CSC, Infosys team up to educate 6 crore rural citizens

By

-

December 20, 2021

Through Infosys Springboard, the Common Services Centre (CSC) has partnered with IT services giant Infosys to upskill 6 crores, rural citizens, with digital skills across India.

CSC is a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). Infosys Springboard is a digital reskilling and employability platform.

“Through this engagement, CSC and Infosys will work together to upskill students and learners from underprivileged communities in rural and semi-urban areas across India and help them develop vocational and professional skills,” CSC and Infosys said in a joint statement.

“We have a mandate of training 6 crores, rural citizens, in digital skills under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA). Infosys Springboard will help us bridge the digital divide and add value to our goal of inclusive education through CSCs,” said Dinesh K. Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd.

In light of the growing need for students to improve their skills to improve their market preparedness and employability in the digital era, Infosys and CSC will collaborate to bridge the digital divide through learning programmes, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas, according to Tyagi.

“We are thrilled to embark on this skilling initiative with CSC and contribute to the development a digital economy… We believe this collaboration with CSC will help us provide meaningful opportunities for millions of learners from underserved communities across the country,” said Thirumala Arohi, Senior Vice President and Head of Education, Training and Assessment, Infosys.

Springboard from Infosys has more than 4,900 courses and 1.6 lakh learning resources. Its goal is to improve students’ digital literacy and help them become proficient in digital technology. Programming challenges, virtually proctored examinations, Infosys certifications, and various social learning tools are all available on the platform.

Radisson Hotels plans to enter into Imphal, Manipur

By

BRL Editor

-

December 18, 2021

0

Since 2009, the Classic Group of Hotels has welcomed guests to Imphal, the state capital. Classic Hotel was Manipur’s first modern hotel, and it has been providing exemplary service and a comfortable stay to guests ever since. The company now has three hotels in Imphal and one on Sendra Island, part of the famed Loktal Lake.

The Classic Grande joined Radisson Individuals, the Radisson Property Group’s newest affiliation brand that celebrates the uniqueness of each Radisson Individual hotel in 2021.

“It is a privilege to be associated with an international brand – the Radisson Individuals. I am sure this association will take Classic Group to a new height and that we are able to imbibe the best international practices in all spheres of operations and guests services,” says Dr. Th Dhabali, Managing Director, Babina Group, the parent organization that owns and operates hospitality and healthcare ventures.

“Hospitality is almost impossible to teach. But we have been fortunate about hiring the right people who are receptive and very proactive. They become our brand ambassadors over a period of time,” says Naoba Thangjam, Director, Classic Group of Hotels.

The best feature of classic properties is their location. The Classic Grande is located in the city’s core, only 9 kilometers from the airport. The state-of-the-art amenities are comparable to those found in major urban areas. There’s a peaceful outdoor area with a pool, a well-equipped fitness center, beautiful dining places, and magnificent banquet halls, as well as efficient services.

Classic Group continues to be a brand redefining the standard of hospitality in the state under the Thangjams’ management.

The chain first welcomed visitors in 2009, and with it, the region’s standard of hospitality was established.

Saint Gobain aims to triple sales to Rs 30,000 crore in 10 years

By

BRL Editor

-

December 17, 2021

0

Saint Gobain, a French construction materials company, has set up plans for India to see its top line triple in ten years to Rs 30,000 crore, owing to a surge in demand for low-carbon building materials.

Plasterboards, building chemicals used as additives in ready-mix concrete, fasad, insulators, and ceilings from Saint Gobain are in high demand.

“With 46% of the population in top 7 cities spending more than Rs 90 lakh on their homes, the need is to offer solutions rather than sell products,” B Santhanam, CEO of Saint Gobain, Asia-Pacific, said.

Saint Gobain is divided into building materials and abrasives, ceramics, and refractories. While construction materials account for 85% of global revenue, the rest comes from other sources.

“In India, 70% comes from construction materials. This is growing at a fast pace,” he added. The French major’s Indian arm is increasing its focus on the B2C segment to meet the objectives. It gained a strategic stake in LivSpace, a home interior and refurbishment firm that will market its products to consumers.

“There are many acquisitions that we are working on. The focus is clear,” Santhanam added.

As part of its sustainable materials projects, Saint Gobain has partnered with two enterprises in Delhi and Chennai.

“Our focus is to build products that are fully recyclable. We will never launch anything which cannot be fully recycled. We want to create a circular economy and towards this we are looking for companies and agencies who will help in recycling construction debris. He said it was a taboo to think that ecologically sensitive construction materials were expensive. “It isn’t, the cost equation remains the same. And shaping the ecosystem will be at the heart of what we do,” he added.

How does content marketing benefit startups from the outset?

By

Amala Sree Murali

-

December 17, 2021

0

Have you noticed that the number of prospective startups has risen and is thriving in recent years? Digital marketing is the surprising reason for this progress. Every startup needs a well-thought-out strategy for establishing a solid foundation and developing a growth plan on a shoestring budget. Startup marketing has become a popular trend among new businesses, in which marketing methods are customized to the company’s budget and ensure rapid growth.

Due to its extremely accessible nature and low cost, digital marketing produces the required outcomes for any business, irrespective of company size. There are several marketing strategies to choose from, but not everyone will deliver the best results. It’s crucial to pick the proper one that fits your business’s goals and demands to grow your customer base and make a profit.

Content marketing is an effective strategy for finding, connecting, and holding target customers through informative articles, blogs, videos, or other forms of content. To be a successful startup, companies must go through a series of phases. When implemented correctly and at the appropriate moment, every facet will significantly positively impact the firm’s digital visibility.

When startups employ digital marketing to grow their businesses, content marketing campaigns come first. The campaigns enable startups to accomplish various activities, including SEO, public relations, podcasting, and more. However, successful startups employed long-term channels instead of short-term channels like product hunts or podcasts. This crucial decision in content marketing campaigns resulted in a better understanding of the market and the emergence of potential prospects for businesses.

To run a startup and stay competitive, the company must implement cutting-edge content marketing methods. The campaigns are the best effort made at the outset, and they should begin with identifying the clients’ particular concerns. When clients seek answers to their problems, the company must be present on the internet in any content to provide solutions to their difficulties.

Long content with the appropriate information, visual images, infographics, and, more recently, screenshots of work are the most effective content marketing approaches that a business may utilize to attract new clients and keep existing ones for a longer time.

When startups use content marketing measures initially, analytics plays a critical part in evaluating performance. It enables them to identify which topic piques the interest of the audience. It can benefit new entrants who have implemented new marketing methods when obtaining short-term outcomes through analytics. Google Analytics and other leading analytics tools are making a huge difference in determining user behavior regarding content utilization and engagement.

The Search engine optimization (SEO) idea should be mastered when making information available on the internet. The content will be search engine-friendly, including proper keyword selection and relevant information.

When writing articles or creating unique visual content for the organization, businesses must integrate content management systems, website data, and social media algorithms. This connection makes it simple for them to establish and maintain a website. It is user-friendly in all aspects, including content creation, updating, publishing, and management.

The key benefit of employing content marketing tactics is less expensive than traditional or other marketing approaches. Writing and publishing engaging articles or videos on popular websites can help organizations obtain attention in the early stages of development without spending thousands of dollars.

It has aided them in promoting their products and services in this digital era since day one of implementation. There is no specific time in the business process for adopting marketing strategies for content marketing. It only demands the right marketing information to cater to diverse audiences with different cultures, demands, and customs.

If companies want to flourish and survive for a long time, they must employ content marketing methods consistently. Positive results in revenue growth, cost savings, and improved customer satisfaction takes time to manifest. Finally, digital marketing measures will pay off in a highly competitive economy to increase visibility and build brand identity.

Purplle buys cosmetics brand Faces Canada

By

BRL Editor

-

December 17, 2021

0

Purplle, a beauty and personal care e-commerce platform has acquired Faces Canada, a cosmetics and skincare brand. Sequoia Capital is a sponsor of both companies.

Purplle raised $60 million from Premji Invest, the family office of Wipro founder and chairman Azim Premji, earlier this month, valuing the direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand at $630 million. The company had just received $75 million from Kedaara Capital a few weeks before.

“With a strong existing portfolio, this acquisition will elevate our makeup portfolio with international high-quality, innovative products. We will jointly scale to the next level tapping diverse set of consumers,” Manish Taneja, co-founder, and chief executive of Purplle.com, said.

To expand its footprint in the beauty sector, the company is considering many further tuck-in acquisitions. In March, the company raised $45 million (about Rs 330 crore) from Sequoia Capital India and previous investors such as Verlinvest, Blume Ventures, and JSW Ventures. At the end of 2019, it has raised $30 million in Series C funding sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

Purplle’s beauty brands include Good Vibes, NY Bae, and Purplle, founded in 2012 by Taneja and Rahul Dash. It has a monthly active user base of seven million people.

“Through this partnership, we aim to amplify our shared values, resources and reach untapped pockets of the country. The synergy will further our agenda of building the most comfortable international quality cosmetics accessible for Indian consumers,” said Kunal Gupta, chief executive of Faces Canada.

Under Purplle.com, Faces will continue to operate independently and expand its current portfolio.

Purplle offers over 1,000 brands and 50,000 products in makeup, skincare, haircare, personal care, fragrances, and grooming appliances.

According to a report, the platform plans to complete the current financial year with an annualized Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) run rate of Rs 1,400 crore.

Over the last few months, the beauty market has been buzzing.

Oracle adds data centers in Sweden and Italy to its cloud platform

By

BRL Editor

-

December 16, 2021

0

As a result of the outbreak, Oracle announced on Wednesday that it had created its first cloud region in the Nordics in Stockholm and one in Milan, Italy.

Cloud regions are defined by the geographic location of data centers, allowing clients in the area to access their data more quickly.

Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, among others, have been building new data centers across Europe to service clients who are migrating from in-house digital storage and computation to leased cloud servers.

Oracle already has cloud regions across Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. It will have facilities in 36 regions worldwide, including the two new locations, with plans to add another eight by the end of next year. In Europe, the company has already inked contracts with potential customers and plans to develop a second region in France and another in Spain.

“European organizations want to store their data in Europe or in their local country where possible,” said Carla Arend, senior program director at research firm IDC.

Oracle, best known for its database software, trails its larger competitors in the fight to capture the cloud computing industry. Still, its total cloud revenue increased by 22% to $2.7 billion in the second quarter.

Oracle announced earlier this year that it would migrate firms’ most complex computer programs to its cloud for free to attract a new wave of cloud-computing clients.

DLF plans to build a 2 million sq ft office facility in Gurugram

By

BRL Editor

-

December 15, 2021

0

According to a top executive at DLF, the company would shortly begin construction on a 2 million sq ft office complex in Gurgaon, citing increased demand for Grade A office buildings in the coming year.

DLF Rental Business’s under-construction buildings have already been entirely leased, according to Sriram Khattar, managing director.

He stated that the company plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore in developing office space in Gurgaon and Chennai.

“We are quite enthused with the leasing that has happened in DLF Downtown, Gurgaon. We have now planned another block of about 2 million sq ft on which, once the approvals come in, the construction should commence in the next 2-3 months,” Khattar said in a Q2 analyst call.

The leasing momentum has stepped up in the previous 6-8 weeks, according to DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL), the company’s rental arm.

“Two towers in Downtown Gurgaon, each with 1.25 million sq ft are nearing completion. We anticipate receiving OC (occupation certificate) within this fiscal year. One tower is nearly fully leased and on the other one, we have signed a non-binding agreement for about 95% of the tower,” Khattar said.

“This would leave very little stock in towers one and two. This has encouraged us to look at a new tower in DLF Downtown of a much larger size, of about 2 million sq ft. And the design work on that is in an advanced stage, approvals are commencing, and we should start the construction on that in the first quarter of the next calendar year,” he said.

In the second quarter of FY22, DCCDL’s consolidated revenue was Rs 1,123 crore, up from Rs 1,040 crore the previous quarter. The company’s renewal rate has plummeted to 85% from the high 90s.

According to Khattar, the tenant-partners are looking into de-densification options.

Phase one of the project is being built in downtown Chennai, with 2 million square feet. DLF has completed seven storeys and has nine more to go. With a floor area of approximately 1 million square feet, the third tower is expected to be completed soon.

“The Capex programme is going on very smoothly. The total Capex that we have for DLF downtown Gurgaon and Chennai is about Rs 1,500 crore, which I think will be spent over the next 15-18 months. Capex is going as per schedule except for the three-month delay because of the Covid second wave,” Khattar told investors.

According to Khattar, the frequency of site inspections has increased to 75% of pre-Covid levels, resulting in more inquiries, which leads to more negotiations and closures.

“I also see that the level of termination and notices has been reduced. At the same time, leasing velocity has improved. I see the trend continuously improving,” Khattar said.

Tata in discussions with Microsoft on joining its digital enterprise

By

BRL Editor

-

December 14, 2021

0

According to sources familiar with the situation, the Tata Group has held talks with Microsoft to join as an anchor investor in its new digital platform.

According to them, the coffee-to-cars business is looking to bring in one or two strategic investors and begin a full-fledged financing campaign.

As behemoths like Amazon and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries pile into the country’s fledgling e-commerce market, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has upped the ante on modernizing the group’s diverse consumer businesses by combining digital assets across various businesses under a new entity.

According to sources close to the company, Chandrasekaran wants to follow Reliance Jio’s lead, which saw the telecom raise Rs 1.45 lakh crore ($20 billion) from investors last year, with Facebook and Google serving as strategic equity partners.

“The challenge for a new investor is the proof of concept. Jio had a product which was up and running. In Tata’s case, all the different pieces are yet to fall in place. Where is the super app?” an executive said on condition of anonymity as the talks are still private.

Tata’s platform, Neu, is a super app that will operate as an e-commerce gateway for the company’s consumer products and services, including everything from appliances to groceries and pharmaceuticals to resorts and jewellery. This hopes to compete with Amazon.com and Walmart Inc’s local e-commerce venture, Flipkart, to woo more than one billion Indian consumers in a still-evolving sector. However, the regulatory uncertainty surrounding space has caused the launch to be postponed.

“Investors are always open to the Tata Group, there is trust. With Tata Digital, the talks are about long-term plans, and investors are also waiting to see consumer response to the app, once formally launched,” a Tata Group insider said.

Shriram Group to consolidate all financial services business

By

BRL Editor

-

December 14, 2021

0

Shriram Group will merge its financial services companies into a single entity due to a massive restructuring that would see Piramal Group and US private equity giant TPG Capital exit its unlisted holding company, Shriram Capital Ltd.

Shriram Capital, which is not publicly traded, will merge with Shriram City Union Finance Ltd and Shriram Transport Finance Co. According to a restructuring plan announced on Monday, Ltd to form the nation’s largest retail finance non-banking financial company (NBFC).

The Ajay Piramal-led Piramal Group and TPG will leave Shriram Capital due to this. After a failed attempt to merge with IDFC Bank in 2017, both investors aimed to depart Shriram Capital for a few years. Following that, IDFC Bank merged with Warburg Pincus-backed private lender Capital First.

Endorsing the merger plan, Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Enterprises Ltd, said, “While they emerge as the largest retail finance NBFC, it also opens up immense opportunities for them with the synergies that transpire.”

The company said in a statement that the merger would be completed through a composite plan of arrangement and amalgamation. Shriram City Union stockholders will get 1.55 shares in Shriram Transport for each share held under the plan. Similarly, Shriram Capital shareholders will receive 0.0978 shares of Shriram Transport for each share held.

According to the company, the amalgamation will allow Shriram Group to merge its lending offerings, including commercial vehicle and two-wheeler loans, gold loans, personal loans, automobile loans, and small business financing. According to a company release, this will also develop a complete cross-sell programme incorporating insurance, broking, and asset management firms, as well as their depositors.

“The merger will enhance our distribution footprint across all business lines without incurring any incremental Capex. The benefits likely to accrue due to synergy and digital initiatives are immense. This merger will also simplify our holding structure eliminating multiple layers,” said D.V. Ravi, managing director, Shriram Capital.

Shriram Capital said that when its customer base grows due to the merger, its focus will move to develop digital lending products.

“The company intends to soon launch a super-app where all its existing and new lending products would be offered under the Shriram Finance umbrella. This will help customers access the entire Shriram ecosystem with a single click and result in a seamless customer experience,” it said.

“Shriram Finance will undoubtedly become the market leader for financial services in rural India,” said Umesh Revankar, vice-chairman and managing director of Shriram Transport Finance.

Walmart’s CEO pledges $10 billion in exports from India by 2027

By

BRL Editor

-

December 14, 2021

0

Walmart International CEO Judith McKenna reaffirmed the company’s commitment to export $10 billion worth of goods out of India annually by 2027, which she claimed will boost the Make-in-India programme by creating a network of small and medium firms selling to Walmart’s worldwide clients.

“We think this will open a global opportunity for SMEs to spread the communities and accelerate India’s progress as a manufacturing destination that can export to the world,” McKenna told a CII conference Monday. “I actually love the phrase ‘Make in India for the world,” she added.

McKenna is in charge of Walmart’s global operations, including 24 international markets outside of the United States. Walmart employs over 140,000 people in India, most of whom work for its Flipkart Group subsidiary. Walmart inherited PhonePe, a digital payment company, as part of its Flipkart acquisition. According to McKenna, PhonePe processes around 20 billion UPI transactions per year. McKenna praised India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, particularly in the digital economy.

“We have seen incredible signs of India’s enterprising spirits accelerating through Covid and I hope the way the world looks at India, they see what we see … that is extraordinary public commitment to make it a digital economy,” she said over video conferencing. “We see a nation of entrepreneurs with a spirit that is hard to match, and we see an opportunity to support and build new businesses that can realise India’s potential.”

CONNECT WITH US