Pandemic Spurs Demand For Online Learning And Technology Credentials In India

* Trailhead, Salesforce’s online learning platform, witnesses 29% increase in badges earned in India from March 2020 - March 2021

On World Youth Skills Day, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, released insights from its online learning platform, Trailhead, indicating strong growth and demand for digital learning in India in the last 12 months. Trailhead witnessed a 29% increase in the number of badges earned from March 2020 - March 2021, in India and a 26% increase across APAC (Australia, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines). Marketers (92%) and Administrators (72%) saw the highest increase in job-related skills for India. Globally, AI related certifications/badges saw an increase of 148% followed by blockchain related certifications/ badges at 54% between March 2020 - March 2021.

The Global impact of the pandemic has led businesses of every size to acceleyed in India believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digitalerate the pace of digital adoption across industries. In a recent study commissioned by Salesforce and YouGov, titled ‘The Digital Skills Report’, nine in ten people surveyed in India believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital skills in their organisation. Additionally, 92% of managers surveyed from India, said that their organisation has plans in place to fill their ‘digital skills gap’.

Trailhead is Salesforce’s free online learning platform that helps anyone skill up for jobs in the Salesforce ecosystem. With Trailhead, anyone can learn in-demand skills, earn resume-worthy credentials, and connect with a community for mentorship and employment opportunities. Trailhead has partnered with more than 700 universities and colleges worldwide to teach Salesforce skills that are important in the digital workforce. In India, Salesforce has ongoing partnerships with the ICT Academy, NASSCOM, National Skill Development Corporation and other universities and industry bodies. L&T Realty, the real estate development arm of engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro, used the lockdown to empower its teams to enhance their CRM knowledge and skills through Salesforce’s learning platform. About 39 employees in the customer experience team spent 900+ hours acquiring new credentials and skills to take their careers to the next level of success, and unlock new opportunities beyond COVID-19 in addition to enhancing their knowledge of CRM, marketing, and sales serving customers better.

Comments on the news:

Sanket Atal, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Sites (India), Salesforce India said, “COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated our planet’s migration to digital. All countries are going to be more impacted by the digital skills gap as there is a supply-demand mismatch. The decisions companies make now to solve the digital skills gap will echo for a generation. This is a pivotal moment - a unique opportunity for companies to add future value to their business and drive equity and inclusion.”

About Salesforce Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of every size and industry to take advantage of powerful technologies—cloud, mobile, social, internet of things, artificial intelligence, voice and blockchain—to create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.

About World Youth Skills Day

In 2014, The United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as ‘World Youth Skills Day’, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. This year the theme is particularly around ‘Reimagining Youth Skills in a post pandemic world'.

Vedantu Invests In Pedagogy, India’s Largest Interactive Digital Books Platform For Competitive Exams In India

* To acquire majority stake in the company and will continue investing in Pedagogy in the future

Vedantu, a pioneer in LIVE online learning, today announced a strategic investment in Pedagogy, an AI-enabled personalized learning platform that provides online courses and interactive digital books for students preparing for competitive examinations. Pedagogy works on a subscription-based model to provide trusted content to its students, from India’s best publishers and content creators. Pedagogy transforms physical books into interactive content and students can access books, courses, practice questions and tests on the go through Pedagogy App and Web platforms. Through this strategic partnership, Vedantu intends to make Pedagogy’s unique product accessible to Vedantu’s 30 mn+ students at an affordable price. 

Vamsi Krishna, CEO & Co-founder, Vedantu said, “In line with Vedantu's core mission of ensuring the best learning outcomes for our students, this partnership will provide our students with access to the best, highly interactive books & courses. Pedagogy has tremendous potential and aligns with our vision of making quality learning accessible & affordable to all students across the country. Delivery and distribution are two significant areas of investment for us, and we will continue to look for inorganic acquisitions or investment opportunities in these areas.”

Founded by Archin Shah in 2016, Pedagogy is transforming the way students purchase and access books and courses while preparing for engineering, medical and other entrance exams. It offers a Netflix-like subscription allowing its users access to popular books and digital courses from leading publishers and coaching centers across the country and help aspirants ace their entrance examinations.

“We are pleased to have Vedantu as a strategic partner. We share the same core vision and our deep ties with Vedantu will ensure students around the world get access to high quality content at an affordable price. This is a huge win for students on Vedantu, Pedagogy and our Partners. It will also help battle piracy and help propagate consumption of official content. This is the first step in creating a legitimate and new age distribution network. Pedagogy aims to be the largest platform to access digital books and is targeting onboard content creators across multiple segments.” said Archin Shah, Founder & CEO, Pedagogy.

With this investment, Vedantu will further strengthen its personalized learning experience for its students. Content consumption using trusted books is an integral part of every student’s academic journey and Pedagogy will help Vedantu disrupt this space.

Students can purchase a single subscription to get access to a range of preparatory books and courses for their exam along with a personalized study and a practice platform. Giving priority to engineering and medical exams, Pedagogy allows aspirants to consume content from more than 175 popular books & courses available for JEE and NEET at an affordable price.

About Vedantu:

Vedantu, a pioneer in LIVE online learning in India. It offers individual and group classes across K-12 and test preparation segments. Students can take individual or group classes on its APP or website online. Classes are delivered in a LIVE Real-time, interactive ONLINE learning environment. Students & parents can access free content, LIVE masterclasses across subjects, micro-courses, and daily assessments. 150,000 students study LIVE every month on the platform and more than 40 million users every month from 1000+ cities and 40+ countries access free content, tests, doubts, videos on Vedantu’s platform and its channels on YouTube. To know more about Vedantu log on to https://www.vedantu.com or download the Application on your Android or iOS devices.

About Pedagogy 

Pedagogy enables students to access content from the most trusted and popular sources at an affordable rate. The vision is to build a Spotify for education where content creators are able to get their content consumed in a legal and official way and consumers get to choose their content. Pedagogy has built technology that will enable them to serve the right content to the students at the right time. 

ASUS India Launches Wide Range Of Chromebooks That Are Designed To Be ‘Thoughtfully Simple’ Yet Highly Affordable

* ASUS’ Chromebook range will be available on Flipkart starting July 22, 2021

Key Points

* ASUS Chromebooks, powered by Google’s high-secure, simple and fast Chrome OS, and Intel® Processors enable seamless sync between Android smartphone and Chromebooks with similar user interface and access to Million+ Apps on Google Play Store. This makes them very easy to use laptops for Android Smartphone users

* ASUS Chromebooks enhance the digital learning, browsing, working and entertainment experience, providing everyday speedy computing performance in a compact design and long battery life

* ASUS aims to enable and help millions of Indian customers to digitally access education, ecommerce, social interaction and work, with these new range of innovative Chromebooks that are designed to be ‘Thoughtfully Simple’ yet highly affordable

* Introduces 4 models, ASUS Chromebook C214, C223, C423 and C523 respectively and in all, 6 variants at highly affordable price points

* ASUS Chromebooks are powered by ultra-efficient dual-core 64-bit Intel® processors, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and day-long battery life that enable the students and young professionals to pursue uninterrupted learning and multitasking

* ASUS Chromebooks come with HD camera, stereo loudspeakers, dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and up to Bluetooth 5.0 for superior online two-way learning and video conferencing

* ASUS Chromebook Flip C214 is specially designed for Students, with its 360-degree convertible touch-screen display, Dual Cameras that include a special world-facing autofocus camera so students can explore and learn in a totally new way, allowing them to capture photos and videos in tablet mode, and is built highly rugged yet sleek thanks to the certified military-grade durability

* ASUS Chromebook C223 gives consumers effortless mobility with its ultra-light 1000g weight, and has one of the thinnest profiles of any 11.6-inch Chromebook

*  ASUS Chromebook C423 & C523 incorporates 14” and 15.6 inches of screen sizes respectively along with optional touch-screen and with up to 80% screen-to-body ratio thanks to NanoEdge display and sleek design profile

* New range of ASUS Chromebooks supports expansion up to 2TB of SD card

ASUS, the Taiwanese tech major and the fastest-growing consumer laptop brand in India, today announced the launch of six new Chromebooks in India, a series of simple to use, fast and highly affordable laptops, to enable millions of Indian consumers to adopt digital learning, work and entertainment experience. The new range of Chromebooks will be available on Flipkart from July 22nd onwards to customers across the country.

ASUS’ new lineup includes the Chromebook Flip C214, Chromebook C223, Chromebook C423 (touch and non-touch variants) and Chromebook C523 (touch and non-touch variants). Powered by Intel® Dual-core 64-bit processors and 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, Chromebooks give consumers the freedom of up to 10-11 hours’ battery life for productivity and multi-tasking.

The new range of laptops embody the best of ASUS’ design thinking aimed to transform consumer’s lives, democratize digital education and make using a laptop as simple as using your Android Smartphone. The result is a laptop with up to an impressive 80% screen-to-body ratio that minimizes size while helping the consumers maximize productivity — so they can see and do more, while carrying less. ASUS Chromebook purchase enables access to Google Play Store. One can download from Million+ Android™ study, work, play, or creative apps seamlessly.

Commenting on the new Chromebook launch, Leon Yu, Regional Director, India and South Asia, ASUS said, “At ASUS, we take lead in introducing latest technology to our Indian Fans. To meet the needs of current times, we are happy to introduce a new range of ASUS Chromebooks that are fast, intuitive, easy to use and highly affordable. We strongly believe, Indian consumers now have reliable range of Asus laptops with their preferred OS to choose from, across affordable price points. ASUS Chromebooks will immensely benefit students, home makers and new age cloud focused enterprises.”

Commenting at the launch, Dinesh Sharma, Business Head, Commercial PC and Smartphone, System Business Group, ASUS in India said, “We are excited to introduce our ‘Thoughtfully Simple’ yet ‘Transformative’ ASUS Chromebook series, which is designed to ensure extremely intuitive and user friendly computing experience for modern day learners and modern day cloud focused enterprises.” He further added, “We will be also announcing a range of community support activities for ASUS Chromebook users and share a range of resources that will help consumers make use of their Chromebook Thoughtfully Simple.”

Rakesh Krishnan, Senior Director, Electronics at Flipkart said, “As the country’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, we have been the preferred destination for millions of customers across the country by meeting their evolving requirements. With 40-45% of our demand for computing devices coming from the student community, we have been working closely with our partners to make available student-friendly, affordable products at their doorstep. We are happy to make available ASUS’ new range of Chromebooks on our platform which will play a key role in shaping students’ academic journey with its cutting-edge technologies”.

ASUS Chromebook Overview –

Everyday learning simplified

Experience high productivity and smart learning with ChromeOS, a lightweight operating system from Google for fast and simplified computing. The OS provides support for Android apps and Google Play store letting you experience your favorite Android apps with extended support such as keyboard input along with touchscreen. Productivity and learning are a seamless experience on the cloud thanks to the G Suite apps that are fast and simple to use. Chrome OS is also one of the most secure operating systems and has inbuilt virus protection with dedicated security updates.

Effortless and Durable mobility

ASUS Chromebooks are designed to be rugged for everyday use with up to military grade durability and metal reinforced hinges that stand the test of time. The devices are super light-weight as low as 1000g that allows for super effortless mobility for children and grownups alike. Input ergonomics is a breeze thanks to a large multi-touch touchpad and large chiclet keys that have a key travel distance of up to 1.5mm, making it very easy to learn and be productive all day long.

Immersive and Vivid display

The ASUS Chromebooks feature stunningly slim display panels that exhibit beautiful colors along with optional touch-screen, anti-glare panels up to 15.6 inches with NanoEdge Slim bezels and Full-HD picture that lets you binge-watch media content, learn or be productive all day long with minimal distractions.

Fast and Efficient performance all day long

With Intel’s 64-bit dual-core processors, the ASUS Chromebooks lets you experience power-efficient performance whether you’re learning or getting things done more. 4GB of RAM and inbuilt solid-state storage across all variants ensures that you experience superfast boot times along with extensive multitasking on Android apps and even Linux apps. The fast storage along with USB Super-speed 3.1 (USB Type-C and Type-A) you can transfer files between devices at blazing fast speeds and, the storage can be further upgraded up to 2TB with a micro SD card. To ensure all-day long learning and productivity, the ASUS Chromebooks come with high-quality Lithium-ion batteries up to 50Wh and fast USB-C charging, thus ensuring you are topped up quickly for super long hours of effortless and worry-free mobility.

Crystal-clear Video conferencing and Online Learning

The ASUS Chromebooks make for excellent conferencing and online learning companions thanks to the high-definition 720p webcam across all variants and with up to dual-array microphones and dual stereo loudspeakers that lets you engage, converse & learn with superior quality.

Super-fast and Simplified connectivity

To ensure a superior mobile experience, the ASUS Chromebooks come with super-fast dual-bad Wi-Fi 5 (2x2) for wireless data and up to Bluetooth 5.0 for low-latency peripheral connectivity. On its side, the ASUS Chromebooks feature 2 USB-C (3.1) ports that support charging, super-fast data transfers, digital audio over USB-C and external display output with relative ease. The devices also feature up to 2 USB-A (3.1) ports that too allow for fast data transfer speeds.

ASUS Chromebook Range

ASUS Chromebook Flip C214

The new ASUS Chromebook C214 is a ruggedized laptop convertible, designed specifically to meet the rigorous demands of educational users. The tough built 11.6-inch ASUS Chromebook Flip C214 with its military-grade durability certification is constructed to withstand the everyday knocks, bumps and rough handling commonly encountered in classrooms and homes. The Flip C214 also features additional safety features such as spill and tamper resistant keyboard that’s rated for 10 million keystroke lifespan. The device is powered by Intel® 64-bit dual-core processor and a 50Wh battery that lets you stay productive or learning up to 11 hours, and features 64GB of onboard storage that can be further upgraded up to 2TB using a MicroSD card. 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM allows students and consumers to experience seamless multi-tasking on Chrome apps, Android apps, and even Linux apps. A key feature of the laptop is the thoughtful school-focused design details, incorporating ergonomic design and easy serviceability. Students can explore new ways of learning with the vivid touch-screen display, versatile 360° hinge and world-facing camera on ASUS Chromebook Flip C214, and can be opened to 180° to lay flat on a desk for easy collaboration. The laptops include a full complement of smart productivity features, including all-school-day battery life, and a versatile selection of I/O ports. Live two-way learning with video conferencing is a superior experience thanks to the HD 720p camera and stereo loudspeakers, and also features a world-facing 5MP autofocus camera to capture pictures and videos to aid better learning.

ASUS Chromebook C223, C423, C523

Designed for all-day computing and on-the-go lifestyles, ASUS Chromebooks C223, C423 (touch and non-touch variants) and C523 (touch and non-touch variants) can last up to a full productive 10 hours on a full charge with the help its long-life lithium-ion battery pack. The combination of durability and productivity is a defining feature of the ASUS Chromebook C223, C423 and C523. Users can explore new ways of learning with the optional touch-screen on the C423 and C523. ASUS Chromebook C423 and C523 can be opened to 180° to lay flat on a desk for easy collaboration. With displays up to a full-HD resolution, the ASUS Chromebooks offer clear colors for day-long computing. The device is powered by Intel® 64-bit dual-core processor that lets you stay productive or learning up to 10 hours, and features 32GB of onboard storage on the C223 and 64GB on C423 and C523, that can be further upgraded up to 2TB using a MicroSD card. 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM allows users to experience seamless multi-tasking on Chrome apps, Android apps, and even Linux apps. All three ASUS Chromebooks (5 variants) feature superior video conferencing ability thanks to the HD camera as standard and stereo loudspeakers.

AVAILABILITY AND PRICING:

Sale starts on July 22, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. on Flipkart.

ASUS Chromebook Flip C214 – ?23,999

ASUS Chromebook C223 – ?17,999

ASUS Chromebook C423 (Non-Touch) – ?19,999

ASUS Chromebook C523 (Non-Touch) – ?20,999

ASUS Chromebook C423 (Touch) – ?23,999

ASUS Chromebook C523 (Touch) – ?24,999

Trend Micro Warns Of Ransomware Targeting Industrial Control Systems

* Latest report highlights that India has the most coinminer, Equated malware, and WannaCry ransomware detections 

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today released a new report highlighting the growing risk of downtime and sensitive data theft from ransomware attacks aimed at industrial facilities. 

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are a crucial element of utility plants, factories and other facilities—where they’re used to monitor and control industrial processes across IT-OT networks. If ransomware finds its way onto these systems, it could knock out operations for days and increase the risk of designs, programs, and other sensitive documents finding their way onto the dark web.  

According to the ‘2020 Report on Threats Affecting ICS Endpoints’ by Trend Micro, the US is by far the country with the most ransomware detections affecting ICSs, with India, Taiwan, and Spain a far second. India has the most coinminer, Equated malware, and WannaCry ransomware detections. Also, legacy malware (particularly worms in removable drives and file infecting viruses) had the most detections in India, China, the US, and Taiwan.  

“ICSs are incredibly challenging to secure, leaving plenty of gaps in protection that threat actors are clearly exploiting with growing determination. Using malware detections as one of the criteria of IT/OT networks’ cybersecurity readiness can improve the organizations’ security posture and, in turn, better protect ICS endpoints. This prevents unintended downtime and the loss of view and control. For ransomware, companies should be wary of cybercriminals’ big-game hunting and security issues that are used by both the legacy malware and the latest attack trends should be addressed,” said Vijendra Katiyar, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro. 

Trend Micro’s report found that Ryuk (20%), Nefilim (14.6%), Sodinokibi (13.5%) and LockBit (10.4%) variants accounted for more than half of ICS ransomware infections in 2020. 

The report also revealed:

Threat actors are infecting ICS endpoints to mine for cryptocurrency using unpatched operating systems still vulnerable to EternalBlue. 

Variants of Conficker are spreading on ICS endpoints running newer operating systems by brute-forcing admin shares. 

Legacy malware such as Autorun, Gamarue and Palevo are still widespread in IT/OT networks, spreading via removable drives. 

The report urged closer cooperation between IT security and OT teams to identify key systems and dependencies such as OS compatibility and up-time requirements, with a view to developing more effective security strategies. 

Trend Micro makes the following recommendations:

Prompt patching is vital. If this is not possible, consider network segmentation or virtual patching from vendors like Trend Micro. 

Tackle post-intrusion ransomware by mitigating the root causes of infection via application control software, and threat detection and response tools to sweep networks for IoCs. 

Restrict network shares and enforce strong username/password combinations to prevent unauthorized access through credential brute forcing.  

Use an IDS or IPS to baseline normal network behavior to better spot suspicious activity. 

Scan ICS endpoints in air-gapped environments using standalone tools. 

Set up USB malware scanning kiosks to check the removable drives used to transfer data between air-gapped endpoints. 

Apply principle of least privilege to OT network admins and operators. 

About Trend Micro 

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. 

JAIN Launches New MBA, BBA Programs Powered By upGrad In India

* The two programs shall further strengthen upGrad’s deep India penetration plans and will enable Bharat to become future-ready 

* Learners to get a 360-degree University experience Online 

Making online education a mainstream phenomenon, upGrad, Asia’s higher edtech major, announces its partnership with the renowned JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) to introduce two new online degree programs, namely the MBA (Master of Business Administration) and BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), with added specialisations. The launch shall further strengthen upGrad’s deep India penetration plans. 

Considering degrees are available a dime a dozen today, this partnership is a testimony to upGrad’s commitment to delivering quality outcome-oriented learning solutions that will provide learners a UGC recognized degree, and help young Bharat attain meaningful career outcomes for themselves. 

The learners will benefit from the upGrad and JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) advantage which comprises a 360-degree university experience online, flexibility of learning at convenience, student support team to handhold throughout the program, peer-to-peer learning, along with proctored assessments and exams from the comfort of their homes. Post the course completion, upGrad will assist learners with career services that involve a paid internship up to 6 months and placement support up to 3 years based on performance. 

Talking about the partnership, Phalgun Kompalli, Co-founder, upGrad said, “In today’s VUCA world, having a meaningful degree with the right specialisation has become inevitable. This partnership will enable our learners with added capabilities in terms of faculties and facilities that will not only empower them with deep subject knowledge across new-age disciplines but also help them attain desired career outcomes. We are glad to welcome JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) onboard.”

Dr. Raj Singh, Vice Chancellor, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) further added, “We are glad to partner with upGrad who share the same values as us. We operate in times when organisations are actively looking out for talent with specialised skill-sets that can add value to the workforce. Therefore, a correct specialisation will make you a domain expert rather than a plain industry professional. Both are courses are designed keeping this in mind that will make our leaners future-ready.”

The MBA program is for two years and applicants must have a Bachelor’s Degree from any UGC Recognised University with a minimum of 50% marks or equivalent grade (45% for Reserved Categories). While the BBA program is for three years and applicants must have passed the (10+2) examination from State / CBSE / NIOS / IGCSE / IB / ICSE or any other Board recognized by the State or Central Government. 

“India is one of the largest students markets in the world and we have immense talent residing in non-metros. This partnership with JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) will further help us penetrate into regions that are high on potential but are running low or limited on options which can help thousands of individuals overcome learning challenges, especially in such a digitally-driven era,” added Arjun Mohan, CEO India, upGrad. 

Additionally, upGrad also lists 20 new online bachelor's and master’s courses with the university ranging from BBA, MBA, MCA, BCom, MCom, and MA. Stretched for 24 to 36 months, these programs will offer learners a unique opportunity to complete their UGC recognized degrees in an online model, from the comfort of their homes, and at a significantly lesser cost as compared to the offline version.

MBA (Master of Business Administration) with specialization in Advertising and Branding or Strategy and Leadership, and Advanced Certificate from upGrad

BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) with specialization in Advertising and Branding or Strategy and Leadership, and Advanced Certificate from upGrad

About upGrad:

upGrad is Asia’s higher edtech major that offers 100+ courses in collaboration with top-notch global universities like Duke Corporate Education (US), Michigan State University (US), Liverpool John Moores University (UK), Deakin Business School (Australia), Swiss School of Business Management, (Geneva), IIT Madras (India), IIM Kozhikode (India), and others. Founded in 2015, the international edtech leader has impacted over 1 million total registered learners in over 50+ countries across the world.

upGrad has ranked No.1 in the LinkedIn Top Startups India 2020 list. This is the third time in a row that upGrad has been featured in the LinkedIn Top Startup list after 2018 and 2019. It is also amongst GSV Global EdTech 50 and has ranked amongst the Top 50 in the FT Asia-Pacific High-Growth Companies 2021. 

About JAIN (Deemed-to-be University):

Promoted by Jain Group, the university is recognized among the top universities in India and considered a preferred learner-centric destination for students from different countries across the globe. Known for its emphasis on education, entrepreneurship, research, and sports, Jain (Deemed-to-be University) has some of the best minds in the educational and research fields, and centers that inspire entrepreneurship and innovative thinking.

Godrej Security Solutions Focuses On Innovation And R&D To Bridge The Gap In Penetration Of Home Security Solutions

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced that its business Godrej Security Solutions is focusing on innovation and R&D to capture 15% of the home security camera market by 2022. The market for home cameras in India is 300 crore with a 6% market penetration of home security cameras.

For a country like India, which is striving to grow as a digital economy, there is a huge gap when it comes to data storage and protection for consumers. As per an industry study, the minimum total cost of data leak in India reached up to Rs 14 crore in 2020, putting India as one of the top countries in cybercrime. This indicates there is great potential for growth in the home security solutions sector within India. In response to the same, Godrej Security Solutions’ investment towards R&D and innovation has increased by 100% for its line of products in the electronic home security solutions category.

Moreover, the demand for home security solutions is likely to be driven by various factors arising from the pandemic. Lockdown restrictions across the country compelled consumers to take cognizance of the need of a home surveillance system to protect their property while working remotely and simultaneously securing their family members. A recent study called the ‘Cocoon Effect on Home and Health Security’ by Godrej Security Solutions highlights that India’s ‘security deficit’ is now undergoing a stark change, as consumers are taking serious responsibility of their home and health security.

More and more consumers are now adopting smart homes, wherein smart security systems are becoming an integral part of their lifestyle. New trends continue to emerge, providing an impetus to the growth and opportunities in the home security sector.

Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice-President, Godrej Security Solutions, said, “We are excited about the growth potential and opportunities in the home security solutions market in India. Smart technological advancement in the industry will help bridge the gap that currently exists in the sector. Keeping this in mind, we are taking strategic steps by focusing on our innovation and R&D at Godrej Security Solutions to provide smarter and secure solutions to our consumers. We are aiming to capture 15% of the home security camera market by 2022.”

About Godrej Security Solutions:

Godrej Security Solutions is a division of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd and part of the USD 4.1 billion Godrej Group. A pioneer and leader in the business, Godrej Security Solutions Division is the largest manufacturer and marketer of Security Solutions in India. It is the largest supplier of security solutions to several prestigious banking, corporate and public institutions. For the first time in the category and the industry, Godrej Security Solutions Division has been awarded the Superbrand status. It has also won the “Most Preferred brand” award in the Home Segment. The Division currently exports its products to over 45 countries including Middle East Asia, South East Asia, Far East Asia, East Africa, the US, Europe and the SAARC Countries.

Big Bazaar, fbb Expands Its Industry First ‘2-Hour Home Delivery’ From Essentials To Its Newly Launched Fashion Collection

• The 2-hour home delivery service was first launched through Shop.BigBazaar.com in April 2021 to cater to the daily essential product needs of customers during lockdown

• New Fashion Collection is also available in 352 stores in 144 cities and towns across India

Encouraged by/After the huge success of its ‘2-Hour Home Delivery’ service to cater to the daily essential product needs of customers during the lockdown, Big Bazaar and fbb has extended this service for its newly launched fashion collection on the theme ‘STEP OUT IN STYLE’. Customers can shop for the new fashion collection online on Shop.BigBazaar.com and can have these delivered at their doorstep within 2 hours.

Big Bazaar and fbb is the only one in the industry to offer ‘2-Hour Home Delivery’ service for fashion and uses its extensive store network to serve customers ordering online. As the unlock gathers momentum across India and an increasing number of vaccinated Indians step out to work and travel, the new fashion collection has also been made available in 352 Big Bazaar and fbb stores in 144 cities and towns across India. 

Speaking on the initiative, Pawan Sarda, CMO – Digital, Marketing & E-commerce, Future Group said, “Our 2-Hour Home Delivery has been about giving customers the same familiarity of shopping for fashion at the store at the touch of a button. Customers can place their orders from the comfort and safety of their homes and get them delivered within 2 hours. Amid the looming threat of a third wave and gradual re-opening of workplaces as the vaccination driveprogresses, we want to provide our shoppers a “What’s Trending” experience by showcasing the latest global trends and offering a wide variety at pocket friendly-price.’

The new fashion collection allows customers to choose from a wide range of chic and ultra-trendy fashion without burning a hole in their pockets. Customers have the option to choose from dresses, tunics, palazzos, tops, polo tees, shirts, and shorts at an affordable price starting from Rs. 299.

The ‘2-Hour Home Delivery’ promise was first launched through Shop.BigBazaar.comin April 2021 to cater to the food, grocery, and homeware needs of customers during the lockdown. It gained instant popularity during the period with over a million families ordering online regularly through this platform.