Archive: July 28, 2022

Powers Insurance & Risk Management Hires Husband-and-Wife Insurance Team

Mark and Deanna Sherman join one of St. Louis’ largest family-owned insurance agencies

(St. Louis, Mo., July 27, 2022) Powers Insurance & Risk Management, one of the largest family-owned and operated independent insurance agencies in the bi-state region, recently named Mark Sherman as Personal Lines Practice Leader and Deanna Sherman as Account Manager. The husband-and-wife team brings a combined 37 years of experience to Powers.

Mark will be responsible for leading the personal lines team, as well as generating leads, developing new business, and handling existing Powers’ accounts. Prior to joining the company, he owned and operated a Country Financial office for more than 20 years. Mark, who is currently a board member for the West St. Louis County Chamber of Commerce, is certified in long-term insurance care. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Missouri-Columbia and holds his Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF) designation.

Deanna will assist producers in obtaining new business, as well as handling sales and serving Powers’ personal lines clients. She previously worked with her husband as an Account Manager at Country Financial for 17 years. She earned her Associate of Applied Science degree from Columbia College in Columbia, Mo.

“Mark and Deanna possess the experience and entrepreneurial drive we seek at our growing family business,” said Powers Insurance & Risk Management’s president JD Powers. “We are excited to welcome them to our organization where their communication and innovative skills will be valued.”

Founded in 1991, Powers Insurance & Risk Management provides personal and business insurance, surety, risk management, and employee benefits. Founded in 2006, sister company Valley Insurance Agency Alliance generates more than $500 million in written premium and is the regional founding member for the Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance (SIAA), a $10 billion national alliance. The companies are headquartered at 6825 Clayton Ave.

For more information, call (314) 725-1414 or visit www.powersinsurance.com.

Things NRI should consider before investing in India

Author : Pratik Jain, CEO and Founder of The Stallions 

Swift recovery from the pandemic, quick revival of business across all asset classes and a series of structural reforms made in recent past have placed Indian real estate industry on a high trajectory. The growth in business is steered by the low-interest rate regime and attractive pricing offered by builders and developers.

Furthermore, policy interventions like RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) and Benami Bill are strengthening the prospects for investment. The country is also expected to attract cross border real estate investment of $2.5 billion in 2022.

At present the Indian property market ensures a healthy capital appreciation potential to invertors making this an apropos time for Non-Resident Indians’ (NRI) and Overseas Citizens of India to want to invest in the realty sector. With comparatively low initial capital investment NRIs can attain high return by ascertaining basic factors before investing.

In this article, we are going to list down the important points that should be kept in mind by NRIs before investing in Indian real estate market. By ensuring these factors their investment can be obstacle-free and fruitful.

The First and foremost parameter NRIs should keep in mind before investing is the locality infrastructure. It’s imperative to find an area with quality infrastructure because it determines a number of aspects. Decent amount of upcoming residential and business projects in the area, its connectivity in terms of public transport and road network, the area’s proximity to business parks and office centres, and close access to social infrastructure like schools, colleges, hospitals, banks and malls— are the factors that establish that the locality infrastructure is appropriate for investment.

Locality infrastructure also determines the appreciation rate of the area. If the infrastructure around is good and well-built the circle rate of the place will always increase at a higher pace. Investing in properties that have high appreciation rate will only ensure high profit.

Also, rental market or rental yield towards the project should be ensured and cross-checked. Rental yield stands for the amount that a typical tenant is ready to shell out because if the rental value of the property is lesser than the EMI or property tax and maintenance expenditure the deal is not considered that profitable.

The next most important factor is RERA approval, experts advise to put money only in RERA approved projects because it protects buyers, ensures speedy dispute redressal for consumer grievances and most importantly RERA infuses transparency in all real estate deals. RERA was established under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development)Act, 2016. Along with regulation of real estate sector, RERA also acts as an adjudicating body for speedy dispute resolution. The RERA Act leaves no loophole for builders/developers to make fraudulent deals or escape after selling a property. So, it is advisable to only invest in properties that have RERA approval.

Another significantt factor is the brand of the developer/builder. It is important to choose a reputed builder with a proper portfolio, completion record and earlier deliverables, even more so for NRIs because they are not physically present to check on the quality or status of the project. So, if you are an NRI who wants to invest in India, you must keenly choose the builder.

The stage of construction is another important factor for NRIs to keep in mind before investing. Most commonly, investors prefer to put money into the first phase of the project because at that time they get the agreement in comparatively cheaper rates and appreciation is maximum. However, it is vital to gather all information about the builder and the project and cross check the findings before putting in a single penny. Online reviews should also be checked before making any decision.

If you are a non-resident Indian and wish to earn a substantial amount of profit by investing in the Indian real estate market make sure you keep these factors in mind.

Bank of Baroda Introduces Baroda DigiNext Cash Management Services…

Mumbai, July 2022: Bank of Baroda (Bank), one of India’s leading public sector banks, and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), a premier container port in the country, today announced the successful roll-out of Baroda DigiNext Cash Management Services for digitisation of the port’s accounts payables, receivables and liquidity management.

JNPA is amongst the largest container ports globally. It has recently implemented SAP for bringing efficiencies in its operations. To help JNPA with its digital transformation, Bank of Baroda has successfully integrated its Baroda DigiNext Cash Management Services with SAP.

The initiative demonstrates JNPA’s commitment to enhance the ease of doing business for the port users and suppliers through a fully digitised and automated solution for cash application, supplier payments and bank reconciliation.

Shri Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority said, “The SAP system installed at JNPA is aimed to drive business innovations for faster execution of all business transactions. To further enhance it we have collaborated with Bank of Baroda to avail their ‘Baroda DigiNext Cash Management Services’ to take digitisation at JNPA to a broader aspect and make JNPA’s business more organised, automated and efficient. As a part of digitising activities and ease of doing business.” 

Shri Debadatta Chand, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “Businesses are becoming increasingly complex requiring customised solutions based on the size, scope and nature of their operations. In today’s highly competitive world, building in efficiencies and streamlining business processes through digitisation is a prerequisite for success. At Bank of Baroda, we are proud to deepen and expand our relationship with one of India’s premier container ports through the launch of Baroda DigiNext Cash Management Services for JNPA. Baroda DigiNext will help JNPA digitise its working capital management and enhance ease of operations for the port authority’s entire ecosystem.”