2, Mar 2023
Liferay to double workforce in India; aims to hire more than 200 employees in next 2 years

Delhi, 2nd March 2023 Liferay, the US-headquartered leading cloud-powered Digital User Experience Platform (DXP) provider today announced that it intends to double its headcount in India and onboard more than 200 engineers and management candidates in the next 24 months. As a part of its commitment, Liferay has also opened a new office in Bengaluru, which will pave the way for its rapid expansion.

With a strong foothold in 19 countries across, EMEA, APAC, and the Americas, the global technology company aims to attract the best talent in India and expand its local presence. In the next two years, Liferay’s Bengaluru office will hire experienced and entry-level engineering and management graduates for various roles focusing on cloud technologies, product development, operations, marketing, and sales.

As a part of the new hiring plan, Liferay has created an internship program that will nurture and train engineering and management candidates from top institutes across India. Upon successful completion of the programme, the interns will be offered full-time employment opportunities at Liferay.

Liferay’s hiring spree can be attributed to the company’s aim of tapping into the $710.0 billion market opportunity in the country. Globally, the DXP market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $13.9 billion by 2024. While the COVID-19 pandemic gave a significant boost to the industry by accelerating digital transformation initiatives, the recent focus of Indian Government of Digital India along with the demand for personalization from customers for integrated, customized, and streamlined experience and engagement across various digital touchpoints are major drivers for the increased adoption of DXP.

Brian Chan, Founder & Chief Software Architect, Liferay said “The Prime Minister emphasizing on Digital India and the need for a robust digital ecosystem, has offered a dramatic boom to the country’s DXP market. This, coupled with the highly skilled tech talent of the country positions India as a sweet spot for us. As an innovative technology service provider, we are happy to cater to the unique needs of thousands of emerging digital businesses across industries. We are confident that our new office in India will help us unlock several employment opportunities and give us a great momentum as we expand product offerings while continuing to offer exceptional service to clients.”

Headquartered in the US, Liferay has more than 1200 employees across the globe, including India. Founded in 2000, Liferay offers businesses across B2B, B2C, and B2E with flexible, scalable, accessible, and secured tailored accelerator solutions including customer portals, intranets, and supply-chain solutions that helps manage personalized user experience.

The company has been working with over a thousand organizations across sectors including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, and government bodies while supporting them with their businesses’ unique needs. Some of the key associated clients include AirBus, Honda, Federal Bank, Bosch, NASA, Volkswagen Vodafone, Saint Gobain, India First Life insurance, Sahaj, Carrefour, and BSES amongst others.

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2, Mar 2023
₹ 4,000 crore (~US$ 525 million) worth capital infusion into Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited gets completed

Bangalore, India,2nd March 2023: Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), one of India’s largest integrated renewable energy companies and a subsidiary of The Tata Power Company Limited (Tata Power), has received the second and final round of investment of ₹ 2,000 crore from GreenForest New Energies Bidco Limited (GreenForest) and has successfully allotted 20,00,00,000 Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) at face value of ₹ 100 each at par aggregating to ₹ 2,000 crore on a preferential basis to GreenForest.

Subsequent to this second tranche, TPREL has now received ₹ 4,000 crore of investment pursuant to the binding agreement signed on 14th April 2022 between Tata Power, TPREL and BlackRock Real Assets-led consortium, including Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) within the targeted timelines. GreenForest holds 6.06% equity in TPREL and on conversion of the above CCPS, will hold a 9.76% to 11.43% equity stake in TPREL, subject to the equity valuation on final conversion.

The equity infusion will fund India most comprehensive, renewal energy platform, consisting of five distinct businesses delivering long-term, customer-oriented solutions. TPREL houses all renewable energy businesses of Tata Power including those in: Utility Scale Solar, Wind & Hybrid Generation assets; Solar Cell & Module Manufacturing; Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracting; Rooftop Solar infrastructure; Solar Pumps and Electric Vehicle Charging infrastructure.

The completion of this equity infusion will fund TPREL’s aggressive growth plans. Over the next five years, it aims to achieve a portfolio of over 20 GW of renewables assets and a market leading position.

“Tata Power Renewables with its broad and deep portfolio of next-generation renewables businesses is well poised to further solidify its position as an industry leader. The completion of ₹ 4,000 crore (~US$ 525 million) worth capital infusion into our renewables business will fuel the next level of growth and help us play a pivotal role in India’s efforts to secure greater energy stability through low carbon solutions for a sustainable future.” said Dr Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, Tata Power.

India is one of the world’s largest renewable energy markets and has recorded the fastest growing renewable energy supply with over 60% new capacity added over the past four years. Its installed renewables capacity is expected to grow from 175 GW currently to 500 GW by 2030, to satisfy India’s local energy demand driven by GDP growth and contribute to the government’s decarbonization ambition, as well as support the macro energy transition trends in the country.

Tata Power is at the forefront of India’s ambition to secure greater energy stability for its citizens while positioning its economy for a low carbon future.

2, Mar 2023
IIITH AI search startup, subtl.ai raises angel funding

Hyderabad, 2nd March 2023: Subtl.ai closes angel investment from new age investors in the Indian ecosystem, Mohit Gulati (ITI Growth opportunities fund) and Vamshi Raju (Edha Investments, Shreyas Media). Their product can understand knowledge sources at scale, to instantly answer any questions asked from documents, websites, videos and knowledge bases.

Subtl.ai is a product powered by cognitive search technology, built jointly with IIIT Hyderabad research. The product ensures that enterprises can instantly leverage all their business knowledge locked in various sources, by talking to an AI over a chat interface.

“Subtl.ai has been way ahead of its time, building out the base technology and staying prepared for its window of opportunity. With the advent of chatGPT, their window is here, time to go big or go home!”, said the lead investor in the round, Mohit Gulati (Founder – of ITI Growth Opportunities fund).

Some of the core use cases for the product include automating doubt resolution for e-learning, information support for project/product management, and AI assistants to help support teams resolve tickets 2x faster.

As of today, they are live for customers State Bank of India, Bharat Dynamics and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers. For Marquee customer SBI, they are saving 90% of information overheads for 250,000 employees looking for information during core branch operations and customer relations.

Subtl.ai is now coming towards the end of its first sales funnel cohort, with evaluations underway with ed-techs, airports, legal research teams, banks and SaaS platform integrations. They expect to hit $5 million in ARR through 500,000 business users by the end of 2023, coming from initial market traction in the US and market expansion in India through early tech adopters.

“We started subtl.ai with the vision to enable enterprises to unlock information locked in large text resources and documents. Using ML based language and knowledge models, combined with generative AI. Interestingly, our AI tech can also help find information in videos”, says Vishnu Ramesh, Founder subtl.ai.

2, Mar 2023
Completion Certificate (CC) received for Max Square

2nd March 2023 New Delhi:

Max Ventures & Industries Limited’s (MaxVIL) real estate arm, Max Estates has received the completion certificate for Max Square – a Grade A+ greenfield development in Sector 129, Noida. The development has obtained the highest possible green building standards certification from IGBC, and is IGBC Platinum certified under the Green New Buildings Rating System.

Max Square is built on the theme of nature and nurture and has a net leasable area of ~6,70,000 sq. ft. The completion of land acquisition, design, development and construction in a span of 3 years despite multiple COVID led interruptions is a clear testament of the end to end execution capability of the team at Max Estates Limited.

Max Square is located on the Noida Expressway, one of the two most important office micro markets in Delhi NCR offering excellent connectivity. New York Life, our strategic partner in the real estate business since 2017, has co-invested in the development and holds 49% stake.

As a part of our ‘WorkWell’ philosophy, at Max Square, we aim to ensure the holistic wellbeing of office users by curating an ecosystem of spaces including multi-cuisine F&B, state of the art multipurpose hall, food court, early learning center, and a connect to nature through a ~11,000 sq. ft. central forest courtyard

2, Mar 2023
L&T Financial Services adds 29 lakh customers in Micro Loans business between April 2022 to January 2023

2nd March 2023, Mumbai: L&T Financial Services (LTFS), one of the leading Non-Banking Financial Companies, has added 29 lakh customers in the Micro Loans business between the period of April to January in the financial year 2023 recording a growth of 85 percent year-on-year.

On an average, the Company has added a customer base of around 3 lakh every month in the period between April 2022 to January 2023. The Company has disbursed Micro Loans of around Rs. 13,900 crore between April 2022 to January 2023 recording a growth of 91 percent year-on-year.

Out of the 29 lakh customers added during April 2022 to January 2023, over 18 lakh customers added are first cycle customers i.e., those who have taken loan with LTFS for the first-time.

While onboarding customers, LTFS follows a robust process with multi-layered structure which includes instant internal and bureau checks, physical appraisal process checks and risk control unit checks before taking the decision to sanction the loan to customers.

Mr. Dinanath Dubhashi, Managing Director & CEO of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. said, “We are amongst the leading financiers in Micro Loans today and continue to expand in the unserved and under-served regions of our nation. We are committed to empowering micro-entrepreneurial women and enabling sustainable livelihood at the grassroot level through our innovative and digital lending solutions. Our customers are primarily engaged in responsible end-use like dairy, grocery shops and similar allied activities for earning their livelihood. We have done well in this business, and going forward we expect to sustain our growth momentum by further launching new products, in line with the Lakshya 2026 strategy.”

LTFS launched its Micro Loans operations in July 2008 and since then, has been actively involved in enabling a sustainable livelihood for women entrepreneurs. The loans are sanctioned to women in the age group of 20 to 60 years with a ticket size ranging between Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 1,10,000 and with flexible re-payment tenure from 24 to 36 months for customer’s convenience.

2, Mar 2023
Get the most functional and essential Knife from KAI India!!

Cooking can be a lot more fun if our main task of micing, dicing and slicing becomes easier. KAI India has launched Hocho Premium Knives that are the real kitchen tools and are an essential for cooking all meals. It is simply perfect for all your daily kitchen use of cutting, chopping, dicing, mincing, peeling of vegetables and other kitchen tasks.

KAI Hocho knife is ideal for all types of food preparations as they can be used for cutting, chopping, dicing, slicing of small and big vegetables. The flat surface of the Japanese design also helps in chopping herbs and leaves in the perfect size. They are sharp with fine precision and exhibit the finesse in their shape and design giving a study grip while in use. The Hocho knives can be termed as all-rounder as they do the job quickly and safely. They cut vegetables more finely and can even be used for making garnishing ribbons. They are a must have in your kitchen to make you fall in love with cooking.

Mr. Rajesh U. Pandya, Managing Director, KAI India says, “KAI knives have pointed and sharp tip that allows for easy and smooth piercing through vegetables and fruits. KAI India has been known for designing knives that are ergonomic and are user-friendly. The Premium Hocho range have high-quality handles, textured surface and designing is such that they will not slip away from your hand while in use. The Hocho knives have a straight edge with a narrow sheep’s foot blade. These knives have evolved from the traditional Japanese vegetable knife which has a rectangular blade.”

The 114 years plus old Japan-based KAI Group has made a foray into the Indian market with the establishment of its manufacturing facility spanned over 30,000 sq.mtrs area in Neemrana, Rajasthan. KAI brings over 800 years old Japanese legacy of forging blades, directly to Indian household with its kitchen-ware range. KAI also offers high precision beauty and personal care products to the Indian consumers adding value to their daily life. KAI India as an organization is determined to provide products prepared with detailed R&D and superior Japanese technology. With its clear vision and mission, KAI is marching forward towards becoming a household name in India.

Founded in Seki in 1908, KAI products have cult status in Japan. The brand is known for its high-quality beauty care and grooming products integrating practical aesthetics with refined craftsmanship providing well-designed, innovative houseware and beauty care products, which are used widely in day to day lives.

KAI India Hocho Premium Knives are available at https://kaiindiaonline.com/ and also across all the leading e-commerce platforms @ INR 499 only.

2, Mar 2023
Mumbai property registrations at 9,268 units in February 2023, third best in the decade

Registration of properties in Mumbai municipal region stood at 9,268 units in February 2023, up 2 per cent, contributing over Rs. 1,084 crore to the State revenues, according to a Knight Frank India report. This represents a slight increase as compared to the previous month’s figure of 9,001.

However, when compared to year-on-year data, there was a significant drop of 11 percent in February 2023, with only 9,268 property registrations compared to 10,379 in the same month the previous year. In February 2021, there were 10,172 registrations. Despite the decline in YoY figures, the daily average property registrations in February 2023 was 331 units, which still makes it the third best February month in the last ten years. after February 2022, according to a Knight Frank India report

Here are a few reactions from the realty experts:

 

Mr. Ram Naik, Director, The Guardians Real Estate AdvisoryMr. Ram Naik, Director, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory

“February 2023 proved to be a promising month for Mumbai’s real estate sector, with property sales registrations totaling 9,268 units and contributing over Rs 1,084 crore to state revenues. Although this represented a slight decrease in year-on-year figures, the daily average registration rate still proved to be the third-highest in the past decade, indicating that the market is still buoyant and in demand. Such positive developments are a testament to the resilience and dynamism of Mumbai’s real estate sector.”

 

 

Mr. Pritam Chivukula, Co-founder & Director, Tridhaatu Realty and Treasurer, CREDAI MCHI

Mr. Pritam Chivukula, Co-Founder & Director, Tridhaatu Realty and Treasurer, CREDAI-MCHI

“Mumbai has witnessed moderate growth in property registrations in the month of February despite the hike in interest rates and rise in the property prices. This signifies that the low interest rates have been the biggest factor in the resurgence for real estate demand since the pandemic. Therefore the sharp acceleration of interest rates in a short span of time have resulted in a short-term effect on the sentiment of homebuyers especially in the affordable sector. We request the State Government to step-in and lighten the homebuyer’s load by reducing the stamp duty so that the demand sustains going forward.”

 

Manoj Patwal Founder & MD Betterserv Ventures Pvt LtdMr. Manoj Patwal, Founder & MD, BetterServ Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

“Although there has been a marginal decline in the property registrations in February as compared to last year, Mumbai is continuously witnessing a robust demand and an impressive ascent in property registrations for the past few months. Given the current scenario of steep rise in property prices owing to several factors such as the increase in interest rates, stamp duty and raw materials prices; we have already started witnessing short-term repercussions on the overall housing demand. Going forward, if the Government takes the appropriate measures, we believe that the sales momentum can continue for the coming quarters, and reputed developers with a good track record will continue to dominate the market.”

2, Mar 2023
Toyota Kirloskar Motor Continues Sales Momentum, Records Wholesales of 15,338 units in February 2023

Toyota KirloskarBangalore,2nd March 2023Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) continues to post sales growth as the company today announced that its wholesales stood at 15,338 units for the month of February 2023. The significant gain stood 175% higher over the month of February of last year, where the company had sold 8745 units.

Month of February’ 2023 also saw a 120% growth over the sale achieved in January 2023 where TKM sold 12,835 units. In addition, the company also posted a strong growth of 175% for the months of January-February 2023 as against the corresponding period last year. TKM sold 28,173 units in January-February 2023 as compared to 16,073 units in the January-February 2022.

Speaking on this strong performance Mr. Atul Sood, Vice President, Sales and Strategic Marketing said, “We are witnessing a continued interest from customers across our product portfolio, resulting in a very healthy growth in the month of February 2023. Leading this growth, are the Urban Cruiser Hyryder and All New Innova Hycross, as we strive to work with our partners to meet the demand. The recent announcement of opening of bookings for the Toyota Hilux, is also continuing to generate excitement, resulting in good orders from across the country. We are confident that the Hilux will entice the customer to Live a Fuller Life, with its varied lifestyle utility offerings, be it personal or business. Other products like the Glanza, the Fortuner and the Legender also continue to thrill the market.

Furthermore, we are focusing on enhancing our reach in the country to move closer to our customers through the introduction of two new dealerships in the month of February at Surat (Gujarat) and Bhiwandi (Maharashtra). We are confident that they will provide easy access to Toyota products and services, to both existing and prospective customers in the regions.

Looking ahead, we expect to close this quarter on a high note, in comparison to last year. As a customer centric company in constant pursuit to redefine customer experience, we are continually working to meet the market demand effectively.”

Sales Performance:

 

Category February’23 February’22 % Growth
Total Sales 15,338 8745 175%

Overview of TKM  

Equity participation Toyota Motor Corporation: 89%, Kirloskar Systems Limited : 11%
Number of employees Approx. 6,000
Land area Approx. 432 acres (approx.1,700,000 m2)
Building area 74,000 m2
Total Installed Production capacity Up to 3,10,000 units

Overview of TKM 1st Plant: 

Established October 1997 (start of production: December 1999)
Location Bidadi
Products Innova HyCross , Innova Crysta , Fortuner manufactured in India.
Installed Production capacity Up to 1,00,000 units

Overview of TKM 2nd Plant: 

Start of Production December 2010
Location On the site of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited, Bidadi
Products Toyota Camry Hybrid, Urban Cruiser Hyryder, Hilux
Installed Production capacity Up to 2,10,000 units

2, Mar 2023
Women in Comedy Still Face Stereotypes: RJ Karishma

Mumbai,2nd March 2023Women in comedy are still told that they are not funny, said RJ Karishma, Radio Jockey, Social Media Influencer, and YouTuber. Speaking at ABP Network’s second edition of the ‘Ideas of India’ summit on the topic, ‘The Youtube Boom – The Female Gaze’, she said “Comedy is subjective. I think originality of content that reflects a bit of you is what strikes the best with the audience.

In 2022, the influencer industry was estimated at Rs 12 billion. The industry has shown immense growth in the past few years, especially after the pandemic. On being asked if the notion of influencers earning ‘easy money’ is true, Meethika Dwivedi, a social media influencer and comedy content creator said, “People get jobs and start earning after years of studying. Comparing to that we can say influencers have it relatively easier.” At the age of 20, Meethika has bought her own house and car through content creation on social media.

The panel also discussed the existing bias between influencers who create content in Hindi and English. “I believe there is no language barrier anymore in the minds of the audience,” said Saloni Gaur, Comedian & Content Creator. “If there is any, I think preference towards Hindi content is increasing.”

The summit promises an invigorating line-up of speakers with prominent figures from the world of business, politics, artists from the Hindi Film Industry, authors and other eminent sectors. The two- day conference confluences diverse ideas from various industries to promote India in becoming a burgeoning leader in the world.

2, Mar 2023
Fasal introduces ‘Fasal Fresh’, a national procurement network to revamp horticulture value chain

Fasal Fresh -Image 1(Landscape)

Bengaluru,2nd March 2023: Fasal, India’s earliest sustainable horticulture farm network company and the one-stop-shop for horticulturalists, today announced expansion into the farming output business with the launch of ‘Fasal Fresh’. Fasal Fresh removes intermediaries in procurement to ensure fairer prices for farmers while bringing end-consumers export-quality produce that has been grown using Fasal’s proprietary farm-level crop intelligence systems.

Through its patented IoT system called Kranti, Fasal has been making horticulture farming guesswork-free with advanced irrigation alerts, farm-level forecasts, and pest/disease forewarnings. Today, Fasal works with Indian farmers over 60,000 acres across 20+ crops, who are leveraging this technology. Fasal Fresh, which has been in the works since last year with a focus on building the horticulture farming network, will directly bring the produce grown via precision farming to the end consumers via retailers/e-tailers, wholesalers and exporters. Currently, Fasal Fresh is operational in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad with its Mumbai operations planned for March this year.

Shailendra Tiwari, Founder, Fasal, said, “Procurement of fruits across the country remains fragmented and hindered by several issues in the value chain like lack of any visibility of supply, quality inconsistency, and wastage of produce during transit, among others. But with our progressive horticulture approach through differentiated tech deployed on large acreages combined with the Fasal Fresh network, we are able to solve a lot of these supply chain issues.

We can completely revamp the entire value chain by providing a consistent supply of high-quality produce to buyers and significantly better compensation to the farmers. The network is built to bring a higher level of predictability and traceability to the horticulture supply chain via tech at a scale which was not possible before.“

To drive the business vertical, a veteran horticulture supply chain expert, Manoj Kumar, has joined as Director, Fasal Fresh. “Through Fasal Fresh, we are excited to directly connect farmers growing high-quality produce using Fasal’s IoT systems and advisories with exporters, modern retailers,

and end consumers. The aim is to have assured availability of precisely grown, high quality and sustainable fruits with competitive pricing for the end-consumers while ensuring transparency in deals and timely payments for the farmers – all using Fasal’s end-to-end platform,” added Manoj Kumar, Director, Fasal Fresh.

Our predictability in supply allows consistent availability of high-quality sorted, graded, and packed produce enabling buyers to plan well in advance and minimize transit loss. Fasal Fresh aims to be a system that dramatically simplifies the lives of farmers, sellers, retailers as well as end-consumers in gaining access to safer and healthier fruits as well as vegetables at fair prices. Right from making conscious decisions to use only required levels of pesticides to eco-friendly packaging, Fasal Fresh comes with the promise of access to safer, precise and sustainably grown fruits and vegetables.