Top trade and technology bodies from the US and UK have told the Indian government to adopt the 5G standards that have been recommended by the 3GPP. India is currently in confusion about which 5G standard it should go with - 5Gi developed by Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) or the 3GPP developed 5G standard. The top international trade bodies have urged the Indian government to go ahead with 3GPP standards which will give a much-needed push to electronic manufacturing in India as companies will be encouraged to set up their operations in India.  “By using globally harmonized standards such as those from 3GPP, companies can set up manufacturing operations in India with the confidence that they can easily serve both the Indian market and export to global markets,” the bodies said in a joint submission letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecommunications Engineering Centre (TEC). 

During the pandemic, India has reported the highest increase in the use of AI at 45%, as compared to other major economies (the US at 35%, the UK at 23 % and Japan at 28 %). In fact, AI startups in India attracted total funding of $836.3 million in 2020. Also, despite the total number of high-value funding shrunk, the companies that received funding almost doubled in 2020 compared to 2019,” according to homegrown independent Transaction Advisory firm, RBSA Advisors. According to the study titled ‘Artificial Intelligence & Its role in Delivering Economic Value to Indian Enterprise, investment in AI has accelerated in India during the pandemic and the country has a potential to be a global epicentre of AI. IT services and technology sectors contribute to more than 60% of the AI market, followed by BFSI, engineering and retail.

India and the UK have launched a new workstream to promote industrial energy efficiency, under the Clean Energy Ministerial's (CEM) Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative (IDDI), the power ministry said in a statement. This year, India, along with the Government of the United Kingdom, launched a new workstream to promote industrial energy efficiency under the CEM's IDDI coordinated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The IDDI initiative has been supported by Germany and Canada, with more countries expected to join soon. The objective is to infuse green technologies and stimulate demand for low-carbon industrial material. The commitment hinges on effective deployment of low carbon technologies in energy-intensive sectors like iron and steel, cement, petrochemicals. He elaborated that government policies have resulted in substantial savings in energy on the demand side.

India and UK are aiming to launching the negotiations on FTA by November 2021. Proposed FTA between India & UK is expected to unlock extraordinary business opportunity and generate jobs. Both sides have renewed their commitment to boosting trade in a manner which benefits all. Since the ‘Declaration’ on launch of Enhanced Trade Partnership, announced by Prime Ministers on 4th May 2021, both countries have made substantial progress on various aspects of partnership.