News Broadcasting
India Today taps Taboola to drive engagement, rev & audience development
MUMBAI: Taboola, one of the world’s leading discovery platforms, has announced an exclusive, three-year renewal agreement with India Today. Under the agreement, India Today will be integrating Taboola’s personalised content recommendations, full page personalisation, newsroom and audience exchange with the goal of driving user engagement, audience development and revenue.
India Today Group is India’s leading and most diversified media conglomerate with magazines, newspapers, books, radio, television, print and internet. India Today first partnered with Taboola in January 2014 with the initial goal of introducing high quality native advertising to consumers, whereby in the new agreement Taboola will work hand in hand with India Today to integrate its full Discovery platform across desktop and mobile devices.
The partnership will leverage Taboola’s suite of platform capabilities. In addition to continuing to serve sponsored content recommendations, India Today will launch Taboola’s Personalization in an effort to increase onsite user engagement. India Today’s properties will also utilize Taboola’s “audience exchange” architecture, which empowers publisher teams to strategically manage and optimize the flow of traffic across the India Today network, driving users to relevant off-site content and high-value video pages.
“We want to double down on serving content that is tailored to users interests and behaviors, so our readers remain engaged and excited about what they are reading,” said India Today Group Editorial Director (Broadcast & New Media) Kalli Purie. “Taboola has already helped us achieve success, we look forward to working towards our goal of driving increased user engagement and audience development.”
“India continues to be one of our fastest growing markets with content consumption and mobile growth on a steady rise. We are humbled to be working with the India Today team in years to come on integrating Taboola’s Discovery platform, and go ‘beyond the widget’ to find meaningful growth around engagement, audience and revenue,” said Taboola founder and CEO Adam Singolda. “Especially in light of massive mobile growth in the Indian market, we’re even more excited to work together on connecting people with content they may like and never knew existed.”
Taboola acts as a search engine in reverse. Instead of expecting people to search for information, Taboola helps information find people at the right time in the form of recommended content. Its predictive engine analyzes hundreds of real-time signals (including location, device type, referral source, social media trends and more) to match users with content they are most likely to be interested in consuming next.
Media consumption in India is on a steady rise and the country has remained a key priority for Taboola, which has established partnerships with several Indian publishers including Times of India, NDTV, Jagran, Bhaskar, Aajtak, Amarujala, Rediff and Deccan Chronicle. The announcement of India Today follows several recent wins by Taboola with leading publishers globally including Entrepreneur.com, El Universal, and Blasting News.
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News Broadcasting
Induction cooktop demand spikes 30× amid LPG supply concerns
Supply worries linked to West Asia tensions push households and restaurants to turn to electric cooking alternatives
MUMBAI: As geopolitical tensions in West Asia ripple through global energy supply chains, the familiar blue flame in Indian kitchens is facing an unexpected challenger: electricity.
What began as concerns over the availability of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has quickly evolved into a technology-driven shift in cooking habits. Households across India are increasingly turning to induction cooktops and other electric appliances, initially as a backup but now, for many, a necessity.
A sudden surge in demand
Recent data from quick-commerce and grocery platform BigBasket highlights the scale of the shift. According to Seshu Kumar Tirumala, the company’s chief buying and merchandising officer, demand for induction cooktops has risen dramatically.
“Induction cooktops have seen a significant surge in demand, recording a fivefold jump on 10 March and a thirtyfold spike on 11 March,” Tirumala said.
The increase stands out sharply when compared with broader kitchen appliance trends. Most appliance categories are growing within 10 per cent of their typical demand levels, while induction cooktops have witnessed explosive growth as households rush to secure an alternative cooking option.
Major e-commerce platforms including Amazon and Flipkart have reported rising searches and orders for induction stoves. Quick-commerce apps such as Blinkit and Zepto have also witnessed stock shortages in major metropolitan areas including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
What was once considered a convenient appliance for hostels, small kitchens or occasional use has suddenly become an essential addition in many homes.
A crisis thousands of miles away
The trigger for this shift lies far beyond India’s kitchens.
Escalating conflict in the Middle East has disrupted shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy corridors. Nearly 85 to 90 per cent of India’s LPG imports pass through this narrow waterway, making the country particularly vulnerable to supply disruptions.
The ripple effects have been swift.
India currently meets roughly 60 per cent of its LPG demand through imports, and tightening global supply has already begun to affect domestic availability and prices.
Earlier this month, the price of domestic LPG cylinders increased by Rs 60, while commercial cylinders rose by more than Rs 114.
To discourage panic buying and hoarding, the government has also extended the mandatory waiting period between domestic refill bookings from 21 days to 25 days.
Restaurants feel the pressure
The strain is not limited to households. Restaurants, hotels and roadside eateries are also grappling with supply constraints as commercial LPG availability tightens under restrictions imposed through the Essential Commodities Act.
In cities such as Bengaluru and Chennai, restaurant associations report that commercial LPG availability has dropped by as much as 75 per cent, forcing many establishments to rethink their kitchen operations.
Some restaurants have reduced menu offerings, while others are rapidly installing high-efficiency induction systems, creating hybrid kitchens where electricity now shares the workload with gas.
For smaller eateries and roadside dhabas, the shift is less about sustainability and more about survival.
A potential structural shift
The government has maintained that there is no nationwide LPG crisis and has directed refineries to increase production to stabilise supply.
Nevertheless, the developments of March 2026 may already be triggering a longer-term behavioural shift.
For decades, LPG has been the backbone of cooking in Indian households. However, recent disruptions have highlighted the risks of relying on a single fuel source.
Increasingly, households appear to be hedging against uncertainty by adopting electric cooking options to guard against price volatility and delivery delays.
If the current trend continues, the induction cooktop, once viewed as a niche appliance, could emerge as a quiet symbol of India’s evolving kitchen economy.
