-The Hindu If India does not make effective use of the strengths of its youth now, it may never do Amartya Sen had once quipped that India’s unemployment figures were low enough to put many developed countries to shame. Professor Sen was, of course, not commending the country’s record in employment creation, but instead, highlighting the difficulties involved in measuring employment and unemployment in a developing country. Unemployment has been at the centre...

-The Indian Express The August numbers mark the first contraction in core infrastructure output since April 2019, pointing to the continuing weakness in demand conditions. New Delhi: The growth of eight infrastructure sectors contracted 0.5 per cent in August following broad-based deterioration in output across as many as five sectors, including cement and electricity. But for a turnaround in refinery products — the largest constituent of the core sector — and...

-The Indian Express Why tax sops are not enough? What can policy makers do? The story so far: A worryingly persistent slowdown dragged economic growth in India down to 5% in the fiscal first quarter, its weakest pace in more than six years. And while the recent weeks have seen the possible reasons for the slowdown, as well as the government’s policy measures to ostensibly help revive the economy being put under...

-The Indian Express Farmers are paying about Rs 15,000 crore GST annually, on which they cannot claim input tax credit. Agriculture is a unique business that not only has high production as well as price risk, but also one where everything is bought retail and sold wholesale. This reality, moreover, extends even to Goods and Services Tax (GST): Farmers are the only businessmen today who cannot claim input tax credit (ITC) on...

-The Telegraph A low tax regime is not enough; investors need to see demonstrable action to ease the pangs of doing business in India A wave of euphoria has swept through industry and stock markets since the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced a sharp cut in corporate tax to an effective rate of 25.17 per cent. The effective tax rate will now go down sharply from a high of 34.94 per cent,...