News Analysis India

Tag: Ashwini Vaishnaw

  • Ashwini Vaishnaw Launches India’s Fastest And Indigenously Designed Router In Bengaluru |

    New Delhi: In a significant stride towards technological independence and innovation, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw launched India’s fastest and indigenously designed IP/MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) router in Bengaluru on Saturday.

    MPLS is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next, based on labels rather than network addresses. The project is spearheaded by the collaboration of the government’s Department of Telecom, CDOT and Nivetti. It marks a momentous achievement in the nation’s journey towards becoming a major product and manufacturing hub in the global tech landscape. (Also Read: Elon Musk Announces X Streaming Service For Long Videos On Smart TVs, Competing With YouTube)

    Vaishnaw said, “It is matter of pride for us that indigenously developed and made in India router, a secure router, a core routers of capacity 2.4 tbps has been developed and launched today. This is a core router, which is secure and which can actually provide very important functions in our entire Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India.” (Also Read: Sam Altman Finally Returns To OpenAI Board)

    “As you know, networking is key to entire Digital India efforts. And within networking routers, a core router like this is very, very important. So, I’m so glad that this kind of complex equipment has been designed in India developed in India and made in India,” the minister said.

    The minister further said, “Over the past decade, India has laid down the foundational stones of technological advancement and innovation, setting the stage for significant development in the coming years.

    The launch of the 2.4 terabits per second (tbps) router is seen not only as a testament to the country’s growing capabilities in the tech domain but also as a pivotal moment that aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for digital India – a vision that emphasizes scaling up technological developments and fostering an environment ripe for manufacturing and innovation.”

    “And the coming five years will be the journey when lots of these foundations will see totally new structures built up them for the country, for the people and for technology,” the Minister added.

    Minister Vaishnaw highlighted the transformative shift in manufacturing paradigms, from traditional mechanical processes to ones deeply intertwined with software, innovation, and intellectual prowess.

    He said, “We are a good service nation and will continue to be that. We will continue to grow on the services. In parallel, we make our efforts to become a product nation and a manufacturing nation. That’s the focus that’s why I’ve come here today. I will also be going to Applied Materials where the equipments which go into manufacturing semiconductors, they will be manufactured and designed in India.”

    He further said, “Today, manufacturing is no longer the old manufacturing where it was practically a mechanical kind of activity, where you go to fix cut things in a particular size. Today’s manufacturing is a manufacturing where there is lots and lots of software in it, lots and lots of innovation in it, lots and lots of combination of brain power in the hardware which is today’s manufacturing.”

    “Having a very strong base of software and having very significantly large design capabilities make us absolutely at a takeoff point where we can become a major product nation in the world,” Minister said.

    It is pertinent to note that the Nivetti router, capable of handling 2.4 tbps data, represents a leap in networking technology, promising to bolster India’s digital infrastructure and support the ever-growing demand for high-speed data processing and transmission.

    This achievement is a direct result of the government’s concerted efforts to create an enabling environment for innovators through policy measures, financial incentives, and a regulatory framework designed to eliminate obstacles and encourage development.

    Reflecting on the global tradition of nurturing innovation through supportive policies, Minister Vaishnaw reiterated the government’s commitment to enhancing market opportunities, boosting exports, and streamlining regulations to aid innovators.

    The initiatives introduced under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, including design-linked innovation, production-linked incentives (PLI) and a variety of startup-friendly schemes, are set to be scaled up significantly, aiming at propelling India to the forefront of global innovation and product development. 

  • Google Agrees To Reinstate Delisted Indian Apps On Play Store After Govt Intervention |

    New Delhi: Google has agreed to reinstate all the delisted apps of Indian companies on its Play Store after government intervention facilitated dialogue to resolve a dispute over service fee payments.

    Telecom and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who brought Google and the startups to the negotiating table, stated that the US tech giant has been supporting India’s technology development journey.

    “Google and the startup community have met with us, and we have had very constructive discussions… Google has agreed to list all the apps,” he said. On Friday, Google removed apps from a dozen developers, including popular ones by Matrimony.Com and the job search app Naukri, for non-compliance with its in-app payment guidelines.

    As the government strongly objected to the removal, calling it unacceptable, Google began restoring some apps on Saturday, provided they agreed to comply with its guideline to pay a fee of 11-25 percent on in-app payments or conduct financial transactions outside of the app. (Also Read: Lava Blaze Curve 5G With Curved Display Launched In India At Rs 17,999; Check Price, Specs)

    Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar held multiple rounds of discussions with Google and the app owners on Monday in an attempt to find a solution to the crisis, which some labeled as a dark day for the internet.

    On Tuesday, Vaishnaw announced that Google has agreed to restore the status from Friday morning, i.e., pre-delisting. “We believe Google and the startup community will be able to come to a long-term solution in the coming months,” he said, indicating that the two sides will now sit down and resolve the issue of the levy of service charges.

    India is the world’s largest consumer internet market for tech giants like Meta and Google. With the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government effectively using its geopolitical clout, they cannot afford to ignore the Indian market or act aggressively towards it.

    A day after Google delisted the apps, Vaishnaw revealed the government’s stance in an interview with PTI when he said the removal was unacceptable and that “startups will get the protection they need.”

    The government subsequently called for a meeting on Monday to resolve the issue. At the heart of the problem is Google’s in-app fee. While Google claims the fees help develop and promote the Android and Play Store ecosystem, startups argue that the tech giant is forcing them to use its payment system and pay a fee, failing which they are being offloaded by the Play Store. (Also Read: Apple Launches Refreshed MacBook Air Models With M3 Chipset In India; Check Price, Features)

    The Competition Commission of India had previously ordered Google not to mandatorily enforce an earlier system of charging 15-30 percent. Google then imposed a fee of 11-26 percent on in-app payments. It removed the apps that weren’t paying the fee after the Supreme Court did not provide interim relief to the companies behind these apps in their battle against the search giant’s platform fees.

    While removing the apps, Google stated on Friday that some Indian companies had chosen not to pay for the “immense value they receive on Google Play.”Among the worst affected by the removals is Matrimony.Com, which has seen more than 140 of its apps being dropped from the Play Store. Other removed apps included Balaji Telefilms’ Altt (formerly ALTBalaji), audio platform Kuku FM, dating service Quack Quack, and Truly Madly.

    Info Edge saw its job search app Naukri and real estate search app 99acres removed, but they were back the next day when it moved to Google’s consumption model, where any payment made is conducted outside of the app.

    Google had briefly removed the popular payments app Paytm from its Play Store in 2020, citing policy violations. This led to widespread industry outcry, with startups joining hands to mount legal challenges against the tech giant. They even joined forces to launch their own app store.

  • Ashwini Vaishnaw’s BIG Statement On Google-Indian Startups Row, Says… |

    New Delhi: Taking a strong view of Google pulling out some apps from its Play Store, the government on Saturday said delisting of Indian apps cannot be permitted and that the tech company and the startups concerned have been called for a meeting next week. In an interview to PTI, IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the startup ecosystem is key to the Indian economy and their fate cannot be left to any big tech to decide.

    The minister’s comments assume significance as Google on Friday began removing some apps, including popular matrimony apps, from its Play Store in India over a dispute on service fee payments, even as apps and well-known startup founders cried foul. (Also Read: Google Responds To Criticism By Reinstating Shaadi.com, Naukri, And Other Apps On Play Store)

    Taking a serious view of the issue, Vaishnaw said: “India is very clear, our policy is very clear…our startups will get the protection that they need.” The minister said the government will be meeting Google and app developers who have been delisted, next week, to resolve the dispute. (Also Read: Google Faces Backlash For Removing Indian Apps From Play Store Amid Fee Dispute)

    “I have already called Google…I have already called the app developers who have been delisted, we will be meeting them next week. This cannot be permitted..This kind of delisting cannot be permitted,” Vaishnaw asserted.

    Stating that India has built a strong startup ecosystem of over one lakh startups, and more than 100 unicorns from scratch in a matter of 10 years, the minister said the energy of youth and entrepreneurs must be channelised fully and “cannot be left to the policies of any big tech.”

    “I will be telling Google…Our entrepreneurial energy…startups, look at the whole startup India programme, 10 years back we had practically nothing and today we have more than 1,00,000 startups, more than 100 unicorns…this is something…the energy of our youth, the energy of our entrepreneurs, energy of our talented people that has to be channelised fully well, it cannot be left to the policies of any big tech,” Vaishnaw said.

    On Friday, Google said 10 companies in the country, including “many well-established” ones had avoided paying fees despite benefiting from the platform and Play Store, and proceeded to delist some apps.

    It did not name the firms but a search of Play Store on android phones did not give results for matrimonial apps such as Shaadi, Matrimony.com and Bharat Matrimony. Balaji Telefilms’ Altt (formerly ALTBalaji), audio platform Kuku FM, dating service Quack Quack, Truly Madly also disappeared from Play Store.

    Separately , Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said he has been flagging the concerns around dominance of Google stifling competition and startups. The government, he said, has to find if the current issue “trespasses” into the “abuse and misuse” of dominance category.

    “I have raised concerns on the dominance of Google in the past, it controls more than 90 per cent of the app ecosystem in India, the fact that they are a vertically integrated large company, we are concerned that their dominance does stifle competitions and startups, and it can be misused against startups, and there are some legitimate concerns that the government has,” Chandrasekhar said.

    The government and court has to look whether this particular incident trespasses into that territory of abuse and misuse, he added. The raging dispute is over Google imposing a fee of 11 to 26 per cent on in-app payments after anti-competition body CCI ordered scrapping of an earlier system of charging 15 to 30 per cent.

    Google went ahead to remove the apps not paying the fee after the Supreme Court did not provide interim relief to companies behind these apps in their battle against the search giant’s app marketplace fee.

    While Bharat Matrimony founder Murugavel Janakiraman described the move as “dark day” for the Internet in India, Kuku FM Co-founder Vinod Kumar Meena in a statement had said that Google was behaving like a ‘monopoly’.

    Quack Quack Founder Ravi Mittal said the company would comply with rules to get back on the marketplace. Google previously sent notices of Play Store violations to Matrimony.com, which runs app BharatMatrimony, and Info Edge, which runs a similar app, Jeevansathi.

    Info Edge (India) Ltd on Saturday said its apps, including naukri.com, 99 acres.com, and shiksha.com have been removed from Google Play Store but within hours stated that some of them have been restored.

    “Many of the Info Edge apps are back on the play store. An effort very well led by (company MD and CEO) Hitesh and the entire Info Edge team. People were up all night for this. Great crisis management,” Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani said in a post on X.

    On Friday, Bikhchandani had emphasised on the need of an app store/ play store that is a part of Digital Public Infrastructure. “Indian companies will comply – for now. But what India needs is an App Store/ Play Store that is a part of Digital Public Infrastructure – like UPI and ONDC. The response needs to be strategic,” he had said.

    Bikhchandani had claimed that Info Edge had cleared all pending Google invoices in a timely manner and was compliant with its policies. IAMAI – an industry association that represents some of the largest Indian startups as well as international firms – condemned the removal of apps and had urged Google to reinstate delisted apps.