-Livemint.com * Trying to project lower interest rates as a panacea for everything isn’t the right way to go about it. The central government just played an April Fool’s joke on a large section of India’s middle class, which invests in small savings schemes. Late Wednesday evening, the government announced a substantial cut in interest rates on small savings schemes for the three months to June. The interest rates on Senior Citizen Savings Scheme...

-The Hindu This is the first time that the Centre has scrapped the notified interest rates on small savings schemes after switching to a quarterly interest rate setting system in April 2016. Hours after notifying significant cuts in small savings instruments’ returns for this quarter, the government has backtracked on these sharp cuts. This is the first time that the Centre has scrapped the notified interest rates on small savings schemes after...

-The Indian Express/ PTI Farmers have been protesting seeking repeal of the three contentious farm laws on the borders of New Delhi for the last five months now. New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed committee to study the three new controversial agricultural laws has submitted its report to the apex court on March 19 in a sealed cover, one of its members said on Wednesday. Farmers have been protesting seeking repeal of the three...

-The Hindu The Bank expects public consumption to contribute positively, but pent-up private demand to fade by end of 2021 India’s economy is expected to grow at 10.1% for the year starting April 1, 2021, as the vaccine roll-out drives activity in contact-intensive sectors, as per the World Bank’s South Asia Economic Focus South Asia Vaccinates report. However, given the significant uncertainty around epidemiological and policy factors, real GDP growth could range...

-The Hindu/ PTI It is the steepest contraction in the last six months The output of eight core sectors declined by 4.6% in February, the steepest contraction in the last six months, which, experts said, could drag the overall industrial production in the month into the negative territory. All the key segments, including coal, crude oil, natural gas, and refinery products, witnessed a decline in production, according to the official data released on...