Category: international trade
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Logistics & Supply Chain: The Age of Distributed Resilience
Near-shoring, Multi-sourcing, and the Quiet Redesign of Global Trade The global logistics system is undergoing one of its most profound structural transitions since the era of containerisation in the 1960s. The historical model—built on long-distance consolidation, labour-arbitrage manufacturing, and ultra-lean inventories—powered globalisation for nearly five decades. But geopolitical shocks, climate…
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Supply Chains Rewired: From Cost Efficiency to Strategic Resilience
For nearly three decades, global supply chains were built on a simple promise: produce where it is cheapest, ship where it is needed, and optimize relentlessly. From the late 1990s through the 2010s, hyper-globalisation created highly specialised networks stretching across continents. Just-in-time inventory systems reduced warehousing costs. Manufacturing clustered in…
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Emerging Economies: Momentum with Conditions
The narrative around emerging economies has once again turned optimistic. After years of pandemic disruption, geopolitical realignment, and inflationary turbulence, several emerging markets are demonstrating relative resilience. Youthful demographics, expanding middle classes, and domestic consumption are acting as stabilizing anchors. Yet this momentum is unfolding under conditions far more complex…
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The Global Economy at a Crossroads: Stability Without Confidence
A World That Has Stabilized but Not Yet Recovered By early 2026, the global economy sits in a paradox. The world has avoided the worst outcomes that haunted policymakers after the pandemic and inflationary surge: no synchronized global recession, no systemic financial crisis, no uncontrolled price spiral. Major institutions such…
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From Globalisation to Conditional Integration: The New Architecture of Global Trade
The Historical Arc of Globalisation Globalisation once operated on a remarkably simple logic—price signals, comparative advantage, and supply-chain optimisation shaped the movement of goods, capital, and technology. From the early 1990s to around 2015, the world experienced a phase of hyper-globalisation, driven by China’s WTO entry, the rise of global…
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Who Is the Real Winner in Rule-Based Trade in the World?
The Promise and Paradox of Rule-Based Trade The global rule-based trading system—anchored in the World Trade Organization and a web of bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs)—was designed to create predictability, fairness, and equal opportunity. Yet, history shows that rules rarely benefit all countries equally. The real winner is…
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A World Becoming Smaller—But Not Closer
Over the past four decades, the world has become smaller in terms of communication, transportation, and information exchange. Digital platforms compress distances; logistics networks deliver goods overnight; and technologies such as AI and blockchain make cross-border collaboration seamless. However, paradoxically, global trade is becoming more distant, fragmented, and politically conditioned.…
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The Truth About the India–USA Trade Deal: What Really Happened and What It Really Means
Despite dramatic headlines and political messaging, India and the United States still do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as of February 2026. What was announced between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not an FTA but a “limited trade understanding”—a narrow, transactional arrangement designed to…
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India’s External Sector: Playing the Long Game in a Fragmenting World
India’s external sector in 2025–26 stands at a moment where history, geopolitics, and technology intersect. The world economy is moving away from hyper-globalisation toward fragmented blocs, supply-chain realignments, industrial subsidies and weaponised trade policy. Chapter 4 of the Indian Economic Survey 2025-26, titled External Sector: Playing the Long Game, captures…
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