-Live Mint   In Gujarat public funds are committed to supporting private investment. This does not benefit the poor Amidst the clamour of India's colourful 2014 general election, a public debate of great import for India's future is underway. Leading political candidates debate which development model is best suited for a country of vast economic potential and embedded historical impoverishment. Most opinion polls rate Narendra Modi as the front-runner in the 2014 general election....

-Down to Earth Grand old party of India renews some old promises and makes some new ones, but will Congress live up to its promises if it wins a third term? The Indian National Congress (INC) presented its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Wedneday. The manifesto committee claimed the 48-page document was prepared after wide consultations by engaging millions of people, grassroots congress workers and every section of the...

A new report entitled Improving Access to Finance for Women-owned Businesses in India (2014), jointly produced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Government of Japan, underlines the importance of lending to women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)* in India (see the link below). It discusses the problem of accessing finance faced by women entrepreneurs despite them having stronger repayment track records vis-à-vis men (non-performing loans are 30 to...

-Economic and Political Weekly   It is debatable if the report of the Reserve Bank of India's committee on comprehensive fi nancial services - the Nachiket Mor Committee - offers practical solutions for extending banking services to the poorer sections of society and small businesses. The committee's recommendations are largely conceptual, and some of them could even have serious negative consequences. It is to be hoped that the RBI will examine all...

-AFP ILO says by 2018, about 215 million people worldwide are expected to be unemployed Geneva: Global unemployment climbed by five million people in 2013 to 202 million despite green shoots in the world economy, signalling a jobless recovery, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Monday. Business activity is picking up but the misery of unemployment continues to pile up. "We continue to be on an upward trajectory in terms of unemployment in...