🔥Detailed Tech Update – 21 September 2025 🚀

Welcome to today’s tech briefing

Today brings a mix of big policy changes, frontier science, and industry shifts. From a landmark visa fee overhaul to new deep-sea mineral exploration contracts and advances in healthcare technology—these are the developments that could reshape sectors from IT services to national research infrastructure.

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Top Headlines

1. The U.S. has imposed a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications effective today, hitting firms that send tech talent abroad. Indian IT companies, which rely heavily on visa mobility, are adjusting strategy—shifting some talent offshore, boosting domestic U.S. hiring, and increasing focus on automation and remote delivery to cope with the new regulation.

2. India’s industry body Nasscom welcomed clarifications from the U.S. that the steep H-1B fee applies only to new applications, not renewals or extensions. This has eased some uncertainty for existing visa holders and firms already operating under U.S. contracts. 

3. India has signed a 15-year deep-sea mining exploration contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exclusive rights to explore polymetallic sulphides in the Indian Ocean. These seabed minerals are important for clean energy and electronics. India now holds the largest exploration area granted by ISA for such resources. 

4. A Partial Solar Eclipse will occur on the night of September 21–22, 2025, visible in locations such as Eastern Australia, Antarctica and New Zealand, but not in India. The maximum eclipse will occur around 1:11 AM IST on September 22. 

5. In healthcare innovation, the DIGI-CARE initiative has been launched in Puducherry with collaboration between ICMR, state health authorities, and JIPMER. It aims to integrate digital platforms and AI/ML tools into routine care to better track and manage non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. 

6. Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has urged students and researchers at IGDTUW to pursue research in emerging technologies including cloud seeding, drone innovations, seismology, and civil engineering. He emphasized both the growth potential and risks (such as misuse of cloud seeding) and called for safeguards/technological “shields.” 

7. The “East Tech 2025” exhibition in Ranchi is progressing with an aim toward ₹1,000 crore defence procurement. The event showcases indigenous defence tech, involving startups, research institutions, and public/private manufacturers under the Make in India initiative. 

8. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) are pulling out funds from Indian equities—about ₹7,945 crore in September so far—bringing the year-to-date net outflow to ₹1.38 lakh crore. Economic and geopolitical uncertainty is being cited as causes.