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Contest for PMO mobile app launched; winner gets trip to US
NEW DELHI: A contest has been launched for development of a mobile app for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his recent address at the 25th foundation day of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) had announced the intention to launch a mobile app for PMO.
The Government’s citizen engagement platform MyGov will host this contest in association with Google. The contest will be organized over the next three months in three areas of ideation, wireframe development and app development. The best app will be then presented to the PMO. The team developing the wining app will get a chance to visit the headquarters of Google in the United States.
The contest is open for all citizens of India above the age 18 years, who are registered on MyGov (https://mygov.in). Participants can submit their entries on the contest page. Each phase will be assessed by an independent jury constituted by MyGov.
Speaking on the launch, Communication & Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said views of the citizens collected through the MyGov and other forum have been incorporated into railway and Union Budgets.
The need to tackle benami properties and the idea for introduction of sovereign gold bound scheme have come through some suggestions from the people. He said this Government wants to take follow up action on ideas obtained through crowd sourcing and also wants to use social media for public good.
Deputy secretary R S Sharma gave an overview of the Digital India programme, whose aim is to first digitally connect all citizens of the government and then digitally empower them in participative process of policy making and being continuously informed of various government initiatives and programmes.
MyGov CEO Gaurav Dwivedi charted out the evolution of MyGov, since its launch on 26 July last year and laid out some key features of the newly released MyGov Version 2.0. Google India managing director Rajan Anandan, who is MyGov’s partner in the contest, spoke of Google’s commitment to partner India’s digital drive at multiple levels.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
