When Stability Becomes the Exception

Good morning. For a brief moment this week, markets exhaled.

A fragile ceasefire in West Asia—after weeks of escalating conflict between the US and Iran—offered hope that the worst may be behind us. Oil softened, but the uncertainty hasn’t.

In our Weekend Edition, we ask a more fundamental question: how does India build energy resilience in a world like this? With Suhas Baxi of BiofuelCircle, we explore why the answer may lie in something as overlooked as farm waste—and the hard problem of building supply chains to make it viable at scale.

Elsewhere, the signals are shifting. Global investors are growing more selective, the rupee remains under pressure, and trade tensions and AI are reshaping how capital, business, and power flow across borders.

Volatility is no longer episodic—it’s structural. And resilience is fast becoming the new growth strategy.

WEEKEND EDITION

From Farm Waste to Fuel: India’s Untapped Energy Goldmine

India’s energy crisis is often framed as a supply problem. But what if part of the solution is already lying in its fields—unused, uncollected, and underestimated?

In this conversation, Suhas Baxi of BiofuelCircle lays out a compelling case for biofuels—not as a fringe alternative, but as a scalable, structural solution to India’s energy dependence. Today, biofuels account for barely 1–2% of India’s energy mix. Yet, with the right infrastructure, they could meet up to 20% of demand.

The constraint isn’t technology. It’s logistics.

India generates hundreds of millions of tonnes of agricultural residue each year, much of which is burned or left to waste. The real challenge is building a system that can collect, compress, transport, and convert this biomass—across tens of thousands of villages, within narrow harvest windows, and at viable economics.

What emerges is a picture of energy transition that looks less like a breakthrough innovation and more like an execution challenge at national scale. From “Uber-like” farm clean-up networks to biomass banks and rural supply chains, the solution lies in orchestrating millions of small, distributed actions into one reliable system.

Why this matters:
If India can solve for biofuel logistics, it doesn’t just reduce import dependence—it creates a new rural economy, strengthens energy security, and turns waste into one of its most valuable resources.

SPECIAL EDITION

India’s Growth Puzzle: Capital, Caution, & Consumption

Why are global investors turning cautious on India—and what does that signal for the economy ahead?

In this special episode of The Core Report, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with JPMorgan’s Jahangir Aziz to unpack a shifting narrative. Despite strong headline growth, India is facing a “valuation reset,” slowing earnings momentum, and a growing gap between market expectations and macro realities. As global capital gravitates toward safety and resilience, India’s premium positioning is being questioned.

But the conversation goes deeper than markets.

A central theme is India’s persistently high savings rate. Is it cultural, or a response to economic uncertainty? Aziz argues it’s the latter—driven by rising household costs across healthcare, education, and housing, alongside income insecurity. The result: cautious consumers, muted demand, and a constrained consumption engine.

The episode connects these threads—foreign capital flows, domestic savings behavior, and structural bottlenecks—to paint a more nuanced picture of India’s growth story.

Why this matters:
India’s challenge isn’t just attracting global capital—it’s building the conditions for confidence at home. Until consumption strengthens and structural risks ease, both markets and investors may remain on the sidelines.

NASSCOM CONVERSATIONS

Rethinking Drone Delivery: Beyond the Hype

Drone delivery is often framed as a last-mile automation problem. But in this episode of Nasscom Conversations, Govindraj Ethiraj sits down with Naman Pushp, Founder of Airbound, to unpack a deeper reality—scaling drone logistics is fundamentally about solving for unit economics, manufacturing, and real-world access.

As India accelerates its push into deep tech and the low-altitude economy, Naman outlines why many drone delivery models struggle to move beyond pilots. The answer, he argues, lies not just in software or autonomy, but in hardware innovation. By combining fixed-wing aircraft design with drone technology, Airbound is building systems that enable longer range, higher efficiency, and more viable logistics use cases—far beyond the typical last-mile narrative.

The conversation also explores the often-overlooked backbone of drone innovation: carbon fiber composites, lightweight aircraft design, and the complexities of manufacturing at scale. In a sector where margins are tight, these engineering choices can determine whether a business is viable or not.

Equally compelling is Naman’s personal journey—from starting Airbound as a school project to raising capital and making the unconventional decision to skip college and build full-time. It’s a story that reflects the evolving mindset of India’s new-generation founders—ambitious, risk-taking, and deeply focused on solving hard, structural problems.

Why this matters:
Drone delivery isn’t just a futuristic concept—it’s a test case for India’s ability to build and scale deep tech businesses. And as this conversation shows, the real breakthroughs may come from rethinking fundamentals, not just refining existing models.

Trade Wars, AI, and a Fragmenting World

In this episode of Nasscom Conversations, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Michael Kugelman (Atlantic Council) to decode how trade wars, tariffs, and AI are reshaping global business and geopolitics in 2026.

As economic nationalism rises, trade is no longer just about goods—it’s about supply chains, semiconductors, and strategic leverage. From U.S. tariff shifts to China’s central role in global manufacturing, the conversation unpacks why “decoupling” is far more complex than it appears.

The episode also explores India’s positioning in this evolving landscape—balancing opportunity in supply chain diversification and AI leadership with the need to maintain strategic autonomy.

Why this matters:
In a world defined by technological disruption and geopolitical tension, business strategy is now inseparable from global power dynamics.

THE CORE QUIZ

HOW INDIA’S ECONOMY WORKS

Rupee: Managing Volatility or Resisting It?

While currency movements are often attributed to short-term shocks, Sengupta argues that the rupee’s weakness runs deeper. From rising energy import dependence to sustained capital outflows, structural pressures in India’s external sector are becoming harder to ignore. Global disruptions, including the West Asia conflict, have only amplified these fault lines.

At the centre of the discussion is the Reserve Bank of India’s increasingly active role in the currency market. Through a mix of interventions and regulatory measures, the RBI has sought to stabilise the rupee—but this raises a critical question: is it managing volatility, or implicitly targeting the exchange rate level itself?

The conversation explores the broader implications of this approach. What happens when a currency is no longer seen purely as a market-driven price? How do frequent interventions affect financial institutions, hedging costs, and market behaviour? And could policy inconsistencies create longer-term risks for credibility and capital flows?

Why this matters:
The rupee is more than just a currency—it’s a key shock absorber for the economy. How India balances market forces with policy intervention will shape not just exchange rate stability, but also its path toward greater financial openness.

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