Archives December 2025

Bengaluru/Hyderabad, Dec 11: Aster DM Healthcare, one of the largest integrated healthcare providers in India, announced a major CSR initiative with ₹120 crore investment to establish five advanced Oncology Radiation LINAC Centres across India, dedicated to supporting underprivileged cancer patients.

The first centre will be established in Wayanad, Kerala catering to the wider Malabar region, including neighbouring areas such as Gudalore and Gudalpet. The remaining centres will be developed in strategic locations including Bengaluru and other cities over the next three years, based on community needs and clinical feasibility.

The program aims to provide free and subsidized high-quality radiation therapy to cancer patients from economically weaker sections who are unable to afford or continue life-saving treatment.

Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder & Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare said, “This initiative reflects Aster’s deep commitment to making advanced cancer care accessible to all, especially underprivileged and underserved communities across India. By establishing five state-of-the-art radiation LINAC therapy centres, we aim to bridge critical gaps in oncology services and ensure that patients receive timely, lifesaving treatment closer to home.

No one should be denied the chance to fight cancer with dignity, confidence, and hope. Through this effort, Aster reaffirms its mission of delivering high-quality, compassionate healthcare to every patient, regardless of their financial circumstances.”

A few key highlights of the initiative include a fully equipped modern centre with linear accelerators and allied facilities. The treatment will be provided completely free or at highly subsidized rates for patients with low income or those who fall under the below poverty line. Priority will be given to patients who have discontinued therapy due to financial constraints. The centres will be part of Aster Volunteers; the flagship global CSR program of Aster DM Healthcare focused on community health improvement and socio-economic development.

Aster DM Healthcare’s initiative comes at a critical time, as cancer incidence continues to rise across India and financial constraints often force patients to discontinue treatment midway. The commitment aims to ensure that individuals from low-income backgrounds do not have to forgo essential radiation therapy due to cost barriers.

New Delhi, 11th December 2025: BillCut, India’s first Loan Portfolio Management fintech platform, today announced the appointment of Mr. Pratyush Chandramadhur—Founder of Pranovate, former Chief Business Officer at AuthBridge, and a founding member of Experian India—as its Senior Advisor.

BillCut enables consumers to understand and improve their credit health, reduce monthly EMIs, and make smarter borrowing decisions. Its flagship AI-powered debt analyser helps users review their entire debt profile in just three clicks. The platform identifies loans and credit cards carrying higher-than-required interest rates and instantly facilitates refinancing through trusted partners, including L&T Finance, Tata Capital, DMI Finance, and others.

With more than 25 years of leadership experience across BFSI and fintech, Pratyush has built and scaled AI/ML-driven products, fraud and identity solutions, and large financial services operations. His work at AuthBridge, Experian, and other institutions has significantly contributed to the evolution of India’s credit, identity, and risk management landscape

“Pratyush joins us at a crucial moment as we build India’s most intelligent credit and loan portfolio management platform,” said Tanish Sharma, Co-founder, BillCut. “His guidance will accelerate our AI-led product roadmap and help us scale BillCut to millions of users with greater precision, speed, and trust.”

Expressing his enthusiasm, Pratyush Chandramadhur, Senior Advisor, BillCut, said, “BillCut is addressing one of India’s most critical financial challenges. I’m excited to help shape the next phase of growth as we build smarter AI-driven tools that give users meaningful control over their credit, repayments, and loan portfolio.”

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Dec 11: In the recent Hurun Stars of Gujarat 2025 event, Senores Pharmaceuticals Limited emerged in the spotlight as its Managing Director, Mr. Swapnil Shah, and Chief Heart Officer, Ms. Anar Modi, were honoured with the Pharmaceutical Excellence Award. The recognition underscores Senores’ continued commitment to advancing Gujarat’s healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape through innovation, responsible leadership, and global ambition.

At the event, Mr. Shah joined a dynamic panel on “Think Global, Act Gujarati: Building Global Brands from Gujarat,” while Ms. Modi participated in a fireside chat on “Raising from Gujarat: Building Ambition, Impact & Leadership.” Both discussions, moderated by industry leaders, highlighted Gujarat’s entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, and growing global influence.

“This honour is a reflection of the hard work and passion of our entire team,” said Mr. Swapnil Shah, “Gujarat has always been a land of opportunity and innovation, and we are committed to contributing meaningfully to its economic and healthcare advancements.”

Expressing her gratitude, Ms. Anar Modi, shared, “This recognition strengthens our resolve to lead with purpose, nurture talent, and build an organisation that creates lasting impact—both within India and globally.”

With this recognition, HURUN INDIA acknowledges Senores Pharmaceuticals as a key contributor to Gujarat’s progress, underscoring the company’s ongoing efforts to innovate, lead with responsibility, and play a meaningful role in the state’s growth story.

Dec 11: Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited represented by its MD, Mr. B Prabhakaran has  entered in a non-binding MoU with Tata Steel Limited represented by its CEO & MD, Mr. T V Narendran to explore strategic partnership in the areas of raw material mining, logistics, pellet and steel making.

The proposed partnership aims at utilising the natural synergy in the business operations between Lloyds Metals and Tata Steel. The MoU sets out a framework for both companies to evaluate potential cooperation in greenfield steel making projects, iron ore mining, slurry pipeline infrastructure, pellet making in iron ore rich states in India, direct reduced iron production and exports of value-added low carbon iron and steel products among other associated areas of mutual interest. The objective is to utilise the complementary strengths of Tata Steel and Lloyds Metals to promote sustainable and efficient growth in the domestic steel sector.

Under the MoU, both the companies intend to explore the following opportunities in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra:

1. Cooperation to operate mining concessions and associated infrastructure, with the objective to increase iron ore production and be a prominent player in this growing region developing as the next steel hub in the country.
2. Evaluate potential strategic cooperation of Tata Steel in the existing integrated steel projects being developed by Lloyds Metals.

All proposed initiatives are subject to further detailed evaluation, due diligence, and receipt of requisite internal and regulatory approvals.

Tata Steel has also become a co-owner in Brahmani River Pellet Limited (BRPL), by acquiring a 50.01% stake in the company. This plant operates a 4 MTPA pellet plant in Jajpur, Odisha along with a 212 km slurry pipeline, both connecting a Beneficiation plant situated at Barbil.

Tata Steel is one of the oldest steel companies in the world, with a crude steel making capacity of 35 MTPA, making it the 8^th largest steel company in the world. Tata Steel has integrated steelmaking facilities with a diverse portfolio of value added and branded steel products.

Lloyds Metals is a pioneer in mining and metal operations in Maharashtra and currently operates the largest iron ore mine in the country located in Gadchiroli. Along with a focus on producing high quality DRI, pellets and iron ore, Lloyds Metals is now venturing into integrated steel manufacturing positioning Gadchiroli as the emerging steel hub in India.

New Delhi, Dec 11: Amidst moderately paced economic activity, unemployment increasing, elevated inflation level and uncertain economic outlook, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage point from 3.75%-4% to 3.5-3.75%, said Mr Rajeev Juneja, President, PHDCCI, in a press statement issued here today.

This announcement was coupled with expansionary monetary policy measures of lowering the interest rate paid on reserve balances to 3.65% (effective December 11, 2025), undertaking open market operations as necessary to maintain the federal funds rate in target range, conducting standing overnight repurchase agreement operations at a rate of 3.75%, standing overnight reverse repurchase agreement at 3.5% and with a per-counterparty limit of $160 billion per day, among others, to ease liquidity conditions, and lower the cost of short-term funding.

This move will reduce borrowing costs for firms and households, boost investment and consumption, and thereby stimulate economic activity, he said.

“Further, the Committee will initiate purchases of shorter-term Treasury securities if needed. This will lead to expansion of US Federal Reserve’s (US FED) holdings of short-term Treasuries to maintain an “ample level of reserves on an ongoing basis”, added Mr Juneja.

“Looking ahead, we anticipate that the U.S. FED will continue to carefully monitor the evolving macroeconomic landscape and adjust its monetary stance as dictated by data. We view this measure as supportive of global financial conditions, with positive implications for emerging markets, including India,” said Dr Ranjeet Mehta, CEO & Secretary General, PHDCCI.

New Delhi, Dec 11: Beyond Key, a global leader in intelligent digital solutions, made a strong mark at TechCon Dallas 2025, presenting how Microsoft 365, Copilot, Power Platform, AI innovations, and modern data solutions are reshaping enterprise productivity. The annual technology conference welcomed global IT leaders, CIOs, digital architects, and transformation-driven organisations, creating the perfect platform for Beyond Key to spotlight the evolving landscape of AI-powered work.

Across the event, Beyond Key engaged attendees with insights on how organisations can blend Microsoft 365, Copilot, Power Platform, and data intelligence to modernise workflows, enable automation at scale, and accelerate secure decision-making. The team focused on practical, real-world adoption models that businesses can implement without disrupting their existing digital ecosystem.

“AI isn’t the future anymore, it’s the foundation of how modern teams work,” said Piyush Goel, Founder & CEO, Beyond Key. “At TechCon Dallas, we emphasised how Microsoft 365 and Copilot, supported by Power Platform and strong data governance, are enabling enterprises to work smarter, innovate faster, and make decisions rooted in intelligence. Our focus remains on keeping AI meaningful, ethical, and deeply human-centered.”

Beyond Key also hosted a high-value knowledge session titled “Unlocking the True Potential of Microsoft 365 & Copilot: From Data to Decisions,” covering responsible AI adoption, Power Platform-driven automation, Microsoft 365 collaboration enhancements, and the role of unified data estates in enabling trustworthy AI systems.

With its impactful presence at TechCon Dallas, Beyond Key reinforced its commitment to helping organisations adopt AI with clarity, confidence, and long-term vision. The company continues to work with enterprises across the U.S., India, and Europe, delivering integrated solutions combining AI, cloud, Microsoft technologies, data analytics, and automation to drive sustainable digital transformation.

“TechCon Dallas 2025 wasn’t just an event—it was a roadmap for what tomorrow’s workplaces will look like,” Piyush added. “The conversations we led there are already inspiring how we co-create AI-driven solutions with our global customers.”

ISRO Chief & DRDO Leader Join Odisha Governor to Award Degrees to Graduates at Centurion University’s 13^th Convocation

Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Dec 11:  In a powerful celebration of skill-driven education and national progress, Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), India’s first fully functional Skill University, conferred degrees on 3,059 graduates, including 39 PhD scholars, at its grand 13^th Convocation. The event was graced by the presence of Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati, Hon’ble Governor of Odisha and Visitor Centurion University, together with Dr. V. Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO, and Dr. B. K. Das, Director General (ECS), DRDO.

Among the 3,059 awardees were students from the 2025 batch and 183 from previous years, further strengthening the university’s reputation for producing industry-ready professionals through its distinctive skill-integrated learning model.

Outstanding performers were felicitated with top honours. Onyinye Francisca Ajaka received the Visitor’s Gold Medal for excellence in B. Tech Mechanical Engineering (Marine), Sangita Ghosh was awarded the Dhiren Patnaik Memorial Gold Medal as Best Female Graduate in Master of Pharmacy, Saket Raj earned the Peter Renwick Memorial Gold Medal for all-round excellence in Management, and Arpita Mohapatra received the Debendra Pradhan Memorial Gold Medal as Best Graduate in Allied Healthcare Sciences. Seventeen students were conferred University Gold Medals and 33 received Merit Awards.

Addressing the gathering, Governor Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati lauded Centurion’s unique hands-on learning model and strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. “Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders in shaping India’s technological and social landscape. I urge you to remain steadfast in your pursuit of knowledge and use it to drive inclusive growth,” mentioned Dr Kambhampati.

Vice-Chancellor Dr (Prof) Supriya Pattanayak highlighted the university’s commitment to sustainable development and empowerment of underserved communities through innovative, skill-based education. “Centurion University stands as a beacon of inclusion and excellence, dedicated to building a just and equitable society through education,” she remarked.

Dr. V. Narayanan praised the alignment of Centurion’s approach with national priorities in science, technology, and self-reliance. “Centurion University’s emphasis on hands-on learning and innovation aligns closely with India’s vision for a progressive and technologically empowered future. I am confident that the graduates passing out today will contribute meaningfully across diverse fields,” he added.

Dr. B. K. Das called upon the young graduates to advance with ambition rooted in values and ethics. “India is growing stronger each day, a great nation advancing in innovation, development, and global influence. Graduates, move ahead with ambition, but keep your values, ethics, and roots close. The world is waiting for you to step up, to roar with confidence, and to transform lives through your work.” He noted.

The event was graced by Professor Mukti Kanta Mishra, President; Professor D. N. Rao, Vice-President; Professor Anita Patra, Registrar; Dr. Biswajit Mishra, Pro-Vice Chancellor; faculty members, proud parents, and distinguished guests.

In 2025, Centurion University has been recognised with the Prakriti Mitra Puraskar by the Government of Odisha, a ‘Highly Commendable’ certificate in the Nature Positive category at the Green Gown Awards International, and strong rankings in Times Higher Education Impact, Interdisciplinary Science, and World University Rankings. It also secured top positions in the Outlook-ICARE Rankings, including 1st among Skill Universities in India.

Reaffirming its vision, Centurion University continues to shape future-ready professionals equipped with skills, values, and the drive to create lasting societal impact.

Lenovo today announced an expansive series of new data storage, virtualization solutions and data management services, designed to help customers modernize their IT and data infrastructure for powering enterprise applications and AI ready capabilities. Today’s new offerings include new Lenovo ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile data storage and virtualization solutions, announced in tandem with data management services. Designed to provide a modern foundation for enterprises and mid-size businesses achieving AI innovations, this announcement combines complementary hardware, software and services offerings to help deploy, manage, and unleash the true potential of enterprise data.

Sixty-three percent of organizations either do not have or are unsure if they have the right data management practices for AI, according to a survey by Gartner ®.1  Customer unique data is the differentiation that will drive their competitive advantage and most accurate results, however 80% of storage deployed in the last 5 years is on slower hard drive-based storage (according to IDC reporting) that is not optimized for AI. At the same time, customers are challenged with new virtualization and containerization requirements that demand open solutions. Businesses must mitigate this risk by ensuring their enterprise data systems and practices are modernized for advanced use cases.

“With rapid shifts in virtualization and the growing demand for AI-ready data, many organizations are looking for open, modern infrastructure that can support both. Lenovo’s new storage solutions and services provide that foundation by improving performance, security, and operational simplicity,” said Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, ISG, Lenovo. “These offerings help customers prepare their data, streamline deployment, and extract more value from their existing environments as they advance their AI strategy.”

“Enterprises in India are moving from experimentation to scaled AI adoption, but many are still constrained by legacy data environments. With our new storage and virtualization solutions, we’re helping customers eliminate these bottlenecks and build a more secure, efficient, and flexible foundation for AI outcomes. Our priority is simple – give customers the agility to modernize at their pace and turn their data into real business impact”, said Amit Luthra, Managing Director – India, Lenovo ISG. 

Flexibility and Choice for Virtualization and Data Needs 

Businesses today need the efficiency and cyber resiliency of their systems to run parallel to performance, simplicity, and scalability with an option to deploy on-prem and hybrid so that the data can stay in place for compliance while AI workloads run where appropriate. Lenovo has introduced new Lenovo ThinkSystem and Lenovo ThinkAgile Enterprise offerings optimized or AI, virtualization and storage bottlenecks, including:

• Lenovo ThinkSystem DS Series Storage Arrays: All-flash and protected Storage Area Network (SAN) block storage systems that are simple to deploy and manage for virtualized environments, improving performance and efficiency for virtualization and data modernization.
• Lenovo ThinkAgile FX Series: Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) that delivers an open architecture that supports seamless conversion between select HCI solutions without replacing hardware, delivering maximum investment protection and flexibility.
• Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Series for disaggregated storage for Microsoft Azure Local: As a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) integrated appliance provider with Microsoft, we are expanding support for disaggregated external Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks (SAN to deliver greater enterprise storage support for virtualization customers.
• Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Series with NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000:   Integrated next generation GPU support to power advanced AI performance capabilities for enterprise inferencing with Microsoft Azure Local.
• Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series for AI Lenovo’s HCI offering features Nutanix Enterprise AI (NAI) software stack to enable customers running in virtualized and distributed containerized environments to deploy, run, and scale AI models in minutes.

Complete Lifecycle Services Optimized for Advanced Workloads including AI  

To help customers fully realize the benefits of their new systems and prepare their data for AI, Lenovo is extending this momentum with a broad portfolio of hybrid cloud and data lifecycle services. These offerings modernize environments, strengthen reliability, and support evolving storage and AI workload demands. This includes Lenovo Deployment Services for ThinkAgile and ThinkSystem to accelerate time to value, along with flexible storage services available individually or through Lenovo TruScale to enhance performance and agility across the data lifecycle.

To guide long-term strategy, Lenovo’s Hybrid Cloud Advisory Services help organizations align on-prem and hybrid environments with compliance, data protection, and operational goals, while Lenovo Migration Services optimize data and workloads by combining cloud flexibility with existing infrastructure.

As part of the expanded Data Management Services portfolio, Lenovo Premier Enhanced Storage Support provides storage-focused, expert-led assistance for critical workloads. With proactive monitoring, performance optimization, and guided issue resolution, customers gain the resilience and protection needed to support AI innovation and hybrid cloud growth.

Dec 11: Shiv Nadar University Delhi-NCR, an Institution of Eminence, brought together experts, practitioners and students for a conference on Cooperatives, Development and Higher Education at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre. The day-long programme explored the symbiotic linkages between institutions of higher education, co-operatives, NGOs and Foundations in bringing about transformative socio-economic change. The conference, aligned with the United Nations’ celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives, featured Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary, Ministry of Co-operatives, Government of India, as the Chief Guest. Among the dignitaries who attended the event included Dr. Sudhir Mahajan, Chief Executive, National Cooperative Union of India and Dr. Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board, Dr. Vivek Kunj, of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and several others.

Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary, Ministry of Co-operatives, Government of India, said, “Higher education institutions need to build ties with cooperatives and provide them lab-to-field facilities. Educational institutes can partner with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a comprehensive, integrated cooperative infrastructure and bring a seamless end-to-end ecosystem where all of us are partners in the growth of  rural India”  ”

Speaking at the event, Professor Ananya Mukherjee, Vice-Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR, said;

“This conference reflects our belief that higher education plays a vital role in enabling inclusive and sustainable development, and our aspirations of Viksit Bharat.  I am delighted that we had academics, practitioners, and   leaders joined us from all across the country. This conference makes a perfect opportunity for us to explore new initiatives, and I have no doubt that we will find new ways of collaborating across different stakeholders.”

Many of the speakers emphasised the transformative role played by women in India’s cooperative sector, one of the largest in the world. The event reinforced the university’s position as an active convenor of dialogue between the government, academia and the world of practice.

Hyderabad, Dec 11: Delivering the Inaugural Keynote Address at BIOAGRI 2025, held at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad, eminent microbiologist and global BioAgri ambassador Prof. M. S. Reddy, Founder & Chairman of the Asian PGPR Society for Sustainable Agriculture and Professor at Auburn University, USA, called for a nationally coordinated transformation of India’s biological agriculture ecosystem. Addressing regulators, policymakers, scientists, industry leaders and farmers, Prof. Reddy said BIOAGRI has now evolved into “a movement, a platform for collaboration, and a roadmap for the future.”

Prof. Reddy applauded the BioAgri Input Producers Association (BIPA) for its two-decade-long leadership in shaping India’s biological agriculture sector. “When biologicals lacked identity and credibility, BIPA gave them a community, a platform, and a voice. While others debated feasibility, BIPA built the ecosystem,” he remarked, acknowledging every volunteer, past president and industry partner who contributed to the journey from 2021 to 2024.

Prof. Reddy stressed that agriculture is at a critical inflexion point, with soil fatigue, water stress, climate uncertainties, and global residue challenges affecting both farmers and consumers. In this context, he stated: “Biofertilizers, biostimulants, microbial inoculants and bio-nutrition products are not optional tools anymore. They are pathways for soil regeneration, public health, ecological balance, and farmer welfare.”

He underlined that farmers’ concerns regarding the consistency, validation, and reliability of biologicals must be addressed with honesty and scientific rigour. “These are not criticisms,” he said. “They are truth checks—reminders that our systems must rise to match farmer expectations.”

Prof. Reddy commended the Government of India and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for championing sustainability through initiatives such as: Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY); National Mission on Natural Farming; Digital Soil Health Cards; Biofertilizer & Biopesticide missions; Agri-digital ecosystems and Digital Agriculture Mission 2047

He emphasised that India now has the unique advantage of ancient natural farming wisdom, cutting-edge biotechnology, and extraordinary microbial diversity—a combination that can establish India as a global leader in BioAgri.

Calling for a structured national agenda, Prof. Reddy proposed six imperatives:

1. National BioInput Validation Network – Multi-location, long-term trials anchored by ICAR, SAUs and farmers.

2. BioAgri Standards & Regulatory Authority – To ensure scientific rigour, quality, shelf-life norms and truth-in-labelling.

3. Unlock Public R&D – Move microbial innovations from laboratory shelves to farmers’ fields.

4. Government Incentives for Biological Inputs – Align subsidies with soil health and climate goals.

5. District-Level BioAgri Training & Demonstration Centres – Transparent, on-ground learning for farmers.

6. National BioAgri Vision 2040 – A unified, long-term strategy connecting research, regulation, industry and farmer welfare.

He urged the creation of national and state expert committees, including NRI and global specialists, with quarterly review mechanisms to ensure measurable progress.

Prof. Reddy asserted that India is not just ready but uniquely positioned to lead the global BioAg movement “as custodians of microbial biodiversity and pioneers of both ancient and modern agro-sciences.”

Sharing reflections from the recent Maha Kisan Mela 2025 at Kanha Shanti Vanam, he said farmers are eager for trustworthy biological solutions: “Farmers told me: ‘We believe in biology. Stand with us, teach us, prove it, and walk with us.’ Their words remind us that science must be grounded in people’s lives.”

Prof. Reddy concluded with a powerful message: “Let BIOAGRI 2025 be remembered not for imagination alone, but for implementation, collaboration, and national transformation. Biological agriculture is not just the future — it is our present and our pathway.”

He saluted BIPA for its role in shaping the movement, urging the sector to seize this moment to build a Healthy India and a Great India through safe, sustainable and digital agriculture.