India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ foreign policy is finding resonance in industry efforts to ramp up trade and bilateral relations with countries in India’s close proximity
Navigating the Intelligent Tide: How AI and Generative AI are Reshaping Maritime Mobility in South Asia
The integration of AI and Generative AI is not a distant aspiration — it is an active investment already reshaping how ports operate, how cargo moves, and how supply chains absorb shocks. For India and its neighbours, the imperative is clear: build the data foundations, governance frameworks, and human capabilities that allow intelligent mobility to reach not just the terminal gate, but every link in the maritime supply chain.
The Splinternet and Fractured Digital World: Will Sovereignty Serve People, or the State, or Whoever Owns the Server?
Companies like Google, Meta, and X constantly shape public opinion and thoughts, and store public data for commercial usage. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google host the cloud infrastructure on which states and businesses depend. These are not ordinary companies anymore; they have access to critical intelligence and data. And now AI companies like Palantir use this data for surveillance, intelligence, monitoring, and on battlefields.
Non-Material ‘Presence’ in the Age of AI: A South Asian Reclamation of the Spirit Against the Machine
While TiME FLiES travels from 18th-century Boston to 20th-century Michigan and 21st-century Provence, its soul remains anchored in South Asian philosophy. It argues that while AI may simulate the "heart and mind," the true "presence" of consciousness—the Turiya—cannot be reduced to code.
Fighting Fire With Fire: How South Asia Can Use AI to Fight Cybercrime
The same generative AI that allows criminals to craft perfect phishing emails in Sinhala (or Hindi, Bangla and Urdu) or clone a Chief Financial Officer's voice from a YouTube clip, can also detect those emails before they reach an inbox and flag that voice as synthetic before a payment is authorised. The technology exists. The question is whether South Asia's institutions will deploy it in time.
More on AI and Innovation
Pakistan's preferential trade access in peril as EU asks Islamabad to work on human rights
Pakistan needs to do more on the rapid implementation of international human rights conventions, said a senior European Union official, if Islamabad wanted the continuation of its Generalized Status of Preference (GSP) Plus status, a system under which most Pakistani goods enjoy duty-free access to the EU market
Drones may soon be delivering food orders in Pakistan’s capital
If everything goes right, customers in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad may soon be getting their food orders via drones
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance arm acquires Sri Lankan brand
RRVL, the retail arm of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has acquired a 100% stake in the Sri Lankan brand amanté from MAS Holdings
Nepal allows the import of GM crops
Nepal has allowed the import of a few genetically modified crops, partially relaxing the complete ban put eight years ago, amid intense lobbying from the country’s poultry industry
India-US defence expo focuses on emerging domains, including space and artificial intelligence
Indian and US defence officials and business people have focused on partnering in space and artificial intelligence at a virtual expo as part of their diversified strategic defence cooperation
Higher GDP growth to hurt Pakistan's economy, says PM adviser
Gross domestic product growth of over six percent would hurt Pakistan’s economy, said Shaukat Tareen, a special adviser on finance to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan
India comes to Nepal’s rescue, allows it to sell surplus power in Indian Energy Exchange
In what comes as a big relief to Nepal, India has permitted Nepal to sell its surplus electricity in the Indian Energy Exchange marketplace, a move that would help Nepal to avoid huge power wastage
Pakistan's exports record 17% growth in October amid yawning trade deficit
In what is the highest increase for a month, Pakistan’s exports in October registered a growth of 17 percent, touching $2.471 billion against $2.104 billion in the same month last year
Bangladesh looks for Russian investment in railway sector
Bangladesh is seeking Russian investment to develop the country’s railway infrastructure, said Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan amid a push for railway modernization in his country
India, Italy to collaborate on green hydrogen, renewable energy corridors
India and Italy have agreed to explore the development of green hydrogen, setting up renewable energy corridors, and joint projects in the natural gas sector as the two nations sought to strengthen partnership in energy transition
Power-surplus Nepal asks consumers to use more electricity to avoid wastage
It wasn’t long ago when Nepal used to be on the list of the countries with the highest power outages
Moody’s downgrades Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating; Central Bank calls it 'untimely'
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating, taking the country’s credit deeper into speculative-grade as foreign reserves continued to fall amid money printing and crippled forex markets
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka's budget expected to be one of the 'trickiest' in history
In an indication that Sri Lanka’s financial woes are far from over, a senior economist has said the country’s 2022 budget will not be able to provide relief to the public given the shaky nature of the budgetary management and lack of sources to finance it
Saudi Arabia announces USD 4.2 bn bailout for cash-strapped Pakistan
Saudi Arabia has agreed to revive its financial support to Pakistan, including about USD 3 billion in safe deposits and USD 1.2bn to USD 1.5bn worth of oil supplies on deferred payments, officials said
