Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Tuesday reviewed the progress of the Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA), urging stakeholders to benchmark India’s advances against global 6G developments and strengthen collaboration among its working groups to accelerate the country’s ambition of becoming a global leader in next-generation telecommunications.
The review meeting, held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, was attended by Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Telecom Secretary Amit Agrawal and representatives from industry, academia, startups and research institutions.
The discussions focused on the progress made by the Bharat 6G Alliance towards achieving the vision outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the ‘Bharat 6G Vision’ document released on March 22, 2023, which envisages India becoming a front-line contributor to the design, development and deployment of 6G technologies by 2030.
During the meeting, the Ministry of Communications reviewed the work of the Alliance’s seven specialised working groups covering spectrum, technology, device manufacturing, applications, sustainability, outreach, and 6G use cases and revenue streams.
According to the Ministry, member organisations of the Bharat 6G Alliance have collectively filed more than 7,700 patents related to 5G and 6G technologies, including over 4,400 foreign patent filings, highlighting the growing strength of India’s research and innovation ecosystem.
India’s participation in the global 3GPP standardisation body has also expanded significantly, with the number of Indian participants rising from 717 in 2020 to 1,787 in 2025, while technical contributions increased from 196 to 2,943 during the same period.
The meeting also reviewed updates from the Telecom Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) on 6G standardisation efforts, with participants stressing the importance of ensuring that Indian innovations, technologies and use cases contribute to globally accepted 6G standards.
Quarterly presentations by the Alliance’s working groups highlighted progress in indigenous research and development, spectrum planning, energy-efficient technologies, manufacturing capabilities, device ecosystems and emerging 6G applications. Participants also discussed strengthening linkages between research, innovation, standards development, manufacturing and commercial deployment to build a robust end-to-end telecommunications ecosystem.
Addressing the gathering, Scindia congratulated the Bharat 6G Alliance for meeting its targets and called for greater coordination across the seven working groups.
“There has been a tremendous amount of progress since the last meeting. I would like to congratulate the team on accomplishing set targets and look forward to achieving next set of objectives in a dynamic manner. We should see where all other international grouping are in their progress of achieving 6G and how we compare to them. We should also identify areas of intersections amongst the working groups and how there can be scope of collaborations amongst them,” he said.
The minister said India’s 6G journey should be anchored in indigenous research, innovation, strong participation in global standards, domestic manufacturing, sustainable technologies and international partnerships. He also underscored the need to build a secure, resilient, sustainable and inclusive telecommunications ecosystem capable of supporting India’s digital ambitions while contributing to global technological advancement.
Scindia noted stakeholders’ suggestions for greater government support and stressed the importance of creating a strong ecosystem encompassing academia, research and development, startups and world-class testing infrastructure to strengthen India’s capabilities in next-generation communication technologies.
Delivering the keynote address, MoS Pemmasani said collaboration among government, industry, academia and research institutions would be critical to building a future-ready telecommunications ecosystem.
“I am pleased to see the remarkable progress made by the Bharat 6G Alliance in bringing together industry, academia, startups and research institutions to shape India’s 6G future. The collective efforts of its stakeholders and working groups have laid a strong foundation for innovation, indigenous technology development and global standardisation. As we move forward, it is essential to further deepen collaboration across all stakeholders, strengthen coordination among the working groups, and accelerate research, testing and standards development,” he said.
The event also saw the presentation of the 5G Labs Excellence Awards, recognising institutions for outstanding performance in utilisation, engagement, innovation and overall excellence in 5G and 5G-Advanced technologies during January-June 2026.
IIITDM Kurnool emerged as the top performer, securing first place in all four award categories—5G Lab Excellence, 5G Lab Utilisation Excellence, 5G Lab Engagement Excellence, and 5G Lab Innovation Excellence.
Other awardees included DKTE Textile & Engineering Institute, Maharashtra, IIT Roorkee, IIT Ropar, PEC Chandigarh, THDC Institute of Hydropower Engineering & Technology, Tehri, and IIIT Delhi.
The review meeting concluded with an open interaction among participants on emerging technologies, standardisation, spectrum management, sustainable communications, manufacturing, applications and mechanisms to deepen collaboration across the 6G ecosystem.
The Ministry said the deliberations reaffirmed the government’s commitment to developing an indigenous, globally interoperable and future-ready telecommunications ecosystem, positioning India as a major global hub for 6G innovation, standards and deployment by the end of the decade.
