India Tech Tracker - January 2024

GLOBAL TIMES | JANUARY 30, 2024

A new batch of artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLMs) passed the Chinese interim regulation that seeks to manage and standardize LLMs. Released in July 2023, the interim regulation on the management of AI services introduced measures to boost generative AI technology in the country while also stipulating standardization norms for service providers. The incorporation of new AI LLMs, reported to have made breakthroughs in data processing, algorithmic efficiency, and application scenarios, can expedite the implementation of vertical AI models. The latest batch includes fourteen domestic LLMs from thirteen Chinese enterprises.

 

THE HINDU | JANUARY 19, 2024

The successful lunar landing of Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has made the country only the fifth in history to reach the moon. SLIM is designed to land within 100 meters (328 feet) of its target, versus the conventional accuracy of several kilometers for lunar landers. According to JAXA, Japan’s space agency, the spacecraft’s “vision-based navigation” capabilities enable a precise touchdown: while descending onto the moon’s surface, SLIM matches the images captured by its camera with existing satellite images of the moon, a process that allows it to calculate its current flight location. Carrying two autonomous probes, the spacecraft will gather data from the lunar surface to transmit back to the earth.

 

NIKKEI ASIA | JANUARY 18, 2024

Taiwan’s Foxconn and India’s HCL Group announced a partnership for a semiconductor assembly and testing facility in India. The firms will jointly set up an outsourced assembly and testing unit, which packages, assembles, and tests foundry-made silicon wafers, producing finished semiconductor chips. In a regulatory filing, Foxconn stated that its India unit will own a 40 percent stake in the joint venture with a $37.2 million investment. The investment is aimed at building an ecosystem for the domestic industry and creating resilient chip supply chains.

 

BUSINESS STANDARD | JANUARY 16, 2024

After a successful ride in Bengaluru, Namma Yatri, a “direct-to-driver” app, was launched in New Delhi. It has already onboarded more than 5,000 drivers in the national capital onto the platform. Built by Juspay Technologies and supported by the Beckn Foundation, this ride-hailing service strengthened its position as an alternative to other ride-hailing apps by removing the platform commission. Since its launch in Bengaluru, Kochi, and Tumakuru, the app has onboarded over 170,000 drivers on the platform and provided services to over 4 million customers over the last year.

 

MONEYCONTROL | JANUARY 10, 2024

Global computing giant Nvidia and its partner firm Yotta confirmed the commissioning of an “AI data center” in the GIFT City by March this year. According to senior officials at Yotta, the order is likely to include approximately 16,000 AI H100 and GH200 chips. This development comes after the order Yotta placed with Nvidia in 2023 for about 16,000 H100 chips, which are due for delivery by July of this year. Nvidia officials also confirmed that they are partnering with the Tata Group and Reliance Industries to set up more data centers. These partnerships are critical for building India’s sovereign AI capabilities. In addition, India’s domestic startup industry can benefit from locally available data centers by avoiding the high costs associated with using cloud-based computing platforms.

WHITE HOUSE | JANUARY 29, 2024

Following President Biden’s executive order on AI in November 2023, the concerned federal agencies reported that they have completed all mandated ninety-day actions in addition to advancing the other vital directives they were tasked with over a longer time frame. Over the past ninety days, these agencies have launched a pilot of the National AI Research Resource and an AI Talent Surge to accelerate the hiring of AI professionals across the federal government. They have also started the EducateAI initiative, which aims to help fund the educators that are creating high-quality, inclusive AI educational opportunities, and announced the funding of new Regional Innovation Engines, or “NSF Engines,” including those with a focus on advancing AI. Also, the agencies have established an AI Task Force at the Department of Health and Human Services to develop policies to provide regulatory clarity and catalyze AI innovation in health care.

 

FINANCIAL TIMES | JANUARY 26, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which regulates competition in the United States, has launched an inquiry into the partnerships between big tech cloud providers and generative AI companies. The FTC stated that it was seeking to understand the network of partnerships and investments that have been formed in recent years between cloud providers Google, Microsoft, and Amazon and generative AI startups OpenAI and Anthropic to gauge if they posed anticompetitive risks. The inquiry seeks to understand the implications of these partnerships, such as decisions around new product releases, governance, or oversight rights.

 

MINT | JANUARY 19, 2024

According to sources, an expert committee set up by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is set to submit its report on the need for a digital competition act for India. The report will be subject to public feedback, and a draft bill on the issue is likely to be tabled in Parliament post the Lok Sabha elections. The ministry has also been working on amendments to the Bankruptcy Code and the Companies Act, both of which are expected to be introduced in Parliament only after the national elections.

 

THE PRINT | JANUARY 17, 2024

According to the speaker of its Congress, the Philippines may propose the creation of a Southeast Asian regulatory framework to establish rules on AI based on the country’s own draft legislation. The framework would be presented to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2026, when the Philippines will chair the regional bloc. Speaking at the Davos Summit, speaker Martin Romualdez emphasized the need for legislation on generative AI in the Philippines because of the country’s crucial business process outsourcing sector. However, given the regionally divergent rules governing censorship, intellectual property, misinformation, social media, and the use of the internet in the ten countries, coming up with such a framework could be a challenge. The Philippines’ proposal would also contrast sharply with the business-friendly approach that ASEAN states have taken to AI regulation thus far.

 

REUTERS | JANUARY 15, 2024

According to a review of documents by Reuters, Chinese military bodies, state-run AI research institutes, and universities have purchased small batches of Nvidia chips over the past year. The sales of these chips, which the United States has banned from exporting to China, have been undertaken by thus far unknown Chinese suppliers. The report goes to show the difficulty Washington is facing, despite the bans it has imposed, in blocking China’s access to advanced American chips that could fuel breakthroughs in AI and build sophisticated computers for military use. Tender documents available to the public show that several Chinese entities acquired Nvidia’s chips after Washington imposed its restrictions. The reported purchases include Nvidia’s A100 and the more powerful H100 chip, both of which were banned from export to China and Hong Kong in September 2022. They also include the slower A800 and H800 chips, which the company developed for the Chinese market following the September 2022 restrictions, only for them to be banned in October 2023.

THE PRINT | JANUARY 30, 2024

According to the German digital minister, the country’s coalition government has reached a compromise on the European Union’s (EU) planned AI Act. Coalition members that were in opposition have dropped their objections, and the country is now set to approve the act. Last year, the EU negotiated a draft regulation, a set of AI rules that would create a regulatory framework for the development of AI in the economic bloc. However, members of the union and the European Parliament will have to approve the framework for it to be operational. The European Council is expected to vote on the AI Act in early February of this year.

 

BUSINESS STANDARD | JANUARY 30, 2024

Taking forward the G20 momentum, India is planning to share PM GatiShakti, a digital public infrastructure (DPI), with its neighboring countries. The DPI aims to develop an integrated framework that can reduce the logistics costs incurred in planning and implementing infrastructure projects. According to an official in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, India plans to share the underlying technology with some of these countries free of cost as part of its commitment to the Global South’s digital transformation. Previously, India’s Unified Payments Interface, another DPI in the payments sector, was rolled out in seven countries.

 

THIRD SOUTH SUMMIT OUTCOME DOCUMENT, G77 | JANUARY 22, 2024

The Third South Summit of the G77, held in Kampala between January 21 and 22, saw the group of developing economies call upon the international community to bridge the global digital divide. The outcome document released by the group emphasized the potential of science, innovation, and technology to accelerate progress toward inclusive and sustainable development. The document also laid emphasis on considering the perspective of developing countries in the creation of an international innovation agenda and the evolution of innovation systems, calling for greater private sector investment and technology transfer to these countries. Additionally, it highlighted the importance of efforts toward encouraging greater participation of developing countries in global research networks and projects. The group called for the consideration of an international technology framework aligned with sustainable development goals (SDGs), aimed at offering preferential access for developing countries to relevant advanced technologies and focusing global research and development on scientific breakthroughs relevant to achieving the SDGs.

 

ECONOMIC TIMES | JANUARY 16, 2024

To support its transition to an “environment-friendly” future, the Government of India signed an agreement with Argentina for lithium exploration. The South American nation possesses more than half of the world’s lithium reserves, along with Chile and Bolivia. A rare element, lithium is predominantly used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, and electric vehicles. The agreement was signed between Khanij Bidesh India Limited and CAMYEN, the state-owned enterprise of the Catamarca province in Argentina. According to a government source, this agreement marks the first-ever lithium exploration and mining project by a government company in India.

 

FINANCIAL TIMES | JANUARY 15, 2024

As China’s semiconductor industry adapts to increasingly strict export restrictions by the United States and its allies, Chinese semiconductor companies are embarking on group tours to meet their Japanese counterparts. For Chinese companies, these trips are a way to deepen existing relations with Japanese material and tool suppliers amid tightening export controls that are designed to curb China’s advances in semiconductor technology.

UNESCO

The second Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, 2024, organized by the UNESCO AI Governance Forum, will take place on February 5 and 6 in Slovenia. The two-day event will focus on addressing the global challenges of AI governance, featuring high-level decisionmakers, industry leaders, and representatives from various sectors who will share their insights on global, regional, and national AI regulation. It will also explore key issues, including AI’s potential to advance equity, diversity, and nondiscrimination, emerging best practices in AI supervision, partnerships with the private sector through ethical impact assessments, and how AI will impact gender equality. The forum will also mark the launch of UNESCO initiatives, including the Global AI Ethics Observatory and the UNESCO AI Ethics Experts Without Borders Network.

 

MONEYCONTROL | JANUARY 16, 2024

Following a weeklong celebration of the foundation day of the Startup India initiative from January 10 to 16, the finale of the India Startup Day will be held on February 23, 2024, in Bengaluru. The event aims to recognize and reward outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers with significant potential for social impact. The National Startup Day aims to promote entrepreneurs, nurture a strong startup environment, and transform India into a nation of job creators. The government has played a crucial role in supporting startups through schemes and platforms such as the Seed Fund Scheme, Fund of Funds Scheme, Credit Guarantee Scheme, MAARG mentorship platform, National Startup Awards, and State Ranking Framework. The day celebrates Indian startups and encourages innovation among the youth, contributing to the country’s economic growth and initiatives like Make in India.

 

TIMES OF INDIA | JANUARY 3, 2024

The inaugural Bharat Mobility Global Expo will be held from February 1 to 3, 2024, at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The event will showcase exhibitions on various automotive technologies, including electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and alternative energy sources. The expo, which is supported by industry bodies such as the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, and NASSCOM, will feature informative sessions, workshops, conferences, and facilitate engagements between various stakeholders. India has seen tremendous growth in its automotive industry and is currently ranked among the top five economies globally. Its electric vehicle segment has witnessed significant growth owing to the Production Linked Incentive scheme, the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles in India subsidy, and other forms of government support.