A rate cut will bring positive sentiment around the Budget.
Fast growing virtual online currencies and digital work worth $ 3 billion is providing real income opportunities to people in developing countries with more than 100,000 people in countries like China and India earning a living through online games and websites disseminating micro-tasks, a World Bank study says.
'The Indian State needs to focus on healthcare, education, infrastructure and law and order, and get out of all these regulatory cholesterols.' 'Then, India will fly.'
Entrepreneurs, however, say they are unsure when the many obstacles in India will be cleared.
Indian elections are won and lost on 'negative' imageries and campaigns - but not certainly on 'negativity' as a political trait and electoral creed, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'This encourages escapism through the politics and economics of nationalism, made worse by tribalism or nativism, the package accompanied inevitably by the erosion of institutional bulwarks and therefore State capture by powerful businessmen,' notes T N Ninan.
'When fund managers talk of being bullish for the long term, they assume strong economic growth.' 'That is what they have assumed every year, naively believing the pronouncements and promises of ministers.' 'Unfortunately, they have been wrong year after year,' observes Debashis Basu, editor, www.moneylife.in.
The price of spot gold has fallen nearly 6 per cent so far in 2013.
'"The end" depends on two things.' 'Either you develop a vaccine which is effective or if you have a drug, you can terminate this infection very quickly.' 'Otherwise, you have to depend on herd immunity.' 'I think it should happen earlier. Far earlier, than we can imagine or achieve 'herd immunity'.'
China and Mexico seem to be the target of Donald Trump's campaign and his response to get jobs back to America
179 million debit cards were issued during December 2016 to June 2018. A mere 2,000 ATMs were opened in the same period.
'Mr Modi has a huge opportunity before him.' 'Whether he grabs it the way Mrs Gandhi did in 1969 or squanders it as he did in 2014 will determine his economic legacy,' notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
As the states showed progress in fighting the deadly contagion, governors Andrew Cuomo and Philip Murphy have begun to offer details on reopening in the months ahead.
India has a history of jugaad, and retrofitting vehicles is one such manifestation of the legendary Indian skill. Not so long ago autorickshaws and small Marutis used to strap on subsidised LPG cylinders and power themselves to a cheap ride. There were the odd explosions, lives were lost, but the jugaad continued. Then compressed natural gas (CNG) was introduced in Delhi following a court order. Initially, customised CNG kits were fitted to conventional (internal combustion engine or ICE) autos cheaply, enabling commuting at less than half of what you would cough up for diesel. The industry is better organised now with Suzuki and Hyundai designing CNG-fired vehicles, and Mahindra and TVS manufacturing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered three wheelers.
'Without it, it is going to be much, much, much, much worse.' 'In the meantime, we really need to work on a sort of war footing, given that it is a natural disaster, provide relief, provide essentials, till we get biological herd immunity, we need to get economic immunity, and also social immunity.'
Usually, a fall in oil prices is followed with a cut in retail prices of auto fuels and the government passes on the benefit to consumers. However, Morgan Stanley believes gains this time around will remain capped.
Modi said that there was an immediate need to strengthen the WTO, fighting protectionism, ensuring energy security and work together to fight terrorism.
'Rate cut should reiterate RBI's commitment in providing confidence to consumers and small business.'
The government must figure out what the Chinese game plan is and thwart the endgame before it is upon us, possibly in early winter, advises David Devadas.
Dr Rakesh Mohan, former RBI deputy governor, and Dr Pronab Sen, former chairman of the Indian Statistical Commission discuss the issues facing the Indian rural and manufacturing sectors and what the government must possibly do to improve demand and perk up the Indian economy
'It is high time that we act instead of just talking about how and why the climate is changing.'
Larsen & Toubro (L&T), India's largest construction and engineering player, has lost as many as 14 large orders in the country because companies that don't possess adequate technical expertise and experience, of late, have won the projects by bidding lower, claimed A M Naik, non-executive chairman of L&T. But the company has made up for the losses by winning projects overseas, where it has acquired a sizeable market share amid tough competition from large global players, he said.
'Fear psychosis has gripped the entire world.' 'Nobody is going to enter shops freely in the next 5, 6 months.' 'Secondly, the priority has changed.' 'Now that they have seen the bottom of the economy, people will prefer to save for tomorrow.'
It is projected to cross the $3 trillion mark in 2019
In another 2-3 weeks, coronavirus will chariot India to overtake the United States. In March, Modi had exhorted the nation to celebrate India's impending success over the virus by clanging metal plates. Make no mistake, India is losing this momentous war under his captaincy, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'For the moment in Eastern Ladakh, it is unlikely there will be any more escalation of this conflict,' observes Colonel S Dinny (retd) who served as Commanding Officer of an infantry battalion deployed in the Pangong Tso area.
Stating that India's economic stimulus was not adequate, Banerjee said, the measures did not increase consumption spending of lower income people as the government was not willing to put money in the hands of the low income population.
'To consider BRICS anything more than a temporary club with some common interests would be folly. The goal should be to induce others (Japan, ASEAN, South Africa) to align with us -- a non-threatening, democratic nation, rather than with malevolent China or waning America. For us to consider aligning with either China or the US would be absurd. India is just too big to be a sidekick,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Employees asked to work from home... cancelled travel plans... curtailed meetings... Caution and precaution dominate Corporate India's response to Covid-19.
Tibetan refugees in India face a bleak future, says Greg C Bruno.
'He gets scared when he faces someone who says I will not back off, he backs off,' Rahul said about Modi.
The report, compiled by COV-IND-19 Study Group, an interdisciplinary team of researchers, said while India seems to have done well in controlling the number of confirmed cases compared to other countries like the United States and Italy in the early phase of the pandemic, the country is critically missing a key component in this assessment -- the number of truly affected cases.
Expansion of distribution network, venturing into new markets, supplementing production capacity, and ramping up workforce are all on the cards. Instead of trying to fight with brands having massive war chests, it will pass on the benefits to consumers by offering them phones at lower prices.
The Western powers appear to regard Delhi as the most logical destination in the region in these extraordinary times -- as a counterpoint to the ascendance of political Islam and a rising red star over Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Fugitive Diamantaire Mehul Choksi who is held in Dominica after his mysterious disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda has alleged that his "friend" Barbara Jabarica was instrumental in his abduction which involved musclemen claiming to be Antiguan Police and mercenaries looking like Indians. The police have started the investigation after receiving a complaint from Choksi, Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.
'Whatever else may or may not happen, China and its people are likely to pay a very heavy price for the lack of transparency of its Communist regime,' predicts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
India remains North Korea's 2nd-largest import source after China, according to several estimates by multilateral bodies, says Subhayan Chakraborty.
Polls opened at 7 am local time and would close at 5 pm with some 12,845 polling stations being set up throughout the country for 15.9 million voters, who will choose a successor to President Maithripala Sirisina.
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
