Global investment bank Goldman Sachs on Thursday downgraded India to "underweight"
'In the short term you keep your return expectations very, very low; in the medium term be prepared to invest and in the long term growth will come and your returns from stocks will be high.'
Citing various macroeconomic parameters that are doing pretty well, India's G20 Sherpa and former CEO of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant projected that the country is all set to overtake Japan as 4th largest economy in the world by 2025. The size of India's GDP is currently ranked 5th, after the US, China, Germany, and Japan. It overtook the UK in 2022.
If the concerns over risking political capital are overcome, the long-term gains for the Indian economy will be immense, asserts A K Bhattacharya.
Amid wholesale price-based inflation ticking up to 7.5 per cent year-on-year in May due to supply-side factors, the agency said it will cause further "headaches" at the RBI.
'The policy focus of the government should have been on creating more good quality jobs but that was not their focus.'
'Generating employment requires a shift in policy.' 'If not, the country will face economic, social and political challenges in the coming years.'
India granted 1.03 lakh patents in financial year 2023-24, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks Unnat Pandit said on Thursday, as he assured that there will be "no delay" in the Intellectual Property Office as it prioritises timely clearance of applications. Addressing an Assocham event here, he shared that 40 per cent of the applications were disposed of within 30 months of the request for examination. "We are going to have no delay in the IP office, that's the motive with which we have .. that IP should be granted and under Chapter 8 of the Act it should also be utilised by the applicant ... that will generate the economic value of IP," Pandit said.
'it's not just youth in India who are left behind because of their inability to find jobs; nearly two-thirds of Indian women of working ages do not participate at all in the paid labour force.'
India's economy grew 7.8 per cent in the March quarter, pushing up the annual growth rate to 8.2 per cent, according to official data released on Friday. Growth in the January-March period was lower than the 8.6 per cent expansion in the December quarter.
In her customary address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha Patil said, "Even in the prevailing adverse global environment, our economy, it is hoped, would still register a relatively high growth rate." Official estimates have pegged GDP growth for FY'09 at 7.1 per cent, considered good at a time when most developed economies are facing recession.
Crisil Ratings on Wednesday projected India's GDP growth at 6.8 per cent in the next fiscal and said the country will become an upper middle-income nation by 2031 with the economy doubling to $7 trillion. In its India Outlook report, Crisil said the Indian economy will take support from domestic structural reforms and cyclical levers and can retain -- perhaps even improve -- its growth prospects to become the third largest economy by 2031. "After a better-than-expected 7.6 per cent this fiscal, India's real GDP growth will likely moderate to 6.8 per cent in fiscal 2025," said the Crisil India Outlook report.
Titan Company, Axis Bank, NTPC, Tata Motors, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finance were the other laggards. Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro were among the gainers.
The Indian economy remains on track to regain its position as the world's fastest-growing major economy after official estimates on Friday put the expansion at a tempered 9.2 per cent this fiscal amid concerns over the impact of a resurgent virus on the fragile recovery. The growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) of 9.2 per cent in April 2021 to March 2022 fiscal (FY 2021-22) given by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in its first advance estimate compares with 9.5 per cent expansion forecast by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month. The economy had contracted by 7.3 per cent in the previous financial year.
Pencilling in a GDP growth in third and fourth quarters, SBI Research on Wednesday revised its contraction forecast for the current fiscal year to 7 per cent. The agency had earlier forecast a 7.4 per cent contraction in 2020-21 GDP numbers. In April-September, the economy contracted 15.7 per cent but the second half may see a surprise 2.8 per cent growth, if the SBI analysis turns out to be correct.
Male graduates applying for private sector jobs in India are far more likely to progress to the next round if they have high-caste Hindu names than if they have surnames associated with dalit (formerly untouchable) or Muslim origins.
'Overall, compared to the previous episode, we are in a better shape because the vaccine is already out there and vaccination drives are proceeding'
'The Indian economy has become like a car that has the appropriate wheels on one side -- political liberalism -- and scooter wheels -- economic illiberalism -- on the other,' points out T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday raised its forecast for India's economic growth to 7 per cent for the next fiscal year starting April 1 on the back of strong domestic demand and sustained level of business and consumer confidence. With a stronger-than-expected 8.4 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter (October-December) of the current fiscal year, Fitch saw the Indian economy expanding 7.8 per cent in 2023-24 financial year (April 2023 to March 2024), marginally higher than the government's estimate of 7.6 per cent.
A 'White Paper' versus 'Black Paper' battle erupted on Thursday as the Centre and the Congress unveiled documents and crossed swords over the handling of the Indian economy during the nearly 10 years of the BJP-led NDA rule and the previous 10-year tenure of the Congress-led UPA government.
Geopolitical events, macroeconomic data and quarterly earnings of corporates would guide the stock market in a holiday-shortened week ahead, analysts said. Stock markets will remain closed on Wednesday for Ram Navami. "This week promises to be crucial for the market as fresh worries about a potential conflict between Iran and Israel emerge.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to cut the benchmark interest rate at its upcoming monetary policy review meeting, taking place soon after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results, amid inflation challenges, said experts. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may also refrain from rate cut as economic growth is picking up, notwithstanding the elevated interest rate of 6.5 per cent (repo) prevailing since February 2023. The meeting of the Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das headed MPC is scheduled for June 5 to 7.
Indicating a faster-than-expected recovery, remittances from migrant labourers and the number of first-time EPFO registrations have crossed the pre-lockdown levels in September, according to a report. Another silver lining is the massive 60 per cent increase in the number of Jan Dhan accounts to over 41 crore and the balances in them, which also indicate the fall in crimes during the lockdown months, SBI Research said in a report on Tuesday. After a significant reduction in remittances due to the lockdown in April, it improved in June and July, and the numbers in September have crossed the pre-pandemic level in February.
'Sweden removed the inheritance tax because many of the rich were fleeing. For example, the owner of IKEA had migrated out of Sweden'
Only India is anticipated to witness better growth momentum among the BRIC bloc
The last couple of days have produced data that potentially cause a dent in the otherwise growing confidence about the Indian economy stabilising.
The Indian economy is in deep crisis, and it will take at least two years to recover if we have a focused government.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, India's GDP growth was 5 per cent, down from 6.2 per cent the previous year.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
The 54-page document tabled in Parliament detailed how the Modi-government pull the economy from being counted among the most fragile-five in the world to being the fasted growing and the most attractive investment destination.
The International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said the Indian economy is recovering well and New Delhi would get higher quota in the IMF board, review of which is currently underway, reflecting its enhanced economic standing.
Though this growth slowed down a little in the aftermath of the global economic crisis, our economy has rebounded. After dipping to 6.7 per cent in 2008, growth this year is expected to be in the region of 8.5 per cent.
'The Indian economy is expected to grow in terms of per capita income and GDP, and with that, the luxury segment becomes more relevant.'
Of the eight RBI governors who have held office since the 1991 economic liberalisation, Bimal Jalan had the longest stint and S Venkitaramanan, the shortest. Current Governor Shaktikanta Das will overtake Bimal Jalan before completing his second term in December, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The highlights of RBI's bi-monthly monetary policy announced by Governor Shaktikanta Das:
Assuming that demonetisation had not happened, the value of notes in circulation this year could have increased to Rs 19.3 lakh crore. But what we have, instead, by the end of August is a 20 per cent lower figure for currency notes in circulation, says A K Bhattacharya.
Indian economy is rebounding strongly providing a golden opportunity to tackle fiscal challenges decisively but steady rise in debt of the central and state governments could constrain the growth, according to a new International Monetary Fund report