Microsoft has launched its fourth cloud region in India, located in Hyderabad, significantly expanding its hyperscale cloud presence. This move is part of a USD 20.5-billion investment in India's digital and AI infrastructure, aiming to support the country's rapid digital growth and meet increasing demand from major enterprises.
Gautam Adani emphasised the importance of energy security and digital infrastructure in shaping geopolitical power, urging India to develop sovereign capabilities across the AI value chain.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health, visited Mumbai to understand India's digital public infrastructure, including UPI and AI, in improving financial health for salaried individuals. She interacted with healthcare professionals and SalarySe leaders, praising India's advancements in financial inclusion and technology's role in empowering individuals.
A NITI Aayog report indicates that India's digital public infrastructure (DPI) initiatives are projected to contribute significantly to the nation's GDP, potentially reaching 4 per cent by 2030.
A NITI Aayog report indicates that India's digital public infrastructure (DPI) initiatives could contribute 4 per cent of the GDP by 2030, a significant increase from the current 1 per cent.
Minister of State for Telecom Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani urged BRICS nations to collaborate on building institutional capacity and advocating for fair standards in international telecom and ICT bodies. He highlighted India's willingness to share its modular, open-source digital public infrastructure frameworks like Aadhaar and DigiLocker, emphasising their role in sustainable development and economic growth across the Global South.
Despite near gender parity in basic bank account ownership, women in India remain significantly underrepresented in the growing platform economy due to gaps in digital financial capability and access to credit, according to a joint report by the International Labour Organization and National Council of Applied Economic Research.
Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has invested Rs 200 crore in CtrlS, a hyperscale data centre company, with entrepreneur Sreeram Reddy Vanga adding Rs 50 crore. This capital infusion will fuel CtrlS's infrastructure expansion and capacity growth across India, addressing the rising demand from enterprises and hyperscale clients driven by AI, cloud, and digital advancements.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) completing a decade, calling it a major turning point in India's digital payment journey. Launched in 2016, UPI has become the backbone of India's digital payments ecosystem, showing exponential growth in transaction volume and value, and is a key pillar of the Digital Public Infrastructure.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has completed a decade since its launch, becoming the backbone of India's digital payments ecosystem. It has seen exponential growth in transaction volume and value, expanding financial inclusion and setting a global benchmark for real-time payments.
IIT Madras is hosting the 3rd Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) Symposium 2026 in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and RISC-V International. The symposium aims to unite stakeholders from government, industry, and academia to advance India's semiconductor innovation, focusing on indigenous processor technologies, secure computing, hardware innovation, and AI, aligning with the government's vision for India as a global semiconductor hub.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified that the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on digital transactions applies to merchants, not customers, and aims to support banks and fintech in infrastructure investment. She countered Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's claims, stating that a committee will decide on MDR only after Parliament passes the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, a process currently stalled by parliamentary disruptions.
Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti highlighted the transformative role of satellite communications in expanding seamless connectivity across India, especially in remote areas. He noted that India's space economy is projected to grow significantly, driven by satcom technology that will bridge the digital divide, provide resilient infrastructure during disasters, and support strategic sectors.
Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti highlighted the transformative role of satellite communications in expanding seamless connectivity across India, especially in remote areas. He noted that India's space economy is projected to grow significantly, driven by satcom technology that will bridge the digital divide, provide resilient infrastructure during disasters, and support strategic sectors.
The CEO of the National Health Authority, Sunil Kumar Barnwal, highlighted BRICS nations' shared aspiration for connected, patient-centric, and resilient healthcare systems through digital health infrastructure and responsible AI. Discussions at the 16th BRICS Health Ministers' meeting focused on overcoming challenges like limited interoperability and workforce constraints, with countries like Brazil and Indonesia sharing successful digital health initiatives.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra stated it is "premature" to discuss the implementation of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for digital payments, advising a "wait-and-watch" approach. He emphasised that investment in public payment infrastructure is necessary and someone must bear the cost, whether through taxes or MDR. The government is currently working on amendments to relevant statutes, and the RBI is focused on strengthening this infrastructure.
Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran highlights the challenges of digital access, data governance, interoperability, and cyber security in India's digital public infrastructure (DPI), despite its world-class scale.
Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava highlighted the strong health cooperation within BRICS, emphasising the critical role of digital health and artificial intelligence in ensuring continuity of care. Speaking at the 16th BRICS Health Ministers' meeting, she noted shared challenges among member nations and showcased India's advancements in digital health infrastructure and AI strategy.
The Lok Sabha has passed a Bill to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, authorising the government to permit banks and service providers to levy charges on UPI and other electronic payment modes. This move aims to create a sustainable revenue model for the digital payments ecosystem, shifting from the current exemption of UPI transactions from such charges.
HCLTech, India's third-largest IT services company, announced plans to establish a global technology centre and an AI-optimised data centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, with a total investment of approximately Rs 15,000 crore, marking its entry into the AI infrastructure business.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated 11 years of the Digital India initiative, highlighting its role in redefining governance, empowering citizens, and accelerating all-round development. He emphasised its impact on digital payments, direct benefit transfers, and expanding digital public infrastructure, making technology a powerful instrument for 'Ease of Living' across India, including tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
Meghalaya has shown significant progress in digital transactions and financial inclusion, recording 32.76 crore digital transactions and nearly 10 lakh Jan Dhan accounts by 2025-26. Efforts like the JAM Trinity and financial literacy programmes have expanded banking access, with a high percentage of bank account holders adopting digital modes. The next phase focuses on enhancing financial literacy and cyber resilience, especially in rural areas.
Bharti Airtel is strategically shifting its focus towards data centres, cloud services, and financial services as key drivers for its next phase of growth, leveraging significant past investments in digital infrastructure, as outlined by Chairman Sunil Mittal in the company's Annual Report for 2025-26.
The Payments Council of India has confirmed that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services will continue to be free for consumers and small merchants, despite a recent Lok Sabha Bill. This clarification addresses concerns about potential charges, emphasising that while a sustainable financial model for UPI infrastructure is being developed, transaction charges will not be passed on to users or small businesses.
Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has secured a mega order, valued between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 crore, to construct India's largest single-cluster artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure facility. This strategic move marks L&T's entry into the AI Factory business, aiming to establish an NVIDIA B300-based AI Factory in Chennai to power the AI-native cloud platform of US-based Together AI, thereby strengthening India's AI ecosystem and supporting global innovation.
The Maharashtra government has approved the deployment of sovereign artificial intelligence solutions from Sarvam AI for its departments, with a two-year outlay of Rs 11.26 crore. This initiative includes the Indus AI workspace for 2,500 users, ensuring government data remains within India, along with citizen outreach agents and speech models for the MahaAI platform.
Persistent Systems announced an agreement to integrate a team from Concise, a software engineering and IT consulting company, to expand its Eastern European footprint.
A parliamentary panel flagged staffing shortages at NCERT and CBSE, inadequate education spending, falling enrolment and poor internet connectivity in government schools.
LIC is the only brand in the Brand Finance India 100 2026 report that has a top five rank in both brand value and brand strength.
A new study by The Energy & Climate Initiative Society (ENCIS) predicts that AI adoption in India's power generation sector will surge from 35% to 65% by 2030, becoming a core operational capability. The study highlights that nearly seven out of ten professionals see power generation as offering the best opportunity for efficiency gains through AI, driven by India's expanding digital infrastructure and significant investments from energy giants. Predictive asset management and proactive maintenance are identified as key areas for AI application, with efficiency being the primary driver for AI investments.
Parliament was informed that UPI has onboarded 55.49 crore users by June 2026, with transactions reaching 24,162 crore in volume and Rs 314 lakh crore in value in FY 2025-26. The platform, operated by NPCI, is expanding internationally through NIPL, facilitating cross-border payments and assisting other nations in building similar systems. Significant efforts are also underway by the Government, RBI, and NPCI to enhance the security and transparency of UPI transactions, including risk-based limits, security frameworks, and public awareness campaigns against cyber-crime.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announced the company's intention to invest an additional USD 13 billion in India by 2030, focusing on expanding AI and cloud infrastructure.
Adani Group Director Jeet Adani and Bharti Enterprises Vice Chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal highlighted the importance of infrastructure, energy, and connectivity in shaping India's AI ecosystem, emphasising Visakhapatnam's potential as a major digital gateway.
A cybersecurity expert warns that cyberattacks are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure, posing direct risks to human lives beyond mere data theft. The convergence of IT and OT expands the attack surface, making sectors like aviation, transport, and public utilities highly vulnerable.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu marked World Telecommunication and Information Society Day by emphasising the state's growing quantum technologies ecosystem and the importance of secure digital infrastructure.
A digital profiling exercise by the Delhi government has revealed significant infrastructure deficiencies in government schools, including shortages of drinking water taps, lack of facilities for children with special needs, and structurally unsafe buildings.
India's government has implemented stringent new regulations under the Telecommunications Act 2023, mandating that all communication infrastructure providers, including those utilising cloud-based networks, must store telecommunication data exclusively within the country, a move expected to significantly impact domestic data centre demand.
Hyderabad-based SETL, a precision engineering company, has acquired a 51% majority stake in GScale Energy Private Limited, an AI Datacenter Engineering infrastructure specialist. This strategic move involves an initial investment of Rs 190 crore, with a total commitment of Rs 500 crore, marking SETL's expansion into the rapidly growing AI Datacenter sector and leveraging its expertise from pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
Tata Sons has the balance sheet to support them, for now.
Andhra Pradesh and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have signed an MoU to establish the PNB Quantum Finance Hub at Amaravati Quantum Valley. This initiative aims to foster innovation and adopt next-generation technologies like AI and Quantum Computing in the banking sector, focusing on cybersecurity, fraud detection, and customer experience.
