Juggling the demands of running a startup can feel like a three-ring circus. From developing a groundbreaking product to building a dream team, founders wear many hats and often work tirelessly to keep all the plates spinning. However, one area that can easily slip through the cracks is human resources (HR).
Forgetting about HR can be a costly mistake, leaving you exposed to compliance issues and hindering your ability to attract and retain top talent. Here’s where all-in-one HR software comes in as a game-changer. These cloud-based solutions streamline critical HR tasks, freeing you up to focus on what truly matters: building a thriving business and achieving your entrepreneurial vision.
Read on to discover how all-in-one HR software can revolutionize your startup’s HR processes and empower you to build a successful and happy team.
PTO Management
Managing paid time off (PTO) can be time-consuming for startups juggling multiple priorities. All-in-one HR software with PTO management features eliminates the need for manual spreadsheets and streamlines the entire process, saving both employers and employees valuable time. Here’s how these features can simplify PTO management:
Centralized tracking: Employees can easily request time off through the software, and managers can approve or deny requests with a few clicks. No more digging through spreadsheets or relying on memory.
Accrual tracking: The software automatically tracks PTO accruals based on company policies, ensuring fairness and avoiding confusion.
Real-time visibility: Managers have a clear view of team availability, allowing them to schedule projects and meetings efficiently.
In essence, PTO management features in all-in-one HR software transform a potentially complex process into a smooth and efficient system. This benefits startups and employees, saving time and ensuring everyone stays on the same page.
Onboarding Tools
A positive onboarding experience sets the tone for a new employee’s relationship with your company. All-in-one HR software with onboarding tools can transform this process from disorganized to delightful. Here’s how these features can create a smooth transition for new hires:
Automated workflows: Create automated workflows that send welcome emails to new hires, assign training materials, and set up their accounts.
Centralized documentation library: Store essential documents like employee handbooks, benefits information, and company policies in a central location for easy access.
Progress tracking: Track new hires’ onboarding progress and identify areas where they might need additional support.
Onboarding tools within all-in-one HR software transform a cumbersome process into a structured, supportive experience. Employers reduce administrative burdens and improve retention, while new hires feel welcome, informed, and empowered to succeed from the start. Employee onboarding becomes a seamless process, ensuring a positive start for new team members.
Application Tracking Capabilities
Finding the right talent is critical for any startup’s success. All-in-one HR software with Applicant Tracking System (ATS) capabilities can significantly improve your hiring process.
Here are some features to consider:
Job posting management: Easily post jobs to multiple platforms with a few clicks, saving time and effort.
AI-powered screening: Use AI tools to screen resumes based on keywords and skills, helping you quickly identify qualified candidates.
Candidate communication: Communicate effectively with applicants throughout the hiring process, keeping them informed and engaged.
Applicant tracking capabilities within all-in-one HR software transform recruitment from scattered and time-consuming to organized and efficient. This allows startups to focus on attracting top talent and building a strong team, which is crucial for growth and success.
Benefits Administration
Managing employee benefits, especially for startups with limited HR resources, can be complex and time-consuming. All-in-one HR software with benefits administration features streamlines enrollment, reduces errors, and saves valuable time and effort for both HR professionals and employees.
Here’s how these features can simplify benefits administration:
Enrollment management: Employees can easily enroll in benefits plans and update their information directly through the software.
Carrier integrations: The software integrates with major insurance carriers, streamlining the enrollment and claims processes.
Cost tracking: Track benefit costs and identify opportunities for cost savings.
Benefits administration features in all-in-one HR software streamline a laborious task. HR teams can focus on strategic initiatives while employees gain more control and flexibility over their benefits selections.
Performance Management Systems
Regular feedback and clear expectations are essential for employee development and overall business success.
Here’s how these features can benefit your company:
Set SMART goals: Establish Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals for employees, ensuring alignment with company objectives.
Performance reviews: Conduct regular performance reviews and provide constructive feedback to help employees improve and grow in their roles.
360-degree feedback: Facilitate the collection of feedback from peers and managers, providing employees with a well-rounded perspective on their performance.
Performance management systems in all-in-one HR software turn performance management from a checklist exercise into a continuous development process. This helps employees reach their full potential and fosters a culture of company engagement, performance, and growth.
Mobile Accessibility
Today’s workforce is highly mobile, and employees expect access to HR information and tools anytime, anywhere. An all-in-one HR software with a mobile app empowers your employees to stay connected and manage essential HR tasks, enhancing flexibility and overall satisfaction.
Here’s how a mobile app can benefit your team:
Increased accessibility: Employees can access paystubs, request time off, and view important company announcements directly from their smartphones or tablets. This eliminates the need to be at a desk and ensures they have the information they need when they need it.
Improved efficiency: Streamline everyday HR tasks by allowing employees to submit PTO requests, update personal information, and access company policies on the go. This saves valuable time and improves overall efficiency.
Enhanced communication: Foster better communication between HR and employees. The mobile app can send push notifications with company updates, reminders, and important information. This keeps everyone informed and engaged.
A mobile app is an essential tool for today’s HR software. It empowers your workforce, increases accessibility, and fosters a more connected and productive work environment.
Real-Time Analytics and Reporting
Informed choices are crucial for any business, especially regarding your workforce. All-in-one HR software with robust analytics and reporting features empowers you to make data-driven decisions to optimize your HR processes and achieve your business goals.
Here’s how these insights can benefit you:
Workforce insights: Gain a deeper understanding of your workforce demographics, skills, and performance. Track key metrics like time to hire, employee turnover, and training effectiveness to identify areas for improvement.
Strategic planning: Use data to inform strategic planning initiatives. Analyze recruitment, performance, and retention trends to make data-driven decisions about talent acquisition, training and development, and compensation strategies.
Improved ROI: Track your HR initiatives’ return on investment (ROI). By analyzing the impact of HR programs on metrics like employee engagement and productivity, you can demonstrate the value of HR to your organization.
Real-time analytics and reporting transform HR data from static information into actionable insights. This empowers HR professionals to make data-driven decisions, optimize processes, and contribute measurably to the organization’s success.
Conclusion
Choosing the right all-in-one HR software can be transformative for startups. It offers PTO management, onboarding tools, application tracking, benefits administration, performance management, mobile accessibility, and real-time analytics. These features streamline HR tasks, improve efficiency, and enhance employee satisfaction. By adopting comprehensive HR software, startups can focus on strategic growth and building a robust, motivated team, ultimately driving success and achieving business goals. Embracing these HR solutions ensures a strong foundation for managing the most valuable asset: your people.
In the spirit of World Environment Day, StartupTalky presents an exclusive interview with Hisham Mundol, Chief Advisor at Environmental Defense Fund, India. Explore his expertise as he discusses India’s sustainable growth, EDF’s impactful initiatives in climate action, and the crucial role of businesses and individuals in protecting our environment.
Gain valuable insights on environmental challenges and solutions, inspiring corporate action, and empowering the next generation of climate leaders. Join us in celebrating World Environment Day with this enlightening conversation.
StartupTalky: How can India ensure it grows economically while still protecting our environment?
Mr. Mundol: India needs to grow. That is non-negotiable. That growth needs energy. Increasing the share of renewable energy in our energy systems is the first priority. The second is to foster innovation to drive circularity. Circularity is about recycling, but so much more. It also includes more efficient use of resources as well as energy efficiency. Climate tech and climate policy are also essential for Indian industry to make money by going green.
StartupTalky: What are some amazing ways EDF is helping India fight climate change and pollution, making a real difference in people’s lives?
Mr. Mundol: Across different sectors, Environmental Defense Funds’s (EDF) efforts are aligned to support the country’s economic development — while stabilising the climate and providing a healthy environment. Our approach provides catalytic support in four distinct strategic areas. These include: (1) enhancing sustainable livelihoods in agriculture, livestock, and fisheries to achieve the triple win of improved incomes, secured yields, and protected climate; (2) advancing corporate action to generate shareholder value through sustainable business operations; (3) supporting government capacity in areas like carbon pricing; and (4) helping India balance economic growth and environmental sustainability imperatives.
StartupTalky: How can businesses and the government come together as a team to safeguard our environment for future generations?
Mr. Mundol: Past examples where business and government have come together are instructive to how this can happen. Light Emitting Diode (or LED) bulbs are both longer-lasting and more energy-efficient than conventional lighting. The government incentivised production and companies responded by scaling up volumes which brought down prices. Governments worked with the industry by directing public procurement, and industry responded by marketing LED bulbs to other consumers. LED bulbs are now a multi-billion dollar industry in India. This kind of cohesion is what is needed.
StartupTalky: Could you share an example of a time when EDF worked hand-in-hand with local communities or businesses in India to solve an environmental challenge?
Mr. Mundol: EDF has equipped 40,000 farmers with a new tool to manage nitrogen fertiliser use — and save costs. Nitrogen is essential to crop production, but too little reduces crop yields and depletes soils, and too much accelerates climate change, degrades air and water quality, and increases costs for both farmers and governments. EDF created the N-Balance tool to help farmers, governments, and food companies to determine how much fertiliser is efficiently needed on a given plot for a given crop. N-Balance can help farmers save INR 500–2,500 (about US$6–30) per agricultural season for households which is consequential as their average monthly income is approximately INR 10,000 (about US$120).
In 2023, EDF worked with Samagra Shikshan Evam Vikas Sansthan in Bihar and Syngenta Foundation India in Maharashtra to pilot this tool. We expect these pilots to not only reduce farmers’ costs and optimise government spending, but also encourage other farmers and organisations to adopt the tool in different states.
StartupTalky: What are the biggest environmental problems India faces right now, and what can we do about them?
Mr. Mundol: The two biggest challenges are heat and water. Increasing temperatures are caused by greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and shorter life but higher-warming gases like methane and nitrous oxide). The most effective carbon sink we have is our forest and biodiversity and we should secure these. On methane and nitrous oxide, there are solutions with proven science and viable economics. For instance, reducing methane emissions from the oil & gas sector is the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to decarbonise.
Water management should be a strategic national priority. In particular, we need an ambitious and science-based plan to manage groundwater – on which agriculture is majorly dependent but is under severe stress.
StartupTalky: How can India switch to clean energy faster, and how can EDF help?
Mr. Mundol: India’s energy system is transitioning from a conventional fuels-based power system to one where half of energy comes from renewable sources. The transition has significant technical, economic, social, and environmental impacts. Renewable energy has significant advantages but also comes with unique constraints like weather, land availability, and lack of flexibility on when power generation can happen and when it cannot.
State governments need energy modelling capacity to factor in these complexities. EDF recently launched a made-in-India, open-source, transparent, energy transition model – the Indian Zero Carbon Pathways (IDEEA) in partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and Global Change Program at Jadavpur University (GCP-JU) in Kolkata.
StartupTalky: Why is it important for businesses to care about the environment, and how can they make a positive impact while still being successful?
Mr. Mundol: Very simple. There is money to be made in responsible business! It raises revenues and builds brands and it improves margins. It protects against risk. It attracts and retains talent.
There also happens to be real and big downside if they do not care. The history of the business sector is littered with examples of giant companies that fell by the wayside and entire sectors being upturned by those that did not keep up.
StartupTalky: What strategies do you use to inspire leaders and companies to care deeply about the environment?
Mr. Mundol: The best strategy is to showcase leaders and companies who have done the right thing as far as the environment is concern. A visionary State government is the best voice to inspire and inform action by other State governments. A progressive company is the surest way of inspiring (and indeed perspiring) competitors to follow suit. We want those who act on climate change to serve as lighthouses for their peers.
StartupTalky: Could you share some exciting upcoming projects EDF has planned in India?
Mr. Mundol: Climate change is both the environmental crisis and economic opportunity of the century. By adopting sustainable business practices, companies have a significant opportunity to create shareholder value — though achieving this requires authentic, ambitious, and concerted action by the corporate sector.
EDF’s Climate Corps programme is helping to address this challenge by cultivating the next generation of climate leadership in India. By recruiting, training, and embedding post-graduate students in leading companies and organisations, the programme seeks to support businesses’ efforts to meet India’s development and climate objectives and develop a pipeline of talented professionals equipped with knowledge and skills that will be essential in India’s growing green economy.
In 2023, EDF placed nearly 30 Climate Corps fellows at 13 large national and multinational corporations to support sustainability and environmental projects at top companies including Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, Zomato, and others.
StartupTalky: What advice would you give to young people who dream of making a positive impact on the environment here in India?
Mr. Mundol: First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring and dreaming. The climate and environment are the most defining issues for the planet. There is so much you can do. If it is a career, sustainability is going to be one of the top career options for the next several decades. If it is individual action, every little action adds up. So many of the most amazing changes have come through one person doing one right thing. Lastly, I’d say, stay optimistic. This is tough, but we will make it through to the other side.
On the occasion of World Environment Day, StartupTalky connected withVimal Panjwani, the Founder and CEO of AgriVijay for an insightful conversation. AgriVijay is India’s first marketplace of renewable energy products for farmers and rural households, promoting energy independence and sustainability.
In this exclusive conversation, learn about their groundbreaking initiatives in sustainable agriculture, and how it is revolutionising rural communities by empowering farmers and combating climate change through renewable energy solutions and AI-enabled platforms.
StartupTalky: Could you explain in simple terms what AgriVijay does? What are your main goals as a company?
Mr. Panjwani: AgriVijay is India’s first curated Marketplace & Agtech Climate Action Social Enterprise of Renewable & Green Energy products for Farmers & Rural households helping them increase their savings and income along with fighting Climate Change by bringing all products in solar, biogas, thermal, wind & green energy – electric under one roof and with an Energy Advisory Recommendation approach where farmer’s energy & agriculture needs are understood coupled with waste availability at their end before products are recommended, sold, financed and deployed as an ‘End to End’ solution provider for last mile.
With the help of a dedicated AI-enabled Whatsapp Chatbot, Website, Call Centre in the local languages, Field Sales/Technical Team & offline Franchise Business Model at the village level known as Renewable Energy Stores making Renewable & Green Energy products – Accessible, Available & Affordable aligned with UN SDG’s on rural grounds coupled with benefits such as Free Insurance, Long Term Warranty, Assured After Sales Service, EMI / Financing Facility at subsidised Interest Rate helping Farmers & Rural households Energy & Financially Independent with increased savings & income along with contributing to the Global Climate Action movement.
At AgriVijay, we are leading the largest climate action movement with a vision to onboard 1 million farmers and rural households as renewable and green energy producers and consumers, aiming to reduce 1 million tons of GHG/CO2 emissions by 2030.
AgriVijay Products
StartupTalky: How does AgriVijay help farmers and rural households? Could you provide some examples of the products and services you offer?
Mr. Panjwani: Farmers suffer from post-harvest losses & most of them are also dependent on fossil fuels such as diesel to run their diesel gensets in order to run their electric water pumps, milking machines, etc. along with firewood for cooking by the rural women. They also have the availability of animal/food/agri waste which goes unharnessed in the form of energy but impacts Climate Change with GHG/CO2 emissions.
We are the 3rd GHG emitter as a nation. Also, if a farmer wants to switch to Renewable Energy to solve these problems there is no dedicated marketplace or store in the village where his energy needs are understood & product is recommended based on his pocket. There is no Knowledge insemination or education around various renewable energy products & their benefits in solar, biogas, thermal, wind, and other green energy products such as electricity. These products are neither available at the village level nor accessible hence becoming unaffordable for last-mile consumers.
AgriVijay brings 45+ companies that are esteemed partners with their 200+ innovations on the platform today in solar, biogas, and green energy – electric, agritech & organic coupled with their ‘End to End’ solution with their bundled package making them different from traditional dealer-distributor model for farmers & rural households.
StartupTalky: How does AgriVijay contribute to fighting climate change? Can you share any specific impact metrics or success stories?
Mr. Panjwani: AgriVijay has impacted 6000+ farmers & rural households lives in its 4 years of existence with their 80+ Renewable Energy Stores having an outreach of 15,00,000 farmers in 350 villages having abated 10,000 tons of GHG/CO2 emissions along with mitigating 73,000 kgs of post-harvest losses mitigated with technologies like Solar Dryer & Solar Refrigeration.
AgriVijay also spearheaded the mission by treating 1,64,250 Kgs of animal waste replacing 59,000 kgs of firewood with clean cooking fuel such as Biogas producing 3.28 litres of lakhs of liquid organic digested bio-slurry replacing chemical fertilisers usage on fields by farmers. AgriVijay is becoming a leader in solar having 6.57 KWH lakhs of clean energy being produced while irrigating 500+ acres of farmlands with increased savings and income of INR 17.5 lakh.
Case Study Mr. Shahabuddin:
Mr. Shahbuddin is a small vegetable farmer in Ajmer, Rajasthan who has been investing INR 15,000 to 20,000 every month in diesel/electricity for irrigating his farms. He reached out to AgriVijay for a solution where our Team recommended & installed a 5 hp Solar Water Pump. Today after 2.5 years he has not only saved INR 15,000 to 20,000 every month but also has abated around 10 tons of CO2 emissions with his Solar Water Pump and has received an ROI in 12 months itself. He also enjoys Free Insurance against theft & Long-term warranty of 5 years on Pump & Controller which is an AgriVijay advantage.
Case Study MGNREGA Mr. Shailesh:
He is a small dairy farmer in the District Panchayat of Dadra & Nagar Haveli where his wife used to cook on firewood and with the help of MGNREGA & AgriVijay Team the firewood was replaced with a clean cooking digester producing Biogas where they cook for 2-3 hours every day by feeding 35-40 Kgs of cow dung mixed with water also getting 70 liters of rich organic liquid bio-slurry to be used in farms enriching soil organically. The Biogas digester which costs about INR 40,000 comes with a complete package of cookstove, pipeline, inlet, and outlet tanks and with AgriVijay advantage it comes with free delivery & installation. The digestor also mitigates 5 tons of GHG emissions annually with an ROI of 12 months replacing firewood & chemical fertilizer bringing monthly savings of INR 2500 to INR 3,000 for rural households.
Case Study Mr. Vitthal Ranjane:
Mr. Vitthal Ranjane With a 3HP Solar Water Pump
Mr. Vitthal Ranjane – He is an active vegetable farmer in Varoshi Village in the Satara district of Maharashtra who was spending INR 15,000 every month on Diesel to run his genset in order to run an electric water pump for irrigation and replaced it with a 3 HP Solar Water Pump bringing immense savings along with reducing emissions from diesel. He also stated that he got better returns for his ginger in the market after using solar irrigation as earlier he used to get INR 13-14 per kg while now he gets INR 100 per kg with solar irrigated ginger on his farms bringing increased income.
Case Study Mr. Harshal Mali:
An active Onion Chiku farmer from Palghar village in Maharashtra was recommended a Solar Dryer with Electric Backup to minimize post-harvest losses and also generate income out of the wastage of the produce at his end.
Our happy customer Mr. Harshali Mali explains and quotes, “The quality and nutrient content of the produce is better than the conventional drying it is also affordable as compared to an electric dryer. It is very useful for seashore areas where humidity content is high. It controls humidity maintains moisture to the required extent and dries products perfectly. I use it for products like Sapota (Chiku) which usually takes 3 days to dry but it dries up in only 1 day using a solar dryer. I am now able to save INR 8,000-10,000 per month.”
He got his ROI in just 8 months and with AgriVijay’s advantage, he got the dryer delivered and installed to his farm along with Free Insurance against theft and Natural Damage coupled with a long-term warranty assured after-sales service by AgriVijay.
Case Study Mr. Sunil Rawatale:
Mr. Sunil wanted to open an e-Mitra centre with the help of BAIF where he can become a facilitator to the common man, offering all payment methods such as cash, net banking, and credit/debit cards. Further, enabling the users by reducing the requirement of document upload with various application forms by verifying data online. AgriVijay Team installed a Solar Inverter with a Printer to help him become Independent due to the fluctuations and challenges in electricity due to the hilly areas of Nandurbar District near Toranmal village in Maharashtra and a tribal belt.
StartupTalky: What sets AgriVijay apart from other renewable energy providers in India? What makes your approach unique or innovative?
Mr. Panjwani: If you analyse AgriVijay is a kind of Amazon of Renewable & Green Energy Products for farmers and rural households that are also without an app and actively working online with a website, AI chatbots along with offline Renewable Energy Stores. Being an ‘End to End’ solution provider bundled with benefits like Free Insurance against theft & damage from Natural Calamities, EMI/Financing facility, Long Term Warranty & Assured After Sales Service makes AgriVijay unique in the value proposition.
The moat is however the expertise across sectors the AgriVijay team brings in where at one they are helping startups & companies reach the last mile with demand generation with their omnichannel touch points while at one end they just do not recommend the product/solution to the farmer and rural household but also do the delivery and installation makes it a one-stop shop for their energy & agriculture needs.
AgriVijay Renewable Energy Store
StartupTalky: Could you walk us through the process of how AgriVijay recommends, sells, finances, and deploys renewable energy solutions for farmers and rural households?
Mr. Panjwani: Whenever a farmer or rural households connect with us through our Omni-Channel touch points mainly AI-enabled WhatsApp Chatbot & Call Centre in local languages, Field Sales Team or our Renewable Energy Stores at village level we first understand the energy & agriculture needs recommend the solution if the farmer/rural households wants to buy in cash he pays 75% and remaining afterward when the product gets delivered & installed in 7-10 days of committed TAT. In the case of Loans/Financing facility Farmer/Rural households documents are submitted for CIBIL check with our NBFC partner Samunnati and post-approval within 48 hours Loan Documents are processed for order processing in the same committed TAT.
StartupTalky: How do you ensure that the renewable energy products you offer are easily accessible, available, and affordable to farmers and rural households, especially those in remote areas?
Mr. Panjwani: We have 80+ Renewable Energy Stores today along with a dedicated technical team for installation and after-sales service along with the help of AI-enabled WhatsApp chatbots, Call Center, Field Sales Team AgriVijay ensures that farmers & rural households’ energy & agriculture needs are understood before the product is recommended. We understand the energy & agriculture needs from a Farmer before recommending the right renewable energy solution. With our Renewable Energy Stores, we make 45+ companies & their 200+ innovations accessible in solar, biogas, and green energy – electric, agritech & organic and available across India and affordable with our Financing Facility of 3/6/9/12 months EMI at subsidised interest rate aligned with UN SDG’s making farmers & rural households Energy & Financially Independent along with fighting Climate Change.
StartupTalky: Can you tell us more about your partnership with various organisations like Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, and Indigram Labs Foundation? How do these partnerships support AgriVijay’s mission?
Mr. Panjwani: We have been an ANIC 2.0 (Atal New India Challenge) winner as apurely homegrown startup company backed &supported by Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) & NITI Aayog, Govt of India at AIC RMP, AIC ADT Baramati Foundation. Our presence in multiple states has been governed by incubation at IRMA Iseed (Gujarat), AIIDE & SIIC – (IIT Kanpur Noida Extension) helping us scale our impact while we are invested by Indigram Labs Foundation under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) supported by DPIIT, Govt of India .
We got our seed round investment support from AIC JKLU along with Miss Sanvali Kaushik, aIDEA ICAR NAARM (under NABARD CCF) & Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) under LIC HFL Social Trailblazer program 2023 proudly having them as Investors & Advisors on our captable. We have also been a recipient of the DST NIDHI Seed Support Fund by ABI ICRISAT & HDFC Parivartan Grantee by Climate Collective in 2023 & RKVY RAFTAAR Grantee by IGKV Raipur supported by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India in 2024.
StartupTalky: What impact do you hope to achieve with your B2B and B2G projects? Can you share any success stories from these projects?
Mr. Panjwani: AgriVijay as an ag-tech climate action social enterprise works to bring impact at scale. We have been rigorously working in B2B and B2G to diversify our impact with different technologies in solar, biogas & green energy – electric. We have showcased our prowess with multiple organisations in B2B like SELCO foundation across India as well in Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra, TRIF in Uttar Pradesh, BAIF in Maharashtra along with experimenting with our business model with new technologies like Biogas Digester with MGNREGA in Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Gujarat.
A Few of Our Work in B2B & B2G:
Project 1: SELCO Foundation – AgriVijay AtmanirbharKisanParivar Project
AgriVijay – SELCO Foundation Impact Project
We implemented our last-mile livelihood business model of Renewable Energy stores at the village level for the rural communities impacted due to COVID under Catalyse Tech 2021.
We opened over 20 Renewable Energy Stores at the village level in the Jaipur and Ajmer regions of Rajasthan. We provided training on renewable energy products, conducted multiple awareness campaigns, and disseminated knowledge to the RE Store owners on the benefits of renewable energy products, including solar, biogas, and green energy such as electricity. Additionally, we distributed demo products to raise awareness. With the help of Renewable Energy Stores, we generated employment and trading opportunities to grow and stand again; mitigating COVID’s impact on the livelihood of 60,000 Rural Youth of India.
Project 2: Arpan SevaSansthan – AgriVijay Clean Cooking for Rural Women with Biogas Digester Project
ARPAN Seva Sansthan – AgriVijay Clean Cooking for Rural Women with Biogas Digester Project
We replaced firewood and chemical fertilizer in 15 rural households with Clean Cooking Fuel – Biogas and Organic Fertilizer – Bioslurry using flexible biodigesters which are produced by treating animal waste. This initiative was implemented in the Reengus and Ajmer regions of Rajasthan. Rural women and their families now have access to healthy, smokeless cooking practices with clean fuel along with additional financial savings of about Rs 2000/ month per Family. It saves time spent on collecting and cooking using firewood which is now given to their children, household, or other economic activities.
Project 3: MGNREGA- Installation of Biogas – Digesters In Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
AgriVijay got an opportunity to work with the MGNREGA, District Panchayat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, where we executed a pilot project of installing a biogas digester of 2 m³ at a rural household of a dairy farmer in Silvassa. A biogas digester can produce clean cooking fuel – biogas – which is sufficient for cooking purposes for a 3–4-member rural household (2–3 hours of daily cooking), reducing dependency on firewood and LPG.
It also produces 60–70 liters of organic bio-slurry, replacing chemical fertilizer and enriching soil health. The biogas digester, which costs about INR 40,000, comes with a complete package including a cookstove, pipeline, inlet, and outlet tanks, and with the AgriVijay advantage, it comes with free delivery and installation. The digester also mitigates 5 tons of GHG emissions annually, with an ROI of 12 months, replacing firewood and chemical fertilizer, bringing monthly savings of INR 2,500 to INR 3,000 for rural households.
StartupTalky: How does AgriVijay utilise technology, such as AI-enabled chatbots and e-commerce platforms, to reach and serve farmers and rural households?
Mr. Panjwani: AgriVijay has been leveraging technologies like IoT & AI for a while considering penetrating rural areas with the internet and increasing usage of WhatsApp we brought AI Chatbots in Hindi & English & soon will be launching the same in Marathi, Telugu & Gujarati to engage more with farmers & rural households so that they become more knowledgeable about the renewable & green energy innovations along with their benefits and later connect with our team for better understanding and right recommendation before making a purchase decision.
We at AgriVijay are also educating them with our social media handles especially YouTube where we upload all our products whenever we list them on the platform along with our installations of various products with farmers and rural households sharing their experiences bringing better validation for our high-quality product and service.
StartupTalky: Finally, could you share about the importance of environmental sustainability in AgriVijay’s business model? How do you ensure that your operations align with sustainable practices?
Mr. Panjwani: AgriVijay has been contributing to the global climate action movement since its inception having abated 10,000 tons of GHG/CO2 emissions recognizing the energy needs of farmers and rural households, we are dedicated to recommending, selling, financing, delivering, and deploying renewable energy solutions that cater to their specific requirements. Our commitment extends beyond transactions; we provide a comprehensive package including long-term warranties, guaranteed after-sales services, and solar insurance. Moreover, we facilitate accessibility through an EMI financing facility, ensuring that our products are not only available but also affordable for farmers and rural households.
In harmony with UN SDGs, encompassing Goals 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 5 (Gender Equality), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 13 (Climate Action), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), our initiatives strive to contribute to social well-being, economic empowerment, and environmental sustainability in rural areas. We also do our deliveries of the products with Green Energy transport & vehicles.
With the ICC World Cup 2024 underway, cricket fans everywhere are glued to their televisions and smartphones, ready to witness all the thrilling matches. Everything that has been presented during live broadcasts is merely the surface of what lies beneath; an entire ecosystem is responsible for these broadcasts. Companies just make sure that every touchpoint has been examined, starting from securing media rights from the ICC and airing the matches.
The media rights to air the broadcasting firm purchases any ICC events for a substantial sum. The corporation then makes money through advertisements or by negotiating contracts with co-sponsors. Since the vast majority of Indians are avid cricket fans, many firms have spent a lot of money on securing media rights for the Indian market. This presents a fantastic potential for them to increase their revenues even higher.
Disney Star All Eyes up for More Than 1600 CR Ad Sales
Disney Star, the official media rights holder for this season’s ICC Men’s T20 cricket World Cup, is expected to earn approximately INR 1,600-1,800 crore in advertising income, comparable to the amount they made during the last event in Australia two years ago. Forecasts indicate that the broadcaster’s advertising roster will mirror that of the current Indian Premier League. Disney Star anticipates winning over prominent sponsors like those seen in the BCCI-backed cricket tournament IPL, even though it is still inking deals and is in the final stages of selling around 40% of its advertising spot inventory already.
Ajit Varghese, the executive vice president of advertisement sales, stated that broadcasters have witnessed a notable increase in interest in the gaming, banking, and finance services sectors inside cricket, both last year and this year. Additionally, industrial items and infrastructure will also prove to be formidable categories for advertisements. Interestingly, fast-moving consumer goods businesses’ contributions to cricket revenue have increased from single digits to significant double digits.
ICC Cricket Rankings: Leading Men’s TWENTY20 Countries Worldwide as of May 2024
Disney Star Is Reshaping the T20 World Cup Advertising Pricing
Disney Star has reduced advertising fees for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in comparison to the 2022 tournament. The television network is requesting prices from advertisers of more than INR 6.2 lakh for each 10-second spot, with spot buyers paying an additional INR 6.4 lakh per spot. For the 2022 event, the broadcaster asked sponsors and spot buyers for ad rates of between INR 9 to 10 lakh, respectively.
Advertisements for each Twenty20 World Cup game fell 47% from the previous year, according to a recently published media report. The Disney Star is requesting donations of more than INR 60 million from co-presenting sponsors for both SD and HD channels, after successfully bidding $3 billion for the 2024–27 cycle to acquire media rights in India.
Disney Star has recently disclosed its 19 sponsors for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Dream 11, Maruti, AMFI, Parle Products, BPCL, Haier, ICICI Bank, Jockey, KP Group (Kamala Pasand), Reliance Retail, Samsung India, Housing.com, Jaquar Group, Castrol, Kent RO, TVS Eurogrip, Macho Hint, and McNroe are some of the brands that are included in this category. In addition to the knockout matches, it is anticipated that the match between India and Pakistan that will take place on June 9 will be the most watched match of the tournament.
This diversified set of sponsors demonstrates the longstanding popularity of cricket as well as the strategic importance of sports consumption and the supply of creative content. As preparations are being made for this monumental event, we are looking forward to an incredible celebration of cricket that will bring together ardent fans and players from all over the world, Varghese said.
The matches will be broadcast solely on the Star Sports network, and they will be accessible to mobile subscribers of Disney+ Hotstar for free streaming.
FAQs
Where is the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2024?
The ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2024 is in The United States and West Indies from June 1 to June 29.
What is the prize money for winning the 2024 T20 World Cup?
The International Cricket Council has announced a record prize of USD 11.25 million (approximately INR 93.5 crore) for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
How many teams are there in the T20 World Cup 2024?
There are 20 teams which are divided into four groups in the T20 World Cup 2024.
03rd June 2024, Mumbai: The 11th global edition of the World CX Summit and Awards, an event by Trescon, drew to a close at the Leela, Mumbai on 22nd May 2024. The event was attended by over 200+ CX experts participating in a day filled with insightful discussions focusing on solutions and innovations that are reshaping how businesses approach the customer experience space.
The event explored crucial topics that have been dominating the CX space ranging from amplifying CX through martech, enhancing CX through automation, personalised CX through conversational AI, AI-led intelligent CX workflows and more.
Among the insightful sessions during the summit was the tech talk on ‘Reimagine Customer Experience with GenAI’ by Santosh Rao, Technology Leader – Client Engineering, IBM, and Buvana Iyer, Technology Leader- Client Engineering, IBM. The discussion focused on how the integration of AI-based tools are reshaping the customer experience lifecycle.
Another notable session was the panel discussion on “Revolutionizing Customer Experience: Navigating the Era of Digital Transformation”. Moderated by Ninad Raje, Chief Information & Transformation Officer, Chief People Officer, HealthAssure, deliberated on how subscription-based models have reshaped consumer behaviour and expectations. Fellow panellists, Lavanya Pachisia, Chief Operating Officer, Zivame; Keshav Evani, President – Digital Banking, YES Bank, and Suraj Shetty, Head of Customer Experience and Learning Development, Ring, provided key insights on how the integration of emerging technologies such as the metaverse, robotics, and marketing automation lead to exceptional customer experiences and increased ROI.
Santhosh Rao, Partner & Growth Platform Leader, Business Transformation Services, India – South Asia, IBM, the Lead Partner of the event, reflected on his experience, stating, “I found the summit experience to be excellent, primarily due to the format in which it was conducted. The panel discussions, where various clients shared their experiences and insights on adopting GenAI, were particularly enlightening. Additionally, during my session on leveraging GenAI to reimagine the customer experience, there were engaging questions and interactions, indicative of the high level of attendance and participation in the sessions.”
Anvesha Poswalia, Head of Digital & E-commerce, Unilever, said,” it’s been an amazing experience. I’m truly elated by the incredible people I’ve met and the engaging discussions we’ve had, including the independent ones.”
Delnaaz Irani, Associate Director – Customer Experience, GSK, added, “the overall experience of the Summit was truly exciting. You get to learn a lot of new things, especially within your specific industry. Typically, you’re so focused on your day-to-day tasks that attending summits like this expands your horizons.”
Lalit Khosa, Head of Growth & BFSI Strategy, Exotel, further added “the World CX Summit and Awards was truly exceptional. The articulation of the event, the sharing of growth strategies by customers, and the well-aligned networking sessions were all superb. It was a wonderful experience to engage in such meaningful conversations.”
Naveen Bharadwaj, the CEO of Trescon, expressed, “during our research in preparation for this summit, our community of CX leaders highlighted a pressing demand for innovative solutions and services, that shaped our strategic priorities and focus for this event’s agenda. We are committed to advancing our community’s objectives by fostering effective deal flow between vendors and key decision-makers. Through intelligent and strategic collaborations, we aim to support our ecosystem in achieving their goals.”
The event culminated in the prestigious Top 100 CX Leaders Awards and Top 30 Marketing Leader Awards ceremony, honouring the top leaders and marketers for their exceptional contributions to innovation and excellence.
The World CX Summit has become an essential platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and business growth within the CX community. Through focused discussions on conversational AI and MarTech, the summit explored practical strategies for implementing these solutions and shaping the digital future in India’s technological landscape.
The 11th edition of the World CX Summit was brought to you by:
Lead Partner: IBM
Platinum Partner: Exotel
Gold Partner: Kore.ai;OneXtel
Bronze Partners: Limechat
Awards Partner: Gupshup
About Trescon Trescon is a pioneering force in the global business events and services sector, driving the adoption of emerging technologies while promoting sustainability and inclusive leadership. With a deep understanding of the realities and requirements of the growth markets we operate in – we strive to deliver innovative and high-quality business platforms for our clients.
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 4: Tarot Talks, a platform dedicated to tarot enthusiasts, has been officially launched by Arka Adhikary, a tarot reader with seven years of experience. This platform aims to empower tarot readers by giving them the tools and opportunities to showcase their skills and build a successful career.
Arka Adhikary embarked on his tarot reading journey in 2017, driven by a passion for the art of tarot. Over the years, he sharpened his skills and gained extensive experience, eventually realising the need for a supportive platform where well-trained tarot readers could thrive. This realisation led to the creation of Tarot Talks, a platform designed to offer comprehensive learning and earning opportunities for tarot readers at all levels.
One of the standout features of Tarot Talks is its affordability. Unlike other platforms that charge exorbitant fees of 30-50% of earnings, Tarot Talks takes only a 10% fee. This makes it a much more attractive and viable option for tarot readers looking to build their careers without being burdened by high costs. This initiative has attracted several tarot readers who have started seeing traffic and earning through the platform.
A significant milestone for Tarot Talks was the recent large online tarot reading workshop, which attracted over 200 participants worldwide. The success of this event highlighted the demand for a supportive community for tarot readers and reinforced the mission of Tarot Talks. The platform offers services beyond tarot reading, including quality workshops and personalised support. It aims to cater to spiritual practitioners and individuals interested in learning tarot, providing an inclusive and supportive environment for all.
With the website’s official launch in April 2024, Tarot Talks is still in its nascent stages but has already begun making a significant impact. Arka Adhikary is leveraging his experience and credibility to push the platform forward, ensuring he and Tarot Talks gain the community’s trust. Moving forward, the platform plans to welcome more readers and expand its reach, continuing to empower tarot enthusiasts in their journey.
Arka Adhikary invites tarot readers, spiritual practitioners, and anyone interested in learning tarot to join the Tarot Talks community.
Finding a job is not at all hassle-free. You have to prepare with a number of documents and with that, you even have to prepare yourself with confidence and motivation. If only this misery could be eased down, one’s worries would let them live a bit.
Today, you can order food and merchandise online, just with a few presses on the screen of your mobile. Similarly, you could land yourself at an interview and have your shining resume impress the interviewee.
With several job opportunities right in front of you, Indeed, a job listing app and website will help you seek your favoured niche. There are no limits, from being a beauty stylist, or a fashion designer to even securing a neat IT job, Indeed will help you work at your dream job.
Currently available in over 60 countries, Indeed is an employment website that collects job listings from different websites and helps job seekers connect with a perfect employer. As for the gathering of jobs, Indeed collects data from job boards, staffing firms, associates, and career job boards
Speaking of its headquarters and offices, it is co-headquartered in two cities that being in Stamford, Connecticut, and Austin, Texas, while the company has offices all around the globe in 60 countries. The company is a subsidiary of Japan’s Recruit Co. Ltd.
Indeed – Industry
The industry that Indeed is based on is known by various names. It is called an Employment Website industry, job boards, and even recruiting websites.
Speaking of the industry, the global market for the said industry is growing year by year. In the year 2021, the online recruitment market size was estimated to be valued at USD 29292.3 million. Then in 2022, it grew to be at USD 31372.05 million. The similar is expected to grow to USD 58163.19 million by 2030. The market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 7.1% in the aforementioned period of 2023-2030.
Paul Forster and Rony Kahan were the ones who co-founded Indeed back in 2004.
Paul Forster
An investor, with an eye for early-stage technology companies, Paul Forster co-founded one of the largest job-seeking websites in the world, Indeed. He was the CEO of the company until 2012. Forster is also better known for his skills as an Angel Investor. At present, Paul serves as a lawyer at The Legal Director and a board member at Growth Intelligence.
Rony Kahan
The present chairman of Indeed is the second co-founder of the said company. Completing his MBA from INSEAD back in 1994, Kahan has also been the board director of Recruit Co. Ltd. since 2018.
He began his career as an HR by co-founding jobsinthemoney.com. The company later became a prime job site, especially for finance professionals. After this growth, Kahan sold the business in 2003 and chased his dream with his new company Indeed.
Indeed – History
Launched in 2004, Indeed had its offices in Stamford and Austin. The Stamford office looked after the sales of the company as well as client services, and finance, while the Austin branch held work processes for product development staff.
A year later, the company launched its beta version of the ‘Pay-Per-click” job advertising network. Moving ahead in the future, in 2012, Indeed became an independent operating unit of Japan’s Recruit Co. Ltd.
In the year 2016, the Japan-based company announced that it acquired the assets of Simply Hired, one of the competitors of Indeed. 2018 was the year when Glassdoor and Indeed became sister companies as the Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. also acquired the assets of Glassdoor.
Indeed – Mission and vision
Indeed is a job recruiting company that has the simplest mission.
Mission
Indeed states that its mission is “To help people find appropriate jobs.”
Vision
Indeed aims to work toward its goal by making it a point “To give job seekers free access to millions of jobs from thousands of company websites and job boards.”
Indeed – Business Model
The work-related search engine earns money through its business model that charges employers for additional features to have increased visibility.
Indeed – Revenue Model
Indeed Website
It earns from pay-per-click advertising subscription fees, banner ads, and hiring events. Recently, Indeed also came up with a one-click solution for job applicants. With over 2.5 million resumes in its database, it is tirelessly working to monetize the growing resume files as well.
Besides the above-mentioned methods, Indeed is even helping companies by creating job trend reports and rating reviews for them. It is estimated that Indeed has ten projects to help it cover the growing job market globally.
At present, as per the information available on Wikipedia, the recruitment website has over 14,600 employees.
Indeed – Funding Investors
Indeed had taken an investment round of USD 5 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, The New York Times, and Allen & Company.
Investor Name
Funding Round
Union Square Ventures
Series A – Indeed
The New York Times
Series A – Indeed
Allen & Company
Series A – Indeed
Indeed – Investment
To date indeed has made 7 investments, with the latest being in Aug 2022 with Truework.
DATE
ORGANIZATION NAME
FUNDING ROUND
Aug 9, 2022
Truework
Series C
May 30, 2022
Checkstep
Seed Round
Mar 9, 2022
Branch
Series C
Jan 18, 2022
Pinwheel
Series B
Dec 27, 2021
Paradox
Series C
Dec 9, 2020
Turing.com
Convertible Note
Mar 3, 2020
Upshift
Series A
Indeed – Merger and Acquisitions
Talking about the mergers Indeed has acquired 5 organizations until now, with the latest one being in 2019. In 2019, Indeed acquired two companies, ClickIQ and Syft.
Name
Date
ClickIQ
Jul 12, 2019
Syft
May 30,2019
Resume.com
May 25, 2018
Interviewed
Aug 4, 2017
MoBolt UK
Jun 24, 2014
Indeed – Growth
Already known as the best employment-related metasearch engine for all kinds of job listings, Indeed has covered a global GDP of 94%. The website is visited by more than 140 million unique users in a single month and is available in over 50 countries.
The website is leading when it comes to traffic as it has double the traffic of any other job site. Indeed is also regarded as the leading website for performance recruitment advertising networks, as the website has helped over a million applicants land a perfect job. Moreover, Indeed is the number one source of external hires.
In October of 2010, Indeed surpassed its pre-existing, tough competitor, Monster.com, and became the highest-traffic job website in the United States. Meanwhile, the API and mobile applications launched by Indeed have also helped it grow with massive traction. The similar is still witnessing significant growth.
Besides the United States, the company has even captured attention internationally. Approximately, 50% of its traffic and over 20% of the revenue generated are from abroad and not the US. The company is currently valued at USD 500 million.
Regional distribution of desktop traffic to Indeed.com as of December 2023, by country in Percentage
Indeed – Social Media Presence / Campaigns
Indeed is one company that is always on the lookout for innovative ways to create brand awareness. It had previously partnered with Amobee and launched a world series campaign across Facebook, Twitter as well as on Instagram.
The goal was to complement their TV investment, capturing the attention of world series viewers by exposing them to their “Player Resume” while also holding natural and continued conversations about Indeed.
For this campaign, the company posted 26 jobs on its website through which it selected the stars to showcase in the TV ad.
Next was in India, when Indeed partnered with TikTok’s social media platform. Together they launched a campaign #IndeedPeDhoondo in the year 2020, with an aim to attract Gen Z as well as millennial job seekers.
Indeed – Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy that indeed follows is pretty simple yet intriguing. For the people who are searching for jobs, the website and the mobile application are free. On the other hand, when it comes to the employees who are posting the job, they are charged to be visible to a larger crowd.
Although companies are offered free-of-cost job postings, they can spend some money on an option that will highlight their company’s presence on the job search website.
In 2020, the company was awarded the Best Leadership Team.
In 2022 and 2021 the company won an award for Best Place to Work in Austin.
In the year 2023, Indeed won an award for Best Leadership Teams 2023
Indeed – Competitors
Indeed Competitors
Monster
LinkedIn
CareerBuilder
iCIMS
Indeed – Future Plans
Looking at the current market of Artificial Intelligence, Indeed is advancing towards the AI Co-pilot model. In an event held in 2023, Indeed announced that they are working towards an AI model that will help with enhanced matching and also have other qualities such as Candidate Outreach Email Composer, Job Description Composer, and Smart Summarization of Candidate Details.
Conclusion
Indeed is a global employment website for job listings launched in November 2004. It is co-headquartered in Austin, Texas, and Stamford, Connecticut, and is a subsidiary of Japan’s Recruit Co. Ltd.
Indeed aggregates job listings from thousands of websites, including job boards, staffing firms, and company career pages, allowing job seekers to search for positions across various industries and locations.
The platform also offers employers tools to post jobs, screen candidates, and manage the hiring process. Indeed provides additional resources such as company reviews, salary information, and career advice to help users in their job search and career development.
FAQs
Can you post a job on Indeed for free?
Yes, jobs can be posted for free on Indeed. However, if you want to target a huge number of applicants, you will have to buy a plan.
What is Sponsored Jobs?
Sponsored jobs are basically paid job postings. These job postings get better visibility and appear for longer durations than non-sponsored jobs.
This article has been contributed by Rangarajan Vasudevan, Chief Data Officer, Lentra.
India’s financial sector, the driving force behind the nation’s economic progress, is dancing on a knife’s edge. Increasing regulatory scrutiny, geopolitical tensions, a volatile global economy, and the ever-looming specter of cyberattacks intertwine to form a complex and constantly shifting risk landscape. The gravity of this scenario is starkly illustrated by the fact that fraud in banking operations alone surged tenfold in 2021-22 compared to a decade ago, reaching an alarming INR 45,598 crore, as reported by the RBI.
Effective risk management is the cornerstone of financial stability. It entails proactively identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential economic losses. Indian financial institutions (FIs) face a multitude of risks. Credit risk, a persistent concern, is exacerbated by the growth of the microfinance sector and the rising non-performing assets in Indian banks. Market risk, brought on by fluctuations in interest rates and stock prices, presents another challenge, as seen in the recent volatility in the Indian market. Operational risk, arising from internal failures like human error, technology glitches, or cyberattacks, is also a growing concern, especially in the digital age.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) emphasises the need for strong cybersecurity measures to address this threat. In fact, the apex bank recently started placing limitations on various lenders citing concerns related to IT infrastructure and information security practices. Therefore, a failure to adhere to evolving regulatory standards necessitates continuous adaptation by FIs.
Traditionally, risk management in Indian FIs heavily relied on manual processes and historical data analysis. While this approach was sufficient in a less volatile environment, its inadequacies are now glaring. An ever-changing regulatory landscape in India, with new laws and regulations being introduced regularly, plus the growing interconnectedness of the global financial system, with transactions and investments spanning multiple countries, has added another layer of complexity.
In addition, the unpredictable nature of natural disasters and pandemics, which can have far-reaching economic implications, further complicates risk management. Legacy systems cannot keep pace with the dynamic nature of risk today.
The limitations of traditional risk management have created fertile ground for AI’s transformative power. AI, alongside automation and cloud technologies, is poised to accelerate digital transformation in financial services. AI’s secret weapon? Its ability to sift through vast amounts of data from unconventional sources. Financial statements, market trends, social media sentiment, and even weather patterns all contribute to AI’s analytical capabilities. This allows for a far more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of risk, identifying potential threats that human analysts, reliant solely on historical data, might miss.
Recent advancements in generative AI further emphasise this urgency. According to EY, modernising core functions and platforms is a top priority for banks aiming to expedite digital transformation, with 58% focusing on this area. Furthermore, 78% of Chief Risk Officers (CROs) prioritise AI implementation—a sign of the industry’s growing appetite for this technology.
The benefits extend far beyond individual institutions. A joint study by National Business Research Institute and Narrative Science reveals that 32% of Indian financial service providers already leverage AI for tasks like voice recognition and predictive analytics. Major banks in India are actively employing AI to streamline operations, and a report by Accenture indicates that 83% of Indian bankers believe AI will collaborate with humans in the near future. JP Morgan Chase has developed the Contract Intelligence (COiN) platform, which can analyse legal documents in seconds, extracting key data points – a task that would take humans hundreds of thousands of hours. Not only is AI faster, but it is also demonstrably less prone to errors.
AI’s reach is not limited to financial institutions. Regulatory bodies like the Reserve Bank of India can leverage AI to identify systemic risks within the Indian economic system. Real-time risk identification empowers regulators to take preventive measures, like adjusting interest rates, to enhance financial stability.
Initiative Taken to Manage Implementation Risks of Generative AI By Organisations Worldwide as of 2024
How AI Can Revolutionise Risk Management
AI’s impact on financial risk management goes beyond static risk estimation. By analysing historical data, AI can recommend dynamic portfolio diversification, proactively identify emerging threats, and adjust allocations to mitigate market risk. It can even simulate various economic and market scenarios to stress-test loan portfolios, helping institutions develop more resilient lending policies.
Unlike traditional, static policies based on limited factors, AI and ML models can analyse every possible combination of variables, creating a powerful tool for credit managers. This allows them to simulate different policy settings and see the predicted impact on loan approvals. This data-driven approach empowers them to optimise conversion rates while minimising risk.
The benefits extend beyond credit risk. Enterprises are leveraging generative AI as a virtual regulatory and policy expert. Trained on vast datasets of regulations, company policies, and guidelines, it can answer questions, identify compliance gaps in code, and automate regulatory checks – even providing alerts for potential breaches.
However, with these advancements come policy considerations. Financial institutions must ensure the transparency of AI models’ decision-making processes to comply with regulations and maintain trust. Additionally, robust data governance practices are crucial to ensure the quality and security of the extensive datasets that power these robust AI systems.
Hurdles to AI Implementation
The potential of AI in financial risk management is undeniable. However, we need to address some key challenges to fully unlock this potential. One challenge is the constant game of catch-up regulators face. AI is evolving rapidly, and regulations often struggle to keep pace. This creates uncertainty for financial institutions and discourages broader adoption of AI in risk management.
Another hurdle is the lack of standardised practices for developing and deploying AI systems. This inconsistency makes it difficult to ensure fairness, avoid bias, and most importantly, understand how AI reaches its conclusions. Without this transparency, trust is difficult to build.
The financial sector itself faces its own set of challenges. The cost of acquiring, implementing, and maintaining sophisticated AI systems can be significant, especially for smaller institutions. Additionally, the effectiveness of AI hinges on high-quality data. Fragmented datasets and data privacy concerns can create significant roadblocks for institutions looking to leverage AI for risk management.
The Future of Risk Management
Despite these challenges and the ever-increasing volume of data, which presents a challenge for human analysis, it also creates a unique opportunity for AI’s implementation in India’s financial sector.
Collaboration is crucial. Industry and regulators must work together to establish clear frameworks for responsible AI development and use in risk management. These frameworks should prioritise best practices, data governance, and Explainable AI (XAI) – tools that help us understand how AI models reach conclusions. This fosters trust and ensures ethical implementation.
Despite AI’s automation capabilities, human expertise remains essential for interpreting results, making final decisions, and ensuring ethical applications. Therefore, upskilling the workforce becomes critical. Financial institutions must invest in training existing employees and attracting talent with AI, data science, and risk management expertise. This fosters a culture of human-AI collaboration, where AI amplifies human expertise while human oversight ensures responsible AI use.
By embracing AI as a transformative tool in risk management, the Indian financial sector can navigate the complexities of modern finance with greater confidence. This shift paves the way for a more stable and secure financial future for all stakeholders – from individual depositors to credit-seeking businesses and the broader Indian economy.
This article has been contributed by Muddassar Nazar, CEO, Birla Brainiacs.
Education is the foundation of human progress since it fosters intelligence and imparts skills that last a lifetime. However, students often struggle with a range of interest and comprehension levels when taught using the typical one-size-fits-all strategy. If the subject isn’t engaging enough for them to study using the way they like, they can lose interest in it. This presents a challenge for educators who wish to offer inclusive, dynamic curricula. Because of this, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a disruptive force that is changing education by designing individualised learning paths for students based on their learning preferences.
Education is no longer limited to physical presence, textbooks, and classroom walls. The recognition of AI’s potential by educational institutions has led to a wealth of digitally enhanced learning resources for both professors and students. In addition to offering engaging teaching methods and dynamic learning possibilities, these tools promote holistic growth and development. According to a Certified Market Research analysis, the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into education technology is expected to propel the global market for AI in education to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.21%, reaching $21.52 billion by 2028.
Beyond doubts, AI in education has evolved from a fad to a need, enabling students to customise their learning and progress at their own pace. Personalised learning pathways may now be created thanks to artificial intelligence and individualised learning, which adapts learning opportunities to meet the needs of each learner. AI enables educators to differentiate instruction by providing them with the knowledge about each student’s strengths and limits. Instructors may tailor learning experiences to each student’s specific requirements, interests, and learning preferences by integrating AI technologies.
Analyse further how AI may enhance students’ tailored classroom experiences according to their learning preferences:
The Emergence of Adaptive Learning
In India, AI-powered systems for adaptive learning are gaining traction. Based on each student’s success, these platforms modify the assignments’ and questions’ level of difficulty. These adaptive learning systems driven by artificial intelligence (AI) look at student data such as performance, areas of strength and weakness, and learning pace. Based on this information, the system may design a customised learning path for each student that includes resources, exercises, and content tailored to their individual needs.
Driven by information Insights
The fact that AI considers a variety of learning contexts, such as logical, visual, and aural preferences, is not surprising. Beyond learning preferences, AI continuously collects and evaluates data to provide teachers with information about the progress of their students. Because of this, educators can make significant inferences from this data to comprehend each student on a deeper level. They can then utilise these inferences to decide how best to customise their students’ educational experiences. This is made possible by artificial intelligence-driven analytics.
Using intelligent teaching systems is one creative method Edtech is leveraging AI. By employing machine learning (ML) algorithms to adjust content based on student performance, these systems offer personalised learning. This approach meets a variety of learning demands, boosts engagement, and offers real-time feedback to create an interactive and personalised learning environment.
Personalised Learning Strategies
AI-driven systems offer students customised learning opportunities depending on their goals, interests, and prior knowledge. Through curriculum and speed adjustments based on student needs, these systems ensure that students receive the appropriate support and challenges to optimise their learning outcomes. While AI holds great potential, human educators remain crucial in creating supportive and inspiring learning environments. Artificial intelligence and human knowledge combined could lead to more effective and personalised training for each student.
Transcend Mainstream Teaching
There’s no reason to believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will stop permeating education. Thanks to modern technology, education can now be streamlined and made more interesting and personalized for both students and teachers. The era of AI-driven personalised learning has also come, drastically altering how pupils learn and how professors instruct them. Thus, the coming together of technology and education heralds a brighter future where each student’s unique skills are developed, leading to all-around development and outstanding accomplishments.
This article has been contributed by Devashish Singh, Co-Founder, MrMed.
The largest pharmaceutical companies are engaged in researching and developing therapies for super speciality diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, osteoarthritis and other chronic conditions that are relatively rare and extremely complex. Cancer, for example, has various stages and medications change based on tumor proliferation. However, the genes of patients also play an important part in determining suitable medication, especially with the advent of promising therapies such immunotherapy and targeted therapy. As you can imagine, developing such targeted therapies by studying gene mutations associated with certain cancers is a long process with billions of dollars spent on research and development. Only a small percentage of promising lab work ends up getting approved for end patient use. An even smaller percentage ends up becoming a “blockbuster” drug, generating revenue and profits for pharmaceutical companies and everyone in the value chain. These R&D based drugs are patented and have just 10-20 years (depending on when and where the patent was filed) before generics are introduced in the market.
However, the balance between profitability and affordability is a complex equation. Pharmaceutical companies need to generate profits from their “blockbuster” drugs to ensure continued infusion of capital to research and development while also keeping shareholder interests in mind. In fact, there have been occasions when large pharmaceutical companies take a merger & acquisition route when a “blockbuster” drug is expiring and the pipeline of drugs in various clinical stages or under R&D is not as strong. Therefore, free cash for such acquisitions are also part of contingency plans for pharmaceutical companies.
There is absolutely no doubt that large multinational pharmaceutical companies focus on the North America, Western Europe, Australia and Japan markets, where the healthcare ecosystem is insurance driven and the overall cost of healthcare is 20X-100X that in India.
However, pharmaceutical companies along with the government of India are slowly starting to introduce some of the patented therapies in India and adopt the below strategic approaches in reducing therapy cost:
There have been a few pilots on value-based pricing strategies, which involves setting the cost of medications in alignment with the benefits they deliver. This approach goes beyond basic economics of supply and demand and considers the tangible impacts on patient health, potential savings for healthcare systems, and broader societal benefits. Therefore, successful impact on the overall system generates higher profitability, which is a win-win. However, it is often difficult to agree upon the metric for “successful impact” and this involves building high trust.
Patient Assistance Programs
Patient assistance programs (PAPs), which are usually sponsored by pharmaceutical manufacturers are a vital step in saving overall therapy cost for patients. This is applicable in developing countries like India and is an initiative of pharma companies on request of various government and non-government organizations. The goal of these programs is to reduce the cost of therapy by providing free medication based on certain paid purchases. For example, through PAP, the cost involved in treating lung cancer through targeted therapy is reduced by 66%. My company, MrMed.in has helped thousands of patients enroll in patient assistance programs, which has truly changed lives.
Implementing Tiered Pricing Structures
Pharmaceutical companies employ tiered pricing strategies that reflect the economic conditions of different markets. Various factors such as GDP per capita, healthcare infrastructure and insurance coverage are considered when adjusting prices on a global level, making therapy more equitable. Either directly or through Patient Assistance Programs, the cost of therapy in India or China is very different from that in the USA or Japan.
Pharmaceutical Companies in India
Preventive Care & Early Detection
As the adage goes, “prevention is better than cure”. I would like to also add that early detection is still not a bad place to be at. The success rates are much higher and the cost of therapy is exponentially lower in earlier stages of disease, whether it be cancer, arthritis or chronic kidney disease. Therefore, annual screenings for breast cancer for women over the age of 40, and biennial screenings for those under 40. Similarly, genomic testing in consultation with a doctor experienced in genomics is also recommended. The government along with private organizations like MrMed have been conducted vaccination camps for cervical cancer wherein the HPV vaccine is administered to young girls and women, which will result in long term reductions in cervical cancer statistics. Regular health check-ups and a healthy lifestyle will not only reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases and the need for expensive treatment, but will also promote a healthier and more productive country.
Transparency in the Supply Chain
The most important aspect of improving affordability of super speciality medicines is to have a clean value-based supply chain. Neighborhood chemists and pharmacies do not hold these medicines in inventory due to lack of awareness, high inventory cost, special storage requirements and relatively lower demand in their particular catchment area. Therefore, the standard margins that generally dictate pharmaceuticals in India, do not apply for super speciality medicines. Often times, “special rates” are given to various distributors or other wholesalers based on volumes and ability to move inventory. This can often lead to differential pricing in the supply chain, with patients seldom benefiting. Through data analysis and inventory forecasting, supply side aggregation of “special rate distributors” and efficient marketing to generate demand, MrMed is able to reduce the cost of super speciality medicines by up to 85%.
