Archive: November 25, 2022

Honda Cars India signs MoU with IDBI Bank to offer attractive finance schemes

Hyderabad / New Delhi, 25th November 2022: Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL), a leading manufacturer of premium cars in India has entered into an MoU with IDBI Bank, a leading private sector Bank in India, to offer a host of finance schemes for its customers. This collaboration between HCIL and IDBI Bank will facilitate customers to avail of hassle-free affordable financing options & schemes for the purchase of Honda Car models. The association reaffirms the commitment of HCIL and IDBI Bank to provide the best service to its customers.

Elaborating on the partnership, Mr. Kunal Behl, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, at Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “The collaboration with IDBI Bank is an initiative to provide all Honda customers with convenient financing solutions along with the best ownership experience and assistance. We are constantly striving to innovate and improve the customer experience at Honda Cars India, which begins right at the first touch point – the purchase experience. We look forward to welcoming new customers into our Honda family and sharing the joy of owning a Honda car.”

IDBI Bank MoU with HCIL will enable the offering of quick financing solutions to a large number of Honda customers across the country. The benefits will include attractive interest rates, minimum processing charges, maximum loan amount, and the maximum repayment period. The partnership will ensure providing a better customer experience in terms of product and procedures.”

The Chhaunk collaborates with Jimmy’s®, expands beverage menu

Delhi/NCR, 25th November 2022: Delhi/NCR-based Cloud Kitchen Startup, The Chhaunk has recently collaborated with Jimmy’s®, India’s leading non-alcoholic mixer company to provide customers with a wide range of beverage categories. With this collaboration, The Chhaunk has become the 1 st cloud kitchen in India, providing the RTD mixers segments in its menu. The brand aims to expand beyond the horizon and provide its customers with all the best possible services for house-party people who can enjoy food with their favorite Beverage. The refreshing RTD & mixer range, which will be available, includes the likes of Cosmopolitan, Mango Chilli Mojito, Ginger Ale, and Classic Lemonade, to name a few. The Chhaunk was established in 2021 by two women entrepreneurs, Mrs. Manjari Singh and Mrs. Hiranyamayi Shivani (Saas-Bahu Duo) exclusively offers Bihari food. Around Covid, a lot of Indians stayed away from home in order to work and earn a living which left them craving their native home-cooked food.

This was when the concept of a cloud kitchen was established to deliver delicious food to the doorstep. The brand currently has 5 outlets in Delhi NCR & Ahmedabad. Commenting on the collaboration, Mrs. Manjari Singh, Co-Founder of The Chhaunk, “We are thrilled to partner with Jimmy’s® to introduce the innovative beverage category in our Bihari Cuisine Menu. We believe that in the food business, it’s very important to bring new and stimulating ways for customers to enjoy the meal and the food is considered to be incomplete without drinks and that is the reason, we thought of increasing our horizon. This will help us gain more traction and give a complete experience to our customers. All the party lovers will also have the convenience of having their favorite food along with drinks delivered to their doorstep in the upcoming party season. It can be ordered from The Chhaunk’s website or via food delivery platforms like Zomato or Swiggy.”

On the collaboration, Anish Arora, Head of Marketing, Radiohead Brands, said “We are pleased to kick start our association with The Chhaunk for listing of Jimmy’s® products in their menus, and swift delivery across their locations in Delhi NCR. With a growing market for alternative beverages, Jimmy’s® is a great addition to the menu for any new F& B Brand.”

Hungama HiLife G1 smartwatch will be set for grabs offline exclusively at TATA Croma across its retail stores in India

India November 2022 – Hungama, India’s leading digital entertainment company, recently began its journey of exploring contemporary smartwatches through the G1 watch, available under their brand of lifestyle products, HiLife. To demarcate and bolster its presence in the market, the G1 smartwatch is set to be seen in TATA Croma outlets across the country. With features like Bluetooth 5.0 calling with an in-built mic, IP67 Water Resistant, built-in speaker, blood pressure monitor and SPO2 tracker, physiological cycle reminder, 24×7 heart rate monitor, and much more, the G1 smartwatch is an enviable product that people can now get their hands on in their nearest TATA Croma stores.

With the entry of the G1 smartwatch in TATA Croma stores, other HiLife audio products will soon set foot into their retail stores across India over the next few months. The same will be available on the Croma online store. Packed with a competitive set of features available at an affordable price of Rs. 3499, G1 customers will also experience an elevated entertainment experience with year-long free subscriptions to Hungama Music and Hungama OTT Play, along with a Cleartrip voucher of INR. 500 on all domestic flights.

Siddhartha Roy, the CEO, of Hungama Digital Media, said, “We are excited that Hungama’s range of innovative audio products, Hungama HiLife, will be available to TATA Croma customers. We hope to build the Hungama HiLife brand in partnership with Croma and continue to bring a novel range of high-quality audio products for TATA Croma customers in the future.”

Speaking on the occasion, Croma spokesperson said “Croma has always aimed at providing new avenues and offerings for customers. As we expand our range, we are delighted to partner with Hungama HiLife portfolio to provide a wide assortment of products to choose from. Croma’s unique omnichannel play will make the customer’s buying journey delightful with the new range.”

Diebold Nixdorf invests in a new 27,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Bengaluru; focuses on manufacturing its new DN Series in India

Bengaluru, November 2022: Diebold Nixdorf, the world leader in automating, digitizing, and transforming the way people bank and shop, is set to expand its presence in India through a new manufacturing facility. The company has started manufacturing its globally acclaimed, advanced DN Series™ cash dispensing and cash recycling machines in a manufacturing facility located in India’s IT hub – Bengaluru. This furthers the company’s commitment to Make in India, enabling the government’s vision of making India a manufacturing hub for the rest of the world.

The dedicated plant has been set up with its contract manufacturing partner in India, NASH Industries. Owing to its proximity to ports, ancillaries’ setup, and talent pool, Bengaluru is a natural choice for this investment by Diebold Nixdorf. The state-of-the-art manufacturing establishment covers an area of approximately 27,000 square feet with an inbuilt capacity of manufacturing more than 18,000 machines per year. The first batch of machines is rolling out today and is being shipped to customers. Diebold Nixdorf is bringing in its globally acclaimed manufacturing tools and technologies in this facility, thus enabling the company to adjust the plant’s capacity to cater to any potential change in future demand.

Mr. Jaivinder Singh Gill, Regional Vice President and Managing Director – Banking, Asia Pacific and Middle East said “Diebold Nixdorf’s newest state-of-the-art facility at Bengaluru is backed by the company’s deep manufacturing expertise and significant technology capability. The industry’s most advanced cash systems DN Series™, which will be manufactured at this facility, offer the financial industry’s highest capacity with the lowest footprint, are highly secure, have increased availability and offer a highly personalised experience to consumers. The DN Series™ are powered by the world’s most innovative and reliable dispensing and recycling engines. This is just the start, and as banking and retail technology systems continue to evolve, Diebold Nixdorf will play a pivotal role.”

This investment in infrastructure expansion is in addition to previous investments Diebold Nixdorf has made in India during the past 25 years of its presence here. The company has dedicated Global Development Centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad. In addition, Diebold Nixdorf has an existing strength of more than 2,000 direct employees in the country, who are critical to the success of the company’s global Software and Services business.

Freeman – America’s No. 1 face mask brand enters the fast-growing Indian beauty market through House of Beauty

India, 25th November 2022, Freeman – America’s No.1 award-winning face mask brand announces its entry into the Indian beauty market in collaboration with India’s leading retailer House of Beauty. Launching exclusively with Myntra, the brand will also launch across Boddess Beauty online and offline stores by December this year.

Freeman’s offering in India will feature a range of their star products such as Charcoal Black Sugar Gel Mask, Day & Night dual chamber mask, Anti-stress dead sea mineral clay mask, clearing sweet tea and lemon peel off, Deep cleansing charcoal and sugar mud mask, to name a few. The brand portfolio consists of an array of face masks ranging from mud masks, gel masks, and peel-off masks among others, and will be introducing 15 variants in India.

Launched in 1976, Freeman has been committed to making nature-inspired, fun, high-performing specialty beauty products accessible to the younger beauty-involved customer for over 40 years. Since then, Freeman has become a leading recognized expert in facial masks with various innovative, on-trend, and award-winning products. Natural ingredients back the Mask Expert’s feel-good formulas, are cruelty-free and are also safe for sensitive skin.

Speaking on the occasion, Ritika Sharma, Founder, and Director, of House of Beauty said, “House of Beauty has always endeavored to introduce global beauty brands & experiences to Indian customers and Freeman is an exciting new addition to our ever-expanding portfolio. Freeman marks our entry into the mass-masstige beauty segment and we have plans to further strengthen our portfolio in this segment in the coming year. Freeman enjoys a cult following in the US and we’re certain our consumers will enjoy discovering this brand through their award-winning face & body masks.”

Speaking on the launch of the brand, Rahul Sachdev – Senior Director, Beauty, and Personal Care Category, Myntra, said, “With face masks gaining traction in Indian consumers’ skincare routines, the brand’s entry into the Indian market via Myntra, could not have happened at a better time. Freeman’s quality products made from natural ingredients, while also being highly affordable, have been trendy globally. We are extremely delighted to launch a globally sought-after brand like Freeman on our platform.”

“In the past couple of years, Boddess Beauty has successfully introduced to Indian beauty consumers several world-class skincare brands. The category has seen good traction among our customers, who are keen to experience global trends and products and we are committed to building and enhancing our offering for this segment,” says Sharad Sharma, Chief Business Officer, Boddess Beauty

News18 Assam North-East successfully hosts Utkrisht – Assam Excellence Awards (Upper Assam chapter) in Jorhat

25th November 2022: Identifying priceless contributions towards the socio-cultural fabric of Assam, News18 Assam North-East held its flagship awards ceremony Utkrisht 2022, Assam Excellence Awards (The Upper Assam Chapter) in Jorhat on 16th November 2022. In a landmark move, the prestigious ceremony crossed the boundaries of the state capital of Guwahati to give recognition to deserving luminaries in Upper Assam. The grand event will be telecast on News18 Assam North-East on the 25th of November, Friday at 10 PM.

The mesmerizing gala ceremony featured the humane jewels of Assam across several disciplines and industries, who were awarded for their tremendous contribution towards the state’s welfare. This celebration of excellence was graced by chief guest Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Honorable Union Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways & Ministry of Ayush. Commenting on the awards night, he said, “I’m delighted to be present at the Utkrisht – The Assam Excellence Awards (The Upper Assam Chapter) in Jorhat. My heartfelt congratulations go to all awardees. I wish the very best for them and their upcoming endeavours to help Assam shine in the national arena. In doing so, I also appreciate the commendable effort by News18 Assam-NE in identifying and felicitating the luminaries of our state.”

News18 Assam Utkrisht 2022, Assam Excellence Awards (The Upper Assam Chapter) was co-powered by Reliance Industries Ltd., and had Kaziranga University, MAAC Lachitnagar, and Magik Cook as associate sponsors.

Tune in to News18 Assam NE on 25th November 2022 at 10 PM for an exclusive experience of the awards ceremony

Agora holds its inaugural RTE APAC conference, bringing together attendees from over 25 countries

Bengaluru, India — November 25, 2022 — Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ: API), a pioneer and leading platform for real-time engagement APIs, earlier this week held its inaugural Real-Time Engagement (RTE) APAC conference. Taking place both virtually and in regional meetups across Australia, India, Indonesia, Korea and Singapore, the event brought together innovators and entrepreneurs from across the region to showcase how they are reimagining real-time engagement for the future of work and education, the metaverse, entertainment, and more.

Complementing Agora’s flagship RTE2022 conference, which took place in San Francisco from October 10 to October 12, 2022, the curated event is a first for the Asia Pacific region, bringing together the most influential and innovative leaders in the RTE technologies space.

“There are so many start-ups across Asia that are incorporating high-level technology and innovative ideas,” added Agora’s Co-Founder & CEO Tony Zhao, who provided the keynote speech at RTE APAC. “We look forward to empowering more RTE start-ups in the region across the metaverse, social radio, education and entertainment industries, and supporting their ability to leverage new and exciting technologies that connect people in a more natural and meaningful way.”

At the event, Agora also shared how they have helped developers across Asia build platforms which are developer friendly and enabled them to utilize Agora’s SDKs and APIs for real-time voice, video, live streaming and Quality Analytics. Highlighting the importance of developing mature RTE solutions across the region, Tony Wang, Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer for Agora added, “Seeing the increased adoption of technology like RTE across the region, we believe it is imperative to make such products customizable and seamless for developers to help build more scalable and interactive environments. Agora is committed to empowering local developer ecosystems by enabling products which are more customer oriented, secure, and engaging for disruptive and innovative enterprises.”

Highlights from the virtual conference, which recorded attendees from over 25 countries, include:

The conference offered seven sessions covering trends and advancement in the RTE ecosystem. Attendees heard from industry experts and innovators who leverage RTE to increase customer engagement and drive business success in both the digital and physical domains across entertainment, education, remote work, and more.

More than 1,000 tuned in virtually for in-depth sessions on driving RTE business success and advancing the online community, featuring execs from LinkedIn, Spotify, Wipro, Wise, and more.

Prior to the event, Agora also held its first APAC Supersonic Program between July and October 2022 in Seoul, Korea. The three-month accelerator program for start-ups utilizing RTE technology, sought to establish collaboration among start-ups to overcome limitations of RTE technology with continuous R&D support from Agora. BlaBla, an audio-based social communication platform started by former AfreecaTV executives, was selected as the winner and invited to participate in Agora’s Global ‘RTE Startup Battleground’ held in October.
To help drive the conversation at RTE APAC, Agora also recently released data that shows how the demand for real-time, interactive digital and audio has exploded over the past year. Between 2018 and 2019, RTE video (+75%) and audio (+67%) grew significantly. In 2020, partly due to COVID-19, Agora found that growth exploded, with RTE video rising 110% while audio climbed 143%.

Avidestal Technologies launches Me-Grow, a tech platform to aid businesses in enhancing self-growth

Bengaluru, November 2022: Avidestal technologies, the tech arm of global research giant, Markelytics, has formally announced the launch of its SaaS-based product for market research – Me-Grow. The newly introduced product aims to help businesses attain self-growth, through consistent & customized consumer feedback. Concluded across five metro cities – Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi/NCR, Mumbai & Kolkata, the pilot launch of the product witnessed over 3450 signups from businesses across 20+ industries.

Along with this, the company has also announced that it has witnessed a 30% m-o-m growth in its overall subscriber base across the centres after the launch of its paid subscription module. Keeping its growth plan in mind, the company has further predicted an increase in the ongoing trend and subsequently in its M-o-M growth after the launch of its franchisee model (businesses with headquarters & branches across the country), scheduled to happen in January 2023. This would enable HQs to monitor the entire consumer experience process centrally from a headquarter. Covering all the consumer-facing industries, Me-Grow believes it brings a revolution in how businesses envision the feedback process and its analysis.

Backed by cutting-edge AI technology, Me-Grow will enable businesses to combine the strength of market research with minimal to no manual effort into a product, whether organised or unorganised, at a low cost. It will further enhance their business operations and catalyse their growth across all sizes and geographic footprints. With its feature-rich and user-friendly platform, businesses across sectors can also get in-depth insights into understanding consumers and competitors. In short, Me-Grow can assist organizations in improving their customer experience through consistent & customized feedback & online communities, strategy recommendations, and business forecasting, propelling them toward greater growth and adapting to the changing business environment.

Sharing the details, Mr. Jasal Shah, MD & CEO of Avidestal Technologies, said, “After years of in-depth research, we developed Me-Grow, which offers the utmost power of insights, AI & growth to businesses. An ingenious integration of our 4 other SaaS products, Me-Grow offers a complete & customized process of consumer feedback along with plans to bring services such as AI-based forecasts with seasonality, strategy recommendations and predictions, online community, and others to businesses. In addition, we are also planning to set up field teams in 20 more Indian cities in 6-8 months with a dedicated corporate sales unit to tap into the franchise businesses.”

Speaking about the product, Anand P (Andy), Director & co-founder of Avidestal Technologies, quipped, “Me-Grow is going to be a revolution in terms of giving the power of feedback & insights to many businesses because of its highly penetrative pricing and unique offerings. To date, we have witnessed a signups-to-subscription rate of 50%, which is way above the numbers we forecasted. This tells the market acceptance, and as we go along, we are getting a lot of learnings to make this product better and sharper for its users. We intend to release a host of features in the next months, including the ability to form and manage an Online Community, AI-based strategy recommendations, forecasts, etc.”

At Me-Grow, the subscribers (businesses) can simply signup up for the platform with their email address or mobile number and complete the business profile within minutes, followed by selecting the payment plan and getting a unique QR generated for the business. Currently, Me-Grow provides a free plan of 30 days along with monthly and annual subscription plans. Once the signup is done, a Growth Template needs to be selected & made live on QR or sent to consumers through mobile. Me-Grow generates all responses in real-time as pie charts & other visualization methods for simple comprehension and leverages these data insights to construct effective business strategies. Me-Grow then allows the brands to connect with their customers for group discussions (read online FGDs/IDIs) to understand them better.

The product offers 20+ industry-specific pre-set Growth Templates, GTs (read questionnaires) with three other GTs to understand the habit, usage, and experience of the consumers, along with an option to develop custom GTs. The plug & play model of the product allows subscribers to switch between GTs anytime to understand consumers on parameters they find more pressing. To date, subscribers have made a total of 6000+ GTs live, signifying the seamless process to switch between GTs anytime.

The fourth edition of SCREENXX Summit & Awards 2022: Throwing light on the Indian broadcasting and digital industry

Asahi Kasei’s innovative Frying Pan Foil becomes Indian kitchen’s perfect oil-free cooking partner for a healthier lifestyle

November 2022: In the past few months, health has been the conversation that has shaken most of us up as most of our near and loved ones have seen tough times. Immunity and leading a healthy lifestyle have become a big switch that people are looking at making while fighting a global pandemic. What we consume is directly related to our health and thus healthy eating and enjoying the food we eat has become important while also staying indoors and convincing ourselves that this is for a better tomorrow. One cutting-edge kitchen product that has revolutionized the way for both experienced and amateur new home cooks in the kitchen, while saving time and yet ensuring a healthy and hassle-free cooking experience for culinarians of all levels, is Asahi Kasei’s Frying Pan Foil – the latest innovation in the cooking space.

We all may follow different diets and may have different cooking styles but the Frying Pan Foil can be used in multiple ways. Keeping in mind the season and climatic conditions where most parts of the country are facing the monsoon season, we may often indulge in eating unhealthy food. This is when a Frying Pan Foil comes to rescue where one can prepare various types of dishes using the product. The Frying Pan Foil is Japan’s No.1 Silicone coated aluminium foil, one can simply place this on a pan and cook over the foil. Using oil can be skipped since it has a Silicone coated on one side, this prevents food from sticking to the foil. Thus, due to reduction in oil intake one can reduce their
calories intake and by using Frying Pan Foil for oil free cooking, one can remain fit and healthy. A lot of us have food cravings while being home and innovative kitchen products can help us shift into eating healthier food that is home cooked. The Frying Pan Foil eliminates the use of cookware and post-cooking clean-up of utensils as it reduces the number of pans (tava, frying pan, dosa Tawa) required in your kitchen. One can easily shift to making pan-fried food like dosa, Uthappa, paneer tikka, omelette, and fried eggs without using oil.

“With food habits evolving at such a rapid rate over the last decade, having this product in our homes is truly revolutionary. There is a tendency to indulge in poor eating habits when the seasons change, which is why a Frying Pan Foil may be utilised to prepare dishes that are both tasty and healthy”, says Luve Oberoi, Sr. Marketing Manager, Asahi Kasei India Pvt. Ltd. While most of us have different cooking techniques, this is a great product to have in a kitchen to try oil-free cooking while still ensuring we have a balanced lifestyle with proper nutrition and diet”.

Asahi Kasei, Japan’s No 1 Premium Wrap brand, first entered India in 2014 and has since slowly found its way into every Indian kitchen. Their products have been used in Japan for over 60 years, demonstrating their ease of use and quality. In 2020 they were awarded by Economics Times for an Industry leadership award for ‘Preferred Premium Kitchen Cooking and Food Preserving Sheets Brand.

The Frying Pan Foil is now available in stores like Big Bazaar, Le Marche, Spencers, Foodhall in Delhi NCR, Reliance stores and many general trade stores in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kerala, Punjab and also online at Amazon, Flipkart and Big Basket at a price point of INR 249/- and on an average, it can last for a month.