India’s technology news in July of 2023 covered items and areas including India’s steps into critical minerals management, the growth of electric vehicle battery-swapping in India, Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing moves in India, AI chatbots as TV presenters, and more.
Hit the links below to read each Indian tech news item from July 2023 in full, online and free of charge.
Bain & Co / IVCA: India Venture Capital Report 2023
- India: Maharashtra offers Taiwan’s Gogoro ‘Ultra Mega Project’ to manufacture e-vehicles, battery packs and swap stations, and to deploy infrastructure from late 2023
- The problem with ‘Digital India’? “In the last five years, India has seen more internet shutdowns than any other country in the world.”
- India: Gov’t published ‘Critical Minerals for India’, a comprehensive list of minerals required for sectors including defense, agriculture, energy, pharmaceutical, telecoms and more
- India: Frigate gains $1.5M with B2B cloud platform allowing firms globally to turn digital designs into physical products without worrying about finding vendors, acting as supply chain middleman
- India: Battery Smart battery-swap network raised $33M with franchise model allowing small facilities and mom-and-pop garages to act as swap stations
India e-Conomy 2023 Report / Google, Bain & Co, Temasek
- Thailand: India’s CtrlS Datacenters to lease 10-acre land parcel for 50 years, building ‘hyperscale’ center with proximity to subsea cable landing centers for international access
- India: Dukaan e-commerce firm replaced 90% of customer support team with AI chatbot, claiming cost cut of 85% and resolution time cut from 2 hours to 3 minutes
- India: IoTechWorld Avigation gains Indian Farmers Fertiliser Coop contract to supply 500 drones for nano-fertiliser spraying, with IFFC sights on 2500 drones and 5K rural individuals trained nationally
- India: Taiwan’s Foxconn is in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Japan’s TMH Group for tech and JV partnerships to start semiconductor fab units in India
June 2023 Report: Critical Minerals for India
- India: China’s BYD EV maker reportedly seeking regulatory approval for $1BN investment, partnering Megha Engineering to manufacture electric cars and batteries, and with sights on charging network
- India: Tesla EV giant reportedly discussing investment proposal with Indian gov’t for factory construction, aiming for annual production of around 1/2 million electric vehicles
“TESLA is discussing an investment proposal with the Indian government to set up a factory with an annual capacity to produce about half a million electric vehicles, the Times of India reported on Thursday (Jul 13), citing government sources.”
“The company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is also looking at using India as an export base to ship cars to countries in the Indo-Pacific region, the report said.”
- India: Gov’t expects to issue framework document to define execution model for $730M National Quantum Mission in August
- Indian Space Research Org’n, ISRO, successfully deployed Chandrayaan-3 and payloads into orbit, first stage of the country’s third mission to the moon
- Russian Quantum Centre looks to partner Indian academic and research institutes in bid to build quantum applications and hardware for public services, with sights on BRICS involvement
TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map
- Inidia’s Pravaig Dynamics inks MoU for left-hand drive EV manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, aiming for capacity of 1M vehicles focusing on Gulf, European and US markets
- India: Gov’t rejects recently-rumoured bid by China’s BYD to build $1BN electric vehicles-focused factory, with national security concerns cited
“Reuters reported this month that BYD had submitted a $1 billion investment proposal to build electric cars and batteries in India in partnership with a local company.”
“India’s Department of Commerce, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had sought opinions from other departments on the investment proposal, the report said.”
“Security concerns with respect to Chinese investments in India were flagged during the deliberations,” the report quoted an Indian official as saying.
- Bank of India unveils Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi centres to boost startup activity, dovetailing with gov’t promotion of entrepreneurship, with sights on opening another 9 centres inside 12 months
- India: New Bill introduced in Parliament aiming to allow private sector firms in critical minerals exploration and production to pursue 6 critical minerals
- India: Mobec launches EV charging-as-a-service portable charging network across India, providing on-demand doorstep services with a franchise business model
Spamhaus Technology: Live Botnets Attack Map
- India: A brief intro to Dhaksha drone startup, backed by chemical maker Coromandel and aiming to help Indian farmers cope with labour shortages
- India: LeRemitt fintech startup raised $1.25M to enable secure, seamless cross-border money transfers, ensuring recipients have instant access to funds
- An intro to the 3 Indian startups selected for the World Economic Forum Tech Pioneers 2023 Cohort, working in health-tech, climate-tech and 3D bioprinting
India’s AI-driven news-reading virtual humans:
“With two chatbots established as TV presenters within 3 months, the speed of change driven by AI has taken even experts by surprise.”
- ICYMI: India and the US in June established INDUS-X accelerator to strengthen defense tech collaboration and connections
- Malaysia: India’s Razorpay fintech and payments solutions provider launches its first international payment gateway service in Malaysia
United States, Taiwan & Semiconductors: Critical Supply Chain Partnership
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