Brands
Priyanka Chopra to continue as Nikon ambassador
NEW DELHI: Nikon India wants to continue with actor Priyanka Chopra as its brand ambassador as she reaches out to the youth, who are the greatest users of new and inexpensive cameras as well as to family audiences.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of its latest offerings – Nikon D4S and the Nikon D3300, Nikon India Vice-President – Imaging Sajjan Kumar said that the group will shortly come out with a new television commercial for the new series, which will again feature Piggy Chops.
He told indiantelevision.com that Nikon had set aside Rs 120 crore for marketing and advertising, which was the same as in the previous year. This included press meets, TVCs, hoardings and advertisements in the print medium and so on.
It also included workshops by Nikon School, he said, adding that Nikon at present had 93 service centres in the country.
The D-SLR series was unveiled by renowned photographer Raghu Rai who said he had commenced his career as a cameraperson with a Nikon camera and had remained faithful to the brand. Even when he tried other brand, he always came back to Nikon.
The two series were released in the presence of Nikon India Managing Director Hiroshi Takashina and Nikon Communications General Manager – Corporate Communications Bo Kajiwara.
With the introduction of latest D-SLR cameras, Takashima said Nikon continues to push the boundaries of professional image quality, speed and features. Nikon’s Flagship D-SLRs symbolises the evolution of a masterpiece, reinforcing Nikon as the choice for amateurs, photo enthusiasts and professional photographers.
He added that the D-SLR camera business “has become more successful than ever with over 20 per cent growth over the last year. With these latest offerings in the D-SLR range, our aim is to enliven the basic principles of trustworthiness and creativity that Nikon as a brand stands for.”
Nikon D4S will be available in the market from the end of this month at a maximum price of Rs 419,950. The model is available in Black colour. The sale of Nikon D3300 has started from February 2014 and it is available in Black, Grey and Red at an MRP of Nikon D3300 with D-ZOOM KIT (AF-S 18-55mm VRII + AF-S 55-200mm VR Kit Lenses) – Rs 46,950, Nikon D3300 with AF-S 18-55mm VRII Kit – Rs 37,950, and Nikon D3300 Body Only- Rs 32,450.
Brands
Practo names Cijo George as vice president of artificial intelligence
New vice president of artificial intelligence to mine healthcare data and sharpen care delivery
BENGALURU: India’s healthtech race just picked up speed. Practo has appointed Cijo George as vice president of artificial intelligence, tasking him with wiring AI deep into the company’s sprawling healthcare platform.
George will steer AI strategy and execution, embedding machine intelligence across care navigation, doctor-facing tools and overall platform intelligence. He will work across product, engineering and clinical teams to rewire how patients search for and access care — and how doctors deliver treatment with greater consistency and precision.
He reports directly to Shashank ND, co-founder and chief executive officer.
Shashank ND said years of building healthcare data across patients, providers and treatment outcomes had laid the foundation for more advanced AI applications. Artificial intelligence, he added, can unlock the value of that data to improve patient outcomes and equip doctors with actionable insights. He described George’s experience in building production-grade AI systems as closely aligned with Practo’s long-term vision.
George brings nearly two decades of experience spanning machine learning, AI platforms and product engineering. Most recently at Observe.AI, he led work on large-scale AI systems deployed by global enterprises. Before that, at Belong.co, he drove platform and AI initiatives focused on search and personalisation in the HR technology space. He also worked with the Advanced Technology Group at NetApp, contributing to machine-learning and data-science projects for distributed systems.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science with a master’s degree in high performance computing, George said the chance to apply AI to directly improve patient experience and clinical delivery drew him to the role. Practo’s scale and its extensive longitudinal healthcare data, he added, offer significant room for innovation.
The move comes as digital health platforms double down on artificial intelligence to boost patient engagement, streamline provider workflows and sharpen decision-making. For Practo, the prescription is clear: turn data into diagnosis, and algorithms into advantage.
