Krishna Byre Gowda’s plan for Bengaluru; Google’s AI push in India

Hello,

IT industry body Nasscom has warned that India risks building a tech workforce that merely relies on AI rather than being truly AI-native. The industry and academia should preserve deep engineering skills to avert this, it said. 

Fortunately there are efforts to boost skills. 

Karnataka will establish India’s first government-driven Artificial Intelligence University, reaffirming the state's ambition to become a global leader in responsible AI innovation. The proposed university would play a pivotal role in building world-class AI talent, advancing research, and strengthening collaboration among academia, industry, and government.

Meanwhile, global investor sentiment is on a high. 

Investor sentiment has risen to its highest level since February, according to Bank of America’s latest Global Fund Manager Survey. The survey says global investors are bullish about economic growth and AI-related spending. 

There is enough evidence of this optimism in India. 

Elevation Capital has launched its $500-million Fund IX with a focus on AI startups in India. The fund will invest at the seed and Series A stages of funding as the firm’s goal is to get in early and have a deep partnership with startups. 

Avendus Future Leaders Fund III, the private strategies fund of the Avendus Group, has invested about Rs 140 crore in Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services. The fund expects to achieve its final close at around Rs 1,800 crore by the end of this month. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Krishna Byre Gowda’s plan for Bengaluru
• Google’s AI push in India

Here’s your trivia for today: What was the first video game played in space?

Government

Krishna Byre Gowda’s plan for Bengaluru

In a candid conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory and The Bharat Project, Karnataka Minister for Greater Bengaluru Development Krishna Byre Gowda, talks about his vision for the city.

"Bengaluru has to be a better city for the people who live here. Their quality of life has to be better. That is my priority," the minister said during the interview on the steps of Vidhana Soudha.

Key takeaways: 

• Krishna Byre Gowda, a six-term MLA whose constituency Byatarayanapura falls within the city, has become a visible presence on Bengaluru’s streets, clearing footpath encroachments and conducting spot inspections of civic works, at times pulling up officials for shoddy execution. 
• Bengaluru completes 500 years in 2037, and the minister wants the city transformed well before that milestone. The government is revamping its citizen interface tools, planning more public consultations, and organising hackathons to draw the city's technology talent into civic problem solving. 
• For the minister, the vision extends beyond infrastructure. He wants Bengaluru to nurture arts, culture and sporting talent, and remain a city where the young feel connected.

Technology

Google’s AI push in India

Google has unveiled a broad India AI strategy focused on agentic AI, secure enterprise deployment, education, healthcare and startups, signalling a shift from building AI models to enabling trusted, large-scale AI adoption.

Key takeaways: 

• The announcements, made at Google I/O Connect India 2026 in Bengaluru, span education, healthcare, enterprise infrastructure, cybersecurity and developer tools, reflecting the company’s effort to address some of the practical barriers to AI adoption at scale.
• The developments highlight Google’s view that the next phase of AI will be defined not only by more capable models, but by the infrastructure, security and local partnerships needed to use them responsibly.
• Google India Country Manager Preeti Lobana said India had emerged as one of the world’s most significant AI markets because of both its scale and its ability to apply technology to real-world problems.

News & updates

• QIP raise: Drone technology company ideaForge Technology has raised Rs 500 crore through a qualified institutional placement. It plans to use the proceeds to fund its next phase of growth and strengthen its working capital.
• Byju’s update: Byju Raveendran’s legal team has issued a clarification after media reports suggested that the Byju’s founder had failed in an attempt to overturn a Singapore court order that sentenced him to six months in jail.
• Data centre moratorium: New York became the first US state to halt construction of large new data centres, imposing a ‌one-year moratorium as concerns grow that the facilities driving the AI boom are raising power costs, straining water supplies and burdening local communities.

What was the first video game played in space?

Answer:  Tetris on the Nintendo Game Boy

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