'When he first came to office, my belief is that the PM's reading of the landscape was that, with a vanquished Congress and fragmented Opposition, he was looking at least at two terms in office. This reading perhaps allows for a more cautious, gradual approach.' 'It was only a matter of time before the government was forced to come face-to-face with a serious corruption scandal. This is not a commentary on the BJP, but a statement about India's political economy.' 'There is growing concern about the government's commitment to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and an independent civil society. Thus far, the positive movement on strategic and economic matters has crowded out these concerns, but they are lingering beneath the surface.'
'If the mandis were not working in Delhi, or the onion market in Nashik got affected, or there were disruptions because of unloading or loading in any sector in south India, we intervened.'
India and Russia on Thursday decided to expand cooperation in various sectors as they signed 16 pacts, including on joint manufacture of 226 military helicopters.
Work on a dozen decisions to start by next week.
'Are all roads in India privatised? Are governments not playing a role in airports or ports? If they (private players) want to set up lines for a specific requirement, I see no reason to object. It will expand the opportunity and passengers will also benefit.'
While the Trinamool government, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, tried its best to attract investors, including from Singapore, not much headway could be made.
"This is the third year in a row that India makes to top 10 in Doing Business, which is a success which very few countries have done over the 20 years of the project, Without exception, the other countries that have done this are very small, population-wise, and homogeneous," Simeon Djankov, Director of Development Economics at the World bank told PTI in an interview.
The size of corporate fraud in India almost doubled after 2009, and such cases also increased in number, said a report from Thought Arbitrage, a think tank in Delhi.
'It has been a phenomenal effort at all levels of the government.' 'People were working 15-16 hour shifts in the central government, in the state governments, in the districts....'
Mr Prabhu has a big challenge ahead in implementing trade reforms to regain the lost export momentum, says Jayanta Roy.
The Bank suggested reforms in infrastructure sector.
'The first year of the Modi government's second term has laid the roadmap for the future and we will embark on it with gusto,' promises Gopal Krishna Agrawal, the BJP's national spokesperson on economic affairs.
US-based $40-billion industrial goods giant Honeywell has just launched its 16th plant, a hydrocracker unit with application in oil refining, in India. The two years of Modi government have been full of optimism and energy, Anant Maheshwari, president, Honeywell India, and Steve Gimre, managing director, UOP India, tell Sudheer Pal Singh.
'The UPA's claim of growth at 9.5 percent was absolute nonsense and a fraudulent claim because the country did not grow; it was only statistical growth.' 'I do believe that when there is a determined leader who wants to bring a desired change, the system will begin acting. Today, people think there is policy paralysis, but there is functional paralysis also.' 'When things start moving, people will invest. Many companies are holding cash, many people are not investing. Nobody is making any move. Everybody is waiting for the elections to get over.' Economist and Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor Swaminathan Gurumurthy in conversation with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
'I feel more like a chess player, thinking for long hours how to make the next move," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan tells Surajeet Das Gupta.
After contracting for two quarters in a row, the Indian economy entered the positive territory with a growth of 0.4 per cent in the October-December quarter, mainly due to good performance by farm, services and construction sectors, official data showed on Friday. Trade and hotel industry registered a contraction of 7.7 per cent during the third quarter this fiscal, as the sectors continued to suffer on account of coronavirus pandemic. According to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the farm sector recorded a growth of 3.9 per cent, and the manufacturing sector output grew by 1.6 per cent in the quarter under review.
The government will have to get projects moving.
India only has 3.5 million workers undergoing skills courses a year, compared with 90 million in China
In the last couple of months, the Prime Minister has visited Japan and the US and launched the Make in India campaign to lure foreign investments into manufacturing sector.
There are 230 million vehicles on the road, and counting. Bulk of these are under seven years old and once they get older, the industry estimates the requirement for spare parts and aftersales service to shoot up sharply.
'Our concern is about today and there is nothing in the Budget for the MSME sector to feel positive right now.'
Amongst those who heard the message of the Bihar results would be Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, whose realm is simultaneously the country's most complex and -- when something goes wrong -- the most emotive, says Ajai Shukla.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
India's economy grew by 1.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020-21, restricting the full-year contraction to 7.3 per cent, official data showed on Monday. The fourth quarter growth was better than the 0.5 per cent expansion in the previous October-December quarter of 2020-21. The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 3 per cent in the corresponding January-March period of 2019-20, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
New York State, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, continued to record the highest count of daily deaths from COVID-19 as a staggering number of 630 people died in a 24-hour period.
Taking advantage of the current boom in the steel sector, India's largest private steel manufacturer Tata Steel on Wednesday announced a whopping investment of up to Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) over the next five years to become a 15 million ton
'You can't take jobs to people, you have to take people to jobs.'
When you say, Make in India, it means, Indians will work for you, but we should create our own brands and create a market for them internationally. Only then, money will come back to India.
'Now is the time for India to course correct and for the government also to course correct,' says businessman Mangesh Khatri.
The Department of Commerce alleged that Huawei was engaged in activities that are contrary to US national security or foreign policy interest.
Firms that should borrow abroad do not do so enough, and those that should not borrow abroad do.
India has asked the US to treat the issue of visa for IT professionals as a trade-related one rather than an immigration issue.
Retirement blues can sometimes result in actions that are dysfunctional, notes Ajit Balakrishnan.
Ajit Balakrishnan on mapping the Business Serengeti.
Dabur has moved quickly to take advantage of the ban.
'Where is the analysis that we need to spend at least Rs 4 trillion to keep India safe?'
There will very little direct impact from the US Fed's rate hike this time, as we are well prepared both to handle liquidity, outflow of FII funds and managing our currency. But that doesn't mean India will be out of the woods anytime soon, says M V Subramanian.
'What proportion of the people require the vaccine for us to manage this entire COVID-19 situation?'
Economy grew at 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 taking the overall GDP growth to a five-year high of 7.6 per cent in the fiscal, mainly on account of good performance of manufacturing sector.
Since December 2018, monetary policy has been eased substantially by RBI with policy rates being cut by 75 bps and policy outlook being changed to 'accommodative'.
