Archive: May 6, 2022

WTO is in urgent need for reform to stay relevant, agree panellists at ICRIER’s webinar on WTO 2.0 in the post-COVID World

New Delhi, May  2022: The intensifying call for reform of the WTO and the establishment of the so called ‘WTO 2.0’ that is in sync with ‘Globalization 2.0’ was the central theme of the discussion at the webinar organized by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). The webinar discussion dwelt on new areas such as e-commerce and digital trade; pressing issues around environmental sustainability; the TRIPS Agreement and public health; and the role of trade in promoting gender equality.

The speakers were Jörg Mayer, Senior Economist, UNCTAD; Prabhash Ranjan, Professor, Jindal Global Law School; R. V. Anuradha, Partner, Clarus Law Associates, New Delhi; and Anoush der Boghossian, Head of Trade and Gender Unit, WTO. The discussion was moderated by Amiti Sen, Senior Deputy Editor, The Hindu Business Line.

The panelists agreed that for the WTO to have continued relevance in the post-COVID world, reform was absolutely essential and urgently needed. However, it was also pointed out that, in the run-up to the 12th ministerial conference (MC-12) of the WTO, most of the attention in India has been focused on the issue of COVID vaccine patent waiver. At the same time discussion on issues relating to environment sustainability, e-commerce, gender etc. are being advanced as plurilateral initiatives and will set the agenda for global negotiations. The panelists urged India to take these on board and not opt out of these initiatives.

Here’s How You Can Make Your Mum Feel Special, This Mother’s Day

Good Earth, India’s leading luxury design house brings this year a selection of some of their best products to make Mother’s Day a bit more special. Ingrained in Good Earth’s philosophy, one can choose from an indulgent spread of pieces that will make for a great keepsake.

As a global design house, the brand develops designs that are not only rooted but are also everlasting and thus add up as timeless gifts that your Mum will love.

Amritam Saffron Raw Honey – A delicately flavoured connoisseurs’ honey. Our rare saffron honey is enriched with antioxidants and available only in limited quantity from the Himalayan region. It is raw, untreated and filtered through a mesh of 120 microns to sieve out impurities and retains its original nutrients.

Ancient Wisdom Wellness Set – A holistic daily ritual before bedtime rooted in the ancient Ayurvedic wisdom that comprises of a copper jug, tumblers and tray.

Bijoux Glasses – These jewel-like glasses are a delightful way of offering cool sherbets or even just water, and makes a perfect gift combining beauty with practicality.

Frankincense Ancient Incense Gift Set – Our ancient incense set provides you with ceremonial tools reminiscent of a bygone age. Including dewa dhuna fumer, frankincense resin, charcoal pellets, and a paraffin wax candle. The perfect gift for those who are charmed by tradition and delight in fragrant spaces.

Gulbahar Hand Towel Set – Inspired by motifs of Indian cotton textiles traded during the 18th century, our Gulbahar collection features an abundance of hand-drawn spring flowers in jewelled colours. Cotton waffle with a geometric weave, that helps with high absorption. Overlaid with block printed motifs skillfully impressed by a master craftsman using a traditional wooden block.

Mehtab Petit Coupe – An exquisite set of four coupe stem glasses decorated with stylized flowers and crescent moons to evoke a moonlit garden. Ideal to offer champagne, or even sorbets and desserts; and makes a delightful gift too.

Incense Gift Set – Incense or loban is the pure resin of a tree, which when heated releases its perfume. Celebrating the ancient tradition of using fragrant incense smoke. The set includes an ornate incense holder made from cast brass with an antique silver finish, mogra (Jasmine) incense, orange blossom incense and extra-long matches.

Rooh Padma Mushroo Potli – Potli with printed black and white stripes, machine-embroidered buta and zardozi highlights. Finished with zari crochet lace on the edges and contrast handcrafted tassels.

Rooh Sufi Chanderi Angarakha – Tie-up angrakha with a delicate border, highlights on the sleeves and beaded tassels. Comes with a slip with heavy embroidery on yoke.

Sindhu Water Copper Jug – Inspired by the textures and designs of Gandhara, an ancient civilization once celebrated as an axis of art, architecture and sculpture, a cradle of creativity and knowledge. Our designs unearth its fragments, tracing a true confluence of cultures in a land that transcended time. Hand-beaten pure copper with a polished finish, handcrafted and hammered by a master artisan.

Pamper Your Mother with the Best of Luxury Beauty from Manish Malhotra Beauty Exclusively by MyGlamm

May 2022 – Pamper your mother with the newly launched ‘Art of Gifting’ collection by Manish Malhotra Haute Couture Makeup exclusively by MyGlamm. The collection has been specially curated offering the best across skincare and makeup. The ‘Art Of Gifting’ collection gift sets are elegant, gracefully packed, and makes the perfect choice for gifting.

The ‘Art of Gifting’ collection makes the perfect gifting solution for Mother’s Day and comprises of 4 kits including Pastel Dreams Nail Lacquer Kit for all the manicure enthusiasts, Vivid Obsessions Lipstick Duo for all the lipstick lovers, Starry Soirée Makeup Kit to glam it up and Infinite Glow Skincare Kit for all your skincare and self-care needs. These curated sets make for the perfect gift for your mother this Mother’s Day as it celebrates individuals in their original spirit and emotions that emanates their individuality in entirety. Manish Malhotra Haute Couture Makeup Collection, exclusively by MyGlamm brings you a little bit of couture for everyday glamour carefully curated with India’s leading fashion designer, Manish Malhotra.

Show your love to your mother with these couture approved gift sets . Each piece that goes in this gift box is chosen for the story it tells.

Set Description: 

PASTEL DREAMS NAIL LACQUER KIT –

Turn your Pastel Dreams into reality with this couture-approved nail lacquer kit from Manish Malhotra Beauty – The Art of Gifting collection. Gracefully packed in an elegant matte-black and rose gold gift box, this kit contains 4 luxe, long-wearing pastel shades – Delicate Daisy, Sage Crush, Coconut Kiss and Paradise Bliss. The quick-dry, hi-shine formula delivers salon-ready nails in a single stroke. So treat your mother with this statement-making nail lacquer gift set and be always ready to steal the show.

VIVID OBSESSIONS LIPSTICK DUO 

Stun the world with your head-turning pout, covered in captivating shades of this lipstick gift set from Manish Malhotra Beauty The Art of Gifting collection. Gracefully packed in an elegant matte-black and rose gold gift box, this kit contains Manish Malhotra Hi-Shine Lipstick and Manish Malhotra Soft Matte Lipstick. This matte + hi-shine lipstick duo dresses your pout in a show-stopping, high-intensity pigment that takes your lips from 0 to 100 in a single stroke.

STARRY SOIRÉE MAKEUP KIT

Discover The Art of Gifting with this couture-approved makeup gift set by Manish Malhotra Beauty. Gracefully packed in an elegant matte-black and rose gold gift box, this beauty gift kit contains Manish Malhotra Face & Body Highlighter – Blaze for the ultimate glow goddess look; Manish Malhotra 9 in 1 Eyeshadow Palette – Enchanté for eyes that steal the spotlight. For the lips, go ultra-matte with Manish Malhotra Liquid Matte Lipstick – Crazier Than Pink or be the gloss queen with Manish Malhotra Hi-Shine Lipstick – Moroccan Red and Manish Malhotra Hi-Shine Lipgloss – Gold Dust.

INFINITE GLOW SKINCARE KIT 

Indulge in the goodness of time-tested natural ingredients with this couture-approved skincare gift set from Manish Malhotra Beauty – The Art of Gifting collection. Gracefully packed in an elegant matte-black and rose gold gift box, this Manish Malhotra skincare kit contains 4 skincare essentials to enhance your skin’s natural glow. Manish Malhotra Tulsi Cleansing Foam Gel for deep cleansing and rejuvenating dull skin; Manish Malhotra Kesar Face Pack Gel for skin brightening and boosting its radiance. For deep nourishment and hydration, this kit has Manish Malhotra Amla Moisturizing Gel, and Manish Malhotra Rose Lip Moisturizing Gel for kiss-ready, soft lips.

Available at the Manish Malhotra Flagship Stores – Mumbai , Delhi and Hyderabad.

MyGlamm App and Website (www.myglamm.com)

Bank of Baroda announces the Winners of the 2022 Edition of the #SaluteHerShakti Contest

Hyderabad, May 2022: Bank of Baroda, one of India’s leading public sector banks, today announced the winners of the 2nd Edition of the #SaluteHerShakti contest. The contest, which was launched on International Women’s Day in March, seeks to recognise and celebrate the inspiring women amongst us. From the number of remarkable entries received, Ms Neelam Rani who hails from Patiala and Ms Kiran Devi Bothra from Delhi were adjudged the winners for the courage shown under adversity and for displaying a heart-warming commitment to helping those in need.

The two winners got a chance to interact with Bank of Baroda’s brand ambassadors PV Sindhu and Shafali Verma virtually. The winner of the Nari Shakti Puraskar for promoting Indian folk music on a global scale, Ms Batool Begum was also present at the event. And the host for the day was Rannvijay Singha, the well-known Indian actor, television personality and VJ.

The story of Ms Neelam Rani is that of a wife, mother and a woman who displayed immense determination and grit when adversity struck her family. When her husband’s business faced a financial crisis, Neelam took it upon herself to start a small cosmetics shop to support her family. After facing challenges early on with no customers, she persevered and her shop is now running successfully and is well-known in Patiala.

The second winning story is that of Ms Kiran Devi Bothra. Not only has Kiran single-handedly raised her daughter after the untimely death of her husband, but during the pandemic, Kiran served the homeless and hungry people in her community with free homemade food.

Shri Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “We are overwhelmed with the response received for Bank of Baroda’s #SaluteHerShakti campaign. It was inspiring to hear the extraordinary stories of seemingly ordinary women and they deserve recognition for the strength they have displayed and their determination to make a difference. For Bank of Baroda, it was also exciting for us to host Ms Rani, Ms Bothra and Ms Begum on the same platform as our brand endorsers, PV Sindhu and Shafali Verma and listening to the interaction between these women was truly rewarding.

We hope to take many such initiatives in the future to recognise and encourage women from all walks of life.”

During the interaction, PV Sindhu highlighted the challenges she faced during her younger days and the importance of the role that parents can play in ensuring that girls can achieve their dreams, be it in sports or in any other field. Shafali Verma also added to this and highlighted the support she had from her family that gave her the platform to succeed.

Neobank Fi launches Mutual Fund investments within the app to offer customers a single platform to save, pay and invest, P2P investing coming soon

Bengaluru, May 2022: Furthering its vision to re-imagine financial planning for millennials, Fi, India’s fastest-growing neobank, announced the launch of its investment platform to help users invest their savings into Mutual Funds to grow their wealth. The aim is to help users get better with their finances by educating them about Mutual Funds and making investing fun as opposed to an arduous task. Fi also announced that it will be launching its P2P investing platform in a few weeks that will offer users the opportunity to diversify their portfolio with upto 9% annual returns. Millennials today prefer investing from an early age that allows them to remain self-sufficient post-retirement, or even target early retirement. A study conducted by Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) shows that 1.7 million of the new mutual fund investors on its platform in FY18-19 were millennials, accounting for 47% of the 3.6 million total new accounts.

Automating Mutual Fund investing for Millennials 

Fi takes this further by allowing users to set FIT Rules to automate their investing habits. FIT is a bot that acts on certain predefined conditions chosen by the user like setting aside ₹100 each time you order food, etc. Money is moved from the user’s Fi savings account into a Mutual Fund of the user’s choice. This allows users to overcome the inertia towards starting investments and builds the habit of investing for millennials. At the same time, it makes investing fun and helps users grow their wealth each time they spend. Apart from condition-based investing (like investing each time you shop), users can also set up monthly, weekly and even daily auto-invest rules with Fi. Investing money in regular short intervals will average out their risks by breaking down their lumpsum investment amount into several installments, with amounts as low as ₹100. The app also allows users to invest in lumpsums. On the Fi app, in a tab called ‘Mutual Funds’, users are presented with investment information and Mutual Fund options from a range of AMCs. Users can choose these based on their financial goals and risk appetite. Information such as NAV, past performance, etc. are presented in an easy to understand, jargon-free and visually appealing manner. To address the spectrum of investors from beginners to seasoned investors, we have created ‘Fund Collections’ and ‘Advanced Screening’. Fund collections are a list of curated funds that include options like ‘Starter Funds’ and ‘Staff Picks’ to minimise the information overload and simplify the decision making process. The Advanced Screener is an industry-first offering that provides investors with detailed screening options down to specific fund managers, among other options. Fi Mutual Fund app screens: Fund Collections and Advanced Screener.

Scaling up Mutual Fund options on Fi 

In the initial phase, users can choose from a set of index and passive funds, while more funds from all the top fund houses in the country will be added over the next few weeks. Fi’s decided to launch with index funds because they are a safe and easy way for users to get comfortable with the idea of investing and also offer competitive gains at very low fund management fees.

Introducing Peer-to-peer investing 

Apart from Mutual Funds, Fi is also set to roll out a peer-to-peer investment option called ‘Fi Jump’ that allows users to invest and earn up to 9% annual returns on their investments. This is done in partnership with Liquiloans, an RBI-registered lending-and-borrowing platform. Investments made into ‘Fi Jump’ can be withdrawn at any time – even partially, and the growth of their invested amount can be tracked at any time right on the Fi app. Fi Jump app screens Commenting on the launch, Sumit Gwalani, Co-Founder, Fi, said: “After successfully developing a culture of saving among our users, we are excited to offer wealth management in line with our core philosophy of helping people get better with their finances. We have designed our investment products in a two-pronged approach of addressing the beginner investor’s need for simplicity and a degree of advanced options that seasoned investors look for. Our mutual funds option helps users with a curated list of funds and at the same time provides an advanced level of screening options never seen before in the industry. We are also launching a P2P investing product that allows users to diversify their portfolio and realise high returns. Through our existing products and with more to come, we have endeavoured to create a one-stop platform to help millennials understand money, save more and demystify their finances.” Launched in 2021, Fi neobank has been revolutionizing the way millennials manage their finances by helping them save and now invest. Within eight months of its launch, it recorded 1 million registered users on its app. The app has witnessed significant growth in terms of user engagement and sees an average of 25 transactions every month per user. This is significantly higher than the industry average of 3-4 monthly transactions.

pTron India Unveils New Corporate Brand Identity with Redesigned Logo

Chennai, May 2022: pTron, the rapidly growing and leading maker of affordable digital lifestyle and audio accessories brand in India announced a new bold and futuristic brand identity that will be strengthening the vision of its brand to reach consumers across the value chain of economy, mainstream and premium segments. These changes come at a time when the company is evolving its product offering and services to cater to the youth in major cities of India.

In the last few years pTron has transformed and grown dramatically and it’s imperative for the brand to reflect and promote the values it lives by. Designed to work effortlessly across digital and physical channels, the new logo evokes a feeling of inspiration and modernness, to reflect pTron’s position as a young and enthusiastic brand which is all things classy, fun, and being proud. The logo marks the birth of a new pTron both inside and out, which is a modern interpretation of brand’s classic ‘P’ insignia carrying the same PASSION and zeal to keep making technology accessible to all.

Commenting about the insight behind the new identity, Mr. Ameen Khwaja, Founder & CEO, pTron said, “Over the last three years, we did something which is vibrant, connecting, reliable, and of course, gives a sense of being aspirational. Throughout the journey, we have remained true to our core values, even as we continually transform to keep pace with the changing needs of our end consumers. While our name remains the same, our logo & packing have changed significantly to better represent who we are and better connect with our consumers. With our wide Online and offline presence and an extensive Made in India range, we intend to be the preferred choice of the Indian youth looking for tech-savvy gadgets across income-classes. Our belief #BeLoudBeProud lends new meaning to our core purpose of accelerating access to affordable and innovative products.” 

This new visual identity is in line with the brand’s overall mission, which will be carried out across packaging, branding, and marketing communications. “The logo perfectly compliments with the product packaging, providing fresh energy and vibrancy to multiple touch-points,” he further explained.