“Technology Is Influencing Music Education In A Big Way And Artium Academy Is At The Forefront Of This Digital Turn” - Aruna Sairam

* Aruna Sairam joins the Artium Academic Board and dons the role of Faculty Head for Carnatic Music

*  (Artium Academy is an online music learning and community platform which has in less than a year grown its learner base by 10X.)

Renowned Carnatic vocalist and Padma Shri Award Winner Aruna Sairam is excited at the prospect of encouraging and helping aspiring students learn Indian classical music. She has joined the Artium Academic Board and dons the role of Faculty Head for Carnatic Music where she will use her vast knowledge and experience to shape and nurture talent, through the unique music courses offered by Artium Academy.

Known for her tremendous contribution to the world of music spanning almost six decades, Aruna believes that the music space is evolving drastically and with time and technological advancements, method of teaching also needs to evolve to be in line with the emerging trends

Aruna Sairam’s latest campaign for Artium Academy canvasses the inter-play of music with technology  to make learning a lot easier and more accessible to people of all ages. Through the campaign video, Aruna Sairam explains her love for Carnatic Music and highlights her journey on how she learnt it herself. The video ends with Aruna Sairam inviting music enthusiasts from across the world for an exciting course in Carnatic Music designed and curated personally by her.

The Carnatic Music course of Artium Academy is a curated blend of innovation and perfection, taught one on one by trained and certified teachers based on a performance driven Carnatic music curriculum designed under the guidance of Aruna Sairam herself. The course aims at a performance driven learning approach that is simple and easy to grasp.

Talking about her aspirations to nurture future musicians, Aruna Sairam said, “Learning music has become a lot easier due to technology. India as a nation is not just passionate about listening music but we love to learn music as well. Technology is helping to foster and develop future musicians in a big way and I am delighted to be a part of Artium Academy to develop and nurture future musicians.”  

Talking about her association as Head of Faculty at Artium Music, Aruna Sairam added, “My association with Artium Academy is very timely as I was looking to share my learning and experiences in the genre of Carnatic Music, an art form I have worshipped over the years. I am extremely excited to become a part of Artium’s Academic board and contribute towards building the gold standard in music learning.”

“We are delighted to announce the launch of our latest campaign, featuring the legendary artist - Aruna Sairam. We believe that by delivering this performance-oriented course led by the maestro herself, we can empower music enthusiasts with skills that can help them towards their journey of becoming professional musicians. At Artium Academy, our constant endeavour remains to use technology such as personalised dashboards, learning tools, graphs, virtual practice rooms and auditoriums, to help revolutionize how people learn music by making it more relevant, participatory, and engaging, while delivering quality music education directly from the veterans of the music industry.” Adds Mr. Ashish Joshi, Founder and CEO - Artium Academy

With the advent of new technology, Aruna dreams to take Carnatic music to the millions of aspirants worldwide and providing them with an opportunity to train them under her wing. Aruna’s zeal to promote fresh and young talent lead to her collaboration with Artium Academy for the launch of their latest campaign to inspire music enthusiasts across the world.

About Artium Academy

Artium Academy is India’s first online music education platform with a performance – driven standardised curriculum designed by music maestros. Artium Academy offers 1:1 learning through live and interactive classes on its platform. With a united vision and driving force to democratise music, Artium Academy endeavours to make music learning available to everyone. While technology is the brain power enabling innovative ideas to engage with its students and teachers, music is the very core of Artium Academy. Eminent music virtuosos such as Sonu Nigam (also the Patron in Chief), Shubha Mudgal, Aruna Sairam, KS Chithra, Louiz Banks, Gino Banks, Raju Singh, Aneesh Pradhan are the Faculty Heads and form the Artium  Academic Board along with Ananth Vaidyanathan, who is the Chief of Pedagogy , to oversee the curriculum and teaching methods.

About Smt. Aruna Sairam

Trained in the Veenai Dhanammal style of Carnatic Classical music, Smt Aruna Sairam epitomises the genre completely with her purity of voice, adherence to traditional values and profound music expression. Little wonder really, as she was trained by the legend Dhanammal’s own granddaughter, T. Brinda. Aruna trained in different forms such as improvisation, swara singing, variations of pitch on a note (gamakas) and ragam-thanam-pallavi, with some of the greats. Her ability to oscillate between traditional Carnatic classical singing and improvisation, earned her the sobriquet of ‘the new queen of soul’ from the London Evening Standard. Little wonder then, that she was the first Carnatic Classical vocalist to perform at the BBC Proms in 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Aruna remains a student of her craft today even as she teaches and conducts mentoring programmes nationally and with institutions in Germany, the UK, France and Canada. Bestowed with the Padma Shri in 2009, she was also awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2018 among several other honours and is the Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy.

Capital Market Veteran Amit Shah Launching A3 Tech - A Fin Tech Startup To Democratize Financial Services

*  A3 Tech will enable independent financial advisors with a complete ecosystem to compete with banks and large wealth management firms. The tech focused solution is the first of its kind in India to help financial advisors grow their business manifold.

A3 Tech, the Indian investment firm led by financial industry veteran and IIFL Wealth Management co-founder Amit Shah, announced the launch of its cutting-edge digital technology platform which is the first external asset management platform to be established in India. By providing an avenue for independent financial advisors to compete with banks and large wealth management firms, A3 Tech’s unprecedented technology will catalyze the transformation of the financial services sector, driving growth in a way that has never been seen before. 

As a holistic financial ecosystem, A3 Tech is uniquely positioned to support financial advisors with digital technology, social media communication, engagement with their customer base, and a robust reporting platform. Through its unparalleled service offering, it aims to integrate with all asset classes including mutual funds, equities, alternatives, loans and consumer/housing transactions.

Amit Shah, chief executive officer and founder of A3 Tech, confirmed the development and said the platform is designed to enable independent financial advisors grow their businesses by 10X in 5 years.  

Awarded the 'NRI of the Year' in 2016 for the Asia Pacific Region for achieving outstanding success overseas, Amit Shah, Founder & CEO, aims to aggressively promote wealth managers to set up and grow their business independently powered by A3 Tech platform. Bringing over twenty years of global expertise in the wealth management industry, he seeks to transform and disrupt the rudimentary makeshift model of financial advisory. With the massive wealth creation occurring in tier two and three cities in the last decade, the platform will provide budding savvy entrepreneurs and financial advisors with world-class technology to kick-off upcoming large wealth management enterprises. 

Adding his thoughts on the same "We are providing a quasi-private banking platform to an adviser where an adviser would get everything which he/she would get as if working in a bank or a more prominent firm but on an independent basis.”  This differentiated platform will help advisors standardise presentations, refine pitches, and help them with client penetration. Using Amit’s extensive knowledge of Indian & Global markets' wealth management industry, A3 Tech strives to help advisors prepare the right proposition, enabling them to expand their businesses.  

Over the years, the financial industry has observed financial advisors get to first INR 100 crs of assets under advisory in their initial years of operations but struggle to scale up to INR 1,000 crs and beyond. A3 Tech’s vision is to help these advisors achieve their true potential and build a solid brand for themselves which they can monetize later. Beyond a company, A3 Tech is your partner. Through its innovative and personalized services, it will guide and support you every step of the way, allowing you to make greater change than you could ever have imagined.

Samco Mutual Fund Launches Its First NFO “Samco Flexi Cap Fund”

* (An open-ended equity scheme that aims to provide capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity-related securities across market capitalization.)

* SAMCO Flexi Cap Fund aims to create wealth for investors a 3E step strategy-

* Investing in efficient companies at an efficient price and maintaining efficient costs.

* The scheme will follow a growth investing strategy investing in Indian and Global Equities in a proportion of 65% (Indian Equities) - 35% (Global Equities).

* Samco Mutual Fund to set new transparency and disclosure benchmarks with Industry-first disclosures:

* Scheme’s Active share – which shows to what degree is the fund different from index

* Voluntary Dealing cost – shows how the scheme will be extremely cost efficient and avoid unnecessary portfolio churn to keep cost low for investors

* SAMCO publishes a Unit Holder’s Handbook to detail the strategy and help investors understand the process

Samco Mutual Fund today announced the launch of its first NFO “Samco Flexi Cap Fund”. The NFO opens on 17th of Jan 2022 and closes on 31st Jan 2022.

Jimeet Modi, Founder and Director of Samco Asset Management Pvt Ltd said “We are excited to launch SAMCO Flexi Cap Fund as SAMCO's first fund offering. In line with our goal, the fund is designed as a truly active fund and will aim and endeavour to maintain a high active share. This shall ensure that investors get their money's worth and a truly differentiated fund when they pay an active asset management fee. This is a refreshing change in a world where closet indexing has become mainstream.”

Samco Flexi Cap Fund follows the 3E strategy to build a portfolio designed to generate a high risk adjusted return.

1. Invest in Efficient Companies: The scheme shall invest only efficient companies that have an ability to sustainably generate a high return on capital in cash adjusted for discretionary growth expenditures. SAMCO targets to invest in businesses with 25%+ adjusted return on capital. The scheme shall invest in 25 stocks across market caps from India and the Globe in a proportion of 65% - 35% of the net assets of the scheme. These stocks shall be from universe of 125 companies that have passed SAMCO’s HexaShield framework.

2. At an Efficient Price: The scheme will only invest in securities at reasonable/ efficient prices when the relative yield for stocks is reasonable vis-a-vis the rest of the comparative universe.

3. Maintain an Efficient portfolio turnover and cost: The third pillar of the strategy is aimed at reducing hidden dealing costs and improve performance. Investors believe that Total expense ratio is the only cost that is incurred by them as a part of their investments. But there is also a hidden cost which is not disclosed in any of these figures: the cost of dealing within the fund. When a fund manager or an investor deals in stocks, he or she pays brokerage commissions, securities transaction tax at 0.1 per cent, exchange transaction charges, stamp

duty, SEBI fees and the difference between the broker’s bid and offer prices (the spread) often referred to as the impact cost.

Total cost of investments incurred by investors = TER of Scheme + Voluntary dealing cost

SAMCO Mutual fund is the first mutual fund in India that will transparently disclose all voluntary dealing costs. Voluntary dealing costs are all costs incurred by the fund manager for purchases and sales excluding the costs incurred for involuntary transactions such as fund inflows/outflows. This shall be computed as a percentage of the AUM. This will help investors compute the total cost of investments which is a sum of the TER and voluntary dealing costs.

Commenting on the launch Mr Umesh Kumar Mehta, CEO of Samco Asset Management Pvt Ltd said “SAMCO FlexiCap Fund is a unique and a pure equity fund in the Flexi Cap Category by its design. Unlike other funds, it only seeks to invest in Indian Equities and Global Equities. No other assets like corporate debt, REITs, derivatives, etc are permitted which will allow the scheme to be a pure equity scheme.  It’s 25 stock portfolio construction strategy ensures that investors enjoy benefits of reasonable concentration and diversification unlike other strategies which may be overly diversified. Further, investors get exposure to high growth global names and yet since 65% of portfolio will be Indian equities, the applicable taxation would be that of long-term capital gains for equities i.e., 10% after 1 year. This works as a great optimal structure for investors. Further, we are proud to be the first AMC to publish a Unit Holder’s handbook which explains in detail how investors’ money shall be managed. This ensures transparency of process and helps investors have clear expectations from the fund.”

Mrs. Nirali Bhansali, Equity Fund Manager of the SAMCO Flexi Cap Fund said “We have constructed the SAMCO FlexiCap fund as a simple 3-step buy and hold strategy that shall invest in some of the world’s fast growing and capital efficient companies that can compound capital over the long term. Investors will get exposure to high growth companies globally since the fund shall invest 35% of its assets in global stocks. Further, since the strategy is designed to reduce the portfolio turnover, we shall endeavor to have low voluntary dealing costs so that Investors total cost of investment is reasonable. We are excited to set new standards with our disclosures on active share as well voluntary dealing costs.”

The Fund Manager of the scheme shall be Mrs. Nirali Bhansali and the dedicated fund manager for overseas investments shall be Mr. Dhawal Dhanani. 

KL Deemed-To-Be University Felicitates Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation With An “Honorary Degree”

KL Deemed to be University, one of the leading universities in the country for graduation and higher education, has conferred an Honorary Degree of ‘Doctor of Science’ (Honoris Causa) to Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO, Secretary, Department of Space, Govt of India for his exemplary contribution to space technology.  

Dr. Sivan has received his honorary doctorate degree from the Director of Research, KL Deemed-to-be University, Dr. K. Sarat Kumar, in a setting in Bangalore. Dr. Sivan, who is currently stationed at ISRO’s headquarters in Bangalore, is regarded widely as an influential voice in the industry. As an inspirational figure in the aerospace engineering landscape in India, Dr. K. Sivan has been conferred with numerous national and international accolades for his contribution in space technology.  

Commenting on the felicitation, Er. Koneru Satyanarayana, President, KL Deemed-to-be University said, “As a prolific and influential leader, Dr. K Sivan is a muse to many. His philosophy on persistence, success and societal welfare aligns perfectly with our university. His recent speech at KL Deemed-to-be University’s 11th convocation instilled a penchant for leadership among our young talented pupils and his contributions motivate our students to learn, grow and master”.  

KL University students were encouraged to endeavor onto a path of technology, leadership and innovation. KL University provides state-of-the art research facilities to augment its talent’s needs. These include highly sophisticated research, IoT and PEGA labs.  

Reliance General Insurance Launches Digital Campaign #CarKaYaar To Reinforce Its “Friend In Need” Brand Proposition

Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd. (RGICL), India's 4th largest private general insurance company, has launched a digital campaign called #CarKaYaar on all digital platforms to reinforce its brand positioning as the 'Friend in Need' for car insurance customers. Created by ^ a t o m network, the campaign highlights through an animated series of six films that 'RGICL will always take care of you and your car, no matter what happens'. Using RGICL's affable brand face BroBot in extraordinary situations, the campaign employs a humorous and quirky storytelling approach to communicate its message.  

Explaining the thought behind the campaign, Anand Singhi, Chief Distribution Officer, Reliance General Insurance, said "Classically the insurance sector has been filled with serious narratives depicting care, security, and various other emotional spiels. With the #CarKaYaar campaign, we have tried to break free the monotony and communicate our message in a fresh way with a bit of humor and quirkiness."  

He added, "The insurance industry has evolved a great deal in the past few years, bringing in changes in customers' insurance requirements. RGICL always strives to meet customers' evolving needs with innovative product offerings such as redesigned add-ons and industry-first features. Add-ons are critical components in car insurance policies that offer additional protection. People can choose the right add-on products based on their coverage requirements. However, there is a lack of awareness. With this campaign, we have tried to raise the awareness about car insurance add-ons and how they can offer financial protection against various types of car damages." 

Yash Kulshretsha and Ananda Sen (CCO and NCD respectively) of ^ a t o m said, "The motor insurance journey is filled with doubts and scepticism of customers. The fear of not having something covered in an accident is more significant than the accident itself. We set out to highlight that with a series of films under 'No matter what happens to your car, you can always rely on your #CarKaYaar.'" 

FourKites Is #1 Supply Chain Visibility Provider Based On Market Presence In G2 Winter 2022 Supply Chain Visibility Software Report

* With the highest number of reviews from enterprise customers, FourKites was recognized as a leader in market presence, customer satisfaction, and company vision

FourKites, the world’s leading real-time supply chain visibility platform, today announced that it has been named the #1 supply chain visibility software provider based on overall market presence by peer-to-peer software review company G2 in its Winter 2022 Grid® Supply Chain Visibility Software report. The report rates products and sellers based on reviews from the user community, as well as data aggregated from online sources and social networks. After being named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms1 earlier this year, G2’s Winter Report, representing the voice of the customer, affirms FourKites as the market-leading real-time supply chain visibility platform.

“At its heart, our leading market presence reflects our status as a global leader in the growing supply chain visibility market,” said FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal. “The G2 Winter Report is an affirmation of our vision and ability to serve all industries across every mode, globally — especially at a time when supply chain visibility has never been more critical.”

Based on more than 180 FourKites customer reviews, highlights from the report include:

* 96% of respondents rate FourKites 4 or 5 stars

* Nearly 100 reviews from FourKites customers were provided by enterprise customers — more than any company in the report, and over 10% more than the closest competitor

* Customers strongly support the company’s vision, with 96% reporting that they believe FourKites is heading in the right direction

* Of the leaders, FourKites has the most diverse mix of industries represented

The customer feedback in the G2 report aligns with FourKites’ recognition from Gartner earlier this year; out of 14 vendors, FourKites was the only supply chain visibility platform positioned in the Leaders’ quadrant with the highest Completeness of Vision.

What customers are saying on G2:

* FourKites is a pleasure to work with — 10x better than their competition! [I like the] quick and easy set up process. They also help with everything every step of the way. They really make everything painless.

* FourKites is invaluable. I love the fact that we are not only able to view load status in real-time, but also have the ability to receive these status updates into our TMS. This saves countless hours on the administrative/manual track and trace.

* FourKites is a simple tool to use with lots of information that’s carefully formatted so as not to be overwhelming to the users. It’s also ever changing to meet business needs

* FourKites is a great tool that simplifies and speeds up operations. [The fact that Dynamic YardSM gives us] the ability to track and quickly look up the status of equipment has been beneficial. “Lost trailers” in the yard are being caught right away instead of left growing roots for weeks. The ability to designate trailer status and condition gives you the ability to view real-time yard reports anytime you want. This helps to reduce the need to bring in additional raw materials because of paperwork errors and allows the warehouse to shift their work focus quickly. Yard drivers have found the system very easy to pick up, and like that, it tells them where to find each trailer. For new drivers, it dramatically reduces the time from training to productivity.

* The FourKites platform is straightforward, easy to use. It gives real-time information on the truck/vessel location based on GPS coordinates. The reports are helpful as they contain detailed information about CO2 emissions, tracking consistency, and much more. If you want to have end-to-end visibility and know at all times where your products are, I recommend FourKites.

Market leader delivers industry-first solutions for every mode

FourKites pioneered real-time transportation visibility in 2014, and is now leading the industry into a new era where global supply chains are powered and optimized by real-time visibility data and machine learning. Amid another year of constant disruptions, FourKites doubled-down on its customer-driven innovation model, with more than 65 new features resulting from customer feedback. These industry-first capabilities help FourKites users track shipments end to end across all modes and geographies, from sourcing to manufacturing to final destination.

These innovations included the patented Smart Forecasted Arrival (SFA) that provides frequent and highly accurate ETAs even for untrackable freight in transit; Dynamic ETA® for Ocean; Dynamic ETA® for Air; a major upgrade to Dynamic YardSM; its new Order Intelligence Hub (OIH), which provides a single-pane-of-glass view of the entire lifecycle of every order; and powerful new collaboration features — including Instant Messaging, an updated CarrierLink mobile app for drivers, and enhancements to Partner Hub, its self-service, secure GPS onboarding solution for brokers and carriers.

Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms,” Bart De Muynck, Carly West, 14 April 2021.

Gartner Disclaimer:

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About FourKites

FourKites® is the #1 supply chain visibility platform in the world, extending visibility beyond transportation into yards, warehouses, stores and beyond. Tracking more than 2.5 million shipments daily across road, rail, ocean, air, parcel and courier, and reaching 176 countries, FourKites combines real-time data and powerful machine learning to help companies digitize their end-to-end supply chains. More than 750 of the world’s most recognized brands — including 9 of the top-10 CPG and 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies — trust FourKites to transform their business and create more agile, efficient and sustainable supply chains. To learn more about FourKites, visit https://www.fourkites.com/.

About the G2 Supply Chain Visibility Grid

The Grid® represents the democratic voice of real software users, rather than the subjective opinion of one analyst. G2 rates products from the Supply Chain Visibility category algorithmically based on data sourced from product reviews shared by G2 users and data aggregated from online sources and social networks. To view the Supply Chain Visibility Grid® with the most recent data, please visit the Supply Chain Visibility page.

Dr Satish Adiga, Professor At Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Receives ICMR National Award

* He was recognised for his outstanding contribution to the field of In vitro fertilization (IVF).

Dr Satish Adiga, Professor in Clinical Embryology at Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, is selected by the Indian Council of Medical Research for its National Award for the year 2020. Dr Adiga also heads the fertility program at KMC Manipal.

According to a release issued by ICMR on its website, Prof Adiga will receive Dr Subhas Mukherjee Award from ICMR in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the field of In vitro fertilization (IVF).  Dr Subhas Mukherjee is the creator of India’s first IVF baby and ICMR has instituted the award in his name to recognize the outstanding contribution of IVF experts in the country.

Speaking about Dr Adiga’s win Dr H.S Ballal, Pro Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education said “This is an extremely proud moment for us. Dr Adiga’s contribution to the field of IVF has been truly outstanding. He has contributed significantly to both clinical IVF and fertility research thereby enhanced country’s visibility in this specialised area. The recognition given by ICMR to Dr Adiga is truly well deserved”

Dr Sharath Rao, Dean, KMC Manipal, also spoke about Dr Adiga’s recognition saying “Dr Adiga has played a key role in the field of fertility and IVF. Through his work in IVF, he has helped numerous people fulfil their dream of parenthood. We at KMC are extremely delighted by his selection for the national award by ICMR”