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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.

Growth of Underground Economy and Rising Income Disparity is a Social Concern in Sri Lanka

In 2025, Sri Lanka was ranked as the second most expensive housing market in the world based on rentals compared to average income. It is possible that market distortions caused by black economy and corruption have contributed to this. 

From Infrastructure to Investment: Building West Bengal’s Next Growth Cycle

The larger opportunity before West Bengal is therefore not another round of infrastructure creation in isolation. It is the creation of an ecosystem in which infrastructure, private capital, local enterprise and skilled labour reinforce one another. 

Did BRICS Help Thaw India-China Ties? Need to Convert Broken Ice into a Workable Business Relationship

Why not begin by reopening serious discussions with Chinese conglomerate BYD about an Indian factory? BYD is now one of the world’s dominant EV manufacturers. Its Indian ambitions were caught in the post-Galwan investment freeze. Invite it back to the table—but on Indian terms

More on Geoeconomics, Trade and Development

Nepalese and Chinese communist parties to hold virtual interaction

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leaders will be participating in an event being organised jointly by the party’s school department, and the international liaison department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Friday

China gives 97 percent duty-free access to Bangladeshi products

China has given 97 percent duty-free access to a listed number of Bangladeshi products in the Chinese market

Indian soldiers were 'outnumbered' by the Chinese at Galwan Valley

Indian and Chinese military talks at Galwan Valley in the wake of the violent clashes along the Line of Control in Eastern Ladakh region ended with a slight positive trajectory Thursday though nothing has moved on the ground

Pakistan government sets conditions to share Gwadar deal

Pakistan's Ministry of Maritime Affairs on Thursday refused to share the Gwadar Port concession agreement with parliament, citing a confidentiality clause – a move that raised more questions in the minds of senators about transparency of the deal

COVID-19 entered Beijing through “European salmon” consignment- Chinese Envoy in Sri Lanka

Acting Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Hu Wei told President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, COVID-19 had made its way into Beijing recently through a consignment of salmon from Europe and not from person to person transmission

China asks India not to underestimate its will

A day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned China against aggression, Beijing asked New Delhi not to "misjudge" the situation or "underestimate" its will

Anti-China sentiments will hit Digital India plan

As the chorus to shun Chinese goods grows across the country, India, which saw exponential growth in smartphone manufacturing from just two factories a couple of years back to nearly 258 now with billions of dollars investment and lakhs of direct and indirect jobs being created, stands to lose its Digital India dream if things get out of control from here on

Uncertainty, nervousness in Leh as standoff continues at LAC

As we move out of the Leh Airport on Thursday, we notice that an eerie silence has gripped the town -- the markets are shut and not many people are on the streets due to the coronavirus pandemic

DFCCIL terminates Rs 471 cr tender with Chinese firm

Amid the India-China border standoff in Ladakh's Galwan Valley where 20 Indian soldiers were killed by Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) including an officer, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL)has decided to terminate the tender worth Rs 471 crore with the Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group Company Limited (BNRRDISC) due to non-performance, sources said on Thursday

Sri Lanka approves billion-dollar tower block by China in Colombo Port City

Sri Lanka has approved a billion US dollar mixed development tower block project in Colombo Port City, where the sea has been reclaimed by a Chinese company at a cost of 1.7 billion dollars, ministers said. “The Cabinet has approved Sri Lanka’s largest mixed development project,” Cabinet spokesman said

Chinese woman envoy 'inspired' PM Oli to redraw Nepal map

Even as border clashes between India and China escalate geopolitical tensions in the subcontinent, the pro-China government in Nepal seems to be in no mood to budge from its position on redrawing the country's map

India-China military talks end in stalemate, dialogue to continue

Indian and Chinese military talks at Galwan Valley over the violent clash along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh ended in a stalemate on Wednesday

Tender for 5.6 km tunnel to Chinese firm 'yet to be finalised': Government

Almost a week after the Chinese firm Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company Ltd (STEC) became the lowest bidder for constructing the 5.6-km New Ashok Nagar-Sahibabad underground tunnel of the 82 km Delhi-Meerut RRTS project, the India's Ministry of Urban Development on Wednesday clarified that the tender is in "process" and "yet to be finalised"

Gwadar agreement with China: No clause for 40-year tax holiday

In a stunning disclosure, Pakistan maritime affairs secretary admitted on Wednesday that the original Gwadar Port concession agreement offered only 20-year – not 40-year – tax holiday to port operators and there was no provision for extending the tax concession to sub-contractors

Afghanistan turns to China to battle the virus

The government of Afghanistan has asked for help from China in the training of medical staff to fight the coronavirus