Business

India's biggest investment challenge in the coming decades will come from its delayed and large-scale urban transition rather than industrialisation, with city design and planning set to play a decisive role in shaping long-term energy demand and efficiency, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery said on Monday.

Noting that emissions are largely a legacy of fossil-fuel-led growth in advanced economies, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Anantha Nageswaran has said that India faces an unprecedented challenge as it seeks to expand manufacturing while lowering its carbon footprint.

The Government of Gujarat signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for cooperation with Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited, a subsidiary of SpaceX, to strengthen the state's digital infrastructure. The agreement focuses on providing high-speed satellite-based internet connectivity to remote, border, and underserved regions that currently face significant telecom challenges. This initiative aligns with the Digital India vision to ensure seamless service delivery across all geographical areas.

While speaking with ANI on the impact of the tariff agreement, Patwari said, "Gujarat stands to gain substantially, particularly in sectors such as seafood, gems and jewellery, and agriculture. Gujarat has India's longest coastline, making the state's seafood industry a major beneficiary of improved trade access and tariff rationalisation." Patwari also highlighted that the Union Budget 2026 has provided considerable accommodation and policy support for these sectors.

Yotta Data Services and BHASHINI announced the successful deployment of a sovereign AI cloud transformation on Yotta's Government Community Cloud and Shakti Cloud. The collaboration marks a significant step in India's efforts toward self-reliant AI capabilities, ensuring that language datasets, models, and citizen interactions remain within national jurisdiction. A Ministry of Electronics & IT press release indicates that BHASHINI now operates entirely on Indian cloud and GPU infrastructure.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Malhotra said, "The developments come as the Government operationalised key competition law reforms under the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023, which was enacted on April 11, 2023. To give effect to the amendments, various rules and regulations were notified during the year. One of the significant changes introduced under the Act relates to penalty determination, with penalties now linked to the global turnover of the person or enterprise involved."