The same generative AI that allows criminals to craft perfect phishing emails in Sinhala (or Hindi, Bangla and Urdu) or clone a Chief Financial Officer's voice from a YouTube clip, can also detect those emails before they reach an inbox and flag that voice as synthetic before a payment is authorised. The technology exists. The question is whether South Asia's institutions will deploy it in time.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform border surveillance, maritime security, intelligence gathering, missile defense, logistics, and cyber warfare. In a country facing simultaneous challenges from China and Pakistan, AI-driven systems could substantially improve decision-making speed and operational efficiency. Conversely, the absence of such capabilities could expose critical weaknesses during future crises.
Companies are beginning to realise that AI may not merely deliver incremental improvements of five or ten percent. In some workflows, it may produce tenfold or even hundredfold gains in speed and efficiency. That is the speed businesses are now trying to capture. The race is no longer about experimenting with AI; it is about integrating AI into operational systems before competitors do.
South Asia’s future depends on reliable infrastructure and trustworthy public services. Artificial intelligence—especially advanced technologies such as Graph Attention Networks—offers governments a powerful tool to reduce corruption in procurement, improve healthcare delivery, strengthen energy security and enhance public trust.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board has approved a $395.9 million extended credit facility (ECF) for Nepal to help it mitigate the pandemic’s impact on health and economic activity, supporting sustained growth and poverty reduction among others
India has extended $900 million facilities to Sri Lanka, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said, as the island country has been going through its worst economic crisis, with record low foreign exchange reserves and food shortages
After Fitch Ratings, Standard and Poor's has now downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign ratings to ‘CCC’ with a negative outlook from an earlier ‘CCC+’ as its currency continued to be under pressure, indicating the island country may see a sovereign default scenario this year, a prospect the country’s central bank denied
The UK government on Thursday announced the launch of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with India, describing it as a "golden opportunity" to put British businesses at the "front of the queue" of "India's booming economy" and its fast-growing segment of "250 million shoppers"
Nepal will begin its first 5G internet services trial in June, almost after a delay of over a year, which will cover both urban and rural areas, officials said
In any normal new year, hotels and guesthouses in the beach town Cox’s Bazar would be booming with tourists and visitors
Tourists from India dominated Sri Lanka’s tourism market last year, contributing almost 23 percent of the total 194,000 tourists who visited the island country in 2021
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the Pakistan-China Business Investment Forum to fast-track project approvals and investment proposals from Chinese investors
The inflation rate in Pakistan reached a new level last month, recording 12.3 percent in December— the highest in the last two years, as experts warn of more trouble in the weeks ahead of the government’s mini-budget
In a deal with considerable strategic significance for South Asian geopolitics, Sri Lanka will extend the lease of 14 oil tanks in Trincomalee oil farms to India for 50 years, Lankan Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said on Friday, adding the deal, which will also include the joint development of 61 other unused tanks, will be signed next week
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted India's growing involvement of youth in defence-related startups
Sri Lanka’s foreign reserve exchange reached $3.1 billion dollars in December, up from $1.5 billion recorded last month, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka informed on Wednesday
State enterprise mafia has destroyed Pakistan Railways, Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati said, as he pushes for the commercialization of stations as part of his bigger reforms to overhaul the sector
In what comes as a significant relief to the embattled Sri Lankan economy, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has extended the validity of the $200 million credit facility it had extended to Sri Lanka by three months
Sri Lanka will temporarily close down three of its missions in Nigeria, Germany and Cyprus in what seems a desperate bid by the government to save its fast-declining foreign currency reserves amid a severe economic crisis
