Winning Bizness Economic Desk
Bangalore-based company Flying Wedge Defence and Aerospace (FWDA) has announced the completion of its Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Autonomous Combat Aircraft programme.
The aircraft—FWD Kaal Bhairava E2A2—offers combat capabilities at nearly one-tenth the cost of US Predator-class drones such as MQ-9 reaper.
FWDA’s Founder and CEO Mr Suhas Tejaskanda revealed that the company has bagged an USD 25-million export order from a South Asian country, a part of an USD 30-million strategic deal and described the order as a sign of growing international interest in Indian defence technology.
“The Kaal Bhairava Economic and Efficient Autonomous Aircraft (E2A2) has been 80 per cent designed, developed and manufactured in India,” he said.
The UAV has a 6.5-metre wingspan, a payload capacity of 91-kilograms and a range of 3,000-kilometres with SATCOM support.
It can operate at up to 20,000-feet and offers endurance of up to 30-hours on surveillance missions and 11-hours on strike missions.
Kaal Bhairava suggests Guard of the Nation, Mr Tejaskanda said, adding that cost advantage allows for ten Kaal Bhairavas to be fielded for the price of a single Predator making it an “attritable” system where the loss of one unit does not critically affect operational capacity.
The company has created a fully indigenous Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) eco-system, ensuring faster turn-around times, lower life-cycle costs and readily available spares.
India Likely to Attract Massive Japanese Investment
The Japanese government is preparing to announce a ten-trillion Yen (USD 68-billion) investment target for India during Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan later this month, a leading Indian news outlet cited Japanese news agency Kyodo News, as saying.
This is a steep northward vault from the 5-trillion Yen five-year target unveiled in 2022 as both countries look to boost economic and strategic ties while promoting a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.
The Indian Prime Minister will be visiting the north Asian island nation end-August—he will be on a three-day visit starting August 29, his first since May 2023 when Mr Modi had attended the G-7 summit in Hiroshima.
Both countries are working on a new framework for co-operation in economic security, Kyodo News said.
This would cover stable supplies of critical goods, with semi-conductors, essential minerals, communications, clean energy, artificial intelligence and pharma products identified as priority areas.
Both India and Japan are also expected to announce an AI co-operation initiative, focusing on emerging technology and start-ups.
Here, it must be pointed out that there is also a likelihood of Mr Modi travelling to Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture to observe an experimental shinkashen bullet train car and visit a major Japanese manufacturer of chip-making equipment.
Hindalco Plans USD 10-bn Investment
Hindalco Industries Limited, the metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group has planned global investments of around USD 10-billion over the next five-years.
The investment spans across aluminium, copper and speciality alumina, Hindalco’s chairman, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla told shareholders at the company’s AGM held earlier this month.
The company’s expansion plan includes major projects in the country as well as overseas. This includes an Rs 18,000-crore capex in FY 25 alone. A point to note here is that this is the highest in almost a decade.
“Your company is among the top global players in aluminium, copper and speciality alumina, and is now embarking on an ambitious growth journey,” Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla pointed out.
The Aditya Birla group company is propping up its upstream capacities with an 1,80,000-tonnes expansion at the Aditya aluminium smelter, a 3,60,000-tonnes expansion at Mahan and a new greenfield 8,50,000-tonnes alumina refinery.
In copper, a 3,00,000-tonnes smelter expansion is on the anvil at Dahej—it will make it the world’s largest copper smelting complex outside China.
In downstream operations, Hindalco is targeting a four-fold vault in EBITDA by FY 30 through value-added products in aluminium, copper, speciality alumina and re-cycling.
It is also setting up the country’s first and the world’s second-largest dedicated e-waste and coper re-cycling facility at Pakhajan.
Importantly, global subsidiary Novelis is on track to commission its USD 4.1-billion Bay Minette project in the United States by 2026, which will raise its total capacity to five-million tonnes annually.
The Aditya Birla Group chairman highlighted initiatives such as a 100 MW hybrid renewable energy project at the Aditya smelter in Odisha, large-scale repurposing and e-waste recycling.
Hindalco was also ranked the world’s most sustainable aluminium company for the fifth consecutive year in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability.
India’s Forex Reserves Rise to USD 695.10-bn
The country’s foreign exchange reserves moved northward by USD 1.48-billion in the week ended August 15 to USD 695.10-billion. This climb was propelled by gains in foreign currency assets (FCAs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.
For the reported week, India’s Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), the biggest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at USD 585.90-billion, up by USD 1.92-billion.
The Reserve Bank of India data revealed that the gold reserves currently amount to USD 86.16-billion, registering a slide of USD 2.16-billion.
India’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the global financial body, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) climbed-up by USD 41-million, reaching USD 18.782-billion.
The reserve position of the country with the IMF increased by USD 15-million to USD 4.75-billion.
In 2023, India added around USD 58-billion to its forex reserves contrasting with a cumulative slide of USD 71-billion in 2022. In 2024, the reserves increased by a little over USD 20-billion.
This year (2025) so far, the forex kitty has cumulatively vaulted by USD 53-billion, the data showed.
Foreign exchange reserves are assets held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority, primarily in reserve currencies such as the US Dollars, with smaller portions in the Euro, Japanese Yen and Pound Sterling.
The Reserve Bank often intervenes by managing liquidity, including selling dollars to prevent steep Rupee depreciation. It also strategically buys dollars when the Rupee is strong and sells when it weakens.
India’s Listed Real Estate Cos Clock Sales of Rs 53,000-cr in Q1 FY 26
The country’s listed real estate companies have collectively sold properties worth nearly Rs 53,000-crore in Q1 (April-to-June) of this fiscal (FY 26).
This very robust number reflects a sustained demand for housing, especially in the luxury and premium segments, as home-buyers continue to prefer branded companies post the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prestige Estates Projects Ltd, the realty player based out of the southern city of Bangalore has emerged as the top performer, with pre-sales of Rs 12,126-crore during the quarter propelled by strong demand in its home market.
Following closely behind in the second and third spots are DLF Ltd at Rs 11,425-crore in sales bookings and Mumbai-based Godrej Properties at Rs 7,082-crore.
DLF Ltd is India’s largest real estate company by market value and its growth was primarily propelled by luxury homes in Gurugram.
The fourth and fifth spots were occupied by Lodha Developers at Rs 4,450-crore and Delhi-NCR’s Signature Global at Rs 2,640-crore, respectively.
A point that requires highlighting here is that these top five companies combined contributed a huge 71 per cent to the combined sales bookings of 28 listed realtors.
Additionally, there are several mid-sized and regional developers who have also done well. These include Sobha Ltd, Omaxe Ltd, Kalpataru Ltd and Brigade Enterprises, among others.
There are well-known names below the Rs 1,000-crore mark as well—these companies include Sunteck Realty, Kolte-Patil, Mahindra Lifespace, Shriram Properties and Ashiana Housing.
Other real estate firms such as Aditya Birla Real Estate, Raymond Realty, TARC, Max Estates and Suraj Estate, among others, have registered sales ranging from Rs 80-crore to Rs 422-crore.
An important point to note here is that residential demand was the core of this with most of the pre-sales concentrated in residential properties, which remain the driving force of the real estate sector.
During FY 25 (last fiscal), India’s 26 major listed realty firms sold properties worth Rs 1.62-lakh---crore.
