Experts point to the bitter experience of countries including Mexico, Thailand, South Korea and Russia and desist from going forward with plans of issuance of such securities. They say rather than going abroad, the country should increase participation of foreign investor in the government securities which does not have any forex risk.
India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. This is the first time in ten quarters that the crucial metric of the country's external strength has turned into surplus mode. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP, and the same was $8.7 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter ending December 2023.
While it's important to work towards saving your marriage, you must also be willing to accept that the outcome may not be what you hope for, says Dr Ashish Sehgal.
The Centre on Tuesday permitted 20 states to raise Rs 68,825 crore through open market borrowings to bridge the GST revenue shortfall.
'Look not just at the interest rate but also the processing fee.'
The continued rise in interest is a pressure on fiscal, but it is not an easy way out unless the government cuts back on populist measures and sticks to fiscal prudence as laid out in the FRBM, which the government missed for the second consecutive year.
Analysts and economists have hailed the fiscal projections in the interim Budget, saying the lower fiscal deficit forecast shows that the government, even in an election year, is serious about fiscal consolidation and that the numbers look achievable. According to Devendra Kumar Pant, the chief economist at India Ratings, the two broad themes of the interim Budget are fiscal consolidation and stepping up focus on agriculture/rural to course correct, to some extent, the differential benefits of the ongoing economic growth that's tilted in favour of upper-income bracket/urban households. The projected fiscal deficit numbers for FY24 and FY25 suggest that the government is serious about achieving the fiscal consolidation path of 4.5 per cent fiscal deficit by FY26, and given the nominal GDP growth assumption and revenue buoyancy, the target appears plausible, Pant said in a note.
'There is no immediate threat to the government, and they would prefer the growth agenda.'
Abhishek Sharma, who slammed a 46-ball century in the second T20I against Zimbabwe, might have to make way for Yashasvi Jaiswal for the third match on Wednesday.
The NBFCs, which filed for ECB in January with the Reserve of India (RBI), include REC (over $500 million), Tata Motors Finance ($200 million), L&T Finance Holdings ($125 million), and Shriram Finance ($750 million), according to the RBI data. A senior executive with State Bank of India (SBI) said overseas borrowing by Indian companies, including highly rated NBFCs, was likely to grow because hedging costs were low and there was a softening bias in global interest rates.
Firms that should borrow abroad do not do so enough, and those that should not borrow abroad do.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with her team of bureaucrats, delved into the fine print of the 2024-25 Budget documents in a press conference, detailing the government's road map on bringing down the debt-to-GDP ratio and bold tax measures.
The Opposition on Tuesday termed the Union Budget as a 'kursi bachao budget' driven by political compulsions and claimed that it ignored opposition-ruled states in a bid to 'appease' Bharatiya Janata Party's allies.
With the Rs 1.45 lakh crore tax dole threatening to upset budgeted numbers, Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty sought to allay concerns saying the government is sticking to the glide path of keeping fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal.
Capital markets are becoming more prominent in India's growth story, with an expanding share in capital formation and investment landscape on the back of technology, innovation and digitisation, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday. Further, Indian markets are resilient to global geo-political and economic shocks, it added. "Despite heightened geo-political risks, rising interest rates and volatile commodity prices, Indian capital markets have been one of the best performing among emerging markets in FY24," the Economic Survey said.
From its lows over the past month, the stock of footwear major Campus Activewear gained 13 per cent to Rs 280.4 a share. The gains came on the back of better than expected operating profit margins in Q4, reduction of debt and expectations of market share improvement. The company expects volume growth, which has thus far missed expectations, to recover going ahead on the back of multiple triggers.
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
Vijay has a lot of young and middle-aged women fans, but as voters, they are possibly now with the DMK, or remain with the AIADMK. Recapturing this constituency would have helped Vijay's political launch and the GOAT script and dialogues could have gone a long way in helping out. But the kind of script and screenplay and the unusually and equally unnecessary long run-time (3 hours, 3 minutes) that GOAT offers takes the film experience over the heads of those that are not familiar with secret agents and uranium theft in Tamil cinema, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
No capital came in through the approval route, while the rest of $9,86,681 was by way of issuance of rupee denominated bonds.
The minister said while big corporate houses can easily get loans of even of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), the poor face problems.
The Centre has almost doubled its weekly borrowings to Rs 15,000 crore as it tries to frontload the calendar to complete 57 per cent of the annual fund-raising by August.When the borrowing calendar was finalised at the end of March, the government had planned to borrow Rs 12,000 crore a week during the first quarter and lower it to Rs 8,000 crore a week in the second quarter.
Investors should view the increase in the LTCG tax rate in conjunction with the increase in capital gains exemption from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh, which will provide some relief.
By taking the mutual fund route, investors can take exposure to gilts with small amounts. Over a decade or more, returns from these funds tend to be sound.
Few finance ministers announce any taxation measure that could upset the stock market. Ms Sitharaman decided to take that risk, observes A K Bhattacharya.
Clearly, the extra borrowing of Rs 4.2 trillion the government has planned so far will not be enough to meet the shortfall in revenues which could be between Rs 8 trillion and Rs 10 trillion, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Whether she will pare the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent of GDP, using the record dividend received from the RBI, or expand flagship government programmes will be keenly watched.
Corporates' forex borrowings have grown at a CAGR of 15.6% since 2008.
As a result of this moratorium, individuals' EMI payments of loans taken will not be deducted from their bank accounts, providing much needed liquidity to borrowers whose income has been disrupted due to the lockdown till May 31.
'In the new coalition government, India's reform agenda may prioritise job creation and factor market reforms.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced income tax relief for the middle class, a Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for job creation schemes over the next five years and a spending splurge for states run by her party's new coalition partners as she unveiled the Modi 3.0 government's first budget after the general elections.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has identified "climate shocks" as a risk to food inflation rates and overall price rise while stating that the outlook for the country's economic growth remains bright. In its Annual Report for 2023-24, released on Thursday, the central bank said easing supply-chain pressures, broad-based softening in core inflation, and early indications of an above-normal southwest monsoon meant well for the inflation outlook in 2024-25. "The increasing incidence of climate shocks, however, imparts considerable uncertainty to the food inflation and overall inflation outlook," said the RBI while noting headline inflation moderated by 1.3 percentage points on an annual average basis to 5.4 per cent in 2023-24.
Hospitals in the national capital continued to grapple with a shortage of oxygen, saying they are still operating on the "beg and borrow" mode, while three of them also raised the issue before the Delhi high court on Monday, stating they were not receiving enough supplies.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
Varaprasad Kandiraju from Bengaluru tells us what he learned from his late father Ranga Raju.
State-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency's (Ireda's) chairman and managing director Pradip Kumar Das has announced that the company has requested the government to allow it to carry out a follow-on public offer (FPO) as it will need further equity infusion to maintain the pace of growth. The FPO would aim to raise between Rs 4,000 crore and Rs 5,000 crore. Ireda, which provides funding assistance and other services to renewable energy and energy efficiency/conservation projects and is 75 per cent owned by the government of India, has requested the Union Finance Ministry to be included under Section 54EC of the Income Tax Act, which will help reduce borrowing costs.
Do not shop around for loans immediately after getting a secured credit card. Such loan enquiries can also pull down credit score, as they are treated as a sign of credit-hungry behaviour.
If the concerns over risking political capital are overcome, the long-term gains for the Indian economy will be immense, asserts A K Bhattacharya.
The size of Budget 2024-25 has increased 6.1 per cent to Rs 47.66 lakh crore because of the rise in expenditure and higher allocation for capital expenditure and social sector schemes.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
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