What’s next in the data-driven world – A vivid picture at the #DellTechForum 2021

Dell Technologies is truly pulling out all stops to enable its customers and partners navigate towards the digital future. And this message was brilliantly delivered at the Keynote Sessions at Dell Technologies Forum, today.

It was very inspiring to hear Dell Technologies’ leaders at the keynote sessions, as they shared vivid pictures of what the digital future is going to look like, and how businesses can accelerate forward with the right technology at the right place. The President and Managing Director of Dell Technologies India, Alok Ohrie, had the audience hooked at the very beginning with his inspiring statement on how humanity can thrive under any circumstance. Some of the statistics from Mr. Ohrie’s session that were really inspiring were ‘how 52% of Indian firms adopted digital ways of working practices in 2020, 138,000 new hires were brought into the IT industry in India during the FY22, and how India’s ICT spend is expected to be $111 billion by 2024’ – These numbers really amazed me!

It was also quite invigorating to hear Mr. Ohrie elaborate upon how Dell Technologies has been relentlessly innovating to empower its customers and partners across industries – even during the most challenging times in the history - with its end-to-end portfolio of technologies and solutions. And not just that. The technology giant also invests in collaborations and program to empower the youth of the country with tech skills. Together with NGOs and Government bodies, they have set up workshops, labs, programs and much more – everything aimed at helping the youth to become digitally empowered.

But…What truly grabbed my attention were the sessions by Amit Midha, President, Asia Pacific & Japan and Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies and Jeff Boudreau, President and General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies – on the role of data in defining the digital future. The leaders elucidated the criticality for businesses to build a data-first mindset and a business model.

Few statistics that I would like to highlight from Jeff Boudreau’s session are how consumers across the globe had spent $900 billion on retail during 2020 and the prediction that 52% of global GDP will be driven by digitally transformed enterprises by 2023 – leaves high hopes for businesses. The insights also reflected how businesses need to adopt the right technology and solution to leverage the huge volumes of data that is being generated everywhere and drive value out of the same.

“The economy now moves on a current of data & data is everywhere - It's on-prem, in the cloud & in the co-located datacenter”  -- Jeff Boudreau, President and General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies

 

Another interesting highlight that Amit Midha had mentioned is the present day data paradoxes that businesses are facing.

Reiterating the data paradoxes:

Paradox #1: Businesses believe they are data-driven yet many are not treating data as capital - they do not prioritize data uses across the business

Paradox #2: Businesses constantly need data more than their current capabilities can provide and yet they are gathering data faster than they can analyze and use

Paradox #3: Many businesses recognize and believe in the benefits of as-a-Service model, which gives them agility, scalability - yet only a few have made the transition to integrating it

The insights by Amit Midha also reflected how Dell Technologies is constantly innovating to enable businesses to overcome these data paradoxes with its comprehensive portfolio of solutions and derive real data value, regardless of where it resides.

With all these insights, I now look forward to the breakout sessions that will focus on the future of IT, Work and Data, and how businesses can leverage Dell Technologies’ solutions portfolio to catapult their digitalization goals.

I also can’t wait to be a part of the startup session and the session on women in technology. It will be interesting to know how Dell is enabling startups to stay resilient. And like every year, I am sure the celebrity chat session with a renowned sportsperson will also be invigorating this year. I am surely betting on some memorable moments to take back and eagerly awaiting the next.

If you want to know what’s next, do follow Dell Technologies on Twitter and Facebook and catch all the action. This is where you will get you know what lies ahead in the digital future! 

Combat Volatility like a pro with Mahindra Manulife Arbitration Yojana mutual fund

Who would have thought that a majority of Indian PSU banks would be trading below Rs 50? Who would have predicted that Pharma shares would be touching sky high within a few months? There were only a few market gurus who could predict the unprecedented move of RIL in just 50 days. Analysing our sensitive stock market in tough especially in the unprecedented & unseen times like these. But investing must not stop as Ups & Downs are a part of our lives as well as markets.

Market analysts rely on INDIAVIX index during such strange times. Basically its an index which charts the future trajectory of the market cycle. When the lockdown was announced, the INDIAVIX index jumped from 10 to 80 within a fortnight. As they say, only 5% of investors make the most of such occurrences and the rest 95% end up losing their hard earned money. The damage was such that most investors even today think twice before averaging their pre-covid investments. People who traded each minute, each day during the market hour were afraid to check their trading portals.

It’s funny when they say, “When the bulls climb they take the stairs & when the bears fall they jump through the window”. The general perception was so skewed that when the market media cried a No Buy on a certain stocks and funds there were investors who took a leap of faith & made it big!

Are you aware that there is a mutual fund which can make money on both rise and fall of the market cycle? Mahindra Manulife Arbitrage Yojana is an open ended scheme for investment in arbitrage opportunities available in equity, derivatives, debt and invIT markets. Arbitrage Mutual Funds are moderately low risk investment that can generate you an income through arbitrage opportunities in cash and derivative segment. Volatility gives an investor more opportunity in cash & futures/options market. Arbitrage Mutual Funds though they invest in equity are generally considered as safe investment pick and investors making loss in this kind of investment is yet unheard of.

Depending the upon the market conditions, Mahindra Manulife Arbitrage Yojana can hedge the risk by switching between Debt & Equity investment. At times a stock is available at different prices in two exchanges. For instance, stock A is trading at Rs 1000 on NSE & Rs 950 on BSE at the same time, then the spread of Rs 50 between both exchanges acts as your profit.

Another strategy that is often used by fund managers is cash & carry arbitrage. For example, buy stock B at Rs 1000 in spot market and sell the same contract of stock B in futures market at Rs 1020 with a lock-in profit of Rs 20. It is one of the least volatile hybrid schemes that is suitable for investment across market cycles.

What differentiates Mahindra Manulife Arbitration Yojana from other liquid funds is that when you exit the fund, the credit is reflected in your account the very next day. Being an equity based fund hybrid arbitrage mutual fund, the market position gets closed immediately giving investors an instant margin facility. The scheme offers better tax efficiency on returns compared to other short-term debt funds. Also, there’s no exit load after the period of 30 days.

It’s a win-win-win situation wherever the market heads. Mahindra Manulife Arbitration Yojana is best suited for investors who are looking out for Short Term investment parking pool with investment period varied from 1 month to 6 months.

The NFO opens for subscription on August 12 and closes on August 19. The scheme will reopen for continuous sale and repurchase from August 25.

Investors can invest online in the scheme from here.

Mahindra Manulife Arbitration Yojana MF scheme details

Fund House: Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund

Issue opens: 12 August 2020

Issue close: 19 August 2020

MF category: Hybrid

Type: Open ended

Minimum Investment: Rs 1,000

Exit Load: Nil, after 30 days.

Plans: Growth, Dividend

Benchmark: Nifty 50 Arbitrage Index TRI

Riskometer: Moderately Low

Fund Managers: Srinivasan Ramamurthy & Rahul Pal

Disclaimer: Investment subject to market risk. Please consult your financial advisor before investing.

Amid lockdown, Maharashtra reports fall in April GST revenue by just 1%.

Maharashtra, the worst affected state with 8,000 plus deaths may pose a gloomy picture but things ain't that bad when we see the data points of April 2020. While it may be true that retail shop owner and specialty businesses like wedding, sports have taken an 80% fall in business, the latest GST figures shared by FM Sitharaman on her official twitter handle has surprised me. Maharashtra, India's financial capital has reported a fall of just 1% in GST Revenue when compared with April 2019.

In April 2020, Maharashtra had collections of Rs 15,143 crore which came down to Rs 14,987 crore in April 2020 because of stringent national lockdown. A fall of just 1% may be the result of our robust financial system which pays GST state share in Maharashtra. State Bank of India in its filing at BSE said that 90% of clients are paying loan EMI is time. This feat wouldn't have been possible without our 'Honest Janata'.

Nationally, the gross GST revenue collected in the month of June 2020 is Rs. 90,917crore of which CGST is Rs. 18,980crore, SGST is Rs. 23,970crore, IGST is Rs. 40,302crore (including Rs. 15,709crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs.7,665 crore (including Rs. 607crore collected on import of goods).

The government has settled Rs. 13,325crore to CGST and Rs. 11,117crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of June 2020 is Rs. 32,305 crore for CGST and Rs. 35,087 crore for the SGST.

The revenues for the month are 91% of the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, the revenues from import of goods were 71%and the revenues from the domestic transactions (including import of services) were 97% of the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. During the month of June, returns of February, March, and April 2020 have also been filed in addition to some returns of May 2020 since the Government has allowed a relaxed time schedule for the filing of GST returns. Some returns of May 2020, which would have otherwise got filed in June 2020, will get filed during first few days of July 2020.

The revenues during the financial year has been impacted due to COVID-19, firstly due to the economic impact of the pandemic and secondly due to the relaxations given by the Government in filing of returns and payment of taxes due to the pandemic. However, figures of past three months show recovery in GST revenues. The GST collections for the month of April was Rs. 32,294 crore which was 28% of the revenue collected during the same month last year and the GST collections for the month of May was Rs. 62,009 crore which was 62%of the revenue collected during the same month last year. The GST collections for the first quarter of the year is 59%of the revenue collected during the same quarter last year. However, a large number of taxpayers still have time to file their return for the month of May 2020.

As India unlock, lets hope that our GST collections rise back to Rs 1,00,000 crore.

Source - PIB.

ADNOC, Adani, BASF and Borealis sign MoU for Chemical Complex in Mundra, Gujarat.

ADNOC, Adani, BASF and Borealis vow to invest $4 billion for Propane DeHydrogenation Unit at Mundra, Gujarat.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Adani Group, BASF SE and Borealis AG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to engage in a joint feasibility study to further evaluate a collaboration for the establishment of a chemical complex in Mundra, Gujarat, India. This is the next step of BASF’s and Adani’s investment plans as announced in January 2019. With the inclusion of ADNOC and Borealis as potential partners, the parties are examining various structuring options for the chemical complex that will leverage the technical, financial and operational strengths of each company. The total investment is estimated to be up to $4 billion.

The collaboration includes evaluating a joint world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant to produce propylene-based on propane feedstock to be supplied by ADNOC. Propylene will be partially used as feedstock for a polypropylene (PP) complex, owned by ADNOC and Borealis, based on proprietary state-of-the-art Borealis Borstar technology.

The PP complex will be the first overseas production joint investment by ADNOC and Borealis as part of a strategic framework with their current joint venture Borouge. Furthermore, propylene will be the key raw material for the previously announced acrylics value chain complex comprising glacial acrylic acid (GAA), Oxo-C4 (butanols and 2-ethyl hexanol), butyl acrylate (BA) and potentially other downstream products as part of a joint venture of BASF and Adani in which BASF holds a majority.

The chemical complex in Mundra is intended to be entirely supplied from renewable energy resources. The partners are evaluating co-investment in wind and solar park with the plans at an advanced stage of development. If realized, this would be the world’s first CO2-neutral petrochemical site to be fully powered by renewable energy, fully in line with the partners’ commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency.

Commenting on the MoU signing, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO, said: “This exciting collaboration is in line with ADNOC’s strategy to foster mutually beneficial partnerships. As a value-adding partner, ADNOC will play a crucial role as the propane feedstock supplier to this project. As the fastest growing global energy market, India is crucial to  our international growth ambitions in the downstream sector. As such, this project allows ADNOC  and its partners to capture the promising growth in the Indian polyolefins market.”

Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, stated: “We are very pleased to collaborate with our international partners to establish a Chemical Manufacturing Complex at Mundra Port. We stand committed to the ‘Make in India’ initiative and serve the larger purpose of aligning growth opportunities with creation of goodness for the nation.”

“BASF remains committed to investing in India’s growth. We will play a key role in driving this joint collaboration which is also pioneering in terms of sustainability.  We look forward to working together with our partners in establishing a chemical cluster in Mundra and to supplying the Indian market with high-quality downstream products,” said Dr. Martin Brudermueller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE.

Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, added: “This partnership is a unique opportunity to strengthen our PP presence in India with proprietary Borealis Borstar PP technology and to create value and tangible benefits through innovation for customers across multiple industries.”

The partners aim to finalize the joint feasibility study by the end of Q1 2020. Production is intended to commence in 2024. Adani has allied infrastructure like sea port, airport and highway connectivity near the proposed unit. The designated site is planned at Mundra port in Gujarat, India, and the products are predominantly for the Indian market, serving a wide range of local industries, including construction, automotive and coatings.

Govt of India sanctions subsidy for 5595 electric buses in 64 cities under FAME II.

Tata Ultra Electric bus has been deployed in Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jammu Kashmir under FAME I scheme.

The Department of Heavy Industry has approved the sanction of 5595 electric buses to 64 Cities, State Government Entities, State Transport Undertakings (STUs) for intra-city and intercity operation under FAME India scheme phase II in order to give a further push to clean mobility in public transportation.

The Department had invited the Expression of Interest (EoI) from million-plus cities, smart cities, State/UT capitals and cities from special category states for submission of proposal for deployment of electric buses on an operational cost basis.

Eight six proposals from 26 States/UTs for the deployment of 14988 e-Buses were received. After evaluation of these proposals as per EoI, on the advice of Project Implementation and Sanctioning Committee, the Government sanctioned 5095 electric buses to 64 Cities / State Transport Corporations for intra-city operation, 400 electric buses for intercity operation and 100 electric buses for last-mile connectivity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Each selected City/STUsis required to initiate the procurement process in a time-bound manner for the deployment of sanctioned electric buses on an operational cost basis. As per EoI, buses which satisfy required localization level and technical eligibility notified under FAME India scheme phase II will be eligible for funding under FAME India scheme phase II.

Tier 1 cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore will receive 300 electric buses each. Surprisingly, Chennai's proposal seems to be rejected. Pune and Surat are set to get 150 electric buses each. 400 electric buses will be deployed towards intercity operations and will be handed over to State Transport Corporations. Maharashtra has received highest allocation of 775 buses followed by Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.

These buses will run about 4 billion kilometers during their contract period and are expected to save cumulatively about 1.2 billion liters of fuel over the contract period, which will result into avoidance of 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emission.

Complete list - https://dhi.nic.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Press%20Release%20Final.pdf

Source - PIB.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay’s HDFC Bank 2.0 book narrates the Puri legacy.

Indian banking industry is not in the pink of health now but that’s largely the story of the government-owned banks. If we look at the private sector, barring a few odd banks which are not the best examples of corporate governance, over the last three decades, the industry has witnessed phenomenal growth with consumerism. The privitisation push in 1991 was a defining moment for the financial sector in India. What we have achieved today would not have been possible without India’s private sector banks like HDFC Bank. It is a child of economic liberalisation.

In the 1990’s, talking about banks as dinosaurs, Bill Gates of Microsoft famously said, “We need banking, but we don’t need banks anymore”. Three decades later, a bank is still relevant and will continue to do so if it’s willing to reinvent itself to be in sync with the changing milieu where it operates – by embracing digitalisation.

From a nimble start-up in 1995 to India’s most valuable banking brand, HDFC Bank has a made  gigantic strides into the world of digital banking under the leadership of Mr Aditya Puri. In a sector marred by controversies, Mr Puri has not just been the longest serving chairman of any bank globally but the face of a world class bank in India. Tamal Bandyopadhyay’s latest book “HDFC Bank 2.0: From Dawn to Digital” narrates this unique story of the  transformation of India’s most valued lender from a life cycle bank to a lifestyle bank. 

For starters, let me remind you that this book is not a sponsored project. It chronicles the HDFC Bank story warts and all. While highlighting the bank’s unique features, Tamal also criticises the unforgivable mistakes done by HDFC Bank during this journey through his unparalleled  writing skills. 

One of the key reasons why Indian banks were largely unaffected  during the Global Financial Crisis of 2009 was the fact that they were truly connected with their roots. During that  period, Mr Puri had guided HDFC Bank to add branches and ATM network in tier three cities and rural areas. The expansion drive created the credit card, auto and home loan boom. The book describes how  a bank reaching out to person for a loan – and not  the other way round - creates a new sense of trust in the aspirational class of India.

The era of Digital Disruption

Mr Puri believes that digitalisation and disruption are intertwined. Whenever there’s change, people tend to panic but if handled correctly, it can open up new beginnings. HDFC Bank saw this transformation ahead of others. During his Silicon Valley trip in 2014, Mr Puri saw how the fintech companies – the new kids on the  tech block – were venturing into fund transfers, mobile banking and shopping. They could build products that could give instant loan with slick user interface on their phones. Home grown fintech innovations like the United Payments Interface (UPI) were set to transform the way we Indians bank.

“Why don’t we disrupt ourselves instead of waiting to be disrupted by fintech companies? Why can’t we give a loan in 10 seconds? Why can’t we invent something to transfer money in just a click? HDFC Bank aspires to become a financial marketplace. It wants to be India’s Alibaba or Netflix when it comes to banking”. - Mr Aditya Puri, Chairman & Managing Director, HDFC Bank.

HDFC Bank first tied up with Chillr, an app which sends money over the phone using a UPI technology. A BharatQR code-based payments service named PayZapp is popular in many stores. The bank has also used AI for many applications like chatbots and social media interactions. Indigenously developed IRA robots have been deployed at several branches to solve customer queries. 

While adopting this technological shift, there were times when the bank failed on the customer front. For instance, the HDFC bank app crash in November 2018 became a hot topic in the media and  the bank was subjected to national outrage and ridicule. The book – “HDFC Bank 2.0: From Dawn to Digital” – clinically  chronicles the journey over the years.

About the book

Tamal Bandyopadhyay’s HDFC Bank 2.0: From Dawn to Digital is published by Jaico Publishing House. The book was launched by Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India at Nehru Centre, Mumbai. Aditya Puri, Managing Director, HDFC Bank Ltd  and many  luminaries in the financial services industry were present there. Tamal Bandyopadhyay is an author, columnist and keen watcher of banking and finance. His Banker’s Trust column, which now appears every Monday in Business Standard, is the most popular column on banking and finance with over half a million followers on the Linkedin platform.

“Tamal combines his financial knowledge, eye for detail, and an excellent storytelling style to create a vivid portrait of India’s most valued bank and its path to future” - Nandan Nilekani, Co-foundar & Chairman, Infosys & founding chairman of UIDAI, has written in his forward to the book.

HDFC Bank 2.0: From Dawn to Digital (ISBN: 978-93-88423-35-9) are now available at Crossword, Amazon, Flipkart and other leading book stores.

TVS launches India's first Ethanol based Motorcycle - Apache RTR 200 Fi Ei100 at Rs 1.2 lakhs.

A #MakeInIndia products which runs on #MakeInIndia fuel.

TVS Motor Company, a reputed manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the world have created a benchmark in the industry by launching India’s first Ethanol based motorcycle – TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100. The motorcycle was launched by Shri. Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport and Highways of India & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri. Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, and Shri. Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company.

TVS Motor Company first showcased the TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Ethanol concept in Auto Expo 2018 held in Delhi. TVS Apache is the flagship brand of TVS Motor Company with over 3.5 million happy customers across the globe.

Commenting on this launch, Shri. Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company, said, “We are delighted to launch the TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100 in the presence of Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport & Highways of India; & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Shri. Nitin Jairam Gadkari who has created a roadmap for the implementation of future mobility in the country.”

Shri. Srinivasan further added, “Today, the two-wheeler industry is looking at green and sustainable future mobility solutions spanning across electric, hybrid and alternate fuels. TVS Motor Company believes that Ethanol-based products are an important option for our customers. This is due to the easy compatibility in the transition to Ethanol and its sustained positive impact on the environment without compromising on performance and total cost of ownership. TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100 is a breakthrough in the two-wheeler space that will set the trend for a green future in India.”

Ethanol will be domestically produced by the farmers of this country. It is cost-effective, import free and environmentally sustainable fuel.

Ethanol is domestically produced from renewable plant sources. It is non-toxic, biodegradable, as well as safe to handle, store and transport. An oxygenated fuel that contains 35% oxygen, Ethanol reduces nitrogen oxide emissions from combustion. Apart from this, Ethanol also helps reduce carbon monoxide emissions, particulate matter, and sulphur-di-oxide. Use of Ethanol as a fuel will also reduce dependence on the import of petroleum and increase energy security.

The TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100 sports a vibrant interplay of green graphics seamlessly woven with the ‘Ethanol’ logo. It is equipped with a Twin-Spray-Twin-Port EFI technology. This ensures better drivability, faster throttle response and reduction in emission levels. It delivers better usable power under varied ambient conditions. This motorcycle boasts of impressive peak power of 21 PS @ 8500 rpm with a torque of 18.1 Nm @ 7000 rpm and has an ascending top speed of 129 kmph.

Promising consistent performance coupled with a sustainable green solution, the TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100 is a winner for both the rider and the environment. This special edition would be available in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka at an attractive price of Rs. 1,20,000.

- Press Release.

Shapoorji Pallonji's renewable energy arm Sterling and Wilson Solar Ltd ranked World's Largest Solar EPC Service Provider: IHS Markit.

Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited, a Shapoorji Pallonji group company, has been ranked as the world's largest Solar EPC service provider by IHS Markit in its recently announced Solar EPC and O&M Provider Tracker Q1 2019 report. The ranking is basis the annual installations of utility-scale PV systems of more than five MWp in the year 2018. As the largest global Solar EPC solutions provider, Sterling and Wilson Solar had a global market share of 4.6% in the year 2018 - a number more than double that of the 2nd largest company globally - according to IHS Markit. The company was also ranked as the largest Solar EPC solutions provider in India with a market share of 16.6%, 3 times the size of its closest competitor.

Declining costs, advancing technology trends and favorable regulatory environments across the world are some of the factors driving the growth of solar energy globally. Sterling and Wilson Solar has built more than 6 GWp of solar plants across the globe and the recognition as the world's largest solar EPC provider is a significant milestone in its trajectory.

With a strength of 1179 employees across the world including 138 in design and engineering, Sterling and Wilson Solar has been executing projects globally. Today, it has over 6062.83 MWp of solar EPC projects as part of its portfolio in different stages of implementation (commissioned and contracted). This impressive global portfolio also includes a 1,177 MWp single location Solar PV plant in Abu Dhabi - one of the world' s largest such Solar PV plants.

Sterling and Wilson Solar is present in 26 countries today, with operations in India, South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Australia. The company has been strategically focusing on markets that have conducive solar power policies and investing resources in geographies that have long-term solar opportunities in utility-scale solar power projects and rooftop solar projects.

In the year 2018, according to IHS Markit, the company was also the largest solar EPC solutions provider in Africa and the Middle East with a market share of 36.6% and 40.4% respectively. Today, Sterling and Wilson Solar is expanding its global presence through strategic acquisitions in its target markets. The company recently acquired a 76% equity interest in GCO Electricals Pty Limited, an electrical contracting company based in Australia with expertise in the execution of solar power projects in the region. 

The company provides EPC services primarily for utility-scale solar power projects with a focus on project design and engineering and manage all aspects of project execution from conceptualizing to commissioning. As the global solar market is likely to grow substantially in the years to come, Sterling and Wilson Solar has positioned itself well to be at the forefront of this tremendous opportunity.

Source: Press Release/PTI.

Morocco to inaugurate Africa's Largest Seawater Desalination Plant by 2021.

Desalination Plant in Sorek, Israel.

India has a coastline of 7500km and yet it struggles to provide unlimited water to its citizens, farmers and industries. In the words of Socialist Dr. Lohia, 'India's Shakti (here women) are capable to solve innumerable problems of themselves and Bharat Bhoomi in whole but first, we need to provide them with toilets and water'. India's newly formed Jal Shakti Ministry has released the target to provide potable tap water to every household by 2024. 

Despite having such a huge coastline and massive rivers like Ganga, Godavari and Brahmaputra, we Indians suffer due to lackluster planning and low investments in Water Technology. Israel, the land with no river provides 24x7 potable water to its citizens and farmers, thanks to the adoption of scientific Sea Water Desalination technology. 

It's not that desalination tech is something new to India. Reliance Industries produces desalinated water for its Jamnagar refinery and even provides additional water to Jamnagar Municipal Corp at a fee. Chennai drinks desalinated water from one of its desalinated plants on East Coast Road. In fact, Indian companies like VA TECH WABAG, Essel Infraprojects and L&T have been awarded works to set up desalination plants in abroad and India. City nations like Singapore, Qatar, Kuwait are using Desalination for decades. Recently, Morocco has awarded a contract to a Spanish firm to build 'Africa's Largest Seawater Desalination Plant' in the city of Adagir.

In 2017, Spain's Abengoa signed contracts to develop a desalination and irrigation project in the Agadir region. The project, valued €309 million, involves the construction of a desalination plant with a 275,000 m3 total production capacity of desalinated water per day which will be the largest plant designed for drinking water and irrigation. The contract also provides for the possible capacity expansion to up to 450,000 m3/day.

The project involves increasing plant capacity to 150,000 m3/d of drinking water. And the second project calls for the additional production of 125,000 m3/d of irrigation water as well as the construction of the corresponding irrigation network for a total of 13,600 ha. Project operations can be powered on renewable power with a focus to meet the demand for water for domestic use in addition to irrigation water needs in the area of Agadir.

Farmers have also contributed MAD 10,000 (1 MAD - INR 7.24) to the financing of the station. The government has promised them desalinated water for irrigation at a low price of MAD 5 per cubic meters in exchange for the investment in construction.

As of now, the world's largest sea water desalination plant is located in Saudi Arabia. The Ras Al Khair plant has a desalination capacity of 1,036,000 m3/day.

BSE launches 'BSE stAR MF' Android app for its mutual fund platform

BSE StAR MF, India's largest Mutual Funds Distributor platform, launched its mobile app - ‘BSE StAR MF’ at BSE International Convention Hall, Mumbai. The newly-launched app would look at enabling more participation from Mutual Fund Distributors (MFDs) by helping them process transactions on the go! The app would further ease the process of purchase and redemption of mutual fund units on behalf of their clients.

BSE StAR MF Mobile app supports real-time client registration and paperless transactions, creates and uploads mandate for SIPs, generates the basket of multiple of orders, tracks and allows the distributor to analyse his business at his fingertips.

In April 2019, the platform processed 42.6 lakh transactions. In FY2018-19, BSE StAR MF crossed 3.5 crore transactions witnessing 111% growth as compared to 1.70 crore transactions in FY2017-18.

Commenting on the launch of BSE StAR MF app, BSE MD & CEO, Ashishkumar Chauhan said, “BSE StAR MF platform has become a benchmark for the fintech industry in India by e-enabling more than 24,000 direct IFAs and 200,000 indirect IFAs to automate end to end processes in their front and back offices. The launch of the app would further provide the comfort of doing business to our 24,000 members. This app would not only increase their productivity, but would also enable IFAs to take their business anywhere, anytime. BSE StAR MF has seen more than 100% year on year growth every year for the last 10 years consistently. With the launch of the app, we look forward to help IFAs grow their business and retain the No. 1 position in the online MF distribution platform segment. This mobile application will also be provided to individual investors shortly.”

Overall, the superior support system and distribution reach of BSE StAR MF has enabled the platform to grow exponentially with the registered distributors soon to touch 24,000 in India. The launch of the StAR MF app is expected to further increase the number of distributors significantly. In the future, the app aims to support online video KYC to onboard new investors.  The BSE StAR MF app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Once the app is downloaded, the sign up can be done by providing the member identification number.

Source: Press Release.

BHEL and LIBCOIN to Build India’s First Lithium Ion Giga Factory.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Libcoin are in dialogue to form a world class consortium to initially build 1GWh lithium ion battery plant in India. Its capacity will be scaled up to 30GWh in due course. With this, India has finally taken steps into its energy security and clean energy commitment to the world.

BHEL will be sending a team of senior officers for the study of the facilities, R&D infrastructure and other techno-commercial issues soon. Based upon the evaluation and recommendations of the team, further process towards the formation of Joint Venture will be carried forward.

This project will bring energy independence by replacing oil imports with abundant renewable. This project also includes “Made by India, for India”, with focus on core-cost components manufactured domestically. It will also create an integrated manufacturing ecosystem resulting in self-reliance and lower cost.

A holistic view of the supply chain in combination with cutting edge digital technologies to replace high CAPEX and high OPEX processes will be the highlight of this project in India. 

Various Indian cities including Delhi have been struggling to cut down their pollution level for the last several years and electric transportation has been considered as one of the viable approaches to cut down emission. The number of electric cars in the world already hit million-mark last year and the International Energy Agency has projected almost 140 million electric cars globally by 2030, if countries meet Paris climate accord targets, in which India has already committed to actively participate.

Source: PIB.

TCS will digitally transform India Post's 1,50,000 post offices with ERP solutions.

Indian MNC Tata Consultancy Services has received an order to digitally transform India Post's 1,50,000 e-postal network with next-gen ERP solutions. TCS has partnered with the Department of Posts in its multi-year transformational journey to become a multi-service digital hub, modernize the delivery of mail and packages, enhance customer experience, and launch innovative services that will drive new revenues.

At the heart of this transformation is the Core System Integration (CSI) program designed and implemented by TCS. This involved deploying an integrated ERP solution that caters to mail operations, finance and accounting, and HR functions, and connects its vast network of more than 150,000 post offices, making this the largest distributed ePostal network in the world.

The integrated solution is built to cater to the Department’s immense scale, and future needs. It supports the HR needs of over 500,000 employees, services over 40,000 concurrent users, and processes over 3 million postal transactions a day, making this one of the largest SAP implementations in the world.

On the front-end, TCS has implemented its Point of Sale (PoS) solution across 24,000 post offices with over 80,000 PoS terminals, making this amongst the largest such implementations in the world. Additionally, TCS has built a web portal with consignment tracking capabilities, and set up a multi-lingual call center for customer support.

To enable India Post to benefit from the burgeoning ecommerce opportunity, while fulfilling a vital social obligation, the web portal has an e-marketplace to help rural artisans, self-help groups, and women entrepreneurs reach out to buyers throughout the country.

An important objective of the transformation is to use the Department’s nation-wide reach to drive financial inclusion and accessibility of citizen services in remote areas. This is being accomplished through over 130,000 DARPAN hand-held devices that Gramin Dak Sevaks use to provide postal, banking, insurance, and cash management services in remote villages, even those without network connectivity.

Salim Haque, Member, Postal Services Board, said, “A program of this scale, spread and complexity, required meticulous planning and adroit execution. The TCS team has shown sheer rigor, passion, dedication and attention to detail, which have been commendable. Their maturity in understanding the requirements of India Post has been par excellence, yielding a robust design, which makes the solution state-of-the-art and adaptable to future needs.”

Department of Posts is pioneering in an initiative to build a world class, future-ready digital platform that the nation can be proud of. With the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, the department can offer smart postal services, enriched customer experiences, and innovative value-added services to the citizens of India.

"One Nation One Card" for Metro, Local Train, Buses across India. NPCI, CDAC and Bharat Electronics develop National Common Mobility Card.

National Payments Corporation of India, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and Bharat Electronics Limited have jointly developed an intelligent transport system smart-card. In line with the spirit of 'One Nation', the smart card once recharged can be used anywhere on any metro system, suburban trains, and buses across India. At this moment, the Delhi Metro card cannot be used on AFC gates in Mumbai Metro. Similarly, Mumbai Metro, Monorail, Local trains and BEST buses issue different smart cards dedicated only for its respective ticketing service.

Soon, a Pan-India transport card will be made available for the common public. Such smart cards are operational in advanced city nations like Singapore and Hong Kong. Transport evangelists believe that other services like taxis and toll tax could also be linked on this National Common Mobility Card.

PM Narendra Modi launched today One Nation, One Card for transport mobility at a function in Ahmedabad today. The Indigenous Automatic Fare Collection System based on One Nation One Card Model i.e. National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) is the first of its kind in India.

India’s First Indigenously Developed Payment Eco-system for transport consisting of NCMC Card, SWEEKAR (Swachalit Kiraya: Automatic Fare Collection System) and SWAGAT (Swachalit Gate) is based on NCMC Standards.

A new era of Smart Transportation

Public Transport is extensively used across India as the economical and convenient mode of commuting for all classes of society. Cash continues to be the most preferred mode of fare payments across the public transport. However, there are multiple challenges associated with the cash payment e.g. cash handling, revenue leakages, cash reconciliation etc. Various initiatives have been taken by transit operators to automate & digitize the fare collection using Automatic Fare Collection System (AFC). The introduction of closed loop cards issued by these operators helped to digitize the fare collection to a significant extent. However, the restricted usability of these payment instruments limits the digital adoption by customers.

AFC System (gates, readers/validators, backend infrastructure etc.) is the core of any transit operator to automate the fare collection process. The major challenge associated with AFC system implementation in India till now is the lack of indigenous solution provider. Till now, AFC systems deployed at various Metros are from foreign players. In order to avoid the vendor lock-in and create an interoperable system, there was a need to develop indigenous standards and AFC system under Make in India initiative.

In order to ensure a seamless travel across metros and other transport systems in addition to retail shopping and purchases, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) came out with the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) Program. 

A committee was formed with representatives from National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Ministry of Finance with an objective to develop the vendor agnostic interoperable ecosystem for NCMC including indigenous AFC System and banking interface. 

NPCI was given the mandate to develop the specifications for card & terminal to support the NCMC ecosystem. Based on the best global practices and dynamics of Indian market, the committee recommended EMV based Open Loop Card with stored value as NCMC

CDAC has entrusted the task of finalization of NCMC specification for AFC system including the interface with Bank server. CDAC worked in collaboration with NPCI to complete this activity. Thereafter, BEL was roped in for making Gates & Reader.

The Gate & Reader prototype has been made by BEL. This is the first gate and the reader which has been manufactured by an Indian company. This is also the first indigenous payment reader which has been certified as per International standards. India joins the very few elite nations who have indigenous capacity on gate and reader production.

NCMC Ecosystem offers the value proposition for customers as they need not to carry multiple cards for different usage. Further, the super quick contactless transactions will improve the seamless experience. For operators, NCMC ecosystem brings common standards for implementation without vendor lock-in.

This will also help in higher digital payments penetration, savings on closed loop card lifecycle management cost and reduced operating cost. The rich data insights may be used by operators for business intelligence leading to efficient operation. 

With the NCMC Ecosystem, banks will get an access to segments which are highly driven by cash but stickiness in nature. NCMC Ecosystem will further help the government in digitization of low-value payments and reduced cost for the entire ecosystem. 

In order to showcase the entire NCMC ecosystem for digital fare collection, the complete AFC system has been deployed in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) across few stations for field trial purpose. Under this pilot, NCMC compliant gates have been deployed at various stations of DMRC and cards have been issued by multiple banks to the users.

The pilot at DMRC was inaugurated by MoHUA on Jan 31st, 2019. This pilot will help to improve hardware reliability and fine tuning of the software. This will also facilitate large scale indigenous production and deployment in the Indian transit system. The first level trails has been successfully completed in collaboration with CDAC, BEL, NPCI and SBI.

'One Nation One Card'

Public Sector Banks like SBI will issue Debit/Credit/Prepaid cards and the customer may use this single card for payments across all segments including metro, bus, suburban railways, toll, parking, smart city and retail. The stored value on card supports offline transaction across all travel needs with minimal financial risk to involved stakeholders. The service area feature of this card supports operator specific applications e.g. monthly passes, season tickets etc.

The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country besides retail shopping and purchases is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs. The card will address the challenges associated with the cash payment e.g. cash handling, revenue leakages, cash reconciliation etc. Various initiatives have been taken by transit operators to automate & digitize the fare collection using Automatic Fare Collection System (AFC). The introduction of closed loop cards issued by these operators helped to digitize the fare collection to a significant extent. However, the restricted usability of these payment instruments limits the digital adoption by customers. 

The customers need not carry multiple cards for different usage. Further, the super quick contactless transactions will improve the seamless experience. This will also help in higher digital payments penetration, savings on closed loop card lifecycle management cost and reduced operating cost. The rich data insights may be used by operators for business intelligence leading to efficient operation.

Source - Press Information Bureau.

#IRMA2019: Key insights from ICICI Lombard’s ‘Managing New Age Risks’ survey.

Technology, as we know, has become an integral part of our business enterprises. Industrial Revolution 4.0 which connects physical devices with electronic devices comes with new kind of risks. As the world is getting increasingly interconnected, everyone shares the responsibility of securing our cyberspace. Adopting preventive measures and cyber risk mitigation tools has become the need of the hour.

ICICI Lombard, India’s leading private sector general insurance company has commissioned a PAN India survey titled ‘Managing New Age Risk’ to assess the preparedness of Indian organisations towards new age risks. A detailed feedback of CXOs from 100 companies across various sectors was taken for this research.

Corporate dependence on insurance to cover the risk of cyberattacks is expanding in line with their increasing reliance on tech for everything from invoicing to engaging consumers on social media. Next-gen technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Cloud, Blockchain, IoT etc. are associated with new age risks like cyberattacks, data theft, cloud hacks etc. India was the target of 17% cyberattacks, second only to US (38%) between 2015- 2017 as per report released by Symantec Corp. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported 53,081 cases of cybercrime in the year 2017. More than 40,000 computers in India were jeopardised by Wannacry ransomware attack. Recently, a Pune-based co-operative bank lost nearly Rs 94 crores when hackers operating from abroad breached bank’s ATM servers.

As cyberattacks become more frequent and severe, the need for solid insurance coverage to plug potential financial losses is in demand.

ICICI Lombard’s ‘Managing New Age Risks’ survey delved into understanding the risks that Indian Inc. perceives as critical for business. It also looked at the role of insurers in managing risks from the lens of Indian firms. The survey findings were unveiled by Mr. Bhargav Dasgupta, MD and CEO, ICICI Lombard in the august presence of Prof. Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics & Public Policy at Harvard University and a former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The report highlights that companies still consider traditional risks as extremely crucial for their business. CXOs believed that assets like property, machinery and health & wellness of employees are pivotal risks and are needed to be insured. When asked about which risks have been gaining importance in the last 3 years, the response was clearly for new age risks such as hacking, data theft etc. 67% of India Inc. believes data thefts have increased substantially from the last 3 years, 63% feels that risks from cybercrime have increased substantially in the same period.

In terms of challenges to handle risks, 43% CXOs find new age risk incident to be unique, while 42% found it even difficult to identify the source of an attack, making it a tough task to manage. 21% company executives believed that new age risk incidents spread too fast, making it difficult for firms to handle them.

Lack of internal capabilities was a key takeaway when it came to preparedness of organisations in managing new age risks. 41% respondents believed that their existing systems were not equipped to handle these risks, while 39% respondents felt that there was a shortage of skilled manpower that could address these risks. 71% of respondents said that prevention of new age risks is the best way to deal with e-risks.

On the role of insurers, 81% companies believe that insurers are equipped to a certain extent in managing new age risks. Specifically, companies believe that insurers are better equipped to manage risks such as cloud computing (100%) and cyberattacks (69%). However, a majority of CXOs believe that e-risks like data thefts can be better managed internally.

“New age risks are already a reality today, globally and in India. It is most critical that Indian firms take cognizance of this aspect. As is evident from ‘Managing New Age Risks’ survey, being prepared and having the right risk management framework in place is the need of the hour. ICICI Lombard is partnering with their clients to ensure that they are equipped with appropriate and adequate ‘risk management and mitigation’ solutions to effectively handle any prospective new age risk incidents.” - Mr. Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard.

In the digital age, cyberattacks will face a sharp incline in the years to come. Corporates and Insurance companies will have to combine synergies to fight these new age cyber risks in the interest of customers.

- Chaitanya Kulkarni.