MSDE to Convene First Meeting of SARTHI to Drive Holistic Transformation of India’s ITI Ecosystem

MSDE to Convene First Meeting of SARTHI to Drive Holistic Transformation of India’s ITI Ecosystem

Mumbai, June 11: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) will convene the first meeting of the SARTHI — Strategic Advisory and Reforms Taskforce for Holistic ITI Transformation, on 12 June 2026 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The meeting will be chaired by Shri Jayant Chaudhary, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Minister of State for Education, Government of India, bringing together senior representatives from Central and State Governments, industry, regulatory institutions and the skilling ecosystem to deliberate on the future direction of vocational training in India.

SARTHI has been established as an apex advisory mechanism under CTS to create a structured platform for strategic dialogue, policy convergence and coordinated action among key stakeholders involved in vocational education and training. The initiative aims to strengthen Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and ensure that vocational training systems remain aligned with evolving industry requirements and future workforce needs.

CTS continues to serve as one of India’s largest institutional skill development frameworks and currently operates through a network of 13,888 ITIs across the country, including 3,326 Government and 10,562 Private ITIs, delivering training across 169 NSQF-compliant trades. As the skill ecosystem expands and labour market requirements evolve, SARTHI aims to provide long-term strategic guidance for reforms across curriculum, assessment, governance, quality assurance, institutional development and industry engagement.

In this inaugural meeting of SARTHI, the Council will deliberate on a comprehensive agenda covering critical areas of vocational training reform. Key discussion areas include the current status of the Craftsmen Training Scheme, implementation of the National ITI Grading Framework, institutionalisation of the Annual All India ITI Skill Competition, strengthening assessment processes through technology-enabled reforms, increasing women’s participation in ITIs, instructor development and qualification standards, expanding access pathways, and improving institutional governance and industry linkages.

The meeting will also provide an opportunity for participating States and stakeholders to share implementation experiences and discuss approaches for improving quality, responsiveness and outcomes across the ITI ecosystem.

Through SARTHI, MSDE seeks to establish a sustained institutional mechanism that enables stronger Centre–State coordination, structured industry participation and informed policymaking to support a more future-ready, inclusive and outcome-oriented vocational training system for India.

Autodesk Bets on Digital-First India: Revamps Autodesk store to a self-serve platform for country’s next gen creators and builders

New Delhi, India  June 11: Autodesk today announced a significant evolution of the Autodesk Store in India, transforming it into a full self–serve procurement platform designed to make professional design and make technology more accessible to startups, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across the country. The move underscores Autodesk’s intent towards a digital–first go-to-market model, simplifying how customers discover, evaluate, purchase, and manage its Design and Make solutions.

India now has 958 million active internet users, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India‘s latest edition of the Internet in India report, making it one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital economies. Given the scale of internet adoption, professional technology purchase experience of Autodesk’s creator community has fundamentally evolved as well. By simplifying access to professional-grade technology and introducing new purchasing and consumption options, the reimagined Autodesk Store aims to lower barriers for businesses of all sizes, particularly emerging businesses and first-time users looking to innovate, design and build for India or Viksit Bharat.

Since its launch in 2017, the platform has steadily grown into one of Autodesk‘s most strategically important customer acquisition channels in India. Today, startups, freelancers, and emerging businesses account for more than 50% of first-time customers on the digital Store reflecting both the scale of India‘s entrepreneurial class and the degree to which digital–first procurement has become the default for a new generation of professionals.

This shift is equally evident beyond traditional metro markets, where growing entrepreneurial activity and rising digital adoption are creating new opportunities for innovation with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities accounting for than more than 20% of Autodesk‘s online customers. The data reinforces how emerging business hubs are becoming key engines of India’s next wave of growth and digital technology adoption.

“India has nearly a billion active internet users — and for this generation, digital is not a channel. It is the expectation. Today, the Autodesk creator community that includes designers, animators, manufacturers want to explore, evaluate and purchase professional technology instantly, just as they would any other product or service online.” said Kamolika Gupta Peres, Vice President, Autodesk India and SAARC. 

“Over the past year, we analysed the online buying behaviour and preferences of our customers and Autodesk’s creator community across India. The insights and feedback have shaped the evolution of the Autodesk Store into a more intuitive, inclusive, seamless and locally relevant experience, designed around the needs of modern Indian businesses and professionals. As Autodesk’s reach expands across Bharat, we are making it easier to access professional design technology, regardless of where they are located.” Gupta added. 

The enhanced platform introduces a set of purchasing models and capabilities designed specifically around how India‘s independent professionals and small businesses operate:

• Wide range of products and payment options: The official Autodesk online Store hosts the complete product range offered in India with over 60 products available for purchase using a wide range of payment options that include Credit card, Net banking, UPI and Debit cards.
• Monthly subscriptions: Professionals can now subscribe to Autodesk products month by month, with entry pricing starting at ₹1,062 per month for AutoCAD Web. A freelance architect taking on a three-month commission, or a startup testing its first product prototype, or any firm with a short-scope design project can access industry-standard tools for exactly as long as they need them.
• Flex tokens (pay-per-use meter): Autodesk Flex, available exclusively on the India Store, lets teams purchase usage tokens starting at ₹29,300 for 100 tokens, valid for a year and usable across multiple users and select Autodesk products.
• Full self–serve commerce, no callbacks required: Customers can generate and share quotes internally for faster approvals, complete multi-product orders in a single checkout, renew multiple subscriptions simultaneously, and manage GST compliance, the full procurement cycle, entirely self-directed.

As software procurement becomes increasingly digital–first, Autodesk has expanded payment options on the platform to include UPI, along with debit cards, net banking, and credit cards—making it easier for customers across India to purchase solutions through familiar, everyday payment methods.  

UTI Flexi Cap Fund – A flexi-cap portfolio with emphasis on business sustainability

Bangalore , June 11 : Setting a realistic financial goal is the first-step towards successful investing for any investor. While looking for an investment option which can consistently reward you is important, it is equally important to understand the risk associated with it to aim for an optimal outcome in the long-term. Mutual fund options can be explored for meeting financial goals ranging from short-term to long-term, while choosing to invest from wide-range of products across the asset class. Here is one mutual fund product category that investors can look for investing in meeting long-term wealth creation goals.

Flexi-cap funds are open-ended equity funds investing at least 65% of total assets are invested in equity assets of companies across the different market capitalizations viz., large-cap, mid-cap or small-cap fund. UTI Flexi Cap Fund is one of the oldest funds in the category and has a long-term track record of consistent performance. The Fund has a corpus of over Rs. 22,200 crores . This offering from UTI Mutual Fund is suitable for any long-term investor looking for a fund that endeavors to invest in quality businesses having potential for creating economic value for investors.

UTI Flexi Cap Fund’s investment philosophy is built around the three pillars of Quality, Growth and Valuation. The portfolio strategy would be to focus on businesses that have the ability to show strong growth for a long period of time and are run by seasoned management.

“Quality” signifies the ability of a business to sustain a high Return on Capital Employed or Return on Equity over a long period of time. Truly high quality businesses are those that are able to generate high RoCEs and also RoEs even during difficult times for their respective industries or sectors and therefore operate above their cost of capital at all times. More often than not, a business with a high RoCE/ RoE shall be able to generate strong cash-flows and these strong cash flows become the source of economic value creation.

“Growth” on the other hand signifies long term secular growth for the business. The fund emphasizes on businesses that have steady and predictable growth trajectory rather than cyclical and volatile growth. Cyclical growth or de-growth can be very sharp and unpredictable and can surprise investors in either directions, as against secular growth where there is relatively more certainty in understanding the long term drivers and hence future outcomes. While high quality businesses create economic value, a high growth business enables compounding of this economic value. It is for this reason that the fund’s favorite hunting ground for stock selection is the intersection of quality and growth.

The last pillar of the fund’s investment philosophy is “Valuations”. Valuations are an important metric as an entry point into a great business and therefore one should very carefully study this before entering a stock. Although a Price to Earnings  multiple is a good starting point for understanding the valuations of a business, it is also a widely misunderstood valuation technique. The P/E is merely a shorthand metric for the firm’s cash flow generation and value creation potential over a long period. More often than not, a high RoCE and high growth business creates more value over the long-term and would hence mathematically deserve a higher P/E. It would still be an attractive investment for long term investors who invest on the basis of business fundamentals rather than on the basis of what would outperform in the next few months or quarters. Therefore, before reaching a judgement by looking solely at P/Es, one has to carefully study the characteristics of each business and then establish the fair valuation band for each of them. The P/E hides more than it reveals and must always be considered in the context of RoCE, opportunity to reinvest in the business and free cash flow.

The Fund invests across the market capitalization spectrum following the “Growth” style of investment. The scheme’s top ten holding consists of ICICI Bank Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., Eternal Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Titan Company Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., Avenue Supermarts Ltd., Bhart Airtel Ltd., Coforge Ltd., Info-Edge  Ltd., which account for around 44% of the portfolio’s corpus as of May 31, 2026.

UTI Flexi Cap Fund is suitable for those equity investors looking to build their “core” equity portfolio and seeking long term capital growth through investment in quality businesses that generate economic value. Investors with moderate risk-profile and looking to invest for at least 5 to 7 years to meet a long-term financial goal, may consider investing in this fund.

Australia’s Universal Fitness Group Enters India in Partnership with EBG Group

June 11: EBG Group has announced an exclusive partnership with Australia-based Universal Fitness Group to introduce a new category of integrated health, fitness, rehabilitation and wellness destinations in India, backed by a planned investment roadmap of ₹300 crore over the next five years. The partnership seeks to address a rapidly evolving opportunity within India’s wellness economy, where consumers are increasingly moving beyond traditional gym memberships towards holistic solutions that combine fitness, recovery, preventive health and lifestyle experiences under one roof.

The Deloitte India and Health & Fitness Association India Fitness Market Report 2025 put India’s commercial fitness market at roughly ₹16,200 crore currently, with projections pointing to ₹37,700 crore by 2030. Membership numbers are expected to follow a similar trajectory, moving from 12.3 million to 23.3 million over the same window. What stands out, though, is a figure that cuts against the optimism somewhat: penetration is still only forecast to hit 1.7 per cent by 2030. In a country of 1.4 billion, it is an indication of how much of the market remains untouched, and it is where EBG Group and Universal Fitness see the clearest opportunity.

Under the partnership, EBG Group will lead development, rollout and operations of Universal Fitness across India. The two companies plan to establish more than 30 premium Health and Fitness Sanctuaries and two destination wellness retreats over five years. Hyderabad and Bengaluru come first, with subsequent expansion into Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune and other high – growth urban centres.

Each facility will span between 40,000 and 45,000 square feet, a footprint considerably larger than a conventional gym and reflective of the breadth of services the platform is designed to house. The facilities have been conceived as integrated wellness campuses, with dedicated zones for advanced fitness training, group studios, Pilates programmes, swim schools, physiotherapy and sports rehabilitation, and AI-enabled body composition analysis. Recovery infrastructure forms an equally central part of the offering, encompassing magnesium mineral pools, infrared salt rooms, cold-plunge therapy and recovery lounges. Select locations are expected to operate round the clock, subject to regulatory approvals. Technogym will power the equipment and digital wellness ecosystem across all sites. The format represents a meaningful departure from how wellness has historically been structured in India.

Dr. Irfan Khan, Founder, Chairman and CEO of EBG Group, said

“India is entering a new era of health consciousness. While the fitness industry has grown rapidly over the past decade, consumers today are looking for far more than access to equipment. They are seeking structured ecosystems that support performance, recovery, preventive health and long-term wellbeing. This partnership reflects our conviction that wellness infrastructure will become one of the defining growth sectors of the coming decade.”

On the market opportunity itself, he added,

 “The numbers clearly indicate the scale of what is possible. A market expected to approach ₹37,700 crore by 2030, combined with low penetration levels and increasing awareness around preventive healthcare, creates the foundation for a new category of premium wellness destinations. Through Universal Fitness, we aim to build spaces that seamlessly connect fitness, rehabilitation, recovery and lifestyle experiences while creating meaningful economic and employment opportunities across the country.”

Speaking on the launch, Kumar Ramachandra, Founder of Universal Fitness Group Australia, was measured but pointed in his assessment of where the Indian market currently stands. “The consumer in India has genuinely outpaced the infrastructure. We were seeing people who understood exactly what their bodies needed – structured recovery, continuity between fitness and rehabilitation, long-term preventive care – and yet had no single destination that could deliver all of it. That is not a gap at the margins.”

Anthony Kerkmez, Co-Founder of Universal Fitness Group Australia, added,

“What we are building here is not another fitness network. The ambition is larger than that, to establish a new standard for what integrated wellness can look like in India, in facilities designed from the ground up around the member’s full health journey rather than a single service. India is one of the most discerning consumer markets in the world. It deserves infrastructure that reflects that.”

For most consumers, accessing fitness, rehabilitation, recovery and preventive health has meant navigating an assortment of separate providers, each operating independently of the others. The Universal Fitness model is premised on a different logic entirely, that these services are most effective, and most valuable to the consumer, when they are brought together within a single membership – led ecosystem. The facilities have been designed with that continuity in mind, as spaces oriented towards long – term community membership rather than transactional, single – service engagement.

Lifestyle disorders are climbing across age groups, awareness around preventive healthcare is no longer confined to older demographics, and a younger urban population is putting real money behind its interest in longevity and recovery. Taken together, these shifts are rewriting what Indian consumers expect from a wellness offering. The demand is there. The more pressing question now is whether the market can build supply sophisticated enough to meet it.

The partnership also carries a significant employment dimension. With each centre expected to hire between 50 and 60 professionals directly – across fitness coaching, sports science, physiotherapy, wellness operations, hospitality, technology support, facility management and community engagement -the network is projected to create thousands of jobs as expansion progresses across cities. As the next phase gets underway, EBG Group and Universal Fitness are finalising site selection, operational frameworks and launch timelines for the first set of flagship locations, laying the groundwork for what both partners intend to build into one of India’s largest premium wellness infrastructure platforms.

AAEON Secures IEC 62443-4-1 Certification, Strengthening Commitment to Industrial Cybersecurity

Certification reinforces confidence in AAEON’s Product Security Development Lifecycle Process in the evolving global cybersecurity landscape.

Taipei, Taiwan – June 11, Leading provider of advanced industrial and embedded AI computing platforms AAEON announced that it has successfully obtained IEC 62443-4-1 certification. This certification validates that AAEON’s Product Security Development Lifecycle Process meets globally recognized standards in cybersecurity practices across every stage of product development.

AAEON initiated its certification effort in June 2025, working alongside independent consulting firms to proactively review its existing practices, ahead of the full implementation of the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) requirements in December 2027. In addition to performing both independent and internal reviews, AAEON implemented detailed standardized procedures, such as security management documentation and supporting forms, while also undertaking comprehensive internal security awareness training programs.

The certification, issued by LCIE (Laboratoire Central des Industries Électriques), France, covers eight key domain requirements, all successfully passed with an assessed Maturity Level 2. Of particular note are the key controls evaluated, such as the presence of a formalized secure development lifecycle, threat modeling and mitigation testing, and a commitment to the periodic review of security defect management practices.

With cybersecurity threats evolving and standardized regulatory frameworks being introduced to meet them, IEC 62443-4-1 certification positions AAEON as a trusted partner for organizations seeking edge AI and industrial platforms that are both compliant and able to reduce operational risk across different industries.

“We strive to be always ahead, and to do this we must continuously improve in all areas, including how we handle emerging cybersecurity threats.” said Howard Lin, CEO of AAEON. “To have formal recognition of how seriously we take such matters sends a clear signal to our customers that we not only adhere to stringent security practices, but that they are a cornerstone of our product development lifecycle.”