New Delhi: Businessman Gautam Adani’s indictment last year by the US Department of Justice on charges of fraud had sent shockwaves across India. But, the case has come to a “standstill” a year later, report Alex Travelli and Santul Nerkar in The New York Times.
While little has changed about the case, the relationship between the US and India has shifted drastically under Donald Trump, notes the report.
“India’s archrival, Pakistan, is suddenly favored in the White House. The United States imposed witheringly high tariffs on India’s exports, including a special penalty for India’s purchase of Russian oil. In addition, the Justice Department has flipped its personnel, its priorities and, according to lawyers who have left, its very purpose,” it says.
A civil suit filed against the Adani Group by the US Securities and Exchange Commission has also come to a halt, it adds.
“It is not clear why the case has come to a standstill. Mr. Adani’s fate is being decided while Mr. Trump is negotiating with India over a complex set of issues. India has yet to secure a trade deal with the White House, meaning its products are subject to a 50 percent import duty, including the penalty for buying Russian oil,” it says.
In Financial Times, Dalmia Group’s Gaurav Dalmia writes that India’s tech evolution is reaching new heights—software as a service sector is growing and consumer internet businesses are also surging.
“India’s tech development has gone through four main phases, each with its distinctive characteristics: the transformational rise of IT services, the development of software-as-a-service companies, the consumer internet and ecommerce boom, and the emergence of ‘deep tech’ companies focused on complex technologies or hardware,” he explains.
While much of this has been written about extensively, India’s deep-tech growth has been ignored.
“Less remarked upon internationally has been the progress of India’s deep tech industry. Venture capital funding in deep tech increased at a compound growth of some 90 per cent over 2019-2024, according to Inc42. And one example of the progress is that the country built a completely indigenous 4G telecom network. This is not a minor achievement,” he writes.
India’s perceived lack of innovation often raises eyebrows and has come to dominate conversation around the country’s tech sector. Dalmia’s piece aims to dispel this.
“But the country has created more than 120 unicorns, start-ups valued at more than $1bn, according to Tracxn—the third highest number after the US and China. Indian and international venture capital firms have invested $96bn over the past five years, according to consultants Bain, in around 8,000 funding rounds,” he states.
Also in Financial Times, Chris Kay, Krishn Kaushik and Andrea Rodrigues report that Mukesh Ambani’s JioMart is upping the ante.
“Despite its large network of physical stores, Reliance has yet to corner the domestic consumer market like it did with telecoms a decade ago. It faces entrenched competition from established domestic and international rivals, as well as millions of kiranas, family-run convenience stores,” says the report.
Reliance Retail’s consumer-facing brands are helmed by Isha Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s daughter.
“Reliance’s scale in retail now is unmatched in India,” Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of consumer advisory company Third Eyesight, is quoted as saying, “in reference to the breadth of the conglomerate’s business”.
“This scale is unique in India and rare in global retail.”
“In August, she (Isha Ambani) detailed plans for Reliance’s consumer brands subsidiary, which has a portfolio including Lotus Chocolate and the recently revived nostalgic Indian soft drink Campa Cola, to reach $11.7bn in revenue within five years.”
“Ultimately, the goal was to ‘become India’s largest FMCG company with a global presence’, she said during Reliance’s annual meeting,” according to the FT.
Nine years after Bihar instituted a ban on the sale and purchase of alcohol, the BBC finds that when it comes to implementation, there are gaping holes and alcohol remains “widely available”.
“State officials tout the policy’s success by pointing to big numbers: since the law took effect, 1.1 million cases have been registered and 650,000 people convicted for violations. But the devil lies in the detail,” says the report.
“More than 99% of these convictions are for consumption, rather than production, selling, or transport of illicit liquor. Moreover, alcohol remains widely available in the black market in Bihar.”
There are a slew of reasons behind this ineffective implementation, including Bihar’s geography.
“Bihar’s geography makes enforcement even harder. The landlocked state borders Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal – all of which allow alcohol and serve as major sources of smuggled liquor. It also shares a 726km (449 mile), largely porous border with Nepal, which officials say has become a key conduit for alcohol smuggling, further complicating enforcement,” says the report.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)