The Indian government has launched a Joint Working Group (JWG) with the live events industry, including players like BookMyShow, Wizcraft, Saregama, and District by Zomato, to boost growth and create 20 million jobs by 2030. Key steps include a single-window clearance on India Cine Hub, a digital music licensing registry, new infrastructure policies, skill development, and financial incentives.

The Department of Posts (DoP) has partnered with MapmyIndia–Mappls to boost India’s digital addressing system via DIGIPIN. An MoU was signed at Dak Bhawan, New Delhi. MapmyIndia will supply base maps for the Know Your DIGIPIN app and integrate DIGIPIN into Mappls, improving location-based services. DoP’s Shri Harpreet Singh highlighted greater reach and accessibility, while Shri Rakesh Verma stressed empowering citizens. The move strengthens innovation and the Address-as-a-Service (AaaS) framework.

Reliance Jio unveiled Jio Frames at its 48th AGM, marking its entry into smart wearables. The glasses feature a multilingual AI assistant in Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, with HD media capture, hands-free operation, and Jio AI Cloud backup. Open-ear speakers support calls and media playback. Offering recipe guidance and real-time information, Jio Frames rivals Ray-Ban Meta, aiming to popularize AI-driven eyewear within the Jio AI ecosystem. Pricing and launch details await announcement.

Mukesh Ambani and Mark Zuckerberg announced a new joint venture to bring open-source AI solutions to Indian businesses. Powered by Meta’s Llama models and Reliance’s scale, the initiative will democratize AI for startups, enterprises, and industries nationwide. This partnership aims to fuel innovation, productivity, and sovereign AI adoption across India.

Mukesh Ambani announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to drive large-scale AI adoption across Reliance businesses. The collaboration will launch a Jamnagar Cloud Region, powered by clean energy and Jio’s network, to deliver secure, scalable AI infrastructure. Sundar Pichai called it a transformative step to empower startups, enterprises, and India’s digital economy.

Mukesh Ambani unveiled Reliance’s new AI subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence, at the 48th AGM. The company will build AI-ready green data centres in Jamnagar, form global tech partnerships, deliver affordable AI services for sectors like education, healthcare, and agriculture, and act as a talent hub for AI innovation. The move strengthens Reliance’s ambition to become India’s deep-tech powerhouse.

Aqualab, retail arm of Laborate Pharmaceuticals India, crossed ₹100 crore revenue in three years and targets ₹250 crore by FY25–26. Its 800+ SKUs and 500+ stockists drive Tier-II/III expansion. MD Arpit Bhatia cites scaling Direct-to-Retail and last-mile delivery. Leveraging Laborate’s GMP-certified facilities, Aqualab eyes exports, digital channels, and new categories in India’s ₹18,700 crore retail pharmacy market, projected at ₹31,200 crore by FY32. Founded 1985, Laborate operates in 55 countries.

Netrasemi has raised ₹107 crore ($12.5M) in Series A funding led by Zoho, with Unicorn India Ventures and Maithan Alloys participating. This follows a ₹10 crore pre-Series A in December 2024. The round values Netrasemi at ₹630 crore ($74M), marking a 6.6X jump. Founded in 2020, Netrasemi builds energy-efficient SoCs for smart IoT, featuring an AI acceleration core (NPU) and silicon IPs for on-device analytics.

Nuyug, a celebration-wear jewelry brand co-founded by Ankur Dua and Manali Thareja, raised ₹2.5 crore in pre-seed funding led by AJVC. The funds will support channel expansion, R&D, and product diversification. Nuyug bridges imitation and fine jewelry with skin-safe, gold-toned designs for weddings and festivals. In eight months, it achieved ₹1 crore ARR and launched 400+ products via its D2C platform, Myntra, Nykaa Fashion, and Amazon.

Cumin Co has raised $1.5M in a Fireside Ventures-led round to boost enamel-based coating production and enhance its supply chain. Founded in 2025 by Niharika Joshi and Udit Lekhi, the brand offers toxin-free enamel cast iron cookware priced between ₹1,999–₹7,000. Targeting high-income households via a D2C model, it reports ₹1 crore MRR with 20% MoM growth, and plans expansions to Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart.

Beatoven.ai has launched Maestro, a generative AI music model ensuring royalties for artists and rights-holders through full licensing and partnerships. Powering Beatoven’s Music Intelligence tools, Maestro creates instrumental tracks with planned sound effect and vocal support. Trained on licensed datasets via Musical AI, it guarantees attribution and payouts. CEO Mansoor Rahimat Khan highlights AI’s creative role. Industry leaders Ed Newton-Rex and Sean Power endorse its ethical approach.

IBM and AMD are collaborating to integrate AI accelerators, quantum computing, and HPC. Leaders Arvind Krishna and Dr. Lisa Su emphasize transformative potential. Their quantum-centric architecture assigns tasks to optimal paradigms quantum for simulations, classical for data analysis. AMD’s CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs will merge with IBM’s quantum systems for fault-tolerant computing. A demo launches this year, extending IBM’s partnerships with RIKEN and Lockheed Martin. AMD powers the world’s fastest supercomputers.

PedalStart has launched Hustler Mela 3.0 in Bengaluru, a live pitching event deploying ~₹15 Cr across 10 startups. With 300+ investors, including angels, HNIs, and VCs, alongside 30 curated startups, the event fosters real-time evaluation and networking via PedalInvest Club. Co-founders Manas Pal and Aditya Darolia highlight building a learning-driven ecosystem. Hustler Mela promotes founder-investor collaborations through pitches, networking, and sessions on startup evaluation.

Ashray Akruti and Optum India have launched a Mobile Hearing Clinic in Hyderabad to deliver hearing healthcare to underserved communities. Inaugurated by Mr. D.P.K. Babu and Ms. Uma Ratnam Krishnan, it offers free ENT check-ups for early detection and intervention. Mr. Babu stressed hearing’s role in education, while Ms. Krishnan highlighted Optum’s collaborative mission. Recognized by WHO, Ashray Akruti and Optum India, part of UHG, continue advancing healthcare access.

BhaoBhao, co-founded by Aditi Sanganeria and Anshika Maheshwari, raised $200K from angel investors to scale its at-home pet grooming services. Operating in India’s $3.5B pet care sector, the Mumbai startup charges Rs 1,500–2,000 per visit, using certified groomers for dogs and cats. With 3,000+ clients and a 95% repeat rate, BhaoBhao now eyes a $4M- $5M funding round by year-end to expand services.

Apple and Reliance Jio have partnered to bring RCS messaging to iPhones in India, enabling Jio users to access rich features like read receipts and high-resolution media. The move modernizes SMS with secure transactions and alerts. With Jio’s vast user base, Apple expects rapid adoption. Simultaneously, Apple is expanding retail and manufacturing in India, planning to shift iPhone assembly for the US market to India by 2026.

Dr. Jitendra Singh marked the BioE3 Policy anniversary by launching the BioE3 Challenge for Youth and the National Biofoundry Network, targeting a $300B bioeconomy by 2030. India’s bioeconomy grew from $10B in 2014 to $165.7B in 2024. Key milestones include the Biomanufacturing Institute in Mohali and DBT-ISRO’s space biotech collaboration. The BioE3 Challenge supports youth-led innovations in health, agriculture, and environment through BIRAC funding.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, with draft rules rolling out in 2025, will make it illegal for retailers or visitor systems to ask customers to share mobile numbers aloud. Consent must be explicit, informed, and time-bound. Businesses must offer alternatives like email or physical receipts, store numbers only up to three years, and are barred from reusing or selling data bringing India closer to GDPR-like privacy norms.

Anmasa, a D2C grocery startup, has raised $1.1M in pre-seed funding led by Snow Leopard Technology Ventures, Veltis Capital, Blume Ventures, and Indigram Lab. Founded in 2024 by Yatish Talvadia and Shailendra Upadhyay, the Gurugram-based brand offers healthy staples like cold-pressed flours and wood-pressed oils via an omnichannel model with a store and 90-minute delivery. It plans 10 Delhi-NCR outlets, challenging giants like Aashirvaad, Fortune, and Emami in India’s ₹80,000 crore staples market.

Matiks, a Bengaluru-based math mobile gaming platform, has raised $3.1M in pre-Series A funding led by Tanglin Ventures, with participation from Info Edge Ventures, Aman Gupta, Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Anil Goteti. Founded in Sept 2024 by Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar, and Sushant Timmapur, Matiks offers competitive math games with live duels, challenges, and leaderboards. With 100K users and 50K+ downloads, the startup has launched a Creators Programme, tapping into India’s $3.8B gaming industry, projected to reach $9.2B by FY29.

Enmovil, an AI-powered supply chain platform, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Sorin Investments, with participation from Capria Ventures and Twynam. Founded by Ravi Bulusu, Nanda Kishore, and Venkat Moganty, the company plans to scale sales, enhance AI capabilities, and expand globally via strategic partnerships. Enmovil serves enterprises like Maruti Suzuki and Nestlé, while Sorin backed by Henry Kravis (KKR) focuses on transformative Indian businesses.

Capgemini is set to acquire Cloud4C, a leader in automation-driven hybrid cloud managed services. Founded in 2014, Cloud4C’s 1,600-member team specializes in consulting, migration, and hyper-automated AI cloud operations, with strong expertise in SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The deal expands Capgemini’s cloud services footprint and strengthens its SAP leadership by combining Syniti’s data expertise with Cloud4C’s cloud management. The acquisition awaits regulatory approvals.

Microsoft Research has launched VibeVoice, an open-source TTS model enabling expressive, multi-speaker dialogues. Capable of generating 90-minute conversations with up to four speakers, it uses continuous speech tokenisers at 7.5 Hz for high-quality audio. Powered by Qwen2.5-1.5B and a 123M-parameter diffusion head, VibeVoice supports English and Chinese, embeds watermarks for safety, and is available on GitHub (MIT License) for research use.

Peeko, a baby-care quick commerce startup founded by ex-Leap executives Chetan Sharma, Abhijit Gairola, and Vivek Khetan, has raised $3.2M seed funding led by Stellaris Venture Partners, with angels including Lightspeed’s Maninder Gulati and Tracxn’s Abhishek Goyal. Currently in beta in Bengaluru, Peeko promises 60-minute baby care delivery and plans to expand dark stores, SKUs, launch an Android app, and forge brand partnerships.

Miko is set to raise $155M in Series D funding led by AMDG-PAX Foundation, with parent RN Chidakashi Technologies issuing preference shares. The capital will support expansion and corporate needs, boosting its consumer robotics presence. Miko’s AI robots Miko Mini and Miko 3 are priced ₹15K–₹25K, while its subscription service Miko Max offers interactive content. Operating in 140+ countries, Miko has raised over $75M so far.

Flipkart has launched Flipkart Black, a premium membership priced at ₹1,499 (introductory ₹990), positioned against Amazon Prime. Members get early sale access, exclusive discounts, 5% SuperCoins cashback (up to ₹800/month), extra SuperCoin savings, Cleartrip travel perks, and 24/7 priority support. A standout benefit is a one-year YouTube Premium subscription (worth ₹1,490), offering ad-free streaming. The subscription fee is non-refundable.

Palmonas has raised $6.2M in Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures SEAI to expand its 9kt gold collection and open 100 new stores. Founded in 2022 by Pallavi Mohadikar and Amol Patwari, with Shraddha Kapoor as cofounder, the demi-fine jewelry brand follows a D2C model across online and offline channels. Having processed 6.5 lakh orders, Palmonas now competes with GIVA and BlueStone in India’s $3.7B jewelry market.