-Ideas for India The share of bank credit extended to MSMEs increased dramatically during the pandemic. In this post, Harsh Vardhan discusses the the government guarantee of bank loans as a possible driver of this growth. He outlines the current policy of providing credit against collateral, and the constraints MSMEs face while borrowing– which leads to decreased investment and firm productivity. He argues that the learnings from the credit guarantee scheme...
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Through a rosy lens -Anup Sinha
-The Telegraph The airbrushing of the Indian economy is damaging The latest Monthly Economic Review from the ministry of finance gives the reader a great deal of comfort by indicating that all is well with the Indian economy. If there is any cause for concern at all, it is from external economic and political shocks: events like the Federal Reserve in the United States of America raising interest rates, or Russia invading...
More »World Bank cuts India’s GDP forecast to 6.5%, but there's some positive news too -Harshit Sabarwal
-Hindustan Times In its South Asia Economic Focus report released on Thursday, the World Bank said, “The spillovers from the Russia-Ukraine war and global monetary policy tightening will continue to weigh on India’s economic outlook.” The World Bank on Thursday downgraded India's GDP or gross domestic product to 6.5% for the fiscal year 2022-23 from an earlier estimate of 7.5%. In the previous year, the Indian economy grew by 8.7%. In its South...
More »Understanding the Durga Puja economy -Atanu Biswas
-The Hindu Brisker Puja sales may not implicate a better economic climate in West Bengal There is added enthusiasm in the celebration of Kolkata’s Durga Puja after its inclusion as the 14th entry from India in UNESCO’s ‘Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ last December. But like most major festivals, Durga Puja is not just a cultural extravaganza; it is an economic lifeline for West Bengal. But do we have reasons...
More »Weighty Issue: Editorial on how obesity impacts India's GDP
-The Telegraph An important cause of this new epidemic is the aggressive marketing and the rising consumption of ultra-processed foods — usually high in salt, sugar and bad fats A report published in BMJ Global Health has revealed that obesity and other conditions related to weight are costing India around 1 per cent of its gross domestic product annually. Overweight and obesity make up the most common lifestyle ailment in India and...
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