Brands
Stay fit come rain as playR launches monsoon-ready workout gear
MUMBAI: Rain, rain, don’t go away, just bring the gym indoors today. As the monsoon hits with all its splash and swagger, fitness routines often find themselves washed away in puddles of procrastination. But playR, India’s top performance sportswear brand, is refusing to let weather rain on anyone’s gains.
Best known for its bold, performance-first approach and official IPL merch cred, playR has launched a monsoon-focused activewear range that’s designed to help urban Indians keep sweating even when the skies won’t stop. Their latest offering includes anti-odour socks, ultra-breathable jerseys, quick-dry shorts, and best-in-class no-slip yoga mats, engineered to make home workouts safer and slicker.
Because let’s face it: the commute from sofa to squat mat is the only kind of cardio most of us can guarantee during a downpour.
“Monsoons can often be a reason to skip workouts—not because you lack motivation, but because the weather can be so unpredictable,” shares Ravi Kukreja, the Founder of playR and Director at iCOREts Private Limited. “That’s why we’ve created a range of indoor-friendly workout gear to help you stay on track and feel great about moving your body, no matter what the weather throws at you.”
The brand’s moisture-wicking fabrics and grip-enhanced accessories aim to make living room workouts just as effective as a gym session. Whether you’re flowing through a morning yoga practice, smashing an HIIT circuit, or sweating it out on a virtual Zumba class, playR’s performance-led designs promise to keep you dry, balanced and stylish.
And it’s all built with India in mind both in terms of climate resilience and affordability. Unlike premium international brands that don’t always get Indian weather (or wallet sizes), playR is leaning into local insights. Its products combine high-tech features like odour control and sweat management with street-smart design.
The monsoon-ready line is already available on playR’s website and partner platforms, with prices starting from Rs 499 for accessories and Rs 999 for apparel making it a solid investment for those looking to weatherproof their willpower.
So this season, forget soggy excuses and slippery starts. Whether it’s yoga at dawn or burpees before bed, playR’s got you covered, literally.
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.
