The word ‘test’ cannot be taken lightly. Be it a school test or a driving license test, there is some kind of pressure associated with it. What is the best way to reduce that pressure? The answer is preparation. Preparing to face the test gives you the knowledge as well as the confidence to pass the test.
Your learning license test was online, but the driving license test will require you to drive a car with a supervising officer seated in the car. Usually, people have enough preparation time from the date they receive their learning license to the moment they fill the driving license application form.
Once you fill the driving license application form, you will be given a date and time for the practical test. It is natural to be a bit nervous while going for your driving license test. Read ahead to know some tips to prepare for your driving license test.
Bring Your Own Vehicle
While going for the practical driving license test, you can either take your vehicle with you or give the test using the vehicle available at the venue. It is better to take your vehicle with you as you will be used to driving it.
While practicing before the test as well, practice on one type of car, example – hatchback or a sedan. If you haven’t purchased a car yet, and are relying on the driving school for the car, or using a friend’s car to practice, ensure that they are of a similar type.
If you practice on a hatchback and get an old, squeaky, sedan for the test, the novelty factor associated with an unfamiliar car can deter your confidence. In case you get a different type of car, do not press the panic button as the basics of car driving remain the same.
Practice Those Moves
There are certain set patterns to a practical driving test. For example, drivers are asked to drive ahead in an 8-shaped pattern, reverse on a S-shaped route, drive on a slope, stop the car by parking parallelly, etc.
Practicing all these routines days before the test will be good for your muscle memory. Once you have mastered these moves while practicing, then you just have to replicate them during the practical driving test.
Don’t Forget the Basics
Wearing a seat belt, adjusting the rear-view mirrors, etc. are basic things that a driver does before driving a vehicle. During the pressure situation of a driving test, chances are that such basic activities might slip your mind. Therefore, making a conscious note about performing such activities during the test will help you to sail smoothly.
Keep Calm and Drive On
Do not lose your calm if things do not go as planned. Mistakes happen. It is okay to let one pass by and focus on the next task. You might fail to make the perfect turn but thinking about the mistake can ruin your next turn as well. Even if you make a mistake while giving the test, keep calm and drive on.
Be Patient
It is possible that you might have to wait a while for your turn to give your test. The supervisor might be a bit late or might have certain idiosyncrasies that might irritate you. However, you need to focus on the task at hand and be patient while driving and dealing with the supervisor. There is a possibility that the car might stop in between, gears might not change smoothly, there can be a problem with the gearbox, etc. Patience is in an important virtue while driving a car.
Satoshi Nakamoto was said to have become very disillusioned with central banks and governments handling our money and facilitating payments. This was in the backdrop of Lehman Brothers going down and great recession of year 2008 when Bitcoin was born. It’s almost a decade since Bitcoin first came into being. The idea was to create digital currency and global payment system which is free from any government control.
Image Source – BlockChain
Major Promises
Government or any other authority will never know as how much money you hold and your transactions won’t be traced back to you. There will be 100 % privacy.
Cross border payments and money transfer will be on real time without any third party involved to facilitate payment.
Well, we still don’t see Bitcoin [or any other crypto currency] being used in mainstream buying and selling.
What went wrong?
Transaction time is in minutes and hours compared to seconds in centralized systems [except the cross border payments]. Bitcoin can’t scale beyond 7–10 transactions per second.
Minors are free to pickup transactions from available pool of transactions while creation of blocks. Transaction even after being picked up by minor for block may end up back in the pool if part of block which was discarded by the network. There is just no fairness.
One has to wait until the time you are sure that your transaction [block] is not going to be discarded. There is off course no guarantee of finality. It’s only the probability which increases with time.
Bitcoin minors tend to consolidate to location where electricity is cheap. There is risk of government crackdown and takeover of the network.
Governments are banning Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.For example, internet has moved to where it is today with many generations of evolution.
Telecom Networks -> Packet Switching Networks -> ARPANET -> TCP/IP [OSI] -> InternetThe above is the simplistic view of evolution path of internet. This however was not simplistic, if we go back in time and explore the history of internet. ARPANET is one which succeeded but there were many more networks. But ARPANET was successfully able to solve problems and grow around the open standards. Open standard was very crucial for one single network to be where it is today.I have listed few problems with Bitcoin technology which has prevented it to become mainstream. It is so encouraging that there are other platforms which have already solved these problems. For example, the hashgraph technology which is essentially a consensus algorithm, seems to have solved many problems.
Scalability – Hashgraph can achieve 250,000+ transactions/second in current avatar.
Finality – There is finality of transaction which is not based on probability. It is based on ‘Gossip protocol’ and virtual voting.
Fairness – Transactions are not at the mercy of minors to get picked up to be part of ledger. Transactions get picked up as they are executed.
The only problem I see with hashgraph is that it’s not an open standard but patented technology. This limits everyone to contribute to the growth of hashgraph as universally accepted standard.
I see Hyperledger Fabric as a very favorable ledger technology for enterprise adoption. The most promising part of the Hyperledger Fabric is its architecture. It is modular and ready for further evolution based on open standards. The consensus algorithm for hashgraph could also be used as consensus algorithm for Hyperledger Fabric.
I believe there are two things that should happen for blockchain to get the maturity of internet.
Open Standards – There should be investments to evolve open standards, which will allow everyone to contribute and benefit, similar to TCP/IP.
Government involvement – Blockchain will be more impactful with active involvement of the government, as it was for internet.
I am overall very optimistic about blockchain and also about this becoming mainstream in near future.
About the author
Pushpendra Baghel is the Head Solutions & Technology Advisory Group at 3i Infotech Ltd. More details about him can be found here
Moving to a new city, a new house or a new office always seems exciting; but it comes a whole new set of unanswered questions. Though you might try your level best to select the best packers & movers for the relocation job, there is a chance that you choose price over quality. Another problem that consumers face is there is no way to track their belongings in real-time. ShiftKarado was founded with an aim to eliminate these challenges and offer a stress-free and transparent shifting experience by introducing a technology-enabled platform. Created by the promoters of Star Worldwide, the leaders in international relocations, ShiftKarado seeks to create a disruption through its transparent and real-time solutions for the domestic packing and moving industry.
ShiftKarado is focused on providing superlative, reliable, time-effective and simplified solutions to consumers looking to relocate a home, an office or a vehicle. With its services launched in late 2016, ShiftKarado was rolled out to plug the gap in the highly fragmented and unorganized Indian relocation segment which often leaves consumers stressed and perplexed about process and charges. The promoters of Star Worldwide observed that the pricing and relocating process was opaque, time-consuming and challenging due to the lack of reliable movers and packers in the city at affordable rates.
Catering primarily to B2C – House & vehicle relocation and B2B – office relocation, ShiftKarado crafts customized packaging options from start to finish without customers worrying about anything. Today we have a chat with Sahil Mithal and Mrs. Aulina Mithal Sood, Co-founders of ShiftKarado about the business, technology behind the offerings, competition, etc. & much more. So let’s get started with the Q&A….
Can you please walk us through on how did you come up with the idea of ShiftKarado and details about the core team behind the startup?
Our Founder, Mr. Atul Mithal saw a huge gap amongst the demand and supply of efficient packers and movers in the Indian market as compared to the international standards. He witnessed the problems of lack of rules and regulations, costly and poorly managed services and least to no security of cargo prevailing in the nation. It was then he started working on the idea and was later joined in by the company’s co-founders Sahil Mithal, Aulina Mithal Sood and Ashish Mullick.
While Sahil helped in technological aspects of the company, Aulina’s role is more customer-centric and training, while Ashish helped the organization in setting up of its initial structure, administrative and operation aspect. Then the employees kept coming on board and from being a newbie, the company has now become one of the crucial players in the industry leading in the race with its technological aspects.
Does ShiftKarado cater to the B2C segment only or it also caters to the B2B segment ?
ShiftKarado is not restricted to the B2C segment; it caters to businesses and institutions also and has a good clientele base in the B2B domain. Companies like Dainik Bhaskar, Prop Tiger, and CIANS & OYO frequently hire ShiftKarado for transporting and relocating services.
Movers & Packers [in general the relocation market] is highly unorganized, how does ShiftKarado brings in more transparency and makes the sector more organized [than earlier] ?
In 2015, when ShiftKarado stepped into the packers and movers industry of India it was cluttered by companies that were providing unreliable services and ambiguous costs. An estimate for a move typically involved 2-3 days with the packers and movers wanting to first perform a home visit to conduct a Survey of the Items to be moved.
ShiftKarado simplified the entire process with its years of experience in international moving & a well-organized management system. The ShiftKarado Android App and Web Application were launched in August 2016 to provide a standard and simple interface for instant pricing, trouble-free bookings, and secure payments. This was a first one of a kind application in India and ShiftKarado had to rethink the pricing model that existed for decades to create an algorithm that would deliver prices to the customer in seconds not days.
The company makes use of the latest technology and analytic data to tailor their packing and moving services as per the customers’ requirements and engages with its customers in an interactive way with quick information and updates. With a full-fledged team of analysts, ShiftKarado works on a data-driven algorithm to calculate the distance between the two relocation sites, the volume of goods to be shipped and the time required for packing.
There are many startups in the logistics sector [either catering to pure B2B/B2C/only e-commerce shipments] that are also solving the similar problem, what are some of the core USP’s of ShiftKarado over these companies [in terms of technology, pricing, customer support, etc.] ?
It’s the technological aspects of our company along with our understanding of the international standards that primarily set us apart and give an edge over the competitors. Other than that, we also offer our clients, be it households or corporate with the instant booking, instant quotation, urban mobility, security, as well as transparency in our services.
ShiftKarado is currently operational in how many cities in India ?
The company is headquartered in Gurugram and has branches in New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Mohali, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Jaipur, and Kolkata. ShiftKarado has also joined hands with OYO rooms for the Pan India relocation of their employees.
Does ShiftKarado work in the marketplace model or it has its own team of Movers & Packers ?
Being part of the Star Group Company, ShiftKarado is utilizing a mix of fleets, their own in-house fleet services and outsourced. Depending on the peak season & availability, they either use their own in-house fleets or outsource it from the third party in case of high demand, but always ensure quality is maintained throughout the move process.
How does ShiftKarado leverage technologies like Machine Learning, Deep Learning, AI and other emerging technologies, in order to provide deeper tracking of client’s belongings [thereby ensuring that there are fewer customer complaints] ?
With a mobile app and website integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), ShiftKarado keeps the entire relocation process transparent and instantaneous. ShiftKarado’s mobile app will have a live feature very soon which will enable the clients to track the status of their consignment. When the goods are packed, loaded, shipped, unloaded, and delivered, clients will get timely updates. Currently, ShiftKarado uses AI and data-driven technology to give out the exact quote for relocating any volume of goods between any two locations instantly. This includes parameters like destination, route map, nature of goods being transported, and the volume of the goods, as well as the floor on which the drop-off is to be made and whether or not a lift is available for higher floors. The initial quote, therefore, remains the final amount to be paid. ShiftKarado also has a feature of providing insurance protection which enables the customers to reduce the shipping stress while their office or household goods are in transit.
In the past, estimating the value for the potential insurance claim was manually done by the customers according to their estimate. This process was too inaccurate and time-consuming. However, development in the field of analytics has helped the industry to opt for insurance quickly and in the most efficient way. The data-driven suggestive pricing offered by relocation service providers nowadays helps in calculating the value of goods, which makes the whole insurance process smarter, more personalized, and much simpler.
What are some of the unique challenges that your team faced while servicing the B2B customers [either for complete office relocation/employee relocation, etc.] since B2B segment is very different from the B2C segment ?
True that serving B2B customers is different from B2C customers because the material handling, logistics and audit requirements is more challenging for the former. When it comes to office relocation the equipment is often large in number and specialized. In the early stages of our venture, we had to take extra measures in packing and moving the equipment such as desktops, servers, furniture, heaps of necessary papers and documents etc., for relocations.
However, we focused on designing an effective office relocation plan with new packing and moving methodology tailored to the requirements of the various departments. We also have a Records Management company within our group which partners with us when managing large volumes of documents. As far as the employee relocations are concerned we closely work with the HR and Admin departments to manage the relocation budgets yet ensure the employee of the company is not burdened by the relocation process.
Being an offering from the promoters of Stars Worldwide, how those learning’s were helpful in scaling ShiftKarado ?
Star Worldwide Group has been a leader in International Relocations, Fine Art Handling and Records and Information Management Services, for over 30 years. They have been serving top MNC’s, embassies and other international organizations for decades. Star is also an ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 certified company. Our Head office, along with branches in Mumbai and Bangalore are verified by FAIM auditors, Ernst and Young, to ensure compliance with the rigorous FIDI-FAIM quality standards. The standards cover the end-to-end moving process including, but not limited to, packing material, trucks, warehouse, and safety and are bench marked against global best practices.
Star Worldwide is also one of the most reputed names, globally, in fine arts packing and transportation. Due to its reputation, the company is the only one in India to be accredited by both, ARTIM and ICEFAT, which set the highest standards in fine art shipping. The standards involved are very scientific and the greatest of care is taken to ensure the movement of priceless and rare artifacts. This work culture and attention to detail is also carried into ShiftKarado. Star Worldwide guidance helps us ensure that our clients get the best learning and experience accumulated and refined over decades, built into our systems.
Thus, ShiftKarado, apart from the benefits of the vast Group infrastructure, also have the privilege to learn and incorporate the same highest standards of professionalism, client servicing, seamless work processes, and safety measures, as followed by Star Worldwide.
One of the major issues in relocation is parcels getting missed/material being damaged in transit, etc., how does ShiftKarado ensure that there are zero such issues for its customers and does it also provide any transit insurance ?
For each relocation consignment, we have project coordinators along with the full-fledged team of packers and movers who keep a complete check on what goods has been packed and loaded and what is unloaded and relocated. Before packing the goods, we develop plans in which the location of all office equipment, household furniture, telephones, computers, crockery, machines and everything else is charted out as a checklist. A packing inventory is shared with the client that contains the details of the goods to be moved.
Our operations mobile application and internal dashboards also help us track the activity, duration and the team members involved and take stock of the packages during its movement. To prevent the goods from any damage, high-quality packing material such as cartons, corrugated sheets, and bubble wrap etc., are used for packing. Our crew and partners are trained to handle packages during the packing, transportation and loading/unloading as per their handling labels.
Though security and safety of the goods and materials are paramount in our services, however, we do offer risk cover to the clients. We have partnered with top reputed insurance company and offer ITC A and ITC B risk covers. You may get more information about risk cover and insurance here. Yes, we have our own customer support team which remains active in responding to the customers’ requests and queries.
Since ShiftKarado does not have its own fleet for relocation, please name some of the prominent partners of ShiftKarado and how does ShiftKarado ensure that there is a fair-pricing policy with its partners.
Being part of the Star Group Company, ShiftKarado is utilizing a mix of fleets, their own in-house fleet services and outsourced. Depending on the peak season & availability, they either use their own in-house fleets or outsource it from the third party in case of high demand. We only deal with trusted partners that have been associated with us for a number of years or have gone through our audit process. All prices are benchmarked with our existing providers within our application
We should have asked this question earlier, how did you come up with the name ShiftKarado [since it does not have a mass appeal due to the usage of a Hindi word] and what were some of the other names that had popped up during the discussion ?
Though the name ShiftKarado does not have a mass recognition as of now, it does trigger a sense of Indian-ness in the minds of first-time customers. When we were brainstorming for a name for this new venture, we did research on what kind of queries and responses the relocation service providers encounter.
As we are focused on the Indian market, we had to build a brand that is easy for Indian people to emotionally connect with and simple to memorize. The questions such as “Hume apna ghar shift karana hai!” helped us coming up to a conclusion that ShiftKarado would be a right choice to name our brand because “Hum Shifting karatey hain.”
Please walk us through the funding of ShiftKarado and whether you are open to external funding ?
ShiftKarado is a completely a bootstrapped company since its inception. We have the benefit of the strong financials of our Group.
Technology has been rapidly evolving at a rapid pace [with the advent of wearables, smart connectivity, IoT,etc.], where do you see the entire ‘Logistics sector’ evolve with the fast-paced technological changes ?
Versatile customer expectations, the burgeoning of relocation service providers, and technological advances will disrupt the industry as innovative ways to outrank the competitors would be brought up. But, digital technology is one of the major challenges that the transportation and logistics sector must deal with. Though many logistics companies are planning to invest at least 5~6% of their annual revenue in the blooming digital culture, those who do not adapt themselves until 2020 are vulnerable to business failure.
Also, Machine learning and Artificial intelligence integrated with data analytics help greatly in scaling the dynamic routing. Even the package delivery culture is being digitally transformed through the autonomous vehicles and drones which result in quick delivery and a reduced workforce. Augmented Reality (AR) may also make the drivers more efficient by giving them complete and detailed information about the environment, climate change, route planning etc. Using the Internet of Things (IoT), the inventory and warehouses can be safeguarded well. Safety alarms and sensors which use IoT can help detect and neutralize hazards remotely and/or automatically.
Can you share some tips for building an effective team for startups [especially the initial core team] ?
Startups success depends on the strength and commitment of its team and failure on the founder’s negligence and unawareness of his people. In any startup organization, a solid team calls for expert industry professionals who are not only best at their work, but also competent in self-governance and self-motivation. The initial core team should be built, not simply to fill the empty seats in the office, but to expand the office through the means of hard work and commitment to only one vision—the company growth. For this, individuals should focus on getting expertise, experience, and exposure corresponding to the requirement of the startup firm.
Entrepreneurs must create a productive work environment where each team member realizes his job role & the contribution expected. The team should be continually motivated by appreciating their small efforts and guiding them to rectify their blunders. Members should be given the liberty to take the road less travelled by; the approach never before is taken, to challenge their own capabilities. It’s also important not to slide into a comfort-zone within the first few months. Start-ups need to keep exploring, tweaking and questioning their game plan as often as weekly to ensure greater chances of success.
2017 was a tough year for startups [especially from a funding point of view], how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations ?
Entrepreneurs can seek expert advice from financial advisors who have a sound knowledge of startup culture, their needs, and functional dynamics. Will crowdfunding be the right choice or bootstrapping, the financial advisor can rightly assist the entrepreneurs in having a backup plan in case of hard times.
Situational analysis and short-term strategic planning should be given prominence so as to be prepared for the challenges which startups usually face in the inception stage.
How important is it for early-stage startups to pivot their business model [in case things are not working out as per their plan] or when is the right time to pivot ?
Pivoting in start-ups is key to survival. Entrepreneurs who are initially enthusiastic about their Plan A, may need to pivot to Plan B or C within a year, when the results are underachieved, or the market has greater potential. Switching to Plan B or C may open new revenue stream and growth opportunities, to push through giving 100% efforts, dedicated time, and right resources to Plan A is often a smart choice.
Pivoting involves group discussions, analyzing failure, looking at competition, redefining certain key positions, incorporating new ideas, and challenging your initial idea.
As per your entrepreneurial experience, when should an entrepreneur look out for external funding?
External funding definitely gives you a large canvas to work on and a lot more flexibility. When the startup has proven customer traction and now needs to expand its reach and double its sales exponentially, tying up with the giant investors for external funding can be a profitable deal. However, entrepreneurs should avoid investors when a strong and large base of customers is already funding the company’s growth.
Some books that you highly recommend for entrepreneurs ?
I enjoy reading books that tell a story of struggle and hardship. The ones that left me feeling motivated are ‘Zen Garden‘ by Subroto Bagchi, ‘The Buck Stops Here‘ by Ashutosh Garg and ‘Losing my Virginity‘ Autobiography of Richard Branson. There is no success story without failure and there is a need for successful business to use their means and participate in building society and work towards greater well-being of all.
Some closing thoughts for our readers!
Don’t over think, don’t over plan! There is no such thing as a perfect moment. Most of us miss the train waiting for the perfect moment. Believe in yourself, don’t doubt your capabilities and imagine yourself achieving success… Your thoughts will turn into action and action speaks louder!
We thank the co-founders for their time and sharing valuable insights with our readers! If you have any questions for the team at ShiftKarado about the company, starting up, scaling up, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.
Sqrrl – an intuitive DIY digital platform aimed at getting Indians into the habit of investing and learning about personal finance, launched a Personal Finance talk show Sqrrl Chatter at WeWork, a co-working space in Gurugram. The chat series is aimed at people who want to learn about investments by starting small and get better at money management.
This launch event attracted 30+ startups from Delhi NCR and gave the attendees an opportunity to increase their wealth by understanding what goes into taking the right and personalized investment strategies.
Currently, Sqrrl has a strong foothold in more than 600 cities of the country. With 2,50,000+ application downloads of Sqrrl, the focus of the company is to raise financial awareness in the country and encourage people to invest more, by starting small.
Sqrrl Chatter, conducted at WeWork Gurugram, paved a new way of gaining financial wisdom from the Industry Experts, who have been there and seen it all. The Event also saw the book launch of “Let’s Talk Money“, by Ms. Monika Halan, Consulting Editor of Mint Newspaper, who talked about some of the interesting aspects of the book and also gave worthy suggestions regarding investments and money management.
According to Monika Halan, Author of Let’s Talk Money
Considering the fast-paced era we are living in today, it’s very important for millennials to start saving early in life. Although it’s advisable to not get too ambitious about saving all at once. Instead one should divide his/her salary in three types of accounts – inflows, consumption and saving/investment. This way it will be easier to set yourself to start saving.
Money is one of the most enigmatic subjects. Just thinking of it evokes a wide variety of emotions. Most young Indians find handling money to be complex. On top of that, the financial services industry has heavily jargonized everything to drive a knowledge wedge between itself and consumers. The need of the hour is to make the subject simple, easy, relate-able, relevant & automated.
About Sqrrl
Sqrrl is making honest and differentiated efforts to help millennials save and grow their money effortlessly! It is using automation as a tool to help users make saving money, a habit; be it saving up for a dream holiday, their startup or any one of the several hundred reasons one might need money for. Started in March 2017, Sqrrl reached the milestone of 2,00,000+ users within a fairly short span and is expanding aggressively, making new inroads across more cities. Sqrrl is also the world’s first mobile app platform, in the finance space, operating in Hindi, and currently supports in a total of 9 Indian languages.
The year 2018 looks promising when we talk about the realty stocks. Until now the investors never wanted to invest in the realty stocks due to its volatility and not fetching good and desirable returns. In spite of suffering a negative CAGR during the financial year 2012~16 where the Nifty Realty Index was at -13% CAGR return, Nifty had started gaining grounds in the year 2017. The reasons for the improvement in the index was cited to be enhancement in the domestic scenario. The government also left no stone unturned as it launched various initiatives like REIT.
There have been some stocks that have given around 24% return in the H1FY18, as per the latest share market news. Talking about the top 5 realty stocks in 2018, the list goes like this
Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd.
Godrej Properties Ltd.
Unitech Ltd.
Prestige Estate Projects Ltd.
And, Phoenix Mills Ltd.
A major gainer, Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd [IBREL], was able to achieve a whopping 153% gain in the last two quarters. Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd, which is a real estate arm of Indiabulls Financial Services [IBFSL], aims to have a development in the residential properties. They focus on the top cities like NCR, Mumbai and Chennai. They also focus on the rental of commercial properties. They have major development projects in the city of Mumbai. If we come to the exact CAGR in the past 3 years, it has been at 20%.
Godrej Properties Ltd is another proud name on the list. Quite popular and famous, Godrej Properties Ltd is a trusted name, that works best in the realty market. In the H1FY18, the Godrej stock has achieved 54% growth. Godrej properties share price has been impressive. Godrej Properties is from Godrej Group and is actively involved in the construction and real estate development business. The company is mainly into developing the residential property, commercial property, and township projects all across in India. The company is present nationally though it chiefly concentrates more on the top cities like Mumbai, which holds 56% of the total revenue of the year 2017, Del-NCR, Bangalore, and Pune.
Unitech Ltd is another worthwhile addition. The company’s stock has grown by 35%in the first half of FY18. The company has a diverse product line. It focusses on the residential property, commercial property, Special Economic Zones [SEZs], IT Parks, industrial parks, logistic parks, hospitality sector, retail and entertainment projects.
Prestige Estate Projects Ltd boasts of having 25% growth in the first half of the financial year 2018. The company is better known in South India. They also have a diversified segment like Residential, Commercial, Retail, Hospitality and Real estate services. The Company have had its projects in the south cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Mysuru. The projects like Prestige Shantniketan and UB City in Bangalore are the most successful ones.
Phoenix Mills Ltd has been a gainer too with 24% jump in the first half of the FY18. The company is into the development of the large-scale, mixed-format retail development in the country. The most well-known malls in India, High Street Phoenix [HSP] in Parel, Mumbai, is a successful project of the company.
Note – This is based on personal analysis and investing should be done based on your secondary research.
Strand Life Sciences, a Bengaluru-based specialized research and diagnostics company announced an agreement to acquire the India medical diagnostics business of Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services.
This acquisition is an important addition to our network of 24 diagnostic labs across India, especially as we continue to expand our work in oncology, genomics, and precision medicine. It adds strong North India presence and marquee clientele that includes leading hospital chains, corporates and pharmaceutical clients to our portfolio, making us India’s leading specialized diagnostics company.
Steve Rusckowski, Chairman, President and CEO, Quest Diagnostics, commented
We have built a diagnostic laboratory in India with a reputation for quality over the past 10 years. As our business model has evolved, we believe Strand Life Sciences is well positioned to continue the important work of empowering the people of India to improve their health with diagnostic insights.
About Strand Life Sciences
Strand Life Sciences is a clinical research and diagnostics company that combines a long track record in bioinformatics with cutting-edge laboratory assays and a vast hospital partner network to drive newer generations of patient care. Strand’s customers include global instrument, diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies. Strand is also a pioneer of genomic testing in India. Strand’s diagnostics menu makes it India’s leading integrated specialized diagnostics company, covering oncology, genetics, fertility, women’s health, infectious diseases and general wellness.
As the name suggests, a driving license depicts that you are authorized to drive a vehicle in India. To acquire a driving license, one needs to pass a couple of exams and undergo the training required in order to drive a vehicle.
Traditionally, a driving license was issued as a small booklet. The license-holder was supposed to stick a passport size photograph, fill-in personal details and get the booklet stamped from the Regional Transport Office [RTO]. This method was flawed and an unauthorized copy was possible to make without much effort. Also, one could not apply for a new online driving license, they had to personally visit the RTO.
Nowadays, a driving license is issued in the form of a smart card. It looks similar to a credit card. A smart card driving license contains a small chip that holds the owner’s biometric information. A photograph is printed on the card making it impossible to replace. Also, other information like name, address, classes of vehicles, RTO-related information, etc. is printed on the card. You can apply for driving license online as well.
How To Renew Driving License In Another State?
The process of driving license renewal is a bit tedious. Once your license is approaching expiry, you need to visit the RTO which originally issued your driving license and get a No Objection Certificate from them. You can then apply for a new license in the Indian state where you currently reside.
One can also become a member of any of the nearest Automobile Association and get the driving license renewal done by the association.
Another way of driving license renewal is to approach an authorized driving school. They will charge a nominal fee for the process. Simply submit the documents and visit the RTO as required.
Documents For Renewing Driving License In Another State
You can opt for any of the above-mentioned methods to get your driving license renewed in another state. You will require the following set of documents for this purpose:
NOC
Form No-7 [called as computer form]
Medical certificate duly signed by an authorized doctor
Form No – 9 [Driving License Renewal application form]
Change of address form
Post cover [As your DL will be dispatched through postal services]
Passport size photographs – 2
Current address proof
Old Driving License
Visit the RTO located in your current city and go to the Driving License section as soon as you are ready with the documents. Here you will know the exact amount of fees you need to pay for getting a new driving license. Submit your documents and after you pay the fees, a receipt will be generated in your name. It might take around a month to receive the new Driving License via post.
Which Other Documents Are As Important As The Driving License?
Apart from authorizing you to drive, a driving license is also considered to be an important proof of identity. This is due to your personal details that are verified and printed on the license. To drive a car in India, you also require a couple of other documents. Let’s take a look at those
Car Insurance
Car insurance protects you from a financial burden if you get into an accident. This is why it is mandatory as per Indian traffic rules and regulations that you at least buy a third-party car insurance policy. It is also important that you opt for car policy renewal on time. Car policy renewal ensures that a layer of financial security is intact upon you.
Pollution Under Control [PUC]
A PUC certificate denotes the levels of pollution your car creates. These levels are not supposed to cross a certain limit.
Registration Certificate
It contains details related to the registration of your car. It is an important document that also denotes that you are the rightful owner of the car.
The Reserve Bank of India, in its recent disclosure has revealed that loan against shares as also loan against securities have been on a steady rise for a few months now. Such a phenomenon can be accounted for by means of the entry of the stock market in the financial run, as a result of which financial securities are becoming mortgages aiding in availing retail loans.If one is to believe the statistics released by the financial bulletin of RBI, it can be seen that popularity of loan against shares have risen by twenty five percent as compared to last year’s number. Let us now move onto an analysis of the growing trend of availing loan against securities.
With the increase in expenditure on the part of the consumer behind retail loans, investors have obviously been on the lookout for better alternatives to upgrade finances for various monetary requirements. Such a thing has been provided by loan against shares because they have come up with a range of competitive rates of interest that lowers interest expenditure by a good margin in comparison to the traditional personal loans.
The shift, however, cannot just be attributed to lower rates of interest as the tough criterions of eligibility for a personal loan often came in the way of loans being sanctioned for various investors. It is also important to understand that while both banking and non-banking financial services provide loan against shares, not all types of shares and advances are approved in the services’ list of collaterals. Most of these services will usually let you know of the clauses that qualify your shares and advances as a mortgage for the loan amount.
Advantages that have enabled the shift
One of the foremost things to understand is that once your loan amount has been fixed and your loan against shares has been sanctioned, the bank will open a current account for management of the loan. On having this account, you will now be charged an interest rate based on only the amount you withdraw from the account at a time and until you have replenished it, instead of on the complete loan amount. There is also the factor of the ever increasing value of securities in the security dominated market, which further increases the share value of your securities, thus providing you with a higher loan to value ratio.
Limitations posed to non-banking institutions
It comes as no surprise that non-banking financial institutions would often charge higher rates of interest and in an attempt to avoid problematic situations arising out of such a practice, the Reserve Bank of India has commanded lenders from non-banking institutions to maintain a loan to value ratio of not more than fifty percent in case of assets amounting to more than hundred crores.
It must be understood, therefore, that both public and private sector banks are willing to offer loan against securities as also debentures keeping in mind the factor of risk appertaining to the shares that are being mortgaged as also the client’s repayment history.
