Zoho Wins Indigenous Web Browser Development Challenge

SUMMARY

The initiative was aimed at fostering innovation and bolstering digital independence by developing an indigenous web browser under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative

While Team Ping secured second spot, Team Ajna got the third position. The browsers are compatible with iOS, Windows, and Android

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government aims to transform India into a product nation from a service nation

SaaS unicorn Zoho has emerged as the winner of the electronics and IT ministry’s (MeitY’s) Indian Web Browser Development Challenge (IWBDC).

The initiative was aimed at fostering innovation and bolstering digital independence by developing an indigenous web browser under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. The challenge was conducted by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Bengaluru.

The developed browsers are compatible with iOS, Windows, and Android, ensuring broad accessibility and usability across devices.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the names of the winners of the challenge. While Team Ping secured second spot, Team Ajna got the third position.

Zoho was given an award of INR 1 Cr and the first and second runners-up received INR 75 Lakh and INR 50 Lakh, respectively.

“A special mention was made for “Jio Vishwakarma” for their design of browsers in varied platforms,” the IT ministry said in a statement.

Speaking at the occasion, Vaishnaw said the government aims to transform India into a product nation from a service nation, which is self-reliant in technology, hardware and software solutions.

He also called for accelerating the journey from innovation to large-scale productisation for widespread adoption of homegrown digital solutions and encourage startups and industry to develop competitive, secure, and scalable technologies that contribute to India’s self-reliance.

Vaishnaw said that the development of the web browser marks the first significant step towards the creation of an entire Indian digital stack.

Under the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives, the Centre has been promoting homegrown digital solutions. The India Stack, comprising Aadhar, account aggregator framework, DigiLocker, among others, has helped improve governance services and digitisation in the country.

Meanwhile, amid the rapid adoption of GenAI, the Centre is also looking at building homegrown foundational AI models under the IndiaAI Mission. Yesterday, it was reported that the Mission has received over 180 applications across two rounds for developing indigenous foundational models.

MeitY is looking to further step up its AI initiatives through a new partnership between the IndiaAI Mission and the Gates Foundation.