“39 Students From Aakash BYJU’S Qualify” For OCSC / IMOTC 2022

4 students Qualified for APMO/IMOTC (including 1 for EGMOTC) 

7 students Qualified for OCSC-Junior Science 

8 students Qualified for OCSC-Astronomy 

1 student Qualified for OCSC-Astronomy-Junior 

13 students Qualified for OCSC-Biology 

3 students Qualified for OCSC-Chemistry 

3 studentsQualified for OCSC-Physics 

Yet again inking another stupendous result, Aakash BYJU’S the national leader in test preparatory services, recorded 39 students qualifying for the Orientation Cum Selection camp (OCSC) of the prestigious Indian National Olympiad (INO) 2022 in Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Junior Science, and for Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO) / International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp (APMO/IMOTC). The examination is organized by the Association of Teachers in Biological Sciences in association with Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT) and Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE). Each year over 30,000 students of 12th Standard or below, sit for these examinations. 

A total of 13 students Qualified for OCSC-Biology, 8 students for Astronomy, 3 each for Physics and Chemistry, 7 students for Junior Science, 4 students for APMO/IMOTC, including 1 student for EGMOTC and 1 student Qualified for Astronomy-Junior. This year a whopping 201 students of Aakash BYJU’S qualified for various INOs.  

Congratulating the students on the impressive results, Mr Abhishek Maheshwari, Chief Executive Officer, Aakash BYJU’S said: “We are very proud of our students who have qualified for OCSC/IMOTC. This will be a confidence boosting step for them toward achieving their NEET/JEE dreams. The credit goes to the hard work put in by our students, their parents and Aakash faculties aided by the quality test preparation imparted at the institute. I wish the students all the best for their future endeavours.”     

There is a designated statewise quota for INOs according to which the students are selected for the next stage. On the basis of their performance in INO, approximately 30-35 top students in the merit list have been are selected for OCSC/IMOTC. For Science Olympiads, the student undergoes some theoretical and experimental sessions in the camp. The selected member Indian team undergoes a rigorous training programme at HBCSE in theory and experiments. Special laboratories have been developed at HBCSE for the purpose of experimental training. For Mathematical Olympiad, several tests are held during the training camp to provide orientation to students for IMO, followed by 8-10 days of rigorous training in Pre-Departure (PDC) for the selected team. Resource persons from HBCSE and different institutions across the country train the qualified students. 

The Olympiad programme culminates with the participation of the Indian students (4-6 in each subject) in the International Olympiads.   

Aakash BYJU’S aims to help students in their quest to achieve academic success. It has a centralized in-house process for curriculum and content development and faculty training and monitoring, led by its National Academic Team. Over the years, students from Aakash BYJU’S have proven selection track record in various Medical & Engineering Entrance Exams, Competitive exams and Olympiads. 

School Children Lagging In Health, Fitness Parameters: Sportz Village’s “Post Covid Health Survey” Reveals

Sportz Village, through its award-winning EduSports in-school Physical Education & Sports program has been working to improve sports education in India since 2009 and has been assessing children’s health on a national level for the past 12 years. The post-covid survey revealed that children are displaying alarmingly poor fitness levels across India. The nationwide study has covered children in the age groups of 6 to 16 years from 120 schools across 20 cities and towns. The children were assessed on various parameters in both private and public schools across India. The parameters assessed were Body Mass Index (BMI), Aerobic capacity, Anaerobic capacity, Core Strength, Flexibility, Upper body strength and lower body strength. 

The covid-19 pandemic did disrupt many aspects of the daily life of children, including physical activity levels and has had a negative impact on the health and well-being of many individuals globally. During the pandemic, schools were closed for extended periods of time, which led to reduced opportunities for physical activity and outdoor play. Additionally, restrictions on movement and social distancing guidelines may have limited the ability of children to participate in organized sports or physical activities outside of their homes. 

Speaking on the findings Saumil Majmudar, CEO & Managing Director, Sportz Village, said “Last year, schools resumed in-person classes. At that point in time, the long-term effect of the pandemic on the physical fitness of Indian children was still unclear. The findings prove that the school closures, due to the pandemic, had an adverse effect. The lack of health and fitness among such a large number of children yet again proves that physical activities in schools are of great importance and are needed for the overall development of children. Schools need to view sports as an integral part of education and should provide opportunities to engage in structured physical activities to ensure that each and every child is engaged Sportz Village’s EduSports program aims to bridge this gap and is integrated into the school timetable and calendar.” 

Key findings 

Total number of children surveyed 20,000 across India  

2 in 5 children do not have a healthy BMI 

2 in 3 children do not have the adequate upper body strength 

3 in 5 children do not have the adequate lower body strength 

2 in 5 children do not have the desired abdominal strength 

1 in 4 children do not possess the desired flexibility 

Fitness levels comparative analysis: Boys versus Girls   

The survey also showed the difference in performance between boys and girls with boys performing better in lower body strength, core strength & aerobic capacity & girls performing better in upper body strength. 

Private schools versus Public schools  

The survey further compares the fitness levels of children in public/government schools to the children in private schools. Children from Private schools outperformed government school children in most categories with significantly better performances (more than 5 %) in upper body strength, flexibility & core strength. 

Impact of Covid on children 

The survey also compared the performance of 3000 children before and after covid to study the impact of school closures on children’s health. It was found that performance in all parameters except flexibility had gone down. This highlights the importance that schools play in maintaining children’s health. 

Parameters description: 

Body Mass Index (BMI): A value derived from the weight and height of an individual and is used to gauge whether a person is within a healthy weight range. 

Aerobic capacity: The ability of the heart and lungs to get oxygen to the muscles. 

Anaerobic capacity: The total amount of energy from the anaerobic (without oxygen) energy systems. It is useful during high intensity short duration exercises or tasks such as sprinting.  

Abdominal or Core strength: The strength of the muscles of the torso which helps to determine posture. 

Flexibility: The ability of one's joints to move freely.  

Upper body strength: The strength of muscles such as Pectorals (chest), Rhomboids (upper back), Deltoids (outer shoulder), Triceps (back of upper arm) and Biceps (front of upper arm). 

Lower body strength: The strength of muscles in the legs such as quadriceps (the muscles on the front of the upper leg), Hamstrings (the muscles on the back of the upper leg), Gluteals, Hip Flexors, and Calf muscles. 

Zee News-DNA Analyzes The 'Give Plastic And Take Gold' Campaign; Encourages Citizens To Take Up The Social Initiative Across India

* Zee News' Rohit Ranjan Analyzed The Unique 'Give Plastic And Take Gold' Campaign In South Kashmir's Sadiwara Village

DNA, one of the leading shows well-known for its inclusive reporting, investigative journalism and 360-degree coverage, successfully presented a detailed analysis on the unique 'Give Plastic and Take Gold’ campaign. This campaign is an initiative by the village panchayat of South Kashmir's Sadiwara, with an aim to save the environment. 

The reportage of the 'Give Plastic and Take Gold’ campaign being initiated in South Kashmir's Sadiwara village received widespread acclaim. It created a social impact as the Panchayat encouraged the villagers to donate 20 quintals of plastic waste in order to win a gold coin. After 15 days of the campaign's launch, the entire town was deemed plastic-free. The initiative has received widespread acclaim, is well-liked by all, and has even been adopted by other panchayats.

The village with heaps of plastic thrown on the roads, is now completely clean and all the plastic collected is handed over to the Panchayat members. This village is setting an example for all other villages and the government is also trying to replicate the same idea in every village of the Union territory. RDD Anantnag| District Anantnag, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, latest tweet on the news reportage of the campaign by Zee News-DNA team, also further states, ‘This is to be replicated in every village of our beloved District in the Land of Springs.’ He also further announced that this village plastic free. The gold that is being rewarded, is from the plastic being collected from villagers and sold.

Commenting on the success of the impactful campaign reportage, Rajnish Ahuja, Editor, Zee News said, “Zee News's Flagship show DNA has a dedicated team of reporters and researchers who have been consistent in their research, analyzing and presenting far-fetched social impact stories for the wider audience. The reportage and analysis of the 'Give Plastic and Take Gold’ campaign is a step forward towards spreading social awareness on the hazardous impact of plastic waste on the environment, enabling many more villages to become plastic-free.”

About Zee Media Corporation Ltd: ZMCL is one of India's leading media and entertainment companies with a strong presence in the news and regional entertainment genres with 13 news channels in 7 different languages, touching more than 528+ Million viewers through its linear and digital properties like Zeenews.com, dnaindia.com, india.com and others.

Magicbricks Launches India’s First “AI Powered Marketing Solution Tool: Project Market Scanner” (PMS)

* A cutting-edge AI-powered PropTech tool, PMS unlocks fresh opportunities for developers by linking potential buyers with the right property.  

*The self-correcting algorithm enhances lead-to-impression ratio by 82% and expands reach by 65% 

Magicbricks, India's leading real estate platform, announces the launch of India’s first “AI-powered marketing solution tool: Project Market Scanner” (PMS) for developers and real-estate agents. This unique tool sets Magicbricks apart as the first in the industry to offer an artificial intelligence tool that matches buyers with the right properties in real-time. 

The AI-powered PMS tool helps developers access relevant and high intent homebuyers by using sophisticated algorithms and data analytics to personalize and automate search results, increasing reach by up to 65%.  

Project Market Scanner (PMS) acts as a reach maximizer, predicting results based on customers' previous search history, so that each project reaches its maximum Response Generation Capacity. It also takes into account buyers’ preferences for specific property attributes and optimizes images that they are most likely to respond to. This can lead up to 82% increase in lead-to-impression ratio and helps close the gap between what buyers expect and the projects activated on the portal offer, creating a win-win situation for both. 

Commenting on the launch of Project Market Scanner, Rohit Manghnani, Chief Product Officer, Magicbricks said “The residential demand for homes increased 8.5% in 2022 and will continue to grow at a rapid pace in 2023 as well. With lots of available options, matching interested homebuyers with the right property is a classic Big Data problem for the real-estate industry. Project Market Scanner is a customer-centric solution that enables developers to sell faster in this highly competitive market.  This is a significant step forward for Magicbricks in the realm of proptech, delivering accurate and comprehensive search results to our users while maximizing returns for the advertisers.” 

Ashu Gupta, National Sales Head at Magicbricks, believes that Project Market Scanner is a cutting-edge technology and a game-changer in the real estate industry. “We are constantly pushing the bar on innovation at Magicbricks by bringing new tools at the disposal of our customers looking to sell their properties. One of the biggest challenges that developers face is to access high intent, relevant customers and we aim to improve their lead generation efforts with this high-utility innovation.” 

Magicbricks has pioneered many industry-first innovations and with the PMS tool, it continues to empower its 55,000+ strong community of developers and real-estate agents to sell over 2 lakh projects and maximize their revenue.  

Tech Mahindra Ltd; Announcement Of Mohit Joshi As MD & CEO Designate

BUY

CMP: Rs1061 

Target Price: Rs1270

 * TechM appoints Mohit Joshi as MD & CEO designate; he will take over the role post the retirement of CP Gurnani on 19-Dec-2023. Mr Joshi will join TechM well before the said date to allow for sufficient transition time. His tenure will be for 5years, w.e.f. 20-Dec-2023.

*   Mr Joshi will be making his transition from Infosys, where he has been President; effective 11-Mar-2023, he will be on leave and his last working day with Infosys is 9-Jun-2023. Mr Joshi has over two decades of experience in the Enterprise technology software & consulting space, having worked with the largest global corporates in driving digital transformation and building thriving businesses.

* At Infosys, Mohit Joshi was head of the Global Financial Services & Healthcare as well as the Software businesses, including Finacle (Infosys's global banking platform) and the AI/Automation portfolio. Mr Joshi also led Sales Operations and Transformation for Infosys and held executive responsibility for all large deals across the company. Further, he was responsible for the Internal CIO function and the Infosys Knowledge Institute.

* This is the second big exit for Infosys within 5 months, after Ravi Kumar S (associated with Infosys for >20 years) left the company to become the CEO of Cognizant; such attrition is likely to lead to reorganization of Infosys's management. However, given its strong mid-level management, peer Infosys would not see much near-term impact.

* Our view: TechM remains strong in communications, but lacks scale in BFSI and other verticals compared with large peers. Mr Joshi would bring in a vast & competent experience as well as fresh energy, ideas & perspectives to TechM which would be a vital appendix to its traditional strength in communications. He has an impeccable track record of scaling business as a strategic thinker and as a strong delivery leader. TechM, in its recent Analyst Meet, indicated that growth strategies are unlikely to materially modify with a leadership change, as these are driven by customer input. Mohit Joshi's experience in digital transformation, new technologies and large deals will complement TechM's strategies and continue to build on business-mix diversification. During a recent M&M analyst meet, Anish Shah (MD & CEO - M&M) mentioned that Management is not happy with TechM's current margin & RoE profile of TechM and indicated that the Board will ensure smooth leadership transition and drive overall turnaround in performance, particularly an improvement in margin and RoE, over the next 1-2 years. TechM has so far failed to capitalize on its strength in the areas of communications, ER&D, BPO, XDS, etc, or deliver a consistent performance. We believe Mr Joshi's selection gives more credence to the company's overall turnaround efforts and the stock may potentially see a re-rating. We maintain BUY on the stock with a TP of Rs1,270, at 16x Mar-25E EPS.

Air India Boosts Services To Destinations In 5 East Asian Cities

* Air India & Air India Express now offer 67 weekly flights to 5 East Asian cities

Air India, India’s leading carrier and a Star Alliance member, has added frequency on popular eastbound routes in its 2023 Summer Schedule, bringing more options for travellers to fly to and from Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, and Seoul (South Korea). 

Effective 26th March 2023, Air India will add a total of eight new weekly flights: six to Bangkok (three each from Delhi and Mumbai), as well as additional weekly flights from Delhi to Seoul (Incheon) and Hong Kong. 

All flights will be operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring a two-class cabin configuration, comprising 18 Business Class and 236 Economy Class seats. 

With these additions, Air India and Air India Express will collectively offer 67 weekly services to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Trichy and Madurai.

Mr Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer, Air India, said, “Building a more robust network is a key element of Air India’s Vihaan.AI 5-year transformation plan, and having boosted services on multiple routes to North America and Europe in quick succession, we are now pleased to step up services to the East. We recognise the importance of providing our customers with convenient and reliable travel options, and this increase in frequency demonstrates our commitment to meeting those needs.”

Air India’s route network also includes non-stop flights from Delhi to Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. The increase in flights to these East Asian destinations will further strengthen Air India’s foothold in the East as well as globally, especially after the recently resumed non-stop flights to Vienna (Austria), Milan (Italy), and Copenhagen (Denmark). 

Passengers can now conveniently and comfortably fly to these destinations that are a popular choice not only for tourism but also as hubs of business, trade, and education. With Air India's renewed focus and vigour on expanding its international network, the airline is well positioned to capture a larger share of the global aviation market. 

The newly added Air India flights are now available for booking on the Air India website, mobile apps, as well as through travel agents and other booking channels. 

About Air India:

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India pioneered India’s aviation sector. Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has an extensive domestic network and has spread its wings beyond to become a major international airline with a network across USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, South-East Asia, Australia and the Gulf. Air India is a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium. After 69 years as a Government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022. The present management at Air India is driving the five year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart.

Vihaan.AI is Air India’s transformational roadmap over five years with clear milestones.  It will be focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance. The airline will also be taking a leadership position in technology, sustainability, and innovation, while aggressively investing in the best industry talent. Vihaan.AI is aimed at putting Air India on a path to sustained growth, profitability and market leadership.

About the Tata Group:

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across ten verticals. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission 'To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust’.

Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, and art and culture. In 2020-21, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $103 billion (INR 7.7 trillion). These companies collectively employ over 800,000 people. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors. There are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of $314 billion (INR 23.4 trillion) as on December 31, 2021. Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Indian Hotels, Tata Digital and Tata Electronics.

Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited Signs PPA For 510MW Hybrid Project With Tata Power Delhi Distribution

* It is one of the largest hybrid projects in the country with the capacity bifurcation of 170 MW solar & 340 MW wind power

Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), a subsidiary of Tata Power and one of the major renewable energy players in the country, signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL), for 510MW hybrid project.

The project will save on an average of 1540 MUs of CO2 emissions annually for Tata Power-DDL, a joint venture between Tata Power and Govt. of Delhi, that supplies electricity to a populace of over 7 million in North Delhi.

The PPA has the capacity bifurcation of 170 MW solar and 340 MW wind power. Located in Karnataka, it is one of the largest hybrid projects in the country and will be commissioned within 24 months from the PPA execution date.

Speaking on the signing, Mr. Ashish Khanna, CEO, Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, said, “Tata Power Renewable has signed one of the largest PPAs in the country for a 510MW hybrid project, via competitive bidding, showcasing our future readiness and expertise in project execution skills. This partnership is significant in our quest to continue our journey as one of the torchbearers of the green and clean energy transition."

TPREL won this project through a competitive bidding process, followed by the release of LOA by Tata Power-DDL. This win is an extension of the earlier LOA of 255MW received in Dec. 2022

Mr. Ganesh Srinivasan, CEO, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, added, “Aligned with the nation’s renewable energy mission, we are pleased to join hands with Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited for our biggest hybrid energy tie-up. We are confident that this association will strengthen our commitment towards significantly enhancing the portion of sustainable energy in the overall supply mix."

With this win, the total renewables capacity of TPREL reaches 6,303MW with an installed capacity of 3,909 MW (Solar - 2,981 MW & Wind - 928 MW) and 2,394MW under various stages of implementation.