The government has slashed the annual marking fee to get a new BIS license and certification by 50 per cent for micro-industry, startups and women entrepreneurs. It also said the services of BIS are now made available free of cost to everyone and can be downloaded from the standardization port of e-BIS. The government has given 50 per cent rebate on (new) BIS certification of products for start-up, micro-industry and women entrepreneurs. An additional 10 per cent rebate has been given to the existing licence holders, which will give a boost to the government 'Vocal for Local' campaign.

The Open Group, the vendor-neutral technology consortium, announced the adoption of the ArchiMate® Specification, a standard of The Open Group, in the publication of India's ICT Reference Architecture for Smart Cities (ICTRA), marking a milestone for accelerating smart cities initiatives globally.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), alongside city administrations in the country, has developed the ICTRA (Indian Standard IS18000:2020) which makes the internationally recognized ArchiMate® Specification available for smart cities applications across India.

International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-H) has announced that Silicon Labs, a leading provider of silicon, software and solutions, is the first corporate founding partner for its new Smart City Living Lab. The lab’s mission is to provide a research and development ecosystem for next-generation technologies designed to improve safety, sustainability, energy efficiency, sanitation, and overall quality of life in densifying cities. It is part of the institute’s Smart City Research Center, supported by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Smart Cities Mission, Telangana government, and European Business and Technology Centre.

To revolutionize the transport of goods and reduce the overall logistic costs, the Automotive Industry Standards Committee has amended its AIS-113 Standard to include the safety requirements of Road-Trains and has hosted the draft on Ministry of Road Transport & Highway’s website. The standards have been prepared after examining European benchmarks, keeping in mind Indian operating conditions. These standards shall pave the way for a breakthrough intervention for fast and efficient movement of goods along the long-distance freight corridors.

The Cabinet has approved the proposal of Department of Heavy Industry for implementation of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme 'National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Storage’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of Fifty (50) Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC and 5 GWh of "Niche" ACC with an outlay of Rs.18,100 crore (€2.1 Bn). The consumer electronics, electric vehicles, advanced electricity grids, solar rooftop etc. which are major battery consuming sectors are expected to achieve robust growth in the coming years. This dominant battery technologies will control some of the world's largest growth sectors.

The railways currently rely on optical fibre for their communication network but with the allocation of fresh spectrum, it will be able to use high-speed radio on a real-time basis. It will help in augmenting both communication and signalling networks of the railways. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the allotment of a 5 MHz spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band to the Railways for public safety and security services at stations and in trains. The spectrum allocation is in line with the Railways’ objective to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) based mobile train radio communication on its route, a project with an estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore (€2.9 Bn).

MeitY Startup Hub and La French Tech, Bengaluru, have launched the Indo-French Tech Programme to support Indo-French startup collaboration. It is also for facilitating a rapid convergence of the French and Indian startup eco-systems and establishing linkages between Indian and French incubators and startups. This programme is jointly supported by the Ministry of Electronics & IT of India, and the French Government, a joint statement said.
The Indo-French Tech Programme was launched on the occasion of the visit to India of French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian during a French Tech event at the Indian office of Meero, a French on-demand photography unicorn.

The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) has welcomed the Rs 18,100 crore (€2.1 Bn) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme that has been approved for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage in the country. In a statement, ICEA that represents mobile and component manufacturers such as Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Foxconn, Wistron, Flextronics, Lava, Vivo and others, said that it would promote newer and niche cell technologies in the country. PLI scheme would give thrust to 'Make in India' initiative and will attract huge investments of Rs 45,000 crore (€5.2 Bn) plus in the coming years. With this push for ACC batteries, the sector would witness robust growth in the coming years.

 

The government said the approval for the project will help India achieve targets in its 30-year submarine construction programme.  A 'Make in India' project worth ? 43,000 crore (€5 bn) to build six conventional submarines has been cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved a request for proposal (RFP) for the project to be run under 'strategic partnership mode' - the first such military hardware acquisition project under this model, according to the government. The government said the approval for the project will help India achieve targets in its 30-year submarine construction programme.

The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) will establish a technology data bank for ASEAN (Association of Southeastern Asian Nations) region as part of ASEAN-India Innovation Platform. The corporation has been entrusted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to manage the platform for a period of four years. The proposed data bank will link existing data banks of available technologies in the ASEAN region. DST has been given the responsibility of bringing whatever technologies are available in India and ASEAN on one platform and make it available for commercialisation for Indian as well as ASEAN entrepreneurs.