opinion

Mutual trust should define Centre-state relationship

There is an urgent need for new platforms where the two sides can discuss threadbare niggling issues regarding governance

How the pandemic will power battery makers’ fortunes in the industrial segment

The digital push has recharged the prospects for industrial batteries

Flexibility is the mantra business leaders will take away from 2020

As COVID 19 ravaged the world, the best companies learnt to cope and even advance. Many posted significant gains in terms of productivity and even profitability

Our digital lives drive a brick-and-mortar boom in data centres

The growing reliance on cloud-based technology — and the big, blocky buildings that house its hardware — has created greater opportunities for developers and investors

Why should we ever return to living and working so close together?

Not only are cities worth saving, they are also ripe for rebirth. The virus presents an opportunity to remake urban life for the better

In the farm sector, reforms should begin with sugarcane

Despite best intentions, the government’s involvement has only made things worse for the sector

Amazon-Future case | Government needs to enforce FDI rules in substance rather than form

Delhi High Court finds that Amazon’s deals with Future Group amounts to control of Future Retail and violates FDI laws.

‘Regulation can get it wrong’: Google’s Sundar Pichai on AI and antitrust

Pichai’s strategy is clear: to publicly welcome new forms of regulation, while at the same time trying to head off its most onerous effects

Year-ender 2020 | Indian startups are selling themselves cheap

Eventually the me-too nature of most Indian start-ups comes back to bite them

Seven technology trends for 2021

2020 redefined the future of work. Technology is at the centre of how we reimagined, strategised, organised, and operated this year.

How the government can help sustain the growth in home textile exports

Stay-at-home consumers are driving demand for home textiles. Indian exporters are seeing strong sales and market share gains

Interview | Make in India will be a fallacy if we cannot design in India, says Royal Enfield CEO

Motorcycle maker Royal Enfield to focus on new models and expansion of mid-sized segment

Four policy measures that will support the growth recovery

Directed sectoral support, sustained government spending, bad asset resolution and accommodative monetary policy are needed to sustain the recovery.

Year-ender 2020 | All debt is not the same

As the Budget announcement for 2021-22 draws closer, fear-filled discussions in the Indian media over deficits and debt numbers will be heard

Pandemic aid boosts Biden and shows a potential path for his agenda in Congress

The agreement on a new pandemic aid package showed the ascendance of moderates as a new force in a divided Senate

Making sense of Nepal's constitutional crisis

Does India's recent robust engagement reflect its advance assessment and its conviction to keep a close tab on these multiple counter currents in the jigsaw puzzle of Nepal's fledgling democracy?

Address the technological disruption in the education sector

The education sector requires a massive infusion of resources for capacity building and increasing access. It is here that greater public-private partnerships can play a critical role in resource mobilisation, innovation and implementation

Beyond Chalk and Talk: The tech boom in Indian education and the challenges to meet

Even post-COVID, a hybrid model of offline and online education will be the ideal template for the future of education. This presents the need to expand online learning and bring legal certainty to ensure the interests of all the stakeholders are safeguarded

Fed backstop masks rising risks in America’s corporate debt market

The borrowing binge has driven leverage — a ratio that measures debt compared with earnings — to an all-time peak for higher-rated, investment grade companies

The quest for a middle path amid farm protests

By undertaking reforms, the PM has shown his intent to drive up the sector. Through empathy and consultation, the Modi government should now bring convergence with the stakeholders

Book Review: ‘Trade Wars are Class Wars’ by Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis

The authors’ provocative thesis is that it isn’t friction between countries but rising inequality within countries that has led to the current trade wars

Hackers are on the prowl. The SolarWinds Hack beats them all

It’s the modus operandi that stood out as the group waited patiently to strike and did not try to attack targets directly

All you need to know about SPAC–the latest vehicle for fund raising in the US

For retail investors, SPAC offers an opportunity to invest in a company at the pre-IPO stage, an area which was the domain of private equity players and big investors

Cost control key to success of local power gear

Manufacturing zones must ensure that power equipment are competitively priced so that there is no additional strain on energy tariff