KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

-Press release by World Bank dated November 14, 2022 NEW DELHI: A new World Bank report estimates that India will need to invest $840 billion over the next 15 years—or an average of $55 billion per annum—into urban infrastructure if it is to effectively meet the needs of its fast-growing urban population. The report, titled “Financing India’s Urban Infrastructure Needs: Constraints to Commercial Financing and Prospects for Policy Action” underlines the...

-The Hindu Why did the Union Finance Minister urge industry giants to invest in manufacturing? Is private sector financing at an all-time low? Has government intervention to boost and spend aggressively on infrastructure come at an opportune time? The story so far: Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked captains of industry what was holding them back from investing in manufacturing. She likened industry to Lord Hanuman from the Ramayana by stating...

-Business Standard External storms are morphing into hurricanes. India is in a relatively better position than many other countries, but this period of heightened volatility will require agility and clarity on policy Despite recovering from the pandemic, repeated global shocks have presented numerous challenges for India’s economy this year, driving inflation and evoking balance of payments (BoP) pressures. These shocks will likely persist for much longer.  In the US, even amidst signs of...

-Financial Express SEA has stated that the ban on futures trade has deprived importers of hedging their price risks in rupee-denominated soya oil and crude palm oil futures on Indian exchanges. The Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India, a body of edible oil manufacturers, on Monday demanded lifting of ban on futures trade in soya oil and crude palm oil (CPO) on the commodity exchanges imposed on December, 2021, to ensure risk...