1.Government unwraps $8 billion outlay to transform India's maritime sector: Mint

India is setting sail on its biggest maritime bet yet, with the Union cabinet on Wednesday unveiling an incentive package of ₹69,725 crore or about $8 billion for the shipping and ports industry.

The move seeks to turbocharge infrastructure that would attract investments in shipbuilding, repairs and breaking, while also promoting domestic ship ownership and enhancing port infrastructure. Along the way, the government hopes to add millions of jobs and anchor India firmly in global shipping lanes.

The broader goal is to catapult India from its current 16th rank in global shipbuilding into the top 10 by 2030—and the top five by 2047.

2.Do tax cuts boost growth? What history tells us about fiscal stimulus—Mint

Tax cuts are pitched as growth boosters, but India’s record shows mixed results. The 1997 “dream budget” spurred investment, buoyant revenues and a multi-year expansion.

In 2009, excise and service tax cuts cushioned the global crisis but worsened deficits and inflation. The 2019 corporate tax slash fattened balance sheets but failed to spark new investment.

Now, 2025’s GST cuts promise cheaper essentials and a festive demand push. But with high household debt, uneven pass-through of price cuts, and global uncertainty, the gains may only stabilise growth rather than accelerate it. Consumption confidence will be the true test.

3.Blackstone to invest nearly ₹5,000 crore to develop data centre in MMR: Business Standard

Blackstone, the New York-based global investment management firm, will invest about ₹5,000 crore to develop a 60 megawatt (Mw) data centre in Chandivali, a part of the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR), through Lumina CloudInfra, the company’s data centre (DC) platform in India, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Lumina CloudInfra bought 3.8 acres in Chandivali for ₹475 crore. The transaction was registered on September 19, according to registration documents provided by CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm.

With the Chandivali project, Blackstone’s DC investments in India will be around ₹50,000 crore. Globally, Blackstone is the largest owner and DC provider, with a DC portfolio worth $100 billion. Blackstone and Lumina CloudInfra declined to comment on queries related to the development.

Lumina CloudInfra is a national DC player with a presence across three major Indian cities and a capacity to handle complex DC requirements for all hyperscalers, such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and advanced design, among others.

4.Indian drugmakers Dr Reddy's, Hetero to sell generic HIV prevention drug for $40 a year: Reuters

Indian drugmakers Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Hetero Labs said on Wednesday that they will sell generic versions of a new and highly effective HIV prevention drug for roughly $40 per year beginning in 2027.

Lenacapavir, developed by Gilead Sciences and approved earlier this year for HIV prevention under the brand name Yeztugo, is a twice-yearly injection that was nearly 100% effective at preventing HIV in large trials.

Some AIDS experts, including activists and doctors, say it could help control the 44-year-long epidemic that still infects 1.3 million people a year, and which the World Health Organization estimates has killed 44 million.

5.Super Typhoon Ragasa: King of Storms 

Super Typhoon Ragasa is expected to make landfall near Shenzhen, China, today as the most powerful tropical cyclone in the world so far this year. The storm reached peak winds of 162 mph near its eye Monday, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. It has since been downgraded to a Category 4-equivalent storm.

Authorities in Guangdong province, a southern financial hub, canceled schools and businesses and relocated more than a million residents amid warnings of catastrophic flooding and waves up to 21 feet. Ragasa’s impact is expected to raise water levels by about 6 feet along the coast, with some areas seeing between 12 and 15 feet. The typhoon struck the northern Philippines and eastern Taiwan earlier this week, causing 17 deaths in Taiwan and three in the Philippines. It is forecast to move westward toward Vietnam and Laos later this week.

China’s meteorological agency has referred to Ragasa as the “King of Storms,” drawing comparisons to Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, which caused significant damage in Hong Kong and about $592M in economic losses.

6.Germany wants to lead the EU’s rearmament drive in the face of Russian threats, according to a leaked policy paper seen by the Financial Times. 

In the document, Berlin recommends that the bloc coordinate its defense procurement and development, work more closely with Ukraine, and reduce regulatory barriers to manufacturing.

Europe may have to shoulder more of its own defense: US President Donald Trump has been equivocal about backing European defense, even though his comments at UNGA were more obviously anti-Moscow than previous ones.

The EU’s positive noises on military collaboration, though, hide divisions: A Franco-German venture to make next-generation fighter jets could collapse, with France’s Dassault saying it could make planes on its own if needed.

7.What CEOs really think of Trump and the economy, according to Yale: Quartz

Corporate America got a chance to weigh in on Trump’s economic playbook, and they didn’t hold back. At Yale’s private CEO caucus in Washington, more than 70 executives were polled on a variety of issues — including tariffs, Federal Reserve pressure, and the TikTok takeover. Spoiler alert: They’re not impressed.

Take tariffs. Trump dubbed April’s rollout “Liberation Day.” In practice, CEOs are calling it a slow bleed. Seven in 10 say the tariffs are bad for business, three-quarters agreed with courts that they’re illegal in practice, 62% admit they’re not investing more in the U.S. — the very outcome that tariffs were supposed to spark — and 82% flatly opposed using tariffs as foreign-policy leverage. 

And then there’s the Fed fight. Trump’s months long heckling of Jerome Powell — plus his swipe at governor Lisa Cook — landed flat with the C-suite. Eighty percent of surveyed CEOs say the president’s pressure campaign isn’t in the country’s best interest, and 70% think Fed independence is fraying. Toss in skepticism over the Larry Ellison–fronted TikTok deal, and the survey reads less like feedback and more like a vote of no confidence. For a president who wants to run the U.S. like a company, his boardroom may have just voted no confidence. 

8.AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity: Harvard Business Review

A confusing contradiction is unfolding in companies embracing generative AI tools: while workers are largely following mandates to embrace the technology, few are seeing it create real value. Consider, for instance, that the number of companies with fully AI-led processes nearly doubled last year, while AI use has likewise doubled at work since 2023. Yet a recent report from the MIT Media Lab found that 95% of organizations see no measurable return on their investment in these technologies. So much activity, so much enthusiasm, so little return. Why?

In collaboration with Stanford Social Media Lab, our research team at BetterUp Labs has identified one possible reason: Employees are using AI tools to create low-effort, passable looking work that ends up creating more work for their coworkers. On social media, which is increasingly clogged with low-quality AI-generated posts, this content is often referred to as “AI slop.” In the context of work, we refer to this phenomenon as “workslop.” We define workslop as AI generated work content that masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task. Read on

9.Booker Prize and the Financial Times Business Book Award shortlists were announced

Booker Prize Shortlist: The Guardian

“No debuts appear on this year’s Booker prize shortlist, which is dominated by established authors including previous winner Kiran Desai and previously shortlisted writers David Szalay and Andrew Miller.

Ben Markovits, Susan Choi and Katie Kitamura are also on the list, which was announced at an event at the Southbank Centre in central London on Tuesday evening.

This year’s judging panel includes the actor Sarah Jessica Parker, who runs publishing imprint SJP Lit, and is chaired by Irish author Roddy Doyle, who won the Booker in 1993.

Kiran Desai – who was awarded the prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss – is shortlisted for the first book she has written since that win, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a story of love and family set between India and the US. At nearly 700 pages, the Indian author’s third novel is the longest on the shortlist.”

The Financial Times Book Award Shortlist: Financial Times

The finalists are: 

House of Huawei: Inside the Secret World of China’s Most Powerful Company, by Eva Dou, which investigates the rise of the Chinese technology company and the contribution of its founder, Ren Zhengfei, and the Chinese state. 

Chokepoints: How the Global Economy Became a Weapon of War, by Edward Fishman, which addresses the use of sanctions, and analyses how an economic arsenal was developed, and the consequences for 21st century business, politics and economics.  

How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations, by Carl Benedikt Frey, looks at the interconnection of innovation and bureaucracy in determining the destiny of civilisations and institutions and what that means for the US, China and Europe today. 

Abundance: How We Build a Better Future, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, analyses the growth dilemma facing the US and the political trade-offs between regulation, investment, government support and innovation.

Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan Wang, examines the core differences between the US, a “lawyerly state”, and its arch-rival China, an “engineering state” that empowers innovation and ambition.

 The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip, by Stephen Witt, looks into the leadership style of the chipmaker’s chief executive and how he helped Nvidia become one of the world’s most valuable companies. 

I have read only 2 of the above 6: Abundance and Breakneck and both are recommended. However, if you have to read only one then go for Breakneck which is among the best books I have read in the last few years.

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