the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji has been looking at what are the key priority areas for the government.showcasing their best at this year's auto show in india. to a four—year low. even the smaller, affordable cars seeing a drop their affordability part of it vis a vis the increase in the to spend and the industry is hoping for some and because consumption makes up 60% of india's gdp, the urban consumption does require a handholding, incentive coming in from the budget. income class earners some kind of reprieve to give a boost to their disposable income, which ultimately translates into higher consumption. india's growth fell from 8.1% between july and september and the government has pulled back on spending on big as far as its own government capex story is concerned. at a time when your urban consumption is slowing, the world bank and the international monetary fund economic trajectory. arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. show us our heritage, document our societies and educate our children. in visitors and their money. generate more income. world at the moment. ok, so in the past, wh

the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji isjoining us from delhi, arunoday, can you explain what's happened?aled at the tribunal and the matter is going to be heard on the 16th of january. essentially this stems back to a new privacy policy from 2021 when essentially the social platform came up with an update which shared user data with other meta apps. the argument is that because of the position in the market it did not give a choice of the consumer which undermined your sultanahmet which is against the act that exists here in india. meta maintained the new policy was not going to impact the users private messages at all but the matter is now going to be taken up by a higher authority at a tribunal when it will be debated. why this is all the more significant is all because our popular whatsapp remains in india. india is still its biggest market with over 500 million active users. a lot riding on this. this remains a significant legal battle. �* , . . remains a significant legal battle. , . . , , battle. australia is using the current home _ battle. australia is using the current home cric

the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is live in delhi with more.on hib visas, put this in perspective for us, why is this important for indian companies? it is critical because a lot of from donald trump that is very much making... us exceptionalism continue on, tax cuts, fiscal spending or deregulation so i think the outlook is likely to be quite robust in 2025. what is your outlook for asia? a nuanced approach. i would say perhaps you have to look at... i think in china, we are neutral on china because there is outside and downside risk but i think in india and the asean region, the outlook is bright because india is easily going to grow by 6.5 or even higher in terms of growth, so a very strong middle class domestic consumption. exports, particularly digital, are quite resilient and insulated from the whole headwinds associated with trade. headwinds associated witi us |de. headwinds associated witi us citizenship and the us citizenship and immigration services from april to september last yeari in five hib visas were given to indian origin tech

the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji isjoining us from delhi, arunoday, can you explain what's happened?ed the tribunal and if the matter is going to be heard on the 16th ofjanuary is going to be heard on the 16th of january now urgently. essentially this stems back to a new privacy policy from 2021 when essentially the social platform came up with an update which shared user data with other meta apps. the commission order said that whatsapp cannot do that for a period of five years and also imposed that penalty. the argument that competition commission gave is that it undermined uses autonomy because they did not have a choice in actually choosing the update or not choosing the update or not choosing the update in order to access that platform. that is the argument the commission made. the matter is going to be heard on the 16th of january. meta has always maintained that this new update did not change or effect any user privacy as far as their messages were concerned that this is now going to be taken up on a bigger platform and just a reminder that why this is important is because ind

the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is live in delhi with more. india has a lot riding on h—ib visas.s. why is this important for indian companies? well, it's very critical, steve. because notjust in professionals but every indian origined companies benefit from the h i b origined companies benefit from the h i b programme as we've seen for a long time now which is why any kind of policy change or any tinkering with h i b change or any tinkering with h i b tinkering has an impact on those living and working in the us or on the companies. which is why as the debate unfolded, you saw india rook looking at it and monitoring the developments closely and ending with the statement that came out of the spokesperson of the ministry of foreign affairs who reiterated that the tech and economic cooperation between india and the us is heavily based on the kind of contribution skilled professionals to the us that go on this visa programme, and both countries have benefited from the kind of technical expertise that has arisen based on the cooperation. so they not only need it to build on this, but

arunoday mukharji reports. carmakers their at this year's ilii, in india. show in india.ven the smaller affordable seeing a drop in sales ears seeing a drop in sales over by over 14%. at the of the pyramid, at the bottom of the pyramid. people who were tthe people who were there, affordability tthe people whe were there, affordability part tthe people who were there, affordability part of it it hag it has been a challenge. and it has been a challenge. we can try to bridge how we can try to bridge the gap of affordability how we can try to bridge ti something ordability how we can try to bridge ti something collectively is something collectively we all have to work together. sales are seen sales are seen as a sales are seen as a key vehicle sales aeeeez�*as a kee— . -- - —~ �*of people's indicator of people's ability to spend. ability te'epend. if; -.- is hoping and the'irndo'stry'is hoping some from the budget. is not just weak consumer it is notjust weak consumer demand here in the auto sector inflation stagnant but inflation and stagnant wages have meant that people are

arunoday mukharji reports. ooth a drive as manufacturers hoping for. manufacturers were hoping for. with sales growth to a manufacturers were hoping for. witt years growth to a manufacturers were hoping for. witt years grc even to a manufacturers were hoping for. witt years grc even the to a four year low. even the smaller cars saw a drop in affordable cars saw a drop in sales by over 14%. fit affordable cars saw a drop in sales by over 1496.— jof the pyramid other bottom of the pyramid other people who were there, the affordability part of it and it atteraaa'itite'eartet it ate it been atteraaa'itite'eart'et it ate it been a challenge. how we has been. a challenge; haw we” , a e a"; at; we; try to has been. a challenge; haw we” , a a a"; at; we; try to bridge the has been. a challenge; haw we” , a e a"; at; we; try to bridge the gap of can try to bridge the gap of affordability is something collectively we have to work e - key 55— key indicator e — key indicator of seen as a key indicator of ability to spend. an

the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is tracking the developments.is means for meta. it is definitely _ this means for meta. it is definitely being _ this means for meta. it is definitely being seen - this means for meta. it is definitely being seen as l this means for meta. it isi definitely being seen as a relief even though it is temporary because the tribunal hearing the appeal said they were continuing hearing meta's arguments and the major arguments and the major argument it has made if they go ahead and comply or have to comply with the order of the competition watchdog last year, it could impact the advertising business. they also said in the past... they have said the competition commission of india, the and the trust watchdog, does not possess the technical expertise to understand the ramifications. the matter is in the appellate tribunal and could be challenged in the indian supreme court but we have not got to that stage. this is stemming from whatsapp�*s 202i privacy policies and the accusation was, that went to the competition commissio

the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji has been monitoring developments from delhi. hejoins us now.reparing. there is a fair bit of anxiety about what donald trump and the new administration might do when it comes to this, but officially we are waiting to hear any comments on that. it has been widely reported both in the international and local media, there is a foreign ministry weekly briefing that will take waste today and i suspect a lot of these targeted questions will be put to the spokesperson and we could get a comment out of him. in the run—up to the conversations and the counter by in the us, geopolitics figure top of the agenda, but also a lot about a deepening economic relations as well. we are learning that talks about illegal immigration was something that came up, to which the foreign minister replied that india is always open to the idea of anyone who has crossed over to the us illegally to be brought back home as well. at some of the aspects india is considering in case the tariff issue does become blind to a larger controversy, one of causes try to reduce some impor

but this year's budget could hold the key to arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. show us our heritage our societies and educate our children. in visitors and their money. robin cantrill—fenwick is from baker richards — generate more income. it's worse across the whole of the western world at the moment. ok, so in the past, where would this money have come so, if you take the uk for example, there are a number of central government—funded museums, but also funding is channelled through the arts council. tax reliefs. of the cost of that back. going to be squeezed. and this is the attraction of a museum. does that work? yes. hearing about india, there's an admission of what i as a overseas visitor would pay. and that model is pretty smart, because you protect willingness to pay. we are willing to pay that little bit more for it typically highest bill? is it energy, is it staff? and if you could just tag on there a possible solution, they really are. so there are very sharp rises in overheads. energy would be a very significant one there. you know, i work with a museum last year whose ene

live now to delhi and our correspondent arunoday mukharji., , ., today. one of the officials who is overseeing _ today. one of the officials who is overseeing the _ today. one of the officials who is overseeing the operation - is overseeing the operation since last night was quoted in the indian media saying the country had never seen something like this, on this scale, in terms of transporting hazardous material of this scale. what happened, they have found the hazardous material where the tragedy took place in 1984 and they have booed it 200 kilometres away to another site where it will be incinerated in phases —— they have moved it. this will happen over a nine—month period, they will incinerate the toxic waste, nearly 300 tonnes, and first they would do a little bit to make sure that it doesn't have any kind of environmental impact, as there is controversy, not of environmentalists have said that to clean up one particular place from toxic waste you are trying to burn it at another location which might contaminate that area, but the gover

live now to delhi and our correspondent arunoday mukharji.0 years ago. just last month, marked the a0 year anniversary of the tragedy, referred to as the world's worst industrial disaster, in the first few days it left over 3500 dead and over the course of the next several years, around 15,000 more were presumed dead from health complications. those are government figures, activists point out the real figure could be much higher and the after effects, because of the contamination, are still seen in a lot of families and down generations. this is why it is still a very much ongoing issue with activists continuing to raise voices. which is why you saw a court in the central india which pointed out, why haven't officials done anything about the waste? the court referred to authorities, calling this an act of inertia, authorities waiting for another tragedy to happen. that is when they set a four—week deadline, thatis they set a four—week deadline, that is why you saw a convoy of 12 trucks, essentially with those big containers, packed with toxic

could still take months before the waste is finally treated and destroyed. 0ur correspondent arunoday mukharjid us of the events that unfolded. just last month, it marked the 40 just last month, it marked the a0 year anniversary of one of the world's worst industrial disasters because, in the first few days of the tragedy, left over 3500 dead and over the course of the next several years around 15,000 more were presumed dead because of certain health complications. activists point out that these figures, the realfigures could be much higher and the after effects, because of the kind of contamination at the ground water and environment suffered, are still seen in a lot of families and down the generations. that is why this is still very much a ongoing issue with activist continuing to raise their voices which is why you soul a court in the central indian state actually point out and say, why haven't officials done anything about what is still sitting there? the court referred to the authorities calling this an act of inertia saying that what authorities were simply waiting for another tragedy t