Archita Gaur

For millions of Indians, paying through UPI has become almost invisible. Scan a QR code, enter a PIN, and the transaction is done usually without anyone asking what it costs to make that payment possible. That near-zero-cost experience has been central to UPI’s rapid adoption. Now, the proposed introduction of charges on certain UPI transactions marks a shift in the economics of India’s digital payments ecosystem. While consumers are not being asked to pay a fee for ordinary UPI payments, the...

India is trying to build alternatives to Chinese manufacturing while increasingly becoming a supplier within the same Asian production networks. AI generated image India’s economic relationship with China is becoming harder to describe in simple terms. New Delhi has spent years trying to reduce its dependence on Chinese imports, strengthen domestic manufacturing and build more resilient supply chains. Yet the latest trade trends point to a more complicated reality: India may be reducing some...

In a more fragmented global economy, India’s competitiveness will depend not just on what it makes, but on the cost of getting it to the world. AI generated image At a time when India is trying to build itself into a major manufacturing and export hub, the cost of getting a product from a factory to a foreign buyer is becoming as important as the cost of making it. A manufacturer can produce competitively and still lose that advantage to expensive freight, port delays, insurance, customs...