Best of BS Opinion: Plastic battles, dumping wars, and Apple's gamble

Business Standard

8 hours ago

Have you ever been in a situation, where there's that sudden flicker while driving through an unfamiliar underpass. The streetlights blink once, then vanish. And at that same time, your headlight, too, dies in silence. You're still moving, but into a tunnel where no signs of exit are visible. You don't know how long this stretch is, or whether you'll come out the other side. The world today feels a lot like that. Let's dive in.
Our first editorial explores how global oil markets, rattled by the widening Israel-Iran conflict, are about to turn India's fiscal tunnel pitch dark. Oil prices are up 9 per cent already, with projections nearing $150 a barrel. That could tear through India's trade balance, sink the rupee, squeeze inflation, and force the RBI's hand. If the Strait of Hormuz gets blocked, our headlight, that comforting fiscal projection of 1 per cent CAD, may just vanish.
Elsewhere, as our second editorial explains, India is dodging another kind of dark road, a global spotlight on plastics. Nearly 100 countries endorsed the Nice Wake Up Call for a plastics treaty, but India held back, citing jobs and industry. Meanwhile, our $44 billion plastics sector churns out 9.3 million tonnes of waste a year, with only band-aid recycling rules and strained informal networks trying to keep the muck out of rivers and lungs.
In the manufacturing corridor, Akash Prakash turns to the Apple-in-China story. The tech giant's vast China bet built a supply chain so dazzling, it lit up the global economy. Now, Apple's pivot to India could offer us a chance, if we don't miss the curve. But unlike China, we've yet to lay the full wiring of component ecosystems, long-term policy, and bold investments.
As trade winds shift, Rajeswari Sengupta and Niharika Yadav show how India's ADD (anti-dumping duty) spree, aimed at shielding local firms from cheap Chinese imports, might be casting more shadows than clarity. MSMEs are hurting, solar goals are slipping, and policy unpredictability is turning investors blind.
And finally, Neha Bhatt reviews The New Age of Sexism: How the AI revolution is reinventing misogyny by Laura Bates, a searing spotlight on how AI, deepfakes, and the metaverse are not liberating, but retooling patriarchy. Virtual misogyny is no longer fiction. It's coded. Programmed. And it's coming for younger and younger girls.
Stay tuned, and remember, when the streetlights go out, the steering must be firmer, the mind calmer!