BOB Financial And Nainital Bank Launch “Co-Branded Contactless RuPay Credit Card”

BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda and Nainital Bank – established by Bharat Ratna Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant in 1922 (and managed by Bank of Baroda since 1973), announced the launch of Nainital Bank - BoB co-branded Contactless RuPay Credit Card. The card, being launched in the centenary year of Nainital Bank, is designed to reward customers for everyday spend categories like grocery and departmental stores. 

Cardholders of Nainital Bank - BoB RuPay Contactless Credit Card will be able to earn 5X i.e. 5 reward points (per Rs. 100 spent) for spends on grocery, departmental stores and movies. For all other spends, cardholders will earn 1 reward point per Rs. 100 spent. In addition, cardholders will also benefit from 1% Fuel Surcharge Waiver on fuel purchases. 

The co-branded credit card also offers complimenatry Personal Accidental Death insurance. The card is offered at zero joining feeand a nominal annual fee that is waived on spends of Rs. 25,000 per year. To ensure quick and simple acquisition of the co-branded card, customers can apply using a 100% digital process. 

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Dinesh Pant, MD & CEO, Nainital Bank said, “The all important launching of the co-branded credit card is the beginning of a new dawn in the history of Nainital Bank as this would bring a host of attractive features for customers which include zero joining fees, reward points while using it in Grocery Shops, Departmental Stores, while watching movies and surcharge waiver on fuel purchases for owned vehicles. The benefit of personal accidental death Insurance would be an added advantage. I am confident that this co-branded credit card will attract customers of Nainital Bank.” 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shailendra Singh, MD & CEO, BFSL said, “We are very happy to launch the co-branded credit card with Nainital Bank. This is our first co-branded partnership within the Bank of Baroda family. It has been our endeavour to take the benefits of credit cards to customers of Bank of Baroda and other group companies. After running focused acquisition programs with other subsidiaries and integrating with TABIT, the digital onboarding platform of Bank of Baroda, the co-branded credit card with Nainital Bank is a significant step forward in leveraging internal resources and building synergy within the larger Bank of Baroda family.” 

Commenting on the development, Mr. Rajeeth Pillai, Chief Relationship Management and Marketing, , NPCI said,“We are delighted to partner with BOB Financial and Nainital Bank on the launch of this co-branded contactless RuPay credit card and extend our partnership within the Bank of Baroda family. These cards are designed to provide a seamless and rewarding shopping experience to the customers through attractive benefits on everyday spending categories. With RuPay, we aim to offer customised value propositions backed by our cutting-edge technology to our customers and strengthen RuPay's customer base across the country.” 

About BOB Financial Solutions Limited: 

BOB Financial Solutions Limited was established in the year 1994. It is a Non-Banking Financial Company, wholly owned by Bank of Baroda. The Company’s primary business is in credit cards with its key differentiator being simple, easy-to-understand products that are fairly priced and efficiently serviced. A pioneer in the space of credit cards, BOB Financial offers an array of products catering to all segments of customers. It is leveraging state-of-the-art technology to provide unique payment solutions to its customers. 

600+ People Come Together To Perform 108 Suryanamaskaras A Cultfit’s Yogathon

* Cult.fit’s Yogathon, marking International Yoga Day, saw a huge gathering of 600+ attendees in Bangalore

* Attendees took part in yoga and meditation sessions across two days, set to the soothing tunes of flautist and music producer Shriram Sampath

* As a respect towards Yoga, Cultfit will be donating the earnings from its ticket sales towards Donatekart charity

India’s largest health and fitness platform, Cult.fit, celebrated International Yoga Day with its Yogathon 2022 in Bengaluru, today. The event was a rousing success and brought together yoga enthusiasts in a celebration of health, wellbeing, spiritual and mental wellness. An ode to the Indian tradition and a long-cherished custom, Yogathon was an acknowledgement of the role yoga has in the modern world and its importance in a healthy lifestyle globally.

With flautist Shriram Sampath’s live music setting the mood, Cult.fit’s fitness experts guided attendees in performing 108 Suryanamaskaras at The Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru. This was followed by a meditation session and other exciting accompaniments. M. Satish Reddy, Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, also attended the event. Cultfit will be donating the earnings from its ticket sales at the Yogathon 2022, towards Donatekart charity.

Divya Rolla, Yoga and Meditation lead, Cult.fit, said, “Yoga as a form of exercise is for everyone and for all ages, and serves multiple purposes - be it for fitness, health or to address specific ailments. It is wonderful that Yoga is also deeply rooted in our Indian culture. It was a pleasure to see such a large crowd perform yoga and feel united through the practice. I am very happy to see yoga being recognised worldwide. I hope that everyone gets a chance to practice Yoga and find happiness through a deeper connection with themselves.”

Championing health and fitness since its inception, Cult.fit seeks to change the way people look after themselves, integrating a holistic approach that incorporates both physical and mental wellbeing. Cult.fit aims to develop a fitness-first thought process through a community spirit, togetherness, and events which would help build conversations, ideas, and goals that are fun and lifestyle-oriented. With Yogathon 2022, the brand hopes to bring yoga into the mainstream and highlight its importance to everyone.

About Cult.fit

Cult.fit is a health and fitness platform by Cure.fit Healthcare Pvt Ltd and is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, Cult.fit caters to living a healthy life through its critical dimensions — physical fitness & wellness. The platform provides fitness-related services through a mix of online and offline channels. These include offline group workouts at Cult.fit centres and other gym- or equipment-based workouts at partner gyms and fitness centres across the country. Cult.fit also offers online personal training, group workouts, and live fitness classes across various formats.

Cult.fit is an app-based service provider and is available on Android and iOS. For more information on Cult.fit: www.cult.fit

Aditya Birla Fashion And Retail’s New TASVA Expands Its Retail Footprint, Plans To Launch 75 Stores By March 2023

-     Launches its fourth store in Jayanagar, Bengaluru by Naga Chaitanya

TASVA, a new ethnic menswear brand by ace designer Tarun Tahiliani and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., announced the launch of its fourth store in Bengaluru by Naga Chaitanya. Located in the heart of the city, the store offers a remarkable range of ethnic and wedding wear options for men.

The 5500 sq ft. outlet promises premium fashion at unmatched prices to the fashion-savvy consumers in the town. This TASVA Bangalore store offers an exclusive collection of glamorous wardrobe solutions for grooms.

The TASVA collection is a perfect weave of our rich cultural heritage, wealth and state-of-the- art, craft and fine tailoring – representing the best. The collection features smart, stylish, subtle ensembles all in the same thread, on one body, in one movement and moment! The collection includes fresh takes on Kurtas, Achkans, Bandhgalas, Jodhpuris, Sherwanis and all the accessories – shawls, stoles, shoes and more.

Commenting on the launch, Sandeep Pal, CEO, TASVA, said: “We are excited to launch our fourth store in Bangalore, at Jayanagar- a precursor to the big expansion plans for the South, in the next few months. He added, “TASVA is here to change the experience of wearing traditional and fusion Indian clothing into that of unmatched comfort with style.” He added, “Having established a strong customer connect and a proven business model, we plan to open 75 stores across India by March 2023 to expand our retail footprint across the country and make Tasva accessible for Indian men who are keen to experience the ready to wear, ergonomic, comfortable attire for every occasion, at affordable price points.”

Commenting on the launch, Tarun Tahiliani, Creative Director, Indivinity Clothing P. Ltd, said, “TASVA has been a long-time dream of mine which has been possible because of ABFRL. The name itself stands for the best version of oneself and we have worked hard to achieve this through TASVA.” He further added, “At TASVA we have created garments that give our consumer, the Indian Man – a fabulously made, internationally constructed, comfortable well- cut Indian brand with Tarun Tahiliani styling yet with complete accessibility of pricing.”

In December 2021, the brand opened its first store in Bengaluru and today operates nine stores across five cities that include all the leading metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru as well as other key cities such as Indore.

About Indivinity Clothing Retail P. Ltd:

Indivinity Clothing, Pvt., Ltd. is the product of the strategic partnership that was entered into by Fashion Designer, Tarun Tahiliani, and Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd. in early

2021. The brand’s flagship fashion label, TASVA, was launched in December 2021 and it caters to the premium occasion-wear segment and offers an entire range of high-quality, sophisticated celebration wear for men at accessible price points.

About ABFRL:

ABFRL is part of a leading Indian conglomerate, The Aditya Birla Group. With revenue of Rs. 8,136 Cr. spanning retail space of 9.2 million sq. ft. (as on March 31, 2022), it is India’s first billion-dollar pure- play fashion powerhouse with an elegant bouquet of leading fashion brands and retail formats.

The Company has a network of 3,468 stores, approximately 28,585 multi-brand outlets with 6,515 points of sales in department stores across India (as on 31st March 2022).

It has a repertoire of India’s largest brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, established for over 25 years. Pantaloons is one of India’s leading fashion retailers.

ABFRL’s international Brands portfolio includes - The Collective, India's largest multi-brand retailer of international brands and has long term exclusive partnerships with select brands such as Ralph Lauren, Hackett London, Simon Carter, Ted Baker, Fred Perry, forever 21, American Eagle and Reebok.

Van Heusen Innerwear, Athleisure and Active wear is establishing itself as India's most innovative and fashionable brand. The Company’s foray into branded ethnic wear business includes brands such as Jaypore, Tasva & Marigold Lane. The company has strategic partnerships with Designers ‘Shantanu & Nikhil’, ‘Tarun Tahiliani’, ‘Sabyasachi’ and ‘House of Masaba’.

Worldline India Partners With Bajaj Finance Limited For Merchant Payment Solutions

Worldline India, a global leader in payment services has partnered with Bajaj Finance Limited (BFL), the lending arm of Bajaj Finserv Limited and India’s largest and highly diversified NBFC company, to develop point-of-sales (POS) payments acquiring solutions for its merchant network.

Worldline India, a company with a rich experience in the payment’s ecosystem in India and globally, has been chosen by Bajaj Finance Limited as a technology and service partner to develop and manage their merchant acquiring initiative, which will be present at pan-India merchant locations.

With this tie-up, Bajaj Finance Limited aims to enhance its relationship with both their existing and new network of merchant partners, by providing point-of-sale terminals and enabling acceptance of a wide range of payment instruments such as EMI cards, credit cards, UPI and wallets on those terminals. In addition to the transactional services, the tie-up will provide value-added services like billing integrations, EMI offerings, transactions' processing, data analytics and fraud management services.

The merchant value proposition will allow Bajaj Finance’s 58 million customer base to avail of its various services such as Bajaj Network EMI Card, Bajaj Pay Wallet, Bajaj Pay UPI and Bajaj Coins’ redemption at the point-of-sales outlets.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajeev Jain, Managing Director, Bajaj Finance Limited, said, “As a part of our broader strategy to expand the digital offerings, we forayed into the digital payments business last year to offer an integrated payment solution to customers and merchant partners. Bajaj Finance has been consistently delivering seamless and agile credit solutions to consumers and merchants alike, and this partnership will only help extend our product suite to go beyond credit products to commerce and payments technology across our large and expanding network of merchant stores, spread throughout the length and breadth of the country.

He further stated, "Bajaj Finance has always been at the forefront of digital technology, and we are confident of leveraging Worldline’s cutting-edge technology to deliver a disruptive and game changing in-store payment acceptance experience for our ever-growing merchant partner ecosystem."

Deepak Chandnani, Executive Chairman, Worldline India, SA & ME said, “Worldline India is proud to partner with Bajaj Finance Limited to provide easier, faster and secure digital acceptance solutions. Our expertise in creating and managing the entire merchant lifecycle journey will benefit BFL in offering rich experience to their valued customers. Our dedicated workforce will ensure seamless execution for Bajaj Finance’s requirements which will contribute to the growth of both the entities. We have successfully managed large scale partnerships in India and other markets and are looking forward to a long term mutually beneficial partnership with Bajaj Finance Limited.”

About Worldline

Worldline [Euronext: WLN] is a global leader in the payments industry and the technology partner of choice for merchants, banks and acquirers. Powered by 20,000 employees in more than 50 countries, Worldline provides its clients with sustainable, trusted and innovative solutions fostering their growth. Services offered by Worldline include instore and online commercial acquiring, highly secure payment transaction processing and numerous digital services. In 2021, Worldline generated a proforma revenue close to 4 billion euros.

Worldline India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Worldline, is partner to over 40 banks and over 5000 marque clients comprising of ecommerce giants, leading insurance players, D2C players across sectors. In India, Worldline covers the whole payment value chain and end-to-end processes that facilitate services to over 1.5 million merchants across 5000 towns and cities in India, South Asia / Middle East. Services offered by Worldline in India are in the areas of Merchant Acquiring, VAS, Card Issuance, National Electronic Toll Collection, Risk Mitigation, Reconciliation, Loyalty solutions; and online solutions like NextGen Payment Gateway, Subscription Payments, Payment Orchestration Platform, Online Cross Border Solution, Tokenisation among others. Supported by over 2000 members team, Worldline India is constantly investing in its people and in the latest technologies to increase efficiencies, drive innovation and enhance digital payments adoption across the country.

VentureStudio And Legalwiz.in Ink Partnership MoU For StartUps To Scale Rapidly

*   Aimed at enabling VentureStudio-backed StartUps to scale rapidly

*   Providing best-in-class services to Design-driven enterprises

*  VentureStudio incubates to also avail all services on Legalwiz.in Partner platform

Legalwiz.in, a leading LegalTech firm, today announced their partnership with VentureStudio, a startup incubator established by Ahmedabad University in active collaboration with Stanford University. The Partnership will enable VentureStudio’s incubates to avail Legalwiz.in’s business professional services at preferential pricing. Also, VentureStudio’s incubates can avail all the services on the Legalwiz.in Partner Services Platform – a one-stop source aimed at providing an array of vital business requirements like eCommerce, CRM, web development, customer care, financial services, payment gateways, etc...at pre-negotiated rates.  

VentureStudio is a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) approved by the National Science Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), and an Engineering Prototyping and Fabrication workshop DST Nidhi Prayas Shala (funded by DST Nidhi Prayas). While Legalwiz.in, started in April 2016 to cater to StartUps & SMEs, legal, financial, corporate & taxation compliances. Enabled with a robust technology backbone, every step of the process is online to ensure efficiency, transparency and maximum value. LegalWiz.in recently launched the Partner Platform initiative aimed at bringing together different companies on a single platform is aimed at helping clients avail best-in-class expertise for a variety of requirements – all at very competitive pricing.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shrijay Sheth, Founder – Legalwiz.in, said, “We are proud to partner with VentureStudio to further accelerate entrepreneurship and startups; especially in the healthcare, medical devices and diagnostics, defence, education, energy, environment, agro, consumer products, logistics, smart technologies etc…segments. I strongly believe that academia-industry collaborations will usher in the next phase of growth and drive entrepreneurship, creating market-facing, customer-ready products and services. Thus we have instituted partnership programs with Atal Incubation Centers (AICs) and entrepreneurship-cells of Universities, wherein nascent ventures can access best-in-class services in the ecosystem and focus on scaling their business. Partnering with industry leaders, we are striving to drive a culture of learning, collaboration and synergistic growth in the ecosystem, making it more resilient. We invite AICs & e-Cells to collaborate with us like VentureStudio and usher in the next wave of entrepreneurship.” 

Reinforcing these views, Ms Tanvi Rangwala, CEO – VentureStudio, stated, “Partnering with institutions is a pioneering step and we are very happy to sign the MoU with LegalWiz.in. They are one of the leading firms in providing regulatory & compliance support to businesses at every stage of their growth cycle. This support becomes even more critical for the startups who have recently started their entrepreneurial journey. We are sure our incubatee startups will benefit hugely a lot from this partnership."  

About Legalwiz.in:

Legalwiz.in is a StartUp based at Ahmedabad. Founded by a longtime LegalTech industry veteran Shrijay Sheth. The firm provides professional services as a “simple – affordable – transparent” business model, making it easy to start and manage the businesses in India.

About VentureStudio:

VentureStudio is a manifestation of the University’s vision on innovation and entrepreneurship. The university recognises that such a platform is vital to help not only solve existing problems related to society and environment, but also to help catalyze a psychological shift and spur creativity at the grassroots thereby setting the platform for a Bold, Innovative, Sustainable, Bold and Futuristic India.

Thus VentureStudio was born in 2011, in collaboration with Center for Design Research at Stanford University. Since then, it has grown from strength to strength and now is a mature incubator with 51 active startups in the portfolio, many of them nationally and internationally recognized through awards. VentureStudio itself has numerous prestigious accreditations and champions the cause in the ecosystem.

Agnipath To Boost The Creation Of A Young And Skilled Workforce For Indian Armed Forces

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday unveiled the Agnipath scheme, a transformative move to modernise the country’s armed forces, create opportunities for the youth to serve the nation, and via soldiering, create a large pool of skilled youth who can contribute to India’s overall defence preparedness, as well with their skills and experience create opportunities for themselves and contribute to the growth of the economy.

Skill India and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) are proud to be associated with the Agnipath scheme and will work closely with the Armed Forces in the implementation of the programme as the country prepares a future-ready army of young Indians.

Skill India and MSDE will work collaboratively with various wings of the Armed Forces to train the students in additional skills to make them better suited to these job roles.

Besides, all Agniveers will get Skill India certification while in service, which will enable them to pursue many diverse opportunities in entrepreneurship and job roles that are being created in our economy after completion of their tenure.

All organisations of Skill India — Directorate General of Training (DGT), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), various Sector Skill Councils, entrepreneurship institutes NIESBUD and IIE, as well as skills regulator NCVET, will be connected with this exercise to ensure that Agniveers get the required skill certifications related to their job roles while in service. Some skills learnt on the job may have direct equivalence with NSQF syllabus. For some, complimenting their on-the-job experience with additional online or offline, theory or hands-on skills may be required. These details, as well as any training for trainers of Armed Forces, and training assessors, preferably from the Forces, for assessing and certifying — all these aspects are being worked out. At the time of exit, the entire skill ecosystem will be open to these young Agniveers who will benefit from the several upskilling/multi-skilling training and entrepreneurship courses available to them.

The Agnipath scheme is a transformative one. It will result in the creation of a tech-savvy, young workforce, along with core values of our military like nation-first, which are vital for India’s continued growth and progress. The Agniveers will become assets both in the defence of our borders and in taking India closer to becoming a modern, technology-led, young global superpower.

Manipal Academy of Higher Education Signs MoU With Schneider Electric Bangalore

The Manipal Academy of Higher education (MAHE), Manipal and Schneider Electric Bangalore have signed a MoU for setting up a MAHE Research Centre at Schneider Electric Bangalore. This Research centre will enable employees of Schneider and others to work on industrial research problems leading to Ph.D degree.

On this occasion, dignitaries and officials from MAHE and Schneider were present. Vice Chancellor of MAHE, Lt. Gen. Dr. M D Venkatesh , Ms Chitra Sukumar- Vice president, Research, Schneider Electric, Mr Venkatramanan Venugopal, Director Engineering and R&D Site Head, Dr. Narayan Sabhahit, Registrar MAHE, Dr Sathish Rao , Director , Research MAHE, Dr. Anil Rana, Director MIT and  Dr. Vasudha Devi, Dy. Director, Centre for Doctoral studies responsible for Research centre graced the occasion with their presence

Also present were Dr. Manohara Pai M M ,  Professor, Department of ICT, MIT and SPOC, Schneider electric, Mr. Vijai Bhaskar Innovation Ecosystem leader , Schneider electric, Dr. Somashekar Bhat, Joint Director MIT and Dr. Smitha Pai, HOD, ICT,MIT

Speaking about the collaboration between MAHE and Schneider Electric Bangalore Lt. Gen. Dr. M D Venkatesh said “We are extremely pleased to be signing this MoU with Schneider Electric. The commitment of Schneider to enhance industrial research through this collaboration is commendable. An integrated learning program like this is extremely beneficial for industry professionals to improve their qualifications leading to Masters and doctoral degree”

Ms Chitra Sukumar, Vice president, Research, Schneider electric also spoke on the occasion saying “Industry academia collaborations like these are very crucial for industry professionals. We are honoured to be joining hands with a reputed educational institute like MAHE and hope this partnership can help in exploring research collaboration in multidisciplinary areas of mutual interest”

On behalf of Schneider electric, Mr Venkatramanan Venugopal, Director Engineering and R&D Site Head signed the agreement and expressed his support for strengthening the industry academia collaboration. From MAHE side Dr. Narayan Sabhahit, Registrar, MAHE signed the agreement and assured to extend the support for the sustenance of the collaboration.

Post signing the MOU, Schneider team visited various research facilities in MIT. Ms Chitra Sukumar, VP Research, Schneider electric inaugurated the Industrial IOT systems and application research lab established in the Department of ICT, MIT.