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Airtel to deliver Microsoft’s Office 365 solution through cloud platform
MUMBAI: Leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel entered into an agreement with Microsoft to deliver the technology company‘s cloud-based Office 365 business productivity solutions to small and medium businesses through its cloud platform.
Under the agreement, Airtel will be able to power SMBs with access to Microsoft Office 365, addressing their connectivity and productivity requirements while allowing them to focus on their core business activities.
Office 365, along with Airtel‘s DSL and Internet Leased Ports/Lines (ILP) services, will empower SMBs with the option to create a public facing website with their own domain name, access to the latest releases from Office 365, state-of-the art anti-virus & anti-spam solutions and most importantly, anytime, anywhere access to documents and emails with best experience delivered on smartphones using Airtel‘s network.
Announcing the partnership, Bharti Airtel CEO – India & South Asia Sanjay Kapoor said, “We are delighted to partner with Microsoft to address the growing ICT needs of the SMB segment. The partnership will allow us to become a virtual CIO for our SMB customers. According to industry estimates, there is a growing affinity towards technology adoption in this segment and their IT spending is surging at a rate of 15 per cent per year.”
SMB segment has shown a high adoption of Cloud computing especially SaaS – which contributes more than 50 per cent to the overall cloud market. “With our superior network experience and Microsoft‘s dependable technology suite we will be able to offer cost effective and secure cloud services in a high growth SaaS market,” Kapoor said.
Commenting on the occasion, Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said, “We are pleased that Bharti Airtel will offer our world-class cloud productivity solution to SMBs in India. Agility, focus and cost are the key reasons why businesses are moving to a cloud and hence Microsoft‘s partnership will allow Bharti Airtel‘s customers to continue to stay ahead of the curve through solutions that truly fit their needs. The agreement will enable SMBs to take advantage of a secure cloud computing environment at an opex model based pricing.”
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
