The IDBI stake sale, Starlink's entry into India, and more

In this week’s wrapup, we discuss China’s EV battery empire, the 2026 Nobel Prize in Economics, India’s new GST reforms, whether Starlink can win India’s internet war, and the Fairfax-IDBI Bank deal.How China is building its global EV battery empireIn 2005, China’s EV battery industry had just two companies.

Twenty years later, it makes over 75% of the batteries sold worldwide.Part of the answer lies in a 2015 rule that tied EV subsidies to an approved list of battery suppliers, and every name on that list was Chinese. With the home market protected, CATL and BYD could compete with each other and get better, faster, and cheaper.Now China is taking that playbook overseas, with at least 68 battery plants built abroad in the last decade. India, meanwhile, turned down BYD’s $1 billion factory proposal in 2023 on national security grounds. But nearly 84% of India’s lithium-ion battery imports still come from China.So what is India doing to catch up, and how long will it take?

More on this story

Find out in Monday's newsletter.Why the Nobel Prize in Economics went to Robert Hall and Michael WoodfordWhen inflation rises, central banks often respond by raising interest rates. But here’s the thing. If they raise them too much, it could slow the economy.