Colombo and Mundra ports

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

Sri Lanka seeks IMF support amid worsening economic crisis; signs agreement with India for $500 million line of credit

Amid the worsening economic crisis, Sri Lanka has written to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seeking “technical support” in tackling the ongoing crisis, confirmed Finance Minister Basit Rajapaksa, after the government kept avoiding the IMF option for months amid domestic pressure

IMF approves $1 billion for Pakistan, revives $6 billion package

In what comes as a big relief to Pakistan’s struggling economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1 billion for Pakistan after the latter implemented reform measures suggested by the former, thus reviving the $6 billion package, which was stalled since June last year

India reduces development assistance to neighbors in budget 2022

Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, see cuts in their allocations in the financial year 2022-23, while Bangladesh, Maldives, and Myanmar receive higher funds in comparison to the last year.  

Amid fuel shortage, Sri Lanka to purchase diesel from Indian Oil Corporation

Amid the growing fuel crisis exacerbated by a foreign exchange crisis, the Sri Lankan government has decided to purchase diesel from India’s state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), and a proposal for the purchase has been cleared by the Cabinet on Tuesday

Sri Lanka seeks market access for its goods in crisis-hit Turkey

Sri Lanka has sought market access in Turkey for its goods when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Sri Lanka for the promotion of the bilateral trade between the two countries

How Iranian apples via Afghanistan are ruining Kashmir’s horticulture industry

The advent of Iranian apples has resulted in a drop of over 50 percent in demand for Kashmiri apples, write Suhail Bhat and Sameer Mushtaq for South Asia Monitor

Nepal’s self-sufficiency in cement, with a little Chinese help, costs the environment and people

Nepal has become self-sufficient in cement production, with close to 55 plants having an annual production capacity of 15 million tonnes operating across the country

Air India gets privatised, goes back to Tata Group after nearly seven decades

Nearly 70 years after the Indian government took over Air India from a reluctant Tatas, the flag carrier returned to its founder, the salt-to-software conglomerate Thursday

IMF projects India's growth rate at 9% - highest among major economies

India's economy is projected to grow by 9 per cent in the next fiscal year, retaining its position as the fastest-growing major economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported on Tuesday citing its expectations of higher investments and consumption due to credit growth and better financial sector performance

Sri Lanka’s construction sector crippled by cement shortage amid forex crisis

The construction industry, the biggest contributor to the gross domestic product in Sri Lanka, is threatened by the shortage of cement, and now builders have urged authorities to resolve their issues

Pakistan’s plan to offer permanent residence to rich foreigners: Historic or delusional?

Pakistan recently decided to offer permanent residency to rich foreigners, mainly Sikhs living in the US and Canada, Afghans and Chinese, in exchange for their investment, a move the country’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary termed “historic.”

Sri Lanka, facing foreign exchange crisis, seeks to revive its prized tea exports

In a bid to revive its prized tea industry facing an export collapse, the Sri Lankan government has said it will provide fertilizer subsidies to tea cultivators who have been suffering since the ban on chemical fertilizer last year

PM Imran Khan’s growth delusion hides a painful reality for Pakistan

In a tweet on Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Khan said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the last three years was 5.37 percent and congratulated his own government for “substantial job creation” and “rise in per capita income.”

The China factor in Nepal’s power exports to India

India will not buy Nepal’s surplus electricity produced by hydropower projects having Chinese components or built by Chinese contractors, Indian authorities have reportedly conveyed to Nepal, days after the industry players from the two nations signed a landmark agreement for power trading

India seeks to boost trade with Bangladesh as Dhaka’s exports to New Delhi set to cross $2 billion

Bangladesh's economic success - from a "basket case" to a "bull case" - and hailed around the world, is being recognised by neighbour India as Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Vikram K Doraiswami met FBCCI President Mohammad Jashmin Uddin and sought the cooperation of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) to boost bilateral trade between the countries