Category business

Bangalore, 16 February 2023: India’s leading stock exchange, National Stock Exchange (NSE), has signed a data licensing agreement with CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, allowing NSE to list, trade, and settle rupee-denominated NYMEX WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas (Henry Hub) derivatives contracts for Indian market participants.

The addition of NYMEX WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas (Henry Hub) contracts will expand the NSE product offering and its overall commodity segment. NSE has applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seeking approval to launch the additional futures contracts.

Shri Sriram Krishnan, Chief Business Development Officer, NSE said: “On receiving approval from SEBI, NSE would make available trading in futures of these two global benchmarks, which will be settled in INR, on the NSE platform. The NYMEX WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas (Henry Hub) contracts are amongst the world’s most traded commodity derivatives contracts generating interest from across the globe. It gives us immense pleasure to enter into this agreement, as it will help us to broaden our energy basket and we are hopeful that these contracts will be beneficial for the Indian market participants to meet their price risk management activities as well as trading objectives.”

After the remarkable success of its 7th season, BIG FM, one of the leading radio networks in the country is all set to present the 8th edition of their much-loved singing talent show – BIG Golden Voice. The first-of-its-kind on-air singing talent hunt has year after year emerged as a platform for participants to showcase their singing prowess. Adding to the excitement this year, the radio network has roped in the renowned singer Javed Ali, who will be donning the hat of mentor and judge. In the age of embracing digital, the core theme for the new season centers on ‘Iss Baar Mobile Banega Mic’ unveiling innovative formats to participate and provide a platform to talents across the nation.

BIG Golden Voice Season 8 invites participation through auditions taking place across 50+ cities. Keeping with the theme, this year, the mobile phone will play an important role in the audition process. Through the comfort of their homes, participants can submit their auditions through one of the four methods – they can either do it via social media platforms Instagram/Facebook or Whatsapp. They can also go the telephonic route with IVRS or visit the dedicated micro-site.

Javed Ali adds, “BIG FM has given a platform to many amazing talents in the country through their marquee music show BIG Golden Voice and it is an absolute pleasure for me to be a part of a show that showcases the country’s finest voices. It is interesting how the radio network has opened doors for many through its theme this year, inviting nominations from the remotest regions of the country. I look forward to mentoring, judging, and encouraging these talents and presenting them to our country.”

Making the finale even more exhilarating, the winner of the season will be announced at a spectacular on-ground event with Javed Ali. That’s not all, the winner will also get a chance to be featured in a music video with the talented singer.

Bangalore, 16 February: JUSTDOGS, India’s leading Omni-channel pet care retailer and service provider, launched its Valentine’s Day campaign ‘LoveTales’ to celebrate the beautiful bond between pet parents and their furry companions. On Valentine’s Day, JUSTDOGS encouraged everyone to consider adopting a pet and experience the unconditional love and joy they bring to our lives.

JUSTDOGS believes that pets are more than just animals, they are a part of the family and deserve to be loved and cared for. Through ‘LoveTales’, they aim to raise awareness about the importance of pet adoption and highlight the benefits of having a pet. The brand asked its customers to share their love stories of how they fell in love with their pets and created a video to encourage people to adopt a pet and spread love this Valentine’s Day.

Commenting on the campaign, Poorvi Anthony, co-founder, of JUSTDOGS, said, “For JUSTDOGS, Valentine’s Day has been a significant day as we strive to build a community and encourage pet adoption. The campaign acknowledges that pets have added a new dimension to this day and made it into a celebration of a new kind of love. With this campaign, we hope to spread and emphasize the message that Valentine’s Day can also be celebrated with pets.”

As part of this campaign, JUSTDOGS has collaborated with Yoda Rehabilitation Centre for Animals (YODA) in Mumbai for pet adoption awareness. The campaign is aimed at encouraging people to spread the love this Valentine’s Day by bringing home a pet. To ensure first-time pet parents need not worry about their newly adopted pet’s needs, for the first month, JUSTDOGS will be providing a ‘care package’ which will consist of 3kgs of pet food and a three-month spa package, for those who have adopted through YODA.

Commenting on encouraging the adoption of pets, Kashyap Sanghani, Head of Marketing, said “JUSTDOGS as a brand aims in strengthening the bond between pet parents and their fur babies. Our collaboration with YODA is a very significant focus as we want to spread the message that Valentine’s Day can be celebrated with your pet. And for all pet lovers if you intend to have a pet then we request you to please adopt a pet. We understand the anxieties of being a new pet parent and to help them bond with their pets stress-free, we will be providing a ‘care package’ to whoever adopts through YODA for the next month. We aim to spread the love this Valentine’s Day by urging people to adopt a pet and share their love tales.”

Additionally, the brand has created a hashtag #lovetales and shared the campaign video across their social media to gain a wider reach in the pet community. People can use this hashtag to create their own videos talking about their love tales with their pets and it will be featured on JUSTDOGS’ Instagram handle.

New Delhi, 16th February 2023: URBAN, a premium smart wearable brand, launches its flagship next-gen smartwatch- URBAN Fit Z in India. This advanced smartwatch has been specifically crafted to cater to the dynamic needs of modern individuals, who desire a smartwatch that seamlessly integrates into their fast-paced lifestyle while keeping them connected, healthy, and active. With advanced features such as Ultra HD fluid AMOLED Always On display, Bluetooth calling with speaker & mic, Inbuilt storage & wireless earphones connectivity along with dual sensors and Realtek chipset for 24×7 continuous health & fitness tracking, up to 10 days of battery backup, and a military-grade premium Aluminum finish, this smartwatch is set to revolutionize the market. URBAN Fit Z is available at all leading offline retail outlets, and online portals like Amazon, Flipkart & official website at an introductory price of INR Rs 5,999/-.

Aashish Kumbhat, Co-Founder, of URBAN, stated, “Our commitment is to provide premium products that are packed with innovative technology and features. The launch of the URBAN Fit Z smartwatch is a testament to our commitment. This is designed for individuals who lead fast-paced lives and are always on the go. We aim to make it easier for people to lead a healthy lifestyle and enhance their smartwatch experience. With URBAN Fit Z, we tried to craft one watch for all lifestyle and fitness needs; and all of this, at an accessible price point.”

Specifications and Features:

The URBAN Fit Z Smartwatch comes with a 1.4″ Super AMOLED Fluid HD Display with an Always On Feature. It also features a smart anti-glare screen and provides a bright display, visible even under sunlight. This smartwatch comes equipped with TWS connectivity and inbuilt memory, making it a versatile device for users. The watch also features a dedicated dual sensor for SpO2, HR, and BP, providing 24X7 continuous health monitoring. Urban Fit Z comprises multiple sports modes and an accurate step pedometer to monitor calories burnt and workouts.

In addition to its health and fitness features, the URBAN Fit Z Smartwatch offers an array of customization options, including 100+ cloud-based watch faces and an additional strap. The watch is also water and sweat-resistant, making it ideal for outdoor activities. With its fast charge capability and up to 10-day standby time, users never have to worry about running out of battery.

This newly launched smartwatch offers a unique blend of technology and style, making it the perfect accessory for modern individuals who want a smartwatch that fits their lifestyle and helps them stay connected, healthy, and active.

Price, color and availability

The URBAN Fit Z Smartwatch comes at an introductory price of INR 5,999/- and is available at leading offline retail outlets and through Amazon, Flipkart & URBAN’s official website. This smartwatch comes with dual straps and with 2 color combination options – Black silicone strap + brown vegan leather strap (black dial) and Gray silicone strap + black vegan leather strap (gunmetal gray dial).

Mumbai, February 16, 2023: EuroKids, one of India’s leading preschool chains, has bagged several awards this year, such as –

Asia’s Most Trusted Preschool Brand 2023 – Indo-Global Entrepreneurship Forum 2023

India’s Most Respected Early Childhood Education Brand Dec 22” – Education World;

Best Preschool Education in Asia – Indo-Asian Business Excellence Summit 2022

‘Best Franchisor of the Year 2022’ – Franchise India

‘The Best Education Brands Awards’ – The Economic Times

‘Best Online Children’s Learning’ – Education Innovation Awards 2022

‘Bengaluru’s Best Pre-School for the Year 2022’ – Bengaluru Pride Award for Excellence in Business and many more.

EuroKids has been rewarded for its outstanding pedagogy, passion for children’s education, business acumen, and growth in franchise business across India.

EuroKids believes in the ‘Child First, Safety First’ ideology and therefore ensures that a child’s growth and engagement needs are met in a homelike environment as they Play, Learn & Grow and imbibe essential life skills. Moving away from the traditional teaching standards, EuroKids introduced the innovative and Mindful Curriculum – EUNOIA, working towards building a Mindful School Culture with a focus on Attention. Resilience. Kindness. EuroKids also rolled out its HomeBuddy app to offer supplementary learning beyond the classroom walls as a part of the child’s home engagement and to aid the parents in being a part of their child’s learning journey. The HomeBuddy app is a treasure trove of content. It features weekly learning plans, recorded lessons, a fun zone consisting of interactive games to reinforce learning, worksheets, audio-visuals, DIY activities, EUROFIT and YOGAKIDS videos, MINDFUL+ and EURO MUSIC videos, read-along stories, live classes, and parent corner.

K V S Seshasai, CEO Pre-K Division, Lighthouse Learning, said, “We are glad to have bagged so many awards this year, and each award is a testament to the hard work our teachers, administrative staff, franchise partners, and those in the corporate office have been working round the clock to ensure that the learning never stops for our kids. To equip our children with 21st-century skills, we focus on a ‘Child First’ ideology to innovate and enhance learning outcomes.”

Mr. Amit Goyal, CEO, India Sotheby’s International Realty.

In the backdrop of increasing home loan rates and no significant benefits announced in the union budget for FY24 for homebuyers, the West Bengal government’s decision to extend the rebate in stamp duty for another six months i.e. till September 30 is a respite. The decision will help in maintaining the demand in the housing sector. Incentives like relief in the stamp duty and registration fee can help the positive impetus in the real estate sector to continue.

Cathay Pacific today released its traffic figures for January 2023, which showed positive signs as the airline continues to rebuild and restore connectivity at the Hong Kong international aviation hub.

South Asia, the Middle East & Africa saw an increase of 85,180.5% carrying a total of 187,106 passengers, marking the continued recovery of Hong Kong traffic from the region.

Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,031,893 passengers last month, an increase of 4,077.9% compared with January 2022. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 3,807.3% year-on-year. Passenger load factor increased by 46.4 percentage points to 86.8%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 1,717.1% year-on-year.

The airline carried 95,139 tonnes of cargo last month, an increase of 28.1% compared with January 2022 when we had to suspend our long-haul schedule for seven days due to stricter quarantine measures. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 140.9% year-on-year. The cargo load factor decreased by 14.4 percentage points to 62.2%, while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs), increased by 196.8% year-on-year.

Travel

Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “The new year got off to a positive start in January as Cathay Pacific carried more than one million passengers for the first time since the start of the pandemic. We carried on average more than 33,000 passengers per day, up from about 26,000 per day in December 2022, and operated 18% more capacity than we did in December. We also continued to add more destinations in January, with our Phuket and Xi’an flights resuming.

“With the return of quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland on 8 January, we saw increased demand for travel into the Chinese Mainland, both from and through Hong Kong. We have been increasing our flights accordingly and by the end of the month, we were operating up to three return flights per day to Shanghai and 11 return flights per week to Beijing.

“Leisure travel demand over the Lunar New Year holiday was also strong, particularly from Hong Kong, with Japan, Bangkok and Singapore being the most popular destinations. Unfortunately, despite demand being high for Japan, we had to cancel some of our flights due to restrictions imposed by the Japanese authorities on the number of flights airlines are permitted to operate from Hong Kong.

Cargo

“In terms of cargo, we saw a small uptick in demand prior to the Lunar New Year holiday, which was supported by more normal cross-border trucking services as the COVID-19 situation on the Chinese Mainland stabilised. This resulted in a good level of cargo being carried in the first half of January. However, as we approached the Lunar New Year period, overall demand softened as factories closed for the holidays. This drop-off was expected and we rationalised our freighter capacity in advance to reflect the reduced demand. Therefore, our tonnage in January decreased 11% month on month, while our cargo flight capacity declined 4% compared with the previous month. Load factor was about 62%.

Outlook

“Looking at February and beyond, we are working hard to increase our passenger flight capacity as much as possible over the coming months, especially in the lead-up to the Easter holiday. Demand for flights to and from the Chinese Mainland, both for point-to-point and connecting traffic via Hong Kong, is expected to grow and we are endeavouring to provide more options for our customers as quickly as feasible. We are on track to operate more than 100 return flights per week to 14 cities in the Chinese Mainland by the end of this month.

“Regarding cargo, demand will take some time to recover following the Lunar New Year holidays. We expect regional lanes to resume earlier than long-haul lanes, as is typical for this period.”

JustMyRoots has announced the submission of their two revolutionary patents that are going to change the course of the food delivery industry. Along with CSIR-CFTRI (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research) (Central Food Technological Research Institute), have developed Biodegradable thermo-stable containers for cold and hot supply chains for food products. The containers developed for hot food chain supply are capable of keeping perishable food hot between 42-65 degrees Celsius for up to 10 hours. This technology will reform food delivery for restaurants located 10+ km away or even in another city. The technology used for cold supply chain containers is capable of keeping perishable food fresh for up to 72 hours by maintaining its temperature between 2-8 degrees Celsius. The new technology will help JustMyRoots to expand its services both domestically and internationally. They already use a state-of-the-art packaging system that keeps the flavors intact, and a cooling system that stores the food at 2-8 degrees Centigrade, keeping the food fresh without preservatives for up to 24 hours.

Mr. Samiran Sengupta, CEO & Founder, JustMyRoots is an alumnus of IIM-A and IMD Lausanne. He has held many global and regional roles in Shell and Reckitt Benckiser, mostly in the area of Supply Chain and Business Processes. He is experienced in Building Technology based Supply Chains and Demand Management Enterprise Applications. He says,

“With JustMyRoots you are never away from either your favorite restaurant or the nostalgic dish cooked by your mom, we have perfected the art of intercity perishable food delivery without adding preservatives or freezing the food. Our two new patents are going to allow us to expand our horizon domestically as well as internationally.”

With the new packaging, JustMyRoots will pick up the food from the restaurant in the original restaurant container and transports it to the JustMyRoots office, where it would be placed in thermo-stable, biodegradable, reusable packaging and air shipped to the receiving city. The order is picked up from the airport and delivered to the customer by a delivery agent in the receiving city.

The technologies that are available in the market are rigid non-biodegradable containers that are not suitable for reverse logistics and therefore do not help in reducing carbon footprint, nor are they capable of holding food at the required temperatures for as long as JustMyRoots is offering. This technology invented by JustMyRoots will significantly change the way we look at take-out food. You can visit https://justmyroots.com/ or download their app ‘justmyroots’ from the play store or App store

Feb 16, 2023: India’s leading financial technology providers Craft Silicon and Legality have forged a strategic alliance to transform the Microlending Industry into a delightful and paperless experience. The partnership will address logistical and operational challenges in the processing of paperwork for seamless disbursal while enhancing technology adoption.

The partnership between Craft Silicon and Leegality will enable financial institutions to streamline field operations along with providing secured digital verification, digital paperwork, and smooth customer onboarding. Leegality’s Secure Virtual Signature, in conjunction with Face Capture, ensures 100% compliance and security in every transaction and is readily Integrated with Craft Silicon’s Loan Origination System. Microfinance Institutions will no longer have to look for separate service providers for digital paperwork and its integration with LOS / LMS.

Speaking on the partnership, Siva Kumar, CEO – of Asia, Craft Silicon, said, “Over the last few years, rural India has seen a significant rise in technology adaption and India Stack has further helped in supporting various digital initiatives. Our alliance with Leegality will open new avenues for financial institutions and will offer a comprehensive solution to automate the documentation process securely and seamlessly. This is in addition to our efforts to fully digitize the financial inclusion loan origination process and reduce the operational costs for both end borrowers and the institution.”

Digitization helps Microlending Institutions attain better portfolio management, improved service, and reduced time as compared to the manual offering.

Shivam Singla, Founder & CEO, Legality, “We are extremely proud to partner with Craft Silicon, one of the leading providers of next-gen tech solutions for the banking and microfinance sector in India. Both Craft Silicon and Leegality are committed to driving financial inclusion in India by helping financial institutions increase their coverage to unbanked and underbanked segments through secure digital solutions. This partnership will provide BFSI companies a one-stop solution to digitally transform their operations for a better customer experience and accelerated business growth.”

Core loan management solution runs on a modern enterprise platform with robust architecture and easy-to-use technology that are custom developed to meet every micro-lending requirement. Craft Silicon worked closely with Leegality to deliver a remote implementation, providing expert support and consultation to ensure a smooth installation.

Maintaining physical paperwork poses business costs to microlending institutions:

• · High Cost: Printing all loan application forms, KYC documents, and identification documents for verification. Warehousing, transportation, and courier costs.
• · Compliance Risk: Physical paperwork is prone to damage, wear and tear, and manual errors – leaving financial institutions vulnerable during RBI audits.
• · Team Utilization: Manpower is wasted on mundane paperwork-related tasks like physical verification and transportation of voluminous documents. With a digital solution, their productivity can be better utilized in collections and other services.
• · Delayed Disbursals and Customer Experience: Physical paperwork significantly increases turnaround time and delays disbursals. With a faster verification process and remote onboarding, Financial Institutions can now boost customer experience to a higher level.

With technology adoption, documents are just one click away and are easily accessible on its DMS. They can be auto-populated via the template Engine eliminating any chance of human error.

Mumbai: February 16, 2023 – Chain Reactor Music & Media, a new-age, multi-dimensional music licensing and music marketing agency, was able to procure licenses of over 50 Bollywood songs from 10 major labels in just under 48 hours! This quick turnaround of sorting out the legalities related to these music licenses made the live broadcast of the grand opening ceremony of the Hockey World Cup a truly mesmerizing and entertaining experience for the audience.

The dazzling opening ceremony of the mega sports event was recently attended by hockey fans from all over India and overseas in Cuttack, Odisha, and featured action-packed performances by Ranveer Singh, Disha Patani, Pritam and Lisa Mishra among others, all grooving to Bollywood hits. The ceremony was aired on DD Sports, Star Sports and YouTube.

“We are overjoyed to be given this opportunity to make the Hockey World Cup a memorable experience for the audience, through what was probably, one of the fastest licensing deals ever. We were able to pull this off because of our long-term relationships with the majors. This would not have been possible without their support,” said Anurag Rao, CEO, of Chain Reactor.

Chain reactor’s long-term relationships with major record labels, collecting societies, and artists enable them to provide end-to-end music supervision and licensing solutions across TVC, live entertainment, and brand campaigns. Chain Reactor has also licensed music and content for premium brands such as Dream 11, Swiggy, Amazon Prime, A23, Hotstar, ISL, Purplle cosmetics, and Nokia amongst others.

“The demand for popular music in advertising is on an upswing. However, many brands are still unaware of ‘music rights’ and how to procure content the right way. We help bridge that gap,” added Rao.

Chain Reactor’s other areas of specialization are dialogue licensing, brand anthems, footage licensing, music supervision, and talent booking in the media and entertainment space.