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Airport Dreams, Runway Delays
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Good Morning. India has ambitious plans to expand the number of airports in the country. Several greenfield airports are under construction and being commissioned. The ones in Navi Mumbai and Noida are going to open soon. But they have missed several deadlines and faced many delays due to land acquisition issues and red tape. India doesn’t lack initiative or ambition when it comes to its greenfield airports, but hurdles on the ground reveal that execution needs to be made easier.
In other news, US and India are reportedly returning to the negotiating table. Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump advocated US companies ditch reporting earnings quarterly.
DECODE THE NEWS
India’s Airport Boom Risks Getting Stuck On The Runway
What?
Workers are rushing to complete construction at the Navi Mumbai International Airport with the September 30 deadline looming, after missing many previous deadlines. It’s a similar story thousands of kilometres away at the Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar, which is supposed to begin operations in November. Both these greenfield airports have dealt with supply issues and construction delays, with the airport in Jewar facing government penalties as well.
Both airports are part of India’s ambitious initiative to build more airports across the country. Under the Greenfield Airports Policy of 2008, the government has approved over 21 greenfield airports, with several operational ones including Kannur in Kerala, Pakyong in Sikkim, and Dholera in Gujarat.
The plan is to build 50 new airports by 2030 and scale up to 350 airports by 2047.
The airport infrastructure push is backed by a massive capital outlay of approximately Rs 98,000 crore ($11.8 billion) by 2025, covering greenfield construction, terminal upgrades, runway expansion, and modernisation efforts. Of this, Rs 25,000 crore is being invested by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), while the rest comes from private operators and Public-Private Partnership ventures.
This includes marquee greenfield projects like Navi Mumbai, Noida (Jewar), Dholera, and Bhogapuram, each with multi-phase investments ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 16,000 crore depending on scale and passenger capacity targets.
Why It Matters
As India races to build dozens of swanky new airports, land and legal disputes, and bureaucratic hurdles have posed a big challenge. While India’s plans are ambitious, could these challenges disrupt the pace?
Greenfield airports are built from scratch on undeveloped land, allowing planners to bypass legacy constraints and integrate modern tech, sustainability features, and the aerotropolis model.
India’s airport ambitions are also to develop “aerotropolises” around the new airports. They’re not just meant for mere passenger flow, but to become hubs of investment and trade.
But this is easier said than done.
Land acquisition is slow and often contested, while execution suffers from poor coordination across ministries and vendors. Public-private partnership (PPP) models bring in capital, but fragmented governance and reactive planning stall progress.
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FUTURE PROOF
Adapt Or Be Sidelined: Learnings From Accenture’s B-School Challenge
The theme of Accenture B-School Challenge Season-9 focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), something that has been on the minds of most industry leaders — how to utilise it to make processes more efficient.
That’s exactly the kind of challenge that the winning team from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore had to find a solution to.
For them, a key takeaway from winning the challenge was this: new graduates have to be prepared to deal with all sorts of AI and learn how to use them to find solutions.
“I think everyone should explore it (AI) no matter what, because it is coming, and if you don't prepare, then I think you are in danger,” said Monish Ahmad, who was part of the winning team. “It is not a choice that we have, that we should take it or not; we have to take it, otherwise we will be sidelined,” Ahmad added.
AI For Solutions
Also part of the team were Nirupama, Sakshi Tambat, and Arun Eashwar. The team chose a challenge, from a list of options, to use Agentic AI for a global automotive OEM that faced challenges in its complex supply chain, including forecasting volatility and supplier fragility.
The goal was to design a transformation blueprint using Agentic AI to improve forecast accuracy, reduce disruption response time, and optimise inventory.
“We chose the automotive case because three of us are engineers and one has a science background and our work is also kind of similar in the supply chain industry, and the case study matches with the professional experience, so that is why we chose it,” said Sakshi Tambat.
The Learnings
Nirupama, one of the participants, is well aware of the importance of Agentic AI and its future. She said that the challenge has given her more “food for thought” on how to use this technology ethically.
“There is a question of whether there will be a loss of jobs, if yes, then how do you re-skill people, how do you bring them back to the economy? All of these are still things that we would need to consider,” Nirupama said.
Eashwaran said that the key to winning was to keep it simple. “We had the same case which we had for the campus round also, so we retained the same solution,” said Eashwar and added, “We kept it very simple, so that the focus was more on the value rather than digressing on other noise.”
Tune in here to listen to excerpts from the panel discussion with industry leaders at the finale.
Brought to you in partnership with Accenture In India.
CORE NUMBER
3.21 lakh units
This was the number of passenger vehicles dispatched to dealerships in August 2025, down 9% year-on-year from 352,921 units to 3,21,840, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data.
Why It Matters: The drop underscores weak consumer sentiment, with many buyers delaying purchases in anticipation of GST-driven price cuts.
Two-Wheelers Rise: Sales climbed 7% to 18.33 lakh units, led by scooters (+13%) and motorcycles (+4%), powered by rural demand and festive buying.
Three-Wheelers Record: Dispatches hit 75,759 units in August, up 8% year-on-year — the best-ever performance for the month.
Expert Speak: “Sales of Passenger Vehicles in August 2025 de-grew by (-) 8.8%, posting sales of 3.22 Lakh units as compared to August of the previous year, primarily due to recalibration of dispatches by passenger vehicle manufacturers,” said Rajesh Menon, director general, SIAM.
FROM THE PERIPHERY
India-US Mend Fences?
India and the US will resume trade talks in New Delhi on Tuesday, led by negotiator Rajesh Agarwal and US trade representative for South Asia Brendan Lynch, Reuters reported.
The Backstory: Since the US slapped a 25% tariff on Indian goods, exports slipped from $37.24 billion in July to $35.10 billion in August. The shipments to the US alone fell from $8.01 billion to $6.86 billion. Since then, the US has added an extra 25% duty. Right now, tariffs cover two-thirds of Indian exports, but exclude services like IT and pharmaceuticals. But some reports say the US could add a duty to those, too.
Flashpoint: US President Trump has also asked the European Union to impose a 100% tariff on India and China, as punishment for their relationship with Russia. But, the US’s tariffs could bring its targets closer. India has been repairing its relationship with China for a year now. Last month, photos from a summit in China showed Putin, Modi and Jinping hugging and expressing camaraderie.
Shrimp Shockwaves Hit Andhra.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has raised alarm over a looming crisis in the State’s aqua sector, urging the Union Government to rescue farmers hit by collapsing exports. Home to 2.5 lakh shrimp farmers and 30 lakh dependents, Andhra accounts for 80% of India’s shrimp exports worth over Rs 21,000 crore.
Flashpoint: The sector is now reeling after the US — India’s biggest shrimp market — imposed a 50% tariff, leading to cancelled orders and estimated losses of Rs 25,000 crore. Pawan Kumar, the president of the Seafood Exporters Association, told The Core Report that India’s Rs 60,000 crore seafood industry faces risks from US tariffs, with over half its exports headed there.
What's Next? Naidu has sought immediate relief, including a 240-day moratorium on loans, GST waiver on frozen shrimp, and interim financial support. He also pushed for a national policy to protect aqua farmers, improved cold storage and seafood transport and diversification of markets through free trade agreements (FTAs) with the EU, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Trump Rethinks Earnings Reports.
Trump on Monday advocated that companies in the US stop reporting their earnings every quarter. “This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. This he said would be subject to the approval of the US market regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission.
Context: Trump made a China reference, saying, “Did you ever hear the statement that, ‘China has a 50 to 100 year view on management of a company, whereas we run our companies on a quarterly basis??? Not good!!!”
Fast Facts: China has rules similar to those in the US, where companies have to report quarterly earnings and even semi-annual earnings. In India, too, all public companies and even others must list their earnings every quarter. In the European Union, however, mandatory reporting is only semi-annual, and companies can voluntarily report quarterly.
PODCASTS
“Run it hot”, The Wall Street Theme Playing Out Here Too
On Episode 678 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Ajay Kedia is the Founder and Director of Kedia Capital Services as well as Rajiv Mitra, Food and Dairy industry expert. We also feature excerpts from a recent panel discussion on AI and Agentic AI with several business leaders at Season 9 of the Accenture B School Challenge.
Run it hot, the Wall Street theme playing out here too.
Gold prices hit fresh highs. How much further?
What happens if India opens its market to American premium cheese?
How enterprises from shoes to beer and tyres are using AI at work.
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