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.

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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

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