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This week's edition covers Piyush Goyal’s visit to Europe, Blackstone's and Actis' infrastructure investments, India overtakes Germany & France in startup funding, and more must-know news.

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India’s growth in solar energy addition year-over-year. As it reached almost 250 GW total capacity in renewable energy, India gets closer to its 500 GW target by 2030.

India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal is on an official visit to Europe from October 23rd with a focus on Germany. Goyal’s visit aims to deepen India’s economic collaboration with Germany ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Indo-German strategic partnership, strengthen trade between both countries, and discuss remaining steps of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The first part of Goyal’s visit was a meeting with Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katharina Reiche. Topics of discussion were not only stronger ties in trade and investment, but especially Germany’s commitment to finalising the EU-India FTA. The 14th round of trade talks was just concluded earlier this month and open issues remain with regards to the automotive sector, agriculture, and the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Goyal’s session with Reiche was followed by meetings with larger groups of German business leaders and direct exchanges with several CEOs:

The discussions focused on strengthening strategic partnerships and boosting investment in India. Key themes included advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), automotive, and high-technology cooperation in semiconductors and decarbonisation. Additionally, India's clean energy transition and deeper collaboration in the defence and infrastructure sectors were top of the agenda.

Goyal also met with other European leaders to discuss similar topics:

India’s geopolitical role and position towards FTAs was topic of the following agenda. The country’s guiding principle of national interest was underlined in several statements by Goyal during his participation at the Berlin Global Dialogue, a platform for business leaders, government representatives, and academia on today’s multipolar world with this year’s theme around “Shifting Power, Shaping Prosperity”. When asked about India’s purchase of Russian oil, Goyal referred to mutual respect and why India has been singled out considering that other regions do trade with Russia as well.

The events confirmed two things to me: the growing attention towards India by European businesses, and India’s clear commitment and willingness to conclude the EU-India FTA from a place of strength. Both are not surprising, given India’s geopolitical role and growing importance. It remains crucial to understand those developments and take action throughout all sectors in order to participate in India’s growth trajectory.

Sources: DD News, Business Standard, Times of India, Government of India, India Today, Berlin Global Dialogue, The Economic Times

India’s infrastructure has seen substantial growth and leading investment managers such as KKR, Brookfield, or Blackstone have invested in India for a long time. New announcements confirm the continued attractiveness by foreign market players.

In a broadly noticed presentation, President and COO of Blackstone, Jonathan Gray, highlighted India’s strong positioning in global financial markets and why the asset manager plans to double its investments in the country to USD 100 billion.

The lesser known, but early investor in India’s infrastructure, Actis also announced to double its assets under management of USD 2 billion within the next fours years. The London-based company was recently acquired by General Atlantic, a global private equity firm, and sees India’s domestic market as stabilising factor in the current disruptive geopolitical landscape.

Latest data on the renewable energy sector confirms continuing execution. According to JMK Research via PV Magazine, India added 29.5 GW of solar and 4.96 GW of wind energy so far this year, reaching a total capacity of 247.3 GW of renewable energy in September 2025.

Recent announcements by European businesses help support this growth:

Infrastructure (and renewable energy) will be a core sector for India’s development for many years to come. We’ve covered the opportunity in many issues, and the positioning of the world’s largest asset management firms confirms that European businesses in or adjacent to the sector should shift focus towards India.

Sources: Financial Express, PV Magazine, Engie

India's Tech ecosystem is now the third highest-funded country globally in the first nine months of 2025, surpassing both Germany and France. Despite a 20% year-over-year decline in capital, India's startups raised USD 7.7 billion, underscoring resilience amid global headwinds.

According to the report, the market is focused on sustainable outcomes over speculative growth. This maturation is evidenced by two points:

Key sectors attracting capital include Enterprise Applications, Retail, or Transportation & Logistics Tech. Bengaluru remains the undisputed hub, leading in total funding, acquisitions, and its share of India's 122 unicorns.

The market potential is further confirmed by the newly announced partnership of two heavyweights in the business: Prosus and Accel. European investor Prosus, famous for its early bet on China’s Tencent, has been active, and successful, in India for a long time and both parties plan with 10-15 year investment horizons in the deep tech sector, leveraging their networks in various industries.

Sources: Fortune India, Business Standard

In its recent APAC Outlook, the IMF also shared how the Asian states can come together for joint growth.

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