Brands
Colour me cultured Birla Opus paints Art Mumbai in bold new shades
MUMBAI: Art met its match in colour this year and Birla Opus Paints made sure Mumbai could feel it. For the second year running, Birla Opus Paints, under Aditya Birla Group’s Grasim Industries, returned as the presenting partner for Art Mumbai 2025, held from 13–16 November at the city’s iconic Mahalaxmi Racecourse. With 82 exhibitors, nearly 2,000 artworks, and a buzzing Sculpture Park celebrating pioneering women artists, this edition cemented the fair’s growing reputation as both a cultural landmark and a contemporary movement.
Birla Opus doubled down on its mission to spark artistic conversations through colour, debuting fresh, immersive activations across the fairgrounds. Leading the way was the Birla Opus Lounge, home to Chromatic Conversations, an exploration of how colour shapes human emotion and perception. Designed by Divya Thakur, the space used red, blue, and yellow to represent body, mind and spirit, turning geometric architecture into a contemplative journey between the seen and the felt.
Beyond curated calm, Birla Opus brought creative chaos too. Under the banner #WallsThatWitnessArt, the brand reimagined walls not as dividers but as open invitations, nudging visitors to express themselves freely. The centrepiece? A show-stopping, 50-foot canvas wall, adorned with outlines of Mumbai’s landmarks, where visitors grabbed Birla Opus Aero spray cans and added their own strokes, scribbles and stories.
What emerged by the final day wasn’t just public art, it was a crowd-sourced heartbeat, a mural shaped by instinct, impulse and Mumbai’s collective rhythm.
Among the fair’s most Instagrammed spots were two Birla Opus installations:
. The Living Canvas, where attendees stepped into iconic artworks, blurring the line between viewer and subject
. Currently Under Interpretation, a mirror column urging visitors to reflect on their constantly evolving selves
Both pieces turned art appreciation into a physical, playful and introspective experience.
“The partnership reflects our belief that colour is a catalyst for creation, a medium for storytelling, and a foundation for community,” said Birla Opus Paints head of consumer experience Srikanth SK. He credited the fair’s energy from the lounge to the interactive wall with showcasing how deeply paint can shape artistic imagination.
With a wider footprint, richer programming and a visibly more vibrant crowd, Art Mumbai 2025 strengthened its role as a bridge between heritage and contemporary artistic practice. For Birla Opus Paints, the partnership signals a long-term investment in cultural dialogue, creative exploration, and craft that goes beyond commerce.
As the final brushstrokes faded and the crowds thinned, one thing was clear: this year, Mumbai didn’t just admire art, it coloured it, lived it, and left its mark on it.
Brands
Alphabet Q1 profit jumps 81 per cent as revenue climbs to $109.9 billion
AI-led growth fuels strong gains across Search, Cloud and YouTube
CALIFORNIA: Alphabet Inc. kicked off 2026 with a strong first quarter, reporting an 81 per cent surge in net income to $62.58 billion, powered by robust growth across its core businesses and a sharp acceleration in cloud and AI-driven services.
Revenue rose 22 per cent year-on-year to $109.9 billion, or 19 per cent in constant currency, marking the company’s 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Operating income increased 30 per cent to $39.7 billion, while operating margin expanded to 36.1 per cent from 34 per cent a year earlier.
Diluted earnings per share climbed 82 per cent to $5.11, reflecting both operational strength and a significant boost from other income, which stood at $37.7 billion, largely driven by unrealised gains on equity investments.
Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai said, “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.”
The company’s core Google Services segment generated $89.6 billion in revenue, up 16 per cent year-on-year. Growth was led by a 19 per cent increase in Search and other revenues to $60.4 billion, a 19 per cent rise in subscriptions, platforms and devices to $12.38 billion, and an 11 per cent growth in YouTube ads to $9.88 billion.
Cloud emerged as the standout performer. Google Cloud Platform revenues jumped 63 per cent to $20.03 billion, with operating income rising sharply to $6.6 billion from $2.18 billion a year earlier. The growth was driven by enterprise demand for AI infrastructure and solutions.
Pichai highlighted strong traction in AI, noting that the company’s Gemini models are now processing more than 16 billion tokens per minute, up 60 per cent from the previous quarter. Paid subscriptions across services reached 350 million, while Gemini Enterprise saw a 40 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise in paid monthly active users.
The company also reported that Waymo has crossed 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week, signalling growing momentum in its Other Bets segment, though the unit continued to post a loss of $2.1 billion.
Total costs and expenses increased to $70.2 billion, reflecting higher investments in research, AI infrastructure and talent. Headcount rose to 194,668 employees, up from 185,719 a year earlier.
Alphabet also strengthened its capital strategy, issuing $31.1 billion in senior unsecured notes during the quarter and announcing a 5 per cent increase in its dividend to $0.22 per share, payable in June 2026.
With AI at the centre of its growth engine and cloud demand surging, Alphabet appears to be scaling both innovation and profitability. As its core businesses remain resilient and newer bets gain traction, the company is positioning itself strongly for the next phase of digital and AI-led expansion.
