'If development, investment, employment, implementation, credibility and commitment are ensured, security will automatically improve and subversive and militant elements will lose ground and be neutralised by the people themselves,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
BJP's reversals in rural Gujarat has prompted many policy watchers to predict that the Budget would have incentives for the agriculture sector and the rural economy.
'The CEA suggested that could be as high as 19 per cent.'
The CAG has found that the Union government in the very first two years of the GST implementation wrongly retained Rs 47,272 crore of GST compensation cess that was meant to be used specifically to compensate states for loss of revenue.
The Constitution should not encumber these choices, specially limiting them to second-best or third-grade options.
Armed with a list of issues to target the Narendra Modi government in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament, the Congress is making one last attempt to gain the leader of opposition status.
Chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian discusses the Budget, goods and services tax, Centre-state relationship and larger issues facing the economy
With less than five months left for the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission to be submitted, its chairman N K Singh said the report will have fiscal road map for states, depending on their current situation.
Last week, a Rajya Sabha committee had allocated five hours for discussion on GST.
As and when the GST comes in, Budget projections will have to be unbundled and revised. In fact, the pragmatic decision would be to present another Budget! This makes the passage of the Finance Bill with its multiple unrelated amendments seem even more dubious, says Devangshu Datta.
The Sensex recorded a significant rise of 919.19 points, or 2.65 per cent while the Nifty gained 213.45 points, or 1.99 per cent, in the week.
Strong gains in Vedanta Ltd, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Maruti Suzuki helped the index touch record levels.
The policy review observed that the moderation in inflation, excluding food and fuel, that was witnessed in the first quarter of 2017-18 has "by and large, reversed".
The trio, 'twin shocks' of demonetisation and GST, 'twin balance sheet' problem that has been weakening India's banking system and the 'twin deficit' problem will continue to challenge economic management and performance in the year ahead, says Shankar Acharya.
While the Narendra Modi government has stuck to its stand that pending payment is Rs 12,343 crore, MSMEs calim outstanding amount is Rs 2-3 trillion. Moreover, MSME ministry's SAMADHAN portal has been of little help.
A slew of challenges that are yet to be resolved include the lack of consensus between the Centre and states over the GST exemption threshold limit, dual control over scrutiny and assessment
With certain quarters demanding privatisation of public sector banks in the aftermath of the alleged fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB), Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister chairman Bibek Debroy tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Ishan Bakshi and Indivjal Dhasmana that reducing government equity even to zero would not mean giving up of government control over these banks.
Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan has proclaimed his determination to set Tamil Nadu's fiscal house in order in five years, and Friday will show how he plans to go about it when he rises to present the Stalin government's maiden budget, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Imports rose by 1.44 per cent to $43.44 billion in March 2019.
Government strategists are trying to ensure that the requisite 16 of the 31 states ratify the Bill by the end of this month
Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya is the eighth economist to quit since the Modi government took office.
A combination of externalities such as global trade wars and slowing growth, continuing glitches in accessing offsets under the GST regime, which has created a liquidity crunch for smaller exporters, and the growing competitiveness of smaller countries are causing the slowdown.
NCAER said the monetary policy measures are unlikely to revive growth at this juncture and suggested providing fiscal stimulus, which too can be challenging unless it can be financed through better revenue generation.
Its governing allies are not happy on the economy and complain of ignored concerns but find themselves unable to be assertive.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian says that he hopes GDP growth will be at the upper end of the 7-7.5 per cent range.
For years it has been evident that fibre and DTH would give tough competition to cable in India where regulatory overload has mutilated an already warped industry structure. OTT added fuel to the fire. From Rs 27,000 crore in 2010, cable's share of subscription revenues is now estimated at Rs 13,000 crore.
De-scaling of businesses, job losses and subsequent impact on disposable incomes has created negative sentiment among traders, business owners and workers alike, says Abhishek Waghmare.
Non-performers were not punished, performers were not rewarded, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
''Even without major reforms, with a business as usual scenario, and with current inflation trends, we should be clocking around 11 to 12 per cent nominal growth.' 'That is not happening and is a source of worry,' Rathin Roy tells Arup Roychoudhury.
It is worth reconsidering if this fascination with either having a single party majority or Modi's leadership or, indeed, both, is such a great idea for India, says Udit Misra.
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch has pointed out that these firms pose a threat to domestic manufacturing and retailing as they do not pay relevant taxes such as GST, giving them a huge edge over local players.
'The macro-economic stresses -- high interest rates, rupee depreciation and capital flows -- have receded now.' 'Interest rates have come down, inflation is down and the rupee has bounced back.' 'If oil prices continue at this level, there will be no vulnerability.' 'Growth is a different story.'
'Who sent Masood Azhar back to Pakistan? Who bowed down to terror and released him? Not the Congress, but it was the BJP government'
The two governments have already set a target of increasing bilateral trade in goods and services to $500 billion.
'Too much energy these three years has been invested in turning the party into an election-winning machine.' 'To recover its mojo, the Modi government needs a more impressive set of economic figures to flaunt,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The Biden administration should expect continuity in Iran's policies under Raisi. This may not necessarily mean that strengthening of ties with the West will be Raisi's top priority, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Talking corporate heads are a barometer of the business community's engagement with the economy. If they have nothing to say now there should be cause for concern.
The shift was sudden, quite unlike Shukla's departure from North Block, which had been anticipated for some months even before Singh''s first Budget.
Earnings growth is expected to accelerate as lingering toxic effects of note ban ease off and GST settles down. However, stock valuations are high and that means market is also overdue for correction, says Devangshu Datta.
Clamping down on the delays in repatriating foreign exchange earnings, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened norms for special economic zones (SEZs), asking them to realise and bring back full value of goods and services to India within a year from the date of export.
