Best of BS Opinion: Quad drift, EV push, FTA push, and consumer demand

From the Quad's strategic uncertainty and India's EV transition to trade reform challenges and AI's impact on education, today's BS Opinion examines key global and domestic shifts

Hello, and welcome to Best of BS Opinion, our wrap of the day's Opinion page.  As the United States' turns its gaze away from the Indo-Pacific towards the American hemisphere and West Asia, the 19-member Quad grouping is increasingly facing a struggle for relevance in a changed geopolitical environment, notes our first editorial. While the foreign ministers' joint statement stressed cooperation on critical minerals, maritime security, energy, and infrastructure, it produced little substantive progress, including no timeline for the postponed leaders’ summit. The drift can be traced directly back to President Donald Trump’s recent détente with China, ambiguity over Taiwan, and the diversion of American military resources towards the ongoing conflict in West Asia. The shift in the US' focus, thus, has deepened concerns among Quad allies about Washington’s long-term Indo-Pacific commitments.

 

Our second editorial argues that rising fuel prices and geopolitical instability in West Asia have exposed India's reliance on fossil fuel imports, and strengthened the case for accelerating a transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Although EV adoption reached about 8 per cent of new vehicle registrations in 2025, progress remains heavily concentrated in two- and three-wheelers, while electric car penetration continues to lag behind global peers. Weak charging infrastructure, high battery costs, import dependence, and consumer concerns over servicing and resale value remain key barriers to wider adoption of passenger electric cars. While incentives and manufacturing schemes have improved the ecosystem, India now must focus on faster infrastructure expansion, domestic battery production, and coordinated policy support to meet long-term energy security and climate goals.  In her column, Amita Batra argues that India’s recent free-trade agreements with partners such as the EU and the UK will deliver limited benefits unless the country reforms its tariff structure and simplifies compliance rules. The column contends that India’s relatively high manufacturing tariffs create larger preferential gains for partner countries than for Indian exporters, discouraging domestic firms from fully using these agreements. Complex rules of origin, burdensome certification requirements, and limited awareness among smaller businesses further reduce utilisation rates. Drawing on examples from Japan and South Korea, Batra argues that India must combine tariff rationalisation with simpler trade procedures, technical support, and targeted awareness programmes to maximise the economic value of its FTAs.  Shailesh Dobhal writes that the West Asia crisis is pushing India’s consumer economy towards a damaging slowdown through higher fuel prices, inflation, and sharp stock-market losses. With oil companies raising petrol and diesel prices after years of stability, household budgets are coming under pressure even as income growth weakens. Pointing out that businesses are already revising pricing, packaging, and demand forecasts amid fears of weakening consumption, he highlights an often-overlooked risk: the erosion of nearly Rs 8 trn-Rs 9 trn in household stock-market wealth, which could sharply curb discretionary spending by affluent consumers. Combined with fears of a weak monsoon and rising food prices, these pressures may create a severe demand shock across consumer sectors.

 

Saurabh Sharma’s review of Open Intelligence: Education Between Art and Artificial by Saikat Majumdar examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping education, creativity, and human identity. Drawing on examples ranging from deepfakes to Google DeepMind’s defeat of Go champion Lee Sedol, Majumdar argues that education systems built around rote learning and examinations are increasingly obsolete. The book contends that humans must cultivate forms of collaborative intelligence, emotional awareness, and imaginative thinking that machines cannot easily replicate. Sharma notes that Majumdar ultimately locates the real threat not in AI itself, but in humanity’s failure to rethink learning, memory, and consciousness for the digital age.