Jaguar Land Rover, Wolfspeed, Inc. Partner To Supply Silicon Carbide Semiconductors For Next Generation Electric Vehicles

* Through its Reimagine strategy, Jaguar Land Rover is transforming to an electric-first business, on a journey to carbon net zero by 2039

* Strategic partnership with Wolfspeed will secure supply for Silicon Carbide semiconductor technology, integral to electrification of its next generation Range Rover, Discovery, Defender and Jaguar vehicles

* Next generation electric vehicle inverters using Silicon Carbide technology will deliver significantly increased powertrain efficiency and extended driving range for clients

* Strategic partnerships with industry leaders are a cornerstone of Jaguar Land Rover’s Reimagine strategy

* Wolfspeed’s Silicon Carbide semiconductors have been used in Jaguar TCS Racing Formula E team’s in-house developed powertrains since 2017

* Wolfspeed’s next generation Silicon Carbide semiconductors to be produced at the world’s largest fully automated 200mm Silicon Carbide facility in Marcy, New York

Jaguar Land Rover and Wolfspeed, Inc. have today announced a strategic partnership to supply Silicon Carbide semiconductors for next generation electric vehicles, delivering increased powertrain efficiency and extended driving range.  

Under its Reimagine strategy, Jaguar Land Rover is transforming to an electric-first business, to become carbon net zero across its supply chain, products, services, and operations by 2039.

Wolfspeed’s advanced Silicon Carbide technology will be used specifically in the vehicles’ inverter, managing the transfer of power from the battery to the electric motors. The first Range Rover vehicles with this advanced technology will be available from 2024, and the new all-electric Jaguar brand the following year.

The partnership builds on Wolfspeed’s existing relationship with the race-winning Jaguar TCS Racing team competing in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, where its advanced Silicon Carbide technology has been used to accelerate on-track efficiency and performance.

The agreement is the latest in Jaguar Land Rover’s program of establishing strategic partnerships with industry leaders for its future modern luxury vehicles: in February 2022, Jaguar Land Rover announced a partnership with NVIDIA focused on software-defined, advanced automated driving systems for next-generation vehicles starting in 2025.

Thierry Bolloré, Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “We are not strangers having collaborated together with the Jaguar TCS Racing team for the last five seasons. By developing that into a strategic partnership as part of our Reimagine strategy, we can integrate Wolfspeed’s advanced Silicon Carbide technology into our next generation electric vehicles, delivering extended range and performance capabilities for our clients.”

Wolfspeed President and CEO, Gregg Lowe, said: “Wolfspeed is proud to partner with Jaguar Land Rover, supporting its bold commitment to electrify its iconic brands by using Silicon Carbide’s superior performance, efficiency and range. The energy efficiency of Silicon Carbide will play an essential role as Jaguar Land Rover pursues its own zero carbon goals, and as the world transitions to an all-electric transportation future.”

The partnership agreement sees Jaguar Land Rover participate in the Wolfspeed Assurance of Supply ProgramTM, to secure the supply of this technology for future electric vehicle production needs. This will enable greater visibility and control over Jaguar Land Rover’s future supply chain and is key to the new value chain approach of the company’s operations and supply chain under the leadership of Barbara Bergmeier, Executive Director of Industrial Operations.

Wolfspeed’s world leading technology is powering electric propulsion systems across the entire voltage spectrum – from 400V to 800V. The Silicon Carbide power device solutions will be produced at Wolfspeed’s Mohawk Valley Fab in Marcy, New York, which opened in April 2022 as the world’s largest 200mm Silicon Carbide fabrication facility. The fully automated facility dramatically expands capacity for Wolfspeed's Silicon Carbide technologies, which will supply the increasing demand for EV production and other advanced technology sectors around the world.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Wholesales 13143 Units In October 2022

* Registers a growth of 56% in wholesales from April to October 2022 when compared to the corresponding period last year

TKM today announced that the company sold a total of 13,143 units in the month of October 2022. For reference, TKM had sold 12440 units in the month of October 2021. Cumulative wholesales in the current Financial Year from April to October 2022, has witnessed a promising growth of 56% when compared to the same period last year. TKM registered a growth of 6% in the month of October 2022, over wholesales in October 2021.

Commenting on the month’s performance, Mr. Atul Sood, Associate Vice President, Sales, and Strategic Marketing, TKM said, “Demand continues to grow as we witness strong bookings for the Self Charging Hybrid Electric Model - Urban Cruiser Hyryder. The brand-new SUV from Toyota has received a phenomenal response with booking orders exceeding our expectations. Deliveries of the brand-new Toyota SUV are also in full swing, as customers drive home their favourite Urban Cruiser Hyryder, this festive season.

Our flagship models like the Innova Crysta petrol, Fortuner, Legender, Camry and Vellfire continue to garner good traction both in terms of enquiries as well as orders. The cool new Full Model Change Glanza has also been consistently performing well since its introduction in April this year”, he concluded.

Hero MotoCorp Sells 4.54 Lakh Motorcycles & Scooters In October 2022

* Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, sold  454,582 units in October 2022.

With festivals of Dussehra and Diwali – which triggers record retail buying – occurring in the month of October this year, the dispatch sales of October are not comparable to the previous years, when the festival days are usually spread across the months of October and November.

During the 32-day festive season, which spanned from the first day of Navratras to the day after Bhai Dooj, the company posted a strong double-digit retail growth of 20% over the corresponding festive period of FY'22, thereby strengthening its leadership in the domestic two-wheeler market and increase in retail market share.  A strong festive has also helped reduce post festive total inventory to the lowest in the previous 5 years. This augurs well for growth in second half of the year.

To mark the beginning of this year’s festive season, Hero MotoCorp, launched the Hero GIFT- Grand Indian Festival of Trust. The initiative included exciting model refreshes, retail benefits, slew of financing schemes, pre-booking offers and much more.

Ushering in an era of sustainability and clean mobility, VIDA V1 – Powered by Hero – the new age fully- integrated electric vehicle (EV) made its debut in the month of October. Available in two variants – Vida V1 Plus and Vida V1 Pro, the new electric scooters are attractively priced at INR 145,000/- and INR 159,000/- respectively (*ex-showroom Delhi). The company also announced a holistic ecosystem for its customers along with VIDA V1 – VIDA services and VIDA platform.

In line with its aggressive plans for global expansion, the company partnered with Terrafirma Motors Corporation to make its debut in the Philippines. As part of the partnership, TMC will be the exclusive assembler and distributor of Hero MotoCorp motorcycles in Philippines. The Company will set up an assembly facility of 29,000 sq. mtrs in its existing state-of-the-art principal manufacturing facility situated in Laguna City and start its operations in the second half fiscal year 2024.

With all four riders finishing among the top 15, Hero MotoSports Team Rally completed both the Andalucia Rally 2022 and the first World Rally Raid Championship. The second stage of the Rallye du Maroc was challenging for the Hero MotoSports Team, however they were able to maintain their positions in the top 10.

ABB India Inaugurates Its First Smart Instrumentation Factory In Bangalore

•     ABB opens its smart instrumentation factory in Bangalore, India, for flexible mass production of measurement and analytical devices

•     Aligned with the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the factory will support local economy while producing a comprehensive range of measurement solutions for domestic and global consumption

•     The modular factory design allows the expansion of production capacities and new products in line with the market demand

ABB Measurement & Analytics recently opened its first smart instrumentation factory in Bangalore, India, to support the region’s ambition of transforming into a global design and manufacturing hub. Aligned with the local government’s ‘Make in India’ program aimed at supporting local economy, the factory is equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology to meet the growing demand for instrumentation devices that enables more efficient and sustainable customer operations.

The new plant will manufacture field devices such as pressure and temperature transmitters, IP convertors and electromagnetic flowmeters for a wide variety of industries, including power, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, water and other segments. 

“We are pleased to support the local economy in line with ‘Make in India’ program with our new factory,” said Manish Dixit, Regional Sales & Service Manager South Asia, ABB Measurement & Analytics. “ABB’s smart instrumentation factory will cater to customers with speed and agility, leveraging leading digitalized manufacturing solutions, allowing flexible mass production to the highest standards.”

The new factory uses a unique digital production management system across all production lines and offers enhanced connectivity through ABB’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES), an IoT enabler, making processes seamless and paperless with complete cybersecurity. The factory also features innovative first-of-its kind automated welding, enabling significant improvement in productivity and superior quality. The modular production flow design increases flexibility and enables additional manufacturing capacities for the introduction of new products in line with future customer expectations.

In alignment with India’s manufacturing ambition, the factory will deliver best-in-class measurement solutions to local customers while fulfilling export demand with accreditation from the Directorate of Foreign Trade (DOFT).

ABB’s Process Automation business is a leader in automation, electrification and digitalization for the process and hybrid industries. We serve our customers with a broad portfolio of products, systems, and end-to-end solutions, including our # 1 distributed control system, software, and lifecycle services, industry-specific products as well as measurement and analytics, and marine offerings. As the global #2 in the market, we build on our deep domain expertise, diverse team and global footprint, and are dedicated to helping our customers increase competitiveness, improve their return on investment and run safe, smart, and sustainable operations. go.abb/processautomation

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

Ireland Opens Opportunities For Indian Students, Announces On-Ground Education Fairs In November

~ Education in Ireland to bring together 16 Irish HEIs to India for their on-ground Education Fairs across cities in November~

India: For the first-time post-pandemic, Education in Ireland, the Irish government’s national brand promoting Irish Higher Education Institutions announces its Education Roadshow in November; that will be spanning five cities in India. In Delhi, the fair is to be held on the 19th, followed by 4 other major cities: Pune on the 20th, Mumbai on the 23rd, Chennai on the 26th, and Bangalore on the 27th of November. The Fairs will offer an overview of the opportunities Ireland has to offer to Indian students looking forward to studying abroad for the academic year 2023-2024.

Being one of the premier global educational hubs, over 6000+ Indian students chose Ireland last year as their study abroad destination at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Keeping the same in mind, 16 top Irish Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) will be visiting India to invite students from all over the country and to highlight the ample opportunities Ireland has to offer.

Mr. Barry O’Driscoll, Regional Manager, India & South Asia for Education in Ireland mentioned, “Irish universities are ranked among the top 5% worldwide for their quality of education. Ireland is not only reputed for its academic excellence it is also a leader when it comes to the ‘employability rate’ making it a life-changing experience for international students. Education in Ireland’s first post-pandemic education roadshow will present students with an opportunity to explore and find the right courses and indeed career prospects by interacting face-to-face and directly with representatives of Irish higher education institutions. Currently, Ireland hosts 35,000+ students from 160 countries studying in Ireland which includes around 6000+ students from India. We eagerly look forward to engaging with students, clearing doubts, and helping them to prepare for a smooth study abroad journey.”

The Education Fairs further aim at educating aspiring students and their parents about the admission process, courses, visa process, post-study stay-back option offered to international students. It will also throw light on the job opportunities in Ireland, lifestyle, transportation, and culture for a clearer picture. Students and parents will be able to personally interact with Ireland’s top higher education institutions that offer globally recognized UG and PG programs in Business, Science, Engineering, and Humanities.

The fairs will provide a free platform for all students to interact, gauge their prospects, apply directly to the below-mentioned leading Irish institution, and receive first-hand information on courses, the admission process, job opportunities, campus recruitment, scholarships, intakes, and so on.

L&T Technology Services Inaugurates Engineering R&D Center In Toronto, Canada

* The Ontario-based center will cater to Canadian & North American customers in Transportation Engineering Services and Digital Products

* LTTS to hire 100 engineers over the next 18-24 months

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure-play engineering services company, announced today the unveiling of its Engineering Research & Development (ER&D) Center in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), marking its third nearshore global design center in two quarters.

The ER&D Center in Toronto will initially focus on developing digital solutions for the transportation sector including railway engineering, for a global aerospace & rail major. The area of specialization would cover rail track defect detection, advanced mobility solutions, digital asset management, digital flyboard, sensors and communications systems.

The center will cater to LTTS’ Canada-based clients for developing cutting-edge solutions in Digital Products and also act as a nearshore site for North America-based customers to enable transformative, new-age initiatives in digital engineering. 

With plans to hire over 100 engineers in the next 18-24 months, the ER&D center is expected to become a focal point to hire local talent and further bolster the region’s reputation as a hub for engineering and innovation.

The center was inaugurated by Mr. Amit Chadha, CEO and Managing Director of L&T Technology Services in the presence of Mr. Chris Pogue, CEO, Thales Canada, Mr. Ziad Rizk, COO of Ground Transportation Systems (GTS), Canada, Ms. Apoorva Srivastava, Consul General of India, The Hon. Victor Fedeli, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, and Mr. Alind Saxena, Chief Sales Officer of LTTS.

Speaking on the occasion, Amit Chadha, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services said, “LTTS is recognized for being the engineering partner of choice for global leaders and developing new-age and sustainable technologies. Through this new ER&D center, our customers in Canada and North America can leverage our cutting-edge technologies and digital products. LTTS is committed to building exciting opportunities in the Canadian business ecosystem, while strategically expanding its North American footprint.”

Ziad Rizk, Chief Operating Officer, Ground Transportation Systems (GTS), Canada said, “With the vision to invest in new-age digital technologies in the railway engineering sector, we are delighted to partner with an ER&D leader like LTTS in Canada. We have over a decade-long partnership with LTTS which is further strengthened with the inauguration of this ER&D

Center. Through this partnership, we are confident of continued innovation and providing effective, safe and modern railway capabilities for our customers.”

The Hon. Victor Fedeli, Ontarios’ Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, said, “The City of Toronto is known to be the fastest growing city in North America due to its thriving technology ecosystem. We are delighted to welcome an industry leader like LTTS into our community and envision technological advancements and development of local talent through their ER&D centre. We look forward to LTTS’ participation in helping build economic value in the region, while supporting clients globally.”

His Excellency Mr. Manish, Acting High Commissioner of India to Canada, said, “The inauguration of this ER&D center is a big step towards further strengthening the relations between the two countries and promoting the Canada-India economic corridor. With the dedication to deliver innovative solutions and services to the North American clientele with the use of local resources, LTTS is establishing a strong technological footprint here in the region that is expected to benefit local communities and businesses.”

Earlier this year, LTTS inaugurated an Engineering Design Centre in Toulouse (France) and an ER&D Centre in Krakow (Poland), as part of its strategic global business expansion plans.

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 21,400 employees spread across 20 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 90 innovation labs as of September 30, 2022.

Zaggle And NPCI Partner To Launch Multiple Credit Cards On RuPay Network

* This marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between Zaggle, a leader in digitizing business spends and India’s Indigenous global card payment network  

Zaggle, a profitable SaaS FinTech company and a pioneer in digitizing business spends has collaborated with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to issue contactless credit cards on the RuPay network. 

Zaggle and NPCI along with partner banks would use this platform to launch multiple credit cards to address the ever-growing demand of Corporates, SMEs, and consumers. The cards would be enabled for international as well as domestic transactions, making business travel convenient and easy. Besides, users would be able to use this credit card for contactless transactions as well. 

Zaggle would focus keenly on enhancing the user journey through digital onboarding and instant issuance along with intuitive In-App customer experience, spend insights, credit score, etc. This would be supplemented by product innovations like gamification, customised partner offers, and other ancillary services. The customers would also be rewarded with cashback points, accelerated reward points, air miles, and various other exciting offers and discounts. 

Zaggle intends to combine credit cards as payment solutions to their Spend Management software providing the businesses with a holistic value proposition. The cards and software would be available as tightly integrated solutions for customers to address their unique requirements.  

Speaking about the partnership with NPCI, Raj N, Founder and Chairman, Zaggle said, “RBI’s announcement to link credit cards with UPI will provide a huge boost to this segment. Recently India witnessed nearly 9.4 billion transactions of INR 10.25 trillion led by Unified Payment Interface (UPI), and this suggests the huge opportunity that India offers. We are excited about our partnership with the NPCI and the launch of multiple credit cards will enable us to fulfil customer requirements providing them with several benefits and rewards. The Indian spend management market provides an addressable opportunity of nearly $1 trillion and through our innovation led-partnerships, we will continue to revolutionise credit offerings for our customers.”  

Avinash Godkhindi, MD & CEO, Zaggle said, “We are excited to launch credit cards in partnership with NPCI and this would complement our SaaS Software, providing holistic value proposition to our customers. Through our credit cards, we intend to provide access to credit to largely underserved Indian consumers. The Indian market remains fairly under-penetrated and while there are challenges to growth due to the on-going geo-political crisis, we are seeing steady demand across corporates, SMEs and Consumers. We will continue with innovation-led partnerships and the multiple credit cards will be another step in our vision to revolutionize digital payments and lending ecosystem in the country.” 

Saurabh Puri, Chief Business Officer-Credit Cards, Zaggle said, “The adoption of credit products is increasing at a fast pace in the country and we see huge headroom for credit growth. The launch of the credit cards in collaboration with NPCI is in line with rapidly evolving consumer preferences and lifestyles. The focus of the credit cards will be to enhance the user journey via digital on-boarding, instant issuance and In-App customer experience and the customers will be rewarded with benefits like cashback points, accelerated reward points, air miles and many more. Business travel will become much easier as the cards will enable international and domestic contactless transactions. We are in sync with the RBI’s vision of ‘less cash’ economy and our offering of multiple credit cards on RuPay network will help build a digital India.” 

Gaurish Korgaonkar, Head – Fintech and Corporate Business, NPCI said, “We are delighted to partner with Zaggle for facilitating business transactions seamlessly via our new contactless credit cards on the RuPay network. These cards will be enabled for domestic as well as international transactions and hence, will play a pivotal role in aiding the requirements of business travellers. At NPCI, we constantly aim to innovate and augment an already extensive line of products and services targeted towards boosting digital spends and expediting the creation of a cashless economy.” 

Zaggle has had a phenomenal growth journey in the $1 trillion addressable Indian spend management market. The company provides its customers with a unique expense management system along with employee rewards and recognition program services. Zaggle has been consistently expanding its product line with an aim to tap into the spend management space in the country. 

About Zaggle 

Zaggle is a profitable SaaS FinTech company that is digitizing business spends to drive growth and unlock value through innovative and automated workflows. Zaggle was founded by Raj N., a serial entrepreneur, and an active angel investor. The company began its journey in 2011 with the vision of developing a digital ecosystem that would connect corporates and SMBs with their users, partners, merchants and other intermediaries through its innovative FinTech solutions on a SaaS platform. Since  inception, Zaggle has continuously evolved to develop new products and solutions in similar spaces. Zaggle’s specialty lies in arraying cutting edge technologies viz., AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning) and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) which are conducive in facilitating a seamless experience to our users. At present, Zaggle is closely working with IndusInd, RBL, NSDL Payments Bank and YES Bank and RuPay, VISA and MasterCard. 

Currently, Zaggle has 1,750+ active clients, 12000+ merchants and over 1.7 million+ active users. The company has offices across 7 cities with 250+ employees and is committed to bringing the best-in-class user experience to its users. 

Zaggle’s Products: 

•Save: Save is an all-in-one expense management and employee benefits platform that enables companies and their employees to save by digitising, organising and aggregating spends, thereby saving time and money. Employees can simply upload and approve expenses, save tax with flexible employee benefit plans with a single card that can replace food coupons, food card, fuel card, travel vouchers, and gift card. Employers can add tax-free benefits electronically to the card and help their workforce save tax without any hassle. The platform is powered by AI and ML which can easily identify and duplicate bills and helps companies save more annually. 

•Propel: Propel is an employee rewards & recognition and channel incentivization solution that enables companies to communicate, engage, motivate and reward its employees and channel partners to drive growth. It helps in solving the intricate issues that involve the management of the complete lifecycle of sales incentives right from the development of schemes until the end-users receive it including analytics and reconciliation. This platform manages all your reward programs from a single integrated platform to increase productivity, greater profitability and reduced attrition. 

•Zoyer: Zoyer is an accounts payable and payments automation platform that helps organizations evolve accounts payable into a strategic, data-led, function. By embedding automation and intelligence into core invoice to pay process workflows, the platform empowers finance leaders with a single line of sight to improve efficiency of enterprise-wide spend decisioning to maximize the value of every dollar spent and optimise outgoing cash flows. 

About NPCI: 

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. NPCI has created a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country. It has changed the way payments are made in India through a bouquet of retail payment products such as RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC FasTag) and Bharat BillPay.  

NPCI is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology and is relentlessly working to transform India into a digital economy. It is facilitating secure payments solutions with nationwide accessibility at minimal cost in furtherance of India’s aspiration to be a fully digital society. 

For more information, visit: https://www.npci.org.in/