C Raja Mohan writes: South Asia, now open to business

News Snapshot:

Can the current optimism about India’s economic prospects — its impending emergence as the third-largest economy with growing financial resources and a major technological hub — rub off on the rest of the Subcontinent? The recent visits to Delhi by Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe highlight the shifting currents in South Asian regionalism. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s recent travels to Delhi, Colombo, and Male and a surprising visit to Sri Lanka by French President Emmanuel Macron last week underline the new external impetus to the Subcontinent’s economic integration. But the pessimistic discourse...