Unfortunately, unlike the guys at NAL, IISC, ASTE and CABS, who turned out to be very proactive in their discussions with yours truly, the guys at the GTRE were not overly helpful to my queries.
The best I could get out of that place other than actually seeing the engines was to get the lead guy to accept a written version of my queries as a favor. he says he will get back to me later. When I get the email from him, I will pass you a copy of his replies.
Nevertheless, here's some of my personal observations of the place:
a) Compared to the other institutions I have mentioned above, GTRE was almost deserted. No sign of life in that place compared to ASTE, for example.
b) The people working inside were almost lethargic as far as my interactions went. (Again, relatively speaking. NAL EAD (Experimental Aerodynamics Division) was buzzing with activity from mini UAV designs to Saras models being tested in large facilities)
c) The Kaveri engine is beautiful and an engineering masterpiece given the cost at which it has been made. According to the folks in the labs, they are now "within a few percent" of the required thrust levels
d) The Naval version of the engine is going ahead nicely. In fact, I saw more Navy guys at the place than IAF guys!
e) LCA integration remains a paper dream at this point. No fixed dates for any goals at that place. Before going there I had been told to expect this, but it was nevertheless disappointing.
f) SC blades still remains the lynchpin of the design. The Turbine temperatures remains limited until the issues with the SC blades are resolved, which in turn limits the thrust. As mentioned above,
several labs are apparently working on the SC technology but again no fixed dates for anything.
The technical stuff in the questionnaire I submitted to the head honcho at GTRE will contain the answers to what the members at BR want to know, but it might be a week before I hear from my friend so don't hold your breath yet.
Disappointing, I know, but that is the definition of the place as far as the guys at NAL, IISC etc think of GTRE. 
Anyway, enough of the bad news. Now for some brief good news from the other Labs at NAL, ASTE and CABS:
a) LCA making good progress and experimental program to accelerate in the next two months.
b) Amazing (indeed groundbreaking is a better term) progress in Hypersonics both at IISC and NAL EAD. The HSTDV program has been made feasible is all I can say for now. Full flight test in 3 months. Modified Agni-I boost to 40km and then a 20 second burn using hydrogen injection across strut based injectors. Wind tunnel tests completed.
c)
Pathbreaking advances in plasma drag reduction techniques (what we read briefly in the news etc) that reduce missile drag by 30% during reentry using the most simplest of techniques. In addition, the temperatures at the surface are reduced dramatically so that heat shield no longer needs to be as bulky as before. Reduced weight as a result leading to dramatic new values for the missile fuel-mass values.
d)
Active noise control helmets for the LCA under design. These will cut out the engine background noise completely so that the pilot can listen to AWACS controls etc more clearly in the thick of combat.
e) Significant progress on the CABS AEW radar electronics. Aircraft integration studies underway.
f) Micro-UAV designs being studied at NAL for the Army.
g) Chetan Helicopter undergoing flight tests.
h) Some activity seen on the Avro "Hack" with regard to LCA MMR. (Though that was out of bounds for me, so not many more details here)
i) New self compensating aero-nozzles for SLVs and Multi-stage missiles. Reduces overall requirement for different stages with different nozzle area ratios and increases fuel carriage and so shows exponential increase in range for the same design sizes. In wind tunnels right now awaiting flight tests.
k) Base bleed studies underway for reduced missile drag. Also in wind tunnels at NAL EAD.
l) A new fixed wing design aircraft being designed at NAL. Very hush-hush, I am told. They wouldn't even tell me what the aircraft type was!!
g) NAL designers are talking of a new large body civilian airliner type aircraft project about to begin.
h) NAL collaborating with GTRE now for advances in afterburning engine nozzles. Also, NAL now beginning studies in turbine blade perfromance.
They seem to be bypassing GTRE on a number of issues. This is something that became increasingly obvious after a few hours of talks with the people there.
That way the iaf doesn't play spoil sport when gtre does finally deliver on kaveri2/kaveri.