Industry Body CII Claims to have Recycled 25,000 Tonne of Rice Straw in Punjab

Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday said its crop residue management project in Punjab has helped in the recycling of nearly 25,000 tonne rice straw.

"Nearly 25 thousand tonne rice straw was recycled back into the soil in 2018 and 115 tonne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was saved from being released into the air," Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in the impact report of its 'Crop Residue Management' project.

CII worked with the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change to design a plan of action for biomass management (CII-NITI, 2018) in North Western states.

A subsidy scheme was launched by the central government to support North Western states in their efforts to curb crop residue burning.

CII said it galvanised the industry action on Crop Residue Management (CRM) in 2018, following which a pilot project was launched in 19 villages in Punjab.

CII Foundation, along with local partners in Punjab, engaged with the farmer community to demonstrate solutions in a highly participatory manner.

These villages were made free of burning in 2018, and farmers were provided technical hand-holding for adopting sustainable agricultural practices.

As per the report, the project led to avoidance of environmental impacts on local as well as regional scale and led to nutrient savings worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The project improved the farmer's resilience to adverse impacts of climate change due to water conservation, improved farm biodiversity, and resilience of crops to extreme climatic events.

"About 30 kilo tonne CO2e of GHG and 13 tonne BC (black carbon) which would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere are estimated to be fed back into the soil," the statement said.

The project led to avoidance of estimated, 140 tonne volatile organic compounds, 82 tonne ammonia, 39 tonne oxides of nitrogen and 6 tonne oxides of sulphur, which could have impacted the ambient air quality across Indo-Gangetic Plains, it added.

The CII pointed out that agricultural burning in North Western States (Punjab, Haryana and Delhi) costs the Indian economy a whopping USD 30 million every year due to health impact. PTI MJH

CII Launches An Online Self-Assessment Tool for Indian Industries for Going Digital

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an industry-led non-government business association in India, has launched CII-Tata Communications Centre for Digital Transformation’s "Digital Maturity Appraisal" at the CII Annual Session 2019 on Friday. This digital transformation self-assessment tool will help Indian industries navigate today’s business landscape as it continues to undergo rapid changes, led by digital technologies which are transforming the way systems, processes and people work.

The assessment comes as an online tool available at www.ciicdt.com for enterprises to judge the maturity of their digital ability and start a successful digital transformation journey.

"Digital Maturity Appraisal" has been created to help the Indian industries envisage their digital transformation roadmap by undergoing self-assessment against the six dimensions of digital vision and strategy and will provide participating organisations the ability to benchmark their current level of digital operations against the national average of their industry peers.

Launched in 2018, CII-Tata Communications Centre for Digital Transformation (CDT) is powered with the responsibility of enriching and accelerating the technology journey of its members and provide the best of its kind training and consulting services to organisations, thereby improving the efficiency of their service delivery and set standards of excellence.

Mr. Sumeet Walia, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Tata Communications and Chairman, CDT states, “India is in the midst of digital transformation. Regardless of the scale, size or sector, every business is undergoing digitisation to improve business efficiencies. However, lack of access to guidelines and a clear road map remains key barriers to digital transformation. The launch of Digital Maturity Appraisal is a significant move towards bridging this gap and understanding the current level of technology adoption in India.”

“As the world embraces the revolution 4.0, emerging technologies such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence and blockchain, among others, will transform business efficiency and effectiveness in ways enterprises have not witnessed before. While the gravity of this transformation may vary among firms of various sizes, serving various functions and industries, CDT, under the aegis of CII, has been formed to address various challenges to digital transformation, seize the upcoming market opportunities, and prepare enterprises for a dynamic future,” says Mr Rudramuni B, Vice President & Center Head, Dell EMC, and Co-Chair, CDT.

To recall, in last month CII has signed a 3-year MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) wherein startups in electronics and IT sector, being incubated by MeitY, will be brought under the scope of CII's Corporate-Start-up Business Connect Platform which will help them connect with industry for mutual benefits and gaining access to international markets.

In late 2016, CII had launched 'Startup Mentorship Circle', a common platform for large corporate houses and startup entrepreneurs to share their experiences and ideas.

Source - Tata Communications | Via ~ Equity Bulls

Industry Body CII Partners WhatsApp to Train SME Owners and Entrepreneurs

Indian industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has partnered with messaging platform WhatsApp to educate and train small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs on using the messaging platform to connect with customers and growing their businesses.

WhatsApp and CII will work together to enhance business communication for Indian SMEs through CII’s SME Technology Facilitation Centre. This was set up in November 2016, with the objective of creating awareness amongst SMEs in India on technological solutions that can be optimally adopted to enhance their overall competitiveness.

There will be on-ground trainings around the country to explain the features and best practices on the App. In addition to this, business owners located in the hinterland will have the opportunity to attend training webinars to help them grow and expand their businesses. The training material will be available on the CII SME website.

WhatsApp and CII will collaboratively develop informative content to be distributed among entrepreneurs both in physical and digital formats, addressing the advantages of the professional use of WhatsApp Business and promoting the creation of networks for knowledge sharing. WhatsApp will also give workshops to CII team members across the state, to expand content dissemination and offer local support for cities across India. The partnership starts on 29th October with a training in Pune and is expected to reach small and medium businesses along with start-ups and members of CII.

To recall, WhatsApp had recently collaborated with government of India's Start-up India initiative to launch 'WhatsApp Startup Challenge', wherein the facebook-owned messaging paltform will invest $250,000 as seed funding to the top 5 winners of the challenge and an additional $250,000 to a select few from the entrepreneurial community to promote their WhatsApp business number on Facebook.

According to a survey demonstrating the economic impact of WhatsApp in India, 70% of SMEs on WhatsApp in India say that they built their business on the platform. 78% of these SMEs say they have increased sales because of WhatsApp. Until the launch of the WhatsApp Business app earlier this year, small businesses didn’t have a formalized way to use WhatsApp to connect with their customers.

Ms Neerja Bhattia, Executive Director of CII said “CII SME Technology Facilitation Centre, is CII’s initiative to provide latest technology support to SMEs in India. It’s operating as a one-stop solution centre, summating different upgraded and latest technology from our multiple large technology partners with an aim to enhance access to technology for Indian SMEs and create technical literacy amongst them. The Centre also provides an opportunity to its technology partners to expand their market and reach out to SMEs spread throughout the country with their product and services.”

Commenting on the partnership, Mr Ben Supple, Public Policy Manager at WhatsApp, said, “Whether it’s a chai stand or saree shop, small businesses are at the heart of vibrant communities and the engine that makes the Indian economy grow, and by partnering with CII, we’re committed to helping SMEs achiceve success. Small businesses need to meet their customers where they are, and in India, that’s on WhatsApp. With the WhatsApp Business app, small businesses can easily and efficiently connect with their customers, and we’ll be introducing new features in the future to continue helping them grow.”

Launched in January 2018, the WhatsApp Business app was developed to improve SMEs’ communications with their customers, by creating an official presence for those companies in the app and enhancing their customer care, with specific tools to make communicating with customers easier and more efficient. More than three million people are already using the WhatsApp Business app worldwide.

Besides WhatsApp, CII's Technology Facilitation Centre has partnered with some of the best technology companies in India like Microsoft Corporation (India) Ltd, Vodafone India Ltd, Tally Solutions Pvt Ltd, Indus Net Technology Pvt Ltd, Secure Meters Limited, CT Infotech India Pvt Ltd, Tricolite Energy Solution LLP and Hewlett-Packard India Ltd.

Notably, CII as a part of its knowledge management initiatives also runs a Knowledge Portal called myCII.in, which is a state-of-the-art online knowledge resource centre of CII that includes premium research reports, recordings of conference proceedings, thousands of sector specific presentations, online master class videos, Webinar recordings, Investment and Policy Trackers, B2B Opportunities and online database of member companies.

Via ~ CII.in

CII Announces Gopi Natarajan as Entrepreneur of The Year Award Winner at Connect 2016

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has announced Gopi Natarajan, Co-Founder, and CEO of Omega Healthcare as the Entrepreneur of the year 2016 at CII Connect. The award recognizes Mr. Gopi Natarajan's work in healthcare industry and his entrepreneurial success which serves as an inspiration for many young entrepreneurs.

The award was bestowed by Dr. M. Manikandan, Hon’ble Minister for Information Technology, Government of Tamil Nadu in the august presence of dignitaries and leaders from Industry, Government and Academia.

Gopi Natarajan is the Chief Executive Officer at Omega Healthcare Management Services Pvt. Ltd. and has more than 25 years of experience in the US Healthcare Industry (payers, providers, systems and services vendors). Prior to Omega, he was heading a midsized healthcare Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) company in the US with India operations as well. He also has relevant experience in healthcare IT and BPO/KPO services outsourcing during his senior management stints with Aetna, EDS, and Healtheon/WebMD.

“This award is a major recognition for Omega Healthcare and its Senior Leadership team who really pioneered the successful expansion into a Tier 2 city and perfected the model so we can expand into other tier 2 and 3 cities rapidly”, expressed Mr. Natarajan on receiving the award.

Gopi has a brilliant track record in leadership, management, and operational experience, having been instrumental in leading small-sized companies to grow into medium / large-sized companies. Gopi now spends a significant amount of time in India, overseeing the operations and growth of Omega. As a co-founder of Omega, Gopi brings an incredible amount of industry knowledge and relationships that he has built through the years while working in senior management positions in US-based healthcare services companies.

CII has been organizing CONNECT in Chennai for the past 15 years. The Connect series has been the forum for Indian ICT Industry to recognize the pioneers and trailblazers responsible for the leading trends & developments. It is jointly organized by Government of Tamil Nadu and CII.

The theme for this edition of CONNECT was “Building the Digital State: Fostering the ecosystem.” This year the event will have more focus on “How Digital Infrastructure would play a major role in the development of Digital Tamil Nadu, Smart Cities & Skill India” and its contribution to the entire world as a whole; policies and frameworks needed for ensuring the consistent growth of Digital Infrastructure.

About Omega Healthcare:

Omega Healthcare was founded by Gopi Natarajan & Anurag Mehta in 2003 to cater to the needs of healthcare billing companies in the United States. A unique strategy allowed the company to grow into the #1 offshore service provider to Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), billing services as well as healthcare IT organizations. The company has significant experience and deep domain expertise across multiple medical specialties. With a growth rate of 30-35% year-on-year, the company handles high-end, value-driven work pertaining to Medical Coding, Accounts Receivable, Data Entry and other Revenue Cycle Management services, and attracts some of the best talent in the industry.

Well-entrenched in Bengaluru, Chennai, Trichy and Manila (Philippines), Omega is fast expanding its operations and has a headcount of 10,200+ people currently.

Another unique feature of the company is the Omega Medical Coding Academy, started in August 2014 to cater to the huge demand for proficient medical coders. The academy has trained more than 2000 candidates and has successfully placed more than 1700 of them.

Omega Healthcare is ISO 9001 and 27001 certified, SSAE-16 certified, and HIPAA compliant.