TCS’ Quartz™ Named a Leading Crypto Player in Transaction Banking and Payments by Celent
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, announced that Quartz™ has been recognized as a leading software provider in the Celent Solutionscape on Crypto Players in Transaction Banking and Payments
The report describes how traditional banks, fintechs and big tech companies are vying to build better transaction banking/payment rails. In an examination of 11 firms driving the new rails in retail and wholesale payments, Quartz has been included as a leading provider of software used to build blockchain networks and issue smart contracts/digital assets. The report highlights the availability of targeted solutions from Quartz that are enabling the production roll out of blockchain ecosystems for areas including cross border remittances, inter-bank borrowings, cross border settlements and crypto services.
Quartz’ differentiators highlighted in the report include easy integration with existing tech and ecosystems as well as new blockchain ecosystems, platform-agnostic architecture, and flexibility with support for both public and permissioned blockchain and cloud and on-premise deployments. The report also showcases Quartz Devkit’s and Gateway’s ability to enable agile deployment of solutions in 3-6 months with 40-50% productivity savings in blockchain programming
“TCS is partnering with customers in their growth and transformation journeys, helping them anchor or participate in larger business ecosystems using Quartz-based solutions that bridge traditional and crypto systems across multiple industries, built on the philosophy of co-existence, integration and interoperability. This approach is helping enterprises leverage the power of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) at their own pace, while reducing implementation risks,” said R Vivekanand, Global Head, Quartz, TCS. “This recognition as a leading crypto software provider is a testament to our successful approach towards designing and deploying DLT to build better banking, payments and settlement solutions, and helping customers achieve their purpose.”
Quartz redefines how organizations can collaborate in an increasingly connected world and leverage their collective strengths using blockchain technology. The suite comprises:
• Smart Solutions, a set of ‘designed for blockchain’ business offerings for different industries.
TCS recently announced ‘Quartz for Markets’ as an addition to its Smart solutions, offering endto-end capabilities to manage tokenized assets for financial market infrastructure providers,
payment infrastructures, banks and custodians.
• Quartz DevKit, a smart contract development kit to enable programming of high-quality code on
multiple blockchain platforms so customers can quickly prototype, build, test, and deploy
solutions for the intersections between industries.
• Quartz Gateway for the integration of existing solutions with blockchain ecosystems.
• Quartz Command Center to administer and monitor entire ecosystems.
• Quartz Ledgers, a unique TCS concept which comprise predefined, off-the-shelf ledger structures,
data models, functions and APIs for business processes across industries. They serve as building blocks on top of which solutions can be developed and deployed seamlessly, thus enabling customers to implement decentralized solutions faster, in an agile manner, and at scale.
Together, these solutions can help organizations set up truly connected ecosystems that run on blockchain technology, delivering real-time, efficient transaction processing based on a single source of truth on the ledger.
According Alenka Grealish, Senior Analyst, Celent, “DLT, smart contracts, and digital assets are showing promise to align the performance of banking and payments systems with those of the digital economy. Based on Quartz’s deployments in the remittances, intrabank transfers and interbank payments, we find that Quartz merits inclusion as a leading cryptonaut. Celent selected cryptonauts based on their ability to readily move from experiment to implementation, deliver value, and scale.
R Vivekanand added, “API connectivity between crypto and traditional rails like real-time payments, are helping consolidate messaging, clearing and settlement, and significantly reducing the average settlement timeframes. With Quartz, we are building blockchain ecosystems that leverage our strong partner network, a platform-agnostic approach, and support both public and permissioned blockchains.”
Tata Power receives 'Letter of Intent' from MAHAGENCO to supply 250 MW power in Maharashtra
TP Saurya Limited (TPSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power, received the 'Letter of Intent' (LoI) from Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. (MAHAGENCO) for setting up of 250 MW Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Power plant in Maharashtra. The project has been awarded to TPSL through Tariff-based competitive bidding followed by e-Reverse auction.
The Company has received this LoI in a bid announced by MAHAGENCO for setting up 250 MW Solar plant at the Dondaicha Solar Park in Dhule District of Maharashtra. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has conveyed consent to purchase the power generated from this solar plant.
The solar plant project will be commissioned within 15 months from the date of PPA execution.
Speaking on the achievement, Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “We are proud to win this large scale Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic EPC Power project. The project will further promote the share of renewable power in the overall energy mix in Maharashtra. We are one of the leaders in solar power and committed to usher in an era of clean energy in the country."
With this, the total renewable capacity of Tata Power will reach 4611 MW with an installed capacity of 2947 MW and 1664 MW under implementation.
Quess Corp’s General Staffing division first in India to cross 250,000 associates
Quess Corp Limited, India’s largest business services company, today announced that its General Staffing division has achieved yet another milestone by scaling the 250,000 associate mark, making it the first Indian staffing company to achieve this feat and further cementing the company’s position as leader in the staffing space. Quess General Staffing has added over 50,000 headcounts in past 12 month, growing over 25% in a year, and 285% in 5 years.
Commemorating the milestone, Ajit Isaac, Founder & Chairman, Quess Corp, said, “We are both pleased and grateful to our customers, employees and our widespread network of associates who have helped fuel our dramatic growth over the last 14 years and propelled us to be the world’s 5th largest staffing company by headcount over this period. Our commitment to providing the right talent with the right opportunity to work, while easing the burden of talent acquisition for businesses, is only reinforced through the achievement of this milestone.”
Despite the COVID 2nd wave, Quess General Staffing has seen 11 months of growth over the last year. Growth has been primarily aided by over 25% growth in BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing, Industries and Public enterprises, agriculture, and IT / ITeS. While the FMCG/FMCD sectors have seen a modest growth of 10%~24% over this period, retail has declined due to COVID’s impact on entertainment, travel, hospitality, tourism and mall operations in some parts of the country
Lohit Bhatia, President of Workforce Management, Quess Corp, added, “despite fluctuations in demand and supply of talent in a highly volatile market, Quess Staffing has grown at over 25% in past 12 months to scale this new milestone. Our dedicated efforts towards building industry-leading technology platforms to complement our physical capabilities are paying off, even as we double down to ensure Quess Staffing remains the preferred partner for customers and associates alike.”
Quess General Staffing has always been technology-led and at the forefront of digital revolution in the staffing space, while also building physical reach and scale (over 65 branches and 122 training centres). The launch of Quess’s proprietary QJobs bluecollar jobs app (over 900K active screened candidates), digital onboarding in less than 5 mins via POP (over 1Mn downloads), workforce management and productivity tool WorQ (over 600K downloads and 300K activated users) enhances output and outcomes for clients and makes working smooth for associates and clients especially during the hybrid working.
Speaking on the occasion, Guruprasad Srinivasan, COO-India Region said, “With the support of our associates, we have been able to grow despite challenges, and through continuous investment in the potential of our growing workforce, we believe that this is merely the first of many more milestones to be achieved. We see the combination of post-pandemic market recovery, the impetus of the government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat agenda and PLI schemes for various manufacturing segments, and the implementation of the new Labour Codes in the coming year as tailwinds that will further fuel formalization across tripartite staffing.”
Firstsource awarded IIP 'We invest in people' Gold accreditation for the second time in a row
Firstsource Solutions Limited (NSE: FSL, BSE:532809), an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company, announced today that it has received the Gold accreditation against the Investors in People (IIP) Standard for its UK operations. The Gold accreditation is currently held by only 17% of IIP accredited organizations. The achievement is even more significant considering the unprecedented challenges faced by organizations in the wake of the global health crisis. Firstsource, a leading global provider of customized Business Process Management (BPM) services, employs 28,000 people across four geographies – of whom 5,300 are based in the UK.
Investors in People is the international standard for people management that enables organizations to benchmark against the best performing companies on a global scale. The GOLD accreditation acknowledges Firstsource’s commitment to continually reflect, learn, adapt, and drive improvement through culture, processes, systems, strategy and people. It reflects the strength of the leadership that cascades down from the CEO to the associates and the policies and procedures that make Firstsource a great place to work.
Vipul Khanna, MD and Chief Executive Officer, Firstsource, said: “Empowering and developing our people is our greatest priority. This accreditation is an important recognition of Firstsource’s leading practices in human resource management and development. As a company, we are building a purpose-led, scalable, agile organization; one that is healthy in every aspect. As we expand our footprint in the UK market, we are committed to continuing our investments in targeted HR initiatives that help our people thrive and succeed, in turn advancing our organization’s purpose.”
In its assessment report, IIP lauded Firstsource for addressing employee needs by cultivating internal talent, providing support programs that include coaching and blended learning, as well as proactively identifying and developing the skills leaders will need in the future. It identified seven areas of strength for Firstsource, including ‘People feel empowered to carry out their jobs’ and ‘People are proud of collective achievement through a period of great uncertainty and challenge.
Laura Hourican, SVP – Human Resources for UK geography, commented “Maintaining Gold accreditation during a time of unprecedented challenge is a significant achievement, especially when it is easy to lose focus on being a great workplace. We will continue to work together with our people to see us through this phase and thrive well into the future.”
The three-year accreditation process assesses workplaces using a specialized framework. This included anonymous surveys and interviews spanning multiple organizational levels across all Firstsource UK locations. Firstsource first achieved IIP Silver in 2010 and was re-accredited in 2014. In 2017, Firstsource was awarded the Gold standard and has now been re-accredited in 2021 following a rigorous, three-month evaluation process.