Healthcare Self‑Reliance: India Now Manufactures 54 Life‑Saving Medical Devices

India’s MedTech manufacturing ecosystem has expanded to produce 54 unique medical technology products, ranging from advanced cancer-treatment equipment like Linear Accelerators (LINAC) to life-saving cardiac stents, under the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

Under the PLI Scheme for medical devices, 21 projects have started manufacturing of 54 unique medical devices, which include high end devices such as Linear Accelerator (LINAC), MRI, CT-Scan, Heart Valve, Stent, Dialyzer Machine, C-Arm, Cath Lab, Mammograph, MRI Coils, etc.

India’s MedTech Leap

• Scope of Products: India now manufactures 54 distinct MedTech devices, covering oncology (LINAC machines), cardiology (stents), imaging, diagnostics, and surgical equipment.
• Strategic Goal: Diversifies production, reduces import dependence, and strengthens domestic healthcare infrastructure.
• Policy Driver: The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has been central to this achievement.

📊 Why This Matters

• Healthcare Access: Domestic production lowers costs and improves availability for hospitals and patients.
• Economic Impact: MedTech contributes to India’s manufacturing revival, with ₹2 lakh crore in investments realized across PLI sectors by September 2025.
• Global Competitiveness: India is emerging as a hub for affordable MedTech exports.

Challenges & Trade-offs

• Quality Standards: Competing globally requires strict adherence to FDA and CE certifications.
• Supply Chain: Raw materials and specialized components may still rely on global suppliers.
• Innovation Gap: Sustained R&D investment is needed to match Western innovation.

Strategic Outlook

• Domestic Impact: Hospitals across India gain access to advanced devices like LINAC machines for cancer therapy.
• Export Potential: Affordable stents and diagnostic devices can boost India’s role in global healthcare supply chains.
• Policy Continuity: Continued government support through PLI and regulatory reforms will be critical.

In short:

India’s ability to manufacture 54 unique MedTech products—from LINACs to stents—signals a major step toward healthcare self-reliance and global competitiveness.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft Unite to Set Global Standards for AI Agents

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and several other major technology companies have come together under the Linux Foundation to form the Agentic AI Foundation. The goal of this alliance is to establish open, neutral standards for AI agents as they move from research into widespread deployment.

By anchoring projects such as OpenAI’s AGENTS.md, Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, and Block’s goose framework, the foundation is creating a technical backbone that allows agents to communicate, collaborate, and integrate across different platforms.

This collaboration is significant because it addresses one of the biggest challenges in the emerging agent ecosystem: interoperability. Without shared standards, each company could end up building siloed systems that don’t work well together, leading to fragmentation and vendor lock-in. By agreeing to work within a neutral governance structure, these companies are signaling that they see open standards as essential for trust, scalability, and enterprise adoption.

The impact of this move is twofold. For developers, it means they can build agentic systems that are portable and extensible, without being tied to a single vendor’s ecosystem. For enterprises, it provides a clearer path to deploying agents in production environments with confidence that they will remain compatible as the technology evolves. At the same time, challenges remain, including ensuring broad adoption beyond the founding members, balancing corporate interests within the foundation, and addressing security and privacy concerns that come with standardizing agent protocols.

In essence, this agreement marks a turning point in the evolution of AI: the shift from standalone models and chatbots toward autonomous, interoperable agents that can act across digital infrastructure. By aligning under the Linux Foundation, these companies are laying the groundwork for a shared ecosystem that could define how agentic AI develops in the coming years.

How AGENTS.md, MCP, and goos reshape workflows for developers and enterprises. 

Let’s understand how these standards could reshape workflows for both developers and enterprises in practical terms.

For developers, AGENTS.md provides a lightweight, open format for giving agents project-specific instructions and context. Instead of reinventing how to pass goals or metadata into every agent framework, developers can rely on a shared schema. This means faster prototyping, easier collaboration across teams, and less friction when moving projects between platforms. It’s similar to how README.md became a universal convention in open-source projects — AGENTS.md could become the “instruction manual” for agents.

Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) is more ambitious: it defines how agents connect to external tools, APIs, and data sources. In practice, this means developers won’t have to build custom integrations for every model or vendor. An agent built with MCP could plug into a CRM, a database, or a cloud service using standardized connectors. That reduces duplication of effort and makes agents more composable, much like how HTTP standardized communication across the web.

Block’s goose framework adds infrastructure-level support for agent development. It’s designed to give developers scaffolding for building, testing, and deploying agents in production environments. Goose could become the backbone for enterprise workflows, ensuring that agents are not just experimental prototypes but reliable systems that can scale.

For enterprises, these standards collectively lower the barrier to adoption. Compliance teams benefit because open standards make it easier to audit how agents handle data and interact with external systems. Product teams gain flexibility: they can design workflows knowing that agents will remain interoperable across vendors. And IT departments avoid vendor lock-in, since agents built on these standards can migrate between ecosystems without costly rewrites.

The practical impact is that agentic AI moves from being a fragmented, experimental technology into something enterprises can confidently integrate into their operations. Developers get speed and flexibility, enterprises get reliability and compliance, and the broader ecosystem gains a foundation for interoperability.

TCS’s Largest Acquisition Yet: $700M Coastal Cloud Takeover

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced it will acquire U.S.-based Salesforce consulting firm Coastal Cloud for an enterprise value of USD 700 million in an all-cash deal.

It’s considered TCS’s largest acquisition as the USD 700 million Coastal Cloud buyout is the biggest deal the company has ever executed since going public in 2004.

TCS has historically been conservative with M&A compared to peers like Infosys or Wipro. Most of its earlier acquisitions were smaller, niche deals in the range of USD 20–100 million, often focused on specific technology capabilities or regional expansion.

In 2008, TCS acquired Citigroup Global Services Ltd. for about USD 505 million — that was significant at the time but still smaller than the Coastal Cloud deal.

Coastal Cloud is a Salesforce Summit-tier partner, giving TCS a direct boost in one of the fastest-growing enterprise software markets. Coastal Cloud's U.S. base strengthens TCS's presence in its most important geography. The acquisition aligns with TCS's push into Al-led enterprise modernization, positioning it among the Top 5 global Salesforce advisory firms

Key Details of the Acquisition

• Deal Size: USD 700 million (approx. ₹6,286 crore)
• Structure: 100% stake acquisition, all-cash consideration
• Target Company: Coastal Cloud, a Salesforce Summit-tier partner founded in 2012
• Capabilities Added:
  • 400+ Salesforce professionals
  • 3,000+ multi-cloud certifications
  • Expertise in Sales, Service, Marketing, Revenue, CPQ, Commerce, and Salesforce Data Cloud
• Strategic Impact:
  • Positions TCS among the Top 5 global Salesforce advisory firms
  • Strengthens AI-first, agent-driven transformation capabilities
  • Expands client portfolio and accelerates enterprise modernization

Strategic Rationale

• Salesforce Expansion: Coastal Cloud is a recognized leader in Salesforce consulting, boosting TCS’s practice.
• AI & Cloud Transformation: Aligns with TCS’s push into AI-led enterprise modernization and multi-cloud adoption.
• Global Positioning: Coastal Cloud’s U.S. base strengthens TCS’s North American presence.
• Largest Acquisition: One of the largest acquisitions by an Indian IT firm to date.

Risks & Considerations

• Integration challenges between Coastal Cloud’s culture and TCS’s global scale
• Competitive landscape with Accenture, Deloitte, Infosys scaling Salesforce practices
• Client retention during transition is critical

Strategic Outlook

• TCS aims to dominate the Salesforce ecosystem globally
• Leverages Coastal Cloud’s niche expertise to accelerate enterprise digital transformation
• Reflects industry trend: Indian IT majors moving into platform-led consulting and AI-driven services

Tata Steel & constructsteel Launches Climate-Resilient Zero Energy Building Using Advanced Steel Technology

ZEB Odisha

• 1,836 sq. ft. next-generation facility, completed in 3.5 months
• Showcases India's pathway to sustainable, climate-resilient construction

Tata Steel, in partnership with constructsteel, the steel construction market-development programme of the World Steel Association, inaugurated a pioneering steel-based Zero Energy Building (ZEB) constructed using advanced Light-Gauge Steel Frame (LGSF) technology.

T V Narendran, CEO & Managing Director of Tata Steel, inaugurated the 1,836 sq. ft. facility in the presence of Dr Edwin Basson, Director General of the World Steel Association (worldsteel). Built in just 3.5 months, the facility represents a significant step in India’s move towards net-zero, energy-efficient, and climate-resilient infrastructure.

The steel-based zero energy building reflects the future of construction,” commented T V Narendran. Our partnership with constructsteel showcases how modern, energy-efficient, and low-carbon solutions can be replicated at scale across India and integrated into mainstream infrastructure.

ZEB Inauguration

The LGSF technology, where precisely manufactured steel sections are assembled like a frame, allows the building to achieve a tight envelope with minimal air leakage, better insulation, and reduced energy loss. Steel makes the structure lighter, faster to build, and highly durable, while its recyclability ensures lower long-term environmental impact.

Designed to produce as much energy as it consumes, the steel-based ZEB combines ultra-low operational energy demand with on-site renewable energy generation, achieving annual net-zero energy use. The building uses high-performance glazing, well-insulated walls & roof panels, and natural ventilation wherever possible. To generate clean power on-site, it uses rooftop solar panels and Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV). The building also includes rainwater harvesting and low-flow fixtures to optimise water consumption.

AI & ML to Power Rajasthan’s Mineral Exploration: State Partners with IIT Hyderabad

• Rajasthan Govt. engages IIT Hyderabad to build AI-driven mineral exploration system. 
• Rajasthan state ties up with IIT-Hyderabad to deploy AI & ML for critical mineral mapping across its 39 districts. 
• IIT-Hyderabad to develop advanced AI mineral prediction platform for Rajasthan in ₹ 8.5+ Cr partnership.

In a major step toward modernising India’s mineral exploration ecosystem, the Government of Rajasthan signed an ₹ 8.5+ Cr MoU with IIT Hyderabad (IITH) during the Pravasi Rajasthani Divas 2025 held at the Jaipur Exhibition and Convention Centre. The agreement, finalised in the presence of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Union Minister of Coal and Mines and Prof. B. S. Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, aims to develop an AI- and ML-driven predictive system for identifying critical and strategic minerals across the state. The partnership positions Rajasthan among the first states in India to deploy advanced computational geoscience tools for mineral intelligence and exploration planning.

Under this collaboration, IITH will build a comprehensive prediction model that integrates geological, geochemical, geophysical and multispectral satellite datasets from 39 districts to generate AI-based mineral prospectivity maps. The system will help identify potential zones for minerals such as lithium, copper, graphite, zinc, nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements and other critical resources, supporting the state’s long-term mineral development strategy. The project will be executed in four phases over 18 months, with district-wise analytics, data dashboards and decision-support tools delivered to Rajasthan State Mineral Exploration Trust (RSMET).

Speaking about the initiative, T. Ravikant, Principal Secretary, Department of Mines, Geology & Petroleum, Government of Rajasthan, said: “The state will apply AI and ML for the exploration of critical and strategic minerals under the national programmes of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital India. This initiative marks a major advancement in how Rajasthan will identify and utilise its mineral wealth."

On the collaboration with IITH, he added: “A letter of intent has been signed between RSMET and IITH for data exchange and modelling. The project with IITH will be completed in four phases over about 18 months, and its outcome is expected to support a mineral development model and a long-term road map for the state."

Welcoming the partnership, Prof. B. S. Murty, Director, IITH, who was present during the exchange of the MoU, said: “This collaboration brings IITH into the mainstream of India’s critical mineral and resource intelligence mission. By combining advanced AI/ML techniques with geoscience, we are creating tools that will help India become a global leader in exploration technologies. This MoU aligns with our commitment to build solutions for Atmanirbhar Bharat and strengthen the nation’s technological leadership in mineral exploration for the future along with the ongoing relevant projects of the Institute like Australia-India Critical Minerals Research Hub (AICMRH) Bilateral Project, CoE on Critical Minerals as complete indigenization of manufacturing sector in our country is mainly dependent on availability of all kinds of minerals locally within our country.

This project will be led by Dr. C. Krishna Mohan, Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Hyderabad, in collaboration with Critical Mineral Trackers, a startup based at the Technology Research Park at IIT Hyderabad. The initiative is expected to reshape mineral exploration practices in Rajasthan, accelerate the discovery of critical minerals vital for India’s clean energy and manufacturing goals, and create a scalable AI-driven model that can be adopted by other states. With global demand for lithium, rare earth elements, and battery metals rising sharply, officials believe this effort positions both Rajasthan and India strategically within the future mineral supply chain.

About IIT Hyderabad:

IITH, established in 2008, has reached a respectable position in academics, research, technology development and startups in a short span of 17 years. In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF-2025), IITH is ranked 7th among Engineering institutes (crossing a first generation IIT), and is ranked 6th in Innovation, while it has maintained its rank within the top 10 Engineering Institutes ever since NIRF was launched. IITH is ranked 664 and 270 in the QS World and Asian University Ranking 2026, respectively (among the top 10% of global institutions in citations per faculty). IITH secured 46 positions by 31 faculties in the Global Top 2% Scientists World list 2025 released by Stanford University (SU) in collaboration with Elsevier across two categories. IITH has been striving for excellence with a motto of "Inventing & Innovating in Technology for Humanity (IITH)"

With 340 full-time faculty, 360+ non-teaching staff and 5,700+ students (PG+PhD students accounting for about 60%), IITH has a strong research focus with 5210+ R&D projects worth of Rs. 1640+ Cr (Rs. 335+ Cr funding in 2024-25, i.e. Rs. 1+ Cr per faculty, one of the largest per capita funding among IITs), 12,750+ publications, 2,44,300+ citations, 154 h-index, 630+ patents (210+ Patents in 2024, the largest per capita patents filed among IITs), and about 335+ Startups (that have generated 1100+ jobs with a revenue of Rs. 1500+ Cr).

About Rajasthan State Mineral Exploration Trust (RSMET)

The Rajasthan State Mineral Exploration Trust (RSMET) is a dedicated entity under the Department of Mines & Geology, Government of Rajasthan, established to promote systematic, scientific, and technology-driven mineral exploration across the state. The Trust is mandated to undertake high-priority exploration of critical, strategic, and deep-seated minerals, support advanced geoscientific studies, and facilitate resource assessment for future mining projects. RSMET plays a key role in strengthening Rajasthan’s mineral sector by funding and coordinating exploration activities, adopting modern techniques such as remote sensing, geophysical surveys, and predictive modelling, and enabling the state to build a long-term roadmap for mineral security and sustainable development.