&w=3840&q=100)
From satellites to navigation, India's plan to go deep into space
India on Sunday celebrated National Technology Day to mark the successful nuclear tests conducted in Pokhran on May 11 and May 13, 1998. Space is a crucial part of India's technology ambitions. The country aims to grow its space economy from $8.4 billion in 2022 to $44 billion by 2033, according to a report by Ficci and EY. It seeks to capture 8 per cent of the global market.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Time of India
'Applied AI' set to dominate France's Vivatech trade fair
Paris: Drawing high-powered tech CEOs and a presidential visit, Paris's Vivatech trade fair opening on Wednesday will spotlight hoped-for economic benefits from AI. The top attraction on the opening day of this year's four-day show will be Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, looking to make a mark in Europe for the company that builds the most computing hardware for artificial intelligence. President Emmanuel Macron , a regular at Vivatech, will also attend the event at the southern Paris convention centre, the Elysee Palace said, with a walking tour and chats with "French Tech" startups on the agenda. Tech watchers expect more products than ever embedding AI into everyday life to be shown off in the exhibition halls. "What's changed from previous years is that we've moved from AI as science fiction to applied AI ," Vivatech managing director Francois Bitouzet told AFP. He trailed around 30 sectors with concrete AI-powered products on show, from luxury to insurance, health, energy, cars, logistics and more. Around 14,000 startups and more than 3,000 investors are expected to travel to Paris from around the world, while organisers forecast total visitor numbers to at least equal last year's 165,000 people. Nvidia headlining Nvidia's Huang -- likely sporting his trademark leather jacket -- has top billing with an opening presentation slated to last more than an hour. Bitouzet said it was a "source of pride" to bring aboard semiconductor heavyweight Nvidia, whose high-powered GPUs (graphics processing units) are widely used to power the latest generative AI models. "It proves that the European market in general and the French market in particular are attractive and that today (Nvidia) has ambitions for this market," the Vivatech boss added. EY's European tech, media and telecoms chief Cedric Foray predicted that "there will definitely be announcements targeted at Europe" from Nvidia. The US firm has seen export restrictions slapped on its top-performing chips by both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations, with US politicians leery of ceding their country's lead in generative AI. Huang has warned that China is nevertheless making swift strides to catch up. There was little sign of impact from export restrictions on Nvidia's chip sales in its May earnings release. But the company has warned the braking effect may be larger in the current quarter. Tech sovereignty US politics preoccupies many European tech leaders and policymakers too. Concerns range from Trump's mercurial tariff policy to the continent's ability to stand on its own without US giants -- and the massive gap in funding for AI development between the two sides of the Atlantic. "Sovereignty, which wasn't as important in the conversation just a year or two years ago, has become an absolutely strategic priority," Bitouzet said. Macron is expected to again emphasise "European technological sovereignty", the Elysee said. Such remarks from the president would build on his hyping of French and European openness to AI at a Paris global summit in February. Top French firms at Vivatech -- where around half the exhibitors are local companies -- will include Mistral AI, a French competitor to much-bigger OpenAI. Mistral's founder Arthur Mensch is set to discuss AI with Macron and Huang at a roundtable at the end of the first day of the event.
Time of India
21 hours ago
- Time of India
PCMC's 200 crore green municipal bonds listed on BSE; CM and deputies attend ceremony in Mumbai
Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Tuesday listed its Rs200 crore green municipal bonds on the Bombay Stock Exchange ( ) in Mumbai. The listing ceremony was attended by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, and state chief secretary Sujata Saunik. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now PCMC has become the first civic body in Maharashtra to raise funds through green municipal bonds, and it is also the first municipal corporation in the country to issue green bonds exclusively for a sustainable mobility project. The funds raised through these bonds will be utilised for the 'Harit Setu' project in Nigdi Pradhikaran and for the sustainable mobility development project from Gawlimatha to Indrayani Nagar Chowk on Telco Road. Both promote non-motorised transport and sustainable development. Speaking at the event, Fadnavis stated that there was a very good response to the green bonds, and they were subscribed within a few minutes. "The strong investor response is a testament to the trust placed in Maharashtra govt and PCMC's governance," he said. He added that the infrastructure built using funds raised through these bonds will help boost sustainability in Pimpri Chinchwad. Last week, the bonds were floated via private placement on the BSE's Electronic Bidding Platform and attracted bids worth Rs513 Crore, oversubscribing the offer by 5.13 times. The bonds were issued at a coupon rate of 7.85% for a period of five years. PCMC commissioner Shekhar Singh said the decision to raise funds through green bonds was taken after past experience when the civic body raised Rs100 Crore through municipal bonds. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "For some projects, the funding available from budgeting stretches up to five to six years due to limited resources with the civic body. We were thinking of ways to expedite our projects, and one such option was to have funds available for a two or three-year timeframe. That is where the idea of green bonds came up," he said. He said there has been increasing stress on financial resources that municipal corporations can allocate for different projects, and municipal bonds provide one such option where the civic bodies can leverage their financial strength. Singh said the Harit Setu project is a master plan for the city for the next 10-12 years, and it is a recognition of the fact that traffic congestion is not just about widening roads. "If we do not think of non-motorised or public transport options, I do not think we will be solving the traffic congestion," he said. The project has already won the Bloomberg Initiative for Cycle Infrastructure in 2023, and the civic body has also received a grant of USD 400 from the FICCI challenge for it. Pimpri Chinchwad was the only city from India and was among the nine global cities that won the FICCI award. Singh said that the corporation has also applied for a 25% grant for the Harit Setu project under the Urban Challenge Fund, a Central govt initiative introduced in this year's Union Budget. PCMC is set to become the first municipal body in the country to avail this assistance, having fulfilled the eligibility condition of raising over 50% of the total project cost through instruments like green bonds, he said. Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Tuesday listed its Rs200 crore green municipal bonds on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai. The listing ceremony was attended by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, and state chief secretary Sujata Saunik. PCMC has become the first civic body in Maharashtra to raise funds through green municipal bonds, and it is also the first municipal corporation in the country to issue green bonds exclusively for a sustainable mobility project. The funds raised through these bonds will be utilised for the 'Harit Setu' project in Nigdi Pradhikaran and for the sustainable mobility development project from Gawlimatha to Indrayani Nagar Chowk on Telco Road. Both promote non-motorised transport and sustainable development. Speaking at the event, Fadnavis stated that there was a very good response to the green bonds, and they were subscribed within a few minutes. "The strong investor response is a testament to the trust placed in Maharashtra govt and PCMC's governance," he said. He added that the infrastructure built using funds raised through these bonds will help boost sustainability in Pimpri Chinchwad. Last week, the bonds were floated via private placement on the BSE's Electronic Bidding Platform and attracted bids worth Rs513 Crore, oversubscribing the offer by 5.13 times. The bonds were issued at a coupon rate of 7.85% for a period of five years. PCMC commissioner Shekhar Singh said the decision to raise funds through green bonds was taken after past experience when the civic body raised Rs100 Crore through municipal bonds. "For some projects, the funding available from budgeting stretches up to five to six years due to limited resources with the civic body. We were thinking of ways to expedite our projects, and one such option was to have funds available for a two or three-year timeframe. That is where the idea of green bonds came up," he said. He said there has been increasing stress on financial resources that municipal corporations can allocate for different projects, and municipal bonds provide one such option where the civic bodies can leverage their financial strength. Singh said the Harit Setu project is a master plan for the city for the next 10-12 years, and it is a recognition of the fact that traffic congestion is not just about widening roads. "If we do not think of non-motorised or public transport options, I do not think we will be solving the traffic congestion," he said. The project has already won the Bloomberg Initiative for Cycle Infrastructure in 2023, and the civic body has also received a grant of USD 400 from the FICCI challenge for it. Pimpri Chinchwad was the only city from India and was among the nine global cities that won the FICCI award. Singh said that the corporation has also applied for a 25% grant for the Harit Setu project under the Urban Challenge Fund, a Central govt initiative introduced in this year's Union Budget. PCMC is set to become the first municipal body in the country to avail this assistance, having fulfilled the eligibility condition of raising over 50% of the total project cost through instruments like green bonds, he said.
India Gazette
3 days ago
- India Gazette
Gujarat's GIFT City increasingly gaining traction for setting up treasury, commodity trading centres: EY
New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI): GIFT City in Gujarat is increasingly gaining traction for setting up Global or Regional Treasury and Commodity Trading Centres (GRCTCs), due to their lower costs and expanding incentives, as per a report by global accounting firm EY. The Indian economy is poised at a strategic inflection point, where the intent of the government and the regulators is aligned to create a strategic force in the development of the financial market ecosystem. 'GIFT City and International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) are pivotal in positioning India as a front-runner and the destination of choice for setting up Global or Regional Treasury and Commodity Trading Centres (GRCTCs),' said Hemal Shah, Partner, Financial Services Risk Management, EY India. Amid growing global volatility, multinational corporations are re-evaluating how they manage liquidity, financial risk and commodity trading. Global / Regional Corporate Treasury Centres (GRCTCs) are emerging as a strategic solution to these challenges, EY said in the report. 'Acting as internal hubs for financing and commodity-related activities, GRCTCs enable companies to streamline operations, enhance transparency, and optimize financial and trading decisions across jurisdictions,' the executive summary of the report read. Global benchmarks such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and European hubs have long offered attractive environments for GRCTC setups. 'However, emerging locations like Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok--and notably, India's Gujarat International Finance TecCity (GIFT City)--are increasingly gaining traction due to their lower costs and expanding incentives,' the EY report read. 'GIFT City has the potential to be ranked among the world's leading financial hubs for organizations looking to establish GRCTCs. Its infrastructure promotes a business-friendly environment that accelerates organization's growth, international finance and foreign investment, signaling a promising future.' With supportive regulations, growing infrastructure, and increasing industry interest, India's GIFT City is poised to join the ranks of established GRCTC hubs--offering multinational corporations an attractive new base for global treasury and commodity trading operations, it added. According to EY, GRCTC can be defined as an internal banking and commodity trading hub for multinational companies with operations across geographies. Its primary goal is to centralize fund management, facilitate commodity trades, manage trading costs, and enhance financial resource utilization across the group. (ANI)
