-The Telegraph Hands-off RBI cuts forecast The Reserve Bank of India’s policymakers shocked economists, industry and the Street by deciding to hit the pause button on interest rate cuts after five downward revisions this year. The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the central bank also slashed its growth forecast for this financial year to 5 per cent from 6.1 per cent at the October meeting. The decision to retain the policy rate —...

-Business Standard The government has made an enabling provision in the code to provide insurance cover, under the ESI schemes, to gig, platform and plantation workers Workers employed in the gig economy may soon be eligible for insurance benefits provided by the state-run Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). The move is a part of the Social SECurity Code Bill, 2019 approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. The Code has also proposed...

-The Hindu The slowdown is an outcome of supply-side constraints, says the economist The official GDP growth estimate for the July-September quarter, at 4.5%, is the lowest in 26 quarters. Rathin Roy, Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, and former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, discusses the causes of the economy’s troubles and suggests possible remedies. Edited excerpts: * The Finance Minister says the economy is...

-The Hindu The slowdown is an outcome of supply-side constraints, says the economist The official GDP growth estimate for the July-September quarter, at 4.5%, is the lowest in 26 quarters. Rathin Roy, Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, and former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, discusses the causes of the economy’s troubles and suggests possible remedies. Edited excerpts: * The Finance Minister says the economy is...

-Financial Express A study by ICRIER researchers Ashok Gulati and Pritha Banerjee shows how problematic the fertiliser policy is—for farmers, industry, the environment and the government. India’s experience with fertilisers, in the later part of the Green Revolution, prompted it to adopt a policy of subsidising fertilisers. In 1977, the country had a total NPK (nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic) fertiliser consumption of 4.3 million metric tonnes (mmt) and per hectare usage...