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3G auction in final lap, price reaches Rs 93.3 billion
NEW DELHI: The value of 3G auction picked up slightly on day 17 and has gone up to over Rs 93.30 billion at the end of 100 rounds, even as it was announced that ‘the Activity Requirement will be set to 90 per cent in Clock Round 104.’
The bid for Mumbai continues to top with Rs 14.91 billion, ahead of Delhi‘s Rs 14.17 billion.
The rest of Maharashtra closed at Rs 9.51 billion, while Andhra Pradesh was at Rs 8.43 billion. Tamil Nadu clocked Rs 8.25 million while Karnataka closed at Rs 7.56 billion. Gujarat closed at Rs 7.40 billion, while Kolkata clocked Rs 2.72 billion.
The bids for most states are expected to rise very little. These include Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Punjab, West and East Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh.
While West Uttar Pradesh clocked Rs 3.19 billion, Haryana rose marginally to Rs 2.22 billion, and the North-East to Rs 312 million. Rajasthan rose to Rs 2.63 billion and Bihar to Rs 354.4 million.
The bids for some states remained unchanged: Kerala at Rs 2.72 billion, Punjab at Rs 1.49 billion, East Uttar Pradesh at Rs 2.60 billion, Assam and Orissa at Rs 309 million, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 2.36 billion, West Bengal at Rs 1.24 billion, and Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh service areas at Rs 300 million each.
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.
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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.
