Economic Times Blogs

• View: Sitharaman's announcements make a revival in investment look likelier than ever

  

  Import duties have been tweaked for manufacturing exports that are being pushed through production incentives. Small enterprises that are yet to see an uptick in the investment cycle are in for a beneficial tax treatment. The finance minister has tried to cover all the bases for a revival in investment. It is now a matter of when, not if
  - 3 days ago 1 Feb 23, 4:03pm -
• Economic Survey 2023 underlines development economics

  

  The Indian economy's medium term growth is predicated on demographics that require synchronised improvements in inclusion. This requires reforms of governance at the grassroots level, the Economic Survey recommends. The Centre and states would do well to heed it.
  - 3 days ago 31 Jan 23, 8:30pm -
• ET View: India growing back well, but to grow more, faster....

  

  This is a direct fallout of economic management during and after the Covid outbreak that vaccinated a labour force in time to resume work, pushed-up public sector capital expenditure to generate higher income and employment, brought inflation to manageable levels relatively quickly, and restored consumption through targeted emergency welfare.
  - 4 days ago 31 Jan 23, 4:19pm -
• ET View: Many a slip before Shinde rebellion succeeds

  

  BJP and Shiv Sena together have the numbers to form the government in the 288-member Assembly. With 145 being the majority mark, BJP (106) and Shiv Sena (55) add up to 161. Independents are also likely to support.
  - 22 Jun 22, 5:25pm -
• ET View: HDFC merger spells consolidation in India's private banking space

  

  HDFC Bank, in turn, can use its heftier balance sheet to write bigger loan cheques. The costs of the merger have been brought down by the recent streamlining of reporting and delinquency provisioning rules for non-bank finance companies and banks. And HDFC’s exposure to affordable housing and micro-lending makes it easier for its loan book to sit within the development finance requirements of HDFC Bank.
  - 4 Apr 22, 2:15pm -
• ET View: Make budgetary hay while the economy is turning around

  

  Recent experience with divestment has dictated a more realistic assessment of capital receipts, although 5G spectrum is up for auction in the next financial year.
  - 1 Feb 22, 7:08pm -
• ET View: A bold move to bury the retro tax ghost

  

  The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, nullifies the tax demand on the indirect transfer of Indian assets on transactions prior to 28 May 2012. The law will apply prospectively: gains from the sale of shares of a foreign company will be taxable in India if such shares, directly or indirectly, derive value from assets located in India. This makes eminent sense.
  - 5 Aug 21, 9:13pm -
• View: The cost of a rate-cut rollback and how to set it right

  

  ​​Elections are underway in five crucial states, inflation is rising, and the country facing the second wave of the pandemic that has hurt incomes and livelihoods. A crucial policy decision on cutting the administered interest rate on small savings ought to have been thought through well.
  - 1 Apr 21, 10:55am -
• ET View: In terms of growth contraction, the worst seems over

  

  In terms of current prices, GDP for Q3 is estimated to have gone up by a credible 4.3%, over the like period in the previous year. It does reflect higher value addition, read dearer prices, in sectors like agriculture, given rigidities in supply amidst pandemic-imposed restrictions in delivery and logistics.
  - 26 Feb 21, 9:00pm -
• View: Why doesn't the Supreme Court crack down when lower courts violate its orders with disdain?

  

  The government should stop trying to suppress the voice of dissent through arrests, charges of sedition or causing enmity between communities and arm-twisting of social media platforms. And the Apex Court should pursue contempt charges, not against those who make open criticism of its rulings, but against the lower judiciary that subverts the constitutional order.
  - 11 Feb 21, 5:29pm -

• ET View: Negative rates as conscious policy

  

  The RBI’s policies on maintaining high liquidity to fuel recovery, keeping a Targeted Long Term Repo window open is most sensible. It is unlikely to be used much, though, considering the oodles of liquidity being created by the RBI’s attempt to keep the exchange rate reasonably stable, even as foreign capital floods in, as confidence returns to mature markets.
  - 4 Dec 20, 12:29pm -
• ET View: Remembering Jaswant Singh, the team player

  

  While valuing his officers’ inputs on reforms to steer the economy, Jaswant Singh had an ear to the ground – be it putting more money in homemakers’ purses or being responsive to industry’s woes. He was quick at decision making.
  - 27 Sep 20, 5:14pm -
• ET View: Even before Covid, economy was slumping

  

  The government needs to fix the banks and create a functional bond market. This alone can raise the rate of investment. Gross fixed capital formation as a share of GDP was down to 26% in Q4 of 2019-20, and 26.9% for the year as a whole. Without raising it by six percentage points of GDP, India cannot shed its low growth trap.
  - 29 May 20, 7:53pm -
• ET View: Welcome steps by RBI; it can surely do more

  

  While the monetary policy measures announced today are certainly necessary, they can hardly be deemed to be sufficient, in the face of severely weakened demand conditions economy-wide, following two entire months of severe economic lockdown.
  - 22 May 20, 7:05pm -
• ET View: A big bang for small and medium enterprises

  

  Liquidity for power utilities, subject to state government guarantees, will ensure that power generation is not shut down. Of course, the power sector cannot be redeemed without a change in the political culture of patronising power theft and open-ended giveaways.
  - 13 May 20, 7:28pm -
• Time to junk captive mining policy

  

  The way forward is to policy design a vibrant market for ore, so that steel and other metal producers face no uncertainty in procuring minerals and other raw materials at competitive rates.
  - 4 May 20, 7:47pm -
• ET View: Extension of lockdown uncalled for

  

  The government is making a hash of loosening restrictions while extending the lockdown.
  - 1 May 20, 10:31pm -
• ET View: Give liquidity directly to companies and state governments, RBI

  

  All the regulatory measures are welcome and will help companies and real estate developers. The liquidity measures have a more mixed import.
  - 17 Apr 20, 5:09pm -
• ET View: Normal monsoons good augury

  

  The IMD projection says rainfall is likely to be 100% of the Long Period Average (LPA) precipitation for the country as a whole, with a model error of plus or minus 5%. But note that over the years there has been wide variability in monsoon rainfall patterns across regions.
  - 15 Apr 20, 7:19pm -
• ET View: Welcome end to total lockdown

  

  It is welcome that the Prime Minister has restricted extension of the all-India lockdown to six more days after the original deadline of April 20th. The early lockdown has probably saved thousands of lives and helped contain the spread of the disease.
  - 14 Apr 20, 11:38am -
• ET View: RBI should better target liquidity injection

  

  ​The central bank is not directly purchasing corporate bonds of large enterprises and major non-bank finance companies (NBFCs), as is par for the course in the mature markets. Instead, RBI has announced long-term repurchase obligations or repo in government securities with banks, so that the latter can then use the liquidity available to subscribe to corporate bonds or commercial paper or debentures.
  - 27 Mar 20, 8:33pm -
• ET View: Over to the voters of Madhya Pradesh

  

  It is for the voters to punish defectors by defeating them, their backers or proxies in by-polls. If voters do not care, and allow such shenanigans to proceed apace, political parties would try to grab power by inducing MLAs to defect.
  - 20 Mar 20, 4:00pm -
• ET View: Focused, forward-looking water policy needed

  

  The way ahead is to step-up recharge of aquifers and groundwater resources, even as we better allocate resources for surface irrigation systems and their maintenance. We are increasingly dependent on groundwater for irrigation, which is clearly unsustainable. But the maintenance and upkeep of surface irrigation systems is also neglected across states.
  - 12 Mar 20, 10:58pm -
• ET View: On a wing and invocations of ancient India

  

  Does it hold out the definite prospect of reversing the growth slowdown? It does not. Does it fix the gaps in financial plumbing that prevent finance from being mediated to viable infrastructure projects? Not quite. A market for corporate bonds is India’s prime requirement now, and that remains a work in eternal progress.
  - 1 Feb 20, 5:45pm -
• ET View: Economic Survey revives an old tale about Microsoft

  

  Microsoft has come a long way since then and even became the world’s most valued company. The Survey does not hold out a happy story.
  - 31 Jan 20, 5:16pm -
• ET View: No-fly overkill over Kamra

  

  Civil Aviation minister Puri advised other airlines to follow suit. Air India, GoAir and SpiceJet followed suit — if the minister had asked them to do likewise, they would have done likewise — no matter Kamra did not misbehave on their flights. Nor did they convene a meeting of their internal committees that are supposed to ponder over a complaint.
  - 29 Jan 20, 5:35pm -
• ET View: Why the proposal for PM-Yasasvi is a good idea

  

  At the broader level, the fact that the students will be selected through a national test is likely to help schools across the country to meet certain basic curriculum and teaching standards. The inclusion of senior citizens in the scheme is a recognition of the untapped capacity for contribution of this segment of the population.
  - 17 Jan 20, 5:55pm -
• View: SC verdict on internet shutdown in Kashmir rightly demands the restoration of ‘reasonableness’

  

  The Supreme Court’s verdict that the Internet is a part of Article 19 – key to providing India’s citizenry with the ‘basic freedoms’ that include the freedom of expression – finally calls a spade a spade, and has demanded that Internet service be restored in Kashmir for all essential services.
  - 10 Jan 20, 12:09pm -
• ET View: Time to boost demand, forget the fiscal deficit target

  

  The time has come for the government to shed its obsession about fiscal deficit targets and borrow more from the market, both to compensate the states for their shortfall in GST collections and to meet its own expenditure commitments. India still has deep reserves of economic resilience and it is necessary to avoid any self-defeating talk of recession.
  - 29 Nov 19, 7:08pm -
• ET View: Promptly review levies, charges and the high extent of revenue share in Indian telecom

  

  The levies, charges and mounting dues would essentially financially cripple and may even bankrupt the leading service providers, and have wholly-avoidable negative effects and signals much beyond the telecom sector itself. The Cabinet needs to purposefully rationalise central levies and charges on telecom operators for the greater national good.
  - 14 Nov 19, 10:35pm -
• ET View: CPI likely to remain elevated for statistical reasons

  

  The latest inflation numbers suggest that retail headline inflation, read the overall rise in consumer prices, has gone up beyond the 4% target set up Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The MPC is mandated to policy-induce a narrow 4-6% range for the retail inflation rate. The CPI has risen at the fastest rate since June last year.
  - 14 Nov 19, 4:23pm -
• ET View: Sensible decision in Karnataka, now to let the December 5 bypolls decide the ex-MLAs’ future

  

  The 14 MLAs who quit from Congress and the three from the Janata Dal (Secular) last July, leading to the fall of the JD(S)-Congress government, may have reasons other than pure disagreement and/or disenchantment with the way their own parties were going about governing and such things. Now, it’s for the bypolls on December 5, to decide the fate of the 17.
  - 13 Nov 19, 12:14pm -
• ET View: September IIP - Lacklustre capital goods output keeps overall index low

  

  As for manufactures, which account for over 77% weight in the industrial index, production has contracted and posted minus 3.9% growth. The sharp contraction in automobile production, with the output of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers declining by minus 14.9 % y-o-y has clearly adversely affected production.
  - 11 Nov 19, 10:15pm -
• ET View: Accept the Ayodhya judgement and move on

  

  It is the duty of all concerned to not just maintain peace but also to work for sustainable unity.
  - 9 Nov 19, 12:19pm -
• ET View: Economy, the winner

  

  For the polity, too, an Opposition staging an extinction rebellion is certainly good news. A healthy democracy needs an Opposition that is not a pushover.
  - 24 Oct 19, 11:38am -
• ET View: Nobel for Abhijit Banerjee

  

  While Banerjee got his PhD from Harvard, he did his Bachelor’s in economics from Presidency, Calcutta and his Master’s from JNU.
  - 14 Oct 19, 5:46pm -
• ET View: It’s not so much Peter Handke, but the Nobel Prize that should be judged by its choice

  

  What has troubled some critics is that he is a public sympathiser of Yugoslavian and Serbian war criminal Slobodan Miloševic.
  - 11 Oct 19, 1:10pm -
• ET View: Nobel Prize catches up with discovery that has fuelled the smartphone revolution

  

  John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the development of lithium-ion batteries.
  - 9 Oct 19, 7:05pm -
• View: Growth not a monetary policy problem, says RBI

  

  By refusing to cut rate by 35 bps or more the RBI wants to make it clear that liquidity availability is not the binding constraint on growth.
  - 4 Oct 19, 12:48pm -
• Modi and Trump score from Howdy Modi, but what’s in it for India?

  

  For Trump, Howdy Modi was a golden opportunity to woo a vital segment of American voters.
  - 23 Sep 19, 1:10pm -
• ET View: Corporate tax rate cut, the best reform so far

  

  A lower rate, comparable with Asian peers, and sans any exemptions, will make large Indian cos more competitive.
  - 20 Sep 19, 1:16pm -
• ET View: Third dose of growth boosters: good but not good enough

  

  The export sops announced are welcome. But they would take time to kick in and boost exports.
  - 14 Sep 19, 6:42pm -
• ET View: The Moon is not made of insta-cheese

  

  Indian Space Research Organisation will analyse the mishap to identify what went wrong and rectify the defect that caused it.
  - 7 Sep 19, 1:27pm -
• ET View: India needs large banks

  

  It is in the interest of the Indian economy to have large banks that can lend to large companies, given the greater segmentation of credit now.
  - 30 Aug 19, 8:10pm -
• ET View: Jalan Panel does a fine balancing job

  

  Essentially, the committee has decided to keep the RBI’s revaluation reserves out of funds that can be used for transfer to any other account.
  - 26 Aug 19, 10:36pm -
• ET view: Welcome booster package for the economy

  

  The reform of taxman-taxpayer interface, deploying technology and eliminating direct contact, is most welcome.
  - 23 Aug 19, 11:32pm -
• ET View: India must reiterate its status as a 'responsible' nuclear state

  

  While Singh reiterated India's continuation of the 'no first use' policy, Singh's comment comes at a time when the Indian government has been seen to conduct 'radical' moves.
  - 16 Aug 19, 5:02pm -
• View: A mellower Modi on Independence Day

  

  The most notable feature of Narendra Modi’s sixth speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort is an absence: an enemy to attack.
  - 15 Aug 19, 11:26am -
• ET View: Congress dumps Rahul Gandhi

  

  Sonia Gandhi values counsel, and patient survival informs her action, rather than impetuous entitlement.
  - 11 Aug 19, 1:09pm -
• ET View: 3 reasons for RBI's 35 bps rate cut

  

  RBI shares the general concern about slowing growth and would like to do its bit to lift spirits and get the economy moving.
  - 7 Aug 19, 2:30pm -