MAM
TATA AIA elevates Rishi Srivastava as CEO and MD
MUMBAI: In a recent development, Tata AIA Life, a private life insurer has announced Rishi Srivastava as the new chief executive officer and managing director starting 1 August 2018 subject to regulatory approval from IRDAI. Srivastava will replace Naveen Tahilyani.
Srivastava is currently chief of proprietary channels, product, marketing and corporate communication at Tata AIA. He has been active in setting up and driving Tata AIA’s agency workforce and successfully building the unique premier agency model in India which aims to providing enhanced overall customer experience.
Srivastava brings with him more than 20 years of experience in finance and insurance. Prior to this, he was CEO at ICICI Prudential before moving to ICICI Bank as general manager and then on to AXA as director of the agency business in Jakarta.
He joined Tata AIA in 2016. Srivastava started his career with Dabur India Limited as a area sales manager and product manager.
He has led strong, profitable growth at Tata AIA over the past three and half years, with a focus on delivering a multi-distribution business, best-in-class customer experience and building a differentiated protection-oriented franchise.
Brands
Apple bites back: the $599 MacBook Neo is the cheapest Mac ever made
The tech giant unveils a budget laptop that packs a punch — and a lot of cheek
CALIFORNIA: Apple has never been shy about charging a premium. So when Cupertino rolls out a MacBook at $599 (approx. Rs 55,000) , it’s worth sitting up straight.
The MacBook Neo, unveiled Tuesday, is Apple’s most affordable laptop to date — undercutting its own MacBook Air and taking a sharp swipe at the budget PC market in one fell swoop. It starts at $499 for students, which, for a machine with Apple silicon inside, is frankly a steal.
At the heart of the Neo is the A18 Pro chip — the same muscle that powers the latest iPhones. Apple claims it is up to 50 per cent faster for everyday tasks than a rival PC running Intel’s Core Ultra 5, and three times quicker on on-device AI workloads. Fanless and featherweight at 2.7 pounds, it runs silently and promises up to 16 hours of battery life. Try doing that on a Chromebook.
The 13-inch liquid retina display clocks in at 2408-by-1506 resolution with 500 nits of brightness and support for billion colours — sharper and brighter, Apple says, than most rivals in this price band. It comes dressed in four colours: blush, indigo, silver, and a zesty new citrus, with matching keyboard shades to boot.
Connectivity is modest — two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6 — but this is a budget machine, not a pro workstation. The 1080p FaceTime camera, dual mics with directional beamforming, and Spatial Audio speakers round out a package that punches well above its weight class.
Apple senior vice-president of hardware engineering John Ternus alled it “a laptop only Apple could create.” That’s the kind of line that makes rivals wince — because, annoyingly, he might be right.
The Neo runs macOS Tahoe, with Apple Intelligence baked in for AI writing tools, live translation, and the sort of on-device smarts that keep user data away from the cloud. It also boasts 60 per cent recycled content — the highest of any Apple product — for those who like their bargains with a side of conscience.
For $599, Apple isn’t just selling a laptop. It’s selling an argument — that good design and real performance needn’t cost the earth. The PC industry had better have a decent comeback ready.
