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The overall debt of the household sector reached 45.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) due to an uptick in non-housing retail loans, according to the RBI's latest Financial Stability Report (FSR). The Reserve Bank of India said the increase in household sector debt was due to rising non-housing retail loans, which constituted 58.4 per cent of total borrowings as of March 2026. Their share has increased steadily over time, consistently outpacing housing loans, agriculture and business loans. Overall, despite the rise in household borrowings, borrower profiles have continued to improve. The share of higher-rated borrowers (prime and above) has increased in terms of both outstanding amounts and the number of borrowers. This improvement is evident across both consumption and productive loans, with a growing share of prime and above borrowers in total outstanding credit, the report said. Household debt as a share of GDP has remained above its five-year average of 42
The United Nations has revised downward India's economic growth forecast for 2026 to 6.4 per cent from its earlier projection of 6.6 per cent, citing global uncertainties and economic shocks arising from the ongoing West Asia crisis. As per the report released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) on Tuesday, India, however, remains one of the fastest-growing major economies. West Asia crisis has delivered yet another shock to the global economy, slowing growth, reigniting inflationary pressures and heightening uncertainty, it said. Ingo Pitterle, Senior Economist and Officer-in-charge of Global Economic Monitoring Branch, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, UN DESA, said India is "not immune" to current global challenges. "It is a large energy importer and it is also exposed to other channels, for example, remittances, add to some vulnerability. Also, a global financial tightening will make monetary policy more complicated," he added. Pitterle pointed o
The Japanese economy grew at an annualised rate of 2.1% in the January-March quarter, the government said Tuesday, showing its resilience despite rising energy prices because of the war in Iran. Japan's real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum value of a nation's goods and services, grew at a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from the previous quarter. It was the second straight quarter of growth. The annualised number shows what the growth, or contraction, would have been if the quarterly rate continued for a year. Increased spending by consumers and businesses helped contribute to the stronger than expected results. Higher government spending also supported the expansion. Private consumption rose 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, or at an annualised rate of 1.1%, according to the preliminary data from the Cabinet Office. Public demand rose 0.3% from the previous quarter. Japan's economy contracted in July-September last year, then eked out moderate growth in October-December of 0.2% on-quarter
India's current account deficit is set to widen to 2.3 per cent of GDP in FY27 from 0.9 per cent in FY26, a foreign brokerage said on Monday. The balance of payments (BoP) deficit is estimated to widen to USD 65 billion in the current fiscal from the last fiscal year's USD 35 billion, it said. HSBC said it has assumed crude prices to average USD 95 a barrel, and combined it with sensitivities in oil, gold, core goods, services trade and remittances to arrive at a current account deficit of 2.3 per cent of GDP in FY27 as against 0.9 per cent in FY26. The BoP forecast has been made after growing through trends in portfolio inflows, FDI flows, and external commercial borrowing (ECBs), it said. The report also looked at forex reserves and opined that the nearly USD 700 billion kitty seems sufficient from the traditional perspective, but suggested the need to look at it from a dynamic perspective, better for the current times of heightened risks amid recurring global shocks. "Using a .