-Livemint.com In the last decade, the rural constituent has emerged an important factor for overall private final consumption, which forms more than half (55-60% range) of India’s demand side GDP An above-average monsoon is commonly expected to be a key demand driver in 2016-17. Gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts for the year incorporate a revival in rural consumption—a segment that suffered severe setback from two successive years of adverse rainfall. In...

-Livemint.com Though pulsations may eventually ease, it is time to think of long-term cures Pulses have been throbbing hard and loud in India for sometime now. And not only because of prices, but also the pace in which it accelerated to 30% annually last month, three times the rate of increase six months ago. Besides angry television anchors and electoral evocations, hoarding, raids and truck thefts have set hearts thumping too....

-Livemint.com In summary, it is hard to escape the macroeconomic consequences of an agriculture shock, notwithstanding fluctuation-smoothing strategies The monsoon forecast, close on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy review, has turned all eyes to the farm sector. If the actual out-turn matches the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) predictions — seasonal rainfall at 88% of the long-period average (LPA) for 2015 — it would be on...

-The Financial Express World Bank's latest data suggests realisation of millenium development goals may not be far off. Reduction of poverty and hence, how it is measured, has long been a contentious political economy issue in India. There is general discomfort every time the headcount ratio of the number of poor, based upon an accepted methodology recommended by an expert committee, declines; this then triggers a process to revisit known issues by...

-Live Mint The big question is whether commitment made by Chidambaram-to contain fiscal deficit at 4.8% of GDP-will be met With the current account deficit in check, the spotlight is now on the second major macroeconomic problem that needs to be fixed: the fiscal deficit. The big question is whether commitment made by finance minister P. Chidambaram in the budget-to contain the fiscal deficit at 4.8% of gross domestic product (GDP)-will be...