Best of BS Opinion: Economy, innovation, and the Lennon-McCartney bond

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

Some mornings, have you stood at the kitchen sink rinsing your vegetables, watching water slip through your fingers as you try to cup it? It looks like you almost have it — clear, sparkling, alive in your palm — but it’s gone before you can use it. The illusion of control vanishes in an instant. Today’s stories carry that same uneasy feeling — of control that’s partial, of gains that are always at risk of loss. Let’s dive in. 

The RBI’s monetary policy committee meets in the shadow of intensifying global trade tensions. With the US imposing steep tariffs and China retaliating, markets are jittery, oil prices are dropping, and a global slowdown looms. As our first editorial outlines, India’s inflation is near target and growth risks are rising — but even a likely rate cut won’t fully steady the spillover from abroad. Stimulus must be cautious, lest it prove too little or too much, too soon. 

And, the water slips not from policy but potential. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s recent comments on India’s startup ecosystem touch a nerve: There’s quantity, but where’s the depth? As our second editorial notes, while unicorns multiply, true innovation lags. Deeptech firms exist but they’re starved of long-term funding, regulatory ease, and institutional backing. Without stronger state support, our tech dreams are at a risk of evaporating before they can condense into real breakthroughs. 

The leaks run into data too. As Kartikeya Batra, Josh Felman, and Arvind Subramanian explain, India’s GDP estimates have long suffered from mismatches between production and expenditure measures. Flawed deflators and weak consumption tracking distort growth numbers. The fix may lie in GST data — a rich, timely stream covering formal and informal transactions alike. But unless integrated into how we measure the economy, the clarity it offers will slip right past us. 

On the trade front, Rajeev Kher and Harsha Vardhana Singh describe a world unsettled by “reciprocal” US tariffs. WTO norms are sidelined, and India must act quickly — via smart bilateral deals, industrial policy, and new alliances — to redirect trade flows its way. Delay too long, and opportunity, like water, flows elsewhere. 

Finally, in Ian Leslie’s John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, reviewed by T Bone Burnett, there’s one place water doesn’t leak. John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t split tasks; they fused themselves. Together, they didn’t just hold on — they built something that still ripples through time. Their music, born of love and shared identity, reminds us that sometimes, when two hands come together, they don’t just hold — they create. 

Stay tuned!