Best of BS Opinion: How govt should use RBI payout, G7's relevance and more

Advice on how the government should use the payout from the RBI; a look the G7 bloc's relevance; and a review of TRAI's latest proposals for the broadcasting industry. Pallav Nayak sums up the views.

The Finance Minister's stimulus measures and the RBI's decision to transfer about Rs 1.76 trillion to the government have spurred the markets. The danger, however, is that this excitement in the markets may lull the government into wrongly believing that all the economy’s woes are over, writes A K Bhattacharya. Read here.

Just as the Indian broadcasting industry was heaving a sigh of relief, regulator TRAI came up with fresh consultation paper on changing channel pricing and bouquet formation. Media regulators usually calculate the cost of regulating versus not regulating by doing impact analysis for any new recommendation. It is time TRAI follows the practice, writes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar. Read here.

The RBI has done what it can to please the finance ministry with its decision to transfer Rs 1.76 trillion to the government. The additional transfer would actually amount to about Rs 58,000 crore. Given the expected revenue shortfall this year, this unbudgeted receipt should be used to make up the deficit, says our first edit.

The G-7 meeting in Biarritz, France, made it clear than ever how stark the divisions within the global order have become. For the first time in decades, G-7 leaders broke up without a joint communique. The G-7 is not yet useless, but the problem is that it lacks institutional strength, says our second edit.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

 

"Congress should have consulted its finance minister and seniors before making these allegations regarding the RBI. Yet, they have become consummate in making such allegations of stealing and I do not want to pay much heed to this."
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her response to the Opposition party's allegations about the Central bank fund transfer.