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The Asian Drama, Gunnar Myrdal introduced the concept of the ‘soft state.’ He was really writing about South Asia, especially India, with barely any mention of the ‘miracle economies’ of East Asia.He characterized the Indian state as a ‘soft state,’ implying a government with limited capacity, unable to unwind a gridlock of competing interests that sucked up and dissipated scarce resources. This pre-empted the high growth necessary for reducing widespread poverty.India is now a fast-growing economy and poverty is much reduced, but regulatory failure to clean up the air in Delhi under successive governments suggests that the ‘soft state’ still prevails.Of late, the soft state has also been very visible in the awful tragedy in Arpora, Goa, where a fire at an unauthorized night club, Birch by Romeo Lane, killed 21 persons.

Japanese businesses are pivoting towards India as an investment destination promising robust returns—but also, how Tokyo, after over three decades of diplomatic efforts, is ready to walk the talk on deepening strategic relationships with New Delhi as both countries want to develop a meaningful counter to China’s might.For India’s financial sector, the deals in 2025 mark a moment worth noting. Foreign investors are returning with conviction, and Japan—long a steady but cautious partner—appears increasingly willing to deploy serious capital.It is a striking contrast to the dismissive description of India as a “dead economy” offered earlier this year by US President Donald Trump.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] global trading system is undergoing a profound transformation.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] a year marked by punishing US tariffs, climate-linked disruptions, and global uncertainty, India may finally be approaching a payoff phase.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) will restructure its operations to manage debt and enhance its appeal to investors ahead of its planned public listing next fiscal year, its top official said. Also called Mahavitaran, the state government-owned power distributor will be split into two entities, with one taking over electricity supply to the farm sector along with ₹75,000 crore in outstanding dues from farmers, Lokesh Chandra, the chairman and managing director of MSEDCL, said.

For decades, India has relied on its household consumption expenditure as the primary measure of welfare, poverty and inequality. While it is still important, it could be supplemented with new approaches that capture certain aspects of a rapidly transforming economy driven by technology and services in which households may have increasingly diversified sources of income.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Elevated inflation risks, volatility in global equity markets, and steady physical demand from India and China have together reinforced gold’s role as a portfolio stabilizer at a time when economic visibility remains poor. Gold has continued to attract investors for its safe-haven status amid currency weakness and geopolitical stress.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected].

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Japan was a global bright spot in 2025. Despite much hand-wringing over its debt burden, it is likely to remain so in 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]. Returns from investments are the best indicator of how various asset classes have performed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]. In 1912, the Titanic set sail with a level of confidence few machines have ever carried.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] the past decade, a silent crisis has been unfolding in India's middle class.

The post-neoliberal consensus is here, but don’t look for it in US President Donald Trump’s policies. After a decade of backlash, it is time to accept not only that neoliberalism is dead, but also that a new consensus is taking its place. Remarkably, significant segments of the left and the right in America have come to agree on the broad outlines of economic policy.

India’s economy was under $1 trillion when its rural job-guarantee scheme was launched in 2006. Now it’s four times that size. By turning the Indian state into an employer of last resort, it created a useful safety net.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said she doesn’t see any need to change interest rates for several months after the central bank cut rates at its last three meetings.

Russian energy, has also agreed to meet some of its demand from the US. Yet Russia remains relevant, having worked around the trading system through bilateral deals and its shadow fleet.On the other hand, Washington's attempts to derail China’s economy have largely fallen flat.

Reuters report.The massive, factory-sized system has reportedly been dubbed China’s “Manhattan Project”, a reference to the top-secret US effort during World War II to develop the atomic bomb ahead of Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s.The development has profound implications for the global balance of technological and strategic power. At its core, it can dismantle the West’s near-monopoly over the production of the world’s most advanced chips—those that power AI systems, smartphones, and modern military platforms.A 2024 study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute pointed to a “stunning shift in research leadership over the past two decades towards large economies in the Indo-Pacific, led by China’s exceptional gains.“The US led in 60 of 64 technologies in the five years from 2003 to 2007.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. FRANKFURT—Across Germany, railcar factories are being retooled to build military vehicles, auto suppliers are joining with defense contractors, and former soldiers are suddenly hot commodities in the jobs market. After Berlin pledged to spend more than half a trillion dollars on defense in the next decade, manufacturers facing stubborn economic stagnation and falling exports to the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mention 2007 to a group of professional investors, and watch them bristle. The year was a bad one.

In 1980, neither China nor India had much representation in the ‘global middle class’—people who neither belong to the bottom half of the income distribution nor rank among the top 10% worldwide. Almost a half-century later, things have changed—but in very different ways.

India is a nation on a trajectory of rapid economic growth and today stands at the threshold of a defining era.This growth is being channelled through ambitious national goals that explicitly link innovation with sustainability, notably India’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 and its push to strengthen advanced manufacturing and global technology capabilities through initiatives such as Make in India and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes.This approach to combining scale with responsibility positions India as an increasingly attractive partner for countries across the world.Finland, a country renowned for innovation, clean technologies, and robust public and industrial systems, shares this forward-looking vision.Finland’s national goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, a significantly more ambitious timeline than the European Union’s overall target of 2050.The current annual bilateral trade value between India and Finland, at approximately €3 billion, remains modest relative to the potential of two innovation-driven economies.