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Govt not to impose restrictions on use of Internet: Sibal
NEW DELHI: Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal today said there would be no restrictions whatsoever on the use of internet.
Addressing a curtain raiser ceremony of ‘India Internet Governance Conference (IIGC)‘ to be held next month here, he appealed to the stakeholders to help evolve a consensus so that a clear-cut roadmap could be developed for the sector. The curtain raiser was organised by FICCI in association with Ministry of Communications & IT and Internet Society.
Sibal described the internet as an indispensable tool for governance in a free democracy, a tool that could help deliver services to the people transparently and eliminate the go-betweens between the government and the people.
The theme of IIGC is ‘Internet for Social and Economic Development: Building the Future Together‘ which would provide a platform for an open and inclusive policy dialogue involving the government, business, civil society, technical community and academia. It will traverse a wide range of topics: from network neutrality, to global internet governance models; from effective management of the transition to IPv6, to making broadband access available to all; from the challenges the internet poses to traditional media, to the challenges hate speech online poses for all.
R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & information Technology, Government of India, stated that internet today impacts both the users and non-users. With the use of internet, public interest is at stake and all stakeholders need to reconcile the divergent issues and then take them up appropriately at the international forum.
N Ravi Shankar, Administrator, USOF and CEO, Bharat Broadband Project, said that under Sibal‘s guidance National Optical Fibre Network for Broadband Connectivity to Panchayats and National Telecom Policy 2012 have been rolled out to embrace the internet revolution in the country. The National Optical Fibre Network has been termed as a Public-Private-Panchayat partnership as the effort is to connect the village Panchayats with the rest of the country.
Anu Madgavkar, India Head and Senior Fellow, McKinsey Global Institute, remarked, “India ranks low when it comes to internet penetration and contributes directly 1.6 per cent of GDP which amounts to $30 billion. It could reach $100 billion by 2015 if we are able to connect the nation virtually.”
To achieve this target five things needed are: internet reaching the smaller towns, cities and villages; reduction in total cost of ownership; enabling large scale digital literacy; increase in the range of internet use in new areas and a favourable business environment.
FICCI Vice President Sidharth Birla pointed out the challenges that internet is posing today. With the increased penetration of internet, we need higher standards of governance to ensure cyber security. The stakeholders should aim to provide broadband accessibility at a reasonable price, he said.
Virat Bhatia, Chairman, Communications & Digital Economy Committee, FICCI, said, “The Government‘s initiative ‘Bharat Broadband‘ can only be successful if it goes out of Delhi and reaches the interiors of the country.”
FICCI, he said, had already initiated a drive under which multi-stakeholder meetings were being organised with respect to internet governance. He invited all stakeholders to participate and voice their opinions and concerns freely in the conference to be held in October.
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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.
