Category business

World University of Design and IIT Delhi hosted the 3rd International Conference on Functional Textiles and Clothing (FTC 2023) slated for February 10th to 12th, 2023 at LHC 111, Lecture Hall Complex, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi. The Inaugural Session was conducted on Saturday, February 11th, 2023.

Spread over three days, the conference aims to focus on various aspects of the textile and clothing industry and the technological advancements at play along with its impact on the environment. Representatives from renowned universities from across the globe have been invited to pilot path breaking sessions, sharing their varied experiences and research work with students and faculty members.

The Inauguration session was addressed by Mr. Rajeev Saxena (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India) who has thrown light upon the ‘National Technical Textiles Mission’; Prof. Xianyi Zeng (ENSAIT, France) emphasizing upon ‘Creation of a Green Textile Environment Protection Oriented Supply Chain Through Intelligent Digital Form’ and Dr. Mayank Dwivedi (Director, DMSRDE, Kanpur) shared his insights and theories on the topic ‘Textile Materials in Defense Application’.

Chair of the Scientific Committee Prof. Abhijit Majumdar while talking about the response to the conference said, “Over a hundred speakers will be presenting their work in three parallel sessions and 30 researchers will be presenting posters. The speakers are coming from nearly 70 institutions across 20 countries worldwide. This is an excellent response from the scientific committee.”

Prof Sanjay Gupta, Co-Chair of the Organising industry and Vice Chancellor of the World University of Design said, “Textile industry as a whole is multifaceted machinery involving scientific and technical aspects and grosses a huge section of the GDP for India. At the same time, the industry is constantly on the radar of environmentalists for wasteful practices which in the past decade have been checked and rectified across nations and manufacturers to create sustainable and circular chains. Going beyond basic aesthetics and building functionalities in textile and clothing, adds value to the whole supply chain. Hosting this conference with IIT Delhi gives me immense pleasure and I am keen on hearing enriching insights from experts in the field.”

The Conference thus is an enriching opportunity to brainstorm and learn from for students and faculty alike. Touching and pondering over topics across verticals like marketing, engineering, ecology, science, etc involved in the trade of textiles will prove to be the key to taking a voyage towards modernization of the industry, making it relevant to current times whilst gauging the challenges it faces at the hands of changing ecology, consumer trends, etc.

Monday 13 February 2023: The Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) team, in partnership with the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), have this morning launched their 30-year celebratory event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC).

AIME is the leading trade event for the meetings and event industry in the Asia Pacific region. It is where industry decision-makers connect, create, and do business. AIME brings together international and local buyers to access the best exhibitors from around the world. The event is owned by MCB and managed by Talk2 Media & Events.

More than 400 hosted buyers, over 350 exhibitors, and 2,000 visitors are expected to attend AIME 2023. With 25 countries represented at AIME and 12,000 meetings pre-scheduled, the show floor is going to be a hive of activity. New event features include: The Accor Hosted Buyers Lounge, a ‘Tech’ area, and a Wellness Café. An enormous kangaroo and a special anniversary lanyard featuring First Nations’ artwork, are some of the ‘touches of Australia’ delegates will be treated to throughout.

AIME commenced this morning with an official press conference at THE LUME, Melbourne featuring The Hon. Steve Dimopoulos MP, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events; Minister for Creative Industries, Julia Swanson, CEO, Melbourne Convention Bureau, Natalie O’Brien AM, CEO, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and Phillipa Harrison, Managing Director, Tourism Australia (quotes below). The trade show will continue over three days (13-15 February) at MCEC where the industry will come together to celebrate AIME’s 30th Anniversary.

Following the official press conference this morning – Monday 13 February – is AIME’s Knowledge Program: the launchpad for the global events industry to come together and immerse in learning. The program will include an address from Australian tennis star, Jelena Dokic, and will see a mix of industry business leaders and renowned professionals as well as keynote speakers share their knowledge and experience.

Concluding AIME’s first day will be the eagerly anticipated Welcome Event held this evening – Monday 13 February – at Marvel Stadium. The event, which is co-hosted with MCB, will see delegates celebrate on the Marvel Stadium oval where the world’s largest sporting and music events have taken place. State-of-the-art pearl theming celebrating 30 years will be mirrored in a directional menu curated by Victorian producers, Delaware North. Entertainment will pay homage to AIME’s 30-year legacy.

India, 11th February 2023: Unacademy, India’s largest learning platform, announced that 6380 Unacademy Learners secured over 90 percentile of which over 864 Learners scored 99 percentile plus and 67 Learners achieved over 99.9 percentile in JEE Main 2023 Session 1 examination. Over 3748 Learners secured 95+ percentile. 6380 Learners secured over 90+ percentile. The examination will help Learners get admission to top engineering colleges and technical institutes in the country.

Additionally, 2 Unacademy Learners secured the highest percentile in the exam with 35 subject-wise 100 percentiles. Amongst the toppers are, Deshank Pratap Singh (100 Percentile) from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Nipun Goel (100 Percentile) from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, Toshit Jain (99.98 percentile) from Vadodara, Gujarat, Arnav Agarwal (99.94 percentile) from Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Ayush Jha (99.85 percentile) from Faridabad, Haryana.

Key highlights of the Unacademy JEE Main Session 1 2023 exam results:

• 2 Learners secured 100 percentile
• 33 Learners secured 100 percentile subject-wise
• 67 Learners secured over 99.9 percentile
• 864 Learners secured over 99 percentile
• 1676 Learners secured over 98 percentile

Unacademy is the leading online learning platform for JEE exams. Through best-in-class offerings like high-quality content, 1:1 live sessions, and personalized mentorship from top Educators, Unacademy has emerged as a popular space for Learners to excel in their educational journey. Further with the recent launch of Unacademy Centres across Kota, Lucknow, Noida, Ahmedabad, Patna, and several others, JEE Learners now have access to a premium learning experience with high-tech infrastructure.

Bengaluru, 11th February 2023: Kotak Mahindra Bank (“KMBL” / “Bank”) today announced that it has executed binding share purchase agreement(s) to acquire 100% of equity shares of Sonata Finance Private Limited (“SFPL”), a Non-Banking Finance Company, classified as an NBFC-MFI, from existing shareholders, subject to regulatory and other approvals, including from Reserve Bank of India.

Transaction Structure and Valuation

The acquisition is for an aggregate all-cash consideration of approximately ₹ 537 crores. With this acquisition, SFPL will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank after receiving regulatory and other approvals.

Strategic Rationale

• Financial inclusion: SFPL provides a strong platform to enable the Bank to become a significant player in the financial inclusion segment, catering to economically weaker and underserved households in a commercially viable manner.
• Complementary branch network: As of Dec 31, 2022, SFPL has an Asset Under Management(AUM) of ~₹ 1,903 crores, servicing a customer base of ~9.0 lacs through a branch network of 502 branches across 10 states, which complements the Bank’s microfinance network.
• Potential to scale: The Transaction provides the Bank with the opportunity to scale up its operations in the rural & semi-urban markets in the northern states of India. SFPL is an established microfinance player with almost two decades of experience and a deep understanding of customers in these markets.
• Value accretive: The acquisition is expected to be value accretive from inception given the economies of scale and unlocking of efficiencies along with the Bank’s own distribution footprint and technology. The Bank will also leverage SFPL’s network to provide a wider suite of banking products to SFPL’s customer base matching their emerging banking needs.

Manish Kothari, President – Commercial Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “Sonata is a leading microfinance player and has built a strong enterprise over the last two decades. This acquisition is in sync with our broad vision and strategy. We had successfully acquired BSS Microfinance in 2017 and since then have been able to integrate & steadily grow our presence in the financial inclusion segment with an advances book in excess of ₹ 5,300 crores serving ~1.3 million borrowers. There are significant potential synergies to be realized as a result of this acquisition and we look forward to continuing serving the customers in a smooth and consistent manner and ensuring their needs are well-served going forward”.

Mr Anup Kumar Singh, CEO and MD of SFPL said, “I am extremely pleased that Sonata will be in the trusted and experienced hands of the Kotak Mahindra Group. Sonata was started with the objective of providing financing to underserved customer segments. I believe this mission is best served in a scalable and sustainable manner on a big bank’s platform. The transaction will bring immense benefits to Sonata’s customers, employees, and other stakeholders. I am pleased that current customer households of Sonata will benefit from Kotak Bank’s full range of products and best-in-class digital services.”

“ I would like to thank all my investors, customers, employees, and other stakeholders who contributed in building the Company to this stage.”

India, 11th February 2023: Valentine’s week has taken an environment-friendly turn for the multi-modal app, Tummoc. The patented public transport commute app decided to put an eco-friendly spin on the celebrated day of lovers by highlighting that Valentine’s doesn’t have to be about extravagant gifts and fancy dinners. The motive of the campaign is to encourage commuters to do things that are both wholesome and planet friendly and spread awareness among them to take public transport instead of using private vehicles to cut down carbon emissions in the city with #LoveIsSimpleMakeItGreen and #LoveForThePlanetToo.

With regard to climate change and the reduction of pollution in big cities, Monalisha Thakur, Co-Founder & CMO at Tummoc said,” Usage of fossil fuels is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. Our mission is to prioritize urban mobility and this can only happen if people will start traveling more by public transport. Through this small initiative, we want commuters to show some love for the environment. Valentine’s Day can be quite difficult for the environment. But it doesn’t have to be as there are ways to do this sustainably and with love for the Earth.”

The campaign is targeting commuters from 18-35 years of age. It is not only for couples but also for singles and everyone whose first priority should always be mother earth. Tummoc makes the public transport experience more interesting by calculating the time spent in public transport and the amount of carbon users would have emitted in case of private transport usage. Tummoc has also taken an initiative where they plant trees on user behalf on the amount of carbon they have saved by traveling via public transport through their app.

Tummoc started to focus on global warming and other types of pollution that increasing urbanization and resultant urban travel have led to. Its primary goal is to move people from private transport to public transportation and reduce the number of greenhouse gases being released from vehicular movement. It strives to be a carbon-neutral company in the next five years.

This smart commute app has a total user base of 2M+ Users, and is currently operational in 17 cities, having completed 2M+ plus trips so far and Bengaluru users have booked 800K+ BMTC bus passes so far.

Bengaluru, 11th February 2023: Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (“KMBL”/“Kotak”) today announced an increase in fixed deposit interest rates across select amounts and tenor buckets by up to 25bps.

In the 15 months to 2 years, tenor bucket the Bank now offers 7.25% for deposit amounts Rs.2crs to 5crs and 7.10% for deposit amounts up to Rs.2 cars in the 12 months 25 days to 2 years tenor bucket. Additionally, Senior Citizens are now offered a rate of 7.60% for deposit amounts of up to Rs.2 cars in the same tenor. The revised rates will be effective 10th Feb 2023.

Virat Diwanji, Group President and Head – of Consumer Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “With the RBI increasing key interest rates, we have passed on the benefit to our valuable customers offering them a higher return on their savings.” *

KMBL’s Revised Fixed Deposit Interest Rates in specific buckets:

Visakhapatnam: February 11 th, 2023: Adani Gangavaram Port the deepest and the most modern port in the country today inducted a new Loco Train to enhance the operational capacity & efficiency in rake handling from the port. The Port infrastructure is being developed with forward planning for future requirements of increased volumes of rakes future. The port has also set a new record of handling 600 rakes in a month. Previously the Gangavaram port handled 594 Rakes in December month.

The Port is having state of the art infrastructure facilities to manage various imports and export cargo having deep-depth multi-purpose cargo berths. In addition to that Adani, Gangavaram Port is equipped with vast storage facilities including covered warehouses to manage various cargos and state-of-the-art material handling systems. Adani GPL is consistently performing well and creating newer records for cargo management.

Speaking on the occasion Adani Gangavaram Port Limited management said “We are extremely delighted on adding a new loco at the port and also achieve the new record of handling 600 rakes in one month. We at Adani Gangavaram Port offer substantial economic benefits to Indian importers combined with highly efficient port operations and evacuation system with faster turnaround time & delivery. We are extremely happy to see the trade derive benefits of modern deep-water infrastructure.”

Bengaluru, 1 1February 2023: MPOWER Financing, the leading provider of scholarships and no-cosigner loans to students from around the world, recently inaugurated a new workspace in Hebbal, Bengaluru. The team launched a brand-new, 22,000 sq. ft office, situated on the ninth floor of a high-rise building. Brick walls are creatively substituted with floor-length glass windows specially designed to enhance the free flow of creativity and novel thinking.

The newly inaugurated office has a seating capacity of over 200 people, expandable to 400 seats, to accommodate MPOWER’s ambitious employee growth plans. The new office is part of MPOWER’s philosophy of maximizing employee productivity and satisfaction, through state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, benefits, and flexible policies. For instance, MPOWER provides onsite meals, cab facilities, a doctor’s clinic, a coffee shop, an in-house cafe, games rooms, a cloud kitchen, and a small grocery shop. There is a daycare service nearby to maximize the convenience of working parents. Large open collaborative spaces, conference rooms, telephone booths, and training rooms have been designed to mirror MPOWER’s collaborative work style.

Expressing his thoughts on the inauguration of the new office, Mr. Manu Smadja, CEO and Co-founder of MPOWER Financing said, “We are excited about this new workspace which is designed with employee interests at heart and is focused on providing a healthy, collaborative, and supportive work environment for everyone. Since raising USD$100 million from a consortium of investors in 2021, our growth has continued to accelerate. Through this bigger and better office space, we aim to stay true to our core values and our mission of providing access to education for an ever-growing number of bright students from around the world.”

MPOWER Financing has been recognized as a great place to work and is actively hiring for various roles such as engineering managers, salesforce developers, relationship managers, underwriters, and content managers in Bengaluru.

Established in the year 1965 as a medical products manufacturing company, Medtech Life Pvt. Ltd. diversified in the year 1998 to manufacture electro-medical products. Medtech is the pioneer Indian manufacturer of home healthcare devices. Today they are India’s largest manufacturer of homecare electromedical devices.

With their manufacturing unit set up in Gujarat across 1.2 Lakh Sq. Ft. area, the company manufactures a wide range of products including Nebulizers, Blood Pressure Monitors, Digital Thermometers, Pulse Oximeters, and Oxygen Concentrators, to name a few.

Innovation being one of their core values, the company has been renowned for pioneering and leading in the production of nebulizers in India. It also has a DSIR-approved Research and Development Division that continuously innovates and develops new products.

In 1998, Yogesh Shah (Director – Medtech Life), a Biomedical Engineer launched the needle burner and syringe destroyer, a thoughtfully designed inventive product, to save lives of para-medicals, rag- pickers, and sanitation workers, who are exposed to the threat of undisposed needles and syringes. These devices can save millions of lives that are lost due to needle-struck injuries every year.

Firm believers in the concept of swadeshi, Medtech declined a lucrative acquisition offer by another foreign giant in the year 2018 and decided to continue manufacturing in India. It is recognized as a trusted brand in India for over 20 years, especially amongst distributor channels, not only owing to the quality of products but also the post-sales services and value delivered. With a consumer-centric thought process, they also provide doorstep replacement/repair of products and offer end-to-end customer support.

During the pandemic Covid19, the company set up mobile vans with oxygen concentrators across remote areas of India like Goa, Satara, and Mumbai. These vans were fitted with battery banks to power oxygen concentrators and were used to provide free oxygen supply to the ones in need.

With a focused approach to being enablers of longevity and saving lives, Medtech is envisaging spreading awareness about the need for monitoring health periodically and manufacturing superior quality devices for personal healthcare and wellness to the larger population of the country.

Hyderabad: 11th February 2023: Kairos Technologies, a global organization, with its delivery center in Hyderabad, Telangana announces the setting up of a dedicated R&D center K-Labs. K-Labs will have an investment to build new generation products combined with Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence with state-of-the-art technology. With a current size of 1000 employees, the company plans to hire 400 more employees this year across different geographies to foster future growth.

Kairos takes this opportunity to reincarnate itself with a new logo, theme, and style. This new identity will help the company to connect meaningfully with its customers. The new-age customers are embarking on the journey of digital transformation and Kairo’s new service portfolio helps the company align with its customer positioning and grow together.

Kairos is focused on being a global technology-driven company that embraces change, invests in innovation, and seeks out new challenges, with the clear goal of achieving what is possible. The new branding is based on the company’s heritage, technology, and people – three factors that have helped shape the company and its portfolio.

According to Mr. Sudhakar Pennam, Founder & CEO, of Kairos Technologies and Solunus, “We are problem solvers who strive to be better for our customers, each other, and our community. Kairos’s ethos is Persistent Ingenuity, pushing ourselves to find new answers and to keep thinking and innovating. Our end-to-end portfolio of Digital Quality Engineering Solutions and Services helps businesses to confidently scale up their digital landscape and harness the power of proven and evolving technologies for growth and business agility. The new identity truly reflects our passion to pioneer technologies that will help change the world. To promote innovation and digital transformation, we are planning to hire 400 more employees this year to further strengthen our team of passionate technology professionals.”

He further added, “We are also proud to introduce 2 new IP Led solutions from our dynamic R&D Lab (K-Lab). KiTAP – Kairos Intelligent Test Automation Platform, is an AI-driven Low-Code Test Automation Platform that seamlessly integrates with CI/CD Pipeline. It is the first AI-Powered Test Automation Platform with Source Code Deployment on the client’s Test Infra, which combines the power of AI and Human Intelligence for the digital-next businesses. Also, we introduce DQ-Gateway – an all-in-one no-code solution for Data Quality assessment. It is a unique Data Quality solution built for Data Analysts to ensure the quality of client’s data in an interactive visual manner. These products will further enhance our services and solutions for the digital transformation of our customers.”

“Technology is growing at a rapid pace, and we see Innovation happening every day. However, for this Innovation to go mainstream, a thorough validation of Consumer Experience becomes mandatory. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning need a lot of data modeling and learning before they can go mainstream. So new age testing is needed to validate these models and we are building AI to validate AI” is what Ms. Radhika Rao, CDO of Kairos Technologies says. Exciting times call for bold actions and Radhika says there cannot be a better time and place than now to re-engineer the future.

According to Mr. Jagadish Mankal, COO of Kairos Technologies, “The new identity helps us connect meaningfully with our customers. The future-ready Kairos is equipped with an enhanced service portfolio and innovative products to help customers in their digital transformation.”