ECONOMY


There is a lot of chatter about how India can become prosperous, ever since the current regime decided to offer one more slogan for us to live by: Viksit Bharat or a developed India by 2047. How countries become rich is a huge topic of debate, not just in India, but all over the world. That is...

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Moneylife Digital Team 07 February 2025
As expected, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its first monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting for 2025, decided to cut the repo rate, the central bank's rate for short-term loans to banks, by 25bps (basis points) to 6.25% from 6.5%. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate is...

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Avani Kapur  and   Sharad Pandey (IndiaSpend) 03 February 2025
The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday comes at a time when India faces the challenge of balancing economic growth with inclusive social development. While debates often centre on fiscal deficit targets, capital investments, and tax reforms, the social...

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Moneylife Digital Team 01 February 2025
In the Budget of 2025, the finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that the government has announced six engines of growth. Most of these Some of these are overhyped; but here is a complete list.   1. Agriculture: New Schemes and Focus on Farmer Welfare   • Prime Minister...

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Moneylife Digital Team 01 February 2025
The Union Budget 2025-26, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduces significant changes to the customs tariff structure and indirect taxation to support domestic manufacturing, boost exports and facilitate trade. The government aims to reduce the inverted duty structure,...

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Moneylife Digital Team 01 February 2025
The focus on Bihar was so intense in Union finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech that social media, particularly X (formerly Twitter), erupted with memes. Some even went to the extent of calling it the 'Bihar Budget' rather than the Indian Budget. So, the question arises—did...

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Many people seem bewildered by the sudden slowdown in India's economic growth. But, had you kept your gaze firmly fixed on India's policy-making, the slowdown would hardly be surprising, let alone inexplicable. Since public memory is short, here is a quick recap. For the first few years of...

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Moneylife Digital Team 31 January 2025
The Economic Survey 2024-25, tabled in Parliament by Union minister of finance and corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman forecasts India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for FY25-26 to range between 6.3% and 6.8%. Despite global economic uncertainties, India has maintained a steady growth...

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Moneylife Digital Team 31 January 2025
Union minister of finance and corporate affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey 2024-25 in the Parliament.    Here are the highlights of the survey…   State of the Economy: Getting Back into the Fast Lane   1. India's real GDP growth is estimated at 6.4% in...

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Shreehari Paliath (IndiaSpend) 29 January 2025
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government will present the second full budget of its third successive term in office, amidst concerns of a slowdown of the economy based on government estimates.   The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme...

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As India gears up for the Union Budget on 1st February, the lofty slogans and promises of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India) are looking increasingly hollow. After a decade of ‘rapid progress,’ the middle class, considered the backbone of the nation’s economy, continues to grapple with poor...

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Last week, the CNX SmallCap 100 index cracked by 7.3%. On Monday, it crashed a further 4%. The last time the index fell more than this was way back in December 2022 (8.33%). This serious decline comes after months of churning, with the index trying, but unable, to head higher. With the benefit...

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Moneylife Digital Team 08 January 2025
The National Statistical Office's (NSO’s) first advance estimate (FAE) for FY2024-25 projects India's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 6.4%, significantly slower than the 8.2% last fiscal. According to CRISIL Ratings, fiscal consolidation, elevated interest rates and prolonged high...

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In early November, I wrote a piece suggesting that the Indian economy is functioning as expected: muddling along. It rarely falls into a full-blown recession, but it also struggles to achieve sustained acceleration. This observation was immediately illustrated when India’s gross domestic...

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Dr TV Gopalakrishnan 03 January 2025
An egalitarian society cannot thrive if wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while many remain in poverty.    As finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman prepares to present her seventh Budget, the nation is abuzz with hope, anticipation and excitement. Everyone—from industry leaders...

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Moneylife Digital Team 31 December 2024
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has flagged increased stress in the microfinance sector, with rising delinquencies across all types of lenders and ticket sizes. While delinquency levels in consumer credit remained stable for banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), rising impairment can...

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Prachi Salve (IndiaSpend) 30 December 2024
Sixteen critical government datasets are delayed, and nine Union ministries have not released their annual reports--some of them for several years. The Census of India is now three years overdue.   The delay is spread across government datasets spanning multiple sectors including health,...

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Moneylife Digital Team 27 December 2024
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised concerns about the growing risks associated with unsecured lending and private credit markets, urging heightened vigilance amidst a cooling credit growth environment. In its annual report on Trends and Progress of Banking in India 2023-24, RBI...

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In the mid-1990s, when Indian corporates were struggling to handle an economic slowdown and high interest rates, I had developed a simple rule of thumb to filter high-quality companies: Does the company earn a significant part of its revenues from exports? The logic behind this was...

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Moneylife Digital Team 19 December 2024
India's merchandise trade deficit in November widened to an all-time high, led by a surge in gold imports, while exports fell, driven by a drop in crude oil prices. In November, the trade deficit printed at an all-time high of US$37.8bn (billion) compared to the average of US$23.5bn during...

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