The country’s official 6G roadmap, the Bharat 6G Vision, was launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2023
In sum – what to know:
India reviews 6G progress – Minister Pemmasani evaluated over 100 government-funded R&D projects under the Bharat 6G Mission, emphasizing outcome-focused efforts and global standard participation.
Focus on innovation and sovereignty – The government sees 6G as key to India’s digital leadership, targeting applications like smart agriculture, remote healthcare, and terabit-speed AI-native networks.
Global links and accountability – India is partnering with countries like Japan and Finland on 6G and will increase oversight of funded projects with routine progress reviews and ecosystem engagement.
India’s Minister of State for Communications, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, recently chaired a review meeting with the main aim of assessing the current status of the Bharat 6G Mission, the government initiative through which the Asian nation seeks to be at the forefront of 6G development.
The focus of assessment works was on research initiatives, global partnerships in standard-setting and the practical challenges facing the domestic telecom ecosystem.
In a post on social media platform X, Pemmasani said the session aimed to ensure the Indian government’s efforts were “outcome-oriented.” He noted that the discussion included India’s involvement in international 6G standardization efforts, as well as progress on over 100 research and development proposals funded by the government.
“We also examined how far we’ve moved towards our objectives and looked at the difficulties innovators and stakeholders are encountering,” Pemmasani wrote.
The minister also stressed that the country’s leadership in future 6G networks will be key to maintaining digital independence and advancing national technological goals. “The government is committed to making India a global hub for 6G innovation,” he said.
India’s official 6G roadmap, the Bharat 6G Vision, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2023. The document outlines goals for India to play a significant role in global telecom R&D, aiming to own at least 10% of 6G-related intellectual property and to develop indigenous 6G solutions.
At the meeting, the Indian official reviewed the status of R&D proposals funded through the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) and similar initiatives run by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
India’s Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia outlined the country’s ambitious telecommunications plans during a presentation to journalists at Mobile World Congress 2025, which took place in Barcelona, Spain, highlighting India’s goal of becoming a leader in future 6G technology.
He noted that India’s Bharat 6G Alliance had signed several agreement with countries such as United States, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Finland, Brazil and the U.K to boost research activities in the 6G field.
The Bharat 6G Alliance is an initiative of the Indian industry, academia, national research institutions and standards organizations; its focus is on designing, developing and deploying technology for future 6G systems, through promotion of an ecosystem for research, design, development, field testing, security, certification and manufacturing of telecom solutions.
Last year, India’s Bharat 6G Alliance had signed agreements with 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA) and 6G Flagship-Oulu University to boost research activities in the 6G field.
The Bharat 6G Alliance and the 6G-IA signed a MoU to explore collaboration opportunities on several areas including a “vision for 6G,” requirements for 6G, architecture and use cases, identification of common interests, building of consensus and collaboration to support development of globally harmonized standards for Beyond 5G and 6G and promoting cooperation among European and Indian R&D organizations and industries.
6G systems are expected to be launched commercially by 2030; the first phase of standardization will likely start from 2025, leading to the first 6G specification in 3GPP Release 21 by 2028.
