Category: Business World

Business World

Pre-budget expectations:Mr. Chintan Sheth, Director, Ashwin Sheth Group

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Ashwin Sheth Group, #Director, #Mr Chintan Sheth

Budget 2021 will be crucial for the real estate sector with a series of developments across industries. The real estate sector faced multiple challenges due to reverse migration, stoppage of work, travel restrictions and less disposable income with potential buyers. However, the recovery has been a positive one, to say the least with profitable sales growth in the residential front due to the festive season, attractive schemes, and the consumers’ assertive outlook to restart looking for homes. Moreover, government reforms like reduction in stamp duty, the extension of the project completion deadline, RBI Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to extend the co-lending scheme for NBFCs and HFCs led the industry on the path of recovery and boosted market sentiment further.

We are optimistic about the amendments and wish the budget addresses some of the critical issues, such as:
· Speeding up infrastructure development to improve connectivity to various emerging micro-markets.
· GST waiver on under-construction projects for under-construction residential development
· Ease in the cash flow and capital generation options that will support the developers to complete the construction working in time

Business World

Pega Survey Finds Indian Consumers Believe AI Drives Better Consumer Experiences

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Pegasystems Inc.

New research from Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA), the software company empowering digital transformation (DX) at the world’s leading enterprises, reveals Indian consumers are extremely open to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption to drive better customer experiences. Conducted by research firm Savanta, the study surveyed over 1,000 consumers in India on their views about AI as it relates to morality, ethical behavior, and empathy. Of the respondents, 74% constituted millennials and GenX.

The study found that Indian consumers generally trust new technologies like AI if they see the potential to improve their productivity and make things simpler. But at the same time, respondents still worry about the ethics behind AI and the potential for it to act with bias. In a still maturing market for technology adoption like India, it’s important for organizations to understand their customers’ perceptions, knowledge gaps, and preferences of AI to optimally implement it.

Other key findings of the study for organizations to consider include:

AI is accepted as key for better customer experience: Eighty-four percent of respondents agree AI has the potential to provide better customer experiences, improve brand reputation, and increase customer loyalty. Almost 78% said they are comfortable interacting with AI for business-related queries.

Consumers prefer talking to machines over humans: The study found 60% of Indians are more likely to tell the truth to an AI system or chatbot as compared to a human. This could be because engaging with a neutral bot would ease people’s concerns about the embarrassment of saying the wrong thing or creating a misunderstanding given the huge variety of cultures, subcultures, and myriad of beliefs across the country.

Many believe AI can demonstrate empathy: Seventy-five percent of those surveyed believe that machines can behave morally and thus make ‘good’ decisions based on empathetic considerations. In addition, 76% of respondents in India believe that when an organization uses AI to make relevant, appropriate, and valuable offers to their customers, it is an example of AI demonstrating empathy.

Most believe AI acts with bias: Eighty percent of respondents believe that AI- based decisions can be biased without any human interventions. As AI models adapt and learn from experiences, only 33% of respondents believe AI will evolve to become less biased over time.

Consumers trust companies they do business with – Eighty-five percent of those surveyed in India believe companies have a moral obligation to do what’s right (beyond what is legally required), and 79% of respondents trust companies have customers’ best interests at heart.

To maintain consumer trust, organizations must ensure they implement AI responsibly or risk losing this hard-earned loyalty. Organizations should adopt transparent and unbiased AI, which means their AI models can explain exactly why a decision was made. By combining AI-based insights with proper AI governance, organizations can more safely adopt AI while driving better customer engagements.

To help ensure unbiased decisions in an organization’s AI systems, Pega had announced the Ethical Bias Check feature in its Pega Customer Decision Hub™ customer decisioning engine. To learn more about how Ethical Bias Check is helping businesses reduce unintentional bias from their customer service and marketing strategies, visit www.pega.com/products/customer-decision-hub/ethical-bias-check

Quotes & Commentary:

“Our study found that Indian consumers are extremely open to AI and its benefits,” said Suman Reddy, managing director, Pegasystems India. “This presents an important opportunity for Indian companies to accelerate their AI adoption – particularly as the pandemic forces them to increase their digital engagement capabilities. By taking an empathetic and ethical approach to AI, businesses can ensure their customers’ faith in AI is rewarded with better service – which ultimately leads to an increase in customer loyalty.”

Business World

SBI Retirement Benefit Fund offers Term Insurance Cover up to Rs. 50 Lakhs on SIPs

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #SBI Retirement Benefit Fund

The four investment plans of SBI Retirement Benefit Fund, amongst the existing 21 retirement schemes in the category from eight Fund Houses, are well diversified in terms of investment asset class that it would invest.

SBI Retirement Benefit Fund is a solution-oriented fund that offers exclusive features like life cover up to a maximum of Rs. 50 lakh per investor on SIPs registered with a tenure of 3 years plus, The fund offers insurance benefits (along with SIP), in case of an unfortunate event the nominee stands to get the benefits as mentioned below: Year 1: 20 times the monthly SIP instalment or Rs. 50 lakhs whichever is lower, Year 2: 50 times the monthly SIP instalment or Rs. 50 lakhs whichever is lower, Year 3: 100 times the monthly SIP instalment or Rs. 50 lakhs whichever is lower and 4th year onwards: 100 times the monthly SIP instalment or Rs. 50 lakhs whichever is lower.

Any investor between the age of 18 and 52 years can avail this facility. SIP of minimum Rs 1000 per month is required to be eligible for this facility. While the SIPs may continue under the perpetual SIP, the insurance cover will stop (as per the terms and conditions of SIP insure) once the investor reaches 55 years of age.

The fund offers four investment plans – Aggressive (equity-oriented), Aggressive Hybrid (equity-oriented), Conservation Hybrid (debt-oriented) and Conservative (debt-oriented).

The scheme also offers option of two investment facilities of auto transfer to help optimise the retirement corpus and my choice, and quarterly systematic withdrawal facility (post applicable lock-in of five years of attainment of retirement age, whichever is lower).

The Fund Managers for the SBI Retirement Benefit Fund would be Mr. Gaurav Mehta (Equity), Mr. Dinesh Ahuja (Fixed Income) and Mr. Mohit Jain (Foreign securities).  

Business World, News

Bhoomi Pujan Ceremony of Vedanta Pathology Lab & Diagnostic Centre Held

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #CEO – Vedanta Ltd., #Govt. of Odisha, #Jharsuguda, #Mr. CN Singh, #Shri. Naba Kishore Das Hon’ble Minister – Health & Family Welfare

Jharsuguda, Odisha:: Vedanta Jharsuguda, India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, marked an auspicious beginning to the commencement of construction of the Vedanta Pathology Lab & Diagnostic Centre at Jharsuguda. Shri. NabaKisore Das, Hon’ble Minister – Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of Odisha, performed Bhoomi Pujanfor the project, in the presence of Shri. Suresh Pujari, Hon’ble Member of Parliament – Bargarh, Shri. Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Hon’ble MLA – Brajarajnagar, Shri. Saroj Kumar Samal, District Magistrate & Collector – Jharsuguda, and Shri. Lal Mohan Routray, Chief District Medical Officer – Jharsuguda, Mr. CN Singh, CEO – Vedanta Ltd., Jharsuguda, and other eminent dignitaries of the region.

A collaboration between Vedanta Ltd., Jharsuguda and SRL Diagnostics, the Vedanta Pathology Lab & Diagnostic Centre will be an advanced state-of-the-art multispecialty facility.It will aid in greater penetration of medical services in the hinterland, bringing specialized medical services to the doorsteps of Jharsuguda citizenry. The centre shall offer over 500 tests and specialized services like Radiology, Mammography, ECG/PFT/TMT, Vision, Digital X-Ray, Audiometry, among others.

Speaking about the awards, Mr. CN Singh, CEO – Vedanta Ltd., Jharsuguda, said,“Vedanta has been a long-time partner in the socio-economic progress of Odisha, especially Jharsuguda, where we operate one of the world’s largest aluminium smelters. We are thankful to the Govt. of Odisha, District Administration, members of the community and our well-wishersfor their kind association and unfaltering support over the years. Our community development interventions in the field of sustainable livelihood, healthcare, quality education and infrastructure have transformed the socio-economic fabric of the region. The Vedanta Pathology Lab & Diagnostic Centre, our upcoming community welfare project, shall cater to nearly 5 lakh citizens of Jharsuguda as well as nearby areas, bolstering the state of healthcare in the region.”

Shri. Naba Kishore Das Hon’ble Minister – Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of Odisha, said, “I welcome Vedanta’s Pathology Lab & Diagnostic Centreproject for Jharsuguda, and I hope that more such CSR initiatives will be rolled out  by Vedanta for the people of Jharsuguda in the future.”

Vedanta’s social interventions in the domains of sustainable livelihood, women empowerment, quality education, health, water and sanitation, bio-investment and community infrastructure reach out to a total of 72 villages in Jharsuguda and nearby areas, benefiting nearly 80,000 people in a year. It empowers more than 4000 women from over 335 SHGs, provides doorstep healthcare services to about 32,000 people annually, gives educational support to more than 6400 students, has planted more than 1.48 lakh trees in partnership with the community, and built 570 plus infrastructural projects at community level.

Vedanta is India’s largest producer of the green metal, aluminium, operating a world-class 1.6 MTPA aluminium smelter and 3615 MW thermal power generation facility in Jharsuguda, Odisha. The only Indian smelter in the global ‘1 Million Tonne’ production and export club, Vedanta Jharsuguda is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications across core industries. With one of the largest technically qualified and diverse workforces in the country, the company is working towards a sustainable and greener future for all by spurring emerging applications of aluminium, the ‘Metal of the Future’.

 

Business World, News, Technology

Quantum Launches New Line of Hybrid Storage Arrays to Drive Performance and Scalability for Data-Intensive Workloads

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #H2000 Series, #Quantum’s StorNext® File System

Bangalore, India — Quantum Corp.(NASDAQ: QMCO),a global leader in data and storage management solutions for unstructured data,  announced the launch of the H2000 Series of hybrid storage arrays to provide customers with cost-effective performance,ease of use, and scalability for data-intensive workflows. Marking a significant increase in performance on previous generation systems, the H2000 Series is designed to leverage both SSD and HDD media to align performance, capacity, and cost with the demands of business applications. Its tight integration with Quantum’s StorNext® File System enables end users to achieve higher levels of productivity without compromise.

The H2000 Series launch follows Quantum’s announcements in November 2020, when it unveiled its strategy to offer solutions on a subscription basis, enabling end users to realize the value of the expanded software solution portfolio in support of unstructured data across its lifecycle. The introduction of the H2000 Series demonstrates Quantum’s commitment to delivering industry-leading unstructured data solutions that align with organizations’ needs.

“We made a big commitment to our customers when we introduced the software subscription license based on capacity last year,”said Ed Fiore, Vice President/General Manager, Primary Storage at Quantum. “Since then, we’ve focused on new developments that address their needs for expanded capacities, real-time search and analytics, and other functionalities. By introducing the H2000 Series we can help our customers deliver and extract the full value of these software-based propositions, empowering their future workflows and performance needs.”

 High PerformanceFor Dynamic Workloads With a Flexible, Highly Available Design

Providing the foundation for future scalable deployments in StorNext environments, the H2000 Series provides maximum throughput and sequential I/O performance for accelerated media production workflows, offering enterprises, studios, and broadcasters a competitive edge.

The H2000 Series can be configured with high-performance SSD storage or high-capacity HDD storage, and with either fiber channel or Ethernet connectivity to meet the needs of any customer environment. It’s based on the same software-defined architecture used in Quantum’s award-winning F-Series line of NVMe storage servers, and both the F-Series and the H2000 Series can be deployed as part of a StorNext file system cluster.

“The volume of unstructured data that organizations are creating can impede their ability to make use of their data efficiently,” said Noemi Greyzdorf, Director of Product Marketing at Quantum. “The H2000 Series represents a generational upgrade, providing better storage capacity and access, while enabling customers to fully tap into their software subscription license through its tight integration with the StorNext 7 file system. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

 

Business World, News

Purplle.com signs Bollywood star Sara Ali Khan as its first brand ambassador; launches the #GoPurplle Campaign

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Arun Iyer, #co-Founder, #Co-founder & CEO, #Manish Taneja, #Purplle.com, #Spring Marketing Capital

Mumbai: Purplle.com, India’s leading online beauty destination, has signed Bollywood GenNext star Sara Ali Khan as its brand ambassador. Purplle denotes Royalty in Beauty, with products made from imported ingredients, yet affordable and accessible to every woman. With a mission to democratize beauty, Purplle and Sara have come together to empower women to look inside out beautiful. The 360-degree campaign has been conceptualized and executed by Spring Marketing Capital. With a robust communication plan, Purplle will reach the heartlands of India to take its vision forward.

The brand’s newly launched campaign #GoPurplle featuring Sara Ali Khan is based on the same core tenet of ‘Beauty for All’.  With her signature sass and radiant glow, she showcases the gorgeous natural world of Purplle. It highlights its authentic product ranges from 6000 make up products to its 5000 natural product offerings with exotic ingredients; all under Rs. 400. Sara shares their 2-day-no-questions-asked Return Policy and free delivery for anyone’s first order on Purplle. She also reveals how the brand rolls out 300 new beauty products every month.

On being their first brand ambassador, Actress Sara Ali Khan, shared “Purplle stands for beauty that is inclusive and accessible to all. It enables women to fulfil their aspirations and even envision bigger dreams, as they look and feel their gorgeous best. I am extremely excited to embark on this journey with Purplle. It is a privilege for me to be the first face; proud to go Purplle!”

On the announcement Manish Taneja, Co-founder & CEO, Purplle.com said, “We are delighted to have Sara as the face of Purplle. She exemplifies the confidence and determination of a strong new-age woman. She is expressive, authentic and extremely comfortable in her skin, making her a powerful role model for young girls. Sara will lend her voice to inspire consumers to embrace their own unique journey; to make beauty reach the comfort of every home. This association is a step towards further strengthening the connect with our consumers. We look forward to an exciting partnership together.”

Arun Iyer, Co-founder, Spring Marketing Capital, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Purplle in its endeavour to not only become a one stop destination for beauty but also democratise beauty, and make it accessible to all consumers. Moreover, Purplle has a wide variety of natural products, an unparalleled offering in today’s market. Our aim has been to communicate all these features of the platform to consumers in a fun, quirky yet informative manner with Sara Ali Khan sharing our story.”

Business World, News

BHARTI AXA GENERAL INSURANCE LAUNCHES ‘KRISHI SAKHA’ APP TO MEET SPECIFIC NEEDS OF FARMERS

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Bharti AXA General Insurance, #Chief Executive Officer, #Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, #Mr. Alok Shukla, #Mr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, #Mr. Sanjeev Srinivasan, #PMFBY., #Senior Vice President and Head – Agriculture and Rural Business

MUMBAI:  Bharti AXA General Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups, and AXA, one of the world’s largest insurance companies, today launched its new app ‘Krishi Sakha’ to cater to the specific needs of the farmers in the country and guide them in adopting best farming practices and enhancing productivity.

Bharti AXA ‘Krishi Sakha’ aims at helping Indian farmers make informed decisions through customized information related to their farming requirements. It shares relevant information about the scientific way of farming, crop cultivation, sowing, or harvesting of a major crops.

The novel farmer-friendly app is a one-stop shop for all crop insurance-related requirements and offers the farmers a variety of innovative and tailored solutions along with curated crop advisories by experts to help them protect their invaluable crops and increase the overall farming productivity. It guides the farmers about weather forecasting, market and crop prices and government schemes related to insurance and agriculture.

Unveiling the ‘Krishi Sakha’ App, Mr. Sanjeev Srinivasan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA General Insurance, said, “This app is very convenient and useful for the farmers and farming community as it educates them, while addressing the needs and risks of the entire crop cycle from pre-sowing to harvesting and post-harvest which is replete with unpredictable fears and threats. Climate-related risks have further made crop insurance the need of the hour. We, therefore, believe that ‘Krishi Sakha’ app is going to help us further interact with our farmers, understand their concerns, and offer them customized crop insurance solutions in order to solve their farming problems and challenges.’’

Krishi Sakha app users will be offered not just important weather information for their respective crops, but will also have access to a range of other necessary information and advisories like market price of crops, land unit conversion, news about forthcoming events, crop calendar, information library for better crop cultivation, informational videos, chatbots for queries, agri-solutions, and language flexibility that would cater to their daily farming requirements. Moreover, the farmers will also have access to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) portal for crop insurance related information.

“Krishi Sakha app is a step towards the empowerment of farmers, as it enriches their experience by facilitating seamless modern agricultural processes and practices. The feature-rich app offers required pertinent information to support the farming community suffering from crop losses or damages arising out of unforeseen events. We hope that the agriculture-friendly app will enhance their farming knowledge and productivity,’’ said Mr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Chief Executive Officer, PMFBY.

The option to use the app in different languages makes it more widely accessible. The new Android app ‘Krishi Sakha’ can easily be downloaded from Google play store free of cost.

‘’In today’s connected world, creating awareness is key and it is our constant endeavor to support the farmers by keeping them abreast with valuable information at all times. With increased penetration of smartphones, we all have observed amplified consumption of content through varied sources. With the launch of this app, we aim to enable our farmers with information critical to them to take the right decisions from sowing to selling all at a singular destination – Krishi Sakha” said Mr. Alok Shukla, Senior Vice President and Head – Agriculture and Rural Business, Bharti AXA General Insurance

Last year, Bharti AXA General Insurance, which received a Rs. 800 crore crop insurance mandate from Maharashtra and Karnataka insuring farmers under the PMFBY, launched a campaign ‘Fasal Ka Bima Bohot Zaroori Hai’ to make farmer communities aware of the importance and relevance of crop insurance especially today.

Notably, the company has been participating in the government-sponsored crop insurance scheme for years and has insured 28.44 lakh farmers from different states namely Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra. It has secured 8.83 lakh farmers from Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra in the financial year 2019-20 alone. Under this scheme, the company has offered crop insurance benefits to more than 3.8 lakh farmers.

Business World

WIN X Prem Jain Memorial Trust

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #a fashion designer, #a freelance lifestyle brand writer, #Angelique Dhama, #Anju Modi, #founder- Women Inspiring Network quips, #Payal Jain, #President of Marketing at Obeetee, #recipient of the Filmfare Award in 2016 and the costume designer for Bajirao Mastani and Ram Leela, #Stuti Jalan, #Sumiran Kashyap

WIN is taking forward the concept of sustainability and design on January 28th, at 4:30 PM. In collaboration with Prem Jain’s memorial trust, WIN presents to you an exceptional panel discussion with India’s leading women such as Payal Jain- fashion designer, Green Crusader and founder Trustee PMT, Anju Modi- Eminent Fashion Designer, Angelique Dhama- President marketing-Obeetee and Sumiran Kashyap- divination scholar/ Prose scholar and Stuti Jalan-founder of Women Inspiring Network. The discussion aims to give a new perspective on the challenges the fashion industry faces from a sustainability perspective. Each panellist brings forth a unique perspective to the table.

Anju Modi, recipient of the Filmfare Award in 2016 and the costume designer for Bajirao Mastani and Ram Leela, believes in terms of sustainability it’s important  to “Rejuvenate our ancestral relationship with nature and create fine textile with minimal carbon footprint”

Payal Jain, a fashion designer, is known for creating classic contemporary clothing with modern interpretations says “ In a country like India, with a rich legacy and vast heritage of weaving traditions, embroidery and printing techniques, kept alive for thousands of years, Sustainability is simply about reviving these crafts and traditions, and promoting them through Design with a conscious intention and commitment.

Angelique Dhama, President of Marketing at Obeetee, with over 20 years of experience in luxury retail, says that “it feels great to be associated with a platform such as WIN again, as it’s essential to look at the world of the textile as a means of lifting women. Our Women’s Weavers initiative trains rural Indian women in the art of weaving and provides them with the opportunity to create a sustainable, independent source of income. While sustainability may have varying meanings, sustainable practices are the way forward. Today, it’s important to attempt to include ideas of sustainability in the arena of textile and design. Our carpets last generations and our practices ensure that our environment does too”.

Stuti Jalan, founder- Women Inspiring Network quips “I think sustainability is the future, it’s time to inspire and gain a new perspective to adopt sustainable fashion as a lifestyle. We are really looking forward to taking this conversation to the next level with the best in business in our next collaboration with Prem Jain Memorial Trust”

Sumiran Kashyap, a freelance lifestyle brand writer, believes,  “The contributions women make to the artisanal economy, especially at the grassroots level, are crucial. Many are still unrecognised and underestimated. They set exceptional standards of craftsmanship with unique personal signatures, which only enrich further the craft heritage traditions they identify with intuitively, or practice because it has always been more a way of life. It’s time to integrate their influence with sustainability efforts and give them their due place in the larger context of the industry.”

This insightful series will be broadcasted across social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Business World, News

India and Denmark launches Green Strategic Partnership

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Green Strategic Partnership, #H.E. Freddy Svane, #H.E. Mette Frederiksen, #Prime Minister of India, #Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark and Shri. Narendra Modi, #the Danish Ambassador to India

New Delhi – India and Denmark have begun a new era in the form of a “far reaching Green Strategic Partnership” that will enable Denmark in delivering sustainable solutions to India. The Green Strategic Partnership is a mutually beneficial arrangement to advance political cooperation, expand economic relations and green growth, create jobs and strengthen cooperation on addressing global challenges and opportunities; with focus on an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The agreement is in line with the vision expressed by H.E. Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark and Shri. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, who held a virtual summit on September 28, 2020. The two Prime Ministers acknowledged the importance of establishing the Green Strategic Partnership, under which India and Denmark will cooperate through relevant Ministries, institutions and stakeholders.

This partnership will build on and consolidate the existing agreement establishing a Joint Commission for Cooperation (signed 6 February 2009) between India and Denmark that envisaged cooperation within the political field; economic and commercial field; science and technology; environment; energy; education and culture. Additionally, it builds on and complements the existing Joint Working Groups on Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Urban Development, Environment, Renewable Energy, Food Processing, Science, Technology and Innovation, Shipping, Labour Mobility and Digitization.

Mr. Modi also suggested to explore the opportunity for creating India-Denmark Skill Institute to help Danish companies operating in India to select the people that they require from the local skilled population. Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Frederiksen held an in-depth exchange of views in a warm and friendly atmosphere on bilateral relations, discussed the Covid-19 pandemic and global matters of interest to both sides, including climate change and green transition and reached common understanding with a view to accelerating sustainable economies and societies.

The Ministry of External Affairs said over 140 Danish companies are currently participating in the “Make in India” initiative in India. Prime Minister Modi said they are indeed “making in India for the world”. Both sides also discussed regional and multilateral issues.

Speaking about the Green Strategic Partnership, the Danish Ambassador to India, H.E. Freddy Svane said, “The Green Strategic Partnership is a vital milestone in the ever closer cooperation between India and Denmark. Both countries are working on government-to-government level in the strategic sectors of energy, water and environment, urbanisation and IPR. This new age partnership will not only lead to creating a green and sustainable future but will also boost job creation, innovation and investments.

India and Denmark agree to be at the forefront in the global fight against climate change. Both countries have set very ambitious national targets on climate and energy that will contribute to an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement. Together, the two countries will show the world that delivering on ambitious climate and sustainable energy goals is possible.

 

Business World, News

What do you call which turns enemies into friends, competitors into collaborators, lazy guys into fitness freaks and smokers to quit smoking? It is called Cricket. Read to know more about it

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #General Secretary of Telangana Chamber of Events Industry (TCEI)., #Neeraj Thakur

Hyderabad…….What do you call that makes two ‘enemies friends’; ‘competitors collaborators’; ‘lazy guys to fitness freaks’ and turn smokers into non smokers? It can be called magic. And that magic is Cricket.

Two bitter rivals in our event industry have become good friends.  They forgot their differences, rivalry and their past. They are good friends now, thanks to Sanaa ECube Premier Cricket League of the Event Industry, says Neeraj Thakur, General Secretary of Telangana Chamber of Events Industry (TCEI).

The premier cricket leagues of all sizes and shapes are happening in India. There are well over a hundred plus premier cricket leagues in the country.  Of Late each profession has some cricket league.  Doctors, Engineers, Interior Designers and many have them.  Though we don’t know much about them. But, we can definitely talk about Sanaa ECube Premier Cricket League, an event industry’s biggest cricket league.

The league has done so much good for the comradery, says Neeraj Thakur, General Secretary of TCEI- Telangana Chamber of Events Industry (TCEI).  This representative body of the Events, Exhibitions and Entertainment Entrepreneurs in Telangana has come out in 2015 with ECube Premier League for the event industry.  Event industry professionals such as Event Managers, Wedding Planners, Performers, Suppliers, Caterers, Light and Sound professionals, anchors etc have been playing fun cricket matches on the lines of IPL for the past four seasons. The 5th season is being played and will end on 29th January with finals.

Interacting with the media at Vijay Anand Cricket Grounds at Shivrampally where the league is being held, Neeraj Thakur said, like in any  fraternity,  though we are friendly in the event industry association as members but are competitors to each other professionally in the marketplace.  But, what the Premier League has taught us is to become collaborators. Many buried their differences. The two competitors have forged relationships and partnered in some joint ventures and are doing business together well.

Event professionals work for long hours. They are subjected to a lot of stress.  They dont get free time even for their fitness.  When we get some spare time, we sleep.  That has been our lifestyle for so many years.  But thanks to the ECube Premier Cricket Leagues which TCEI introduced four years ago, some of our late lateefs, lazy friends started getting up early for practice.  They have become fitness conscious, says Vishesh Sinha, Owner of The Team Page 3 Panthers.

Another wonderful thing this league has done to our members is that it motivated smokers to stop smoking for some time to get prepared for the tournament.  Some smokers quit smoking temporarily till the League is over to get fit to be able run well and improve their overall fitness.  Though we don’t know if it really works but some have done this in the past shared Neeraj Thakur

The fun ECube Premier Cricket League has done more good to us as the fraternity of event professionals, it developed comradery, helped build better relationships, helped forge new alliances,  cooperation and collaborations shared Ms. Rakhi Kankaria, President of TCEI who also owns a team called Rocky Rizers11.

Another experiment TCEI is doing now is that each of the six teams playing the league such as  Team Page3 Panthers, Deccan Strikers, Rocky Rizers11, NM Page 3 Warriors, Alankrita Night Riders, Flying Horse Champions have one lady player. Not only did it make this must, they also made sure that the lady player has to bowl and bat compulsorily.  We don’t know what it would lead to but, it is certainly encouraging more women players into the teams.  According to Rakhi Kankari,  30 percent of the total Event Professionals are women.  They are considered to be sharp, brainy and creative.  That is why we want to encourage more women into the event industry, said Rakhi Kankaria, she herself owns a team.  She is the only lady owner of the teams in the league.

According to Neeraj Thakur, Telangana has 1100 event management companies. About 5500 associates or allied companies support the event management industry. Nearly 50 lakh people depend on the event industry in Telangana.

Sanaa E Cube Premier League is organized by the Telangana Chamber of Events Industry (TCEI) is a representative body of the Events, Exhibitions and Entertainment Entrepreneurs in Telangana, informed Ms. Rakhi Kankaria, and President

E-Cube Premier League (EPL) is Indian Event Industry’s well known and annual flagship event.  Four successful events are conducted so far. E-Cube Premier League is the only one of its kind league in the entire event industry in India.  It features six teams who will vie for the title.

The season 5 which kick started on  26th January and will be held for 4 days and will conclude with finals on 29th January

The players are event professionals who include Event Managers, Wedding Planners, Performers, Suppliers, Caterers, Light and Sound professionals, anchors etc and others.

The six teams will play ten matches to decide the Champion on the finals to be held on the last day. The Champion will walk away with prize money of Rs 1 lakh, according to Neeraj Thakur, General Secretary of TCEI.

The league will feature over 90 players.  There is one woman player each time. And it is mandatory that the woman player needs to bat and bowl.  This is to encourage more women event professionals to play cricket.

30 percent of the event industry is women. They are said to be the most creative brains behind many successful events  and the creativity.

The players are auctioned on the lines of IPL.