Book review of World Cup fever: A footballing journey in nine tournaments : Financial Express 8th March 2026

One of the biggest sporting events will be the World Cup Football tournament to be held this year. It is probably in league with the Olympics given the scale of participation of nations, and scores over cricket, which is restricted to a handful of teams. Just what goes on behind the scenes is something one would like to know; and this is where Simon Kuper of the Financial Times does well in both narrative and style.

The book, World Cup Fever, is described quite differently. The author has followed the tournaments since 1990, not having missed a single one. He covers this period of 32 years by talking of individual matches he attended. Quite clearly, he has been maintaining a diary on what has transpired in these matches as the descriptions are vivid. He also talks of the towns and cities he visited in this process, adding glimpses of the cultures of the countries where the world cup was played.

Curiously the first five tournaments were played in the developed world while the ones that followed did not follow any such pattern and included countries like Brazil, South Africa, Qatar and Russia. And this in a way was a case of multinational capitalism invading the Global South. Or one can say there has been democratisation of the sport.

 Anyone who has followed the sport will find these narratives refreshing as one can identify with some of these matches. Now, what comes as a revelation to the reader will be the politics and money that go behind these games. It is a prestige to hold the tournament irrespective of whether the country is a soccer-playing nation or not. There is huge pressure on FIFA and there is big money involved. Large sums are transacted in the bidding process so that the clubs involved will vote for the winner. Therefore, things are not simple. Kuper takes us through all these machinations while covering individual tournaments sequentially.

Another point that emerges is the hypocrisy involved when this process is on. Countries like Russia and Qatar are known for being autocratic and regressive. Russia got the 2018 bid even after the invasion of Crimea. Such a nation should ideally have been boycotted. Russia as well as Qatar are not really soccer-playing countries but have used these world cups as a means to ‘sportswash’ their images. One did read about the labour conditions when the tournament was staged in Qatar.

Labour is virtually indentured and several people died. Yet, holding the tournament was a desperate measure used to change the country’s image. Significantly several players who had decided to wear black bands as a signal of protest before the tournament changed their minds and made it look like all was okay. The same was seen in Russia where even the public were least interested in the game, including the matches played by Russia. It was more a show of power and comradeship by President Putin. There were few signs on the roads that a big tournament was on.

Kuper also reveals that with a lot of jingoism setting in, audiences everywhere are only interested in their teams playing and winning. Hence even in a country like Brazil, people were attending matches only where their team was playing. This is a problem that has permeated all sports in the world where nationalism prevails. This is witnessed with the national anthems being played, which adds to the parochialism.

Kuper also highlights the tournament in South Africa in 2010 where despite the so-called withdrawal of apartheid, there was clear segregation of the coloured and white population. This was not just in the social circles but also in stadiums and team compositions.

The author points an interesting aspect of the World Cup. The winner of the tournament normally has to play just seven matches and be lucky. Often the team wins by a solitary goal margin, or more often these days on penalties. Is it a fair way of adjudication on the best team playing or is it just fluke?

High Cost of a Growing Football Economy

Further, a tournament that started off with 16 teams in the Seventies increased to 32 in 1998 and will now be 48 in 2026. For 2030, the number is likely to touch 64. All this means that there are more matches with more sponsorships and more ticket sales. Add to this the telecast and broadcasting rights, and there is lots of money involved with various brands making their bids to various title sponsors.

Therefore, the World Cup is a big economy that starts at the bidding process. The country which gets this opportunity would be spending a lot on infrastructure which typically would be helping the country to grow. But the costs involved, as has been seen in countries like Brazil, have been quite high with environment and labour issues being the prime casualties. In fact, the author highlights how the world cup “became a symbol of the state’s corrupt incompetence”.

The book is enjoyable to read even for a non-soccer fan as it takes one through the various tournaments over the past three decades. One can also catch up with the Zidane incident of headbutting in the finals and what supposedly led to the rather rash impetuous action. The 2026 tournament will be in the USA and it can be a big publicity event for President Donald Trump as it would involve a number of countries in the neighbourhood participating after being at the receiving end of his economic doctrines. The author believes that world cups hence do not change the world, but only illuminate it—these words come from a diehard fan of the sport.

There's urgent need for ground rules for the healthcare sector: Free Press Journal 2nd March 2026

Why the concern over capital flows : Hindu Business Line 28th Feb 2026

 The RBI’s new regulation on ECBs (external commercial borrowings) can be read along with the message given in the Economic Survey on the rupee being under pressure in the year. This is notwithstanding an otherwise remarkable performance of the economy.

The current account deficit is very much in control even though the exporters have faced challenging times. It is the capital account that has been transformed, putting pressure on the currency. The measures announced by the RBI on the amount and tenure of borrowing will surely help companies raise more money in this market and support the capital account.

Historically the capital account was kept steady by FPI and FDI which have become more fragile. While often it is argued that we need to be more open to such investment, polices have been comprehensive; and it does look like that nothing substantive can really be done. FDI can flow into almost all sectors with limits being increased over time. The challenge is to have investors interested in the India story. It is the pull factor rather than push which matters here.

Banking question: Has the credit-deposit ratio lost its relevance? MInt 27th February 2026

 https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/banks-credit-deposit-ratio-rbi-norms-loans-reserves-crr-credit-reserve-ratio-omo-11772045617758.html

Small fry, big success: A useful playbook for knowing the insides of high impact investing: Financial Express 22nd Feb 2026

 Impact investing is something that has caught on in recent times where investors look at relatively less known enterprises in the private market space that work on technology to deliver better solutions to a wider class of people.

The conventional way to look at lucrative investment is to judge the potential of a company to grow and make profits in future. The well-established companies have a track record which attracts investors. But there is another big pie waiting to be explored in the area of impact investing. This is what Mahesh Joshi talks of in his rather interesting book called HIT Investing. The acronym stands for ‘high impact through technology’.

Impact investing is something that has caught on in recent times where investors look at relatively less known enterprises in the private market space that work on technology to deliver better solutions to a wider class of people. In particular, Joshi talks of investments in ventures that affect lives of people in the lower to mid-levels where the impact is significant.

The author talks in detail of eight such ventures which have made a difference to society at large. Hence the names of Quona, Apis Partners, AC Ventures, among others, are discussed in detail, covering their history and motivations. It should be realised that impact investing does get associated with making money and hence is not to be mistaken with donations.

In the process of providing funds to these companies, which can be financial services or energy efficiency or new technologies like decarbonization, a difference is seen in outcomes that benefit society.

Psychology of investing

In brief the book gets into the psychology of such investing which involves asking three basic questions. How are they doing it? What are the techniques used and what is the secret behind their success? The book hence focuses on the challenges faced, strategies used and finally the performance. This is done separately for all the eight investors.

In the process of this discourse, Joshi does some deep-dive analysis into four critical aspects of such investing. This can be a playbook that could be followed by anyone getting into this space. In a way, this can be the four imperatives that have to be looked at for successful investing.

The first one the author talks of is origination. This means finding companies to invest in. The well-known companies are well researched as information is available to everyone in an equitable manner. But once we move from say the public to private space, access is not available to all and the challenge is to get to know this canvas, requiring a lot of research.

Next, is assessing investment potential. This becomes a challenge as there would be limited publicly available data. Getting hold of it and doing the requisite due diligence would be the second sequential step to actually be in a position to decide whether or not to go ahead with investment.

The third step is to also assume the role in helping the investee company grow and achieve their objectives. Hence in a way it could be some kind of tacit management support to provide based on the investor’s experience in this field which can be drawn by stories in other countries.

The last is to carve out an exit route. It should be realised that the main return comes from exiting the venture once it is in a state where growth is sustainable. At times this can take time and could go on for at least 3-6 years.

Before ROI

Besides earning a return on investment, the funds need to be churned to other ventures, which would mean that the investor has to have a well-defined path to move out either through ensuring an IPO or any sale of shares. This is normally done after a critical mass of success is achieved or the main objectives are met in a well-defined time frame.

The author does, in a lighter manner, mention that the talk in this business is to have an exit plan even before investing.
Hence all the case studies analysed here clearly show how these four touchpoints have been achieved.

At the technical level he also outlines a possible template of the way in which portfolios are constructed by these investors, as evidently one should not put all eggs in one basket.

Therefore, diversification can be the key here. Also, he talks of how to assess the impact of these enterprises in terms of meeting their objectives which goes beyond just monetary returns.

The eight investors selected are fairly diverse in terms of their objectives and the stage at which they invest in the life cycle of the companies. Capria and Future Planet look at the early stage of operations, while Quona and AC ventures prefer slightly evolved ventures that have already developed a market and probably also started making a profit.

Apis and Lok Capital invest in enterprises that have already made profits or have a clear path for which capital is needed. SDCL, on the other side, which largely covers Europe and USA, focuses on ventures that drive energy efficiency.

More specific to India, Joshi talks of the success of microfinance and here he gives the example of Lok Capital which focuses largely on this sector. Lok Capital’s Fund 1 generated top quartile returns, while Fund II was in the top two decile for their respective vintages.

He argues that microfinance in our context is probably the best example of creating value in the lives of people and successful impact investing.

The author does stress the point that these impact investors are delivering market rate returns but the difference made to society is sharp. Data shows that there has been an increase in the institutions getting into this field. Also, these investors can be allocating between 5-25% of their funds as impact investment.

Logically, as more funds get allocated in this space, the returns for those who backed them early would also tend to increase. This book is quite unique as it looks at a totally different investment space which can really be inspiring. For those who would like to be associated with such investors, this book is a useful playbook.

India’s FTAs will work better than before: Financial Express 18th February 2026

 FY26 had started on a gloomy note with the US announcing its tariff policy, which was exacerbated by the imposition of additional tariffs in August. At 50%, the  tariff picture looked challenging. Estimates varied on its effect on exporters and the final impact on GDP growth.

Being a domestic-oriented economy, the impact on India’s GDP growth was not expected to go beyond 0.2-0.4%. In fact, by December-end, overall exports to the US saw a 9.7% growth compared with 5.7% for the same period in 2024-25—and much higher than the 2.4% witnessed at the aggregate level. How did this happen?

First, important products like pharma and mobile phone were exempted. Second, there was frontloading of exports in the earlier months. Third, some exports were re-routed through other countries. Fourth, negotiations with import partners on pricing helped maintain some of the contracts.

The free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) and the US deal will now place export prospects on a higher trajectory, as they are our largest export destinations. Two points must be kept in mind. The first is that exporters in industries such as textiles, chemicals, leather products, marine products, and gems and jewellery would be at an advantage as these markets offer more opportunities. India will have an edge over rivals like Bangladesh and Vietnam that have a slightly higher tariff. Secondly, imports too will increase and pose competition to the domestic industry. The details thus become important because FTAs in general offer reciprocal benefits for both sides.

The US deal generates additional interest, considering President Trump has spoken about India buying oil not from Russia but from the US and Venezuela. Indian refiners need clarity because apart from Russian oil costing lower, freight costs would be higher for other alternatives. Further, since imports cannot be reduced to nil in a month but only gradually, the phasing of reduction would be pertinent.

The EU deal also demands close scrutiny as non-tariff barriers can remain a concern although tariffs have been lowered for over 95% of exported goods. For instance, the West is known to enforce rules such as phytosanitary conditions to block farm product imports from emerging markets. Similarly, environmental issues come in with certification requirements. Subjects such as carbon emissions therefore become important. The list gets longer when labour conditions are scrutinised

Thus, signing trade deals is a necessity and help in the long run, but the details matter to all exporters.

The question, then, is whether FTAs really work or not? History provides interesting clues. In the past, any kind of agreements—FTA, Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement—has not moved the needle significantly. For example, Singapore’s share in Indian exports came down from 5.3% in 2006 to 3% in 2024-25; in case of Japan, the share dropped from 2.1% in 2012 to 1.4%; and that of South Korea fell from 2.2% in 2009 to 1.3%.

There were success stories with Malaysia, as the share went up from 1.3% in 2012 to 1.7%, and Mauritius (from 0.2% in 2023 to 0.5%). The post-Covid share of UAE was up from 7% to 8.4% and that of Australia from 1.5% to 2%. Post-Covid deals have been more effective, so prospects with the UK and US augur well.

The geopolitical scenario has changed and the tariff issue has made countries talk to one another more often than before. The World Trade Organization is now an acknowledged failure. But the tariff shock has led countries to sign FTAs among themselves to act as a buffer against the US backlash, which is a good development. In a way, the US president has brought countries closer to one another, which will foster higher levels of trade. More importantly, countries have begun lowering their tariff rates. Although the lower rates are restricted to those signing deals, they have fostered a culture of openness in imports and therefore trade.

On the positive side, the markets in India have reacted very well. The currency also has been a beneficiary as one of the main reasons for the rupee coming under relentless pressure was the absence of a deal with the US. Now that a formal agreement is on the anvil, the rupee has steadied and will be a comfort for the Reserve Bank which has otherwise had to deal with steadying it often.

While there have been fluctuations in the stock market, the general thrust has been positive since the India-US deal was announced. This augurs well for foreign portfolio investors. One of the reasons for their muted activity in the Indian market was the uncertainty surrounding the deal. Now, hopefully it will be business as usual.

FTAs between countries and blocs will be the new normal in the coming years, galvanised by the US action on tariffs. This is welcome from the point of view of fostering a new global economic order where freer trade with fewer restrictions would hold. While the fate of goods appears to be more straightforward, services is one area that has to be focused upon in future.

Trade deal signed herald a new environment for India : Free Press Journal 17th Feb 2026