CGCL Reports Rs 461 Million Consolidated PAT For The Quarter Ended June 30, 2022

* Consolidated Key Performance Highlights for Q1 FY23 

The Board of Directors of Capri Global Capital Ltd. (CGCL), a non-deposit taking and systemically important NBFC (NBFC-ND-SI) announced the reviewed financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022.  

Earnings 

CGCL reported a Consolidated Profit after Tax of Rs461mn, flat on a YoY basis but up by 10% over Q4 FY22 PAT Rs418mn. Despite a sequentially weaker core income, a softer opex expansion and a halving of credit cost QoQ led to an improved PAT over Q4 FY22. Proactive write-off continued in Q1FY23 and is likely to recur in the remainder FY23.  

Net interest margin for Q1 FY23, excluding spreads on co-lending AUM, was 7.8%, lower than 9% noted in Q4 FY22 and 8.3% in Q1 FY22.  

The Q1 FY23 Consolidated RoE was 9.5% while RoA was 2.5%.  

Balance Sheet 

Quarterly disbursals including Indirect Lending were Rs10.9bn, up 91% YoY but lower 27% QoQ. MSME and Housing contributed 17% and 18% respectively to the Q1 FY23 disbursals. The rest was contributed by Construction Finance and Indirect Lending verticals respectively. Consolidated AUM including co-lending AUM increased 41% YoY and 5% QoQ. The relatively lower disbursal contribution from MSME in the disbursals lowered its share in AUM marginally to ~49% from ~50% in Q4 FY22. Share of Housing in consolidated AUM inched up 70bps QoQ to 27%. The co-lending arrangement with State Bank of India and Union Bank of India showed steady pick-up with the AUM increasing 72% QoQ to ~Rs2bn in of Q1 FY23.  

The car loan distribution business continued to surpass its previous volume achievements, originating ~Rs11bn in new car loans and contributing Rs183mn net fees to the core income. 

Liability Management 

Outstanding borrowings increased 49% YoY to touch Rs53,628mn. Borrowings were long term and well-diversified across 19 lending institutions. The average cost of borrowings was 8.03%, lower 13bps QoQ and lower 34bps YoY. CGCL is well-funded and maintains a well-matched asset liability profile.     

Asset Quality 

Gross Stage 3 ratio was 2.7%, moving up by 32bps QoQ and but lower 73bps YoY. The Gross Stage 3 ratio has increased for the first time after declining continuously for three straight quarters. The PCR including aggregate ECL provisions was 96.2%.   

Strong Capital Adequacy 

Both CGCL and its housing finance subsidiary CGHFL remain well capitalized with a capital adequacy ratio at 29.9% and 39.5% respectively as of Q1 FY23.  

Founder & Managing Director Mr. Rajesh Sharma Commented: 

“Although the Q1 FY23 profit is better sequentially, the overall earnings appear to present a mixed picture of the fundamentals. We had picked up a sustained momentum post-Covid19 lockdowns and we believe the Q1 FY23 performance is a small bump in this journey. There were also notable positives - the distribution continued to grow rapidly clocking its best ever volumes and fee contribution, highlighting clearly our ability to launch new products and scale them up quickly.  

We remain focused on our goals. Our motto remains growing sustainably and profitably and we remain committed to overcoming the bump we have experienced in Q1FY23.” 

GO FIRST Launched Limited Period Independence Day Sale With Fares Starting At INR 1,508/-

* Fares starting at INR 1,508 across all domestic sectors 

* Booking period – 10th August to 13th August 2022  

* Travel period – 1st September 2022 to 31st March 2023 

To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence, GO FIRST (formerly known as GoAir) launched a limited period Independence Day sale with astounding fares starting at INR 1,508/- (inclusive of taxes) for travel on its domestic network.  

Passengers can book across all domestic sectors operated by GO FIRST for the travel period starting from 1st September 2022 until 31st March 2023. The four-day booking period will commence on 10th August 2022 and will conclude on the 13th of August 2022. 

The sale will enable customers to plan a vacation well in advance at extremely affordable pricing. In addition to convenience and affordable flying experience, GO FIRST has been consistent in providing flight options and flexibility to their customers with value driven initiatives.  

Tickets for this sale can be booked on GO FIRST website (www.FlyGoFirst.com), or via GO FIRST official Mobile App. Tickets under this offer are refundable, though changeable with a change fee and fare difference. 

Mr. Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer, GO FIRST, said, “It is a joyful occasion for us as we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence. On this celebratory day, we take immense pride in our freedom, and we want to celebrate it with our passengers this year. GO FIRST remains firm to its commitment to excellence in customer centricity, and this service is yet another initiative to offer optimal customer delight making this the best time for travellers to book flight tickets and plan their travel.” 

GO FIRST provides an on-time, courteous, safe, and hassle-free experience at affordable fares and has introduced several passenger-friendly services aimed at providing a seamless experience. This offer is an extension of its ongoing customer-centricity. 

About GO FIRST: 

Founded as GoAir, GO FIRST, which was recently rebranded from GO AIR, is the aviation foray of 285-year-old Wadia Group that comprises leading brands including 150-year-old Bombay Burmah, 140-year-old Bombay Dyeing, 102-year-old Britannia Ltd., 67-year-old National Peroxide Limited, a nine-year-old Bombay Realty. 

CheQ Expands Leadership Team To Strengthen Future Growth With New Top Management

* CheQ appoints Bipin Toro, Akash Kedia & Viral Bansal as founding members of the company. 

* They will lead the Engineering, Product and Human Resource functions. 

Bengaluru-based CheQ, India’s first platform for simplifying the discovery, management and payment of credit products has announced the appointment of Bipin Toro as Head of Engineering, Akash Kedia as Head of Product and Viral Bansal as its Head of People & Culture. 

Commenting on the appointments, Aditya Soni, Founder, CheQ said, “We are excited to have Bipin, Akash and Viral join us to accelerate our vision of making credit management easy & accessible for every Indian. They are proven leaders who all bring robust industry experience, track records of business discipline, and smart strategic insights that will drive CheQ toward future growth. I'm thrilled to welcome them to the leadership team and look forward to their contribution to CheQ’s success.” 

Bringing an experience of over 24 years in the fintech & loyalty industry, Bipin Toro has been part of founding/leadership teams of startups like Reward360 and other growth stage companies, building large-scale product platforms and assembling strong engineering & operations teams. 

Bipin said, “CheQ is addressing a critical social need of bridging the credit gap”, “The engineering team’s vision will be to abstract the complexities of the repayment labyrinth and present a simple story to the customer to manage and build credit.”  

“We will go beyond and above to create an engineering work culture where individual growth & aspirations will be nurtured, and will attract superlative talent”, he added. 

A former Flipkart veteran, Akash Kedia joins CheQ from Trade Republic in Germany where he headed growth for the EU’s largest neo broker. On bringing his rich experience in payments & martech to CheQ,  

Akash said - "Credit and finance is usually a complex topic for Indians, marred by hidden information and technicalities difficult to comprehend. CheQ’s goal is to bring more transparency and convenience to the area of credit in India by taking a tech and product-first approach. I look forward to expanding our reach and helping customers realize the full value of their credit products." 

Viral Bansal joins CheQ from Genpact, where he spent 16 years driving a high-performance ecosystem of talent, culture, process, technology and analytics. 

Sharing his excitement on nurturing an organization from the word go, Viral said, “The problem we are trying to solve and the purpose we are trying to serve is extremely powerful, it’s a real need in India’s economic growth story. I look at my role as keeping our purpose a north star in everything we do; and enable building an organization that can nimbly balance long-term thinking & immediate business results.” 

About CheQ 

CheQ was founded in January 2022 by Aditya Soni in Bangalore. The company is building India’s first credit management platform with the aim of simplifying the discovery and management of Credit products. CheQ prides itself on its core values and focuses strongly on building a team whose members will have complementary strengths, and together will steer the organization using these shared values as their moral and operational compasses. 

The founding members span across different industries like FinTech, Payments, IT consulting, e-commerce to retail and there is a concentrated focus on creating a right mix of experienced leaders and young talent. Within the span of 6 months, CheQ has a strong team of 30 people across different functions and aims to be a 100-member organization by the end of the year. 

Eupheus Learning Launches NEP STAR School, An NEP-Aligned Transformation Initiative, In Collaboration With AWS

·        Over 400 schools in 110+ cities have been identified for the pilot in the NEP STAR School initiative

·        Initiative to enable NEP implementation through digital technologies, and transform schools into 21st Century Schools

Eupheus Learning, among India’s largest school-focused distribution platforms with a reach of over 20,000 schools, today announced a new initiative ‘NEP STAR School’ along with Amazon Web Services (AWS)*, to enable schools to seamlessly implement digital technologies as per the government’s National Education Policy (NEP 2020). The significance of 21st century skills and overall development of learners and educators has been called out in the NEP 2020, and this vision has been instilled in Eupheus Learning’s operations since its inception in 2017. The home-grown EdTech firm aims to create a 21st century learning environment for 400 schools across more than 110 cities in the pilot stage of the NEP STAR School initiative. All participating schools will receive hands-on support to improve learning outcomes, improve efficacy of school operations via technology, and create benchmarks for other schools in the usage of technology in teaching, learning and adminstration aspects of school management.

This initiative aims at eventually enabling 7,500+ user schools of Eupheus Learning with a unified platform comprising content, Learning Management System (LMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) on a single sign-on. Further, Eupheus is taking a leap in providing an integrated one-point solution, making lives easier for each stakeholder - students, teachers, school management, and parents.

Speaking about the initiative, Sarvesh Srivastava, Founder and Managing Director of Eupheus Learning, said, “We are elated to collaborate with AWS to extend the benefits of cloud computing and related technology solutions to K-12 schools across India, on the back of our proven adoption of AWS services to build a reliable, scalable and secure platform. The NEP STAR School initiative aims at upgradation for schools on multiple levels – learners will benefit from integrated content and educators with teaching aid, technology will enable play-based and experiential content, and automation will help create efficiency around routine tasks like marking attendance of students and assigning homework. Importantly, the initiative will help achieve more positive impact on the learning outcomes through an integrated progress report for students, rather than relying only on assessments and examinations. NEP STAR School will facilitate successful implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) mandate at schools, and help track and improve the overall learning environment. Working with AWS will help schools to gain from the world’s broadest and deepest set of cloud technologies, and industry-leading security and operational expertise.”

He added, “We are committed to delivering a proven subscription experience to our user schools and we look forward to a long-term collaboration with AWS, enabling the maximum number of schools to get the most value for their time and resources.”

Eupheus Learning offers not just one of the largest content offerings for schools, including curricular and supplemental content, but also provides a platform which enhances learning outcomes while automating the school operating system. Powering Eupheus Learning’s platform are a range of cloud services from AWS. The platform’s operating system (OS), learning environment and financial system run on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which offers scalable compute capacity, while SchoolMitra, which provides schools an easy-to-use web and mobile application leverages Amazon Cognito for authentication, authorization, and user identity management. Amazon CloudFront, a content delivery network (CDN) service built for high performance, security, and developer convenience, powers the content delivery for Eupheus Learning, while Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) provides a scalable, secure and cost-effective service for all the mobile application notifications sent by the platform to its users.

“AWS is committed to enable the digital transformation of education, and we are delighted to collaborate with Eupheus Learning, one of India’s largest school-focused distribution platforms, to enable K-12 schools to support their core mission of delivering quality education. By participating in the NEP STAR School initiative, schools can leverage digital technologies to develop more immersive and engaging learning experiences for their students and teachers, enable smarter decision-making, and run administration operations more effectively and efficiently,” said Sunil PP, Lead—Education, Space, and Nonprofits, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited, AWS India and South Asia.

About Eupheus Learning

Eupheus Learning is positioned as the ‘largest, school-focused distribution platform in` India’ and is already present in “One out of Four Premium Private Schools of India” in five years of starting operations. The B2B EdTech firm is bridging the gap between in-class and at-home learning by offering pedagogically differentiated, technology-led solutions. With its Classroom-first and Curriculum-focused approach, Eupheus Learning aims to reach 10 million kids in India through its curriculum and specially curated educational offerings in Kinaesthetic Learning, Reading Enhancement, STEM/STEAM, and English language learning via exclusive tie-ups with award-winning education technology companies from across the world. Unique school outreach initiatives like Story Telling Sessions for Kids, Olympiads and Coding Competitions have created differentiation for the company in this highly competitive and contested education market.

*Amazon Internet Services Private Limited (“AISPL”) undertakes the resale and marketing of AWS Cloud in India.     

Blend360 Receives $100 Million Minority Investment From Recognize To Accelerate Growth

Columbia, MD—Blend360, a global provider of data, analytics and talent solutions for Fortune 500 companies, announced today that Recognize, a technology investment platform focused on the tech services sector, has invested $100 million for a minority stake to continue driving growth in Blend360. This is Blend360’s first institutional investment and marks the start of the next chapter of the company’s strategy.

“We intend to become the premier service provider of AI and ML solutions that optimize business results and this investment is another significant step in our journey to do just that,” said Patrick Hennessy, CEO & Co-founder of Blend360. “Just six years ago, Tim and I started with a vision to build an elite people-based data and analytics solutions company and our organic growth trajectory has been amazing. To get us to the next level, we realized we needed a best-in-class partner–and that’s what we found in Recognize.”

In 2016 and after 20 years of working together at Merkle, co-founders Patrick Hennessy and Tim Berry launched Blend360 in the data science and talent solutions space. Since then, the company has emerged as an industry leader with a world-class client base. Blend offers differentiated services and accelerators in data, tech, analytics and consultant solutions. Blend is excited to tap into the Recognize team’s experience and expertise in operating and scaling some of the largest technology and services businesses.

“When we first connected with Patrick, Tim and the Blend360 team, there was immediate alignment between our expertise at Recognize and the needs of Blend360 to continue this incredible growth they’ve experienced,” said Frank D’Souza, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Recognize. “Patrick and Tim understand how to create, operate and scale a business and we’re looking forward to supporting their efforts through this investment and the ongoing strategic advice we will be providing to maximize this opportunity.”

“There has been tremendous interest to invest in Blend from many great firms and Recognize stood out as the best fit for us. They understand what we are doing and the insights we bring and are extremely passionate about services companies in the data and analytics business,” said Tim Berry, Co-founder of Blend360. “There’s a real market opportunity in this space and, together with Recognize, we will continue to build the preeminent data, analytics, and tech solutions firm.”

Frank D’Souza and Mike Grady, Partner at Recognize, will be joining Blend360’s board to provide strategic guidance and help expand Blend’s international footprint.

Evercore, a premier global independent investment banking advisory firm, was the exclusive financial partner to Blend360 on this transaction.

About Blend360

Blend360 is an award-winning provider of data and analytics solutions for Fortune 500 companies. The company has made the Inc. 5000 list of Fasting Growing Companies every year they have been in business and has been awarded a world-class ranking in client satisfaction for the past three years. It has over 500 employees with offices domestically in NY, MD, CO and CA and internationally in India and EMEA.

About Recognize

Recognize is a technology investment platform exclusively focused on the technology services industry. The firm provides operational expertise, industry insights and strategic capital to innovative companies in this sector. Recognize is led by industry veterans Frank D’Souza, Raj Mehta, Charles Phillips and David Wasserman. To learn more, visit www.recognize.com.

Indian Super Coder Overthrows World Coding Grandmaster At Code Gladiators 2022, Claims The Champion’s Title & Rs 3 Lakh Prize

It’s a narrative straight out of a Bollywood film script where two ex-champions fight it out for the winner’s crown and the Indian super coder edged out the world grandmaster to bring home the top coding title. The battle in question here was the finale of the world’s biggest coding competition - Code Gladiators 2022. IIT-Delhi’s Kalash Gupta (1st runner-up of Code Gladiators 2021) fought tooth and nail against the title’s defending champion Yury Pisarchyk and 3.3 Lakh other participants and won the title. With this, the UK-based ex-champion Yury occupied the 1st runner-up spot. Simply put, the winner and 1st runner-up of the 2021 edition exchanged their positions at the winner's podium this year! 

The 22-year-old, Delhi-based Kalash Gupta is not new to the coding circles. An avid programmer, this fresh graduate already has half a dozen coding titles under his belt. He participated in Code Gladiators 2020 & 2021 editions too and reached up to the runners-up positions in these editions. “My victory this year means that I’m getting better at competitive coding,” said a jubilant Kalash Gupta. 

Code Gladiators is an annual coding competition organised by India’s largest technology community - TechGig. Here, top coders compete to showcase their coding excellence to the tech industry and earn laurels and jobs with top companies. This year, Code Gladiators celebrated its ninth edition with 3.3 Lakh registrations, which is a 6% Y-o-Y increase in participation. The most significant jump was noted for the registrations of women coders which noted a 65% increase in 2021 v/s 2022. Precisely put, about 95-Thousand women coders registered at Code Gladiators 2022!

This year’s edition saw over 2-Thousand international coders from 86 countries at the competition. The top five countries for participation were Canada, Australia, Austria, the UAE and the US. In fact, 3 coders were from war-torn Ukraine as well. All the coders fought the coding battle for 125 days and 18 winners took home Rs 50 Lakh at the grand finale event. 

This year’s Code Gladiators hosted one open codeathon and 4 theme hackathons, namely: HP Machine Learning, NTT DATA AI Hackathon, KoreAI Intelligent Virtual Assistants, and Microsoft Azure Women’s Hackathon. Nineteen corporates and coding communities, and five tech bloggers partnered with this year’s edition. They included Oracle, PayFair, Hewlett Packard, NTT DATA, Kore AI, Microsoft Azure, Persistent, Colruyt Group, RenewBuy, Providence, Publicis Sapient, AllState, All Scripts, and IG Group. 

Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TechGig thanked all these partners and applauded the winners. “TechGig’s vision to bring the best coders on one podium to encourage coding innovation has always found enthusiastic support from technology companies. At a time when veterans talk about the scarcity of tech talent - especially in niche technologies - Code Gladiators hosted 4 theme hackathons with over 40-Thousand participation in technologies such as AI, ML, Cloud etc. We had 95-Thousand women coders registering for this competition, again defying the notion that female tech talent is tough to find. This makes me believe that Code Gladiators is the no #1 platform for the developers, by the developers.” 

This year’s edition was a total hit on the digital and social landscape too with a total of 11.2 Million impressions. Its social media hashtag #ComeCodeConquer garnered over 628 social media posts from participants, ex-winners, tech leaders, corporate partners, tech bloggers actively posting about how #CodeGladiators brought together lakhs of coders with technology companies. As Rishabh Rathi, a participant and ex-winner stated, “Code Gladiators gave me an independent podium to showcase my tech skills and ideas to top leaders directly. This access to leaders is difficult to seek otherwise.”. 

As for the champion, Kalash Gupta, he still feels that there is a lot to do for him in competitive coding. Fresh out of IIT, he has taken up a job where coding is one of the ‘many things that he will be required to do’. Here’s wishing him and the other winners all the best.  

The winners include:

Champion: Kalash Gupta

1st Runner up: Yury Pisarchyk

2nd Runner up: Yash Shah

3rd Runner up: Piyush Garg

4th Runner up: Naitik Varshney

Code Diva Award: Aanshi Bansal

More winners were announced for the four theme hackathons. All winners’ details are available at https://bit.ly/3QBA3ES

About TechGig 

TechGig is a young and enthusiastic technology company, offering cutting-edge solutions to its clients using innovative technologies. We help our business partners realise their true talent and business potential using our specialised skill assessment, community engagement and recruitment solutions.

YES Bank And IBSFINtech Tie Up To Provide Enhanced Digital Dervices For Corporate Clients

YES Bank and IBSFINtech, the leading TreasuryTech Solution provider, have teamed up to explore untapped opportunities emerging out of digitization of corporate finance. This unique partnership will empower the corporate treasury ecosystem with a robust decision-making tool and automated workflows backed by seamless bank connectivity.

IBSFINtech's robust technology framework coupled with YES BANK’s seamless banking infrastructure and leadership in the corporate digital solutions space will provide connectivity between a corporate's ERP and a bank's solutions. Owing to the end-to-end and connected ecosystem that this unique partnership aims to build, corporate finance function will become convenient. Both YES BANK and IBSFINtech have plans to tap the opportunities available in the market and reach out to wider customer base through mutually inclusive go-to-market strategies. 

Throwing more light on the partnership, Mr. Ajay Rajan, Country Head - Transaction Banking, YES BANK, said, "YES BANK continues to strengthen its position in the industry by investing in partnerships focused towards enhancing the digital experience for corporations and emerging businesses across the country. This partnership with IBSFINtech is a step forward towards providing next gen technology solutions across Cash, Liquidity, Treasury, Risk, Trade Finance and Supply Chain Finance functions of corporations. It is focused on co-creating and delivering deeply integrated treasury solutions via IBSFINtech's platform, with the aim to achieve complete digitization between corporates and banks.”

Sharing his views on this partnership, Mr. C M Grover, MD & CEO, IBSFINtech, said, "It is an opportune time for the banking ecosystem to further integrate with technology, thereby strengthening their solutions for the Indian corporations. We are glad to enter into this partnership with one of India's most forward-looking technology led banks, which has taken the lead in enabling a connected banking ecosystem. IBSFINtech's TreasuryTech platform is deeply integrated with the internal IT ecosystem of corporates. With this tech partnership with YES BANK, the platform enables an end-to-end connected ecosystem for corporates and the bank, powered by our robust technology platform." 

The collaboration between YES BANK and IBSFINtech will yield paperless communication between the Bank and corporates across the function of treasury and trade finance. From issuing fund transfers to forex transactions to completing trade documentation, the entire process will be digitized and powered by the robust platform offered by IBSFINtech. 

The most critical challenge corporations face today includes having clear visibility of cash across different entities and bank accounts. IBSFINtech's TreasuryTech platform connects with YES BANK through APIs and provides real-time cash visibility. Being a bank agnostic platform, the solution offers connectivity with other banks, thereby enabling complete visibility across all Banks and entities that the corporation is associated with. 

The fintech and Bank partnership model has seen wider acceptance, especially during the post-Covid times, as Banks are ready to embrace and deliver digital experiences to enterprise customers more aggressively. Banks now view fintechs as their technology partner who can further their vision to expand the reach and engage with corporations more effectively. The connected ecosystem achieved through this partnership will help corporates achieve complete digitization of their treasury and trade finance function.

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a 'Full Service Commercial 'Bank' providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to Retail, MSME as well as corporate clients. YES BANK operates its Investment banking, Merchant banking & Brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence including an IBU at GIFT City, and a representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

For more information,  visit the Bank's website at http://www.yesbank.in/

About IBSFINtech

IBSFINtech is a Bengaluru based global enterprise TreasuryTech company. It provides end-to-end digitization and automation solutions for the cash and liquidity, treasury, risk and trade finance management (TRTFM®), and supply chain finance requirements of medium and large corporates. Backed by AI, Data Analytics, and MIS technologies, the company's integrated risk management solution helps businesses drive visibility, improve control, mitigate operational risks and optimize organizational efficiency for various Indian and Global organizations. 

IBSFINtech's broad customer base is spread across Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida in India and international markets such as Singapore and Europe. Some of its marquee clients are Vedanta Group, Mphasis, Wipro Enterprises, Maruti Suzuki, JSW Steel etc. Global clients include IMR Metallurgical Resources, JSW International and many more.

For more information, visit the website: www.ibsfintech.com