Archives March 2023

Bengaluru,30th March: The country’s fastest growing staffing and recruitment firm, CIEL HR Services has released its latest report ‘Employment Trends Today in EPC Sector in India – Feb 2023’, forecasting a promising employment outlook after a slight decline towards the fag end of 2022. With a combination of serious headwinds like inflation and economic slowdown, hiring activity has dropped slightly in Q4 (OND ’22) after a steady period between May to September in the previous year.

However, due to the positive sentiments around the 2023 Budget, the sector witnesses an increase in hiring reflecting overall stability, especially with its consistency in employing top-level management and an increased lookout for freshers.

Another interesting find from CIEL’s report is that, among all no-tech sectors, the EPC sector takes the lead (11%) with regards to the most sought-after role of Software Development (2,367 jobs) as compared to sectors like FMCG (3%), Pharma (2%) and Banking (10%). With a futuristic vision of leveraging emerging technologies, employers in the sector are on a hiring spree for jobs like Software Engineers, Full Stack Developers, Java Developers, Cybersecurity Specialists, and Integration Specialists. Further, ‘Software Developer’ remains the highest paid: 39% of the jobs are in a salary of INR 10 lacs and above.

Our survey suggests, Bengaluru (19%) remains to be the hottest hub for hiring software specialists, followed closely by Delhi/NCR (18%). Other metropolises like Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai along with the country’s capital and IT capital contribute to more than 70% of the total job postings.

Mr. Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director & CEO of CIEL HR Services, expresses his opinion on the findings; “From CIEL’s study, we observe that the EPC sector can leverage the recent IT hiring cool-off and use the available tech talent to digitize their processes, thereby improve efficiency and enhance customer experience. With the government’s focus on accelerating infrastructure development, this industry is poised to grow at a faster pace and has the potential to create new jobs faster than ever before. Moreover, the sector needs to adopt policies that promote women’s participation and thus expand the talent pool available to serve the sector. ”

Other Key Findings:

Highest Median Tenure in the country

•  EPC performs better than its peers in retaining talent, with a median tenure of 5 years vis-a-vis FMCG at 4.1 years, MSME at 3.6 years, and ITES at 3.3 years.16% Women’s Participation in the Workforce
•  The sector continues to show overwhelming participation of men in its workforce. While gender diversity has increased, women’s participation continues to remain low at 16%.

CIEL HR Services has collated this report by studying 52 leading Indian EPC companies employing 80,000+ employees. The analysis included 21,865 jobs posted on job portals in January 2023.

New Delhi, March 30, 2023: DBS Bank India has announced an innovative investment solution, ‘digiPortfolio’, on its digibank platform. digiPortfolio uses both technology and human expertise to create a set of investment options curated by Morningstar that match the risk preferences of different investors. The platform is an easy, one-stop solution for users to invest money with ready-made baskets of mutual funds. DBS Bank India is one of the first banks in India to offer this type of digital solution.

DBS Bank aims to redefine the customer experience and make it more seamless by using data, AI, and advanced technologies. The offering includes different types of investment options, such as domestic equity, debt, and money market instruments, to ensure there are diverse portfolios to cater to different risk profiles of investors. The digiPortfolio platform is run by Quantifeed and is automated, making it easy to use.

Prashant Joshi, Managing Director & Head – Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank India, said, “India has witnessed increased participation of domestic retail investors in the burgeoning capital markets during the past two years. However, the complex nature of mutual fund products and the risks involved have kept many prospective investors at bay. Through this differentiated offering, our aim is to simplify the process and bridge the knowledge gap, while helping to balance growth and safety while making investment decisions. It is our endeavor that through digiPortfolio, many of our customers will be more confident about participating in the Indian capital markets.”

Dhaval Kapadia, Director – Portfolio Specialist, Morningstar, said, “Asset Allocation, i.e., the allocation of various assets such as equity and debt in an investor’s portfolio, is known to be a key driver of investment performance in terms of risk and reward over the long term. The digiPortfolio begins with Morningstar’s ground-breaking research on long-term asset allocation. This approach considers various asset classes to build diversified mutual funds-based portfolios of domestic equities and fixed-income offerings. These portfolios are designed to be an investment, aligned to your risk appetite and investment horizon, helping you achieve your financial goals.”

The investment options on the digiPortfolio platform are chosen and made up of mutual funds carefully selected by Morningstar, which relies on more than 37 years of industry research. The portfolios are regularly adjusted to ensure they stay strong even when the market is volatile and give the best possible returns.

digiPortfolio provides instant access to investors with two plans starting at a minimum investment of ₹10,000 and ₹50,000. These plans include features such as portfolio construction, monitoring, and rebalancing services, powered by Morningstar. The Bank uses technology to make things faster, cheaper, and more efficient for investors. There are no extra charges, like sales or transaction fees. Investors can invest for as long as they want, choosing what suits them based on their goals, risk preferences, and investment duration.

Ross Milward, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of Quantifeed, said, “We are delighted to continue our relationship with DBS Bank and support their latest launch in India. Quantifeed continues to see first-hand how well business and technology can come together, guided by a clear sense of delivering on customer experience. We are convinced that digiPortfolio will continue to revolutionize the digital wealth landscape and bring customers a delightful and personalised investing experience.”

DBS Bank India has a strong commitment to delivering superior solutions to its customers that make banking intelligent, intuitive, and effortless, frequently partnering with industry leaders in the ecosystem. In 2022, the bank collaborated with Bajaj Finance Limited to launch the ‘Bajaj Finserv DBS Bank SuperCard,’ a Visa-powered credit card designed to simplify customers’ wallets by eliminating the need for multiple cards.

Risk disclaimers:

• DBS Bank India Limited, an AMFI registered Mutual Fund Distributor, provides this DIY platform to facilitate digiPortfolio investments. This offering shall not be construed as financial or investment advice
• Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme-related documents carefully before investing
• Model portfolios are curated by MorningstarTM based on general risk levels and are not on personalized suggestions. Prior to investing, we recommend you consult your financial advisor to evaluate the product offering’s suitability as per your requirements
• DBS Bank India Limited – AMFI registered Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN-155319)
• Exit charges may apply for early redemption/switch cases, and, are not applicable for ELSS funds

Mumbai –,30th March 2023: In the recent times, UPI has emerged as preferred mode of digital payment by offering a free, fast, secure, and seamless experience. Traditionally, the most preferred method of UPI transactions is linking the Bank account in any UPI-enabled app for making payments which contributes over 99.9% of total UPI transactions. These Bank account-to-account transactions continue to remain free for Customers and Merchants.

Recent regulatory guidelines, Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI Wallets) have been permitted to be part of the interoperable UPI ecosystem. In view of this NPCI has now permitted the PPI wallets to be part of an interoperable UPI ecosystem. The interchange charges introduced are only applicable for the PPI merchant transactions and there is no charge to customers, and it is further clarified that there are no charges for the bank account to bank account-based UPI payments (i.e. normal UPI payments).

With this addition to UPI, the Customers will have the choice of using any bank account, RuPay Credit card, and prepaid wallet on UPI-enabled apps.

Suba Group of Hotels, a master franchisee of Choice Hotels India has marked another milestone in Uttrakhand with the launch of ‘Comfort Inn Silver Arch’ in Mussoorie. Conveniently located near the entry of the Picture Palace side of Mall Road in Mussoorie, the property can be accessed easily by road, rail, and by air via Dehradun airport. Some of the prominent tourist destinations including Malls, Kempty Falls, LalTibba, Company Garden, Gun Hill, George Everest House, Cloud End, Bhatta Falls, and Camelback Road are located in close proximity to the hotel.

Announcing the opening, Mansur Mehta, Managing Director, Suba Group of Hotels, said, “We are delighted to launch Comfort Inn Silver Arch in the picturesque hills of Mussoorie. Popularly referred to as the queen of hills, Mussoorie is a major tourist destination frequented by a huge number of visitors from across the country. With the launch of our new property, we will tap the growing potential of tourist inflow in the region. The hotel perfectly epitomizes the Suba Hotel group’s core values of offering immaculate service and unparalleled hospitality”.

“We are pleased to expand our footprints in North India with the launch of Comfort Inn Silver Arch in Mussoorie. This full-service hotel with all contemporary elements is ideal for leisure tourists, flexible independent travelers (FIT), and group travelers. It is our endeavor to continue to penetrate our reach across popular destinations across the country.” said, Mubeen Mehta, CEO, of Suba Group of Hotels.

The Comfort Inn Silver Arch features 27 Rooms and 4 Bamboo Cottages and can accommodate around 80-100 guests. All rooms are Air Conditioned and are equipped with LED TVs with Cable, Free WIFI Access, Limited Hours Room Service, Tea Coffee Kettle in each room, Hair Dryer, 24X7 Hot & Cold Running Water, Safe Locker, Mini-Fridge, Complimentary water, Telephone, etc. The facilities at the hotel include 24-hour room service, a travel desk, car parking, and laundry services.

Guests can enjoy a magnificent culinary journey at The Cafe situated on the Ground floor of the hotel which also has an outdoor seating area. It is a multi-cuisine outlet serving Buffet breakfast and a-la-carte lunch/dinner. To make guests feel pampered, the restaurant’s team members carefully select the fresh ingredients for the food and cook it with a lot of love and attention.

“Each of our properties boasts luxurious rooms with a host of banqueting and F&B facilities. Suba Hotels serves modern travelers by providing a distinctive stay experience, outstanding quality services, and exceptional facilities at competitive pricing. The company has footprints in all major metros, including tier 1 and tier 2 cities. All of their facilities provide elegant and large rooms, exciting locations for holding weddings, events, and exhibitions, and a fantastic dining experience at iconic restaurants”, said Chandrakant Shetty, COO, Suba Group of Hotels.

India March 30, 2023: InCruiter, a leading interview solution provider, has partnered with Taggd, a subsidiary of PeopleStrong, to expedite its hiring process. As part of this collaboration, InCruiter has equipped the company with its hero product, Interview-as-a-Service (IaaS), to seamlessly conduct interviews and shortlist the best talents for various IT and Non-IT roles have gradually boosted the Taggd employee headcount.

By leveraging this alliance, Taggd has successfully conducted around 900 interviews in the last one and a half months and has significantly benefited from the outstanding results. The IaaS platform has helped Taggd scale up its operations, recording exponential growth, which is no less than a milestone for the company.

Anil Agarwal, CEO & Co-Founder InCruiter said, “We are happy to collaborate with Taggd and add value to their business. It has been a great experience for us to work with their team in finding top talents, boosting their hiring process by 1.5X, and streamlining their recruitment process. With this partnership, we also got the opportunity to expand our customer base, making this synergy a win-win for both of us. We will continue to associate with more players in the future with an intent to make their hiring journeys smooth and hassle-free.”

Taggd President, Mr. Devashish Sharma, said, “We are delighted to join hands with a leading Interview as a Service partner like InCruiter that has been doing a phenomenal job in this domain. Through IaaS, we have brought great talents to strengthen our existing teams and scale our operations to new heights. We look forward to this synergy and hope to benefit each other in the coming months.”

Since its inception, InCruiter has strived to innovate the employee onboarding experience for its clients through world-class remote hiring solutions. Standing tall today, it comprises a team of more than 2200 interviewers and 200+ clients, including industry-leading names like Mahindra and Practo, seamlessly conducting over 100K interview minutes daily.

Delhi, 30 March 2023: Asia’s largest integrated learning, skilling, and workforce development company – upGrad confirmed that an internal Rights Issue was completed for INR 300 crore. In this internal round, Temasek contributed INR 81 crore and Ronnie Screwvala – Co-founder & Chairperson at upGrad, contributed INR 212 crore, while other minority stakeholders completed the balance.

Commenting on this development, a spokesperson from upGrad said, “Yes, we confirm the internal round. The company is focused on its organic and in-organic growth across multiple verticals of formal education via degree, diploma, and doctorate courses in partnership with the best universities in India and globally. upGrad is also focused on a large segment of Skilling, Short-Certification courses, Bootcamps, and Job-linked programs coupled with the fast-growing sector of Study Abroad. We continue to maintain our leadership of being the largest enterprise and workforce development company in Asia. Completing 22,000 placements into jobs just this year is a testament to our model and the high level of interactive deep learning we offer our learners and working professionals around the world.”

upGrad operates out of 31 offices located in India, USA, UK, Middle East, Singapore & Vietnam.

Chennai, 30 March 2023: Prodapt, the largest and fastest-growing specialized player in the Connectedness industry, has announced the elevation of Harsha Kumar to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Harsha takes over from Founder and CEO Vedant Jhaver, who will serve as the Chairman of Prodapt.

Congratulating Harsha on his new role, Vedant Jhaver said: “Harsha has been a big strength and partner to me over these years. His discipline and focus on execution have been critical to Prodapt’s leadership position in the Connectedness vertical. Harsha has built a reputation for being a dynamic and passionate leader with the highest levels of integrity and discipline in executing our strategy. With Harsha at the helm, Prodapt will continue to break new ground and solve our customers’ complex business challenges.”

As President over the last seven years, Harsha has played important roles in helping define growth strategies, delivering strong results through deep customer relationships, scaling practice areas, developing leadership talent, and building a strong operations organization for future growth.

As Prodapt is poised to strengthen its position as a category leader, Harsha will lead strategy, oversee business operations, and steer people & delivery excellence toward greater heights.

On the appointment to this new role, Harsha commented: “I am honored that the Prodapt Board has chosen me as the next CEO of Prodapt. We have a fantastic team at Prodapt and a proven strategy. I am excited to work closely with the leadership team and accelerate our company’s success with guidance from the Board and Vedant. In the coming years, Prodapt will be the default partner of choice in the Connectedness industry and shape the way people, enterprises, and machines engage with each other.”

Before joining Prodapt, Harsha held several leadership positions in the technology services industry and has successfully incubated and scaled several businesses that have grown to become large divisions. He also co-founded a software product company prior to that. He holds degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and the University of Maryland, College Park.

Prodapt provides technology services and consulting to clients across every layer of the Connectedness vertical, including the largest communications, media, and technology firms around the world. With over 6,000 technology and domain experts across 30+ countries, the company continues to grow its workforce rapidly across 5 continents.

Bengaluru,30 March 2023: Fyn Mobility, India’s 1st vertically integrated EV-as-a-Service platform for last-mile logistics founded by Visakh Sasikumar at IIT Madras has announced the appointment of Niroop Janardhannan as the Chief Business Officer, who comes with close to two decades of experience as an accomplished business leader across sectors like FMCG, Mobility, Agritech, and Edtech industries.

Prior to joining Fyn Mobility as a Chief Business Officer, Niroop worked with Unacademy as a VP where he was responsible for helping the company venture into the offline test prep market by efficiently driving growth plans and rapid expansion. Niroop has also served in various other leadership roles throughout his career, including launching Olacabs in the UK and scaling the S&D business at Ninjacart. More recently, Niroop Co-founded an automotive service & spares platform before moving on to lead growth for Unacademy for their offline channel. He started his corporate career at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, where he spent a decade across functions and geographies.

Commenting on Niroop’s appointment, Visakh Sasikumar, CEO & Founder, Fyn Mobility, says, “Fyn’s philosophy is to redefine EV-as-a-service ecosystem with the industry first EV ecosystem platform. We are progressing towards becoming India’s largest tech based EV as-a-service company with a laser sharp focus on automated cross-utilization of our EV fleets. With Niroop joining as a CBO, we are confident that he will drive our business with profitability and expand to multiple cities in the coming financial year. He has always been part of high-growth stories in his previous stints at COKE, OLA, Ninjacart and Unacademy. Here at Fyn, we are all set for an exponential growth as he joins our high energy team”

Niroop holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode and a Mechanical Engineering degree from VTU and has a deep understanding of the B2C, B2B, and B2B2C segments leading several 0 to 1 and 1 to 100 projects.

At Fyn, Niroop aims to drive customer centric partnerships with over 5000 vehicles on the ground in the next 1 year and make Fyn the first choice of EV solutions for last-mile logistics across tier 1 and tier 2 cities. With his core expertise in expansion, building along with scaling across functional teams, and driving profitability, Niroop will assist Fyn to reach their vision to be the largest EV as a service ecosystem platform in India.

Commenting on his appointment, Niroop Janardhanan, Chief Business Officer, Fyn Mobility, says, “My primary focus will be to build processes and automate our systems, building a strong customer-centric foundation for scaling up in our existing operations and expansion to more cities delivering an 8-10X growth on our top line in the next 1 year. For the rapidly growing last-mile mobility coupled with the EV space, it is extremely important to collaborate seamlessly and efficiently with suppliers, partners, and customers in real-time and it really excites me that Fyn mobility is leading the pack with our platform development. The platform will have all the stakeholders on it, driving digital automated collaboration to disrupt the ecosystem towards higher asset utilisation, which will be the game changer in the industry. With our past EV building background, Fyn is best placed to leverage this technology and will have an edge over competitors. My efforts will also be around refining our business model to drive profitability such that our cost structures around operations remain nearly flat while we can scale up.”

Fyn is currently present in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai and plans to expand to Mumbai and Delhi soon. Fyn mobility Provides B2B Last-mile deliveries through EV fleets for E-commerce, Quick-commerce, Medical commerce, F&B Deliveries, and EV fleets for Delivery giants. It also provides B2B EV commute to organizations, co-working spaces, and Offices for their employee and staff’s last-mile connectivity. Fyn has raised $2.76 M to date and is backed by large early-stage investors like Keiretsu forum, Inflection Point Ventures, and Salarpuria Sattva Group. The EV as a Service Platform looks forward to expanding its fleet to 1,250 EVs by reaching more last-mile-delivery clients. The company also aims to set up charging infra/stations with their partners and is looking to raise Series A by the end of the year.

 Bengaluru, March 30, 2023, Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) under the Department of Information and Communication Technology (I and CT) inaugurated Ping 2.0.2.3 The theme of the Ping 2.0.2.3 workshop “IEEE Sustainable Development Platform – Next-gen tech. powered by AI.” highlights the importance of sustainable development in the current technological landscape.

The guest of honour of the event was Mr. Sudhir Mahale, Vice President of Cloud & AI Architecture at Deutsche Bank who was cordially introduced by Dr. Manjula Shenoy, Professor, Dept. of I and CT, MIT Manipal. Mr. Sudhir Mahale addressed the need for sustainability and described Artificial Intelligence to be: “A driving force with the ability to combat the most pressing environmental and social challenges facing the world today, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security”.

The concept behind this event and the idea of PING was elaborated by Dr. Manohara Pai, the workshop’s originator who spoke briefly on the workshop’s relevance to MIT staff and students over the years and emphasized the necessity of sustainability in all sectors, such as industries and educational institutions, and how AI has become a commodity in today’s world.

The event commenced with a melodious invocation song by Mrs. Pavithra K.C, Research Scholar, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal followed by the lighting of the lamp by the esteemed dignitaries present at the event to invoke good spirits.

Dr. Balachandra, Professor of I and CT, introduced the function’s chief guest, Dr. Giridhar Kini, Registrar, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) who warmly congratulated one of MIT’s longest iterating workshops- PING, and emphasized how the MAHE management is keen on their endeavors to contribute and educate students on understanding the importance of sustainability.

Looking back at the meticulously planned event Dr. (Cdr) Anil Rana, Director of MIT said that “ At MIT we believe in “introducing fresh themes under the PING workshop every year to help achieve the expanding market expectations”.

The Ping 2.0.2.3 inauguration function was a resounding success where participants had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from industry experts- Mr. Sudhir Mahale, Vice President for Cloud & AI Architecture, Deutsche Bank, Mr. Gautam U Bhat, Customer Success Manager – Architect IBM, Mr. Kiran Puthukudy, Chief Architect & DevOps Leader, cYAAG Technologies, and Mr. Gautam Bhat, CTO, cYAAG Technologies about the latest trends, best practices, and emerging technologies in the field. Following the successful inauguration and the overwhelming response, the convener of ping 2.0.2.3 Dr. Preetham Kumar, Deputy Registrar-Academics (Technical) MAHE, Professor, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal, proposed the vote of thanks by expressing his gratitude to the entire team of Dept. of I and CT for the success of the event.

Other dignitaries in attendance included Dr. Smitha Pai, Head of the Department (HOD), Dept. of I and CT MIT, Manipal, Dr. Preetham Kumar, Deputy Registrar-Academics (Technical) MAHE, Professor, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal, and Convener of PING, Dr. Manohara Pai M.M., Professor, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal, and the founding HOD of the Department of I and CT, and Dr. Veena Mayya, Assistant Professor – Senior Scale, Dept. of I and CT, MIT Manipal and Co-Convener of PING.

New Delhi, 30th March 2023: MrMed, India’s top online pharmacy for super- speciality medicines, has announced the launch of its mobile app. Available on Android and iOS platforms, the app allows patients and caregivers to purchase speciality medicines at affordable prices easily.

With this launch, patients and caregivers across India (including tier-2 and 3 cities, towns and villages) will have access to over 5000 speciality medicines for conditions like cancer, transplants, kidney/ liver diseases and many more by simply uploading their prescriptions.

MrMed’s mobile app enables users to purchase these medicines with just a few clicks, offering flexible payment options, including online transactions and payment upon delivery. Additionally, the app provides transparent information about Patient Assistance Programs, alternate suggestions on medicines and order tracking for
doorstep delivery, making it a gamechanger in the speciality medicine industry.

Devashish Singh, Co-founder and CEO of MrMed, said, “The majority of medicines available on MrMed are life-saving, and we believe that no patient in any corner of the country should suffer due to delayed or limited access to affordable medicines. We’re proud to be the only platform offering up to 85% discounts on such essential medicines. Additionally, our expert healthcare blogs provide valuable information related to critical health conditions, ensuring that users are well- informed.”

Speciality medicines are typically not available in local pharmacies, and their deliveries can be time-consuming and expensive in some regions of the country. MrMed’s mobile app is surely a significant step towards ensuring timely and affordable access to life-saving medicines.