A Summit of Subordinates
For the second time across two terms, US President Donald Trump has walked out of a G7 summit the grouping of dominant countries in the capitalist world. The last time, it was in a fit of pique; this time, it…
The Curious and Confusing case of Yes Bank Stake Sale
India’s banking sector appears poised for a structural shift, entering a new era after one defined by the rise of “new” private banks such as Global Trust Bank and Yes Bank. In what could prove to be a new milestone,…
Seventy Years after Bandung, the Global South is still waiting for Independence
This April marked the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia that brought together high-level representatives from 29 countries, most of which had won independence from colonial rule riding the wave of decolonisation that accompanied the onset and…
Trump’s Tariff Spree could end up Fast-Tracking China’s rise
Early into his second term, US President Donald Trump has lived up to his image of being a Great Disruptor with his across-the-board (country-wise and commodity-wise) increase in tariffs on imports into the US. In the process, he has launched…
IndusInd Bank Crisis a wake-up call for Private Banking reforms
Advocates of neoliberal financial policies still argue that the post-1991 licensing of the so-called new generation private banks was a major step in enhancing competition and spurring “innovation” in the banking space. This position is maintained despite a raft of…
Who’s Afraid of Trump’s Tariffs?
The weaponization of tariffs by US President Donald Trump has clearly generated fear and loathing across the world. These threats are not only purely performative; nor are they just transactional in nature. The logic of these tariff threats in most…
India’s New Trade Gamble
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government seems set to initiate another era of trade liberalisation. In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of ministerial-level delegations visiting the country and travelling abroad, announcing the revival after years in some cases…
Operation ‘Save Capitalism’ in America
If the first month of Donald Trump’s second term as US President is any indication, global capitalism under US hegemony appears to be undergoing an internally driven restructuring. It must be noted that this process, as other restructuring episodes in…
The Sensex, the Rupee, the FIIs and the RBI
There is a sense of panic gripping financial markets in India. The immediate causes are a combined slide of indices of stock markets and of the rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar. For market players accustomed to what has been an…
The Recent Past and Present of Agriculture
The Finance Minister’s Budget Speech for this year described agriculture as “the first engine of growth”, and the Economic Survey also described agriculture and food management as the “sector of the future” (even though it was relegated to Chapter 9…