-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 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 Indian Express If we truly want to ensure the livelihoods of our farmers and provide safe, healthy, nutritious food for our consumers, it is imperative to make policies that go beyond the productivity trope and populist posturing. Proponents of the three new farm laws have claimed that they will engender competition in agricultural markets and will give farmers a choice to sell wherever they like. The opponents of these laws, including...

-The Indian Express Post 2014, two centralisations — of political and economic power — continue to reinforce each other, with profound consequences for the country and potential to define popular narrative in days ahead. The return of single-party dominance and its implications for politics after nearly 25 years of minority/coalition governments at the Centre (December 1989-April 2014) has been widely commented upon. As have concerns over rising corporate market power and their...

-Livemint.com Such a recovery will be stress-tested in an economy with excess capacity. That is why wages matter The first estimates of economic growth in the September quarter indicate that India’s ongoing recovery has been better than expected. This is a good time to resurrect a question this column had raised in August: Will the economic recovery be led by profits or wages? The answer matters because it has implications for aggregate...