NEW DELHI — Of all Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaigns, none, perhaps, is more consequential than the renewed push for his Swachh Bharat — or Clean India — Mission launched in October 2014. At first glance SBM was a mere rehash of a campaign to build toilets across rural India that was launched…
NEW DELHI — Political stability in India paved the way for root-and-branch reforms such as demonetization and the new Goods and Services Tax. But as one of the country’s key economic advisers acknowledged, they came at a cost: subdued growth this year that could extend into 2018. “I think in the last year or so…
NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement Monday of a $2.5 billion program to take electricity to 40 million of India’s poorest households bore all the hallmarks of his recent economic policies. Two-thirds of the way into his five-year term, Modi is pushing a propoor, populist agenda that could win votes for his Bhartiya…
Despite apparent success, trouble spots range from growing corporate debt to sluggish job creation Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to people as he leaves after inaugurating the annual meeting of the African Development Bank in Gandhinagar, India on May 23. © AP As Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates his third anniversary in power on…
Key state Uttar Pradesh is a political lynchpin: it sends the maximum number of representatives (80) to parliament’s lower house. It was home to nine of India’s 15 prime ministers. Modi, who forsook his own western state of Gujarat to win a parliamentary seat from Uttar Pradesh’s Hindu holy city of Varanasi in 2014, said…
Startup reaches for the moon in global competition NEW DELHI — Just after Christmas this year, the spindly Team Indus Spacecraft, weighing 210 kg, will be shot into lunar orbit atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The rocket will blast off from the Indian Space Research Organization’s range on Srihari Kota Island in southeastern India.…
India’s Modi seeks to balance populism and fiscal prudence as risks mount Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes taking big steps and does not shy away from wagering his political capital. But he squandered quite a bit of it with his November demonetization measures, which banned 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes. Modi was…
No ‘big bang’ reforms but budget tries to be all things to all people Speaking after the budget was tabled in parliament, Modi said it took solid steps to fulfil the dreams of the poor. He coined a new acronym, FUTURE (farmers, underprivileged, transparency, urban rejuvenation, rural development and employment generation) to explain his goals. …
Separately, an Asset Quality Review ordered by Rajan to attack crisis levels of bad loans made by state-owned banks and an accompanying crackdown on ‘willful defaulters’ among oligarchs in the infrastructure sector who have borrowed recklessly for stalled projects may have earned Rajan too many powerful and politically connected enemies. Businessmen opposed to the…
Indian markets, already skittish over Britain’s Brexit referendum, now must deal with the surprise announcement on June 18 by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan that he is stepping down when his three-year term ends on September 4. Tough, uncompromising and outspoken, Rajan, 53, appeared to be doing budget signs everything that…
In its Oct. 4 report, the RBI appeared to highlight the upside risk of inflation. It said that its September survey of household expectations saw inflation at 9.5% three months ahead and 11.4% a year ahead, driven mainly by higher food and healthcare costs. RBI staff forecast CPI averaging 5.3% in the fourth (Jan-March) quarter…
Urjit Patel’s first press conference as governor of the Reserve Bank of India on Oct. 4 was notable for several reasons. The new keeper of India’s monetary flame, just shy of his 53rd birthday, was ill at ease. Very clearly the antithesis of his loquacious predecessor Raghuram Rajan, Patel’s “media interaction” lasted all of 20…
Will demonetization vacuum up all the black money? Economists believe most illicit, untaxed funds would be diverted into buying gold or real estate; indeed, gold imports spiked in the days immediately following the announcement. But will India ever be cashless? A Nomura Securities report said that India’s cash-to-gross domestic product ratio was high at…
Every Indian banknote carries two reassuring messages: “Guaranteed by the central government,” and above the signature of the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, the words: “I promise to pay the bearer the sum of … rupees.” At midnight on Nov. 8, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used an executive fiat to extinguish both…
About 1,200 companies have so far declared full-year results for 2015-16, averaging top-line growth of 3.7% in the quarter through March after an 8% decline over the three preceding quarters. But poor corporate health is reflected in the staggering write-offs of bad loans by state-owned banks. Punjab National Bank, the country’s third largest, reported a…
The past few weeks in India have been like drinking from a fire hose. Full-page newspaper advertisements, huge rallies and hosannas from giddy supporters have poured forth as the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party celebrates two years in power. There has also been a deluge of interviews You might also like with senior government ministers, a…
Modi’s war on black money has hit India’s economy. Is the price worth paying? Modi’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Dec. 8 announced a raft of discounts and tax rebates for citizens who used credit or debit cards and mobile wallets for transactions including buying petrol and train tickets, paying tolls or insurance premiums. Government…
Modi’s war on black money has hit India’s economy. Is the price worth paying? One month after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetization of 500 and 1,000-rupee banknotes in his battle against black money, policymakers in New Delhi are finally starting to acknowledge that the shock move has caused immense upheavals, loss…
Not surprisingly for a country obsessed with politics and gossip, the appointment of India’s new central bank chief has already spawned reams of newsprint and hours of television talk-time on what makes Urjit Ravindra Patel tick. Two words sum up Patel: low key. Unlike other deputy governors of the Reserve Bank of India he has…
Indeed, a committee headed by Patel himself in January 2014 made three far-reaching recommendations that seem certain to haunt him. First, it suggested a shift to the consumer price index as the base metric, instead of the outdated and misleading wholesale price index. Second, it called for inflation targeting, and Rajan and Modi agreed to…
CHAITANYA KALBAG, contributing writer NEW DELHI – Although his three-year term as governor of the Reserve Bank of India was one of the shortest in the last 25 years, Raghuram Rajan will leave a pair of very large shoes to fill after his departure on Sept. 4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is taking…
CHAITANYA KALBAG, contributing writer “That is a hard standard for anybody’s commentary to meet, especially if you have a press which is continuously looking for what they think are slights to the government. It is easy to build on that,” he noted as he sought to correct claims that his governorship was one “which has…
As he leaves India’s central bank, Rajan takes aim at his critics and points out the challenges awaiting his successor NEW DELHI Although his three-year term as governor of the Reserve Bank of India was one of the shortest in the last 25 years, Raghuram Rajan will leave a pair of very large shoes to…