I&B Ministry
FM Phase III Day 10: Bengaluru provisional price crosses Rs 100 crore
NEW DELHI: On the tenth day of FM Phase III bidding, Bengaluru became the second city along with Delhi to cross the Rs 100 crore figure even as the cumulative provisional winning price touched Rs 946 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 425 crore at the end of 40 rounds.
A total of 86 channels in 56 cities became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price. Thus the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 86 channels by Rs 521.45 crore or 122.7 per cent.
Overall, the cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities is Rs 550.18 crore by Rs 396.15 crore or 72 per cent.
The Auction Activity Requirement was raised to 90 per cent after the 37th round after being at 80 per cent from the beginning of the auction.
The 13 cities for which no bids have come in are Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The demand over the price in many cities fell by up to three per cent below the aggregate demand.
The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round was five per cent in Jaipur and Nasik and just one in Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hisar, Mumbai, Patiala and Pune.
The highest Provisional winning price – the same as the Clock round price at the start of the twenty-eighth round – was in Delhi at Rs 144.27 crore (for just one channel), followed by Bengaluru at Rs 104.99 crore, which had a quantum jump and Mumbai at Rs 93.21 crore showing marginal increase compared to yesterday.
Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Jaipur at Rs 23.27 crore and marginally in Chennai at Rs 42.50 crore, Pune at Rs 35.14 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 17.24 crore and Cochin at Rs 11.40 crore.
Thus Mumbai is the only city, which may soon cross the Rs 100 crore figure, besides Delhi and Bengaluru.
On the other hand, Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore and Lucknow – Rs 14 crore remained static.
The next round of auctions will now take place on Monday, 10 August.
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.
