Rajeev Chandrasekhar announces Digital India Act; Startups get $10 bln three quarters in a row; Nissan accelerating solid batteries plan

India will soon roll out new rules called the Digital India Act, which will be a “renewed policy for the digital ecosystem and cyberspace” in the country, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said over the weekend, Economic Times reports. Meanwhile, startups in the country received more than $10 billion in funding for the third straight quarter, Press Trust reports, citing PwC. Plus, Nissan is stepping up its solid-state batteries plan. Notes: India will soon roll out new rules under a Digital India Act, which will be a “renewed policy for the digital ecosystem and cyberspace” in the country, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said over the weekend, Economic Times reports. Chandrasekhar was speaking at the inauguration of Bennett University’s Centre for Law and Computing Technology on Saturday. India’s internet rules currently stem from the country’s Information Technology Act, which is more than two decades old. On the internet, that’s like four or five centuries, the minister pointed out. The central government has just unveiled the national data governance framework and policy that is undergoing public consultation. It will shortly be rolling out cybersecurity policies and guidelines, and very soon after that the government will be working on a new Digital India Act, he said, according to ET. Tata Sons has infused Rs. 5,882 crore into its flagship e-commerce unit Tata Digital, Economic Times reports, citing regulatory filings from the salt-to-steel conglomerate. This is the highest ever fund allocation in a single tranche and the most that the Tatas have invested into e-commerce in any single fiscal year, according to ET. The latest funding takes the total investment in Tata Digital to Rs. 11,872 crore in 2021-22, according to the ET report. India’s startup ecosystem received more than $10 billion in investments during the first three months of 2022, the third consecutive quarter to see such inflow, Press Trust of India reports, citing accounting firm PwC. The quarter also saw 14 new unicorns, meaning startups being privately valued at more than $1 billion each. The January to March period this year saw 334 funding deals, and the 14 new unicorns take the total to 84 such companies in India, Press Trust reports. Total fund inflow in Q1 was $10.8 billion, with more than a third of that going to software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. The SaaS sector also accounted for the most unicorns, at five out of the 14. Nissan last week unveiled its prototype production facility for laminated all-solid-state battery cells, which the company aims to bring to market in 2028, the Japanese carmaker said in a press release. This prototype facility, within the Nissan Research Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, is aimed at further promoting the development of all-solid-state batteries. Under its long-term plan, Nissan Ambition 2030, the company aims to launch an EV with all-solid-state batteries developed in-house by fiscal 2028. It plans to establish a pilot production line at its Yokohama Plant in the fiscal year 2024, with materials, design and manufacturing processes for prototype production on the line to be studied at the production facility. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds