India has demonstrated that economic growth, social transfers and improved access to essential services can substantially reduce extreme deprivation. But the next stage will be considerably more demanding. It requires a different pattern of growth: one that creates productive…
Pakistan has used imported solar technology to respond to immediate energy costs. Bhutan and Nepal can earn from renewable electricity. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have established export-oriented manufacturing capabilities. India is attempting to develop a broader advanced manufacturing base.
The British Council's South Asia dialogue on TNE brought together policymakers, quality-assurance agencies, experts and higher education leaders from five South Asian countries and the United Kingdom. The discussions covered TNE policy, quality assurance, partnership management and mutual recognition of qualifications.
Remittances have become an unusually large source of external finance for South Asia. But a development model in which workers migrate because domestic employment is inadequate, and then send income home to support domestic consumption, cannot indefinitely substitute for creating productive employment at home.
The larger opportunity before West Bengal is therefore not another round of infrastructure creation in isolation. It is the creation of an ecosystem in which infrastructure, private capital, local enterprise and skilled labour reinforce one another.
The broader lesson for South Asia is equally important. Hilly regions cannot be developed simply by transferring lowland infrastructure models into mountainous terrain. Investment has to respond to local economic systems, geography and environmental risks.
The regional opportunity is particularly significant in electricity. Nepal and Bhutan can potentially export hydropower; India can provide the scale of demand and investment required to create a regional electricity market; Bangladesh can become an important electricity consumer; and Sri Lanka and Pakistan can expand solar and wind. Greater…
The evidence indicates that the increase in state borrowing over the past decade is best understood as the outcome of a changing fiscal federal system rather than simply an expansion of welfare politics.
India could potentially become a bridge between regional economies and the wider Asian and Global South payment architecture. Greater interoperability could support remittances, tourism, trade and financial inclusion while reducing some transaction costs.
The current rise in Indian sugar prices is the result of several factors rather than ethanol alone. Lower-than-expected production—from an initial estimate of 343 LMT to about 306 LMT—is central to the supply concern. Weather damage, disease, festival demand, global prices and market speculation have added to the pressure.
