Brands
Johnnie Walker Luxe Blended Water debuts ‘The Walkers List’
MUMBAI: For over 25 years, Keep Walking has been a rallying cry for bold progress and purposeful action. In its latest expression of this enduring philosophy, Johnnie Walker Luxe Blended Water presents The Walkers List — an avant garde cultural platform bringing together changemakers, creators and innovators all toward creating a movement that embraces the spirit of progress.
The Walkers List brings together a collective of celebrated individuals who challenge norms, reimagine possibilities, and leave a lasting imprint on their communities and the culture at large. At its heart, The Walkers List seeks to inspire purposeful action through collaboration, providing a stage for those who represent the virtue of never standing still.
The platform, in its inaugural edition, is supporting a collective of creative disruptors and collaborators that redefine boundaries and progress in the fields of art, dance, music, and fashion. So, get ready to experience:
. The Walkers Jersey by Virat Kohli x Saina Nehwal – A transformative collaboration that transcends sports to champion equality and progress. Co-created by two of India’s most celebrated sporting icons, this exclusive jersey embodies a powerful commitment to elevating women’s sports and creating equal opportunities. Designed not just for athletes but for every advocate who believes in gender equality in sports, The Walkers Jersey invites supporters to wear their values and walk alongside the change they wish to see.
. Paizār-e-Pashm by Babar Afzal × Aprajita Toor– A bold reimagining of artisanal heritage, where traditional cashmere pashmina craftsmanship meets culturally inspired yet modern footwear designs, to create a timeless impact. Proceeds from the sale of the footwear will go towards the upliftment of the sustainable cashmere pashmina shepherding and artisanal community by Pashmina Goat Project and an NGO supporting handicraft artists in keeping alive traditional arts of India.
. Dhwani by Shilo Shiv Suleman × Colleena Shakti – An immersive art installation that brings together handcrafted metalwork and responsive movement to create a living expression of “keep walking”. This installation was successfully showcased on 27th July, 2025, at Snowball Studios, Worli. This collaboration celebrates community and craft, featuring master Lohar artisans from Jaipur and local Odissi dancers who worked closely to blend traditional Indian metalworking and dance techniques with contemporary vision. The 250-kilogram golden spiral installation transcends static art through movement, light, and human connection, while creating sustainable opportunities for craftsmen and preserving cultural heritage.
. The Planet Song by Ricky Kej × Rashmeet Kaur – A powerful sonic exploration advocating for sustainability and social change through genre-defying track by a Grammy award winning artist and an innovator on traditional folk music forms from India.
With these bold new creations, The Walkers List ignites a powerful cultural shift — inviting audiences to discover how purpose-driven collaborations and fearless creativity are shaping the future, one boundary-breaking idea at a time.
“Johnnie Walker Blended Luxe Water believes progress is never a solo journey. The Walkers List was created to champion individuals who are challenging conventions and shaping the future through creativity and community impact,” said Diageo India CMO Ruchira Jaitly (USL). “With this initiative, we bring the Keep Walking narrative to life — not just through words, but through impactful, positive action.”
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.
