Brands
ShopClues signs MoU with KOTRA to get authentic Korean products to India
MUMBAI: ShopClues and Momoe Technologies (part of Clues Network) have entered into a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), reinforcing its commitment to making available authentic and premium Korean products on its online platform.
As part of the MoU, KOTRA will identify outstanding Korean enterprises and support their entry into the Indian retail market with the help of ShopClues. In turn, ShopClues will offer an exclusive category called K-Avenue dedicated to Korean products on its website. ShopClues will also hold promotional events with the help of KOTRA while also encouraging Indian vendors to import and sell Korean items on its platform.
“We expect that the advent of Singapore’s Qoo10 into India through Shopclues and Momoe will be a turning point in bringing both premium Korean goods into the Indian market, and Indian products to Korea’s customers,” said KOTRA South Asia Regional Head Office director General Moon Young Kim.
“As Korea’s sole National Trade and Investment Promotion Agency operating in 130 overseas branch offices, including 6 in India, KOTRA will support mutually beneficial activities in both countries. Any Indian company that wishes to be connected with Korean counterparts and products can contact us for our utmost assistance,” he added.
Momoe Technologies, as a part of the MOU, will look into the setting up of logistics centres in major Indian cities and offer logistics services including transportation and customs clearance, to ensure a seamless supply chain. Qoo10-owned logistics company Qxpress will also support the venture by offering competitive international shipping rates to Korean exporters.
By cushioning the heavy resources required of most enterprises looking to enter a new market, the effects of this MoU are expected to enable a smoother entry for Korean brands in India. Additionally, it will provide freer access to a wider variety of Korean products for Indian consumers to choose from.
“This MoU is a win-win for all parties involved, but especially for our Indian customers who will now have access to some of the best and most diverse range of products manufactured by outstanding Korean enterprises. We also see this as a huge opportunity to be able to bring India’s beautiful products to the booming Korean market,” said Shopclues.com co-founder and CEO Sanjay Sethi.
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.
