MAM
HIL appoints Pranav Desai as head of innovations
Mumbai: HIL Ltd, a part of CK Birla Group, announced the appointment of Pranav Desai as the head of innovations. Pranav brings over twenty-seven years of experience in innovation, R&D, technical services, new product development, marketing, and product management with renowned organisations such as Reliance, Pidilite, and EFGE Consultants. Prior to joining HIL, he held the position of vice president (new products – VAPs) and head of research & construction development at Nuvoco Vistas Corp Ltd.
This strategic appointment underscores the company’s commitment to foster growth and innovation to expand its global footprint.
Leveraging his extensive expertise in the domain, Pranav will lead the innovation centre of HIL Ltd, further advancing the company’s research initiatives.
HIL’s MD & CEO Akshat Seth said, “We warmly welcome Pranav to the HIL family and are confident that his vision and expertise will propel our company to new heights. Pranav’s appointment will strengthen our leadership team and help expand our capabilities to deliver truly differentiated products for our consumers. His extensive experience across markets and products aligns well with HIL’s diverse portfolio of offerings.”
Assuming the new role, Pranav Desai said, “HIL Ltd.’s commitment to innovation and excellence is inspiring. I am thrilled to join the team and looking forward to contributing towards advancing the company’s vision of diversifying its product portfolio and solidifying its market presence.”
HIL is a leading manufacturer of sustainable home and building materials, offering products in roofing, building, pipes & fittings, construction chemicals and putty, and flooring categories.
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IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
