Archive: December 8, 2022

Volvo Car India’s Commitment to the Indian Market

Bangalore, 8 December 2022: Volvo Cars India has come a long way since it first started selling cars in India in 2007. The last five years has seen Volvo grow the luxury mobility segment as well as invest in customer satisfaction and its own ecosystem.

The company’s Digital Technology Hub that recently moved to a bigger office space in Bengaluru will be 240 strong in a year’s time, leading to further strengthening of the Company’s commitment to the Indian market and of its presence on digital platforms of the automotive industry. The India Tech Hub is an integrated part of the global delivery setup of digital solutions and services for Volvo Car Group. The hub aims at leveraging Indian IT talent with the goal of contributing to the ever-growing digital needs of the company’s cars as it progresses towards becoming an all-electric company by 2030. The Digital Hub is designed to promote a flexible style of working while encouraging collaboration & innovation. It can host up to 500 colleagues working in a hybrid work model.

The Digital Hub at Bengaluru will boost Volvo Car’s capabilities in software engineering, data science and analytics, product management, online business, user experience, and in all its customer offerings in the future. The Digital Hub assumes significance as software will play an enhanced role in cars of the future. The India Hub would be a full-fledged delivery organisation that, in partnership with partners, would be an important component of Volvo Cars’ overall strategy and digital objectives.

“Digital technology plays an important part in Volvo offerings, and this is further going to increase as mobile technology advances. The digital hub will play an important role in catering to these needs. With this hub, we have leveraged local talent re-enforcing Volvo Cars as an attractive and inclusive employer. I am confident that the Digital Technology Hub will play an important role in the development of the future generation of Volvo cars.” said Jyoti Malhotra, Managing Director, Volvo Car India.

“Volvo recognizes the vast pool of talent in the country and our Digital Technology Hub leverages the best available, we expect this to be 240 strong in a year’s time. While this hub strengthens our presence in India with the opening of new office space in Bengaluru, it will also contribute to the ever-growing digital needs of Volvo globally more so as Volvo readies itself to showcase and launch cars of the future that have digital technology as their integral part” said Jonas Olsson, Head, Digital Technology Hub.

To ease the inventory pressure on dealers and the wait time for customers, the company, in 2018 opened its National Parts Warehouse (NPW), in Bhiwandi, on the outskirts of Mumbai. Presently stocking nearly 90% of the spares that could possibly be required, this warehouse has reduced the wait time for customers.

Volvo’s plan is to launch one electric car in India each year, beginning with the XC40 Recharge, a full-electric SUV, introduced in July this year. The transition to full electrification is being accompanied by an increased emphasis on online sales and a more comprehensive, compelling, and transparent consumer offer. Customers can now purchase a car from the comfort of their own homes thanks to this digital solution, which is backed up by the dealership’s comprehensive sales procedure.

Volvo Cars in India

Swedish luxury car Company Volvo established its presence in India in 2007 and has since then, worked intensively to offer safe and sustainable mobility solutions in the country. Volvo Cars currently markets its range of luxury sedans and SUVs through 24 dealerships in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi NCR – South Delhi, West Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Raipur, Jaipur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, West Mumbai, South Mumbai, Pune, Rajkot, Raipur, Surat, Vishakhapatnam, and Vijayawada.

4

CleverTap Unveils RenderMax

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and MUMBAI, India, Dec 8, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – CleverTap, the World’s #1 Retention Cloud today unveiled RenderMax – a proprietary technology that can increase mobile push notification render rates up to 90% on low-end Android devices.

Push notifications have the power to increase customer retention rates anywhere from 3 – 10 times. Most marketers just focus on their push notification delivery rates, but a “delivered” notification that doesn’t render on the user’s device is a wasted effort. For those who equate delivery and rendering as equal, render rate is the percentage of the number of push notifications the end user received (and were rendered) on the user’s device compared to the total number of push notifications that were sent.

All Chinese OEM devices use a custom variant of the stock Android OS. To optimize battery consumption, these OS variants are configured to bypass the Google/Firebase push delivery service, resulting in low delivery rates and even lower render rates.

RenderMax gives CleverTap customers a significant competitive advantage as they can now engage users they could not before and elevate the ROI from their push campaigns. This is especially true for devices that are in battery saver mode or cannot be reached due to inactivity.

“RenderMax is a testament to our continued commitment towards product development and innovation. Low render rates stifle the true potential of mobile push notifications. We are confident that with RenderMax, brands will be able to harness the full power of push notifications. What’s interesting is that we are offering RenderMax to all customers at no additional cost to any brand that wants to try it out,” said Anand Jain, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, CleverTap.

Betterhalf, India’s first and only marriage super app was provided early access to RenderMax and their push notification render rates more than doubled! Shankar Krishnamurthy, Group Product Manager, Betterhalf said, “At Betterhalf, mobile push notifications are critical for our business. With CleverTap’s innovative RenderMax solution our push notification render rates have skyrocketed to 85%.”

RenderMax powers up the render rates of customers’ push notifications, amplifies the push notification reach, and maximizes user engagement. Enhancing the reach of push notifications can help CleverTap customers lower costs, increase engagement and conversion rates, and reduce churn.

“The CleverTap platform has a great breadth of capabilities, and this innovative mobile push solution will certainly help them stay much ahead of the competition,” Shankar added.

CleverTap RenderMax works with Android OEMs such as Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo, One Plus, POCO, Realme, and Samsung.

Nashik – Ideal Real Estate Destination in Maharashtra

Mumbai -Nashik : CREDAI Nashik Metro has been instrumental in the overall infrastructural development in the city as it closely works with the corporation and the government towards planned execution of the various projects to ensure timely completion with minimal interference in civic life. As per the CREDAI report, Nashik has over 2000 residential projects and 200 commercial projects underway at different stages of development – so nearly 10,000 new homes will be available over the next two–three years. Here are some key highlights about Nashik which make it an ideal real estate destination.

Nashik was once known as the pilgrim city. But in the last decade, the city has vastly improved its infrastructure, real estate, industrial corridor and also created quality healthcare and educational hubs, thus making it one of the fastest growing cities in India. The rising cost of living in the metropolitan cities and since Mumbai and Pune, seemingly have a saturated real estate market, Nashik became the next probable choice of destination for investors. There are ample reasons for Nashik to be the choice of destination and one of the biggest assets of the city is its abundance of natural resources! Most cities in Maharashtra are facing a water crisis, but Nashik is blessed with abundant natural water resources and has 4 dams providing ample water to the city for drinking and agricultural use. This is the backbone of the real estate development of the city because water supply is well planned for the next 10 – 15 years. Nashik also is the largest supplier of vegetables, flowers and fruits to entire Maharashtra, so access to quality produce enhances the quality of life here. We say Nashik has a kitchen and garden in the same city! Needless to say the weather and ambient climate of the city is perfect and lovely throughout the year, making it an obvious choice for home dwellers.

On the infrastructure and development front, Nashik is already attracting large companies to set up base here, few companies include VIP, Bosch, Samsonite, and M&M. The rising demand for residential projects, automatically lures good educational institutions and universities to make a beeline to the city. In addition, large healthcare hospitals are also opening in the city – with the aim to make Nashik the medical hub for Maharashtra.

For any city, connectivity is paramount and the geo-location of Nashik, naturally makes the city easily accessible. Its proximity to Pune and Mumbai and the city’s connectivity to all nearby towns and locations in Maharashtra, in addition to the airport, makes Nashik super-connected. We also have the Samruddhi highway going to Mumbai and Nashik is a key element on that highway – connected at three-four junctions. The DMRC- Delhi-Mumbai corridor did not include Nashik in the initial plan, but later Nashik was added owing to the potential growth and development in the city. There is also a Chennai -Surat expressway sanctioned which will include Nashik and thus it will be a gateway for Nashik to get connected to the South. It will also build proximity for Nashik with Surat, the eco-hub of Gujarat.

Nashik stands as an archetype rendition of a city that prides itself on its modern era infrastructure beautifully coalesced with the old city charm and cultural vibrancy. The clean and eco-friendly vibe of the city offers a good quality of life. Nashik still has plenty of greenery, breathtaking locations, open space, broad roads, and serenity, so be it your first home or you considering an investment property or even searching for the perfect house to retire, all-in-all, Nasik is emerging as an attractive real estate destination.

Redefining Ecommerce Democratisation A Glance At Government’s Revolutionary ONDC Initiative

By Kumar Saurav, Global Mobile Business Head, AdCounty Media

What is ONDC?

A government of India initiative launched in a bid to promote open networks for all aspects of the exchange of goods and services adhering to an open-network methodology which will be unconstrained to a specific platform. The rationale behind this decision is to empower small merchants and put an end to the duopoly of global e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, which jointly account for over 50% of the industry. This revolutionary move by the Government aims at shifting electronic commerce from a platform-centric model to an open-source one.

The move has been brought about by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This model would enable the merchants to save data, build credit history and expand their consumer base. This would allow platforms with significant business-to-business sectors to connect to new consumers alongside tapping into the seller side of the ONDC network to source products. The design, operation and future growth of ONDC have been strategized by a 9-member advisory council comprised of eminent names such as (Nandan Nilekani, Infosys) and RS Sharma (CEO, National Health Authority).

Just like the UPI had provided unparalleled empowerment to crores of Indians across the country, ONDC would also foster interoperability and pave the way for democratizing the entire e-commerce ecosystem.

The launch

ONDC went live with its beta launch in Bengaluru in the month of September 2022. Day 1 of the launch witnessed 161 orders across two available segments – groceries and restaurants. Buyer-facing apps that function as online payment gateways, such as Paytm, IDFC First Bank, SpiceMoney and MyStore, are the driving forces in this experience. Platforms like Bizom, SellerApp, Ushop, Uengage, Innobits Mystore, nStore, e-Samudaay, eVitalrx, Go Frugal, and Growth Falcons are the seller apps included in this initiative.

Reports suggest that ONDC plans to extend beta testing into regions where its network members have significant delivery and logistical footprints and where these players have the capacity to be deployed. In addition, it is anticipated that the initial sectors will focus on fashion, travel, pharmaceuticals, mobility, home decor, and gadgets. Alongside Bengaluru, ONDC has been rolling out in other cities like Delhi NCR, Bhopal, Coimbatore and Shillong.

What problems does ONDC aim to solve?

The ONDC would enable the government to regulate the e-commerce segment in a much more systematic manner, given that all transactions between the buyer and the seller would take place on one independent portal. The platform would empower offline retailers and allow them to compete with major online sellers on a single platform. The entire framework of Digitisation, which is widely advocated and implemented by the government at all levels possible, is the underpinning of this move.

According to a joint report by FICCI-Anarock, India’s skyrocketing e-commerce business is anticipated to grow by more than three times to US$170 billion by 2026 from US$38 billion in 2021.

Despite a thriving industry, a handful of major firms, such as domestic online retailer Flipkart and global digital behemoth Amazon, control a huge portion of the Indian e-commerce market. The government’s efforts to support the industry through supportive regulations and the development of tech infrastructure are anticipated to democratise digital trade in the nation and launch the next phase of e-commerce sector growth.

AN ONDC strategy paper identified the incapacity of marketplace vendors to leave the ecosystem of the platform, given the fact that the value these small players create is maintained by the bigger platforms. In light of this, ONDC seeks to change the marketplace ecosystem from a facilitator-driven interoperable decentralised network to an operator-driven platform-centric model.

How will this digital equaliser pave the way for Indian retail?

In a nation of more than 1.35 billion people, ONDC sets its eyes on expanding the e-commerce reach to 25% of consumer purchases in India during the next two years from the present 8%. According to Bain & Company, the e-retail sector in India is projected to grow from US$150 billion to US$170 billion by 2026. The government anticipates that the ONDC project would ultimately benefit consumers by driving competition and innovation in the e-commerce sector.

Within the next five years, the initiative hopes to register 900 million buyers and onboard 1.2 million sellers on the shared network, with a gross merchandise value of 48 billion dollars. An investment of $33.4 million has been garnered from 20 Government and private companies, including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, etc. 24 companies, including Flipkart-backed Ekart Logistics, Google, Reliance-backed hyperlocal delivery platform Dunzo, digital payment and financial services company, PhonePe are reportedly in the process of integrating with ONDC.

The ONDC has recently released a 43-page consultation paper seeking public comments on 24 issues in a bid to strengthen its network. The questions are centred around order placement, order fulfilment, payment and settlement, returns, refunds, and cancellations, grievance management, enforcement and compliance, and local government.

India will have 500 million online users by 2030, securing its spot as the third-largest global market. In the years to come, this number as people are increasingly using the internet via desktop computers and more via mobile devices. But data privacy is the biggest issue raised by this increase. Since India doesn’t have a comprehensive data privacy regulation in place, e-commerce companies may collect, keep, and utilise customer data in ways that might not always be equitable. The administration is allegedly considering answers to these issues before enacting any e-commerce rules.

—

Construction Tech Saas Startup Onsite Raises $1.50 Million in Seed Round From Artha Venture Fund, Foundamental, Madhumala Ventures, and Others

Mumbai, December 08, 2022: Onsite, a Construction Tech startup, has raised $1.50 million in a seed round from Artha Venture Fund, Fundamental, and Madhubala Ventures, amongst others. The company will use the funds to accelerate its product development and expand its market footprint. The Delhi-based startup empowers small and mid-size construction businesses across 200 cities by standardizing an otherwise unorganized construction ecosystem. This move marks Artha Venture Fund’s 22nd investment from its ₹225 crores micro-VC fund.

Onsite is a one-stop business solution for mid-sized construction businesses to manage their business and connect site and office teams. It takes a contractor-first view of construction, automating regular tasks to ensure that project operations and finances are in sync. Onsite’s technology is powered with data analytics capabilities, driving the business towards better cash flow management and higher profits for contractors.

Although the construction sector is India’s second-largest contributor to GDP and currently employs 50+ million people, small and medium contractors that dominate the industry still rely on manual record-keeping to track the progress. Onsite’s digital solution tackles such challenges and brings diverse stakeholders onto one platform.

Akshansh Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO – Onsite, said, “Onsite addresses the real challenges of the construction industry by empowering the mid-sized construction businesses that are the backbone of the industry. Our multi-lingual interface has enabled over 1 lakh businesses to streamline their operations through technology, easily and effortlessly.”

Sipika Nigam, Principal – Artha Venture Fund, said, “Akshansh, Dheeraj, and Sumit make a strong founding team with proven experience in construction and technology. Their ability to counter complex challenges with simple yet effective solutions is noteworthy. Considering that over 66% of construction companies in India are leaning towards digital transformation, we are confident that Onsite will play an integral role in benchmarking the Indian construction ecosystem with its international counterparts.”