The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent in March on easing prices of manufactured products and fuel items, even though food articles turned expensive.
India is much better placed today to deal with future waves of the pandemic relative to the first wave, RBI deputy governor Michael Patra said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed India's growth forecast for 2022-23 (FY23) by 80 basis points to 7.4 per cent, citing less favourable external conditions and rapid policy tightening by the central bank. In its update to the April World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that though a global recession in 2022 was ruled out with a growth estimate of 3.2 per cent, the balance of risks was squarely to the downside, driven by a wide range of factors that could adversely affect the global economic performance. "The risk of recession is particularly prominent in 2023, when in several economies growth is expected to bottom out, household savings accumulated during the pandemic will have declined, and even small shocks could cause economies to stall.
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The Indian economy is projected to grow at 6.3 per cent in current financial year aided by investment and domestic demand. According to a World Bank report released on Tuesday, India continues to show resilience against the backdrop of a challenging global environment. In India, which accounts for the bulk of South Asia region, growth is expected to remain robust at 6.3 per cent in 2023-24, India Development Update of the World Bank said.
It also noted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is more likely than in the past to respond with military force to Pakistani provocations.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said that the timing and sequence of exit from an easy monetary policy were still a challenge.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday tabled the pre-Budget Economic Survey in the Lok Sabha.
With inflation reaching new highs, the Reserve Bank of India on Saturday said it will take 'measured' steps to contain the rise in price level and the spurt in the yields of government papers will not impact the Centre's borrowing.
Three key agriculture Bills, approved by the Lok Sabha, are facing staunch opposition from within the ruling coalition with senior minister Harsmirat Kaur Badal resigning in protest and farmers hitting the street.
India's leading commodity exchange, National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), and private weather forecasting company Skymet took a significant step towards launching the country's first tradeable weather index on Monday (August 14) by entering into an agreement to deepen their understanding of the impact that weather has on agricultural commodities. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between NCDEX and Skymet is a profound step in the direction of linking farmers with the weather in a scientific way, according to an official statement. Sources indicate that NCDEX and Skymet will conduct workshops and seminars across the country to educate farmers about how they can scientifically use weather forecasts to hedge risks.
'The stockbroker should have a good balance sheet to support its scale of operations. It should also have proper risk management in terms of margins so that it doesn't go bankrupt during extreme market movements.' 'The broker must have a track record of navigating several market cycles in an ethical and transparent manner.'
PM has approved of the Union Budget, as it ensures growth and price stability.
The US Federal Reserve late on Tuesday slashed its lending rate from 1 per cent to zero to 0.25 per cent.
In a tightening cycle, a premature pause in monetary policy action would be a costly policy error, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das opined while voting along with five other members of the MPC for raising the key lending rate by 35 basis points earlier this month, according to the minutes of the meeting released on Wednesday. Prior to the December hike in repo rate, the RBI had raised the key short-term lending rate by 190 bps in four tranche.
Disagreeing with Reserve Bank's projection on the price situation, former RBI Governor and PM's Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan said WPI and CPI may not be as high as being projected by the central bank.
The sharp rally in the midcap stocks has made valuations expensive, and there is room for a correction, wrote Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies in his latest note to investors, GREED & fear. The midcap index, Wood said, now trades at 24.1x 12-month forward earnings compared with 18.7x for the Nifty. Rising crude oil prices, he believes, are another worry for India, which imports nearly 80 per cent of its annual crude oil requirement.
With Europe focusing still on price stability (i.e. inflation), the weaker economies of Europe are taking the strain as the Euro rises on the currency markets. Stronger nations like Germany are doing well internationally, so they are affected far less by a strong Euro than weaker states such as Spain, Greece and Ireland. This was reflected in the 9 per cent growth in Japanese exports last month, which saw 15 per cent growth in trade with China alone.
Much of the rise in prices has been in food items
'The market should maintain optimism on the back of range-bound oil prices, a robust fiscal balance sheet, a better-than-expected monsoon, and moderating inflation.'
Home loans and consumer goods loans are likely to remain high as the Reserve Bank of India kept its key policy rates unchanged during its Monetary Policy review on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank kept bank rate unchanged at 6 per cent, short-term borrowing (reverse repo) was kept intact 6 per cent, lending (repo) at 7.75 per cent. Cash Reserve Ratio, a statutory deposit by commercial banks with the central bank, was retained at 7.5 per cent.
'We like certain stocks from banking, insurance, retail, hospitals and capital goods.' 'Though some of these stocks may seem expensive, they will compound well over the long term, thus justifying their current multiples.'
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the decision to tweak policy rates was not in his hand as he himself is driven by the situation on the ground. In April, the Reserve Bank in a surprise move hit the pause button and decided to keep the key benchmark policy rate at 6.5 per cent. Prior to it, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was on a rate hiking spree, raising the repo rate by 250 basis points since May 2022.
A report authored by UN's panel of scientists from across the world on climate change and sent to the governments of 197 countries has ominous news on the climate change front.
In the backdrop of cement players refusing to cut prices, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday asked India Inc to look beyond their balance-sheets and play a role in helping the government ensure macro economic stability.
'I don't think we have ever seen such alignment of everything that we need in the banking sector.'
Cheaper goods and services and stability in overall prices, as well as higher exemption in personal income tax rates is also on the wish list of the common man.
The current situation offers an opportunity for farmers to reinvest in agriculture.
Finance Minister P Chidamabaram on Thursday indicated that the increase in reverse repo announced in the Reserve Bank of India credit policy will not raise bank lending rates and allayed fears on inflation by promising steps to ensure
Industrial production and inflation data, quarterly earnings from IT majors and global trends would drive the equity markets in a holiday-shortened week, analysts said. Moreover, foreign fund trading activity, movement of the rupee and global crude oil prices would also dictate terms in the market, they added. Equity markets would remain closed on Friday for 'Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti'.
Inflation rate dipped below the four per cent mark to 3.96 per cent and is under control, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said cryptocurrencies are a "threat to macroeconomic and financial stability" and cautioned investors against punting on them, days after the Union government's move to tax the gains made from cryptocurrency trades. In the Union Budget for 2022-23 presented in Parliament on February 1, the government proposed levying a 30 per cent tax on gains made on cryptocurrency trades by investors and the announcement was welcomed by cryptocurrency industry players, saying it legitimises their trades. Das invoked the 17th century 'tulip mania', widely considered to be the first financial bubble, to caution investors, saying the cryptocurrencies do not even possess the value of the exotic flower.
Making a case for raising prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG, the Reserve Bank on Tuesday said hike in rates of petroleum products is necessary to arrest fiscal slippages.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 9 per cent rise in its December quarter net profit as a planned maintenance-induced weakness in oil business earnings was offset by stability in retail and telecom verticals. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit of Rs 17,265 crore, or Rs 25.52 per share, in October-December - the third quarter of the current 2023-24 fiscal - was 9.3 per cent higher than Rs 15,792 crore, or Rs 23.19 a share, earning a year back, according to a company statement. Quarter-on-quarter, the profit was lower when compared to Rs 17,394 crore earnings in the preceding three months ended September 30.
OPEC's move to cut output has pushed up oil prices. From here it could go either way: oil could reach $100/barrel or an analysis of demand and supply might follow, say Abheek Barua & Bidisha Ganguly.
India is likely to be the fastest-growing Asian economy in 2022-23, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. They expect India's gross domestic product growth to average 7 per cent during this period - the strongest among the largest economies - and contributing 28 per cent and 22 per cent to Asian and global growth, respectively. The Indian economy, they said, is set for its best run in over a decade as pent-up demand is unleashed.
