When Shell bought Sprng Energy in 2022, India`s renewable energy market appeared to offer precisely what global energy majors were seeking: scale, growth and a place in one of the world`s largest energy transitions. Four years later, Shell is selling the same business to Aditya Birla Group for an enterprise value of ₹17,200 crore. The asset has not become less green. What has changed is how t
Success in today’s professional organisation is no longer solely determined by academic qualifications, technical expertise or years of experience. While these attributes do matter, organisations increasingly value individuals who demonstrate the right mindset and behavioural qualities. The ability to contribute positively, adapt to dynamic environments, uphold ethical standards and tak
In 2012, Anita Dash wasn`t dreaming of building a dairy brand. She wasn`t studying business models or planning market expansion. Like countless mothers across India, her focus was on something much simpler: giving her children a better future. At the time, her most valuable asset was a single cow. Every morning, Anita would collect
India`s crude oil consumption is estimated to be around 88.5% imported from abroad. This one single figure is also responsible for why ethanol has become both an economic strategy and fuel policy at the same time. In an economy like India, which depends so heavily on foreign oil, any increase in international prices of crude oil gets reflected in the foreign bill, in inflation and in the bala
India`s retail inflation shows a reassuring picture at first glance. According to the latest data, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation edged up to 4.38% in June 2026 from 3.93% in May 2026, but continued to remain within the Reserve Bank of India`s (RBI) target band of 4% (+/- 2%). However, beneath this calm aggregate figure lies a growing concern: food inflation, measured by the Consumer Fo
When a company founder opens their personal chequebook to buy shares in their own business, stock markets usually applaud. To the average retail investor, it feels like the ultimate vote of confidence, a sign that the people running the show have real skin in the game and believe brighter days are ahead. But look closely at the timing of corporate India`s recent cap
India has built digital systems for identity, payments, taxation, documents, logistics and public services. State governments, ministries, infrastructure agencies and urban local bodies have also created portals for land records, building permissions, project monitoring, property taxation and municipal services. Yet the same building or infrastructure asset cont
Every company is transforming, or so it claims. There was a time when the word ‘transformation’ carried weight. It signified bold strategic shifts, reinvention of business models, and breakthrough technologies that fundamentally changed how organizations created value. Today, the word appears everywhere. &nb
The story of millets is nothing short of extraordinary. Once seen as the food of the poor and downtrodden, they are now seen as the food of the health conscious and the elite. Today, these nutri-cereals occupy prominent shelves in premium supermarkets, feature on the menus of gourmet restaurants, and are enthusiastically endorsed by nutritionists, fitness experts, and celebrities alike. Their r
A vacant courtroom cannot decide a case. Neither can a poorly managed courtroom simply decide twice as many cases after receiving an additional judge. Judicial capacity and court productivity are related, but they are not the same. The distinction matters because India’s district and subordinate courts currently carry nearly 4.98 crore pending cases. Almost 1.35 crore of these c
India’s textile and apparel sector sits at the heart of the economy but is constrained by traditional manufacturing approach. It contributes close to 2% of GDP and around 11% of manufacturing gross value added, with GDP share expected to reach 5% by the end of the decade. The sector employs around 45 million people directly and supports more than 100 million livelihoods indirectly, with m
Recent stories of stolen railway wires, disappearing communication towers and missing public infrastructure are often treated as bizarre law-and-order failures of India. Yet they raise a more fundamental question. Why does the State often discover the disappearance of a public asset only after it has already vanished? The answer lies beyond policing. It lies in the
India appears to be investing fresh dynamism in its Indo-Pacific strategy. At the time when the US, under president Donald Trump, has adopted a conciliatory approach towards China and has changed the name of America’s Indo-Pacific Command to just Pacific Command, India has quietly moved towards consolidating its defense and maritime cooperation in countries around the Indo-Pacific.
Some neglect is loud. This kind is quiet. It sits in research never commissioned, data never collected, questions never asked. In South Asia, that quiet has let the region’s worst health problems stay understudied, underfunded, and out of sight of those who could act. Nearly two billion people live here and carry a large share of the world’s disease
She runs a tailoring shop from a single room in her house. Every morning she stitches school uniforms, answers queries on WhatsApp, collects payments through UPI and orders fabric online. Officially, she still belongs to India`s informal economy. Yet her enterprise is no longer disconnected from the formal world. Her story reflects a quiet transformation playing out across millions of kirana st
India`s economic ambitions are increasingly defined by the industries of the future. Semiconductors, electronics, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing dominate policy conversations. Yet one of India`s largest employment-intensive sectors continues to occupy a surprisingly marginal place in economic policymaking: the handloom and handicraft economy. This is not because the sector l
Despite the awareness campaigns on sanitation across India, open defecation (OD) is practised openly and widely in both rural and urban areas. Research shows that rural respondents are well aware of the negative impacts of OD, yet this awareness does not lead to toilet construction or use. In rural North India, studies on sanitation behaviour found that respondents widely agreed that OD is &ldq
The Supreme Court recently described homemakers as “nation builders” and fixed a notional monthly income of Rs 30,000 for them in motor accident compensation cases. The judgment was not about wages. It was about compensation. Yet it inadvertently raised a larger economic question: If a homemaker`s labour has enough value to merit compensation, why does it disappear almost entirely f
After months of rising tensions, the United States and Iran have reached a memorandum of understanding called the "Islamabad Agreement." This agreement allows for the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz without tolls and provides Iran with relief from sanctions, depending on its compliance. President Trump announced the deal during the G7 summit in France, calling it a major v
In the midst of deep mistrust, the US and Iran are reported to have reached a framework deal for ending the West Asian conflict. But whether it will result in any meaningful breakthrough or pave the way for any lasting peace in the region, is in the realm of speculation. During the weekend, just hours after announcing that a deal was closer than ever, the US said it
