Monthly Archives: February 2023

‘The Missing Dulha’ campaign by HDFC Life takes a unique approach to educate viewers on life insurance

New Delhi, February 28, 2023: HDFC Life, one of India’s leading life insurers, endeavours to educate consumers by creating differentiated content about its diverse suite of products in a manner that is both informative as well as entertaining.

With its latest campaign, ‘The Missing Dulha’, HDFC Life aims to create awareness on the importance of life insurance and its various product categories through a set of ten films with the help of a story that revolves around a groom who goes missing on his wedding day.

Aptly titled ‘The Missing Dulha’, these ten byte-sized films humorously capture the nuances behind a classic Indian family wedding, the various characters and their idiosyncrasies. Each film ends with a cliffhanger to keep the audience interested in what’s coming next while communicating a feature of life insurance plans in a unique and humorous manner.

Life insurance is a must-have product for all individuals for their financial security and fulfilment of future financial goals, enabling them to face life’s challenges and live with pride. Through this campaign, HDFC Life aims to deliver the message as to how life insurance and its benefits are important for individuals in a simple yet relatable way.

Speaking on this unique campaign, Vishal Subharwal – Chief Marketing Officer & Group Head – Strategy, HDFC Life, said “One of the barriers to life insurance penetration in India has been the fact that the category benefits are not fully appreciated by potential consumers. Our purpose as an organisation has been to simplify products and come up with features that make a meaningful difference to the lives of our customers. The challenge put forth to the marketing team was to demystify life insurance and do it in a manner that make the category appeal to a wider audience pool.

With this objective we have launched ‘The Missing Dulha’ a first-of-its kind, 10-part ad-series which brings to the forefront the nuances of various life insurance product categories in a manner that is interesting and easy-to-understand. We believe this unique approach coupled with the right dose of humour set in a typical Indian wedding scenario, makes the film relatable to a large section of Indian consumers. We hope this campaign will go a long way in educating consumers about the importance of life insurance products and their features.”

US-based Sage publishing picks up office space at Avanta’s centre in Nehru Place

New Delhi: US-based Sage Groups, a global publisher of books & academic journals has also joined the bandwagon to occupy flexible office spaces. Sage has inked a 9-year direct deal with Avanta India, a leading co-working operator in the National Capital Region. Sage will lease a 100-workstation space at Avanta’s co-working centre at Nehru Place.

For the uninitiated, Avanta India holds 5 premium business centers in Delhi-NCR. One in the landmark Statesman Building, and another one at the Ambadeep Tower in Connaught Place. The other premises include Park Centra Gurgaon, ITT in Nehru Place alongside one at Saket Business District.

Brands like Sage opting for flexible spaces highlights the growing prominence of the segment in India. Co-working and flexible office spaces are aggressively expanding their foothold in the overall commercial leasing landscape in India. Going forward close to 20% of the leasing will comprise co-working spaces in the country.

Not just start-ups and SMBs, but larger corporates and MNCs are also getting lured towards the segment. Recently IIFL & Kotak Group also finalized coworking spaces with Avanta India at Connaught Place centre, in the heart of New Delhi.

“In the past 2 years, we have seen many multinational companies preferring flexible office spaces for their operations in India. This trend of MNCs and financial institutions pivoting to flexible office spaces will further gain momentum in 2023.” Quoted Mr. Ankit Gupta, Regional Director, Realistic Realtors.

There are numerous inherent benefits of co-working spaces, which are driving demand. One can pay per use, giving the occupier a heightened degree of flexibility. There is no overhead in managing the space and the occupier can focus entirely on the core business alongside optimizing cost. Co-working also promotes better networking and employee engagement.

SAGE Publishing, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York and now based in Newbury Park, California. The company publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books a year, reference works and electronic products covering business, humanities, social sciences to name a few.

Vi Forays into Esports; offers a platform for Vi users to play Esports tournaments, to democratise eSports

After the successful launch of Vi Games offering more than 1200 mobile games, multiplayer and competitive gaming on the Vi App, leading Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) today announced the expansion of its mobile gaming catalogue with Esports. Partnering with leading esports start-up Gamerji, Vi under the umbrella of Vi Games, has launched an Esports platform on the Vi App.

Vi Games along with Gamerji will host popular Esports games across various genres such as Battle Royale, Racing, Cricket, Action Role Playing, etc. With an aim to make Vi App the preferred destination for gaming enthusiasts, the platform will have popular esports titles like New State, Free Fire Call of Duty Mobile, World Cricket Championship 3, Asphalt 9, Clash Royale during launch and will add more popular titles in due course.

Over the last few years, India has become the hub for esports. As per FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment Report 2022, the esports players in India doubled from three lakh in 2020 to six lakh in 2021. The country’s esports industry is growing at a CAGR of 46% and is expected to reach INR 11 billion by 2025. The gaming segment is also expected to generate an economic value of around INR100 billion between now and FY2025.

Commenting on the launch, Avneesh Khosla, CMO, Vi said “Growing affordability of smartphones and faster data speeds have contributed to the immense popularity of mobile gaming in India. With 5G in India, the gaming industry is likely to grow manifold. Mobile gaming has been a major focus area of growth for Vi’s content strategy in the digital era. Adding esports to our gaming catalogue was a natural progression towards making Vi App as the preferred destination for all gaming enthusiasts. We are confident that our offering will strike the right chord with the gaming lovers, and particularly the youth.”

Making the service easy accessible for the gamers, Vi’s Esports offering will be available for Vi Users at no extra cost and the users can enjoy exciting prizes with their virtual coins.

Commenting on the association, Soham Thacker, Founder & CEO Gamerji said, “Gamerji has always strived to give the best online tournament experience to aspiring gamers in India and help them showcase their skills. Our association with Vi will enable us to provide the experience to the larger gaming community via the Vi App and help establish esports as one of the primary competitive sports in the country.”

Gaming buffs can access the Esports in 5 easy steps:

The users can access Vi Games on the Vi App. Users can download the Vi App from Google Play store or iOS store.

Bank of Maharashtra joins hands with Experian India for credit portfolio management

Mumbai, 28 February 2023: Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) announces a strategic partnership with Experian India to provide a comprehensive suite of services such as credit risk, advanced analytics, and fraud prevention.

With the rise of digital sourcing, lending and servicing, BoM, a premiere public sector bank is adopting nextgen systems and processes to create a secure banking ecosystem. With this partnership, Experian is collaborating with BoM to provide innovative solutions throughout the customer lifecycle, enabling BoM to on-board New to Credit (NTC) and New to Bank customers (NTB) and service existing customers efficiently.

Through these innovative solutions driven on back of technology, Bank of Maharashtra will gain a better understanding of customers’ needs, analyse their risk behaviour, and efficiently manage the credit portfolio. BoM will avail the services for retail and non-retail clients, including SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises), and corporates. These solutions will also enable the bank’s front-line staff to provide best-in class services to their customers.

Shri A S Rajeev, MD & CEO, Bank of Maharashtra commented on the partnership: “This will foster a credit ecosystem which shall help the Bank in establishing a more healthy loan book. This will also help our field functionaries in quality business acquisition with more prudence.”

Shri Asheesh Pandey, Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra opined: “Business acquisition through Technology driven analytics will facilitate better understanding of customer needs and improve the business viability of the Bank. This collaboration shall help us boost our loan book with quality assets and become more vigilant about the evolving scenario. This will support our motto of ‘Ease of doing business’.”

Saikrishnan Srinivasan, Managing Director, Experian Credit Information Company of India, said: “The evolution of digital lending has created a dynamic and customer-centric environment. Bank of Maharashtra is investing in cutting-edge technology to strengthen their customer base and improve the efficiency of their operations. We are confident that Experian’s innovative solutions coupled with analytics support will assist the Bank in building and enhancing their competitive edge in the industry.”

The mission of both the organisations is to unleash the power of data and become a one-stop solution for the entire customer lifecycle. Credit and Risk Management solutions have aided banks in understanding and assessing the creditworthiness of their customers, resulting in lower default risk, increased profitability, and improved credit access.

Not just Galaxy S23, Samsung working to offer a range of devices in India

Not just the Galaxy S23 series, engineers and researchers at Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore (SRI-B) are working on creating multi-device experiences between personal home and open ecosystem devices for Indian consumers, its top executive has said.

Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, SRI-Bangalore, told IANS that at Samsung, they call it Calm Technology, where devices connect seamlessly for a more intelligent consumer experience that takes place instantly.

“What we are trying to tell the consumer is when more devices come into your life, you should not be adapting to how the devices want you to use them. Devices need to adapt to your needs and do automatic inter-device experiences,” Shah said.

“I think there is a lot of focus at SRI-Bangalore and there is a big team working on creating multi device experiences between personal home and open ecosystem devices,” he emphasized.

Samsung has created multiple devices that are in people’s homes and in personal lives.

“In your personal life, there is your smartphone, Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Tablet and now Galaxy Book3 that we recently launched. Then there are smart home devices like washing machines, refrigerators, family hubs, robot vacuum cleaners and smart televisions,” he said.

Eventually, “we are an open ecosystem company for many third-party devices like your door sensor, a smart plug, LED light bulb, etc. So all of these devices, when they are working independently, give you a certain amount of experience but when they work connectedly, they just take your experience to another level,” Shah told IANS.

This is what Samsung R&D Centre in Bengaluru, the company’s largest software R&D centre outside South Korea, is busy achieving at the moment.

In India, when we look at the young consumers’ lifestyles, the first thing they want is personal space.

So, you just put your Galaxy Buds in and then only you are enjoying the content on your TV.

“But also, when a call comes on your mobile, it automatically switches and it automatically brings you back into your TV programme or your gaming experience without getting disturbed. So, we have these kinds of multi-device connected experiences without the user having to do anything,” said Shah.

The SRI-Bangalore has about 250 startups that it is connected with on how they can modify their products, their services, their experiences based on Samsung’s consumer understanding and to match with its consumer needs.

SRI-B contributed towards the development of breakthrough innovations in the new Galaxy S23 series by closely collaborating with Korean teams and other overseas R&D centres like Samsung Research America (SRA).

The SRI-B engineers made significant contributions to the development of key features in the Galaxy S23 camera, multi-device experience (SmartThings), on-device AI, 5G and services.

In camera, the SRI-B engineers focused on continuous R&D efforts to enhance the smartphone photography experience in every flagship device.

To provide the best capture, edit and share experience, the engineers have contributed to the development of Photo Remaster and Object Eraser features.

Moreover, the engineers also contributed to the development of seamless IoT (Internet of Things) device registration services known as “Calm Technology” and have been part of the team to achieve the world’s first matter-certified IoT ecosystem device.

To enhance the Galaxy’s One UI experience, the SRI-B engineers contributed to On Device Intelligence Powered Personalisation, Productivity & Automation features which provide convenience in consumers’ daily lives.

Global leaders of Indian media have emerged from IIMC: Prof. Dwivedi

New Delhi, Feb 28: “The students of IIMC are today playing a leadership role in the field of media and mass communication. With their talent, the students of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication have brought laurels to the institute from all over the world”, said DG IIMC, Prof. (Dr.) Sanjay Dwivedi while addressing the alumni during IIMC Alumni Meet 2023.

Prof. Dwivedi, while lauding the IIMC alumni association ‘IIMCAA’, stated that running an association continuously is a challenging task. The dedication and hard work put in by the members of the IIMCAA is noteworthy. He stated that this alumni association has worked tirelessly for the benefit and respect of its fellow students, with no selfish motives. According to the Director General of IIMC, the way in which ‘IIMCAA’ has maintained the continuity of its activities and continues to upgrade itself is commendable.

Alumni of the institute and veterans of mass communication working in various institutes across the country took part in the annual program ‘Connections 2023’ of the IIMCAA. During the program, 23 alumni were recognized for their outstanding work in the media with the IFFCO IIMCAA Awards 2023. On this occasion, Senior Educationist Prof. Gita Bamezai, Media Entrepreneur Anita Kaul Basu, Senior journalist Prakash Patra, Assam State Information Commissioner Samudra Gupta Kashyap, and Senior Indian Information Service officer Anurag Vajpeyi were honored with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.

Renowned Odia writer Dr. Gayatribala Panda was given the ‘Alumni of the Year award, while Sushil Singh, Amit Katoch, Pankaj Chandra Goswami, and Pee Lee Ete were given the Public Service Award. Utkarsh Singh, the journalist of The Quint, was given the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award. Apart from this, Rohit Vishwakarma of NDTV has been awarded ‘Agriculture Reporter of the year’, Andrew Amsan of Indian Express for Print Media, Nibir Deka for Times Now (TV Journalism), Bijin Samuel of Malayalam Manorama for Indian Language Journalism (Print Media), Sandhya Manikandan for Indian Language Journalism (Print Media) (Television), Jyoti Jangra for Producer of the Year, Mohit Pasricha for Advertising and AR Hemant for excellent work in the field of Public Relations.

The ‘Jury Special Mention’ award was also given this year by ‘IIMCAA’. Harshita Rathore and Jyoti Yadav were given the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award. Apart from this, Agriculture Journalism to Harikishan Sharma, Print Media to N. Sundaresha Subramaniam and Shambhu Nath, TV Journalism to Abhishek Yadav, Indian Language Journalism to Rajshree Sahu (Print Media), Jyotismita Nayak to Indian Language Journalism (Television) and Surabhi Singh and Shubham Tiwari was awarded the Producer of the Year award.

Odisha Chapter was awarded ‘Connecting Chapter of the Year’, ‘Connecting Group of the Year’ to the 1993-94 batch, and ‘Connecting Alumni of the Year’ to Brij Kishore. Apart from this, the students of the Golden Jubilee Alumni Batch of the year 1972-73 and the Silver Jubilee Alumni Batch of the year 1997-98 were also felicitated.

IIMCAA, President Kalyan Ranjan, General Secretary Sadhna Arya, Senior IAS Officer and Editor of ‘Connections’ magazine Rajendra Kataria, National Meet Convenor and C-Voter Foundation Founder Yashwant Deshmukh, State Meet Convenor Gayatri Srivastava, International Meet Convenor Anwar Ashraf, IIMCA Awards Convenor and India Today Managing Editor Sunil Menon, Award Coordinator Simrat Gulati, IIMCA Care Fund Chairman Nitin Pradhan, and Scholarship Committee Chairman Anshu Gupta along with other alumni from different parts of the country were present in the event. The program was moderated by Ritesh Verma, Editor (New Initiative) of ‘Live Hindustan’.

Yulu & Bajaj Auto launch their new & revolutionary electric 2-wheeler platform purpose-built for urban mobility needs

 28 February 2023, New Delhi: Yulu, India’s largest shared electric mobility player, and Bajaj Auto, the world’s most valuable two-wheeler and three-wheeler company, today launched Miracle GR & DeX GR. These new generation vehicles are developed on a purpose-built platform for electric 2-wheelers that is engineered for Indian consumers, climate, and road conditions. With their unique form-factor, ergonomic design & tech-powered utility, the Miracle GR and DeX GR are set to offer a superlative experience to customers along with higher operational efficiency, thus dramatically improving Yulu’s overall financial metrics.

 Globally a first-of-its-kind, this partnership between a mobility tech company & a leading 2-wheeler OEM is built on the common vision to transform mobility through smart, shared, sustainable, and safe electric vehicles. Powered by Yulu’s revolutionary AI-led technology stack and exclusively manufactured by Bajaj Auto, the Miracle GR & DeX GR are made in India, for the world, and are being rolled out by Chetak Technology Ltd (a 100% owned subsidiary of Bajaj Auto).

“Together with Bajaj Auto, we are setting a new benchmark in urban mobility by ensuring affordable access to the best-in-class ride, while taking pioneering steps towards green commuting”, said Amit Gupta – Co-founder & CEO, of Yulu. “Mobility needs & customer expectations are rapidly changing & traditional ownership models are being disrupted. As a leader in shared mobility, we understand the criticality of curating purpose-built vehicles and robust energy infrastructure to create long-term value. Our partnership with Bajaj Auto was born out of this common vision and this launch will further solidify our position as a market leader in the shared mobility space while reinforcing our commitment to sustainably solve the problems of traffic congestion and air pollution for a daily commute and last-mile deliveries.”

S Ravikumar, Chief Business Development Officer, Bajaj Auto Limited said, “Going electric is a key strategic priority at Bajaj, and Yulu is an integral part of this strategy. Yulu’s deep expertise in EV technology and market knowledge coupled with Bajaj Auto’s strong, world-class R&D & manufacturing capabilities, is a powerful force that is shaping India’s future of mobility. These next-generation made-for-India vehicles with their intelligence, strong engineering underpinnings and sophisticated design aesthetics are a milestone not just for us, but for the entire electric mobility category.”

Having doubled its fleet in the last 3 months, Yulu is poised to put 100K vehicles on the road across major cities in India and is targeting more than 10x growth in revenues by the end of the year. Manufacturing from world-class automotive manufacturer Bajaj, Yulu also expects significant cost reductions and meaningful improvements in operating metrics and overall financials, owing to locally sourced parts and assembly, superior production quality and optimize economies of scale.

Yulu’s fleet operates on swappable batteries and is powered by Yuma Energy. There are currently around 100 Yuma stations across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi, which the company plans to scale to 500 by 2024.

PRMIA Bangalore Chapter holds webinar to make workforce future-ready

Bangalore, 28 February 2023: PRMIA Bangalore Chapter brought together industry stalwarts, banking experts, and thought leaders to its interesting webinar on – Enterprise Resilience through Future Ready Workforce. The event was actively participated and drew about 100 participants. Setting the tone of this event, Mr. Pradeep Kumar, the renowned banker and Chairman of Karnataka Bank, emphasized how the Workforce is the most valuable intangible asset of an enterprise.

COVID taught us to develop the next generation of workers into a resilient, future-ready workforce, constantly expand capacity to innovate and thrive, rather than just survive. In today’s highly competitive environments, Risk Education gives that required competitive edge to both working professionals and the enterprises. A future ready workforce can optimize organizational progress towards an unseen future. The most challenging task before us today is workforce transformation to support business transformation.

Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Chairman, Karnataka Bank “The organizations worldwide are facing what the World Economic Forum (WEF) calls, a re-skilling emergency. More than a billion people will need to be re-skilled by 2030.”

 Mr. Justin McCarthy, CEO, of PRMIA, has highlighted the strategies and sound global practices to strengthen operational resilience. A panel of experts from Banking and IT industries delved deep into various dimensions of skilling and re-skilling the workforce for staying relevant and resilient.

The illustrious panel included Mr. Alok Kumar Dwivedi, DGM & CDO, State Bank of India, LHO, Bangalore; Mr. Piyush Kabra, Head of Risk and Crisis Management for LTIMindtree, Mr. Raghuram H S, Chief Risk Officer, Karnataka Bank Ltd and Mr. Rajesh Varahan, Business Development (FSI), AWS Professional Service. Mr. Hariharan V, former Dy General Manager, State Bank of India, efficiently moderated the webinar. Mr.Ramesh Kanamarlapudi, Regional Director, Bengaluru, PRMIA, India welcomed the gathering. He highlighted how PRMIA India with six chapters and 100 plus volunteers is playing a transformative role in capacity building in risk management. PRMIA’s competency-focused credentials are highly respected globally and have been recognized by the government of India as well as leading corporate. Dr. Nirakar Pradhan, CEO, PRMIA India offered vote of thanks. Mr. Ashok Kumar B R, Director, Board of Karnataka Bank, also graced the webinar.