Axis Bank And Square Yards Launches Open Doors, Co-Branded Home Buyer Ecosystem

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank and Square Yards, India’s largest integrated Real Estate platform, today announced the launch of ‘Open Doors’, a novel, co-branded Home Buyer Ecosystem. This unique platform will ensure that the complete journey from searching to buying one’s own dream home becomes a hassle-free, efficient, and delightful experience for customers.

Open Doors is a first-of-its-kind unified platform, designed to address the entire gamut of customer queries related to residential property. Customers looking to purchase a house can now avail end-to-end home buying assistance, exclusive builder inventory access, seamless home loan processing and other ecosystem services including rental and property management, home furnishing, and legal and technical services - everything under one roof in a cost-effective manner.

“We are delighted to partner with Axis Bank to bring all housing related requirements on a single platform. Axis Bank has always been a frontrunner in providing holistic, affordable financial solutions for consumers in an increasingly digital ecosystem. We will leverage Axis Bank’s widespread geographical reach and diversified portfolio of financial products to enhance homebuyer experience,” said Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO, Square Yards.

Speaking on the collaboration, Mr. Sumit Bali, Group Executive and Head – Retail Lending and Payments, Axis Bank said, “With the launch of Open Doors, we are building a robust ecosystem for home buyers where customers can seek assistance, browse through properties extensively, apply for quick home loans and connect with vendors to transform the house into their own dream home. Our partnership with Square Yards aims to simplify the challenges faced by our customers during the home buying process. With our strong retail banking presence across India, we will also ensure that all customers get easy access to home loans.’’

Real estate inventory displayed on the Open Doors platform will carry joint offers from both Square Yards and Axis Bank on home buying, home loan, Interiors, Property Management and other allied property services, creating value for customers and bringing down the total cost of home ownership.

With this unique collaboration, Axis Bank and Square Yards customers can now avail an array of value-added financial benefits, including customized loan amounts and flexible tenure, along with minimal documentation for a seamless home buying experience.

Axis Bank and Square Yards have been constantly innovating digital-first solutions to simplify customer journeys, which reflects the cultural alignment between the two organizations. This co-branding move signifies the shared values of technological innovation, ingenuity and convenience; paving a stellar opportunity for both the companies to reach out to the target audience with meaningful solutions and enhance their business growth.

Open Doors URL: https://opendoors-axisbank.squareyards.com/

About Axis Bank:   

Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses. With its 4,759 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 10,161 ATMs across the country as on 30th June 2022, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 2,702 cities and towns, enabling the Bank to reach out to a large cross-section of customers with an array of products and services. The Axis Group includes Axis Mutual Fund, Axis Securities Ltd., Axis Finance, Axis Trustee, Axis Capital, A.TReDS Ltd., Freecharge and Axis Bank Foundation.

For further information on Axis Bank, please refer to the website: https://www.axisbank.com 

About Square Yards

Square Yards is India’s largest integrated platform for Real Estate and Mortgages and one of the fastest growing Proptech platform in UAE, Rest of Middle East, Australia & Canada. It has a direct presence in 20+ cities globally and has more than 5000 employees across 9 Countries.

Square Yards platform offers an integrated consumer experience & covers the full real estate journey from search and discovery, transactions, home loans, rentals, property management, and post-sales services.

Electric Mobility Leader Yulu Secures $82 Mn (Rs 653 Cr) Equity Funding Led By Magna To Scale Its Businesses

* The latest funding round is led by US-based Magna International Inc., with existing investors including Bajaj Auto Limited also participating in the round

* Will form a new entity with Magna to create India’s leading Battery Swapping (Battery-as-a-Service) platform with an interoperable battery system to accelerate electrification of mobility

* Will strengthen its leadership by scaling up its fleet and battery swapping network capacity by 10X each in the next 12 months by deepening its presence in existing cities and starting its service in additional cities.

Yulu, India’s market leader in shared electric Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) businesses, today announced the infusion of $82 Mn (Rs 653 Cr) in Series B funding round, led by mobility technology company, Magna International Inc.

With this round of funding, Yulu will further strengthen its leadership through product and technology innovation, and increase its EV fleet to more than 1 Lakh Electric 2-Wheelers along with 500+ Battery charging & swapping stations in the next 12 months. This business expansion will lead to Yulu becoming free cash-flow and will lay the foundation for exponential growth.

Amit Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Yulu (Bikes Pvt Ltd) said, “We can clearly see a 100X growth opportunity for Yulu in both the BaaS and MaaS businesses in the next three-four years. As the market leader in electric mobility, with a proven business model built on positive unit economics, our focus now will be to establish a robust and agile supply chain and scale-up our operations. We will go deeper & denser in our existing markets and explore new areas while delivering a great customer experience. We welcome Magna onboard with our shared vision to create a sustainable and scalable EV ecosystem in India and beyond.”

Matteo Del Sorbo, Executive Vice President, Magna International and Global Lead of Magna New Mobility said, “This is an incredibly exciting time for Magna to contribute to a sustainable future in urban mobility through this investment in Yulu. Micromobility presents a great opportunity for additional growth for Magna, and joining forces with Yulu helps us expand our business into this rapidly growing sector.”

Yulu has a successful strategic partnership with India’s leading 2-Wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj Auto Ltd. Over the years, Yulu & Bajaj have been collaborating on Product Design, Technology Platforms, Engineering Processes and Manufacturing. Yulu’s next generation of electric 2 Wheelers will roll out of Bajaj’s Pune facility by this year-end.

Yulu has served millions of users for their first & last mile mobility needs. Millions of green deliveries have been made using Yulu’s EVs. Yulu has enabled tens of thousands gig economy workers to join the workforce and increase their net earnings by providing an efficient, sustainable and affordable mobility service.

As a market leader in the first & last mile mobility, Yulu has built successful partnerships with Bangalore Metro (BMRCL), Delhi Metro (DMRC) and city authorities in Bengaluru (BBMP/DULT), Mumbai (BMC/MMRDA) and New Delhi (NDMC) for both parking and charging infrastructure. 

Yulu is forming a new entity, Yulu Energy, with Magna to create nation-wide battery charging & swapping infrastructure to cater to the demand from Yulu as well as vehicles made by other manufacturers. This infrastructure is expected to reduce the upfront cost of buying EVs and will accelerate the adoption of electric mobility in India.

About Yulu:

Yulu is India’s largest Shared EV mobility & battery swapping company, founded in 2017 by seasoned & serial entrepreneurs with the mission to make urban commuting clean, inclusive & sustainable. Backed by marquee as well as strategic investors, Yulu provides urban Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR, and has successfully created India’s largest AI-powered Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, to provide virtually infinite range to its users. This network has completed 3.5 million+ battery swaps till date and has enabled the accelerated adoption of electric mobility in India. As a pioneer in the EV space, Yulu has influenced several policies aimed towards electric vehicles, and has generated livelihood opportunities for millions of people. For further information, please visit www.yulu.bike or follow us on Twitter @YuluBike.

Bikayi Unveils Its Brand-New Identity BIK, Platform Now For Mid-Market And Enterprise Brands As Well

* With the new identity, the company, BIK, will be enabling D2C brands to grow exponentially

* It is introduced to help brands increase their ROIs by leveraging WhatsApp

Bikayi, one of India’s largest and most trusted e-commerce enablers, today unveiled its new brand identity, BIK. The vision of the company is to make brands limitless and help them leverage the power of conversational marketing with BIK.

Today, businesses and e-commerce platforms are unable to effectively engage with customers through traditional channels such as SMS, emails, and advertorials, among others. With enhanced technological penetration, more consumers are looking at personalised messaging and curated products. There is a 70% higher probability of customers making purchases, leading to higher conversions when they are offered a personalised experience. To tap into this tremendous potential, BIK was built to help brands drive traffic and re-engage their customers. In alignment with Bikayi’s vision, BIK aims to help businesses and brands effectively reach out to intelligently segmented audiences and create trust among them with verified WhatsApp accounts and drive maximum ROI.

Catering to more discerning customers as the company moves upmarket, the look and feel of the brand logo has also evolved. Fast pivoting to conversational commerce, the aim is to create a new-age brand that is warm, friendly, energetic, innovative, and knowledgeable yet professional.

Talking about the new brand identity, Ms Sonakshi Nathani, Co-Founder and CEO of BIK said, “Today, we are much more than a platform for e-commerce brands and as we continue to reinvent ourselves, we have expanded our product portfolio with BIK. Based on substantial insights from our users, we understood that merchants and brands require new marketing channels which reach out to prospective customers while retaining the current ones. The focus towards large e-commerce D2C brands using our marketing tool BIK was an organic choice and an ideal step towards strengthening our footprint.”

Adding to the same, Ashutosh Singla, Co-founder and CTO said, “With technological penetration and more customers looking out to engage in personalised offerings, the brands across the world are reinventing themselves to utilize assets at their disposal in the best way possible. The new brand identity, BIK, reflects these industry trends and has been curated with utmost care to help brands increase their ROIs.”

With BIK, the brands will be able to re-engage with lapsed customers and encourage them to complete their purchases. Building on the trust and credibility offered by the brands, BIK will help companies strike a stronger connect with buyers with each purchase, backed by personal touch. It can drive-up the engagement rate by 3x.

Following are some of the top features available through BIK: 

o    Smart cohorting based Broadcast campaigns

o    Template Builder

o    Multichannel CRM with Live interaction chat screen

o    Automated messages and transactional messages

o    Conversational Chatbot with flow builder

o    Complete purchase on WhatsApp

o    Conversational ads

o    Lead capturing and website chat widgets

o    Growth Strategy Manager services

With features such as smart cohorting based broadcast campaigns, brands can analyze how their customers interact with your campaigns and re-target them based on their intent with the right content. With conversational chatbot, brands can deploy improved product discovery and query resolution for their customers on WhatsApp.

Some of the D2C brands on-boarded by BIK recently include Soxytoes, Evolve Snacks,  Bathla Aluminium and Deciwood.

About BIK

BIK is a revolutionary product built by the creators of Bikayi and is now on a mission to make brands limitless - limitlessly big, powerful, and successful. It is the best suited tool for D2C brands to drive their business towards profitability and higher margins, using conversational marketing. The biggest challenge they face is getting ROI with minimum spends. It is easier to acquire new customers than to retain them, but to justify the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), D2C brands have to work on engagement and re-targeting their audience to drive re-purchases. Hence, we decided to build BIK - a platform agnostic tool that helps e-commerce brands run their marketing campaigns on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger and deliver maximum possible ROI. BIK helps brands in easy segmentation of the customer database, broadcasting messages to the segmented audience. It also provides them with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities to handle the inflow from these marketing campaigns.

BIK is a need of the hour platform, with the current macros of the market, D2C brands are looking for ways to reduce CAC and increase ROI. It envisions to become a brand that people will quote as a benchmark for best quality. Early adopters are seeing ROIs as high as 600x with BIK. 

PNG Jewellers Bets Big On Fashion Forward Silver Jewellery Under “Silvostyle - Fashion Next”

* Eyes 100 crore business in 3 years

Jewellery behemoth, PNG Jewellers is betting big on revitalized brand “Silvostyle Fashion Next”. The fashion forward and millennial friendly brand will be rolled out across 35 stores of PNG Jewellers in a shop in shop model, an Ecommerce store as well as Silvostyle Fashion Next Exclusive Boutiques. The brand aims to create a 100 crore business in 3 years around silver jewellery and semi- fine fashion jewellery.

Silver Jewellery has come back in vogue in a big wave across the globe as well as in India. Silvostyle -Fashion Next aims to become a Design-first silver and fashion jewellery label. The brand will focus on showcasing bold, edgy, young and trendy designs created through leading edge innovations in jewellery manufacturing at pocket friendly prices to attract millenials and a growing Gen-Z audience that appreciates fashion forward and future ready brands. Product categories like necklaces, pendant sets, stackable rings, bracelets, charms, earrings etc. will be a part of the product mix adorned with precious as well as semi- precious stones. Collections rolled out by the brand will be in sync with Fashion trends prevalent around the world.

Silvostyle was a pioneering first of its kind Silver Jewellery brand launched by any retail jewellery chain in India around 2013-14. It charted a success story of its own through countrywide marketing campaigns with top Bollywood celebrities, tie ups with Bollywood films etc. A feather in its cap was tying up with Salman Khan starrer Super hit film Bajrangi Bhaijaan and launching India’s first ever jewellery merchandise for a Bollywood film, the ‘Gadaa Pendant’ of Lord Hanuman in Silver.

Dr. Saurabh Gadgil, Chairman and Managing Director of PNG Jewellers said,” Silvostyle - Fashion Next, is a rejuvenation of the original Silvostyle brand to sync in with today’s post pandemic era. It will cater to a large cosmopolitan diaspora across the globe with offerings that are fashionably edgy, trendy and in line with global tastes in jewellery. We are looking forward to rolling out these new products across all PNG Jewellers stores in India, Dubai and USA. We will also be opening exclusive Silvostyle - Fashion Next boutiques to provide our young clients with a discernible jewellery shopping experience. Silver as a category is in great demand and we believe we have the right product to meet the market needs of today.”

About PNG Jewellers:

PNG Jewellers is one of the most reputed jewellers in the country, with over 190 years of excellence in creativity and trusted service for customers all over the world. Under the able leadership of Dr. Saurabh Gadgil, a visionary businessman, P. N. Gadgil Jewellers Pvt Ltd is creating a brand that is catering to customers globally.

Take Care Of Your Eyes: Vision Is A Precious Gift, So Learn To Love And Cherish It

By: Dr. Satyaprasad Balki – MS FCAS, Sr.Cataract, Cornea, Refractive Surgeon – MaxiVision Eye Hospital, Hyderabad

Our eyes are one of the most overworked organs in our body, from the time we wake up till we sleep, our eyes are constantly roving around and relaying important information to our brain, without any delay. In this context, it’s only fair that we take some time out to give our eyes the adequate care they deserve.

1.  REGULAR EYE CHECK-UP-

Firstly, everyone, no matter which age group you fall in, should get at least one eye checkup a year by a qualified ophthalmologist, which should include refraction-to check for refractive errors if any. Tonometry- to check the pressure in the eyes. A thorough eye examination under the slit lamp and fundoscopy to check the retina. Following this assessment, your eye doctor will prescribe the appropriate treatment and further visits if required.

2.  DIABETES/HYPERTENSION-

Currently, our country is the diabetic capital of the world thanks to our carbohydrate rich diet and lack of exercise. Diabetes and hypertension are two lifestyle diseases which can wreak havoc on your eyes leading to permanent loss of vision, if not kept in check.

Be aware and cautious of your blood sugar levels, your blood pressure and consult your endocrinologist regularly for any change in medication which is required. Patients with these conditions have a propensity to develop early cataract (clouding of your natural lens), changes in the retina, which are usually permanent and irreversible, glaucoma,etc. preferably get your eye checkup once in six months if you have these conditions.

3. AVOID SMOKING-

Kick the butt! The best remedy for a number of diseases occurring in our body. Tobacco in any and all forms is the culprit for numerous eye conditions including optic nerve damage, cancers and glaucoma.so if you are a smoker, NOW is a good time to stop, if you are not, then these reasons are enough to keep you at bay.

4. SCREEN TIME-

Our eyes were never meant to stare for long hours and bright unnatural light which is exactly what emanates from your mobiles, tablets, and laptops. This leads to a constant strain and reduced blink rate of the eyes causing headaches, irritation, and transient blurring of vision. Take frequent breaks from your screen, follow the 20-20-20 rule-after 20mins of screen time, for 20 seconds look 20 feet away, or simply close your eyes for 20 seconds. Use appropriate lubricant drops prescribed by your ophthalmologist, alternately you can use glasses with a blue filter which reduces the strain caused by screens, never use a mobile or laptop in a dark room especially before sleeping, and ensure ambient room lighting.

5. PAEDIATRIC AGE GROUP-

Children fall into a special category for ophthalmologists due to their inability to express visual symptoms, it becomes a responsibility of parents and teachers to keenly observe if a child is straining or wincing while looking at the board, incorrectly taking notes, lagging behind the rest of the class, indicating a refractive error. A simple checkup by your ophthalmologist and prescription of appropriate glasses will make a world of difference for the child, helping them perform well and giving them confidence. Always remember if your child’s refractive errors are not corrected in time, it might lead to a condition called amblyopia wherein defective vision persists despite the best correction. I encourage schools to conduct frequent eye camps to diagnose such conditions at the earliest.

6. CLEAN BODY, CLEAN MIND-

This may sound like a monologue, but the need for a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle is often preached, seldom practiced. Ours is an energy-intense diet, which needs an equal amount of physical activity to burn it. simple changes in lifestyle like a balanced diet (keep an eye on your macronutrients –fats, carbs, and proteins and micronutrients-vitamins, minerals.)Will go a long way to keep you fit. For eye health, remember the rule of ACE- vitamins A, C & E, and antioxidants like lutein, and zeaxanthin. While you can load up on these vitamins with a diet that includes adequate greens, whole eggs, carrots, citrus fruits, gooseberries, papaya, etc. lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoids found naturally in the retina of your eyes, which can be derived from grapes, spinach, kiwis, zucchini or in the form of supplements prescribed by your ophthalmologist.

Remember the gift of vision is precious, learn to love and take care of it!

Fidelity Investments Welcomes Employees To Refurbished Bangalore Office For Maximized Flexible Working

Fidelity Investments India today welcomed its employees to a completely refurbished office space at the Embassy Golf Links (EGL) Business Park in Bangalore. The Pinehurst office that is comprised of approximately 250,000 square feet has been reworked to provide space focused on flexible working with updated infrastructure, facilities, and amenities. Fidelity also has offices at the Embassy Manyata Business Park in Bangalore and the TRIL Infopark in Ramanujan IT City, Chennai.

The company has been working on blending onsite (at the office) and offsite (at home) working in a hybrid model as it prepares for the future of work. The last two-and-a-half years of remote work and voluntary re-entry pilots have provided real-world experiences to help shape this model.

Fidelity’s hybrid working model enables employees to access the benefits of working onsite, such as collaboration, camaraderie, and team building, all hallmarks of Fidelity’s culture. At the same time, it provides employees flexibility to work from home and manage diverse work and life needs.

“We have always believed in the power of in-person working experiences to enable our employees to experience the best of Fidelity’s culture, collaborate together, and bring their best selves to work,” says Seema Unni, Head of HR for Fidelity Investments India. “Hence, our policies have always provided for flexibility, allowing our employees to enjoy working at the office while managing work and life needs offsite. We look forward to continuing to evolve our model for the benefit of our employees, customers and business.”

Seema adds, “Our current model focuses on having employees work one week per month along with their teams at a dedicated space at the office, with the option to come into the office more often and work in common workspaces. This enables collaboration within their teams as well as across other teams in the business.”

“In the past two-and-a-half years, we have received employee feedback about the benefits of working from home,” says Vijai Kishan, Regional Chair – India, and Head of Personal Investing (PI), Fidelity Investments India. “We also have heard about their energy and excitement at being able to meet once again in person at the office. We are making changes in our offices based on this feedback to reflect the needs of our employees to embrace both offsite and onsite working in a truly dynamic manner.”

The project at Fidelity’s EGL office involved a complete refurbishment of the existing facilities and infrastructure. Among other changes, the company has increased the number of meeting rooms, focusing on providing several small rooms that make it easy for employees to quickly gather, connect, and engage in an agile manner. The company also has provided several collaboration spaces adjacent to workstations, where employees can gather along with team members to brainstorm over a cup of coffee or tea. There also is space for large team meetings, leadership meetings and townhalls.

The office also offers other benefits such as recreation spaces, interview and training rooms, pantries on each floor, a quiet room, facilities for nursing mothers, a multipurpose activity room, and more.

With the refurbished EGL Pinehurst office opened once again to employees, the journey ahead promises to be exciting.

ABOUT FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

Fidelity's mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $9.9 trillion, including discretionary assets of $3.7 trillion as of June 30, 2022, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers. Privately held for over 75 years, Fidelity employs more than 58,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers.

Fidelity Investments India began operations as a global capability center of the company in 2003, and currently has around 7,000 employees located across Bangalore and Chennai. We deliver solutions to our customers across all lines of the global business in the areas of technology, operations, analytics, research, and data.

Petcare Brand Zigly Turns One, Grows 13X During The Last One Year

* Celebrating its anniversary week, Zigly opened its sixth experience centre in Defence Colony and donated 1000kg food to underprivileged dogs

Zigly, India’s first tech-enabled omnichannel premium pet care brand celebrated its first anniversary on 11th September 2022. The brand plans to grow by 10X in its second year. Zigly.com and its app has started to get excellent online traction with Pet services (Grooming & Veterinary) and Products, while the company continues to add new features to its website & app. In the next five years, Zigly aims to grow to 150 stores and the brand will also physically expand its footprint beyond the Delhi-NCR region in all the major metropolitan cities of the country to service a higher market share. Zigly will also look at overseas expansion plans over the next 3-4 years.

A year ago, Zigly had set out on a journey to transform the pet care experience in India through an omni channel brand which serves as a one stop shop for all Petcare products and services. Now, Zigly has opened 6 experience centers in the Delhi-NCR region (Kailash Colony, Green Park, Janakpuri, Punjabi Bagh, Defence Colony and Gurugram) with a few more in pipeline to open soon. Zigly has also rapidly grown its online presence across India through its website www.zigly.com and Zigly app serving more than 30,000 pet and pet parents.

Celebrating this day, brand plans to distribute 1000 kilograms of food to the unprivileged dogs.To facilitate the cause on a wider scale so more and more furriers can be reached, Zigly would plant volunteers from its team while the entire initiative would be supported by the leading NGOs of the national capital region.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ashok Jaipuria, Chairman & Managing Director of Cosmo First Ltd. (Zigly), said, “The pet care sector in India is on the cusp of exponential growth. The kind of growth Zigly has registered within one year of its establishment; we are confident that we are on the trajectory towards remarkable progress and customer trust in the years to come.”

“With an aim to expand 150 stores across the country in next 5 years and look at global expansions as well, we will focus to build stronger connection with customers, and harness the goodness and innovation of the brand for larger impact on communities with our best-in-class products and services.”

Mrs. Yamini Jaipuria, Managing Trustee, Cosmo Foundation & Petsfamila said, “Pets are humanizing. They remind us, we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve, nurture and care for all life. On our first anniversary we are celebrating with the unprivileged dogs by donating 1000kg food through various NGO’s. I strongly believe that pets make our lives better and easier and through Zigly, we will constantly run various initiatives to help underprivileged animals find home, food and medicine.”

A paradise for the furry friends, Zigly is all-things-pet. With the concept of all things to do with ‘Pet’ under one roof, the brand takes care of health, nutrition, style and training essentials for your loved one. The retail and services platform offers widest range of pet care products such as food, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, accessories, toys along with a specially designed clothing line - for dogs, cats, and other pets. There is also a dedicated section for pet services including grooming, spa, salon, consultation, pathology, vaccination and pet treatments.

About Zigly:

Zigly is an omnichannel platform for pet care – food, products, healthcare, grooming, vet consultation, training and behavior consultation, and more. With 6 experience centers in Delhi and NCR (East of Kailash, Green Pak, Janakpuri, Punjabi Bagh, Defence Colony and Gurugram), Zigly is planning to expand their physical presence by opening new stores in other major cities this year. Zigly will also serve as a training platform for independent caregivers and provide opportunities for pet care specialists to retain a sustainable source of income. It is a D2C pet care brand under the umbrella of Cosmo First.

About Cosmo First Limited:

Founded by Mr. Ashok Jaipuria in 1981, Cosmo First today has a presence across 100+ countries around the globe. Cosmo First is a global leader in specialty films and an emerging player in speciality chemicals (Masterbatches, Adhesive, Coating & Textile chemicals) along with digital-first Omni channel Pet care business under the brand name ‘Zigly’.