Riding Giants: How India May Catch the Next Big FDI Swell

Trump’s tariffs may unleash a new FDI swell, with reforms, startups and geopolitics aligning as India readies to ride the next big wave.

Michael Debabrata Patra

iStock.com

Crypto Without Clarity: India’s Risk of Leading From the Shadows

India tops the world in crypto adoption. Yet its unclear rules, high taxes and hesitation risk turning a booming movement into a missed opportunity.

N. Srinivasa Rao

Unemployment Tracker

India’s Job Market Stalls as Unemployment Creeps Up Again

After two months of mild improvement, India’s unemployment rate edged up in September, widening the gender gap and exposing the fragility of recent gains.

Akshi Chawla

Geopolitics

Afghanistan Standoff: The Shifting Sands Of Pakistan’s Strategic Depth

Pakistan’s long-cherished notion of strategic depth in Afghanistan has collapsed. India, through quiet resilience and measured engagement with the Taliban, has reclaimed moral and strategic space.

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

India’s Banking Future Lies in Embracing Foreign Capital

India’s central bank and government are striking the right balance by allowing foreign capital into the banking sector while safeguarding stability.

Mint Owl

India’s Innovation Gap Widens: GII 2025 Highlights Urgent Need for R&D Investment

The Global Innovation Index 2025 spotlights persistent gaps in India’s innovation ecosystem that reiterate the imperative for greater incentives for businesses to engage in R&D.

Sharmila Kantha

Genome Editing: A Quiet Revolution in Indian Rice Fields

Indian scientists are quietly rewriting the genetic code of rice. Early field trials of genome-edited varieties promise higher yields, lower input use, and greater resilience to climate stress.

G. Chandrashekhar

Columnists

Michael Debabrata Patra

Michael Patra is an economist and former RBI Deputy Governor.

TK Arun

Arun is a seasoned writer on economic and policy matters.

Abheek Barua

Abheek is an Independent Economist and the Former Chief Economist at HDFC Bank.

Ajay Srivastava

Ajay Srivastava is the founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative.

Vijay Chauhan

Vijay, trade expert & ex-IRS officer, works with Deloitte India and Ashoka University’s ICPP.

Dhananjay Sinha

Dhananjay, a D-School alum, is CEO and Co-Head of Equities at Systematix Group.

Kirti Tarang Pande

Kriti is a psychologist specialising in mental health, org behaviour, and brand strategy

Srinath Sridharan

Srinath is an author, corporate advisor, and independent director on corporate boards.

Sharmila Chavaly

Ex-civil servant Chavaly held key Railways, Finance roles; specialises in infra & PPPs

Nilanjan Banik

Nilanjan Banik, Professor at Mahindra University, specialises in trade and development economics.

Sachin Malhotra

Sachin was till recently an MD with Standard Chartered Bank.

Rajesh Mahapatra

Rajesh Mahapatra is the former Editor of The Press Trust of India

Krishnadevan V

Krishnadevan is Consulting Editor at BasisPoint Insight.

Dev Chandrasekhar

Chandra advises companies on big-picture narratives on strategy and markets.

Kalyan Ram

Kalyan Ram co-founded Cogencis. He now leads BasisPoint Insight.

R. Gurumurthy

Gurumurthy is an ex-central banker who handled markets, and later, financial stability for RBI.

The Bureau

Safe-Haven Rally Deepens as US–China Trade War Escalates Over Rare Earths

India’s Exports to US Fall 20% in September as Trump Tariffs Bite: GTRI

MPC Keeps Powder Dry as Rate-Cut Debate Heats Up

India’s Growth Outlook Stays Resilient as IMF Flags Fragile Global Recovery

Too Much Paper, Too Little Appetite: State Bond Strains Persist

India’s September Retail Inflation Lowest Since 2017; Core Rises to 4.5%

Gold ETFs Log Record Inflows in September; Equity Fund Inflows Ease for Second Month

Steel Industry Gets Temporary Relief on BIS Rule; GTRI Urges Full Rollback

Mission Pulses: Does It Pack The Protein Punch India Needs?

Jallikattu: Tamil Nadu’s Ancient Bull-Taming Tradition

The Illusion of Balance: Why Centrism Can’t Lead India

India’s future won’t be shaped by the safety of the middle but by the strength of conviction. It needs moral clarity, not centrism, to guide its democracy.

Srinath Sridharan

WRAP

Partly Monetary Policy, Largely Credit Policy

RBI holds repo rate at 5.5% but turns back to credit policy playbook, spurring lending while leaving December wide open for rate cuts.

BasisPoint Groupthink

Why the Dollar Is Quietly Winning Again

Political turmoil in Europe and Japan, and a genuine US productivity revival, are fuelling a dollar rebound few expected.

Yield Scribe

Monetary Policy

Is the Hunt for a Terminal Repo Rate a Distraction?

Markets may be too eager to bottom-fish for a terminal repo rate. In today’s fluid context, flexibility could matter more than fixation.

Kalyan Ram

Trump's Destruction of Maritime Law Raises the Risk of War

Guy Standing

Inside RBI’s Basel III Credit Risk Overhaul

Rahul Ghosh

Easy Money, Hard Lessons

Babuji K

Not All Coins Are Equal: India’s Deliberate March Toward Digital Money

R. Gurumurthy

Inflexion Point: Can Bihar Break Free from Caste Politics in Elections 2025?

Nearly 90% of Bihar’s assembly constituencies display entrenched caste-based voting patterns that cut across party lines

Amitabh Tiwari

Monetary Policy

RBI Reopens the Door to Accommodation

By keeping the repo unchanged yet signalling policy space, RBI corrects June’s misstep and restores credibility to its accommodative posture.

Kalyan Ram

Briefing

Myth of Currency Debasement

Markets often mistake monetary flexibility for monetary decay. The greater risk lies in misreading cycles as signs of systemic erosion.

V Thiagarajan

Gen Z Isn’t “Quiet Quitting,” It’s Loudly Course-Correcting Its Economic Future

Boomers built with burnout. Gen Z is building economic resilience.

Kirti Tarang Pande

Opinion

Gold’s Rational Resilience in an Irrational World

For central banks, gold is not a relic of history but a rational hedge against the politics for & of money, the fragility of debt, and the unpredictability of power.

Srinath Sridharan

RBI’s Silence Makes its Cheque Reform Harder to Clear

Mint Owl

Beyond the Green Mirage: A Blueprint for Global Infrastructure Finance

Sharmila Chavaly

Is Strategic Disinvestment the Next Frontier in Economic Reform?

Nilanjan Banik

Provisioning for Appearances: RBI’s Half-Hearted Tryst with ECL

R. Gurumurthy

Week in Numbers – Tracking India’s Economic Pulse

There are early signs that the GST rate cuts are beginning to filter through the system. E-way bills in September and automobile sales during the Navaratri week indicate a promising start.

Datametricx

Opinion

Tata Trust Crisis: Silence Is Not a Strategy

A silence this loud can be deafening. As factional rifts shake the Tata Trusts, the Group’s famed moral halo is being tested fully by questions of both ownership and governance it cannot ignore.

Minari Shah

When the State Walks into the Boardroom

Reports of the government’s quiet outreach to mediate tensions within one of India’s largest conglomerates raise a question: how far should the State go in preserving stability without undermining corporate autonomy?

Srinath Sridharan

Why the State May Have Chosen to Nudge the Tatas

When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers – an African proverb

Sohini Ghosh

Optical Illusion in Public Capex

The public investment surge this year appears impressive, but much of its strength comes from accounting adjustments and base effects rather than new capital creation

Madhavi Arora

Gloves Off: Trump Hits China with 100% Extra Tariff in Chip-vs-Rare-Earth Showdown

As the US hits China with 100% tariffs, Beijing retaliates with rare earth curbs. India must read the fine print—no US deal is ever final in a world of shifting power.

Ajay Srivastava

The Most Profitable Part of LG Electronics Is the Least Obvious

LG Electronics has a profitable business hiding in the open and powering its margins

Krishnadevan V

RBI Loosens the Leash, Banks Must Tighten Risk

India’s new credit freedoms mark a turning point for banks, but the real reform lies in how they recalibrate risk, governance, and talent.

K. Srinivasa Rao

Risk-Based Premiums Must Lead to Higher Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage

Mint Owl

Traders Should Brace For Shock From GIFT City’s Daily Option Expiry Push

Krishnadevan V

Optics Over Power: Trump’s Elusive Quest for the Nobel Peace Prize

Saibal Dasgupta

The Case for IMF Gold Sales

Tim Hirschel-Burns and Marina Zucker-Marques

Interview

ORF Chairman Joshi on How to Win in a Predatory, Bipolar World

Smaller nations must build alliances, contain the predator, and rewrite the rules of engagement, says Sunjoy Joshi.

Kirti Tarang Pande

PoJK On The Boil: Why India Must Replace Populism With Strategy

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

Japan’s First Woman PM Faces Big Tests, And India Has a Stake in the Outcome

Saibal Dasgupta

Self-Sufficiency Will Need More Than Just Pulses Mission

G. Chandrashekhar

When RBI Rules Push a Tata Giant to Market, Unexpected Openings Emerge

Krishnadevan V

Death Syrup: Why Licences Cannot Be Wished Away in All Sectors

The government should mandate traceability of every ingredient used in the pharma industry by deploying tokenisation facilities of the blockchain.

TK Arun

Reading Sanjay Malhotra’s Silent Dialogue

Kirti Tarang Pande

Does Sustainable Palm Oil Deserve Any Concession?

G. Chandrashekhar

Review of MPC Decision: What Does it Mean to be Forward-Looking?

Ashima Goyal

The Paradox of Prediction: Why We Can't Stop Forecasting What We Can't Know

Babuji K

Fifteen Years After Pittsburgh, the Global Economy Is Still Out of Balance

Advanced economies evade discipline, BRICS build alternatives, and the IMF remains trapped between surveillance and sovereignty

Arvind Mayaram

Unguarded Lending Won’t Fix Investment Demand

TK Arun

Guardrails Key as India Pushes Rupee Abroad

Quixotic Banker

RBI Fixes its June Communication Misfire

Mint Owl

Vote Buying: Does Household Consumption Rise During Elections?

Amitrajeet A. Batabyal*

As Growth Decouples From Employment, the Fed Faces a Trilemma

Mohamed A. El-Erian

Indian Exports May be More than Just Faltering

Rajesh Mahapatra

Rupee’s Strategic Faultline-SWOT analysis

Babuji K

The Stain Theory of Investing

Krishnadevan V

Grieving for Glaciers: Warnings Written in Ice, Water, and Memory

Ancient ice is retreating fast. As rivers shrink and seas rise, glaciers warn of a climate reckoning we can no longer ignore.

Michael Debabrata Patra

RBI’s Insulated Optimism Jars with Ground Reality

Dhananjay Sinha

India’s Economic Balancing Act Faces Tariff and Oil Test

Alok Kumar Mishra

Iti Vyas

RBI Breaks Old Orthodoxy with Regulatory Measures

Sachin Malhotra

RBI Anchors Inflation as Growth Levers Shift Beyond Rates

Shubhada Rao, Vivek Kumar, and Yuvika Singhal

Banks Poised to Challenge NBFCs As RBI Unshackles Restrictions

Krishnadevan V

Supreme Court’s Ruling May Set the Course for Land Justice in Bihar

Chandan K Jha

Sudipta Sarangi

RBI’s Baby Steps on Rupee Globalisation: Useful Nudges, But…

R. Gurumurthy

India’s Growth Story Meets Its Consumption Wall

Shilpashree Venkatesh

Regulated Pre-IPO Markets Can Generate Billions in Missing Tax Revenue

India's unregulated pre-IPO grey market causes massive tax leakage. SEBI's proposed regulated platform could unlock billions in government revenue.

Chandrika Soyantar

Raising Wheat’s MSP is Easy. What the Crop Needs is Real Reform

G. Chandrashekhar

Why RBI Must Define CRR as a Legitimate LoLR Tool

Karan Mehrishi

Sound Corporate Governance Needs Institutional Investors to be More Vocal

Srinath Sridharan

Ceasefire Dreams, Strategic Reality: Peace In Gaza Is Still A Pipedream

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

Tragicomix

Nobel Committee’s Trump Problem

From peace talks to bleach cures, Trump’s legacy baffles the Nobel Committee: too vast for one medal, inspiring a new prize for sheer unintended innovation.

R. Gurumurthy