Here is some background on the candidates seen as potential successors to Rajan at the RBI
Narendra Modi's engagement at the upcoming BRICS Summit in Brazil will be keenly watched as the prime minister will interact with some of the world's most powerful leaders. The summit to be held in Fortaleza will also see the launch of the significant BRICS bank whose idea was mooted by India. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt gives a lowdown on Modi's first major international rendezvous.
'The Reserve Bank's independence has remained a work in progress, an enduring challenge that the nation has been grappling with on an ongoing basis,' says RBI Deputy Governor Dr Viral Acharya.
The panel will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for the central and state governments, study the impact of GST on the divisible pool, and propose performance-based incentives for states.
Asian Development Bank on Wednesday lowered India's economic growth forecast for FY2019 to 5.1 per cent on slowing job prospects, rural distress exacerbated by poor harvest and credit crunch. Growth in FY2020 is likely to recover thanks to this support, low oil prices, and a weakening rupee, but risks to the projections remain tilted to the downside, it said on India.
P Chidambaram said to be able to play a meaningful role in the global governance, the G-20 agenda should be sharper and focused only on those issues on which it can make a distinctive contribution, particularly, on economic and financial matters.
India is keen on the issue of equal share holding since it doesn't want a repeat of the distortions that have crept into Bretton Woods institutions like International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in which rich countries like the US and Japan have a strangle hold.
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.
The 30-share Sensex ended higher by 177.46 points at 28,885.21 and the Nifty gained 63.90 points at 8,778.30.
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.
However, India is likely to regain the tag of the fastest growth emerging economies of the world in 2018.
Such an economic environment tends to be positive for gold, the ultimate safe-haven asset. Since gold cannot be debased by central banks, it naturally gains in value.
Dubbing such incidents as "terrible", the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, however, said that they are "rare" in a large country such as India.
India's economic growth had slumped to a decade's low of five per cent in 2012-13.
IMF members will also be examining whether China's heavy intervention in the yuan market was befitting of a freely convertible reserve currency
For several years the Chinese authorities have been taking steps to internationalise the use of the yuan.
The article is in stark contrast to the TIME cover story done on Modi earlier this month titled 'India's Divider in Chief', written by Aatish Taseer, son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and late Pakistani politician and businessman Salmaan Taseer.
Jaitley, 66, has become 'very weak' as his health has deteriorated over the past few weeks, sources said, adding that he has developed some throat condition as well that prevents him from speaking for long.
Modi is ranked fifth on the 2015 roster of 'World's Greatest Leaders' with Satyarthi coming in at the 28th spot.
On the 10th anniversary of the global financial crisis, a multi-part series analyses the lessons learnt and those not learnt.
The rising price of the precious metal has helped the central bank increase overall forex reserves despite currency reserves not rising, and sometimes even falling.
India too will advocate the IMF quote reforms at the two-day meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors beginning Saturday.
Indian policymakers are almost alone, alongside the United States, in seeking a hard and multi-sectoral global decoupling from China in the expectation that it will boost their economies, observes Mihir S Sharma.
The argument for a weaker rupee is substantial.
On gold buying occasions such as Akshaya Tritiya, Chiraj Mehta points out, investors are often confronted with the question: Should I make just a token purchase, or should I buy more towards building my allocation in the yellow metal?
Shaktikanta Das said in Washington, DC, that there was nothing sacrosanct about the 25 bps rate cut and that monetary policy could be well served by calibrating the size of the policy rate to the dynamics of the situation, and the size of the change itself could convey the stance of policy.
'When I came here in 2002, I said you can grow at 8%.' 'And I was told that was crazy, and (now) here we are.'
Fitch Ratings director Thomas Rookmaaker said India's debt-to-GDP ratio is likely to rise to 76 per cent from 70 per cent currently due to wider fiscal deficit and low economic growth.
One has to wonder what is so wrong with the European Union.
Rajan said he believes that capitalism is breaking down because it is not providing equal opportunities.
India's GDP is estimated to contract by a record 7.7 per cent during 2020-21 as the COVID-19 pandemic severely hit the key manufacturing and services segments, as per government projections released on Thursday. Amid overall decline in economic activities, some respite was provided by the agriculture sector and utility services like power and gas supply, which have been projected to post positive growth during the current fiscal ending March 2021.
The five-nation grouping BRICS on Tuesday resolved to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, and vowed to step up joint efforts in building support for an India-backed global framework to effectively deal with the menace.
Faced with sluggish economic growth and dwindling exports, China on Wednesday devalued its currency for the second consecutive day.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest World Economic Outlook report, has slashed its forecast for India's FY23 gross domestic product growth to 8.2 per cent from 9 per cent, saying that higher commodity prices will weigh on private consumption and investment. This was one of the steepest cuts for emerging economies compared to the IMF's January WEO forecasts. Saying that global economic prospects have worsened significantly due to commodity price volatility and disruption of supply chains caused by the war in Europe, IMF cut its global growth outlook for calendar year 2022 to 3.6 per cent from 4.4 per cent, and said both Russia and Ukraine could experience large GDP contractions.
'An isolationist US and a disintegrating European Union will create a power vacuum that only China is in a position to fill -- a conclusion that is uncomfortable but unavoidable,' says Nitin Desai.
India's exports shrank in January for the 14th straight month on continued weak demand from Europe
'India's sizeable foreign exchange reserves should serve as a buffer.'
'There is global appreciation of the fact that India has the capacity and courage to carry out structural reforms like demonetisation and GST,' the finance minister said.
Will G20 showcase an India that is inclusive, culturally rich, diverse and tolerant, asks Ramesh Menon.
Investors must be cautious and follow a prudent diversification strategy to mitigate against any risks in case of any unforeseen events.
