With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan says the government should take advantage of the peaks in the Indian equity markets right now and sell stakes in PSUs while prioritising spending to get the economy back on track. The upcoming Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1 should look to provide "relief to the poorer households and small and medium enterprises," he said. And then move on to getting the economy back on track.
'Three external members of the first MPC are respected researchers with excellent academic background, but there is no harm in considering academicians with diverse backgrounds such as finance and labour along with economists for this body,' recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
RBI has announced a 50 bpc rate cut, India Inc cheers the move.
The RBI governor, who made a presentation about the state of the economy as well about the world economy to the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, stayed clear of controversial questions like government invoking special powers.
This month, advertisements for managing directors and the senior management team for the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development or NaBFID, should be out, signalling the start of a financial institution (FI) like no other the country has ever had. For this and other reasons government managers associated with the NaBFID project are convinced it should remain a 100 per cent government-owned entity. This is somewhat different from what former economic affairs secretary Tarun Bajaj said when the NaBFID Bill was being tabled in Parliament earlier this year: "To begin with, it will be 100 per cent government owned.
'To simply let the rupee depreciate to any level according to market forces will not be in the country's interests.'
Overall, the record of the second term reveals a contradiction between the image and the reality. The image, especially on media and social media, is one of the man at the height of his power, and unstoppable. The reality on governance is someone who has found it difficult to get things implemented and unsure of what to do next, points out Aakar Patel.
'When the youth population is so large, in a globalised world, they look for opportunities. Are there enough opportunities for the youth in India?' 'The idea of affirmative action has to be creating capability. All individuals have potential. Unfortunately, there is capability deprivation because of the State's inaction.' 'Nation building has been a disaster in India mainly because we lacked the work ethic compared to the US and European countries.'
India saw growth of around 213 per cent in the number of real-time payments processed over the past year.
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, who faced a stinging attack from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presiding over the "worst phase" of the Indian banking sector, on Thursday reminded her that two-third of his tenure as the head of the central bank was under the Bharatiya Janata Party government.
In his first interaction with the media after taking charge, former PNB chairman and managing director K C Chakrabarty said, "When the government is giving a certain interest rate on small savings, it is not logically correct for banks to provide a lower rate of interest. When we are saying that interest rates are coming down, that means the small savings rate should also come down."
Barring stray references such as the 'dual control' of banks and shifting the goalposts during demonetisation, he is not in a fault-finding mode with the government, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The main difference of opinion between RBI and FinMin is over the transfer of the RBI's 'excess' capital reserves. The Jalan panel seeks to convince finance secretary Subhash Garg to soften his dissent note language. The move is aimed at maintaining the now-cordial relations between the RBI and the finance ministry.
Two women candidates; Lok Sabha Speakers; Chief Justices; A Chief Election Commissioner; drafters of the Constitution; the RBI's first Indian governor; a farm leader who unsuccessfully contested four times; an iconic Bharata Natyam dancer...
Traditionally, Prime Minister picks the RBI Governor after consultation with the finance minister.
Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, takes charge at the RBI as the country faces its worst economic crunch since a balance of payments crisis two decades ago.
History would not see the institution kindly if it continues to avoid, as appears to be the case, hearing and deciding some of the most pressing issues of our time, asserts Aakar Patel.
Indian banks might meet the Reserve Bank of India's projection of an 18 per cent growth in credit, K V Kamath, chairman of the country's second largest lender ICICI Bank said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
India's chief economic adviser, Raghuram Rajan has been appointed as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
PAC summons RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.
The RBI, which had been following soft monetary policy since September last year to inject liquidity into the system to help industry combat the impact of the global meltdown, on Tuesday reversed its stance by increasing the SLR by one per cent to 25 per cent, though it kept other rates unchanged.
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With new private banks in the play, the going could become more difficult for the old-school state-run banks, already losing business and market position, forcing them to think hard towards consolidating and forming larger entities to garner big-ticket deals.
The Reserve Bank of India, in its Second Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2014-15, kept the key interest rate unchanged at 8 per cent.
'The governor does enjoy a certain amount of recognition in the public and if he is able to communicate on some of those larger issues using the gravitas of his office, I think his contribution to the larger public will be great'
The last year has seen public sector undertakings (PSUs) outperforming the Nifty50, albeit by a small degree. But PSU valuations are still, on average, less than half of private sector peers at price-to-equity or PE 8.7x for the Nifty PSU Index versus 20.9x for the Nifty50. There are several reasons for lower valuation.
The MPC headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the resolution of the meeting at around noon on Thursday.
He was the financial secretary when the 2G licences were allocated.
Tobin tax and a financial sector levy could be considered, says former RBI governor. India should manage its capital account irrespective of high or low inflows, Y V Reddy, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said.
Given the pressure from India Inc and the banking fraternity, it is surmised that the portfolio rejig will take place before April.
The Indian regulatory framework forced Citi to hibernate -- contrary to the claim that it never sleeps!
The offer is to close on April 26 and the price is fixed at Rs 1,440 a share.
He warned low interest rates globally could distort markets and would be difficult to abandon
'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
Rakesh Mohan, one of India's former senior-most economic policy makers, says the public sector offers a challenging and fulfilling career and the country's young professionals must mull over joining such services rather than solely focused on lucrative jobs in non-government fields.
Dr Mohan will be representing India along with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka on the 24-member Executive Board of the IMF.
Rajan said in order to export, one needs to be able to import things that go into those exports as cheaply as it can.
A surprise attack by Hamas militants from Gaza at daybreak killed at least 200 Israelis on Saturday even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared "war" and said his country would extract an "unprecedented price" from its enemy.
Rajan said that while there were talks about Jan Dhan, it was difficult to target transfers to people through this tool. Jan Dhan, he said, does not really work as advertised.
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