Thank you for subscribing to India Rising. Our community of Risers continues to grow and it’s great to have you with us!

This week's edition covers that India is APAC's most dynamic real estate market, Deutsche Bank’s plans to sell its retail business, India's AI ambitions, and more must-know news.

Coming this Thursday: our next guest article! Fellow Riser Wolfgang Bergthaler, a Austria-based consultant and founder of www.indische-wirtschaft.de and advisor for European companies on business development, lead generation, and recruitment in India since 2009, will share insights on “Why The Traditional Export Strategy Does Not Work Any Longer With India” with us.

Found this week's edition insightful? Please do forward us to your friends, family and co-workers. It might help them, and it will definitely help us! Thank you for supporting the Indo-European partnership.

Got feedback? Just hit reply, I’d love to hear from you!

This is the uplifted GDP growth rate for India’s FY 2025-2026, according to Fitch.

Real estate markets are a reflection of the state of an economy. With India’s commercial and industrial real estate markets reaching new highs, recent reports confirm a broader and sustainable growth trend for the country’s economy.

India’s office market secured the top position in the whole Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the first half of 2025, marking a significant milestone in the country’s economic development. As reported by Colliers, India accounted for a staggering

in the office sector for the whole APAC region. Together with Japan and Mainland China, India accounted for 90% of all office demand in the region during the first half of the year, while India, China, and Singapore accounted for 80% of new supply.

Beyond the office market, India’s industrial real estate sector is performing equally well. This sector includes warehouses for logistics purposes and manufacturing sites, confirming the ongoing manufacturing boom that we had outlined in several of our prior issues of India Rising.

According to JLL, the industrial sector reached a new all-time high in H1 2025 and strongly outperformed prior periods:

While growth remains strong, demand is concentrated around 90% in five key regions: Bengaluru, Pune, NCR Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.

A growing demand from third-party logistics providers (28%) and manufacturing operators (24%) through build-to-suit agreements (long-term leases tailored to specific occupier requirements, often including pre-development infrastructure), indicates market maturation and a need for faster, more capital efficient asset-light approaches. Capital markets and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) represent key facilitators and are expected to reach a 30% share for the office sector by 2030, up from 16% today.

These robust performance indicators demonstrate that India's real estate sector continues to reflect healthy market demand and broader economic growth momentum. With the sector poised to become a USD 5-10 trillion industry by 2047, there is tremendous potential for many European businesses in the adjacent sectors, from construction technology and smart building solutions to logistics and manufacturing services, as well.

Sources: Business Standard, The Hans, Colliers, The Economic Times

Germany’s largest bank Deutsche Bank is restructuring its organisation in India and plans to sell its retail banking branches. This follows an announcement earlier this year by Christian Sewing, the bank’s CEO, to trim costs and cut around 2,000 jobs this year.

The bank has been active in India since 1980 and reached net revenues of USD 1 billion in 2024. Its retail segment, operating through 17 locations, contributed approximately USD 278 million in annual revenue. With more than 22,000 employees primarily in technology and back-office roles, the bank’s largest operation outside its home market Germany is in India.

Deutsche Bank invited both domestic and international banks to provide non-binding bids by August 29th. It’s the bank’s second attempt after an initial effort back in 2017.

The move reflects a broader retreat by foreign banks from India's highly competitive retail banking sector. Local players and digital-first challengers have intensified competition, compressing margins and making it difficult for international banks to achieve scale:

The bank’s plan to sell its retail business is part of a larger M&A trend in India this year and while exiting retail operations, Deutsche Bank's corporate and investment banking divisions are expected to remain active in India. Transaction volumes for mergers & acquisitions (M&A) have reached USD 41 billion in 2025, an increase of around 3% compared to the same period last year. M&A advisory services are an important offering by Deutsche Bank in India, a segment that could benefit from the bank's strategic refocusing on institutional clients rather than retail consumers.

Sources: Financial Express, Reuters, The Economic Times

India is known for its tech savvy workforce and strong technology ecosystems. While the country has yet to match the computing infrastructure of the US or China, local businesses started developing indigenous large language models tailored not only to India’s diverse languages, but also designed to address country-specific challenges in healthcare or agriculture.

Boston Consulting Group recently highlighted India as well positioned for the AI age, thanks to its skilled workforce. Private capital is increasingly taking notice, with major international investments signalling confidence in India's AI potential:

India is an important partner in technological developments and its contributions to AI developments are already widely recognised. I think India’s emergence as an AI hub thanks to technical capabilities and cost advantages could create substantial opportunities for European businesses for developing and implementing AI solutions within their own organisations as well. As US technology companies have demonstrated, India's skilled workforce provides a significant leveraging factor for AI innovation and deployment at scale.

Sources: The Economic Times, Reuters, CNBC, IndianWeb2

Next guest article incoming: “Why The Traditional Export Strategy Does Not Work Any Longer With India“ by Wolfgang Bergthaler.

Wolfgang is an Austria-based consultant and founder of www.indische-wirtschaft.de. Since 2009, he has been reporting on India’s dynamic growth market and advising European companies on business development, lead generation, and recruitment in India.

With a strong entrepreneurial background and long-standing expertise, he bridges insights from both Europe and India to support successful cross-border ventures.

Keep an eye on your inbox and share India Rising with your network!

Your random facts and stories about India and the Indo-European friendship.

This week: India's Financial Evolution: From Hundis to Digital Transactions.

Enjoyed this issue? Share the newsletter with your network.

You can’t get enough or want to catch up on past editions? Follow the link!