• Notice for stakeholder consultation on Indian Telecom Security Assurance Requirements (ITSAR) on E-Node B and P-Gateway. Read more
• Inviting inputs on the draft ER of IP Multimedia Conferencing Equipment. Read more
• Letter regarding review of old Generic Requirements (GRs)/ Interface Requirements (IRs) documents of MT Division. Read more
• Letter requesting for comments regarding withdrawal of GRs of certain Telecom Products pertaining to IT division. Read more
• Office Memorandum on Policy for adoption of domestic/international standards by TEC Standardization Guide. Read more

• Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order to provide for Purchase Preference (linked with local content) in respect of Thermal Power Sector (FGD). Read more
• Draft Standard on “Technical requirements for Photovoltaic Grid Tie Inverters to be connected to the Utility Grid in India” Read more
• Draft Guidelines and model PPA for Implementation of Off-Grid Solar Power Plants in RESCO model under MNRE Programme. Read more
• MNRE Invites Proposals for Developing a long-term vision, implementation plan, road map and institutional framework for implementing. One Sun One World One Grid”. Read more/Download
• MNRE Extends Timeline for ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ Plan on Request by 22^nd July, 2020. Read more
• Creation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Cell in MNRE for processing FDI proposals. Read more
• Order for formation of Project Development Cell (PDC) for "Attracting Investments in India". Read more
• Modifications in Scheme for “Development of solar parks and Ultra Mega solar power projects” –Regarding Read more

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has issued an amendment to its guidelines and standards for the charging infrastructure of electric vehicles (EVs). The guidelines were issued by the Ministry in December 2018 and were revised in October 2019. The amendment has now specified that the tariff for the supply of electricity to the EV public charging stations should not be more than 15% of the average cost of supply of power. This ceiling was not given in the earlier guidelines. Besides this, the amendment has added a few more important points to the existing guidelines. The amendment has now added a clause to say that for all practical purposes, the battery charging station (BCS) will be treated at par with the public charging station (PCS), and the applicable tariff for electricity supply will also be the same as for the PCS. Here, PCS means any EV charging station, while BCS implies a station where the discharged or partially discharged batteries of EVs can be recharged electrically.

The government is taking China head-on in the area of electronics manufacturing as it boosts efforts to attract local production of mobile phones and ancillaries, while creating fresh investments and jobs.  The scheme is aimed at attracting large international manufacturer, while also empowering homegrown companies to emerge stronger and gain scale globally. A production linked scheme, which will give incentive worth Rs. 50,000 crore (€6 billion) on incremental output in the area of electronics manufacturing, is likely to help global companies such as Taiwanese, South Korean and home grown players like Lava, Karbonn, Micromax, etc.   

India will privatize electricity distribution companies (discoms) in all its eight union territories and explore public-private partnerships for power distribution in some states, Union power minister said. The Centre has informed the Union territories about the decision. Unlike discoms in states governed by the respective state governments, those in Union territories are directly administered by the central government.  Ministry of Power will put in place a distribution system which is based on totally open, transparent, competitive, commercial principles.

In order to further promote ‘Make in India’ and support international companies for setting up manufacturing in India, BHEL has floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) inviting global companies to partner with it and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up a manufacturing base in the country.  

BHEL, a Maharatna CPSE under the Department of Heavy Industries, has 16 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities spread across the country with substantial land bank as well as extensive built up industrial/ commercial and residential spaces. It has ongoing technology partnerships with some of the major global manufacturing and engineering companies as well as relationships with leading national laboratories & institutions.

The commerce and industry ministry is working to identify certain key sectors like capital goods, leather and chemicals to establish India as manufacturing hub. Several meetings have taken place with stakeholders, including industry chambers, to identify those sectors which have the potential to become global winners and make India a strong manufacturing hub. The 12 champion sectors include modular furniture, toys, food processing like ready-to-eat food, agro-chemicals, textiles like man-made fibres, air conditioners, capital goods, pharma and auto components.

The government may incentivize global telecom companies to manufacture all their equipment in India using 100% local content. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will meet vendors on June 3 to seek their inputs and discuss ways to boost manufacturing. The move will apply to handset manufacturers such as Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and Huawei, whose usage of local items in their products is only 40 percent. The government plans to raise the local content in their products to 100 percent, the report said.

The government has initiated a consultation process for formulation of a new national Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP 2020). The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (Office of PSA) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) have jointly initiated a decentralised, bottom-up and inclusive process for the formulation of the new policy.

The fifth S&T policy of the country is being formulated at a crucial juncture when India and the world are tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.  "As the crisis changes the world, the new policy with its decentralised manner of formation will reorient STI in terms of priorities, sectoral focus, the way research is done, and technologies are developed and deployed for larger socio-economic welfare.