News

Sax Krishna, Sudeep Nadkarni, Sushant Purushan and Rangapriya Goutham are the key hires joining the ranks of 3i Infotech to drive its Run, Grow and Build proposition  

Mumbai, July 27, 2021 – 3i Infotech Limited (BSE: 532628, NSE: 3IINFOTECH), a global Information Technology company, committed to accelerating business transformation, has announced a series of senior level appointments with immediate effect, to include Sax Krishna as Chief Growth Officer, Sudeep Nadkarni as Chief Revenue Officer – Large Deals, Sushant Purushan as EVP & India Business Head, Cloud First & Digital, IMS leadership team and Rangapriya Goutham as Chief Marketing Officer to accelerate the company’s global business. These strategic level hires would be integral to 3i Infotech’s aim of achieving a growth of $1 billion by 2030.

Commenting on the appointments, Thompson P. Gnanam, Managing Director & Global CEO, 3i Infotech said, “We are extremely delighted to have top industry talent join us at this opportune time with the company heralding a new growth journey. We believe their collective global experience, capabilities, and know-how of transforming diverse businesses in a digital and cloud-first world would be invaluable to us and the customers alike, and will help drive the company’s Run, Grow and Build proposition. We see them as our brand ambassadors propagating our vision of being a trusted global one-stop, end-to-end service provider and a digital transformation partner delivering business excellence and exceptional outcomes to customers in this new digital decade.”

As Chief Growth Officer, Sax Krishna will be responsible for driving new business growth in North America and Europe, Middle East, and Africa markets. Sax, a BITSian comes with close to three decades of experience in leading and managing cross functional teams in IT, BPO & technology domain across North America, Europe, India & APAC with repeated success in business transformation, built on identification and capitalization of market opportunities. He has worked with IT majors including HCL, Mahindra Satyam, Aditya Birla Minacs, and Atos, among others. In his last stint, he was the SVP – Business Head at TEOCO.

As the Chief Revenue Officer – Large Deals, Sudeep Nadkarni will drive large global initiatives in the BFSI industry and be involved in global in-house and shared service center transformations. He has over 25 years of experience serving large private & public ventures, delivering enhanced transparency, security and quality of financial services. He has also scaled over a dozen new business ventures shaping the digital economy. Earlier, Sudeep has worked as a senior executive with global services firms like Capgemini, Mphasis, NIIT technologies as well as advisor to several successful start-up firms innovating in the financial services and Big Data space. Sudeep is certified on mergers and acquisitions from University of Chicago – Booth School and has an MBA in marketing & strategy from Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

To add impetus to the Grow proposition of 3i Infotech, Sushant Purushan, an industry expert has joined the company to lead the Digital IMS and Cloud Transformation services in India & South Asia. Bangalore based Sushant has over 24 years of experience in IT and services industry in India and South Asia. Sushant has worked with several reputed firms such as TCS, CMC, Wipro Infotech, IBM India and Sify Technologies and handled various assignments such as Sales, Product/Practice Management, Delivery and P&L management.

Priya joined 3i Infotech as the CMO and her core strength is in the field of marketing, strategy and building brands. An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, she has an enviable 22 years of multi-faceted experience which includes setting up of new businesses and startup to scale up expertise in small, medium and large enterprises. Her international experiences include working in US, UK, Singapore and GCC markets. She was involved in setting up of the Edu City in Chennai and is also the Strategic Consultant Dy. Director for education at Virginia Tech India. She has worked with large corporates in managing and building their businesses and creating go-to-market strategies for products and services industries.  

About 3i Infotech  

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, since inception in 1993, 3i Infotech has been committed to driving business value across multiple industry verticals. 3i Infotech, today, has emerged as a leading name in propelling the current wave of digital transformation initiatives, with deep domain expertise across BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail and Government sectors. The Company has over 4200 employees in 30 offices across 15 countries and over 1000+ clients in more than 50 countries across 4 continents. With a wide range of IT services, 3i Infotech has successfully transformed business operations of customers globally. The Company has a very strong foothold and client base in geographies like North America, India, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and South Asia.   

Website: https://www.3i-infotech.com/

Leading PPE manufacturer partners with global player in critical communication technology to revolutionise the way professional mobilised teams on the ground communicate and protect their hearing in noisy conditions 

7th July 2021 – Swedish-based hearing protection pioneers, Sordin, today announced a new partnership with global player in critical communications technology, Cardo Crew, in a move that will combine high-end hearing protectors with cutting edge communications.  

The partnership, which will lead to countless game-changing benefits for mission-critical teams on the ground, was announced ahead of the launch of SHARE, Sordin’s groundbreaking new electronic hearing protector. The SHARE device will launch in August 2021 and will combine Cardo Crew’s state-of-the-art dynamic mesh communications technology with features such as ambient sound filtering, voice activation and a dedicated mobile app. 

The device will allow teams on the ground to clearly pick up important sounds such as instructions from colleagues or warning signals, whilst also protecting them from potentially damaging noise from machinery and other sound. Thanks to Cardo Crew’s dynamic mesh technology, two-way, hands-free communication for groups of two to 15 workers will also be possible via a fully autonomous network, without the need for a traditional base station, making SHARE the perfect communication tool for busy teams on the move in noisy environments. 

Peter Ovrin, Global Product Manager at Sordin, commented on the partnership: “In addition to the primary function to protect against harmful noise, many users of Sordin hearing protectors need easy and robust communication with team members. To meet this user requirement, Sordin is now launching the SHARE hearing protector. With Cardo’s state-of-the-art Dynamic Mesh Technology, and other supporting features such as a mobile app, voice control and Bluetooth, SHARE is a groundbreaking product that will revolutionise hearing protection and communication in the field.”

The move also creates a valuable opportunity for Cardo Crew to further extend its award-winning technology to relevant industry verticals, with a primary focus on the European PPE market where Sordin’s product will initially be launched. 

Shachar Harari, Chief Business Officer & Head of Cardo Crew commented: “Sordin’s strong brand and 30-year experience in the field will prove invaluable to Cardo’s efforts to make our technology available across verticals where team communications are critical. There are countless applications and use cases, including industrial and construction environments, where the combination of Cardo Crew’s state of the art intercom system and Sordin’s expertise in designing best-in-class hearing protection devices would be an excellent fit.”

About Sordin

The world-class leader in high-performance hearing protectors. Sordin has more than 30 years’ experience developing, manufacturing and selling personal protection equipment above the neck. We offer innovative, high quality and safe products, manufactured in a rational production process. Our customers are found in a variety of different markets such as industry, construction, mining, hunting, military, police, emergency service, and forest and garden. Our products are suitable for all customers requiring high-quality passive or electronic hearing protection. www.sordin.com

About Cardo Crew 

Cardo Systems pioneered Bluetooth wireless communication devices for motorcycle riders in 2004. Through their ground-breaking technology and innovation, Cardo excelled in this market with industry firsts such as longer-range communication, Dynamic Mesh Communication and Natural Voice Operation. Drawing on this rich history of innovation, Cardo has broadened the business into the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) market with the launch of the Cardo Crew product line, including Cardo Crew PRO-1 customizable embedded communication modules. PRO-1 combines Bluetooth and Dynamic Mesh Communication for use in the design of safety helmets, earmuffs and other protective gear. www.cardocrew.com

By Steve Gorman and Polina Ivanova

(Reuters) – The International Space Station (ISS) was thrown briefly out of control on Thursday when jet thrusters of a newly arrived Russian research module inadvertently fired a few hours after it was docked to the orbiting outpost, NASA officials said.

The seven crew members aboard – two Russian cosmonauts, three NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a European space agency astronaut from France – were never in any immediate danger, according to NASA and Russian state-owned news agency RIA.

But the malfunction prompted NASA to postpone until at least Aug. 3 its planned launch of Boeing’s new CST-100 Starliner capsule on a highly anticipated uncrewed test flight to the space station. The Starliner had been set to blast off atop an Atlas V rocket on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Thursday’s mishap began about three hours after the multipurpose Nauka module had latched onto the space station, as mission controllers in Moscow were performing some post-docking “reconfiguration” procedures, according to NASA.

The module’s jets inexplicably restarted, causing the entire station to pitch out of its normal flight position some 250 miles above the Earth, leading the mission’s flight director to declare a “spacecraft emergency,” U.S. space agency officials said.

An unexpected drift in the station’s orientation was first detected by automated ground sensors, followed 15 minutes later by a “loss of attitude control” that lasted a little over 45 minutes, according to Joel Montalbano, manager of NASA’s space station program.

‘TUG-OF-WAR’

Flight teams on the ground managed to restore the space station’s orientation by activating thrusters on another module of the orbiting platform, NASA officials said.

In its broadcast coverage of the incident, RIA cited NASA specialists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, as describing the struggle to regain control of the space station as a “tug of war” between the two modules.

At the height of the incident, the station was pitching out of alignment at the rate of about a half a degree per second, Montalbano said during a NASA conference call with reporters.

The Nauka engines were ultimately switched off, the space station was stabilized and its orientation was restored to where it had begun, NASA said.

Communication with the crew was lost for several minutes twice during the disruption, but “there was no immediate danger at any time to the crew,” Montalbano said. He said “the crew really didn’t feel any movement.”

Had the situation become so dangerous as to require evacuation of personnel, the crew could have escaped in a SpaceX crew capsule still parked at the outpost and designed to serve as a “lifeboat” if necessary, said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program.

What caused the malfunction of the thrusters on the Nauka module, delivered by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has yet to be determined, NASA officials said.

Montalbano said there was no immediate sign of any damage to the space station. The flight correction maneuvers used up more propellant reserves than desired, “but nothing I would worry about,” he said.

After its launch last week from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, the module experienced a series of glitches that raised concern about whether the docking procedure would go smoothly.

Roscosmos attributed Thursday’s post-docking issue to Nauka’s engines having to work with residual fuel in the craft, TASS news agency reported.

“The process of transferring the Nauka module from flight mode to ‘docked with ISS’ mode is underway. Work is being carried out on the remaining fuel in the module,” Roscosmos was cited by TASS as saying.

The Nauka module is designed to serve as a research lab, storage unit and airlock that will upgrade Russia’s capabilities aboard the ISS.

A live broadcast showed the module, named after the Russian word for “science,” docking with the space station a few minutes later than scheduled.

“According to telemetry data and reports from the ISS crew, the onboard systems of the station and the Nauka module are operating normally,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

“There is contact!!!” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, wrote on Twitter moments after the docking.

(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Polina Ivanova in Moscow; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Leslie Adler and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

By Howard Schneider, Lindsay Dunsmuir and Ann Saphir

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. economic recovery remains on track despite a rise in coronavirus infections, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a new policy statement that remained upbeat and flagged ongoing talks around the eventual withdrawal of monetary policy support.

In a news conference following the release of the statement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. job market still had “some ground to cover” before it would be time to pull back from the economic support the U.S. central bank put in place in the spring of 2020 to battle the coronavirus pandemic’s economic shocks.

“I would want to see some strong job numbers” in coming months before reducing the $120 billion in monthly bond purchases the Fed continues to make, he told reporters.

But Powell also set aside, at least for now, the risk that the renewed spread of the coronavirus through its more infectious Delta variant would put the recovery at risk or throw the Fed off track as it plans an exit from crisis-era policies.

“It will have significant health consequences” in the areas of the country where outbreaks are intensifying, Powell said. But in the prior waves of coronavirus infections “there has tended to be less in the way of economic implications … It is not an unreasonable expectation” that would remain the case this time, he added.

The Fed’s policy statement, issued after the end of a two-day policy meeting, reflected that confidence.

“With progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen,” the central bank said in the statement.

Looking past the quadrupling of daily U.S. coronavirus infections that has occurred since the Fed last met in June, the central bank indicated it still had faith that an ongoing vaccination drive would “reduce the effect of the public health crisis on the economy” and allow a robust reopening to proceed.

Fed policymakers, in a unanimous statement, also said they were moving ahead with discussions about when to reduce the central bank’s bond-buying program, a precursor to eventually raising interest rates.

In December, the Fed said it would not change those purchases until there had been “substantial further progress” in repairing a labor market that was then 10 million jobs short of where it was before the pandemic.

That number is now below 7 million, and the Fed for the first time acknowledged the economy had taken a step towards its benchmark for reducing the $80 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities it buys each month to keep long-term borrowing costs low for consumers and businesses.

“The economy has made progress, and the (Federal Open Market) Committee will continue to assess progress in coming meetings,” the Fed said in language pointing towards a possible reduction in bond purchases later this year or early in 2021.

The Fed also said that higher inflation remained the result of “transitory factors,” meaning it was not an imminent risk.

‘MORE UPBEAT’

Along with leaving its bond-buying program unchanged, the central bank on Wednesday kept its overnight benchmark interest rate near zero.

Karim Basta, chief economist at III Capital Management, said the “incrementally more upbeat” policy statement opened the door to a September bond taper announcement if job growth comes in strong and the coronavirus caseload does not dent spending.

Acknowledging some progress towards their goals “seems designed to give them the option to announce” a change in bond purchases as soon as September, he wrote.

U.S. stocks, modestly lower before the release of the policy statement, were mostly higher in late-afternoon trading. Yields on U.S. Treasuries edged up in choppy trading. The dollar was slightly weaker against a basket of currencies.

The Fed did not release any new economic projections on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider and Jonnell MarteEditing by Paul Simao)

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged caution on Wednesday on drawing conclusions from a seven-day decline in COVID-19 cases in Britain, saying it was too early to assess whether it was a definite trend.

“We have seen some encouraging recent data. There’s no question about that but it is far, far too early to draw any general conclusions,” Johnson told LBC radio.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Kate Holton)

(Reuters) -Hasbro Inc is trying to get around the supply chain bottlenecks set off by the pandemic to deliver toys and boardgames for the holiday season by expanding its shipping operations and advancing its sourcing of products.

The move by the U.S. toymaker aims to cash in on the demand for Nerf blasters and action figures based on Marvel superheroes, while its television production rebounds, thanks to vaccine rollouts and easing of restrictions.

Hasbro shares rose 10% to their highest level in 17 months after the company beat quarterly results expectations on Monday.

“We may experience some shifts in delivery dates and timing of revenue, but we’re leveraging our global footprint and scale to meet demand,” Chief Financial Officer Deborah Thomas said.

Globally, companies across industries have been hit by shipping delays and port congestion in a pandemic-hit year, forcing many, including Hasbro, to spend more on finding ways to get products to stores faster.

The higher transportation costs stemming from an increase in the number of ocean freight carriers and the use of more ports to speed-up deliveries have forced Hasbro to announce price increases for toys in the third and fourth quarter.

“We’re working to ensure product availability during the holiday season,” Thomas said.

The company is also leaning more on its TV and movie production business to generate revenue growth, after a year of pandemic-led shutdowns, with content deals for Netflix, Apple TV+ and Showtime later this year.

Entertainment segment revenue, which includes production studio Entertainment One and other movie businesses, jumped 47% in the second quarter. Revenue from the consumer products segment, which includes toy brands such as Nerf and Play-Doh, rose 33%.

Overall net revenue rose 54% to $1.32 billion in the three months ended June 27, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.16 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Its adjusted profit of $1.05 per share beat expectations of 47 cents per share.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

UK start-up business Numerous has announced the board appointment of a leading figure from the global technology sector to help it create a new data-sharing economy, benefitting both consumers and quality brands. 

Ian Carrington, who joins Numerous as a non-executive director and strategic adviser, spent more than 17 years at Google, including six years in his latter role as the tech giant’s EMEA Managing Director of Performance Media Solutions. He additionally served as Chief Executive Officer of Google Shopping Europe from 2017-2019 as a dual role

Earlier in his career Carrington was head of Business Development at search engine pioneers Alta Vista and was a Sales Manager with AOL Time Warner. 

The Numerous app empowers consumers by collecting their personal data transparently with their explicit consent, enabling them to unlock its power and value through an ecommerce marketplace. The Numerous AI mines their data to connect them to brands that are ideal for their needs, with a particular focus on quality, innovation and sustainability, and users can earn great rewards from shopping and sharing their data with these brands.  Devised in 2019, Numerous has already attracted over 5,000 users with the app still at pre-launch stage, currently completing its final testing. It has also signed up more than 1,000 brand partners including Asos, Qatar Airways, Sky and Nike. 

In his new role, Carrington will utilise his extensive technology sector sales experience to help Numerous further develop its ecommerce offering and support the business with user acquisition and retention.

Alex Heys, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Numerous, said: “We’re delighted to have an individual of Ian’s pedigree joining the Numerous board to support this next phase of growth.  He is a highly experienced and exceptionally well-regarded figure within the global technology sector who has worked in senior roles for some of the most successful and innovative companies. 

“We look forward to working closely with Ian as we continue to build our ecommerce offering and further expand the Numerous user community across the UK and beyond.”

LONDON (24 May 2021) — New research from TopCV, the world’s largest CV-writing service, reveals that nearly two-thirds of working mothers have either stopped working (40%) or reduced their hours (19%) since the start of the pandemic.

TopCV surveyed 1,017 UK professionals to find out how the pandemic had affected their roles as workers and parents. Of the working mothers who were no longer working, almost a third said they either had to stop working or take a sabbatical in order to accommodate childcare. The remainder were forced to stop working due to redundancy.

The recent findings suggest that working parents are still not getting the flexibility needed to balance the demands of childcare with working life, despite earlier findings from TopCV revealing that increased flexibility is high on the list of employee wants for 2021. 

Unsurprisingly, this lack of flexibility appears to be creating an ‘either-or’ situation, with the juggling act becoming unsustainable for many working mothers. 

Amanda Augustine, careers expert at TopCV, commented:

“Nursery and school closures throughout the UK forced many working women to reduce their hours or resign in order to handle the overnight burden of home-schooling and childcare during lockdown. Whilst our data shows that most working mums are eager to return to the workforce, many may be forced to choose between their careers and childcare unless more companies begin offering adequate flexibility policies and other benefits that support their evolving needs.”

“Though not a new problem, the lack of workplace flexibility experienced during the pandemic has eclipsed any progress made towards achieving gender equality in the workforce. It’s in the best interest of organisations, across all sectors, to establish a ‘new normal’ during the post-COVID recovery by committing to providing benefits that better accommodate working mothers — starting with flexible work arrangements.” 

Whether you’re an employer looking to recruit more women to your organisation or a working parent seeking employment at a company that values gender diversity and equality, Augustine suggests prioritising the following workplace benefits:

• Flexible schedules: Companies willing to provide their employees with the flexibility to juggle their careers and household responsibilities are very attractive to working mums. This flexibility can be offered in various forms: working from home (part-time), working remotely (full-time), schedule rearrangements, job-sharing, part-time and flexible working hours.
• Extra paid leave: Some businesses have expanded their maternity leave policies to go beyond the standard 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks of additional maternity leave for those who are working whilst pregnant. In addition, employers such as Aviva and Etsy provide ‘gender blind’ parental leave, which entitles all parents-to-be, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender, whether they have given birth, gone through a surrogacy arrangement or chosen adoption, to 26 weeks leave on full basic pay.
• Childcare: Whilst some employers include childcare as part of the employee remuneration package, others such as Cisco and Next provide on-site nurseries that employees can use for a certain number of days each year as back-up care. In addition, some companies such as Goldman Sachs provide after-school and holiday programmes for children at their childcare centres. As more employees venture back to corporate workspaces, benefits like these will regain importance in the workplace.