Westlife Development Led McDonald’s Introduces Chef’s Special Gourmet Burger Collection To Mark Its 25th Year In India

* The new range of indulgent burgers will strengthen McDonald’s leadership in the burger category

McDonald’s India turns 25 this year and the brand is giving its consumers, one more reason to celebrate this milestone! After 25 years of serving favourites like McAloo Tikki, Maharaja Mac, McSpicy, Mc Veggie & McChicken, Westlife Development Ltd led McDonald’s (West & South India), has unveiled a new range of indulgent Gourmet Burgers. This Chef’s special range consists of unique and generously sized, scrumptious burgers with signature McDonald’s touches to add some more favourites to your list.

Menu innovation has been a key pillar of success for brand McDonald’s in India. The brand has successfully managed to knit local flavours in its product range. With the launch of the Gourmet range, McDonald’s aims to strengthen its leadership in the burger category.  What makes this new selection of burgers a gourmet affair is the exotic patties, ingredients and sauces that they contain. The range is a mix of delectable cheesy indulgences and spicy delights to cater to all palates and taste buds. The burgers are also bigger in size and are curated to offer consumers, more filling meal options at McDonald’s.

Speaking on the launch of this new Gourmet Burger Collection, Smita Jatia, Director, Westlife Development Ltd said,” Menu innovation has been in our DNA. We have always strived to weave in local flavours and preferences into our menu. At the same time, our endeavour has been to bring global flavours to India in a truly McDonald’s way. This new range of premium burgers has been carefully crafted with exotic ingredients and is aimed at providing filling meal options to the customers thereby strengthening the meal proposition at our restaurants”. 

Here is a sneak peek into some burgers from this new Gourmet Burger Collection:

Cheese Lava American Burger: Cheese Lava American Burger is one of the star products of McDonald’s New Gourmet Burger Collection. The relishing salad in this one is propped up against jalapenos and shredded onions, with the roasted chipotle sauce and cheesy goodness oozes out of the patty. All this slides inside freshly toasted buns!

Piri Piri Spiced Chicken Burger: A Piri Piri spiced, grilled chicken patty topped with a roasted chipotle sauce, shredded onions, jalapenos, and a refreshing salad, placed between freshly toasted Piri Piri buns!

Triple Cheese American Veg Burger: A crunchy corn patty filled with cheese, topped with jalapenos, shredded lettuce and more cheese, layered between Piri-Piri Buns.

Piri Piri Spiced Veg Burger: An exotic, spicy veg patty, topped with roasted chipotle sauce, shredded Onions, Jalapenos and a delish salad all layered between freshly toasted Piri Piri Buns.

McSpicy Premium Chicken Burger: McSpicy Premium Chicken Burger assures a lavish burger experience. A spicy chicken patty, shredded lettuce topped with Jalapenos and Cheese slice, spicy Habanero sauce & cheese sauce layered between toasted whole wheat buns.

Chunky Chipotle American Chicken Burger: A combo of grilled chicken patty and Piri Piri chicken patty, smeared with a Roasted Chipotle sauce, cheese, shredded onions, jalapenos and a delish salad layered between freshly toasted quarter pound buns.

McDonalds is committed to staying ahead of customer expectations and giving them global products with the perfect local twist to take the concept of comfort food a notch higher. This is just the start of the silver jubilee celebrations from the brand and there is much more coming soon!

The McDonald's Gourmet Burger Collection is available across all outlets in South and West India. You can order it on the McDelivery app or go to the nearest McDonald’s restaurant.

Are you ready to indulge in this glorious gourmet experience by McDonald’s?

As part of its Golden Guarantee promise, McDonald's has implemented stringent safety and hygiene protocols to ensure the complete safety of its customers and employees.

About Westlife Development:

Westlife Development Limited (BSE: 505533) (WDL) focuses on setting up and operating Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in India through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. (HRPL). The Company operates a chain of McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India, having a master franchisee relationship with McDonald’s Corporation USA, through the latter’s Indian subsidiary.

About Hardcastle Restaurants:

HRPL is a McDonald’s franchisee with rights to own and operate McDonald’s restaurants in India’s West and South markets. HRPL has been a franchisee in the region since its inception in 1996.

HRPL serves over 200 million customers, annually, at its 305 (as of June 30th, 2021) McDonald’s restaurants across 42 cities in the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Union Territory of Puducherry and provides direct employment to close to 10,000 employees. McDonald’s operates through various formats and brand extensions including standalone restaurants, drive- thrus, 24/7, McDelivery, McBreakfast and dessert kiosks. The menu features Burgers, Finger Foods, Wraps, Rice, Salads and Hot and Cold Beverages besides a wide range of desserts. Several of the McDonald’s restaurants feature an in-house McCafé.

The pillars of the McDonald's system – Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value – are evident at each of the restaurants that HRPL operates.

PhonePe And NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. Partner To Launch ClickPay For Easy Bill Payments

* PhonePe is one of the first payments platforms to enable the  Bharat BillPay ClickPay  

* Customers can now make recurring bill payments easily for categories like electricity, water, gas, loan repayments, etc.

PhonePe, India’s leading digital payments platform, announced the launch of ClickPay for its customers in association with NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd.(NBBL). ClickPay is a unique payment link that enables customers to make recurring online bill payments (electricity, water, gas, loan, etc) and removes the need to remember tedious account details associated with each biller/service. This link sent by the biller will lead the customer directly to the payment page fetching the bill amount instantly.

PhonePe is one of the first payment platforms to enable support for ClickPay, and it benefits the customers by removing the hassle of remembering the unique identifiers/details associated with making bill payments - they can simply pay by clicking on the ClickPay link sent by their biller, making it only a two-step process. This launch will help in increasing the share of digital transactions in the ecosystem by reducing the errors induced by manual inputs required for bill payments.

Speaking on the launch, Ankit Gaur, Director, Online Merchants at PhonePe, said “We are very excited to partner with NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. on the launch of ClickPay. This will bring a large number of potential customers from the offline realm to pay their bills online. We believe that this will further the adoption of digital payments by making the discovery of billers and bill payments convenient for consumers.”

Rahul Tandon, Head Product & Market Development, NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd., said “ClickPay is a step to empower the customer, wherein with ease, payment can be effected sans the tedium of manual inputs and errors.  We are happy to launch the ClickPay facility with PhonePe and extend robust facilitation to a huge customer base. ClickPay will assure faster payments and help with furthering of digital transactions in the payments service space.”

GoodWorker Scales-Up Tech Workforce; Kickstarts Month-Long National Coding Challenge

Backed by the Lemmatree Group, noted actor Sonu Sood and Schoolnet; GoodWorker launched a nation-wide coding challengeto identify the best talent for multiple positions for software engineersin the company.  The unique challenge will provide an opportunity to the coders to solve real-world problems. 

The coding challenge will include two rounds. In the preliminary round, the candidate’s basic coding skills will be assessed. The candidates who qualify will then be required to solve a complex problem using their creativity within a stipulated timeframe, thereby examining how their performance under pressure. The participants can enrol themselves via the link https://www.techgig.com/challenge/goodworker-hiring-challenge 

GoodWorker is a digital platform that provides the country’s youth access to blue/grey collar jobs and quality of life services. The company, which partnered with Singapore tech giant Affinidi, has an ambitious vision of impacting the lives of 300 million blue-collar workers by bridging the gap between job seekers and employers. On the launch of the challenge Amit Jain, CEO, GoodWorker said, “GoodWorker continues to rapidly execute its vision of transforming lives of blue-collar workers in India, by providing access to career-enhancing opportunities and other quality of life services. We aim to use cutting-edge technologies leveraging real-time communication, NLP for Indian languages & entirely new paradigms of UI/UX to better connect with our target users. Hence, we are looking to rapidly expand our technology team to support this scale-up.” 

About GoodWorker 

GoodWorker is a digital platform, which aims to transform the lives of blue-collar workers in India by providing access to career enhancement opportunities and other quality of life services for e.g in the financial sector. It harnesses Affinidi’s digital verifiable credential technology to enable the youth to access such services. Our vision is to create value for youth and employers, impacting 300 million lives by 2030. 

GoodWorker is headquartered in Bengaluru, India, and the Affinidi Group in Singapore with a hub in India, Berlin, and Germany. 

Paytm Brings “Digilocker To Its Mini App Store” - Now Access All Your Documents Digitally

* DigiLocker is a secure cloud-based platform provided by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India under its Digital India initiative 

* Paytm becomes one of the first consumer app to bring the entire Digilocker functionality to consumers via its own app  

* DigiLocker Mini App on Paytm offers users one-click access to access all government records from Digilocker even when users are offline or in a low connectivity zone 

* Users data stays on their device locally and can be accessed offline or even in low connectivity zones  

* Paytm users can now add and retrieve documents such as Aadhar, driving license, vehicle RC, Insurance, COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates, and others  

* To ensure data privacy of its users, Paytm does not store or send any document related information at its back end  

India’s leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants(1) Paytm has announced that it has onboarded “Digilocker to its Mini App Store”. With this,  Paytm users will be able to save and access their digital documents in a safe and secure manner. 

DigiLocker is a secure cloud-based platform for storage, sharing and digital verification of documents & certificates, provided by MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information technology) under Digital India Corporation (DIC). Some of the most popular use cases for DigiLocker are accessing Driving License and Vehicle Registration Certificate, Aadhar Card, Mark Sheets among others. Users can also utilise Digilocker documents for self KYC and video KYC with telecom operators, online share trading platforms and other fintech platforms as required. DigiLocker documents are legally recognized on par with original documents, as per the Information Technology Act, 2000. 

Users can access their DigiLocker within the Paytm app to retrieve, add, save/store and even receive verified electronic copies of documents from registered organizations directly into individual lockers eliminating the need to carry physical documents. Users who have booked COVID-19 Vaccines through Paytm can add their Vaccine Certificates with one click to Digilocker.  

To view and access the documents users can go to the profile section under ‘Your Documents’ on the Paytm App. DigiLocker documents once added on Paytm can be accessed by users even when they are in low connectivity zones or offline.  

The Mini App store was launched on Paytm app to make it a space for developers and businesses to launch their apps and leverage Paytm’s user base. Today, it houses several businesses who use Paytm’s reach to grow their user base, reach out to consumers, enable their existing users to access services easily and more. Through the Mini App Store on the Paytm app, users can book a cab, order food, book doctor’s appointments or order medicines, health supplements, purchase travel & entertainment tickets, and book slots for COVID vaccinations. 

Paytm spokesperson said, “We are excited to bring the Digilocker functionality to the Paytm App. Millions of users who open the Paytm app for vaccine booking, travel, FASTag, insurance, KYC and many other use cases, will be elated to have the DigiLocker functionality which will enable convenience and easy access to important documents.”  

MeitY spokesperson said, “DigiLocker’s aim, aligned with the Digital India mission, is to provide to all Indian citizens a digital platform for paperless services. Our partnership with Paytm Mini App, will extend DigiLocker’s services to Paytm’s users, who can access important documents like Aadhar, Driving License and more at one place, and exclude the need to carry all paper documents with them.” 

Great Lakes Institute Of Management Announces An Exclusive “Alumni Rewards Program”

* Becomes the first B-school to launch a rewards program for alumni in the country

Great Lakes Institute of Management has announced the launch of an exclusive “Alumni Rewards Program” - Great Lakes Insider for their 9800+ strong alumni spread across 33 countries. The launch event was held virtually on at its mega alumni meet - Confluence 2021 recently. This unique rewards program comes as a first for an Indian B-school Institution. Great Lakes has set up a seamless rewards program to strengthen its alumni relations further and to build a well-connected, awesome active alumni (AAA) community across the globe. 

The focus of this program is to Connect, Communicate, and Create relations between Great Lakes Institute of Management and its alumni. The institute is offering its alumni a chance to choose rewards from over 300 renowned brands across Travel, Hospitality, Lifestyle, F&B, and more. The institute has partnered with renowned brands like Adidas, Amazon, Myntra, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Zomato, Big Basket, Book My Show, ClearTrip, Croma, MakeMyTrip, Flipkart, Hidesign, Home Center, Lenovo, Nike, O2 Spa, Philips, Pizza Hut, Puma, Reliance Digital, Westside, Yatra, Samsung among other top brands. From Instant digital gift vouchers to merchandise and experiences, the program covers a huge array of rewards for its alumni network.  

The reward points issued to its alumni can be redeemed to buy vouchers/gift cards or products from a wide array of options. Great Lakes has also floated a hybrid system of payments for redeeming a voucher. In case of lack of points or sheer desire to refrain from using up all the reward points, the option of combining cash and points if also available while redeeming the rewards.  

Commenting at the launch of Great Lakes Insider, Dean Suresh Ramanathan said, “We are proud to present a distinctive Alumni Rewards program like ‘Great Lakes Insider’ for our vast alumni base spread across the globe. The rewards program has something for everyone and the perks of being a Great Lakes alumni are now endless. This offers tremendous potential for the students to network, get back in touch with their course-mates, seniors, and junior pass-outs while remaining an integral part of Great Lakes Institute of Management and stay connected forever. We will continue to develop new ways to make this program more innovative through different updates which will enable us to have a meaningful engagement with our current and future alumni.” 

Through this program, Great Lakes Institute of Management’s alumni will be connected to a global community across several geographic, demographic, and cultural backgrounds and would be able to foster a strong network with peers as well as directly, with the institute. The institute aims to extend support and promote all events and activities with its alumni and reward them for their engagement with current students, the institution, and other alumni. 

Tata Motors To Raise $1 B In Its Passenger Electric Vehicle Business At A Valuation Of Upto $9.1 B From TPG Rise Climate

Tata Motors Ltd (TML) and TPG Rise Climate have today entered into a binding agreement whereby TPG Rise Climate along with its co-investor ADQ, shall invest in a subsidiary of Tata Motors that will be newly incorporated. TPG Rise Climate along with co-investors shall invest Rs 7,500 Cr in compulsory convertible instruments to secure between 11 % to 15 % stake in this company translating to an equity valuation of up to $9.1 bn.

The new company shall leverage all existing investments and capabilities of Tata Motors Ltd and will channelise the future investments into electric vehicles, dedicated BEV platforms, advanced automotive technologies and catalyse investments in charging infrastructure and battery technologies. Over the next 5 years, this company will create a portfolio of 10 EVs and in association with Tata Power Ltd, catalyse the creation of a widespread charging infrastructure to facilitate rapid EV adoption in India.

N Chandrasekaran, Chairman Tata Motors Ltd commented, “I am delighted to have TPG Rise Climate join us in our journey to create a market-shaping electric passenger mobility business in India. We will continue to proactively invest in exciting products that delights customers while meticulously creating a synergistic ecosystem. We are excited and committed to play a leading role in the Government’s vision to have 30% electric vehicles penetration rate by 2030.”

Jim Coulter, Managing Partner TPG Rise Climate and Founding partner of TPG commented, “We are excited to partner with Tata Motors on their mission to lead the electrification of passenger mobility in India. There is significant momentum around India’s EV movement, supported by the Government’s vision and policies, as well as growing consumer demand for greener solutions. The investment aligns with TPG Rise Climate’s focus on decarbonized transport and builds on TPG’s long history in India.”

It is expected that the first round of capital infusion will be completed by March 22 and the entire funds will be infused by end of 2022. Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan are the joint financial advisors to TML, while BofA Securities India Ltd are representing TPG Rise Climate for this transaction.

Khaitan & Co are legal advisors to TML, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, Cleary Gottlieb are legal advisors to TPG Rise for the transaction.

The transaction is subject to conditions precedent and customary approvals.

1,500 Candidates To Participate In The IndiaSkills 2021 Regional Competitions

* 30 states/union territories to compete in 54 skills, including seven new-age trades

* 1,500 candidates from five regions—North, South, East, West, and Northeast—will participate

IndiaSkills 2021 Regional Competitions will start from October 20, bringing together 1,500 participants from 30 states/union territories in the country’s biggest skilling event. Witnessing over 250,000 registrations, IndiaSkills 2021 began with district and state-level competitions in August-September. The regional competitions will be conducted in five zones, following which the winners will face IndiaSkills national competition to be held in December 2021.

Participants of the regional competitions will compete in 54 high economic growth skills such as fashion technology, automobile technology, autobody repair, water technology, plumbing and heating, among others. Seven new-age skills such as mobile robotics, information technology (IT) software solutions for business, cloud computing, cyber security, industry 4.0, etcetera, have been included in the 54 skills. From October 20 to 23, the first regional competition will be held for East and Northeast in Patna, Bihar. The West regional competition will begin from October 29 to November 1 in Gandhinagar, while for North, the event will be conducted in Chandigarh from November 15 to 18. Starting December 1-4, the last zonal competition for South will take place in Visakhapatnam.

Ved Mani Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), said, “The youth of India have tremendous talent, which requires appropriate direction and a platform such as IndiaSkills to harness their full potential. The competition, an equivalent of Olympics in skills, aims to provide international exposure and opportunities to youth and equip them with skill training per international standards. It aims to raise global profile and recognition of skilled professionals and expand their career paths."

The winners of IndiaSkills competition undergo the best-in-class industry training conducted by sectoral mentors, coaches and industry experts who prepare them for WorldSkills Shanghai, China to be held in October 2022. Candidates get multi-level industry training through boot camps and programs such as project-based training, industry and corporate training, exposure visits to industries, mind coaching, and personality development. NSDC, through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and partners, trains the candidates not only for the competition but for future endeavors, making them job ready.

WorldSkills, the gold standards of skill excellence, is a biennial event that records participation from over 80 nations. Skilled and talented youth from across the world compete on the international platform in multiple trades. In the previous edition of WorldSkills held in Kazan, Russia in 2019, India ranked 13 of 63 countries that participated in the global event. More than 1,350 candidates participated in 56 skills, and team India gave its best-ever performance by winning 4 medals (one gold, one silver, two bronze medals) along with 15 Medallions of Excellence.

IndiaSkills and WorldSkills have provided the youth a platform for realising their potential and given them exposure at a global level. Some of IndiaSkills candidates who shone at WorldSkills are:

Simoul Alva, from Mumbai, won a Medallion of Excellence in skill, Graphic Design Technology at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. Alva is working as a visual designer, art director and illustrator in New York.

Rohim Momin, a school dropout, working as a construction labourer in his village in Malda, West Bengal, represented India at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 and was honored with the Medallion of Excellence. He is working as an Assistant Foreman in ATS Infrastructure Ltd. and as an expert for other aspiring candidates.

Arun Raj Balasubramani, who hails from Madurai, represented India at WorldSkills Leipzig, Germany 2013 and won the ‘Best of the Nation’ and Medallion for Excellence badges in graphic designing. fter competing at Leipzig, he started his own company with over 60 employees which raised 2 million $ and was later on acquired by Freshworks Inc. (earlier called Freshdesk), a multinational company with over 2500 Designers on board and is currently the Director of Design.Winning global titles not only connected these young participants with the right opportunities but helped them boost their careers.

About IndiaSkills Competition

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), under the guidance of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), leads and organises IndiaSkills Competitions every two years at the regional and national levels. Skilled youth from various states/UTs compete in their respective trades. The winners of IndiaSkills undergo training and participate in several development programs for a year to prepare for WorldSkills. NSDC aims to enrich the lives of the youth through IndiaSkills. 

About WorldSkills Competition

Founded in 1950, WorldSkills International is the global hub for skills excellence and development. WorldSkills brings youth, industries, and educators together to give youth the chance to compete, experience, and learn how to become the best in their skill of choice. From traditional trades to multi-skilled technology careers in the industry and service sectors, supported by partners, industries, governments, volunteers, and educational institutions, WorldSkills’ vision is to improve the world through the power of skills. It has 85 member countries and regions, all working with youth, educators, governments, and industries to help prepare the workforce and talent of today for the jobs of the future.