HYDERABAD l Thursday l July 16, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION ICC makes significant changes to 2027 50-over World Cup With less than 15 months to go, governing body changes competition format to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia ‘Super Series’, 2 groups of 6 and Super 7s changes in t20 World Cup format as well Earlier, the event had two seven-team groups followed by a Super 6s and semifinals. Now, 12th, 13th, and 14th teams will play Super Series with only one of them joining the other 11 teams. From there, top seven teams will move to Super 7s, to be played in round-robin before semifinal and final. The ICC said this change will ‘enhance consequence at the early stage’ ■ ■ Instead of four five-team groups, the 20-team tournament in 2028 will see five groups of four teams with top two advancing to Super 10, with five teams per group (2026 edition had a Super 8 stage) The top team from each group in the Super 10s will enter semifinal, while second and third will play eliminator for a spot in the last four 57 total number of matches in new 50-over World Cup format CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI `1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 gets Cabinet’s stamp Major boost to domestic semiconductor chip design and manufacturing ecosystem R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi `62,500 crore for mobile phone making in a major push to India’s semiconductor ambitions, the CabiIn a bid to make India a net on Wednesday approved an global hub for mobile phone outlay of `1.27 lakh crore for manufacturing, the govt the second phase of the Semiapproved the Mobile Phone con India programme (Semicon Manufacturing Scheme with India 2.0) to strengthen the doan outlay of `62,500 crore. mestic chip ecosystem. The scheme will be Allocation for the second implemented over 5 years, phase of the mission is higher from FY27 to FY31 | P10 than the `76,000 crore earmarked under the first phase launched in December 2021 to 28 nm to 90 nm chips. attract global semiconductor Minister for Electronics and companies to set up manufac- Information Technology Ashturing facilities in India. wini Vaishnaw said incentives Semicon India 2.0 aims to under Semicon India 2.0 will be build the entire semiconductor in proportion to the investvalue chain. The programme ments made by the companies. will support semiconductor T he gover nment expects fabs, advanced packaging, around `4 lakh crore in investequipment manufacturing, ma- ments, `2 lakh crore worth of terials, specialty chemicals and semiconductor and electronics gases, research and develop- production, and `1 lakh crore ment, talent development, chip exports boost in coming years. design and capital equipment. Under the new scheme, The first phase atthe government will tracted global and doprovide a 30% incenmestic players, with tive for manufacturMicron Technology ing semiconductor commencing comequipment, materimercial production als, specialty chemiat its packaging facals and gases; 40% cility in Gujarat for silicon semiand Tata Electronconductor fabricaics, in partnership tion plants; 35% for with Taiwan’s Powdisplay fabs and erchip Semiconduccompound semitor Manufacturing conductor fabs; 35% Corporation, setfor advanced packting up India’s first aging facilities; The Made-in-India chip commercial semiand up to 75% conductor fabrica- showcased by Union minister funding, with state Ashwini Vaishnaw | PTI tion plant to make support, for R&D. 100% Kudankulam N-plant ‘data’ on dark web E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru Amid reports of a major leak of project-related files linked to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, the Anil Ambaniled Reliance Group confirmed a limited cybersecurity incident following an attempted ransomware attack on infrastructure operated by its third-party data centre service provider, Yotta Data Services. Reliance Group, one of the contractors associated with the plant, claimed the incident was swiftly contained and did not affect its core systems or business operations. The disclosure came after Kudankulam plant files were part of a large data dump on the dark web by ransomware group World Leaks. According to a Reuters report, the leaked material includes engineering drawings, supplier information, inspection records and insurance-related documents spanning several years. Their authenticity, however, has not been independently verified. EC extends SIR timeline The Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended the house-to-house enumeration and verification deadline for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 of electoral rolls in Telangana from July 24 to August 3, with the final electoral rolls now scheduled for publication on October 12. n House-to-house enumeration by BLOs: June 25 – August 3, 2026 n Rationalisation of polling stations: August 3, 2026 n Publication of draft electoral roll: August 10, 2026 n Claims and objections: August 10 – September 9, 2026 n Notice phase and disposal of claims/ objections: August 10 – October 8, 2026 n Publication of final electoral rolls: October 12, 2026 Why the extension? The ECI extended the schedule after political parties and public representatives sought more time, saying many eligible voters were still unaware of the SIR exercise. The extension gives voters time to submit Enumeration Forms and ensure their names are included in the electoral rolls E x p r ess Re a d 14-yr-old held for killing TG man in US Hyderabad: A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the killing of 28-year-old Telangana native Anshul Kuncha, who was shot dead while delivering pizzas in Philadelphia on June 5, in what police believe was an attempted robbery | P2 tariff proposed in a bill brokered by a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators against 5 countries, including India & China, for purchasing oil from Russia | P10 TG gets 810 more MBBS seats, total rises to 10,250 M e g hna N ath @ Hyderabad Ahead of the NEET-UG results, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced a 7% increase in MBBS seats, which will take the total strength of India’s undergrad medical seats to over 1.36 lakh. Accordingly, Telangana will have 10,250 MBBS seats for the 2026-27 academic year, after the NMC approved 810 additional seats for the state. The state now has 30 private medical colleges with 5,850 MBBS seats, up from 5,150 last year after the addition of 700 seats. The government sector has 36 medical colleges. Their combined MBBS intake has increased from 4,290 seats to 4,400, with 110 additional seats. Among state-run colleges, GMC Siddipet and GMC Mahbubnagar have received 25 additional seats each, while GMC Nizamabad has been allotted 30 more seats. Among private colleges, MNR, Sangareddy Maheshwara , and Shadan have each received 100 additional seats. Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences, Malla Reddy Medical College for Women, Mamata Academy and SVS have received 50 additional seats each.The revised seat matrix will be used for NEET-UG 2026 counselling. Spain punch final ticket La Roja dished out a masterclass against France as they beat them 2-0 to advance to their second World Cup final, to be held in New York. A look at how they won... Midfield superiority Lack of transition threat Spain had the midfield advantage, both in terms of numbers (3 vs 2) and quality. Their passing networks were superior as Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo suffocated the French Whenever Spain lost ball, they were already in shape and there was no room to run-in behind. This denied Les Bleus the oxygen they so craved | P11 Goods worth $140 mn shipped on Day 1 of UK free trade pact P U S H PI TA D E Y @ New Delhi With the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) kicking in on Wednesday, 50 consignments of goods worth over $140 million were shipped to the UK on the first day of the agreement’s implementation, the Union commerce ministry said. “CETA will give fresh momentum to our farmers, entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Several sectors will gain stronger access to the UK market. It will also deepen cooperation in technology, professional services and innovation, while supporting greater mobility for skilled Indian talent,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a social media post on Wednesday . With the FTA taking effect, several labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, apparel, handicrafts, engineering goods, and gems and jewellery are expected to gain zero-duty access to the UK market. Exporters from sectors including textiles, gems and jewellery and marine , products have already dispatched consignments at zero duty on the first day of the agreement. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said that around 30 exporters shipped gold, diamond, silver and platinum jewellery worth $10 million to the UK on Wednesday The industry . body expects exports to the UK to touch $2.5 billion over the next three years. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the CETA and the Agreement on Social Security have come into force. Reliance Group said the matter has been reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which is examining the incident. The Kudankulam facility is India’s largest nuclear power plant and forms a key part of the country’s long-term nuclear energy expansion plans. Reliance Infrastructure, a Reliance Group company, secured a contract in 2018 to develop infrastructure for Units 3 and 4 of the project, which are expected to become operational by 2027. Experts cautioned that even if reactor systems are untouched, the exposure of infrastructure layouts, and supplier information could pose security risks. CM urges Amazon to invest `1L cr in Future City E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Stating that job creation is as important as attracting investments, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday reiterated his government’s commitment to providing all necessary infrastructure, facilities and clearances to investors for setting up industries in Telangana. Inviting Amazon to expand its presence in the state, Revanth urged the company to invest `1 lakh crore in Future City by 2034. He said Amazon’s expansion would encourage other companies to establish op- erations in the Future City helping it , emerge as a major investment hub. The chief minister was speaking after attending the groundbreaking ceremony for Amazon’s data centre at Future City He said the arriv. al of a global company like Amazon would accelerate investments and drive rapid growth in Bharat Future City . Revanth recalled that the government had organised the Telangana Rising Global Summit at Future City in December 2025, which was attended by around 3,000 representatives from major companies across 108 countries. He said the Tel- angana Rising-2047 vision aims to transform the state into a $1 trillion economy by 2034 and a $3 trillion economy by 2047, while increasing Telangana’s contribution to the national GDP from the current 5% to 10% as part of India’s goal of becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2047. Revanth also noted that the state had been categorised into CURE, PURE and RARE zones to promote balanced development. “We are conducting comprehensive monthly reviews on all aspects related to industrial establishment. A special monthly meeting on Amazon’s investments in the state will also be held,” he said.