Made In India QR678(R) Therapy for Hair Loss to be 300% More Effective than the Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy

QR 678, a patented treatment for hair regrowth therapy for men and women, has proven to be more effective than PRP as a hair loss treatment. This study was published in an iconic and much respected American Journal called the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. It showed that as compared to the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy, QR 678®showed significant improvement in hair regrowth with almost 100% reduction in hair fall.

QR 678 was invented by Dr.Debraj Shome and Dr.Rinky Kapoor, celebrity cosmetic surgeons from India. They observed that male pattern baldness, known as Androgenic Alopecia characterised by progressive hair loss in men growing at a rampant rate of 58% in males aged 30-50 years which initiated their urge to research and find a solution to this cosmetic issue leading to the invention of QR 678®. The therapy curbs hair fall and increases the thickness, the number and density of existing hair follicles, offering greaterhair coverage to the ones with alopecia.The formulation has received patents in the United States and in India. 

Dr.Debraj Shome, Cosmetic Surgeon and Director, at The Esthetic Clinics, said, “The hair-regrowth treatments available currently have many limitations; they cannot revive hair beyond a certain stage. QR678® is a process where growth factors are injected in the hair follicles, which not only arrests hair fall but also stimulates hair growth. QR678® is a non-surgical, pain-free and non-invasive procedure for the hair regrowth treatment which has shown very good results in over 10,000 patients.”

Practicing from the Esthetics Clinics, Dr Shome says that, “from my experience as a cosmetic surgeon dealing with hair loss patients on a daily basis the treatment has responded very well, especially in India. QR 678® has had a success rate of 90% in India and this is the highest success rate achieved by any hair fall treatment in a shortest treatment time of 6-8 sessions.”

Comparing the two treatments in question, Dr. Rinky Kapoor partner to Dr Shome and one of leading Dermatologists in India adds, “PRP is used by all Dermatologists and plastic surgeons for hair growth. PRP involves extracting platelets from human blood and injecting it into the scalp to cause hair growth. But, the truth of the matter is that this therapy is more based on hope than actual science. There has never been a randomised controlled trial showing that PRP actually causes hair growth. That is why we conducted a comparative trial between the QR678 and PRP treatments and no surprises that the QR678 treatment caused almost 300% better results than the PRP".

The trial was a split head trial, comparing the PRP treatment efficacy with the QR678 treatments. While PRP is supposed to have growth factors for hair growth, the QR 678 treatment is a bioengineered, first in class hair therapy, with six hair growth factors and biomimetic peptides, administered to the scalp via mesotherapy. With Alopecia and hair loss becoming more and more common and affecting more than 40% males and 30% Females over the age of 30 globally, having a new age, proven therapy is very important for the world. More than 12000 patients have already experienced amazing results with the QR 678 treatment, which has an USA and an Indian patent and is now being exported to multiple countries from India.

Dr. Kapoor says, "We, as Doctors need to decide whether the treatments we offer are indeed backed by science or not.  Just because hair loss is so common and we didn't have too many solutions prior to the QR678® doesn't mean that we use treatments like the PRP which have no strong evidence based data for hair growth. Ultimately, science must win!"

The acceptance of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology of the QR678 hair growth treatment will change the execution and delivery of hair loss treatment, as PRP was rampantly and randomly used by dermatologists, plastic surgeons and cosmetic surgeons alike, in India and globally. India through the 'Made in India' top class hair innovation the QR678, may have pioneered a way forward for cosmetology at an international level.

Dr.Debraj Shome has been a global pioneer in developing new techniques and solutions for facial plastic surgery and facial cosmetic surgery for more than a decade, he is amongst the few super specialists India has in this area of cosmetology.

Dr. Shome is also a celebrated, best-selling, and internationally acclaimed author of ‘Dear People, With Love & Care, Your Doctors. Maintained its position as a bestseller for weeks in a row this book is an anthology of short stories based on the real-life doctor-patient relationship. He has written more than 50 peer-reviewed international papers in top International research journals. Dr. Shome is also the patent holder for the invention of the QR678 hair growth factor injections. This hair growth formulation has received patents in multiple locations, including the USA and India.

Dr.Rinky Kapoor is one of the best dermatologists in India today. She is also an expert in the field of non-invasive and non-surgical skin rejuvenation treatments. She has a unique ability to use a mixture of treatments for correct results making her the one of the finest dermatologist in India.What sets Dr Rinky Kapoor apart is the fact that she uses the world's best and latest technological advances to give the most natural looking results. She says, “It’s the joy of seeing the look of wonder and contentment on the faces of my patients and this is what keeps me going daily.”

Microsoft: Empowering Remote Learning with Azure Cognitive Services

Immersive Reader is an Azure Cognitive Service within the Azure AI platform that helps readers read and comprehend text. Through today’s general availability, developers and partners can add Immersive Reader right into their products, enabling students of all abilities to translate in over 70 languages, read text aloud, focus attention through highlighting, other design elements, and more. 

Immersive Reader has become a critical resource for distance learning, with more than 23 million people every month using the tool to improve their reading and writing comprehension. Between February and May 2020, when many schools moved to a distance learning model, we saw a 560 percent increase in Immersive Reader usage. As the education community embarks on a new school year in the Fall, we expect to see continued momentum for Immersive Reader as a tool for educators, parents, and students.

With the general availability of Immersive Reader, we are also rolling out the following enhancements:

* Immersive Reader SDK 1.1: Updates include support to have a page read aloud automatically, pre-translating content, and more. Learn about SDK updates.

* New Neural Text-to-Speech (TTS) languages: Immersive Reader is adding 15 new Neural Text to Speech voices, enabling students to have content read aloud in even more languages. Learn about the new Neural Text to Speech languages.

* New Translator languages: Translator is adding five new languages that will also be available in Immersive Reader—Odia, Kurdish (Northern), Kurdish (Central), Pashto, and Dari. Learn about the latest Translator languages.

Today, we’re adding new partners who are integrating Immersive Reader to make content more accessible, Code.org and SAFARI Montage. 

Code.org is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools. To ensure that students of all backgrounds and abilities can access their resources and course content, Code.org is integrating Immersive Reader into their platform.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Microsoft to bring Immersive Reader to the Code.org community. The inclusive capabilities of Immersive Reader to improve reading fluency and comprehension in learners of varied backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles directly aligns with our mission to ensure every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science.” - Hadi Partovi, Founder and CEO of Code.org

SAFARI Montage, a leading learning object repository, is integrating Immersive Reader to make it possible for students of any language background or accessibility needs to engage with content, and enable families who don’t speak the language of instruction to be more involved in their students’ learning journeys.  

"Immersive Reader is a crucial support for CPS students and families. During remote learning, particularly for our younger learners, student learning is often supported by parents, guardians, or other caregivers. Since Immersive Reader can be used to translate the student-facing instructions in our digital curriculum, families can support student learning in over 80 languages, making digital learning far more equitable and accessible than ever before! In addition, read-aloud and readability supports are game-changers for diverse learners" - Giovanni Benincasa, UX Manager, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Digital Learning, Chicago Public Schools  

With Immersive Reader, all it takes is a single API call to help users boost literacy. To start exploring how to integrate Immersive Reader into your app or service, check out these resources: 

* Software Development Kit (SDK): Immersive Reader SDK. 

* Documentation: Immersive Reader documentation. 

* Getting started videos: Immersive Reader videos .

To see the growing list of Immersive Reader partners and learn more, check out our partners page and Immersive Reader education blog.

Bring online courses to life with speech-enabled apps

With the shift to remote learning, another challenge that educators may face is continuing to drive student engagement.

Text to Speech, a Speech service feature that allows users to convert text to lifelike audio can facilitate new ways for students to interact with content. In addition to powering features like Read Aloud in Immersive Reader and the Microsoft Edge browser, Text to Speech enables developers to build apps that speak naturally in over 110 voices with more than 45 languages and variants.

With the Audio Content Creation tool, users can more easily bring audiobooks to life and finetune audio characteristics like voice style, rate, pitch, and pronunciation to fit their scenarios—no code required. Voices can even be customized for specific characters or personas; the Custom Neural Voice capability makes it possible to build one-of-a-kind voices, starting with 30 minutes of audio. Duolingo, for example, is using the Custom Neural Voice capability to create unique voices to represent different characters in its language courses.

To learn more about how to start creating speech-enabled apps for remote learning, check out the technical Text to Speech blog and other resources:

* Demos: Text to Speech. 

* Documentation: Text to Speech.

* Software Development Kit (SDK): Speech SDK.

Improve productivity and accessibility with transcription and voice commands 

AI can also be a useful tool for more seamless note-taking, making it possible for students and teachers to type with their voice. Transcribe in Word uses Speech to Text in Azure Cognitive Services to automatically transcribe your conversations. Now with speaker diarization, you can get a transcript that identifies who said what, when. 

In addition, adding voice enables more seamless experiences in Microsoft 365. For students who have difficulties writing things down, they can use AI-powered tools in Office not just for dictation but also for controls such as adding, formatting, editing, and organizing text. Word uses Language Understanding, an Azure Cognitive Service that enables you to add custom natural language understanding to your apps, to make it possible to capture ideas easily. To learn more about Language Understanding and how it is powering voice commands, check out our Language Understanding blog.

Medwin Healthcare Introduces SHYCOCAN, a ‘Made in India’ Device Approved by the USFDA & EU Confirmite Europenne

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. The COVID-19 pandemic has unlocked India’s vast potential in the field of life sciences and biotechnology. The pandemic has acted like a catalyst in nurturing an ecosystem of innovation within the country and expanding research and development. One of the ground-breaking products that has been an outcome of this is “Scalene Hypercharge Corona Canon” (SHYCOCAN), a scientific invention, truly one-of-a-kind device with the ability to contain the spread of coronavirus. Shycocan was introduced to the public today by Medwin Healthcare, a Kolkata based company that undertakes various projects related to healthcare and social engineering, through a virtual session. Medwin Healthcare is the International Humanitarian Agreement holder to manufacture and market Shycocan for India as well as for entire South Asia. Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, the Inventor of Shycocan, eminent Indian scientist and Chairman & Chief Scientific Officer, Organization de Scalene and Scalene Cybernetics Ltd., Bengaluru along with Mr Debashis Bose, CEO, Medwin Healthcare & Mr Dhrubajyoti Bose, CFO, Medwin Healthcare were present during the virtual launch. 

Speaking on the workings of the device, Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, Indian scientist and Chairman & Chief Scientific Officer, Organization de Scalene and Scalene Cybernetics Ltd., Bengaluru and the inventor of SHYCOCAN, iterated, “SHYCOCAN is proven to be 99.9% effective in neutralising the Spike-Protein or S-protein that are present in coronavirus. The device is designed to release a very high concentration of environmentally safe electrons using proprietary Photon-Mediated Electron Emitters (PMEEs) made with a superalloy developed by us, to emit and excite photons with the required kinetic energy.As the high energy photons bombard bulk surfaces and suspended particles in confined environments, the electron cloud actively ‘disarms’ air and surface transmission of the Corona family of viruses. Even if an infected individual were to walk into the room, these electrons would neutralise the potency of the virus present in aerosols while sneezing or coughing. We have received approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union Confirmite Europenne.” 

SHYCOCAN has fulfilled the conditions laid down by European Union- CE and the device is market enabled as per the U.S. FDA’s enforcement discretion guidance during the COVID- 19 Public Health Emergency. SHYCOCAN can be used to prevent infection and is not medicine or an alternative to a vaccine that can cure infected people. It has been designed by a team led by Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, who had earlier designed Cytotron, a machine to treat cancer more effectively. The device is effective in closed spaces of up to 1,000 sq ft or in places up to 10,000 cubic metres, such as waiting rooms, offices, malls and other public areas. The basic principle behind the technology is to disable the homing mechanism on the virus and prevent infectivity. SHYCOCAN does not harm any living organism, be it a fungi or a human. It can be used in all environments and does not have any detrimental effects. SHYCOCAN does not alter or interrupt any other services and functions, be it telephone calls or internet connections. The idea of SHYCOCAN was born in December 2018, much before the pandemic hit, as a way to reduce any form of infection.  

During the virtual session, Mr Debashis Bose, CEO, Medwin Healthcare, said, “Medwin Healthcare has always endeavoured to help the society during these trying times. Throughout the pandemic, we have supplied various tools to authorities that can prevent the spread of the virus. We are extremely glad to be the International Humanitarian partners of SHYCOCAN. We are producing and distributing the devices across India. We are planning to sell around 1,30,000 SHYCOCAN device in the next six months. We intend to produce and distribute the device as widely as possible so that we can help humanity in the fight against this vicious virus. By the end of FY 21 we are looking for a revenue of 250 crore.” 

Mr Dhrubajyoti Bose, CFO, Medwin Healthcare further added, “SHYCOCAN will enable us to create a safer environment in homes, offices, healthcare facilities, schools, eateries, etc. The device has been priced, keeping in mind, that the maximum strata of our society can afford it. This Made in India, By Indians, device is bound to bring some respite. This will eventually result in lower coronavirus positive cases and help in flattening of the curve. It is a positive step towards the vision laid out by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi about Atmanirbhar Bharat.” 

SHYCOCAN has been priced at INR 19,999 inclusive of GST and can be bought from the official website of Medwin Healthcare. ( For any queries, please visit www.medwin.co.in or dial 6292000000). SHYCOCAN works on a plug & play mode. Medwin Healthcare has two manufacturing units in Kolkata and one in Bangalore, Pune and Gurugram and will eventually start the distribution across the country and has plans to go abroad. 

About Medwin Healthcare: Medwin Healthcare is now registered with MSME. It is a socially inclined organisation to address challenges in development prospects in different spheres. The company believes in inclusion, inclination and introspection. The company undertakes projects mostly related to healthcare and social engineering. The company emphasises in R&D to get the highest degree of perfection in deliverables. The company is headed by two women entrepreneurs with adequate education, experience, acumen and financial standing. The company is initially a Partnership Firm which would subsequently be converted into a Private Limited Company. The entrepreneurs are in the process of applying for registration of several projects with MSME, Govt of India. In this critical time, the company has stood by different organisations by supplying preventive articles for Corona virus infection. Kolkata Municipal Corporation being one of them.  

ICICI Bank Introduces Use of Satellite Data to Power Credit Assessment of Farmers

* First bank in the country and among few globally to do this

* Available in 500 villages in Maharashtra, MP and Gujarat; plans to scale up to 63,000 villages shortly

ICICI Bank today announced the usage of satellite data—imagery from Earth observation satellites—to assess credit worthiness of its customers belonging to the farm sector. The Bank is the first in India and among few globally to use satellite data to measure an array of parameters related to the land, irrigation and crop patterns and use it in combination with demographic and financial parameters to make expeditious lending decisions for farmers. This use of innovative technology helps farmers with existing credit to enhance their eligibility, while new-to-credit farmers can now get better access to credit. Additionally, since the land verification is done in a contactless manner with the help of satellite data, credit assessments are being done within a few days as against the industry practice of upto 15 days.  

The Bank has been using satellite data for the past few months in over 500 villages in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and plans to scale up the initiative to over 63,000 villages shortly across the country.

This initiative gains significance at a time when people are advised to stay indoors and avoid travel in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. This use of satellite data provides quick and technically sound analysis of the land, crop and irrigation patterns from remote locations, without the need of the customer or a bank official having to visit the land. It offers farmers the significant advantage of reliable data being provided to the Bank without any hassles of travel, operational or logistical expenditure to them.

Commenting on this new initiative, Mr. Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said, “ICICI Bank has a legacy of pioneering innovations in technology to create propositions that provide increased convenience to customers. We have created new paradigms in the financial services industry by taking the lead in introducing path breaking innovations including firsts like internet banking in 1998, mobile banking (2008), Tab banking (2012), 24x7 Touch Banking branches (2012), Software Robotics (2016) and Blockchain deployment (2016).

We are bringing forth yet another futuristic technology of using satellite data and analysis to provide key inputs for credit assessments for lending to farmers. Earlier, one had to visit remote locations to manually assess a host of parameters on the land location, irrigation levels and crop quality patterns to forecast future revenues of the farmers. Now, imagery from earth observation satellite gives us ground-breaking ability to track many information across large areas in a contactless and highly reliable manner. This, combined with demographic and financial details, provides strong information on the land asset of the farmers. We believe that usage of this technology will enhance accessibility to credit as new-to-credit farmers will have easy access to formal credit, as well as farmers with existing credit lines will be able to securely expand their eligibility. With encouraging response to our pilot project in over 500 villages, we will shortly cover over 63,000 villages in the country for lending with this technology.”

The Bank has partnered with agri–fintech companies specialising in harnessing space technology and weather information for commercial usage. It has worked closely with them to build reports with over 40 parameters for assessing credit-worthiness of a farmer with deep study of the land, irrigation and crop patterns. The analysis is put together using algorithms to analyse images available from satellites around the planet.  Additionally, the Bank has worked on further scoring models to create indices at district level, village level as well as for individual land to provide an estimate of the past and future agriculture income, the timing of harvest and sources of income, and thus, provide key inputs to credit assessments.

Some of the key satellite data being used by the Bank are:

* Rainfall and temperature data of past years

* Soil moisture levels in past years

* Surface water availability

* Trends in crop sowing including crop name, tentative sowing & harvesting weeks, crop health and yields

* Agriculture land location details including latitude, longitude and boundary of the land

* Nearby locations of warehouses and mandis

This innovative technology will help farmers, who are existing customers of the Bank as well as non-customers, to avail KCC (Kisan Credit Card) loans. KCC attributed one-third to the Bank’s rural loan portfolio of Rs 571.77 billion in the quarter ended June 30, 2020.

Axis Bank Introduces ‘Liberty Savings Account’ for the Indian Youth

* Offers flexibility between maintaining a minimum balance and spending on lifestyle needs

* First of its kind Savings account offering complimentary hospital cash insurance cover of Rs 20,000, which includes COVID-19  

* Savings account specifically designed for youth under 35 years of age 

To address the ever-changing lifestyle needs of the young and digitally-savvy Indian, Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank, today announced the launch of its ‘Liberty Savings Account’. This unique proposition offers customers the flexibility to either maintain a minimum balance of Rs 25,000 per month or spend the same amount every month through the Liberty debit card or savings account (via NetBanking, Axis Mobile or UPI) on lifestyle requirements. The Liberty Savings Account also offers a complimentary hospital cash insurance cover of upto Rs 20,000 per year, which covers hospital expenses incurred under COVID -19, making this a first of its kind savings account to cover the pandemic.  

The Liberty Saving Account is targeted to cater to the lifestyle requirements of the working class that falls under 35 years of age. A qualitative survey indicates that customers in this category have a higher inclination to upgrade their lifestyle by spending more on food, entertainment, shopping and travel which comprises 50% of the merchant transactions / spends. Hence, the Liberty debit card is designed in such a way that customers are entitled to more privileges. A customer can enjoy 5% cashback every weekend on expenses incurred on food, entertainment, shopping and travel. This reward is part of the overall package, which comprises benefits worth Rs 15,000 annually through cashbacks, banking benefits, dining delights and quarterly spend vouchers.  

Speaking on the launch Mr. Praveen Bhatt, EVP - Retail Liabilities and Direct Banking Products, Axis Bank said, “We at Axis Bank have been consistently innovating our products and services to cater to various customer segments and this product has been conceptualised keeping the needs of India’s dynamic young customers. The Liberty savings account takes into consideration the customer’s inclination to augment and upgrade their lifestyle and a new value proposition has been created to introduce balance and flexibility between savings versus spending.”  

Adding to it Mr. Ravi Narayanan, President & Head Branch Banking, Axis Bank said, ‘’Liberty account, spends based Savings account, encourages usage of the account for payments and rewards customer for consumption. This product encompasses a potential for on-boarding new customers through novel features and engage with them continuously.” 

Documents Reveal Shetty Used NMC Funds to Acquire Private Jet

 Misuse of Funds 

* In 2014, Shetty purchased 50% of a private jet from an Omani billionaire Puthan NC Menon for $4.2 million 

* Payments worth millions of dollars from NMC to Menon’s Sobha Puravankara Private Aviation Ltd. were made in August 2015 and then in March and April 2016 

* While it did appear that Shetty had more than enough money, Muddy Waters’ report exposed his complex share arrangements casting doubts on his net worth 

In a recent leak of highly confidential documents, it has clearly emerged that of the many luxuries afforded by London-listed NMC Health founder B R Shetty, it was in fact, funds transferred from NMC that were used to purchase his private jet. The healthcare provider is stricken by $6.6 billion debt and Shetty has been alleged to have misrepresented his shareholdings in the company. 

An inside source, investigating NMC Health’s scandal has revealed, “Evidence shows that during September 2014 BRS was requested to pay more than $4.2 million for a 50% stake in the private jet, which, at the time, was wholly owned by India-born Omani billionaire Puthan NC Menon.”  

While there are already reports floating around that suggest BR Shetty had potentially used NMC Health’s funds to fuel his business empire and acquire luxurious assets, such as a couple of floors of the Burj Khalifa, these documents can prove to be incriminating.  

Adds the source, “the documents show a number of payments from NMC Health to Menon’s companies which appear to be in relation to the jet agreement. Payments from NMC to Sobha Puravankara Private Aviation Ltd. have been made in August 2015 of AED 5 million followed by in March 2016 of AED 2,200,000. In April 2016 further transfers to the tune of AED 3,45,280 were done again.” 

On the face of it, it did appear that Shetty had more than enough money, at least on paper, to afford such a lifestyle from companies he helped found, including hospital operator NMC Health Plc and financial services firm Finablr Plc. However, Carson Block’s investment firm, Muddy Waters, exposé in December 2019, on his complex share arrangements cast doubts on his net worth. His holdings were ascertained to be just a fraction of what he claimed to have. 

Filings, earlier this year, have shown that Shetty pledged a quarter of his NMC stake against loans with First Abu Dhabi Bank and Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank. Two other shareholders may already own half of his reported stake. Another lender, Al Salam Bank Bahrain, has sold some of those shares to enforce security over a loan for Shetty, and NMC has also issued a statement claiming that First Abu Dhabi Bank sold another chunk earlier this month. 

Since BRS Ventures Investment, the UAE-based holding company for most of Shetty’s assets, doesn’t report consolidated financials, a complete analysis of his net worth has not been possible.   

In a statement made by Carson Block earlier this year, he was quoted saying he didn’t anticipate NMC’s shareholding drama. “I wouldn’t have been able to predict that we’d get these bizarre disclosures about unclear share ownership coming out of the company. This has been obviously a more dramatic unraveling than we usually see,” he said. 

As further reports and stories emerge around BRS’s alleged use of NMC’s funds for his own vanity purchases, a big question that still looms large is whether this jet is yet another example of another alleged embezzlement on Shetty’s part. 

UFI Filters Launch Sofima D+Fend - Anti-Virus Cabin Air Filtration Solution against Viruses, Bacteria

UFI Group has launched a revolutionary cabin air filter, SOFIMA D+FEND Antivirus for cars, which has the ability to kill 99.9% harmful bacteria and viruses such as SARS-COV (coronavirus). SOFIMA D+FEND Antivirus is the result of the vast experience in R&D of UFI Filters Group. this revolutionary product is composed of a non-woven fabric filter media which incorporates silver ions in addition to copper ions. While copper ions destroy the cell barrier of viruses and bacteria, silver ions penetrate the nucleus, neutralizing them outright.

SOFIMA D+FEND Anti-virus incorporates the antimicrobial and antiviral active substances into the fibers themselves, which are made up of polymeric material. Thanks to the prolonged release of ions from the two elements embedded in the fibers, the filter has the power to destroy the bacterial and viral load over a prolonged period, unlike other solutions on the market today, the properties of which are diminished after just a few working cycles following the installation of the filter on the vehicle.

The tests carried out by Microbac® Laboratories in Virginia and Guangdong Detection Center for microbiology (GDDCM) in Guangzhou – accredited by the China National Accreditation of Laboratory (CNAL) – have demonstrated that the product is absolutely non-toxic and presents no OIT (octylisothiazolinone), which is harmful to human health, and has a virus and bacteria kill rate higher than 99.5%. Specifically, the laboratory tests have certified the capacity of the filter to neutralize the much-feared coronaviruses from the SARS-COV family (kill rate 99.5%), as well as influenza A H1N1, H3N2 and H7N9, in addition to various types of dangerous bacteria such as E. coli and staphylococcus aureus (kill rate 99.9%).

The innovative SOFIMA D+FEND Anti-virus filters, for the Indian market, will be produced in SOFIMA FILTERS INDIA Plant in Bahadurgarh, dedicated to the manufacturing of filters for the Aftermarket sector, inaugurated in October 2019. The SOFIMA D+FEND Anti-virus cabin filters can be found in our Aftermarket India catalogue and belong to product code family ending with KN2.

Luca Betti, Group Aftermarket Business Unit Director, says: "We are extremely proud of the results achieved thanks to the collaboration of our Innovation Centers in China, India and in Italy.

UFI Filters Group has chosen to give a meaningful name to this innovative D+FEND Anti-virus filter media, which has been certified according to ISO 11155-1:2001 standard having a filtration efficiency of more than 95% for aerosol particles, with dimension equal to 0.3 microns. When applied to cabin air filters, this innovative material thus offers a clear improvement in the quality of the air inside vehicles, during a historical period in which the health of the individual is absolutely paramount."

Hridesh Sharma, CEO of UFI Filters India: "The investment made by UFI Filters Group in Research and Development is ongoing. This innovative product bears testament to our desire to remain at the cutting edge when it comes to innovation and is evidence of the exceptional ability of our technicians to work with laboratories and certified institutions at international level. We are honoured to be able to offer the Indian market a revolutionary premium product which will improve people's quality of life, as the product's advertising message - BECAUSE WE CARE - highlights."

About UFI Filters GroupFounded in 1971, UFI Filters is a global leader in filtration technology and thermal management. It serves a wide range of sectors – from automotive, aerospace and marine to specialized industrial and customized hydraulic applications. Renowned for its innovation, UFI’s products and know-how are to be found in all kinds of vehicles – from Ferrari and other top F1 teams, to the European ExoMars spacecraft.

UFI supplies the full range of air, oil, fuel, cabin, hydraulic and coolant filters as well as thermal management systems to the automotive sector, meeting the needs of nearly all car brands and motorcycles as well as commercial, heavy duty and agricultural vehicles. In the OE market, UFI is a leading filtration provider. Each family of filters within the company’s two Aftermarket brands, UFI and Sofima, covers 96% of the European car parc.

One of the first Italian companies to identify growth opportunities in the Far East, today UFI ha19 industrial sites and employs over 4,000 people in 19 countries. It employs 168 specialized technicians in its Innovation and Research Centers and holds 223 patents. UFI has doubled its turnover in the last 10 years. As a research-driven company, it reinvests over 5% of its revenues in R&D.