Best of BS Opinion: Some stability returns, view from the edge & more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Friday

The Reserve Bank of India released its Financial Stability Report, which analyses the macro-financial risks facing the Indian economy, on Thursday. The RBI’s opinion on financial risks, particularly to the banking sector, is important at a time in which the Indian and global economy is still suffering through the effects of Covid-19. Some sectors were brought to a standstill and the pandemic had a very uneven effect across industries and geographies. In this context, the FSR has some relatively good headline news. In particular, the RBI’s stress tests suggest that the health of the banking sector might in fact be better than was earlier expected. This is thus a clear indication that the banking sector, at least, is less of a concern today— in spite of the end of the moratorium in March 2021— than at the beginning of the year, says our lead editorial

Governments are entitled to a “peace dividend” when they manage to end conflict. They can reduce defence spending and divert savings to politically rewarding heads such as education, healthcare and subsidies to voters. New Delhi, however, has tried to reap a peace dividend even in troubled times, writes Ajai Shukla

The Union government is so fiscally ineffective that it can only spend an incremental 0.4 per cent of GDP on healthcare in a pandemic, against a global average of 1.2 per cent, writes Rathin Roy

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“The enhanced [GST] revenue collection in recent months should now be the new normal.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman