IKEA plans to invest close to ₹11,000 crore in India by 2030 to speed up store expansion, local sourcing, and hiring, with a target to open 25 large and small-format stores. It is also investing over ₹7,500 crore via Ingka Group for new Ingka Centres in Gurugram and Noida, and reported 6% sales growth in FY25 to ₹1,860 crore, but expects double-digit growth this year. #MakeinIndia

HUDCO has signed a deal with the Odisha government to extend term loans of up to ₹1 trillion over 5 years for urban infrastructure. The funding will support projects under Urban Challenge Fund, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri-Paradeep Economic Region, and Mukhyamantri Sahari Vikas Yojana, with flexible 25-year repayment and Centre-state cost sharing, to modernise cities and develop new urban growth centres. #Economy #Infra

Surat-based Navitas Solar has entered Zambia with its first utility-scale EPC project — a ₹200 crore, 54 MW captive solar plant in Serenje Province for a mining company via its arm Navitas Planet. The move marks the company’s shift from supplying modules to executing projects in Africa, a market long dominated by Chinese firms, with Indian players like Sterling & Wilson and Jakson Green also expanding there. #Exports #Solar

CSIR-NAL’s indigenous 19-seater twin-turboprop passenger plane Saras Mk II is set for flight tests in Q4 FY28 and ready for operations by mid-2031. The IAF will be the first launch customer with a letter of intent for 15 aircraft and potential for 30 more, while HAL will handle production and MRO. The project targets the commuter and utility segment currently served by ageing Dornier 228s,, with current 50% indigenous content planned and private firms like L&T and TASL involved in components. #Avation

India's first indigenous hydrogen-powered fuel cell train officially begins operations today, 17 July 2026. Flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Today !!

The train will operate  on the 89-km Jind–Sonipat section of the Northern Railway in Haryana!!

Some facts about the Hydrogen train made by India -

1) Most powerful in its category in the World with 3200 HP!!

2) The train consists of 10 cars including two driving cars of 1200 kW capacity each and 8 passenger cars!

3) Passenger Capacity - 2600 people!!

4) Design speed of 110 kmph, Operational speed of 75kmph!!


With the inauguration of this train India joins a select group of nations namely Germany, Japan, China, USA , Switzerland !

India's train is the most powerful amongst them all!

Indian Railways plans to run 75 such trains!!

#railways #hydrogen #aatmanirbharbharat

IN-SPACe has cleared Jio’s proposal for LEO constellation. With GMPCS already sorted, DoT spectrum allocation is the final hurdle.

Jio’s order book will be an inflection point for domestic spacetech & sat mfg supply chain. There better be a quiet policy directive ensuring a meaningful domestic mfg mandate. #Space #Telecom

JSW MG Motor will invest ₹1,400 crore in FY27 to expand its Halol plant's annual capacity from 1.2 lakh to 1.6 lakh vehicles by March 2027. The expansion supports 4 new vehicle launches this fiscal and forms part of the company's ₹3,000–4,000 crore India investment plan. #automobile

India's pharmaceutical #exports to the UK could rise by up to 10% in FY27 after the India-UK CETA took effect on 15 July. The agreement grants duty-free access on nearly 99% of Indian exports, improving market access for generic drugmakers in one of India's key pharmaceutical export markets. #Health #Medicine

C-DAC is developing India's first indigenous #AI inference chip, with a production-ready version targeted by 2029–30. The chip is in trial production, with HCL Infosystems validating its design. #Semiconductor #aatmarnirbharbharat

Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with Japan over the wording of the joint statement agreed to by New Delhi and Tokyo earlier this month which makes direct reference to cross-border terrorism emanating from Islamabad. 

Pakistan says - Yes, we have expressed our concerns to Japan through diplomatic channels. In fact, a strong démarche has been made. Japan and Pakistan enjoy long-standing and cordial relations encompassing a wide array of fields and marked by a shared commitment to international peace, stability, and development. Whenever there is an engagement with India, India forces the inclusion of such references in its joint statements, not just with Japan but also with other countries. We have indicated this time as well that such language is inconsistent with the facts on the ground. The Japanese government’s endorsement of such one-sided formulations ignores the undeniable contribution and sacrifices made by Pakistan.” 


More on - The Print

#geopolitics #opsindoor

Delhi Cabinet approved a ₹400-crore Start-up and Incubation Policy for 5 years to boost innovation and self-employment. It covers 11 state universities, 13 govt colleges, polytechnics and ITIs, plus govt school students, to help create 5,000 start-ups by 2035. Selected ideas get financial aid, institutions get funds for incubation centres, and a monitoring committee plus an annual Delhi Start-up Youth Festival will be set up to support mentorship, networking and entrepreneurship. #Policy

PepsiCo India reported strong H1 growth despite adverse weather, planning a Tamil Nadu food facility after launching a ₹1,266-crore Ujjain beverage plant. CEO Jagrut Kotecha highlighted India as a priority with ₹5,700 crore committed by 2030, expressing cautious optimism amid geopolitical and cost pressures. The company now operates 2 of its 9 global concentrate facilities in India, driving volume growth in snacks and beverages. #Food

India will soon launch the ₹10,000-crore Biopharma SHAKTI scheme over 5 years to shift from generics to complex biologics and biosimilars like monoclonal antibodies and CAR-T therapies. The plan aims to build domestic capability for drug discovery to scale-up, cut reliance on costly foreign testing, and target 5% of the $64.5 billion global biopharma market. It will fund R&D, shared labs, CROs/CDMOs, and clinical networks, while keeping chemical synthesis strong. #BioPharma #MakeinIndia

Carbon dating of a fragmentary human bone and microliths from Rasheed Padi cave in Sandur forests, Karnataka has confirmed it as India’s oldest known high-altitude cave habitat at 850m above sea level, dating back 10,000 years to the Stone Age. Archaeologists say the 100-ft high cave with stone tools and animal bones shows early humans settled here for food and tool-making resources, making it unique in India for such an early high-altitude settlement. #Heritage

#Opinion
The management team will not be changed -

Founder V. Sreekar Reddy and current Indian management retain a 40% stake and manage day-to-day operations as the legal custodians for Indian defense agencies.

The capital will be used to scale manufacturing volume, invest in advanced High-Density Interconnect (HDI)/rigid-flex technologies, and expand into Western aerospace export chains under the "China+1" and "Make in India" initiatives.

Foreign Veto / Executive Concerns: Retd. U.S. Gen. Bryan Fenton is joining Carlyle globally as an operating executive (financial/market evaluation), not as a Micropack employee. He has no visibility into Indian defense IP or blueprints. Furthermore, foreign investors cannot execute corporate shareholder vetoes to block jointf ventures, strategic partnerships, or state-mandated deals with other entities, as India’s Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, grants the Government of India absolute peacetime authority to override shareholder vetoes and mandate production continuity

Legal & Regulatory Safeguards:
The deal is within the 74% defense sector automatic FDI route but remains subject to strict MHA and MoD security vetting
• Data-isolation laws legally "ring-fence" and prohibit sharing sensitive military specifications with foreign parent entities.

• India's government enforces strict peacetime controls on foreign defense firms, mandating MHA security clearance for transactions and appointments A resident Indian Chief Security Officer, accountable to the MoD, oversees sensitive data storage under the Defence Industrial License framework, which allows the government to restrict foreign physical access, bypass boardroom deadlocks, or revoke operational licenses entirely for non-compliance.

In short i conclude this is best for indian defence firms going global and we have enough alternative of PCB if needed

Renault is applying its South Korea turnaround strategy to India, with CEO Stéphane Deblaise meeting Union Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss advanced manufacturing, localisation, exports and EV/hybrid mobility. As part of the "FutuReady India" plan, Renault aims for €2 billion in #exports and 5% market share by 2030 through 7 new models, 22 variants, upgraded platforms, and full control of its Chennai hub after buying Nissan’s stake. #Automobile

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸🇶🇦 Satellite imagery from Sentinel-2 shows extensive damage at Al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar.