Calling Book Lovers to the Refreshed Crossword Bookstore at Growel’s 101 Mall

Mumbai,26th May 2023: The Crossword Bookstore at Growel’s 101 Mall has been relaunched within the mall to a brand new refreshing store. The delightful new store is a must-visit for book lovers to explore a vast range of book genres, eclectic office and back-to-school stationery items, among other categories.

This refurbished Crossword Book store is located on the second floor of Growel’s 101 Mall, Suburban Mumbai’s favorite family destination, and spreads over 1200 sq. ft. of retail space. Various categories of merchandise available at Crossword Bookstore include books ranging from fiction, non-fiction, business & management, kids’ books to books for young adults; Toys & Games; Stationery & Gifts – art supplies, general stationery, writing equipment, office stationery, school stationery, premium pens, besides others.

The expansion and new look of the Crossword Bookstore in Growel’s 101 with a profound focus on customer experience, more to explore & choose for booklovers, enhanced happiness quotient for kids and shoppers with increased options for kids learning & kids activities. The bookstore will also be engaging book reading sessions and interactive workshops for kids. These innovative workshops aim to inspire and educate children through a variety of hands-on activities, sparking their imagination and curiosity. The store has also come up with a lot of back-to-school options and an enticing range of travel guides, novels and activity books for families seeking adventures during vacations.

Speaking about the renewed Crossword Bookstore, Gerald Mathew, General Manager, Growel’s 101 Mall, said, “At Growel’s 101 Mall we are constantly working to enhance customer experience and the new Crossword Bookstore is a welcoming space for book lovers to explore and discover merchandise beyond books.”

Growel’s 101 Mall is a wholesome experience for a family’s day out. From shopping at your favourite brands; to a tete-a-tete over coffee or meals with loved ones or to catching a movie at PVR or even enjoying the day with kids in the entertainment zones, Growel’s 101 mall has it all covered. The mall also provides exciting selfie points to take exciting instagramable pictures, which includes a larger-than-life ‘I Love Kandivali’ installation.

Hubergroup Print Solutions restructures its UV poly/tin offset portfolio

Everything from a single source – with this aim in mind, the international ink specialist hubergroup Print Solutions has revised and strengthened its UV offset portfolio for non-absorbent substrates. The portfolio includes printing inks, varnishes, and fountain solution additives that are optimally matched to each other and thus enable a smooth printing process. Thanks to intensive development work, the globally available food and non-food ink series NewV poly (MGA) and NewV tin (MGA), as well as the varnish series NewV lac (MGA), are now also formulated to be sensorially neutral and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)-free.

“Our customers are our focus, so it was important to us to provide printers with a well-matched and globally available portfolio with the best printing performance.” With these words Roland Schröder, Product Manager UV-Offset at hubergroup, explains the new positioning as a complete range, which does not only include inks but also varnishes and fountain solution additives.

But even beyond that, there are some changes in hubergroup’s UV offset portfolio: for example, the ink and varnish series are now formulated PTFE-free in order to comply with the regulations of the American market as well as the requirements of important brand manufacturers and to be prepared for future specifications in other global markets. In addition, the NewV lac series is now free of benzophenone, a substance that is considered controversial due to its potential carcinogenic effects. Last but not least, there is a new NewV tin LED series for metal packaging, which includes UV inks and varnishes for LED drying.

According to subgroup, the common feature of all products is very good reactivity and adhesion. Roland Schröder sums up: “With this repositioning, we have designed our portfolio future-oriented. At the same time, however, it was important to us that printers can continue to rely on a stable printing process with high-quality printing results. Our international service staff are therefore available for our customers with their expertise at all times and accompany the complete project handling from the idea to implementation and continuous further support.” Tools such as the company’s own HDCC color management system, which guarantees customers the same colour all over the world, round off the service offering.

Max Life declares its highest-ever PAR Bonus of Rs. 1,604 Cr. for its 21 lakh policyholders

Bangalore,26th May 2023 Max Life Insurance Company Ltd. (“Max Life” / “Company”) has announced its highest-ever participating (PAR) bonus of Rs. 1,604 Cr. for its eligible policyholders in FY22-23. This is the Company’s 21st consecutive annual bonus; ~8% higher than the bonus declared in the last fiscal.

The declared annual bonus will be added to benefits of approximately 21,00,000 (21 lakhs) eligible participating policyholders, aiding their long-term financial goals. Max Life has consistently announced bonuses for its eligible policyholders over the past two decades, demonstrating its customer commitment and a focus on offering superior risk-adjusted returns.

Prashant Tripathy, MD & CEO, Max Life said, “We are proud to announce our highest-ever PAR Bonuses for our eligible policyholders who have trusted us to secure their families’ financial futures. Our continuous bonus declaration for over two decades is based on strong business outcomes and a commitment to offer constant value to our customers. This has been possible through a robust investment portfolio, and highly competitive fund management capabilities which has enabled us to reward our participating policyholders with an ever-increasing bonus on their investments.”

Over the past year, Max Life has been at the forefront of driving product innovation and creating first-in-industry propositions. The Company also strengthened its participating propositions that made up 24%* of the proprietary channel product mix in FY23. As a result, Max Life’s participating fund has reached approximately Rs. 61,000 Cr. of assets under management (AUM)* and has grown nearly ten times over the last decade. Today, Max Life’s participating fund is amongst the top participating funds (by size) in the private life insurance sector, where the debt assets of participating funds have yielded consistent and stable returns over the last five years.

Max Life’s individual annual premium equivalent (APE) grew by 12% to Rs. 6,178 Cr., and the Gross Written Premium was Rs. 25,342 Cr. in FY23 that reflects a 13% increase over the last fiscal*.

*Basis audited financials

Move to allow load aggregation for Green Energy Access positive for Indian Telecom: COAI

New Delhi, 26th May 2023: COAI, the apex industry body representing the digital communications sector in the country, welcomed the gazette notification on the Second Amendment of the Electricity Rules, 2023 (Promoting Renewable Energy Through Green Energy Open Access) by the Ministry of Power, which has allowed for aggregation of load by multiple connections served by the same electricity division of a Discom to avail the services of renewable energy under the open access route. This long-awaited development enables the telecom sector to actively participate in India’s commitment towards green energy and sustainable growth, while also enabling proliferation of services.

The Ministry of Power had taken a commendable step last year by reducing the consumption requirement limit for green energy from 1 MW to 100 kW. However, telecom towers, which serve as the backbone of the network, have individual power energy load requirements of ~10 kW each. Therefore, being treated as separate entities, telecom towers were unable to reap the benefits of green energy open access. With the issuance of the second amendment by the Ministry of Power, any “entity” (meaning consumer) with a contracted demand or sanctioned load of 100 kW or more, either through a single connection or multiple connections aggregating 100 kW or more within the same electricity division of a distribution licensee, shall be eligible to take power through Green Energy Open Access. This will make it cost-effective for the telecom sector to fulfil its energy needs, while also contributing to the green energy aspirations and renewable energy use targets of the nation.

Appreciating the directions, Lt. Gen. Dr. S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI stated, “We laud the Ministry of Power for introducing this much required progressive measure and also thank the Secretary, Ministry of Power; TRAI Chairman and DoT for the continuous support on this important aspect of power supply requirements for telecom infrastructure. This positive step acknowledges the importance of telecom as an essential infrastructure industry and its manifold benefits for the nation and our citizens. The telecom industry remains committed to fostering sustainability and contributing to the country’s renewable energy goals”.

The telecom players have been diligently striving to reduce their carbon footprint by deploying renewable energy solutions. This positive step would further enhance their efforts to achieve energy sustainability and reduce carbon emissions. COAI remains committed to working closely with all stakeholders to facilitate the growth of the sector to keep the nation connected, while prioritizing environmental sustainability as a vital part of this endeavour.

Ayekart and UBFC Partnership Set to Unlock Growth Opportunities in India’s Food and Agri Value Chain

Mumbai,26th May 2023: Ayekart, India’s First Integrated tech platform in the food and agri value chain and UBFC (Unnayan Bharat Finance Corporation) has announced their plan to join forces to empower the food and agriculture value chain with technology and finance. The respective managements of both companies have approved the acquisition of a majority stake in UBFC by Ayekart, subject to regulatory approvals.

Ayekart is known for offering market access, digitizing the Agri-value chain, and providing trade credit. Meanwhile, UBFC works in dairy value chain and provides small loans to borrowers who own livestock. The combined strengths of Ayekart and UBFC will help create a more equitable ecosystem for the food and agriculture value chain, providing improved market access, advanced technology, and simplified financing to underserved communities involved in the food and agriculture sector.

Delighted to partner with UBFC and strengthen the overall food and supply ecosystem, Mr Debarshi Dutta, Founder and CEO of Ayekart, said, “Our vision at Ayekart is to strengthen traditional businesses in the Agri-value chain through finance, technology, and supply chain management. We are excited about this collaboration with UBFC, which will help us propel our efforts in enabling the MSMEs and FPOs, the important pillars of India’s resilient story.”

Together, the two companies will leverage their expertise to enable the food and agriculture value chain with technology and finance, making it easier for businesses to access markets, scale their operations, increase income, and create more job opportunities.

Further to the collaboration with Ayekart, Avneesh Trivedi, Co-founder of UBFC, added, “UBFC has always aimed to adopt a more dynamic approach through a phygital model to address the problems faced by micro and nano businesses in smaller towns and cities. We found synergy with Ayekart, which operates in similar geographies, to fulfil the needs of small businesses across the nation. This partnership will help us achieve mutual objectives.”

This strategic acquisition between the two companies will help them ramp up their growth ladder and support each other in enhancing their food and agriculture value chain business with their expertise and services.

Esri India and ideaForge join hands

New Delhi – 26th May 2023: Esri India, the country’s leading Geographic Information System (GIS) Software & Solutions provider, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ideaForge, a market leader in the Indian Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The objective of this partnership is to boost the adoption of drones in India.

The partnership between Esri India and ideaForge will allow users to deploy drone solutions with GIS to solve complex problems in AEC, forestry, agriculture, mining, transportation, utilities, and defence. Drone users in India primarily face the difficulty of working with different firms for meeting their hardware, software, training, and services requirements. Shortage of skilled workforce is another area of concern. This partnership will resolve these challenges to a great extent. The users will also be able to achieve seamless integration of drone videos and photos for advanced GIS applications, establish SOPs and standard workflows, and develop solutions for motion imagery, live streaming, and more.

The partnership will also help enterprises and government agencies to meet their essential drone-based requirements, both in terms of drone flying and GIS. This will reduce the complexity of engaging multiple vendors and foster higher adoption of drones in India, bringing multiple solution components under one umbrella.

Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India said, “India is placing great importance on using drone data for effective governance and growth. Several sectors such as forestry, agriculture, insurance, surveying & mapping, among others, are already taking advantage of the liberalized regulations and adopting drone technology for data collection. As the use of drones increases, there arises a need for integrated solutions that can provide a complete, end-to-end workflow for acquiring and processing drone imagery, processing the data, and gathering useful insights from the same for informed decision-making. Esri India’s partnership with ideaForge will help drone users benefit from such integrated solutions, including Drones & GIS, curated by the leaders in their respective fields. The bundled solution will help the users to achieve time and cost-effectiveness in their drone data collection, processing, and analysis efforts. We aim to also provide extensive support in training.”

Ankit Mehta, CEO, ideaForge stated, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Esri India. This collaboration will assist ideaForge and Esri India in designing an integrated Drone and GIS software solution for the Indian market. Through this collaboration, ideaForge and Esri India can offer GIS software with ideaForge products to various customers in India via integrated solutions.”

Coforge Achieves Salesforce Summit (Platinum) Level Partnership

Greater Noida, India, 26th May 2023– Coforge Limited (NSE: COFORGE), a global digital services and solutions provider, announced accreditation to the Salesforce Summit (Platinum) level partner which is the highest level of the partnership with Salesforce.

Coforge is a trusted Partner of Salesforce since 2008, offering business consulting, licensing, implementation, and support services across the Banking and Financial Services, Insurance, Travel-Transportation & Hospitality, and Healthcare & Life Sciences industries. Coforge is also a strategic partner to MuleSoft (the Salesforce Integration Cloud), delivering end-to-end API automation solutions to clients globally and helping them deliver seamless connected customer experiences.

Only select Salesforce consulting partners are bestowed with this distinction every year which sets the competitive bar very high. To achieve the summit-level partnership, Coforge’s Salesforce team secured perfect scores across multiple Customer Satisfaction Surveys (CSATs), taking total certifications (Salesforce + MuleSoft) count to 1000+ along with meeting Co-sell ACV targets. The summit partnership catapults Coforge straight into the big-league players in the Enterprise domain.

Sanjeev Prasad, Global leader of Cloud & Digital, Coforge said, “At Coforge Salesforce business unit, our mission is to solve problems and transform our customers’ vision into reality by delivering expert, industry-specific solutions through the Salesforce ecosystem. Achieving the (summit) highest level of Salesforce partnership is a testament to our deep domain expertise and client satisfaction. I would also like to congratulate our team who have been working hard throughout the past year towards this stellar achievement.” He added, “The partnership will help Coforge to further enhance data management automation, deliver connected customer experiences, and enhance customer relationships.”

Tech-oriented platforms helping students to study and settle in abroad

According to the Indian Ministry of Education, there is a 68% increase in the number of students who are going to abroad for higher education. In recent years, technology has significantly revolutionized the education sector, making it easier for students to pursue their academic goals, especially when it comes to studying abroad. Tech-oriented platforms have played a vital role in simplifying the process of studying abroad, providing students with access to critical information, resources, and tools they need to make informed decisions about studying overseas .Here are some options for your dream study abroad experience starting from the right accommodation for overseas education aspirants to the dream Universities we have got you covered . Here are five study abroad platforms that are still making it happen for them:

ESS Global: ESS Global Private Limited is a consultancy firm that provides recruitment services for students who wish to study abroad. Incepted in 2013, the company focuses on recruiting students for study abroad across various destinations like Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, etc., and partners with various prestigious universities & colleges in these locations. Headquartered in Chandigarh, ESS Global has a strong presence in the state of Punjab, which also happens to be its target market, and has branch offices in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana, and Bathinda. Its USP lies in the fact that it provides the right course selection for students planning to study abroad. It also offers in-depth information about visa filing processes for different countries and has a high success rate. The firm offers highly personalized services and is known for its expertise in dealing with student visas across Australia, Canada, and Europe.

University Living: Incepted in 2015, University Living is a global student housing marketplace. It helps students across the globe find suitable and secure accommodation near their university campuses. Students can consult with a 24/7 support team of accommodation experts to discover, compare and book value-for-money accommodation based on their budget, desired location, and other personal preferences. University Living is also focused on easing the entire student journey and making it a seamless experience through a host of value-added services that enhance our students’ experience. University Living’s Property Management System enables smooth business operations for the stakeholders. Their 200+ member strong team is constantly reinventing their services to better the user experience and digitally transform the overseas education journey. University Living caters to 300+ popular study-abroad cities and destinations, has 1.75 Million beds availability across all continents, and has 110+ nationalities.

Leverage Edu

Leverage Edu helps students figure what they should do and where they should be at – wherever that be in the world – to realize their full potential. It helps students navigate & assess their journey thus far, matches them to personalized mentors, counsels them towards their higher education dream with an employability lens, and makes sure that everyone punches way above their weight to make dreams come alive and truly be able to level up.

IDP consultancy-The company is an international education organization that offers student placement services across the globe.
The universities they cover are limited to Australia, the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada. IDP specializes in course advice, IELTS prep, pre-departure support, visa, accommodation, and health cover for students.

Edwise- Edwise’s core activity lies in assisting students to make the right choice with regard to pursuing education in overseas educational institutions.It provides information regarding higher education in various countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland, France, Germany, Dubai, Switzerland, Malaysia, and many more.

Recruitment and IT Industries Host The Highest Demand For Freshers in India: foundit

Mumbai,26th May 2023: found it (formerly Monster APAC & ME), one of India’s leading talent platforms, today reported that the highest share of job postings for freshers was accounted for by the Recruitment/Staffing industry. Moreover, the demand for freshers has increased by 4% over the last six months.

Industry reports state that one in 10 graduates in India is unemployable due to a lack of industry-ready skills. Amidst current economic uncertainties and tech disruptions in the market, the need for freshers to upskill and tune their digital skills in line with the industry is more pertinent than ever.

Interestingly, an overwhelming majority of job postings for freshers across industries were for in-office roles (92%). While some industries continue to embrace remote and hybrid work models, there is a growing trend of more companies getting back to the office, embracing a pre-Covid normal. The remaining job postings were for hybrid (4.2% share) and work-from-home (3.8%) job roles.

Speaking on the need for skilling, Sekhar Garisa, CEO, foundit (previously Monster APAC & ME), said, “Improved initiatives for skill development in the educational system can close the employability gap in the Indian market. The L&D initiatives of India Inc. have also been crucial in bridging the skill gap among freshers. To provide career development support and offer skill-based certifications to entry-level professionals in India, we at foundit are launching the second edition of Aspire – our virtual career fair for freshers and young professionals from 31 May to 2 June 2023. The career fair will connect job seekers with top employers in India and bring together credentialed candidates for these employers.”

Aspire is a multi-faceted recruiting solutions platform by foundit in collaboration with Microsoft India for freshers and professionals with 0-2 years of work experience. It provides an opportunity for job seekers to interact with potential employers and explore opportunities across sectors such as IT, finance, marketing, human resources, and more.

Bengaluru emerges as the top location for fresher hiring with the highest salary packages

foundit data reflects that Bengaluru (12.4% share) hosts the highest share of job postings for freshers, followed by Mumbai (12.1% share). Notably, fresher hiring was highest in metropolitan cities in India. Delhi/NCR (9% share), Pune (8% share), Chennai (7% share), and Hyderabad (7% share) were along among the top locations hiring freshers.

Salary trends for freshers as per foundit

Across segments, the Recruitment/Staffing (22% share) industry held the highest demand share for entry-level professionals. Among the top 5 industries were also IT-Software, Software Services (19% share), BPO/ITES (10% share), Education (5% share), and Healthcare (4% share). Recruiters in Indian IT are particularly on the hunt for tech talent adept in skills related to cloud computing, data science, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. However, soft skills, communication, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking abilities are also considered important.

Indian IT hosts maximum demand for interns

As per Zuno by foundit, a platform for quality paid internships, nearly a third of the total internship opportunities on the platform are for roles in the IT-Software, Software Services (35% share) industry. Considering the constant need for upskilling in Indian IT, internships have proven to be a rewarding learning opportunity for students to familiarize themselves with industry-ready skills. Other industries with a large number of internship postings include Recruitment, Staffing (13% share), Retail (8% share), Advertising, MR, PR (7%) share), and BFSI (5% share).

Across locations, the highest demand for interns was reflected in Delhi/NCR (31% share). This was followed by Bengaluru (16% share), Mumbai (12% share), Pune (9% share), Hyderabad (8% share), and Chennai (7% share).