The World Bank's executive board unanimously selected 63-year-old Malpass, who is currently Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs, as the bank's 13th President for a five-year term beginning April 9.
Remittances to India are likely to drop by 23 per cent from USD 83 billion last year to USD 64 billion this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in a global recession, the World Bank has said. Globally remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 per cent this year due to the economic crisis induced by the pandemic and shutdowns, according to a World Bank report on the impact of the Covid-19 on migration and remittances released on Wednesday.
The World Bank on Sunday said the coronavirus outbreak has severely disrupted the Indian economy, magnifying the pre-existing risks to its outlook. In its 'South Asia Economic Update: Impact of Covid-19', the World Bank estimated the Indian economy to decelerate to 5 per cent in 2020 and projected a sharp growth deceleration in fiscal 2021 to 2.8 per cent in a baseline scenario.
The government is contemplating changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to deal with environmental claims and liabilities of defaulting companies to make the law future-ready and meet climate action goals, sources told Business Standard. Currently, the IBC has various categories of claims and creditors, including those related to environmental liabilities.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget and claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties, led by the Congress, staged a walkout from both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, in protest against all states except two being 'ignored' in the budget, an allegation termed 'outrageous' by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanm, who said all the states never found a mention in any of the previous budgets, including those presented by the Congress.
India has managed to move a smaller share of its working-age population away from farm-related work than many of its neighbours. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal managed to shift a bigger share of jobs to non-agricultural work than India, shows data from the year 2000 to 2023 the compiled from the World Bank's April South Asia Development Update report. Only Pakistan and the Maldives show a lower shift among South Asian peers.
According to the National Democratic Alliance sources, the new government may allot five to six ministerial berths to the allies Janasena and Bharatiya Janata Party.
>Bihar (18 days) has the most number of heatwave days in 2023, followed by Andhra Pradesh (15 days), Odisha (15 days), Jharkhand (13 days), West Bengal (8 days) and Tamil Nadu (6 days).
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
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.
The central government is on track to meet its fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of the GDP for 2022-23 on the back of strong growth in revenue collections, the World Bank said in its India Development Update on Tuesday. High nominal GDP growth in the first quarter supported strong growth in revenue collection, especially Goods and Services Tax (GST), despite tax cuts on fuel. Notwithstanding an increase in spending due to expanded fertilizer subsidies and food subsidies for vulnerable households in response to the commodity price shock, the government is on track to meet its FY22/23 fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP and the general government deficit is projected to decline to 9.6 per cent from 10.3 per cent in FY21/22 and 13.3 per cent in FY20/21.
The heat wave is likely to impact parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, the Met office said.
Three years after India declared its goal to become a net-zero economy by 2070, the policy design for achieving the target has begun, with the NITI Aayog forming dedicated multi-sectoral committees to prepare a transition plan. In 2021, India joined a select group of nations that set a target year for becoming net-zero carbon economy. At COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined a five-pronged 'Panchamitra' climate action target for India and committed to a net-zero target by 2070, joining nations like the US, the UK, and China.
Two days after five Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide attack at a hydropower project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, a Chinese company has suspended civil works and laid off hundreds of workers at another hydropower project in the same restive province, according to media reports on Thursday.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 45 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the punishing heat affecting health and livelihoods.
According to the report, the magnitude of internal migration is about two-and-a-half times that of international migration.
The World Bank report said Brand Northeast would build on elements such as healthy living, environmental sustainability, social responsibility, service orientation, among others.
The World Bank has blacklisted Videocon Industries on allegations of fraud and corruption for three years.
India's economy is estimated to contract by 9.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21, reflecting a sharp drop in household spending and private investment, and the growth is expected to recover to 5.4 per cent in 2021, the World Bank said on Tuesday. In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said that the informal sector, which accounts for four-fifths of employment, has been subject to severe income losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Surprised at the World Bank's decision to appoint a neutral expert, as sought by the Indian government, and at the same time establish a Court of Arbitration as wanted by Pakistan, India said proceeding with both the steps simultaneously "legally untenable".
Subramanian recommended five ways of financing additional expenditure over a period of one year, including cutting expenditure and borrowing directly from the RBI or monetising debt.
'The more educated a young person is, the higher the chances of him or her remaining unemployed.'
However, the Indian economy is expected to bounce back in 2021, the World Bank said.
Responding to questions, the World Bank president insisted that this slowdown is temporary.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 48 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the relentless heat affecting health and livelihoods across large parts of northwestern and central India.
World Bank on Friday offered to help India to improve its public procurement system and said even a marginal improvement in efficiency can yield huge savings.
Besides him, Brajendra Navnit who served in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has been appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Geneva, Switzerland. Topno is a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Gujarat cadre.
Even as the World Bank has revised India's growth figures by 0.4 percentage points as compared to its January forecast, India remains the fastest growing major economy in the world, the World Bank officials said.
"It is important that development agencies be able to continue their work unhindered by fear or violence, the bank said.
'We expect growth to increase in 2017, after this brief period associated with the change in notes.'
In a major report prepared for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics, the rise in temperature will trigger a cascade of cataclysmic changes that include extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks and a sea-level rise affecting hundreds of millions of people.
Kaushik Basu, till recently the chief economic adviser of the government of India, who created a political firestorm in April when he said here on the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings that no economic reforms were likely in India before 2014 when parliamentary elections are due, has been appointed the World Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President.
For the remaining projects, it is difficult to arrive at an estimate.
Deloitte India on Friday said it estimates India's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent in the current fiscal helped by consumption expenditure, exports rebound and capital flows. In its India's economic outlook report, Deloitte said the rapid growth of the middle-income class has led to rising purchasing power and even created demand for premium luxury products and services. With the expectation that the number of middle-to-high-income segments will be one in two households by 2030/31, up from one in four currently, we believe this trend will likely become further amplified, driving overall private consumer expenditure growth, it said.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on Friday met Finance Minister P Chidambaram and discussed the progress of Bank funded projects in India and country's future loan requirements.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today criticised multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank saying "they are not immune to cognitive capture".
The Pakistani delegation, in its meetings with World Bank officials, insisted on early appointment of the judges and setting up the court.