Economic Reforms

A slippery slope: Why India must prioritise growth over rupee fears

High oil prices, a weakening rupee and global capital shifts demand bold policymaking to protect growth and build resilience against external shocks

India's investment slowdown is a fallout of deeper structural shifts

Taken together, the Indian economy requires some mechanism for stimulating private investment in the real economy

IBC@10: Insolvency and bankruptcy code's administration needs improvement

The recent IBC (Amendment) Act, 2026, aims to strengthen the law and improve outcomes

A big push in economics: Special times call for special initiatives

The last time the domestic private sector achieved a one-year gain of net fixed assets above 20 per cent in nominal terms was 2009-10

1973 and now: How Indira's self-destructive responses are instructive today

An oil shock, monsoon fears, rampant unemployment, and the seeming inevitability of inflation, are common to both eras. Indira Gandhi's self-destructive responses are instructive today

Stability and growth: India needs to accelerate its pace of reforms

It is worth recognising that the global business environment has changed over the past few years, and a country like India has to improve its business environment more proactively

India has an opportunity to become a natural absorber of global savings

There are moments (like the present) when current account deficits are widening in response to shocks, but our system has a well-developed playbook for dealing with these

Tamil Nadu: Moving on from good to great with growth push, $1 trillion goal

The turnaround is the result of TN's faster growth following the 1991 reforms, with its per capita GDP growing at 5.8 per cent per annum, compared to 4.7 per cent for India as a whole (1994-2023)

Modernising our society through education, skills and inter-caste marriages

Persistent caste inequality, limited inter-caste mobility and unequal access to quality education and jobs continue to slow India's social modernisation despite decades of economic growth

Housing finance must be part of India's next economic reforms agenda

India's six largest cities contribute nearly half to housing and mortgage volumes but lenders with scale shy away from deeper geographies

Thank you, Mr Trump: Why India has changed its mind on trade deals

With the UK, EFTA deals already in the bag, EU on the way, almost every member of RCEP except China signed up, and even restrictions on China being lifted, India has changed its mind on trade

How 1985-95 still stands out as the most consequential decade in India

You'd think the decade of 1985-95 is long over. Not really. The issues that erupted in that decade are still shaping Indian conversations

2026 to bring data, policy, tax changes; labour codes, CBAM to take effect

With new GDP, CPI and IIP base years, sweeping tax reforms, GST overhaul, labour code rollout and EU's carbon tax, 2026 is set to reshape India's economic, regulatory and labour landscape

UK govt needs to find four top economists after crises force exits

A series of crises has left two vacancies at the top of the UK statistics body and one at the Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog

Manmohan Singh was no free market ideologue: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Manmohan Singh was not a free-market ideologue but a reformer guided by pragmatism, integrity, and faith in the state's developmental role, says Ahluwalia

Best of BS Opinion: India must make rational choices on Trump tariffs

Our editorials and opinion pieces today look at the impact of Trump's tariffs and how India should calibrate its responses, as well as the social and economic impact of AI replacing IT jobs

Attracting FIIs & FPIs - balance regulations with ease of doing business

India's record GST collections and rising domestic investments highlight economic resilience, while SEBI's evolving FPI norms aim to balance transparency, compliance, and investor confidence

IMF praises Sri Lanka's steady economic reforms, investor focus

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday commended the Sri Lankan government, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, for its continued commitment to the economic reforms initiated under the global lender's Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The IMF highlighted the administration's policy consistency as a key factor in maintaining investor confidence and ensuring macroeconomic stability. The new government's sustained commitment to programme objectives has enhanced confidence and ensures policy continuity. Going forward, sustaining reform momentum, including by reducing corruption vulnerabilities, is critical to safeguard the hard-won gains, durably restore macroeconomic and debt sustainability, and unlock robust and inclusive growth, the IMF said in a statement. The statement was issued as the IMF and Sri Lanka reached an agreement in Washington on the fourth review of the USD 2.9 billion EFF programme, which was originally approved in March 2023 to assist Sri Lanka in ...

Speed of digital penetration at individual level needs to be stepped up

The State of India's Digital Economy Report 2025 says that India is the third largest digitised country in the world at an aggregate level

Economic matters should transcend political divides: Nirmala Sitharaman

BS Manthan: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman described the ongoing global turbulence as a "splashing" of forces, urging India to actively participate rather than remain a bystander