eNews
Yatra.com launches ‘light weight app’ Yatra Mini
MUMBAI: Yatra.com has launched a new mobile application, Yatra Mini, targetting value seeking travellers featuring bus, train and budget hotel bookings. The key feature of the app is that it is extremely lightweight at only approx. 4.5 MB and is fast loading even in poor network areas.
The app is built to cater even to lower end android phones and is supported by Android 4 & above. The other features include multi-lingual travel app in Hindi & English with more regional languages such as Tamil, Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu being added very soon to cater to the non-English audiences across the country.
As per a recent report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India has 402 million Internet users as of December 2015, thereby overtaking the US in total Internet users. A lot of this growth has come from rural India which has witnessed a 99 percent surge in mobile internet users and now has over 80 million users. the most exciting news in this rural India growth story is the demography: 75 percent of Internet users from rural India are in the age group of 18-30 years and Yatra.com is looking to catch them early in their journey of online travel bookings with the Yatra Mini application.
Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall said, “Yatra is very focused on the needs of the Indian traveller and in this case, we have identified a clear gap in the market with no one catering to a very large and rapidly growing segment of mobile users, who access the internet using their entry level smartphones, and are seeking an app that enables them to make their bookings speedily and does not occupy much memory space. By offering this app in regional languages, we are also tapping into the non-English traveller who is looking to shift to the convenience of online booking. We also researched the needs of this traveller and based on the findings, limited the product offerings to bus, train and budget hotel bookings so that the app is sharply focused on the needs of this segment.”
While India is witnessing a massive rise in smartphone user base, connectivity continues to be a serious limitation for easy usage of internet services. Keeping that in mind Yatra.com claims to have designed the Yatra Mini to work well in poor network and use very little data. It comprises of easy to configure components and can be changed/modified without an app release thus further reducing the data usage.
To make the app user friendly, Yatra Mini offers help to travellers to view their upcoming, completed and cancelled trips .All details of trips will be available like journey date, passenger details, bus operator details, boarding point details, cancellation policy, fare & payment details etc. The app provides flexible cancellation options for bus and train tickets. There are ooptions to resend e-tickets on email and SMS and options to contact the Yatra Helpdesk as well.
Apart from all the above features, Yatra is launching the app with lucrative loyalty offers like option to use earned eCash on trains and bus bookings.
For Train Bookings eCash redemption is 10 percent of booking value
For Bus Bookings eCash redemption is 5 percent of booking value
Also to enable users to share the app with their friends and motivate them to use the app, Yatra is offering ‘refer and earn’ options wherein users can refer their friends and earn 1000 eCash. The friend being referred will also earn 1500 eCash to use on their bookings.
eNews
KPMG fines partner for using AI in internal AI exam
Partner fined A$10,000 after uploading training material to AI tool
AUSTRALIA: According to an Australian Financial Review report, a partner at KPMG Australia has been fined A$10,000 ($7,000) for using artificial intelligence tools to cheat on an internal training exam focused on AI itself, underscoring the growing challenges professional services firms face as staff adopt the technology.
The unnamed partner was required to retake the assessment after uploading training material into an AI platform to generate answers. KPMG said more than two dozen employees had been caught misusing AI in internal exams during the current financial year.
KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates, said the firm was struggling to keep pace with the rapid uptake of AI. “Given the everyday use of these tools, some people breach our policy. We take it seriously when they do,” he said, adding that the firm was reviewing safeguards under its self-reporting regime.
The incident adds to broader concerns across the accounting profession. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants last year scrapped remote examinations, citing the growing sophistication of cheating systems. All four Big Four firms have faced penalties linked to cheating scandals across multiple jurisdictions in recent years.
KPMG said it has adopted measures to detect AI misuse and will disclose the number of breaches in its annual results.
The case surfaced during a Senate inquiry into industry governance, where Greens senator Barbara Pocock criticised the lack of tougher consequences. Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, said it would not intervene unless disciplinary proceedings were initiated by the profession’s trade bodies.
