India will not bar any equipment suppliers, such as China's Huawei, in the upcoming trials for 5G.  Telecom Minister said that the government will allocate airwaves to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast speed 5G networks. Huawei rivals western equipment makers, such as Ericsson, and is banned in the US. Many countries, however, have allowed telecom service providers to use Chinese gears. And now, India has also indicated its unwillingness to keep any company out of 5G trials.

NITI Aayog will develop a National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) to make all government data accessible to stakeholders in a user-friendly manner. Releasing the Vision Document for NDAP, Niti Aayog said that the NDAP will strive to ensure that the data is assured, consistent, coherent and credible. According to the vision document, data across sectors should be coherent to support analysis and dissemination. The NDAP will host multiple datasets, present them coherently and provide visualisation and analytics tools.

The union cabinet has approved sanctions for Digital India, a campaign intended to transform the nation into digital empowered society and knowledge economy, with a cost of Rs 113,000 crore (14 billion Euro). This programme envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), is to impact the ministry of communications & IT, ministry of rural development, ministry of human resource development, ministry of health and others. This programme will also benefit all states and union territories.

The government will soon frame efficiency parameters for batteries powering EVs as it invites bids for setting up gigafactories or giant battery plants in India. A high-level panel has been set up under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to frame performance criteria and efficiency parameters that can help battery swapping in EVs. Battery swapping will allow consumers to replace depleted batteries with fully charged ones. This can only happen once standards and parameters are in place and adhered to by all battery manufacturers.

Danish energy efficiency manufacturer Danfoss A/S' $3.3 billion global acquisition of power management company Eaton's hydraulics division is expected to conclude by the end of this year, said a top official of Danfoss India. Danfoss India will be investing Rs 25 crore (3.1 million euro) in expanding production here and targets to close 2020 with a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore (250 million euro). The 6.3 billion euro turnover Danfoss business segments are classified under power solutions, cooling, drives and heating and it supplies components and systems for original equipment manufacturers.

India will not bar any equipment suppliers, such as China's Huawei, in the upcoming trials for 5G.  Telecom Minister said that the government will allocate airwaves to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast speed 5G networks. Huawei rivals western equipment makers, such as Ericsson, and is banned in the US. Many countries, however, have allowed telecom service providers to use Chinese gears. And now, India has also indicated its unwillingness to keep any company out of 5G trials.

The government of India notified 12 electronic products, including external hard drive, wireless headphone and earphones, television other than plasma, LCD and LED TV sets, that would require mandatory registration under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) before sale in the country. The government in the notification for "Addition of product categories to the Schedule of the "Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012"…..

As many as 5,151 projects worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore are being implemented in 100 cities under the government's smart city mission, the Economic Survey highlighted.  Talking about achievements of 'Smart Cities Mission' (SCM), the Survey said all 100 cities under the mission have incorporated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), City Level Advisory Forums (CLAFs) and appointed Project Management Consultants (PMCs).

o MEITY released a whitepaper on National Open Digital Ecosystems for public comments/inputs. Read more/Download

o Draft Recommendations on Network Testing before Commercial Launch of Services for Wireline Access Services. Read more/Download

o Consultation Paper on Traffic Management Practices (TMPs) and Multi-Stakeholder Body for Net Neutrality. Read more/Download

o Consultation Paper on 'Provision of Cellular backhaul connectivity via Satellite through VSAT under Commercial VSAT CUG Service Authorization'. Read more/Download

o Reforming the Guidelines for Transfer/Merger of Telecom Licenses Read more

Indian government policy “think tank” NITI Aayog has released its national blockchain policy draft paper, titled “Blockchain – The India Strategy”. The policy explains different use cases of blockchain in the country alongside some conclusions from ongoing pilot projects.  The strategy document is aimed at clarifying the concepts surrounding the blockchain technology. Its target stakeholders include enterprise leaders, the government, and citizens of the country. 

This first part of the two-part Strategy document deals with fundamental concepts, trust systems, the economic benefit of smart contracts and blockchain, ease of doing business and other ongoing use cases. Part two, which will be released soon, will mainly cover different recommendations for using blockchain in India.