New Delhi: The Indian economy has dropped to sixth place, with Britain returning to the top five, due to the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar, mainly, according to The Economist’s report on IMF global economic statistics.
“The reordering is largely the fault of the rupee. India’s currency lost around a tenth of its value against the dollar in the fiscal year to the end of March.”
The column says that while India will soon move back to the fifth spot, the weak rupee reflects “something troubling”. “India’s struggle to attract the foreign capital it needs to fuel growth and finance its ever pricier imports, including energy from the war-torn Gulf.”
The column notes that the RBI head has argued that a modest depreciation against the dollar is “normal” for a currency like the rupee, which is a consequence of India’s inflation being higher than that of the United States. While both countries had an inflation rate of three percent last financial year, the rupee depreciated by 11 percent.
“Foreigners have been shunning Indian assets both in portfolios and on the ground. Some $31bn have flowed out of Indian debt and equities since the start of 2025, compared with total inflows of nearly $50bn in the preceding two years.”
This is happening, the report notes, against the backdrop of the global AI boom, in which India has been getting left behind. “India lacks the artificial-intelligence firms that excite investors; AI could also put some of its giant listed IT consultants, such as TCS and Infosys, out of business.”
John Yoon and Hari Kumar of The New York Times report on NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Kohinoor remark, which made headlines Thursday.
“The Koh-i-Noor diamond has over the centuries been seized by Mughal emperors, Persian shahs, Afghan warlords and other powerful leaders.”
Britain acquired the stone in 1849 from a 10-year-old maharajah of the Sikh Empire, Duleep Singh, says the report. The diamond is now perched in the Tower of London, one of the royal family’s crown jewels.
“India and other countries in South Asia and the Middle East want it back, calling it stolen property and a painful symbol of colonial plunder.”
Now the tussle has found a new entrant in Mamdani, who said, “If I were to speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond.”
“Historians believe it was sifted from the sands in southern India thousands of years ago. It changed hands over the centuries in conquests across the Indian subcontinent.”
While the Indian government has been discussing the issue for decades now, the British government has maintained that the diamond was obtained legally.
“It has also cited a 1963 British law that prevents its museums from removing items from their collections.”
Then-British PM David Cameron also said in 2010 that the diamond “will have to stay put” since it would set a dangerous precedent.
“What tends to happen with these questions is that, if you say yes to one, you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty,” he said.
Meanwhile, India is sweltering, with the energy crisis only worsening the situation. Rajesh Kumar Singh and Pratik Parija of Bloomberg write about how “India’s heat exposes a fragile grid as energy crunch deepens”.
“With vital energy suppliers cut off from world markets, India has been left short of crude, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, used for cooking.”
“All the while, heat is pushing up electricity demand to unprecedented levels, triggering blackouts as infrastructure and generation struggle to cope.”
Temperatures, as the report notes, have already surged past 40 degrees Celcius, and “data from digital air-quality monitoring platform AQI showed that every one of the 50 hottest cities in the world was in India”.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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