-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance Economic Outlook, Prospects and Policy Challenges Macroeconomic fundamentals in 2014-15 have dramatically improved. Highlights are: * Inflation has declined by over 6 percentage points since late 2013. * The current account deficit has declined from a peak of 6.7 percent of GDP (in Q3, 2012-13) to an estimated 1.0 percent in the coming fiscal year. * Foreign portfolio flows have stabilized the rupee, exerting downward pressure on long-term interest...

-Business Standard As on Dec 9, the Aadhaar Payment Bridge saw transactions crossing the 79.4 million mark across govt welfare programmes Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday said the number of Aadhaar numbers that have been linked to bank accounts had touched 100 million, enabling these individuals to digitally receive subsidies and benefits under government schemes. It said establishing a link between an Aadhaar number and a bank account makes it...

-Livemint The development economist on the Modi government's initiatives and his stand on them, and MGNREGS The Narendra Modi-led government should consider replacing inefficient subsidies with a basic monthly income for all citizens, says Pranab Bardhan , emeritus professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Bardhan, who recently sparred with economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya in a debate over the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: If you are economically well off, you may soon have to pay full market price for your cooking gas refills. "The next important decision India will have to take is whether people like me ... (are) entitled to get our LPG (liquefied cooking gas) subsidy," finance minister Arun Jaitley said here on Friday. "I think the sooner we are able to take these decisions as to who...

-The Hindu Business Line The Centre has adopted a pragmatic approach to cooking gas subsidies The reintroduction of the direct benefits transfer scheme for the supply of cooking gas, after its withdrawal in March this year, is a welcome signal that subsidy targeting is back on the policy agenda. Unlike its UPA avatar, cash transfers will now be based on LPG consumers providing their bank account numbers, rather than Aadhaar numbers, to...