Honda Cars India Announces “Honda Magical Monsoon” Campaign With Exclusive Benefits On All Honda Cars

Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), a leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, announced its exciting “Honda Magical Monsoon” promotional campaign offering attractive benefits and assured gifts on the purchase of its premium range of Honda cars valid til July 31, 2024 at all dealerships nationwide*. These limited-time offers are designed to provide exceptional value making this season even more delightful.

Customers who take delivery of their cars in July 2024 stand a chance to win an exclusive couple’s trip to Switzerland or assured prizes worth upto Rs 75,000 as part of this campaign. Additionally, there are Surprise gift on all test drives during this period. All these offers will run in addition to the model-wise monthly offer available on the product range.  

Commenting on the promotion campaign, Mr. Kunal Behl, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “The monsoon season brings a sense of freshness and Honda’s special offers aim to amplify this experience for our customers. Whether you are upgrading your drive or buying your first car, there is a Honda waiting for you with unbeatable value and now is the perfect time to make that decision. This limited time offer is available at all authorised Honda dealerships across the country.”

The promotional scheme covers the entire premium range of Honda Cars India including Honda Amaze, Honda City, Honda Elevate and Honda City e:HEV, ensuring customers nationwide can avail these offers, alongside ongoing monthly offers on the respective models.

Honda Cars India Registers Total Sales Of 9,776 Units In June’24

Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, registered total sales of 9,776 units in June 2024. Domestic sales of the company stood at 4,804 units and exports at 4,972 units in the month of June’24.

Sharing thoughts on June’24 sales performance, Mr. Kunal Behl, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, "The market conditions have been challenging to create fresh demand. During June, we rolled out exciting promotional campaigns to make the purchase more rewarding and focused on maximizing retail. On the exports front, we continued to grow marking a significant leap for the company.”

The company had registered 5,080 units in domestic sales and exported 2,112 units in June’ 23.

About Honda Cars India Ltd.

Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), a leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, was established in December 1995 with a commitment to provide Honda’s passenger car models and technologies, to the Indian customers. HCIL’s corporate office is based in Greater Noida, UP and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is located at Tapukara, District. Alwar, Rajasthan. 

Honda’s models are strongly associated with advanced design and technology, apart from their established qualities of durability, reliability, safety, and fuel-efficiency. The company has a strong sales and distribution network spread across the country. 

Besides the new car business, Honda offers one stop solution for buying and selling pre-owned cars through its business function Honda Auto Terrace. The Honda Certified Pre-owned cars come with an assurance of quality and peace of mind that caters to the diverse and burgeoning needs of pre-owned car buyers across the country.

Tata Motors’ Holistic After-Sales Services Keep Karnataka’s Trucks Moving

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, has made significant strides in the Indian trucking industry by continuously strengthening its service ecosystem and playing a pivotal role in ensuring higher uptime of vehicles, a crucial element in meeting today's tight freight delivery timelines. Focused on offering a robust service network, range of value-added services, easy access to genuine spare parts, along with prioritizing driver well-being, the company consistently assures customers of an excellent ownership experience.

Keeping a vehicle running smoothly with minimal downtime remains critical to the success of customers’ business. Recognizing this early on, Tata Motors has established an extensive service network across Karnataka, with 146 strategically located service touchpoints across the state. Moreover, easy access to genuine spare parts is assured through well-stocked dealerships. Central to Tata Motors' service excellence are highly skilled technicians, continuously trained by the company.  

To further enhance the ownership experience, Tata Motors offers a suite of value-added services, including uptime assurance, on-site service, annual maintenance contract, and fleet management solutions. Initiatives such as Tata Alert and Tata Kavach provide swift roadside assistance and repairs for accidental vehicles, while Tata Zippy Assurance ensures timely resolution of service concerns. Together, these services minimize downtime and maximize vehicle reliability, boosting business efficiency.

As a responsible corporate entity that prioritizes the safety and comfort of drivers, the backbone of India’s logistics industry, Tata Motors has consistently worked towards driver welfare. Through comprehensive driver training initiatives, Tata Motors ensures drivers are equipped with the latest skills and knowledge to operate vehicles safely and efficiently. The company's driver welfare efforts also extend beyond training. By offering programs like ‘Tata Samarth’, the company focuses on drivers’ health, safety, and well-being, thereby improving the quality of life for them and their families.

By staying close to its customers and prioritizing their needs, Tata Motors ensures that every Tata owner is a proud owner. This unwavering commitment to aftersales service has not only strengthened customer loyalty but also underpins the company’s long-term growth in Karnataka.

About Tata Motors:

Part of the USD 150 billion Tata group, Tata Motors Limited (BSE: 500570 and 570001; NSE: TATAMOTORS and TATAMTRDVR), a USD 44 billion organization, is a leading global automobile manufacturer of cars, utility vehicles, pick-ups,  trucks, and buses, offering an 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 ranks among the top three in the passenger vehicles market.

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

With operations in India, UK, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, Tata Motors markets its vehicles in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the SAARC countries. As of March 31, 2024, Tata Motors’ operations include 90 consolidated subsidiaries, two joint operations, five joint ventures, and numerous equity-accounted associates, including their subsidiaries, over which the company exercises significant influence.

“13th Edition of Bengaluru INDIA NANO” Launched; Event To Be Held From August 1-3, 2024

* Focal theme of the event is Nanotechnology for Sustainability: Climate, Energy, and Healthcare

* The event is expected to attract 25+ Sessions, 75+ Speakers, 700+ Delegates, 6+ GIA Countries, 50+ Exhibitors, 175+ Posters, 3500+ Attendees

The “13th edition of Bengaluru INDIA NANO”, India’s flagship event in the Nanotech sector, has been officially announced today by Shri N. S. Boseraju, Hon'ble Minister of Minor Irrigation and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka at a curtain raiser programme held in Bengaluru.

The three-day event is set to take place from August 1st – 3rd, 2024 at The Lalit, Bengaluru. The event is organized by the Dept. of Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Science & Technology Promotion Society (KSTePS) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).

The curtain raiser programme was also graced by Prof. Navakanta Bhat, Chair, Vision Group on Nanotechnology, Government of Karnataka, Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Professor, CeNSE, IISc, Bengaluru; Prof. P. S. Anil Kumar, Chair, CEC - Bengaluru INDIA NANO 2024, Dean, Administration & Finance, Professor, Dept. of Physics, IISc, Bengaluru; Dr. Ekroop Caur, IAS, Secretary to Government, Dept. of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology, and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka; and Shri Pavan Kumar Malapati, IAS, Director, Dept. of Science & Technology & Managing Director, KSTePS, Government of Karnataka and Shri Jagdish Patankar, Executive Chairman, MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications, the Event Curator of Bengaluru INDIA NANO. 

The event theme for this edition was decided, based on the recommendations of the Vision Group on Nanotechnology, following extensive thought and deliberation.

Shri N. S. Boseraju, Hon'ble Minister of Minor Irrigation and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka while addressing the gathering said, “If we were to identify the greatest challenges facing humanity today, climate change, energy depletion, and health crises would undoubtedly top the list. Sustainability is not just a buzzword, but is now an impending necessity. The impacts of climate change are increasingly visible, manifesting in rising temperatures, natural calamities, and widespread displacement. Simultaneously, the world is grappling with severe economic and environmental consequences of energy crises. While industries are striving to develop green and clean energy solutions, these efforts alone may not be sufficient to achieve true sustainability. Health challenges, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, have exposed critical vulnerabilities in healthcare systems globally. This pandemic was neither the first nor will it be the last; thus, our preparedness and resilience are of utmost importance.”

Shri N.S. Boseraju further added, “Nanotechnology holds the promise to deliver small-sized but high impact solutions, which can potentially revolutionize our approach to these global issues. With this background, the theme for this edition of Bengaluru INDIA NANO 2024 is Nanotechnology for Sustainability: Climate, Energy, and Healthcare."

The 13th edition of Bengaluru INDIA NANO promises to be a landmark gathering, bringing together a diverse array of participants including researchers & scientists, academicians, industry captains, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and students.

The Summit will witness participation of 700+ registered Delegates, 75+ Expert Speakers in over 25 Conference Sessions. Through keynote speeches and engaging panel discussions by eminent experts from around the globe, the conference will address cutting-edge developments in nanotechnology and its applications in climate, energy, healthcare and electronics & semiconductors. Some of the distinguished Speakers and Leaders addressing at the Conference include Prof. Pulickel Ajayan - Chair, Department of Materials Science and Nano Engineering, Rice University; Balajee Sowrirajan - Managing Director, SSIR; Prof. Neetu Singh - Professor & Head, Center of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; Prof. Dhirendra Katti - Director, Indian Institute of Technology Goa; Prof. Nitash Balsara - The Charles W. Tobias Professor in Electrochemistry, University of California, Berkeley & many more.

Pre-conference Tutorials will offer in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in various aspects of nanotechnology, catering to both beginners and seasoned professionals. The Pre-conference Tutorial will delve into key topics including Nano Fabrication, Nano Characterisation, & Nano Biology. A unique initiative for Nanotechnology students is the Nano for the Young Programme, launched by Bharat Ratna Prof. C.N.R. Rao. The Poster Showcase at the event will give an opportunity to more than 175 young researchers from academia & research institutions to display their innovative research posters.

The Exhibition will showcase the latest innovations, products, and technologies from leading companies, research institutions & startups in the field of nanotechnology. 50+ organizations will be showcasing their innovative Nanotech products & services.

The event will witness the bestowing of the coveted ‘Prof. C.N.R. Rao Bengaluru INDIA NANO Science Award’ for making meaningful contributions to Nanoscience. Another prestigious ‘Bengaluru INDIA NANO Innovation Award’ will be presented for Innovative & Disruptive Technology Development in Nanotech. The prestigious Karnataka DST Nanoscience Fellowships will be announced during the glittering awards ceremony.

Other Awards that will be presented include the Nano Excellence Award- to the best researchers in the realm of Nanoscience; Best Poster- The Best Students for revolutionary research; Exhibitor Awards- For the best showcase across various categories.

The 2nd National Nanotech Quiz is moving to the next level with participation of students from across India. The first 2 rounds of the Quiz will be held digitally while the final showdown will take place in-person at the event for the first time, making it a significant occasion in this academic challenge. The event will also host an array of programmes such as NanoSparX- a startup pitching initiative, as well as B2B Partnering Meetings.

Photo Caption: Mr. Jagdish Patankar , Executive Chairman, MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications;  Dr. Ekroop Caur , IAS, Secretary to Government, Dept. of Electronics, IT, Bt and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka; Prof Navakanta Bhat, Chair, VGNT, Government of Karnataka, Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Professor, CeNSE, IISc, Bengaluru; Shri N.S. Boseraju, Hon'ble Minister of Minor Irrigation and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka; Prof. P.S. Anil Kumar, Chair, CEC - Bengaluru INDIA NANO 2024, Professor, Dept. of Physics IISc, Bengaluru; Shri Pavan Kumar Malapati, IAS, Managing Director, KSTePS, Government of Karnataka unveiling the brochure of the 13th Bengaluru INDIA NANO 2024 at the Curtain Raiser event held at The Lalit, Bengaluru, today. 

How SRI-Bangalore Collaborated With Samsung R&D Centres & Local Partners To Democratize Galaxy AI In India

* SRI-B developed the Hindi language for Galaxy AI, ensuring 20 regional dialects were covered for best results

The development of Galaxy AI involved multiple R&D teams working across cultures and borders. SRI-Bangalore, Samsung's largest R&D centre outside Korea, collaborated with teams around the world to develop AI language models for British, Indian and Australian English as well as Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian.

Recently, core engineers from other Samsung Research centers visited Bangalore, India — where the SRI-B team helped ramp up the technology to bring Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian to Galaxy AI.

SRI-B also developed the Hindi language for Galaxy AI. Developing the Hindi AI model wasn’t simple. The team had to ensure more than 20 regional dialects, tonal inflections, punctuation and colloquialisms were covered. Additionally, it is common for Hindi speakers to mix English words in their conversations. This required the team to carry out multiple rounds of AI model training with a combination of translated and transliterated data.

“Every language has its challenges,” said Giridhar Jakki, Head of Language AI at Samsung R&D Institute India – Bangalore (SRI-B). “But when you consider the end goal of bringing people the ability to communicate in other languages, it’s worth every ounce of effort. We couldn’t wait to bring Hindi to Galaxy AI.”

“Hindi has a complex phonetic structure that includes retroflex sounds — sounds made by curling the tongue back in the mouth — which are not present in many other languages,” said Jakki. “To build the speech synthesis element of the AI solution, we carefully reviewed data with native linguists to understand all the unique sounds and created a special set of phenomes to support specific dialects of the language.”

Collaborative efforts between Samsung and academic partners were instrumental in developing the AI language model that reflected the cultural nuances of the India’s regions. The Vellore Institute of Technology helped secure almost a million lines of segmented and curated audio data on conversational speech, words and commands. Data was a crucial component for a task as critical as incorporating the fourth most spoken language in the world into Galaxy AI. Working with universities ensured Samsung was using the highest quality data.

Galaxy AI now supports 16 languages, so more people can expand their language capabilities, even when offline, thanks to on-device translation in features such as Live Translate, Interpreter, Note Assist and Browsing Assist.

This project perfectly encapsulates Samsung’s philosophy of open collaboration and the company’s belief that sharing expertise and perspectives ensures meaningful innovation. In the case of SRI-B, this not only includes working with academia but also sharing insights and best practices with other Samsung research centers around the world.

“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve achieved with the help of our partners,” said Jakki. “AI innovation through collaboration is a big part of what we do. We will continue to better understand, collect and analyze language data so more people can have access to AI tools in the future.”

ICICI Lombard Introduces ‘Elevate’ - An Industry First, Revolutionary Health Insurance Product

- Powered with AI, ‘Elevate’ empowers customers with personalised plans- 

ICICI Lombard, a leading private general insurer in India, proudly announces the launch of its revolutionary health insurance product, ‘Elevate’. Powered with AI the first-of-its-kind health product is loaded with cutting-edge features and add-ons, offering personalised solutions to meet the needs of dynamic lifestyle, unforeseen medical emergencies and medical inflation. This significant launch underscores ICICI Lombard’s commitment to pioneering advancements in the insurance industry delivering exceptional value to its customers.

Designed to cater to the rapidly evolving ecosystem, ‘Elevate’ offers a suite of personalised customer-centric plans that prioritise comprehensive coverage and flexibility. The key features of ‘Elevate’ include:

Infinite Sum Insured: Addressing the concern of limited coverage and sum insured, this feature ensures that policyholders never run out of coverage. 

Infinite Claim Amount: This add-on offers comprehensive financial protection with infinite claim amount for one-time claim during the lifetime of policy without taking into purview the sum-insured amount.

Power Booster Add-on: This add-on provides a 100% cumulative bonus annually, irrespective of claims, for an indefinite period.

Reset Benefit: This feature triggers unlimited resets of your coverage, ensuring continuous protection irrespective of claims.

Infinite Assurance: This jump-start add-on enables people with pre-existing disease conditions like asthma, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and obesity to start benefitting from the policy after 30th day as against the industry norms of waiting period of 3 years.

Leveraging the power of AI, ‘Elevate’ interprets customer inputs to deliver optimal coverage recommendations, ensuring that each policy is uniquely suited to individuals’ requirements. The bespoke approach to health insurance provides extensive protection while catering to personal health and financial considerations, making it more adaptable and responsive to customers’ needs.     

Staying true to its motto - power of infinite personalisation, ‘Elevate’ also comes power packed with 15 in-built covers and multiple personalization options, encompassing covers for; 20 critical illnesses, personal accident, maternity, new born cover, accommodation and travel benefits, preventive care, inflation protector, air ambulance and personalised home care and many more.       

Mr. Anand Singhi, Chief of Retail and Government at ICICI Lombard, stated, “‘Elevate’ embodies our steadfast dedication to pioneering innovation and customer-centricity. As a ground-breaking industry first, powered by an AI-Engine ‘Elevate’ will redefine health insurance, ensuring a deeply personalised experience tailored to customers’ unique needs. With add-ons such as ‘Infinite Care’ and ‘Power Booster,’ we have set a new standard in the health insurance, empowering our customers with unparalleled peace of mind in an increasingly dynamic world."

ICICI Lombard is committed to customer-centricity by integrating innovation into every facet of its operations, especially personalized insurance solutions enhanced by cutting-edge technology. 

About ICICI Lombard

ICICI Lombard is the leading private general insurance company in the country. The Company offers a comprehensive and well-diversified range of products through multiple distribution channels, including motor, health, crop, fire, personal accident, marine, engineering, and liability insurance. With a legacy of over 2 decades, ICICI Lombard is committed to customer centricity with its brand philosophy of ‘Nibhaaye Vaade’. The company has issued over 36.2 million policies, honoured over 2.9 million claims and has a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of ?255.94 billion for the year ended March 31, 2024.  ICICI Lombard has 312 branches and 13,670 employees, as on March 31, 2024. 

ICICI Lombard has been a pioneer in the industry and is the first large scale insurance company in India to migrate its entire core systems to cloud.  With a strong focus on being, digital led and agile, it has launched a plethora of tech-driven innovations, including the industry first Face Scan on its signature insurance and wellness App - IL TakeCare, with over 9.3 million downloads. The company has won several laurels including ET Corporate Excellence Awards, Golden Peacock Awards, FICCI Insurance Awards, Assocham, Stevie Asia Pacific, National CSR awards etc. for its various initiatives. For more details log on to www.icicilombard.com    

o9 Enhances Its Digital Brain Platform With Generative AI-Powered Composite Agents To Execute Complex, Cross-Functional Planning

o9, a leading enterprise AI software platform provider for transforming planning and decision-making, today announced that it has enhanced its Digital Brain platform by incorporating generative AI-powered Large Language Model (LLM) composite agents. These next-generation agents are designed to revolutionize the way planners execute complex tasks, driving continued improvement in integrated business planning capabilities. 

o9’s composite agents are built on a foundation of atomic agents, which are AI-driven systems that are capable of performing tasks, retrieving information and generating responses to queries based upon specific inputs, coupled with Large Language Model (LLM) systems that are trained in information that is specific to a business. 

Within the o9 Digital Brain platform’s core Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG), composite agents are able to integrate a sequence of atomic agents to perform more complicated exercises that can be used in cross-functional planning processes, such as building a forecast or post-game analysis. This is done through a sequence of retrieving and synthesizing data to arrive at an outcome, such as analyzing month-to-month forecast changes or providing a post-game analysis of the previous quarter to compare a prior forecast to actual results and perform root-cause analysis on forecast inaccuracies. Additionally, composite agents are trained on the ‘recipes’ followed by an organization's planning experts and are able to continuously learn from feedback. This results in agents getting better at arriving at the desired outcome. 

“Our Digital Brain’s EKG offers cross-functionality as it touches supply chain, finance, procurement, commercial, customers and suppliers. It connects the knowledge of all these entities – and is constantly accumulating new knowledge as well,” said Anand Srinivasan, o9’s Chief Strategy Officer. “Now we are deploying composite agents that can do a lot more cross-functional analysis.”

Srinivasan continued, “Typically, an employee within a particular function only has the purview of knowledge, people, and systems within their department; they don’t look across and consider, ‘How does my decision impact someone else in a different department or organization?’ Hence, a lot of things get missed, and there is a lot of value leakage. This is another thing these composite agents can help solve by becoming more cross-functional in their analysis.”

“In the years to come, we believe that the quality of a business’s digital knowledge and how it informs the company’s business planning and decision-making will be a competitive advantage that propels it forward,” said Chakri Gottemukkala, Co-Founder and CEO of o9. “Part of what makes today’s sophisticated AI systems so powerful and versatile is the focused expertise and teamwork between atomic agents and the holistic oversight of composite agents that can manage a series of tasks and integrate their outputs to achieve overarching business initiatives. At o9, we’re committed to continuously incorporating the most effective AI technologies into our o9 Digital Brain platform to give our clients access to cutting-edge innovations.”