Vi Customers In Bengaluru Can Get Free Astrology Consultation At Select Vi Stores

* Vi customers can walk in to select Vi stores Bengaluru between 4th and 9th April to avail free Astrology consultation

The Kannada New Year, week  is the time for citizens to set aspirations and plans to be achieved during the coming year. To celebrate the spirit of Ugadi, Vi, India’s leading telecom operator is facilitating Astrology consultation for customers in Bengaluru. This Astrology consultation is being offered free of cost to Vi customers between 4th April to 9th April 2022.

Vi customers in Bengaluru can visit the Vi stores at JP Nagar, Bommanahalli, Kagadaspura, VijayNagar, Basaveshwar Nagar, Rammurthy Nagar, SahakarNagar, Marthahalli, RajajiNagar, Gandhi Bazaar and Jayanagar to avail the free of cost Astrology consultation.

Both prepaid and post-paid Vi customers in Karnataka can avail Free Astrology consultation at the mentioned Vi stores in Bengaluru.

S. Murali, Operations Director- South, Vodafone Idea, said, “At Vi, we look out for innovative avenues to bring more and better value for our customers. The endeavour is to be relevant to their needs and interests and be an important part of their special moments through each day of the year. On the auspicious occasion of Ugadi, I would like to take the opportunity to wish Vi customers in Karnataka and their families, a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. May you all have many happy hours of staying connected with your world, on Vi 4G network.

This Ugadi, Vi is also extending an invitation to mobile phone users in Karnataka to join Vi 4G network by subscribing to Vi Hero Unlimited plans. Vi Hero Unlimited Recharge plans starting from Rs. 299, bring three unique product benefits under one umbrella.

·         Weekend Data Rollover: This lets users accumulate unutilized daily data during the weekdays and use it over the weekend.

·         Night Time Free Data- 12:00 am to 6:00 am: Prepaid customers can access unlimited high speed Night time data without any restrictions, at no extra cost from 12:00 am to 6:00 am.

·         Data Delight enables customers access a backup of 1GB high speed data per day, twice in a month.

About Vodafone Idea Limited

Vodafone Idea Limited is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. It is India’s leading telecom service provider. The Company provides pan India Voice and Data services across 2G, 3G, 4G and has a 5G ready platform. With the large spectrum portfolio to support the growing demand for data and voice, the company is committed to deliver delightful customer experiences and contribute towards creating a truly ‘Digital India’ by enabling millions of citizens to connect and build a better tomorrow. The Company is developing infrastructure to introduce newer and smarter technologies, making both retail and enterprise customers future ready with innovative offerings, conveniently accessible through an ecosystem of digital channels as well as extensive on-ground presence. The Company is listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.

The company offers products and services to its customers in India under the TM Brand name “Vi”.

For more information,  visit: www.MyVi.in and www.vodafoneidea.com

Searches For Beauty Salons & Spas Jump By 34% Amidst A Decline In COVID Cases And Wedding Season: Just Dial Consumer Insights

-         Searches for beauty services in Tier-I cities rise by 42% & Tier-II by 39%

-         Salons are the most sought-after beauty services contributing to 66% of the searches

Relaxation of COVID protocols due to the decline in cases and the onset of the wedding season, has triggered a jump in searches for beauty salons, spas, and make-up artists across India, reports the latest Just Dial Consumer Insights.

The latest consumer search trends on Just Dial, India’s largest local search engine, suggest that searches for beauty services jumped by 34% during the JFM 2022 quarter vis-à-vis OND 2021 quarter. The demand growth rate for beauty services in Tier-II towns and cities was rapidly growing and is now catching up with Tier-I cities. The demand growth in Tier-I cities was 42% and 39% in Tier-II cities.

The most sought-after beauty service on the platform was salons and it made up for almost 66% of the searches for all beauty services. Demand for spas made up for 29% of the searches while that for make-up artists contributed 5%.

Commenting on the consumer trends, Mr. Prasun Kumar, CMO, Just Dial said: “Decline in COVID cases, relaxations in protocols, and the forthcoming wedding season has rejuvenated hopes for beauty salon and spa owners. The industry was hit hard due to the impact of COVID but now we are witnessing a rise in demand for beauty services on our platform. Hence, we are enriching our platform with credible information that helps users get authentic information on local beauty services. The rise in demand is testament to how Just Dial has aggregated online the local beauty salons and spas online helping them to enhance their online reach.”

The latest insights also suggest that at a pan-India level searches for beauty salons have gone up by 32%, spas by 40%, and make-up artists by 14%. In Tier-I cities, searches for beauty salons grew by 45%, spas by 40%, and make-up artists by 30%. Searches for beauty salons in Tier-II towns and cities grew by 40%, spas by 43%, and make-up artists by 9.3%.

Searches for both salons and spas were at par in Tier-I cities. Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore were the top-3 cities with maximum demand for beauty salons. Delhi generated almost 61% of the searches for spas followed by Mumbai and Ahmedabad. For makeup artists, Delhi and Mumbai contributed to 54% of the searches.

Most of the searches for beauty salons in Tier-II towns and cities took place in Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Indore, and Patna. Spas were mostly in demand in Lucknow, Surat, Jaipur, Indore, and Dehradun. With wedding season around the corner, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Kanpur, and Patna saw maximum demand for make-up artists.   

About Just Dial Limited

Just Dial Limited provides local search related services to users in India through multiple platforms such as Desktop/PC website (https://www.justdial.com), mobile site (https://t.justdial.com), mobile apps (Android & iOS), over the telephone (Voice, pan India number 88888-88888) and text (SMS). Justdial’s latest version of JD App, is an All-in-One App, replete with features like Map-aided Search, Live TV, Videos, Stock quotes, etc. to make the life of the consumer infinitely smoother & more engaging.

The Company has recently launched its B2B marketplace platform, JD Mart. JD Mart platform, available at https://www.jdmart.com and via apps on Play Store and App Store, is aimed at enabling millions of India’s manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers to become internet-ready in post-COVID era, get new customers and sell their products online. The platform offers digital product catalogues to businesses and aims at digitalising India’s businesses, especially MSMEs, across categories. Buyers can discover quality vendors offering a wide selection of products to choose from, spread across millions of categories to suit all B2B needs.

Justdial has also initiated transaction-oriented services for its users. These services aim at making several day-to-day tasks conveniently actionable and accessible to users from one App. With this step, Justdial is transitioning from being purely a provider of local search and related information to being a direct/ indirect enabler of such transactions. Justdial has also recently launched an end-to-end business management solution for SMEs, through which it intends to transition thousands of SMEs to efficiently run business online and have their adequate online presence via their own website, mobile site. Apart from this, Justdial has also launched JD Pay, a unique solution for quick digital payments for its users and vendors.

Red Hat Adds Common Criteria Certification For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

* Independent security certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 helps to extend the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform as a trusted foundation for computing across the open hybrid cloud, from traditional to cloud-native workloads

Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of enterprise open source solutions, today announced a new Common Criteria Certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2, further strengthening Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a platform of choice for users with critical workloads in classified and sensitive deployments.

A Common Criteria Certification is intended to provide a level of assurance that a product meets a certain security criteria for specific computing environments. A component of the validation is rigorous, standardized and repeatable testing by any independent third party and provides common ground for sensitive computing operations at an international level.

For Common Criteria, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 was certified by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), with testing and validation completed by Acumen Security, a U.S. government-accredited laboratory. The platform was tested and validated against the Common Criteria Standard for Information Security Evaluation (ISO/IEC 15408) against version 4.2.1 of the NIAP General Purpose Operating System Protection Profile including Extended Package for Secure Shell (SSH), version 1.0 and is the latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux version to appear on the NIAP Product Compliant List.

Open innovation for sensitive computing

As IT’s threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations must find ways to continue protecting sensitive environments and systems while still keeping pace with technological innovation. Red Hat is committed to answering this need through a comprehensive, cross-portfolio evaluation and U.S.-government recognized validation effort. The many secure computing certifications achieved by Red Hat Enterprise Linux highlight this drive, as well as establishing Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the bedrock for Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud offerings in highly-regulated IT deployments.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 provides more than a validated foundation for security-conscious computing environments - it also includes the benefits of a Red Hat subscription. While a Red Hat subscription includes extensive levels of technical support, it also provides longer product lifecycles with more reliable and predictable product updates, a dedicated security response team for analyzing and addressing potential vulnerabilities as they appear and proactive analytics tools to help identify and remediate potential system issues.

Supporting Quotes

Clara Conti, vice president and general manager, North America Public Sector, Red Hat

“Linux is the foundation for modern computing, including sensitive IT deployments of all kinds across the hybrid cloud. Today’s Common Criteria Certification of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 shows our continued commitment to making Red Hat Enterprise Linux a platform that not only embraces innovation but also serves as the backbone for critical and security-sensitive operations.”

Kenneth Lasoski, Director, Common Criteria, Acumen Security

“Acumen Security, part of the global Intertek High Security Certifications group, congratulates Red Hat on the successful Common Criteria certification of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2. This rigorous security evaluation against stringent requirements for General Purpose Operating Systems identified by the National Information Assurance Partnership under the international Common Criteria Certification standard demonstrates and confirms Red Hat’s commitment to make Common Criteria certified versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux available to security conscious customers, such as national security-related agencies, finance and healthcare organizations. We are honored that Red Hat has once again selected Acumen Security as their security certification partner to achieve this significant milestone as well as applaud their continued commitment and contribution to the information security industry.”

25 Year Old Low Cost Housing Developer In Forbes 30 Under 30

Young entrepreneur and developer from Bengaluru, Pranav Sharma, found his name entering the 30 under 30 Forbes list of Young Entrepreneurs early this year. The recognition, coming close on the heels of his successful multiple venture of providing affordable housing to the economically backward and mid segment home buyers, was given for the unique model opted in the solar energy segment to positively crack the cost ratio of the project.

In his project connected with solar energy generation, Pranav had come up with a leasing model for the primary cost of land, thus reducing the cost ratio of land in project cost from its prevailing 7 to 10 per cent to now merely 3 to 4 per cent. His business model also came with the added advantage of benefitting the farmers leasing the land by enabling them to continue to hold the title of the land while earning a regular monthly stream of income which otherwise was non-existent given the fallow nature of their lands.

In recognition of his business acumen, perseverance and unique business model, Forbes entered his name into the 30 under 30 list. “The land sourced for a solar plant is typically a waste land that cannot be used for agricultural purposes. The farmers stand to benefit when it is leased from them by the government. The land can be sub-leased from the government by those private players generating solar energy”, says Pranav.

Forbes also recognised his work in the affordable housing segment where Pranav cracked another successful business model where the cost of each apartment unit ensured that the economically backward home buyer had to pay an EMI not exceeding his normal monthly rental payments. This cost approach made the apartment units extremely affordable for the targeted segment, resulting in the units getting sold out within two months of launch. “Our objective was to build a brand, ensure quality, keep margins thin, where the viability is met through volumes”, explains Pranav about his business model.

Pranav is currently working on expanding his footprint both in the renewable energy segment as well as the affordable housing segment.

TVS Eurogrip Appoints “Vector Brand Solutions As Brand & Communication Agency” On Record

TVS Eurogrip, one of India’s largest manufacturers and exporters of two and three-wheeler tyres as well as off-highway tyres has awarded its Brand & Communications mandate to Mumbai based Brand & Communications consultancy, Vector Brand Solutions.  

Having already worked together on the immensely successful ‘Tyres for a country full of turns’ campaign, Vector Brand Solutions has been assigned to further strengthen brand strategy and communication. 

Madhavan P, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing TVS Srichakra said, “The journey since the launch of our brand TVS Eurogrip has been an exciting one. On the distribution front, we have been steadily penetrating and growing market share. In collaboration with our Europe product development centre, we now have best-in-category range of quality tyres that cater to the needs of the new age millennial rider. We have already successfully worked with the team at Vector to create a differentiated brand communication and we are excited to turn this into a long-term partnership. Team Vector’s all-round capabilities fit well with our value of delivering consistent high performance. With our new partnership with IPL champions Chennai Super Kings in place to catapult our brand salience, we look forward to partner with Vector on strengthening brand”. 

Joseph (Joe) George, Founder & CMD, Vector Brand Solutions added, “Our working relationship with the team at TVS Eurogrip has been spectacular and we are thrilled to now work with them long term - building the brand, and growing the business.  We passionately believe in TVS Eurogrip’s desire to become the market leader in terms of both performance and experience; and we will bring to bear all that we have, to fulfil their rightful ambition, which hereon is ours too”. 

About TVS Srichakra Ltd. 

TVS Srichakra Limited, makers of TVS Eurogrip brand of tyres is one of India’s leading manufacturers and exporters of Two, Three-Wheeler tyres and Off-Highway tyres. Incorporated in 1982, it is one of the flagship companies of the USD 8.5 Billion TVS Group which is India’s largest Auto Ancillary conglomerate.  With global research and development capabilities and cutting-edge technology, TVS Srichakra produces industry leading tyres for the automotive sector in India and worldwide. Headquartered in Madurai, TVS Srichakra has manufacturing facilities in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) with a production capacity of over 3 million tyres a month. The company has a design centre in Milan, Italy supporting the R&D centre in Madurai and the tyres are tested in Indian, European, and Japanese road conditions. TVS Srichakra’s products are available in over 85 countries across the world. In India, the company enjoys a significant market share amongst the original equipment manufacturers and replacement markets and has a comprehensive network of distributors and dealers giving it a robust presence. For more information, visit https://www.tvseurogrip.com.

Renault India Strengthens Its Presence Across Indian Rural Market

* Customers in rural areas get easy access to Renault’s products and services with 300 Booking Centres across India 

*  In a collaborative effort with CSC (Common Service Centre) to bring Renault vehicles closer to rural customers, opens 300 Renault Booking Centres across India 

Further widening its reach in the rural areas, Renault India has announced opening of 300 Renault Booking Centres across India in collaboration with CSC Grameen e-Stores, a subsidiary of CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd(CSC-SPV).  

Through this initiative, Renault India and CSC aim to increase accessibility in remote regions and provide rural customers an opportunity to book their favourite Renault car within their locality with ease and convenience. The customers can book their Renault car with minimum documentation formalities, by scanning the QR Code available at the nearest Renault Booking Centre, making digital inclusion of rural India a reality. The CSC’s nationwide network and digital services will further strengthen Renault India’s reach in rural geographies, including remote areas of the country.   

The Renault Booking Centres will also serve as a customer information center, providing all information related to the product, its features, price range, finance schemes and offers applicable at that point in time. To facilitate smooth rural e-commerce, these Booking Centres are equipped with highly trained Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) catering to all financial and products related queries and enabling sale to end customers in rural areas under one roof. 

CSC e-Governance Services India, Special Purpose Vehicle, has been set up by the ministry of electronics & IT under the Companies Act, 1956 to oversee implementation of the CSC scheme. CSC SPV provides a centralised collaborative framework for delivery of services to citizens through CSCs, besides ensuring systemic viability and sustainability of the scheme. 

Renault had partnered with CSC Grameen eStore last year to enhance its reach in rural India and move closer to customers in remote areas. Renault India’s leading product range and services are listed on the CSC Grameen eStore and made available to potential customers in the rural areas. Recently, Renault joined hands with CSC e-Governance Services to support Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan (PMGDISHA), Government of India’s flagship programme that aims to provide digital literacy to six crore rural citizens.  

PNB Announces Mandatory Verification Of High-Value Cheques In India

In a move to protect the bank customers against large value cheque frauds, Punjab National Bank (PNB) to make Positive Pay System (PPS) mandatory for the cheque of Rs.10 Lacs & above.  

As per the Positive Pay System (PPS) developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a customer issuing the high-value cheque has to reconfirm some essential details, which are cross-checked while presenting the cheque in clearing before payment. 

PNB customers need to share details like account number, cheque number, cheque alpha code, issue date, amount, and beneficiary name for clearing the high-value cheques under PPS. 

These details are to be shared with the bank at least 24 working hours before the cheque is presented for clearing. Customers can share the details through internet banking, mobile banking, SMS banking, or their home branch in the prescribed format. 

The cheques that are registered in the PPS will only be accepted under the dispute resolution mechanism. 

As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, PNB had introduced PPS for cheques of ?50,000 and above presented in CTS clearing from January 1, 2021, which has now become mandatory for the cheques of ?10 lakh and above from today. 

RBI had recommended that while availing of the facility is at the account holder's discretion, banks may consider making it mandatory for cheques of Rs. 5 lakh and above.