The consumer services industry is an ever-evolving market and is bracing for unprecedented growth. It is expected that India will step up to be the largest consumer market at the global level. Being one of the progressing markets; it has thus begun to capture investor as well as entrepreneur interest. 

ICCS is one of the prominent names in the market and is one of the leading BPO service providers in India. It is known for its BPM and BPO domains as well as its highly responsive structure that seamlessly caters to the client’s inpidual needs. 

The journey of ICCS from BPO to a brand

ICCS was incepted in the year 2005 as a small international BPO company. However, the firm made concerted efforts over the years. As a result, it is now one of the leading BPO/BPM companies in the country. 

Currently, the firm has delivery centres in eight cities, wherein it manages 13 million customer interactions in a month with the help of over 5000 executives. The brand boasts of a perse client portfolio and serves clients across sectors including the Government, DTH, E-commerce, Banking, FMCG, FinTech, and much more. ICCS offers a myriad of solutions ranging from back-office services, chat and email, Finance and EdTech, to BFSI, Insurance, Accounting, Tech support, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing. Its core expertise lies in customer onboarding, retention, collections, customer service via omnichannel support, automation of chat and email field support including customer service, answer service, inquiry handling, as well as technical support. 

The firm in fact develops its own CRM with the assistance of AI tools. It leverages the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) not just for business analytics but also focuses on services like speech-to-text analytics. ICCS has even forayed into RPA recently and is of the view that this move towards adopting automation will help streamline information as well as operations. The brand aims to provide all solutions under one roof with the scope of maximum customization!

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Acompany or personal brand needs to be built- brick by brick, to gain the customers’ trust and maintain it. 

It requires solid PR strategies that resonate authority with the brand’s name and lead it to march towards the peak of excellence. 

Making a mark in the industry and establishing your brand amidst the fierce, cut-throat competition is not an easy job, which makes public relations paramount. Choosing the right PR agency can massively benefit you by building a solid rapport in the market. While hundreds and thousands of PR firms are working tirelessly to leave no stone unturned in promoting their clients, there is one that has surpassed expectations and is in a different league altogether. 

Mogul Press is an international public relations and communications agency making waves in the industry since its inception in 2019. It specializes in media placements, personal branding, and marketing strategy. Its global team brings value and creativity to the table from all work, devising the most effective PR strategies for clients. 

Mogul Press has been responsible for building credibility and boosting the businesses of hundreds of its clients, turning nobodies into celebrities and ordinary social media users into powerful influencers. 

What makes Mogul Press emerge as a significant disruptor in the PR space is the company’s deep-rooted values to refuse to compromise with the status quo.

As an advocate of innovation and change, CEO Nabeel Ahmad does not believe in following the masses. Be it his personal life or professional, he has made it his life’s work to embrace change for the better. The world has changed over the years, and technology evolved, however many media industries did not change. But Mogul Press has an unwavering commitment to creativity and growth. Driven by a passional belief to take up challenges and explore the latest technologies, it reinvents itself with the ever-changing PR scenario. And this is how a hybrid PR firm came into being, resting itself on traditional and digital PR fundamentals.

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Crypto, NFT and blockchain are all that everybody is talking about. But how can MSMEs make use and profit off of this new era of digital currency? To answer this question and several more, Business Standard had organised a panel discussion under the Smart Business event series with the World Trade Centre last Thursday on ‘The role of blockchain and digital currencies in strengthening MSMEs’.

At the event, Ashish Anand, founder of WHRRL, said “Crypto and blockchain will see a convergence of the real and crypto worlds with the help of solutions that are bridging the gap between these two worlds. Decentralised finance for the real world will be one such solution. This also has the potential to bridge the Rs. 30 lac Cr. credit gap that Indian MSME sector faces.”

Gaurav Somvanshi, CEO and Co-founder, EmerTech Innovations Pvt Ltd, said “Blockchain technology is trying to solve, to bring trust in our systems instead of inpiduals or organisations, has many wide-ranging effects that go beyond currency. It is leading to the advent of Web 3.0 where the creators will have control instead of the middlemen or aggregators. It is leading to a more decentralised world where the people can have a say over how things are governed and administered. And once a technology is out there, there is no going back.”

Siddharth Sogani, MD, CREBACO Global, emphasised the immediate need for regulations to stop the brain drain of the industry players and professionals from the country. Siddhanth stated “The government cannot regulate decentralised cryptocurrencies, but it can regulate their use. WEB.3, non-fungible Token (NFTs) are for the first time giving ownership to the users, which can be the paradigm shift in the way we interact with the internet.”

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Whenever it comes to trust, we tend to put our faith in familiar people and known faces. This is because we know the person based on our personal experience and trust them more than any other strange face. When it comes to money that is where all the actual influence works. If nobody trusts you, why would they invest in you or your products? These are the basic premises of market forces. Trust is a valuable but hard asset to earn.

In the olden days, people used to communicate and products were promoted based on their experiences. Every organisation strives to gain the trust of consumers. The very first step is to understand how people view your products and how they learn about them. A business that just started, has to convince its customers as most consumers may not be aware of the product or its offering. So the real question becomes – how will they be able to promote it at an individual level?

For instance, imagine a scenario: While walking on the street, you, as a walk-by stranger, noticed someone’s saree and could not help but ask them about it- how would they answer?
— If this was before the internet era, she would probably name the shop where she purchased and would probably talk about it and other products she probably looked at. As a result, it could be concluded that she promoted the product, and since she is in your social circle, you may be tempted to purchase a similar product.

During the internet and ecommerce age, this same behaviour still exists. Just the difference is that earlier people liked the products and prices they used to shop whereas now people can compare the price and material.

Soon, just like flowing water, these social platforms started growing in business aspects and became a free space where most people started to promote their products/services. Nowadays social platforms play an essential role in marketing for firms. This eventually helps the individual and growth further.

Technology has become an integral part of our lives. Customers of today are most influenced by whatever they see online and influenced by messages and posts that appear on social media. They can even chat, comment, and be in touch with their long-time friends and physical distance is no longer a barrier for consumers to connect with their friends and family. This connection has spawned off a new type of commerce – social commerce.

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Chip-maker Intel has unveiled seven new mobile processors to the 12th Gen Intel Core family for the growing community of content creators and gamers on smartphones, as the world grapples with chip shortage.

The company said that the new 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors are “unlocked out of the box” and available in Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9 models.

“We’re enabling content creators to tackle the most demanding work flows like never before. Gamers and content creators will also have access to high bandwidth platform technologies like PCIe Gen 5 with RAID support, and support for ECC memory,” explained Chris Walker, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of Mobility Client Platforms.

The new Intel mobile chips utilise desktop-caliber silicon in a mobile package to deliver high levels of performance for professional workflows like CAD, animation and visual effects.

The company said at an event late on Tuesday that the 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors provide 65 per cent more performance in multi-threaded workloads with more cores and memory.

The new chips offer up to 16 cores (8 performance-cores and 8 efficient-cores) and 24 threads, running at a processor base power of 55W.

“In addition to being a commercial workhorse, 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors provide a gaming powerhouse platform that will give enthusiast gamers higher frame rates for the games they know and love,” said the company.

More than 10 workstation and gaming designs, powered by these new chips, are likely to be launched by major manufacturers this year, including systems from Dell, HP, Lenovo and others.

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The price of 10 grams of 24 carat gold on Wednesday went down by Rs 430 to Rs 51,380, while the price of 1 kg silver dipped by Rs 600 to trade at Rs 61,900.

The price of 10 grams of 22 carat gold also decreased by Rs 400 on Wednesday to Rs 47,100, according to the Goodreturns website.

The price of 10 grams of 24 carat gold in Delhi and Mumbai is at par with the price of 10 grams of 24 carat gold in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata, with the precious metal trading at Rs 51,380 in these regions.

The price of 10 grams of 22 carat gold in Delhi and Mumbai is also at par with the price of 10 grams of 22 carat gold in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata, with the metal selling at Rs 47,100 in these regions.

However, the price of 10 grams of 24 carat gold and 22 carat gold in Chennai is above the other cities at Rs 52,860 and Rs 48,460 respectively.

The price of 1 kg of silver in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata is Rs 61,900, while in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the metal is trading at Rs 66,100 for the day.

The price of gold varies for different regions based on parameters such as the excise duty, making charges and the state taxes.

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Ready to enjoy blazing-fast speeds with 5G? Looking forward to enjoying entertainment options, such as immersive video and wireless holograms, which were hard to come by in the past? Well, there is good news for you, at least depending upon which city you live in. We are one step closer in our tryst with new high-speed services.

The decks have reportedly been cleared for the Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, to auction the 5G spectrum. In fact, India might see 5G services being showcased on 15th August.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, has left it to the DoT to take a decision on three crucial issues.

The first is the validity period of spectrum assignment. The second is the deferment of auction in the 27.5 GHz-28.5 GHz band. And, the third is the quantum of spectrum that will be reserved for BSNL and MTNL. As a result, the whole process has become simple. Going ahead, the Digital Communications Commission, or DCC, will clear the 5G spectrum auction.

Subsequently, it will have to be cleared in the Union Cabinet. Finally, the DoT could begin the auction process in June. On their part, the telcos have said that if everything goes well, limited 5G services roll out might be seen by the end of this year.

Telcos had demanded a 90 per cent reduction in the 3.5 GHz spectrum base price, compared to the regulator’s recommendation in 2019. But this demand has not been met. However, at 317 crore rupees for a pan-India 1 MHz of spectrum, the base price has been reduced by 36 per cent for a validity of 20 years.

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Logistics major Delhivery on Tuesday raised Rs 2,346 crore from 64 anchor investors. The Gurugram-based firm allotted nearly 48.2 million shares at Rs 487 apiece, the upper end of its IPO price band. Sources said the anchor book saw nearly 10 times more demand than the shares on offer.

Amansa, Goldman Sachs, Aberdeen, Tiger Global, Schroder, and Baillie Gifford were among the anchor investors who got an allotment.

Seven domestic mutual funds (MF) invested through 15 different schemes. The allotment made to them formed 30 per cent of the anchor book. SBI MF and HDFC MF were among the domestic funds which got an allotment.

Delhivery’s IPO size is Rs 5,235 crore, the second-biggest after LIC this year. The price band for the IPO is Rs 462 to Rs 487 per share. At the top-end, Delhivery will have a market cap of Rs 35,284 crore on a post-diluted basis.

The company’s IPO opens on Wednesday and closes on Friday.

Delhivery is looking to raise Rs 4,000 crore of fresh capital through the IPO. The remaining Rs 1,235 crore will be an offer for sale (OFS) for investors, which includes private equity firms Carlyle and Softbank.

Delhivery plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore of issue proceeds for funding organic growth initiatives such as scaling up existing and adjacent business lines. It will use Rs 1,000 crore proceeds for funding inorganic growth. In the past five years, the company has undertaken over half a dozen strategic alliances and acquisitions to spur growth.

Delhivery has a total addressable market (TAM) of over $300 billion. However, its market share is only half a per cent, underscoring the largely untapped opportunity.

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During her Union Budget speech on February 1st, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the government’s plan on the issuance of e-passports embedded with an electronic chip in order to enhance convenience for citizens in their overseas travel.

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According to the proposal, the e-passport will be a combination of paper and electronic passport, with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip. An antenna will be embedded as an inlay in the back cover.

The passport’s critical information will be stored in the chip and printed on the data page. The characteristics of the e-passport are specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations.

The government clarified that data of the citizens obtained for e-passport will be used only for the purposes of issuance of the passport and related services. There will not be any secondary use of the data, thereby safeguarding privacy concerns.

Further transaction processes are authenticated by digital certificates and are cryptographically signed. Once captured, the data is stored in a secured industry-standard database. The Security Operations Centre will perform relevant database security-related controls round the clock.

The government is currently testing sample e-passports with the full-scale manufacture and issuance set to commence following completion of the technical ecosystem and infrastructure.

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Indian retail inflation likely surged to an 18-month high in April, largely driven by rising fuel and food prices and staying well above the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance limit for a fourth consecutive month, a Reuters poll found.

The jump has been long anticipated following the Indian government’s decision to wait until after key state elections in March to hike fuel prices. Energy prices globally have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Food inflation, which accounts for nearly half the consumer price index (CPI) basket, reached a multi-month high in March and is expected to remain elevated due to higher vegetable and cooking oil prices globally.

These factors likely pushed inflation in Asia’s third-largest economy to 7.5% on an annual basis in April, according to a May 5-9 Reuters poll of 45 economists, from 6.95% in March.

If realised, that would be the highest inflation rate since October 2020 and well above the RBI’s upper 6% limit.

Forecasts for the data, due to be released at 1200 GMT on May 12, ranged between 7.0% and 7.85%.

“CPI inflation appears to have surged higher still in April on the back of higher food and fuel prices. The bulk of the impact of the recent fuel prices hikes will be felt in April,” said Shilan Shah, senior India economist at Capital Economics.

“We wouldn’t be surprised if core inflation has risen too. The risk is that sustained higher inflation drives up inflation expectations, which push core inflation even higher.”

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