As 2025 draws to a close, India’s technology policy ecosystem—and Bengaluru, the country’s tech hub and startup capital—once again found themselves at the centre of national attention. The spotlight was split between bold ambition and uneasy reality: headline-grabbing innovation in AI, semiconductors and digital public infrastructure on one hand, and persistent governance gaps, civic breakdowns and abrupt policy interventions on the other.

Against this backdrop, we tracked the policy moves, regulatory flashpoints and civic fault lines that shaped the year across India’s technology landscape.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the India AI Impact Summit, meet and host a gala dinner for global technology leaders during the summit scheduled from February 15 to 20, an event that will see confirmed participation from top CEOs including Bill Gates, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and others. Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff have also confirmed, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expected to attend, according to senior government officials.
  
  
• The year saw no let-up in the government’s crackdown on seemingly rogue apps originating from countries such as China. In February, we reported that the government blocked 119 apps– mostly video and voice chat platforms linked to developers in China and Hong Kong. The directives were issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, a provision previously used extensively in the aftermath of India-China geopolitical tensions. Several affected developers told us they were in discussions with the IT ministry regarding the blocking orders.
  
  
• That India’s data protection regime existed largely on paper, with implementation still pending, did not escape global scrutiny. Earlier this year, we reported that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) denied a February 2024 request by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to transfer personal data—specifically contact details—to India and a few other non-EU countries, citing insufficient assurances of privacy protection.
  
  
• During the April–May period, as border tensions flared between India and Pakistan, the IT ministry quietly escalated its actions in the digital domain. Moneycontrol exclusively reported that in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror incident and Operation Sindoor, the ministry ordered the takedown of over 3,000 apps, a significant number of them linked to Pakistan.
  
  
• On the policy enablement front, the IT ministry operationalised its GPU compute portal under the IndiaAI Mission, allowing startups, academia and researchers to access high-end GPUs at subsidised rates. A Moneycontrol analysis found discounts running as high as 89%. Companies including NxtGen Datacenter, E2E Networks and Jio Platforms slashed prices on NVIDIA H100 and H200 GPUs and AMD MI325X chips—critical for AI model training—by more than 80%.
  
  
• India’s deep-tech ambitions also saw tangible progress. IIT Madras extended its strong innovation streak with the successful development and testing of the IRIS microprocessor for space applications—at a fraction of the cost of commercial alternatives. Director V Kamakoti told Moneycontrol the chip was developed over eight years at a modest budget of $3–4 million.
  
  
• The industry, however, was jolted by a surprise legislative move. The government introduced the Prevention and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, a bill that appeared to come out of nowhere and threatened a billion-dollar online gaming industry. The law prohibited real-time online money games while promoting esports and other skill-based formats. Moneycontrol had an exclusive interview with Minister for Electronics and Information Technolgy Ashwini Vaishnaw on the issue.
  
  
• Digital identity also moved closer to everyday use cases. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) unveiled a framework for offline Aadhaar verification, allowing identity checks without continuous access to the Aadhaar database. Under the proposed system, organisations would display a QR code that users can scan to securely share credentials—potentially enabling Aadhaar-based entry checks at venues such as concerts.
  
  
• Back in the country’s tech capital, urban infrastructure emerged as a major flashpoint. A social media post by the CEO of logistics unicorn BlackBuck on the crumbling Outer Ring Road—first reported by Moneycontrol—resonated far beyond X (formerly Twitter), triggering swift action from the Karnataka government and highlighting how public and corporate outrage is increasingly shaping governance priorities in Bengaluru.
  
  
• Cost-of-living pressures added to the strain. Karnataka witnessed a wave of price hikes spanning essential services and daily necessities. Moneycontrol’s A–Z of price hikes even found mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech, underlining how the issue struck a national chord.
  
  
• Transport and mobility remained a policy battleground through the year. Transport and mobility dominated headlines through the year. From the rise of Namma Yatri—piggybacking on government-backed platforms and positioning itself as a “public digital infrastructure” alternative to Big Tech ride-hailing apps—to the fallout of Karnataka’s bike taxi ban, which forced users to ride as “parcels” and pushed drivers into delivery gigs, the sector saw sharp policy swings with real-world consequences for commuters. Even flagship public transport projects came under scrutiny, with RTI replies revealing that Bengaluru Metro spent Rs 26 lakh on foreign tours to study fare structures.
  

• We also broke the story on a proposed bill for domestic workers, signalling a push towards formalisation that could require employers to register workers and pay a welfare fee of up to 5%.
  
  
• Big-ticket infrastructure plans continued in parallel. Bengaluru’s long-debated second airport narrowed down potential locations such as Chudahalli, Somanahalli and Kunigal Road, while Yelahanka emerged as a contender for a China-style elevated railway terminal —ambitious proposals that reignited debates on connectivity. At the same time, delays plagued marquee rail projects, with the Vande Bharat sleeper launch pushed back yet again as BEML-made trainsets returned to Bengaluru for rework.
  

• Beyond infrastructure, governance and law-and-order issues cast a long shadow. The tragic stampede during the RCB victory celebrations exposed glaring lapses in crowd management, with police warnings allegedly ignored and poor planning proving fatal. The political fallout was swift, denting the image of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar as the Opposition mounted pressure on the government.
  
  
• Separately, Karnataka’s proposed bills on misinformation and hate crime raised concerns over free speech and platform liability, triggering pushback from civil society and digital rights advocates.
  
  
• Business and industry stories from the state offered a mix of pride and unease. Aerospace manufacturer Aequs showcased Karnataka’s growing global manufacturing footprint, with nearly every aircraft delivered worldwide now containing parts made in Belagavi. In contrast, the ecosystem was rattled by governance lapses and job losses—from Oracle’s India layoffs targeting cloud and financial services teams to an FIR alleging that the former Gameskraft CFO diverted company funds into risky F&O trades, leading to losses of Rs 250 crore. 

• US-headquartered companies sharply accelerated the pace of setting up Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India in calendar year 2025, adding more than 60 new centres—nearly a 45% rise over 2023 levels and a clear jump from about 43 GCCs established in 2024, according to ANSR Research data accessed by us. This momentum is expected to continue into 2026, with industry estimates suggesting a further 75–80% increase in GCC additions as companies deepen and expand their offshore capabilities.
  
  
• The Reserve Bank of India has begun granting final authorisations to multiple payment aggregators to operate in the cross-border payments space, a move aimed at improving speed, transparency and costs for users. The regulatory push comes as freelancers, consultants and small exporters continue to face delays, manual intervention and high forex charges when receiving overseas payments, despite India’s otherwise seamless domestic digital payments infrastructure.
  
  
• Naveen Tewari, founder of InMobi and Glance, Amit Kumar Agarwal, founder of NoBroker, Amit Gupta, Yulu, and the founders of startups such as Knowlarity and Card91, among others, have together pledged Rs 100 crore to set up the Millennium School of Technology and Society (MSTAS) at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), their alma mater. The fresh commitment of Rs 100 crore is the highest-ever by any batch at IIT Kanpur, the institution informed on its social media. Of the total corpus, Rs 30 crore will come just from InMobi’s founder Tewari in his personal capacity.
  
  

• Vipin Kapooria, chief financial officer of Blinkit, the quick commerce arm of Eternal (formerly Zomato), has quit from his position in just about a year sincehe took over the role, people familiar with the developments told Moneycontrol. Kapooria, who had joined Blinkit around September-October 2024, is heading back to his former employer, e-commerce major Flipkart, as per sources. He was with Flipkart, in his second stint with the Walmart-owned company, between August 2020 and October 2024.

• Quick commerce platforms delivered strong Christmas sales for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands this year, with sellers reporting 100-150 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth during the holiday period, according to several brands Moneycontrol spoke with. Higher order frequency, larger basket sizes and last-minute purchases drove demand, as consumers increasingly relied on instant delivery for food, snacks, beverages and gifting-led consumption. Brands said quick commerce has shifted from being a top-up channel to a planned festive sales channel, particularly in large metros. 
  
  
• Honasa Consumer co-founder Varun Alagh has increased his stake in the company by buying shares worth nearly Rs 50 crore through a block deal, according to a regulatory filing. In its disclosure, Honasa Consumer Limited said Alagh acquired 18,51,851 equity shares, representing 0.57 percent of the company’s total share capital, at an average price of Rs 270 per share. The transaction aggregates to Rs 49.99 crore.

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