C.R.I., the leader in Energy-efficient pump manufacturing, wins

C.R.I., the leader in Energy-efficient pump manufacturing, wins the Prestigious National Energy Conservation Award,

for the 7^th time and 5^th in a row, from the Government of India

C.R.I., wins the National Energy Conservation (NEC) Award for the 7^th time, becomes a pioneer in the world of pumping industry for manufacturing energy-efficient pumps. 

 

Chennai, December 22, 2021: C.R.I., one of the largest pump manufacturers, wins the prestigious National Energy Conservation (NEC) Award for the year 2021. C.R.I. received this award for the 7^th time and 5^th in a row.

 

Energy conservation is a widely debated and discussed topic globally, but C.R.I. Pumps goes one step ahead and walks the talk. With the widest range of energy-efficient products, C.R.I. has saved a whopping 21,500 million units of electricity for our nation.

C.R.I. has a well-built portfolio of carefully designed products for the pumping industry and it has installed above 2 million star rated pumps and 50000 IoT-enabled solar pumps across the nation, helping industrialists, builders, farmers and residents to achieve a significant saving on electricity consumption & money. 

 

 

 

Receiving the award from Hon’ble Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri R.K.Singh, Mr G. Selvaraj, Joint Managing Director of C.R.I. and the proud recipient of the NEC Award, said, “This is the seventh time C.R.I. has won the prestigious NEC Award for offering the most energy-efficient pumps, thus helping our consumers save a significant amount of energy. I feel extremely proud to say that this year is our fifth time in a row. The company is thankful to the Government of India, Ministry of Power for recognising our efforts towards saving energy. And on behalf of the company, I would like to say that we are deeply indebted to the relentless efforts of our engineers at our FLUDYN R&D Division and every  stakeholders for bringing the best out of us.” 

 

To highlight a few of the Group’s achievements, C.R.I. is one of the few companies that invest a great number of resources in Internet of Things (IoT) enabled Smart Pumps to save environmental resources like energy, water, time & money and so far, has supplied over 60,000 IoT-enabled Smart Pumps. These pumps can be operated & monitored from a remotely through mobile phones or auto programmed and are capable of eliminating the need of manual intervention. 

 

C.R.I. also has made enormous contributions in creating awareness about harnessing solar energy in an effort to save non-renewable energy and has supplied above 50,000 IoT-enabled Solar Pumps that are made of cutting-edge technology with A.C. and D.C. motors. When durability is taken into account, C.R.I. Stainless Steel Pumps are also well-known in the solar segment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISRO & OPPO India Collaborates To Provide NavIC Application

ISRO & OPPO India Collaborates To Provide NavIC Application,
Paving Way For Atmanirbhar Bharat

Indian Space Research Organisation, Department of Space, Government of India signs an MoU with OPPO India to strengthen the research and development of the NavIC messaging service to provide a convenient and user-friendly platform. This MoU will pave the way for future collaborations between ISRO and OPPO India to develop indigenous solutions by incorporating the NavIC short messaging feature in the smartphones released by OPPO India.

This MoU will enable ISRO and OPPO India to exchange technical information of NavIC messaging services so as to build rapid, ready to use, end to end application-specific solutions by integrating NavIC messaging service with the mobile handset platform keeping in mind the need of Indian users. This MoU further reiterates OPPO India's commitment towards India and its vision towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Commenting on this collaboration, Mr Tasleem Arif, Vice President, India R&D Head, OPPO India, said, “We’re excited to collaborate with ISRO to strengthen the NavIC application. Under our latest MoU, we will support ISRO with our industry-leading R&D capabilities to provide a seamless experience to the users of NavIC application. In line with our vision towards Make In India, OPPO will invest in further scaling the product with its competitive and experienced R&D team. To benefit our users and the government, OPPO will continue to create a positive impact in the society through our innovation and technology expertise.”

Dr. K Sivan, Secretary, DOS / Chairman, ISRO appreciated the efforts of OPPO, India in scaling NavIC application through their innovative R&D initiatives. He also urged OPPO, India to include NavIC in all their upcoming products .

NavIC system provides regional navigation services covering the Indian mainland and an area up to 1500 km beyond the Indian mainland. In addition to its primary function of providing PNT services, NavIC is also capable of broadcasting short messages. This messaging service is mainly used for broadcasting safety-of-life alerts in areas with poor or no communication , particularly in the oceans.

API Holdings fortifies its Board, appoints

       API Holdings fortifies its Board, appoints Independent Directors

 

API Holdings Ltd (API Holdings), the parent co. of India’s Largest Digital Healthcare Brand, PharmEasy has announced that it has made fresh appointments of 5 Independent Directors to its Board, in line with the highest standard of Corporate Governance.  The fresh appointments bring a great amount of cognitive diversity to the Board, with luminaries from the world of public service, technology, pharma, medical fraternity, and the consumer sector.

 

Following the approval by its shareholders along with the resignation of several Investor Nominee Directors, API, the board has a total of 12 members including 5 Independent Directors. These directors are:

 

·         Vineeta Rai, IAS (Retd) Officer who was the Ex-Revenue Secretary of India.

·         Subramanian Somasundaram recently retired as the CFO of Titan Company Ltd.

·         Ramakant Sharma, Founder and COO, Livspace and one of the most successful angel investors in India.

·         Dr Jaydeep Tank, a leading Gynaecologist based in Mumbai is the Secretary General, FOGSI.

·         Deepak Vaidya, with decades of experience in the field of Pharmaceuticals, Micro-Finance, Healthcare and Private Equity.

 

A brief profile of each of the Independent Directors is as follows:

 

Vineeta Rai, IAS (Retd) 1968 batch from AGMUT Cadre, was a fellow in public administration at Queen Elizabeth House Oxford University. She has extensive experience in the field of health administration and finance and has been associated with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Finance, United Nations besides working with various state administrations and public sector undertakings. She retired as the Revenue Secretary, Government of India.

 

Ramakant Sharma, Founder & COO of Livspace, is an IIT Kanpur and ISB Hyderabad Graduate, continues to play a pivot to all technology driven decisions and has led the operations at Livspace. Before founding Livspace he a was an operating partner at Jungle Ventures and a core team member and Vice President at Myntra. He is an active seed capital Investor with 46 investments across E-Commerce, Software, Marketing & Analytics, Freight, Dental, Supply Chain segments and mentors more than 80+ technology start-ups namely Lamdatest, Edureka, Pitstop, Andor Technologies, Lemnisk and Workspace.

 

Dr. Jaydeep Tank, MBBS, MD is one of the most leading Gynaecologist and Obstetrics in India, based out of Mumbai. He is the Secretary General of The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, the leading apex society of all Gynaecologists and Obstetricians in India. He is the renowned global authority on Gynaecology and is a speaker at several global summits and serves in various global bodies, apart from being member of several bodies of the Government of India.

 

Subbu Subramanian, a chartered accountant and cost accountant has over 35 years of experience in finance, strategy, and business roles. Until July 2021, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Head IT, at Titan Company Ltd, a NIFTY 50 Company, and part of the Tata Group. Before joining Titan, he was in the telecom industry for over a decade as a CFO of BPL Mobile Group then taking over as CEO of BPL Mobile. He also took on the mantle of being CFO of the telecom vertical in Essar Group and has also served at various well-known corporations like ITC Group, A F Ferguson & Co, VST Industries and Mannai Group in Doha, Qatar.

 

Deepak Vaidya is a veteran from the world of private equity. Deepak has invested and mentored several companies in his lifetime and is a member of several boards. He has deep expertise in the fields of finance, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare. Deepak is the Non-Exec Chairman of Spandana Sphoorty, one of the leaders in the field of micro-finance and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Unit Trust of India Private Equity. Deepak is also on the Board of Strides Pharmaceuticals, Sequent Scientific amongst others.

 

Commenting on this development, Mr Siddharth Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, API Holdings said, “We are delighted to welcome such eminent personalities to our Board. This is yet another step in our journey of being the best in class of Corporate Governance and lead the way for times to come. The diversity will help us provide integrated, digital healthcare solution across the length and breadth of India benefiting all stakeholders. We have luminaries from the field of public service, a leading doctor, a tech wizard & angel investor, a pharma veteran and someone who has seen consumer business very closely. This diversity will help us bring a paradigm shift with rapid digitisation of healthcare and enable across the board doctor consultation, diagnostics labs and the supply chain for delivering medicines. With diverse experience of our board, our platforms will continue to significantly invest to improve access to affordable healthcare. We remain resolute in our mission to offer affordable healthcare across every single zip-code of India, be it consultation, tests of treatment within a 24-hour TAT, and contribute to the Indian Healthcare ecosystem.”

Microsoft and Ed4All partner with the world’s largest open school platform

Microsoft and Ed4 All partner with the world’s largest open school platform, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
to make learners job-ready

• The partnership will benefit 170 million learners in the open schooling system in India
• BLEAP® for NIOS, a first-of-its-kind customized tech platform for education transformation launched as part of this collaboration

Microsoft and Ed4All today announced a partnership with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to transform learning and empower students with digital skills. Through this partnership, Microsoft and Ed4All aim to reach over 170 million learners across the open schooling ecosystem, providing access to tools, experiences, and skills needed to be job-ready in a digital economy. 

As part of this collaboration, Microsoft and Ed4All have launched a customized tech platform for the NIOS Virtual Open School, BLEAP® for NIOS, that provides learners a personalized learning experience for improved learning outcomes.  BLEAP® for NIOS brings together live classes and labs, recorded sessions, remote proctored exams and assessments along with skill-based courses and certifications to provide a holistic learning experience. Students across NIOS will also have access to digital courses on technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cyber security and data sciences among others.

Designed to create a better classroom experience that enables student success, the platform will provide easy-to-consume modules including live demos, hands-on workshops and assignments. BLEAP® for NIOS is built on the Microsoft stack of Teams, M365 and Azure, with security at the core.

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India, commenting on the launch of the NIOS Virtual Open School said, "Education is not a competition to acquire degrees, but a transformative tool. The government is working to ensure that internet reaches village schools across the country. NIOS Virtual School is a new model of learning and is an example how leveraging technology and innovation can facilitate greater inclusion in education. The school will provide advanced digital learning platforms through virtual live classrooms and virtual labs.”

 Navtez Bal, Executive Director, Public Sector, Microsoft India, said, “Technology is playing a bigger role than ever in transforming education, improving learning outcomes and better preparing students for the new world of work. Our partnership with NIOS to empower over 170 million learners across the country is an important step in ensuring equity in education and skilling. As we rapidly move towards a digital economy, the skills of the future will look very different from the skills that are needed today. Along with Ed4All, we are committed to providing access to the technology, skills and resources that students need to succeed in a digital world.”

 Sanjay Viswanathan, Chairman, Ed4All said, “Ed4All is delighted to partner with Microsoft and NIOS to power NIOS Virtual Open School through BLEAP® for NIOS, a custom-built learning platform developed for NIOS. This will enable every learner in the country to become employable through most advanced Open Schooling. BLEAP® stands for Blended Learning and Pedagogy – a Big Leap in school education. We are excited with Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Ji’s direction for us and Prof Saroj Sharma Ji, Chairperson, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), her appetite for rapid implementation. Ed4All is committed to enable India’s 170 million learners with access to affordable, world-class education, and develop them to face challenges of the digital age and be skilled and job-ready

Women’s World Banking And Bank Of Baroda Report Recommends

 Women’s World Banking And Bank Of Baroda Report Recommends
‘Jan Dhan Plus’ To Catalyse Formal Savings Behaviour In Women Jan Dhan Customers

Banks could potentially attract Rs. 25,000 cr. (250 billion) in deposits by serving
10 crore (100 million) women Jan Dhan customers

Women’s World Banking, a global non-profit committed to giving low-income women access to financial tools for their financial security and prosperity, and Bank of Baroda, among India’s largest Public Sector Banks (PSBs) today unveiled a new report ‘The Power of Jan Dhan: Making Finance Work for Women in India’. The report estimates that by serving 100 million low-income women, Public Sector Banks in India could attract approximately Rs. 25,000 crores (250 billion) in deposits while financially empowering 40 crore (400 million) low-income Indians.

The report highlights the importance of savings as a powerful tool to help low income women, and their households, build financial resilience. Providing in-depth insights into the savings behaviour and financial inclusion barriers of women, the report also provides recommendations to PSBs and policymakers to successfully empower the account holders of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the government’s flagship financial inclusion scheme launched in 2014.

According to the Global Findex Report 2017, 77% of women and 83% of men in India own an account, and the gender gap between make and female account ownership has dropped to 6% (from 20% in 2014). Today, 23.73 crore (237.3 million) women have Jan Dhan accounts. However, the report makes the distinction that having access to a bank account does not mean it is being used, which is a critical determinant of full financial inclusion.

Women’s World Banking and Bank of Baroda designed a pilot product specifically to encourage greater account usage among women Jan Dhan customers. Jan Dhan Plus is a solution that combines a Jan Dhan account with an incentive to deposit Rs. 500 over four months. In return that account holder receives a Rs. 10,000 credit/overdraft facility. This has several benefits – women account holders engage more with banks and build skills and trust, while the bank learns more about an important customer base and how to address it with products and services. The women and their households not only develop a body of savings to support them in times of economic hardship, such as Covid-19, but they also have access to an overdraft facility, providing both an emergency fund, and a credit footprint for them to potentially access loans and other services in the future.

The pilot was conducted with 101 Bank of Baroda branches across Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai and over 300 Business Correspondent points between February 2020 to August 2020. During this period, nearly 50,000 men and women customers signed up for Jan Dhan Plus. 32% of women who visited the Business Correspondent points enrolled in the scheme within the first two months of the launch.

Offering the keynote, Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Government of India said, “Women’s financial inclusion requires a more gender-inclusive financial system that addresses the specific demand and supply side barriers women face and leverages a partnership-led approach to address existing gaps. It is heartening to witness the collaboration between Women’s World Banking and Bank of Baroda whose innovative Jan Dhan Plus package showcases an opportunity to bring more low income women customers into formal banking, and highlight their potential as valuable customer segment for banks and financial service providers. I invite more banks to engage women Jan Dhan customers and share their success. I also would like to invite organisations working in this area to collaborate with the Women Entrepreneurship Platform, a NITI Aayog initiative with the aim to overcome information asymmetry, showcase such initiatives and enable women to avail of their benefits.”

“COVID-19 has exacerbated income gaps and disproportionately affected women, particularly low-income women. Enabling them to view formal savings as a viable financial tool is important to help restore their financial resilience. Women’s engagement with financial institutions and their ability to access credit from such institutions can also increase their social capital.”, commented Sriraman Jagannathan, Executive Vice President, Asia, Women’s World Banking. “Through Jan Dhan Plus, piloted with Bank of Baroda, we were able to study women’s savings behaviour and perceptions closely, which allowed us to design a product that caters to their unique needs. Our study underscored the need for sex-disaggregated data to design products for women that make them confident and comfortable in engaging with banks. We believe that if financial service providers adapted the features of Jan Dhan Plus at scale, it could become the product that transforms women’s savings habit.”, he added.

Shri Sanjiv Chadha, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Baroda said, “Financial inclusion has always been acknowledged worldwide as a key driver of economic growth and a critical factor to dissolve gender inequality and engender social transformation. Jan Dhan Plus, created in collaboration with Women’s World Banking, showed us that with the right encouragement and environment, women strive faster for financial independence and resilience. Such a meaningful engagement between women and financial institutions can increase the latter’s social capital and contribution towards building a more stable nation. I urge financial institutions to recognise women customers as an emerging and distinctive segment. They hold the key to not only empowering millions of households in India, but their long-term formal savings habit can create tremendous value for the banking sector.”

Recommendations for Indian financial service providers and policymakers

1. Create relevant and simplified products for women by offering Jan Dhan Plus to mobilise savings, overdraft for loans, and launch (Unified Payment Interface) UPI-Receive only handle for ease of receiving payments into their Jan Dhan Accounts.
2. Promote awareness & nudge customers to save at the Business correspondent touch points. Explore low-cost mediums to reach women and build awareness using communication hooks specially designed for her, and nudges to trigger behaviour change.
3. Strengthen the Business Correspondents network to make them relationship managers who can help branches minimise low-value transactions and assist PSBs to engage the growing PMJDY segment.
4. Track data at a sex-disaggregated level and monitor portfolio data. Understanding the differences in women customer behaviour will help financial institutions and policy makers succeed in their efforts to advance financial inclusion.

Notes to the Editor

The report’s key findings about women Jan Dhan customers

Why India’s PSBs must prioritise women savers Women are loyal customers. Once women become familiar and comfortable with using a financial service, they tend to be more loyal customers of financial institutions than men. Women are more active and committed savers than men. 70% of the women Jan Dhan customers surveyed save “small” amounts of money by curtailing their expenses. Women can influence the saving habits of family members, as well as act as brand ambassadors in their communities. Women have a favourable credit repayment behaviour. Barriers that women face in saving formally Women do not see banks as a familiar or trusted place to deposit their savings. Intimidated by negative experiences and often hard-to-understand banking terminology, leads women to save money via informal and familiar channels. 45% of women prefer to save spontaneously when the opportunity arises. As they do not consider banks to be amenable to depositing small amounts, they reserve bank deposits for larger transactions. The need for instant access. Women do not find banks to be a viable option in saving money that they may want to access instantly for emergencies. Awareness about the value of a local Business Correspondent is low to absent. Consequently, women who are not comfortable travelling a long distance to their local bank branch, choose to save informally.   Women’s World Banking and Bank of Baroda’s Jan Dhan Plus solution, has inspired long-term savings behaviour in women via formal channels: The robust potential for banks to redirect women’s small savings. Of the women that were educated about the small savings scheme, 50% expressed interest in depositing savings. 34% of the women visited the Business Correspondent channel as it was either conveniently located or were considered helpful and trustworthy. The Business Correspondent’s ability to engage efficiently with women is also reflected in higher cross sell penetration. The Jan Dhan Plus appealed to women and proved relevant, resulting in 32% Business Correspondent walk-ins enrolling to start small savings. Despite COVID impacting the pilot, 18% of participants managed to save and completed four account deposits of Rs 500. Women who started saving with Bank of Baroda have proved to be valuable, as they grew their balances 1.5 times compared to customers who did not enroll. Even women whose bank accounts were inactive for a year found the scheme to be relevant, changed their savings behaviour and grew their balances by over 90%.

National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) announces

 National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) announces

“Gaon Gaon Scheme”

 

National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) today announced “Gaon Gaon Scheme”, a one-of-a-kind scheme aimed at adoption of Digital India by India’s rural areas. This scheme provides 50% discount on .IN/.भारत  domains. This offer is available till 14^th May, 2021.

The scheme is open to all Indians residing in villages which are defined by the Government of India from time to time. This scheme is open to all accredited Registrars (Dealers).

The discount as mentioned is applicable for one year from the new creates of .IN/.भारत. Book today your unique .in domain.

RailTel Corporation Of India Limited (“RailTel”), one of the largest neutral telecom

RailTel Corporation Of India Limited (“RailTel”), one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country (Source: CRISIL Report “Assessment of the telecom and telecom data services industry in India” dated September 2020) owning a Pan-India optic fiber network covering several towns & cities and rural areas of the country; will open the Bid/Offer period in relation to its initial public offering of Equity Shares (the “Offer”/ “IPO”) on Tuesday, February 16, 2021 and close on Thursday, February 18, 2021. RailTel is a Mini Ratna (Category-I) Central Public Sector Enterprise, wholly-owned by the Government of India and under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways. The price band of the Offer has been fixed at Rs. 93 to Rs. 94 per Equity Share of face value of Rs. 10 each. The Company and the Selling Shareholders may, in consultation with the book running lead managers (the “BRLMs”), consider participation by Anchor Investors, in accordance with the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, as amended. The Anchor Investor Bidding Date shall be one Working Day prior to the Bid/Offer Opening Date, i.e. Monday, February 15, 2021.

The Offer will comprise up to 87,153,369 equity shares of face value of ₹10 each and the Offer will be a complete offer for sale by the Government of India. The Company will not be directly receiving any proceeds from the Offer and all the Offer Proceeds will be received by the Selling Shareholder. The objects of the Offer are to carry out the disinvestment of 87,153,369 Equity Shares held by the Selling Shareholder; and to achieve the benefits of listing the Equity Shares on the Stock Exchanges.

The QIB portion of the net offer shall be not more than 50%; not less than 35% of the net offer shall be available for allocation to Retail Individual Bidders and not less than 15% of the net offer shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Bidders.

RailTel is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country (Source: CRISIL Report “Assessment of the telecom and telecom data services industry in India” dated September 2020) having a 59,098 route kilometers of optical fiber cable network which has connected 5,929 railway stations across towns and cities in India (as of January 31, 2021). RailTel offers a diversified portfolio of ICT services and solutions including MPLS-VPN, leased lines services, TPaaS, e-Office services and data center services, large network hardware system integration, software and digital services to enterprises, public sector banks, defense organisations and educational institutions; operated through data centers located in Gurugram, Haryana, Secunderabad and Telangana to host and collocate critical applications for customers including the Indian Railways. RailTel is also appointed by the Ministry of Railways for implementation of the Hospital Management Information System and also allotted its e-Office Project Phase 3 project to RailTel.

ICICI Securities Limited, IDBI Capital Markets & Securities Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited are appointed as the BRLMs to the Offer.

(Disclaimers in attachment)

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited announces

 Garden Reach Shipbuilder & Engineers Limited

(A GOVT OF INDIA UNDERTAKING, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE)

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited announces Q3 of FY21 Results

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE), one of the leading warship builders in the country have announced its financial results for the Nine Months and Quarter Ended December 31^st, 2020.

 
Highlights upto Q3FY 21 Standalone Financials

§  Total Revenue Rs. 879 Crs. §  Profit Before Tax Rs. 129 Crs. §  Profit After Tax  Rs.95 Crs §  EPS is Rs 8 Per  Share

Q3 FY21 Compared with Q2 FY21:

Ø  The Total Income stood at Rs. 399 in Q3 FY21 as against Rs. 320 crore in Q2 FY21 resulting an increase of 25% over previous quarter.

Ø  Revenues from operations for the quarter ended December 31st, 2020 stood at Rs. 360 crore as compared to Rs. 272  crore in Q2 FY21 registering  32% increase over Q2 FY21

Ø  The Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) stands Rs. 81 crore in Q3 FY21, as against Rs 60 crore in Q2 FY21. The Company’s EBITDA margin stood at 20%

Ø  Profit Before Tax (PBT) stood at Rs. 73 crore for Q3 FY21 as compared to Rs  54 crore in Q2 FY21. The Company’s PBT margin stood at 18%

Ø  Profit After Tax (PAT) reported stood Rs. 58 crore for Q3 FY21 as against Rs. 38 crore in Q2 FY20.The Company’s PAT margin stood at 14%

Q3FY21 Compared with Q3FY20:

 

Ø  Revenues from operations for Q3 FY 21 stood at Rs. 360 crore as compared to Rs. 370 crore in Q3 FY20

Ø  The Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) stands Rs. 81 crore in Q3 FY21, as against Rs 50 crore in Q3 FY20 registering a growth of 62% over Q3FY20

Ø  Profit Before Tax (PBT) stood at Rs. 73 crore for Q3 FY21 as compared to Rs.41 crore in Q3 FY20 registering growth of 78% over  corresponding quarter of FY 20

Ø  Profit After Tax (PAT) reported stood Rs. 58 crore for Q3 FY21 as against Rs. 38 crore in Q2 FY20 with an increase of 95% over  corresponding quarter of FY 20

 

Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu Inaugurates

Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu Inaugurates the Covishield Vaccination drive at SIMS Hospital, Vadapalani

·       1500 frontline workers to be administered the COVID 19 vaccination free of cost as part of phase - I of the immunization drive

 

SIMS Hospitals (SRM Institutes for Medical Science), Vadapalani, one of the leading multi specialty hospitals in Chennai, joins India’s biggest vaccination drive against COVID 19 with ‘Covishield’ vaccine, beginning today!

 

Inaugurated by Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, the ‘Covishield’ Vaccine will be provided free of cost to about 1500 healthcare workers as well as frontline workers of SIMS Hospital, in this phase-I of vaccination drive. Using their Government identity cards, health workers can register themselves to avail the free dose of ‘Covishiled’ vaccine. 

 

 

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu said, “Building trust and confidence to motivate people to get vaccinated for good against COVID 19 is very important. I personally got the immunization vaccine administered to emphasize the vaccine’s safety and efficacy. I am truly elated that the health workers who have already got vaccinated against COVID 19 are responding well to the vaccination too. Once the beneficiaries get their first dose of vaccine, they are still required to maintain all COVID 19 safety measures like wearing mask and sanitising their hands and diligently come for their second dose of vaccination without missing it”.

                                                                                                                  

Mr Ravi Pachamoothoo, Chairman, SRM Hospitals, said, “It brings me great pride that SIMS Hospitals is part of this historic effort and has joined India’s biggest immunization drive against COVID 19 with ‘Covishield’ Vaccine. I feel proud to mention that SIMS Hospital has treated more than 3500 COVID patients in the past 10 months. Now, I am happy to share that eminent Doctors, Heads of Departments, including myself were among the first to take the Covishield Vaccine at SIMS. We sincerely thank the Tamil Nadu Government and the Central Government for giving us this opportunity to benefit a lot of people to get back to their normal lives and help them regain their livelihood”.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates Shell Energy

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates Shell Energy India’s Truck Loading Unit

Supplying LNG via trucks to enhance access to cleaner energy

Hon’ble Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today virtually inaugurated Shell Energy India’s first small-scale LNG supply infrastructure, a truck loading unit at its LNG terminal in Hazira. This will now augment Shell’s natural gas supply offerings in India to include supply of LNG via trucks.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Pradhan complimented Shell for their efforts in expanding the LNG infrastructure in the country. He said, “Clean, affordable and reliable energy is the need of the growing population and a key priority for the Government of India.” He further added “The Government is committed to bring in a clean energy future whilst reducing the adverse impact on the environment. Innovative supply solutions like LNG by trucks will play a pivotal role in the development of gas markets across the country including hinterlands. This infrastructure will also help support in the development of LNG as a clean transportation fuel.”

Nakul Raheja, who has recently taken over as Country Head, Shell Energy India stated “In early 2019, we acquired additional 26% equity in the Hazira Terminal and created a fully-owned and integrated Shell value chain - supply from our global LNG portfolio, regasification at the Hazira facility, and downstream customer sales. This development extends our downstream customer offering and now, in addition to supply of R-LNG via pipeline, we can also supply LNG by trucks to customers across India. I look forward to this segment advancing in the years ahead and hope to also see LNG developing as a cleaner energy option for heavy duty transport in India.”

The Government of India is promoting natural gas through various policy and regulatory reforms towards making India a gas-based economy by increasing the share of gas in India’s primary energy mix to 15 percent. Small-scale LNG can play an important role in realizing this target as it enhances clean energy access across the country. While gas customers in industrial clusters are expected to be the primary beneficiaries, small-scale LNG will also support the market seeding and development of the recently licensed CGD geographical areas, not yet connected by pipelines. Apart from industrial and CGD segments, the small-scale LNG supply infrastructure will also contribute to the development of conducive eco-system for faster adoption of LNG as the preferred transportation fuel for M&HCVs especially for long-haul transport.

Shell Energy India owns and operates a 5 mtpa LNG import terminal at Hazira (Surat), Gujarat. The terminal has been in operation since 2005 and received more than 600 LNG cargoes till date.

Shell Energy is our global offer to market for innovative, reliable and cleaner energy solutions across a portfolio of gas, power, environmental products and energy efficiency offers to businesses and residential customers.

Greenlam Laminates and Compacts now proven

 Greenlam Laminates and Compacts now proven effective against SARS-CoV-2

The test certification for the revolutionary Greenlam Laminates will keep you safe from SARS-CoV-2 with 99%* efficacy within 30 minutes of exposure to the laminate surface

 Greenlam Industries Ltd., which is among the top 3 laminate manufacturers in the world and largest in Asia, has announced its revolutionary laminates to be world’s first COVID-19 resistant laminate surface. Greenlam Laminates are now proven effective against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) with 99%* efficacy within 30 minutes of exposure to the laminate surface and completely eliminates in 45 minutes and beyond. This test was conducted by Ministry of Science & technology (Government of India).

 Speaking on the occasion Mr. Saurabh Mittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Greenlam Industries Ltd. said, “At Greenlam Industries, we always strive to produce best-in-class and health safe products for our consumers. In the current pandemic situation, the focus has completely shifted towards staying safe whether indoors or outdoors and it was the need of the hour to manufacture surfaces which are safe to touch. Greenlam has been producing laminates and compacts with antivirus, antibacterial and antifungal properties and with this new achievement, Greenlam will be able to offer laminates & compacts resistant to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

 We will continue to work towards our commitment of providing technologically superior quality surfaces that ensure the spaces our consumers build, are safe from viruses, bacteria and other unhealthy contaminants.

 This festive season Greenlam has taken another initiative for the visually impaired people among us. We all know that COVID-19 has changed our Normal way of living. While we are slowly adapting to this New Normal of social distancing, contactless services and business to simply covering common touch surfaces with plastic sheets for easy disinfection. For the blind community, however, it’s an unimaginable change as touch and feel were the integral part of their communication.

 Greenlam pledged to contribute Re. 1 from each of our Greenlam Laminate sales, pan India, in an effort to help them reclaim their vision. We hope our small step can make some difference in their lives.”

 Greenlam Industries Ltd. has been producing laminates and compacts with Safeguard PLUS™ technology - antivirus, antibacterial, antifungal and indoor air pollution safe and with this new test result, Greenlam will be able to offer surfaces resistant to SARS-CoV-2 as well. This makes Greenlam, the World’s first laminate brand proven effective against SARS-CoV-2. This reinforces the ability and agility of Greenlam Industries Ltd. to develop innovative and safe products in sync with the evolving lifestyle and customer requirements.

EESL’s JV becomes the fastest-growing Indian owned

EESL’s JV becomes the fastest-growing Indian owned company in the UK

EPAL ranked at the top among the 842 Indian-UK companies by a Grant Thornton & CII tracker

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a home-grown Super Energy Service Company (ESCO) under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India has set a remarkable global precedent in low carbon development.  EESL’s Joint Venture (JV), EnergyPro Assets Ltd (EPAL) has emerged as the fastest-growing Indian company in the United Kingdom (UK) in the “India meets Britain Tracker 2020”, developed by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Grant Thornton.

The JV, between Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) and British impact focussed energy efficiency firm EnergyPro Asset Management Ltd (EPAM)) has grown at a rapid clip, further reaffirming India’s role as a global energy efficiency pioneer. EPAL bridges the energy transitions in India and the UK and marks an important chapter in the UK Energy Alliance endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.  EPAL began its journey when EESL and EPAM joined together to acquire energy service company (ESCO) operations in the UK quickly followed by clinching a share in a grid-scale battery project in Canada. Since then, it has invested INR 633cr in the UK and has become a success story for Indian owned companies globally.

Speaking on the success of the JV, Saurabh Kumar, MD-EESL said “Through EPAL, we have crafted a global brand that consorts closely with the Prime Minister’s appeal for fostering local businesses. It is another testament to our vision of building a world class energy service business that delivers economic, environmental and social benefits locally. The success of EPAL also marks a significant stride towards achieving India’s overall energy transition, aided by the exchange of technology and best practices between India and the UK. This feat would not have been possible without the contribution of each and every member of the EESL family.”

Adhering to the motto of being vocal about local with global aspirations, EPAL was at the top of the list of the fastest-growing 842 Indian-UK companies in the Grant Thornton & CII tracker. EPAL’s watershed moment was in 2018 when it acquired Edina, UK’s leading supplier, installer and maintenance provider for Combined, Heat and Power (CHP) solutions. Edina was the first-ever acquisition of an overseas company, by an entity administered under Ministry of Power, Govt. of India. For EESL, Edina has become a steadfast vehicle for technology and skill transfer from UK to India. The acquisition has resulted in an active pipeline of 100 MW of trigeneration projects in India worth INR 1000cr which will support the country’s need for more sustainable cooling solutions.

The Covid-19 driven economic disruption has brought the energy transition into sharp focus. The government is working towards increasing the share of gas to 15% in the energy mix, and gas-based CHP solutions will remain pivotal to this expansion. The overall unconstrained market size for co-gen and tri-gen solutions in India is currently pegged at 15 GW. The benefits of tapping this potential are manifold, including optimization of India’s burgeoning cooling needs. Further, by wide-scale deployment of gas-based solutions, EESL looks to pave the way for grid flexibility and integration of intermittent power. This bodes well with India’s renewed target of integrating 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030.