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Telecom major Bharti <keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword> on Tuesday launched its video platform as a service (CPaaS), <keyword id="12341453" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="airtel-iq-video" source="Orion">Airtel IQ Video</keyword>, that allow businesses to build video streaming products for large and small screens with minimal investment in infrastructure and technology. Airtel <keyword id="12343318" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="iq-video" source="Orion">IQ Video</keyword> is an end-to-end managed solution that brings convenience along with cost benefits. "Airtel IQ Video brings an easy-to-use platform that can enable anyone to quickly build and scale their business in video streaming," Bharti Airtel Chief Product Officer Adarsh Nair said in a statement. "This will encourage enterprises to focus on content while Airtel IQ Video anchors the end-to-end technology ensuring a great viewing experience for customers. With Airtel IQ Video, we expect to see more content startups and traditional content companies coming online and directly engaging with consumers digitally," he added. It encompasses a variety of features ranging from app development, content hosting, curation and lifecycle management to search and discovery, analytics and monetisation models (advertising, subscriptions, transactions). During the beta phase, Airtel IQ Video has also been deployed by Eros Now and CG Telecom of Nepal. Airtel is expecting to onboard more than 50 brands on the platform in coming year as interest from market has been high. Airtel IQ, a cloud-based omni-channel communications platform, enables brands to deepen engagement with customers through timely and secure communication. It eliminates the need for multiple communication platforms for different channels, the company said. With just a slice of code, businesses can embed communication services such as Voice, SMS, IVR, Video in their applications and digital properties across desktop and mobile, all through a unified platform. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-vodafone-idea-and-reliance-jio-have-till-october-29-to-opt-for-the-agr-dues-moratorium/articleshow/87107590.cms">Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio have till October 29 to opt for the AGR dues moratorium</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/list-of-airtel-black-plans-with-price-and-benefits/articleshow/86990114.cmsc">Airtel Black plans: Here are the price, benefits and other details</a>

Airtel announces IQ Video platform, to enable businesses to build video streaming products

Christmas planning and celebrations are in full swing and India seems to be celebrating the year-end discounts that most e-commerce companies are giving before the festive season ends with the year. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Now-split-movie-ticket-cost-among-friends-using-BookMyShows-improved-MyWallet-version/articleshow/55894434.cms">ALSO READ: Now, split movie ticket cost among friends using BookMyShow’s improved ‘MyWallet’ version </a> 
 
Technological enhancements and introduction of mobile wallets have facilitated the mobile shopping experience making it the new favorite amongst shoppers who are leaning towards buying online instead of visiting the decked-up malls just out the sheer convenience of delivery at home. 
 The known e-tailers in India are trying to introduce the concept of US shopping festivals. According to <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> Trends, the interest for <keyword id="14520" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Black-Friday">Black Friday</keyword> is rising every year in the country. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-How-demonetization-has-affected-Shopclues/articleshow/55899471.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: How demonetization has affected Shopclues</a> 
 Black Friday is the day following <keyword id="32170" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</keyword> Day and marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season on November 25, 2016. Cyber Monday is a shopping festival created by marketing companies to boost online shopping in 2005 which was on November 28 this year. 
 
In India, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are focused on gadget and fashion categories as they are the most popular. According to reports, almost 50% of sale are that of gadgets. 
 
With everything from Macs, One Plus to TVs and gadgets, consumers in India too don’t want to miss the deals. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/paytm-airtel-and-reliance-jio-to-become-indias-most-powerful-companies-in-2017/articleshow/56064069.cms">ALSO READ: Paytm, Airtel and Reliance Jio likely to become India’s most powerful companies in 2017</a> 
 
A Criteo analysis of 1.5 million transactions made during peak shopping time, during the year end of 2015 (17th Nov- 31st Dec 2015) showed very interesting insights into how consumers buy online. 
 
• Online traffic to key retailers’ websites increased much earlier, as of mid-November 2015 
• Before the Christmas week, an average visitor uplift was seen of 42 percent, which generated a sales uplift of 32 percent 
• It was analyzed that 40 percent shoppers browsed major e-commerce sites through their mobile phones 
• 36 percent of buyers browsed retailers’ websites with a different device before making a final purchase

This is how you shop on Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal during Christmas Sale

At a press conference in New Delhi, <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> unveiled the first series of <keyword id="2373897" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Android-One">Android One</keyword> smartphones in India. Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President for <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword>, Chrome and Apps at Google was there as he was at the Google I/O developer event earlier this year, announcing the Android One initiative to bring a rich Android experience to affordable smartphones. 
 
Android One 
The vision of Android One is to bring stock Android with timely software updates to sub-$100 smartphones. Essentially, it’s Nexus for the masses. 
 
In an aberration from the usual course and like the Nexus and Google Play Edition products, Google will push the Android updates as and when they come instead of the OEMs. The devices will be automatically updated; the box of an Android` One device asserts ‘Always the latest version of Android’. 
 
The Android One devices will include support for seven additional languages including Hindi and users will not have to download any external application to access their Android One smartphones in Hindi. 
 
Devices 
The smartphone vendors that Google has partnered with for the first wave of devices in India are Micromax, Karbonn, and Spice; three OEMs who lead the market in the budget smartphone segment. 
 The three devices announced are <keyword id="6378177" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Spice">Spice</keyword> Dream UNO Mi-498, Micromax Canvas A1, and Karbonn Sparkle V. The Spice Dream UNO and Micromax Canvas A1 are available in black and white, while the Karbonn Sparkle V is available in blue, grey, red, and white colors. 
 
As was announced at the Google I/O event, these smartphones come with a 4.5-inch IPS display (480x854), dual SIM card slots, microSD card slot, and FM radio. Essentially, these three are same devices internally, which just differ in design and build. 
 Packing in a 1.3 GHz quad-core <keyword id="6369515" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mediatek">MediaTek</keyword> processor and 1 GB RAM, these devices include 4 GB of internal storage and a 1700mAh battery. The phones feature a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. 
 
Pricing 
The only bullet point of the pitch that the Android One smartphones don’t keep up to is the promise of sub-$100 smartphones. In a competitive, and crowded, price segment, the devices are priced starting at ₹6399. It wasn’t a bad price at the start of this year, but now it will disappoint most. 
 There’s <keyword id="11148" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Motorola">Motorola</keyword>’s Moto E with stock Android and timely updates, which is sold at similar price-point with better hardware specifications. And the latest disruptor on the block, the Xiaomi Redmi 1S takes the crown with great specifications, although running an Android fork. 
 Google has tied up with <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword> for special data plans for Android One smartphones. Airtel customers get free access to Google services like operating system and software updates. Also, all customers get 200MB worth of apps per month for six months at no cost. 
 
Availability 
The Android One smartphones will be exclusively sold via online retails immediately, and interestingly Google has picked up three leading online retailers for three devices. Since the devices are pretty much the same, you could also make a decision based on your preference for a particular online store. 
 The Micromax Canvas A1 would be available on <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword>, the Spice Dream UNO will be available on Flipkart, and the Karbonn Sparkle V will be available on Snapdeal. Google has also announced that before the festive season of Diwali next month, the devices will also be available in brick and mortar stores. 
 
What’s Next 
Android One is a big bet for Google in India, and the region is clearly the ground zero for the initiative. Google plans to expand Android One to Indonesia, Philippines, and other South Asian countries by the end of 2014 and in more countries in 2015. In India, more devices will follow in coming months in price bands above and below the latest range. 
 At the event, Google also announced the next set of partners for the Android One initiative. These include <keyword id="104695" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Qualcomm">Qualcomm</keyword>, and OEMs like Acer, Alcatel Onetouch, HTC, Lenovo, <keyword id="6367990" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Panasonic">Panasonic</keyword>, XOLO, Lava, Intex, and Asus. Glaring omissions from the list are <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and <keyword id="6356116" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="LG">LG</keyword>.

Everything You Need To Know About Android One

We are all aware that Xolo is planning to launch an online brand by the name Black. The company is scheduled to showcase their first device of the series on July 10. It is also been told that the company has tied up with <a href="http://www.in.techradar.com/news/Xolos-Black-smartphone-to-be-a-Flipkart-exclusive-pricedat-sub-Rs-15000/articleshow/47682168.cms">e-commerce giant Flipkart</a> to sell these devices. 
 
However, we have stumbled upon another piece of this puzzle, which is that Xolo will also be selling its Black Series of phones in partnership with Vodafone. So you will actually be able to buy these devices from the nearby Vodafone Stores. Also these devices will have some bit of data pre-bundled. 
 
Update: Black buyers will get 1GB of data per month or unlimited music content for download for two months through the Vodafone Music app. 
 
It is noteworthy that, Xiaomi is already offering its Redmi Note 4G through Airtel outlets, and this seems to be Xolo’s bid to follow in these footsteps. It is funny that Xolo has actually chosen Vodafone as the partner for its LTE devices because the operator is not offering 4G services in India at the moment. 
 
In the past few days, Xolo has been teasing their first device on various social forums and the rumour mill has it that the said smartphone <a href="http://www.in.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/Image-of-the-Xolo-Black-with-dual-rear-cameras-leaks-out/articleshow/47515015.cms">will come with dual-rear cameras</a> and run on Xolo's customized version of Hive OS. 
 
It is also been pegged that the first Xolo Black smarttphone will be offered at the price of Rs 15,000. 
 
Going forward the company plans to add one device every quarter under its Black range of devices and the entire portfolio of devices will be LTE-ready.

Exclusive: Xolo Black phones to be available via Vodafone stores as well

<ul><li><keyword id="48085" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Credit-Suisse">Credit Suisse</keyword> has announced that it will hire over 1,000 IT employees in India.</li><li>Indians already form the largest portion of Credit Suisse’s global workforce, accounting for 25% of its employees.</li><li>The announcement comes amid Swiss regulators being hot on the company’s heels for regulatory breaches and after the bank faced a massive loss due to the collapse of Archegos Capital Management.</li></ul>Credit Suisse’s staff in India already accounts for 25% of its workforce and the Switzerland-based firm is planning to onboard another 1,000 employees, for the information technology (IT) segment, locally this year. “Credit Suisse’s goal is to leverage the large pool of skilled technology talent available in India, to further enhance its in-house core capabilities,” the bank said in a statement. The news comes after half a dozen of the bank’s senior executives have <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/six-credit-suisse-bankers-exit-as-post-archegos-defections-mount">left the firm</a> after Credit Suisse took the biggest hit, as investment banks raced to exit their trading positions as Archegos Capital Management collapsed. Adding the bank’s troubles, a report by the Swiss financial regulator <a href="https://www.moneylife.in/article/credit-suisse-overlooked-breaches-of-regulations-for-years-report/63876.html">FINMA</a> claims that Credit Suisse ignored over 100 warnings of potential breach of regulations. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What positions is Credit Suisse hiring for in India?" comment="subhead" text="What positions is Credit Suisse hiring for in India?">What positions is Credit Suisse hiring for in India?</cmsannotation> According to Credit Suisse, the firm is looking to hire both developers and engineers who can focus on creating banking solutions around emerging technologies. This includes cyber security, data analytics, cloud computing, API development, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). <div type="ExtQuote" text="“The pandemic has accelerated the use of digital solutions across many areas. We have effectively employed collaboration tools to enable seamless external and internal communication to support teamwork and effective delivery.”" auname="John Burns, Senior Franchise Officer at Credit Suisse"></div> Not only are Indian employees the biggest portion of Credit Suisse’s workforce, but that footprint is only going to grow. The 1,000 new hires will be in addition to the 2,000 IT employees the firm has already brought on board in India, over the last three years. The company iterated that even though the hires will be local, they will be trained to meet the firm’s global requirements, especially when it comes to delivering IT services and solutions for the bank’s businesses around the world. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtels-india-business-is-back-in-the-black-after-a-very-long-time/articleshow/82709100.cms">Airtel's India business is back in the black after a very long time</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/mphasis-aims-to-be-a-10-billion-company-in-the-next-3-5-years/articleshow/82700898.cms">Mphasis aims to be a $10 billion company in the next 3-5 years ⁠— that's twice its current size</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/cyclone-tauktae-is-intensifying-with-surprising-speed-bearing-the-tell-tale-signs-of-climate-change/articleshow/82705780.cms">Cyclone Tauktae is intensifying with surprising speed, bearing the tell-tale signs of climate change</a>

Credit Suisse is looking to hire over 1,000 IT employees in India as it battles controversy at home

San Francisco, At <keyword id="10386828" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tech-billionaire-elon-musk">tech billionaire Elon Musk</keyword>'s electric car company Tesla, men represent 79 per cent of its <keyword id="10386829" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="overall-workforce">overall workforce</keyword>, showed the company's first ever diversity report. Women represent 21 per cent of the company's overall US workforce and 23 per cent of all promotions -- a 5 per cent increase from last year -- Tesla said in its 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report' on Friday. While women represent 17 per cent of the company's directors and vice presidents, 83 per cent of <keyword id="6357081" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="employees">employees</keyword> in leadership roles are men. However, nearly 25 per cent of all US hires this year have been women, Tesla said. "While women are historically underrepresented in the tech and automotive industries, we recognise we have work to do in this area. We are committed to working alongside companies in these industries to make improvements," said the report. Tesla said it is taking active steps to increase its outreach to women and build an inclusive culture that supports their development and retention. "Increasing women's representation at all levels, especially in leadership, is a top priority in 2021," Tesla said. Black and African American employees represent 10 per cent of the company's US workforce. Asian employees are 21 per cent of the company's US workforce and have also seen an upward trend in representation in management, representing 25 per cent of its director level and above employees, Tesla said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/top-stocks-to-watch-ril-airtel-indigo-spicejet-sbi-bank-of-baroda-vodafone-idea-granules-india-and-others/articleshow/79557810.cms">Top stocks to watch — RIL, Airtel, IndiGo, SpiceJet, SBI, Bank of Baroda, Vodafone-Idea, Granules India, and others</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/ultratech-cements-5477-crore-expansion-plan-is-a-sign-that-birla-is-betting-on-a-faster-economic-recovery/articleshow/79549626.cms">UltraTech Cement's ₹5,477 crore expansion plan is a sign that Birla is betting on a faster economic recovery</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/sbis-mobile-banking-app-is-down-for-the-third-time-in-last-30-days/articleshow/79548953.cms">SBI’s mobile banking app is down for the third time in 30 days — digital services take a hit for the 25th time this year</a>

79% male workforce in Elon Musk's car company Tesla , shows diversity report

<ul><li><keyword id="9025059" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="abhik-choudhury">Abhik Choudhury</keyword>, Chief strategist &amp; founder, Salt and Paper Consulting writes how brands colors are now both category and audience agnostic. </li><li>He further shares a few reasons behind this paradigm shift. </li></ul> What do Volkswagen, Volvo, Tata, Ford and GM have in common? They all are reliable family cars with blue logos. How about KFC, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and Burger King? They all are global fast food chains with either or both, red and yellow in their identities. And till about a decade ago, it was all fine and dandy till digital content clutter multiplied our brand exposure to a whopping 5000+ on an average day. And that meant the compelling need for acute differentiation over everything else. Let’s look at the topical industry of the year - EdTech. The whole industry came into being post digital burst. And in their identities, whilst catering to the same audiences their approach to <keyword id="9709248" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="brand-colors">brand colors</keyword> couldn’t have been more drastically contrasting. Byju, India’s second most valuable startup at $10Bn adorns a bright purple, something which experts used to put in the segment of richness and royalty. Udemy with its coral shade usually seen in lifestyle brands has intentionally moved away from its launch color of grass green. Coursera on the other end of the spectrum is safely engulfed in the reliable blue (think sweet spot between the old and new Facebook color). And finally look at Khan Academy, a blend of sea green and ocean blue. I would argue brands colors are now both category and audience agnostic. And there are four reasons for this major paradigm shift. The Differentiation Paradox: Of course the trained mind might argue the above example is just an anomaly so let’s go back to the automobile category we opened our discussion with to see this point through. In the last decade, the new electric car segment is slowly overpowering old heavyweights. What’s interesting though is as much as these shiny, new kids stand for the same brand promise of blending sleek style, sustainability and automation, their colors try to intentionally stay as apart as possible. Leading the pack Tesla shines in its signature passion red, Faraday Future graces the color of powerplay jet black, Fisker has famously named its brand colors California sunset (orange) and Pacific ocean (blue), the Chinese born Byton decks a more luxurious grey and the adventure friendly Rivian chose orangish yellow. Superdry’s orange boasts of its fun and bold collection, Zara’s black promotes the high street range inspired by luxury fashion weeks. And why not, as the concept of brand colors needed to be synonymous with the “brand experience”. Now though, the audience is aware enough to know that just because Grab taxis are green, they don’t only move with an oil free, electric fleet. Honestly, as long as the story behind your choice of brand color is believable you can paint the canvas with whatever you wish for. Breaking the traditional need for popping colors, Unilever’s new age Talenti Gelato comes in a pure transparent identity to just focus on the product and cut the clutter in the ice cream shelf simultaneously. Ola, India’s answer to Uber uses an exclusive pear color something eponymous with sporty, not exactly a massy cab service using Wagon R &amp; Swift Dzire cars. But does it work? Quite brilliantly actually, the point of differentiation is well made and well reaped. The Niche Maze Before the digital era, market penetration used to be mostly about what the masses demanded. And honestly rightfully so, for neither there was internet to measure the size of niche interests nor a way to get them delivered online to spurt segments scattered all over. And what it has resulted in is making colors more unisex, boldly unique and universally acceptable. Lyft’s Magenta and Dunzo’s Mint Green paves way for many more to come in the coming decade. Let’s try to understand the repercussions of not having niche colors. In the Indian media ecosystem look at the known brands Zee News, NDTV, ABP News, Republic, Aaj Tak, BBC Hindi, The Wire and Firspost ALL have red in their logos. Let’s forget for a second if all these brands have similar personalities, experience or values of the color red. Let’s rather say in 2021 you want to start a media corporation catering to millennials. Don’t you think a berry blue or sunshine yellow will give you a niche identity distinctively apart from all your industry peers and make the consumer immediately associate you with the color no matter on which medium it is used? Reliance Jio certainly would have considered it while starting to slowly move towards Persian blue from its bright red similar to core competitors Airtel and Vodafone. So would have AirBnB while choosing a coral shade over their old blue similar to Booking’s identity. <div type="image" title="Color Logos Case" msid="77389917" hostid="261"></div> Content Overload: One of the most profitable industries inarguably today is the smartphone hub with over 1.5Bn average annual unit sales and still a long way in penetrating the global population. No matter where you are from, you can’t deflect from its plethora of content across platforms. Oppo and Vivo with their selfie camera positioning had planned a budget of INR 2200 crores for the Indian market to dwarf Samsung at its own game. Xiaomi, who finally did overthrow Samsung poured INR 3500 crores last year aiming at an even more aggressive advertising strategy. All pointing towards an inevitable content war subtly numbing the audiences to all headlines and creatives. And hence you see Xiaomi goes with a blazing orange, Oppo graces forest green, One Plus Christmas red, Google Pixel a more humbling grey to Apple’s black while Vivo goes for sailor blue. We aren’t talking about one off anomalies that used to happen in every category like Ferrari’s legendary lemon yellow backdrop whilst Audi, Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Jaguar &amp; Lexus all go with the same kind of logo in metallic elements on their cars. These smartphone examples are of all category leaders and none come close to the other’s color no matter how close their audience, personality and brand experience might be. Now one of the major brand identity tests is to create a fictional character with a rich personality to match with your corporation’s values, vision and heart. The catch is, it only works if your audience feels that metaphor coming alive too. Otherwise as you will agree, every horse breeder can sell a Unicorn. And with all due respect the 2020s audiences have evolved from all color tones (and it’s kind of fair if not lovely). Now they are more interested and invested in what you actually do both with your offering and beyond it for the overall society. They know how to filter the frills from the flowers. Typography before color: The formula is minimal typography for maximum impact. Uber tweaked its logo element to a bolder no nonsense font of its name. Indian food delivery pioneers have removed their famous spoon and now just have Zomato written in a thicker and slightly curved style. The legendary Absolut Vodka which had a designer cursive line - ‘Country of Sweden’ in the logo itself has switched to just a navy blue Absolut enjoying the solitude. Visa has removed the card element last decade and even fired the fiery yellow edge to allow blue to engulf all of its typography on this one. Dominos have hit puberty late but by making the name come out of the inclined box they now demand complete attention. IHop, Dunkin... the list honestly keeps going on but the verdict is clear. Clarity of your name in the logo, something that can be read in a nanosecond during a digital post or banner is what works today. And when pure simplicity takes absolute precedent, intricate elements, three tone color schemes and parallel mascots take a backseat. Bold is the new black and clarity is the new color. Millennials demand this world to stop seeing colors, at least without any preconceived prejudices. And if anything the creative industry should be elated with this transformation, one less box to fit into. Let the old labels make way for legacy. If only the world would start having bold brands who can make shirts for men and call it pink. Oh wait, we already do - Pink Shirtmaker, London owned by the Louis Vuitton group. By Abhik Choudhury, Chief strategist &amp; founder, Salt and Paper Consulting. He is also a visiting faculty of Market Research and Campaign Planning at <keyword id="9497386" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-indian-institute-of-mass-communication">the Indian Institute of Mass Communication</keyword>, New Delhi. You can reach him at abhik@saltandpaper.co.

The relevance of brand colors are redundant, it’s all about differentiation

<ul><li><keyword id="54572" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="PepsiCo">PepsiCo</keyword> India said within 30 years of our establishment in India, PepsiCo India has grown exponentially to emerge as one of the largest Food and Beverage company in the country.</li><li>On account of such a tremendous growth, PepsiCo India has committed to invest over $2.1 billion in the country over a five-year period ending in 2022. </li><li>"While there have been some short-term head winds due to Covid, we at PepsiCo are extremely optimistic about the future and are committed to provide consumers the right portfolio of products across food and <keyword id="23943" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="beverages">beverages</keyword>," they said.</li></ul> In an interview with IANS, Vishal Kaul, Vice President &amp; Business Head, Beverages, PepsiCo India and Dilen Gandhi, Senior Director and Category Head of Foods, PepsiCo India said within 30 years of our establishment in India, PepsiCo India has grown exponentially to emerge as one of the largest Food and Beverage company in the country. On account of such a tremendous growth, PepsiCo India has committed to invest over $2.1 billion in the country over a five-year period ending in 2022. "'As people adjust to the enew normal', in-home consumption is witnessing a significant uptake. We are witnessing a jump in both penetration and frequency of our food and beverage categories. There is a growing demand for our larger packs as in-home occasions of togetherness have increased manifold. While the consumers are looking at in-home experiences and seeking convenience, they are also looking at value," they said. "While there have been some short-term head winds due to Covid, we at PepsiCo are extremely optimistic about the future and are committed to provide consumers the right portfolio of products across food and beverages," they said. "Even in the COVID environment, our categories are seeing robust demand and growth across most channels," they added. Q: How is PepsiCo India responding with its business models to the Covid-19 situation? A: The COVID-19 has led to a complete paradigm shift as everything around us has changed- consumer behavior, retail landscape, competitive environment. Very early on, we realized there was no playbook to tackle the COVID challenge and the situation would continue to change. So, we had to arm ourselves with taking quick decisions while not having all the relevant information. To help us navigate the crisis, we established 6 guiding principles: Being People Centric, Being Consumer Centric, Being Customer Centric, Being Community Stewards, Being Agile and Being Prudent. These were the lens through which we saw every decision and we empowered our teams for agile decision making. At a time when stepping out for even essentials was fraught with risks, making our product conveniently available for our retailers and consumers was a key focus area. Hyper-local delivery emerged as a solution and we invested in emergent channels like Ecommerce for both B2C and B2B. We partnered with Amazon, Big Basket, Grofers, Swiggy and Dunzo to ensure uninterrupted availability of our food and beverage products to consumers across locations with safe delivery-on demand for all our consumers. For B2B, we further strengthened our existing Distributor model with the EB2B model, where we partnered with Udaan and Big Basket to help small and medium businesses. This partnership ensured our product portfolio was easily made available to retailers, so that they can cater to demand in the market. Q: How does PepsiCo view the big jump in consumption of snacks and beverages at home? A: PepsiCo India has always kept a pulse on consumer trends and continued to develop its portfolio in line with what consumers want. As people adjust to the enew normal', in-home consumption is witnessing a significant uptake. We are witnessing a jump in both penetration and frequency of our food and beverage categories. There is a growing demand for our larger packs as in-home occasions of togetherness have increased manifold. While the consumers are looking at in home experiences and seeking convenience, they are also looking at value. In order to serve the consumer better and rapidly adapt to their changing requirements we have introduced a 1.25-liter PET pack in our beverage portfolio at a very affordable price of Rs 50 which will enable the stay-at- home times even more special for our consumers. We have also introduced various combo packs for our food portfolio creating and further driving in-home consumption.Q: What are the investment plans for PepsiCo in India? A: Within 30 years of our establishment in India, PepsiCo India has grown exponentially to emerge as the largest Food and Beverage company in the country. On account of such a tremendous growth, PepsiCo India has committed to invest over $2.1 billion in the country over a five-year period ending in 2022. This commitment is a part of our previously disclosed commitment to invest $5.5 billion in India and includes our plan to double our manufacturing capabilities locally in the next five years, to cater to the ever-increasing demand of our products among the consumers. In recent years, we have announced an investment of Rs 514 Crores in a new foods facility in Uttar Pradesh which will provide 1,500 direct/indirect jobs. We have also invested in increasing capacity at our existing foods plants in West Bengal and Maharashtra and have additionally proposed to set up a greenfield project in Assam. Q: What is the production capacity for the PepsiCo products, and has it reached pre-Covid levels? A: We have resumed operations/ manufacturing across foods and beverages in the best manner possible, ensuring that all guidelines regarding safety of our employees are strictly adhered to. In the current environment and limited workforce across shifts, we are trying to ensure that we can meet the demand and operate at an optimal level to cater to our consumers with their favorite snacks and beverages. Nonetheless, we remain committed towards our employees and our consumers and see an uptake in both supply and demand in both categories. Q: What has been the response to the Covid situation? A: As brands look at engaging with consumers, the first and foremost part is that the current situation requires brands to provide consumers with a seamless and safe buying experience. That apart, this is also a unique opportunity to build an even more authentic relationship with the consumers by listening to them and providing the functional and emotional comfort. While there have been new ways of ensuring consumers had 24X7 accessibility of our products in a safe and hygienic manner, Brands across the PepsiCo India portfolio have also initiated interesting campaigns rooted into insights that we mined through the real time social listening we do at PepsiCo For consumers, safety comes first, and they are now refraining from going to crowded places and prefer low exposure. Hence, we partnered with SWIGGY and Dunzo to provide our products across food and beverages at their doorsteps, 24X7. We also saw that with low touch format being the new trend, there was a need to work with our partners to find low or no touch solutions for dispensing water. After extensive research and trials, we were able to finalize the Aquafina Low touch dispenser model as a product that we could roll out now given it meets key criteria including safety of consumer,practicality as well as economies of scale. We also evolved in the way we communicated to our consumers with messaging that were more relevant in current times. For example, <keyword id="44672" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pepsi">Pepsi</keyword> identified that while social distancing was the new normal, however a lot of consumers were either not aware of it or were not following it fully. Salaam and Namaste, which were deeply rooted into Indian culture are actually the best forms of contactless greetings, which was the need of the hour during the COVID times. In an endeavor to make these contactless Indian greetings a part of pop culture, Pepsi introduced a digital forward campaign that aimed at inspiring the world that greeting each other with salaam/namaste is a perfect way to ensure social distancing and yet maintain connections responsibly. It encouraged behavioral change through adherence to social distancing norms in an entertaining manner. The campaign broke all past records in India and made a meaningful impact to the consumers' lives. On the other hand, LAY'S, started a special initiative for the many unsung heroes of India - farmers, truck drivers, retailers, etc. e who continue to bring joy to millions even in these challenging times. The brand partnered with Smile Foundation to provide hygiene kits to over 40,000 families of such unsung heroes. These hygiene kits contain masks and sanitizers, to support these champions as they continue to work hard even in these unprecedented times. As part of the initiative LAY'S has also collaborated with leading Indian brands like Airtel, ICICI Bank, Parachute, Dunzo, Big Basket, JK Type, Vistara, Grofers and together have thanked millions of these unsung heroes. We also had other brands from our portfolio like Mountain Dew, Quaker, Tropicana etc do similar contextual campaigns and the response from the consumers has been overwhelming.Q: What have been the sustainability initiatives of PepsiCo? A: In its role as a responsible social citizen, PepsiCo India has taken several initiatives to contribute to the nation's ongoing efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. As part of its #GiveMealsGiveHope global programme, PepsiCo India provided over 10 million meals to the underprivileged and marginalized families impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak across India. The meals were distributed in partnership with Akshaya Patra Foundation, Smile Foundation &amp; CII Foundation, across the country. The company also extended support to the healthcare and diagnostic facilities by providing over 35,000 COVID-19 testing kits to government labs, supplementing their efforts to combat the pandemic. Furthermore, the COVID 19 crisis has impacted the restaurants and the workers significantly. It is forecasted that 4 out of 10 restaurants would shut down. Pepsi initiated a campaign #PepsiSaveOurResturants, an inclusive program where every time you order food and add a beverage to your order and it can be any beverage -- Pepsi or any other beverage, Pepsi will give that many meals to the restaurant workers who have served us. Pepsi partnered with NRAI and Swiggy to bring this campaign to life. The campaign has got great response as it has provided many consumers an avenue to support the restaurant workers who have always served them. Q: What are the changing consumer patterns expected due to Covid? A: The COVID-19 challenge is making both consumers and brands face a new reality. Consumer behavior and pattern is emerging and evolving at a fast pace. Some of the key insights that are emerging are as follows: #Mobile is the new TV: Consumers, customers, employees and our ecosystem partners have leap frogged towards leveraging digital solutions and the mobile is at the epicenter of all this. Be it work from home, communication to consumers, taking orders from customers or Ecom, consumers are practically dependent on their mobiles. They are consuming content online, buying online and even engaging with extended family and finds online. Therefore, it's important to jump shift this capability and work with the ecosystem partners to strengthen this muscle. #Value in Table Stakes: While value has always been important for consumers, going forward it would become even more crucial. The brands/companies who can re-engineer their business models to deliver this via an advantaged model, would succeed in the long term. #Hope Trust and Fun: We believe consumers would be looking at 3 emotional benefits and brands that can provide the same authentically, would be the ones that consumers would choose - The first is Hope. Hope is tied very closely to empathy. Brands need to be empathic and craft messages which are reassuring and relatable to consumers in these unprecedented times. - The second is Trust. Now more than ever, consumers need to see brands walk the talk in everything they do e whether it is the core product promise or leading a cause to support communities. -The third is Fun. Today, consumers are working twice as hard, donning multiple hats and with sources of entertainment and recreation limited, a brand that can that can present an opportunity for consumers to express themselves in a fun manner will be able to build deeper connects with the consumers The situation would continue to evolve and it is important we continuously have our ear to the ground and we keep sharpening the strategy basis consumer needs. Q: What are the initiatives to bolster the retail network by PepsiCo? A: The pandemic has given rise to a enew-normal' world and we at PepsiCo India have maintained a close look out on the evolving consumer behavior pattern to be better prepared for the future. We take cognizance of the fact that we need to cater to different audiences, be it consumers, partners, distributors through different channels. For the consumers, demand for online deliveries has soared since the start of the stay-at-home order. Thereby, it was almost imperative for businesses to enhance their Direct to Customer (D2C) channels like Swiggy, Dunzo to ensure we have exclusive e-stores and a mechanism to cater to our consumers at their doorstep 24/7. By tapping the 'Daily Grocery' on Dunzo's app, customers can visit the LAY'S E-store and get these products delivered within an hour of ordering. The initiative has currently been launched as a pilot in <keyword id="6354321" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword> and will eventually expand to 4 more cities across Mumbai, Gurugram, Delhi, and Jaipur. For the beverage category, we have tied up with Swiggy stores where we ensure availability of our products to the consumer on demand and delivery within 2 hours. On the other hand, Aquafina has tied up with a micro delivery platform OwO is for expanding reach into "At -home" consumption of packaged water. From a consumer perspective, our research has shown that consumers prefer dealing with apps such as OwO as they find it convenient. For the retailers and wholesalers, an interesting emerging channel is the EB2B model, under which PepsiCo India has entered into deep partnership with Udaan and Big Basket to help small and medium businesses. They should always have access to our product portfolio to ensure that they always meet demand. On the other hand, we remain committed to the distributors and ensure that we grow them and grow with them. Q: How does PepsiCo view the recent agriculture reforms including the flexibility to farmers to sell their products? A: Let's talk briefly about our collaborative programme and how that is focused on working closely with the farmers and based on years of trust and relationship. At PepsiCo India, we are guided by eWinning with Purpose' - our fundamental belief that the success of the company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around. Agriculture is at the heart of PepsiCo India, and the companies relationship with farmers in India goes back 30 years. PepsiCo was the first company to introduce own researched processed grade varieties in India in late 90's. At present, PepsiCo is largest processed grade potato buyer in India. To fulfill its chip grade potato demand locally, PepsiCo developed largest collaborative farming for potato in India spread across 13 states working involving over 24,000 farmers. The potatoes are then processed in 3 manufacturing plants which employ close to 2,000 direct and indirect employees. The retention rate of farmers being part of the collaborative farming program is as high as 98 per cent. All the potato used in Lay's and Uncle Chipps is sourced from farmers in India e in fact, PepsiCo is the largest buyer of chip grade potato in the country today. Q: What are your views on the outlook for consumer sentiment? Is it an essential versus discretionary choice? A: India consumption story has just started and according to industry reports, India will be the 3rd largest consumption market by 2025. While there have been some short-term head winds due to Covid, we at PepsiCo are extremely optimistic about the future and are committed to provide consumers the right portfolio of products across food and beverages. Even in the COVID environment, our categories are seeing robust demand and growth across most channels. Our robust and balanced portfolio across "Fun for You" products like Pepsi, Lays Dew, Kurkure or "Better For You" products like Lipton, Pepsi Black or "Good For You" products like Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade are getting greater acceptance from consumers. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/after-google-pwc-india-declares-a-company-wide-holiday-for-its-employees-this-friday-offers-time-off-for-a-well-deserved-break/articleshow/77125627.cms">After Google, PwC India declares a company-wide holiday for its employees this Friday – offers time off for a 'well-deserved' break</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/mukesh-ambani-is-now-the-fifth-richest-person-in-the-world-according-to-forbes/articleshow/77105843.cms">Mukesh Ambani is now the fifth richest person in the world, according to Forbes</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tcs-infosys-hcl-tech-dont-want-h1b-ban-but-are-pocketing-savings-while-it-lasts/articleshow/77120776.cms">The H1-B visa ban is not what Indian IT firms want⁠— but they are pocketing some savings while it last</a>

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