This is our first issue of 2026 and the beginning of a year that I expect will be pivotal for the Indo-European partnership. Thank you for being part of India Rising. It’s great to have you here.

Here are the topics of our first issue this year:

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India’s GDP reached USD 4.18 Trillion in 2025, overtaking Japan as the 4th largest economy.

After a strong second half of 2025 with 8.2% GDP growth rates year-over-year in the last reported quarter, India is now officially the 4th largest economy. Financial institutions expect India to remain the fastest growing economy for the foreseeable future, and the reasons why clearly indicate the potential that European businesses, in my opinion, still largely underestimate.

Just before the end of the year, news outlets such as Deutsche Welle shared that India’s economy as per total GDP in USD is now larger than Japan’s thanks to accelerating economic growth in the last quarters and strong domestic demand. This is against economic headwinds and US-imposed tariffs, as well as the Rupee’s relative weakness against the USD, which makes this growth, calculated in USD terms, even more impressive compared to Japan's stable currency environment in 2025.

The data indicates this momentum to last:

In its “Year Ahead” outlook report and as reported by The Economic Times, the Swiss bank UBS highlights India as one of the most resilient growth stories among major economies. While global markets face uncertainty, India’s large domestic market and strong internal drivers act as a buffer against external headwinds and tighter global financial conditions.

UBS highlights several reasons for India’s resilience:

European companies could substantially profit from India’s stable and growing domestic market, and offset declining revenues in other markets globally. And I think this requires to be initiated now in order to be able to participate in India’s growth and secure a stable anchor against the volatile markets today.

Sources: Deutsche Welle, The Economic Times, Google Finance

Energy capacity is a key signal for economic stability and development. Building up such infrastructure requires substantial investments, governmental support and strategic targets. Latest numbers show that 2025 has been a successful year for India’s efforts in addressing the increasing energy demand with renewable energy. Reaching Paris Agreement goals early also indicate the trajectory of India’s larger solar ecosystem.

Here’s an overview of India’s renewable energy push in 2025 according to the Times of India:

India therefore reached its Paris Agreement targets five years earlier than scheduled and is now ranked

While capacity is not all (see India Rising issues 5 and 33), it still is proof of India’s intend to become less reliable on fossil fuels overall. Targets were also reached earlier than various think tanks anticipated and might require a closer and more detailed evaluation.

The direction however is clear: India wants and needs to become less reliable on fossil fuels as well as foreign solar products. This is not only being addressed by an increasing renewable energy capacity, but domestic solar manufacturing ecosystems as well. According to SolarPower Europe and as shared by Statista, India’s photovoltaic module manufacturing capacity is expected to double by 2030 to 160 GW from 80 GW today, alongside cell, wafer and polysilicon components:

European capital and businesses move to India to contribute and benefit from this ecosystem. Copenhagen based AP Moller Capital, the global leader in shipping and owner of Maersk, announced to invest in a 900 MW clean energy product by Rays Power Infra, a Mumbai based renewable energy developer.

I’ve covered the renewable energy sector, Indo-European collaborations and investments in several issue before. The latest data once again confirms that European businesses need to take action in order to participate in one of the largest infrastructure build outs globally today.

Sources: Times of India, Statista, SolarPower Europe

India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) have seen tremendous momentum over the past year throughout all sectors. The two Swiss life sciences leaders Roche and Novartis are no exception, as their leadership confirmed their substantial importance for global innovation and close the chapter of pure cost-cutting discussions. These are two stories other European companies can learn from.

Roche’s Digital Center of Excellence (CoE) in Pune is the company’s only 100% digital hub globally. The center grew from a startup acquisition into a full-scale innovation hub and focuses exclusively on data, AI, and software. The CoE is instrumental in Roche’s "5P" healthcare strategy: Prevent, Predict, Personalise, Peace of Mind, and Point of Care, and builds AI diagnostics and data-anonymisation platforms used in labs worldwide. On top, it collaborates with IIT’s and the ecosystem.

Novartis follows a more R&D driven approach and has turned its India hubs (Hyderabad and Mumbai) into "HQ Twins" that touch almost every aspect of the company’s drug development. The India teams lead chemistry, biostatistics, and clinical operations, and are therefore tightly embedded in the innovation pipeline. This includes the world’s most advanced medical platforms, including radioligand therapy (RLT) and xRNA therapies. On top, their Indian data engineers developed tools like Protocol.AI to accelerate "speed to evidence", allowing global leadership to make costly "go/no-go" decisions faster than ever before.

These examples show the advantages and potential Indian GCCs provide for European businesses throughout all sectors, and cost-cutting is clearly not one of them. As I’ve worked in market entry for GCCs in my capacity as advisor, I regularly educate business leaders on the momentum of India’s innovation ecosystems and why it is crucial for their company to be more present. Availability of talent, ecosystem partnerships, and deep skillsets in cutting-edge technology are key reasons why GCCs gained in prominence in the first place and still do.

Sources: Express Computer, Business Today

India will host the AI Summit in February 2026. In a recent conversation of Inside Tech by The Economist, the participants cover what India does differently and what it could mean for global AI adoption.

Check out the 5 minutes short video here:

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

This week: The Bindi

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