India’s technology news, quarterly
December 2023 | November 2023 | October 2023
News coverage of India’s many technology developments across Q4 2023 touched on a wide range of fields and items, including: India’s steps into the space economy, with both satellite manufacturing and Indian launch systems; India’s semiconductors industry, spanning local semicon firms, the co-location of international chip firms, and in-roads to RISC-V architectures; India’s gains in tech manufacturing as companies pull out of China; and many more.
Other editions: Asia’s tech news, daily (via LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter/X); and Indo-Pacific technology newsletters, weekly.
Also available:
Critical technologies news across Q4 2023
Critical technologies, quarterly: Q4 2023 news summary
December 2023
EY: The AIdea of India – the economic potential for Generative AI
- India: EMotorad e-bikes startup raised $20M Series B, aiming to disrupt China-heavy industry with Indian manufacturing
- India: Brinc and GVFL Limited partner for A4X accelerator program for tech startups in 4 broad fields
- India: Rapido bike-taxi startup launches Rapido Cabs as intra-city SaaS-based mobility solution, with initial fleet of 100K vehicles
“Geopolitical developments are shaping India’s view that it cannot be agnostic about technology and that it does have to make choices. And technology in turn is driving and shaping competitive geopolitics.”
- Algorand’s India initiative, AlgoBharat, awards $10K to LW3 with P3 Phygital Product Passport, blockchain-based traceability solution detailing item provenance for end-consumers
- India: T-Hub incubator launches Space Tech Incubation Program to boost India’s evolving space technologies sector, looking initially to boost 10 startups
McKinsey & Co: Technology and digital in Asia
- India: Sarvam secures $41M with sights on full-stack, wide-focus generative AI offerings supporting Indian languages and voice-first interfaces
- India: MoveInSync enters talks for $50-60M fundraise with end-to-end workplace commuting mobility solutions for blue-chip company workforces
India: Study finds ‘Indian organisations could not prevent 42% of cyberattacks on their businesses, only successfully thwarting 58% of cyberattacks over the past 2 years’
- South Korea’s NomadHer makes gains in India with solo-female travel app, building on selection for the K-Startup Centre India 2023 accelerator
- India: DigitalPaani secures $1.2M funding with automation and software for enhancing functionality of wastewater treatment infrastructure, building on 40 industry majors already onboarded
StormWall: DDoS attacks in Asia Pacific in Q3 2023
- India: A brief intro to MetaShop and Fundamento, recipients of $100K support packages under Google’s AI-focused Women Founders Fund
- ‘The Indian Quantum Ecosystem 2022-2023’, available to download now
- India: SalmoRid launches with seafood-processing focus, using bacteriophages to enhance food safety and quality
- India: Taiwan’s Foxconn to invest an additional $1.67BN in Karnataka state for iPhone manufacturing, with overall investments expected to create near 50,000 jobs
- India to roll out revamped electronics and semiconductor industry incentive scheme to boost development of component plants, aiming for support ecosystem for global entities
- Download: ‘Assessing India’s Readiness to Assume a Greater Role in Global Semiconductor Value Chains’ from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (pdf)
“India’s organic growth in the consumption of electronics, coupled with the Government’s target of achieving $300BN worth of domestic electronics manufacturing by 2025–26, creates a unique opportunity…”
- In November, India launched part 1 of its critical minerals auction in 8 states, valued at $5.4BN and spanning minerals including lithium, potash, vanadium, graphite and rare earths
- India: Tech Mahindra IT services and consulting major launches Populii crowd-sourcing hiring platform, listing jobs for gig workers
- India: “Gen AI could boost India’s GDP by $359-438 billion by 2030, representing a 5.9-7.2% increase…”
- Download: ‘The AIdea of India – Generative AI’s potential to accelerate India’s digital transformation’ from EY (pdf link)
- India: Accenture opens Generative AI Studio in Bengaluru, part of Accenture’s $3BN global investment in data and artificial intelligence services
India’s Minister of Road Transport & Highways states
‘I will never allow driverless cars to come into India‘, citing jobs risk; and Tesla manufacturing in China for sales in India is not acceptable
- India: A brief intro to InCore, working on semiconductor chip design with a particular focus on RISC-V open-standard architecture
- ‘Harnessing the Tectonic Shifts in Global Manufacturing’ from BCG – “…Mexico, Southeast Asia, and India are quickly emerging as future export manufacturing powerhouses…”
“India is looking at semiconductor packaging as a low-hanging fruit to capture a share of the global semiconductor supply chain… ATMP and OSAT are good starting points…”
- India’s semiconductor challenges: “There is a lack of an ecosystem for deep tech and semiconductor startups which impacts their growth at every step…”
- Download: ‘Emerging technology hubs of India’, an August 2023 report from Deloitte (pdf link)
“India witnessed more than 400 million cyber threats across approximately 8.5 million endpoints in 2023, averaging 761 detections per minute…”
- India: CtrlS Datacenters adds Intel next-generation processor R&D lab to Bangalore facility, looking to develop new microprocessor architectures
- India: Ola Electric e-scooter maker unveils plans for $662M IPO in 2024
- “India, with its thriving startup ecosystem and growing smartphone and internet penetration, has the potential to position itself as a future crypto hub…”
- Download: ‘The Indian payments handbook 2022–2027’ from pwc (pdf link)
- India’s Tier 2 and 3 cities: “In emerging cities, businesses enjoy a 25-30 percent cost advantage in talent pool costs and a striking 50 percent lower real estate rental compared with mature hubs.”
EY 2024 Geostrategic Outlook – Thrive in ongoing geopolitical complexity
- Download: ‘PwC Global Risk Survey 2023 – India highlights’ – “…cybersecurity has jumped two spots from number three to number one on the risk radar…” (pdf link)
- India: Gov’t issues advisory notice to social media platforms around requirements relating to deepfakes appearing on their platforms, with legislation to come
- India: Godrej Construction builds 500square feet office in 40 hours using a combination of 3D Construction Printing (3DCP) technology and prefabricated modules
- India: Jio telecoms giant to launch an operating system for televisions, alongside Bharat GPT program and full private 5G stack for enterprize use
- India: Tata Group to build a second iPhone plant in Tamil Nadu featuring 20 assembly lines and creating 50K jobs inside 2 years; also to launch 100 retail outlets dedicated to Apple products
KPMG: Venture Pulse Q3 2023 – Asia findings
- Reserve Bank of India is in talks with US and HK counterparts, and SWIFT network, around feasibility of digital cross-border settlements, likely using central bank digital currencies
- India, China & Foxconn: “Manufacturing an entire iPhone 15 within India — that is going to be projected as a big moment not just for Apple, but [also] for India.”
- India, Taiwan and US reps met recently to discuss cybersercurity and digital issues, with Taiwan and US entering Global Cooperation and Training Framework to leverage Taiwan’s expertise
PwC: India Payments Handbook 2022-2027 (direct pdf link)
November 2023
CSIS: NATO’s role in protecting critical undersea infrastructure
- India: Skyroot Aerospace secures $27.5M backing, led by Singapore gov’t Temasek fund, with sights on the global small-to-medium size satellite launch market
- India: Hack sees personal data of 815 million citizens posted for sale on the dark web, raising fears of identity fraud and more
- India: Hindustan Petroleum state-run refiner to launch blockchain system to automate purchase order verification, partnering Zupple Labs to integrate digital credentialing technology
- India: RecycleKaro, taking lithium ion battery waste and processing it into cobalt, nickel and manganese
“From 2015, RecycleKaro started extracting metals from electronic waste. In 2019, we set up a small pilot plant and produced 5 metric tons of cobalt sulfate per month. When companies like Tata Chemicals started buying our product, we built a commercial plant — the largest in India for recycling of lithium ion batteries, where we process 180 metric tons every month.”
- India Australia Rapid Innovation & Startup Expansion Accelerator has launched, seeking circular economy technologies and solutions
- India: A brief look at Quant Solar Technologies, working on floating solar tech that both conserves water bodies and reduces evaporation by up to 70%
- Taiwan’s iPhone maker Foxconn to invest an additional $1.6BN in India, adding to 9 production campuses and over 30 factories in the country
- India may gain agreements for 3 more semiconductor fabrication facilities in the coming months, representing investment of $8-12BN
Deloitte & NASSCOM: India’s emerging technology hubs
October 2023
India e-Conomy 2023 Report / Google, Bain & Co, Temasek
- India: Panasonic units partner 100XVC seed-stage investor to launch Panasonic Ignition accelerator, focusing on energy management solutions for commercial and residential applications
- India: Uber and NASSCOM tech industry group partner for Uber Sustainovate, seeking sustainable mobility solutions
- India: Taiwan’s Acer hardware and electronics brand launched its first e-scooter for the Indian market, featuring swappable batteries and 80km range
- India: Agnikul space-tech startup secured $26.7M Series-B with 3D-printed rocket engine, hybrid fuel and launch vehicle focused on small satellite payloads
- India: GigaML raises $3.6M with enterprize solution allowing firms to run LLMs locally, thereby mitigating data security and compliance challenges
October 2023: Semiconductors, critical minerals, space tech & satellites
- Indonesia’s eFishery aquaculture firm to expand to India in Q1 2024, alongside launching blockchain-based cooperative for fish farmers to connect elements acros fish and shrimp farming supply chain
- India’s Reliance Industries business giant explores acquisition of Israel’s Tower Semiconductors in foray into chipmaking, stepping in as Intel backs away from bid
“The news comes shortly after Intel abandoned its plans to buy the Israeli company. An acquisition by Reliance, if it goes through, will provide an opportunity for the group to venture into the semiconductor segment and may accelerate India’s ambitions to set up a fab unit in the country.”
“Reliance comes with very deep pockets, which could revitalize India’s floundering ambitions to set up its own fab plant. What further helps Reliance is that the group is known to be close to the current government, making it easier for them to work together closely. In addition, having a chipmaking unit will help Reliance protect its telecom and devices segment from chip shortages.”
- Sequoia India’s Surge accelerator unveils latest cohort, with Australia’s AI-based workforce automation firm, Relevance AI, and employee engagement platform, Mercu, selected
- India: Tata Group to enter assembly of Apple iPhones following approval for acquisition of Wistron Corp India manufacturing unit
BryceTech: Small Satellites in 2023
- India: An intro to FirebirdVR, setting up virtual reality ‘libraries’ in colleges around Pune to boost higher education access for students
- Taiwan’s MIH Consortium, a Foxconn-initiated open EV alliance, has licensed design and tech to M Mobility, a startup backed by India’s Tech Mahindra IT giant
“There are now 190 Indian space start-ups,
twice as many as a year earlier, with
private investments jumping by 77 per cent
between 2021 and 2022,
according to Deloitte…”
Deloitte: NewSpace, India’s space perspective
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