India’s Multi-Alignment: How New Delhi Tries to Have Friends Without Choosing a Camp In international politics, friendship is complicated. It becomes even more complicated when your friends do not particularly like one another. India has spent much of the 21st century learning to operate precisely in that uncomfortable space. New Delhi buys defence equipment and energy from Russia, deepens technology and strategic cooperation with the United States, maintains an unusually close defence relationship with France, works extensively with Israel, negotiates with Europe, and participates in the Quad alongside the US, Japan and Australia. There is an obvious question. How does India manage all of this without becoming dependent on one major power? The answer increasingly lies in what analysts call multi-alignment, underpinned by the older Indian foreign-policy concept of strategic autonomy. It is not neutrality. It is not isolation. And it certainly isn’t having five best friends who all promise not to talk about each other at dinner. It is the attempt to preserve freedom of choice. Strategic autonomy is the principle India’s strategic autonomy has historical roots in the Non-Aligned Movement, but today’s environment is very different. During the Cold War, non-alignment was largely associated with refusing to formally

Nandita Chakraborty: How an Indo-Australian Filmmaker Is Using Food to Tell the Real Story of Migration With Shared Table: Regional Heroes, Melbourne-based filmmaker Nandita Chakraborty turns kitchens and shared meals into a lens on migration, identity and belonging—bringing the often-overlooked stories of regional Australia’s migrant communities to audiences in Australia, India and beyond. Food is often the first thing migrants carry with them when almost everything else has to be rebuilt. A recipe can survive a border crossing. A spice mixture can outlive a house. A family dish can connect a child born overseas with grandparents they may barely know. For Nandita Chakraborty, that idea became the foundation for Shared Table: Regional Heroes, an Australian documentary that uses food not simply as a subject, but as a way into the much larger questions of migration, memory, identity and belonging. The Melbourne-based Indian-Australian filmmaker’s documentary premiered in the international competition section of the 2026 Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), where it was the only Australian film selected. It was subsequently acquired by Cinépolis India for a limited theatrical release in India. That journey—from regional Victoria to Mumbai and now to audiences in New Zealand—makes Shared Table particularly relevant to the global

Rati Sahi Levesque: The Indian-Origin Leader Turning Luxury Resale Into a Global Business From a San Francisco family business to becoming the first employee and now CEO of The RealReal, Rati Sahi Levesque represents a different kind of Indian-diaspora success story—one built not simply around technology, but around changing how the world thinks about luxury, ownership and resale. For years, the story of Indian-origin success in America has been closely associated with technology, medicine, finance and engineering. Rati Sahi Levesque’s career offers a different template: fashion, e-commerce, luxury and the emerging circular economy. In September 2026, TIME named Levesque to its TIME100 Next 2026, placing her among the rising figures it sees as shaping the next generation. Her recognition is particularly interesting for the Indian diaspora because her influence has been built inside a distinctly American consumer business—while her journey began with a family business and an entrepreneurial instinct in San Francisco. TIME Today, Levesque is President and CEO of The RealReal, the publicly traded luxury-resale marketplace. She has held the CEO role since October 2024, after years of progressively broader responsibility inside the company. The RealReal But the more revealing part of her story is how she got there.

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

Building Companies Between Markets and Cultures Indian-origin entrepreneurs are building companies that connect talent, capital and customers across borders. New research puts their contribution to global startup value in sharp focus, while academic studies reveal a more complicated story behind the success: access to diaspora networks can help a young business grow, but immigration rules, hiring practices, cultural differences and the demands of operating across jurisdictions can shape its future. For Indian-origin founders abroad, the business opportunity often begins with a connection between markets. It might be technical talent with roots in India, customers in North America, suppliers in Asia or investors who understand more than one business environment. These connections can help a company cross borders—but they do not remove the friction of building a business in a country where its founder may still be learning the rules. A new Indian Diaspora Index from technology investor Prosus and startup data platform Dealroom offers a striking measure of the scale. Its analysis identifies 205 current and former overseas unicorns with at least one founder who grew up in India, attributing approximately US$560 billion in company value to those founders using a founder-share calculation. The index says 187 of these companies—about

BrahMos Goes Regional: How India’s Missile Is Becoming a Defence-Export Brand in Southeast Asia The Philippines already has BrahMos. Vietnam has signed a supply deal and Indonesia has agreed to acquire two batteries. The bigger story is India’s attempt to turn a joint Indo-Russian missile programme into a globally recognised Indian defence-export brand. For most of India’s modern economic history, the country’s global export identity has been associated with software engineers, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, textiles and professional services. Missiles were a different category. That is beginning to change. India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is emerging as one of the clearest examples of the country’s attempt to export sophisticated military technology rather than simply manufacture defence equipment for its own armed forces. The Philippines was the breakthrough customer. Vietnam has now signed a deal. Indonesia has agreed to acquire two BrahMos batteries. And India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said in October that BrahMos exports are expected to cross $600 million, with the system becoming a benchmark for India’s emerging defence-export story. (rediff.com) The significance goes well beyond the value of the contracts. India is attempting to demonstrate that a weapon originally developed for Indian requirements can become an international product. The

The Indigenous Technologies Finding Markets Beyond India From BrahMos and Akash to Pinaka and the Dhruv helicopter, India’s defence-export story is moving beyond headline missile deals. As the country targets ₹50,000 crore in annual exports by 2029, upcoming exhibitions in Chile and Vietnam will test whether Indian systems can become long-term global defence businesses. India’s defence-export story is entering a new phase. The headline number is already difficult to ignore: ₹38,424 crore in defence exports during FY2025–26, a 62.66% increase from the previous year. Indian defence products now reach more than 80 countries, while the government has set a target of ₹50,000 crore in annual defence exports by 2029. But the more interesting question is not how much India exports. It is what the world is buying—and whether those products can develop into lasting international defence relationships. That question will become particularly relevant in December, when two major Latin American and Southeast Asian defence exhibitions take place: ExpoNaval 2026 in Santiago, Chile, from December 1–3, followed by Vietnam International Defence Expo 2026 in Hanoi from December 10–13. ExpoNaval says its 2026 event will bring together companies, governments and industry experts around naval technology, shipbuilding, maritime security and unmanned systems. For

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’s Naval Defence Push Heads to Paris: Why Euronaval 2026 Matters for India’s Global Ambitions Standfirst: As Indian defence exports reach a record ₹38,424 crore, Euronaval 2026 offers a useful test of whether India can move beyond selling individual systems and build lasting industrial relationships in Europe and other maritime markets. India’s defence industry is entering an important new phase: from seeking foreign technology and equipment to competing for international customers, industrial partnerships and technology relationships of its own. That shift will receive a high-profile international test in Paris from 3–6 November 2026, when Euronaval, one of the world’s major naval defence exhibitions, brings together governments, naval forces, procurement agencies, defence companies and technology firms at Paris Nord Villepinte. The organisers describe the event as a meeting point for the global naval ecosystem and say it will bring together defence ministers, ambassadors, naval chiefs, procurement authorities, coastguard officials and defence-industry representatives. For India, however, the significance is larger than an exhibition. It comes at a time when the country’s defence exports have reached an unprecedented level and when India and the European Union have formally expanded their security and defence relationship. From defence buyer to defence partner India’s transformation is

Akash Goes Global: Why India’s Air Defence System Matters Beyond Central Asia India’s Akash air-defence system has moved from an indigenous military programme to an export product with customers across the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The significance is bigger than another missile sale: it shows India beginning to compete for influence in a defence market historically shaped by Russia and increasingly contested by China, Turkey and other suppliers. For decades, the map of India’s defence relationships was relatively easy to read. Russia was central to India’s military hardware ecosystem. Western suppliers occupied important niches. Israel became a significant technology partner. And China was largely viewed as the strategic competitor rather than a market opportunity. That map is changing. India’s indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile system has now been exported to Armenia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, according to Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh. Armenia was the first foreign customer and acquired multiple batteries; Singh subsequently confirmed exports to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. He described Akash as one of India’s defence-sector success stories and said its production had stabilised. The geography is important. Armenia is in the South Caucasus. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are in Central Asia. That distinction matters because the development is not

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