As we draw down to the end of the year, my memories of 2019 will be conflict, protest marches, pellets, pepper spray and tear gas. Hundreds killed too, as in the cities of Iraq over the past two months. It is over a decade since the financial crisis began. And it was believed to have… Continue reading 2019: The Year for Pellets, Pepper Spray and Protests
I am sure nobody was surprised when news of India’s Q2 GDP trickled in a few days ago. It was anticipated that the slowdown will be worse than the previous quarter. In fact, I was surprised to hear business news channels breathing a sigh of relief that GDP growth rate hadn’t come in at 4%… Continue reading Made-in-India Slowdown Made to Benefit the Haves
On August 5, 2019, all clocks stopped in Jammu and Kashmir. Or so, it seemed. Time hasn’t moved since for millions in the state with the lockdown in the Valley well into its fourth month. Thanks to the abrupt and sudden abrogation of Article 370, life as the Kashmiris knew it, has come to a… Continue reading India’s Farthest Frontiers Frozen in Time
While it has been several quarters (even years) of an economic slowdown in India, what is worrying corporate India now is that consumer spending is weakening. Seeing how a few companies are responding to the slowdown, I thought I must pen my thoughts on what companies can do to revive private consumption in this article… Continue reading Jazzing Up Consumer Spending to Beat Slowdown Blues
If MK Gandhi were alive today, he might have a difficult time recognizing the country he helped win freedom for, 72 years ago. For not only have his ideals been forgotten, India has chosen to go in quite the opposite direction, especially in this millennium. Still, the country is commemorating his 150th birth anniversary and… Continue reading If Gandhi Were Alive Today
When we look at the state of the global economy, the US-China trade war, the Brexit drama as it unfolds in parliament which has been prorogued, the immigration debate or indeed, the economic slowdown in India, it becomes quite apparent that what we are witnessing is not greater turbulence, but less leadership. And less of… Continue reading Leadership in Today’s World
It has been several months and quarters of agony for the Indian automobile industry, what with vehicle sales falling. The rapid growth rate registered in the 2004 to 2013 period seems to have sputtered to a slow growth, if that. Newspapers and magazines are suddenly full of news about falling vehicle sales and job losses;… Continue reading Stuck in the Slow Lane
While the news in and out of India in recent days has been, quite rightly, hogged by the Kashmir issue, I would like to draw your attention to the economic slowdown in India. There probably isn’t a soul anywhere in the world who hasn’t heard of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to foreign investors, “Make… Continue reading A Made-in-India Economic Slowdown
A plea for greater civil liberties and dialogue
All my life I have wanted to visit Kashmir, but have been unable to go there. These are my thoughts as Kashmir continues to be in a state of lockdown after the Indian government's decision to revoke Article 370 which had guaranteed Kashmir its special status all these years. It is a travesty of the… Continue reading Lockdown Valley
Peripatetic Perch 