Articles: 2019

A year when the country celebrates the Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary offers us a timely opportunity to consider his criticisms of modernity and juxtapose them with those of the other towering figure of his generation, Tagore. Also, fittingly, we are just weeks short of Tagore’s 78th death... read more

The title of this column is actually a very fertile and active area of research in the economics and finance academic professions. The question refers not just to ownership by the government vis-a-vis the private sector, but also between private, domestic and foreign owners. Do banks perform... read more

India’s vast, mostly unregulated and fast-growing shadow banking sector is in the midst of a crisis. This is a fire that threatens to engulf much more than the sector in which it has started and carries the potential to burn down important segments of the Indian economy. The government is... read more

The Union Finance Minister in her maiden budget speech on July 05, 2019 has made a significant announcement in paragraph 103 that reads: “India’s sovereign external debt to GDP is among the lowest globally at less than 5%.The Government would start raising a part of its gross borrowing programme in... read more

Looking at the present conditions in India, anybody would expect the budget to address the most critical problems of our population, namely, poor health, a semi-literate population, the agricultural crisis and the highest ever unemployment. Unfortunately none of these problems are addressed... read more

Objections to Greenpeace’s strategies by Extinction Rebellion (XR), the environmental movement whose supporters occupied Greenpeace’s offices last year, as well as its own successes, highlight contrasts between the strategies of organisations and citizens’ movements. Loose citizens’ movements are... read more

In the next five years India aims to become a five trillion dollar economy. It’s a nice round number, although the word “trillion” is not quite folksy enough. It actually equals one lakh crore, the preferred coinage of our bureaucrats, ministers and bankers. It’s basically five followed by twelve... read more

The full budget for 2019-20 presented on July 5 did not contain the kind of stuff that would fire up the financial markets and cause a rush of adrenaline in taxpayers and investors. In that sense, and in many others, it was not similar to budgets in the past. And what is a good thing for the sake... read more

The interim budget in February gave a substantial stimulus to the taxpayer. Almost three crore taxpayers moved out of the net, as the minimum threshold was raised. Further the cash transfer to farming households led to some consumption push, and not to forget electoral gains too. Against that... read more

The revenue arithmetic of the Budget is quite conservative. Factoring in the protracted slow-down phase and a shortfall in personal income tax revenue and GST receipts, the “gross tax revenue” projections have been lowered from their level in the interim budget. However, the projections of “non tax... read more

As per the empirical exercise set out in the Economic Survey of Government of India 2018-19, the Indian economy will grow to 5 trillion-dollar economy by 2024-25 with an inflation of 4 per cent and real economic growth of 8 per cent per annum. Besides, the productivity (both labour and capital) of... read more

This is not a big bang budget. Nor is it particularly bold though the government says it is walking towards the vision for a decade in which the five- year stop is a five trillion dollar economy with 8 per cent GDP growth. It is not immediately clear how this will be achieved, particularly when... read more

While presenting the budget the Finance Minister (FM) recognises that NBFCs play an extremely important role in sustaining consumption demand as well as capital formation in the small and medium segment. In this context the FM mentioned that NBFCs that are fundamentally sound should continue to get... read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has focused on the water crisis facing the nation in his first Mann Ki Baat of the post-election season. The Prime Minister said: “…let’s…start a mass movement for water conservation. We together should all resolve to save every drop of water and I believe that water is... read more

As intermediaries of the financial system, conventional banks accept deposits and lend money on the basis of a predetermined rate of interest. Under a non-interest-based system, any payment or acceptance of interest is prohibited. The system operates on the basis that the return on investment (the... read more

India’s telecom revolution has earned the world’s admiration. At one stage,it was the fastest growing, lowest cost sector in the world, providing inclusive development to all. In airlines or electricity usually the government has to make it compulsory, and impose a universal service obligation (USO... read more

It was the remarkable foresight of the makers of the Indian Constitution that they thought of creating a dedicated Schedule of Languages - the 8thSchedule – which initially included 14 languages as the languages of administration. This was a radical departure from the European idea of nationalism... read more

Admiral Karambir Singh, who assumed command as Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) last month-end, has put out “elaborate directives aimed at curbing subservient behaviour, restricting certain ceremonial practices and ensuring equality among the ranks.” The directives vary from the standard of cutlery and... read more

It was on 17 April last that Jet Airways had run out of funds, and its operations had come to a grinding halt. Jet, a full-service airline, was competing domestically head-on with highly agile and viciously competitive low-cost carriers (LCCs) which had mastered the art of cost control. The cost... read more

Economists are confused about the health of the Indian economy. Firstly, statistics of the economy are unreliable. Methodologies for measuring growth and employment have been changed. Comparisons with the past are no longer straight-forward; trends cannot be gauged accurately.Secondly, the... read more