Free Trade Agreements & India: Viabilities and Complexities
In the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) each side tries to get the best bargain for its market access and effort is made to have some sort of a balanced outcome mechanism.
Category Center for the Study for Finance and Economics
Indian External Sector in 2023: Rocky Road Ahead
Tightening monetary policy is going to increase the yield on US treasury security, making the dollar stronger. India’s external sector numbers are not looking good. In the second quarter, the current account deficit widened to $23.9 billion, the highest since 2012.
Indian Economy: The Year That Was, and the Challenges Ahead
Nilanjan Banik 2022 was a good ‘growth’ year for India. India’s economy was among the fastest growing large economies. This was commendable, especially in a year marred by war and extreme climate events, rising commodity and energy prices, tightening global…
Fiscal Deficit as a Shape-Shifter in India
The fiscal deficit created now translates into a higher debt burden that future generations have to service. Is that fair? It is more than fair. In the misty mornings of peak winter, a flock of sharp-beaked, joyless birds takes flight in the capital – Fiscal Deficit Hawks, who swoop down on North Block, where harried finance ministry officials race against time to prepare the Union government’s annual budget, to screech sharp orders to slash the fiscal deficit.
RBI Affidavit Obfuscates rather than Clarifying
The government affidavit filed on November 16 justified demonetization by claiming that it was a part of a bigger policy push to digitize and formalize the economy – in its view a beneficial step. The affidavit, in paragraph 15 justifies the decision to demonetize the large denomination currency notes by stating that it was a “well-considered decision” taken after “extensive consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) and advanced preparation”. The implication is that if the decision was wrong, it is the RBI’s (the expert’s) fault.
Debt-Burden for Future
Fiscal Deficit Hawks, who swoop down on North Block, where harried finance ministry officials race against time to prepare the Union government's annual budget, to screech sharp orders to slash the fiscal deficit. The fiscal deficit created now translates into a higher debt burden that future generations have to service. Is that fair? It is more than fair.
Privatizing the Public Undertakings
Until last year, Air India was a chronically underperforming public-owned airline. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has often said that the government has no business being in business. Yet after eight and a half years of his tenure, Air India is one of only two enterprises that have been successfully privatized.