Sony Entertainment Television Brings The Global Blockbuster – Shark Tank To India

* World’s No. 1 Business Reality Show that has reinvigorated start-ups in over 40 countries since launching in 2001, gears up for its very first season in India

To register and participate in Shark Tank India, download and log in to SonyLIV

The Sharks are coming to town, to make a deal. All you need is a good business pitch! Sony Pictures Networks India has acquired the rights for the Indian adaptation of the globally successful business reality format – Shark Tank, which will be aired on Sony Entertainment Television. The format has reinvigorated businesses in over 40 countries since its first launch in 2001. With over 180 seasons; winning over 30 awards globally, Shark Tank is the world’s No. 1 Business Reality Show. Making a headway into India, the fastest growing and the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, Shark Tank India will be produced by StudioNEXT. Online registration for the very first season of Shark Tank India is active only on SonyLIV.

Bursting with new ideas and enthusiasm, Indian entrepreneurs have been showing great potential in attracting active investments. With more and more Indian companies achieving the unicorn status, new-age emerging businesses in the country are grabbing the limelight. India is a conducive market for a concept as unique as ‘Shark Tank’ where business ideas, business prototypes or active businesses will get propelled into reality by experienced investors and business experts.

Ready to dive into the Shark Tank? Follow a simple, four-step process to try your luck in turning around your business idea, business prototype or active business into a successful reality!

STEP 1 - ONLINE APPLICATION

Download or update the SonyLIV app and fill the Shark Tank India registration form by following the instructions mentioned on the app and accept the terms and conditions. Mention your business idea. If you hook the Shark Tank team with your idea, you will proceed to the next step.

STEP 2 - THE PITCH

In this stage, the Shark Tank team will get to know the applicants and their business ideas better. The applicants will have to tell the team what makes their business idea extraordinary and why is it worth investing in! This will have to be done in the form of a compelling video pitch (3 min long) which will decide whether the idea is worth making the cut on Shark Tank India.

STEP 3 – THE AUDITION

The selected applicants will go through a round of auditions with the Shark Tank team which will be the penultimate step towards making it big on the first ever season of Shark Tank India.

STEP 4 – THE SHARK TANK

This is the ultimate test of perseverance. The selected applicants or the ‘Pitchers’ in this stage will find themselves face-to-face with the ‘Sharks’ or the investors who will understand, assess and make an offer based on the applicant’s final ‘pitch’.

Since its first launch in 2001, as Tigers of Money in Japan, created by Nippon TV the format was later adapted as Dragon’s Den in 2005 in the UK and the show premiered in the US as Shark Tank in the year 2009.

The format is distributed internationally by Sony Pictures Television.

Comments:

Danish Khan, Business Head – Sony Entertainment Television, Digital Business & StudioNEXT

We are delighted to bring the globally renowned business reality show Shark Tank to India, and this is the perfect time to launch Shark Tank India. Last few years have seen the emergence of an exciting entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. Innovative business ideas, risk taking appetite and a funding infrastructure is getting built – Shark Tank India will further accentuate, encourage and strengthen this outlook by providing a platform for entrepreneurs or aspirants to showcase their ideas directly to the potential investors (Sharks) and make it big.

About Sony Entertainment Television:

Sony Entertainment Television (SET), one of India's leading Hindi general entertainment television channels, is a part of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN). Since its launch in October 1995, SET has created a unique space of being the ‘Thought Leader’ in the Indian Television industry with path breaking content and innovation in the entertainment business.

Over the years, SET has continued to bring forth an impressive array of impactful urban stories delivering on the promise of novelty, variety and quality with finite shows like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, Heena, Bade Acche Lagte Hain, Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi, Patiala Babes, Beyhadh, Ek Duje Ke Vaste, Mere Dad Ki Dulhan and several others. Apart from these, socio-mytho and historical shows like Mere Sai, Vighnaharta Shree Ganesh, Porus, Chandragupta Maurya, amongst others have also enjoyed a positive viewership.

SET pioneered new waves in television programming with home-grown formats like Super Dancer - which has successfully completed three seasons, Superstar Singer and the most recent - India’s Best Dancer. Furthermore, SET revived Kaun Banega Crorepati, which redefined its weekday appointment viewership, along with shows like Indian Idol, The Kapil Sharma Show, Comedy Circus and Dus Ka Dum which strengthened its weekend leadership.

SET, known for its innovative concepts and exciting formats, is the most preferred premium family entertainment channel reaching 62 million households in India. SET and SET HD are the Top 2 channels driving viewership from premium homes as per BARC PrimaVU. SET is the only media brand to rank fourth, after Samsung and Apple, as the Most Desired Brand of 2020 as per TRA study.

SET’s international feed is available across US, UK, Africa, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji Islands and Seychelles.

About Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN):

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, Japan.

SPN has several channels including Sony Entertainment Television (SET and SET HD), one of India's leading Hindi general entertainment television channels; MAX, India's premium Hindi movies and special events channel; MAX 2, another Hindi movie channel showcasing great India Cinema; MAX HD, a high definition Hindi movie channel airing premium quality films; WAH, the FTA channel for Hindi movies; SAB and SAB HD the family-oriented Hindi comedy entertainment channels; PAL, a genre leader in rural Hindi speaking markets (HSM) showcasing the best of Hindi general entertainment and Hindi movies from SPN’s content library; PIX and PIX HD, Sony BBC Earth and Sony BBC Earth HD, the premium factual entertainment channels, Sony AATH, the Bangla entertainment channel; YAY!, the kids entertainment channel; sports entertainment channels – SONY SIX, SONY SIX HD, SONY TEN 1,  SONY TEN 1 HD, SONY TEN 2, SONY TEN 2 HD, SONY TEN 3, SONY TEN 3 HD; SONY TEN 4, SONY TEN 4 HD; Sony मराठी, the Marathi general entertainment channel; SonyLIV - the digital entertainment VOD platform; and Studio NEXT the independent production venture for original content and IPs for TV and digital media. SPN reaches out to over 700 million viewers in India and is available in 167 countries.

The network is recognized as an employer of choice within and outside the media industry. SPN is a recipient of several awards, including India’s Best Companies to Work For 2020 by the Great Place to Work® Institute, India, ‘Aon Best Employers India’ awards in recognition of SPN’s unique workplace culture and exceptional people practices, consistently ranking amongst India’s Top 10 Companies with Best Health & Wellness Practices by SHRM & CGP Partners and listed by Working Mother & AVTAR as one of the 100 Best Companies for Women in India.

Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited is in its 25th year of operations in India. It has a subsidiary, MSM-Worldwide Factual Media Private Limited and an affiliate, Bangla Entertainment Private Limited in India.

Acronis Fortifies Its Presence In India; Launches First Cloud Data Center In India

* Brings greater faster access and data flexibility for service provider clients across India – along with comprehensive cyber protection solutions

Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, today announced the availability of a new Acronis Cloud Data Center in Mumbai, launched jointly with local partners – Compuage India, Ingram Micro and Crayon Software Experts India. As one of the 111 new data centers being deployed by the company globally, it gives service providers access to a full range of cyber protection solutions upon which they can build new services while delivering faster access, constant data availability, and data sovereignty to their clients.

With news about cyber-attacks appearing weekly, despite the prevailing pandemic concerns, cyber protection has simply never been in higher demand, with data compliancy among the top priorities for companies in India.

Rustom Hiramaneck, Acronis General Manager in South Asia, said, “Having a local Acronis Cloud Data Center was extremely important to our partners in India – and we are proud to collaborate with companies that remain focused on delivering best data security and business continuity solutions to their clients. With one less thing to worry about, they now know their clients’ data is locally backed by a global partner who is on standby 24x7 – ready to resolve any issues.”

All Acronis Cloud Data Centers are designed to meet and exceed corporate and regulatory requirements. The initiative includes global management for all data centers, geographic redundancy, control for local partners, and a local disaster recovery site – all with competitive pricing. As a result, service providers have no trouble meeting the ever-changing compliance, data sovereignty, and performance requirements.

“With more businesses moving to the cloud, the demand for local data centres in India has shot up in recent years. Cyber protection is critical nowadays, and Acronis is by far the leading expert in this area. It was a no brainer for us to leverage this opportunity – it will be a win-win situation for both our partners and end customers, given the overwhelming interest in cloud,” says Bhavesh Mehta, Compuage Director & COO.

The global network of Acronis Cloud Data Centers already includes locations in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Bhutan, South Korea and Singapore. With the new data center in India, local service providers now have a location within the country where they can store business-critical data for their clients. Managed service providers (MSPs) will also benefit from the full range of managed cloud solutions and cyber protection solutions available via the Acronis Cyber Cloud platform.

“The reality in knowing where your corporate data resides and ensuring it remains secure has become a necessity in a global partner community – and having your data stored locally provides complete data control both to you and your clients. The investment by Acronis in a new cloud data center guarantees just that,” says Vikas Bhonsle, CEO of Crayon Software Experts India.

Among the solutions now available through the new data center is Acronis Cyber Protect, a unique integration of backup, disaster recovery, next-gen antimalware, cybersecurity, and endpoint management tools – all managed via a single pane of glass. The solution is VB100 certified and its unique capabilities earned Acronis Cyber Protect the 2020 New Product Innovation Award for Data Protection from Frost & Sullivan.

All of Acronis solutions are designed to address the Five Vectors of Cyber Protection, ensuring the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) of an organisation’s data, applications, and systems. In the same way, Acronis Cloud Data Centers are designed to deliver the highest levels of data availability, security, and safety – with each facility featuring state-of-the-art equipment as well as the best operational and security controls.

Happiest Minds Technologies Wins 2021 IBM Geography Excellence Award For APAC Best In Class - Build On IBM Cloud Partner

Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (NSE: HAPPSTMNDS), a digital transformation and IT solutions company is proud to be honored as 2021 IBM Geography Excellence Award winner for APAC Best in Class - Build on IBM Cloud Partner. The award recognizes Business Partners in each geography who strive for excellence and have demonstrated their ability to exceed expectations through business growth and innovation while enabling client success using IBM technology, like hybrid cloud and AI.

Happiest Minds’ Digital Content Monetization (DCM) solution is a software as a service (SaaS) platform that helps organizations to digitalize their traditional content and deliver digital products and services to their customers, partners, and users in new, engaging ways that drive digital business revenue. The platform offers a consumption-based commercial model that enables clients to quickly onboard and begin growing their digital business.

Rajiv Shah, President & CEO, Digital Business Services, Happiest Minds Technologies said, “In the current wake of the pandemic, digital has become the focus of business environments. With our ‘Born Digital . Born Agile’ positioning, our focus is to build solutions and services that directly impact the business goals of our customers with digital being the key lever. Our strategic partnership with IBM enables us to create solutions and services that are integrally tied to business goals. Our DCM solution built on Red Hat OpenShift helps modernize the business environment while delivering real-time outcomes. We are very excited to receive this award and look forward to having many more milestones like this.”

Started in 2011 as a digital, agile organization, Happiest Minds specializes in digital business services business, that helps customers modernize their current environment, accelerate adaption of digital technologies, and implement secured digital-ready platforms. Happiest Minds’ biggest differentiators are its culture and strong values, which follow a simple philosophy:  ‘Happiest People . Happiest Customers’.

Vedanta Group Certified As ‘Great Place To Work® In India During 2021

* Group business units also accredited as Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM

In a resounding endorsement of its industry-leading people practices, the Vedanta Group, India’s leading producer of metals and oil & gas, has been accredited as Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM along with its Business Units – BALCO, Cairn Oil & Gas, ESL, Hindustan Zinc, Iron Ore Business, TSPL and Vedanta Jharsuguda.

The accolade follows Vedanta Group’s stellar work culture, which fosters an ecosystem of trust, high-performance culture and imbibes aspects of credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie among its employees. The badge of being ‘Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM, aspired by thousands of organizations every year, bears testimony to the constant innovation and pioneering people practices in the domain of hiring, engagement, diversity & inclusion, rewards & recognition, talent and performance management. 

According to Vedanta Group CEO Sunil Duggal, “Vedanta is one of the few organizations in India to be awarded with this coveted certification as a conglomerate, setting a benchmark for others. This bears testimony to our continuous efforts towards being the Best Employer Brand.”

Speaking on the achievement, Group CHRO Madhu Srivastava said, “The Great Place to Work® certification bears testimony to the work culture of the Vedanta Group, which has been built over the years, keeping people before profit. It is a milestone in our journey of excellence and further bolsters our confidence in striving to be the employer of choice across sectors.”

Vedanta has institutionalized several best-in-industry people practices in its endeavour to be a people-first organization. Few examples:

·         Vice Chairman’s Internal Growth Workshop, a robust programme for identifying high potential employees early on in their careers and mentoring them for enhanced roles and responsibilities, followed by a structured review mechanism to map their growth and performance. Over 1000 leaders have been groomed via this initiative across various businesses.

·         V-REACH (Graduate Development Programme), a programme that seeks to identify and develop young leaders from the graduate employees’ cadre and map them to significantly elevated roles.

·         V-LEAD (Diversity Development Programme) to identify highly potential women candidates early on and groom them into leadership roles.

·         Equal opportunity employer – Vedanta’s ethos of gender-agnostic job roles have seen the company become India’s first to have women as mine managers, a feat of true women empowerment.

·         ACT-UP, a talent identification assessment programme, is conducted companywide each year through which hundreds of ‘Business Stars’ and ‘Technical Stars’ are identified for accelerated career development with customized Individual Development Plans (IDP).

·         Through V-CONNECT, a mentorship programme through which Vedanta has mapped each high potential employee with a mentor to guide them through a personal and professional development journey.

·         Chairman’s Discretionary Award, to acknowledge employees’ commitment and act beyond the call of duty during uncertain times of COVID-19 which enabled the company to ensure business continuity and sustain production.

Commenting on Vedanta’s certification, Wilma Mohapatra, Vice President - Great Place to Work® India said, “Many congratulations to Vedanta Group on getting Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM. We hope you keep raising the bar for yourself and other organizations and conglomerates aspiring to become great workplaces.”

Great Place to Work® is the global authority in creating, assessing, and identifying the Best Workplaces world over. Great Place to Work® Institute’s methodology is recognized as rigorous and objective and is considered as the gold standard for defining great workplaces across business, academia, and government organizations. The Institute evaluates organisations solely based on employee feedback and quality of people practices, through their trademark Trust Index© Employee Perspective and Culture Audit© Management Perspective scorecards. Globally, more than 10,000 organizations across 60 countries aspire to achieve this recognition.

To provide employees, business partners and their families a sense of safety and security, and ensure their well-being, Vedanta has rolled out significant initiatives and HR benefits, like:

·         Vedanta Cares Vaccination Drive for all employees, business partners and their families

·         Best-in-class Term Life Insurance Policy with world-wide coverage for all executives across the group. The policy provides with coverage of 5x fixed pay of employees which is equivalent to annual salary for 5 years.

·         Covid Kavach Insurance for business partners that includes Term Life, hospitalization and ex-gratia amount of INR 10 lacs to be paid to the family members of the deceased.

·         Continued payments of last drawn salary and Mediclaim insurance coverage until notional date of retirement, as well as education assistance for 2 children until graduation, for families of deceased employees

·         The Medical insurance cover has also enhanced to 1.5 times the existing eligibility, and corporate floater cover has been introduced for any employee that exceeds their eligibility

·         Continuation of Mediclaim Insurance for employees who are retiring

Further, Vedanta is working on a comprehensive vaccination plan to ensure the health and well-being of its people. The plan to vaccinate 1.12 lakh people, which would include 46,000 employees and family members. Vedanta will spend around Rs 12 crore for procuring the vaccines, the deliveries of which will start later this month. The company continues to continually raise the bar when it comes to developing and caring for its people.

Garmin Launches Forerunner 55 In India; An Easy-To-Use Smartwatch To Boost The Running Spirit In You!

Forerunner 55 helps runners of all skill levels with:

* Built-in GPS tracks how far, how fast and where a user runs

* Wrist-based heart rate provides data all day and night

* All-day activity tracking counts steps, calories, sleep and more1

* Daily suggested workouts offers personalized run workouts tailored to runner’s training history

* On- screen guidance from expert Garmin Coaches for running training plans

* Safety features let runners send a message with their location to family and friends

Encouraging the runners to kickstart their running sessions, Garmin India, a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) today launched The Forerunner 55, an easy-to-use GPS smartwatch that is designed for people of all skill levels especially the beginners  to track their stats and chase their fitness goals.

The Forerunner 55 is light weighted, comes with a sleek look, and has all the primary features including PacePro and cadence alerts which help the runners to focus on their running and training fundamentals and take it to the next level.

The smartwatch also features comprehensive running modes, tailored daily training tips and enhanced health monitoring to improve the user’s performance both on and off the track.

The Forerunner 55's clear screen displays data like distance traveled and can be customized to show all the data you need at a glance. With the built-in GPS the users can start their run or walk and track their time, distance, speed, pace and heart rate data right from their wrist.

Thrilled with the launch of the new Forerunner 55, Mr. Ali Rizvi, Director, Garmin India said, “Running has always been an integral part of fitness and healthy lifestyle and to boost this activity further, we are excited to bring ‘Forerunner 55’ for the runners of all levels. Forerunner series has always been the star series for us at Garmin. The introduction of the new Forerunner 55 adds another feather to it. The smartwatch is well equipped with features like built-in GPS, heart rate monitoring, race predictor, women’s health tracking, and a lot more to help the users in improving their lifestyle and overall wellbeing. An easy to use smartwatch engineered with Garmin’s latest technology is a perfect partner to support the users in achieving their set goals with maximum satisfaction”

The Forerunner 55 comes with a range of features like heart rate monitoring, body battery energy monitoring, menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracking and more. The smartwatch also offers detailed running data, daily suggested workouts, additional built-in sports apps and more to help people reach their fitness goals.

Advanced running features

The Forerunner 55 offers runners the following tools to take their training to the next level:

·         PacePro provides guidance to help runners tailor their efforts to a selected course or distance

·         The finish time estimator lets athletes select a run distance and view their estimated finish time right from the wrist

·         Cadence alerts let runners know when they’ve gone outside their target cadence range, helping to improve their running form

·         For those looking to switch up their workout routine, the Forerunner 55 features several built-in activity profiles, including track or virtual running, pool swimming, Pilates, HIIT and more

·         Following a workout, the built-in recovery time will let athletes know how long to rest before their next big effort

All-day health and wellness tracking

Featuring a wide array of health and wellness features, the Forerunner 55 is intended to be worn 24/7. Athletes can track their stress and set relaxation reminders to do short breathing exercises, use the Body Battery™ energy monitor to track energy levels to find the best times for activity and rest, and gain insights into when and how intensity minutes are earned throughout the day. Additionally, women can track their menstrual cycle or pregnancy and log symptoms, receive exercise and nutrition education and more through the Garmin Connect™ app.

Connect and customize

The Forerunner 55 includes popular connected features2 to help athletes stay in touch. Directly from the wrist, users can receive text messages and view social media updates, emails and more. Built-in assistance and incident detection3 let users manually or automatically send a message with their real time location to emergency contacts. The Forerunner 55 will also automatically upload activities to Garmin Connect and allow athletes to download custom watch faces, data fields and apps from the Connect IQ™ Store.

Battery Life

The Forerunner 55 features up to 2 weeks of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode.

Price: The all new Forerunner 55 comes in 3 exciting colours; Black, Aqua and Monterra Grey available at the price of Rs. 20,990/-

Availability: Forerunner 55 will be available on Amazon.in, Flipkart, Tata CLiQ, synergizer.co.in and Garmin Brand Stores.

Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) Empowers Modern Work With OpenText Solutions For SAP

* Infrastructure financing corporation digitizes their contract process and reduces the time to contract from six months to five days

OpenTextTM (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX: OTEX), today announced Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN), an infrastructure financing corporation in Colombia, is leveraging OpenText™ Extended ECM for SAP® Solutions to help dramatically accelerate contracting and invoicing processes, while also improving risk management, compliance, and operational efficiency.

“The drafting of supplier contracts involving many stakeholders, multiple versions, and several rounds of review used to take up to six months to complete,” said Roberto Sanz de Santamaria Vice-President of Operations Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional. “With OpenText, we streamlined the process down to five days – a massive efficiency gain for us. Since automating our processes, we have seen a 45% reduction in the time it takes to create a request.”  

Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional finances Colombia’s road, air, coastal, maritime, and energy infrastructure, as well as social infrastructure for education and health. To meet an increase in financing demands for major projects, FDN needed an information management solution with intelligent automation to integrate into its existing SAP® ERP system and strengthen compliance. OpenText Extended ECM for SAP Solutions met the company’s requirements.

“With all loan processing and contractual documentation handled by OpenText and accessible from within SAP, staff can easily find the information they need when and where they need it,” Santamaria added. “Requests for physical folders decreased by 53%, helping us move towards becoming a digital organization and transition our employees to remote work when the pandemic struck.”

OpenText Extended ECM for SAP Solutions helps organizations reduce the time and effort

spent managing, organizing, and sharing information across business processes. The solution strengthens information governance for organizations operating in highly regulated industries required to comply with data privacy, retention, and documentation requirements.

“The work FDN is doing is incredibly important,” said Muhi Majzoub, Chief Product Officer at OpenText. “By investing in the right information management tools from OpenText, FDN established a more efficient way to work so they can focus on their mission – developing the infrastructure to support Colombia’s economic growth and well-being.”

PropTech Results In Higher Efficiency, Saves Costs: Priyadarshi Mishra

 

By Manu Sharma

‘PropTech is an innovative approach to real estate in which technology optimises the way people research, rent, buy, sell and manage a property. PropTech benefits all parties involved–developers, investors and property management companies as it provides value and cost savings for the users. It results in higher efficiency which in turn can save costs as well,’ says Priyadarshi Mishra, CEO & Founder of Design& Construct, a PropTech start-up into end-to-end construction solutions, in an exclusive interview with Manu Sharma of Silicon Village.

Excerpts of the interview:

Manu Sharma: PropTech has gained a lot of prominence in the past few years with real estate and construction companies adopting technology for both back end as well as front end. Your inputs on this topic.

Priyadarshi Mishra: PropTechis a game changer in the construction industry. On the back end, technology helps us to track our internal operations, coordinating between various departmental heads, monitor the progress of our projects and maintain finances.

On the front end, technology helps customers get real time updates about the work happening at sites, be able to ask questions / communicate in case of any clarification and making payments. Technology surely assists in maintaining a good relationship with our clients.

MS: What are the various technology tools being used by the construction industry? Give a few examples.

PM: There are a few very useful technology applications that we use nowadays in construction. For example, for soil testing we use technology to determine the soil binding capacity and soil strength Then these are various technology tools which help us design houses- both the concept as well as the structure. There are some  financial tools to maintain finances and for communicating with the clients,

We at Design & Construct are also developing a one of its kind construction app, which will be made available on both android and IOS. This app when launched can track all stages of construction starting from design, payments, schedules to handover documents like warranties. This app will be a two-way communications app that will allow our company and clients to communicate with each other.

MS: What kind of an interactive experience do you provide for your clients to view the projects remotely? How has technology like sensors helped in tracking office usage and plan occupancy?

PM: Since most of our clients are busy with their work schedules, we have helped them in viewing their project remotely. We provide CCTV cameras access to all our clients and their families. This helps them in monitoring the construction at their sites all the time. Apart from that we have also created web app group for all our clients to provide real time updates about the site through photos and videos.

MS: How is your company design and construct differently from contractors, architects and other construction companies? What is its USP?

PM: Design &Construct is a unique construction company trying to bring some method to this unorganised sector. The basic difference between us and a local contractor is that we are a team of subject matter experts, starting from trained and experiences architects, experienced project managers and site engineers to well-trained quality managers. The second difference is that we are a brand and we work for customer satisfaction. The third difference is that we are a tech enabled company and use technology extensively in all aspects of construction and communication.

MS: Has adoption of digital technologies in the area of sales and marketing of real estate eased the problems during the last and this lockdowns?

PM: Adoption of digital technologies has been a boon for the construction industry. We use tech-based sales and marketing processes. For marketing we use different social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook to generate leads and share info about our company. For sales we use a tool called Leadcon to boost our sales as it helps us in tracking all aspects of our sales.

MS: Which markets are you currently operational in both locally and overseas?

PM: Design & Construct is currently operational is Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mysuru.

MS: How big is your team in India? How many handle technology related jobs?

PM:As of now, we are close to 35+ employees in the company. Out of 35, 20 are based out f Bengaluru and 15 out of Hyderabad and Mysuru. Almost all our employees use some or the other tech app for their jobs.

MS: Can you please tell us about the plans for this fiscal? Are you planning to expand your footprint in India?

PM: We have currently 50+ projects with us with total project value of around Rs 40 lakhs each which makes us close to Rs 20Cr of net project value. We are planning to touch Rs 100Cr in project value before the end of this fiscal with more than 200 projects spread across all cities.