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• The enhanced portfolio includes the Scenaria View, Supria series, The Echelon Smart and Arietta series,
• Offering a diverse portfolio, the new range will include solutions pertaining to CT, MRI, Digital Radiography, AI, PACS, endoscopy, IVD and ultrasound systems
• Keeping the patient and their comfort at the core, Fujifilm’s new portfolio to benefit millions of Indians

Image Caption: Shunsuke Honda, Senior Manager Medical System Division, Fujifilm India, Koji Wada, Managing Director Fujifilm India and Chander Shekhar Sibal, Head of Division, Medical Division, Fujifilm India

 

 Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd, a leader in diagnostic imaging and medical system technology, today unveiled a new range of products at the 74th National Annual Conference of IRIA 2022. The latest portfolio includes a plethora of products offering complete and integrated solutions for diagnostic purposes including CT, MRI, X-ray, AI, PACS, endoscopy and ultrasound systems through the Scenaria View, Supria series, The Echelon Smart and Arietta series

In order to strengthen its market position further and provide a wide variety of diagnostic services, Fujifilm completed the acquisition and takeover of Hitachi’s Diagnostic Imaging on 31 March last year. With the acquisition, Fujifilm offers a comprehensive solution spectrum that caters to a broad range of clinical needs.

 

Highlights of Fujifilm’s enhanced portfolio include:

• Scenaria View (128 slice CT Solution) is a powerful premium performance CT solution that provides dependable routine application capabilities with available advanced clinical modules for Interventional CT, extended coverage Shuttle Scanning (for Perfusion Exams), Cardiac CTA and Dual Energy examinations. The View employs 64 discrete detector and electronics channels over a 40mm detector coverage and reconstructs up to 128-slices per scan rotation.

• Supria (32/128 CT Solution) is an evolved CT device, employing latest technologies such as whole-body sub-millimeter imaging and dose reduction technologies. It provides lower dose and high-quality images and is capable of imaging in various patient positions reducing the overall scanning burden on patients.
• The Echelon Smart (1.5T Superconductive MRI) is based on Fujifilm’s proprietary technology, and opened the potential for 1.5T systems, providing superb image quality and superior install flexibility, inherited from permanent-magnet MRI systems. It comes with noise reduction technology for a patient-friendly examination.
• The ARIETTA (Series of Ultrasound) is designed to provide high quality imaging across a broad clinical range that includes abdominal, cardiac, and vascular applications. It has been developed with cutting edge technology for enhanced accuracy and safety to transform ultrasound diagnosis.
    
  

Managing Director of Fujifilm India, Mr. Koji Wada said, “Fujifilm has demonstrated the ability to be a leader in technical advancement and scientific innovation through its newest products and services lineup. Now, millions of individuals will have access to the most precise and accurate medical imaging and screening. This is a significant milestone for Fujifilm and its future growth. Today, we are stronger as a team, and our goal is to maximise the patients’ benefits with these new portfolio synergies. In the realm of prevention and diagnostics, our goal is to become a market leader and the number one comprehensive partner for the Indian healthcare community.”

 

Mr. Chander Shekhar Sibal, Senior Vice President, Medical Division, Fujifilm India said, “As a leader in imaging technologies, we strive to ‘Never Stop’ providing the most cutting-edge technologies and solutions that not only improve image quality and workflow, but also focus on the patient’s overall well-being. Through our new launches, we aim to boost the diagnostic market and empower medical imaging information across the entire healthcare industry, keeping in mind the obstacles that a hospital experiences every day in diagnostics and imaging services.”

 

Fujifilm India has always worked towards spreading maximum awareness regarding early detection of critical ailments which can otherwise be treated if diagnosed on time. As a conscious effort, the brand has consistently pushed forward to improve healthcare diagnostic standards, helping to make the world better and fitter. Fujifilm India is continually working to innovate and introduce advanced technologies to produce forward-thinking medical equipment. The brand’s efforts have been centered at building a line of medical care that will offer easy access to healthcare solutions to millions of people and in turn strengthen the country’s medical infrastructure. Fujifilm is committed to providing Indians with the most effective diagnostic technologies available. The superior technical and innovative prowess is a testimony to the same, and with each passing year, the brand is striving to further fortify its position as the industry pioneer in medical imaging while still being committed to diagnostic services.

Benefitting around 10000 plumbers in India through rewards deployment and increased accessibility to Wavin’s entire product catalogue

Wavin, a global solutions leader for the Building and Infrastructure industry and an Orbia business, reiterate its commitment to driving the plumber community towards more organized structure and bringing them to the digital forefront through Wavin Rewards app. Available in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and Bengali; the app has registered around 10000 plumbers across India. The app not only helps the brand to stay connected with the plumber community but offers a range of privileges and benefits   around discovering new plumbing solutions, pipes, fittings, hardware accessories, new tools and techniques.

Commenting on the Wavin Rewards India app and its relevance in the current scenario, Mr. Manish Khandelwal, Commercial Director, Wavin India, said, “With rapid digitalization picking up the pace, we are discovering ways to stay connected with our stakeholders and bring them an efficient and seamless digital experience. Supporting the growth of the plumbing community through the Wavin Rewards app that focuses on around technical knowledge and product discovery is a big step in that direction. By creating a straight route for our retailers, and the plumbers to reach us directly, we’ve made the brand and all our solutions much more accessible. This newfound accessibility will enable our partners to better service their clientele.”

“At Wavin, we strive to contribute towards bringing about positive change in the lives we touch. We want to create more organized structure for the plumbing sector. Upskilling the plumber community will further generate business opportunities and enhanced customer service experiences.” Mr. Khandelwal adds further.

The digital platform is also incentivizing all registered plumbers through reward points for engagement within community, to discuss product details, specifications, experiences and learnings, and support one another in identifying new opportunities and customers. The points collected can be later redeemed for exciting gifts and vouchers as community loyalty rewards.

The app also provides a platform to search through the entire catalogue of Wavin’s plumbing solutions in seven different languages.

In a survey, Benori finds that 90 percent users prefer or are more likely to shop from stores, either offline or online that offer BNPL options at check-out

Key Findings:

• Benori’s market research and a survey with users confirms the growing popularity of BNPL as the preferred payment option when shopping
• The BNPL market to grow 10x over the next 5 years to surpass USD 40 billion by 2026
• To surpass 100 million BNPL users by 2026
• 75% have used BNPL through E-commerce websites
• 45% prefer to purchase with BNPL even if they have a credit card
• 90% confess to overspending because of BNPL

One of the most interesting trends to play out against the backdrop of the accelerated adoption of E-commerce platforms in India, is the rise of the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) payment option. A market research report by Benori Knowledge, a new-age provider of custom research and analytic solutions, highlights the potential of BNPL in the payments ecosystem, especially for E-commerce where BNPL will constitute 14% of transaction value by 2026, growing nearly 5x from 3% in 2021.

The India BNPL market could become the largest in size globally and is expected to grow 10x over the next five years to reach USD 35-40 billion by 2026 from a nascent stage of USD 3.5-4 billion in 2021. India’s large youth demographic, rising consumer spending, growing preference for online channels and electronic payment methods, exponential E-commerce growth, transparency with costs and benefits, and frictionless payment experience are expected to contribute to the market growth over the forecast period. Further, the low penetration of credit cards at just 5% is not enough to address consumer credit demand. India currently has around 22-25 million BNPL users which are estimated to reach 90-100 million by 2026.

The preference for BNPL emerges strongly in the survey conducted by Benori with over 1,000 users. An overwhelming 90% said that they are more likely to shop from stores, both offline and online that offer the BNPL option at check-out. Likewise, a majority, 75%, confirm using BNPL when shopping on E-commerce websites and apps. The BNPL option is most commonly used to purchase electronic products (71%), followed by fashion and lifestyle accessories (67%) and commonplace, everyday shopping items (57%). BNPL’s preference is being driven by its low or no interest rates, followed by flexibility and convenience, and non-eligibility for credit cards.

The number of BNPL users is closing the gap to the number of users using credit cards. Nearly half of the respondents claim to be using both BNPL and credit cards for payments, 45% of the respondents said that they would prefer to make their payments through BNPL, even if they own a credit card.

While the multiple benefits of BNPL are recognized by people of all age-groups, 60% of those more inclined to adopt BNPL fall into the GenZ and millennial categories. This points to BNPL becoming a ubiquitous mode of payment in the future as it sees increased acceptance from the young, digitally savvy segment of the population.

Further, BNPL as an alternative mode of payment is adding to the spending capacity of consumers and is also encouraging overspending. A staggering 90% of the respondents said that they spent more money than they had intended because of BNPL, with 40% revealing that using BNPL caused their monthly spending to increase by 30%. In fact, this increase climbed as high as 50% for 33% of the respondents. This trend was prevalent across tier-2 and tier-3 cities as well. The survey also indicated that on average, women spent more money when using BNPL than males.

Users surveyed also expressed a preference for a credit limit of over INR 50,000 and a repayment period of 30 days, exceeding by far what is currently being offered by most BNPL providers.

Commenting on the findings, Ashish Gupta, the Co-founder and CEO of Benori, said, “While there has been a huge increase in online purchases amidst the pandemic, the inflation and reduced disposable incomes led to the emergence and boom of short-term financing solutions. Both these elements propelled the growth of BNPL services in the country. While BNPL currently represents only a small share of the E-commerce spending, there are signs that there is still plenty of room for BNPL companies to grow in this segment. Additionally, with easy access to a digitally driven credit facility, BNPL is also addressing the gaps in the consumer credit demand that credit cards are unable to meet. Our research findings validate this and emphasise the favourable factors bolstering the potential of BNPL services in India. With the ever-increasing E-commerce volume, the fintech ecosystem and other growth drivers coming together, the Indian BNPL market is poised for extraordinary growth by 2026, emerging as a win-win situation for all stakeholders in the BNPL space.”

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(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NewsVoir India and this publication takes no editorial responsibility for the same)

Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific deployed Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management to streamline ADA’s financial processes and support its digital transformation initiatives to boost business expansion. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific (HSAP), a leading provider of global industry solutions powered by Microsoft Azure, is delighted to highlight its successful D365 Finance and D365 Supply Chain Management (SCM) implementation with Axiata Digital Advertising (ADA). ADA is a Malaysia-based data and artificial intelligence company known for developing and executing integrated digital, analytics, and marketing solutions with operations across ASEAN and South Asia. To help ADA achieve its strategic growth in the region, they realized the need to replace their legacy ERP systems. Previously using Dynamics NAV on-premises, the company has long outgrown the capabilities of the platform and had to heavily customize it just to suit their business needs. Other legal entities were also using different legacy systems or manual operations. ADA partnered with HSAP to implement D365 Finance and SCM across 11 legal entities in 9 countries within South and Southeast Asia. HSAP developed a global template and rolled out the new system in a big bang approach unifying ADA’s business financial practices into one platform. Dynamics 365 Finance helped enable its users to seamlessly work on their day-to-day activities and has improved financial consolidation and month-end close processes. ADA is now able to complete closing faster as compared to the previous 12 to 15 days after month-end close, audit requirements are satisfied. Utilizing Azure cloud, ADA plans to further expand their use of D365 Finance and SCM as they gear for business expansion, both in terms of geography and scope of business. “Dynamics 365 armed us with all the necessary capabilities to help simplify our operations and eliminate manual processes across our entities,” said Stephen Tan, ADA’s Head of Program Management. “Our partnership with Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific and Microsoft enabled us to remain competitive in this rapidly evolving industry landscape by helping us better serve our clients while empowering our employees in utilizing a powerful cloud ERP platform.” This deployment displayed HSAP’s established partnership with ADA by swiftly delivering value through its best practices and expertise despite the pandemic. The project also marks a huge milestone for HSAP as this is its first implementation in the advertising industry and the team’s first ERP project in newly touched base regions such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, and South Korea. “Our team is thrilled to support ADA in digitizing its financial processes with D365 which resolved its business pains in the best way possible,” said Bimal Pandya, Vice President of Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific. “With this successful implementation, we continue to provide ADA impactful guidance in helping its operation thrive towards transformation.” About Axiata Digital Advertising ADA is a data and artificial intelligence company that designs and executes integrated digital, analytics, and marketing solutions. Operating across 10 markets in South and Southeast Asia, ADA partners with leading brands to drive their digital and data maturity and achieve their business goals. ADA complements its unique digital expertise with deep proprietary data of 375 million consumers. About Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific helps its customers successfully compete with the largest global enterprises using powerful, easy-to-use, and affordable industry solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud. Hitachi Solutions provides global capabilities with regional offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, India/Middle East, Japan, and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit: https://global.hitachi-solutions.com/. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1774643/Hitachi_Logo.jpg (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire India and this publication takes no editorial responsibility for the same)

Efficacy of Sputnik V is 79% against infection as confirmed by a retrospective cohort study analyzing data from more than 24,000 HIV+ patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART).

The Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), investor in Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines, announced an article “Sputnik V protection from COVID-19 in people living with HIV under antiretroviral therapy” has been published by The Lancet leading medical journal showing that Sputnik V is the world’s first COVID vaccine with proven efficacy for people living with HIV.

The article is available at:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(22)00090-6/fulltext#seccesectitle0013

The data presented are the first scientific results on the preventive efficacy of a COVID vaccine to protect against infection in people living with HIV (PLWH). Based on data from more than 24,000 HIV+ patients in Moscow on antiretroviral therapy (ART), Sputnik V’s efficacy was 79%.

The vaccine’s efficacy against hospitalization was more than 90%. Sputnik V is also more than 97% effective against development of moderate or severe disease among PLWH. The analysis was conducted by the Gamaleya Center and Moscow City Center for AIDS Prevention and Control.

Authors of the study also note that full immunization with Sputnik V in HIV+ patients receiving ART with counts CD4+ T-cell ≥ 350/µl resulted in a 3.3-fold reduction of COVID-19 infections compared with unvaccinated ones. In the subgroup of patients with a compromised immune function (CD4+ T cells < 350/µl), vaccination reduced the risk of COVID-19 by 2.5 times.

As the data by WHO had previously shown[1] that more than 23% of HIV+ people hospitalized with COVID, died, the study published in The Lancet suggests Sputnik V is the ultimate solution for vulnerable groups, including in high HIV-prevalence countries