Tata Motors Remains Vigilant About The Evolving COVID Situation

Tata Motors remains vigilant about the evolving COVID situation and has scaled up efforts to enhance the wellbeing of its personnel and their supporting ecosystem.

Keeping employee safety foremost, standard operating procedures have been updated for the prevailing second wave with the focus on expediting vaccinations, providing support to affected employees and their family members.

The lockdown enforced in various parts of the country is expected to impact vehicle demand temporarily. Hence, the company has set in motion a comprehensive ‘Business Agility Plan’ to protect and serve the interests of its customers, dealers and suppliers. By carefully calibrating and matching supplies with retail demand, Tata Motors shall ensure that optimal levels of inventory are maintained with dealers to meet whatever customer demands arise and also be prepared for a rebound in demand once the situation returns to normalcy. We will also continue to review and plan for the critical raw materials to cater to this volatile demand outlook and work closely with our vendor partners to meet the same.

Tata Motors believes this approach best serves the interests of all stakeholders by utilising the cash invested in the entire ecosystem in the most optimal manner.

Decentro Partners With ICICI Bank To Offer Business Banking APIs

Decentro, a full-stack API banking platform, has partnered with ICICI Bank, a leading private sector bank in India, to offer customized business banking APIs to fintechs, startups, and corporates and e-commerce companies. Through this partnership, Decentro has integrated ICICI Bank’s seven business banking APIs from diverse categories like accounts, payments and collections. It has further bundled these APIs together to offer an efficient and comprehensive package to the end customer. With this, any fintech, startup and corporate can now enjoy instant and secured access to customised business banking APIs on top of ICICI Bank. It significantly enhances convenience for companies as they can now access all business banking solutions seamlessly through Decentro, rather than integrating different business banking APIs, thereby saving their time and costs. The interested companies can simply visit Decentro's website and fill out a 2 minute form to sign up for the business banking module whenever they feel like. 

Rohit Taneja, Founder & CEO, Decentro said, “Interestingly, we are also celebrating our first year official anniversary as a company this week. The number of API transactions on our platform have grown by ~ 12X in just nine months since our first product launch in July last year, and the number of new customers have grown by more than 40% month over month. We are thrilled to be building this crucial infrastructure for the upcoming fintech revolution and are super proud to be backed by some of the smartest investors in the world. With this new product, we are looking to empower existing as well as new categories of ventures like SME Service Providers, Accounting firms, B2B marketplaces, and more across the country.” 

Speaking on the partnership, Pankaj Gadgil, Head- Self Employed Segment, ICICI Bank said, “At ICICI Bank, we have always strived to create a seamless banking experience for our customers. We are delighted to partner with Decentro to bring forth an integrated API banking solution to several businesses, fintechs, corporates and e-commerce start-ups and co- create innovative customer solutions in a frictionless manner. With this integration, Decentro can now offer a bouquet of banking APIs from ICICI Bank along with various other non-banking APIs to the customers. We believe that this association will boost productivity for businesses, as they can now expect API banking solutions tailored for their specific requirement quickly.”

ICICI Bank offers unique end-to-end experience for easy integration of APIs. The business banking APIs by ICICI Bank enable any aggregator, platform or marketplace to offer various banking functions to their MSME customers. Some of the essential functions among these include linking a current account instantly to a business platform, enabling and approving different kinds of transactions via APIs, and automatically fetching bank statements and balances in real-time. 

Benefits of the ICICI Bank-Decentro integration:

* Customised business banking API integration: The ICICI Bank- Decentro partnership enables businesses to get customised business banking APIs to suit their needs, in a cost-effective manner.

* Pares time, and enhances productivity: This partnership helps businesses in reducing the time taken to integrate the APIs to their business solutions from few weeks to few days, thereby enhancing the business productivity.

* Automate reconciliation: With this integration, all banking transactions with ICICI Bank are fetched automatically into Decentro platform. The reconciliation engine automatically reconciles these transactions with the ones already recorded in Decentro. It also helps to reconcile the failed or reversed transactions and create missing transactions easily. Payments made and received are mapped and reconciled by Decentro, saving time which businesses used to spend on manually entering and reconciling bank transactions.

* Direct payments: Businesses do not have to juggle between their accounting and banking applications to make payments anymore. They can integrate their accounting and banking applications with Decentro’s Payouts and carry out payments like vendor payments, salary for employees or any refunds in just a few clicks. Businesses with an approval workflow can continue to approve their payments from the Bank's Corporate Internet Banking (CIB) portal and see each payment's status updated automatically on Decentro platform.

“We're aligning ourselves as an API infrastructure layer for fintech (similar to AWS) and are building products in line with the expectations of customers, marketplaces, gig economy platforms, small businesses, as well as corporates. We will use this additional capital and our bank integrations to go deeper into our product suite as well as cover more customer segments over the next couple of years.”, says Pratik Daudkhane, the company’s co-founder, who was earlier a venture capitalist. 

To know more about the offerings and avail the services, please visit Decentro’s core banking products.  (https://decentro.tech/products/accounts/?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=Joint-PR&utm_campaign=ICICI-Bank-Partnership&utm_term=ICICI-Bank-Partnership-PR&utm_content=Joint-PR-With-ICICI-Bank)

About Decentro: Decentro is a full-stack API banking platform where you can come, select your desired modules, integrate in the sandbox, and launch a product with just a few lines of code in a couple of weeks! Not only that, but the platform also takes care of all upcoming fixes, iterations, and updates without breaking any flow.

About ICICI Bank: ICICI Bank Ltd (BSE: ICICIBANK, NSE: ICICIBANK and NYSE:IBN) is a leading private sector bank in India. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at ÿ 15,19,353 crore at December 31, 2020. ICICI Bank's subsidiaries include India's leading private sector insurance, asset management and securities brokerage companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 15 countries, including India.

Renault India Introduces “MY21 TRIBER With A Host Of New And Enhanced Features

The all-new Renault TRIBER becomes more flexible and more attractive with new look & new features  

- Steering Wheel Mounted Audio & Phone Controls 

- Driver Seat Height Adjust 

- Best In Segment Dual Tone Exteriors across all colour options 

- New Exterior Body Colour – Cedar Brown 

- LED Turn Indicator On ORVMs 

* The super spacious and ultra-modular Renault TRIBER is a key model for Renault in India with more than 75,000 happy customers 

* Launches the All-New MY21 TRIBER at INR 5.30 Lakhs 

* Renault TRIBER EASY-R AMT launched last year has further strengthened the key USPs of TRIBER, making it the most affordable AMT in its segment 

* Renault TRIBER has struck a strong chord with customers owing to its outstanding quality, modularity, attractive design & modern features with superior value packaging 

Staying true to its commitment to keep building on the success of TRIBER with breakthrough product innovations, Renault India launched the all-new “Renault TRIBER MY21” at an attractive and unmatched starting price of INR 5.30 Lakhs. Launched in August 2019, Renault TRIBER is a super-spacious, ultra-modular vehicle and has been a game-changing product for Renault in India with more than 75,000 happy customers. 

An outcome of a joint project between Renault teams in India and France, Renault TRIBER was specifically designed keeping in mind opportunities for innovative products in the Indian market. Renault TRIBER offers an unmatched value proposition to customers looking at a less than 4-meter car. The addition of EASY-R AMT option last year has further enhanced the USPs of TRIBER being a Flexible, Attractive & Affordable offering. 

The all-new TRIBER MY21 with new advanced features is a breakthrough product in terms of innovation and modernity, providing more value and making it even more Flexible, more Attractive, and yet Affordable. Offering enhanced passenger comfort, the Renault TRIBER will now come with Steering Wheel Mounted Audio & Phone Controls along with Driver Seat Height Adjust feature, adding to the flexibility of the car. Accentuating the attractiveness of the car, the all new TRIBER will have Dual Tone Exteriors across all colour options, a new body colour – Cedar Brown and LED Turn indicator on ORVMs. In terms of practicality and affordability, Renault  

TRIBER has the most affordable AMT in its segment with low cost of maintenance and offering more value for money to its customers.  

Renault TRIBER is an attractively designed, sturdy and versatile vehicle which also achieves the feat of accommodating one to seven adults in comfort in less than 4 meters. Renault TRIBER is the result of a complete analysis of customers’ expectations in India which offers unbeatable flexibility. Renault TRIBER offers the best level seating space in all rows and offers 625L boot space - the largest boot capacity of its category, in five-seater configuration. Renault TRIBER is built with best level safety features including its class leading offering of 4 airbags. 

Renault TRIBER has already established itself as a successful product and has seen tremendous acceptance amongst a wide set of car buyers. Renault has commenced the exports of TRIBER to South Africa and the SAARC region and aims to expand the exports of TRIBER to other parts of Africa and the SAARC region, alongside growing the TRIBER family in India. 

Renault TRIBER MY21 can be booked online at https://renault.co.in, My Renault App or at a Renault authorized dealership by paying a token amount of INR 11,000. Renault TRIBER will be listed on the CSC Grameen eStore and made available to the potential customers in hinterlands through aspirational Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). 

The all-new Renault TRIBER MY21 will be offered in four trims – RXE, RXL, RXT & RXZ with both MT and Easy-R AMT options. Each version is built keeping in view the customer requirements and needs in the segment and has been attractively priced across all trims.  

Renault TRIBER MY21 will be available in five attractive colours – Metal Mustard, Electric Blue, Moonlight Silver, Ice Cool White and Cedar Brown with dual tone options across all body colours on the RXZ version. 

2021 Renault TRIBER prices (All Prices in INR Lakhs, All India One Price) 

* Dual Tone pricing additional: INR 17,000 (available on all exterior body colours on RXZ version) 

ABOUT RENAULT  

Renault India Pvt. Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of Renault S.A.S. France. Renault India cars are manufactured in the manufacturing facility located in Oragadam, Chennai, with a capacity of 480,000 units per annum. Renault India also has a widespread presence of more than 500 sales and 475+ service touchpoints, which include 200+ Workshop On Wheels locations across the country, with benchmark sales and service quality. 

Renault India’s product line up and services have seen strong recognition among customers and industry experts alike, winning more than 60 titles, making Renault India one of the most awarded automotive brands in a single year in India. 

Netafim-Backed NAFA Raises “USD 50 Mn Via Equity And ECB”

Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. (NAFA), an agri-focused NBFC and a subsidiary of Netafim Singapore, has raised USD 40 million via external commercial borrowing (ECB) from the Phoenix Group and Cogito Capital, both Israel based investors. The raised funds will be utilized effectively for business expansion, enhanced offerings, and to expand horizons in the agri-rural domain. The company would successfully improve its margins as it intends to service the high-cost old debt and bring down the overall cost of funds.  

The deal also marks fresh equity infusion into NAFA, which recently raised USD 9.4 million of Tier I Capital from Netafim Singapore and offered exit to the initial equity partners Atmaram Properties & Granite Hill Fund as they had reached their investment horizon. This is the maiden investment for both Phoenix Group and Cogito Capital in India and NAFA, through acquiring stake in Netafim Singapore.  

Since acquiring NBFC license from RBI in 2013, NAFA has established its presence in 08 states and disbursed total loans worth Rs. 1000+ crores to 10,000+ customers. Among these, more than 60% of farmers are small farmers & marginal farmers. The company now aspires to expand this network and diversify to allied activities for customers’ long-term credit needs. 

While commenting on the development Lauri A. Hanover, CFO, Netafim said, “In the aftermath of Covid, India is gearing up for self-reliance with emphasis on the agri-rural economy and its rapid modernization. While the sector is still highly fragmented, the demand for credit in agriculture is largely unmet through formal financial institutions. Being the innovator of drip irrigation and the world leader in precision irrigation serving customers for more than 57 years across the globe, the equity infusion in NAFA is aligned with our core of supporting customers in adopting precision irrigation and automation solutions in agriculture. This equity infusion will help NAFA strengthen its capital adequacy and further expand its market presence. We are delighted to partner with The Phoenix Group and Cogito Capital in their maiden investment in India and NAFA.” 

Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. elaborated on the company’s plans and said, “Indian agriculture, in general, is characterized by low and uncertain returns as they are more prone to natural calamities and varied risks, resulting in constant demand for agri-financing support. The advent of intensive and climate-resilient agricultural technologies has further amplified the need for good financing schemes. Despite the presence of multiple financial mediums, there aren’t enough credit products catering to the niche demands of the farmers, leading to a huge credit gap. In India, there is a need for diversified credit schemes, along with adequate handholding, to provide financial guidance to farmers on investing in agriculture and allied activities. 

NAFA has been serving this sector efficiently during the past decade, understanding their needs and providing them with the right financial assistance. With this investment, NAFA will further enhance its credit lending portfolio and expand horizons within the agri-rural domain beyond micro-irrigation. We are bullish about our growth and are excited to cater to the capital needs of the agriculture and allied sector. The said capital would help us strengthen our market position and reach the communities in a much broader way.” 

Guy Zukin – Managing Partner, Cogito Capital said, “Cogito is excited to be teaming up with Netafim (the global irrigation leader and pioneer), and Phoenix Insurance (one of Israel’s leading insurance companies), in providing growth capital to NAFA. We are looking forward to co-operating with our partners in supporting NAFA’s continued journey in realizing the potential in the Indian agricultural NBFC market. This investment matches Cogito’s strategy of making investments alongside strong partners, focusing on high growth and adjusted risk opportunities.”  

Ofer Aviran, Head of Direct and Infrastructure Investments of Phoenix Group commented, "We are very proud to partner with Netafim and Cogito in investing in NAFA.  Netafim's prominent presence in emerging markets, and their professionalism in such an important field of agricultural infrastructure development and food production constitute fertile ground for continued cooperation for the benefit of all parties. I would like to thank Lauri Hanover, Netafim's CFO, for without her vision, this complex investment would not have come to fruition".   

About Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. (NAFA): 

Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. (NAFA) is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) offering various customized financial solutions to farmers and various stakeholders in the value chain of Micro Irrigation. NAFA is a subsidiary of Netafim Ltd, Israel and a sister concern of Netafim Irrigation India Pvt. Ltd. (NIIPL). NAFA’s commercial operations commenced in April 2013 and since then aims to achieve realistic, long-lasting and sustainable results by offering easy access to adequate and timely credit. NAFA has a presence across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The company has disbursed total loans worth Rs. 1000+ crores to 10,000+ customers as of date.  

About Netafim Ltd.: 

Netafim Ltd., part of the Orbia community of companies, is the world's largest irrigation company and the global leader in precision irrigation solutions committed to fighting scarcity of food, water, and land, for a sustainable future. With 33 subsidiaries and 17 manufacturing plants worldwide, Netafim offers innovative, tailor-made irrigation and fertigation solutions to millions of farmers from smallholders to large-scale agricultural producers, in over 110 countries. 

About the Phoenix Group: 

The Phoenix Group is a leader in Israeli multi-line insurance, asset management, and financial services. The group offers a broad set of activities and solutions across businesses and client segments. Managing over $60 billion in assets, the Phoenix accesses Israel’s vibrant and innovative economic activity through a robust investment portfolio, creating value for both clients and shareholders. 

About Cogito Capital: 

Cogito Capital is a US$ 250 millions AUM (Asset Under Management), Israeli debt and equity investment fund, providing capital to companies and ventures, in Israel and abroad. Cogito’s investors include Israel’s leading institutional investors. 

Castrol India Announces A Strong Financial Delivery In 1Q, 2021

Sandeep Sangwan, managing director, Castrol India Limited reported a strong financial delivery in 1Q 2021 building on a resilient second half performance for FY 2020. We delivered robust revenue and profit growth with 1Q revenue from operations @ INR 1139 crores (66% higher) and 1Q Profit Before Tax @ INR 332 crores (96% higher) versus 1Q 2020 which saw the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant business slow down beginning March 2020. 

Focused investments, interventions and actions taken in the second half of 2020 towards brand building with increased marketing and advertising spends, new product introductions as well as corrective pricing have yielded a positive impact on overall topline growth. This has been aided by improving demand trends especially in tractor and SUV sales in 1Q 2021.

Strengthening our network and expanding our footprint, as well as building our participation in digital market platforms, we entered into a strategic collaboration with ki Mobility Solutions Private Limited to supply lubricant products to ki Mobility workshops in India and also be available on goBumpr, their digital platform.

Our cost efficiency programmes and judicious working capital management efforts led to healthy cash from operations @ INR 269 crores in the quarter, which is equivalent to 1.1 times of Profit After Tax.

While we continue to focus on fundamental building blocks to deliver sustainable profitable growth keeping safety of our teams as our top priority, our plants continued to operate safely deploying Covid-19 safety processes and guidelines as laid out by local governments. Our Patalganga plant won recognition from the National Safety Council for the second consecutive year for its strong safety performance.

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India is resulting in a market slowdown in various parts of the country. In addition, supply disruptions on account of base oil and raw materials availability, logistics challenges and rupee depreciation are likely to adversely impact demand and supply. The management is keeping a close watch on the situation and responding with appropriate actions as needed.  

About Castrol India: Castrol, is one of the world’s leading lubricant brands and has a proud heritage of innovation and fueling the dreams of pioneers. Castrol India Limited is one of India’s leading lubricants companies with iconic brands such as Castrol CRB, Castrol GTX, and power brands like Castrol Activ, Castrol MAGNATEC and Castrol VECTON being the brand of choice for millions of consumers and customers across the country. The company also has a presence in select segments like High Performance Lubricants and metalworking fluids used in a wide variety of industries such as automotive manufacturing, mining, machinery and wind energy.

Castrol India has a large manufacturing and distribution network in India with three blending plants and a distribution network of 350 distributors who reach consumers and customers through over 100,000 retail outlets. In addition, Castrol sub-distributors reach additional outlets in rural markets while the company also directly services over 3,000 key institutional accounts.

Along with providing world class products and services, Castrol India focuses on and prioritizes safety, compliance and quality.

Dnata Enhances Global Leadership Team With Key Appointments

Dnata has enhanced its global leadership team, announcing key senior management appointments that will help the company decisively adapt to changing global trends, drive synergies and efficiencies across its operations, and continue to deliver excellent services and value to customers.

John Bevan has been appointed divisional senior vice president for Travel and will oversee all aspects of dnata’s travel business, managing a portfolio of over 30 reputable B2B and consumer brands across more than 20 countries. He has been with dnata for over three years, most recently leading dnata Travel Europe as CEO. Before joining dnata, he held a number of senior positions within the travel industry in the United Kingdom and United States. His appointment is effective June 1, 2021.

Stewart Angus has been appointed divisional senior vice president for Airport Operations. Angus has been managing dnata’s international ground handling and cargo business since 2004. In his new role, he will also lead the company’s extensive airport operations at the two Dubai airports in the United Arab Emirates, ensuring world-class quality and safety for airline customers in a total of 14 countries.

Robin Padgett, who has been leading dnata’s global catering operations for seven years, will also expand his responsibilities and become divisional senior vice president for Catering and Retail. The expansion of his role is in line with the company’s strategy to promote buy on board and further diversity of its catering operations. He will manage a team of dedicated culinary and retail professionals delivering superior, innovative products and services to customers across various industries in 12 countries.

All of dnata’s three divisional SVPs will report to Steve Allen, executive vice president.

Steve Allen said: “I’m pleased to announce enhancements to our global leadership team. The appointment of John to the management team and the expansion of our experienced leaders’ roles will help us emerge from the current, challenging environment as a fitter, leaner business that consistently provides service excellence to customers across the globe. With our highly-trained, customer-oriented team we will continue to work hard and enhance our operations to be the world’s most admired air and travel services provider.”

A trusted partner of over 300 airline customers, dnata provides quality and safe ground handling, cargo, catering and travel services in 35 countries. In the financial year 2019-20 dnata’s customer-oriented teams handled 681,000 aircraft, moved 2.9 million tonnes of cargo, uplifted more than 93 million meals and recorded a total transaction value of travel services of $3 billion.

Kovai.co Awarded “Bootstrapped SaaS Startup Of The Year” At The Inaugural Edition Of SaaSBoomi Annual Awards

Kovai.co – a premier enterprise software and B2B SaaS company from Coimbatore was recently named “Bootstrapped SaaS startup of the year” by SaaSBoomi at the inaugural edition of “SaaSBoomi Awards” - to honor leading Indian SaaS companies and their founders. This award showcases how Kovai.co grew organically, innovating new products in the SaaS space for enterprise customers.  

SaaSBoomi awards - is a first-of-its-kind annual awards ceremony that facilitates a platform to recognize and laud the most deserving SaaS startups in India. For the current edition, eight different award categories were introduced - including SaaS startup of the year, Breakout SaaS startup of the year, and more. Each company's self-nominated applications were reviewed by the SaaSBoomi jury, and the top-5 finalists were selected. Later, through a voting mechanism – winners were selected and announced. 

Commenting on the award, Saravana Kumar, Founder and CEO of Kovai.co said, “We are happy and thrilled to have SaaSBoomi recognize us as the Bootstrapped startup of the year. Our team’s commitment to lead the SaaS space and our focus to make Coimbatore the next-big SaaS-Hub in the country - is what motivated us to rise to the COVID-19 and many other operational challenges of 2020. And to me, this speak volumes to the quality of our team and our culture.”

Saravana Kumar further credited the company’s multiple products, employees, and dedicated product team for SaaSBoomi’s recognition. Kovai.co’s ability to meet the demands of our 1500+ customers, who are looking for robust enterprise software for Microsoft BizTalk, Azure Serverless, and Knowledge management solutions for their day-to-day operations, is what makes the company grow exponentially.

Since 2020, Kovai.co is scaling up its operations globally, the company acquired Cerebrata to accelerate customer acquisition for one of its product categories last year and is aiming to double its revenue by 2022.

About Kovai.co

Kovai.co is a premier enterprise software company offering multiple products at scale both in the enterprise arena and in the B2B SaaS space. Based out of Coimbatore, India and London, UK, Kovai.co is a technology partner of choice for many of the world’s leading enterprises to manage and monitor their Microsoft BizTalk and Azure Serverless environments. Kovai.co’s product team consists of thinkers and innovators who are re-defining the way robust Enterprise Software and SaaS products are built.