Mishik Sharma

A recent BBC article (published on 19 April) claimed that India's metro systems are struggling to attract passengers. The article attracted immediate backlash on Indian social media — commuters from Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai etc narrated experiences of travelling in trains so packed that finding standing space was difficult. The BBC piece was rightly criticised for being high on narrative and low on data. But buried within it was a signal worth extracting: at certain stations, ridership is genuinely thin. Not because the metro is unwanted, but because many stations — even in megapolitan cities — have no reliable first or last mile connectivity. The metro arrives. But nothing is waiting on the other side. This is not an anecdote. It is a structural deficiency, and it is replicated across India's public transport systems — at small railway stations after dark, at hill-town bus terminals, and at newly opened metro stations in urban peripheries where the surrounding neighbourhood ha...

A Familiar Pump, An Unfamiliar Future The Indian fuel pump is beginning to look like a quiet site of transition. The nozzle is the same, the queue is the same—but the story around it is changing. Targets are sharper, alternatives are multiplying, and the idea of a “future without petrol” is no longer abstract. It is being signalled, incentivised, and—crucially—pre-built. And yet, for all the certainty in rhetoric, there is a gap in reality. The future is being announced faster than it is being assembled. The Push: Ethanol as Policy Workhorse India has already reached E20—20% ethanol blending in petrol—a milestone that would have seemed ambitious not long ago. The next horizon being invoked is far more dramatic: E85, even E100, supported by flex-fuel vehicles and a broader multi-fuel ecosystem. The rationale is compelling. India imports most of its crude oil, exposing itself to volatile prices and geopolitical risk. Ethanol, by contrast, is domestic, renewable, and politically attractiv...

On 28 April, Hyderabad-based materials transformation company Srichakra Polyplast announced that it will invest ₹425 crore to expand its food-grade recycled PET (rPET) capacity from around 90,000 tonnes to over 113,000 tonnes by 2026, and is targeting ₹1,000 crore in revenue in FY27-28, as reported by BusinessLine. The company, which reported revenue of ₹227 crore in FY25, expects to scale to ₹400 crore in FY26, with the planned investment directly supporting this growth through capacity expansion and higher-spec, food-grade recycling capabilities. This development may appear, at first glance, as incremental progress in waste management. In reality, they point to a deeper structural shift. The BusinessLine report further said that from April 2026, companies using PET bottles will be required to incorporate 40 per cent recycled content, up from 30 per cent earlier, tightening compliance requirements across the value chain. T he plastic recycling market, thus, is running into a structura...

India’s long-running debate over “brain drain" has returned in a new form. This time, it is not about whether talent leaves—but whether it should come back. On 27 April, tech entrepreneur Sridhar Vembu, in an open letter in X, appealed to Indian-Americans to return home to build India's technological strength and industrial sovereignty, arguing that the political environment in USA is no longer suitable to them. On 28 April, Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, in a response article in Moneycontrol, argued that India no longer needs its diaspora  in the way Vembu appeals for and that India’s internal momentum is now sufficient rebuild the country. Both perspectives are thoughtful, and both capture important aspects of India’s evolving position in the world.  But they are also focused on a question that is, ultimately, secondary: Should Indians abroad return? The more fundamental question is simpler—and more consequential: What kind of country is India becoming for t...

India’s technology job market is sending paradoxical signals. On one hand, a BusinessLine report (published on 10 April) points to a sharp rise in applications per tech role—doubling in some cases after layoffs and hiring slowdowns. On the other hand, a Quess Corp report (released on 20 April) highlights a 38-42% shortage of quality AI/ML talent, especially in Global Capability Centres (GCCs).  At first glance, these look contradictory. How can there be both a surplus of tech candidates and a shortage of tech talent? The answer lies in a structural mismatch that is becoming increasingly visible in India’s evolving tech ecosystem. The Real Problem: Not a Talent Shortage, but a Capability Gap The rise in applications per role reflects a surplus of generalist, application-level talent—engineers trained for routine coding, testing, and IT services work. These roles formed the backbone of India’s IT success over the past two decades. However, the nature of demand is shifting. According ...

India’s semiconductor push has, understandably, been framed around fabs, frontier nodes, and technological sovereignty. The ambition is valid. But there is a quieter constraint that cannot be ignored: time. Semiconductor ecosystems take decades to mature, while India faces a far more immediate challenge—a large and restless youth cohort that must be absorbed into productive, dignified work. Bridging this mismatch requires a shift in emphasis, not a dilution of ambition. India should remain committed to a full-stack semiconductor ecosystem. But in the near term, it needs a layer that can scale faster, distribute geographically, and generate employment without waiting for long-gestation breakthroughs. That layer is semiconductor packaging . The Constraint: Long Horizons, Immediate Pressures Building cutting-edge fabs, materials ecosystems, and advanced design capabilities is a generational project. It requires capital, coordination, and institutional depth that cannot be rushed. Yet Indi...