In each of the last three years – from 2020 through 2022 – Indian banks lent more money to retail customers purchasing homes than they did to farmers. In fiscal year (FY)2021-22 commercial banks gaveRs. 17.54 lakh crore worth of housing loans, while agriculture and allied activities got Rs. 15.16 lakh crore. That is nearly 14 percent less. In FY 2021 and FY 2020 – one of which saw a...

- Financial Express The Union Government will present its ninth and last full budget before national elections in early 2024. But none of the growth engines inspire optimism, Santosh Mehrotra writes in Financial Express.  Nearly 60 percent of India's GDP is accounted for by private onsumption expenditure. However, since demonetisation consumer expenditure has been tepid as job growth fell sharply. Per capita consumption in 2022-23 is just above the level of 2019-20.  Private...

-Scroll.in Increasing unemployment is a major cause for concern. Politicians constantly talk about India being a young country, since two-thirds of the population is under 35 years of age and half of it below 26. Some economists consider this an automatic boon for the economy, since there is a limitless number of workers who could contribute to India’s productive capacity. Finance and investment giant Morgan Stanley, in a report released in November, identified...

Editorial team, Carbon Copy  Ongoing shifts in rainfall and temperature caused by climate change are likely to increase the debt burden faced by rural households, particularly of marginalised groups in dry areas, an editorial in Carbon Copy magazine said. The piece cited a study in the journal Climate Change that argues that changes in climate, along with existing socio-economic differences - caste and landholding in particular — will deepen the size...

The World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2022, released in December 2022, provides its readers a plethora of useful statistics and data across the countries pertaining to agriculture and food security. The yearbook by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) primarily covers four themes -- Economic Dimensions of Agriculture; Production, Trade and Prices of Commodities; Food Security and Nutrition; and Sustainability and Environmental Aspects of Agriculture.  While going through the report,...