Former World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu on Thursday said the US economic policy towards India has taken an unfortunate turn, noting that President Donald Trump's harsh stance against New Delhi appears baffling. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods from August 1, amid signs of a stalemate in the ongoing bilateral trade negotiations between the two countries.
North Block hasn't made a bureaucrat out of the chief economic advisor yet
Kaushik Basu became a headline hogger recently, but for what he says are all the wrong reasons.
Kaushik Basu, the C Marks Professor of International Studies, professor of economics, and director of the Center for Analytic Economics at Cornell, has been asked informally if he would consider becoming Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), a post that will fall vacant after Arvind Virmani ends his tenure and leaves to join the International Monetary Fund at the end of the month.
India's wholesale price-based inflation is at a 30-year high, leading to a "very alarming" situation for the country, former World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu said on Thursday. He, however, doesn't see any risk of hyperinflation, but cautioned that if retail inflation follows wholesale prices, it might lead to "inflationary crisis". Participating in a virtual event organised by the Asia Society, India, Basu said the inflationary situation in India is at a "very risky bend".
A Cornell University professor, Basu took over as the CEA in the Finance Ministry in December 2009 and his term ended in February. However, he was given extension till August as the government was in the process of formulating the proposals for the Budget for 2012-13.
Kaushik Basu, till recently the chief economic adviser of the government of India, who created a political firestorm in April when he said here on the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings that no economic reforms were likely in India before 2014 when parliamentary elections are due, has been appointed the World Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President.
"There are some pros and cons the RBI needs to keep in mind. The credit tightening, in terms of interest rates - we were expecting that was going to slowdown growth. We were expecting that was also going to slow down inflation. Unfortunately, what seems to be happening is, it is impacting growth and not having sufficient impact on inflation," Basu said.
Crude prices, which has become a big concern for the government fighting inflation, softened to about $104 to a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after touching $107 a barrel, its highest level since September 2008.
Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also ruled out the possibility of India witnessing a repeat of the 1991 balance of payments crisis and reversing the path to globalisation of economy.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 1991 budget unshackled India's economy, significantly enhancing the economic prospects for hundreds of millions of Indians, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Gita Gopinath said on Friday.
The finance ministry on Thursday said the 9 per cent growth projection for this fiscal may have to be revised on account of the high global commodity prices and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe.
The World Bank has appointed Indermit Gill, an Indian national, chief economist and senior vice-president for development economics at the multilateral development bank. "Indermit Gill brings to this role a combination of leadership, invaluable expertise and practical experience working with country governments on macroeconomic imbalances, growth, poverty, institutions, conflict, and climate change," World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement. His appointment will be effective September 1, 2022.
As farmers continue their protests demanding repealing of the three new laws, Kumar also emphasised that continued negotiations with protesting farmers is of course the way forward.
Economist Abhijit Sen, a former Planning Commission member and one of the country's foremost experts on rural economy, died on Monday night. He was 72.
In a major decision to bring petroleum products in line with market rates, the government on Friday freed petrol from all pricing controls and hiked diesel prices by Rs 2 a litre.
A combination of demonetisation, a poorly and hurriedly implemented GST, and more recently the "botched up" lockdown of the economy to control the spread of Covid has brought the economy to its knees.
India was ranked 142 last year, but in the latest report it was revised to 134.
As the United Progressive Alliance government desperately fights the perception of a policy paralysis, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismisses it with equal vehemence contending that the coalition was set on achieving higher economic growth.
Nation will not be immune to 2014-15 European banks debt obligations, says Kaushik Basu.
Kaushik Basu, whose stint at the World Bank ends on July 31, was being looked at as a serious contender, the sources said
The speed at which political statements of doubtful veracity acquire the aura of gospel truth is astonishing. One such "truth" is: coalition compulsions impede economic reforms. Even Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu believes in it. He recently said, "Thanks to coalitional democracy, there is some slowdown in economic reforms and decision-making."
Given that the public is no longer willing to tolerate lack of transparency, politicians will see they have no alternative but to change, feels Raghuram Rajan, economic advisor to the prime minister. Interestingly, Professor Rajan made this hard-hitting speech at an event to release a book in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's honour.
S&P earlier this week had said India faces 'one-in-three' chance of rating downgrade in the next two years
Has the experiment of appointing non-government economists worked?
Nothwithstanding his chief economic adviser's contention that there would be no reforms till elections in 2014, Pranab says there is no lack of appetite for reforms and that an electorate's support or lack of it can be gauged only in the national polls.
By 2015, it expects, the growth rate of China would be 7.9 per cent and that of India 7 per cent.
The central bank lowered the Statutory Liquidity Ratio -- amount of deposits banks park in government bonds -- by 1 per cent to 23 per cent.
Noting that India's inflation record was 'much, much better' against emerging economies, Basu said inflation should go down from September and as per expectations and calculations of the Finance Ministry, it will go below seven per cent from September.
Method will be part of this year's Economic Survey; will help investors in relative comparison.
India's economic growth, which dipped to 9-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12, is expected to rebound from October, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said.
India may attract investments if the domestic economy continues to strengthen.
The biggest achievement of demonetisation is that it has brought about a social revolution against black money and corruption, says Sukumar Mukhopadhyay.
Various corporate bodies from US and UK had cautioned that such tax proposals could dent India's image as an investment hotspot.
Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu sounded a warning bell at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, DC, last week, saying that big-ticket reforms would probably have to wait to be carried out for the next government, after general elections in 2014.
India has been growing nine per cent plus before the global financial meltdown of 2008. The growth rate in 2011-12 slipped to nine-year low of 6.5 per cent.
India's ongoing inflation-related worries must not be seen in isolation. Instead, it is a challenge being faced by several emerging economies, the finance ministry's chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said on Tuesday, while also calling for concerted international action to deal with the issue.
Inflation is awfully close to 10 per cent, double digits. The main concern is that it has persisted at that level for a long time. The RBI would have to take that persistence into account, suggesting that it is still a problem and vigilance is still required on inflation.
Inflation is awfully close to 10 per cent, double digits. The main concern is that it has persisted at that level for a long time. The RBI would have to take that persistence into account, suggesting that it is still a problem and vigilance is still required on inflation.
A prime minister-appointed panel on inflation has pitched for opening FDI in multibrand retail in a 'properly regulated fashion', cautioning that the global corporations can also become monopolistic and hike prices.
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