MAM
Skill India partners with Coca-Cola India to launch the retailer skill development program
Mumbai: To empower the retailer community in the states of Odisha and Uttar
Pradesh, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), working under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) announced a partnership with Coca-Cola India today to launch the Super Power Retailer Program under the Skill India Mission. The program is being piloted in the state of Odisha.
The partnership was formally announced in the esteemed presence of the Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan; Ved Mani Tiwari, COO, NSDC; and Sanket Ray, president, Coca-Cola India & Southwest Asia.
The program facilitates the empowerment and progress of the retailers, marking a significant milestone in Skill India’s efforts to support the workforce. The initiative focuses on enabling retailers by focusing on building their capacity and capability in today’s modern retailing sector. It focuses on providing training to small and micro retailers, equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to better understand consumer behaviours and their preferences. It aims to provide retailers with skills, tools and techniques that are required to succeed in the constantly changing retailer ecosystem and to spread knowledge of best practices, equipping traditional retailers with the right skill set necessary to make their business more profitable, as well as build their business skills.
The Super Power Retailer Program will offer industry-specific skills such as customer management, inventory and stock management, financial management etc. that are tailored to the professional needs of retailers, making the retailers proficient and enhancing their knowledge. As part of the program, the participants will undergo a 14-hour training which will comprise of two hours of classroom session and 12 hours of digital training. The training will include physical classroom sessions along with an app-based Learning Management System (LMS) that is accessible on mobile and handheld devices for online modules. The modules will be hosted on Skill India Digital’s platform (SID) and the training will be executed through a multimedia approach with a blend of videos, and texts, by experienced trainers facilitating learning. The participants will receive a certificate upon completion of classroom, online training, and assessment modules.
Under the partnership, NSDC will support Coca-Cola India in expanding the program’s outreach on SID. This involves creating and refining training content that aligns with industry-specific skill requirements. Additionally, NSDC will facilitate the recruitment of trainers for program implementation and ensure a seamless learning experience by providing the requisite training infrastructure.
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, said, “As the auspicious celebrations of Durga Puja begin today, we launch the Super Power Retailer program in partnership with Coca-Cola India to empower our retailers and provide training to them on expanding their businesses and enhancing consumer experiences. I am confident that the initiative will play a pivotal role in strengthening India’s economy by skilling, reskilling, and upskilling the retailers by paving the way for their growth. I congratulate all the successful self-reliant retailers who have been awarded today.”
“Aligned with the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of making our workforce the biggest beneficiary of developed India, the program aims to provide 14 hours of quality retail training through the Skill India Digital Portal. The retailers will be trained on how to plan and implement business strategies and utilise the vast opportunities extended by digital platforms. The training modules will be available in multiple languages which will enable small shopkeepers as well as big businessmen across the country. We acknowledge this effort to enable a retail ecosystem that will exceed customer expectations, embrace the Future of Work, and provide exponential growth to the industry.” He added.
Reflecting on this milestone, Ved Mani Tiwari, COO, NSDC said, “A transformative revolution is underway within India’s skill development ecosystem, driven by an unwavering commitment to empower the country’s youth and its ambitious workforce through skill acquisition, enhancement, and adaptation. With Coca-Cola India aligning its efforts with Skill India Digital, I believe that both our aspiring and established retailers will receive top-notch training to strengthen their capacity and capability. Guided by the Hon’ble Minister’s leadership, the introduction of the Academic Bank of Credit, a digital repository of prior learning experience will further empower our nation’s youth. I encourage corporations to collaborate with Skill India Digital to position India as the global Skill Hub.”
Coca-Cola India & Southwest Asia, president Sanket Ray said, “At Coca-Cola India, we strive to create value for the retailer ecosystem which is an integral part of the business value chain. In the evolving consumer landscape, equipping retailers with key entrepreneurial and digital skills enhances their relevance for today’s consumers and enables them to be future-ready. We applaud the efforts of the Skill India Mission that fosters innovation and provides industry-specific skills which are accessible to all.”
By collaborating and aligning efforts, the Government of India and industry stakeholders can shape a skilling ecosystem that drives excellence and economic growth.
Digital
Eight-year-old coder steals the show at India AI Impact Summit 2026
Ranvir Sachdeva meets Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman, links ancient philosophy to modern AI
DELHI: Amid a sea of global tech chiefs and policy heavyweights, the loudest buzz at Bharat Mandapam this week came from a boy barely tall enough to see over the lectern.
Ranvir Sachdeva, eight, became the youngest keynote speaker at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, elbowing his way into a line-up dominated by chief executives, founders and ministers. Calm, bespectacled and fiercely articulate, he declared himself a technologist — and spoke like one.
“I’m here as the youngest keynote speaker at the India AI Impact Summit. I’m talking about how I’m linking ancient Indian philosophies to modern-day technologies. I’m also covering the different approaches which the rest of the nations are building AI,” he told news agency ANI.
He added: “I’m talking about how India is building AI with. I’m sharing my own use case of an Indian AI model just released and how I’m contributing to India’s GDP and driving AI literacy with it.”
The summit, held from February 16 to 21 in New Delhi, has drawn global names. Ranvir met Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman on the sidelines, sharing photographs of the encounters. He has previously met Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff and Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.
In 2024, he met António Guterres, United Nations secretary-general.
His most high-profile brush with corporate royalty came earlier. In 2023, during the opening of Apple’s Delhi store, Ranvir demonstrated his Swift coding skills to Apple chief executive Tim Cook in a one-on-one session. Cook later posted: “What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! We’re delighted to welcome our customers to our newest store—Apple Saket!”
What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! We’re delighted to welcome our customers to our newest store—Apple Saket! pic.twitter.com/5Jmi79ixzl— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 20, 2023
Ranvir replied publicly: “Thank you so much, @tim_cook! It was great meeting you today and showcasing my Apple Swift coding skills! You are an inspiration and I so want to meet you at #WWDC2023!”
Thank you so much, Tim! You are an inspiration and I so want to meet you at #WWDC2023 ! 🙂 https://t.co/BVthznLjD8— Ranvir Singh Sachdeva (@ranvirsachdeva) April 20, 2023
The invitation followed. Cook extended a personal call for Ranvir to attend the Worldwide Developers Conference 2023 at Apple Park in Cupertino.
This is not Ranvir’s first turn on the global stage. In 2025, aged seven, he addressed the United Nations’ AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva as its youngest keynote speaker. He spoke for 20 minutes on “Agents of Change: A 7-Year-Old’s Lens on Generation AI for Good”, in front of more than 10,000 attendees from over 180 countries and 53 UN partner organisations.
He shared the broader stage with Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel laureate and Turing Award winner, alongside senior figures from Amazon, Meta and Salesforce. According to a LinkedIn post by the Ardee School, Ranvir argued that “Generation AI are the true changemakers”, highlighting healthcare breakthroughs from bionic solutions and exoskeletons to assistive devices for ALS patients. He called for the democratisation of such tools to bridge the digital divide.
The precocity runs deep. At six, he became the world’s youngest TEDx speaker, speaking on technology and innovation. At five, he won a gold medal as a “Super Presenter” in the 2022 Global Reading Challenge. Media reports say that in 2021 he built a prototype rocket aimed at supporting NASA’s Mars exploration, earning recognition from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In 2023, he became the youngest recipient of a robotics and AI certification from IIT Delhi after a summer workshop at the I-HUB Foundation for Robotics.
He began coding at three.
At an event otherwise obsessed with trillion-dollar valuations, sovereign AI stacks and regulatory guardrails, it was a small voice that cut through. Linking Sanskrit thought to silicon chips, GDP to generative models, Ranvir Sachdeva did more than make history. He made the grown-ups listen.
#WATCH | Delhi: At #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026, Ranvir Sachdeva, Child Prodigy, Technologist, Global Author says, "I'm here as the youngest keynote speaker at the India AI Impact Summit. I'm talking about how I'm linking ancient Indian philosophies to modern-day technologies. I'm… pic.twitter.com/e3OGgtxyDK— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2026
