India’s GVK Airport Holdings Pvt. Ltd., a unit of GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd., has acquired 108 million shares in Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. from Bid Services Division (Mauritius) Ltd. The shares, amounting to a 13.50% stake in the airport, were acquired for $231 million, the company said on Oct. 18. With the purchase, GVK now holds 50.50% in Mumbai International Airport.

India seeks flexible ways to expand its aviation industry, which is soon expected to be among the top five in the world. “Innovative and flexible business modules may be evolved, enabling greater connectivity between countries to promote people-to-people contacts, as well as trade and business,” India’s president, Pratibha Patil, says.

India's launch of a new satellite, Megha-Tropiques, to study climatic and atmospheric changes in tropical regions has boosted the country into an elite club of global space-partnering, but the Asian giant has far to go to prove its space capabilities more generally.