India's first halal cosmetics firm set to expand outlets

May 2, 2015

Ahmedabad, May 2: Mauli Teli has people coming up to her often and asking what 'halal' has to do with cosmetics. "Are such cosmetics only for Muslims?" they sometimes enquire.

halal cosmeticsTeli is not a Muslim, but the smart, suave, CEO of a company whose Iba product - India's first halal-certified cosmetic brand - is more than ready with her answers. Thanks to this, Iba's consumer base is growing steadily, and not just among the Muslim community.

"Halal has a deep meaning. It means it's pure, safe, and healthy. What it means in terms of our cosmetics range is that our products are organic, free of animal fat and animal-derived products like keratin, collagen and gelatine, and alcohol free. They are free of any harsh chemicals and animal cruelty. Therefore they are good for everyone," Mauli explained in an telephonic interview .

In 2012 Mauli and her sister Grishma Teli started their company, Ecotrail, which was a manufacturing unit and research lab. In September 2014, after a thorough market research and talks with consumers, salon owners and others, the duo launched Iba Halal Care.

"I moved back to India in 2011 after studying and working in the US for seven-and-a-half years. I have a technical background and was into management consulting. My sister had studied biotechnology in the UK. Both of us have always wanted to start something on our own...that we come from a family of entrepreneurs helped a lot," Mauli said.

Personal care products, she said, were of interest to both the sisters. Their father is into equipment manufacturing for the cosmetics industry.

"Since I had worked with (market research agency) AC Nielson, I knew that the field of personal care was very competitive and in order to succeed we had to make a unique proposition. In the US, natural, ethical products are much sought after and we found that halal cosmetics was a niche field that could be explored," she said.

Considering that India has a large Muslim population, the sisters realised that there was a need for such products.

"Halal certified products are popular in Southeast Asia like Malaysia. Britain also has a few small brands. But, in the Indian context, we had to take care that ours was not a high-end brand, but something that the market could bear."

As they launched Iba with their first stand-alone store in Ahmedabad it triggered a lot of interest.

"People were curious. They would come and ask me all kinds of questions. Sometimes even Muslims did not understand what halal had to do with cosmetics. Once we told them about the fat free lipsticks and alcohol free perfumes, they understood," Mauli said.

The concept also appealed to people from the Jain community and those who opt for a vegan way of life. "Actually, 35 percent of our consumers are non-Muslims, and the interest is increasing," Mauli said.

Her products - priced between Rs.40 and Rs.250 - are no less effective on the skin or hair, she says. They have the same look and feel like any other modern cosmetic product with no side effects, she adds. From lipsticks, face sprays and face creams to shampoos, conditioners and perfumes, it's a wide range.

With two stand alone stores in Gujarat, they are now opening outlets in Aurangabad in Maharashtra, before venturing into Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Baroda and Surat. They are getting into the franchise model as well as have their products available online, on shopping portals like Amazon and Flipkart.

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Agencies
February 29,2020

Ahmedabad, Feb 29: The presence of two feral pigeons onboard a GoAir flight at the airport in Ahmedabad in Gujarat created a flutter among the amused passengers, even though the avian surprise did not lead to any untoward incident or delay in the flight.

The incident took place on Friday when the passengers were boarding the Ahmedabad-Jaipur flight.

"Two pigeons had found their way inside the flight G8 702 while the passengers were boarding," an airline statement said on Saturday.

"The crew immediately shooed away the birds. The flight took off at its scheduled time at 5 p.m.," it added.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

Cybersecurity researchers on Monday warned of a Trojan malware campaign which is targeting India's co-operative banks using COVID-19 as a bait.

Seqrite, the enterprise arm of IT security firm Quick Heal Technologies, detected the new wave of Adwind Java Remote Access Trojan (RAT) campaign.

Researchers at Seqrite warned that if attackers are successful, they can take over the victim's device to steal sensitive data like SWIFT logins and customer details and move laterally to launch large scale cyberattacks and financial frauds.

According to the researchers, the Java RAT campaign starts with a spear-phishing email which claims to have originated from either the Reserve Bank of India or a nationalised bank.

The content of the email refers to COVID-19 guidelines or a financial transaction, with detailed information in an attachment, which is a zip file containing a JAR based malware.

Upon further investigation, researchers at Seqrite found that the JAR based malware is a Remote Access Trojan that can run on any machine which has Java runtime enabled and hence it can impact a variety of endpoints, irrespective of their base operating system.

Once the RAT is installed, the attacker can take over the victim's device, send commands from a remote machine, and spread laterally in the network.

In addition, this malware can also log keystrokes, capture screenshots, download additional payloads, and extract sensitive user information, Seqrite said, adding that such attack campaigns can effectively jeopardise the privacy and security of sensitive data at the co-operative banks and result in large scale attacks and financial frauds.

To prevent such attacks, users need to exercise ample caution and avoid opening attachments and clicking on web links in unsolicited emails.

Banks should also keep their operating systems updated and have a full-fledged security solution installed on all the devices, Seqrite advised.

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Agencies
June 27,2020

Mumbai, Jun 27: The Bombay High Court observed that COVID-19 patients from poor and indigent sections cannot be expected to produce documentary proof to avail subsidised or free treatment while getting admitted to hospitals.

The court on Friday was hearing a plea filed by seven residents of a slum rehabilitation building in Bandra, who had been charged ₹ 12.5 lakh by K J Somaiya Hospital for COVID-19 treatment between April 11 and April 28.

The bench of Justices Ramesh Dhanuka and Madhav Jamdar directed the hospital to deposit ₹10 lakh in the court.

The petitioners had borrowed money and managed to pay ₹10 lakh out of ₹12.5 lakh that the hospital had demanded, after threatening to halt their discharge if they failed to clear the bill, counsel Vivek Shukla informed the court.

According to the plea, the petitioners were also overcharged for PPE kits and unused services.

On June 13, the court had directed the state charity commissioner to probe if the hospital had reserved 20% beds for poor and indigent patients and provided free or subsidised treatment to them.

Last week, the joint charity commissioner had informed the court that although the hospital had reserved such beds, it had treated only three poor or indigent persons since the lockdown.

It was unfathomable that the hospital that claimed to have reserved 90 beds for poor and indigent patients had treated only three such persons during the pandemic, advocate Shukla said.

He further argued that COVID-19 patients, who are in distress, cannot be expected to produce income certificate and such documents as proof.

However, senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, who represented the hospital, said the petitioners did not belong to economically weak or indigent categories and had not produced documents to prove the same.

A person who is suffering from a disease like COVID-19 cannot be expected to produce certificates from a tehsildar or social welfare officer before seeking admission in the hospital, the bench noted and asked the hospital to deposit ₹10 lakh in court within two weeks.

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