Opinion
The note of caution against the dangers of excessive financialization in the 2024-25 Economic Survey needs to be mulled over. Financial sector excesses can indeed hurt the real economy.
China has announced retaliatory tariffs after the US upped barriers for Chinese imports. Its strategy seems nuanced, but both sides must back down.
This is a relief for numerous startups in India. Among its big benefits could be the rise of innovations that allow age-gating on the internet without parental privacy being compromised.
The challenge is to formulate a policy that boosts wholesale credit without triggering inflation, currency instability, or increased risks in retail lending. Let the repo rate to act as a signalling tool to boost the sentiment without stoking the other risks.
Economic growth has been weak across the eurozone and the balance of risks at this point makes the case for a major rate cut. Recession prevention should be the central bank’s priority.
Studies show how they can close organizational and societal skill gaps. But this raises a profound question. Does everyone becoming an expert mean nobody will be an expert?
Once again, the latest survey has been a disappointment. The document would do justice to the global challenge of our times if it did some crystal ball gazing for clarity on what India must do.
There’s a shift in emphasis from building infrastructure to stoking consumption, but this doesn’t solve the country’s basic problems. When, for example, will governments ‘get out of the way’?
Given the many unknown unknowns we now face, and the budget’s stimulus aimed at consumer spending, India might be served best if the monetary policy committee were to heed this Chinese saying and bide its time for now.
While India’s economy may be slowing, manufacturing and automobile sales data for January indicate resilience. A fiscal stimulus will take effect from April. Will RBI cheapen credit too?
Govt must lead by enhancing labor productivity, and infrastructure and energy efficiency, besides setting up large free-trade zones along the coast
By striking a fine balance, the budget’s expenditure strategy laudably creates space for future capital spending. Evolving economic conditions both globally and at home must be kept under watch, though.
Market rivalry is good for businesses, consumers and the economy. But the UK government wants merger scrutiny to be more business-friendly and has weakened its antitrust authority. This is policy myopia.
By empowering the middle class, boosting consumption, strengthening retail infrastructure, and bridging the urban-rural divide, the budget lays the groundwork for a resilient India.
The Census will be delayed even further, it seems. The 2025-26 budget’s modest allocations for India’s pressing data requirements reveal an unsettling neglect of a vital aspect of governance.
It’s not just Lodha versus Lodha. Business family feuds have grown common, but their cost must not burden other shareholders. Perhaps regulators should step in.
Amid rising stakes and instability, CEOs must pay attention to geopolitics and geo-economics. The ability to anticipate and assess global forces of change is a must in today’s volatile world.
An ICC prosecutor wants arrest warrants issued for Taliban leaders, signalling global concern for women facing brutality. Even if the ICC can’t do much, we need international institutions to push for justice.
The next government should free builders from overly burdensome standards so this vital industry can get back to work.
Easing the compliance burden of businesses is more important for India’s economic growth than tax cuts given by its budget. Will the Economic Survey’s call to ‘get out of the way’ be heeded?
The US president’s reckless trade aggression against Canada, Mexico and China may have sparked a trade war that’ll leave the whole world worse off. India can’t expect to escape the fallout of misguided US policy.
India’s budget has an outlay for small modular reactors and an ambitious aim of 100GW by 2047. Legal enablers aren’t the real challenge, though. Regulation and nuclear waste are.
Its triumvirate of consumption support, increased capital expenditure and fiscal prudence will lay a path for sustainable economic expansion. While addressing immediate concerns, the government has not lost sight of what’s needed for Viksit Bharat.
The 2025 Union budget presents a bold vision for India’s continued journey towards Viksit Bharat, aiming to make India Aatmanirbhar and a global leader in manufacturing, while simultaneously driving inclusive growth.
Iran is weak. For America’s next president that creates an opportunity
The migration of thousands of scientific ‘brains’ has not been a drain. It turns out that the ‘brains’ were just people who were lucky. Once they left, their places were easily filled.
The revenue and primary deficit targets of the Union budget for 2025-26 are impressive indeed, so bond yields in India are likely to ease, while other eye-catchers like its tax giveaways would need monitoring.
Mexico, Canada and China have been struck. US trade policy under Donald Trump can be seen as a game of ‘chicken.’ And game theory suggests that a strategy of collusion may help others make the US swerve off its path of tariff barriers.
From a turbulent Bengal in the 1970s to a pioneering force in Indian audio engineering, Sonodyne’s journey is a testament to resilience, innovation, and passion.
Together with fiscal prudence, it could keep the economy stable amid global headwinds that may worsen. This will be a year of dramatic policy shifts in the US.
A much bigger elbow room to RBI for adopting easier monetary stance is a significant positive from the budget
The Union Budget 2025-26 has some sops for the startup ecosystem in relation to funding and extending the period for some tax benefits.
Its shift in priority from capital expenditure towards private consumption support is in line with the reality of growth drivers at play. Income and sentiment may improve at lower levels of India’s pyramid.
The budgetary provision for capital expenditure has been maintained even though fiscal consolidation will proceed apace
The tax changes will leave more money with taxpayers across the board. It’s a direct fiscal stimulus that could support GDP growth too—a win-win for taxpayers and the economy alike.
