https://www.scmp.com/rss/509884/feed Penny MacRae is a journalist based in New Delhi who specialises in writing about politics, economics, business and public health. A former correspondent for Reuters in London, Paris and New Delhi, she has also worked for Agence France-Presse and The Canadian Press. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com India has held a census every 10 years since 1881, deploying an army of interviewers who fan out across the country, quizzing people about every aspect of their lives from housing and education to family size and income. But when Covid-19 struck in 2020, the government delayed the survey, noted globally for its statistical rigour. Now all that seems certain is the headcount will not be held before the 2024 general election, which is making it tough to determine everything from India’s population... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3221581/india-risks-using-guesswork-form-policy-census-delayed-election-looms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3221581/india-risks-using-guesswork-form-policy-census-delayed-election-looms?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 May 2023 03:30:14 +0000 As if scorching temperatures predicted for India’s summer months were not enough, El Nino is now threatening to play spoiler to the monsoon rains that typically bring an end to the excruciating dry heat and irrigate parched crops. “La Nina conditions are changing rapidly to El Nino and by the time the monsoon arrives around June, El Nino should be making its presence felt,” said GP Sharma, president of privately owned Skymet Weather Services. “And this El Nino could be one of the strongest yet –... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3219551/india-braces-potential-super-el-nino-threatens-monsoon-critical-countrys-crops?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3219551/india-braces-potential-super-el-nino-threatens-monsoon-critical-countrys-crops?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 May 2023 04:00:15 +0000 India-made eyedrops linked to a “superbug” outbreak in the United States have put the country’s flagship pharmaceutical industry under an unwelcome spotlight over possible quality safety lapses. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month warned against using the eyedrops that have been potentially tied to a “rare, extensively drug-resistant” bacteria causing infections, blindness and one death in 55 people in the country. US and Indian authorities are still investigating the bacteria’s... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3211383/india-tighten-pharmaceutical-quality-checks-amid-us-superbug-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3211383/india-tighten-pharmaceutical-quality-checks-amid-us-superbug-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Feb 2023 06:00:15 +0000 India’s infrastructure king Gautam Adani has known tense moments in his dramatic rise to become Asia’s richest man. But nothing compares to the current challenge he faces, with a US hedge fund accusing his namesake ports-to-energy empire of pulling “the largest con in corporate history” through accounting fraud, share-price manipulation and money-laundering. In a 413-page rebuttal, the Adani Group rejected Hindenburg’s charges as “baseless” and – wrapping itself in the Indian flag – called them... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3208497/can-survivors-instinct-help-indias-gautam-adani-ride-out-hindenburg-fraud-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3208497/can-survivors-instinct-help-indias-gautam-adani-ride-out-hindenburg-fraud-report?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:30:19 +0000 Indians are rejoicing after the country overtook former colonial ruler Britain to become the world’s fifth-largest economy, but analysts have called for a “reality check”, saying more needs to be done to reduce unemployment and inequality. “The pleasure of surpassing Britain, which ruled over India for 250 years, supersedes the mere statistics of improved rankings … it’s special,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last week. India cemented fifth place by posting first-quarter growth between... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3192269/joy-india-replaces-uk-worlds-5th-largest-economy-analysts-call?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3192269/joy-india-replaces-uk-worlds-5th-largest-economy-analysts-call?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Sep 2022 01:03:47 +0000 Self-made Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s wealth has skyrocketed as he backs Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s infrastructure and green energy push, but amid the Adani Group’s aggressive expansion, analysts have questioned the speed and prudence of some of his investments. For the last few years, Adani’s ports-to-energy group – India’s third-largest conglomerate after the Tata Group and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries – has been on a debt-fuelled deal-making spree. Now, warning lights are flashing... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3190991/indias-gautam-adani-asias-richest-man-still-goose-lays-golden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3190991/indias-gautam-adani-asias-richest-man-still-goose-lays-golden?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Sep 2022 11:30:09 +0000 With India’s 60-plus population set to rise significantly over the next decades, combating elderly loneliness is looming as a major challenge. With half the nation of 1.4 billion people under the age of 30, India is still primarily a young country. Roughly 10 per cent of the population is over the age of 60. But those favourable demographics are changing fast. The number of seniors will soar by 41 per cent to hit 194 million by 2031, up from 138 million now, the statistics ministry projected in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3190049/indian-youths-pair-grandpals-ratan-tata-backed-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3190049/indian-youths-pair-grandpals-ratan-tata-backed-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Aug 2022 04:15:20 +0000 India celebrates the 75th anniversary of its freedom from British rule Monday with an economy expected to grow by more than 7 per cent this year, making it the fastest-expanding globally this year – a performance that could continue for the next decade. It is also set to be the world’s fifth-largest economy this year, when only a decade ago it was not even among the top 10. “The Indian economy is set for its best run in over a decade as pent-up (post-pandemic) demand is being unleashed,” said... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/3188820/india-marks-75th-independence-anniversary-rapid-growth-deep-inequality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/3188820/india-marks-75th-independence-anniversary-rapid-growth-deep-inequality?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Aug 2022 00:30:14 +0000 When billionaire Mukesh Ambani bid only for the live-streaming rights to India’s top cricket league matches – passing up the TV broadcast contract – it was a clear message that the future lies with online streaming, not traditional TV viewing, analysts say. For investors, India holds huge potential as Asia’s only full-scale, high-growth streaming market outside China. There’s “high headroom for penetration”, said Mandeep Kohli, managing director at Boston Consulting Group India. Consider the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3186961/indias-mukesh-ambani-streams-race-online-viewers-netflix-disney?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3186961/indias-mukesh-ambani-streams-race-online-viewers-netflix-disney?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jul 2022 08:00:16 +0000 India’s diplomatic crisis triggered by an official’s insulting remarks about Islam could seriously jeopardise billions of dollars worth of trade and remittances, analysts say, as New Delhi scrambles to patch up its ties with Gulf states. At least 20 Muslim nations, along with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, have condemned the disparaging statements by Nupur Sharma, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national spokesperson, about... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3181681/are-indias-billion-dollar-trade-ties-gulf-states-peril-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3181681/are-indias-billion-dollar-trade-ties-gulf-states-peril-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2022 13:30:17 +0000 Supply shocks from China’s zero-Covid policy, inflation at multi-year highs and economic spillovers from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are clouding the outlook for India whose gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.1 per cent in the quarter starting in March, its slowest pace in 12 months. The economy expanded by 8.7 per cent in the full 2021-22 financial year, falling shy of the government’s 8.9 per cent target. But the growth was still the fastest of big countries, giving a boost to the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3180052/will-chinas-zero-covid-policy-further-snarl-indias-slowing-gdp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3180052/will-chinas-zero-covid-policy-further-snarl-indias-slowing-gdp?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Jun 2022 00:30:27 +0000 Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said he is expecting China, along with India and other creditor nations, to help keep the island’s bankrupt economy afloat until the government can clinch an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout and tackle its huge foreign debt. So far, though, China, hitherto considered an “all-weather friend” by Sri Lanka – which belongs to its flagship Belt and Road Initiative – has displayed a low-key approach to the island’s economic meltdown that has... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3179638/china-sri-lankas-all-weather-friend-now-displaying-low-key?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3179638/china-sri-lankas-all-weather-friend-now-displaying-low-key?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 May 2022 00:30:27 +0000 India is coming under strong pressure from Group of Seven nations to reverse its surprise ban on wheat exports, but a change of heart looks unlikely as global food inflation is surging and a relentless heatwave is scorching crops. It was only three weeks ago that Prime Minister Narendra Modi told members of the Indian diaspora in Germany that India stood ready to help plug the wheat supply void created by the Russia-Ukraine war and “feed the world.” Some agriculture analysts said at the time... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3178381/home-wheat-home-how-heatwaves-inflation-and-export-ban-doomed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3178381/home-wheat-home-how-heatwaves-inflation-and-export-ban-doomed?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 May 2022 11:30:21 +0000 Amid ongoing political turmoil over the economic crisis engulfing Sri Lanka, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been holding “technical talks” with government officials about a rescue plan. The IMF says the aim is to ensure the two sides are “fully prepared” to begin official negotiations on a bailout package as soon as the situation stabilises. On Monday, Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran opposition lawmaker and former premier, appeared to make progress in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3177931/can-broke-sri-lanka-avoid-disorderly-default-and-reach-imf-deal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3177931/can-broke-sri-lanka-avoid-disorderly-default-and-reach-imf-deal?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 May 2022 11:06:54 +0000 Investors have lapped up India’s largest-ever public offering by Life Insurance Corp of India, drawn by the state-run behemoth’s market dominance and appealing valuation. Analysts said the Initial Public Offering (IPO), set to raise as much as US$2.74 billion, had been priced to sell in a market rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and worries over inflation, monetary tightening and slowing economic growth. The share offer, which opened on Wednesday and closes on Monday, was set to eclipse... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3176827/indias-largest-ipo-lic-listing-draws-interest-retail-investors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3176827/indias-largest-ipo-lic-listing-draws-interest-retail-investors?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 May 2022 09:00:18 +0000 Indian exporters say the barrage of Western economic sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine could be a boon for overseas sales. In fact, the Confederation of All India Traders, calls the sanctions on New Delhi’s erstwhile Cold War ally “a blessing in disguise”, offering exporters the chance “to fill the void” with Indian goods and commodities. It may be a while, though, before Indian exporters realise their big ambitions as Russia’s war is gumming up supply chains globally amid a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3176056/ukraine-war-tea-coffee-and-spice-why-indian-exporters-stand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3176056/ukraine-war-tea-coffee-and-spice-why-indian-exporters-stand?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 May 2022 09:00:23 +0000 Bright and engaging, 16-year-old Mahesh Sharma began delivering groceries for a busy New Delhi shop five years ago. He wanted to support his mother and younger brother after his father left the family one day and did not return. His brother Rohit, now 13, also found a delivery job during the pandemic that shut Indian schools for two years – the second-longest closures globally, according to Unesco – and has not returned to class. “He’s not interested,” said Mahesh. Asked if he himself would like... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3175242/can-india-emulate-chinas-demographic-dividend-and-become-us40?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3175242/can-india-emulate-chinas-demographic-dividend-and-become-us40?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Apr 2022 05:00:18 +0000 As anger in Sri Lanka mounts over massive food and fuel shortages, the government is hoping to negotiate a financial lifeline from the International Monetary Fund to end the country’s spiralling economic crisis. Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa will head to Washington this month to discuss bailout terms for the island nation of 22 million that is saddled with huge debts, a junk credit rating and depleted foreign exchange reserves. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s strongman populist president and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3172806/after-china-india-aid-imf-help-sri-lankas-best-hope-rajapaksa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3172806/after-china-india-aid-imf-help-sri-lankas-best-hope-rajapaksa?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Apr 2022 09:00:13 +0000 Anti-tobacco advocates have for years pushed for a “tobacco endgame”, where young people will be banned from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetimes. New Zealand got the ball rolling when it announced its intention to gradually raise the minimum smoking age, so that it would be illegal for anyone born after 2008 to buy cigarettes. Singapore said New Zealand’s proposal was “attractive”, while Malaysia said it was mulling a plan to ban the sale of tobacco products to people born after 2005. In... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3171846/can-big-smoking-india-aim-tobacco-endgame-higher-tax?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3171846/can-big-smoking-india-aim-tobacco-endgame-higher-tax?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 2022 07:00:19 +0000 Nepal remains in the headlights of big power rivalry in South Asia with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kathmandu for talks and a heavyweight US Congressional delegation expected to arrive three weeks later. Wang’s weekend visit, the last stop on a swing through South Asia, will mark the first high-level engagement between the two countries since the impoverished Himalayan nation last month approved a US$500-million grant from Washington, defying China’s calls to reject the package. The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3171904/chinese-foreign-ministers-nepal-visit-puts-himalayan-nation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3171904/chinese-foreign-ministers-nepal-visit-puts-himalayan-nation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 2022 01:00:35 +0000 If there’s been one big winner from bristling India-China border tensions, it has been India’s army of app developers. In June 2020, two weeks after the worst fighting in half a century along their shared border, New Delhi took aim at leading Chinese tech firms including Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, by banning 59 mobile apps. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The ban was part of New Delhi’s economic retaliation for a clash that it blamed China for instigating – an accusation Beijing has... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3170368/india-china-border-tension-app-developers-tech-sector-win?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3170368/india-china-border-tension-app-developers-tech-sector-win?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Mar 2022 02:30:12 +0000 After repeated delays, a controversial US aid grant to provide US$500 million in vitally needed infrastructure funds to Nepal has been introduced in the country’s parliament for approval. Washington has imposed an end of February deadline for lawmakers in Kathmandu to ratify the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) pact. But the quickly approaching deadline is not the only thing that could scupper the agreement, as the US-China rivalry and domestic disagreement are threatening to sink the deal... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3167933/us-bid-give-us500-million-nepal-sparks-protests-war-words?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3167933/us-bid-give-us500-million-nepal-sparks-protests-war-words?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:27 +0000 Arjun Kumar, 42, was making good money as a driver for a New Delhi couple who had employed him for years. But when Covid-19 struck two years ago, they let him go and, since then, he hasn’t found another steady job. “Everybody’s working from home, they don’t need someone regularly,” Kumar said. He used to send money home to his wife, three children and parents in his home village in the eastern state of Bihar. Now, he can scarcely support himself with the few driving jobs he gets. Last week,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3166416/indias-us530-billion-budget-and-china-beating-92-cent-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3166416/indias-us530-billion-budget-and-china-beating-92-cent-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Feb 2022 08:15:55 +0000 There’s a new twist in the tug of war between China and India over Sri Lanka, one of a string of countries where the geopolitical rivalry between the Asian giants is playing out. China has staged an unprecedented charm offensive to court ethnic Tamils in their Jaffna Peninsula heartland where India has been the traditional power. In December, China’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, spent three days visiting the Tamil-dominated Jaffna region, conducting what Indian political analyst Shrey... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3165850/chinas-soft-power-blitzkrieg-sri-lankas-tamils-rings-alarm-bells?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3165850/chinas-soft-power-blitzkrieg-sri-lankas-tamils-rings-alarm-bells?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Feb 2022 05:00:20 +0000 The Omicron variant is fuelling a Covid-19 surge in India, with new cases climbing nearly 30 per cent to 117,000 on Friday, the most since June last year at the tail-end of the deadly second wave of infections driven by the Delta variant. Cases have risen 11-fold in just two weeks. The R0 value that indicates the spread of the infection is already 2.69 higher, than the 1.69 recorded at the peak of the second wave. “The pandemic is expanding and the surge is exponential,” said Balram Bhargava,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3162551/indias-covid-19-cases-hit-7-month-high-omicron-sweeps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3162551/indias-covid-19-cases-hit-7-month-high-omicron-sweeps?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Jan 2022 08:57:03 +0000 Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is facing an uphill battle to get parliament to approve a controversial US$500 million grant from the American government to build electrical power lines and upgrade roads in the impoverished Himalayan country. While the infrastructure is urgently needed, the question of whether to accept the donation has become caught up in big power politics with the United States and China jostling for influence in the landlocked nation. Some of the strongest... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3161989/why-us-struggling-give-us500-million-kathmandu-ask-nepals-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3161989/why-us-struggling-give-us500-million-kathmandu-ask-nepals-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jan 2022 13:30:29 +0000 Above the imposing main entrance of the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), which opened back in 1951, is the motto “Service to the Nation”. For years, as many graduates of the country’s elite network of engineering schools headed off for greener pastures in the US, the joke among Indians was “which nation?”. Twitter’s new chief Parag Agrawal recently joined a long list of talented IIT graduates who have become tech titans in Silicon Valley, including Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Adobe’s... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3160906/whats-secret-behind-indias-iit-which-produced-twitter-chief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3160906/whats-secret-behind-indias-iit-which-produced-twitter-chief?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Dec 2021 05:00:26 +0000 Inflation is heating up in South Asia, eating into the meagre incomes of the poor and piling pressure on governments just as a new coronavirus wave threatens to sweep the region. Sri Lanka is reeling from a perfect storm of soaring prices, record money-supply growth and a foreign exchange crisis stemming from the evaporation of tourism revenues because of the pandemic. Retail inflation jumped to 9.9 per cent in November, a 12-year high, stoked by a 17.5 per cent rise in food prices. As of this... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3160843/sri-lanka-india-pakistan-grapple-rising-prices-new-omicron?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3160843/sri-lanka-india-pakistan-grapple-rising-prices-new-omicron?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Dec 2021 13:00:25 +0000 At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as India’s case numbers surged, some analysts saw dark days ahead for the country’s booming start-up sector, predicting investor cash would dry up. The doomsters, though, were wrong. Indian start-ups have been on a fundraising roll, helped by venture capitalists scouting for emerging-market alternatives to China where a corporate crackdown has spooked investors. Investors globally have poured more than US$30 billion into tech start-ups in the first 11... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3159274/india-new-china-start-investors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3159274/india-new-china-start-investors?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Dec 2021 04:00:19 +0000 As Sri Lanka’s short-lived plan to transform itself into an “organic utopia” collapsed last month, a diplomatic dispute with China over a fertiliser shipment threatened the debt-laden island nation’s hunt for a lifeline to shore up its crisis-hit economy as it stares down the barrel of a default. Colombo’s ban on pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilisers, which came into effect in May, was fuelled by concerns for citizens’ health, according to the strongman populist president, Gotabaya... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3158056/another-china-bailout-fallout-crisis-hit-sri-lankas-failed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3158056/another-china-bailout-fallout-crisis-hit-sri-lankas-failed?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Dec 2021 12:45:10 +0000 India’s booming IPO market has suffered a painful reality check with mobile payments start-up Paytm’s shares tanking in their trading debut. The rout is seen as scooping some of the froth from India’s frenzied IPO market and prompting investors to look more critically at fundamentals like revenue and profitability in assessing IPO valuations. “There’s a lesson here: don’t pay attention to the hype,” said Deven Choksey, managing director of brokerage firm KRChoksey Shares and Securities... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3157220/paytm-shares-rout-deals-painful-reality-check-indias-casino-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3157220/paytm-shares-rout-deals-painful-reality-check-indias-casino-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:30:13 +0000 India’s renewables sector looks set to become a battleground between the fossil-fuel tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, who are going head-to-head in an ambitious pivot to green energy that aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aggressive climate targets. For six years, Adani, Asia’s second-richest person who heads coal-to-ports giant Adani Enterprises, was the only powerhouse player in India’s renewables space. But now Ambani, Asia’s wealthiest magnate who leads oil-to-retail... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3155819/cop26-can-billionaire-fossil-fuel-tycoons-mukesh?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3155819/cop26-can-billionaire-fossil-fuel-tycoons-mukesh?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Nov 2021 09:00:21 +0000 An acute shortage of coal, the Goliath of India’s energy mix, has forced industries to either pare back production or use expensive imported fuel, as supplies are prioritised for electricity providers servicing households. The situation could undermine the country’s economic rebound from the devastating pandemic that plunged the country into a deep recession. But it has also highlighted India’s continued heavy reliance on coal as an energy source in the run-up to the UN’s COP26 climate summit... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3153185/indias-coal-crunch-bad-sign-its-economy-and-worlds-climate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3153185/indias-coal-crunch-bad-sign-its-economy-and-worlds-climate?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Oct 2021 10:46:14 +0000 After nearly 70 years in state hands, Air India is flying home to its founder, the Tata Group. The salt-to-software conglomerate is buying back the country’s flag carrier from the Indian government for US$2.4 billion in a deal slated to close by the end of the year. Then, it will be up to Tata – which owns luxury British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover – to begin the hard work: reviving the fortunes of an airline that has not reported a profit since a botched 2007 merger with state-owned Indian... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3152106/air-indias-sale-boost-pm-narendra-modi-can-tata-turn-around?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3152106/air-indias-sale-boost-pm-narendra-modi-can-tata-turn-around?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Oct 2021 12:00:16 +0000 Saddled with billions of dollars of debt and a junk credit rating, Sri Lanka is caught in a perfect economic storm, with near-empty foreign exchange coffers; a sliding currency; shortages of food, medicine and cooking gas; as well as Covid-19 cases hitting record highs. And now the island of 22 million people is staring at the spectre of default. Finance minister Basil Rajapaksa in September conceded that Sri Lanka faces “a severe foreign exchange crisis”. After making a US$1 billion bond... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3150909/sri-lanka-braces-perfect-economic-storm-has-china-overtaken?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3150909/sri-lanka-braces-perfect-economic-storm-has-china-overtaken?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Oct 2021 09:00:27 +0000 US President Joe Biden just got his Pfizer booster shot amid efforts to institute vaccination mandates in the United States to improve the inoculation rate. In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong got his Pfizer booster shot last week. The city state of 5.7 million residents, which has also relied on Moderna for its national vaccination programme, is now offering booster jabs to seniors and will soon open bookings for those aged above 50. Other wealthy nations such as Britain and Israel... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3150418/coronavirus-rich-countries-turn-big-name-booster-shots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3150418/coronavirus-rich-countries-turn-big-name-booster-shots?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Sep 2021 23:00:14 +0000 Diplomatic relations between India and China have been in a deep freeze due to the ongoing border stand-off in the Himalayas, but two-way trade has continued to flourish. According to the latest official figures, the value of India’s imports from China leapt more than 66 per cent year-on-year to US$27.66 billion between April and July. Part of the import spike was driven by pandemic-related medical purchases, but Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3149037/india-cant-go-cold-turkey-chinese-goods-so-trade-keeps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3149037/india-cant-go-cold-turkey-chinese-goods-so-trade-keeps?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Sep 2021 04:30:21 +0000 Anand Shah, 44, was let go from his job as a hotel maintenance worker when the Covid-19 pandemic struck last year. Now, he lines up with other men on a street corner in the Indian capital where contractors recruit day labour. “It’s all I can get,” said Shah, who earns a fraction of his former salary. India just reported its economy grew by a record 20.1 per cent in the first quarter. Economists have forecast full-year growth of 9.5 per cent for the South Asian nation in 2021-22, beating all... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3147741/indias-growth-set-beat-chinas-economists-arent-cheering?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3147741/indias-growth-set-beat-chinas-economists-arent-cheering?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Sep 2021 09:51:10 +0000 While global attention has been focused on India’s runaway second Covid-19 wave, a surge in cases has pushed neighbouring Nepal’s health care system to the breaking point, with intensive care unit wards jammed and hospitals clamouring for oxygen. Many medical facilities in the impoverished country of 30 million are refusing admission to Covid-19 patients as beds and drugs are also in short supply, while doctors fear Nepal’s outbreak is on a worse trajectory than India’s. “Our medical... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3134096/while-world-watches-india-neighbouring-nepals-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3134096/while-world-watches-india-neighbouring-nepals-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 May 2021 13:45:34 +0000