NEW DELHI, 30 OctoberThe India–European Union free trade agreement, which concluded, is moving towards signature. European Council President António Costa said in Montreal that Prime Minister Modi “will come in December to sign the deal”, Outlook reported on 30 October 2026.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said in Germany that the pact would be signed before the end of calendar 2026 and could be operational in the first quarter of 2027, Business Standard reported on 22 October 2026.
Green hydrogen offtakes deals cross 5.55 lakh tonnes annually
NEW DELHI, 30 October Indian green hydrogen developers have signed 23 offtake contracts totalling 5,55,610 tonnes a year since 2023, eighteen of them in 2026 alone. These figures were revealed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy figures. More than 70% is earmarked for export, and the investment behind it is put at about ₹90,000 crore.
India gains an export product made from its own sun and wind.
IIT Bombay develops simple blood tests for anaemia, sickle cell
MUMBAI, 30 October Thick blood spreads less. A team at IIT Bombay has turned that plain fact of fluid mechanics into a screening test for anaemia and sickle cell disease that needs a drop of blood, a glass slide and a ruler.
The work comes from the Department of Chemical Engineering, led by Prof. Mahesh S. Tirumkudulu with first author Mahrukh A. Mir and Bhavesh Raicha of Valsad Raktdan Kendra in Gujarat. It is published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Lab on a Chip.
Defence Council clears Rs 2.12 lakh crore procurement proposals
NEW DELHI, 30 October A warship’s best defence against an incoming anti-ship missile is sometimes not a gun. It is a decoy — a small floating or launched device that looks, to the missile’s seeker, more like a ship than the ship does.
That decoy, the Active Offboard Decoy System, is one of more than a dozen items the Defence Acquisition Council cleared on 26 October. The council, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, granted Acceptance of Necessity for proposals worth about ₹2,12,000 crore, according to the Ministry of Defence release issued through PIB the same day.
What India gains
When 82 rupees in every hundred go to Indian makers, the jobs, the skills and the spares stay in the country. A force that buys its drones at home can repair them at home, upgrade them at home and replace them faster in a crisis. That is the self-reliance the approval buys.
Rs 10,000 crore scheme to boost India’s container manufacturing
NEW DELHI, 30 October The Union Cabinet approved a ₹10,000 crore Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme, running to FY2039-40. It aims to lift India’s annual capacity about ten-fold, to 7.5 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units.
Most of the money, ₹8,891 crore, is operating support paid per box built: ₹49,500 for a 20-foot container and ₹86,625 for a 40-foot one. Boxes must carry 70% local content up to FY2031-32 and 90% after that. The scheme is expected to create about 3,000 direct and more than 50,000 indirect jobs.
India gains a domestic supply of the steel boxes that carry its exports, instead of buying them abroad.
India commits Rs 24,000 cr to research and development
NEW DELHI, 30 October India drew Rs 24,000 crore of fresh research commitments in a single year — ₹12,000 crore from the government for laboratory technologies close to market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the figure while opening the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave 2026 at Bharat Mandapam on 27 October.
“Meaning, in just one year, a total new commitment of 24 thousand crore rupees has been made for research and development,” he said.
