Pradeep Banerjee

India and Ireland in 2026: A Relationship Moving From Friendship to Partnership India-Ireland relations are entering a more practical phase — one where diplomacy is increasingly being measured not only by handshakes, but by trade, students, businesses, communities and the ability to deal honestly with problems. At first glance, India and Ireland might seem like an unlikely pair. One is a population giant in South Asia. The other is a relatively small European nation. Yet the relationship between them has been quietly expanding for decades — through education, technology, pharmaceuticals, business, culture and, increasingly, through the Indian community living and working in Ireland. Today, more than 80,000 Indians are estimated to live in Ireland, while more than 8,000 Indian students were studying there in 2023, according to Ireland’s official international website. Two-way trade in goods and services has also grown substantially, with Ireland reporting annual trade of more than €16 billion. The interesting question is no longer whether India and Ireland have a relationship. It is what that relationship can become next. From diplomatic friendship to economic opportunity India and Ireland established diplomatic relations in 1949, and Ireland opened its embassy in New Delhi in 1964. The relationship has historical

Reusable Boosters and the NGLV Race For decades, India’s space story was built around one remarkably simple principle: build a reliable rocket, launch the satellite, and move on to the next mission. That formula worked. But the economics of space are changing. Today, the world’s leading space programmes are increasingly interested in three things: more payload, lower launch costs and greater reusability. India is now pushing into all three. The Indian Space Research Organisation is developing a 200-tonne-thrust semi-cryogenic engine, testing technologies for recovering rocket boosters through Vertical Take-off and Vertical Landing (VTVL), and working on a partially reusable Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) powered by liquid oxygen and methane. And in September 2026, one of those programmes crossed an important testing milestone. ISRO successfully conducted a hot test of its semi-cryogenic engine power-head test article at the full 200-tonne thrust level at the ISRO Propulsion Research Complex in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. This is not yet a reusable rocket. It is something more fundamental: the machinery needed to build India’s next generation of rockets. The 200-tonne engine: the heavy lifter’s new heart The semi-cryogenic programme is centred on the SE2000, a 2,000-kilonewton-class engine. ISRO is developing a semi-cryogenic propulsion stage