Brigade Reap And HDFC Capital’s ‘One World One Realty’ To Focus On Creating A More Efficient And Sustainable World

* Two Day Virtual Summit on Sustainability in Real Estate and Construction Sector Inaugurated on International Earth Day

One World, One Realty, a virtual Global PropTech Summit aimed at defining a sustainability road map for the real estate and construction industry, presented by Brigade Reap and HDFC Capital, was inaugurated today by Shri. Hardeep S Puri, Honorable Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs; Civil Aviation and MoS Commerce and Industry, Government of India and Dr. Ashwath Narayan C N, Honorable Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka. The two-day virtual summit which was inaugurated on International Earth Day will deliberate on a series of topics on innovation and technology to create a more efficient and sustainable world. The summit will address the issue of global warming, environmental concerns and emission impacts and how the real estate and construction sector can come together, globally as one to use technology and innovation for a better world.

Eminent industry leaders from the Real Estate, Construction and Infrastructure sectors including Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman - HDFC Ltd, Mr. Mahesh Ramanujam President and  CEO, U.S. Green Building Council USGBC, Mr. Vipul Roongta, MD and  CEO - HDFC Capital Advisors Ltd, Mr. Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner, Head of India - Real Estate, Brookfield, Mr. Nipun Sahani, Partner, Real Assets – Apollo Global, Mr. Mridul Upreti, Sector Lead - Tourism, Retail and  Property – IFC, Mr. Hari Marar, MD and  CEO, Bangalore International Airport, Mr. Faisal Butt, CEO, Founder and  Chairman, Pi Labs Ltd, UK, Mr. Nicholas Brathwaite, Founding Managing Partner, WRVI, California, Mr. Jonathan Hannam, Co-Founder and  Managing Partner, Taronga Ventures, Australia, Mr. Manuel Ventura Sala, CCO, Wellness TechGroup, Spain, Ms. Daisy Chittilapilly, MD, CISCO INDIA and  SAARC, Ms. Nirupa Shankar, Executive Director, Brigade Enterprises Ltd, Mr. P.S Narayan, Global Head, Sustainability and Social, Wipro Ltd and Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra are some of the speakers at the summit.

Speaking at the inauguration, Shri. Hardip S Puri said, “The theme of Sustainable Development for the Global Summit One World One Realty is most appropriate and timely. The global housing technology challenge launched by the PM in January 2021 is an example of our commitment to sustainable development. This is a program harnessing global expertise on the use of new construction techniques, and green technologies in constructing houses in lesser time frames than those with other conventional technologies. These light house projects, as they are called, will come up in six geoclimatic zones in the country and will pave the way to ultimately mainstream their use. I urge all participants in this summit to play an active role in propagating the use of new technologies. We are well aware of the adverse impact of climate change, therefore minimizing the carbon footprint must remain the central focus even as we urbanise. We owe this to the health of our future generations. I am confident the deliberations in the various sessions will yield positive outcomes. I also urge the construction industry in India to raise the bar when it comes to the use of green technologies in construction so that India becomes a force to reckon with”.

Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Ltd in his address said, “Technology has enabled developers to virtually showcase their properties and home loan providers have leveraged digital platforms to continue to serve new and existing customers. Capitalizing on technology for the real estate sector will also improve governance. This will bring in much needed transparency, accountability and improve cost efficiency. PropTech companies can play a big role in accelerating the Government's smart city mission as well as help local level bodies and municipalities in terms of facilitating online approvals of building permits. We strongly believe that technology will play a significant role in the development of a sustainable and efficient real estate ecosystem. Sustainability must become a part of our DNA if we are to leave a better world for future generations.”

“When we launched Brigade REAP in 2016, the main objective was to select and mentor sustainability startups that would bring disruptive technologies to the real estate industry, which would reduce cost, increase revenue and save time.  These start-ups have been most exciting to mentor and grow. They have the ability to tackle big issues plaguing the real estate industry from an environment and operations perspective. Through this summit, we aim to bring together some of the finest minds including start-ups and seasoned industry professionals from across the world. They will share their experiences and insights on how the real estate and construction industry can leverage technology for efficient development by increasing sustainability, optimising resources and adopting new practices to work towards a carbon neutral ‘built world’. The need of the hour is to re-engineer and reimagine the business to ensure that design, planning, construction and operations in the industry gets more efficient. We need to optimize the use of natural resources and build more responsibly”, said Nirupa Shankar, Executive Director, Brigade Enterprises Ltd.

Proptech Startups focused on sustainability will present real time solutions at the summit. These include ZigZag Solar (Netherlands), WEGOT (India), Strawcture (India), Ricron (India), Square Yards, Facilio, Xpedize, Build Supply, Evercamp (UK)Metrikus (UK), Snaptrude (India) and Smart Vizx (India).

Globale Media Supports “Made In India” Apps As They Witness Huge Boost Amidst The New Internet Boom

Leading AI-based mobile advertising platform, Globale Media has stepped up to support the Vocal for Local cause. In the last one year, the Indian app industry has grown enormously, and Globale Media is all set to support Indian advertisers. Recently, the company launched a new offering for app marketers, called Keyboard Search Ads. Apart from that, Globale Media has a variety of offerings for the advertisers such as App recommendation on OEM channels, Appography via P2P offline sharing apps, and exclusive placements with 100+ Top SDK partners. 

This initiative is aligned with the government’s latest encouragement in developing homegrown tech products and solutions as opposed to populating international alternatives. The push for a Made-in-India ecosystem was made right after the ban of Chinese apps and the launch of Atmanirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge. 

During a time when the mobile advertising industry is growing at a rapid pace, Globale Media has taken an initiative to help hundreds of Indian apps to reach their target audience. Business and productivity apps had 7.1 billion downloads in 2020. The shift was observed not just in the volume of downloads but also in the type of apps that were downloaded. According to AppsFlyer’s recent article, Gaming, e-Commerce, Health, and Media are booming verticals in the Indian app ecosystem, with gaming apps being the new fad. The number of games played each month on average per user has increased 35% over last year – the highest worldwide. 

The app economy in India has surged because of a wave of increased internet and smartphone usage. 

Statista has predicted that over 500 million people in India will access the internet from mobile devices by 2023. During this point of rapid market maturation, Globale Media’s opportunity comes as a benefit to the Made in India app ecosystem.

Commenting on this, Mr. Bhavesh Talreja, Founder and CEO shared, “We are extremely happy to announce that Globale Media is empowering Made-in-India apps and is replacing the monopoly of international names. Amidst this second COVID wave, the Indian app ecosystem is seeing tremendous growth and we are extending our support to the advertisers with our variety of offerings."

Top app downloads by country, Q2 2020

Source: Sensor Tower

Recently, the company has reported a 500% increase in revenue since last financial year. Globale Media was recognized in the ‘Top 10 AdTech Start-ups of 2019’ that boosted its popularity amongst Indian advertisers and owing to their relationships with OEM and SDK partners, they have been able to provide app marketers with tremendous results. 

About Globale Media:

Globale Media is one of the largest AI-driven mobile advertising platforms that support advertisers aiming to reach their brand awareness and user acquisition goals. Through their direct partnerships with top OEMs, publishers, and app developers, Globale Media creates unique experiences for app marketers. They do it by ensuring 100% direct app traffic over mobile and OEMs utilizing their white-label technology that predicts app users based on their profiles. Globale Media accelerates enterprise growth by driving high-quality traffic to all major app verticals including gaming, e-commerce, lifestyle, utilities, social, education, entertainment, and others.

Keysight Releases Fourth Security Report Highlighting Three Critical Areas Of Concern To Network Security

* Threats include phishing trends due to pandemic, ransomware and critical security supply chain weaknesses

Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, today announced its fourth Keysight Security Report. The 2021 report features network security trends over the past year from Keysight’s Application and Threat Intelligence (ATI) Research Center and highlights three areas of critical concern to network security.

The report draws on Keysight’s in-depth experience in network security testing, as well as the company’s expertise in network and cloud visibility. The elite, globally distributed team of dedicated cybersecurity professionals that make up Keysight’s ATI Research Center monitor and analyze evolving indicators that threaten the security of enterprise IT networks. This team leverages input to the research process from multiple sources, including honeypots placed worldwide which actively seek threats in the wild, independent research by the team, international exploit databases, the Dark Web, scans of security news alerts and crowdsourcing, as well as social media and partner feeds.

“This report combines lessons learned in 2020 with impactful insights for network security professionals for 2021. Both the data and insights are based on research conducted by Keysight’s Application and Threat Intelligence (ATI) Research Center,” said Scott Register, vice president, security solutions for Keysight. “Cybercrime did not take a holiday during the pandemic. Cyber criminals leveraged phishing, ransomware and supply chain vector attacks to strike networks for financial gain. We believe that these network security trends will continue in 2021.”

Three trends characterized cybercrime for most of 2020:

·  Phishing attacks increased by 62 percent. Keysight research shows that there was a 62 percent increase in phishing attacks in 2020 over 2019. In fact, there was rapid increase in these attacks when the pandemic took center stage in March and April as social engineering attacks were related to the pandemic.

·  Monetary gain took center stage as a key cybercrime motivator. There was a huge uptick in the deployment of ransomware starting in June. While this trend was directed across all industries, healthcare was hit especially hard. 59 percent of the attacks occurred during the second half of 2020.

·   Supply chain attacks hit the headlines with the SolarWinds attack. The supply chain continues to be a weakness and the SolarWinds attack reinforced the need for security architects to embrace a holistic and comprehensive approach.

Strategic Insights from the Keysight Security Report, 2021

Strategic Insight #1: Phishing and additional social engineering attacks will continue to take advantage of pandemic-related headlines. Keysight’s recommendation: People need to recognize social engineering vaccination scams and network security teams must be aware that bad actors target personally identifiable information (PII) in a healthcare and government setting.

Strategic Insight #2: Ransomware is highly popular because it makes a lot of money for bad actors. While it’s not going away, business models continue to mutate along with malware variants. Keysight’s recommendation: It’s critical to keep enterprise threat detection systems up-to-date with the latest signatures and behavioral patterns, as ransomware builders are getting better at obfuscation and avoiding detection. In addition, network security teams should also be aware that exploitation practices evolve.

Strategic Insight #3: An organization’s supply chain is more than just components. There is a tendency to think of a supply chain as outside entities that either supply a company with software and hardware components or the supplies used when building a product. Keysight’s recommendation: The supply chain is critical to the operation of a business, including utilities, email, cloud providers and even coffee suppliers. Network security must consider non-traditional components that may touch an organization and IT systems.

Strategic Insight #4: Zero-trust is more than just a buzzword. It does not mean limiting what users can see when they connect to an organization’s network. Keysight’s recommendation: A successful zero-trust implementation requires that systems and users can only access the internal or external resources that they absolutely need.

Strategic Insight #5: Assume an organization is breached and behaves accordingly. Keysight’s recommendation: Organizations need visibility into their networks and cloud resources. If network security teams cannot spot anomalies hiding in their network (whether on-premises, in the cloud, or a remote user), then they are allowing breaches to remain undetected indefinitely.

An editorial abstract of this report is available in Keysight’s newsroom: www.keysight.com/find/security-report-2020

For a full copy of the fourth annual Keysight Security Report, go here: https://www.keysight.com/us/en/assets/3121-1093/white-papers/Keysight-Technologies-2021-Security-Report.pdf

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight delivers advanced design and validation solutions that help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight’s dedication to speed and precision extends to software-driven insights and analytics that bring tomorrow’s technology products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimization and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments.  Our customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics. Keysight generated revenues of $4.2B in fiscal year 2020. 

Rise In Overall Income, Employment And Education And Community Development Are Long-Term Impacts Of Zoho's Tenkasi Office: Study

* Zoho's rural revival initiatives have also led to women empowerment, skill building, and indirect job and wealth creation, the study has revealed

Zoho Corp, the Chennai-headquartered global technology company, has today released a study detailing the socio-economic impact of its rural office in Tenkasi over the past decade. Economix Consulting Group (ECG), a Chennai-based consulting firm that conducted the study, did around 7,300 minutes of interactions with nearly 300 stakeholders. The study revealed several areas of positive impact in Tenkasi district such as overall income, women empowerment, education and skill-building, employment, and community development.

Over the past year, Zoho has intensified its rural revival initiatives. It has opened around 20 satellite offices in rural and non-urban areas around the world, mostly in India. The Indian offices, started to cater to the employees who wanted to continue working from their hometowns during the pandemic, are located in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. Zoho plans to open 100 new offices around the world. The company has traditionally stayed away from urban centres, believing that software can be built from anywhere.

"There is a lot of latent talent in the world that is waiting for an opportunity," said Sridhar Vembu, CEO and Co-founder, Zoho Corp. "The concentration of jobs in urban cities has taken away talented youth from the villages where they are most needed. By bringing high-paying jobs to villages, Zoho is helping restore the talent where it belongs. Over a period, we can see it benefit the local community, and lead to overall development and economic growth. On the other hand, it allows our employees to stay close to their families and enjoy a better standard of living. The study has helped us capture the long-term impact of rural offices, and validated our approach."

Zoho in Tenkasi

Zoho, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, had opened its first rural office in Mathlamparai, Tenkasi in 2011 with six employees. Currently, the office has around 500 employees. It also has a division of Zoho Schools of Learning (ZSL), a programme through which students who have completed Class 12th or a diploma course are trained and hired as employees. Over the past decade, Zoho's presence has led to an increase in overall income, provided skill-building and employment opportunities for youth, empowered women with greater agency, and contributed significantly to Tenkasi's socio-economic development, the ECG study has found.

Key findings of the study:

1. Community impact: Zoho has helped revamp infrastructure of local schools, improve sanitation and hygiene through waste clearance, pond desilting and undertaking other development initiatives. Zoho has also been running an agricultural farm from Tenkasi, providing livelihood for field workers. According to local elected and administrative officials:

Zoho is one of the main reasons for Tenkasi being given a district status.

New housing facilities are being constructed to accommodate Zoho employees.

Company employees have started investing in agriculture.

Farming initiatives by Zoho have created awareness about organic farming to some extent amongst the locals and farmers. The panchayat has now started producing vermicompost.

2. Indirect job/wealth creation: Zoho has had a significantly positive impact on suppliers and vendors it works with. In addition to benefitting them financially, there has been a ripple effect in terms of their ability to support their children’s education and take care of their extended family.

Zoho is the first client for 31% of the vendors and suppliers

About 44% report that they have been able to acquire more clients due to their association with Zoho.

50% report being able to ‘improve the education and healthcare of their family’ because of their partnership with Zoho.

69% indicate that they are able to support their extended family financially, of whom 82% contribute ‘more than 50%’ of their earnings.

63% said they were able to ‘uplift the livelihood of their relatives, friends,' thanks to Zoho.

3. Impact on employees:

i. Re-distribution of wealth and rise in overall income: The study shows a significant positive impact on Zoho employees hailing from Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, and surrounding areas. Besides vastly improving their standard of living, Zoho has enabled them to support their extended families and friends financially.

58% employees report that they support the education expenses of one or more immediate or extended family member; 67% employees provide some form of support (monetary or otherwise) to family or friends since their employment with Zoho.

95% of Zoho Schools of Learning-Tenkasi alumni, currently living outside Tenkasi, report some form of support (monetary or otherwise) to immediate or extended family or friends since their employment with Zoho, of whom 94% report monetary support to family.

ii) Empowerment of women: As per the last available public data, female literacy in Tenkasi was 45% and women’s participation in the workforce was around 35% (agricultural) and 58% (non-agricultural). The nature of work largely remains in low-paying jobs. Zoho affords a way out of this.

A healthy 64% of women employees report spending more on themselves since their employment with Zoho.

38% report that they make their own lifestyle decisions.

22% indicate that they always make their financial decisions, and an equivalent 22% report making those decisions in conjunction with family.

75% of the women respondents among the ZSL-Tenkasi alumni currently living outside Tenkasi, indicate that financial decisions are made by them in conjunction with a male family member.

iii) Offering an alternative to conventional method of education: Zoho has had a significantly positive impact on Zoho Schools of Learning-Tenkasi students, faculty and their families. It has made them more confident and articulate (including English language skills), enhanced their social skills, and provided them with an opportunity to support their families.

More than 75% students opine that the balance between classroom and on-the-job training is perfect, are confident of getting jobs outside Zoho and about fulfilling family's aspirations, and feel better about themselves with respect to their college peers.

More than 70% students report that they are treated like adults by family and their social circle and that their opinion is valued. 50% of the students feel that they are learning faster than their peers and that their families are happy with their choice.

All the teachers feel that ZSL is superior to other educational institutions. The curriculum is updated every 6-12 months to address the needs of the industry and the students. The faculty opine that the training also prepares the students for jobs outside of Zoho.

"The Socio-Economic Impact Measurement model curated for Zoho is a judicious mix of quantitative and qualitative factors, with significant emphasis on qualitative assessment using ECG's '360° Eye' Stakeholder Consultation Process," said Latha  Ramanathan, Founder and CEO, ECG. "Often, in such studies, the pursuit of majority (quantitatively) leads to ignoring the opinions/feelings of the minority. The qualitative aspect of the model ensured that irrespective of the sample size within each group, their views and voices were heard and incorporated. The personal and professional impacts, impacts on families, and impacts on small businesses, coupled with the quantitative assessment, resulted in the final output of the study. For the ECG team, listening to the students and other stakeholders was incredibly moving and powerful."

Methodology

The Measuring Impact Framework was developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 2006, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to enable business to measure its impact on society. It takes the first steps in measuring business contributions in line with a broader view on societal value. The framework moves beyond conventional reporting to outline the contributions of business activity from the perspective of various relevant stakeholders.

While modelling the methodology on the Measuring Impact framework, ECG has designed their approach using “stakeholder consultations” as the central, holistic theme with their 360° framework to measuring impacts, that are both relevant and contextually significant. A mixture of quantitative indicators, qualitative observations and respondent quotations are used to evaluate the contributions of the organisation to “each distinct group” of stakeholders. This is supported throughout by significant secondary research to meaningfully evaluate the survey results. Gradients based on availability and validity of evidence are then used to rank the outcomes in order of their impact on the social environment in which the business operates and the organisation’s ability to sustain its socio-economic footprint.

About Zoho

With 50+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific software companies. Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 9,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Austin, Texas with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. More than 60 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. 

About Economix Consulting Group (ECG)

ECG (www.economixconsulting.com) is a Chennai based niche consulting and analytics firm focusing on Consumer Behaviour and Strategic Insights. Since its inception in 2016, ECG has specialised in enabling B2C organizations "listen to the voice of their customers" in a cost-effective and swift manner. ECG also enables strategic decision making through "actionable" studies using their 360° Eye approach to stakeholder consultations.

Happiest Minds Is Ranked Among Top 50 Companies For Data Scientists To Work For - 2021

* Ranks among top 10 companies for Diversity & Inclusion

Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (NSE: HAPPSTMNDS), a ‘Born Digital. Born Agile’, digital transformation and IT Solutions Company announced that it has been ranked at 11th position in Analytics India Magazine’s Top 50 List for Data Scientists to Work For – 2021. Adding further glory to this, is the ranking under Diversity & Inclusion category where Happiest Minds has been ranked among the top 10 at eighth position.

In its third edition, this year’s rankings involved a robust scrutiny of 143 nominations across all industries. The nominated companies were closely analyzed basis five key parameters namely Learning & Support, Productivity & Engagement, Benefits & Well-being, Rewarding Excellence and Diversity & Inclusion. Basis this, an overall index was derived using the average score corresponding to each of these parameters. The aim of the rankings is to recognize those organizations who have HR policies and work environment that offers a great place to work for those with data scientist and data analytics skillsets.

Pertaining to Diversity & Inclusion, Happiest Minds emerged among the top basis focused hiring drives, women safety & engagement initiatives, health camps focusing on women’s needs, enhanced policies and sensitization training programs.

Joseph Anantharaju, Exec. Vice Chairman, Happiest Minds Technologies, said,” We have built a very strong and talented team of AI and Data Scientists and are committed to implementing best in class talent retention as well as diversity & inclusion practices. We have a keen focus on the wellbeing of our people and a commitment towards excellence, which is embedded in our company values.”

Ajay Agrawal, Senior Vice President & Head – Analytics/AI CoE, said “Our team thrives on innovation and we have built a portfolio of AI based solution accelerators that help us stay ahead in the game. Our team also has access to great training facilities, collaborative work environment and best in class industry partners and platforms.”

Happiest Minds has a dedicated Center of Excellence for Advanced Analytics and AI. The deep AI and Data science expertise helps build solutions by leveraging latest deep learning and machine learning techniques with simultaneous use of Automated Machine learning and ML Ops to increase the productivity of data scientists. The company has built petabyte scale Data & AI solutions for leading Media, Education & Publishing, Retail and Industrial Companies, resulting in multi-million dollar revenue increase and cost savings for its customers.

Happiest Minds is the first Indian IT company to adopt programs for its people on the global movement related to mindfulness. The company’s mission statement of Happiest People, Happiest Customers reflects the commitment to provide a healthy work environment to its workforce, including a culture that rewards self-development and innovation.

About Happiest Minds Technologies

Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (NSE: HAPPSTMNDS), a Mindful IT Company, enables digital transformation for enterprises and technology providers by delivering seamless customer experiences, business efficiency and actionable insights. We do this by leveraging a spectrum of disruptive technologies such as: artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud, digital process automation, internet of things, robotics/drones, security, virtual/augmented reality, etc. Positioned as ‘Born Digital . Born Agile’, our capabilities span digital solutions, infrastructure, product engineering and security. We deliver these services across industry sectors such as automotive, BFSI, consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, edutech, engineering R&D, hi-tech, manufacturing, retail and travel/transportation/hospitality.

A Great Place to Work-Certified™ Company, Happiest Minds is headquartered in Bangalore, India with operations in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and Middle East.

UST Joins The Climate Pledge, A Commitment Co-founded By Amazon And Global Optimism; Commits To Net-Zero Carbon By 2040

* Pledge to Crack the Climate Crisis; Switching to renewable energy; Creating own solar power plants 

UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, is taking another step in committing to a more environmentally friendly future by joining The Climate Pledge, a cross-sector business community working together to crack the climate crisis and solve the challenges of decarbonizing our economy. The commitment co-founded by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Global Optimism calls on new signatories to be net-zero carbon across their businesses by 2040—a decade ahead of the Paris Accord’s goal of 2050. 

By joining this initiative, UST is marking an unwavering commitment to sustainability. Powered by purpose, UST invests an average of 2% net profits in impact-based outcomes annually and is implementing science-based, high-impact changes to the business initiatives that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.

For over 20 years, UST has strived to drop its carbon emissions and has been innovating to address climate change and environmental issues and focus on global sustainability and socio-economic development. From its humble beginnings in 1999, UST has always invested in improving society through several CSR projects and positively impacting the world. These initiatives range from planting trees and restoring mangrove forests to rescuing and rehabilitating people impacted by natural disasters. UST’s ‘Step It Up America’ and ‘Impact India’ programs provide career training and employment opportunities. UST’s IGBC LEED Gold certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) 6.5-acre Trivandrum India campus has one-third of the area with waterbody/lake channeling throughout the campus. The company continues to seek opportunities to protect the planet and commit to transforming lives for the communities they impact every day.

“We are thrilled to join and support The Climate Pledge. From our inception, we have always endeavored to transform the lives of our employees, clients, end customers, and the community we live in,” said Krishna Sudheendra, Chief Executive Officer, UST. “Environmental stewardship has also been a foundational part of this journey. Together with Amazon, Global Optimism, and the other signatories, we are fully committed to drive tangible progress and jointly take action to limit global warming.”

“Less than two years ago, Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and called on other companies to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early—today, more than 100 companies with over $1.4 trillion in global annual revenues and more than 5 million employees have signed the pledge,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “We are proud to stand with other signatories to use our scale to decarbonize the economy through real business change and innovation.”

As a signatory of The Climate Pledge, UST commits to:

Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.

Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business change and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.

Take actions to neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

Switching to renewable energy for 25% of power needs by 2025 and 50% by 2030.

Utilizing electric vehicles only for movement within our global campuses.

Creating own solar power plant to generate 1.2MW of power by 2023.

“Our mission has always been to transform not just businesses, but the people and communities they touch. We are thrilled to be a part of this initiative, which aligns with our long-term commitment to sustainability,” said Nandagopal Ramachandran, General Manager – Operations. “As we advance in our sustainability goals, this effort enables us to make a truly boundless impact. We proudly stand with Amazon, Global Optimism, and the other signatories of The Climate Pledge, in a commitment to being a net-zero carbon company by 2040.”

Jaipur Rugs In Collaboration With Abin Chaudhuri Pays Ode To The Soul Of Architecture Through A New Collection Launch

Jaipur Rugs, one of India’s largest manufacturers of hand-knotted rugs unveils its new collection ‘Archetype’ in collaboration with Abin Chaudhuri.

The new collection is an amalgamation of Jaipur Rugs’ decades of craftsmanship with Abin Chaudhuri’s vision and design aesthetic drawing inspiration from architecture in different epochs i.e., Ancient, Vintage, Modern, Brutalist and Contemporary.

Derived from the Greek word ‘arkhetupon’, meaning something molded first as a model, Archetype presents the fundamental principles of architecture through simple forms, colours and shapes on rugs. Addressing variations of the human personality through architectural philosophies - from ancient to contemporary, each design is driven to inspire, seamlessly introducing creative energy in spaces. Archetype embodies the soul of architecture through elemental forms made by hand.

Jaipur Rugs is a story of empowered artisans, with a close-knit community of more than 40,000 spread across 600 villages in India. These artisans have gone through rigorous training to uphold the quality standards promised with every rug and systems in place for choice of material sourcing, timely delivery and sustaible production.

Speaking on the collection, Yogesh Chaudhary commented, “With every new collection we aim to collaborate with people who can showcase the ancestral art of rug making with a new vison. We seek to deliver a creative combination of age-old art and modern interpretation. With Archetype, Abin has highlighted various facets of human personality through architectural philosophies. With his graphical visual interpretation of architectural eras, he has helped us add some great designs to our product offering. His rugs have a fresh take on architectural tents that will work beautifully in all kinds of homes and settings. His eclectic designs and style concepts will add depth, dimension and perspective into a customer’s space.”

“Archetype embodies the soul of architecture through elemental forms made by hand. It presents the fundamental principles of architecture through simple forms, colours and shapes on rugs. It celebrates the idea that in every magnificent creation of man lies a concept that is simple, primitive and driven by collective evolution. To me, carpets are like art work – knitted pieces of art lying on the floor. They enrich the space by adding value as it is fine tuned in the design stage to artistically fit these new world interiors while also reflecting on the heritage. Each design in the collection is driven to inspire, seamlessly introducing creative energy in spaces”.  says Abin Chaudhuri founder, Abin Design Studio

Experience this collection on https://www.jaipurrugs.com/collection/archetype starting April 21, 2021. 

About Jaipur Rugs

Jaipur Rugs is a family business strengthened by the purpose of protecting ancestral know-how and connecting rural craftsmanship with global consumers. By placing the human aspect at its core, the company has grown to become the largest network of artisans in India. It uses the age-old art form of handmade carpets as a tool to bring prosperity into the homes of 40,000 rural artisans of which 80% are women. Founded in 1978 by Nand Kishore Chaudhary with just two looms, it now has over 7000 looms and sells in over 60 countries. Today the company creates contemporary works of art by collaborating with creative talents capable of showcasing this ancestral craft with a new vision.

About Abin Chaudhuri

Abin Chaudhuri founded Abin Design Studio, which is exploring the ‘unknown’ journey, experimentation with materials and technology, and the engaging art and culture, aiming to provide a ‘soul in the shell’. The studio is engaging design in the urban fabric and peri - urban edge, as a catalyst for deliberate change.

His work focuses on the idea of holistic design, not just limiting to ideas, but also physical manifestation through multi-disciplinary collaboration. His explorations intend to push the boundaries of thought, prevalent socio-cultural landscape and spatial construct, challenging the role of architecture in the society, by being unafraid of unfamiliar explorations. The studio is also the recipient of several national and international accolades.