NDR InvIT Trust to Launch ₹750 Crore IPO, Converting to India’s First Public Warehousing InvIT

NDR InvIT Trust, a private listed infrastructure investment trust sponsored by NDR Warehousing Private Limited, is proposing conversion from a private listed InvIT to a public InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) through an initial public offer (IPO) of units aggregating up to ₹7,500 million (₹750 crore). The Offer comprises a fresh issue of up to ₹4,500 million (₹450 crore) and an offer for sale of up to ₹3,000 million (₹300 crore) by Investcorp India Warehousing IFSC Trust.

NDR InvIT Trust stands as India’s first perpetual warehousing and industrial parks InvIT, according to the JLL Report. As of June 30, 2026, the Trust manages a total leasable area of 22.97 million sq. ft., of which 21.58 million sq. ft. is currently developed. Its portfolio is spread across key warehousing markets, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR Delhi and Pune, which together account for approximately 80% of India’s organised warehousing stock, according to the JLL Report.

The Sponsor, NDR Warehousing Private Limited, is recognised as one of India’s pioneering warehousing developers and was the first entrant in the general warehousing space to secure funding from a major global institution, as per the JLL Report.

The proceeds from the Fresh Issue will primarily be utilised towards the acquisition of 100% of NDR Advanced Storage Private Limited for up to ₹2,976 million (₹297.6 crore) and acquisition of 100% interest of NDR Storewell Warehousing LLP for up to ₹842 million (₹84.2 crore), with the balance proposed for general purposes. The proposed acquisitions are expected to strengthen and diversify the Trust’s portfolio of income-generating warehousing assets and support its future growth.

About NDR InvIT Trust:NDR InvIT Trust is an infrastructure investment trust registered with SEBI and sponsored by NDR Warehousing Private Limited. The Trust owns and operates a diversified portfolio of warehousing and industrial assets across key logistics markets in India.

Draft Offer Document link: https://www.sebi.gov.in/filings/invit-public-issues/aug-2026/ndr-invit-trust-private-to-public-_103486.html

NVIDIA Unveils Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 30 Billion Open‑Source AI Model for Faster Agentic Workflows

NVIDIA has just launched Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, a 30-billion-parameter open-source AI model optimized for agentic workflows. It delivers up to 4× faster output and 30% quicker task completion compared to peers, while being lightweight enough to run locally on a single GPU — even on laptops and desktops.

Key Highlights

• Architecture: Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) hybrid with Mamba-2 + Attention layers.
• Parameters: 30B total, 3B active per token (efficient activation).
• Performance: Up to 4× faster output, 30% faster agentic task completion, PinchBench accuracy: 86%.
• Deployment: Runs on RTX PCs, Jetson devices, DGX Spark, workstations, data centers, and cloud.
• Open-source availability: Free to download via HuggingFace, NVIDIA NGC, and build.nvidia.com.
• Use cases: Code review, cybersecurity monitoring, billing queries, tool calls, and multi-agent workflows.

Comparison with Other Models

Model	Parameters	Specialization	Performance	Deployment
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning	30B (3B active)	High-volume agent execution	4× faster, 30% quicker tasks	Single GPU, edge, cloud
Nemotron 3 Ultra	Larger frontier model	Planning & orchestration	Advanced reasoning	Data center/cloud
Qwen3.6 35B	35B	General-purpose	Slower task completion	Cloud-heavy

Technical Features

• Multi-token prediction: MTP + speculative decoding for concurrency.
• Draft models: DSpark (DGX Spark inference), DFlash (workload evaluation).
• Formats: BF16 (full precision) and NVFP4 (optimized inference).
• Context length: Up to 1M tokens, enabling long workflows.
• Supported languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, plus coding languages.

Strategic Context

• Open-weight AI: Jensen Huang emphasized open-weight AI as critical for innovation, lowering entry barriers for enterprises while driving GPU demand.
• Commercial use: Free to use commercially, unlike proprietary subscription-based AI services.
• Concerns: National security risks and IP leakage remain, but NVIDIA positions Nemotron as a cornerstone for agentic AI ecosystems.

Lane Raises ₹8.5 Crore to Build Driver Intelligence Infrastructure for Safer Roads in India

• Lane (inlane.in) is building the driver intelligence infrastructure underpinning the next generation of driving education and vehicle ownership in India. Kae Capital led the round, with participation from DeVC, Antler India and Panthera Peak.

Lane, a tech-enabled driving education and mobility platform, has raised ₹8.5 crore in a round led by Kae Capital, with participation from DeVC, Antler India, Panthera Peak as well as prominent Angels.

The problem

The company is tackling a problem India has left unsolved for decades: the absence of structured, high-quality driver education at scale.

The stakes are high. More than 1.7 lakh people die on Indian roads every year, roughly twenty every hour. Most Indian drivers learn informally, from family or friends, and the formal test itself is run at 10-15 km/h on a fixed track, nothing like real traffic. India has about 1% of the world's vehicles but accounts for nearly 11% of its road deaths. The biggest gap is the near-total absence of a rigorous, accountable system for teaching people to drive.

The insight behind the category

Lane was founded by Samiksha Agarwal in 2025, who spent her career in VC and finance but always came back to one passion: driving. That led her to a simple observation — India has 250 million licence holders, but most were never actually taught to drive.

Samiksha Agarwalv– Founder of Lane

"Every driving school in India chases the same thing: the licence," Samiksha says. "We're after something harder and far more valuable — a confident, competent driver. Confidence behind the wheel is a life skill: built once, carried forever."

In 18 months, Lane has delivered 30,000+ hours of instruction to more than 3,100 learners, making it one of the largest structured driver-education platforms in the country. Nearly 70% of its customers already held a licence when they signed up — proof of the gap between getting a licence and knowing how to drive.

Lane's safety-first method was developed over 400+ hours of pilot classes, with input from automobile researchers. Instructors are held to the same bar: every partner is assessed across 15 driving parameters, including simulated lessons. Those who qualify can earn ₹80,000–90,000 a month, working within micro-markets close to home.

From education to ownership

Education is the entry point, not the endgame. Lane has begun offering car purchases, RTO services and more to its learners — with nearly 60% expressing intent to purchase their first car.

"We're not in the business of repeat enrollments," Samiksha says. "We're in the business of building trust that lasts well beyond the last driving class."

The bigger bet: driver intelligence at scale

Longer term, Lane is building an AI-powered, automotive-grade system for the full mobility journey — with education as the entry point and driver intelligence as the long game.

Sunita Viswanathan, Partner, Kae Capital:"What convinced us wasn't just the size of the category, but where it sits in a person's life, the moment you learn to drive is the moment you start thinking about owning, insuring, and building a life around a car. Samiksha found the right entry point, and she's exactly the founder to build from it."

At its core is a sensor-based system that turns every driving session into behavioural data, building a living driver profile for each learner.

• For insurers: pricing risk on how someone actually drives, not on static categories.
• For manufacturers: comparable, real-world data on how vehicles perform.
• For the country: a genuine picture of how India's 250 million licence holders drive — the foundation for incentive systems that reward safe behaviour and give policymakers something enforcement alone never could.

A partner to India's road safety mission

India's governments have put road safety firmly on the national agenda — from mandatory highway ambulances to Good Samaritan protections. What no public institution can build alone is the on-the-ground education, instructor accountability, and behavioural data that turn that intent into outcomes. Lane wants to be the engine that delivers it on the ground.

Use of funds

The ₹8.5 crore will be deployed across three priorities:

• Geographic expansion — scaling Lane's instructor network across Bengaluru and into other Tier 1 cities
• Sensor technology — accelerating the build-out of Lane's proprietary driving behaviour system
• Car ownership — building the downstream infrastructure that takes a confident driver through their first car purchase

About Lane

Lane is a first-of-its-kind tech-enabled driving education and mobility services platform headquartered in Bengaluru. Founded by Samiksha Agarwal, it brings structured driving lessons, end-to-end RTO and licensing support, and a driver intelligence platform together into one ecosystem, built on a simple conviction: that driving is one of the most important life skills an Indian will ever learn, and it deserves to be taught properly.

Tech Mahindra Introduces Distinctive Sound Signature to Complement Visual Identity

Tech Mahindra (NSE: TECHM), a leading global provider of technology consulting and digital solutions, has unveiled its new sonic identity named “TechM Ting”. This marks a significant milestone in the company’s ongoing brand transformation journey, complementing its refreshed visual identity and reinforcing its brand promise of Scale at Speed™.

The Rise of Sonic Branding

As enterprises increasingly engage audiences across digital, physical, and immersive environments, sound has emerged as a powerful tool for building emotional connections and strengthening brand recall. Tech Mahindra’s sonic identity is designed for an AI‑mediated world, seamlessly integrating across voice interfaces, AI agents, and ambient digital experiences.

• Creator & Sage archetypes – balancing innovation with expertise
• Emotional resonance – evoking warmth, curiosity, and confidence
• Consistency – ensuring recall across every brand interaction

“TechM Ting” – A Digital Spark

The track, named “TechM Ting” through an internal crowdsourcing campaign, draws inspiration from a luminous digital spark — symbolizing a sharp, kinetic, futuristic pulse of energy traversing a connected world. The name echoes the sound itself, reinforcing recall by aligning word and audio.

• Created by BrandMusiq – a leading sonic branding company
• Integration across ecosystem – offices, websites, podcasts, social media
• Customer touchpoints – IVR, ringtones, events, exhibitions
• Employee engagement – internal initiatives and sales enablement assets
• Global Chess League – reinforcing brand identity in sports

🗣 Voices Behind the Sound

Peeyush Dubey, Chief Marketing Officer, Tech Mahindra: “Our sonic identity represents the next evolution of Tech Mahindra’s brand journey. Inspired by our ‘Scale at Speed™’ positioning, it reflects our commitment to combining innovation with expertise while building stronger, more consistent connections with our communities.”

Rajeev Raja, Founder & Soundsmith, BrandMusiq: “Scale at Speed became our anchor for every musical decision. What we’ve created blends modern, forward‑moving production with instrumentation rooted in an Indian soul, designed to travel across every earpoint the brand has.”

Dynamic and AI‑Ready

The sonic identity is not static — it is designed as a dynamic sonic asset. Using generative AI, elements such as tempo, instrumentation, and mood can evolve across different contexts while maintaining a recognizable Tech Mahindra sound. This adaptability ensures relevance across diverse digital and physical environments.

Conclusion

Tech Mahindra’s TechM Ting represents more than just a sound — it is the audio expression of its refreshed brand language, carrying forward momentum, modernity, and purpose. By embedding sonic branding into every touchpoint, the company strengthens its global identity and sets a precedent for how enterprises can harness sound in an AI‑driven era.

NASA Invites ISRO to Join Historic Moon Base Mission

NASA has formally invited ISRO to join its ambitious Moon Base program under the Artemis Accords, marking a historic expansion of India–US space cooperation. The base will be built near the lunar South Pole, with India contributing scientific expertise, technology, and data-sharing initiatives.

The U.S. Embassy in India released a press statement on August 11, 2026, confirming that NASA formally invited ISRO to join the program under the Artemis Accords.

NASA’s Moon Base program is being developed under the Artemis Accords, which already include 27 signatory nations. Besides India’s ISRO, NASA has invited and partnered with agencies such as ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), CSA (Canada), and others to contribute technology, science, and crewed mission support.

The Artemis Accords are a U.S.-led international agreement launched in 2020 to set principles for peaceful, transparent, and sustainable space exploration. As of July 2026, 70 nations — including India — have signed on, making it the broadest coalition for lunar and deep‑space cooperation.

NASA Invites ISRO for Moon Base Program

What the Moon Base Program Means

• Artemis Accords: Framework for peaceful, sustainable lunar exploration signed by India in 2023.
• Location: Near the lunar South Pole, chosen for water-ice deposits and long sunlight exposure.
• Goal: Establish humanity’s first permanent outpost on another celestial body, supporting science, technology, and future Mars missions.
• Phases: NASA outlined a three-phase execution plan during its “Ignition” event in March 2026.

India–US Cooperation Highlights

• NISAR Mission: Joint Earth-observation satellite launched in 2025, monitoring ecosystems and climate.
• Civil Space Joint Working Group: Ninth meeting in Bengaluru (Aug 5–6, 2026) where NASA extended the invitation.
• TRUST Initiative: Strategic technology partnership aligning with Modi–Trump 2025 joint statement.
• Commitments: Both sides reaffirmed UN COPUOS guidelines for sustainable outer space activities.

ISRO’s Role & Capabilities

• Chandrayaan-3: Successful rover landing at the Moon’s South Pole in 2023.
• Chandrayaan-4: Planned for 2027, targeting lunar sample return.
• LUPEX Mission: Joint India–Japan polar exploration (2028–2029).
• Crewed Moon Landing: ISRO aims for a human mission by 2040.

The Mission's Importance

Aspect	Significance
Scientific Data Sharing	Enhances global research on lunar geology, water-ice, and solar wind.
Human Spaceflight	Builds on ISRO’s Gaganyaan program with US collaboration.
Diplomacy	Strengthens India’s role as a cost-effective, reliable space power.
Mars Preparation	Moon Base serves as a stepping stone for future Mars missions.

Challenges & Considerations

• Technology Transfer: Sensitive areas may face restrictions; India must negotiate access.
• Funding & Resources: Large-scale lunar infrastructure requires sustained investment.
• Geopolitical Competition: China’s lunar station plans by 2035 add urgency to India–US cooperation.
• Environmental Risks: Long-term sustainability of lunar activities under UN guidelines is critical.