Author: Shradhanjali Mukherjee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have announced the successful conclusion of a historic and ambitious India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), marking a major milestone in bilateral relations. During a telephone conversation on Monday, the two leaders expressed confidence that the agreement would help double bilateral trade over the next five years. They also highlighted New Zealand’s plans to invest $20 billion in India over the next 15 years, reflecting growing economic confidence between the two nations. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, negotiations for the FTA began in March this…

Before launching her own venture, Kalyani Ramadurgam worked at Apple, focusing on high-stakes compliance to ensure that individuals on terrorism watchlists could not use Apple Pay. While the work was critical, what struck her was the outdated approach. Even at a top tech firm, compliance processes relied heavily on manual labor, requiring teams to pore over thousands of pages of regulatory documents, often overwhelming staff and slowing operations. That experience inspired her entrepreneurial journey. Recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 USA 2026 in Finance, Ramadurgam teamed up with Ashi Agrawal, a former software engineer at Affirm, to co-found Kobalt Labs…

 Vineeth Sendilraj, a 19-year-old Indian-origin computer science student at Georgia Tech, has joined Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, as an engineer, describing the opportunity as a “full circle moment.” His announcement comes shortly after a viral moment at xAI’s December 2025 hackathon. Sendilraj first gained attention when images and videos from the hackathon circulated online, showing him intensely drinking water in a room full of engineers. While initially shared lightheartedly, the clip became part of a larger controversy when Nik Pash, a senior AI executive at the tech firm Cline, posted a comment deemed racist and anti-South Asian. Sendilraj…

US President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping prescription drug price cuts under a “Most Favoured Nation” (MFN) policy has brought India’s pharmaceutical sector into sharp focus, as the United States plans to benchmark domestic drug prices against those paid in other countries. Addressing the nation on Wednesday, Trump said his administration negotiated sharp reductions in drug prices by directly confronting pharmaceutical companies and foreign governments. He claimed the policy would slash prices by up to 400–600 per cent and reverse decades of rising drug costs in the US. The MFN policy aims to link US drug prices to the lowest…

Chandrashekhar Joshi, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has been named the first holder of the Mukund Padmanabhan Term Chair in Excellence. The three-year term chair is one of two established in 2024, each supported with a $500,000 donation from Mukund Padmanabhan, an accomplished UCLA alumnus. The Samueli Foundation has matched these contributions with an additional $1,000,000. The second Mukund Padmanabhan Term Chair in Innovation is yet to be filled. Over the years, Padmanabhan has endowed multiple faculty chairs, scholarships, graduate fellowships, and research initiatives at UCLA Samueli. Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, the…

Indian-born entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal has entered the ranks of global billionaires after the rapid rise of his AI-driven software company, Harness, which is currently valued at $5,500 million. His personal net worth now stands at approximately $2,300 million, driven largely by his ownership stake in Harness and earlier gains from selling his first startup, AppDynamics. Bansal’s story began in a small town in Rajasthan, India. He moved to the United States on an H1-B visa with only a few hundred dollars and a clear ambition to build technology products of global scale. After earning a green card, he founded AppDynamics…

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday co-chaired the 16th India-UAE Joint Commission and the 5th Strategic Dialogue with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi. The meeting reviewed all aspects of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and the UAE and identified key priorities for future cooperation. The discussions reflected the growing depth and breadth of bilateral ties across political, economic and strategic domains. Highlighting the importance of the relationship, Jaishankar said that deeper India-UAE cooperation advances shared interests and contributes to regional and…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarked on a three-nation diplomatic visit to Jordan, Ethiopia and Oman, aimed at deepening India’s strategic partnerships and expanding cooperation across political, economic and people-to-people domains. In his departure statement, the Prime Minister said India shares long-standing civilisational ties as well as robust contemporary relations with all three countries. The visit reflects India’s continued focus on strengthening engagement across West Asia and Africa. The first leg of the visit takes the Prime Minister to Jordan, marking 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. During his stay in Amman, Modi will hold detailed discussions…

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.03 billion to $687.26 billion for the week ending December 5, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India. The increase was led by a sharp jump in gold reserves, which climbed by $1.188 billion to $106.984 billion. Special Drawing Rights also increased by $95 million to $18.721 billion. The central bank continues to actively monitor currency market movements and intervenes when required to maintain orderly trading conditions. India has witnessed a surge in foreign direct investment commitments this year, with total FDI inflows during the first half of FY 2025–26 reaching…

Indian Americans were celebrated as one of the most powerful forces connecting the United States and India during a high-profile Congressional hearing, even as lawmakers issued sharp criticisms of the Trump administration’s tightening immigration rules and visa policies. The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia convened on Wednesday to assess the state of the US–India strategic partnership, and throughout the session, the diaspora’s economic and social contributions took center stage. Committee Chairman Bill Huizenga opened the hearing by stressing that more than 5 million Indian Americans serve as a backbone for the U.S. economy. He highlighted their…