Building Futures: The Akshaya Patra Foundation And NTT Ltd Lay Foundation Stone For A Government School In Bengaluru

·         The school will cater to more than 200 students and will be spread across 7,500 sq ft

·         The Rs 2 crore project is estimated to be completed by the end of 2023

·         The school will have a dedicated multi-purpose hall for the consumption of mid-day meals, an amphitheatre and a solar power system

NTT Ltd., a leading IT infrastructure and services company, along with The Akshaya Patra Foundation performed bhoomi pujan and laid the foundation stone of the Government Higher Primary School in Lakshmipura, Bengaluru, on Thursday, June 30, 2022, to further their collective efforts to address classroom hunger and malnutrition through education.

Both the organisations aim to complete the construction of the school, which is being built on a government-sanctioned plot, by the end of 2023. The INR ?2 Crore project, spread across 7,500 sq ft, will have unique features such as a multi-purpose hall with a dedicated space for the consumption of mid-day meals, an amphitheatre, a computer lab, a library, solar power and rainwater harvesting systems. Other facilities planned are water purifying systems, classroom infrastructure, sports ground and CCTV cameras.

The event was graced by the presence of Shri Manjunath R, MLA, Dasarahalli Assembly Constituency, Bangalore, Shri Lohiteshwar Reddy, Deputy Director of Public Instruction (Bangalore – North), Shri Ashwath Narayana, Block Education Officer (Bangalore North – 4), Mr Sunil Kishore, Senior Executive Vice President, NTT, Mr Dilip Kumar, Chief Digital & Global Business Services Officer, NTT, Mr. Anant Arora, CSCO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation and Mr. Balaji MN, CFO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Manjunath R, MLA, Dasarahalli Assembly Constituency, Bangalore thanked NTT and Akshaya Patra for coming forward in building this modern government school. He assured his support to the fullest.

Speaking about the collaboration, Mr. Sunil Kishore, Senior Executive Vice President, NTT, said, “Access to quality education is a fundamental right of every child, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. At NTT, we firmly believe that a holistic environment equipped with the latest technologies and digital inclusiveness can help create a world where children from economically-weaker sections do not have to forfeit opportunities because of affordability or accessibility issues. Our philosophy is to bring a tangible impact to our existing education ecosystem, and we are happy to have partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to strengthen our social impact initiative while also providing a safe space for the children who are the future of this country.”

Established in 1963, the school is currently housed in an old building and provides education to 201 children from vulnerable communities and low-income families.

On the occasion, Mr. Shridhar Venkat, CEO of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said, “We are grateful to NTT Ltd. for reiterating their support towards our vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’. This collaboration will not only support us to provide children belonging to vulnerable communities with a holistic study space, but also help us maintain our conviction that education is one of the best approaches to nurture a happy future for our country. We are honoured to have partnered with NTT Ltd. and hope this collaboration will continue to make an on-ground impact for many more years to come.”

The project is a part of Akshaya Patra’s school rejuvenation program under the National Endeavour for Student Transformation (NEST), an initiative that focuses on addressing the various challenges faced at individual school levels. The Foundation firmly believes that every school has its unique challenges and the solutions will need to be customised to address these challenges with the expertise of the school administration. The program also focuses on community investment at a school level to engage parents and community members in stronger roles.

The objective of this initiative is to create an environment that will enhance the impact of education by focusing on infrastructural improvements, quality of education and community engagement. It is the Foundation’s attempt to create a sustainable and replicable model that will serve as a template for other schools in the future.

The project is one of the several collaborations between Akshaya Patra and NTT Ltd. Earlier, this year, both the organisations joined hands to provide Android tablets to 235 students of Government Girls High School and Government Girls PUC in Basavangudi to mark the launch of the Foundation’s Digital Education Initiative. Akshaya Patra implemented the initiative with the support of corporate donors to bridge the digital divide and further digital inclusiveness by providing students belonging to economically weaker sections of the society access to good quality, modern education for free of cost.

About NTT Ltd.

NTT Ltd. is a leading IT infrastructure and services company. With revenues of over USD 10 billion, we operate in more than 200 countries and regions, and serve 5,000 clients across multiple industries. Through technology and innovation, we deliver a secure and connected future that empowers our people, clients and communities.

The firm lays the foundation for organizations’ edge-to-cloud networking ecosystem, simplify the complexity of their workloads across multicloud environments, and innovate at the edge of their IT environments, where networks, cloud and applications converge. On the journey towards a software-defined future, we support organizations with platform-delivered infrastructure services. As part of the global NTT Corporation, we serve 65% of the Fortune Global 500 and 80% of the Fortune Global 100.  We enable a connected future.

About The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. As the implementing partner of the Government of India’s flagship school feeding programme, through its relentless commitment to creating a secure and educated future, the Akshaya Patra has grown from serving just 1,500 children in 5 schools in 2000 to over 1.8 million children in 19,039 government and government-aided schools from its 61 kitchens across 14 States and 2 Union Territories. Through this scheme, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school.

Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children.

WiJungle Achieves Milestone, Mitigates Over 3 Billion Cyber Threats

* Of the 3 billion+ cyber threats eliminated, the unified cybersecurity platform has successfully mitigated more than 18% of high-risk cyber threats and 31% of moderate threats collectively across its customer base. 

WiJungle- a one-stop unified cyber security platform, has recently announced a new milestone with the successful mitigation of more than 3 billion cyber threats across its global customer base. With this achievement, WiJungle has progressively established its eminence worldwide across all major industry verticals like IT/ITES, defence, hospitality, Healthcare, education, retail, BFSI, manufacturing etc.

As India embarks upon the next stage of digitalization, riding on digital technologies, cyber risk resilience and privacy considerations become imminent. Accordingly, cyber risks must be identified and eliminated across levels, from consumer to enterprise to nation. To foster cyber as a culture and create safe cyberspace along with a well-fortified infrastructure, many companies are stimulating cyber security solutions to bolster every nook of the ever-widening digital world. WiJungle, a ‘Make in India’ startup, is helping the government as well as private giants to up their cybersecurity game.

Delighted with the achievement, Karmesh Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of WiJungle, said, “We are pleased to announce that none of our customers have ever faced any security breach. It is a testimony to our tech staff working exhaustively to make cyber resilience easy for our esteemed customers. To enable India to reach greater heights in cybersecurity, we are bolstering the cybersecurity framework by managing and securing the digital infrastructure.”

Of the 3 billion+ cyber threats eliminated, WiJungle has successfully mitigated more than 18% of high-risk cyber threats and 31% of moderate threats collectively across its customer base. The unified security platform also stated that none of the companies’ customers have ever reported a security breach. To drive the next growth stage, the cyber firm plans to expand its technology team to strengthen further its AI & ML powered OS.

Founded in 2017, WiJungle develops and markets ‘Unified Cyber Security Platform’ and currently serves the government as well as private giants. The company is also among the highest-rated vendors on Gartner in network security and caters to the cybersecurity needs of businesses across multiple countries. Being the world’s first Unified Cyber Security Platform, WiJungle aims to transform the way cybersecurity is consumed today by enterprises.

WiJungle also raised seed funding at a valuation of $22 million from SOSV, a global venture capital firm based out in the United States that operates early-stage startup development programs. Besides securing the funding, the company has also relocated its headquarters to Gurugram & further recently received the National Award from Government of India. To accommodate the growing needs of customers, the company also plans to hire for multiple positions across different departments, including but not limited to Engineering, Sales, Operations, HR, Support etc.

52% Women Doctors Make The First Move In Matrimony: DoctorsMatrimony Survey Report

 

* Matrimony.com sees record 50% growth in member base

On the occasion of National Doctors Day, DoctorsMatrimony.com, an exclusive matchmaking service for the medical professionals, from Matrimony.com, revealed in a report that over 52% women doctors have made the first move expressing their interest to a doctor, surgeon, dentist, healthcare professional or therapist. Each month, about 2 lakh interests are expressed by both women and male doctors. The report also said that thousands of doctors, both women and men, have been registering every week and profiles have grown 50% over the past six months.  

Reflecting the need for a companion who understands the strain of long hours at work after the pandemic, DoctorsMatrimony has seen steady increase in the number of doctors registering during the past year, with 53% of the total members being women doctors. The exclusive service was launched in January 2021 after Matrimony.com saw lakhs of doctor couples find each other through its services, over the last two decades. The company also found that shared values brought doctors together.  On DoctorsMatrimony.com, doctors can choose matches not only by religion, city, education, but also by doctor specialisation. 

“Most doctors feel the need for a companion who understands their profession and shares similar values. For doctors, that’s very likely when the life partner is also a doctor. Through DoctorsMatrimony thousands of doctors have chosen another doctor as a life partner. We’re trying to provide an exclusive platform to help them find their perfect match,” says Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder and CEO, Matrimony.com. 

The report also revealed that due to the longer years of academic specialisation, significant number of doctors marry a little later than the rest of the population. 28% of male doctors and 16% of female doctors are in the age group 31 to 40.  Interestingly, only 12% women and 4% men are seeking a life partner outside the country where they reside.  

Surprisingly, 53% members are women and 47% men. Doctors seem to be more active from 6 to 10 in the evenings and engage better on Sundays and Mondays. 

Within India, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad are among the top five cities by registrations. The top occupations listed on lakhs of profiles are doctor, surgeon, dentist, surgeon, psychologist, and healthcare professional. USA, UK, Canada, UAE and Australia contribute to nearly 50% of NRI Doctor Registrations. 

About Matrimony.com limited 

Matrimony.com is India’s leading consumer Internet Company. It is a signature consumer internet conglomerate, managing marquee brands such as BharatMatrimony, CommunityMatrimony and EliteMatrimony. BharatMatrimony is considered the largest and most trusted matrimony brand which has also established a considerable retail presence with over 110 self-owned retail outlets across India.  The Company delivers matchmaking and marriage related services to users in India and the Indian diaspora.  The Company has pioneered several new business models such as WeddingBazaar.com, Mandap.com and CommunityMatrimony.com, a consortium of over 300 community matrimony websites. 

For more details, visit https://www.matrimony.com 

Women’s World Banking And Bank of Baroda Announce Rollout of ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

* Phase 3 of the project to roll out in 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh and all 13 districts of Uttarakhand with the aim to increase access to and improve engagement of low-income women with formal financial services 

Bank of Baroda, one of India’s leading public sector banks, has partnered with Women’s World Banking (WWB), a global non-profit committed to giving low-income women access to financial tools for long-term financial security and prosperity, to roll out the third and broader phase of the ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ programme across 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh and all 13 districts of Uttarakhand. The third and largest phase of ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ will reach out to a wide base of existing Jan Dhan customers of Bank of Baroda through financial literacy camps and business correspondents, to disseminate the benefit of savings and provide access to formal credit by way of PMJDY Overdraft facility and other social security schemes. The programme will also train and work with over 2000 business correspondents (BC) and 1000 BC Sakhis (women business correspondents) to empower them to help women customers in their regions. 

‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ builds on the robust infrastructure of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which has brought around 25.11 crore or 251.1 million women into the banking ecosystem with Jan Dhan bank accounts. These women account holders need a strong reason to engage meaningfully with banks to reap the benefits of full financial inclusion. ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ brings a compelling proposition to encourage women account holders to save money in a systematic manner by motivating them to deposit Rs. 500 monthly for five months, building a relationship that can lead to a PMJDY overdraft loan facility of up to Rs. 10,000.  

The  ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ model rests on 3 core pillars: making the bank ecosystem a welcoming one for low-income women, making savings relatable and rewarding for women, and training and capacity building of business correspondent (BC) agents on soft skills with a gender focus to make them better understand and fulfil the needs of women customers. Banks, in turn, learn more about an important customer base and how to address this segment effectively with customised products and services. 

Shri Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “Financial inclusion of women, especially women with low income, requires a more nuanced approach. A long-term approach that involves ongoing engagement and creating a supportive environment is key. ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’, created in collaboration with Women’s World Banking, is a tested approach to go beyond financial inclusion to help women attain financial empowerment by opening access to a wider bouquet of PMJDY benefits and not just a bank account.” 

The initial two pilot projects of ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ were conducted with 170 Bank of Baroda branches (with over 650 BCs and over 100 BC Sakhis) across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh between Jan 2020 to Jan 2022. The pilot projects underscored that when financial products and services are designed to overcome women-centric barriers, they successfully engage women as well as the entire customer base.  

Speaking about the programme, Ms. Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head, South Asia, Women’s World Banking said, “Women are some of society’s most active and committed savers and, in many cases, hold the key to their household’s savings and financial resilience. Right from the start we have recognised that women account holders are an extremely important customer base for the financial sector and if we can nurture them to become confident participants in the banking sector, we can create significant opportunities for the women as well as the financial service providers and the economy as a whole. We are heartened to see a leading institution like Bank of Baroda taking this forward. We would also like to thank The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Visa Foundation, The Walmart Foundation, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who have helped incubate the project and are also supporting us in scaling it further.”  

Indian Retail Industry On Growth Trajectory Post COVID-19, Says Dr. Sunil Chopra, Deputy Dean

* Dr.Sunil Chopra addresses students on, ‘The Potential Future of Indian Retail’ at the Great Lakes Institute of Management’s ‘Distinguished Thought Leadership Series’ 

Great Lakes Institute of Management hosted the DistinguishedThought Leadership series in which Dr. Sunil Chopra, Deputy Dean and IBM Distinguished Professor of Operations Management and Informations System, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, shared his insights with the students. 

During the interactive session with students of the PGPM 2023 batch, Dr. Chopra elaborated on the probable trajectories of the Indian Retail Market. The session was conducted as part of their “Term Zero”, Distinguished Thought Leadership Series.  

Term Zero was the outcome of the Institute’s effort to seamlessly transit into the online mode of classes during Covid-19. The fast paced 10-day term serves as an introductory session to students by the professors and industry leaders to get them ready for their MBA program. 

Students listened to Dr Chopra with rapt attention as he explained about the different channel choices such as Hyperlocal, Big Box Retail and Online channel: how a framework for an omni-channel retail was necessary in designing the most efficient distribution network in India. Different factors such as Product Value, Demand Uncertainty and Information Content should be taken into consideration while coming up with a model.  

He further elaborated on the successful model of 7-Eleven in Japan as an example of what must be implemented in India to attain the greatest gross profit. To achieve this model, the Professor explained, three commons need to be created - Information commons, Education commons and Distribution commons. Once these are created and implemented effectively, a replica of 7-Eleven can be utilized in the Indian retail market as well that takes advantage of every distribution channel. In this model, hyperlocals should be distributed everywhere, customized to the people of that location and also serve as a pickup location or showroom along with a place where online orders can be placed.  

Dr. Chopra shed light on the Indian Retail Industry that has already recovered post Covid-19 and is on a growth trajectory of 10% annually, leading to a growth of approximately 2 trillion USD by 2032, as suggested by a report put together by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in association with Retailers Association of India (RAI). The Indian Retail market has already seen a recovery in consumption and the changing landscape is instigating a multitude of opportunities for Indian Retailers.

SBI Card, Aditya Birla Finance Partner To Launch “Aditya Birla SBI Card” In Indian Market

SBI Card, India’s largest pure-play credit card issuer, today announced the launch of ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card’, a highly rewarding lifestyle credit card, in a strategic partnership with Aditya Birla Finance Ltd (ABFL), the lending subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. The card has been designed to give customers significant reward points on their spending around telecom, fashion, travel, dining, entertainment, and hotels, among others. This makes ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card’ one of the most compelling cards for customers across segments, offering exciting benefits on both premium and mass brands that belong to the Aditya Birla Group. 

The rewards-centric credit card has been launched in two variants - ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card SELECT’ and ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card’, on the Visa platform. Cardholders can avail greater value back in the form of reward points on their spends on Aditya Birla Group Companies, be it on telecom bills through Vodafone Idea (Vi) or on lifestyle stores such as Louis Philippe, The Collective, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, American Eagle, Polo, and Pantaloons among others. In fact, this card provides an added advantage of accelerated Reward Points on spends in hotels, a key benefit for travel savvy consumers. 

According to Mr. Rama Mohan Rao Amara, MD & CEO, SBI Card, “We are delighted to join hands with Aditya Birla Finance, one of the leading NBFCs in India. This partnership will enable us to issue credit cards to Aditya Birla Group’s customer base, thereby providing them a great product for all their spending needs. This is in line with our strategy of enhancing value for both customers and co-brand partners. The customer acquisition process will be completely digital, thereby ensuring an enhanced customer experience. Aditya Birla SBI Card’s unmatched benefits coupled with Aditya Birla Group’s extensive and diversified brand portfolio will be a striking proposition for customers looking to spend across varied lifestyle categories.” 

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Rakesh Singh, MD & CEO, Aditya Birla Finance Ltd, said: “We are delighted to collaborate with SBI Card to launch the ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card’, which will immensely benefit the 35 million customers of Aditya Birla Capital and help us leveraging the customer ecosystem of the Aditya Birla Group. Consumers are adapting to digital payments today, and this offering will fuel the purchasing power of our consumers. It will enable us to engage deeper with them by ensuring an impactful consumer experience, best-in-class rewards, and hassle-free payment services.” 

Mr. Sandeep Ghosh, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa said, “This exciting partnership of Visa, Aditya Birla Finance and SBI Card for the co-branded credit card is a great example of delivering simple yet customized offerings, for various brands of Aditya Birla Group and in categories like dining, entertainment, and fuel. We are confident the proposition will appeal to consumers and help build loyalty.” 

Through ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card SELECT’, customers can avail 20 Reward Points on every Rs 100 spent in Aditya Birla stores and 10 Reward Points on every Rs 100 spent in dining, entertainment, and hotels. As a welcome gift, the card offers 6000 Reward Points to customers upon payment of card membership fee. They also earn 3000 Reward Points on achieving annual spends milestone of Rs 1.5 lakh and an additional 3000 Reward Points when they reach Rs 3 lakh annual spends milestone.  

The joining/annual renewal fee for ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card’ and ‘Aditya Birla SBI Card SELECT’ is Rs 499 and Rs 1499 respectively. 

About SBI Card 

SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited is a non-banking financial company that offers extensive credit card portfolio to individual cardholders and corporate clients which includes lifestyle, rewards, travel & fuel and banking partnerships cards along with corporate cards covering all major cardholders’ segments in terms of income profile and lifestyle. The brand has a wide base of over 13.7 million cards in force as of Q4 FY22. It has diversified customer acquisition network that enables to engage prospective customers across multiple channels. SBI Card is a technology driven company. 

P.S. The brand name of the company is ‘SBI Card’ and it is registered in the name of ‘SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited’. The company is trading under the entity name ‘SBICARD’ on stock exchanges. 

About Aditya Birla Finance Limited 

Aditya Birla Finance Limited ("ABFL"), a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Limited is among the leading well-diversified non-banking financial services company in India. ABFL offers customized solutions in areas of personal finance, mortgage finance, SME finance, corporate finance, wealth management, debt capital markets and loan syndication. ABFL is registered with RBI as a systemically important non-deposit accepting non-banking finance company (“NBFC”) and is amongst the top five largest private diversified NBFCs in India based on AUM. 

For the Quarter ended 31st March 2022, ABFL has a lending book of Rs. 551.80 billion and a net worth of Rs. 98.60 billion. ABFL’s long-term credit rating of AAA (Stable) has been reaffirmed by ICRA in September 2020.  ABFL also has long-term credit rating of AAA (Stable) by India Ratings, Perpetual debt credit rating of AA+ (Stable) by ICRA and AA+ (Stable) by India Ratings (Stable) and short-term credit rating of A1+ by ICRA & India Ratings. 

Aditya Birla Capital Limited  

(ABCL) is the holding company for the financial services businesses of the Aditya Birla Group. 

ABCL’s subsidiaries have a strong presence across Protecting, Investing and Financing solutions, ABCL is a universal financial solutions group catering to diverse needs of its customers across their life stages.  Powered by more than 30,000 employees, the subsidiaries of ABCL have a nationwide reach with 950 branches and more than 2,00,000 agents / channel partners and several bank partners.  

As of March 31st, 2022, Aditya Birla Capital Limited manages aggregate assets under management over Rs. 3,706 billion, has a consolidated lending book of approx. Rs. 672 billion, and an active customer base of over 35 million, through its subsidiaries and joint ventures. 

Aditya Birla Capital Limited is a part of the Aditya Birla Group, in the league of Fortune 500. Anchored by an extraordinary force of over 140,000 employees, belonging to 100 nationalities. Today, over 50% of Group revenues flow from overseas operations that span 36 countries in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. 

Modi Virtually Inaugurates Bosch's First Smart India Campus - Spark.NXT - In Bengaluru

* The 76-acre campus features multiple smart solutions based on sustainability, security, and user experience

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated Bosch’s new campus in Bengaluru, built at a cost of $100 million. The 76-acre Spark.NXT campus features multiple smart solutions based on sustainability, security, and user experience for associates, visitors, and facility management. 

“The smart campus will take a lead in the development of futuristic products and solutions for India and for the world,“ said the Prime Minister. 

The auto ancillaries major which employs 31,500 people and does Rs 22,000 crore in annual revenues, is celebrating its centenary in India. At present, it has 16 manufacturing sites, and seven development and application centres in India. 

Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Bosch Limited and president of the Bosch Group, India, said, “We started our Make in India and Make in Karnataka manufacturing journey 69 years ago. Today, with our new Spark.NXT campus, the company continues to invest in smart and sustainable solutions that are ‘Invented for life’ and supports the government’s vision for an Atmanirbhar Bharat. 

Filiz Albrecht, board member of management and director of Industrial Relations, Robert Bosch GmbH, said though sustainability is central to the corporate strategy, the company’s success depends on people.  “Over the last five years, Bosch India has invested one billion euros in upscaling and will invest another billion euros in the next five years in various training programmes for artificial intelligence, software, electromobility, etc,” she added. 

“Bosch has had a presence in the state for several decades now and we are happy to have India’s largest smart campus here. Karnataka, primarily Bengaluru, has been a technology hub and houses the largest number of R&D centers across the globe. This campus is another feather to its cap,” said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. 

The company has invested Rs 50 crores in the reduction of energy consumption at the new Adugodi campus and will meet up to 85 per cent of its total energy needs with in-house solar panels and the purchase of green group captive power. It houses multiple smart, sustainable solutions including Bosch DEEPSIGHTS, The Bosch Intelligent Air-Conditioning and Comfort Assistant (BIANCA), and air-quality monitors.