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Tag: Shivnath Thukral

  • WhatsApp released its impact report ‘Fast Lane to Social Impact’

    WhatsApp released its impact report ‘Fast Lane to Social Impact’

    Mumbai:  WhatsApp has released its impact report titled ‘Fast Lane to Social Impact’ that explores the pivotal role the platform plays in the lives of Indian users, empowering small businesses to thrive in today’s digital economy and powering social welfare organizations to drive positive societal change, often being the digital enabler for the last mile.

    The report curated by Redseer Strategy Consultants, delves into the multifaceted impact of the platform’s offerings – WhatsApp consumer app, WhatsApp Business App, and the WhatsApp Business Platform [API], highlighting how the platform has transformed the way people and communities interact and conduct business by facilitating seamless communication.

    Commenting on the launch of the report, Meta India VP, Public Policy, Shivnath Thukral said, “WhatsApp has emerged as a pivotal tool, revolutionizing the way individuals, businesses, and social welfare organizations communicate and operate. From supporting women entrepreneurs to providing skill development for the unemployed or even ensuring parents stay engaged with their children’s education — organizations are successfully harnessing the capabilities of the platform for driving positive social change. The success stories in the report are a testament to WhatsApp’s transformative potential and how its supporting different segments of society thrive in India’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.”

    Empowering India’s MSMEs and boosting entrepreneurship

    WhatsApp Business App has provided micro, small businesses and solopreneurs across India a democratized gateway to discover new markets and serve their customers, along with building a professional digital identity for their business.

    WhatsApp Business has enabled small businesses to streamline operations and easily receive and fulfill orders online, helping them increase efficiency and expand their reach, including access to international markets. In turn, boosting entrepreneurship by providing local businesses and startups access to digital tools that put them on an equal footing with large enterprises.

    . Moreover, The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Meta’s ‘WhatsApp Se Wyapaar’ program aims to digitally train and upskill 10 million local traders on the WhatsApp Business App. The partnership will be implemented in 11 Indian languages across all 29 Indian states.

    . The partnership also provides 25,000 traders access to the Meta Small Business Academy, offering certification that enhances digital marketing skills.

    Powering social welfare organizations to scale impact

    WhatsApp has enabled numerous social welfare organizations in India to deliver impactful solutions in areas such as education, healthcare, financial inclusion, and women empowerment, driving positive social change and transformation at the grassroots.  

    . Mann Deshi Foundation supports over 100,000 rural women entrepreneurs by providing financial literacy and access to business opportunities across markets through their WhatsApp chatbot. So far, they have digitally trained over 15,000 women, 85 per cent of them being rural beneficiaries.

    . Other use cases include NGOs leveraging the platform to scale initiatives like reducing period poverty, empowering pregnant women with comprehensive healthcare and baby care knowledge, and upskilling young professionals for better employment opportunities.

    Building citizen services for efficient e-governance  

    WhatsApp has supported government agencies across the country to deliver efficient and inclusive citizen services. There are several innovative and impactful use-cases ranging from complaint resolution, promoting digital health technology, driving cybersecurity awareness, delivering local utility services, offering efficient and sustainable public transportation services, among many others.

    .  The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) is effectively using WhatsApp to streamline grievance and query resolution systems for a hassle-free experience. The chatbot enables consumers across India to raise complaints, access grievance records to track status updates and allows the government to spread awareness about consumer rights.

    Additional Use cases and Impact numbers:

    Social Welfare Organisations:

    . Rocket Learning has leveraged WhatsApp in its mission to reduce early-stage learning poverty. By effectively employing WhatsApp for local dialect messages, it is able to empower parents to double engagement time, yielding a 30 per cent test score improvement and enabling 80 per cent of children to recognize numbers and describe pictures by age six.

    .  WhatsApp significantly contributes to Pinkishe’s mission of reducing period poverty by helping them reach the extremely remote parts to drive impact. The foundation has successfully conducted 5,000+ menstrual education sessions through WhatsApp.  

    . Robin Hood Army amplifies their food bank impact via volunteer groups, automated volunteer onboarding and donation processing, logistics coordination and simplified donor communication on WhatsApp. So far they have successfully garnered 240,000 active volunteers, covering 300+ cities covered with 30 per cent of new volunteers joining them through WhatsApp.

    MSMEs:

    .  A small grocery store in Bhubaneswar uses WhatsApp to take orders and handle payments online. Customers get quick updates and bills, efficient door-step deliveries, while the store serves more areas—helping the local business grow alongside bigger grocery chains. The store showed 1-2 per cent direct revenue growth, with 10-12 per cent orders from WhatsApp and saves hours everyday by reducing customer queues.

    .  A housewife from Srirangam turned entrepreneur with an artificial jewelry business on WhatsApp. She shares product information via catalogs, accepts orders, and shares personalized offers to stay connected with her customers. The platform has helped her gather design feedback, grow her business, and balance entrepreneurship with family life. 20 per cent of her orders are from WhatsApp and she saves hours everyday by operating digitally.

    .  A fashion retailer based out of Lajpat Nagar market in Delhi, has been using the WhatsApp Business app for the past year and saw better visibility for its products amongst customers by using the catalog feature, leading to better sales and 10-12% revenue growth.

    Government Organisations:

    .  Madhya Pradesh CM Helpline is using WhatsApp to help citizens voice their complaints and disseminate crucial public information, along with helping ensure safety and security of women through a 24X7 helpline.

    .  Bengaluru Metro is revolutionizing commuters’ experience, making life seamless and efficient through ticket booking on WhatsApp. It helps tailor experience and information by adding favourite stations, managing payment cards, and accessing fare details, routes and timetables.

     . Cyber Dost, an initiative by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India effectively uses WhatsApp to educate people about cybercrimes and online safety by sharing safety best practices and crucial information to drive user awareness and engagement. 

  • Whatsapp India’s Abhijit Bose and Meta India’s Rajiv Aggarwal step down

    Whatsapp India’s Abhijit Bose and Meta India’s Rajiv Aggarwal step down

    Mumbai: As part of the workforce churn that Meta is undergoing, Whatsapp India head Abhijit Bose and Meta India’s head of public policy Rajiv Aggarwal have called it a day. Noticeably, this piece of news comes close on the heels of the social media conglomerate dismissing 11,000 employees and also the move of Meta India chief Ajit Mohan to Snap.

    Furthermore, WhatsApp India’s director of public policy, Shivnath Thukral, has been appointed director of public policy for Meta India, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

    As per media reports, Meta India director of partnerships Manish Chopra said in a statement, “Thukral has been an integral part of our public policy team since 2017. In his new role, Thukral will define and lead important policy development initiatives across our apps – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – in India. We remain committed to our users in India and will continue to contribute meaningfully to the regulatory process that will enable everyone to harness the full potential of India’s digital economy.” 

    Bose took up his role at WhatsApp India in 2019. Aggarwal joined Meta India in September 2021; prior to that, he was head of public policy for Uber in India & South Asia.

    Bose announced his exit on LinkedIn, “It has been a tough week for all of our team at WhatsApp as we had to say goodbye to many amazing teammates last week. Amidst all of this, I just shared some news with our WhatsApp and India teams. It has been planned for a while.”

     “After four amazing years at WhatsApp, I have taken the call to move on from Meta. After a small break, I plan to rejoin the entrepreneurial world,” he goes on.

    Whatsapp head Will Cathcart said in a statement, as per the media, “I want to thank Bose for his tremendous contributions as our first Head of WhatsApp in India. His entrepreneurial drive helped our team deliver new services that have benefited millions of people and businesses. There is so much more WhatsApp can do for India and we’re excited to continue helping advance India’s digital transformation.”

    “Aggarwal has decided to step down from his role at Meta to pursue another opportunity. Over the last year, he has played an important role in leading our policy-led initiatives in areas such as user safety, privacy, and scaling up programmes like Goal to drive digital inclusion in the country. He has also been leading proactive engagement with critical policy and regulatory stakeholders. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him the very best for the future,” said Chopra.

  • Shivnath Thukral quits NDTV

    Shivnath Thukral quits NDTV

    MUMBAI: Barely a month after being elevated as business editor and advisor strategy at the group level, Shivnath Thukral has decided to quit NDTV.

    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, a source in the company said, “Thukral had sent to all of us a letter telling about his resignation on Saturday, though nothing has been communicated to us officially as of yet.”

    Thukral, the managing editor of English business news channel NDTV Profit, was in September promoted to a new work profile, something which he obviously did not like.

    In an official communiqué to the employees, Roy had said, “Radhika and I have asked Shivi to spare some of his time to work closely with the two of us on NDTV’s strategies for new projects.”

    Sources say Thukral, who had joined NDTV as a reporter in 1995, had major differences with NDTV Profit’s business and strategy head John O’Loan. He was unhappy about the changes that were brought about in the functioning of NDTV Profit.

    Thukral and O’Loan, however, could not be reached for their comments.

    A long standing NDTV consultant, O’Loan was recently made business and strategy head of NDTV Profit.

  • NDTV elevates Shivnath Thukral to group business editor

    NDTV elevates Shivnath Thukral to group business editor

    MUMBAI: Radhika and Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Group has elevated NDTV Profit Shivnath Thukral to business editor and advisor strategy at the group level.

    Thukral was managing editor of the English business channel of the group since July 2007.

    The announcement was made by the promoters in an official communiqué to the employees. “We are happy to announce that Thukral is to have a redefined role at NDTV,” the memo reads.

    “We would now like Shivi (Thukral) to take on a new role that will enable him to be more involved with the journalism aspects of the business and not with managing newsrooms,” the mail said.

    In his new role, Thukral will work with the promoters on the business strategies for the new projects. “Radhika and I have asked Shivi to spare some of his time to work closely with the two of us on NDTV’s strategies for new projects,” the letter added.

    Also, he will be a journalist – available for all NDTV’s channels where he will also do special shows. His major shows like Big Business Battles and other interview shows will continue on NDTV Profit. He will also be launching his own interview-based show on NDTV Profit soon.

    Thukral had joined NDTV in 1995 as a reporter.

  • NDTV Profit partners with Reliance Money for ‘Money Mantra’

    NDTV Profit partners with Reliance Money for ‘Money Mantra’

    MUMBAI: English business news channel NDTV Profit, in association with Reliance Money, is launching the second season of Money Mantra. Primarily focussing on investment awareness and opportunities for the common masses, the half-hour weekly show will launch on 20 June, airing every Friday at 7.30 pm.

    Hosted by NDTV executive editor and anchor Pankaj Pachauri, the Hindi show will have a panel of financial experts along with Reliance Money director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay as a permanent panelist.

    Money Mantra will focus on investing in India in the context of macro economy and will help enhance investor knowledge base. The show aims at appreciating and understanding the need for investment amongst common masses.

    The audience-based show will discuss and analyse topical economic issues and their impact on personal finance. The panelists will take both audience and viewers’ questions, either live or through email. The show will also showcase a couple of case studies of people looking to make investments.

    NDTV Profit managing editor Shivnath Thukral said, “Money Mantra has been one of the most successful shows on NDTV Profit and we are very happy to relaunch the show in its new avtaar. This show continues in Profit’s overall scheme of focusing on the small investor, their concerns and needs for judicious investments. Over the next few weeks, Profit will be launching several new shows to meet the needs of investors looking for safe investment options.”

  • NDTV Profit launches three new shows

    NDTV Profit launches three new shows

    MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has introduced three shows Breakfast With Profit, Profit Fundamentals and Profit Newsroom. The three news shows will air between 8 am and 5 pm, wherein the flavour of the market, live reports, views, opinions, movements, buzz and trends of the market will be highlighted.

    Breakfast With Profit anchored by Abha Bakaya and Namrata Brar will air at 8 am on weekdays. This 60 minutes breakfast show will bring to the viewers the top business headlines, stock market expectations, impact of key policy announcements, along with news and current affairs, informs an official release.

    Profit Fundamentals will air at 11 am on weekdays. Anchored by Manvi Dhillon, this 30 minutes show will focus on live market action, breaking news and corporate development just as trading begins to hot up. The show’s USP is spotting the early trends driving the trading calls and influencing the stock markets.

    At 12:30 pm, the channel will air Profit Newsroom. The 30 minutes show will be hosted by Aunindyo Chakraverty, Abheek Burman and Shivnath Thukral. It will broadcast breaking news, live reporter feeds, opinion and discussions with participation of industry leaders and market gurus.

    On the launch of the three new shows on NDTV Profit managing editor Vikram Chandra said, “Our three news shows starting in the morning till midday will cover the market action and provide in-depth analysis of the market and bring to the viewers the day’s ups and lows, trends, policies and breaking news. With reporters across the country giving in live feeds, the three shows will compliment each other in building up to the closure of the market everyday. These shows will link to the pulse of the market as and how it evolves every minute, every day.”

  • NDTV Profit goes for complete makeover

    NDTV Profit goes for complete makeover

    MUMBAI: Starting today, business channel NDTV Profit is sporting a new look. The aim is to give it a contemporary look after 18 months of launch.

    Elements such as silver grey background with text in vibrant contrasting colours to draw viewer attention, sleeker super bands which take less space on the screen have gone in to making the channel more contemporary and visually enriching, according to an official release.

    The makeover signifies the need of useful information for viewers as they trade, invest and look at alternative options. It combines the pulse of world markets along with the news flow from India to present the complete picture.

    Commenting on the launch of the new look, NDTV Profit executive editor Shivnath Thukral said, “The frenzy of yesteryears has now been replaced with a more balanced perspective in presenting and digesting information. Profit’s new look will ensure that this need for balance is met. The new look is also linked to the feedback of our millions of viewers whose information requirement is constantly evolving.”