MAM
Daikin India gets into CSR with ‘Cool a school’
MUMBAI: The world is going digital and so are various brands. Daikin India has started its first CSR activity in the last 13 years through its online campaign ‘cool a school‘.
Daikin, a subsidiary of Daikin Industries Japan has been operating in India since 2000 and its manufacturing plant is located in Neemrana, Rajasthan, one of the hottest places across northern India and also the first place where the brand has started its CSR activity.
Through this video, Daikin is trying to connect with the society and also providing a cool environment to the schools across the hottest rural parts of India. Where children travel long distances by foot to get to school in the blistering heat and due to this most of them stop attending the school.
The video ‘Cool A School‘ is available on the online video streaming platform YouTube, where the company has asked users to come and watch the video and with every millions views on the video, the brand will reach out to another school . The brand has partnered with the local government school at Neemrana to appoint few class rooms with Daikin‘s air-conditioners. The video on YouTube has already garnered more than 10 lakhs views and the brand is moving to adopt another school.
Speaking on the initiative, Daikin Air-conditioning India MD Kanwal Jeet Jawa said, “At Daikin India, we do look beyond business and intend to give back to the society our bit. We believe that today‘s children are going to be the future architects of the society, and to ensure a bright future of them and the society as a whole we must address the issues at the root itself. Through this ‘Cool-a-School‘ campaign wherein we seek to bring efficient air-cooling solutions to the children, our endeavour also remains to spread awareness about other Do-It-Yourself solutions which one can undertake to keep his/her surroundings cooler. We would feel glad if our sustainable initiatives brings cheer to the children of the school, and helps them become more responsible citizens of the country tomorrow.”
AdHog Interactives co-founder Kshitij Rihal said “It was an exciting experience as we got to make real change through our work and initiatives. We spent a lot of time with the children and teachers, went to their homes, and worked on getting a deeper understanding of their problems. We got great insight into their lives, and are now working on providing sustainable solutions for them.”
An official from Daikin confirmed, “The one million views approach is aimed at garnering interest from our consumers. The idea was jointly cracked by Daikin India & our online agency – Adhog Interactive.”
“This was not done to promote sales in the first place but as an effort to build brand equity”, added the official.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
