All posts by Neel Achary

Dallas, Texas,2nd March 2023 – Inc. magazine today revealed that Experion Technologies, a global Product Engineering company, is on its fourth annual Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The Inc. 5000 regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Southwest economy.

Previously, Experion Technologies has also been ranked on the nationwide Inc. 5000 list for five consecutive years.

“There is a reason why some of the world’s largest companies as well as the world’s fastest growing early-stage companies choose Experion Technologies. We are among the very few players worldwide that strive to execute on the customer’s vision, strategy, and goals and craft them into product roadmaps aligned tightly to business priorities. Our engineering maestros follow this up by developing products that deliver exceptional business value to our customers. We are truly proud of our teams who make this happen for our customers every single time. Product Engineering is all we know and truly care for since our formation seventeen years ago. We remain dedicated to pushing boundaries and delivering exceptional value to our clients. We are of course thrilled with being ranked as one of the fastest growing private companies in the Southwest yet again.” said Mr. Manoj Balraj, President and Co-founder of Experion Technologies.

Companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000 Regional Southwest list had an average growth rate of 557 percent across all industries in the Southwest region. Between 2019 and 2021, the Inc 5000 private companies added 16,116 jobs and nearly $5.5 billion to the Southwest region’s economy. Companies based in the Austin, Texas, Scottdale, Arizona, and Fort Worth, Texas, areas had the highest growth rates overall.

“This year’s Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of America’s off-the-charts growth companies. They’re disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies you’ll be hearing about for years to come,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine.

Bengaluru 2nd March 2023 Shopsy by Flipkart, Bharat’s fastest growing hyper-value e-commerce platform, today launched its new campaign with Sara Ali Khan as its brand ambassador. The campaign brings to light the platform’s affordable pricing and the expansive product range curated especially for customers seeking value. The TVC is built on the insight that in Indian families, parents get annoyed when their children spend a lot of money on shopping. This campaign breaks the myth by showing how online shopping on Shopsy is very affordable and can actually give you better value across multiple categories such as Kurtis, Sarees, Watches and Home Products. By casting Sara Ali Khan as the protagonist, the campaign aims to bolster Shopsy’s positioning as a value-driven shopping destination for the consumers of Bharat.

Created and conceptualized by Leo Burnett Orchard, the campaign features an ad film that showcases the interactions related to online shopping that family members engage in, something that most Indians relate to.

Commenting on the campaign, Adarsh Menon, Senior Vice President & Head – New Businesses, Flipkart, said, “At Shopsy, it is our constant endeavor to offer a shopping experience that blends affordable pricing, wide selection and pan-India availability with the latest trends and evolving needs of the consumer. Leveraging this deep understanding of our customers’ needs, ‘Aaj Shopsy Kiya Kya’ campaign is a recreation of a real-life scenario where the families of Shopsy’s customers are astounded to learn about the kind of vast selection in multiple product categories and low prices of the products available on the platform.”

Expressing her excitement on partnering with the new campaign, Sara Ali Khan, said, “Shopsy’s TVCs have a personal touch that resonates with every Indian household. I am delighted to partner with Shopsy again, and to bring them closer to their vision of providing a value-shopping experience to the Indian customer, through an engaging and relatable TVC. The ‘Aaj Shopsy Kiya Kya?’ campaign hits all the right notes by incorporating everyday conversations that resonate with Indian families. After watching this TVC, I am sure that the viewers will be excited to explore the wide range of products that the Shopsy app offers.”

The film begins with a typical scenario at breakfast time in a middle-class home where Sara’s father is seated by the dining table accompanied by her mother, both having stern, worried expressions on their faces. Her brother is getting ready for school just as Sara walks in onto the scene. An air of tension lurks in as her father furiously questions her about yet another kurti delivery and where it came from to which she promptly responds saying, “It costs just Rs.25.” Her mother with three kurtis in her hand – Lucknowi, Anarkali and Jaipuri chimes in and sarcastically asks if each of these really cost that low. Sara assertively reassures them that these were all inexpensive. Her little brother encourages the father to also enquire about the watch that had arrived. Her father asks her where it came from. Sara nonchalantly responds – “Shopsy”. The brother, seeming doubtful of the reply, says it was sent by her boyfriend. After which, Sara reassures the family that it was indeed Shopsy where she bought the products from. She takes out her phone and scrolls through the app to show how everything like clothing, footwear, utensils and home decor are available for attractive prices on the app.

Shopsy was launched by Flipkart in July 2021 with the aim to offer an expansive range of engaging products at affordable prices while being a value-based and reliable platform. In this light, Shopsy has strived to deliver on its commitment to building a community that truly levels the playing field of commerce in the country. Shopsy’s vision is to make digital commerce accessible and affordable across India through a zero-commission marketplace. Today, Shopsy has over 11 lakh sellers (including Flipkart) on the platform who provide 150 million products spanning over 800 categories for customers across India.

Navi Mumbai, 2nd March 2023: Walplast Products Pvt. Ltd., an associate of DryChem India Private Ltd, a leading and most reputable producer of building materials and the 3rd largest manufacturer of Wall Putty in India announces the appointment of BeanstalkAsia, a leading Integrated Marketing Communications firm, to drive its integrated creative mandate.

BeanstalkAsia will curate the full range of brand-building solutions and high-decibel purpose-led launches across media platforms, and will also lead the social media and content strategy through their digital solutions team.

Commenting on the collaboration, Aniruddha Sinha, SVP & Group Marketing, PR & CSR Head, DryChem India, said, “Walplast is a respected and trusted name in the building materials space. Our consumer brand HomeSure represents the spirit of trust, partnership & innovation. We are ready to deliver superior customer experience and live the brand ethos by remaining progressive, reliable, responsive, agile and a solution specialist. We are thrilled to have BeanstalkAsia onboard and are extremely confident that the consumers will love the magic we intend to create together.”

Upendra Singh Thakur, Founder & Director, BeanstalkAsia, said on the mandate, “Every client account matter to us but some are extraordinary, solely by virtue of the challenges involved. Walplast Products has reset its business ambitions to redefine the hyper-competitive building materials space. We at BeanstalkAsia are delighted to collaborate withWalplast on this journey and look forward to working very closely with their amazing team. We are excited to use our expansive experience and deep understanding of this segment to build strong integrated marketing campaigns for Walplast.”

The Group Companies of DryChem India have collectively pledged to “be a brand of choice for the construction ecosystem by delivering superior customer experience and achieve a topline of INR 2000 Crore by the Year 2025. The Company firmly believes in delivering superior customer experience and also building stronger communities. They are determined in playing an active role in the development story of India.

Notes to the Editor:

New Delhi: Gurusiksha.com, a leading online teaching platform, has launched Test Series exclusively for students. These series are available on their website and will assist students in preparing well for their upcoming exams.

These series have been designed in a manner that students will get an in depth knowledge of the subject. These cover the entire syllabus in a very demonstrative manner giving total insights to the students.

Talking about the launch, Mr Dipak Jha, CEO, Gurusiksha.com, stated, “The test series help face challenges and build students’ fundamentals. These series give them the much-needed confidence to perform better. Students can easily rate their preparations and work towards improving their performance.”

The EdTech platform believes that every student has the right to education. Digitization of education has empowered many students to get access to related syllabus and test practices.

New Delhi, 2nd March 2023: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), the public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, and HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank today announced a partnership to launch one of India’s most rewarding co-branded travel credit cards. Known as the IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card, the newly launched co-branded card is in a single variant and is available exclusively on NPCI’s Rupay network.

It will provide exclusive benefits and maximum savings on bookings of train tickets booked through the IRCTC’s ticketing website and through IRCTC Rail Connect app. Additionally, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit cardholders will enjoy an attractive joining bonus, discounts on bookings and access to the several executive lounges at railway stations across the country.

The card combines the strength of two leading Indian brands to deliver superior value and an enhanced customer experience to travellers. It will leverage HDFC Bank’s expertise as the market leader in card issuance in the country, offering its best-in-class rewards programme, and IRCTC’s unmatched services on train travel.

The credit card was launched by Ms. Rajni Hasija, Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC, Mr. Parag Rao, Group Head – Payments, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking and IT, HDFC Bank and Ms. Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI at a launch ceremony held at New Delhi.

Commenting on the association, Ms. Rajni Hasija, Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC said, “HDFC Bank is among the largest and most trusted banks in the country. We are delighted to partner with them for this initiative. The co-branded card offers exclusive access to newly opened state-of-the-art lounges available at most of the major railway stations. The credit card will help to streamline online transactions and at the same time offer best-in-class benefits as well as experience to our customers.”

Parag Rao, Group Head – Payments, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking and IT, HDFC Bank said, “HDFC Bank is committed to providing best-in-class banking services to the nation. The IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card will enable us to offer our card to millions of Indians across the country. Indian Railways is one of the biggest public sector enterprises in the country and we are delighted to be the first private sector bank to partner with IRCTC to enhance customer experience for train travellers, right from the time of booking their tickets. As the largest card issuer in the country, it is our endeavour consistently to find new ways to nurture and support the payments ecosystem in India.”

Ms. Praveena Rai, Chief Operating Officer – National Payments Corporation of India said, “At RuPay, we have customers at the heart of all our offerings & innovations. We are happy to partner with IRCTC & HDFC Bank for a cobranded credit card which will offer seamless payment convenience and appealing benefits to customers for rail travel as well as their shopping needs. With RuPay Credit Cards now enabled on UPI for payments, this cobranded card will provide impetus to further adoption and reach of digital payments across India.”

Key features and benefits of the IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card include:

• Welcome Benefit – INR 500 Amazon voucher on card activation within 30 days of card issuance
• 5 Reward Points per Rs.100 spent on ticket bookings at www.irctc.co.in
• 5% Cashback on booking via Smart Buy
• 1 Reward Point per Rs.100 spent (not applicable on EMI, Fuel and Wallet re-load txns, on rental payments and Government related transactions)
• 8 Complimentary IRCTC Railway Lounge Access per year
• Additional reward Points on AC ticket booking
• INR 500 Welcome Gift voucher on card activation within 30 days of card issuance.
• Gift Voucher worth INR 500 on spends of INR 30,000 within 90 days
• 1% Transaction charges waiver on IRCTC Website and App

IRCTC HDFC Bank co brand credit card customers can apply for the credit card through the websites of both IRCTC and HDFC Bank and access key details of the card through the app while enjoying a simple and even more rewarding experience. They can also walk in to the nearest HDFC Bank branch to apply for the card.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC) is a “Mini Ratna (Category-I)” Central Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways, Government of India. IRCTC was incorporated on 27th September, 1999 as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to upgrade, professionalize and manage the catering and hospitality services at stations, on trains and other locations and to promote domestic and international tourism through development of budget hotels, special tour packages, information & commercial publicity and global reservation systems.

• Apple AirPods Pro – MRP: ₹26,900

Who wouldn’t enjoy opening a fresh set of AirPods? The Apple AirPods Pro is one of the best gifts for this Women’s Day. The company offers an engraving option, which gives these AirPods a personalized touch. According to Apple, customers can personalize their AirPods with a combination of letters, numbers, and emojis. You may even personalize it in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, and Telugu in addition to English by engraving the initials of a loved one. This product is available on Amazon, Croma, and Vijay Sales.

• Galaxy Watch 4 – MRP: ₹34,999

What other product could be more ideal for Women’s Day than the Galaxy Watch 4? The watch offers amazing features, including a period tracker and continuous SPO2 sleep measures. Glow has worked with the company to estimate impending reproductive windows, ovulation days, and periods for up to 24 cycles. This product is available on Amazon, Croma, and Vijay Sales.

• Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 Instant Camera – MRP: ₹7,696

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 Instant Camera can help you capture your loved ones’ happy moments in more detail. Use a close-up lens at a distance of 35–50 cm to produce a perfect shot. The user can even snap low-key pictures with only one click. Also, the camera analyses balanced brightness for taking a photo and determines the best setting based on the environment. This product is available on Amazon, Croma, and Vijay Sales.

• PLAYFIT SLIM2C – MRP: ₹3,999

It is a Bluetooth-based CALLING smartwatch with a 1.3″ stylish and circular dial, sporting a rich IPS display. The complete package of the design boasts of a 500 nits brightness display, an IPS panel providing an all-view angle display visibility, a flat dial surface courtesy of the 2.5D glass which rests on top of the display, and an equally irresistible PLAYtime of 5 days. This sleek innovation incorporates a wide range of technological advancements and features designed to meet the on-the-go lifestyle needs of modern-day consumers. This product is available on Amazon, Flipkart, and Nykaa.

• House of Beauty Fridge Cooler and Warmer for Beauty Makeup Skincare Products – MRP: ₹10,000

Nail polish, serums, creams, moisturizers, sunscreen, and mini cosmetics are all great items to keep in the Fridge Cooler and Warmer for Beauty Makeup Skincare Items. It is portable and lightweight, thus allowing the user to keep skincare and makeup items in this refrigerator wherever they are

• Dyson Airwrap Hair Styler Complete Set – MRP: ₹45,900

The Dyson Airwrap Hair Styler Full Set is one of the ideals presents for your partner. Your partner or loved one may smoothen, curl, wave, and dry their hair without using a lot of heat using the Airwrap. A gift edition made of copper and silver is also offered. Thus, give your partner this fashionable hair styler to help her save time. Amazing brush accessories as well as a chic tan case are also included with this product. It is available on Amazon, Croma, and Vijay Sales.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2nd March 2023 New Delhi:

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

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

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

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