Facial recognition launched at Delhi and Bengaluru airports; India chip market at $300 bln by 2026

Facial recognition tech, as part of India’s Digi Yatra Central ecosystem, has been rolled out at the airports in Delhi and Bengaluru that will allow passenger identities to be verified in a matter of seconds. A corresponding mobile app is now available on Google’s Play store and an iOS version is expected soon. And India’s semiconductor chip component market is projected to touch $300 billion in cumulative sales in the five years through 2026. Notes: Facial recognition tech has been rolled out at the airports in Delhi and Bengaluru that will allow passenger identities to be verified in a matter of seconds. This feature is part of the Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem being implemented in India by the Digi Yatra Foundation, a non-profit public-private organisation set up in 2019 by the Airports Authority of India and the companies that operate airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin. The service will be available for domestic passengers at Delhi airport’s T3 terminal where AirAsia India, Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara operate, Inc42 reports. It has also been rolled out for domestic flyers at Bengaluru airport for AirAsia India and Vistara. Based on the use of single token face biometrics, the system will use facial features to establish a traveller’s identity, which will then be linked to the boarding pass, according to Inc42. A passenger app—in beta version—has been rolled out on Google’s Play store, and an iOS version is expected soon. India's semiconductor component market is likely to reach $300 billion in cumulative revenues from 2021 to 2026, as the Make-in-India and production-linked incentive schemes will boost local sourcing, Economic Times reports, citing the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association, an industry lobby. Further policy reforms and the building of a semiconductor ecosystem will reduce reliance on imports, according to a report by the semiconductor lobby and Counterpoint Research, a tech market researcher and consultancy. India’s end equipment market in 2021 stood at $119 billion by revenue and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19 percent from 2021 to 2026. Currently, only 9 percent of India’s semiconductor requirement is met locally, according to the report. A fund under the management of BlackRock Real Assets is set to acquire Akaysha Energy, an Australian firm that develops battery storage and renewable energy projects, CNBC reports. In an announcement Tuesday, BlackRock, the world’s biggest investment company, with more than a trillion dollars under management, said it intended to commit more than 1 billion Australian dollars (around $700 million) to support the build-out of more than 1 gigawatt of battery storage assets. BlackRock said Akaysha plans to develop energy storage projects in other Asia-Pacific markets as well, including Japan and Taiwan in the near term, according to CNBC. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds