Singapore Airlines Customers In India Enjoy More Options ith Kris+ Lifestyle App

Singapore Airlines has rolled out its recently launched lifestyle app Kris+ in India. The app is an innovative platform that brings payment, lifestyle and rewards services together under one umbrella for its customers. In India, Kris+ combines the best in dining, retail and entertainment discounts, which will allow KrisFlyer members to get the most out of their membership even without flying.  

Kris+ launches with 32 local partners across more than 1,500 outlets in the country, providing customised deals with privileges especially curated for our customers. More partners will be progressively added in the coming months. 

In addition, customers who travel to Singapore from India can also enjoy special offers and rewards at over 750 merchant outlets.  Kris+ is also progressively adding more partners and merchants in Singapore and overseas in selected destinations to the platform. 

KrisPay, the world’s first blockchain-based airline loyalty digital wallet, is integrated with Kris+, enabling KrisFlyer members to earn and redeem miles instantly at over 750 Kris+ merchants in Singapore, when they travel to the city state. It will soon be enhanced with other in-app payment options, allowing users to simultaneously earn more miles with each purchase. Kris+ users can look forward to more features along with the progressive addition of more merchants and services to the app.  

SIA’s investment in Kris+ is part of the Company’s ongoing strategy to drive non-airline revenue streams in the coming years. The Kris+ ecosystem, which has been built to enhance customer-merchant relationships, will further power growth for the KrisFlyer frequent flyer business and broaden its brand appeal and recognition. This will allow customers to enjoy attractive discounts on their everyday purchases while merchants are able to reach out to SIA’s highly-valued 4.7 million-strong KrisFlyer base. 

Chen Sy Yen, General Manager India for Singapore Airlines said: “We are really proud and excited to launch Kris+ in India as it gives our KrisFlyer members a bouquet of everyday lifestyle privileges even when they are not flying with us. Our vision is to create a comprehensive and updated lifestyle and payments ecosystem with Kris+, which will offer even more and better options and benefits for our global customer base, and thus bring additional value to our partners around the world.” 

Mother’s Recipe Forays Into The Sauce Category With “Desi Szechwan”

 

Szechwan chutney an Indo-Chinese fusion sauce, has become a kitchen staple in India. The Szechwan chutney is adaptable beyond just being a condiment. This tasty yet versatile chutney adds a burst of flavours to various dishes and allows home cooks to experiment with fusion flavours. Mother’s Recipe under its subcategory called ‘Recipe’ has launched ‘Desi Szechwan chutney’, which marks the brand’s entry into international foods & global cuisine.  

According to the "India Chinese, Hot & BBQ Sauces Market Outlook, 2023" report the overall market for Chinese, Hot and Barbeque Sauces in India is anticipated to reach more than 700 crores in the year 2022-23. Due to increasing customers' appreciation for different cuisines, increased retail consumption, easy availability of sauces and many such factors, the market has grown with a CAGR of more than 15% during review period starting from 2011-12 to 2016-17. The Chinese sauces include red chilli sauce, green chilli sauce, vinegar, soya sauce and Schezwan chutney. The share of Schezwan chutney which currently is more than 25% of the total Chinese sauce market is expected to increase in the coming five years.  

Desi Szechwan chutney from the Recipe brand is a perfect blend of spices along with chillies, ginger, garlic and onions, which is an absolute treat to your taste buds. You can use this tasty chutney with almost anything and everything. It can be used as a dip or to stir fry, it can be added to rice, noodles or as a marinade for paneer or chicken.  

Recipe Szechwan chutney is available in an attractive, contemporary and premium looking packaging which is of 250g Bottle. The product is already available  in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat cities and will be launching in other cities very soon. 

Commenting on the product Ms. Sanjana Desai, Executive Director, Mother’s Recipe said “Recipe Sauces are the latest addition to our portfolio of food products. With this launch, we bring to you, a wide range of international flavours that will spice up and elevate your everyday meals. Recipe is a young brand that specializes in providing versatile options of exotic sauces for a wide range of culinary experiences. With Recipe Sauces, we intend to provide the consumer with the freedom & excitment of cooking and the ability to experiment with everyday food & the best taste and a lot of exotic flavours.We are focused on using only the best quality ingredients to give out the tastiest sauces in the market. It was also very important for me to ensure we do not add any MSG in the sauces we make”. 

The company ensures that only the best ingredients and high standards of manufacturing are used for making our products. Our objective is to continue delivering the real taste of love, to millions around the world. 

About Mother’s Recipe  

Desai Foods Private limited owns the brands Mother’s Recipe, Elmac, Spread On & Dabee. The company with a robust distribution network across the country caters to diverse formats ranging from mom & pop stores, modern trade outlets, multi-functional outlets, e-commerce, Defense and to Hotel Restaurants & Cafes (HORECA) / Food Service outlets. The company is one of the largest providers of traditional & authentic Indian taste exported to more than 45 countries in the world. The current product portfolio in India consists of Pickles, Condiments Pastes, Blended Spices, Ethnic Chutneys, Papad, Ready to Cook Spice Mixes and Instant Mixes. The company has 3 state of the art manufacturing facilities – in Pune, Kolkata & in Bharoda and is certified under ISO 9001-2008 and ISO 22000-2005. Mother’s Recipe have won various awards like the Consumer Voice Award, the Superbrand Award, Product of the Year award along with ‘Two Star Export House’ status by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.  

upGrad Creates UK Board With Four Prominent Figures In Global Education

* Cairneagles partner, Advisor at Wells Advisory, Reader at Judge Business School, LEK partner among upGrad-UK’s independent Board members~

upGrad, India’s largest higher edtech company announced the appointment of a four-member independent board to build their UK-based operations and accelerate expansion. The board comprises distinguished leaders such as Professor Sir Deian Hopkin, Julie Mercer, Dr. Kishore Sengupta, and Ashwin Assomull.

Sir Deian is currently Principal Advisor at Wells Advisory and Associate Partner Anderson Quigley. Sir Deian was previously Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive at London South Bank University (2001-2009) and Expert Adviser, First Minister of Wales (2012-2020). Also on the board is Julie Mercer, who was Global Industry lead for Deloitte’s Education Practice over her 20 years there and is currently a partner at Cairneagle Associates. Another seasoned professional on the board is Dr. Kishore Sengupta, who has been associated with INSEAD and Naval Postgraduate School, California in the past and is now Reader in Operations at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.  Rounding up this quad of illustrious leaders is Ashwin Assomull who is currently a partner at LEK Consulting, and a former Partner and Member of the Emerging Market’s Leadership Team at the Parthenon Group.

Phalgun Kompalli, Co-founder, upGrad commented, “We are excited to work with our board to help us achieve our global aspirations. The appointment of this board signals our commitment to moving aggressively ahead with our international expansion strategy.”

The edtech company aims to build a strong UK-based business operation to help expand in the region and undertake development plans in the global markets. The board comes with vast experience and myriad skillsets, well-equipped to attract, and build meaningful partnerships, understand the market and its ever-evolving requirements, and build credibility for the brand.  

"One clear consequence of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic has been to widen the search for new ways of delivering high quality higher education. upGrad is a highly successful innovator in the delivery of online learning. Building on its excellent track record of achievement, working in partnership with key universities and major technology enterprises, it is now poised to expand its provision globally and help to transform the future workplace," said Sir Hopkin.

Julie Mercer added, “I am excited to be working with upGrad to support their plan to bring their offer to the UK.  There has never been a better time to bring a digital-first, student-centered approach to higher education and upskilling and reskilling as we work to rebuild and reshape our economy. Working with university partners and experienced career coaches with a focus on employment outcomes, I believe that upGrad will play an important role in supporting students learn online in partnership with some of the best universities in the world.”

Appointment of the illustrious board members comes within a month of the onboarding of Zubin Gandevia as CEO, Asia-Pacific. In 2020, upGrad had also announced an appointment of Saranjit Sangar taking over as the CEO, UK & EMEA. By strengthening its leadership team, upGrad is all set to expand its penetration into the international markets.  

About upGrad

upGrad is India’s largest online higher education company. Founded in early 2015, upGrad has impacted over 1 million individuals globally, within a short span of 5 years. 

upGrad provides online programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology, Management and Law to college students, working professionals and enterprises. These programs are designed and delivered in collaboration with top-notch universities like IIT Madras, IIIT Bangalore, MICA, BIMTECH, NMIMS Global Access, Jindal Global Law School, Chandigarh University, Duke CE, Deakin University, Liverpool John Moores University and others. With an 80% program completion rate, robust tech platform, outcome-based learning approach, industry-relevant curriculum, finest university credentials, strong mentorship, and steadfast placement support, upGrad has established its position as the leader in the Indian education system.

upGrad ranked as India's No.1 startup, as per the LinkedIn Top Startups 2020 list. This is the third time in a row that upGrad has been featured in the top startup list by LinkedIn. The edtech major received the title of 'Best Education Brands' by Economic Times in 2020 for the second time, post winning the same title in 2018. The brand made it to the prestigious GSV Global EdTech 50 List 2020. upGrad has emerged on the list of BW Top Education Brand 2020 and has been titled as the Best E-Learning Company of the year by Business World. Owing to its world-class learning platform. upGrad won the 'Best Communication and Teaching Platform' in the Education Innovation Awards 2020 by Entrepreneur India as well as received the title of ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019.

Koo Raises $4.1 Mn As Part Of Series A Funding; Mohandas Pai’s 3one4 Capital Invests In Microblogging App

 

Koo, India’s own microblogging app, has raised $4.1 million as part of its Series A funding. Infosys veteran Mohandas Pai’s 3one4 Capital is the latest addition to the investors on board. Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream Incubator also participated in the round. 

The new funding will be used to ramp up capabilities to solve uniquely Indian engineering challenges and for marketing to increase awareness about the app. The 10-month-old app has received appreciation from all quarters, having won the Aatmanirbhar App Challenge by the Indian government. It was also named Google PlayStore’s Best Daily Essential App for 2020 and got a special mention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat address.

Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-Founder and CEO, Koo, said: “Existing microblogging platforms have not been able to grow beyond the English-speaking population. Koo enables free expression of thoughts and opinions for every Indian irrespective of the language preference. Koo will amplify the daily voices of India on an Indian platform.”

Anurag Ramdasan, Principal, 3one4 Capital, said: “Koo is a very valuable and powerful platform in the Indian context. Social platforms focused on India need to be highly contextualised to the audience here beyond languages and must include community, moderation and content relevance. Both Aprameya and Mayank are proven entrepreneurs and have built large internet businesses before. We are happy to partner with them to make this atmanirbhar vision become a reality and to build sustainable and socially relevant platforms.”

Koo is a microblogging site for opinions voiced in Indian languages. Aligning with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, it creates a trusted local space for Indians to connect, comment and engage, making it a people-first platform. The app facilitates active conversations as creators can express themselves and users can follow creators of their choice to create a customised feed. It is a one-of-its-kind platform that resonates with the voices of Indians. 

About Koo:

Koo was founded in March 2020, as an inclusive micro-blogging platform in Indian languages where people from across different regions in India can express themselves in their mother tongue. Just 10% of India speaks English. 90% prefer Indian languages. There’s no place on the internet for them to express themselves in their native language and discover others from the same community. Koo provides a voice to Indians who prefer Indian languages. This is how Koo has become a game-changer that is available in multiple languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, etc. 

Fear Of COVID Keeps Patients’ Away From Dental Clinics Resulting In An Increased Need Of Treatment

Observably, the COVID-19 pandemic hit a pause button on many of our routine activities, including regular visits to the dentist. When the pandemic peaked, health authorities put restrictions in place for dental care, and dental clinics saw only emergency cases and advised patients to wait when it came to non-essential or non-urgent procedures including regular check-ups, cleaning, fillings, etc., which resulted in a substantial drop in the preventive dental care visits of oral patients across India.

Lt Gen.Dr Vimal Arora, Chief Clinical Officer, Clove Dental said, “Oral Health data in India says that 8 out of 10 Indians suffer from some or the other kind of dental diseases which clearly reflects that Oral & Dental Health has always been deprioritized even in pre-COVID times. However, with this pandemic people have further delayed their dental visits for past 10 months, the result of which is that the oral health conditions which could have been handled with simple cavity filling, now need RCT & Crowning and even extraction in some cases leading to loss of tooth.Ministry of Health and Family Welfare estimates that currently(2019), about 60% of India’s adult population and 70% of its school-going children are affected by dental caries (cavities) or tooth decay. And, periodontal disease — infections of the tissue around the teeth — has ended up affecting at least 85% of the population. The country is also considered the world capital for oral cancer. Of the total body cancers, Oral cancers accounts for over 30% of all body cancers.”

Drop in Dental Care

“The drop in dental visits of dentalpatients across India has been significant which is going to be costing more money and more pain to the patients. Clove clinics across the country were seeing approximately 45,000 patients every month(in pre COVID times); which during the corresponding months of year 2020 reduced to just 20%. The pan India data shows that during the first quarter of the pandemic in June 2020, the patient’s visits across the country was 9,549 – quite low compared to 45,979 of June 2019. Likewise, in July 2020, it was 13,784 and in Oct 2020 it was 23,591. The Oct’ – Dec’ 2020 quarter has now witnessed a gradual rise in the number of patients' visits across the country”, Lt Gen Arora added.

Dr Anirudh Singh, General Manager, Clove Dental, South West India said, “Traditionally, check-ups are recommended every six months. But people often ignore this, which leads to the severity of the dental problems demanding expensive treatments and care. According to the draft National Oral Health Policy, the proportion of untreated caries of permanent teeth and severe periodontitis is the maximum compared to other oral disorders. Yet, only 12.4% of adults have ever had their mouth examined by a dentist. Routine check-ups are the part of preventive treatments. However, due to COVID, preventive treatments have gone down by 63.7%, as the patient visits have declined. As COVID has prompted the delay in treatments, we see the need for more restorative treatments now. Therefore, prioritising dental care is as important as any other healthcare problems.”

On safety of dental clinics relating to spread of COVID, Lt Gen.Dr Vimal Arora, Chief Clinical Officer, Clove Dental quoted that “Clove Clinics have been the safest during past 9 months and our doctors believed fully in the disinfection & sterilisation processes adopted by the clinics and therefore they felt safe while working in Clove Dental clinics. Further, they could reinforce with confidence to their patients of the safety of the clinics due to the preventive measures in place”. In a survey conducted amongst the Clove patients (160 responses); 98.8% patients felt completely safe at the Clove clinics during their visit during the pandemic”

A fundamentally different approach is required to effectively tackle the global burden of oral diseases. The public health problems associated with oral diseases are a serious burden in every nation around the globe.What is lacking is the awareness to the disease and the information as to what all poor oral health can create in the body. Excellent dental health is the gateway for the overall body health; is the true slogan. 

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai Homeowners Emerge As Most Serious Sellers In India’s Real Estate Market: Magicbricks Owner Services Data

* Home owners from more than 500 cities are opting for Owner Services

* 55% of Owner Services users are outside four metros

* 20% Owner Services users are women homeowners

* With South India leading the revival in India’s real estate market, homeowners of Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai have emerged as the most serious sellers, revealed the latest consumer data of Magicbricks’ Owner Services. As demand for residential real estate gradually gathers momentum across the country, consumer data also suggests that 55% of Owner Services’ users are from outside the four metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai).

* Magicbricks’ Owner Services is aimed at strengthening its portfolio as a full-stack service provider and is designed to help homeowners sell their properties with ease. Right from a professional photo shoot, content description of the property, online listings, to getting the best responses, and closing the deal with the help of a relationship manager, Magicbricks’ Owner Services offer end-to-end solutions for selling a property. The packages range from Rs.2599 to Rs.5999.

The consumer data also suggests that homeowners from more than 500 cities are now using Owner Services indicating that the pandemic has induced a higher digital adoption rate amongst the owners to sell their properties.

* In terms of demographics, 80% of the users are male, and 20% female. It is interesting to note that 50% of the users are in the range of 40-45 and 45-plus age groups. A huge majority that is 60% of users are salaried while 30% are self-employed.

5 reasons why Southern cities are witnessing more serious sellers?

1. Transportation and metro connectivity in the Southern cities has increased the sale of property in the peripheral areas as buyers look for affordability and connectivity. Also, the rising property prices in these select pockets may entice sellers to make a profit.

2. Magicbricks’ Property Buyer Sentiment Survey (2020) findings suggest that repeat buyers are back in the market. Additionally, people are looking for bigger homes.

3. Given the hard to come by benefits of lower purchase costs as well as various schemes by the state governments and developers, people are looking to upgrade homes by selling smaller homes while consecutively buying bigger homes.

4. Additionally, low interest-rates and jump in buyer interest in the last six months have reversed the low- transaction volume situation plaguing real estate.

5. Mirroring buyer sentiments, sellers may respond by offering properties that they had kept on hold as the high liquidity situation in the market may not last long. 

The launch of Owner Services is in line with Magicbricks’ promise of creating a holistic Property Services marketplace that provides all property seekers a seamless experience under one roof. Magicbricks aim to streamline the process and be a one-stop-shop for the property seeker during the entire journey.

Pioneering Ventures Becomes Innoterra, A Platform Company On A Mission To Help Transform The Global Food Ecosystem

* Innoterra is a newly formed food and technology platform company with a footprint in 14 countries. The company provides digital services to 50,000 farmers and collaborates with over 15,000 farmer families to procure a range of fully traceable, branded, high-quality food products serving around 1.5 million consumers daily.

* Innoterra’s predecessor company Pioneering Ventures worked closely with the Indian farming community for more than 15 years, supporting them in improving their farming practices and achieving higher quality produce. It helped farmers increase their incomes by selling their produce at higher prices both in domestic and export markets.

* Combining Pioneering Ventures’ deep experience with the farming community with the capabilities of its more recently incubated financial services and technology businesses, Innoterra is now building a data-driven platform which creates value through data intelligence and network effects, i.e. it delivers incremental benefits for existing users as others join the network.

* The cloud-based technology platform provides access to intelligent data and applications on mobile devices, thus helping farmers and other stakeholders become more productive and efficient. Through the platform, Innoterra enables the food ecosystem to scale up the production and distribution of healthy food in a sustainable manner, while ensuring equitable value distribution among all stakeholders.

After more than a decade of intensive collaboration with the farming community and the successful incubation of transformative food and tech ventures in India, Pioneering Ventures has now evolved to become Innoterra. Present in 14 countries, Innoterra is a food and technology platform company interacting and providing products and services to 65,000 farmers and serving around 1.5 million consumers daily through a range of fully traceable, branded high-quality food products.

In addition to the development of fully integrated and traceable food supply chains, the company is building a data-driven platform which provides services to all stakeholders in the food system. The aim of the platform is to improve the production and distribution of healthy food using fewer resources, all the while ensuring equitable value distribution among all stakeholders. As a first platform module, Innoterra recently rolled out a 360° solution empowering farmers and rural entrepreneurs. It facilitates learning through farm management training, education, and networking, and offers improved access to farm inputs, infrastructure and financial services, including affordable loans.

Elaborating on the launch of Innoterra, Ron Pal, founder of Pioneering Ventures and CEO of Innoterra, says: “In the next 30 years, we will have to increase food productivity by 70% to feed the 10 billion people then living on our planet. As food security and sustainability is becoming an important global challenge, we must critically question the status quo of the industry and the entire food ecosystem. Together, we need to facilitate a fundamental change. Our vision is to build one of the planet’s most impactful food ecosystem platforms with a strong focus on the farming community. We see our company as an integral part of the food ecosystem and view our role as an orchestrator with the mission to provide consumers access to healthier and more sustainably produced food, while empowering farmers and other stakeholders in the system.”

In addition to its focus on financial performance, Innoterra is highly committed to making a substantial, verifiable impact for people and the planet. Award-winning social entrepreneur Meagan Fallone, Chief Impact Officer of Innoterra and former CEO of Barefoot College International, summarizes Innoterra’s unique impact philosophy as follows: “Our long-term financial success depends on our ability to sustainably generate value for all our stakeholders, including employees, contract workers, farmers, customers, consumers, investors, and the planet. Consequently, environmental and social impact is at the heart of our business strategy. Our impact vision is to boldly work towards an inclusive approach to stakeholder value creation and to make Innoterra a leading impact innovation company in the global agri- food sector.”

Talking about Innoterra’s plans for the future Akshaya Kamath, Chairman of Innoterra India, states: “While developing and rolling out our platform, we will continue to scale up our food operations in India and further expand our sourcing and distribution footprint in regions such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and in China. We are also systematically working on the realization of the identified business synergies and the acceleration of profitable growth. Our efforts enable us to sustainably supply high-quality traceable products around the year to the addressable adjacent markets with a population of close to three billion people.”