Brands
Flipkart announces ‘Watch Exchange’ in partnership with Fossil and Goonj
MUMBAI: Flipkart has introduced India’s first-ever online exchange program for watches. This first-of-its-kind initiative is in partnership with leading watch brand Fossil and Goonj. The watches that are received through this exchange program will be contributed to Goonj—an award winning voluntary organization in India. Once the sale is over, the watches will be distributed by Goonj in the areas where they currently offer humanitarian services.
Customers can avail upto Rs.1500 off on watches under Fossil brand (Skagen, Emporio Armani, DKNY and Michael Korrs) in exchange of old watches till end of May 2016.The program is aimed at offering customers’ value for their old watches as well as a chance to upgrade to premium styles, designs and technology.
Commenting on the latest exchange program, Rishi Vasudev, VP – Fashion, Flipkart, said, “Flipkart Watch Exchange, is the first-ever online exchange offer on watches in India which will help customers make a difference. With this new initiative, our focus is to offer customers an easy way to exchange and upgrade to premium models that they desired to buy next. Additionally, our partnership with Goonj will also help customers with the right channel to donate their watches. Last year, we launched our exchange programs for mobiles and appliances which has been a great success. Introduction of exchange program for watches is a first-of-its-kind effort that the Indian watch industry will see.”
Rishi added, “Customers are increasingly browsing and shopping for watches online. Flipkart has witnessed tremendous growth in demand across budget and premium watch brands. With close to two lakh watches from across 50 brands, this is one of the fastest growing category under Flipkart lifestyle.”
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.
