India Tech Tracker - August 2023

HINDUSTAN TIMES | AUGUST 31, 2023

The U.S. Congress has given its approval to the Biden administration's pursuit of the GE jet engine deal with India, paving the path for the implementation of the agreement between GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which includes technology transfer, the manufacturing of jet engines in India, and licensing arrangements. Seen as a significant step in U.S.-India relations, with 80 percent technology transfer involved and estimated to be worth around $1 billion, the deal will result in the production of F-414 engines in India for the under-development light combat aircraft Mk2, enhancing India's aerial power and domestic defense industrial base. The deal is expected to be signed during the current financial year, with production in India beginning three years later.

 

BBC | AUGUST 23, 2023

ISRO’s Vikram lander module (LM) of Chandrayaan-3 put India in the “Moonwalkers Club” as it achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface, making India one among the only four nations to have achieved the feat and the first to land on the Moon’s more rugged south polar region. Other payloads in the LM include RAMBHA-LP, ChaSTE, and ILSA, which are all meant to measure various aspects of the landing site and the lunar surface. Following the landing, the rover Pragyaan was successfully deployed to conduct in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface, which scientists believe has water ice that could be a resource for future missions. Prime Minister Modi, who joined 8 million others from all over the globe to watch ISRO’s historic accomplishment, congratulated the team of scientists, highlighting the mission’s human-centric approach.

 

MONEYCONTROL | AUGUST 22, 2023

Namma Yatri, Bengaluru’s home-grown ride-hailing app, will charge drivers a subscription fee starting September 1. The app will offer two payment options to autorickshaw drivers: ₹25 for unlimited trips per day or ₹3.50 per trip with no charges after 10 trips, according to the Autorickshaw Drivers Union. PL Pattabhiram, organizing secretary of ARDU, explained that the fee is “to maintain the app, cover expenses, and manage the customer care center.” Other costs involved in running the app include research and development, engineering, and Google Maps, which is free for individual users but not for businesses. Launched in November 2022 after drivers raised concerns over commission charges of up to 30 percent by Ola and Uber, the app looks strong despite the change. According to a Namma Yatri spokesperson, more than 35,000 drivers have opted for the new plans, while 7,500 drivers have completed the subscription process organically.

 

FINANCIAL TIMES | AUGUST 8, 2023

Taiwanese chip giant TSMC committed €3.5 billion to construct a factory in Dresden as Berlin attempts to make its domestic car industries resilient to global supply chain disruptions. The proposed plant in the capital of Saxony, which is identified as the center of the former East Germany's electronics industry, will be TSMC’s first factory in Europe and only the third outside Taiwan. As per the economic ministry of Germany, the German contribution of €5 billion for the plant is in line with the criteria of the European Chips Act. The EU passed the European Chips Act, a €43 billion subsidy plan to double its chipmaking capacity by 2030, to bring chipmaking industries onshore and catch up with Asia and the United States amid a global chip shortage.

 

ARSTECHNICA | AUGUST 4, 2023

Voyager Space and Airbus have established a joint venture to co-develop an Earth-orbiting research outpost called Starlab. The new venture will be a successor to the International Space Station (ISS). Voyager Space was one of the three companies selected by NASA for funding in 2021, alongside projects by Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman. Voyager secured the largest corpus of NASA’s funding, $160 million for design and engineering work for the Starlab station, through a cost-sharing public-private partnership arrangement. The joint venture announcement is timely, considering the ISS is due to retire in 2030. NASA is keen on having at least one “commercial” space station by that time to allow astronauts and researchers to continue working on deep space research, critical for several ambitious space projects such as Artemis and human missions to Mars.

THE INDIAN EXPRESS | AUGUST 31, 2023

As per the latest regulatory filing by chipmaker Nvidia, some countries in the Middle East have come under U.S. export restrictions. The Biden Administration sanctioned restrictions on the exports of sophisticated Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial-intelligence chips to some nations in the Middle East, although no explanation is available on the threat posed by exports to these countries. U.S. officials usually impose export controls for national security reasons. In a similar move announced last year, the United States cracked down on China’s technological capabilities by announcing a sweeping set of export restrictions to prevent the military use of AI products by China. These included a measure to cut off China from using certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment.

 

THE VERGE | AUGUST 25, 2023

The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which holds online platforms legally accountable for the content posted on them, came into effect on August 25, 2023. Taking to Twitter, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced that very large online platforms must immediately comply with the new rules. The EU has identified nineteen tech giants, including Google, Amazon, Alibaba Express, LinkedIn, and Facebook, as very large online platforms or search engines with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU. These platforms will be required to update their user count at least every six months. The overarching aim of the DSA is to foster a safer online environment to protect children, societies, and democracies. Additionally, the DSA bans targeted advertising based on a person’s sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or political beliefs and puts restrictions on ads targeted at children. It also requires online platforms to provide more transparency regarding how their algorithms work.

 

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | AUGUST 10, 2023

President Joe Biden signed an executive order that will prohibit some new U.S. investments in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and require government notification in other tech sectors. The order authorizes the U.S. Treasury Secretary to prohibit or restrict U.S. investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems. The new constraints on U.S. investments in advanced technology in China will exacerbate a slump in deals between the world’s top two economies and deliver a “major blow” to Chinese startups.

 

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | AUGUST 9, 2023

The Indian Parliament passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP), 2023, strengthening the country’s regulatory framework versus Big Tech. Indian Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the government is planning on implementing the new Digital Personal Data Protection law within ten months while also highlighting that the law will evolve over time. Lauded by many countries as a landmark regulation, India’s DPDP Bill gives users the right to correct or erase their personal data. The law will allow companies to transfer some users’ data abroad while giving the government the power to seek information from firms and issue directions to block content on the advice of a data protection board appointed by the federal government. The government believes the law will protect the rights of citizens while also allowing the innovation economy to expand.

LIVEMINT | AUGUST 29, 2023

In a statement released by the commerce ministry, Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal and his New Zealand counterpart Damien O'Connor acknowledged the importance of cooperation between the two countries as members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity across the supply chain, clean economy, and fair economy pillars. The statement highlighted ongoing discussions between the two nations on introducing UPI in New Zealand, which would not just promote ease of doing business but also encourage greater trade and tourism between the two countries. The NPCI, the umbrella organization offering UPI services, signed an MoU with France's online payment system, Lyra, in 2022 and with Singapore's PayNow in 2023, allowing cross-border transactions. A UPI arrangement with New Zealand will promote greater economic linkages among Pacific Island nations and build trust in Indian digital solutions among other island nations.

 

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST | AUGUST 29, 2023

During her four-day visit to China, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and expressed the United States’ desire to collaborate with China on critical issues, including climate change and artificial intelligence. During her visit, she also met with Vice Premier He Lifeng and other senior officials, calling on China to address its bias toward foreign companies and weak intellectual property protections. Washington and Beijing set up a joint economic working group involving representatives from the government and private sector for the first time in nearly three years of Joe Biden’s presidency. Another group focused on export controls, referred to as an information exchange mechanism, began its work at the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing. Raimondo also became the fourth U.S. government official to travel to China for talks in the last three months, following U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and special climate envoy John Kerry.

 

G20 DIGITAL ECONOMY MINISTERS MEETING OUTCOME DOCUMENT | AUGUST 19, 2023

In its outcome document, the DEWG recognized the importance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in achieving inclusive development. While highlighting the evolving nature of the conceptual understanding of DPIs, it described them as “a set of shared digital systems that should be secure and interoperable, and can be built on open standards and specifications to deliver and provide equitable access to public and/or private services at societal scale and are governed by applicable legal frameworks and enabling rules to drive development, inclusion, innovation, trust, and competition and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The document underlined the role played by DPIs in mitigating the challenges posed by COVID-19 and recognized the role that DPIs can play in achieving sustainable development goals. The DEWG also welcomed a G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure to facilitate the deployment of DPI in other countries, particularly low- and middle-income countries. The document also mentioned the One Future Alliance, initiated by the Indian Presidency, to bring together governments, the private sector, academic and research institutions, donor agencies, civil society organizations, and other relevant stakeholders and existing mechanisms to synergize global efforts in the DPI ecosystem.

 

THE WHITE HOUSE | AUGUST 18, 2023

President Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and Republic of Korea President Yoon in a historic trilateral summit at Camp David, where they committed to focusing on cooperation through Trilateral Economic Security Dialogues, including early warning systems for ensuring supply chain resilience, coordinated export controls on advanced technology, international standards for artificial intelligence, infrastructure assistance in the Indo-Pacific, collaboration on critical minerals, and other areas. A pilot Supply Chain Early Warning System to exchange information on disruptions in supply chains, particularly for critical minerals and rechargeable batteries, is planned for launch. They aim to initiate cooperation among their national laboratories to advance knowledge and innovation in critical and emerging technology, including sharing information and best practices among enforcement agencies and cooperation on technology standards to ensure the safe and responsible development of technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.

 

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU OF INDIA | AUGUST 17, 2023

India and Trinidad and Tobago signed an MoU to collaborate on sharing India Stack, a collection of open APIs and digital public goods designed to facilitate identity, data, and payment services on a large scale. The partnership involves cooperation in digital transformation through various means, including capacity building, training programs, exchanging best practices, sharing public officials and experts, and developing pilot solutions. This collaboration follows similar MoUs signed by India with countries such as Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and Antigua and Barbuda, highlighting the growing global interest in and acceptance of India Stack.

MINT | AUGUST 30, 2023

The G20 Summit in India, set to commence on September 9 in New Delhi, will be joined by representatives of member nations as well as guest nations who will engage in discussions about diverse issues. The theme of the international summit is "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam," or “One Earth · One Family · One Future." Derived from a famous ancient Sanskrit text, the Maha Upanishad, the theme represents global unity. Issues that are accorded priority for the summit include green development, climate finance, and the lifestyle for environment mission; accelerated, inclusive, and resilient growth; accelerating progress on SDGs; technological transformation and digital public infrastructure; multilateral institutions for the twenty-first century; and women-led development.

 

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU OF INDIA | AUGUST 29, 2023

In the wake of successful missions to Mars and the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation is getting ready for its next ambitious endeavor, which is set to launch on September 2 and could provide important understanding about the solar system. The upcoming solar mission, named Aditya-L1, is poised to unravel the complicated workings of the Sun. The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere (the deepest layer of the sun we can directly observe), the chromosphere (the layer about 400 km and 2,100 km above the photosphere), and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona), using electromagnetic, particle, and magnetic field detectors.

 

REUTERS | AUGUST 29, 2023

President Biden will visit Vietnam on September 10 to meet with top officials on issues ranging from technology and the economy to regional stability and climate change as Washington eyes closer ties in the region. Biden and Vietnamese officials are expected to discuss deepening the two countries’ ties as well as boosting "a technology-focused and innovation-driven Vietnamese economy," according to a White House statement. The visit holds significance in that the erstwhile foes are celebrating the tenth anniversary of a "comprehensive partnership" this year. The United States is Vietnam’s largest export market. The visit follows a telephonic communication between Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Biden in March and a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Hanoi.

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES | AUGUST 27, 2023

The flight of the telescope and lunar mission was postponed less than 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled liftoff because of poor weather, said the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA). A date for the rescheduled launch has not yet been announced by the agency, but the launchpad at the Tanegashima Space Center remains reserved through September 15. The XRISM satellite, also called the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, is a joint mission between JAXA and NASA, along with participation from the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. XRISM will detect X-ray light in space, a wavelength invisible to humans.

 

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION | AUGUST 23, 2023

The seventy-eighth session of the UNGA opens on September 5, and its high-level segment, formally known as the “General Debate,” begins on September 19. The theme of the scheduled debate is “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.” In addition to the debate, this year will also witness the SDG Action Weekend come alive on September 16 and 17. As the runup to the SDG Summit, the action weekend will aim to generate momentum toward the Summit by engaging member states, intergovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders. As part of this, September 17, identified as the "SDG Acceleration Day,” will see dedicated sessions on twelve high-impact initiatives, including the power of data and digital public infrastructure. The day will also feature SDG Digital, hosted by ITU and UNDP, which will take stock of global achievements, gaps, and opportunities concerning the role of the digital in catalyzing action on SDGs.