Akshaya Patra To Vaccinate 25,000 People In Jigani, Bengaluru Through Its Incentivised Vaccination Programme

The Akshaya Patra Foundation continues in its pursuit to vaccinate the underprivileged people, especially in the rural areas. The foundation has launched a 20 – day incentivised vaccination camp at its kitchen premises in and around Jigani on 10th January 2022, which shall primarily focus on individuals who are eligible for their second dose or booster dose. The aim is to vaccinate 25,000 people in this semi-urban, industrial area. Till date, 5000 people have been vaccinated. Previously, the Foundation held a successful campaign and vaccinated over 15,000 people with their first dose, at the same premises.

The Foundation strives to address vaccine hesitancy among marginalised populations through its incentivised vaccination drives. Every person receives pre-jab refreshments; post-jab lunch, and a Raksha Kit—a customised ration kit with groceries for 21 meal servings—all free of cost. Each Raksha Kit consists of one kg rice, one kg wheat flour, 500 gm tur dal, 500 gm desi channa, 500 gm green moong whole, 250 gm peanuts, 200 gm turmeric powder, one kg sugar, one kg salt, one litre refined oil and one bar of soap.

This initiative is sponsored by corporate partners, CME, NetApp, HSBC, IndusInd and Wells Fargo. Sakaria Hospitals is the vaccination facilitator for the camp. The Foundation collaborates with a volunteering partner for manpower requirements. People can walk-in for vaccination between 11:00 AM to 04:00 PM.

The Foundation has so far vaccinated over 1 lakh individuals across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. It aims to cover 2 lakh individuals across the country in the next 3-4 months.

About The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Government and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.

In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and the inestimable support of many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools to becoming the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,039 schools [as of March 2020] across 13 states and one union territory in India.

For more details, log on: www.akshayapatra.org

Biophore To Manufacture Indigenous Ingredients Of Pfizer’s COVID Drug

• Reduces dependence on China for Indian manufacturers

• Paxlovid approved by US FDA for COVID treatment

Biophore India Pharmaceuticals has today announced that they have developed and started manufacturing the key intermediates of Nirmatrelvir, one of the active ingredients of Paxlovid, the latest anti-COVID therapy, approved by US FDA through the emergency use authorisation route. The manufacturing is being done in collaboration with Rakshit Group. This is expected to greatly reduce the dependence on imports, mainly from China, from where these intermediates are being procured currently. Biophore is also manufacturing Nirmatrelvir in a US FDA compliant facility and have announced that they will be filing for approval with DCGI soon.

Paxlovid’s breakthrough approval was given by the US FDA in Dec 2021 and is indicated for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and paediatric patients as well and in those who are at high risk of progression to severe levels. It was the first oral pill that has been approved by US FDA and with a better safety profile than subsequently approved oral therapies. It is available in a co-pack of Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir Tablets.

Dr. Jagadeesh Babu Rangisetty, CEO at Biophore, says, “The development and manufacturing of these intermediates is extremely complex and is significantly more challenging than earlier antivirals that have been indicated for COVID. We have developed the intermediates that are required for the manufacturing of this product from basic raw materials and have the manufacturing capabilities in place to produce high volumes, to the scale of multi tons, catering to Indian as well as global markets. As and when the product gets approved in India, we can ensure that the manufacturers of this product can be self-reliant from within India itself and not be dependent on imports, which can be tricky in terms of control of quality and supply”

Mr. Rameswara Rao Chandana, Chairman of Rakshit Group, says, “Rakshit Group’s subsidiary, Sainor Laboratories, is the largest manufacturer of Lithium HMDS in India with a capacity of 500 MT per month and has the facilities to handle cryogenic reactions. Manufacturing of these intermediates require extreme temperatures and large volumes of Lithium reagents and with the above infrastructure that we have, we are well placed to ensure that the requirements for the market can be met locally. With a strong partner such as Biophore, we believe this is a perfect synergy to get these products to the market quickly”

About Biophore India Pharmaceuticals: 

Founded in 2007, Biophore India Pharmaceuticals is an established pharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures niche pharmaceutical products for the generic industry. Biophore’s state-of-the-art, multipurpose manufacturing facilities in Visakhapatnam comply with cGMP standards and meet the requirements of US and EU Drug regulatory authorities. Its technology development center in Hyderabad is equipped with infrastructure that facilitates the entire process of drug research from conceptualization to regulatory submissions. Biophore’s portfolio is spread across 30 therapeutic segments and specializes in development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical actives for Oncology medication, Contrast and Diagnostic media. To date, the company has filed about more than 100 drug master files and 150 patents for its unique portfolio.

L&T Technology Services Wins USD 45 Million EV Deal From U.S. Auto Tier 1

* Engineering R&D Center to be setup in Krakow, Poland to service global customers

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure-play engineering services company, announced that it has been awarded a deal worth USD45 million from a U.S. based automotive Tier 1 company, to be its strategic engineering partner and provide engineering services for its Electric Vehicle (EV) product portfolio.

Under the terms of the 5-year agreement, LTTS will work with the customer to deliver solutions leveraging its e-mobility technology competence. Notably, this will be delivered from LTTS’ ER&D center in Krakow, Poland.

LTTS plans to have over 300 engineers working from its Krakow, Poland center in the next 3 years, marking its expansion into Eastern Europe.

Amit Chadha, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services said, “We have been investing in Electric, Autonomous and Connected Vehicle (EACV) as part of our 6 big bets and our engineers have developed several new scalable e-mobility solutions that can accelerate global automotive players’ EV development journey.

This landmark deal reinforces that our strategic investment is paying off and establishes LTTS’ dominant position in the EACV landscape. The Krakow R&D center will serve as a nearshore center to Western European and North American clientele across verticals.”

Over the past year, LTTS has been recognized for its proficiency in the EACV space by global analysts. LTTS has been recognized as a Leader in Everest Group’s Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared Mobility Automotive Engineering study. Zinnov Zones ER&D Services Report rated LTTS as a Leader in Telematics and ADAS as well as an overall Leader in the Automotive vertical. ISG Group also rated LTTS as a Leader in Smart Manufacturing Services for Automotive domain.

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 20,100 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 79 innovation labs as of December 31, 2021. For more information visit https://www.ltts.com/

Ness Strengthens Product Engineering Expertise With The Acquisition Of Niyuj

Ness, a full-lifecycle digital services transformation company, is pleased to announce its acquisition of Niyuj, a leading provider of software product engineering services specializing in digital infrastructure management including cutting edge software products in Networking, Security, Storage, and Cloud Solutions.

“Niyuj is well positioned to take advantage of the acceleration from hardware centric devices to cloud based services in digital infrastructure solutions,” said Ranjit Tinaikar, Chief Executive Officer, Ness. “Their core competence in product engineering coupled with their domain expertise in building software solutions for digital infrastructure companies will enhance our strategic focus on specific industry domains, and in particular our Technology and ISV vertical.”

Headquartered in Pune, India, Niyuj, with approximately 200 engineers, specializes in building groundbreaking software products for early-stage start-ups and Fortune 500 companies and has delivered more than 80 best-in-class technology solutions. Niyuj is the engineering partner of choice for clients who want to re-engineer inefficient architectures, develop IP, simplify product complexities, accelerate time to market and drive cost efficiencies at scale.

“At Niyuj, we engineer products from inception to implementation and ongoing support and devOps, covering the entire product lifecycle, driving innovation for our clients,” said Avinash Shenoi, Founder & Director at Niyuj. “Joining Ness, one of the few at-scale pure digital engineering players that seamlessly manages projects from strategy through execution, allows Niyuj to scale those capabilities further and drive measurable business results for our customers.”

CEO ally, Inc. served as the exclusive buy-side M&A advisor to Ness for this transaction. LegaLogic served as the exclusive strategic advisor and legal counsel to Niyuj for this transaction.

About Ness Digital Engineering

Ness is a full lifecycle digital engineering firm offering digital advisory through scaled engineering services. Combining our core competence in engineering with the latest in digital strategy and technology, we seamlessly manage Digital Transformation journeys from strategy through execution to help businesses thrive in the digital economy. As your tech partner, we help engineer your company’s future with cloud and data. For more information, visit www.ness.com.

About Niyuj Enterprise Software Solutions.

Niyuj is the preferred R&D partner for Independent Software Vendors building core digital infrastructure products in security, storage, and networking as well as FinTech. Niyuj combines this domain expertise, with deep tech experience in architecting large scale systems, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as building, migrating, and optimizing for the cloud. Customers leverage this partnership to engineer their next gen offerings, getting better time to market, scale, and innovation.

L&T Technology Services Reports Double-Digit Revenue Growth In Q3FY22

* Q3 Revenue of ?1,688 crore, up 20% YoY

* Q3 Net profit of ?249 crore, up 34% YoY

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), India’s leading pure-play engineering services company, announced its results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Highlights for Q3FY22 include:

•        Revenue at ?16,875 million; growth of 20% YoY

•        USD Revenue at $225.1 million; growth of 18% YoY

•        EBIT margin at 18.6%; up 340 bps YoY

•        Net profit at ?2,488 million; growth of 34% YoY

•        Interim Dividend of ?10 per share; Record date January 27, 2022

During the quarter, LTTS won a USD45 million deal and a total of 3 deals with TCV of USD10 million plus. Revenues from digital and leading-edge technologies stood at 56% during the quarter.

“We sustained our performance trajectory with sequential growth of 4.2% in constant currency led by strong demand across segments. The deal conversations and pipeline in our six big bets - Electric Autonomous & Connected Vehicle (EACV), 5G, Med-tech, AI & Digital Products, Digital Manufacturing and Sustainability – continues to see healthy improvement as our customers make steady progress on their long-term transformative journeys.

We are expanding our EACV global presence with the addition of an engineering R&D center in Krakow, Poland that will strengthen our strategic partnership with European and Global clients.

In line with our long-term growth prospects and strategy, we invested in hiring and onboarding a record 1,900 plus trainees leveraging our Global Engineering Academy that is focused on continuous training and upskilling. Despite the robust employee addition, we further improved our Operating margin to 18.6%, reflecting gains from investments in talent and innovation”, said Amit Chadha, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services Limited.

Industry Recognitions:

•        Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) awarded LTTS with the prestigious Top 25 Innovative Company Award at the 2021 Industrial Innovation Award

•        Zinnov rated LTTS as a ‘global ER&D Leader’ and Leader across its core verticals Automotive, Aerospace, Medical Devices, Industrial, Semicon and Telecom

•        Zinnov Zones ER&D Services Report rated LTTS as a ‘Leader’ in Digital Engineering, AI Engineering, Telematics, ADAS, Digital Thread, TeleHealth and OTT

•        LTTS has been recognized as a ‘Leader’ in Digital Engineering in ISG's Manufacturing Industry Services 2021 Study in the Transportation, Hi-Tech and Industrial segments

•        ISG’s Life Science Digital Services Study has recognized LTTS as a ‘Leader’ in Europe & USA in the MedTech and Digital Transformation Services areas

•        LTTS’ Chest-rAITM solution recognized in Innovation in Overall Customer Experience category by ASSOCHAM 2nd Innovators’ Excellence Awards 2021

•        Business Leadership Awards 2021 honored LTTS in the Innovation Excellence and Connected Car Platform of the Year categories

Patents:

At the end of Q3FY22, the patents portfolio of L&T Technology Services stood at 816, out of which 578 are co-authored with its customers and the rest are filed by LTTS.

Human Resources

At the end of Q3FY22, LTTS’ employee strength stood at 20,118.

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 20,100 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 79 innovation labs as of December 31, 2021.

For more information visit https://www.ltts.com 

Skylightz Gaming Wins iQOO BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA SERIES 2021- Tournament In India

* Skylightz Gaming takes home the coveted iQOO BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA SERIES 2021 trophy along with the prize money of a whopping INR 50,00,000 

* TSM and Team XO follow up in the second & third spots, winning cash prizes worth INR 25,00,000 and INR 10,00,000 respectively  

The month long iQOO BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA SERIES 2021 came to a nail-biting finish last night with Skylightz Gaming emerging winners. They are the first champions of the largest and first ever BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE Tournament conducted in India. The winning team Skylightz Gaming takes home the coveted iQOO BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA SERIES 2021 trophy along-with the prize money of a whopping INR 50lakh, followed by TSM and Team XO securing second and third positions and winning INR 25lakh and INR 10lakh, respectively.

The iQOO BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA SERIES 2021 was conducted online keeping in mind the current COVID scenario. Through the championship several individual players showcased tremendous resilience and skill to receive special individual awards. Godlneyooo was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and received a prize money of INR 1 lakh. SGXsaumrajiu received INR 50,000 for receiving The Lone Ranger award. He also received The Rampage Freak award winning another INR 50,000 for it. The Redeemer award was won by Godlzgod. He received a prize money of INR 50,000. Godlike team won the Most Finishes By A Squad award and received a prize money of INR 50,000 

The enthralling grand finale which was spread across four days witnessed the top 16 teams deliver their finest gameplay skills to win the coveted title of the first ever BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE Tournament in India. The Final day of the Grand Finale brought in some unexpected results. TSM managed to secure second position, while Team XO who was in the first position till the third day swapped places finishing third.  

The tournament received an overwhelming response from BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA (BGMI) players and fans with 664K teams with A- lister teams such as Godlike Esports, OR Sports, Hyderabad Hydras, Revenant Esports, Reckoning Esports amongst others participating in the month-long championship. Esports enthusiasts showed tremendous interest in the tournament with the tournament receiving more than 199million views on social media handles of BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA and iQOO Esports official YouTube channel. 

Wooyol Lim, Head of Battlegrounds Mobile Division. says, “We congratulate Skylightz Gaming for showcasing utmost grit and superlative skillsets to win this tournament. Owing to their intelligent squad strategy, clever zone movement and ability to pick up a high number of kills, they have managed to supersede their competitors successfully. We also congratulate all other teams for their participation and fighting spirit. iQOO BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA SERIES 2021 is a manifestation of our efforts towards making esports accessible to every gaming enthusiast in the country. We are happy and proud to have curated a world class tournament and look forward to many more such tournaments. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to iQOO for partnering with us in our vision and taking the initiative to grow esports in India”.  

KRAFTON, Inc. is committed to provide a global platform for Indian players to showcase their talent and nurture their skillset. The company is also striving to strengthen the e-sports ecosystem globally & in India. In line with this endeavor, KRAFTON recently announced the inclusion of Indian players to qualify for the official esports program of the 2022 Asian Games via BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA. This will give Indian gamers the privilege and opportunity to compete at a globally recognized sporting event and create a mark in the fraternity.  

The company is also taking several significant steps to promote safe and responsible gaming habits. Through the Game Responsibly campaign for BGMI (BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA), the company aims to build awareness amongst players to cultivate safer and healthy gaming habits.   

About iQOO 

iQOO is a global smartphone brand with a strong proposition of unmatched performance. iQOO stands for "I Quest On and On", reflecting the brand's relentless pursuit of perfection. iQOO was created to deliver a unique experience to young, technology-savvy consumers, who are under-served by the current smartphone market. iQOO phones are built for those consumers who are naturally skeptical of the status quo and constantly seeking to improve themselves. As a premium partner, this will be a momentous opportunity to demonstrate iQOO and BMW M Motorsport's high performance to the world. 

Global Printing Ink Specialist, Siegwerk, Expands Operations In India

* New blending center with state-of-the-art equipment is powered by solar renewable energy 

Siegwerk, one of the leading global providers of printing inks and coatings for packaging applications, commissioned a new solvent-based blending centre at Siegwerk’s Bhiwadi facility in India. The new blending centre, spread across 3400 Sq.M, is an addition to an existing 100% Toluene free manufacturing plant which will support its industry leading growth. This new blending facility is also equipped with an ultra-modern quality control lab, an energy efficient air handling unit and a solar power generator for the entire blending centre, reiterating Siegwerk’s commitment to sustainability. 

The state-of-the-art facility will have an extensive blending capacity of over 13,500 metric tonnes and the capacity of the solvent-based warehouse will be escalated from the initial 150 MT to 700 MT now. Siegwerk Group has invested INR 212.2 million (INR 21.22 Cr) into the new blending facility. The facility was inaugurated virtually by Dr. Nicolas Wiedmann, CEO, Siegwerk Group, Mr. Ashish Pradhan, President, Siegwerk Asia and Mr. Ramakrishna Karanth, CEO, Siegwerk India region.  

Mr. Ashish Pradhan, President, Siegwerk Asia commented, “Siegwerk’s path-breaking innovations and developments in our production technology has made us industry leaders. The packaging ink industry in Asia has grown by more than 10% in the past 2 years and there has been an over proportional increase in the flexpack business which has boosted our confidence in expanding our manufacturing capacities in the India region. In the past year, we have built a lot of customer-first offerings and we intend to build on this robust momentum in 2022, starting with this Blending Center which fully operates on solar renewable energy, keeping with our endeavour to leave a positive impact on society. Siegwerk will ensure continued customer satisfaction through quality, delivery and after-sales services that will provide immense value for our stakeholders”. 

Speaking about the expansion Mr. Ramakrishna Karanth, CEO, Siegwerk India said, “Siegwerk has always been dedicated to providing safe printing inks and coatings solutions to customers.  The current capacity expansion move with the induction of the state of the art blending centre reaffirms our commitment to keep innovation alive and to keep our customers contented. We now have a blending capacity to suit the growing needs of our customers in India region. Decades of customer relations has resulted in our synergistic growth in the Indian market. The new centre will augment our efforts to bring in new products, capabilities and innovation”. 

Sustainability & Safety measures: 

The facility wholly runs on sustainable power, through its roof top solar panels with an installed capacity of 301 kWp.  The facility has an automated fire safety mechanism, with automatic addressable fire and smoke detection system for fire detection and fire walls and foam sprinklers at the dispensing stations for firefighting. There is also a hydrant system all around the plant including water monitor and hose reels. 

About Siegwerk 

Siegwerk, a sixth-generation family-owned company, is one of the leading international manufacturers of printing inks and individual solutions for packaging, labels, and catalogues. With more than 180 years of experience, the company has solid expertise in and knowledge of many printing procedures. A global manufacturing and service network ensures customers consistently high-quality products and services. In keeping with the company’s philosophy “Ink, Heart & Soul,” Siegwerk seeks long-term cooperation with its business partners. Siegwerk employs some 5,000 people worldwide in more than 30 country organizations and is headquartered in Siegburg near Cologne. Further information on Siegwerk can be found at www.siegwerk.com