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Power, Policy And The Next Pivot
The Weekend Playlist
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Good morning.
For India, the recent geopolitical disruptions have been a reminder of the need to build resilience at home.
Girish Tanti and Vishal Mehta examine the challenge of meeting rapidly rising electricity demand. Vivek Bhatia points out that India's manufacturing ambitions will depend on competitiveness and a stronger export orientation. Parag Waknis explores the delicate relationship between government borrowing, monetary policy and the RBI's balance sheet, while Sachin Kulkarni looks at how AI is reshaping India's GCC story.
In a world defined by uncertainty; competitive and adaptable systems matter as much as growth itself.
WEEKEND EDITION
The Real Test Of India's Industrial Ambitions
India’s next growth story may not be written in apps, malls or trading screens. It may be written inside mines, power plants, sugar mills and factory floors.
In this episode of Weekend Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Vivek Bhatia of TKIL Industries (formerly Thyssenkrupp Industries India), about why he believes this could be the decade of industrials in India. Bhatia explains how the company, once part of ThyssenKrupp, has returned to Indian ownership at a time when demand for infrastructure, power, mining, cement, sugar and new energy equipment is rising sharply.
The conversation moves through the less visible machinery behind India’s growth: coal handling systems for thermal power, mechanised mining, captive boilers, ethanol distilleries, compressed biogas, sustainable aviation fuel, green hydrogen and the future of sugar as a biochemical industry.
But the optimism comes with a warning. India’s manufacturing ambitions will depend not just on demand, but on competitiveness. Bhatia argues that lower power costs, better quality standards, stronger exports, deeper technology adoption and a renewed interest in core engineering will decide whether India remains a large domestic market or becomes a serious manufacturing base for the world.
Key Insight
Bhatia is cautious on EVs because batteries depend heavily on a limited set of supplier countries and sees ethanol and hydrogen as more India-controlled alternatives.
SPECIAL EDITION
How Renewable Energy Can Become India’s Superpower
Are we entering the biggest electricity expansion in modern history?
In this episode of Special Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Girish Tanti of Suzlon, about why the world may be entering an unprecedented electricity supercycle. As electrification accelerates, data centres proliferate, and industries pursue decarbonisation, demand for electricity is set to surge globally, with India expected to outpace most major economies.
The future will now be about delivering round-the-clock clean energy, which Tanti claims can be done by combining wind, solar, and battery storage into integrated systems that can deliver the same. It's a transition that is reshaping how renewable projects are designed, financed, and deployed.
Key Insight
Renewable energy is not just a climate solution, but rather a strategic necessity.
When Electricity Demand Outruns The System
For years, India's power challenge was straightforward: generate more electricity. Today, the problem is stranger.
In this episode of Special Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Vishal Mehta of BCG, about what happens when a country adds record amounts of renewable energy but still struggles during peak demand.
India recently crossed 270 GW of peak power demand. Yet, Mehta argues that the issue isn't a shortage of generation capacity. In fact, there is often plenty of power available during the day. The real problem emerges in the evening, when solar generation drops off just as millions of households switch on air-conditioners and cooling systems.
India's next bottleneck is likely to be storage, transmission infrastructure, and the ability of utilities to accurately forecast demand in 15-minute intervals.
Key Insight
India's power shortages are increasingly a timing problem, not a generation problem.
NASSCOM CONVERSATIONS
The Multi-Billion Dollar Shift in Global Tech
For years, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) were built on a straightforward advantage: India offered skilled talent at scale and at a lower cost. AI is now forcing the industry to rethink that equation.
In the latest episode of Nasscom Conversations, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Sachin Kulkarni of Fiserv about how GCCs are moving beyond back-office functions and execution-led work towards innovation, product ownership and strategic decision-making.
The conversation explores how the nature of work itself is changing. As routine tasks become increasingly automated, qualities that are harder to replicate, judgement, domain expertise, creativity and the ability to navigate complex human interactions, become more valuable. The question for India is whether it can create the kind of talent that thrives when technology takes over the predictable parts of work.
Key Insight
The future GCC may look more like a team of technologists, psychologists, lawyers and domain experts working together to build trustworthy AI systems.
THE CORE QUIZ
Which company partnered with Reliance Industries to build an AI-enabled data centre in Jamnagar? |
HOW INDIA’S ECONOMY WORKS
The Central Bank’s Debt Dilemma
The RBI’s balance sheet is where India’s borrowing story quietly becomes a monetary policy story.
In this episode of How India’s Economy Works, Puja Mehra speaks with economist Parag Waknis about one of the least understood but most revealing documents in Indian policymaking: the RBI’s accounts. The conversation begins with the central bank’s role as the government’s banker and debt manager, and moves into the mechanics of government bond auctions, primary dealers, open market operations and liquidity management.
Waknis explains why the end of direct deficit financing did not remove the RBI from the government debt story. When bond issues are not fully absorbed by the market, primary dealers step in. Over time, through secondary-market operations, some of that debt can still land on the RBI’s books.
Why This Matters
The balance sheet is not just an accounting record. It shapes liquidity, interest rates, inflation management, RBI profits and, eventually, the credibility of monetary policy itself.
MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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