Eminent economist Arvind Panagariya has said India is on the cusp of returning to a high growth trajectory and voiced confidence that the country will become the world's third-largest economy by 2027-28. Currently, India is the fifth largest economy "so it's another five years.We are already in (the year) 2023. "So 2027-28, India should be the third-largest economy," Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, told PTI in an interview in New York.
A combination of one of the lowest labour costs and a large surplus workforce, which will continue to grow until 2031, is one of the key competitive edges that India is leveraging to challenge its rivals in Southeast Asia in the race for a China-Plus-One strategy. Apart from India, the countries in the race to woo global companies that manufacture in China, as well as the supply chains to their country include Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. On the labour front, India is a clear winner.
Sitharaman said the Bill has proposed giving a legal framework for fixed-term employment through which contract workers serving a fixed-tenure will get equal statutory social security benefits as regular workers in the same unit.
A collaborative approach can yield better results in reforming labour laws that can be implemented in the whole country, instead of different states following different norms in their own jurisdictions. That approach could also help the governments convince the trade unions to see merit in these reforms, says A K Bhattacharya.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
A meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon will see the leaders of around 20 opposition parties come together on a common platform through video-conferencing.
The death toll may rise further as some of the injured workers are in a serious condition, according to police. As companies of methanol and xylene chemicals are located near the affected factory, authorities have shifted about 4,800 people from nearby Luvara and Lakhigam villages to safer places as a precautionary measure.
The ongoing key reforms such as sops for manufacturing, easier labour laws, wooing FDI inflows and privatisation will help improve productivity and support long-term growth at 7.5-8 per cent levels, which if played out well, can help India contribute 15 per cent of global GDP growth by FY2026, says a report. According to a report pencilled by the India economist at UBS Securities, Tanvee Gupta Jain, the country has the lowest manufacturing costs among peers, even though China retains significant ecosystem advantages and despite that India and Vietnam appear most likely to benefit from a shift out of China.
Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav has exuded confidence that four labour codes, which would bring another wave of reforms, will soon be implemented as around 90 per cent of states have already come out with draft rules. In 2019 and 2020, 29 central labour laws were amalgamated, rationalised and simplified into four labour codes, viz, the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code, 2020, noted the Survey. During an interaction, Yadav told reporters that around 90 per cent of the states have already published draft rules on four labour codes and he expects the four legislations would become operational soon.
Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said, the purpose of labour reforms is to provide a transparent system to suit the changed business environment.
Labour ministry guidelines say workers returning to cities must get housing, health insurance, facemasks. The Centre has also asked states to issue guidelines to employers to take care of the needs of migrant workers.
Units employing up to 49 workers are not required to list themselves with the government.
Parliamentary standing committee on labour, led by Biju Janata Dal MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, has said in its report that it is unjustifiable for owners to pay workers' wages during natural calamities.
HR Guru Mayank Rautela offers practical advice.
HR Guru Mayank Rautela offers practical advice.
This will help employers keep a track of the diseases workers could suffer from while doing their jobs.
At a time when Apple delivered its flagship line of new products on schedule despite battling a year of supply-chain turmoil, India could account for at least 12 per cent of the free-on-board (FoB) value of Apple Inc's iPhones manufactured by its vendors globally by 2025-26 (FY26). The number represents a significant shift for the Cupertino-based company's over-dependence on China, where 95 per cent of its phones are still being made. India's growing importance can be seen from the fact that in 2021-22 (FY22) - the first year of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme (the scheme was extended by a year due to the pandemic) - the FoB value of iPhones made in the country was $1.75 billion, translating into less than 2 per cent of the global value.
'Have a candid discussion with your management and raise your concerns,' suggests HR Guru Mayank Rautela.
'The current financial year will see the full impact of this crisis, and we will start seeing the recovery in the next financial year.'
Office politics exists in many organisations, so don't let that bother you, advises HR Guru Mayank Rautela.
According to Staermose, the main issue is that the changes in labour laws should be done after holding extensive tripartite consultations.
Krishnamurthy Subramanian listed land, labour, law, and liquidity as the key areas of big reforms.
'The belief that FDI will shift from China appears to be a strategy of politicians to keep the media busy, chasing irrelevant news to ward off pressure and questions about the government's plans to deal with COVID,' observes Debashis Basu.
The Code on Wages Bill, 2019 seeks to amend and consolidate the laws relating to wages, bonus and matters connected therewith. The Bill will subsume four labour laws -- Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Payment of Bonus Act and Equal Remuneration Act. About 50 crore labourers will benefit.
The country's demographic dividend is dissipating, with seriously adverse consequences for young India, asserts Shankar Acharya, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India.
Banking operations across the country may be impacted on Thursday as some bank unions would be joining the one-day nationwide strike called by central trade unions. Ten central trade unions, except Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, will observe the nationwide general strike to protest against various policies of the central government. Many lenders, including IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, in regulatory filings on Wednesday said their normal working could be affected at the branches and offices.
'It is building the country's infrastructure, and delivering it very efficiently.'
HR Guru Mayank Rautela offers practical advice.
HR Guru Mayank Rautela tells you what you can do when you face such a situation.
The state has allowed industrial units in special economic zones (SEZs) to lay off workers without government's sanction, regardless of the number of workers
The Vasundhara Raje government's initiatives mark a critical step forward in labour law reforms.
'We are worried for the workers because in the private sector, jobs are not secure, there is no decent work condition and there is no social security.' 'That's why we are opposing the economic policies of this government.'
The four labour codes are unlikely to be implemented this fiscal in view of slow progress on the drafting of rules by the states and also for political reasons like elections in Uttar Pradesh, a source said. The implementation of these laws assumes significance because once these are implemented there would be reduction in take-home pay of employees and firms have to bear higher provident fund liability. "The ministry of labour is ready with the rules under the four labour codes. But the states have been slow in drafting and finalising those under new codes.
The strike notices were given by workers' unions of various sectors such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks and insurance.
Ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday affirmed India's sovereign rating and upgraded the country's outlook to 'stable' from 'negative', citing receding downside risks to the economy and financial system.
This is the second all-India bank strike in as many months.
The government has introduced the Code on Wages Bill 2019 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill 2019 in Lok Sabha on July 23.
As many as 163 workers of Kitex garments have been arrested for the Christmas day violence at Kizhakkambalam area of Ernakulam district, a move which the company's managing director claimed was targeted to harm him, his business and his political outfit.
The New York Times said in a report on Wednesday that in the lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court and amended last month, BAPS has been accused 'of luring labourers from India to work on temples near Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles, as well as in Robbinsville, New Jersey, paying them just $450 a month'.
The unions term the introduction of fixed-term employment as a 'modern labour slavery system' introduced through the 'back door'.
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