Archive: December 3, 2020

Business World

OTIPY launches value added products Farm fresh Gur, White butter, and flowers for delivery

Dec 3, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Delhi, #Founder, #Gujarat, #Haryana, #healthy lifestyle, #Himachal Pradesh, #Karnataka, #Otipy, #Rajasthan, #UP, #Varun Khurana

Otipy, the social commerce venture of farm-to-retail agritech startup Crofarm, has augmented its existing portfolio of products with the addition of new valuable items, including farm-fresh gur, white butter, and flowers. This development will create a win-win situation for both urban folks and farmers, by giving the latter access to fresh products and former the opportunity to drive more earnings.

Since its inception, OTIPY has gained significant traction and successfully emerged as the most preferred platform of fresh produce for end-consumers across Delhi-NCR. Although the new additions made to the platform are at a nascent stage and are slated to constitute a miniscule share at the start, they will attract more consumers in the following months. OTIPY has always remained committed to delivering fresh products to customers while creating newer avenues of income for farmers. The latest addition to the portfolio will further strengthen its vision, help the brand tap into more modern markets, and take it to new heights. This will also open up new untapped markets for farmers which will eventually increase their net income.

Varun Khurana, Founder, Otipy, said, “After doing a lot of research, we have come up with a fine conclusion. Consumers hailing from urban cities have an adequate supply of various products. However, what they truly lack is access to fresh items. The launch of new products on our platform is in line with this vision. It will also help us expand our reach to more new consumers and give us an opportunity to cater to them with fresh farm produce, eventually contributing to their safe and healthy lifestyle.”

Following a social commerce model, OTIPY delivers fresh products to the resellers who handle the last-mile deliveries with their neighbourhood and earn a healthy commission. The platform currently serves over 50k customers by sourcing fruits and vegetables from various regions across India, including Haryana, UP, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The new addition of products to the platform will further increase its reach and make fresh produce available to more new customers. This will help consumer access value added fresh produce.

Technology

Barracuda researchers detected millions of bad bots attacks on eCommerce websites during the holiday shopping season

Dec 3, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Barracuda, #Barracuda Networks, #Country Manager-India, #Murali Urs

Come holiday season and online shopping spree begins with full force, making the eCommerce websites an attractive target for cybercriminals to launch attacks. This November, Barracuda Networks, a trusted partner and a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, detected millions of bad bots attacks that were been used by the attackers to run distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, make fraudulent purchases, and scan for vulnerabilities they can exploit.

Barracuda researchers in the middle of the month, ran the Barracuda Advanced Bot Protection in front of a test web application, and detected a staggering number of bad bots in just a few days with millions of attacks coming in from thousands of distinct IP addresses. When viewed by the time of day, the researchers found that the bots don’t just wait until the middle of the night to attack. In fact, the bot activity peaks late morning and goes on until 5 p.m., which indicates that the cybercriminals aka “bot herders” follow a regular working day.

Bad bot personas are bots that have been identified as malicious based on their pattern of behavior. They are grouped by User-Agent, some of which are good. For example, GoogleBot, which crawls sites and adds them to search rankings, is good and should not be blocked. Cybercriminals have been using different ways to spoof good User-Agents to conduct the attacks. The bad bots spoof these known good User-Agents, which would need deeper scrutiny to tell them apart.

To identify a bot as being bad when the User-Agent claims to be a good search engine, Barracuda researchers use different methods; Injecting honeytraps like hidden URLs and JS challenges; Using rDNS (reverse DNS lookup) to verify bots coming from a claimed source; Inspecting whether the client is trying to access URLs used by common app fingerprinting attacks; and analysing further with ML, in case the methods don’t work out. HeadlessChrome, yerbasoftware, and M12bot are some of the bad bot personas that showed an increase in numbers.

Speaking on the threat, Murali Urs, Country Manager-India, Barracuda Networks, commented, “While analysing which Internet System Provider or Autonomous System Number has been the source of this bad bot activity, our researchers identified Indian mobile provider Airtel’s subnet ranges in the mix, as well as some of the big public cloud providers like Google Cloud, Amazon. This shows that even though the source of bots is international, it would depend on the bot and the site it is targeting.”

With the holiday shopping season expected to continue in full swing till the New Year, eCommerce teams should start taking necessary steps to safeguard their applications against bad bots. They must install a well-configured web application firewall as a service solution and make sure that the application security solutions include anti-bot protection to effectively detect advanced automated attacks. eCommerce websites should further turn on credential stuffing protection to prevent account takeover.

Business World

November performance helps NMDC grow from strength to strength

Dec 3, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #CMD, #Iron Ore producing Navratna Company, #NMDC, #Shri Sumit Deb

Hyderabad: NMDC, the country’s largest Iron Ore producing Navratna Company, continued to better the operational performance during the month of November 2020 in production and sales over the CPLY.

Iron ore production for the month of November 2020 is 3.32 MT (Million Tonnes) has registered a growth of 13%, despite restrictions and unfavorable weather conditions against the production of 2.94 MT in November 2019.

Iron ore sales for the month of November 2020 improved to 3.30 MT has registered a growth of 18 % against the 2.79 MT in sales that NMDC achieved in the corresponding month of November 2019.

Production and sales are on an uptick and showing healthy growth each month. This is gradually catching up to the level of 2019’s production and sales.

NMDC is continually maintaining strong performance indicators for the last few months and is expected to reach last year’s production levels in the next few months. NMDC is determined to continue this growth streak. The production is also being continuously scaled up to compensate for the earlier loss. The industry has started responding to the positive sentiments of the economy and demand is expected to go up in the next FY. NMDC is confident to cater to the needs of both national and international customers.

Shri Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC expressed satisfaction with the performance of NMDC and said “The company’s monthly performance has transcended November 2019’s production and sales and we will soon catch up with the cumulative figure of the previous year. I am hopeful that the performance will improve further on the back of better demand and gradual improvement in ground conditions. I would like to congratulate team NMDC for this outstanding performance; it is their hard work and determination that is paying off.”

Business World

Nobel Laureate Prof. Michael Kremer to deliver keynote address at 8th Annual NSE-NYU Conference on Indian Financial Markets 2020

Dec 3, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, #NYU Stern School of Business, #University of Zurich

Mumbai, December 3, 2020: National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) and NYU Stern School of Business are organizing the 8th NSE-NYU Conference on Indian Financial Markets 2020 starting from Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

The highlight of this annual three-day virtual conference would be Prof. Michael Kremer, 2019 Nobel Laureate in Economics, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, together with fellow Economists, Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, would speak on ‘Investing in Innovation for Development’, the first keynote address scheduled for December 8th, 2020.

Prof. Michael Kremer is an American development economist and University Professor in economics and public policy at University of Chicago. He is the founding director of the Development Innovation Lab at the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics and non-resident fellow at Center for Global Development.

The three-day Conference would witness the second keynote address by Prof. Nouriel Roubini, NYU Stern School of Business, on ‘The 2020 Covid-19 Crisis and the 2021 Global Economic Outlook’ on Thursday, December 10th, 2020.

The NSE-NYU Conference would commence on December 8th, 2020 with an introduction by Dr. Tirthankar Patnaik, Chief Economist, NSE, followed by a welcome address by Mr, Vikram Limaye, MD & CEO, NSE and Prof. Kose John, NYU Stern School of Business.

The keynote address on the first day would be preceded by two presentations, viz., ‘The Effect of Conflict on Lending: Evidence from Indian Border Areas’ by Mrinal Mishra and Prof. Steven Ongena, University of Zurich and ‘Financial Literacy of Women in India and the Development of its Capital Markets’ by Prof. Dennis Philip, Prof. Anurag Banerjee and Kamlesh Kumar, Durham University Business School and Prof. Iftekhar Hasan, Fordham University.

On Wednesday, December 9, Dr. Viral Acharya, former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Ryan Banerjee, Senior Economist, Bank of International Settlements, and Prof. Tarun Ramadorai, Professor of Financial Economics, Imperial College London would be engaged on a panel discussion on the Indian Bond Market moderated by Prof. Ananth Narayan, Associate Professor, S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research. 

The conference would have six paper presentations in all, encompassing a wide range of economic issues.  In addition, there would be a 10-minute each Discussion by Prof. Gonul Colak, Hanken University, Prof. Arkodipta Sarkar, University of Science and Technology, Prof. Sanjiv Das, Santa Clara University, Prof. Jay Ritter, University of Florida, Prof. Venkataraman Kumar, Southern Methodist University, and Prof. Francesco D’Acunto, Boston.

Business World

Guinness Book of World Records archived BizConnect, an Indian virtual Event Platform

Dec 2, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Biz Connect, #Mr. Sanjeev De

In the post Covid-19 situation, going out in public and gathering together with people have become non-viable. Due to embracing the new normal of social distancing, the event industry has been one of the worst affected among the others. Since the onset of the pandemic, hundreds of events were cancelled across the world. However, it is not possible to continue in this manner of non-communication between the corporates and their customers. At this critical junction, there is a dire need to navigate the situation and create a solution.

In this endeavour, BizConnect has done a training web series for STL Academy on fibre optics, F-Tech 2.0. With 70,000+ Registrations for a 2-days workshop, the event entered the Asia Book of Records for Asia’s largest online workshop in 2020 and attempted to feature in the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest online workshop today.

Over the past few months Virtual Events, while a challenging prospect, has started becoming the norm. A virtual event is one where individuals experience the event and its content online rather than gathering in-person. This kind of platform has been found to be the best alternative in these critical times. This format is perfectly compatible with event marketing and sponsorship strategies while allowing planners to be ready for any eventuality. Moreover, virtual events can even reach a wider audience than traditional live events and speakers can be brought in from the most remote areas due to the lack of travel restrictions.

Government mandated lockdowns have pressed organizations to accommodate work from home, thereby shifting businesses to the virtual platform. Throughout the pandemic’s duration, the global virtual event platforms are expected to remain on a high growth trajectory. Large, medium and small enterprises have increased spending on cloud and virtual event management platforms, with meetings and conferences being conducted online.

Throughout the pandemic’s duration, the global virtual event platforms is expected to remain on a high growth trajectory. Large, medium, and small enterprises have increased spending on cloud and virtual event management platforms, with meetings and conferences being conducted online. According to Future Market Insights’ (FMI) estimates, the demand for virtual event platforms will surge exponentially, with maximum uptake likely to be across the education and healthcare industries. These network-based platforms have enabled people to schedule appointments with exhibitors, sponsors and performers.

About Biz Connect

Biz Connect, an agency headed by Mr. Sanjeev De, has brought in a platform for virtual events of any scale and numerous kinds of varieties. With over 2 decades of experience that reflects rich experience & year-on-year success in Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations and Event Planning & Exhibitions, Mr. Sanjeev De has been handling some of the largest brands, not only in the country but worldwide. He has worked extensively in US, UK & Europe markets besides Middle East & India. Biz Connect brings you the entire gamut of Experiential Branding in terms of Virtual Events. With more than 100 man years of experience of the senior management in this domain, they offer a rich experience in world-class solutions by transforming innovative ideas into inspiring spaces.

Business World

“WHO’s decision to set up a centre for traditional medicine in India , shows the impact ayurveda is making internationally .” – Acharya Manish

Dec 2, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Acharya Manish, #ayurveda, #World Health Organisation

New Delhi: Welcoming the recent announcement by World Health Organisation(WHO) to set up a ‘Global Centre for Traditional Medicine’ in India & Central Council of Indian Medicine’s (CCIM) decision of allowing Ayurveda doctors to be trained and then perform a variety of general surgeries, renowned Ayurveda proponent, Acharya Manish said, “The COVID era has amplified the importance of India’s ancient herb-based medicinal science – Ayurveda, not just in India but even in the world, and it’s because of the impact ayurvedic medicines have against different health problems including COVID, that WHO has chosen India for setting up the centre. I also term CCIM’s decision to allow ayurvedic doctors to conduct specific surgeries after training as a revolutionary.”

Acharya Manish has unveiled ‘Shuddhi Ayurveda’ which has its head office at Zirakpur on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Under ‘Shuddhi Ayurveda’ well researched & AYUSH approved ayurvedic medicines are made. Acharya Manish in a bid to popularise Ayurveda has opened over 150 centers of ‘Shuddhi’ across India.

Acharya Manish further stated,”I congratulate PM Modi for the vision he is displaying for the promotion of Ayurveda. PM Modi has underscored the importance of ‘Ayurveda’ during a recent speech. He also emphasized on the need to develop the traditional knowledge of Ayurveda as per modern needs and called upon the country’s research institutes to prepare courses which are at par with international scientific standards.”

Added Acharya Manish, “Looking at the recent developments now is the time for the government to promulgate a holistic, pan India strategy to make Ayurveda a preferred treatment protocol. Ayurveda treatment protocols should be at par with any other systems of medicine. Ayurveda practitioners should be treated as qualified doctors, which is not the case today, though they have to study more to get the degree of a bachelor than what a student does to get the MBBS degree. This dichotomy needs to be addressed.”

It is pertinent to state here that off late there has been a series of developments that have taken place in favour of Ayurveda and have been in line with what Acharya Manish has been calling for. Two very important institutes of Ayurveda – Institute of Teaching & Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar, and National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur have been dedicated to the nation.

Acharya Manish summed up on a positive note, “Due to the benefits people are witnessing from Ayurveda during the COVID era which has also been recognised by the PM, Ayurveda is again receiving recognition, and it is a matter of time before Ayurveda becomes a preferred medicinal system in India.”

Business World

Bid adieu to Covid-hit 2020 with ‘Talk to Heal’, a campaign by India’s largest virtual listening platform Eat Luv N Pray

Dec 1, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #‘Eat Luv N Pray’, #Eat Luv N Pray co-founders Sonia Arora Sood and Priyanka Wadhera

New Delhi: India’s largest virtual listening platform Eat Luv N Pray on Tuesday launched a campaign titled ‘Talk to Heal’ in a bid to reach out to people facing issues related to mental health. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that has prevailed during year 2020, the platform further aims to reach out to those who have been in isolation, currently in isolation and also those who are facing depression-like symptoms due to lockdown or remote working situations. As part of the campaign, the participants can avail free online consultation with in-house health experts at Eat Luv N Pray.

To maximize the reach of the campaign, corporate entities have also been invited to come on board to enable counseling and consultation sessions for their employees. Eat Luv N Pray also invites people to register for group Zoom discussions with the platform’s founders and health experts. Those interested can register for the Zoom sessions through Eat Luv N Pray’s profiles on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Speaking about the campaign, Eat Luv N Pray co-founders Sonia Arora Sood and Priyanka Wadhera said the idea behind launching ‘Talk to Heal’ is that we faced unprecedented situations during 2020, which adversely affected the mental health of a large chunk of people. They further said that since we are nearing the end of the year, it is time we take adequate measures that contribute towards mental wellbeing.

The virtual listening platform, launched recently by Eat Luv N Pray Foundation, provides preventive care by listening and letting users vent out their innermost feelings and refrain self from heading towards acute mental illness. The platform ensures complete anonymity and considers mental health the core of overall wellbeing. Eat Luv N Pray provides research-based emotional support to individuals over phone, video discussions, forums and social media. People from all walks of society can be a part of the campaign through https://www.eatluvnpray.org/.

Business World

Usha International launches high performance pedestal, wall, and exhaust fans

Dec 1, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Striker exhaust fans, #Striker high-speed exhaust fan, #Usha International

New Delhi: India’s leading consumer durables brand, Usha International, has widened its fans portfolio with the launch of new pedestal, wall, and exhaust fans. The newly launched products include Pentacool wall and pedestal fans, Colossus wall and pedestal fans, and Striker high-speed exhaust fan.

Pentacool 5-blade wall and pedestal fans

Pentacool fans offer smooth and silent performance. The 5-blade fans come with translucent ABS blades, elevating the style quotient of any room they are placed in. It promises high air delivery of 85 cubic meter per minute, resulting in great performance and efficiency, vis-à-vis traditional 3-blade pedestal and wall fans.

It has a speed of 1350 rpm, and its 100% copper motor and ABS blades ensure longer life and smooth air flow. Pentacool is available in two color variants – white body with blue blades, and black body with black blades.

Colossus wall and pedestal fans

The new, trendy range of Colossus wall and pedestal fans are specially designed with rust free anluminium blades that provide high air delivery of 92m3/min at a speed of 1320 rpm for efficient cooling in high humidity coastal areas.

Available in three stunning metallic colours – red, golden, and blue, the Colossus wall and pedestal fans range would enhance the décor of your home. The range has a 100% copper motor and a thermal overload protection fuse which assures a longer life span.

Striker exhaust fans

Available in two sizes, 150mm and 200mm, Usha’s high-speed Striker exhaust fans have strong air suction of 450 cubic meter per hour (6’’) and 800 cubic meter per hour (8’’) and function at an ultra-high speed of 2350 rpm( 6’’) and 2100 rpm (8’’). These exhaust fans promise up to 70% faster freshness than regular exhaust fans and come with ball bearings for low noise and less jamming.

The fans are available in three colours – brown, black, and white – and come with a 100% copper motor and robust metal blades that ensures longer life and smoother operations. Equipped with a removable ABS grill which is easy to clean, and automatic back shutters, these fans protect against pests, dust, and other foreign contaminants.

Health

Dr. Reddy’s and RDIF commence clinical trials for Sputnik V vaccine in India

Dec 1, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, #Hyderabad, #Sputnik V vaccine in India

Hyderabad: Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (BSE: 500124, NSE: DRREDDY, NYSE: RDY), and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced today that they have commenced adaptive phase 2/3 clinical trials for Sputnik V vaccine in India after receiving the necessary clearance from the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli, India.This will be a multicenter and randomized controlled study, which will include safety and immunogenicity study.

The clinical trials are being conducted by JSS Medical Research as the clinical research partner. Further, Dr. Reddy’s has partnered with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for advisory support and to use BIRAC’s clinical trial centres for the vaccine.

Recently, RDIF announced the second interim analysis of clinical trial data, which showed 91.4% efficacy for the vaccine on day 28 after the first dose; vaccine efficacy over 95% 42 days after the first dose. Currently, 40,000 volunteers are taking part in Phase III of Sputnik V clinical trials, out of which over 22,000 have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine and more than 19,000 – with both the first and second doses of the vaccine.

G V Prasad, Co-chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories said, “This is another significant step as we continue to collaborate with multiple entities along with the government bodies to fast-track the process for launching the vaccine in India. We are working towards making the vaccine available with a combination of import and indigenous production model.”

In September 2020, Dr. Reddy’s and RDIF entered into a partnership to conduct clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine and the rights for distribution of the first 100 million doses in India.

On August 11, 2020, the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the World’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vector platform.

News

FMBAF Awards Season -3 is going to organize on 10th December 2020

Dec 1, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Dr. Anil Nair Thampi, #FMBAF Awards Season

In order to cheer achievers in the gloom time of the pandemic and to generate a message of peace, M/s FMBAF, the niche fashion arena international, and Dr. Anil Nair Thampi are organizing the annual world human rights day (united nation) awards, season-3 on10th December at Andheri at Mukti Cultural Hub. This Live event will honour the awardees in different categories like film, fashion, Academic, business, and media. It will also have Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkarawards. Along with the Award ceremony, it will have humanity conference/seminar/convocation ceremony function cum event as a different stream that would be very first of its kind especially in Mumbai, global peace summit & international seminar.

On the topic “role of science in establishing global peace for sustainable development & to make world strong” is organized in a befitting manner by in association with “diplomatic mission global peace. The event will be graced by International achievers, ambassadors, peacebuilders, film celebrities, dignitaries and awardees.

This announcement was done on a virtual press conference by attendees.