-The Hindu Brisker Puja sales may not implicate a better economic climate in West Bengal There is added enthusiasm in the celebration of Kolkata’s Durga Puja after its inclusion as the 14th entry from India in UNESCO’s ‘Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ last December. But like most major festivals, Durga Puja is not just a cultural extravaganza; it is an economic lifeline for West Bengal. But do we have reasons...

-The Telegraph Sanjay Mohanty, professor of population health at International Institute of Population Sciences, says steady fall in total health spending in proportion to GDP is 'worrying' India’s per capita healthcare expenditure at constant prices has remained near-stagnant despite increases in government spending and decreases in household spending on healthcare over a six-year period, the latest national health accounts report has shown. India’s per capita total healthcare expenditure has changed little over that...

-The Telegraph The economy remains vulnerable to headwinds The shortfall in economic growth in the April-June quarter against rosier predictions of most, including the central bank, came as a surprise.Few anticipated the gap between expected and actual performance would be as much (2.5-3 percentage points). It has prompted a tide of downward revisions for the whole year; these follow a previous round, two months ago, due to inflation, higher interest rates, and...

There is euphoria abound about India's growth performance during the first quarter of the current fiscal. As compared to the corresponding period last year, the year-on-year (y-o-y) GDP growth in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022-23 is down. However, one should take into account the fact that the high growth performance of the real GDP in Q1 of 2021-22 was due to the low base in the corresponding period of...

-Hindustan Times Are the June 2022 GDP numbers good or bad? What do they mean for economic growth over the rest of the fiscal year? What is the current state of economic momentum in the Indian economy? What about the nature of economic recovery? The Indian economy grew at 13.5% on a year-on-year basis in the quarter ending June 2022. While the headline number looks good, and is the fastest rate since...