In another instance of lack of clarity in economic decision making, the NDA government seems to be drifting into signing on to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement potentially involving 16 Asia-Pacific partners. Under discussion for 7 years now,…
The government has finally admitted that the Indian economy is on a steep downturn. For some time now, even the business community, which tends to shower all praise and disapprove any criticism of the reformist Modi dispensation, has expressed concern…
One of the unusual features of the Indian economy relates to the banking sector, with bad loans of commercial banks becoming a serious problem, even at relatively low aggregate credit to GDP ratios by international standards. Figure 1 indicates that…
On August 30, as the media waited for the release of the second quarter growth figures that would reveal severe growth deceleration, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought to pre-empt any adverse response with a major policy announcement. Ten public sector…
Two years after its implementation, the extent to which the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime is an improvement upon the earlier system of multiple excise and sales taxes remains unclear. As of now, there are several worrying trends. The…
The Indian establishment’s obsession with GDP growth and stock market performance to the exception of all else, especially economic and social deprivation, is coming home to roost. Recent media reports on the state of the economy have highlighted three supposedly…
On 31 July, the United States Federal Reserve System (US Fed) announced its decision to cut its benchmark short-term interest rate by one quarter of a percentage point to a target range between 2% and 2.25%. It also announced that…
The global crisis and subsequent slowdown in imports of advanced economies put a brake on the export-oriented growth of developing Asia, forcing many countries in the region to look for other sources of dynamism. The instabilities and vulnerabilities in the…
The Indian government’s effort to resolve by force its banking crisis with the help of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has hit yet another roadblock. Even when major secured creditors agree to a resolution plan, because they have to…
While the neoliberal focus has been on attempts to “shrink the state” on the grounds of corruption and inefficiency, sensible people have long recognised that high levels of public employment tend to be associated with better quality of life for…
