Tag: Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Business, News

Bharti Axa Life Embarks On A Digital Transformation Journey By Adopting A Customer First Approach For Business Growth

Aug 23, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Bharti AXA Life Insurance, #Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, #Mr. Parag Raja

Bharti AXA Life, which completes 15 years of operations this month, embarked on an ambitious journey of digital transformation during the financial year 2020-21 by launching 7 new digital platforms for its sales personnel, distributors and customers. With the launch of these, the company has completely digitized its sales operation to meet the demands of an evolving customer with 100% adoption amongst Front Line Sales Executives. Bharti AXA Life Insurance unveiled its revamped website recently with an enhanced and intuitive customer experience. Through these initiatives, the company is offering a futuristic digital-first experience to its prospects and customers.

Digital transformation is a key business driver in the organization’s growth plan to emerge as one of India’s leading life insurance firms. The digital transformation initiatives include the launching of applications such as M-Sell, M-Customer and M-Life, launching data-driven initiatives – data lakes and customer 360, as well as revamping the corporate website. The organization launched M-Smart, an award-winning and efficient digital solution to support their direct sales force including agents and distributors for better lead management, customer onboarding and to provide efficient services for their customers. The company managed to reduce customer complaints by 39% and is on a path to further improve its Net Promoter Score (NPS) by over 50% in FY22. The Direct to Consumer Channel was set up last year and has grown significantly. Overall, Bharti AXA Life recorded a tremendous 7X growth in digital sales in the FY 2020-21.

Commenting on the new digital initiatives by the company, Mr. Parag Raja, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, said, “The new normal has expedited a paradigm shift in the way consumers across the board are interacting and transacting with brands. Therefore, we have identified digital transformation as an essential component of our business strategy which would play an indispensable role in accelerating our growth. Hence, Bharti AXA Life has created a robust digital ecosystem encompassing multiple solutions which would offer substantial value to our customers. With these digital offerings, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to our customers and further build on our mission to urge them to #DoTheSmartThing”.

With the launch of 7 new digital platforms, Bharti AXA Life has been focused on leading with innovation to meet the needs of a digitally savvy customer. The M-Customer application is an important milestone in the organization’s endeavor to offer customer delight consistently. This application enables customers to be on boarded smoothly. Customers can digitally resolve their queries, which have become essential during the new normal.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance has also revamped its website to offer a superior customer experience. This website provides a smooth and fluent interface that enables visitors to navigate and explore conveniently. It includes an interactive section about getting answers to ‘Life’s BIG Questions’ such as financial security, retirement, being debt-free and children’s education. Information about multiple aspects has been provided in a conversational and simple to understand manner. Customers can use this website as an effective tool for achieving their financial planning objectives. The website also has a section ‘Learn & Be Smart’, which is a one-stop destination to learn about life insurance. The section includes videos, guides, articles and much more to help customers make informed decisions before buying a life insurance plan. The website further provides seamless, hassle-free and engaging experiences for customers across inquiries, purchase and claim settlement processes and thus enhances the overall customer journey.

Business World

Cyient Wins Top Honors at NASSCOM Engineering and Innovation Excellence Awards 2021

Jun 25, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Cyient, #Krishna Bodanapu, #Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Hyderabad, India: Cyient, a global engineering and technology solutions company, won four awards at theCyient Logo inaugural edition of the NASSCOM Engineering and Innovation Excellence Awards 2021. The event celebrated stories of innovation and service excellence across the Indian ER&D ecosystem.

Innovation is implicit in Cyient’s DNA, and the company has introduced and adopted multiple initiatives to nurture a culture that focuses on developing innovative solutions for its customers. The company also launched its innovation platform, CyientifIQ, this month to develop future-ready IP-driven solutions between the company’s innovation evangelists and its collaborative ecosystem. These recognitions help strengthen Cyient’s position as a leading global provider of innovative engineering, manufacturing, geospatial, networks, digital, and operations management solutions.

“I want to thank NASSCOM for recognizing our endeavor toward Designing Tomorrow Together with sustainable innovation. These awards are a testament to our continued commitment to innovation for our customers and community. Most importantly, I am grateful to our associates who deliver excellence every day”, said Krishna Bodanapu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Cyient.

Cyient won in the following categories:

– Social Impact Solution of the Year: Engineered by Molbio and manufactured by Cyient, Truenat is a first-of-its-kind portable RT-PCR testing kit that enables rapid testing at scale.

– Engineered in India Product of the Year: Cyient’s Smart Power Distribution Panel (SPDP) provides efficient and reliable power distribution within aircrafts and ensures the highest standards of safety.

– Engineered in India Product of the Year: An indigenously developed solution, Cyient’s Software Defined Radio combines state-of-the-art technology to create an advanced communication solution for the Indian army.

– Service Delivery Excellence of the Year: Cyient harnessed the power of 5G to connect 20 million individuals across urban, semi-urban, and rural Australia.

NASSCOM launched its Engineering R&D Showcase to demonstrate India’s role and impact as a global leader in Engineering R&D. The awards showcased high-impact stories of innovation, service delivery excellence, and unique talent capabilities from India along with a discussion on the challenges and best practices for leveraging India’s full potential in Engineering R&D.

Business World, Health, News

Bharti AXA General Insurance Launches Health AdvantEDGE

Feb 9, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Bharti AXA General Insurance, #Health AdvantEDGE, #innovative health insurance plan, #Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, #Mr. Sanjeev Srinivasan

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 announced the launch of its new and innovative health insurance plan, Health AdvantEDGE, that provides holistic protection against mounting expenses related to medical exigencies and other healthcare services.

Bharti AXA Health AdvantEDGE is also one of the few healthcare products that offers comprehensive wellness benefits as a key differentiator in the domestic health insurance market. It is specially designed to support healthcare and wellness needs of customers.

This unique health plan offers a restore benefit that automatically reinstates the basic sum insured in case it is exhausted within the policy year. If the policyholder uses up the entire sum insured and falls ill even if it is for the same illness or condition during the same year, the company will restore 100 per cent basic sum insured. This ensures that the policyholder has requisite coverage at all times and reduces the need for multiple policies.

Rolling out Health AdvantEDGE, Mr. Sanjeev Srinivasan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA General Insurance, said, “We are living in unprecedented times where our physical health and well-being has never been more crucial than it is now. Amid the ever-rising medical expenses, ensuring protection of one’s financial health should be of paramount importance. Towards this, we present Health AdvantEDGE, which addresses healthcare and wellness requirements of the customers and offers timely and necessary support during their time of need. We are confident that our health offering will adequately prepare individuals and families against uncertainties surrounding medical exigencies and rising healthcare expenses.’’
Further, this health insurance plan comes with wellness benefits and value-added services for the convenience of policyholders to address their wellness needs and also get rewarded for it. Under the wellness program, the policyholder gets credited with reward points for inculcating healthy habits. The reward points can be redeemed to avail of a discount on the policy premium or a concession on medical bills or consultation fees among others.

To further enrich customer engagement and experience, the Bharti AXA Wellness Cuppa portal has been launched for its esteemed customers. Through the wellness portal and app, the policyholders can avail the entire gamut of wellness features and services in one place. Apart from health rewards, some of the features also include video/teleconsultation, pharmacy, and diagnostic services, online chat with doctors, doctor’s appointment, doctor on call, and medical second opinion.

“We understand the requirements of our customers in this fast-paced world. Bharti AXA Health AdvantEDGE addresses the array of consumers who are looking beyond health insurance products that offer claim only against hospitalization expenses. With this product, we offer wellness benefits with options to customize the offering that will help them create the plan that suits them best in times of illness as well as on their journey of wellness. With customer-centricity being at the core of all our initiatives, we constantly strive to innovate to enrich our customer offerings and provide superior products and services,’’ Mr. Srinivasan added.

This new-age health plan provides a holistic cover right from pre-hospitalization to post-hospitalization, in-patient treatment, and daycare treatments. It comes with 60 days pre and 90 days post-hospitalization cover as well as a wide range of sum insured from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 crore with cashless facility and seamless claim procedure. This allows customers to focus on their treatment, rather than worry about which room to choose against their insurance coverage.

Bharti AXA Health AdvantEDGE also offers Ayush benefits, wherein all the expenses incurred on treatment in a hospital under Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy Unani, Sidha and Homeopathy, and organ donor expenses.
Another unique feature of this plan is a guaranteed cumulative bonus of 20 per cent to the policyholders in a claim-free policy year upon renewal. This feature ensures that the cumulative bonus does not reduce even if there is a claim. It also extends optional maternity benefits to female lives insured between the age of 18 to 45 years, opting for a three-year policy term.

The plan covers persons in the age group 91 days to 65 years, provides hospital cash benefits, air and road ambulance with an additional premium.

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

Bharti Axa Life Insurance Posts 10% Growth in Renewal Premium to Rs 594 Crore in H1 FY2020-21

Nov 30, 2020 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Bharti AXA Life Insurance, #Bharti Enterprises, #Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, #Mr. Parag Raja

Bharti AXA Life 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 said the company registered 10 per cent growth in its renewal premium to Rs 594 core in the first half of the financial year 2020-21 from Rs 541 crore in the corresponding fiscal period a year ago.

The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent disruptions hit the company’s new business premium income which stood at Rs 318 crore in the half-year ended September 30, 2020, as compared to Rs 415 crore in the same period during 2019-20. Its annualized new business premium was Rs 207 crore in the first six months of the financial year 2020-21.

Total premium income fell moderately to Rs 912 crore in the April-September period of this fiscal from Rs 956 crore in the first six months of the last financial year.

The ongoing pandemic notwithstanding, the company recorded a surge of 25 per cent in its asset under management at Rs 7,987 crore in the first half of 2020-21 against Rs 6,404 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Commenting on the company’s business performance in the first half of the current financial year, Mr. Parag Raja, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, said, ‘’The spread of COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the economy and the business sentiment in the short-term. Despite the challenging macro-environment affecting the new business adversely, we registered steady performance on many parameters and achieved double-digit growth in the renewal premium collection in the first six months of the current financial year. Further, our asset under management saw a strong growth amid the slowdown triggered by the COVID uncertainty. With the economic activities picking up after the easing of restrictions, we are confident about our business recovery and growth in the second half of this fiscal.’’

Bharti AXA Life Insurance, which has 261 branches and 36,526 advisors, plans to expand its distribution footprints across the country and strengthen its multi-channel architecture.

The company is focusing on digital innovation within its distribution bandwidth to meet the rising bar of higher service standards and growing customer expectations. It maintained business momentum amid uncertainties by embracing new digital tools and capabilities and enhanced experiences of customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders.

‘’We are also looking at potential enhancements to the customer experience and additional opportunities for growth and scalability, apart from creating awareness about life insurance and capitalising on growth opportunities,’’ said Mr. Raja.

He noted that the ongoing pandemic has invigorated the awareness about life insurance across India and made protection as a stronger segment for future financial security of the people.

‘’Our long-term outlook towards the life insurance business remains positive. We are building a robust and digitally-enabled frame of operations to adapt to the new normal. In addition to our robust digital architecture for seamless and smoother services to the customers, we are also very sensitive and focused about claims management in these critical and challenging times to ensure customer satisfaction,’’ Mr. Raja added.

Business World

Birlasoft Q1 Revenue; up 18% YoY EBITDA, up 46% YoY, Signs TCV of $ 180 M in Q1

Aug 6, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Birlasoft, #Birlasoft Q1 Revenue; up 18%, #Dharmender Kapoor, #Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Birlasoft [BSE: 532400, NSE: BSOFT], a part of the USD 2.4 billion diversified CK Birla Group, reported its unaudited consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2020.

Dharmender Kapoor, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Birlasoft, said, “Our Q1 results were better than what we had expected at the beginning of this pandemic quarter. Our healthy deal wins of $ 179.7 M and good pipeline across verticals and horizontals, coupled with strong cash collections are a testimony to the trust shown in us. With the key objectives of ensuring our employee’s safety and partnering with our customers to stabilize their business and get them up to speed, we were quick in launching a few Digitalized Covid-19 solutions, like intelliOpenTM for employee health and safety, and Supplier Risk Radar, an Analytics solution to predict financial health of suppliers, to address our customer needs. Our focus will remain to work closely with our customers and partners and aid them in their initiatives to accelerate their success in the post-pandemic world.”

In INR:

Revenue at Rs. 915 Crore(cr)uo0.8%QoQ &17.7%YoY

EBITDA at Rs. 113 Cr down 3.3%QoQ &up46.3% YoY

PAT at 56cr down 18.4% QoQ &up 38.4% YoY

In USD

Revenue at $121.2M down 3.4% QoQ& up 8.5% YoY

EBITDA at $15.0M, down 7.4% QoQ &up 34.9% YoY

EBITDA margin at 12.3% up 240 bps YoY

PAT at $ 7.5M, down 21.9% QoQ and up 24.3% YoY

Key Financial Highlights for Q1 FY21

Other Highlights

  • Signed TCV deals of $ 179.7 M during the quarter
  • Active Client Count at 356
    • $ 10 M customer at 8; up by 1 during Q1
  • Cash & Equivalents up from US$ 88.4 M in Q4 to US$ 108.8 M (INR 822 Cr); up US$ 20.4 M
  • DSO at 60 days, down by 12 days QoQ
  • Manpower strength of 9,908 as at 30th June 2020 versus 10,268 in Q4
  • Attrition down from 21.7% in Q1 FY20 to 16.5% in Q1 FY21; down 520 bps YoY

Deal Wins for the Quarter

  • Selected by a global building material & solutions major to provide remote Infrastructure and Global Datacenter Managed Services.
  • Chosen as a sole offshore vendor, by one of the leading third-party providers and retailers of wireless products for application management and development work around ERP technologies, Magento and for building a Testing Center of Excellence (CoE)
  • Selected as a partner by a leading US Telecom Major for providing Business Analysis & Testing Services as part of a multi-year deal. This has come on top of an earlier engagement to integrate the pre-paid and post-paid platforms.
  • Chosen by a European Insurance major for transforming its global Human Resources solutions stack through the implementation of SAP SuccessFactors.
  • Selected by a leading US Telecom Major for accuracy testing of its Application data
  • Awarded by a leading Energy Storage Major for its Application Managed Services and support of J D Edwards applications.
  • Selected by a US Lifesciences major for migration of its data lake and Analytics applications to SAP
  • Selected by an Asian Cement major to provide remote Infrastructure and helpdesk support.
  • Birlasoft has been chosen by a leading US Media and Entertainment company in enhancing its customer experience through the implementation of Salesforce.com

Awards and Recognition

  • Birlasoft was named a Top 15 Sourcing Standout by Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm. It was among the leading providers in the Booming 15 category for the Americas region based on annual contract value (ACV) won over the last 12 months, according to the 1Q 2020 Global ISG Index™.
  • Birlasoft Partners with Innoveo, a leading global technology company, strengthening Birlasoft’s domain and digital capabilities to rapidly deliver world-class solutions with Innoveo’s enterprise-level no-code platform.

Covid-19 Solutions – Building Resilience for the Long Haul

COVID has caused businesses to realize the need to accelerate digital transformation. Building resilience and agility through digital-led innovations is critical to their survival in the short and long term. Birlasoft too accelerated our development of digital solutions for our customers.

intelliOpenTM  

Facility managers need to help protect employees and visitors from the spread of COVID-19. intelliOpenTM integrates four important components of protection: Self-screening, Thermal Screening, Social Distance Compliance and Contact Tracing, while adhering to regulatory compliance, data privacy and confidentiality requirements.

Supplier Risk Radar

Sourcing and procurement leaders struggle to effectively track their suppliers’ sustainability in the uncertain times of COVID-19. They need to minimize supplier risk exposure and build disruption-free supply chains with this AI-powered preventive risk mitigation solution.

Blockchain – Four New Solutions

  1. Warranty Management: From false claims and fake product to misunderstandings about coverages, there are many challenges in warranty management. By bridging the information gap between manufacturers, warranty providers, other participants in the supply chain and the consumers, blockchain helps streamline the warranty lifecycle.
  2. Supply Chain Visibility and Resiliency: Companies are struggling to get supply chain visibility. Our Blockchain solution improves the ability to make decisions on inventory, production scheduling, product availability.
  3. Container Tracking: End-to-end container and shipment tracking provide an accurate view of the complete journey of the shipment right from the manufacturing plant to end destination.
  4. Counterfeit Drug Detection and Supply Chain Traceability: Our multi-stage counterfeiting validation solution, with end-to-end tracing and tracking of medicines or medical equipment on Blockchain, empower drug manufacturers, distributors, retailers and patients to validate the authenticity of drug or medical device.

Intelligent Automation Solution

Birlasoft’s Smart Automation Solution Kit offers a range of Automation Bots including Supply Chain/Order Management, Master Data Management, Financial Processing, HR & Payroll Processing, IT Health Check, and IT Service Desk & Reporting.

New Digital Experience & Co-innovation Centers  

Birlasoft’s Digital Labs (Pune, Noida and Raleigh) are state-of-the-art co-innovation centres where customers can see, touch, and feel digital innovation. Two examples of co-innovation are 1) New ideas for Warehouse Safety, 2) IoT Asset Health Monitoring for machinery buried deep in the ground. Customers can work with us in a no-risk environment to solve their most pressing business problems.