MAM
IAA announces ‘Gender Sensitisation Drive’
MUMBAI: India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has announced “IAA Gender Sensitisation Drive” the components of which seek to fundamentally change the deep routed bias against women.
The initiative has an acronym “VOW” standing for “Violence on Women” which we seek to stop consciously doing our bit and taking a vow to get rid of this bane in our society.
The initiative consists of two segments. Gender sensitisation Seminars for content creators: The first part of the drive would be to hold a series of Seminars across India to sensitise content writers in film and TV industry, story writers (in print media) and in advertising, to guard against typifying women and on other gender nuances, and create focused awareness about the right way to project women across media.
The Seminars would be addressed by experts in the field and also people of the communications industry.
The first one is scheduled in Mumbai on 16 February. IAA is hoping to have Union Minister of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath to inaugurate it.
Seminars are also being planned in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune in the next few months.
The second segment is multi-media advertising campaign against ‘eve teasing‘: The initiative is a national advertising campaign that will use the creative resources of the communications industry and the strength of media linkages to use creative communications to try and change behavioral patterns in a manner that would benefit women. Eve Teasing has been identified as the critical issue that needs to be addressed.
IAA president Srinivasan K Swamy said, “eve teasing is seen as the mother of most evils affecting women. Today‘s eve teaser is tomorrow‘s molester, and could be a future rapist. It is necessary to nip this in the bud itself. Research and experience of experts in the field like UNFPA and leading NGO‘s like Laadli have also suggested this subject as the critical one to address.”
A national contest would be run inviting entries from creative people all over the country on how to tackle this issue through effective communication.
The entries for this Contest would be judged by the best creative minds in the communications industry and short list some good campaigns; and a jury consisting of leaders from a cross section of society and NGOs would then select the winning campaign.
The IAA would fund the production of this winning entry and use its media linkages to run the campaign on all newspapers and TV channels across the country.
Brands
UpGrad to acquire Unacademy in share-swap deal, founders confirm
Proposed share-swap could unite two edtech rivals as sector eyes consolidation
MUMBAI: The Indian edtech sector may be inching toward another wave of consolidation, with online learning platform upGrad signing a term sheet to acquire rival Unacademy in an all stock transaction.
If completed, the deal would bring together two of the country’s most prominent education technology companies at a time when the sector is adjusting to slower demand and a sharper focus on profitability after the pandemic driven boom.
UpGrad founder and chairperson Ronnie Screwvala confirmed the development in a post on X, stating that Unacademy co-founder and chief executive Gaurav Munjal would continue to lead the company following the acquisition.
“We at upGrad have signed a term sheet to acquire Unacademy in an all stock deal, with founder and ceo Gaurav Munjal staying on to build Unacademy and focus on what it does best, creating online education products that learners love,” Screwvala wrote.
He added that the agreement includes a break fee provision if the transaction fails to close. Screwvala also said the combined entity could strengthen upGrad’s integrated learning model spanning K12 education, professional training and lifelong learning.
Unacademy confirmed that the proposed transaction will be executed through a 100 per cent share swap, with the valuation to be disclosed only after the deal closes and regulatory filings are completed.
Announcing the development on X, Munjal described the agreement as the beginning of a new chapter for both companies and the wider edtech ecosystem.
He noted that Unacademy had spent the past year reshaping its operations to focus more sharply on online education products. Among the steps taken were consolidating company operated offline centres with franchise partners and launching a Rs 50 crore employee stock ownership plan buyback, in which around 40 per cent of former employees have already participated.
Munjal also highlighted the traction gained by Airlearn, the company’s language learning product, which he said is expanding in markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
“Our cash reserves as of today are more than $100 million,” he said.
The proposed deal also marks a turnaround from earlier talks between the two companies that had stalled over disagreements on valuation and structure. Previous discussions had placed Unacademy’s valuation in the range of $300 million to $400 million, according to media reports.
If the transaction goes through, Munjal will continue as co-founder and chief executive of Unacademy, focusing on building online learning products for students in India and global markets.
For upGrad, the acquisition would broaden its footprint across the education spectrum, from school level learning to professional upskilling and lifelong education.
The move comes as India’s edtech sector enters a more sober phase after years of rapid expansion. Companies across the industry have been trimming costs, restructuring operations and seeking scale to build more sustainable businesses.
Against that backdrop, the potential combination of upGrad and Unacademy could signal that the next phase of edtech growth may be driven less by blitzscaling and more by strategic partnerships and consolidation.
