Eye on strong export advantage, India not keen to dent Turkey trade ties with curbs

Amid moves to curb the role of Turkish companies in critical infrastructure, citing national security grounds, there is palpably less appetite within the Government to extend this approach to the bilateral trade basket despite calls from industry groups to ban the import of items such as apples and marbles. Reason: India runs a $2.73 billion bilateral goods trade surplus and any blockade could be counterproductive.

Before Shukla's space mission, anxiety, excitement and a little prayer at home

For the past few days, the sprawling white single-storeyed Anshu Niwas in one corner of Lucknow's Triveni Nagar has been seeing a steady stream of friends, relatives, well-wishers and the media. They are all there for one reason to offer their good wishes to the owners of the house, the Shuklas, for their 39-year-old Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu 'Gunjan' Shukla's maiden flight to space.

2034 earliest for joint polls under existing Bill: Panel chief

P P Chaudhary, BJP MP and chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on Bills relating to 'One Nation, One Election', has told The Indian Express that the earliest that simultaneous elections can be held under the existing Bills is 2034, and the committee may go beyond the draft law to suggest ways to keep polls aligned, including recommending a provision for a constructive or positive vote of no-confidence.

Didi ki Rasoi: How Bihar turned rural homemakers into food entrepreneurs 

For Parvati Devi (30), cooking is more than a daily chore, it's a source of dignity, independence and social recognition. "Earlier, I used to cook for my family at home. Now, I earn from my cooking," she says. "Senior police officers eat my food, some even recognise me. They call me Didi."

Figures of hope 

Poverty and inequality estimation in India have been subjects of considerable debate, especially in recent years with the economy experiencing several shocks. The great India poverty debate has, in fact, been marked by significant differences of opinion on the household survey data which forms the basis of estimation, the construction of the poverty lines, and on the trends over the decades. The debate has been particularly heated in the absence of data - the government did not release the consumption expenditure survey data for 2017-18 due to "data quality issues". This led to several studies trying to estimate poverty levels in India by drawing on alternate data sources such as the Periodic Labour Force Surveys and the CMIE data. Recently, the government has attempted to fill the data gap by conducting two rounds of household consumption expenditure surveys for 2022-23 and 2023-24. These surveys now allow for an examination of the trends in poverty over the past decade or so. The decline has been significant

Tailoring sector 

India has a deep-rooted tradition in textiles and apparel (T&A). The sector employs 45 million people and contributes 2.3 per cent to overall GDP. But its share in global trade remains low at 4.2 per cent, a mere $37.8 billion out of $897.8 billion.

A place in the family 

In a reassuring affirmation of dignity and equality, the Kerala High Court has recognised a transgender couple from Kozhikode as the legal "parents" of their biological child. The transgender man who gave birth in 2023, and his partner, had sought recognition as coparents without gender-binary labels so that their child's future-especially with regard to identification documents and school admission - is not impeded. While the Court declined to read down the format mentioned in the Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999, saying that this was a "rare and exceptional" case, it has directed authorities to issue a birth certificate that reflects the gender-neutral term instead of the conventional "father" and "mother". In its observation, the Court emphasised that in certain instances, "social justice adjudication" must take precedence over an "adversarial approach". In doing so, it broadened the legal imagination around family, gender, and parenthood.

Renewable and Protected 

Amid heightened Indo-Pak tensions, a Pakistani outlet claimed cyberattacks had knocked out 70 per cent of India's electricity. The false report exposed a very real anxiety: What happens when energy infrastructure becomes a frontline in cyber warfare?

Maharashtra’s sore loser 

Fantasies are fair. But only so long as one doesn't start to believe that it's the national duty of institutions, people and opponents to make them come true. The Congress, and the scion of the party's first family, who now happens to be the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, has always believed that he is the "rightful heir to the throne". Away from the world of fantasies, in the real democratic setup in India, elections are won by delivering on promises, having a credible ideological roadmap, building organisational strength and discipline, and above all else - winning the trust of the people

Going all out for growth 

"There are decades where nothing happens, and there are months where decades happen," Lenin is said to have once remarked. He obviously would have had no inkling of what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was planning to do in the first six months of the year 2025. Yet, RBI actions could, albeit with some exaggeration, be categorised as worthy of the above statement.

Copper wire, tube imports hit multi-year highs in FY25; cathode shipments drop

India's Copper cathode imports declined 34 per cent year-on-year in 2024-25 (FY25), largely due to a three-month supply disruption triggered by a quality control order (QCO), even as imports of downstream products such as wire, tubes, and sheets surged to multi-year highs.

‘New base year for GDP, CPI, IIP from early 2026; Services survey form Jan’ 

With The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) undertaking a base revision exercise and expansion of its data indicators, the key economic datasets GDP, IIP and CPI -will see a new base from next year onwards, MoSPI Secretary SAURABH GARG said. In an interview with AANCHAL MAGAZINE, Garg also said that the weights and items for the new retail inflation basket will now be linked with Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24 instead of the earlier decision to derive it from HCES 2022-23. Edited excerpts:

RBI's repo rate reduction prompts many banks to lower lending rates

Public sector lenders Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and UCO Bank-and private lender HDFC Bank have cut lending rates following the Reserve Bank of India's decision to reduce the repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.5 per cent.

FPIs pull out 28,749 cr from equities

After investing a staggering amount in May, foreign investors turned net sellers with a withdrawal of Rs 8,749 crore from the Indian equity markets in the first week of this month triggered by renewed US-China trade tensions and rising US bond yields.

Complex challenges in chaotic Trump world

When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister for a third term in June 2024, Joe Biden was projected to be in a close race with Donald Trump for a second term in the White House, India's border standoff with China had been ongoing for four years, Sheikh Hasina had been at the helm of Bangladesh for 16 years, and in Pakistan, the army had propped up a new coalition government. Significantly, there had been no major attack by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists since February 2019.

A year on, almost everything has changed. Trump has made a phenomenal political comeback, Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged in Ladakh, Hasina has been ousted from power, and India has had a four-day military confrontation with Pakistan after a massive terror attack targeted civilian tourists in Pahalgam.

Familiar problems linger, global uncertainties complicate picture

Helped by a late 7%-plus surge in the last quarter, India's real GDP in Financial Year 24-25 grew 6.5% on a year-on-year basis. Some tailwinds have continued on to this fiscal (FY26), with domestic economic activity exhibiting resilience in the wake of strong agri growth; some gains, albeit uneven, are seen in industrial activity; and there is continued buoyancy in the services sector.