Year Ender 2022: From 5G to Digital Rupee, here are the biggest tech developments in India this year
The year 2022 has been momentous for India’s digital journey. This year, we saw India taking a major step towards its ‘Make in India’ dream by attracting major investments from manufacturers such as Foxconn and Vedanta. We also saw Apple upping its ante in India by starting the manufacturing process for its iPhone 14 series in India shortly after its official global launch. In addition to this, we saw 5G network arriving in India with telecom operators Jio and Airtel aggressively expanding the network coverage to major parts of the country.
In the fintech, we saw India’s digital payments interface, that is, UPI expanding to more countries across the globe. We also saw India introducing its own digital currency in the form of Digital Rupee for RBI-approved transactions.
As the year 2022 is coming, let’s take a look back at all the major milestones in India’s tech journey this year…
5G arrives in India
The launch and roll out of 5G mobile telephony network is perhaps one of the most important milestones that India achieved in the year 2022. 5G was officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the opening day of India Mobile Congress 2022 in October this year. Shortly after, two major telecom operators in India, that is Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, started rolling out their 5G networks in various parts of the country. Today, close to three months after the official launch, 5G connectivity is available in around 60 cities across the country. The list includes cities like Kochi, Nathdwara, Imphal, Ahmedabad, and Vizag among others. While Jio has promised to provide pan-India 5G coverage by December 2023, Airtel has promised to achieve a similar feat by March 2024.
RBI goes cryto with Digital Rupee
The Reserve Bank of India officially launched e-Rupee or digital Rupee as the digital counterpart of the Indian Rupee back in October this year. The e-Rupee is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that is managed by the RBI and has the same trading value as a sovereign currency or in other words the fiat currency. And since it is backed by Rupee, it isn’t as unstable as the cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Dogecoin or Ethereum. Digital Rupee is of two types — eRupee Retail that can be used by all private sector, non-financial consumers and businesses and whose pilot began in December; and eRupee Wholesale that can only be used by financial institutions and whose pilot testing began in November.
UPI goes global
National Payment Corporation of India’s (NPCI) United Payments Interface (UPI) has been going from strength to strength since its launch. As per NPCI’s data, in October 2022, UPI recorded a whopping 7.3 billion transactions worth Rs 12.11 trillion in India. In addition to expanding its popularity in India, UPI went global with the service being available in a host of countries across the globe including Nepal, Bhutan, UAE, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, Switzerland and the UK among others.
Semiconductor and iPhone manufacturing takes a big leap
India has been focusing on increasing its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities ever since the Indian government introduced various subsidy schemes, which includes PLI, SPECS, and EMC 2.0 back in 2020. Since then, a number of tech companies have either set up their roots in India or expanded their existing manufacturing capabilities. This push has also prompted local manufacturers such as Vedanta Group to upgrade and expand their capabilities further.
Earlier this year, India’s Vedanta Group partnered with Taiwan’s Foxconn to form a joint venture to manufacture semiconductors in India. Later, it was reported that the two companies had invested $19.5 billion to setup a manufacturing facility to make display and chip products within two years in India.
In addition to the joint venture, Foxconn also invested an additional $500 million in India in a bid to expand its iPhone manufacturing capabilities in India at a time when Apple is planning to reduce its dependence on China and diversify its production capabilities in markets across the globe including in India. In addition to this Pegatron also set up an iPhone manufacturing facility in India.
India’s tech laws head for an upgrade
India is also in the process of upgrading its tech laws. Earlier this year, the Indian government introduced the Data Protection Bill in the parliament. Later, it withdrew it owing to the number of suggestions that it had received. The bill was reintroduced last month keeping in view all the suggestions. The reintroduced draft bill allows companies to transfer users’ personal data to certain countries abroad. Additionally, the new draft bill also proposes financial penalties on companies for incident related to data breaches.
In addition to this, a Central Inter-Ministerial Task Force reached a consensus regarding the adoption of a uniform charging port in all electronic devices last month. During the meeting, a broad consensus emerged on adoption of USB Type–C as the universal charging port for electronic devices. This move is similar to what the European Union introduced earlier this year and when adopted, it is likely to force companies like Apple to adopt a universal charging solution.
The post Year Ender 2022: From 5G to Digital Rupee, here are the biggest tech developments in India this year appeared first on BGR India.
The year 2022 has been momentous for India’s digital journey. This year, we saw India taking a major step towards its ‘Make in India’ dream by attracting major investments from manufacturers such as Foxconn and Vedanta. We also saw Apple upping its ante in India by starting the manufacturing process for its iPhone 14 series in India shortly after its official global launch. In addition to this, we saw 5G network arriving in India with telecom operators Jio and Airtel aggressively expanding the network coverage to major parts of the country.
In the fintech, we saw India’s digital payments interface, that is, UPI expanding to more countries across the globe. We also saw India introducing its own digital currency in the form of Digital Rupee for RBI-approved transactions.
As the year 2022 is coming, let’s take a look back at all the major milestones in India’s tech journey this year…
5G arrives in India
The launch and roll out of 5G mobile telephony network is perhaps one of the most important milestones that India achieved in the year 2022. 5G was officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the opening day of India Mobile Congress 2022 in October this year. Shortly after, two major telecom operators in India, that is Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, started rolling out their 5G networks in various parts of the country. Today, close to three months after the official launch, 5G connectivity is available in around 60 cities across the country. The list includes cities like Kochi, Nathdwara, Imphal, Ahmedabad, and Vizag among others. While Jio has promised to provide pan-India 5G coverage by December 2023, Airtel has promised to achieve a similar feat by March 2024.
RBI goes cryto with Digital Rupee
The Reserve Bank of India officially launched e-Rupee or digital Rupee as the digital counterpart of the Indian Rupee back in October this year. The e-Rupee is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that is managed by the RBI and has the same trading value as a sovereign currency or in other words the fiat currency. And since it is backed by Rupee, it isn’t as unstable as the cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Dogecoin or Ethereum. Digital Rupee is of two types — eRupee Retail that can be used by all private sector, non-financial consumers and businesses and whose pilot began in December; and eRupee Wholesale that can only be used by financial institutions and whose pilot testing began in November.
UPI goes global
National Payment Corporation of India’s (NPCI) United Payments Interface (UPI) has been going from strength to strength since its launch. As per NPCI’s data, in October 2022, UPI recorded a whopping 7.3 billion transactions worth Rs 12.11 trillion in India. In addition to expanding its popularity in India, UPI went global with the service being available in a host of countries across the globe including Nepal, Bhutan, UAE, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, Switzerland and the UK among others.
Semiconductor and iPhone manufacturing takes a big leap
India has been focusing on increasing its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities ever since the Indian government introduced various subsidy schemes, which includes PLI, SPECS, and EMC 2.0 back in 2020. Since then, a number of tech companies have either set up their roots in India or expanded their existing manufacturing capabilities. This push has also prompted local manufacturers such as Vedanta Group to upgrade and expand their capabilities further.
Earlier this year, India’s Vedanta Group partnered with Taiwan’s Foxconn to form a joint venture to manufacture semiconductors in India. Later, it was reported that the two companies had invested $19.5 billion to setup a manufacturing facility to make display and chip products within two years in India.
In addition to the joint venture, Foxconn also invested an additional $500 million in India in a bid to expand its iPhone manufacturing capabilities in India at a time when Apple is planning to reduce its dependence on China and diversify its production capabilities in markets across the globe including in India. In addition to this Pegatron also set up an iPhone manufacturing facility in India.
India’s tech laws head for an upgrade
India is also in the process of upgrading its tech laws. Earlier this year, the Indian government introduced the Data Protection Bill in the parliament. Later, it withdrew it owing to the number of suggestions that it had received. The bill was reintroduced last month keeping in view all the suggestions. The reintroduced draft bill allows companies to transfer users’ personal data to certain countries abroad. Additionally, the new draft bill also proposes financial penalties on companies for incident related to data breaches.
In addition to this, a Central Inter-Ministerial Task Force reached a consensus regarding the adoption of a uniform charging port in all electronic devices last month. During the meeting, a broad consensus emerged on adoption of USB Type–C as the universal charging port for electronic devices. This move is similar to what the European Union introduced earlier this year and when adopted, it is likely to force companies like Apple to adopt a universal charging solution.
The post Year Ender 2022: From 5G to Digital Rupee, here are the biggest tech developments in India this year appeared first on BGR India.
