-Newsclick.in Unemployment has inched up to over 9% as the year ends and the so-called economic recovery is a mirage. For Indians, 2020 will go down in history as the worst year for livelihoods and incomes. Unemployment levels rose to record highs, incomes plummeted to record lows and such was the scale of deprivation that thousands of families teetered on the brink of starvation. Tragically, this was not just the pandemic. It...

-The Hindu After India’s economy collapsed in the first quarter of 2020-21 following the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, some economic indicators from September and October, from power consumption to GST Collections, suggest that things are improving. But is this a sustainable recovery under way, or just an expression of pent-up demand combined with India’s festive-season spending? In a conversation moderated by Vikas Dhoot, Naushad Forbes and M....

-The Hindu Business Line Many high-frequency economic indicators are looking good, but must sustain beyond the unlock period, too There has been a sudden surge of optimism in the economy with various high-frequency indicators — PMI numbers, auto production/dispatches, e-way bills generated, GST Collections, etc. — showing positive tendencies. So, should we be celebrating? The answer is, yes and no. Yes, because there is something good happening in the economy and hence bodes...

-The Hindu ‘Centre should borrow loan and pay dues instead of asking States to do so citing fall in collections’ Hyderabad: Six State governments, including Telangana, on Monday bounced back the Centre’s offer made to them to borrow loan and meet their GST compensation in view of shortfall in collections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At a video conference of Finance Ministers, Telangana apart, West Bengal, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Punjab governments, arrived...

-The Indian Express The economic slowdown, which has been underway for almost three years now, began to adversely impact GST revenue collections in August last year. While the Centre Thursday chose to pin much of the blame for the delays on GST compensation payments to the slowdown inflicted by the pandemic, the delays preceded the Covid-19 shock by almost a year – when payments due for August-September 2019 got delayed. Since then,...