-TheWire.in Instead of giving freebies to the affluent, Sitharaman should have announced additional government spending in MNREGA and plans for filling vacancies in government jobs. After holding out for seven weeks, following her maiden budget, Nirmala Sitharaman finally blinked. For about a month now, pink papers and business-friendly pundits had been crying foul about India Inc’s shrinking sales. But, since you can’t sell a sob story about the rich, it was spun to...

In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...

-The Indian Express There is an emerging consensus among FMCG majors that, like their automobile counterparts, the impact of the slump is more evident in rural India and that, in geographical terms, the north is the worst hit. New Delhi: The impact of the deepening consumption slowdown is being felt beyond discretionary purchases such as vehicles and durables with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies manufacturing small-ticket items such as soaps, biscuits...

-Hindustan Times Unfortunately, there is no high frequency income or consumption data for the Indian economy. What we do have is monthly data for rural wages, which is available until June 2019. On Wednesday, media reports said that India’s leading biscuit-maker Parle Products Private Limited could cut up to 10,000 jobs as “slowing economic growth and falling demand in the rural heartland could cause production cuts”. The company’s flagship brand Parle-G...

-The New Indian Express The industry has warned that this trend may continue if no stimulus is given to boost rural demand. Delayed monsoon, weak Rural Economy, tightened liquidity scenario, and the vicious cycle of droughts and floods have dragged down the demand for tractors, which is already witnessing slowdown since the start of this fiscal. The industry has warned that this trend may continue if no stimulus is given to boost...