MUMBAI: Things should be cooling off as the New Year approaches with folks winding down their assignments, getting ready to take some time off, right?
But that was not the case with the promoters of India’s only BSE and NSE-listed marketing services provider R K Swamy.
The promoters were busy consolidating their holding in the agency. Through an off market transaction, they bought 3.56 per cent holding that US investment fund Evanston Pioneer Fund LP had invested in the group in 2018-19.
Srinivasan K Swamy and Narasimhan K Swamy concluded the transaction on 27 December 2024 at the market price of Rs 249.64 per share.
With this buy out, the promoter and promoter group hold 69.6 per cet of the equity paid up capital of the company. Following this, Evanston Pioneer Fund withdrew the nomination of Pattabhi Kothandapani Raman from the company’’s board in accordance with the shareholders agreement.
The company informed the stock exchange about the buyout on 30 December 2024 and about the change in the board on 31 December.
Mumbai: Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announced it has collaborated with Netflix, one of the world’s leading entertainment services, on the production of Tokyo Override, an original anime streamed globally, exclusively on Netflix on 21 November 2024.
Tokyo Override is set in Tokyo 100 years in the future where AI has been integrated into daily life and all aspects of urban living is automated. In this sci-fi anime full of motorcycle action, existing and originally designed motorcycles roar through the streets of Tokyo.
Yamaha Motor’s collaboration with Netflix for this project began when we received their request for permission to select and use Yamaha motorcycles in the anime. We cooperated by providing 3D data, images, and sound recordings of the YZF-R1, superbike, and the VMAX, muscle cruiser. In addition to these iconic models, hoping that we could attract the audience to become interested in the world of motorcycles, we also assisted in building the anime’s world of 100 years in the future, offering ideas for mobility, designing the race machine concept “Y/AI”, and providing other support such as supervising the sound effects.
The YZF-R1, VMAX, and Y/AI are all featured in the anime series. We also created a full-scale concept model of the Y/AI, to be world premiered at the Motor Expo 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand running from Nov 29 to Dec 10.
Mumbai: Xsolla, a global video game commerce company, has successfully helped power the Tokyo-based game Tamagotchi Uni, a Bandai Co., Ltd. service offered through the Xsolla Web Shop technology. Specializing in advanced game payment solutions for developers across various platforms, including mobile, PC, cloud, and the web, Xsolla is committed to enhancing player engagement and fulfilling the needs of gamers around the globe.
This partnership is set to provide “Tamagotchi Uni” users with a convenient payment environment for purchasing and downloading digital content, enabling them to play and pay for their gaming experience in any way they want. Additionally, leveraging this solution to support payment solutions in various countries worldwide contributes to securing global reach, scale, and revenue for “Tamagotchi Uni”.
Xsolla president David Stelzer, expressed his excitement about the collaboration: “Partnering with Bandai Co., Ltd. to integrate our cutting-edge payment solutions into ‘Tamagotchi Uni’ represents a significant milestone. This partnership goes beyond technology integration; it’s about enhancing the gaming experience for users worldwide and expanding ‘Tamagotchi Uni’s revenue streams.”
Mumbai: EKA Mobility, an electric vehicles & technology company (with Mitsui Co., Ltd. & VDL Group as equity partners), and GreenCell Mobility, a player in the electric mass mobility space, announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Under this collaboration, EKA Mobility will supply GreenCell Mobility with 1000 intercity electric buses in 12-meter and 13.5-meter categories, in the next few years. EKA Mobility and GreenCell Mobility are committed to working closely together to drive positive change in the global automobile sector by producing industry leading electric buses to transform public transportation.
EKA Mobility founder & chairman Dr. Sudhir Mehta, emphasized the strategic synergy, saying, “Our collaboration with GreenCell Mobility is strategically positioned to usher in a cleaner, more sustainable future through electric mass transportation. Public transportation, especially the intercity bus transportation is the primary mode of transport for more than 50 per cent of Indians. Electrification of public transportation will pave the way for cleaner air, quieter streets, more efficient, convenient, safer, and cost-effective travel for all. At EKA, we are committed to developing sustainable, environmentally conscious, and profitable products. By combining our expertise, we hope to set new standards in commercial electric mobility, contributing considerably to the nation’s sustainability objectives.”
In response to the MoU signing, GreenCell Mobility, MD & CEO Devndra Chawla commented, “We are delighted to announce our collaboration with EKA Mobility, a leader in the electric vehicle domain. This partnership not only strengthens our position in the market but also significantly aligns with our long-term vision for sustainable mobility. At GreenCell mobility as market leaders, we are setting a new benchmark in the industry. Our combined efforts are poised to transform public transportation, offering a cleaner, more efficient, and environmentally friendly solution. This initiative is a significant stride towards our commitment to innovation and sustainability, and it underscores our dedication to a greener, more sustainable future. We are excited about the possibilities this partnership opens up and are committed to leading the charge in the evolution of electric mobility.”
EKA Mobility shall be responsible for supply, sales, and service of these buses, along with delivering quality certification reports to ensure the highest standards in this collaborative endeavour. The supply of 1000 electric buses are expected to have a large and positive impact on our environment. The associated figures illustrate the potential benefits, estimating annual fuel cost savings of Rs 70 crores and the avoidance of 120 lakh gallons of diesel, which is equivalent to growing 15 lakh trees. Furthermore, an estimated 6 lakh individuals will benefit every day from an improved and sustainable public transit infrastructure. Overall, this initiative is expected to result in a projected saving of 32400 Tonnes of CO2 emissions, greatly contributing to the reduction of tailpipe emissions and building a cleaner, more sustainable future.
This collaboration underscores major national and worldwide initiatives towards sustainability, recognizing the critical need for cleaner and more environmentally friendly transportation options. EKA Mobility and GreenCell Mobility’s collaborative initiatives represent an important step towards a greener India and a cleaner world.
EKA Mobility is one of the commercial vehicle manufacturers approved under the Champion OEM Scheme & EV component manufacturing scheme of the Government of India’s Auto PLI policy. EKA is one of the only Indian companies offering end-to-end design, manufacturing & technology of electric new energy commercial vehicles from scratch in India. The company has set up a state-of-the-art research, development, engineering & innovation center in Pune, Maharashtra, and has significantly grown its order book, with more than 700 electric buses and more than 5000 electric light commercial vehicle orders in the pipeline. All these vehicles will be completely designed & manufactured in India, at EKA’s proposed & existing state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In the last two years, the company has introduced electric city bus, staff carrier & school bus, 9-meter hydrogen fuel-cell electric bus, and is now all set to enter the last mile delivery with its range of e-LCVs designed & customized to suit Indian customers and businesses.
Mumbai: – Jaypore, India’s leading artisanal lifestyle brand from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., is set to ignite the festive season in India with an innovative campaign that resonates with the spirit of our time. Under the theme ‘Reclaim Your Roots’, Jaypore invites you to embrace the essence of your heritage which is a culmination of your multi-faceted roots.
A Message of Resonance
In a world that’s constantly evolving, our roots are evolving too. Born from diverse origins, enriched by varied traditions – our roots today are embroidered with multicultural influences & experiences. Jaypore celebrates these roots with crafts that enable one to ‘Reclaim Your Roots’.
Collaborative Storytelling
Jaypore’s ‘Reclaim Your Roots’ campaign showcases celebrated personalities such as Aditi Rao Hydari (actor), Nandita Das (director, actor & activist), Amaan & Ayaan Ali (musicians) and Priya Malik (actor & poet) who unveil their journeys, revealing the new worlds they’ve embraced as a part of their roots. They share their personal stories and how these multi-cultural experiences have influenced them. Each narrative culminates with a heartfelt celebration of their cherished roots.
This campaign gave Jaypore a unique collaborative storytelling opportunity. The brand worked with each of these personalities to understand their narratives, influences and cultural nuances which were then co-written and will be brought alive throughout the campaign.
Unity in Diversity
Jaypore proudly celebrates India’s vibrant culture. ‘Reclaim Your Roots’ is a call for unity and diversity. In a time when the world often seems polarized, Jaypore seeks to bridge those gaps. We stand for unity, embracing the rich tapestry of cultures, traditions, and roots.
With Jaypore, it’s not just about celebrating one’s native roots; it’s about celebrating the multiplicity of geographies and cultural experiences from across the country that shape each one of us. It’s about celebrating you. Jaypore’s promise is to enable you to feel closer and celebrate your roots with their diverse range of crafts and craft-inspired finds that have been thoughtfully curated from across India.
Talking about the campaign, Aditi Rao Hydari expressed, “Jaypore’s #ReclaimYourRoots campaign beautifully encapsulates the essence of my journey. It is not just about appreciating where we come from but also about embracing the various influences that shape who we are. It was enriching to be a part of this campaign, and I hope everyone will join us on this amazing path of self-discovery while also celebrating the rich influences and heritage crafts of India this festive season.”
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd Business Head, Jaypore Rashmi Shukla stated “As we bridge the realms of heritage and contemporary living, Jaypore’s mission is not just to sell products; it’s to celebrate the stories, cultures, and traditions that define us. Each purchase at Jaypore is an act of preserving our collective heritage as you embrace your cherished root. Launching during the festive season, our collaborative stories come to life. It’s an ode to diversity and unity this festive season, where the warmth of traditions mingles with the excitement of new beginnings.”
“Reclaim Your Roots reflects the brand’s core values and a response to the evolving strands of our identity in a globalised world. We hope that this campaign will spark a wave of self-discovery, encouraging people to embrace and celebrate numerous threads that interweave to form the fabric of their roots. It’s more than simply a campaign; it’s a movement towards embracing and celebrating our roots”, added Ms. Shukla.
Jaypore, stands as a true testament to the rich Indian crafts while blending it with modern aesthetics. The brand offers womenswear, menswear, jewelry, home décor and accessories that represent 30 crafts and many more craft-inspired traditions from across India. These includes patra hand embroidery, khadi block print, kantha, hand painted dabu, rogan print and more from states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Telangana, and more.
Through ‘Reclaim Your Roots’, Jaypore invites you to join them on an exhilarating journey of rediscovering and celebrating your roots through timeless crafts.
MUMBAI: The DVD6C licensing group (DVD6C), has announced that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd has joined its worldwide joint licensing program which provides manufacturers of DVD products the ability to license essential DVD patents owned by the group’s members.
DVD6C has licensed DVD patents owned by its member companies since June 1999 (adding licensing for DVD-recorders, DVD-audio players, DVD-R, -RW and -RAM drives, DVD-audio, -R, -RW, -and -RAM discs and cases in September 2003). DVD6C’s licenses cover patents owned by the 6C member companies that are essential for products that comply with the DVD-format specifications defined by the DVD forum, asserts an official release.
The company claims that membership of Samsung in the joint licensing program will benefit existing and future licensees of DVD6C, who will obtain a license to additional essential patents for the DVD products at no additional charge.
Interested parties will remain free to negotiate individual license agreements with DVD6C’s member companies, rather than taking licenses from DVD6C. The member companies have committed to provide such licenses under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, adds the release.
The existing list of DVD6C members include eight developers of DVD technology and formats — Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
MUMBAI: AOL has acquired GameDaily, one of the Internet’s leading independent video game publications, from Gigex, Inc, but did not disclose the financial terms.
As part of the agreement, AOL will acquire both the GameDaily consumer website (http://www.gamedaily.com) and the industry-leading newsletter, (http://Biz.GameDaily.com).
GameDaily will become the flagship video games brand within the AOL Games network, and will be united with content and community features currently found on the AOL Video Games website (http://www.aol.com/videogames), informs an official release.
In addition, the AOL Video Games editorial team will be integrated into the GameDaily editorial staff to create the new GameDaily editorial team. The GameDaily Biz newsletter team will also operate under the newly combined AOL Video Games-GameDaily editorial team. Additionally, certain GameDaily content partnership agreements will be transitioned to AOL.
“Video game sites have become a valuable resource for advertisers wishing to reach the young male audience, and GameDaily is a brand that resonates with these highly sought after consumers,” said AOL Games VP and GM Ralph Rivera. “We look forward to continuing to serve this audience, maximizing GameDaily content with AOL’s community features, and further expanding the AOL Games community.”
“Video games are now a vital piece of the entertainment landscape along with music, video and online communities,” said Gigex Inc CEO Mark Friedler. “We’re thrilled to combine our experience delivering top-notch consumer content and leading business news with AOL’s tremendous reach to provide a new level of innovative entertainment content to online consumers everywhere.”
According to the release, in addition to GameDaily.com, the AOL Games network also includes AOL Games (http://www.aol.com/games), destination for casual and downloadable games from leading publishers; AOL Video Games (http://www.aol.com/videogames), gamers’ leading online resource for video game news, previews, cheats and original programming such as the interactive Inside the Game feature; and the recently acquired Games.com, an extension of AOL Games’ best-of-breed casual games available at one of the most popular URLs among web users seeking games content.
GameDaily is AOL’s fourth announced acquisition of 2006, following the acquisition of Userplane last week, Lightningcast, Inc. in May, and Truveo, Inc. in January. Other recent corporate acquisitions in 2005 by AOL include Music Now, LLC, Weblogs, Inc., Xdrive, Inc. and Wildseed, Ltd.
MUMBAI: Panasonic, the brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is best known, and IBM Corporation has demonstrated for the first time a collaborative environment which enables next generation digital entertainment models at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Conference 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The companies have been working together to develop a standards-based ecosystem that will facilitate the implementation of “download and burn” entertainment models to consumer electronics devices that are SD Memory Card-enabled.
This technology demonstration combined leading-edge Panasonic digital entertainment devices and world-class IBM technology to showcase Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) opportunities throughout the world.
In an official statememt, Panasonic is considered by many to be the leader in CPRM consumer devices throughout Japan, and is collaborating with IBM to build worldwide support for CPRM adoption.
The showcase includes new models that enable consumers to burn digital entertainment content obtained via the internet on physical media like SD Memory Cards; the ability to download and play content on SD Memory Card-enabled devices like mobile phones, TV’s with SD Memory Card capability, and other SD Memory Card-enabled devices; and IBM’s Media Hub framework that establishes a rich Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) ecosystem that helps clients take smart, evolutionary steps toward implementation of their SOA strategy in order to meet their business needs.
“Through this demonstration, Panasonic wants to focus on showing a total approach toward achieving an excellent mobile entertainment solution for the customer, and CPRM is an essential part of that,” said Tetsuro Homma, general manager, SD Solution Group, Panasonic AVC Networks Company, the Matsushita Electric divisional company that is responsible for plasma TV, digital cameras, personal computers and other digital products.
“IBM has the combination of technology, service experience, research and consulting know-how to help build worldwide support for CPRM adoption, ” said Homma.
“This joint initiative is consistent with Panasonic’s worldwide insistence on the highest quality in the customer’s entertainment experience, whether in HD Plasma TVs, where we are the US market and technology leader, or in the mobile entertainment experience that will be demonstrated by Panasonic and IBM at the NAB Show,” added Panasonic Corporation of North America VP and chief technology officer Dr. Paul Liao.
For the demonstrations at NAB 2006, Panasonic has been given access to IBM DMTS (Digital Media Transaction Services), a web service plug-in that enables the flow of entertainment content protected by CPRM technologies. In addition, IBM was given access to Panasonic’s broad line of SD Memory Card-enabled devices, some of which use SD-Audio and SD-Video specifications, in addition to new SD Memory Card-enabled devices, currently being evaluated for the use of CPRM functionality.
“IBM is building on our commitment to an open digital media framework. By working together with Panasonic on this type of advanced enterprise CPRM technology, we will enable people to leverage content in new and exciting ways,” said IBM Media & Entertainment, Digital Media general manager Dick Anderson.
MUMBAI: Chinese television content provider Navstar Media Holdings, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire operational control and 70 per cent ownership interest of content and production company Beijing Broadcasting and Television Media Co., Ltd.
Navstar also announced the appointment of Yang Wenquan to its board of directors.
During the past five years, Beijing Media has produced approximately 10,000 hours of television programming, including TV series, movies and specials. The company currently produces approximately 500 hours of programming per year for CCTV.
“This acquisition is another step in our strategy to further build upon our content development capabilities to take advantage of the growth of China’s media market. Through this transaction, we will strengthen our operating management team, improve our production facilities, expand our distribution footprint and unlock new opportunities to drive our business. We welcome Yang Wenquan to our Board and look forward to working with him and the Beijing Media team as we seek to unlock the full potential of our resources,” said Navstar CEO Don B. Lee.
