Swift Dzire, Eeco, And Ertiga Most Sought-After Models In The Used-Car Market In India: Just Dial Consumer Insights

-         Maruti, Mahindra, and Hyundai are the three most sought-after brands

-         Demand for Audi, Mercedes, & Land Rover remain high among luxury brands

-         Demand for used Creta rapidly increasing across the country

Swift Dzire, Eeco, and Ertiga were the top-3 popular models in the used car market while demand for used Creta was rapidly growing across the country, reports the latest Just Dial Consumer Insights. 

Just Dial Consumer Insights suggests that Maruti Suzuki, the country’s latest automobile manufacturer, dominates the used-car market with eight of its models among the top-10 most sought-after cars. Hyundai and Tata are the other two with a model each among the top-10. Besides, Swift Dzire, Eeco, and Ertiga, the other models that make up the top-10 are Wagon R, Swift, Creta, Brezza, Baleno, Nexon, and Alto 800. 

Demand for Swift Dzire, Eeco, and Ertiga was maximum in Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune among Tier-I cities. Among Tier-II cities, Lucknow, Indore, and Jaipur had maximum searches for Dzire, Nashik, Vadodara, and Surat for Eeco, and Jaipur, Nagpur, and Mysore for Ertiga. 

India’s used car market is riding the digital wave as buyers and sellers are opting for digital platforms for trading and Just Dial Consumer Insights revealed that searches at a pan-India level saw a YOY growth rate of 129%

Commenting on the trends, Mr. Prasun Kumar, CMO, Just Dial, said: “Rapid digitisation has accelerated the growth of India’s used car platform. We have augmented our platform with credible data of used car dealers and sellers in our bid to provide buyers with the best match-making. This has resulted in a 63% YOY rise in searches in Tier-I cities and a 71% rise in Tier-II towns and cities. Going ahead digital will evolve as a credible sales channel in the used-car market that is estimated to be a $32.14 billion industry.”   

The top-10 most sought-after brands in the used car markets are Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Hyundai, Toyota, Tata, Honda, Renault, Audi, Volkswagen, and Ford. Besides Audi, the other luxury brands that remained in demand were Mercedes, Land Rover, and Jaguar. Demand for luxury cars remained high in Mumbai and among Tier-I cities, Lucknow, Ludhiana, and Chandigarh saw maximum searches for these brands.   

Mumbai saw maximum demand for Mahindra, Hyundai, Honda, Renault, Tata and Volkswagen, Delhi for Maruti Suzuki and Audi, and Bengaluru for Ford. Among Tier-II cities, demand was high in the cities of Nagpur, Nashik, Guwahati, Patna, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Chandigarh for these brands. 

InvokED- A Global Dialogue On Education Leadership On March 24-25 From 4.00-10.00 PM

* InvokED will put the spotlight on education leaders - who, despite their lack of recognition, are an essential layer of the education ecosystem of India

InvokED is a first of a kind virtual event bringing together education leaders, practitioners, academicians, market players, teachers and students from across the globe for a dialogue on how education leadership can be enabled to bring sustainable and systemic change to India's education ecosystem. Organised by ShikshaLokam, InvokED will be held on March 24th and March 25th from 4.00pm to 10.00pm. The conversations will lay a platform for collective action, highlight the challenges faced by Indian education leaders and also recognise the progress that has been made so far. InvokED is intended to provide a collective spark of inspiration to help educational leaders transform the state of Indian education. 

The focus of InvokED will be establishing a sense of urgency around the need for effective leadership to drive sustainable reforms. Empowering education leaders is key to lasting and sustainable change as they will be pivotal in helping reform efforts adapt to complex, dynamic and unforeseen problems. The sessions will cover the tactics and tools for education leaders to drive change in their systems, and detail the roles that private industry, the government and civil society will play in building education leadership. 

The speakers include S.D. Shibulal (Founder, Shikshalokam; Co-Founder, Infosys), Nandan Nilekani (Co-Founder and Chairperson, EkStep Foundation; Co-Founder and Chairman, Infosys), Srinivas R.(Srinivas R. Katikithala, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Government of India), Aparna Purohit (Head of India Originals  Amazon Prime Video), Dr. Santhosh Mathew (Country Lead Social and Public Finance Policy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Sanjay Kumar (Additional Chief Secretary, Education Department Bihar).  Shruti Shibulal (CEO & Director, Tamara), Sundeep Talwar (Chief Marketing Officer, The Akshaya Patra Foundation), Arun Maira (Former Chairman, Boston Consulting Group) and Jody Spiro (Director of Education Leadership, The Wallace Foundation) amongst others.

“We believe that educational leaders are critical to bringing about sustainable and systemic change to Indian education. This critically neglected layer of the education system plays a pivotal role in the implementation of new reforms and pedagogies. The first InvokED Dialogue is the next step in ShikshaLokam’s journey of catalysing collective action to recognise and enable education leadership in the country.” says Mr. Shibulal, the Founder of ShikshaLokam.

“We are excited to host the first InvokED, bringing together the best minds from across the globe to discuss education leadership on a common platform. At ShikshaLokam, we believe that collaboration, community and innovation are essential to empowering education leaders to make transformative change. We look forward to the fruitful discussions and collaborations that will emerge from the conference and hope to continue orchestrating communities of change.” says Khushboo Awasthi, Chief Operating Officer, Shikshalokam.

The event will be attended by education leaders, CSOs and NGOs, philanthropic organisations, government institutions and state education departments from across the globe. 

Shikshalokam

ShikshaLokam is an NGO founded under the aegis of Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. As an education leadership catalyst, ShikshaLokam enables and amplifies leadership development opportunities for individuals and institutions engaged in K-12 education systems.The organisation plays three roles in the development of the education leadership in the country: that of an evangelist for education leadership (undertaken through a series of initiatives like SolvEd, NurturEd, MentorEd, etc.), a designer of impact programmes (plus resources, solutions, etc.) and an orchestrator bringing together government, NGOs and philanthropic institutions. ShikshaLokam offers open-source technology capabilities and resources to ecosystem players - individuals, NGOs, and governments - to enable education leadership development at a large scale with high impact. It is a manifestation of Societal Platform thinking, a systematic method to resolve complex societal challenges with speed, sustainability, and at scale.

For registrations: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScV2c2f0AlKKzm24M7FZyT-yBaJ1mbQKoGBy-gnuFeguJlmEQ/viewform

AjnaLens And Tata Technologies Redefine The Future Of Industrial Training, Virtually Teleport’ Trainees To Job Sites

* Largest implementation of a VR based trade skilling simulator in the world - Upgraded 150 ITIs across Karnataka

* Introducing AjnaXR Station, Phygital (Physical + Digital) VR training solution for skill development

Taking a giant leap to bridge the demand for skilled workforce, AjnaLens, Mumbai-based XR hardware and software company, joined hands with Tata Technologies to digitize 150 ITIs in Karnataka. The initiative equips ITIs with AjnaXR stations, the VR-based Phygital Training Simulator that provides immersive skill training to drive performance and reduce training cost. The Karnataka ITI Upgrade into Industry 4.0 aims to upskill more than 9,000 students this year as part of this initiative. By far, this is the largest implementation of a VR based trade skilling simulator in the world.

“Skilling will drive India through the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Enabling and empowering the grassroots is pivotal to bridge the skill gap. AjnaLens has successfully transformed the ITIs in Karnataka and is ready to create more ripples by cascading the impact to other states of India. It is a well-equipped workforce that will truly harbour India’s future and meet the growing demand of the industry.” says Sushil Kumar, Global Head, Govt Projects & Skill Development at Tata Technologies.

AjnaLens Has been Working Towards Creating Tangible Impact In Training Sector With Their Innovative Ideas Backed By Cutting-Edge Technology

Abhijit Patil, Co-founder & COO, AjnaLens says, “Collaboration is key to bringing an inclusive and lasting change. We thank Tata Technologies for making us a part of this impactful initiative. Aligned with our vision of Make in India and creating a positive impact at the grassroots, this partnership is a key milestone towards upskilling the current and future workforce of India. Combining immersive virtual experience with the actual industry-graded tools paves the most effective and sustainable way to make India’s youth job-ready. Going forward, we plan to multiply the impact by expanding the training module across other states.”

AjnaXR Station is a scalable VR training solution which is manufactured and assembled in India. Each station is equipped to provide training across multiple modules by representing the real world in the virtual world, making training effective and engaging while reducing the training time and cost.

“Upgrading the skilling ecosystem of the country, AjnaXR station provides scalable, data-driven training to the youth.  While we are progressing on multiple development indices, the rate of unemployment and skill gap in India is glaring. Our goal is to encourage youth to gain hands-on experience and help them increase their earning potential by becoming employable.” he adds.

Enabling the trainees to practice the skills for long hours, the company has built one of the world’s most lightweight VR Glasses which weigh only 153 gms, as compared to the popular international brands which weigh around 500 gms. In order to help students build muscle memory, AnjaLens has built an innovative tracking system to track real-life tools in the virtual environment, making the product highly scalable for training.

The initiative will empower youth at the grassroots by exposing them to upskilling opportunities which AjnaXR Station brings to their nearest ITI. The impact-driven startup, AjnaLens, has successfully created direct and indirect employment for students, especially for female ITI students by engaging them to assemble and deliver 300 units of AjnaXR Station. The trained students play the role of peer-facilitators, encouraging more students to join and create scalable impact by bridging the skill gap.

AjnaLens is trusted by prominent clients including the Indian Army, Navy, Ministry of Defence, DRDO, Government of Maharashtra, Vedanta and supported by Forge Accelerator, a leading startup incubator, through every stage of its journey.

About Ajnalens-

Named after ‘Ajna’, the sixth chakra or the third eye which activates ‘intuitive vision’, AjnaLens is a Mumbai-based company making immersive augmented, virtual and mixed reality devices and software solutions for Defence, Enterprise and Skilling sectors. It is the first and only XR hardware OEM to manufacture AR/VR glasses in India.

The impact-driven startup is on a mission to unlock human potential by empowering them with augmented intelligence. In November 2014 at IIT Bombay, AjnaLens was established with a purpose to foster inclusive development in society by empowering people at the grassroots with the right tool for this decade - a ‘holographic computer’. It empowers and enables humans into perceiving and doing what is beyond their capabilities by seamlessly connecting the digital world with reality.

AjnaLens is currently helping India’s government and fortune 500 companies in their digital transformation journey by providing end-to-end solutions such as Enterprise Metaverse, VR training simulators, AR-based remote assistance, Digital twin as well as providing indigenous defence solutions like see-through armour to Indian Defence forces.

AjnaLens has filed 15+ National and International patents in augmented reality and allied fields. The company has won accolades like the Most promising startup by ECLINA Defennovation for cutting-edge innovations. AjnaLens is a growing family of 50 people, inviting bright minds to join their vision.

AjnaXR Station is a made-in-India, highly scalable VR training simulator for Industrial trainings

* One-stop solution for diverse set of trainings

* Virtually teleports trainee to an actual job site/paint shop/welding workshop

* Unlimited practice on industry-graded tools to build muscle memory

* Multilingual training that gives immediate ROI

QuEST Global Signs An Agreement With Alstom To Deliver Engineering Solutions

* The company will support Alstom with their engineering needs across Rolling Stock & Components, Digital & Integrated Solutions, and Mobility Services Portfolio

Alstom has signed a partnering deal with QuEST Global, the global product engineering services company, to deliver next-gen engineering globally for the rail industry. As part of this multi-year agreement, a dedicated team from QuEST will be delivering engineering support to Alstom across their rolling stock, signaling, and services business.

QuEST will provide its services across Alstom’s product and project development lifecycle. With focused engineering services and solutions, the organization will help Alstom fulfill their healthy order position by improving the velocity of project execution. QuEST will also assist Alstom in developing next-generation trains and rail signaling systems. This capability-led partnership will allow Alstom to enhance their global outreach by increasing their best cost country footprint.

Speaking on the occasion, Ajit Prabhu, Chairman and CEO at QuEST Global, said, “The association is a testament to QuEST’s commitment in delivering integrated engineering solutions that adds value to our customer’s portfolio. We are delighted to have signed an agreement with Alstom to deliver support for their global engineering needs.”

QuEST has been Alstom’s partner for 5 years; this new endeavor will further strengthen the partnership between the two organizations by leveraging QuEST’s engineering expertise. Through this association, Alstom will have access to top engineering talent that will help them address their global needs.

About Alstom

Leading societies to a low carbon future, Alstom develops and markets mobility solutions that provide the sustainable foundations for the future of transportation. Alstom’s product portfolio ranges from high-speed trains, metros, monorails, and trams, to integrated systems, customized services, infrastructure, signaling, and digital mobility solutions. Alstom has 150,000 vehicles in commercial service worldwide. With Bombardier Transportation joining Alstom on January 29, 2021, the enlarged Group’s combined proforma revenue amounts to €14 billion for the 12-month period ended March 31, 2021. Headquartered in France, Alstom is now present in 70 countries and employs more than 70,000 people. www.alstom.com 

About QuEST Global

For nearly 25 years, QuEST Global has been a trusted global product engineering services partner to many of the world’s most recognized companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Healthcare and Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries. With a presence in 13 countries, 56 global delivery centers and 13,000+ personnel, QuEST Global is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software, and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner, and sustainable world. QuEST Global’s deep domain knowledge and digital expertise help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience, and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient. For more information on QuEST Global’s expertise in rail, visit - https://www.quest-global.com/industries/rail/

Pickyourtrail Launches Its First Global Office In Dubai; Aims At Building World’s Largest Holiday Brand

Pickyourtrail, India’s best-rated travel company has raised an undisclosed funding from Kunal Shah (CEO, Cred), Adit Parekh (Ex Blume Ventures) and Vinay Ahuja (Executive Director, IIFL Wealth) and existing investors. 

“The valuation and double down by both new and existing investors is a great validation to both the market potential. The entire team has shown great resilience in having survived the pandemic despite the 2-year ban on international flights. The team adapted quickly and launched newer vertical like staycations, our global biz and also beefed up our  product and tech.” said Hari Ganapathy, Co-founder of Pickyourtrail, on the occasion of the fund raise.

As part of their global expansion plans, Pickyourtrail opened a new office in Dubai last week. 

The funds acquired will be used to continue gaining leadership in the leisure space and be the preferred travel brand for new age travellers across the world. 

“Going global was always on the roadmap and our initial experiments through the first and second wave of the pandemic gave us an opportunity to test out the market. There is a clear gap for a reliable global holiday travel brand and we believe that our expertise in catering to one of the most value conscious customer segments (India) puts us in a unique position to build out that brand with our market-leading tech! Markets like the USA have a $100B+ outbound travel scope and even a small share of that pie is a significant opportunity.” said Srinath, Co-founder of Pickyourtrail. 

On the new investment, Kumar Vembu, CEO GoFrugal Technologies, said, “As an international holiday company, Pickyourtrail was the worst hit travel brand in India. The pandemic was the time where many big names like CoxnKings, ThomasCook (UK), VirginAtlantic, to name a few, have fallen by the wayside. Pickyourtrail not only survived but also added multiple lines of business and invested the downtime in building out their tech and product stack. With the macro conditions for travel getting better, I am confident of them growing exponentially over the next few years!”

Pickyourtrail is India’s top-rated leisure travel brand that offers exclusive international itineraries to each of its customers through its advanced D-I-Y tech product. With Pickyourtrail, travellers have the liberty to take control and fully customise their itinerary based on their budget, requirements, and interests— all completely online. From booking a window seat on the plane to having a hotel room with a view or even planning a surprise dinner under the stars, now anyone can make their vacation a memorable one with a hassle-free experience. Crafting customised holidays is now a possibility with Pickyourtrail. 

Visit https://pickyourtrail.com/ for more information.

UST, KITVEN Fund Invests In Calligo Technologies To Enable Development Of POSIT-Powered RISC-V Solution

UST and Karnataka Information Technology Venture (KITVEN), through its Semi-Conductor Venture Fund and SFAL have jointly invested in Calligo Technologies for developing a Posit enabled RISC-V multicore processor (System-on-chip) to power accelerator boards targeting HPC & AI segments under ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, had recently said that India has no option but to be 'atmanirbhar' (self-reliant) when it comes to semiconductors and this sector has brought new possibilities for Make in India - at a post-budget webinar on 'Make in India for the World' organized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

The SoC code-named TUNGA is capable of doing computations using the Posit Number System (PNS) and will be powered by the RISC-V processor integrated with the Posit Numeric Unit (PNU), creating a highly power-efficient and computationally accurate core CRISP (Calligo RISC-V with Posit). The alpha version consisting of ASIC silicon and the accelerator card is planned for release by the end of 2022.

Commenting on the innovative product development,  Gilroy Mathew, VP & Global Head of Semiconductor Engineering, UST, said, “UST is always at the forefront of innovation. Our joint effort to develop CRISP-based SoC will transform us to build more innovative AI & HPC Silicon Chipsets for our worldwide customers“.

UST and Calligo believe that Posit is a game-changing, disruptive invention at a grass-root level that can create new standards for computing. Posit Numeric Unit (PNU) takes less circuitry than IEEE FPU. For the same no of bits, Posit gives a lot better accuracy, higher dynamic range and entropy per bit, thus allowing the replacement of 64-bit floats with 32-bit Posit safely in many cases. By 2023, the world of computing devices is expected to grow exponentially from 10 to 25 Billion, primarily due to the high demands in the market segments like mobile, automotive, embedded and IoT. TUNGA SoC will be able to power these segments from edge to datacentre.

Anantha Kinnal, Chairman and Managing Director, Calligo Technologies, said, “In building TUNGA SoC, Calligo will expand from its software-only focus to end-to-end Product offering consisting of Silicon, Board, Firmware, Software and Applications for the emerging markets. Calligo’s accelerator board, as an add-on to any standard Server, is expected to significantly increase the performance of HPC and AI systems. Bluespec’s Octopus will be an integral part of this overall solution.”

Karnataka IT Venture (KITVEN) CEO, Mr. A. R. Jayakumar quoted, “Our vision is to provide long-term capital to early and growth-stage start-ups in the State of Karnataka in specific focus areas to enable them to build competitive products and solutions. We are thrilled to invest in Calligo and aid their product development in accelerating HPC and AI workloads.”

SFAL through its eco-system has enabled Calligo with EDA tools and silicon manufacturing.

About UST

For more than 22 years, UST has worked side by side with the world's best companies to make a real impact through transformation. Powered by technology, inspired by people, and led by our purpose, we partner with our clients from design to operation. We identify their core challenges and craft disruptive solutions that bring their vision to life through our agile approach. With deep domain expertise and a future-proof philosophy, we embed innovation and agility into our clients' organizations—delivering measurable value and lasting change across industries and worldwide. Together, with over 29,000 employees in 30 countries, we build for boundless impact—touching billions of lives in the process. Visit us at ust.com.

About KITVEN

Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund (KITVEN) is a State & Central Government financial institution backed Venture Capital Fund (VCF) operating in the State of Karnataka since 1999. KITVEN is investing in various start-up companies in different sectors through its semi-conductor venture fund, Bio-tech venture fund and AVGC Venture Fund. As a partner, KITVEN Fund invested in emerging companies with a long-term investment approach thereby to build commercial value to their investors/ contributors. For more information, visit  www.kitven.in

About SFAL

Semiconductor Fabless Accelerator Lab (SFAL) is a K-Tech CoE for Fabless community. It’s an initiative funded by the Department of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T of Government of Karnataka through its Karnataka Innovation Technology Society (KITS). For more information, visit https://www.sfalcoe.com/.

About Calligo Technologies

Calligo Technologies is a category-defining data science and machine learning products and services company based out of Bangalore, focused on helping organizations translate these technologies into quantifiable business impact. It aims to fuel the next frontier of powerful computing technology and unlock discoveries with its end-to-end Silicon, Big Data, AI, and HPC offerings. For more information, visit Calligo Technologies. 

BlueStacks Launches Creator Studio & Creator Hub In India, The World’s First Platform For Mobile Game Modding

* Powered by now.gg’s new NFG platform, mobile games based on Cocos, Unity and Unreal engines can be modded and shared, changing the way people play games

BlueStacks, the world’s first cloud-based Android gaming platform, has launched another first: Creator Studio & Creator Hub for modding and sharing modded games in India. With this launch, mobile games developed on the Cocos, Unity and Unreal engines can be easily modded and shared, reaching over four billion users and 4.5 million creators. The company introduced Creator Studio and Creator Hub for gaming enthusiasts in India, today.

BlueStacks Creator Studio & Creator Hub open up the possibilities of user-generated content to the global mobile gaming community, where they can create and share infinite versions of mobile games. Modding can be done at three levels: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Basic modding involves playing with color; for example, you can have dark mode for a game, akin to Instagram filters. Intermediate modding links to in-game events such as effects on screen during kill or win shots. Lastly, with advanced modding, you can change 2D and 3D textures inside the game, including game elements like avatar’s clothes.

Powered by now.gg and now.gg’s NFG platform, Creator Studio & Creator Hub enables the separation of game code, game events and game art, allowing users to share their modded experiences via a simple link - creating a shareable and immersive mobile experience.

Since its global launch last month, mobile game modding has received great response from streamers and gamers  globally, with the United States, Brazil and Vietnam driving the maximum engagement. FreeFire has emerged as the most modded game and ‘Running Trump’ is the most used effect so far.

“By 2025, the majority of mobile gamers will play modded games,” said Rosen Sharma, CEO and founder of BlueStacks and now.gg. “Imagine searching for a game and finding modded versions from your favorite gamers, streamers and fans. Making mobile game modding globally accessible opens up endless possibilities for gamers and creators, changing how we build, share, and experience mobile gaming forever.”

“User generated content – like modded games – are an important form of self-expression. In the same way we change our clothes to suit our moods, people will soon demand to play only games with mods to match their mood, desired experience, and preferences,” said Huabin Lin, Technology Director at Cocos. “BlueStacks mobile game modding is paving the way for mods to be the default way of mobile gaming in the future.”

“Popular PC games can have tens of thousands of mods created for them. However, modding was not possible for mobile games until now,” said Aevatrex (Jonathan Fermin), leading mobile gaming streamer. “With BlueStacks mobile game modding, there are endless possibilities. Inclusion of BGMI is a great news. One of my favorite mods in the game is where a dancing Mr. Bean shows up at the victory event.”

BlueStacks mobile game modding is available now for free here for modding on BlueStacks X app player and here for modding on the cloud.

About BlueStacks:

BlueStacks is the world’s first cloud-based Android gaming platform adopted by over 1 Billion gamers in 100 countries and six continents around the world. In 2020 over 6 Billion gaming sessions of 70,000 different games were played on BlueStacks. In 2021 BlueStacks launched BlueStacks X (beta) the world’s first game streaming service for mobile games. BlueStacks has a global team of over 400 and is one of the most recognized tech brands in the industry. The world's top game developers leverage its platform to promote their games.

About now.gg:

now.gg is the mobile cloud company changing the gaming experience for game developers and consumers. With the first global mobile platform-as-a-service for game developers, now.gg enables gaming communities to play games on any device or OS, share games instantly on their social channels and pay in-game through payment channels they already have. No longer constrained by geography, device or attribution, now.gg opens the world of consumers to game developers and unlocks entirely new revenue streams.