Industry players said they were indeed seeing a serious fall in capacity usage, though some sectors were seeming to prevent further fall in the overall capacity utilisation.
Only one of the three drivers of the economy has performed in the way it should: government spending grew at 15.6 per cent, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
A look at six indicators shows all of them have collapsed from positive growth in April to contraction in September.
It shows that states would require a compensation to the tune of at least Rs 1.67 trillion in 2024-25, as none of them would be able to achieve a 14 per cent growth every year.
While experts pointed out the impact of corporation tax cuts cannot yet figure in collections as most companies are yet to decide on their choice, government officials said a part reason for slow collection is the tax cut.
Long-term capital gains tax may be scrapped and the burden of dividend distribution tax could perhaps be shifted from companies to shareholders. Also, the Budget could provide income tax relief for the salaried classes, while proposing tax sops for small, medium and micro enterprises.
What could be the reason for the successive downward revisions across the board? Some key indicators make it evident, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
Sources said the rural development ministry has sought an additional Rs 20,000 crore for MGNREGA for 2019-20 over and above the budgeted Rs 60,000 crore for 2019-20. Though, all of the PM-KISAN savings may not be transferred to fund MNGREGA's extra needs, sources said a part of this could be transferred.
By November 3, only 17,000 applications with tax payable amounting to Rs 1,100 crore have been received by the government, under the Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme. The scheme gives a deep discount of 70 per cent for cases pending appeal where tax demand is more than Rs 50 lakh, and 50 per cent waiver beyond that amount.
Unemployment was worse only in the pre-demonetisation period, according to the data, at 9.6 per cent in August 2016.
'We expect a pick-up in the second half of the current fiscal. But before that, data is likely to show a further slowdown. The second quarter print is likely to be worse than the first quarter,' said a senior official.
The economy could grow at 6-6.5 per cent this fiscal year (2019-20 or FY20), said Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian, revising his earlier estimate of 7 per cent in the Economic Survey. In an interaction with Arup Roychoudhury, he said supply-side measures, including corporation tax cuts, will boost consumption and demand, and non-tax revenue may make up for shortfall in tax revenues.
Dissatisfaction with the state leadership, along with caste and sectarian factors and economic issues -- particularly those relating to jobs and rural distress cost the BJP.
Vidarbha had given as many as 44 seats to the BJP in 2014. The Congress and NCP, plus independents and smaller parties, snatched 19 seats from the BJP, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
If the items and services such selected subsequently pass the test from the fitment committee and the GST Council, this would be the first of such rate hikes, after a series of cuts in the process of rate rationalisation that started in November 2017.
According to the global report, just 9.6 per cent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet.
In the aftermath of the PMC Bank mess which was in the RBI's highest rating of 'A' category, trustworthiness of these ratings may be up for a review.
Business activity contracted in Q2 FY20, the first contraction since 2013-14 and the second since the 2008 global financial crisis, report, Abhishek Waghmare and Anup Roy.
If this turns into reality, India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be the lowest since 2012-13, which could severely hit job creation and income growth in the near term.
Sajjid Chenoy, India economist at JP Morgan is the new part-time member.
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