Archive: October 26, 2022

Equitas Bank’s Video Series ‘Circle Of Life’ narrating success stories of Small Business Women Entrepreneurs

India, October 26, 2022: This Diwali, Equitas Small Finance Bank boosts the powerful and empowering journey of its women customers with a heart-warming video tribute, which narrates their tale of hard work, grit, and courage. The bank has played a pivotal role in transforming the lives of many in this community by supporting them through their many microfinance offerings.

Equitas SFB is enabling and empowering women-led businesses through their offerings and aims to improve their lives in an economically beneficial manner. This edition of the “Circle of Life” Series features transformative stories of women who have brought about a positive change within themselves and empowers budding entrepreneurs to believe in themselves.

This story of Poonam (also resembles resilience) – a woman from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, who had to then relocate to Rajasthan, due to her irresponsible husband. She gathered the courage to leave the house in a very poor financial condition. Starting her journey with only 50 rupees in hand, she was keen to live a new life on her own abilities. Holding the hunger for a better life, she began exploring opportunities to earn and survive. Wandering to seek work, she stepped into a boutique and got a job stitching buttons, but learned a lot more in two years. Gaining experience, she started her business with designing and sewing her ideas to create a collection as per the market. While overcoming so many obstacles, she still smiles because of the platform that trusted in her.

By choosing to bank with Equitas, you not only earn higher interest but also help make a difference in the lives of people. The ‘Circle of Life’ series drives home the point that money can be used as a force for good. The web series is available on the social media platforms of Equitas Small Finance Bank.

A little courage is all it takes to define your resilience and ability. Watch her story of transformation.

WATCH Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y_LzcL8D7M

The video follows the incredible journey of Poonam – When she realized that she had to run her life along with her kid on her own, she never lost hope. With just 50 Rs in hand, she moved to a new city- with an empty purse but a heart full of courage to start over. Step by step, she started stitching the gaps in her life to achieve her dream. From stitching buttons, she now owns a boutique. It indicates how life leaves gaps in your dreams and how to stitch them up!

Equitas Small Finance Bank supported Poonam in her journey by providing financial aid and guiding her throughout this journey. Equitas Small Finance Bank is proud to be a small part of this woman’s transformational journey.

With a single-minded focus on making banking simpler for all, the institution has been instrumental in generating livelihoods for innumerable customers and the video of Poonam is one such in those series after the story of Kismat, Dhanlakshmi, Indra, and Shanthi.

YouTube:

Kismat: https://youtu.be/0Eq3_vayO7U

Dhanlakhmi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=G_kzThyEUwk

Indra: https://youtu.be/X9TcdnFsGvs

Shanthi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-bp73VseoY

Commenting the on the release of the video, Vignesh Murali, Head- Of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Equitas SFB said, Our ‘Circle of Life’ series signifies a way of taking and giving back to society and showcases the lives of people like Poonam Karan who have gone through a transformative journey. Equitas have played a small part in taking them close to their dreams. The feeling when you realize you are somewhere a part of making millions smile is beyond words can explain. Circle of Life’ features real-life transformation stories of bravery, sacrifice, and compassion, the bank aims to reach a wider audience with the series to inspire and give hope to Indians in times of uncertainty.

With a single-minded focus on making banking simpler even for the unbanked and under-banked, the institution has been transformative in generating livelihoods for innumerable customers. By choosing to bank with Equitas, you not only earn higher interest but also help make a difference in the lives of people. The ‘Circle of Life’ series features such stories of transformation to drive home the point that money can be used as a force for good. The web series is available on the social media platforms of Equitas Small Finance Bank.

Organizations Rapidly Adopting Qlik AutoML to Bring the Power of Machine Learning to Analytics Teams

Mumbai – October 26, 2022 – Since its general availability earlier this fall, a growing number of organizations across industries have adopted Qlik AutoML™ to augment their decision-making with the power of predictive analytics for the 90% of use cases that don’t require the deep expertise of professional data scientists.

Machine learning is used across every industry, but its wider adoption and value have been limited by the gap in data scientist bandwidth and resources. Qlik AutoML is filling that gap by bringing a simple, code-free way for analytics users and teams to leverage machine learning to train models, make predictions and plan decisions on their current analytics use cases. With Qlik AutoML, teams across the organization can now explore predictive data and test what-if scenarios right in Qlik Sense®, which can then trigger alerts and automation for action across the business.

Organizations like Chef Works, RevLocal, and Bentley Systems are all adopting Qlik AutoML to better predict churn, drive efficiencies, and engage and retain clients by modeling likely outcomes and pivoting strategies based on predictions. Another example is Polygon Research, which serves the mortgage industry with actionable market intelligence. Polygon is using Qlik AutoML to make predictions in areas like loan repayments to help lenders make appropriate interventions by offering refinancing or loan modification options.

“This is where AutoML really shines,” said Greg Oliven, CTO of Polygon Research. “You can get down to individual loans, see the percentages on every single variable and then see the cumulative decision: is this borrower going to prepay or not? What’s the prediction? And what’s the strength of that prediction?”

There are common AutoML use cases across every department in an organization. Business users across Sales (forecast/churn/retention), Marketing (customer lifetime value and demand forecast), Finance (risk management and investment optimization), HR (employee retention/satisfaction/recruiting) and Supply Chain (inventory predictions/bottlenecks and transportation optimization) can all benefit from better predictions that drive proactive engagement.

“Modern analytics, when augmented with machine learning, can take the guesswork out of the future and help decision makers know what is likely to happen, why that outcome is likely, and, crucially, what changes will influence the outcome,” said Josh Good, Vice President, Product Marketing at Qlik. “Qlik AutoML is helping organizations drive more value from their data and empowering their teams to look around the corner when making decisions that impact outcomes.”

Novotel Hyderabad Airport Celebrates International Chef’s Day with a Wholesome Week of Events

Hyderabad, October 2022: International Chef’s Day is observed every year on October 20. It is a day that highlights the contributions and efforts of chefs all around the globe. To truly celebrate this occasion and express its appreciation for its incredible chef’s team, Novotel Hyderabad Airport organized a series of exciting activities.

The celebrations were kicked off by a wholesome meal curated by NHA chefs for the girls of Shamshabad Girls High School. The chefs prepared a delectable meal which they served to the students and spent a wonderful afternoon with them.

Next up was an exhilarating Chef Cook-Off Competition held at Novotel Hyderabad Airport. Chefs were split up into different zones and given different tasks to accomplish. The competition was lively and friendly, making for a joyous evening for the entire team.

Talking about International Chef’s Day celebrations, General Manager, Mr. Rubin Cherian said, “A major component of a well-functioning hotel that people love is the food. Chefs all across the globe put their love and hard work into mouth-watering dishes every day and spread joy around through their skills. It gives us immense pleasure to devote this week to celebrating and appreciating these heroes with magic in their hands.”

The celebrations were concluded by a very special dinner organized by the team at NHA for their chefs. It was a week of happiness, appreciation and light all around.

WATI raises $23M in series B, powering WhatsApp for businesses in India and other regions

26th October 2022 – India: WATI (WhatsApp Team Inbox), a customer and sales engagement tool is today announcing a $23M series B funding, led by Tiger Global with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia, as well as new investors DST Global Partners and Shopify. This marks Shopify’s first venture investment in a startup operating in the Southeast Asia region. The series B comes hot on the heels of an $8.3M Series A round 10 months ago; in total, WATI has raised over $35M since 2020. WATI plans to use the Series B funds to scale the teams, and product enhancement, and expand the customer base in India and key markets.

WATI has helped businesses power millions of conversations with thousands of customers across 78 countries in just 2 years since its launch. India continues to be WATI’s single largest individual market, with a third of its customers based out of the country. WATI has become an indispensable tool for startups to SMBs and is deployed by businesses across verticals like e-commerce, healthcare, education, fashion, finance, professional service, and public services. Since its last round, WATI has grown its Indian customer base by 60%. Over the next few quarters, India will remain a critical focus for WATI both in terms of deepening market reach and tapa

Over 2 billion people around the world use WhatsApp to communicate everyday things and it is little wonder that businesses are taking to the messaging platform to support their customers where they feel most comfortable. In 2020, founders, Bianca Ho and Ken Yeung launched WATI to help SMB with a self-service, low-code product on the WhatsApp Business API. WATI enables companies to have scalable, yet personalized conversations with its customer engagement software that is built on WhatsApp’s Business API. WATI’s vision is to help businesses meet their customers where they are – on messaging platforms – so they are always accessible, personalized, and can engage in real time. Through the WATI platform, SMBs can support their customers through a collaborative team inbox with multiple agents, smart routing, canned responses, data tagging, and analytics. Many of these interactions can be automated through low-code workflow builders and chatbots. 

Bianca Ho, Co-Founder, WATI commented: “It’s been an exciting 2022 at WATI culminating with this new funding round. We doubled down on our product with more automation, making it a seamless digital tool and a must-have for any business. We went vertical in our approach and created integrations and partnerships with Zoho, Shopify, and Google Sheets among others to really help scale growth and sharpen the product. The team has grown, revenue and customer numbers have doubled and now we look to scale the business, operations, and teams around the world.”

This year, WATI has grown its remote-first team by 50%, attracting leaders from Twitter and Freshworks. Revenues and customer growth have doubled in the past 12 months as users find ROI in both time saved and increased revenue from automated workflows connected to eCommerce platforms and CRMs. WATI has over 6000 customers across 78 countries including SMBs providing domestic house cleaning services to schools, tutorial centers, medical institutions and ecommerce, Shopify stores, and many more. 

Currently, India has the highest number of WATI employees in any single market, across departments – Customer Success, Support, Partnerships, Marketing, Engineering, Product, etc. The company plans to increase the India headcount by 30%, in line with the growth of its revenues globally.

Ken Yeung, Co-Founder WATI, said “The business messaging market has grown enormously. Meta estimates that around a billion people per week communicate with a business or service account across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. This insight is critical for what’s happening now and what’s coming ahead. About 40% of Meta’s advertisers globally – over 4 million businesses – use click-to-message ads, which redirect people from Facebook or Instagram into one of Meta’s messaging products to chat with a business. WATI is well placed to service this demand and beyond.”

With additional funding, WATI will continually scale the team and invest in the product stack for low-code automation encouraging wider adoption of digital tools. WATI plans to scale sustainably in India and has aggressive go-to-market plans in emerging markets such as Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Same Service, Same Rules is the foundation for fair and healthy competition: COAI

New Delhi, 26th October 2022: COAI, the leading representative body for the Indian telecommunications industry, has stated that there is a need to ensure a level playing field among all technologies,i.e. Same Service Same Rules with respect to OTT Communication Services so that fair and healthy competition prevails in the industry. The industry welcomes the adoption of new technologies and services by various players in the ecosystem; however, regulatory conditions and treatment must be made uniformly applicable for similarly placed players.

In view of this, COAI welcomes the inclusion of OTT Communication Services in the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022, recently released by DoT. However, in order to bring comprehensiveness and avoid any possible ambiguity, COAI is of the considered view that the OTT Communication services need to be defined in the draft Telecom Bill.

Certain quarters have opined that the principle of ‘Same Service, Same Rules’ may not be applicable for OTT Communication services, based on misinformed views. It has been erroneously suggested that Telecom Services and OTT Applications do not operate on the same layer, when in fact; services such as calls (voice/video) whether provided by the TSPs or the OTT Apps, operate on the same layer, essentially riding on the network layer.

It is also being argued that Article 14 of the Constitution of India guarantees equal treatment to only those who are equally situated, while incorrectly citing the case of Government of Andhra Pradesh vs Maharshi Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (AIR 2003 SC 296….) in this regard. The argument ignores the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s observation of treating a school and a publisher as equally situated even though they operate in different layers. It is clearly evident from the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment on the referred case that equality in the context of Article 14 comes from being in the same situation as opposed to operating in the same layers. Since OTTs and TSPs provide the same voice/video/data communication services – they operate in the same situation, and hence should not be seen as unequal.

Another flawed argument is that since TSPs have the Right to Spectrum, numbering resources, interconnect with PSTN, and Right of Way (RoW) for setting Infrastructure; there should not be any framework for regulating OTTs and bringing them on equal footing with the TSPs.It may be noted that TSPs undergo a government-mandated process for allocation of right to use of spectrum, numbering resources, etc. by undertaking critical commitments in terms of deliverables defined by the license agreement and investing heavily in setting up networks. OTTs, on the other hand, are free from any of these obligations, but enjoy all the privileges of delivering the same services, without having to bear any of the regulatory obligations, security obligations, investment or network requirements. Further, it is important to note that it is not the case that OTTs are prevented from obtaining Right to Spectrum, numbering resources, interconnect with PSTN or ROW, etc.; but they have chosen not to opt for these privileges so as to avoid the associated obligations stated above.

In fact, regulatory disparities exist presently in the provision of essentially the same communication services between – TSPs who are subject to various regulatory obligations such as Security, QoS, Subscriber Verification, Anti-spam, Strict compliance required under Unified license provision instructions, various audits, etc.; and OTT Communication Service Providers who are not subjected to any form of regulation. This seriously dents the level playing field in the market.

Apart from investing massive amounts in creating the network Infrastructure and incurring huge operational expenses in terms of meeting various Regulatory compliances, TSPs also pay exorbitant levies and taxes in terms of License Fee, SUC, GST, etc. On the other hand, OTT communication service providers, who are enjoying huge direct/indirect benefits and revenues by utilizing the TSPs’ networks, are not subjected to such taxes and levies, thus causing loss to the Government exchequer.As applicable to all industries, such revenues gained from the Indian citizens should be accrued back to the Government of India under a regulated regime and model.COAI is of the view that OTT communication service providers should be brought under the ambit of the Telecom Act and they should contribute to the development of network infrastructure in the country.

This is further justified by the fact that OTTPlayersconsume humongous amounts of bandwidth, which puts tremendous pressure on the network infrastructure established by the TSPs. At the same time OTT Players gain massive direct/indirect benefits without incurring any additional costs.Thus it would be all the more fitting that they contribute towards the cost of this infrastructure development, which is presently borne by the TSPs alone.

COAIis of the firm view that all the OTT players (both Communication and non-Communication OTT providers) should meet the requirements of National Security and Consumer Rights.

With the advent of new technologies and the advancement of the telecom ecosystem to entail such services/products, it is only logical that the new Telecom BillbringsOTT Communication services are under a proper regulatory framework, as required for any legitimate sector. In case communications OTTs as well as OTTs consuming humongous bandwidth not brought under an appropriate regulatory regime, then the license conditions and regulatory obligations for the TSPs should be equally relaxed.

Moreover, OTT players need to invest and contribute towards the development of a robust Digital Network and Infrastructure in the country, along with meeting the critical requirements of National Security and Consumer Rights.

KidZania Joins Hands With Kruti Parekh Magic Academy to Give Kids the Experience of Magic Apprentice

26th October 2022:
There’s a common adage that ‘most times in magic, as in life, what you do is not as essential as how you do it.’ Magic tricks always manage to fascinate and impress children. They are always eager to learn, experiment, have fun, and trick their friends and family. All children love to role-play as magicians.

By collaborating with Kruti Parekh Magic Academy, KidZania has undertaken the responsibility of fulfilling a child’s fantasy and eliciting their joy.

Being a magician involves extensive training, expertise, talent, and a lot of practice, just like many other professions. In KidZania, kids can train to become professional magicians by playing the role of a Magic Show Performer for 20 minutes. They can learn magic tricks, develop magic talents, expand their creativity and self-confidence, and also find tips to improve their magical performance. The art of performing magic involves presenting illusions and tricks to amuse spectators. When children head to Kruti Parekh’s Magic Academy and master the necessary abilities, then it is time for them to put on a magician’s cap, swing the wand, and dazzle the audience with amazing magic tricks by saying ABRACADABRA!

What are you waiting for? Go visit Kruti Parekh Magic Academy and get first-hand experience only at KidZania Delhi NCR and KidZania Mumbai!
Comments:
Tarandeep Singh Sekhon, Marketing Director, KidZania India said, “At KidZania, we strive to make every moment magical, every experience extraordinary, and every memory worth remembering. And this time, we are extremely happy to partner with Kruti Parekh’s Magic Academy. Magic is fun and it also teaches a lot of handy skills that can go a long way in child development. By teaming up with Kruti Parekh – India’s leading mentalist, we invite all parents to let their kids experience this truly magical role-play activity and learn how to perform the art of magic at KidZania!”

Dr. Kruti Parekh, Head Magic Academy
Sim Silabi Fu fu fu! Hocus Pocus! Abracadabra! Ever Wondered how all you can disappear, appear or levitate with these Magic Words? We, At Kruti Parekh Magic Academy, empower you to do exactly that. Magic is one of the most enjoyed art forms by kids and parents alike. At the Academy, we add a little bit of additional learning making it the most enjoyable form of edutainment both Inside and out. Magic helps develop hand and eye coordination, digital dexterity, and confidence, thereby building the personality of the child in a fun way. In addition to this, it also builds a mindset of making the impossible possible. Partnering with KidZania India, we have tried to create a first-of-its-kind experience, to create a roleplay of learning the Magic as an apprentice and then performing the show as a performer, just like it happens for a professional Magician.”

Canadian Wood & MAK Projects host seminar on Sustainable wooden constructions at BTR Greens, Hyderabad

Hyderabad, October 26, 2022: Canadian Wood- a Crown agency of the provincial government of British Columbia (B.C) Canada; in collaboration with MAK Projects-a premier infrastructure and housing development company; hosted a seminar on ‘Build with Wood’ at BTR Greens, Hyderabad, today. Mr. Bikshapati, Director General, NAC; Mr. Murali Bukkapatnam, Vice Chairman, TiEGlobal; Mr. Srikanth Sinha, CEO, TASK; Arch.Shankar Narayan, Vice president, Indian Institute of Architects- Telangana Chapter, Mr. Vikram Jain, Trade Commissioner, Govt. of Canada; Dr. Tasneem, Trade Commissioner, Namibia; Mr. Kota Reddy, MD, Sri Aditya Homes; leading architects, developers, HNIs and connoisseurs of wooden dwellings; attended the seminar.

Mr. Pranesh Chhibber – Country Director, Canadian Wood (FII); in his opening remarks said “In the last couple of years, India lost the art of building with wood. Canadian Wood’s idea is to promote building with wood in India again. In this seminar, we have called in some eminent speakers who have been involved in building with wood for a while now, and they shared their knowledge and expertise on the best practices on how to build with wood. The guests here today were able to see how one can derive not only the environmental benefits but also the bio-filic benefits from wood.”

Sharing insights on the Canadian Wood Villa Mr. Stanley Berlin, Wood Construction Specialist, said, “The Canadian Wood Villa was constructed in less than 10 months and trained about 70 artisans during that period on how to build with wood. This seminar provided an excellent opportunity to introduce the wood frame construction technique to Indian architects, designers, Builders and manufacturers. Everything used to build the villa, is renewable, unlike concrete and steel, which are exhaustible resources. For every tree harvested, Canadian Wood Products plants three more trees. In a hundred years, we can break down this house and every material used can be repurposed again.”

Commenting on building with engineered wood, Mrs. Bhawna Sharma, Artius Interior Products, said, “I am truly inspired to build with timber as it drastically reduces the carbon footprint. Statistics show that one cubic metre of timber stores around one tonne of carbon. The world is facing two major issues at the moment, housing and the global climate crisis. If we continue to build using traditional materials like concrete, we will only accelerate global warming. Science and researchers have made it possible to build a 300-meter-tall timber tower. The Canadian Wood Villa will serve as a great example for promoting wood construction in India.”

Mr. Osman Ali Khan, Director Business Development, MAK Projects, said, “In this seminar, we will talk about the problems India faces in building with wood while also explaining what a modern wood house entails. Wood houses can be divided into a lot of types, but the technology we use is lightweight timber framing and mass timber. The reason why we shifted to wood was that we wanted to show that concrete is not sustainable. For India to become carbon neutral by 2070, and to achieve that goal, every industry needs to become sustainable. “  

Speaking on the collaboration with Canadian Wood Mr. Nasir Ali Khan, Promoter and Managing Director of MAK Projects, said, “As a company, MAK Projects, we are a luxury housing company. Our current project focuses on green and healthy living. It was a pleasure to collaborate with Canadian Wood. We would be glad to do more such projects with them that focus on sustainability. The market demand for sustainable projects is gradually increasing since people these days are more conscious about a healthy lifestyle. The future of the construction industry lies in building with wood.” Mr Ritesh Kumar, Assistant Director – Business Development of Canadian wood proposed the vote of thanks.

The delegates & the guests at the seminar had a guided tour of the MAK Canadian wood villa and were thoroughly impressed with the finesse and aesthetic look of the wooden construction. The villa is the first of its kind in India and is built using certified wood from sustainably managed forests of British Columbia in Canada. MAK Projects has tied up with Canadian wood to build and promote sustainable wooden luxury homes in India. 

Mass timber construction has created a new way of building. The volume of wood used in the MAK Wood Villa is 192 cubic metres, which is replenished by Canadian forests every 1.6 minutes. This method of construction can dramatically reduce construction carbon emissions. 327 metric tons of CO2 emission was avoided by using wood for this house, which is equivalent to 102 cars being off the road for a year, that is enough energy to operate 51 home for a year.