Keysight Commissioned Research Finds Automated Testing Remains A Significant Challenge For Organizations

* Despite 84% stating that the majority of testing involves complex systems, few employ automated testing or use artificial intelligence

Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation n to connect and secure the world, announced the results of a global study, commissioned by Keysight and conducted by Forrester, that surveyed test operations decision-makers to understand the state of test strategies and technologies.

The research report, titled Conquer Testing Complexities with Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), identified that automation is gaining inroads, with 75% of organizations using a combination of automated and manual testing. However, only 11% have a fully automated strategy. With growing complexity, the number of tests is increasing (77%) and without automation, product development slows.

According to Jeff Harris, vice president, Portfolio and Global Marketing at Keysight Technologies, “We learned in the study that companies feel pressure to do more test automation, especially when asked about the future. Manual or partially automated strategies simply can't keep up with the needs of organizations today, and without AI-powered automation, they will struggle to conquer testing complexities. Additionally, we expect the COVID pandemic to accelerate adoption of remote development, automated test sequencing. We also expect a much higher use of digital twins as development teams strive to continue working together but from different locations. At Keysight, we’re building this automation of intelligence across the workflow into our entire software product portfolio to address these needs and drive test and validation automation forward.” 

The primary technical challenges resulting from testing complexities are long cycles, accurately capturing bugs and issues, and then fixing them. These problems directly impact business results and the product development process. Respondents ranked the outcomes as:

·        51% - Security breach risk

·        48% - Increased expenses

·        42% - Slower time to market

·        36% - Defective product

·        34% - Loss of revenue

However, enterprises recognize that manual and partially automated testing strategies cannot keep pace with the increasing complexity of products. As a result, 45% will consider using a fully automated approach in the next three years, a 409% growth. Over half (52%) stated they would look at AI for integrating complex test suites, a 325% growth.

By shifting to intelligent automated testing strategies, organizations expect benefits. Operational improvements anticipated by respondents include increased productivity (59%), ability to simulate product function or performance (54%) and bug fix automation or simulation to save time on fix-retest cycles (53%). The anticipated business impact spans higher quality product that increases customer satisfaction (59%), the ability to reduce time to market (50%) and more agile product development cycles (50%).

As described in the survey, the most anticipated technology or operations improvements from automation and AI are increased productivity, ability to simulate product function/performance and bug fix automation/simulation.

But a better metric for success is the business impact that organizations expect from the investment in new testing technologies such as Keysight's Automating Intelligence, which offers customers:

·        A higher-quality product that increases customer satisfaction

·        The ability to reduce product time-to-market

·        More agile product development cycles

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 406 test operations decision-makers at organizations in North America, EMEA and APAC to evaluate current testing capabilities and to hear their thoughts on investing in automation (including AI). Questions provided to the participants asked about their organizations’ current testing environments, future investments, challenges and expected outcomes from testing automation.

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight delivers advanced design and validation solutions that help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight’s dedication to speed and precision extends to software-driven insights and analytics that bring tomorrow’s technology products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimization and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments.  Our customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets. Keysight generated revenues of $4.9B in fiscal year 2021. For more information about Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), start at www.keysight.com.

Largest Indian Owned IMFL Co, Allied Blenders And Distillers Files DRHP For Rs 2000 Crore IPO

Mumbai-based Allied Blenders and Distillers, the largest Indian-owned Indian-made foreign liquor (“IMFL”) company and the third largest IMFL company in India, in terms of annual sales volumes between Fiscal 2014 and Fiscal 2021 has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).

The issue with a face value of Rs 2 per equity share consists of a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs 1000 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of Rs 1000 crore by Promoter and selling shareholders i.e Bina Kishore Chhabria up to Rs 500 cr, up to Rs 250 cr by Resham Chhabria and Jeetendra Hemdev and up to Rs 250 cr by Neesha Kishore Chhabria. The offer also includes a reservation for subscription by eligible employees.

The Offer is being made through the Book Building Process, wherein not more than 50% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Qualified Institutional Buyers, not less than 15% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Non-Institutional Bidders and not less than 35% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Retail Individual Bidders.

The company, in consultation with the lead bankers to the issue may consider a preferential issue of equity shares or any other method aggregating up to Rs 200 crore. If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced.

The proceeds from its fresh issuance worth Rs. 708.98 crore will be utilised for prepayment or scheduled re-payment of a portion of certain outstanding borrowings and balance for general corporate purposes.

The Mumbai-based company is one of the only four spirits companies in India with a Pan-India sales and distribution footprint, and is a leading exporter of IMFL, in terms of annual sales volumes between Fiscal 2019 to Fiscal 2021 with an estimated peak share of 20% in Fiscal 2021. It started its journey in 1988 with the launch of flagship brand, Officer’s Choice Whisky which marked their entry into the mass premium whisky segment.

From 2016 to 2019, Officer’s Choice Whisky was among the top-selling whisky brands globally in terms of annual sales volumes. Over the years, ABD has expanded and introduced products across various categories and segments and established market leadership in the alcoholic beverages market in India with a market share of 8.2% in IMFL market by sales volumes in Fiscal 2021. Its main competitors are United Spirits Limited, Pernod Ricard India Private Limited and Radico Khaitan Limited.

As of March 31, 2022, their product portfolio comprised 10 major brands of IMFL across whisky, brandy, rum, and vodka. According to a Technopak report quoted in its DRHP, ABDs brands which include Officer’s Choice Whisky, Sterling Reserve, and Officer’s Choice Blue, are ‘Millionaire Brands’ or brands that have sold over a million 9-liter cases in one year.

Apart from liquor, ABD also sells packaged drinking water under the Officer’s Choice, Officer’s Choice Blue, and Sterling Reserve brands and has exported its products to 22 countries internationally, including countries in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Distribution of alco-beverages is highly controlled by the state government- both at the wholesale and retail level. There is a high entry barrier for new players. ABDs sales and distribution footprint spans across 25 states and union territories. Its products are retailed across 64,000 outlets as stated in the DRHP.

Allied Blenders and Distillers’ revenue from operations stood at Rs 6378.78 crore for Fiscal 2021, and profit after tax at Rs 2.51 crore. For nine month ending December 2021, revenue from operations stood at Rs 5444.98 crore and profit after tax at Rs 3.30 crore.  

For Fiscal 2021, and in the nine months ended December 31, 2021, its revenues from export sales were ? 133.55 crore and ? 113.24 crore, respectively.

IMFL is the largest segment of the Indian alco-beverage market both in volume and value terms.  IMFL sales by value is estimated at ? 1.74 trillion in Fiscal 2022 and projected to reach ? 2.4 trillion by Fiscal 2025 and in terms of sales volume it is estimated to reach 425 cases. During the period between Fiscal 2022 and Fiscal 2025, IMFL sales value is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.3% and sales volume at a CAGR of 6.2%.

ICICI Securities Limited, Axis Capital Limited, JM Financial Limited, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited and Equirus Capital Private Limited are the book running lead managers and Link Intime India Private Limited is the registrar to the offer. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.

Niine Is Selected For PLI Scheme Initiated By Ministry of Textiles, GOI

* The company commits Rs. 100 Crore investment under the PLI scheme

Niine Private Limited is selected for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Textile Industries, approved by Government of India (GOI). Niine was selected based on different criteria like financial capacity, relevant experience, technical capacity, location of the manufacturing unit, etc. Niine applied for the PLI scheme with the intention of supporting the creation of a viable enterprise and competitive textile industry. Niine manufactures high quality sanitary napkins and baby diapers, which are marketed pan India, under the ‘Niine’ brand. 

On this occasion, Amar Tulsiyan, Founder, Niine Private Limited, said, “We are extremely happy to be selected for the PLI scheme initiated by the Ministry of Textiles. In the last four years, since our commercial launch, we have witnessed robust growth for our premium yet affordable products. Under the scheme, our commitment is to invest Rs. 100 crores and we are confident of meeting the criteria for PLI incentives through this investment.” 

“Niine is a crusader and torchbearer of women’s menstrual dignity and through this scheme, our focus is to create awareness and educate the public about good practices of menstrual health and hygiene, across the length and breadth of our nation, especially in rural areas, with an aim to empower the women with greater confidence and happiness. Niine has adopted the best technologies for production and uses high quality materials in its feminine and baby hygiene solutions to ensure maximum comfort to the user,” Tulsiyan further emphasised.

Niine has been selected under Part 2 of the PLI scheme, which requires a minimum eligible capital investment of INR 100 crore, to be invested by March 31, 2024.  Based on the approved capital investment and sales performance starting from FY 2025, Niine will be eligible to claim its production linked incentives over the next 5 years.

PLI Scheme for Textiles is specially focused at high value and expanding Man-Made Fibres (MMF) and Technical Textiles segments of Textiles Value Chain. Incentives worth Rs. 10,683 crores will be provided over five years for manufacturing notified products of MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and segments/products of Technical Textiles in India. 

LoanTap Strengthens Top-Level With The Appointment of Chief Financial Officer And Chief Risk Officer

Today LoanTap, one of India’s fastest-growing lending tech start-ups, announced the strengthening of its senior management by appointing Ashish Jain as the Chief Financial Officer and Rajeev Das as the Chief Risk Officer. Their primary responsibilities will include implementing strategic initiatives that will be transformative and influential to the future of hyper-growing fintech. The appointment of these two experienced professionals will lead to the upliftment of the managerial team of LoanTap and will henceforth, lead to the smooth functioning of the organization. This is done to strengthen the management and introduce a structure in place which will help the organization grow and bloom. 

Mr. Ashish Jain is an experienced finance professional, qualified CA from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India with more than 15 years of work experience across the financial services sector in some of the top companies in the country. His portfolio is rich with the names of brands like L&T Financial Services, IDFC FIRST Bank, KPMG. His vast experience in the NBFC Finance and Treasury across large and listed organizations makes him one of the industry veterans and a much-respected senior executive. He has previously headed L&T Financial services and been an Associated Director of Finance at IDFC First Bank. He has worked in KPMG in the assurance vertical wherein he has led audits of large financial service clients. 

Mr Ashish Jain, CFO LoanTap said, “I am excited to take up the enhanced role of the CFO at LoanTap and given the growth graph of LoanTap it gives me immense pleasure to be associated with an organisation that has only seen growth. I’d like to thank the management for welcoming me with enthusiasm and am very positive about the future prospects of LoanTap. It’s going to be a beautiful yet challenging journey and I am committed to take LoanTap to the next level”  

Prior to joining LoanTap, Mr. Rajeev Das marked a long career in Standard Chartered Bank. He comes equipped with more than two decades of experience in Managing Portfolio, Operational Risk & Governance and he was a part of the team to acquire Rs. 7,000 Cr Mortgage & LAP Portfolio. He has handled Rs. 2500 Cr SME portfolio for the bank including purchase and sale of the new portfolio and was also instrumental in handling RBI audits, BRR audit (Business Risk Review), TCF audit (Treat Customers Fairly), Peer audit (KYC/AML), Group Audit of various sales functions in India and abroad.

Mr. Rajeev Das – CRO, LoanTap said, “I am grateful for the opportunity and I am confident that the two decades of experience will help me take charge of things and put things into perspective. It is an honour to be able to serve LoanTap in the capacity of the Chief Risk Officer and I am confident that my expertise in fintech will help the organisation grow. I will try my best to fulfil all my roles and responsibilities and will do so with utmost honesty.”

Mr Satyam Kumar, CEO & Founder – LoanTap said … “I am excited to have Rajeev and Ashish and believe that they will add considerable value to the management and help the organisation grow multidimensionally. Both Rajeev and Ashish will be an important part of LoanTap in their new roles and it gives me immense pleasure to predict the forthcoming future of LoanTap with solid management in place.”

The LoanTap management comprises like-minded business professionals who bring a wealth of knowledge, skills, and decades of real-world experience to the table. Given the complexities of the lending ecosystem, the top management comes from a diverse range of backgrounds to ensure an accurate representation of the LoanTap. 

Figaro, India’s Favourite Olive Oil, Unveils Premium Baby Care Product

•         The Goodness of Olive Oil enriched with Vitamin E makes Figaro Baby a distinguished offering

•         The all-new product is dermatologically tested and free of parabens and mineral oil, making it perfectly suitable for baby skin

Figaro Olive Oil, one of India’s most beloved brands, celebrates the announcement of its entry into a new product category with Figaro Baby. This all-new product – Figaro Baby Massage Oil – is dermatologically tested and specially designed for a baby's delicate skin to improve skin hydration. The oil is developed with an all-natural formulation that nourishes and makes the skin soft.

A recent survey conducted by the National Library of Medicine found that babies who were massaged with olive oil had better-moisturized skin than those who received dry massages, which led to charred skin. Massages have always been a quintessential part of a child’s early stages, which can contribute to the strengthening of a baby's muscles while creating a stronger bond between the mother and the baby.

With a deep understanding of consumer needs and keeping their needs in mind, Figaro is now paving its way into baby care. Figaro’s latest launch fulfils the skincare needs of a newborn baby through a product made with the Goodness of Olive Oil, enriched with Vitamin E, thereby keeping the skin healthy and moisturized.

“In India, Figaro Olive Oil continues to be a popular choice for consumers across the country, and now we are incredibly excited to be launching Figaro Baby Care. Figaro Baby is focused on reaching a much wider demographic of consumers—mothers who are looking for a brand and product they can trust with transparency and high-quality standards.” said Siladitya Sarangi – Country Manager at Figaro.

He added, "Massage not only has health benefits but is also a traditional practice passed down to generations, especially in Indian households." "Figaro is ready to extend its legacy into a new category, delivering the best care to babies."

Figaro baby will be available in 100ml, 200ml, and 400ml, priced at INR 199, 375, and 699, respectively.

About Figaro:

Figaro Olive Oil has been celebrating the goodness of olive oil for more than a century, and what a glorious journey it has been. It all began in 1919 when the Figaro brand was formed by a firm called Brugier y Trujillo that specialized in producing and selling olive oil, olives, and olive oil soap.

The founders were Euvaldo Martinez Brugier, a Sevillian trader, and Rafael Trujillo, who specialized in olive and olive oil sales. Rafael was also known as one of the best olive oil tasters of his time. Figaro Olive Oil is exported all around the world.

For more than 100 years, Figaro has and continues to be committed to quality and health. As a pioneer and champion of olive oil in the Indian market, Figaro has been offering Indian consumers high-quality olive oil for more than 40 years.

L&T Technology Services Inaugurates Engineering Design Centre At Toulouse In France

* Toulouse centre will accelerate digital transformation for aviation & defence; to ramp up 100 engineers over 2 years

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure-play engineering services company, inaugurated its Engineering Design Centre (EDC) in Toulouse, France, to initially cater to the new age digital requirements of the global aerospace and defence sectors.

The EDC will initially focus on developing cutting-edge solutions for the aerospace and defence industries and LTTS will work with major OEMs in the region as an engineering partner.

The center will specialize in end-to-end solutions for aerospace design & manufacturing, with a workforce of LTTS engineers having proven expertise in digital engineering, systems engineering and avionics design. LTTS plans to hire over 100 engineers in the next two years for the centre.

LTTS plans to invest and expand the new EDC, giving it a focus on sustainable next-gen solutions such as avionics systems and airlines digital solutions for customer and operations excellence. The centre will also incubate engineering solutions in other domains such as digital plant solutions, hydrogen fuel generation and distribution, to cater to the domestic market.

LTTS has been a strategic supplier with Airbus in India for more than a decade, providing engineering services across verticals such as engineering, avionics and digital, resulting in it being selected as a referenced Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering and Customer Service Engineering Supplier for Airbus. LTTS will now be extending this collaboration to a key geographic location like Toulouse, with the new centre offering end-to-end engineering services for Airbus and its supply chain. 

The EDC was inaugurated by Mr. Amit Chadha, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at LTTS along with distinguished customers and industry leaders.

Amit Chadha, CEO and Managing Director, L&T Technology Services said, “For over a decade, LTTS has supported global aerospace, defence and manufacturing companies with future-ready, cutting-edge digital and engineering technologies. This in-depth understanding of multiple domains makes LTTS a preferred engineering partner and has helped in building strategic alliances with global customers. The Engineering Centre at Toulouse, one of Europe’s primary Aerospace hubs, perfectly aligns with our goal of heralding a sustainable, greener future in France.”

Thierry Sentous, Conseiller Municipal, Toulouse said, “As a global provider of engineering services, LTTS establishes itself in the Toulouse region with very strong commercial potential and the willingness to develop talented and highly qualified engineering teams. The new LTTS engineering center will participate in the creation of exciting new digital opportunities in the fields of avionics, urban air mobility and defence, and also contribute to strengthening the economic ecosystem of Toulouse and its region.”

LTTS’ global offerings include deep domain technical expertise and tailor-made digital technologies supporting Aerospace OEMs and Tier 1s meet compliance standards, increase quality, and stay competitive in an evolving aviation sector.

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 57 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 20,800 employees spread across 17 global design centres, 28 global sales offices and 89 innovation labs as of March 31, 2022. For more information,  visit https://www.ltts.com/

Zynga India Is Now Great Place To Work-Certified For Its India Operations

Zynga Inc., a wholly-owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) and a global leader in interactive entertainment, today announced that the company has earned a Great Place to Work® certification for its India operations. This distinction is based on survey feedback from employees in the region, 86% of whom agreed that Zynga India is a great place to work. The certification is testimony to Zynga India’s commitment to supporting individuals in gaming and portrays the culture and values that drive the organisation toward becoming an employer of choice.

“We are honored to be recognized as one of India’s Great Places To Work,” said Kishore Kichili, Senior Vice President, Games, and Country Head, Zynga India. “The certification reflects our values and culture and confirms our commitment to nurturing talent by providing them with a conducive work environment. Our India team has played a crucial role in developing games and driving innovation for Zynga. As we take pride in this moment, our people shall remain at the centre of everything, and we will constantly strive to bring them opportunities for growth.”

“We’re so proud to have the prestigious Great Place to Work certification as validation of our people-first culture,” said Bhavna Talwar, Senior Director HR at Zynga India. “What we’re even more proud of is the effort put in every day by all of our colleagues toward providing psychological safety at work for each other. It is those many daily actions and interactions that make up the fair, inclusive and respectful culture that keeps us together, attracts new talent and garners recognition for us such as the Great Place to Work certification.”

Committed to providing an empathetic and inclusive work environment, Zynga India follows an employee-first approach with its work culture initiatives that encourage learning and growth while supporting mental health for the workforce. Zynga India believes in empowering team members to own their days, a move to help employees grow both personally and professionally. Initiatives – like a two week year-end break, ‘no meeting day’ every week, free online meditation app, and employee resource groups for women, parents, LGBTQ-identifying individuals and more –  lead to a positive experience for employees.

Zynga has been recently recognized as a Great Place to Work in the U.S. as well. Earlier this month, FORTUNE announced Zynga is on the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list, building on the recognition of the Great Places to Work survey and certification that Zynga received last year, which revealed that 95% of Zynga U.S. employees said the company is a great place to work. 

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make strategic people decisions. The Institute serves businesses, nonprofits and government agencies in more than 60 countries and has conducted pioneering research on the characteristics of great workplaces for over three decades.

In India, the institute partners with more than 1,100 organizations annually across over 22 industries to help them build High-Trust, High-Performance Cultures™ designed to deliver sustained business results. Hundreds of CEOs and CXOs from India Inc. are part of the great place community that is committed to the vision of making India a great place to work FOR ALLTM.

The Institute’s research shows that great workplaces are characterized by great leadership, consistent employee experience and sustainable financial performance. These organizations can deliver a consistent experience to all their employees irrespective of their role, gender, tenure or level in the organization. Their leaders believe in the vision of creating and sustaining a Great Place to Work FOR ALL and serving as role models ‘FOR ALL’ leaders.

Learn more at https://www.greatplacetowork.in/ and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Zynga is a wholly-owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO)

About Zynga

Zynga is a global leader in interactive entertainment with a mission to connect the world through games and a wholly-owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. With a massive global reach in more than 175 countries and regions, the combined diverse portfolio of popular game franchises has been downloaded more than 5 billion times on mobile, including CSR Racing™, Dragon City™, Empires & Puzzles™, FarmVille™, Golf Rival™, Hair Challenge™, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells™, High Heels!™, Merge Dragons!™, Merge Magic!™, Monster Legends™, Toon Blast™, Top Eleven™, Toy Blast™, Two Dots™, Words With Friends™ and Zynga Poker™. Zynga is also an industry-leading next-generation platform with the ability to optimize programmatic advertising and yields at scale with Chartboost, a leading mobile advertising and monetization platform. Founded in 2007, Zynga is headquartered in California with locations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.zynga.com or follow Zynga on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or the Zynga blog

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher, and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products principally through Rockstar Games, 2K, Private Division, and Zynga. Our products are currently designed for console gaming systems, PC, and Mobile including smartphones and tablets, and are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms, and cloud streaming services. The Company’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO.

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