Archives 2025

Hyderabad, November 8, 2025:Subhan Bakery, Hyderabad’s most cherished name for iconic treats like Osmania biscuits and Dum-ke-Roat, officially inaugurated its New Bakery & Café in Sindhi Colony, Secunderabad.

The grand opening ceremony was graced by the presence of Mrs Rasool Bee Sahiba and Shri Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Hon’ble MLA. They were joined by **Syed Irfan, Managing Director of Subhan Bakery, and Syed Luqman, alongside an enthusiastic gathering of devoted patrons and well-wishers.

Known for its authentic Hyderabadi flavors and commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, Subhan Bakery has been a household favorite for generations. The new café aims to bring its signature taste, warm service, and the unique charm of Hyderabad’s baking culture closer to food lovers across the twin cities.

“We are thrilled to open this beautiful new space for our customers,” said Syed Irfan, Managing Director, Subhan Bakery. “It is more than just a bakery; it is a celebration of tradition, family, and the immense love that Hyderabad has shown us over the years.”

Guests at the opening enjoyed Subhan’s beloved signature bakes within a lively, modern setting that successfully blends nostalgia with a fresh aesthetic. The new outlet promises to uphold the same authenticity and warmth that have defined the brand for more than seven decades.

Established as a cornerstone of Hyderabad’s culinary landscape, Subhan Bakery is famous for pioneering the original Osmania biscuit and other traditional Hyderabadi confectionaries. The brand remains dedicated to preserving authentic recipes while offering exceptional quality and service to its community.

New Delhi, 08th November 2025: Mr Haoliang Xu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Acting Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will visit India from 10 to 12 November.

The visit will focus on strengthening UNDP’s long-standing partnership with India and identifying new areas of cooperation that support sustainable development and South-South collaboration. Mr Xu will meet senior government officials and partners from the private sector, philanthropy, and civil society to discuss efforts to advance inclusive growth, digital transformation, and climate action.

During the mission, Mr. Xu will also take part in a Reception, hosted by UNDP India, commemorating six decades of India-UNDP collaboration. He will also join high-level dialogues on digital health innovation and South-South cooperation, which will highlight India’s leadership in creating scalable digital solutions like eVIN, CoWIN, and U-WIN, and in sharing knowledge and technologies across the Global South.

The visit reaffirms UNDP’s commitment to supporting India’s development priorities and contributing to national and global goals through innovation, partnership, and shared learning.

Abbott’s ‘Project Ksheersagar:’ Empowering Indian Dairy Farmers and Supporting the Local Milk Supply

Kochi, 8th November, 2025:  Good nutrition starts with quality ingredients. To help meet the demand for nutritional products in India, healthcare company, Abbott, recognized the need for a dependable supply of high-quality milk. In 2022, Abbott partnered with TechnoServe, an international non-profit, to launch ”Project Ksheersagar” a shared-value initiative in India committed to helping dairy farmers. The initiative aims to transform farmers’ lives and empower them to create a sustainable raw milk supply chain in the country. Today, Abbott shares how the initiative has positively impacted Indian farmers and families who depend on Abbott’s nutritional products.

Launched in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, Project Ksheersagar invests in farmers by helping them open bank accounts, pursue employment opportunities, and receive training in financial literacy and dairy farm management best practices to grow their business. This work builds on earlier projects implemented over the past decade to support dairy farmers in India.

Abbott and TechnoServe work closely with farmers to improve milk production and guide them to provide nutritious cattle feed and improve animal husbandry practices. The program has set up 130 village-based milk collection centers for reliable cold storage, making it easier for farmers to deliver quality milk and increase their income. 

”This initiative benefits the local farming community as well as families who depend on Abbott’s nutritional products,’‘ said Joydeep Dutta, Country Director, TechnoServe India. ‘‘By adopting standardized dairy practices, Indian farmers have improved milk quality and productivity while increasing their incomes and gaining valuable knowledge.”

So far, Abbott has engaged over 12,000 dairy farmers, creating a more sustainable supply chain. The project aims to benefit around 51,000 dairy animals by implementing best practices, reducing antibiotic use, and improving animal care standards across more than,1000 farms. This initiative has reduced veterinary costs by 60% and increasing milk production by 55% over the course of the project.

“Project Ksheersagar is part of Abbott’s efforts to create a sustainable and resilient raw milk supply chain,” said Shibasish Pramanik, Supply Chain Director for Abbott’s nutrition business in India. ”This initiative helps family businesses succeed and creates opportunities for future generations. It also allows Abbott to locally source high-quality milk for our nutrition products. We expect to source 60% of our milk powder needs from farmers in the program, adding real value to our nutrition business and the families who rely on our products.”

This initiative is a key step in creating a sustainable and resilient dairy supply chain in India. Through strategic collaboration, education, and targeted investment, Abbott is enhancing livelihoods and fostering an agricultural ecosystem in India that benefits farmers, animals, and consumers alike.

– by Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces

For most Indians, buying a home is the biggest investment they’ll ever make, so it makes sense to get the best options they can afford. Branded builders offer aspirational premium through high-quality homes and locations, but the idea of premium features is itself changing quickly. Wellness has become a top priority since COVID-19, which was the worst healthcare crisis in history.

Wellness – The New Luxury

Luxury homes have always been known for their high-end features. But before COVID-19, “luxury” in real estate shifted from snob value to family health and well-being. ‘Real’ wellness goes beyond just adding features – it needs to be built into the basic design of a housing project.

As a rule, people who buy homes in cities now expect garden spaces, gyms in clubhouses, and jogging tracks. These kinds of features have slowly made their way into mid-range homes as well, but they are at their most evolved in luxury integrated townships and gated communities.

Wellness is now a highly established requirement for luxury project design. Branded developers quickly saw that this trend is not just a passing fad but here to stay and started adding the right features into their projects. It makes strong business sense, as the wellness features in a housing or office building make it more appealing to buyers, tenants, and investors.

Gyms, yoga and meditation rooms, roof gardens, and innovative design tweaks to boost natural light availability and air flow are some of the most popular wellness features today. As we take this to the luxury level, new requirements emerge – HNIs now expect homes with art studios, hobby rooms, yoga studios, meditation rooms, spas, indoor air filtration systems, and landscaped Zen gardens and tennis courts within the project.

Golf courses within the project are another very popular wellness-oriented feature. Golf boosts health by providing physical activity that boosts cardiovascular fitness, muscle tone, and also helps with weight management. It has been proven to improve mental wellness because it lowers anxiety and stress, promoting mindfulness and focus. It also fosters social connections, decreasing feelings of isolation and boosting self-esteem. Indian cities with housing projects featuring golf courses include Gurugram, Bengaluru, Pune, the MMR – specifically Panvel and Navi Mumbai, Noida and Greater Noida, Chennai, and Delhi NCR.

Luxury wellness projects also need official stamps of approval like the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s LEED certification programme, which looks at and rates a building’s ‘green’ features and how much the wellness features in a development actually boost inhabitants’ health and overall wellbeing.

Affordable Health Strategies for Indian Homebuyers

So far, so good. We have discussed wellness as a single ‘feature’, multiple features, or more accurately, as a theme. Obviously, wellness features come at an added cost, since they require more reserved common space which cannot be exploited commercially by building more marketable housing units. Also, specific facilities that need to be equipped and maintained.

Roughly, depending on the market positioning of the project, wellness features and facilities can add a premium of anywhere between 10% and 25% to the final price of a home there, raise monthly maintenance charges, and may also involve club memberships. The added cost is enough to deter a large chunk of health-conscious but budget-strapped homebuyers in India.

So, what can such buyers do to ensure that their new home supports their family’s health?

10 Affordable Tips for Homebuyers Who Care About Their Health

1. Prioritize natural light and airflow in your housing choice

Pick a home with lots of windows and cross-ventilation, even if it isn’t in high-end wellness developments. Natural light helps you sleep better and feel better, and good airflow cuts down on indoor air pollution, and both are free. Put mirrors across from windows to spread light more evenly. Also, try to pick a unit that doesn’t face a main road to avoid as much air and noise pollution as possible.

2. Buy plants that clean the air inside

Instead of costly air filtration systems, buy spider plants, snake plants, and similar varieties of houseplants that clean and increase the amount of oxygen in the air while simultaneously enlivening the room. They are cheap, easy to take care of, and good for your health without costing a lot.

3. Set up a space in your home to work out and meditate

Designate and equip a corner with simple things like yoga mats, exercise bands, and dumbbells. This puts paid to pricey gym memberships or club fees and lets you follow a fitness regimen at your pace and in the privacy of your own home. Use the same space as a meditation nook and use it for that purpose each morning before the rest of the family rises.

4. Turn the kitchen into a healthier place

Place nutritious foods at eye level, hide unhealthy snacks out of sight and easy reach, and stock up on pulses, brown rice, frozen vegetables, fresh fruits, stevia and healthy cooking oil to turn your kitchen into a place that supports instead of wrecks your family’s health. Spruce up your culinary skills and learn how to steam, bake and poach foods and make your peace with staying away from deep-fried goodies and sugary diabetes bombs.

5. Make affordable wellness-oriented interior decor tweaks

Choose inexpensive but comfortable chairs, paint your walls with calming colours; and deck them up with inspiring art to turn your entire home into a visually peaceful, destressing space.

6. Use water filters strategically

You don’t need a whole-house water filtration system. Affordable water filters in the kitchen and on showerheads ensure that the water you drink, cook with, and bathe in is safe without being expensive. Clean water is important for all aspects of health.

7. Declutter relentlessly

Physical clutter is incredibly stress-inducing, but we tend to fill our living spaces with needless and often obsolete and even harmful junk. Give away or sell stuff you don’t need – when we open up our living spaces this way, our minds follow suit and the spirit can breathe again. The Japanese call decluttering “danshari” – letting go of unnecessary items that crowd our lives. Regular decluttering costs nothing – in fact, it benefits others who may need what we don’t – and does wonders for our emotional wellbeing.

8. Optimize your sleep environment

Spend a little bit more on a good mattress and some comfortable bedding, use blackout curtains, and play sleep music over your Alexa to help you drift off and stay asleep longer. You don’t need fancy bedroom furniture to have a good night’s sleep; the basics will do.

9. Make regular family health check-ups mandatory

Preventive healthcare doesn’t need fancy buildings or features. Regular health exams, immunisations, and family health talks are much cheaper than treating illnesses, and fit easily into daily life.

10. Use local community wellness resources

If possible, choose a home close to a park, garden or public jogging track instead of paying for expensive premium club memberships. Join local health programes, yoga classes and laughter clubs in parks, and similar resources.

Your best bet for finding a home that supports your family’s overall wellbeing lies in integrated townships. Homes in such projects do cost a bit more, but most of the wellness facilities and features that one finds in luxury developments are available there. Because integrated townships have large populations, the cost of these facilities is spread over many more owners and therefore cost less thanks to the economies of scale.

Finally, even a low saturation of wellness amenities in a housing project is better than none at all. If your budget allows it, choose a project which has some green open space and a jogging track or path. The marginal extra cost is well worth it, both from a wellness and eventual resale perspective.

About the author:

Anil Pharande is Chairman of Pharande Spaces, a leading real estate construction and development firm famous for its township projects in Greater Pune and beyond. Pharande Promoters & Builders, the flagship company of Pharande Spaces and an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is a pioneer of townships in the region. With the recent inclusion of Puneville Commercial into one of its most iconic townships, Pharande Spaces taken a major step towards addressing Pune’s current and future requirements for fully integrated residential-commercial convenience.

Hilton Gurugram Baani City Centre Curates ‘The Weekend Trinity’ for an Experiential Culinary Line-Up

Gurugram, 08th November, 2025:  Hilton Gurugram Baani City Centre has launched a new weekend dining series titled The Weekend Trinity, offering guests a rotating line-up of themed culinary experiences across Friday (Indian Project), Saturday (BBQ House) and Sunday (Brunch Tayles). The initiative aims to turn weekends into a blend of flavour, ambience, and leisure for both city residents and hotel guests. The series opens every Friday evening with The Indian Project – Kashmiri Edition, a buffet that visits the depth of Kashmiri cuisine through signature dishes such as Rogan Josh, Yakhni, Gushtaba, and Dum Aloo. Diners are welcomed with a complimentary 30ml pour of single malt, setting a relaxed tone for the evening.

Saturdays bring BBQ House to Tayles, where live grills , lively music and open-air seating at the alfresco define the mood. The evening features an array of barbecued meats and accompaniments, complemented by whiskey trails curated to pair with the smoky flavours of the grills.

Sundays take on a more leisurely pace with the Brunch at Tayles, now extended onto the lawns to welcome winters and the festive season. The brunch includes live music performances, fun activities and tiny tots area, encouraging families to linger through the afternoon in an informal, festive setting.

Speaking about the concept, Harkaran Singh Sethi, General Manager of Hilton Gurugram Baani City Centre said the idea behind The Weekend Trinity was to “reimagine weekends not as fixed meals, but as evolving experiences each evening carrying its own character and rhythm.” The Weekend Trinity runs through the weekends at Hilton Gurugram Baani City Centre, Sector 63, Gurugram. Prices start at ₹3000++ per person for Fridays, ₹3500++ for Saturdays, and  3800++ for Sunday brunch.

Bengaluru, November 8, 2025: VST Tillers Tractors Limited (VST), India’s leading farm equipment manufacturer, announced its financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 30, 2025, showcasing continued growth momentum and operational resilience.

Quarter ended September 30, 2025 (Q2 FY2025-26):

· Revenue from Operations: ₹315.15 crore as against ₹283.43 crore in Q2 FY2024-25 – an increase of 11.2% YoY.

· Operational EBIDTA: ₹41.16 crore as against ₹37.79 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

· Net Profit: ₹25.43 crore as against ₹44.93 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The decline in net profit is primarily due to lower fair value gains on investments. Excluding fair value gain/(loss), the net profit for the quarter would be ₹27.70 crore as compared to ₹24.35 crore.

Half Year ended September 30, 2025 (H1 FY2025-26):

· Revenue from Operations: ₹597.60 crore as against ₹474.02 crore in H1 FY2024-25 – up by a strong growth of 26.1% YoY.

· Operational EBIDTA: ₹78.66 crore as against ₹51.17 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

· Net Profit: ₹69.99 crore as against ₹67.78 crore last year. The net profit was impacted by lower fair value gains during H1 FY26. Excluding fair value gains/losses), the net profit for H1 FY26 would be ₹48.47 crore compared to ₹28.20 crore in H1 FY25.

VST Tillers Tractors Limited (VST) is India’s leading farm equipment manufacturer. VST was established in the year 1967 by the VST Group of companies. With a legacy of more than 55 years, VST continues to drive farm mechanization and empowerment of Indian farmers. The organization is the largest Indian manufacturer of Tillers, and 4WD Compact Tractors, and amongst the leading producers of the other category of Tractors, Engines, Transmission, Power Reaper, and Precision Components. VST also exports products to European, Asian, and African markets. For more details, please visit https://www.vsttractors.com/

Educate Girls Wins Magsaysay Award, Honoured 55,000 Volunteers for Transforming Education for Millions of Girls in India

Manila (Philippines), 8th November, 2025: Educate Girls, the first Indian organisation to receive the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, has dedicated Asia’s highest honour to the thousands of field coordinators, volunteers, and local youth mentors who tirelessly work to ensure that every girl in India has the opportunity to return to education and reclaim her future.

Founded in 2007, Educate Girls has spent nearly two decades breaking cycles of poverty and illiteracy, working in four States Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar across more than 30,000 villages. With the support of over 55,000 community-based volunteers since its inception, the organisation has brought back to school more than 2 million girls and supported over 2.4 million children through its remedial learning program.

While accepting the award in Manila, Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls, said, “This award is for our girls, who inspire us with their courage, grit, and resilience. Girls who manage household responsibilities and study late into the night to build brighter futures for themselves, their families, and their country. Through this recognition, we honour the parents, teachers, community members, and 55,000 Team Balika volunteers who stand alongside our girls every day. Their dedication shows that when communities come together to educate girls, every girl has opportunity, choice, voice, and agency.”

Gayatri Nair Lobo, CEO of Educate Girls, said, “This award is a reminder of the incredible power of people coming together communities, governments, local partners, staff, Team Balika volunteers, philanthropists, and other supporters united by one purpose to educate girls. It honours our collective efforts, innovative programs, and the government’s impactful initiatives. More importantly, it fuels our ambition for the next milestone: 10X10 reaching 10 million learners by 2035. Millions of girls around the world are still waiting for their chance to learn, and we are determined not to let them wait any longer.”

In awarding Educate Girls, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation recognised the organisation’s “commitment to addressing cultural stereotyping through the education of girls and young women, liberating them from the bondage of illiteracy, and infusing them with skills, courage, and agency to achieve their full human potential.”

Abdur Rahman, who joined Educate Girls in 2010 as the first employee at the Mumbai headquarters, travelled to Manila to attend the official ceremony. He reflected, “It has been an incredible journey for me and for the organisation. I’ve witnessed its growth just as I’ve seen millions of girls grow alongside us. I still remember walking from village to village in Pali, Rajasthan, meeting families door-to-door, and using a loudspeaker for Bhopu Prachar to mobilise young volunteers. Those volunteers became Team Balika—the backbone of our movement to shift mindsets and break barriers so every girl gets a fair chance. From those humble beginnings in a small village to standing on a global stage feels incredible.”

Balu Gawande, the office assistant who took his first international flight for the award ceremony, said, “As a parent of two girls, this mission is very close to my heart. It’s a proud moment to be part of the Educate Girls team receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award and contributing to a movement that empowers countless girls across India.”

Educate Girls thanked Air India for sponsoring tickets for the first-time flyers — learners and volunteers — to travel to Manila for the award ceremony.

Mumbai, November 8, 2025 — Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), the enterprise AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, announced it has completed its acquisition of Sana, a leading AI company building the next generation of enterprise knowledge tools. The addition of Sana will make Workday the new front door for work – bringing a company’s most critical applications and insights into Workday’s platform, enabling employees to start and complete their day in Workday — without needing to switch contexts.

“By bringing Sana’s leading enterprise knowledge and learning to Workday, we’re creating a single, intelligent interface that connects the systems, data, and actions employees rely on — becoming the new front door for work,” said Gerrit Kazmier, president, product and technology, Workday. “We’re unlocking a new era of productivity, focus, and flow across our customers’ organizations with a complete AI solution for the next-generation enterprise.”

“Sana exists to build the UI for AI and bring superintelligence to work,” said Joel Hellermark, CEO, Sana. “Joining Workday means we can drastically accelerate our vision and together create a seamless way for organizations to access knowledge, automate repetitive work, and learn with agentic AI.”

The New Front Door for Work: An AI-Native Employee Experience

With Sana’s leading enterprise knowledge and Workday’s unique data and context around people and money – as well as a rich ecosystem of builders and partners – Workday is establishing a horizontal intelligence layer across the enterprise. This layer will unify data and workflows from across applications and platforms, providing a consistent, AI-powered experience where knowledge, data, and actions converge. The work experience will become more personalized and proactive, intelligently anticipating employee needs based on their role, team, and project.

Launching next year, this transformative experience will become the home base for work and empower employees with AI agents that provide access to tailored information, anticipate needs before they arise, and take action across a company’s most critical systems.

Unlocking a New Era of Enterprise AI and Learning

Sana Agents extends enterprise AI beyond basic search and chat. Users can use the platform’s no-code agent builder to create AI agents grounded in organizational data that accelerate work by automating repetitive workflows, analysing data, and acting proactively on their behalf.

Sana Learn brings learning management, analytics, content generation, and personalised tutoring into an end-to-end AI-native learning platform. Sana Learn will complement Workday Learning’s robust learning system of record, governance, and compliance capabilities. Together, Sana Learn and Workday Learning provide a holistic, enterprise-grade learning suite designed for an AI-first world.

Digitally Inspired Media Wins Integrated Mandate for OM SYSTEM (formerly Olympus Cameras) After Multi-Agency Pitch

Bangalore, 07th November, 2025: GlobalFoundries (GF) India successfully hosted the latest edition of its flagship technical conference, GF India TeknIka 2025, on November 6, 2025. At the heart of this year’s conference was GF’s proprietary India Foundry Connect Program, designed to accelerate the journey from design to manufacturing for India’s fabless semiconductor startups.

Building on the momentum from last year’s launch, the Foundry Connect Program continues to provide startups with access to GF’s advanced Product Design Kits (PDKs), GlobalShuttle™ Multi Project Wafer (MPW) fabrication, IP libraries, and engineering expertise. The program aligns closely with India’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, enabling eligible companies to fast-track their silicon innovations toward commercial manufacturing.

“GF’s decade-long presence in India reflects our deep commitment to the country’s semiconductor growth story. Through the Foundry Connect Program, we are enabling local startups and OEMs with scalable, reliable manufacturing tailored to their needs—from PDKs, IPs, shuttle for test chips to tapeout. Since its launch in 2024, the program has seen consistent growth in customer engagement. With government initiatives like the DLI scheme, GF will help companies move from design to silicon, empowering India’s fabless semiconductor ecosystem and driving faster product realization.” said Jitendra Chaddah (JC), MD & India Country Head, GF India.

GF India collaborates with IESA and SEMI India for TeknIka

To amplify the impact of TeknIka 2025, GF India has partnered with IESA and SEMI India, India’s premier industry body representing the semiconductor, electronics, and design ecosystem. Through this collaboration, GF India will engage IESA and SEMI India’s extensive network of fabless startups, academia, and industry stakeholders, inviting them to the conference to know more about GF technologies and benefit from the Foundry Connect Program.

“IESA and SEMI India have been at the forefront of uniting the semiconductor ecosystem from startups and academia to global leaders to foster meaningful collaboration and drive innovation with real-world impact,” said Ashok Chandak, President, IESA and SEMI India.

“We are delighted to collaborate with GlobalFoundries India for TeknIka 2025 and the India Foundry Connect Program, which directly complements India’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) initiative and IESA’s Start Up Mitra Initiative. This partnership will accelerate the journey from design to silicon, strengthen the fabless startup ecosystem, and further India’s vision of becoming a global semiconductor design and manufacturing hub.” he added.

GF India TeknIka 2025 serves as a platform to showcase GF’s technology roadmap, foster collaboration with academia and customers, and strengthen ties with policy makers and industry bodies. The conference aims to catalyze innovation and build a robust local semiconductor ecosystem in India.