Amazon Food Brings In The Third Chapter Of ‘Great Foodie Fest’ In Bengaluru From December 17–26, 2021

* 10 days of the biggest food fiesta with great discounts, cashbacks and rewards worth INR 60K up for grabs!

Amazon Food announces the third edition of the ‘Great Foodie Fest’ – a food gala starting December 17 - 26, 2021 in Bengaluru. This unique food festival offers customers an opportunity to enjoy great discounts and cashbacks on delicious orders from over 5,500 hygiene certified restaurants with convenient doorstep delivery. Customers will not be charged any packaging fees and Prime members can avail FREE delivery on every order.

Similar to the last 2 chapters, this time too, customers in Bengaluru can take part in the first ever inter-neighbourhood food face-off which they can enter by simply placing an order during the Great Foodie Fest. Customers across Bengaluru have been divided into 5 teams based on their location – Masthu WESTERN Munchers, Bombat EASTERN Belters, Sakath SOUTH Snackers, Namma NORTH Crunchers and Sooper CENTRAL Gobblers. The neighbourhood team with the maximum number of orders at the end of the food fest wins the face-off. All participants from the winning team will be rewarded with INR 1,000 cashback coupon, while Prime members will get INR 1,500 cashback coupon. Customers can redeem these coupons on their subsequent orders on Amazon Food.

During the ‘Great Foodie Fest’, customers can order and enjoy great deals from top brands like Freshmenu, Baskin Robbins, Ovenstory amongst others as well as city favorites such as Beijing Bites, Meghana Foods, Anand Sweets and many more.

Great Foodie Fest intends to recreate the experience of food carnivals that customers can enjoy from the comfort of their home. Apart from the inter-neighbourhood face-off, customers can play games and win coupons, watch chefs reveal secrets behind Bengaluru’s most iconic dishes and much more during the 10-day fest. Additionally, customers have an opportunity to grab rewards worth Rs. 60,000!

Amazon Food can be accessed on the Amazon.in app by clicking on the ‘Food’ icon on the homepage or by simply searching for ’Amazon Food’. 

India’s Leading Payment Technology Platform - Juspay - Raises $60 Million in Series C funding Led By SoftBank Vision Fund 2

* Juspay processes 300 million online transactions per month with gross value of over $5 Billion; has highest number of payment SDK installed across 250 million mobile phones

Juspay Technologies, the pioneers of 1-click frictionless digital payments in India, today announced USD 60 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from existing investors VEF and Wellington Management.

Founded in 2012, Juspay is on a mission to build a robust payments operating system for India. It has played a pivotal role in improving the user experience for billions of payment transactions for leading merchants like Amazon, Flipkart and Swiggy. Today, the bulk of mobile payments in India go through Juspay’s platform. It processes 11 million transactions per day, one of the highest in India, with best-in-class reliability.

Juspay’s solutions have transformed the 3 important layers of payments: customer experience, payments integration, and the foundational bank infrastructure. Its notable inventions include Juspay Safe - world’s first payment browser that simplifies payment authentication, HyperSDK - the largest payments SDK distribution installed across 250 million mobile phones, and Express Checkout - India’s leading payments orchestration platform to boost transaction success rates.

On this occasion, Vimal Kumar, the founder & CEO of Juspay said: “?Juspay has been in the forefront, building foundational infrastructure by unifying and enhancing hundreds of diverse payment options in a neutral way. We believe in ecosystem innovations like UPI and OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network) and have built a deep value-driven culture to support such initiatives. This funding will help us scale up our mission in India and expand globally.”

Speaking about the funding, Vishal Gupta, Director, SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “Juspay is one of the most innovative deep tech companies in India’s fast growing digital payments market. It is solving the complex needs of an evolving fintech ecosystem. We believe in Juspay’s vision to simplify payments for billions of people globally and deliver higher revenue at lower cost for merchants.”

Juspay, one of the earliest proponents of UPI, has a suite of UPI products for merchants, banks and ecosystem players. Its flagship product “UPI In a Box'' offers a highly reliable UPI stack which powers Amazon, Cred, Swiggy & others. It also offers On-Cloud UPI PSP which powers the UPI stack for banks like Axis Bank and Yes Bank. Juspay is also a strong contributor to improve the financial ecosystem for India. It was the key development contributor of BHIM App, GeM SAHAY (offers credit facility for Government eMarketplace) and BECKN protocol (community initiative to create open digital commerce networks).

Juspay intends to invest the funds in technology and product development to scale its business in payments and product adjacencies like credit - both in India and globally. Avendus Capital has advised Juspay in this funding round.

About JUSPAY: Founded in 2012, Juspay offers an intelligent technology platform that unifies payment gateways to give merchants a seamless, secure, reliable, end-to-end, enterprise-grade payment stack to achieve higher revenue at lower cost. Its products include Juspay Safe - world’s first payment browser that simplifies payment authentication with features like OTP auto-read and device based authentication for fast and secure payments, HyperSDK - the largest payments SDK distribution that enables merchant agility with instant app update capabilities and a fully customisable native payment experience, Express Checkout - India’s leading payments orchestration platform with over hundreds payment options and smart routing systems to boost transaction success rates for merchants, UPI in a Box - a highly reliable UPI stack for merchants and a first of its kind, On-Cloud UPI PSP (Payment Service Provider) to power large transaction volumes for banks. Juspay counts Amazon, Flipkart, Cred, Swiggy, Tata, Airtel, Vodafone, Jio, ICICI Prudential, BigBasket, Pharmeasy, Ola, Uber, MPL, UrbanCompany, Digit, Acko, MakeMyTrip, RedBus, BookMyShow, PhonePe and Unacademy among others as its customers.

Innovation Mission Punjab Appoints Somveer Anand As New Director

* As Director, Anand to lead and scale the Mission which has been setup to spur entrepreneurship and innovation in Punjab and establish it amongst the top startup hubs in the country

* The Mission will be a one-stop shop for Startups and will bring the best investors and advisors to the State. 

Innovation Mission Punjab, a unique public-private initiative launched earlier this year to catalyse entrepreneurship in Punjab, has appointed Somveer Anand, a banker turned 2x entrepreneur, as the Director of the Mission.

Excited and geared up to contribute towards the growth of Startup ecosystem in the country and Punjab in particular, Mr Somveer Anand said, “Innovation Mission Punjab will create the right environment for Startups to thrive by providing curated mentorship and support for Startups through customised programs delivered virtually and physically. We will establish Punjab as a startup powerhouse through this Mission.”

Innovation Mission Punjab will look to harness the experience of its Board of Directors and leverage their connection to bring together the best mentors and create the ideal environment for Startups to thrive, thereby unleashing Punjab’s potential for economic growth.

In his capacity as Mission Director cum CEO, Mr Anand will lead the Mission to be a one-stop destination for all Startups in the region by bringing in the best of global investors and advisors, creating a virtual network of incubators and launching the Mission’s accelerator. The Mission will work with universities, schools, incubators, investors and industry towards the common objective of making Punjab a startup hotbed. “We will especially focus on promoting entrepreneurship amongst women.” added Mr Anand.

Mr Pramod Bhasin, Chairperson of Innovation Mission Punjab said that the Mission would build and scale Startups by leveraging the strengths of all those enterprising Punjabis who have made a mark with their entrepreneurial acumen and risk-taking capabilities. “The mission and the associated Startups will hugely benefit from Somveer’s remarkable execution and networking skills to meet our ultimate aim of establishing Punjab among India’s top three innovation hubs and putting it on the global startup map,” said Mr Bhasin while expressing his delight at Mr Somveer Anand’s appointment. “We will especially invest in sectors which are strengths for the State, like food and agriculture, biotechnology, manufacturing, sports, and media and entertainment,” he added.

Congratulating Mr Anand on assuming charge as the Mission Director, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Mr Tejveer Singh commented, “The Mission, under him, will bolster the current efforts of the State to encourage entrepreneurs and will help retain and bring talent to the State.”

An alumnus of the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and Indian School of Business, Somveer Anand was the founder and CEO of Pindfresh, a leading Agritech startup that is striving to bring about an urban farming revolution in India. He has also held senior roles at Avendus Capital, US and where he served as a banker for large, well-known Indian clients based out of the US and at The Indian School of Business, where, as an Associate Director, he was driving major initiatives aimed at strengthening alumni connectivity.

L&T Technology Services Launches e-VOLTTS Platform To Accelerate Go-To-Market Requirements Of EV OEMs And Tier I Companies

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a global leading pure-play engineering services company has stepped up its EV play with the launch of e-VOLTTS platform designed for next-generation electric vehicles along with an EV Lab and in-house Autonomous Drive platform.

The e-VOLTTS platform developed in-house by LTTS engineers is a scalable and modular high-efficiency Reference platform that can be easily customized for use in a wide range of vehicle segments such as off-highway vehicle, passenger cars and 2 / 3 wheelers. It also serves as a reference design and is reusable as well as customizable thereby enabling faster EV related product development. Effectively the launch of the platform further consolidates LTTS’ position as a best-fit one-stop shop for e-mobility solutions with expertise ranging from build to specification definition to vehicle level integration.

LTTS’ e-VOLTTS platform is designed to offer distinct features in tune with the expectations of the evolved needs of an EV using consumer. These include an electric propulsion system comprising of inverter converter topology that enables a compact, cost-attractive electric drive proposition. Furthermore, the ‘heart’ of the car, has a traction motor that is equipped with excellent torque characteristic thereby ensuring that with a single charge the vehicle runs a optimum distance. 

Pertaining to battery, it is designed to reduce excess heat to the environment utilizing various factors such as Cell selection, Cell Spacing, Pack construction, Thermal Management materials and Battery enclosure design. 

The prototype version of the EV vehicle developed by LTTS also comprises a 5G enabled next gen digital cockpit with multiple displays. These capabilities have earned the Company interest from global customers and helped win multi-year engagements with e-Powertrain manufacturers.

The company has also launched in-house developed Autonomous Drive platform which integrates various ADAS applications and Mechatronics (precise control for mechanical components). The platform is showcased in LTTS’ prototype Autonomous Vehicle which comprises of a LIDAR Cameras and over a dozen Ultrasonic Sensors which can make decisions through a Central Control Unit. LTTS’ home-grown scalable sensor fusion framework supporting 3D LIDAR system and other advanced sensor applications provide superior driver safety pushing the industry closer to the ultimate goal of autonomous cars.

With the latest launch, LTTS has again demonstrated its capabilities around Power Electronics Platform Design and Controls, System Integration and Vehicle Integration including Thermal management to enable e-mobility for global OEMs and Tier I companies.

LTTS has also set up a one-of-its-kind EV Testing Lab at its Bengaluru delivery center that will cater to EV component level testing. This state-of-the-art lab provides various types of electric powertrain testing such as performance testing, endurance testing, and functional testing of e-Motors, Inverters, DC-DC Converters, Battery, and On Board / Off Board Chargers

Industry Recognitions in the segment:

·         LTTS has been recognized as a ‘Leader’ in Everest Group’s Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared Mobility Automotive Engineering study

·         LTTS has been recognized as ‘Leader’ in Automotive, ADAS, Telematics segments, among others, in the Zinnov Zones ER&D Services Report

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 57 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 17,900 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 72 innovation labs as of September 30, 2021.

Tata Motors Partners With Bandhan Bank To Offer An Attractive Financing Scheme On Its Passenger Vehicles

Key Highlights:

Maximum finance of up to 90% on-road funding

Rate of interest (ROI), starting from as low as 7.50%

Repayment tenor of up-to 7 years

Nil foreclosure and part payment charges

In a constant endeavor to make the ownership of cars an easy process for customers and adding to the celebrations of year-end offers, Tata Motors, India’s leading automotive manufacturer, is proud to become the OEM of choice for Bandhan Bank to sign a retail finance MoU, offering exciting finance options to all its passenger vehicle customers.

As part of the tie-up, Bandhan Bank will provide loans to Tata Motors’ customers at an interest rate starting from as low as 7.50%. This scheme will offer a maximum of 90% financing on the total on-road cost of the vehicle. Customers can also enjoy a benefit of special EMI options with a repayment tenor of up to 7 years. The Bank has also designed certain exclusive features for Tata Motors car buyers availing the car finance option which includes zero charges on foreclosure and part payment.. These offers will be applicable on the New Forever range of ICE cars and SUVs as well as on EVs for personal segment buyers across the country.

Commenting on the association, Mr. Rajan Amba, Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Customer Care, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “We, at Tata Motors, have always aimed to make our personal mobility solutions more affordable and accessible for individuals and families at beneficial rates. We are delighted to join hands with Bandhan Bank and this partnership is a part of our #FinancEasy Festival, wherein we are collaborating with multiple finance partners across India to make ownership of cars accessible, as well as a hassle-free process for the customers and thereby adding to the celebrations of this festive season. We hope that these offers will make the process of purchasing our cars much easier for customers and that this will positively impact their overall buying experience of Tata cars.”

According to Mr. Kamal Batra, Head – Assets, Bandhan Bank, said, “We are pleased to partner with Tata Motors as preferred financier for car loans. With this association, we are hopeful to leverage on the extensive reach of both brands in rural, semi-urban and urban markets and enable many Indians fulfil their dreams of owning their personal vehicles. With zero part payment and foreclosure charges and at competitive pricing, Bandhan Bank car loans will appeal to the target markets. This tie up is an evidence of the Bank’s ongoing endeavour to partner the needs of emerging India.”

To avail the above schemes, customers can reach out to their nearest Tata Motors dealer or through a Bandhan Bank branch, register their interest in buying a Tata car. To know more about offers and car buying options, call your nearest dealership or visit https://cars.tatamotors.com/. Customers can also enquire, request a test drive, make bookings, and select their preferred financing option via ‘Click to Drive’, Tata Motors’ end-to-end online platform, from the comfort and safety of their homes.

Aakash Educational Services Limited Introduces MIRA – An AI Enabled One-Stop Solution For Employee Queries

* Artificial Intelligence-enabled new Employee experience tool 

* MIRA will make internal processes more efficient and manageable 

* The AI tool will be beneficial for over 6500 employees of AESL pan India 

Known for its innovation and use of cutting-edge technology to deliver the best, Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), India’s leader in test preparatory services, has introduced “MIRA – an Artificial Intelligence enabled one-stop solution” for its employees for query resolution– through an innovative knowledge management tool. 

MIRA has been integrated with AESL’s internal systems, from SAP and Oracle to Workday and ADP and it can not only answer employees’ general questions, but can also provide access to information such as pay stubs and income tax. 

MIRA is programmed to respond to any queries 24x7 with just a text. The hi-tech tool helps to find knowledge articles that are personalized and relevant – including FAQs, policies, videos, guides and deep links to further information instantly. The information can be accessed by all the AESL employees. Through this app, nearly 6500 AESL employees will be benefited and will have insights into medical aids, training programmes, transfers, in-house events, etc. 

For an employee, MIRA will help to replace day-to-day emails and other applications. Through this service, employees can explore policies, new company guidelines, create HR-related requests and track them to closure. The tool can be used on desktop, mobile, or even directly through MS Teams, Whatsapp and Google Chats by scanning a simple QR code. In addition to these access points, the tool will carefully evaluate the employees’ feedback and experience to better the services. 

Commenting on the launch of MIRA, Mr Sachin Saxena, CHRO, Aakash Educational Services Limited, said, “Tools and technology seldom come under the spotlight in discussions of employee experience, but in fact, they are a critical component of keeping them satisfied at work. With automation having such clear benefits in ease of access to information, convenience in making queries or requests, and most importantly, speed in getting the queries resolved, it is for this very reason that we have introduced MIRA for our employees. As a forward-looking organization that has thrived through innovation and cutting-edge technology, we are committed to adopting tools and technologies that assist in improving your experience as an employee, partner, and contributor to the success of AESL. MIRA will keep evolving with time allowing employees to access all basic and HR-related information, policies and latest news all in one place.” 

About Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) 

Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) provides comprehensive test preparatory services for students preparing for Medical (NEET) and Engineering Entrance Examinations (JEE), School/Board Exams and Competitive Exams such as NTSE, KVPY, and Olympiads. The “Aakash” brand is associated with quality coaching and a proven student selection track record in various Medical (NEET) and JEE/Engineering Entrance Examinations, Scholarship exams & Olympiads. 

With over 33 years of operational experience in the test preparatory industry, the company has a large number of selections in Medical & Engineering Entrance Exams and several Foundation level Scholarship exams/Olympiads, a pan India network of 225+ Aakash Centers (including franchisee), and an annual student count of more than 250,000. 

The Aakash group has investment from Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (BYJU'S) as well as by the world’s largest private equity firm Blackstone.  

www.aakash.ac.in   

Paytm Users Can Now Download COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates For International Travel From Its Mini App Store

* Users can download WHO-DDCC: VS compliant vaccination certificates from the COVID-19 vaccine finder on the Paytm Mini App store  

* Launched earlier this year, Paytm COVID-19 Vaccine Finder has enabled over 32 lakh vaccine booking from over 14,000 pin codes across 1,400 cities in India to book their vaccine slots 

India’s leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants Paytm(1) (Owned by One97 Communications Limited) has announced the launch of international travel certificates on the Paytm app through the COVID-19 Vaccine Finder on its Mini App Store. With this, users can simply update their passport details to get WHO-DDCC: VS compliant vaccination certificates. Travel certificates for both Covaxin and Covishield are now accepted in most of the countries across the world. However, travellers are suggested to check for country-specific COVID-19 guidelines before finalizing their itinerary.  

Launched earlier this year, Paytm’s COVID-19 Vaccine Finder helps users to check the availability of slots. It allows searching for slots based on PIN codes or districts and allows users to book slots directly using the tool. along with age and (18+ or 45+). Available in 11 languages, the platform allows users to choose between 1st and 2nd dose, and access all kinds of vaccination-related information such as the type of vaccine available and the fee charged for it. 

Till now, over 32 lakh slots have been booked through the Paytm COVID-19 Vaccine Finder tool users from across 1,400 cities in India. Paytm’s COVID-19 Vaccine Finder has pushed over 100 crore vaccine availability alerts and has enabled users to download over 14 lakh certificates.  

Over 85% of users of the platform chose the age group of 18-45 years and more than 40%% booked their vaccination appointment post 4 pm. 

Paytm Spokesperson said, “We always strive to bring convenience to our users and the latest feature to download international travel certificates is just another step in the direction. Additionally, users can also add the Vaccine Certificate to their DigiLocker on Paytm. We will continue our efforts to provide the necessary features & services to help our country become safer from the pandemic.” 

The COVID 19 Vaccine Slot Finder is one of the many initiatives that Paytm has undertaken as part of its Covid-19 relief measures. Under its #OxygenForLife initiative, Paytm Foundation has donated Oxygen concentrators and is also setting up Oxygen Plants in government hospitals across the country. 

About Paytm: 

Paytm is India’s leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants (1), and offers payment services, commerce and cloud services, and financial services. Paytm is India’s largest payments platform (1) based on the number of consumers, number of merchants, number of consumer to merchant transactions and revenue, as on March 31, 2021, and with a FY21 GMV of ?4,033 billion. Paytm is the largest payment gateway aggregator in India based on total transactions, with the widest ecosystem of payment instruments (1). The company’s lending business (offered in collaboration with financial institution partners), includes personal loans, merchant loans, as well as its Buy Now, Pay Later product Paytm Postpaid.  

(1) Source: “The Digital Transformation of Payments and Financial Services in India” dated July 15, 2021, prepared by RedSeer.