Page 22 - India Economy

RBI bought net $3.47 billion in spot foreign exchange market in July

The RBI said it purchased $5.32 billion and sold $1.84 billion in July. In June, the central bank had bought a net of $4.50 billion in the spot market

India has lower deceased organ donation rate than peers, shows data

Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka top deceased organ donor transplantations

Facing economic slowdown, PM not worried about unemployment: Youth Congress

The country is facing an economic slowdown but the prime minister is "not worried about employment for the youth", the Indian Youth Congress alleged on Sunday. Srinivas BV, the organisation's national president who led a protest at the Indian Youth Congress' office in central Delhi, said, "We mark this day -- September 17 -- as 'national unemployment day.' Scores of youngsters are unemployed across the country and yet the Centre and the prime minister refuse to acknowledge the problem." September 17 is the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turned 73 this year. Srinivas further alleged that crores of people applied for central government jobs in the past nine years and "yet, a large number of youngsters are unemployed". "Every sixth graduate of the country is unemployed, 22 crore people applied for central government jobs in nine years. We appeal to Prime Minister Modi to pay some attention to the unemployed youngsters of the country and take some concrete steps for thei

PM Vishwakarma Yojana to benefit 3 million families: Ashwini Vaishnav

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the very important 'PM Vishwakarma' scheme...Around 30 lakh families in the country will be benefitted from this scheme," Vaishnav said in Bhubaneshwar

China's economic slowdown continues, real estate at persistent risk

The US-based news daily reported that the construction sites around China appear visibly less busy and construction of apartment towers has faltered because of falling apartment prices

Weekend Bites: FM's wish, 15 yrs since Lehman fell, Taper Tantrum, Apple

In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views

India's forex reserves decline to 11-week low of $593.90 billion: RBI

The changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the RBI's reserves

We see signs of buoyancy in the economy, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Inflation a permanent challenge; won't sit back, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Govt further cuts stock limit on wheat traders, retailers amid price rise

The government on Thursday further reduced the stock limit on wheat traders, wholesalers and big chain retailers to 2,000 tonnes from 3,000 tonnes with immediate effect amid uptick in prices. Announcing the decision, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said: "Keeping in view of recent uptick in the prices, we have had a review of the stock limits and effective today the stock limit on traders, wholesalers and big chain retailers stand reduced to 2000 tonne." Three months back on June 12, the government had imposed a stock limit of 3,000 tonnes on these wheat players till March 2024. The stock limit has been reduced to 2,000 tonnes as the government found there is an "an uptick in the wheat prices on the NCDEX by 4 per cent to Rs 2,550 per quintal in the past one month." "Although there is adequate availability of wheat in the country, I think there are some elements which are trying to create some artificial scarcity," Chopra told reporters.

Corporate tax collections seen in line with budget estimates: Ajay Seth

Corporate tax collections between April and July fell 10% to 1.76 trillion Indian rupees ($21.20 billion) from a year earlier, government data showed

JCI expected to procure at least 50% more raw fibre in the FY'24: Offical

The Jute Corporation of India (JCI) is expected to procure at least 50 per cent more raw fibre in the current jute year (2023-24) than the previous year, in the wake of a bumper season of the crop, a senior official said on Wednesday. The JCI is mandated by the government to carry out Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations for raw jute from farmers. This year, the average MSP price is Rs 5,050 per quintal. "In the current jute crop year of 2023-24, which began on July 1, raw jute procurement is very high. As of mid-September, we have already procured 2.30 lakh quintals. We expect the operation to run for the entire year and the total procurement to be over 50 per cent, or 6-7 lakh quintals over the previous year," JCI General Manager K Mazumdar told PTI. In the last fiscal jute season, the JCI procured a record 4.34 lakh quintals of jute. "This year is a bumper jute crop and production is expected to be 91 lakh bales," Mazumdar said. He said that 110 direct JCI procurement centres

CEA rejects 'statistical discrepancy' criticism on Q1 growth numbers

Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has rejected criticism of 'statistical discrepancy' in the first quarter GDP data, saying when the same statistical authority reported the severest contraction in the first quarter of 2020, the naysayers had called it credible as it suited their narrative. "In Q1 of 2023-24, the discrepancy of 2.8 per cent has a plus sign. This indicates that the expenditure side has explained only 97.2 per cent of the income side. It does not mean that the 2.8 per cent that has yet to be explained does not exist," Nageswaran said in an op-ed article. "It exists and lends itself to being explained in subsequent quarters. Similarly, the preceding eight quarters have shown negative discrepancies. It means that the expenditure side has been over-explained and needs to be reconciled," the article co-authored by senior government economist Rajiv Mishra said. Over a long period, the negatives and positives offset each other, it said, adding that between 1Q FY12

India's forex reserves jump by $4.03 billion to $598.89 billion: RBI data

India's forex reserves jumped by USD 4.039 billion to USD 598.897 billion for the week ended September 1, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by USD 30 million to USD 594.858 billion. It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year. For the week ended September 1, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by USD 3.442 billion to USD 530.691 billion, according to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves were up by USD 584 million to USD 44.939 billion, the RBI ..

$1.8 bn worth assets recovered from economic offenders: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that assets worth more than USD 1.8 billion have been recovered from economic offenders and fugitives in the last about four years. Addressing an event at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters here, he said there has been a quantum jump in extradition of criminals and fugitives in recent years, especially after India hosted the 90th Interpol General Assembly in October 2022. Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said 19 criminals/fugitives have returned to India this year so far, whereas previously, on an average around 10 of them have returned to India every year. The figure stood at 27 in 2022 and 18 in 2021. "Over 1.8 billion US dollar worth of assets have been recovered from economic offenders and fugitives in the last about four years, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought in the Economic Offenders Act, while the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has helped in attaching the assets of offenders .

Services PMI slows down in Aug as sales wane off despite record exports

Optimistic outlook of companies bodes well for growth prospects, says S&P Global survey

RBI committed to bring down inflation to 4%: Governor Shaktikanta Das

The central bank has been mandated by the government to keep inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side

Inflation to remain elevated in near-term, govt policies to prevent it: S&P

In July, the consumer price index based retail inflation spiked to 15-month high of 7.44 per cent in July, with specific food commodities mainly driving the increase

India will have no place for corruption, casteism, communalism: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in exclusive interview to PTI: Many positive impacts from India's G20 Presidency, some "very close to my heart".

G20 Presidency helping India deepen trade ties with member nations: Experts

The G20 Presidency with India is helping New Delhi to strengthen trade ties with member nations and provides an opportunity to attract investments from those countries in sectors like infrastructure, experts say. They said that the G20 (Group of 20) holds a strategic role in securing future global economic growth and prosperity, as its members represent about 85 per cent of the global GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 75 per cent of global trade and two-thirds of the world's population. Presiding over this multilateral forum is an opportunity for India as it can showcase its strength and achievements for attracting investment and deepen its trade relation with these large economies, the experts added. Fast-tracking negotiations for free trade agreement, ease of doing business, development of modern infrastructure, skilled manpower, large population with growing income are some of the positives which help India to enhance trade realisations with these member countries. The G20 has 43 ..

GST collection grows 11% YoY to around Rs 1.6 trillion in August: Govt

The GST revenues for August 2023 have shown a growth of 11 per cent year on year due to increased compliance and less evasion, Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday. The collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST) was Rs 1,43,612 crore in August 2022. "Roughly numbers are in the range of 11 per cent year on year growth as in earlier months," Malhotra told reporters. A 11 per cent growth roughly translates to around Rs 1.60 lakh crore. He was replying to a question on the expected GST revenue numbers for August, the data for which will be released later on Friday. Malhotra said GDP growth was 7.8 per cent in June quarter and nominally it has grown 8 per cent. "GST revenues during June quarter grew by more than 11 per cent. This translates into a tax:GDP ratio of more than 1.3," Malhotra said. Malhotra said GST collections have grown by more than nominal GDP and this is despite no increase in tax rates. This is because of better compliance and improved tax collection .