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Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for people in business who are excited by change. We cover business, economics, markets, finance, technology, science, design, and fashion.

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Featured Writers

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Niharika Sharma

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Matthieu Favas

With roots in the wine industry, I now lead the commodities coverage at The Economist, having previously covered banking, crypto, fintech and private equity (among other topics). I also write …

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Sara Stefanini

Writer, journalist, climate change comms consultant. Italo-Aussie with a dash of American.

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Dario Sabaghi

Freelance journalist interested in international news and cannabis.

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KEVIN KELLEHER

I'm a business journalist with more than 25 years of experience. As a writer, I specialize in original analysis of financial markets and the tech industry. I currently write for …

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Jack Aldwinckle

Journalist, London

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Latest Articles

India has removed the periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

Class 10 students following the Indian government’s syllabus will no longer learn the periodic table of elements. Environmental sustainability has also been removed from the curriculum. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which oversees school syllabi for around 134 million students aged 11-18, had earlier even removed …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

India's worsening struggle with heat waves will leave one gainer

India is bracing for an alarming increase in the number of summer heat waves in coming years, putting lives at risk and leaving the economy scorched. But there is one group that could gain from this torrid scenario: power companies.Analysts forecast that the 30-odd power-generating companies in India, like Tata …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Mumbai residents have India's cheapest public transport—because their city spends the most

Mumbaikars, as residents of the country’s financial capital are known, spend the least on transport among all Indians living in major cities. Mumbai also has the highest public transport patronage with adequate availability spanning the city, including at night, according to the Ola Mobility Institute Foundation’s Ease Of Moving Index …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

India is now ever more dependent on Chinese imports despite seeking self-reliance

For the past few years, prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has been pushing businesses to “make in India” and lessen his country’s reliance on China-made goods. The idea is to reduce India’s trade deficit with its neighbour. A trade deficit happens when a country’s imports exceed its exports.Yet, after spending …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

The Tatas and Adanis illegally extracted groundwater but India has let them off the hook

India has granted relief to a bunch of big companies, including legacy businesses like Tata Sons and the Adani group, in cases related to overextraction of groundwater. This has come merely days after some of their projects were branded “illegal” by authorities for such a breach of law.The country’s central …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Facebook sold Modi’s BJP ads at cheaper rates than rivals ahead of Indian elections

It isn’t only Asia’s richest billionaire who has helped India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win elections over the past few years. Facebook, too, played a friendly role.An investigation by Reporters’ Collective, a non-profit media organisation based in India, and ad.watch, a research project studying political advertisements on social media, …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

A Mukesh Ambani-owned media firm is helping Modi’s BJP win elections in India

NEWJ, a subsidiary of Jio Platforms which is owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group, has paid for a series of advertisements on Facebook, according to a media investigation by the Reporters’ Collective. The campaign helped push the BJP’s agenda on Indian social media just before the 2019 parliamentary elections in …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

India’s knee-jerk reactions every winter expose its inability to deal with Delhi’s toxic air crisis

On Nov. 25, Delhi’s air quality stood at “very poor.” People were inhaling 171 micrograms of toxic particles per cubic meter of air when 25 is the World Health Organization-designated “safe level”. Not surprising then that watery eyes and sore throats are common.Yet, this was an improvement. On Nov. 4, …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

The twists and turns that forced Modi’s U-turn on controversial farm laws

Since November 2020, thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting against the alleged attempt to undermine their autonomy and financial security as cultivators.Now, with a victory on their horizon, this may be the time to look back at the trajectory their protest took …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Family problems are the most common reason for deaths by suicide in India

Family issues are driving Indians the most towards death by suicide, resulting in 33% of all the reported cases in 2020. Physical and mental illnesses were the second most important factor, the latest government data show.Up to 153,052 deaths by suicide were recorded in 2020 from across the country, according …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

How Indian states are fiscally responding to climate change

“It has already become a reality…Reduced agricultural productivity, heightened water insecurity, extreme weather events, stressed ecosystems, and elevated health risks are some of the manifestations of this climate change,” credit rating agency India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said in a report released on Thursday (Oct. 7).While the country’s gross domestic …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

India’s delivery workers are driving a conversation about long hours and low pay

But the conversation around the long hours and low pay didn’t begin with those ads. Instead, as the buzz around delivery app valuations heightened in recent months ahead of Zomato’s July IPO, a number of social handles whose users say they are delivery riders have been dishing the dirt on …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Reliance Jio’s cheap data turned India’s internet dreams into reality

In 2015, not long after India first got high-speed 4G internet, the cost of 1GB of mobile data in India was 225 rupees ($3). But just over five years later, the industry has witnessed a remarkable decline in pricing that helped truly launch the country’s internet economy.The dramatic fall in …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

“There’s nothing they can do to save themselves”: Shopping malls in India are in a tight spot

Shopping malls across India have remained shut or operated partially for most of the last 18 months. Now, even though they are permitted to reopen in some states, shoppers are not very keen on visiting these establishments as they prefer open-air areas to ensure Covid safety.“Just before the second Covid-19 …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

What it takes to be the largest condom brand in sex-shy India

Delhi-based Manforce, an arm of pharmaceuticals major Mankind Pharma, has become the country’s most-selling condom brand by using a unique marketing approach. “The existing brands and several government campaigns have already established the fact that using a contraceptive will ensure safe sex but what beyond that? That’s where we advertised …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

India’s mom-and-pop stores have proved yet again why the Amazons of the world need them

India has over 12 million kirana stores. These small shops—often with a clientele limited to one street or a block—have been declared obsolete many times in the past, especially as e-commerce picked pace in the country and giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Reliance entered the grocery segment.Yet, on March 25, …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Why is Mukesh Ambani building an international undersea cable system?

After conquering telecom connectivity within India, the country’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is now all set to place the India at the centre of an international submarine cable network.“Implementing these critical initiatives in the shadow of a global pandemic is a challenge, but the ongoing pandemic has only accelerated the …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Reliance has no plans to shake up farming in India—apart from building a grocery empire

After weeks of farmer protests, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) announced this month that the company wasn’t going to embark on “corporate or contract farming.” It also promised to ensure its suppliers would always provide farmers a fair deal. The statement aimed to address farmer fears that farm reforms passed …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Chinese brands are using an ingenious trick to sidestep Indian hostility

Several Chinese manufacturers have switched the “Made in China” label on their products to “Made in PRC,” which makes it harder for a shopper to instantly identify the country of origin. PRC or the People’s Republic of China is the official name of the country.The change may be minor, but …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Most Indians don’t use contraception—and those who do are fairly clueless

It’s 2020 and many Indians are still clueless about their sexual wellbeing.While a majority of Indians still don’t use any contraceptive, the ones who do remain mostly unaware of the various options and their benefits, according to a survey conducted by MTV Staying Alive Foundation, an organisation working for youth …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

A 120-year-old Indian business group appears to have no place for women on its board

A 120-year-old Indian business conglomerate may be headed for a legal battle on allegations of sexism within the family that has run it for five generations.Valli Arunachalam, a 59-year-old New York-based scientist and part of the Murugappa family that runs the $5.7 billion (Rs38,105) Murugappa group, has alleged that the …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Reliance Jio is India’s answer to Amazon, AT&T, and Huawei—all rolled into one

If tech giant CEOs were a high school clique, Mukesh Ambani would be its newest member, and everyone’s invited to a party at his house. India’s richest man, Ambani heads up conglomerate Reliance Industries, whose digital arm, Reliance Jio, is swiftly becoming India’s answer to Amazon, AT&T, and Huawei—all rolled …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

Why are Google and Facebook investing in India despite its crisis-hit economy?

On July 13, internet search major Google said it would invest $10 billion (Rs75,000 crore) in India over the next five to seven years. The investments, according to CEO Sundar Pichai, will be made in forging new partnerships, and in building stronger infrastructure and ecosystems. The move “is a reflection …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz

India will need to step up if it wants to avoid Chinese money for its infrastructure projects

Besides banning a host of Chinese apps, the Indian government has reportedly advised all states to avoid signing any agreements with companies from the east Asian nation. Following the instructions, the western state of Maharashtra has put on hold three deals worth over Rs5,000 crore ($670 million) that were signed …
By Niharika Sharma
• Quartz