Aug 23: India's wildlife is stressed, we have a solar dream

Good morning! If you find yourself in Gauri Khan’s Asian restaurant Torii in Mumbai and you happen to have a small fly, insect, or hair in your food - don’t freak out, it’s part of the experience - as per co-founder Abhayraj Kohli. It’s refreshing, really. Most restaurants may say sorry and try to offer a dish without the unwanted guests but we’re being pushed to think of this as fine dining meets fear factor.

Now, let’s get into the Dispatch! 🚀

Today’s reading time is 7 mins.

The Indian stock market indices ended lower on Friday, halting a six-day winning run. The downturn was caused by the new US tariffs on Indian goods, investors’ growing caution ahead of a key Fed speech, and profit-taking.

Global Momentum in Solar: The solar energy industry has been on a scorching growth trajectory, powered by climate concerns, government push, and sharp cost declines. Despite policymakers in some major economies pulling back subsidies and support, the momentum hasn’t slowed. Goldman Sachs Research projects global solar installations to hit 914 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, about 57% higher than 2024 levels. The market itself is expected to balloon to USD 436 billion by 2032, with Asia Pacific leading the charge. North America too remains a significant contributor, especially as the US seeks to decarbonize aggressively.

India’s Big Bet on Sunshine: For India, solar energy is not just a sustainability play, it’s a growth engine. According to Mordor Intelligence, the Indian solar market is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 20%, reaching a capacity of 195 GW in the next five years. Longer term, BloombergNEF predicts India could emerge as the second-largest solar market after China by the mid-2030s, riding on massive domestic demand and a potential export boom. This growth is tied to a much larger prize: a share of the $7 trillion global solar investment expected through 2050. India hopes to capture a big slice, leveraging its vast land, abundant sunlight, and policy support for clean energy. Already, renewables are gathering speed, the country added a record 22 GW of renewable capacity in the first half of 2025, up 56% from a year earlier. The government has set a bold target of 500 GW of clean energy by 2030.

Two Big Roadblocks, US and China: But India’s path to solar glory is not without storm clouds. The first comes from Washington. The US, one of the most lucrative export markets for Indian solar products, is expected to slap tariffs as high as 64% on imports. If enforced, this could make Indian panels uncompetitive just as they were beginning to gain ground. The second roadblock lies closer to home: China’s dominance in the solar supply chain. India may produce modules, but it still depends heavily on China for critical inputs like specialized glass, silicon wafers, encapsulant films, and aluminum frames. In 2024, four of India’s top manufacturers sourced more than 97% of their solar glass and frames from Chinese suppliers. That dependence leaves India vulnerable to supply shocks and cost pressures.

India’s Response: New Delhi is acutely aware of this bottleneck. Since 2022, it has imposed 40% duties on solar modules and 25% on solar cells, while mandating developers to use modules only from government-approved suppliers. The results are starting to show—India’s module manufacturing capacity has surged 12-fold since 2021, while solar cell output has more than doubled in the past year. A bigger push is coming in June 2026, when the government will require developers to buy cells only from approved domestic suppliers. But for that deadline to stick, local producers will need to ramp up quickly and bring costs down to stay competitive with Chinese imports.

The Road Ahead: If India succeeds in localizing its supply chain, the payoff could be massive - $4.8 trillion in solar investment under moderate economic scenarios, and up to $6.9 trillion if global decarbonization accelerates. Beyond investment, the sector already employs more than 300,000 people, and cheaper renewable electricity could be the hidden dividend for households and industries alike. 

The Good Picture: On the face of it, India’s wildlife parks are booming. From Ranthambore’s striped celebrities to Kaziranga’s armoured one-horned rhinoceroses, the country’s sanctuaries are witnessing record-breaking tourist inflows. Government reports proudly declare rising tiger counts, improved infrastructure, and park revenues that now rival some of the most popular global destinations. For middle-class families, spotting a leopard has become as aspirational as a European holiday; for international travellers, India is now firmly on the “big cat” map. This surge in footfalls is often framed as a double win: conservation gets funding, and local communities earn livelihoods. Hotels mushroom around park boundaries, safari bookings sell out months in advance, and the forest department pats itself on the back for preserving biodiversity while boosting tourism. In many ways, it sounds like a textbook example of eco-success.

The Catch: Scratch the glossy brochure, though, and the picture looks less idyllic. The very popularity that wildlife parks enjoy is also their biggest threat, animals may be thriving in numbers, but they’re not always thriving in experience. Tourist vehicles routinely crowd animals, turning safaris into noisy chases. A tigress in Ranthambore, cornered by a dozen jeeps, has little room left for dignity, let alone privacy. In Bandhavgarh, leopards are stalked more by telephoto lenses than by their natural predators. Even elephants in supposedly serene reserves are sometimes pushed into human contact for that “memorable interaction.” What’s worse is the “Insta-fication” of wildlife. National parks are increasingly backdrops for reels rather than sanctuaries for animals. Engines rev, guides bend rules, and selfie-seekers stretch limits, all in pursuit of digital applause. Add to that overcrowding, poor regulation, and lax enforcement, and the fragile balance of ecosystems begins to crack.

The Way Forward: India has proven it can protect its wildlife on paper - rising tiger counts are testament to that. But protecting wildlife in practice requires a different kind of effort: one that prioritizes animals over tourists.

Foxconn’s India shuffle: Foxconn subsidiary Yuzhan Technology has pulled back nearly 300 additional Chinese engineers from its India operations, the second such recall in recent months, even as New Delhi and Beijing try to mend ties amid mounting trade and geopolitical strains.

Export jugaad: Uncle Sam’s dugna lagaan has dealt a severe blow to India’s leather sector which has annual exports totalling $4.1 billion. Leather exporters from India’s leather hub, Kolkata are now considering a "Made in Europe" label to avoid a 25% US tariff.   

India-China trade gap: An ICRIER study shows a significant trade imbalance between India and China, with the trade deficit reaching a record $99.2 billion in 2024-25. It highlights an untapped export potential of $161 billion, which is nearly ten times the current value. 

Fighting for Space: Once upon a time, space was the stage for two superpowers - America and the Soviet Union, vying to plant a flag on the Moon. Today, it’s less about flags and more about markets, with the U.S. and China circling each other in what looks like a trillion-dollar orbital stare-down. According to analysts, the space economy could balloon past $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven not by rocket launches alone, but by everything that follows - satellite communications, space-based internet, asteroid mining (yes, really), and eventually, perhaps, off-planet energy. The U.S. is flexing its private-sector muscle—SpaceX, Blue Origin, and a dozen start-ups are turning what once looked like sci-fi into quarterly earnings calls. China, meanwhile, is playing the long game, blending state control with an increasingly sophisticated tech sector, building space stations, and eyeing lunar resources. Both powers know the score: whoever dominates space infrastructure doesn’t just win bragging rights; they gain control over communications, defense, and even the future of energy.

Space Race 2.0: The $11.9 billion commercial space launch industry is accelerating on reusable rockets, lunar ambitions, and satellite constellations. At the forefront are Space X and Blue Origin, with its heavy-lift New Glenn and deep ties to NASA’s Artemis, and Rocket Lab, scaling from its smallsat workhorse Electron to the reusable Neutron and advanced satellite platforms. Both firms signal a shift from government-dominated missions to private-led infrastructure, creating high-stakes opportunities for investors betting on space as the next commercial frontier.

The Indian Space Story: India’s space journey is one of ambition and resilience. What began in the 1960s with small rockets has grown into a globally respected program reaching the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Spearheaded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the sector today is valued at ₹16,000 crore, with bold goals in crewed spaceflight, interplanetary exploration, and commercial ventures.

NASA’s recent Moon play: NASA plans to fast-track building a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 as part of its goal to establish a permanent human base. The move comes amid competition with China and Russia, who could declare "keep-out zones" and are already pursuing similar projects. While nuclear power is seen as the most reliable energy source for the Moon - given the two-week-long nights that make solar impractical - questions remain about the feasibilityof NASA’s timeline due to budget cuts. Some scientists also warn that the plan may be driven more by geopolitics than science, as multiple nations, including India and Japan, join the lunar race.

Google’s Meta Cloud Deal: Google has signed a six-year cloud computing deal with Meta Platforms worth over $10 billion, marking its second major agreement in quick succession after OpenAI.

Putin Presses Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly urged Ukraine to pull out of the Donbas region, abandon its NATO ambitions, and pledge not to host Western troops a precursor to peace. The demands surfaced during his nearly three-hour meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska.

Sri Lanka’s Ex-President Arrested: Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested on Friday over allegations of misusing government funds, according to a senior police official. 

UN declares famine in Gaza A famine has now been declared in Gaza City and nearby areas, according to the international system for monitoring global hunger and food security.

Big Boss coming: Bigg Boss Hindi S19 premieres with nine sponsors, including Vaseline, Flipkart and Appy Fizz (yes, that’s still a thing!). The show is returning with a theme "Gharwalon Ki Sarkaar” and Sallu bhai as the host.  

OpenAI lands in Delhi: OpenAI is set to open its first India office in Delhi, hiring a local team to deepen ties with government, businesses, and developers. India is ChatGPT’s second-largest market, with weekly actives quadrupling last year.  

India becomes a cyberattack’ hotspot: India has become the top target for cyber attackers, with 12.4% of Windows devices experiencing malware detections in May 2025. Cybercriminals are using sophisticated AI to launch phishing and deepfake scams, making the manufacturing, IT services, and telecom sectors most vulnerable.

US Visa brakes for foreign drivers: The US has paused work visas for foreign commercial truck drivers after an Indian truck driver, Harjinder Singh, took an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway, a maneuver that resulted in the killing of 3 people.

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!

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