With seven new corridors, India will be 100% atmanirbhar in making Bullet trains, says Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw
Indigenous technologies will be used in the seven high-speed rail corridors newly announced in the latest Budget, and India will soon have its own bullet train, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, and Electronics & Information Technology said in an interview with The Indian Express. While India's first bullet train project -- the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail is under construction -- the government has announced Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi and Varanasi-Siliguri high-speed rail corridors as "Growth-Connectors". He said that the Indian Railways has fully understood the complexities of high-speed rail systems and is ready to implement them independently. Vaishnaw also noted that land acquisition would be one of the main challenges for the project and said that all states should support it, as this is what "people deserve and desire". Edited Excerpts: What was the rationale behind choosing the seven corridors for the next phase of the Bullet train project? High-speed rail is a major game changer. Among these seven corridors, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru can be called the high-speed diamond (or triangle). All three are major economic centres. Connecting them will not only improve connectivity but also trigger new development all along these corridors. If we look at the Tokyo-Osaka high-speed rail in Japan, all the cities along the route -- Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Kyoto, and Osaka -- have witnessed tremendous economic activity. In India, the first corridor connecting Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, and Ahmedabad will see the same kind of development. Thus, the entire corridor will extend from Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai, along with the Hyderabad-Bengaluru corridor. In the North, the Delhi-Varanasi-Patna-Siliguri corridor will also be developed. Altogether, these new corridors will span about 4,000 km and involve an estimated investment of Rs 16 lakh crore. How will these projects be financed? That is in the process and the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) are being prepared. The work will be done in a focused manner. Story continues below this ad Will the new corridors be developed with foreign collaboration like Japan being a partner in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor? That has not been decided yet. In the first project, we collaborated with Japan. But we have learnt a lot also. There is a steep learning curve. But now we have absorbed and understood the complexity of high-speed trains. For these seven projects, indigenous technologies will be used. A lot of construction technologies such as track works, slab, viaduct, pillars, foundation have been developed in India. Along with this, overhead electrical, advanced stations, signalling systems, all of this will be designed and prepared in India. Even the Bullet trains, in future, will be manufactured in India. How is the Bullet train different from other trains? There are three important factors in these high-speed trains. The most important one is the interaction of wheel and track. When the wheel is spinning at such high speed, the interaction with the track is extremely complex. And its alignment must be proper even to the last millimetre of the stretch. Second one is the Pantograph. Because when the Pantograph collects the current at that speed, over 300 kmph, the design has to be extremely good. Third is the design of the train itself, because when the Bullet train runs at this speed, it creates a vacuum. This is why it should be a complete air tight design. Story continues below this ad Will the train being manufactured by BEML be replicated as India's Bullet train? That's correct. Which high-speed rail system -- Chinese, Japanese, or South Korean -- was considered for the seven corridors? We have to work according to our country's needs. We have a very unique geography. Our culture, the way our cities have developed, the way our states are organised, we have to keep all this in mind to design a high-speed corridor. On the technology part, we must have our own technology by learning the best from each part of the world. We should learn from wherever we get the best solutions and develop our own technology. We will be 100% atmanirbhar in the high-speed corridor. The propulsion system -- including the converter, inverter, and motors that run and control the train -- is being manufactured in India and exported to Europe and the US. Story continues below this ad The first Bullet train project has been delayed. What will be an action plan to get the seven new corridors completed on time? In the first project, the design was very complex. Initially, it was planned on an embankment, similar to Japan. However, this would have disconnected villages on either side of the track and raised environmental concerns, similar to those seen in Kerala's SilverLine project (K-Rail). Later, it was decided to construct the corridor on a viaduct, and a detailed design was prepared. However, two years were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and another two years were lost because of the denial of Maharashtra government under (the then Chief minister) Uddhav Thackeray. Once the work began, it progressed at a rapid pace, with an average of 15 km being completed each month. Wouldn't land acquisition be a hurdle for these projects as well? Story continues below this ad Definitely, that is a factor. But I am confident that all the states will support this because this is something which people deserve and desire. Explained | In Budget's capex push, focus on Railways and roads continues: 7 more high-speed rail corridors announced What about the earlier prepared DPRs for the seven projects? Have they been put on the back burner? No. These projects are largely based on the earlier DPRs. The overall thinking was to ensure that at least one project comes up in each part of the country. This has been planned keeping major cities and strategic considerations in mind. Who will bear the cost overrun of the first project escalated from Rs 1.08 lakh crore to Rs 1.98 lakh crore? That is yet to be decided. Story continues below this ad What are the benefits of the new East-West dedicated freight corridor? There are many industries in the hinterlands of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha, including steel plants, power plants, mines, and manufacturing units. The aim is to connect all of these to ports on both the East and West coasts. On the East Coast, several lines -- Barbil, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur -- lead to Paradip. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will be connected to the West Coast. A junction near Surat will link the Western and East-West corridors. The Vadhvan Port, set to become one of the top ports in the world, will also be connected. The DPR of this project also is being prepared. The Budget data shows that AC-3 tier passenger numbers are slipping. Is that a cause for concern since it generates Railways' highest passenger revenue? Story continues below this ad A major focus is on increasing general coaches to ensure dignified travel for low-income passengers. The induction of 17,000 general and sleeper coaches is underway, and work on nearly 4,000 of them is already complete. As soon as more Vande Bharat Sleeper trains are rolled out, these numbers will also increase. A total of 200 Vande Bharat Sleeper trains are being manufactured. How will you achieve diversification of freight? Will e-commerce see an increase? We are doing commodity-wise reform. The first reform we did was in the cement sector. We introduced a specialised container and flat freight rate for cement. Similarly, the work on automobiles is ongoing. Along with this, there will be reforms for steel, containers, parcels that will be rolled out in the coming months. We will do 52 reforms this year. The nature of the train is that it is always hub-to-hub unlike road, which is door-to-door. A ship is always major hub to major hub, and the same goes with the airways. So, in the train, we focus on making it multi-modal and that is being done.
International bodies endorse core principles for future 6G networks under New Delhi declaration: MoS Communications
New Delhi [India], February 12 : The Government of India has reinforced its commitment to shaping the future of global telecommunications through the New Delhi Declaration, adopted at the Bharat 6G Symposium 2025. Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, said that through the joint statement titled the New Delhi Declaration at the Bharat 6G Symposium 2025, the international bodies endorsed the core principles for future 6G networks. In his reply, Sekhar said, "The endorsed principles for 6G networks include being trusted and secure, resilient and reliable, open and interoperable, inclusive and affordable, and sustainable. The declaration also positions 6G as a global public good, reflecting a collective international vision for next-generation connectivity."
You Don't Need to Buy Nvidia Stock. Here's Why
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been one the biggest success stories in the stock market. After having spent the first 20 years of its existence as a publicly traded company producing solid but not necessarily remarkable gains, the graphics processing unit pioneer finally hit its stride as the dual trends of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence powered demand of its chips. Now, Nvidia is the world's biggest company by market capitalization, and many investors believe the best is yet to come. In this series on Nvidia for the Voyager Portfolio, you've already learned about the history behind the chipmaker and the financial success it has generated in recent years. Today, this final installment in the three-part series looks at Nvidia's growth plans and concludes with an explanation of why many investors don't need to worry about purchasing shares of the stock. Nvidia has benefited greatly from voracious demand among hyperscalers and other tech first-adopters. These customers have done whatever it takes to obtain Nvidia chips, and the result has been huge gains in sales and profits for the chipmaker. The question, though, is whether those trends will continue. Nvidia definitely believes so, as it points to three key platform shifts that look likely to provide ongoing demand for years to come. Accelerated computing has become a staple of the tech industry, with those who fail to make aggressive capital expenditures to get it risking falling behind their peers. Second, increasingly powerful AI models require more and more computing power, and Nvidia remains the primary source of the most effective semiconductors to power those models. And finally, agentic AI applications represent the next stage of AI evolution, as users voluntarily choose to give up their oversight role and turn over full responsibility for key business actions entirely to artificial intelligence. In terms of capital, Nvidia believes that AI infrastructure spending will increase from current levels approaching $1 trillion to between $3 trillion and $4 trillion by 2030. Generative AI, agentic AI, robotics, and even claims about the end of Moore's law of computing are all drivers of potential growth for Nvidia. With generative AI token generation doubling every two months and users expanding into more real-world applications that Nvidia refers to as physical AI, the future still looks bright for the company. So given all the positive things going for Nvidia, it might not make much sense to learn that the Voyager Portfolio has no intention of adding the AI chipmaker's stock to its holdings. The reason isn't that the company is necessarily a poor investment. Rather, it's that most investors don't need to purchase individual shares of Nvidia because they already have plenty of exposure to the company's stock indirectly through mutual funds and ETFs. Consider the following: The purpose of the Voyager Portfolio is to highlight companies that investors don't know much about and are unlikely to own. Nvidia meets neither of those tests. That doesn't make it a bad investment, but it does make in unsuitable for this portfolio. And if you have a lot of your money in index mutual funds and ETFs, you might not need any more exposure to Nvidia either. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now... and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $431,111!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,105,521!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 906% -- a market-crushing outperformance compared to 195% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. Dan Caplinger has positions in Nvidia and Vanguard Information Technology ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Why Is 8x8 (EGHT) Stock Rocketing Higher Today
Shares of cloud communications provider 8x8 (NASDAQ:EGHT) jumped 43.8% in the afternoon session after the company reported strong fourth-quarter 2025 results that beat Wall Street's expectations and offered an optimistic outlook. For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, the cloud communications provider announced revenue of $185.1 million, a 3.4% increase year-over-year. The company significantly beat profit expectations, posting non-GAAP earnings of $0.12 per share against estimates of $0.09. Management highlighted accelerating demand for its AI-driven customer experience tools, which contributed to the strong performance. Adding to the positive news, 8x8 also issued revenue guidance for the next quarter that was 3.2% above what analysts had projected, signaling confidence in its near-term outlook. Is now the time to buy 8x8? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. What Is The Market Telling Us 8x8's shares are extremely volatile and have had 46 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for 8x8 and indicate this news significantly impacted the market's perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was about 22 hours ago when the stock dropped 5.8% on the news that fears of disruption from artificial intelligence spooked investors, leading to a broad-based sell-off. The market witnessed a "basket-style reaction," a term for when investors reduce exposure to an entire segment without differentiating between individual company business models. The negative sentiment was widespread, pulling down all of the Magnificent Seven stocks and sending the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector down nearly 3%. 8x8 is up 26.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $2.40 per share, it is still trading 31% below its 52-week high of $3.47 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of 8x8's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $68.92. Do you want to know what moves the business you care about? Add them to your StockStory watchlist and every time a stock significantly moves, we provide you with a timely explanation straight to your inbox. It's free and will only take you a second.
Pakistan, Kazakhstan reaffirm to strengthen strategic partnership
Pakistan and Kazakhstan have reaffirmed to further strengthen their strategic partnership. The resolve was expressed during a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and his counterpart of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Islamabad today. The two Presidents first held a tête-à-tête meeting, during which they exchanged views on key bilateral, regional and international issues, which was followed by an extended meeting with their respective delegations. Speaking on the occasion, President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan and Kazakhstan share a firm commitment to broadening cooperation across political, economic and regional domains, while affirming Pakistan's readiness to work closely with the country to advance shared goals of peace, connectivity and sustainable development. He said Pakistan and Kazakhstan share a relationship rooted in mutual trust, shared values and a common vision for regional prosperity. He noted that the visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the first by a Kazakh head of state in over two decades, has provided a timely opportunity to reinvigorate bilateral ties and translate political goodwill into concrete outcomes through expanded cooperation and stronger institutional linkages. Highlighting economic engagement, the President observed that while bilateral trade has registered growth in recent years, it remains well below its true potential. Asif Ali Zardari expressed confidence that the Roadmap for Trade and Economic Cooperation 2025-2027, together with agreements on transit trade, customs cooperation and banking, would help remove operational bottlenecks and open new avenues for trade, investment and business-to-business collaboration. He also underscored the importance of leveraging Pakistan's facilities and frameworks in areas such as energy, agriculture, mining, information technology and defence production. President Zardari underscored the centrality of regional connectivity in strengthening Pakistan-Kazakhstan relations. He welcomed progress on rail and road linkages, including cooperation on the CASA railway alignment and effective utilization of Quadrilateral Transit Trade Agreement routes and noted that enhanced connectivity, supported by improved air links and access to Pakistani ports, would not only boost bilateral trade but also contribute to wider regional integration and economic stability. The two leaders welcomed the signing of a substantial number of bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding, as well as steps aimed at strengthening bilateral linkages. They expressed the confidence that these outcomes would provide renewed momentum to mutual ties and help realize the significant untapped potential of economic cooperation. Exchanging views on regional and international developments, President Asif Ali Zardari reiterated Pakistan's commitment to peace, dialogue and respect for international law. He stressed the need for collective efforts to promote stability in South Asia and the broader region and emphasized that regional challenges should be addressed through cooperation rather than confrontation. In his remarks, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country attaches great importance to its relations with Pakistan and regards the partnership as a key pillar of regional cooperation. He expressed satisfaction over the positive trajectory of bilateral ties. He reaffirmed Kazakhstan's commitment to working closely with Pakistan to strengthen connectivity, expand economic cooperation and promote peace and stability in the region. The Kazakh President noted that several prominent Kazakh business leaders, including three billionaires, were part of his delegation and said that the target of one billion dollars in bilateral trade was achievable. He also welcomed greater numbers of Pakistani students and tourists to Kazakhstan. The two leaders expressed confidence that the visit would open a new chapter in Pakistan-Kazakhstan relations and agreed to maintain close coordination to advance shared goals of connectivity, economic cooperation and regional stability. Later, both sides held meeting in extended form.
