India Implements Historic Labour Codes, Modernizing Century-Old Framework
On 21 November 2025, the Government of India implemented four long-awaited Labour Codes—on Wages, Industrial Relations, Social Security, and Occupational Safety & Working Conditions—marking the most significant overhaul of the country’s labour laws in nearly a century. The move consolidates 29 fragmented central laws into a streamlined, modern framework aligned with global standards. Key reforms include universal minimum wage protection, mandatory appointment letters, portable social security, timely wage payments, gender-neutral pay, expanded ESIC coverage, and enhanced safety requirements across industries. For the first time, gig workers, platform workers, fixed-term employees, and many informal-sector workers receive statutory protections, while employers benefit from a unified compliance system with single registration, single return, and pan-India licensing.
The codes significantly improve working conditions across sectors—including IT/ITES, textiles, MSMEs, plantations, mines, docks, and export industries—while simplifying compliance for businesses. Night work for women with safety measures, mandatory annual health check-ups, faster dispute resolution, inspector-cum-facilitator systems, and national OSH standards collectively signal a pro-worker yet business-friendly shift. Multinational firms operating in India must now adapt to stricter wage, safety, and social-security obligations, particularly regarding appointment letters, timely salary release, gender-neutral policies, fixed-term employment benefits, and platform-worker contributions. The unified compliance framework simplifies entry and operations, but global companies must update HR systems, contractual structures, and compliance checks to align with the new legal landscape.
Editor’s Note: On 21 November 2025, India implemented four historic Labour Codes—consolidating 29 laws into a modern framework that ensures universal minimum wages, portable social security, gender-neutral pay, expanded protections for gig and informal workers, and stricter safety standards. The reforms simplify compliance for businesses with unified registration and licensing, while requiring multinational firms to update HR systems and adapt to enhanced wage, safety, and social-security obligations.
MeitY Approves ₹7,172-Crore Electronics Component Projects Across 17 Indian Firms
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has cleared 17 new projects worth ₹7,172 crore under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), marking the second tranche of approvals this month. The scheme offers turnover-linked incentives aimed at expanding India’s electronics value chain. IT Secretary S. Krishnan said the goal is to deepen India’s component ecosystem so the industry remains competitive even as labour costs rise. The newly approved units include nine PCB manufacturing projects, three camera-module facilities, two optical-transceiver units, and one each for connectors, oscillators and enclosures. The government has projected ₹1.09 lakh crore in production output and over 11,800 direct jobs from these investments.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the approvals prove sceptics wrong about India’s electronics-manufacturing push. Krishnan emphasised strict timelines, warning that unlike earlier schemes, approvals won’t be allowed to stagnate: “Who gets the money depends on how quickly you execute.” The projects span Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, strengthening India’s nationwide manufacturing footprint. For non-Indian companies, the announcement signals a rapidly maturing component ecosystem, reducing import dependence and creating more reliable local suppliers. It also opens opportunities for partnerships, sourcing, joint ventures, and technology transfer as India accelerates toward becoming a global electronics manufacturing hub.
Editor’s Note: MeitY has approved 17 electronics component projects worth ₹7,172 crore under the ECMS, spanning nine PCBs, three camera modules, two optical transceivers, and other units across multiple states, with an expected output of ₹1.09 lakh crore and 11,800 jobs. The move strengthens India’s nationwide manufacturing footprint, reduces import dependence, and opens opportunities for global partnerships as the country accelerates toward becoming a leading electronics hub.
Only 13% of India’s EV Models Qualify for PLI as Import Dependence on China Persists
India’s electric vehicle (EV) industry has hit a major roadblock, with a new report revealing that only 6 out of 46 EV models currently sold in the country meet the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) eligibility criteria. The low qualification rate stems from the sector’s heavy dependence on imported components—particularly from China and Taiwan—such as lithium-ion battery cells, rare-earth magnets, semiconductors, and PCBs. While Tata Motors dominated the approved list with five qualifying models and Mahindra secured one, the rest of the market—including global brands like Hyundai, Kia, MG, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla—failed to clear the 50% Domestic Value Addition (DVA) requirement. Automakers say India’s EV supply chain remains too underdeveloped to support immediate large-scale localisation, especially with limited model volumes.
The government has offered partial relaxations, but local value-chain maturity still lags far behind established ICE ecosystems. As a result, 87% of EV models continue to rely on more than 60% imported content, blocking access to PLI incentives and highlighting India’s struggle to reduce supply-chain volatility under its “Atmanirbhar Bharat” push. Global automakers must reassess their India strategies—localisation is now essential not only for PLI benefits but also for long-term competitiveness. Firms considering manufacturing or expanding in India will need to build or partner within the local supply chain, as the policy environment increasingly rewards companies with deeper domestic integration.
https://evindia.online/news/only-13-qualify-for-pli-scheme-tata-mahindra-lead-the-pack
Editor’s Note: Only 6 of 46 EV models in India qualify for PLI incentives, as most rely heavily on imported components—particularly from China and Taiwan—failing to meet the 50% Domestic Value Addition requirement. The government’s push highlights the urgent need for localisation, with global automakers required to build or partner within India’s supply chain to remain competitive.
IndiaAI Mission Expands GPU Capacity as New Providers Join Fourth Tender Round
The fourth round of GPU procurement under the IndiaAI Mission has drawn interest from at least five new compute providers, according to CEO Abhishek Singh. The mission, which aims to deploy 38,183 GPUs to support Indian-language foundation models, has already allocated 21,986 GPUs—57.58% of its target—alongside subsidies totalling ₹760.93 crore. Upcoming additions include around 8,000 B200 GPUs expected in January, while existing players like E2E and Neysa are expanding capacity, with E2E placing orders for 4,000 Blackwell GPUs. Platform-agnostic tender norms continue to attract alternative compute vendors such as Cerebras and Sambanova. Meanwhile, five additional foundation model builders are in the final selection stage, pending compute resource confirmation.
Compute availability is set to rise further as Sarvam’s six-month allocation cycles out for redistribution, and the mission scales both high-end and standard GPUs to meet growing training and inference demand across sectors including agriculture, healthcare, and digital public infrastructure. Singh reiterated that Indian-language models will have global value if they solve domestic problems, drawing parallels with UPI’s international relevance. Ongoing policy discussions include industry feedback on AI-generated content labelling norms, with risk-based frameworks under consideration. The IndiaAI Mission’s platform-agnostic tenders, rising GPU demand, and expanding model ecosystem create opportunities for global hardware vendors, cloud providers, AI toolmakers, and model developers to enter or partner within India’s rapidly scaling AI infrastructure landscape.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/news/indiaai-eyes-access-boost-new-compute-providers-in-its-fourth-gpu-tender-round/ar-AA1QLSOI
Editor’s Note: IndiaAI Mission’s fourth GPU tender has attracted five new providers, pushing allocations to 21,986 GPUs—57.58% of its 38,183 target—with upcoming additions like 8,000 B200 GPUs and 4,000 Blackwell GPUs from E2E. Rising compute capacity, platform-agnostic tenders, and expanding foundation model builders are creating opportunities for global vendors and partners as India scales AI infrastructure across sectors.
Government Departments Rush to NIC for Custom AI Tools as Adoption Surges Across India
The National Informatics Centre (NIC), the government’s core technology arm, is witnessing a sharp rise in requests from ministries, state agencies, and public institutions to develop customised AI solutions and embed AI features into existing digital platforms. Officials told ET that demand now spans everything from judicial automation to welfare delivery. Tools already deployed include an AI-powered search analytics system for judges that can instantly scan Supreme Court rulings dating back to 1950, and beneficiary-identification engines that analyse district databases to improve targeting of direct benefit transfer schemes. The judiciary has emerged as a major user, with judges reportedly relying on AI-generated summaries of petitions, case histories, and supporting documents—significantly reducing time spent on manual review. The Supreme Court is also using AI Panini, NIC’s multilingual translation engine trained on government-released datasets, to translate English legal material into Hindi across all 22 official Indic languages.
Demand has grown further as the Centre encourages officials to move away from foreign AI services due to data-security and geopolitical concerns. NIC’s AI Centre of Excellence, set up in 2019, is now offering a full “AI-as-a-Service” package to government users, including text summarisation (AI Saransh), real-time speech-to-text (AI Shruti), and other domain-specific tools. States such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka are leading adoption. After positive feedback from the 11-language Kumbh Sah’AI’yak chatbot deployed during the Mahakumbh, NIC’s UP unit has expanded AI use for citizen services—from automating beneficiary updates to simplifying land-record access on Board of Revenue portals. This surge in government-backed AI deployment signals rising opportunities for international firms offering sovereign-grade AI infrastructure, compute, enterprise tools, language technologies, and consultancy services—especially through partnerships, localisation, and integration with India’s rapidly expanding public digital ecosystem.
https://timesascent.com/articles/gccs-step-up-ai-upskilling-to-meet-tight-adoption-deadlines
Editor’s Note: Government departments across India are increasingly turning to NIC for customised AI tools, with applications ranging from judicial automation and multilingual legal translation to welfare delivery and citizen services. Rising adoption, driven by data-security concerns and NIC’s “AI-as-a-Service” offerings, is creating major opportunities for global firms in sovereign-grade AI infrastructure, tools, and partnerships within India’s expanding digital ecosystem.
Google, Accel to Jointly Fund Early-Stage Indian AI Startups in First-of-Its-Kind Partnership
Alphabet’s Google and venture capital firm Accel have announced a new partnership to fund at least 10 early-stage AI startups in India, marking Google’s first-ever co-investment initiative of this kind. Through the collaboration, Google’s AI Futures Fund and Accel will jointly invest up to $2 million per startup, focusing on companies in entertainment, creativity, productivity, and coding. The move reflects Silicon Valley’s accelerating push into India—now a strategic market with nearly a billion internet users—at a time when Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI are also expanding aggressively. The announcement follows Google’s recent $15 billion commitment to establish a major AI data centre in Andhra Pradesh, its largest investment in India.
Google and Accel executives said India’s AI founders are poised to shape the next era of global technology. For non-Indian companies, this partnership signals rising competition for AI talent, datasets, and market share in India’s fast-growing ecosystem. It also underscores India’s emergence as a critical testing ground for scalable AI solutions, offering opportunities for international firms to form local alliances, tap into a massive user base, and collaborate with a rapidly maturing startup ecosystem. With India’s AI market projected to hit $17 billion by 2027 and global AI spending expected to surpass $2 trillion by 2026, the country is becoming a pivotal arena for global tech strategy.
Editor’s Note: Google and Accel have launched a first-of-its-kind partnership to co-invest up to $2 million each in at least 10 early-stage Indian AI startups, following Google’s $15 billion data centre commitment in Andhra Pradesh. The move highlights India’s emergence as a global AI hub, intensifying competition for talent and creating opportunities for international firms to form alliances in its rapidly growing $17 billion market.
India’s GCCs Accelerate Shift to Agentic AI, Strengthening Role in Global Enterprise Decisions: EY Survey
India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are transitioning rapidly from AI pilots to large-scale deployment, with 58% now investing in Agentic AI and another 29% set to scale within a year, according to EY’s GCC Pulse Survey 2025. With 83% of GCCs already investing in GenAI, adoption is surging across customer service, finance, operations, and cybersecurity. The report highlights that GCCs are evolving into strategic hubs—52% now share accountability for global decisions, supported by expanding innovation pipelines, dedicated AI teams, deeper digital maturity, and an increased push toward managing end-to-end enterprise processes from India.
The survey also finds that GCCs are strengthening their operating models, with top priorities including digital transformation (61%), cost optimisation (54%) and functional expansion (51%). Talent strategies now emphasise reskilling (71%), tech-led growth (70%) and niche hiring in AI/ML and data engineering, while attrition has dropped to 9%. However, risks remain: cyber maturity is still moderate, third-party data oversight is rising, and transfer pricing continues as the top regulatory concern. For global enterprises, the findings signal that India-based GCCs are no longer back-office extensions but high-value, AI-driven decision and innovation centres. Multinational companies operating in India—or competing with those that do—will increasingly rely on these centres for AI-native product development, automation-first operating models, and cross-functional leadership. This shift raises the bar for global competitiveness, making India a critical hub for accessing advanced AI talent, faster innovation cycles, and cost-effective enterprise transformation.
Editor’s Note: EY’s 2025 GCC Pulse Survey shows India’s Global Capability Centres rapidly scaling Agentic and GenAI adoption, with 58% already investing and 29% set to expand within a year, transforming them into strategic hubs for global enterprise decisions. Strengthened by digital transformation, reskilling, and niche AI hiring, GCCs are evolving from back-office units into high-value centres driving AI-native product development, automation-first models, and cost-effective innovation, despite ongoing risks in cyber maturity and regulatory oversight.