NEW DELHI, 4 November: India has been elected President of the International Solar Alliance for a third consecutive term. This was announced by Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi on 3 November. France was re-elected co-president for 2027–2029.
The alliance India founded with France in 2015 now counts 130 signatory and member countries, according to the figures the Minister cited. Its headquarters is in Gurugram.
What India gains
Is a continued leadership of the only treaty-based international body headquartered in India, and a pipeline of clean-energy capital into its states.
At a glance
ISA presidency: India, third consecutive term · Co-president: France, 2027–2029
ISA members and signatories: 130 countries
Odisha MoUs: 18, proposed investment ₹1.17 lakh crore
India-AI unveils multilingual model covering 22 Indian languages
NEW DELHI, 4 November: The IndiaAI Mission has unveiled EKA-1 trained on about 7.5 trillion tokens and covering all 22 scheduled Indian languages and English, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said.
GenTech AITech Innovation released Dheer 2B and Dheer 5B, open-source assistants in 10 Indian languages and English that run on a user’s own device, offline. Keeping data on the device matters for hospitals, courts and government offices that cannot send records to a foreign cloud.
What India gains
Is an AI that speaks the languages of a billion Indians and can run without leaving the country.
India’s defence exports surge 56-fold to Rs 38,424 crore
NEW DELHI, 4 November: India’s defence exports reached ₹38,424 crore in 2025-26, up from about ₹686 crore in 2013-14, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said. That is a 56-fold rise, by the desk’s calculation.
“Military preparedness in the 21st century cannot be separated from technological and industrial preparedness,” he said, adding that warfare now extends to space, cyber and digital domains. The defence budget for 2026-27 stands at a record ₹7.85 lakh crore, of which ₹2.19 lakh crore is capital outlay.
What India gains
Is an arms industry that now earns abroad, and a supplier base that sustains itself on more than domestic orders.
India targets doubling coastal and inland waterway freight
PURI, 4 November: The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways aims to raise the share of coastal shipping and inland waterways in India’s freight from 6% to 12% by 2047.
Coastal cargo has grown from 74 million tonnes to 177 million tonnes in 12 years, the release says, a rise of about 139%. Paradip Port Authority and the Odisha government will build an international cruise terminal at Puri for about ₹1,500 crore, and more than ₹13,000 crore is going into National Waterway-5 in Odisha.
What India gains
Is a cheaper freight by sea and river, and fewer trucks on the highways.
India-EU trade pact set for December signing
NEW DELHI, 4 November: The India–European Union free trade agreement is scheduled for signing in December, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on 2 November.
What India gains
Is tariff access to a market of 27 countries, with customs ready on the first day.
Jaishankar pitches India’s digital model to Commonwealth
ST JOHN’S, 4 November 2026: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the Commonwealth Heads of Government Executive Session in Antigua that digital public infrastructure has “helped democratise our economies by expanding opportunities”.
“The Indian example is instructive,” he wrote, adding that he also spoke about India’s recent free trade agreements. The Commonwealth has 56 members, many of them small island states looking for affordable digital systems.
What India gains
Is a market for India’s digital public platforms across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Indian Americans strengthen presence in US House
WASHINGTON, 4 November: Suhas Subramanyam was re-elected to the US House of Representatives from Virginia’s 10th district with 63.16% of the vote. In Florida’s 22nd district, Pia Dandiya won, as called by CBS News, and is reported to be the first Indian American elected to the House from the state.
Counting continued in several other races involving Indian American candidates.
What India gains
Is a diaspora with a larger voice in the legislature of India’s largest trading partner.
