VISWAM.AI, SFLC.in Release Draft License to Protect Open-Source AI

VISWAM.AI and SFLC.in Release Draft License for Consultation Aimed at Safeguarding Open Source AI and Community Ownership

Hyderabad, Feb 04: VISWAM.AI (A Joint initiative of Swecha and IIIT Hyderabad), jointly with SFLC.in released the new Draft License for consultation aimed to address critical gaps in current open Source licenses, regarding data usage, attribution, and the definition of openness in the age of AI. This License Draft Release was announced at the roundtable event “Understanding Trust and Safety in AI: From Code to Creativity” stakeholder consultation held at IIIT Hyderabad, jointly by VISWAM.AI, SFLC.in, FOSS United and The Linux Foundation.

Various community initiatives for the publication of datasets for public use have gained traction, exemplified by the community model pioneered by VISWAM.AI and Swecha for Telugu datasets. Nonetheless, the absence of suitable licensing frameworks presents a risk that these datasets could be appropriated by large organisations without appropriate attribution or reciprocal contribution to the community. The consultation highlighted that existing open-source licenses are insufficient for AI. While they cover source code, they fail to protect the training data which is the fuel of modern AI, from appropriation by proprietary giants.

The Key Objectives of the Draft License:

Community Ownership and Reciprocity: The license is designed to prevent the extraction of community-generated data by large corporations without attribution, with the central tenet to ensure that the value generated from the community-owned contributions flows back to the community. This is based on the principles of copy-left licenses like GNU GPL which are popular in the field of software.

Verifiability: It introduces the concept that for an AI to be truly open, the data provenance must be verifiable to detect bias and ensure safety. If the dataset is biased, the “openness” of the source code alone is insufficient.

In the following days, VISWAM.AI and SFLC.in will be conducting a series of online and in-person public consultations to gain feedback on the draft of the license. The draft license for consultation is available at: https://discuss.sflc.in/d/SBNXHa9k/viswam-ai-data-set-license-draft-for-discussion

“The Free and Open Source Software movement has been one of the most successful collaborative efforts in history. However, the licenses that powered this movement like the GPL and Creative Commons were written for a world of copying and distribution. They were designed to answer: “Can I copy this code?” They were never built to answer: “Can I train a neural network on this culture?

Even in the internet era, “to train or not to train” was a context the pre-AI world never envisaged. We are releasing this Draft License for consultation to ensure proprietary models cannot simply appropriate our work without attribution. This paves the way for the release of community-contributed, crowdsourced datasets under a framework that guarantees community ownership and verifiability” said Kiran Chandra Yarlagadda, Center Head and Chief Technologist, VISWAM.AI, Founder, Swecha.

Prasanth Sugathan, Legal Director, SFLC.IN said “We need a license to ensure that the rights of creators are protected and big tech companies do not appropriate the work of individuals and the community without even attributing them.”

Ericsson Launches 5G Advanced Location Services with Unmatched Accuracy

Ericsson unveils 5G Advanced location services – unmatched accuracy for enterprise and mission-critical use cases

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) announced the launch of its 5G Advanced location services offering, a comprehensive suite of innovations designed to redefine location-based services across commercial 5G Standalone (SA) networks. Set for release in Q1 2026, this breakthrough places Ericsson as the leader in 5G positioning technology, offering a scalable and fully integrated solution on top of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core.

By embedding positioning as a core 5G SA network capability, Ericsson 5G Advanced location services enables Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to monetize precise location services and expand beyond traditional mobile offerings into verticals such as manufacturing, healthcare, public safety, automotive, drones, and more.

Key benefits:

• High Accuracy: Down to sub-meter for indoor and sub-10 cm for outdoor positioning, enabling precise tracking
• Scalability: Scalable, precise positioning for outdoor applications (automotive, agriculture, drones)
• Seamless Indoor/Outdoor Coverage: Unified 5G positioning technology for both environments.
• Developer & Device Friendliness: No need for device-side apps; improved battery life compared to satellite-based solutions
• Support for Large-Scale Use Cases: Enables massive geofencing, population density analysis, and tracking use cases.

Monica Zethzon, Head of Core Networks, Ericsson, says: “With the launch of 5G Advanced Location Services we are evolving the value of 5G Standalone networks. This innovation gives CSPs the precision and scalability to create differentiated services based on location capabilities.”

Caroline Gabriel, Partner at Analysys Mason, says: “Ericsson’s integrated approach to indoor and outdoor positioning sets a new benchmark in the industry. It addresses critical pain points for operators and enterprises, particularly in sectors where location accuracy is mission-critical.”

The global market for 5G positioning is in its early stages but poised for rapid growth, driven by demand for enhanced precision in diverse sectors. Ericsson’s solution responds to this demand with scalable, developer-friendly capabilities that improve device battery life compared to legacy systems.

This launch further strengthens Ericsson’s location solutions based on Real-Time Kinematics technology, with related devices from Ericsson planned for Q1 2026.

Ericsson’s 5G Advanced Location Services will be commercially available starting Q1 2026.

Snowflake and OpenAI Forge USD 200 Million Partnership to Bring Enterprise-Ready AI to the World’s Most Trusted Data Platform

SAN FRANCISCO – Feb 3 Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the AI Data Cloud company, today announced a new collaboration with OpenAI that enables global enterprises to unlock greater value from their proprietary data with AI. This multi-year, $200 million partnership agreement cements Snowflake and OpenAI’s commitment to co-innovation and joint go-to-market (GTM) strategies aimed at deploying AI agents across global enterprises. Snowflake and OpenAI will work closely together to develop and deploy customized AI solutions for joint enterprise customers that deliver tangible return on investment.

The direct, first-party partnership agreement also makes OpenAI models natively available to Snowflake’s 12,600 global customers within Snowflake Cortex AI across all three major clouds. This empowers global organizations like Canva and Whoop to bring OpenAI models to their enterprise data for deep research and instant insights. OpenAI models like GPT-5.2 will be accessible within Snowflake Intelligence, the trusted enterprise intelligence agent that empowers every employee to securely access, analyze, and act on all their organization’s knowledge using natural language.

“By bringing OpenAI models to enterprise data, Snowflake enables organizations to build and deploy AI on top of their most valuable asset using the secure, governed platform they already trust,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO, Snowflake. “Customers can now harness all their enterprise knowledge in Snowflake together with the world-class intelligence of OpenAI models, enabling them to build AI agents that are powerful, responsible, and trustworthy. Together, we’re setting a new standard for AI innovation, helping businesses transform with confidence, while maintaining strong security and compliance standards.”

“Snowflake is a trusted platform that sits at the center of how enterprises manage and activate their most critical data,” said Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI. “This partnership brings our advanced models directly into that environment, making it easier to deploy AI agents and apps, so businesses can close the gap between what AI is capable of and the value they can create today.”

“As we scale our visual AI offering on Canva, both OpenAI and Snowflake have played key roles in how we rapidly empower our users with new creative tools,” said Helen Crossley, Head of Data Science, Canva. “As our platform continues to scale, Snowflake has been foundational to how we manage and activate data, and we’re excited to explore how leveraging OpenAI models in Snowflake Cortex AI can help us extend that foundation. The ability to bridge advanced AI models with our enterprise data allows us to move quickly and test new ideas, without compromising on security or performance.”

“Speed and precision in decision-making are critical for us as WHOOP continues to scale,” said Matt Luizzi, Senior Director of Business Analytics, WHOOP. “Rolling out Snowflake Intelligence to our employees and developing Cortex Agents has provided a secure and governed way for WHOOP to analyze data and make decisions. With OpenAI’s models available directly within Snowflake Cortex AI, we can further enhance those agents with advanced reasoning and analysis, all while maintaining strong security and governance. This partnership will help us continue to make AI a practical, everyday tool for the business.”

Snowflake and OpenAI Help Global Enterprises Deploy AI Agents

By bringing OpenAI models to Cortex AI, global enterprises can gain insights from all their data to deliver richer, more engaging AI agents. Key benefits of the partnership include:

Accelerate Joint Product Innovation: Snowflake and OpenAI teams will partner closely to bring new features that leverage OpenAI Apps SDK, AgentKit, and APIs that support shared enterprise workflows.
Build Custom, Interoperable AI Agents: Snowflake and OpenAI enable enterprises to build state-of-the-art AI agents that reason over governed data and take action across tools and apps. Powered by Cortex AI, these agents run directly on enterprise data, delivering secure, high-impact intelligence at scale.
Democratize Data and Insights with AI: Powered by OpenAI models like GPT-5.2, Snowflake Intelligence is an enterprise intelligence agent that gives every employee instant access to trusted insights. It enables business users to query, interpret, and draw meaning from all their structured and unstructured data with no code required, just natural language.
Enterprise-Ready Governance and Reliability: Snowflake provides built-in business continuity and disaster recovery with a 99.99% uptime service-level agreement, helping ensure that enterprises’ AI initiatives don’t get disrupted by outages or disasters. Users can reliably and securely tap into the power of OpenAI models alongside their most valuable proprietary data in Snowflake, all while benefiting from the governance and responsible AI controls that Snowflake Horizon Catalog provides.
Gain Deep Insights with Multimodal AI: With Snowflake Cortex AI Functions, users can tap into the latest OpenAI models to analyze every kind of data. From rows and columns to text, images, and audio, teams can explore it all seamlessly using SQL, the familiar language of data they already trust.

Snowflake and OpenAI Deepen Collaboration to Advance Responsible AI and Workforce Productivity

This partnership builds on the companies’ existing collaboration, with OpenAI leveraging Snowflake as a secure, scalable data platform for experiment tracking, analytics, and testing.

In turn, Snowflake leverages OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise product internally, empowering employees to harness AI in their day-to-day work and accelerate productivity. As a result, employees can make decisions faster, streamline workflows, and drive stronger cross-functional collaboration through AI-powered insights.

Budget 2026–27 Boosts AVGC Sector, Expands Creator Labs to Build India’s Future-Ready Talent

Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and MD of NODWIN Gaming:

“The Union Budget 2026–27’s support for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector through the expansion of AVGC creator labs is a strong step toward building India’s creative and digital talent pipeline. The government’s backing of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), whose inauguration we were proud to be present for, reflects a clear commitment to equipping young Indians with future-ready skills across animation, gaming and storytelling. As organizers of large-scale cultural platforms such as the NH7 Weekender and Comic Con India, we are constantly seeking skilled talent to shape immersive experiences, and initiatives like these will help widen that pool while accelerating original IP creation and high-quality game development. Greater access to creative technologies will enable more homegrown, culturally relevant content to thrive.”

Animesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, S8UL Esports and 8Bit Creatives:

“Having built teams and businesses in gaming and esports over the years, I’ve seen first-hand how rapidly the AVGC sector is growing and how urgently India needs structured skilling to keep pace. The projection of two million professionals required by 2030 highlights both the scale of the opportunity and the responsibility on industry and institutions to prepare future-ready talent. Initiatives like these will not only create meaningful career pathways for young Indians but also help position India as a global hub for animation, gaming, and digital storytelling.”

Vishal Parekh, Chief Operating Officer, CyberPowerPC India:

“The Budget’s support for AVGC creator labs across 15,000 schools and 500 colleges marks a powerful step toward building a future-ready workforce. With the sector projected to require 2 million professionals by 2030, this initiative can accelerate job creation and empower young Indians to pursue high-value careers in gaming, animation, and visual technologies. Realizing this vision calls for access to high-performance computing environments that match global benchmarks. At CyberPowerPC India, we see this as a defining opportunity to equip the next generation with the tools they need to create, compete, and lead, fueling innovation while strengthening India’s emergence as a global creative and technology powerhouse. We commend the government’s forward-looking commitment to strengthening India’s AVGC ecosystem.”

Sagar Nair, Head of Incubation, LVL Zero Incubator:

“The Finance Minister’s announcement reflects a strong commitment to India’s creative economy. With the AVGC sector expected to require nearly two million professionals by 2030, the rollout of content creator labs across 15,000 schools and 500 colleges can expand early access to future-ready skills and inspire students to pursue careers in animation, VFX, gaming, and comics. When skilling is paired with incubation and clear pathways to entrepreneurship, India can cultivate a generation of creators equipped to build original intellectual property and compete globally. This approach can accelerate job creation, strengthen the talent pipeline, and position the country as a leading hub for creative technology and digital content.”

Budget 2026 Boosts IT Sector and Startups with Higher Safe Harbour, Growth Fund

By:- Mr. Satya Yeruva, Co-Founder & CEO of FinStackk

It is a positive step that the Union Budget has enhanced the safe harbour threshold for IT services to Rs 2,000 crore from Rs 300 crore. Bringing all IT companies under a single, uniform safe harbour category will simplify compliance, reduce uncertainty, and make tax obligations far more predictable. This change benefits not just small and mid-sized companies, but larger firms as well, lowering the risk of litigation and enabling them to expand globally with confidence. The allocation of Rs 10,000 crore as a growth fund for startups and MSMEs is equally encouraging, as it provides the capital and support needed to scale their operations, innovate, and contribute to India’s growing digital economy. Measures like these reinforce India as a stable and attractive base for technology-driven businesses while fostering entrepreneurship and long-term growth.

AI, Semiconductors, Startups, and Technology: Expert Insights on Union Budget 2026–27

Artificial Intelligence – Bruce Keith, CEO & Co-Founder, InvestorAi
“The focus on fiscal discipline and tax harmonisation is welcome. The emphasis on education in a rapidly AI-driven world makes sense. However, the increase in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options—150% and 50%, respectively—may inadvertently reduce liquidity, as most F&O participants incur losses. Rather than disincentivising trading, education and AI-enabled guidance could be a better lever to address this challenge.”

Venture Capital Perspective – Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures
“India’s service-led economy stands to benefit from AI-driven growth. The government’s focus on building strong AI talent is strategic, helping retain domestic talent, attract global tech investment, and strengthen the startup ecosystem. Startups like CTPL can play a pivotal role in executing this vision.”

Venture Capital Perspective – Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
“Indian semiconductor manufacturing is nascent and needs policy support. ISM 2.0 and the ₹40,000 crore allocation for electronic components will strengthen the supply chain, enabling India to become self-reliant. Initiatives like Bharat Vistaar will enhance agriculture productivity using real-time AI and satellite data. The announcement of four telescope centres will bolster India’s self-reliant space research capabilities.”

Semiconductor Industry – Manu Iyer, General Partner & Co-Founder, Bluehill.VC
“The launch of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 is transformative for technology and manufacturing. By supporting domestic semiconductor equipment, materials, and design, ISM 2.0 positions India as a globally competitive hub. Coupled with rare earth corridors across mineral-rich states, these measures strengthen supply chains for electronics, defense, and clean energy, driving high-skilled employment and innovation.”

Legal Tech – Hitesh Jirawla, Founder & CEO, Cubictree
“The government’s push to digitise courts, combined with AI innovation funds exceeding ₹10,000 crore, marks a quantum leap for Legal AI in India. This initiative addresses the ‘Iron Triangle’ of legal technology—cost, speed, and accuracy—establishing Legal AI as critical infrastructure for a developed India.”

Cybersecurity – Pankit Desai, Co-Founder & CEO, Sequretek
“Union Budget 2026 positions India’s digital economy as a core growth driver. The increase in safe harbour thresholds for IT/ITES companies—₹2,000 crore for domestic and ₹300 crore for overseas group entities—reduces tax disputes and compliance risks. Tax holidays for foreign cloud data centres enhance technological sovereignty. The ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund empowers adoption of emerging technologies, supporting India’s Make in India, Make for the World vision.”

The Union Budget 2026–27 lays a robust foundation for India to emerge as a global tech powerhouse, with focused investments in AI, semiconductors, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, and skill development. Coupled with support for startups, SMEs, and high-tech manufacturing, these measures aim to foster innovation, build a resilient ecosystem, and strengthen India’s position in global value chains.

Budget 2026–27: India Poised to Lead as AI Drives Economic Growth, Says 1Point1 Solutions CMD

 By:-  Akshay Chhabra, CMD, 1Point1 Solutions Limited.

The Union Budget 2026–27 signals that India is moving beyond AI adoption to making AI a core engine of economic growth. A key highlight is the recognition of data centres as critical national infrastructure—a timely move that underscores the foundational role of digital infrastructure in an AI-led economy.

The proposed tax holiday until 2047 for global cloud service providers operating data centres in India sends a strong signal to long-term investors and hyperscalers. It encourages sustained capital commitment, accelerates large-scale infrastructure build-out, and strengthens India’s position in the global cloud, AI, and digital services value chain.

For AI-first services companies like 1Point1 Solutions, with operations across global markets and expertise in technology-led BPM and CX transformation, these measures create a powerful enabling environment. Incentives for cloud and hyperscale providers not only expand infrastructure capacity but also enhance institutional capability, talent readiness, and ecosystem maturity.

Together, these steps reinforce India’s readiness to lead responsibly in a digital- and intelligence-driven global economy. For companies with deep AI integration and global operations, this Budget highlights a clear reality: AI is no longer a future roadmap it is today’s operating reality, and India is ready to lead from the front.

Poonawalla Fincorp Deepens AI-First Transformation with Five New Enterprise AI Solutions

Chandigarh, Feb 01: Poonawalla Fincorp Limited (PFL) today announced the rollout of five new AI-powered enterprise solutions. The new deployments extend the use of artificial intelligence across strategic decision-making, customer onboarding, data quality management, customer experience analytics and application development.

These initiatives reflect PFL’s long-term vision to become a digitally fluent, data-driven, and highly scalable financial organization, with AI-first approach being adopted across functions.

Aligned with this direction, PFL has introduced the following five AI-led solutions:

1. AI-powered Competition Benchmarking Engine: This capability embeds market intelligence directly into how PFL prices, positions and competes. AI autonomously searches for market changes, analysing competitor pricing moves, product shifts and engagement patterns across portfolios, and converts them into timely, decision-ready insights. Built as an extension of the organisation’s AI-enabled risk hindsight framework, the system enables faster responses to market shifts.
2. Central KYC (CKYC) AI Platform: As customer onboarding scales, consistency and control become critical. The CKYC AI platform reframes compliance as a source of strength by applying AI-driven validation at the entry point, ensuring KYC data is assessed for accuracy and material relevance before it flows through the system. This reduces manual intervention by ~15 percent, and materially strengthens both accuracy and turnaround performance.
3. Agentic Data Quality Intelligence (DQI): As data flows across multiple systems and teams, maintaining consistency becomes critical. This solution automatically monitors data against defined quality standards, flags anomalies, and updates validation rules as requirements evolve. It ensures data used for reporting, risk and business decisions remains accurate, traceable and audit-ready.
4. AI-led Voice of Customer (VOC) Categorisation: Customer feedback is often rich but difficult to act on, at scale. This system organises free-text responses into clear issue themes and directly links them to accountable functions. Issues move faster, ownership is clearer, and recurring problems are addressed systematically rather than case by case.
5. Build Buddy for Accelerated Application Development: An AI-powered development assistant integrated into PFL’s existing technology stack. Acting as a “development buddy,” it supports engineers by assisting with code writing, suggesting fixes before code is committed, and providing contextual feedback on logic, performance and readability. The solution also enables automated refactoring, improving reuse, reducing development costs and significantly accelerating application delivery while ensuring adherence to development and deployment standards.

Commenting on the new developments, Arvind Kapil, Managing Director & CEO, Poonawalla Fincorp, said,

 “AI is more than a tool – it is reshaping how organisations think, decide, and compete. Our focus is on using it responsibly by combining machine precision with human judgment to strengthen trust and sharpen decision-making. By embedding AI across pricing, customer onboarding, data quality, feedback and technology development, we are turning insight into action and building a competitive advantage thereby laying the foundation for sustainable growth.”

At PFL, AI is continuing to emerge as a strategic differentiator and game-changer across core areas, right from risk calibration and fraud detection to marketing, compliance, HR, governance, audit, and underwriting quality assessment.

The company in this quarter alone has initiated 12 AI projects bringing the company wide total to 57 projects, of which 30 have been successfully completed. PFL continues to deepen its commitment to its AI-first approach, driving intelligent automation, accuracy, and future-ready innovation.

Jayant Chaudhary Highlights AI Vision for Education and Skilling at Google Forum

Shri Jayant Chaudhary Unveils Vision for AI-Driven Education and Skilling at Google’s AI for Learning Forum

Chandigarh,  Feb 01: Shri Jayant Chaudhary, Hon’ble Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), and Minister of State, Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India, today outlined the Government’s vision for integrating Artificial Intelligence across India’s education and skilling ecosystem at Google’s AI for Learning Forum held in New Delhi.

At the forum, the Minister announced a landmark collaboration between MSDE, Google Cloud, and Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, under which CCSU will be developed as India’s first AI-enabled state university pilot. The initiative marks a strategic step towards operationalising the Prime Minister’s vision of a technology-powered Viksit Bharat 2047.

The event was attended by senior Google leadership, including Ms Preeti Lobana, Vice President & Country Manager, Google India; Mr Chris Phillips, Vice President & Global Lead for Education, Google; Mr Wilson White, Vice President, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Google APAC; and Ms Yolynd Lobo, Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Google Cloud, along with senior officials from the Government and academia.

Prior to the formal session, Shri Jayant Chaudhary interacted with CCSU students and faculty, engaging in an open dialogue on how AI can expand learning pathways, enhance employability, and unlock opportunities for youth in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

Bridging Education and Skills through AI

Delivering his keynote perspective during a fireside chat moderated by Ms Yolynd Lobo, the Minister emphasised the need to break silos between education and skilling, highlighting AI as the critical bridge between classroom learning and industry demand.

“The vision of Viksit Bharat relies on converting our demographic dividend into demographic dynamism. For too long, degrees and skills were treated as separate tracks. AI enables us to finally connect them. Through partnerships like this, we are not merely deploying technology—we are building an employability engine that democratises access to world-class skills, irrespective of geography,” Shri Jayant Chaudhary said.

CCSU to Serve as a National Living Laboratory for AI-First Education

Under the pilot, CCSU Meerut will function as a living laboratory for AI-led institutional transformation. The university will deploy personalised AI tutors, AI-driven skill-gap analysis, and intelligent document processing to streamline academic and administrative processes. The initiative is designed to generate a scalable and replicable framework for India’s higher education ecosystem.

The Minister noted that CCSU’s affiliated colleges will immediately benefit from the pilot, with learnings intended to scale across 45,000+ colleges and 1,200+ universities nationwide. He also highlighted alignment with the Government’s ₹60,000-crore Model ITI Scheme, enabling vocational institutions to integrate AI-enabled curricula alongside upgraded infrastructure.

“This partnership sets a gold standard for the future of Indian education. CCSU is not just a university—it is a blueprint for institutional transformation, ensuring students in Meerut have access to the same AI capabilities as those in global technology hubs,” he added.

Strengthening Digital Public Infrastructure and Teacher Enablement

As part of commitments announced at the forum, a ₹85-crore (approximately $10 million) Google.org grant to Wadhwani AI will support the integration of AI tools into national digital platforms such as SWAYAM and Poshan Tracker, with a potential outreach to nearly 75 million learners.

Calling for deeper grassroots engagement, Shri Jayant Chaudhary urged Google to expand AI support to Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, emphasising that teacher enablement is critical to unlocking digital opportunities in remote and underserved regions.

India as the Global South’s Testbed for Inclusive AI

Highlighting India’s leadership role, the Minister stated that AI solutions co-created for India’s diverse linguistic and geographic context can serve as models for the Global South.

“When we solve for India, we solve for the world. AI tools built for low-cost devices and vernacular users are global public goods. India stands ready to share these ‘Made in India’ education models with partner nations across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America,” he said, reaffirming India’s commitment to Vishwa Bandhu—friendship with the world.

Google Reiterates Commitment to Population-Scale Impact

Ms Preeti Lobana, VP & Country Manager, Google India, said,

“Google is deeply committed to supporting India’s ambition to become a global AI hub. Through this collaboration, CCSU will leverage Google Cloud and Gemini to enable personalised learning, AI-driven career guidance, and institutional transformation. Our goal is to demonstrate how technology can unlock human potential at population scale and ensure every learner, regardless of geography, has access to world-class tools.”

Mr Chris Phillips outlined Google’s approach to responsible AI in education, emphasising learning science, productive struggle, and tools such as Gemini, Search, and NotebookLM, which were showcased during live demonstrations at the forum.

Building a National Blueprint for AI-Ready Institutions

Drawing from CCSU’s implementation, MSDE will develop a National Best Practices Framework enabling colleges and universities to self-credential as “AI-enabled institutions.” CCSU will also function as a Centre of Excellence, hosting structured knowledge-sharing sessions across the Ministry’s institutional network.

The forum concluded with a joint photo opportunity featuring Shri Jayant Chaudhary and Google leadership, marking a significant milestone in India’s journey toward AI-integrated education and skilling systems.

The collaboration reinforces the Government’s commitment to ensuring that every learner—regardless of background or location—graduates not only with a degree, but with future-ready skills aligned to the demands of an AI-driven economy.

Exide Industries Introduces AGMi – A Future-Ready AGM Battery Range for Advanced Passenger Vehicles

Kolkata, India, Feb 1: Exide Industries Limited, India’s leading storage battery manufacturer, today announced the launch of Exide AGMi, an advanced Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery range for the Indian aftermarket, designed to meet the growing power demands of modern, high-tech passenger vehicles.

Exide AGMi offers spill-proof AGM-VRLA technology for enhanced safety, higher cranking power, up to 3X cycle life versus conventional batteries, and superior vibration resistance. The range is available across DIN 50, DIN 60, DIN 70, DIN 80 and DIN 95, covering applications from popular to ultra-luxury passenger vehicles. With this launch, Exide Industries Ltd. becomes the only Indian storage battery manufacturer to offer the complete range of AGM batteries.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Rajeev Khandelwal, Executive Director – Trade at Exide Industries Ltd., said, “With Exide AGMi, we are bringing the advanced AGM technology to the Indian automotive aftermarket. This launch reinforces Exide’s leadership in advanced battery technologies that power next-generation mobility. He further added, “The India–EU trade deal is expected to spur growth in India’s premium car segment and this launch firmly positions Exide to address the said emerging opportunity”.

As start-stop systems, advanced electronics, and higher electrical loads become standard, AGM is the preferred OE technology for premium and next-generation passenger vehicles. Designed specifically for vehicles originally equipped with OE-fitted AGM batteries, Exide AGMi ensures optimal compatibility with modern vehicle platforms and electrical architectures.

Exide AGMi batteries will be initially available in the aftermarket through select channel partners in the top 10 cities, followed by a phased expansion.