The situation could become more acute as millions of migrants who had returned to their villages during the lockdown come back to the towns for higher wages and better livelihoods.
Religion and economic barriers continue to define love in modern India, discovers Preshth Bhardwaj.
The trigger: Like many Indian cities, Pune is bursting at its seams. A boom in IT and services has increased incomes, fuelling a real estate boom that is adding 27 million square foot of space every year. With new automobile units coming up around Pune, the city is exploding and traffic is at its worst.
The share of women employed in regular salaried jobs in urban India hit a fresh low in the January-March quarter (Q4) of 2023-24 (FY24). In the same period, the share of women engaged in self-employment went up. An analysis of the latest quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data showed the share of women in regular wage work among all employed women stood at 52.3 per cent in Q4FY24, down from 53 per cent in the previous quarter.
The housing schemes for the urban poor must involve slum dwellers, who will have to take ownership of their area's development.
'Politicians's slogans on social distancing, showered like petals from their ivory towers, mock every single moment of pain and distress imposed on the vulnerable down below, at migrant labour stuffed like chickens on goods trucks, trying to get home at all costs,' observes Veenu Sandhu.
A cocktail of heatwave and upcoming cricketing events is expected to usher in the peak season for the country's largest beer maker, United Breweries. The beer maker, which has gained share in some key markets, will be a major beneficiary as April to July is an important period contributing to 40-45 per cent of its annual beer volumes. Going ahead, the T20 Cricket World Cup in June and the ongoing IPL will have a positive impact on volumes and should be able to offset the negative impact of elections on sales, experts believe.
Could the MPCE survey results be used as a basis of reconstructing the Consumer Price Index with new weights, asks Madan Sabnavis.
Retail inflation rose at the fastest pace in four months in December 2023 at 5.69 per cent, on account of an increase in prices of vegetables, pulses, and spices, according to government data released on Friday. The annual inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at 5.55 per cent in November and 5.72 per cent in the year-ago month. As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the rate of price rise in the food basket, which constitutes nearly half of the CPI, increased to 9.53 per cent in December 2023, as against 8.7 per cent in the preceding month, and 4.19 per cent in December 2022.
IMAI study says social media usage in rural places doubled in 2014.
Not paying attention to our cities is perilous and could result in massive urban decay.
Lal Salaam is not a movie A Ganesh Nadar would recommend.
Lamborghini has sold 10,112 cars worldwide -- so India's 100 is certainly a big deal for them. But how big a deal is it for us to peg our consumption theories around, asks Rama Bijapurkar.
A study conducted by CBRS reveals there are abundant homes lying vacant in urban India.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Companies manufacturing fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) continue to see rural stress sustain and it continues to trail urban demand. At the Confederation of Indian Industry's FMCG summit, managements of various companies pointed out urban demand continued to grow while rural demand remained under pressure because incomes were under stress in rural areas. "Due to rural stress, volumes continue to remain an issue for the industry and we are yet to see any revival in demand," Sudhir Sitapati, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) at Godrej Consumer Products
As more companies ask their employees to return to office after the pandemic, the share of women employed in regular salaried jobs in urban India decreased from 54 per cent in the first quarter to 52.8 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year, according to the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data. The slump in the share is the lowest in wage employment in any quarter in the last six years when the National Statistical Office started releasing the quarterly PLFS surveys in Q3 of FY19. The share of women in wage work was highest in Q1 of FY21 at 61.2 per cent.
'Due to rural stress, volumes continue to remain an issue for the industry, and we are yet to see any revival in demand.'
Prashant Lingam and Aruna Kappagantula are changing the way houses are being built in India.
60-65 per cent of the FMCG industry's overall sales come from urban areas; 35-40 per cent from rural areas.
The unemployment rate shot up to a record 10.9 per cent in the week that ended on December 18, points out Mahesh Vyas.
Retail inflation jumped to a 15-month high of 7.44 per cent in July as prices of vegetables and other food items spiked, according to official data released on Monday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was at 4.87 in June and 6.71 per cent in July 2022. Previously, high inflation was recorded at 7.79 per cent in April 2022.
The number of internet users in rural India increased 18 percent last year, faster than growth in urban areas and continuing a trend that started two years ago. Internet users in urban India increased 5 percent in 2021. Rural India has 351 million users, or 37 percent of people there, according to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and data analytics company KANTAR.
Senior SC advocate Sanjay Hegde tells Amit Agnihotri why the draft Masuka law is necessary.
Retail inflation rose to three-month high of 4.81 per cent in June, mainly on account of hardening prices of food, according to the government data. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.31 per per (revised upward from 4.25 per cent) in May and 7 per cent in June 2022. The inflation, however, remains within the RBI's comfort level of below 6 per cent.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
'The top two reasons for the low participation of kids are lack of time and need to focus on studies.'
Winds of change are blowing across the fast-moving consumer goods market.
Food in India has fled the confines of the kitchen and become a national adventure... Food shows, now even on news channels, have transformed restaurateurs from humble khansamas to courted celebrities.
Year by year, our cities remain defeated in the face of weather conditions, costing us time, money, resources and often lives, observe Amit Kapoor and Bibek Debroy.
The 6.7% growth in Index of Consumer Sentiments in July 2022 is the highest since September 2021, explains Mahesh Vyas.
Since 2000, per capita GDP has grown faster in India's rural areas than in its urban centres. Rural incomes are growing, and consumers are buying discretionary goods and lifestyle products, including mobile phones, television sets and two-wheelers, says Sanjay Dawar, MD, Management Consulting, Accenture, India.
Since 2000, per capita GDP has grown faster in India's rural areas than in its urban centres. Rural incomes are growing, and consumers are buying discretionary goods and lifestyle products, including mobile phones, television sets and two-wheelers, says Sanjay Dawar, MD, Management Consulting, Accenture, India.
The monsoons are no picnic. Try to laugh in the rain.
Of these 8.5 million additional people employed in September, 6.5 million were in rural India, reveals Mahesh Vyas.
Meet Nilima Kalra, 79, Manju Roy, 80, Sumita Maan, 79, and Gurpreet Kaur, 75.
After Bengaluru, where the Congress lost out to the Bharatiya Janata Party after five decades of dominance, and Mumbai where it failed to wrest the cash rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation from the Shiv Sena, it is now the turn of New Delhi to show its disenchantment with the Congress, writes Neerja Chowdhury
'Religion has divided our country like it never had done.' 'I can't remember a time of such focused hatred.'
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