India Quiet In A Loud Conflict

India’s Silence On Trump's Iran Threats Undermines Its Global South Role

After threatening Iran with total destruction — “A civilization will die tonight,” said a post by US President Donald Trump on Truth Social, the social media site he owns — making use of profanities and curse words, Trump has declared a two-week ceasefire in the US-Israeli war on Iran. 

The ceasefire announcement resulted from peace talks mediated by Pakistan in Islamabad, where further discussions are expected to take place, with US Vice-President JD Vance expected to lead his country’s delegation.

Trump’s threat to wipe out a civilisation — did he mean that he would nuke Iran, it is legitimate to ask — and to destroy bridges, power plants and desalination plants amounts to open plans to commit war crimes. 

Trump comes across as being unhinged, and there is talk in Washington DC of the need to strip him of office.  

Pope Leo XIV, the UN Secretary General and the French foreign minister have criticised Trump’s comments. New Delhi, of course, continues to behave as if studied silence is the best foreign policy, never mind that India leads the BRICS grouping this year and is a self-avowed champion of the Global South. 

It is strange leadership of the Global South for India to stay mute when the leader of the most powerful nation on earth threatens a fellow developing country with annihilation.

Truce Wobbles

The ceasefire threatens to unravel, thanks to continuing attacks by Israel on Lebanon, from where Iran’s ally Hezbollah, a Shia militia-plus-political outfit funded and armed by Iran, has fired rockets at Israel. 

Israel has already occupied a portion of Southern Lebanon south of the Litani river, and has been bombing the Capital, Beirut. More than 250 people have been killed, and thousands injured.

Iran insists, with backing from Pakistan, that the ceasefire covers Lebanon as well and that it would consider the US and Israel to be in breach if Israel continues to attack Lebanon. Israel and the US maintain that Lebanon was not part of the deal. 

Tense negotiations continue, amidst continuing hostilities, and the world watches to see if the Strait of Hormuz is open for navigation. Iran, reportedly, is allowing oil tankers to pass through the Strait, charging tankers one dollar per barrel of oil transported.

The larger classes of crude carriers have the capacity to carry anything from 3,45,000 barrels to one million barrels of oil. In the normal course, 20 million barrels of oil or thereabouts pass through the Strait of Hormuz every day.

That many dollars a day is what Iran proposes to collect as toll for letting ships pass through the Strait. It would be a surprise if the US does not see this also as a violation of the ceasefire.

The Next Layer Of Transit: India’s Air Taxi Era Takes Shape

By Neelam Mathews

What?

A quarter‑century ago, the thought of police gliding above rooftops in flying pods, Jetson‑style commuter craft, or Korben Dallas’s yellow air‑taxi slicing through a vertical city felt like pure sci‑fi.

Today, those scenes read less like fantasy and more like the opening chapter of a mobility revolution.

Electric Vertical Take‑Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft are battery‑powered and crude‑independent, and could reshape urban and regional transport and shield it from air turbine fuel (ATF) volatility and geopolitical chokepoints.

India’s electric aviation sector has moved from prototype to production with ePlane’s launch of a new 60,000-square-foot facility at IIT Madras.

The site, researchers claim, is the country’s first integrated manufacturing hub for electric aircraft. While high-level political interest has kept the industry in the spotlight, the opening of this hub represents a tangible move toward localised assembly in a competitive global market.

There are several companies, such as ePlane Company, Sarla Aviation, Nalwa Aero and BlueJ Aerospace, that are at different stages of testing out their respective eplanes.

Why It Matters

India is preparing to overhaul its low-altitude airspace as it moves toward the commercial deployment of eVTOL aircraft.

The sector, often categorised as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), aims to utilise the space below 500 feet for short-distance, on-demand travel. These aircraft use electric propulsion to perform vertical take-offs and landings similar to drones, while maintaining the cruise efficiency of traditional fixed-wing planes.

But this new age travel won’t come without hurdles.

What Are The Challenges?

The real test for eVTOLs will be how quickly the ecosystem can align to make them viable.

Manufacturing scale is still emerging, public acceptance must be earned as low‑altitude traffic grows, and high‑capacity charging and hydrogen‑refuelling networks remain in their early stages.

A functioning AAM system will need a lattice of elevated vertiports across rooftops, hotels, hospitals, and public spaces — backed by emergency touchdown zones and next‑generation traffic‑management platforms capable of coordinating thousands of low‑altitude craft.

“AAM will be defined by ecosystem collaboration, not standalone innovation. It’s encouraging to see Bangalore International Airport Ltd and industry partners driving practical conversations beyond MoUs,” Clem Newton‑Brown OAM, CEO and Founder of Skyportz, told The Core.

Can India keep up?

Rs 1,600 crore

That’s the current size of India’s GLP-1 agonist market on a moving annual total basis, powered by a sudden surge in semaglutide demand, according to Pharmarack data.

The trigger: When Novo Nordisk lost its patent on semaglutide in India, domestic drugmakers moved almost instantly. In just the last 10 days of March 2026, injectable semaglutide unit sales jumped nearly sixfold. Semaglutide’s share of the overall GLP-1 market climbed from 25% in February to 33% in March, while the monthly value rose from Rs 48 crore to Rs 59 crore.

Flashpoint: For months, Novo Nordisk dominated the space with near-total control. Its brands — Rybelsus, Wegovy, and Ozempic held a 98% share as recently as February.

As of late March, 13 domestic companies are selling 26 semaglutide brands across oral and injectable formats. Torrent Pharmaceuticals moved fastest, capturing an 8% share (Rs 4.7 crore) within days. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories followed with 3%, while Zydus Healthcare, Lupin, and Sun Pharma each secured around 2%. Even so, Novo Nordisk still held 76% by value in March, down sharply, but far from displaced.

The Turning Point: The real acceleration is coming from injectables. While oral semaglutide grew a modest 1.2x in March, injectable volumes surged from 25,000 units to 63,000 units.

More launches are expected through April, intensifying competition. Regulators are likely to step in with stricter advisories to ensure semaglutide is prescribed only to eligible patients, but for now, that’s unlikely to dent its rapid rise.

India Opens Ports, Bends Rules

India is granting waivers to fast-track energy supplies, permitting an ageing LPG tanker and a US-sanctioned crude vessel to dock at its ports, although on a case-by-case basis, Reuters reported. The world's second-largest LPG importer is facing its worst gas crisis in decades, with the government rationing industrial supplies to protect household cooking gas.

Fuel retailers are meanwhile reportedly buying discounted diesel from refiners to shield consumers from price hikes, while

Overview: Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri has flown to Qatar for emergency energy talks, while GAIL has purchased three spot LNG cargoes and plans to borrow up to Rs 60 billion to fund expansion.

Reliance has capped fuel purchases at Rs1,000 per visit across its 2,000-plus Jio-BP outlets amid supply crunch, Bloomberg reported.

Future: The broader geopolitical picture remains precarious. Israel's continued strikes on Lebanon are threatening the US-Iran ceasefire, with Tehran warning there will be no deal while the attacks persist. Peace talks are underway in Islamabad, but the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded, according to Reuters.

Experts warn the ceasefire, even if it holds, locks in a new reality — Iran has effectively become the gatekeeper of the Strait, selectively dictating passage terms and leveraging its position over global energy markets. Meanwhile, gold rose 0.6% to $4,743 per ounce as markets remained on edge.

TCS Holds Ground

Tata Consultancy Services reported a 12% year-on-year rise in Q4FY26 net profit to Rs 13,718 crore, slightly ahead of estimates, even as demand remains uneven.

Break: The results come weeks after a sharp sell-off in Indian IT stocks, driven by concerns that generative AI could disrupt traditional outsourcing models, alongside weak global tech spending. India’s IT sector was already grappling with slower deal pipelines and cautious discretionary spending, particularly in key markets like North America. The AI boom, many say, could reshape the sector’s traditional growth model and margins.

Pivot: Even so, some industry voices remain cautiously optimistic. Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has argued that the AI shift could ultimately benefit software and services firms by expanding demand and enabling new use cases.

US Growth Slips

US economic growth slowed more than expected in the fourth quarter, with GDP expanding at a downwardly revised 0.5% annualised rate, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

This compares to the previously reported 0.7% and an advance estimate of 1.4%, missing economist forecasts of an unchanged reading, Reuters reported. Downgrades to business spending on intellectual products and inventory accumulation drove the revision.

Critical Moment: Consumer spending, which accounts for over two-thirds of the economy, was also trimmed to 1.9% from 2.0%. Domestic demand — a key policymaker gauge — grew at 1.8%, slowing sharply from 2.9% in the third quarter.

Fast Facts: Despite the slowdown, corporate profits surged — rising at a $246.9 billion rate, up from $175.6 billion in the prior quarter. However, the US-Iran war is now casting a fresh shadow over the first-quarter outlook.

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Markets Are Still Optimistic

On Episode 842 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Sheetal Sapale, Vice President at Pharmarack as well as Soumya Mohanty, MD & Chief Client & Solutions Officer, South Asia at Kantar.

• A ceasefire is hanging by the thread but why markets are still optimistic

• The first major quarterly result from TCS is positive

• Oil producers are seeing windfall gains from high prices already

• How India saw a massive market push in weight loss drugs in the last 10 days of March

• How India’s rapid digital adoption collides with a growing desire for personal grounding