Describing India as an important country, senior Taliban leader Sher Muhammad Stanikzai said Afghanistan wanted a relationship with India like it was before with focus on trade and economic ties.

In a televised speech apparently meant to address the fears of the international community, Stanikzai seemed to bat for trade with India via Pakistan while also calling for the air trade route to remain open.

This is the latest in a series of remarks by Taliban leaders purporting to show an outreach to India after the government recalled all diplomatic personnel from Kabul fearing instability in the country following the Taliban takeover. The messaging indicates a desire to gain acceptance at a time most countries, including India, have highlighted concerns relating to terrorism.

As part of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), India and Australia are looking to conclude an early harvest scheme — covering tariff cuts on items that account for nearly half the trade as well as easier rules for service sectors — by December, over a decade after talks first started.

If the negotiations go as per plan, this will be the first among a set of trade deals that India is looking to clinch, with talks with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and the UAE being pursued. While negotiations on many of them had started almost a decade ago, they are being pushed more aggressively after India exited a dialogue to be part of RCEP, the trade grouping with China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand the Asean countries.

Amid the shareholder uproar over high salary paid to the CEO of Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava urged the auto component community to spend more on improving the quality of parts than on the lifestyle of the senior management.

Bhargava who was speaking at the 61st Annual Session of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) said that companies need to spruce up their internal resources and invest them in development of technologies for future growth.

“I would strongly suggest to component manufacturers that they need to look at the entire management culture and management style and see how more funds remain within the company and less funds are used for other purposes including lifestyles of senior management personnel,” Bhargava added.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit out at Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of the Centre's asset monetisation plan, saying that the Congress leader was silent when the Manmohan Singh government had brought RFP (Request for Proposal) for the New Delhi railway station in 2008.

On Wednesday, Nirmala Sitharaman asked, "Does Rahul Gandhi understand monetisation? Didn't the Congress government bring RFP (Request for Proposal) for the New Delhi railway station in 2008? I would want to ask Rahul Gandhi who owns the railway station now. Jijaji (brother-in-law)?"

A 19-minute tirade by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday, asserting that the business practices of Indian industry went against national interests, has left India Inc CEOs baffled, with Mr. Goyal repeatedly singling out the 153-year-old Tata group in comments that he said came straight from his heart.

After the Minister’s remarks at the annual meet of the Confederation of India Industry stirred up a hornets’ nest in higher echelons of the government, the CII was asked to pull down the video from its YouTube channel. An edited version was uploaded on Thursday night but this was also blocked by Friday evening.

Calling out Tata Sons’ president for infrastructure, defence and aerospace, Banmali Agrawala, Mr. Goyal expressed deep anguish that Tata Sons had opposed rules to help consumers framed by his Ministry. “Me, Myself, My company — We all need to go beyond this approach,” said Mr. Goyal, who also holds charge of the Ministries of Textiles and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.