-The Telegraph The Indian economy is in a quagmire Data released by the National Statistical Office, which show the gross domestic product for the second quarter (July-September) of 2020-21 declining by “only” 7.5 per cent compared to the second quarter of the previous year, have been hailed in official circles as “good news”; on the contrary, they show the economy being stuck in a quagmire. The first point to note is that while...

-The Hindu The government’s economic recovery hype is off track and this is not a time for fiscal conservatism Preliminary evidence that India’s economy contracted by 7.5% in the second quarter of financial year 2020-21 was, as news, both good and bad. Good because that figure is far lower than the 23.9% contraction registered in the first quarter of this financial year. Bad because a 7.5% second quarter contraction is high both...

-The Hindu Slashing public expenditure amid a recession is a recipe for serious economic disaster The National Statistical Office (NSO) recently announced estimates of economic activity in the second quarter of the current financial year. As most of the first quarter coincided with the lockdown announced by the Central government, it would only have been expected that output would be depressed as production could not have taken place. And this is what...

-Newsclick.in The statistics are dubious because there is a substantial increase in GDP under the head “discrepancies”, which is synonymous with errors and omissions. It is ironic that government spokespersons should exhibit so much euphoria over the second quarter (July-September) gross domestic product (GDP) estimate, which shows a drop “only” of 7.5% compared with the second quarter 2019-20. The expectation had been that the drop would be larger, about 8 to 9%;...

-Livemint.com The economy is recuperating faster than anticipated, the RBI chief said The Reserve Bank expects GDP to contract 7.5% this fiscal, said central bank chief Shaktikanta Das while announcing monetary policy committee decision to keep interest rate unchanged. This is an upgrade from the central bank's earlier forecast of 9.5% contraction in its October review. The economy is recuperating faster than anticipated, the RBI chief said, adding that the recovery in...