India has signed eight Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with developed economies—including the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, EFTA, and is on the threshold of a trade deal with the United States. All of them are developed economies. After decades of caution and defensive trade policy, is India now embracing global competition? https://youtu.be/U92ol2qhGLY StratNewsGlobal.Tech spoke to Pritam Banerjee, Head of WTO Studies at IIFT, to unpack: Why India exited RCEP but signed FTAs with advanced economies? Whether India now negotiates from economic strength? What these trade deals mean for domestic industry and MSMEs? Will FTAs force reforms in logistics, regulation and…
Author: Anil Padmanabhan
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India looks comfortable right now. Growth is strong. Inflation is under control. The fiscal deficit is narrowing. Banks are healthier than they have been in years. Indeed, it feels like a Goldilocks moment. But here’s the real question: Is this stability structural or is it cyclical? Further, at this very moment of comfort, India has chosen to adopt unprecedented boldness in economic policy. It is signing free trade agreements with developed economies, pening itself up to global competition and exposing domestic industry to international discipline. https://youtu.be/0FRSmH86HIM The Economic Survey argues that export capability is a disciplining force—that competitiveness, not protection,…
Budget 2026 may not have excited markets—but it could shape India’s economy till 2047. In this in-depth conversation on StratNewsGlobal.Tech, Haseeb Drabu, economist and former finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir, decoded India’s Union Budget 2026, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman–who has now completed a record-breaking ninth consecutive Budget. https://youtu.be/UGiQ9gsCzhI This episode goes beyond tax rates and routine announcements to examine why Budget 2026 marks a structural shift in India’s economic strategy—from short-term populism to long-term performance. This is not a Budget explainer for headlines. Instead it is a conversation about the plan to invest in creating state capacity,…
In a major and unexpected move, the United States announced a steep reduction in tariffs on Indian exports—considerably easing geopolitical pressure and creating a new opening for India’s global trade ambitions. At the same time, momentum is building around the EU–India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), raising a tougher and more consequential question: Is India truly ready to compete globally? https://youtu.be/nAuW3Czm6i4 In this episode of StratNews Global,Tech spoke to Prerna Prabhakar of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), to examine: – What this means for India’s export strategy – The real stakes of the EU–India FTA – Whether Indian…
India’s economic story is often discussed in extremes. Either it is about the travails of those living at the bottom of the pyramid, or they are celebratory headlines about the growing tribe of billionaires at the top. This focus is shifting to the middle. Income-tax data from the last decade mirrors this consequential pivot. https://youtu.be/jd-w2usf__Y The cohort of salaried individuals falling in the two income tax slabs of Rs10-15 lakh and Rs15-20 lakh have grown by a staggering 600% in the nine years ended 2023-24. To unpack what this exploding middle means for wealth creation in India, its consumer economy…
For decades, India’s development story was told at either the national or the level of the state. This is undergoing a slow reset. The focus is shifting to the sub-national level. Not without reason. For example, Chandauli in eastern Uttar Pradesh, is grabbing global taste buds for the export of black rice. Similarly, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh has grabbed national attention for using Artificial Intelligence to digitise land records and unlocking investment, credit, and growth. These are not unrelated stories. Instead, they point to a deeper shift, wherein districts are emerging as the ground zero of India’s growth story. https://youtu.be/efv-8vmBPSk…
For decades the Indian economy has flattered to disappoint. To a large extent this was because the country was unable to crack the code on rolling out big ticket infrastructure projects—especially in solving the gridlock caused by a combination of lack of coordination within the union government and between the centre and states, red tape, corruption and instances of judicial overreach. In the last decade India effected a turnaround by rewiring governance through PRAGATI—the acronym stands for Pro- Active Governance and Timely Implementation. https://youtu.be/aVppe0u4p8A It aligned all the stakeholders on the same page, ascribed accountability and ensured real time monitoring,…
India’s deep-tech revolution is not happening in boardrooms. Instead, it is happening inside its universities like IIT Madras, which recently incubated its 500th deeptech startup. A remarkable achievement, given that birthing deeptech startups need the difficult combination of patient capital and world class innovation skills. https://youtu.be/wOfhGj5zQ0o To unpack how IIT Madras built over 500 deep-tech startups in mobility, space, defence, automotive and robotics, StratNewsGlobal.Tech spoke to Tamaswati Ghosh, CEO IIT Madras Incubation Cell on Capital Calculus.
India enters 2026 at a pivotal moment. Abject poverty is no longer the defining challenge. Accordingly, India has new problems to solve: Improving livelihoods, productivity and quality of life for a rapidly aspirational population. But unlike China’s rise in the early 2000s, India must grow in a fragmenting global order where supply chains are political, technology is balkanising, and globalisation is in retreat. https://youtu.be/ryOhDogFsQY In Capital Calculus’ special first episode of 2026, StratNewsGlobal.Tech spoke to Dr. Rajiv Kumar, former Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, to unpack: What defines the “New India” How development must evolve beyond poverty reduction The jobs and…
2025 was not just another year. It was a year of inflection, both for the world and India. A volatile global order and fragmenting trade, India’s deep-tech push, the rise of women voters, and worsening climate risks morphing into economic shocks, were developments that were impossible to ignore. Week after week we decoded these shifts on Capital Calculus, through conversations with policymakers, industry leaders, and thinkers. https://youtu.be/tPXwhvomq3E In this special episode, StratNewsGlobal.Tech put together the most powerful ideas and standout insights from the interviews conducted in 2025. It is not just about looking back. Instead it is to grasp their…