The government will have a tough time correcting its financial course from the current high level of fiscal deficit, unless it decides to raise taxes or cut spending, said Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) member Govinda Rao.
The Food Security Act as proposed by the UPA government assures rice/wheat at Rs 3 a kg to BPL families as a matter of legal right.
To rein in prices, the RBI could tweak in policy rates to either suck out money supply or make borrowings costlier.
Interest rates may harden a bit by the end of the current financial year, according to C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.
Asked whether the Budget should start the process of exist, Rangarajan told reporters in New Delhi, "What is required, is a roadmap towards normalisation".
Stating that counter-cyclical measures to combat the impact of the global financial meltdown were important, Subbarao said the government borrowings had gone up 'rapidly and abruptly' hindering transmission of monetary measures to bring about lowering of interest rates.
The RBI governor, D Subbarao had met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on December 18, fuelling speculation that the monetary policy would be tightened.
'Poor home work, and a subsequent loss of nerve.' 'This sums up the Modi government's current travails, the stall in key sectors, fading momentum, irritability,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
India-born Eboo Patel, founder of a group focused on global interfaith youth movement and member of President Barack Obama's faith advisory council, has won the 2010 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion, touted as the world's most prestigious prize in the field.
The government on Monday abolished the Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) that was announced in the Budget last year, but was yet to be implemented and the commodity exchanges rejoiced the decision.
Grain stocks in the current procurement season will be enough to feed all those who go hungry, and the FCI only needs to invest in proper storage facilities.
Although the WPI-based inflation has been in the negative for two consecutive weeks, the Consumer Price Index, which measures movement in the prices that consumers pay, reported double-digit increase in May.
After one stop-work order on the Rs 54,000-crore Posco project, a four-member panel appointed by the Union ministry of environment and forests has dealt a body blow to yet another big-ticket investor in Orissa, the London-based Vedanta Resources Ltd.
The horrifying state of hunger in India adds urgency to the need to implement a new food security law, writes Praful Bidwai.
The finance minister said figures for second quarter economic growth are yet to come, but industry has started picking up. The Indian economy grew by 6.1 per cent in the first quarter. On inflation, Mukherjee said the government has taken steps to ensure that the adverse impact of inflationary pressures is reduced by strengthening supply management.
It forecast a growth of 9 per cent for 2011-12.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council on Friday said the economy will grow by 8.5 per cent, up from a projected 8.2 per cent, and inflation will come down from double digits to 6.5 per cent by the end of 2010-11.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council on Wednesday favoured further increase in petroleum prices in line with the global trend.
The former Governor of RBI said India would see 'definite signs of recovery' in the second half of 2009-10. On growth forecast, he said this fiscal will see a rate of 6 and 6.5 per cent, but it will be higher next fiscal.
The gala organised by the Asian Pacific American Advisory Council and National Committee of Asian American Republicans on Friday was attended by ambassadors from several Asian countries including the Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna.
Although the economy did well during the second quarter (July-September) recording a growth of 7.9 per cent, the output of agriculture and allied sector slipped to below 1 per cent.
Other panelists of the 23-member council includes external affairs minister S M Krishna, City group CEO Vikram Pandit, NRI entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria, economist Jagdish Bhagwati, educationist Sam Pitroda.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council member G Govinda Rao on Thursday said the Reserve Bank can raise the key rates ahead of its April 20 annual monetary policy to tame the high headline inflation.
The gross domestic product grew by 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009-10 and the year may end with 6.5 per cent.
In an interview with Business Standard's Sapna Dogra Singh and John Samuel Raja D, C Rangarajan says there are some encouraging signs in the economy, but the real recovery will come only in 2010-11.
Growth in the six core industries -- crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel -- in April-March 2008-09 was 2.7 per cent against 5.9 per cent in the previous fiscal. Crude oil production continued to remain in the negative zone as it dipped by 3.1 per cent in April while it had registered a growth rate of 1 per cent a year ago.
"India's economic fundamentals are quite robust and its economy remains the second-fastest growing one in the world," the prime minister's Economic Advisory Council's chairman Suresh Tendulkar told reporters in Mumbai. According to him, the financial meltdown in advanced economies 'has been very serious'.
Last year, the Survey suggested a long list of reforms, but most of these found no place in the Budget.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) expects the economy to grow by over 7.2 per cent during the current fiscal and exceed 8 per cent in 2010-11, thanks to increased economic activity.
According to Jagdish Shettigar, chairman of BJP's economic cell and former member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, infrastructure, especially road building, will be a priority. It is now also certain that work on the controversial 111-km Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise connecting Bnagalore and Mysore will be accelerated. "We have always supported NICE," said a BJP leader.
President Barack Obama has appointed the first Hindu community activist and one of the first Hindu women priests in New Jersey, Anju Bhargava, to the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
The private demand is still not picking up and the funds under market stabilisation scheme are also maturing.
Food inflation is expected to cool off in the next two months from the current high of about 18 per cent on expectation of better Rabi (winter) crop, Prime Minister's economic panel member said.
The Prime Minister Economy Advisory Council has projected a mere two per cent growth in the sector for the current year. Earlier in August, PMEAC had projected the agriculture production to grow at a lower pace of two per cent in the current year as against 4.5 per cent in 2007-08.
Sheela Bhatt reveals how Sonia Gandhi has decided to take an active role in governance with the resurrection of the powerful National Advisory Council. A rediff exclusive!
The Prime Minister's economic panel on Tuesday said it could revise upward the economic growth forecast to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal on the back of robust economic growth in the second quarter.
Last week, the India Meteorological Department downgraded its monsoon forecast to 'below normal'. This has led to fears whether it would affect agricultural output and bring down India's growth in the current fiscal. The agriculture sector contributes around 17 per cent to the gross domestic product and employs around 60 per cent of the nation's total workforce.
Projecting 34 per cent decline in foreign capital inflows due to uncertain external environment, the PM's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on Wednesday made a strong case for easing the External Commercial Borrowing guidelines to help corporates borrow funds from overseas debt market.
The Prime Minister's EAC is expected to give its outlook on economy for the current fiscal in a week's time.
The luncheon at his residence was attended by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Ahluwalia, Chairman of PM's Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan, former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon and officials of the Prime Minister's Office.
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