The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is likely to clarify the matter of basic customs duty (BCD) on imported solar equipment within the next two months. A 20 percent basic customs duty had been announced in the last budget but has not been imposed yet. Developers have been keenly awaiting such a clarification since the duty will impact their cost of setting up a project and thereby the tariff they charge for the power generated.

Union Minister said the government is set to introduce a vehicle scrappage policy, under which recycling clusters may be established near ports, expressing confidence that India will emerge as the world's leading automobile manufacturing hub in five years.   He said the government has decided to increase the depth of the country's ports by 18 metres, and automobile clusters comprising recycling plants can be set up near the ports. The minister added that the material recycled will be useful for the automobile industry as it will reduce cost of manufacturing cars, buses, and trucks, increasing India's competitiveness in international markets.  "Within five years, India will be the number one manufacturing hub of all cars, buses and trucks, with all fuel, ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG, LNG, electric as well as hydrogen fuel cells," Minister Said.              

The government will soon frame efficiency parameters for batteries powering electric vehicles (EVs) as it invites bids for setting up giga factories 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.
The government wants Made in India batteries to be technologically agnostic wherein the efficiency of the cell as well as life cycle is defined.

India joined the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) as a founding member to support the responsible and human-centric development and use of AI. GPAI is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth. With this, India has joined the league of leading economies including the US, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore to launch the global partnership.

This is a first initiative of its kind to evolve better understanding of the challenges and opportunities around AI using the experience and diversity of participating countries, an official statement said. To achieve this goal, the initiative will look to bridge the gap between theory and practice on AI by supporting cutting-edge research and applied activities on AI-related priorities, it said.

India launched its first national Artificial Intelligence Portal called www.ai.gov.in. AI Portal has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) and IT Industry. National e-Governance Division of MEITY and NASSCOM from the IT industry will jointly run this portal. This portal shall work as a one-stop digital platform for AI-related developments in India, sharing of resources such as articles, start-ups, investment funds in AI, resources, companies and educational institutions related to AI in India. The portal will also share documents, case studies, research reports etc.

The government has started inter-departmental and industry consultations to revamp the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 to stay on top of the various technological advances in the social media, e-commerce, cybercrime and digital payments space. MEITY has reached out to stakeholder ministries, including the Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Telecom for their inputs. Following MeitY’s ask, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has also written to industry bodies for feedback.

Global telecom vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Huawei are likely to oppose the telecom department’s diktat to run mandatory safety checks on imported network gear from October 1 via local labs, saying it will only result in duplication of certification activity, disrupting network gear availability in India and delaying 4G network rollouts by at least 6-to-9 months. They are set to write to the DoT that their equipment is anyways certified by accredited private global labs before deployment in India, and will press the government to defer the in-country screening deadline.

The submission of source code by original equipment makers may not address India's security needs since it comprises of commercially valuable, confidential and sensitive information, and follows a frequent software delivery mechanism on networks, said COAI to DoT in a letter dated 23^rd June 2020. 

The letter comes after India's move to seek source code for network equipment as a part of security assurance standards proposed by the department's National Centre for Communications Security (NCCS), based in Bengaluru.

The state-owned telecom equipment maker ITI Limited is setting up an electronic manufacturing cluster (EMC) under MEITY modified scheme in Bengaluru and has sought approval from the administrative ministry for a long-term lease. The state-run company has sought the DoT approval for a long-term lease following the willingness by nearly 50 manufacturers or original equipment makers worldwide. The government's modified scheme, for the first time has allowed public-run companies to set up manufacturing clusters under the scheme and avail prevalent benefits including financial assistance.

Phone companies have urged telecom secretary to speed up the formation of a key inter-ministerial panel to finalise India’s 5G spectrum deployment game plan that will be discussed at a key meeting of the International Telecom Union (ITU) next month.

The move comes after telcos recently urged the government to allot sub-3500 MHz 5G spectrum free of cost for 5G fixed wireless services to augment networks capacities at a time when existing 4G networks are facing severe capacity constraints amid surging home internet consumption during the Covid19 lockdowns.