The steep increase in the prices of petrol and diesel by over Rs 3 per liter each post the assembly elections in Karnataka since May 14, 2018 [currently, these are Rs 78 per liter and Rs 69 per liter respectively in Delhi] has yet again led to build up of unprecedented pressure on Modi – government to reduce the excise duty [ED]. Between November 2014 and January 2016, ED on petrol went up from Rs 9.48 per liter to Rs 21.48 per liter or 2.26 times, whereas on diesel, the increase was even sharper from Rs 3.56 per liter to Rs 17.33 a liter – almost 5 times. That coincided with steep decline in the international price of crude oil...
More No comments
Blog
Defaulters queue up to return loans, courtesy IBC
The surge in non-performing assets [NPAs] of banks particularly during the last two years and steep increase in their losses due to higher provisioning requirements [during the last quarter of 2017-18, 25 banks have reported a loss of about Rs 50,000 crore] has been a big negative for the Modi – dispensation as it completes 4 years of its term. True, it is a legacy problem from the previous UPA – dispensation when banks generously gave loans to favored persons [who enjoyed clout with the political establishment and bureaucrats] many a times without conducting due diligence and assessing viability of the projects and there was little or no follow-up on recovery. In fact, the banks went an extra mile giving...
More No comments
Union’s fiscal budget held hostage by NFSA
Recently, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan informed that the Government will not affect any increase in issue prices for food-grains under the National Food Security Act [NFSA] till June, 2018. Under the Act, 5 kg of cereals per person per month is made available at heavily subsidized price of Rs 3 per kg rice, Rs 2 per kg wheat & Rs 1 per kg coarse cereals to 67% of India’s population [75% rural & 50% urban] or over 800 million persons. These prices shall be valid for a period of 3 years from the date of commencement of the Act and, thereafter, may be revised by the Central Government. The NFSA came into...
More No comments
Whose loans Modi has waived? – farmers or businessmen
Rahul Gandhi, President of the grand old national party keeps mentioning in his speech ad infinitum that Modi – government refuses to waive farmers loans even as it has [allegedly] waived loans worth hundreds of thousand crore given to industrialists and big businessmen. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As regards farmers loans, in all the states where elections to the assemblies were held in recent times, BJP had promised and actually went ahead with waiver of their outstanding loans – up to specified limit though. A recent example is Uttar Pradesh where immediately on assumption of office last year, the very first decision Yogi government took was to waive farmers loans. True, the union finance minister, Arun Jaitely...
More No comments
Self-reliance in oil and gas – HELP could be a game-changer
The current steep hike in the international price of crude oil [courtesy, re-imposition of US sanction against Iran and increasing global demand] has once again drawn attention to India’s unconscionably high level of dependence at 83% on import for meeting its energy requirement. This also brings in to focus the commitment of Modi to increase the share of domestic production by 10% in 5 years. Domestic supply – ‘precariously’ low There would have been some consolation if India did not have the resources to support the demand. But, despite the country having abundant resource and seven decades after independence, the domestic production of oil continues to languish at about 15-20% of the requirement. This is entirely due to lack of...
More No comments
Farm subsidies – India needs to rework strategy at WTO
In a hard hitting submission made to the WTO [World Trade Organization] Committee on Agriculture [CoA], the United States has castigated India for indulging in substantial under-reporting of its market price support [MPS] program for wheat and paddy farmers alleging that the sops given by the government far exceed the permissible limit. Under the Agreement on Agriculture [AoA], a developing member country cannot give aggregate measurement support [AMS] – WTO nomenclature for subsidies – in excess of 10% of the value of its agricultural production. The AMS includes ‘product-specific’ subsidies and ‘non-product specific’ viz. subsidies on agricultural inputs viz., fertilizers, seed, irrigation, electricity etc. The ‘product-specific’ subsidy is excess of minimum support price [MSP] paid to farmers over the external...
More No comments
Agriculture credit – small/marginal farmers face double whammy
A committee set up by the Modi – government to identify ways to double farmers’ income by 2022 has in its report [second volume] under caption “Status of Farmers’ Income: Strategies for Accelerated Growth” has stated “landless and marginal farmers depend more on the informal sources for credit for asset creation as compared to the medium and large-size landholders”. The committee goes on to state that “a higher percentage of investment is carried out through informal sources of borrowings such as moneylenders, traders and input dealers by the landless [40.6%], marginal [52.1%] and small farmers [30.8%].” On the other hand, the medium and large farmers avail most of the loans from financial institutions such as scheduled commercial banks [SCBs], state...
More No comments
Walmart’s backdoor entry in Indian retail
Walmart – the US$ 500 billion retail giant has acquired 77% stake in Flipkart – the leading Indian brand in e-commerce segment – with an investment of US$ 16 billion. The balance 23% will be with minority investors including Alphabet [a subsidiary of global internet giant Google] which will invest US$ 1.5 billion. Walmart is not new to the Indian market. It came to India initially in 2007 in the ‘wholesale cash and carry’ business viz. sale to wholesalers and other bulk buyers [including institutional agencies] under a joint venture [JV] arrangement with Bharti Retail. This was under the then FDI [foreign direct investment] policy which allowed foreign investor 51% stake in this business. In 2012, the then government under...
More No comments
Electrifying 40 million households – challenges ahead
In his address from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort on August 15, 2015, prime minister, N Modi had declared that his government will provide electricity to all the 18,000 villages [all located in inaccessible and the most difficult part of India] – that remained unconnected even 68 years after independence. Modi promised to complete this job within 1000 days. True to his commitment, the government accomplished the mission with the last of these villages in Leisang [Manipur] having got the electricity on April 28, 2018 nearly two weeks ahead of the target. A village is considered electrified if it has the basic electrical infrastructure and 10 percent of its households and public places including schools, local administrative offices...
More No comments
80 million jobs in 4 years – Modi has kept promise
As Modi – government completes four years of its term in this month, it is time to take stock of its performance particularly, on the jobs front which has been at the centre-stage of criticism by opposition parties all along and will be a major plank of campaigning in the run up to the next general elections in 2019. During his speeches in 2014, prime minister, Modi had promised job generation by a mammoth 20 million every year. The electorates especially, the unemployed youth were overwhelmed and accordingly gave him an absolute majority to run the country. Now, when we look back, there is a perception that he has not lived up to this promise; critics go that far to...
More No comments