Category Archives: Business

Chalu Chinese Brings Its Desi-Chinese Flavours to Agra with New Outlet in Sikandra!

Agra, 5 July 2025: Chalu Aapna Desi Chinese, the beloved Indian-Chinese restaurant chain known for its unique fusion of Indian spices with traditional Chinese flavors is strategically expanding its footprint In Sikandra, Agra, with the launch of its newest outlet in the city.

Chalu Chinese is ready to serve up its signature spice-loaded menu to Agra’s food lovers — from college students and working professionals to families and late-night foodies.

“We are super excited to bring the Chalu experience to Agra! Sikandra is buzzing with energy, and we cannot wait to serve our fiery Schezwan noodles, double-loaded fried rice, and iconic momos to the neighbourhood. This expansion marks a major milestone for us as we grow beyond 30+ citties we are already present in. The love we have received is what keeps us going — and growing.”said Vibhanshu Mishra, Founder of Chalu Apna Desi Chinese.

Chalu Chinese promises a fun, fast, and full-flavoured experience, now right in the heart of Agra. Whether you’re dining in or ordering from the comfort of your home, Chalu Chinese is all set to become the go-to spot for desi Chinese food cravings in the city.

Now open in Sikandra – Agra, we are rolling out the spice and turning up the heat!

Couverture vs. Compound – What Every Home Baker Should Know This World Chocolate Day

Vadodara, July 2025: This World Chocolate Day, Baker’s Artisanal Recipes (BAR), a premium couverture chocolate brand based in Vadodara, Gujarat, invites home bakers to experience the difference between real and substitute chocolate. While compound chocolate remains widely used for its affordability, it lacks cocoa butter – the defining element of true chocolate and relies on vegetable fats that compromise both texture and flavour. In contrast, BAR’s couverture chocolates are crafted with a minimum of 31% cocoa butter and high cocoa solids, ensuring a smooth, rich texture and deep flavour. Couverture also melts at a precise temperature, making it ideal for tempering and creating professional-quality desserts at home.

BAR’s product portfolio is designed to serve a wide spectrum of baking needs. The Dark Couverture range offers bold, intense chocolate with clean ingredients, ideal for ganache, mousse, and coatings. The Bean2BAR Baking Slabs reflect the brand’s commitment to transparency and origin-driven taste, made from carefully selected Indian cacao and produced in small batches to preserve quality. Additionally, The BAR Collective is the brand’s direct-to-consumer vertical, created to reach a wider audience and introduce consumers to the experience of real couverture chocolate.

As Indian cacao continues to grow in popularity, BAR is actively working with local producers to develop chocolate that reflects both regional character and global quality standards. By tapping into homegrown cacao, BAR not only supports local farmers and regional agriculture but also draws on the richness of India’s multi-crop soil, which adds depth and complexity to the cacao’s flavour profile. This focus on Indian origin also aligns with the growing demand for sustainable and authentic food choices among today’s consumers.

“Compound chocolate is easier to handle, but it comes at the cost of flavour, texture, and nutrition. We created BAR to offer a better choice – a couverture that performs consistently, tastes exceptional, and is made from clean, honest ingredients,” says Dhayvat Udeshi, Founder of BAR – Baker’s Artisanal Recipes.

Beyond taste and performance, BAR’s couverture chocolates offer a nutritional edge over compound varieties. Free from artificial fats and excess sugar, they retain natural antioxidants and healthy fats found in real cocoa butter, offering a cleaner label and a more wholesome baking experience. BAR’s 60,000 sq. ft. factory is slowly making a name as the ‘Home of Couverture’, reflecting its commitment to scale, consistency, and craft. This World Chocolate Day, BAR encourages bakers to pause and reflect: Are you baking with chocolate that’s real, or just something that looks like it? With its premium couverture range, BAR offers an upgrade in flavour, quality, and intent – helping bakers craft desserts that truly stand out.

Baking with compound may be easy but baking with real chocolate is extraordinary.

Alētheia partners with Equirus Securities

Mumbai July 4, 2025: Alētheia Capital, Asia’s top and largest global independent investment advisory firm, has announced that it has partnered with leading Indian institutional equities powerhouse, Equirus Securities to co-brand and distribute Equirus’s research to its global client base.

Equirus’s commanding local knowledge will complement HongKong headquartered Alētheia’s global sector and macro/strategy expertise as well its global capital markets reach. For the existing clients of Equirus, in or outside India, there will be no change to the form or level of service.

“India is a key market not only for APAC but also global capital markets. Hence our partnership with Equirus enhances our ability to offer globally integrated investment themes to our clients. It aligns with our strategy of identifying best-in-class research, broadening their accessibility to a wider client base, and fostering innovation that empowers investors with deeper insights and actionable intelligence,” said Richard Wallace, Vice Chairman of Alētheia Capital.

Equirus has a formidable Equities business, covering over 276 stocks across diverse sectors. Known for its in-depth coverage and focus on mid-cap companies, the firm had expanded coverage to large cap companies too in the past few years. As a result, Equirus is already tier 1 with a large number of India’s largest domestic mutual funds. Equirus’s commitment to delivering insightful, data-driven analysis enables institutional investors to make informed decisions, backed by rigorous fundamental research and market intelligence.

Ashutosh Tiwari, MD and Head of Equities of Equirus Securities added, “Our collaboration with Alētheia significantly strengthens the reach and influence of our Institutional Equities business, allowing us to engage with a broader network of global institutional investors who have a strategic interest in the Indian market. By combining our deep research expertise with Aletheia’s extensive client penetration, we create greater opportunities for investors to access high-quality insights, navigate market dynamics, and make informed decisions with confidence.”

Get ready to sparkle – unmissable offers are here at Mia by Tanishq!

Bengaluru, 4 July 2025: Mia by Tanishq, among India’s leading fine jewellery brands, brings an offer like never before. This exclusive offer provides customers with up to 100% off on making charges* of select diamond jewellery, presenting a unique opportunity to own stylish jewellery at sweet price-points. The sale, set to go live on 3^rd July till 20^th July, underscores Mia’s dedication to providing value to its customers. Shop in-store or online to make the best of this sale and for a rewarding shopping experience.

Get your hands on this one-of-a-kind offer – on the purchase of 1 piece of jewellery get 30% off* on making charges, buy 2 pieces and get 50% off* on making charges, and buy 3 pieces and get 100% off* on making charges. Additionally, exchange your old gold jewellery and get up to 100% value on exchange*. With a wide array of stunning designs to choose from, this sale is set to delight jewellery enthusiasts like never before!

Whether you’re celebrating key milestones or simply a moment of joy, there’s something for everyone. The Fiora collection, inspired by delicate floral motifs, features intricate gold filigree petals, dainty layered patterns, and hand-carved stones — a beautiful symbol of personal growth and new beginnings. The Cupid Edit 3.0 offers contemporary, chic pieces perfect for expressing love through meaningful gifts. For those who love a touch of nostalgia, the Mia Disco collection brings back the bold glamour of the ’70s, while the Lovestruck collection features heart-shaped solitaires crafted in 14kt gold — a timeless token of affection. The brand also offers the stylish Evil Eye collection and more, making it a one-stop destination for jewellery that speaks from the heart.

With this special offer, indulge in stunning designs across a variety of assortments—studs, finger rings, bracelets, earrings, ear cuffs, necklaces, and pendants. The range features elegant pieces adorned with sparkling natural diamonds set in dazzling gold. From parties and anniversaries to cocktail evenings and birthdays, make every moment special with Mia by Tanishq. This season, let your gifts be accompanied by smiles, warm hugs, and an abundance of heartfelt wishes, all wrapped up in Mia by Tanishq’s elegant jewellery pieces.

Nestlé Professional reaches landmark 1,000th Retail ONE kiosk in India

Bengaluru, 04 July 2025: Nestlé Professional, the Out-of-Home business unit of Nestlé India, has achieved a significant milestone with 1,000 Retail ONE kiosks now operational across the country.

Speaking on this milestone, Saurabh Makhija, Head – Nestlé Professional, said, “Crossing the 1,000 Retail ONE kiosk mark is a testament to our relentless focus on building new consumption pillars for the future, and unlocking out-of-home consumption occasions through a unified brand experience. We are proud that this growth fuels meaningful livelihoods and diversity across India’s food service ecosystem.”

The Retail ONE network, comprising popular formats like NESCAFÉ Corners, MAGGI Hotspots and KITKAT Break Zones, has strategically expanded its footprint across educational institutes, healthcare institutions, and tourist hotspots. This network is powered by a strong and diverse workforce – including 308 operators, 1,586 food handlers, 255 women and 6 specially-abled individuals – underlining Nestlé Professional’s commitment to inclusive growth and employment generation in the food service industry.

As one of the fastest growing businesses for Nestlé India, Nestlé Professional remains committed to serve consumers, even beyond the comfort of their homes.

AU Small Finance Bank Partners with LIC to Expand Life Insurance Access Across India

Hyderabad, July 4, 2025: AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB), India’s largest Small Finance Bank, has announced a strategic partnership with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest life insurer. The collaboration supports the national vision of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’, aimed at deepening insurance penetration and financial protection across India’s underserved population.

Under this tie-up, AU SFB will distribute LIC’s comprehensive portfolio of life insurance solutions, including term insurance, endowment plans, whole life policies, pension and annuity products, and child-specific plans catering to a broad spectrum of protection and retirement needs. These offerings will be available across AU SFB’s 2,456+ banking touchpoints in 21 states and 4 union territories, significantly expanding LIC’s reach into rural and semi-urban regions.

Uttam Tibrewal, Executive Director and Deputy CEO, AU Small Finance Bank, said: “This strategic partnership brings together two institutions committed towards providing inclusive financial services to unserved and underserved. By leveraging our distribution strength and LIC’s trusted insurance products, we aim to provide comprehensive protection and retirement solutions to customers across Bharat and enhance comprehensive banking experience.”

The partnership enhances AU SFB’s position as a full-spectrum financial services provider, integrating banking, protection, and long-term financial planning under one umbrella. For LIC, it represents a strategic move to expand access through credible, customer-focused banking partners.

Solitaire Unveils PTK 7080 AI-empowered 4K Webcam – A Leap Forward in Smart Visual Communication

National, July 4 – Solitaire, the flagship brand of Supertron Electronics, proudly announces its latest breakthrough innovation – the Solitaire PTK 7080, a next-generation 4K webcam set to transform the future of virtual communication. With intelligent AI integration and uncompromising video and audio performance, the Solitaire PTK 7080 is built for professionals, educators, creators, and hybrid teams who demand precision, clarity, and intuitive control.

“We are proud to unveil a product that doesn’t just meet today’s collaboration needs – it anticipates tomorrow’s expectations,” said Dr. Ramya Chatterjee, Chief of Solitaire and Director & CEO of Prointek. “The PTK 7080 is designed to empower users to express, interact, and present with confidence.”

Optimized for the evolving demands of digital communication, the Solitaire PTK 7080 captures visuals in ultra-high-definition up to 3840×2160 at 30 frames per second. Its powerful megapixel sensor ensures every frame is detailed and immersive. What truly distinguishes this device is its AI-powered auto-tracking and intelligent gesture control, allowing users to initiate or halt tracking, zoom in or out, and remain seamlessly centered in the frame, all without physical contact. The camera features 2X digital zoom and smooth pan-tilt movement powered by a dual brushless motor and six-axis gyroscope, ensuring sharp, stable footage even during dynamic scenarios.

The Solitaire PTK 7080’s advanced audio system includes dual array microphones with real-time noise reduction, enabling crisp voice capture up to three meters away, regardless of ambient noise. With a Type-C plug-and-play interface, the webcam offers effortless setup and compatibility across Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its universal adaptability with all major video conferencing platforms makes it a preferred choice for a wide spectrum of use cases – from small meeting room and virtual classrooms to streaming studios and telehealth sessions.

With the Solitaire PTK 7080, Solitaire continues its legacy of delivering purpose-built affordable solutions that enable impactful communication. By combining superior imaging, intelligent control, and effortless user experience, the Solitaire PTK 7080 turns everyday interactions into engaging digital experiences.

Workday Deepens India Commitment with New Local Data Center and Expanded Team

MUMBAI, India – July 3, 2025 – Workday, Inc. (NYSE: WDAY), the AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, today announced a strategic expansion of its operations in India. Building on an already established customer base, Workday is deepening its commitment to the region through several key initiatives. These include the availability of a local data center, an expansion of its local sales operations team, and a strengthening of its partner ecosystem. This further solidifies India’s crucial role in Workday’s global strategy. These investments will enhance Workday’s ability to serve both its global customers with operations in India and the increasing number of local organisations seeking to modernize their business operations.

A cornerstone of Workday’s deepened commitment is that it will begin offering services from a data center located in India for the first time, with operations expected to begin in the first half of 2026. As a result, Workday customers in India will have the option to deploy Workday Human Capital Management (HCM), Workday Financial Management and Workday Adaptive Planning on Amazon Web Services (AWS) located in India. This domestic hosting will provide highly available services while preserving the security, scalability, and performance inherent in the Workday platform. Importantly, it will also enable customers to incrementally adopt services that adhere to data sovereignty regulations specific to the Indian market, providing critical assurance and compliance for businesses operating within India’s evolving regulatory landscape.

“India plays a crucial role in Workday’s global strategy, and these strategic investments, coupled with the upcoming appointment of a dedicated Country Leader, signify our deepening commitment to the region,” said Simon Tate, President of Asia Pacific at Workday. “Deploying Workday on a local AWS data center will provide critical data residency capabilities for our Indian customers, while our expanded sales presence will allow us to better serve the growing market. We are building on our strong foundation in India to accelerate adoption and foster deeper relationships.”

Empowering India’s Growth and Transformation

Workday’s leading cloud-native platform with AI at its core, is ideally positioned to support the dynamic growth and digital transformation initiatives of Indian organizations. Empowering 1,800 global customers with approximately 3.8M monthly* active users on Workday in India, valuable insights have been gained into the specific challenges and opportunities within the local business landscape. This deep understanding, coupled with the platform’s AI-embedded, extensible design, uniquely equips Workday to help meet the evolving needs of Indian enterprises as they navigate the changing expectations of an increasingly global-aware workforce, focus on employee engagement, and shift towards skills-driven talent management.

Workday’s significant and rapidly expanding presence in India includes a strong foundation of almost 700 talented employees, with business operations, technology, and services support teams in Pune and Mumbai. Workday recently deepened its commitment to the region by announcing plans to establish a new Global Capability Center (GCC) in Chennai, which will serve as a vital hub for product and technology development, supporting Workday’s global operations and driving innovation in next-generation AI.

Workday’s operations in India are significantly supported by its established ecosystem of partners, including Accenture, Deloitte, EZE Cloud, IBM, KPMG, PwC, Ramco, and Strada. These collaborations are critical to extending Workday’s reach, delivering exceptional value to customers, and supporting successful implementations across the country. This robust partner network helps ensure that Indian organizations receive comprehensive support, from initial deployment to ongoing optimization, maximizing their investment in Workday.

Manish Dubey, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Enterprise Technology at Sagility said: “Workday has played an important role in helping us transform our global HR and Finance operations. It has provided us with the agility and insights needed for our extensive Indian operations – where we have our largest resource pool – to thrive in the fast-paced global environment. We are excited about Workday’s deepened commitment to the region, which further reinforces our trust and confidence in their platform.”

*Based on February 2025 data.

End-user Homebuyers Back in The Driver’s Seat

– by Akash Pharande, Managing Director – Pharande Spaces

Recent headlines from leading real estate consultancies, as well as commentary from self-styled experts, seem to indicate that Indian housing sales are slowing down alarmingly. They mention double-digit drops in sales volumes in all the major cities. Not surprisingly, though perhaps not intentionally, these agencies and agents have caused concern among hopeful homebuyers – is the market in bad shape? Is now not a good time to buy a home?

Let’s take a closer look at the data and market dynamics behind it and see if these fears are justified or misplaced for genuine end-users.

What the Headlines Say

– A recent report by one real estate consultancy states that there has been a 20% drop in housing sales across the country’s top seven metropolitan cities in Q2 2025 when compared to the same period last year. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) saw a 25% decline.
– Another real estate agency estimates that there was a 23% annual sales decline in Q1 2025 across nine major cities and says that this drop is because of high prices and worries about India’s economic growth.
– Yet another agency found a 19% year-on-year decline in housing sales in Q1 2025, and that there was also a 10% decline in new launches.
– The consensus, if there is one at all, seems to be that premium and luxury housing has been most affected and that unsold stock in these segments is now high and may increase further.

While most of these agencies don’t say so, the impression these figures seem to signal is that the Indian housing market is now entering a downturn phase. Others seem to imply that perhaps, aspiring homebuyers should hold put off purchases for now.

What the Data Really Means

1. This is a correction, not a crash

– We should remember that the recent slowdown comes on the heels of three years of record-breaking sales and supply infusions after the Covid-19 pandemic. These levels were in any case not sustainable, and everybody knew it.
– The current decline is the kind of market correction which always follows a massive boom. It is not a sign of systemic weakness.

2. Investors are withdrawing, not end-users

– A major part of the current drop in sales is in the premium and luxury segments, which are heavily investor-driven segments. Very simply, speculative buying has caused prices to go too high in these segments and in some areas.
– One of the real estate consultancies referred to above clearly mentions that investors make up less than 10% of housing buyers now, and that the market is primarily served by end-users — people who buy homes to live in them, not rent out or to flip for quick profits.
– The pain that these experts infer is clearly in the premium and luxury segments while it is the affordable and mid-segment housing segments that most Indian end-users focus on. In these segments, there is less supply now because most big developers started focusing on the higher-margin categories – but demand and therefore sales in them remains robust

3. End-users now enjoy much better affordability

– Home loan interest rates are on the decline – the RBI has cut the repo rate by 100 basis points this year to date, so EMIs have become much more manageable.
– There are still Government schemes such as PMAY and various state-level incentives for first-time and affordable housing buyers in any part of the country.
– In most major cities, the affordability of housing has improved to its best levels since the Covid-19 pandemic.

For example, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad (PCMC) housing affordability has improved significantly with Pune’s affordability ratio now at 22% – making it the 2nd-most affordable major Indian city after Ahmedabad. PCMC has seen an 80% rise in housing sales and a 155% increase in property values since 2020, and it remains very affordable.

In Ahmedabad, homebuyers now have to spend only 18% of their annual household income on EMIs, which is very much under the 40% affordability threshold.

Even Mumbai, notoriously the least affordable city of India, has seen its affordability ratio drop below 50% for the very first time.

Why Genuine Homebuyers Should Ignore the Headlines

1. End-users buy homes to live in them, not to turn profits

– Most homebuyers in India buy homes to live in them, not as speculative assets. The security, stability, and long-term wealth creation potential of ownership housing remains intact, regardless of what the short-term sales trends are.
– End-users are not concerned with the volatility that upsets investors – who are far more concerned about price cycles and liquidity issues.

2. End-users benefit from the current market conditions

– Many builders are now offering attractive deals, including discounts, flexible payment plans, and various add-ons, to attract end-users.
– Rental values are rising constantly in most major Indian cities, often making owning a home a lot more financially viable than continuing to live in rented homes – especially given the current interest rates and tax benefits.

3. India’s long-term fundamentals remain strong

– Our GDP growth is still very robust, and household incomes are going up. This strongly supports long-term housing demand.
– The real estate sector is growing at a CAGR of over 24%, and housing remains – by far – the most incentivized asset class in India. No other asset class offers comparable tax breaks and other financial benefits.
– Homeownership remains the most aspirational goal for most Indians, and India’s rapid urbanization, the constant increase in nuclear families, and ever-rising migration into our cities will always guarantee steady end-user demand for housing.

Buying a Home Makes More Sense Than Ever

No doubt, the market slowdown that these consultancies and experts report is real. But its implications need to be understood better. We are looking at data which shows that speculative activity, especially in the luxury segments, is cooling off after an unsustainable boom. This is not a collapse in end-user demand, or a crisis in the system. For genuine homebuyers, the fundamentals remain as strong as ever.

In fact, end-users are now firmly in control of the housing market and face far less competition from investors. They have more bargaining power than ever before. For those who are looking to buy a home to live in, the current market environment is, in many ways, more favourable than ever. Let the headlines spook investors – for end-users, this is the right time to make the most important investment of their lifetimes.

Tata Asset Management Launches AI-powered WhatsApp Bot to Simplify Investing

Mumbai | July 03, 2025: As part of our ongoing commitment to redefine how India invests, Tata Asset Management (Tata AMC), one of India’s most trusted investment partners, announces the launch of AI-powered WhatsApp bot, ‘Mr. Simple.’ Designed to offer investors a seamless, intuitive, and always-accessible experience, this launch marks another milestone in our digital transformation journey.

Earlier this month, the brand introduced a first-of-its-kind mobile app that provides users with a comprehensive view of their financial world – ‘One App. One View. Infinite Opportunities.’ The app sets the tone for Tata AMC’s integrated digital ecosystem, and the WhatsApp bot builds on that potential, simplifying investing at every touchpoint.

With ‘Mr. Simple’, the AMC is bringing investing even closer to its users, offering them the ability to start an SIP, make lump sum investments, redeem units, or check NAVs, all through a simple WhatsApp conversation. The bot also supports key service requests such as updating bank details or downloading statements, without requiring users to log into separate platforms or navigate complex interfaces.

This initiative reflects the vision to make investing not only smarter and more inclusive but also as effortless as sending a message to a friend.

“At Tata Asset Management, we are focused on removing the friction from investing and replacing it with simplicity, intelligence, and convenience,” said Hemant Kumar, Chief Distribution and Digital Officer, Tata Asset Management. “The recent launch of our mobile app and now our AI-powered WhatsApp bot is a testament to that focus. By leveraging AI and conversational interfaces, we are reshaping how investors discover, decide, and act on their terms, and in real time. It reflects our broader vision of using technology to make investing simpler, smarter, and more inclusive.” 

The bot also features intelligent discovery capabilities, allowing users to explore Tata Mutual Fund’s wide range of offerings through natural language queries, empowering them with personalised responses and real-time assistance.

Through initiatives like these, Tata Asset Management remains committed to building a future-ready digital ecosystem that caters to the evolving needs of today’s investors.