Indian telecom standards body TSDSI has submitted a vision for 6G to UN body ITU Radiocommunication sector that finalises global standard for wireless communications. Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) in its submission said it should be a technology that aids the development of a ubiquitous intelligent mobile connected society, bridge the digital divide with affordability, support technologies for personalisation and localisation of services as well as focus on data protection management. In a document 'TSDSI submits 6G Vision to ITU-R', the body said that TSDSI is contributing towards the above IMT 2030 work. TSDSI said that as part of its 6G journey, it will 'steer research in India to serve the above goals' and 'continue engagement with global standard bodies for harmonisation of efforts'.

• MEITY has released guidelines for the Operation of Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for IT Hardware. Read more>>

• Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) has released technical report titled “IoT/ICT Enablement in Smart Village and Agriculture”. Read more/Download>>

Supplementary Consultation Paper on Roadmap to Promote Broadband Connectivity and Enhanced Broadband Speed.

Semiconductor major NXP India is partnering with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI), IIT Hyderabad for its maiden ‘Semiconductor Startup Incubation and Acceleration Programme’. It aims to support India's vision of making the country a self-reliant nation as it will create a ready platform to support startups who wish to design semiconductor chips in India. Industry estimates suggest the Indian semiconductor market stands at around $300 million. If semiconductor fabs are added to this, the value could go up to $4-5 billion.

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.

French power utility firm EDF said it has installed 1 lakh smart electricity meters in India. The milestone marks the beginning of the commercial rollout of its 5-million smart electricity meters contract, nearly half of which will be installed in Bihar. "Global low-carbon electricity leader EDF successfully installed 100,000 smart meters in India under its contract with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL)," an EDF statement said. According to the statement, this is the first large-scale prepaid smart meter solution to be deployed in India. The contract was awarded to EDF in association with Accenture Solutions Private Limited (India) in 2019.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has long standing international partnerships on energy cooperation which have been mutually beneficial to all stakeholders. These international partnerships support the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2016-2025, a regional blueprint for energy cooperation which was endorsed by the ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM).

Ministry of Power has decided to set up a National Mission on use of Biomass in coal based thermal power plants. This would further support the energy transition in the country and our targets to move towards cleaner energy sources.  The proposed National Mission on biomass will also contribute in the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

• Comments on Discussion Paper on redesigning the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Mechanism. Read more>>

• National Committee on Transmission (NCT)-amendment thereof. Read more>>

Ministry of Power has invited suggestions/inputs on draft National Electricity Policy (NEP) 2021.

• Approved Models and Manufacturers of Solar Photovoltaic Modules (Requirement for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2019 – Implementation-Clarification-reg. Read more/Download>>

• Guidelines on Production Linked Incentive Scheme ‘National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ Read more>> 

• Amendment to Scheme Guidelines for Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) Scheme Phase-II for setting up 12,000 MW grid-connected Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Projects. Read more/Download>>

• Seeking comments on specifications and testing procedures for solar off grid applications.

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.