governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
The normally low-profile Tata group high-rolled their way into London earlier this week, signing letters of intent to purchase 470 commercial aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. Both manufacturers together booked only 1,622 orders for commercial aircraft last year. The Air India order is 29 per cent of last year’s booking — an outsize investment given […]
Read More Air India- The “maharaja” turns high rollerOur garden is full of goodies come and get what you need. This is what Finance Minister Sitharaman conveyed to the people (and voters) of India in her 2023-24 budget speech. Adding to the ever deepening gift bag that the Modi administration has held out to voters since 2015, the budget not only slashed income […]
Read More Budget Bounties 2023-242020 was the year of fear as COVID-19 decimated the economy and killed people–both rich and poor– seemingly. 2021 was the year of hope. The bite of the pandemic dulled, thanks to the massive vaccination program, ramped-up emergency medical facilities and the roll-out of special social protection measures like free cereals for 800 million citizens. […]
Read More India vignettes from 2022 and beyondGrowth is slowing in India. In July to September this year there were six major economies- Malaysia, Greece, Philippines, Israel, Colombia, Argentina (The Economist December 1) with growth higher than the 6.3 percent India achieved in the April to September quarter of this fiscal. Growth by year end is unlikely to be vastly different. Is […]
Read More Indian Economy between A Rock and A Hard spaceAfter inflation levels off, hopefully in the first quarter of the next fiscal year, after the Ukraine crisis becomes dormant, yet again, through exhaustion or accommodation (as in 2014) and thinking beyond the growing domestic political contestation, as India prepares for the quinquennial national electoral contest in April 2024, the problem of low growth is […]
Read More India: Export for GrowthThere is a great deal of unnecessary melancholy around the low real growth outturns for the October to December quarter (Q3) FY 2021-22. The gripe, if any, is that Q3 confirms a downward trend in quarter-on-quarter growth rates, down from 20.1 percent in Q1, 8.4 percent in Q2, and now 5.4 percent in Q3. It […]
Read More Ukraine and slowing growth in India- Back to basicsIn late June this year, Reliance Industries announced a US $10 billion investment for the production and use of hydrogen (H2). H2 is a colourless gas physically. But in the race to Net Zero Carbon, it comes in multiple colours, each representing a specific process. The many colors of H2 Grey is the cheapest at US […]
Read More If data is the new oil is hydrogen the new gas?Tamil is an ancient language which jostles Sanskrit on antiquity but remains in vibrant, modern use. It is also a cultural identity. Post-Independence, in 1947, the erstwhile Madras Presidency became the Madras State within the Union of India. In 1956, its borders were redrawn to shed the non-Tamil speaking peripheral areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, […]
Read More Tamil Nadu needs an economic rebootDespite receipts being 18% lower than even last year till November, largely because of the yawning gap against the aggressive budget estimate for disinvestment receipts (Rs 2,1 trillion), the Union government did well to spend almost 5% more than last year by enhancing borrowing. This is in the best traditions of trying to keep the […]
Read More Budget for hope, build resilient foundationsOne of the realizations, home-spun by Covid in India, is that there is value to “atmanirbharta” (ANB) or self-reliance – the capacity to march alone, if necessary. An admirable attribute except that “aloneness” creeps up silently on you like a habit, difficult to shake off. Looked at more cheerily, it is not so different from […]
Read More Marching alone
Opinion India 