It used to be Tatas and Birlas in the loose political rhetoric of the 1970s and the 1980s. Today, it is Adani and Ambani in the heated Lok Sabha election campaign.
The Modani model demands a new theory for a State that is at once powerful and weak–powerful in its patronage and punishment but weak in its regulative capacity.
For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.
The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.
Indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 percent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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