July, August & September 2023
India’s tech news in 2023’s third quarter covered developments including: India’s definitions, and ambitions, for critical minerals; the country’s moves into space launches and satellites; India’s concerns over the data security of China-made drones; Foxconn’s growing investments in India for iPhone production as a diversification from China supply chains; and more.
For our other editions, you should take a look at Asia’s tech news, daily, delivered via social media channels, and our Indo-Pacific tech newsletters for a weekly update on the region’s tech news.
Hit the links below for each month’s headlines, or scroll down for an all-in-one update on India’s tech news headlines in Q3 2023:
September 2023 | August 2023 | July 2023
e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2023 report – Google, Temasek, Bain and Co
September 2023
Assessing the Criticality of Minerals for India: Fact Sheets
- India: Cypher 2023 AI Summit set for October 11-13, looking at artificial intelligence technologies, applications and impacts
- India: Google unveils ‘India-tuned’ generative AI-powered Search platform, with voice readouts of results and voice inputs for queries – but only in English and Hindi so far
- India: Veda Defence Systems wins $36M Indian Air Force order for 200 150km-range swarm drones, set for deployment within 12 months
- India: Gov’t now in talks with South American and African nations around use of Unified Payment Interface and RuPay cards, aiming to grow the payment platforms internationally
- India: Reserve Bank plans to pilot use of CBDC in the interbank borrowing market for call money market use, using CBDCs as tokens for call money settlements
Bain & Co: India Venture Capital Report 2023
- India: Taiwan’s Foxconn reportedly partnering Europe’s STMicro for new semiconductor facility in India, focusing on ‘larger’, established chipsets
- India: Industrial Credit & Investment Corp partners Africa’s Flutterwave payments fintech firm to bring Flutterwave remittance products into the country
- India may pause consideration of cryptocurrencies ban in light of potential for G20 consensus on broadly shared regulation
- India: Jio Platforms unveils plans for high-level cloud AI infrastructure in collaboration with NVIDIA, looking at areas including research into drug discovery and climate change
The new AI cloud infrastructure will enable researchers, developers, startups, scientists, AI practitioners and others across India to access accelerated computing and high-speed, secure cloud networking to run workloads safely and with extreme energy efficiency.
- India: Eastern state of Odisha unveils Odisha Startup Yatra and Startup Xpress 2023, with goal of developing 5000 startups by 2025
- India’s Adani inks JV with Japan’s Kowa conglomerate for green hydrogen products in Japan, Taiwan and Hawaii, with up to $50BN set for 10-year investment in hydrogen market
- India: ThinkMetal raised $300K pre-seed funding with compact metal 3D printer, seeing opportunity in smaller machines producing smaller parts
- India: A look at IDR’s ‘nano drones’, 200 grams in weight with 30-minute fly-time, top speed of 80kmph, and AI-backed ability to identify 80 different objects
- Indian Space Research Org’n and Amazon Web Services and India’s IN-SPACe partner for cloud computing resources, support and tools for startups and research via AWS Activate program
- India: A brief intro to Xovian Aerospace, deploying radio-based ‘nanosatellite’ infrastructure featuring AI-backed data analysis for sectors including maritime, aviation and defense
- India-Saudi Arabia StartUp/Innovation Bridge launches, with 45 MoUs signed to enhance bilateral investments
- India: In-principle framework adopted between a number of higher education institutes to create a common platform for agri-tech and startup information, aiming to develop national consortium
The Digital India Bill:
“While the gov’t is still considering the emerging technologies that it wants to regulate, solutions like blockchain and metaverse are understood to be on its radar.”“The Digital India Bill, which is the imminent successor to the Information Technology Act, 2000, is a key part of a comprehensive legal framework which encompasses various legislative measures such as the recently-notified Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, and a policy addressing the governance of non-personal data.”
- Singapore’s Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India closes 5th fund at $541M, with $50M commitment to back startups led by women founders
- Indian Institute of Tech Kanpur and Uni of Wollongong gain Australia-India Cyber & Critical Tech Partnership Grant to focus on shared issues affecting the Indo-Pacific
“…critical seabed infrastructure is vulnerable to attack; India and Australia must make a coordinated effort to protect these assets in the Indian Ocean.”
- An overview of Japan and India’s growing semiconductor industry partnerships, with both nations pursuing tech self-reliance and innovation-driven growth
- Japan’s Incubate Fund hits 1st close of 3rd fund with target of $50M for seed-stage investments, looking at India and South East Asia investments
CSIS: Semiconductor Supply Chains & Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
August 2023
Bain & Co / IVCA: India Venture Capital Report 2023
- India: Draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy released, seeking public comment on 9-point programme aiming to create a conducive ecosystem for the sector
- Download: ‘e-Conomy India 2023 – The economy of 1 billion connected Indians’ via Bain & Co
- Google for Startups Women Founders Fund to provide equity-free funding and support to women-led AI startups in India, Japan & Korea
- India: Gov’t restricts import of laptops, servers and other consumer-electronics, a move viewed as a bid to boost local manufacturing in an attempt to mirror success of previous, similar restrictions
- India to launch BRICS Startup Forum to boost collaboration and knowledge-sharing among startups, investors, incubators and entrepreneurs in BRICS member nations
“The Industry Ministers from Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa also participated in the meeting, culminating in the adoption of a Joint Declaration.”
“Among the key points discussed were the imperatives of digitalization, industrialization, innovation, inclusiveness and investment within the BRICS countries.”
“The declaration highlighted the growing significance of Industry 4.0 and emerging technologies in driving digital transformation across diverse economic sectors.”
- India reportedly has barred domestic manufacturers of military drones from using China-made components over security concerns across communication functions, cameras, radio transmission and software
- India: New law passed, mandating how tech firms handle user data, raising censorship concerns from Editors Guild of India and Internet Freedom Foundation
- India: Taiwan’s Foxconn to increase investment in Telangana by $400M, possibly using in-development Kongarkalan facility for manufacture of AirPods and other accessories
- India: Garuda Aerospace drone maker inks partnerships with Israel’s Aero Sentinel and Titan Innovations, US-based Easy Aerial, and France’s Azur Drones, seeing opportunity in concerns over China’s DJI
- India-produced equipment for China’s Tiangong space station hits export license delay, seen as likely in part due to border clashes and national security concerns
India e-Conomy 2023 Report / Google, Bain & Co, Temasek
- India: A look at BoAt and Noise, Indian smart wearables brands looking at smart rings as the next wave of wearable tech in the country
- Taiwan’s Foxconn India arm announces close to $10BN annual earnings, accounting for more than 5% of Foxconn business globally
- India: Inaugural Assam Startup Fest 2023 set for August 23-25, aiming to showcase the northeastern state’s products and services to a wider audience
- India: Foxconn to commence iPhone 15 production in Tamil Nadu prior to the device’s September launch, marking steps to mitigate China-related supply risks
- India: Teleport raises $500K pre-seed funding with tech-based approach to smoothing visa applications for travelers
- India: Global Fintech Fest 2023 set for September 5-7 in Mumbai, with 800 speakers scheduled for the 3-day event
June 2023 Report: Critical Minerals for India
- India: Tech Mahindra IT and consulting major partners Spain’s Anyverse for computer vision solutions for autonomous driving tech, using AI to train, test and validate systems
- Indian Air Force awards major contract to Veda Aeronautics for domestically-produced drones focusing on swarm activities
- Reserve Bank of India launched pilot for Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit, with wide-ranging goals and future plans
- India: West Bengal New Town Kolkata Dev Authority partners Airchains platform to digitally record land ownership and mutation via blockchain, using 500,000 NFTs
- India: Reserve Bank unveils voice payments plan for UPI users, using AI-based speech recognition allowing users to give verbal instructions, with multi-language options in the pipeline
- India: BharatBenz and Reliance Industries unveil India’s first intercity coach powered by hydrogen fuel cell tech, claiming up to 400km on a single ‘charge’
CSIS: Securing Indo-Pacific Semiconductor Supply Chains
- India: NASSCOM launches Talent Connect platform to connect enterprises seeking digitally-skilled and certified talent for IT and non-IT sectors, with AI used to match candidates to jobs
- India: GalaxEye satellite-tech firm unveils Synthetic Aperture Radar to deliver high-res all-weather imaging via constellation, providing global coverage within 12 hours
- India: Ministry of Textiles to provide grant-in-aid of up to $5M for 18-month R&D to innovate in niche ‘technical textiles’ for industrial, medical, auto, aerospace and similar uses
- South Asian Australian Startup Founders List and Insights Report is now available, featuring 101 individuals who have collectively raised over $1.1BN and employ over 2200 people
Indo-Pacific Tech News, September 2023 edition
July 2023
Bain & Co / IVCA: India Venture Capital Report 2023
- India: Maharashtra offers Taiwan’s Gogoro ‘Ultra Mega Project’ to manufacture e-vehicles, battery packs and swap stations, and to deploy infrastructure from late 2023
- The problem with ‘Digital India’? “In the last five years, India has seen more internet shutdowns than any other country in the world.”
- India: Gov’t published ‘Critical Minerals for India’, a comprehensive list of minerals required for sectors including defense, agriculture, energy, pharmaceutical, telecoms and more
- India: Frigate gains $1.5M with B2B cloud platform allowing firms globally to turn digital designs into physical products without worrying about finding vendors, acting as supply chain middleman
- India: Battery Smart battery-swap network raised $33M with franchise model allowing small facilities and mom-and-pop garages to act as swap stations
India e-Conomy 2023 Report / Google, Bain & Co, Temasek
- Thailand: India’s CtrlS Datacenters to lease 10-acre land parcel for 50 years, building ‘hyperscale’ center with proximity to subsea cable landing centers for international access
- India: Dukaan e-commerce firm replaced 90% of customer support team with AI chatbot, claiming cost cut of 85% and resolution time cut from 2 hours to 3 minutes
- India: IoTechWorld Avigation gains Indian Farmers Fertiliser Coop contract to supply 500 drones for nano-fertiliser spraying, with IFFC sights on 2500 drones and 5K rural individuals trained nationally
- India: Taiwan’s Foxconn is in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Japan’s TMH Group for tech and JV partnerships to start semiconductor fab units in India
June 2023 Report: Critical Minerals for India
- India: China’s BYD EV maker reportedly seeking regulatory approval for $1BN investment, partnering Megha Engineering to manufacture electric cars and batteries, and with sights on charging network
- India: Tesla EV giant reportedly discussing investment proposal with Indian gov’t for factory construction, aiming for annual production of around 1/2 million electric vehicles
“TESLA is discussing an investment proposal with the Indian government to set up a factory with an annual capacity to produce about half a million electric vehicles, the Times of India reported on Thursday (Jul 13), citing government sources.”
“The company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is also looking at using India as an export base to ship cars to countries in the Indo-Pacific region, the report said.”
- India: Gov’t expects to issue framework document to define execution model for $730M National Quantum Mission in August
- Indian Space Research Org’n, ISRO, successfully deployed Chandrayaan-3 and payloads into orbit, first stage of the country’s third mission to the moon
- Russian Quantum Centre looks to partner Indian academic and research institutes in bid to build quantum applications and hardware for public services, with sights on BRICS involvement
TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map
- Inidia’s Pravaig Dynamics inks MoU for left-hand drive EV manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, aiming for capacity of 1M vehicles focusing on Gulf, European and US markets
- India: Gov’t rejects recently-rumoured bid by China’s BYD to build $1BN electric vehicles-focused factory, with national security concerns cited
“Reuters reported this month that BYD had submitted a $1 billion investment proposal to build electric cars and batteries in India in partnership with a local company.”
“India’s Department of Commerce, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had sought opinions from other departments on the investment proposal, the report said.”
“Security concerns with respect to Chinese investments in India were flagged during the deliberations,” the report quoted an Indian official as saying.
- Bank of India unveils Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi centres to boost startup activity, dovetailing with gov’t promotion of entrepreneurship, with sights on opening another 9 centres inside 12 months
- India: New Bill introduced in Parliament aiming to allow private sector firms in critical minerals exploration and production to pursue 6 critical minerals
- India: Mobec launches EV charging-as-a-service portable charging network across India, providing on-demand doorstep services with a franchise business model
Spamhaus Technology: Live Botnets Attack Map
- India: A brief intro to Dhaksha drone startup, backed by chemical maker Coromandel and aiming to help Indian farmers cope with labour shortages
- India: LeRemitt fintech startup raised $1.25M to enable secure, seamless cross-border money transfers, ensuring recipients have instant access to funds
- An intro to the 3 Indian startups selected for the World Economic Forum Tech Pioneers 2023 Cohort, working in health-tech, climate-tech and 3D bioprinting
India’s AI-driven news-reading virtual humans:
“With two chatbots established as TV presenters within 3 months, the speed of change driven by AI has taken even experts by surprise.”
- ICYMI: India and the US in June established INDUS-X accelerator to strengthen defense tech collaboration and connections
- Malaysia: India’s Razorpay fintech and payments solutions provider launches its first international payment gateway service in Malaysia
SharePass: Online digital security solution
Indo-Pacific TECH news
All-day tech news updates from across the broad – and increasingly strategically and technologically important – Indo-Pacific region, and across South and Southeast Asia:
- Indo-Pacific tech daily on Twitter
- Indo-Pacific tech daily on Facebook
- Indo-Pacific tech news on LinkedIn
Our mobile app is currently offline, due to the ongoing devolution of what was Twitter, now X.
We aim to have the app back online with a much-improved interface and broader functionality by the end of 2023.
World Economic Forum: Space Applications in Agriculture
Indo-Pacific TECH newsletter
Our weekly e-newsletters go out via Substack and LinkedIn, giving a one-glance grasp of the week’s technology news from the Indo-Pacific and South & Southeast Asia.
