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Establishments advised to introduce work from home for 2 days in a week in Delhi

Notification attached

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, organized a one-day national conference on “From Patent to Product: Accelerating IP Commercialization in Electronics & IT” at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 12 May 2026. The conference, brought together policymakers, innovators, industry leaders, startups, MSMEs, academia, researchers, and R&D institutions to deliberate on strengthening India’s intellectual property and innovation ecosystem in the Electronics and IT domain

During the inaugural session, IP Catalyst initiative along with its digital platform (https://cipie.in) was formally launched by Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, in the presence of Shri Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary, MeitY & CEO, India Semiconductor Mission, Smt. Sunita Verma, Group Coordinator & Scientist G, MeitY Prof. (Dr.) Unnat P. Pandit, Registrar of Copyrights, CGPDTM, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and Shri Sanjay Wandhekar. Sc-G & Centre Head, CDAC Pune along with senior government officials and key stakeholders.

The IP Catalyst

The IP Catalyst initiative is being implemented by CDAC Pune, supported by MeitY that aims to enable comprehensive digital ecosystem supporting the complete innovation lifecycle  from research and IP creation to technology transfer, commercialization, and market deployment. It aims to bridge the gap between publicly funded R&D and industry adoption by enabling stronger collaboration among MeitY organizations, startups, MSMEs, academia, and industry.

Key features and support under IP Catalyst include:

• Financial support for IP filing for MeitY organizations and grantee institutions
• International patent filing support for startups and MSMEs
• Unified digital access to technology commercialization and IP support services
• Prior-art search and IP advisory services
• Technology readiness and maturity assessment
• IP valuation and commercialization support
• Technology transfer and licensing facilitation
• Industry–academia–startup collaboration opportunities
• Access to MeitY-supported technologies and indigenous solutions
• Support for prototype-to-product development and market deployment

The Platform (cipie.in)

The digital platform https://cipie.in will function as a unified online gateway for IP and commercialization support services. It will also serve as a national digital repository of technologies developed through MeitY-supported R&D initiatives, enabling startups, MSMEs, and industry to identify deployable indigenous technologies and explore collaboration opportunities.

Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY in his inaugural address said ““India today stands at a defining moment in its innovation journey towards the vision of Viksit Bharat. In FY 2024–25, India crossed a historic milestone with 1,10,375 patent applications filed, with the Electronics and IT sector contributing nearly 44% of these filings. In FY 2025–26, patent filings further increased to 1,43,729, with the Electronics and IT domain recording a remarkable 52% rise in patent filings. This clearly reflects the growing strength of India’s technology and innovation ecosystem.” He highlighted that India is at a defining moment in its innovation journey towards the vision of Viksit Bharat, highlighting the significant rise in patent filings in Electronics and IT. He emphasized that IP Catalyst is an important step to ensure innovation translates into technologies, products, and societal impact by accelerating the journey from prototype to product.

Shri Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary, MeitY & CEO, India Semiconductor Mission emphasized the growing importance of strategic technologies and intellectual property in India’s ecosystem, especially in semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, AI, and emerging technologies. He stated that IP Catalyst will enable startups, MSMEs, and industry to access indigenous technologies, collaborate with research institutions, and accelerate innovation-led growth.

Smt. Sunita Verma, Group Coordinator (GC) highlighted that the IP Catalyst initiative is designed to strengthen collaboration among key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. She emphasized that the platform will support technology commercialization by enabling structured and digitally accessible IP services for stakeholders.

Prof. (Dr.) Unnat P. Pandit, Registrar of Copyrights, CGPDTM, RoC&GI, DPIIT highlighted that India must now move beyond increasing patent filings and focus on deriving economic and technological value from IP. He stressed the need to shift from a “Patent Filing” mindset to a “Patent → Product → Profit” approach, making patents the foundation for globally competitive products and wealth creation.

The conference featured multiple panel discussions on themes including lab-to-market acceleration, startup and MSME enablement, technology transfer, global patenting strategies, and measuring the real value of IP. The IP Catalyst initiative is aligned with the Government of India’s vision of strengthening indigenous innovation capabilities and enhancing technology commercialization under the vision of Viksit Bharat, and accelerate the lab to market journey in the Electronics and IT domain.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) convened the National Consultative Workshop on “Strengthening Cyber Security Frameworks for State Data” at The Ashok Hotel, New Delhi on 11 May 2026. The Workshop was chaired by Shri S. Krishnan, IAS, Secretary, MeitY, and was attended by Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and senior officers from State and Union Territory Governments, along with representatives from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and senior officials of MeitY and NeGD.

The workshop constituted stage II of a four-stage departmental summit on “Strengthening Cyber Security Frameworks for State Data,” initiated by MeitY pursuant to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directions at the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries. The Workshop, conducted in partnership with NeGD, aims to produce a comprehensive national cybersecurity policy framework for State governments through structured consultations with all 36 States and Union Territories of India.

Addressing the Workshop, Secretary MeitY Shri S. Krishnan underscored the imperative of building a resilient and secure digital governance ecosystem through sustained, coordinated effort between the Government of India and State governments. He emphasised that the protection of citizen data, such as health records, land titles, educational credentials, and welfare databases, held in trust by State governments through the digitisation of public services, is a fundamental governance responsibility, not an administrative formality. With the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, becoming fully enforceable from 13 May 2027, he noted that cybersecurity preparedness is no longer a best-effort commitment but a legal obligation for every State department that holds citizen data. Genuine cybersecurity resilience, he stressed, rests on institutional commitment and not on technological investment alone.

Shri S. Krishnan, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said “India’s digital governance ecosystem must be not only expansive but resilient. The protection of citizen data held in trust by State governments is a governance responsibility and not merely a technical obligation. Every State must put in place the institutional architecture to discharge this responsibility: a notified policy, an empowered CISO, an operational Security Operations Centre, and a Crisis Management Plan that reaches every department. Cybersecurity is not an IT function. It is a governance imperative.”

Secretary Krishnan outlined four foundational requirements for every State and Union Territory: (i) a formally notified Cyber Security Policy, periodically reviewed in alignment with national guidelines; (ii) an appointed and empowered Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the State level, with mandate and accountability cascaded to departments; (iii) an operational State Security Operations Centre (SOC), integrated with the Government SOC at NIC; and (iv) a Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) deployed, tested and known across all departments.

He drew attention to the need for regular review of Disaster Recovery systems and endpoint security, stressing that operational vigilance must be continuous rather than periodic. He reiterated the principle of Secure by Design, that cybersecurity must be embedded from the earliest stages of application development and procurement, not retrofitted after deployment.

Secretary Krishnan highlighted the growing and evolving threat posed by AI-enabled cyber attacks and called for proactive, forward-looking risk management frameworks in State IT systems. He underlined that the human and behavioural dimensions of cybersecurity are as consequential as any technical control. The awareness, discipline and cyber hygiene of government officials who operate public systems are critical determinants of security outcomes, and must be addressed through sustained capacity building, not technology deployment alone.

On building India’s cybersecurity human capital, he highlighted the role of structured training and certification programmes for State officials, delivered through platforms including NeGD, the ISEA Project and iGOTKarmayogi, alongside regular cyber drill exercises to test and strengthen incident response readiness. Secretary Krishnan reiterated the Government of India’s direction to prefer indigenously developed cybersecurity solutions meeting prescribed technical standards, in alignment with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

The workshop deliberated upon six national thematic areas identified through the consultative process:

1. Risk-based assessments and continuous security monitoring of State IT assets
2. Securing State Data Centres (SDCs) and State Wide Area Networks (SWAN) with modern perimeter, endpoint and cloud security controls
3. Strengthening incident detection, response and recovery through dedicated SOCs and State Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), under the technical umbrella of CERT-In
4. Legacy application modernisation, Secure-by-Design principles and Zero Trust Architecture
5. Data classification, compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, and alignment with MHA’s National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG)
6. Appointment of CISOs across State departments, capacity building, skilling and citizen cyber awareness programmes

Shri K. K. Singh, Joint Secretary, Cyber Security, MeitY, briefed participants on the four-stage Departmental Summit framework and the national cybersecurity policy architecture, and presented the initiative’s overall mandate and objectives.

Dr. Sanjay Bahl, Director General, CERT-In, presented an overview of the national cybersecurity threat landscape, including sustained ransomware campaigns targeting government data repositories, AI-enabled phishing attacks, supply-chain compromises and risks arising from misconfigured cloud environments. He reaffirmed CERT-In’s commitment to extending technical support, threat intelligence and incident response assistance to State governments and called for every State to establish a formal State CSIRT under CERT-In’s technical umbrella.

Shri V. T. V. Ramana, Head of Group, Cybersecurity, NIC, outlined the security architecture of NIC-managed State systems, including the Government Security Operations Centre (GSOC), VAPT programmes and Zero Trust integration and underscored NIC’s ongoing commitment to being a continuous security partner to State governments.

Ms. Savita Utreja, Group Coordinator, Cyber Security, MeitY, anchored the policy framework briefing in Session II, presenting the evidence base for the six national themes and the regulatory framework governing State cybersecurity obligations, including those arising from the DPDP Act, 2023 and NISPG.

The Workshop also provided a dedicated platform for all participating States and Union Territories to present their current cybersecurity status, operational challenges and priority action areas across the six national themes. These presentations gave the Ministry a direct, granular account of ground-level implementation realities and inputs that will directly shape the national policy framework to be finalised at the August Summit.

Next Steps: State-Level Workshopsand National Summit

Following the National Consultative Workshop, all States and Union Territories will conduct internal State-Level Workshops (Stage III) which is to be completed by June 30, 2026. Thereafter, as an outcome of State-level internal workshops, structured State inputs are to be submitted to MeitY within a stipulated timeline. Based on inputs received from all States/UTs,the comprehensive Final Note on “Strengthening Cyber Security Frameworks for State Data”shall be prepared. The comprehensive final note, including key action points and priority reform areas, will be deliberated in the National Departmental Summit (Stage IV), scheduled for August 2026. A report of the National Departmental Summit (Stage IV), including the key action points and priority reform areas agreed upon by States and Union Territories, will be submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat.

Central Government notifies Model Standing Orders, 2026

Notification attached

Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has facilitated the grounding of 60 projects worth over USD 6.1 billion during Financial Year 2025–26. These investments span 14 states and are estimated to generate more than 31,000 potential jobs, reflecting sustained and deepening global confidence in India as a preferred investment destination.

Approximately 42 per cent of the total grounded investment value originates from European nations, reinforcing strengthening India-Europe economic linkages. Continued participation from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other key source markets affirms broad-based international confidence in India’s regulatory environment and manufacturing capabilities. Emerging source nations such as Brazil, New Zealand, and Canada indicate diversification in the country’s investment base.

Commenting on India’s policy environment, Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Amardeep Singh Bhatia said, “India’s investment momentum is a direct outcome of policy clarity, institutional commitment, and the trust global investors place in our systems. The USD 6.1 billion grounded by Invest India in FY 2025–26 reflects the strength of India’s regulatory environment and the depth of its economic transformation. DPIIT remains committed to further simplifying processes and ensuring that investments translate into jobs, innovation, and long-term value.”

Invest India has strengthened end-to-end facilitation across the investment lifecycle, from early-stage advisory to post-investment aftercare. It has adopted a network-led ecosystem approach by engaging with investors’ suppliers, buyers, and extended value chains to build integrated industrial ecosystems. The agency is also supporting foreign companies exploring alternate entry routes such as joint ventures by facilitating partnerships with credible domestic players.

These interventions have resulted in improved investment conversion and scale. Grounded investments have registered nearly threefold growth over FY 2024–25, while the average deal size has increased by 1.8 times, indicating a shift towards higher-value investments.

MD & CEO, Invest India, Ms. Nivruti Rai said, “These outcomes reflect a shift in Invest India’s role towards becoming a strategic investment partner. The threefold growth in grounded investments and the creation of over 31,000 jobs demonstrate the impact of coordinated policy support, institutional agility, and investor confidence. Invest India remains committed to sustaining this momentum as India progresses towards Viksit Bharat 2047.”

Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, and Food Processing sectors account for approximately 65 per cent of grounded investments, driven by high-value projects aligned with India’s manufacturing and value-addition priorities. Emerging sectors such as Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM), Aerospace & Defence, and Auto/EV also recorded significant activity.

FY 2025–26 witnessed continued geographic diversification of investments across states. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh emerged as key hubs driven by high-value projects, while Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh recorded strong grounding activity. Established destinations such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana, and Delhi continued to anchor major investment inflows. The grounding of projects in Assam, Bihar, and Sikkim indicates the broadening of the investment landscape. In terms of employment generation, Madhya Pradesh emerged as the leading state, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Maharashtra.

These trends reflect the cumulative impact of India’s landmark policy initiatives, including Make in India, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes across 14 key sectors, and sustained infrastructure development programmes, which have strengthened India’s position as a globally competitive and reliable manufacturing destination.

About Invest India

Invest India is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Government of India, established in 2009 as a not-for-profit company under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Supported by a unique partnership between the Central and State Governments and industry associations, Invest India serves as the first point of contact for global and domestic investors, providing comprehensive end-to-end support across the investment lifecycle — from pre-investment advisory and project facilitation to aftercare and expansion support. The agency focuses on high-impact sectors, including Electronics & Semiconductors, Renewable Energy, Electric Vehicles, Capital Goods, Textiles, Food & Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals & Critical Minerals, and Infrastructure. For further information, please visit: www.investindia.gov.in

The conclusion of the India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) marks a significant milestone in India’s global outreach in traditional medicine and holistic healthcare, placing Ayush systems at the centre of a new framework for international cooperation. The forward-looking Agreement not only expands India’s trade footprint but also opens unprecedented opportunities for global recognition, mobility, and institutional collaboration for India’s traditional systems of medicine. The landmark Agreement was formally signed by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Todd McClay, New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Investment, underscoring the shared commitment of both nations to deepen economic and knowledge partnerships.

For the first time, New Zealand has agreed to a dedicated Health and Traditional Medicine Annexe under an FTA with India, creating an enabling environment for trade in Ayurveda, yoga, and other traditional medicine services. This landmark provision formally acknowledges India’s rich wellness heritage and positions Ayush as a contemporary, globally relevant healthcare solution, alongside indigenous Māori health practices.

Global Recognition and New Markets for Ayush Services

The Agreement facilitates market access across a wide range of service sectors, creating new opportunities for Indian Ayush practitioners, wellness institutions and service providers to engage with the New Zealand market. By promoting cooperation in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy, the FTA strengthens India’s leadership in preventive, promotive and integrative healthcare models.

The framework is expected to boost medical value travel, foster institutional partnerships, encourage research collaboration and support the international expansion of India’s wellness ecosystem.

Mobility Pathways for Ayush and Wellness Professionals

A key outcome of the Agreement is the creation of structured mobility pathways for skilled Indian professionals. A dedicated visa quota will enable Ayush practitioners and Yoga instructors, along with other Indian cultural and knowledge professionals, to work in New Zealand for extended durations. This provision reinforces India’s emergence as a global supplier of skilled wellness professionals while creating new employment avenues rooted in India’s traditional knowledge systems.

Strengthening Cooperation in Traditional Knowledge and Wellness

The FTA also institutionalises technical cooperation in Ayush and traditional knowledge systems, laying the foundation for long-term collaboration in education, training, standards development and wellness services. By integrating traditional medicine into a modern trade framework, the Agreement reflects a shared commitment to sustainable health practices and people-centric development.

The India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement represents a defining step in taking Ayush from national heritage to global healthcare mainstream. By opening international markets, enabling professional mobility and fostering cross-cultural collaboration, the Agreement reinforces India’s vision of positioning Ayush as a pillar of global wellness and holistic health.