X decries India's censorship; Indian electronic cos ditch China
Also in the letter: ■ Startup hiring rebounds■ Why AI needs humans■ Gates slips billionaire ranks
India blocks (then unblocks) Reuters on X
India briefly ordered X (formerly Twitter) to block 2,355 accounts, including its main @Reuters handle, before rapidly backtracking after public backlash.
Driving the news: On July 3, the Ministry of Electronics and IT instructed X to block these accounts under Section 69A of the IT Act. The order gave X only one hour to comply without explanation and directed that the blocks remain in place 'until further notice.' Following criticism, the Reuters handles (@Reuters and @ReutersWorld) were restored the same day. The ministry claimed it hadn't ordered the blocks, blaming X for the unnecessary delay in unblocking the accounts.
The catch? The government's order carried serious consequences. X faced criminal liability for non-compliance and had no room to challenge the directive, even as it was told to act without cause.
X's response: The company said it is 'deeply concerned' by rising press censorship in India. It is exploring legal actions but pointed out that, unlike individual users, it cannot directly contest these orders under Indian law. X urged affected users to seek legal relief.
The legal backdrop: X is already in the Karnataka High Court, fighting previous blocking orders, which it says lack transparency. The court heard the matter today and listed it for the next hearing on July 11.
It has also moved to challenge Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, which grants the government sweeping takedown powers.
India's electronics makers break up with China
Local electronics players, such as Dixon, Amber, PG Electroplast, Micromax's Bhagwati, Epack Durable, and Optiemus, are shifting their focus away from China and teaming up with South Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese firms instead.
What's happening? The government's Rs 22,919 crore components manufacturing scheme shuts applications this month. But thanks to Press Note 3 (post-2020 border tensions), Chinese investments need multiple clearances, making them slow, messy, and unpredictable.
Who's moving:
Amber Enterprises: Rs 4,000 crore bet, including a Rs 3,000 crore JV with Korea Circuit for advanced PCBs and chip substrates.
Dixon: Inking deals with Korean and Taiwanese partners but keeping the China door ajar.
Optiemus & Epack Durable: Sourcing displays, PCBs and sound tech from non-Chinese firms.
Big picture: The Indian government aims to increase local value addition (currently around 20%) and reduce dependence on China. To this end, it seeks to attract investments worth Rs 59,530 crore and create 91,600 jobs. Over 100 applications are already in.
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Startups fuel hiring rebound, 80,000 new tech jobs expected in FY26, data shows
India's startup scene is bouncing back on the hiring front. After a muted couple of years, FY25 added 60,000 new jobs, pushing the total startup workforce to 5.9 lakh.
Numbers game: Fresh data from staffing firm Xpheno shows startups hired 1.6 lakh individuals in FY25, including 1 lakh attrition backfills and 60,000 net additions – up from 1.2 lakh in FY24.
For FY26, Xpheno expects 80,000 net new jobs, taking the total headcount to 6.7 lakh.
TeamLease reported a similar uptick, with roles such as DevOps, product managers, and full-stack developers in high demand.
Setting context: Hiring hit a low in FY21 (Covid-era) with just 50,000 new additions. Then came the tech boom of FY22, with 2.1 lakh hires, followed by the funding freeze and the brutal mass layoffs of FY24.
Expert take: 'A recovering IT services sector and startups sector, the fiscal ahead will see higher talent action next fiscal year. Headcount growth is likely to be driven by startups in quick commerce, eRetail, marketplaces, fintech (payments & remittances, lending & credit) and F&B retail,' Prasadh MS, head of workforce research at Xpheno, told ET.
AI gets smarter but needs smarter humans
As AI models evolve, they're hungry for more complex, human-curated data. That's where India's growing army of data annotators steps in—doing far more than tagging cat pictures.
What's changing: Annotation now means fixing code, reviewing reports, and auditing financial statements. It's all part of training next-gen AI systems.
Big money: The global data annotation market is projected to triple from $6.5 billion (2025) to around $20 billion (2030).
India's share is set to jump from $80M (2023) to approximately $500M by 2030, with a workforce of 70,000 workers today, up from 20,000 in 2022.
Key players: Turing: Calls annotation 'Olympiad-level problem-solving.'
Macgence: Builds culturally specific data sets.
Appen: Tackles tough STEM tasks; has 50K Indian contributors.
Indika AI: Has seen 5x revenue growth, with 70,000 freelancers on call.
Power move: Meta snapped up 49% of Scale AI at a $14.3B valuation, showing that data quality now rivals compute in the AI arms race.
Bill Gates no longer among world's top 10 billionaires; Elon Musk still on top
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has slipped out of the world's top 10 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index .
What's happening: His net worth has plunged nearly 30% from over $175 billion to $124 billion, pushing him down to 12th place.
Why the drop? Well, it's not a market crash or dodgy bets. Bloomberg simply updated how it calculates Gates' fortune, giving more weight to his philanthropic endeavours.
Who's on top? No surprises there. Elon Musk remains at the top with a net worth of $346 billion. Mark Zuckerberg holds firm in second with $253 billion, edging out the newly-married Jeff Bezos, who's now fourth at $244 billion.
Plot twist: Steve Ballmer, Gates' former aide and ex-Microsoft boss, has leapfrogged him. Ballmer now sits pretty at number five, powered by his booming 4% stake in Microsoft.
Updated On Jul 08, 2025, 07:14 PM IST
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