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In today’s newsletter: 

• SoftBank's Sumer Juneja on India investments, competing with IPOs
• India's AI copyright draft draws backlash
• Brookfield’s $1bn Mumbai GCC push

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SoftBank’s India chief Sumer Juneja says the investment firm may have been soft on deployments these past two years — but in 2026, the cheques get moving again.

After two quiet years, SoftBank is prepping to turn the taps back on — and India is back on its investment map.

• Juneja told us SoftBank is ready to re-enter the arena: “We’re confident that we will deploy capital in 2026.”

• After sitting out on most new deals since 2022, he said the firm is clear about its stance: “We want to continue investing in India… we are not going to stay out of the market.”

A deeper pipeline and more disciplined founders have pulled SoftBank back into deal mode.

SoftBank’s next India chapter won’t be about volume — it’ll be about bets wired into AI, from consumer apps to global enterprise plays.

• Juneja said SoftBank’s thesis hasn’t changed: “We have always played the AI theme… using machine learning, using AI, and disrupting an existing industry.”

The new pipeline spans India-to-US founders, AI-first consumer companies with real revenue, and enterprise AI for sectors like healthcare.

• A tighter funding environment has forged leaner, more judicious founders — and SoftBank sees that as fertile ground, not friction

Startups are heading public faster than ever — and SoftBank now finds itself battling the one rival no VC outmuscles: the IPO window.

• Juneja was candid: “Today we are actually competing against the IPO market as well.”

Founders who once chased mega-rounds now chase listings, reshaping late-stage fundraising and compressing private-market optionality.

• Still, he called the shift healthy for India: “The best thing you can do to any ecosystem is to give it more capital.”

Dig deeper

Yet another policy initiative by the government has united major technology platforms against it.

Major technology companies are pushing back hard against DPIIT’s proposed AI copyright framework, warning that the model could trigger litigation and hurt India’s startup ecosystem.

• Their key objection is that a mandatory blanket licence for training data will be "technically unworkable and economically unviable"

A top global tech firm’s internal analysis of the framework says it fails to present credible evidence of market harm.

• The company argued that the paper highlighted job-loss fears without demonstrating actual displacement 

Also read: India’s proposed AI copyright overhaul: What the draft licensing model really means

The proposed system requires a statutory blanket licence for training on all “legally accessed” copyrighted works.

• Firms say this doesn’t solve access bottlenecks 

• The model also shifts the burden of proof, potentially requiring developers to show they didn’t use a specific work, which companies say is infeasible 

Flat-rate payments could favour large content houses over small creators, companies argue. 

In a separate submission, Business Software Alliance (representing Adobe, AWS, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce and OpenAI) urged the government to adopt a statutory text-and-data mining exception.

Go deeper

Manufacturing enterprises are under pressure to lower emissions, increase uptime, and stay globally competitive. Siemens’ technologies are helping resolve all three - using the open digital platform Siemens Xcelerator to turn energy, resource, and workflow efficiency into measurable sustainability gains. From decarbonization to digital twins, this isn’t future planning; it’s impact at scale. Read the full story 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ global capability centre (GCC) vision is gathering momentum, with Canada’s Brookfield Corporation and logistics major FedEx eyeing Mumbai to set up new GCCs.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Microsoft AI Tour in Mumbai, Fadnavis said the state government is in late-stage talks with the Canadian alternative asset management giant, which plans to invest over $1 billion to set up its GCC in Mumbai.

• This will be Brookfield’s largest GCC in Asia, spread across 2 million sq. ft
  
  
• The GCC is expected to create 15,000 direct and 30,000 indirect jobs

Additionally, Fadnavis said FedEx is also likely to set up a GCC in the Navi Mumbai airport cluster. While both companies are still in negotiations with the state government, he expressed hope that memoranda of understanding (MoUs) will be signed soon.

The state unveiled its GCC Policy in September, with the aim of positioning Maharashtra as a global hub for GCCs. 

• The government expects to add 400 new GCCs by FY2030, creating at least 400,000 high-skilled jobs

Also read: Maharashtra sets out plan to outpace southern states in GCC investments

Fadnavis also launched MahaCrimeOS AI, an Azure-powered platform to accelerate cybercrime investigations.

• The platform is already live in 23 police stations in Nagpur, with a proposal underway to roll it out across all 1,100 police stations in the state

Go deeper

As global AI labs race to scale GPUs, models and agents, a quieter bottleneck is emerging: human judgment. 

• Hyderabad-based Deccan AI is betting that synthetic data alone can’t build reliable AI

Instead, it supplies the human intelligence layer for frontier models. Find out why founder Rukesh Reddy believes AI’s next leap depends on people, not just compute. Click here

• Walt Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and will let the startup use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel franchises in its Sora AI video generator, a deal that could reshape how Hollywood makes content.
  
  
• India’s AI hiring is uneven, with Mumbai facing a talent crunch despite 15% of AI jobs, while Bengaluru dominates with nearly a third of both AI talent and job postings.

December 12 isn’t just a date — it’s Thalaivar Day. 

As Rajinikanth turns 75, it’s worth remembering that his greatest blockbuster might be his own life: from bus conductor Shivaji Rao Gaekwad to a global icon. 

Five decades on, his swagger and style still feel fresh. If you’re celebrating with a weekend binge, queue up these five essentials: 

• Mullum Malarum 
• Thalapathi 
• Baashha 
• Padayappa 
• Enthiran

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