The Telecom Department (DoT) has notified mandatory testing and certification for additional range of products, used in telecom and data networks, from October 1, 2020. Transmission Terminal Equipment (including multiplexing equipment), PON (passive optical network) family of broadband equipment, and feedback device are the products which have been notified under the second phase of Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipment (MTCTE) regime. Applications for testing and certification of these telecom products will be accepted on MTCTE portal from June 25, 2020. 

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and NITI Aayog launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge to realise PM's vision of Digital India – AatmaNirbhar Bharat.

The government has invited inputs on the "Draft Non-Personal Data Governance Framework" by July 19. The committee to study issues under non personal data was set up last year in September under the chairmanship of Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. The committee has made a case for regulating non-personal data, defining it under three main categories- public non-personal data, community non-personal data and private non-personal data. It has further outlined the need for defining a new category or taxonomy of business called data business.

India’s mega plan of "One Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG) — a trans-national electricity grid supplying solar power across the globe. The idea was first floated by Modi in 2018 during the first assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA). Policy experts describe it as part of India’s answer to China’s “One Belt One Road” project.

According to the draft plan of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the ambitious OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power.

India can integrate more than 30% of wind and solar in its power system, while still maintaining security of supply and without raising the total economic costs of its electricity system, according to a new report by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). The report also identifies a number of strategies to achieve this. The report, titled ‘Renewable Power Pathways: Modelling the Integration of Wind and Solar in India by 2030’, was launched with the report titled ‘Bending the Curve: 2025 Forecasts for Electricity Demand by Sector and State in the Light of the COVID Epidemic’.

A joint venture company is being established to provide the infrastructure to enable India’s distribution companies to accelerate their smart meter rollout. Press reports indicate that the joint venture under the ministry of power will provide a ‘common backend infrastructure facility’ with a standardised and scalable architecture that the discoms can ‘plug and play’. Such an architecture should simplify the rollout of smart meters by avoiding duplication and enabling the meter data management to be scaled as required.

Power and renewable energy minister launched the pan-India real-time market (RTM) in electricity, placing India amongst a few electricity markets in the world having it. RTM is an organized market platform to enable the buyers and sellers pan-India to meet their energy requirement closer to real time of operation.  RTM would bring required flexibility in the market to provide real-time balance while ensuring optimal utilisation of the available surplus capacity in the system and would also help manage demand pattern diversity in the country with an organized market.

The government is expecting electronics manufacturing in the country to register an annual growth rate of 30 % over the next five years and clock Rs 11.5 lakh crore (€135 billion) additional production during this period, electronics and IT secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney. Also, the exports of electronic products will grow in the range of 40-50 % annually over the next five years, he added. "Electronics manufacturing in India has been growing quite significantly. We have registered 23 % cumulative annual rate of growth over past five years. Now in this journey the growth is expected to be 30% year on year for next five years," official said at the Invest India Exclusive Investment Forum - Japan Edition.

• Draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 for stakeholder comments till September 30, 2020. Read more/Download
• Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) to provide Purchase Preference (linked with local content) in respect of Power Sector Read more/Download
• Measures for contributing towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat/Self Reliant' and ‘Make in India’ through phased indigenisation in Power Sector. Read more/Download
• Power Sector as Strategic and Critical Sector-Testing of imported equipment, components, and parts. Read more/Download

• RFP for Developing a Long-Term Vision, Implementation Plan, Road Map and Institutional Framework for implementing One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG). Read more/Download
• Request for comments on draft specifications for technology neutral Lithium batteries for solar off-grid applications. Read more/Download
• Order for formation of Project Development Cell (PDC) for "Attracting Investments in India". Read more/Download
• Modifications in Scheme for “Development of solar parks and Ultra Mega solar power projects” – Read more/Download