Coming Wednesday, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman will present the 2023 Union Budget - the last full Budget ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While India exited 2022 as a relatively bright spot in the global economy, the FM will endeavour to present a Budget that insulates India's economy against global headwinds and recession in advanced economies, while sticking to the path of fiscal consolidation. In this, she is being helped by her core team of trusted advisors.
Ajit Balakrishnan offers lessons from another tech revolution not so long ago.
Telangana's Rythu Bandhu policy is an embryonic UBI, or rather embryonic QUBI (a quasi-universal basic income, pronounced Kyoo-Bee). And it could potentially also be the future of agricultural policy in India, says Arvind Subramanian.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the recent interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank was not surprising for her but the timing was, asserting that the rising cost of funds will not impact the government's planned infrastructure investments. For the first time since August 2018, RBI had on May 4 delivered a blunt 40 basis points increase in key repo rate to 4.40 per cent, and also hiked the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points to 4.5 per cent after an unscheduled meeting of the rate setting panel, citing increased inflation pressures following the Ukraine war and the resultant spike in crude oil prices. Retail inflation printed at 6.9 per cent in March and the April reading is forecast to top 7.7 per cent.
There are many collateral advantages of taking the tough decision.
Will Empire strike back to prevent a game changing election result, asks T P Sreenivasan.
The protests brought home the fact that the Sri Lankan public is in no mood for halfway measures, as voices against Rajapaksa 'family rule' and 'securitisation' of the civilian administration began sidestepping the more critical economic crisis, affecting the nation and afflicting the individual, observes Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I think public awareness should be created and laws should not be made only for the sake of politics'
'That is the one headline the world is reading about India this week, and it is a potentially damaging story...' 'I don't think a panic mentality has set in, but this story is one that investors and market watchers are absolutely seized with.'
Bimal Jalan, has recommended to the government that it cut fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent of the GDP during 2015-16.
A 6-7 million tonnes shortfall in rice production due to a fall in paddy sowing area is likely to keep rice prices at elevated levels, adding to the inflationary pressure that the slowing economy is already grappling with. Elevated food prices, including that of cereals, had led to retail inflation reversing a three-month declining trend, to touch 7 per cent in August. Similarly, the wholesale price inflation, which declined to 11-month low, also showed price pressures from cereals resulting from wheat output being impacted by severe heat waves in some parts of the country.
To help revive the economy battered by COVID-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced a slew of measures, including Rs 1.1 lakh crore credit guarantee scheme for improving health infrastructure, and enhancing the limit under the ECLGS by 50 per cent to Rs 4.5 lakh crore for the MSME sector facing liquidity crunch. Sharing the details of stimulus package, the finance minister said this comprises eight relief measures and other eight measures to support the economic growth. She announced Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee scheme for COVID-affected sectors, including health sector, which includes guarantee cover for expansion or for new projects. Besides, she said, additional Rs 1.5 lakh crore limit enhancement done for Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) scheme.
The Kelkar Committee has recommended sharp reduction in subsidies on petroleum, food and fertiliser, which the government said was contrary to its policy of protecting the poor.
Swiss brokerage Credit Suisse expects the economy to continue to show positive surprises and record up to 9 per cent growth in the next fiscal. For the current financial year too, the brokerage anticipates growth to be higher than the consensus forecast of 8.4-9.5 per cent, and printing in at around 10.5 per cent. As a policy, Credit Suisse does not provide absolute growth numbers in its forecast.
'It is time to think up a policy of incentivising farmers in the states around Delhi.' 'Let's say a farmer is given an incentive for not burning his crop stubble and instead handing over the task of incinerating the crop stubble to a State-run-or-funded community initiative.' 'The incentive can take the form of, say, fertilisers, or even direct cash transfers,' recommends Somasekhar Sundaresan.
These core industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production.
There are conflicting signs on India's investment cycle.
The people will view it from their viewpoint, their immediate interest, historical experiences, their insecurities, he said.
Private participation remains lacklustre.
'Those who are talking of adopting the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh policy must understand now that what was a reform then is no longer a reform now,' argues Sukumar Mukhopadhyay who was associated with the 1991 economic reforms.
India's negotiating posture at the multilateral negotiations should be aligned with a significantly transformed development strategy domestically.' 'The positions the country takes at the negotiations will then carry credibility, says Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary and India's chief negotiator on Climate Change 2007-2010.
The S&P BSE Small-cap index has recovered 26 per cent as compared to a 23 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
'Punjab elections are there and so are UP elections. They must have done some calculations (before announcing the repeal).'
As the Ukraine conflict impacts the global GDP, India is projected to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2022, slower than the last year's 8.8 per cent but still the fastest-growing major economy, with higher inflationary pressures and uneven recovery of the labour market curbing private consumption and investment, according to a UN report. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said in its World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report released on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine has upended the fragile economic recovery from the pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and globally exacerbating inflationary pressures. The global economy is now projected to grow by only 3.1 per cent in 2022, down from the 4.0 per cent growth forecast released in January 2022.
If the central banks act harshly now, the markets will crash and then rally. If they are hesitant, the pain will be prolonged, predicts Debashis Basu.
Barely a week before the Union Budget for 2010-11, the United Progressive Alliance government on Thursday raised urea prices 10 percent.
While she primed up spending on infrastructure to create jobs and boost economic activity, Sitharaman did not tinker with income tax slabs or tax rates. Her Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2022 proposed a massive 35 per cent jump in capital expenditure to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, coupled with rationalisation of customs duty, an extension of time for setting up new manufacturing companies and plans for starting a digital currency and tax crypto assets.
The current slowdown has lasted for over 18 months and is the longest incident of sluggishness since 2006.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it will demand a division of votes on the cut motions to be moved in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday against increase in prices of petrol, diesel and fertiliser.
Speaking at the RSS's annual Vijayadashami rally in Nagpur which was broadcast online and attended 50 swayamsevaks (volunteers) due to the COVID-19 guidelines, Bhagwat said when the Sangh says Hindustan is 'Hindu Rashtra', it does not have any political or power-centered concept in its mind.
IT, FMCG and manufacturing sectors are less attractive to foreign portfolio investors
Softening inflation, Das said would make available more policy space to the central bank to address risks to the growth going forward.
The immediate need is to put more money in the hands of agriculture-based and rural households to improve their purchasing power, says S Mahendra Dev.
India invited fresh bids on Tuesday for a stake of 51 per cent in state-run Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd.
No government can 'ignore inclusiveness in a democracy', Montek Singh Ahluwalia tells Anjuli Bhargava.
Reaching out to the youth of the Kashmir Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spelled out initiatives for peace and development, and assured they will not inherit the problems faced by their parents and grandparents.
It is time for the three finance ministers of the 1990s to reveal the real hero, says T C A Srinavasa-Raghavan.
Coal and steel were only two sectors that saw some growth.
IFFCO beat competition from among the 523 cooperatives from 30 counties that were surveyed for the agriculture and food industries sector.
