Best of BS Opinion: India's data reset meets cyber and trade pressures

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

India’s inflation data arrived this week under a new statistical framework, marking a structural update rather than a routine monthly release. The base year has shifted to 2024 from 2012, incorporating findings from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24. The long-delayed revision, held back in part by the pandemic, comes ahead of a forthcoming GDP series update by the National Statistics Office. Our first editorial notes that for the Reserve Bank of India, which targets 4 per cent CPI inflation with a tolerance band of two percentage points, the recalibration may alter projections in coming quarters, even if policy remains steady at a 5.25 per cent repo rate for now. 

Meanwhile, cybersecurity has emerged as the leading business risk for Indian enterprises, highlights our second editorial. Nasscom and the Data Security Council of India estimate over 400 cybersecurity product firms generated $4.46 billion in revenue in 2025, while India has also earned a Tier-1 ranking in the Global Cybersecurity Index 2024. Yet the scale of attacks remains high. Seqrite recorded over 265 million cyberattacks in a year, while Check Point Software Technologies reports that Indian firms face more than 2,000 attacks each week. Hence, stronger coordination between regulators and industry, clearer norms and tighter governance around data and AI remain essential to tackle the rising problem. 

T T Ram Mohan examines the proposed Indo-US trade deal as a strategic recalibration rather than a narrow tariff bargain. He argues that under President Donald Trump, trade negotiations are designed to favour the United States, and partners must weigh asymmetric outcomes against broader strategic costs. The European Union’s recent concessions, despite deep defence ties, illustrate the trade-offs involved. For India, he notes, exports have remained resilient but capital inflows have weakened. In that environment, the deal’s value lies in reducing friction with Washington and stabilising investor sentiment, even if the terms appear uneven. 

Vanita Kohli Khandekar turns to the domestic film industry, identifying infrastructure rather than content as the core constraint. Box office growth has largely come from higher ticket prices, not rising footfalls. India has fewer than 9,000 screens, or just over six per million people, and vast areas lack access altogether. Targeted expansion in smaller towns, as seen in West Bengal, has demonstrated measurable gains. Industry studies suggest that building 20,000 to 30,000 screens over time could expand employment and revenues significantly, provided policy incentives align with long-term investment. 

Finally, in his review of Suvir Saran’s memoir Tell My Mother I Like Boys, Chintan Girish Modi highlights a narrative that connects personal history with public questions of identity and law. Saran writes about family, professional ambition and the experience of living openly as a gay man, while the absence of legal recognition for same-sex marriage and adoption in India forms a persistent backdrop. Yet the memoir centres on work, creativity and self-acceptance, presenting resilience as a deliberate practice rather than a rhetorical claim. 

Stay tuned!