The net outward foreign direct investment went up from $9.1 billion in 2017-18 to $12.6 billion in 2018-19 and moved further north to $13 billion in 2019-20.
Demonetisation and Agniveer reveal the two mindsets India has become. In both these government schemes, one sees a desire to play the country like an orchestra anchored by conductor/conductors, argues Shyam G Menon.
Sector-wise, banking, IT, pharma and realty indices drove the market momentum.
"I think, this is something that all Indians should be concerned about because strength of our institutions is really important for our growth, sustainable growth and equity in the economy," said Rajan.
In a major move aimed at encouraging small investors to become direct investors in government bonds or stated simply to an infinite source of lending to the government, the Reserve Bank on Friday said it will allow them to directly buy government debt, making India the first Asian country to do so and among a handful globally.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance's meeting comes against the backdrop of CBI probing the Saradha scam in which thousands of crores or rupees of gullible investors were allegedly swindled.
The agency had received Rs 946.51 crore to manage its affairs in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24, which was later increased to Rs 968.86 crore in the Revised Estimates.
Government is framing a rule that will make it compulsory for regulators like Sebi, Irdai and PFRDA to deposit a significant portion of their reserves into the Consolidated Fund of India.
Barring stray references such as the 'dual control' of banks and shifting the goalposts during demonetisation, he is not in a fault-finding mode with the government, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The use of Section 7 is fraught with risks to the autonomy of the central bank, the credibility of the government and the smooth functioning of the financial markets, says A K Bhattacharya.
Encouraged by softening inflation, the RBI on Thursday decided to cut the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent with a view to boost growth.
Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) felt that though the Indian economy was resilient in the third wave, it, however, lost some momentum and with inflation likely to soften, there is room to continue with the accommodative stance and support revival, the minutes of the MPC meeting released on Thursday revealed. The six-member MPC voted to keep the policy rate unchanged and continued with the accommodative stance at its meeting on February 10. However, external member Jayanth Verma voted against the stance because he felt a switch to neutral was long overdue and the current stance has become counterproductive and deflects focus away from addressing recessionary trends that date back to at least 2019.
North Block is concerned that when India is trying to attract more investment, putting up restrictions on audit firms could create an avoidable bad advertisement.
History would not see the institution kindly if it continues to avoid, as appears to be the case, hearing and deciding some of the most pressing issues of our time, asserts Aakar Patel.
The central bank filed an affidavit in response to a petition filed by Kochhar last month, challenging her ouster as the chief executive and managing director of ICICI Bank months after she voluntarily left the private sector lender. The bank, while terminating her employment, also denied her remuneration and rescinded the bonuses and stock options given to her from April 2009 to March 2018. She was accused of playing a role in grant of out-of-turn loans of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon Group, which allegedly benefited her husband, Deepak Kochhar.
Borrowing from BRICS bank will help India avoid other kinds of politics emanating from the West. Overall, the BRICS institutions will necessarily adopt alternative ways of doing things based on their own cultural and socio economic needs, says M K Venu.
The electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties should not become a tool for "legitimisation of quid pro quo" between power centres and people who are benefactors of that power, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it underscored the need for reducing the cash component in the electoral process.
Nothing has ever been done to make bank officers accountable, except for the rare actions when there is a public controversy, argues Debashis Basu.
Goyal was questioned by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office on Thursday in Mumbai in connection with allegations of some financial irregularities.
The government wants the RBI to part with most of its profit as dividend.
Control over PSU banks is what is allowing the government to drive this scheme.
If raters get away by moving from AAA to D overnight after companies default, as happened with DHFL, YES Bank, RCom, and IL&FS, it shows a complete breakdown in the rating system. It calls for exemplary punishment, not kid glove treatment, says Debashis Basu.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the parties to furnish 'forthwith' the details of electoral bonds received by a political party till date.
Woefully inadequate infrastructure is just one of the many reasons why a case is not settled within 180 days and even 270 days as envisaged by the law, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
RBI policy surely cannot impact agflation, in any case.
It would be a good idea to create independent oversight committees for each regulatory institution and indeed, even for their appellate bodies, says A K Bhattacharya.
Move to increase 90-day window to 120 days to give more time to borrowers to service loans.
The main difference of opinion between RBI and FinMin is over the transfer of the RBI's 'excess' capital reserves. The Jalan panel seeks to convince finance secretary Subhash Garg to soften his dissent note language. The move is aimed at maintaining the now-cordial relations between the RBI and the finance ministry.
The corporate sector does not care from where the money is coming.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking stay on further sale of electoral bonds ahead of assembly elections.
The reason for the stickiness in bond yields can be many, but the most responsible is the liquidity deficit stance taken by RBI, says Anup Roy.
A number of listed companies are not to be found on their registered address. The stock exchange has also been unable to contact them through other means. These 50 companies had been suspended for violations for more than six months. The BSE had reached out to them with show cause notices in December 2020.
The final and most significant reset in the relations between the government and the RBI is the manner in which the process of appointing the governor and deputy governors of the central bank has been changed.
'Trust your new governor,' Omkar Goswami advises RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya. 'Just because he is from the IAS and doesn't carry a PhD from a US university does not make him unsuitable for the task.' 'If anything, Das will pour oil on troubled waters, and save the RBI's reputation.'
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
He will be the first bureaucrat to head the central bank in almost five years.
Overall, the record of the second term reveals a contradiction between the image and the reality. The image, especially on media and social media, is one of the man at the height of his power, and unstoppable. The reality on governance is someone who has found it difficult to get things implemented and unsure of what to do next, points out Aakar Patel.
