CHENNAI PLUS

India’s lifestyle trends played out not on timelines but in shopping carts. Orders for Korean snacks and condiments on Instamart surged nearly 5 times year-on-year . 7 of the top 10 protein products ordered were protein bars, new iPhones reached homes in under three minutes in cities like Pune and Ahmedabad, and 1 in every 127 orders included condoms , a telling snapshot of how pop culture, wellness, and intimacy became part of everyday consumption. Instamart’s annual report, How India Instamarted 2025 , captures how viral moments, health-first habits, and evolving social conversations translated into instant, doorstep deliveries across 128+ Indian cities. Smartphones remained cultural icons too as new model drops triggered near-instant deliveries, with the phones reaching customers in under 3 minutes in cities like Pune and Ahmedabad. From premium tech paired with budget lime soda in the same cart to midnight Maggi cravings delivered in under two minutes, India embraced the joy of...

Nuvama Private, the UHNI business of Nuvama Group, unveiled the first edition of its Exclusive Insight Series, aptly named ‘The Exceptionals’.It documents the personal narratives of India’s UHNIs, detailing how they established their businesses through resilience, emotional strength, and long-term vision. These stories also illustrate how they create, preserve, and extend their legacy through philanthropy, succession planning, and contributions to nation-building.   Insights in ‘The Exceptionals’ are gleaned through one-on-one conversations with UHNIs comprising a wide spectrum of backgrounds, industries, and demographics. It captures nuanced facets such as asset allocation, spending habits, and the growing role of family charters and leadership coaching.   Here are some key takeaways:   1.         Growth assets have emerged as sought-after among India’s UHNIs, particularly in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, where 54%allocate over 80%of ...

The Indian Community Welfare Organisation (ICWO), along with several partners, held an Inter-Collegiate AIDS Gaana Song Dance Competition on December 23, 2025, at C. Kandaswami Naidu College for Men in Chennai. The event aimed to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, promote prevention, and reduce stigma through the medium of Gaana music and dance. Students from multiple colleges in Chennai participated enthusiastically, combining social messages with cultural expression. The competition was opened by Mr. PMJF M. Selvakkumar from the Lions Club of Chennai Golden Friends and Dr. V. M. Muthuramalinga Andavar, the principal of the host college, along with members of the CKNCAA. The prize distribution ceremony featured notable attendees including Thiru. M. K. Mohan, the local Member of Legislative Assembly, Tmt. R. Seethalakshmi, I. A. S., Project Director of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, and Dr. Dilip Mathai, Director of Medical Education at Naruvii Hospitals. Thiru. M. K. Moha...

ESDS Software Solution Limited, one of India’s leading sovereign cloud and data center companies,  announced a strategic partnership with , the developer database platform for critical applications in our AI world. This collaboration marks the launch of Couchbase’s world-class, cloud-native distributed NoSQL Database as a service (DBaaS) to Indian enterprises, hosted securely on ESDS’s Sovereign Cloud infrastructure . With this launch, ESDS enables businesses across BFSI, Government, Manufacturing, Telecom, and Enterprise sectors to deploy, scale, and manage modern applications faster — while maintaining complete data sovereignty, security, and compliance with Indian regulations. Unifying Global Technology with Sovereign Cloud Couchbase is engineered for performance, speed, flexibility, and operational efficiency . Through ESDS’s Cloud, the platform delivers active-active availability, memory-first speed, and built-in security , allowing enterprises to power mission-critical...

PowerUp Money, a mutual fund advisory wealthtech platform, today announced that it has raised $12 million in Series A funding , led by Peak XV , with participation from existing investors Accel, Blume Ventures, and Kae Capital , who doubled down on their earlier commitments. The round also saw continued backing from 8i Ventures and DevC, and comes just six months after the company raised $7.2 million in seed funding. India has witnessed a sharp rise in mutual fund adoption over the past decade, with nearly 60 million investors now participating in mutual funds and SIP inflows at an all-time high. However, access to high-quality, unbiased investment advice has not scaled at the same pace. Many investors continue to rely on informal advice or short-term performance indicators, often resulting in suboptimal long-term outcomes. Founded in 2024 by Prateek Jindal, PowerUp Money is building a research-led, zero-commission mutual fund advisory platform to make high-quality, unbiased invest...

Chennai  —  HCLTech , a leading global technology company, announced that it has joined the Microsoft Discovery platform, an advanced agentic AI platform designed to accelerate scientific breakthroughs. As part of this collaboration, HCLTech will participate in deep technical onboarding sessions with Microsoft’s Discovery team to align platform architecture, partner collaboration models and explore joint go-to-market opportunities. Following onboarding, HCLTech will take part in projects to accelerate solutions in areas such as chemistry and materials science, drug discovery and semiconductor design, leveraging its strong domain expertise across industries. Through the Discovery initiative, HCLTech joins a select group of research institutions and tech innovators shaping the next frontier of innovation. The Microsoft Discovery platform empowers R&D teams to conduct large-scale data processing and simulation, automate workflows and accelerate scientific innovation to tackle...