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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
A World in Flux: Sitharaman flags need to reshape institutions for present
A new book titled 'A World in Flux: India's Economic Priorities' was launched on Saturday at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The festschrift honours economist Dr Shankar Acharya and was released in the presence of several leading economists and policymakers. Published by Rupa Publications, the book is co-edited by Professor Amita Batra of Jawaharlal Nehru University and veteran journalist A K Bhattacharya. It brings together essays by noted economists and policy experts, examining the evolving global context and its implications for India. Finance Minister reflects on global flux Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the chief guest at the event, addressed the audience with remarks on the rapidly changing global economic environment. 'The phrase 'A World in Flux' is indeed an apt description of the times we're living in,' she said, pointing to the growing uncertainties facing multilateral institutions. 'Institutions that were once seen as stable and effective - particularly multilateral institutions - now appear to be in a state of limbo. Not just financial institutions, but strategic ones as well.' Referring to India's G20 presidency, Sitharaman noted that these challenges had been central to India's Finance Track agenda. 'During the G20, we saw an opportunity to address the growing challenges in the global financial architecture,' she said. She highlighted the role of an expert committee that provided key recommendations during the presidency. These were well received by Brazil and are expected to be carried forward by South Africa. 'At that time, the committee's terms of reference seemed adequate. But with hindsight, perhaps those terms could have been even broader, given the complexity of today's world. The flux we're experiencing isn't abstract - it's real, visible, and accelerating.' Sitharaman emphasised that these changes are not limited to institutions and experts, but are being felt by ordinary people. 'We're seeing an increasingly complex global financial environment. The challenge is not only for India, but for the world: how do we shape institutions that are relevant for today and tomorrow?' she said, adding that currency frameworks themselves are now evolving rapidly. Amita Batra on the book's relevance Speaking at the launch, Professor Amita Batra remarked on the book's origins and growing relevance. 'At the time we began work on it, global institutions, economic frameworks, foreign and trade policy instruments were already being used in new and different ways.' She explained that while the title A World in Flux was an intuitive choice then, its relevance has only increased. 'The global context today continues to be uncertain. The world economy is increasingly shaped by trade protectionism, state intervention, and industrial policy,' she said. These shifts, she added, raise important questions about the relevance of the old multilateral order and the possible need for a new one. 'If so, what should its parameters be?' she asked. The book, she noted, seeks to explore how these global dynamics are reshaping India's development priorities and the opportunities they present. 'With that framework in hand, we worked to bring together contributors who had not only deep expertise in these areas but also a professional association with Dr Shankar Acharya,' she said. Panel discussion features leading economic voices The event featured a panel discussion with several distinguished speakers, including: The discussion offered an opportunity to reflect on India's shifting economic landscape, with a focus on policy priorities amid an increasingly uncertain global order.
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Business Standard
26-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Catching the world in mid-spin and messy realities
When the first monsoon rain hits the ground, children in small towns and villages still rush out with bags of glass marbles. You squat, you aim, you flick, but the marble veers off into a puddle, shoots left instead of straight, or sinks halfway. Playing marbles in the mud is a lesson in both chaos and cunning. Hitting your mark requires patience, instinct, and practice. Not brute force. Much like today's world, where every move is an attempt to steer outcomes in unpredictable terrain. Let's dive in. That's what India faces as Donald Trump's 90-day tariff pause ends on July 8. As global trade splinters, India needs to aim sharply, pursuing a US deal while pushing ahead with the EU and integrating with Asian value chains. But, as our first editorial notes, too many shots have gone astray. The US has managed only one trade deal to close since the negotiations began. The rest? Still circling the mud. And the mud's only getting warmer. The latest World Meteorological Department report, summarised in our second editorial, shows Asia is heating at double the global average. Floods, droughts, heatwaves, all signs that climate targets, much like a marble in slick soil, aren't landing where we want them. The poorest, farmers and fishers, are getting hit hardest. Trade's global rulebook, too, is slipping from grip. In her column, Amita Batra argues that the WTO's one-rule-for-all model is buckling. Nations now prefer FTAs or issue-based 'plurilaterals'. But without a new framework, what she calls 'variable geometry',even the best players can't align the shot. The same misalignment plagues marketing, writes Rama Bijapurkar. Being customer-obsessed often misses the point. Real customer centricity, she says, is solving problems customers actually face, not just what the company wants to hear. It's not about more spin; it's about hitting the truth. Finally, in Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, reviewed by Sneha Pathak, Caroline Fraser probes what lies beneath the killer's strike, sometimes quite literally. Lead poisoning, corporate neglect, and toxic systems may have warped minds before crimes were even conceived. It's not just about the marble. It's about the field it rolls in. Stay tuned, and remember, sometimes it's not enough to aim well. You must know where you're standing and put the right amount of power behind the shot!
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Business Standard
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Plurilateral agreements may help keep WTO relevant into the future
A large number of developing economies have been benefitted, through their participation in FTAs, and increased their integration with GVCs and their share of global trade Amita Batra Listen to This Article Earlier this month Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in her lecture at the London School of Economics, emphasised the need to speak up for the multilateral institution, particularly when the dominant funding economy has chosen to suppress its voice and relevance. Her statement augurs well for the WTO, which stands at a crossroads in terms of its fundamental processes and the objective of promoting freer and fairer trade. While there has been much talk about the United States blocking appointments to the Appellate Body of the Dispute Settlement Mechanism, the decline of the institution, in
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Business Standard
29-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Why acting early matters in both policy and life
There's a strange kind of hesitation we all carry. A loose thread on a favourite shirt. A creeping pain in the back molar. A message we keep meaning to send. Tiny thorns, really. But left alone, they fester. Till the shirt tears, the tooth aches, and the friendship sours. We're often so desperate to avoid discomfort that we let it multiply. But if there's one universal truth, it's this: pulling the thorn early hurts less than pretending it's not there. Let's dive in. Take India's long-stretched journey to self-reliant defence. After decades of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited flying solo, and often flying late, the Defence Ministry has finally brought in a new model for the fifth-gen stealth AMCA jet project. Public and private players can now jointly bid, ending HAL's monopoly, notes our first editorial. It's a thorn pulled early, a move that may sting HAL today but promises faster skies tomorrow. But while the sky opens up, the ground drowns. The monsoon's rude early arrival on May 26 swamped Mumbai, again. Warning systems blinked red, but drains were already clogged, trains already halted. The rains don't wait for infrastructure excuses. And with 70–80 per cent of our urban water bodies vanished, as our second editorial highlights, Indian cities can't afford to delay climate-resilient planning any longer. Monsoon pain is no longer seasonal; it's systemic. And the longer we postpone climate action, the deeper the rot will set. Globally, thorns are sprouting fast. Amita Batra writes how Trump's tariff tantrums have flung trade into chaos. Allies, rivals, even US firms are unsure which sector gets hit next. Mini-deals and retaliatory tariffs now dominate the trade discourse. Instead of trying to dodge each jab, the world may need new, rules-based trade formats, ones that can hold up even when leaders don't. But how we spend our days also shapes what thorns we choose to ignore. Amitava and Gopal Saha, analysing the latest Time Use Survey, show how India's youth are spending more time working and less on self-care or socialising. Women, despite entering the workforce in growing numbers, still carry the weight of unpaid domestic work. Until that imbalance is addressed, gender equality remains just a polite fiction. Finally, Neha Bhatt reviews Deconstructing India's Democracy: Essays in Honour of James Manor, a timely reminder that Indian democracy too carries deep thorns: centralisation, shrinking civil liberties, and majoritarian politics. But its essays argue that hope lies in resistance, decentralisation, and reimagining the liberal idea. It's a call to action — not in comfort, but in urgency. Stay tuned and remember, waiting doesn't numb the thorn, it only infects the wound!
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Business Standard
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Trump tariffs a call for nations to consider trade governance reforms
It is time for collective action among like-minded economies rather than be caught in the US tariff turmoil Premium Amita Batra Listen to This Article It is now close to 60 days since 'liberation day' and the subsequent announcement by United States President Donald Trump of a 90-day stay on the implementation of reciprocal tariffs. Notwithstanding this, tariff threats by the US President against not just 'countries of concern' but also allies and domestic firms continue almost on a daily basis. While this uncertain trade policy context makes it difficult to discern trends, some early signs of how global trade is evolving may be worth outlining. First, while the exemption from reciprocal tariffs for United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement-compliant products and value added in case of auto/
