Latest news with #ProsenjitDatta
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Microsoft's denial to Nayara Energy shows India's overlooked weaknesses
We have allowed these vulnerabilities to grow over the decades because of inaction Prosenjit Datta Listen to This Article United States President Donald Trump's angry outburst and the immediate application of 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from India have once again brought into focus our economic vulnerabilities, despite being the fourth-largest economy in the world. But the Trump tariff tantrums also tend to divert attention from two other threats to the Indian economy that briefly caught some media attention. The first involved China putting the brakes on rare earth and rare earth magnets exports, which have thrown our automobile industry in a tizzy. The second was the sudden denial of services by Microsoft to Nayara Energy, 49
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Business Standard
21-07-2025
- Health
- Business Standard
The Johnson & Johnson Files: Unhealthy truths and defective hip implants
A tale of defective hip implants exposes India's weak medical oversight - and how multinationals treat Indian patients worse than those in rich countries premium Prosenjit Datta Listen to This Article The Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant by Kaunain Sheriff M. Published by Juggernaut 379 pages ₹599 In 1998, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) — known for everything from band aids to baby powder — took over DePuy for a whopping $3.5 billion dollars. DePuy Inc, a Warsaw-based company, was one of the largest and most respectable names in hip and knee implants in the world. It was the second-largest player in these areas in the US market and had a presence in 23 countries, including India. It was a great buy — within just over a decade, it became
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Business Standard
30-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
The problems India ignores: Fixes, not vision, key to 8% economic growth
There are dozens of issues that slow our growth far below potential. They don't need a grand vision, but they urgently need attention if India is to grow at over 8 per cent Prosenjit Datta Listen to This Article What will India need to become a global economic powerhouse and a developed nation by 2047? Everyone, including this columnist, has pointed out that our gross domestic product (GDP) will need to grow consistently at over 7.5 per cent for a sustained period — ideally over 8 per cent (real GDP growth, not nominal). What will help us grow in that manner? In my book — Will India Get Rich Before It Turns 100 — I have pointed out that among the things we need to focus on are education and health care, without which no country has been able
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Business Standard
09-06-2025
- Business Standard
Hubris Maximus: Pride, prejudices, and the nine lives of Elon Musk
How Elon Musk continues to emerge unscathed despite his most outrageous tweets and pronouncements Prosenjit Datta Listen to This Article Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk by Faiz Siddiqui Published by HarperCollins 268 pages ₹599 Elon Musk's life and business shenanigans make for highly readable books. Apart from becoming staggeringly rich — and at one point the world's richest man — he is eccentric, utterly arrogant, super confident in his own abilities, extremely inconsistent and, finally, given to impulsive decisions. He has built a legion of followers who swear by him and are willing to go to war against his perceived enemies after a single post by him on X (earlier Twitter). His personal life and beliefs are even more colourful.
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Business Standard
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: When ignored threats begin to shape the future
There's a certain kind of threat that thrives in silence, not because it is invisible, but because it is ignored. Like shadows in the corner, these risks expand in scale and consequence the longer they remain unattended. Often, they are not new. They simply wait, growing sharper in the background, until the cost of looking away becomes undeniable. Let's dive in. Consider Ukraine's recent drone offensive inside Russian territory. What might once have seemed improbable, a smaller nation infiltrating the airspace of a nuclear power, was executed with precision and audacity. Ukraine used first-person-view drones disguised as construction supplies, launched from trucks masquerading as commercial deliveries. As our first editorial notes, the strike may have damaged a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet. But beyond the military feat lies a deeper alarm: the rise of asymmetric warfare using cheap tech and commercial infrastructure. For countries like India, the shadow here is a soft underbelly, critical sites and industrial zones vulnerable to attacks that no longer require missiles, just logistics and intent. Meanwhile, the 'missing middle' of India's economy — its medium enterprises — faces a quieter, systemic neglect. As a Niti Aayog report reveals, these firms are crucial to exports and innovation but receive little targeted support. Sandwiched between micro units and large corporations, they fall through policy cracks, unable to scale or modernise. Left unchecked, this oversight could dim India's manufacturing future, as incentives continue to reward staying small and informal, argues our second editorial. Ajai Chowdhry cautions of another expanding shadow: data insecurity. Despite India's digital rise, sovereignty over data remains elusive. Foreign tech giants exploit legal loopholes, storing Indian data offshore and evading domestic regulations. As AI systems reshape global power structures, India must act decisively to retain control over its digital assets—before the opportunity slips too far. In the green economy too, delays carry weight. As Prosenjit Datta notes, India's EV sector now feels the pinch of China's export restrictions on rare earth magnets. The crisis highlights a broader vulnerability: a lack of urgency in mining and processing critical minerals at home. Without bold intervention, the country's clean energy transition could falter under imported dependencies. Even the Constitution, as reviewed by Shreekant Sambrani in Shashi Tharoor's latest book called Our Living Constitution: A concise introduction & commentary, is framed as under ideological siege. Yet the analysis itself suffers from imbalance, offering more alarm than insight. In trying to confront one shadow, it casts another. Stay tuned, and remember, some corners remain dark not because light can't reach them, but because no one bothers to switch it on!
