Shikshagraha, a people-powered education movement working to strengthen leadership across India’s public education ecosystem, today announced the winners of the Shikshagraha Awards 2026, honouring three grassroots education leaders whose work has driven measurable, community-led change in government schools and local learning spaces. The awards were presented at InvokED 5.0, a two-day global dialogue on education leadership, organised by Shikshagraha, ShikshaLokam, and Mantra4Change, and held on 6–7 February 2026 at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts (PCPA), Bengaluru. 

The Shikshagraha awardees with the jury members at their felicitation at InvokED 5.0, 2026 

Instituted by The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives (SFPI), the Shikshagraha Awards recognise leaders working both within and beyond formal education systems who are addressing systemic challenges from the ground up. Each award includes a monetary grant disbursed over two years, a trophy and certificate of excellence, structured mentorship, national visibility across Shikshagraha platforms, and opportunities to engage with policymakers, funders and peer networks. The awards are designed not only to recognise excellence, but to help practitioner-led solutions travel further and influence system-level change.

Shikshagraha Awardees 2026
Batskhem Thabah (Meghalaya) — Revitalised a near-abandoned village school into a thriving, community-run learning hub by rebuilding community trust and embedding indigenous knowledge into everyday classroom practice.

Kumari Guddi (Bihar) — A state-level educator advancing adolescent empowerment through menstrual health education, child protection initiatives, disaster preparedness and inclusive, activity-based learning models across schools.

Nellori Subrahmanyam (Andhra Pradesh) — Reimagined rote science instruction through inquiry-led, hands-on pedagogy, reaching thousands of rural students and strengthening scientific thinking and real-world problem-solving.

SD Shibulal, Co-founder of SFPI and Co-founder and Former CEO, Infosys, said, “The Shikshagraha Awards do more than recognise individual excellence; they invest in it. By combining recognition with mentorship and sustained support, we aim to build a pipeline of leaders whose ideas and evidence can reshape education systems for millions of children.”

Strategic partnership with Childaid Network Foundation
Shikshagraha also announced a strategic partnership with the Childaid Network Foundation, a trust-based philanthropic network that has worked across India’s North East since 2006. Childaid’s two decades of local experience through its partners, working with 1,600 government schools and reaching roughly 200,000 children, will be combined with Shikshagraha’s national convening power to mobilise partners, resources and government relationships toward an ambitious shared goal of scaling impact to two million children.

Martin Kasper, Founder & President, Childaid Network Foundation, said, “Partnering with Shikshagraha is a strategic inflection point for Childaid Network Foundation. We hope that together we can leverage the advanced education networks and policy advocacy to help translate our twenty years of local learning in North East India into scale, mobilising partners, resources and government engagement to reach two million children.”

InvokED 2026: A convening for collective leadership
The Shikshagraha Awards were a central highlight of InvokED 2026, a global dialogue on education leadership that convenes policymakers, practitioners, international partners, philanthropists and young leaders to exchange evidence, surface practice-led solutions, and catalyse collective action towards education equity. The convening is designed to bridge the gap between system-level thinking and classroom realities through a mix of plenaries, fireside conversations, curated “braindates”, dialogue corners, and hands-on practice showcases.

Key sessions and themes at InvokED 2026 included:

• Fireside Chat — “Leadership in the New Age”: Wendy Kopp, CEO & Co-founder, Teach For All, in conversation with Shabnam Sinha, on evolving leadership models, networked collaboration and the relationship between global strategy and grassroots practice.

• Systemic leadership and teacher agency: Panels and showcases exploring how district and school leaders can enable teacher-led innovation and meaningful community partnerships.

• 21st Century Skills in the Classroom: Learning experiences that can enable students to drive their own learning, with a focus on practices that develop critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving, key skills for the 21st century

• Technology and evidence in action: “Brain Dates” and panels examining how AI-enabled tools and data systems can support, rather than displace, grassroots pedagogy.

• Vision for a Billion Futures: Insights from across the Global South, focused on accelerating large-scale education improvement for a billion learners.

InvokED’s format intentionally blends storytelling with evidence, pairing short, practice-rich showcases with closed-door roundtables where state officials and frontline educators explore pathways to scale. This approach helps surface implementable insights while building the relationships required to translate ideas into policy action and funding priorities.

InvokED 2026 brought together senior leaders from government, philanthropy and global education networks, including officials from the Department of School Education & Literacy and the Department of Higher Education, international education practitioners, and members of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. 

About ShikshaLokam
ShikshaLokam is an NGO founded under the aegis of The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. The organisation works to restore the agency of education leaders in the K-12 public education ecosystem. By doing so, leaders’ ability to continuously improve is enhanced, they are able to solve the school improvement challenges on their own, and the vision of all our children getting access to quality education as a fundamental right, will be realised. 

As an education leadership catalyst, the organisation co-creates education leadership missions, and builds open-source digital capabilities to enable leaders, along with the government and civil society. ShikshaLokam is a co-builder of the Shikshagraha people’s movement, which aims to bring the government, the CSO, and the community together to improve all 1 million public schools in India. Every year, the organisation spotlights education leadership at InvokED – a global dialogue, and through the Shikshagraha Awards which honour exceptional leaders in education. 

Today, in eight plus years, ShikshaLokam has co-created continuous learning and improvement programs and solutions, impacting more than 450,000 lakhs leaders across 27 States & UTs, with 19L+ micro-improvements triggered by education leaders to enable enriching learning experiences for children. 

In Jan 2023, ShikshaLokam received The Collective Social Innovation Award 2023 by The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, a sister organisation of World Economic Forum, for catalysing collective action to enable systemic education transformation in the Punjab state.

Learn more at shikshalokam.org

MediaTek, the world’s leading fabless semiconductor company powering nearly 2 billion connected devices each year, unveiled the Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500 at the MediaTek Tech Day in Delhi today. Both chipsets are engineered to lead the flagship and premium smartphone segments, delivering outstanding performance, efficiency, AI, imaging, gaming and wireless connectivity, powered by an “All-Big Core” architecture and industry-leading Agentic AI capabilities. Representatives from the media, tech analysts, and OEMs were also in attendance, witnessing firsthand the innovations and advancements showcased by the new chipsets. OPPO India and POCO India also took to stage to announce smartphone lineups for the Indian market, based on the flagship MediaTek Dimensity 9500s SoC.

Anku Jain (MD, MediaTek India); Ken Sekhar (Marketing Lead, POCO India); Anuj Sidharth (Director, MarCom, MediaTek India & SEA); Goldee Patnaik (Head of Comms, OPPO India)

“As leaders in smartphone global share, we are committed to increasing our investment in advanced technologies and striving to make bleeding-edge products available to more people,” said JC Hsu, corporate senior vice president at MediaTek and general manager of the Wireless Communications Business Unit. “This mission is evident in this pair of Dimensity chipsets, which are intended to provide more flagship and premium smartphone experiences while upholding our vision in bringing the best possible performance and power efficiency to more people.”

MediaTek Dimensity 9500s: Designed for the ultimate flagship experience 

Built on a cutting-edge 3nm process and featuring an All-Big Core architecture, the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s delivers powerful performance with improved energy efficiency. 

The flagship SoC features an octa-core CPU comprising one Cortex-X925 ultra core clocked at up to 3.73GHz, three Cortex-X4 premium cores and four Cortex-A720 performance cores. It also integrates the Immortalis-G925 GPU, delivering a full-frame, immersive experience for demanding mobile games and supporting advanced ray tracing to meet the performance expectations of gamers. The powerful NPU in the Dimensity 9500s is optimized for generative reasoning and multi-modal models, enabling a more advanced flagship edge camera experience and enhanced content creation capabilities.

Dimensity 9500s features include:

• 8K full-focus Dolby Vision HDR recording with real-time 30fps motion tracking via the MediaTek Imagiq ISP. 

• Adaptive game technology 3.0 (MAGT 3.0) and frame technology 3.0 (MFRC 3.0) significantly improve energy efficiency, prolonging device battery life.

• 5G Release-17 modem supports 4CC-CA and up to 7Gbps downlink.

• Support for MediaTek 5G UltraSave 4.0 power saving technology.

• AI Network Suite 2.0, designed to enhance network performance in weak connectivity environments

• Support for MediaTek Xtra Range 3.0 technology, extending indoor Wi-Fi coverage, while enabling phone-to-phone Bluetooth direct connections of up to 5 kilometres.

MediaTek Dimensity 8500: Powerful Performance for Ultra-Fast Play

The MediaTek Dimensity 8500 adopts an energy-efficient 4nm process, and the All Big Core CPU architecture includes eight Cortex-A725 cores with a frequency up to 3.4GHz, which further improves performance and energy efficiency. Dimensity 8500 supports accurate scheduling technology and LPDDR5X 9600Mbps memory with higher transmission speed, so users can enjoy smooth and long battery life in daily applications, games and multitasking.

With its fully upgraded computing core and gaming engine, the Dimensity 8500 brings players a refreshing experience with full frame stabilization, rapid loading and high energy efficiency. In addition, Dimensity 8500 also applies ray tracing technology to mainstream mobile games, providing more realistic image quality effects and significantly enhancing the player’s immersion. 

Dimensity 8500 features include:

• MediaTek 8th-generation NPU supports global mainstream big language models (LLM/MLLM) and image generation models.

• The integrated Mali-G720 GPU delivers a 25% performance boost over the previous generation.

• Support AI ultra-clear telephoto algorithm.

• Dimensity AI semantic engine, which can intelligently optimize image content frames.

“With the launch of the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500, we are democratizing the flagship experience. Equipped with All Big Core architectures, agentic AI and flagship imaging capabilities, the chipsets bring next-gen user experience to a wider audience,” said Anuj Sidharth, Director, Marketing and Corporate Communication, MediaTek India and SEA Region.

“Building on the success of the Find X9 series powered by Dimensity 9500, including multiple industry awards received by Find X9 Pro, OPPO will soon introduce Find X9s in India, a new addition to the Find X9 series powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9500s. As the entry point into OPPO’s flagship ecosystem, it reflects a refined and balanced approach shaped by our engineering philosophy, with more details to be shared through our official communication,” said Goldee Patnaik, Head of Communications at OPPO India.

Ken Sekhar, Marketing Lead, POCO India said, “At POCO, performance is a core philosophy that guides how we design and build our devices. Our long-standing partnership with MediaTek strengthens this approach through a shared focus on delivering meaningful upgrades in real-world smartphone performance. We congratulate the MediaTek team on the development of the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s and are proud to bring this advanced platform to a POCO smartphone soon. This chipset will enable a new generation of performance-led experiences, and with our upcoming device, we aim to set benchmarks that truly matter to users.”

MediaTek Tech Day is an interactive platform showcasing the latest innovations shaping everyday life and underscoring MediaTek’s commitment to making advanced technology accessible to consumers. 

SRM University-AP invites applications from aspiring engineers for its M.Tech. Programmes. The varsity offers eight highly sought-after and future-ready programmes, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Data Science, Cyber Security, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, VLSI Design, Embedded Systems and IoT, Materials and Manufacturing Technology, and Thermal Engineering.

SRM University-AP

In a statement issued at SRM University-AP, the Director of Admissions, Prof. Y Siva Sankar remarked, “Our programmes are designed to equip students with foundational principles, technical know-how and cutting-edge research, ensuring that our students are well equipped to excel in both research and professional realms.”

Prof. Siva Sankar further highlighted the university’s ecosystem that boasts of 1200+ recruitment partners, 70+ global collaborations and 80+ advanced laboratories and 7 centres of excellence, he also underscored the M.Tech. highest placement package of 32 LPA.

Reaffirming the university’s commitment to making high-quality postgraduate education accessible to all deserving candidates, the varsity has announced that all admitted students will receive a 100% scholarship on tuition fees along with a monthly stipend of ₹6,000.

The application deadline for M.Tech. at SRM University-AP is February 15, 2026. Interested candidates can submit their applications through applications.srmap.edu.in/m-tech. For more details visit our website www.srmap.edu.in or call toll-free number 080 6988 6999.

From 16th February 2026, prices will increase by INR 11 lakhs for 2 BHK, INR 15 lakhs for 3 BHK, and INR 25 lakhs for 4&5 BHK homes at SKY Towers and Tower C& D.

SPR City to Reinstate Floor Rise Charges

The Chennai based SPR City has received an encouraging response to its residential project, supported by a limited-period promotional benefit of Zero Floor Rise Charges on fully furnished plug-and-play apartments. In view of strong demand for higher floors and rising construction costs driven by volatility in aluminium, copper, and steel prices, Floor Rise Charges will be reinstated effective 16th February 2026.

Homebuyers can continue to avail the Zero Floor Rise benefit on bookings made up to 15th February 2026, representing meaningful savings. This benefit may also be combined with the ongoing ZERO EMI Festival, requiring a 20% upfront payment, with EMIs for the balance commencing after 36 months. For bookings and enquiries, please call +91 81486 81486 or visit www.sprindiasky.com.

This milestone reflects the project’s growing trust, strong market demand, and long-term value for both homeowners and investors. 

As the Men’s T20 World Cup gets underway across India and Sri Lanka, cricket fever is spilling beyond stadiums and into airports. New data from Skyscanner reveals a strong demand in flight searches as Indian fans plan travel around match schedules, underscoring how cricket continues to drive travel decisions across the country.

SuryaKumar Yadav, Brand Ambassador, Skyscanner

With India entering the tournament as defending champions under Indian Men’s T20 captain and Skyscanner Brand Ambassador, Suryakumar Yadav, fans are not just watching from home, they are travelling to be part of the atmosphere. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, Skyscanner recorded an increase in searches to host cities, particularly in January, reflecting growing momentum as the first ball approaches.

Reflecting on the role fans play, Suryakumar Yadav said “I still go back to that catch from the 2024 final – not just for the moment, but for the roar. I think about the fans who travelled across the world just to be our heartbeat in the stands. In India, cricket isn’t just a game, it’s how we live. This World Cup takes us across seven beautiful cities, starting from my home ground at Wankhede, and I know that no matter where we play, the fans will always be there to cheer us on. When the journey is taken care of, you’re free to just lose yourself in the game. I can’t wait to hear that roar from the stands again.”

From Fixture List to Flight Search
Fixtures for the tournament were announced on 25 November 2025, triggering an immediate rise in travel planning. Skyscanner tracked flight searches with travel dates between 7 February and 8 March, covering the full tournament window across India and Sri Lanka.

Overall, India-related searches to host cities started in November, rising throughout the following months, eventually peaking in January. Search volume during week of 19 January went up to 63% higher than the week before. During the most recent week of 26 January, Skyscanner saw search volume reached the highest so far for the travel period during the T20 match period, 35% higher than the week of 19 January. While search demand could be due to various reasons, this is a strong indication of mounting interest from both Indian travellers planning domestic trips and international travellers searching for travel to India for the World Cup period.

Search interest for international host cities Colombo and Pallekele (Kandy) began building earlier, with momentum picking up from November 2025 and peaking through December and January, suggesting that fans planning cross-border travel are booking further in advance compared to domestic trips, driven by visa considerations, flight availability and longer travel lead times.

The travel demand seems to also align with the highly anticipated India versus Pakistan match on 15 February in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Searches for outbound travel to Colombo around the match weekend grew by 9% during the week of 8 December, compared to the previous week, making it a possible travel trigger of the tournament so far.

Neel Ghose, Destination and Travel Trends Expert, Skyscanner India, added, “We’re seeing cricket play a growing role in travel planning. Fans are aligning trips with key fixtures, from domestic flights between Indian cities to cross-border travel for major matches. The World Cup highlights how large-scale sporting events are influencing both the timing and purpose of travel among Indian travellers.”

Skyscanner expects search interest to remain strong throughout the tournament, particularly around knockout-stage matches and potential India fixture, underlining how cricket in India continues to translate directly into high-intent, travel-led behaviour.

About Skyscanner  
Skyscanner is a global leader in travel that helps travellers plan and book their trip with ease and confidence. Every month, Skyscanner connects millions of travellers, in 180 countries and 37 languages, to more than 1200 trusted travel partners so they can find flight, hotel or car hire options.

Founded in 2003, Skyscanner has offices worldwide, in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America where traveller-first innovations are developed and powered by data and insights. Making use of the latest technology, Skyscanner simplifies the complexity of travel and provides honest and transparent solutions, searching around 100 billion prices every day so travellers can be sure they’ve seen the best possible options, all in one place.

TaskUs Inc. (Nasdaq: TASK) a leading provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to the world’s most innovative companies, today launched an Electric Vehicle (EV) transportation program for the daily commute of its teammates in India.

Sapna Bhambani, SVP of Operations and Country Leader, India at TaskUs, unveils the company’s new EV transportation program in Gurugram, advancing greener commutes and reducing carbon emissions

The EV transportation program starts in Gurugram at the TaskUs Mystiqa site, where approximately 20% of the existing fleet will be replaced with environmentally-friendly electrical vehicles. The company plans to electrify nearly half of its Indian fleet by the end of 2026, targeting an interim milestone of 100 EVs by July and a total of 300 units by year-end. Overall, TaskUs plans to transition 45%-50% of its transportation fleet to EVs this year.

TaskUs estimates that more than 35% of all teammates that use the company’s transportation program will benefit from the introduction of EV transportation. Each EV in the fleet will cut carbon emissions by approximately 3.2 metric tons per year, and this initiative in the first year will reduce carbon emissions by nearly 360 metric tons.

“The TaskUs People-First ethos extends far beyond our immediate team; it embraces the communities and cities where we operate. This initiative represents our dedicated contribution to reducing carbon emission and noise pollution in the urban environments we call home,” said Sapna Bhambani, SVP of Operations and Country Leader, India at TaskUs.

This program marks a significant milestone in TaskUs India’s sustainability journey and reflects the company’s continued focus on operational excellence aligned with environmental responsibility. As TaskUs expands its green initiatives, it remains committed to integrating eco-friendly solutions that support both its growth trajectory and its responsibility to the planet.

For more information about TaskUs’ Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) initiatives and commitment to teammate well-being, please visit TaskUs.com and download our 2025 ESG Report.

India is the second largest operations base for TaskUs with more than 15,000 teammates across 6 cities. TaskUs India was recently certified as Great Place to Work(R) for 2025 and was named one of the Top 10 Inspiring Workplaces in Asia for 2025 by Inspiring Workplaces Group.

About TaskUs

TaskUs is a leading provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to the world’s most innovative companies, helping its clients represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fast-growing sectors, including social media, e-commerce, AI, gaming, streaming media, food delivery and ride-sharing, technology, financial services and healthcare. As of June 30, 2025, TaskUs had a worldwide headcount of approximately 61,400 people across 30 locations in 13 countries, including the United States, India and Philippines.

Disruptive, captivating, iconic. Three words that characterise the work of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-born design visionary, whose unique and striking approach to architecture has been captured in a new collection of special-edition Rado timepieces – which may also be described by those same three words.
 

Launch of Rado True Round x Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier® Special Edition

The new releases are the latest output in a long-running collaboration between Rado and Les Couleurs Suisse^®. For Rado, known as the Master of Materials, Le Corbusier’s bold designs and use of modern materials and statement colours strike a chord with its own approach to watchmaking and appetite for innovation. So far, the partnership has seen the release of 12 Rado watches, which focused on deploying contribution to modern architecture – which set the tone for the then-emergent Brutalist style – with each watch referencing one of his most epic projects.

 

Minimalist elegance

The first watch pays tribute to La Cité Radieuse, a vast, concrete apartment building in Marseille, France, completed in 1952, and which reimagined modern urban living. This special edition features an abstract inspiration of the building’s rough-cast, board-formed concrete, known as béton-brut, laser engraved in its high-tech ceramic dial. This offers a highly intricate interpretation of the concrete’s innate texture, with each minute detail intriguingly reflecting the light.
 

Each watch in the series combines four shades from the Polychromie Architectural. First introduced in 1931, and extended in 1959, the palette was identified by the great designer as being eminently architectural, naturally harmonious and able to be combined in any way.

This first watch is presented in Ivory White, reference 4320B, across its monobloc high-tech ceramic case and matching crown and bracelet, telling a story of pure, minimalist elegance. It is the first time that this specific colour has been deployed in high-tech ceramic. It’s worth remembering that the colour runs right through the material – the final hue is not just a coating or finish, but acquired during sintering, when it is heated to 1,450°C. Faithfully recreating an exact shade with this complex methodology is no small thing and took Rado’s experts years to perfect. This timepiece is complemented by hands in Lucent Sky Blue (32021), Luminous Ultramarine Blue (32020) and Light Ultramarine Blue (32023).

 

Monochromatic power
The second watch honours the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the USA. In a region so closely associated with American history, the Center’s bold aesthetic was a stark contrast against the leafy squares and Georgian architecture of Harvard University. As the only building Le Corbusier designed in North America – and one of his last, completed in 1963 – it is part of the nation’s cultural heritage. 

An abstract evocation of its moulded concrete facade features in the dial of this special edition, similarly laser engraved in high-tech ceramic. Showcased in Iron Grey – specifically 32010 from the Polychromie Architectural – the piece conveys the monochromatic power of raw concrete, a material which allowed for the more disruptive, sculptural forms so associated with Le Corbusier. The watch’s lacquered hands offer a dramatic juxtaposition against the dial, in three additional colours from his palette: Cream White (32001), Powerful Orange (4320S) and Slightly Greyed English Green (32041).
 

Monumental design
The final watch in the series celebrates Le Corbusier’s capacity to conceptualise ideas on a truly epic scale through his visionary plan for Chandigarh, India. Conceived as a completely new capital for Punjab, he imagined a more rational, efficient city with a geometric ‘grid’ layout, shared principles for architectural design, and nature carefully integrated – a design legacy that would shape urban planning throughout the rest of the 20^th century.

This special edition includes a dial design inspired by detail from the Palace of Assembly, one of three public buildings known as the Capitol Complex, completed in 1962. An abstract inspiration of a section of this monumental building’s facade is laser engraved in the dial, within a darker palette still. Here, the high-tech ceramic monobloc case, crown and bracelet appear in Ivory Black – 4320E from the Polychromie Architectural – accompanied by lacquered hands in Powerful Orange (4320S), Emerald Green (4320G) and Olive Green (4320F). 

 

Sensuous and scratch-proof
The reverse of all three watches features 63 digitally printed colour strips – representing the full spectrum of the Polychromie Architectural. They encircle the view of the Rado calibre R763 automatic movement within, which can be seen through a flat sapphire crystal that features the logo of Le Corbusier at its centre. The colour strips also decorate the presentation box each watch is supplied in. 

On the wrist, the watch’s high-tech ceramic construction feels impossibly light and beautifully comfortable – the material quickly matches body temperature – while the material’s sensuous qualities are magnetically alluring. The almost scratch-proof characteristics of high-tech ceramic lend it unrivalled durability, just like Le Corbusier’s beloved concrete, while the Rado calibre R763 automatic movement’s 80-hour power reserve – and waterresistance to 5 bar (50 metres) – give it astonishing practicality.

This architecturally inspired collection, pairing the father of modernism with the watchmaking vision of Rado, Master of Materials, represents a poignant new chapter in the story of Swiss design.
 

Rado x Design
Creativity is the lifeblood of Rado and has long been a part of the brand’s identity. Over the years, it has been involved in more than thirty collaborations with some of the world’s most visionary artists and designers, including luminaries such as Le Corbusier. Each project serves to open Rado to new horizons. Accordingly, its passion for design shares pride of place with the brand’s unending mission to discover and develop innovative materials, and is at the core of the brand’s identity, expressed as ‘Design You Can Feel’.
 

About Le Corbusier
Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret in 1887, in the Swiss watch capital La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Corbusier adopted his famous pseudonym in 1920, reflecting his own belief in reinvention and a trend for artists at the time to be known by a single name. That spark of maverick originality runs through the full gamut of his output, which included urban planning, furniture design, painting and writing. While he also enjoyed an earlier career as a watch engraver, it is arguably his architectural legacy that cemented his reputation as a pioneer – indeed as the ’father’ of modern architecture – with many of his disruptive, captivating designs still celebrated today.
 

About the collaboration
Today Les Couleurs Suisse® is exclusively mandated by the Fondation Le Corbusier to license the great designer’s original palette of architectural colours, the Polychromy Architectural (www.lescouleurs.ch/en/thecolours/le-corbusier). This dynamic colour system with a total of 63 colours, developed by the father of modernism and international design and style in 1931 and 1959, is to this day considered the ultimate system for colouring architecture and interiors. As both Rado and Corbusier are considered masters of materials, it makes sense that Rado has introduced Corbusier’s colours in high-tech ceramic. 

 

Rado True Round x Les Couleurs^® Le Corbusier^® Special Edition

Ref.	R27049012
Movement	Rado calibre R763, automatic, 25 jewels, 3 hands, 80-hour power reserve, antimagnetic Nivachron™ hairspring, exceeds standard test requirements from 3 to 5 positions for higher accuracy
Case	Matt Ivory White 4320B high-tech ceramic case and crown, monobloc construction Titanium case back with digital printing on sapphire crystal, featuring Le Corbusier Polychromie Architectural colour strips
	Curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both faces
	Water-resistant to 5 bar (50m)
Dial	Ivory White 4320B high-tech ceramic Laser-engraved abstraction of a concrete surface found at La Cité Radieuse,  Marseille, France
Hands	Lucent Sky Blue 32021 hour hand
	Luminous Ultramarine Blue 32020 minute hand
	Light Ultramarine Blue 32023 second hand
Bracelet	Matt Ivory White 4320B high-tech ceramic
	Titanium 3-fold clasp
Dimensions	40.0 x 47.3 x 10.4 (W x L x H in mm)

   

Rado True Round x Les Couleurs^® Le Corbusier^® Special Edition

Rado True Round x Les Couleurs^® Le Corbusier^® Special Edition

• The round was led by Navam Capital, with participation from BYT Capital.

• The company currently serves leading organisations including the Indian Navy, IOCL, Saudi S-Chem, BPCL, HPCL, Aarti Industries, and GSFC

Octobotics Tech Pvt. Ltd., an industrial robotics company, has announced the successful closure of its Series Seed funding round of approximately Rs. 10 crore.

Octobotics Cofounders Mr Ishan Bhatnagar on left and Mr Gulshan Kumar on right

The round was led by Navam Capital, with participation from BYT Capital. The funds will be deployed to accelerate product development, strengthen field validation, and support international expansion.

Founded in 2020 by Ishan Bhatnagar and Gulshan Kumar, Octobotics develops AI-enabled, vertically integrated Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) robotics platforms engineered for harsh environments across industrial and rail applications.

The company currently serves leading organisations including the Indian Navy, IOCL, Saudi S-Chem, BPCL, HPCL, Aarti Industries, and GSFC, and recorded Rs. 2 crore in annual revenue in the last fiscal year.

“This capital will support R&D for vertical integration and the pursuit of IECEx and ATEX certifications, while expanding our operations in India, Singapore, and the Middle East,” said Ishan Bhatnagar and Gulshan Kumar, Co-Founders of Octobotics. “The distribution-led approach allows us to deploy these systems to assist human operators and reduce the need for manual tasks in hazardous environments.”

Commenting on the investment, Dr. Anjan Ray, Investment Partner at Navam Capital, said, “Octobotics is addressing specific maintenance challenges within critical infrastructure. Their focus on a vertically integrated technology stack and a scalable distribution model provides a clear path for serving the global inspection market.”

In asset-intensive industries such as Oil & Gas, Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Marine, Power, Fertilizers, and Rail, competitiveness is increasingly driven by safety, operability, and asset uptime. However, several high-risk inspection zones—including corroded surfaces, elevated structures, confined spaces, and complex geometries—continue to pose challenges for conventional manual inspection methods.

The company addresses complex inspection challenges by automating hazardous tasks and converting field measurements into actionable asset integrity intelligence. By enabling earlier detection of defects, corrosion, and material loss, Octobotics helps operators reduce operational risk and minimise unplanned downtime. Its robotic and sensor-driven workflows capture high-fidelity inspection data, which is analysed using predictive analytics to deliver a unified, decision-ready view of asset health.

The founders first connected at MERI Kolkata and later built careers in complex international operations. Ishan Bhatnagar previously managed maritime operations and automation at Singapore-based BW Maritime, while Gulshan Kumar served as an Operations & Maintenance Engineer at Belgian dredging major D.E.M.E. Inspired by the “Make in India” mission, they returned to India to build data-driven, field-ready inspection solutions for critical infrastructure.

Octobotics’ product portfolio includes PA RailScan, a PAUT-based system for rail track weld inspection that enables consistent defect detection and repeatable inspection quality at scale; Weld Sensei, an automated inspection platform designed for precision data acquisition in hazardous environments where manual inspection is impractical or unsafe; and Reach Master, a specialised NDT tool developed for inspection tasks in hard-to-reach and high-elevation zones.

About Octobotics

Octobotics is an India-based industrial robotics company building AI-enabled NDT platforms for high-risk inspection environments. The company combines field-grade sensing and robotics with predictive analytics to help operators improve safety, reduce downtime, and extend asset life across industrial and rail infrastructure.

SmartWinnr, a provider of AI-driven sales enablement and learning technology, and HDFC Life, one of India’s leading life insurance companies, have jointly won the coveted Brandon Hall Group Gold award for excellence in the Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology category. The winners are listed at www.excellenceawards.brandonhall.com/winners.

Brandon Hall Group Gold Award

SmartWinnr and HDFC Life were jointly recognized for their collaborative implementation of an advanced digital learning and performance enablement platform designed to support field-force training and coaching. The solution enables continuous learning, faster skill acquisition, and measurable performance improvements through personalized, data-driven coaching.

“This recognition is very special for us because it reflects the real impact our platform is creating on the ground. Working closely with the HDFC Life team, we focused on building learning experiences for their sales teams in everyday customer conversations. Winning a Gold award reinforces our belief that meaningful learning, when backed by the right technology, can drive strong business outcomes,” said Annie Banik, Co-Founder and CEO at SmartWinnr.

“Life insurance solutions are always personalized and long-term. Our constant endeavor is to use innovative learning methodologies to sharpen the selling skills of our sales force. We deployed an AI-powered learning platform in partnership with SmartWinnr to scale up and provide nuanced, personalized feedback to our sales team. We are delighted to receive this global recognition,“ said Vineet Arora, Executive Director & CBO of HDFC Life.

The recognition reflects the growing importance of purpose-built learning technologies that are closely aligned with real business needs across large, distributed sales teams.

“The Excellence in Technology Awards celebrate the most forward-thinking innovations shaping the future of learning, talent, and human capital management. This year’s winners exemplify how technology can unlock new possibilities—improving performance, enabling smarter decision-making, and transforming how organizations support and develop their people,” said Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer and leader of the Excellence Awards program.

Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based upon these criteria: fit the need, program design, functionality, innovation, and overall measurable benefits.

Excellence Award winners are scheduled to be honored at Brandon Hall Group’s HCM Excellence Conference, February 9–12, 2026, at the Hilton West Palm Beach, Florida. Select winners will also serve as presenters in breakout sessions, sharing their leading practices during the conference.

“Our Technology Awards are built on a rigorous evaluation framework that measures true innovation, functional excellence, and quantifiable business impact. The solution providers and organizations recognized this year reflect the highest standards in the industry, demonstrating how technology can accelerate capability, efficiency, and results,” said Mike Cooke, Brandon Hall Group Chief Executive Officer.

The award further highlights how focused innovation in learning technology is helping large organizations build stronger, more agile sales teams in an evolving market environment.

About HDFC Life 
Established in 2000, HDFC Life is a leading, listed, long-term life insurance solutions provider in India, offering a range of individual and group insurance solutions that meet various customer needs such as Protection, Pension, Savings, Investment, Annuity and Health. The Company has over 70 products (individual and group products) including optional riders in its portfolio, catering to a diverse range of customer needs. 

HDFC Life continues to benefit from its increased presence across the country, having a wide reach with branches and additional distribution touchpoints through several new tie-ups and partnerships. The count of distribution partnerships is over 500, comprising banks, NBFCs, MFIs, SFBs, brokers, new ecosystem partners amongst others. The Company has a strong base of financial consultants.

For more information, please visit www.hdfclife.com. You may also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About SmartWinnr
SmartWinnr provides AI-powered sales enablement solutions that help organizations drive peak performance through continuous learning reinforcement, gamification and role-play simulations. The platform ensures consistent messaging across all organizational levels while giving leadership real-time visibility into field performance.

For more information: www.smartwinnr.com.

About Brandon Hall Group™
Brandon Hall Group™ is the home of the HCM Excellence Awards®, the most prestigious and sought-after awards in Human Capital Management. For over 30 years, these awards have set the gold standard in recognizing organizations for innovative and effective HCM practices across Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Human Resources, Sales Performance, and Technology.

Known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management,” Brandon Hall Group’s awards programs attract entrants from leading corporations worldwide, as well as mid-market and smaller firms. With over 150 categories, the awards shine a spotlight on the most innovative and effective organizational achievements and the solution providers who power them.

For more information: www.brandonhall.com.