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3G auction: More than a month later bidding picks up, crosses Rs 161 billion
NEW DELHI: Even more than a month of bidding and still the 3G auction shows no signs of stopping. However, it has slowed down to a certain extent.
Delhi, which had reigned over the auction in the first few days, came back to the top with a bid of Rs 31559.7 million even as the total bid stood at just over Rs 161 billion on the 32nd day at the end of 176 rounds today. Mumbai closed at Rs 30589.2 million.
Andhra Pradesh closed at Rs 13327.7 million, Gujarat clocked Rs 10548.7 million, West Uttar Pradesh went up to Rs 5039.3 million and Kolkata clocked Rs 5076.8 million. East Uttar Pradesh rose to Rs 3574 million, Rajasthan was at Rs 3085.3 million, Kerala was at Rs 2973.3 million, Punjab closed at Rs 2779.3 million, Bihar rose to Rs 1898.1 million, Orissa rose sizably to Rs 904.7 million, the North-East rose to Rs 423 million, Assam went up to Rs 410.7 million, and Himachal Pradesh was at Rs 351 million.
The bids for some states remained unchanged: Karnataka at Rs 15642.7 million, Tamil Nadu at Rs 14649.4 million, the rest of Maharashtra at Rs 12453.7 million, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 2583.6 million, Haryana at Rs 2225.8 million, West Bengal at Rs 1236.3 million, and Jammu and Kashmir at Rs 303 million.
With no applications for price increment for tomorrow, the bids for eleven service centres are expected to slow down. These are Mumbai, rest of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam, the North East and Jammu and Kashmir. Service centres like Orissa and Himachal Pradesh are unlikely to see much increase with the price increment for tomorrow’s bid at less than Rs 100,000.
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.
