India’s defence-export story is entering a more interesting phase. The latest signal is not another overseas order for an Indian-made weapon. It is a decision to manufacture Indian-designed autonomous drone technology on European soil. Bengaluru-based Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace (FWDA) has signed an industrial partnership with Portugal’s Keydef, the defence and aerospace division of Portuguese technology company SketchPixel LDA, under which Keydef will invest an initial €6 million in FWDA’s technologies and the companies will establish production capabilities in Portugal for international markets. The agreement covers FWDA’s Kaal Bhairava autonomous UAV and YAMA interceptor drone, with the proposed Portuguese operation eventually intended to extend across the company’s wider portfolio of surveillance, air-defence and civilian systems. For India, that makes this more than a manufacturing announcement. It is an experiment in whether an Indian defence startup can move from exporting products to becoming part of an international defence-technology supply chain. From Bengaluru engineering to European manufacturing FWDA describes itself as a Bengaluru-based developer of autonomous aerial and AI-enabled defence systems. Its product portfolio includes the Kaalbhairav series and YAMA, alongside other UAV and civilian applications. The company’s own product information describes the Kaalbhairav Lite as an indigenous long-endurance UAV with

India Ranks 38th in Global Innovation Index 2026. Can It Turn Startup Success into Scientific Strength? India’s 38th-place finish in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index highlights an unusual strength: the country produces innovation results that outperform its relatively modest research and development base. Strong digital services, startup finance and intellectual property activity are helping India climb. […] Read More…

The Indian Talent Behind 205 Unicorns Abroad: What $560 Billion Really Says About the Global Diaspora Indian founders who grew up in India are behind 205 current and former unicorns outside the country, with about $560 billion in founder-share-attributed company value. The extraordinary number celebrates the global Indian entrepreneurial network—but it also raises a harder question: why has so much of this value been built outside India? There is a number that makes India’s startup story look much bigger than its borders: 205. That is the number of current and former unicorns outside India that have at least one founder who grew up in India, according to the new Indian Diaspora Index from Prosus and Dealroom. The companies collectively represent about $560 billion in founder-share-attributed company value. The list includes technology companies such as Zscaler, Rubrik, Nutanix, Palo Alto Networks, Astera Labs, Perplexity and others. But the statistic needs to be read carefully. The $560 billion is not the total value of the 205 companies. It is not the personal wealth of Indian-origin founders. And it is not money that has left India. Dealroom divides each company’s value equally among its founders and counts the portions belonging to qualifying founders

India’s Spice Power: How Masala Became a Global Export Business From chilli and cumin to turmeric, cardamom, curry powders and spice oils, India remains the world’s leading spice-exporting nation. But the next chapter is not simply about shipping more spices—it is about proving that Indian spices can consistently meet the increasingly demanding standards of global consumers. There are few Indian products that need no introduction anywhere in the world. Spices are one of them. You can travel thousands of kilometres from India and still find turmeric in a supermarket, cumin in a restaurant kitchen, chilli on a food label and curry powder on a shelf. India’s relationship with spices is ancient. Its modern spice-export business, however, is increasingly sophisticated. According to the Spices Board of India, the country exported 17.34 lakh tonnes—about 1.734 million tonnes—of spices and spice products in FY2025–26, worth approximately $4.43 billion. That was lower than the previous year’s 1.799 million tonnes and $4.72 billion, but India retained its position as a leading global exporter. So the story in 2026 is not simply India exports lots of spices. It is: India has built a global spice industry—and now quality, traceability and value addition are becoming just as

India’s Monsoon Deficit Is More Than a Rainfall Story: How Water Stress Could Reshape Food Prices in 2027 India’s 2026 southwest monsoon…

Musk vs Ambani: The Starlink India Row Raises Bigger Questions About Competition, Security and Internet Access Elon Musk’s public criticism of Mukesh…

India’s Pickle Revolution: From Grandma’s Jar to the Global Gift Box India’s pickle is leaving the kitchen shelf. Regional recipes are becoming…

India’s Defence Export Moment: Can “Made in India” Become a Global Security Brand? India’s defence exports reached a record ₹38,424 crore in FY2025–26 and now span more than 80 countries. The next challenge is considerably harder: turning rapid export growth into durable global credibility, indigenous technology ownership and long-term international business. India’s defence industry is entering unfamiliar territory. For decades, India was principally known as one of the world’s major defence importers. Today, Indian-made defence equipment is being exported to more than 80 countries, while the country’s defence-export value has risen from just ₹686 crore in FY2013–14 to ₹38,424 crore in FY2025–26. That is a remarkable transformation. But the more interesting question for the international market is no longer whether India can export defence equipment. It is: Can India become a trusted global defence technology supplier rather than simply a lower-cost source of military hardware? That distinction could determine whether the current export boom becomes a permanent feature of India’s industrial economy. From ₹686 crore to ₹38,424 crore The numbers explain why India’s defence sector has suddenly become an international business story. Defence exports grew 62.66% in FY2025–26, rising from ₹23,622 crore the previous year to ₹38,424 crore. The private

Tata’s Global Bet: How an Indian Conglomerate Turned Foreign Brands Into a Two-Way Bridge Between India and the World From Tetley in Britain and Daewoo Commercial Vehicles in South Korea to Corus and Jaguar Land Rover, Tata’s overseas acquisitions helped transform an India-focused industrial group into a genuinely global enterprise. Today, the more interesting question is not which foreign brands Tata owns, but how those businesses have been reshaped as part of an increasingly international Indian corporate ecosystem. For decades, the story of Indian business going global was largely about exports: Indian companies manufactured products at home and sold them overseas. The Tata Group helped change that model. Beginning with the acquisition of British tea company Tetley in 2000, Tata companies embarked on a series of high-profile international acquisitions that put Indian ownership behind some of the world’s best-known businesses. Tata’s own historical account lists Tetley, Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, Daewoo Commercial Vehicles and other overseas acquisitions as part of that internationalisation drive. The significance for the Indian diaspora is larger than corporate deal-making. Millions of Indians live and work in countries where Tata businesses now operate. Tata’s globalisation has therefore created a different kind of India-world connection: Indian capital

India’s Specialty Coffee Boom: Will the Farmer Finally Get a Better Share? India’s coffee is moving from commodity shelves to specialty cafés…

When a rural product meets an urban customer A bamboo bag from Assam can look very different once it is placed beneath…

No UPI Day: The Price of Keeping India’s Digital Payments Free A proposed fee on certain high-value UPI payments has exposed a…