POPULARITY
6 episodes with is india
8 episodes with is india
10 episodes with is india
5 episodes with is india
4 episodes with is india
3 episodes with is india
3 episodes with is india
6 episodes with is india
5 episodes with is india
India today appears caught in a confusing geopolitical maze embracing BRICS while standing alongside the QUAD, seeking influence in the Global South while facing growing friction across its own neighbourhood. Relations with Pakistan remain deeply hostile, while tensions and political distrust periodically surface with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, even as Bhutan remains a closer partner.What makes the situation more worrying is the changing mindset of the region's youth. Anti-India narratives, nationalism, social-media influence and perceptions of Indian interference are increasingly shaping how younger generations in neighbouring countries view India. A country aspiring to be a leading global power cannot afford to be influential abroad while becoming increasingly unpopular among the very people living next door.Is India losing the neighbourhood battle while trying to win the global one?#India #Geopolitics #BRICS #QUAD #SouthAsia #Neighbours#IndianForeignPolicy #Youth #YouthPolitics #AntiIndiaNarratives #IndiaNeighbours #Pakistan #Nepal #Bangladesh #SriLanka #Maldives #Bhutan #GlobalPolitics #IndiaRising#China #USA #Russia #Trump #Putin #Narendramodi
In this episode, Monika examines whether India's latest GDP growth numbers are as strong as they appear and addresses the growing claims that the government is fudging economic data. She looks at the 7.8% Q1 GDP growth, the impact of the new GDP series and base-year revisions, and why comparing current-price numbers with unrevised data can create a misleading picture of growth.She explains what the wider economic indicators tell us about India's resilience, from manufacturing and services growth to consumption, inflation, capital flows and the rupee. She also breaks down why a falling currency or a weak stock market does not necessarily mean the economy is weakening, and why India's fiscal and monetary policy choices have helped it absorb a major external shock. The episode also looks at what households should make of official inflation numbers and why macroeconomic stability does not mean that India's structural challenges have disappeared.In the listener questions, XXX asks about building a retirement corpus while living in the UAE, managing an emergency fund, insurance policies, a mortgage and the transition back to India; Suparna Srivastav asks how interest on fixed deposits is taxed and whether a mid-career sabbatical can be treated as a legitimate financial goal; and Deepak asks how to restructure his portfolio as he approaches retirement and whether he should consider an annuity or build his own retirement income pools.Chapters:00:00–00:00 Is India's GDP Growth Really as Strong as It Looks?00:00–00:00 GDP Revisions, Double Deflation & Can We Trust the Data?00:00–00:00 How Should You Plan for Retirement as an NRI?00:00–00:00 Should You Pay Tax on FD Interest Before Maturity?00:00–00:00 Is an Annuity the Right Choice for Retirement Income?If you have financial questions that you'd like answers for, please email us at mailme@monikahalan.com Monika's book on basic money managementhttps://www.monikahalan.com/lets-talk-money-english/Monika's book on mutual fundshttps://www.monikahalan.com/lets-talk-mutual-funds/Monika's workbook on recording your financial lifehttps://www.monikahalan.com/lets-talk-legacy/Calculatorshttps://investor.sebi.gov.in/calculators/index.htmlYou can find Monika on her social media @monikahalan. Twitter @MonikaHalanInstagram @MonikaHalanFacebook @MonikaHalanLinkedIn @MonikaHalanProduction House: www.inoutcreatives.comProduction Assistant: Anshika Gogoi
India now requires turbine data, control centers, and R&D to sit inside its borders. Plus a study on reverse flow loads in parked blades, Envision’s spare parts push across Southeast Asia, and Danish wind employment falling to 32,700. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape. Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now, your hosts Rosemary Barnes: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Rosemary Barnes, and I’m filling in for Allen today here with Jolanda Pedron. All right, onto our first story. India is drawing a line around its wind data. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has ordered every turbine maker on the approved list of models and manufacturers to report where its data actually lives. Data centers inside India, servers inside India, research centers inside India, and no real-time data leaving the country. The order went out last week with status reports due by month-end. And while the government tightens the rules on data, the hardware keeps moving in. Flender has just opened another generator plant in Chennai [00:01:00] Yolanda, I think this is gonna have a large impact on the number of companies who are, you know, there’s a lot of companies around today developing, like, smarts for wind turbines. There’s a lot of scope to operate turbines better, to improve power output, reduce maintenance costs, et cetera, and y- a lot of companies are taking advantage of that. Even Patlow has some projects going on in that sort of area. What do you think about the impact this will be? Is India planning to develop their entire own ecosystem for that aspect of the industry? I Yolanda Padron: mean, it looks like it, right? Which is really, I mean, kind of groundbreaking. I know that we talked a couple weeks ago about Europe sort of being a little bit scared of bringing in, um, different manufacturers from Asia, um, and just the, the idea of cybersecurity being something really prevalent and really important to all of these people. So just if India starts siloing everything and that works, maybe that’ll translate to Europe. Rosemary Barnes: Do you think that it, it can work? Has India [00:02:00] got the expertise in place already to, to make this work, or is this gonna be a real, like, handbrake on their, their wind industry continuing to develop as fast as it has been? Yolanda Padron: I mean, I’m really curious to see it because I don’t know if they’ll bring in a lot more experts to be able to, to do that. Rosemary Barnes: I know the Indian, um, operating environment is quite different to other locations. I mean, it’s, it’s similar in a way to Australia in its dissimilarity, if that makes sense. I, I think there’s a lot of really India-specific problems, so of course Indian companies are gonna be best placed to take advantage of that. But what we’ve seen so far is a lot of, uh, companies from Europe or America coming in to y- you know, like tweak the way that they attack similar problems in other markets. They’re, you know, moving in to understand India better and take advantage of that. Now, of course, like not every smart operating method or aerodynamic improvement, they don’t all need [00:03:00] real-time data, and probably most of them don’t actually. So I think it’s not gonna like s- snip off this entire kind of improvement. But it is really interesting. It’s quite, like it is quite severe, the restrictions, and I haven’t heard of any other market, um, that is doing that. I, I don’t know, do you think it’s warranted or is it maybe like overly paranoid? I know when I heard that in, um, in Europe they’re not allowing Chinese manufacturers of inverters, for example, and I just felt like, “Ugh, is that a bit over the top?” I’m not sure. Um, yeah, what’s your opinion, Yolanda? Yolanda Padron: I think it, it might be a little bit over the top. We live in such a globalized world that the idea of one country just siloing completely is, is a little bit strange to me. But- I guess if, if that’s, they have a, a reason for concern, then I guess it might make sense. But to your earlier point, like, I don’t know if the cost of doing this [00:04:00]would also come into play Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I think that there’s always a, a, a trade-off. It’s like when you have any kind of l- local content rule, which is similar in a way because it forces, um, yeah, it, it forces your own ecosystem to develop, and that’s, that’s great. Like, it is a missed opportunity if you just have, you know, like a huge new industry and you just import it all, then that i- is a lost opportunity for your own economy. But I mean, in the past, India has had pretty strong local content rules, and they do have a bunch of wind energy manufacturing, um, within the country. They are a country known for really great engineering, so it’s for sure not beyond them to, you know, step up. So yeah, I guess time will tell if this is a smart move from that point of view. I don’t think it’s actually the motivation behind this rule. I think it’s more of a, like, a cybersecurity, um, kind of perspective where you don’t want, you know, overseas companies having the ability to shut down your energy system, for example. Um, [00:05:00] so yeah, but it, it has the potential to have that other effect of, you know, like boosting the local industry or alternatively just slowing down the whole industry because they can’t get anything done. I guess that’s always that balance that you need to, need to look at when you’re looking at local content. So India is deciding who gets to control the data inside a turbine. Our next story is about something inside that same turbine nobody controls yet, the air moving across a blade that isn’t turning. A parked turbine might look like the safest thing on the site. Blades are locked, the rotor’s still, nothing turning, nothing generating. But a new study says that stillness is not safety. When the rotor is locked and the wind shifts, air can strike the trailing edge first and travel backwards across the blade. That is reverse flow, and in reverse flow, the models this industry uses to predict blade loads start to fall apart. Field data cited in the study suggests blades on turbines above 15 megawatts can go aerodynamically [00:06:00]unstable at winds as low as eight meters per second. That is nowhere near a storm. So this is actually already definitely a known issue, and I know that modern wind turbines don’t usually park with locked rotors, right, Yolanda? Yolanda Padron: Yeah. Rosemary Barnes: We, we saw that a locked rotor during installation was one of the causes of the Vineyard Wind fiasco, right? Where broken blade pieces washed up on the beach. So definitely something that’s known about. Yolanda Padron: And it’s something that even onshore you have a, you have your system so that it tracks sort of where the wind is coming from. So even if it’s stopped, it won’t just be stopped at a specific angle, particularly in case the, the winds shift. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and I’ve seen examples of blades failing when, um, there was a storm and there was power lost, so they weren’t able to yaw or pitch a turbine, and that also can cause… Like, any time that- Wind is going in a different direction than what the turbine desi- was designed for, you’ll get unpredictable stuff happening and often, [00:07:00] like, really bad loads. Like the harshest, um, conditions, loading conditions that a wind turbine blade has to withstand is not in operation. It’s if you’ve got just wind hitting like a bluff body, they call it, where a gust of wind just hits flat on the blade and tries to bend it. Like that is way, way stronger loading than, um, than anything it would see operationally. If you’re looking at, you know, like a really severe storm, like a one in 50 year kind of, um, wind speeds, and then if you have flow going on weird angles where it’s creating lift, then you can ratchet up those loads even more. So for sure a known issue. This study, it, it singled out turbines above 15 megawatts, which are huge. That’s a, you know, like a big offshore wind turbine. But I don’t think it’s limited to that. Like what would you think, Yolanda? Is this, is this like purely a big blades thing, or is this something that actually all wind turbines need to take into account? Yolanda Padron: Oh, this is definitely something that all wind turbines need to take into account. It’s something that we’ve seen a lot in the [00:08:00] US as well, um, onshore and s- wind f- uh, smaller wind farms and wind farms that have, you know, 200 plus, um, wind turbines on them, uh, the, the 1X or 2X turbines. Uh, this is also ver- a, a reason that it’s really important, right, to check your systems constantly, and I know that a lot of the, the owner/operators do that, um, in their regular maintenance checks. Um, but it’s, it’s, it’s an issue that, uh, if you don’t have the correct systems in place or if you just remotely reset things, uh, because you see an error that maybe you thought, “Oh, that, that must be just a glitch,” uh, then you start having issues like this that can cause catastrophic failures, not just on the blade but on the turbine itself if, if the blade ends up hitting the turbine, um, it, it ends up hitting the, the tower itself. Uh, and then [00:09:00] a similar issue, um, that can happen too is when you don’t have the correct systems in place for, for an emergency, and so the turbine can just overspin, and that also causes a lot of blade failures, uh, both onshore and, and offshore as well. But I think onshore it’s, it’s just the, the wind farms are so big that it’s It’s easy or, or easier to miss, like, one or two turbines, um, when you’re doing those checks. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. And I think another issue with keeping the rotors locked out, and one of the big reasons why they moved to pinwheeling as the, you know, um, turbine off kind of configuration, was with the, the bearings, right? Like, it’s not good for the bearings to be totally stationary. Um, so I think that it’s better to, yeah, pinwheel. It’s lower loads on the bearings. Yolanda Padron: Something, um, similar to this as well, right, and, and I think Wind Power posted about it the [00:10:00] other day, um, about just, oh, it’s really common for, for sites to, to think of, of a financial solution to, to negative pricing being just fully stopping turbines that might not be producing at positive pricing. Um, and then, uh, that can also cause a lot of loading issues because you’re, you’re having a, a turbine at, at full capacity, and then it just stops. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, that’s true. The braking loads are, are one of the more extreme loads that turbines have to withstand also. I mean, hopefully if they’re curtailing, um, voluntarily, uh, they’re not doing an emergency brake kind of level. I hope that they’re being a bit more gentle on their turbines, but yeah, for sure, like, the easiest thing for a turbine to do is just operate normally its whole lifetime. That’s exactly what it was designed to do, and anything that deviates from that can reduce the t- life of the turbine, complicate things. So machines keep getting bigger, and the physics keep [00:11:00] getting harder. Meanwhile, the map keeps getting wider. Next, a Chinese manufacturer planting both turbines and spare parts across Southeast Asia. Stay with us Speaker: Are you overspending on lightning repairs? Most operators are because solving lightning damage is complicated. Weather Guard Lightning Tech helps operators reduce lightning damage. Our innovative StrikeTape lightning diverter protects over twenty thousand blades worldwide. Now, StrikeTape Ultra installs faster than ever. StrikeTape Ultra cures uptower in just fifteen minutes, even in cold weather. Visit weatherguardwind.com to schedule a call. Rosemary Barnes: China’s turbine makers are no longer just shipping machines. They are building the network that keeps those machines running. Envision Energy has secured its largest wind project in Vietnam, 200 megawatts with REE Energy, 25 [00:12:00] turbines, grid connection targeted for October 2027. It is also the company’s largest overseas nearshore project to date. And Batangas, Philippines, Envision has opened a distribution center holding major components and spare parts close to the projects that need them. Turbines first, then the parts network. Yelena, I’m just wondering if spare parts was a big headache for you when you worked in asset management, and do you think that this plan of, that Envision has is gonna be a successful one for Vietnam? Yolanda Padron: I think spare parts, having spare parts on site or near a site is always a good strategy. I know that sometimes it can get the, the accounting itself can get a little bit difficult because for at least, you know, in the US for tax purposes, you can’t really sell something from one project to another, so you, you have to be a little bit careful, um, as far as when you hold a part or you’re sending one part that might fit in multiple sites and where you’re technically buying that [00:13:00] from. Uh, but I think the spare parts that they’re having here I, I think it’s a, it’s a really good idea, right? Because oftentimes you might have a, a big, um, there might be a big queue for a particular component that fails years after, uh, it was produced, and then you– I mean, if you need it now and there’s a big queue now, then you need to wait until it can get to site, until it can be produced, until it’s your turn in line. Uh, and so just having those components on site or really close to the site I think is a really good idea. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, it’s really challenging. Like it’s, it, it’s easy to imagine how you could organize a spare parts network or, you know, just l- literally a bunch of warehouses holding spare parts for the kind of, you know, like one-off failures that happen routinely throughout a wind turbine’s life. But when you start to see a serial issue or if there’s just, you know, like statistically every now and then [00:14:00] you’ll get clusters of failures even if it’s not a serial issue, that’s when it starts to get really hard. So I know in Australia, and I’m sure it’s the case elsewhere, you kind of got to pair your spare parts inventory with the capability to repair and refurbish as well. Because sometimes it’s like, you know, you might do, like speaking of blades, which is my specialty, you might have a bill of, you know, maybe even a million dollars to do a really big repair on a blade, but that’s better than spending probably, honestly, the similar amount of money on a brand-new blade, but then that comes with a six-month or a 12-month, um, wait time. You know, like obviously you’re gonna save overall if you can get that turbine up faster. And we also see a lot of, um, in-country capabilities to refurbish, you know, all of the drivetrain components and, and everything like that, and I think that that is such an important complement. Like your spare parts strategy should never just be about having them physically sitting there, ’cause if you were [00:15:00] to have enough to cover any situation, then, you know, most of your components would go unused over the, the lifetime of the wind farm. And it’s not like they’re just swap in, swap out for any different wind turbine, right? Like they are usually quite turbine specific. Yolanda Padron: I completely agree with the idea, especially with blades and how trif- tricky some of the new blades and their, their repair processes can be. It’s really important to have a plan and not necessarily just, “Okay, now I’m gonna throw this one out and bring in a new one, and always hold a new one,” because that’s really expensive. Um, and it’s also really, really important to, uh, that doesn’t matter what particular part it is, that whatever storage facility you’re using, that you’re, you make sure that the environmental factors impacting the spare parts are taken care of, right? So, um, I know I’ve seen spare parts for a battery site or spare parts for a solar site, uh, that just kind of end up degrading even more than the parts that were in [00:16:00] operations because no one was really looking at them. They were just outside in the elements, and then you just wasted millions and millions of dollars for really nothing. Um, something that you need to take to the landfill eventually or report. Rosemary Barnes: Hopefully recycle it if it’s electronic waste. Yolanda Padron: I completely agree that to, to be able to, to have any sort of replacement strategy, you, or any sort of spare parts strategy, you need to make sure that, that the replacement strategy is there and that the refurbishment strategy is there. If there’s anything that you can recycle in-house and use in-house, that’s a lot better than just landfilling anything or sending anything to be recycled elsewhere where it just piles and piles and piles up. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I think also it’s reassuring if you’re buying wind turbines from maybe a, a less well-known manufacturer or less well-known in your country, I think it is reassuring to have a, like just a stack of spare parts on site, because that will give you the confidence that if [00:17:00] and when things start to go wrong, you know, a few years into the wind farm’s operation, you are gonna have that capability. ‘Cause I think it is, like it’s a big leap to move away from the really, really well-known, uh, manufacturers into some of the less well-known ones and have the confidence that y- you know, you wouldn’t have any- anyone to ask what they’re like for service, uh, for example, and you might also not have confidence that they’re even gonna exist in, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years’ time. So having the parts on site can give you that confidence. Although, as you say, if those parts aren’t actually functional when you go to use them, that can be worse than not having them in the first place because you thought that you were okay and then you find yourself scrambling. That’s not ideal at all. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I completely agree. I did hear about someone who, um, had a, a blade that they They thought they, they didn’t really have the capabilities in-house to, to restore it, and so they sent it to be recycled, [00:18:00] and then later it was sold to them by their OEM, um, on site. And so I think that also speaks to the… And, and it was just because someone noticed the serial number was exactly the same and kind of noticed. It was, it was really honestly kind of a funny, funny thing in retrospect. But, uh, and it, it just speaks to the idea of you really need to understand if you’re holding spare parts and, and just in general, even if you don’t wanna hold spare parts. Um, the idea of being able to refurbish or have a plan to be able to refurbish the, the materials that you have on site is really, really, really important because it can save you so much money. I mean, the, I mean, the, for that case, just the, the transportation costs of hauling the blade off, of paying someone to recycle it, of paying for a new blade, um, and everything just to kind of be bamboozled in that way where you could’ve just repaired it on site is, is It’s almost a no-brainer, yeah. Rosemary Barnes: I gotta say, that’s like a real recycling win, right? Like, you can’t get [00:19:00] better than, than that. Uh, you know, you had a blade, you recycle it into a blade. It’s, you know, performing exactly the same function, better than shredding it and hiding it in a, you know, a footpath, a sidewalk, or something like that. Stay with China a moment longer, because the product strategy tells you as much as the project map. Mingyang Smart Energy has unveiled the Tianchi MCD 5 MW turbine at its factory in Guizhou. It’s the first machine in the company’s new medium-speed compact drive platform, a semi-direct drive that Mingyang says cuts component count by 60%. And it is built for sites nobody used to bother with: mountains, plateaus, places where the wind averages four and a half meters per second. Now, Yolanda, 5 MW is pretty big for an onshore turbine in locations. It sounds like, you know, these locations, aside from the, like, less than ideal wind resource, also sounds like places where it’s actually, you know, transport might be a bit of a constraint. I wonder what their strategy [00:20:00] is gonna be to get those large components and installation equipment in. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s not gonna be the first site, I think, that we’ve seen that where they have to develop some sort of game-changing vessel or crane or something to be able to, to get things, uh, to the site. Uh, my, my first thought honestly was just kind of like, “Oh goodness, that might be a lightning nightmare depending on, on where they’re located.” Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, that’s true. Like we’ve seen in Japan, they have all their turbines on the ridges where the wind speeds are great, at least. Um, but they have been just absolutely destroyed by lightning, like really, really dealing with extreme situations. I think also, like these are low wind speed sites. Like what, what did they say? Four and a half meters per second average wind speeds? I mean, that’s like half what you would consider a good, a good site, right? And we know that the power in wind, it goes, like it increases with the cube of wind [00:21:00] speed. So, um, you know, like if you double the wind speed, you get eight times as much power. So it’s like all of the challenges associated with a high wind speed site in the mountains or, you know, somewhere tricky to get to you know, at least you’ve got eight times the power to make up for the effort of maintaining it. Uh, just it seems like, like a lot of effort to get to a low wind speed site, right? I think these turbines, the cut-in wind speed is gonna be two and a half meters per second, so you know, again, like you can reduce your, yeah, like the, the wind speed a- again by another factor of eight. It’s almost nothing at that wind speed. It really, yeah, I don’t know that you can make up for a low wind speed site by having a really low cut-in wind speed, right? Like, you’re still gonna end up with low power across the board. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, and it’s, it’s strange too, I mean, we said it’s, it’s a mountainous region, right? And so, and the transportation [00:22:00] in itself, I mean, we talked about the idea of bringing them in is gonna be difficult. But I know that a lot of times we see a lot of blades that have issues down the line because of the transportation issues and because of the way that maybe they, they didn’t use the lifting points right, and there might be a lot more transportation issues or damages from transportation on the site if they come in and it’s a completely different terrain that they’re used to. Uh, and teams have to build in a completely different terrain to- that- than they’re used to, then that might also cause problems down the line. Not to mention the idea that I know sometimes in sites where there’s already roads, uh, it, it, because of the position of the turbines, because of the, the way that things are, are mapped out in development and construction, sometimes it’s a, a hassle for operations to, to get the correct cranes or trucks or everything in there to do any sort of maintenance. Uh, so [00:23:00] I can’t imagine in a place where it’s just really, really difficult to get to in general. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and especially over the lifetime, you know, maintenance i- is gonna be such a challenge. So I think that it sounds like they’re aware of that because their emphasis with this new platform, dropping the component count by 60%, that’s a claim from Ming Yang that I haven’t seen the details of. It seems highly implausible but, um, yeah, I would wanna look into that a bit more to believe it. But they also say that their new bearings and gearbox features lift reliability by 10%, so yeah, I think that that is going to make their job a little bit easier, but yeah, I don’t know if it’s enough that would make me wanna invest in a wind farm with a, what was the number? Four and a half meters per second average wind speed. Seems marginal at best. So new machines for marginal sites built in China and priced to compete. Now let’s move [00:24:00] to Denmark, where the employment numbers show what that competition feels like from the other side. Back in a moment. Speaker 4: Delamination and bondline failures in blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. CIC NDT are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their nondestructive test technology penetrates deep into blade materials to find voids and cracks traditional inspections completely miss. CIC NDT maps every critical defect, delivers actionable reports, and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cicndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions Rosemary Barnes: Numbers out of Denmark tell two stories at once. Green Power Denmark counted [00:25:00] just under 110,000 full-time jobs across the Danish energy sector in 2025. That is up 1,526 positions or 1.4%, slightly ahead of Danish employment overall. That is the good news. Inside the wind sector, employment fell to 32,700, a drop of roughly 500. Green Power Denmark blames international competition and unfavorable market conditions. Its chief economist calls the dip normal You know what, Yolanda? I think that if Denmark’s labor market is weak in the wind industry, there are many countries outside of Denmark that would wanna snap up that talent. I know that my own company, Pardalote, is included in those numbers of people that would really like to have Danish talent. I’m trying to s- hire someone currently that’s got wind turbine blade expertise, and I tell you what, that is not easy to do in Australia. So I would say if there are any Danes listening or watching who fancy a move to Australia, then please do get in touch [00:26:00]if you have some excellent wind turbine blade experience. Yolanda Padron: You guys would have a lovely, lovely boss. I’ve- I just gotta say that. The learnings that you have in Denmark and just the, the, the school- not just from the schooling, the, the onsite, I mean, it- it’s just historically Denmark’s been really, really great in, in wind. And there’s just so many bright minds, um, that d- I mean, if, if they can’t find a j- a job in Denmark, then I, I agree that there’s a lot of places in wind that if they’re, they’re okay with moving, they’ll, they’ll find a, a good spot that’ll receive them really happily. Rosemary Barnes: I know it is a bit of a, like, a cultural blocker. Danes more than other nationalities that I know are, are really, um, I don’t wanna say attached, it makes it sound like not quite the word I’m looking for, but they, they do really appreciate the region that they’re from and, you know, family is so important to Danes, so not the easiest thing [00:27:00] to just say, “Just move to the other side of the world.” But you know, I did it. It, it can be done and, uh, yeah, Australia is, has got very nice weather, especially at the moment. It’s, um, it’s gonna be… It’s been, like, in the high teens Celsius all this week, and this is, I’m in Canberra in still winter and, uh, yeah, like, on the weekend it’s gonna be 20 degrees. It’s, you know, normally 15 degrees is a really great one-off day in winter. It was my birthday this week and in Denmark there is a, a saying or a, you know, a belief that if you have good weather on your birthday, then that means that you must have been really good all year. And the weather was just, like, unprecedentedly good for my birthday, um, yeah, for a winter day. So obviously I was very, very good this year. Yolanda Padron: You’re a great person, and happy belated birthday. Rosemary Barnes: Thank you. But it is something that I say every time we get another story about another Danish wind energy company that’s, you know, doing layoffs and, you know, I’m honestly surprised that it’s [00:28:00] only 500 fallen in wind energy. If you look at, like, even just the job losses at LM Wind Power alone, um, I think that it would be about that many, right? And so there are obviously some other companies um, growing to absorb some of the job losses, ’cause for sure we’ve covered more than 500 job losses just on the show. But I know I always feel really sad, um, not just for the people involved who y- you know, probably love wind energy and wanted to work in that field, but I feel sad that, you know, this was such a strength for Denmark, their, their wind industry, that they had been, you know, developing this expertise since the ’70s, honestly. Uh, really, really world leading and, uh, of course, like, globalization means that you can’t, like, stay siloed forever, and Denmark obviously also took advantage of that globalization to, you know, export. Wind industry was a huge export market for Denmark, and still is. Um, but I do, I, I just feel really bad at the companies that are losing, um, all of that, you know, institutional [00:29:00]knowledge and the really, really deep specialist knowledge. It’s, um, yeah. Uh, and they’ll go on to, you know, bring new skills to other industries, but it just makes me sad. As a wind energy lover and, um, you know, somebody who has a lot of friends that work in wind industry in Denmark, I do feel, feel sad. And there are some of my old colleagues who are amazing, like, literally the best engineer that I ever worked with, an electrical engineer, it, it was not easy for him to find a new job in wind. I’m actually not sure if he’s working in that industry now. And plenty of other, like, really, really talented engineers that have gone on to other, um, yeah, other different kinds of industries, and it just makes me a little bit sad. Yolanda Padron: Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of people too that are com- And I agree, it’s sad. It’s really sad. But I, there are a lot of people too, some friends that, uh, just, you know, started doing consulting on their own, and it’s, it’s good to see that they’re still in wind, you know? Because they’re, they, they’re so smart and they have so much knowledge of so many years in the industry that they bring to the table, um, [00:30:00] that, I mean, it, it might even work out better for them, right? Because maybe now they’re not just wor- focusing on Denmark itself, and now they get to, to expand and do what they evidently love to do, uh, the, for clients around the world, which is really exciting. Rosemary Barnes: Well, that wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy podcast, and my first as the primary host of the show, so let me know if you think I did a terrible job in the comments. Comments boost engagement, make me look better. So if today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn, and if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show. And don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. For Yolanda, and Matthew and Allen Hall in their absence, I’m Rosemary Barnes, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy [00:31:00] podcast.
Prof Santosh Mehrotra challenges India's headline growth story and argues that the economy is not creating enough jobs. Drawing on labour-force data, he examines youth unemployment, workers returning to agriculture, and the risk of missing India's demographic dividend.A co-author of India Out of Work, Mehrotra discusses manufacturing, services and the employment effects of recent economic policies. The conversation also covers what he thinks the government has got right.Follow the Ryan Dsouza podcast for more conversations about India's economy, technology and public life.Chapters0:00 "The government is lying to you"0:46 Is India really the fastest-growing large economy?5:47 Why a government would inflate the growth number9:08 Why the north and the south hear the same story differently12:21 What happens to 100 million young people out of work16:12 The protests, and why he predicted them seven years ago21:27 Why the education minister did not resign26:20 The demographic dividend, and what it costs to miss it32:21 Ageing before getting rich: Europe, Japan, and no pension39:07 Is there a way out? "We have done it before"40:48 Why the services sector cannot carry it43:16 Demonetisation, and a badly designed GST49:32 Lockdown: 35 million returned; farm employment rose 80 million in four years52:09 PLI: 12 of the 14 sectors create few jobs53:00 China at 31%, India at 3%55:10 What this government got right56:12 Is the BJP actually popular?59:19 What the SIR isRecorded remotely. The figures and characterisations in this episode are Prof Mehrotra's own.Artwork background: Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs / PIB, new Parliament building (cropped and composited), Government Open Data License–India. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glimpses_of_the_new_Parliament_Building,_in_New_Delhi_(2).jpg
Is the world entering a new age of imperialism? Sunjoy Joshi, the Chairman of Observer Research Foundation shares his view with Vickram Bahl on this episode of Global View.Chapters00:00 Is Imperialism Making a Comeback — in a New Form?03:10 The New Model: How Is It Different From the Imperialism of the Past?04:33 What Are the Objectives of This New Imperialism?09:03 Are Civilian Infrastructure and Assets Becoming Military Targets?09:53 Are Undersea Internet Cables the Next Strategic Vulnerability?11:21 Self-Sufficiency: Desirable — but Is It Practical?12:35 Can BRICS Provide Greater Stability?13:21 How Are Countries Building New Regional Security Alliances?14:34 Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia: Should India Be Concerned?15:42 If India and Pakistan Go to War, Would Turkey & Saudi Arabia Back Pakistan?16:34 What Should India Do in the Current Situation?18:26 How Can India Protect Its Interests if De-Dollarisation Escalates?19:25 Was China's Rise Possible Because It Remained Under the Radar?20:46 Is India's Economic Rise Being Watched — and Are Some Powers Concerned?22:52 What Is India's Biggest Challenge Today?23:46 Is India Missing Opportunities?24:55 Has India's IT Success Translated into Success in AI?26:55 What New Opportunities Are Emerging for Indians?29:15 What Must Change in Indian Education for the New World?Disclaimer The information provided by the speaker and anchor are for general purposes only. ITMN.tv and the anchor are not responsible for the views expressed and are solely those of the guest making them nor does ITMN.tv or the anchor make any representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, regarding the information provided.#GlobalView #ITMN #Geopolitics #India #NewWorldOrder
What is really happening along Arunachal Pradesh's frontier?In this episode of Small Talk with Coco, I sit down with Paknga Bage, former MLA from Dumporijo, former Parliamentary Secretary (Home) and National General Secretary (Organisation) of the National People's Party (NPP).We go beyond party politics and discuss some of the most important questions facing Arunachal Pradesh and the Northeast today.The conversation comes at a time when allegations concerning Chinese activity around Taksing in Upper Subansiri have triggered public concern. The Nah Welfare Society has made serious allegations regarding Chinese presence and infrastructure in the area, while the Indian Army has rejected the allegations. Bage has himself publicly called for the government to take the allegations seriously and has sought clarity from the state and central governments. In this conversation, we discuss:*
In this episode, you'll discover:Has India really delivered on the 2014 promise? The BJP's case for poverty reduction, infrastructure, digital payments and welfare, and the opposition's counter using unemployment, savings and rural wage data.Why India's demographic dividend could become a demographic disaster if the country doesn't create enough productive jobs before the population starts ageing.The uncomfortable education problem: More IITs, AIIMS, MBBS seats and higher-education enrolment, but are Indian students actually becoming employable?Why paper leaks and police brutality expose a bigger question: Is the government reacting quickly enough, or should a government of 12 years have built systems that prevent these failures altogether?The manufacturing paradox: India has attracted investment, expanded infrastructure and entered sectors like semiconductors, so why hasn't manufacturing's share of GDP reached the target set in 2014?Can India really de-risk itself from global shocks? From the Russia-Ukraine war to Middle East disruptions, how vulnerable is India's growth model to events outside its control?The biggest debate of all: When two sides can produce a statistic to counter almost every statistic, how do we actually measure whether a country is progressing?This isn't a debate about whether the BJP has done everything right or everything wrong.It's a debate about a much harder question:After 12 years in power, what should India's benchmark for success actually be?Watch the full debate and decide for yourself who made the stronger case for India's future.Chapters -Evaluating the BJP governance record after 12 years in power. Understand the current political climate and actual performance metrics.This video provides a critical look at the long-term impact of 12 years of BJP leadership in India. If you are following Indian political analysis, this breakdown examines whether the ruling party is still in its honeymoon phase or if it has entered a new stage of governance maturity.We assess the trajectory of the current administration by moving beyond standard narratives. By focusing on the 12 years of BJP tenure, we clarify the shift from initial promises to current government performance. This session is designed for anyone seeking an objective perspective on modern Indian political evaluation.Subscribe for weekly political analysis breakdowns, and comment below on which policy area you want us to cover next.00:00- 12 Years of BJP: Progress or Propaganda5:21 - Opening speech: BJP Spokesperson9:10 - Opening Speech: Opposition Spokesperson12:05 - Is the BJP open to criticism?15:08 - Is the Police Brutality Real or not?29:42 - Is India failing its students?29:46 - Is India Failing its Students?36:09 - Is India Facing a Job Crisis!37:18 - Is Government Education System Failing?42:57 - Can India become Rich before it becomes Old45:30 - Is "Make in India" Failing47:02 - Do Global Supply Shock Justify Manufacturing Slowdown53:14 - Is Indian infrastructure getting worse or better?01:05:13 - India's Shocking doctor shortage crisis01:12:00 - Why is the trade decifict increasing?01:16:28 - Closing speech
India's foreign investment problem may be bigger than it looks. In this episode of The Core Report Special Edition, Financial Journalist Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Ajay Shah, Senior Research Fellow and Co-founder of XKDR Forum, about why foreign investment in India has slowed, why FDI flows have struggled to regain their earlier momentum, and what this could mean for India's economic growth.Ajay Shah argues that the real question is not whether foreign capital is coming into India, but how much more investment India could be attracting. He points to a longer-term slowdown in both foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment and examines why global investors may remain cautious about committing substantially more capital to India.The conversation explores six major issues that Shah believes are holding back foreign investment in India, including capital controls, taxation, bilateral investment treaties, trade barriers, financial market infrastructure and the rule of law.Shah also explains why foreign capital matters for the Indian economy. Beyond funding, foreign companies can bring technology, management practices, global supply chains and knowledge that can improve productivity, manufacturing and competitiveness.Govindraj Ethiraj and Ajay Shah discuss FDI in India, FPI, FEMA, SEBI, taxation, tariffs, global value chains, contract enforcement, private investment, industrial policy and India's economic reforms. They also explore why Shah considers the period from 1991 to 2011 crucial to India's economic growth story and why both foreign and domestic private investment appear to have lost momentum since then.At the heart of the conversation is a bigger question. If India wants faster GDP growth, more manufacturing, more jobs and deeper integration with the global economy, what needs to change for global investors to put substantially more money into India?Chapters:01:25 What's Driving Foreign Capital Away? 03:50 Why Has Foreign Capital Struggled to Scale in India?07:31 Why Are Some Companies Still Investing in India? 09:51 How Easy Is It to Enter and Exit India? 13:20 Is India's Capital Problem Both Inward and Outward? 15:00 Why India's Tax Regime Concerns Foreign Investors 19:19 How the Indian State Affects Foreign Firms 23:36 Do Trade Barriers Discourage Foreign Capital 25:04 How Should India Position Itself Globally? 26:19 Why Are Tariffs Rising and Falling Again? 27:23 Why Are Tariffs Rising and Falling Again? 28:28 Why Capital Gets Stuck After Entering India 30:30 Why Transactional Efficiency Isn't Enough 31:50 How Should India Tackle Round-Tripping? 34:51 What Institutions Does India Need to Strengthen? 36:57 How Can India Become More Competitive? 40:27 How Important Is Private Capital to India? Watch the full conversation for a deeper understanding of India's foreign investment problem, foreign investment in India and the future of FDI in India.India's foreign investment problem goes beyond slowing FDI in India. Why are global investors cautious about foreign investment in India, and what must change? Ajay Shah explains how FDI, FPI, taxation, tariffs, private investment, manufacturing, economic reforms and the rule of law could shape India's economic growth.#ForeignInvestment #FDIIndia #IndianEconomy #EconomicReforms #IndiaGrowth #TheCoreReport #TheCore
India's gaming market crossed $14 billion this year - and it happened right after the real money gaming ban wiped out $2 billion of it overnight. Salone Sehgal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Lumikai, has been building India's first dedicated gaming and interactive media VC fund since 2020, and every investor she pitched back then said the same thing: Indians will never pay for digital content. After twelve years in Europe and $10 billion in M&A deals at Morgan Stanley, Salone built a London gaming studio, and wound it down so cleanly that her own seed investors hired her. She returned to India in 2019 and launched Lumikai, now managing over $100 million anchored by Krafton, Mixi and Sega Sammy. Speaking with host Akshay Datt, she breaks down why weak monetisation in India reflected an inability to spend rather than an unwillingness, why Lumikai held zero real money gaming exposure years before the ban hit, and why 85% of her portfolio already earns revenue at seed. With the microdrama market in India crossing $300 million in year one and projected toward $4.5 billion by 2030, the timing behind this conversation is sharp. What we cover:
Is India winning the fight against malnutrition?In this episode of Nutrition Every Day, we speak with Dr. Purnima Menon and Dr. Suman Chakrabarti from the International Food Policy Research Institute about India's nutrition journey over the past decade. From POSHAN Abhiyaan and ICDS to maternal and child nutrition, behaviour change, social protection, and evidence-based policymaking, the conversation explores what has worked, what still needs attention, and what the future of nutrition in India looks like.#Nutrition #Malnutrition #India #PublicHealth #NutritionPolicy #POSHANAbhiyaan #ICDS #MaternalHealth #ChildNutrition #FoodSystems #IFPRI #HealthPodcast #TheGoodSight #RiseAgainstHungerIndiaCreditsGuest: Dr. Purnima Menon & Dr. Suman ChakrabartiHost: Shreya MResearch: Alisha CArtwork: PriyankaProduced by: The Good SightConcept: The Good Sight & Rise Against Hunger India
Is India really becoming uninvestable, or are investors missing the bigger picture? In this episode of the Capitalmind Podcast, Shray Chandra, Co-founder at Capitalmind Financial Services, speaks with Deepak Shenoy, Founder and CEO, Capitalmind Mutual Fund, about the current pessimism around Indian markets and whether we may be approaching a point of peak pessimism. The discussion covers: • Why investors are bearish on India right now • The bear case around the rupee, crude oil, gold imports, FPI outflows and AI disruption • Lessons from previous market crises in 2002, 2009, 2013, 2020 and 2022 • Whether today's negative narrative is worse than the underlying data • India's earnings recovery, industrial growth and the return of the CapEx cycle • How AI could impact Indian IT companies and the broader economy • Why foreign investing matters, but why going completely global may not be the answer • How investors should think about equity allocation, flexi cap funds, multi-asset funds and phased investing Deepak shares his perspective on why market narratives often become most negative near turning points, and why long-term investors should focus on data, earnings and portfolio construction rather than short-term sentiment. If you are tracking the Indian stock market outlook, mutual funds, equity investing, portfolio allocation, global investing, or wealth creation, this episode offers a detailed perspective on where markets could head next. Speakers • Deepak Shenoy - Founder & CEO, Capitalmind Mutual Fund • Shray Chandra - Co-founder, Capitalmind Financial Services Subscribe to the Capitalmind Podcast for conversations on investing, markets, personal finance and wealth management. Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction & Episode Overview 00:02:02 - Steel-manning the Bear Case for India 00:05:42 - Why the Bear Case Isn't the Whole Story 00:06:47 - Historical Parallels: 2002, 2009, 2013, 2020 00:17:40 - Are We at Peak Pessimism Right Now? (May 2026 Data Check) 00:21:51 - What Do We Do About Crude 00:24:52 - Gold Imports & Potential Fixes 00:26:51 - Indian Corporate Earnings & Profit Growth 00:30:10 - CapEx Revival & Credit Growth 00:35:44 - AI: Threat or Opportunity for India? 00:38:35 - FPI & FDI Outflows — Will They Reverse? 00:43:29 - Should You Invest Abroad? The Case for Diversification 00:48:43 - Practical Advice: How to Deploy Cash Now 00:53:10 - Large Cap vs. Small Cap & Which Funds to Consider 00:54:55 - Closing Remarks & Capital Mind Offerings
India entered the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 carrying the weight of expectation. Fresh off their historic ODI World Cup triumph, Harmanpreet Kaur's side arrived in England with genuine title ambitions, exciting young talent, and the belief that this could finally be their year in the shortest format. Instead, their campaign ended in disappointment, raising as many questions as it answered.In Episode 351 of Never on the Backfoot, we take a deep dive into India's World Cup journey, from the squad selection and key omissions to the tactical decisions that shaped the tournament. We analyse the defining moments, the standout performers, the biggest disappointments, and whether India's much-talked-about "fearless" T20 philosophy translated into results when it mattered most.We also explore the bigger picture: Has the WPL truly transformed India's T20 approach? Are the selectors picking players for defined T20 roles or relying too heavily on experience? Is India's batting identity keeping pace with the evolving demands of the format? And what lessons must the team take forward after another campaign that fell short of expectations?Finally, with the Asian Games squad already announced, we discuss what lies ahead for Indian women's cricket. Should this be the beginning of a transition towards the next generation, or does continuity remain the right path?
As the AI trade gets choppier and investors look for alternatives to mega-cap tech concentration, India is emerging as a serious destination for capital seeking growth without the AI boom-bust risk. But before you pivot your portfolio eastward, you need to understand the real risks and opportunities in the world's most populous economy.Today's Stocks & Topics: Rambus Inc. (RMBS), Market Wrap, Fox's Acquisition of ROKU, The Labor Market, Stock Split, Is India the Best Emerging Market to Invest in for 2026?, Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT), Franklin FTSE India ETF (FLIN), ONEOK, Inc. (OKE), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Tobacco Stocks.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Your favourite Aunties, Ak, Farrah and Nana are back with another packed episode, joined by Kelechi Okafor!AUNTYVENTION
Is India's concern about fraud warranted? PLus, Dr. Niki joins us to talk about what she thinks fo Claude Science.Starring Tom Merritt, Huyen Tue Dao and Dr. NikiShow notes found here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Trump-Modi friendship was strong, but now US-India ties are strained. What caused the severe turbulence? Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests. In this episode, senior columnist Ravi speaks with Prof Sumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Director of the Huntington Program on improving US-India relations. They discuss the severe turbulence in bilateral ties including the massive tariffs the Trump administration placed on India, India’s refusal to give Trump credit for intervening to stop the India-Pakistan conflict in May, 2025, and the removal of ‘Indo’ from the USIndoPacific Command, now reverted to its old name US Pacific Command – which Indians have taken as a deliberate slight from Washington. They also examine the question: Is India playing a waiting game to see Trump off, and can the US really do without Indian backing if it is to maintain influence in the Indian Ocean. Highlights (click/tap above) 1:04 Why USIndoPacom was changed to USPacom 3:46 ‘Body blows’ to US-India bilateral relationship 7:20 Trump-Modi personal chemistry is gone 8:47 Present situation is an “aberration” 10:48 The Pakistan factor 14:18 End of India’s muscular foreign policy 17:16 Opportunity for China to improve India ties Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg) Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani Executive producer: Ernest Luis Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Trump-Modi friendship was strong, but now US-India ties are strained. What caused the severe turbulence? Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests. In this episode, senior columnist Ravi speaks with Prof Sumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Director of the Huntington Program on improving US-India relations. They discuss the severe turbulence in bilateral ties including the massive tariffs the Trump administration placed on India, India’s refusal to give Trump credit for intervening to stop the India-Pakistan conflict in May, 2025, and the removal of ‘Indo’ from the USIndoPacific Command, now reverted to its old name US Pacific Command – which Indians have taken as a deliberate slight from Washington. They also examine the question: Is India playing a waiting game to see Trump off, and can the US really do without Indian backing if it is to maintain influence in the Indian Ocean. Highlights (click/tap above) 1:04 Why USIndoPacom was changed to USPacom 3:46 ‘Body blows’ to US-India bilateral relationship 7:20 Trump-Modi personal chemistry is gone 8:47 Present situation is an “aberration” 10:48 The Pakistan factor 14:18 End of India’s muscular foreign policy 17:16 Opportunity for China to improve India ties Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg) Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani Executive producer: Ernest Luis Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this podcast, Kushal speaks with Abhivardhan about the future of AI in India. Is India investing enough in its own homegrown LLM? Does India need an LLM? Considering the actions of America vis a vis AI recently how do we solve this problem? Register for my Toronto book Launch here: https://t.co/3NXHWc50Ud Buy my book "Blasphemy: Let me Speak": https://amzn.in/d/0bS2pOTc Buy my book "Blasphemy: Let me Speak": https://amzn.in/d/0bS2pOTc Follow Them: Abhivardhan: @IndusThink #AI #artificialintelligence #llm #anthropic #deepseek #digitalsovereignty ------------------------------------------------------------ Listen to the podcasts on: SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/kushal-mehra-99891819 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1rVcDV3upgVurMVW1wwoBp Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-c%C4%81rv%C4%81ka-podcast/id1445348369 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-carvaka-podcast ------------------------------------------------------------ Support The Cārvāka Podcast: Buy Kushal's Book: https://amzn.in/d/58cY4dU Become a Member on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKPx... Become a Member on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/carvaka UPI: kushalmehra@icici Interac Canada: kushalmehra81@gmail.com To buy The Carvaka Podcast Exclusive Merch please visit: http://kushalmehra.com/shop ------------------------------------------------------------ Follow Kushal: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kushal_mehra?ref_... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KushalMehraO... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecarvakap... Koo: https://www.kooapp.com/profile/kushal... Inquiries: https://kushalmehra.com/ Feedback: kushalmehra81@gmail.com
Get your hand-picked playbook here: https://www.figuringout.co/pdf/fo-526Guest Suggestion Form: https://forms.gle/bnaeY3FpoFU9ZjA47Disclaimer: This video is intended solely for educational purposes and opinions shared by the guest are his personal views. We do not intent to defame or harm any person/ brand/ product/ country/ profession mentioned in the video. Our goal is to provide information to help audience make informed choices. The media used in this video are solely for informational purposes and belongs to their respective owners.(00:00) - Intro(02:32) - India's Situation With the US(11:49) - Where Do We Stand in Terms of Purchasing Power?(25:11) - Do Conversations Help or Does Economic Growth Take Over?(28:52) - Is India the Most Rational & Reliable Partner in the World?(33:02) - Why Can't We Achieve a Free Trade Agreement?(37:52) - Is India Dependent on Other Countries for Growth?(45:35) - 3 Underrated Countries India Should Invest In(52:13) - Content Creators: The New-Gen Storytellers(1:02:38) - What Does India Have That China Doesn't?(1:04:23) - 3 Things India Needs to Get Right by 2047(1:10:09) - One Thing India Does Right but Doesn't Take Credit For(1:18:30) - BTS(1:18:58) - OutroIn today's episode, we sit down with Dr. Samir Saran President, ORF & Curator, Raisina Dialogue to understand where India truly stands in the world and the hard truths nobody is saying out loud.We discuss why tech giants came to India for our data not our market, why India is underwriting trillion-dollar platforms for free, and how India contributes 17% to global growth at just 4% of GDP. Dr. Saran also breaks down the Trump reality, India's two choices as a superpower, and the three revolutions India must win before 2047. Raw, strategic, and deeply important this one will change how you see India.Subscribe for more such conversations.Follow Dr Samir Saran Here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samir_saranFollow ORF here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orfonlineAbout Raj ShamaniRaj Shamani is an Entrepreneur at heart that explains his expertise in Business Content Creation & Public Speaking. He has delivered 200+ speeches in 26+ countries. Besides that, Raj is also an Angel Investor interested in crazy minds who are creating a sensation in the Fintech, FMCG, & passion economy space.To Know More,Follow Raj Shamani On ⤵︎Instagram @RajShamani https://www.instagram.com/rajshamani/Twitter @RajShamani https://twitter.com/rajshamaniFacebook @ShamaniRaj https://www.facebook.com/shamanirajLinkedIn - Raj Shamani https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajshamani/About Figuring OutFiguring Out Podcast is a Candid Conversations University where Raj Shamani brings raw conversations with the Top 1% in India.
India is witnessing an unprecedented expansion in higher education. Over the past decade, thousands of new colleges and universities have been established, producing millions of graduates every year. Yet unemployment of the educated remains a growing concern. Nearly one in three graduates are unemployed. Is India producing more graduates than what the economy can absorb? Here, we discuss the question. Guests: Rajan Wadhera, Former President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra; O. R. S. Rao, Vice-Chancellor, ICFAI University, Sikkim Host: M. Kalyanaraman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of How India's Economy Works, host Puja Mehra speaks with economist Dr. Parag Waknis to unpack one of the most important yet least understood documents in Indian policymaking, the RBI's accounts. They explore how the RBI manages government debt, why it holds government securities on its balance sheet, and how these operations influence GDP, liquidity, interest rates and inflation.The conversation examines the evolution from direct deficit financing to the current system of primary dealers, the significance of foreign exchange reserves, and the RBI's use of tools such as open market operations and Operation Twist. Dr. Waknis also explains the relationship between government borrowing and central bank profits, and discusses whether these dynamics affect the RBI's policy independence.Tune in for insights into the institution at the heart of India's monetary and financial system.CHAPTERS(00:00) Introduction(00:14) Why the RBI Balance Sheet Matters(03:54) Why Government Bond Auctions Fail(06:15) How RBI Invests Forex Reserves(08:28) Operation Twist and Borrowing Costs(11:21) Why RBI Doesn't Fund Government Directly(14:33) Currency Notes, Coins and Sovereignty(16:35) What the Latest Balance Sheet Shows(19:00) Government Borrowing and RBI Surplus(21:27) Rising Government Debt on RBI Books(24:18) Is India's Bond Market Distorted?(25:44) RBI Independence and Balance Sheet Risks(27:47) Understanding the Monetary Policy Corridor(32:54) Rules Versus Discretion in Monetary Policy(34:49) RBI's Conflicting Institutional Roles(36:36) Why US Debt Markets Differ(37:48) Key Takeaways on RBI OperationsFor more of our coverage check out thecore.inSubscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on:Twitter |Instagram |Facebook |Linkedin |Youtube
Download Porter Here: https://app.adjust.com/21zkudwbGuest Suggestion Form: https://forms.gle/bnaeY3FpoFU9ZjA47Disclaimer: This video is intended solely for educational purposes and opinions shared by the guest are his personal views. We do not intent to defame or harm any person/ brand/ product/ country/ profession mentioned in the video. Our goal is to provide information to help audience make informed choices. The media used in this video are solely for informational purposes and belongs to their respective owners.(00:00) - Intro(02:45) - Why Does He Call IAS the Steel Cage of India?(07:38) - Where Does Corruption Start?(18:53) - Fake Document Submission in UPSC(21:04) - 3 Basic Ways People Get Into Corruption(27:34) - Where Do People Keep Their Corruption Money?(31:23) - Is There a Point of No Return From Corruption?(38:00) - Why Are Indians Scared of the Police?(40:51) - How Does the System Break an Honest Person?(42:30) - Why Can't Someone Fire an IPS Officer?(48:44) - How Much Scheme Money Actually Reaches People?(58:12) - What Do People Do With Corruption Money?(1:00:09) - Will Giving Bureaucrats Higher Salaries Solve This Issue?(1:03:35) - Why Is Nobody Stopping Corruption?(1:06:22) - AI Is the Change the System Needs(1:11:51) - A President/Prime Minister He Really Likes(1:14:58) - Why Is India the Most Difficult Country to Rule?(1:16:49) - Is China a Free Market?(1:20:50) - How Will Trump's Recent Visit to China Impact India?(1:28:58) - Why Didn't the Chinese President Meet American Entrepreneurs During Their Visit?(1:30:43) - Is India's Friendship With European Nations Good for Us?(1:32:38) - BTS(1:33:14) - OutroIn today's episode, we sit down with Amit Kilhor, UPSC Teacher & Content Creator, to understand the reality of India's bureaucracy and the system behind it.The conversation also covers major IAS-related controversies, how corruption networks operate, where illicit money typically flows, and why senior officers often become difficult to challenge. Subscribe for more such conversations.Follow Amit Kilhor Here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amitkilhor/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitkilhor/About Raj ShamaniRaj Shamani is an Entrepreneur at heart that explains his expertise in Business Content Creation & Public Speaking. He has delivered 200+ speeches in 26+ countries. Besides that, Raj is also an Angel Investor interested in crazy minds who are creating a sensation in the Fintech, FMCG, & passion economy space.To Know More,Follow Raj Shamani On ⤵︎Instagram @RajShamani https://www.instagram.com/rajshamani/Twitter @RajShamani https://twitter.com/rajshamaniFacebook @ShamaniRaj https://www.facebook.com/shamanirajLinkedIn - Raj Shamani https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajshamani/About Figuring OutFiguring Out Podcast is a Candid Conversations University where Raj Shamani brings raw conversations with the Top 1% in India.
Wat betekent het officiële koopkrachtverlies in Nederland voor jouw vermogen? Is India écht zijn goud aan het verkopen? En waarom kiezen steeds meer grote instituties voor goud boven Amerikaanse staatsobligaties?In deze aflevering van Goudkoorts bespreekt Bart Brands de ontwikkelingen op de goud- en zilvermarkt, de verschuiving van staatsobligaties naar goud als reserve-activa, en de gevolgen van oplopende inflatie voor Nederlandse huishoudens.Wil je reageren op de uitzending? Laat hieronder een reactie achter.⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
On Episode 885 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Vishwas Chitale, fellow at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) as well as Amol Bansal, Founder and CEO at BK Saraf Jewellers.SHOW NOTES(00:00) Stories of the Day(01:31) India falls behind Taiwan in market capitalisation(05:22) Coal-fired power plants are running dangerously short on coal(07:06) Is India better prepared for heatwaves?(15:36) Can a native solution to monetize 25,000 tonnes of gold in homes work?(26:43) Ferrari shares fall after it launches an electric car(27:51) Who buys a watch to see the timeRegister for our event on June 2ndCheck out our Live Earnings tracker: https://earnings.thecore.in/For more of our coverage check out thecore.inSubscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on:Twitter | Instagram | Linkedin | Youtube
Is India's economy facing a temporary shock or a deeper crisis?In this episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, economist and author, Surjit Bhalla joins Govindraj Ethiraj to go beyond the headlines around the falling rupee, oil prices, West Asia tensions, and global uncertainty. He argues that the real problem with the Indian economy may not be the immediate currency pressure alone, but a longer term weakness in investor confidence, foreign direct investment, manufacturing, exports, and economic decision making.Surjit Bhalla explains why India's growth challenge cannot be understood only through the rupee dollar exchange rate. He highlights the fall in net FDI, the impact of bilateral investment treaties, retrospective taxation, quality control orders, ease of doing business, and policy uncertainty. He also questions why India has not fully benefited from the China plus one opportunity while countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh gained from global supply chain shifts.For more of our coverage check out thecore.inSubscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on:Twitter |Instagram |Facebook |Linkedin |Youtube
India's largest medical entrance examination, NEET, is once again at the centre of a national discussion. Conducted for more than 20 lakh aspirants in a single sitting, the exam represents one of the biggest logistical exercises in India's education system involving the printing, transport and storage of millions of physical question papers across thousands of centres. For years, the National Testing Agency defended the single-shift pen-and-paper format as the “fairest” method of assessment. But recurring allegations of paper leaks and organised cheating networks have raised serious questions about whether the very scale of the system has now become its biggest vulnerability. Following the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 and the announcement of a re-examination, the Union Education Minister has said the exam will shift to a fully computer-based format from next year. But will CBT actually solve the deeper structural problems behind examination leaks? Is India prepared for a transition of this scale? And why do students continue to bear the emotional burden of institutional failures? In this episode, we unpack these questions and examine the growing debate around examination security, public trust, accountability and the future of high-stakes testing in India. Guest: Dr. Bibhu Anand, Chief Adviser, Federation of All India Medical Association Host: Devyanshi Bihani Edited and produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to PGX Ideas. #3PGX Ideas is where I sit with people who think for a living — scientists, philosophers, builders, and the occasional genius who doesn't fit any category.These conversations are dense. They're long. They won't give you a shortcut.If you're looking for something light, that's PGX: Raw & Real → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa6DgTttATAc0hftp0aZtUvCgVSKO8hbxIn this episode, I spoke to Graham Bruce Hancock - British author known for promoting pseudoscientific explanations of ancient civilizations and hypothetical lost lands.Timestamps:00:00 – Is India way older than we think?02:48 – The Yuga Concept in India06:55 – A lost world before our world08:38 – India was bigger during the Ice Age09:40 – Ram Setu was actually REAL13:13 – How old the India is?18:32 – The story of Manu and the great flood25:14 – Why did all old civilizations start together?29:34 – The comet that may have destroyed everything40:46 – Archaeology is missing huge parts of the World48:53 – The number 108 isn't a coincidence55:49 – Kailash Nath Temple still shocks scientists today1:00:40 – The Pyramid knows the size of Earth1:10:01 – Yoga was never just an exercise1:13:51 – He found an underwater city near India1:22:42 – Why number 7 is so unique?1:30:50 – Do he believes on Aliens?1:36:39 – How knowing our past can change everythingEnjoy.— Prakhar
Is India controlling Bangladesh's social media? Do you know who decides which Facebook posts you see, which ones you never see, and why some content suddenly loses its reach? In many cases, it's a content moderator sitting in India.In today's episode, Omar Al-Zabir reveals the disturbing realities he witnessed from inside Meta truths often discussed in Western media, but rarely talked about in Bangladesh. He has worked with global companies like Meta, BT Group, and Tesco, and currently serves as the Co-Founder & CEO of Kahf.In this episode, you'll learn:▸ Why 99.5% of the apps on your phone have Google trackers embedded in them▸ How Google can predict whether you're depressed, lonely, or even who you're sitting with▸ Why Bangladesh ranks among the top countries for online child exploitation concerns▸ Why the people your children talk to on Roblox may not actually be children▸ The connection between social media and rising divorce rates in the USA▸ Why teenage suicide rates sharply increased after 2008▸ Which two countries are influencing the minds of billions of people▸ How algorithms are designed using psychologists to capture and manipulate your attentionIf you are a parent, this episode is something you should absolutely watch. And if you spend more than 4 hours a day on your phone, this episode is for you too.
What if 45% of India's entire economy is black money? The ED has filed nearly 6,000 money laundering cases in 10 years and secured just 15 convictions. Digital arrest scams have stolen over ₹120 crore from ordinary Indians. And elections may be the single largest consumer of black money in this country.In this episode of xMonks Drive, Gaurav Arora sits down with Abhishek Bali — CEO & Co-Founder of ZIGRAM and one of India's foremost experts on financial crime, money laundering, and regulatory technology — for one of the most wide-ranging and honest conversations ever had on this subject on an Indian podcast.From the Nirav Modi PNB scandal to Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher collapse, from hawala networks to digital arrest scams targeting your parents — Abhishek breaks down exactly how black money moves, who it hurts, and what is being built to stop it.What we cover in this episode:
Is India's middle class facing an economic crisis? A new book, ‘Breakpoint: The Crisis of the Middle Class and the Future of Work' by Saurabh Mukherjea says that it is. It argues that three factors have upended the consumption-driven model that powered the prosperity of India's middle class since 1991. These are: technological disruption eliminating white collar job creation, wage stagnation eroding purchasing power, and explosive household debt, which exceeds levels seen in US and China. At the same time, India's graduate unemployment stands at 29%. If the middle class is in crisis, what does it mean for the India growth story? Will AI lead to a total collapse, or will it help in a positive transformation? Can the middle class dig itself out of its current hole? We speak with the author of Breakpoint, Saurabh Mukherjea. Host: G Sampath Producer: Shiksha Jural Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A study gave 16 experienced developers the best AI coding tools available.They predicted they'd be 24% faster. They felt 20% faster. They were actually 19% slower — and still didn't believe it when told.That gap between belief and reality is now being deployed at enterprise scale.TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Cognizant have committed to over 50,000 AI coding licences each. Bugs per developer are up 50%. Code is reaching production without any human review.And the senior engineers who could catch the mistakes are buried too deep in the flood to look up.Is India's IT sector selling a productivity story it hasn't actually earned yet?Tune in. *With inputs from Mrunmayee Kulkarni. Read her piece here: Engineers gag as Amazon, TCS, and Cognizant ram ‘mandatory AI' into everyday workRead the NYT article: The Big Bang: A.I. Has Created a Code OverloadRead Luciano Nooijen's blog post: Why I stopped using AI code editorsDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
On Episode 849 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Vibhuti Garg, Director at South Asia at Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) as well as Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya, President of the Centre for Domestic Economy Policy (CDEP) Research.SHOW NOTES(00:00) Stories of the Day(00:50) Global markets ride on unbelievable exuberance(05:41) IMF official says countries must pass on true cost of energy to users and reduce subsidies(07:27) Is India geared for peak power demand given gas supplies are restrained?(17:04) Have India's moves to free up imports for exporting companies and industries worked, particularly in textiles and apparel?For more of our coverage check out thecore.inSubscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on:Twitter |Instagram |Facebook |Linkedin |Youtube
At a fintech conference in February, Razorpay showed a demo. A user ordered food on Zomato by voice and paid — without opening a checkout page or a UPI app. No friction and no redirects. Just a job done end-from-end.The same week, OpenAI quietly rolled back its own in-chat shopping agent.Razorpay is calling this the biggest disruption to payments since UPI. But agentic commerce raises questions that a demo can't answer — around trust, fraud, consent, and who's liable when an AI spends your money.Is India ready for that? Is anyone?Hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rachel Varghese, speak to The Ken reporter Mutasim Khan. Tune in.Buy your tickets for the Zero Shot event here.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
This episode is brought to you by Urban Platter, to know more checkout: https://bit.ly/urban-platter-figuring-outGuest Suggestion Form: https://forms.gle/bnaeY3FpoFU9ZjA47Disclaimer: This video is intended solely for educational purposes and opinions shared by the guest are his personal views. We do not intent to defame or harm any person/ brand/ product/ country/ profession mentioned in the video. Our goal is to provide information to help audience make informed choices. The media used in this video are solely for informational purposes and belongs to their respective owners.(00:00) - Intro(02:43) - What does a diplomat do?(13:54) - Why do other countries care about who we vote for?(15:14) - What is a diplomat's final job?(16:38) - Why does the world knowing about Indian festivals matter?(19:18) - How do diplomats handle crisis management?(27:45) - Why would any country trust diplomats knowing they lie?(32:51) - Serving in Pakistan as a diplomat(48:40) - The ICJ win story(55:54) - Unsavoury tools used by diplomats(1:00:15) - Masood Azhar case(1:07:02) - Why hasn't India been able to prove Pakistan is a terrorist state?(1:16:16) - What happens when the US designates someone a national threat?(1:17:55) - India's friendship with everyone: is it the right strategy?(1:26:25) - Why didn't India condemn the Iran-Israel-US conflict?(1:29:07) - What price is India paying for not taking a stance?(1:39:51) - New India, new expectations & greater exposure(1:47:41) - Every growing country is somewhat dependent(1:52:54) - How is India a rising influence if no one listens to it?(2:00:47) - The US is not our friend, it's our boss(2:02:23) - Different countries handle issues differently(2:15:14) - Is India scared of China?(2:19:02) - India & its neighbouring countries(2:29:33) - Should the media and diplomats work together for a better India?(2:40:37) - Are international bodies completely useless today?(2:57:23) - India's best & worst decisions of the last decade(3:03:17) - One criticism of Indian policy that is completely wrong(3:09:47) - Will India grow at the pace the world expects?(3:13:06) - BTS(3:13:23) - OutroIn today's episode, we sit down with Syed Akbaruddin, Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and Dean of Kautilya School of Public Policy, Hyderabad, to understand diplomacy, power, and global strategy.We discuss what diplomats really do, how their role has changed since the 1980s, and how they handle crises and conflicts. He shares insights from his time in Pakistan, the reality behind ceasefires, and how diplomacy works during war.The conversation also covers India's position in the world, its relationship with the US, and why global institutions are losing influence. We talk about China's moves around Taiwan, why it remains India's biggest strategic challenge, and what India needs to improve going forward. Subscribe for more such conversations.Follow Syed Akbaruddin Here:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syed-akbaruddin-854b30249/About Raj ShamaniRaj Shamani is an Entrepreneur at heart that explains his expertise in Business Content Creation & Public Speaking. He has delivered 200+ speeches in 26+ countries. Besides that, Raj is also an Angel Investor interested in crazy minds who are creating a sensation in the Fintech, FMCG, & passion economy space.
Is the best grocery platform one that decides what it WON'T sell?That is the bet Ayyappan is making with FirstClub. Fewer products. Stricter rules. While most quick commerce apps are trying to deliver orders faster, he is asking a different question. What if consumers need not “faster or cheaper”, but a retail platform where they can trust every item listed on it?A place where you do not have to read every label, check multiple reviews, or wonder if the top result is there because a brand paid for it. FirstClub is trying to solve a harder problem. It is trying to define what “quality” means for everyday products we consume, starting with groceries.India has received the highest quick commerce funding of any country in the world, at $9.24B over the last 10 years. Yet only 1% of Indians use quick commerce services today. With a large market still open for expansion and the possibility of better unit economics over time, FirstClub is building a countertrend to the hype around Indian quick commerce.Ayyappan brings eleven years of experience at Flipkart, and has also served as SVP at Myntra and CEO of Cleartrip. FirstClub also just raised a $50 million round and doubled its valuation in under six months. This episode is the story till here and the plans ahead for Firstclub.00:00 – Trailer01:01 – The Costco of Indian quick commerce04:32 – Building a counter-trend company06:15 – What consumers say v/s what they actually want09:37 – The only retail platform to Ban 200 ingredients12:34 – Why can't the big players solve this?13:21 – A simple rule of thumb for food16:03 – Brand stories from FirstClub19:20 – Is the problem access or income?21:29 – Who are the 20 million FirstClub consumers?24:14 – Only 1% of India uses quick commerce26:04 – What does “quality” mean in grocery?32:34 – How will FirstClub monetize without brand sponsorships?34:53 – Do consumers behave differently across categories?39:30 – Why is Myntra so powerful in fashion?42:24 – What Myntra taught Ayyapan that Flipkart didn't?43:53 – Unlearning to build for Quick commerce48:25 – Why Indian consumers are very experimental today50:59 – Is India one country when it comes to quality?52:43 – If Ayyappan was a product, what would he be?54:47 – The hardest belief to defend while building FirstClub56:26 – Akshayakalpa & The Whole Truth57:48 – Not niche, but premium-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neon-fund/X: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Nansi on:LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/nansi-mishraX: https://x.com/nansi_mishra-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send a text
A major war has erupted in West Asia, with Israel, the U.S., and Iran locked in direct conflict. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel just before the country, along with the U.S., attacked Iran. India did not condemn the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Meanwhile, the war has resulted in rising energy prices, economic risks, and put at risk the safety of hundreds of thousands of Indian families in the region. Is India tailing the U.S. in its West Asia policy? Here, we discuss the question. Tune in! Guests: Amb. Talmiz Ahmad, former Indian Diplomat. He served as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE & Kabir Taneja, Executive Director of Observer Research Foundation Middle East. Host: Smriti Sudesh Producer: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is India overhyped or genuinely important moving forward? Well, you could make a case for both.Join the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/PeterZeihanFull Newsletter: https://bit.ly/4a3K4Y1
A version of this essay was published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/india-us-trade-deal-trump-skepticism-13977047.htmlI am beginning to feel quite like ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf', who was destined to be ignored. Or maybe I am the boy who cried ‘The Emperor Has No Clothes'. For, I was skeptical last week about the India-EU FTA, which I called a triumph of hope over experience. Now I am equally skeptical about the so-called India-US trade ‘deal', which in fact is not a deal at all, but a sort-of statement of direction about the way to an actual deal.I expressed my caution on a Malayalam TV program where the host was a retired Ambassador. He was less skeptical than me, but he understood where I was coming from: after all, a diplomat's job is to put the best spin on the news (good or bad) from his country's perspective. And I spent much of my professional career in marketing: I can tell spin when I see it. Reason No. 1: Trump is famous for exaggeration and U-turns.The very first reason for the scepticism about the Indo-US lovefest is that it was announced by President Trump, who, in the past six months, has, in his whimsical way, executed any number of U-turns, as well as Z-turns, and various other pretzel-logic twists, so much so that anything he says, and its opposite, can be equally true, in a quantum Schrodinger's Cat sort of way. It is prudent not to take him at face value when he swears eternal allegiance to India. Again.Quoth he: “It was an Honor to speak with Prime Minister Modi, of India, this morning. He is one of my greatest friends, and a Powerful and Respected Leader of his Country. We spoke about many things, including Trade, and ending the War with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week! Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%. They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO. The Prime Minister also committed to “BUY AMERICAN,” at a much higher level, in addition to over $500 BILLION DOLLARS of U.S. Energy, Technology, Agricultural, Coal, and many other products. Our amazing relationship with India will be even stronger going forward. Prime Minister Modi and I are two people that GET THINGS DONE, something that cannot be said for most. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”Okay. Very interesting. There has been no Indian readout corroborating a number of these claims, especially on agriculture, which I imagine is a redline, a no-go, for India.Besides, these are supposed to be ‘reciprocal' tariffs. If Indian tariffs go to zero on US products, why is the US imposing 18% on Indian products?Reason No. 2: Desperation of ‘jilted lovers'The ‘shotgun wedding' vibe was present in the India-EU FTA as well: a sort of desperation. There is not much choice: you simply have to do this. I am not the only one saying this. Here is a tweet from a senior EU leader, former PM of Sweden and co-chair of the EU Council for foreign relations. Of course you could say that he would say this, wouldn't he? But it happens to be true. The number of suitors is declining rapidly, so you compromise. But that is not a recipe for the longevity of the relationship, nor for faithfulness. You can expect er… adultery (early and often). The roving eye roveth.Reason No. 3: Agriculture and dairy red-linesWe really don't know much about the fine print. I am aware that sales and marketing people tend to promise anything (even things they are completely aware are impossible) just to get the sale. Thus, when India diversifies away from the US market, and its Q3 numbers are not badly affected by the Trump tariffs, it is incumbent upon Trump and Navarro, Bessent, Lutnick et al to reverse their previous abuse, and be all milk and honey.The problem here, as always, is the agriculture and dairy product front. It is an absolute red line for India: no government can afford to piss off its farmers, nor to open up the country, home of much of the world's genetic diversity, to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) including Terminator Seeds (that would forever put farmers at the mercy of Cargill and friends).Not only that, non-veg milk (that is, milk from cows that have been fed, among other things, ground-up animal bodies) is abhorrent to a large number of Indians. Not to mention the risk of things like Creuzfeldt-Jakob Disease or mad-cow disease (transmitted via feed that includes the ground-up brains of diseased cattle: see also the fatal brain disease Kuru, transmitted between cannibals in Papua New Guinea).The US rather urgently needs to get rid of its soybean and corn mountains and milk lakes (in contrast with the EU's butter mountain and wine lakes) and in both, exporters salivate at the prospect of the proverbial billion-customer market. (The Chinese expertly used this rather illusory meme to attract foreign makers of consumer goods. That didn't end well).In the case of India, there is no demand for soybeans, and the one place where I can see demand for corn is in ethanol, especially for blending into petrol. That would be a win-win, because it would reduce the need for India to grow highly thirsty sugarcane, thus drawing down the already alarmingly depleted water-table.Reason No. 4: Russian oil and energy in generalThe unseemly pressure over Russian oil raises hackles on the Indian side. After all, this is not the only time India has been pushed to the wall by American sanctions: there was the post-'Buddha is smiling' period, and the prevention of the sale of ex-Soviet cryogenic rocket technology, as immortalized in Nambi Narayanan's story in “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect”. Earlier, there was the embargo on supercomputers.In each of these cases, India rode out the sanctions and denials. But the question arises: why should India not use Russian oil if it makes commercial sense to India? Just because there is a conflict between Russia and Ukraine? That is really not India's problem: India does not have a dog in that fight.Now there is the allegedly impending US attack on Iran. India has been denied Iranian oil for some time, and now under US pressure, it is being forced to ramp down its involvement in Chabahar Port in Iran that India built, and views as a gateway to Central Asia. Notably, China continues to import Iranian crude. Is India getting some relief there?It is not realistic to imagine that large amounts of Venezuelan crude will now flow to India if it abjures the Russian stuff. For one, even though Reliance's Jamnagar refiner can process the heavy, sour Venezuelan oil, it is said that Venezuela will take some time and a lot of money to ramp up its output because of years of neglect, lack of naphtha to dilute and pump out the crude, and so on.Reason No. 5: Non-tariff barriers and subsidies.The US claims that India will drop all its non-tariff barriers, but what is the guarantee that the US will not raise an impenetrable wall on their side? It is a simple matter to impose difficult-to-comply-with rules that basically say “Your products are not welcome”. These may include environmental, carbon tax, quality, and various other demands.For example, there is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 that insists that only American owned/built/crewed ships can transport goods between US ports. Then there are Buy American Act procurement restrictions that handicap foreign-origin products. Furthermore, quality standards e.g. on hormone-treated meat products, and on certification that seafood is tuna-safe have been used to keep out imported products.The US Farm Bill provides gigantic subsidies for five major crops – corn, soy, wheat, rice and cotton – amounting to $9.3 billion in 2024. Reports suggest that crop insurance and new benefits from the ‘bridge payments' announced in 2025 may add another $10 billion+ to this sum. That is an enormous subsidy, pricing competitors out of the market.Reason No. 6: Loss of trustFinally, there is a sixth and critical reason: the loss of trust. For the longest time, India had convinced itself that it was an essential strategic partner to the US, if for nothing else to contain China. But that illusion is now gone, quite possibly because the US has decided to create a G2 condominium with China and retreat into Fortress America. The US administration now considers India, at best, a transactional vassal, and at worst, a potential rival to apply the Thucydides Trap to: and what better than to do war by economic means? India has to adjust.On the other hand, there are indeed positives. In the interest of fairness, here are the immediate views of Citibank and Bank of America, who both considered it a net positive for India.If you accept the tariff reductions by the US at face value, then India at 18% is doing marginally better than several other nations, including Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh. Ironically, Trump's recent best-friend-forever Pakistan is hit with 19%. There was a video circulating showing Raghuram Rajan, the economist who wants to be to Rahul Gandhi who Manmohan Singh was to his mother, gloating earlier that India was suffering from 50% tariffs compared to Pakistan's 19%.That brings up one more observation: the Opposition in India is screaming bloody murder about this supposed India-US ‘deal' not because they claim India is getting a bad deal, but apparently because they think India is getting a good deal. They should see Trump's latest triumph.Opposition, fear not: Trump is making even more entertaining claims about his ‘deal' with Xi. The sum and substance: “Please buy my soybeans”. This, despite the fact that China is the biggest buyer of oil from both Russia (48% of exports) and Iran (80%). Clearly, there is a lot of marketing going on, and it's too early to tell what the reality is. The devil is in the details.1750 words, 5 Feb 2026 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe
2026-01-31 | UPDATES #122 | Is India “dumping” Russian oil… or just re-routing for the sake of optics? Today's story sounds simple — “India is dumping Russian oil as it seals a historic deal with the EU.” But the reality is messier — and honestly, more damning.On January 27, the EU and India concluded a long-awaited free trade agreement — described by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on X as: “the mother of all deals.” (X (formerly Twitter))That same day, EU leaders framed it as a geopolitical signal in a reshuffled world order — European Council President António Costa called it a “historic moment,” and stressed the EU and India as “strategic and reliable partners.” (Consilium)----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------A REQUEST FOR HELP!I'm heading back to Kyiv this week, to film, do research and conduct interviews. The logistics and need for equipment and clothing are a little higher than for my previous trips. It will be cold, and may be dark also. If you can, please assist to ensure I can make this trip a success. My commitment to the audience of the channel, will be to bring back compelling interviews conducted in Ukraine, and to use the experience to improve the quality of the channel, it's insights and impact. Let Ukraine and democracy prevail! https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrashttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformationNONE OF THIS CAN HAPPEN WITHOUT YOU!So what's next? We're going to Kyiv in January 2026 to film on the ground, and will record interviews with some huge guests. We'll be creating opportunities for new interviews, and to connect you with the reality of a European city under escalating winter attack, from an imperialist, genocidal power. PLEASE HELP ME ME TO GROW SILICON CURTAINWe are planning our events for 2026, and to do more and have a greater impact. After achieving more than 12 events in 2025, we will aim to double that! 24 events and interviews on the ground in Ukraine, to push back against weaponized information, toxic propaganda and corrosive disinformation. Please help us make it happen!----------SOURCES: Reuters (Jan 29, 2026) — India's Reliance to buy up to 150,000 bpd of Russian oil from Februaryhttps://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indias-reliance-buy-up-150000-bpd-russian-oil-february-2026-01-29/Reuters (Jan 28, 2026) — Bessent says disappointed by EU-India deal; South Korea must ratify trade deal - https://www.reuters.com/business/bessent-says-disappointed-by-eu-india-deal-south-korea-must-ratify-trade-deal-2026-01-28/Reuters (Jan 27, 2026) — Indian diesel exports to West Africa jump as EU bans Russian crude-derived fuel - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/indian-diesel-exports-west-africa-jump-eu-bans-russian-crude-derived-fuel-2026-01-27/Reuters (Jan 27, 2026) — Details of EU-India trade deal - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/Council of the EU (Jan 27, 2026) — Press statement by President António Costa following the EU-India summit (PDF) - https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/01/27/press-statement-by-president-antonio-costa-following-the-eu-india-summit/pdf/Reuters (Jan 14, 2026) — Russia's oil and gas budget revenue falls 24% to lowest since 2020https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-oil-gas-budget-revenue-falls-24-lowest-since-2020-2026-01-15/----------
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has tabled the Economic Survey 2025–26, offering the first official snapshot of where India's economy stands—and where it's headed next. The Survey pegs India's potential growth at around 7%, flags a slight moderation in GDP growth next year, and lays out the government's thinking on everything from inflation and exports to jobs, infrastructure, manufacturing, and welfare.But beyond the headline numbers, what really matters is how to read this document. Is India's growth story holding up in a slowing global economy? What reforms are need to to make the government's 'Viksit Bharat 2047' vision a reality? Guest: Trishna Sarkar, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Dr BR Ambedkar College, University of Delhi Host: Nivedita V Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to this solo podcast.A new year is a good time to pause and reflect.In this episode, I'm sharing some thoughts on what it means to be young and Indian in the 21st century — how we should think, act, and how we should take responsibility for the future we're stepping into.Happy New Year.— PrakharTimestamps:00:00 – Where is India right now?03:35 – We are deluded05:57 – Is India the next China?07:13 – Major issues of concern12:56 – How does a society move ahead?14:05 – Why is China ahead?17:13 – We are losing the AI race19:46 – How does India grow despite the challenges?23:50 – The hygiene issue35:05 – What is working for us?42:11 – India's top 1 percent45:07 – The AQI issue49:00 – The global TFR fall57:48 – The economic shift we need59:10 – What I do not know
The killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi has set Bangladesh on fire again. But this time, the anger isn't just anti-government, it's dangerously anti-India. In this episode of In Our Defence, host Dev Goswami and defence expert Sandeep Unnithan decode the chaos next door. From the smashing of Sheikh Mujib's statues to the chilling return of the Pakistan Army in Bangladeshi politics, the two answer the hard question: Is India facing a new "Third Front"? The two discuss: -The legacy of the founder (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) and the general (Ziaur Rahman) -How the erasure of 1971 is opening the door for a "Pakistan-style" Islamic nationalism -The rumor of a Pakistan-Bangladesh mutual defence pact and why that should worry India -What 2026 may bring to Bangladesh and its politics. Produced by Taniya Dutta Sound mixed by Rohan Bharti
In this episode of Imperfect Show Finance, stock market expert V. Nagappan examines some of the most debated questions surrounding India's economic outlook. Is India's impressive growth story truly grounded in reality, or are there deeper concerns hidden beneath the headline numbers? The discussion also explores why the IMF has raised doubts about India's recent GDP data and what these concerns mean for the country's economic credibility. In addition, the episode dives into the sharp fall in small-cap stocks—what triggered the decline, whether it signals a larger market correction, and when the next potential rally might begin. Alongside these major topics, the video includes several other market insights that help investors navigate volatility with clarity and confidence. Tune in for a grounded, insightful breakdown of the forces shaping India's financial landscape today.
This episode with Prof. Arun Kumar is a look at the Indian economy beyond headlines and GDP numbers. We discuss the paradox behind India's growth story: when GDP rises, does it really reach the people? We explore how poverty in India has officially fallen from 27% to 5.3% in just over a decade, yet real wages have been shrinking, especially for rural workers. If fewer people are poor on paper, but incomes aren't rising, what's actually driving this improvement?We talk about how the structure of India's economy is changing, how wealth is concentrated, and the weakening of the public sector to how the black economy distorts policy outcomes.We discuss why state finances are now becoming a silent crisis, and how India's macroeconomic stability, while strong, hides inequalities that threaten long-term growth. The episode also explores the solutions, which India needs to fix over the next 20 years to make growth truly inclusive and meaningful for everyone.0:00 – Trailer1:01 – Does GDP growth translate to ground reality?6:46 – Is India truly the 4th largest economy?10:30 – Poverty fell 22% in 12 years, yet wages dropped.14:06 – Does the poverty line reflect reality?18:07 – What % of India is really poor?21:00 – Are middle-class families going into debt for basics?23:26 – How are rich, middle, and poor defined?24:44 – Wealth is shifting26:56 – How stable is India's macroeconomy?30:48 – Why India cannot open up some sectors34:27 – Why R&D spending remains low in India35:36 – Is the consensus on need for public sector falling?38:18 – Black economy kills public sector41:37 – How healthy are the Indian state economies?44:51 – Is the tax split b/w centre and states working?47:05 – How can India create jobs in Unorganised sectors?53:12 – What are the solutions to fix Indian economy in next 20 years-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text
CNN's Jake Tapper is getting grilled for lying about Former President Biden's Cognitive decline during his presidency. Mediaite got caught laughing about Trump's alleged meltdown with ABC'S Terry Moran and Sean Hannity. Is India thinking of putting their Tariffs at 0 for the USA? The Left-Wing Media has been picking out small details of Trump that they think is wrong to talk about. Mark Takes Your Calls! Mark Interviews Economist Steve Moore. President Trump is bringing millions of dollars in investments back home from the middle east. Are the Tariffs still causing financial stress? Why can't we deduct our state taxes in New York? The Salt Reduction is a huge issue with the One Big Beautiful Bill. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
CNN's Jake Tapper is getting grilled for lying about Former President Biden's Cognitive decline during his presidency. Mediaite got caught laughing about Trump's alleged meltdown with ABC'S Terry Moran and Sean Hannity. Is India thinking of putting their Tariffs at 0 for the USA? The Left-Wing Media has been picking out small details of Trump that they think is wrong to talk about.
CNN's Jake Tapper is getting grilled for lying about Former President Biden's Cognitive decline during his presidency. Mediaite got caught laughing about Trump's alleged meltdown with ABC'S Terry Moran and Sean Hannity. Is India thinking of putting their Tariffs at 0 for the USA? The Left-Wing Media has been picking out small details of Trump that they think is wrong to talk about. Mark Takes Your Calls! Mark Interviews Economist Steve Moore. President Trump is bringing millions of dollars in investments back home from the middle east. Are the Tariffs still causing financial stress? Why can't we deduct our state taxes in New York? The Salt Reduction is a huge issue with the One Big Beautiful Bill.
CNN's Jake Tapper is getting grilled for lying about Former President Biden's Cognitive decline during his presidency. Mediaite got caught laughing about Trump's alleged meltdown with ABC'S Terry Moran and Sean Hannity. Is India thinking of putting their Tariffs at 0 for the USA? The Left-Wing Media has been picking out small details of Trump that they think is wrong to talk about. Mark Interviews Economist Steve Moore. President Trump is bringing millions of dollars in investments back home from the middle east. Are the Tariffs still causing financial stress? Why can't we deduct our state taxes in New York? The Salt Reduction is a huge issue with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Diddy's trial continues today. His Ex Cassie-Ventura has proof and faces questions at the trial. Administrator of the U.S. Environmental protection Agency Lee Zeldin has taken action against a controversial start-stop vehicle system in cars. Tomorrow Is Take Your Bike To Work Day. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has to head to congress to get more approvals for Newark Airport's Equipment. Dick's Sporting Goods is buying out Foot Locker. Mark Interviews Actor Steve Schirripa. There is a Steve Schirripa bobble head you can get! Steve will be in Bridgewater NJ soon for an event with the Somerset Patriots.
CNN's Jake Tapper is getting grilled for lying about Former President Biden's Cognitive decline during his presidency. Mediaite got caught laughing about Trump's alleged meltdown with ABC'S Terry Moran and Sean Hannity. Is India thinking of putting their Tariffs at 0 for the USA? The Left-Wing Media has been picking out small details of Trump that they think is wrong to talk about. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
CNN's Jake Tapper is getting grilled for lying about Former President Biden's Cognitive decline during his presidency. Mediaite got caught laughing about Trump's alleged meltdown with ABC'S Terry Moran and Sean Hannity. Is India thinking of putting their Tariffs at 0 for the USA? The Left-Wing Media has been picking out small details of Trump that they think is wrong to talk about. Mark Interviews Economist Steve Moore. President Trump is bringing millions of dollars in investments back home from the middle east. Are the Tariffs still causing financial stress? Why can't we deduct our state taxes in New York? The Salt Reduction is a huge issue with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Diddy's trial continues today. His Ex Cassie-Ventura has proof and faces questions at the trial. Administrator of the U.S. Environmental protection Agency Lee Zeldin has taken action against a controversial start-stop vehicle system in cars. Tomorrow Is Take Your Bike To Work Day. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has to head to congress to get more approvals for Newark Airport's Equipment. Dick's Sporting Goods is buying out Foot Locker. Mark Interviews Actor Steve Schirripa. There is a Steve Schirripa bobble head you can get! Steve will be in Bridgewater NJ soon for an event with the Somerset Patriots. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
© 2020-2026 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
