Category business

India, 18th February 2023: Zee News, one of the leading and most trusted news channels in India, revealed the Dark Secrets of the selection process of India’s cricket team. Chetan Sharma, Chief Selector for The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), made some shocking revelations about the Indian cricket team and the BCCI via a GAME OVER exclusive story, which aired in 9 different languages on 14th February 2023 across Zee Media network.

Chetan Sharma allegedly spoke about the rift between the star players – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Additionally, he disclosed the truth about how certain types of injections (which are not detectable in a doping test) are used by cricketers to attain full fitness. #Gameover has been one of the top trending keywords for Zee Media’s Story on Twitter. The biggest cricket story revelation also resulted in Chetan Sharma resigning from the post of Chairman Indian Cricket Team.

Commenting on the big story revelation, Rajnish Ahuja, Editor, of Zee News, said, “Viewers and cricket enthusiasts need to know the true picture, to help them differentiate behind the right and the wrongdoings of the society. The media fraternity needs to highlight public stories on regular basis.”

“Zee News has played a huge role in shaping the minds and hearts of our viewers and our country. As a pioneer in the news network, we strongly believe in revealing stories that are not only of public interest but can result in far-fetched social impact. The Big Story on the cricket fraternity has encouraged netizens to understand the truth of the cricket fraternity, ensuring impactful content consumption, and is a great case study capturing the data on the attention span of viewers spread across the country,” added Abhay Ojha, CBO, Zee Media Corporation Limited.

The shocking details revealed in a sting operation and clips of it going viral on social media will highly encourage the world cricket fraternity to pay extra attention and take strict action against any such drug consumption.

Prashant Thakur, Sr. Director & Head – Research, ANAROCK Group

Investment in residential real estate is a very different kettle of fish than end-user homebuying. When the intention is to return on investment, knowing how the housing asset class is performing is of prime importance. From an ROI perspective, there are two buckets to check – capital appreciation and rental yields. Let’s examine this.

Property Prices

As per ANAROCK Research, the current avg. prices in the top 7 cities are collectively approx. INR 6,150 per sq. ft. If we look back, the last five years have seen an increase of over 11% across the top 7 cities (from INR 5,551 per sq. ft. in 2018 to approx. INR 6,150 per sq. ft. in 2022).

If we delve deeper and consider the yearly trends in the last five years, it emerges that 2022 saw the maximum yearly rise (6%) in average property prices (INR 5,826 per sq. ft. in 2021 to INR 6,150 per sq. ft. in 2022). The previous four years, on the other hand, saw either no change or a maximum of 3-4% y-o-y increase in 2021 against 2020. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, property prices across cities remained range-bound due to a prolonged demand slowdown.

Post the pandemic, demand soared across cities – as did developers’ input costs – causing prices to rise, particularly in 2021 and 2022. Another factor driving prices up is the fact that most sales happening now are by branded developers who have not shied away from price hikes on the back of strong demand and rising construction costs.

Among the cities, southern cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad have seen maximum 5-yearly increase of 10% in average property prices in last five years. Average property prices in Bengaluru stood at INR 4,894 per sq. ft. in 2018 and went up to INR 5,570 per sq. ft. in 2022. As for Hyderabad, average prices in 2018 in the city stood at INR 4,128 per sq. ft. and had risen to INR 4,620 per sq. ft. in 2022.

Source: ANAROCK Research

Rental Yields

Rental yield saw a decline across most cities in 2020 when compared to 2019 – a natural fallout of the pandemic and its work-from-home and e-schooling ethos. 2021 saw some improvement, with rental yields rising across cities and nearing 2019 levels. However, 2022 saw a decent rise in rental yields, which breached pre-Covid levels of 2019 across all the top 7 cities. This was largely due to a sudden spurt in rental demand with offices and schools reopening.

The current rental demand will remain strong in all cities as urban work opportunities rise and more people migrate to cities.

ANAROCK Research indicates that Bengaluru has the highest rental yield of 3.9% among all major cities, followed by Mumbai with 3.8%.

Outlook for 2023

There is little reason to be pessimistic in the current year, though under-researched investments and a short-term profit perspective must be avoided in 2023.

All the factors that drove up capital appreciation and rental yields are firmly in place, and the profitability potential for both investment rationales remains promising. That said, 2023 will face some headwinds in terms of economic slowdown and inflationary pressure, and this needs to be factored into any investment decision – including for real estate.

The RBI will likely take a pause after a spate of interest rate hikes, so growth momentum will continue. 2023 will continue to be driven by end-user demand, but serious long-term investors will find the market dynamics more than favorable. Property prices are likely to rise by another 5-8% in the larger cities – this bodes well for investors focused on capital appreciation, but also means that rental demand will increase.

Because of the new demand profile, larger-configuration homes will outperform compact affordable housing. Properties by branded large developers will pay better dividends in terms of both rental yields and capital appreciation.

February 18, 2023, Mumbai: Strategic Growth Advisors (SGA), India’s largest investor relations consultancy, partners with PR veterans Rahul Jain and Sudhir Shetty to launch a new-age communication consulting business. With a combined experience of 50+ years, the duo aims to introduce a new brand of storytelling catering to both traditional and internet economy clients.

Rahul and Sudhir aim to build a robust and agile communications brand that will uphold the voice of its clients through its simple, uncluttered and intent-driven storytelling. Having advised over 200 brands thus far, they are well-aligned with the dynamics of evolving communication requirements and aim to provide contemporary and bespoke solutions.

Rahul and Sudhir will bring in intellectual capital and creative thinking capabilities thus making SGA uniquely positioned in the category to offer integrated and end-to-end solutions to businesses across lifecycles. Currently, SGA manages over 250+ clients offering investor relations, corporate reporting, and brand & design services among others.

On Rahul and Sudhir coming as Partners & Jt-CEOs, Samir Shah, Managing Director, SGA said: “We are elated to have Rahul and Sudhir as Partners to launch a new-age communication consulting business. They will strengthen SGA to establish it as a complete stakeholder engagement firm. Rahul’s deep understanding of internet economy businesses and his proven consultancy skills distinctively position him to take SGA Communications’ Practice to its next phase of its growth journey. We are confident that they will be successful in developing a unique approach to brands’ business requirements.

Commenting on his new role as Partner and Jt-CEO – Comms and PR, SGA, Rahul said “Indian public relations and communications industry is at the cusp of a massive transformation driven by the rapid digitisation and expansion of the new economy business. Startups are changing the world order and even disrupting the way businesses are operating across the world. Therefore, communication solutions that are in alignment with the changing times are the need of the hour and that is exactly what we aim to provide. Being India’s premier IR consultancy, SGA will have an edge over others to offer end-to-end communication solutions for both startups and enterprise businesses. Looking forward to exciting times and also extremely thankful to Samir for this association as we embark on this journey to chart out a new phase of growth for our clients and our people.”

On being elevated as Partner and Jt-CEO – Comms and PR, SGA, Sudhir said: “I extend a warm welcome to Rahul for joining us in our new journey. We are confident that our team will benefit immensely from his expertise in building businesses and fast-tracking the growth.

Communication as a business is gaining immense significance to power organizations overall growth and business vision. Today reputation management is at the core of CXOs’ wish list, and this will give us a huge opportunity to carve a niche in the category.

“I take this opportunity to thank Samir for reinforcing his confidence in me and allowing me to expedite our vision for the communications business,” Sudhir added.

Rahul has over 20 years of experience in the communications and PR space. In his last stint of almost a decade with Adfactors PR, he was instrumental in building the Fintech and New Economy space from ground zero. He is well-known in the startup space for curating award winning communication campaigns and building industry first categories such as ‘School EdTech’, ‘Rural Fintech’ ‘Treasury Tech’ etc. He has closely worked with 100+ internet economy brands and thoroughly understands the intricacies of the startup ecosystem. Rahul has been awarded with Reputation Today 40 Young Turks and BW 40U40 PR Professional for building robust business practice and bespoke solutions for clients.

With an overall experience of over 27 years, including a 16-year stint at Adfactors PR, Sudhir is a communications pundit with a deep-rooted understanding of financial markets and financial communications. At Adfactors PR Sudhir, had fostered Public Relations (PR) & Investor Relations (IR) practices that served clients across sectors. He has overseen the communication strategies for complex M&A transactions, crises, corporate activities, Public Offerings for some of the big Indian as well as multinational companies over the years. Sudhir hails from a financial journalist background and has worked across leading wire agencies and a financial daily for over 9 years.

Judge India Solutions, a leading IT staffing company, has proudly announced that it has been recognized as one of the Top 50 most innovative companies by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for its outstanding achievements in the IT industry.

Top 50 most innovative companies by CII is a prestigious award that recognizes excellence and innovation in the IT staffing industry.

Abhishek Agarwal, President of Judge India – Global Delivery at The Judge Group said, “We are thrilled to receive this prestigious award and are grateful to the jury members who recognized our hard work and dedication to innovation and making an impact. This award is a testament to our team’s unwavering commitment to providing exceptional IT solutions to our clients.”

“We would like to thank our clients for their continued trust and support, and we look forward to building on this success and achieving even greater heights in the future,” added Mr. Agarwal.

Judge India Solutions has been a trusted partner to numerous companies, helping them build top-performing IT teams by providing them with the best talent available. With a focus on providing a personalized and client-centric approach, the organization has dedicated itself to helping clients achieve their business goals by providing them with immaculate services tailored to their needs.

The organization is part of a 52-year-old legacy founded by Martin E. Judge Jr. in 1970, as a professional services company offering innovative solutions to leading Fortune 100 companies across the globe. The organization has rapidly expanded its offerings into new industries, and new countries over the past 52 years with a full line-up of professional services across various verticals from 30+ offices located in the US, Canada, Europe, and India.

February 18, 2023, Mumbai: PLANET (Personalised Lending & Assisted NETworks) application by L&T Financial Services (LTFS), a retail-focused non-banking financial company, has achieved the milestone of 2 million downloads. The exponential growth in the number of downloads is attributed to deeper penetration of loan products in rural India through digitization and expansion of loan products in urban India.

The PLANET app, which is one of the highest-rated finance apps on Google Play Store and Apple App Store with a score of 4.5 and 4.3 respectively, has generated close to Rs. 1,500 crore business, collections of over Rs. 130 crore and has serviced more than 21 lakh customers as on January 31, 2023.

More than 2 lakh rural customers of L&T Financial Services have downloaded this application to access the various benefits like the convenience of checking loan details, and ease of access to loan-related documents along with specialized services like timely credit scores and daily mandi prices. In fact, the app also offers Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) reminders and is available in 10 regional languages, besides English and Hindi.

Speaking on the milestone, Mr. Dinanath Dubhashi, Managing Director & CEO, L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. said, “Connecting rural India to the digital ecosystem has been one of the key pillars of the government, and I am happy to share that our initiatives in this direction are also gaining momentum. Our strong rural customer base along with our robust digital and data analytics-based platform today enables us to reach out to the last-mile rural customer and introduce, educate, and establish the advantages of technology in making lives simpler. Out of the total downloads of our customer-facing application – PLANET app – more than 10% of the downloads are from rural India. We are proud to have serviced more than 60,000 requests of our rural customers till now. It is interesting to note from our data that rural customers understand the importance of a good credit score as we saw close to 20,000 rural customers check their credit score judiciously on the app. The utility and timely features including mandi prices and calendar reminders for EMI payments are being keenly used by our farm and micro loan customers.”

As a part of the expansion of services to urban customers, PLANET app is constantly evolving to offer exciting features. These include Insta Loans for consumer loans and two-wheeler finance customers

with end-to-end digital journeys. Insta Loans for two-wheeler finance customers is an intuitive autonomous 5-step journey for two-wheeler finance customers. The entire journey from zeroing in on the two-wheeler model, to the knowing exact dealership to visit for delivery can be done through the app. This feature is available for both existing and new LTFS customers.

PLANET app can be downloaded by scanning the QR codes below:

Pune, 18.02.2023: Orchids The International School recently conducted a ‘Yoga for Drivers’ program at its Tathawade branch in Pune. Considering driving is one of the most difficult activities that require physical as well as mental agility. After driving through heavy traffic and handling boisterous young children, the drivers are hardly in a frame of mind to exercise or go for gym activities.

Studies on the work and health of bus drivers indicate that they are at an increased risk of physical and mental occupational ill health. Therefore, the school took this initiative to bring awareness on maintaining good health, especially through Yoga, and how it will benefit their overall well-being. Yoga sessions can help drivers to prevent injuries by improving their flexibility, balance, and posture. This reduces the risk of back pain, neck pain, and other driving-related physical ailments.

The 3 hours long session was conducted by Aarti Karve, a Yoga practitioner who taught a series of powerful Yogic practices, including Yoga Namaskar (Yoga for Well-being), Nadi Shuddhi (Yoga for Peace), Neck Practices (Yoga for Success), Simha Kriya (Yoga for Respiratory Health), and Shambhavi Mudra (Yoga for Inner Exploration).

The program witnessed the participation of around 50 school drivers from different Pune branches of the school. The program received positive feedback from all the drivers present.

Speaking on the program, Nikhil Agrawal, Head of the Center of Excellence said, “At Orchids, we promote and educate about healthy living habits not just to our students but also to support staff. We understand that the job of the school bus driver comes with immense responsibility and requires the utmost patience. Driving safely by following all the safety rules, watching out for rogue drivers, sitting for long hours, breathing polluted air during traffic and driving for long hours, and controlling their emotions leave them mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day. Thus, we felt stress relieving programs for drivers are required. Exercise and yoga will help reduce stress and lead to healthier lives. Given the positive feedback we got through this program, we are also looking forward to conducting such programs in the future. Their enthusiasm and eagerness were visible as they felt good to be looked after and cared for, making them more cheerful and stress-free while on duty.”

Periodic motivation classes rewarding drivers for their good deeds can help improve the morale of the drivers.

Lenovo Delivers Solid Results as Diversified Growth Engines and Operational Excellence Drive Profitability

“With total revenue of over US$ 400 million across all Lenovo portfolios in India in Q3 FY22/23, we continue to see strong momentum for our services and solutions business in India. We are committed to investing in capability building to deliver for our customers beyond end-point devices and achieve our service-led transformation objectives with a broad suite of pocket-to-cloud offerings. We have taken concrete steps on the ESG front, which help our customers reduce their carbon footprint (CO2 Offset services) and e-waste management (Asset Recovery Services). With the help of new IT solutions, we are on our journey to becoming an end-to-end technology partner that enables intelligent transformation for our customers.” – Shailendra Katyal, Managing Director, Lenovo India

Mumbai, February 18th, 2023: Greenply Industries Limited, one of India’s largest interior infrastructure brands with over 30 years of experience in manufacturing a comprehensive range of plywood, block boards, decorative veneers, flush doors, and other allied products, has yet again taken a leadership role by releasing its first Sustainability Report. The report has been developed referring to the guidance under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, highlighting the brand’s sustainability journey through its initiative ‘ESG360’. This is the first sustainability report released by any brand in the Indian wood panel industry, marking a dynamic change in this sector.

As a part of its ESG journey, Greenply will be strengthening its systems and processes in order to generate data and track progress against key performance indicators based on the material topics. Going forward, Greenply will be reporting across the six capitals as per the Value Reporting Foundation which includes manufacturing capital, natural capital, social capital, intellectual capital, financial capital, and human capital. The six capitals model will provide the company with a balanced approach that will not only improve its investment decision-making processes but also integrate Sustainable Development as a behavior and an aspirational set of goals for the brand.

Speaking on the report launch, Mr. Manoj Tulsian, Joint Managing Director & CEO, of Greenply Industries Ltd said, “Sustainability has been embedded in our roots over the years. We take this philosophy ahead as part of our core strategy as we embark on a formal journey with ESG initiative while we grow responsibly. With ‘ESG360’, Greenply has already started cultivating a business strategy that confers due respect to people and the planet. We are very optimistic that this sustainability report is a foundation stone for all our endeavors towards transforming into a progressively sustainable and resilient organization in the years to come.”

Led by a sustainability-oriented approach, Greenply has been undertaking extensive plantation activities over the past several decades leading to responsible procurement of raw materials. Besides environmental protection, the plantation activity helps maintain the financial viability of the ecosystem as it generates employment for the local inhabitants too. Greenply has also attained the FSC® – FM (Forest Management) Certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) for its sustainable plantation unit located in Tizit, Nagaland, and is the first company to have successfully achieved this certification in the interior infrastructure segment in India. To date, Greenply has planted around 19.5 million saplings covering an area nearly of 24,500 acres of plantation.

Greenply strives to be a net zero-waste company. The Company consumes all the waste products as fuel in the boilers, for example wood chips formed during the plywood manufacturing process are used for energy generation. Even the wastewater from the production is channeled into the reservoirs that provide water for sprinklers, helping to replenish the ground water table. Greenply has been undertaking activities to reduce emissions and move towards renewable energy generation. Rooftop Solar panels are installed at all the manufacturing facilities for the generation of green energy. Additionally, electric vehicles and EV forklifts are deployed for inhouse transportation needs. The company is the first one in the wood & panel industry to introduce a range of Zero Emission (E-0) products keeping in mind the health interest of its consumers by reducing formaldehyde emission to negligible or equal to zero, thus safeguarding the indoor air quality.

Hyderabad: After a morale-boosting 1-0 win over the Mariners, Manolo Marquez’s Hyderabad FC are back in action when they welcome Jamshedpur FC to the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Gachibowli, in a 5:30 pm kick-off on Saturday, February 18.

HFC, who play their third game in eight days, have booked their place in the semi-finals. The visitors are out of the race to the playoffs but both teams will want to end the season on a high and will fight for all three points from this game.

Aidy Boothroyd’s side put in strong performances against ATK Mohun Bagan, Mumbai City, and NorthEast United in the last three games and look a side that could be tough to beat.

The addition of Rafael Crivellaro and the form of Ritwik Das, Boris Thangjam, Pronay Halder, Jay Thomas, Daniel Chukwu, and TP Rehnesh have turned Jamshedpur into a dangerous side in recent games.

“Jamshedpur has been playing really well in recent games. I think they have now found the right balance in the team and have good players with great quality which makes them a tough side,” said Manolo.

“They are showing the level they have now. They have found their style and system and with this team, they could have been fighting for the playoffs. So, I am sure this will be a difficult game for my side,” he added.

Hyderabad FC put on a solid display to beat ATK Mohun Bagan in the last game and will hope for a similar outing in what will be the last league game at the Maidaan this season.

Bartholomew Ogbeche scored the winner that night, moving to eight goals for the season. Borja Herrera, Javi Siverio, Joel Chianese, Mohammad Yasir and Halicharan Narzary have been effective in attack while Chinglensana Konsham, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Nikhil Poojary, Akash Mishra, Odei Onaindia and Gurmeet Singh have done their job to help Hyderabad stand as the best defensive side the league this season.

However, with a place in the semi-final booked, Manolo Marquez might ring in the changes ahead of this clash.

“We might play a few players tomorrow who are not usually in the lineup. But they have been training really well and deserve to play,” said Manolo.

“We want to win tomorrow, and we cannot relax yet. I am sure our players are hungry and will be ready for this tough game,” the Spaniard added.

Hyderabad will want to build some momentum going into the playoffs and end their league phase at home on a high.

Like in the reverse fixture that was decided by just a goal, Jamshedpur FC could prove to be a difficult test, and this promises to be an iconic Indian Super League clash, in Hyderabad.

The game kicks off at 5:30 pm IST on Saturday, and will be telecasted live on the Star Sports Network with live streaming on Disney+ Hotstar and JioTV.

New Delhi, 18 February 2023: Aviva Life Insurance, India’s most trusted private life insurance company, announced the launch of the Aviva Signature Guaranteed Income Plan. The non-linked, non-participating savings life insurance plan is designed to provide customers with a comprehensive solution to help them build long-term wealth while saving tax and guaranteeing a steady income stream in the long run.

The plan is crafted keeping in mind the financial needs of individuals across all stages of their lives, starting from young singles and couples to parents with young and grown-up children, couples nearing retirement, or already retired individuals and offer four distinct options:

Signature Moneymaker provides customers with guaranteed income annually from the second policy anniversary till the policy matures along with a lump sum at maturity so that they can enjoy tax benefits on premium payment and income payouts.

Signature Investor offers customers a lump sum payment on survival of the life insured till maturity to fulfil their long-term goals.

Signature Builder allows customers to receive guaranteed income over a payout period, with the guaranteed income beginning from one year after the end of the policy term to have a steady stream of income after the deferment period.

Lastly, Signature Saver pays out guaranteed income annually from one year after the end of the premium payment term till policy maturity for customers who require a guaranteed stream of income to fulfill child education or retirement goals.

Aviva Signature Guaranteed Income Plan offers up to three times guaranteed returns on total premiums and provides customers with tax-efficient early and deferred income options. Additionally, customers can expect loyalty additions, guaranteed maturity additions, and zero alteration charges for frequency changes. Furthermore, it has 26 policy and premium paying term variants, allowing customers to choose the option that best suits their financial needs.

Mr. Vinit Kapahi, Head of Marketing, said, “Our new Aviva Signature Guaranteed Income Plan aims to meet the diverse financial needs of policyholders at different phases of their lives. The plan will enable guaranteed, tax-free, long-term, risk-free wealth accumulation and income in a single offering, providing peace of mind and financial security. With four variants to choose from and a range of premium and policy term options, we aim to empower a wide range of customers to achieve their financial goals with confidence and peace of mind.”

Key highlights of the Aviva Signature Guaranteed Income Plan are:

• Up to three times of Guaranteed Returns on Total Premiums# Paid
• Tax-Efficient Early Income
• Tax-Efficient Deferred Income
• Tax-free Lump Sum
• Loyalty Additions, Guaranteed Maturity Additions
• Range of Premium Paying Term and Policy Term Variants – 26 in all
• Zero Alteration Charges for Frequency Change
• Dual Tax Benefits

# excluding the taxes, underwriting extra premiums, and loadings for modal premiums if any