India, Aug. 1 -- What's driving the next phase of India's export story? It's no longer just manufacturing capacity or shipping lanes, but the infrastructure that quietly powers cross-border commerce.

For years, most Indian brands treated international expansion as an afterthought. They usually entered overseas markets only after receiving inquiries from abroad, shipping a few orders through online marketplaces, or seeing unexpected demand from the Indian diaspora. Very few were built with global customers in mind from day one.

The playbook is now changing. Founders are thinking about international markets from day one, planning for pricing, product compliance, tax structures, fulfilment and localisation well before their first overseas ...