Technology

New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said that India followed the world in 4G, marched with the world in 5G and will lead the world in 6G.

Responding to questions in the Lok Sabha today, the minister highlighted India’s rapidly transforming digital landscape and future roadmap.

India has rolled out 5G at the fastest pace in the world. Within just 22 months, 5G services have been launched in 99.9 per cent of the country’s districts, setting a global benchmark.

“Telecom service providers have invested nearly Rs 4 lakh crore for this expansion, with over 5 lakh BTS (Base Transceiver Stations) installed nationwide,” he mentioned.

Currently, 400 million citizens are benefiting from 5G services, and this number is expected to rise to 1 billion by 2030, he stated.

Highlighting efforts to extend digital connectivity to the last mile, Scindia said the expansion of Wi-Fi networks is ushering in a new revolution in rural India.

He noted that Maharashtra ranks among the top states in the country in terms of Wi-Fi hotspots deployments. The minister further underlined that broadband connectivity in India has surged from 60 million connections a decade ago to 1 billion today.

By 2030, the government aims to further strengthen and deepen this digital infrastructure.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is no longer a follower of technology but has emerged as a global digital leader,” said Communications Minister, adding that the revolution is no longer confined to metropolitan cities but is reaching villages across the country, reshaping citizens’ lives, education, healthcare, and livelihoods.

Meanwhile, the government said India has improved its global ‘Network Readiness Index 2025’ (NRI 2025) position by four slots and is now placed at 45th rank, leading in several indicators. The report has been published by the Portulans Institute, an independent, non-profit research and educational institute based in Washington, DC.

“India has not only improved its ranking but has also improved its score from 53.63 out of 100 in 2024 to 54.43 out of 100 in 2025. It is noteworthy that India leads in several indicators,” said Ministry of Communications.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) India’s participation as ‘Country of the Year’ at the ‘BIOFACH Germany 2026’ underscores its growing role in the global organic ecosystem, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The ‘BIOFACH Germany 2026’, world’s leading trade fair for organic products, was held in Nuremberg, and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) led India’s participation with a prominent and high-impact presence, highlighting the country’s rich agricultural heritage and its growing stature as a reliable global supplier of organic products.

“Trade visitors are being provided insights into Indian organic products, value creation models and partnership opportunities,” according to a Commerce Ministry statement.

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal highlighted India’s position as one of the world’s leading producers of organic products.

He underlined the key amendments made in India’s organic regulation, the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which further strengthen the credibility of India’s organic framework.

Agrawal also emphasised the complementarities between India and the European Union bloc, noting their combined demographic and economic strength.

Referring to the successful conclusion of negotiations of the India–European Union Free Trade Agreement, he stated that the agreement would enhance bilateral trade and investment ties, strengthen resilient supply chains and support sustainable growth.

He also called for the early conclusion of the Mutual Recognition Agreement on organics between India and the European Union to further expand organic trade.

The India Pavilion spans 1,074 square metres and hosts 67 co-exhibitors, including organic product exporters, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), cooperatives, organic certification and testing laboratories, state government organisations and commodity boards.

According to the ministry, it showcases a wide range of organic products such as rice, oilseeds, herbs, spices, pulses, cashew, ginger, turmeric, large cardamom, cinnamon, mango puree, essential oils, tea, coffee and millets.

Notably, exhibitors from over 20 States, including Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, are participating in the exhibition, highlighting region-specific organic produce and value-added products.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) South Africa’s High Commissioner to India Prof. Anil Sooklal said on Wednesday that the proposed SACU (Southern African Customs Union)–India Free Trade Agreement would significantly boost trade and investment flows between the two regions.

In an exclusive interview with IANS, the High Commissioner said that this would be the first free trade agreement between India and a regional bloc in Africa. The SACU consists of five member countries - Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa - and South Africa participates as part of that customs union in trade negotiations. Both sides have agreed to expedite discussions, he added.

He further stated that trade and investment flows between India and South Africa have been very significant. "South Africa is India’s largest trading partner on the African continent, and India is our fourth-largest trading partner globally. Our two-way trade stands at approximately $20 billion, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of India’s total trade with Africa," he observed.

Sooklal also pointed out that South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, attended the CII India–Africa Conclave recently, where South Africa was the guest country. On that occasion, Minister Tau held a bilateral meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss key initiatives to deepen trade and investment ties between the two countries.

The High Commissioner also said that India has been a leading voice of the Global South. During India’s G20 Presidency in 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi played a decisive role in ensuring the African Union became a full member of the G20. This was widely appreciated across Africa.

India also initiated the Voice of the Global South Summit, which brought focus to the concerns of developing nations. India continues to be not only a leading voice but also a leading initiator in shaping a more inclusive global system, he observed.

Sooklal further stated that the India–Brazil–South Africa (IBSA) cooperation has contributed significantly to addressing issues of global governance. Recently, on the margins of the G20 Summit in South Africa, there was an IBSA Summit where Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Prime Minister Modi, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met to discuss key areas of cooperation.

Interestingly, one of the newer areas of collaboration is cooperation in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

IBSA has played a key role in advocating reform of global institutions, including the WTO, the Bretton Woods institutions, and the UN system, while addressing developmental challenges faced by the Global South.

Talking about the US boycott of the G20 meet in South Africa, the envoy said, although it was unfortunate that the United States was absent, the summit in Johannesburg was very successful. "All other member states attended, and we adopted a comprehensive declaration addressing major global challenges."

"This demonstrated that the G20 is a collective platform. No single country can paralyse it. By staying away, one does not achieve constructive outcomes. On the contrary, cooperation is the only effective way to address global challenges," he added.

On New Delhi’s stand against US tariff pressures, he said that India has taken a principled stand regarding the weaponisation of tariffs and the imposition of unfair unilateral measures.

India, now the world’s fourth-largest economy, has demonstrated that no external pressure can force a country to compromise its sovereignty. India’s approach has given strength and confidence to many developing nations facing similar pressures, he pointed out.

Sooklal also said that the upcoming AI Summit in India is an extremely significant event. India, along with France, played a key role in initiating global AI discussions. AI is evolving rapidly and presents immense opportunities, especially for developing countries. At the same time, it brings challenges that require global cooperation.

Hosting the AI summit in India demonstrates that the Global South can lead in emerging technologies. This summit will likely produce important outcomes and strengthen international cooperation in AI governance, he added.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) India must move beyond adding solar capacity to transform its energy system, with distributed solar, storage and smarter grids to meet an expected rapid surge in demand, according to a new report.

A report from Tata Power said that by 2035, solar will be at the "heart of India's competitiveness, powering industries, energizing communities, shaping smart cities, and creating millions of livelihoods."

India will witness the largest increase in energy demand worldwide in the coming decades, it said, adding microgrids could become the backbone of rural manufacturing clusters, digital learning, modern health centres and community‑level e‑mobility.

Further, distributed solar will extend clean‑energy progress beyond major cities, which calls for policy frameworks to support faster deployment, smarter grids and long‑term investment confidence, the report said.

“India will witness the largest increase in energy demand worldwide in the coming decades. Clean and green energy will play a major role in meeting this increased demand where what will matter the most is affordability and accessibility,” said Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO and Managing Director of the Tata Power Company Limited.

Tata Power highlighted six policy priorities including resource adequacy frameworks, storage procurement mandates, domestic manufacturing incentives, green open access with digital approval systems, advanced forecasting standards as well as circularity and panel‑recycling norms.

"States will be required to plan for firm, dispatchable capacity alongside renewables. This ensures reliability as solar usage increases and creates a clear role for hybrids and storage-backed solutions," the blog post said.

Upcoming guidelines will encourage utilities and developers to add battery and pumped-hydro storage, which will in turn help manage variability, reduce curtailment, and support round-the-clock renewable supply, it added.

Tata Power forecasted collaboration on R&D for advanced modules and emerging technologies as well as workforce development. Manufacturing innovation to strengthen domestic supply chains and grid modernization efforts with utilities and regulators are other critical areas which require collaboration, it added.

India is now third in solar capacity and fourth in overall renewables, adding 26.6 GW of solar in the first nine months of 2025 up 54 per cent on year‑on‑year basis.

—IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The Nifty Midcap 150, despite a one‑month decline of 3.53 per cent in January, emerged as a top gainer on annual basis, delivering one‑year returns of 8.26 per cent, a report said on Tuesday.

The report from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund said the index delivered returns of -2.52 per cent and 0.61 per cent over the last three months and six months respectively.

Commodities were the only positive contributor to the Nifty 500 in January, the report further said. Among sectors, Metals and Defence gained around 6 per cent, while FMCG, Realty and Consumer Durables fell between 6 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.

The Nifty 50 fell 3.10 per cent in January but rose 7.71 per cent over the past year. Nifty 500 remained flat in January and closed the year up 6.94 per cent and midcap and smallcap indices were negative for the month, down about 3.53 per cent to 5.52 per cent.

Value factor continued to outperform other metrics in terms of stock gains, up 2.4 per cent in January and about 25 per cent over the year, while “Momentum, Low Vol and Quality ended lower in January however they have been positive over the year”, the report said.

The Nifty Smallcap 250 and Nifty Microcap 250 saw monthly declines of 5.52 per cent and 5.66 per cent, respectively, the report added.

Silver emerged as the best performer in asset classes, delivering the highest returns of 43.34 per cent for the month and 226.50 per cent YoY, while gold returned 14.06 per cent in January and 77.16 per cent over the year.

CPI inflation stayed low but edged up to 1.33 per cent in January. The 10-year G-sec yield moved up to 6.70 per cent indicating a mild uptick in market rates even as policy rates remained unchanged.

Domestic activity stayed resilient with Composite PMI at 59.5 and GST collections strengthening to Rs 1.93 lakh crore.

—IANS

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Mumbai, Feb 9 (IANS) Bengaluru‑based startup Sarvam AI has claimed that its latest vision and speech models have outperformed larger global rivals Google Gemini and ChatGPT on key optical character recognition and text‑to‑speech benchmarks for Indian languages.

In a post on X, Sarvam AI's co‑founder Pratyush Kumar said, "Sarvam Vision achieves state-of-the-art accuracy of 84.3 per cent on the olmOCR-Bench (English only subset) outperforming frontier models like Gemini 3 Pro and recent OCR models like DeepSeek OCR 2."

On OmniDocBench v1.5 (English only subset), Sarvam Vision achieved 93.28 per cent overall score, excelling in complex formulas and layout parsing and being within touching distance of the current state of the art, Kumar added.

Kumar also said the company’s Bulbul V3 text‑to‑speech model supports 35 voices across all 22 scheduled Indian languages and can handle different quality scans and content.

"On Indian languages, Sarvam Vision is the best model by far, while supporting all 22 scheduled Indian languages," he claimed.

The Vision series includes a 3‑billion‑parameter state‑space model capable of image captioning, scene text recognition, chart interpretation and complex table parsing.

Sarvam AI said its focus is on making artificial intelligence widely accessible to everyone in India. "We want India to embrace the most important technological shift of our time with confidence and control. Our ambition is to build foundational components and apply them to the country's unique needs," the AI company said.

Kumar cited several examples on social media where the platform accurately extracted technical jargon from complex tables with merged rows and columns. Further, it showed Sarvam AI extracting data out of a chart from the latest Economic Survey.

Beyond documents, his posts showed Sarvam Vision demonstrating general natural scene understanding where it understood a photo of beautiful scenery and accurately described it.

Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a recent post on X that the startup’s work reflected the success of India’s AI mission.

--IANS

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Mumbai, Feb 9 (IANS) The Income Tax Department’s draft Income‑tax Rules proposed a comprehensive renumbering of tax forms that would improve reporting ease and enhance compliance for taxpayers, professionals and institutions as the Income‑tax Act, 2025 is set to come into force on April 1.

The draft rules, released with new form templates, replace legacy form numbers that evolved over decades and will reduce ambiguity and duplication in filings for taxpayers, experts said.

It will better integrate reporting with real‑time data matching and analytics, but the change will require rapid adaptation and system updates by employers, tax practitioners, registrars and corporate systems.

Several commonly used audit and international tax forms have been consolidated or renumbered. Tax audit reports now filed as Forms 3CA, 3CB and 3CD would be consolidated under Form 26, while transfer‑pricing audit reporting would move from Form 3CEB to Form 48. Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) certification would shift from Form 29B to Form 66.

MAT is a 15 per cent tax on book profits (under Section 115JB) for companies whose normal tax liability is less than 15 per cent of their book profit.

To apply for Tax residency certificates, the taxpayers have to use Form 42 instead of Form 10FA to Form 42, and DTAA‑related disclosures will be done in Form 41 instead of erstwhile Form 10F.

Core withholding and reporting forms were also renumbered with the draft marking lower or nil TDS applications to Form 128 and the salary TDS certificate to Form 130.

It reassigned periodic TDS returns including the legacy 24Q (salaried), 26Q (residents) and 27Q (non-residents) to Form 138, Form 140 and Form 144 respectively. TCS returns have been moved from 27EQ to Form 143.

Reporting forms such as the annual tax statement commonly referred to as 26AS would be renumbered Form 168.

The Statement of Financial Transactions from 61A, would become Form 165, while foreign remittance declaration moving from 15CA to Form 145, and CA certificate for remittances shifting from 15CB to Form 146 are other major changes.

Experts said the changes would lead to simplified return filing, clearer valuation norms for income and perquisites, and increased standardisation of compliance framework.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) Maruti Suzuki India Limited on Monday said it has set a new benchmark in green logistics by dispatching over 5.85 lakh vehicles through railways in 2025, a growth of 18 per cent over 2024.

Maruti Suzuki’s share of rail mode in outbound logistics has grown exponentially, rising from 5.1 per cent in 2016 to 26 per cent in 2025, significantly reducing carbon emissions, country’s oil imports and easing road congestion, according to the automaker.

“The year 2025 marks our highest-ever rail dispatch, with over 5.85 lakh units. During the year, we strengthened our green logistic efforts through two landmark events – the inauguration of India’s largest automobile in-plant railway siding at our Manesar facility, and second was we dispatched vehicles by rail to Kashmir valley through the world's highest railway arch bridge over Chenab River, a first by any automobile manufacturer,” said Hisashi Takeuchi, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

“Our mid-term goal is to increase rail-based vehicle dispatches to 35 per cent by FY2030-31, contributing to India’s net-zero ambition by 2070,” he added.

Since FY 2014-15, Maruti Suzuki has transported over 28 lakh vehicles from 22 destinations servicing over 600 cities pan India through a hub and spoke model. Currently, Maruti Suzuki uses over 45 flexi deck rakes, each with a capacity of carrying around 260 vehicles per trip.

In 2025, rail dispatches from Maruti Suzuki’s in-plant railway siding at Gujarat and Manesar facility accounted for 53 per cent of the company’s total rail dispatches.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited has adopted a comprehensive ‘Circular Mobility’ approach to sustainability, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint across the entire vehicle lifecycle—from design and production to logistics and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) management

It has been at the forefront of promoting railways as a sustainable and efficient mode of vehicle transportation.

“Maruti Suzuki India Limited has adopted a comprehensive ‘Circular Mobility’ approach to sustainability, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint across the entire vehicle lifecycle—from design and production to logistics and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) management,” said Takeuchi.

--IANS

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Mumbai, Feb 9 (IANS) The Indian equity markets opened the week with gains on Monday amid more clarity on the India-US interim trade framework and improvements in domestic fundamentals and easing of geopolitical uncertainties.

As of 9.25 am, Sensex added 370 points, or 0.44 per cent, to reach 83,950, and Nifty gained 117 points, or 0.46 per cent to settle at 25,811.

Main broad-cap indices posted strong gains, as the Nifty Midcap 100 added 0.66 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 edged up 0.85 per cent.

All sectoral indices traded in the green. Most notable gainers were PSU bank, up 2.45 per cent and metals, up 1.56 per cent.

Immediate support for Nifty is placed at 25,550-25,600 zone, while resistance is anchored at 25,850–25,900 zone, market watchers said.

Analysts said the India–US trade pact has removed a key overhang, improved export visibility and triggered a revival in foreign investor interest.

The RBI’s pause on repo rate change with a neutral stance, alongside benign inflation expectations for FY26 and a steady growth outlook, continues to reinforce macroeconomic stability, they added.

Easing concerns over a potential US–Iran conflict, robust domestic institutional inflows, a stabilising rupee and sustained traction in Budget-led capex themes are adding to the positive momentum.

Overall sentiment has turned constructive, with markets now focusing on the durability of FII inflows and early signs of a recovery in export-oriented sectors, market watchers said.

In Asian markets, China's Shanghai index added 1.17, and Shenzhen added 2.07 per cent, Japan's Nikkei gained 4.27 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up 1.61 per cent. South Korea's Kospi gained 4.17 per cent.

The US markets ended in the green in the last trading session as Nasdaq gained 2.18 per cent. The S&P 500 added 1.97 per cent, and the Dow Jones added 2.47 per cent.

On February 6, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought equities worth Rs 1,951 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of equities worth Rs 1,265 crore.

—IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) The affordable 5G smartphone shipments surged over 1,900 per cent in India in 2025 (year-on-year), steered by aggressive pricing, enhanced availability of entry-level 5G chipsets and expanding nationwide 5G network coverage, a report showed on Monday.

India’s smartphone market entered a phase of structural transition in 2025, marked by explosive growth in affordable 5G devices and sustained premium demand, and the most significant shift came from the Rs 6,000–Rs 8,000 price segment, according to the report by CyberMedia Research (CMR).

5G smartphones accounted for 88 per cent of total shipments, up 12 per cent YoY, underscoring how 5G has moved decisively from a premium feature to a market default.

Apple delivered 25 per cent (on-year) growth in India, reaching 9 per cent market share. The base iPhone 16 accounts for 47 per cent of 16-series volumes, underscoring strong preference for the value-led base model over Pro/Plus variants.

“2025 was a year of recalibration rather than contraction for India’s smartphone market. While overall volumes softened marginally, the fundamentals remained strong. The rapid scaling of affordable 5G, resilient premium demand, and the rise of challenger brands point to a market that is evolving structurally, not weakening,” said Menka Kumari, Senior Analyst–Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.

In 2025, smartphones with 6.7-inch and larger displays accounted for nearly 80 per cent of shipments, firmly establishing large screens as the standard consumer preference.

The feature phone market continued to decline, with 2G feature phones down 12 per cent YoY and 4G feature phones down 48 per cent.

MediaTek led India’s smartphone chipset market with 45 per cent market share. Qualcomm led the premium smartphone segment with a 34 per cent share, said the report.

“In 2026, elevated component and memory costs are expected to keep pricing under pressure, leading to more measured purchasing behaviour through the year,” said Pankaj Jadli, Analyst–Industry Intelligence Group at CMR.

Consumers have not stepped away from the smartphone market; instead, they are becoming increasingly selective, extending device lifecycles and upgrading only when the value proposition is compelling, he mentioned.

—IANS

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