Figure 1 - Intervention points: emergency assistance, flexible repayments, affordable restructuring, independent debt advice.

Can South Asia Build a Microfinance System That Protects the Poor?

Samurdhi’s community-based banking system provides a foundation in Sri Lanka through savings, member participation and livelihood support. Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank offers useful lessons in lending without conventional collateral, organising small borrower groups and placing women at the centre of financial participation. 

Divided Growth in South Asia: Need for Regional Economic Architecture

The October 2026 IMF WEO projections show that South Asia's growth prospects do not follow a uniform pattern. These differences are not a reason to abandon regional cooperation, but rather a basis for strengthening more inclusive and productive integration mechanisms.

India's 'Refining Superpower': Key Role in Energy Security Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty

India may not match the United States or China in total refining capacity, but its sophisticated refining infrastructure, crude-processing flexibility, and export capability give it an important place in the global energy system. 

South Asia’s Development Finance Dilemma: Debt, FDI and the Search for Productive Capital

Remittances have become an unusually large source of external finance for South Asia. But a development model in which workers migrate because domestic employment is inadequate, and then send income home to support domestic consumption, cannot indefinitely substitute for creating productive employment at home.

More on Geoeconomics, Trade and Development

‘China meddling in internal affairs of Nepal, Sri Lanka’

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia, US National Security Council, said China was meddling in internal affairs of Nepal and Sri Lanka

Trial of Chinese Vaccine: Dhaka's indecision puzzles experts

It remains a mystery why the Bangladesh government is still in a fix about allowing a clinical trial of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine here when health experts are saying the trial can help the country access the life-saving vaccine quickly and build national capacity for advanced research

REC arm cancels contract to Indian subsidiary of Chinese firm

Days after the opposition Congress accused the government of engaging a China-linked company in a meter installation project in Jammu & Kashmir, the REC Power Distribution Company Ltd (RECPDCL) said that sub-contractor, Dongfang Electric (India) Pvt Ltd, which was a subsidiary of a Chinese company, has been removed

Quad can be bulwark of global challenge to China: Pompeo

The Quad group of India, US, Japan and Australia can be the “bulwark” of a global challenge to China's aggressive behaviour, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

China's incursions into India, claims on Bhutan meant to test world: Pompeo

China is testing the world with its incursions into Indian territory but the tide is turning against Beijing, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Three in every four smartphones shipped in India were Chinese in Q2

Despite the supply chain issues and curtailed domestic production owing to lockdowns, almost three in four smartphones shipped in India during the June quarter were Chinese, a new report said on Thursday

Leasing Hambantota Port to China helped ease debt burden: Former Sri Lanka PM

By leasing the “white elephant” Hambantota Port to China, the Yahapalana Government was able to free the people of Sri Lanka from the burden of debt owed to China, a burden too heavy for them to bear, Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said

Google has absolutely no links to China's military, asserts CEO Pichai

Google's Indian American CEO Sundar Pichai has denied the company has links to China's military and said it had  only a “handful of people” in China working on open-source artificial intelligence project

China donates 50,000 face masks for Sri Lankan three-wheeler drivers

“To protect the three-wheeler drivers is to protect ourselves,” Hu Wei, Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, said today donating 50,000 face masks for Sri Lankan three-wheeler drivers

India, China troop disengagement remains uphill task; India enhances deployment

Prospects of disengagement of troops at the disputed border between India and China appear to be dim and uphill

China imports all-time high PVC polymers from India amid border tension (Ld)

China imported record high PVC from India in June at a time when the two countries are locked in a tussle at the border amid calls for reducing trade flows

A regional bulwark a must to contain China's designs in South China Sea

In fact, China’s rising imperialist aggressions and assertions over the South China Sea, followed by China-India standoff, have prompted the US to display its awe-inspiring military power in the disputed waters of this region

A journey to the land of the Dalai Lamas

At a time when phrases like “Indo-Tibetan border” and “Tibet card” are frequently heard in the Indian discourse amid the continuing India-China military faceoff on the border, a travelogue by an intrepid Indian traveller takes us to the Sino-Tibetan frontier areas where deep reverence for the Dalai Lama brings tears to the eyes of Tibetans living there

Govt bans 47 more Chinese mobile apps

Nearly a month after banning 59 Chinese apps, the Indian government has barred 47 more Chinese apps from operating in the country, which were largely clones of the previously banned apps, sources said

Tibetans, Uyghurs, Indians protest against China in Canada

Canadian Tibetans, Uyghurs and Indians led a major protest against Beijing outside the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver

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