The full article from the source, titled "Meta and Reliance Industries partner to develop 168 MW, AI-enabled data centre in Gujarat" (referenced in the paper's highlights as "TECH PARTNERSHIP: Reliance, Meta to develop data centre in Jamnagar"), is reproduced below:
Meta and Reliance Industries partner to develop 168 MW, AI-enabled data centre in Gujarat
By Vallari Sanzgiri, Mumbai
Meta Inc is set to have its own 168 MW capacity artificial intelligence-enabled data centre in Jamnagar, set up by Reliance Industries (RIL), within two years.
The data centre, separate from the 1 GW facility that was announced by Reliance in 2025, will act as part of Meta’s global infrastructure, supporting its core business and AI compute needs. As the first built-to-suit (BTS) data centre capacity in India for Meta, the project underlines India’s emergence as a global hub for AI infrastructure.
Meta will lease capacity from the facility, expanding the company’s global infrastructure, supporting its core business and AI compute needs, while RIL will provide end-to-end services for the data centre lifecycle. This includes design, ongoing management of utilities, renewable power supply, network connectivity and fully-managed operational services.
“Building India’s first built-to-suit data centre for a global technology leader of Meta’s scale demonstrates India’s readiness to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution. Jamnagar will become a landmark destination for hyperscale AI computing, and we are proud to partner with Meta to make this vision a reality,” said Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries.
SCALE INFRA
Similarly, Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta, said the facility will help the company scale its AI infrastructure globally while deepening long-term investment in India’s economy.
A BTS facility indicates an intention to host AI models like Llama for its Indian customers and offer the AI infrastructure as a service to India as well as global customers, according to Rajiv Ranjan, Associate Research Director at IDC.
“A 168 MW capacity points to a long-term commitment of Meta to host its AI services here in India. Usually for traditional workloads, the rack power densities range from 5 to 20 kw per rack. For AI workloads, it starts anywhere from 40 kw to up to 150 kw. Meta might be starting with a smaller footprint and scale to 168 MW in a few years depending on AI demand,” he said.
The tech giant is assembling an energy position in India by taking up the single-tenant project at roughly a tenth to a seventh of India’s operational data centre base, while separately backing the country’s renewable energy, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Founder-CEO of Greyhound Research.
The project positions Reliance as a single-window solutions provider for hyperscale AI infrastructure in India. The data centre will be powered by renewable energy and cooled with desalinated seawater, demonstrating both RIL’s and Meta’s commitment to sustainability.
Equity MF inflows slump 40% in May over April
UNCERTAINTIES. Heightened market volatility, FPI exits drag flows to one-year low By Suresh P Iyengar, Mumbai
Volatility in equity markets and concerns over economic growth dampened inflows into mutual fund schemes, including SIPs, in May.
According to AMFI data released on Wednesday, equity inflows fell to a one-year low, dropping 40 per cent to ₹22,908 crore in May from ₹38,440 crore in April, as investor sentiment was hit by a market downturn driven by persistent foreign portfolio outflows and heightened volatility. Inflows into hybrid schemes nearly halved month-on-month (m-o-m) to ₹10,560 crore (from ₹20,565 crore), while debt funds registered an outflow of ₹96,949 crore in May as against an inflow of ₹2.47-lakh crore in April.
SIP inflows also edged down to ₹30,954 crore (from ₹31,115 crore) with the number of contributing accounts slipping marginally to 9.64 crore (from 9.65 crore).
RISING CONFIDENCE
Venkat Chalasani, CEO, AMFI, said, “Despite lower SIP flows, they remain above the ₹30,000-mark, reflecting investor confidence in MFs.” He stated that while there are no absolute data, the majority of fresh SIPs opened are from B30 (beyond top-30) cities, as investors look to reap the benefit of the country’s long-term economic growth potential.
Archit Doshi, Senior Vice-President at PL (Prabhudas Lilladher) AMC, noted that while the m-o-m decline in SIP contributions was marginal, it marked a second consecutive drop, following a 3 per cent decline in April, which he described as "a cause for concern." With flat to negative returns observed in several SIP vintages over the last one-two years, retail investors are viewing sustained allocations as a challenge that is testing their long-term conviction, he said.
NET INFLOWS
Vaibhav Chugh, CEO, Abakkus Mutual Fund, said, “The moderation in net inflows during May reflects a degree of geopolitical uncertainty and investor caution.” He added that the outflows seen in fixed income categories are indicative of liquidity management and corporate treasury requirements, rather than weakening demand. In the current environment, where opportunities exist across market-caps, it becomes increasingly important to rely on experienced investment managers for stock selection, he said.
After 13 months of positive inflows, gold ETFs registered net outflows of ₹725 crore in May (compared to an inflow of ₹3,040 crore in April) as investors preferred to book profit. The hike in import duty to 15 per cent pushed up domestic gold prices despite weak global trends. Silver ETF outflows increased to ₹2,133 crore (from an outflow of ₹127 crore).
Nehal Meshram, Senior Analyst, Morningstar Investment Research India, said, “The reversal in gold ETFs was driven by profit-booking and a shift in investor risk appetite leading to shift away from safe-haven assets.” The rising opportunity cost of holding gold, particularly in an environment of relatively attractive yields in fixed income, also contributed to the pull-back, she added. SIF (Specialised Investment Fund) inflow was steady at ₹1,396 crore in May (₹1,219 crore in April) with AUM increasing 12 per cent to ₹13,814 crore (from ₹12,329 crore).
Here are the reproductions of the two articles requested from the source material:
Despite near-term global uncertainties, long-term investment case for India remains intact, says KKR
By Suresh P Iyengar, Mumbai
Despite near-term global uncertainties, leading global investment firm KKR believes the long-term investment case for India remains intact, positioning the country as a key beneficiary of emerging market consumption growth.
In a report titled The Divergence Conundrum, KKR stated that India is experiencing one of the fastest global expansions in affluent and upper-middle-income households. This trend is creating major opportunities for businesses providing high-quality services and experiences in sectors such as healthcare, financial services, education, travel, sports, entertainment, and leisure.
The report added that increased access to credit, financial products, and digital financial services has accelerated consumption upgrades, expanding the addressable market for Indian businesses. While higher energy prices and artificial intelligence (AI) disruption in legacy IT services are tempering growth in the near term, KKR maintains that the structural case for long-term investment remains solid.
However, the firm cautioned that inflation is likely to remain "stickier than expected" as geopolitical tensions rise and nations prioritize supply chain resilience over efficiency. The report also warned that the global monetary easing cycle is losing momentum, noting that as of May-end, 10% of the world’s top 30 central banks were raising interest rates compared to only 3% at the end of 2025.
“The cycle is not over, but it is becoming more selective,” said Henry McVey, Head of Global Macro and Asset Allocation at KKR. As Asia becomes more self-reliant and intra-regional trade deepens, India is positioned to benefit from significant structural tailwinds.
Zepto’s marketplace pivot may hold key to profitability
By Jyoti Banthia, Bengaluru
As quick commerce company Zepto prepares for its proposed ₹8,010-crore initial public offering (IPO), a significant disclosure in its updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) is its transition to a marketplace-led business model. This shift could have major implications for both its profitability and its regulatory standing.
The company, which recently filed updated IPO papers with SEBI, intends to raise funds through a fresh issue of shares, alongside an offer-for-sale from existing investors like Nexus Venture Partners and Contrary Capital. Zepto plans to use these proceeds to expand its dark-store network, invest in technology and cloud infrastructure, fund lease payments, and pursue strategic acquisitions.
New Revenue Streams
The pivot to a marketplace model marks a change in how Zepto intends to monetize its growing user base. Under this structure, third-party sellers list products on the platform, and Zepto earns income through commissions, advertising, and service fees rather than relying purely on inventory ownership. The company noted it has a limited operating history under this new structure.
This move comes at a critical time. While Zepto more than doubled its operating revenue to ₹22,624 crore in FY26, its losses also widened to ₹5,905 crore due to heavy investments in customer acquisition and logistics.
Capital Efficiency
Industry observers suggest the marketplace model can improve capital efficiency by reducing working-capital requirements and inventory-related risks. Furthermore, these revenue streams typically carry higher margins than direct product sales.
The transition may also help Zepto align with India’s evolving e-commerce regulations, as marketplace structures are often viewed as more compliant with foreign investment norms regarding seller relationships and inventory ownership. For potential investors, this pivot toward a less capital-intensive, higher-margin business model may be as vital as the company's rapid revenue growth.
Banks kick off rate hikes for NRI dollar deposits
Our Bureau Mumbai
Banks have kicked off rate hikes on FCNR (B) US dollar deposits in the three-five years tenor, with interest increased to 6-7 per cent from the earlier 3 per cent levels.
The sharp rise in the interest rates on Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) deposits denominated in US dollars follows the RBI’s measures to bolster dollar inflows, which include bearing the full hedging cost for raising fresh 3/5-year FCNR (B) deposits.
RATES RISE
On an FCNR (B) deposit of up to $1 million and above $1 million in the three years and above but less than four years tenor, State Bank of India (SBI) is now offering interest of 5.25 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively. Earlier, the rate on these deposits, irrespective of the amount, was 3.35 per cent.
On an FCNR (B) deposit of up to $1 million and above $1 million in the four years and above but less than five years tenor, India’s largest bank is quoting interest rates of 5.5 per cent and 5.75 per cent, respectively. The earlier rate was 2.95 per cent.
On an FCNR (B) deposit of up to $1 million and above $1 million of five years tenor, SBI is quoting interest rates of 5.75 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. The earlier interest rate was 3.05 per cent.
“The RBI’s move to attract dollars via FCNR (B) deposits is a win-win for all stakeholders — depositors, banks and the RBI,” said K Arvind, Head – Treasury, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB). He noted that depositors will receive better returns, banks will augment deposits during healthy credit growth, and the central bank can achieve its objective of reducing volatility in the rupee.
Karur Vysya Bank has increased its FCNR(B) US dollar deposit rates for maturities of three to five years to 7 per cent per annum from the earlier 2.63 per cent, effective June 10. TMB has also upped its rates for the same maturity period to 7 per cent from the earlier 3.50-3.90 per cent range.
India’s outward FDI falls 49% in May: RBI
Press Trust of India, Mumbai
India’s total outward foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments declined 49.02 per cent month-on-month to $4.49 billion in May 2026 from $8.84 billion in April. According to RBI data, this drop was primarily driven by lower equity investments, loans, and guarantees issued by Indian companies.
While the month-on-month figures showed a decline, total financial commitments by Indian entities under overseas investment increased 34.6 per cent year-on-year from the $3.34 billion recorded in May 2025.
Breakdown of Overseas Commitments:
- Equity Investments: These dropped sharply by approximately 64.72 per cent, falling to $1,247.82 million in May from $3,537.35 million in April.
- Overseas Loans: Loans extended by Indian companies declined to $632.12 million in May, down from $1,299.69 million the previous month.
- Guarantees Issued: This category, which remains the largest component of India's overseas commitments, fell to $2,608.83 million in May from $3,999.79 million in April, marking a decline of roughly 35 per cent.
Planet sizzles as May becomes 2nd warmest on record globally
The average May 2026 sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for the month at 20.9°C, behind 2024 (20.93°C) By Srikrishnan PC, Chennai
May 2026 was the second warmest ever recorded globally on land and sea, according to a report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The ERA5 record indicates that the average surface air temperature for the month was 15.81°C, which is 0.55°C above the 1991-2020 average and only surpassed by May 2024. This temperature was 1.42°C higher than the estimated average for the pre-industrial period of 1850–1900.
The sea surface temperature (SST) for May 2026 also ranked as the second warmest on record at 20.9°C, narrowly behind the 20.93°C recorded in 2024. During this period, Europe transitioned from unusually cold conditions to one of its earliest and most intense heatwaves on record in Western Europe.
HEAT EXTREMES
The intense heatwave shattered several June records, particularly in France, the UK, Ireland, and the Benelux countries. While the month was drier than average in some regions, other parts of the world experienced contrasting extremes: northwest Europe, Scandinavia, Finland, Turkiye, and the Black Sea region saw above-normal rainfall, which triggered widespread flooding in Turkiye, Bulgaria, and Moldova.
Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF, noted that May 2026 featured near-record temperatures in both the atmosphere and the ocean. She stated, “In Europe, an unusually early and intense heatwave demonstrates how quickly climate extremes are becoming the new normal rather than the exception”. Additionally, SSTs continue to remain very warm over a broad expanse of the globe.
Monsoon stalls, rain belt shifts to South, East India
By Vinson Kurian, Thiruvananthapuram
The belt of heavy to very heavy rainfall has shifted away from India’s West Coast and is now concentrated over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, while extending eastward to the sub-Himalayan districts of West Bengal and Sikkim.
Mumbai, meanwhile, missed its tryst with the monsoon on Wednesday, with forecasts suggesting a further delay of a few days. The northern limit of the monsoon remained stalled for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
MANGALURU IN FOCUS
According to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Mangaluru in coastal Karnataka could receive the heaviest rainfall on Thursday, with the accumulations exceeding 17 cm. Neighbouring north Kerala districts, including Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode and Malappuram, are also expected to receive intense rainfall, while lighter showers may extend southward along the coast up to Alappuzha.
Subdued rainfall over west India has widened the seasonal deficits. During the first nine days of June, rainfall was more than 60 per cent below normal in Saurashtra, Kutch, Konkan, Goa and Madhya Maharashtra. The current forecasts provide little indication of an early return of widespread heavy rain capable of substantially narrowing these deficits.
RAIN FOR KONKAN-GOA
Isolated heavy rainfall is, however, likely over Konkan and Goa on Thursday as a western disturbance moves into the adjoining parts of North-West India.
Over the next six days, isolated to scattered showers are forecast across east Gujarat, Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada, while Saurashtra and Kutch may witness similar activity for three days from Sunday. Thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning and gusty winds, are likely over Konkan and Goa on Thursday, and over Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada through Friday.
‘India has 102 GW floating solar power potential’
New Delhi: Minister for New & Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said that India has a potential for more than 100 GW of floating solar power projects. Releasing a report on floating solar photovoltaics (FSPV) potential in India by the National Institute of Solar Energy on Wednesday, the Minister said that reservoirs and other water bodies are emerging as important assets for clean energy generation through floating solar projects. The NISE study estimates India’s total floating solar potential at around 102.18 GW, with a constraint of using only 20 per cent of the reservoir area.
OUR BUREAU
Planet sizzles as May becomes 2nd warmest on record globally
The average May 2026 sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for the month at 20.9°C, behind 2024 (20.93°C) By Srikrishnan PC, Chennai
May 2026 was the second warmest ever recorded globally on land and sea, according to a report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The ERA5 record indicates that the average surface air temperature for the month was 15.81°C, which is 0.55°C above the 1991-2020 average and only surpassed by May 2024. This temperature was 1.42°C higher than the estimated average for the pre-industrial period of 1850–1900.
The sea surface temperature (SST) for May 2026 also ranked as the second warmest on record at 20.9°C, narrowly behind the 20.93°C recorded in 2024. During this period, Europe transitioned from unusually cold conditions to one of its earliest and most intense heatwaves on record in Western Europe.
HEAT EXTREMES
The intense heatwave shattered several June records, particularly in France, the UK, Ireland, and the Benelux countries. While the month was drier than average in some regions, other parts of the world experienced contrasting extremes: northwest Europe, Scandinavia, Finland, Turkiye, and the Black Sea region saw above-normal rainfall, which triggered widespread flooding in Turkiye, Bulgaria, and Moldova.
Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF, noted that May 2026 featured near-record temperatures in both the atmosphere and the ocean. She stated, “In Europe, an unusually early and intense heatwave demonstrates how quickly climate extremes are becoming the new normal rather than the exception”. Additionally, SSTs continue to remain very warm over a broad expanse of the globe.
How India can protect its digital ecosystem
By Pocket Ravikanth
In May 1940, the world’s military elite believed that the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael was the most impregnable structure ever built. It was a masterpiece of concrete and steel, designed to withstand any imaginable siege. Yet, it fell in just 15 minutes. It wasn’t destroyed by a massive army, but by a handful of paratroopers using a new, secret technology: the shaped charge. The defenders were prepared for a war of attrition; they were erased by a war of speed and specific intelligence.
Last month, the global cybersecurity landscape hit its own Eben-Emael moment. For 27 years, a subtle flaw lay dormant in the code of OpenBSD — an operating system whose entire reputation is built on being the world’s most secure foundation. For nearly three decades, the finest human auditors, state-sponsored “red teams”, and automated scanners looked at that code and saw a fortress. Then came Mythos.
Developed by Anthropic, Mythos is not a chatbot; it is a Reasoning Agent for Cyber-Offense. It did not just “suggest” a bug; it understood the systemic logic of the flaw and autonomously executed a 32-step exploit in seconds. It achieved an 83.1 per cent success rate in reproducing known hacks on its first attempt. This is what I call the “End of Surprise”. When a machine can hunt for “zero-days” (previously unknown flaws) at a scale and speed that humans cannot register, the concept of a periodic security audit is no longer a safety measure. It is a dangerous hallucination.
The shockwaves from Mythos have fundamentally rewritten the geopolitical script. After months of advocating for a “light touch” approach to AI, the Trump administration has executed a stunning pivot towards what can only be described as the Nationalisation of Intelligence.
Reports from Washington suggest a new framework where the Pentagon and the NSA will act as the ultimate gatekeepers for “frontier” AI models. By mandating military-led safety tests before any public release, the US is treating high-level AI as a dual-use weapon system, akin to nuclear enrichment technology. This is “Fortress America” in digital form. The realisation has dawned: in a world of Mythos-class agents, a leaked model is not a commercial loss; it is a national security catastrophe.
For India, however, following this defensive, gatekeeping model would be a historic strategic blunder. We are a nation built on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) — from the UPI rails that power our economy to the Aadhaar stack that defines our identity. Our strength is our openness. If we wait for Western “safety certificates” while our systems remain exposed to the tools they have already unleashed, we are essentially building our own Maginot Line and waiting for the Blitzkrieg.
THE INDIAN VALUATION CLIFF
The threat to India is not just a matter of national security; it is a matter of national business. Our IT services giants — TCS, Infosys, Wipro — have spent three decades building a global empire on the “billable hour”. Thousands of engineers are employed to conduct manual audits, patch vulnerabilities, and maintain legacy code.
Mythos represents a “Valuation Cliff” for this model. If an AI can perform a month’s worth of security auditing in five seconds at near-zero marginal cost, the human-led audit becomes a bottleneck rather than a service. The Indian IT sector must pivot immediately from being “service providers” to “resilience architects”. We must move from charging for the time it takes to fix a bug to charging for the integrity of a system that can defend itself.
THE PHYSICIST’S LENS
As a physicist, I view this crisis through the lens of Epistemic Drift. This is the point at which the complexity of our digital foundations exceeds our human ability to verify their safety. We are building structures we can no longer see through. When we can no longer trust the very foundation of our software because an AI has found a 27-year-old “hole”, the social contract of the digital age begins to fray.
In physics, entropy is the natural slide into disorder. In the digital world, Mythos is an entropy engine. It can find and weaponise disorder faster than we can organise a defence. To counter this, we must stop thinking about “safety” as a lock on a door and start thinking about “resilience” as a biological immune system.
I have often spoken of “sovereign resilience”, but in the wake of Mythos, this must evolve from a policy suggestion into a biological necessity for the state. This requires a fundamental shift in our national architecture.
First, we must acknowledge that sovereignty is compute. India cannot be a “Tier-2” participant in restricted US programs like Project Glasswing. We must use initiatives like BharatGen to build sovereign “Defensive LLMs”. These are not chatbots for the public; they are internal “Guard Dogs” trained specifically on the India Stack to hunt for vulnerabilities and simulate attacks 24/7. We must be the first to find our own flaws.
Second, we must move toward Autonomous Self-Healing. In a world of autonomous attacks, a human “admin” logging in to fix a server is a relic of the past. Our power grids, our telecommunications, and our financial stacks must be redesigned to detect an anomaly and “re-wire” their own logic in real-time. This is not about building better firewalls; it is about building a system that can “bleed” and still keep running.
Finally, we need a Post-Audit Regulatory Framework. Our regulators, including the CS Setty Committee looking into banking risks, must stop focusing on the “prevention” of attacks. In the age of Mythos, the attack is an automated certainty. The only metric that matters now is Time-to-Resilience. How many milliseconds does it take for a bank to detect a breach, isolate it, and return to a “verified” state? That is the only audit that matters in 2026.
THE NEW ATMOSPHERE
History shows us that whenever technology increases the speed of the attack, the only way to survive is to increase the speed of the adaptation. The tank made the trench obsolete; the aircraft made the battleship a target; and now, autonomous AI has made the static firewall a ghost of the past.
The Mythos event is not a software update; it is a change in the digital atmosphere. It is the end of the era where we could afford to be surprised. For India to lead, we must stop trying to build better walls. We must build a more agile, self-correcting nation.
In the age of autonomous intelligence, the only true fortress is the ability to adapt faster than the machine. The old walls have already been bypassed. It is time for India to learn how to move.
The writer is a physicist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a columnist on AI, infrastructure, and global systems.
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