India's Southern Tech Capitals

Bloomberg Wall Street Week Reports:
Bangalore: Can India’s IT Capital Survive Its Own Success?
https://youtu.be/dEe4A3O9OmI 
Why India’s Big Tech Companies Are Betting on Hyderabad
https://youtu.be/zDLi0cQKxEU 

BRICS at 20

The BRICS at 20
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/20-years-of-brics-has-reshaped-international-affairs-by-brahma-chellaney-2026-09
If the promise of the BRICS was to establish a monetary union, a single market, or a tightly integrated political alliance, it has not been fulfilled. But if it was to build a platform for emerging economies to cooperate while advancing their own strategic autonomy, the BRICS has exceeded expectations.

In a Club of Emerging Powers, China and India Vie for Influence
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/world/asia/china-india-brics-summit.html
China sees the BRICS group as a vehicle for challenging American power. India wants to keep the group broad enough to avoid choosing sides.

 
World’s biggest relationship? Xi and Modi look to rebuild ties for 2.8bn people
https://www.ft.com/content/6525cf15-0cf0-4fff-a3a4-298a41569d97
Brics summit expected to bring China’s leader to India for first time in seven years after cautious diplomacy to put bilateral relations back on track. 

BRICS on the Rise 
https://www.ft.com/content/303ff813-fa48-417d-a44e-387c9e649ddf

Related:
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/shifting-u-s-alliances-push-rivals-china-and-india-together-37c95b68

History Lesson: The East India Company

What It Took to Dismantle the Most Powerful Company in the World
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/opinion/ai-power-lobbying-military-britain-east-india-company.html 

China’s Super-Dam

China’s Super-Dam Is Becoming an Upstream Water Bomb
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-himalayan-super-dam-dangerous-and-plan-lacks-transparency-by-brahma-chellaney-2026-08
The latest evidence suggests that the Chinese scientific establishment understands the dangers of a planned Himalayan dam—the world's largest—more clearly than its political leadership is willing to acknowledge. With the livelihoods of two billion people at stake, the international community needs to weigh in. 

India's Jobs Crisis

India’s Private University Graduates Are Left Jobless and in Debt
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/business/india-private-university-debt.html
Families are betting their savings on private universities as a path to a better life. A shortage of well-paying work is turning that wager into frustration.
 
500,000 Applicants, 583 Jobs: The Frantic Scramble for Work in India
https://www.wsj.com/world/india/500-000-applicants-583-jobs-the-frantic-scramble-for-work-in-india-0fefa2b3
Many of the South Asian country’s youth face epic odds in trying to find good jobs, a challenge that is a growing political and economic problem. 

An Urban Oasis

The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh has 25,000 workers building his dream capital with waterways, bike lanes and a “Quantum Valley” tech hub.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/world/asia/one-mans-quest-to-build-indias-most-livable-city.html 

AI and the Developing World

The Philippines’ big offshoring industry is growing despite AI
https://www.economist.com/asia/2026/08/06/the-philippines-big-offshoring-industry-is-growing-despite-ai
How long will that last?
 
India’s IT sector is surviving artificial intelligence
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/08/06/indias-it-sector-is-surviving-artificial-intelligence
Though the technology is making life still harder for many graduates.

Where A.I. Is Creating Jobs for Humans, for a While
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/world/asia/ai-jobs-data-annotation-india-karur.html
In the fast-growing field of data annotation, people in a small town in south India are training A.I. to better perform human labor.

Developing countries have ‘less to fear’ from AI than rich nations
https://www.ft.com/content/33c20c4e-6a25-42da-9f1e-6664c8388957
“As a rule, developing economies today have more to gain — and less to fear — from AI than richer ones ... less than a tenth of their jobs are susceptible to AI automation, compared with more than a third in high-income economies,” said Indermit Gill, the bank’s chief economist. 

World Development Report 2026: THE PROMISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstreams/4df724a5-2e0d-4e66-bcb8-1d3bf4e22390/download

EM Growth Models Debate

The Limits of Asia’s Two Major Growth Models
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-india-development-models-limitations-and-lessons-for-others-by-hinh-t-dinh-and-karim-el-aynaoui-2026-07
Data from a period in which both China and India pursued deliberate industrial policies show that neither country's development route is accessible to other countries. At best, their experience can alert policymakers to structural limitations and coordination problems that will require their own homegrown solutions. 
 
Explaining China’s Industrial Competitiveness
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-industrial-competitiveness-root-causes-by-miao-yanliang-2026-07
External headwinds have not weakened China’s manufacturing competitiveness. That is because the Chinese economy combines an unusually large manufacturing base, deep supply chains, fast engineering feedback loops, and cutthroat domestic competition to create global powerhouses. 

China is smarter about subsidies than everybody else
https://www.ft.com/content/871976c7-8c4f-405e-803e-d86cf22bcf0f
Beijing is stealing a march on its competitors by targeting strategic sectors.

History Lesson: The American Revolution

Why the Last Battle of the American Revolution Was Fought in India
https://www.newyorker.com/news/global-notes/why-the-last-battle-of-the-american-revolution-was-fought-in-india
The conflicts that took place elsewhere in the world have receded. 

The Indo-Japanese Alliance is Strong

India’s Modi Deepens Ties with Japan in ‘Uncertain Times’
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/world/asia/03int-india-japan-modi-takaichi-security.html
The prime minister met with his counterpart, Sanae Takaichi of Japan, and signed agreements covering artificial intelligence, energy and security. 

AI and Tech Jobs

Silicon Valley’s AI jobs purge is a warning for the world
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/29/silicon-valleys-ai-jobs-purge-is-a-warning-for-the-world/
Tech giants are cutting staff to spend more on agents, with no signs of slowing down the automation drive.
 
The AI factory: the rewiring of India's tech industry | FT Film
https://youtu.be/UfyxN46tCz8 

Smartphones, AI, and Rural India

Smartphones and AI are remaking rural India
https://www.economist.com/asia/2026/06/23/smartphones-and-ai-are-remaking-rural-india
Villages have fallen in love with short-form videos and chatbots. 

Mumbai's Changing Skyline

Mumbai’s Skyline Is Soaring. So Is the Pressure on Housing
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-04-17/mumbai-s-skyline-rises-as-residents-and-bankers-jostle-for-space
As global businesses pour into India’s financial capital, millions of low-income residents face redevelopment deals that will determine whether they can stay. 

Related:

Livable Cities Are the Key to India’s Growth
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/how-india-can-build-livable-cities-by-shishir-gupta-et-al-2026-05
India is urbanizing rapidly, but poor public services, weak local governance, and unregulated sprawl are impeding productivity growth. The solution lies in reforms that empower local governments, improve administrative efficiency, and strengthen coordination of city planning and infrastructure development.

Demographic Shift in India

India’s surprise baby bust is a warning to the world
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/06/04/indias-surprise-baby-bust-is-a-warning-to-the-world
It is not just rich places that are becoming less fertile. 
 
India’s population will soon be falling—probably quite fast
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/06/04/indias-population-will-soon-be-falling-probably-quite-fast
Neither widespread poverty, nor high rates of marriage nor relatively young mothers are sustaining fertility. 

EM Equities: Winners and Losers

Indian stocks lose out to Asian rivals in global hunt for AI winners
https://www.ft.com/content/e0a198af-725a-4fa0-a9fe-72725163b4e6
Exchanges in Taiwan and South Korea have overtaken India’s in the past week as the two countries’ chipmakers surge. 

Russia Imports Workers from India

Putin’s solution to replace Russia’s vanishing workforce
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/03/putin-turns-to-indians-replace-russias-vanishing-workforce/
As the Kremlin deploys troops to the front line, it is turning to India over a growing demographic crisis. 

Dealing with External Shocks - The Case of India

India’s External Shock Is an Economic Opportunity
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/india-response-to-iran-energy-shock-by-gaurav-dalmia-1-and-chetan-aggarwal-2026-05
Despite strong fundamentals, India’s economy has major vulnerabilities stemming from its external account. With energy flows contested, shipping routes under threat, and capital markets increasingly shaped by geopolitics, the country must leverage its relative strength to weather current shocks and build long-term resilience. 

India’s Unfinished Reform Agenda
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/energy-climate-trade-shocks-should-push-india-to-finish-implementing-reform-agenda-by-shishir-gupta-2026-06
Elevated oil prices, potentially strong El Niño conditions during the monsoon season, and the tariff-induced fragmentation of global trade are bearing down on the Indian economy and will likely be a drag on GDP growth. But these adverse conditions may be a blessing in disguise if they force India to complete its economic reform agenda.

India's Pro-Trade Shift

India’s New Globalization Raj
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/india-new-globalization-raj-economic-openness-and-liberalization-by-shashi-tharoor-2026-05
India’s deliberate, strategic shift from economic seclusion to global engagement is arguably one of the most consequential structural changes of the 21st century. Indian leaders now understand that self-reliance is achieved through integration, not autarky, and the results speak for themselves. 

Related:

How India Can Supercharge Its Development
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/india/how-india-can-supercharge-its-development
And Really Compete with China.

Impact of the 2026 Energy Shock (Updated)

Why $100 oil won't break the American consumer
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/why-100-oil-wont-break-american-consumer-2026-03-23/
No one likes expensive oil, especially in the U.S., where driving, spending, and energy-intensive economic activity are on such a vast scale. But despite fears to the contrary, the average U.S. consumer has never been better equipped to deal with $100-a-barrel oil.
 
Oil execs warn of long-term damage from Iran war as US downplays crisis
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ceraweek-oil-execs-warn-long-term-damage-iran-war-us-downplays-crisis-2026-03-23/
 
Crude oil's Catch-22: Pricing for Trump TACO trade makes it less likely
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/crude-oils-catch-22-pricing-trump-taco-trade-makes-it-less-likely-2026-03-23/
The crude oil futures markets are still largely pricing for an early resolution to the conflict in the Middle East that results in the full re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Economy Is Insulated from High Oil Prices. Americans Aren’t.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/business/us-economy-oil-prices-inflation-iran-war-americans.html
The overall economy has proved resilient in recent years, even as many households have struggled. The war with Iran is following the same pattern. 

America may be a petrostate. But the energy shock still hurts

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/03/19/america-may-be-a-petrostate-but-the-energy-shock-still-hurts 

They’re the First Victims of the Diesel-Price Shock, but Likely Won’t be the Last
https://www.wsj.com/economy/truckers-are-the-first-victims-of-the-diesel-price-shock-52ff802d
Truck drivers in the U.S. are feeling some of the first economic effects of the rapid surge in the cost of diesel. A broader economic impact could hit soon.

 
If You Want to Know What Happens in an Oil Crisis, Look at Asia
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/business/oil-jetfuel-asia.html
As China and other major suppliers of refined oil in the region restrict exports, import-dependent countries are desperate to secure fuel supplies. 

As War Disrupts India’s Gulf Ties, Economy Faces ‘New Broadside’
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/business/india-economy-middle-east.html

The Iran War’s Economic Threat to Europe and Asia
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/business/iran-war-fiscal-spending-debt.html
Inflation and its consequences for growth are a growing concern for countries where memories of the 2022 energy crisis are fresh.   

Iran war fallout lands hardest on Europe's most gas‑dependent nations
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/iran-war-fallout-lands-hardest-europes-most-gasdependent-nations-2026-03-19/

Sustaining Economic Development - India and China

India Can Avoid the Middle-Income Trap
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/india-can-avoid-middle-income-trap-by-arvind-panagariya-2026-03
Can India avoid the dreaded middle-income trap that has ensnared so many other developing countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia? Its favorable demographics, steadily improving economic governance and civil administration, and recent trade agreements certainly suggest so.
 
Infrastructure Investment Is the Key to China’s Growth
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-must-increase-infrastructure-investment-to-meet-growth-targets-by-yu-yongding-2026-03
China’s government has now set its growth target for 2026 at 4.5-5%. With China’s GDP deflator still in negative territory and ample policy space for more expansionary fiscal and monetary policy, this is achievable, but it will require boosting both consumption and investment spending. 

China’s Long-Promised Consumer Boom Is a Mirage
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/opinion/china-exports-consumer-spending.html
China may never be able to realize its longtime promise to shift away from an overreliance on exports. 

Laid Off in Midlife, China’s Reform Generation Braces for Downward Mobility
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/business/laid-off-in-midlife-chinas-reform-generation-braces-for-downward-mobility.html
The future once seemed boundless for those who grew up during China’s reform era. Now in middle age, they are pinned between economic stagnation and institutional age discrimination.