In August 2022, senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quit the Indian National Congress. In a five-page letter addressed to the erstwhile party president Sonia Gandhi, he noted that the sidelining of experienced campaigners was eroding the ‘consultative mechanism’ within the organization. Pundits echoed the sentiment, citing the neglect of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot. The political pedigree of both the bulwarks was undisputed, and their national elevation could’ve helped with grassroot mobilization, which according to analyst Ramakrishna Upadhya is the primary reason Congress lags behind in an evolving electoral landscape.
Former Union Minister and six-term Member of Parliament, Jyotiraditya is a rare breed as far as public representatives are concerned. Despite being the grandson of the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Gwalior, one of the wealthiest and most powerful territories in British India, he connects organically with people across social stratas. Known for his hands-on approach to imparting welfare, Jyotiraditya blends his royal background with local engagement as well as his father Madhavrao. Altruism runs in the family, for Mahanaaryaman co-founded an online aggregator that works with vegetable or fruit vendors and the cart-pusher community to distribute fresh produce in a cost-effective way.
Having optimized the supply chain through MyMandi, the tech-savvy Mahanaaryaman is part of another joint venture, an artificial intelligence startup which allows enterprises to shift from static workflows to fully autonomous intelligent systems. “At Ethara AI, we work on training AI models. That’s where the idea of partnership with Madhya Pradesh League came from,” Mahanaaryaman, the youngest President of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, told White Glove. “The goal is to improve transparency in the state board’s relationships with the district and divisional institutions besides its own operations.’’
Emergent, an AI app-builder, has been entrusted with the mission. The brainchild of twin brothers Mukund and Madhav Jha, the startup has gained prominence due to its agentic vibe-coding infrastructure, which allows users to design, test, and deploy full-stack software through simple prompts. “You can speak to our platform in plain English or Hindi, tell what kind of an application you want, describe the features required, and it will automate the entire development process,’’ Mukund said, emphasizing how his technology spares the average joe the trouble of planning, writing, executing, and iterating on the code. That is one heck of an invention, a fact the company’s valuations reflect.
Claude Fable 5 is now live on Emergent
Anthropic’s first Mythos-class model, and the biggest leap in AI yet
For the builds that were too complex, too long, too vague to hand off to a model
You describe the idea. Fable 5 figures out the rest
How is this different from every… pic.twitter.com/jhIJVzGYzp
— Emergent (@emergentlabs) June 9, 2026
Reaching $100M annual recurring revenue in 8 months of launch, Emergent claims to be the fastest-growing startup in the world, with investors including Google. Their user base, pegged at 6 million in 190 countries, now includes the MPCA office-bearers. “Earlier, they had to upload each bill upon arrival into Tally, analyze the cost with respect to budgeted heads, and physically go through each entry before disbursing the funds. Now AI runs the checks and balances, identifying markers like whether the format is correct, if the bill has been uploaded under the right budget head, is the invoice legitimate?’’ Mahanaaryaman explains.
“The financial impact, straightaway, is huge. The three to four hours worth of work is now conducted in a jiffy. In the absence of justification, payments are withheld. The manpower dedicated to communicating, reasoning and elucidating is no longer necessary. I’m saving approximately one lakh rupees per day.’’
In addition to streamlining the procedure of grant approval, Emergent is containing leakages. “Last year when the tournament was upon us, some procurement decisions were fastracked in the interest of time. There was no bandwidth for a cost or quality analysis. AI does the needful in real time, allowing me to allocate resources better. I don’t have to wait for a report that might come to my table the next day.’’
Such computative spotchecks on a daily basis are of paramount importance for two reasons. Firstly, Madhya Pradesh League is tightly congested, with 48 games taking place over a three-week window. Secondly, Indore is 828 kms away from Meerut, India’s powerhouse of sports goods. The double whammy of a fast-paced environment and logistical bottlenecks is a recipe for disaster when it comes to purchasing equipment, so the immediate due diligence carried out by Emergent AI ensures that MPCA is making smart business decisions even at the eleventh hour.
Less panic, and more prudent proficiency when push comes to shove. For, the smooth conduct of an event of this scale, involving ten franchises, multiple stakeholders, and hundreds of agencies catering to the pomp and show, throws up curveballs daily.
Since finance is the cog this alliance is attempting to enhance, for starters, it begs the question how Emergent safeguards its client against data breaches and phishing attacks. AI architecture can be highly vulnerable to hacking, although its loopholes differ from traditional cybersecurity threats. Given India is just warming up to the AI revolution and the 68-year-old MPCA may comprise an elderly workforce, especially in the supervisory roles that constitute the human intervention component of this whole project, safety was a non-negotiable for the proprietors to keep AI from beoming a double-edged sword.
“Everything is deployed within the cloud which has a firewall to block malicious elements. We believe our tool is quite secure,’’ Mukund reassures. “We plan to host workshops across our different hierarchies to improve the knowhow with regard to AI adoption,’’ Mahanaaryaman chimes in.
Expenditure monitoring represents a fraction of AI’s capabilities, with BCCI and SAI jumping on the bandwagon in terms of athletic integrations – injury assessment, recovery, workload management. NextPlayAI, which dissects tennis clips using machine learning to offer personalised feedback on strokes, footwork and match movements, is aided by Samsung’s flagship education programme. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, AI allowed organizers to assign surge transportation based on exact fan demand.
FestiTech delivers personalized music recommendations, elevating the concert experience by guiding the audience to gigs tailored to their tastes. By combining motion-tracking with AI, a paper-thin sensor named str8bat provides instant statistics on bat lift, downswing, bat speed, impact timing, and sweet-spot connection.
“There is no ceiling,” Mahaaryaman proclaims. “I aim to transform ticketing. Precise information about attendance will appear on my dashboard, and when a spectator enters the stadium premises their seat will light up. I am looking forward to an agentic framework that connects my administrative dashboard to the franchises’ ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning) so that I can keep an eye on how they are spending their money. We want to eliminate any potential bias in the player selection process and equip the franchise owners with a digital catalogue of performance records and empirical evidence at the MPL auction table.’’
Its torrent of benefits aside, AI comes at an environmental cost, much like the damage caused by cryptocurrency mining that is responsible for nearly 139 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in global greenhouse gas emissions. Is MPCA, as a counterbalancing measure, preserving the planet? “Yes, we are undertaking solar initiatives. Last year, we planted 5,000 trees. So, definitely, we’re mindful of mitigating the harm,’’ apprises Mahanaaryaman in what was yet another reaffirmation that those belonging to the Scindia clan are good samaritans.
