Ashok Lahiri, a distinguished economist with experience in government, the private sector, and electoral politics, has been appointed as the new Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, tasked with strengthening India's reform trajectory and policy-making.
Pakistan's skewed foreign reserves got a major boost after Saudi Arabia pledged an additional $3 billion in deposits while extending its existing $5 billion facility for a further three years.
For India, much is at stake: Crucial energy supplies traversing the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of its 10 million citizens living and working in West Asia -- who send generous remittances home -- and its major trade links with the region.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg are also expected to attend the meetings.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today criticised multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank saying "they are not immune to cognitive capture".
Glimpses from around the world that will make you smile and cry.
"India did a self-assessment (by the Committee on Financial Sector Assessment, or CFSA) of its financial sector in 2009. This has given us the confidence to get our financial sector evaluated by international financial institutions like IMF and the World Bank. We have voluntarily sought a full-fledged Financial Sector Assessment Programme," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the second International Finance Conference at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
'After the Galwan clash, the rules of engagement changed with the army commanders allowed to use any means at their disposal as they deem fit for tactical operations.'
A feature of this year's BRICS summit was economic cooperation.
The World Bank on Wednesday cut India's economic growth projection to 6% for the current fiscal from 6.9% estimated earlier and blamed the slow down on corruption scandals and a host of policy issues including uncertainty in tax policies.
"Growth is expected to moderate gradually in China... pick up in India, and remain broadly stable in the Asean-5 region."
The stock and bond markets told Trump firmly that any idea of isolating China would lead to harming the US economy and this forced Trump to backtrack, points out Aakar Patel.
'When Prime Minister Modi met President Trump, they agreed to initiate a bilateral trade dialogue.' 'It makes sense to give these negotiations a chance.'
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday raised the GDP growth projection for the current fiscal to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent earlier on buoyant domestic demand and higher capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector. Announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, however, flagged protracted geopolitical turmoil and global economic fragmentation as risks to the growth outlook. The RBI kept interest rates unchanged at 6.5 per cent in Friday's monetary policy statement.
The Budget should undertake further reductions in import tariffs and seriously consider an announcement of India's intention to join one or both of the two Asian mega-regional free trade agreements, suggests Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Rajan says that China should not be solely blamed for global imbalances. Rajan is hopeful but not confident of reviving Doha trade talks.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Managing recovery is a bigger challenge than managing crisis, says the Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao
The principal topic of hot debate in the previous week-end's IMF-World Bank meetings was the need for realignment of currencies to reduce the global imbalances (read US deficit and unemployment).
'People who come from IMF-World Bank backgrounds have no dynamism at all,' Subramanian Swamy said.
FM P Chidambaram is expected to address the IMF-WB's spring meeting on April 12 & 13 that is likely to be dominated by the impact of US recession, global inflation & consequent credit crunch leading to global economic slowdown. He is expected to take up India's concerns of rising global food & commodity prices, besides spiraling crude oil prices in the backdrop of domestic inflation, which has touched a 3-year high of 75%. India will take up hike in assistance issue with WB.
Kv Kamath has big plans as BRICS Bank chief.
Pakistan's efforts for the peace process in Afghanistan would be remembered for long, he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will pitch for quota and governance reforms in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.
India decisively withstood global headwinds in 2023 and is likely to remain as the world's fastest-growing major economy on the back of growing demand, moderate inflation, stable interest rate regime and robust foreign exchange reserves. Despite widespread pessimism witnessed among the developed nations and the worsening geopolitical situation, India recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) expansion of 6.1 per cent in the March quarter. The growth moved up to 7.8 per cent in the June quarter and was 7.6 per cent in the September quarter. For the first six months of this fiscal, the growth was 7.7 per cent.
China would be an influential player in the bank
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday retained Pakistan on its 'grey list' for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and asked Islamabad to investigate and prosecute senior leaders and commanders of United Nations-designated terror groups, including Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.
A dossier will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog.
Kamath also said that the new bank, set up by India and four other members of the BRICS grouping, will strive to approve its first loan before end of the current fiscal.
India's major import items from UAE include petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems, jewellery, minerals and chemicals
"The FATF plenary decided continuation of Pakistan in 'Grey List' till its next meeting to be held in October," an official privy to the development told PTI.
Both India and China should respect each other and resolve issues through dialogues and join hands together for peace and prosperity, Sitharaman said.
The Paris-based global watchdog for curbing terror financing and money laundering will hold its virtual plenary session from October 21 to 23. It will review Pakistan's progress on the 27-point action plan.
National Spot Exchange Limited, promoted by Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies, is facing payment crisis of Rs 5,600 crore (Rs 56 billion).
India has been maintaining that Pakistan extends regular support to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, whose prime target is India, and has urged FATF to take action against Islamabad.
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