CHENNAI PLUS

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited (Ujjivan SFB), serving over 1 crore customers through 800+ branches across 26 States and Union Territories, announced the launch of its new brand campaign ‘Nothing Small About Us’, featuring acclaimed actor and Padma Shri awardee R. Madhavan as its Brand Ambassador. The campaign is rooted in a key customer insight: the word ‘Small’ can sometimes create a perception that the Bank caters primarily to small-ticket financial needs, has a limited range of banking products and offerings, or operates at a smaller scale. ‘Nothing Small About Us’ seeks to address this perception by showcasing the Ujjivan Small Finance Bank of today. Ujjivan offers a comprehensive range of banking solutions across savings, deposits, lending and business banking, forex and NRI services, as well as investment and wealth solutions. Its loan offerings range from ₹6,000 to ₹250 crore, catering to customers with diverse financial needs. Commenting on the campaign, Lakshman Vela...

Bharat Forge Ltd. and Pratt & Whitney Canada announced that they will work together to evaluate the integration of advanced turboprop engines into a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program designed and developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Pratt & Whitney is an RTX business. The collaboration supports India’s indigenous unmanned aerial systems efforts under the government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Pratt & Whitney Canada will evaluate engine compatibility, performance and installation requirements. Bharat Forge will lead engine-airframe integration, including installation design and systems interfaces, drawing on its advanced engineering, manufacturing and aerospace systems capabilities.  "Bharat Forge Aerospace business is proud to collaborate with Pratt & Whitney Canada to advance India’s indigenous aerospace and defense manufacturing capabilities,” said Amit Kalyani, Vice Chairman...

HCLTech a leading global technology company, launched The Silicon Shift: When Every Industry Becomes a Chip Industry , a global research report on evolving semiconductor requirements across automotive, medical devices, network equipment and industrial automation verticals. The survey included 300 senior leaders across engineering, R&D, semiconductor/hardware, product, innovation and technology strategy in the United States, Europe and Asia.  As AI accelerates demand for computing power, semiconductors are becoming increasingly central to business strategy. As per the report, 98% enterprises are more dependent on semiconductors than three years ago and 99% expect that dependency to increase over the next five years, while 71% say AI is increasing the importance of semiconductor architecture as a strategic business decision. The dependency is most acute in industrial automation, where 75% report being much more dependent on semiconductors than three years ago, the strongest acc...

  Chicago Pneumatic India has announced the launch of its new CPS 950-300 portable air compressor, engineered to meet the evolving demands of waterwell, mining and solar foundation drilling applications. Combining high-performance air delivery, fuel efficiency and operational versatility, the compressor is designed to help contractors drill deeper, complete projects faster and improve operating profitability. The drilling industry is witnessing growing operational pressures as contractors contend with deeper drilling requirements, difficult and varying ground conditions, declining groundwater tables, rising operating costs, and increasingly stringent project deadlines. At the same time, the surge in solar infrastructure development is fuelling demand for high-volume foundation drilling, making productivity, precision, and reliability more important than ever. Engineered for Drilling Performance The CPS 950-300 delivers 950 cfm at 300 psig, providing the airflow and pressure r...

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) unveiled its Vision 2032 at its 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM), outlining its roadmap for the period 2027-2032 with a focus on building the trust infrastructure across India’s advertising ecosystem.  The advertising ecosystem is moving faster than traditional safeguards, whether it’s through shrinking review times or formats to monitor or creators changing the control mechanism. Being able to defend, explain and sustain trust at speed and scale is now the key. Brand risk sits inside a wider trust problem with bad actors sometimes hijacking the narrative and consumers seeking evidence and specific explanations. Advertising is also being drawn into larger societal debates around public health, online safety and children’s well-being. The advertising ecosystem, therefore, must be prepared for these changes. Vision 2032 recognises this as a time of great evolution for advertising, which is witnessing disruptions such as artific...

PepsiCo released its 2025 ESG Performance Update , highlighting measurable progress against its PepsiCo Positive (pep+) ambition and demonstrating how sustainability is increasingly embedded in the way the company operates and grows. Globally, PepsiCo has expanded regenerative, restorative and protective farming practices to 4.7 million acres across more than 60 countries, achieved 100% water replenishment at company-owned facilities in high-water-risk areas and reduced virgin plastic use in primary packaging by 6%. In India, PepsiCo continues to make strong progress across these priorities "We're excited by the momentum we're building as pep+ continues to transform our business end to end," said Jim Andrew, PepsiCo Chief Sustainability Officer . "We're making significant progress- from expanding regenerative, restorative and protective practices to 4.7 million acres, reducing emissions of our operations, to evolving our product portfolio to offer more cho...

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) has strengthened its leadership in advanced steel manufacturing by securing Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) licences under two significant new standards. The achievements reinforce the company's commitment to innovation, quality, and the Government of India’s Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives while opening new pathways in infrastructure and heavy engineering sectors. AM/NS India has become the first steel manufacturer in India to receive the All India First BIS Licence for IS 2062 (Part 2):2026 , a newly introduced standard for Hot Rolled Quenched & Tempered (Q&T) Steel Plates, Sheets, Strips, and Wide Flats. Concurrently, the company secured a BIS licence under IS 19210:2025 for Pre-Painted Zinc-Aluminium-Magnesium (Zn-Al-Mg) Alloy Coated Steel Strip and Sheet, marking another major milestone in bringing globally advanced steel solutions to the Indian market. Operational and Commercial Implications of th...

HCLTech a leading global technology company, announced the launch of HCLTech Pulse, a dedicated business unit focused on helping enterprises with annual revenues between $500 million and $5 billion safely scale AI, modernize their technology foundations and accelerate growth. HCLTech Pulse is designed for organizations with enterprise-scale ambitions that have historically had to stitch together niche providers across strategy, platforms, implementation and operations. It helps clients move beyond isolated AI initiatives by connecting AI strategy, data, cyber, platforms, engineering and business-process transformation into a single, integrated transformation agenda. "This segment represents an approximately $400 billion global technology-services opportunity and is growing at 7–9% annually," said Peter Bendor-Samuel, Founder and Executive Chairman, Everest Group. "As these organizations move from AI experimentation to scaled deployment, the market will reward provide...

Swiggy, India’s pioneering on-demand convenience platform, announced the roll out of “Early Cashout” feature for its Food Marketplace delivery partners. With this feature, Swiggy delivery partners across the country can request their payout anytime using the Swiggy Partner app via a simple 3 step process, instead of waiting for it to be credited at the end of the week. The payout will be credited instantly (within an hour) from placing the request. To avail “Early Cashout” as per their needs, Swiggy delivery partners can visit the ‘Easy Cashout’ section on their ‘Earnings’ page of the Swiggy Partner app. They can check their available cashout balance based on their earnings. They can enter the amount they would like to withdraw and click on ‘Cashout Now’. This feature will help facilitate enhanced financial liquidity for our delivery partners towards their day- to-day needs, personal expenses or emergencies. Speaking on the roll-out of the feature, Saurav Goyal, Chief Operating Off...

Cognizant, a leading AI builder and technology services provider, and Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, today announced the successful implementation and go-live of Cognizant’s Application Management Services (AMS) under Axis Bank’s AMS 2.0 initiative for the Bank’s stakeholders. AMS 2.0 is a structured, jointly driven program designed to strengthen delivery governance, improve operational consistency and accelerate the adoption of automation across application support services. Built on automation-led practices, the model aims to enhance service reliability and cost efficiency while enabling productivity, scalability, and standardized processes, with a strong emphasis on governance, compliance and operational discipline.  Spearheaded by Axis Bank, the AMS 2.0 initiative forms a key pillar of the Bank’s broader technology transformation journey. The collaboration underscores Axis Bank’s strategic focus on building a scalable, resilient, and futur...

Ultraviolette Automotive announced the launch of a new UV Space Station in Porur, marking a significant milestone in the company's expanding retail footprint across emerging mobility markets in India. The expansion comes at a pivotal phase in Ultraviolette's growth journey, following the announcement of the company's BIGGA (Big Global Ambition) Factory, the introduction of the Battery Flex (BaaS) platform, and the launch of the X-47 Crossover. With this addition, the company strengthens customer access to its performance-oriented vehicles in Tamil Nadu while further reinforcing its growing national presence as it scales its manufacturing, product, and customer ecosystem across the country. The newly established UV Space Station, in partnership with M/s. Savirro Motors LLP, will provide customers with a comprehensive experience to explore Ultraviolette's performance motorcycles, including the X-47 Crossover and F77s. Designed as an immersive brand destination, the faci...

Interio by Godrej, one of India’s leading furniture brands under the Godrej Enterprises Group, has unveiled its latest campaign for sofas category, highlighting the power of personalisation through a fun and relatable family narrative. The campaign showcases an idea that every family member has their own needs when it comes to a sofa, and personalisation is what brings everyone's needs together. Shot in the style of a melodramatic family drama, the film follows a family shopping for a new sofa at an Interio store, where a playful game of persuasion unfolds. Each family member has their eye on a sofa they secretly want for themselves and tries to convince the others by pitching its feature as a benefit for someone else. The teenage son suggests a sofa with an extended chaise, framing it as ideal for his father's knees. The father counters with a sofa that has a charging port, insisting it is perfect for his wife's work-from-home routine. The wife then makes a case for a so...

This Ganesh Chaturthi, India put a little more thought into what it brought home for Bappa. Eco-friendly clay idols saw the biggest jump (176%) in demand, mawa emerged as the most-ordered modak flavour (145%) YoY, and on the morning of the festival, everything from flowers to modaks arrived in an order that looked remarkably like the puja itself. Bengaluru led the festive basket, followed by Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Gurgaon, and Kochi, among others. The eco-Ganpati is finding its way into more homes Ready-to-place clay idols accounted for 90% of demand, followed by paint-your-own eco idols The biggest jumps came from cities beyond the traditional heartlands of Ganesh Chaturthi. Delhi saw eco-Ganpati orders grow 1,718%, followed by Kolkata at 1,305%, Noida at 1,136% and Bhubaneswar at 1,132%. The Mawa Modak Moment Mawa modaks led the festive mithai demand, followed closely by classic, kesar, kaju, assorted and amba (Mango) modaks. The flavour map loo...

Swiggy, India’s pioneering on-demand convenience platform announced the return of Swiggy Dineout’s flagship dining property, the Great Indian Restaurant Festival (GIRF) but with a twist. This year, GIRF has been reimagined as The Great Indian Ravi Festival, built entirely around the internet's current obsession, Ravi Kishan. The campaign is anchored by the line "Discount Followsss My Brothaaaar", a twist on one of Ravi Kishan's most viral dialogues, tying the internet's favourite movement directly to GIRF's core promise: unbeatable dining discounts. This edition of GIRF will be live from September 14, 2026 to October 24, 2026. Customers can enjoy up to 50% off across 57,000+ restaurants in 84+ cities across India, including a range of cafés, pubs, bars, luxury dining and family restaurants. Diners can also get an additional 10% instant discount on all HDFC Bank cards, along with 10% back as DineCash on every booking made through Dineout. The renaming of GIRF...

Olympian Pranati Nayak, who trains at the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High Performance Centre (Odisha AM/NS GHPC) in Bhubaneswar, has been selected to represent India at the 20th Asian Games 2026, scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4. Pranati is the only Indian gymnast selected for the Asian Games and will compete in the Women’s Vault and Women’s All-Around events in Artistic Gymnastics. Her selection follows a strong run of performances, including a silver medal in the Women’s Vault at the FIG World Challenge Cup 2026 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.   Ashutosh Telang, Director & Vice President – HR & Administration, AM/NS India, said, “Pranati’s selection as India’s sole gymnast for the Asian Games is a significant achievement and reflects her consistency, discipline and determination. At the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High Performance Centre, our focus is on providing athletes with the training and support required to compete at the ...

Amazon announced that its ultra-fast delivery service Amazon Now has reached $1 billion in annualized gross sales in India over the past three-month period. Amazon Now orders have doubled every quarter since launch, making it the fastest-growing e-commerce business in Amazon India's history. The company has expanded Amazon Now to 4X more cities in less than 10 weeks, taking delivery-in-minutes to over 60 Indian cities & towns ahead of the festive season. Apart from the metros, this service is available to customers in towns such as Padubidri, Tirupati, Guntur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Vellore, Dharwad, Warangal & Berhampur among others. These orders are delivered within minutes through a network of over 750 micro-fulfilment and urban fulfilment centers. Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India said “In a short period of time, Amazon Now has crossed $1 billion in annualized gross sales in India, making it the fastest-growing e-commerce business unit in Amazon India’s hist...

HCLTech, a leading global technology company, and CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) announced an expansion of their strategic partnership to advance AI security and resilience by integrating CrowdStrike Falcon® Guardian with HCLTech’s AI Security and Resilience services. Together, HCLTech and CrowdStrike combine Falcon Guardian with HCLTech's cybersecurity advisory, AI governance, implementation and managed services delivered through HCLTech's Cybersecurity Fusion Centers, to help enterprises secure AI applications, models, agents, identities and data while improving visibility into emerging risks. Building on the Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) services launched in March 2026, the expanded partnership brings AI security deeper into enterprise security operations. It combines Falcon Guardian's AI detection and response (AIDR) capabilities with HCLTech's TRiBe framework for AI trust, risk governance and resilience, and VERITY Frontier AI Resilience, a cybersecu...

-       By Capt. (Dr.) A.Y. Rajendra, Chief Executive Officer – Animal Nutrition Business, Godrej Agrovet Tamil Nadu occupies an unusual position in India's dairy map. The state has no native dairy breed to fall back on, and depends almost entirely on crossbred cattle, with Jersey crossbreds alone accounting for roughly 90% of the state's milk production.[1] That single fact should shape how Tamil Nadu thinks about dairy growth: when your herd is built almost entirely on crossbred genetics rather than hardy indigenous stock, nutrition is not a supplementary input, it is the difference between an animal reaching its genetic potential and one that never does. The state's numbers tell a story of steady, if uneven, progress. Tamil Nadu’s annual milk production rose from 8.75 million tonnes in 2020 to 10.8 million tonnes in 2024[2] and per capita milk availability in the state had climbed from 384 grams a day in 2024 to 407 grams a day by 2025. [3]India as a whole produ...

Swiggy India's pioneering on-demand convenience platform, today shared that it has enabled over 50,000 delivery partners across India to file their Income Tax Returns (ITR) directly via its delivery partner app, across its Food Marketplace and Instamart businesses. The initiative enabled INR 6.5 crores of cumulative income tax refund claims for delivery partners. In addition to this, more than one-third of the delivery partners filed the returns for the first time, becoming a part of the formal financial ecosystem. The filing of income tax returns also goes a long way in creating a financial history for the delivery partners. This, in turn, is helpful in gaining access to the formal financial services that may not be readily available to all of them, including availing loans for various personal expenses, rental agreements etc. Speaking on the initiative, Saurav Goyal, Chief Operating Officer, Food Marketplace, Swiggy said, “For our delivery partners, long-term stability is abo...

Despite increasing awareness of mental health, young Indians still face emotional challenges, according to a new survey by Mpower, a social enterprise and mental health service provider under the Aditya Birla Education Trust. The survey titled  "Unpack Your Emotional Baggage: A Call to Action for Young Indians to Seek Help During Emotional Distress"  gathered responses from  young adults aged 18 to 25  from ten key regions in India – Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Jaipur. The study explores emotional stressors, coping strategies, and social reactions to distress among young adults. It lays bare a widespread disconnect between mental health awareness and their willingness or ability to seek assistance.   Although public discussions about mental well-being have grown, findings from the Mpower survey reveal that 49.5% of Indian youth still hide difficult emotions and attempt to deal with them entirely on t...