Castrol India Ltd Announces Appointment Of Mayank Pandey To Board

Castrol India Limited today announced the appointment of Mayank Pandey as a wholetime director of the company with effect from 9 August 2021. 

Mayank is currently Vice President – Supply Chain for Castrol India since 1 January 2021 and has over two decades of industry experience, having spent the last 14 years with bp. He has diverse international market experience leading teams and operations in India, China, Japan, Korea and Europe.

Commenting on Mayank’s appointment Mr. R Gopalakrishnan, the Chairman of the Board said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Mayank. We look forward to benefit from his fresh perspective and diverse experience as we rethink supply chain strategies for the company in these disruptive and unprecedented times.”

A management graduate from S P Jain Institute of Management and a mechanical engineer from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Mayank is passionate about building high performance teams and customer centricity. He has a professional experience spanning the lubricants, business consulting, paints and engineering industry.

Mayank’s last role was supply chain planning head for Castrol Europe. In his earlier roles at bp, Mayank has led supply chain strategy and transformation for Castrol China, supply chain operations for Castrol North Asia as well as supply chain logistics and planning for Castrol India.

About Castrol India: Castrol, is one of the world’s leading lubricant brands and has a proud heritage of innovation and fuelling 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.

Setting The Stage For Unleasing India's Growth With Pprogressive And Democratized Consumer Regulations

* Progressive reforms with consumer participation are the key to unlocking demand

The Economic Times’s India’s leading media held the second edition of its Consumer Freedom Conclave (https://youtu.be/amqn5udgNJA) – a power packed thought leadership platform driving discussions & debates on the need for progressive law making and a consumer benefit/choice oriented regulatory framework for India.

Based on the theme ‘Freedom of Consumption - Rewiring Constraints’, the high impact session saw eminent corporate & academic leaders, across industries deep dive into various facets of consumer freedom in light of establishing economic independence, examining policies enacted by progressive countries and its growing relevance in a post-pandemic world.

Manish Tewari, Lawyer and Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) gave the key note address. He opened the session with a pertinent point “Poor policy decisions have delivered a body blow to the entire economic construct of India. COVID-19 has brought a structural shift in consumption patterns. The COVID-19 pandemic gave people an opportunity to reflect upon who we are as individuals and how much do we require to lead a fairly satisfying and fulfilling life.”

Some of the other key speakers included - Supratim Chakraborty (Khaitan & Co), Vedika Mittal (Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy), Professor Peter Hajek (Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine)

Rajesh Ramakrishnan (Perfetti Van Melle), Ashutosh Manohar (Tetra Pak India), David T. Sweanor J.D (University of Ottawa), Kenneth Warner (University of Michigan) and Dr. Sree T.Sucharitha (AHRER).

A key discussion point was that of providing the Indian consumer with the ability to make informed choices – backed by studied facts & data - in safer alternatives, reducing harm (result from use, in many instances). Henceforth, vital to recalibrate and take a long-term view of the socio-economic impact of legislations that choose to ban instead of regulating, products - in the free market.

As India gradually revives, developing a robust buyer’s marketplace, underlining ‘possibilities’ for consumers is crucial. Greater consumption and unlocking of demand can be enabled by progressive regulations with public participation & systematic changes in guidelines to account for consumer freedom - as a bedrock to exercise choice.

The moot question - whether India can overcome its regulatory hurdles and build a framework that evolves in tandem with changing consumer behaviour paradigms?    

Speaking on the subject, Supratim Chakraborty, Partner, Khaitan & Co (Corporate/Commercial, Tech/Data Protection), said, “New age of law-making is built on four pillars: Pre-regulation, testing and evaluation, regulatory approach, and revisiting the laws. When drafting modern era laws, such as Active Regulation, Regulatory Sandboxing, Outcome-Based Regulation, Risk-Weighted Regulations, and Collaborative Regulation, must be considered. It’s essential to adapt the archaic laws to contemporary trends and evolving needs of consumers. Lawmakers must truly consider what is beneficial to the consumer, while also addressing business challenges for industries, in line. “

Another important aspect is selecting blanket bans over ‘regulating’ - the former, in many instances is significantly counterproductive, curtailing consumer freedom. To this, Vedika Mittal, Senior Resident Fellow and Leader of Competition Law, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy said, “The biggest anomaly is the one-size-fits-all approach of regulations in India. If we intend on our regulatory framework being more scientific and evidence based, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel – emulating global best practices can help leapfrog in the right direction. Mobilising public participation in law making and more stakeholder consultations is also pivotal. In the long run, a fair and competitive market will benefit, and improved laws will boost consumer confidence.”

Professor Peter Hajek, Director of Health and Lifestyle Research Unit, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, made an interesting observation, “It is true that many times consumers can engage in risky behaviours, and one needs to assess risks v/s choices, then. In this, the interest of public health can often conflict with public morals; however, it is imperative to take a pragmatic stance. Across industries, safer alternatives in harm reduction; strive to explore less threatening choices for consumers to consider. Misguided regulations and stringent policies are steering people towards continued harmful consumption rather than switching to safer products”.

Adding on, Rajesh Ramakrishnan, MD, Perfetti Van Melle said, “Bridging the gap between buyers and sellers is all about consumer freedom and giving them the option of making mindful choices.  There are four enablers for this, ensuring quality and standard of a product; listening to consumers actively; ensuring brands evolve commensurate to consumer needs by offering them choices to make the right decision (in a sugar-free or vitamin induced variant). There needs to be a three-way partnership between consumers, brands and the government.”

The post pandemic consumer is very cautious & conscious, aligned to responsible choices. Commenting on this Ashutosh Manohar – MD, Tetra Pak India said, “Post pandemic, given the increased risks of contamination, consumers are gravitating to packaged food owing to consistency and regulations ensuring food safety and information with labelling, calories etc. enabling consumers to make informed decisions. Separately, a product & organisation that is environmentally responsible and sustainable – managing harm & waste management - is the choice of today’s consumer. Recycling has become a central differentiator and must be built across the value chain from design to disposal building into larger sustainability priorities for relevant industries. Integrating & consolidating recycling in the existing system along with the informal sector to make a real difference will be drive this at a larger level, though.”

Highlighting the imperative of empowering consumers to make informed health related decisions & advocating a logical, rational approach, David T. Sweanor J.D, Chair of the Advisory Board, Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics, University of Ottawa Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, asserts, “Prohibition is the worst form of regulation and sometimes the abandonment of regulation. The prohibition of alcohol in US was a colossal failure and provides many learnings to countries and categories. Unfortunately, prohibitive policies are now being applied from alcohol to tobacco sector steered by anti-tobacco organizations and their funding especially in LMICs to influence policies. Governments need to move from coercion to cooperation, work with people instead of opposing them - to be successful, we must empower them with information on reduced risk options and provide them with safer alternatives. For example, we can change the heath of adult smokers by just changing the delivery channels by providing safer solutions Prohibitionists are saving the cigarettes business and denying the consumer the right, as they are unable to quit.”

Adding in “Science indicates the benefits of tobacco harm reduction products, in assisting people who are unable to quit smoking. Despite this, many companies are taking a prohibitionist approach to ban these products based on ideology as opposed to science. We need policies that recognize products, based on evidence, to be less harmful made available, yet limit access to only adult smokers, through strict regulations including age-gating, taxations.” says Kenneth Warner, Professor Emeritus of Health Management & Policy, Dean Emeritus of Public Health, School of Public Health, the University of Michigan.

Dr. Sree T.Sucharitha, M.D currently Professor in Department of Community Medicine and Research Co-ordinator at Tagore Medical College and Hospital Chennai and Founding-Director of AHRER, said, “For a large country like India, health literacy about hard reduction, accessibility & affordability is critical to successfully reduce dependency amongst adult consumers. We could look at mirroring the energy sector, which created clean energy – similarly look at building clean nicotine solutions - especially for Asia which is home to over 60% smokers. Learnings from US, Sweden, Japan which have adopted safer alternatives should be taken into consideration in developing a policy framework aligned to India.”

About ET Edge

Times Strategic Solutions Ltd., functional under the brand name ET Edge, is an Economic Times initiative founded to empower multiple industries and segments by sharing critical business knowledge through strategic conferences and summits. Encompassing the Indian business vista, ET Edge strives to bring together visionaries and key leaders on its knowledge platforms to create social and business ecology conducive to the positive changes required by the industry. The main aim of this initiative is to channel global business intelligence through summits and conferences in overarching lectures, hands-on workshops, panels, roundtables and case studies. The forums ensure senior decision makers are equipped with information and networks to respond to challenges they face not just in India but also globally. Launched in 2013, it made its foray through domestic conferences. It has now steadily moved into new formats not just covering knowledge sharing platforms such as conferences but also includes exhibitions, community building and more across physical and digital arenas.

Vi Launches First-Of-Its-Kind ‘RedX Family Plan’ With Unlimited 4G Data For All Family Members

Vi, India’s leading telecom operator, today extended its flagship RedX offering to RedX Family, a unique postpaid experience, as families depend on a seamless mobile experience to stay connected and meet their daily needs. As more and more members of a family are consuming higher data due to WFH, online schooling, entertainment and online socializing, this plan is designed to cater to their needs offering unlimited data for all members, entertainment and travel benefits – all under a single bill. 

Priced at Rs 1699 and Rs 2299, Vi RedX Family Plan allows consumers to add up to 3 and 5 family members respectively. Along with unlimited 4G data on every connection, Vi RedX Family Plan offers the benefits of the Vi RedX plan which includes host of benefits on entertainment, travel and more.

The primary member can avail membership of OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar along with VIP access to Vi Movies & TV. The plan also provides a complimentary International Roaming package for 7 days worth Rs 2999 and special ISD rates to 14 countries like US, UK, Middle East, amongst others. Additionally, the primary members can avail free lounge access 4 times a year including one international lounge and access to premium customer service.

Avneesh Khosla, Chief Marketing Officer, Vi said, “We are excited to launch our flagship and exclusive ‘RedX Family’ proposition for our Vi family. This plan is truly a differentiator as it offers great value to our customers and further strengthens our postpaid proposition. It is designed to be highly cost-effective, convenient and provides a great value added postpaid experience. We are confident that Vi RedX Family will become the preferred choice for families as they avail more and more digital services.”

Your Private Cinema Experience Is Here! Samsung Brings ‘The Premiere’ 4K Ultra Short Throw Laser Projector To India

* The projector can be placed just 11.3 cm from the wall to project a high-quality screen of up to 130-inch, creating a big-screen private cinema experience anywhere in your home

* It comes with built-in room-filling surround sound experience with Acoustic Beam technology so that no additional sound devices are required for an immersive experience

Samsung, India's largest and most trusted consumer electronics brand, has strengthened its lifestyle product portfolio with the launch of the ultra-premium range of projectors called ‘The Premiere’ to offer you a big-screen private cinema experience in the comfort of your home.

The Premiere comes in an all-in-one compact, space-saving design that blends perfectly into a variety of settings and arrangements in your living space. As it is an ultra-short-throw projector, The Premiere can be placed on a coffee table or chest of drawers at just a fist-sized distance (11.3 cm) away from the wall to project a high-quality screen of up to 130-inch.

Boasting a minimalist white design, rounded edges and an aesthetically pleasing fabric finish, The Premiere is ready to serve as the centerpiece for your home. In addition to its appealing look, The Premiere remains compact and unobtrusive, with its ultra-short throw capabilities. Requiring no complex installation and proving a match for changing lifestyle and interior décor trends, The Premiere harmonizes your space and serves to add to the aesthetic value of your room.

Starting today, The Premiere will be available in up to 130-inch and 120-inch screen size models – LSP9T and LSP7T respectively – that support a laser powered 4K picture resolution. The Premiere LSP9T is the world’s first HDR10+ certified projector with triple laser technology. It delivers revolutionary contrast details as the user watches from bright to dark scenes with a peak brightness of up to 2,800 ANSI lumens (a unit defined by the American National Standards Institute that measures the overall amount of light output by a projector) that ensure bright and clear pictures even in the daytime.

The Premiere also supports Filmmaker Mode, as the first of its kind projector, allowing users to enjoy watching movies as the director intended. The smart projector comes equipped with Samsung’s Smart TV platform and experience full of streaming video apps from major content partners such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube etc. and mobile connectivity features such as Tap View and Mirroring. Consumers can also enjoy an immersive, vivid gaming experience on a screen size      of up to 130-inch with the Game Mode.

The Premiere has powerful built-in woofers and Acoustic Beam surround sound, providing one of the best cinema experiences with a projector and reduces the need for additional bigger sound equipment in tighter spaces. The Premiere’s Acoustic Beam technology delivers up to 40W and 4.2 channel sound for the LSP9T and an output of 30W and 2.2 channel experience for the LSP7T. This means that consumers do not need any additional sound device as the sound is in-built into the projector and the living space becomes a theatre or auditorium.

“As people continue to spend more time at home, we see an increased demand for in-home entertainment technology that creates premium and differentiated experiences for consumers. The Premiere re-imagines the home cinema experience with an all-new compact design, 4K picture quality and big sound for tight spaces that can be used for any at-home activity and living room arrangements, without the hassles of cables and a bulky set-up. With this launch, Samsung continues to bring in lifestyle audio-visual devices that are in sync with the needs and passions of consumers,” said Raju Pullan, Senior Vice President, Consumer Electronics Business, Samsung India.

Price, Offers, Where to Buy

The Premiere would be available in two models on Samsung’s official online store, Samsung Shop and at select Samsung Smart Plazas from August 10, 2021. The LSP9T model of The Premiere is available at INR 6,29,900 while the LSP7T is available at INR 3,89,900 respectively.

Early bird consumers will get complimentary Amazon Echo Plus when buying any of the two models from Samsung’s official online store. For more details, visit https://www.samsung.com/in/projectors/the-premiere-2021/

All projectors will come with 12 months of warranty.

Product Specifications

Design: An Aesthetically Pleasing Shape and Finish for a Modern Touch

With a minimalist white design, The Premiere is designed to serve as the centrepiece for your home. Furthermore, its rounded edges are accentuated with a fabric finish to evoke cozy and modern simplicity.

In addition to its appealing look, The Premiere remains compact and unobtrusive, with its ultra-short throw capabilities - meaning that it can be placed right in front of the wall without the need for disruptive placement elsewhere in the room. Requiring no complex installation and proving a match for changing lifestyle and interior décor trends, The Premiere harmonizes your space and serves to add to the aesthetic value of your room. 

Stunning Picture Quality, No Matter the Time of Day

The Premiere is available in two models – a Triple Laser-enabled model (LSP9T) and a Single Laser-enabled model (LSP7T).

The Premiere elevates the color display of its projection to 147% of the color gamut – capable of bringing a picture, to life. Users can enjoy truly authentic renderings of the unique colors and vibrant tones of all their favorite iconic scenic shots.

To allow users to enjoy the screen during daytime conditions, The Premiere features high brightness and contrast ratio levels. The projector tops out at 2,800 ANSI lumens of brightness that delivers sharp picture even in day-time. Regardless of where a user is seated, the 4K screen is capable of showcasing content in all its glory at any angle, meaning that friends and family alike can benefit from the experience.

Easy Placement Against Any Wall

When you think of installing projectors, the first thing that might come to your mind is a myriad of cables, fixtures and other components. However, The Premiere’s installation is as simple as plugging in its power cable and connecting it to a wireless network.

Compared to conventional projectors which require up to 3m or 4m of distance from the wall in order to provide big-screen projections, The Premiere is an ultra-short throw projector capable of creating a screen size of 100-inch when placed just at 11.3cm (LSP9T) and 30.3cm (LSP7T) away from the wall. The 130-inch display can be achieved at mere 23.8 cm (LSP9T) from the wall, a perfect fit to your home décor. To put it simply, there is no need to rearrange your interior design in order to install your new projector – The Premiere necessitates just some simple organization to accommodate its easy installation. Furthermore, The Premiere possesses a compact size that means users can easily install and rearrange the projector on their own.

An Immersive, All-in-One Speaker for That Live Stadium Experience

The Premiere produces three-dimensional, captivating sound without the need of any extra speakers - thanks to the robust sound system built into its compact design. It is equipped with 40W of premium speakers and woofers built directly into the projector and enhanced with Acoustic Beam technology to maximize sound from all angles. The Premiere is all set with Acoustic Beam, woofers, and tweeters to add richer sounds to heighten your viewing experience.

Staying Entertained and Connected with Smart TV Features

The Premiere provides users with a full smart TV experience through access to all kinds of content when connected to the Internet. Once the user is connected to a wireless network and enters the Menu, a range of content is presented from providers such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime, and music streaming services where popular sports podcasts can be found including Apple Music and Spotify. One can even search for the content you want to watch using voice recognition. The Premier works with Bixby, Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant to make your life easier.

The Premiere also supports the ‘Tap View’ feature to mirror the content playing on your smartphone to your projector; by simply gently tapping the side of The Premiere with your device, one can easily cast pictures or videos from your smartphone straight onto the bigger screen.

The Premiere comes equipped with Game Mode that enables a vivid gaming experience on up to 130-inch screen size. Additionally, while running a game, one can have enhanced Gaming experience with Game Enhancer feature that provides realistic images through seamless motions. The premium ultra-short throw laser projector range comes with three HDMI ports and one USB port to enable seamless connection to a gaming console.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news on Samsung India, please visit Samsung India Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com/in. For Hindi, log on to Samsung Newsroom Bharat at https://news.samsung.com/bharat. You can also follow us on Twitter @SamsungNewsIN

Zoho Launches Canvas, The Industry-First Design Studio To Re-Envision The CRM Experience For Enterprises

* Canvas brings consumer-level simplicity to the CRM user experience through a no-code design studio, aims to increase the CRM adoption rate

Today, Zoho Corporation., a leading global technology company, announced Canvas for Zoho CRM, a one-of-a-kind design studio for CRM personalization. Canvas enables businesses to create their own CRM interfaces that are better suited to the role of each employee, without IT or developer involvement. It helps simplify complex CRM implementations into streamlined and contextual employee-facing experiences.

Data and workflow customization can render a CRM system too complex for most employees and personalizing the CRM for each employee's role involves excessive development effort and cost. As a direct result of this complexity, productivity drops, employees become disengaged, CRM adoption struggles, and ROI can suffer. With Canvas, companies of all sizes can avoid these issues and enjoy the breadth of functionality offered by a general-purpose CRM and the specialized experience offered by a vertical CRM.

With Canvas, Zoho's customer experience platform continues to focus on building a system of experiences that simplifies the experience economy for brands and every stakeholder. From planning and creating diverse customer experiences to delivering and evolving them for the future, Zoho CRM helps organizations of all sizes enable employee productivity, improve stakeholder collaboration, and increase customer success.

"Many CRM software already offer an abundance of personalization for customer experiences, but the same is not true for employee experiences. As a result, everyone is using the same system and paying the productivity tax for no reason," said Mani Vembu, COO of Zoho Corp. "Imagine a reality where the system is tailor-made for each employee's role. That is true all-around personalization, and that is what we are bringing to market with Canvas. We believe it's a more natural solution to the challenge of software adoption. Our ultimate aim is for businesses to create enterprise-wide software experiences with consumer-grade simplicity."

Canvas Capabilities Include:

Drag-and-Drop Editor: Canvas sports a simple drag-and-drop editor that facilitates designing without needing to write a single line of code.

Template Gallery: Customers can pick a preset template that speaks to them and their industry, and dive right in.

Industry-relevant views: Companies can create views that are relevant to their industry, their work culture, their sales process, and more.

Self-service via Portals: Customers can also share Canvas creations over portals and create a better experience for vendors, stakeholders, and more.

Role-based Assignment: Companies can assign different Canvas views based on roles, responsibilities, and teams in their company.

Extensive Formatting: Canvas also houses a wide range of formatting options to edit the finer details of a view, and can load styles dynamically based on conditions.

Pricing and Availability

Canvas will be available across all editions of Zoho CRM, at no additional cost. Zoho believes that every CRM user deserves a better experience and stands for supporting the CRM community, which is why Zoho is offering Canvas free of charge to all Zoho CRM customers. In the coming years, Canvas is also poised to be implemented into all Zoho products so that users can experience a consistent, cohesive experience across the Zoho ecosystem.

Zoho Privacy Pledge

Zoho ensures a level of confidentiality that no other vendors in the industry can guarantee. Zoho does not allow any third-party trackers to monitor usage behaviour and never sells any data to ad-based companies. Because Zoho owns and has built its entire technology stack, the company is able to offer the most secure experience to its 60 million users without any compromise on data privacy. Zoho CRM users have the assurance that their data is confidential and protected, and only users themselves maintain ownership of that data.

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. 

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Unveils ‘Virtual Showroom’ For Customers To Experience Toyota From Anywhere

* Customers can now experience & book any Toyota vehicle online in just a few clicks on any device

In the true spirit of its Customer First philosophy, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), today launched a one-of-its-kind ‘Virtual Showroom’ to further digitalize customer experience in the new normal. The virtual showroom enables customers to seamlessly look through their favourite Toyota vehicles online, and also helps them book their dream car directly from the virtual showroom. It is already integrated with payment gateway and will soon facilitate the best offers, finance options, loan applications and other value-added services in the future.

To check out the virtual showroom, customers need not download or install any application - they can simply log on to www.toyotabharat.com/virtual-showroom/ on the Toyota Bharat website and start their car buying journey with just a few clicks on any device – smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop.

In the virtual showroom, customers can select the Toyota vehicle of their choice, get 360-degree external and internal views, check out all the available variants and colour options, switch on the lights, open and close the doors, virtually experience the top features in the day or night modes and get variant-wise prices. A crucial aspect of the new platform is that customers can see how a Toyota vehicle will look when parked in their garage or portico using augmented reality mode on their smartphones. More importantly, they can schedule a test drive or book their Toyota vehicle directly from the virtual showroom for delivery at their nearest dealership or the safe confines of their homes.

Talking about the new initiative, Mr. V. Wiseline Sigamani, Associate General Manager (AGM), Sales and Strategic Marketing, TKM, said, “Owing to the pandemic and growing access to technologies, customers increasingly prefer digital and contactless experience. Last year, as COVID-19 disrupted the purchase lifecycle, we took immediate steps to digitalize our sales process by making available pricing, offers and booking in the online realm. The virtual showroom further simplifies all the elements of car buying by digitizing and integrating the key touchpoints in a customer’s purchase cycle as a one-stop-shop solution. The core idea behind the virtual showroom is to empower our customers to access our world-class cars from wherever they want to. Moving forward, we will continue to listen to our customers keenly and introduce new solutions and tools leveraging digital technologies to further improve their buying experience.”

TKM has integrated all its dealer partners onto the new platform; and will soon make available the virtual showroom on the websites of all its dealer partners. Apart from the virtual showroom, customers can also connect with Toyota through WhatsApp on 83676 83676 for sales enquiries, vehicle exchange, booking of service appointments, breakdown services or sharing feedback.

Bounce Partners With Chara For Rare-Earth Free And Hyper-Efficient Motors For Its Fleet Electrification

* Bounce will use Chara’s locally produced electric motors for its owned fleet of EVs

Bounce, India’s first smart urban mobility solution, has signed a deal with Chara, a Bengaluru-based deep-tech startup that has developed motor technology which  is rare-earth free, hyper-efficient and easier/cheaper to build. The partnership will lead  to  locally produced electric motors for its owned fleet of EVs. The partnership will see Chara design and manufacture customized motors for Bounce based on Chara’s innovative motor and drive technologies. . This development is a part of Bounce’s strategy to develop its owned fleet of EVs deployed for its mobility solutions. With localization of the core component of the electric vehicle, Bounce will save a ton of imports : motors and its associated controllers are now imported in all EVs deployed in India.

Speaking on this announcement, Vivekananda H R, Co-Founder, Bounce said, “EV adoption in India has been hampered by dependence on imports for the core components of the drive-train.  We are excited to be partnering with Chara to source locally produced rare earth magnet free electric motors, which will go a long way in maintaining cost efficiencies while making India independent of the global supply of rare earth materials. We are entering a brand new age of electric mobility.”

The world is finally moving away from a hydro-carbon based (Petrol, Diesel, Natural Gas et al. ) economy to an electron (batteries, FCV et al.) based economy. This has led to, amongst many other things, greater dependence on rare-earths for building our motors, batteries and electronics. This partnership will make EV manufacturing sustainable and empower the local innovation ecosystem.

Rare-Earth minerals are unevenly distributed on this planet and their mining and processing is environmentally harmful. The price of Rare-Earths has increased by 100% over the past year alone. Geopolitical risks and rising global demand for Rare-Earth Magnets can result in supply bottlenecks and increased price volatility. Thus under the current circumstances, Chara’s motors come with various advantages. Decoupling from Rare-Earth magnets, Chara’s motors are made with more 100% locally sourced, sustainable raw materials, which can reduce the motor cost by up to 40%. Their simple construction and fault tolerant electrical design provide a robust motor with high temperature tolerance.

On this partnership, Founder and CEO of Chara, Bhaktha Keshavachar said, “This partnership is a testament to our ability to partner with innovative companies that are striving towards a common goal of a more sustainable future. It is necessary to invest in deep tech to build technologies that can help us move towards sustainability in the long term and also help the country to play a more significant role in the electric transformation than just to remain as consumers.“

The novel motors custom designed by Chara for Bounce will be locally manufactured and deployed in Bounce’s fleet at the beginning of next year. The motor, when deployed, will be the first of its kind in the world and opens up opportunities in other platforms, in  domestic and foriegn markets.

About Bounce

Bounce is India's first intelligent dock-less urban mobility solution with a mission of making daily commute stress-free, time-saving, reliable and convenient. Founded in 2014 by Vivekananda H.R., Anil G and Varun Agni, this Bangalore based start-up aims to decongest the roads by encouraging commuters to choose public transport and provide a seamless first/last mile connectivity. With its patented key-less technology, Bounce users can pick up/drop the bikes, bicycles or electric bikes anywhere in the city at any time. https://bounceshare.com/

About Chara

Founded by industry veterans, Chara is a deep-tech startup on a mission to make our electric future sustainable. Chara develops scalable, cloud-controlled, and rare earth magnet-free Hardware and Software platforms for the Switched Reluctance Motor and other magnet-free motor technologies. Backed by game changing IP in motor and control design, Chara’s motors are robust, high performance and hyper-efficient with low manufacturing cost. Chara has been backed by Kalaari, Ciie@IIMA and IISc. http://www.charatechnologies.com/