New Delhi, Power transmission player <keyword id="3245667" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sterlite-Power">Sterlite Power</keyword> on Monday announced that it has raised ₹200 crore in debt financing from Allianz Global Investors (<keyword id="3349683" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Allianz-GI">Allianz GI</keyword>) -- one of the world's leading investment managers with a focus on sustainable investments. This transaction is one of the first infrastructure sector financing deals for Allianz GI in India. The ₹200 crore facility from Allianz GI has been raised as a non-convertible debenture with a three-year tenure and is part of the larger refinancing exercise undertaken by <keyword id="45465" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sterlite">Sterlite</keyword> Power to reduce its holding company borrowings. Sterlite Power is increasingly <keyword id="1189281" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="focused">focused</keyword> on integrating renewable energy (RE) to the grid. Commenting on the transaction, <keyword id="189377" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pratik-Agarwal">Pratik Agarwal</keyword>, Managing Director, Sterlite Power, said: "We remain focused on our endeavour towards greening the grid by delivering some of the most challenging and impactful transmission projects in the country." Sterlite Power has been successful in concluding a number of financial deals with global and national investors. It has raised project finance from both private as well as public sector financial institutions like <keyword id="6357149" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hdfc-bank">HDFC Bank</keyword>, <keyword id="77463" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Power-Finance-Corporation">Power Finance Corporation</keyword> Limited and REC Ltd, for its transmission projects. Recently, the company announced an equal partnership with global investment manager AMP Capital, to develop greenfield power transmission projects in India. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/employment-opportunities-in-the-telecom-sector-are-expected-to-grow-by-20-in-2021/articleshow/80183579.cms">Fiber layers and field engineers to researchers ⁠— telecom jobs may see a 20% spike in 2021 as India leaps into the 5G era</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/india-may-be-considering-a-covid-cess-on-high-income-earners-aside-from-more-levy-on-fuel/articleshow/80208520.cms">India may be considering a COVID cess on high income earners — aside from more levy on fuel</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/with-whatsapp-popularity-hit-zoho-plans-to-launch-arattai-messaging-app/articleshow/80206802.cms">Zoho plans to woo WhatsApp defectors with its own messaging app Arattai</a>

Sterlite Power raises ₹200 crore in debt financing from Allianz Global Investors

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47688391.cms" />In traditional Indian method, sons and daughters of a company’s owner take up top posts and the succession goes on. However, <keyword id="894518" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vendanta-Group">Vendanta Group</keyword>’s owner Anil Agarwal wants to do away with the system and has planned something else. 
 
The founder of the $12.9 billion Vedanta group wants to appoint professional managers rather than kin to top posts. 
 
"As far as succession goes, I am still in command and I am getting all professional chief executives as I do not want a family member to be chief executive of the company," Agarwal, 61, said in an exclusive interview to Economic Times. 
 
"I believe this company should be run by the people. At the same time, family members also bring in some value,” he said. 
 
The financial daily reported that Agarwal, who rose from being a metal scrap dealer to build India's largest natural resources company in the past five decades, has two children-Agnivesh and Priya. His brothers Navin and Pravin, closely associated with Vedanta, also have two children each. 
 
Agnivesh is chairman of Hindustan Zinc, while Priya has been on the Cairn India board as non-executive director since 2012. 
 
Based in Dubai, Agnivesh runs his own business recovering metal from scrap and also manages group unit Fujairah Gold. The United Arab Emirates is also home to the group's precious metals refinery that can process 50 million tonne of gold and 110 million tonne of silver annually. 
 
Agnivesh also acquired a 60% stake in Chennai-based medical diagnostic chain Primex Healthcare in 2012 in his personal capacity. 
 
Priya has been a public relations professional with Ogilvy &amp; Mather and spearheaded the media campaign that sought to give a more friendly aspect to the controversial resources and mining major. 
 Navin is non-executive director of Vedanta Ltd, a subsidiary of the London-listed <keyword id="99389" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vedanta-Resources">Vedanta Resources</keyword>, of which Anil Agarwal is chairman emeritus. Navin has two sons--Naivedya and Ananya. Pravin Agarwal is a whole-time director of Sterlite Technologies, one of India's largest optic fibre cable makers and based in Pune. His sons Ankit and Pratik run the group's ports and power transmission businesses. 
 
"I don't see world over natural resources companies run by families. Our oil and gas business can be run by shareholders as it has become so big that it need not be run by family members,” said Agarwal. 
 
His mandate is to run the company as chief executive and hire the best managers besides formalising and executing a growth strategy. Such professionals know technology and can look at the bigger picture from the perspective of having run large projects for global natural resources companies. 
 
"They are focused on sustainability, an environment policy and our team learns to run companies professionally," he told ET. "I would like to see Vedanta as a transparent and professionally run company... by the people and for the people." 
 
Agarwal sees this as a natural progression. "I think I am going to work for another five years to make sure it is run professionally. I have lots of other opportunities. A Vedanta veteran said the brothers have worked in harmony to build the business,” he added. 
"Once companies reach a large size, it needs professional leaders. Children are not always competent or interested in taking forward the father's business," Mita Dixit, co-founder and head, family business advisory, Equations Management Consulting told ET. "Shareholders are active and want the company to be run in a transparent manner to deliver results... It is prudent to have someone with relevant experience and expertise to run the show." 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Anil Agarwal, Vedanta Group's owner, chooses professional managers over kin for top posts

<ul><li><keyword id="15119135" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Serentica-Renewables" source="Orion">Serentica Renewables</keyword> said it has secured an additional investment of USD 250 million from global investment firm KKR.</li><li>This latest funding builds on the USD 400 million investment from KKR in November 2022.</li><li><keyword id="14965039" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Serentica" source="Orion">Serentica</keyword> has recently signed a new set of <keyword id="3232762" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Power-Delivery" source="Orion">Power Delivery</keyword> Agreements (PDAs) to deliver round-the-clock green energy to some of the leading <keyword id="9935011" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="industrial-customers" source="Orion">industrial customers</keyword> in India.</li></ul>Renewable energy solutions provider Serentica Renewables on Monday said it has secured an additional investment of USD 250 million from global investment firm KKR. Serentica Renewables has signed definitive agreements under which leading global investment firm KKR will invest an additional USD 250 million in the company, a statement said. This latest funding builds on the USD 400 million investment from KKR in November 2022. With this, the company is gearing up to install 4000MW of renewable energy capacity that will aid clean energy delivery to large-scale industrial customers. Serentica has recently signed a new set of Power Delivery Agreements (PDAs) to deliver round-the-clock green energy to some of the leading industrial customers in India. Currently, it is in the process of developing solar and wind power projects across Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. Once commissioned, these projects will <keyword id="15312689" type="TOPIC" weightage="60" keywordseo="Supply" source="TOPIC" sourcekeytype="economy,investopedia" meta.keywordsubtype="null" meta.msid="93027566" meta.seopath="s/supply" meta.entityname="Supply" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="supply">supply</keyword> 9 billion units of green energy every year, using the inter-state transmission network, thereby decarbonising a large portion of the electricity consumption of the large-scale industrial customers. Pratik Agarwal, Director, Serentica Renewables, said in the statement, "We are excited to deepen our collaboration with a like-minded strategic partner like KKR. This investment will enable us to further accelerate large-scale decarbonization of the power-guzzling commercial and industrial segment." Serentica's vision is to supply over 40 billion units of clean energy annually in the medium term and displace 50 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Hardik Shah, Partner at KKR, said in the statement, "We are pleased to extend our relationship with Serentica to support their growth and propel their mission to enable India's energy transition." SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/bill-gatess-optimistic-view-on-ai-chatbots-in-education/articleshow/99809787.cms">Bill Gates says AI Chatbots will transform education by making tutoring affordable and accessible</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/smarter-than-a-smartphone-a-new-wearable-challenges-the-traditional-device/articleshow/99812363.cms">Smarter than a smartphone? A new wearable challenges the ‘traditional’ device</a>

KKR to invest additional USD 250 mn in Serentica Renewables

New Delhi, Jan 22 () Sterlite Power on Wednesday said it has inked an exclusive agreement with the US-based Smart Wires to bring SmartValve to Indian market which will enable resourceful grid management.
 This cutting-edge technology is an intelligent 'valve' that will allow utilities to optimally utilise its existing transmission capacity and enhance grid flexibility, a company statement said.
 Commenting on the technology agreement, Sterlite Power Managing Director Pratik Agarwal said, "An environmentally sustainable electricity system is the anchor for a modern society. We are growing at an incredible pace and need to look for innovative solutions for rising grid outages due to climate change, lack of land to build new lines and integration of renewable energy." 
 "Modernising the grid to make it 'smarter' through the use of cutting edge technology is going to disrupt the landscape and technology is going to be the game changer in this field," he added.
 Power networks in India have been facing major transmission congestion challenges due to exponential growth in demand for power and rapid urbanisation, the statement said.
 Congestion is often seen in sub-transmission lines where it is a challenge to connect renewable power. In this context, alleviating congestion and enhancing grid flexibility becomes critical, it said. 
 SmartValve increases power transfer capability by making better use of existing network. As generation and demand changes, circuits can become unequally loaded. Some lines reach their maximum capacity while others are well below their limits.
 SmartValve technology can unlock this system capacity by more evenly balancing power flows and therefore provides a quicker-to-install and lower-impact alternative to building new lines, it added.
 It is quick to install and easy to scale or redeploy, providing valuable flexibility given today's rapidly changing electric system.
 Manish Agarwal, CEO, Solutions, Sterlite Power, said, "This technology will enable better power flow, grid stability and enhanced power transfer capacity in existing infrastructure without the need for investment in new lines."
 Smart Wires CEO Gregg Rotenberg said, "Given the pace and scale of renewable energy growth in India, our solutions can provide immense value to the market."
 Smart Wires is a leading player in modular power flow control. It has successfully deployed this state-of-the-art technology globally across the US, Europe and Australia, the statement said.
 Based in California, with offices in Ireland and Australia and a global workforce, Smart Wires works with utilities around the world to address the unique challenges they face. KKS RVK

Sterlite Power inks pact with US-based Smart Wires to bring SmartValve to Indian utilities

India Grid Trust, India's first power infrastructure <keyword id="2948615" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Investment-trust">investment trust</keyword> (InvIT), on Saturday signed a share purchase agreement to acquire NER-II Transmission Limited from <keyword id="3245667" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sterlite-Power">Sterlite Power</keyword> as part of the Framework Agreement. The indicative value of the <keyword id="30334" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="acquisition">acquisition</keyword> is ₹4,625 crore and would boost IndiGrid's AUM (asset under management) by 34 per cent to over ₹20,000 crore ($2.8 billion). Post completion, the platform's asset portfolio would consist of 13 power transmission projects, with a <keyword id="10879999" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="total-network">total network</keyword> of 38 power transmission lines and 11 substations extending over 7,570 circuit kilometers and 13,350 MVA in 17 Indian states and 1 Union Territory. NER-II is part of Inter State Transmission Scheme (ISTS) network, and was awarded on a Build, Own, Operate, Maintain ("BOOM") basis with a contractual period of 35 years. The project has 11 elements including two substations of 1,260 MVA capacity and four transmission lines extending over 830 circuit kilometres. The asset spans across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura and is of strategic importance for the delivery of power in one of the <keyword id="10879998" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="toughest-regions">toughest regions</keyword> in the country. This project will strengthen the power transmission network in the <keyword id="80223" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="North-Eastern-states">North Eastern States</keyword> and address the of transmission, sub-transmission, and distribution system needs of the region. IndiGrid had signed a framework agreement in April 2019 with <keyword id="45465" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sterlite">Sterlite</keyword> Power for acquisition of NER-II upon commissioning. This transaction is expected to be consummated during Q4 FY21, subject to unitholders' approval, regulatory approvals, and other customary closing adjustments. The acquisition will be funded through a combination of internal accruals, debt, equity proceeds from the preference issue done in May 2019 and forthcoming rights issue. Post this acquisition, the net debt/AUM would stand at 64 per cent. Commenting on the acquisition, Harsh Shah, Chief Executive Officer of IndiGrid, said: "We are excited with acquisition of NER-II which is one of the largest acquisitions in Indian power transmission sector in India. NER-II fits well with our strategy of focusing on operating assets with long term cash flows and minimal counter party risk. This acquisition would be DPU accretive and augment our recent increase of DPU to ₹12.40 per annum for a considerable period." Commenting on the transaction, Pratik Agarwal, Managing Director, Sterlite Power said, "This mega transmission project will help deliver reliable power for 5.3 crore people in India's north eastern region." IndiGrid has acquired ₹8,300 crore assets since the last capital raise including ₹7,100 crore of Framework/ROFO projects from Sterlite Power and first cost-plus transmission asset from Reliance Ifrastructure. It has also announced its foray into the renewables sector with the planned acquisition of 138 MW solar asset. Separately, in FY21, KKR was inducted as a sponsor following the ₹2,510 crore preferential issue in 2019 which was subscribed by KKR and <keyword id="6357968" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gic">GIC</keyword> amongst other marquee investors. KKR has also acquired majority interest in the Investment Manager SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/regulating-digital-news-is-important-but-freedom-of-press-is-precious/articleshow/81341289.cms">OPINION: Regulating digital news is important but freedom of press is precious</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/heranba-industries-ipo-makes-a-bumper-debut-on-stock-exchanges/articleshow/81342578.cms?upcaceh=2">Heranba Industries makes a bumper debut on stock exchanges — shares soar 44% over the issue price band</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/ignore-low-cibil-score-for-street-vendor-loans-work-on-holidays-and-other-diktats-from-indian-government-to-banks-rushing-to-meet-march-target/articleshow/81223572.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Bankers may be working all 31 days of March with the government looking to double the loans doled out under the PM SVANidhi scheme</a>

IndiGrid inks largest transmission deal with Sterlite Power

New Delhi, Dec 3 () Sterlite Power on Tuesday said it has acquired Lakadia-Vadodara Transmission Project, a green energy corridor project from PFC Consulting Ltd.
 Earlier, the project was won by Sterlite Power. Now the special purpose vehicle incorporated for the execution of the project by PFC Consulting, has been formally acquired by Sterlite Power, a company statement said.
 Power Finance Corporation arm PFC Consulting is the nodal agency for auctioning power transmission projects in the country.
 Sterlite won this project through an e-reverse auction process under tariff-based competitive bidding process on July 16, 2019 and will execute it under the Build, Own, Operate and Maintain (BOOM) model for 35 years in Gujarat.
 The project is aligned to enable the country's renewable energy target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022 and connects the wind energy zones of Bhuj in Gujarat to the load centres in Gujarat and Maharashtra, the statement added.
 The project involves laying 350 kms of 765 kV double-circuit transmission line connecting 765/400 kV Lakadia substation to Vadodara substation in Gujarat, in a timeframe of 18 months.
 "This is another resounding success for Sterlite Power. We are proud to be part of this energy-transition journey of the country and are fully geared to contribute to it with this and more such projects," Sterlite Power Managing Director Pratik Agarwal said.
 With the acquisition of this project, the company has increased its domestic footprint in inter-state transmission projects to 22 states with a cumulative transmission line network of more than 9,000 ckms and 16,000 MVA transformation capacity.
 This marks the 14th addition to our domestic project portfolio. The company has a strong presence in Brazil with a portfolio of 10 transmission projects, the statement said. KKS DRR

Sterlite Power acquires Lakadia-Vadodara Transmission Project from PFC Consulting

<ul><li>With the industry changing at a rapid pace, throwing a new set of challenges every day, experts are hoping that 2020 will be a game-changer that will help them redefine a lot of rules in advertising, with smarter marketing techniques. </li><li>We spoke to a few industry experts to identify these new opportunities that 2020 will bring forth for the industry and here is what they had to say. </li></ul>2019 was an interesting year -- full of ups and downs for the advertising, media and marketing industry. While we saw <keyword id="618493" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-marketing">digital marketing</keyword> taking the center stage and brands experimenting with newer formats on the medium, the economic slowdown affected consumer sentiments, and naturally, the industry. However, during this period of tough economy, the industry tried to squeeze out the inefficiencies to make themselves more productive. As we enter 2020, the industry is hopeful to rise to its full strength together. They are all set to reap the benefits of AR and VR, voice, influencer marketing, and much more to stay ahead in the game. We spoke to a few industry experts to identify these new opportunities that 2020 will bring forth for the industry and here is what they had to say: Will Scougal, Director of International Creative Strategy, Snapchat: I don’t think there’ll be one dominant trend but several interlinked trends that have emerged over the last decade all achieving scale and creating real shifts in the way we experience and interact with brands. Over the last few years people have increasingly shifted their attention to mobile and, as they have become more confident navigating the world with their handset, they’re looking for quality experiences. What we’ve seen at Snapchat is that people are choosing to spend time adding a creative layer to their world through AR (Augmented Reality). As this format continues to scale, both on Snapchat and beyond, we are going to see more innovative, useful, and immersive experiences being built by brands embracing the marketing benefits of AR as a full funnel format. In addition to the growing popularity of AR, we are also going to see premium mobile video content gain more viewers. As audiences rise, we can expect to see more quality made-for-mobile shows from studios, publishers, entertainers and brands who are adapting to the mobile mindset of people. Ashish Bhasin, CEO - APAC and Chairman India, Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific: Voice and performance will gain much more prominence than they did so far in the industry. With the emergence of OTT and data rates going down, there is a natural preference towards digitisation amongst younger audience. Equally, voice is so intuitive, it will be naturally driven more and more on a daily basis -- whether you are driving or use some voice assistant on your phone, which will be simplified with time. On the other hand, clients are also under-pressure to deliver results every quarter, hence, they will be far more interested in performance rather than just pure brand-building. Prathyusha Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, ZEEL: With consumption across platforms, the most dominating trend of 2020 would be brand and character love that transcends multiple screens. Viewers will share their dining tables and living rooms with our content on television satisfying the craving for anticipation of a new story, the first bite to savour the emotion and relationship with our characters every day. They will then stretch it across multiple screens and interactions binging on it, dipping in, dipping out and gorging on it through time and space. As broadcasters, we need to gear up our backend to tailor-make our content such that it is adept to the multiple platform front-end user interfaces. There is a shift needed from thinking of content development as an uncertain creative process to building a nuanced understanding the cultural core that makes viewers tick, what they want/ need, where do they need it and have the capability to evolve our craft to deliver that. To own multiple screens where stories and characters are loved beyond just television, content creators and curators, will have to manage the share of pie on each of platforms to maximise screen hours. Sameer Saxena, Chief Content Officer and Head of TVF: “For 2020, we will continue to strengthen our partnerships with OTT platforms and brands equally. We plan to venture into new genres like thrillers and romance amongst others. We will also explore non-fiction properties as there isn’t much happening in this space. Our aim is to release around 15 to 20 shows in the year including a few in regional languages starting with Marathi. In addition to new shows we're also planning the second seasons of some of our key shows like ‘Kota Factory’, ‘Cubicles’, and ‘Hostel Daze’.“ Dinesh Chhabra, CEO, Usha International: “The consumer durables sector has shown a consistent growth and Usha International Ltd leads this growth from the front riding on new product launches like the Bloom series and Racer fans, as well as the introduction of a whole slew of colorful new kitchen appliances. During this period of tough economy, Usha tightened its operating belt to squeeze out the inefficiencies to make itself leaner and more productive. Usha believes in keeping the customer at the core of our businesses and hence ensures that all the new products that we have recently developed keeping consumer insights in mind and built to fulfil their needs, thereby transforming their daily lives. We expect the New Year to fuel consumer demand and a stabilization of growth patterns in coming quarters. We, at Usha, will continue in our journey to launch new products and innovative technologies, and improve the depth of our distribution penetration specifically in the geographies which are growing at a GDP growth higher than the national average.” Koshy George, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited: One big trend for me will continue to be digital. You will continue to find a lot more digital adoption because the rates, while they have gone up, continue to be rock bottom in the country. And you will find that a lot of time that consumers spend will move into digital and hence the focus to continue to build brands and invest there will be one big trend that we look at. And as part of that, there are a lot of medium like TikTok that have suddenly come and exploded out of nowhere. We have recently worked with the platform and seen really good results so that'll be an area of focus. Secondly, while the economy has been witnessing a slowdown, there is still a room for a lot of premiumization. And there's a big trend in sustainability that is slowly but surely picking up momentum and is something we will see more of in 2020. Amer Jaleel, Group CCO &amp; Chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group: I see content saturation coming. We have to start seeing consumers as audiences in the Media Age. Everybody is creating content with ease through apps. While this explosion leads to satisfying the creative urge among people and that surely is a good thing, but coupled with the march of platforms and production, this is leading very rapidly to content fatigue. Once we see our consumers as an audience, we have to account for the fatigue they have to overcome to see the frankly poor quality of brand content that most of us are putting out. The only way marketeers and their brand partners have is to be ahead of and fresher than the content that's being dished out. I can clearly see that the phrase 'break the clutter' is outdated. We will have to preempt all the evolution of what we call clutter and be ahead of the thinking of the clutter makers. Gurmeet Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India: To stand out from the crowd, companies are putting the customer at the heart of everything they do. This has led to the emergence of exceptional customer experiences. Marketing in the modern era has to play a significant role in shaping these experiences. Artificial Intelligence is certainly going to be a game changer driving the marketing landscape in 2020. This Next-gen technology will create new avenues of effective marketing and customer experiences. One of the trendiest topics across the world, both in B2B and B2C spaces, AI is going to take the charge as it holds the power to evolve businesses, accelerate customer experiences and boost sales like never before. Audience segmentation with in-depth understanding of the demand is key to success in any B2B module. Here AI will empower and align business, marketing and sales teams to accurately analyze the demand touchpoints much before a lead generation. This will ensure faster and concrete conversion of leads resulting in enriched customer experiences. Artificial Intelligence can play a significant role in influencing marketing strategies and predicting favorable product and service outcome. With AI things will become faster, easier, more convenient and affordable for business ecosystem to meet the ever evolving customer expectations. New India’s smart customer is globally connected and is curious to explore, experiment and experience. Today, customers are considering exceptional experiences as a critical aspect of their buying decision. In the B2C segment, AI has a huge role to play. It is also the responsibility of businesses and marketers to ethically leverage the power of this impactful tool. Without invading the privacy of customers, AI should aim at significantly providing intelligent and informed customer experiences by equipping marketing and product teams to effectively analyse consumer behavior, acceptance, demand and delivery points. This will ensure a smooth end to end customer journey that is more customized and interactive in the most natural and ethical manner. AI will also support the marketing landscape by enabling powerful and high-impact consumer insights to disrupt customer satisfaction and enhance success factors of product and service innovations. TikTok spokesperson: In 2019, we saw a drastic shift in online content consumption behavior. As the internet continued to democratize, Indians moved beyond the traditional consumption of entertainment content and are now avidly looking at videos to educate themselves on variety of topics such as self-improvement, health, fitness, e- learning languages, among others. In 2020, we foresee this trend to grow, with brands and NGOs leveraging short video formats with platforms such as TikTok. At the same time, given shorter attention spans, it will be critical for content to break through the clutter, be creative, fun and engaging, in order to attract audiences. Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar South Asia: Voice as a technology is coming into its own and is going to be a big trend in 2020. With Hindi as a language being made available on Alexa, it will open up huge opportunities in the future. Secondly, with advancements in technology, augmented reality is going to take off in a big way. And the third biggest trend will again come from the world of vernacular content. Local languages are going to explode as we go into 2020 and you will see more OTT players investing on local languages. Pratik Gupta, Co-founder, FoxyMoron: "2020 will be the year for digitally evolved agencies and digitally involved clients. Hyper-personalization of content through all digital platforms should be the biggest trend this year. Along with the innovation on digital; Voice, OTT, Social, Progressive Web Apps, the use of Hyper-Personalisation are going to be imperative. While the entire ecosystem believes that the consumer does not want to see advertisements, I believe that ads &amp; communication served to an exposed cookie pool at the right time and at the right place is the future. This year we will be working on creating workflows, technologies and teams to cater to this need for brands and consumers alike." Also see: 
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You Searched For "Pratik Agarwal" and got 8 results

Sterlite Power raises ₹200 crore in debt financing from Allianz Global Investors

IANS

Anil Agarwal, Vedanta Group's owner, chooses professional managers over kin for top posts

BI India Bureau

KKR to invest additional USD 250 mn in Serentica Renewables

PTI

Sterlite Power inks pact with US-based Smart Wires to bring SmartValve to Indian utilities

PTI

IndiGrid inks largest transmission deal with Sterlite Power

IANS

Sterlite Power acquires Lakadia-Vadodara Transmission Project from PFC Consulting

PTI

The top trends that will dominate the advertising, marketing and media industry in 2020

Karuna Sharma

Some of the UK's most powerful tech entrepreneurs have warned David Cameron against clamping down on immigration

Sam Shead