The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased its gold purchases, as part of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves. In the first half (H1) of calendar year 2021 (CY21), the addition of gold to India's forex reserves has been the highest - on a half-yearly basis -at 29 tonnes. Now, the RBI's gold holding - as a proportion of its forex reserves - has for the first time crossed 700 tonnes.
It was perhaps over-enthusiasm that prompted the Indian investigative agencies to take a private jet to Dominica to bring back fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi. Predictably, the eight-member team had to return empty-handed after almost a week-long wait. The agencies were banking too much on the "state-less" status of Mr Choksi, as Antigua, which had given him citizenship in 2017, wasn't willing to take him back. Thus, the calculation was that Mr Choksi would be whisked away from the Dominican courtroom to the waiting plane. The reason for the optimism was also because Antigua is friendly territory for India.
The oxygen shortage was inevitable to an extent given the tsunami of Covid cases, but the problem is the lack of even basic preparation by both the Centre and states, notes Shyamal Majumdar.
The government is considering blocking internet protocol (IP) addresses of companies/exchanges on which trading in cryptocurrencies is happening, said a source in the know. Two months ago, the government had said it intended to bring a Bill to ban private cryptocurrencies and introduce India's own digital currency in line with what China and other countries had done. This move is part of that. The government had also proposed to promote technology like blockchain. Industry, however, says banning decentralised currencies like bitcoin and ethereum is not possible.
Bitcoin has been on fire ever since Musk announced that Tesla had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency, and that his electric-vehicle company would accept bitcoin from buyers.
Dharavi's success underlines the importance of community participation in any public health crisis.
Indian banks have started exploring opportunities in the space, including lending to crypto exchanges, and accepting bitcoins as collateral, among others.
'Willing to spend is different from when to spend and how much to spend'
'I would like to convey the message to your readers that the prime minister himself is directly seized of the situation on the ground. He periodically reviews the situation on the ground and how it is moving forward, taking inputs from economists, business leaders, chambers of commerce.'
'Prime Minister Modi stated several times that we shall not let this challenge go away without converting it into an opportunity to undertake systemic reforms.' 'And hasn't that been reiterated in action?'
Experts recommend buying gold as the fundamentals supporting a rally have not changed.
The agency's poor track record in convictions is the only light at the end of a rather long tunnel for the couple, observes Shyamal Majumdar.
Any shift in investor sentiment may result in speculators fleeing the gold market, driving its price down sharply, quickly. One significant risk for gold is a near-term reversal in the dollar, which recently fell to a two-year low.
'India is home to the third-largest number of family-owned businesses in the world.' 'While everyone pays lip service to succession planning being entrenched in the functional DNA of family-owned business enterprises, it's still not an area of focus for a lot of family businesses', points out Shyamal Majumdar.
Those interested in investing in gold have shifted to instruments, such as sovereign gold bonds and gold ETFs. Many others are, in fact, selling gold or using it as collateral to generate short-term liquidity.
The all-time high price of silver is Rs 75,000 a kg, recorded in April 2011.
The government has sold SGBs worth Rs 1,990 crore in April and May alone.
Silver has been quoting at a premium in India since mid-March because of huge scarcity.
It plans to use it as collateral, along with forex reserves, to print currency.
Gold and silver became costlier in the country following the international price rise over the expectations of negative interest rates in the US, the rising trade tensions between the US and China and the weakening of the rupee.
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