Submit your Article

India will increase Russian oil imports by 10–20 percent in September as Moscow offers steeper discounts after refinery outages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks, traders said.

The US has condemned India’s purchases, with President Donald Trump raising tariffs on Indian imports to 50 percent this week. New Delhi rejected the criticism, pointing to continued Western trade with Russia.

India currently buys about 1.5m barrels per day of Russian crude, meeting 40 percent of its oil needs and making it Russia’s largest customer, Reuters reported.

At least 30 people have died and many others injured after heavy rains triggered a massive landslide on Tuesday near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Indian-administered Kashmir, Al Jazeera reported.

Search and rescue teams, including security forces, disaster relief personnel, and local volunteers, are working to clear debris and locate survivors. The popular Hindu pilgrimage route to the temple has been temporarily suspended.

The landslide adds to the devastating impact of this year’s monsoon rains in the Himalayan region, which have left hundreds dead and missing across India and Pakistan, according to Al Jazeera.

Brazil is negotiating with the US to reverse a 50 percent tariff on its goods, including beef, fruit, and coffee, Foreign Trade Secretary Tatiana Prazeres said Tuesday. According to Xinhua, the tariff was imposed in response to Brazil’s prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro,

Prazeres highlighted efforts to diversify exports, focusing on markets such as Mexico, Canada, and India. Brazil has also filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the tariffs.

The government is advancing Mercosur trade talks with Canada, the EU, and the European Free Trade Association. Brazil aims for a constructive “win-win” relationship with Washington, with the US accounting for roughly 12 percent of its exports, Xinhua reported.

President Donald Trump’s tariff hike on Indian goods took effect Wednesday, doubling duties to as much as 50 percent on products like textiles, jewelry, footwear, furniture and chemicals, Reuters reported.

The move, tied partly to India’s Russian oil purchases, puts thousands of exporters and jobs at risk, especially in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. India’s Commerce Ministry says it will support affected businesses and encourage them to seek new markets in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

A short grace period allows goods already in transit to enter the US at lower rates until September 17.

Washington argues Indian tariffs unfairly restrict US exports, pointing to rates as high as 100 percent on autos and heavy duties on farm goods. India counters its average tariff on US imports is only 7.5 percent, according to Reuters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised major tax cuts to soften the blow of new US tariffs that threaten millions of Indian jobs. Speaking on Independence Day, he pledged a simplified goods and services tax (GST) system and urged citizens to back his “Made in India” call for self-reliance, according to BBC.

The reforms, paired with earlier income tax cuts, are expected to boost consumption by putting more money in people’s hands. Analysts say this could lift demand for everyday goods, cars, housing and support economic growth despite global headwinds.

Markets have reacted positively, with India also securing its first sovereign rating upgrade in 18 years. But experts warn that strained US-India trade ties and slowing growth remain serious challenges, BBC reported.

Pakistan has begun evacuating over 100,000 people from Punjab’s border areas after India released water from overflowing dams, marking the first direct contact between the two countries since May’s brief conflict.

Authorities warned further rainfall in India could raise river levels, increasing flood risks. This comes amid Pakistan’s deadly monsoon season, which has claimed at least 800 lives since June, and recent cloudburst floods in the northwest that killed over 300, highlighting the country’s vulnerability to climate change, according to Al Jazeera.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1. The high-profile meeting, the largest in the bloc’s history, is seen as a show of Global South solidarity amid tensions with Washington, according to Firstpost.

For Modi, it will be his first visit to China in over seven years, signaling a cautious thaw after the 2020 border clashes. Analysts expect India and China to explore steps such as troop withdrawals, easing trade restrictions, and wider cooperation.

While the SCO has struggled to deliver concrete results, the summit’s real impact lies in optics projecting an alternative vision of global order and renewed momentum in India-China dialogue, Firstpost reported.

Indian exporters are bracing for disruptions after a U.S. Homeland Security notification confirmed Washington would impose an additional 25% tariff on all Indian-origin goods from Wednesday, ramping up trade pressure on the Asian nation, Reuters reported.

Indian exports will face U.S. duties of up to 50% - among the highest imposed by Washington - after President Donald Trump announced extra tariffs as punishment for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.

The new duties will apply to goods entering the U.S. for consumption or withdrawn from warehouses for consumption from 12:01 a.m. EDT on Wednesday or 9:31 a.m. IST, according to the Homeland Security notice.

The Indian rupee weakened 0.2% to 87.75 per U.S. dollar in early trade, even as the greenback declinedagainst many other currencies. The benchmark equity indexesand were each trading 0.7% lower, according to Reuters.

Researchers in India have discovered the fossilised remains of a rare crocodile-like species from the Jurassic era in the western state of Rajasthan, BBC reported.

The fossil, known as a phytosaur, measures between 1.5 to two metres and is likely to be more than 200 million years old, researchers say. 

It was unearthed at Megha village in Jaisalmer district by senior hydrogeologist Dr Narayandas Inkhiya and his team, who work for the state's water department.

Mr Inkhiya told the BBC that the site could hold "many more hidden fossils" that could provide vital and fascinating clues on the history of evolution, according to BBC.

India will overhaul its benchmark inflation index to include online retail prices, the statistics ministry said, aiming to better capture shifting consumer habits. The move involves sourcing data directly from e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Flipkart, as well as scraping prices from 12 major cities with populations above 2.5m, Reuters reported.

The update seeks to make the Consumer Price Index (CPI) more timely and representative, reflecting growing household spending on e-commerce, airfares, and streaming services. E-commerce firms will provide weekly average prices, which the government will cross-check against broader datasets before inclusion.

The revised CPI, incorporating updated weightages as recent surveys show a declining share of spending on food, is expected to roll out early next year. According to Reuters, India had around 270m online shoppers in 2024, highlighting the rising significance of digital consumption.

At least nine people died and around 50 others were injured, some critically, when a truck rammed into a vehicle carrying pilgrims in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district early Monday morning, Xinhua reported.

The accident occurred at approximately 2:15 a.m. (local time) as the group was traveling to a temple in neighboring Rajasthan. Police said two of the injured are in critical condition.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the collision and providing assistance to the victims and their families, according to Xinhua.

India fears a planned Chinese mega-dam in Tibet could cut Brahmaputra River flows by up to 85 percent in the dry season, a government analysis shows. Beijing’s $170bn project, the world’s largest hydropower dam, could divert over a third of annual flows before the river enters India, Reuters reported.

In response, New Delhi is fast-tracking the proposed Upper Siang Multipurpose Dam in Arunachal Pradesh, which would be India’s biggest. Officials say it could offset water losses, stabilize supplies, and absorb potential surges from Chinese releases.

China insists its project will not harm downstream nations, but Indian officials view it as a strategic risk. The Brahmaputra supports more than 100m people across China, India, and Bangladesh, according to Reuters.

In a modest-sized university lab in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, researchers are using a tiny drill to scrape away enamel from a 2,500-year-old tooth, BBC reported.

Researchers at Madurai Kamaraj University say the tooth belongs to one of two human skulls that they have used as models to digitally reconstruct faces to understand what the region's early inhabitants might have looked like.

The skulls, both belonging to men, were excavated from Kondagai, an ancient burial site about 4km (2.5 miles) from Keeladi - an archaeological site that has become a political flashpoint in India.

Tamil Nadu state department archaeologists say an urban civilisation dating back to 580BC existed in Keeladi, a claim that adds a new dimension to the story of the Indian subcontinent, according to BBC.

India's Supreme Court has modified its previous order asking authorities in Delhi and its suburbs to move all stray dogs into shelters amid widespread protests by animal welfare groups, BBC reported.

The three-judge bench said that strays should be released after being vaccinated and sterilised but added that dogs with rabies or aggressive behaviour should be immunised and kept in shelters.

The court also banned feeding of stray dogs in public spaces and ordered dedicated areas to be set up for the purpose.

On 11 August, a two-judge bench had expressed concern over the rising "menace of dog bites leading to rabies" in Delhi and its suburbs, according to BBC.

Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong has said that Beijing "firmly opposes" Washington's steep tariffs on Delhi and called for greater co-operation between India and China, BBC reported.

Xu likened the US to a "bully", saying that it had long benefitted from free trade but was now using tariffs as a "bargaining chip" to demand "exorbitant prices" from other nations.

"US has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India and even threatened for more. China firmly opposes it. Silence only emboldens the bully," Xu said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25% penalty on India in addition to 25% tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia. The new rate will come into effect on 27 August, according to BBC.

As South Asia experiences a multifaceted regional rebalancing, the Indo-Nepal bilateral relationship keeps developing on the twin principles of economic interdependence, physical connectivity infrastructure, and strategic diplomacy. Trade and energy to border management and transit routes, the latest developments in 2025 represent a renewed vigour of engagement between the two neighbours—united not only geographically, but through history and people-to-people ties.

A deep trade partnership 

India continues to be Nepal's biggest trade partner by a wide margin, with more than 64% of Nepal's foreign trade volume. Based on the data of the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi, bilateral trade reached Rs 1.13 trillion during FY 2022–23. Nepal exported products worth Rs 106.69 billion and imported more than Rs 1.02 trillion from India.

Nepal's major exports to India are refined palm oil, soybean oil, cardamom, carpets, iron and steel, and polyester yarn. Such commodities—some of which are manufactured under inward processing arrangements—have duty-free entry into Indian markets under currently prevailing bilateral agreements, subject to meeting prescribed value-addition norms.

On the import front, Nepal is heavily reliant on Indian petroleum products, vehicles, machinery, medicines, and food grains. The trade deficit is appalling, but Nepal is making efforts to diversify its export basket, with more focus on electricity exports, herbal products, and processed agro-forestry products.

Infrastructure and connectivity as catalysts

Trade facilitation has also been boosted immensely by cross-border infrastructure. Two Integrated Check Posts—ICP Raxaul from the Indian side and ICP Birgunj in Nepal—collectively process more than 50% of total bilateral trade volume, as reported by Nepal's Customs Department.

Additionally, strategic road and rail connectivity continues to be expanded:

Jaynagar–Kurtha railway is in operation, with additional extension to Bardibas underway.

Raxaul–Kathmandu and Jogbani–Biratnagar railway projects are in advanced planning stages.

The Gorakhpur Link Expressway, which opened in June 2025, brings travel time from Lucknow to the Nepal border down to 3.5 hours, benefiting border trade and tourism straightaway.

A historic connectivity project—the Motihari–Amlekhganj petroleum pipeline—has already changed the petroleum product supply chain. In operation since 2019, it exports more than 2 million tons of fuel every year and minimizes transport costs and losses substantially.

Energy: From impirt dependence to regional exporter

One of the most notable developments this year is the coming out of Nepal as a power exporter. Nepal, in June 2025, started exporting 40 MW of power to Bangladesh via India's transmission network—South Asia's first tri-national energy transit project.

This comes after India's endorsement of Nepal's export of more than 450 MW of power, mainly from hydropower projects, to Indian states like Bihar. A 2024 long-term energy deal obliges India to buy a maximum of 10,000 MW of power from Nepal within a decade—an ambitious but possible target considering Nepal's unreleased hydropower potential.

In February 2025, Indian Oil Corporation inked an agreement to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Nepal, a first in cross-border energy collaboration. The initial quantum will be small—240 tons a year—but the strategic value is significant.

Diplomacy and strategic engagement 

Diplomatic interaction between the two countries has picked up in recent months. India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri travelled to Kathmandu in August 2025 for top-level discussions with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, setting the stage for a state visit to India in September.

In parallel, home secretary-level talks during July concentrated on border safety, preventing trans-border crime, and coordinating responses to disaster—all high-priority areas for two nations with a penetrable and open 1,770 km shared border.

India has continued to prioritize its "Neighbourhood First" strategy, and Nepal has, in turn, reaffirmed greater cooperation across domains.

Historical foundations contemporary relevance 

India–Nepal relations are supported by official treaties—the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the Treaty of Trade, and the Treaty of Transit. These have ensured institutional continuity, but both sides realized that they need to update their framework to accommodate changing economic and geopolitical compulsions.

There are occasional political tensions, but the structural foundations are stable. The economic path is one of the increased integration, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors. Cultural ties, religious bonds, and the open border access continue to underpin rich people-to-people relationships, especially in border communities.

Conclusion

As the globe leans towards regionalism and economic blocs, India and Nepal are heading towards a more pragmatic and fruitful era of bilateral engagement. Diversification of trade, energy dependence, and high-level diplomacy indicate that 2025 could be a watershed year—one that converts geographic proximity into strategic partnership.

Whether or not potential is actualized will rest on sustained mutual respect, open coordination, and shared vision towards sustainable development.

Jagathkrishna Yadav, journalism student, Dr B.R Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad