Archives February 2023

New Delhi, 9th February 2023: In a move to reward customers for being financially fit, Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd. is offering as high as a 7.5%* discount on insurance premiums to customers who have high credit scores and good credit reports. Customers buying new or renewing their existing Reliance Health Infinity Policy can avail of this unique benefit based on their good credit score.

A good credit score indicates the financial discipline of a customer. To encourage such disciplines and good financial habits, Reliance General Insurance has introduced a credit score-based discount.

Reliance Health Infinity Policy also offers discounts on a premium basis Body-Mass-Index (BMI) to reward healthy living. Customers with Normal** BMI can avail of discounts on premiums.

Besides, the Company promotes preventive vaccination among its customers by offering a 2.5* percent discount on insurance premiums (on new policy and renewal**) to those who have taken the COVID-19 vaccines or Booster shot or even other vaccines like the Human Papillomavirus vaccine or Pneumococcal vaccine.

Reliance Health Infinity Policy comes with limitless benefits*; high sum insured up to ₹5 Crores, features like MoreGlobal Cover*, Maternity Cover, OPD Cover, unlimited restoration of the sum insured, and fifteen plus useful add-on benefits.

Mr. Arun Kumar, VP and Head of Research, FundsIndia

“Today’s rate hikes were in line with market expectations. We may be close to peak policy rates driven by fall in domestic inflation in recent months. The current repo rate at 6.50% is comfortably above RBI’s inflation expectation of 5.3% in FY24. There are early signs of US inflation easing and slowing pace of rate hikes by the US FED. Overall, we expect RBI to go for a long pause in rate hikes from hereon. Future policy actions will be guided by the evolving domestic inflation / growth dynamics and the US Fed rate hike trajectory.”

Ramesh Nair, CEO, India and Market Development, Asia, Colliers

“The Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate by 25 bps in February 2023. This sixth increase in a row adds to the 225 basis points increase seen in 2022 alone. This rate increase, which is lower than last time, reflects the government’s unwavering attempt to tackle inflation over the last few months. The retail inflation rate started easing in the latter part of 2022 now hovering within the government’s target below 6%, although core inflation continues to be sticky. If inflation continues to show positive outcomes combined with encouraging high-performance economic indicators, we hope to see fewer rate hikes or negligible rate hikes by the RBI, going ahead. Home loan interest rates are already in the higher bracket of 8-9% in recent times. Further, housing prices are expected to largely remain firm in the upcoming quarters. On the optimistic side, we hope not to foresee a further rise in the repo rate and a resultant increase in loan rates. This will help sustain the demand and confidence of homebuyers in the market”
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Mr. Amit Goyal, CEO, India Sotheby’s International Realty

The rate hike of a quarter basis point by the central bank is on expected lines. Inflation is still above RBIs comfort levels and considering the evolving inflation outlook, it’s important to ensure inflation remains within the tolerance band and progressively aligns with the target. The good news is that amid volatile global developments, the Indian economy remains resilient and is expected to grow at 7% in FY23.

While an increase in the repo rate will certainly increase the home loan interest rates, we are optimistic and expect the housing demand to remain intact.
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Mr. V Swaminathan, Executive Chairman, Andromeda Sales, and Apnapaisa.com, India’s largest loan distributors.

Repo rate is directly linked to loan rates offered by lenders so an increase in the repo will increase the borrowing cost and vice-versa. The rate hike of 25 bps today will make EMIs expensive by approx 2-4%. Borrowers will either have to shell out extra money to repay their loans or will have to extend their tenure.
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Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal, Founder, and Chairman, Signature Global (India) Ltd

“The increase of repo rate by 25 bps the apex bank is aimed to give an extra cushion to curb inflation in the face of geopolitical uncertainties. It is an accommodative move as per current micro and macroeconomic conditions globally as well as in domestic markets. Controlling inflation is the RBI’s mandate, and the apex bank is showing prudence in taking corrective measures to curb rising inflation.”

He further added, “However, considering the growth-focused fiscal budget announced by the Government earlier this month, combined with the positive market sentiments, it is quite evident that the affordable and mid-segment housing is going to witness a significant upsurge in demand in the coming months. We are confident that residential sales would increase at least 20 percent in this quarter and at least 30 percent on a YOY basis overall”.
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Mr. Saransh Trehan, Managing Director, Trehan Group

With the latest increase in repo rate, home loan rates will cross the level of 9% per annum. So far the demand in the housing sector remained unimpacted by past increases, but any further hike in interest rates will certainly put a break on the demand in the housing sector.

Kolkata, 09th February 2023: The 46th International Kolkata Book Fair to organise the three-daylong events of the 9th edition of Kolkata Literature Festival 2023. This event will be held on the 9th, 10th, and 11th February 2023 at the SBI Auditorium, in the Boi Mela Prangon, Central Park, Salt Lake. The event will be inaugurated by His Excellency, the Governor of West Bengal, Dr. C. V. Ananda Bose, and the Hon’ble Education Minister, Government of West Bengal Shri Bratya Basu.

The sessions will witness insights from the esteemed delegates on fiction, history, biographies, cinema, the arts, culture, music, and politics. The key focus of the discussion will be on the evolving idea of India as the nation moves forward into its 76th year of independence. Many eminent thinkers, including Dr. Sanjaya Baru, Dr. Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and Sumantra Bose, will be participating in the discussion. David Davidar, author-publisher, will be talking about the trajectory of Indian literature over the last century. This year the festival will highlight two discussion panels on Indian literature from the East and North-East with powerful voices involving Manoranjan Byapari, Chuden Kabimo, Manaswinee Mahanta, and Raman Shrestha. Stalwarts involving Sanjib Chattopadhyay and Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay will also be present at dedicated sessions to delight readers of Bangla literature. Barry O’Brien, Nilanjana Bhowmick, and Lucy Hannah will be discussing the ever-burning question of identity. Dr. Samir Parikh, Akash Khurana, and Amit Nagpal will talk of matters of the mind. Authors such as Anupama Mohan, Bernhard Kammel, and Iffat Nawaz will talk about weaving words into stories, and writer-biographers Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Ram Kamal Mukherjee, and Sangeeta Datta will discuss writing about famous lives. The Annual Apeejay Jit Paul Memorial Lecture, the highlight of the Kolkata Literature Festival 2023, will be delivered by Dr Kunal Sarkar. There will be two-panel discussions on cinema with Rahul Bose, Arindam Sil, Dhrubo Banerjee, Ushasie Chakraborty, and Biswanath Basu sharing insights on the continuous fascination of the International Kolkata Book Fair with the silver screen. There will be regular, engaging Bangla sessions with distinguished delegates involving Pracheta Gupta, Ullas Mallick, Pabitra Sarkar, and Saikat Mukhopadhyay. The festival will be followed by concerts during the evenings. An Indo-Spanish concert will be led by Sahil Vasudeva, followed by Babul Supriyoon’s electric performance on day two. The concluding day will witness the music of the maestro, Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty. Many eminent speakers like Shuvaprasanna, Arshiya Sethi, Sunil Bhandari, and Indrajit Lahiri will be part of this grand event. The entire three-day long sessions will be streamed live on the Kolkata Literature Festival Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Kolkata Book Fair website.

Commenting on the event, Director Kolkata Literature Festival, Ms. Sujata Sen, said, “The Kolkata Literature Festival has been at the forefront of celebrating the city’s rich literary and cultural heritage for almost a decade now. The 2022 edition witnessed the attendance of over 65 writers, both established and new. KLF is organised as an integral part of the Kolkata International Book Fair, which has, over the years, attracted almost 2.4 million visitors.”

Bangalore, 9 February 2023: Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced that its business Godrej Interio, India’s leading furniture solutions brand, in-home, and institutional segments, launched a unique healthcare birthing bed – ‘Solace’. The Solace Bed is a unique concept that facilitates ease of movement and enables alternating between different postures during the Labour, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP) process. With the new range, Godrej Interio is addressing the need for making the birthing experience healthy for the mother and caregiver. The brand currently generates over 13% of Institutional revenue from the healthcare industry and provides furniture solutions to over 100 hospitals and healthcare institutions across the country.

According to data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, quality of care is increasingly recognized as a critical aspect of the unfinished maternal and newborn health agenda, with over 40% of death witnessed among new mothers and children at the time of labour and delivery. [1] The LDRP journey for the mother needs the best of medical care and support. For a smooth and safe delivery, it’s essential to ensure a less strenuous journey for both the mother and the caregiver. Addressing the concern, Interio – a reputed healthcare furniture brand has come up with a bed that aims to better the birthing procedure.

Godrej Interior’s feature-loaded Solace Bed is designed to offer comfort to the mother and hospital staff during birthing procedures. Considering the varying stages of giving birth, the bed has been designed to deliver a smooth and safe experience during childbirth. The key features include an electronically controlled backrest and height, 360° adjustable calf supports, manual & electronic CPR for emergencies and in case of power shutdown and retractable leg rest. It also comes with a synchronous TR-height movement feature that brings the back bed to its horizontal position after Trendelenburg. The adaptability and simplicity of the Solace bed make it a useful, affordable option for the contemporary, progressive labour suite while providing warm, comfortable, and ergonomic care in the hospital.

On the new product launch, Sameer Joshi, Vice President, of Marketing (B2B), at Godrej Interio said, “At Godrej Interio, it has been our mission to enrich the quality of life every day and in every way. Godrej Interiors Healthcare’s business focuses on creating healthcare spaces that deliver ergonomically safe, healing experiences for the patient, family and caregiver. The newly launched Solace bed highlights our human-centric approach towards design using thoughtful design solutions for enhancing the maternity experience. Solace bed is the one-stop solution catering to all stages of the birthing process providing comfort & support to mothers and caregivers. We take great pride in continuously innovating to uplift the quality of the healthcare experience across India. Further, we plan to launch 5 new healthcare variants to our healthcare range of furniture in FY23-24 and target revenue growth of 30% in our Healthcare business.”

AIMA is pleased to announce the 5th edition of one day workshop on Women’s Leadership scheduled on Friday, February 24th, 2023, which has been designed to enhance learning and leadership.

There is a renewed focus on women in leadership roles across the corporates. AIMA takes pride in curating, creating, and offering a platform especially aimed at women managers to hone them into becoming leaders. Drawn from UN International Women’s Day Social Media Campaign Theme 2021 – “Choose to Challenge”, AIMA’s Women Leadership Workshop aims to be a congregation of young women managers to be integrated into industry learning and skills to take up leadership positions in the future.

The one-day program-cum-workshop is designed to be a crash course on Leadership and learning through interactive learning means and the learning is aimed across all levels of management and is most suitable for current and potential leaders and decision-makers.

It would also have many interactive games in which the participants would learn while having fun and entertainment.

As always, I am writing to request you nominate relevant executives from your organization for the program.

Participation in these programs is limited to a small batch to enable the delegates to interact with the speakers and understand them better

Peachtree City, GA (February 9, 2023) ― Wencor Group (“Wencor”), a leading solutions provider to the aerospace and defense markets, today announces the acquisition of Aero-Glen International, LLC.

“We are excited to welcome Aero-Glen International and their talented team of employees to Wencor. This acquisition is an excellent fit that accelerates our strategy to provide best-in-class distribution and value-added services to both the defense and commercial aerospace markets. It also enhances our aftermarket hardware offering, allowing us to provide our customers with more comprehensive options to meet their repair needs,” says Wencor Chief Executive Officer, Shawn Trogdon.

“The addition of Aero-Glen rounds out our capability to offer creative and differentiated supply chain solutions, value-added services, and customized kitting solutions to both OEM and aftermarket customers in the defense marketplace. This acquisition aligns with our product line expansion strategy, providing additional premier authorized distributorships including Howmet, HPF, Lisi, and Monogram,” adds Wencor’s President of Defense, Scott Herndon.

Aero-Glen International, based in Fort Worth, Texas, and celebrating its 47th year servicing the aerospace market, is a full-line stocking distributor offering value-added services and kitting solutions that include aerospace fasteners, fittings, machined parts, and other specialized hardware. The company serves a diverse and global customer base, including domestic, international, commercial, and military customers.

Aero-Glen is the first company in the United States to successfully complete the Joint Surveillance Voluntary Assessment Program and effectively meet the stringent requirements of CMMC 2.0 Level 2 compliance.

“We are thrilled to be joining the Wencor team, who like us, shares a culture dedicated to providing customers with exceptional service and solutions at the highest levels of quality and reliability,” says Tyson Kay, Vice President and General Manager of Aero-Glen International. “We are excited to join Wencor as we look to leverage their extensive in-house technical capabilities and overall scale to drive continued growth across our distribution and value-add services business.”

BMO Capital Markets served as the exclusive financial advisor to Aero-Glen International and Hallett & Perrin PC served as legal counsel.

For the last few years, the term ‘skincare’ has been the talk of the town with the quirkiest trends taking center stage from time to time. Amongst the most popular trends, a recent trend that has hopped on the bandwagon to help achieve ‘the skin of your dreams’ is skin cycling. It’s all about switching up the products so that you target different skin concerns and keep your skin looking fresh and fabulous!

Simply put, think of it like a ‘choose your own adventure’ for your skin. Imagine a world where your skin never gets bored with the same old routine, it’s always on its toes, ready to take on the next adventure. You can mix and match different products and try new things to keep your skin looking and feeling its best. One day you can focus on hydration, the next day on exfoliation, and so on. By giving your skin a variety of options, you’ll be able to address multiple concerns, resulting in well-rounded and healthy-looking skin.

This time, as you seek to add the right products to try out the new trend, consider opting for Colorbar’s products under the Vita Hemp Range that are listed below. Your skin will definitely thank you!

● Cleanse the dirt away with Colorbar’s Hemp + Vitamin C Restoring and Balancing Foaming Face Wash

Every day, your skin comes in contact with active pollutants, dirt, harmful chemicals, and much more. To provide your skin with much-needed love, start by incorporating a cleansing routine. The most basic step for any skincare regime is to gently cleanse the face without stripping it of healthy oils. Color bar’s Hemp + Vitamin C Restoring and Balancing Foaming Face Wash is a single-wash formula that effortlessly reaches deep within the pores of the skin and gently washes away its impurities and excess oils. The foaming face wash is priced at INR 495.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ● Toning your skin with Colorbar’s Hydra White Toner

The second step of a healthy skincare routine includes the use of a powerful toner that acts as a supplement for the skin. A toner is meant to prime your face to help the other products in the regimen to be better absorbed later on. Carefully opt for a hydrating toner based on your skin type. A toner that is beneficial for all skin types is Colorbar’s Hydra White Toner – a weightless formula that deeply penetrates the skin to even out the skin tone. It locks in the skin’s natural moisture level, leaving beautifully balanced, and hydrated skin. The hydra white toner is priced at INR 890.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ● Skincare treatment with Colorbar’s Restoring and Balancing Serum

The third step of a skincare routine is absolutely essential. Skincare experts have been toiling over the minutiae of ingredients and formula, and now we can reap the benefit of their hard-won knowledge. Filled with concentrated doses of active ingredients, these elixirs can visibly help improve your skin’s health by reducing aging lines, dark spots, worry lines, and much more. Color bar’s Restoring and Balancing Serum is a lightweight formulation that helps with quick absorption and fights the early signs of aging. The serum is priced at INR 695.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ● Applying colorbar’s Restoring and Balancing Under Eye Serum

To tackle specific concerns — like hyperpigmentation, dryness or puffiness, opt for an eye cream by integrating it into your skincare regimen. Given the fragile and sensitive nature of the skin around the eyes, it becomes all the more important to treat it with gentle ingredients packed with low actives. Color bar’s Restoring and Balancing Under Eye Serum helps rejuvenate, restore, and balance the eye contour. Enriched with the goodness of Cold Pressed Hemp Seed Oil, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Hyaluronic Acid, and Peptides, this cream helps fight puffiness and dark circles to bring an overall glow to your eyes. It is priced at INR 495.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ● Moisturizing your skin with Colorbar’s Restoring and Balancing Moisturizer

This fifth step is a holy grail to keep the skin soft and hydrated while strengthening the skin barrier. Effective moisturizers assist in complimenting the naturally found protective oils and other building blocks within the skin. Color bar’s Restoring and Balancing Moisturizer comes with the power of natural actives that hydrate the skin while ensuring the skin’s repair and rejuvenation. Enriched with olive leaf extract, saccharide isomerate, and extracts of rice, papaya, and green tea, this cream ensures naturally healthy-looking skin. The moisturizer is priced at INR 695.

Hindi play will feature Actor Anup Soni, Actor Vinay Jain and Monisha Singh Katial

India’s leading theatre group The Films and Theatre Society is all set to bring a new Hindi Comedy play “My Wife’s 8th Vachan” for the audience of Mumbai. Atul Satya Koushik is widely known for creating a brand value in grand Historical productions, Musicals, mythological, Social Satires and My Wife’s 8th Vachan is his first attempt in the genre of comedy and family entertainment at this scale.

My Wife’s 8th Vachan is an eighty-five-minute comedy and family play inspired by marriages. The play is about a mystery called “marriage” that has deepened with each effort of solving it. This play, at most, is another ambitious (read failed) attempt in doing so. Madhur and Mahak are no different from any married couple who have been co-existing in each other’s lives for fifteen years and have been quarrelling for reasons unknown. So much so that their little daughter has decided to study in a boarding school to avoid daily battles her parents invent out of nowhere. Mahak wants to address the elephant in the room and talk to Madhur about the state of their marriage. She is prepared even if some difficult decision needs to be made about it now. A reluctant Madhur finds himself in the uncanniness episode of his life when the eighth promise that Mahak made at the time of their marriage comes back to haunt her. What is that eight promise? Whom did she make it to? Is this the much-awaited break from their dilapidated marriage that they both needed? Come and discover in this laugh-a-minute comedy inspired from your marriage

Famous Film, TV and Theatre actors Anup Soni, Vinay Jain and Monisha Singh Katial take the audience through this episode of comedy drama. The production bears the stamp of a typical Atul Satya Koushik production i.e., lavish sets, costumes, music and a spectacular wholesome experience for the audience.

Atul Satya Koushik, writer & Director, said, “Each script comes with its own challenges and opportunities. I have done comedies in the past but more as experimental and workshop productions. This one is my first serious attempt at comedy at this scale. You see, comedy is difficult. You never know what the audience will find funny and what not. All we can do as makers of theatre is to be honest with our content and leave it for the audience to tell us if it struck a chord with them or not.”

Actor Anup Sonii says, ” Doing this new play was an opportunity for me to explore the comic side as an actor and every actor wants to explore all roles. I always have a very serious image so it’s always nice to keep breaking it and surprising the audience. I am trying to explore another side as an actor. It’s a brilliant script, very well written, contemporary modern couple drama. I am sure the audience is going to relate to this play because it has all the elements which we experience in our day-to-day life. I hope the audience likes my comic side as well.”

Actor Vinay Jain says, “Firstly, it’s exciting to be back on stage after a gap of almost 4 years! What’s really wonderful is that this play deals with the eternal theme of human relationships in a manner that is extremely contemporary and relevant. Atul has done a stellar job with this slice-of-life script which will bring many a laugh and many a tear in the eyes of the audience. All in all, I can assure you that it will be time well spent – for us, as well as for those who come to watch the show! “

Actor Monisha Singh Katial says, “For me this play is very special as it’s my first one as an actor, the character of Mehek has all the shades of today’s woman and what goes on in her mind. It’s inspired by situations and people around us making her someone you all feel you know. This play will make for a great watch as it’s not just a comedy but also has a strong message at the end of it.”

Date & Day: 12th February 2023 @5pm and 8 pm, (Sunday) St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra, Mumbai

Tickets: Rs. 300 to 2000/- available online on bookmysMumbaihow.com or call 9873579796

for tele booking. Also available at the counter on show day.

Kolkata, 9 February 2023: Gurunanak Institute of Technology, under the JIS group, hosted a meet-and-greet session with the lead actor of the upcoming Bengali movie “LSD: Laal Suitcase ta Dekhechen,” Soham Chakraborty, along with director Sayantan Ghoshal and music director Savvy, at the college campus on Wednesday evening. The session was attended by thousands of students of Guru Nanak College Campus and they enjoyed interacting with the star cast throughout the time.

The movie promises to deliver an engaging dark comedy with many twists and turns. Other actors in the movie include Kanchan Mallick, Sourav Chakraborty, Avijeet Guha, Labony Sarkar, and others in key roles. The film highlights the implication of drug addiction and how it destroys the young generation. A dark comedy in itself is an intriguing genre and is based on a very relevant issue that is a cause of serious concern. Shot in real locations the movie has potentially all the spices for preparing a perfect entertainer along with its social message. Both the actors were cordial to the college students and answered most of the questions with a smile on their faces which won the heart of the audience present there.

Speaking on the occasion, Sardar Taranjit Singh, Managing Director of JIS Group mentioned, “As an educational institution our foremost duty is to guide the students on a path that leads to a successful future. Hence, it was absolutely amazing to witness the lead cast of a Bengali movie that promises to bring up a relevant issue and guide youngsters to a safe path for themselves.”