Newspaper Summary 120626

 

Rafale deal unlikely during PM Modi’s visit to France

Dalip Singh & Amiti Sen, New Delhi

The estimated ₹3.25 lakh crore government-to-government defence deal with France for 114 Rafale fighter jets is unlikely to be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming two-day visit to Paris, starting on Saturday. More significantly, the Macron government is engaging seriously with India’s demand for access to source codes, which would allow the indigenous integration of weapons and systems.

Another issue under extensive consideration is India’s push to execute the entire project under the ‘Make in India’ procurement policy, French diplomatic sources said on Thursday ahead of Modi’s visit.

MAKE IN INDIA

The current proposal stipulates that 90 of the 114 Rafale jets will be produced in India, while the remaining 24 will arrive in a fly-away condition.

SHIFT FROM THE PAST

This marks a significant shift from the two earlier Rafale contracts with France. When India purchased 36 Rafales for the Indian Air Force in 2016 and another 26 marine versions last year, all aircraft were acquired in 100 per cent fly-away condition — they were built, assembled and tested entirely in France by Dassault Aviation. This time, however, 90 of the fighters will be manufactured in India.

“Everything is open when the two leaders sit across the table,” said French diplomatic sources, noting that India formally issued a letter of request (LoR) last month seeking a commercial and technical response for what will be its biggest-ever defence acquisition. “Both the French government and French companies are committed to integrating ‘Make in India’ into our defence deals, including the Rafale,” said sources.

As negotiations move into the formal stages of finalising costs, Indian content and manufacturing cooperation, the bilateral procurement route is visibly evolving from a traditional client-provider relationship. “It’s not a supplier-customer relationship. It’s equal to equal,” said diplomatic sources.

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh earlier said that Dassault Aviation had offered 40 per cent localisation during initial discussions. However, he stated that the Ministry of Defence is pushing for 50 per cent or more Indian content to boost self-reliance. For the first time, the aircraft will be manufactured outside France.

‘DIFFERENT DEAL’

French diplomatic sources reiterated that this contract is a departure from previous defence agreements. “This Rafale deal will be different from earlier deals. Unlike the past, the integration of Indian components and weapons will be an inherent part of this contract,” said a source.

Prime Minister Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting in Nice on Sunday.

Ahmedabad crash probe ‘not fair’, says pilot association

Avinash Nair, Ahmedabad

A year after the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad claimed 260 lives, a pilots’ body has questioned the fairness and direction of the investigation, alleging that key evidence is not being followed and lapses in the probe are fuelling speculation instead of closure.

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on Thursday said critical questions surrounding the disaster remain unanswered, citing “investigative gaps” ranging from the delayed examination of the sole survivor to concerns over the handling of technical evidence.

According to FIP President Captain CS Randhawa, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of the crash, was formally interviewed by investigators only about 10 months after the accident.

TECHNICAL EVIDENCE

The federation questioned whether all available technical evidence, including aircraft communication messages transmitted before departure, had been adequately examined and whether sufficient independent aviation experts had been involved in the probe.

“We are almost completing one year, and there is still no conclusion. We have been unable to investigate a flight that crashed seconds after take-off. So much time and effort has gone into the probe, yet there is no finality. Investigators are expected to share a draft report 30-60 days before the final report but till date no draft has been circulated,” Randhawa said.

He questioned the decision to send the aircraft’s two black boxes to the US for analysis, alleging that it contradicted claims that India possessed the capability to decode and examine flight recorders domestically.

“We have informed the Ministry that this is not a fair investigation... investigations are not proceeding as per the evidence given,” the FIP President said. He added that FIP officials will meet the families of those killed in the crash on Friday.

TECHNICAL FINDINGS

The pilots’ body also alleged that Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages transmitted by the aircraft shortly before departure had not been adequately addressed in the preliminary findings. According to Randhawa, several messages were sent approximately 15 minutes before take-off, but there was no mention of them in the preliminary report.

Another concern flagged by the federation involved the composition of the investigation team. Randhawa alleged that the inquiry had not sufficiently relied on independent subject matter experts, despite the technical complexity of the crash, and questioned the presence of officials from the aviation regulator on the investigation board.

Randhawa cautioned against releasing any interim findings before the investigators reach a definitive conclusion. “An interim report at this stage will only add to confusion and fuel further speculation,” he said, urging both the government and the AIIB to refrain from issuing a partial report.

“If investigators need more time to establish the facts, the final report can be delayed. Accuracy is more important than meeting a timeline,” he said.

China wins $2.9 b Kenya airport deal

Press Trust of India, New Delhi

Kenya has awarded a $2.9 billion contract to China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) to expand and modernise Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). This move marks a return to large-scale Chinese-backed infrastructure development in the region, coming nearly two years after the collapse of a proposed deal with India's Adani Group.

The value of this new contract is roughly 50 per cent higher than the Adani Group’s proposed airport concession, which was estimated at approximately $2 billion. The previous deal was scrapped by President William Ruto’s government in November 2024 amid significant political opposition, legal challenges, and public scrutiny.

FTA effect: Price drop on British luxury cars in India

Bentley, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce could be cheaper by ₹1 crore to ₹3 crore

Amit Vijay Mohile, Mumbai

Luxury automakers are pre-empting the proposed India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by slashing prices of British-built imported cars. Car buyers can look forward to savings ranging from about ₹8 lakh on the Mini Cooper S to ₹75 lakh on the Range Rover SV, and as much as ₹3.32 crore on the McLaren 750S Spider.

For brands such as Bentley, Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce, the FTA could potentially trigger price reductions ranging from ₹1 crore to over ₹3 crore, depending on engine size and model specifications.

FUEL DIFFERENTIAL

While some of the country’s most expensive petrol-powered supercars and luxury SUVs are suddenly becoming dramatically cheaper, premium electric vehicles and hybrids remain excluded from the benefits and will continue to attract steep import duties for years.

McLaren Automotive and Jaguar Land Rover have already started revising prices downward in anticipation of the agreement. Customs duties on qualifying British-built completely built units (CBUs) are expected to drop from 110 per cent to 30 per cent initially, before tapering further gradually under a quota-based system.

The biggest rebate so far is on the McLaren 750S Spider, whose ex-showroom price is expected to fall by ₹3.32 crore to ₹5.46 crore from ₹8.78 crore earlier. Jaguar Land Rover has reduced the price of the Range Rover SV by ₹75 lakh and the Range Rover Sport SV by ₹40 lakh.

The duty relief applies specifically to imported British petrol cars with engines above 3,000 cc, putting the McLaren 750S Coupe, 750S Spider and GTS directly within the qualifying bracket.

EVS LEFT OUT

The biggest surprise in the agreement may be what it excludes. EVs, hybrids and hydrogen-powered models are locked out of duty reductions for the first five years after implementation. Premium British EVs such as the Lotus Eletre will continue to attract higher duties during this period.

India requires more than 200 satellites in 3 years: ISRO chief

Our Bureau, Ahmedabad

India will need to launch over 200 satellites in the next three years to meet growing national and commercial requirements, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V Narayanan said on Thursday, calling for deeper participation from private industry, start-ups and academia in the space sector.

“Currently, we have 56 satellites in orbit. But we require 200-plus satellites in another three years for the country. ISRO alone cannot do this. The entire space ecosystem has to work towards that. Lot of opportunities are there,” Narayanan said at the 10th Industry Connect event organised by IN-SPACe in Ahmedabad.

He said ISRO is increasingly positioning itself as an enabler for the broader ecosystem rather than working in isolation.

SECTORAL REFORMS

Narayanan noted that India’s space start-up ecosystem has expanded significantly following sectoral reforms, with more than 400 start-ups now operating in the domain. He stressed that future growth will depend on coordinated efforts across ISRO, industry and research institutions.

Highlighting long-term ambitions, the ISRO chief said India is also moving ahead with plans for an indigenous space station.

“We are also building our own space station. You can see the model. It is a 52-tonne space station. India will have its own space station by 2035,” he said.

Narayanan also outlined the evolution of India’s space programme — from early sounding rocket experiments to complex deep-space and commercial missions.

MAJOR MILESTONES

On commercial capabilities, he said India has transitioned into a global launch hub, including missions carrying large foreign payloads.

“From that humble beginning, India progressed to a purely commercial launch of a 6,000 kg satellite for an American company using an Indian rocket,” he said.

He added that India has conducted over 4,000 sounding rocket launches, while its satellite fleet has expanded from early experimental systems to advanced platforms.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, IN-SPACe signed a deal with the government of Tamil Nadu to develop a common technical facility at the upcoming Space Vehicles Cluster at SIPCOT Allikulam, which is being set up with a focus on ‘manufacturing, testing and integration of launch vehicle systems’.

Opendoor India layoffs reignite debate over AI, future of offshore work

Sanjana B, Bengaluru

US real estate technology firm Opendoor’s decision to shut its India operations and cut nearly 250 jobs has re-ignited concerns over AI-driven workforce disruption. Industry experts warn that routine, process-oriented roles are increasingly vulnerable as companies automate operations and re-assess offshore delivery models.

Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian announced the move in a post on X, stating, “Our customers are in America, and that’s where our operational work belongs”. He also shared that the company is accelerating its AI-driven transformation.

Anuj Agrawal, Founder & CEO of Zyoin Group, highlighted that Opendoor’s exit was forced by financial distress, noting revenue was down 75 per cent from its peak with losses of $1.4 billion. While the real driver was a collapsed US housing market, AI removed the reason to keep those roles when the money ran out.

“What made the India centre cuttable was how it was built — Operations Associates, Transaction Co-ordinators, and Data Annotation Engineers, hired to bridge manual gaps between disconnected systems,” Agrawal explained. “That’s what AI now does natively. Centres built on cost arbitrage are vulnerable”.

Several other major firms, including Amazon, Block, Cisco, Atlassian, and Standard Chartered, have cut jobs in 2026 citing AI, with over 40,000 tech roles lost this year. However, industry observers note that AI has also become an explanation for general financial distress. Agrawal added that more cuts are likely and AI will shrink the size of offshore teams while raising the value of what they do.

Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, observed that teams in India often handle process-driven and repetitive tasks, which is where AI is making the most significant impact.

LARGE TALENT POOL

“For years, India’s advantage was its ability to provide large-scale talent at competitive costs,” Sharma said. She noted that demand may not grow at the same pace for large teams doing routine work, and instead, organisations will look for smaller, highly-skilled teams that can build, manage, and improve AI-powered systems.

India’s opportunity lies in moving up the value chain to become a centre for innovation rather than just execution. AI reducing dependence on large teams for repetitive work may actually strengthen India’s position. “Global organisations are expanding their investments in India because talent is available at scale... As AI automates routine work, companies will look for locations that can provide advanced skills, innovation capability, and execution excellence,” said Ganesh S Padmanabhan, VP — Recruitment Business at CIEL HR.

Hiring data from upGrad Rekrut validates this trend, indicating that demand for roles such as prompt engineers, AI trainers, automation specialists, and data specialists is among the fastest-growing across its client base. “India’s position in this flux is stronger than the anxiety suggests. The opportunity is to move up the value chain faster from execution to innovation, from process to intelligence,” said Husain Tinwala, CEO, upGrad Rekrut.

Third Wave Coffee aims to achieve breakeven this fiscal, plans to open 100 new cafés

Mithun Dasgupta, Kolkata

Third Wave Coffee is aiming to achieve company-level break-even in the current financial year as the coffee chain is on an expansion spree and plans to open 100 new cafés this fiscal. The Bengaluru-based coffee chain currently has over 220 stores across the country. The coffee-first QSR brand operates under a COCO (company-owned-company-operated) model and does not have any plans to open stores through a franchise model in the near future.

GROWTH PLANS

“We are quite a bit positive as far as unit economics is concerned. We are well funded. So we are expanding our own stores at this point,” Third Wave Coffee CEO Rajat Luthra told businessline. “We definitely will open 100 stores during this financial year. We will always have enough funds available to us as and when it is required,” Luthra said.

The coffee chain has forayed into the East with the launch of three new cafés in Kolkata — two in Ballygunge and one in Salt Lake. For strengthening its presence across the city, the company aims to add another five to six stores in Kolkata within the current financial year.

“In the East, it is not only Kolkata, we will also be looking at Guwahati, Ranchi, Patna and Bhubaneswar. So, these are the markets we will be looking at in the near future,” he said. He added that around 60-70 per cent of the new stores to be opened in FY27 would be launched in the existing cities where the company operates, while the rest (30-40 per cent) will come up in new markets.

“We will open two to three stores in each of the new markets. Kolkata has a major role in this as the city should have total stores between 10-12. And, in the remaining cities the company will open a couple of stores,” Luthra said.

CURRENT PRESENCE

Currently, the coffee chain has 64 stores in Bengaluru, 48 stores in Delhi NCR, 40 stores in Mumbai, 18 stores in Pune, 13 stores in Hyderabad, and eight stores in Chennai.

“At the store-level we are highly EBITDA positive; around 90 per cent of our stores are EBITDA positive. We are trying to break even at the company level this year (FY27). We are very close to it now,” Luthra said. “We use Indian coffee, not importing any coffee from outside. As we are scaling up at present, it is helping us to navigate the cost,” he added.

Monsoon momentum shifts East; rain may revive over West Coast during June 22-23

Vinson Kurian, Thiruvananthapuram

The monsoon may have eased along the West Coast, but its vigour remains intact over the Bay of Bengal, where stronger south-westerly flows and expanding cloud bands have developed over the west, west-central and southern Bay off Tamil Nadu and concentrated around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The initial monsoon surge along the West Coast appears to have exhausted itself after an extended onset phase. On Thursday morning, the most intense thunderstorms were confined to the Mangaluru-Kannur belt along the Karnataka-Kerala coast.

NEXT PHASE

Rainfall activity is expected to revive along the West Coast when the next monsoon pulse arrives around June 22-23, according to guidance from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The fresh spell is likely to begin with heavy rain over coastal Karnataka and Goa before spreading northward across Konkan, Mumbai and south Gujarat up to Surat.

Meanwhile, a western disturbance entered North-West India on Thursday morning, stretching from Jaisalmer in west Rajasthan towards north and west Gujarat. Cooler westerly winds associated with the system are expected to interact with prevailing heat, triggering thunderstorms. The disturbance will also interact with moisture-bearing south-easterlies from the Bay across parts of North-West and East India.

ISOLATED HEAVY RAIN

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast isolated heavy rainfall over the hills of West Bengal and Sikkim starting Friday for five days, and over Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar for the next two days.

Thunder squalls with wind speeds of 50-60 km/hr, gusting to 70 km/hr, are likely over Jharkhand and Bihar during the next two days. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is expected over:

• The Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the hills of West Bengal and Sikkim during the next five days.
• The plains of West Bengal and Jharkhand during the next two days.
• Odisha on Friday.

Policy uniformity, public trust vital for ethanol blending success

Richa Mishra, Hyderabad

To ensure that the Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) succeeds, the government must standardise state-level taxes and educate consumers to resolve lingering doubts about the fuel.

To accelerate the EBP, the Centre is granting complete excise duty exemptions on higher ethanol-blended petrol variants—specifically targeting E22, E25, E27, and E30 blends. This financial and technical framework is designed to curb India’s reliance on expensive crude oil imports, though industry experts suggest these measures alone may not be enough.

STATE TAX ALIGNMENT

Bharati Balaji, Deputy Director General of the All India Distillers’ Association (AIDA), told businessline that excise exemptions provide a vital commercial route for surplus ethanol capacity. She emphasised the need for coordination between the Ministries of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Road Transport, and Food to address consumer concerns regarding potential reductions in fuel efficiency.

“Consumer awareness is a vital pillar for the long-term success of India’s ethanol blending programme," Balaji said. "Historically, introducing new products to the Indian market triggers immediate resistance... These challenges are simply standard, temporary hurdles”.

EFFICIENCY AND VEHICLE DESIGN

Balaji noted that while ethanol has a lower energy content, the impact is balanced by lower running costs, improved energy security, and environmental benefits.

“The minor mileage drop we are talking about applies to vehicles built before 2023,” she explained, noting that modern vehicles are already designed and calibrated for E20. She added that these newer engines are engineered to optimise performance, emissions, and fuel efficiency even under higher ethanol blends.

CAPACITY AND DEMAND

AIDA members, which include top grain, molasses, and integrated distilleries, currently control approximately 80 per cent of India’s ethanol production.

According to Balaji, India’s current installed ethanol capacity is close to 2,000 crore litres. This capacity is more than sufficient to meet the EBP requirement of 1,100 crore litres, alongside the 334 crore litres consumed by alternative sectors such as potable alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals.