Lizol Unveils Its Disinfection-Focused Campaign ‘Safe T Touch’ in India

* Highlights its product efficacy against the Sars-Cov-2 (Covid-19) virus

* Importance of cleaning and disinfecting surfaces to kill germs and viruses

Lizol, India’s leading disinfectant brand unveiled its new campaign ‘Safe To Touch’ today. The campaign is focused on raising awareness during the ongoing pandemic on the importance of surface disinfection to help fight germs and viruses.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lizol has been educating consumers on understanding the need for disinfection to help break the chain of this deadly infection. Lizol disinfectant surface cleaner which is manufactured in India has been tested by an internationally accredited external laboratory and proven to be >99.9% effective against the Sars-Cov-2 virus.

Sukhleen Aneja, CMO, Marketing Director, RB Hygiene, South Asia said, “Lizol is a Global disinfection champion and has been working towards educating consumers on the need & importance of surface disinfection to protect our loved ones during the ongoing pandemic. We are experiencing a heightened hygiene consciousness around us and in that context it’s important for us to educate consumers on the need for Surface disinfection along with Personal hygiene. Lizol’s range of Disinfectant multi-surface cleaners have been tested and proven effective at killing Covid-19 virus. With the new campaign Lizol aims to educate consumers to not just Clean but Disinfect their homes making every surface Safe to Touch.”

Dr. Skand Saksena, Director R&D, RB Hygiene Home, South Asia highlighted “At RB, we exist to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world. Lizol Disinfectant Surface Cleaner is one of the leading hygiene products in RB’s portfolio that has been tested and proven to be >99.9% effective against the Sars-Cov-2 virus. These findings have established that Lizol Disinfectant Surface Cleaner prevents the spread of this deadly infection by disinfecting contaminated surfaces and helps in keeping homes clean and germ free.”

The new campaign is a behavior change campaign conceptualized by McCann and is aimed at educating consumers. Commenting on this Prasoon Joshi, CEO and COO, McCann Worldgroup said, “This film is about educating consumers on protecting themselves and their families from germs and viruses which is very important and relevant in the current scenario. The campaign looking at creating awareness on germs at home not just on the floors but multiple surfaces like doorknobs, kitchen counters etc.”

The ‘Safe To Touch’ campaign will be Pan-India and in multiple Indian languages, focusing on the need to clean and disinfect surfaces to keep loved one’s safe and break the chain of infection.

Happiest Minds Technologies IPO Opens on Sept 7-9, with Price Band Fixed at Rs 165 -Rs 166 Per Equity Share

Happiest Minds Technologies Limited, positioned as ‘Born Digital. Born Agile’, operating in the information technology industry and focusing on delivering a seamless digital experience to its customers, , will open the initial public offer of its equity shares (“Equity Shares” and such initial public offer, the “Offer”) on 7th September 2020. The Offer will close on 9th September 2020. The price band of the Offer has been fixed at Rs 165 to Rs 166 per Equity Share. The Offer comprises of fresh issue of Rs 110 Crore (“Fresh Issue”) and an offer for sale aggregating upto 35,663,585 Equity Shares (“Offer for Sale”), which includes 8,414,223 Equity Shares by Ashok Soota (the “Promoter Selling Shareholder”) and 27,249,362 Equity Shares by CMDB II (the “Investor Selling Shareholder,” together with the Promoter Selling Shareholder, the “Selling Shareholders”).

Bids can be made for a minimum of 90 Equity Shares and in multiples of 90 Equity Shares thereafter. The face value of the Equity Shares is Rs 2 each.

The Equity Shares offered in this Offer are proposed to be listed at both BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (“NSE”) post the listing. For the purpose of the offer, NSE is the designated stock exchange.

ICICI Securities Limited and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited are the book running lead managers to the Offer (“BRLMs”). KFin Technologies Private Limited is the registrar to the Offer.

The Offer is being made through the book building process, in terms of Rule 19(2)(b) of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957, as amended (“SCRR”) read with Regulation 31 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018 (“SEBI ICDR Regulations”) and in compliance with Regulation 6(2) of the SEBI ICDR Regulations, wherein not less than 75% of the Offer shall be allocated on a proportionate basis to Qualified Institutional Buyers (“QIBs”) (“QIB Portion”), provided that the Company and the Selling Shareholders may, in consultation with the BRLMs, allocate up to 60% of the QIB Portion to Anchor Investors on a discretionary basis in accordance with the SEBI ICDR Regulations (“Anchor Investor Portion”), of which one-third shall be reserved for domestic Mutual Funds, subject to valid Bids being received from domestic Mutual Funds at or above the Anchor Investor allocation price. In the event of under-subscription, or non-allocation in the Anchor Investor Portion, the balance Equity Shares shall be added to the Net QIB Portion. Further, 5% of the Net QIB Portion (excluding the Anchor Investor Portion) shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis only to Mutual Funds, and the remainder of the Net QIB Portion shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to all QIBs, including Mutual Funds, subject to valid Bids being received at or above the Offer Price. Further, not more than 15% of the Offer shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Investors and not more than 10% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Retail Individual Investors in accordance with the SEBI ICDR Regulations, subject to valid Bids being received at or above the Offer Price. All Bidders (except Anchor Investors) are required to mandatorily participate in the Offer only through the Application Supported by Blocked Amount (“ASBA”) process by providing details of their respective ASBA accounts (including UPI ID in case of RIIs, if applicable) which will be blocked by the SCSBs, or the bank accounts linked with the UPI ID, as applicable, to participate in the Offer. Anchor Investors are not permitted to participate in the Anchor Investor Portion through the ASBA process.

Disclaimer:

HAPPIEST MINDS TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED is proposing, subject to, applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, to undertake an initial public offering of its Equity Shares and has filed a red herring prospectus dated August 28, 2020 (“RHP”) with the Registrar of Companies, Karnataka at Bangalore (“RoC”) on August 28, 2020. The RHP shall be available on the websites of SEBI, BSE and NSE at www.sebi.gov.in, www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com, respectively, and is available on the websites of the BRLMs, i.e., www.icicisecurities.com and www.nomuraholdings.com/company/group/asia/india/index.html, respectively. Potential investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk and for details relating to the same, please see “Risk Factors” beginning on page 28 of the RHP.

The Equity Shares have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Equity Shares are being offered and sold only outside the United States in offshore transactions in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act. There will be no offering of the Equity Shares in the United States.

Bengaluru-Based Strata Raises Rs 140 Crore for Warehouse Investment Opportunity Amid Lockdown

 * Consortium of 3 Grade-A warehousing assets offering one of the highest rental yields of up to 9.5-10% Y-o-Y 

* Last warehouse deal alone closed in record time of 7 days since launch

* Investors to be able to easily sell off stakes in the open market

* To come up with more investment opportunities in the near future

Bangalore-based Strata, a tech enabled fractional investment platform for premium Commercial Real Estate (CRE), has raised Rs. 140 crore for a consortium of three grade-A warehousing asset opportunities amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Strata Avigna Warehousing I & II situated in Hosur received 100% commitment from investors within just 42 days of its launch, while the pharma warehousing asset in Bengaluru was closed within a record time of just 7 days. The consortium of assets collectively computed for a total of 0.7 million sq. ft. of warehousing space. 

The assets are expected to offer investors an average rental yield anywhere between 9.5% and 10% Y-o-Y, which is amongst the highest when compared to other investment opportunities such as -- mutual funds, fixed deposits and equity markets. The consortium listed by the company offers investment opportunity assets that an investor can avail via the fractional ownership model.

The latest asset listing of the firm witnessed participation from a diversified set of more than 500 investors across HNIs’, family offices, top management from fortune 500 companies, retail and institutional among others. Besides, the assets also secured tremendous traction from the NRI community and from investors across tier-II towns. 

The assets offered by Strata being pre-leased properties, the investors can start enjoying rentals from the first month of investment itself. Minimum investment for the assets listed begins from Rs.25-50 lakh. The investments being in liquid one can easily sell off one's stakes whenever required.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Sudarshan Lodha, Founder, Strata, said, “We have successfully raised funds for our investment opportunities even in such challenging times which clearly reflects the pent-up demand and high resilience of the sector and the confidence of our investors in our business model. With global supply chains diversifying away from China to India, greater penetration of e-commerce, faster shift to 3PL, and companies eyeing higher inventory levels, we foresee an approx. 30% growth in warehousing facilities in the coming years.” 

“We are extremely bullish on ‘Commercial real estate’ fast emerging as a non-volatile alternative investment asset class, especially in the post-Covid era. Strata aims to bring such one-of-a-kind investment opportunities in the CRE space for the masses. By fractionalizing Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and offering it on an easy-to-use online platform, Strata aims to democratise CRE, making it accessible for a much larger investor base.” he added further.

Mr. Abhijit Verma, CEO, Avigna Space Industrial & Logistics Park said, “We are very excited about our association with Strata. Our consortium brings the best of both the worlds – an unexplored investment opportunity in warehousing backed by a robust technology platform that presents a one-of-a-kind investment opportunity.” 

“Avigna is planning on developing multiple industrial and warehousing projects spread over 9 Million sqft in the next five years across 7 cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, etc. We look to strengthening our association with Strata with new projects on the horizon.”

While ‘warehousing’ has been rapidly rising as a potential investment class in CRE, the trend has picked further pace during the pandemic lockdown. With supply chain reconfiguration and a drastic behavioral shift resulting in a sudden boom in e-commerce, the Indian warehousing stock is expected to see a 30% Y-o-Y growth. A host of industry factors and favourable regulatory policies such as --- GST streamlining, corporate tax reduction, Make in India, National Logistics Policy, ease of doing business and boom in e-commerce among many others have been actively driving the demand for warehousing in India.

Offering access to live commercial real estate data and in-depth understanding of the commercial real estate (CRE) scenario through its investor dashboard, Strata simplifies fractional investment model empowering its investors to make financially sound and well-informed decisions.

About Strata Property management 

Strata is a tech-enabled real estate investment platform that allows investors to own and sell fractions of pre-leased, Grade-A commercial properties such as office spaces, warehouses, etc. It is funded by marquee investors, SAIF Partners, Mayfield Ventures, and Propstack. By fractionalizing Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and offering it on an easy-to-use online platform, Strata aims to democratise CRE, making it accessible for a much larger investor base. 

With its data driven asset selection, a single window platform to invest in assets across the country Strata brings in transparency, and ease of liquidity to CRE investments. Investors earn superior rental yields and can liquidate the investments whenever required. In a year’s time Strata has funded multiple assets amounting to an AUM of 180-200 crore. The company is supported by WeWork Labs and has an exclusive data partnership with Propstack, India’s leading commercial real estate data, and analytics platform.

Unleashing XDR to Transform Enterprise Threat Detection & Response

By Vijendra Katiyar, Director - Enterprise Business, India & SAARC, Trend Micro

Have you ever wondered, why during the outbreak of war it’s not just one of the armed forces that’s deployed, whether it’s the Army, Navy, Air Force or Intelligence, but all of them? It’s the classic case of – “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. The same analogy applies to cybersecurity too, making it pertinent for enterprises to fortify their cybersecurity posture across all possible vectors to avoid an impending breach. That’s why governments, enterprises, and other organizations would do well to re-evaluate their cybersecurity strategy. 

With the increase in the investments made in cybersecurity by organizations in last 5 years, today’s stark reality is that while the threat landscape is burgeoning, the mean time to identify a breach has increased to 197 days and containing it to 69 days across the industry vertical, according to a report by Verizon. 

Traditionally, endpoint protection platform (EPP) was considered “THE” solution to protect your organization, however this philosophy has drastically changed with the assumption of very real possibility “I will be breached”. This leads to the next question of effective detection and response strategy to deal with the threat once the network is compromised. EDR strategy has helped organizations to identify and respond to attacks they believe would have gone unnoticed. With the volume and sophistication of modern attacks, does it still hold good?

EDR an eye-opener: starting point in detection and response strategy 

EDR was definitely an eye-opener to the industry and a must-have starting point to redefine enterprise-wide Threat Detection and Response (TDR). EDR gives a lot of visibility on what is happening on endpoints by capturing activity data, using which we can detect and respond. However, in an enterprise, endpoint is just one piece of an IT infrastructure and there could be EDR blind spots like IoT, printer, contractor/guest endpoints etc.  

While 94% of attacks start with phishing, email becomes an important vector to consider. With the increasing cloud adoption and serverless platforms, it has become pertinent to have effective detection and response strategy for cloud infrastructure. Add to this, there is an entire IT/OT convergence underway, where OT is increasingly becoming part of the IT infrastructure that’s connected to the network. So, with this scenario, the effective detection and response strategy has to be extended beyond endpoint to email, network, cloud and IIoT. 

Going back to the analogy; to be victorious in war, enemy threats and attacks need to be confronted vehemently at all fronts (i.e., air, land, water) to avoid penetration and siege. You don’t go to war with the Army alone; you usually need the assistance of Air Force, Navy, and Intelligence side-by-side to complement your overall combat strategy. If we were to juxtapose this analogy to cybersecurity, then endpoint in XDR is our Army in the field; Air support is the cloud security; network visibility is the Navy at sea; threat research is the Military Intelligence and centralized console is your Unified Command. 

Emergence of XDR 

If you can record what happened on the endpoint, why couldn’t you record everything on the intrusion kill chain for later review? XDR expanded the EDR idea. XDR platform would give you complete visibility at every phase of the kill chain including the endpoint, giving enterprises the ability to monitor and account for compromise, no matter where it originates. 

The dwell time (MTTD/MTTR) is adequately addressed by XDR through:  

Full visibility – complete picture 

Speed and confidence to respond 

High fidelity alerts 

Vendor consolidation 

Correlation and collaboration 

Choosing the right XDR solution    

An attack that resulted into alerts on email, endpoint and network can be combined into a single incident. The primary goals of an XDR solution are to increase detection accuracy and improve security operations efficiency and productivity. Effective XDR solution should have: 

Multi-prevention techniques and not rely on AI/ML only. 

Complement existing SIEM/SOAR by sending consolidated high fidelity alerts, which minimizes the level of noise and raw information. 

Managed services to address skill shortage. 

Solution/platform to break silos and tell a story of attack life cycle. 

The XDR approach delivers faster detection and response across the multiple security layers, because it breaks down the silos, and it tells a STORY instead of making noise. 

When you have incomplete threat data, you see an incomplete security picture. Or worse, you may see the wrong picture. And in cybersecurity, the price to pay for seeing the wrong picture is hefty. 

Abbott’s Once-A-Day Ivabradine Receives DCGI Approval for Heart Failure and Angina Patients

 

Summary

* Approval marks the first once-a-day formulation for Ivabradine in India, which will help increase adherence to therapy for chronic heart failure and chronic stable angina[1]

* It is estimated that 1.3 to 4.6 million people suffer from heart failure, with 0.5–1.8 million new cases per year in India[2]

* Formulation developed in Abbott’s Innovation and Development center in India based on physician insights on the need for a convenient dosing

* Abbott’s approval is based on data from a phase 3 clinical trial

The global healthcare company Abbott today announced that it has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for its Ivabradine, once-a-day formulation. For chronic conditions such as cardiac diseases in India, adherence to a treatment is typically low[3], and when medicines have to be taken multiple times a day, convenience becomes a key patient need. To address this unmet need for more convenient dosing, Abbott developed India’s first “once daily” prolonged release (PR) version of Ivabradine indicated for patients with chronic heart failure and chronic stable angina. This formulation will be more convenient for patients, which will help facilitate treatment adherence with the aim to improve health outcomes. Abbott plans to launch the Ivabradine PR tablets in the Indian market in the coming weeks.

In India, estimates of people with heart failure range between 1.3 and 4.6 million, with 0.5–1.8 million new cases recorded every year[4]. According to the Global Burden of Disease study, an estimated 14.4 million men and 7.7 million women have lost their productive years  to coronary heart disease-related disability[5].

While the burden of the disease is high in the country, non-adherence to treatment remains a key challenge. Studies have found that many people with cardiac disease in India don’t take their medicines as prescribed by their doctor and an AIIMS study estimates that non-adherence to medication ranges from 24% for people with cardiac disease to 50%-80% for people with hypertension .[6]

With its new formulation, Ivabradine PR tablets can be prescribed as a once-a-day medicine compared to the multiple dosing generally required by patients for the management of the disease. A phase 3 clinical study conducted by Abbott across 21 centers in India, the first of its kind to be conducted for this formulation, showed Ivabradine PR once-a-day formulation to be comparable with the conventional Ivabradine twice-a-day, in the management of patients with stable chronic heart failure, with comparable efficacy and safety profile.

Talking about Ivabradine as a therapy for heart failure patients, Dr. J. Kannan, MD, DM, Cardiologist, Narayana Hrudayalaya, explains, “45% of patients suffering from heart failure have a high heart rate with about 40% being hospitalized. The new once daily formulation of Ivabradine will facilitate patient adherence to treatment by reducing the pill burden. This will help control their heart rate and thus reduce hospitalization and improve quality of life.”

This formulation has been developed at Abbott’s Innovation & Development (I&D) center in Mumbai.  The I&D center is an important global innovation hub for Abbott’s  pharmaceutical business. Researchers at the I&D center use local insights to anticipate patient needs. These insights are linked with existing and innovative technologies to deliver meaningful innovation. Insights from physicians revealed the need for a simpler, more convenient dosing for Ivabradine, which led to the once-a-day solution.

Commenting on the new formulation, Abbott’s Regional Medical Director, Dr. Balagopal Nair, said, “Our goal is to improve health by enhancing medicines to meet patients’ unmet medical needs. Adherence to therapy is a critical factor to maximize the overall health of people with chronic heart failure or chronic stable angina. We have used the best technology and science to develop this new dosage formulation. The convenient once-a-day formulation will help improve overall treatment adherence, leading to better health outcomes.”

Chronic heart failure is a progressive condition in which the heart is unable to pump sufficiently to maintain blood flow to meet the body's demands for oxygen. Chronic stable angina usually occurs due to obstruction or spasm of the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. Ivabradine helps maintain a stable heart rate and prevent it from spiking, which is an important prerequisite in reducing symptoms and in improving the prognosis of both conditions.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 107,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. In India, Abbott was established in 1910, and is one of the country's oldest and most admired healthcare companies. With over 12,000 employees in the country, Abbott in India is helping to meet the healthcare needs of consumers, patients and doctors throughout urban and rural India.

Signify and ScaleAQ Partner Up in Sustainable Fish Farming

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, and ScaleAQ join forces in a global strategic partnership for sustainable Aquaculture solutions, to optimize feed conversion in the most efficient way and contribute to the food challenges the world is facing. Together the two companies will improve fish welfare, production and yield for fish farmers by providing an optimal light spectrum, light distribution and control system so farmers can customize the light recipes to their specific needs.

Optimal lighting improves fish welfare and results in a better feed conversion ratio and lower maturation rate. It also protects fish from sea lice infestation. Signify offers Philips Aquaculture LED lighting products that ScaleAQ will resell with an initial focus on marine based/seacage products. Leveraging 125 years of Signify’s lighting experience in innovation, technology and equipment, the partnership provides customer tailored sustainable solutions to the Aquaculture industry with focus on quality, efficiency, service and being future proof.

“The aquaculture industry is growing rapidly and needs partnerships like this to meet the increasing need for local presence and support, while at the same time using R&D resources to develop solutions for the future. Our focus on lighting recipes, IoT and data insights play a crucial role in optimizing agricultural businesses in the future, helping us to create customer solutions together with ScaleAQ that are solid growth platforms for fish farmers,” says Bill Bien, head of Signify’s Agricultural Lighting business.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Signify on aquaculture lighting systems. As a global partner and advisor to the aquaculture industry it’s important for us to be able to offer a wide variety of products, and the Philips lights will be an important addition for both our sea-based and future  land-based efforts. We believe the industry will also benefit from our collaboration on servicing the lights. ScaleAQ will from now on be able to provide its customers with service on the Philips lights from its many local offices around the world,” says Per Ivar Lund, head of Business Development at ScaleAQ.

In combination with the knowledge and experience of Signify’s fish specialists and technical experts, the partnership will help Signify to further develop the service it can give its global customers and strengthen customer relationships. “Our products can serve the very high demands a modern seacage puts on quality, durability and functionality, but with this partnership we will also focus on collecting even more customer insights to continuously improve the products we provide them with,” says Bien. 

Tata Motors Launches the XM (S) Variant of Tata Nexon at INR 8.36 Lakhs Onwards

Tata Motors, India’s leading automotive brand, today announced the launch of the XM(S) variant of the Tata Nexon. In a bid to cater to the growing customer demand, and to make premium features more accessible, the company is now offering the XM (S) variant with an Electric Sunroof at a starting price of INR 8.36 Lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi), making it the most affordable vehicle across segments with this feature in India.

Along with the Electric Sunroof, the XM(S) variant comes loaded with features like Automatic Headlamps, Rain Sensing Wipers and Steering Mounted Controls. The variant also retains the existing features of the Nexon XM, such as the Electronic Stability Program, LED DRLs with Projector Headlamps, Driver and Co-Driver Airbags, Hill Hold Control, ConnectNext Infotainment System by Harman and Multi- Drive Modes (Eco, City and Sport). These along with a plethora of state-of-the-art features make this variant a compelling package.

Available in both petrol and diesel, the Nexon will come with two transmission options - Manual and AMT. 

Commenting on the introduction of the Nexon XM(S), Mr. Vivek Srivatsa, Head, Marketing, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit (PVBU), Tata Motors said, “The Nexon has always been a product of pride for Tata Motors. It established us as the flagbearer of safety by becoming Global NCAP’s first Five Star rated car in India in 2018. The industry, media and customers alike have appreciated the car for its design and driving dynamics. With the launch of our ‘New Forever’ range of vehicles earlier this year, we promised to keep our products fresh and up to date with the changing customers’ demands. Keeping up with our commitment, we are elated to announce the launch of Nexon XM(S). A product that will now allow our customers to enjoy superior features such as the electric sunroof at a compelling price. With this addition to our Nexon range, we will provide our customers with a premium driving pleasure & state-of-the-art features at attractive prices, thereby making our products accessible to all.”

To know more or to book the new Nexon XM(S), one can visit the nearest Tata Motors showroom or the website https://cars.tatamotors.com/suv/nexon The Company is organising test drives on demand at the customer’s preferred location. Customers can also enquire, request a test drive, make bookings and choose from a range of attractive financing options, via the Company’s recently launched end-to-end online sales platform called ‘Click to Drive’, from the comfort and safety of their homes.