Comniscient Group turns Lockdown into Gold

Comniscient Group’s Lockdown Golds instil sense of purpose, initiative and motivation among employees

Mumbai, May 26^th 2020: In what could be described as one of the most challenging times for the working professionals, the Comniscient Group, comprising of TRA Research, India’s leading consumer insights and brand analytics company, and Blue Lotus Communications, an award-winning PR agency, turned the lockdown challenges into a ‘golden’ opportunity for its employees. Internal employee awards titled ‘Lockdown Golds’ were conceived to urge each of team member to go beyond the current limitations, and explore their power to inspire, perform, coach and contribute. The underlying objective was to create a sense of purpose, initiative and motivation among the employees when the business environment continued to face a climate of uncertainty.

The Comniscient Gold Awards are held every year to acknowledge and reward the exceptional work by team members during the year. 'The Lockdown Golds' was a special edition for individuals who demonstrated their best during this lockdown period in each nominated category. Ms. Pooja Kaura, HR Head and Awards Coordinator, Comniscient Group, spoke about the winners said that “The concept of Lockdown Golds had multiple purposes, and prime among them was to create an attitude of winning during these trying times. If you ask me, everyone in the group turned a winner, with all employees participating in a fun-filled, awards ceremony through video conferencing.”

"Like everyone else, we too were stuck in our homes and also stuck in our thinking. We conceived of the Lockdown Golds to break away from the inertia and to create a sustained program which involved everyone. These awards take inspiration from the ‘GOLDS’, our group’s annual awards, which are an embodiment of our culture, our ethos and values. The Lockdown Golds were in one of six categories each making a difference in the lockdown period. Termed as Energizer, Guru, Client-Comes-First, Rookie, Sacred Heart, Hustler, these awards brought out the most from each, which was showcased through self-created videos. It required most to learn a new skill of video editing also, and that added to the fun element", Kaura added.

About The Comniscient Group                                                                          

The Comniscient Group, is arguably the most comprehensive providers of communication and brand solutions which include services of public relations, consumer insights and brand analytics. Three-time winner of the Agency-of-the-Year Award, Blue Lotus has been an acclaimed public relations strategy partner to several highly placed clients. TRA Research, the publishers of TRA’s Brand Trust Report and TRA’s Most Desired Brands is India’s leading syndicated consumer insights and brand analytics companies.

Paytm enables Vodafone Idea recharges for crores using feature phones with their UPI ID

India’s leading financial services platform Paytm is now empowering feature phone users to recharge for their Vodafone Idea numbers with just a valid UPI ID. Along with the telecom major and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to extend this service throughout the country. The move would help crore of citizens who mostly use feature mobile phones to now top up their numbers without having the need to visit physical stores. The company added said that there is no need to have a mobile-internet data facility and non-Paytm app users can also easily avail of this service.

Paytm said that this service is based on the NPCI’s innovative payment service *99# which works on the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel. This service allows mobile banking transactions using basic feature phones without the need of having a mobile internet data facility for using USSD based banking. It is envisioned at the financial inclusion of the underbanked in mainstream banking services.

Paytm which is working towards the ultimate goal of bringing half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy, has taken part in this initiative to ensure that millions of migrants who might be away from home and have limited means, stay connected with their families.

Abhay Sharma, Sr. Vice President - Paytm said, "There are over 550 million feature phone users in the country. A majority of them are migrants and daily wage earners. Due to the ongoing lockdown, many people who rely mainly on mobile phone stores, recharge kiosks are finding it difficult to top-up their basic feature phones which rarely have internet data facility. This USSD based service would help all these individuals. Through this partnership with Vodafone Idea and NPCI, we will reach out to all these individuals and support them in these testing times."

Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, “We believe our USSD service would facilitate feature phone users having a UPI ID, to constantly keep in touch with their near and dear ones even if they don’t find mobile recharge shops in their localities. The *99# service is a welcome move, especially in the current situation. With just a UPI Id, people using feature phones can recharge their phones on-the-go without the internet. The USSD service would also help people register their UPI IDs on BHIM UPI and provide them with a seamless mobile recharge experience”.

Avneesh Khosla, Director-Marketing, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “It is our constant endeavour to ensure that our customers remain connected and safe during these times. In the last 2 months, we have launched a slew of initiatives to help consumers stay connected. We believe that this partnership with Paytm will help facilitate a large number of our digitally unconnected customers to recharge through USSD without being dependent on mobile internet, any digital app, or a physical retail touchpoint. Through this partnership we will be able to provide a simple and secure solution, enhancing the convenience factor to these pre-paid customers during very testing times so as to ensure that our consumers do not have to leave the safety of their homes to recharge their phones." The company said that there are two ways of recharging the phone using this service. If a customer's UPI ID is not registered with BHIM UPI, they then need to Dial *99# after which they are shown all bank accounts linked with the mobile number from where the USSD is dialled in. The customer then selects the bank account he wants to register his UPI ID with and sets up a UPI PIN.

Grundfos India restores a 2.5 Acre Pond in Chennai

Partners with Hand In Hand India in the Third Phase of the Pond Restoration

  

Mumbai, May 26, 2020: Grundfos India, a global leader in pump solutions and water technology today successfully completed the restoration of the Injambakkam pond in Chennai. The pond is situated off the ECR road and is spread across 2.5 acres. Keeping in mind the Covid-19 situation, Grundfos India and Hand In Hand India cancelled the inaugural event to reiterate the importance of social distancing.

This restored pond is now a source of clean water that will help improve the water table in the neighborhood, act as storage area for the surplus water and during rains, help channel excess water to the agricultural land nearby, thereby avoiding flooding. This pond and its surroundings is now also an ideal recreational area with its walkway (also accessible through a ramp) and solar lights for those who wish to walk around it in the early mornings or late evenings. These facilities can be availed after the lockdown is lifted. Due caution will be exercised to ensure social distancing measures are followed.

Realizing the importance of renewing local water sources, Grundfos India has been working on restoring this pond since 2018 in a phased manner along with local NGOs and the community. In the third phase of restoration, the company has collaborated with Hand in Hand India, a leading nonprofit organization to clear the pond’s bed, strengthen the bund and build fences and plantation around the water body.

Saravanan Paneer Selvam, General Manager, Grundfos India said, “Water is at the core of everything we do at Grundfos. Through such initiatives, we hope to revive water bodies in the city and empower local communities to be involved. Our employees have also been closely involved in this initiative through their volunteering efforts. The idea of having lighting and a walking path was to get the cooperation of the local community in taking ownership and looking after the lake.”

Dr. Kalpana Sankar, Chairperson and Managing Trustee, Hand in Hand India, also added “We at Hand In Hand India are happy to have partnered with Grundfos India, a company that clearly understands water. There are about 1000 people who live in and around this pond and they will be positively impacted by this restoration. Besides establishing a committee to maintain the pond, Grundfos India along with Hand In Hand India has created a three-year plan to work closely with the community members to create a self-sustaining pond through the creation of a herbal and vegetable garden and fishery.”

About Grundfos India

Grundfos Pumps India Pvt.Ltd. (Grundfos India) a wholly owned subsidiary of Grundfos Holdings was established on March 13, 1998. Grundfos India is responsible for sales of Grundfos products in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives. Currently, Grundfos India has more than 400 employees and works with 200 distributors and dealers with 26 offices across India. Grundfos India provides energy efficient pumps and smart pumping solutions for various applications – heating and hot water service systems, cooling and air-conditioning systems, industrial applications, pressure boosting and liquid transfer, groundwater supply, domestic water supply, sewage and wastewater, dosing, chlorination systems, disinfection systems and pumps running on renewable energy.

For more information, visit: http://www.grundfos.in/

About Hand in Hand India

Hand in Hand India is a public charitable trust that works to alleviate poverty through a unique integrated community development approach. Registered in 2002, the Organization implements projects in areas of women empowerment, microfinance, job creation, Child labour elimination, education, health, environment, skill building, IT & governance. We started our activities in a small way in Tamil Nadu and began to expand and today, Hand in Hand India works in 16 states in India,

For more information, visit: www.hihindia.org

Acer India expands another winner in the gaming portfolio with Aspire 7 Gaming laptop

Editor’s Summary:

• The latest Aspire 7 offering comes in 4 variants. The Intel based models are equipped with upto 9^th Gen Core i7 processors, while the other two is being offered with the latest AMD Ryzen 3000 series chipsets along with the Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics
• The laptop also comes with up to 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD and up to 32GB DDR4 (SO-DIMM) RAM storage to carry out tasks
• Aspire 7’s Full HD IPS technology features two narrow bezels and an impressive 81.61% screen-to-body ratio that helps tame distracting reflections

• The new Aspire 7 gaming laptop weighs 2.15 kg and offers upto 8.5 hours (under test conditions) of operation on a single charge.

Mumbai, 26th May 2020: Acer India, the global PC brand, today announced the expansion of its gaming portfolio in India with the launch of powerful Aspire 7 gaming laptop on Flipkart that comes in 4 new variants to cater to gamer’s demand. Acer’s new Aspire 7 gaming laptop hides a powerful processor and graphics which will help gamers get the most of the 15.6” screen with a large screen-to-body ratio and weigh only 2.15 Kg, fairly lightweight for a gaming PC. The laptop can be equipped with up to 9th-gen Intel Core i7 processor or AMD Ryzen™ 3000 along with latest NVIDIA graphics to keep everything running at its optimum speed. Enabling smooth multi-tasking and productivity, it has the latest USB- C connectivity, TrueHarmony™ audio technology, and Multi User – Multi Input Multi Output (MU-MIMO) which handle multiple wireless devices at once with faster speeds and is 2x faster than single-user MIMO.

Acer continues to innovate and bring great gaming experiences to the Indian market for consumers when it comes to laptop design, and the new Aspire 7 is yet another device exclusively designed to meet the needs of the casual gamers who value the subtle design as much as the performance. Aspire 7 is a svelte gaming machine that delivers a solid combination of power coupled with restrained aggressiveness from the outside. The new Acer Aspire 7 is aimed at casual gamers who want a take-anywhere laptop. The latest processors will deliver a complete platform with the performance to empower rich user experiences and the power efficiency to extend battery life. Acer is facilitating gamers with cutting-edge technology that is proven and reliable, considerably improving the experience. In fact, Acer has reportedly retained its spot of being the “No.1 Gaming PC Brand” in India for two consecutive years (2018 – 19) as per the leading research firm (Source: IDC Gaming Tracker, based on Branded Gaming

Speaking on this occasion, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO & Consumer Business Head, Acer India said, “Maintaining the growing demand for gaming PCs in India, Acer has always gone further to ensure our gaming machines offer the right design and power for the best gaming experience. We are excited to introduce another winner to our gaming portfolio Aspire 7 gaming laptop for Indian gaming enthusiasts. With our Nitro and Predator series of gaming laptops already leading in the market, this new line of Aspire laptops will further expand our presence in the gaming segment. The new collection is built with an emphasis on strong performance, sensitivity, and intelligent design and will be available on Acer eStore (https://store.acer.com/en-in/) and other online and offline portals from Jun’20. We are also collaborating with Flipkart as we believe that this new Acer Aspire 7 gaming laptop could be a perfect fit for gaming enthusiasts across platforms.”

“Flipkart ensures a shopping experience for customers that is driven by a diverse selection, offering them with best-in-class technology at affordable prices. With gaming, as a category, seeing tremendous uptake in the country in the past few years due to evolving consumer preferences, our large youth consumer base is always looking for new and exciting products. We are pleased to extend our partnership with Acer to offer the latest in gaming technology and further enrich our portfolio for a great consumer experience," Rakesh Krishnan, Senior Director at Electronics, Flipkart

Powerful Productivity:

The Aspire 7 packs a lot of power into the chassis. It gives professionals a max of 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD and up to 32GB DDR4 (SO-DIMM) RAM where users have enough power and storage to carry out their tasks. It also packs in performance with its incredible visuals, powerful processor and superior audio. Powered by upto 9th Gen Intel® Core™ i7/i5 processor and AMD Ryzen Processor, the latest NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX graphics,  the Aspire 7 has the power to multitask with ease and power through compute-intensive applications and keeps everything running at its optimum speed.

Stunning Visibility:

The Aspire 7 comes with the stunning FHD narrow border 15.6-inch display screen that offers 100% of the sRGB color gamut. It is further enhanced by Acer's own suite of Color Intelligence and ExaColor software with the two narrow bezels and an impressive 81.61% screen-to-body ratio and its BluelightShield technology allows adjusting of the screen’s blue-light emission over extended periods of use.

Latest connectivity:

In terms of connectivity, the Aspire 7 has HDMI and USB 3.2 ports as well as Wi-Fi 6 with MU-MIMO technology. With Wi-Fi 6 connectivity in a laptop, it’s all about satisfying users’ need for speed. It will provide faster file transfers and streaming; faster and higher quality video chats on-the-go; even faster screen refreshes for gaming. Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) improves the average network throughout by up to 3 times and reduces latency by up to 75% compared to Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). The Aspire 7 also supports MU-MIMO that can handle multiple wireless devices at once with faster speeds and is 3x faster than single-user MIMO. With Wi-Fi 6, users get easy updates to the latest information with a full range of connectivity options. Also, using USB-C™ users can get superfast data transfer over SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps.

Long Battery Life and Professional appearance:

Adding to the user experience, the laptop is powered by the latest Intel® and AMD Ryzen processors and offers an exceptionally fast and responsive experience with the battery life that lasts up to 8.5 hours a day (Under test conditions). Thanks to the LED-backlit keyboard, users can work effectively in dimly lit environments and even at night.

Pricing and Availability:

Available in Black color, the product will exclusively be available at Flipkart starting from Rs 54,990.

World’s first clamp on type Ultrasonic Flow meter for Saturated Steam now in India

Fuji Electric, the Japan based power electronics and energy company today launched in India, the world’s first clamp-on type Ultrasonic Flow meter for saturated steam. With this launch Fuji Electric now offers a comprehensive range of flow meters for customers in India for steam, fluids and air all designed with efficiency and optimization offering accurate measuring.

The Ultra Sonic Flow meter for saturated steam is ideal for use in Food, Pulp, Paper, Chemical, Steel, Electronics industry where saturated steam is used for cleaning purpose.

Speaking on the launch Sriram Ramakrishnan, MD, Fuji Electric India, said, “The new clamp-on ultrasonic flow meters is intended for users seeking an accurate, reliable and easy to install device. The Ultrasonic Flowmeter demonstrates Fuji Electric’s EMS (Energy Management Solution) by “Visualization”, “Recognition” and “Optimization” that help operations and maintenance managers tackle difficult steam flow energy management challenges and deliver optimum results.”

The new Ultrasonic Flow Meter for Steam was developed with high-sensitivity and new noise reduction technologies to allow us to measure saturated steam flow rate at very low pressures from 0.1 to 0.9 MPa and high-temperatures up to 180 degrees Celsius.

Benefits of Fuji Electric Ultrasonic Flowmeter

• Energy measurement without pressure loss
• Extremely easy to install
• Saves precious time and eliminates stoppage of the process or cutting pipe
• Measures very low flow rates down to zero
• Accurate measurements without interference due to noise eliminating frame
• Less maintenance costs due to no moving parts.
• Easy control and monitoring through a large, easy-to-read graphical display.

EON launches initiative to unlock influence of Nutrition on Immunity

Mumbai, 26th May 2020: Esperer Onco Nutrition (EON), a pioneer in bringing comprehensive nutritional portfolio to oncology, has announced an important initiative to unlock influence of nutrition on immunity. A team of scientists at EON have come up with an extensive research plan which collectively gives convincing evidence of the relationship between Diet Infections Nutrition Immunity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which the company has decided to persuade as the “DINI AXIS” concept to execute its research work.

The world has witnessed a rapid rise in nutrition-related disorders such as obesity, a risk factor for many of the non-communicable disease (NCDs) such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, dental disease, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer all over the world.

Talking about the initiative Mr. Raktim Chattopadhyay, Founder & CEO Esperer Onco Nutrition Pvt Ltd said "EON takes responsible nutrition very seriously and studies it with respect to the science of biochemistry. Our diet (D)impacting on infection status(I) which in turn influence nutrient depletion(N) and hence weakening the body immunity system (I),the whole chain goes unnoticed (till the disease state is asymptomatic) , lead to NCDs. This DINI Axis hypothesis we are intended to establish in our research plan to integrate responsible nutrition and NCDs like cancer ,diabetes etc .

Humans by nature have an inherent preference for palatable, sugary, salty, fatty and refined foods. These foods are mostly energy-dense and low in micro nutrients. Food production, processing, manufacturing, marketing and promotion have responded to these preferences by making high energy-dense foods available at increasingly affordable prices. This has led to changes in food consumption patterns which unfortunately coincided with more sedentary, less active lifestyles.

 "The resultant over nutrition of especially macro nutrients is the major cause of obesity and also, together with obesity, a risk factor for many of the noncommunicable disease (NCDs) such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, dental disease, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer" Mr Chattopadhyay added.

The DINI AXIS research initiative is categorised into four steps, the first being the ecological meta-analysis which compares different populations and the effects of migration of populations on food availability during economic development and differences in dietary and nutrient intakes. At the second stage scientist looked at numerous epidemiological/pandemic studies that have triggered the association between diet and biological risk factors of NCDs. During the third, they studied the interventions between specific nutrients and foods in placebo-controlled trials using both healthy and diseased subjects to confirm the relationships of drug-nutrient interactions and its outcomes. The fourth step followed molecular and genetic intervention under taken in research projects understanding how diet and nutrients affect genetic mutation and expression, adding to their knowledge of how nutrition influences immunity and improves quality of life.

About EON

Esperer Nutrition strives to champion the role of nutritional therapies that have proven clinical & health economic value, & improve the quality of people’s lives. EON is destined to understand, treat & help prevent a range of medical conditions by leveraging nutrition and life sciences.  

Company  aims to address specific health conditions with special emphasis on Onco Nutrition &  intend to provide a 360 degree solution to global cancer portfolio right from Preventive Oncology to Cancer Disease Management using Nutraceutical as complementary therapy to stage & region specific cancer patients. 

EON aspire to become global pioneer considering Drug-Nutrient  Interaction as major factor in chronic  disease management. 

Find more information at: www.esperernutrition.com or write to info@esperernutrition.com

Pioneering Ventures Acquires Lateral Praxis in a Move to Accelerate its Agri-Food Tech Platform Roll-Out.

Pioneering Ventures is a food, finance and tech platform which aims to reinvent the Indian food ecosystem to provide people with healthy food in a sustainable manner

•  Lateral Praxis is helping public and private sector clients to streamline their operations with the aim to promote good and sustainable food production and supply chain  practices
•  The move is aimed at strengthening the reach of technology-based solutions in the Indian food supply chain .
•  This acquisition is an important and far-reaching strategic addition to the portfolio of the Swiss-Indian agricultural and food platform Pioneering Ventures

 MUMBAI, May 25, 2020: Pioneering Ventures announced newly closed acquisition of Indian agri-tech company Lateral Praxis today. The move is aimed at enhancing downstream reach of tech-enabled solutions for the food supply chain  including information access, apps, data analytics and risk mitigation. The acquisition recognizes significant shifts in the Indian food system  in recent years which bring forward an immence potential for using technology and data to improve operational efficiencies and quality in daily supply chain activities. The systematic generation of data intelligence also allows to create valuable services and improve decision making of all parties in the food ecosystem.

Founded in 1999 by agri-tech stalwart Suniti Gupta, Lateral Praxis has worked closely with central and state governments, ministries and departments, along with farmer communities at village/panchayat level to build, configure and implement knowledge-based systems. The Mumbai-based company currently works with a strong core team to deliver solutions for online payment platforms, information aggregation and data mining for a varied customer base.

 Speaking about this development, Dr. Pablo Erat, co-founder of Pioneering Ventures, said: “End-to-end supply chain digitization has been a core pillar of our strategy. We have been working successfully with Lateral Praxis for many years and I am confident that the team will further boost our technology and data expertise. The acquisition is an important milestone in the implementation of our strategy  to accelerate the development of our fully integrated food technology platform and help us drive large-scale transformation across the food ecosystem through data intelligence-based services.”

 Elaborating on this development, Suniti Gupta, Founder-CEO of Lateral Praxis and a known agri-tech expert in India said: “As Indian agriculture and food sector gets ready to embrace next generation, tech-enabled future, the time is ripe for positive disruption. Our experience and core competencies will be augmented well by Pioneering Ventures’ expertise and presence across the food supply chain, helping us jointly scale up our solutions and delivery. We look forward to joining the PV family.”

  

About Lateral Praxis

Lateral Praxis aims to create value in our customers' business. We regularly invest in integrating newer technologies into solutions that we provide for our customers. We architect, configure and implement our solutions and ensure long term success through specialized user training. What drives our systems is an understanding of the knowledge behind the framework. We provide elegant, field-proven software. We have a suite of products that go the “last mile” in agriculture, legal compliance, audit tracking and risk management.