Business News

Adding fuel to the ongoing language debate in India, the Tamil Nadu government has replaced the official Indian rupee symbol '₹' with the Tamil letter 'ரூ' as the logo for its state budget.This came to light ahead of CM M K Stalin unveiling the state budget and comes at a time when the use of regional languages in official communications and documentation has been a point of contention, with DMK calling out the imposition of Hindi over local languages.India has 22 official languages and Tamil is one of them but as a standard practice, the INR currency has only one symbol, which is inspired from the Devanagari letter र (read as Ra) and Roman letter 'R'. Stalin, who will be presenting the state budget for FY26 on March 14, posted a video on his X handle, which showed the logo of the document that read "Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26. Everything for everyone." This also had the letter ரூ (read as 'Ru') instead of the standard rupee symbol, contrary to the state's 2024 logo and rather unusual move.— mkstalin (@mkstalin) BJP leader K Annamalai called out M K Stalin's move, and termed him 'stupid'. "The DMK Government's State Budget for 2025-26 replaces the Rupee Symbol designed by a Tamilian, which was adopted by the whole of Bharat and incorporated into our Currency. Thiru Udhay Kumar, who designed the symbol, is the son of a former DMK MLA. How stupid can you become, Thiru @mkstalin?"On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin launched a fierce critique of the central government's National Education Policy (NEP), describing it as a "saffronized policy" designed to prioritize Hindi over the educational needs of Tamil Nadu. Stalin's comments reflect concerns that the NEP could undermine the state's education system by promoting a centralized language agenda. In contrast, the central government, represented by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, contends that the NEP is intended to foster multilingualism and flexibility in language education, allowing states the autonomy to choose their own linguistic preferences. Pradhan has vigorously denied any claims of Hindi imposition, emphasizing that the policy respects regional languages.The tension escalated earlier this week when Pradhan challenged the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party on the three-language policy associated with the NEP. He suggested that Stalin's focus on the language issue is merely a diversion from more pressing matters facing the state.

A study linking Indian-made generic drugs to a higher risk of serious side effects in the US has drawn backlash from the industry’s most influential lobby group, as India moves to defend its dominant market share amid trade tensions under President Donald Trump.The study, which analyzed more than 2,400 drugs sold in the US between 2009 and 2018, found that Indian generics were associated with a 54% greater risk of serious adverse events — including hospitalization, disability, and death — compared with equivalent domestically made medicines. The research links operations and supply chain issues in the manufacturing process as “most likely” explaining the findings.Published last month in the journal Production and Operations Management, the findings prompted a three-page statement from the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, which represents two dozen of the country’s largest drugmakers.“We strongly disagree with the study’s premise that differences in operations and supply chain factors — suppliers, manufacturing and/or distribution practices by different manufacturers — impact the quality and efficacy of Indian generic drugs,” the industry body said in its response. Still, last month’s study — led by researchers with experience working with the US Food and Drug Administration — adds to mounting concerns over the quality of Indian-made medicines. India, the world’s largest supplier of generic medicines, produces about a fifth of the global supply and its 752 FDA-compliant factories meet roughly 40% of US demand for non-patented medications.Between 2018 and 2024, US pharmaceutical imports from India nearly doubled to $13 billion, underscoring the growing influence of the country’s drugmakers. Meanwhile, Trump has warned companies to move production to the US or face tariffs of up to 25%, a move that could further strain pharmaceutical firms with rising costs.Regulatory lapses at Indian factories — including unsanitary conditions, poorly trained staff, and shredded paperwork — have raised concerns worldwide, as many countries rely on India for essential medicines. In 2022, tainted cough syrup was linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan, while more recently, contaminated eye drops caused blindness in US patients.‘Quality Corner-Cutting’The authors of last month’s study suggested that “quality corner-cutting” due to cost pressures likely explains their findings. Drugs that had been on the market longer were more frequently linked to adverse events, possibly because manufacturers faced growing pressure to reduce operational and supply-chain costs.The office of the Drugs Controller General of India and the US FDA didn’t respond to requests for comment on the research.The study is the first to link a large sample of drugs to their manufacturing plants, using the Structured Product Labeling dataset, which contains detailed information on each drug approved for sale in the US, including its application number and production facility. However, the analysis didn’t associate specific adverse events with particular classes of medications.“Our logic and results together imply that manufacturers in India are, on average, operating in a way that results in more quality risk than those in the US, particularly when the drug has been on the market for a relatively long amount of time,” the authors wrote.There is a widespread assumption that generic drugs are the same when they have the same dosage form and route of administration, said study co-author John Gray, a dean’s distinguished professor of operations and business analytics at Ohio State University, in an interview.The Indian pharma body said it believes that the use of data of adverse events to conclude product quality has limitations such as reporting biases and inability to establish causality. “There has been a significantly greater engagement that the Indian industry and the regulator have had with the FDA in addressing manufacturing and quality operations in the Indian subcontinent,” the Indian pharma alliance said, adding that the FDA’s enforcement of quality through measures including routine inspections is adequate.118959296The authors urged the FDA to strengthen oversight, particularly through unannounced inspections. The agency has already increased inspections of Indian factories by 46% between 2014 and 2024, with instances of objectionable conditions rising 38% in the same period, according to its database.“The FDA mandates things, but firms can voluntarily do quite a bit on their own,” the authors noted. Drugmakers should compete on quality and transparency, making it easier for buyers to assess standards. They suggested companies include quality data on labels, benchmark themselves against peers using public records, and leverage superior quality to attract buyers.The study also called for greater transparency in drug quality, arguing that rewarding better manufacturers with stronger demand and higher prices could help push inferior players out of the market.