By Erick This week had an unusually large amount of AI related news, some of which made my eyes roll to the back of my head. Good thing is you don’t have to go through that because I have brought here the news that you need to know.
But there’s one that you won’t get away with, especially if you love the Indian Premier League. And that’s what we start this week’s tech news roundup with.
Gemini Secures Massive IPL Sponsorship Deal
Google’s AI platform – which is currently the leading platform in the market in terms of performance – has signed a three-year sponsorship deal worth ₹270 crores with the BCCI for the IPL. The agreement begins with IPL 2026 which starts on March 26.
This follows ChatGPT’s sponsorship of the Women Premier League announced in November 2025. Clearly, Gemini is one-up-ing ChatGPT in every sphere, even when it comes to India. Think of all the India-specific plans and incentives from Gemini, including Jio users getting Gemini’s plans for free. And, Google’s $10+bn investment into data centre infrastructure in India. And, Google’s massive campus under construction in Hyderabad (see TWITI #3 of 2026). And…. much more.
All this India-snuggling is obviously to make money in the long run, seeing that India is a massive and currently a much more stable market than the US and most other so-called first world markets. Additionally, the conspiracy theorist in me says it’s also about data. Gemini’s advantage is largely because it has massive tropes of data to train on, and arguably Google’s behemoth status is because over the years it’s been a very smart aggregator of data – including personal data. And this is used by Google every now and then to not only stay relevant but also stay on top in ways that Meta and Amazon have not caught up. For example, just this week Google announced it will use our data from Gmail to serve personalized recommendations for users globally. This is clearly an advantage over others, and my hunch is it is clearly why Google is going so big on India – because of data.
Speaking of Google’s competitors, it was announced that Sam Altman may come to Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit in February. I won’t be surprised if Sundar Pichai, Daro Amodei (of Anthropic) or Jensen Huang himself attends.
Short side note on the IPL – Deam11 is no longer the jersey sponsor (following, of course, the Real Money Gaming (RMG) ban of mid-2025) and this has been replaced with Apollo Tyres.
Apple Pay May Finally Launch in India in 2026
Apple Pay has been around for years but has not yet launched in India – for reasons that are at the crossroads of technology and policy (which I’ll explain in my next blog post and also a short video this week so stay tuned). But it is reported this week that Apple is in discussions with the RBI and Indian banks to launch Apple Pay in India by late 2026. The service will initially focus on card-based contactless payments through NFC-enabled terminals, which means UPI integration is not a part of a current plan however it is not to be ruled out.
Apple Challenges CCI’s Demand For Global Financials
Apple asked the Delhi High Court to stop the Competition Commission of India from seeking global financial records. The CCI requested financial information through a December 31 order as part of its antitrust investigation. Apple argues the amended Competition Act (which Apple also took objection to) allows penalties based on global turnover, potentially exposing it to $38 billion in fines. The Delhi High Court is set to review the case on January 27.
Good luck to Apple on this one.
Deepinder Goyal Resigns as CEO of Eternal
2026’s biggest Tech India newsmaker so far has clearly been Deepinder Goyal. He announced he has stepped down as CEO and MD of Eternal Ltd. (parent company of Zomato and Blinkit) effective February 1 this year. In his shareholder letter, Goyal stated he is drawn to high-risk ventures that don’t fit Eternal’s strategic framework, which is a reference to his investments in the fields of aerospace, health and wearables (see that temple thingie in the pic below).
Albinder Dhindsa, current CEO of Blinkit, will replace Goyal as Eternal’s CEO. Dhindsa is credited with turning Blinkit around from a failing venture to a not-yet-failing venture.
Of course, both Goyal and Dhindsa have been silent about the gig worker strike and Goyal’s arrogant response to the strike.
Centre Clears License-Free Use Of Lower 6 GHz Band
The Ministry of Communications notified rules allowing license-free use of the 5925-6425 MHz band for Wi-Fi networks. The notification dated January 20, 2026 enables Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 deployments with faster speeds and lower latency. The decision aligns India with over 100 countries including the US, UK, and South Korea.
The latest, fastest, and most advanced Wi-Fi band is the 6 GHz band, which was introduced with Wi-Fi 6E and is heavily utilized by the newest Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) standard. It provides significantly wider channels, less interference, and higher capacity compared to the traditional 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
Technology companies and skeptics argued that existing networks cannot fully extend 5G itself into homes and offices. I guess this is being future-proof, with the latest phones and computers announcing that they are ready for Wi-Fi 7.
Karnataka Government Clears AI Centre Of Excellence With NASSCOM
Karnataka announced a Centre of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence with NASSCOM as implementation partner. The project will be established with an estimated investment of INR 40 crore through a public-private partnership model. The CoE will provide technology capabilities, data, expertise, and curated programs for academia, enterprises, and startups. Karnataka aims to position itself among the top five global AI innovation centers over the next five years.
For those wondering, NASSCOM stands for National Association of Software and Service Companies and is the premier non-profit trade association and apex body for the $283 billion Indian technology and BPM industry. It was established in 1988, before I was born (yes I just wanted to include this fact). It represents over 2,500+ members—including 600+ global companies—accounting for 90% of the industry’s revenue.
Zoho Launches AI-Native ERP Platform From Tamil Nadu
Zoho launched Zoho ERP, an AI-native enterprise resource planning platform developed from Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. Unlike traditional ERPs that add AI as a layer, Zoho ERP is supposed to natively embeds continuous intelligence across the platform. The solution offers AI-driven customizations, voice-based assistance through Ask Zia (its in-house LLM), and predictive insights. It includes GST and e-invoicing compliance with built-in revenue recognition aligned to IFRS 15 and ASC 606 standards.
If you’re not familiar with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), you’ll more likely recognize the two biggest ERP companies in the world – Oracle and SAP.
Karnataka High Court Lifts Bike Taxi Ban
The Karnataka High Court revoked the state’s ban on bike taxi services (see TWITI#14 of 2025) on January 22. Chief Justice Vibhu Bakru and Justice CM Joshi allowed appeals filed by Ola, Uber, and Rapido. The court ruled that motorcycles fall within the definition of transport vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Bike owners however must submit applications for permission with government approval required in accordance with law.
Infosys Asks Employees For WFH Electricity Usage Data
Infosys initiated a process to collect employee electricity usage data while working from home. The company explained the survey is part of the company’s ESG strategy for accurate carbon accounting. The company stated hybrid work extends environmental impact beyond campuses into homes. Infosys employees currently work from office at least 10 days per month with remaining time spent remotely.
Frankly, I don’t buy this argument. Let’s come back to this if later this year Infosys reduces or completely removes the WFH option for its employees.
Micron To Start Commercial Chip Production By February End
US chipmaker giant Micron Technology will begin commercial semiconductor production at its $2.75 billion Gujarat facility by end of February. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed the timeline from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Pilot production has already commenced successfully at the Sanand facility.
Vaishnaw stated India is targeting 7-nanometer production by 2030 and 3-nanometer by 2032.
Micron is a dominant player in memory (DRAM and NAND), rather than general-purpose logic chips, making them critical for AI, data centers, and automotive applications. It has been more relevant recently with the global shortage – and hence price increase – of RAM. Maybe more RAM will be made in India?
Razorpay Secures RBI License For Offline Payment Aggregation
Indian fintech giant Razorpay POS received Reserve Bank of India authorization to operate as an offline payment aggregator. This license supports in-store payment infrastructure for high-volume transactions.
With this license, Razorpay now holds all three key RBI licenses including online and cross-border payment aggregation.
Sensesemi Raises INR 25 Crore For Edge AI Chip Development
Normally I don’t care about funding related news, but I’ll include this one because it’s a semiconductor startup. And it’s got a cool-ish name. And okay-ish logo.
Bengaluru-based fabless semiconductor startup Sensesemi Technologies raised INR 25 crore in seed funding led by Piper Serica.
The company is developing integrated edge-AI chips combining AI inferencing, wireless mesh connectivity, and precision analog processing. The funding will advance product development including chip tape-outs and reference designs. Sensesemi targets industrial IoT, automotive, and medical device applications requiring real-time on-device processing.
Good luck to them.
That’s it for now! Don’t forget you can see the weekly TWITI video on by YouTube channel, or listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you’d like to receive the weekly news roundup directly to your inbox, subscribe to me on Substack. This is all free so share with a friend. See you next week!