Archive: June 28, 2022

NDDB & KOF inks MoU with University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore for sunflower seed production in Karnataka

June 2022, Bengaluru: The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) & Karnataka Cooperative Oilseeds Growers’ Federation Ltd (KOF) inked an MoU with University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (UAS-Bangalore) and Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad for large scale sunflower hybrid seed production in Karnataka. This agreement is aimed at paving the way for licensing sunflower hybrid KBSH-41 for commercialisation.

Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Shri BC Patil, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, Govt of Karnataka was the Guest of Honour. Shri Annasaheb Shankar Jolle, MP (Lok Sabha) & Chairman, KOF, Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB and Dr S Rajendra Prasad, Vice-Chancellor, UAS-Bangalore were also present.

In her address, Sushri Karandlaje said that this momentous occasion is a right step towards Atmanirbharta in edible oil. She sought NDDB’s intervention in reducing country’s reliance on imported edible oil and applauded Board’s intent to help the oilseed sector. The Hon’ble Union Minister said that availability of credible sources of hybrid seeds has become a big lacuna. She appreciated the joint efforts of NDDB and KOF to take up commercial production of successful sunflower hybrid seeds so that farmers get superior seeds.

Shri Patil said that that increase in MSP by the Government of India has enthused farmers towards sunflower production in Karnataka. The compulsion to rapidly increase domestic edible oil production is an opportunity to improve livelihoods of small and marginal farmers.

Chairman, NDDB said that in the 80s, NDDB was involved in setting up edible oil cooperatives under Operation Golden Flow. The Dairy Board is re-engaging itself. This is a small but critical first step towards supporting the Government’s initiative in attaining self-sufficiency, Atmanirbharta in edible oils. NDDB and KOF will encourage farmers to take up sunflower as a preferred crop by making available high-quality seeds at reasonable prices. NDDB will work with KOF for production of 5000 quintals of hybrid sunflower seeds in Rabi 2022 – enough for sowing in about one lakh hectare. This will be further scaled up in Karnataka and also replicated in other states.

Shri Jolle conveyed that NDDB has already initiated a number of measures to support KOF. He further said that considering the Ukraine crisis, there is a huge shortage of sunflower oil. This has led to higher prices of sunflower seeds. Our farmers can restart sunflower seed production to earn profits.

Dr Prasad said that NDDB and KOF have approached UAS-B for commercial production of successful sunflower hybrid seeds. Thus, the agreement will re-initiate large scale Sunflower hybrid seed production.

Shadowfax to onboard 75,000 delivery partners across India

Mumbai: June 28th, 2022: Shortly after announcing its plans to create 5,000 delivery partner jobs in Tamil Nadu, Shadowfax, India’s largest hyperlocal, crowdsourced logistics platform, has revealed that it will recruit 75,000 delivery partners across India by the end of July 2022.

As the gig economy booms, Shadowfax is creating more job opportunities while expanding its delivery network. With an in-depth understanding of the gig workforce, the platform has created a robust rider partner community that enjoys multiple benefits. Riders can earn up to INR 35,000 per month while benefitting from the free medical insurance with an accident and health cover of INR 7.5 lakh that the platform offers its delivery partners. Shadowfax also offers other rider benefit programs like flexible working hours, and a minimum earning guarantee for its community of delivery partners.

In addition, as an equal opportunities provider, the company is open to hiring people qualified for the job, regardless of age, gender or race, making it beneficial for those who can’t commute long distances but want to earn money/be financially independent.

With a straightforward onboarding process, riders can complete deliveries on their bikes or cycles. For those who don’t own any vehicle, the company has an Electric Vehicle (EV) rental plan in place (select cities). All that the interested candidates need to do is download the Shadowfax app, upload their PAN and Aadhaar cards for verification, and visit the nearest onboarding centre to complete the process. Once the formalities are complete, the riders can hit the road within a couple of hours.

The spokesperson of Shadowfax said, “The gig economy has accelerated in India over the past few years, becoming one of the most preferred options and a reliable source of income for the country’s youth. Shadowfax aims to create more job opportunities across the country, which will also help us strengthen our existing community of 120,000+ delivery partners who have exhibited a sense of pride in being associated with us. We welcome everyone interested in joining the Shadowfax rider community and look forward to having them on board.”

To get started on becoming a Shadowfax delivery partner, interested candidates can give a missed call to +91 6366528574.

Avtar Sets on a Mission to transform 1,00,000 companies to Equitable Workspaces

Mumbai, June 28, 2022: A unique initiative launched by Avtar Group, India’s pioneer in the space of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the Business is Good (BIG) aims to increase Women’s Workforce Participation in Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by ensuring that 5,00,000 women enter the workforce by 2027.

The campaign was launched on Monday and top honchos from different industries across the country, came together to vouch for DEI that has triggered a growth in their businesses. Some of the key participants were Amit Gossain, Managing Director, KONE Elevator India Pvt Ltd, Chandan Barve, Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, ASC, Sun Life India Service Centre Private Limited, Chandrakant Nayak, CEO & Country President, Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd (Dow India), Daisy Devassy Chittilapilly, President, Cisco India & SAARC, Cisco Systems (India) Private Limited, Deepak Iyer, President, Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd, S. Ramprasad President, UST BlueConch, Satish Pillai, Managing Director of India, Nielsen IQ and Siva Padmanabhan, Managing Director, AstraZeneca India Pvt Ltd.

Contrary to the World Economic Forum’s projections that suggest that it would take 100 plus years to close the gender gap, Avtar & Seramount Best Companies for Women in India is set to achieve 50: 50 gender balance with equal representation of men and women by 2027. According to the study, women’s representation at the 100 Best has grown from 25% in 2016 to 34.5 in 2021. Following the projections, the 100 Best Companies will get to a 50-50 gender balance by 2027.

“Through innovative practices and deep commitment, the Best Companies for Women have put themselves on the fast-track towards achieving gender balance as early as 2027. These companies have reaped the fruit of rising the gender diversity bar in their operating profits,” said Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar Group in an exclusive media interaction today launching the BIG initiative.

As per India’s largest diversity analytics exercise that Avtar hosts – the 100 Best Companies for Women in India, 62 companies recorded an increase in operating profit, 73 companies recorded greater innovation revenue and 81 companies recorded an increase in customer satisfaction, during a time frame that gender diversity grew by over 2%. “We are extremely proud to have partnered with many of these organizations on their DEI Maturity Journey; seeing them move the needles as they moved up the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Maturity Curve (DEIMC © – a proprietary measurement model developed by Avtar, that assesses the ability of an organization to leverage diversity, promote equity and nurture inclusion,” added Dr Saundarya.

Avtar launched the “Business is Good” campaign and initiative to ensure that 100,000 businesses by the year 2027 become diverse, equitable and inclusive. This will be achieved by large corporates who have visibly seen the benefits of DEI. The top leaders at these role-model organizations will be part of the initiative driven by Avtar, in which they will share not only their own business benefited from DEI, but also how their companies instilled this culture.

Managing directors, Chief Executive officers of role-model organizations, will be part of the initiative driven by Avtar, in which they will share not only their own business benefited from DEI, but also how their companies instilled this culture. Avtar’s BIG initiative comprises focused group discussions, meetings with top leaders, white paper and much more.

Ex- Disney+ Hotstar Saibal Biswas joins MediBuddy as Head of Marketing

National, 28th June 2022: MediBuddy, India’s largest digital healthcare platform today announced the appointment of Mr. Saibal Biswas as Head of Marketing. With over 16 years of experience, Saibal will play a key part in the leadership team and will spearhead the Marketing efforts at MediBuddy and drive growth as the company expands its footprints at a Pan India level.

An alumnus of IIM-Calcutta, Saibal commenced his career with Godrej Consumer Products and has worked with Cavinkare and Philips India Ltd across both marketing and business roles.

In his stint at Amazon India, Saibal played a key role in growing the devices category and market share of Amazon’s key products like Kindle, Fire TV, and Echo. As Vice President, Marketing & Growth, International markets at Disney + Hotstar, Saibal was instrumental in building brand awareness for Hotstar amongst the Indian diaspora. Furthermore, he has also been the Vice President and Head of Marketing at Hopscotch post his stint at Hotstar.

On joining MediBuddy, Saibal Biswas, Head of Marketing, said “I am glad to be a part of a growing organization such as MediBuddy. The HealthTech space is seeing unprecedented digital transformation and relentless innovation as it marches forward. Looking forward to embracing the new challenge and leveraging my past experiences in creating a distinct identity for MediBuddy as we move along.”

Commenting on the appointment, Satish Kannan, Co-Founder and CEO of MediBuddy, said “We are pleased to welcome Saibal to our team. His performances in high-pressure roles in previous stints augurs well for a flourishing and dynamic industry such as ours. His understanding and expansive experience will be of enormous value to our organization. We intend to scale up and expand MediBuddy’s presence and add to the current brand value.”

MediBuddy, which caters to all the healthcare needs of Indian households by connecting patients to verified doctors, and providing quick delivery of medicines, and a range of medical services to its users has always been at the forefront with its admirable marketing campaigns. To its credit, MediBuddy also bagged Marketing Campaign of the Year – #AapkaHealthBuddy & Award for Best Marketing Excellence in Health & Wellness Sector at The National Awards for Marketing Excellence.

Medtech Instashield Receives Award from Hon’ble Union Minister Sh G Kishan Reddy For Its Contribution In The Field of Research

Instashield Receives Award For Its Contribution In The Field of Research in Virus Attenuation Electron Device

Delhi, June 28, 2022: Instashield, a ground-breaking innovative medical device received the ‘WCDM-DRR Award’ from Shri G Kishan Reddy, Hon’ble Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of the North Eastern Region of India recently in Delhi. Instashield received the award for its significant contribution in the field of research in Virus Attenuation Electron Device for its product that disables all kinds of Viruses including SARS-COV2 with up to 99.9% efficacy, in air, and on surfaces. The WCDM-DMICS Award complements the firm’s already strong credentials, which include consumer confidence.

Hitesh M Patel, Promoter and Director, Instashield, said, “We are pleased to receive the WCDM-DMICS Award. We’d like to dedicate this honour to our team of inventors as well as the team members who have worked tirelessly to ensure the success of this product.  We want to take Instashield all over the world to provide a healthy and safe environment to our society”.

The WDCM-DRR Award ceremony was held at India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi, which had three main events. The first one was for the release of Publications of 3rd, 4th & 5th WCDM. The second one was the awards for the best research papers in general and the young researcher category. The third event was the WCDM-DRR Awards to honour the Central & State Governments, Universities, Institutions, PSUs, CSOs, individuals, and Armed Forces who have excelled in this field by implementing new practices, updating the existing tools, and innovating something new.

The World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM) is a DMICS initiative. Over the past fifteen years, the World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM) has become one of the most important and innovative conferences on disaster management outside the UN system.

At the award ceremony, several categories were solicited from different industries- such as the government sector, social sector, research and medical, educational institutions and universities, public sector undertakings (PSSUs), etc. Governments of states – Assam, Karnataka, Goa and Uttarakhand; Government Of NCT of Delhi, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Special Centre for Disaster Research (SCDR), U .S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), India Metrological Department (IMD), Jamia Millia Islamia University, O.P. Jindal Global University, Caritas India, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Manav Rachna University, United Way Delhi, World Vision, Bennett University, Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University (ICFAI), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Child

Fund India, Geological Survey of India, Oil and Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO).

Recently, Instashield received the ‘Most Innovative Corona Protection Device of the year 2022’ KCCI award in Ahmedabad from Shri Purshottam Rupala, Hon’ble Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Govt. of India and Bollywood actress Amisha Patel.

Vitesco Technologies Expert Appointed as Member of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee of the Federal German Government

New Delhi, June 28, 2022 – Anja Rivera de la Cruz, head of Sustainability at Vitesco Technologies, has recently been appointed as a member of the German government’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee. In this panel of eminent professionals, she contributes her proven expertise in sustainability management and an automotive-industry perspective. The committee comprises 34 experts from the financial and real economy, civil society and academia. They advise the German government on the implementation and further development of its sustainable finance strategy.

“The work of the Advisory Board so far has been very important and successful. I am honored to be able to participate in it in the future,” says Rivera de la Cruz. The doctor of medicine with an executive master’s degree in international management and finance has extensive experience in the finance sector and industry, particularly with regard to the establishment of sustainability management systems. At Vitesco Technologies, a leading international supplier of innovative drive technologies and solutions for e-mobility with sales of around €8.3 billion (2021) and around 37,000 employees at 50 locations worldwide, she is responsible for sustainability.

Vitesco Technologies has set itself the declared goal of driving sustainability in mobility. As a developer and manufacturer of modern drive technologies for sustainable mobility, the company employs intelligent system solutions and components for electric, hybrid and combustion drives to make mobility clean, efficient and affordable. Moreover, as a young, listed company, Vitesco Technologies is intensively involved with the topic of ESG. This means that it consistently implements environmental (E), social (S) and governance-related (G) aspects based on defined targets and key performance indicators – along the entire value chain.

Rivera de la Cruz sees her primary role on the committee as relating to the area of sustainability reporting and regulation. “What I bring to the table are my many years of experience in developing approaches and processes that create real transparency, while also being manageable for the industry,” she explains.

Ingo Holstein, Executive Board member for Human Relations and Sustainability at Vitesco Technologies, is also delighted that a representative of the automotive industry has been elected to the German government’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee: “We very much welcome her involvement in this committee. After all, she is thereby also helping other companies in our industry and beyond to achieve greater transparency in sustainability reporting – a central prerequisite for allowing Germany to become a leading sustainable finance location.”

Social Panga strengthens senior leadership with new appointments

Bangalore/Mumbai, 28th June 2022: Social Panga, one of India’s leading integrated digital and creative-first marketing agencies, founded by Gaurav Arora and Himanshu Arora, has further strengthened its creative team. The agency has appointed Indrayudh Mitra as Senior Creative Director & Archana Sudarsan as Creative Director.

Indrayudh comes on board with a vast experience of 15 years in the sector and has worked with agencies such as RK Swamy BBDO, Grey, Ogilvy, and Mudra. He has engaged with brands like Nokia, Vodafone, Marico, Dish TV, etc. In his new role at Social Panga, he will be leading brand engagements with an integrated mandate involving BTL, digital & films too.

Archana brings in her experience of about more than 14 years of working with leading brands like Airtel, Honda, Toshiba, Canon, Philips, Medanta, Network 18, Adidas & many more. Prior to joining Social Panga, she worked with agencies like Ogilvy, Taproot Dentsu & few more. At Social Panga she will be leading a creative team to focus upon creative strategy, brand positioning & ad films.

Commenting on the appointments, Gaurav Arora Co-Founder of Social Panga said, “As we move forward to be a solution-driven, integrated advertising agency, we are excited to have Indra and Archana onboard who will play a crucial role in strengthening our creative team. Their role and contributions will play an integral part in our growth story over the coming years.”

“We focus upon creative business solutions and how we can positively impact the brand. Digital or BTL is just a channel to reach out to the audience, our core will always remain the creative solutions, he further added.

On joining Social Panga, Indrayudh Mitra stated, “After spending more than a decade in mainline, I have embarked on an integrated brand journey with Social Panga. I’m sure it will be an enriching and exciting ride.”

Archana Sudarsan commented, “It’s very exciting to be a part of a set-up like Social Panga. The whole idea of being the solutions people have kept advertising interesting for me and to find myself in a place with the same mindset opens a lot of avenues. What makes my role envious is a great team of enthusiastic and proactive, creative people focused to deliver business results.”

Social Panga recently expanded its Mumbai operations and is now a 260+ mafia team across offices.