The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), effective October 1, 2025, is India’s first FTA with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, committing USD 100 billion in investments and 1 million jobs over 15 years. EFTA offers 92.2% tariff concessions; India offers 82.7%. Key sectors like dairy and agriculture are protected. The India-EFTA Desk facilitates investments, with reduced tariffs boosting Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Foxconn is investing INR 15,000 crore ($1.8B) in Tamil Nadu, creating 14,000 engineering jobs and boosting AI-led manufacturing. Minister TRB Rajaa highlights value-added production and R&D. A dedicated Foxconn Desk will expedite approvals following Robert Wu-MK Stalin discussions. Foxconn targets 25-30 million iPhone units annually, exporting $3.2B (March-May). Apple plans India-based US manufacturing. Foxconn partners with HCL for an OSAT facility with INR 3,700 crore investment.

Bengaluru’s GoodScore secured $13 million Series A funding led by Peak XV Partners, with Stellaris Venture Partners and Saison Capital participating. Founder Sanchit Bansal will enhance AI-driven advisory services and expand the credit marketplace. Launched in 2023, the app has 5 million users with AI-powered credit score management at INR 99. Partnerships with Axis Bank and HDFC Bank enable loan repayment and credit access, competing with Oolka and CRED.

Tripura is emerging as Northeast India’s startup leader with 66% average growth in startup recognitions. Director Jeya Ragul Geshan B. highlighted innovation focus under CM Manik Saha at Tamil Nadu Global Startup Summit 2025. The Tripura Startup Policy 2024 introduces ₹50 crore in funding, grants, and patent support, fostering inclusive growth, supporting women-led ventures, and strengthening Tripura’s position as a key startup destination.

Dezerv secured ₹350 crore Series C funding led by Premji Invest and Accel, with Elevation Capital and Z47 participating, to enhance client experience and expand investment offerings. Founded in 2021 by Sahil Contractor, Sandeep Jethwani, and Vaibhav Porwal, Dezerv manages over ₹14,000 crore in assets for 500,000 investors across 200 cities. Leaders highlight commitment to diligent wealth management, AUM growth, AI-driven approach, trust, technology, and rapid client growth.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met PM Narendra Modi to discuss India expansion. Adoption of AI tools, particularly Claude Code, increased fivefold since June. Modi highlighted India’s tech ecosystem and youth potential in responsible AI innovation, welcoming Anthropic’s growth strengthening capabilities in education, healthcare, and agriculture. Amodei praised India’s proactive AI policy. Modi expressed enthusiasm on X, anticipating collaboration to harness AI for growth.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has offered Flipkart a chance to settle a FEMA violation case by admitting fault and paying a penalty, which includes dismantling its seller network. Amazon India is also under scrutiny. The ED’s move may strengthen India’s trade stance with the US. Allegations cite excessive discounts between 2009–2015, before Walmart’s acquisition, while CCI probes competition violations.

Supabase raised $100 million Series E led by Accel and Peak XV, with Figma, YC, Coatue, Felicis, Craft, and Square Peg participating, valuing the company at $5 billion pre-money. Funds support employee secondaries (25% vested stock sales) and accelerate hiring for open-source initiatives like Multigres and OrioleDB. With 30+ ex-founders, Supabase operates 100% distributed across 37 countries, actively recruiting talent.

Bengaluru-based Chara Technologies secured $6 million Series A funding led by Arkam Ventures, with Exfinity participating. Founded by Bhaktha Keshavachar, Mahalingam Koushik, and Ravi Prasad, Chara specializes in rare-earth-free electric motors using synchronous reluctance architecture, 15-20% more cost-effective. Funds will support a new factory and technology enhancement. Serving 100 customers including Greaves Cotton, Chara targets 6x growth by FY26 and 40,000 motors by FY27.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar launched 10XU, a sportswear and athleisure brand founded with Karthik Gurumurthy and Karan Arora, backed by Peak XV and Whiteboard Capital. The Bengaluru-based brand offers apparel and footwear, including cricket-specific shoes at ₹9,000 and everyday ranges at ₹5,000–6,000. 10XU aims to democratize high-performance gear, encourage active lifestyles, and transform India into a sports-playing nation, with international expansion planned.

Karnataka approved a policy granting 12 paid menstrual leaves annually to women across all sectors, benefiting over 50 lakh individuals. Spearheaded by CM Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka Menstrual Leave and Hygiene Bill, 2025, prescribes fines for non-compliance, aligning with Bihar and Odisha. With 31.5% female labor force participation, Karnataka hosts Walmart, Google, Infosys, and Wipro. Labour Minister Santosh Lad highlighted addressing women’s physical and mental stress.

L&T Finance Ltd. launched ‘Pitch Point’ for early-stage AI startups in BFSI and beyond. Two winners receive Rs. 25 lakhs each, PoC exploration with LTF, and equity funding discussions. Solutions span Cyber Security to AI Geospatial applications. A jury including Rajan Anandan (Peak XV Partners) and Sushma Kaushik (L&T Innovation Fund) will select finalists for RAISE’ 25. Applications close October 20, 2025.

Maharashtra issued draft rules for app-based public transport aggregators, covering motor cabs, buses, and camper vans, excluding motorcycles. The “Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Aggregator Rules, 2025” align with central guidelines, enhancing passenger confidence and driver welfare per Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik. Stakeholders can submit feedback until October 17. This follows the Maharashtra Bike Taxi Rules 2025, aiming for balanced regulation addressing safety and welfare.

Claude Code introduces plugins enabling users to share development workflows via slash commands, agents, MCP servers, and hooks. Installable with ‘/plugin’ command, plugins can be toggled for performance optimization. GitHub hosts marketplaces amplifying community best practices, including Dan Ávila’s DevOps automation and Seth Hobson’s 80+ sub-agents repository. Use cases include enforcing standards, connecting internal tools, PR reviews, and security guidance.

FS Life secured INR 50 crore from Colossa Ventures and Rahul Garg, with Fireside Ventures and Mirabilis Investment Trust participating. Funds will expand retail presence from five to 100+ stores in three years. Founded in 2016 by Ayushi Gudwani, the company uses a sizing algorithm based on 3 lakh measurements, reports INR 160 crore revenue run rate, and nears operational break-even.

Prosus is increasing its stake in ixigo to 15% for ₹620-660 crore, totaling nearly ₹2,000 crore investment. This strategic re-entry into India’s travel sector makes Prosus ixigo’s largest shareholder and marks its first Indian PIPE investment. The move enhances Prosus’s consumer platform strategy alongside Swiggy, Meesho, Urban Company, and Rapido, while providing ixigo global expertise, tech infrastructure, and funding to compete with MakeMyTrip and EaseMyTrip.

Cisco’s 8223 routing systems, powered by Silicon One P200 chip, deliver breakthrough AI networking scalability and efficiency for distributed AI workloads connecting data centers. The single ASIC router offers unparalleled capacity with deep-buffer routing exceeding 3 Exabits per second, now deployed to hyperscalers. Martin Lund emphasizes secure data center connections, while Dave Maltz, Dennis Cai, Dave Ward, and Patrick Moorhead highlight transformative impacts on cloud infrastructure and AI.

German AI startup n8n secured $180 million in Series C funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, led by Accel Ventures. The platform enables developers to create automation workflows and AI agents via no-code interface. Vodafone used n8n for threat intelligence, saving millions. Despite OpenAI’s ‘AgentKit’ announcement, users noted n8n’s superior capabilities. The company reports significant growth, reaching $40 million ARR, with experts suggesting OpenAI poses no immediate threat.

Reflection AI, backed by Nvidia, raised $2 billion at an $8 billion valuation. Founded in 2024 by ex-DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou, it focuses on automating software development. The round included Eric Schmidt, 1789 Capital, Lightspeed, and Sequoia. This follows a previous $130 million round at $545 million valuation. Q3 2025 global venture funding rose 38% to $97 billion, with 46% in AI. Competitors include OpenAI and DeepSeek.

AWS Quick Suite is a new enterprise AI platform consolidating tools like QuickSight and Amazon Q Business for business automation, research, and security. The agentic AI workspace connects to 1,000+ apps with enterprise-grade security ensuring queries aren’t used for model training. Early adopters report 80% reduction in customer service tickets and 91% analytics cost savings. Priced at $20/user/month, it launches across four AWS regions with a 30-day free trial for 25 users.

Discord reported a data breach affecting approximately 70,000 users through compromised third-party vendor 5CA. Exposed data includes government ID photos for age verification, names, usernames, emails, limited billing information, and support messages. Credit card details and passwords remain secure. Discord revoked vendor access, launched an investigation with forensics experts, and involved law enforcement. Impacted users are being notified via [email protected], with enhanced third-party security measures implemented.

Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Season 2 of its Kotak BizLabs Accelerator Programme, a CSR initiative supporting 75+ early-stage startups across deeptech, sustainability, and fintech. Running October 2025 to November 2026, it partners with IIT Delhi’s FITT, IIMA Ventures, and others. Season 1 engaged 1,500+ applicants, mentored 55 startups, and funded 32. Season 2 targets 800+ startups, accelerating 75+ and funding 60+.

Hunger Inc., parent to Bombay Sweet Shop, secured Rs 215 crore ($25M) from Lighthouse and DSG Consumer Partners for production expansion beyond Mumbai. Founded by Sameer Seth, Floyd Cardoz, and Yash Bhanage, the company reported Rs 115 crore FY25 revenue with 9% EBITDA margin, projecting Rs 150 crore in FY26. Bombay Sweet Shop contributes over half the revenue, targeting Delhi expansion and supplying Starbucks, Oberoi Hotels, and IndiGo.

TCS is establishing an AI data center subsidiary with 1 GW capacity, supporting its AI-led tech services goal, per CEO K Krithivasan. The ListEngage acquisition will enhance AI capabilities. TCS reported INR 12,131 crore profit in Q2 FY26. Partnerships include CEA and Qualcomm for AI solutions and C-DAC for sovereign cloud. TCS focuses on integrating GenAI rather than building foundational models, mirroring Infosys and Wipro strategies.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is establishing a Bengaluru office, targeting early-stage AI and SaaS startups with global potential. Anish Acharya leads local hiring efforts. Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2009, a16z manages over $46 billion. Previous Indian investments include CoinSwitch Kuber, Plutus Labs, and BlueStacks. This aligns with India’s startup focus on profitability and AI growth, as Indian VCs accumulate record dry powder.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin launched a ₹100 crore “co-creating fund” at TN Global Startup Summit in Coimbatore. This fund-of-funds will invest in venture capital for Tamil Nadu startups, encouraging global investment. The state recorded 36% annual startup growth (2020-2025), exceeding national rates, with half women-led. Collaborations include the U.S. and South Korea. Vision 2035 aims to establish Tamil Nadu as a top startup hub.

Over 180,000 tech jobs were lost across 413 companies in 2025 due to AI advancements. Wipro cut 24,516 positions; TCS plans 12,000 reductions. Intel leads with 25,000 layoffs by year-end. Microsoft eliminated 15,000+ roles, citing AI’s coding capabilities. Accenture, Meta, Google, and Amazon also reduced staff, shifting to AI. Analysts report 489 daily job cuts, highlighting tech transformation’s human cost.

Razorpay, NPCI, and OpenAI launched Agentic Payments pilot, integrating conversational AI with UPI for seamless transactions within ChatGPT. Users can shop on BigBasket, compare prices, and pay via UPI in-chat. Powered by UPI Circle and Reserve Pay with Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank, transactions are user-controlled and revocable. Currently limited to select partners, expansion depends on pilot results and regulatory approvals.

Rusk Media raised Rs 103 crore ($12 million) in Series B funding led by IvyCap Ventures, with InfoEdge Ventures participating. Funds will support expansion into the U.S., Europe, and EMEA, plus new entertainment IPs. Known for ‘Battleground’ and ‘School Friends’, the Gen-Z digital entertainment company’s platforms generate 1 billion monthly views. FY24 revenue reached Rs 56.8 crore with losses reduced by 56%.

Bharat Matrimony invested $500,000 in Bengaluru’s Ask My Guru (AMG), bringing total funding to $1.72 million. Founded by Krishna Mohan Vedula and Vivek Sadamate, AMG offers AI-driven Vedic astrology for matchmaking. With 400,000 users and 5 million chats since June 2025, AMG plans global expansion starting with the U.S., integrating AI astrology into Bharat Matrimony’s 4 crore user base.