Brands
Oben Electric turns red lights into respect with #SaluteAtSignal
Bengaluru: For once, Bengaluru’s red lights were not about delay. They were about respect.
To mark National Road Safety Month, Oben Electric rolled out #SaluteAtSignal, a week-long, city-level initiative that transformed some of the capital’s most stressful traffic junctions into moments of collective pause and public gratitude for the Bengaluru Traffic Police.
The idea was disarmingly simple and sharply effective. At red signals, commuters were prompted to stop, switch on parking or hazard lights, avoid honking and acknowledge the officers managing the chaos. No slogans, no speeches—just a shared silence at peak hour.
The initiative ran across two of the city’s toughest intersections: Sony Signal in Koramangala and Vydehi Signal in Whitefield. Between 6 pm and 9 pm, when tempers usually fray, thousands of motorists joined in. Congestion gave way, briefly, to calm.
The campaign put faces and facts to the uniform. At Sony Signal, Shanoor Nadaf (pc 15996) of Adugodi traffic police station was recognised for nine years of service, spending nearly eight hours a day—five of them peak—managing close to one lakh vehicles per shift. At Vydehi Signal, Sangamesh Desai (pc 18308), also with nine years on the force, oversees around 15,000 vehicles per shift at one of Whitefield’s most critical choke points.
Informational boards at each junction spelled out the numbers: years of service, duty hours, peak load, vehicles handled. For many commuters, it was a first glimpse of the physical and mental grind behind everyday traffic order.
The context is unforgiving. Bengaluru’s rapid urban growth has stretched road infrastructure and manpower to the limit, with traffic police routinely standing through long shifts, heat, rain and exhaust fumes. #SaluteAtSignal set out to shift the public mood—from impatience to empathy, from blame to shared responsibility.
For Oben Electric, the campaign dovetails with its broader positioning around safety and urban mobility. The Bengaluru-headquartered company designs and manufactures its electric motorcycles and critical EV components in-house at its 3.5-acre facility. Its patented LFP battery technology focuses on enhanced safety and durability, while its Rorr range—Rorr, Rorr EZ and Rorr EZ Sigma—is built for Indian city conditions.
The company now operates 85+ showrooms across 70+ cities and plans to scale up to 150 exclusive showrooms and service centres by March 2026.
But the message of #SaluteAtSignal went beyond products and expansion charts. It was a reminder that road safety is not only about technology or enforcement—it is about behaviour. And sometimes, all it takes is a red light, a few seconds of stillness, and the courtesy to look up and say thank you.
Brands
Ekart expands IKEA partnership with EV deliveries in Chennai
3PL to handle 600 plus products with 48 hour delivery via EV fleet.
MUMBAI: Flatpacks are going electric and your sofa might now arrive with a smaller carbon footprint. Ekart has expanded its partnership with IKEA to power last-mile deliveries in Chennai, doubling down on speed, scale and sustainability in one of India’s key urban markets. Under the collaboration, Ekart will manage end-to-end large-format deliveries for IKEA across the city using a 100 per cent dedicated electric vehicle fleet. The move makes Chennai the second major market after NCR-Delhi where Ekart handles IKEA’s last-mile logistics, signalling a broader rollout of EV-led supply chains.
The mandate is no small load. Ekart will oversee deliveries for over 600 products from IKEA’s catalogue, ranging from furniture to home décor—categories that demand specialised handling and precision logistics.
Backed by its technology-driven fulfilment network, Ekart is targeting deliveries within a 48-hour window, offering real-time tracking and end-to-end visibility from warehouse to doorstep. The focus is clear: faster turnarounds without compromising on control or customer experience.
The EV-first model also aligns with both companies’ sustainability goals, as urban logistics increasingly shifts towards zero-emission solutions. For IKEA, which continues to expand its omnichannel presence in India, reliable and eco-conscious last-mile delivery is becoming central to scale.
For Ekart, the partnership reinforces its positioning as an enterprise-grade logistics player in large-format commerce. The company already supports over 1,800 retail, D2C and enterprise brands, spanning last-mile delivery, part-truckload services and warehousing.
As India’s logistics ecosystem evolves, this collaboration highlights a growing trend: delivery is no longer just about distance, it’s about efficiency, experience and increasingly, emissions.
