Latest news with #Balasubramanian
The Print
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Print
Maldives holds ‘very special place' in India's foreign policy: Envoy
The diplomat said Maldives is important to India not because of its strategic geographical location, but because 'we have been neighbours, and we will continue to be neighbours'. In a recent interview with news portal, Balasubramanian expressed hope India and Maldives will always work together for the benefit of the region as a whole. Male, Jun 2 (PTI) Maldives occupies a 'very special place' in New Delhi's foreign policy, not because of its strategic geographical location but because it is India's neighbour, Indian High Commissioner G Balasubramanian has said. 'We are one of the closest partners to Maldives, and so are you for us… for India in its diplomatic outreach, 'Neighbourhood First' is one of its major policies. And in the 'Neighbourhood First Policy', Maldives occupies a very special place,' he said. Balasubramanian said in India, there is a 'complete recognition' of the importance that Maldives has 'in our relationship in our neighbourhood'. India and Maldives are very close to each other both culturally, people-to- people, and contact-wise, he said. 'There are linguistic linkages also and we have always been there, standing shoulder to shoulder with Maldives in the growth that both our countries have witnessed in the past 60 years,' Balasubramanian said. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Maldives. The ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain after Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, took charge of the top office in November 2023. Within hours of his oath, he had demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. Subsequently, the Indian military personnel were replaced by civilians. There was a thaw in the relations as Muizzu vowed to boost the bilateral ties with India during his visit to Delhi in October last year. Affirming India's commitment to the principle of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', meaning the whole world is one family, Balasubramanian said India wants all countries to grow together peacefully and resolve any differences between each other through negotiations and dialogue only. 'We have been solid partners for many years, many decades together. And our concept is 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'… So we treat all our friends, our neighbourhood, particularly in the Global South, as very important partners to grow together. 'We are happy to share our technology, experiences, and we are happy to come to assistance whenever it is required, whether it is the Indira Gandhi medical hospital that was set up earlier or the various other projects,' the envoy said. Last month, India extended crucial financial support to the Maldives through the rollover of the USD 50 million Treasury Bill for one more year, a move the Maldivian government said will support its ongoing efforts to implement fiscal reforms for economic resilience. India has maintained that the Maldives is its key maritime neighbour and also an important partner in the 'Neighbourhood First' policy and Vision 'MAHASAGAR' (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions). India has recently signed 13 MoUs with the Maldives for enhancing ferry services in the island nation, with an MVR 100 million grant, expanding maritime connectivity and uplifting community livelihoods. PTI SCY SCY This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University seeks police action in question paper leak incident
The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) on Saturday filed a police complaint seeking action against the culprits who leaked a semester examination question paper recently. As the question paper on Industrial Law, a subject for third-year students, got leaked on May 27, the university postponed the examination at the last minute, and instead conducted it on May 30 with a fresh question paper. Sources in the MSU said Controller of Examination Balasubramanian was sent the question paper anonymously on a social media platform on the night of May 26. The decision to cancel the exam on May 27 was taken after he discussed the issue with Vice-Chancellor N. Chandrasekar. The MSU administration decided to seek the police's help to identify the culprits, and Registrar J. Socratees filed a complaint at the Pettai police station. The police have registered a case and started an inquiry to identify the person who sent the question paper to Mr. Balasubramanian on the social media platform.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
How UiPath Is Driving Agentic Automation for Smarter Enterprises
Artificial intelligence continues to evolve beyond demos. Enterprises are transitioning from rule-based robotic process automation to a more dynamic, intelligent approach—agentic automation. At the heart of this shift is UiPath, a company that began its journey by simplifying mundane tasks through software bots and is now championing a bold new simple bots to intelligent agents, the journey of UiPath is being recast as a two-act play, with Act One defined by traditional RPA and Act Two powered by autonomous, decision-making AI agents. From RPA to AI Agents: A Decade of Evolution 'It just started as a small software, fluffy little bot, not very flashy. But it was very fast and accurate,' recalls Arun Balasubramanian, VP & MD, India & South Asia, UiPath, as he traces the company's early beginnings. Balasubramanian notes how these bots quickly gained traction by automating repetitive, low-value tasks, freeing employees to focus on more strategic work. The platform matured by integrating machine learning and computer vision, enabling more intelligent capabilities. 'Through sustained engineering efforts and innovation, the bots became more intelligent and capable,' he says. 'These advancements laid the foundation for agentic automation.' Agentic automation represents a significant technological leap—what Balasubramanian describes as 'intelligent agents which can really think on our behalf and really act and decide in terms of what actions to be done.' He notes that while the first phase of automation delivered significant efficiency, 'the second phase of the journey is even more exciting.' UiPath is now focused on a strategy that brings together AI, ML, natural language processing, and Gen AI models under one unified platform, offering customers not just smarter bots but autonomous agents that can operate independently in real-world scenarios. Market Momentum: India Leads the Way India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing markets for agentic automation solutions from UiPath. Sectors such as healthcare, pharma , manufacturing, and banking are at the forefront, piloting complex use cases with the technology. Balasubramanian cites a real-world healthcare use case to illustrate the value of these AI agents. 'It's so easy to get into a hospital and get admitted. But if you want to come out... it's so painful,' he says, referring to the challenges of invoice processing and insurance claims. Agentic automation from UiPath is helping streamline these workflows, ensuring a smoother discharge process and better patient experience. The company has already onboarded its first customer in India under the agentic automation preview, coinciding with its recent flagship event, DevCon in Bangalore 'We already have our first customer here in the country who signed up for agentic automation... and we have a lot of our customers who are also doing beta on some of the specific use cases,' Balasubramanian adds. Gautam Goenka , VP - Engineering & Site Head, UiPath, details the scale and pace of adoption. 'We have been iterating with hundreds of customers, building thousands of agentic automations and use cases,' he says. Building Reliable Agents: The Engineering Challenge Behind the promise of agentic automation lies a complex engineering challenge. 'Building an enterprise agent is a hard problem,' Goenka states plainly. Many solutions perform well in demo environments but falter under the pressures of production-grade data and use cases. Goenka outlines three key considerations that UiPath follows to ensure reliability and scalability in real-world deployments. The first is segmentation of the automation journey into deterministic and indeterministic steps. 'Use Intelligent Process Automation for the deterministic part. Use agents for the probabilistic or indeterminate part where you need more decision making,' he says. The orchestration tool from UiPath, Maestro™ , then stitches together these modular automations. Second, ensure guardrails are in place to control AI outputs. Goenka warns of AI's potential to 'act and give all kinds of wrong data,' stressing the need for enterprise guardrails. These include human-in-the-loop supervision for sensitive actions and context grounding, ensuring agents rely solely on enterprise-approved data sources. The third critical requirement is rigorous testing and evaluation during the design phase. 'There's no substitution to testing,' Goenka notes. The agent builder from UiPath supports a full software development lifecycle, including health scoring, model comparison, and test data evaluation, to ensure agents are production ready. Why Continuous Learning Is Non-Negotiable for Developers In a world where technological change is relentless, Goenka believes that adaptability isn't just a good-to-have—it's a survival skill. 'We are in an era where things are changing at a fast rate,' he says. 'The rate of acceleration is accelerated, right? That's how I put it.' For developers, this means that the shelf life of skills is shrinking, and the only way to stay relevant is by embracing a mindset of constant learning. 'Whatever we know today may be obsolete in six, nine months down the line—we have to adapt to that, learn all those things,' he explains. From understanding GenAI concepts to adding value through architecture and design, developers can't afford to stand still. 'There's no substitute to continuous learning,' he insists. A Platform for the Future UiPath is positioning itself not just as a vendor of automation tools but as an orchestration layer for intelligent decision-making across enterprises. By combining deterministic automation with autonomous AI agents, the company believes it can solve a broader range of business problems with higher reliability. Balasubramanian is optimistic about what lies ahead. 'We are embarking on this agentic automation journey, bringing in a lot of innovation,' he says. As enterprises face growing pressure to drive efficiency and agility, the shift from RPA to agentic automation could mark a turning point in how digital work gets done. With India leading the early wave of adoption, the second act for UiPath is poised to be the most transformative yet. The spokesperson is Arun Balasubramanian, VP & MD, India & South Asia, UiPath & Gautam Goenka, VP - Engineering & Site Head, UiPathNote: This article is a part of ETCIO's Brand Connect Initiative.
The Print
7 days ago
- Business
- The Print
India, Maldives share longstanding relationship built on mutual trust and confidence: Indian envoy
Talking about India's contributions to the Maldives' development, he highlighted the Greater Male Connectivity Project, aimed at enhancing regional infrastructure. In an interview with PSM News, Balasubramanian described bilateral ties as a 'deep-rooted and enduring partnership' and underscored the strength of diplomatic and economic cooperation between the two countries. Male, May 27 (PTI) India and the Maldives share a longstanding relationship built on mutual trust and confidence, Indian High Commissioner G Balasubramanian has said, expressing hope that their ties will continue to strengthen. 'Within this project, the Thilamalé Bridge, set to link Malé with Thilafushi, stands out as a major undertaking,' he said, reaffirming India's role in advancing economic growth through large-scale infrastructure investments. He recalled President Mohamed Muizzu's visit to India last year and said his historic trip laid the groundwork for closer bilateral cooperation, with ongoing efforts to translate the 'vision documents' signed between President Muizzu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi into actionable policies. 'These agreements are designed to deepen strategic ties and drive joint initiatives forward,' he added. The ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain after Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, took charge of the top office in November 2023. Within hours of his oath, he had demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. Subsequently, the Indian military personnel were replaced by civilians. There was a thaw in the relations as Muizzu vowed to boost the bilateral ties with India during his visit to Delhi in October last year. Balasubramanian expressed confidence that Maldives-India relations will continue to strengthen, with collaboration expanding across diplomatic, economic, and educational spheres. India has offered 300 scholarships to Maldivian students, supporting skill enhancement and educational opportunities in diverse sectors, he said, adding that these initiatives underscores India's broader commitment to fostering growth through knowledge and expertise. India has recently signed 13 MoUs with the Maldives for enhancing ferry services in the island nation, with an MVR 100 million grant, expanding maritime connectivity and uplifting community livelihoods. Earlier this month, India extended crucial financial support to the Maldives through the rollover of the USD 50 million Treasury Bill for one more year, a move the Maldivian government said will support its ongoing efforts to implement fiscal reforms for economic resilience. India has maintained that the Maldives is its key maritime neighbour and an important partner in the 'Neighbourhood First' policy and Vision 'MAHASAGAR' i.e. Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions. PTI RD ZH ZH This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund turns Rs 10,000 SIP to Rs 1.6 crore in 25 years
Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund has turned Rs 10,000 monthly SIP to more than Rs 1.6 crore in the last 25 years. That implies a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% during the same time. The fund, launched on April 25, 2000, caters to investors seeking long-term growth potential and upside of equity, but at lower volatility levels. Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund balances the equity and fixed income exposure basis market valuation to generate a reasonable return with relatively lower volatility, according to a wealth creation study by the fund house. Also Read | Nifty up 13% from April's low. How should mutual fund investors alter their investment strategy? Best MF to invest Looking for the best mutual funds to invest? Here are our recommendations. View Details » by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trekking pants for mountain sports and adventure travel Trek Kit India Shop Now Undo The dynamic asset allocation model automatically reduces equity exposure at higher valuation levels and helps mitigate volatility in returns. Historically, the fund has offered lower drawdowns and faster recovery compared to broader markets. It aims for consistent downside protection while still capturing meaningful upside potential. Since 2015, the fund has generated nearly 80% of Nifty's return with an average net equity exposure of almost 52% while experiencing only 66% of Nifty's volatility. Over a three-year rolling period, the fund has delivered returns above 8% in more than 86% of instances over the last nine years Live Events 'The 25-year journey of Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund is not just a performance milestone, it is a testament to the dedication of our team and the enduring confidence of our investors. The endeavour is to provide peace of mind to an investor by dynamically adjusting the equity and fixed income exposure and aiming to provide reasonable returns with lower volatility,' said A. Balasubramanian, MD and CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC . 'The fund maintains a quality-biased portfolio and invests across sectors & market capitalisation to generate alpha. ABSLAMC is confident and committed to delivering a superior investment experience, and thanks all our investors and partners for their continued faith in bull as well as bear market phases,' he added. Also Read | An underrated solution, finding its due: Radhika Gupta reacts on tax-efficient options beyond equities The fund is jointly managed by Harish Krishnan, Lovelish Solanki and Mohit Sharma. It had assets under management of more than Rs 7,500 crore as of April 30, 2025. The regular plan of Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund has offered 9.77% CAGR since its inception, whereas the direct plan has offered 12.44% CAGR since its inception.
