Moneyboxx Finance Extends Its Financial Inclusion Drive To Chhattisgarh By Opening Its 50th Branch

Moneyboxx Finance Limited – a BSE-listed NBFC that provides small-ticket business loans to micro enterprises, marked its entry into Chhattisgarh, expanding its total network to 50 branches in the country. Financial inclusion is at the heart of its activity and the company is transforming lives of micro entrepreneurs in Tier-III and below places by offering unsecured and secured business loans. As a part of this expansion, the company aims to meet growing and unmet credit needs of micro and small businesses in the state. With the opening of new branches in Raipur, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon districts of Chhattisgarh, the company now has 50 branches across six states – Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Commenting on the recent branch expansion, Mr. Mayur Modi, Co-founder, Moneyboxx Finance Ltd said, “Our new branches will cater to the needs and provide credit services to the underserved section of borrowers in Tier-3 and below places. Our presence in Chhattisgarh will help address the increased credit demands amid the booming small businesses and agriculture landscape in the state. With our differentiated and proven ‘phygital’ business model which involves strong customer connect and fully digital approach, we aim to impact 1 million lives over the next five years.”

With planned equity fund raise and continuous debt funding from 22 lenders, including recently secured INR 50 crore term loan from SBI and INR 20 crore NCD from Vivriti Asset Management, the company plans to ramp-up its AUM from INR 190 Crore as of Oct’22 to INR 400 crores by Mar’23. The strong branch network will enable the company to address the needs of underserved micro enterprises by offering them business loans for income generation.

Moneyboxx is driving financial inclusion by catering to the unmet credit needs of micro entrepreneurs in Tier-3 and below regions. With cumulative disbursements of over INR 320 crores as of Oct’22, it has transformed lives of over 20k borrowers, of which 45% were women and 35% new-to-credit.

The company has engendered sustainable and transformational changes in borrowers' lives through various beyond-lending impact initiatives such as free vet consultation service for livestock borrowers and free plantation of fruit-bearing trees for its borrowers who own agricultural land, thereby providing them with an alternate source of income.

About Moneyboxx Finance Limited

Beginning operations in February 2019, Moneyboxx currently has 50 branches spread across six states – Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Moneyboxx provides unsecured and secured business loans ranging from INR 100,000 to INR 700,000 to individual borrowers for income generation purposes in essential and important segments (livestock, kirana, traders as well as micro-manufacturers) in Tier-III and below places.

New Branch Office addresses of Moneyboxx Finance Limited:

Bilaspur: Shop No. B/203, II Floor, Narayan Plaza, Link Road, Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh-495001

Raipur: First Floor, Above Laxmi Medical Store, Fafadih, Raipur, Chhatisgarh-492009

Rajnandgaon: Sahdev Nagar, Basantpur Road, Rajnandgaon, Infront of Stadium, Chhattisgarh -491441

Ashwin Damera, CEO of Edtech Unicorn Eruditus Invests In Khelomore

-Enabling more Indians to learn and play sports-

Ashwin Damera, co-founder & CEO of edtech unicorn Eruditus (www.eruditus.com) has invested in KheloMore (www.khelomore.com), a platform that efficiently allows Indians to learn and play a sport of their choice. The investment, an undisclosed sum, was made through his family office, Damera Ventures (www.damera.org).

KheloMore is founded by erstwhile international cricketer and ex-Nike sports marketing executive, Jatin Paranjape. The KheloMore app connects more than 5,000 pay and play venues across Cricket, Football, Badminton, Basketball, etc. to consumers, thereby enabling them to learn and play a sport. It also has a unique model of deploying coaches into gated communities, enabling professional coaching to young and upcoming athletes. It’s other investors include gaming unicorn Dream11 which invested in the company in 2021.

Bhagyashree Damera, co
-founder Damera Ventures, said, “Ashwin and I are avid sport enthusiasts and share with Jatin his vision of making sports more accessible to a large number of Indians. We are excited to partner with KheloMore to build a broad-based sporting culture across India. Sports and wellness are essential for the holistic development of the nation.”

Jatin Paranjape, CEO & Founder of KheloMore, said “KheloMore provides consumers efficient access to Learning and Playing a sport of their choice through the convenience of technology. India will undoubtedly be amongst the biggest sports participating nations in the coming years, and KheloMore will play a pivotal role in this exciting journey. We are happy to welcome the Dameras to this journey.”

About KheloMore

KheloMore (www.khelomore.com) is a digital sports platform bringing together young sports enthusiasts and coaches/academies online through their proprietary app. Started in 2017, KheloMore helps parents explore their child’s first step into the land of multiple sports, Cricket, Football, Badminton, Basketball, all through the convenience of a hassle free mobile app.

Founded by Jatin Paranjape, former Mumbai and India cricketer, and ex Sports Managing Head of Nike for almost 10 years in India and Europe – KheloMore has the perfect understanding of what is required by a sportsperson, a coach, a parent, and the workings of the business of sports management. Its other investors include gaming unicorn Dream11.

About Damera Ventures

Damera Ventures (www.damera.org) is the family office of Ashwin Damera, co-founder & CEO of edtech Unicorn Eruditus (www.eruditus.com) and his wife Bhagyashree Damera. Operating with a combination of charitable grants and impact investments, Damera Ventures aims to alleviate social challenges and transform lives for the better. At present, the family office is active in the areas of education, women empowerment, nutrition, well-being and rural prosperity.

SAP Launches SAP Build To Unleash Business Expertise, Partners With Coursera To Empower A New Generation of Developers

SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced at the SAP TechEd conference the launch of a powerful new offering to drive the next wave of business transformation by unleashing the expertise of those who know best – business users.

Drawing on the unique depth and breadth of the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), SAP Build is a low-code solution that puts SAP’s world-class enterprise technology in the hands of business users, giving them direct, secure access to the end-to-end processes, data and context they need to make smarter decisions and drive innovation quickly. The offering empowers business users with minimal technical expertise to create and augment enterprise applications, automate processes, and design business sites with drag-and-drop simplicity.

“SAP Build brings together the world’s most powerful business applications with a platform that’s been designed to rapidly unleash business users’ expertise,” said Juergen Mueller, member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer of SAP. “In a volatile business landscape, SAP Build and the full suite of innovations we’re launching today – from our new partnership with Coursera to enhancements across our enterprise portfolio – help customers future-proof their business and extract maximum value from their technology investments.”

With SAP Build, business users have the full power of SAP BTP and business application data from SAP at their fingertips. Users can easily integrate systems; intelligently monitor, analyze, and automate processes; and build applications for the last mile of innovation – all without moving their data into an external system. With SAP Signavio solutions natively integrated, SAP Build users also get in-depth visibility into all their processes, so they know where to focus to achieve the greatest impact as they innovate and automate. More than 275,000 process reference points from 4,000 customers, as well as 1,300 use-case specific workflows and automations, let users instantly tap into the full spectrum of business expertise built into SAP’s technology. SAP Build also works with non-SAP systems. And the new SAP Builders program helps users ramp up quickly and connect with their peers via hands-on sessions and forums for sharing best practices.

“Given that the demand for contemporary digital solutions is greater than the ability of professional developers to supply them, IDC envisions that business professionals will become increasingly involved in initiatives to create digital solutions to solve pressing business problems,” said Arnal Dayaratna, Research Vice President, Software Development, IDC. “Worldwide, IDC expects more than 100 million business professionals will become involved in the production of digital solutions over the next ten years. SAP Build’s low-code development solutions empower business users to harness their domain expertise to rapidly build and iterate on digital solutions at scale.”

SAP Build is already demonstrating impact. "Thanks to SAP Build we easily built a better experience for our customers while dramatically reducing our development costs by 90%,” said Spencer Cook, XM Advocates Lead at Qualtrics, a leading experience-management company. “I was able to quickly build the application to enhance our customer reference program which is going to catapult customer satisfaction."

As every company becomes a technology company, SAP also recognizes the increasing premium put on the skills and insights only professional developers can deliver. SAP is committed to upskilling two million developers worldwide by 2025 by tripling free learning offerings on the SAP Learning site, partnering with world-class learning platform provider Coursera Inc. to help people launch careers within the SAP ecosystem, and empowering underserved audiences in technology.

“I’m happy to announce that today SAP is launching an entry-level professional certificate on Coursera. This certificate is designed for learners of all backgrounds, with no college degree or industry experience required," said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera Inc. “It will prepare learners for entry-level job roles and in some of the most in-demand fields. We’re honored to partner with SAP to increase access to job-related skills and to expand economic opportunity for everyone.”

These announcements come amid a host of innovations announced at SAP TechEd to help SAP customers and partners continue driving the transformations they need to stay successful. From an all-new native Web entry point for business apps, which increases productivity in the cloud and out of the box, to innovations across intelligent SAP applications, SAP Digital Supply Chain solutions and SAP solutions for sustainability– at SAP TechEd 2022 we’re unleashing the power of business. Read more in our news guide here.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews

New India Assurance Underwriting Performance Improves By 15%

* Company continues to pursue path of continued growth with profitability

New India Assurance, in its half yearly results for FY22 reported improvement in underwriting performance by 15%.

The gross written premium (GWP) for the half year ended 30th September 2022 saw a growth of 1.90% compared to the same period last year. It is noteworthy that the growth was achieved despite a substantial quantum of premium in Crop & Government line of business not renewed in the current year as compared to the previous year.

The company’s solvency margin improved to 1.77x as on 30th September 2022 in comparison to 1.66x as on 31st March 2022.

The company’s Combined ratio improved to 117.06% in the first half of the current financial year as compared to 120.66% for the year ended 31st March 2022.

The company was able to report a profit despite recognizing the 5-year impact of wage arrears and wage revision of about Rs. 2,600 crore as additional liabilities during the current quarter.

Commenting on the results Mrs Neerja Kapur, Chairman cum Managing Director said, “The company is continuing to pursue its strategic path of continued growth with profitability which led to the company shedding some unprofitable business.  Our emphasis is on improvement in bottom line & solvency ratio.”

About New India Assurance Company Limited:

The New India Assurance Company Ltd is the largest Non-Life Insurance Company in India headquartered at Mumbai and operates in 26 countries.

Shri Srinivasan Varadarajan, Appointed As New Chairman of Union Bank of India

Shri Srinivasan Varadarajan has been appointed as part-time Non-Official Director as well as Non-Executive Chairman of Union Bank of India. 

Shri Srinivasan Varadarajan, an engineering graduate from the college of engineering, Anna University, Chennai and PG diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta has to his credit, more than three decades of experience in banking and financial services. He last served as the Deputy Managing Director of Axis Bank before setting up his own advisory practice in 2019.  

As a financial advisor, he has worked with a leading international consulting firm, a sovereign wealth fund, a large corporate group, a NBFC group and a private sector bank. Shri Srinivasan Varadarajan was the Managing Director and Head of Markets with J.P. Morgan, India. He was also the CEO, J P Morgan Chase Bank in India.  

He served on various RBI committees including the Technical Advisory Committee, Committee for repos and Committee for Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal Securities (STRIPS). He was also the chairman of Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) and Primary Dealers Association of India (PDAI). He was also the member of the Indo UK Financial Partnership Forum. 

World-Class Speaker Line-Up Set To Take Stage At The “TiE Global Summit 2022”

* Globally Prominent Entrepreneurship Summit Announces A Diverse Range of Speakers From The National & International Entrepreneurial Ecosystem 

* Summit to host the domain insights of veteran entrepreneurs, unicorn creators and reputative investors 

TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), the internationally prominent NPO devoted to the growth of entrepreneurs, has announced the grand speaker line up for the latest edition of its TiE Global Summit being held in Hyderabad. Commended as the Largest Entrepreneurship Summit, TiE Global Summit will be inaugurated by Mr. K. Chandrashekar Rao, the first Chief Minister of the state of Telangana. With an expected active participation of 3,000+ entrepreneurs, 500+ charter members from across 6 continents, 150+ Global Speakers, and 200+ Investors, the organization has unveiled a stellar speaker line up anticipated at the summit.  

Several industry warhorses have tendered their expert presence for the global summit. Some of these veterans include Mr. Krishnan Ramanujam, President, Enterprise Growth Business at Tata Consultancy Services & Chairperson, NASSCOM, Mr. Shantanu Narayen, Chief Executive Officer, Adobe Systems, Mr. Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, CEO & MD, Greenko Group, Mr. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Executive Chairman of 5F World, Lighthouse Communities, & Honeywell Automation India Ltd, and Ms. Vani Kola, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital among others. To bring a government perspective to the discussion on India’s road to entrepreneurial brilliance, a high-profile selection of speakers from different governments will deliberate on pressing issues and solutions in the startup ecosystem. Some of these speakers include Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament & Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for External Affairs and Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS Secretary, Information Secretary, Government of Telangana.  

The organization also announced the grand keynote speaker to be Mr. K.T. Ramarao, Minister of Industries, Commerce and IT, Telangana Government.  

A selection of rapidly growing unicorns has redefined how traditional startups operate and thrive in the post COVID world. Recognizing the need to highlight insights from entrepreneurs of this caliber, TiE Global Summit will also witness speakers in the likes of Mr. Amod Malviya, Co-Founder - Udaan.com, Mr. Ashish Goel, Co-Founder & CEO, Urban Ladder, Mr. Ankur Jain, Founder & CEO, Bira 91, Mr. Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS Datacenters and Mr. Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder, Droom & ShopClues among others. 

Commenting on the speaker announcement, Mr. Murali Bukkapatnam, Vice Chairman of TiE Global and Co-Chair, TiE Global Summit 2022 said, “We are delighted to host revolutionary conversations that are oriented towards the recovery of the global startup scenario. The strong speaker line-up at TGS 2022, that is graced by Mr. KT Rama Rao and a platter of leading industry professionals is an exciting development for TiE. As a force of development, TiE plays a catalytic role in bringing stakeholders together and enabling deliberations on topics of global relevance”. 

The TiE Global Summit’s expert-led panels and sessions will deep dive into the transformative future of the startup and entrepreneurial sector as a whole as well as the applications of novel technologies in various industries. With the year’s headline theme being 3.2.1, i.e., Technology 3.0, Entrepreneurship 2.0 and Sustainability 1.0, the panels will deliberate on technology being a transformative force for the startup ecosystem.  

Mr. Suresh Raju, President, TiE Hyderabad further added, “With every passing edition of TiE Global Summit, we have witnessed the summit grow into a global phenomenon, attracting participation of investors, entrepreneurs, influencers and aspiring leaders of tomorrow from all over the world. As on date, the new edition of TiE Global Summit has already received over 1,000 registrations from around the world, to deliberate, network, learn and define the trajectory of the global startup ecosystem. And we have secured the exhilarated interest of over 150 international speakers to bring entrepreneurial discussions to the principal table”.   

TiE Global Summit fuels the organization’s mission of fostering entrepreneurship through mentoring, networking and funding. The internationally acclaimed summit is supported by corporates and industry patrons to spark and accelerate entrepreneurial conversation. The success of this event on a global magnitude involved support from industry partners including The Government of Telangana, WeFounderCircle, Greenko, KPMG, EY, Chiratae Ventures and t-hub among others. Outreach partners also include the likes of ISB and NASSCOM among others. 

Atos Further Extends Collaboration With AWS To Help Customers Accelerate Their Journeys To Net Zero

* Atos’ Portfolio of Decarbonization Solutions Will Be Made Available On AWS Marketplace

Atos today announces that it has further extended its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enable businesses to advance on their decarbonization journeys, with the development of a portfolio of solutions built on AWS under the Atos MyCo2Compass umbrella. The Atos MyCO2Compass carbon calculator is the first solution to be developed as part of a multi-year relationship between AWS and Atos, which will enable the effective measurement and management of carbon emissions across IT and business landscapes such as housing, fleet, travel and workforce. It will feature industry-specific, pre-defined datasets, saving customers the pain of starting from scratch when it comes to measuring emissions. These data-driven insights will empower more informed decision-making and the calculator will be available via the AWS Marketplace.

End-to-end decarbonization journey

The increasing number1 of natural disasters driven by climate change highlight the climate crisis we are in and yet, a survey indicates that fewer than 40%2 of businesses have a plan for decarbonization of their operations. To help businesses take action now Atos empowers their journey to decarbonization in a two-step approach: first, by migrating their IT workloads to AWS where they could experience an 80%-90%3 reduction in carbon produced in their IT infrastructure operation; and then, by leveraging AWS capabilities to accelerate and innovate their digital transformation to support their zero emission objective.

To aid customers in this journey, the Atos Digital Decarbonization Assessment (DDA) can help analyse the business’ level of maturity on decarbonization for the entire scope of IT. It provides a tailor-made decarbonization roadmap, including concrete actions necessary to achieve sustainable decarbonization of their IT. The DDA is available today via the AWS Marketplace.

Diane Galbe, Senior Executive Vice President, Atos commented: "Atos is proud to expand its longstanding relationship with AWS through this increased collaboration which will help customers accelerate their journeys to net zero. At a time when deep decarbonization is essential, Atos powered by AWS, are providing tools that deliver robust, real-time insights into digital related emissions. These tools help our customers to unlock the potential for action and to deliver deep emission reductions that will drive progress towards their net zero targets”.

Mary Wilson, Global Sustainability Lead, Amazon Web Services, Inc., commented: "Businesses are facing increasing pressures from their stakeholders to take action together with increasing legislative demands. This set of climate-related sustainability services support our customers to devise and enact sustainability programs across the entire span of business operations in order to support the universal goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and reaching global net-zero by 2050.”

Through this collaboration, Atos and AWS are strengthening their 10-year relationship by combining their expertise in end-to-end digital cloud-based solutions. With over 8,000 AWS accreditations and 2,700 formal AWS certifications, Atos has demonstrated extensive experience in providing consulting, professional and managed services at scale to a large number of AWS customers.

Atos and AWS recently spoke about Atos’ decarbonization solutions and the evolution of their relationship at Atos’ Tech for Climate Summit at COP27 in Sharm-El-Sheik.