TMS Ep272: India's external a/c, car purchase, markets, constitution bench

Russian war has finally started to cast a shadow over India’s balance of payment. Rising global commodity prices, especially that of crude oil, have widened India’s current account deficit to 2.8% of GDP in the first quarter -- highest in nearly four years. But RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das appears confident. He said on Friday that the foreign exchange reserves compared favourably with most peer economies. Das also said that India’s external debt to GDP ratio was the lowest among major emerging market economies.

Indian automobile industry seems to have shrugged off the pandemic blues with fancy models, especially SUVs. Notwithstanding the global uncertainty and lingering chip shortage, it has posted a healthy growth in the last few months. But wait. If you are planning to book your favourite model during the ongoing festival season, then think again. 
 

Moving on to markets, benchmarks ended nearly flat after a challenging first half of FY23. The Nifty50, and the BSE Sensex dipped around 2% during the first six months of the current financial year. But the indices may be eyeing greater volatility in the remaining part of this fiscal. We trace the outlines how the next six months of FY23 may shape up for equity markets amid tighter monetary policies.

Not just the stock movements, but you can also watch Supreme Court proceedings live now. Last week, the apex court started live-streaming proceedings of Constitution benches. But what exactly is a Constitution bench. This episode of the podcast tells more