Business

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced the setting up of a National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for Skilling in Aeronautics and Defence at the National Skill Training Institute (NSTI) in Kanpur.

The Centre will be established in collaboration with the Government of France under the Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs (PM-SETU) scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

The announcement was made during a joint press statement with the President of France while inaugurating the India–France Year of Innovation and related cooperation initiatives, including the new Centre of Excellence in aeronautics.

The proposed Centre in Kanpur will provide advanced skill training in aeronautics, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), airport operations, defence manufacturing and related fields.

It is planned as a world-class institution aimed at strengthening India’s aviation skilling ecosystem and supporting the country’s expanding aerospace and defence sectors.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education, Jayant Chaudhary, said the PM-SETU scheme is transforming India’s Industrial Training Institute (ITI) ecosystem.

He stated that the Centre in Kanpur will create a strong pipeline of globally skilled aviation professionals and further deepen India’s strategic partnership with France in advanced technology sectors.

He added that the initiative reflects the government’s commitment to aligning skill development with global standards and preparing youth for emerging opportunities in aeronautics, defence and advanced manufacturing.

A Letter of Intent has been exchanged between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the Government of France for collaboration on setting up the Centre under the PM-SETU scheme.

This move builds on the India–France Strategic Partnership and follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2025 in the field of skill development and vocational education and training.

The collaboration will include jointly designed curricula, training-of-trainers programmes, periodic reviews, exchange initiatives, language training and structured mobility pathways.

Both sides will also cooperate in areas such as aeronautics, space and related sectors. The Letter of Intent records the commitment of both governments and will be followed by a formal agreement detailing specific activities.

--IANS

pk

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a crucial role in strengthening India’s maritime management, disaster response systems, marine livelihoods and overall blue economy, experts said on Thursday.

The discussion took place during a panel session titled ‘AI for Oceans of Tomorrow: Data, Models and Governance’ at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 here.

According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Director General of Meteorology Dr. M. Mohapatra, in his keynote address, highlighted the vital role oceans play in climate regulation, disaster risk reduction, food security and livelihoods.

He underlined India’s strong national capabilities in ocean observation, cyclone forecasting, marine data systems and early warning services.

“Technological advancements have significantly reduced loss of life and property during extreme weather events,” he noted.

Dr. Mohapatra also stressed the importance of data-driven and AI-enabled models as a complement to traditional physical models, especially in addressing the growing impacts of climate change such as ocean warming, acidification and rising sea levels.

Addressing the session, Norway’s Ambassador to India, May-Elin Stener, highlighted the expanding India-Norway partnership in the areas of oceans and the blue economy.

She said that when AI is developed on open, interoperable and trustworthy digital foundations, it can significantly enhance fisheries management, shipping efficiency, port operations and coastal resilience.

Stener added that India’s leadership in digital public infrastructure positions it well to help build a global digital ocean framework based on open data, shared standards and responsible digital governance.

“Such a framework would benefit not only India but the global community as well,” she said.

Panelists noted that India is uniquely placed to lead the Global South by developing digital ocean infrastructure that integrates open data, AI-driven intelligence and robust governance frameworks.

They emphasised that AI will be essential for improving marine livelihoods, reducing operational costs and enabling timely, data-based decision-making across all sectors of the blue economy.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer at Meta, on Thursday said the company will release new AI models this year, adding that they will serve local needs in India and across Global South.

“We’re releasing new models this year, with the first coming in the next couple of months. These will be deeply integrated with our products in a way we’re really excited about," Wang said at the ‘India AI Impact Summit’ here.

He described the company’s long‑term vision as “personal superintelligence” — AI that understands an individual’s goals and interests and helps them with fulfill objectives they are focused on.

"We’re optimistic about the trajectory we’re on. The first models will be good, and as the year goes on, I think we’re going to be pushing the frontier," Wang said.

He urged collaboration between public and private sectors and to design AI systems tailored to individual needs. “I don’t want these amazing technologies to be one‑size‑fits‑all. I want them to serve your needs — designed for the challenges and opportunities that are unique to India, to societies across the global south, and all over the world,” Wang said.

India has world class developers building genius things to solve big societal challenges, Wang noted.

“I don't want these amazing technologies to be one-size-fits-all. I want them to serve your needs – designed for the challenges and opportunities that are unique to India, to societies across the global south, and all over the world. I want them to serve you as an individual. No matter who you are, where you live, what language you speak, or what culture you’re a part of,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday welcomed world leaders at the AI India Summit, and said AI represents a transformation of the same magnitude as historic turning points in human civilisation. PM Modi said that what is being seen and predicted today are only the initial signs of its impact.

—IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer at Meta, on Thursday said the company will release new AI models this year, adding that they will serve local needs in India and across Global South.

“We’re releasing new models this year, with the first coming in the next couple of months. These will be deeply integrated with our products in a way we’re really excited about," Wang said at the ‘India AI Impact Summit’ here.

He described the company’s long‑term vision as “personal superintelligence” — AI that understands an individual’s goals and interests and helps them with fulfill objectives they are focused on.

"We’re optimistic about the trajectory we’re on. The first models will be good, and as the year goes on, I think we’re going to be pushing the frontier," Wang said.

He urged collaboration between public and private sectors and to design AI systems tailored to individual needs. “I don’t want these amazing technologies to be one‑size‑fits‑all. I want them to serve your needs — designed for the challenges and opportunities that are unique to India, to societies across the global south, and all over the world,” Wang said.

India has world class developers building genius things to solve big societal challenges, Wang noted.

“I don't want these amazing technologies to be one-size-fits-all. I want them to serve your needs – designed for the challenges and opportunities that are unique to India, to societies across the global south, and all over the world. I want them to serve you as an individual. No matter who you are, where you live, what language you speak, or what culture you’re a part of,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday welcomed world leaders at the AI India Summit, and said AI represents a transformation of the same magnitude as historic turning points in human civilisation. PM Modi said that what is being seen and predicted today are only the initial signs of its impact.

—IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) In the decade since its inception, PhonePe has transitioned from a daring UPI pioneer into what many call a ‘fully diversified fintech platform’.

With over 65 crore registered users and a merchant acceptance network of more than 4.7 crore spanning metros to remote villages, PhonePe's expansion reflects a strategy centered on specific use cases and scalable infrastructure.

PhonePe’s success wasn't built on a single ‘eureka’ moment, but on solving the ‘small-ticket’ frictions of Indian life.

While many global fintechs focused on high-value transactions, PhonePe doubled down on ‘being use case driven’.

It started with the basics: mobile recharges and electricity bills. By making these high-frequency, low-friction tasks seamless, PhonePe built a habit.

This ‘utility-first’ strategy created a loyal user base that eventually felt comfortable exploring the broader financial corridors available within the PhonePe platform.

By 2026, PhonePe has scaled to offer a diverse and comprehensive suite of consumer-focused financial products integrated directly within its platform.

Beyond its core - UPI-based peer-to-peer and merchant payments, the app serves as a hub for daily utilities like mobile recharges and bill payments, loan repayments, FASTag recharges, among many other everyday transactions.

The platform has significantly expanded into wealth management, allowing users to invest in digital gold with options like Gold SIP and daily savings, as well as a wide array of mutual funds including tax-saving, liquid, and equity funds.

PhonePe's insurance vertical provides accessible protection through motor, health, life, and specialised travel insurance.

Furthermore, the company has bolstered its financial ecosystem with lending services such as merchant and consumer loans, credit line on UPI, and loans against mutual funds, while also facilitating travel and transit needs like metro ticketing and international UPI payments across countries like the UAE, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

In a country with varying levels of digital literacy, perhaps PhonePe’s greatest achievement is its user interface (UI) which remains remarkably intuitive.

By supporting over 11 Indian languages and focusing on ‘relentless simplification’ as a design philosophy, PhonePe has lowered the barrier to entry for millions.

This ‘Building for Bharat’ philosophy is most visible in its geographic penetration. PhonePe’s growth in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities has been meteoric with over 65 per cent of our consumers coming from beyond the traditional urban hubs, reflecting its scale - as per data from PhonePe’s DRHP.

Beyond the consumer interface, PhonePe has built a formidable ecosystem for its 4.7+ crore merchants, transforming the PhonePe Business app into a comprehensive center for local commerce.

Central to this growth is the company's focus on product innovation, exemplified by the SmartSpeaker, audio confirmation devices and the recently launched SmartPOD -- a Made-in-India hybrid device that merges a smart speaker with a Point-of-Sale (POS) system.

This allows even the smallest vendors to accept both UPI and card payments through a single, cost-effective terminal.

The platform extends far beyond simple payment acceptance. Merchants can leverage a paperless lending marketplace, accessing working capital and business loans through trusted partners with a 100 per cent digital journey.

Combined with features like instant digital settlements and reconciliation, PhonePe has equipped the Indian merchant with a tech stack that was previously the exclusive domain of large retail chains.

As the company marks its tenth year, the focus has shifted from expansion to maturity. With a footprint that covers the furthest corners of the country, the platform has successfully moved from facilitating transactions to managing the entire lifecycle of money.

As it prepares to transition into a public entity, PhonePe's focus remains on becoming the invisible engine beneath every Indian's financial aspirations -- proving that when you solve for the smallest merchant and the most remote consumer, scale isn't just a goal; it's an inevitability.

--IANS

pk

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) In the decade since its inception, PhonePe has transitioned from a daring UPI pioneer into what many call a ‘fully diversified fintech platform’.

With over 65 crore registered users and a merchant acceptance network of more than 4.7 crore spanning metros to remote villages, PhonePe's expansion reflects a strategy centered on specific use cases and scalable infrastructure.

PhonePe’s success wasn't built on a single ‘eureka’ moment, but on solving the ‘small-ticket’ frictions of Indian life.

While many global fintechs focused on high-value transactions, PhonePe doubled down on ‘being use case driven’.

It started with the basics: mobile recharges and electricity bills. By making these high-frequency, low-friction tasks seamless, PhonePe built a habit.

This ‘utility-first’ strategy created a loyal user base that eventually felt comfortable exploring the broader financial corridors available within the PhonePe platform.

By 2026, PhonePe has scaled to offer a diverse and comprehensive suite of consumer-focused financial products integrated directly within its platform.

Beyond its core - UPI-based peer-to-peer and merchant payments, the app serves as a hub for daily utilities like mobile recharges and bill payments, loan repayments, FASTag recharges, among many other everyday transactions.

The platform has significantly expanded into wealth management, allowing users to invest in digital gold with options like Gold SIP and daily savings, as well as a wide array of mutual funds including tax-saving, liquid, and equity funds.

PhonePe's insurance vertical provides accessible protection through motor, health, life, and specialised travel insurance.

Furthermore, the company has bolstered its financial ecosystem with lending services such as merchant and consumer loans, credit line on UPI, and loans against mutual funds, while also facilitating travel and transit needs like metro ticketing and international UPI payments across countries like the UAE, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

In a country with varying levels of digital literacy, perhaps PhonePe’s greatest achievement is its user interface (UI) which remains remarkably intuitive.

By supporting over 11 Indian languages and focusing on ‘relentless simplification’ as a design philosophy, PhonePe has lowered the barrier to entry for millions.

This ‘Building for Bharat’ philosophy is most visible in its geographic penetration. PhonePe’s growth in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities has been meteoric with over 65 per cent of our consumers coming from beyond the traditional urban hubs, reflecting its scale - as per data from PhonePe’s DRHP.

Beyond the consumer interface, PhonePe has built a formidable ecosystem for its 4.7+ crore merchants, transforming the PhonePe Business app into a comprehensive center for local commerce.

Central to this growth is the company's focus on product innovation, exemplified by the SmartSpeaker, audio confirmation devices and the recently launched SmartPOD -- a Made-in-India hybrid device that merges a smart speaker with a Point-of-Sale (POS) system.

This allows even the smallest vendors to accept both UPI and card payments through a single, cost-effective terminal.

The platform extends far beyond simple payment acceptance. Merchants can leverage a paperless lending marketplace, accessing working capital and business loans through trusted partners with a 100 per cent digital journey.

Combined with features like instant digital settlements and reconciliation, PhonePe has equipped the Indian merchant with a tech stack that was previously the exclusive domain of large retail chains.

As the company marks its tenth year, the focus has shifted from expansion to maturity. With a footprint that covers the furthest corners of the country, the platform has successfully moved from facilitating transactions to managing the entire lifecycle of money.

As it prepares to transition into a public entity, PhonePe's focus remains on becoming the invisible engine beneath every Indian's financial aspirations -- proving that when you solve for the smallest merchant and the most remote consumer, scale isn't just a goal; it's an inevitability.

--IANS

pk

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Adani Airport Holdings Limited Director Jeet Adani on Thursday said that the question is no longer whether India will participate in the AI century; the question is whether the AI century will carry India’s imprint in its infrastructure – "with her intelligence, with her standards, and most importantly, with her values".

Addressing the AI Impact Summit 2026 here, Jeet Adani said India’s IT revolution made it a global digital services powerhouse.

"But much of the productivity dividend accrued - not in our nation - but elsewhere. The AI revolution gives India a once-in-a-century opportunity to change that equation," he told the gathering.

Calling the Summit “a decisive inflection point in history,” he further stated that AI is going to redefine sovereignty.

"The central question before our country, India, is not whether we will adopt AI. The question is: Will India import intelligence or architect it? Will we consume productivity — or create it? Will we plug into someone else’s system - or build the system?” he noted.

He spoke about the three pillars of sovereignty that will define India’s AI century. These are: Energy Sovereignty, Compute and Cloud Sovereignty, and Services Sovereignty.

"These are not technical abstractions. They are the foundations of modern nationalism," said Jeet Adani.

If a nation’s energy systems are fragile, its intelligence systems are fragile. In today’s AI era, power grids and data grids become inseparable, he stressed.

"This means India’s renewable expansion - solar, wind, storage - is no longer just climate policy. It is a strategic infrastructure policy. Energy security is going to be equivalent to intelligence security. And sustainable energy becomes a competitive advantage," said Jeet Adani.

He further stated that AI must become a force multiplier for Indian citizens before it becomes a margin multiplier for others.

"Earlier this week, Chairman of the Adani Group and my father, Gautam Adani, made one of the most transformative announcements in India’s technology history when he said that the Adani Group would invest 100 billion dollars to build a sovereign, green-energy-powered AI infrastructure platform for the nation," Jeet Adani noted.

"This is not just a data centre expansion. It is the trigger for a 5-gigawatt, 250 billion dollar integrated energy-and-compute ecosystem engineered to anchor India’s Intelligence Revolution," he added.

By integrating renewable energy, grid resilience, and hyperscale compute into a unified architecture, this commitment ensures that India’s AI future is not only powered but secured, sovereign, and built at a national scale, said Jeet Adani.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) At the India AI Impact Summit, Co‑founder of Infosys Nandan Nilekani on Thursday urged stakeholders to work urgently to demonstrate meaningful uses of artificial intelligence and ensure its responsible diffusion, warning that failure to do so could cause a backlash.

Nilekani said AI development is currently seeing both a “race to the top and a race to the bottom,” adding that the latter is faster. “All of us, who have a stake in AI being useful to humanity, have to accelerate and redouble our efforts to make the diffusion happen. Otherwise, the consequences are going to be very difficult. There is going to be a backlash,” he said.

He warned that if AI only succeeded in creating deep fakes or higher power bill costs, a public backlash could ensue. “The resentment of the blue-collar workers led to the train wreck of globalisation. The resentment of the white-collar workers is going to lead to the train wreck of AI,” Nilekani said.

Nilekani argued that efforts should revolve around practical problems of users such as expanding access to health care for a billion people.

"Technology is just one piece of the puzzle. It's about institutions. It's about trust building. It's about negotiations. It's about guardrails, working with different stakeholders and making them go towards a common vision. Diffusion is difficult,” Nilekani said.

Pointing to India’s success with large‑scale diffusion of digital technologies, citing examples such as UPI and Aadhaar, Nilekani said the country is well placed to "lead the way."

"We can build a pathway, or multiple pathways, to that goal, and that will show the world," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday arrived at AI India Summit to greet and welcome world leaders to the event. The gathering will attract over 500 global AI leaders, including 100 CEOs and founders, 150 academicians and researchers, and 400 CTOs, VPs, and philanthropists. Government participation includes more than 20 heads of state and government, along with around 60 ministers and vice ministers, fostering unprecedented dialogue on AI's transformative potential.

—IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday announced the New Delhi Frontier AI Impact Commitments, a landmark outcome of the summit that brings together leading frontier AI companies and India’s domestic innovators to advance inclusive and responsible artificial intelligence.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Vaishnaw positioned India’s AI strategy as one rooted in democratisation, scale, and sovereignty. He outlined India’s comprehensive approach across the five layers of the AI stack, applications, models, compute, talent, and energy, emphasising real-world deployment in healthcare, agriculture, education, and public services.

"AI is a foundational technology. It is already transforming how we work, learn, and make decisions. Our Prime Minister believes that the true value of technology lies in ensuring that its benefits reach the masses. Our Prime Minister’s vision is to democratise technology, deploy it at scale, and make it accessible to all. That is why in India, we are working on all five layers of the AI stack," he said.

"Once we honestly harness the benefits of AI, we must also find collective solutions for mitigating risks. By placing human safety and dignity at the heart of AI, we can move forward with conviction. Let us shape an AI future of the humans, by the humans, and for the humans," Vaishnaw remarked.

The voluntary commitments reflect a shared vision to ensure that the development and deployment of AI systems are aligned with equity, cultural diversity, and real-world needs, particularly across the Global South. Participating organisations include India-based innovators such as Sarvam, BharatGen, Gnani.ai, and Soket, alongside global frontier AI firms.

The first commitment, "Advancing Understanding of Real-World AI Usage", focuses on real-world AI usage through anonymised and aggregated insights. Participating organisations will work to generate evidence that supports policymaking on the impact of AI on jobs, skills, productivity, and economic transformation. By enabling data-driven analysis of how AI is being deployed across sectors, the initiative aims to help governments and institutions craft informed strategies that maximise benefits while mitigating risks associated with technological change.

The second commitment, "Strengthening Multilingual and Contextual Evaluations", centres on efforts to ensure the effectiveness of AI systems across languages, cultures, and real-world use cases. Organisations will collaborate with governments and local ecosystems to develop datasets, benchmarks, and expertise that support evaluation in underrepresented languages and cultural contexts. This effort will improve AI performance for diverse populations and help democratize access to high-quality AI experiences globally, while preserving flexibility in the choice of tools and evaluation methodologies.

The minister emphasised that collaborative action between governments, industry, and research communities is essential to ensure AI serves humanity at large. He invited leaders of participating organisations to join in advancing these commitments as a foundation for responsible AI development worldwide.

--IANS

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Mumbai, Feb 19 (IANS) Indian benchmark indices witnessed heavy selling pressure on Thursday, recording their sharpest decline in more than two weeks as rising geopolitical tensions and higher crude oil prices hurt investor sentiment.

The Sensex closed at 82,498.14, down 1,236.11 points or 1.48 per cent. The Nifty settled at 25,454.35, falling 365 points or 1.41 per cent. The benchmarks posted their worst single-day fall since February 1 this year.

Technically, price action slipped below the short-term support band of 25,645–25,660, which coincided with the 20-day EMA, experts said.

“Once this support gave way, selling pressure accelerated modestly, dragging the index toward the 25,350–25,400 support region and breaching previous short-term demand levels,” an analyst stated.

The market decline was largely driven by rising crude oil prices and escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which increased global uncertainty.

Investors also booked profits in heavyweights from the banking and FMCG sectors, adding to the downward pressure.

All 30 stocks in the Sensex ended in the red. Shares of IndiGo, M&M, UltraTech Cement, Trent and BEL were among the top losers, slipping up to 3.2 per cent during the session.

Broader markets also remained under pressure. The Nifty Midcap 100 index ended 1.59 per cent lower, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 1.27 per cent.

Sector-wise, Nifty Realty, Nifty Media and Nifty Auto were the worst performers, each declining around 2 per cent.

Nifty FMCG as well as private and public sector bank indices also dropped more than 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors continued to trim their exposure to Indian equities.

In the first half of February, FPIs sold information technology stocks worth Rs 10,956 crore.

Despite an overall inflow of Rs 29,709 crore into Dalal Street during the same period, IT stocks saw the biggest selling pressure.

Market experts said investors are likely to remain cautious in the near term due to global uncertainties and volatility in crude oil prices.

Meanwhile, Gold traded positive after US-Iran talks failed to yield a constructive outcome, reigniting military tensions and prompting fresh safe-haven buying

--IANS

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