All posts by Rabindra

Honda Cars India offers ‘Drive in 2022, Pay in 2023’ scheme for Honda City and Honda Amaze buyers

Mumbai, 4th Oct, 2022: Honda Cars India (HCIL), a leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, has partnered with Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited (KMPL) this festive season to introduce a special car finance scheme for Honda customers across variants of Honda Amaze & Honda City. Customers will have the option to avail the innovative scheme of ‘Drive in 2022, Pay in 2023’, allowing them to buy a Honda car in 2022 and pay regular EMIs from the Year 2023. This unique scheme will be available across all authorized Honda dealerships and branches of KMPL in the country.

Honda Cars India intends to enhance the consumer’s ease of buying experience and fulfill the desire to own a car of their choice, through this innovative scheme. The special festive scheme ‘Drive in 2022, Pay in 2023’ is in force with immediate effect and is valid till October 31, 2022, for all variants of Honda City & Amaze. The finance will be available up to 85% of the on-road cost of the car with negligible cost EMI for the first three months and regular EMIs from the fourth month onwards till the end of the tenure.

Speaking about the initiative, Mr Kunal Behl, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “Honda Cars India is always committed to offering its customers, the best of buying convenience & ownership experience. With this partnership with Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited, our valuable customers will have a unique opportunity to buy their favorite Honda City and Honda Amaze now and make the payment later. We urge our customers to avail this scheme to its best and look forward to more customers joining our Honda family and discovering the delight of driving a Honda car.” 

Speaking on the collaboration, Mr Shahrukh Todiwala, President & Whole Time Director, Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited said, “We have always cherished our partnership with Honda Cars India Ltd. We hope that our tailor-made car loan scheme for Honda customers will add to their joy this festive season. We encourage car buyers to make the most of this scheme and own their dream Honda car through easy installments.”

Ariel set to boost the festivespirit with ‘Khushiyon ke rang’

Pune(S.N): Ariel, World’s No. 1 Brand recommended by washing machine makers^*, presents ‘Khushiyon ka rang’ – a promise by Ariel to help you be festive ready by keeping your outfits ready. Ariel is your perfect companion this festive season to ensure that your festive outfits are bright, vibrant, and stain-free, and their colors are protected. Ariel Matic liquid will keep your festive outfits cared for and loved because it’s kinder on colors and fabrics while being tougher on stains.

The festive season is to rejoice, dress up varied hues, enjoy food delicacies, and groove to tunes. The least you want to be worried about is keeping your outfits ready. Ariel Liquid Matic ensures that you do not spend a fortune on getting them laundered each time. Instead, opt for Ariel liquid detergent for your washing machine which is gentle on your clothes and tough on stains.

Sweat, food, and celebrations, all come together during festivals. Ariel Matic Liquidremoves over 100 tough stains in 1 wash^**inside the machine while being kinder on colors that make your clothes look new, bright, and vibrant wash after wash. Powered with superior technology that has 2X cleaning enzymes, Ariel gives impeccable deep cleaning and tough stain removal, especially those festive tough food stains.

We tend to wear our festive outfits only during this time of the year, so it is important to keep them stain-free and protect its shine and color. The colors of the festival and dressing elevate the spirit and the mood. Ariel is proud to celebrate the festival with ‘Khushiyon kerang’ ensuring that you make heads turn with your attire. Whatever your style may be – bandhani, Chania choli, sharara, mirrorwork, embroidered outfits or saree, stress no more about protecting the colors, brightness, and shine of your outfit. Because for tough stains, fragrance, and bright clothes, there is ArielMaticLiquid.

Revelin in the festivity and once it is over, treats your outfits with ArielMatic liquid, store them in cotton covers and keep it ready for the next season. Enjoy the festive days adorning yourself in colors with your partner ArielMatic Liquid by your side.

Ariel Matic Liquid is available across stores and across e-commerce websites. It is designed for both top-load and front-load washing machines and is available in various sizes. Consumers can purchase Ariel Matic Front Load from https://amzn.to/3dToFGCand Ariel Matic Top Load from https://amzn.to/3E7h0iu

EESL successfully installs 30 Lakh Smart Meters to help India Achieve its Energy Efficiency goals

New Delhi, 3^rd October 2022:  Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture under the administration of Ministry of Power, (GoI) is spearheading India’s transition to smart and energy efficient solutions with its Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP). As part of the programme, the company has installed over 30 Lakh smart meters in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, NDMC-Delhi, Bihar, and the union territory of Andaman. The company has signed agreements with the state-designated agencies and utilities in these regions for the large-scale deployment of smart meters. It further aims to install a total of over 47 Lakh smart meters by December 2023.

Most recently, EESL completed the installation of over 10.5 lakh prepared smart meters in Bihar. The company has also installed around 11.57 Lakh smart meters in Uttar Pradesh, over 1.24 Lakh smart meters in Rajasthan, over 5.3 lakh smart meters in Haryana, around 64 thousand smart meters in NDMC Delhi and over 74 thousand smart meters in Andaman. These smart meters have optimized the operational performance of Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) by increasing the billing and collection efficiency, reducing the operation and maintenance cost; and enhancing the quality of service. With this, the company is enabling a paradigm shift in India’s power sector and is adding momentum to the Government’s efforts toward nationwide adoption of smart meters.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Arun Kumar Mishra, CEO, EESL said, “EESL is deploying India’s first large-scale smart metering project under the Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP), in states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, New Delhi and Andaman. EESL has taken IoT Services from BSNL, Jio and Vodafone Idea for the network connectivity in DISCOMs. We are also working in association with Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), Robert Bosch and EDF energy, which provide unique system integration solutions.

EESL smart meters are transforming India’s energy landscape by increasing billing and collection efficiency; reducing operation and maintenance costs; enhancing the quality of services and providing consumers with demand side management (DSM) options. It has led to huge revenue upside and improved financial standing for the DISCOMs in these regions. We look forward to replicating these successful stories on AMI projects, pan India.”

This further helps with the web-based monitoring of smart meters and curtails commercial losses for utilities. Consequently, these smart meters also help with the reduction in peak power demand; strengthen the transmission & distribution of electricity as well as abating carbon footprint, which was earlier generated due to patrolling for reading collection and outage detection purposes. Smart Meters have potential to make the power sector increasingly resilient, transparent, digitised and accountable.  A seamless and consumer-focused energy ecosystem is the way forward and the adoption of smart meters across the country will be first step in that direction.

KNR Management Consultants, expanded its footprint to Singapore

Noida, 03rd October 2022: KNR Management Consultants, one of the youngest and fastest growing executive search consulting firms in India, is delighted to announce its first international expansion with a Singapore office for the APAC market. The primary goal of this growth is to boost its executive search expertise in the international market as well as to have a global presence across all major continents.

With the expansion to the Singapore region, the brand strives to reach new heights and vistas with its focussed approach. The brand’s regional office in Singapore will focus on building strong practices for leadership hiring in the BFSI, Fintech, and Technology sectors, while also augmenting the local team of consultants with relevant domain expertise.

Kushhagr Agarwal, the Founder, stated, “We have a steady expansion plan, and we are now advancing towards the Asia-Pacific region with our Singapore operations. We have accomplished in recent years has been astounding. Our existing foothold in the Indian markets stabilized our track record of developing teams for Indian and Global corporations and assisting them in expanding into foreign markets like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Europe.

KNR Global Executive Search Pte. Ltd. has appointed Mr. Iqbal Singh, as the APAC Regional Director. Iqbal comes with over 25 years of experience in the Financial Services industry across Asia-Pacific including past stints as the MD at Citibank in Korea, President & CEO of GE Money in India and Singapore, and the CMO and Head of Six Sigma Quality for GE Money Asia. Iqbal will play a key role in developing the APAC market for KNR and bring his expertise in developing, and shaping up practices for several sectors, especially Banking & Financial Services.

Since its inception, the company continues to play an integral role in building global leadership teams. The unmatched talent services have enabled corporations in acquiring talent that is not just rightly qualified but also eager to learn, create, and be ready to make an impact in the ever-competitive world. The organization strives to put the right talent in the right place, delivering on its vision to create parity in terms of talent fitting and locating internationally passive, hidden, yet exceptionally gifted individuals.

5G set to become a connectivity fabric for the country – KPMG in India report

KPMG in India, in association with IMC, has today launched a report titled “5G driving the next growth wave for Digital India” at the India Mobile Congress 2022. This report provides a roadmap to organizations in ICT sector to re-purpose, re-engineer and re-position their offerings for an increasingly complex and demanding enterprise world. It also offers recommendations for a successful 5G roadmap and implementation. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REPORT: 

1. Approx. 50 percent of Indian enterprises point towards increased budgets, especially for non-time-critical communications use-cases
2. More than 85 percent of enterprises across multiple sectors are expecting up to 20 percent ROI on various 5G/industry 4.0 use-cases
3. Globally almost 51 percent of the enterprises are looking to deploy 5G in conjunction with other wired and unlicensed wireless technologies
4. The top technical and operational business challenges envisaged for deploying 5G in India are network integration with legacy networks, faster technological changes (or low adaptability in a multi-vendor ecosystem), proving ROI and timelines and inconsistent network infrastructure
5. Targeting efficiency, quality management and new revenue models are prime areas where 5G is expected to be deployed by enterprises

FOR A SUCCESSFUL 5G ROADMAP AND IMPLEMENTATION, FOLLOWING KEY ASPECTS COULD BE CONSIDERED: 

1. For Operators:
   1. There is a need to get the network engine rolling, hence CSPs will need to be swift in upgrading their cores to support all forms of communications. Network upgrades need continual focus on building network slicing, edge-AI computer models, beamforming, dynamic spectrum sharing, access technology-agnostic user equipment functioning, and network analytics.
   2. It is imperative to build and market new 5G revenue streams. While robust networks and routes to market are important in the 5G monetization journey, it is equally important to protect margins by reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) by becoming a connected enterprise where the front, back, and mid-office are connected through cloud native architecture where the traditional OSS, BSS is transformed and made nimbler

1. For Government :
   1. A forward-looking policy paradigm that focuses on increasing access to affordable services and devices across the nation is imperative
   2. The rollout of 5G now needs to be backed by speedier fiber deployment to improve the tower fabrication from current levels. Speedier inclusion of new sources from bus depots to railway stations to street poles and street furniture, agile deployment, and faster maintenance of such assets will be crucial.
   3. R&D funding levels from the government need to improve in conjunction with policies that lay down financial incentives for participating members such as system integrators, CSPs, and other infrastructure vendors
   4. The importance of personal data compliance is increased with 5G deployment. A viable option to improve defense against cyberattacks is to combine private network infrastructure with a zero-trust security strategy with an automated threat management system. However, a comprehensive policy can set the tone and direction of private 5G deployment in the country.

The Draft Telecommunication Bill 2022 is a step in the right direction, as it consolidates the legal framework replacing existing laws with future-ready legislation, and aims at reducing ambiguity and promoting ease of doing business. The industry bodies, enterprises, and government should consider brainstorming and building consensus on operationalizing this framework. 

Yezdi Nagporewalla, CEO, of KPMG in India, said, “5G will be a catalyst to India’s path of reaching 20% digital GDP (by 2025). Today amongst others, digital transformation initiatives through smart factories, remote healthcare, and digital school are real and functioning. With 5G, many of these initiatives will achieve scale and acceleration. The Indian telecom market offers the right ingredients to have its justifiable impact. This impact could range up to 0.5% of incremental GDP growth due to elements of flexibility, low latency, and expansive connectivity, all of which will have a positive impact on businesses and its users (direct and indirect).” 

Commenting on the report, Purushothaman KG, Telecommunications Industry Leader, Head Digital Solutions, KPMG in India said, “Our study shows that 5G will become the most transformational accelerator to drive digital growth and achieve the larger vision of digital India. The new telecom bill has all the ingredients to drive robust financial and structural reforms. Edge computing, AI-based cloud services, open source intelligence and telemetry systems are expected to be pervasive. India will see 5G drive growth not only of the telecom sector, making it once again a sunrise sector, but drive the growth and digital transformation ambitions across industries.”

5G set to become a connectivity fabric for the country – KPMG in India report

KPMG in India, in association with IMC, has today launched a report titled “5G driving the next growth wave for Digital India” at the India Mobile Congress 2022. This report provides a roadmap to organizations in ICT sector to re-purpose, re-engineer and re-position their offerings for an increasingly complex and demanding enterprise world. It also offers recommendations for a successful 5G roadmap and implementation. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REPORT: 

1. Approx. 50 percent of Indian enterprises point towards increased budgets, especially for non-time-critical communications use-cases
2. More than 85 percent of enterprises across multiple sectors are expecting up to 20 percent ROI on various 5G/industry 4.0 use-cases
3. Globally almost 51 percent of the enterprises are looking to deploy 5G in conjunction with other wired and unlicensed wireless technologies
4. The top technical and operational business challenges envisaged for deploying 5G in India are network integration with legacy networks, faster technological changes (or low adaptability in a multi-vendor ecosystem), proving ROI and timelines and inconsistent network infrastructure
5. Targeting efficiency, quality management and new revenue models are prime areas where 5G is expected to be deployed by enterprises

FOR A SUCCESSFUL 5G ROADMAP AND IMPLEMENTATION, FOLLOWING KEY ASPECTS COULD BE CONSIDERED: 

1. For Operators:
   1. There is a need to get the network engine rolling, hence CSPs will need to be swift in upgrading their cores to support all forms of communications. Network upgrades need continual focus on building network slicing, edge-AI computer models, beamforming, dynamic spectrum sharing, access technology-agnostic user equipment functioning, and network analytics.
   2. It is imperative to build and market new 5G revenue streams. While robust networks and routes to market are important in the 5G monetization journey, it is equally important to protect margins by reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) by becoming a connected enterprise where the front, back, and mid-office are connected through cloud native architecture where the traditional OSS, BSS is transformed and made nimbler

1. For Government :
   1. A forward-looking policy paradigm that focuses on increasing access to affordable services and devices across the nation is imperative
   2. The rollout of 5G now needs to be backed by speedier fiber deployment to improve the tower fabrication from current levels. Speedier inclusion of new sources from bus depots to railway stations to street poles and street furniture, agile deployment, and faster maintenance of such assets will be crucial.
   3. R&D funding levels from the government need to improve in conjunction with policies that lay down financial incentives for participating members such as system integrators, CSPs, and other infrastructure vendors
   4. The importance of personal data compliance is increased with 5G deployment. A viable option to improve defense against cyberattacks is to combine private network infrastructure with a zero-trust security strategy with an automated threat management system. However, a comprehensive policy can set the tone and direction of private 5G deployment in the country.

The Draft Telecommunication Bill 2022 is a step in the right direction, as it consolidates the legal framework replacing existing laws with future-ready legislation, and aims at reducing ambiguity and promoting ease of doing business. The industry bodies, enterprises, and government should consider brainstorming and building consensus on operationalizing this framework. 

Yezdi Nagporewalla, CEO, of KPMG in India, said, “5G will be a catalyst to India’s path of reaching 20% digital GDP (by 2025). Today amongst others, digital transformation initiatives through smart factories, remote healthcare, and digital school are real and functioning. With 5G, many of these initiatives will achieve scale and acceleration. The Indian telecom market offers the right ingredients to have its justifiable impact. This impact could range up to 0.5% of incremental GDP growth due to elements of flexibility, low latency, and expansive connectivity, all of which will have a positive impact on businesses and its users (direct and indirect).” 

Commenting on the report, Purushothaman KG, Telecommunications Industry Leader, Head Digital Solutions, KPMG in India said, “Our study shows that 5G will become the most transformational accelerator to drive digital growth and achieve the larger vision of digital India. The new telecom bill has all the ingredients to drive robust financial and structural reforms. Edge computing, AI-based cloud services, open source intelligence and telemetry systems are expected to be pervasive. India will see 5G drive growth not only of the telecom sector, making it once again a sunrise sector, but drive the growth and digital transformation ambitions across industries.”

Indian Smartphone market clocks 44% value growth for offline retail in H1 2022

Mumbai, 3^rd October 2022: According to GfK Market Intelligence Report, in the first half of 2022, value growth of 44% YoY in the smartphone segment is observed vis-a-vis 2021. As consumers shift back to pre-pandemic normalcy is a major driver for an uptick in smartphone growth at the back of hybrid work culture.

“The offline channel growth of smartphones reached 2019 sales levels in 2021. In 2022, it is projected to grow by 25-30% over 2021 by value in offline channels; thus the year ahead looks optimistic complemented by festive season sales. All of this is possible due to, we Indians, coming to Normalcy 38% faster than the rest of the world” explains Dheeraj Mukherjee, Head of Sales – India, GfK. 

The contribution of the>20K price band category has evolved from approximately 17% in 2017 to 40% in H1’22 in the offline market. This signifies that there is a 2.5X jump in the contribution of +20K handsets from 2017.

The 20k+ price segment shows growth across all tier cities- with Tier 4 cities witnessing maximum growth in the price segment in H12022 vis-à-vis H12019 at a staggering 240% growth followed by Tier 3 cities with 186% growth, Tier 2 at 162% growth, and 86% growth in Tier 1 cities. Tiers 5 and above cities witnessed over 120% growth. The contribution in the same time period was led by Tier 1 cities at 59%.

As per GfK’s Consumer Life Study 2022, surveyed amongst the Indian urban consumers, especially the younger demographic it was observed that 64% like to be seen with the latest tech products. While 46% of the them  used an electronic payment service like UPI, Paytm, or GPay. Post-pandemic the element of convenience is a big factor that influences purchase decisions – 62% of Indian consumers want tech which knows them and can make recommendations, thereby making their day-to-day life easier. These trends cumulatively can offer to be a tailwind opportunity for smartphone retailers in the Indian market.

The ASP of smartphones has increased up to 34% in 2021 vs 2017 while it increased 65% in 2022 O2 vs 2017 Q1. This positive uptick is an opportunity for both manufacturers and retailers to garner profit in the coming quarters; basis on data by GfK.

GfK. Growth from Knowledge.

For over 85 years, we have earned the trust of our clients around the world by supporting them in business-critical decision-making processes around consumers, markets, brands, and media. Our reliable data and insights, together with advanced AI capabilities, have revolutionized access to real-time, actionable recommendations that drive marketing, sales, and organizational effectiveness of our clients and partners. That’s how we promise and deliver Growth from Knowledge.

Indian Smartphone market clocks 44% value growth for offline retail in H1 2022

Mumbai, 3^rd October 2022: According to GfK Market Intelligence Report, in the first half of 2022, value growth of 44% YoY in the smartphone segment is observed vis-a-vis 2021. As consumers shift back to pre-pandemic normalcy is a major driver for an uptick in smartphone growth at the back of hybrid work culture.

“The offline channel growth of smartphones reached 2019 sales levels in 2021. In 2022, it is projected to grow by 25-30% over 2021 by value in offline channels; thus the year ahead looks optimistic complemented by festive season sales. All of this is possible due to, we Indians, coming to Normalcy 38% faster than the rest of the world” explains Dheeraj Mukherjee, Head of Sales – India, GfK. 

The contribution of the>20K price band category has evolved from approximately 17% in 2017 to 40% in H1’22 in the offline market. This signifies that there is a 2.5X jump in the contribution of +20K handsets from 2017.

The 20k+ price segment shows growth across all tier cities- with Tier 4 cities witnessing maximum growth in the price segment in H12022 vis-à-vis H12019 at a staggering 240% growth followed by Tier 3 cities with 186% growth, Tier 2 at 162% growth, and 86% growth in Tier 1 cities. Tiers 5 and above cities witnessed over 120% growth. The contribution in the same time period was led by Tier 1 cities at 59%.

As per GfK’s Consumer Life Study 2022, surveyed amongst the Indian urban consumers, especially the younger demographic it was observed that 64% like to be seen with the latest tech products. While 46% of the them  used an electronic payment service like UPI, Paytm, or GPay. Post-pandemic the element of convenience is a big factor that influences purchase decisions – 62% of Indian consumers want tech which knows them and can make recommendations, thereby making their day-to-day life easier. These trends cumulatively can offer to be a tailwind opportunity for smartphone retailers in the Indian market.

The ASP of smartphones has increased up to 34% in 2021 vs 2017 while it increased 65% in 2022 O2 vs 2017 Q1. This positive uptick is an opportunity for both manufacturers and retailers to garner profit in the coming quarters; basis on data by GfK.

GfK. Growth from Knowledge.

For over 85 years, we have earned the trust of our clients around the world by supporting them in business-critical decision-making processes around consumers, markets, brands, and media. Our reliable data and insights, together with advanced AI capabilities, have revolutionized access to real-time, actionable recommendations that drive marketing, sales, and organizational effectiveness of our clients and partners. That’s how we promise and deliver Growth from Knowledge.