Bank Of Baroda Achieves Top Position In Digital Payments For 2020-21

* The Award is a testimony of Bank of Baroda being at the forefront of providing the latest innovative digital products and services  

* The Bank is accelerating its journey to “digital first” banking and give their customers the banking experience they prefer. 

Bank of Baroda announced it has won the #1 position in overall digital transactions amongst large banks for FY20-21. The bank showed the exceptional growth of digital payment transactions achievement and was felicitated by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India at the Digital Payments Utsav. To commemorate 75th anniversary of Independence of India, MeitY is celebrating “Digital Payments Utsav". As a part of the celebration, Bank of Baroda has been conferred with 5 DigiDhan awards for FY 2019-20 & 2020-21 in various categories.   

The award was received by Mr Akhil Handa, Chief Digital Officer, which was presented by Hon'ble Union Minister for Railways, Electronics, and IT, Mr Ashwini Vaishnav and MoS for Electronics and IT Shri Rajeev Chandrashekar. 

On the award, Shri. Ajay K Khurana, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “Our number one position in MeitY score card FY20-21 is reflective of banks robust Digital banking Product & services and strong merchant network especially in UPI QR, PAN India. The Bank witnessed exceptional growth in Digital Payment transactions which was handled in the most efficient manner by our Bank with good control of system technical declines for all our Digital Products.” 

On the award, Shri Akhil Handa, Chief Digital Officer, Bank of Baroda said, “The Bank is continuously innovating to become a Bank with strong Digital infrastructure and set high industry standards. We have worked on every pain point for our customers to emerge as a leader and have ranked #1 position in MeitY Score Card FY2021.” 

72% Respondents Say They Spent More On Fashion In 2021 Than Last Year, Reveals ZestMoney Survey

* Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune lead demand for online fashion

* Fitness wear, casuals, fitness bands emerge as top categories

*  50% respondents have spent more than Rs 5,000 on their fashion needs over last 3 months

*  75% respondents prefer ‘Made in India’ brands

*  Beauty merchants see 50% MoM growth on their platforms

*  54% preferred BNPL as payment option for fashion purchases

According to ZestMoney, India's largest and fastest growing Buy Now, Pay Later platform, 72% of respondents spent more on fashion in 2021 than the previous year, indicating a resurgence in consumer spending and demand in the segment.

A consumer survey was carried out to understand better customer shopping behaviour and preferences in the fashion industry. The pan-India study drew 2800 responses, 85% of whom were millennial and Gen Z.

According to the survey, customers in the age group of 18-30 drove the demand for online fashion with 71% of them spending on the category.  Also, the average ticket size of women transactions was 20% higher than that of male transactions. Infact, 58% of the respondents said they have spent more than Rs 5,000 on their fashion needs over the last 3 months. About 54% of them surveyed said they would prefer BNPL to finance their fashion purchases. Debit, credit cards and cash were the other popular options.

The top Tier I cities driving demand for fashion and beauty are Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune. Top tier II and III markets fuelling demand included Assam, Anantapur, Haridwar, and Kanchipuram.

E-commerce platforms remained the preferred means of buying for the majority of customers, with 72% preferring online shopping due to the enhanced convenience and hassle-free experience it provides. However, 76% said they were also comfortable purchasing in person at physical stores

Commenting on the trend, Lizzie Chapman, CEO & Co-Founder ZestMoney said, “Globally, fashion and beauty are the biggest categories for BNPL. In India, fashion and lifestyle is emerging as one of the largest categories for us. Consumers love the flexibility and convenience of pay later for their fashion purchases and we expect the category to see increasing adoption. Our ‘Pay in 3’ offering that lets customers pay over three months at no interest is highly popular and is driving demand here. 75% of all our fashion/lifestyle transactions are driven by the ‘Pay in 3’ option as it's a great convenience and affordability fit for the category. It also helps merchants with an increase in conversation and ticket size, so a huge win-win for everyone.”

“The survey highlights that today’s digitally savvy millennial and Gen Z are increasingly taking to Pay later to fund their fashion needs. In fact, we have seen a 100% growth in transactions for the category with the merchant base doubling over the last three months.  We are adding the largest merchants in the space, especially direct to consumer (D2C) brands who want to enable affordability for their customers. This is a category that will see a lot of action in the coming year too,” added Chapman.

ZestMoney is available at the checkout of leading merchants like Myntra, Nykaa, Purplle, Bombay Shaving Company, Karagiri, Decathlon, Wow Skin, Lotus Herbals, Suta and Re'equil.

The products that were highly popular include sports and casual shoes, fitness bands, fitness wear, leisure wear, nightwear, yoga pants, bathroom slippers, animated fun socks etc.

Premium brands like Apple, Amazfit, Maserati, Tissot, Titan Adidas originals and Emporio Armani also are gaining popularity. In addition to fashion, beauty retailers have seen a 50% month-over-month growth in sales in the last six months on the platform.

ZestMoney's fashion and beauty merchant base is expected to grow by 25X in the coming year. On the beauty side, there has been an increased demand for fragrance-free toners, shampoos, blushes, mascara, fragrance-free toners, shampoos, blushes, and mascaras.

Other noteworthy survey findings include:-

73% said they are environmentally conscious and prioritise sustainability while shopping for fashion. This indicates the rising trend of customers making eco-friendly choices and supporting brands that endorse ethical fashion.

75% respondents preferred supporting local, home-grown brands over International brands to push made in India

88% respondents stated that comfort continues to drive their sense of style and fashion purchases

Fashion influencers were the go-to for 51% respondents while opting for a particular brand or style

 ZestMoney has a registered user base of 13 MN and is available at the checkout of 10,000 online and 75,000 physical stores across the country. The company offers several offers including a ‘Pay in 3’ no cost option for all purchases on the platform.

VST Adjudged One Of India’s Most Innovative Companies By CII

VST Tillers Tractors Ltd. (VST), one of India’s leading farm equipment manufacturer, is ranked among the 25 most Innovative Indian Companies of 2021 by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII and Chairman, CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2021 along with Dr. S Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India presented the award to VST Tillers Tractors Limited.

The award evaluates innovation, processes, products, services, technologies, and approaches which brought about quantifiable results. VST was felicitated with ‘CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2021’ in a virtual award ceremony held during the 27th edition of DST-CII Technology Summit 2021.

Receiving the award, Mr. Antony Cherukara, CEO, VST Tillers Tractors Ltd., said “We are honoured to receive this recognition from CII for Excellence in Innovation and delighted to be counted amongst the Top 25 Innovative companies in the country. Innovation is a must for breakthrough results and our team at VST is dedicated to bringing out more innovative products to the market. This award is a testimony to our commitment to the farming community for offering high quality, innovative and sustainable products.”

VST has showcased their newly launched state-of-the-art, VST MT 932 - 30 HP Tractor and VST 165 DI (16 HP) Power Tiller for the awards.

VST MT 932 - 30 HP Tractor is the first multipurpose stylish compact tractor, infused with advanced technology features like 9+3 synchromesh, Mid PTO, Reverse PTO, Shorter Turning Radius, High-capacity Hydraulics, and operating comfort to increase productivity in toughest farming conditions with lesser fuel consumption.

VST 165 DI (16 HP) Power Tiller comes with MDR (Maneuverability, Durability, Reliability) technology, best in class power to weight ratio, unique adjustable seating comfort for a long duration of work, wider rotary (750mm) for maximum coverage, and reliable operation.

CII Industrial Innovation Awards were instituted in 2014 to identify and celebrate innovative Indian enterprises across industry segments and sectors. The purpose of this award is to encourage the industry to adopt a structured Innovation Framework in their operations and measure their performance periodically on the way to moving up the Innovation Value Chain. The Framework has been widely appreciated by the industry and the number of applications for this coveted award has been increasing year by year. These Innovation Awards have also been instrumental in the growth of business opportunities for winning firms. The award has formulated an Enterprise Innovation Maturity Framework which forms the basis of assessment of firms applying for CII Industrial Innovation Awards.

About VST Tillers Tractors Ltd.

VST Tillers Tractors Limited. was established in the year 1967 by the VST Group of companies. With a legacy of more than 53 years, VST continues to drive farm mechanization and empowerment of Indian farmers. The organization is the largest Indian manufacturer of Tillers, 4WD Compact Tractors, and amongst the leading producers of the other category Tractors, Engines, Transmission, Power Reaper, and Precision Components. VST also exports products to European, Asian, and African markets. To further strengthen its product portfolio and offer world-class technology customized to match the needs of Indian customers, VST has entered into strategic alliances with Pubert from France for Power Weeders and Zetor from the Czech Republic for Tractors.

VST believes in leveraging electric, driver optional, and connected vehicle technologies to offer sustainable, productive, and profitable farming solutions and has made a strategic investment in Monarch Tractor (Zimeno Inc) – Maker of the World’s First Fully Electric, Driver-Optional Smart Tractor.

Website: https://www.vsttractors.com/

WinZO Collaborates With “Ranveer Singh's Upcoming Movie 83”

* India’s largest vernacular game tech company, WinZO announced its collaboration with the upcoming Ranveer Singh starrer Bollywood film, ‘83’. 

* Resonating with the common values of competing, performing and winning, the film chose to collaborate with WinZO as their official brand partner. 

* As an interactive entertainment brand, WinZO focuses on celebrating competition among 65M+ registered users, allowing them to experience the thrill of small yet powerful winning moments in their daily lives. 

India’s largest vernacular game tech company, WinZO announced its collaboration with the upcoming Ranveer Singh starrer Bollywood film, ‘83’. Produced by Deepika Padukone, Sajid Nadiadwala, Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films, the film features leading Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Pankaj Tripathi among others. Resonating with the common values of competing, performing and winning, the film chose to collaborate with WinZO as their official brand partner and will help bring together billions of Indians from across the country to experience the thrill and excitement of winning. 

The movie depicts the inspiring roller coaster journey of the Indian team, considered as an underdog in the 1983 Cricket World Cup tournament, competing ferociously and eventually beating the best teams to clinch the coveted cup. The kick of winning at Lord’s in 1983 is still fresh in the minds of all the Indians and cricket enthusiasts in the country. This win played a pivotal role in shaping the cricket landscape in the country. Similar to 83’s kick of winning, users can experience the same excitement and thrill of winning by participating in 100+ games across 6+ engaging formats offered by WinZO.  

As an interactive entertainment brand, WinZO focuses on celebrating competition among 65M+ registered users, allowing them to experience the thrill of small yet powerful winning moments in their daily lives. The collaboration will see WinZO launch a nation-wide multi-modal co-branded TV commercial featuring the Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh.  

The TVC will be showcased across platforms including TV, OTT, Digital and social media, where the actor guides audiences to experience the kick of winning by playing more than 100 games available on the WinZO platform. To celebrate this association, WinZO is facilitating its users a golden chance to meet Ranveer Singh and other cast members. Users will also stand a chance to win free movie tickets and memorabilia such as autographed cricket bats and jerseys.  

Link to the TVC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJSpREgyauc&t=6s 

Speaking on the occasion, Saumya Singh Rathore, Co-founder, WinZO said, “We are thrilled about the association with the movie, 83. The historic win at Lord’s is a day that changed the mindsets and temperament of an entire nation. It reinforced the belief of competing against the best in the world and still emerging victorious, even with limited resources. This mindset is synonymous with what we as a company want to promote amongst our users - the winning spirit. Being the leaders in this space, we see this collaboration with the power house Ranveer Singh as a fitting one.”  

Sameer Chopra, Head of Marketing, Reliance Entertainment added, “With this collaboration we intend to reach out to all the young movie fanatics and game lovers. We are thankful to team WinZO for giving us this platform and opportunity to collaborate. WinZO’s association will make this celebration all the more special and grander by giving Indians another chance to reminisce and experience this remarkable win.” 

As a part of bolstering its brand visibility, WinZO also recently inked principal sponsorships for two major Vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) teams, Bengal Warriors and Gujarat Giants, as well as associate sponsorship for Patna Pirates. The company has been aggressively investing in aiding the game-tech ecosystem by supporting and engaging with game developers, studios, players, game streamers, and talent amongst others. 

Soroco Ranked A Rising Star In ISG Provider Lens For Process Discovery & Mining

* The report highlights Soroco's Scout Platform and its impressive data capture abilities focussed on uncovering the last mile of end-user processes. 

Soroco, a work graph company, has been recognised as a Rising Star by ISG, a leading global technology research and advisory firm in their ISG Provider Lens™ for Process Discovery & Mining 2021 U.K. report. 

The report attributes Soroco’s strength and recognition to the discovery of end-user processes across all types of teams, applications, documents, tasks, and processes, using a non-obtrusive data agent. It also quotes Soroco’s strengths in unified task mining and process mining capabilities, quick insights within 48 hours, and being fully GDPR compliant. 

Samson David, CEO, Soroco said, “We are honoured to be recognised as a Rising Star in ISG Provider Lens™ for Process Discovery & Mining. The research underscores Soroco's commitment in bringing business excellence to customers across the globe by providing the most comprehensive visibility on end-user processes through our work graph approach.”

Namratha Dharshan, Director of Research at ISG said, "With impressive data capture abilities focussed on uncovering the last mile of end-user processes, coupled with fast delivery of business and process insights, Soroco is growing significantly in the process discovery and mining market." 

For the report, ISG analysed over 21 leading next-generation Process Discovery & Mining technology providers and named Soroco a Rising Star. ISG defines Rising Stars as vendors who have promising portfolios or the market experience to become a Leader, including the required roadmap and adequate focus on key market trends and customer requirements. Rising Stars also have excellent management and understanding of the local market in the studied region. These vendors and service providers give evidence of significant progress toward their goals in the last 12 months. ISG also expects Rising Stars to reach the Leader quadrant within the next 12 to 24 months if they continue their delivery of above-average market impact and strength of innovation.

About ISG 

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the top 100 enterprises in the world, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. 

About Soroco 

Soroco is on a mission to discover how the world works to help teams be their best. To do this, we are evangelizing and commercializing the work graph, which is a structured view of how teams get work done across people, process, technology and documents. The work graph unifies disjoint categories like Process Mining, Task Mining, user training, BPM and RPA. Soroco's work graph platform, Scout, enables a culture of continuous improvement and identifies benefits from applying a portfolio of change levers, delivering targeted change programs at scale. Soroco has a roster of Fortune 500 customers across 30 countries. Our team has published 150+ papers and patents. www.soroco.com.

Chiratae Ventures, With Lenskart And Others, Invest $4M In Adloid, A Metaverse And AR Builder Platform For Creators And Brands

Chiratae Ventures(Formerly IDG Ventures, India), and Lenskart Vision Fund invests $4 million as part of Adloid’s pre-series-A funding, to fuel the next level of growth and product evolution. The round also saw participation from Easemytrip Co-founder Prashant Pitti, Seeders, and 100x Entrepreneur.

With this round, Adloid is rebranding to Metadome, a metaverse that will provide the no-code infrastructure to millions of creators & brands to build immersive experiences for the virtual world. The company will be expanding its product and tech teams and inviting the creator community to build a metaverse which can host 1 Billion experiences a day by 2023. It also plans to strengthen it’s customer success and delivery in North America & other geographies to support its enterprise offerings.

With an increasing acceptance of the virtual world, the concept of Metaverse is gaining traction among businesses and individuals. It promises to be far more immersive, interactive, and collaborative than what the internet has accomplished so far with web 2.0. Metadome is built for all virtual experiences, that allows people to create, experience, collaborate, learn, play, work, and trade virtual goods & estates, and much more.

Speaking about the development, CEO & Founder, Kanav Singla said, "With Metadome, our vision is to build a new world so satisfying where people would want to live in it and not be forced to come. It resonates with our team's life mission of solving the inherent problems of the real & virtual world. We are using our existing expertise in augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and computer vision to build a one-one mapping of the real world and creating an experience of life beyond the real world”.

Metadome, formerly Adloid, started in 2016 as one of the early players in augmented reality globally with focus of bringing life-like AR experiences to all smartphones, and has since evolved as the category leader across multiple industries with patents on compression techniques to enable the scale, empowering 30M+ AR experiences and creating a library of 100k+ 3D assets. Over the last few years, they have identified key problems in the AR/VR space and the focus has been on achieving photorealistic rendering quality and enabling that experience across the entire network of smartphones. Our dedicated team of tech, product, and design experts are working towards the shared mission of hosting 1 Billion experiences in Metadome by 2023.

Co-Founder & CRO, Prashant Sinha said, “Metadome will provide businesses newer ways of engaging their customers. The Metaverse is a persistent virtual world and shopping will be driven by 3D and Augmented Reality. The brands that work with us will be able to represent their entire portfolio and to allow Metaverse participants to truly engage with their products. For individuals and creators, the possibilities are enormous, as they will be able to interact, collaborate, learn, play, work, create, trade, transact and buy virtual goods.”

Metadome is already empowering brands with AR deployments across automobile, home-decor, beauty & accessories, and consumer electronics, working with industry leaders like Hewlett Packard(HP), Tata Motors(parent company- Jaguar Land Rover), Hero MotoCorp(largest 2-wheeler OEM globally), Asian Paints, Titan Eyeplus, Royal Enfield, Cardekho and more, to create immersive 3D & AR experiences for their customers. The company has witnessed a bootstrapped journey so far and growing organically by 3x YoY.

TCM Sundaram, Founder & Vice Chairman - Chiratae Ventures said, “ We are excited by the vision the team has to enable real life like immersive experiences in the metaverse. The technology they are building continues to make strides as they add marquee names to their clientele across sectors. We believe Metadome (formerly Adloid), has the power to fundamentally change how customers interact with brands, helping brands build engaging life-like experiences. As investors, we are elated to partner with the Metadome team, who is working to bring augmented reality experiences to your smartphones & other future displays.

Co-Founder & COO, Shorya Mahajan said, “The funding will add fuel to Metadome’s research and development efforts for enhancing the core competencies. We plan to add 60+ people in our tech/product team to an existing team of 90 and we are inviting bright talents to join our mission of hosting 1 Billion experiences in Metadome by 2023.”

Metadome is uniquely positioned since it has already created a sector-agnostic way of engaging users through Augmented Reality and has deep insights from empowering 30M+ AR experiences globally.

Animoca Brands Invests In Singapore Based Fantico To Build VistaVerse, The First Indian Metaverse

Fantico Pte Ltd , a premium licensed digital collectible platform, raised an undisclosed sum in a private round from Animoca Brands and private investors across Asia including Hemant Tucker, Segment Head for Technopreneurs and Market Head for South Asia & Middle East, Bank of Singapore.

VistaVerse, the metaverse to be launched by Fantico, will consist of virtual land, a series of blockchain games, curated and user-generated experiences, and its NFT marketplace. Fantico has already launched the marketplace, which is the first NFT platform to launch both physical and digital collectibles, focusing on both crypto and non-crypto user bases with marquee items to pique interests of both segments. In parallel, Fantico has been building out its metaverse VistaVerse, which it will launch in the coming months with premium curated experiences including from top Indian celebrities. As a portfolio company of Singapore-based Vistas Media Capital - a parent company that has diversified into media and entertainment - Fantico will leverage its content such as movies, music, and gaming resources to build with an experience-first approach.

Animoca Brands is a global leader in gamification and blockchain with a large portfolio of over 100 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized projects that are contributing to building the open metaverse.

The raise announced today will be used to build a platform for creators, designers, developers and enthusiasts to launch their own metaverse and NFT assets and access several pre-populated world elements. The platform also has broader tie-ins with media and entertainment projects and businesses across Asia.

Abhayanand Singh, CEO, Fantico, commented, “We are proud and enthused about the future of entertainment that can be built here. The teams at Fantico and Vistas Media Capital, along with its investors, are excited to build out this new medium in an accessible and meaningful way.”

Dhruv Saxena, Chief Strategy Officer, Vistas Media Capital, added, “Our team is relentlessly focussed on crafting the best for creators and users simultaneously. We want to leverage the appeal of Web 3.0 and gamefi to make it relatable to those new to the space and build this out responsibly.”

Yat Siu, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, Animoca Brands said, “Our goal is the creation of an open metaverse that is also culturally diverse and inclusive. Fantico, armed with the legacy of Vistas Media Capital and its portfolio companies, will be able to draw on a wealth of Indian culture that will enrich the broader metaverse ecosystem. We are very happy to see the transition of media companies to Web 3.0.”