MAM
Rashmi Bansal pens India’s givers’ guide
MUMBAI: Give and let live. That’s the mantra driving Live to Give, author and entrepreneur Rashmi Bansal’s latest book that celebrates India’s new-age philanthropists turning prosperity into purpose.
Launched in Delhi in partnership with Accelerate Indian Philanthropy (AIP), the book captures the journeys of 16 visionaries who are redefining giving, from business magnates to healthcare pioneers and family foundations. Among those featured are Ajit Issac, Binny Bansal, Harsh Mariwala, Dr Sunita Maheshwari, Kumari and SD Shibulal, and Rekha Jhunjhunwala, each embodying a unique philosophy of generosity.
Divided into three thoughtful sections: Prana (heart-led giving), Gyaan (strategic philanthropy), and Daan (trust-based giving), the book reveals not just how these leaders give, but why they do. Together, their stories form a powerful narrative of how India’s wealth creators are moving from success to significance.
“Live to Give is not about wealth itself, but what wealth can achieve when guided by purpose,” said Rashmi Bansal at the launch. “True legacy begins when success is shared.”
The book arrives at a time when India’s giving culture is evolving rapidly. With over 350 billionaires and a fast-growing pool of ultra-wealthy individuals, philanthropy is stepping out of the shadows of charity to become a catalyst for change.
The Convergence Foundation founder-CEO and AIP core founder Ashish Dhawan said, “Giving has always been part of India’s DNA. What’s new is the opportunity to make it transformative.”
Backed by Bushfair Publications, Live to Give will see follow-up launches in Mumbai and Bangalore this month, inviting readers to see wealth not as an end, but as a beginning.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
