Laghu Udyog Bharati

Weekly Insights for Entrepreneurs

Farmers, Fishermen, MSMEs’ Interests Will Be Protected: Goyal On US Trade Talks

“No agreement can be made until we take care of the interests of India's farmers, fishermen and MSME sector,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. His remarks come as the US is seeking concessions in India’s agriculture sector as part of the proposed pact.
The ongoing discussions are significant as trade relations between India and the US have been under strain since the Trump administration imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods.
The proposed pact seeks to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030, up from the current USD 191 billion.
The US remained India’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024–25, with bilateral trade valued at USD 131.84 billion. India’s exports to the US stood at USD 86.5 billion, accounting for 18 per cent of its total exports.

Centre harmonises QCO framework to support MSMEs, curb substandard goods

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday said the government is harmonising the scope of Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for mandatory certification to curb the circulation of substandard goods while being considerate towards the requirements of the domestic MSME sector.
More than 22,300 standards are currently in force and 94 per cent of Indian standards have been harmonised with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards.
The minister further noted that standards form the backbone of a well-functioning society, ensuring safety, quality, and trust across products, services, and systems.
They facilitate seamless domestic and international trade, enhance environmental sustainability, and protect consumer interests. By adhering to standards, India strengthens the reliability of its products and its position in global markets.

Kochi startup achieves milestone with fully designed 5G chip

Silizium Circuits has developed a 5G chip that is completely designed and built end-to-end in India, a rare feat in the country’s growing semiconductor sector.
What makes this achievement stand out is that it is the first 5G chip in India to be funded by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under its Digital Communication Innovation Scheme.
The success of the chip is being seen as a major step towards India’s goal of becoming self-reliant in semiconductor technology, a field currently dominated by countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and the United States.
For Silizium Circuits, which started small just a few years ago, the achievement has boosted confidence that Indian startups can compete globally in advanced chip design. “This is just the beginning, ” Rijin said. “We want to make more such products that can power the next generation of communication and technology in India.”

These 7 Indian Voice AI Startups are Getting Loud

India’s voice and speech AI ecosystem is undergoing a powerful evolution, driven by a new generation of startups building multilingual, culturally attuned and enterprise-grade conversational systems.
From generative AI models that speak in dozens of Indian languages, voice agents redefining call centres and TTS engines fine-tuned for regional accents, these companies are quietly laying the groundwork for India’s voice-first digital infrastructure.
What unites them is not just innovation, but a mission to make technology speak our language.
Here are the seven voice AI startups, each carving its own niche across speech analytics, enterprise automation, LLM-driven voice and indigenous TTS, shaping the future of how India talks to machines.......

UIDAI launches SITAA to strengthen India’s ID Tech ecosystem

The scheme is a collaboration among startups, academia, and industry in the digital identity sector to strengthen India’s ID tech ecosystem. The applications for the pilot programme of SITAA will remain open until November 15.
The initiative focuses on co-developing secure, scalable, and indigenous identity technologies across biometric devices, authentication frameworks, data privacy, artificial intelligence, and secure identity applications.
The pilot focuses on challenges related to face liveness detection, presentation attack detection, and contactless fingerprint authentication.
Proposals are also invited to develop SDKs for contactless fingerprint authentication using standard smartphone cameras or low-cost imaging devices.

Govt opens PM Gati Shakti portal to pvt sector

This query-based web platform provides regulated access to selected non-sensitive data sets from the PM GatiShakti NMP, enabling private entities, consultants, researchers, and citizens to leverage advanced analytics for infrastructure planning and investment decisions.
The platform allows users to access 230 approved data sets covering physical and social infrastructure assets, conduct site suitability analyses, connectivity mapping, alignment planning, compliance checks, and generate analytical reports based on pre-defined templates and user-defined criteria.
Using these data layers, like track length details, railway stations, dedicated freight corridors, good sheds, national and state highways/ district layers, multi-modal logistics parks, warehouses, and existing airports from different ministries, will help the private sector to optimise last-mile delivery services,

Govt readies first all-India income survey for 2026, seeks public inputs

The National Household Income Survey (NHIS), to be conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the MoSPI, will capture detailed information on household earnings, expenditure patterns, and sources of income across rural and urban India.
“The merit of household survey data on incomes compared to NAS-based estimates is that household survey data allows for inter-personal comparison of incomes and the analysis of sources and patterns of income generation. The survey will cover the whole country and strive to generate estimates of total household income. ”
The NHIS will fill this gap by capturing household earnings from wages, self-employment, property income, and remittances, offering a clearer picture of income distribution across regions and social groups.

India's retail inflation in September hits over 8-year low, eases below RBI's lower end of target range

India’s retail inflation eased below the lower end of the Reserve Bank of India's 2-6% target range to 1.54% in September from 2.07% in August, driven by persistent cooling in food prices.
This trend provides room for potential interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India. The central bank has lowered its inflation forecast for the fiscal year. The outlook remains benign, though global factors pose risks.
RBI’s inflation outlook
RBI during its Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier this month signalled that a benign inflation backdrop provided scope for further policy easing to support growth, even as it held rates steady as expected.

EPFO Simplifies Provident Fund Rules, Permits 100% Withdrawal

EPFO has combined 13 separate withdrawal rules into one, making it easier for members to understand and use. Withdrawals now fall under three categories: Essential Needs (illness, education, marriage), Housing Needs, and Special Circumstances.
Key changes include:
- Members can now withdraw up to 100 per cent of their EPF balance, including employee and employer contributions.
- Education withdrawals are allowed up to 10 times, and marriage withdrawals up to five times (earlier, the combined limit was three)
- The minimum service period for any partial withdrawal is now 12 months.
- Under Special Circumstances, members no longer need to give reasons for withdrawal.

GCC expansion to power 40% of India's office demand by FY27: Report

Global capability centres are expected to lease an additional 50-55 million square feet of Grade A office space in FY2027, representing around 40 per cent of total demand in India's top six office markets.
The number of GCCs is expected to rise from approximately 1,700 to over 2,500 by 2030, generating over $100 billion in revenue and scaling workforce capacity by 1.5-2 times, according to rating agency ICRA.
The country's unique combination of cost competitiveness, deep talent pool, and proactive policy support is attracting global enterprises to establish and expand their strategic operations in India, the report said.
While technology occupiers remain the primary drivers of GCC demand, sectors like engineering & manufacturing, banking, financial Services & insurance (BFSI) are rapidly expanding their footprint, the report said. These sectors almost doubled their share in leasing in five years until FY 2025.

IIT researchers develop water-stable material for hydrogen generation

Hydrogen has emerged as a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, but its sustainable production remains a challenge as most existing methods depend on costly metals such as platinum or unstable materials that degrade in water.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) have attempted to address these challenges. They’ve developed a new lead-based halide perovskite material that is structurally stable in water and does not require any noble-metal co-catalyst.
Perovskites are a class of materials known for their remarkable ability to absorb light and transport electric charge, which makes them attractive for solar energy applications.

New flexible supercapacitor to power wearables, EVs, cut dependence on imported batteries

Researchers at Nagaland University have developed a flexible supercapacitor device capable of powering next-generation wearable electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy systems, a breakthrough that has the potential to transform energy storage technologies in the country.
The research supported by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and funded by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), could help India reduce dependence on imported batteries while boosting clean energy and storage technologies under the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Going beyond lab-scale material development, the team built a working prototype of the flexible supercapacitor, demonstrating its practical viability.

DRDO Successfully Tests Indigenous High-Altitude Combat Parachute System

The Indian Air Force successfully conducted a combat free-fall jump from an altitude of 32,000 feet to test the Military Combat Parachute System (MCPS) – an indigenously developed system by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
“The successful jump demonstrated the system’s advanced design, reliability, and tactical superiority, ” an ADRDE spokesperson said. “Key features include a lower rate of descent, enhanced steering control, and compatibility with NAVIC, India’s satellite navigation system, ensuring secure and interference-free operations even in contested environments.”
The Ministry further noted that compatibility with the NAVIC satellite system gives the MCPS a unique operational edge, ensuring freedom from external interference or denial-of-service threats from adversaries. The system’s design also enables maximum lifecycle utility with minimal maintenance downtime, outperforming comparable imported equipment.

IIT-Madras incubated Muse Wearables, NPCI to launch India's first wearable payments ecosystem

The new ecosystem allows users to make instant, secure payments by tapping their wearable smart ring named “Ring One” on any NFC (near field communication) --enabled payment device -- no phone, card, or wallet required.
Muse Wallet enables any RuPay credit or debit card to be converted into a secure digital token and stored directly inside a tamper-resistant Secure Element (SE) chip, the same grade of hardware security used in bank cards and passports.
This ensures complete isolation of sensitive credentials from the phone's operating system or applications.
Elaborating on the technology behind this product, Prathyusha Kamarajugadda, Co-Founder and COO, Muse Wearables, said, “We are building India's first Secure Element Tokenisation Platform, enabling users to add any RuPay card and pay instantly, no phone, no wallet, just a tap of your ring.

CSIR-NIIST steps it up with tech to power gadgets

‘Vidyut Swasthya’, a first-of-its-kind system in India that integrates several patented technologies, will soon be adapted to various machines that involve human movement.
The system that converts kinetic energy into clean electricity makes use of CSIR-NIIST’s hybrid nanogenerator technology. A product of six years of meticulous research, scientists at CSIR-NIIST developed the interactive model to promote sustainability, wellness and awareness of renewable energy.
“Use of peizoelectric and triboelectric methods generate electricity in the milli- or micro-ampere range. These would not be sufficient to power up appliances. However, our system generates a 230V, two ampere, 50Hz regulated electrical output that is ideal for charging gadgets,” Achu explained.

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