No that's not entirely true.
It doesn't matter (to SERPs) what your TLD is as long as it is relevant to your users/viewers.
Since you are planning to have india-centric content on your site, I sincerely believe a .in domain is as good (in technical terms) as a .com domain.
You're also more likely to get a domain name of choice with .in rather than .com although YMMV. Now, having a sub-domain - .co.in *might* hamper your viewers' perception of your site as it resides one level lower than the TLD.
Ideally find yourself a domain name that's available on all major international TLDs - .com, .net, .org and also .in. That'll help divert visitors who might enter your domain with an incorrectly assumed extension.
Example - thinking indianews.com instead of indianews.in etc.