Moody's Investors Service on Friday projected India's growth at zero per cent for the current fiscal and said the negative outlook on sovereign rating reflects increasing risks that GDP growth will remain significantly lower than in the past. The outlook also partly shows weaker policy effectiveness to address economic and institutional issues, it noted in the update to its November 2019 rating forecast.
Researchers at Public Health Scotland and the University of Edinburgh, UK, found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offered better protection against the Delta variant compared to the Oxford-AstraZeneca preventive, known as Covishield in India.
To equate the Hindu propensity not to persecute non-Hindus is a sign of mature self-confidence, not weakness as the rabid insist, asserts T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
She came like a whirlwind to wipe out, in one stroke, practically all female singing competition, recalls Raju Bharatan.
The Chinese embassy, in a letter to some of the members of the All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, expressed concern over their attendance at the event and asked them to refrain from providing support to Tibetan forces.
With this India will continue to retain the position of being the fastest growing emerging economy. And by 2021, its growth rate is projected to be 1.5 per cent more than China's 6 per cent.
'Very soon you will hear the news of two more MLAs from Uddhavji's side joining our camp.' 'And once the Supreme Court verdict comes out, there will be a waterfall.'
'In a serious fiscal situation like this, an ostrich-like focus on annual budgeting, event management and defensive rhetoric will only make matters worse,' warns Rathin Roy.
Dhoni was once considered India's best finisher and no target was deemed out of reach with the boundary-hitting right-hander at the crease.
'The first year of the Modi government's second term has laid the roadmap for the future and we will embark on it with gusto,' promises Gopal Krishna Agrawal, the BJP's national spokesperson on economic affairs.
'Post the pandemic, when India is turning a new leaf in its economic policy with an eye on foreign capital and global supply chains that are likely to leave China, heightened tensions on the India-China border creates an atmosphere of uncertainty,' observes Virendra Kapoor.
The banyan tree and the green chilli; the crow and the beetle; the rose and the mango; the informality and good humour of its people... Beloved author Ruskin Bond continues Rediff.com's special series on India's treasures, and tells Archana Masih that India's wealth lies in its simple splendours.
'It will be a repeated folly to ever think that China will not attack us.'
Overseas investors had put in a net sum of Rs 45,981 crore in March and Rs 11,182 crore in February in the capital markets
Moody's on Monday slashed India's growth forecast for 2020 to 5.4 per cent from 6.6 per cent projected earlier, on slower than expected economic recovery. In its update on Global Macro Outlook, Moody's Investors Service said India's economy has decelerated rapidly over the last 2 years and economic recovery is likely to be 'shallow'.
IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath also said the pickup in global growth for 2020 remains highly uncertain as it relies on improved growth outcomes for stressed economies like Argentina, Iran, and Turkey and for under-performing emerging and developing economies such as Brazil, India, and Mexico.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, on Wednesday, singled out 'Run Machine' Cheteshwar Pujara for his stellar show in India's historic maiden Test series win in Australia.
Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said that Rs 65,000 crore is required to help the poor affected by the coronavirus-induced lockdown. He also laid stress on the need to restart the economy while taking precautions.
It's hard to say because of the winner-take-all nature of new platform and network businesses, but Reliance has not been an efficient user of capital, and Adani numbers are varied, observes T N Ninan.
Investors are sceptical that the economy could have picked up so much steam.
'You need a leader whom India can identify with and I cannot think of any other leader except Sachin Pilot in the Congress party.'
Former India pacer Jaydev Unadkat says the potential cancellation of a second consecutive Ranji Trophy season will be a 'great loss' for domestic cricket.
'People who were vaccinated early on, for example, from January to April this year, namely health workers, the elderly, and the immunocompromised, should be identified for a booster dose.' 'We should start getting ready for administering booster doses to them on priority.'
Dealers say the significant increase in sales was driven by a need to plug the diminishing inventory as most dealerships were transitioning from BS-IV to BS-VI when the Covid-19 lockdown was announced.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka, at Mohali, on Friday.
This is reflected in an improvement in their sentiments as well, explains Mahesh Vyas.
'People always short-change the resilience of the economy.'
While foreign currency rating was retained at Baa2 -- the second-lowest investment grade score -- Moody's also projected a fiscal deficit of 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product in the year through March 2020, a breach of the government's target of 3.3 per cent.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Monday attempted to diminish the Ashes fervour by stating that his team is desperate to triumph in India.
An opinion is steadily gaining ground in Muslim countries in India's 'extended neighbourhood' that the Modi government is adopting State policies that are decidedly 'anti-Muslim', warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Reserve Bank's rate-setting panel began its three-day deliberations on Monday to decide the next monetary policy amid expectations that the central bank will maintain status quo on the benchmark interest rate in the backdrop of global scare due to the new coronavirus variant Omicron. Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das headed six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to announce the policy resolution on Wednesday. If the RBI maintains status quo in policy rates on Wednesday, it would be the ninth consecutive time since the rate remains unchanged.
The economic impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on emerging economies will depend on a mix of government restrictions, public comfort with social interactions, and capacity of governments and central banks to provide additional policy support to the private sector, Moody's Investors Service said on Wednesday. The emergence of the new variant poses new risks to the global economic growth and inflation outlook, as concerns mount about the variant's health risks and several countries have imposed new travel restrictions in recent days. These restrictions will likely increase over the coming weeks until scientists learn more about the variant, it said.
'As people have moved from cities to small towns and villages, they have carried the infection into new territories.' 'Poor healthcare infrastructure in these places should be a big worry in the days to come.'
'Why has the peace been kept?' 'Basically because there is a balance.' 'Maybe they think that balance has changed.' 'People can make mistakes. People can miscalculate.' 'If that is the cause, then I think what we have done, matching their build-up, etc, it is giving a good account of ourselves in the face-offs.'
Tharoor was asked by a Pakistani journalist as to how the political fortune of the Indian government was impacted by the rising COVID numbers. He said it was paradoxical as the government was "not doing well" in dealing with the pandemic and people realise that, but polls suggest that it has not hurt the BJP politically as it should.
Hooda and Azad were reported to have discussed concrete proposals to strengthen the Congress and ensure collective leadership and decision making as demanded by the grouping which met on Wednesday and signed a joint statement.
The words 'industry', 'industrial development', 'jobs', and 'employment' have been ringing with higher frequency since Mamata Banerjee stepped into her third term with landslide victory after a high-octane election last year. "Our government's next target is industrial development," the chief minister (CM) had been heard stating at different public meetings in the past few months - perhaps setting the tone for the sixth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) slated for later this month. Investor summits by any state are about intent, big numbers, and tall claims. Yet in competitive federalism, its importance as a marketing tool is undeniable.
India is one of the key countries that will shape the 21st century, believes Robert D Blake, assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs in the Barack Obama administration.Keynoting a conference titled 'Natural allies? US-Indian Relations in the Obama Era', organised by the Washington-based think tank American Enterprise Institute on Monday, Blake stressed that India's importance to the United States has not diminished.
Captain Ricky Ponting has defended Cricket Australia's decision to go ahead with India tour despite recent bomb blasts in New Delhi, saying the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and independent security experts have given them green signal. He added that both as captain and player of the team he is comfortable to visit India on the advice of CA and the Australian Cricketer's Association.
US-India defence cooperation must not adversely affect the India-Russia interface, which has its own strategic meaning and content, asserts Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).