Economy

A fuel cell truck in Lucerne, Switzerland, in October 2020: For the world to meet green hydrogen demand and net-zero emissions targets, more collaborative action is needed.
Opinion

Green hydrogen can fuel the low-carbon world of the future

Collective political leadership can make it happen

5 September 2021
Women queue outside a vaccination center in Gurugram on Aug. 13: the impacts on women were especially devastating.
Opinion

COVID-19's devastating impact on Indian women

When wage laborers were laid off, female workers bore the brunt of the job losses

3 September 2021
Shoppers flout COVID norms at New Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market on July 18. The damage to India's economy during the second COVID wave does not seem to be as severe as in the first wave last year.
Economy

India's GDP expands 20.1% in April-June from low base

Analysts say faster recovery for whole year linked to COVID vaccination pace

31 August 2021
U.S. service members assist at an Evacuation Control Check Point (ECC) during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 26. 
Your Week in Asia

Afghanistan deadline, India GDP and Hong Kong domestic workers

Your weekly lineup of Asia's biggest business and political events

29 August 2021
Warships participate in the 2020 Malabar exercise involving the four Quad members: the U.S., Japan, India and Australia.
International relations

Quad navies gather for drills as Australia courts India on trade

'Good luck with that,' expert says of Canberra's push for alternative to China

26 August 2021
Workers stand in line at a production line of mobile phones in Noida in May 2020: India displacing China as a global manufacturing hub is more about wishful thinking.
Opinion

India nowhere near ready to substitute for China

Better integration into existing value chains is needed first

18 August 2021
Migrant workers and their families board a bus in Uttar Pradesh. India is on track to be home to more than 1.5 billion people by 2030, becoming the world's most populous country.
Society

India's big states look to push 2-child policy with carrots and sticks

Proposals call for incentives including higher pay, job assistance and utility rebates

12 August 2021
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears by video link at the launch of the digital payment system, e-RUPI, in New Delhi on Aug. 2. (Photo courtesy of the government of India)
Economy

Indian government touts digital payment of welfare benefits

PM Modi likely to get political lift from e-RUPI recipients, say analysts

9 August 2021
Singapore's central bank is allowing United Overseas Bank, DBS and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp to pay out higher dividends.
Finance

Singapore's DBS hikes payouts as other lenders reel from COVID

Central banks in the city-state and Thailand ease guidance on dividends

5 August 2021
Shoppers crowd a market in Ahmedabad, India. The use of cashless payments took off after the government abolished high-denomination bank notes in 2016. 
Economy

India welfare payments go digital with e-RUPI system

Mobile platform also covers public services in bid to target spending

4 August 2021
Mukesh Ambani's son Akash Ambani, second right, and his wife Shloka Mehta smile at their wedding ceremony in Mumbai in March 2019: India's billionaires seem content with traditionally garish displays of wealth.
Opinion

India's billionaires lack the ambition of their Western counterparts

High taxes, too much regulation and fickle governments the likely culprit

1 August 2021
Narendra Modi, pictured during a rally in Kolkata on Mar. 7: the Prime Minister displayed more passion in talking up Hindu nationalism than urging lawmakers to modernize a rigid economy.
Opinion

COVID-19 puts Narendra Modi's modest wins at risk

Anniversary of 1991 economic reforms shows up prime minister's bombast

29 July 2021
Colombo's ill-planned import ban to protect Sri Lankan foreign reserve is negatively impacting the economy.
Economy

Sri Lanka's import ban puts hundreds of businesses in jeopardy

Colombo's ad hoc efforts to save forex likely to hamper economy and cost jobs

28 July 2021
Emerging countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are reinforcing their presence in the growing trend of cross-border remote work..
Datawatch

Cross-border online work increases 30% amid COVID-19 pandemic

600 million people potentially could do jobs remotely; Japan being left behind

27 July 2021
People shop at a crowded wholesale vegetable market after authorities eased coronavirus restrictions, following a drop in the COVID-19 cases, in the old quarters of Delhi, India, June 23.
Economy

India and ASEAN growth forecasts cut amid COVID delta outbreak

ADB lowers emerging Asia's economic rebound to 7.2% in 2021

20 July 2021
India's monstrous second wave of COVID-19 caused most of its over 400,000 fatalities during the pandemic and derailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vaccine diplomacy.
Asia Insight

India's COVID second wave disrupts vaccine export plans

Asia faces shortage as world's biggest jab producer still battles outbreak at home

20 July 2021
Shipping containers await transport from a port in Bangkok, Thailand in March 2016.
Economy

COVID surge puts brakes on Thai and Malaysia growth: survey

Virus variants and US rate hike loom over ASEAN economies

5 July 2021
Construction site of the Dwarka Expressway, pictured on Mar. 4: there is reason to hope.
Opinion

What comes next for India's deeply scarred economy?

New reason to hope that things will finally start to get better

4 July 2021
The emergency room of a New Delhi hospital. COVID-19 has forced millions of Indians to seek care at expensive private hospitals whose bills often wipe out family nest eggs.
Coronavirus

India's health care emergency predates COVID

No safety net and expensive medical bills sink many patients into poverty

25 June 2021
Britain and the European Union are competing for closer ties with Narendra Modi’s India. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)
22 June 2021
India's ban against foreign imports of military equipment extends to helicopters.
Aerospace & Defense Industries

Modi's 'Make in India' campaign lifts defense sector amid China row

Over 200 imports now restricted as standoff proves boom for domestic arms makers

19 June 2021
Dejected farmers dump tomatoes after going to the state market and learning about current prices. (Photo by Ranganathan Krishnaswamy)
Economy

India's tomato farmers dump crops as lockdown disrupts trade

Asia's 2nd-largest tomato market faces price crash and loses high season

15 June 2021
Traders transact at a wholesale vegetable market in Bangalore in December 2016: an e-rupee would do exactly what Modi hoped to achieve in 2016.
Opinion

India should scrap paper money altogether

Four reasons Narendra Modi should speed up a digital rupee

14 June 2021
Shaktikanta Das must remain sympathetic to the market consensus.
Opinion

Shaktikanta Das is India's 'whatever it takes' banker

RBI governor should focus more on the central bank's core interests

10 June 2021
A vaccination center in Mumbai: The number of daily doses administered nationwide has fallen from 4.3 million in early April to over 2 million this week.
Coronavirus

India GDP outlook trimmed as doubts dog effort to vaccinate 940m

Deadly COVID wave abates but central bank and doctors see persistent risks

4 June 2021