Economy

Household financial savings can be encouraged in India by ensuring easy access to banking services.
Opinion

India cannot afford to let its savings rate keep slipping

Economy in need of more funds to support investment

10 November 2023
Reserve Bank of India Gov. Shaktikanta Das speaks to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on Nov. 9. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Interview

RBI Gov. Das says India's economy can rise above 'complex' geopolitics

Central banker says developed status in reach by 2047 despite global 'fragmentation'

9 November 2023
Police officers pass a charred public bus burned during an opposition protest in Dhaka on Oct. 31, amid days of political violence.
Politics

Bangladeshi political violence poses 'high risk' to stuttering economy

Disruptions over election likely to worsen already weak fundamentals, experts say

6 November 2023
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit New Delhi this week for the annual 2+2 ministerial dialogue with their counterparts S. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh.
Your Week in Asia

U.S.-India 2+2, Pacific Islands Forum, China Singles Day 'war'

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

5 November 2023
A Senegalese farmer carries freshly harvest eggplants: India and Africa can strengthen agribusiness ties by channeling funds into agrotechnology.
Opinion

India is driving change by working together with Africa

Modi has taken lead in championing trade and investment links with the continent

2 November 2023
India's new import monitoring system for computers and other selected IT hardware takes effect Nov. 1. (Source photos by Kosaku Mimura and Ken Kobayashi)
Trade

India launches IT hardware import management system: 5 things to know

Monitoring of PCs and tablets follows uproar over plan to impose restrictive licensing

1 November 2023
A vendor waits for customers at Galle Face Green in Colombo in late August.
Economy

Sri Lanka approves VAT hike to 18% in push for IMF targets

Government stresses need to boost revenue despite public hardships

31 October 2023
Mohamed Muizzu, the Maldives' president-elect, will inherit a heavy sovereign debt burden when he takes office on Nov. 17.
Economy

Maldives' new president set to take office as debt alarms intensify

World Bank, Fitch greet Muizzu with grim warnings on bills due in next few years

30 October 2023
"No other part of the world will see such a big growth opportunity" as India, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told Nikkei on Oct. 27. (Photo by Shigeru Seno)
Interview

Japan firms should not 'miss bus' on India, commerce chief says

New Delhi ready to roll out 'red-carpet treatment' for companies that invest

28 October 2023
A model of Hindustan Aeronautics' Sukhoi-30 MKI twin-seat fighter at an exhibition in Visakhapatnam, India in March: Stock analysts are bullish on the outlook for defense companies.
Opinion

India is shooting for the moon with its arms-making push

Drive to increase local defense production and exports faces challenges

26 October 2023
A market in Colombo on Oct. 20. Sri Lanka's government is due to present next year's budget in mid-November.
Sri Lanka crisis

Sri Lanka leans on IMF and China as crucial budget test looms

President Wickremesinghe faces growing public frustration ahead of elections

26 October 2023
Afghan women walk in the district of Zinda Jan, in Herat province, on Oct. 10. After major earthquakes and aftershocks, some women in the region say they face obstacles to receiving aid.
Afghanistan turmoil

Female Afghan earthquake survivors face higher hurdles to aid

Taliban officials insist help is being distributed fairly; women say otherwise

24 October 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar in Beijing on Oct. 19, during the Belt and Road Forum.
Belt and Road

Pakistan puts 'blind trust' in China as Belt and Road enters new phase

Countries agree to start major railway project but obstacles remain

23 October 2023
Pedestrians pass the Dhaka Stock Exchange building in the Bangladeshi capital in July. The country has secured another loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund.
Economy

Bangladesh makes grade for $681m from IMF but tougher tests await

'Accommodative' fund approves fresh lending as experts warn of insufficient reforms

19 October 2023
Pakistan International Airlines has racked up billions of dollars in losses, making it a burden the government is keen to unload.
Economy

Pakistan's new push to privatize national airline faces headwinds

Government aims to fast-track sale but experts say bankruptcy may be only option

14 October 2023
An Afghan boy who says he lost his father in the recent earthquakes is pictured at a Red Crescent camp in Herat, Afghanistan, on Oct. 10. Many people remain without tents like these, sleeping under plastic or out in the open. 
Natural disasters

Starving Afghan earthquake survivors face reality of aid shortfall

Agencies, Taliban officials and victims stress need for emergency funds

12 October 2023
People wait to board trains at the Shanghai Hongqiao railway station ahead of the National Day holiday in Shanghai.
Economy

China growth forecasts downgraded by IMF as world economies diverge

India and other emerging Asia markets lead in growth while Japan's outlook improves

10 October 2023
A boy cries as he sits next to debris in the aftermath of an earthquake in the district of Zinda Jan, in Herat, Afghanistan, on Oct. 8.
Natural disasters

Afghans continue to dig out the dead after quake kills over 2,000

Survivor says villagers don't need food, but shovels to excavate bodies

9 October 2023
The surging rice prices were triggered by India, the world's largest rice exporter, which banned export of its crop amid increasing demand for rice as an alternative to wheat.
Economy

On topic: How do rising rice prices affect Asia?

A collection of stories to catch up on a recent hot topic

8 October 2023
Global IME Bank is the largest bank in Nepal, while IFC is a multinational lender and member of the Word Bank Group. (NIKKEI montage/Source photo Getty. Logos from Global IME Bank and IFC websites)
DealStreetAsia

Nepal's Global IME Bank likely to get $56m from IFC

World Bank Group member proposes three-year U.S. dollar-denominated loan

6 October 2023
Indian women plant rice in Midnapur, 150 kilometers west of Kolkata in eastern India.
Agriculture

Higher rice prices may trigger another global wave of food anxiety

India's export ban and bad weather threaten to cause further increases

6 October 2023
A port along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok: Lackluster exports are dragging down Thailand's economic forecast.
Economy

Malaysia and Thailand GDP outlooks cut as China slows: JCER

Economists also warn that El Nino's swelter will impact India and Indonesia

29 September 2023
A vendor waits for customers at a marketplace in Colombo on Sept. 27. "The people of Sri Lanka have shown remarkable resilience and the authorities have made significant progress on important reforms," the IMF said in a statement.
Sri Lanka crisis

Sri Lanka fails first IMF review, no timeline for further aid

Fund says crisis-hit economy needs tax reforms to boost coffers

27 September 2023
Garment workers cut fabric at a textile factory in Hindupur, India. Despite a total population of around 1.4 billion, relatively few people from India work or study in Japan.
Comment

India unlikely to solve Japan's labor shortage

Language hurdles and low salaries make other countries more attractive

26 September 2023
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, greets Foxconn Chairman Young Liu at a semiconductor conference in Gandhinagar, India in July. 
Opinion

India is serious about becoming a global electronics hub

While policy tensions remain, subsidies and reforms prove government commitment

25 September 2023