India’s Agnikul Fires World’s Largest 3D-Printed Rocket Engine

Agnikul Cosmos has successfully test-fired Agnite, the world’s largest single-piece 3D-printed rocket engine, marking a breakthrough in rapid rocket manufacturing.

The Chennai-based startup’s engine, built entirely in one piece from Inconel alloy, is one metre long and can be produced in just seven days—cutting turnaround times by up to 97% compared to traditional methods.

A remarkable feat which will make the entire nation proud!

The successful launch of Agnibaan rocket powered by world’s first single-piece 3D printed semi-cryogenic engine is a momentous occasion for India’s space sector and a testament to the remarkable ingenuity of our Yuva… https://t.co/iJFyy0dRqq pic.twitter.com/LlUAErHkO9

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 30, 2024

Watch Rocket Fire»

Humbled to announce the successful firing of our single piece Agnite engine. Agnite engines power Agnibaan’s booster stage. These engine chambers are a full meter long, fully 3d printed as a single piece of hardware and made of Inconel. Agnite engines are driven by pumps that are… pic.twitter.com/dGlAJEt0Md

— AgniKul Cosmos (@AgnikulCosmos) March 25, 2026

Key Highlights of Agnikul’s Achievement

• Engine Name: Agnite
• Size: 1 metre long, largest single-piece Inconel rocket engine ever built
• Manufacturing Time: 7 days (vs. 6–7 months traditionally)
• Technology: Fully 3D-printed, no welds, joints, or fasteners
• Pump System: First of its scale tested with electric motor-driven pumps
• Company Base: Chennai, India; incubated at IIT Madras

Why This Matters

• Rapid Production: Cuts engine build time from months to days, enabling faster launch readiness.
• Reliability: Fewer joints and welds reduce failure points, improving repeatability.
• Commercial Potential: Agnikul is targeting up to 30 launches per year, catering to small satellite operators.
• Strategic Impact: Faster turnaround is crucial for defense, disaster management, and commercial satellite deployment.

Competitive Context

Company	Innovation	Manufacturing Time	Focus
Agnikul Cosmos (India)	Single-piece 3D-printed Inconel engine (Agnite)	7 days	Small satellite launches, rapid turnaround
Relativity Space (US)	Entire rockets 3D-printed	Weeks	Medium-lift rockets, scalability
Skyroot Aerospace (India)	3D-printed cryogenic engines	Weeks	Affordable launch services

Risks & Challenges

• Scaling Production: Moving from prototype tests to consistent commercial launches will require robust supply chains.
• Regulatory Approvals: Faster production cycles must align with safety and certification standards.
• Global Competition: US startups like Relativity Space are pushing full-rocket 3D printing, raising the bar for innovation.

Editorial Takeaway

For India’s private space sector, Agnikul’s test is a watershed moment. It positions the country as a serious player in next-gen propulsion technology, with implications for both commercial and strategic missions. The ability to build engines in a week could redefine launch economics, especially for small satellites—a market expected to grow exponentially in the coming decade.

Tata Semiconductor Raises ₹6,835 Cr (~ $727M) for Gujarat Semiconductor Plant

Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSML), a Tata Electronics subsidiary, has secured ₹6,835 crore in loans from five foreign banks to fund its massive ₹91,000 crore semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat. The loan agreement, signed in February 2026, is repayable by 2031 and comes with conditions requiring Tata to retain majority ownership and continue using the Tata brand.

The five banks that lent ₹6,835 crore (~USD 727 million) to Tata Semiconductor are HSBC, MUFG, DBS, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and ANZ.  

Key Highlights of the Funding

• Amount Raised: ₹6,835 crore
• Lenders: HSBC, MUFG, DBS, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and ANZ. 
• Project Location: Dholera, Gujarat (163.5-acre plot leased from the state government)
• Total Project Cost: ₹91,000 crore
• Loan Tenure: Repayable by 2031
• Conditions: Tata must retain at least 51% stake in TSML and continue using the Tata brand

Strategic Importance

• India’s Semiconductor Push: Part of India’s broader strategy to reduce dependence on imported chips.
• Production Capacity: Planned output of 50,000 wafer starts per month by 2026.
• Economic Impact: Boosts India’s electronics ecosystem, supports Semicon India program, creates jobs in Gujarat.

Competitive Context

Company/Project	Location	Investment Size	Strategic Goal
Tata Semiconductor (TSML)	Dholera, Gujarat	₹91,000 crore	Domestic chip ecosystem, large-scale fab
Micron Technology	Sanand, Gujarat	~$2.75 billion	Memory chip packaging & testing
Vedanta-Foxconn JV (proposed)	Gujarat (delayed)	~$19.5 billion	Fab development (status uncertain)

Risks & Challenges

• Capital Intensity: Semiconductor fabs are among the most expensive industrial projects.
• Technology Partnerships: Success depends on securing advanced process technology.
• Global Competition: India is entering a market dominated by Taiwan, South Korea, and the U.S.
• Policy Dependence: Sustained government incentives and infrastructure support are critical.

Outlook

• Timeline: Production rollout targeted for 2026.
• Impact: India’s first large-scale semiconductor fab, positioning Tata as a cornerstone of India’s chip ambitions.
• Next Steps: Watch for announcements on technology partners, supply chain integration, and subsidies.

Databricks Unveils Lakewatch to Help Enterprises Fight AI-Driven Cyberattacks

Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced Lakewatch, a new open, agentic SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) designed to help organizations defend against increasingly sophisticated agent attackers. Lakewatch unifies security, IT, and business data into a single, governed environment for AI detection and response. With open formats and an open ecosystem, Lakewatch enables customers to ingest, retain and analyze unprecedented volumes of multi-modal data, while slashing costs and eliminating vendor lock-in. Security teams gain complete visibility across the enterprise and can deploy defensive security agents to automate threat detection and response at massive scale. Lakewatch is now available in Private Preview.

Defending at Machine Speed

AI threats are evolving at a speed and complexity that goes beyond human-led defenses. Attackers can now deploy agents to continuously scan systems, discover vulnerabilities, and execute coordinated attacks at machine speed. Defenders remain constrained by incomplete data, manual workflows, and siloed architectures. High ingestion costs force them to discard up to 75% of their data. This creates a dangerous asymmetry: attackers use AI agents to attack anywhere, while defenders see only a fraction of their own data and are limited by how fast their teams can react.

Lakewatch closes this gap by enabling organizations to unify all their data in open formats so they can analyze years of data cost-effectively without moving or duplicating it. This includes multi-modal data like video and audio to identify social engineering, insider threats, and anomaly detection. With Lakewatch, swarms of AI agents automate detection, triage, and threat hunting to meet machine-speed attackers with machine-speed defense.

“Security teams can no longer rely on manual workflows to outpace AI-driven attacks,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Databricks. “With Lakewatch, we are giving enterprises a new open data architecture and agentic capabilities to replace stagnating SIEM tools. Defenders must have even better visibility and speed than today’s agent attackers.”

Open, Agentic SIEM for Enterprise Speed and Scale

Lakewatch is designed to deliver agentic security atop the scale of an open security lakehouse. Key features include:

• Agentic Triage and Investigation: Build, optimize, and deploy custom security agents with Agent Bricks to handle complex workflows end-to-end. Agents parse and enrich telemetry across hundreds of formats to reduce Mean Time to Detect & Respond (MTTD/R), while remaining inside the secure, governed environment where data already lives. 
• Automated Security Intelligence: Integrated with Genie, Lakewatch automates triage, plans multi-step approaches, and helps enterprises reduce alert fatigue, leaving more time for analysts to focus on high-impact threats. 
• Open Ecosystem: Unify all structured and unstructured security data on one open, cloud-agnostic platform that integrates with any tool to identify social engineering, insider threats, and anomaly detection. Databricks’ new Open Security Lakehouse Ecosystem is a fast-growing group of leading security vendors and delivery partners, including Anvilogic, Arctic Wolf, Cribl, Obsidian, Okta, Palo Alto Networks, 1Password, Panther, Proofpoint, Rearc, Slack, TrendAI, Wiz (now part of Google Cloud), and Zscaler.
• Detection-as-Code: Manage detections as code with automated testing and deployment to ensure defense is always version-controlled and verified.
• Governance and Compliance at Scale: Enable compliance and consistent policy enforcement with Unity Catalog. Access cost-effective, long-term retention out of the box, helping global enterprises meet rigorous new mandates such as NIS2 and DORA.

Enterprise organizations use Lakewatch to unify their data and detect threats faster with AI. Lakewatch customers include industry leaders like Adobe and Dropbox.

“As the volume of security data grows, organizations need new ways to analyze and act on that information quickly and at scale,” said Karthik Venkatesan, Security Engineering Lead at Adobe. “Databricks provides the foundation needed to move from data-driven to AI-driven approaches for security operations, and Lakewatch is an important step toward bringing security intelligence closer to where data already lives.”

Deepening Partnership with Anthropic

Building on the success of the two companies’ existing strategic partnership, Databricks and Anthropic are deepening their collaboration to deliver agentic security operations. Anthropic Claude models help power Lakewatch, using Claude's advanced reasoning capabilities to correlate signals across security, IT, and business data to surface threats faster. Anthropic also uses Databricks for its own security lakehouse to gain complete visibility across its security and business data and detect threats earlier.

Expanding Security Leadership with Antimatter and SiftD.ai Acquisitions

To advance its open, agentic SIEM approach, Databricks is announcing the acquisitions of both Antimatter and SiftD.ai. Antimatter was founded by UC Berkeley security researchers who laid the foundation for provably secure authentication and authorization for AI agents. SiftD.ai, founded by the creator of Splunk’s Search Processing Language (SPL) and lead architects of Splunk's search stack, will bring deep expertise in large-scale detection engineering and modern threat analytics.

Availability

Lakewatch is now available in Private Preview. Read more about Lakewatch on the Databricks blog.

BSNL to Roll Out Caller Name Service Nationwide by End of March 2026

Representational

BSNL is preparing to commercially launch its Caller Name Presentation (CNAP) service across India by March 31, 2026, with zone-wise testing underway and interoperability trials being conducted with Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea. The service will display verified caller names directly on users’ screens, reducing reliance on third-party apps like Truecaller.

Key Highlights of BSNL’s CNAP Rollout

• Launch timeline: Expected pan-India availability by March 31, 2026.
• Technology partner: CNAP platform developed by C-DoT.
• Testing: Ongoing zone-wise integration and interoperability trials with private telcos (Jio, Airtel, e Idea).
• Data source: Caller names displayed using KYC-verified subscriber records.
• User control: CNAP will be enabled by default, with opt-out options available.

Why CNAP Matters

• Consumer protection: Helps combat spam, fraud, and phishing calls.
• Alternative to apps: Reduces dependence on third-party caller ID apps like Truecaller.
• Regulatory push: Supported by TRAI to improve transparency in mobile communication.
• Market impact: BSNL’s rollout could pressure private operators to accelerate adoption.

Comparison: CNAP vs. Truecaller

Feature	CNAP (BSNL)	Truecaller
Data source	Verified KYC records	Crowdsourced user data
Accuracy	High (official subscriber info)	Variable, sometimes inaccurate
Integration	Native, network-level	App-based, requires installation
Privacy	Controlled by telecom operators	Dependent on app permissions
Availability	Pan-India rollout by Mar 2026	Already widely available

Challenges Ahead

• Interoperability: Ensuring seamless caller name display across networks.
• Privacy concerns: Safeguarding subscriber information against misuse.
• Adoption by private telcos: Widespread adoption depends on cooperation from Jio, Airtel, and Vi.

Editorial Take

BSNL’s CNAP launch represents a strategic opportunity for the state-owned operator to regain relevance in India’s telecom market. By offering a trustworthy, network-level caller ID solution, BSNL could position itself as a leader in consumer protection and digital trust. If private telcos follow suit, CNAP may become a standard feature across Indian mobile networks, reshaping how users interact with unknown calls.

Bengaluru Startup InfinityX Innovations Gets TDB Support For Next‑Gen EV Battery Swapping

India’s electric mobility ecosystem received a major boost as the Technology Development Board (TDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), signed an agreement with Bengaluru-based InfinityX Innovations Private Limited to support the commercialization of automated battery swapping stations for electric vehicles.

The project, backed by TDB financial assistance, aims to deploy IoT-enabled, automated battery swapping stations capable of completing a swap in under 40 seconds. This innovation directly addresses one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption—charging time—particularly for commercial fleets and last-mile delivery operators.

InfinityX’s solution integrates advanced battery systems with automated swapping infrastructure, offering high thermal stability and operational reliability across diverse Indian conditions. Its modular battery architecture ensures compatibility across multiple vehicle platforms, enabling interoperability and scalability. The system is designed for high-utilization use cases, making it especially relevant for gig economy workers and fleet operators transitioning to electric mobility.

With TDB’s support, InfinityX will establish a dedicated manufacturing facility in Bengaluru to scale production of next-generation battery packs and swapping stations. The initiative is expected to contribute to a standardized and interoperable battery swapping network, strengthening India’s domestic EV infrastructure and reducing reliance on imported technologies.

Shri Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Secretary, TDB, emphasized that accelerating deployment of efficient charging alternatives is critical for India’s EV growth. He noted that indigenous innovations such as automated battery swapping systems can play a transformative role in enabling faster adoption, particularly in high-demand commercial segments.

InfinityX CEO and Founder expressed gratitude for the support, highlighting that reducing battery transition time to under 40 seconds makes EV energy replenishment comparable to conventional refuelling, thereby improving operational efficiency and accessibility.

InfinityX Innovations is a Bengaluru-based EV technology startup founded in 2019, focused on automated battery swapping solutions. It has raised early-stage funding, including a pre-seed round of $80K in May 2022, and has received accelerator support and government backing through the Technology Development Board (TDB).

Profile – InfinityX Innovations

InfinityX Innovations is a Bengaluru-based EV technology startup founded in 2019, focused on automated battery swapping solutions. It has raised early-stage funding, including a pre-seed round of $80K in May 2022, and has received accelerator support and government backing through the Technology Development Board (TDB).

Company Overview

• Name: InfinityX Innovations Private Limited
• Founded: 2019
• Headquarters: Vijinapura, Dooravani Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka
• Industry: Electric Vehicles, Battery Swapping Technology
• Employees: 1–10 (early-stage team)

Founders

• Founder (name not publicly disclosed in available sources)
• Leadership emphasizes indigenous innovation to reduce reliance on imported EV technologies

Funding & Investors

• Pre-Seed Round: $80K raised in May 2022 at a valuation of $2.2M
• Accelerator Support: Backing through accelerator programs, deal amount approx. $5.5K
• Investors: Six early-stage investors (names not publicly disclosed)

Technology & Focus

• Automated battery swapping stations capable of completing a swap in under 40 seconds
• Modular battery packs compatible across multiple EV platforms
• IoT-enabled infrastructure for real-time monitoring
• High thermal stability and operational reliability in Indian conditions
• Target market: commercial fleets, last-mile delivery operators, gig economy workers

Government & Institutional Support

• TDB Agreement (2026): Signed with Technology Development Board (DST, Government of India) to scale automated battery swapping stations
• Financial Assistance: Support to establish a dedicated manufacturing facility in Bengaluru
• Policy Context: Aligns with PM E‑DRIVE scheme (₹10,900 crore outlay, extended till 2028)

InfinityX Innovations is emerging as a strategic player in India’s EV ecosystem, combining startup funding, accelerator backing, and government support to build a scalable, indigenous battery swapping network. Its technology directly addresses EV adoption barriers, making charging as fast as refuelling.