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Govt-backed Indian Institute of Creative Technologies incorporated
MUMBAI: Even as Christmas was being celebrated in India and around the world, a new company was created in India. Called the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) it was incorporated on 25 Deecmber 2024.
It has been set up as a section 8 company under the Companies Act. What this section allows is the facility for the company to be converted into a company of other class under this Act by alteration of memorandum and articles in accordance.
The IICT is slated to set up a centre of excellence for the AVGCXR segments. It is being patterned along the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technologies but focused on higher education relating to animation, comics, VFX, gaming, XR and generative AI related to video and the visual arts.
The IICT has the NFDC’s Mumbai address as its mailing address as it is being set up under its umbrella.
The Narendra Modi-led government is putting a lot of emphasis on promoting the Indian AVGCXR sector globally and sees it as a major contributor to employment and revenue generation from the domestic market, as well as through exports and co-productions.
The IICT is one of the means to hone world class talent just like the IITs produce the best engineers. It is planned to develop under a public-private partnership going forward.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
