The interim Budget proposals that will be presented on February 1 in the backdrop of the general elections scheduled in April/May 2024 are likely to have a hint of populism, believe analysts, but are unlikely to derail the government from its path of fiscal prudence.
Ramoji Rao lived as the interface between business and politics and was an active participant in both for most of his remarkable life.
It's still early days, but the southwest monsoon has been nearly 37 per cent 'below normal' in the first seven days (June 1-7) of this month. According to the data furnished by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), between June 1 and June 7, India received 14.5 millimetres (mm) of rainfall, against a 'normal' 23.1 mm. Among places where rains have arrived, monsoon in Kerala in the first seven days has been 48 per cent 'below normal', while in Puducherry, it has been 56 per cent 'above normal'. In Tamil Nadu, rains were 21 per cent 'above normal' between June 1 and June 7.
The change in the baseline for IIP and WPI, currently at 2004-05, is expected to bring in more accuracy in mapping the level of economic activity and calculating other numbers like national accounts.
You filed your income tax returns for 2017-2018 and think you tax problems are over for now. But have you paid your advance tax this quarter, asks Samkit Maniar.
'We now look at divestment as an opportunity for maximising the value of public assets, not necessarily as a short-term resource-raising measure.'
Since January 2021, the inflation rate in health has stood in the range of 6.08-8.44 per cent.
GAIL (India) Ltd has pre-poned the supply of gas from the US and is looking to contract more LNG next year as it doubles down efforts to secure affordable energy supplies to meet the needs of Asia's third-largest economy, chairman Manoj Jain said. India's No.1 gas transporting and marketing firm has long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contracts from the US to Australia and with Russia, supplementing domestic gas supplies. "In 3Q (October-December 2021) we preponed a couple of cargoes (LNG shiploads) from supplies that we were to receive next year and we did it again in the current quarter," Jain told PTI. This is because US LNG costs one-third of the price of gas available in the spot or current market.
After seeing a good rise in box office collections over the first weekend, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani had stable weekdays ahead.
Rediff.com spoke to registered investment advisors to figure out how best the extra Rs 17,500 saved ever year can be invested to create a decent corpus in the years ahead. This is what they said.
The Central Statistical Organisation, the government agency responsible for keeping track of how the economy is performing, goes through five phases of estimating how much India's GDP amounts to each year.
Three different invitations were sent out for the wedding and the receptions with top-run guests being sent a large red box that contained an intricate chest incorporating a mini silver temple featuring gold idols of various Hindu deities, including Lord Ganesh, Radha-Krishna, and Goddess Durga.
But the government will present a second tranche of Supplementary Demands for Grants during the Budget session of Parliament in February, when it can seek additional spending.
India can now claim membership of the select list of economies that have an annual national income of over $1 trillion.
The Reserve Bank on Friday retained the GDP forecast for the current financial year at 9.5 per cent and flagged global semiconductor shortages, elevated commodity prices and potential global financial market volatility as downside risks to economic growth. In his address after the three-day meeting of the rate-setting panel, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said recovery in aggregate demand gathered pace in August-September, and it is reflected in high-frequency indicators, like railway freight traffic; port cargo; cement production; electricity demand; e-way bills; GST and toll collections. "The ebbing of infections, together with improving consumer confidence, has been supporting private consumption," he said, and added the pent-up demand and the festival season should give further fillip to urban demand in the second half of the financial year.
The unclaimed funds within the life insurance sector are higher from policies sold by agents as against other channels like bancassurance or a digital platform, said analysts and officials from insurance companies. Unclaimed life insurance funds refer to the proceeds of insurance policies including death or survival benefits not claimed by the beneficiary or the policyholder. Bancassurance means selling an insurance product through banks.
BSE-listed companies' market capitalisation reached Rs 197.7 trillion on January 21, against India's nominal GDP of Rs 190 trillion during 12 months ended December 2020.
'Revision of the base year for both CPI and GDP are long overdue.' 'The basic data that went into the 2011-2012 series were mainly from surveys done in 2011 or earlier.' 'We have since seen the emergence of new sectors like platform-based work and online marketing.' 'The employment surveys and the consumption surveys need to reflect these adequately.'
The number of frauds in the banking sector during the first half of the current financial year has increased substantially to 14,483 cases, although the amount involved is only 14.9 per cent of the previous year's amount, according to a RBI report. The report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2022-23, underlined the need to protect the banking system and the payments system from the risks of fraud and data breaches emanating from cyber threats. As many as 14,483 frauds were reported involving an amount of Rs 2,642 crore in the first half of current financial year, as compared to 5,396 cases (Rs 17,685 crore) in the same period a year ago.
A complete ban on firecrackers in Delhi until January 1, the government's refusal to grant licences for sales in Karnataka, and restrictions in the Noida region are adversely affecting the business of manufacturers in Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi, which produces over 90 per cent of India's fireworks. According to industry players, demand has decreased by 20 per cent compared to last year. Moreover, the ban on the use of barium nitrate and the manufacturing and sale of joint fireworks is also impacting demand.
Benefiting from higher credit off-take and loan repricing, listed commercial banks are expected to post 43.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in their net profit in the quarter ended June 30 (Q1FY24), analysts have said. Controlled credit costs due to a healthy asset quality profile and a steady treasury book will also support a strong bottom line for the lenders in the first quarter. However, net profit may shrink sequentially, according to analysts' estimates for 13 banks sourced from Bloomberg data.
For potato farmers in the north and wheat growers in the eastern parts -- particularly in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha -- the recent rains could in fact be beneficial.
Rating agencies Crisil and Icra on Monday revised down their India growth projections for the current fiscal and the second quarter mainly due to the ripple effect of slowdown in global growth and mixed crop output. Crisil downgraded the India growth forecast by 30 bps to 7 per cent while Icra pegged the economic expansion at 6.5 per cent for the second quarter of FY2022-23. "We have revised down our forecast for real gross domestic product growth to 7 per cent for fiscal 2023 from 7.3 per cent, primarily because of the slowdown in global growth that has started to impact our exports and industrial activity.
This will be the lender's first result after its merger with HDFC Ltd, effective from July 1, and will keep analysts glued to the management's earnings growth guidance for the merged financial behemoth.
The mesmerizing march included elite marching contingents, missiles, warplanes, surveillance gadgets and lethal weapon systems, with French President Emmanuel Macron gracing the occasion as the chief guest.
India has allocated Rs 1.72 trillion, or 27.67 per cent of the total defence budget to cater to modernisation of the country's arsenal. Modern militaries spend up to 50 to 60 per cent of their total defence budget so that they go into combat with superior weaponry and equipment.
National security advisor Ajit Doval on Friday suggested that various central armed police forces of the country should have "jointness" and interoperability among themselves like the ongoing plan for the defence forces.
The outcome of the general elections, the Morgan Stanley note says, has enough firepower to sway the markets on either side.
'it's not just youth in India who are left behind because of their inability to find jobs; nearly two-thirds of Indian women of working ages do not participate at all in the paid labour force.'
However, economic growth in five years of the UPA and NDA cannot be compared because of the now complex back series data, reports Indivjal Dhasmana.
The US decline decelerates on the back of public spending.
It is pegged at 6.8-8% by various economists, as compared to 6.7%.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
Yet another week of Hollywood movies doing very well at the Indian box office.
'We should look at is full year's growth rather than quarter numbers.'
'From our survey we found that there was a problem in the agricultural sector and drones could solve the problem.'
One just hopes that the collections stay stable on Monday and Tuesday especially and the drop is at maximum in 30% to 40% range.
The CSO estimate is, however, a bit lower than 7.4 per cent growth projected by the Reserve Bank for the current fiscal.
Showing no immediate signs of recovery, the American economy shrank at staggering rate of 6.1 per cent in the first three months of 2009, one of the worst contractions in decades.
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