Indian Economy

⦁ Online payment aggregators can onboard digital merchants and accept payments on their behalf after getting a licence from the RBI. ⦁ The central bank introduced a framework for such entities in March 2020. ⦁ The RBI has for the first time released a full list of the entities to …

On February 3, the Union government hiked the windfall profit tax levied on domestically-produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Just three days before this, the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs Vivek Johri, told PTI that prices of …

The estimation in Census 2011, that 2.21% of India’s population is disabled is a gross underestimation. According to the World Health Organization, about 16% of the global population is disabled. If that figure is extrapolated to the Indian context, it would mean at least 192 million disabled people. While technology …

A strike on the Adani group by short-seller the U.S.-based Hindenburg Research has led to the unravelling of the Gautam Adani story, which celebrated the spectacular rise, in an extremely short period of time, of the wealth of a man and his business empire. Much of that wealth disappeared following …

Just five days after Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das asserted that inflation ‘has shown signs of moderation and the worst is behind us’, Monday’s release of Consumer Price Index (CPI) estimates for January revealed a disconcerting reversal in price gains trend. Headline retail inflation, which had steadily eased …

On December 24, 2009, a tunnel boring machine in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, hit an aquifer about three kilometres from Selang village. This resulted in the loss of nearly 800 litres of water per second (enough to sustain the needs of nearly 30 lakh people per day). Soon after, groundwater sources began …

In the Union Budget for 2023-24, the government has set a disinvestment target of ₹51,000 crore, down nearly 21% from the budget estimate for the current year and just ₹1,000 crore more than the revised estimate. It is also the lowest target in seven years. Moreover, the Centre has not …

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday raised the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 6.5% as the RBI targets persistently high core or underlying inflation that it sees as a risk to the improving outlook for the economy. Observing that …

As per the latest economic survey, the Indian economy is set to attain a real GDP growth of 7% in 2022-23, with both the retail and wholesale inflation rates falling below 6% in the months ahead. The Union Budget presented in this backdrop assumes a nominal GDP growth of 10.5% …

The Budget speech in the year preceding a general election is usually one that seeks to appease as wide a swathe of society as possible. It follows that ministries that fund the bulk of research and development (R&D) too would see a healthy jump in allocation. The Ministry of Science …

The Tamil Nadu State Agricultural Marketing Board has filed three applications seeking Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Kavindhapadi Nattu Sakkarai (country sugar), Ramnad Chithiraikar Rice and Salem Kannadi Kathiri (brinjal) at the Geographical Indications Registry office in Chennai. The local associations from where these products originate were the co-applicants while …

Up to 50 new tourist destinations will be developed; an information-driven app created for tourists and ‘Unity Malls’ will be set up in State capitals to showcase handicrafts and products with geographical indication (GI) status. These are among the slew of measures announced in the Union Budget for promotion of …

1 of 2 Shot in the arm: Import of capital goods, machinery required to make lithium-ion cells for EV batteries get duty exemption. Reuters With a view to promoting exports, boosting domestic manufacturing, and enhancing value addition, the Union Budget has proposed a number of changes to the Customs Duty regime which is likely …

The idea of ‘alienation’ by Karl Marx is one of the most widely discussed concepts in social, political and economic theory. It is an idea that a young Marx developed out of his study of Friedrich Hegel. Marx first explained the concept of alienation in Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts and later elaborated …

It is generally acknowledged that the Budget of 1991 which was presented by the then Finance Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, is one of Indian economic history’s landmark events. The Budget is still widely lauded by neo-classical economic commentators because it marked a structural shift in India’s economy away from the …

Painting an exuberant picture of the Indian economy’s prospects thanks to “New Age” reforms undertaken since 2014, the Economic Survey tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Tuesday asserted that not only were the pandemic-induced blues over, but the outlook for the years ahead was also rosier than …

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. Millets have special nutritive properties (they are high in protein, dietary fibre, micronutrients and antioxidants) and special agronomic characteristics (drought-resistant and suitable for semi-arid regions). If millets are good for nutrition …

Tamil Nadu was among the top five GST compensation receiving States during the five-year transition period from July 2017 to June 2022, according to a study by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced on July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2022 marked …

Adam Smith, in his famous work The Wealth of Nations, argued that commodities such as sugar, rum and tobacco, though not necessary for life, are widely consumed, and thus good candidates for taxation. Research in India and around the world supports the use of taxes to regulate tobacco consumption. However, …

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is no stranger to reform. In fact, the zeal with which reforms are introduced often outpaces the capacity to adapt. Every time the administrative system gets back on its feet after a reform move, it is hit by another. Poorer States …