MAM
Bridgers teams up with IIT Kanpur for Upstart 2025
MUMBAI: From ideas to impact, Bridgers is bridging the gap. India’s leading integrated communications agency has signed a strategic MoU with IIT Kanpur’s Entrepreneurship Cell, becoming the official media partner for Upstart 2025, the flagship pitching event designed to empower India’s budding entrepreneurs.
The Nationals kick off in Delhi on 11th October, followed by Hyderabad (1st November), Bengaluru (8th November), and Mumbai (6th December), culminating in the finals at IIT Kanpur from 23rd–25th January 2026. Bridgers will provide end-to-end communications solutions, helping amplify the event’s reach and spotlight the most promising startups across India.
“Startup communication is our forte,” said Bridgers founder Anubhav Singh. “Partnering with IIT Kanpur E-Cell lets us support tomorrow’s founders while contributing to India’s Viksit Bharat vision by 2047.”
IIT Kanpur E-Cell’s Laksh Bansal added, “Bridgers’ expertise ensures Upstart 2025 gets the attention it deserves, highlighting the impact of this event and empowering our country’s future unicorns.”
The collaboration spans strategic campaigns, community storytelling, reputation management, and media engagement across cities and national and regional platforms, bringing India’s next generation of entrepreneurs into the spotlight.
Brands
Govt moves 16.68 lakh email IDs to Zoho cloud platform, spends Rs 180 crore
Rs 180 crore spend backs push for secure, sovereign email system
NEW DELHI: The government has migrated around 16.68 lakh official email accounts to a cloud platform operated by Zoho, with total spending touching Rs 180.10 crore so far, Parliament was informed.
The update was shared by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the Lok Sabha on April 1, highlighting a steady expansion of the Centre’s push towards a secure, homegrown digital infrastructure.
The migration has been carried out by the National Informatics Centre, which appointed Zoho as the master system integrator following a competitive bidding process on the Government e-Marketplace. The selection included a proof of concept phase involving shortlisted vendors and government users.
At its core, the initiative is aimed at creating a secure and sovereign email ecosystem for ministries and departments, with the government retaining full ownership of data and intellectual property. The shift also reflects a broader push to reduce reliance on global platforms for critical communication infrastructure.
Costs are tied to usage. The government pays between Rs 170 and Rs 300 per account per month, depending on storage capacity, which ranges from 30 GB to 100 GB. Billing is based on the number of active accounts migrated to the system.
The latest numbers mark a significant jump from December, when about 12.68 lakh accounts had been moved, including 7.45 lakh belonging to central government employees. The pace of migration suggests an accelerated rollout across departments in recent months.
With millions of accounts already onboarded, the project signals a clear shift towards digital sovereignty in official communications. As adoption deepens, the focus will likely turn to performance, scalability and user experience, ensuring that security does not come at the cost of efficiency.
