The development of private data sources is a hugely positive development. It should serve as a challenge to the government to improve its own record on producing timely and reliable statistics, points out T N Ninan.
Growth rate in per capita income is projected to fall to the lowest in 21 years this financial year - except for the financial years 2019-20 (FY20) and 2020-21 (FY21) - according to the first advance estimates. During the last 21 years, the two periods - FY20 and FY21 - saw growth rates in per capita income lower than 7.9 per cent, seen during FY24. This was despite the real gross domestic product (GDP) being projected to grow by 7.3 per cent in the current financial year by the first advance estimates.
Retail inflation rose to three-month high of 4.81 per cent in June, mainly on account of hardening prices of food, according to the government data. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.31 per per (revised upward from 4.25 per cent) in May and 7 per cent in June 2022. The inflation, however, remains within the RBI's comfort level of below 6 per cent.
Apparently upset over not being elevated to cabinet rank, Srikant Jena on Wednesday kept everyone guessing as to whether he would assume charge as Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation with independent charge.
The Centre will invest around Rs 200 crore over five years for the exploration and development of these mines.
The government's decision to release the reports comes two days after over 200 scholars from across the globe issued a statement demanding release of all withheld reports produced by the NSO, including the household consumer expenditure survey that was junked.
Despite high headline numbers, the output of one-third of the segments in the manufacturing sector in August stood below even that in the same month in 2011-12, when the new index of industrial production (IIP) series started. This is despite the fact that manufacturing grew 9.3 per cent in the month, driving up IIP growth to a 14-month high of 10.3 per cent. Part of it is due to the devastation of these product categories by lockdowns induced by Covid waves and subdued export conditions, while part of it needs to be assessed further.
He said the UPA had left the economy in a dire state, with Consumer Price Index and food inflation at double digit, Wholesale Price Index inflation around 6-7 per cent and growth prospects were limited.
India's urban unemployment rate declined in Q4FY23 to 6.8 per cent - the lowest in over four years -- after it stagnated at 7.2 per cent in the previous October-December quarter, reflecting improvement in the labour market, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday. The unemployment rate in current weekly status (CWS) terms for all ages in the March quarter was the lowest recorded in more than four years, from the time the NSO released India's first quarterly urban jobless rate for the December quarter in 2018. The jobless rate in urban areas had been on a continuous decline since the peak of 20.8 per cent in the April-June quarter of FY21.
The government may be staring at a modest slippage in fiscal deficit for 2022-23 (FY23), with the Ministry of Finance seeking parliamentary approval for additional spending through a second and final tranche of supplementary demands for grants. On Monday, as the Budget session of Parliament resumed, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought Parliament approval for additional gross spending of Rs 2.7 trillion in FY23 (which ends on March 31). While net cash outgo is pegged at Rs 1.48 trillion, the rest will be matched by savings or enhanced receipts, the finance ministry said.
His resignation was even questioned in Rajya Sabha with Congress wanting a clarification.
Can the newly-minted Jal Shakti ministry bring water to some 19 crore Indian households that have never had taps or heard the sound of flowing water, wonders Vinayak Chatterjee.
'We have also been incredibly clear to Hizbollah and any other malign actors that they should not use this opportunity to widen this conflict. And when we're talking about a humanitarian pause, what we are talking about is conditions that simultaneously ensure that Hamas is not in a position in which it can regroup, restrengthen itself'
Usually, turmeric is grown over 290,000-330,000 hectares of land. But in 2022-2023, according to official estimates, there has been a drop of about 10,000 hectares.
Now that the economy is growing at a higher-than-expected rate, it is time to accelerate the pace of fiscal consolidation, and the Budget could be a good starting point, argues Rajesh Kumar.
India's industrial production shrunk for the third straight month in December, dragged down by weak investment and consumer demand and pointing to continued sluggishness in Asia's third-largest economy.
'The pace of disbursement and project recommendation picks up as the tenure of the House draws near and usually all amount is released.'
The situation raises concerns about whether the promised freebies will once again push the state into a revenue deficit.
A prominent Hindu temple in Canada has been defaced by 'Khalistani extremists' with anti-India graffiti in an apparent hate crime, prompting the Indian mission in Toronto to condemn the incident and urge Canadian authorities to take swift action against the perpetrators.
India's industrial production slipped to an 18-month low, contracting by 0.8 per cent in August, mainly due to a decline in output of the manufacturing and mining sectors, according to official data released on Wednesday. The data showed that the previous low in industrial output growth was a contraction of 3.2 per cent in February 2021. Factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had expanded by 13 per cent in August 2021. The IIP grew by 2.2 per cent in July this year.
Funds parked by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches and other financial institutions, declined by 11 per cent in 2022 to 3.42 billion Swiss francs (nearly Rs 30,000 crore), annual data from Switzerland's central bank showed on Thursday.
India's industrial production growth decelerated to a four-month low of 2.4 per cent in July, mainly due to poor showing by manufacturing, power and mining sectors, according to official data released on Monday. The data showed that the previous low in industrial output growth was recorded at 2.2 per cent in March this year. IIP grew 6.7 per cent in April, 19.6 per cent in May and 12.7 per cent in June.
Economies of Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana may have grown at a slower pace than the national economy during 2022-2023.
India's industrial production grew in double digit for the second month in a row at 12.3 per cent in June mainly due to strong performance by manufacturing, power and mining sectors, according to official data released on Friday. However, the data showed that the industrial output growth is lower than 19.6 per cent recorded in May this year. It was 6.7 per cent in April.
If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number (785) of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444), according to the data.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an annual output growth of 3.5 per cent for the month.
Rising skills gap, falling exports, low productivity, rising debt and low foreign investment is jeopardising the target set for the textile and apparels sector
A prominent Hindu temple in Canada's Ontario province has been vandalised by unknown people with "anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti", in what is described by the police as a "hate-motivated incident."
As India's diplomatic tensions with the Land of the Maple Leaf escalate, so do the anxieties of countless Punjabis.
As many as 386 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.7 lakh crore, as per a report. According to the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects of Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1,505 projects, 386 reported cost overruns and as many as 661 projects were delayed. "Total original cost of implementation of the 1505 projects was Rs 21,21,793.23 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 25,92,537.79 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,70,744.56 crore (22.19% of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for July 2022 said.
From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries fell the most by 2 per cent. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the other major laggards.
During the visit, the Prime Ministers will attend a community event in Sydney to celebrate Australia's dynamic and diverse Indian diaspora, "a core part of our multicultural community", the Australian government said in a statement.
According to the latest data, until May, 48.3 per cent of the total 207 projects worth Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) or above, also termed as mega projects, faced delays and witnessed a cost overrun of 19.2 per cent from the originally-sanctioned Rs 656,000 to Rs 781,000.
If 4,000 workers could work round the clock for the construction of the new Parliament building, then there is no reason why all infrastructure projects too cannot follow that model, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'I'm very much against petrol and diesel....'' 'I travel in an electric car.' 'I have had a really good experience with it.'
Minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh said it is a major step to place the right talent for the right role.
But the ISI chief did not retire giving the impression that he has won General Asim Munir's trust, notes Rana Banerji who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Factory production expanded by 1.3 per cent on an annual basis in January on account of better performance by mining and manufacturing sectors, though capital goods segment remained in contraction mode, as per government data released on Friday. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had contracted by 0.6 per cent in January 2021. The growth was 0.7 per cent in December 2021. As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the growth in the mining sector was 2.8 per cent against a contraction of 2.4 per cent in January 2021.
China's population in 2022 -- 1.4118 billion -- fell by 850,000 from 2021, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.