Category: Records, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

NATIONAL: BANKING & ECONOMY / I.T: Bengaluru Leads the Country in Digital Payment Transactions reaching 14.82 million Transactions in only 10 months Jan to Oct 2022

Between January and October this year, Bengaluru saw 14.82 million such transactions valued at ₹3,620 crore.

Netizens in the tech capital of India have made 14.82 million digital payment transactions in the January to October 2022 period, the highest in the country, amounting to ₹3,620 crore, according to a study put out by Worldline India, a payment technology player.

Hyderabad accounted for 10.36 million digital payment transactions amounting to over ₹3,050 crore and Chennai 9.76 million at ₹2,250 crore. The country’s financial capital, Mumbai saw 9.4 million people carrying out digital payment transactions amounting to ₹2,740 crore and Pune with 7.88 million transactions clocked ₹1,730 crore.

The 10-month period under consideration, saw frequently visited physical merchant categories like grocery stores, restaurants, clothing and apparel, pharmacy, hotels, jewellery retail, speciality retail, household appliances, and departmental stores while in the online-space category wise, e-commerce (shopping for goods and services), gaming, utility and financial services together accounted for over 86% in terms of volume, according to the survey.

Festive season sales, and a rise in consumption after the pandemic have helped the city to take the top spot in digital payments transactions, stated the study.

Ramesh Narasimhan, Chief Executive Officer – India, Worldline, said: “Today, both customers and sellers are more receptive towards digital payments. Digital payments are gradually becoming like a commodity, and forming a subtle yet an integral part of our lives. The swift adoption of digital payments can be witnessed with each passing quarter.’‘

Payment instruments like UPI, cards, PPIs were already clocking over 23 billion transactions in the country in a quarter, he added.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ARTS & CULTURE: Filmy story: Digital board game ‘ODO’ for learning Karnataka culture through movies

Many of us might know that one person who knows multiple languages. And that comes from the love of cinema. Tapping that, Madan Kumar has developed an app called ODO, which is an online board game.

Kumar’s aim for the app is to make it easier for people to learn the language in a fun way. Some of the movies that are listed are Badava Rascal, Humble Politician Nograj, U-Turn to name a few.

Kumar loves movies and is a strong believer that nothing is difficult until and unless there is a right way of doing it.

“I can speak all the South Indian languages and am self-taught. My knowledge of languages is mostly from watching movies. I picked languages through dialogues. I know so many people who learn Tamil from Rajanikanth movies,” says Kumar with a laugh. While this is the second version of the game, the first version was about a simple word-making game.

The other reason Kumar is using movie references is to make people aware of Kannada movies.

“It is good to see so many Kannada movies getting recognition nationally. There are many other good movies in addition to KGF and Kantara. I want people to know more about it. And as Indians we love movies, I feel it’s easier for us to make something new through movies. Initially, we started with old movies, but now we have expanded their database to 800 movies. So every day, there are new scenes or dialogues from the movie,” he adds.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ARTS & CULTURE: With a few firsts, 11th edition Bangalore Literature Festival 2022(BLT) all set to kick off on Saturday, Dec 03-05th

The BLT and Atta Galatta, a city-based bookstore and hub for literary events, will also give out the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize to honour the best of English fiction and non-fiction and Kannada writing.

The 11th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLT) is all set to kick off on Saturday, December 3, at Hotel Lalit Ashok.

The two-day festival will feature over 250 international, Indian, and city authors and speakers, four programme forums, and two children’s venues, said organisers.

They added stimulating conversations around a breadth of fiction and non-fiction topics, including history, biographies, translations, literature, religion, mythology, travel, art and music, feminism, food, cinema, publishing, technology, startups and more will also feature in the festival.

BLT will host several authors and speakers, including historian William Dalrymple, author and poet Jerry Pinto, poet and novelist Jeet Thayil, researcher and journalist Akshaya Mukul; author-politician Arun Shourie, author-playwright Cyrus Mistry, screenwriter-children’s writer Honey Irani, and author and constitutional lawyer J Sai Deepak among other guests.

Members from the film fraternity including Alankrita Shrivastava, Natesh Hegde, and Kamal KM, will be participating at ScreenLit—the pitching platform for screenwriters. Noted editors, journalists, and media personalities, including T J S George, Senthil Chengalvarayan, Bachi Karkaria, Kaveree Bamzai, Malini Goyal, R Kaushik, Stutee Ghosh, and Suresh Menon, will be among others at BLT.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCES / INNOVATION: Ayushi Chauhan, Student of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Wins Prize for ‘TB Diagnostics Tool’ at the Falling Walls Lab and Science Summit 2022, Berlin, Germany

An IISc student won third prize at an international summit held in Berlin, Germany, for a device that could make tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis cheaper and more accessible.

Ayushi Chauhan, a PhD scholar at IISc’s chemical engineering department, was awarded third prize under the ‘Breakthrough of the Year Emerging Talents’ category at the Falling Walls Lab and Science Summit 2022 in Germany. She was earlier the winner of Falling Walls Lab India 2022, leading her to represent the country during the global summit.

She and her adviser, Dr Bhushan Toley, developed a pocket-sized device for the detection of both regular and drug-resistant tuberculosis, that makes the diagnostic portion near equipment-free. “The device reduces instrumentation cost by 99.6% and testing cost by 87%, which can be reduced even further. Only around one-third of tuberculosis cases are actually reported.

This is due in large part to equipment needs,” she said, during her pitch at the summit. She said the diagnosis method was visually similar to that of a home pregnancy test and Covid tests. “I believe this invention can bring an end to tuberculosis by 2035,” she said.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL / NATIONAL / KARNATAKA: ENGINEERING & TRANSPORT / GLOBAL J.V. / INDUSTRY LEADER:Vikram Kirloskar – The man who brought Toyota to Karnataka

Vikram Kirloskar brought global auto giant Toyota to Karnataka in 1997, when the State wasn’t yet a big name in the global business arena.

Way back in 1997, when Karnataka wasn’t yet a big spot on the global business map, auto major Toyota set up a manufacturing facility at Bidadi, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The man who was instrumental in bringing the Japanese automaker to Karnataka was Vikram Kirloskar who passed away on November 29.

The initial efforts towards bringing Toyota Motor Corp to India were made during the tenure of Chief Minister Veerappa Moily in the early 1990s, and were later followed up by his successor H.D. Deve Gowda. During J.H. Patel’s tenure, Toyota Kirloskar officially started its operations in Karnataka. Thereafter, the business savvy S.M Krishna and his industrious industries minister R.V. Deshpande extended support to the venture.

Although multiple Chief Ministers and their industries ministers were involved in bringing, hosting and settling Toyota at Bidadi, one key person who worked tirelessly from outside was Vikram Kirloskar, who is a mechanical engineering graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S.A.

Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani said, “He was a dear personal friend, an industry friend and, more importantly, a genuine human being who was always ready with a smile. With the passing of Vikram, a prominent face and a pillar of the business community of Karnataka is no more.”

The Kirloskar family hails from Haveri in the Dharwad region. They have been running various businesses, including automotive engineering, pumps, gensets, and machine tools for over 100 years. Vikram Kirloskar became the mainstay of ‘Karnataka Inc.’ with Toyota Kirloskar in 1997.

Since its inception, Toyota has invested over ₹20,000 crore in Karnataka, and Mr. Kirloskar’s personal commitment in 2010 was ₹1,500 crore.

“He has been a great help in organising Global Investors’ Meet. He and (his wife) Geetanjali came with me for a road show in the U.S. prior to GIM in 2010,” recalled Mr. Nirani.

A doyen of the automotive industry, Mr. Kirloskar was extremely supportive of young people and their business ideas.

Addressing a trade body event that had several youngsters in the audience recently, he said, “You are the future leaders. You should soon be sitting here where I am sitting.”

The fourth-generation entrepreneur of the Kirloskar family leaves behind his wife Geetanjali and daughter Manasi, who works in the company.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ACHIEVERS: Rev Ferdinand Kittel Foundation to Award 10 Eminent People for various contributions towards Kannada & Karnataka in 2021-22

Rev Ferdinand Kittel Foundation is giving the ‘Rev Kittel Awards’ to 10 eminent people who have contributed towards Kannada and Karnataka in various fields for the year
2021-2022.

The award ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 26 at 3.30 pm, at Gandhi Bhavan, Kumara Park East, Bengaluru.

The awardees are :
Philanthropist – Dr Ronald Colaco
Social Activist – Dr CS Dwarkanath
Film – B Ramamurthy
Literature – Marie Joseph
Media/journalism – Ramakanth Tv5
Sports – Martin Das
Health worker – Dr Smitha (Victoria hospital)
Educationist- Eshwaramurthy
NGO-CUPA.
Public Service- Ashwini SI, Pullikeshinagar Station.

The award will be conferred by, His Holiness Nidumamidi Mutt Seer Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji, B V Pinto, former judge high court of Karnataka and Bhaskar Rao IPS (Retd) former commissioner of Police, Bengaluru.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Shreya Narayan, Student of Bangalore Institute of Technology Wins First Position in ‘UNESCO-India-Africa Hackathon 2022’, Greater Noida

Shreya Narayan, a student of Bangalore Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, took part in the UNESCO-India-Africa Hackathon 2022 held at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, recently and won the first place with a cash prize of ₹3 lakh, said a release.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: BUSINESS & ECONOMY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / EXCELLENCE: Infosys, Intel Win ‘Karnataka IT Rathna Awards’ & Host of others Won the ‘IT Pride of Karnataka Awards’ at Bengaluru Tech Summit-2022

Infosys and Intel bagged the Karnataka IT Rathna awards at the 25th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2022 held in Bengaluru, informed a press release.

The awards which were given away at the meet have been instituted by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and are given to companies that have clocked more than ₹10,000 crore in exports.

Minister for IT-BT, Science & Technology Dr C N Aswath Narayan also honoured companies such as TCS, Bosch, Mindtree, and 21 others with the award ‘IT Pride of Karnataka’ for clocking ₹2,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore in exports.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said “Karnataka is clocking exports worth ₹1 lakh crore annually and expressed hope that it would rise to ₹1.5 lakh crore in the next three years and also achieve $1 trillion in the digital economy space.”

However, the Minister expressed anxiousness over the 40% shortage of finances in the current account despite a high turnover in exports from the state. He urged the IT captains to raise exports and reduce imports to maintain a good balance of trade. He also assured the industry that the government will continue to extend its support.

Aravind Kumar and Shailendra Tyagi of STPI, IT Vision group chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, Additional chief secretary of IT-BT department E V Ramana Reddy, and director Meena Nagaraj were also present at the vent.

– Winners of the ‘IT Pride of Karnataka Awards’:

– Accenture, Amazon Development Centre, Dell, EIT Services, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, IBM, JP Morgan, Juniper Networks, Mercedes Benz, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, SAP Labs, Standard Chartered, VMware and Wipro won the IT Pride of Karnataka awards.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline and sub-head edited)

INTERNATIONAL: ARTS & CRAFTS / FILM PRODUCTION: Karthik Vijayan Awarded ‘Gulf Achievers Award 2022’ for his Short Films

City’s Karthik Vijayamani speaks about his victory at the Gulf Achievers Award 2022 for his short films, making songs for the IPL and the nature of Dubai’s content creation industry.

When Bengaluru’s Karthik Vijayamani went to Dubai in 2014 for a job in the science and technology industry, little did he know that films were his calling. But after producing multiple short film projects in the past eight years, Vijayamani has recently been recognised for his contribution after he won the Gulf Achievers Award 2022 as the best short film content creator in Dubai. He was recognised for his projects Dad Says, Dance Battle 2022 and Chords of Love.

Now, after amassing recognition in the UAE, Vijayamani feels things worked out for him after his company, Avighna Productions, redefined the concept of an advertisement. “Our production house has  made multiple ads. While working on those projects, we thought of taking a different approach. We took more of a narrative route in a short-film format. We felt it would help us relay a message to the audience better,” says Vijayamani about their work that also incorporated a few Bollywood celebrities to help the project reach a wider audience. These short-films were released in Dubai and Sharjah.

Outside of making short films, Vijayamani’s production house has also created fan anthems for the Indian Premiere League (IPL) teams Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore & Mumbai Indians. Of these three, the CSK one titled ‘#CSKReturns Anthem’ especially made the rounds during IPL 2019 and has over 3.6 million views on YouTube.

“Making music for the IPL is challenging because of the intense competition. There are thousands of people who make IPL songs. The game is not just about making the song but how we choose to market. A bad marketing strategy can ruin a good song’s success. In our case, we created a film that said that whoever in the audience will dance to the first few beats of the song and put it up on social media, we will give them a gold coin if they gain a huge number of views. That strategy worked out for us,” he shares.

Vijayamani feels the content creation industry in the UAE is different compared to India. “The biggest challenge is that the people of Dubai are not easily approachable. I first had to familiarise myself with all the top Sheikhs in Dubai and maintain a healthy relationship with them.

Once I started to gain their confidence, things started to get easier. In 2018, they gave me one opportunity to make a song about people of determination, which is the official term for specially-abled citizens in Dubai. We made an album with people of determination that year. The success of that project opened many doors for me,” he concludes.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: HERITAGE / ARTS & CULTURE: Learn about Karnataka’s Heritage through innovative ‘Flippar’ Postcard Videos and Postal Covers

Want to know about the unique heritage of Karnataka, its wonderful festivals and ancient culture through a short video? You just need to step inside any major Post Office this week to do so. India Post on November 18 signed an MoU with Bengaluru-based Flippar to sell its eye-catchy postcards and postal covers through major post offices in Karnataka. “The Philately bureaux of the General Post Office in Bengaluru and the Head Post Offices in Mysuru, Belagavi and Mangaluru will be selling them,” Chief Postmaster General (Karnataka Circle) S Rajendra Kumar told TNIE.

Flippar has created 600 unique Augmented Reality (AR) cards, each priced at Rs 50, which showcase India’s rich heritage. The Lion’s share of them are illustrations on Karnataka like the Stone Chariot at Hampi, Vidhana Soudha, Badami, MTR and Koshys, India Coffee House, MG Road, festivals and many heritage buildings.

What is AR card?
An AR card or cover will have a video clip accompanied by audio about a specific landmark or tradition covered. “The duration  of the clip ranges between 45 seconds and 90 seconds,” explains Vivek Mahaveer Jain, Director of Flippar. “One needs to download our app Flippar Go, available on both Google store and Apple store, click the Magic Eye button and scan the postcard to get a 3D view and for the video to play,” he said.

“They are already selling like hot cakes at book stores for over a year now. Post offices across the state will now help us have a much larger reach,” Jain said. It is a win-win situation for both as the Postal Department stands to get 20% of the revenue generated from these cards. Flippar has printed the cards in bulk and will be dispatching them to the post offices before Wednesday. “From Thursday, public can buy them,” Jain said.

Blossoms and Goobes bookshops on Church Street, Champaca bookstore on Cunningham Road, Bangalore Creative Circus at Yeshwanthpur and Paperback Bookshop at Rangasankara already sell them.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)