IBM Unveils On-Chip Accelerated Artificial Intelligence Processor

 

* New chip design unlocks the ability to leverage deep learning inferencing on high-value transactions, designed to greatly improve the ability to intercept fraud, among other use cases

At the annual Hot Chips conference, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled details of the upcoming new IBM Telum Processor, designed to bring deep learning inference to enterprise workloads to help address fraud in real-time. Telum is IBM’s first processor that contains on-chip acceleration for AI inferencing while a transaction is taking place. Three years in development, the breakthrough of this new on-chip hardware acceleration is designed to help customers achieve business insights at scale across banking, finance, trading, insurance applications and customer interactions. A Telum-based system is planned for the first half of 2022.

According to recent Morning Consult research commissioned by IBM, 90% of respondents said that being able to build and run AI projects wherever their data resides is important[1]. IBM Telum is designed to enable applications to run efficiently where the data resides, helping to overcome traditional enterprise AI approaches that tend to require significant memory and data movement capabilities to handle inferencing. With Telum, the accelerator in close proximity to mission critical data and applications means that enterprises can conduct high volume inferencing for real time sensitive transactions without invoking off platform AI solutions, which may impact performance. Clients can also build and train AI models off-platform, deploy and infer on a Telum-enabled IBM system for analysis.

Innovations across banking, finance, trading, insurance

Today, businesses typically apply detection techniques to catch fraud after it occurs, a process that can be time consuming and compute-intensive due to the limitations of today’s technology, particularly when fraud analysis and detection is conducted far away from mission critical transactions and data. Due to latency requirements, complex fraud detection often cannot be completed in real-time – meaning a bad actor could have already successfully purchased goods with a stolen credit card before the retailer is aware fraud has taken place.

According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2020 Consumer Sentinel Network Databook, consumers reported losing more than $3.3 billion to fraud in 2020, up from $1.8 billion in 2019[2]. Telum can help clients to move their thinking from a fraud detection posture to a fraud prevention posture, evolving from catching many cases of fraud today, to a potentially new era of prevention of fraud at scale, without impacting service level agreements (SLAs), before the transaction is completed.

The new chip features an innovative centralized design, which allows clients to leverage the full power of the AI processor for AI-specific workloads, making it ideal for financial services workloads like fraud detection, loan processing, clearing and settlement of trades, anti-money laundering and risk analysis. With these new innovations, clients will be positioned to enhance existing rules-based fraud detection or use machine learning, accelerate credit approval processes, improve customer service and profitability, identify which trades or transactions may fail, and propose solutions to create a more efficient settlement process.

Telum and IBM’s Full Stack Approach to Chip Design

Telum follows IBM’s long heritage of innovative design and engineering that includes hardware and software co-creation and integration that spans silicon, system, firmware, operating systems and leading software frameworks.

The chip contains 8 processor cores with a deep super-scalar out-of-order instruction pipeline, running with more than 5GHz clock frequency, optimized for the demands of heterogenous enterprise class workloads. The completely redesigned cache and chip-interconnection infrastructure provides 32MB cache per core, and can scale to 32 Telum chips. The dual-chip module design contains 22 billion transistors and 19 miles of wire on 17 metal layers.

Leadership in semiconductors

Telum is the first IBM chip with technology created by the IBM Research AI Hardware Center. In addition, Samsung is IBM’s technology development partner for the Telum processor, developed in 7nm EUV technology node.

Telum is another example of IBM’s leadership in hardware technology. IBM Research, among the world’s largest industrial research organizations, recently announced scaling to the 2 nm node, the latest benchmark in IBM’s legacy of contributions to silicon and semiconductor innovation. In Albany, NY, home to the IBM AI Hardware Center and Albany Nanotech Complex, IBM Research has created a leading collaborative ecosystem with public-private industry players to fuel advances in semiconductor research, helping to address global manufacturing demands and accelerate the growth of the chip industry.

Ravi Jain, Director - Server Sales, India South Asia said, "The financial services sector deals with a huge volume of transactions and mission critical workloads on a day-to-day basis. The newly launched IBM Telum, Z Series chip is designed to cater to the volume, while enabling applications to run efficiently where their data resides. The chip will also allow businesses to capture insights and fight fraud in real-time."

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

Tata Motors Names Its Upcoming SUV As ‘PUNCH’ In Indian Market

* Unveils its first SUV on the ALFA architecture

Following a grand unveil at the Auto Expo 2020 as the H2X Concept, Tata Motors is now gearing up to launch the newest addition to its SUV lineup. The Company has christened this highly anticipated SUV as ‘PUNCH’. Leading up to its national launch this festive season, Tata Motors has today officially unveiled the PUNCH, its first SUV built on ALFA-ARC (Agile Light Flexible Advanced Architecture), developed under Impact 2.0 design language. Designed for the next generation users, the Tata ‘PUNCH’ is a no-compromise SUV, offering an exciting mix of tough utility with sporting dynamics and epitomises what a characterful SUV should be. It is bold, young, modern yet robust, compact yet practical, tough yet playful and exudes true expression of confidence and individuality.

The Tata PUNCH has been cleverly carved to sneak through the busy streets while being a fun car to drive on winding, rugged countryside vistas. It packs in a punch for SUV enthusiasts by providing ample cabin space, great drivability, segment leading safety and power packed performance of a true SUV. Combined with its versatility to go anywhere, the high seating position and a dynamic SUV design makes it a desirable choice for all SUV lovers. Whilst delivering all the expected attributes, Tata Punch goes above and beyond to bring customer an impactful offering, never seen presence like before, with extraordinary attention to detail and pristine quality execution, all while delivering a dynamic, stylish and a trendy urban SUV.

Unveiling this much-awaited SUV, Mr. Shailesh Chandra - President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said – “Tata PUNCH, as the name suggest is an energetic vehicle with a capability to go anywhere. Light on its feet and strong in its caliber, this is a vehicle which truly punches above its weight. With the perfect combination of stunning design, technology and driving dynamics, the PUNCH will come equipped with superlative features and an architecture that has proven its versatility in all forms. True to the SUV genes of all Tata Motors’ products and catering to needs of customers who are looking for a compact city car with pure SUV characteristics, PUNCH will be the fourth addition to our SUV family, widening the range of options for all to choose from. 

Intelligently designed in a compact footprint, the Tata PUNCH will be a high impact SUV and will redefine this crowded market. Its muscular surfacing and an athletic look make a perfect amalgamation for a tough SUV, living up to its bigger brothers. With lightweight, modular and flexible characteristics, the ALFA architecture has the ability to evolve into a range of modern and youthful vehicles within a short development cycle. Conceptualized to redefine the SUV segment, the PUNCH is all set enter the market this festive season and create a niche of its own.

Furthermore, Tata Motors also announces the digital footprint of its brand ‘PUNCH’. Consumers can follow its journey on the dedicated brand social media handles @tatapunchofficial or visit the website at https://cars.tatamotors.com/suv/punch

Click here to watch the name reveal video - https://youtu.be/bCfX3Y2CmBY

Emirates Lives Up To Its Customer Experience Promise Helping Over 2 Million Customers Take More Control Over Their Travel Plans

* More than 24 month validity for tickets and extension of waiver until 31 May 2022

* Emirates raising industry benchmark on turnaround speed for refunds to customers

In the ever-evolving travel landscape, Emirates continues to prioritise choice and flexibility for its customers to help them make the most of the changes that come their way. Since March 2020, the airline has helped over 2 million customers make multiple date or destination changes, or exchange their tickets for vouchers to be utilised for future travel. More than 92,000 customers have exchanged their tickets for travel vouchers, and more than 38,000 of them have flown and are planning to fly with their redeemed vouchers for tickets.

Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer for Emirates Airline said: “As demand gradually grows for international travel, customer assurance and seamless booking flexibility will remain central to our strategy. Ensuring we have the most customer-friendly booking policies has helped build confidence amongst travellers when deciding to fly with us, giving them more control over their travel plans when uncertainty hits. This means empowering them to make stress-free changes through our generous waiver policy, allowing easy redemption of vouchers, ensuring faster refund processing times, all coupled with our industry-leading multi-risk insurance cover, and the extension of tier status and Miles for our Skywards members.”

The airline rewrote the playbook on booking flexibility, when it introduced the industry’s most generous ticket validity, giving customers the option to hold or use their ticket anytime for more than 24 months. Now, the airline has extended its booking waiver for travel through 31 May 2022, ensuring customers can book with confidence knowing they are fully supported should their travel situation change.

Emirates has also continued its long-standing commitment of honouring refunds to its customers, processing nearly 3.3 million refund requests to date since the start of the pandemic. The airline has bolstered its capabilities to manage refunds for tickets, resulting in a speedy turnaround time for its travel agency partners and customers, raising the bar as the fastest in the industry, building more trust, goodwill and loyalty for the future.

Emirates customers have also benefitted from the industry’s most comprehensive multi-risk travel cover since it was launched in December 2020. The airline was the first to provide additional assurance for travellers, strengthening its proposition for added peace of mind. Since its introduction, over 7.2 million customers have flown with confidence knowing they were protected through Emirates’ multi-risk insurance cover.

Emirates has also been inspiring loyalty and increasing retention among its frequent flyers. Emirates Skywards has extended the tier status for over 630,000 Silver, Gold and Platinum members until 2022. It has also extended the validity of 51 billion Skywards Miles, allowing members to hold on to them for future flights, upgrades and other partner rewards.

YES Bank, WheelsEMI Enter Co-Lending Partnership For Two-Wheeler Loans Across Indian Market

 YES Bank and WheelsEMI Pvt Ltd, have entered into a strategic co-lending agreement to offer two-wheeler loans at competitive interest rates. The partnership aims at synergizing respective capabilities to provide an efficient and seamless lending experience to two-wheeler buyers across India.

The co-lending framework laid down by Reserve Bank of India provides a collaboration tool which benefits from the low-cost funds of a Bank and the sourcing and servicing expertise of a NBFC. This alliance leverages the strengths of both lenders, making this a winning proposition for all stakeholders, thereby expanding the reach to underserved markets.

WheelsEMI offers a range of affordable solutions along the two-wheeler ownership-ridership lifecycle, driving affordable mobility for working families. These include financing of new and pre-owned two wheelers, access to Electric bikes, insurance, servicing, spare parts management and a transparent marketplace for pre-owned two wheelers. WheelsEMI specializes in financing customers in deep geographies through its unique model which bridges the digital divide between the urban and rural geographies while enabling mobility to the under-represented segment of customers.

Under the arrangement, both the lenders plan to finance over 1 lakh two-wheelers in the first phase.

Rajan Pental, Global Head – Retail Banking, YES BANK, said, “We are pleased to partner with WheelsEMI. This arrangement will enable the Bank to enhance its reach by entering and deepening its presence in newer markets.  We look forward to leverage the strengths of Wheels EMI in semi urban and rural markets and build a profitable and sustainable two-wheeler loan portfolio through this partnership.”

Srinivas Kantheti, MD & CEO, WheelsEMI added, “Two wheelers present a huge white space, and we are excited to partner with Yes Bank. This partnership will leverage our investment, increase our reach while building a quality book for the Bank.”

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a ‘Full Service Commercial Bank’ providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to Retail, MSME as well as corporate clients.

YES BANK operates its Investment banking, Merchant banking & Brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES and its Mutual Fund business through YES Asset Management (India) Limited, both wholly owned subsidiaries of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence across all 28 states and 8 Union Territories in India including an IBU at GIFT City, and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

For more information visit the Bank’s website at http://www.yesbank.in/. 

About WheelsEMI

WheelsEMI Pvt Ltd is India’s first two-wheeler life cycle management company offering a range of affordable solutions along the two-wheeler ownership-ridership lifecycle, driving mobility for working families including financing to purchase new and pre-owned two wheelers, access to Electric bikes, insurance, servicing, spare parts management and a transparent marketplace for pre-owned two wheelers. Over the last three years, the company has expanded across 13 states and 100+ cities in India with over 3 Lakh customers.

Mahindra Launches A Unique Finance Scheme For Its PickUps And Small Commercial Vehicles In Partnership With State Bank of India

EMI starting as low as Rs 6666 per month

·         Lower interest rate starting from 11.5%

·         Higher Loan Amount – 85% On-Road funding (Maximum: Rs. 10 lakhs)

·         Higher Loan Tenure: Up to 6 years (Including Moratorium of 1 month)

·         No third-party guarantor. No ITR required for First Time Users (FTUs)

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., one of the top Commercial Vehicle manufacturers in India, offering the widest range of products and solutions from 3-wheelers to 55 ton HCV Trucks has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India (SBI). The MoU is set to offer unique financial assistance for the purchase of M&M’s range of small commercial vehicles and PickUps, providing among the best interest rate and loan tenure. SBI’s Contactless Lending Platform technology will further ensure uniformity, transparency and a reduced turnaround time in the loan approval process. It will also allow flexibility in a customer’s cashflow and contactless ownership experiences for brands such as SUPRO Profittruck & Jeeto and PickUp product range to make Mahindra vehicle ownership safe and affordable.

Commenting on the announcement, Amit Sagar, Business Head – SCV at Automotive division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said, “In our endeavor to provide the best customer experience and service, we are consistently looking for offerings that will delight our customers. Our financing scheme is not just unique, but also very pertinent, given SBI’s reach and trust across the length and breadth of the country. This scheme will provide the desired impetus and confidence to our SCV and PickUp customers and help them prosper.”

The collaboration with SBI will allow M&M’s small commercial vehicles customers to avail loan in a contactless and hassle-free manner with only 59 minutes loan approval process.  This will help customers own a superior product with EMI as low as Rs. 6666 (for a loan amount of 3.45 lacs) and a lower interest rate of 11.5%. It also gives flexibility of extended tenure up to 6 years including a one-month moratorium period also. The customers can opt for a higher loan amount with up to 85% on-road funding. There is no requirement of any third-party guarantor. Along with MSME, small road transport operators and First Time Buyers of small commercial vehicles can also take benefit from this breakthrough M&M vehicle financing scheme with SBI.

The State Bank of India, with a pan-India reach and more than 22,000 branches, has an extensive network across the country, and through this partnership it hopes to strengthen its reach, especially in rural areas, aiding employment as well as providing unique and innovative financial assistance to its customers.

M&M recently launched the SUPRO Profittruck range which is developed on the successful SUPRO platform. It is affordable, more powerful, boasts of a greater payload capacity and higher mileage and thereby higher profit to the customers. The SUPRO Profittruck range comes in both diesel as well as CNG fuel options. The Jeeto brand launched in 2015, has been a great success and a choice of over 2 lakh happy customers. It is a strong offering in <2Ton load category which comes with multi fuel options of Diesel, CNG & Gasoline and in two different deck sizes providing array of options to customer. Mahindra Bolero PickUp range has been the market leader for over two decades with more than 16 lakh happy customers. Mahindra Bolero PickUp has a wide range of vehicles – Single cabin, Double cabin, AC, 4WD and CNG options along with multiple payload and cargo sizes suiting the customer requirements.  The aim is to influence the customer’s life positively and enable them to earn more & to progress in life, while building a long-term relationship with brand Mahindra. M&M also provides best in class after sales support through its vast Primary and Secondary service network and trained technicians.

About Mahindra:

Founded in 1945, the Mahindra Group is one of the largest and most admired multinational federation of companies with 260,000 employees in over 100 countries. It enjoys a leadership position in farm equipment, utility vehicles, information technology and financial services in India and is the world’s largest tractor company by volume. It has a strong presence in renewable energy, agriculture, logistics, hospitality and real estate.

The Mahindra Group has a clear focus on leading ESG globally, enabling rural prosperity and enhancing urban living, with a goal to drive positive change in the lives of communities and stakeholders to enable them to Rise.

Toyota Technical Training Institute Announces Opening Of Admissions For The Year 2021-2022

In its pursuit towards contributing towards Skill India Mission and Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today announced the opening of admissions for the academic year 2021-22 of Toyota Technical Training Institute (TTTI). TTTI provides free training opportunities to intelligent students from economically weaker sections across Karnataka to become skilled technicians in automobile manufacturing. TTTI’s curriculum focuses on holistic development of the students through knowledge, skill, body and attitude development.  Since inception, more than 650 students have been graduated from TTTI. The TTTI skill trained students have bagged medals at the National Skill Contest and World Skills Contest, thus bringing laurels to the nation.

In this demanding era of technology, the expert skill education is critical to enhance more workplace-ready generation for future. With a focus to bridge the skill-set gap that the industry is grappling with dearth of entry-level talent, TTTI imparts world-class skills training to young talents in rural Karnataka and provides a program that focuses on the holistic development of Knowledge, Skill, Body and Attitude. TTTI is a three-year residential training in Automobile Manufacturing offering four courses namely Automobile Assembly, Automobile Weld, Automobile Paint and Mechatronics. The students undergoing the skill training at TTTI get hands-on-experience to world-renowned “Toyota Production System” in Toyota’s plant at Bidadi.

Toyota Kaushalya (Flexi-MoU Scheme) is designed to cater to the needs of both the industry as well as trainees imparting latest technology-based skill sets. This two-year term free course provides an unique opportunity for the youth to acquire skills relevant to the manufacturing industry and improve their employment potential through a ‘Learn and Earn’ approach, consisting a mix of theoretical and On-the-Job Training (OJT). These youth will be trained by supervisors who are Master Trainers in the Toyota Production System.

TTTI certified students will have an opportunity to appear for National Apprentice Certificate exam. After graduating from TTTI, the students have been employed in Toyota Kirloskar Motor and other Toyota Group companies. Further, TTTI has been recognized by Japan India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) for promoting Make-in-India and Skill India Mission.

Commenting on the announcement of this academic year’s admissions to TTTI, Mr. G. Shankara, Vice President, Human Resources and Services, TKM, said, “In line with its mission of ‘Producing Happiness for All’, Toyota believes in sharing its know-how and developing youth into world-class technicians. Through TTTI, we have been able to develop a competitive talent pool of industry-ready technicians and contributing to the Skill India Mission”.

TTTI invites applications from students, across Karnataka, for admissions to its 15th batch of regular course and 2nd batch of “Toyota Kaushalya” programs. 

Kindly apply through this link provided -> https://forms.gle/YWNH8XwYadrRfAhH8

For further information and clarification, please contact (mobile) - 9591999668/ 6366839232.

CAs, Lawyers Most Keen To Invest In Commercial Real Estate: Survey

* MYRE Capital Releases MYRE NEO-Realty Survey On Investment Behavior Around Commercial Real Estate Investments

* Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai among top cities for future fractional CRE investments

* Significant interest from CAs and Lawyers in CRE since they prefer fixed income options that are collateralised with a hard asset

* 36-60 year Old’s are most keen on fractional CRE investments.

* Almost 1/3rd investments from NRI communities - countries like US, UAE, UK, Denmark, Nigeria, Australia

* NRIs aspire to create alternative income source for family in India

Chartered Accountants and Lawyers show the maximum relative interest in investments towards fractional ownership of Commercial Real Estate, reveals the ‘MYRE NEO-Realty Survey’ by MYRE Capital, a neo-realty tech-enabled fractional ownership platform. Other segments of the investor and user base includes Doctors, IT professionals, Entrepreneurs, and other business owners. These investors prefer fixed income options that are collateralised with a hard asset and have started appreciating the favourable risk-return profile of fractional CRE and the end-to-end management provided by fractional ownership platforms.

MYRE Capital conducted a nationwide MYRE NEO-Realty Survey collecting responses from over 1500 high-ticket registered users and investors. According to the survey, 68% of interested investors in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) are within the age group of 36-60 years. 15% of the interested investors are between the age group of 25-35 years while remaining 17% interested investors belonged to the age group of above 60 years. Though investors belonging to 60 years and above, have traditionally been averse to alternative investments, the trend is changing. CRE is enabling these investors to earn a collateral-backed steady monthly inflow with the probability of additional benefit of annual capital appreciation realized over time. This enables investors to realise additional gains at the time of exit due to capital appreciation.

Commercial Real Estate has always been the affair of either financial institutions or affluent families, primarily due to high entry price. The survey highlights some key needs and changes required by investors in the traditional form of investing in CRE like easier access to opportunities (33%), increased transparency (20%), data symmetry (21%), and streamlining of processes (24%). Fractional ownership platforms are addressing these issues to bring more trust and transparency in India’s CRE market.

MYRE Capital’s Founder and CEO, Aryaman Vir said, “Fractional investment has long existed in India but in an unorganised manner. Even now, investors limit themselves to residential real estate as their only choice of investment and we want them to be aware of CRE as an effective avenue. The most common challenges like large ticket size, operational tasks, lengthy and complicated documentation, lack of expertise and trust is being solved by our platform to make this a more inclusive and accessible asset class. We believe that, with the regulations shaping out, investors will become more comfortable to place their trust in CREs and will be able to earn great returns from promising real estate opportunities in the country.”

The report also indicates that the investment preferences of investors vary with age. Young investors have a high risk-high return appetite and are ready to geographically diversify their property investments. Older investors prefer a low risk investment option with collateral-backed stable fixed income as many of them are retired and do not have a regular source of income. CRE is a unique asset class as it caters to the requirements of both segments. Individuals looking for a stable fixed income source can achieve relatively high yields via the monthly rental income. Since fractional ownership opportunities are secured by an underlying hard asset, the risk profile fits well with the objectives of conservative investors. Such opportunities are also preferred by younger investors that are looking for double digit annualized returns – factoring in the annual capital appreciation, such investors can earn 17%-25% IRR without having to compromise on their risk exposure.

While investing in traditional CRE, the basic challenges that young investors face are high ticket prices, lack of expertise and exposure; older investors face issues pertaining to lack of trust, burden of day to day operational management, and fair value determination. However, investing via fractional ownership gives these investors the chance to invest in institutional grade properties with twice the yield of FD returns, transparent Investor Dashboard facility which builds their trust and the capital is preserved with monthly returns. Further such platforms provide end-to-end management for the entire life-cycle of the investment.

As the demographics in India are transitioning to a more equitable gender distribution, CRE has seen increased participation from female investors. The survey reveals that from the total set of individuals that were surveyed,  ~41% were female users and investors. This gender distribution is relatively more equitable than most investment avenues.

As mentioned in the survey, in the shorter term, investors have highlighted rental income, reallocation of profits realized in equity markets, diversification of capital and effective monthly cash flow alternative as the driving factor with regards to their interest in fractional CRE. On the other hand, list of long-term goals for the same investors include, CRE portfolio creation, wealth creation, capital appreciation and capital preservation.

The fractional space has gained significant traction in India, with MYRE Capital receiving NRI traction from over 14+ countries along with domestic users from 16+ cities in India.The survey shows that cities are gaining maximum traction among other key markets. Bangalore takes the lead with 27% of investors showing interest in fractional ownership, followed by 21% interested in Pune’s real estate. The survey also identifies that India is being seen as an emerging market for investments by the NRI community with almost a third of the respondents from countries like US, UAE, UK, Denmark, Nigeria, Australia, etc.

Fractional ownership platforms are making it viable for retail investors to participate in institutional grade rent-yielding properties from a minimum investment size of 25Lacs. MYRE Capital was launched on January, 2021 and has aggregated three Grade-A real estate properties in its assets under management totalling to INR ~70cr+.  The platform aims to conduct the MYRE NEO-Realty Survey annually to understand preferences and emerging challenges faced by their users in order to address them and develop technology solutions for a better customer experience.

About MYRE Capital:

MYRE Capital, a venture by Morphogenesis, is a tech-enabled fractional ownership platform that provides easy access, transparency, and liquidity to a curated selection of rent-yielding commercial real estate assets. Each asset is selected based on stringent criteria involving predictive analytics across 30+ data points, 25 years of industry expertise, and our proprietary SOUL© process. The company has been founded by Mr. Aryaman Vir with his expertise in the development and application of algorithms, big data analytics, and machine, capitalizing on 25 years of industry knowledge.

MYRE Capital provides real estate owners and developers a reliable source of stable finance whilst providing potential investors and stakeholders with end-to-end management and execution thus enabling them to redevelop trust in this asset class and reposition the Indian real estate market on a global platform.