India emerges as world’s big defence spender

    2018-05-23T10:08:14+00:00March 16th, 2018|2017/2018, Global Edition- March 2018, State Focus, Year|

    India’s defence budget overtook the UK for the first time in 2017 to be counted among the world’s top five. India’s actual spend of $52.5 billion (including defence pensions) in 2017 makes it the fifth-largest in the world, overtaking the UK to reach the ‘Top 5’ slot for the first time, according to the authoritative annual ‘Military Balance 2018’ published last month by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the London-based think-tank I work for. According to the IISS, [...]

      Big reforms underway but Indian banking still a long way away from good health

      2020-03-24T06:27:12+00:00March 16th, 2018|2017/2018, Global Edition- March 2018, Sector Focus, Year|

      The Narendra Modi government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have taken major steps to bring recalcitrant promoters to book and clean up the $210-billion bad loan crisis plaguing the Indian banking system. These can address the issue for now but privatisation is not politically feasible. The scandal over fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi flying away to an unknown destination leaving behind unpaid loans of $1.8 billion has brought the festering bad loan crisis in the Indian banking system to [...]

        India makes firm strides on women in the workplace

        2019-04-24T14:45:10+00:00March 16th, 2018|2017/2018, Global Edition- March 2018, Spotlight, Year|

        Against the backdrop of International Women’s Day on March 8, an Indian industry expert weighs up the role of women in the workplace in order to achieve women’s economic empowerment. According to UN Women, when more women work, economies grow. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality. Even after decades of progress towards making women equal partners with men in the economy and society, the gap [...]

          Investing in Brazil

          2018-10-30T12:28:56+00:00March 16th, 2018|2017/2018, Global Edition- March 2018, Hotspot, Year|

          Apex-Brasil, one of Brazil’s leading investment bodies, lays out points of attraction for Indian business to invest in Brazil. Brazil has been a top investment destination for many years, and it still is, despite the volatility generated by the recent crisis the country went through. Since 2010, Brazil has remained among the world’s 10 main foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient countries. Last year (2017), nearly $75 billion in FDI were received by the country. This year, close to $80 billion are expected. [...]

            Indian innovation is key to solving the globe’s vision-related disabilities

            2020-03-04T07:04:04+00:00March 16th, 2018|2017/2018, Global Edition- March 2018, Spotlight, Year|

            Poor vision, as the world’s largest unaddressed disability, requires investment to prevent its crippling impact on economic growth. Prime Minister Modi created waves at this year’s World Economic Forum, when he announced that India’s economy, already the fifth-largest in the world, would double to $5 trillion by 2025. Though met with some scepticism, Modi’s optimism is not without grounds; with infrastructure spending on the rise and global consumer brands from Unilever to Samsung benefiting from the country’s growing middle class. [...]

              From laggard to leader, the journey has just begun for Uttar Pradesh

              2020-03-04T07:04:21+00:00March 16th, 2018|2017/2018, Global Edition- March 2018, State Focus, Year|

              The Yogi Adityanath government has set its ambitions very high. But its goal of transforming Uttar Pradesh into an industrial powerhouse shows early signs of promise. Progressing from pauper to prince is the stuff of dreams. So, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked at a recent investor summit whether Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with a population of 200 million, could compete with Maharashtra to try and become India’s first trillion-dollar state, there were polite smiles all around. [...]