Business Bureau

Siemens Limited has launched the 14th edition of its Siemens Scholarship Program, inviting applications from deserving and meritorious first-year engineering students from government engineering colleges across India. The programme, based on the German Dual Education model, aims to provide financial assistance to students from economically disadvantaged families while supporting their holistic development and preparing them for careers in engineering, research and development and manufacturing. The scholarship covers all four years of graduation, with 50% of the scholarships reserved for girls. As of 2026, more than 2,300 students from 176 government engineering colleges across 28 states have participated in the programme.…

Aviva Life Insurance Company India Ltd has launched the Aviva Smart Return of Premium Term Plan, a term insurance proposition that provides life cover during the policy period and returns the total premiums paid if the policyholder survives until maturity, subject to policy terms and conditions. The plan allows customers to select policy terms ranging from 10 to 30 years and life cover from ₹5 lakh to ₹50 lakh, subject to eligibility. Entry is available from 18 to 60 years, with the maximum maturity age capped at 75 years. Customers can opt for monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual premium payments.…

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has unveiled Vision 2032, a roadmap for 2027-2032 aimed at strengthening trust and self-regulation across India’s rapidly evolving advertising ecosystem. The announcement was made at ASCI’s 40th Annual General Meeting on Wednesday. Under the roadmap, ASCI Academy plans to establish three Centres of Excellence over the next 12-15 months covering legal and regulatory policy, responsible artificial intelligence (AI) innovation in advertising, and creator excellence and trust. The initiatives will address emerging challenges linked to AI-generated claims, synthetic media, personalised communication, influencer marketing, retail media and new digital formats. ASCI said the Legal and…

Axis Bank and Cognizant have announced the successful implementation and go-live of Cognizant’s Application Management Services (AMS) under the bank’s AMS 2.0 initiative, aimed at strengthening application support, operational consistency and automation. The jointly driven programme focuses on delivery governance, standardised processes and automation-led operations to improve service reliability, cost efficiency, productivity and scalability, while maintaining emphasis on governance, compliance and operational discipline. Spearheaded by Axis Bank, AMS 2.0 is part of its broader technology transformation programme to build a scalable and resilient IT operating model and improve system reliability and stakeholder experience. Under a five-year agreement, Cognizant will support…

PepsiCo has reported progress in its environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives across water stewardship, regenerative agriculture, circular packaging and nutrition, as part of its PepsiCo Positive (pep+) ambition. The company’s 2025 ESG Performance Update said regenerative, restorative and protective farming practices now cover 4.7 million acres across more than 60 countries, while virgin plastic use in primary packaging has been reduced by 6%. In India, PepsiCo engages around 36,000 farmers across 14 states and sources 100% of its chip-grade potatoes locally. Its Lay’s Smart Farms programme covers more than 18,000 mapped acres and provides insights to over 7,000 farmers,…

Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) has secured Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) licences under two new standards, becoming the first steel manufacturer in India to receive the All India First BIS Licence for IS 2062 (Part 2):2026 for hot-rolled quenched and tempered (Q&T) steel plates, sheets, strips and wide flats. The company has also secured a BIS licence under IS 19210:2025 for pre-painted Zinc-Aluminium-Magnesium (Zn-Al-Mg) alloy coated steel strip and sheet. The certifications are expected to expand domestic availability of specialised steel for infrastructure, defence, heavy engineering and industrial applications, while supporting import substitution. BIS certification is mandatory…

Tata AIA Life Insurance has launched Tata AIA Shubh SIP, a unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP) aimed at combining market-linked wealth creation, family protection and retirement planning within a single long-term financial solution. The plan offers market-linked investment opportunities along with Loyalty Additions and Maturity Boosters, subject to applicable policy terms and conditions. Its Waiver of Premium feature includes 1X, 2X and 3X options, while a Family Income Continuation Benefit provides additional monthly income to dependents. The Retirement/Whole Life option enables policyholders to build a retirement corpus and opt for an automatic Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) from age 60, either through…

At the Board meeting of Tata Sons Private Limited (“Tata Sons”) held today, Chairman, Tata Trusts, Mr. Noel N. Tata, tabled a proposal received from the Shapoorji Pallonji Group (“SP Group”) regarding monetization of a portion of the Tata Sons shareholding held by Sterling Investments Corporation Private Limited (“SICPL”) and Cyrus Investments Private Limited (“CIPL”). This was in the context of meetings and discussions held earlier between Mr. Noel N Tata, Mr. N. Chandrasekaran and Mr. Shapoor Mistry.The transaction envisages a sale of such number of Tata Sons shares held by SICPL and CIPL as would, at a minimum valuation,…

Mr. Noel N. Tata, at the Tata Sons Board meeting held today, reiterated the position of the Tata Trusts regarding preserving the more than a century old structure of Tata Sons and the Tata Group which has steadfastly stood for the national good.The Tata Trusts have not agreed to listing of Tata Sons. The communication received from the Reserve Bank of India on 11th September 2026 was discussed at the board meeting today. The Board agreed that all available options, and not listing alone, should be thoroughly explored and assessed on an immediate basis, with the findings and recommendations presented…