Website articles (21) Courtesy: Alamy
24 December 2025

Japan in Bombay: trade, faith and community

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The earliest sizeable presence of Japanese expatriates in India was in colonial Bombay and its Presidency. The Japanese came for trade, but their engagement with the port city and its cotton hinterland went beyond commerce to include spiritual life and later, India’s national movement. This chapter, ‘Geographies of Exchange between Japan and India’, traces their community, religion, social infrastructure, and commercial and cultural contributions to Bombay.

Books
Oman and Zanzibar virtual museum Courtesy: Oman and Zanzibar Virtual Museum
24 December 2025

Bombay-Oman-East Africa trade networks

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In December, India and Oman signed a Free Trade Agreement – a formalisation of exchanges which are, in fact, two hundred years old. These were led by the Indian merchant diasporas, especially the Bhatia, Bohra, Khoja, Khimji and Jain communities, which used Omani-controlled maritime networks to link Bombay with East Africa. These networks still endure, and among the oldest, strongest, and culturally richest are the Bombay-Oman-East Africa connections.

Website articles (21) Courtesy: Alamy
18 December 2025

Japan in Bombay: trade, faith and community

BY

The earliest sizeable presence of Japanese expatriates in India was in colonial Bombay and its Presidency. The Japanese came for trade, but their engagement with the port city and its cotton hinterland went beyond commerce to include spiritual life and later, India’s national movement. This chapter, ‘Geographies of Exchange between Japan and India’, traces their community, religion, social infrastructure, and commercial and cultural contributions to Bombay.

mumbai-coastal-road-inaugurated Courtesy:
5 July 2024

India Became Bharat When No One was Looking

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India’s story reads like a Bollywood script – unbelievable and insane to those who fail to decode its success. The most discernable change is internal, as ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ coexist. India has stopped feeling and thinking poor; it’s right up there with the biggies. Maybe not invited to the high table yet, but has set up its own and invited the rest to the lavish banquet.

Reserve Bank India Courtesy: Shapoorji Pallonji
2 May 2024

A central bank for India in Bombay

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The Reserve Bank of India entered its 90th year on 1 April. From the 1940s to 1960s it was critical in protecting India’s interests at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, and conserving India’s Forex by managing a Rupee trade with the East Bloc. Today, it is among Mumbai’s several historic financial institutions and has navigated India’s economy through turbulent geopolitical and geoeconomic events.

crosswinds Courtesy: Amazon India
14 March 2024

Crosswinds: Nehru, Zhou and the Anglo-American Competition over China

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In his new book, former Indian Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to China, Vijay Gokhale analyzes how newly independent India navigated Anglo-American competition and the Cold War ideologies of China in the 1940s and 1950s. The author focuses on key events from the recognition of the Peoples’ Republic of China to the two Taiwan Straits crises. His insights of the period resonate with today's U.S.-China rivalry, and highlights India's evolving role in the Indo-Pacific.

SifraExcerpt Courtesy: Sarmaya Arts Foundation
7 March 2024

Japan in Bombay and its presidency

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India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is currently visiting Japan for the 16th India-Japan Foreign Ministers Strategic Dialogue. The bilateral, which began 130 years ago with Bombay’s cotton trade, has deepened into a Special Strategic and Global Partnership in defence, digital technologies, semiconductor supply chains, clean energy, trade and connectivity. The following book excerpt traces the origin of India-Japan trade ties.

pic for website Courtesy: IMF
19 January 2023

Trade Integration: South Asia and East Asia

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Since the 1990s, South Asia–East Asia trade and free trade agreements have accelerated as India’s trade realigned toward East Asia. As regional trade recovers after the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian economies have opportunities to participate in global value chains and services trade. BIMSTEC may catalyze more effective regional cooperation for small and large economies alike.

IMG-1634 Courtesy: @NarendraModi
12 May 2022

India-Africa: Changing Horizons

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Africa as a zone of Sino-Indian contestation has intensified in the COVID era, where both countries extended support to the continent in diverse sectors of human security. Africa needs capacity, and building it means it will not make a choice between India and China, but it will prioritise its own needs and select separately what it needs from both countries

Books
amit cover Courtesy: Routledge India
5 January 2022

India and the Changing Geopolitics of Oil

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India is the world's third largest importer of oil after China and the U.S. and a major player providing demand security for oil exporters. The technological changes and geopolitical shifts in the oil economy from the West to the East, highlights India's position as a valuable partner in renewable energy, and oil security and production. The book explores the various elements of India's dependence on imported oil, and how it can turn to an advantage. This excerpt analyses the alternatives to the current West-dominated oil markets and industry that are available to India as a leading consumer.