I&B Ministry
Day 14: Mumbai joins Rs 100 crore club for FM Phase III channels
NEW DELHI: Mumbai finally became the third city to join the Rs 100 crore club on the fourteenth day of the e-auction for the first batch of FM Phase III cities. The cumulative provisional winning price touched around Rs 1022 crore on day 14, though the overall progress showed only mild signs of rise at the end of the 56th round.
With this, a total of 88 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels whose aggregate reserve price was about Rs 425 crore. Thus the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the 88 channels by Rs 596.61 crore or 140.1 per cent.
Overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities – Rs 550.18 crore – by Rs 472.08 crore or 85.8 per cent – around three per cent above yesterday.
While Delhi continued to show a rise, Bengaluru remained static though it was still above Mumbai where two channels were allocated to provisional winning bidders for Rs 100.94 crore each.
The Auction Activity Requirement continued to remain at 90 per cent, raised after the 37th round on 7 August.
The thirteen cities for which bids have still not come are Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The demand over the price in most cities fell by up to three per cent and four per cent below the excess demand at the price in 56th round in Hyderabad.
The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round rose to five in Chennai and Mumbai but was just one in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Cochin, Jaipur and Pune.
The highest Provisional winning price was in Delhi at Rs 167.49 crore (for just one channel), followed by Mumbai at Rs 100.94 crore, both showing marginal increase compared to yesterday. Bengaluru with Rs 106.04 crore remained static.
Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Chennai at Rs 49.84 crore and Pune at Rs 41.20 crore and marginally in Jaipur at Rs 28.06 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 18.67 crore and Cochin at Rs 13.36 crore.
Besides, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore, Lucknow at Rs 14 crore and Nasik at Rs 10.30 crore remained static.
I&B Ministry
MeitY & Reliance Foundation launch e-SafeHER cyber training for Women
Programme aims to train one million rural women in cyber safety over three years
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has partnered with Reliance Foundation and C-DAC Hyderabad to launch ‘e-SafeHER’, a nationwide cyber security awareness programme aimed at empowering one million women across rural India.
Anchored under the Information Security Education and Awareness Programme, the initiative will focus on building digital confidence and safe online practices among women who are increasingly using digital platforms for financial transactions, livelihoods and essential services.
The programme will be rolled out through a community-led model, with training delivered via women’s self-help groups and grassroots networks. C-DAC Hyderabad will develop and localise training content, while Reliance Foundation will drive on-ground implementation using its rural outreach platforms.
Speaking on the launch, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary S Krishnan said, “e-SafeHER is an exciting opportunity to bring together knowledge and collaboration to build a cyber secure Bharat. Through this initiative, women from even the remotest regions will be empowered to participate safely in the digital ecosystem.”
Echoing this, Reliance Foundation director Isha Ambani said the initiative aims to equip women with the skills needed to navigate the online world safely. She added that the goal is to enable one million “Cyber Sakhis” who can confidently adopt digital tools to improve their lives and livelihoods.
The programme will begin with pilot training in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, before scaling nationwide through a phased approach. It will use multilingual content, audio-visual modules and blended learning formats to ensure accessibility and engagement.
Designed for long-term impact, e-SafeHER will be integrated into existing digital literacy and women’s empowerment programmes, avoiding the need for parallel infrastructure. The initiative also aims to drive measurable behavioural change, from improved awareness of cyber risks to safer digital transactions.
By combining policy, technology and grassroots reach, the programme looks to bridge not just the digital divide, but the digital safety gap, ensuring that inclusion goes hand in hand with security.
