Best of BS Opinion: Stagnating exports, tightening lending standards

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) lowered its forecast for India's economic growth in the current financial year to 5.1 per cent. ADB, in its report,  noted that “foundering of a major non-banking financial company in 2018 led to a rise in risk aversion in the financial sector and a credit crunch.”

Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day, among other things, focus on what can be done to revive economic growth.  

There is a great deal of debate in the media and other fora on how to revive the main components of aggregate demand such as consumption and investment, and whether the parlous fiscal situation permits further pumping up of  government spending. Astonishingly, there is little discussion on the missing component, exports, writes former chief economic adviser Shankar Acharya 

The NBFC retrenchment is understandable, given asset quality issues still plaguing their balance sheets and consequent rationing out of credit markets. Bank diffidence is the surprise. The sheer lack of transmission suggests an increasingly risk-averse banking system sharply tightening lending standards, writes chief India economist at J.P. Morgan Sajjid Chinoy

Regarding the Personal Data Protection Bill, our lead editorial notes: It is a pity that India’s first privacy legislation has so many holes. It is also ironical that an attempt is being made to pass this Bill with the minimum transparency. Click here to read

The rape and harassment culture rampant in Indian households remains an unacknowledged truth that permeates societal attitudes and feeds into a stultifying indifference towards crimes against women, writes Kanika Datta

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“Every political party has a right to have its own manifesto. But the manifesto of any political party cannot be above the Constitution of this country.”

Congress leader Anand Sharma