-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 Hindu Stimulus measure to link pay to consumer price index with annual revision. Staring at a slump in rural demand and a slowdown in the rural economy, the Centre plans to inject more money into the UPA’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme by linking wages under the Act to an updated inflation index, which will be revised annually. It hopes this will increase wages, thus increasing...

-The Hindu Business Line Low food inflation and high services inflation in rural India is doing more bad than good for the rural population CPI Inflation in August came in at benign 3.21 per cent, although it recorded a marginal uptick from July. A deeper look at the numbers brings out the widening disparity between the urban and rural inflation. Rural inflation in August was almost half of urban retail inflation. With...

-Newsclick.in Data confirms an acute demand crisis in rural India and beyond. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest statement on millennials contributing to the auto industry slowdown by shifting their preferences—choosing Ola or Uber ride-booking services instead of buying cars—is feeding many a meme on social media. Even before her statement, sections of industry and the banking sector had been pushing this argument. Not just private banking giants, such as Uday Kotak, but even...

-The Hindu Industry is pinning hopes on steps by government on scrappage policy for vehicles and GST rate cut to spur tyre demand While the replacement cycle till now has helped the tyre industry to mitigate the impact of the severe demand slowdown in the automobile sector, the segment — which accounts for about 50% of the tyre market — has started to fill the pinch. While the sector is somewhat hopeful of...