Modi and Jetten Elevate India–Netherlands Ties with New Defence, Semiconductor, and Cybersecurity Roadmaps

India and the Netherlands have elevated their ties to a Strategic Partnership, with defence technology and climate sustainability emerging as the twin pillars of their 2026–2030 roadmap.

At the invitation of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Rob Jetten Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid an official visit to the Netherlands on 16-17 May 2026. This marked PM Modi’s second visit to Netherlands.

Defence & Technology Collaboration

• Defence Industrial Roadmap: Co‑development and co‑production of advanced defence equipment, systems, and components through technology transfer and joint ventures.
• Cybersecurity Cooperation: Enhanced collaboration in cyberspace, focusing on countering cyber threats, cybercrime, and building secure ICT environments.
• Semiconductor Partnership: Dutch Semicon Competence Centre linked with India’s Semiconductor Mission, supported by NXP, ASML, Tata, and CG Semi.
• Emerging Technologies: Joint research in AI, quantum computing, photonics, and space applications, with academic partnerships between IITs and Dutch universities.

Climate & Sustainability Partnerships

• Green Hydrogen Roadmap: Accelerates production, usage, and export of green hydrogen, leveraging India’s potential and Dutch renewable expertise.
• Circular Economy: Collaboration on industrial circularity, waste‑to‑value projects, and resilient urban systems.
• Renewable Energy Cooperation: Joint Working Group overseeing projects in solar, hydrogen, and energy storage.
• Water Management: Cooperation on Namami Gange, delta management, wastewater reuse, and a Centre of Excellence at IIT Delhi.

Key Highlights Table

Area	Initiatives	Impact
Defence	Industrial Roadmap, joint ventures, tech transfer	Strengthens military self‑reliance, EU‑India defence ties
Cybersecurity	Annual consultations, cyber school, LoI on cyberspace	Enhances resilience against cybercrime & threats
Semiconductors	ISM–Dutch Semicon Centre, IIT–Dutch university MoUs	Builds trusted supply chains, talent pipelines
Green Hydrogen	India–Netherlands roadmap	Accelerates clean energy transition
Circular Economy	Waste‑to‑value, RECEIC partnerships	Promotes sustainable urban systems
Water Management	Namami Gange, IIT Delhi Centre of Excellence	Advances climate‑resilient water solutions

Risks & Considerations

• Implementation Complexity: Defence collaboration requires harmonizing regulations and standards.
• Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: Semiconductor and critical minerals partnerships must address disruptions.
• Energy Transition Challenges: Scaling green hydrogen demands infrastructure investment and policy alignment.
• Climate Resilience: Water and circular economy projects hinge on sustained funding and adoption.

Wipro Secures Multi-Year AI-Powered IT Transformation Deal with Odido Netherlands

• The multi-year engagement marks a significant shift in Odido’s IT strategy with Wipro bringing deep domain expertise, AI-powered delivery, and a design-led approach to drive innovation

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading AI-powered technology services and consulting company, today announced a multi-year engagement with Odido Netherlands B.V.* to transform its IT landscape and enhance customer experience across their enterprise and consumer segments.

By combining AI and deep consulting expertise, Wipro will help Odido improve customer engagement and satisfaction, improve productivity, and streamline operations to reduce costs. A key highlight of this multi-year engagement is the use of a self-funded model, where productivity-driven savings are reinvested to continuously fund new digital initiatives, ensuring that innovation remains both sustainable and scalable.

As part of the engagement, Wipro will lead a full-scale modernization of Odido’s digital and enterprise technology landscape as well as drive IT simplification and automation. This transformation will be powered by Wipro’s WEGA and WINGS AI delivery platforms, part of Wipro Intelligence™, Wipro’s unified suite of AI-powered platforms, solutions, and transformative offerings, and will enable Odido to build and manage a dynamic ecosystem of agent-driven services and solutions that will help improve their service reliability, IT operations, and incident resolution rates.

Additionally, Wipro’s conversational AI chat solution will further enhance responsiveness and resilience across Odido’s technology ecosystem by delivering contextualized, multilingual, and conversational self-service capabilities.

Wipro’s experience-led studio model, powered by Designit, will be a central part of the engagement. By integrating Wipro’s design studio with its development, design, and engineering teams, user and business needs will be captured early, seamlessly translating into solutions, and delivering with speed and excellence. This collaboration will help Odido accelerate time to market and consistently deliver high-quality digital experiences.

“At Odido, our goal is to make technology more human. Everything we do is driven by a human-centric approach. This applies not only to our network services and product innovations, but also to our processes, operations, and IT infrastructure,” said Robert Purdy, Chief IT Officer at Odido Netherlands. “Our collaboration with Wipro supports this ambition and enables us to take the customer experience to a next level.”

Graziella Neuvéglise, Managing Director, Western Europe, Wipro Limited, said, “Odido’s trust in Wipro reflects our ability to deliver strategic value through intelligent operations, agile development, and a future-ready IT strategy. This transformation is consulting-led, with our teams shaping the roadmap, optimizing processes, and aligning technology with business goals. By combining this expertise with Wipro Intelligence, our unified suite of AI-powered platforms, solutions, and transformative offerings - we’re not just modernizing Odido’s IT infrastructure - but reimagining how technology boosts businesses and puts customers at the heart of their evolution. This engagement underscores our commitment to delivering impactful solutions that help our clients thrive in a rapidly evolving business landscape.”

*This deal was mentioned in Wipro Limited's financial results announcement press release, dated October 16, 2025, for the quarter-ended September 30, 2025, with a description of Odido but without naming the company.

Infosys Incorporates New Subsidiary in Netherlands; Launches Open-source Responsible AI Toolkit

Infosys has recently made significant strides in both its global expansion and AI initiatives. The company has incorporated a new subsidiary in the Netherlands, named Infosys BPM Netherlands B.V. This move is part of Infosys BPM UK's broader strategy to enhance its presence in Europe and streamline its business process management services.

In addition, Infosys has launched an open-source Responsible AI Toolkit, which is a key component of the Infosys Topaz Responsible AI Suite. This toolkit aims to address ethical concerns and risks associated with AI adoption, providing enterprises with advanced defensive technical guardrails. It builds on the AI3S framework (scan, shield, and steer) and includes features to detect and mitigate issues such as privacy breaches, security attacks, biased outputs, and deepfakes. 

The toolkit includes specialized AI models and shielding algorithms to detect and mitigate issues such as privacy breaches, security attacks, biased outputs, harmful content, and deepfakes.

The toolkit addresses ethical concerns and risks associated with AI adoption, promoting safety, security, privacy, and fairness. Being open-source, it fosters collaboration and innovation, allowing businesses to tailor the toolkit to their specific needs

The open-source nature of the toolkit ensures flexibility and ease of implementation, making it a valuable resource for businesses looking to innovate responsibly.

These developments highlight Infosys' commitment to expanding its global footprint and promoting ethical AI practices.

Accenture Acquires Indian-Origin Founded TeamExpat

Accenture has strengthened its embedded software expertise with the acquisition of Teamexpat, a specialist in embedded software for complex high-tech products and systems. The acquisition was announced on May 23, 2024, and involves Teamexpat joining Accenture's digital engineering team in the Netherlands. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

This acquisition is expected to enhance Accenture's capabilities in smart, connected products, particularly for clients in the semiconductor sector and other discrete manufacturing industries.

Vinay Dasa, the founder of Teamexpat, is an Indian-origin entrepreneur who originally hails from Bengaluru, India, where he was an IT professional before moving to the Netherlands. He is an engineering graduate from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, Karnataka. About 10 years ago, he arrived in the Netherlands as an expat in search of employment opportunities. His journey led him to work for KPN in The Hague before eventually moving to Eindhoven, where he became employed by Philips.

In 2014, Vinay Dasa embarked on his entrepreneurial path by starting as a freelance IT developer and establishing TeamExpat. His vision and expertise have significantly contributed to the company's success in embedded software for complex high-tech products and systems, particularly in the semiconductor industry.

Now, as part of Accenture, Vinay Dasa looks forward to leveraging Accenture's global footprint and expertise to scale their clients' near- and off-shore embedded software development projects. His journey exemplifies the impact of Indian talent in the tech industry, bridging continents and driving innovation.

TeamExpat is headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and focuses on software development, testing, and integration for lithography systems used in the semiconductor industry. These systems are crucial for printing fine patterns on semiconductor materials, which define the performance of microchips.

The acquisition aligns with Accenture's strategy to shift from mechanical engineering to software engineering first, addressing the growing need for advanced chips and embedded systems in various high-tech industries. It also comes at a time when Europe is investing heavily in semiconductor innovation, with €43 billion of government incentives dedicated to the cause.

Vinay Dasa, CEO and founder of Teamexpat, expressed enthusiasm for the opportunities that becoming part of Accenture will bring to their clients and team, citing Accenture's global footprint and expertise as a scaling platform for embedded software development projects.

This acquisition is part of a series of moves by Accenture to bolster its embedded software, digital engineering, and smart, connected products capabilities, including previous acquisitions of international engineering services firm umlaut, German embedded software company ESR Labs, and Dutch product design and innovation agency VanBerlo. 

Teamexpat is one of the few up Indian founded companies acquired by any tech giants post covid era. Last year in October, AMD announced the acquisition of nod.ai, which too was founded by Indian origin entrepreneurs.

KPMG and Its Former Boss Fined Over Cheating on Internal Exams in Netherlands

KPMG Accountants NV, the Netherlands-based arm of the global professional services firm, has been fined $25 million (€23 million, £20 million) by the Netherlands' Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) for failing to prevent its financial auditors from cheating on exams, reported The Register.

This penalty comes after the firm's US subsidiary agreed to pay a similar fine in 2019 to settle cheating charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The cheating at KPMG Netherlands involved hundreds of professionals and stretched from October 2017 through December 2022. During this period, personnel were allowed to take internal training tests required for maintaining professional accounting certification without adequate oversight or controls. The violations occurred despite KPMG's awareness of its $50 million settlement in the US. The misconduct primarily happened through email messages containing test contents or answers.

The PCAOB also imposed a $150,000 fine on KPMG Netherlands' former audit boss Marc Hogeboom and banned him for life from working for a firm that audits US public companies.

The findings are the latest ethics scandal to hit a Big Four accountancy firm.

KPMG Netherlands employees used various means to share test answers and took tests together. Most of the professionals involved were from the firm's Assurance practice.

The PCAOB's censure and the $25 million penalty highlight the importance of maintaining integrity in professional services. KPMG Netherlands has committed to addressing the failures, and the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) has placed the firm under "enhanced supervision" to prevent further ethical lapses. This case serves as a reminder that maintaining high ethical standards is crucial in the accounting and auditing industry.

In the past too, KPMG has faced several scandals over the years. In the UK, KPMG audited Carillion's books between 2014 and 2016. Despite stating that the financial statements were true and fair, Carillion collapsed in 2018 with £7 billion in debts. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) found that KPMG had failed to adhere to basic audit concepts and uncovered an "unusually large number of breaches." KPMG was fined a record £21 million for its audit failures. 

The collapse of Carillion resulted in significant job losses and affected numerous government contracts.

In an another, KPMG faced scrutiny over its audit of Rolls-Royce, the British jet engine manufacturer. Rolls-Royce had paid a £500 million settlement after bribery allegations. The FRC found that KPMG failed to report payments to Indian intermediaries during its audit. KPMG received a fine of £3.4 million, and the lead partner faced additional penalties. This case highlighted the need for auditors to exercise professional skepticism and question clients' assertions.

In 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged KPMG with illegally obtaining sneak peeks at regulators' plans to review its work. The SEC also accused KPMG auditors of cheating on training exams, calling the ethical failures "simply unacceptable. The SEC imposed a $50 million fine on KPMG for these violations.

Last year, KPMG faced allegations of overcharging taxpayers while contracted by the Australian Department of Defence. Whistleblowers claimed that the firm submitted inflated invoices and billed for hours never worked. This scandal raised concerns about transparency and accountability in government contracts.

These scandals underscore the importance of maintaining ethical standards and rigorous auditing practices in the professional services industry. KPMG has taken steps to address these issues, but they serve as cautionary tales for auditors worldwide.

Other Big Fours

Cheating on internal exams has been a repeated problem across the Big Four accounting firms. The PCAOB also took action against Deloitte entities. Imelda & Raken (Deloitte Indonesia) was found guilty of widespread answer sharing on internal training tests.

Navarro Amper & Co. (Deloitte Philippines) was implicated in answer sharing practices dating back to 2017. Deloitte's answer sharing was similar to the KPMG case, involving internal training exams.

In 2022, EY paid a $100mn fine for cheating by hundreds of its staff in the US and failing to quickly admit the matter to its regulator.

PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams condemned the unethical behavior and emphasized the importance of enforcing a culture of honesty and integrity.

The growth and breadth of exam cheating revealed an inappropriate tone at the top and a failure by firm leadership to promote an ethical culture worthy of investors' trust⁴.

These actions demonstrate the regulatory bodies' commitment to maintaining integrity and accountability within the audit industry. It's essential for firms to uphold ethical standards and prevent such misconduct in the future.