Muscat [Oman], September 19: As Oman continues to expand its footprint as a strategic maritime and logistics hub in the region, Ocean Master Marine Services LLC is positioning itself as a trusted technical partner to the vessels, ports, and shipping companies that keep the Sultanate’s waters moving. Headquartered in the Misfah Industrial Area of Muscat, the company delivers a full spectrum of marine engineering, ship management, crewing, and safety compliance services to clients operating in one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors.

Backed by more than 30 years of combined experience in the marine industry, Ocean Master Marine Services was founded on a simple premise: that vessel owners and operators need a technical partner who understands both the engineering demands of modern shipping and the operational realities of keeping a fleet compliant, safe, and running efficiently. The company’s team of authorized technicians works across main engine and auxiliary systems, fuel injection and calibration, marine electrical and automation systems, and general ship repair and maintenance support — the kind of hands-on technical depth that vessel operators rely on to minimize downtime and extend the operational life of their assets.

A Full-Service Approach to Vessel Support

What distinguishes Ocean Master Marine Services in a competitive regional market is the breadth of its offering. Beyond core engineering work, the company provides technical ship management services, including planned maintenance system (PMS) support, spare parts management, dry dock supervision, and maintenance planning and budgeting — services that allow ship operators to outsource complex technical oversight without compromising on quality or compliance.

The company also plays an active role in crew management, offering crew planning, manning coordination, and crew change assistance, alongside technical training programs designed to keep seafaring personnel sharp on evolving equipment, procedures, and best practices. On the safety and regulatory side, Ocean Master Marine Services supports clients with inspection and servicing of Life Saving Appliances (LSA) and Fire Fighting Appliances (FFA), safety audits, and broader regulatory compliance assistance — critical services in an industry where safety certification is non-negotiable.

Supporting Oman’s Growing Maritime Ambitions

Oman’s ports — from Sohar and Duqm to Salalah and Muscat’s own Port Sultan Qaboos — have become increasingly central to regional trade, shipbuilding, and logistics. That growth has created rising demand for reliable, locally based technical service providers who can respond quickly to vessels in port or at anchor, rather than relying on support flown in from further afield. Ocean Master Marine Services LLC has built its operation around meeting exactly that need, combining a responsive, on-the-ground presence with the technical rigor international operators expect.

“Our goal has always been straightforward: give ship owners and managers a single, dependable partner they can call on for engineering, crewing, and compliance needs, without having to juggle multiple contractors,” said a company representative. “Every vessel that comes through Oman’s waters deserves technical support that matches international standards, delivered locally and efficiently.”

Looking Ahead

As shipping traffic through the Gulf and Arabian Sea continues to grow, Ocean Master Marine Services LLC says it plans to expand its technical workshop capabilities and broaden its crew training programs to keep pace with rising demand. The company remains focused on its core mission: delivering reliable, cost-effective, and technically sound marine support to vessel owners and operators across the Sultanate of Oman.

About Ocean Master Marine Services LLC

Ocean Master Marine Services LLC is a Muscat-based marine engineering, ship management, and crewing services company serving vessel owners, ship managers, and marine operators across the Sultanate of Oman. Its services span main and auxiliary engine servicing, marine electrical and automation support, technical vessel management, dry dock supervision, crew planning and training, and safety and regulatory compliance support. The company is headquartered in the Misfah Industrial Area, Muscat.

Media Contact

Ocean Master Marine Services LLC

Phone: +968 7219 9796

Website: https://oceanmaster-mea.com/

The demand for live music and event entertainment in India is growing rapidly. From weddings and private parties to corporate events and large-scale festivals, organizers are looking for easier ways to book bands, singers, and performers online.

Yet, traditional artist booking often involves multiple calls, unclear availability, unstructured pricing, and limited transparency.

This is where Aruva, a modern artist booking platform in India, brings a more structured and digital-first approach to hiring live entertainment.

From Manual Booking to Smart Platforms

Aruva is more than just a listing platform. It simplifies artist discovery and booking while creating a more organized experience for artists and event organizers.

Through Aruva:

  • Organizers can discover and book live bands for events.
  • Artists can showcase their talent and find more opportunities.
  • Bookings follow a structured and trackable process.

By bringing discovery, availability, artist information, and booking into one platform, Aruva reduces the friction traditionally associated with artist bookings.

Discover Artists Across Genres and Events

Every event has a different entertainment requirement. Aruva connects organizers with a diverse range of performers across music, performance, and entertainment categories.

Whether it is an intimate gathering, corporate event, wedding, or large-scale production, organizers can explore artists based on their event requirements.

Explore Multiple Artist Categories on Aruva

Aruva brings different types of live entertainment together, making it easier to find talent suited to the occasion. The platform offers categories including:

  • Singers & Vocalists
  • DJs
  • Bands
  • Stand-up Comedians
  • Dancers
  • Magicians
  • Motivational Speakers

This diverse talent pool allows organizers to explore entertainment beyond just music and find performers that match the format, audience, and mood of their event.

Find the Right Artist More Efficiently

Finding the right performer shouldn’t require hours of searching through contacts and social media profiles.

Aruva makes artist discovery more organized, allowing users to explore performers based on factors such as genre, location, availability, performance style, and pricing.

This makes it easier to book bands for events in India while reducing time spent on unsuitable options.

Better Availability and Planning

Scheduling is one of the biggest challenges in artist booking. An artist may be perfect for an event but unavailable on the required date.

Aruva brings greater visibility to artist availability, helping organizers plan performances with more confidence and reducing scheduling conflicts.

This is particularly useful when searching for an available live band near you or looking to book a singer for a specific event date.

Transparent Pricing and Structured Bookings

Pricing ambiguity can make artist booking unnecessarily complicated. Aruva brings greater structure to the process by allowing artists to define their rates and providing clearer expectations around bookings.

Organizers can also submit structured booking requests with details such as:

  • Event type and date
  • Venue information
  • Performance requirements
  • Technical requirements
  • Special instructions

This helps artists and organizers stay aligned from the beginning and reduces miscommunication.

Building Trust in Artist Bookings

Trust is essential when hiring entertainment for an event. Artist profiles, verification, reviews, and ratings help organizers make more informed decisions before initiating a booking.

For artists, Aruva provides a professional space to showcase their work, availability, and performance offerings.

The result is a more transparent experience for everyone involved.

Why Aruva Stands Out

As the demand for event entertainment platforms in India continues to grow, Aruva focuses on five key areas:

  • Simplicity: A straightforward way to discover and connect with artists.
  • Efficiency: Less time spent searching, coordinating, and following up.
  • Reach: Access to diverse artists across locations and entertainment categories.
  • Transparency: Better visibility into artist profiles, availability, and pricing.
  • Flexibility: Suitable for private gatherings, weddings, corporate events, and larger productions.

Supporting India’s Live Entertainment Ecosystem

Aruva is contributing to the evolution of India’s live entertainment ecosystem by making artist discovery and booking more accessible.

As the industry moves toward digital-first planning, platforms like Aruva can help create a more connected ecosystem between artists, venues, organizers, and audiences.

The Future of Live Music Booking

The way people discover and hire entertainment is changing. Searches such as “book live band online India” and “hire event performers platform” reflect a growing preference for convenient, organized digital experiences.

Aruva is built for this shift, bringing artist discovery and event entertainment booking into one platform.

Conclusion

Booking live music and entertainment doesn’t have to be complicated.

From discovering the right artist to understanding availability and moving toward a booking, Aruva brings the process together in one place, helping make event entertainment planning simpler and more organized.

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], September 18: The 10th International Conference on Recent Advances in Pain (ICRAPAIN 2026) concluded successfully in Kolkata, bringing together more than 600 pain professionals for three days of scientific lectures, panel discussions, research presentations, masterclasses and practical education.

Held from September 3–6, 2026, the conference was organized by Daradia Pain Foundation with Daradia: The Pain Clinic, Kolkata, under the theme “From Evidence to Practice: Shaping the Future of Pain Medicine.”

The scientific programme covered a broad spectrum of contemporary pain medicine, including musculoskeletal ultrasound, radiofrequency procedures, neuromodulation, spine interventions, neuropathic and nociplastic pain, cancer pain, artificial intelligence and Pain Biologics and regenerative medicine.

ICRAPAIN 2026 also placed strong emphasis on research, with 52 scientific abstracts, including 42 delegate submissions and 10 faculty abstracts. The conference encouraged clinicians and young researchers to move beyond procedural learning toward evidence-based clinical reasoning, patient selection and scientific enquiry.

Post-conference feedback reflected strong participant satisfaction. Among 81 respondents, both the overall conference and scientific programme received average ratings of 9.22/10, while the Live Pain Biologics Workshop received 9.63/10. A detailed report on the scientific programme, participant feedback and highlights is available in the ICRAPAIN 2026 Conference Report and Feedback.

Pain Biologics and New Directions in Knee Osteoarthritis

One of the areas attracting considerable scientific interest was the evolving role of Pain Biologics and non-surgical treatment of knee osteoarthritis.

Lectures and discussions explored Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP), Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC), mesenchymal stromal cells and phenotype-based approaches to osteoarthritis management.

The scientific programme also discussed Ciplostem, an allogeneic bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell therapy developed by Stempeutics Research and marketed in India by Cipla. Ciplostem has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for selected patients with Grade II and Grade III knee osteoarthritis.

The discussion focused on evidence, appropriate patient selection, joint preservation and the potential role of regenerative therapies within a broader strategy for the non-surgical management of knee osteoarthritis.

Ahead of the main conference, a dedicated pre-conference Live Pain Biologics Workshop provided practical exposure to regenerative interventions. A live Ciplostem procedure was demonstrated during the workshop, enabling participating physicians to discuss technique, evidence, safety and clinical selection in a practical setting.

Daradia has subsequently published a comprehensive evidence-based resource explaining Ciplostem for Knee Osteoarthritis, Non-Surgical Treatment and Alternatives to Knee Replacement, including its regulatory status, clinical evidence, patient selection, safety and comparisons with PRP and BMAC.

The organizers emphasized that emerging biologic therapies should be evaluated through evidence rather than enthusiasm alone, with treatment individualized according to disease stage, biomechanics, symptoms, function and patient expectations.

Following its landmark 10th edition, ICRAPAIN will continue its focus on scientific education, research, innovation, practical training and responsible translation of emerging technologies into pain practice.

About the Organizers:

ICRAPAIN is organized by Daradia Pain Foundation with Daradia: The Pain Clinic, Kolkata, with a focus on pain medicine education, research, physician training and international academic collaboration.

New Delhi, India – September 17, 2026: Finding the right technology partner has become an important part of digital transformation. For businesses today, choosing a MarTech partner can be surprisingly difficult. There are hundreds of agencies, consultants and technology specialists offering services across analytics, marketing automation, customer data, SEO, personalization, advertising and conversion optimization. The challenge is often not finding a company, but finding the right company for a particular requirement.

With this challenge in mind, MartechPartners.co has launched as a dedicated platform for businesses looking to discover MarTech partners for their specific needs.

The idea behind the platform is simple: instead of spending hours searching Google, browsing agency websites or asking for recommendations, businesses can start their search from one place and explore partners based on the MarTech service they are looking for.

Whether a company needs help with analytics implementation, marketing automation, a customer data platform, SEO, A/B testing, personalization or programmatic advertising, MartechPartners.co brings these different areas together under one platform.

A growing MarTech ecosystem

Marketing technology has changed considerably over the last few years. What was once largely about website analytics and email marketing has expanded into a much broader ecosystem involving customer data, automation, advertising platforms, experimentation, personalization and digital experience.

For many businesses, managing these technologies internally is not always practical. They may have the technology but need an experienced partner to implement it, integrate it with their existing systems or help their teams get more value from it.

This is where finding the right MarTech partner becomes important.

A business implementing a CDP, for example, may need support with data architecture, integrations, audience creation and activation. Similarly, an organization investing in analytics may require help with implementation, reporting, measurement strategy and ongoing optimization.

The right partner can therefore depend heavily on the project, technology and business objective.

One place to explore different MarTech capabilities

MartechPartners.co brings together different areas of MarTech under one roof. Businesses can explore partners across categories such as digital analytics, marketing automation, CDP, SEO, CRO, A/B testing, personalization, programmatic advertising, performance marketing and digital experience.

The platform is particularly relevant for businesses that already know what they need but may not know which type of partner to approach.

For example, a marketing team looking for an SEO partner can explore companies specializing in search. An enterprise planning a marketing automation implementation can look for specialists in that area, while a digital team working on conversion optimization can explore CRO and experimentation partners.

This approach makes the starting point more focused and can help businesses narrow down their search more efficiently.

More than just finding an agency

Selecting a MarTech partner is rarely just about comparing service lists. Businesses also need to consider technology experience, implementation capabilities, industry knowledge, project requirements and the kind of support they need after implementation.

Some organizations may need a partner for a specific project, while others may be looking for a long-term managed services relationship.

MartechPartners.co provides a starting point for that discovery process by allowing businesses to explore partners according to their areas of expertise.

The platform can be useful for marketing leaders, CMOs, digital teams, analytics professionals, technology teams and business owners who are evaluating MarTech services or planning a new digital initiative.

An opportunity for MarTech service providers

The platform is also aimed at MarTech agencies and consulting companies that want to reach businesses actively looking for specialized expertise.

The MarTech market has become highly fragmented. Alongside large consulting companies, there are many specialist firms focused on individual technologies or specific areas of digital marketing.

A specialist analytics company, for instance, may have deep expertise in measurement and data but may not position itself as a traditional digital marketing agency. Similarly, a CRO company may focus almost entirely on experimentation and website optimization.

MartechPartners.co gives such companies a focused environment where their capabilities can be discovered by businesses looking for specific MarTech expertise.

Helping businesses navigate a complex technology landscape

The growing use of AI, customer data, automation and digital advertising is likely to make the MarTech ecosystem even more diverse. Businesses will continue to adopt new platforms, while existing technology stacks will require integration, optimization and ongoing management.

As this happens, the role of specialized partners is becoming increasingly relevant.

MartechPartners.co aims to make the first step of that journey easier: finding companies that can potentially help solve a specific MarTech challenge.

Rather than positioning itself as another generic business directory, the platform is focused specifically on the marketing technology ecosystem and the different capabilities businesses may require.

Businesses can visit https://martechpartners.co/ to explore MarTech partners and discover companies across different MarTech categories, capabilities and areas of expertise.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 18: India is about to undertake one of the largest city-building exercises in human history. By 2036, India’s towns and cities are expected to be home to 600 million people. Cities already generate around 63% of India’s GDP, a figure projected to reach 75% by 2036. The World Bank estimates that India will need to invest approximately US$840 billion in urban infrastructure over 15 years to meet the demands of this transformation. Meanwhile, India’s real estate industry itself is projected to grow from approximately US$290 billion in 2025 to US$970 billion by 2030.

But perhaps the most important question is not how much India will build.

It is what kind of cities all that investment will create.

For decades, urban development has been measured in square feet constructed, kilometres of metro completed, homes delivered and capital invested.

The next competition between cities may be about something much harder to quantify: experience.

Can you walk comfortably? Can you reach work without losing hours in traffic? Is there a park, waterfront or great public space close to home? Does the street invite you to stay? Does the city remain safe, interesting and economically active after dark?

These aren’t merely lifestyle questions. Increasingly, they influence where talent chooses to live, where businesses locate and where investment creates long-term value.

“The next chapter of India’s urbanisation has to move beyond counting kilometres of metro, square feet of development and investment committed,” says Prathima Manohar, Founder of The Urban Vision.

“Those are important inputs. The real outcome is quality of life. The cities that win the next generation of talent and investment will be places where people genuinely want to live, work, walk, meet and stay.”

Sydney as an Urban Classroom

It is against this backdrop that The Urban Vision is convening the Urban Leaders Retreat – Sydney 2026, from 26–29 October.

Following its previous Urban Leaders Retreat in Tokyo, The Urban Vision is bringing a curated delegation of around 20 senior Indian developers, architects, infrastructure professionals, planners and city leaders to Sydney for four days of immersive learning.

Sydney offers an interesting laboratory.

Barangaroo demonstrates the transformation of former port land into a major mixed-use waterfront district. Green Square offers lessons in large-scale urban renewal and transit-oriented growth. Parramatta reflects the development of a polycentric metropolis.

Perhaps most visibly, George Street illustrates a fundamental rethink of what valuable urban space means. More than 9,000 square metres of additional space has already been created for walking and dining through its transformation from a traffic-dominated corridor into a pedestrian and light-rail boulevard.

The programme will also explore Darling Harbour, Sydney Fish Market and Sydney’s 24-hour economy, alongside conversations on regeneration, placemaking, mobility, sustainability, governance and public space.

Rather than holding another conference about cities, the idea is simple:

Use the city itself as the classroom.

From Tokyo to Sydney

The Sydney programme builds on The Urban Vision’s previous learning journey through Tokyo, where participants examined rail-led development, mixed-use urban districts, public realm, regeneration and the extraordinary relationship between transit and real estate that has shaped the Japanese capital.

Sydney is the next chapter.

And the lessons are not intended to be copied.

They are intended to provoke better questions about India.

For India’s architects, developers and city leaders, the challenge is no longer simply how much we can build, but what kind of life our buildings, streets and neighbourhoods make possible.

Because ultimately, a great city is not measured only by the height of its skyline or the scale of its infrastructure.

It is measured by the quality of everyday life.

Join the Urban Leaders Retreat – Sydney 2026

26–29 October 2026 | Sydney, Australia

Explore the Programme:

https://bit.ly/urbanleaderssydney26

Register to Join the Delegation:

https://bit.ly/applysydney2026

Explore the Previous Urban Leaders Retreat – Tokyo:

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/the-urban-vision-tokyo-s-innovative-approach-to-future-ready-cities/288356592

For participation and enquiries:

info@theurbanvision.com

Call / WhatsApp: +91 90084 44892

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], September 17: Ahmedabad’s growing interest in domestic and international holidays is creating opportunities for new travel brands to make their mark in the city. Oakwood Vacation is emerging as one of the newer names in the holiday and travel segment, offering a range of holiday packages for travellers looking for convenient and well-planned vacation experiences.

Oakwood Vacation provides holiday packages across a variety of destinations, catering to different types of travellers, including families, couples, groups and individuals. The company’s offerings are aimed at simplifying the holiday-planning process by providing customers with organised travel options rather than requiring them to coordinate every element of a trip independently.

One of the aspects helping Oakwood Vacation build its presence in Ahmedabad is the positive feedback it has received from customers. The brand has been receiving encouraging reviews from travellers who have shared their experiences with its holiday packages and services. Such customer feedback is becoming an important part of the company’s growing reputation, particularly as travellers increasingly look at reviews and experiences before making holiday decisions. Under the directors of Praduman Kumar Singh and Karan Singh, Oakwood Vacation continues to focus on delivering customer-oriented holiday experiences and strengthening its presence in the travel and holiday segment. The leadership’s emphasis on service and customer satisfaction complements the positive experiences being shared by travellers and contributes to the brand’s growing recognition among holiday seekers.

For customers, choosing a holiday package is often about more than simply selecting a destination. Travellers look for convenience, a smooth planning process, suitable accommodation and an overall experience that provides good value. Oakwood Vacation is working to address these expectations through its range of holiday packages and customer-focused approach.

The company’s presence comes at a time when Ahmedabad’s travel market is becoming increasingly active. Residents of the city are exploring destinations across India as well as international holiday spots, with families and young travellers showing interest in experiences that combine leisure, comfort and convenience.

In this environment, Oakwood Vacation is gradually building recognition as a holiday-package provider. Its growing customer base and encouraging reviews indicate that the brand is beginning to establish a connection with travellers in Ahmedabad.

Customer recommendations and reviews can play a significant role in the growth of a travel company, where personal experiences often influence the decisions of future travellers. For Oakwood Vacation, the positive response from customers provides an opportunity to further strengthen its reputation and expand its reach in the city.

The company is also looking to cater to the changing expectations of modern travellers, who increasingly prefer having multiple holiday options to choose from and want greater convenience when planning their trips.

With its focus on holiday packages, destination choices and customer experience, Oakwood Vacation is steadily making its presence felt in Ahmedabad’s growing holiday and travel market. As more travellers discover the brand and share their experiences, it is positioning itself as a name worth considering for those planning their next vacation.

New Delhi [India], September 17: A property valuation is an intensely local document. It depends on one street, one building, its condition and construction, and what comparable properties nearby have actually sold for. That makes valuation an unusual business to run at national scale, and stranger still when the client is living thousands of miles away.

Rao Valuers is the practice Parish Rao has spent more than three decades building.

A chartered engineer and government-approved valuer, Parish Rao leads Rao Associates, also known as Rao Valuers, from New Delhi’s Head office. The practice has worked since 1995 and handles residential, commercial, industrial and institutional valuations all over India through teams in major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and more. Its published company profile says the practice has completed more than 10,000 valuations.

The client base now extends well beyond India. Families living in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and the Gulf regularly need Indian property valued for sales, inheritance, taxation, banking, visa or other financial requirements.

“The property is in Karol Bagh and the owner is in New York,” Rao says. “That is a completely ordinary file for us now. Twenty years ago it was rare.”

An Engineer’s View of What a Building Is Worth

Parish Rao earned his civil engineering degree from Nagpur University in 1989. He believes engineering training is central to property valuation because a valuer is assessing more than a number.

“Most people assume valuation is a financial exercise,” he says. “It is an engineering exercise first. You are valuing a building, and a building has a condition, a construction quality and a remaining life.”

That distinction matters even in ordinary residential work. Two flats in the same building can command different values because of their condition, alterations, maintenance and other property-specific factors.

Why Registration Matters

Credentials carry practical weight in valuation. Parish Rao is registered as a Category I valuer for land and building for income-tax purposes under registration CAT-I/443/117/2000-01.

He is also registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India for the Land and Building asset class under registration IBBI/RV/02/2019/10843, and is a Fellow and life member of the Institution of Valuers.

“Ask any valuer for their registration number before you pay them anything,” Rao says. “A genuine one answers in a second.”

From Landmark Properties to Family Homes

Rao Valuers’ published company profile lists assignments including Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj at approximately Rs 2,738 crore, three towers at DLF Cyber City in Gurgaon at approximately Rs 2,551 crore, Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa at approximately Rs 1,250 crore and The Claridges in New Delhi at approximately Rs 600 crore.

The firm has also worked across banking, energy, healthcare and technology, while its broader property valuation services cover capital gains, mortgage reports, inheritance, court matters, industrial property and immigration-related valuations.

Rao says those large assignments are not representative of the typical file.

“Most of what we do is somebody’s house,” he says. “An inherited plot, a family home or a flat someone needs to sell. Those people are not valuation experts, and they should not have to become experts.”

Working Across Time Zones

For Indians abroad, the difficult part is often not the paperwork. It is trusting a professional they may never meet to inspect a property they cannot personally visit.

Rao Valuers’ NRI property valuation process is designed around that problem. A field engineer visits the property, records measurements and condition, and takes photographs stamped with the date, time and location. The report is then prepared and reviewed before being signed.

Clients abroad can coordinate the inspection through a family member or caretaker in India, while documentation and communication are handled remotely. Standard reports are generally delivered within 48 to 72 hours after inspection.

“If a valuer tells you an inspection is not necessary, be careful,” Rao says. “If the report is questioned later, the evidence behind it matters.”

Parish Rao personally reviews and signs the reports issued by the practice.

“If it is questioned in an assessment or in a courtroom, I am the one who has to stand behind it,” he says. “That concentrates the mind.”

Website: https://www.raovaluers.com

Contact : +91 9868169747 , +91 9891368866

WhatsApp: +91 9891368886

Company Linkedin: https://in.linkedin.com/company/raoassociates1

Founder’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parishrao/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raovaluers

Twitter / X: https://x.com/raovaluers

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RaoValuers

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 16: The Indian Softball Cricket League (ISCL) on Saturday outlined an ambitious roadmap for its next phase of growth as it looks to build a structured and professional national platform for softball and tennis-ball cricketers across India.

At a press conference held at the IAS Association in Bengaluru, ISCL Founder and President Dr. Gangadhar Raju, along with the league’s leadership, highlighted the progress made since its inception and unveiled plans to strengthen its franchise, player, brand and commercial ecosystem ahead of Season 2.

Former India cricketers Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh are associated with ISCL as Brand Ambassadors, adding significant cricketing stature to a league whose central objective is to identify and provide opportunities to grassroots talent from urban, rural and remote regions of the country.

ISCL AT A GLANCE

  • Format: Franchise-based softball/tennis-ball cricket
  • Franchises: 32 teams
  • Focus: Grassroots talent development
  • Geographical Reach: Pan-India
  • Founder & President: Dr. Gangadhar Raju
  • Brand Ambassadors: Suresh Raina & Harbhajan Singh
  • Governing Organisation: Indian Softball Cricket Foundation (ISCF)
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Speaking about ISCL’s potential to create opportunities for grassroots cricketers, former India off-spinner and ISCL Brand Ambassador Harbhajan Singh said: “There is tremendous cricketing talent across India, particularly at the grassroots level, but not every talented player gets the platform or exposure needed to showcase their ability. ISCL can help bridge that gap. A structured league with franchises, competitive matches and wider visibility can give these players something meaningful to aspire to. I am delighted to be associated with an initiative that wants to take the game to players across the country.”

From Karnataka to a pan-India platform

The origins of ISCL can be traced to 2024, when the Karnataka Softball Premier League (KSPL) was developed to provide structured competitive opportunities for softball cricketers across Karnataka. The experience of building KSPL subsequently became the foundation for a much larger national vision.

In 2025, the Indian Softball Cricket League was established as a national franchise-based platform, expanding the concept beyond Karnataka. The inaugural ISCL season featured 32 teams representing states and regions across India, with Punjab emerging as the Season 1 champions. The league also broadened opportunities beyond its domestic competition, including an India vs Nepal international match during the 2025 season.

Reflecting on ISCL’s journey and its plans for the future, Founder and President Dr. Gangadhar Raju said: “ISCL was born from a simple belief: talent should not be limited by geography or access. There are thousands of gifted softball and tennis-ball cricketers in cities, towns and villages who deserve an organised platform to demonstrate their skills. What began with Karnataka has now developed into a national movement with 32 franchises. Season 1 gave us tremendous confidence, and our objective now is to make Season 2 bigger, stronger and more professional while keeping grassroots players at the heart of everything we do.”

Season 2 marks the next phase of expansion

Following the successful completion of its inaugural season, ISCL has entered its next phase of development in 2026, with preparations for Season 2 focusing on strengthening its franchise ecosystem, expanding commercial and brand partnerships and increasing opportunities for players. The league’s expanding footprint was underlined by the addition of Vidarbha as a new franchise for Season 2 in June 2026.

Former IAS Officer and ISCL Board Chairman B H Anil Kumar said the league’s long-term success would be built around strong governance and a sustainable professional structure: “For any sporting property to grow sustainably, it requires credibility, transparency, professional administration and a clear long-term vision. ISCL is working towards creating that framework. Our responsibility is not merely to conduct a tournament, but to develop an ecosystem that players, franchises, partners and supporters can believe in and participate in for years to come.”

ISCL Board Vice Chairman Sanjeev Singh highlighted the importance of creating a strong connection between franchises and the communities they represent: “The franchise model gives ISCL the opportunity to create strong regional identities while being part of one national competition. We want franchises to become deeply connected with their regions, discover local talent and build their own communities of supporters. As we move into Season 2, strengthening that franchise ecosystem will be one of our major priorities.”

Building a wider sporting and commercial ecosystem

Beyond providing competitive opportunities to players, ISCL aims to create an ecosystem connecting players, franchises, fans, brands and communities through softball cricket. With its pan-India reach and grassroots positioning, the league is looking to create opportunities for businesses and brands to engage with audiences across multiple regions while supporting the development of emerging cricket talent.

Kaushik Kalluri, AVP, Sony Sports, said: “We are delighted to partner with the Indian Softball Cricket League (ISCL) as its official broadcaster for Season 2. Cricket in India has always drawn its strength from the grassroots, and ISCL provides an exciting platform for talented players from across the country to showcase their skills. At Sony Sports, we look forward to taking their stories and the competition to a wider audience and bringing fans closer to this unique format of the game.”

Noorul Ameen, Founder Director of My Asia Consulting Services, said: “Sport today is not only about what happens on the field; successful leagues create communities and sustainable ecosystems around the competition. ISCL has an interesting proposition because it combines India’s enormous passion for cricket with grassroots participation and a franchise structure. As the league expands, there is considerable potential to build meaningful partnerships between ISCL, businesses, brands and regional communities.”

ISCL believes its growth can help bring greater structure, recognition and visibility to a form of cricket that is played extensively across India but has traditionally lacked a large organised national platform.

With Season 1 providing the foundation and Season 2 representing the next stage of expansion, the league’s long-term ambition is to establish a sustainable pathway through which talented softball and tennis-ball cricketers from across the country can compete, gain recognition and represent their regions on a national stage.

About Indian Softball Cricket League (ISCL)

The Indian Softball Cricket League (ISCL) is a national franchise-based softball/tennis-ball cricket league created to provide a structured and professional platform for grassroots cricket talent across India. Its core objective is to identify talented players from urban, rural and remote regions and provide them with opportunities to compete on a larger platform, represent regional franchises and gain greater visibility. ISCL features 32 franchise teams representing regions across India and operates under the Indian Softball Cricket Foundation (ISCF). Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, the league is led by Founder and President Dr. Gangadhar Raju, with former India cricketers Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh serving as Brand Ambassadors.

Website: www.isclcricket.in

For further information contact:

Chandresh Narayanan

Playbook

Phone: +919819359780

Email: chandresh@apostrophece.com/chandreshn@gmail.com

Delhi has reported over 3,000+ cases of H1N1 this flu season. That’s a sixfold increase from last year. While headlines frame this strictly as a medical story dominated by symptoms, treatments, and health advisories, they leave out an important side of the story: what happens inside the office building where millions of people spend most of their time.

This is not an isolated spike. India sees two seasonal flu peaks every year: one between January and March, and a second during the monsoon and post-monsoon months, roughly July through November. Each time, Indian businesses absorb a loss that never becomes a headline, because nobody puts a number on it.

The Actual Cost Nobody Counts

Once an employee is infected with the flu, they lose around 3.5 working days, including sick leave and reduced performance at work. Yet, only 30 to 37 percent of people infected actually took a day off work.

Most people do not stay home. Some cannot afford to use up their leave balance. Some do not think a cough and fever are worth staying home for. Either way, no official absence is recorded, but productivity drops, decisions are delayed, and deadlines are rescheduled.

Presenteeism is the bigger, longer-running problem, and it’s the one nobody measures. Being sick and staying home is a cost everyone already expects. But this gets missed every flu season: being sick and showing up anyway.

An employee who comes to work sick loses close to 2.5 hours of productive time a day. Recovery to baseline output can take more than 7 days longer than it takes an absent employee to bounce back once they’ve actually rested. Working through the illness doesn’t get anyone back to normal faster. It stretches the timeline.

That’s the cost to the sick employee alone. Now scale that to a floorplate of 500 people. One sick employee at a shared desk or a meeting room in a poorly ventilated office becomes a transmission risk. The risk spreads to everyone breathing the same recirculated air on that floor.

A second hidden cost has nothing to do with the employee being sick at all. On average, 50-75% of employed caregivers missed work to look after a household member with flu. That is lost output from people who were never infected, on top of everything already counted.

Adding it up: absenteeism, presenteeism, and caregiving leave together are the actual cost of flu season, while only one of those three is being tracked.

Where Modern Office Buildings Fail

During monsoon and post-monsoon months, central air conditioning runs at full capacity with sealed windows. The buildings are designed to look impressive: polished glass facades, sealed floor-to-ceiling windows, packed floors that never let in outside air. The design wins on looks but leaves the air nowhere to go. Recirculated air becomes the fastest route for a virus to travel from one desk to fifty others.

This is not only a virus problem. A Harvard study found cognitive scores were 61 percent higher on days when a building had good ventilation, and 101 percent higher when ventilation and air quality were both optimised. An under-ventilated office is a productivity problem even in a season with no flu circulating. During the flu season, it becomes a transmission problem too.

What Actually Works

This is where the standard response falls short. A stand-alone air purifier sitting in the corner of a conference room only cleans the air that passes through it, in that one room. It fails to treat the shared air moving through the central HVAC ducts connecting cabins, conference rooms, and open bays.

An effective solution requires intervention at the airflow source. In-duct air purification technologies, such as REME (Reflective Electromagnetic Energy) and Photohydroionization (PHI), treat air within the central AC system before it recirculates across workspaces. REME treats air before it ever recirculates. It works by turning the natural moisture in the air into a very low level of hydrogen peroxide vapor, the same trace compound already present in fresh outdoor air. That vapor travels through the ducts into every room the AC serves, attaches to bacteria and viruses on contact, and breaks them down at the source instead of waiting for them to pass through a filter.

Independent labs test these claims with a sneeze test: live pathogens are released into a sealed chamber (similar to what a sneeze would put into the air), the purification system runs, and then researchers measure how much of that pathogen is still floating in the air after a set time.

Kansas State University ran this test on PHI-CELL technology against H1N1 and recorded over 99% inactivation of the virus. CSIR-CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) has validated that advanced in-duct systems reduce airborne viral loads (including Influenza A variants) by over 97% to 99% within 30 minutes under realistic environmental conditions.

Plan Before the Next Spike

Delhi is already in the middle of a flu season with case counts six times higher than last year. The next one will arrive in the same monsoon and post-monsoon window, and a reactive strategy will cost companies millions in lost productive hours. Before the next seasonal peak, start with an air audit. A professional indoor air audit identifies unventilated recirculation zones, tracks CO2 accumulation hotspots, and provides the baseline data needed to engineer an appropriate in-duct purification strategy.

O2Cure is an indoor air quality solutions provider offering engineered, customized air purification technologies for commercial and residential buildings across India.

To schedule a comprehensive indoor air quality audit for your facility, visit www.o2cure.in.

Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 15: Valiance Solutions, a provider of applied AI solutions for enterprise and public-sector clients, today announced the launch of Audit AI, a new AI-led audit automation point solution built on top of its multimodal AI platform. Audit AI is designed to help audit and compliance teams move beyond manual, sample-based reviews toward complete, intelligence-driven verification of every transaction and voucher.

Traditional audits remain constrained by manual voucher checks, limited sampling, and fragmented records. As transaction volumes grow, auditors are often forced to trade depth for speed—a gap that leads to missed anomalies, delayed closures, and compliance leakage. Audit AI addresses this by automating verification, flagging anomalies, and surfacing hidden risk patterns across the full body of audit records, rather than a sampled subset.

At its core, Audit AI runs on Valiance’s multimodal AI platform, built to ingest and fuse data across formats—scanned vouchers, PDFs, invoices, spreadsheets, and structured transaction records—into a single, unified layer of audit intelligence. Rather than treating each document type as a separate problem, the platform reads across formats and sources simultaneously, giving auditors one consistent, evidence-linked view of every transaction instead of siloed, format-by-format checks.

“Audits today are still built for a smaller, slower era of paper trails and manual sampling,” said Shailendra Singh Kathait, CTO & co-founder at Valiance Solutions. “Audit AI changes that. It gives auditors 100% verification with full explainability, so teams get faster audits and stronger governance without giving up control of the final decision.”

How Audit AI Works

Audit AI follows a four-step workflow purpose-built for audit teams:

  1. Digital Ingestion—Ingests vouchers and supporting documents, automatically extracting vendor, amount, date, purpose, and other metadata.
  2. Rule-Based Validation—Applies predefined audit rules, policy limits, and compliance checks consistently across every record.
  3. AI Pattern Analysis—Detects anomalies, repeat transactions, vendor misuse, and suspicious behavioral patterns that manual review often misses.
  4. Audit Review and Reporting—Presents flagged cases with clear explanations, routes them for auditor approval, and auto-generates audit-ready reports and traceable digital logs.

Throughout the process, human auditors remain in control of approvals, escalations, and final decisions—AI accelerates detection and coverage; it does not replace auditor judgment.

A New Point Solution on Valiance’s Multimodal Platform

Audit AI is the newest point solution to be built on Valiance’s multimodal AI platform—the company’s enterprise AI engine for turning fragmented evidence and institutional knowledge into investigation-ready, decision-ready intelligence. This platform already powers specialized intelligence suites for technical/investigative analysis and financial crime investigation, each built on the same underlying multimodal capabilities: ingestion across text, documents, images, video, and structured data; automated entity extraction; knowledge-graph correlation; and natural-language query across an entire evidence corpus.

By extending this same multimodal foundation into the audit function, Audit AI inherits the platform’s core intelligence layer—the ability to fuse and reason across mixed data formats—while applying it to a distinct, high-volume use case: routine financial and compliance audits. It is packaged as a focused, ready-to-deploy solution for audit and finance teams so that the same platform intelligence used for complex investigations can now verify everyday vouchers and transactions at scale. Organizations already using Valiance’s platform for investigations or institutional knowledge can adopt Audit AI as a natural, multimodal extension of the same platform rather than a separate, disconnected tool.

Key Capabilities

  • 100% Verification—Every voucher is checked, not just a sampled subset.
  • AI Pattern Detection—Identifies repeat claims, anomalies, and behavioral risk signals across records.
  • Explainable Findings—Every flag is backed by clear logic and evidence, supporting audit defensibility.
  • Policy-Aware Intelligence—Audit rules and thresholds are embedded directly into workflows.
  • Auditor in Control—Human approvals and escalations remain central to every decision.
  • Audit-Ready Outputs—Instant reports, logs, and traceable digital audit trails.
  • Scalable Design—Built to handle thousands of records across departments without added audit effort.

Availability and Deployment

Audit AI is available now for enterprise and public-sector organizations, with deployment options built around each client’s security and infrastructure requirements:

  • Sovereign, Air-Gapped Deployment—For government, defense, and other
  • high-security environments, Audit AI can be deployed entirely within the client’s own air-gapped network, ensuring no data leaves the organization’s infrastructure at any stage.
  • Enterprise Cloud AI—For commercial and enterprise clients, Audit AI is also available as a cloud-hosted deployment, enabling faster rollout, easier scaling across departments, and lower infrastructure overhead.

Interested teams can book a demo directly through Valiance Solutions to see the platform applied to their own audit workflows and discuss which deployment model best fits their environment.

About Valiance Solutions

Valiance Solutions is a deep-tech AI company, built by Indians in India, for India and beyond, on a mission to build sovereign, world-class AI platforms for enterprise, government, and defense institutions. Rather than assembling point tools, Valiance has invested years in fundamental research to build its own multimodal AI platform from the ground up—one capable of ingesting and reasoning across text, documents, images, video, audio, and structured data as a single, unified layer of intelligence.

This same platform powers dual-use AI applications across both civilian and strategic domains: from wildlife conservation and urban public safety to procurement and audit intelligence to mission-critical deployments for government and defense institutions. It is this multimodal,

dual-use foundation—built for high-security, sovereign environments—that underpins Valiance’s full product portfolio, including Knowledge Miner, Audit AI, CivicEye, Citizen Assist, Tender Evaluation, Guard Vision AI, and Wildlife EYE & IQ, deployed across industrial, retail, and government environments, including sovereign, air-gapped deployments for high-security clients.

For more information, visit valiancesolutions.com.