-PTI/ The Hindu In 2020, fiscal policy also contributed to mitigate falling economic activity and employment. India’s debt to GDP ratio increased from 74% to 90% during the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund has said, noting that it expects this to drop down to 80% as a result of the country’s economic recovery. Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director, IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department told reporters at a news conference here on Wednesday, “In the...

-The Hindu In the post-pandemic world, addressing inequality is key to sustaining growth and well-being COVID-19 in the last one year has once again reminded us of the growing inequalities in India. A recent Pew Research Report shows that India’s middle class may have shrunk by a third due to the novel coronavirus pandemic while the number of poor people earning less than ₹150 per day more than doubled. The Pew report...

-The Indian Express The anti-incumbency Banerjee faces is as much about local-level corruption and competing ideologies as it is about stalled industrialisation, weak credit growth, a near-freeze in new jobs, low infrastructure development and agriculture spend. AS West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fights perhaps her most significant electoral battle, framing her contest is not just BJP vs Trinamool politics — but the state’s economics as well. The anti-incumbency Banerjee faces is as...

-The Hindu The Bank expects public consumption to contribute positively, but pent-up private demand to fade by end of 2021 India’s economy is expected to grow at 10.1% for the year starting April 1, 2021, as the vaccine roll-out drives activity in contact-intensive sectors, as per the World Bank’s South Asia Economic Focus South Asia Vaccinates report. However, given the significant uncertainty around epidemiological and policy factors, real GDP growth could range...

-The Indian Express The current model of economic growth prioritises capital over labour and is unlikely to resolve the unemployment crisis. COVID-19 infections are once again on the rise with daily infections crossing 60,000 per day last week. This is considerably higher compared to the reported infections during the same period last year when the numbers were less than 500 per day. What is obvious is that the pandemic is far from...