Meta Partners With FICCI To Enable 5 Lakh Women-Led SMBs Across Indian Market

* Under its #SheMeansBusiness program Meta has partnered with FICCI’s Empowering the Greater 50% initiative to provide women led SMBs access to Meta’s digital tools, programs and resources

* Hosts first National Women Entrepreneurship Summit to encourage industry dialogue and measures to support the women led SMBs across sectors

Meta, under its #SheMeansBusiness program has partnered with FICCI’s ‘Empowering the Greater 50%’ to enable and support 5 lakh women-led small businesses across India. The announcement was made during Meta’s inaugural National Women Entrepreneurship Summit to encourage industry dialogue and steps to support the MSMEs across sectors. 

Access to capital and relevant digital tools remain the leading issues faced by women led businesses. Out of over 63 million small businesses in India, approximately 20% are owned by women highlighting the need to bring more gender equality. Research and studies show that bringing girls and women online can spur economic progress, expand markets, and improve health and education outcomes for everyone. In today’s ever evolving digital economy, it is important to have access to information and tools that are relevant for business and entrepreneurs across different stages of growth. In India, 52% of small businesses using Facebook made at least 25% of their sales digitally in the past month. 

Together with FICCI, Meta will address the barrier to access right digital tools and resources by offering easy access to tools, programs and resources by Meta to women entrepreneurs in India. 

With this partnership, Meta will extend its support via three initiatives:

Facebook Business Coach - will let women entrepreneurs access self-paced lessons via Meta’s educational chatbot tool on WhatsApp and learn how to establish and maintain a digital presence. 

Grow your Business Hub, is a one stop online destination for micro, small and medium businesses to find relevant information, tools, and resources to further empower these businesses to find tools curated to their growth needs.  

In addition, Meta’s Commerce Partners Program will enable businesses to build a digital presence, go direct-to-customer and grow using the power of technology. These businesses will have the opportunity to adopt best-in-class solutions across the retail value chain via our partners, with additional onboarding support, training, and preferential pricing.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Narayan Rane, Hon’ble Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said, “While digital adoption through social media platforms has led many businesses to grow and succeed, for a tangible inclusive economic development of the country, we need to support women owned businesses by creating an ecosystem which offers opportunities. We are hopeful that Meta’s pledge to support 5 lakh women owned businesses will create a supportive ecosystem for women and inspire them to become contributors to the overall development of the country."

Commenting on the partnership with Meta, Sanjeev Mehta, President, The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said, “FICCI- FLO Empowering the Greater50% is an ambitious women empowerment mission to enhance the entrepreneurial and decision making skills  of women. Our Government has been creating several opportunities through progressive policies  for women to thrive. However, achieving a common vision of building a gender inclusive nation with focus on women led development calls for aggregated efforts and multistakeholder partnerships. India Inc.’s stands committed to this cause. Our partnership with Meta will encourage more women to take up entrepreneurship by providing them with all the necessary support; thus augmenting the existing efforts in sync with the Government's larger agenda of being Atma Nirbhar and an inclusive nation.”

Ajit Mohan, Vice-President & Managing Director, Facebook India (Meta) said, “The pandemic has been an economic crisis for small businesses across the world. Women led businesses have been particularly affected due to lack of resources. We’ve seen that when supported with access to the right tools and resources, these women led businesses turn out to be more economically resilient. To help women led businesses of India, we are partnering with FICCI to enable 5 lakh women at grassroot levels with appropriate digital tools and resources. This is a part of our commitment to enable 1 crore small businesses over the next 3 years via our Centre for Fuelling India’s New Economy (C-FINE) at our new office in Gurgaon.” 

Meta created #SheMeansBusiness program in 2016 to be a space for entrepreneurial women to make valuable connections, share advice and move forward together. Meta has trained 1.5 million women in 38 markets around the world since 2016.

About Meta Platforms Inc.

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.

OPPO Reno7 Pro Debuts Customized 5G Flagship MediaTek Density 1200 MAX With SuperVooc And ColorOS 12

* Crips images and smooth multitasking with customised MediaTek Dimensity 1200 MAX

* Features 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging technology and latest ColorOS 12

Leading global smart device brand, OPPO, will launch the Reno7 series on February 4, 2022. For its flagship Reno7Pro, OPPO has collaborated with MediaTek to customize its Dimensity 1200 chipset. The upgraded SoC born out of this collaboration is called the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 MAX. The work put in by OPPO has resulted in an enhanced display, better imaging capabilities and clearer videos when compared to the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 in the Reno6 Pro.

The 5G MediaTek Dimensity 1200 MAX features one of the fastest smartphone CPUs. It comprises the 3GHz Arm Cortex-A78 and achieves up to 5100Mbps peak downlink and 700Mbps uplink speeds. Thanks to MediaTek’s Open Resource Architecture, OPPO has incorporated AI Deblur technology into the chipset. This proprietary deblurring algorithm sharpens faces in portraits affected by hand-held shaking.  Additionally, the AI-PQ (picture quality) feature baked into the SoC enhances colour and contrast in HDR videos. It uses artificial intelligence to distinguish the subject matter on the screen—whether people, food, grass, sky, buildings, etc—and then uses different colours, sharpness and other display effects for optimum output. 

“MediaTek has been at the forefront of innovation for 5G smartphone SoCs. The Dimensity series of SoCs has been evolving constantly to deliver the best-in-class 5G experience to customers across demographics and impart the benefits of technology advancements to the cross-section of society. The latest MediaTek Dimensity 1200-MAX is an extension of this vision, and the collaboration with OPPO, our long-term associate, is a major step in extending the benefits of our advanced MediaTek Dimensity 5G Open Resource Architecture platform to the smartphone users who are in search of unique, incredible, all-around smartphone experiences,” said Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India. “This smartphone is the ideal companion, boasting amazing processor speeds, snappier app responses, longer battery life and incredible camera and videography features.”

The Reno7 Pro 5G also houses a top-of-the-line X-Axis Linear Motor that delivers varying levels of vibration feedback for an immersive gaming experience. The smartphone’s Ultra Touch Response intelligently identifies specific gaming situations and increases the touch sampling rate up to 1000Hz. Its AI Frame Rate Stabilizer monitors the system’s performance in real-time to manage frame rate stability during gaming.

The phone also incorporates an industry-leading 65W SUPERVOOC fast-charging feature that charges the phone to 100% in 31 minutes. The technology also prevents battery heating thus allowing users to play games while charging their device. 

The Reno7 series comes with 256GB storage and 12GB RAM. OPPO’s RAM Expansion technology allows users to borrow an additional 3GB/5GB/7GB from storage capacity to work as RAM in extremely demanding conditions. That said, the Reno7 Pro’s 12GB RAM is more than adequate to handle modern-day smartphone tasks. 

The Reno7 series will run on OPPO’s new ColorOS 12, which is defined by a clean and uncluttered UI complete with new 3D Icons that are simple yet aesthetically pleasing. In a first, ColorOS 12 offers Omoji. This feature—boosted by OPPO’s proprietary Face Capture algorithm—allows users to express their unique style through a personalized emoji avatar. ColorOS 12’s PC Connect feature allows you to seamlessly connect your Reno7 Pro 5G to a PC via Bluetooth or by scanning a QR code. 

Also, the operating system’s Anti-Peeping for Notifications protects your privacy in public areas. With this feature enabled, your notification content is hidden when the phone detects someone else looking at your screen when messages pop up. 

Follow OPPO’s official social media handles for more updates Twitter| Facebook| Instagram

About OPPO Mobiles India Private Limited

For any inquiry, please contact: 

Agency: teamoppo@adfactorspr.com

OPPO Mobiles: G_indiapr@oppo.com

OPPO is a leading global smart device brand. Since the launch of its first mobile phone “Smiley Face” in 2008, OPPO has been in relentless pursuit of the perfect synergy of aesthetic satisfaction and innovative technology. Today, OPPO provides a wide range of smart devices spearheaded by the Find and Reno series. Beyond devices, OPPO provides its users with the ColorOS operating system and internet services like OPPO Cloud and OPPO+. OPPO operates in more than 50 countries and regions where more than 40,000 OPPO's employees are dedicated to creating a better life for customers around the world. 

About MediaTek Inc.

MediaTek Incorporated (TWSE: 2454) is a global fabless semiconductor company that enables nearly 2 billion connected devices a year. We are a market leader in developing innovative systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, home entertainment, connectivity and IoT products. Our dedication to innovation has positioned us as a driving market force in several key technology areas, including highly power-efficient mobile technologies, automotive solutions and a broad range of advanced multimedia products such as smartphones, tablets, and digital televisions, 5G, Voice Assistant Devices (VAD) and wearables. MediaTek empowers and inspires people to expand their horizons and achieve their goals through smart technology, more easily and efficiently than ever before. We work with the brands you love to make great

Global Technology Leader Epson Becomes Official Partner Of The LPGA Tour

* Epson and LPGA Tour Announce Title Sponsorship of Epson Tour, as the "Road to the LPGA," Underscoring Commitment to Achieving Sustainability and Enriching Communities

Epson, a worldwide technology leader, joined forces today with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) to become an Official Partner. The LPGA and Epson alliance reflects both organizations' commitment to diversity and supports Epson's aspirational goal of achieving sustainability and enriching communities.

With a partnership that will run for an initial five years, Epson and the LPGA have committed to work together on a variety of player experiences and events focused on supporting and highlighting women's challenges through golf. Additionally, Epson will become the title sponsor with exclusive naming rights to the LPGA's qualifying tour. As the official "Road to the LPGA," the Epson Tour supports all competitors and sends the top ten finishers to the LPGA and is the most established women's qualifying tour in the world, entering its 42nd year of structured competition in 2022.

Through the partnership, Epson will share the ongoing accomplishments of these athletes through prominent branding, broadcast, signage, and digital integration across the LPGA network, as well as across all tournament promotions, content, and social media platforms. In addition to exclusive naming rights for the Epson Tour, which will run through the 2026 season, Epson has also pledged additional contributions including player ambassador funding, and product and technology support.

"Our partnership with the LPGA presents a unique opportunity to inspire future women leaders and advance the Epson brand," said Yasunori Ogawa, global president of Epson. "The Epson Tour is focused on providing promising women golfers with the opportunity to pursue their dreams, and young women with role models for the future. The LPGA is a world-class organization and working together over a multi-year period allows Epson to take an active role in advancing the professional careers of talented women golfers."

"We are delighted to welcome Epson to the LPGA Family. This ground-breaking partnership will provide expanded opportunities for the future stars of the game from around the globe to test their talent and take one step closer to realizing their dreams," said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. "We are grateful that Epson shares our commitment to supporting young female athletes as they grow and develop and to playing an active role in the growth and equity in women's sports. The 'Road to the LPGA' has never been better. "

The Epson Tour is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour and enters its 42nd competitive season in 2022. The Tour's mission is to prepare the world's most promising women professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour. Expanding from 16 tournaments and $1.7 million in prize money to $4 million in prize money awarded over the course of 24 tournaments, more than 435 LPGA titles have been won by former Tour players. Previous Epson Tour graduates include 27-time LPGA winner Lorena Ochoa of Mexico and Olympic gold medalists Inbee Park from the Republic of Korea and Nelly Korda of the United States.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson will become carbon negative and eliminate the use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion. https://global.epson.com/

About Epson India

Epson India Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in the year 2000. Epson products address the needs of homes, businesses and commercial enterprises as those of consumers with specialized needs in India. With a commitment to providing products and services that surpass people’s expectations, Epson India today has an enviable reputation for quality and value. Headquartered in Bangalore, the company markets and supports Epson Inkjet Printers, Inkjet All-in-Ones, Point of Sale Printers, 3LCD Projectors, Scanners, Large Format Printers, Robots and Dot-Matrix Printers. In all of these categories, Epson is either the No. 1 or No. 2 brand in India and growing fast https://www.epson.co.in/

About the LPGA

The LPGA is the world's leading professional golf organization for women, with a goal to change the face of golf by making the sport more accessible and inclusive.

Created in 1950 by 13 Founders, the Association celebrates a diverse and storied history. The LPGA Tour competes across the globe, reaching television audiences in more than 220 countries. The Epson Tour (formerly Symetra Tour), the LPGA's official qualifying tour, consistently produces a pipeline of talent ready for the world stage. The LPGA also holds a joint-venture collaboration with the Ladies European Tour (LET), increasing playing opportunities for female golfers in Europe. Across the three Tours, the LPGA represents players in more than 60 countries.

Additionally, the LPGA Foundation has empowered and supported girls and women since 1991, most notably through LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, the only national program of its kind, which annually engages with nearly 100,000 girls. The LPGA Amateur Golf Association and LPGA Women's Network provide virtual and in-person connections to female golfers around the world, while LPGA Professionals are educators, business leaders and gamechangers dedicated to growing the game of golf for everyone.

Bengaluru Witnesses Second FinTech Festival India Micro Experience Organized By Constellar And Supported By Niti Aayog And Ministries

* Discussion revolved around Embedded FinTech, InsurTech, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

* Fintech Festival India 2022, Main event will now be held in both Digital format from March 1-3 and Physical format from July 20-22, 2022

India’s silicon valley, today witnessed the second micro experience of India’s largest - Fintech Festival India - organized by Constellar Exhibitions (a subsidiary of TEMASEK and Singapore Press Holdings which organizes Singapore FinTech Festival) and supported by Niti Aayog and six central government ministries.

Speaking at the conference, Priyanka Kanwar, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Falcon, said, “We are recommending that the government incentivizes the acquiring infrastructure including the zero capex or low capex soft POS terminals and have a relook at the MDR structure so that a lot of the last mile payment solutions are enabled.”

Talking about MSMEs, Rahul Jain, Founder, All Cloud, said, “MSMEs were one of the first to be aligned to the new way of doing things. They have been the first to jump on to the bandwagon of digital payments, digital collections, got into the banking transactions space and with that they have now got better credit solutions tailor made for them.”

The daylong conference in Bengaluru was also attended by some well-known stalwarts such as Ramgopal Subramani, Chief Operating Officer, Perfios, Priyanka Kanwar, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Falcon, Chiranth Patil, Co - Founder & Director, Riskcovry, Srikanth Parthasarathy, VP Product, Signzy, Srivaths Varadharajan, Chief Operating Officer, Spice Money and Rohit Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer, Mcapital amongst others.

Constellar Exhibitions today also announced that in view of the current pandemic situation, the company has decided to host the Fintech Festival India 2022 Main event in two formats. A digital edition will be held from 1st to 3rd March, 2022. There will no longer be physical or in-person engagements in this March edition. This will be followed by the Physical Edition of the main event from 20th to 22nd July, 2022 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Fintech Festival India is the country’s largest FinTech confluence. It will witness participation from over 500 Indian and global leaders and 12,000+ delegates. FFI will see participation from Brazil, Israel, UK, Russia, Canada, Finland, Japan, Singapore among others.

The conferences are being supported by Government of India’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME), The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited ( A Government of India Enterprise – Under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) and Startup India (Department for promotion of Industry and Internal Trade & Invest India). It has also received support from the Government of Tamil Nadu, Government of Karnataka and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT).

Fintech Festival India is being conducted in physical and digital format through 10 Micro Experience Conferences in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Gift City (Ahmedabad) and Pune.

The next Micro Experience will be held in Mumbai on 18th February, 2022.

In addition to the government, FFI which aims to unleash the power of FinTech across the country, has also drawn interest from industry including Indian insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and World Trade Centre Mumbai among others.

About the Organiser:

SingEx-Sphere Holdings is now Constellar Holdings.

Constellar reflects our vision to become a global leader in the MICE experience space. We are building on our extensive networks cultivated over five decades of experience to bring global markets together for sustainable growth.

With the industry fast becoming a digitally-enabled intellectual property (IP) business, Constellar is ready to take advantage of these opportunities and create a new agile path for growth through reinvention and collaboration.

Constellar Holdings connects a global eco-system of event partners and consumers through a holistic portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry.

As Asia's partner of reference for curating the innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar activates impactful networks to bring global markets, businesses and consumers together for sustainable growth. With our expertise and dedication, we are invested in helping you build trusted relationships with stakeholders for the long term and enabling cross-industry collaboration through world-class audience engagement solutions.

Constellar is headquartered in Singapore. Founded in 2021, it brings together decades of experience with an intrepid team of experienced specialists around the world.

Dealshare Raises $165 Million In Fresh Round Of Financing, Valuing The Company At $1.6Bn+

* DealShare announces the first close of its Series E funding from marquee investors Tiger Global, Alpha Wave Global, Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital and Unilever Ventures as part of a wider financing round

* Annual Revenue Run Rate crosses $600m

* Total customer base at more than 10 million

3-year-old social e-commerce start-up DealShare today announced that it has raised $165 million in the first close of its Series E fund raise. The Company welcomed Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital and Unilever Ventures, along with continued commitments from existing investors Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global (Falcon Edge).

The company has been growing its consumer and revenue base strongly and expects to hit $1bn revenues in the near term. The funds raised in this round will be utilized to invest in technology and data science, as well as a ten-fold expansion in its logistics infrastructure and to increase geographic reach. In addition, it will establish a sizable offline store franchise network. 

DealShare has built a new disruptive retail model for India focusing on affordability for mass consumers. It offers high-quality, low-priced essentials coupled with a gamified, fun-filled, and virality-driven shopping experience, making it easy for first-time internet users to experience online shopping. 

Commenting on the latest funding round, Vineet Rao, Founder & CEO of DealShare, said: "DealShare is one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India. Our revenues and customer base have grown 13 times in the last year with improving profitability. With a strong customer base of over 10 million, we have expanded our geographical presence to over 100 cities across 10 states. Our company has created job opportunities for over 5,000 persons across the country.”

“We have created a network of over 1,000 community leaders under our flagship program DealShare Dost enabling an efficient and highly scalable supply chain. We will be utilizing the proceeds from the round to invest heavily into technology, improving the supply chain and expanding our footprint throughout the country. We will also invest in acquiring best-in-class technologies and marquee brands that are focused on the mass market”, Rao added.

Griffin Schroeder, Partner, Tiger Global said “DealShare is growing rapidly and has built an impressive customer base with a strong leadership team executing on its innovative social commerce strategy. As it expands into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, DealShare is well positioned to power a new wave of e-commerce growth in India.”

Sharing his vision for the company's growth trajectory, Sourjyendu Medda, Founder, Chief Business Officer, DealShare, said: "We are witnessing very high growth in our business. This year, we will be expanding our presence to well over 200 cities across 20 states and are setting an audacious goal to increase our annual revenue run rate to $3 billion while becoming operationally profitable. We also aim to add close to 50 million new consumers in the next 12 months.”

“Our mission is to increase affordability and accessibility of high-quality products at low prices for mass consumers. We have created a unique network of more than 1000 small and medium manufacturers in the grocery and essential space which allow us to enable our mission. Majority of our consumers are first to e-commerce because of us. Not only are we spearheading e-commerce adoption in the country but we are also doing that with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ as the key focus.”, Sourjyendu Medda added.

DealShare operates over 100 warehouses in the 10 states it operates in, and plans to expand its warehousing from 2 million square feet today to 20 million square feet over the next 12 months.

Navroz D. Udwadia, Co-Founder and Partner, Alpha Wave Global, added “We are pleased to invest in this round and continue our support of Dealshare. DealShare delivers a compelling value proposition to its customers, who are value-conscious middle Indians in Tier 2 and 3 cities who crave local / regional products.“

Founded by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora, and Rajat Shikhar in 2018, DealShare provides a sharp and curated assortment at highly competitive prices and has built an innovative community leader driven ultra-low-cost delivery mechanism collectively leading to best-in-class unit economics. DealShare has boosted its senior leadership by recruiting top industry leaders with deep experience in retail and consumer technology.

Avendus was the exclusive financial advisor to the transaction.

About DealShare:

DealShare is a disruptive e-commerce model built towards re-inventing e-retail for the next billion internet users. Currently, DealShare is present in 100+ cities across 10 states and it plans to expand to 200+ cities across 20 states in 2022. The company has acquired more than 10 million consumers and adds lacs of new consumers every month. DealShare caters to about 4 lakh orders daily. Since its inception, company’s focus has been to procure products from local manufacturers and provide them with a platform to digitize their business and scale their local brands. At present, DealShare has partnered with over 1,000 local and regional brands and sources its products directly from the manufacturers. For more information, visit: https://www.dealshare.in

MAHE Establish Hebri Beedu Dr Aravinda Ballal Endowment

The President of MAHE Trust & Chairman of MEMG, Bengaluru – Dr Ranjan R Pai, inaugurated the Memorial Trust in remembrance of Dr Aravinda Ballal.

Dr H S Ballal, Pro-Chancellor, MAHE ,  Lt Gen (Dr.) MD Venkatesh, Vice-Chancellor, MAHE, Dr M V Prabhu, Pro Vice-Chancellor, MAHE, Dr PLNG Rao, Pro Vice-Chancellor, MAHE, Dr Dilp Naik, Pro Vice-Chancellor, MAHE Dr Narayana Sabhahit- Registrar MAHE, and other  officials of MAHE, were present to commemorate the occasion.

Aravinda Ballal was born in 24.10.1935 to Sri Hebri Beedu Amba Ballal and Sri Belanje Krishnayya Hegde couple. He completed his primary and secondary education at Christian High School, Udupi and intermediate studies at MGM College, Udupi. He had his  MBBS  with Post graduation  in Medicine  at KMC, Manipal and Mangaluru.

He began his career as Medical Officer at Wenlock Hospital, Mangaluru. He was giving very good services to patients under the guidance of Dr K R Shetty and Dr B M Hegde, the stalwarts in the field of medicine.

In the year 1979, he joined the Department of Medicine, KMC, Mangaluru as Assistant Professor and worked with Dr A Prabhakar Rao, Head of the Department of Medicine.  After rendering two decades of services, he retired in 1996 as Professor. He had earned the respect of hundreds of students with his outstanding pedagogy. Then he served as Professor at Yenepoya Medical College from 1999-2013.

When he suffered a paralytic stroke in 2020, his nephew, Dr HS Ballal, Pro Chancellor, MAHE ensured all necessary facilities for him.  He was provided with best healthcare services by his grandniece, Dr Meenakshi A Shetty and Dr M Chakrapani during this period.

Dr Aravinda Ballal who was a bachelor, died on 14.04.2021.  Dr H S Ballal conducted his post mortal rituals.    Dr Aravinda Ballal donated his entire savings and assets to KMC, which had provided him education, the career of 20 years , and best healthcare services during his illness.  It was the earnest desire of Dr Aravinda Ballal that, his entire savings and assets should be pooled and an endowment fund should be created.  Dr Aravinda Ballal was providing best healthcare services for the downtrodden people.

Dr Divakar Shetty, retired anesthesiologist, KMC, who had served Dr Ballal contributed  ?63 lakhs.   His favourite disciple Dr MV Prabhu, Pro Vice Chancellor, MAHE contributed   ?10 lakhs,  his nephew Dr Sudheerchandra Ballal, Dentist in Udupi contributed 2 lakhs, thus totally amounting to Rs.75 lakhs.  MAHE is donating a matching grant of Rs. 75 lakhs to this Endowment, that is being set up with a capital of ? 1.5 crore for the purpose of rendering financial assistance to the needy and senior citizen patients.  

Dr H S Ballal, Pro Chancellor, MAHE, Dr M V Prabhu, Pro Vice Chancellor, MAHE, and Dr Prakash Harishchandra, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore have put their heart and soul into making this Endowment to fulfil the wishes of Dr Aravinda Ballal. 

AU Bank Deliver Strong Performance With Q3’FY22 PAT Of Rs 302 Cr

The Board of Directors of AU Small Finance Bank Limited at its meeting held today, approved the financial results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2021. 

Executive Summary 

A significant improvement in the overall business environment resulted in strong disbursements for AU Bank. In Q3FY22, fund-based disbursements were up 33% YoY at Rs 8,152 Crore as compared to ? 6,115 Crore in the same quarter of the previous year. Disbursements included ECLGS of ? 48 Crore in Q3FY22. Non-fund disbursements for Q3FY22 were up 55% YoY at ? 627 Crore as compared to ? 405 Crore in the same quarter of the previous year. 

Deposits grew 49% YoY to ? 44,278 Crore from ? 29,708 Crore, with further improvement in CASA ratio to 39% compared to 22% a year ago. The Bank witnessed a growth of 33% YoY in its gross advances to ? 40,719 Crore from ? 30,523 Crore. This was coupled with consistent collection efficiency in excess of 100% for every month of the quarter, resulting in an improvement in asset quality ratios. Bank maintains a strong position in Digital services with properties like AU 0101, Video Banking, Credit cards, UPI QR etc. all of which continue to see strong momentum. 

Financial Highlights 

Q3’FY22 financial results  

Net profit for the quarter rose to ? 302 Crore  

Net Interest Margin (NIM) at 6.3%  

ROA stood at 2.2% and ROE at 17.4%  

Average cost of funds reduced to 5.9% from 6.7% in the same quarter last year   

Asset quality  

Bank’s Asset quality continued to improve significantly with GNPA at 2.6% as against 3.2% in the previous quarter  

Net NPA stood at 1.3% of net advances against 1.7% in the previous quarter  

Collection efficiency averaged 106% as compared to 97% last year for the same period 

Bank has, additionally, maintained contingency provision buffer of ? 300 Crore (75 bps of advances) over and above provisions for GNPA, Restructured book and standard provisions 

Capital Adequacy 

Bank remains well capitalized with a strong Tier-I capital ratio of 18.2% and total CRAR of 19.5% which is sufficiently above minimum requirement of 7.5% and 15% respectively Including profits for 9MFY22, the CRAR ratio is 22.0% and Tier I ratio is at 20.7% 

Nine-month ended December 31st, 2021 

Bank’s total balance sheet grew by 26% YoY to ? 58,645 Crore 

Total income stood at ? 4,937 Crore   

For 9MFY22, net revenue (net interest income plus other income) was at ? 2,980 Crore and Net profit was at ? 784 Crore   

Growth in digital & payments platform 

The Bank’s digital properties like AU 0101, Video Banking, Credit cards, UPI QR etc. continue to see strong momentum 

The Bank has issued 1 Lac+ Credit cards and installed 3 Lac+ QR codes till now 

Of the total credit card issued, over 53% of customers are first time users in more than 150 districts of the country since launch 

Video Banking experience has been quite encouraging in terms of enhancing reach, acquisition and engagement 

31 % Savings Account opened digitally through AU 0101 and Video Banking during the quarter 

Key Business Updates 

Continuing its effort to broad-base and strengthen its Board, AU Small Finance Bank, appointed Shri Harun Rashid Khan, ex-Deputy Governor of RBI as Non-Executive Independent Director (Additional Director) on the Board, for a period of three years, effective 28th December 2021, subject to the approval of Shareholders 

The Bank has expanded its presence to 69 new touchpoints in the form of Asset Centres, Bank Branches, Bank Outlet (BO) and Smart BC and its network is spread across 880 touchpoints as on December 31, 2021 

CRISIL has upgraded its rating outlook on long-term debt and fixed deposit program of the bank to ‘Positive’ from ‘Stable’ reflecting strength in asset quality, granularity in liabilities and the overall banking franchise; Long term rating at ‘CRISIL AA-/Positive’ and FD rating at ‘CRISIL AA+/Positive' 

AU Bank constituted its Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) committee during the quarter to increase emphasis on D&I within the bank with a mandate to make AU Bank a more inclusive workplace 

AU Bank was certified as a ‘Great Place To Work’ for the second consecutive year 

The third quarter being the festive season, AU Bank announced a host of features and benefits for its NRI customers and had also launched AU Shopping Dhamaka with offers across 500+ brands 

Commenting on the performance, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO, AU Small Finance Bank said, "In Q3'FY22, we saw continued improvement in the operating environment and borrower cashflows. These factors along with the secured nature of our loan book led to significant asset quality improvement in the quarter, along with continued improvement across all other key focus areas. These include improving granularity of our deposit base, healthy asset growth driven by small-ticket secured loans, increasing adoption of our digital properties following the launch of our super app AU 0101, QR codes and credit card offerings, and improved visibility and brand recall following our brand campaign. Our confidence in our borrower base, power of the banking platform, and our own business model of small-ticket secure lending has been reinforced. Given our strong lending model, increasing granularity of deposits, growing reach and our evolving digital properties, I feel we are well positioned to take advantage of the significant opportunities in the segments we are present in. Nonetheless, we remain cautiously optimistic in our approach as the situation around the pandemic remains fluid”.