The economic activities that registered growth of over 6 per cent in the second quarter are manufacturing, electricity, gas, water supply, other utility services and trade, hotels, transport and communication, and services related to broadcasting.
Budget has already bombed at the box office and passing it without a revisit will be a mockery of the exercise though any modification may be short lived and perfunctory, observes V Ranganathan.
The surge in export, domestic demand and public spending in infrastructure projects might revive private investment during 2017-18.
'Challenges will come but we will stay the course. No big step can be taken if one is afraid of criticism. We will not flinch from criticism,' says Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
'A sum of Rs 6,000 a year is very significant for a small farmer whose land holding is very small and whose produce is very small. All these calculations on a daily basis are extremely unfortunate and an insult to farmers.'
India's economy recovered faster than expected in the September quarter as a pick-up in manufacturing helped GDP clock a lower contraction of 7.5 per cent and held out hopes for further improvement on better consumer demand. The gross domestic product (GDP) had contracted by a record 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal (April 2020 to March 2021) as the coronavirus lockdown pummelled economic activity.
Investor sentiment got a big push after Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped below the $73-mark to quote at a seven-month low of $72.65
Export sectors that showed positive growth last month included chemical, iron ore, electronics, marine products and pharmaceuticals. Decline in overall imports, including oil and gold, led to narrowing of trade deficit.
The NSE Nifty settled the day 96.80 points, or 0.94 per cent lower, at 10,224.95
Imports rose by 1.44 per cent to $43.44 billion in March 2019.
This is good news for the central government at a time when crude oil prices are rising.
'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private investment, anaemic exports and vulnerable external imbalances, a stressed financial system, mounting fiscal pressures (including high government debt-to-GDP ratios) and an exceptionally bad employment situation,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
In a paper, EAC-PM accused Subramanian of "cherry-picking high-frequency indicators" to express his skepticism about the growth rates after 2011-12.
'We are in the reverse gear and we are not there anywhere compared to the rest of the world'
The medical devices, which have been in high demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, will now see a drop in prices, as the earlier margins were up to 709 per cent for some of these products.
The supply-side driven inflationary pressures, from food or fuel prices, would be mitigated by a neutral stance and a prolonged pause on rates, says Gaurav Kapur.
He is not good at thinking through laws and policies. His lockdown produced chaos and misery and didn't stop Covid. His GST finished off thousands of companies and reduced the amount of tax government collects to such an extent that he cannot pay state governments any more, observes Aakar Patel.
Market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty soared to new peaks on Tuesday, driven by gains mainly in metal, financial and IT stocks amid firm global cues and sustained foreign fund inflows. Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 4.38 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel 4.37 per cent, Vedanta 3.50 per cent, Tata Motors 3.03 per cent, HDFC 2.46 per cent and Bajaj Finance 2.39 per cent.After surging to its record intra-day peak of 41,401.65, the 30-share BSE barometer settled 413.45 points, or 1.01 per cent, higher at its all-time high of 41,352.17. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rallied 111.05 points, or 0.92 per cent, to its record closing high of 12,165.
The breadth, indicating strength of the market was strong
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
Rajan said the government focussed more on fulfilling its political and social agenda rather than paying attention to the economic growth.
The rupee had gained 28 paise against the American currency to settle at nearly two-month high at 66.74 in Monday's trade.
India is on the brink of overhauling its tax system, implementing the BEPS project and seeing a further evolution of the GST at the same time as a general election. This makes 2019 an exciting and challenging year, note Maulik Doshi and Jigar Doshi.
The growth in imports was led by product categories such as diagnostic items, ultra-sonogram machines, MRI and ECG apparatus, syringes with needles, suture needles, digital thermometers, malaria diagnostic kits, and hearing aids.
It was women who unambiguously bore the brunt of the lockdown joblessness, says Kanika Datta.
While three of the top five FPIs - Capital, Government of Singapore, and Vanguard - have seen their investment value more than triple, India's benchmark indices have risen just 70%.
Particularly hit has been the apparel sector, where the time taken by the industry to adjust to the Goods and Services Tax regime, downward revision of export incentives, and a credit squeeze faced by small and medium scale enterprises, has pushed production downwards.
The sector employs around 1 million skilled and unskilled workers directly and indirectly and decline in exports is a major worry for participants in the value chain.
New ITR forms indirectly force small businesses to maintain books of accounts, something that wasn't needed earlier, says Anupam Jain.
For the past five months, ever since he was appointed the Ayushman CEO, Indu Bhushan, a former bureaucrat, has made Nirman Bhawan his second home, working nine to nine with his "dedicated team" on the Modi government's biggest initiative after the Goods and Services Tax, says Nivedita Mookerji.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com attends Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's presser in Chennai to tom-tom the government's achievements in its first 100 days in office.
Vodafone-Idea (Vi) has said the key hurdle it faces in raising fresh funding, despite interest from investors, is the 'pricing situation' which is also the reason why it has asked the Department of Telecommunica-tions (DoT) for another extension of the moratorium on payment of spectrum instalment by one more year. Responding to a question during an analysts' call on Friday after its quarterly results on the reason for the delay in fund-raising nine months after it was announced, CEO & MD Ravinder Takkar said: "We are in discussions with investors. There is continued interest in investing in the telecom sector in the country. "The biggest hurdle is that the overall industry is under stress because of the pricing situation." He said that once tariffs go up, it will create a significant amount of confidence.
The new ITR forms have shifted the entire onus on the taxpayers to prove their claim for deductions, expenses or exemptions.
The stock market, the Survey felt, had run away from underlying real economy indicators and asked if this indicated rational confidence or irrational exuberance.
If you looked back at 2018 and had to give it a name, the Year of Limitations might be the most accurate.
Although demonetisation and improper implementation of GST along with falling prices are being blamed for much of the distress in rural India for some time, experts believe those may not be the only reason.
The plan includes step-wise expansion of a crucial credit guarantee net, establishment of an unprecedented number of functional clusters and increased government procurement from MSMEs.
The Nifty PSU Bank pared losses to end flat after falling as much as 1.05%
The Modi government wants to have a smooth relationship with the DMK government.
'Saving our economy is a priority.' 'We have to save our people and save our country.'
