on the development, Deepankar Banerjee, CEO, ExxonMobil Lubricants Pvt. Ltd., says, “We are delighted to be Nissan’s trusted partner to provide the latest lubricant technology that helps protect Nissan engines and allows them to run more efficiently. We are honored to be working closely with Nissan’s team to optimize the latest range of engine oils for their specific design needs and offer an excellent experience to their customers. This partnership adds to our continuous efforts to provide consumers with technologically superior and advanced formulated lubricants for their vehicles to keep them performing at their best.”

“We are pleased to be partnering with ExxonMobil, as both companies have core strength areas in their respective fields. This collaboration reiterates our commitment of providing the most advanced technologies to our discerning Indian customers. At Nissan our emphasis has always been to provide customer delight, fill unmet needs, bring innovative technologies for a better future and mutually grow business. The partnership with ExxonMobil is a major step in our effort towards this journey,” says Rakesh Srivastava, MD, Nissan Motor India.

The all-new range of engine oils – Nissan Genuine Parts Motor Oil SAE 0W-20, 5W-30, 10W-30, 10W-40 – includes synthetic and semi-synthetic PV products that were developed by ExxonMobil’s global research and development center through trials and tests to deliver optimum engine performance in different conditions.

Made with ExxonMobil’s proprietary formulation, the latest range of engine oils meets the latest International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) and American Petroleum Institute (API) standards, and also comes with features such as emissions system compatibility, oxidation stability, deposit control along with sludge and varnish protection, engine durability, wear protection for idle-stop and low-speed pre ignition minimization. The co-developed engine oils will be available through the Nissan service network for all variants of Nissan models.

About ExxonMobil in India

ExxonMobil’s downstream business engages in the distribution, sales and marketing of Mobil branded lubricants and specialties. The chemicals business provides market development support, analytical and reporting services. It also conducts chemical product application support services and product testing support at its technology center in Bengaluru. The upstream business provides consulting and LNG market development support services for other ExxonMobil upstream affiliates. The Global Business Center/Technical Center provides a range of support services for ExxonMobil’s operations around the globe. ExxonMobil contributes to programs in India that support education, health and the community. 

About Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd.

Nissan Motor India Private Ltd. (NMIPL) is a 100 percent subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. Japan. The company was incorporated in 2005 and offers innovative and exciting products across the hatchback, MUV, SUV and sedan segments in India. Nissan together with its global alliance partner Renault set up a manufacturing plant and a Research & Development Centre near Chennai. Nissan in India has a portfolio of two brands, Nissan and Datsun. 

VMware Cloud Accelerates App Modernization Through Modular, Multi-Cloud Services

For more than 20 years, VMware has powered essential business applications around the world. More than 300,000 organizations have built and run more than 85 million workloads on VMware, and more than five million developers build apps on VMware technology. VMware, Incs helping customers unlock the power of multi-cloud and deliver modern applications at the speed of business with the unveiling of VMware Cloud.

VMware Cloud is a distributed, multi-cloud platform that enables organizations to accelerate application modernization across the data center, edge, and any cloud. It provides distinctive advantages to both developers and IT operators who are often forced to make tradeoffs. VMware Cloud boosts developer productivity by enabling them to build and deploy to any cloud. The platform enables IT to modernize infrastructure and operations with better economics and less risk. With the launch of VMware Cloud, VMware is announcing new offerings that bring a more integrated experience to customers. These offerings include:

VMware Cloud Universal: a flexible subscription that simplifies the purchase and consumption of VMware multi-cloud infrastructure and management services.

VMware Cloud Console: a single monitoring and management environment for VMware Cloud infrastructure regardless of where it’s deployed.

VMware App Navigator: a new offering for assessing and prioritizing app transformation initiatives across an entire application estate based on the value of each app.

“We are on the cusp of the next evolution of cloud and apps. Architectures are becoming distributed and increasingly multi-cloud, while modern applications will soon outnumber traditional apps. The challenge for any CIO is to take advantage of this new innovation without introducing more complexity and risk,” said Raghu Raghuram, chief operating officer, products and cloud services, VMware. “VMware Cloud is the only cloud solution today that customers can use in the datacenter and on any cloud, accelerating their modernization journey with speed, simplicity, and better security. With VMware Cloud Universal, customers make a single purchase and gain the ability to deploy apps across any environment, then move them as business or application requirements change.”

Modular, Multi-Cloud Services for All Applications, Everywhere

Application initiatives are driving better business outcomes, an elevated customer experience, innovative digital services, and the anywhere workforce. Organizations surveyed by VMware report that 90% of app initiatives are focused on modernization(1), and 80% today deploy applications in a distributed model across data center, cloud, and edge(2).

VMware Cloud is the platform for both on-premises and cloud with unified security and operations; supporting traditional and modern applications; connecting to all native cloud services; and meeting the requirements of both developers and IT operators. With VMware Cloud, customers gain the simplicity of a single cloud operating model for their multi-cloud reality, and gain portability to help minimize to help address the challenges of single cloud silos. VMware Cloud customers can realize substantive benefits including as much as 80% better developer productivity with VMware Tanzu Application Service (3), 59% lower operational costs(4), and 46% faster cloud migration(5).

Marketing Technology News: Diving into Early Stage Accelerator Programs and their Growth in the Marketplace

With VMware Cloud, customers can deploy apps to VMware Cloud Foundation running in Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Oracle Cloud; on VMware Cloud on Dell EMC; and across hundreds of VMware Cloud Verified partners. VMware Marketplace provides customers access to thousands of validated third party and open-source developer solutions. VMware Cloud customers can also deploy and operate across native public clouds, and give developers access to all native cloud services.

“Fiserv helped small businesses access the funding they needed to continue operating through the Paycheck Protection Program,” said Keith Fulton, senior vice president and CIO, Account Processing at Fiserv. “Upon the launch of the program we quickly deployed a portal to enable thousands of our financial institution clients to accept PPP applications, and as requirements evolved, we built new capabilities that helped banks assess risk levels for tens of thousands of applicants and deliver application confirmation in a matter of seconds. Utilizing VMware Cloud and with just 15 developers working on the Paycheck Protection solutions, we created more than 100,000 lines of code, using CI/CD pipelines, to deliver 436 releases to production in just 28 calendar days.”

Emirates SkyCargo Becomes First Airline Cargo Carrier To Transport Over 50 Million Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccines

In the run up to World Health Day (7 April), Emirates SkyCargo has become the first airline cargo carrier in the world to have transported more than 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on its flights. The carrier has also transported more than 100 tonnes of syringes across the world to support the delivery of vaccines.

Since the start of international distribution late last year, Emirates SkyCargo has transported over 220 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines, equivalent to more than 50 million doses, on more than 150 flights from manufacturing locations to 50 destinations on its network through Dubai. Overall, the carrier has transported six different kinds of COVD-19 vaccines.

Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo, said: “Emirates SkyCargo is proud to have reached the 50 million COVID-19 vaccine delivery milestone just ahead of World Health Day. As a socially responsible global air cargo carrier, our actions over the last year have always been directed at helping communities across the world, and especially those in developing nations, recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic. We have been leading the global air cargo industry’s efforts and working with our partner organisations in Dubai to rapidly distribute COVID-19 vaccines through Dubai to the rest of the world.”

Emirates SkyCargo has remained agile and dynamic throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, responding quickly to maintain international connectivity for essential goods across the world. The carrier was one of the first in the world to deploy passenger aircraft for cargo only flights in order to transport PPE, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and food. Over one year, Emirates SkyCargo had operated more than 27,800 flights and transported over 100,000 tonnes of essential commodities.

As early as October 2020, Emirates SkyCargo set up an EU GDP certified dedicated airside hub for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines at its hub in Dubai. With its sophisticated infrastructure and extensive storage capacity, Emirates SkyCargo positioned itself to fly in large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturing locations, store the vaccines in Dubai and then regularly replenish vaccine supplies to developing nations with limited cold chain infrastructure through its cargo flights.

In January 2021, Emirates SkyCargo joined hands with leading Dubai-based entities, DP World, International Humanitarian City and Dubai Airports to form the Dubai Vaccine Logistics Alliance to harness the strategic strengths of Dubai as a major global distribution hub for COVID-19 vaccines. In February 2021, Emirates SkyCargo signed an MoU with UNICEF to prioritise transportation of COVID-19 vaccines in support of the COVAX facility which is aimed at equitable global distribution of vaccines.

With its fleet of modern and efficient all wide-body aircraft and a network that currently spans more than 130 destinations across six continents, combined with the strategic geographic location of its state of the art GDP certified Dubai hub, Emirates SkyCargo is a key global player in the secure and rapid global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Clovia Brings Online Shopping Experience Closer To Offline​​ Through Whatsapp And App Based Bra-Bot - The Online Bra Sales Assistant

Clovia, India’s leading brand for women’s innerwear, loungewear, and personal care has recently introduced Bra-Bot - an online AI-based chatbot to help you buy the right innerwear and other categories. This is part of Clovia’s continued effort to bring its online shopping experience closer to assisted offline retail experience and provide its customers technology-driven help for making the right purchase decisions in the product category which boasts of high customer engagement.

Clovia has been one of the key Branded players in the Indian direct-to-consumer space which has been scaling profitably on the back of extensive use of technology in all its business areas. The artificial intelligence-based conversational platform for assisting customers is another step in the same direction. The platform is accessible to customers not only through its site or app, but also through direct engagement via Whatsapp. 

The intent is to bring the customer to as close to an offline retail environment, scalably and in the privacy of their phones. Clovia’s customer engagement on social platforms has been extremely strong through the years. The bra-bot as it’s internally called by the team is capable of understanding the customer’s needs, and point him/her to the correct product while advising on the sizing using Clovia’s proprietary CloviaCurve ™Fit Test. This leads to a frictionless purchase experience while ensuring the customer is not blocked by surges in call traffics or site footfalls.  

The bot can handle a host of issues from helping to make a purchase, to updating you on your orders & delivery status or pointing you to policies, FAQs, or sizing suggestions. The response to the Bra-Bot has been exceptional with almost 2L customers engaging with it within 30 days of launch. The Bot is currently handling over 35% of customer queries automatically and the rest being seamlessly passed to a support executive. “The customers have shown a strong inclination to interact over Whatsapp more than they would like to call - a phenomena which is fast becoming a norm for the millennials. More importantly, the excitement of adoption of the tool from Tier 2/3 Towns is way stronger than the Tier1,” as per Clovia Founder and CEO Pankaj Vermani. The next phase of the bra-bot will see the bot speaking/suggesting differently to individual customers based on their past purchase and browsing patterns leading to a lot more targeted experience at an individual level.

About Clovia:

Clovia is India’s leading direct-to-consumer innerwear and loungewear brand focused on addressing key pain points for millennial women. The company sells 1 unit every 5 seconds on the back of a tech-driven lean supply chain and strong brand positioning. The company over time successfully extended into multiple women's lifestyle categories like activewear, shapewear, maternity, and personal care products. The brand was launched by industry veterans Pankaj Vermani, Neha Kant, and  Suman Chowdhury in 2015. Clovia sells through multiple channels including its exclusive online store www.clovia.com,  Android & iOS Apps, all major online marketplaces, a network of its exclusive retail stores across India, and also through most of the premium large formats in the country. Almost 60% of Clovia business comes through its owned channels, having served over 2Mn customers on the same. At Clovia highly skilled designers and fashion experts create exquisite, playful, and designer products, keeping up with the international designs and styles. Sophisticated, sharp, and suave, contrasted with flirty, fun, and bold prints, Clovia wants to redefine the Indian lingerie market and help customers choose beyond standard cuts, shapes, and colours. The company's proprietary technology stack ensures it has one of the most efficient supply chains in the country. Clovia is backed by Ivy Cap Ventures, Zurich-based Mountain Partners AG, and Singapore-based AT Capital.

Meitra Hospital Collaborates With MGM Healthcare For Their Multi-Organ Transplant Programme

Meitra Hospital has collaborated with Chennai-based MGM Healthcare to set up comprehensive Heart and Lung as well as Liver Transplant Programs. Mr. Faizal E Kottikollon, Chairman, Meitra Hospital and Dr. KR Balakrishnan, Director at Institute of Heart & Lung Transplant& Mechanical Circulatory Support at MGM Healthcare and Dr. Thiagarajan  Srinivasan, Director, Institute of Liver Diseases, Transplant & HPB Surgery, MGM Healthcare signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Dr. Ali Faizal (Director, Meitra Hospital), and Mr. Harish Manian (CEO, MGM Healthcare) were present at the MoU Signing ceremonies.

Through the Heart and Lung Transplant Program, Meitra Hospital aims to advance its reputed Centre of Excellence for Heart and Vascular Care by offering heart and lung transplants, mechanical circulatory support devices for failing hearts and single lung retrieval and transplant. The transplant programme will be led by an expert team that does the highest number of heart and lung transplants in Asia. 

Dr. K R Balakrishnan has performed more than 375 heart and lung transplants and is credited with performing many first-of-its-kind heart surgeries in India. Dr. Thiagarajan Srinivasan has a personal experience of more than 1,700 liver transplants and a cumulative experience of more than 3,500 liver transplants.

The Liver Transplant Programme, under its Centre of Excellence for Gastro Sciences, will deliver advanced liver transplant services through a multi-disciplinary transplantation team that comprises of dedicated transplant surgeons, gastroenterologists, anaesthetists, intensivists, perfusionists, technicians and nurses.

“This is the next big step in Meitra’sjourney as a quaternary care provider. We are glad to have entered into this partnership with MGM Healthcare for heart, lung & liver transplant surgeries. Dr. K.R Balakrishnan and Dr. Thiagarajan are world renowned transplant surgeons, and it is our privilege to be associated with them for this multi-organ transplantation programme. We are certain that this initiative will help in transforming the healthcare scenario of the region,” said Mr. Faizal E. Kottikollon, Chairman, Meitra Hospital.  

“Our clinical team at MGM Healthcare will be working closely with the clinical team at Meitra Hospital to establish the heart and lung transplant and heart failure management programmes. Medical technology and treatment protocols have greatly evolved over the past few years. Ensuring that patients get the best that medical science has to offer is our primary goal.”, said Dr KR Balakrishnan, Director at Institute of Heart & Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support at MGM Healthcare.

Meitra Hospital, a 220-bed quaternary care provider, based in Kozhikode, is already a preferred centre for live and deceased donour renal transplants as well as bone marrow transplants in the region. Through this initiative, it seeks to strengthen its position as a preferred international destination for multi-organ transplants.