Digital and Emerging Technology

10 mentions in the news, newest first.

• 2026-09-27

  India launches National Digital Tourism Stack on World Tourism Day 2026

  World Tourism Day 2026 is observed globally on 27 September, hosted this year in El Salvador, under the theme Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism. India's central celebration was held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, where Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat unveiled the National Digital Tourism Stack, an open digital public infrastructure initiative meant to make tourism offerings more discoverable and trustworthy, alongside Dekho Apna Desh 2.0 to promote lesser known destinations. According to Ministry of Tourism data, the sector contributed 5.22 percent to India's GDP and supported 8.46 crore jobs in 2023 to 2024.

• 2026-09-19

  India draws nearly 12 billion dollars in investment proposals under Semicon 2.0

  Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government has received investment proposals worth nearly 12 billion dollars under Semicon 2.0, the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission, at the ongoing SEMICON India 2026 event in New Delhi. The commitments span semiconductor equipment, materials, gases, chemicals, assembly, testing, marking and packaging, and substrates, and are expected to be deployed over the next two to three years. Semicon 2.0 extends state support beyond chip fabrication and packaging to equipment, materials, design, research and talent development, with more than 600 companies from 52 countries taking part in the event.

• 2026-09-18

  PM Modi inaugurates SEMICON India 2026 at Yashobhoomi, over 600 companies from 52 countries take part

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the fifth edition of SEMICON India 2026 on 17 September 2026 at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, jointly organised by the India Semiconductor Mission, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the global industry association SEMI. The three day conference and exhibition, running until 19 September under the theme Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem, brought together more than 600 companies, nearly 300 of them international, from 52 countries across 15,000 square metres of exhibition space. In his address, the Prime Minister said the world is looking for new and trusted manufacturing destinations and that India is steadily preparing itself to meet this need. As of September 2026, India had approved 12 semiconductor fabrication and packaging units with a cumulative investment of more than Rs 1.64 lakh crore.

• 2026-09-11

  UIDAI says it is working to make Aadhaar interoperable internationally

  UIDAI Chief Executive Officer Saurabh Vijay said at a fireside chat during the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai that the authority's focus is now on making Aadhaar interoperable internationally, with proof of concept projects already under way and the legal framework being adapted to support this. Vijay said UIDAI is also working on policies that would let Overseas Citizens of India use Aadhaar to ease investment into the country, and is developing a lighter product called Aadhaar Lite with guidelines to follow soon. Separately, UIDAI Chairman Neelkanth Mishra said at the same event that Aadhaar authentications, currently around 100 million a day, are being scaled to handle 250 to 300 million a day, and UIDAI launched a new Aadhaar face authentication software development kit letting partner banks run verification on their own servers.

• 2026-09-01

  Government notifies operational framework for Rs 1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 scheme

  The Union government notified the operational framework for Semicon 2.0, an expanded Rs 1.27 lakh crore programme under the India Semiconductor Mission, on 31 August 2026. Unlike the first phase, the scheme widens eligibility to chip design startups, MSMEs, equipment and materials manufacturers, and research and training institutions, and puts semiconductor design and intellectual property at the centre of the strategy alongside fabrication, assembly and advanced packaging. Silicon wafer fabs can receive support of up to 40 percent of eligible capital expenditure, while chip design startups and MSMEs can access national electronic design automation tools and seed funding of up to Rs 15 crore.

• 2026-08-28

  UPI completes 10 years, transaction volume up nearly 13,000 fold

  The Unified Payments Interface, launched by the National Payments Corporation of India on 25 August 2016, completed 10 years this week. The Union Finance Ministry said UPI's annual transaction volume rose from 1.78 crore in 2016 to 17 to more than 24,162 crore in 2025 to 26, a nearly 13,000 fold increase, while transaction value rose from about 0.07 lakh crore rupees to approximately 314 lakh crore rupees over the same period, a more than 4,000 fold rise. UPI is now operational in 11 countries, and the International Monetary Fund has recognised it as the world's largest real time payment system by transaction volume.

• 2026-08-23

  Union Minister calls for India to move from 'Pharmacy of the World' to 'Laboratory of the World'

  Addressing the IIMA Healthcare Summit 2026 in Ahmedabad on 23 August 2026, Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel said India must move beyond its identity as the 'Pharmacy of the World' to become the 'Laboratory of the World', driven by research, innovation and artificial intelligence in drug discovery, personalised treatment and disease surveillance. She said AI adoption in healthcare must remain safe, responsible and complementary to clinical judgement, and highlighted Centres of Excellence for AI in healthcare set up at AIIMS New Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh and AIIMS Rishikesh, alongside the government's Rs 5,000 crore Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech Sector (PRIP) scheme.

• 2026-08-22

  Aadhaar app crosses 5 crore downloads

  The Aadhaar mobile app crossed five crore downloads, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said on 20 August 2026, as UIDAI expands the app's role as a digital interface between residents and Aadhaar services. Through the app, Aadhaar holders can update their mobile number, address and email, lock or unlock their biometrics, and download an e-Aadhaar without visiting an enrolment centre; more than 60 lakh mobile number updates, 15 lakh address updates and 23 lakh email updates have been carried out through the app. UIDAI has also onboarded more than 200 entities as Offline Verification Seeking Entities, letting them verify identity through QR codes and digital documents without a live connection to UIDAI's database.

• 2026-08-20

  Gujarat permits 12 hour shifts at Micron's Sanand semiconductor plant

  The Gujarat government has permitted Micron Semiconductor Technology India's Sanand facility to operate 12 hour work shifts, the first such approval for an industrial unit in the state. The approval was granted under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, which allows state governments to exempt factories from certain provisions while ensuring employees do not exceed the statutory 48 hour weekly limit, with remaining days treated as paid leave, and applies only to workers who give voluntary written consent. Labour Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya said the move was meant to support ease of doing business and semiconductor investment, since chip assembly and testing run continuously in controlled cleanroom environments.

• 2026-08-17

  PM highlights semiconductor self-reliance push

  In the same Independence Day address, the Prime Minister said three semiconductor fabrication plants in India had already been initiated, with another five to eight plants expected to come up over the next seven to eight years. He described this as a step towards reducing India's dependence on imported chips for electronics, telecommunications and defence applications, building on the incentives offered under the India Semiconductor Mission.