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3G auction: Bid up 73% to Rs 60.68 bn
NEW DELHI: The pan India bid price at the 3G auction has reached Rs 60.68 billion, 73 per cent up from the base price of Rs 35 billion, after the end of the eighth day. A total of 46 clock rounds have been completed.
Mumbai and Tamil Nadu have joined Delhi with bids for more than Rs 6 billion. The bid for Delhi circle was Rs 6.91 billion, while Mumbai trailed at Rs 6.35 billion and Tamil Nadu Rs 6.06 billion.
The bid for Gujarat steadied at Rs 5.49 billion, lower than the bid for the rest of Maharashtra which closed today at Rs 5.89 billion.
The bid for Andhra Pradesh was at Rs 5.24 billion, lower than Karnataka’s closing bid of Rs 5.39 billion.
Kolkata received a bid of Rs 1.81 billion, only marginally above Saturday’s bid of Rs 1.74 billion.
While east Uttar Pradesh closed with a bid of Rs 2.35 billion, west Uttar Pradesh clocked Rs 2.44 billion. Madhya Pradesh had a bid of Rs 2.23 billion.
Kerala stopped at Rs 2.06 billion, Punjab at Rs 1.34 billion, Haryana at Rs 1.83 billion, and rest of West Bengal at Rs 1.24 billion.
The bids for some states remained unchanged: Rajasthan at Rs 2.21 billion (bid on Saturday); Assam, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir service areas and Himachal Pradesh at Rs 300 million each, the north-east at Rs 303 million, and Bihar at Rs 327.6 million. These states along with Punjab and Haryana are not expected to see any change tomorrow, with no price increment for the next round.
The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications and Vodafone Essar.
The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial 3G operations from 1 September.
The auction, which began on 9 April 9 may take about two weeks to complete and the government is expecting total revenue from the 3G and BWA auctions to go way beyond its earlier estimated figure of Rs 350 billion.
The BWA auction will begin after the 3G auction and 11 telecom companies – Aircel Ltd, Augere (Mauritius), Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Reliance WiMax, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar – have qualified, according to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
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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.
