What Donald Trump as America's 45th President means for India

Bucking media opposition, popular perception and Hillary Clinton’s vicious campaign, Donald Trump has emerged as the 45th president of the United States of America. Trump elucidated on his 15-point agenda in the run-up to the elections. If he decides to implement them, it could impact the Indian government, people and businesses in several ways.

Here is a lowdown on the implications Trump’s policies as the US President could have for India.

1) The Tax Plan: One of the highlights of Trump’s economic campaign is his plan to reduce corporate tax rates in the U.S to 15%. At present the rate stands at 35%. This would make the U.S one of the most attractive destinations in the world for businesses, especially for American businesses that have set shop in other countries to improve their profitability by paying less taxes. If Trump were to implement this plan, U.S businesses in India could be lured back to American soil. Take the case of Ford Motors. Trump has repeatedly flayed Ford during his campaign for moving manufacturing outside U.S especially to Mexico in a bid to circumvent high taxes. Now Ford India has been making good progress in India. Its manufacturing unit in Chennai recorded its highest ever exports this August. Ford India exported 67% of all its vehicles manufactured in India. In addition, it made a substantial investment in the growing business of car rentals in India by investing in Zoomcar. For all the money Ford India earns, it pays the same corporate tax rate inIndia as it does in the U.S. If Trump were to come true on his promise to slash corporate tax to 15%, Ford India could well be tempted to move a part of its revenue earning processes back to Chicago from Chennai. That would be bad news for over 2000 employees working at the Ford factory in India. Trump’s massive tax cut would more than offset the advantages of cheap labour that India provides to Ford. Other American businesses in India could be tempted to do the same.(more)

US presidential election 2016 results

US Election 2016: Hillary Clinton has 70 per cent chance of winning, says pollster

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a 70 per cent chance of winning the White House race against her Republican rival Donald Trump, a top American pollster has said on the eve of what is being described as the most crucial election in decades.

"Hillary Clinton has a 70 per cent chance of winning the election," said FiveThirtyEight website's Nate Silver, who accurately predicted the outcome of 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.

This is up from a 65 per cent chance on Sunday night, so Clinton, 69, has had a good run in the polls in the final days of the campaign, he said.(more)

Trump beating Clinton in Google searches

Donald Trump might be trailing in surveys but the Republican nominee is more popular than his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in Google searches in the US.

Data released by Google shows Trump dominating search in 38 states till Monday, including in the battleground states of Florida and Michigan.

Google data also shows that immigration is the top Trump-related search topic, followed by abortion and race issues, Fox News reported.(more)

US Presidential polls: Voters comes out in large numbers, 46.2 million votes already cast

A record 46.2 million of the estimated 200 million voter shave exercised their franchise in the 2016 US presidential elections before the official voting day, surpassing the 2012 record when 32.3 million people had voted in advance.

Experts said the massive turn out in 2016 general elections in early voting reflects the change in the voting patterns of Americans.

"Some voters are clearly changing as they opted to vote early instead of the election day," said Michael McDonald, an early-voting expert who runs the elections project.(more)

Live blog : US presidential election 2016 results

US dilemma: From First Gentleman to First Dude, what will Bill Clinton be called if Hillary Clinton wins

As the judgement day approaches and the United States of America gets ready declare the winner of the most divisive election in modern history, people are in a dilemma - if prognosticators are correct and Hillary Clinton does win, what will Bill Clinton be known as?

Twitterati and Facebook users have taken the responsibility upon themselves to answer this sticky question and have also added humour to the roles former US President Bill Clinton will embrace. From First Gentleman, First Dude to First Man, Clinton's role has been creating an uproar on the social media.

The fact is that the US has a record of electing only male presidents. All except President James Buchanan, who remained a bachelor, had spouses. They were famously called 'First Lady' of the US.

Hence, Bill Clinton poses a special predicament - not only would he be the 'First Gentleman', but also the first former President to return to the White House as a husband.

Bill Clinton has jocularly called himself the "First Man' and 'First Dude'. Hillary Clinton too once spoke about it, saying, "It is a bit complicated with him (Bill) since people still call him Mr President. So I will have to work on this". (It is a practice in the US to address former Presidents as Mr President).

Wittily a Twitter user said, "Time to break that glass ceiling! If we pride ourselves on being an equal nation, we must no longer let women dominate as presidential spouses! It's about time we let a man covet that title!"Read more.