I&B Ministry
Day 22: Hope for more FM Phase III bids lie with under-Rs 10 crore cities
NEW DELHI: With no takers for thirteen cities, the hope for more bids shifted to cities, which have so far managed less than Rs 10 crore on the twenty-second day in the e-auction for the first batch of FM Phase III cities even as the cumulative provisional winning price showed a marginal rise to Rs 1136.6 crore at the end of the 88th round.
The number of provisional winning channels and cities remained the same as yesterday: 94 channels in 56 cities, but the total bids surpassed the cumulative reserve price by Rs 677.7 crore or 147.7 per cent against the aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459 crore.
The cumulative provisional winning price has thus risen over the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities – Rs 550.18 crore – by Rs 586.4 crore or 106.5 per cent. Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com today that the cumulative winning price is exclusive of the migration fee, which will take the total revenue even higher.
The Auction Activity Requirement rose to 100 per cent after the 59th round on 14 August, after being 90 per cent after the 37th round on 7 August.
Sources said that in the notice inviting auction, it was clear that the e-auction will continue as long as bids are received for any of the 135 channels. This included the 13 cities for which no bids have come namely Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The winning price has gone up by more than 100 per cent above their respective reserve prices: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nasik, Patna, Pune, Rourkela and Varanasi, which got provisional winning bidders at prices more than double the respective reserve prices. A single channel in Bhubaneshwar created a new record by getting the most competitive bidding increment-wise by going up nine times the reserve price.
The demand in most cities fell by up to three per cent and by four per cent below the excess demand at the price in the 88th round in Hyderabad.
The Percentage Price Increment applicable for the Next Clock Round rose to five each in Jodhpur and Varanasi but was just one in Gauhati. There was no change in the other cities.
The provisional winning price in the top three cities reflected no change: Delhi at Rs 169.16 crore (for just one channel); Mumbai at Rs 122.81 crore (for two channels); and Bengaluru at Rs 109.25 crore.
Kohlapur, which appeared to be the next to enter the Rs 10-crore club remained static for the third day with Rs 9.44 crore though cities like Kanpur, Rajkot, Amritsar and Aurangabad do not seem to be far behind.
Chennai at Rs 53.38 crore, Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Pune at Rs 42.03 crore, Jaipur at Rs 28.34 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 19.04 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore, Cochin at Rs 15.04 crore and Lucknow at Rs 14 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.
