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Disney grant program to help 25 countries’ communities and wildlife
Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company has announced the award of grants to 43 non-profit organisations working with communities in 25 countries to protect more than 60 animal species this year as part of its ongoing efforts to support a healthier planet for people and wildlife.
Three non-profit organisations in India will benefit from the grants: the International Rhino Foundation, Panthera, and the Turtle Survival Alliance.
The International Rhino Foundation, which creates rhino habitats in India, will use its grant to protect the Indian rhinoceros by addressing threats such as habitat loss and poaching, as well as increasing numbers through a conservation breeding and translocation program.
Panthera’s snow leopard conservation programme will use the grant to teach villagers, children, and religious leaders about snow leopards and the threats they face in northern India. Building predator-proof corrals for protest livestock, assisting with community income diversification and livestock insurance programs, and conducting ecological studies to better understand the impact of climate change on the snow leopard prey species’ habitat use.
Through its Indian Turtle Conservation program, the Turtle Survival Alliance is working to ensure efficient and effective captive breeding of critically endangered black soft-shell turtles in temple bonds in Assam, north-east India, by breeding and expanding the head-starting facility at Nagsankar Temple in Tezpur. Aside from community education and awareness efforts and the establishment of a reintroduction protocol to aid in the recovery of the remaining turtle populations, the programme seeks to engage local fishermen in the conservation program.
Disney Star head of corp. communications & enterprise social responsibility George Cherian said, “As stewards of the environment, we have an obligation to future generations to pass on a cleaner and greener planet to them. Protecting our wildlife and nature is at the heart of our various sustainability programs, and it’s heartening to see the dedication of our NGO partners, who are so deeply devoted to making a happier and healthier planet possible for all.”
Disney is committed to saving wildlife and building a global community inspired to protect the magic of nature together. Since 1995, Disney has directed more than $120 million and the expertise of our dedicated teams to support organisations working with communities to save wildlife, inspire action, and protect the planet.
eNews
Meta invests Rs 256.6 crore for 30 per cent stake in REIL
Ambani pledges Rs 10 lakh crore for AI over seven years
MUMBAI: Six months after incorporating its artificial intelligence arm, Reliance Enterprise Intelligence Limited (REIL), Reliance Industries Ltd has infused a cumulative Rs 853.2 crore into the venture, tightening its embrace of enterprise AI.
Of the total, Reliance Intelligence Ltd has invested Rs 596.6 crore for a 70 per cent stake. The remaining Rs 256.6 crore came from Facebook Overseas, a unit of Meta, which holds 30 per cent. With the capital in place, REIL formally becomes a subsidiary of RIL.
The investment mirrors the Rs 855 crore commitment the two groups flagged in August 2025, when they unveiled the joint venture to build and scale enterprise AI solutions across India and select overseas markets.
The plan is straightforward but ambitious. REIL will tap Meta’s open-source Llama large language models to develop agentic enterprise AI tools. RIL, for its part, will provide digital infrastructure and access to its sprawling enterprise network, turning the conglomerate into a live testing ground for deployment at scale.
“Partnering with Meta brings our vision of providing AI to every Indian and enterprise to life,” said Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, at the time of the announcement. By pairing Llama models with Reliance’s cross-industry footprint, he argued, the venture can iterate quickly and refine products in real-world conditions.
The move deepens a partnership forged in 2020, when Meta invested $5.7 billion for a 10 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, becoming its largest minority shareholder. The AI venture adds another strategic layer to that alliance.
The funding announcement follows the recently concluded India AI Impact Summit, which drew more than 500 global AI leaders, over 20 heads of state and upwards of 100 chief executives and founders. The mood was bullish, with billions of dollars discussed for domestic AI and data-centre infrastructure.
At the summit, Ambani pledged to invest Rs 10 lakh crore in AI over seven years starting 2026, calling it “patient, disciplined, nation-building capital” aimed at durable economic value rather than speculative gains.
The broader policy winds are favourable. In the Union Budget 2026-27, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earmarked Rs 1,000 Cr for the IndiaAI Mission, alongside measures to strengthen data-centre capacity.
The prize is large. The global AI market is projected to surpass $4 trillion by 2033. India’s own AI economy could reach $126 billion by 2030 and add as much as $1.7 trillion to GDP by 2035, according to the Inc42 Bharat AI Startups Report 2026.
