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Past Newsletters Europe
SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 11, January 2019
On behalf of Project SESEI and its stakeholders, I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year 2019. With the onset of the year we are ready yet again with a fresh dose of our latest updates and information around policy & regulatory decisions and standards development activities being carried out in India around our project priority sectors. This eleventh edition of our “SESEI Newsletter Europe”, has all this and much more.
As recognized by EU through its “Joint Communication – Elements for an EU Strategy on India” , India is one of the fastest growing economy amongst the developing nations and is seen as a large market player and is a natural partner with a considerable consumer power, a manufacturing hub with skilled labour and technology advancements. India has taken initiative to consolidate its position at the World forum while representing the developing nations, and asked WTO that developing countries need to maintain policy space in certain aspects of ecommerce such as ownership and use and flow of data especially in the wake of the deployment of new technologies like IoT, M2M, etc. India is also under the process of drafting a new Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) which will be WTO compliant and would help boost the country’s exports.
For the development of Smart Cities and other sustainable development in India, Germany has promised 765 million Euros in 2018. Germany is also collaborating closely with India on many big-ticket infrastructure and technology transfer projects. The German Ambassador launched the Smart City Innovation Lab – the intellectual platform for technology sharing. 2019 appears to be a promising year for the Smart City projects as 50 out of 100 command centers are expected to be fully functional by the end of 2019.
In the automotive sector creation of an effective ecosystem for the Electrical Vehicles is of paramount priority to the Government and all the necessary policies and regulatory steps are being taken. The Ministry of Power (MoP) has announced guidelines and standards for the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in India. Through these guidelines, the government aims to enable faster adoption of EVs, and support the development of EV charging infrastructure throughout the country. These guidelines will allow private charging stations to be setup at residences, and distribution companies (DISCOMs) will facilitate the same. The National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC) is also collaborating with the vehicle aggregators like Ola, Uber, Zoom car etc. for development and utilization of public charging infrastructure. NTPC is also planning to provide charging solutions for the entire range of electric vehicles ranging from electric buses to electric 2/3-wheelers and developing associated e-mobility ecosystem across the country and is currently under discussion with various State/City administrations.
In the ICT sector, the current thrust of the government is towards introduction of 5G services in the country. The government expects to complete the processes for 5G spectrum auction by August 2019 and the implementation of services by 2020. The government has also freed a set of spectrum in the 5 Ghz band from licensing for providing Wi-fi and partially 5G services by telecom companies.
It is also very encouraging that India is slowly but surely becoming electronics hub for the handset and component manufacturing. A total 268 mobile handset and component manufacturing units have been setup in India and are creating more than 670K jobs. A similar trend is also witnessed in the automotive sector, where automotive giants like Volkswagen and Volvo are setting up their manufacturing and assembly units in India.
Apart from the manufacturing in India (Make in India), smart energy and deployment of smart metes has also been the main agenda items in the electrical sector. The national energy policy is being drafted by the Niti Aayog (think tank of the govt.) which shall lay down the road map for the country’s push towards renewable energy.
Many more such news and updates have been captured in this 11th edition of our newsletter, which shall hopefully make the newsletter an interesting and informative read for all of you.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 10, October 2018
A very warm welcome and a very Happy Diwali (Festival of Lights) in advance to all our readers. We are pleased to bring you this tenth edition of our “Project SESEI Newsletter – Europe” providing latest policy, regulatory and technical news from India around Project SESEI focus areas.
Make in India (MII) initiative is one of the main focus of Government of India as it aims to take the GDP contribution from manufacturing of the country to 25% by 2022. The Public procurement policy has made preference for procurement of make in India goods & services with a view to enhancing income and employment. Similar steps have also been ensured in the new draft policy on Electronic manufacturing, National Digital Communication Policy (NDCP), which shall hopefully encourage manufacturing in India for the country as well as for the World. The Government of India has also imposed stringent quality checks and higher custom duties for many products, primarily electrical/ electronic goods, solar photovoltaic cells etc.
To shorten the time to market, encourage start-up eco system, and local entrepreneurship, India has also taken several steps such as reducing time for granting patents and trademarks with a hope that this will help in growing the economy of the country at a faster pace. Capacity/Skill building, job creation are other important facets that the government is working on simultaneously.
Recently the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs initiated Smart cities fellowship and internship program which will provide the youth an opportunity to experience the aspects of Urban planning and governance. This initiative is started to promote ‘Digital India’ and “ease of living” for India’s urban residents by promoting digital payments and encouraging Smart Cities to adopt innovative digital payments initiatives.
Similar, to the Mobility Package in Europe, Indian government through appropriate ministries and its think tank – Niti Aayog is rapidly working towards creating the cohesive policy and regulatory environment for smooth transition to the electric mobility in India. A report on shared mobility was also released by Niti Aayog titled “Moving Forward Together: Enabling Shared Mobility in India”. Stating that India can cumulatively save up to 1.5 gigatonnes of CO2 through 2035 if sharing and vehicle electrification is promoted. A new stable policy regime around electric and automated vehicles and alternative fuels is likely to be announced soon which will also focus on increased investments for manufacturing of electric vehicles and the required charging infrastructure. The Union government also plans to provide ₹1,000 crore (125M euro) as starting subsidy for building a nationwide charging infrastructure for electric vehicles as it seeks to expedite the roll-out of India’s ambitious EV programme.
In the ICT sector, 5G has taken the center stage, “High Level Forum on 5G” as constituted under the leadership of Department of Telecom, Ministry of communication recently released its report on ‘Making India 5G ready’, with a vision of the government to accelerate the allocation and auctioning of 5G spectrum in the country. SESEI in his individual capacity as part of two task forces names “Education Awareness Promotion” and Action plan for participation in Global Standards & Forums” contributed to this report. Government is also working towards setting up Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence to keep pace with the 5G deployments and to have robust security solutions for cyberspace as India moves towards a digital society. On 5G, Ericsson along with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has launched the 5G innovation lab. Following the footsteps of European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, India has also drafted a Data Protection and Privacy ACT, which was released for feedback and is expected to be placed before the parliament during the next winter session. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on this subject of Data Privacy also released its recommendations on “Privacy, Security and Ownership of Data in the Telecom Sector”. These recommendations are specifically aimed at privacy, security and ownership of data of telecommunication users, while at the same time attempt to strike a balance with respect to use of data for data-based businesses.
Government is also scaling up the Energy Efficiency programmes to curb the greenhouse gas emissions as well as boost the use of clean, renewable energy for domestic as well as industrial usage. The Govt, think tank – NITI Aayog has proposed a common nodal energy ministry on the lines of the model followed in various other countries and is also working upon the second draft of the National Energy Policy. The government of India has also signed a $220million loan agreement and a $80 million guarantee pact with the World Bank to push energy efficiency programme in India. India has also signed up with KfW, a leading German financial institution, for a €200 million loan to fund renewable energy project. India and Germany have also signed agreements on financial and technical cooperation worth Euro 653.7 Million within the framework of the Indo-German development cooperation which will focus on urban mobility, climate resilience etc.
Many more such news and updates have been captured in this edition of newsletter for Europe, which will make it an interesting and informative read for all of you. We will eagerly await your comments feedback, and suggestions for making this newsletter even better and informative. Happy Reading!
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 09, July 2018
A very warm welcome to all our readers as we bring this ninth edition of our “Project SESEI Newsletter Europe”. Through this newsletter, it is our endeavor to update you with the latest Standards, regulatory and policy scenario and current market dynamic in India around our Project Priority sectors (Smart Cities, Automotive, ICT including Services and Electrical Equipment including Consumer Electronics) including R&D and Innovation, Make in India, Energy Efficiency, EU-INDIA/Trade/FTA/Investment etc.
We would like to begin by thanking all of you in making the success of the 3rd Indo-European Conference on Standards and Emerging Technology held on 26th April 2018, New Delhi, India. This 3rd conference in the series was an ongoing attempt to further build on the platform for having an effective and continuous dialogue between India and Europe around new and emerging technologies and as well identify key areas of collaboration. The focus of the conference this year was on Automotive, Smart Energy and ICT. During the conference three comprehensive study reports were released on these subjects.
Indian govt. is determined to implement stringent quality checks for the products and services. The Conformity Assessment Regulations 2017 as introduced by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) lays down the terms and conditions for grant, operation, suspension, renewal, cancellation of licences for using or applying a ‘Standard Mark’ on any article or goods.
The 100th city under the Smart city mission was selected by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoUD), however Smart Cities Mission is still very much a work in progress post three years of its launch and only 0.38% of the mission outlay has been utilized so far. The Niti Aayog which is the think tank of the Indian govt. is working on introducing new technologies and platforms to boost the implementation of Smart City solutions. It has recently released a discussion paper on “National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence” seeking public opinion and comments.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 08, April 2018
We are pleased to present our eighth edition of “Project SESEI Newsletter Europe” for our European stakeholders & community, which covers latest updates around policies, new initiatives and related information on standardization from India.
Realizing the importance of standards as an essential element for achievement of mammoth goals set for itself, the Indian Government through its Ministry of Commerce have started an exercise to formulate an Indian national strategy for standardization (INSS) for products and services with an aim to provide a level-playing field to its domestic industry and adopt global best practices. The draft strategy paper reflects the current state of development across sectors, the existing quality infrastructure and the policy directions in relation to domestic economic developments and trade in goods and services. To further strengthen its core activities of standardization, conformity assessment and global participation, cooperation and collaboration BIS has released the details of its signed MoUs with National Standards Bodies (NSBs) of 23 countries. The BIS is also working to review and enhance the cyber-security standards for power utilities and is likely to issue them in next six months. The need for cyber security for power sector was brought to the notice through a report as published by Central Electricity Board. As per the annual report of Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) India has substantially improved its score on the latest international Intellectual Property (IP) index and is now ranking 44th out of 50 countries.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 07, January 2018
Wish you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year. We are pleased to present our seventh edition of our “Project SESEI Newsletter Europe” for our European readers, bringing latest updates about the policies, new initiatives and related information on standardization from India.
As per the latest GDP growth estimates released by the World Bank, India is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2018. Impressive advance corporate tax payments in 3rd quarter indicates India’s growth turnaround to be much better. It was also stated that India is going to register higher growth rate than other major emerging market economies in the next decade. So, the big picture for India indicates that it has enormous potential.
BIS Act 2016 has become effective from 12th October 2017. The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India and brings enabling provisions for the Government to bring under compulsory certification regime any goods or article of any scheduled industry, process, system or service which it considers necessary in the public interest or for the protection of human, animal or plant health, safety of the environment, or prevention of unfair trade practices, or national security. The new Act also allows multiple type of simplified conformity assessment schemes including self-declaration of conformity against a standard which will give simplified options to manufacturers to adhere to the standards and get certificate of conformity.
Under Smart City Mission initiative of the Government, the last set of cities to become eligible for central government funding will be announced by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development by the end of January 2018.
To achieve Smart city mission objectives, the Ministry is also working effectively on the integrated Capacity Building mission and has already empaneled 30 Training Entities for rolling out individual capacity building for urban local bodies (ULB) functionaries with a 3-capsule framework under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Under the nations wide smart city initiative, there is also a safe city mandate. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of that ubiquitous technology which holds the potential of refurbishing the security surveillance landscape. The government of India is partnering with IBM Watson to bring Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the daily lives of its people.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 06, October 2017
Here’s wishing you a very Happy and Joyous Diwali, festival of lights and hope. We are pleased to bring the sixth edition of “Project SESEI Newsletter Europe”, filled with important news and information around the project priority sectors. The newsletter provides you with a glimpse of various activities and policy initiatives introduced in India and the market updates from the important sectors.
BIS along with Ministry of Electronics and IT and Department of Telecommunications is working on creating stringent guidelines and standards for the electronics including mobile phones. The ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY) is working on a plan to introduce stricter quality standards to prevent the sale of spurious electronic goods and block data breaches under the CRO scheme. Similarly, various other government departments have started the process of notifying mandatory standards for products as “best quality” is fundamental to pushing economic growth. The government is also working towards easing the IPR registration process and has launched the system of issuing e-patent certificates. The Commerce & Industry Minister also launched the Startup India Virtual Hub, an online platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India to discover, connect and engage with each other. Government is consistently working towards digitization of important government activities and it is all set to scarp its public procurement wing. The procurement will now be handled by the government e-market, or GeM, platform which will be run by a private party under a government-appointed CEO.
In the smart city sector Government is focusing on faster execution and completion of the projects. The States and UTs are urged to ensure commencement of work by November this year on 261 impactful smart city projects in 60 cities that were announced during the period of “Jan- Sept’ 2016”.5G and IoT technologies are also being identified as key enablers for faster deployment of Smart city projects. France is supporting the states of Chandigarh, Lucknow and Puducherry and Germany is collaborating with Coimbatore on Smart city Projects.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 05, July 2017
We are pleased to present our fifth edition of “Project SESEI Newsletter Europe” for our European Community in India and Europe & feel happy to say that the Project SESEI is playing an important role in strengthening the cooperation between EU and India around standards and related policies for new technologies.
In our last edition, we had communicated about the currency demonetization and introduction of new currency notes by the government and how it fueled the digitization of financial transactions and uptake of Mobile payment / E-payments. The recent big step by the Government is the introduction of Goods and Service Tax (GST), a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer across the country. Apart from few initial implementation delays and issues, this mammoth step is finally in place from 1st of July 2017 and going to benefit the user by implementing single and transparent tax system and bring down the overall tax burden due to its efficiency gains and prevention of leakages.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 04, April 2017
We are pleased to present our fourth edition of EU Project SESEI Phase 3 Newsletter-Europe covering important news, updates and information from India.
As you may be aware, India was very much in news due to currency demonitisation by the government, which created quite a furor, however it has resulted in boosting the digitization of financial transactions and uptake of Mobile payment/e-payments.
Reading across the newsletter, you will observe that the financial budget “2017-18” has introduced a levy of additional 2% on PCBs import which will further increase the final price of the smartphones. In other words handset manufacturers [domestic or foreign] will have to pay extra duty of 2% if they import printed circuit boards (PCB) for their usage in mobile phones.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 03, January 2017
At the outset, I would like wish all of you a very happy healthy & prosperous new year 2017!
We are happy to bring this 3rd edition of “SESEI Newsletter Europe”. In this edition, we have compiled most relevant news, articles and policy notifications around Project Priority sectors.
In this edition, you will read about the new guidelines recently being issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards, which will mandate the mobile handset manufacturers to provide display of text in 22 Indian languages on the devices from July 1, 2017. Government of India believes that introducing Indian languages in mobile phones will help in spreading the digital literacy and accelerate the process of making India a truly empowered society. BIS has also allowed mobile handset makers time period of another one year to move from an older standard certifying batteries to a new one, which means allowing concurrent running of two battery certification standards — issued in 2012 and 2015 – till August 2017, after which only the latter one shall remain. This certainly brings some relief to the handset manufacturers.
During this quarter, India submitted its comments to Draft Commission Delegated Regulation setting out scientific criteria for the determination of endocrine-disrupting properties pursuant to Regulation. The government may impose anti-dumping duty on imports of certain flat steel products from China and European Union to protect the interest of domestic players from cheap in-bound shipments. The Quality Council of India has asked the Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to step up quality of products and services in order to bag private and government supply contracts.
BIS has also issued its first draft of the Smart City indicators as prepared by the Civil Engineering Divisional Council (CED). The necessary guidance for this Indian Standard has been derived from ‘ISO 37120:2014 Sustainable Development of Communities: Indicators for city services and quality of life’.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 02, september 2016
With hope that you all had a good summer break, we are pleased to bring the second edition of the our quarterly “Newsletter – Europe” having full of information and updates on the latest work being carried out in India in the area of standardization and associated policy and legislation and the new opportunities unveiled during this last quarter.
Bureau of Indian Standards is brimming with activities after BIS ACT 2016 was passed by the Government as they have drafting new rules and procedures based on the revised BIS Act 2016. These draft rules were being discussed with the selected stakeholders and comments are being invited to finalise these Rules. It is pertinent to note that SESEI with the help and support of the Project Partners and Industry have provided its comments utilizing various forums and associations. The Indian Government is also busy conducting a lot of awareness programs on the National IPR policy and also receiving various comments on this new IPR policy.
The Smart City mission in India recently completed its first year, with Prime Minister Modi, reviewing the progress made by the Cities. The Smart City project is being asserted at every level and is being viewed as an integral part of ‘Making of Developed India’. ICT and more specifically IoT is being identified as the key component and the main layer for the Smart City Project. An overwhelming interest from the European countries and International Community is witnessed in investing and collaborating in this Smart City Project of India.
The Automotive sector in India is adopting futuristic approach and is diligently working towards creating an ecosystem apt for electrical vehicles. The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) is aiming to get 6-7 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2020. Recently the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) announced setting up of a Centre for excellence to evaluate electric vehicles, including battery and hybrid carriers. The government’s concern on cutting on greenhouse gases and rising pollution levels has also increased the pressure on the automotive sector to focus on research for electric vehicles and also attract global automobile majors to conduct research and development for electric cars in India. It may be noted that a joint panel of Ministers involving concerned ministries of roads, power, renewable energy, environment and oil are working together best way to advance agenda on electric vehicles.
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SESEI 3 Newsletter, Europe Issue 01, June 2016
I would like to begin this new edition of SESEI 3 Newsletter series with thanking each one of your for your support and cooperation for making SESEI a successful project. Welcome to the first edition of the Newsletter – Europe.
In this edition, we bring to you the latest updates covering standards and associated policy and legislation changes and opportunities being created by the Government of India in the project priority sectors.
One of the most important development, which will have impact on the standardization landscape in India is the introduction of the New BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) Bill 2015. This new Bill will provide legislative framework with various new provisions while repealing the existing Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986. This new bill is also being called revolutionary and seen as an enabler giving fillip to various government initiative especially the ‘Zero defect & Zero effect’ (ZED) regime.
Another important development is the approval of the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy. The major objective of the IPR Policy is to create awareness about the importance of IPRs as a marketable financial asset and economic tool and is said to encourage innovation, creativity and given an impetus to R&D in India. A discussion paper was also floated recently by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry Ministry on standard essential patents (SEPs) and their availability on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. This paper is to invite views and suggestions from the public at large to develop a suitable policy framework to define the obligations of essential patent holders and their licensees.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 11, January 2016
I am pleased to share with you all the 11th edition of our SESEI Newsletter – Europe. The safe and clean environment has become a prime concern for all of us. The recently concluded COP 21 in Paris has set the stage for all developed and developing countries alike to limit their emissions to relatively safe levels.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) bill, which includes services, processes and products while ensuring production of world class goods in line with the best global practices, was passed by the Lok Sabha (Lower House). Once the Bill is approved by Parliament’s Upper House (Rajya Sabha), the BIS would get the legislative backing to formally represent India as a national standards body of the country, though it has been representing India in various international bodies already. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is also all set to go for modernization and up-gradation of its laboratories with replacement of existing old/obsolete test equipment and up-gradation of test facilities. The Government is also working on making mandatory standards for almost 400 products/items. The mandatory standardization of products that matches with the international norms is necessary for creation of market access overseas for Indian exporters as well as protecting the Indian market from dumping of substandard products.
In parallel, the Smart City Mission Mode Project of Government of India is progressing well and is on track. 85 of the 98 identified cities have already submitted their smart city proposal to the Ministry of Urban Development for participating in Smart City Challenge Program managed by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Government of India is also striking strategic partnerships with many European Countries for the development of Smart Cities and is also seeking funds from the World Bank for further investment in this mammoth project.
With the increased concern on the climate and pollution, especially the increased levels in to take this opportunity to thank all the ETSI experts for their support and cooperation in making the 2nd ETSI EU-India Dialogue on ICT standards and Emerging Technologies a great success. We have provided a small synopsis of the event in this newsletter. The main topics covered during this ETSI event in India were Smart City enablers (Internet of Things, Smart Appliances and Machine to Machine), 5G enablers (Network Functions Virtualization, Spectrum choices for the future and Mobile Edge Computing), and Societal enablers (Cyber Security, Lawful Intercept, 3GPP/Telecom Security and Privacy & Trust).
Under the leadership of the Prime Minister Modi, , further thrust is being granted to innovation in government projects. A team has been put together that will decide how government projects can be executed using cutting-edge technology and processes. The committee will consider projects in areas such as infrastructure, manufacturing and science and technology involving investments of Rs 2,000 crore (Euro 285 Million) and more. To further the momentum on the “Make in India” initiative, the Government of India has eased the norms for bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) to enable the country access assistance from other countries. This move will allow obtaining new technologies and boosting the infrastructure. Under the modified guidelines India can accept bilateral assistance from countries in addition to existing bilateral partners, including the US, UK, Japan and Germany.
India has also signed up with UK for a comprehensive package of collaboration on energy and climate change which includes commercial deals worth 3.2 billion pounds. In addition, during COP21, India has also announced that by 2030 it would reduce the emission intensity per unit GDP by 33-35% per cent of 2005 levels and 40% of its installed capacity will be from non- fossil fuels and India will expand renewable energy by adding 175 Gigawatts of renewable generation by 2022.
The progressive and optimistic initiatives and policies being adopted by India have helped India in improving its rank by 12 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index and is now 130th, as opposed to 142 last year. India’s rank has improved in ‘starting a business’, ‘dealing with construction permit’ and ‘getting electricity’ indicators.
We hope you will find many more important and significant news and updates in this newsletter and find the newsletter interesting and noteworthy. We welcome your suggestions and comments to make this newsletter more productive and constructive.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 10, October 2015
This SESEI Newsletter – Europe covering recent developments and key issues concerning the priority sectors of Project SESEI.
As evident from the magnitude of updates under the topic of “Smart City”, Indian cities are on a rapid pace to move in becoming Smart Cities. The operational guidelines for the Smart City were issued earlier and recently, the union government has released the list of 98 cities that will be developed under the Smart Cities mission. These 98 cities together have a population of 130 Million, accounting for 35% of India’s urban population. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under the Civil Engineering Division Council (CED) has started the work with the various stakeholders for formation of standards for Smart City while closely studying the ISO 37120 and identifying new indicators suitable to Indian context.
In parallel, the BIS is also being strengthened by the introduction of a “New Consumer Protection Bill”, “Food and Safety laws” and the “Setting up of additional testing laboratory in the country” any by starting the process of recruiting 97 new scientists. BIS also signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IEEE – SA, which will allow BIS to designate, adopt and translate IEEE standards as Indian national standards. BIS has also signed a MoU with the Slovak office of standards, metrology & testing. This MoU will allow the exchange of scientific and technical information on rules and procedures for standards formulation, comments on international standards at various stages of development, the rules and procedures for third party product certification and the Management Systems Certification and technical information on certification activities.
The Government of India is also pushing the Automotive sector for the creation of additional 65M jobs and to account for 12% of the Indian GDP. The 2nd Automotive Mission Plan 2016-26 (AMP 2026) details were released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Government of India at the 55th SIAM Annual Convention.
We are also happy to bring you the news about the launch of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for IoT in Bangalore. This launch comes under the Digital India program of Government to enable rapid adoption of IoT technology, foster a new growth strategy as well as empowering India in this domain. This is a joint venture by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) and Education and Research Network (ERNET) under the Ministry of Communication & IT.
Under the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) the Government has invited proposals from
Indian states on setting up two-three smart grid systems in proposed smart cities in each state as part of the National Smart Grid Mission. The Centre will fund 33% of the cost of such projects while the rest will be borne by the states themselves.
The sequel to Government’s flagship programme of Make in India will be launched soon to give a further impetus to the manufacturing sector in the country. While the first phase of the Make in India programme intended to ease the processes for businesses, the second phase is to incentivize the indigenous manufacturing.
From the various initiatives and new schemes being floated, the apparent intention of the Government of India is to put the country through an accelerated path of infrastructure development. However, being aware of the environmental issues, Government has established the National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC) with a budget provision of Rs.350 crores [50M Euro] for the year 2015-16. The Adaptation Fund is to assist States that are particularly vulnerable, based on the needs and priorities identified under the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) and the relevant Missions under National Action Plans on Climate Change (NAPCC).
The FTA talks between EU and India which started in 2007 have missed several deadlines of closure and are now facing other road blocks raised by Indian side as a reaction to the EU ban of 700 drugs tested by Indian Pharma Company.
Lastly in a move to further simplify the investment process in India, the Indian government has notified changes to the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy under which there will be a composite cap on overseas investment in various sectors, except in banking and defence segments.
We hope you will find many more important and significant news and updates in this newsletter and find the newsletter interesting and noteworthy. We welcome your suggestions and comments to make this newsletter more productive and constructive.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 09, July 2015
In this newsletter you will read more about the Urban Development Ministry’s release of operational guidelines on three mission mode projects — Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Housing for All in Urban Areas. Government of India has now launched a nation-wide ‘smart city’ project through a competition, in which the State Governments will compete with each other to have their cities among the 100 to be funded and developed.
Department of Telecommunication (DoT) under Ministry of Communications & IT has released M2M roadmap document and technical reports on M2M enablement in Power, Automotive (Intelligent Transport Systems), Health (Remote Health Management), Safety & Surveillance Sectors and on M2M Gateway & Architecture. The roadmap document brings out the objective of achieving interoperability among devices/network/applications and harmonization of Indian standards with global standards, and will serve as a reference document for all M2M stakeholders in India. This roadmap document further aims to provide guidance to all the stakeholders to nurture M2M Communications in India. Technical reports on five sectors were drafted by the Industry along with the Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) consolidating the list of applicable use cases in India. SESEI expert in coordination with ETSI is working very closely and contributing significantly towards the formulation of these technical reports and roadmap document.
In this newsletters you will read the latest status about the 2nd order of compulsory registration of electronics products. In particular, considering the concerns raised by the Industry, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity) has further extended the deadline by three months.
In the Electrical sector, the Government has approved the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) – an institutional mechanism for planning, monitoring and implementation of policies and programs related to Smart Grid activities. Around 280 million people in the country do not have basic electricity connection and the Ministry is aiming at supplying power to all homes by 2019. The ministry is also focusing on energy efficiency in a big way including reduction of AT&C losses which is as high as 25 %.
In the manufacturing sector with the ‘Make in India’ mission in place, the number of proposals approved for manufacturing of electronics in India has seen a big jump over last year. According to data from the Deity, the January-March period has seen a 900% jump over the same period last year in the value of investment approvals under the Modified Special Incentive Proposal Scheme (M-SIPS). The boost is being primarily attributed to ‘Make in India’ campaign and past efforts to boost electronic manufacturing in the country.
The India and the European Union struck a new digital partnership to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the EU. The digital India initiative focusing on ‘Delivering Smart Communities’ was a key discussion agenda between India-EU Strategic Dialogue Series. India will definitely benefit from the remarkable work done by EU in the digital fields of cyber-security, innovation, start-ups, digital governance, e-governance, to name a few. The event in Brussels brought together all the key players within the European IT industry and was chaired by the Indian ambassador to the EU and Director General of DG Connect in the European Commission as well as key players from the European Commission’s communications team.
While we are hopeful that EU and India dialogue on Free Trade Agreement has started at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) event held in Paris recently, a meeting is also proposed to be held between India’s chief trade negotiator Mr. J.S. Deepak and his EU counterpart Ignacio Garcia Bercero on 28th August in New Delhi.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 08, April 2015
In this eighth edition of the “Newsletter – Europe” we start with news from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and its plan to establish five new laboratories by next year in order to augment product testing infrastructure in the country. BIS is also actively engaged in the “Make in India” campaign by formulating/updating standards in the identified sectors by the Government of India. In consultation with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), 46 products have been identified for this initiative. BIS is also preparing for an aggressive media plan for promotion of its brand. It will facilitate the consumers for not only getting quality products but also save them from cheating and fraud.
In this edition, you will find a new section on Smart Cities, which provides articles and news on the collaborations and an overview on new projects announced by various international companies joining the Smart Cities bandwagon in India. In this section we have provided key news on the Smart Port Cities which will be built in line with international standards.
Similarly, the Automotive sector is gearing up and recently Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has set up a new structural dynamics lab and Centre of Excellence (CoE) for fatigue testing in the country with the total investment of Rs 210 crore (30M Euro). Apart from emphasis on the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), Government is also working towards adoption of Bharat Stage [BS] IV emission norms across India in next two years and adoption of alternate green fuel vehicles.
The ICT continues to be one of the most dynamic sectors in India. The current favorite of the industry and the government is M2M (Machine to Machine) and IoT (Internet of Things), which will be a key driver technology in the near times. The Ministry of Communications & IT is, in consultation with the industry and experts, working for enabling the roadmap, development of appropriate standards and protocols for IoT. In that respect, consultations with all the relevant stakeholders are being held. The SESEI is fully involved and actively participating in meetings with the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Department of Electronics & IT (Deity). Cyber, Network security and data privacy are also important topics which are being debated by the standardization bodies.
To boost and give the right direction to the manufacturing sector in India the government is preparing a national policy on the capital goods sector, which will list problems and lay down a strategy for revival essential for boosting the domestic manufacturing industry. The government is also taking certain important steps to gear up manufacturing which includes (i) creation of an investor facilitation cell (ii) dissemination of information on twenty five priority sectors on ‘Make in India’s web-portal (http://www.makeinindia.com) along with details of FDI Policy, National Manufacturing Policy, Intellectual Property Rights, etc. Similar initiatives are also being carried out in the electronic and electrical good sector and proposals worth Rs. 4000 Crores (588M Euro) are being cleared for setting up Electronics Clusters.
Smart Grid and Smart Meter are two other areas of importance which is finding predominance in standardization activities alongside Smart Cities.
Alongside the proposals for new projects & initiatives, the government of India is also actively seeking to broaden its response to climate change, and will soon add at least four new ‘missions’ to the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), including one to promote wind energy, and another to build preparedness to deal with impacts on human health. A programme for more effective management of India’s coastal resources and another to harness energy from waste is also slated to be launched.
Lastly we are also witnessing revised negotiations on the EU –India FTA agreement which had come to a halt in 2013. A flexible approach is being adopted and the 28-nation bloc is keen to restart talks on the comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA).
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 07, January 2015
In this 7th edition of the Newsletter – Europe, we bring to you glimpses of various policy amendments, changes and opportunities being created by the Government of India in the priority sectors for the Project SESEI.
Surely, manufacturing and innovation go hand in hand with the development of Standards. The new Government is cognizant of the role of standards and is making efforts to make the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) a more robust and comprehensive standards making body in India while bringing conformity assessment and hall marking in line with the global practice. In a statement released by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, he stated that ‘Make in India’ initiative cannot be successful unless high standards are adopted by the industry.
The Ministry also invited the European Union (EU) to collaborate in quality assurance programme and development of mandatory standards for various consumer services and products. In this respect, the EU has shown keen interest to explore investment opportunities for setting up a network of international quality labs in India.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 06, October 2014
In this sixth edition of the “Newsletter – Europe” we bring to you selected news of the Project SESEI priority sectors providing readers with the latest developments and activities for each of the sectors. For Indian Government Manufacturing and skill development are the key agenda items along with bringing FDI in all crucial sectors such as Automobile, Aviation, Chemical, Biotechnology, Construction, Textiles etc.. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is now working on a plan to make it mandatory for over 19,000 products to have recognized BIS labels.
Furthermore, I am happy to report that the Indian Patent Office became the First Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in the World to Introduce Real Time Transparency. The Indian government has plans to soon issue a policy on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). This will be accompanied by the setup of a think tank to discuss IPR matters, strengthen the country’s patent regime and ultimately encourage innovation.
In the automotive sector, the Government of India is planning to replace the Motor Vehicles Act- 1988 with the new “Road Traffic Act”. Government has also constituted a high-level committee to develop fuel economy norms for heavy-duty vehicles.
In the Telecom Sector the country’s combined wireless and wireline revenue grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR ) of 10.4% to USD 39.1 billion over the period FY2006-13. The department of Telecom plans to invite the Telecom Standards Development Society India (TSDSI) to recommend Indian security standards for telecom products, including mobile devices.
Meantime consumption is rising within the population. Previsions indicate that the Indian consumer is likely to spend more on consumer electronics, increasing it by 16.3% in US dollar terms in 2014 to USD46.1bn.
With the new ambitious plans for India, the Government of India is increasing Funding for Research and establishing eight new electronic manufacturing clusters. It has also announced the setting up of 16 national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZs) to boost economic growth. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce has set up an 8-member expert panel for quick redressal of grievances and queries of global and domestic investors.
India also plan to kick-start the free trade pact negotiation. UK government is ready to share new technologies in clean and renewable energy to help India in addressing climate change in a way that its growth will not be affected.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 05, August 2014
A warm welcome to the July 2014 edition of Project SESEI NEWSLETTER – EUROPE. Starting April 2014, India was much discussed across the globe for holding longest election in the country’s history. According to the Election Commission of India, 814.5 million people were eligible to vote, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009, making this the largest-ever election in the world, running in nine phases from 7th April to 12th May 2014 for 543 parliamentary constituencies of India.
India is hopeful for new developments and attaining greater heights with the newly elected government of Mr. Narendra Modi, a former Chief Minister of Gujarat State. The first and foremost agenda for his new government is to create conducive policy and investment environment to foster industries, generate new employment opportunities and give more emphasis on the skill sector development. This new phase of growth and expansion will provide opportunities for the European and Indian Business and standardization communities to increase their interaction and sharing of knowledge, best practices and harmonization for global adoption of standards to increase trade and services.
In this edition of the Newsletter we bring to you updates on the proposed amendments in the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986. It is proposed to be more transparent and possibly simplified; services will be included under the purview of BIS, Standards Mark definition updated to include mark of International body or institution. Similarly, the Ministry of Communications & IT has announced its 100 days agenda and amendments and changes to 150 years old telegraph act and financial revival of the ICT sector is one of the foremost priorities.
You must be all familiar with the verticals of the newsletter providing latest news and updates on the priority sectors of the SESEI project. We are hopeful that you will find the updates in this Issue no. 5 most useful and interesting.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 04, April 2014
Welcome to this April 2014 edition of Project SESEI NEWSLETTER – EUROPE. Beginning of 2014 has started with a busy period for Project SESEI with delivery of fourth quarterly report, newsletters for India and Europe and the successful organization of the ETSI conference and workshop in India.
The main highlight of last quarter was the organization of the ETSI event on March 13th-14th in New Delhi which took the format of full day conference, “Indo-European dialogue on ICT standards & Emerging Technologies”, followed by a focused half day Workshop on “Security and Energy Efficiency”. We are happy to convey that the event was a great success thanks to the team effort and participation of many of ETSI delegates. Overall objectives were met and the Indian audience was pleased to get to know more about ETSI’s achievements and genuinely impressed by ETSI’s ongoing work. As an immediate follow up, we shall continue to work on capitalizing with the extensive network built and follow up on the topics which have raised a lot of interest.
We wish you a happy reading once again.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 03, January 2014
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy & prosperous 2014.
In the third edition of the Newsletter we bring to you updates on the announcement of Unified Licence in India and approval on sharing of spectrum by Ministry of Communications & IT. The telecom Industry is also actively participating in the smart city and ITS activities /projects and many pilots are being initiated by companies such as IBM, TATA. The Automotive sector while still reeling under the pressure is the preferred choice of automotive giants as the new manufacturing destination. The ministry of heavy industries is targeting to roll out subsidies for electric vehicles – under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan by April of 2014. The AutoExpo 2014 will showcase many hybrid vehicles. Status of Electronic products mandatory registration and labelling as handled by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). In the R&D sphere, India and European countries are engaging on R&D projects, many European countries have expressed that India has huge potential to become the R&D hub for many sectors industries like machines, food etc. Commerce and industry ministry proposal on giving interest subsidy as part of its efforts to shore up manufacturing growth in India.
We wish you a happy reading once again.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 02, 2013
Greeting from SESEI
At the outset, I would like to convey my sincere thanks to you all for a positive feedback to our first SESEI newsletter. We are also thankful to all our readers and stakeholders for their valuable suggestions and comments, which are helping us to further improve this newsletter.
This quarter has been very exciting, interesting and busy owing to liaison office formalities, 77th IEC General Meeting hosted by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in India from 21st to 25th October 2013, an Interactive Session of CENELEC on European Standards & Project SESEI” on 23rd October 2013 etc. In view of the Project objectives, it is our endeavour to provide periodic information on standards and related policies and legislation activities update around priority sectors of our Project SESEI.
In this edition we bring to you updates on various schemes, policies and initiatives being launched by the Indian government and the industry focus. The telecom sector has announced 100 percent FDI opening, release of guidelines for Unified license and is now gearing up for the spectrum auctions, M&A policy release. The Automotive sector in India, while showing an all- time slump is still being touted as the third largest automotive market in the world. In the area of energy efficiency, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing a number of schemes throughout the country for tapping of renewable energy potential. In line with the Global trend the focus in India is also shifting towards the carbon management and greenhouse gases. Government of India and the Ministry is appropriately emphasizing on opening of Electronic Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) and launching Indian Electrical Equipment Industry Mission Plan 2022. To promote indigenous manufacturing FICCI has suggested 12 point action plan in the manufacturing sector.
We wish you a happy reading once again.
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SESEI Newsletter, Europe Issue 01, 2013
Greeting from SESEI
Fresh from the 2nd steering committee meeting, and back in India I am very pleased to provide you all insight into the latest happenings and key highlights on Indian standardisation, associated policies, legislations, R&D and Innovation, WTO-TBT, Manufacturing Policy and EU-INDIA Trade related activities around the priority sectors of Project SESEI.
One of the main objectives of the project is disseminating the information key to the project. In particular, to open up channels of communication to increase cooperation between EU/EFTA and Indian decision makers, opinion setters and stakeholders in the field of standardization and regulatory system. I, together with the Project partners, believe that the knowledge sharing and dissemination of information will be key for meeting the above target. I am hence pleased to share with you this “SESEI Newsletter” from now onwards which shall be a key periodic feature, bringing to you the latest updates on standardization, policy and legislations from India.
In this edition, we bring you updates around the latest draft standards issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the reaction of various stakeholders including Media around SESEI priority sectors and ongoing free-trade agreement discussions between EU and India. This edition covers draft standards issued by BIS on Earth-Moving Machinery Safety, LED, Power Capacitors, primary cell batteries etc. and much more in the areas of WTO –TBT and EU India relations and various new MoU and cooperation agreements signed during 2nd round of India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations. There is a lot going on in the ICT sector, with the announcement of the creation of a Telecommunications Standards Development body for India, discussions and steps being taken on ICT Security and setting up of Security certification and accreditation labs. We wish you a happy reading and will await your comments and suggestions on the newsletter.