Archives April 2023

20 Apr 2023  India has seen an ascent in the interest in electric two-wheelers lately, primarily because of rising fuel costs and increased ecological mindfulness among customers. This year saw regulatory advances to encourage EVs and provide mechanisms for battery swapping. EVs are playing an important role in reducing pollution & promoting sustainable growth in the sector. As India strives for a greener future, the automobile sector has shifted towards (EVs). As a result of this transformation, numerous Indian EV firms are promoting sustainable mobility. Taking the charge, to make an eco-friendly planet, are some of the young startups. They’re reshaping the EV industry with their innovative products & manufacturing them in India. Below is the list of top EV startups to look out for in 2023.

1. RunR Mobility: RunR Mobility, an electric two-wheeler startup, was established in Gujarat in 2021. Supported by the solid leadership of MECPower Solutions Pvt Ltd. RunR has been manufacturing 100% indigenous smart-electric scooters which support the essence of the MADE IN INDIA vehicle. The upcoming RunR HS and HS+ models with LED Lights are supposed to have a range of 100 and 140 kilometers on a solo charge. The vehicle is equipped with swappable batteries and other advanced technologies. RunR Mobility soon unveil the 100% indigenous 2-wheeler EV that’s #DesignedToSpendSmart & #StopNotAtAnything
2. Okaya EV: Okaya EV is the fastest-growing EV 2-wheeler manufacturing company in India, offering a wide selection of high-quality electric scooters at competitive prices and encouraging the production of vehicles that provide consumers with the quality and dependability of an automobile. Okaya EV fully intends to achieve its goal of making India a 100% electric vehicle-driven country. Okaya EV features a power pack and an extremely safe LFP (lithium ferro phosphate) battery, which ensures enhancements in battery safety, reliability, and performance.

Okaya electric scooters have high-standard wires & chargers with overcharging protection, thermal protection, audio-visual warning systems, and smart BMS. Scooters have an autonomy of up to 160 kilometers on a single charge and a top speed of 70 kilometers per hour.

Okaya Electric Vehicle has received ICAT certification for its electric vehicles under AIS 156 Amendment III Phase 2, which covers safety requirements for electric vehicles and includes designing, constructing, and testing the battery pack and its components to ensure they meet the safety standards set by the government.

New Delhi, 20 April 2023: NAREDCO Next Gen, the youth wing of NAREDCO, is all set to host their NCR’s first-ever Real Estate Conclave on 26th April 2023. The conclave aims to provide a platform for young real estate players to come together and discuss the future of the industry, including the role of the government, banks, financial institutions, and other stakeholders.

Besides, Naredco Next Gen is set to honor distinguished real estate leaders from different categories within the industry, who have not only made significant contributions to the Indian economy but have also positively impacted their respective communities.

According to Mr. Jay Morzaria, President of NAREDCO Next Gen, “Our mission is to create an environment where young professionals in the real estate sector can share experiences, harness their skills, and bring about lasting change. We believe that by bringing together the best and brightest in the industry, we can drive innovation and progress.”

He emphasized the need for stronger collaboration between various stakeholders. ”The renewed partnerships and collaborations at the Conclave will ensure a bright future for the sector, and the NextGen youth wing is committed to making that happen”

One of the major topics at the conclave will be New Construction Technologies, which will highlight the implementation of construction software and innovative construction technologies covering all stages of construction, from project initiation to on-site activities and the complementation stage.

Another significant highlight will be a special session on NIRED (National Institute for Real Estate Development), a joint venture of Delhi RERA & NAREDCO to develop and build human resource capacity to enhance the quality and productivity of works in the Real Estate & Infrastructure Sector

Rajan Bandelkar, National President, NAREDCO, expressed that the NAREDCO NextGen’s Conclave in Delhi NCR aims to provide a platform for all the stakeholders and innovators in the real estate industry to collaborate and explore new alliances. The objective is to attract more youth to the sector and leverage their energy and innovation to drive growth.

Tel Aviv, April 20, 2023 – Groundcover Introduces Flora, a newly released eBPF-based observability agent that was built with a strict performance mindset – promising full observability at high scales while costing next to zero overhead. Flora has dramatically outperformed all leading observability platforms as Datadog, OpenTelemetry and New Relic’s modern eBPF solution – Pixie Labs.

The conducted benchmark simulated a high-volume environment tracking a simple baseline HTTP server application for metrics of CPU and memory consumption before and after the integration of the various observability platforms in question.

Flora demonstrated minimal to zero overhead to the application’s CPU (+9%) and memory (+0%), while Datadog, OpenTelemetry, and the Pixie agent inflicted dramatic overhead of 249%, 59%, and 32% above the CPU baseline, respectively, and 227%, 27% and 9% above the memory baseline.

Additionally, under a limited CPU environment for the monitored application, the overhead added by Datadog, OpenTelemetry, and the Pixie agent was also demonstrated to significantly limit the bandwidth for the HTTP server, reducing the volume of handled requests by 71%, 19%, and 12%, respectively, compared to the measured baseline.

All other solutions but Flora raised the resource consumption of the application dramatically and in an unexpected manner, potentially causing the application to reach CPU throttling that might degrade its performance or even create an out-of-memory crash (OOM) in a limited environment.

Flora also proved to be highly efficient in the total resources it consumed, making it the most cost-effective solution at a high scale. When combining the resources consumed by the different agents tested and the overhead measured on the monitored application, Flora consumed a total CPU that was similar to the one used by OpenTelemetry and the Pixie agent, but that was 73% less than the CPU consumed by Datadog. Additionally, Flora consumed 74%, 77% and 96% less memory than Datadog, OpenTelemetry, and the Pixie agent, respectively.

One of the hardest challenges for any modern observability tool is being able to keep up with the ever-growing scale of data – delivering a comprehensive, accurate picture of a system, all while leaving a minimal footprint. With many leading observability solutions dramatically impacting the resource consumption of the applications they are in charge of monitoring – eventually limiting their performance or causing cost surges, engineers are more and more aware of the hidden overhead inflicted by their observability stack.

eBPF is on the fast track to becoming the next standard for observability platforms enabling low-friction integration and deep visibility coverage, yet existing eBPF-based approaches still have a long way to go when it comes to operating at high scale.

Flora is based on two key ideas that allow it to operate at a massively high scale. The first is the use of new, unorthodox eBPF concepts that unlock extremely low overhead data-transferring mechanisms. The second is a nearly zero-copy, memory-efficient pipeline which converts observations flowing from the kernel into meaningful outputs.

The Flora eBPF observability agent was developed by Groundcover and is generally available as part of Groundcover’s product where private users and organizations can experience it for free.

20 Apr 2023  Spectrum Metro, the high-street shopping commerce capital located in Noida Sector 75, has closed leased spaces deals with famous brands like Smaaash, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trends, Uni Applem Reseller, Toksik, and many more. Spectrum Metro is also coming up with many national and international brands in the coming months that are sure to attract people in the close vicinity and NCR.

Spectrum Metro has also onboarded popular chains of Restobars, cafes, and popular chain of eateries. high-street commercial hub has leased 3620 sq. ft. of space to Break-in Brew, 1115 sq. ft. to Bar Rosso Café, 6010 sq. ft. to BBQ Company, and 9,775 sq. ft. to Toksik. Moreover, it has also leased spaces of 25,075 sq. ft. to Smaaash, 2400 sq. ft. to Uni Apple Reseller, 6785 sq. ft. to Reliance Digital, and 10,928 sq. ft. to Reliance Trends.

The chief feature that’s attracting popular brands to Spectrum Metro is its excellent connectivity that comes with door-to-door connectivity to Aqua Line’s Sector 50 Metro Station and other major National Highways like NH 24, FNG, and Noida expressway.

“We feel proud to announce that we will welcome new brands in Spectrum Metro like Liberty, Bluestone Mia by Tanishq, Samsung, Haldiram’s, etc. over the next couple of months. Right from the beginning, we had pledged to provide our customers with an upscale retail, shopping, and dine-in experience. This is another concrete effort in bringing our promises to reality.”

Spectrum Metro, in no time, has become a lucrative center for expansion for retail brands. We observe a daily footfall of 3000 people at one of the biggest high-street commercials where people from the nearby residential township visit here for good food, a great shopping experience, and unlimited entertainment. We will soon make announcements of many new brands that would be a part of Spectrum in the future.” Quoted, Ajendra Singh, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Spectrum Metro.

Maharashtra, April 19, 2023: Expanding its countrywide presence to boost EV adoption, leading multi-brand EV platform BLive has opened its experiential EV store in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. It was inaugurated in the presence of Kiran Patil- Chairman, of Ghatge Patil Industries, and other dignitaries. BLive is experiencing a high EV demand across the country, and it believes this store will cater to the needs and aspirations of EV buyers in the region. The opening of this store is further aligned with the brand’s larger objective of building a greener, sustainable future by promoting 100% clean mobility adoption in India.

The exclusive store has been opened in partnership with Techno Vision and houses a range of EV options from leading brands for customers. Additionally, to encourage buyers to speed up their EV purchase decision and switch to e-mobility, the store will provide easy financing options along with exciting offers. With this, the customers will be able to purchase an EV with easy EMI options as low as Rs 2000 monthly. The store will also provide them an opportunity to exchange and upgrade their old petrol-run 2-wheelers for brand-new EVs.

Also, it will act as a one-stop, go-to destination for customers to get a hassle-free EV experience and a choice to select from well-known brands such as Gemopai, KineticGreen, Batt: RE, Hayasa, Detel, Amo, EMotorad, and Hero Lectro, among others. For holistic care of EV buyers, it will provide roadside assistance, extended warranty, easy financing options, excellent after-sales services, and many other facilities under one roof.

Commenting on the launch, Samarth Kholkar, CEO & Co-Founder, BLive said,” The launch of this store is BLive’s other step towards strengthening its footprints across the country. EVs are becoming mainstream and we believe providing a hassle-free EV experience by taking care of all of the customers’ needs under one roof will take EV adoption to new heights. We are receiving a great response which is a reflection of the high EV demand across the country. The customers have become more aware and responsible towards the environment and we believe this store will facilitate them in easily switching to clean mobility. Our high-end services, experience, and expertise being offered at the store will greatly benefit them. We are looking forward to working together with our partners to strengthen our India presence and make EVs accessible and affordable for all.”

BLive, which is a digital-first, multi-brand EV store has bolstered its presence with 20 stores across India, and with this launch, it has come one step closer to its goal of having 100 EV stores by 2024. The brand will soon expand its reach to newer locations to drive EV adoption, accelerate decarbonization,
and build a sustainable future.

India, Bengaluru, 19 April 2023: Practo, India’s leading integrated healthcare company, today announced that it has earned the prestigious Quality and Accreditation Institute (QAI) accreditation for the high medical quality of its telehealth services becoming the first digital healthcare company in India to receive this recognition. The certification is a significant milestone for Practo, setting new international industry standards and establishing the company’s unmatched commitment to delivering exceptional quality healthcare.

QAI is the first and only accreditation body in India that offers this International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) certified accreditation on a global scale. The accreditation process was a rigorous evaluation from the QAI central team covering 61 standards and 230 criteria on infrastructure, process and clinical outcome, finally conferring the ‘Gold seal’ of excellence on compliance to these standards.

The certification is a testament to Practo’s commitment to patient-centricity & safety validated on account of trained and credentialed healthcare professionals, patient education and streamlined protocols with ethical clinical processes, resulting in enhanced patient experience. With this, the organisation continues to set industry benchmarks with systems at par with national and international standards, solidifying its position as a leader in the digital healthcare industry.

Talking about awarding the accreditation, Dr. B.K. Rana, CEO-QAI said “Practo needs to be commended for the tremendous efforts put in for demonstrating compliance to QAI accreditation standards for Telehealth, resulting in accreditation which is a testament to the excellent documentation and implementation of various policies, procedures and processes for delivering clinical care to their patients through telehealth services. I am sure that QAI accreditation will help Practo to promote continuous quality improvement, build public trust and confidence, help to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, provide a competitive advantage, and support patient safety.”

Commenting on the accreditation, Dr. Alexander Kuruvilla, Chief Health Strategy Officer said, “Today marks a momentous occasion for Practo and the digital healthcare industry as a whole. It’s gratifying to see all our hard work and efforts being recognized, and it motivates us to continue setting new standards for the industry.

This win is not just ours, but it belongs to the entire healthcare ecosystem. It’s a win for our patients who can now trust that they are receiving the best possible care, and for our healthcare partners who can now be confident in their association with a company that sets the bar high. And it’s a win for the industry as a whole, as we collectively raise the standards of care and redefine what is possible in the digital healthcare space.

We are excited about the future and the opportunities it presents to further our commitment to quality healthcare. We have many more initiatives planned, and we look forward to taking the industry along with us on this journey towards a new era of exceptional healthcare experiences for patients.”

Practo launched its telehealth services in 2016 to democratize quality healthcare in India. With a resounding success rate of millions of teleconsultations, Practo has been a beacon of hope for millions of people, especially during the pandemic, witnessing a staggering 5x growth. The company’s commitment to prompt access is reflected in its average response time of under 60 seconds and its customer satisfaction rating of over 90% with doctors available 24×7 across 21+ specialties. Practo maintains service quality through a rigorous continuous audit system to ensure the highest quality of care.

Bangalore, April 19, 2023 – Lenovo, the global technology leader, has announced its Back to School (BTS) offers for students across the country. As the new academic session begins, the brand is offering a variety of discounts on laptops and accessories that help enhance the learning experience of students and educators alike. In line with Lenovo’s vision of providing Smarter Technology For All, it understands the demand for premium devices among students and delivers the most long-lasting and trusted solutions possible for today’s hyperconnected environment at accessible price points.

As per GFK, a global market research company, the BTS sale is the most important sale period for OEMs, coming second to only the festive period (September to November). This sale accounts for 15%-17% of the overall sales of the year. **(except 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions).

Lenovo’s BTS offers are currently live and will be valid until 15th May 2023 across all retail and e-tail channels. Additionally, with the new Lenovo PC Exchange Program, customers can sell their old laptop/ PC in exchange for a new device and get an Exchange Bonus of up to Rs 10,000 over and above the value of the old PC.

Apart from this, Lenovo is also offering attractive discounts on computer accessories during this period. Customers can purchase accessories like H100 Gaming Headset/ M300 RGB Gaming Mouse or Fire Pods Ninja G311/ 600 BT Silent Mouse at just Rs. 499, while buying any gaming PC or non-gaming PC respectively.

Bangalore, April 19, 2023: Star Sports, the official TV broadcasters of the TATA IPL 2023, has launched a brand-new initiative – The IPL School Quiz, which is set to grab the attention of kids across the length and breadth of the country. India’s leading sports broadcaster has been at the helm of taking fan centricity to a whole new level with the IPL School Quiz and aims to provide young fans with the most immersive experience possible for the TATA IPL 2023. With over 6,500 schools participating in the quiz in just the first week of the IPL, the initiative is gaining immense popularity already. This Quiz is testing the students’ knowledge about their favorite league and gives them the chance to become the first-ever IPL School Quiz Champions. The online leg of the quiz has been underway from 22nd March and will culminate on 30th April 2023, followed by the Zonal and National leg from the 7th to 15th of May, 2023.

To participate, students would need to log on to StarSportsQ.com every day, answer five quiz questions, and watch the TATA IPL coverage on Star Sports to answer a sixth bonus question. Schools with the highest participation and average score across the online leg will qualify for the Zonal finals. The Zonal finals will feature the top five teams from all four zones competing in an online round and the four winners of the Zonal round will then compete in the National finale.

The eight National finalists of the IPL School Quiz shall earn an array of exciting prizes, including an opportunity to feature on an IPL Pre-show and travel to the Mumbai Star Sports studios for the National finale, which will be aired LIVE on 19th May 2023. The IPL School Quiz is a great opportunity for students to showcase their knowledge about the league they’ve been in love with for 15 years, and win amazing prizes, all while having fun and enjoying the excitement of the IPL. Using refreshed technology, Star Sports has also onboarded Shreyas Iyer to send personalised invites to all school to increase the anticipation and excitement around the quiz.

Speaking about the IPL School Quiz, a Star Sports Spokesperson said, “We have always strived to create an unparalleled experience for our viewers and fans, and the IPL School Quiz is yet another step towards our fan-centric approach. The quiz is a fantastic platform for young minds to engage with the TATA IPL 2023 and showcase their knowledge, while having fun with their peers. We are thrilled to provide this opportunity to students across the nation and look forward to seeing the participants put their best foot forward in the biggest cricket school quiz.”

The TATA IPL 2023 has set off to a flyer with viewership on the Star Sports Network for the opening day of the marquee tournament recording a massive 29% growth in TVR as compared to the previous edition. With endeavors like the school quiz, Star Sports is changing the way young fans engage with the sport and bringing them closer to the game.

In today’s fast-paced world, we tend to be constantly rushing and getting caught up in busy routines and often neglect our health in the process. However, with rising infections including the flu, and having experienced a global pandemic, being in control of our health and building a strong immune system is more important than ever.

While there is no magic bullet for enhancing immunity, Dr. Irfan Shaikh, Head, of Medical & Scientific Affairs at Abbott’s Nutrition business talks about why muscles matter and how gaining strong muscles can significantly boost your immune system.

Muscles and their role in immunity building

Muscles are vital for good health. Your muscles’ do more than simply allow you to move and maintain balance. In fact, they also help you maintain strength and support your ability to partake in activities like playing sports, dancing, walking your dog, and more. Your muscles also play a key role in activating your immune cells. With the muscle tissue providing the energy and amino acids required by the immune system to function, it also protects us against infection. Muscles also form a critical source of strength and energy as you recover. When you are sick or hospitalized and your body isn’t getting enough of the nutrients it needs to recover, the body naturally breaks down muscle tissue to meet that requirement.

Poor muscle health can gradually affect a person’s ability to continue doing even the smallest of daily activities, such as walking or eating.[i] Considering the research available today, aging can result in muscle loss – for instance, from age 40 onwards, adults lose up to 8 percent of their muscle mass per decade, and after 70 years of age, that rate may double.[ii] To stay healthy, it thus becomes extremely important to maintain and build muscle health.

Building stronger muscles

Losing muscle mass is natural, but its rate of progression and negative effects don’t have to be especially since your immune health greatly depends on your muscle health. A chair challenge test is an easy way to gauge your muscle strength. The time you take to do 5 sit-ups on a chair of approx. height 43 cms (1.4 feet) can tell you your muscle age. One can also visit https://muscleagetest.in/ to get a better understanding of their muscle age. Here are 3 easy ways in which you can build muscle strength:

1.  Make time for physical activity: Regular physical activity can go a long way to make muscles stronger. You can begin by including simple activities like walking, swimming, cycling, jogging, or even climbing stairs in your daily routine. You can also try lifting weights and gradually add more weight and reps over time, or exercises with a stretch band. Just an hour of physical activity on a regular basis can contribute tremendously to your muscle strength and overall health and wellbeing. This can also enhance your body’s ability to resist infections and effectively combat harmful bacteria.[iii]
2.  Meet your daily protein needs: Protein is essential to build muscle and it’s important to consume an adequate amount of it every day. Consuming around 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal is optimal for your body to support muscle building and tissue repair.[iv] You can obtain protein from a number of sources such as lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, tofu, and beans
3.  Fulfill your nutritional requirements: Good nutrition and muscle health go hand in hand. After all, food fuels every cell in your body and supports muscle strength. For this, consuming foods that are rich in not only protein but also Calcium and Vitamin D is important. Some dietary options you can consider to gain muscle – beyond protein – include leafy vegetables, dairy products, fish, mushrooms, and soybeans.

Additionally, to build muscle bass, your body needs beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate (HMB), which is naturally produced when the body breaks down certain amino acids. While you can consume foods like avocado, grapefruit, and cauliflower which contain this in small quantities, you may also need to use supplements, such as Ensure HMB, which provides 32 essential nutrients, which can help you improve muscle strength.

Healthy muscles are critical for maintaining strength and the ability to perform daily activities that make life meaningful and fulfilling. It’s not always easy to adequately support muscle and immune health but by working towards building a healthy lifestyle program with a balance of the right nutrition and exercises, good muscle health can be achieved.

Mumbai, 19 April 2023: The consumer sentiment for bigger homes continues unabated. Out of a total of 4,662 survey participants, 42% currently prefer 3BHKs, finds the CII-ANAROCK report ‘The Housing Market Boom’ released at the 5th Edition of the CII Real Estate Confluence 2023 in Mumbai, where ANAROCK was Knowledge Partner, today. 40% of the surveyed participants prefer 2BHKs, 12% will opt for 1BHK, and 6% seeks homes exceeding the 3BHK configuration.

The two realty hotspots NCR and MMR have seen particularly strong momentum in the sale of high-ticket bigger homes over the last few quarters finds the report. Over 45% of property seekers in NCR are looking to buy 3BHK homes in the near future. In the expensive MMR, 2BHKs appear to dominate the preference charts of 43% of respondents in this region, but over 32% of buyers, there are looking to buy 3BHKs.

The report highlights the overall sentiments of buyers amid current headwinds including another possible rate hike by the RBI in the near future. If that happens, housing sales momentum in the top 7 cities may well be in for a bumpy ride as at least 96% of prospective buyers state that higher home loan rates will affect their homebuying decisions in the future.

For over 80% of property seekers, prices remain an important factor as apart from home loan rates, the basic cost of property has been on the rise in the last one year.

ANAROCK data reveals that average property prices across the top 7 cities increased in the range of 6-9% in Q1 2023 when compared to Q1 2022, mainly due to an increase in the prices of construction raw materials and overall rise in demand. MMR and Bangalore recorded the highest 9% annual jump.

Anuj Puri, Chairman – CII Real Estate Confluence 2023 & Chairman – of ANAROCK Group, says, “Rate hikes are just part of the overall demand scenario. Recent layoffs by both large and small corporates are likely to have at least some impact on the demand in the upcoming two quarters and dent growth in the housing market. Many homebuyers impacted by layoffs may defer homebuying decisions until their employment situation stabilizes. Nevertheless, buying homes remains the top priority for everyone.”

Currently, inflation is high and the state of the global economy directly or indirectly impacts housing demand in India. However, whatever demand gets deferred will be a temporary dynamic. “There are high chances that by FY25, the current turbulence will have passed and the housing market will bounce back,” says Puri. “Deferred demand is just that – it is put on hold, not destroyed.”

The report further finds that millennials continue to drive housing demand. Of the total participants that chose real estate as an asset class for investment, at least 52% were millennials who are mainly looking to buy homes for self-use. End-users still dominate the Indian housing market, with the end-user vs investor ratio at 71:29. Of the total surveyed end-users, over 77% are millennials.

At least 36% of respondents are zeroing in on homes that will be ready for possession within a year, and 58% want to buy properties priced between INR 40 lakh to INR 1.5 Cr.

Apart from price points and basic amenities in a project, the surveyed buyers are now focused on three primary aspects – timely project completion assurance, the availability of a study room, and adequate ventilation in the property. Over 90% of the surveyed homebuyers will not compromise on timely project completion, 62% insist on well-ventilated homes, and another 55% of respondents consider a study room indispensable. It is evident that the Covid-19 pandemic has left a lasting impact on homebuyer preferences.