Design Futures India
This week’s lead signal · AI & Emerging Tech
India Steps Back From the AI Infrastructure Arms Race
India’s Economic Survey 2026 warns the global rush to build massive AI infrastructure could echo the excesses that preceded the 2008 crisis — a deliberate turn from scale to restraint.
Source: NDTV
In this issue
Design Act reset · Central Vista’s parking gap · 3nm chip ambition · 20 years of Pune Design Festival · Solar-by-default codes · Creativity as infrastructure
Browse the signals
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Design as documentation: A weave lost during partition
In 2018, NID textile students Arjunvir Singh and Rashi Sharma went looking for Majnu Khes, the most intricate form of a Punjabi double-cloth weave.
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Are craftspersons real designers? The story of Vimor Museum
At the Vimor Museum of Living Textiles in Bengaluru, revivalist Pavithra Muddaya has spent five decades reviving forgotten South Indian handloom weaves.
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What’s in a name? On India renaming cities and landmarks
A gazette notification can rename a state, a station, or a road overnight.
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Indian IT confronts an identity crisis as AI reshapes work
For more than three decades, India’s IT industry embodied one of the most celebrated stories of globalisation.
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Is India’s electoral roll being redesigned?
The voter list is being rebuilt.
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India launches a new aadhar app: Share only what is required
For years, Aadhaar trained us to over-share.
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Delhi is designing building approvals and redesigning access
The Delhi Development Authority launched an AI-driven single-window system for building permits under the Online Building Permit System (OBPS).
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When Design enters the financial vocabulary
In a speech delivered at Columbia University, RBI Deputy Governor Swaminathan J said banking resilience is “not an accident of growth” — it must be designed.
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CBSE is teaching AI to students before the basics are met
CBSE has introduced Artificial Intelligence and Computational Thinking (AI&CT) as a mandatory for Classes 3–8 from the 2026-27 academic session.
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Designing intelligence responsibly may matter more than owning the biggest machines.
The signal — from DFI #018, on India’s AI restraint
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