The national transporter has stated that it is eyeing over $4 billion investments with private passenger train services. Recently, the government has announced two major initiatives of seeking private investment, one is the running of passenger trains by private operators on the Indian Railways network and the other is the redevelopment of railway stations across the country. According to Indian Railways, these projects have the potential of bringing an investment of over $7.5 billion in the next five years. The national transporter has stated that it is eyeing over $4 billion investments with private passenger train services. Railway Ministry has invited both domestic as well as global investors to actively participate in the bidding process for these initiatives.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade will realign itself along the lines of Prime Minister’s Make in India and will push for production of items domestically to cut down imports. The organisation is “focusing on creating more capacities within the country to produce items that can cut down imports and accelerate exports from the electronics and hardware sector, including ventilators,” Director General Amit Yadav said at an event organized by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC). He also said that the government-run agency is also taking suggestions from the industry and others as to the areas which promise new capacities to reduce import and accelerate exports.

The Govt. of India is encouraging investments in the manufacturing of batteries and Niti Ayog is exploring to incentivize the production per kW. India will be moving fast with various favourable policies and schemes to implement efficient energy storage and electric mobility in the country, point out experts. Niti Aayog is working on inviting investments for cell manufacturing and is proposing direct incentives. The critical opportunity is to integrate energy storage, batteries and vehicle manufacturing for a viable commercial market.

The industry needs to cut a dependence on lithium-ion battery imports from China, according to Nitin Gadkari, who said the government is looking to support research into alternative technologies. India can become an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing hub within five years, according to road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, who urged the industry to grab opportunities as global companies seek alternatives to Chinese supply chains in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

India’s Road Transport and Highways Ministry announced its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle feasibility draft and is seeking comments and suggestions from stakeholders which include the general public. The primary focus is to be on the evaluation of the safety of using H2 powered vehicles. The ministry’s draft on hydrogen fuel cell vehicle feasibility was first revealed on July 10. Furthermore, the H2 specifications for fuel cell vehicles will align with ISO 14687 until appropriate notification takes place as per the requirements of the Bureau of Indian Standard Act of 2016, said the release.

Apiary-CoE aims to incubate 100 start-ups in the field of blockchain technology and to contribute to government of India's 'Make-in-India' and 'Digital India' programmes

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has launched Apiary, a centre of excellence (CoE) in Blockchain and also an 'Idea Challenge Program in Blockchain' at STP incubation centre, Gurugram in association with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of Haryana, Government Blockchain Association and several blue-chip companies and top tier academic institutions.

As India continues to take swift steps towards digitalization, it is also witnessing the rise of new SaaS verticals and segments backed by strategic partnerships. To chart out the imperatives to make India a “Global SaaS Hub”, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in partnership with SaaSBOOMi and Zinnov as knowledge partners, today announced the findings of their first in depth SaaS study “Riding the Storm: Towards the Giant India SaaS Opportunity”. Growing at 30% CAGR, India’s SaaS revenue has reached $3.5 billion as of FY2020, with 75% of it coming from global sales.

Meity-NITI launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge to realise PM's vision of Digital India – AatmaNirbhar Bharat.

Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution launched the Bureau of Indian Standard’s Mobile App ‘BIS-Care’ and three portals – the Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals of e-BIS on  www.manakonline.in for consumers. The mobile app BIS-Care can be operated on any Android phone and can be downloaded free from Google play store. Consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products and lodge complaints using this app. The Minister said that the government has taken several steps to protect the interests of consumers.

The Consumer Protection Act,2019 comes in to force from 20 July, with its salient features including the establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers. This new Act will empower consumers and help them in protecting their rights through its various notified rules and provisions like Consumer Protection Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing adulterant / spurious goods.