Archive: December 8, 2022

The Paytm Merchant Pyramid — What Company Offers Merchants from Across the Spectrum

Paytm’s merchant base has expanded to nearly 30 million as of Q2FY23, with more businesses across the spectrum now joining the platform for accessing the most diverse range of offerings including payment services, subscription devices and even loans.

As the pioneers of QR and mobile payments in India, the company has built a strong digital ecosystem for merchants – from the smaller shopkeepers to the biggest enterprise – and enabled them to achieve stronger growth in their digital journey.

Today, merchants intuitively understand the value of digital payments and they believe in the solutions the company is offering to make their digital payments journey easier and trusted. The company continues to see merchants increasingly opt for devices such as Paytm Soundbox and PoS on their counter, with over 5 million deployments as of October 2022.

Paytm has empowered the merchant partners across the country with pioneering tech solutions that allow them to accept payments through a wide range of instruments and also by deploying subscription-based devices that help them with day-to-day payments. Simply put, the company has created a pyramid system that facilitates entry-level merchants to Omni-channel merchants.

Entry level merchants can use a free mobile QR to accept payments, typically using Paytm Payment Instruments or UPI. Small retailers or offline merchants can then upgrade to Soundbox devices which allow real time voice verification and better reconciliation for merchants, hence generating subscription revenue. The mid-sized and large retailers also use Paytm’s POS devices/card machines which enables them to accept mobile and card payments, thus generating both subscription revenues as well as MDR for us. For Online and Omni channel merchants, the company offers a robust payment gateway product allowing merchants to reliably accept payments across all channels, thus generating MDR revenue and platform fees. Additionally, online merchants can use the Paytm app to collect payments, through which the company earns MDR and platform fees. The company also enables commerce for merchants and allows them to advertise, sell gift vouchers and tickets.

Paytm Payment Services to Merchants includes revenues from the company’s comprehensive offerings of online and in-store payment acceptance services. Merchants pay MDR for cards, wallet, net banking payments, and subscriptions for devices. The government pays incentives for UPI P2M payments. This grew 56% y-o-y to Rs 624 crore in Q2FY22.

Meanwhile, merchant loans offered on the platform in partnership with financial institutions witnessed wider adoption in Q2FY23 with higher ticket size. The total value of merchant loans in the quarter grew 342% y-o-y to Rs 1,208 crore, while volumes surged by 254% y-o-y. This was boosted by growth in the devices business, as more than 85% of loans disbursed were to merchants who also have Paytm devices. In addition, repeat loans continue to see a healthy take up with 50% of merchants having taken a loan more than once. The company also offers commerce and cloud services to merchants, where revenue during the quarter grew 55% y-o-y to Rs 377 crore.

As the payment revolution continues in India, Paytm remains committed to empowering merchants across the spectrum with the diversified ecosystem of innovative solutions and carry on with the company’s mission to drive greater financial inclusion in India.

Sunteck Realty unveils First Impression at 4th Avenue SunteckCity; Epitomizing the Height of Grandeur

Mumbai, December 2022: Sunteck Realty Limited (SRL), one of the fastest-growing Mumbai-based luxury real estate development companies has unveiled First Impression – the higher floors inventory along with the launch of its grand lobby of 4th Avenue at SunteckCity. 4th Avenue at SunteckCity Oshiwara District Centre (ODC) Goregaon (West) offers an opulent and spacious lifestyle. The 2 & 3-bed luxury residences provide larger-than-life amenities. The 34th-floor Slab is already completed & the possession will be within 1 year.

Sunteck Realty, Customer Experience Evangelist, Anupma Khetan said, “There is a huge potential underlying the Indian real estate sector. In today’s new world, the growing population is getting aspirational and wants to lead a life without any hassles and experience the factor of comfort through various facilities and amenities. We look forward to ensuring that SunteckCity becomes the most desirable luxury address.”

Oshiwara District Centre (ODC) is being envisaged by MMRDA as the next BKC of Mumbai. The developments of ODC are set to result in a major facelift in the region. The excellent connectivity and plush neighborhood with the best of the best facilities like schools, colleges, hospitals & other conveniences within 2-3 Km make it a dream place for today’s working population. SunteckCity is linked to two flyovers from the Western Express Highway, Balasaheb Thackeray, and Mrinal Tai Gore, which will aid in seamless transportation. The township is also situated between prominent areas Andheri-Lokhandwala and Goregaon.

4th Avenue at SunteckCity is known not only for its luxurious and spacious residences but also for the sustainable lifestyle it provides. It has been felicitated with EDGE Green Building Pre-Certification by EDGE-IFC a member of the World Bank Group, for its sustainable design as a next-generation building, keeping the environment’s wellbeing as its focus. SunteckCity is a mixed-use premium luxury township situated amidst a buzzing high street, entertainment, fine dining, cafes, restaurants, and a food court. It is a place where the residents can immerse themselves in luxury in the heart of Mumbai and rejuvenate in serenity.

SunteckCity also offers high-street retail and commercial spaces with Sunteck Pinnacle. These office spaces are an architectural marvel crafted to provide ample workspace. It offers an international walk-to-work culture so the residents can save time on travel and spend more time with their families. Sunteck Pinnacle helps to strike the perfect work-life balance as it is located in the heart of the city. With limitless possibilities, this address is the landmark of the city.

The township stands distinctive in nature as it offers Residential, Commercial, Retail & Entertainment – along with the best-in-class amenities like a fully equipped gymnasium for youth, yoga & meditation decks for a healthy mind, body, and spirit, indoor games, senior citizen and children play area for rejuvenation. The extravagance factor gets highly contributed through the double-height lobby with majestic art decor and a comfortable seating area. Contemporary designs exemplified by cutting-edge architecture greet you as you enter the grand lobby of the building leaving people awestruck. The Interior finishing of the lobby will include Italian Marble, Veneer, with Antique Gold Metal Inserts to give it a luxurious finish.

5 Data Security Measures Software Companies Need to Take

 Mr. Filip Cotfas, Channel Manager, CoSoSys

Software companies are at the forefront of digital innovation. New products can revolutionize the way businesses operate and create more efficient or creative ways in which people interact with data and each other. With digitalization efforts reaching all sectors, software companies and their products are in high demand as direct service providers and third-party software developers for companies without in-house development teams.

Contractors and developers of widely used applications, software companies are expected to deliver efficient and secure products. Companies are expected to include security features by design and by default in their products. Failure to do so can land them in hot water with data protection authorities the world over and result in expensive fines.

High data breach costs do not only result from compliance failures but also business disruption and revenue loss from system downtown, loss of existing and new customers, as well as reputational damage. While customer personally identifiable information (PII) was the most widely compromised type of record, intellectual property was not far behind, accounting for 27% of compromised data.

Many software companies rely on the confidentiality of their intellectual property and source code to guarantee the security of their products and maintain their competitive advantage. Innovative software can be replicated, but access to the source code can be the difference between a nearly identical product and a poor copy.

Third-party access to source code can also mean that software companies risk compromising the security of their product. With access to the source code, cybercriminals can easily analyze and find weaknesses they can exploit to hack or misuse a product.
As such, the protection of source code and intellectual property plays a key role in the cybersecurity strategies of software companies. While basic security measures such as firewalls and antivirus are widely used, there are also several security blind spots that can be overlooked. Here are five measures software companies can take to address these vulnerabilities and improve their data security.

Protect data at rest and in motion

Companies tend to view cybersecurity as the need to protect sensitive corporate data from outsiders. However, insiders are many times just as big a source of security incidents. Through carelessness or malicious intentions, a company’s own employees are often at the heart of data breaches. Software companies can protect sensitive data from insider threats by using Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions.

Using predefined profiles for sensitive data such as PII, intellectual property, or source code as well as customized definitions, DLP tools allow software companies to apply security policies directly to the data they need to protect. Through contextual scanning and content inspection, DLP tools identify sensitive data in hundreds of file types, monitor its movements, prevent its transfer through unauthorized channels, and log and report any attempts to transfer it.

Sensitive data can also be compromised because it is being stored locally on work devices, even when it is no longer needed to perform any tasks. These forgotten files can spell disaster in case of a breach. To prevent such files from becoming vulnerable, organizations can use DLP tools to scan company devices for files containing sensitive data and delete or encrypt them when they are found in unauthorized locations.

Secure collaboration tools

The use of collaboration tools is widely spread in software companies. They are an easy way for employees to boost their productivity, track tasks, and communicate more efficiently among themselves. However, employees might be tempted to share sensitive information with their colleagues while using them. This can easily become a security risk.
Collaboration tools can be officially adopted company-wide, but employees looking for more efficient ways of dealing with their workload can also start using them without the knowledge of the company. So-called shadow IT is a serious threat to data security as employees may transmit sensitive data via potentially insecure tools.

DLP solutions can control the movement of sensitive data across popular collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, and Skype. Through predefined profiles for intellectual property, source code, and PII, it identifies sensitive data across collaboration tools and applies policies that restrict its use and transfer.

Limit the use of removable devices

One of the easiest ways for data to be lost or stolen is through removable devices. In the age of the internet, many companies tend to overlook this obvious exit point for data. Once sensitive data is copied onto removable devices, it is no longer protected by the complex policies governing the security of data on company networks. Removable devices such as USBs are also more likely to be lost or stolen due to their size.

To protect sensitive data from being transferred onto removable devices, software companies can use DLP tools with device control features to block or limit the use of USB and peripheral ports as well as Bluetooth connections. Flexible DLP solutions allow companies to set access rights on both a global level and based on groups, users, endpoints, or device type. Settings can be customized depending on needs, with some computers having different or more rigorous policies enabled.

For companies wishing to allow removable devices, DLP solutions can limit their use of encrypted company-approved devices. Organizations can thus track which employees have used which device to copy sensitive files at what time. In this way, software companies can be alerted to potential attempts to exfiltrate data.

Look out for Same-Day Support

Any security products a software company chooses should offer Same-Day support also known as zero-day support for all operating systems. Zero-Day support means that the company behind the security product has access to new OS updates before their public release and has tested the compatibility of their product with them and made any necessary adjustments.

When the OS update is released, the security products will be automatically compatible with the new release, ensuring data will continue to be protected and its security will not be compromised. This is particularly important for macOS as updates can bring fundamental changes to the OS and products without Same-Day support may become inactive if incompatible.

Choose cross-platform solutions

Most software companies run multi-operating-system environments. As such, they need to address this diversity in their security tools as well. Whether antivirus or DLP, they need to choose products that will offer the same level of data protection regardless of the operating system a device is running on.

Cross-platform solutions that offer feature parity not only protect data at all times on all devices but also make managing the security solutions easier. Admins can monitor, control and modify policies from a single dashboard, ensuring a uniform and effective continued data protection on all operating systems.

Aditya Birla World Academy to conduct the finals of “Infinity 2023 – The Ultimate Math Championship” in January 2023

Mumbai, December 2022: Aditya Birla World Academy (ABWA), India’s leading international school under the aegis of Aditya Birla Education Trust, in association with BITS Pilani and the University of Waterloo (Faculty of Mathematics), has organized Infinity 2023 – The Ultimate Math Championship, a one-of-a-kind, international initiative for students to demonstrate their mathematical prowess and refine their skills in the subject. The finals of Infinity 2023 – The Ultimate Math Championship will be conducted on 14th and 15th January 2023 at Atlas SkillTech University, Mumbai, which will witness participation by over 500 students from over 100 schools across India and other countries, in two categories – Senior Mathematicians (grades 9 and 10)and Advanced Mathematicians (grades 11 and 12).

The competition aims to foster students’ love for mathematics and dispel the perception of it being a boring or difficult subject. It will also challenge students in terms of their critical thinking and analytical abilities, which have worth well beyond mathematics and academics. The finals of Infinity 2023 – The Ultimate Math Championship will comprise interesting and unique competitions, such as Pass the Baton, where each member of the team will work on parts of the solution, with the third member providing the final answer, and Bulb Your Ideas, where the teams will be required to present their solutions to the jury as dance, song, skit or in another innovative and interesting way.

Discussing the competition, Mrs. Radhika Sinha, Principal, of Aditya Birla World Academy, said, “It is well known that most students find mathematics to be intimidating. According to a 2021 study, 82 percent of students from Grades 7-10 said they fear the subject, with motivation levels dropping further in higher classes. Our goal, through Infinity 2023 – The Ultimate Math Championship, is to demonstrate that mathematics can be fun and interesting, and inculcate the joy of problem-solving in students. We have devised some innovative competitions, which combine maths with other skills to make things more challenging and engaging, as part of the tournament. This event is also unique because it allows students from across the country, as well as the world, to come together on one platform, to indulge in their love for mathematics.”

Dr. Souvik Bhattacharyya, Vice Chancellor and Senior Professor, Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, said, “Infinity took the shape of a national competition and then international competition in the subsequent years. I understand that due to the increased number of participating schools, this year onward, the competition will be held at zonal levels first and the top few teams will be selected to participate in the final competition. There is immense potential in this competition to nurture the love that students have towards the subject and make them succeed in their endeavors of solving problems innovatively”.

Prof. Ian Vanderburgh, Director, of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo, Canada, said, “We need young people with the passion, talent, and persistence to tackle the challenges that maths presents. The world has many problems, and we need problem solvers — while all of the problems and their solutions are not necessarily mathematical, a grasp of the problem-solving skills that mathematics teaches us will set you up to be the problem solvers that you need.

Infinity, the ultimate Mathematics challenge organized by Aditya Birla World Academy is one such platform to identify such problem solvers”.

The preliminary rounds, held virtually and closely monitored by about 400 investigators, included participation from more than 449 teams, from India and countries such as UAE, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Qatar. Prominent schools from India following national and international curricula also participated in Infinity.

Senior Mathematicians category, Arjun Narasimhan from The Shri Ram School’s Moulsari Campus in Gurgaon, Haryana, India, won the round in the North Zone, while the West Zone champions were Suhaan Mobhani from Aditya Birla World Academy and Atharva Ahire from Children’s Academy, Ashok Nagar. In the East, South, and International Zones, the preliminary round was won by Taradrita Routh from The Future Foundation School, Naman Jain from The International School Bangalore, and Arun Jeewaka Sumathiratne from The British School in Colombo, respectively.

In the Advanced Mathematicians category, Aditya Nautiyal from Sanskriti School won in the North Zone. The West Zone winners were Aditya Krishna from Neerja Modi School, Hrishit Asar from Cathedral and John Connon School, and Arya Saranathan from Oberoi International School. Soham Dasgupta from The Future Foundation School, Shivatmica Murgai from The International School Bangalore, and Ayush Anand from DPS STS School, respectively, won the rounds for the East, South, and International Zones.

The finalists will travel to Mumbai in January for the finals. During the event, a workshop on how to make maths interesting will be conducted by James Tanton, renowned mathematician and educator; Ph.D., Mathematics, Princeton University; and Mathematician in Residence, Mathematical Association of America. The questions for the final rounds will be set by a group of mathematics wizards, and a winner will be adjudged Mathematician of The Year.

All winners will be presented with awards during the closing ceremony following the finals of Infinity 2023 – The Ultimate Math Championship.

Cummins to power GAIL’s Green Hydrogen ambitions in collaboration with Maire Tecnimont

Hyderabad/New Delhi /Pune, India – Cummins, a global power solutions provider, will provide technology in collaboration with the EPC player Tecnimont Private Limited (TCMPL), the Indian subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont Group, – to build one of India’s largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer for GAIL at Vijaipur, in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Cummins will leverage its proprietary PEM electrolysis technology, one of the most advanced and efficient technologies available today, to manufacture electrolyzers for the GAIL project. This project is anticipated to produce 4.3 tons of green hydrogen per day (equivalent to ~10 MW of electrical power input).

At the commencement of this flagship project, Ashwath Ram, MD of Cummins India, said,

“At Cummins, our approach to sustainability aligns with the company’s mission to make people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world. We are deeply aligned with India’s National Hydrogen Mission to pave the path toward zero emissions and support the transition to decarbonized power. The GAIL Green Hydrogen production project based on our PEM Electrolyzer technology is a first of its kind and will pave the way for many such projects in the future. Cummins has a long history of advanced technology and engineering capabilities to innovate across a broad portfolio of market-leading renewable hydrogen technologies and has been a part of many of the world’s hydrogen ‘firsts.’ Despite a challenging timeline, we are excited about the commencement of this project and strongly believe that decarbonization is a growth opportunity for Cummins.”

As the lightest and most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen is rarely found in nature in its elemental form and is always extracted from other hydrogen-containing compounds. Thus, how well hydrogen contributes to decarbonization is determined by its production method. Brown or grey hydrogen is produced via coal gasification or steam methane reforming; green hydrogen is produced using water electrolysis with electricity generated by renewable sources. Cummins has its proprietary PEM electrolysis technology which is used to manufacture PEM electrolyzers globally. The R&D team at Cummins continues to work on other advanced technologies of electrolysis as well.

Cummins has supplied and commissioned more than 600 electrolyzers worldwide with PEM and alkaline technologies. These electrolyzers operate successfully in leading hydrogen use cases such as hydrogen refueling stations, industrial applications, gas grids, and energy storage projects.