Category Archives: Business & Economy

Indian team in Hyperloop Pod contest presents prototype

Business & Economy, Records, All, World Opinion

These students devote three-four hours every day after college and now their work has come to fruition as they have raised `1 crore from sponsors and finally built a pod and a 40-metre test track.

PodBF11jul2019

Bengaluru :

At an event hosted by Atria Institute of Technology on Tuesday, aerospace engineering student from IIT Madras, Sai Madhav, presented his team’s prototype pod for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition to his audience.

Avikshar Hyperloop is one of the 22 teams out of the 1,600 teams worldwide and also the only team from Asia that has qualified to the finals. It is a group of about 30 students from inter-disciplinary backgrounds who have been working on creating their own pod since September 2017. These students devote three-four hours every day after college and now their work has come to fruition as they have raised `1 crore from sponsors and finally built a pod and a 40-metre test track.

SAE India, a member-driven organisation which acts as a knowledge partner for students and faculty in automotive and aerospace engineering, hosted its second event in its lecture series that deals with aerospace engineering. It also functions as a think-tank and a policy maker. The second lecture was specifically about the Hyperloop, an almost too-good-to-be-true transportation service proposed by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. The Hyperloop, if installed, seeks to reduce travel time drastically. It  is supposed to be a land-based transportation service where pods, that house passengers, can levitate and zoom through tunnels by having the air pumped out of them in order to create a near-perfect vacuum for greater speed. It boasts of a travel time of just 30 minutes from Bengaluru to Chennai.

Being the main speaker at the event, Madhav’s presentation and video of the only Indian team to qualify for this competition impressed a mixture of faculty, students and heads of the SAE group. He also talked about how the plan for building their pod looked solid on paper but when it came to the actuality of making it, they faced a lot of discrepancies. Being in the stability team, he deals with a lot of mechanical aspects of the pod. During the question-and-answer session, the question of the safety of the passengers was raised as the Hyperloop project has bragged about reaching speeds up to 500-600 km/hour. “Yes, passengers will feel major deceleration effects. All this is new and I can only hope that newer research yields positive results,” he said. J Munirathnam, who is on the Board of SAE India for aerospace, also said the project will have to be built after taking into consideration the degree of g-force that the human body can withstand.

“This is completely new. We have the freedom to explore it. If you look at building a car, parameters have already been established for it. That is not the case here,” Madhav said.

The hype about hyperloop
The Hyperloop, if installed, seeks to reduce travel time drastically. It  is supposed to be a land-based transportation service where pods, that house passengers, can levitate and zoom through tunnels by having the air pumped out of them in order to create a near-perfect vacuum for greater speed.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Chinmay Manoj / Express News Service / July 11th, 2019

SWR bags efficiency shield in civil engg

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

The South Western Railway (SWR) has bagged ‘Efficiency Shield in civil engineering’ for 2018-19.:

Hubballi :

The South Western Railway (SWR) has bagged ‘Efficiency Shield in civil engineering’ for 2018-19. The national level award is instituted by the Railway Board. The shield will be presented by Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at a function to be held in Mumbai in the third week of July.

In civil engineering construction, the SWR has done an outstanding job in completion of new projects. In the SWR, 227-km of railway track has been doubled in the last fiscal. The progress of doubling was much higher and faster compared to the national average, SWR chief public relation officer E Vijaya stated in a press release.

In 2018-19, the SWR has commissioned 27-km Wandal-Mulvad line and 32-km Jamnal-Minchnal track (both part of Hotgi-Kudagi-Gadag new railway track), 36-km Arsikere-Karadi (Arsikere-Tumakuru), 37-km Chikjajur-Tolahunse line (Hubballi – Chikjajur) and 36-km  Makalidurga-Devarapalli line (Yelahanka-Penukonda.

Of the 352-km Hosapete-Vasco line doubling project, 69-km has been completed between Devrayi-Shivathan, Koppal-Munirabad, Annigeri-Binkadakatti and Alnavar-Devrayi in the last year.  Vijaya said in terms of target, the SWR is the best among zonal railways to have achieved the highest percentage. The material management department, which procures and supplies all materials required for various activities across the zone in addition to the responsibility of sale of scrap, has also won efficiency shield.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / July 09th, 2019

Museum at KRS planned

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All

What made Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar mortgage the Mysuru royal family’s ornaments to complete the construction of Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir (KRS)? Were there chief engineers other than Sir M. Visvesvaraya behind its construction? Who built the Brindavan Gardens?

In an attempt to provide vast details on the structures located on the banks of the Cauvery in Srirangapatna, the Water Resources Department plans to establish a museum near the main entrance of KRS. Setting up the museum has been a decade-old demand. There have also been demands to install statues of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and Sir Visvesvaraya on the premises of KRS.

The State government has resorted to install statues at a cost of ₹8.5 crore. A.S. Ravindra Srikantaiah, Srirangapatna MLA, performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed works on Sunday.

Two 46-ft mantaps, replicas of those in front of the Mysuru palace and K.R. Circle in Mysuru, will be constructed at the place for the statues. A Mysuru-based contractor has been given the tender to complete the project in 12 to 18 months, an officer said. “The mantaps will have content on the life, achievements and contribution of both personalities,” the officer added.

There is a common notion that only Sir. Visvesvaraya had worked on the construction of KRS. The museum will help clear such doubts and enhance visitors’ knowledge on the KRS and Brindavan Gardens, a senior Irrigation Department officer told The Hindu. Diwan Sir Mirza Ismail of Mysore had also planned and built the Brindavan Gardens during the construction of the reservoir.

The museum will contain files, photocopies of important documents, photographs of the construction process, of personalities who visited KRS, of members of the erstwhile royal family, and Diwans who worked for the structures. It will contain audio and visual content, the officer said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by M. T. Shiva Kumar / Mandya – July 07th, 2019

Indo-German Start-Up Gets Prestigious Award

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

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Mysuru:

‘Smartivate,’ a Start-Up co-founded by two Indians — Anand Narasipuram and Jeevan Dasan — alumni of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany and the EIT Innoenergy Master School, located in Karlsruhe, Germany, has won the prestigious ‘Smart-Home Deutschland Award’ for the year 2019. The Award was given to the Start-Up for its product, ‘Configurator for plug and play smart home devices.’

Incidentally, Jeevan Dasan, an alumnus of the National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysuru, is the son of Dr. A.S. Dasan, Professor of English and Director, Shukrodaya’s Academy for HRD, Alanahalli Layout, Mysuru and Prof. Nalini Dasan.

‘Smartivate’ was one of the top three nominations shortlisted out of a large number of contestants from across Germany for the Award. The award ceremony, held last month in the historic ‘City Hall of Berlin,’ was hosted by ‘Smart-home Initiative, Germany eV’, a cross-industry federal association based in Berlin. Since 2012, the Association has been recognising commitment to technological excellence and quality of smart home products of companies, start-ups and student projects from across Europe.

‘Smartivate,’ a fine team-venture, actively involved in building a web-platform as one-stop-shop for smart home solutions, was launched one-and-a-half-years ago with a business start-up grant awarded by the Government of Germany.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / July 06th, 2019

Fancy a cup of jaffee?

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Records, All
Shivanna with a packet of ‘jaffee’ beverage developed by him. | Photo Credit: B.S. Satish Kumar
Shivanna with a packet of ‘jaffee’ beverage developed by him. | Photo Credit: B.S. Satish Kumar

How about a steaming cup of ‘jaffee’ to wake you up in the morning? A social entrepreneur has come up with a hot beverage made out of jackfruit seeds. Jaffee powder is made by roasting jackfruit seeds. The drink is prepared just like coffee, by blending it with milk.

Developed by engineer-turned-social entrepreneur Shivanna, jaffee was one of the main attractions at the two-day mango and jackfruit diversity fair being organised by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) at its Hessarghatta campus from Tuesday.

Many said it tasted ‘“slightly different’ from coffee. Shivanna, 62, says, “It is not an alternative to coffee, but a health drink, as it is rich in fibre, protein and carbohydrates. Also, it is free from gluten and caffeine.”

Mr. Shivanna heads Parivarthan, a social organisation involved in rural development in Sakrayapatna in the coffee-growing district of Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka. He developed this product while trying to experiment with diversification of jackfruit products to increase the use of the underutilised fruit and to get better remuneration for growers.

“Though I developed jaffee around 2014, I have not gone for full-fledged commercialisation. I am selling this only through direct marketing to who approaches me,” he says. He has priced jaffee at ₹90 for 100 grams.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by B.S. Satish Kumar / May 29th, 2019

No fancy clinics, doctor couple achieves success through home visits

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

The couple now aims to start three more centres in other parts of the city, and bring in two nutritionists for patients facing dietary issues.

The team now comprises other doctors and many nurses and physiotherapists
The team now comprises other doctors and many nurses and physiotherapists

Bengaluru :

It’s been five years since Dr Navneeth Motreja and his wife Nithya decided to do something meaningful with their MBBS degree. Realising that many patients, especially senior citizens, find it tough to travel to a hospital and then wait in a long queue for consultation, the doctor couple decided to launch a service to examine patients at their homes.

From just one or two appointments a day to 20,000 patients in the last five years, they have come a long way, and now have a team comprising eight doctors, six nurses and three physiotherapists. They later also launched two clinics, at Halasuru and Malleswaram, that work as a reporting centre for the staff.

“We have a centre in Frazer Town for call coordination. The coordinators receive calls from patients and inform the nearest clinic. In case the doctor cannot reach their house immediately during emergency cases, the coordinators check with the hospital nearest to the patient and get an ambulance free of cost,” Motreja said.

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of their joint venture, Care on Call, this Saturday, he said, “We found that it was difficult for the elderly, bed-ridden and the sick to get dressed and drive to the hospital. So we decided to go the old-fashioned way, and carry a tool-kit to the patient’s house. Care on Call now receives over 50 appointments a day.”

The venture is also getting popular with people visiting the city. “Many visitors do not know about nearby hospitals and would prefer to get treated at their hotel room. So we also started receiving calls from hotels to consult their guests,” Motreja told CE, adding that they provide 24×7 service. “Pharmacies are closed during the night and we provide basic medication. The fee is Rs 100 for a one-hour consultation if the area is within 5km of our clinics,” he added.

The couple now aims to start three more centres in other parts of the city, and bring in two nutritionists for patients facing dietary issues. “We may also expand to other cities if this goes well. This is the best way to ensure quality and affordable healthcare,” said Nithya.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Preeja Prasad / Express News Service / May 16th, 2019

Bengaluru women fly to US to attend Warren Buffett’s AGM

Business & Economy, Records, All, World Opinion
Shalini Manglani (third from right) was among the 28 members to attend the general meeting
Shalini Manglani (third from right) was among the 28 members to attend the general meeting

Bengaluru :

Lately, Meghna Wadhwa, Nameeta Mohanka, Rachna Prasad, Shalini Manglani and Vandana Agarwal have been sporting wide grins. The Bengaluru women attended Berkshire Hathaway’s annual general meeting (AGM) by Warren Buffett, over the weekend in Omaha, USA.

The women were part of a 28-member team from Millennium Mams’, a non-profit organisation that helps women be more financially literate. Mentored by investor Bhishnu Dhanuka, the group planned the trip for six months to meet the person whose principles have played an active role in their investing decisions.
“Buffett is like our guru, so it’s like a blessing to watch him speak live. We’ve been watching his webcasts but listening to him live was another experience altogether. The experience has motivated us to take good care of our financial portfolio,” said Prasad.

Of the 28 members, five belong to the Bengaluru chapter of the organisation. According to Manglani, a nutrition advisor and the honorary secretary of the city chapter, the vibe was “electric” at Omaha. “We came across others who have been attending this for 10 years. Someone from Buffett’s own company came to listen to him so we weren’t the only ones buzzing with excitement,” the 47-year-old said.
For investor Agarwal, 64, although this was the second time she was attending the AGM, it was just as memorable as her first experience in 2012. “Nothing can describe the feeling of being in the presence of such a stalwart,” she said.

While a personal interaction with Buffett wasn’t available, the women did have a fan moment when they drove past the American investor’s house. “We paused to take photographs outside his house. He’s known to be simple and never flaunts his wealth,” said Wadhwa, 33, who has been a part of the organisation since her 20s and now handles her own stock portfolio.

Lessons learned

Besides the AGM with Buffett, the team had an interactive session with Ajit Jain, vice chairman of Insurance Operations at Berkshire Hathaway. “He gave us some much-needed advice. Every investor is familiar with the panic that settles in when a market is going crazy. But Jain told us the importance of trusting our gut. He told us to trust our evaluation of a stock and to stick to our conviction, which just made us feel much better,” Nameeta Mohanka, 44, said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Simran Ahuja / Express News Service / May 09th, 2019

Wipro acquires Filipino firm Splash

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Wipro Consumer Care has acquired a Filipino personal care company, Splash, for an undisclosed sum, marking its entry into the east Asian market.

This is Wipro’s 11th acquisition in the consumer care space. Among the brands Splash owns are SkinWhite, Maxi-peel and Vitress. Wipro Consumer Care’s international portfolio formed 51% of its total revenues in fiscal 2019, and with this acquisition it is expected to grow to 54%.

The deal is expected to close by June this year. Splash clocked in a revenue of 4.1 billion pesos ($80 million) in calendar year 2018.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – April 30th, 2019

Why Bengaluru-based Fintech startup Wizely built India’s first saving app

Business & Economy, Records, All

Founded in April 2018 by father and son Vijay Bobba, Nihar Bobba, and Dan Kihanya, Wizely calls itself a digital piggy bank.

Vijay Bobba and Nihar Bobba. (Photo| EPS)
Vijay Bobba and Nihar Bobba. (Photo| EPS)

Bengaluru :

Observing the dichotomy of young India’s poor financial management habits and burning desire for aspirational purchases, Bengaluru based Fintech startup Wizely is helping the young manage money by launching India’s first saving app.

Founded in April 2018 by father and son Vijay Bobba, Nihar Bobba, and Dan Kihanya, Wizely calls itself a digital piggy bank built for the new generation of the up-and-coming India.

By bridging Fintech and Commerce, the app was founded with the simple idea of helping the up and coming Indian achieve everyday aspirations they can otherwise only dream of.

Over the past year, Wizely is making saving effortless, fun and rewarding, giving its user the feeling of joy and guilt-free achievement, through the life-cycle of the plan, save and spend.

According to the founders, Wizely emanated from the observation of young India’s poor financial management habits and their increasingly aspirational purchase behaviour.

After about a year of research, the app was launched in an
effort to make aspirations attainable and affordable by simplifying the way Indians save through easy, transparent and mobile first financial products.

“We began with the simple idea of helping our customers through the first and most important step in their financial journey – saving. By helping them build this foundation platform, we are not only helping them build trust in us but also in themselves. Further, we understand that a financial relationship built on trust and saving is the perfect recipe for a lifetime of financial well being, growth and achievement,” says co-founder of Wizely, Nihar Bobba.

Wizely presently has over four lakh signed up users and their target audience is primarily 18-30 year olds.

They have several streams of revenue whenever customers choose to spend their savings through Wizely upon reaching their goals.

However, Nihar says that they are going after a much larger long-term play that has multiple sources of revenue over time.

Revealing their USP, Nihar said, “Our USP is all about helping our users kick start their savings journey during the early stages of their financial journey. Our loyal users are those who may have a squeezed income, fixed budget, erratic income or are always overspending. For these users, their challenge is not with growing their money but instead saving enough money before they can think about other long term financial goals.”

Talking about the challenges he faced while establishing this start-up, 24-year-old Nihar said, “The key to being successful when building a startup is to appreciate and understand that you will face challenges of some sort every single day. Whether it is hiring, customer challenges, partner challenges. As long as you can keep your head out of the weeds and focus on the bigger picture you will be fine. Fintech has its own unique challenges that crop up from time to time but overall the ecosystem in India right now is ripe and conducive for the sector.”

NutshellBF09may2019

Wizely has raised about $2.65 million so far through a seed round led by Javelin Venture Partners.

“We are now strengthening to evolve into a full-fledged savings bank account that will serve as the foundation for our users to not only achieve their short term savings goals but any financial goal or need that they may have,” said Nihar sharing their future plans.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Karthik KK / Express News Service / May 09th, 2019

Women play a vital but invisible role in weaving

Business & Economy
Lakshmi Sancholi (left) and Tirumala Palemari are among the many women who have taken to weaving to supplement the family income.
Lakshmi Sancholi (left) and Tirumala Palemari are among the many women who have taken to weaving to supplement the family income.

Their contribution goes unnoticed as weaving is an in-house activity for most weavers who live in house-cum-worksheds

A mother of two, Lakshmi Sancholi from Gajendragad in Gadag district is an important contributor to the family’s sustenance. After finishing her daily chores, she sits on the loom to produce cotton sarees in Ilkal designs to supplement the family income.

“Normally, we can finish a saree in two days, but I take a little more time. I weave after meeting the family’s needs,” says Ms. Lakshmi whose husband Ganesh is a pigmy collector. She is assisted by her daughters. Lakshmi, who earns about ₹200 per cotton saree, on an average weaves eight sarees a month.

Historically, women have been an integral part of weaving traditions, whose contribution goes unnoticed as weaving is an in-house activity for most weavers who live in house-cum-worksheds.

The latest data from the yet-to-be published handloom census shows that of about 33,000 weavers active in the State, nearly 11,100 are women.

In Yadgir, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Raichur, Mysuru, Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Davangere, Dharwad, and Kodagu districts, women weavers outnumber men. In Bagalkot, Belagavi, Gadag, and Haveri districts — among the important weaving clusters — women weavers are almost 40% of the total active weavers.

“Even if women are not weaving, they will be part of the allied workforce since it involves the entire family. For handloom, three allied workers are required by the main weaver, and they invariably would be from the same family, involving womenfolk,” says Ms. Lakshmi.

In Guledgudda, Tirumala Palemari is known to weave some of the intricate designs in the khana (blouse piece). After four decades of weaving, she says: “I have taken a break now. But I do weave on handloom once in a while.” Her son Hanumanthappa Palemari, who is a master weaver, credits her for his skills in weaving and generating family income.

Migration

Weaving profession in the dry and arid North Karnataka region, which has been seeing migration to cities in search of jobs, is also seen as empowerment of women. Migration most often affects women in the family, whether they move with menfolk to other cities or remain in their villages/towns.

“Migration is terrible for women. It destroys home life, children, education, and health. A traditional weaver is homebound and that is why there is a lot of participation of women in it. Any rescue of handloom is rescue of women at large,” theatre personality Prasanna feels. “In fact, it is also a profession that can allow womenfolk from socially lower castes involved in farm labour or other work to graduate to become weavers,” he said.

(This is the second of a series on handlooms in Karnataka.)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Karnataka / by Sharath S. Srivatsava / Gajendragad (Gadag District) – May 05th, 2019