‘We have made investing in stocks affordable for all:’ Upstox CEO

‘We have made investing in stocks affordable for all:’ Upstox CEO

•                    The internet and mobile revolution has aided participation in stock markets through online, hi-tech and low-cost trading platforms.

•                    The online stock brokers and trading platforms like Upstox neither need investments to open branches nor have large fixed overhead expenses, thus enabling them to keep brokerage costs for clients very low or nil.

The stock brokerage business model is going through a transformation, thanks to the new-age technology that enables brokers to operate without opening physical branches. Upstox, which is backed by Ratan Tata, belongs to such a generation of stockbrokers who are known as "discount broking firms.”

Discount brokers like Upstox operate online and are therefore able to pass on the benefit of low costs to their clients. It charges zero brokerage from clients if they are buying or selling shares for the purpose of investment and take delivery of shares. It charges a flat rate of Rs. 20 per intraday order for all other segments.

“Upstox is able to offer ‘zero brokerage’ to customers for stock investments because we use design and technology to cut costs at every level of operations and transfer this cost benefit to the end customer," says Mr. Ravi Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Upstox.

It deploys intelligent technology solutions in areas where it feels add up to its operational costs and time or of its client. Thus, ensuring best user experience at the lowest of the price. The company has also been able to reduce costs by cutting out all paperwork and not opening branches with large fixed cost overheads.

The company claims that more and more people from Tier II and Tier III cities are now joining the stock markets through their discount brokerage platform. The primary reason people from small towns and cities are getting hooked on to their online platform is because their hi-tech trading platform can be supported even on low bandwidth connections. The smartphone revolution in India along with the huge surge in the number of mobile users and availability of cheap data has enabled even common people to participate in stock markets from their mobile phones and desktops.

The smartphone market in Tier II and III Tier cities is expected to have expanded by 18% in 2017 from a year earlier, at twice the pace of the urban markets. Investor profiles hence are also rapidly changing with young and salaried employees becoming more aware and informed stock market opportunities.  These new investors from across India are willing to make independent decisions about their finances and are looking towards market investments as a viable option.

Pearl Academy Hosts Creative Career Conclave in Kolkata

Pearl Academy Hosts Creative Career Conclave in Kolkata

Pearl Academy, India’s leading institution in design, fashion, business and media, today organized ‘Creative Career Conclave’ in the city for students and parents. The conclave provided an interactive platform for discussing opportunities and courses available for careers in creative fields. Pearl Academy, which is the only Indian educational institute to be ranked among the top 25 fashion schools globally by Business of Fashion and has been judged as the Best Design Institute by Assocham for 3 years in a row, arranged a discussion on career paths available in various creative domains. Pearl Academy’s Head - School of Fashion, Antonio Maurizio Grioli; Head – School of Media, Ujjwal Chowdhury; Brand Consultant Nitish Verghese, RJ & Radio Producer Smriti Singh and Alumni Sohini Basu were part of the discussions.

Pearl Academy has commenced its admission process for the academic year 2018-19. The entrance test will be held on April 28 in Kolkata. The last date of application is April 23. The academy has recently introduced new UG and PG courses in Media & Communication and Advertising & Marketing and 50% Merit Scholarship on Tuition Fee for these new courses is available to select students. Details are available on Pearl Academy’s website - www.pearlacademy.com.

Commenting on the event, Antonio Maurizio Grioli – Head School of Fashion, Pearl Academy said, “Pearl Academy students have become hot favourite among big brands and designers. We started this year on a high as we signed up with Manish Arora as our ideation partner. Our fashion students get international exposure when they intern with established designers, assisting them at Paris Fashion Week, Milan, New York, etc Through the Creative Career Conclave, we intend to make students and parents aware of the opportunities available after creative education. We have had many students from this region and all are doing extremely well.”

Our Alumni Sohini Basu is a fashion designer turned stylist. After working with designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for 3 years in Kolkata in his design team, she started her own label “Sohini”. She has been associated with prestigious styling projects like Star Bharat's serial ‘Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki’. Having already worked with Shoojit Sircar, she is currently pursuing her interest in styling for movies & entertainment industry.

 

In addition, Pearl Academy also organized a principal’s meet to make the heads of various schools aware of new age careers. The topic of panel discussion was “Education for Tomorrow - Making students ready for 21st Century”. Pearl Academy’s newly launched 360-degree comprehensive learning-based model – Total Learning System (TLS), was also discussed at this forum. TLS aims to ensure that every student gets the right opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and is motivated to embrace change, set trends and lead the change as an innovator and leader of the future.

Pearl Academy, India’s leading institution in design, fashion, creative businesses and media studies has been a catalyst for the success of the students across creative industries for over two decades. With a legacy of 25 years, Pearl Academy offers over 30 uniquely designed under-graduate, post-graduate and professional development courses through its campuses in Delhi, Noida, Jaipur and Mumbai. Its reputation of preparing ‘Industry ready’ professionals has been recognized by leading fashion, retail and design brands, which has helped in establishing a healthy track record of over 95 per cent placement in the last three years. Its path-breaking alliances with renowned bodies such as the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID) have ensured that its faculty and students get an exclusive access to ‘industry in the classroom’.

In 2017, Pearl Academy was ranked as the best private fashion college in India for the fourth consecutive year by India Today – AC Nielson survey, The Week – Hansa Survey and Outlook – Drshti Survey. The institution was awarded the ‘Best Design Institute in India’ 2016 and 2017 by industry body ASSOCHAM. Jaipur campus of the academy was ranked as one of the most beautiful college campuses in India by India Today. The institution was also awarded as ‘Best Education Brands 2017’ in Fashion Design Category by The Economic Times. Pearl Academy is the only Indian institute to feature in Business of Fashion’s Top 25 Global Fashion School Rankings 2017 (Graduate). Pearl Academy is a member of Laureate International Universities Network, a global network that has presence in 25 countries and is serving more than one million students globally. The Academy is also closely associated with renowned global institutions such as London College of Fashion (England), Domus Academy (Italy), Media Design School (New Zealand) and NABA (Milan) amongst many others. For more information, please visit www.pearlacademy.com

13th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards to confer Lifetime Achievement Award on noted Indian film and theatre director Vijaya Mehta

13^th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards to confer Lifetime Achievement Award on noted Indian film and theatre director Vijaya Mehta

-   META 2018 jury includes  Amal Allana, Lillete Dubey, Neelam Man Singh  Chowdhry, Rajat Kapoor, Ranjit Kapoor and Shobha Deepak Singh

-       Nominated plays to be showcased at the META Festival in Delhi from April 13-18, 2018

-      META partners with Drama School Mumbai (DSM) to present a series of master classes with META nominated stalwarts

                                                           

At a media event in the national capital on Tuesday, the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) Festival 2018 announced that the META 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred on the veteran Indian film and theatre director, Vijaya Mehta, Founder Member of the theatre group, Rangayan, and a leading figure in the experimental theatre of the 1960s.

The jury for the 13^th edition of the Awards was also announced and comprises renowned theatre director and former Chairperson of the National School of Drama Amal Allana, popular film and theatre actor and theatre director Lillete Dubey, theatre director and professor of theatre at the Punjab University, Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry, film maker, actor, theatre director and writer Rajat Kapoor, theatre, film and television writer-director, Ranjit Kapoor and Indian cultural impresario, photographer, writer, classical dancer and the director of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, Shobha Deepak Singh.

The announcements come ahead of the week-long Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) and Festival to be held from April 13^th to 18^th, 2018 at New Delhi’s Kamani Auditorium and Shri Ram Centre, where the ten-shortlisted plays will be performed for jury members as well as theatre lovers in the Capital. The most comprehensive awards for theatre in India, META will present awards in 13 competitive categories, in addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award. The awards will be presented at the Red-Carpet Awards Night to be held on April 19 to celebrate the best of Indian theatre from the past year.

Over 330 entries were received this year at META, which were viewed by an eminent selection committee, comprising of well-known theatre practitioners. This year’s final 10 nominations feature plays in Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Manipuri as well as a non-verbal movement theatre production. The plays explore subjects as far and wide as gender identity through Indian mythology, the machinations of the entertainment industry and how they treat their female leads, folk literature from Bengal, the balance between the female (prakriti) and male (purusha) energies, the politics of religion and the religion of politics and its division of society, the brutality against women by the Japanese imperialist army during World War II, reinterpreted Greek tragedies, German philosophy revisited and the flamboyant playing style of veteran Colombian goalkeeper, José René Higuita Zapata.

Vijaya Mehta is a noted Indian film and theatre director and actor noted for her association with Parallel Cinema. She is a founder member of the Mumbai-based theatre group, Rangayan with playwright Vijay Tendulkar and actors Arvind Deshpande and Shreeram Lagoo. She studied theatre with Ebrahim Alkazi in Delhi and with Adi Marzban in Mumbai. She was awarded the 1975 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for excellence in Direction and in 1986 she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Rao Saheb (1986).

In previous years, the META Lifetime Achievement Award has been conferred on several stalwarts of Indian theatre, including the Late Zohra Sehgal, the Late Badal Sarkar, the Late Khaled Chowdhary, Ebrahim Alkazi, Girish Karnard, the Late Heisnam Kanhailal, Ratan Thiyam and Arun Kakade.

In a first, META also announced a series of Masterclasses during the non-performing hours of the festival. The Masterclasses, curated in partnership with the Drama School Mumbai (DSM), will feature META nominated stalwarts in conversation with theatre students, practitioners and enthusiasts. The workshops are an extension of META’s endeavour to nurture the world of Indian theatre and build a community of theatre practitioners dedicated to the craft. It is also aimed at enhancing public engagement with theatre and developing an appreciation for the multitude of skills and techniques that are involved in putting together quality theatre productions. Interested participants can register for the workshops on the META website www.metawards.com.

The media launch of the META Festival also hosted a topical discussion - ‘Do Festivals and cultural platforms benefit the Arts and Theatre?’ that generated a dialogue on the proliferation of art and culture festivals in the country and how they were impacting the arts and cultural fraternity and stakeholders. The panel, moderated by Sanjoy K Roy, included the eminent Indian theatre director, teacher and author, Anuradha Kapur, Bharatanatyam dancer, educator, choreographer, arts administrator, author and the founder director of the Delhi International Arts Festival, Pratibha Prahlad, civil servant, published author and art and culture enthusiast, Sujata Prasad, theatre artist and presently Director of the Habitat Centre, Sunit Tandon and theatre personality and Head of Programmes at the Habitat World, Vidyun Singh. The panelists discussed how art and cultural festivals help the evolution of art forms, create new avenues for emerging talent and showcase the diversity and depth of art forms and artistes for the benefit of connoisseurs and loyalists, as well as new audiences.

Promoted by the Mahindra Group as part of its cultural outreach and curated by Teamwork Arts, a pioneering entertainment company, META rewards and recognizes the best productions and performances, along with their makers and facilitators, providing encouragement to our indigenous theatre industry, with an aim to increase not just awareness, but also the appreciation of fine theatre in India.

Jay Shah, Head, Cultural Outreach, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, said, “META remains India’s most definitive platform to recognise theatrical talent. For more than a decade, it has brought together the very best of theatre productions from across the country. There is a multitude of talent in this art form which is the source code of all performing arts and the Mahindra Group is proud to present META each year as an inclusive, empowering, and prestigious canvas.”

Sanjoy K Roy, MD, Teamwork Arts & Festival Producer, said, “META is a celebration of the artistic diversity of Indian stagecraft and every year we strengthen our commitment of providing opportunity and access to the finest talent out there. This year theatre enthusiasts can participate in workshops and masterclasses held by META nominated stalwarts.”

META 2018 will give away 14 awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as 13 competitive categories - Best Play, Best Director, Best Stage Design, Best Light Design, Best Innovative Sound Design, Best Costume Design, Best Actor in a Lead Role (Male), Best Actor in a Lead Role (Female), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female), Best Original Script, Best Ensemble and Best Choreographer.

For full list and details of nominations, please visit www.metawards.com. The full schedule of the 13^th META Festival is as follows.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE -

Tickets priced at Rs.100/- only and Rs.200/- are available on www.metawards.com or www.bookmyshow.com

Date	Play	Language	Time	Venue	Duration
13.04.2018	Muktidham	Hindi	8:00 PM	SHRI RAM CENTRE	2 hours (10 min interval)
14.04.2018	Karuppu	Non-verbal	8:00 PM	SHRI RAM CENTRE	1 hour
15.04.2018	Comfort Women: An Untold History	Assamese	6:00 PM	SHRI RAM CENTRE	1 hour 15 minutes
15.04.2018	Higuita: The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick	Malayalam	8:00 PM	SHRIRAM BHARATIYA KALA KENDRA	1 hour, 15 minutes
16.04.2018	Hojang Taret	Manipuri	6:00 PM	SHRI RAM CENTRE	1 hour, 05 minutes
16.04.2018	Nona	Malayalam	8:00 PM	KAMANI AUDITORIUM	2 hours
17.04.2018	Caucasian Chalk Circle	Kannada	6:00 PM	SHRI RAM CENTRE	1 hour, 40 minutes
17.04.2018	Item	Hindi	8:00 PM	KAMANI AUDITORIUM	1 hour, 40 minutes
18.04.2018	Moimonsingha Geetika	Bengali	6:00 PM	SHRI RAM CENTRE	2 hours, 10 minutes (10 min interval)
18.04.2018	Shikhandi: The Story of the In-betweens	English	8:30 PM	KAMANI AUDITORIUM	1 hour, 30 minutes

~ ENDS ~

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Mahindra

The Mahindra Group is a USD 19 billion federation of companies that enables people to rise through innovative mobility solutions, driving rural prosperity, enhancing urban living, nurturing new businesses and fostering communities. It enjoys a leadership position in utility vehicles, information technology, financial services and vacation ownership in India and is the world’s largest tractor company, by volume.  It also enjoys a strong presence in agribusiness, aerospace, commercial vehicles, components, defence, logistics, real estate, renewable energy, speedboats and steel, amongst other businesses. Headquartered in India, Mahindra employs over 2,40,000 people across 100 countries.

Learn more about Mahindra on www.mahindra.com / Twitter and Facebook: @MahindraRise

About Teamwork Arts

For over 25 years, Teamwork Arts has taken India to the world and brought the world to India. In countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, Teamwork produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities. Teamwork Arts produces one of the world’s largest free literary gatherings, the annual ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, the Ishara International Puppet Festival and the annual Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) and Festival in New Delhi, international festivals Shared History in South Africa, Eye on India in the United States of America, India by the Bay in Hong Kong, Confluence - Festival of India in Australia, India@70 2017: Year of Culture in the United Kingdom, and many more.

Website: www.teamworkarts.com

Exide Launches Advanz, India’s first completely sealed and maintenance free battery

Exide Launches Advanz, India’s first completely sealed and maintenance free battery

Exide Industries Ltd today launched Advanz, India’s first completely sealed and maintenance free battery for the automotive after-market. The battery is currently the only one of its kind in the Indian market that does not require any topping up. Among other advanced features, this is also the country’s only battery equipped with a magic eye that can accurately indicate the health of the battery and determine end of life.

“As a customer focused company it has always been our endeavor to listen to the modern automobile enthusiasts’ needs and offer the most relevant product for the market. Advanz is not only aesthetically and cosmetically advanced with a clear translucent lid and other such features, it is also way ahead of competition in terms of technology,” said Mr Arnab Saha, President – National Trade Sales & Marketing (Exide).

Among advanced features, Advanz boasts a Ca-Ca alloy system, which ensures no topping up is necessary during the entire service life of the battery. It also comes with effective flame arrestors with micro porous filter disc in vent openings to arrest acid fumes and restrict spark propagation inside the battery.

Years of market research and consumer insight have gone into the fine tuning of the battery. It comes with a low self-discharge rate, which ensures the car will start despite long idle period and with better cranking power the battery promises instant start every time. These batteries also come factory charged and ready to use making it market ready from the moment it hits the store shelf.

Advanz is available for all the available cars in the Indian market and comes with a 15-month warranty. It is available exclusively through Exide Care outlets across the country.

About Exide:

Exide Industries Ltd is the country’s largest manufacturer of lead acid storage batteries and power storage solutions provider. With seven international standard factories spread across the nation for producing batteries, the company offers one of the widest ranges of batteries for every conceivable application in automotive as well as industrial segments. To complete the entire value chain the company has two captive lead smelting units and two UPS manufacturing facilities. Exide also has manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka and does business globally through its subsidiaries and international

affiliates. Exide’s products are sold globally, particularly in developed markets like Australia, Japan and Western Europe, under its own brand names. Exide’s strong brand pull, established in India for about a

hundred years, is supplemented by its nationwide dealer network and a very strong R&D center. With the help of its collaborators – Shin Kobe and Furukawa of Japan and East Penn of the US - Exide has

consistently remained at the cutting edge of international battery technology and introduced various pioneering products and power storage solutions in the Indian and global markets. Exide’s vast product range, that includes everything from the smallest UPS batteries to the giant submarine batteries, find applications in automotive, two-wheelers, inverters, UPS, power, telecom and railways, among others. Exide is also present in the non-conventional energy business where it designs and integrates solar and wind power solutions for use in remote areas of the country. Exide’s customer list includes some of the top most international names in industries as diverse as automotive, earth moving equipment, telecom and UPS manufacturers. With an annual total income of Rs 8702.53 crore (as on 31^st March 2017), the company is the largest among the branded lead acid storage battery businesses in India. The company has been consistently profitable and paying dividend every single year since its inception.