TMS Ep526: India-Canada crisis, H-1B visa, FPI selling, personality rights

Shots fired in British Columbia about three months ago echoed through the aisles of the Canadian Parliament last week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian state was behind the killing of Khalistani separatist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India however has strongly denied it. The ties between the two G-20 nations have hit a historic low as both countries expelled each other’s envoys in the last few days. India has also suspended visa services for Canadian citizens. So how will the ongoing diplomatic crisis affect India-Canada trade, diaspora and students? 

Meanwhile, Canada’s next-door neighbour, the United States, is heading into elections. Its Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy last week said that he will "gut" the H-1B visas if elected to power. Coming from an immigrant family, Ramaswamy has used the H-1B visas 29 times for his pharma company. He believes the current lottery system should be scrapped, and the visas should be granted on the basis of merit. Of late, H-1B visa admission has been getting tougher, giving a hard time to skilled workers from India. So, is the H-1B visa system really broken? 

In another news from the United States, its central bank signaled Wednesday that higher interest rates are here to stay. They are the new normal. It triggered panic selling in most global equity markets on Thursday. Back home too, benchmark indices fell 2% in two days. With the US dollar and yields strengthening, has the Fed given FPIs more reasons to sell Indian equities? What does the road ahead look like for the markets? Nikita Vashisht and Puneet Wadhwa take a deep dive.

Ripples from the US are also being felt in India's entertainment industry. With the debate around AI and actor's rights gaining momentum, personality rights are the latest arena of contention. Recently, the Delhi High Court passed an interim order protecting the personality rights of actor Anil Kapoor. The court has restrained various entities from misusing his name, voice, image, likeness, manner of speaking and gestures, among others. But what are personality rights? Listen to this episode of the podcast 

for answers.