India March 30, 2023: InCruiter, a leading interview solution provider, has partnered with Taggd, a subsidiary of PeopleStrong, to expedite its hiring process. As part of this collaboration, InCruiter has equipped the company with its hero product, Interview-as-a-Service (IaaS), to seamlessly conduct interviews and shortlist the best talents for various IT and Non-IT roles have gradually boosted the Taggd employee headcount.

By leveraging this alliance, Taggd has successfully conducted around 900 interviews in the last one and a half months and has significantly benefited from the outstanding results. The IaaS platform has helped Taggd scale up its operations, recording exponential growth, which is no less than a milestone for the company.

Anil Agarwal, CEO & Co-Founder InCruiter said, “We are happy to collaborate with Taggd and add value to their business. It has been a great experience for us to work with their team in finding top talents, boosting their hiring process by 1.5X, and streamlining their recruitment process. With this partnership, we also got the opportunity to expand our customer base, making this synergy a win-win for both of us. We will continue to associate with more players in the future with an intent to make their hiring journeys smooth and hassle-free.”

Taggd President, Mr. Devashish Sharma, said, “We are delighted to join hands with a leading Interview as a Service partner like InCruiter that has been doing a phenomenal job in this domain. Through IaaS, we have brought great talents to strengthen our existing teams and scale our operations to new heights. We look forward to this synergy and hope to benefit each other in the coming months.”

Since its inception, InCruiter has strived to innovate the employee onboarding experience for its clients through world-class remote hiring solutions. Standing tall today, it comprises a team of more than 2200 interviewers and 200+ clients, including industry-leading names like Mahindra and Practo, seamlessly conducting over 100K interview minutes daily.

Delhi, 30 March 2023: Asia’s largest integrated learning, skilling, and workforce development company – upGrad confirmed that an internal Rights Issue was completed for INR 300 crore. In this internal round, Temasek contributed INR 81 crore and Ronnie Screwvala – Co-founder & Chairperson at upGrad, contributed INR 212 crore, while other minority stakeholders completed the balance.

Commenting on this development, a spokesperson from upGrad said, “Yes, we confirm the internal round. The company is focused on its organic and in-organic growth across multiple verticals of formal education via degree, diploma, and doctorate courses in partnership with the best universities in India and globally. upGrad is also focused on a large segment of Skilling, Short-Certification courses, Bootcamps, and Job-linked programs coupled with the fast-growing sector of Study Abroad. We continue to maintain our leadership of being the largest enterprise and workforce development company in Asia. Completing 22,000 placements into jobs just this year is a testament to our model and the high level of interactive deep learning we offer our learners and working professionals around the world.”

upGrad operates out of 31 offices located in India, USA, UK, Middle East, Singapore & Vietnam.

Chennai, 30 March 2023: Prodapt, the largest and fastest-growing specialized player in the Connectedness industry, has announced the elevation of Harsha Kumar to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Harsha takes over from Founder and CEO Vedant Jhaver, who will serve as the Chairman of Prodapt.

Congratulating Harsha on his new role, Vedant Jhaver said: “Harsha has been a big strength and partner to me over these years. His discipline and focus on execution have been critical to Prodapt’s leadership position in the Connectedness vertical. Harsha has built a reputation for being a dynamic and passionate leader with the highest levels of integrity and discipline in executing our strategy. With Harsha at the helm, Prodapt will continue to break new ground and solve our customers’ complex business challenges.”

As President over the last seven years, Harsha has played important roles in helping define growth strategies, delivering strong results through deep customer relationships, scaling practice areas, developing leadership talent, and building a strong operations organization for future growth.

As Prodapt is poised to strengthen its position as a category leader, Harsha will lead strategy, oversee business operations, and steer people & delivery excellence toward greater heights.

On the appointment to this new role, Harsha commented: “I am honored that the Prodapt Board has chosen me as the next CEO of Prodapt. We have a fantastic team at Prodapt and a proven strategy. I am excited to work closely with the leadership team and accelerate our company’s success with guidance from the Board and Vedant. In the coming years, Prodapt will be the default partner of choice in the Connectedness industry and shape the way people, enterprises, and machines engage with each other.”

Before joining Prodapt, Harsha held several leadership positions in the technology services industry and has successfully incubated and scaled several businesses that have grown to become large divisions. He also co-founded a software product company prior to that. He holds degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and the University of Maryland, College Park.

Prodapt provides technology services and consulting to clients across every layer of the Connectedness vertical, including the largest communications, media, and technology firms around the world. With over 6,000 technology and domain experts across 30+ countries, the company continues to grow its workforce rapidly across 5 continents.

Bengaluru,30 March 2023: Fyn Mobility, India’s 1st vertically integrated EV-as-a-Service platform for last-mile logistics founded by Visakh Sasikumar at IIT Madras has announced the appointment of Niroop Janardhannan as the Chief Business Officer, who comes with close to two decades of experience as an accomplished business leader across sectors like FMCG, Mobility, Agritech, and Edtech industries.

Prior to joining Fyn Mobility as a Chief Business Officer, Niroop worked with Unacademy as a VP where he was responsible for helping the company venture into the offline test prep market by efficiently driving growth plans and rapid expansion. Niroop has also served in various other leadership roles throughout his career, including launching Olacabs in the UK and scaling the S&D business at Ninjacart. More recently, Niroop Co-founded an automotive service & spares platform before moving on to lead growth for Unacademy for their offline channel. He started his corporate career at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, where he spent a decade across functions and geographies.

Commenting on Niroop’s appointment, Visakh Sasikumar, CEO & Founder, Fyn Mobility, says, “Fyn’s philosophy is to redefine EV-as-a-service ecosystem with the industry first EV ecosystem platform. We are progressing towards becoming India’s largest tech based EV as-a-service company with a laser sharp focus on automated cross-utilization of our EV fleets. With Niroop joining as a CBO, we are confident that he will drive our business with profitability and expand to multiple cities in the coming financial year. He has always been part of high-growth stories in his previous stints at COKE, OLA, Ninjacart and Unacademy. Here at Fyn, we are all set for an exponential growth as he joins our high energy team”

Niroop holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode and a Mechanical Engineering degree from VTU and has a deep understanding of the B2C, B2B, and B2B2C segments leading several 0 to 1 and 1 to 100 projects.

At Fyn, Niroop aims to drive customer centric partnerships with over 5000 vehicles on the ground in the next 1 year and make Fyn the first choice of EV solutions for last-mile logistics across tier 1 and tier 2 cities. With his core expertise in expansion, building along with scaling across functional teams, and driving profitability, Niroop will assist Fyn to reach their vision to be the largest EV as a service ecosystem platform in India.

Commenting on his appointment, Niroop Janardhanan, Chief Business Officer, Fyn Mobility, says, “My primary focus will be to build processes and automate our systems, building a strong customer-centric foundation for scaling up in our existing operations and expansion to more cities delivering an 8-10X growth on our top line in the next 1 year. For the rapidly growing last-mile mobility coupled with the EV space, it is extremely important to collaborate seamlessly and efficiently with suppliers, partners, and customers in real-time and it really excites me that Fyn mobility is leading the pack with our platform development. The platform will have all the stakeholders on it, driving digital automated collaboration to disrupt the ecosystem towards higher asset utilisation, which will be the game changer in the industry. With our past EV building background, Fyn is best placed to leverage this technology and will have an edge over competitors. My efforts will also be around refining our business model to drive profitability such that our cost structures around operations remain nearly flat while we can scale up.”

Fyn is currently present in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai and plans to expand to Mumbai and Delhi soon. Fyn mobility Provides B2B Last-mile deliveries through EV fleets for E-commerce, Quick-commerce, Medical commerce, F&B Deliveries, and EV fleets for Delivery giants. It also provides B2B EV commute to organizations, co-working spaces, and Offices for their employee and staff’s last-mile connectivity. Fyn has raised $2.76 M to date and is backed by large early-stage investors like Keiretsu forum, Inflection Point Ventures, and Salarpuria Sattva Group. The EV as a Service Platform looks forward to expanding its fleet to 1,250 EVs by reaching more last-mile-delivery clients. The company also aims to set up charging infra/stations with their partners and is looking to raise Series A by the end of the year.

 Bengaluru, March 30, 2023, Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) under the Department of Information and Communication Technology (I and CT) inaugurated Ping 2.0.2.3 The theme of the Ping 2.0.2.3 workshop “IEEE Sustainable Development Platform – Next-gen tech. powered by AI.” highlights the importance of sustainable development in the current technological landscape.

The guest of honour of the event was Mr. Sudhir Mahale, Vice President of Cloud & AI Architecture at Deutsche Bank who was cordially introduced by Dr. Manjula Shenoy, Professor, Dept. of I and CT, MIT Manipal. Mr. Sudhir Mahale addressed the need for sustainability and described Artificial Intelligence to be: “A driving force with the ability to combat the most pressing environmental and social challenges facing the world today, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security”.

The concept behind this event and the idea of PING was elaborated by Dr. Manohara Pai, the workshop’s originator who spoke briefly on the workshop’s relevance to MIT staff and students over the years and emphasized the necessity of sustainability in all sectors, such as industries and educational institutions, and how AI has become a commodity in today’s world.

The event commenced with a melodious invocation song by Mrs. Pavithra K.C, Research Scholar, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal followed by the lighting of the lamp by the esteemed dignitaries present at the event to invoke good spirits.

Dr. Balachandra, Professor of I and CT, introduced the function’s chief guest, Dr. Giridhar Kini, Registrar, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) who warmly congratulated one of MIT’s longest iterating workshops- PING, and emphasized how the MAHE management is keen on their endeavors to contribute and educate students on understanding the importance of sustainability.

Looking back at the meticulously planned event Dr. (Cdr) Anil Rana, Director of MIT said that “ At MIT we believe in “introducing fresh themes under the PING workshop every year to help achieve the expanding market expectations”.

The Ping 2.0.2.3 inauguration function was a resounding success where participants had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from industry experts- Mr. Sudhir Mahale, Vice President for Cloud & AI Architecture, Deutsche Bank, Mr. Gautam U Bhat, Customer Success Manager – Architect IBM, Mr. Kiran Puthukudy, Chief Architect & DevOps Leader, cYAAG Technologies, and Mr. Gautam Bhat, CTO, cYAAG Technologies about the latest trends, best practices, and emerging technologies in the field. Following the successful inauguration and the overwhelming response, the convener of ping 2.0.2.3 Dr. Preetham Kumar, Deputy Registrar-Academics (Technical) MAHE, Professor, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal, proposed the vote of thanks by expressing his gratitude to the entire team of Dept. of I and CT for the success of the event.

Other dignitaries in attendance included Dr. Smitha Pai, Head of the Department (HOD), Dept. of I and CT MIT, Manipal, Dr. Preetham Kumar, Deputy Registrar-Academics (Technical) MAHE, Professor, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal, and Convener of PING, Dr. Manohara Pai M.M., Professor, Dept. of I and CT MIT Manipal, and the founding HOD of the Department of I and CT, and Dr. Veena Mayya, Assistant Professor – Senior Scale, Dept. of I and CT, MIT Manipal and Co-Convener of PING.

New Delhi, 30th March 2023: MrMed, India’s top online pharmacy for super- speciality medicines, has announced the launch of its mobile app. Available on Android and iOS platforms, the app allows patients and caregivers to purchase speciality medicines at affordable prices easily.

With this launch, patients and caregivers across India (including tier-2 and 3 cities, towns and villages) will have access to over 5000 speciality medicines for conditions like cancer, transplants, kidney/ liver diseases and many more by simply uploading their prescriptions.

MrMed’s mobile app enables users to purchase these medicines with just a few clicks, offering flexible payment options, including online transactions and payment upon delivery. Additionally, the app provides transparent information about Patient Assistance Programs, alternate suggestions on medicines and order tracking for
doorstep delivery, making it a gamechanger in the speciality medicine industry.

Devashish Singh, Co-founder and CEO of MrMed, said, “The majority of medicines available on MrMed are life-saving, and we believe that no patient in any corner of the country should suffer due to delayed or limited access to affordable medicines. We’re proud to be the only platform offering up to 85% discounts on such essential medicines. Additionally, our expert healthcare blogs provide valuable information related to critical health conditions, ensuring that users are well- informed.”

Speciality medicines are typically not available in local pharmacies, and their deliveries can be time-consuming and expensive in some regions of the country. MrMed’s mobile app is surely a significant step towards ensuring timely and affordable access to life-saving medicines.

Mumbai, March 30, 2023 – TotalEnergies Marketing India Private Limited (TEMIPL) has inked partnership agreements with two Online to Offline (O2O) automobile service aggregators in India to enhance customer touchpoints across multiple channels. The service aggregators are VehicleCare and Automovill based in Gurugram and Bengaluru respectively.

With 59%* internet penetration in urban India, Indian consumers are increasingly looking for transparent, convenient, high-quality services at their doorstep. VehicleCare and Automovill both provide one-stop automobile services to vehicle owners – through just a few clicks on their mobile and desktop applications.

At TotalEnergies, customer centricity is a core focus of its efforts to enhance customer experience. The strategic partnerships between TEMIPL and the two O2O aggregators will allow TotalEnergies’ automotive lubricants to reach customers at over 750 car servicing workshops across the country by the end of 2023.

Commenting on the partnerships, Olivier Sabrié, Chairman & Managing Director, TEMIPL, said, “TotalEnergies has been at the forefront of driving digital innovation to offer greater value to our customers. Collaborating with Automovill and VehicleCare is in line with our focus to deliver quality lubricants through our partner workshops, directly to consumers. The O2O channel will provide more drive-ins to our partner workshops and convenient service to our customers.”

Mridu Mahendra Das, CEO of Automovill, said, “Automovill is excited for aligning itself with TotalEnergies O2O vision. Team Automovill is aggressively working on democratizing the aftersales service ecosystem in India through aggregating as well as onboarding workshops in its network. Partnering with TotalEnergies will give us the right traction to deliver quality to our customers.”

Arvind Verma, CEO of VehicleCare, added, “VehicleCare is thrilled to collaborate with TotalEnergies, and we believe that our shared vision of customer centricity will empower us even more in serving our customers better. With this new alliance, we look forward to providing our customers with a unique digital experience along with quality products to enhance their vehicle life cycle in the most efficient and tech-enabled way.”

TEMIPL has a growing portfolio of services and products across India including lubricants for automotive and industrial applications, LPG for domestic and commercial applications, and specialty applications products. Latest new service offerings include car care products and Wash services.

NEW YORK and NOIDA, India, March 30, 2023 — HCLTech, a leading global technology company, announced an expanded collaboration with Microsoft and Zebra Technologies to bring modern and connected workplace solutions to frontline worker populations across different industries. Trends in remote and hybrid work have mostly benefited information workers, while many frontline workers continue to use manual and paper-based processes. HCLTech, Microsoft, and Zebra aim to improve processes to enable frontline workers to provide robust customer support.

“Frontline workers, who rely on manual and paper-based processes to get work done today, will now have access to cloud-powered workplace solutions and services,” said Marianne Roling, Vice President, Global System Integrators, Microsoft. “We’re excited that as a result of our collaboration with HCLTech and Zebra, frontline workers will be able to take advantage of innovative and secure Microsoft 365 for Frontline Worker solutions that enable them to be more engaged, efficient and productive.” “Together, HCLTech, Microsoft, and Zebra are modernizing the worker experience to ensure every frontline worker is connected and optimally utilized. Our partnership will ensure continuous innovation to jointly deliver mobile, integrated, and secure solutions to enhance the frontline worker experience and achieve targeted outcomes around productivity, retention, engagement, and customer service by enabling workers to be their very best in any environment,” said Drew Ehlers, Head of Global Partners, Zebra Technologies.

HCLTech’s CloudSMART services harness the vast portfolio spanning every aspect of our global business to build end-to-end solutions across towers and technologies providing reassurance in supporting frontline employees across collaborative and productivity software, network security, backend systems, and third-party applications. As a result, Microsoft and Zebra’s vital resources ranging from rugged, purpose-built devices to support services, will continue to be amplified with global implementation and  integration from HCLTech. As workplace technology continuously evolves, providing frontline workers with the latest advancements remains a critical pillar in developing holistic solutions and is a key strategic priority for HCLTech, Microsoft and Zebra.

“Frontline workers are critical to the success of every organization, and it is imperative to empower them with the right tools and solutions. HCLTech, Microsoft, and Zebra have partnered to develop a comprehensive offering that helps enhance productivity and efficiency of the frontline workforce and enhance collaboration with the wider organization,” said Rakshit Ghura, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Digital Workplace Services, HCLTech.

The vision of collaboration is centered on productivity platform development with customers that will help identify use cases through the various frontline workers’ experiences across public and customer- facing operations. HCLTech’s complete set of managed services, including logistics, support, proactive maintenance, field services, consulting, training, and adoption services, will allow workers to excel and elevate their workplace.

It is that time of the year again when Cricket fever is ready to enthrall fans across the nation. As the players take the field, the excitement reaches a fever pitch, and the roar of the crowd fills the air. With each boundary and every wicket, the cheers and applause ring out, creating an atmosphere of pure excitement and adrenaline. That’s what you can expect when you head to FORMULA 11 KARTING. Enjoy the LIVE screening of matches as well as the delectable food menu with your friends and family in NOIDA

At Formula 11 Karting, you’re not just watching a match; you’re living and breathing every moment of it. The lively atmosphere, the delicious food, and the camaraderie with fellow fans make for an unforgettable experience. Also, relish the specially curated menu at Formula 11 Karting, which is nothing short of exceptional. From the luscious Smoked Barbeque Chicken Pizza to the lip-smacking Peri Peri Paneer Pizza, there is something for everyone to enjoy. The menu also features some refreshing mocktails like Virgin Mojito to quench your thirst and enhance your experience.

So, gather your friends, grab a seat, and let the excitement begin! As this is not just any ordinary screening; it’s an extravaganza of epic quotient that will leave you spellbound.

In addition to hosting live screenings of cricket matches, FORMULA 11 KARTING will also be hosting F1 races on the screens in association with Red Bull.

Date: 31st March 2023 onwards till 28th May 2023

Time: As per the cricket match schedule.

NEW DELHI, 29 March 2023: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership with Randstad India, one of the leading organizations in the HR services industry, has launched their exclusive survey on startup hiring trends. Over 300 startups participated in the survey.

Despite the current trend of layoffs among larger corporations, the survey highlights that a significant proportion (80%) of early-stage startups, those with a current workforce of fewer than 20 employees, are actively seeking to expand their workforce in 2023. Notably, these startups have secured Series A and Series B funding, are well-capitalized, and are actively seeking to hire new talent. 92% of these startups stated that their hiring decisions will primarily be driven by new project orders, additional funding raised from investors and expansion strategies.

While startups are planning to expand their workforce, a substantial portion, 31.92% anticipate an increase in hiring by over 30%. 28.08% of companies plan to expand their teams in the 11-20% range. Sectors like Agri/Agritech, AI/ML/Deeptech, Automotive, and E-commerce/delivery services are expected to increase hiring in the 11-20% range, while Aerospace & Defense, Energy, and Healthcare startups are expected to increase their hiring activities by over 30%. Overall, sectors depicting the highest intent to hire include healthcare (13%), IT/ITes (10%), agri/agritech (8%), AI/ML/DeepTech (7%), Fintech (7%) and Manufacturing (7%).

The study also states that hiring will primarily occur at the junior and mid-levels. Approximately 37.97% of startups have indicated that they intend to recruit more junior-level employees, while 27.27% of respondents are planning to focus on mid-level hiring. However, the Agri/agritech and automotive sectors will focus more on senior level C-suite hiring.

The survey further indicates that 54.38% of startups attribute the high attrition rate in the industry to factors such as better pay packages offered by larger corporations, as well as concerns over job security in a startup. Other factors contributing to attrition in startups include a lack of clarity around career progression and credibility.

Interestingly, 57.28% of the surveyed startups believe that ESOPs (Employee Stock Option Pool) have the potential to serve as an effective instrument for retaining employees. Furthermore, 41.49% of surveyed startups have already implemented ESOPs as a retention strategy.

In terms of hiring challenges faced by startups, the primary factors include a deficit in requisite skills, mismatches in salary expectations, and a reluctance among potential candidates to join a startup due to concerns over risk perception.

Mr Rohit Bansal, Chairman – FICCI Start-up Committee, and Co-founder, AceVector Group & Titan Capital said, “Startups create a large range of jobs as they grow and mature. As this report highlights, the initial opportunities arise as founders onboard the early team to help establish the business. A multiplier impact on job creation is seen in the growth and expansion stage when operations expand, and various initiatives mature. The dynamic working environment in startups provides the ideal training ground for aspiring entrepreneurs who then move on to create their own startups. This creates a virtuous cycle of growth, with each successive cohort adding jobs and enterprises. With their pan-India footprint, startups create jobs and economic opportunities beyond just the top cities and are key partners in India’s growth story.”

Presenting insights from the startup hiring trends survey, Mr. Viswanath PS, MD & CEO, Randstad India said, “Every large corporation once started as an early-stage company and navigated its way through several challenges to reach where they are today. It gives me immense pleasure to quote that startups are rapidly emerging as significant players in India’s employment landscape. With the emergence of several new-age innovative organizations across sectors, the Indian start-up ecosystem will be a significant contributor to India’s economic growth over the next few years. More importantly, these startups will eventually go on to create unique employment opportunities and career paths, innovation and competitive dynamics in the world of work.

Randstad’s exclusive survey in association with FICCI reveals that the majority of early-stage startups are exhibiting strong hiring intentions, which is a testament to the strength of India’s diverse talent pool that’s available in the job market today. I believe these early-stage startups and their growth ambitions will fuel the next phase of India Inc.’s emergence as the world’s most attractive employment hub. I am confident that the Randstad-FICCI Start-Up Hiring Trends Survey will provide unique insights into the country’s evolving startup ecosystem, ​key ​trends and its immense contribution to socio-economic development and transformation.”

Startup recruitment trends

a.Permanent vs Gig Workforce

• 57.76% of startups are looking for permanent recruits
• Only 42.24% are looking to hire temporary and gig workers

b. Geography in Focus

• Hyderabad and Pune are emerging as the frontrunners in senior-level hiring, reflecting strong intent among startups in these regions.
• Additionally, middle-level hiring is expected to be prominent across cities such as Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, and Delhi/NCR.
• A considerable proportion of hiring activity across startups is expected to occur at the junior level, with Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad being the prominent cities in this category.

c.Qualifications in Demand

• 45.21% of startups are looking to hire semi-skilled employees, while 41.49% of startups are seeking highly skilled professionals.
• In terms of campus placements, a majority of startups, (67.55%) are focusing on private MBA and engineering colleges, as well as state universities, as these institutes offer quality talent at affordable salary packages.
• Only a small proportion (9.16%) of startups are opting for premier institutions such as IITs and IIMs for their campus placements.