Ahead of Int’l Yoga Day, India Inc strikes gung-ho pose

Bengaluru, June 19: From startups and airlines to taxi aggregators, India Inc is enthused about the International Yoga Day celebrations on Sunday. In fact, there are reports of honchos quitting jobs to become yoga-preneurs.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising yoga sessions for industry captains on Sunday. Startups are gearing up to offer incentives, either in the form of free rides, special packages or free classes at yoga studios. For instance, Yatra.com is launching its first-ever yoga package in Hrishikesh and Kovalam in the south.

SpiceJet will become India’s first airline conducting in-flight yoga. In association with Isha Foundation, 50 instructors, along with crew members, will perform 10minute Upa yoga on select flights.

Sanjay Nayak, who was president, McCann Erickson, quit in May this year to become a yoga-preneur. Bengaluru-based Proyog, Nayak’s startup, has come up with its own line of apparel wear for yoga and plans to launch its website on the Yoga Day. It will launch eight styles of apparel wear for yoga practitioners.

App-based taxi operators have also seized the day as they are offering customers free rides to yoga sessions. Ola is offering customers a chance to win a free yoga session. Those in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Indore can participate in the contest. Ola has partnered 11 yoga studios across the country.

Anand Subramanian, director, marketing communications, Ola, said, “Today, the world has come together to celebrate the benefits of yoga as a holistic approach to health and well-being. We have partnered with some of the best yoga studios in ten major cities to help introduce Yoga among users of the Ola app. We believe this will help them take a positive step forward in their personal well-being.”

LocalOye, a Bengalurubased start-up that connects professionals to people seeking them, is conducting free yoga classes in alliance with renowned yoga instructors in the city. “We have taken up this initiative to teach people a dynamic, focused, and deeply organic approach to the eight limbs of classical yoga,” said Aditya Rao, CEO, LocalOye.

CII is organising yoga sessions for industry captains on Sunday. And startups are gearing up to offer incentives, either in the form of free rides, special packages or free classes at yoga studios