Though production of 8 core infrastructure sectors slowed to a 5-month low in March, other manufacturing and services indicators paint an optimistic picture of the economy.
Apart from RBI rate hike, uncertainty in banking, insurance & financial services in North American markets have resulted in weak Q4. We look at 59 non-finance & non-oil companies.
A paper by ex RBI official says dominance of 'Top-5' firms lets them excessively raise prices, but analysis of metal sector shows it's down to raw material costs, global inflation, etc.
India's growth has been revised downwards to 5.9% for 2023, largely in keeping with global activity. However, high debt levels mean large parts of revenue will go in interest payments.
While a higher capital outlay has been budgeted for FY 23-24, trends of last FY suggest states have underspent on capex & are unlikely to achieve their targets for 2022-23.
World Bank points to declining investment growth in the 2011-21 period. Policies promoting investment, improved human capital & faster labour supply could help reverse slowdown.
European Central Bank has raised its policy rate by 50 basis points & US Federal Reserve by 25 basis points with the aim to bring inflation back down to target levels.
Over the past few years, especially post-pandemic, financial savings have been witnessing a shift with more households shifting away from traditional instruments such as bank deposits.
Having received additional data on Covid-impacted 2020-21, govt has revised the year’s growth upwards in each revision. Growth for post-pandemic 2021-22 has also been estimated higher.
India's projects related to BIMSTEC, Look-East-Act-East and Indian Ocean Rim Association could suffer a setback, impacting trade with South Asia and the South-South Cooperation agenda.
While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.
Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.
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