Seasonal Magazine - Joyalukkas IPO - Cover Story by John Antony

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VOLUME 20 ISSUE 4 APRIL 2022

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Managing Editor Jason D Pavorattikaran Editor John Antony Director (Finance) Ceena Associate Editor Carl Jaison Senior Editorial Coordinator Jacob Deva Senior Correspondent Bina Menon Creative Visualizer Bijohns Varghese Photographer Anish Aloysious Office Assistant Alby CG Correspondents Bombay: Rashmi Prakash Delhi: Anurag Dixit Director (Technical) John Antony Publisher Jason D Pavorattikaran

EDITORIAL

THE INNOVATION WE DESIRED BUT CAN'T DIGEST! What do we do when we cross 60? We may retire of course if we can afford it, but there is one more thing we all invariably end up doing. We start advising and we start exhorting our younger generations to innovate more. The great idea is that, we seniors did what all we could do, and now it is up to you youngsters to innovate! And what is more, we say, you have the technology with you to innovate, unlike us! If we are ordinary mortals, we can exhort only to our kids or grandkids. But what if we are politicians, economists, bankers, scientists or business leaders? We can exhort to whole generations of youngsters to innovate. This is what they have been doing ever since at least World War II ended, but with the advent of revolutionary technology like Internet, the pace of this exhortation gathered momentum – through mediums like commencement addresses at universities or through the books these leaders write after retirement.

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Nobody does this as well as politicians. “You can do this,” or “You are the future”, they say whenever they address students and young professionals. And finally, the younger generation did it. It was started in 1982 by an American computer scientist called David Chaum, who was all of 27 years when he figured out what we now call as blockchain. The idea was simple – design a database that cannot be rolled back, and thus cannot be tampered with ever! Soon other young computer scientists, physicists and mathematicians, then in their 20s and 30s like Stuart Haber, W. Scott Stornetta & Dave Bayer joined forces together to implement blockchains efficiently. The world didn’t end at Y2K and the exhortations to innovate continued ever more incessantly from the senior crowd. And by 2008, a brilliant mind – possibly a very young mind or a group of young minds – made the ‘innovation of the millennium’ by bringing together two nascent technologies – decentralized computing and blockchains – to create the first decentralized blockchain in the world. What is more, this anonymous mind which goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto also made a unique use-case for this innovation – the world’s first cryptocurrency designed against mindless and senseless inflation. Bitcoin was born. But nobody much outside the computing world noticed the great innovation, especially those who always used to exhort the young to innovate! Even the rare ones who noticed couldn’t possibly understand what blockchain or bitcoin was all about. And thus began its silent ascent. From being next to worthless when Satoshi Nakamoto minted the first bitcoin, by 2010 thirteen bitcoins could be used to buy 1 dollar. That was the time when some people

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David Chaum

Stuart Haber

W. Scott Stornetta

Dave Bayer used to spend two bitcoins to get a pizza and then post it in what was the social media of those days! Today, one bitcoin trades at Rs. 43.80 lakhs. Those who have even some bitcoin think twice before selling off even one-thousandth of a bitcoin i.e. 0.001 BTC, as it costs Rs. 4380, much like a good frontline stock in the Indian market. And all the while, from 2008 to 2021, there hasn’t been something more derided than Bitcoin by some of the most powerful people in this planet – from former US President Trump to several country heads to Central Bank Chairmen to renowned economists to large investors like Warren Buffett to some of the most powerful CEOs in the banking and financial services industry like JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon to today’s Super CEO Elon Musk and even superpower China had attacked bitcoin, but bitcoin has shrugged it all off and continued its ascent. This is what the thinking world, especially those who forever call for innovation, should finally wake up and notice. There is no point in deriding something just because we don’t understand it a bit. Bitcoin remains valuable because of the uniqueness of its underlying technology – the decentralized blockchain – which achieves many things that no kind of financial regulation or law could ever achieve even centuries after the industrial revolution. These achievements include its democratic nature, its open source architecture and its unparalleled transparency as a public blockchain, which keeps it a self-regulatory and selfgoverning model. It is called a trustless model, as for the first time in the financial world, there was no need for trust in a financial transaction! It is something like editing a Wikipedia article. If somebody wrote something erroneous there, others would take notice automatically and correct it. Or like how a new piece of functionality gets added to the Linux open source operating system. But innovation didn’t stop at bitcoin. How can it stop, with all our youngsters being constantly exhorted to innovate? They started innovating on the innovation of the millennium – bitcoin – and thus was born Ethereum which brought what is called Smart Contract functionality into the decentralized blockchain. Suddenly decentralized blockchains became programmable, thereby exploding the use-cases to a million possibilities. That is why, today you will see predictions like, it will be on Ethereum that the next version of World Wide Web will be built and so on.

Jamie Dimon

Elon Musk

And the person who founded Ethereum and its currency or token ETH in 2013 is not a businessman or an economist or a banker. He is a Russian programmer who immigrated to Canada with his parents, and dropped out of university there, to pursue his world changing innovation of bringing smart contracts to the decentralized blockchain. And Vitalik Buterin is all of 27 years even in 2021! The computer programmer who is equally at ease discussing monetary policy and a hundred other subjects. The floodgates to innovation on the blockchain have been open ever since. Today there are around 15,000 decentralized public blockchains in the world, competing with Ethereum, with their own unique usecases and tokens, like Binance, Solana, Cardano, Ripple, Polkadot etc. Perhaps the greatest misnomer regarding these mammoth projects – most of them bigger than most listed Indian companies – is that their tokens are really currencies. Just like how Bitcoin is not a currency like dollar or rupee, Ether and the others are best considered as tokens that are digital assets. Or in other words, they are like shares or stocks in these public blockchains. Today, most countries are staring at blockchains and cryptocurrencies as though they have allowed this Frankenstein to be unleashed! Instead, what is needed is sensible regulation over them, just like how US and much of the developed world is facing this new reality in the modern world. China is at the other end of the spectrum, and China hoped that its economic muscle power would seriously dent the crypto movement, but for cryptos it has just been a minor blip in their journey of innovation. What governments and central banks fear most about cryptos is their decentralized architecture, which makes most of the financial regulations redundant. But counterbalancing it, is the public nature of these blockchains which means anyone can explore these databases to see what is going on, which ensures unparalleled transparency. How can we fault the young brains behind these innovations? We asked them to innovate, and they did too, but a little bit more than what we can chew! They didn’t just have a view on technology, but also had their views on democracy, transparency, and monetary policy! John Antony SEASONAL MAGAZINE

CONTENTS A COMMENDABLE BALANCE OF GROWTH AND PROFITABILITY When it comes to capital markets, jewellery chains don’t have a coveted name. Part of the problem is their inconsistency in profit growth, as they are often saddled with large equities as well as large debts to fund new store growth. But Joyalukkas has been following a totally different strategy for growth, relying on own capital, high capital efficiency, internal accruals and reasonable debt to power growth across India. That is why Joyalukkas’ plans for its Rs. 2300 crore IPO are keenly discussed by investors.

IN HIS WAR TO MAKE UKRAINE FALL, COULD PUTIN ACTUALLY FALL? As Russia’s war in Ukraine looks increasingly disastrous, speculation has mounted that President Vladimir Putin’s misstep could prove to be his downfall. A litany of pundits and experts have predicted that frustration with the war’s costs and crushing economic sanctions could lead to the collapse of his regime.

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Whose side is cryptocurrency on? If you had asked Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person (or persons) who created the Bitcoin platform in 2008, he/ they likely would have rejected the question. The whole point of

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NEWS-IN-FOCUS CHENNAI BOY SOLVES RUBIK'S CUBE IN 14.32 SECS ON BICYCLE, SETS GUINNESS WORLD RECORD A boy from Chennai has created a Guinness World Record by solving Rubik's Cube in just 14.32 seconds while riding a bicycle after working on his skills for two years. "Jayadharshan Venkatesan...was steering, pedalling and solving this cube whilst keeping his balance," Guinness World Records said, sharing his video on Instagram. Jayadharshan's achievement is put under the category of "speedcubing".

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WEALTHY RUSSIANS HAVE UP TO $214 BILLION STASHED IN SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS

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IN HIS WAR TO MAKE UKR COULD PUTIN ACTUALLY F As Russia’s war in Ukraine looks increasingly disastrous, speculation has mounted that President Vladimir Putin’s misstep could prove to be his downfall. A litany of pundits and experts have predicted that frustration with the war’s costs and crushing economic sanctions could lead to the collapse of his regime.

“Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine will result in the downfall of him and his friends,” David Rothkopf declared in the Daily Beast. “If history is any guide, his overreach and his miscalculations, his weaknesses as a strategist, and the flaws in his character will undo him.” But what events could actually bring down Putin? And how likely might they be in the foreseeable future? The best research on how authoritarians fall points to two possible scenarios: a military coup or a popular uprising. During the Cold War, coups were the more common way for dictators to be forced out of office — think the toppling of Argentina’s Juan Perón in 1955. But since the 1990s, there has been a shift in the way that authoritarians are removed. Coups have been on the decline while popular revolts, like the Arab Spring uprisings and “color revolutions” in the former Soviet Union, have been on the rise. For all the speculation about Putin losing power, neither of these eventualities seems particularly likely in Russia — even after the disastrous initial invasion of Ukraine. This is in no small part because Putin has done about as good a job preparing for them as any dictator could. Over the past two decades, the Russian leader and his allies have structured nearly every core element of the Russian state with an eye toward limiting threats to the regime. Putin has arrested or killed leading dissidents, instilled fear in the general public, and made the country’s leadership class dependent on his goodwill for their continued prosperity. His ability to rapidly ramp up repression during the current crisis in response to antiwar protests — using tactics ranging from mass arrests at protests to shutting down opposition media to cutting off social media platforms — is a demonstration of the regime’s strengths. “Putin has prepared for this eventuality for a long time, and has taken a lot of concerted actions to

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AINE FALL, FALL?

make sure he’s not vulnerable,” says Adam Casey, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan who studies the history of coups in Russia and the former communist bloc. Yet at the same time, scholars of authoritarianism and Russian politics are not fully ready to rule out Putin’s fall. Unlikely is not impossible; the experts I spoke with generally believe the Ukraine invasion to have been a strategic blunder that raised the risks of both a coup and a revolution, even if their probability remains low in absolute terms. “Before [the war], the risk from either of those threats was close to zero. And now the risk in both of those respects is certainly higher,” says Brian Taylor, a professor at Syracuse University and author of The Code of Putinism.

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Ukrainians and their Western sympathizers cannot bank on Putin’s downfall. But if the war proves even more disastrous for Russia’s president than it already seems, history tells us there are pathways for even the most entrenched autocrats to lose their grip on power. In a recent appearance on Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hit upon what he saw as a solution to the Ukraine war — for someone, perhaps “in the Russian military,” to remove Vladimir Putin by assassination or a coup. “The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,” the senator argued. He shouldn’t get his hopes up. A military revolt against Putin is more possible now than it was before the invasion of Ukraine, but the odds against it remain long. Naunihal Singh is one of the world’s leading scholars of military coups. His 2017 book Seizing Power uses statistical analysis, game theory, and historical case studies to try to figure out what causes coups and what makes them likely to succeed. Singh finds that militaries are most likely to attempt coups in low-income countries, regimes that are neither fully democratic nor fully autocratic, and nations where coups have recently happened. None of these conditions apply very well to modern Russia, a firmly authoritarian middle-income country that hasn’t seen a coup attempt since the early ’90s. But at the same time, wars like Putin’s can breed resentment and fear in the ranks, precisely the conditions under which we’ve seen coups in other countries. “There are reasons why Putin might be increasingly concerned here,” Singh says, pointing to coups in Mali in 2012 and Burkina Faso earlier this year as precedent. Indeed, a 2017 study of civil wars found that coups are more likely to happen during conflicts when governments face stronger opponents — suggesting that wartime deaths and defeat really do raise the odds of military mutinies. In Singh’s view, the Ukraine conflict raises the odds of a coup in Russia for two reasons: It could weaken the military leadership’s allegiance to Putin, and it could provide an unusual opportunity SEASONAL MAGAZINE

to plan a move against him. The motive for Russian officers to launch a coup would be fairly straightforward: The costly Ukraine campaign becomes unpopular among, and even personally threatening to, key members of the military. Leading Russian journalists and experts have warned that Putin is surrounded by a shrinking bubble of hawkish yes-men who feed his nationalist obsessions and tell him only what he wants to hear. This very small group drew up an invasion plan that assumed the Ukrainian military would put up minimal resistance, allowing Russia to rapidly seize Kyiv and install a puppet regime. This plan both underestimated Ukraine’s resolve and overestimated the competence of the Russian military, leading to significant Russian casualties and a failed early push toward the Ukrainian capital. Since then, Russian forces have been bogged down in a slow and costly conflict defined by horrific bombardments of populated areas. International sanctions have been far harsher than the Kremlin expected, sending the Russian economy into a tailspin and specifically punishing its elite’s ability to engage in commerce abroad. According to Farida Rustamova, a Russian reporter well-sourced in the Kremlin, high-ranking civilian officials in the Russian government are already unhappy about the war and its economic consequences. One can only imagine the sentiment among military officers, few of whom appear to have been informed of the war plans beforehand - and many of whom are now tasked with killing Ukrainians en masse. Layered on top of that is something that often can precipitate coups: personal insecurity among high-ranking generals and intelligence officers. According to Andrei Soldatov, a Russia expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis think tank, Putin is punishing highranking officials in the FSB — the successor agency to the KGB - for the war’s early failures. Soldatov’s sources say that Putin has placed Sergei Beseda, the leader of the FSB’s foreign intelligence branch, under house arrest (as well as his deputy). Reports like this are hard to verify. But

they track with Singh’s predictions that poor performance in wars generally leads autocrats to find someone to blame — and that fear of punishment could convince some among Russia’s security elite that the best way to protect themselves is to get rid of Putin. “I don’t think Putin will assassinate them, but they may still have to live in fear and humiliation,” Singh says. “They’ll be afraid for their own futures.”

explains. That said, coups are famously difficult to pull off. And the Russian security state in particular is organized around a frustrating one. Contrary to most people’s expectations, successful military coups are generally pretty bloodless; smart plotters typically don’t launch if they believe there’s a real chance it’ll come down to a gun battle in the presidential palace. Instead, they ensure they have overwhelming support from the armed forces in the capital - or at least can convince everyone that they do - before they make their move. And on that front, Russia experts say Putin has done a bang-up job of what political scientists call “coup-proofing” his government. He has seeded the military with counterintelligence officers, making it hard for potential mutineers to know whom to trust. He has delegated primary responsibility for repression at home to security agencies other than the regular military, which both physically distances troops from Moscow and reduces an incentive to rebel (orders to kill one’s own people being quite unpopular in the ranks). He has also intensified the coup coordination problem by splitting up the state security services into different groups led by trusted allies. In 2016, Putin created the Russian National Guard - also called the Rosgvardiya - as an entity separate from the military. Under the command of thuggish Putin loyalist Viktor Zolotov, it performs internal security tasks like border security and counterterrorism in conjunction with Russia’s intelligence services.

The conflict also provides disgruntled officials with an opening. In authoritarian countries like Russia, generals don’t always have many opportunities to speak with one another without fear of surveillance or informants. Wars change that, at least somewhat. There are now “lots of good reasons for generals to be in a room with key players and even to evade surveillance by the state, since they will want to evade NATO and US surveillance,” Singh

These services are split into four federal branches. Three of these - the FSB, GRU, and SVR - have their own elite special operations forces. The fourth, the Federal Protection Services, is Russia’s Secret Service equivalent with a twist: It has in the range of 20,000 officers, according to a 2013 estimate. By contrast, the Secret Service has about 4,500, in a country with a population roughly three times Russia’s. This allows the Federal Protection Services to function as a kind of Praetorian Guard that can protect Putin from assassins and coups alike. The result is that the regular military, the most powerful of Russia’s armed factions, does not necessarily dominate Russia’s internal security landscape. Any

successful plot would likely require complex coordination among members of different agencies who may not know each other well or trust each other very much. In a government known to be shot through with potential informers, that’s a powerful disincentive against a coup. “The coordination dilemma ... is especially severe when you have multiple different intelligence agencies and ways of monitoring the military effectively, which the Russians do,” Casey explains. “There’s just a lot of different failsafe measures that Putin has built over the years that are oriented toward preventing a coup.” In an interview on the New York Times’s Sway podcast, former FBI special agent Clint Watts warned of casualties in the Ukraine war leading to another Russian revolution. “The mothers in Russia have always been the pushback against Putin during these conflicts. This is going to be nextlevel scale,” he argued. “We’re worried about Kyiv falling today. I’m worried about Moscow falling between day 30 and six months from now.” A revolution against Putin has become likelier since the war began; in fact, it’s probably more plausible than a coup. In the 21st century, we have seen more popular uprisings in post-Soviet countries — like Georgia, Belarus, and Ukraine itself — than we have coups. Despite that, the best evidence suggests the odds of one erupting in Russia are still fairly low. Few scholars are more influential in this field than Harvard’s Erica Chenoweth. Their finding, in work with fellow political scientist Maria Stephan, that nonviolent protest is more likely to topple regimes than an armed uprising is one of the rare political science claims to have transcended academia, becoming a staple of op-eds and activist rhetoric. When Chenoweth looks at the situation in Russia today, they note that the longstanding appearance of stability in Putin’s Russia might be deceiving. “Russia has a long and storied legacy of civil resistance [movements],” Chenoweth tells me. “Unpopular wars have precipitated two of them.” Here, Chenoweth is referring to two early-20th-century uprisings against the czars: the 1905 uprising that led to the SEASONAL MAGAZINE

creation of the Duma, Russia’s legislature; and the more famous 1917 revolution that gave us the Soviet Union. Both events were triggered in significant part by Russian wartime losses (in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, respectively). And indeed, we have seen notable dissent already during the current conflict, including demonstrations in nearly 70 Russian cities on March 6 alone. It’s conceivable that these protests grow if the war continues to go poorly, especially if it produces significant Russian casualties, clear evidence of mass atrocities against civilians, and continued deep economic pain from sanctions. But we are still very far from a mass uprising. Chenoweth’s research suggests you need to get about 3.5 percent of the population involved in protests to guarantee some kind of government concession. In Russia, that translates to about 5 million people. The antiwar protests haven’t reached anything even close to that scale, and Chenoweth is not willing to predict that it’s likely for them to approach it. “It is hard to organize sustained collective protest in Russia,” they note. “Putin’s government has criminalized many forms of protests, and has shut down or restricted the activities of groups, movements, and media outlets perceived to be in opposition or associated with the West.” Protesters clash with police in Independence Square in Kyiv on

February 20, 2014. Demonstrators were calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the EU. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images A mass revolution, like a coup, is something that Putin has been preparing to confront for years. By some accounts, it has been his number one fear since the Arab Spring and especially the 2013 Euromaidan uprising in Ukraine. The repressive barriers Chenoweth points out are significant, making it unlikely — though, again, not impossible — that the antiwar protests evolve into a movement that topples Putin, even during a time of heightened stress for the regime. In an authoritarian society like Russia, the government’s willingness to arrest, torture, and kill dissidents creates a similar coordination problem as the one coup plotters experience —just on a grander scale. Instead of needing to get a small cabal of military and intelligence officers to risk death, leaders need to convince thousands of ordinary citizens to do the same. In past revolutions, oppositioncontrolled media outlets and social media platforms have helped solve this difficulty. But during the war, Putin has shut down notable independent media outlets and cracked down on social media, restricting Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram access. He has also introduced emergency measures that punish the spread of “fake” information about the war by up to 15 years in jail, leading even international media outlets like the New York Times to pull their

local staff. Antiwar protesters have been arrested en masse. Most Russians get their news from government-run media, which have been serving up a steady diet of pro-war propaganda. Many of them appear to genuinely believe it: An independent opinion poll found that 58 percent of Russians supported the war to at least some degree. “What these polls reflect is how many people actually tune in to state media, which tells them what to think and what to say,” Russian journalist Alexey Kovalyov tells my colleague Sean Illing. The brave protesters in Russian cities prove that the government grip on the information environment isn’t airtight. But for this dissent to evolve into something bigger, Russian activists will need to figure out a broader way to get around censorship, government agitprop, and repression. That’s not easy to do, and requires skilled activists. Chenoweth’s research, and the literature on civil resistance more broadly, finds that the tactical choices of opposition activists have a tremendous impact on whether the protesters ultimately

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Given the Russian president’s level of control over his security establishment, it will take a truly massive protest movement to wedge them apart. It can be difficult to talk about low-probability events like the collapse of the Putin regime. Suggesting that it’s possible can come across as suggesting it’s likely; suggesting it’s unlikely can come across as suggesting it’s impossible. But it’s important to see a gray area here: accepting that Putin’s end is more likely than it was on February 23, the day before Russia launched its offensive, but still significantly less likely than his government continuing to muddle through. The war has put new pressure on the regime, at both the elite and the mass public level, but the fact remains that Putin’s Russia is an extremely effective autocracy with strong guardrails against coups and revolutions.

succeed in their aims. Organizers need to “give people a range of tactics they can participate in, because not everyone is going to want to protest given the circumstances. But people may be willing to boycott or do other things that appear to have lower risk but still have a significant impact, ” says Hardy Merriman, a senior advisor to the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. You can already see some tactical creativity at work. Alexis Lerner, a scholar of dissent in Russia at the US Naval Academy, tells me that Russians are using unconventional methods like graffiti and TikTok videos to get around the state’s censorship and coercive apparatus. She also notes that an unusual amount of criticism of the government has come from high-profile Russians, ranging from oligarchs to social media stars. But at the same time, you can also see the effect of the past decades of repression at work. During his time in power, Putin has systematically worked to marginalize and repress anyone he identifies as a potential threat. At the highest level, this means attacking and

imprisoning prominent dissenters like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Alexei Navalny. But the repression also extends down the social food chain, from journalists to activists on down to ordinary Russians who may have dabbled too much in politics. The result is that anti-Putin forces are extremely depleted, with many Putin opponents operating in exile even before the Ukraine conflict began. Moreover, revolutions don’t generally succeed without elite action. The prototypical success of a revolutionary protest movement is not the storming of the Bastille but the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. In that case, Mubarak’s security forces refused to repress the protesters and pressured him to resign as they continued. “Symbolic protest is usually not enough to bring about change,” Chenoweth explains. “What makes such movements succeed is the ability to create, facilitate, or precipitate shifts in the loyalty of the pillars of support, including military and security elites, state media, oligarchs, and Putin’s inner circle of political associates.”

So how should we think about the odds? Is it closer to 20 percent — or 1 percent? This kind of question is impossible to answer with anything like precision. The information environment is so murky, due to both Russian censorship and the fog of war, that it’s difficult to discern basic facts like the actual number of Russian war dead. We don’t really have a good sense of how key members of the Russian security establishment are feeling about the war or whether the people trying to organize mass protests are talented enough to get around aggressive repression. And the near-future effects of key policies are similarly unclear. Take international sanctions. We know that these measures have had a devastating effect on the Russian economy. What we don’t know is who the Russian public will blame for their pains: Putin for launching the war — or America and its allies for imposing the sanctions? Can reality pierce through Putin’s control of the information environment? The answers to these questions will make a huge difference. Putin built his legitimacy around the idea of restoring Russia’s stability, prosperity, and global standing. By threatening all three, the war in Ukraine is shaping up to be the greatest test of his regime to date. (By Zack Beauchamp for Vox)

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When it comes to capital markets, jewellery chains don’t have a coveted name. Part of the problem is their inconsistency in profit growth, as they are often saddled with large equities as well as large debts to fund new store growth. But Joyalukkas has been following a totally different strategy for growth, relying on own capital, high capital efficiency, internal accruals and reasonable debt to power growth across India. That is why Joyalukkas’ plans for its Rs. 2300 crore IPO are keenly discussed by investors.

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eading national jewellery retailer, Joyalukkas has filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for its proposed Rs. 2300 crore Initial Public Offer (IPO). Joyalukkas is one of the best managed gold and diamond jewellery retailers in the country, and the DRHP sheds light on several of its strengths. Despite growing at a faster clip than most of its peers, Joyalukkas had so far shunned private equity, instead relying on own capital, internal accruals and debt for funding the growth of its formidable retail chain. The promoter Alukkas Varghese Joy (better known as Joy Alukkas) and his family still holds close to 100% of the equity (99.98% to be precise) of Joyalukkas. Such careful guarding of its own equity by the promoter group is extending to the IPO too, and despite its huge IPO size of Rs. 2300 crore, it doesn’t have an Offer for Sale (OFS) by the promoter group, which it could have easily done. This respect for their own equity by the promoters is likely

DESPITE ITS LARGE-SIZED IPO, THE PROMOTERS HAVE OPTED OUT OF AN OFFER FOR SALE (OFS) BY THEMSELVES, WHICH SHOWS THE HIGH RESPECT FOR THEIR OWN EQUITY IN THE COMPANY, WHICH WILL BE NOTED POSITIVELY BY THE MARKET.

to be noticed by the discerning investors in the market. The luxury brand’s reliance on debt has also been quite reasonable unlike some of its peers that are saddled with high debt. As on September 30, 2021, Joyalukkas’ net debt to equity ratio was 0.77. And as of 28 February 2022, the total outstanding debt of the firm was Rs 1,524.47 crore. The company has been on a prudent path of debt reduction for a few years now. Net Debt to Equity Ratio had fallen from 1.04 in 2019 to the 0.77 level achieved as on September 30, 2021. Even the bulk of the IPO proceeds - Rs 1400 crore out of Rs. 2300 crore - would be for debt reduction, and this will help Joyalukkas cancel 92% of its current debt and help its journey towards being a debt-free company. Joyalukkas is also noted for its consistency in generating profits, unlike many of its peers. Its weighted average return on net worth (RoE / RoNW) for the past three fiscals stands at a healthy 16.43%, and this is despite two out of these three years being the pandemic years. According to a report by Technopak, the company has the highest EBITDA and one of the highest PAT per square foot among all large jewellers in the country. In FY21, Joyalukkas had clocked a net profit of Rs 472 crore on revenues of Rs 8,066 crore. The company had posted Rs 40.71 crore as profits in the year-ago period, which was the most affected by Covid-19 lockdowns. The growth in the current fiscal is also going stronger than the previous fiscal. For the half year ended in September 2021, its revenue was at Rs 4,012.26 crore against Rs 2,088.77 crore a year ago. Net profit for the period stood at Rs 268.95 crore versus Rs 248.61 crore last year. With a face value of Rs10 each share, SEASONAL MAGAZINE

the current paid-up capital of the company is Rs 770.3 crore divided into 77.03 crore shares. The Net Worth or Shareholders Equity of the company as of September end, 2021, was around Rs 1917 crore, which works out to a book value per share of Rs 283.68, pre-issue. Joyalukkas’ founder Alukkas Varghese Joy, hails from a leading business family in Thrissur, Kerala, and has over 33 years of expertise in the jewellery industry in India, Middle East and several other global markets. The company began operations in 2002 by opening a showroom in Kottayam, Kerala, and has grown ever since then at a blistering pace. Today, the company operates 85 showrooms under the ‘Joyalukkas’ brand located across 68 cities in India with an aggregate area of approximately 3,44,458 square feet, as of January 31, 2022. Of these 85 showrooms, six are large-format showrooms with an area of 8,000 square feet or more. Its largest showroom so far is at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, which has an area of over 13,000 square feet. Quite interestingly, three business groups founded by Thrissur-based businesspersons – namely, ESAF Small Finance Bank, Popular Vehicles and Sales Ltd and now, Joyalukkas, are set to become public listed companies during the ensuing financial year itself as they all have filed initial proposals for their IPOs. The city is also known for producing leading listed financial institutions like CSB Bank, South Indian Bank, & Manappuram Finance. At present, Joyalukkas generates over 90% of its revenues from southern states followed by the Western region. The company is in the process of expanding its geographical footprint, even while maintaining its leadership in its key markets of Southern and SEASONAL MAGAZINE

THE BULK OF THE IPO PROCEEDS - RS 1400 CRORE OUT OF RS. 2300 CRORE WOULD BE FOR DEBT REDUCTION, AND THIS WILL HELP JOYALUKKAS CANCEL 92% OF ITS CURRENT DEBT AND HELP ITS JOURNEY TOWARDS BEING A DEBTFREE COMPANY.

Western regions. As mentioned earlier, the net proceeds of the IPO will be utilised for repayment or prepayment, in full or part, of certain borrowings availed by the company of around Rs 1,400 crore. The leading retailer will also use around Rs 464 crore for financing the opening of eight new showrooms. The remaining funds will be utilised for general corporate purposes. Over the next two years, Joyalukkas plans to open eight new showrooms in Telengana, Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka. In FY23, four new showrooms will be opened in Mumbai, Habsiguda and Mehdipatnam in Telangana and Bhubaneshwar. Those in Siddipet, Suchitra and Chandanagar in Telangana and Gulbarga in Karnataka will come up in FY24. Total investment on these showrooms will be Rs 492 crore. Not more than 50% of the issue will

JOYALUKKAS' THREE-YEAR WEIGHTED AVERAGE RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) IS A HEALTHY 16.43%, DESPITE THE COVID IMPACT, AND IT HAS HAS THE HIGHEST EBITDA AND ONE OF THE HIGHEST PAT PER SQUARE FOOT AMONG ALL LARGE JEWELLERS IN INDIA. be available for allocation to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and up to 60% of the QIB portion would be allocated to anchor investors on a discretionary basis. Not less than 15% will be available to non-institutional bidders and not less than 35% of the issue shall be available for allocation to retail individual bidders. The book running lead managers to the issue are Edelweiss Financial Services, Haitong Securities India Private, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, and SBI Capital Markets. The registrar to Joyalukkas IPO is Link Intime India. Joyalukkas has a range of over 100,000 jewellery designs, across various price points, and caters to customers across all market segments. The firm maintains an inventory of jewellery made of gold, diamond and other precious stones, platinum and silver, all with an extensive array of designs. Its gold, diamond and other jewellery inventory in each individual showroom reflects regional customer preferences and designs. In FY21, the gold category accounted for 84.24% of its overall revenue from operations, whereas diamonds and others, including silver and pearls, made up 14.14% and 1.62% respectively. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Its product profile includes traditional, contemporary and combination designs across jewellery lines, usages and price points. Its focus on design and innovation, ability to recognize consumer preferences and market trends, the intricacy of their designs and the quality of the products are among its key strengths in jewellery retailing. Its large format showrooms provide a luxury experience and customer service, with a combination of inventory and variety of jewellery products enabling it to attract and retain a growing customer base exceeding over 2 million customers so far in India. Joyalukkas diamond jewellery is certified by Forevermark, IGI, GIA and DHC. They have developed a number of sub-brands that include Pride, Eleganza, Veda, Ratna, Zenina, Apurva, Masaaki Pearls and Li’l Joy Kids Jewellery. The Indian opportunity in jewellery retailing is unique in the global jewellery market, which is estimated at $320 billion currently. India is the second largest consumer for gold ornaments after China, and one among the top-three in the world when it comes to all kinds of jewelleries, behind USA & China. Global jewellery market is projected to reach $350 billion by 2025. There is no inventory obsolescence risk in jewellery

JOYALUKKAS OPERATES 85 SHOWROOMS ACROSS 68 CITIES IN INDIA WITH A TOTAL AREA OF 3,44,458 SQUARE FEET, OF WHICH SIX ARE LARGE-FORMAT SHOWROOMS WITH AN AREA OF 8,000 SQUARE FEET OR MORE, WITH ITS LARGEST BEING ITS CHENNAI SHOWROOM AT 13,000 SQUARE FEET. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

PROMOTERS' HIGH RESPECT FOR THEIR EQUITY, PRUDENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, BETTER CAPITAL EFFICIENCIES AND HIGH GROWTH TRAJECTORY ARE LIKELY TO GARNER HIGH INVESTOR INTEREST IN JOYALUKKAS' IPO.

retailing as products can be recycled to make new ones. But the Indian market opportunity is also unique in two other ways. In India, gold serves a dual purpose of ornamentation and investment, and is therefore never a hard sale like many other lifestyle retail segments. India also plays a significant role in the supply chain of both gold and diamond jewellery market. The Indian market’s growth dynamics also favours organized retailers like Joyalukkas. The size of the Indian jewellery retail sector was close to Rs 4,58,000 crore in fiscal 2020, and it is projected to increase at a CAGR of 9% to reach Rs 6,94,000 crore by fiscal 2025. However, organised jewellery retailers like Joyalukkas would increase at a quicker rate, at a CAGR of roughly 14% from Rs 1,45,000 crore in fiscal 2020 to Rs 2,75,000 crore in fiscal 2025. The share of organised jewellery retail in the whole jewellery market is projected to rise from 32% in fiscal 2020 to 40% in fiscal 2025. To serve to younger and tech-savvy clientele, Joyalukkas had launched its online portal, www.joyalukkas.in, in March 2018 where customers can browse the ornaments based on their preferences, collections, and designs, then purchase it and have it delivered to their homes through a partnership with third-party logistics companies. It also offers a purchase advance scheme on its online platform, called the Easy Gold Scheme, where customers can plan for gold jewellery purchases in fixed monthly instalments up to ten months in advance, at the current gold rate, and finally receive their purchase at their doorstep. Joyalukkas is one of the jewellers credited with professionalizing the jewellery retailing business in India into an organized sector. Along with this, its high respect for equity, prudent financial management, better capital efficiencies and high growth trajectory are likely to garner high investor interest in this IPO. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

COMING SOON: EDIBLE OIL FROM YEAST!

CULTIVATION OF PALM OIL, THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR EDIBLE OIL, DRIVES DEFORESTATION IN THE TROPICS. NOW, RESEARCHERS ARE MAKING THE CASE FOR SYNTHETIC ALTERNATIVES TO PALM OIL FROM YEAST. Tom Jeffries and Tom Kelleher met at Rutgers University in the 1970s while studying industrially useful microbes. Jeffries went on to run a yeast genomics program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Kelleher spent decades in the biomedical industry, working with biologics like insulin, which are produced by genetically modified microbes in giant, fermenting vats. In 2007, the two reunited to build a company on the back of a grant from the National Science Foundation. Called Xylome, the Wisconsin-based startup aimed to find better SEASONAL MAGAZINE

methods to produce low-carbon fuel by feeding yeast agricultural waste. Yet it was by accident that Jeffries and Kelleher turned their efforts a few years later to a different global environmental problem: palm oil. The world’s cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil, palm oil production is a primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss in the tropics. These and other problems with the palm oil industry, such as exploitative labor practices, have for years driven interest in more sustainable op-

tions. But good alternatives have proven difficult to come by: Other vegetable oils have similar drawbacks to palm oil, and sustainable forestry practices are not always effective in the face of rising demand. Today, the world consumes nearly 7.7 million tons (70 million metric tons) of palm oil each year, used in everything from toothpaste and oat milk to biodiesel and laundry detergent. Demand is expected to more than double by 2050. But with advances in bioengineering and

increasing concerns about sustainability, a number of companies like Xylome have developed microbial oils they say could offer an alternative to palm oil while avoiding its most destructive impacts. They join numerous other synthetic biology companies — from ventures hawking new biofuels and fertilizer to lab-grown meat — that aspire to solve environmental problems but share similar challenges scaling up production and demonstrating their approach is in fact more sustainable than the problem they’re trying to solve. Last year, a startup called C16 Biosciences opened a gleaming new lab in Manhattan to develop a microbial palm oil alternative, backed by $20 million from Bill Gates’ climate solutions investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures. A California-based startup called Kiverdi is also working to manufacture yeast oil using carbon captured from the atmosphere, and a team of bioengineers at the University of Bath is at work scaling up its own strain of oily yeast. Xylome recently sent the first batches of its palm oil alternative — called Yoil — to a number of large palm oil suppliers and the FDA for testing. Though enormous challenges exist to scaling up production at a cost that can compete with cultivated palm oil, and questions remain about how an emergent biotech industry in the Global North might impact palm oil-based livelihoods in the Global South, these microbial oils could help curb the relentless growth of oil palm, which threatens biodiverse areas along frontiers in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central America. If yeast oils can achieve a price low enough to compete with the trees (a big if) “that would make a huge difference in where palm oil comes from,” said Kelleher, now Xylome’s CEO. “It would all be microbial at that point.” Over Zoom, Kelleher showed off a bluish photo of Xylome’s proprietary yeast strain, developed from an oil-producing species called Lipomyces starkeyi. Through the microscope, the yeast resembled dish soap suds. “You’re looking at yeast which are literally squashed,” he said. “They’re crushed to the outside wall because of the amount of oil produced in these yeasts.” Fed on corn syrup, the genetically altered strain is capable of giving over the majority of its

total weight to lipids. “They do exactly what we do if we keep feeding ourselves sugar,” said Kelleher. “They get big.” In 2013, Jeffries, now Xylome’s president, noticed the oil from this strain was remarkably similar to palm oil, which is prized for its distinctive blend of saturated and unsaturated fats. This blend is solid at room temperature, and liquid at body temperature, perfect for chocolate coatings, soaps, and cosmetics. Other parts of the versatile palm oil are used as fuels, solvents, lubricants, and in many other products, especially in China, India, and Indonesia. The resemblance of the yeast oil to palm oil was discovered by chance — Xylome was going for diesel. But Jeffries and Kelleher realized there might be something to a palm oil alternative when Kelleher’s daughter told him about the growing interest in palm oil-free cosmetics to address environmental concerns identified by years of international activism targeting unsustainable palm oil. Though palm oil production is responsible for less than 1 percent of deforestation globally, according a 2018 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it is a major cause of deforestation in the tropics. In Borneo, for instance, oil palm cultivation has accounted for more than half of all deforestation over the past two decades. Future demand could contribute to even more deforestation. The same report found that more than 1 million square miles of biodiversity hotspots could be threatened by oil palm cultivation, potentially affecting more than 40 percent of all threatened bird, mammal, and amphibian species, from orangutans and tigers to flycatchers and elephants. This deforestation also creates greenhouse gas emissions, as carbon-rich peat built up beneath virgin forests is drained, and trees are burned to clear land for planting. Recognizing these impacts, suppliers — working through organizations like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which has certified palm oil supply chains since 2007 — have sought ways to increase oversight of palm oil production to ensure crops are not cultivated on biodiverse or carbon-rich land. While a growing number of palm growers are certified, the approach has limitations,

said Janice Lee, an environmental scientist who studies palm oil at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. For instance, it can be difficult to certify smallholder growers, who collectively represent the majority of palm oil production in some regions. “Certification is not a silver bullet,” she said. About 20 percent of palm oil production is certified by RSPO. Finding an alternative to palm oil has proven even more challenging. Other tropical oils — like coconut oil — have lower yields than oil palm and would have even greater impacts if cultivated on the same scale. Other non-tropical oils — like soy or corn oil — can be grown outside the biodiverse tropics, but they require additional processing to replace palm oil in many applications. That processing is expensive, and produces trans fats, which the FDA banned in the United States in 2015. Kelleher and Jeffries decided to market their yeast as a better alternative. The microbes in their lab produce an oil with a lipid profile almost identical to palm oil. The “bugs,” as they refer to the yeast, can also be fed with materials that don’t require tropical agriculture, such as corn or sugar cane, or waste materials, like corn husks and wheat stalks, which could substantially reduce production costs. The microbial oils could also be produced anywhere, reducing the distance between factory and consumer. The challenge has been getting the yeast to juice out oils at a scale and price that can compete with conventional agriculture — and to do it quickly enough to curb destructive oil palm development. Advances in technology could help. In its Manhattan lab, C16 Biosciences is optimizing conditions to keep its genetically modified yeast strains happy. Christopher Chuck, a chemical engineer with the University of Bath team, is also working on more productive yeast strains, but rather than modify the microbes with gene-editing tools, his team relies on a process of directed evolution. This involves exposing yeast colonies to a regimen of stresses to spur them to produce more oil from cheaper feedstocks. Chuck said this approach can lead to more robust microbes; it also avoids the regulations that govern genetically modified organisms. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Xylome, which owns patents on methods of genetically modifying the yeast species Lipomyces starkeyi, is working to increase the yield of its corn sugar-fed strain. Another strain in development can be fed waste products from ethanol production to produce oil, which Kelleher claims could eventually produce an oil at half the current price of raw Malaysian palm oil. Decades of past research on using such fibrous, “cellulosic” feedstocks for biofuel has shown this to be an elusive target, but Kelleher and Jeffries are confident the company can get this approach to work. “The cellulosics are going to eventually prevail,” said Jeffries. Jeffrey Linger, a bioengineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, commented that development of such microbial oil alternatives is worth pursuing, though he thinks these companies have a difficult path ahead to develop workable strains that can be manufactured at large scale and that can use cellulosic feedstocks. “There are so many knobs you can turn, so I don’t want to say it’s impossible,” he said. “I also don’t want to say it’s easy.” Even with improved strains, there are limits to how far the microbes can be pushed. In a “limits-of-science” model, Chuck’s group envisioned a way microbial oils might reach price parity with palm oil in the future. They found that even in an ideal scenario, microbial oils would still be more expensive than cultivated palm oil, and that a more likely best-case scenario is microbial oils around four times more expensive. “I don’t know who is going to pay for that,” commented Lee. However, if more valuable co-products such as amino acids or proteins could be manufactured along with the oil, microbial oils could plausibly compete with traditional palm oil, Chuck said. Price might also matter less if environmentally conscious consumers are willing to accept higher prices for palm oil-free products. To be viable, microbial alternatives would also need to be joined by regulatory policies phasing out unsustainably produced palm oil and helping producing countries to diversify their economies, said Chuck. Subsides or carbon taxes could also improve prospects for yeast oils, since the carbon footprint of microbial oils is likely to be lower than SEASONAL MAGAZINE

palm oil cultivated on deforested land. However, the full life-cycle emissions of yeast oils has not been studied in detail. “How do we make sure we aren’t replacing one terrible thing with another?” said Chuck. “There are so many knobs you can turn, so I don’t want to say it’s impossible,” Linger said. “I also don’t want to say it’s easy.” And long before any microbial oils could be made available, curbing the immediate impacts of palm oil production will require more sustainable forestry, Sara Cowling, a spokesperson from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil wrote in an email. “Our stance remains that palm oil can and should be produced sustainably.” Diana Chalil, founder of the Consortium Studies of Smallholder Palm Oil in Indonesia, added that future deforestation could also be prevented by helping small-

holder growers to increase the yield of their existing oil palm crop. Indeed, with 7.7 million tons of oil produced each year, there’s room for more than one solution. Microbial oils would not have to replace all or even most of traditional palm oil production to have significant environmental benefits, Chuck said. They would just have to curb growth in the industry and could start by replacing palm oil in more expensive products, such as cosmetics, which is the strategy companies like C16 Biosciences and Xylome are pursuing. “I don’t think we’re going to disrupt what they’re producing today at all,” said Kelleher. “We really represent an alternative for the growth of the industry.” It could be the start of a not-so-cosmetic change. (This story was originally published by YaleEnvironment 360)

ELECTRIC PLANES ARE FLYING IN SOON! Electric aviation is no flight of fancy: Leading airlines like United and EasyJet are onboard as early adopters, with the first U.S. commercial routes slated for 2026. What will electric aviation look like? Think smaller planes, shorter flights, and lightweight batteries.

You may be boarding an electric plane sooner than you think. The first rollouts for a major airline—with United—are due in 2026, and countries like Denmark and Sweden have announced plans to make all domestic flights fossil fuel–free by 2030. The past year has propelled the aviation industry ever closer toward a goal of viable commercial electric aircraft. United Airlines announced in July that it’s buying 100 19-seater, zero-emission electric planes from Swedish startup Heart Aerospace; they are set to take flight for short hops in the United States in 2026. Over in Europe, EasyJet’s partnership with U.S. startup Wright Electric has led to development plans for the Wright 1,

an all-electric, 186-seat commercial passenger jet with an 800-mile range that’s targeted to enter service around 2030. Up sooner still, Wright Electric additionally announced in November plans for an electric 100-seater, the Wright Spirit, due out in 2026. While those are some of the frontrunners, a host of aviation companies— from fledgling startups to industry titans and government agencies like NASA— are actively pursuing electric commercial planes in hopes of achieving carbon emissions–free flight. Experts say the trajectory is an environmental necessity in the face of a worsening climate crisis. “We know that transportation is the single

largest contributor to carbon emissions and to global warming right now. And flying is a big part of that,” says Jeff Engler, CEO of Wright Electric. Lukas Kaestner, cofounder of Sustainable Aero Lab, an accelerator in Germany that mentors global sustainable aviation startups, says the industry’s current fervor is representative of “the new zeitgeist, where global warming has become an issue that a growing number of people care about, and an issue people want to see addressed through action.” Swiss bank UBS estimates a full quarter of the civil aviation industry will be hybrid or fully electric by 2035. The race to get electric commercial flight off the ground is on - here are where things stand. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

The aviation sector pumped about a billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually, prepandemic, or about 3 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. If left unchecked on its current fast-paced-growth trajectory, the amount of carbon from airplanes is projected to triple by 2050. That puts the industry at odds with the net-zero carbon emissions deadline for 2050 set by the U.N. In October, most major global airlines signed on to meet that target, but the limitations of current fossil-fuel-reliant aircraft technology is a setback for such decarbonization goals. Venkat Viswanathan, a Carnegie Mellon University mechanical engineering professor and aviation battery expert, says that electric battery power is “going to give an avenue for addressing emissions, at least for a significant portion of aviation.” Yet he adds a caveat that it alone won’t resolve the carbon crisis: “I think there has to be many other pieces— many other competing technologies— that have to be considered for the full arc of the future of aviation.” Aviation’s reach toward clean energy is coinciding with other areas of transportation, too. “The inevitable shift that’s already happened in the automotive world, that’s happening in the maritime world, we see the same trends in aerospace,” explains Engler, of Wright. At the same time, governments are increasingly establishing policies to usher in a greener era for aviation. Scandinavia is leading the charge: Denmark and Sweden will make all domestic flights fossil fuel-free by 2030; in Norway, it’s 2040. France and Austria, meanwhile, have recently enacted bans on some domestic short-haul flights. In the United States, the Biden administration is also making a push for slashing emissions, with an emphasis on a clean-energy transportation sector. Yet climate activists like Charlie Cray of Greenpeace say U.S. policies “are only just starting down the runway.” Cray says that the administration has focused too much on sustainable aviation fuels and rather “needs to prioritize the introduction and adoption of electric engine technologies for shorter passenger routes and cargo aircraft.” Electric planes, like electric cars, rely on battery-generated electricity for power, SEASONAL MAGAZINE

rather than standard liquid jet fuel. Yet today’s batteries aren’t nearly as energydense as jet fuel, requiring bulk and weight that pose significant aerodynamic challenges. While batteries that are lightweight yet powerful enough for smaller electrified planes, operating shorter ranges, are increasingly viable, Viswanathan says that for larger airplanes, more significant battery breakthroughs—or alternative technologies—are needed. “You probably need like three, four times the weight of the airliner [in batteries] to be able to power that, which is why you can’t make them,” he explains. Accordingly, the budding industry is most immediately targeting shortdistance regional flights on smaller planes, which syncs up with a sizeable segment of aviation: About half of the flight routes operated worldwide today are less than 500 miles. Electric planes are proving to be more

economical for airlines, too, with reduced expenses around fuel and maintenance. Engler says, “For the airlines, we expect lower costs over time, and they can pass those savings on to consumers.” Michael Leskinen, president of United Airlines Ventures—the airline’s corporate venture fund—says the ES-19 planes it is purchasing from Heart Aerospace are 100 times less expensive to maintain, which offers “operational savings that can be passed on to our customers.” Those lowered operation costs mean electric planes have the potential to revive short-haul routes to smaller regional airports, too, that were previously abandoned due to unprofitability. “Nineteen-seater aircrafts were the norm until a few decades ago for regional flights, until costs drove the industry to use larger planes,” explains Leskinen. He says the airline intends to use the ES-19s on more than 100 of United’s regional routes, out of most of its hubs.

plans to debut a new kind of air taxi service as soon as 2024. “Ten years from now, the flight from LAX to JFK will still not be electric, but you will probably be able to fly to the airport by electric air taxi at a very reasonable cost and emissions-free,” Kaestner says. Six- to nine-passenger planes are also close to liftoff. Israel’s Eviation has developed a nine-seat electric plane called Alice, which regional U.S. carrier Cape Air is set to fly starting next year. Alice’s electric propulsion engine was built by its sister company MagniX, based in Washington State. Canadian seaplane carrier Harbour Air is also testing the MagniX system to retrofit its fleet, with hopes of debuting commercial service on the newly electric seaplanes later this year. United’s larger 19-seat planes from Heart Aerospace are planned for short-haul domestic routes, out of hubs like Chicago and San Francisco, in 2026; regional U.S. airline Mesa Airlines and Finland’s Finnair have also signed on to purchase Heart’s ES-19s.

An estimated 200 global companies are currently pursuing electric plane projects, several of which have already made short and successful test flights. It’s a diversified competitive landscape where startups may have an edge— Sustainable Aero Lab’s Kaestner says that startups “are faster moving and much more flexible than the industry heavyweights.” Smaller two- to four-person electric planes for private, corporate, and air taxi–type service—primarily via eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft—are already rolling out, with the first-generation technology backed by big names like Boeing, Airbus, NASA, and Toyota, along with a host of buzzy startups, including California’s Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, Germany’s Lilium, and the U.K.’s Vertical Aerospace. United, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Japan Airlines are among a growing number of airlines that have eVTOL orders on the books, with

The largest electric plane in the works is Wright Electric’s 186-seat Wright 1, which EasyJet intends to operate as soon as 2030. Wright also announced plans in November for its 100-passenger Wright Spirit, which will retrofit BAe 146 planes (from British aerospace company BAE Systems) with electric batteries. Retrofitting existing planes with battery technology is considered to be a significantly quicker path through certification than starting from scratch. “It allows us to get to market much faster and start to impact the carbon footprint of the industry much earlier,” Engler says. He estimates the retrofit will reduce the federal certification process to half the time, if not less. Apart from the engineering hurdles around batteries, experts see other barriers against the widespread adoption of electric planes. There are stringent and lengthy certification processes with regulators, funding challenges, and an acclimation period for the public to consider the new technology as safe. And then there is the issue that electric aviation, targeting smaller planes and shorter routes, won’t ultimately put the kind of dent that’s needed into the

industry’s emissions reduction goals. “On the emissions side, 95 percent of the carbon footprint of the industry is airplanes larger than 100 passengers,” Engler says, explaining Wright Electric’s decision to target the development of bigger planes. Kaestner notes that since “transcontinental or even true longhaul operations are still out of scope for the foreseeable future,” cleaner emerging energies like sustainable aviation fuels and, further afield, hydrogen power, must be the industry focus for longer routes. Hybrid-electric technology, which combines batteries with traditional jet fuel engines, is another promising strategy, with companies like California-based startup Ampaire and France’s VoltAero already developing hybrid planes. “I think that hybrids are going to be an important bridge to hopefully, overall, all electric further down the road,” says Viswanathan, who explains that hybrids would offer fuel and energy savings, emissions reductions, and help get the public comfortable with electric flight, similar to what cars like the Toyota Prius have done for the automotive industry. Experts say that consumers, too, hold the purchasing power to help drive a greener aviation industry. Overall, Engler says, “Customers are demanding cleaner, greener, quieter, lower-cost ways to fly.” Herwig Schuster, of Greenpeace, says that environmentally conscious travelers should think twice before flying and suggests more immediate policy measures are needed “to tackle the out-ofcontrol emissions from the aviation sector,” like flight reductions, shorthaul flight bans, and investment in alternative greener modes of transport, such as rail. Without more urgent action, he cautions, “Greener fuels or electric planes will only provide emissions cuts that are far too little or far too late for today’s demand.” (Credit: Elissa Garay) SEASONAL MAGAZINE

WHY YOU SHOULD STILL TRY TO AVOID CATCHING OMICRON

individuals without underlying medical conditions, Omicron "will not do too much damage," said David Ho, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University. Still, the fewer infections, the better, especially now, "when the hospitals are already overwhelmed, and the peak of Omicron wave is yet to come" for most of the United States, Ho said.

A FAST-SPREADING OMICRON VARIANT THAT CAUSES MILDER ILLNESS COMPARED WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF THE CORONAVIRUS HAS FUELED THE VIEW THAT COVID-19 POSES LESS OF A RISK THAN IN THE PAST. IN WHICH CASE, SOME ASK, WHY GO TO GREAT LENGTHS TO PREVENT GETTING INFECTED NOW, SINCE EVERYBODY WILL BE EXPOSED TO THE VIRUS SOONER OR LATER? esearch has indicated that Omicron may be more likely to lead to an asymptomatic case of COVID-19 than prior variants. For those who do have symptoms, a higher proportion experience very mild illness, such as sore throat or runny nose, without the breathing difficulties typical of earlier infections.

But the extraordinary spread of Omicron in many countries means that in absolute numbers, more people will experience severe disease. In particular, recent data from Italy and Germany show that people who are not vaccinated are far more vulnerable when it comes to hospitalization, intensive care and death. "I agree that sooner or later everyone will be exposed, but later is better," said virus expert Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University. "Why? Because later we will have better and more available medicines and better vaccines." You might become only mildly ill, but you could pass the virus to someone else at risk for critical illness, even if you have antibodies from a prior infection or from vaccination, said Akiko Iwasaki, who SEASONAL MAGAZINE

studies viral immunology at Yale University. Infections with earlier variants of the coronavirus, including mild infections and "breakthrough" cases after vaccination, sometimes caused the lingering, debilitating long-haul COVID syndrome. "We have no data yet on what proportion of infections with Omicron... end up with Long COVID," Iwasaki said. "People who underestimate Omicron as 'mild' are putting themselves at risk of debilitating disease that can linger for months or years." Also unclear is whether Omicron will have any of the "silent" effects seen with earlier variants, such as self-attacking antibodies and changes in insulinproducing cells. Omicron treatments are so limited that doctors must ration them. Two of the three antibody drugs used during past COVID-19 waves are ineffective against this variant. The third, sotrovimab, from GlaxoSmithKline, is in short supply from Pfizer Inc, that appears effective against Omicron. If you get sick, you might not have access to treatments. In fully vaccinated and boosted

Due to record numbers of infected patients, hospitals have had to postpone elective surgeries and cancer treatments. And during past surges, overwhelmed hospitals have been unable to properly treat other emergencies, such as heart attacks. Omicron is the fifth highly significant variant of the original SARS-COV-2, and it remains to be seen if the ability of the virus to mutate further will slow down. High infection rates also give the virus more opportunities to mutate, and there's no guarantee that a new version of coronavirus would be more benign than its predecessors. "SARS-CoV-2 has surprised us in many different ways over the past two years, and we have no way of predicting the evolutionary trajectory of this virus," Ho said.

SKODA KODIAQ FACELIFT SOLD OUT IN A DAY koda India announced the prices for the Kodiaq facelift on 10 January. The SUV has been launched in the country at a starting price of Rs 34.99 lakh (ex-showroom). Interestingly, within 24 hours of its launch, all units of the newly introduced Skoda Kodiaq facelift are sold out for the next four months. The SUV can be had in three variant options – Style, Sportline, and L&K. To learn more about variant-wise features, click here.

Mechanically, the 2022 Skoda Kodiaq is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, TSI petrol engine that produces 187bhp and 320Nm of torque. This motor is paired to a seven-speed DSG automatic transmission sending power to all four wheels via the four-wheel-drive system. Some of the key feature highlights include a panoramic sunroof, eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with 10 speakers, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 360-degree camera, three-zone climate control, a two-spoke steering wheel, 12-way electrically-adjustable front seats with cooling, heating, and memory functions, and more. To further strengthen its position in the Indian market, Skoda plans to launch six new models in the country this year. The new Skoda Slavia is set to arrive in showrooms next month.

HOW OBESITY INCREASES CANCER RISK besity increases the risk of developing more than a dozen types of cancer. A new study from the University of Bergen (UiB) in Norway can now answer why this is.

Cancer is caused by genetic changes that break down normal constraints on cell growth. It is known that obesity and overweight increases the risk of developing cancer, but the question until now has been why? Now, researchers at University of Bergen have demonstrated that lipids associated with obesity make cancer cells more aggressive and likely to form actual tumors. The researchers have discovered that the changed environment surrounding the cancerous cell, from a normal weight body to an overweight or obese body, pushes the cancer cell to adapt. This allows the malignant cells to form a tumor. Even in the absence of new gene mutations, obesity increases the risk that tumors will form." Obesity is the cause of approximately 500000 new cancer cases each year - a number that is expected to grow as obesity rates continues to increase. "To scientifically dissect how these two complicated diseases interact has been extremely interesting and rewarding. Especially as this new understanding will enable researchers to design improved treatments for obese cancer patients", Halberg adds.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE FORCES CRYPTOS TO TAKE SIDES

WHOSE SIDE IS CRYPTOCURRENCY ON? IF YOU HAD ASKED SATOSHI NAKAMOTO, THE PSEUDONYMOUS PERSON (OR PERSONS) WHO CREATED THE BITCOIN PLATFORM IN 2008, HE/THEY LIKELY WOULD HAVE REJECTED THE QUESTION. THE WHOLE POINT OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES LIKE BITCOIN WAS NEUTRALITY—THE FACT THAT NO GOVERNMENT, BANK, OR ENTITY COULD PREVENT YOU FROM USING IT, WHETHER YOU WERE PAYING FOR A PIZZA, A FORBIDDEN BOOK, OR A BAG OF COCAINE.WHOSE SIDE IS CRYPTOCURRENCY ON? IF YOU HAD ASKED SATOSHI NAKAMOTO, THE PSEUDONYMOUS PERSON (OR PERSONS) WHO CREATED THE BITCOIN PLATFORM IN 2008, HE/THEY LIKELY WOULD HAVE REJECTED THE QUESTION. THE WHOLE POINT OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES LIKE BITCOIN WAS NEUTRALITY—THE FACT THAT NO GOVERNMENT, BANK, OR ENTITY COULD PREVENT YOU FROM USING IT, WHETHER YOU WERE PAYING FOR A PIZZA, A FORBIDDEN BOOK, OR A BAG OF COCAINE.

That, of course, started changing as soon as crypto’s value made it the perfect medium for criminal transactions, from ransomware to dark net marketplaces. Regulators around the world demanded that exchanges and other “off-ramps” blacklist cryptocurrency from accounts linked to criminal activities or individuals, despite illicit trades accounting for just 0.15 percent of global crypto movements in 2021. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a different matter. Crypto’s nature as borderless money, and the abundance of youngish, passionate people sitting on troves of crypto-millions made it a go-to method for Ukraine to raise funds from SEASONAL MAGAZINE

people outraged by Moscow’s actions. At the same time there were fears that government officials and Russian president Vladimir Putin’s moneyed inner circle might side-step western sanctions by moving their assets into crypto. Cryptocurrency exchanges are reportedly blocking all transactions from accounts known to be linked to sanctioned individuals. Crypto exchange Coinbase on Monday blocked over 25,000 Russia-linked addresses that it believes were linked to illicit activity to comply with sanctions against Russia. Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, has already identified and

blocked at least one wallet linked to a sanctioned person, and has adopted a proactive approach, investigating and blocking accounts of people who are known to be close to individuals targeted by sanctions. Exchanges in most Western countries are required to carry out knowyour-customer and anti-moneylaundering checks, although some of them, including Binance, have been criticized for alleged laxity. Yet Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s vice president of global intelligence and investigations, thinks the concerns that crypto will help to prop up Russia are overblown. “Crypto is not a very efficient way for a government and for a nation-

state to elude sanctions,” he says. “There are other ways to move billions of dollars using the financial system that already exist, rather than use cryptocurrency.” That is because moving large sums of money in cryptocurrency would hardly be covert. As soon as the owners attempted to convert it to fiat currency outside of Russia, they would alert exchanges and investigators. Obfuscation techniques such as “tumblers”—wallets that receive cryptocurrency from various accounts and scramble them to conceal provenance—are not designed for moving large sums and tend to be slow, Gambaryan says. In addition, all cryptocurrency transactions take place on a public ledger, called the blockchain, creating a permanent record that would be undesirable for organizations eager to hide their tracks. It is still possible that some illicit trades are happening under the radar, After all, exchanges and cryptocurrency compliance firms do not necessarily know about all the wallets controlled by proxies of an individual on a sanction list. “Historically we have seen the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) name specific crypto wallets relating to sanctioned entities,” says Caroline Malcolm, head of international public policy and research at cryptocurrency forensics firm Chainalysis. “We haven't seen any of that yet. We are keeping an eye on whether OFAC, or other sanction entities in the EU and the UK, go on to name specific wallet addresses. It's obviously not something that can be done overnight. They might be missing a lot of them.” What crypto compliance firms do know is that right now cryptocurrency trading is skyrocketing in popularity both in sanction-stricken Russia and war-torn Ukraine. According to figures by cryptocurrency analytics firm Kaiko, cited by Bloomberg, as of February 28, the amounts of bitcoin traded using the Russian ruble had surged to the highest point since May 2021, while trading volumes for the Ukrainian ??hryvnia had reached the highest point since October. Kaiko reported a similar pattern of frantic trade between the two currencies and Tether, a “stablecoin” whose value is said to be pegged to the US dollar.

The Ukrainian government is pushing for a blanket ban on cryptocurrency transactions coming from all Russian individuals, regardless of sanction status, in order to “sabotage ordinary users” and put pressure on Putin’s regime. Exchanges have so far resisted that call, and the CEOs of Binance and US-based Kraken have come out strongly against the idea, citing crypto’s libertarian underpinnings. Binance’s top executive, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, published a blog post on Friday elaborating on that position and maintaining that crypto is an unlikely tool for Russia to circumvent sanctions. Nevertheless, if legally required to do so by US or European authorities, exchanges would have to resort to geoblocking techniques in order to prevent all Russians from using their services. By one index, Russia ranks 18th in the world in cryptocurrency adoption, according to Chainalysis, and Bloomberg estimated that it is home to at least $214 billion worth of crypto, or 12 per cent of the industry’s total value. Russia also ranks third among all countries at bitcoin mining—the energy-intensive process of minting new cryptocurrency units—just behind the US and Kazakhstan, a country firmly in Moscow’s orbit. As recently as January 2022, Russia’s central bank was proposing a ban on cryptocurrency, but just days before the invasion of Ukraine the Russian government announced new regulations intended to encourage the sector’s growth. The effect of removing all Russiaoutbound or Russia-mined cryptocurrency tokens from the global cryptocurrency industry— effectively closing them off behind a digital iron curtain—is hard to fathom, but such an event is guaranteed to be a defining moment, and one likely to create deep rifts in the crypto community between those in favor of ostracizing Russia and those sticking to crypto’s neutral ethos. Of course, the opposite might also happen: Moscow might ask Russiabased exchanges to block all transactions from accounts that are linked to Western governments, or from those that have a history of donating to Ukraine. For now, this hasn’t happened. Meanwhile, the tech-savvy Ukrainian

minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, has been calling for cryptocurrency donations to the government’s wallets, hosted by crypto exchange KUNA. The crowdfunding campaign had raised over $51 million in various cryptocurrencies as of March 3, according to KUNA founder Michael Chobanian. In an interview with CoinDesk, Chobanian said that crypto bigwigs including Ethereum cofounders Gavin Wood and Vitalik Buterin and TRON creator Justin Sun had all donated substantial amounts to the cause. Sergey Vasylchuk, the CEO of blockchain company EverStake, also teamed up with Kyiv to launch a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) based on the Solana blockchain to raise donations for the Ukrainian army from individuals who feel uncomfortable donating directly. “??Many [crypto owners] are scared, many of them just cannot donate directly because of compliance and bookkeeping rules,” Vasylchuk says. “That's why Solana helped us to develop this framework.” So far, the DAO has raised over $1 million in cryptocurrency and has transferred some to Ukrainian forces already. Donors also gifted the DAO three non-fungible tokens, or NFTs (a WOOFer, a Chicky Town chick, and a photo of sunflowers). Kyiv’s initial plan to reward all crypto donors with new tokens—a mechanism called “airdrop” in crypto circles—was eventually replaced with a promise to issue exclusive NFTs. In under two weeks—as Western internet and tech companies moved out or were shoved out of Russia—the global internet and the Russian internet have already transformed into two different realms. Crypto is one of the few threads that still stretches across that divide. But as time goes by without a solution, it will increasingly become a battleground, and its companies and actors will be asked to take a stance. In spite of Nakamoto’s vision, neutrality might soon not be an option anymore. As Vitalik Buterin himself put it after a Twitter denunciation of Putin, “Reminder: Ethereum is neutral, but I am not.” More Great WIRED Stories (Credit: Gian M. Volpicelli for Wired) SEASONAL MAGAZINE

FINANCIAL

FINALLY, INDIA'S BAD BANK STARTS FOR GOOD INDIA'S 'BAD BANK' HAS RECEIVED ALL NECESSARY APPROVALS TO COMMENCE OPERATIONS AS PER SBI CHAIRMAN DINESH KHARA. BAD BANK WAS ANNOUNCED BY UNION FINANCE MINISTER NIRMAL SITHARAMAN IN LAST UNION BUDGET. THIS ENTITY WILL ABSORB THE BAD ASSETS OF BANKS ENABLING BANKS TO CLEAN UP THEIR BOOKS.

Dinesh Khara, the chairman of country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), said on January 28 that the proposed Bad Bank had received all necessary approvals to start operations. Public sector Banks will have a majority stake in the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) while private banks will have a significant stake in India Debt Resolution Company Limited (IDRCL), Khara said. Bad Bank was announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the last Union Budget. This entity will absorb the bad assets of banks enabling banks to clean up their books. In the initial phase, around 15 cases worth Rs 50,000 crore will be transferred to the proposed bad bank in this fiscal, Khara said. An estimated Rs 2 lakh crore worth bad assets is planned to transfer to the Bad Bank. “There were certain concerns being raised but eventually both entities have requisite approval,” Khara said. A total of 38 accounts with Rs 83,000 crore outstanding in total have been identified for transfer so far but some of these SEASONAL MAGAZINE

September 2021 to 8.1 percent by September 2022 under a baseline scenario and to 9.5 percent under a severe stress scenario, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report on December 29.

accounts have been resolved already, Khara said. As per the operational structure, NARCL will acquire and aggregate identified NPA accounts from banks while IDRCL will handle the debt resolution process. “This unique public-private partnership will bring benefit of aggregation, expertise to resolve stressed assets,” said Khara, adding he expects faster asset resolution to take place in the banking sector with the establishment of Bad Bank. Khara said while the initial estimate was Rs 2 lakh crore worth of assets will be transferred to the bad bank, some of the large cases were resolved sub subsequently. The Bad Bank was conceptualized with the objective of absorbing bad assets from public sector banks for a clean-up of the lenders’ balance sheets. Banks are weighed down by huge amounts of bad loans, or loans on which no interest or principal has been paid for over 90 days. Stress tests have revealed that banks' gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) may jump from 6.9 percent of assets in

If the current wave of COVID-19 led by the Omicron variant drags on, the figure could escalate. According to the plan, banks will receive 15 percent of the value of assets being transferred upfront in cash; 85 percent will be given as security receipts (SRs). If the debt resolution doesn’t happen within a fiveyear period, the government will have to pay banks against the SRs if the guarantee is invoked. Khara said he expects resolutions to happen faster with NARCL in place. Launch of bad bank is crucial for the banking sector if it leads to faster bad assets resolution. Banks need to set aside more money to cover bad loans known as provisions in banking industry jargon. The higher the provisions, the bigger is the pain felt by the bank - its profitability subsequently takes a hit. The bank will require more capital to plug the bad loan hole. A huge pile of bad loans on its balance sheet impairs the ability of a bank to extend fresh loans. When credit growth slows, as was the case to industries over the last few years, the economy suffers. This (economic slowdown and consequent job losses) further impacts the ability of companies and individuals to repay bank loans.

TECHNOLOGY

YOUR NEW HOME ADDRESS FROM GOOGLE GOOGLE MAPS WILL NOW LET INDIA USERS RELY ON ‘PLUS CODES’ WHEN SAVING AND SHARING THEIR HOME ADDRESSES. PLUS CODES INCLUDE A SET OF 6 OR 7 LETTERS AND NUMBERS ALONG WITH THE NAME OF THE TOWN OR CITY FOR THE PARTICULAR ADDRESS. THEY DO NOT RELY ON STREET AND LOCALITY NAMES, AND INSTEAD USE LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES. he Plus Codes feature was originally rolled out in India back in 2018. It has so far been extensively used by businesses, NGOs, etc, according to the company. The capability is now being extended to home addresses as well. “We piloted this feature in India a month ago, and are thrilled to share that over 300,000 users in India have already found their home address using Plus Codes. We are looking forward to expanding to more types of places, and are actively looking for opportunities to partner with e-commerce, logistics, and delivery companies, to scale up the experience to more people across the world,” said Amanda Bishop, Product Manager, Google Maps. According to Google, the feature is rolling out to Android first, and iOS will get the capability later on. Now, when someone is saving a ‘Home’ location on Google Maps, they will see a prompt asking them to “Use current location”. This will use their phone’s location to

generate a Plus Code, which they can then use as their Home address. Google has also added a section at the top of the ‘Saved’ tab to make it easier to retrieve, copy, and share these home addresses. “With a Plus Code, people can receive deliveries, access emergency and social services, or just help other people find them,” Google explains on its website. Google has also listed the advantages of using Plus Codes in a few key pointers. For one, the company says these are open-source and easy to use. They are much shorter than traditional global coordinates, so they’re easy to share as well. Plus Codes work whether one is online or offline. An internet connection is not needed at all times when creating a code, which is another advantage in India where mobile connectivity can be patchy at times. Further, Plus Codes are language independent. They do not include easily confused characters, are not casesensitive, and they exclude vowels.

WHATSAPP ADMINS TO GET POWERFUL IN WHAT IS SEEN AS THE FIRST OF THE MANY NEW FEATURES TO BE ROLLED OUT BY WHATSAPP THIS YEAR, THE MESSAGING PLATFORM WILL SOON LET GROUP ADMINISTRATORS DELETE ANYONE AND EVERYONE'S MESSAGES ON A GIVEN GROUP. WABETAINFO, A PORTAL THAT TRACKS THE UPCOMING UPDATES ON THE PLATFORM, TWEETED AN IMAGE OF THE SAID FEATURE RECENTLY.

"A good moderation, finally," the final line of the tweet read. Another feature was recently announced by WhatsApp for iOS users, allowing them to pause and resume voice notes and listen to them before they're sent to the recipient. Additionally, WhatsApp is also believed to be working on providing iOS users the option of transferring their chats between Android phones and iPhones. The possibility of deleting group members' messages is expected to pave the way for stricter moderation by adminstrators, with a clearer definition of the kind of content that is allowed or disallowed in a group. A series of new measures by WhatsApp – from reacting to messages with an emoji akin to Instagram to an increase in the time limit to delete messages – awaits users, as reported by different agencies. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

IS FLOW, THE SECRET TO PERFORMANCE & HAPPINESS? RICHARD HUSKEY, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATION AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, EXPLORES THE MYSTERY BEHIND FLOW, A UNIQUE MINDLESS AND HAPPY STATE ACHIEVED BY PEAK PERFORMERS AND FOR THAT MATTER ANYONE, WHEN THEY SEEM TO DO SUPERHUMAN TASKS THEY LOVE WITH EASE. RESEARCH ALSO SHOWS THAT PEOPLE WITH MORE FLOW IN THEIR LIVES HAD A HIGHER SENSE OF WELL-BEING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. SCIENTISTS ARE BEGINNING TO EXPLORE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BRAIN DURING FLOW. ew years often come with new resolutions. Get back in shape. Read more. Make more time for friends and family. My list of resolutions might not look quite the same as yours, but each of our resolutions represents a plan for something new, or at least a little bit different. As you craft your resolutions, or look to set goals at any time in your life, I hope that you will add one that is also on my list: feel more flow. Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s research on flow started in the 1970s. He has called it the “secret to happiness.” Flow is a state of “optimal experience” that each of us can incorporate into our everyday lives. One characterized by immense joy that makes a life worth living. In the years since, researchers have gained a vast store of knowledge about what it is like to be in flow and how experiencing it is important for our overall mental health and well-being. In short, we are completely absorbed in a highly rewarding activity – and not in our inner monologues – when we feel flow. I am an assistant professor of communication and cognitive science, and I have been studying flow for the last 10 years. My research lab investigates what is happening in our brains when people experience flow. Our goal is to better understand how the experience happens and to make it easier for people to feel flow and its benefits. People often say flow is like “being in the zone.” Psychologists Jeanne Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi SEASONAL MAGAZINE

describe it as something more. When people feel flow, they are in a state of intense concentration. Their thoughts are focused on an experience rather than on themselves. They lose a sense of time and feel as if there is a merging of their actions and their awareness. That they have control over the situation. That the experience is not physically or mentally taxing. Most importantly, flow is what researchers call an autotelic experience. Autotelic derives from two Greek words: autos (self) and telos (end or goal). Autotelic experiences are things that are worth doing in and of themselves. Researchers sometimes call these intrinsically rewarding experiences. Flow experiences are intrinsically rewarding. Flow occurs when a task’s challenge is balanced with one’s skill. In fact, both the task challenge and skill level have to be high. I often tell my students that they will not feel flow when they are doing the dishes. Most people are highly skilled dishwashers, and washing dishes is not a very challenging task. So when do people experience flow?

Csíkszentmihályi’s research in the 1970s focused on people doing tasks they enjoyed. He studied swimmers, music composers, chess players, dancers, mountain climbers and other athletes. He went on to study how people can find flow in more everyday experiences. I am an avid snowboarder, and I regularly feel flow on the mountain. Other people feel it by practicing yoga – not me, unfortunately! – by riding their bike, cooking or going for a run. So long as that task’s challenge is high, and so are your skills, you should be able to achieve flow. Researchers also know that people can experience flow by using interactive media, like playing a video game. In fact, Csíkszentmihályi said that “games are obvious flow activities, and play is the flow experience par excellence.” Video game developers are very familiar with the idea, and they think hard about how to design games so that players feel flow. Flow occurs when a task’s challenge – and one’s skills at the task – are both high. Earlier I said that Csíkszentmihályi called flow “the secret to happiness.” Why is that? For one thing, the experience can help people pursue their long-term goals. This is because research shows that taking a break to do something fun can help enhance one’s self-control, goal pursuit and well-being. So next time you are feeling like a guilty couch potato for playing a video game, remind yourself that you are actually doing something that can help set you up for long-term success and well-being. Importantly, quality – and not necessarily quantity – matters. Research

shows that spending a lot of time playing video games only has a very small influence on your overall well-being. Focus on finding games that help you feel flow, rather than on spending more time playing games.

make them feel flow. Research also shows that flow is associated with decreased activity in brain structures implicated in self-focus. This may help explain why feeling flow can help distract people from worry.

A recent study also shows that flow helps people stay resilient in the face of adversity. Part of this is because flow can help refocus thoughts away from something stressful to something enjoyable. In fact, studies have shown that experiencing flow can help guard against depression and burnout.

Weber, Jacob Fisher and I have developed a video game called Asteroid Impact to help us better study flow. In my own research, I have participants play Asteroid Impact while having their brain scanned. My work has shown that flow is associated with a specific brain network configuration that has low energy requirements. This may help explain why we do not experience flow as being physically or mentally demanding. I have also shown that, instead of maintaining one stable network configuration, the brain actually changes its network configuration during flow. This is important because rapid brain network reconfiguration helps people adapt to difficult tasks.

Research also shows that people who experienced stronger feelings of flow had better well-being during the COVID19 quarantine compared to people who had weaker experiences. This might be because feeling flow helped distract them from worrying. Researchers have been studying flow for nearly 50 years, but only recently have they begun to decipher what is going on in the brain during flow. One of my colleagues, media neuroscientist René Weber, has proposed that flow is associated with a specific brain-network configuration. Supporting Weber’s hypothesis, studies show that the experience is associated with activity in brain structures implicated in feeling reward and pursuing our goals. This may be one reason why flow feels so enjoyable and why people are so focused on tasks that

Right now, researchers do not know how brain responses associated with flow

RESEARCHERS HAVE BEEN STUDYING FLOW FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS, BUT ONLY RECENTLY HAVE THEY BEGUN TO DECIPHER WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE BRAIN DURING FLOW.

contribute to well-being. With very few exceptions, there is almost no research on how brain responses actually cause flow. Every neuroscience study I described earlier was correlational, not causal. Said differently, we can conclude that these brain responses are associated with flow. We cannot conclude that these brain responses cause flow. Researchers think the connection between flow and well-being has something to do with three things: suppressing brain activation in structures associated with thinking about ourselves, dampening activation in structures associated with negative thoughts, and increasing activation in rewardprocessing regions. I’d argue that testing this hypothesis is vital. Medical professionals have started to use video games in clinical applications to help treat attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Maybe one day a clinician will be able to help prescribe a Food and Drug Adminstration-approved video game to help bolster someone’s resilience or help them fight off depression. That is probably several years into the future, if it is even possible at all. Right now, I hope that you will resolve to find more flow in your everyday life. You may find that this helps you achieve your other resolutions, too.

(Credit: The Conversation) SEASONAL MAGAZINE

HEALTH

GUARD YOUR HEART HEALTH TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN POWER

A NEW STUDY HAS SUGGESTED THAT SUBTLE CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE AND THE DIASTOLIC FUNCTION OF A PERSON'S HEART BETWEEN EARLY ADULTHOOD AND MIDDLE AGE MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH A DECLINE IN THINKING AND MEMORY SKILLS. greater than average increase from early to middle adulthood in the weight of a person's left ventricle was associated with lower midlife cognition on most tests.

he research was published in the online issue of 'Neurology', the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The diastolic function of the heart is when it rests between beats and the chambers fill with blood.

Tests included a common dementia test that asked participants to do tasks like draw lines connecting alternating letters and numbers, and repeat five words, complete other tasks, and then repeat the same five words. Scores range from zero to 30 with 26 and higher representing normal cognition. Participants with a greater than average midlife increase in left ventricle weight had an average score of 22.7 while those without a greater than average increase in weight had an average score of 24.

"Cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes have been associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment, but much less is known about heart structure and function and the risks for cognition," said study author Laure Rouch, PharmD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. "We followed young adults for 25 years into middle age and found declines in thinking and memory skills independent of these other risk factors. Our findings are of critical importance in the context of identifying potential early markers in the heart of increased risk for later-life cognitive decline. Such abnormalities are common and often underdiagnosed as they do not produce any obvious symptoms." The study looked at 2,653 people with an average age of 30. Participants had echocardiograms, ultrasound images of the heart, at the start of the study and again 20 and 25 years later. Echocardiograms are non-invasive and widely available. Researchers used the images to measure the following: the weight of the left ventricle, one of four chambers of the heart; the volume of the blood that filled the left ventricle when pumping; and how well the left ventricle pumped blood to the body, specifically the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart. Researchers found that, over 25 years, there was an average increase in the weight of the left ventricle of 0.27 grams per square meter per year (g/m2), with SEASONAL MAGAZINE

average weight of 81 g/m2 in the first year and 86 g/m2 in the last year. There was also an average increase in left atrial volume of 0.42 millilitres of blood per square meter (mL/m2) with average volume of 16 mL/m2 in the first year and 26 mL/m2 in the last year. In the last year of the study, participants were given six cognitive tests to measure thinking and memory skills including global cognition, processing speed, executive function, delayed verbal memory and verbal fluency. Tests included tasks like recalling words from a list 10 minutes after looking at the list, as well as substituting symbols for numbers using a key at the top of the page. After adjusting for factors like age, sex and education, researchers found that a

HOWEVER, A GREATER THAN AVERAGE DECREASE IN THE PERCENTAGE OF BLOOD PUMPED OUT OF THE LEFT VENTRICLE WAS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH COGNITION.

Researchers also found a greater than average increase from early to middle adulthood in left atrial volume was associated with lower midlife global cognition. However, a greater than average decrease in the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle was not associated with cognition. "What is interesting is that our results were similar after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity," Rouch said. "As early as young adulthood, even before the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, there may be heart abnormalities that could be risk markers for lower thinking and memory skills in middle age. In the future, a single echocardiogram may help identify people at higher risk of cognitive impairment." Rouch said that future research should determine whether interventions to improve the structure and function of the heart could benefit brain health. She said, "The question of whether altered cardiac structure and function could be a risk factor for cognitive impairment has major public health implications and could reveal another important heartbrain connection."

GADGET

iPhone & iPad Users Better Get This Security Update! f you own an iPad or iPhone, you should get the latest iOS update right away. The latest update to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 fixes security vulnerabilities affecting the Safari browser. If you own an iPad or iPhone, you should get the latest iOS update right away. Apple has released the iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 updates for all iPhones and iPads running the iOS 15 generation, fixing a crucial issue that raised alarm bells regarding data security and privacy. The update must be manually downloaded to your iPhone and iPad from the Settings menu. The main bug that this update fix is related to the Safari browser. Previously, it was found that hackers can take advantage of the bug and gain access to a user's browser history. Additionally, the error can also identify linked Google accounts. The issue has been identified in Safari for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The problem was not a big deal on macOS as users could use a different default browser. On iOS, however, users by default are directed to the Safari browser for all of their browsing needs. The update fixes the

vulnerability on the Mac along with iPhones and iPads. Along with the Safari vulnerability, Apple also released an update to fix iCloud sync issues. A report from 9To5 cites developers confirming that the issue has been fixed, though Apple did not give a reason behind it. If you want to download the iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 updates, you'll need to head into Settings and go to General. Look for the "Software Update" option. Your iPhone and iPad will automatically check for a new update. Once detected, you will be prompted to enter your password and give permission to download the update. After downloading the update, it will ask you to restart your device in order to install the update successfully. iOS 15 has had a rocky ride since its release late last year. Apple has been constantly fixing bugs and issues, and despite several releases, new issues continue to plague iPhones and iPads. Lately, some iPhone 13 units encountered a new "pink screen" bug whose reasons Apple can't explain. Prior to this, iPhone 13 users had experienced call drop issues, which were later resolved with an earlier iOS 15 patch.

BETTER.COM EMPLOYEES 'LEAVING IN DROVES' AFTER CEO WHO FIRED 900 RETURNS: REPORT Employees at US-based online mortgage lender Better.com are "leaving in droves" after Vishal Garg returned to the company as CEO after a break from full-time duties, TechCrunch reported. Garg had taken a leave of absence after criticism over firing 900 employees over a Zoom call in December 2021. An employee said Garg is paranoid about information being leaked to media.

INDIA NEEDS TO BE WARY OF IMPORTED INFLATION: ECONOMIC SURVEY

The Economic Survey 2021-22 has said that India needs to be wary of imported inflation, especially from elevated global energy prices. "India's CPI inflation stood at 5.6% year-on-year in December 2021 which is within the targeted tolerance band," it stated. "WPI, however, has been running in double-digits...This is partly due to base effects that will even out," the survey added.

CENTRE ON TRACK TO MEET FY22 FISCAL DEFICIT TARGET: ECONOMIC SURVEY

The Economic Survey 2021-22 said that India is on its way to meet the fiscal deficit target of FY22. Budget 2021 had set a target of 6.8% of FY22's GDP, a reduction of 240 basis points as compared to FY21's fiscal deficit of 9.2% of GDP. In FY22's first eight months, fiscal deficit amounted to 46.2% of the full-year target. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

TECHNOLOGY

GOVERNMENT TO HELP CREATE INDIGENOUS SMARTPHONE OS TO RIVAL ANDROID, IOS UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND IT RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR SAID THAT THE GOVERNMENT WAS LOOKING AT A POLICY TO HELP CREATE A NEW SMARTPHONE OS.

what is that we have to achieve then all the policies and actions will be consistent with it," Chandrasekhar said. He along with Minister for Communications and IT Ashwani Vaishnaw released the second volume of Vision Document on Electronics Manufacturing prepared by the industry body ICEA whose members include Apple, Lava, Foxconn, Dixon etc. The document details a road map for achieving $300 billion (roughly Rs. 22,55,265 crore) electronics manufacturing in the country by 2026 from the current level of $75 billion (roughly Rs. 5,63,820 crore). "This report is very precise which talks about where USD 300 billion (roughly Rs. 22,55,265 crore) will come, what industry has to do and what the government needs to do. This is an example of how industry and government should set targets for the country. The manufacturing will be USD 300 billion and exports worth $120 billion (roughly Rs. 9,02,195 crore) will happen. This is the government of India's objective now," Chandrasekhar said.

he government is planning to come up with a policy that will facilitate an ecosystem for the industry to create an indigenous operating system as an alternative to Google's Android and Apple's iOS, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday. At present, mobile phones are dominated by two operating systems Google's Android and Apple's iOS that are driving the hardware ecosystem as well, the minister told in an interview. "There is no third one. Therefore, in a lot of ways there is tremendous interest in MeitY and in the Government of India to even create a new handset operating system. We are talking to people. We are looking at a policy for that," Chandrasekhar said. He said that the government is looking for capabilities within start-up and academic ecosystems for development of an indigenous operating system (OS). SEASONAL MAGAZINE

The operating system is the main software of any computer and mobile device that weaves in the entire hardware and software system for effective functioning of the OS. "If there is some real capability then we will be very much interested in developing that area because that will create an alternative to iOS and Android which then an Indian brand can grow," Chandrasekhar said. The minister said that most of the policies and policy tools are being re-looked at in the context of reiamgining goals and ambitions. "Important is to have clear goals. Once we have clear goals and

AT PRESENT, MOBILE PHONES ARE DOMINATED BY TWO OPERATING SYSTEMS - GOOGLE'S ANDROID AND APPLE'S IOS THAT ARE DRIVING THE HARDWARE ECOSYSTEM AS WELL

At present, India's electronics export is around $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1,12,775 crore).

DELHI REPLACES BENGALURU AS STARTUP CAPITAL, ADDS 5,000 IN NEARLY 3 YEARS

The Economic Survey 2021-22 said that Delhi has replaced Bengaluru as the startup capital of India over the recent years. Between April 2019 to December 2021, 5,000 recognised startups were added in Delhi while 4,514 startups were added in Bengaluru, the survey stated. With a total of 11,308 startups, Maharashtra has the highest number of recognised startups.

SOFTWEARE

THE UPCOMING WINDOWS 11 UPDATE MAY RUN ANDROID APPS! AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF SPECULATION AND TESTING, WINDOWS 11 FINALLY GOT RELEASED IN OCTOBER 2021, AND IT'S LOOKING AWESOME SO FAR. WITH BIG UI CHANGES AS WELL AS UNDERLYING REVAMPS TO THE WAY WINDOWS WORKS, YOU COULD ARGUE IT'S WAY MORE THAN JUST THE "WINDOWS 10 RESKIN" SOME PEOPLE WERE EXPECTING.

have been some changes, naturally, but the way the app looks hasn't deviated much besides the usual Windows UI changes. However, a refreshed Notepad is coming in this future Windows 11 update, with bigger buttons, more easily accessible settings, and of course, a UI that looks just like everything around it. The core functionality is not changing, but the looks department is. (Oh, and it's also getting a dark mode; how cool is that?)

nd just like Windows 10, this new operating system will have frequent major updates adding new features or improving existing ones. The time is nearing for the first of such updates—and there's a lot of speculation making the rounds online about what will it bring. So what should we expect out of this upcoming update? Microsoft details all the upcoming changes on the Windows Experience blog, and one of the biggest changes in this upcoming major update is support for Android apps. After Windows 11 was announced, one of the most hyped features was the fact that Android apps would be natively supported via a "Windows Subsystem for Android," similar to the Linux subsystem currently used to run Linux apps on Windows. However, despite the fact that the feature was announced before the operating system's final release, it was nowhere to be seen at launch. Instead, as the final release of Windows 11 approached, Microsoft said that Android apps will be tested through the Windows Insider beta program "over the coming months."

Luckily, those who really want to try it out have been able to do so for months, as the feature did indeed launch in the beta program shortly after the final Windows 11 release. Now, it's all set to launch on the stable branch as soon as the first major update is out. Microsoft confirmed in a news piece that Windows 11 users all around the world will be able to finally get a taste of Android apps. You've been able to use Windows apps through emulators like BlueStacks, but this pretty much eliminates the need to do so for the most part. As exciting as they are, Android apps are not the only thing coming in that update. As per Microsoft's blog post, this future update might also come with a new lick of paint for two apps - Notepad and the Windows Media Player. Windows 11 has already added thorough redesigns of a lot of apps, including even older ones like Microsoft Paint and File Explorer, so it's just a matter of time until every little thing gets revamped. Until now, the Notepad app has looked largely the same since 1985, when Windows 1.0 was first launched. There

The Windows Media Player is also getting a revamp. The Media Player's functionality has been broken apart into several apps with the passing of time, like Groove Music and a Movies & TV app, but Windows 11 will see a revival of the Media Player. Right now, it has a Windows Vista-era UI with strong late 2000s vibes and features at the forefront that don't really matter much for this decade, like the ability to burn CDs. The new Media Player has a revamped UI and streamlined functionality that should do wonders to improve your local media consumption experience on Windows 11. Microsoft says that all of these changes and renewed experiences will be released next month, in February 2022. January is already closing, so it's good to see it won't be much longer. This should be the first of many more major updates to come to Windows 11, and we're really excited about it. With the new Windows 11 update on the horizon, it appears to feature the best of both worlds. Not only will we get the shiny new Android emulator natively built into Windows for the first time, but we'll also see makeovers for two of the old guard apps that have stuck around for decades now. Now it's just a case of waiting to see how the update shapes out. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

HEALTH If you are diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency after going through a blood test and evaluating the symptoms, it is important to treat the condition as early as possible. If treatment is delayed, vitamin B12 deficiency can trigger irreversible health problems like pernicious anaemia – an autoimmune state wherein the immune system attacks stomach cells to produce a protein that helps the body absorb vitamin B12. Majorly, people develop vitamin B12 deficiency by not getting enough of this nutrient in their diet. While majorly a vitamin B12 rich diet includes dairy, meat, eggs and fish, vegan people can get their share by either taking vitamin B12 supplements or eating foods fortified with this nutrient.

VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY IS COMMON AND HERE ARE THE MAIN SYMPTOMS TO WATCH FOR WHILE MILD VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY TRIGGERS SYMPTOMS THAT CAN GO UNNOTICED, LONG-TERM SEVERE DEFICIENCY CAN CAUSE DAMAGE TO NERVE CELLS. AND WHEN THIS HAPPENS, YOUR TOES AND FINGERS ARE LIKELY TO SHOW SOME SYMPTOMS. f you are diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency after going through a blood test and evaluating the symptoms, it is important to treat the condition as early as possible. If you are diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency after going through a blood test and evaluating the symptoms, it is important to treat the condition as early as possible. Eggs, dairy, salmon, trout, beef, sardines and animal liver and kidneys – these foods are a rich source of vitamin B12, a nutrient that fuels your body and safeguards it against a plethora of health problems ranging from immune system disorders like lupus to disorders of the digestive tract like Crohn’s disease. Vitamin B12 supports the nervous system, helps in making DNA; and its deficiency can trigger unsettling changes in the body. While mild vitamin 12 deficiency triggers symptoms that can go unnoticed, long-term severe deficiency SEASONAL MAGAZINE

As deficiency can trigger conditions like anaemia, experts recommend maintaining health levels of vitamin B12 in the body to dodge serious health woes. To keep a check on your vitamin B12 levels, go for regular blood tests and keep an eye on the telltale signs as well.

can cause damage to nerve cells. And when this happens, your toes and fingers are likely to show some symptoms. The symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency The key telltale signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include: Depression Poor or depleting mental ability Poor sense of balance Fatigue Memory problems Pale skin Difficulty in walking Mood changes Breathlessness Dizziness Disturbed vision Mouth ulcers Numbness is also a key symptom, and according to experts, if you are experiencing that sensation in the toes and hands frequently, it could hint at vitamin B12 deficiency. How to respond to vitamin B12 deficiency?

ISRAEL STARTS VACCINATING KIDS AGED 5-11 AMID RISING COVID CASES IN CHILDREN

Israel on Monday began rolling out coronavirus vaccines for children aged five to 11. The country is experiencing a "children's wave" with about half of the recently confirmed cases among children below the age of 11, Israeli PM Naftali Bennett said. Over 63% of Israel's population has been vaccinated against coronavirus so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

FITNESS

REGULAR EXERCISE CAN PROTECT AGAINST MEMORY LOSS, AND FIGHT THE MAJOR KILLER, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE Alzheimer's disease, a leading form of dementia or memory loss, is a progressive neurological disorder that can lead to brain shrinkage also known as atrophy and gradually can also lead to the death of these brain cells. It is a leading killer disease, next only to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases & cancer.

ccording to a recent study, regular exercise and staying physically active can help to protect the structure and function of our brains as we age. This means it can reduce your chances of developing certain neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease. The disease is not new and over the years researchers have known about the protective effect of exercise. However, the exact answer as to why Alzheimer's has this effect on the brain has remained a mystery. But the recently published study has some answers. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that can lead to brain shrinkage also known as atrophy and gradually can also lead to the death of these brain cells. Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common types of dementia. Dementia is a condition that leads to a continuous decline in thinking ability, behavioral and social skills that can affect an individual's ability to function properly and independently. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the study findings say that physical activity alters the activity of the brain's immune cells, which lowers inflammation in the brain. Our brain is a very important organ of the body which consists of a class of special immune cells known as microglia. What are these microglia cells? According to the experts, these cells constantly survey the brain tissue for damage or infection and clear away debris or dying cells. They also help in the production of new neurons via a process which is known as neurogenesis, which is linked with learning and memory. How does exercise help these cells? In order to do their job, microglia needs to switch from their resting state to an activated state and exactly this is where exercise helps. In this latest study researchers have revealed for the first time a link between physical activity reduced microglial activation and better cognitive function in the human brain.

TALIBAN ASKS EUROPEAN UNION FOR HELP IN RUNNING AFGHAN AIRPORTS The Taliban asked the European Union for help in "maintaining operations" at the airports in Afghanistan, the EU said on Sunday. The request was made during two-day talks between the EU and the Taliban officials in Qatar. The talks were focused on the "worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as winter is arriving", the EU added.

LIC GETS RBI NOD TO INCREASE STAKE IN KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK TO 9.99% Kotak Mahindra Bank said the RBI has granted its approval to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to increase holding in the bank to up to 9.99%. The approval is valid for a period of one year, it added. LIC has 4.96% stake in the bank as of September 30 and is its fifth largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv data.

TELECOM WAR

BATTLE LINES DRAWN IN INDIA'S SATELLITE INTERNET SPACE, AIRTEL & US GIANTS WARD OFF ELON MUSK THREAT AirTel backed OneWeb, and US based Amazon, Hughes, Google, Microsoft, & Meta (Facebook) all have high ambitions on India's satellite internet space, and they have for now kept at bay a threat by Elon Musk promoted Starlink, and got its presale in India barred by the country's regulator DoT.

though availability is subject to "regulatory approvals" and would be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. Musk's SpaceX bid for an initial India foray into the broadband from-space turf faced its first challenge in March when an industry body representing rival Bhartibacked OneWeb, Amazon, Hughes, Google, Microsoft and Facebook among others wrote to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) asking them to stop SpaceX from pre-selling the beta version of its service in India. The broadband association claimed that SpaceX did not have a valid licence or authorisation from the Indian government to offer such services in the country. The government directive comes at a time when the likes of Bharti-backed OneWeb, Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezosfounded Amazon and the Tata-Telesat combine are readying to enter India's nascent broadband-from-space segment, leveraging on their respective global low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. Both SpaceX and OneWeb plan to launch broadband from space services next year.

Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has been barred from accepting pre-orders for its upcoming satellite broadband services in India. The communications ministry said that the tech billionaire's broadband from-space venture is not a licensee in India and issued a public advisory asking Indian citizens not to subscribe to its Starlink satellite internet service. Musk's SpaceX has been accepting preorders for the beta version of the service for a fully refundable deposit of $99 (around Rs. 7,400). "The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has pointed out that Starlink Internet Services is not licensed to offer satellite-based internet services in India being advertised to the public... the government, (accordingly), has asked the company to comply with the Indian regulatory framework for rendering satellite-based communication services and refrain from booking/rendering such services in India with immediate effect," the ministry said in a statement. The ministry also categorically told In-

dian citizens that Starlink was not an authorised licensee and advised them "not to subscribe" to Starlink's services. "It's hereby informed to the public at large that the said company (Starlink Internet) has not obtained any licence/ authorisation for rendering satellitebased internet services that are being booked on their website," DoT said. The company "needs the requisite licence(s) from DoT" for rendering satellite internet services in Indian territory, it added. The terse directive is a big jolt for Musk's satellite broadband ambitions in India. Starlink's India head Sanjay Bhargava said recently that pre-orders from India had already crossed 5,000. He had even encouraged potential customers to get added to the company's priority list by depositing $99 to avoid being waitlisted. Bhargava declined to comment on Starlink's response to the government order. According to the Starlink website, its satellite broadband services are being targeted for launch in India next year, al-

It was in September when Musk last publicly spoke about India plans for Starlink. While responding to a question on Twitter, the SpaceX founder said he is figuring out the regulatory process in India. "Just figuring out the regulatory approval process," he wrote. Starlink India director Sanjay Bhargava said last month announced on LinkedIn that the company has successfully registered its India subsidiary —Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited. “Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100% owned subsidiary in India.” The company plans to roll out services across 200,000 active terminals in more than 160,000 districts by 2022. Musk had recently claimed that Starlink will have the capability to transfer data at the speed of light. At present, the Starlink network relies on a dish, satellites and ground stations. The company wants to get rid of these ground stations that have proved to be a hindrance for fast data transfers due to the long time they take to communicate with the satellites. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

FINTECH

WHATSAPP PAY FINALLY GETS APPROVAL TO DOUBLE ITS USERBASE For those wondering what happened to WhatsApp Pay, how it was unable to make a wave against incumbents PhonePe, Google Pay & PayTM, here is the reason and why it may change soon.

WILL TRY FOR IPO WHEN GOVT ALLOWS US: INDIA'S 1ST CRYPTO UNICORN COINDCX

hatsApp is by far the largest messaging service in India. It's used by millions daily, not only for catching up with friends and family, but also for placing orders at nearby grocery stores, carrying out business dealings, group studies, and so much more. In a bid to turn the service into more than just a messaging platform, WhatsApp rolled out peer-to-peer payment support in the country using the Universal Payments Interface (UPI) last year. The company managed to do this after almost two years of extensive trials during which it repeatedly failed to get the necessary approval from Indian regulatory bodies. Despite being granted consent in late 2020, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) would only allow WhatsApp to onboard 20 million users for its payments service. Due to the restriction, WhatsApp has not widely rolled out or promoted its payment service. In fact, it is yet to reach the initial 20 million user limit. Over a year later, that restriction is now being doubled to 40 million. It is not known whether the cap on SEASONAL MAGAZINE

WhatsApp Pay is due to the restriction on all players to limit themselves to 30% users, or due to the platform's near monopoly status in messaging in India, or some other reason.

CoinDCX is planning to pursue an initial public offering (IPO) "as soon as the government or the situations allow us", the cryptocurrency exchange's Co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal told Bloomberg. "An IPO gives a legitimacy to the industry, just like the Coinbase IPO gave a lot of confidence in the crypto markets," he added. CoinDCX became India's first cryptocurrency unicorn in August.

WhatsApp had requested the NPCI to remove the cap altogether. However, the regulator has supposedly allowed the company to double its userbase to 40 million instead. While the new 40 million user cap will give the Meta (Facebook) owned platform some breathing room, it still won't be sufficient as the service has over 500 million potential users for WhatsApp Pay in the country. Based on UPI, WhatsApp Pay makes it extremely easy to send or receive money from a person via a WhatsApp chat. It's looking to take advantage of its popularity and capture a large slice of India's digital transactions pie, which has been rapidly growing since late 2016. Google Pay, PayTM, and PhonePe are currently the three largest UPI apps in India. However, if the NPCI removed the cap from WhatsApp, it would only be a matter of time before the messaging service breaks it into the top three.

RS 52,000 CRORE GST COMPENSATION DUE TO STATES AS OF SEPT: MOS FINANCE Nearly Rs 52,000 crore of GST compensation was due to the states as of September 2021, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Parliament. Over ?1.10 lakh crore and ?1.59 lakh crore was released to the states as back to back loan in FY21 and FY22, respectively, he added. COVID-19's economic impact led to higher compensation requirement, he said.

INNOVATION

CRYPTO ENTREPRENEURS MAKE THEIR MARK IN US RICH LIST 7 crypto billionaires have entered the Forbes 2021 list of richest Americans. The group also comprises three youngest members – Sam Bankman-Fried (29 years), Brian Armstrong (38) and Fred Ehrsam (33). With the growing acceptance of cryptocurrency in mainstream culture, seven crypto entrepreneurs and billionaires have been named on the Forbes 2021 list of richest Americans. The group of 7 crypto billionaires is worth $55 billion collectively. Here’s a look at the crypto billionaires in Forbes list of the 400 richest people in America.

Sam Bankman-Fried The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX is crypto’s richest billionaire. Sam Bankman-Fried has a net worth of $22.5 billion which doubled with the closure of a receent $900-million deal. FTX is valued at $18 billion. Most of Sam Bankman-Fried’s wealth is tied up in FTX's equity and tokens. According to Forbes, 29-year-old Bankman-Fried is the richest billionaire under 30 since Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Brian Armstrong Armstrong is the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US. His wealth has steadily grown to $11.5 billion after Coinbase made a public debut in April. Armstrong owns 19 percent of the company.

Sam Bankman-Fried

Chris Larsen The chairman and co-founder of crypto payment protocol Ripple saw his wealth grow from $2.7 billion last year to $6 billion this year. Larsen is the only crypto billionaire who featured on the Forbes richest list last year too. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss The Winklevoss twins might have lost out to Mark Zuckerberg in the race to control Facebook, but now they are the founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and are each worth $4.3 billion. The two featured in the magazine cover of Forbes 2021 World’s Billionaires April issue which was sold in an auction as a non-fungible token for $333,333. Fred Ehrsam

Jed McCaleb

Fred Ehrsam

Ehrsam had co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong in 2012 but left the exchange in 2017. He now leads the crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm and has an estimated net worth is $3.5 billion. Jed McCaleb A pioneer in the blockchain space, McCaleb helped launch Ripple, Stellar and Mt. Gox. McCaleb's wealth, estimated at $3 billion, is mostly aligned to his XRP stake as a Ripple co-founder.

Brian Armstrong

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Chris Larsen SEASONAL MAGAZINE

HEALTH

term effects of hyperglycaemia include cardiovascular diseases, nerve damage, kidney damage, blindness, etc.

WHICH ONE IS MORE DANGEROUS?

WHICH IS MORE DANGEROUS? LOW BLOOD SUGAR OR HIGH BLOOD SUGAR? DIABETES MANAGEMENT IS NOT AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK. YOU CAN KEEP YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS UNDER CONTROL IN SEVERAL WAYS. ONE CAN AVOID EXACERBATING THE ISSUE AND LEAD A HEALTHY AND HAPPY LIFE BY MAKING THE NECESSARY LIFESTYLE AND DIETARY MODIFICATIONS. HOWEVER, THERE ARE INSTANCES WHEN NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY TO KEEP YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS NORMAL, THEY WIND UP BEING TOO HIGH OR TOO LOW. LET US TRY TO COMPREHEND WHAT HIGH AND LOW BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS ARE, AS WELL AS THEIR POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES AND TREATMENTS. ow blood sugar levels, also known as Hypoglycaemia, occurs when there is insufficient sugar level in the blood, making it difficult for the body to operate normally. Diabetes-related side effects are the most prevalent cause of low blood sugar. However, it might also be related to: Eating less after taking diabetic medicine Exercising more than usual A rare likelihood of a tumour producing more insulin. Endocrine disorders Low blood sugar levels can cause both short-term issues such as disorientation and dizziness, as well as long-term consequences such as coma or even death. If your blood sugar is less than 70 mg/dL, you should start treating yourself SEASONAL MAGAZINE

immediately. High blood sugar or Hyperglycaemia occurs when people have high blood sugar in their bloodstream. Blood glucose levels higher than 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dl) when fasting Blood glucose levels higher than 11.0 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) 2 hours after meals

CAUSES OF HYPERGLYCAEMIA INCLUDE:

Inadequate usage of insulin or diabetes medication Not eating a proper diabetes diet Being inactive Having an infection or illness Short term effects of Hyperglycaemia include nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, dry mouth, among others. Long

“The brain cells stop working without glucose, thus making hypoglycaemia more dangerous than hyperglycaemia & it needs immediate intervention. A person with diabetes must always carry sugar sachets/ glucose tablets with him all the time for immediate response. Also, a band may be tied on one's wrist to signify that person has diabetes. This can help in an emergency,” says Madhuparna Pramanick, BeatO Health Coach. Some people are afraid of low blood sugar levels, while others are afraid of high blood sugar levels. If the range is not normal, it is dangerous regardless of whether you have low or high blood sugar levels. Low blood sugar symptoms are severe because they act as an emergency alarm that our bodies generate to help save ourselves. Low blood glucose levels in the absence of ketones can be fatal. High blood sugar levels cause long-term vascular damage, and the presence of high levels of ketones can potentially cause severe ketoacidosis. Most blood sugar reactions are managed by eating meals on time, taking diabetes medicine, and testing blood sugar more often. For type 2 diabetics there is not enough insulin production by the pancreas therefore they might need to consider additional insulin boosts to maintain blood sugar levels. It is advisable to talk to your doctor or health coach (diabetes educator) to guide you regarding the same.

HEALTH

INCREASED SCREEN TIME CAN CONTRIBUTE TO STROKES IN THE YOUNG

“The young generation is infamous for being glued to their mobile screens, which increases the risk of a stroke. Blue light from screens reduces melatonin production (the hormone released at night associated with control of the sleep-wake cycle or the circadian rhythm), which makes it difficult to sleep and wake up on time,” says Dr Yeole.

THE PANDEMIC CAN BE BLAMED FOR "PUSHING US INTO A SITUATION WHERE MOST WORKING ADULTS AND CHILDREN ARE REQUIRED TO STICK TO THEIR SCREENS FOR PROLONGED HOURS", SAYS A DOCTOR. Nowadays, as people work from home, they begin and end their day with a gadget. We are so dependent on technology that from the moment we open our eyes in the morning, we begin to scroll through our phones, respond to work emails, check social media, etc. But, have we ever paused to wonder what this lifestyle is doing to our health? A 2021 study published in the Stroke Journal of the American Stroke Association stated that adults under 60, with increased screen time exposure and sedentary lifestyles, are more prone to a stroke than those who are physically active. Data from the World Stroke Organization (WSO) states that one in four persons may suffer a stroke attack in their lifetime. According to a recent study of The Lancet Global Health, noncommunicable neurological disorders’ contribution in India doubled to 8.2 per cent in 2019 from 4.0 per cent in 1990,

with stroke leading the charts. Dr Ujwal Yeole, consultantneurosurgeon, Fortis Hospital Kalyan, says there is a link between increased screen time and stroke. “A US study highlighted that one’s life expectancy reduces by up to 22 minutes for every hour of digital screen time. It makes the person more prone to a stroke and various heart ailments, cancer, etc. Another UK-based study showed the possibility of a stroke was significantly high with continued 2-hour exposure to digital screens (laptop, TV, cell phone, etc.). Beyond two hours and in cases of addiction, the chance of a stroke increases by 20 per cent,” he says. The doctor blames the pandemic for “pushing us into a situation where most working adults and children are required to stick to their screens for prolonged hours, either for work or academics”.

Leading such a lifestyle also makes an individual vulnerable to other diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart conditions, etc. These are all interlinked: * A person with diabetes is twice as likely to suffer from a stroke, as the damaged blood vessels hasten the onset of ischemic stroke (happens from a blood clot blocking or narrowing the artery to the brain). * High LDL (bad cholesterol levels) initiates the build-up of plaque in the arteries, which ends up restricting blood flow to the brain, thus leading to a stroke. * Hypertension is the cause for approximately 50 per cent of ischemic strokes, increasing the threat of hemorrhagic stroke (brain bleed). The doctor suggests some lifestyle changes: – It is necessary to take an hour-long walk every day to negate the ill effects of physical inactiveness. – Exercise daily for 30 minutes and inculcate the habit in your children. – Limit your screen time and take frequent breaks from work. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

HOW SRM TICKS ALL THE RIGHT BOXES FOR HIGH QUALITY HIGHER EDUCATION

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In India, it is never easy for a private sector higher education group to be taken as seriously by students, teachers & recruiters, as the country’s famed premium public institutions. But that is what SRM Group has achieved with its deemed and private universities. Take for instance what some SRM students achieved recently. Even while large 2wheeler manufacturers - both traditional brands and startup firms - were scrambling to create viable electric vehicles, these SRM students went on to develop an electric bike by leveraging the university’s tie-up with a leading battery manufacturer. The students develop such ambition as the university is forever keeping them abreast with the latest technological breakthroughs in every field. SRM’s Distinguished Lecture Series is a prime example for this, which has seen participation frrom IITs, NITs, IISERs, leading domestic & overseas universities, CSIR, DST, DBT, DRDO, DAE, ISRO, NARL, MoES

etc. Recently, the 14th edition of this Lecture Series saw a highly knowledgeable talk from Dr Chennupati Jagadish, distinguished professor in Physics in the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University. He addressed the students on 'Semiconductor Nanostructures for Optoelectronics Applications'. At the same time, SRM takes care to inculcate compassionate values in its students as well as projects. Assisted by a noted external organization, SRM has initiated a Thought Lab itself for imparting value education to students, who in turn go on to do many charitable activities to the economically challenged communities around them, like distributing winter wear. The Group’s foundation and its medical college hospital also excel in philanthropic initiatives like its recent health card which provides discounts for the needy sections of the population.

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SRM Group of Universities are growing and spreading their great roots into the communities and industries around them. Its flagship deemed university, SRM Institute of Science & Technology (SRMIST), near Chennai, continues to be a powerhouse in engineering and medical education and research, with over 600 companies offering more than 7000 placements this year to SRM students. SRMIST’s medical wing, SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre (SRM MCH&RC) had become internationally renowned as one of the select few centres for Covaxin trials, and has recently started a state-of-the-art Centre for Clinical Trials & Research as well as entering into tie-ups with pharma majors. The Group’s newest university, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh, is also scaling similar or even greater heights by achieving 100% placements for its maiden batch itself, and by starting two Centres of Excellence with industry majors like Titan’s Tanishq Division and Amara Raja Batteries. No wonder then that SRM is getting tie-ups and recognitions from the likes of Harvard & Stanford. tanford University needs no introduction, and when Stanford speaks, the world listens. Such has been the overall achievement level of this institution that, even while it is not part of the Ivy League, it boasts of real-world achievements that span not only academia and research, but the startup ecosystem. Stanford is indeed the cradle where some of the world’s greatest tech businesses were born. Stanford University had recently selected the top 2% of the world’s scientists in various sunrise fields including energy, biotechnology etc. Only 91 scientists were chosen

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worldwide for their research achievements in biotechnology, and Dr. Imran Pancha of SRM University, AP, was one among them. Dr. Pancha is a professor of SRM-AP’s Department of Biological Sciences, and had won this selection in 2020 too. Similarly, when Stanford selected 178 scientists as the top 2% of researchers excelling in energy and related fields, SRM University, AP, had two reasons to smile. Dr Karthik Rajendran and Dr Lakhveer Singh both from SRM-AP’s Department of Environmental Science made the rare cut. This goes on to say much about the diligence with which the SRM management and Vice-Chancellor

Prof. VS Rao has been choosing faculty for this most promising new private university in the Indian landscape. Prof. Rao himself is a distinguished researcher who made his mark in US and elsewhere, and made sure that 100% of faculty at SRM-AP should be PhD holders to start with. With such worldclass brains to teach and mentor students, it is no wonder really that SRM University, AP, is going great guns in placements too. While most private universities would struggle to place their first batches, SRM-AP had no issue recently in placing 100% of its students in its very first batch. The maiden convocation for BTech students of SRMAP was an unforgettable event that was simultaneously conducted physically and online, with renowned international figures like New York University’s President Prof. Andrew D Hamilton, and Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) gracing the high-voltage event. The first batch of BTech students has received 100 percent placement with an average salary of Rs 7 Lakh per annum, which is a commendable record when compared to peers. The highest offers were for two Computer Science & Engineering students by PVP Inc., Japan, for Rs. 50 lakh per annum. And it was not

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only about career placements. SRM-AP students also excelled in academic placements, with as many as 24 students opting for higher studies in top universities including University of Michigan, New York University, Georgia Tech, and King's College London (Madison Campus). The SRM Andhra Pradesh Convocation was also attended by Chancellor Dr T R Paarivendhar, who is also a Member of Parliament, and President Dr P Sathyanarayanan. These leaders have come to exemplify the unique vision behind SRM University, AP, as well as the other older and larger institutions in their stable, especially SRM Institute of Science & Technology (SRMIST), a deemed university near Chennai with multiple campuses, which was earlier named SRM University. Earlier in the year, students of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology received over 7,111 job offers during the placement season for 2020-21. At least 600 companies participated in the placement process despite the pandemic situation, thereby revealing how companies don’t want to miss the SRMIST talent pool.

WHEN STANFORD UNIVERSITY RECENTLY SELECTED THE TOP 2% OF THE WORLD’S SCIENTISTS, SRM-AP'S THREE PROFESSORS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ENERGY WERE INCLUDED.

Dr Imran Pancha SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Dr. P. Sathyanarayanan The participating companies included IT and engineering firms from both India and abroad. Bengaluru-based WorkIndia Information Technology and Services made the highest offer at ?35 lakh a year. Students from SRMIST campuses in Modinagar, Ramapuram and Vadapalani participated, and as many as 2,000 offers with ?10 lakh a year and ?5 lakh a year remuneration were made. The largest number of recruitments were by India born international IT giants Cognizant, TCS, Wipro and Infosys.

Ravi Pachamoothoo innovations by itself to emerge as one of the top universities in the world.

SRMIST has been achieving such placements year after year, and that is why when the SRM Group started a new university in Andhra Pradesh, it was armed with a wealth of experience on how to train and groom students to be fit enough to be chosen by world-class Indian and multinational companies. However, being a greenfield project, SRM-AP also brings in several new

For instance, during the last 3 years, SRMAP faculty members have published over 700 research papers in scopus indexed journals such as Nature, Nature Communications and other such reputed research publications. Despite its young age, SRM-AP is a powerhouse in research achievements. The faculty is already working on 42 funded research projects with an outlay of Rs 20.13 crores funded by the Indian government and various industry giants. 42 patents have been filed, 32 published and three granted in the past 3 years symbolizing the momentum and brilliance of research here. This year alone faculty from the Engineering and Science departments have been granted six DST SERB projects and Ramanujan fellowships. The university has also signed agreements with various educational institutions,

Dr Lakhveer Singh

Dr Karthik Rajendran

research and industrial establishments in India and across the world. These include Harvard Business School Online, Australia’s Lindus University, Taiwan’s Asia University, CSIR’s Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIRIICT). With IICT, the university has plans to pursue frontline chemicals research. SRM University, AP, has also tied up for niche knowledge transfer with Titan’s Tanishq division and Amara Raja Batteries. Healthcare is one field were SRM Group continues to make great inroads. SRMIST is home to a world-class medical college and its teaching hospital, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SRM MCH&RC). Recently, the School of Public Health (SPH) at SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), Kattankulathur, celebrated the successful completion and dissemination of the key findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 5) for the state of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry at (SRM MCH&RC).

SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HAS RECEIVED OVER 7,111 JOB OFFERS DURING THE PLACEMENT SEASON FROM OVER 600 COMPANIES ACROSS INDIA AND ABROAD. handling clinical trials of drugs, vaccines, and medical devices. The facility has two wards with 12 beds and several rooms for sample collection, processing, data documentation, and monitoring. It has state-of-the-art equipment for preserving serum samples at -80 degrees Celsius and -20 degrees Celsius deep freezers, high-speed centrifuge, facilities for electronic data capture with high-speed internet, thermohygrometers, and data security is maintained with controlled access. With such new infrastructure in place, SRM MCH&RC which has already come in 46th position in research, is likely to

better its ranking. Students and faculty can do any type of clinical trials at this centre like the recent COVAXIN trial done here. The hospital was earlier awarded the clinical trial of COVAXIN, and for that there was a requirement for a virology lab, which was met by SRM itself by developing a world-class lab that was done entirely in-house. The SRM Centre for Clinical Trials & Research is headed by Professor of Pharmacology Dr. Satyajit Mohapatra, and supported by a team of investigators from all major branches of medicine including Clinical Pharmacology, General Medicine, General Surgery,

NFHS-5, the fifth in the NFHS rounds, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each of its states/union territories (UT) and also provides data at the district Level. NFHS5 includes some new topics, such as preschool education, disability, access to a toilet facility, death registration, menstrual hygiene etc. The scope of clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical testing (CAB) has also been extended to include measurement of waist and hip circumferences and the age range for the measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose has been expanded. The SRM Group continues to push its research initiatives in all domains, and especially in the medical field. SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), through its Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences had recently set up a 5000 square feet Research Facility in SRM called the ‘Centre for Clinical Trials & Research’. This world-class facility is located at SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SRM MCH&RC), and will function as a clinical trial research center capable of SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Cardiology, Pulmonary Medicine, Nephrology, Anesthesia & Critical Medicine, Dermatology etc. The same team had earlier successfully conducted the COVAXIN Clinical Trials (Phase 1, 2 and 3), making SRM MCH&RC the only hospital in Tamil Nadu which successfully undertook it. During the last ten years when SRM MCH&RC started focusing more on research, over 35 sponsored and academic clinical trials have been done here. Grants have been obtained from various funding agencies such as ICMR, BIRAC, DBT, DHR-ICMR National, and International Pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi-GSK, Genova Pharmaceuticals etc to carry out these research activities. The competency-based MBBS curriculum being followed at present in SRM MCH&RC gives the student exposure to Clinical Research in the prefinal year. Students can choose it as an elective subject, and they get exposure to the current Clinical Research and Trials in this Centre. And it is not only in medicine, but in all fields including engineering and material science that SRM Group of Universities are making great R&D strides. Recently, two Centres of Excellence was started at SRM University, AP, which was inaugurated by Dr. VK Saraswat, Member, Niti Aayog. Established to promote translational research, the first one is SRM SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Amara Raja Centre for Energy Storage Devices, which has been set up in collaboration with Amara Raja Batteries Limited, Tirupati, with the objective of application-oriented research in renewable energy and e-mobility. The second CoEx is the Centre for Pioneering Studies in Gold & Silver, which is a flagship R&D project with Titan Company Ltd (Tanishq Division) to

UNLIKE MOST OF ITS PEERS, THE VERY FIRST BATCH OF BTECH STUDENTS AT SRM-AP HAS RECEIVED 100 PERCENT PLACEMENT WITH AN AVERAGE SALARY OF RS 7 LAKH PER ANNUM, WITH TOP TWO OFFERS AT RS. 50 LAKHS.

develop novel gold alloy for contemporary jewellery design. The centre also aims to work on projects in collaboration with Waman Hari Pethe & Sons, Mumbai, and other jewellery manufacturers across India to produce high strength 22 Karat gold and to develop tarnish free silver alloys. During his visit, Dr. Saraswat also proposed to develop a Value Addition Centre in SRM University-AP to promote translational research. The centre would be strengthening the relationship between industry and academia to work on product engineering to deliver market relevant products. With several such initiatives in place, it is no wonder that this young university from the SRM stable is already home to 4,500 students and 180 faculty members, from all across the globe.

KARUR VYSYA BANK

AS ASSET QUALITY IMPROVES, PROFIT IS SOARING MULTIFOLD Karur Vysya Bank, like most of its peers, was beaten down mainly on higher provisioning during the two pandemic years. But now as asset quality improves sharply, provisions are being written back, and profit is soaring - fourfold in the recent Q3 on a YoY basis.

ost Indian banks had lost steam starting in fiscal 2009 due to the global financial crisis, and the resultant NPA crisis that started unfolding back then. The preceding four years of bull run from FY'04 to FY'08 had led to a severe growth bias at corporates and credit excesses from banks to drive that growth, which led to a severe downturn in banking stocks for the next several years.

KVB WAS ONE OF THE LEAST AFFECTED BANKS BY MULTIPLE CHALLENGES LIKE NPA CRISIS, DEMONETIZATION & PANDEMIC, AND ONE OF THE FIRST BANKS TO BOUNCE BACK, IN FY'21 ITSELF.

But Tamil Nadu based Karur Vysya Bank was an exception to this phenomenon. That is, until mid of FY'18. From then on the impact of the demonetization drive in the previous fiscal of FY’17 began to spare no banks, including Karur Vysya Bank which was more focused towards the MSME sector which bore the major burden of demonetization. While this traditional private sector bank headquartered at Karur near Erode kept on a good performance on the income front, helped both by the core Net Interest Income (NII) and the Non Interest Income or Fee Income, the Net

Profit nosedived to almost half in FY’18 and almost one-third in FY’19. As usual in all banks, the culprit was falling asset quality. But part of the issue at KVB was also this lender’s traditional stance when it came to provisioning. Putting safety first, KVB went in for generous provisioning, at par or even more than comparable peer banks. When the profits went down for two years in a bank that was always growing faster than average for more than a decade, it was only natural that many retail investors panicked and some institutional investors deserted the ship or reduced their stake. But it goes on to the credit of KVB’s Board and its top management that now when the smoke is clearing in the banking sector, the bank still has most of its high-profile investors like Big Bull Rakesh Jhuhjhunwala, Ashish Dhawan and the Franklin India Group. Even while the stocks of most banks were falling like ninepins, driven first by the NPA crisis, then by

demonetization and then by the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, intelligent analysts kept on predicting that unless in other sectors, banks will have a faster and more momentous turnaround as provisions get written back into profits. And KVB was one of the first smaller sized private banks to turn around. Interestingly, KVB resumed on the profit growth path as early as FY’20, the year in which the pandemic began. While some analysts predicted that KVB won’t be able to hold on to that turnaround, proving them wrong KVB substantially built up on that base in FY’21 which was the most pandemic affected fiscal by registering a smart profit growth. Meanwhile, starting in the second quarter of FY’21 the bank had a change of guard at the very top after a long time when State Bank of India veteran B Ramesh Babu was appointed as the MD & CEO. Earlier also, the Bank’s Board had selected an SBI veteran for the top post. The bank’s strong performance in FY’21 and its spectacular performance now in FY’22 is also due to a new vision and expertise that Ramesh Babu brought in. For instance, by the first three quarters of FY’22, the bank has registered a profit of Rs. 458 crore as against FY’21’s net profit of Rs. 359 crore. In his last stint, Ramesh Babu was Deputy Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer in State Bank of India with an experience of developing and overseeing the Retail Business and Banking Operations for more than 21,000 retail branches and 1,20,000 other touch points of the Bank successfully. He has extensive experience in redressing pain-points in Customer Service related areas and furthering Financial Inclusion by actively

leveraging the services of Business Correspondents in SBI. He was actively involved in Direction setting and Policy formulation by participating in various apex committees of State Bank of India. Ramesh Babu is also highly experienced in heading banking operations in the Tamil Nadu state, which is also KVB’s core market. At SBI, he has successfully headed the whole business and operations of 1,300 Branches of Chennai Circle of SBI for three years with excellent understanding of business dynamics and man management. Since he was appointed in 2020 with a tenure of three years at KVB, he got

IN THE MOST RECENT REPORTING PERIOD OF Q3, KARUR VYSYA BANK (KVB) HAS POSTED A FOUR-FOLD RISE IN NET PROFIT TO RS 185 CRORE AS COMPARED TO RS 35 CRORE DURING THE SAME PERIOD LAST FISCAL.

WITH THE FIRST THREE QUARTERS OF FY’22 ITSELF, KVB HAS REGISTERED A PROFIT OF RS. 458 CRORE AS AGAINST FY’21’S NET PROFIT OF RS. 359 CRORE. the necessary mandate to implement his full vision for taking this traditional lender to the post pandemic world. B Ramesh Babu also holds 14,000 equity shares in the Bank. Recently, the technology initiatives of Karur Vysya Bank have been recognized with three awards. At the 17th Annual Banking Technology Conference, Expo & Awards, 2021 conducted virtually by the Indian Bank's Association, the Bank was honoured with three awards in the Small Banks Category - Best Cloud Adoption - Winner, Best Use of AI / ML & Data Analytics - Joint Winner, and Best IT Risk & Cyber Security Initiatives - Joint Runner-Up. "These awards reiterate the abiding conviction of Karur Vysya Bank that technology, if harnessed in the best possible manner, will enable delivery of the finest banking services to customers. KVB has been continuously investing in technology and this has resulted in these honours. We derive great pleasure in dedicating these awards to the valued customers and well wishers of the Bank", said Mr. Ramesh Babu, Managing Director and CEO of KVB. Technology has enabled the bank to make such offerings as the KVB DLite

Mobile App, the one app that provides complete banking solutions and the Loan Originating System (LOS) that is fully digitalized from application to documentation and disbursal of the loan, thereby enabling almost immediate in-principle sanction of retail and commercial loans and quickest processing and disbursal of the loans. In the most recent reporting period of Q3, Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has posted a four-fold rise in net profit to Rs 185 crore as compared to Rs 35 crore during the same period last fiscal. The much predicted writeback of provisions to profits is happening momentously at KVB now.

AT THE 17TH ANNUAL BANKING TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE, EXPO & AWARDS, 2021 KVB BAGGED THREE AWARDS IN THE SMALL BANKS CATEGORY, FOR BEST CLOUD ADOPTION, BEST USE OF AI / ML & DATA ANALYTICS, AND BEST IT RISK & CYBER SECURITY INITIATIVES.

The bank's total income during the quarter was down marginally to Rs 1,600 crore as against Rs 1,614 crore during the same quarter in 2020-21. Operating profit for the quarter stood at Rs 402 crore - up by Rs 133 crore from Rs 269 crore for Q3 of the previous year. Net interest income for the quarter improved by 18 per cent to Rs 687 crore for the current quarter from Rs 584 crore for Q3 of FY 202021. Net interest margin stands at 3.68 per cent. Cost of deposits has reduced by 58 basis points to 4.22 per cent compared to 4.80 per cent during the previous period. Yield on advances was at 8.42 per cent (8.66 per cent for Q3 of previous year). Non interest income (excluding treasury profit) improved to Rs 209 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 197 crore during the previous period KVB improved its asset quality during the quarter, with gross nonperforming assets (NPAs) falling to 6.97 per cent (Rs 3,888 crore) of the gross advances as of December 31, 2021, as against 7.37 per cent (Rs 3,842 crore) in the year-ago period.

INNOVATION

Microsoft CEO Nadella Says

in a virtual environment, say a virtual office space, simply by plugging into the virtual reality headset like Facebook’s Oculus or Microsoft’s HoloLens. This capability is powered by the Mesh, a virtual collaboration tool launched in March 2021, and will be launched in 2022.

SPEAKING AT MICROSOFT IGNITE 2021 CONFERENCE ON NOVEMBER 2, CEO SATYA NADELLA, SAID, “IT IS NO LONGER JUST LOOKING AT A CAMERA VIEW OF A FACTORY FLOOR, YOU CAN BE ON THE FLOOR. IT'S NO LONGER JUST VIDEO CONFERENCING WITH COLLEAGUES, YOU CAN BE WITH THEM IN THE SAME ROOM. IT'S NO LONGER JUST PLAYING A GAME WITH FRIENDS, YOU CAN BE IN THE GAME WITH THEM.”

Using Mesh enterprises can also create immersive experiences like a virtual campus, like IT major Accenture has done. The virtual campus called One Accenture Park is where new hires onboarded virtually can meet in digital avatars and personally connect, conduct meetings or just have parties.

METAVERSE IS A BREAKTHROUGH THAT CAN'T BE OVERSTATED

The idea is similar to that of Facebook. Both companies have been investing in virtual and augmented reality. Meta Reality Labs’ Oculus and Horizon Worlds, and Microsoft’s Mesh and HoloLens are technologies that would be powering the companies’ metaverse ambitions. Nadella said, “For years, we have talked about creating this digital representation of the world. But now we actually have the opportunity to go into that world and participate in it.” “We are taking these platform capabilities, and building them into our own first-party applications like teams, features like grid views together more and presented more than teams mark the beginning of bringing to the immersive experiences to collaboration. But human presence is the ultimate connection. When you and I can have a meeting, where we are all present together without actually being physically present,” explained Nadella.

fter Facebook rebranded itself as Meta last week, software major Microsoft Corp is now gearing up for its metaverse play, where its consumers can interact and collaborate in 3D digital avatars in offices, or on shop floors – in the metaverse. Speaking at Microsoft Ignite 2021 conference on November 2, CEO Satya Nadella, said, “I can't overstate how

much of a breakthrough this is. It's no longer just looking at a camera view of a factory floor, you can be on the floor. It's no longer just video conferencing with colleagues, you can be with them in the same room. It's no longer just playing a game with friends, you can be in the game with them.” This would be possible through Teams, the firm’s videoconferencing platform, where people can create their own digital avatars and interact/collaborate

According to him, metaverse is not just transforming how we see the world but also how all of us actively participate in it. “What we have shown you today is only the beginning. Our economy and our society are undergoing a sea change of digitisation across every industry sector. We are emerging into a new era where you and the invaluable work you do will be more necessary than ever. And we are building the Microsoft Cloud to help you accelerate into this new world,” he added. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

BANDHAN BANK

ON A STRONG COMEBACK PATH ON IMPROVING BUSINESS & DIVERSIFICATION Bandhan Bank’s Q3 net profit was up almost 36%, but it was mostly on strong noninterest income and falling provisions, and the market is expecting its diversification from microfinance or group loans to gather momentum and its asset quality to improve, so that its core net interest income grows in double digits. The bank is making new inroads into sectors like housing finance, and making use of new opportunities in government business. The share of its core group loans now stands reduced at 52% which shows its diversification plans are starting to deliver.

fter a very difficult Q2 that saw over Rs. 3000 crore loss on the back of over Rs. 5600 crore in provisions against bad loans, Bandhan Bank has made a significant turnaround to profits in the recently reported Q3. The Kolkata headquartered lender’s net profit rose nearly 36% in Q3, but riding mainly on growth in noninterest income. Bottomline turned back to black by registering Rs 858.97

crore for the third quarter, from last year’s Rs 632.59 crore in the corresponding quarter, also aided by fall in provisions. The core Net interest income (NII) from lending activities for the quarter stood flattish at Rs 2124.70 crore as against Rs 2071.74 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. However, the bank’s noninterest income grew 26.67% year on year to Rs 712.29 crore. Provisions during the quarter fell 25.25% YoY to Rs 805.71 crore from Rs 1077.83

crore in the year ago. Asset quality continues to trouble the bank, much like some of its peers coming from the microfinance background. However, the vast difference in NPA growth on QoQ and YoY basis shows that the major pain is over for the bank and that the situation is starting to stabilize. Driven by the unprecedented impact of the second wave of the pandemic that took India by storm, Bandhan Bank’s Non Performing Assets (NPAs) on absolute terms soared more than tenfold to Rs. 9441.57 crore from just Rs. 859.22 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. However, on a sequential or QoQ basis, it rose only 7.74% signalling that the major pain has been witnessed in Q2 of this fiscal. Also, the bank’s gross NPAs, as a percentage of total loans, stood at 10.81% in Q3 compared to 10.82% in the second quarter. Commenting on the results, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, the bank’s Founder, Managing Director & CEO, said, “Third quarter of this fiscal has been a very good one for the bank where we have witnessed growth across all parameters. After the challenging first half, we have seen growth bouncing back strongly and things stabilising on the asset quality front with collection efficiency improving very strongly. We have seen all round recovery during the quarter with improved collections and increase in disbursements. ” Guiding the market for the coming periods, Ghosh said, “Q4 historically has been the best quarter for the bank and we are positive about our business going forward. With group loan share in total advances reduced to 52%, the bank is on track to achieve the diversification strategy which it had laid down for FY25.”

With Q3 results, the bank has more or less fulfilled its guidance given along with Q2 results that the massive loss in that quarter was due to frontloading the provisions rather than spreading it across the three quarters of Q2, Q3 & Q4. As per this policy, the bank had taken accelerated provisions of Rs. 1500 crore against NPA accounts. In addition to this, it had also provided an additional standard assets provision amounting to around Rs 2,100 crore and provision on restructured assets amounting to around Rs 1,030 crore. The objective was to take up a one-time cleaning process so that the whole challenge is transparently visible to investors in one go, and for the bank to resume its focus on recoveries and lending as in the pre-Covid times. There are several positives in Bandhan Bank’s performance which is evident from Q3 numbers. The overall growth is trending up which is a key positive, driven by both microfinance and nonmicrofinance loans and recoveries. Specifically, Bandhan Bank has seen a pick-up in growth in nonmicrofinance loans like housing finance which is up 7% QoQ in Q3 after several quarters of flat growth. This is in accordance with the bank’s stated diversification from microfinance or group loans. Secondly, while its credit cost is currently high at around 10%, it will moderate, due to two reasons steadily improving collections and adequate provisioning buffers which now stands at 4%. This will also offset the high level of restructuring which may continue for a while. The percentage of fully repaying customers stood at 89% in December, up from 79% in September. Around 66% of NPA customers continued to make payments in a bid to regularise their overdue loan accounts at the

earliest. Also, around 2/3rd of the bank’s restructured customers also continued to pay despite the moratorium. As a grassroots level bank, its MD & CEO Chandra Sekhar Ghosh closely follows all macro and microeconomic developments that can affect its customers and shareholders. As such he had a clear analysis of the recent budgetary provisions affecting the sector. Says Ghosh, “Extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee

Scheme (ECLGS) till March 2023 and the increase of Rs 50,000 crore in the overall outlay for the scheme will provide relief to this sector. The infusion of Rs 2 lakh crore under the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises will also have a similar effect. It will help channel the flow of credit to MSMEs, while providing comfort to the bankers to lend to this sector.” As a bank that has a newfound bullishness on home financing, Ghosh elaborated further, “The economy and the banking sector could also benefit from the additional outlay of Rs 48,000 crore for the PM Awas Yojana. The boost that the affordable housing segment might receive from this announcement should lead to greater demand for housing finance, and should also spur consumption for other products and services, given the strong backward and forward linkages to this sector.” On the business front, Bandhan Bank continues to make new inroads. Recently it obtained RBI permission

to be an Agency Bank to conduct government business. With this approval, Bandhan Bank will be able to handle transactions related to the collection of state taxes and revenue receipts such as GST and VAT. This will also enable Bandhan Bank for the collection of stamp duty and pension payments on behalf of central

and state governments. The Bank’s extensive branch network, its 2.4 crore customer base, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, its state-of-the-art products and services and digital banking capabilities, will help it discharge its duties effectively by bringing governments and citizens closer to each other. Since its launch six years ago, Bandhan Bank has been dedicated to furthering financial inclusion by bringing millions of Indians into the fold of formal banking services and catalysing the creation of sustainable livelihoods. The bank also offers 7% interest on threeyear FDs for senior citizens. Bandhan Bank is also scouting for opportunities to diversify. There are unconfirmed reports that Bandhan has teamed up with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC to bid for IDFC Mutual Fund which has Assets Under Management (AUM) of Rs. 1.26 lakh crore and growing at 19.3% against industry average of 8.6%.

KIIT TO

ACHIEVE

100%

PLACEMENT SOON When the latest round of placements for this ongoing academic year was completed, the leading deemed-to-be-university has landed placements for 3000 eligible students of the current BTech batch, out of a batch size of 3500 students. What is more, multiple offers have been raining on KIIT students, despite this being a most difficult academic year due to the pandemic’s unprecedented second wave and the suddenly erupting invasion of Ukraine by Russia. These 3000 students have bagged over 4200 job offers, even under this scenario. The Bhubaneswar headquartered KIIT had begun its first round of placements in May 2021, with the ‘Day One’ numbers from four major MNC firms alone amounting to over 2000 offers. This had marked a major breakthrough for KIIT as unlike its peers based in metro cities, the university had to battle the image of being housed in a relatively economically backward state of the country. The deemed university’s placement performance this year, by way of quantity and quality, since that momentous Day One, shows that it has successfully broken that mould and that it is giving BTech aspirants of Odisha no more reason to go searching for a university outside the state at a much higher cost. For instance, the average CTC in this year’s placements is Rs. 6.05 lakhs per annum, which is a 30% growth over the average CTC last year. Out of the 3000 students who already bagged

Odisha based Kalinga Inst Industrial Technology (KIIT achieve 100% placements BTech batch. Founded by t educationist, philanthropis and Lok Sabha member, P Samanta, KIIT is now leavi for students from Odisha t the state for their higher st

titute of T) is all set to for its 2022 the noted st, social worker rof. Achyuta ing no reason o go outside tudies.

placement offers, 1500 students have obtained it from Tier 1 or ‘Dream Companies’ with an average CTC of Rs. 8.10 lakh per annum. KIIT also proved that it is attracting topnotch talents, when five of the students in this batch obtained the highest CTC of Rs. 52 lakh per annum, which is comparable to the best institutions in the country. Thirty-five companies also offered above average CTC of Rs. 10.00 lakh or above per annum, to get such high quality recruits trained to perfection at KIIT. The faculty of KIIT has also been an inspiration for these students to outperform. While various KIIT faculty routinely end up as newsmakers, two innovations by Prof. Biswaranjan Acharya of the School of Computer Engineering deserve a special mention. The young Prof. Acharya has successfully created an advanced wearable biomedical device that takes multiple automatic inputs from the user via sensors to assess the stress and anxiety level of its users, and suggest remedial measures like engaging them in soothing talk or notifying some friends or relatives! This invention is likely to bag an international patent, much like Prof. Acharya’s earlier invention of a hightech glove for visually impaired people that helps them to detect and navigate obstacles around them, which had bagged a patent from the Australian Government. With such exceptional faculty to inspire, it is no wonder that KIIT students are performing well in the real world too, for which the acid test is campus placements. Assisting KIIT Founder Prof. Achyuta Samanta in the exemplary running of this deemed university are Prof. Sasmita Samanta, Vice-Chancellor, and Prof. Saranjit Singh, Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

SASTRA

GRADED AMONG TOP-5 INSTITUTIONS NATIONALLY

Tamil Nadu based deemed-to-be-university, SASTRA, has retained the highest grade of A++ awarded by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in the recently concluded fourth cycle of re-accreditation.

Headquartered near the ancient temple town of Thanjavur, The Shanmuga Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA), also bettered its score to 3.76/4.00 in this fourth cycle from the 3.54/4 it had scored in the third cycle. With this, SASTRA, led by its Chancellor Prof. R Sethuraman and Vice-Chancellor Dr. S Vaidhyasubramaniam, has been graded at the topmost position among all higher educational institutions in Tamil Nadu and has become one among the top five national institutions with such a score. The peer review team of NAAC, which had visited the university’s primary campus at the laid-back town of Thirumalaisamudhram, recently, appreciated SASTRA’s research and social outreach activities apart from its modern infrastructure and proactive management style before arriving at this final score. With this latest reaccreditation, SASTRA will also remain as a Category 1 University for the next seven years.

is noted for its proactive stance when it comes to furthering its academic and research standards, which has come to inspire generations of students.

After receiving the coveted reaccreditation at the nationally topmost level, Vice-Chancellor Dr. S Vaidhyasubramaniam was thankful to the Central and State governments, the entire SASTRA family of faculty, students & parents, and all other stakeholders for their continuous support and encouragement.

SASTRA’s practice of giving Distinguished Alumnus Awards is very telling in this regard. In its latest round, four former students were selected as SASTRA Distinguished Alumnus. The university has a thriving SASTRA Alumni Association, which is now headed by SV Ramanan, Secretary, who is working as CEO (India & South Asia) of financial software major Intellect Design Arena. Himself a SASTRA Distinguished Alumnus, it was he who gave away this year’s awards.

It is no wonder really that SASTRA has been steadily moving up in such accreditations, rankings, placements and all such metrics. The deemed university

The latest winners are, Manoj Varghese (of 1994 Mechanical Engineering batch), who is now Chief Platform Head Mahindra & Mahindra; Prof. S

Kalyankumar and Prof. K. Sundarajan (of 1998 ME batch), who are now professors of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama, USA; and C Vasudevan, (of 2007 Biotech batch), who is now a noted entrepreneur having co-founded the B2B startup, Ninjacart, which is India's largest fresh produce supply chain company, backed by Walmart, Flipkart, Tiger Global and others, and almost a unicorn now. How do SASTRA students go on to be such high achievers? Much credit goes to the high quality faculty who have been handpicked by Chancellor Prof. R Sethuraman and Vice-Chancellor Dr. S Vaidhyasubramaniam. There are examples galore of such inspiring faculty in the rolls of SASTRA now, with a recent example being Prof. S. Swaminathan who was recently awarded the prestigious Prof. CNR Rao

curriculum will include practical experience in major lab facilities, and a six-month industry internship in Taiwan's advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry. Tata Electronics will help SASTRA to create the course curriculum and will also provide financial support for overseas education and training of these students. With such world-class initiatives, however, it is easy for any university’s faculty and students to lose touch with the ground realities in India. But such things don’t happen at SASTRA, as the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor are very particular that the university should do more than its reasonable role in supporting the community around it. Recently the university delivered free medical consultation at a camp organised in memory of the Founder Chancellor of the SASTRA University, S. Ramachandran at Thanjavur and Kumbakonam. An excellent medical team led by the Vice-Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra Medical University, Chennai, Dr. JSN Moorthy provided medical advice to the patients suffering from cardiac, neurology and ENT related problems at the camps. People from economically weaker sections in the Thanjavur district requiring surgery will be identified and the cost of surgery will be sponsored by the University.

Bengaluru India Nano Science Award at the 12th Bengaluru India Nano, India’s flagship Nanotech Event. Another SASTRA faculty who shot into limelight recently was Senior Assistant Prof. James A Baskaradas, of the School of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, whose innovative idea on the design of intercept receiver for electronic support systems won the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Innovation Award contest - Dare to Dream 2.0. The idea conceived by Prof. James will be of much use to the armed forces in surveillance support, and his innovation is now under active consideration of the Technological Development Fund Scheme for transforming the idea into a prototype. Apart from selecting, grooming and facilitating such stellar faculty, SASTRA

takes immense efforts to forge the right kind of industry tie-ups. Two recent examples of such tie-ups were with Singapore based Cantier Systems and Tata Electronics. The first partnership has resulted in the setting up of the SASTRA - Cantier Centre of Excellence in the campus that will give students a headstart in next generation manufacturing technologies like Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Industrial Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Automation etc. Under the tie-up with Tata Electronics, SASTRA students admitted to the twoyear MTech degree in Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) Design will complete one year of the course at SASTRA campus in Thanjavur, and the second year in either Asia University or Yuan Ze University in Taiwan. The second-year

In another major outreach to the community around it, 75 schools in Tamil Nadu have been provided with Virtual Reality (VR) facilities by Sastra University to promote digital education and interactive learning in the state. This will provide students at these 75 schools an immersive & experiential learning experience. This announcement was made as part of the National Science Day Awards presentation function organized by SASTRA. Explaining this contribution from SASTRA to the greater cause of nation building and education, Vice-Chancellor Dr. S Vaidhyasubramaniam, said, “The VR facility each costing about Rs. 2 Lakhs at these 75 schools shall be loaded with pre-developed subject matter content that shall provide students creative pedagogical tools to appreciate science concepts & improve their learning outcome.”

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

The investing world is once again

staring at the beginning of a possible global bear market, thanks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the revival of the pandemic in Asia & Europe, and the soaring inflation in the US that has led to a rate hike cycle and the imminent flight of capital from risk assets like stocks to interest yielding instruments. Even the IPO of India’s largest life insurance and investment behemoth, LIC of India has got postponed due to the ongoing volatility. But here are 7 reasons why the LIC IPO remains attractive for investors.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO WILL CREATE A LARGEST CAP COMPANY In bull markets all companies move up, and mid-caps and small-caps move up faster than large-caps. But when the mood changes and it is time for an imminent and long lasting bear market, such smaller stocks are the first to tumble down and to a deeper level. Large caps will generally fall much less, and it will be the largest cap companies that will stay the maximum defensive and start to move up faster once the market stabilizes. LIC’s IPO will result in such a largest cap company in India, with its market capitalization on listing expected to be around Rs. 16 lakh crore, very near to Reliance Industries and ahead of Tata Consultancy Services.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO DOES NOT INVOLVE DILUTION Companies usually go in for their IPOs not just to get publicly listed, but to raise serious funds for debt reduction and business growth. But such fundraising invariably involves issue of new shares by the company so that the raised funds end up as equity capital. However, in the case of the super cash-rich LIC, there is no need for any such cash infusion into the company. Hence LIC will not be issuing any new shares in its IPO. Instead, its sole promoter Government of India will use the LIC IPO to reduce its stake by 5% which will set the IPO size at around Rs. 63,000 crore, all of which will go to the Government. Thus this fully Offer for Sale (OFS) IPO will ensure that no dilution or significant value erosion for the IPO investors happens. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO WILL HAVE HIGH RETAIL PARTICIPATION Though the LIC IPO was finalized during the peak of a bull market, there is every chance now that the IPO and listing will happen in a bear market or at least in a highly volatile and directionless market. Usually in such markets, retail investors will be the first to run away, due to the inevitable herd mentality. But in the case of LIC IPO, the retail participation may still end up pretty strong due to a peculiar reason. LIC has made it clear that its employees and policyholders will have reserved quotas in its IPO. Around 5 percent of the issue size may be reserved for employees and up to 10% may be set aside for policyholders. With its formidable leadership in life policies, this will result in great participation from its industry-leading policyholder base, its unparalleled agent army and its huge employee base, as they will also get it at a discount from the floor price.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO PROVIDES FOR SUFFICIENT FDI PARTICIPATION

Even with robust participation from retail investors, an IPO of the size of LIC of India will need to rely much on foreign institutional investors to sail through. To facilitate this, the Union Cabinet had recently decided to allow higher Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in LIC. As per this, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recently notified of a government decision to allow up to 20 percent FDI in IPO-bound LIC with the aim of facilitating disinvestment of the country's largest insurer. This will be through the automatic route, so that foreign institutional investors can lap up significant chunks of LIC shares through the IPO itself. This will also result in large stakes ending up in strongest hands like that of overseas pension funds, sovereign funds and mutual funds, which will give much respectability, better corporate governance, and longterm stability to the LIC stock. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO HAS TIME ON ITS SIDE Though the Russia-Ukraine war, the rate hike by US Fed, and the resurgent pandemic in Asia & Europe have forced the postponement of LIC IPO for now, the insurance major has ample time, that is until May 12th to be precise to launch its much awaited initial public offer, after which it will have to file fresh papers. There is a high degree of probability that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will cease by then, and a clearer picture of the pandemic resurgence will also be known by then. And most favourably, both these unexpected happenings are likely to soften the US Fed’s hawkish stance for the whole year and beyond. Analysts already expect that the US Fed will go at only half the pace than earlier planned for rate cuts. This will result in only a lower flight of capital from risk assets like stocks to interest yielding instruments like bank deposits.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO IS REVIVING ITS LAPSED POLICIES

In all life insurance companies, a percentage of policies end up as lapsed, and in the case of LIC of India, this percentage has been rather high, as the public sector major caters to all sections of the society including the economically challenged classes. The last two pandemic years have been especially worse for LIC in this regard, as such weaker customers struggle to restart their policies by paying late fees etc. However, in the run-up to its IPO, LIC has done something really smart, which is to provide a unique window of opportunity for all customers with lapsed policies to revive them, that too by availing significant discounts on the late fee and other charges. This window which began on February 7 will end only on March 25, and has already resulted in tens of thousands of lapsed policies getting revived! This is a double win-win for both the company and the policy holders, as they can now also vie to be shareholders through the IPO. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

LIC IPO HAS LED TO A NEW DIGITAL VERTICAL Though LIC had stayed on top of the rest of the competition, in the pandemic years of FY’20 and FY’21, there has been some indications recently that growth is slowing down in the current fiscal. Though March is not over yet, figures for the January and February of this ongoing fourth quarter indicates that LIC has taken an unusual hit. But don’t expect LIC to give in without a fight, and in fact, the company has been plotting something big to take on private sector players at its own game. Recently LIC Chairman MR Kumar had revealed that this strategy is to start an entirely new digital vertical itself for LIC, which will have the best of features for such a digital delivery channel. This new digital vertical will ensure that LIC finally has a counterweight for its own over-reliance on an expensive agent army as well as for private sector peers’ head-start in tech-led channels and bancassurance. This new digital vertical is expected to bring back industryleading growth in new business premiums to LIC of India.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

PRESTIGE REAPS RICH DIVIDENDS FROM EXPANSION TO KERALA, OTHER MARKETS Bengaluru headquartered Prestige Estate Projects had some spectacular achievements to report for the last quarter. The listed developer recorded its highest ever quarterly sales, highest ever quarterly collections and the rest was market’s duty, which promptly took the stock to its life-time high! What is behind this outperformance from this premium developer, even while the headwinds facing the sector remain formidable? While there are many factors, much of this performance stems from its prudence to diversify outside of its core market of Bengaluru during the past several years. These include metro cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad as well as other major cities like Kochi, Noida, Mangalore & Goa. Even in a highly fragmented and hyper competitive market like Kerala, Prestige has systematically advanced to being a benchmark in superior design, quality & value.

Irfan Razack Managing Director, Prestige Estates Projects

Prestige Estate Projects registered its highest ever quarterly sales of Rs 4,267 crore in Q3, up 111% yearon-year. The well-diversified developer also clocked its highest ever collections of Rs 2,431.6 crore, up 70% YoY during Q3. The realty major’s stock made a quick and emphatic response to this performance, by touching a lifetime high of Rs. 554.90, which is more than double from its yearly low. A closer look beyond the headline numbers reveals some interesting aspects behind this outperformance. Prestige seems to have benefitted both from its newly launched projects as well as its existing inventories across geographies. Newly launched projects like Prestige Avalon, Aspen & Eden Park, which are all part of The Prestige City, Bengaluru, witnessed strong bookings, and so was the response to the newly launched Prestige Beverly Hills, Hyderabad.

Prestige Cityscape Ernakulam, Kochi

Prestige Eden Garden Kalamassery, Kochi

The geographically diversified developer reaped equally rich dividends from its formidable inventories across Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Noida, Mangalore & Goa. How the developer has systematically cracked the conservative Kerala market tells volumes about how it can tackle any comparable market anywhere across India. Though it has been in the Kerala market for over a decade, Prestige has focused solely on one city, the state’s economic capital of Kochi. This is quite unlike most of its peer developers, who have been on an expansion spree across Kerala. There is no such apparent hurry from Prestige’s side, as they know only the Kochi market is fully mature to understand and absorb the kind of premium projects they are offering. Its latest project in Kochi is Prestige Eden Garden at

Prestige Hillside Gateway Kakkanad, Kochi

Prestige Panorama Ernakulam, Kochi Kalamassery. It is a super premium project which has only 3 & 4-BHK apartments, and starts at Rs. 1 crore for a unit. Prestige also has three ongoing projects in Kochi, through which it addresses almost all segments of homebuyers. For the affordable segment it has Prestige Hillside Gateway at the city’s IT hub of Kakkanad, where there are 2, 2.5 & 3-BHK homes starting at Rs. 65 lakhs. For the more affluent crowd of Kerala, the developer has Prestige Panorama near Kundanoor Junction on the buzzing Vyttila - Aroor arterial bypass road. Panorama has 2 & 3BHK homes starting at Rs. 83 lakhs, which makes travelling high-speed to both the north and south of Kochi a breeze. However, the most premium offering from the developer in Kochi today is the ongoing Prestige Cityscape homes, which is also at the same location of Kundanoor. Cityscape homes are only of 3 & 4-BHK and costs upward of Rs. 1.13 crore a unit. Cityscape also comes with a Prestige

Eden Park @ The Prestige City Bengaluru

Forum Mall in its premises! With such geographic diversifications and build-up of impressive inventories across Kochi and other cities, there is no wonder that Prestige has outperformed also in the first nine months of this fiscal. For this period, it’s sales touched a record of Rs 7,113 crore and collections stood at Rs 5,005 crore. Prestige has also guided the market that its principal focus will remain on revenue expansion. Towards this, the developer continues to capitalize on their brand premium and execution track record as well as on the market consolidation trend. Prestige’s sales outlook for 2022 remains strong, backed by a robust launch pipeline of over 15 mn.sqft. Earlier, during the last two years, Prestige Estate Projects had a dramatic period of turnaround. Under Chairman & Managing Director Irfan Razack’s visionary leadership, FY’21 saw Prestige’s profits and RoE nearly tripling, and debt-to-equity diving to one-third of the previous year thanks to the $1.5 billion Blackstone deal. Only the fall in revenue was there to remind of the pandemic, and the stock has more than doubled in the year-to-date. Prestige had also guided for an even better

FY’22, and the Q1, Q2 & Q3 results have now kept up with this guidance. For the quarter of September 2021, the Net profit of Prestige Estates Projects rose 27.35% to Rs 75.90 crore as against Rs 59.60 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2020. This was in spite of Sales declining 28.29% during the same period due to the fallout from the second wave. But what really matters for Prestige now is the impressive diversifications it is undertaking in warehousing, hospitality, retail and its impressive geographic diversification into Mumbai. One huge advantage a brand like Prestige Estates holds in India’s realty market is that, having made a name for itself in high quality residential and commercial projects, it can extend that expertise and goodwill to new buzzing segments as they emerge. The firm had some time back made such a silent foray into large Grade A warehouses. For testing the waters, it built two such warehouses in a 15 acre land it held in Malur near Bengaluru. As in every Prestige project, keen attention went into every detail, especially as it was a learning experience for the company too, as it was doing Grade A warehouses for the first time. But it came out with

Prestige Beverly Hills Hyderabad

flying colours with one of the buildings attracting e-com major Flipkart as the tenant and the other being taken by Dhoot Transmission. Now, having proved itself in this domain with such a pilot project, Prestige Estates is going all out to develop this domain, especially as there is a huge demand from ecommerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon, and several of their smaller peers. Towards this, the company has acquired multiple land parcels in and around Bengaluru as a first step. Being a Bengaluru headquartered developer, the company has unparalleled expertise in the city, and the city being the e-commerce hub of India also augurs well for it. Later on, Prestige plans to take this vertical to other regions of the country too. But unlike some of its peers, it is not making a big splash for attracting investors at this stage, despite the warehousing sector attracting $900 million investments in 2021 alone. Like in everything it does, Prestige wants to differentiate itself in this sector with premium offerings, and it also wants to undertake significant growth and value addition in this vertical, before considering to on-board investors into this. This has been a strategy it did quite successfully in its retail & office space vertical, which last year divested several assets to private equity major Blackstone Group

Venkat K. Narayan Chief Executive Officer Prestige Group for $1.5 billion. In Grade A warehousing, it is eyeing a unique opportunity, as large organized players like itself with expertise in everything from conceptualization to land acquisition to design to execution to leasing, is rare in this field. That is why Prestige is confident of differentiating its upcoming warehouses from the rest of the pack. By investing significant funds into this vertical on its own, Prestige wants to build one of the largest Grade A warehousing portfolios in the country. With its foray into warehousing, Prestige is also closing a gap in its portfolio in retail. Already, it was a noted player in brick n’ mortar retailing, having developed several malls and running them too. Even though it sold off significant retail properties to Blackstone, it remains bullish on physical retailing as it believes that going forward retailing will follow a hybrid model of e-com and brick n’ mortar. This can be seen from the changing strategies of e-com companies like Flipkart, Amazon, Jiomart etc, all of whom are planning to leverage the tens of thousands of multi-brand and single-brand physical stores owned by individual retailers in malls and high streets for wider

reach and rapid delivery to their growing customer base. This means significantly more business for such shops and malls, and Prestige is gearing up for this future with two new malls under construction and six more malls in the planning stage. When these are complete, Prestige will have double the retail properties compared to the retail assets it sold to Blackstone last year.

Prestige Avalon Park, Brochure

With large IT and ITES players starting to bring back their huge workforces back to their offices, Prestige is also eyeing an uptick in the demand for office space. Sensing the green shoots of recovery in office space demand, it is building several such office space projects in multiple cities including India’s economic capital of Mumbai. Another segment that is witnessing a renewed surge post the pandemic is revenge travel, among both business and leisure travellers, and hospitality properties stand to gain the best benefits out of this. Prestige, which already has a strong foothold in hospitality, is all set to cement it further by a major tie-up with US hospitality major Marriott International for two new hospitality projects in New Delhi. Prestige and its 50:50 joint venture partner DB Realty will develop two Marriott hotels and a convention centre in a 7.7 acre land in Aerocity. The two projects - New Delhi Marriott Marquis & Convention Centre and The St. Regis Aerocity – are unique in the Indian market. While the former will be the first Marriott Marquis & Convention Centre in India, the latter will be a tribute to Marriot’s flagship hotel in US, The St. Regis New York, and will feature its renowned New York Deli. Together these two properties

Conrad Bengaluru

will bring 779 rooms to the New Delhi hospitality market, and 85,000 sq ft of premium meeting spaces. For the convenience of business and leisure travellers visiting and staying in New Delhi, the two properties are coming up quite near to Indira Gandhi International Airport. And it is not only expansion into such buzzing verticals that Prestige is handling currently. It is in the midst of doing what is historically its greatest expansion ever – a geographic expansion – into Mumbai, arguably the hottest property market in the country for long. Prestige has now chosen Mumbai for its specific performance. Property registrations in the city at a 10-year high in September 2021 and there is a 35% year-on-year uptick in registrations this year. Traditionally, most non Mumbai based developers have however not fared well in the city which is home to stock market titans and Bollywood celebrities, due to multiple reasons. One factor has been the exorbitant cost of land, which has resulted in either super expensive apartments that few developers can market effectively, or the super small apartments for the masses which witness intense competition between almost all kinds of developers. Into such a scenario has Prestige entered boldly with some unique projects. Prestige’s very first project in Mumbai, Jasdan Classic in Central Mumbai speaks volumes about their strategy for the city. Even when some of the largest Mumbai based developers prefer far away suburbs for premium projects, Prestige has chosen an inside city land at Byculla West for this flagship project. Jasdan Classic consists of two skyscrapers with 233 ultra luxury homes. They are relatively large sized apartments with configurations of

Aloft Bangalore

2,3,4-BHK and priced between Rs. 3.69 crore and Rs. 9.44 crore. Jasdan Classic is spread over 2.2 acres of land, with each tower of 45 storeys. Nine levels of podium parking, three levels of clubhouse and plush amenities like an infinity swimming pool, gym, spa, squash court, & multi-purpose hall are available inside the sprawling project. All the apartments here are designed in spacious layouts with ultra-modern living areas, large windows for cross ventilation and balconies featuring breath-taking views of the South Mumbai cityscape. The Arabian Sea on the West and the Eastern Harbor on the East sets the perfect tone of style and class for the prospective homebuyers here. The message from Prestige is loud and clear – they are not compromising on location, or space offered or on ultra-premium amenities. While marketing such a project is a tough call for many developers, Prestige is confident of handling it comfortably, and besides that, since there are only 233 homes to sell, this flagship project from Prestige is likely to be a sure and steady sell-out. The selection of a hot and expensive location like Byculla West in Central Mumbai for their flagship project, is not a one off strategy either. Upcoming residential projects from Prestige in Mumbai would be at similar hot locations like Pali Hill at Bandra and Marine Lines. Prestige has boldly entered such super premium micromarkets, with a keen insight that for a change many high net worth families would prefer luxury homes

in such prime locations rather than in the outskirts or suburbs of the city. That is, if such projects were available. For long now, such homes from tier 1 branded developers were rare. In its upcoming commercial developments in Mumbai too, Prestige wants to develop in the best addresses, like it has always done in Bengaluru. This has led to it choosing land parcels in prime locations like Mahalaxmi and Bandra Kurla Complex for its first two commercial projects in the city. However, this doesn’t mean that Prestige would be shying away from the other end of the housing spectrum in Mumbai, the relatively affordable segment. The listed developer has carefully chosen the buzzing suburb of Mulund for its foray into this segment. Interestingly, this is its largest land parcel so far in Mumbai, and given the intense competition there among most of the large players, expect Prestige to offer a significantly differentiated range of homes. Prestige’s geographic expansion into Mumbai in itself is worthy of a new division or even a new subsidiary, as it will be handling different kinds of projects in diverse locations. It has inked a deal with the leading Mumbai based developer, DB Realty, for a majority of its Mumbai projects. The stock market listed Prestige Estates Projects continues to be one of the best performing and most promising realty companies in India. It has one of the cleanest and healthiest balance sheets in the industry with a reasonable equity of just Rs. 400 crore, a positive current ratio and a debt-to-equity of just 0.54. It’s Return on Equity is one of the best in the industry at nearly 22% for FY’21. Prestige had substantially reduced its debt burden in FY’21, a year in which its profit also zoomed by nearly three times. Prestige has many levers to work on to better its profitability, one of which is its significant lease rentals inflow. Due to such consistent and bettering financial performance the Prestige stock has more than doubled in the past 12 months.