Brands
Fire-Boltt signs MS Dhoni as its new brand ambassador
Mumbai: Fire-Boltt has appointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its new brand ambassador. Dhoni is the latest addition to the brand’s highly aggressive marketing & endorsement plans for India.
The legendary cricketer will be the leading face of the brand and take part in a variety of marketing, advertising, and endorsement activities for Fire-Boltt, which has once again taken the top spot in the Indian smartwatch market with a market share of 28 per cent.
Dhoni is known for his reliability, and the partnership will not only allow the brand to aggressively expand its footprints across the country but will also strengthen its identity as the most reliable smartwatch brand in India.
The association with MS Dhoni will further help Fire-Boltt reach a wider audience, not only in India but across the globe. This partnership will play a crucial role for the brand as the smartwatch market is growing at a rapid pace, and the brand aims to set a benchmark in the smartwatch industry in the near future.
Talking about his association with the brand and the smartwatch, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, “Fitness plays an important role in my life. Being an athlete, consistency is important. Fire-Boltt’s range of smartwatches assists people in performing the right amount of workouts. I’m glad to be associated with a brand that has a global appeal.”
Commenting on this partnership, Fire-Boltt founder and CEO Arnav Kishore asserted, “We are extremely passionate about the addition of MS Dhoni to our group of inspiring ambassadors; he is a natural fit for the brand. The impeccable personality of MS Dhoni and his continuous fame marries well with our vision to carve a niche for ourselves in the fit-tech space. MS Dhoni is one of the most respected cricketers in the world, and he remains an idol for aspiring cricketers across the globe. The association with this iconic wicketkeeper, captain, batsman, or one may say a living legend reflects our unwavering commitment to offering people the best solution to their smartwatch woes.”
“The ethos of Fire-Boltt to foster a holistic experience for each & every customer has been deeply imbibed in all the initiatives that we undertake here, and MS Dhoni embodies Fire-Boltt’s fitness heritage seamlessly. From the factory level to the top management, true & cohesive efforts are reflected in all of our products, communication, branding, and customer relations. With this association, we wish to accentuate our capabilities and become a household name just like Mahendra Singh Dhoni,” added Fire-Boltt co-founder Aayushi Kishore.
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.
