Tata Steel Becomes First Company In India To Use LNG Powered Capesize Bulk Carrier For Its Raw Material Movement

~ Imported 1,65,700 metric tons of coal from Gladstone, Australia to Dhamra, India with 35% less carbon emission as compared to traditional methods ~

Tata Steel has adopted various “industry first” initiatives in sustainability. Reiterating its commitment to a sustainable future, Tata Steel becomes the first Indian company to import cargo on bulk carrier that uses LNG as fuel instead of traditional VLSFO (Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil). This groundbreaking vessel sets a new benchmark for sustainable shipping practices in India and marks a significant milestone in the country’ maritime sector.

On July 24, 2023, cape vessel "MV Ubuntu Unity" successfully berthed at Dharma port to discharge 1,65,700 metric tons of coal. The vessel was received at port by Ranjan Sinha, Chief Group Shipping, Tata Steel, along with other senior executives of Tata Steel and Dhamra Port. Going forward, Tata Steel plans to import ~1 million tons of coking coal in FY24 from Australia in such LNG powered vessels. Dhamra Port also extended special privilege to the LNG vessel thereby contributing to Tata Steel’s quest to lower Scope 3 emission.

MV Ubuntu Unity loaded coal from Gladstone port and sailed off on July 1, 2023. She used LNG during its ballast leg (Tianjin to Gladstone) and a mix of LNG and traditional fuel during its laden leg (Gladstone to Dhamra). Carbon emission for this voyage was ~1800 tons lesser which is ~35% less as compared to traditional Baltic specification cape vessels.

LNG is a cleaner fuel as compared to heavy fuel oil used in bulk ships and with increasing availability of LNG, this fuel is considered as transition fuel on the path of zero carbon emissions. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the vessel significantly reduces carbon emissions thereby aligning with global efforts to reduce climate change.

Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Group Strategic Procurement and Supply Chain, Tata Steel, said: “In 2021, Tata Steel became the first in the Indian Steel Industry to deploy a ship powered by biofuel. We continued the decarbonation drive with 7 biofuel shipments in FY23. In continuation to our sustainability drive, in FY24, we are the first to deploy an LNG powered vessel for transportation of raw materials to India. This is a landmark initiative to lower the Company’s Scope 3 carbon footprint. With innovation and participation of all the partners, in FY24, we endeavour to perform 10% of our total number of shipments for imports through alternate fuel powered vessels.”

Earlier in December 2021, Tata Steel had deployed the first Bio-Fuel powered vessel MV Frontier Sky which was also the first by any Indian steel manufacturer.

Tata Steel is also the first steel producer in the world to join the Sea Cargo Charter (SCC) to align its chartering activities with responsible environmental behaviour, consistent with the policies and ambitions of International Maritime Organisation.

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 35 million tonnes per annum.

·         It is one of the world's most geographically diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world.

·         The group recorded a consolidated turnover of ~US$30.3 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

·         A Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM organisation, Tata Steel Limited, together with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 77,000.

·         Tata Steel has announced its major sustainability objectives including Net Zero Carbon by 2045, Net Zero Water consumption by 2030, improving Ambient Air Quality and No Net loss in Biodiversity by 2030.

·         The Company has been on a multi-year digital-enabled business transformation journey intending to be the leader in ‘Digital Steel making by 2025’. The Company has received the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse recognition for its Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar and IJmuiden Plants.

·         Tata Steel aspires to have 25% diverse workforce by 2025. The Company has been recognised with the World Economic Forum’s Global Diversity Equity & Inclusion Lighthouse 2023.

·         The Company has been a part of the DJSI Emerging Markets Index since 2012 and has been consistently ranked amongst top 10 steel companies in the DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment since 2016.

·         Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur Plant is India’s first site to receive ResponsibleSteelTM Certification.

·         Received Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17, 2023 Steel Sustainability Champion recognition from worldsteel for six years in a row, 2022 ‘Supplier Engagement Leader’ recognition by CDP, Top performer in Iron and Steel sector in Dun & Bradstreet's India's top 500 companies 2022, Ranked as the 2023 most valuable Mining and Metals brand in India by Brand Finance, and ‘Most Ethical Company’ award 2021 from Ethisphere Institute.

·         Received 2022 ERM Global Award of Distinction, ‘Masters of Risk’ - Metals & Mining Sector recognition at The India Risk Management Awards for the seventh consecutive year, and Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting FY20 from ICAI, among several others.

YES Bank Launches UPI Payments Through RuPay Credit Cards

YES BANK today, announced the launch of UPI payments through RuPay Credit Cards. With this, customers can now link their YES BANK RuPay Credit Card with UPI-enabled apps such as BHIM, PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Slice, MobiKwik, PayZapp, among others, making credit card-based transactions easier with enhanced security. 

The launch of UPI Payments through RuPay Credit Cards empowers customers to now enjoy the ‘credit-free’ period feature on a UPI platform, which was earlier only limited to POS/eCom based transactions. Any existing YES BANK Credit Card customer who does not have a RuPay Credit Card can avail a virtual YES BANK RuPay Credit Card and link it with their existing UPI app.

Enabling UPI on RuPay Credit Cards is a revolutionary initiative in the field of payments as this will offer multiple advantages to the customer and increase payment acceptability across millions of merchants who are available on the UPI platform, while also extending benefits of a credit card.

Speaking about the launch, Mr. Rajan Pental, Executive Director, YES BANK, said, "Today, YES BANK powers nearly 40% of all the UPI merchant transactions in the country. Given our digital prowess, over the years, we have built capabilities that can power digital transactions at scale, thereby impacting the lives of millions of customers. The launch of our UPI payments facility on RuPay Credit Cards is a testament to the effort, through which, we aim to provide customers with a rewarding and convenient banking experience.  With this collaboration, we aim to further strengthen India’s march towards establishing a digitally empowered economy, while providing a safe, secure and seamless payment experience for customers.”

Commenting on the launch, Ms. Praveena Rai, Chief Operating Officer, NPCI, said, “We are delighted to onboard YES BANK RuPay Credit Card customers to experience this cutting-edge digital payments solution that combines the convenience of UPI with the benefits and rewards of RuPay Credit Cards. With the integration of YES BANK RuPay Credit Card on UPI, individuals can make seamless transactions across online and offline platforms on RuPay’s highly secure network, eliminating the necessity of physically carrying their card. As the demand for credit cards continues to rise in the country, RuPay Credit Card on UPI is changing the perception of credit consumption and has the potential to deepen credit penetration particularly in semi-urban and rural areas”.

In addition to the convenience and ease of UPI transactions, users of YES BANK RuPay Credit Card can avail the following benefits:

Safety and security: UPI payments on YES BANK RuPay Credit Cards are safeguarded with robust security measures, ensuring the protection of customers' financial data.

Reward points: Customers can earn attractive reward points on UPI transactions.

Credit-free period functionality: Leveraging the credit-free period feature of Credit Cards, customers can now manage their finances efficiently even when they use UPI.

Consolidated billing: YES BANK offers the convenience of settling the consolidated bill of UPI payments once a month through the Credit Card statement, simplifying financial management for customers.

Steps to link YES BANK RuPay Credit Cards on UPI:

Tap on profile icon / bank account icon

Click on linking ‘RuPay Credit Card’ option

Select ‘YES BANK’ from the dropdown of bank names

Find ‘YES BANK RuPay Credit Card’ and verify  

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a full service commercial bank providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to retail, MSME as well as corporate clients. YES BANK operates its investment banking, merchant banking and brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence including an IBU at GIFT City, and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

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

Follow YES BANK on Twitter @YESBANK

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 payment 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/

Bengaluru’s Public Transportation To Add A New Dimension; BMTC To Induct Advanced Electric Buses

* Commuters will soon be able to enjoy comfortable, noise-less and eco-friendly travel

The citizens of Bengaluru will now have smarter, safer and a greener public transportation. A prototype of the Tata Motors’ smart electric bus was flagged off today, by Shri Ramalinga Reddy, Hon’ble Minister of Transport, Government of Karnataka, Dr. N. V. Prasad, IAS, Secretary to Government, Transport Department and Ms. G Sathyavathi, IAS, Managing Director, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) along with delegates from Government of Karnataka, BMTC and Tata Motors. As part of the larger order signed between TML Smart City Mobility Solutions Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, and BMTC, the company will supply, operate and maintain 921 units of state-of-the-art 12-metre low-floor electric buses for a period 12 years. Tata Starbus EV is an indigenously developed bus with superior design and best-in-class features for sustainable and comfortable commute.

Commenting on the announcement, Ms. G Sathyavathi, IAS, Managing Director, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, said, "Meeting the high-quality benchmark, we are elated to flag off Tata Motors' electric bus prototype. The advanced features and impressive performance of the electric bus align perfectly with BMTC's commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and improving the quality of life for our citizens. We look forward to supplementing our fleet with Tata Motors’ new, smart electric buses."

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Asim Kumar Mukhopadhyay, CEO and MD, TML Smart City Mobility Solutions Limited said, "We are delighted to see our first smart electric bus get flagged off in Bengaluru. For decades, Tata Motors’ advanced research and development facilities have meticulously created offerings that are cutting-edge and eco-friendly. The bus flagged off today is equipped with state-of-the-art features and ergonomic design, providing commuters a hassle-free travel experience. We are confident that our electric buses will make public transportation safe, comfortable and energy efficient."

The Starbus EV boasts a top-of-the-line design, advanced safety features and a powerful, energy-efficient electric drivetrain. With zero tailpipe emissions, the e-bus contributes significantly to reducing air pollution and mitigating the impact of climate change. It comes with features like new-gen electric powertrain, advanced Integrated Transport System, Electronic Stability Control, Electronic Brake Distribution, advanced telematics system along with comfortable seating for 35 passengers and easy ingress and egress with its low-floor configuration. Till date, Tata Motors has supplied more than 900 electric buses across multiple cities in India, which have cumulatively clocked more than 8 crore kilometres, with an uptime of over 95%.

About Tata Motors

Part of the USD 128 billion Tata group, Tata Motors Limited (BSE: 500570 and 570001; NSE: TATAMOTORS and TATAMTRDVR), a USD 42 billion organization, is a leading global automobile manufacturer of cars, utility vehicles, pick-ups, trucks and buses, offering extensive range of integrated, smart and e-mobility solutions. With ‘Connecting Aspirations’ at the core of its brand promise, Tata Motors is India’s market leader in commercial vehicles and amongst the top three in the passenger vehicles market.

Tata Motors strives to bring new products that fire the imagination of GenNext customers, fuelled by state-of-the-art design and R&D centres located in India, UK, US, Italy and South Korea. With a focus on engineering and tech enabled automotive solutions catering to the future of mobility, the company’s innovation efforts are focused to develop pioneering technologies that are sustainable as well as suited to evolving aspirations of the market and the customers. The company is pioneering India's Electric Vehicle (EV) transition and driving the shift towards sustainable mobility solutions by preparing a tailor-made product strategy, leveraging the synergy between the Group companies and playing an active role liasoning with the Government in developing the policy framework.

With operations in India, the UK, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia, Tata Motors’ vehicles are marketed in Africa, Middle East, Latin America, South East Asia and SAARC countries. As of March 31, 2023, Tata Motors’ operations inter alia includes 88 consolidated subsidiaries, 2 joint operations, 3 joint ventures and numerous equity-accounted associates, including their subsidiaries, in respect of which the company exercises significant influence. 

ACC Announces Another Robust Quarter With YoY Growth In EBITDA By 77% And 105% In PAT Fuelled By Volume Growth And Excellence

EDITOR’S SYNOPSIS 

·          Net Revenue up 16.4% YoY at Rs. 5,201 Cr  

·          Volume up by 23.2% YoY, at 9.4 MioT  

·          EBITDA on YoY basis jumped by 77% from Rs. 480 Cr to Rs. 848 Cr  

·          PAT rose to Rs. 466 Cr as compared to Rs. 227 Cr last year 

·          Cash & Cash equivalent stands at Rs. 3,226 Cr at the end of quarter 

ACC Limited, the cement and building material company of the diversified Adani Group, today announced the financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. The stronger financial performance in this quarter was driven by volume growth and business excellence. 

Operational Highlights: 

·         Volume increased by 23.2% YoY at 9.4 MioT supported by increase in blended cement and improvement in efficiency parameters. Market leadership maintained across key markets. 

·         Kiln fuel cost reduced by 15.5% from Rs. 2.52 per ‘000 kCal to Rs. 2.13 per ‘000 kCal 

·         WHRS at Jamul & Kymore plants (22.4 Mw) have become fully operational. WHRS share has improved from 2.0% to 8.4%. Further 16.3 Mw is expected to commission this year tacking total capacity to 46.3 Mw.  

·         Energy efficiency, manpower productivity and other operational efficiency improvement measures have helped to optimise cost.  

Financial Highlights:  

·         YoY basis, Net Revenue experienced a 16.4% increase, reaching Rs. 5,201 Cr, while EBITDA surged by 77% to Rs. 848 Cr. EBITDA margin expanded by 5.6% from 10.7% to 16.3%. 

·         EBITDA is expected to sustain with further improvement due to various efficiency & operational excellence initiatives 

·         RMX & Construction Chemicals sectors are on robust growth trajectory and likely to grow faster driven by investments in construction segments & rapid urbanisation 

·         Ametha Integrated Unit to be commissioned by Q2 FY24 which will increase Clinker capacity by 3.3 MTPA (EC approvals in hand for 2.75 MTPA) and Grinding capacity by 1 MTPA. 

Mr. Ajay Kapur, Whole Time Director & CEO, ACC Limited?said, “We are delighted to report a strong performance in the first quarter of FY 2023-24, with a 16.4% increase in revenue and 105% increase in PAT compared to the previous year same quarter. The growth was driven by robust demand for high-quality cement products across all markets, as well as our continuous efforts to optimize operations and reduce environmental impact.?As?we are committed to delivering the best for every stakeholder, we are proud to be?ranked No.2 in ‘India’s Most Trusted Cement Brands 2023’ by TRA.?We thank our customers, partners, employees and shareholders for their trust and support, and we look forward to building on this momentum in the rest of the year. 

Sustainability has been a fundamental tenet of operational and growth planning, woven seamlessly into all our endeavors.?We are proud to be recognised amongst ‘India’s Top 50 Most Sustainable Companies’ Cross Sector by BW Businessworld, while winning several other awards and accolades for our outstanding work.?We have persistently strived to diminish carbon footprint by reducing the clinker factor, curbing thermal and electrical energy intensity, implementing Waste Heat Recovery Systems across facilities, and augmenting usage and capacity for renewable energy generation. 

We started this financial year with a campaign highlighting the aspect of Building India since 1936 though ACC’s Suraksha film. With cricket being something that our target audience strongly associates with, we capitalized on the India v/s Australia World Test Championship through our advertisements during the series. Through our Technical Services, we are enabling an ecosystem of right and sustainable construction practices?for the larger benefit of society. 

Our long-term competitiveness remains robust, ensuring industry-leading profitability even as we chase our ambitious growth goals. With a firm belief in strategic approach, we are poised to continue our trajectory of outstanding performance in the forthcoming quarters.”? 

Outlook  

Cement industry is in positive cycle of demand as well as cost factors. This is coming at the most appropriate time when the company is under transformation phase, buoyed by synergies with the group. We expect the positive trend of industry to continue in coming quarter. 

ESG Highlights: 

·         ACC continues its strong focus on low carbon portfolio through green product and solutions launched. 

·         Launched the state of the art Cement and Concrete Research facility in Navi Mumbai. 

·         Increasing the WHRS capacity and scaling up renewable power. 

·         Committed to achieve five times water-positive status by 2030.  

·         57,000 new beneficiaries added during the quarter under CSR initiatives. Strong focus on Water Management, Sustainable Livelihoods and Social Inclusion continues. 

·         Improvements in energy efficiency resulting in low carbon emissions. 

Awards: 

·         ACC ranked No.2 in ‘India’s Most Trusted Cement Brands 2023’ by TRA Research 

·         ACC recognized amongst ‘India’s Top 50 Most Sustainable Companies’ Cross Sector by BW Businessworld 

·         ACC was felicitated with the ‘Digital Customer Experience Award 2023’ for Best Customer & Influencer Engagement 

·         ACC received the ‘Safety Award’ by the National Safety Council of India .

Axis Bank Enters Asia Book Of Records For Its Clean-A-Thon Initiative

Axis Bank, one of largest private sector banks in India, has set a record and has entered the Asia Book of Records for ‘Clean-A-Thon’, a nation-wide cleanliness drive which was organized in alignment with the World Environment Day 2023. The Asia Book of Records has felicitated the Bank with two titles - "Maximum Water Bodies Cleaned During a Week-Long Cleanliness Drive," and "Maximum Kilograms of Garbage Collected from Water Bodies Across Multiple Cities. The Bank was recognized for its contribution in removing a substantial amount of waste from polluted water bodies, thus making a palpable difference.

During the week-long cleanliness drive, Axis Bank collaborated with 14 NGOs to spearhead this nation-wide initiative. The drive witnessed the participation of over 3,700 enthusiastic volunteers, who rallied together to clean 22 water bodies across 18 cities in India. This collective effort resulted in the collection of 12,794 Kg of waste from these water bodies, making a significant impact on the environment.

Commenting on this noteworthy accomplishment, Mr. Ravi Narayanan, Group Executive – Branch Banking, Retail Liabilities & Product, Axis Bank, said, ‘’It is a proud moment for all us that Asia Book of Records has bestowed us with these prestigious titles. Through this campaign, we aim to awaken environmental consciousness and engage communities in taking action against plastic pollution. The overwhelming response and active participation of more than 3,700 volunteers highlights the collective responsibility we all bear toward safeguarding our environment. Axis Bank remains committed to promoting sustainability and making a positive impact on society."

Axis Bank's commitment to environmental stewardship goes beyond Clean-A-Thon. The Bank has consistently undertaken various initiatives to drive sustainable practices and create awareness about environmental conservation. By leveraging its extensive network, Axis Bank strives to foster a cleaner and greener future for generations to come.

About Axis Bank:

Axis Bank is one of the largest private sector banks 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 4,945 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 15,798 ATMs across the country as on 30th June 2023, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 2,754 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, Axis Pension Fund, and Axis Bank Foundation.

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

Meta And ‘India AI’ To Foster Advancements In AI Technologies Across India

Recent breakthroughs in generative AI have triggered many conversations on the role of these technologies in fostering innovation and coming up with solutions for the real-world. Advancing its efforts towards an open approach for AI, Meta signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ‘India AI’, an independent business unit (IBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, to foster collaboration in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This collaboration will establish a framework of cooperation between ‘India AI’ and Meta in the field of Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies including to make Meta’s open-source AI models available for use by Indian AI ecosystem.The MoU was signed by Abhishek Singh, CEO of ‘India AI’ and Shivnath Thukral, Director, Public Policy, Meta in India.

Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs, Meta, said, Meta’s open approach to AI innovation is complementary to India’s leadership on digital issues. Giving businesses, startups and researchers access to these technologies can open up a world of social and economic opportunities. With close collaboration between government and industry, we can strengthen India’s digital leadership and help to ensure AI tools are built for India’s unique needs.

Abhishek Singh, CEO of ‘India AI’, said, India is at the forefront of adopting digital technologies and it is evident that AI and Emerging Technologies will play a pivotal role in expanding the advantages of technology to a broader population. Through this collaboration with Meta, the joint research and development endeavours will tackle large-scale challenges by leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies like Llama and other open-source solutions.

India AI’ and Meta have entered into a collaboration aimed at advancing research and development in AI & Emerging Technologies, seeking breakthroughs in AI technology and its applications. Additionally, both organisations may also consider establishing a Centre of Excellence to nurture the startup ecosystem of AI & other Emerging Technologies. Leveraging Meta’s AI research models like LlaMA, Massively Multilingual Speech, and No Language Left Behind, the collaboration will focus on building datasets in Indian Languages to enable translation and large language models, with priority given to low-resource languages. This effort will foster social inclusion, improve government service delivery, and spur innovation using large language models, Generative AI, cognitive systems, and translation models.

Furthermore, ‘India AI’ and Meta will strive to enhance accessibility to AI compute resources for researchers, startups, and organizations with limited resources. Knowledge sharing and collaboration in AI & Emerging Technologies will be facilitated through workshops, seminars, conferences, and similar platforms.

Additionally, ‘India AI’ and Meta share a common goal of raising awareness about AI’s potential benefits and risks among various stakeholders, including policymakers, businesses, civil society, and the general public. They will also work together to promote responsible AI practices through the collaborative development of comprehensive tools and guidelines.

Meta’s AI Research Models Being Already Being Tested By Indian Academic Institutions

We believe an open approach is the right one for building with AI models of today’s capabilities, and need to work in collaboration with others in industry, government, civil society and academia to advance them in a responsible way, and they need to find ways to bring people into the process as they develop the guardrails that AI systems operate within.

To help build the foundation blocks for translation of low-resource languages, Meta has created and expanded open data sets for research use like ccMatrix, Vox Populi and released benchmarking datasets like FLORES-200, Casual Conversations v2 Dataset for academic use. 

Our AI research model, No Language Left Behind (NLLB-200) enables translation of 200 different languages (including 25 Indian languages), helps improve the way researchers evaluate and expose potential algorithm biases in their computer vision and audio systems.  For some Indian-based languages, NLLB-200’s translations were more than 70% accurate, proving to be a game changer for a country as diverse as India. 

Our research efforts have also made significant progress on expanding speech recognition technologies for low-resource languages with the Massively Multilingual Speech (MMS) project speech-to-text, text-to-speech model for 1,100+ languages (including around 60 Indian languages) for research use cases.

India’s velocity of change on back of adoption of new technologies is inspirational

India has been at the forefront of technological advancements for almost a decade now. With a thriving developer base and third largest start-up ecosystem in the world, India can use technologies like AI to further strengthen its digital governance and applications that have the ability to transform everyday lives of people. As per the OECD observatory, in 2022 Indian developers have already made maximum contributions to the public AI software development projects. 

By making AI models available openly we are giving these developers, businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers access to tools developed at a scale that would be challenging for them to build themselves, backed by computing power they might not otherwise access. This will open up a world of opportunities for them to experiment, innovate in exciting ways, and ultimately benefit from economically and socially.

Conclusion: 

Meta is on the bleeding edge, with world-class research and technical leadership matched with deep investment and global scale. This means our teams are uniquely positioned to work on some of the most challenging problems out there—and to apply that work to building real products that solve real problems.

Throughout our company’s history, we’ve experienced the benefits of an open source approach when innovating in other areas of the business. Our engineers developed and shared frameworks that are now industry standards — like React, a leading framework for making web and mobile applications, and PyTorch, which is now the leading framework for AI. These became commonly used infrastructure for the entire technology industry. We believe that collaborations like the one with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India will be a significant step forward in supporting the development of helpful and safer generative AI too.

Latest SonicWall Report Reveals Stealthier Threat Actor Behaviors: Cryptojacking Soars As Cyberattacks Increase, Intensify, Diversify

* India sees 133% increase in Ransomware and 311% surge in IoT attacks

* India witnessed alarming % age rise in Ransomware, IOT attacks and Intrusion attempts

*  Malware (-7%) and Cryptojacking attacks (-73%) in the negative in India

* Intrusion attempts climb (+21%), with a record surge in cryptojacking volume (+399%)

* Cryptojacking volume in NOAM and Europe jumps (+345%) and (+788%) respectively 

* IoT malware (+37%) and encrypted threats (+22%) also on the rise

* Opportunistic threat actors target education and government verticals with digital barrage

* SonicWall discovered 172,146 ‘never-before-seen’ malware variants

* Lowest first half totals on ransomware attempts (-41%) since 2020, despite big Q2 jump – suggesting a likely rebound over the next 6 months

SonicWall, publisher of trusted cyberattack intelligence and leader of ransomware data, today released the 2023 SonicWall Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report. The bi-annual report uncovers evolving tactical behaviors from digital threat actors as they opt for different types of malicious attacks compared to years past.

Overall intrusion attempts were up, led by the highest year on record for global cryptojacking volume recorded by SonicWall, as threat actors shifted away from traditional ransomware attacks in favor of a stealthier means of malicious activities. The data suggests increased law enforcement activity, heavy sanctions and victims’ refusal to pay ransom demands have altered criminal conduct, and threat actors are targeting other means of revenue.

“The seemingly endless digital assault on enterprises, governments and global citizens is intensifying, and the threat landscape continues to expand,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bob VanKirk. “Threat actors are relentless, and our data indicates they are more opportunistic than ever, targeting schools, state and local governments, and retail organizations at unprecedented rates. The 2023 SonicWall Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report helps us better understand the mindset and criminal behavior that will in turn help SonicWall create the right countermeasures, and help organizations protect themselves by being better prepared and build stronger defenses against malicious activities.”

““The report shows that while India saw a lesser rise in crypto attacks, there has been a huge growth in ransomware and IoT attacks overall.  These rises in cyberattacks pose great risks to India’s economic ambitions, with industries from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals becoming more vulnerable as they continue to digitize operations. SonicWall shares critical cyber data that depicts the dramatic rise in the number of attacks, combined with progressively complex attack methods that are designed to breach and damage organizations. All organizations must be vigilant in defending their infrastructure from digital threats and finding new ways to expand or replacing traditional security systems and provide rapid remediation services when necessary,” said Debasish Mukherjee, Vice President Regional Sales, APJ, SonicWall.

Rise of Cryptojacking; Evolution of Ransomware

Cybercriminals are diversifying and expanding their skill sets to attack critical infrastructure, making the threat landscape even more complex and forcing organizations to reconsider their security needs. Despite the decline in global ransomware attempts (-41%), a variety of other attacks have trended up globally, including cryptojacking (+399%), IoT malware (+37%) and encrypted threats (+22%).

“SonicWall intelligence suggests that bad actors are pivoting to lower-cost, less risky attack methods with potentially high returns, like cryptojacking” said SonicWall Vice President of Product Security Bobby Cornwell. “It also explains the reason we’re seeing higher levels of cybercrime in regions like Latin America and Asia. Hackers search for the weakest points of entry, with the lightest possible repercussions, limiting their risk and maximizing their potential profits.”

Financially motivated threat actors continue to be successful despite challenges. They have pivoted to crimes with greater certainty of success but they will not abandon proven tactics like ransomware; they are simply shifting strategy by target rather than exiting altogether.

Prominent attacks continued to plague enterprises, cities, airlines, and even K-12 schools, causing widespread system downtime, economic loss and reputational damage. While several industries followed the global trend of ransomware volume decline, they saw a huge growth in cryptojacking attacks: education (+320X), government (+89X) and healthcare (+69X).

Threat Actors Diversify Cyberattack Strategies

Cybercriminals are using increasingly advanced tools and tactics to exploit and extort victims. While ransomware continues to be a threat, SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers expect more state-sponsored activity targeting a broader set of victims in 2023, including SMBs, government entities and enterprises.

The 2023 Mid-Year SonicWall Cyber Threat Report provides insight on a range of cyber threats, including:

Malware – Total global malware volume dipped slightly (-2%), in the first half of 2023, with the U.S. and U.K. logging the biggest dips – (-14%) and (-7%) respectively. Surprisingly, malware numbers climbed in every other tracked region. Europe saw an (+11%) increase, while Latin America malware jumped (+19%) – suggesting a geo-migration of threat actor behavior as they move from targeting traditional hotspots to more opportunistic locations.

Ransomware – Although overall ransomware numbers saw a -41% decline globally, Q2 suggests a potential rebound, as it spiked 73.7% when compared to Q1. Some countries still felt the sting of ransomware attacks as Germany increased (+52%) and India spiked a whopping (+133%).

IoT Malware – Global volume rose 37%, totaling almost 78 million hits by the end of June. As connected devices continue to rapidly multiply, bad actors are targeting weak points of entry as potential attack vectors into organizations.

Encrypted Threats – Yet another quieter approach embraced by bad actors in the last six months was encrypted threats, which climbed (+22%) globally 

“Every year we see cybercrime increase at a staggering and unprecedented rate, and our customers depend on us protect their most valuable digital assets,” said President and CEO of LAN Infotech Michael Goldstein. “That is why we have partnered with SonicWall for the past 15 years, knowing that they will always deliver cutting-edge products and timely research to provide us with the support we need to keep our customers safe. Reports like the 2023 SonicWall Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report arms the channel with the latest cyber trends and helps us become trusted advisors to provide sound security measures to our customers.”

Patented RTDMI Discovered more than 172,000 ‘Never-Before-Seen’ Malware Variants

SonicWall’s patented Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM (RTDMITM) technology identified a total of 172,146 never-before-seen malware variants in the first half of 2023, which is down (-36%) year-over-year, suggesting bad actors are spending less time on research and development, and more time on volume-based attacks – utilizing open-source tools that may be less likely to be intercepted. In addition, threat actors appear to be leverage existing tools – leaning on tools they know will help them be successful.

Despite the dip in never-before-seen malware variants, the threat landscape remains complex, with almost 1,000 strains of new variants discovered each day.

To learn more about SonicWall and get the complete 2023 SonicWall Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report, visit www.sonicwall.com/threatreport.