Wednesday, May 18, 2016

MCD By - Poll in Delhi !

17.5.2016
आज दिल्ली नगर निगम मे चार सीट जीतने पर दिल्ली परदेश कॉंग्रेस को काफ़ी बल मिला होगा. इससे एक बात तो साबित होती है कि आप किसी भी पार्टी को राइट ऑफ नही कर सकते. दूसरी तरफ AAP भी पाँच सीट्स जीत कर अपना होसला अफजाई कर रही होगी हालाँकि यह नतीजे उसके पिछले आँकड़ों से काफ़ी कम है और अपनी दावे दारी बड़ाने के लिए AAP को काफ़ी कुछ कर के दिखाना होगा. इसी तरह BJP को भी अपने तौर तरीके बदलने पड़ेंगे. लेकिन एक बात तो सॉफ है कि आने वाले चंद महीनो मे शायद दिल्ली का कुछ भला हो जाए, क्योंकि अपनी जीत की आस मे, और इस तिकोने मुक़ाबले मे, टक्कर देने के लिए, सभी पार्टियों को, हक़ीकत की ज़मीन पर उतर कर, कुछ कर दिखाना होगा.

B S Vohra

Thursday, May 12, 2016

How P2P ride-sharing app Pikup wants to provide a safe carpooling experience

written by Anu Thomas for Economic Times
It is never too late to be on time. Chasing massive traffic and a dream to make commuting easier and cheaper, a group of five spirited IIT-Roorkee graduates pushed the brakes on their cushy jobs to turn the ignition on Pikup, a unique peer-to-peer ride-sharing app that allows you to share empty seats in your car with other travellers in exchange for money.

Launched early April, this Delhi-based startup has already traversed miles in exploring the potential of this industry. In addition to giving people a more environmentally-friendly option by correspondingly bringing down the number of vehicles on the road, it also helps people reach their destinations faster and in a more cost-effective manner by reducing the waiting period for a cab or an auto by connecting you to a network of people who are driving on the same route.
Punk my ride
"The rising middle class in a rapidly urbanising India are increasingly opting to travel alone in their private cars since more often than not, time is compromised when using public means of transport like buses," says Amit Bhasin, co-founder of Pikup. "People do realise the impact their decisions are having on the environment but they feel helpless when faced with few alternatives," he said.
Cab-pooling may be an option but apprehensions around it are not difficult to comprehend. Despite being a public means of transport, people largely treat cabs or autos as private vehicles and feel uneasy about sharing it with people they don't know. Also, peer-to-peer ride sharing offered by existing companies have also been unable to plug this loophole by failing to make it more rider-friendly. Pikup's differentiation lies in building a safe platform by creating a closed network of poolers and riders.
"Unlike other startups in this sector, our service is purely by invite, creating a white-listed user base," says Juhi Mohan, part of the marketing team at Pikup. "In addition to this, only an existing user can grant a person entry into the system, further strengthening its safety aspect," she adds.
Join the joyride
The app allows a person with seats to spare - be it in a car, an auto or even a cab - to share his or her route online and connect with a person heading the same way using various route-matching algorithms. Seekers can request a ride and if accepted by the pooler, it will direct them to the 'pikup' point determined by the app. Once the ride is complete, a cashless payment process is initiated through Paytm, further making the process less cumbersome by avoiding the hassle of change. The entire operation is quite elementary and allows a convenient way of travelling.
"I have used Pikup thrice and the experience was wonderful each time," says Rachit Saran, Senior Analyst at Everest Group. "The fact that all riders in the system are verified in the sense that they went through some process of filtering makes this network safe to communicate with." Adds Naveen Malhotra, a Consultant at KPMG, "After shedding my initial inhibition around carpooling, I came to realize how convenient this can be. Coordination with regard to pick up points are also minimised since such points are located by the app."
The prices are also transparent and listed on the app in the form of rate cards that are fixed based on the distance covered. "This makes it nearly 70 per cent cheaper than current cab and auto rates since it is immune from surge pricing and other time-based charges," says Mohan. "Moreover, it will also help ease the fuel bill of the person offering the seat," she adds.
Too close for comfort?
Trust becomes the focal point that can make or break any carpooling initiative. By creating a closed-knit group of users whose backgrounds are verified on several grounds, the possibility of unpleasant encounters comes down substantially, thereby fostering an atmosphere of mutual trust.
Elaborates Bhasin: "People who want to use Pikup are first asked to verify their organisation affiliation by submitting their corporate email addresses. This also makes it easier to track down individuals in case of any untoward incident. Social media profiles also help users discover mutual friends. It also comes in handy when running background checks, such as how old the profile is, to make sure users are not creating fake accounts to sign up to the system," he said.
The app also allows a female-only option that matches female riders with seekers. There is also an SOS feature, where apart from your registered contacts, Pikup will also receive a real-time update on a user's whereabouts through SMS and call.
"The feedback we get from riders and poolers eventually reflect on a user's trust score. People with negative feedback on a consistent basis are then eliminated from the system," says Bhasin. "Unlike other service providers in the industry, Pikup is a community effort of thousands of people who themselves define the security and reliability of the system. We just try to provide smart solutions to facilitate the same," he adds.
The app plugs the demand and supply gap between drivers and riders, which is a common problem among online cab aggregators. It may be too early to pass a verdict on its practicality, but it is nevertheless a humble start towards getting people to do their part in curbing air pollution by minimising traffic on the roads.
Cracks and potholes
Legal guidelines governing ride-sharing apps in India call for all cars to have emergency buttons, in addition to running criminal background checks on all drivers, along with maintaining 24/7 call centers. However, policy and regulations for carpooling are not well defined.
Section 66 of the Motor Vehicles Act does not allow private car owners to ferry passengers for monetary benefits, even though free carpooling is encouraged. This means that price pooling or sharing of costs between riders and poolers are authorized, but making a business out of the same may be punishable by law. Apps overseeing this transaction also enjoy immunity from the law as they are only charging a convenience fee for bringing the rider and the pooler together and nothing more.
"Organized carpooling is yet to scale in India and hence may not be getting adequate attention by policy makers," says Mohan. "However, we do expect the government to come up with policies in the future that will help us expand its scope and potential, while ensuring the interests of consumers," she adds.
Today, peer-to-peer ride sharing cannot necessarily be called a novel idea. The entry of global player BlaBlaCar about a decade ago became a major milestone in this industry. Back home, a lot of startups are also racing to the finish line including MeBuddie, PoolCircle and CarPoolAdda. Yet, Pikup is running its own race.
"We are trying to create a closed trusted community of co-riders, which is a landslide shift in the way the concept of ride-sharing has been dealt with till now," says Mohan. "We believe that to achieve its full potential, it is imperative to establish a culture around ride-sharing, which we are trying to do at Pikup," she adds.
Popular cab aggregators are also exploring P2P ride-sharing with both Uber and Ola toying with the idea. The enthusiasm in the space is palpable, but the question that remains unanswered is who will lead that transition. Will Pikup 'pick up' from where others have left off? Only time will tell.
With Thanks : Anu Thomas for Economic Times

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The 2D3D Floor Plan Company Offers High Quality and Interactive 3D Floor Plans

New Delhi, India (April 20, 2016) - The importance of 2D and 3D floor plans is well known as the photo-realistic floor plan caters to the need of having interactive apartments and properties in real estate industry. In a competition to offer the best quality 2D and 3D floor plans, The 2D3D Floor Plan Company provides the high quality and creative 3D floor plan services at the most affordable prices. Experienced and highly talented 3D floor plan designers create interactive 2D and 3D floor plans as per the customer’s imagination which they want to have or they have to think about their dream home. To make their 3D plan more realistic, they also put interior decorations for the apartment such as wall colors furniture, windows, doors, kitchen, and bathroom setup just exactly like a real apartment by using latest software and designing technologies. They boast of their efficiency and proficiency in completion of more than 800 3D floor plan projects including various home areas i.e. living area, bed room, interior walls, windows, doors, electrical appliances, larger closet, kitchen area, bathroom, sink, shower, etc.

The 2D3D Floor Plan Company

Now with the help of 2D and 3D floor plans, the customer can show photo-realistic and interactive 3D view of their homes in the form of a small model and this beneficial to the renters as they can see the full setting of the apartment without visiting the site. In addition, if someone wants to build a home by self-designing idea, then one can ask this company to make a 3D floor plan before starting the actual construction. With photo-realistic and interactive 3D floor plans, buyers or renters are getting a closer and more accurate view of an apartment or property without visiting the site physically.

One of the spokesperson comments, “What an amazing experience! Perfect team to go to bring floor plans to real life imaginations. You really blew my mind I love your work and definitely will be using you all year long.” Such testimonials reflect nothing but the repeated engrossment that The 2D3D Floor Plan Company offers to its clients. 

Offering high quality work at most affordable prices, The 2D3D Floor Plan Company has become one of the best 3D floor plan companies. As their whole setup is in India, they give their service at extremely affordable prices and also one can get the quotation in advance to meet up their budget.

For more information about 2D and 3D floor plans, please visit http://the2d3dfloorplancompany.com/

Friday, May 6, 2016

Odd Even - Panel Discussion on Total TV : B S Vohra

Yum Kitchen – One stop destination for All Your Late Night Food Needs!

In amidst of uncertainty of funding and negativity on whole food tech startups world, there are a handful of companies that are able to survive and sustain in the market with unit level profit. These companies are more concerned about their expenditure, profits and losses over GMV or revenue. In this article, I want to introduce one such startup operating from HSR layout (peaceful residential area) of Bangalore. They have taken baby steps and built a fixed prototype that is able to sustain on its own, grow month-on-month by optimizing its supply-chain, procurement of items and delivery system. Let’s break the suspense! I am talking about YumKitchen, a food startup that operates in the late night, specialised in Chinese, North Indian and Continental cuisines.This is a startup co-founded by 3 young passionate entrepreneurs who want make a difference in Food industry by supplying yummy (yum is taken from yummy) food at a reasonable price in quickest time.

Deepak, the co-founder, left his high paying job to purse his entrepreneurial journey was accompanied by his friends Nirvan and Avinash in making YumKitchen live. Let’s find more about his journey and also the future plans of this venture.


What is YumKitchen and how was it started?
YumKitchen is late night restaurant catering food to Midnight Madness (techies, gamers, employees, students etc). We are operating from Bangalore (main kitchen is in HSR layout, and extended kitchen is in Electronic City). We started Yum kitchen 7 months back. We started YumKitchen as online QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) that serves Indian style of food made by the cuisine specialists catering to everyone.

I always have passion for entrepreneurship. I started and closed a homemade food company 4 years back when I was working at Puma. Though I was working as a full time employee with good salary, there was this entrepreneurship bug on the back of my mind. After settling all financial commitments, I began to think of starting something big and branded. For 1 year, I have done an in-depth analysis of Food industry and opportunities in various food industry segments. From my research, it was clear that this is an unorganised industry and people are willing to stick a brand who can supply tasty food with best-in-class service in terms of delivery, quantity and punctuality.

What is the market size of your startup?
According to ibef.org, India Food Service is going to grow from $48 billion to $78 billion in 5 years from 2015 to 2020. QSR segment alone is projected to be of 16,785 crores INR. Presently, there are few international players like Dominos, McDonalds, Yum Restaurant that own small pie of this QSR business. Most of the business is un-organized and is dominated by local vendors. We want to create a QSR brand that supplies traditional Indian food with best-in-quality and taste!

How Yum Kithcen Operates?
As a food business person, I wanted the brand to have full control on food that is prepared, supply chain and logistics to give wow factor for the customer. Hence, we prepare the food, do an optimal supply chain decreasing the food wastage and by using a proprietary model of delivery, we are able to satisfy the customer on all fronts. Supply-chain and
What is the present status?

Presently, we have 1 main kitchen in HSR layout that caters to most of the night-out localities like HSR, Kormangala, Indira Nagar, Bellandur, BTM 1st and 2nd Stage, Bommanhalli, Lakkasandra, Sarjapur (main road). We have a franchise at electronic city too! We want to open 3 more kitchens to cover complete Bangalore (North, South, East, West and Central).

Are you planning to raise funding and how much?
We want to expand as soon as possible in this segment with-in Bangalore and to other metros like Mumabi, Pune, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad etc. and also want to start new entities like Digital Kiosks, Food trucks etc. We want to raise a minimum of 1 crore rupees. We have talked to couple of HNIs and Angel investors. One of them is keen on our model and it is in advance discussions. We will update you on this.

What will you do with funding?

First and foremost, we want to build brand for Yum Kitchen. Secondly, we want to strengthen our logistics and create intuitive website and app. We will open 3 more kitchens to cover whole Bangalore. Also, we will do selected marketing (primarily digital marketing).

More details at www.yumkitchen.in

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Total News Opinion Poll Odd or Even, Part-2 : Total TV

Total News Opinion Poll Odd or Even, Part-1 : Total TV

Shop CJ brings Korean cosmetic brands in India







Mumbai, May 02, 2016: Shop CJ, Asia’s No. 1 Home Shopping Network, now brings the finest of beauty products for Indian women from the Beauty capital of the world – Korea. Countries likeU.S, Europe and entire South-East Asia is buzzing with the success of Korean beauty products. Making such high demand products easily available in Indian market, the first product offered by Shop CJ is Elisha Coy Gold Mineral BB cream. The face cream is loaded with benefits for all types of skin and is available for Rs.1099/- through online and offline channel of the home shopping network.

Elisha Coy BB cream acts as a beauty cream with skin benefits providing radiance, anti-ageing, pore-tightening and moisturizing properties.




Korean beauty products are regarded as the best in the world, as they are technologically advanced, heavily researched and tested products with excellent results on all types of skin.

While Korean products have been a rage across the globe for quite some time, there is extremely low awareness about its results in India. Consumers who have used it are aware of the benefits and want to buy again, but cannot get products so easily

Speaking on the introduction of Korean Cosmetic products on Shop CJ, Mr. Dhruva Chandrie, Chief Operating Officer – Shop CJ, said, “Korean beauty products are renowned across the world. In India, we bring the finest of Korean beauty products with proven benefits and have made it available at Shop CJ prices. BB cream is just the start. We are very positive about acceptance of Korean cosmetic products in India.”

Elaborating on the Korean Cosmetic wave world wide, he further added, “The reason these products have become a rage across the globe is because they are showing excellent results. In addition, due to our Korean lineage (CJ O Shopping) we have great access to them. So we have the products with proven benefits and an opportunity to introduce them to Indian women as well as deliver on our “quality” promise.

Shop CJ is expecting a sell-out and has already opened pre-booking option through calls and online, to reduce the burden on live calls during the show.  The Home Shopping giant will also be offering many more Korean beauty products this year to strengthen the category in India.

For more details please log on to : http://www.shopcj.com/

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Axis Bank partners with Apollo Munich to offer bespoke health insurance solutions to its customers

   Bank’s exclusive Bancassurance partner for health insurance solutions
  Unique support and service mechanism for the Bank’s customers
  Paperless processes to ensure minimum TAT for policy issuance and service

 Image result for apollo munich Axis bank

Mumbai, January 27, 2016:Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank today announced its exclusive partnership with Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company toofferits customers bespoke health insurance products and services. The strategic partnership with the health insurance company, a JVbetween Asia's largest healthcare group, ‘The Apollo Hospitals Group’ and the world leader in health insurance, ‘Munich Health’ will offer customers unique health insurance plans with value added benefits such as health advisory services and access to wellness portal etc., under their ‘Health Eco System’.

Image result for axis bank logo
Commenting on the partnership,Rajiv Anand, Group Executive & Head Retail Banking, Axis Bank said, “Over the past couple of years, we have observed the exponential rise in the cost of healthcare and the need for customized and affordable health insurance solutions.With the objective of ensuring the health and wellbeing of our customers, we are delighted to announce our exclusiveBancassurance partnership for health insurance with Apollo Munich,which will help us further expand our existing bouquet of offerings and put forth a compelling proposition.” 
Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company, along with the Bank will design and offer customized health insurance products to the Bank’s customers, as per their requirements. Policy issuance and service will be driven by paperless online processes, ensuring minimum turnaround time. A brief of theuniquebenefits for customers are:
· Automatically restoring the basic sum insured in case the policyholder exhausts his/her sum insured in a policy year 
· Wide range of sum insured options ranging from Rs 3 lacs to 50 lacs  
· A health insurance plan with no sub-limits, no copays or room rent limits  
· High Pre and Post hospitalization cover of 60 and 180 days respectively  
· Coverage for all “Daycare Procedures”
· Health checkup benefits 
·  Extensive network of hospitals  
· In-house claim settlement

Speaking about the tie up with Axis Bank, Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance said, “We are excited to partner with Axis Bank and offer its customers uncomplicated and innovative health insurance solutions. Through bancassurance, health insurance penetration is expected to grow rapidly as there are more than one lakh bank branches in the country, with a majority located in rural and semi urban areas. We at Apollo Munich believe in the potential banks hold as a distribution channel. They can aid us in strengthening our reach in the tier two and three cities overnight.”
He further added “Going forward this partnership will develop more innovative solutions to meet specific needs of different customer segments of the bank. In addition, Axis Bank customers will have access to expert health services that promote healthy living.”
For more details about the Axis Bank, Apollo Munich Health Insurance, Please log on to :   http://www.apollomunichinsurance.com

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Peaks of Pollution in Delhi !

Last night, Benzene at Anand Vihar, touched 61.70 i.e. over 12 times of the normal, and tonight PM 2.5 touched 732 i.e. again, over 12 times of the normal, while PM 10 data was not available. In the afternoon PM 10 touched 768 at Mandir marg, while PM 2.5 touched the peak of 141. At Punjabi Bagh,  PM 10 touched the peak of 585 while at 11 pm, it was again at 580, while PM 2.5 touched 165. R K Puram had PM 10 at a peak of 951 whereas PM 2.5 touched 572.