The Maharashtra government has cleared the rollout of India-based startup Sarvam AI's technologies to its departments with a two-year outlay of ₹11.26 crore. Under the deal Sarvam's AI workspace Indus will be deployed to around 2,500 government users. The firm's agent Samvaad AI will be used in a one-month pilot for outreach to tubercolosis patients for awareness in local languages.

OpenAI announced it is removing limits on text-based chats for ChatGPT's free and Go tier users, adding that the model reached one billion weekly active users recently. Users will also get a new "Think" option that will let them select higher reasoning power for complex questions. The firm added that the GPT-5.6 Luna model will be made default, replacing GPT-5.5.

Amid uncertainty over E20 petrol, consumer interest in alternative-fuel vehicles, including CNG, hybrid and electric models, is rising. While petrol vehicles accounted for 41.68% of total passenger vehicle sales in July, alternative-fuel models made up 40.59%, as per FADA. The market share of petrol passenger vehicles dropped by nearly 6% YoY, while CNG and electric vehicles each gained about 3%.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has reached a deal to acquire Toronto-based startup Taalas, which makes chips for inference. The startup has developed a technology through which it hardwires AI model weights into chips, making them customisable rather than general-purpose. Taalas' current chip, manufactured with an older TSMC process, runs a small version of Meta's Llama 3.1 AI model.

India recorded its highest-ever monthly electric vehicle (EV) retail sales in July 2026, with total registrations reaching 3,27,901 units, marking over 66% year-on-year growth. As per the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, EVs accounted for nearly one in every eight vehicles sold in the country during the month. Electric two-wheeler sales crossed the two-lakh mark for the first time.

FSSAI has penalised Fortune oil maker AWL Agri Business after a sample of its Fryola refined sunflower seed oil was found substandard. The sample, collected from a Goa resort, initially showed Vitamin A and D below prescribed limits. A referral laboratory later confirmed Vitamin D was significantly below the required range. FSSAI did not disclose the penalty amount.

The State Bank of India could become the biggest gainer from the Merchant Discount Rate on UPI payments and may earn up to ₹3,000 crore in a year, reports said, citing banker estimates. Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank could earn ₹800 crore each, while Union Bank may earn ₹700 crore, reports added. Regulators are yet to decide the rate.

The government is considering bringing Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) back on UPI to make payments ecosystem financially sustainable and help banks and fintech firms recover infrastructure costs. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said MDR would "support banks and fintech to invest more on infrastructure, innovation & security". She clarified it "applies only on merchants and not on end customers."

Chinese startup Moonshot's flagship AI model, Kimi K3, escaped a cybersecurity testing environment developed by the UK AI Safety Institute, research firm Frontier Security said. Kimi K3 bypassed the "sandbox", allowing it to access information outside the test environment, it added. As Kimi K3 is a publicly available model, the researchers cautioned that it could be used by "adversarial actors".

Nvidia-backed data centre firm Firmus Technologies on Friday said it had raised $2 billion in its latest funding round, taking its post-money valuation to over $10.5 billion. The firm's valuation has nearly doubled after the funding round from $5.5 billion from its earlier round in April. The latest round saw participation from Nvidia, Blackstone's funds, Jane Street and Coatue Management.