Bharat Rakshak

Various WSJ/Economist and other articles about the topic should be seen for what they are - western efforts to mould and influence policymaking in their favor.

I interpret it as the state crowding out the private sector from different areas of economic activity using a variety of means - green clearances, regulatory requirements, inspection raj and such.

The tendency of the state to use its discretion in economic matters has gotten worse of late, especially under UPA II with the red bogey gone.

Interesting perspective. With respective to POSCO itself though, I'd like to say the project has become more a talisman than anything now. Let's look at it numerically: at the time of initiation in 2005 it was a $12 billion project proposal in a ~$800B economy when investment/GDP was about 29-30%, i.e. the proposed figure was 5% of annual investment by the economy. Today it's a $12 billion proposal (in progress) in a $2T economy with ~32-33% investment/GDP, or ~1.8% of what's being invested annually. Yes, the whole saga is a political minefield, but in concrete terms, much is actually happening on the ground, regardless of the political statis of this administration. And yes, the problems begin with a leader who lacks sufficient standing or assertiveness within his administration.

correspondent flora ipol !

The fact that this revelation is made on the first of April indicates the authenticity of the report.

is analysis echoes the RBI governor’s oft-quoted remark that India’s sustainable or non-inflationary rate of growth is around 7% per annum, because of supply constraints. There’s little the RBI or indeed anybody can do in the short-term about these constraints, which can only be eased by policy reforms. In the circumstances, despite signs of a deceleration in growth, the RBI must continue to be cautious. While monetary easing is needed for growth, until supply-side pressures ease, inflation, like Banquo’s ghost, will continue to haunt the central bank.

According to a new proposal in Budget 2012-13, “The seller of bullion and jewellery shall collect tax at the rate of one per cent of sale consideration from every buyer of bullion and jewellery if the sale consideration exceeds Rs 2 lakh and the sale is in cash.”

Sigh, Yogi_G... Please read the author's name and work it out

this gov't has set us back by 2-3 years at least..

It is not exactly a relationship of equals. So measurably does India lag behind on virtually every indicator - except, notably, in the size of the software industry and the number of billionaires (India wins on both counts) - that the Indian minister for commerce, Jairam Ramesh, told an audience here Monday that Indians would do well to stop racing with the Chinese and start admiring.

"We are not in a race," he said at a seminar sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry. "They have already won the race."

Maybe I am pessimistic, but I think the damage is more or less permanent or very long lasting (10 years) at any rate.

A man who I always considered a Duffer, Jairam Ramesh, was in some respects right on the money with this (in 2006, when hope still sprung eternal).

Ney York Times

This was UPA 1 of course. They made the damage permanent in UPA 2.

Maybe I am pessimistic, but I think the damage is more or less permanent or very long lasting (10 years) at any rate.

A man who I always considered a Duffer, Jairam Ramesh, was in some respects right on the money with this (in 2006, when hope still sprung eternal).

The biggest policy messes made by UPA were the NREGA and OBC reservations in central instis besides fiscal profligacy.. today growth is down , savings is down , investment is down , infra is not being built as rapidly as it used to ..

Whether the damage is reversible or not cannot be predicted..

IIP was down even this month..

RBI said hat 7% is the maximum non inflationery growth that can be achieved due to policy constraints..


Regarding Jairam ramesh , besides being a fool , the guy is an known commie sympathiser . that might explain is adulation for Panda..

IMHO the race is far from over..it has yet to begin..

I too am concerned about upa regaining power..that would be an Armageddon..

New Delhi: India is likely to become the world's largest beef (buffalo meat) exporter by 2013 as there is consistent demand from price sensitive importers, primarily in Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa, USDA has said.Given India's explosive export growth, India is likely to become the world's largest beef (buffalo meat) exporter by 2013, if not sooner," United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its latest report.
Export growth is largely on account of consistent demand from price sensitive importers, primarily in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa. As a result, the number of export production units is increasing to meet growing export demand for low-cost Indian buffalo meat, it added.According to USDA, India's export of buffalo meat is estimated to rise by 25 per cent to 1.52 million tonnes in 2012 from 1.22 million tonnes in 2011.However, the dreaded Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in cattle could pose problems in the country's march towards the world's leading buffalo meat supplier, USDA said."While there are rumours of new market openings in Eastern Europe and Indonesia, no known trade has yet occurred in these regions and India's FMD status makes this seem unlikely," it added.Indian exporters are operating voluntary vaccination programs to combat FMD and the government of India has launched a Rs 4,000 crore programme to tackle the disease.

Pulled down by poor performance of manufacturing and consumer goods, industrial growth slipped to 4.1 percent in February prompting government to state that the "disappointing" numbers will have bearing on the Reserve Bank when it takes a call on the interest rates on April 17.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by 6.7 percent in February 2011.

Rising interest rates and poor domestic demand aggravated by global uncertainties hit the industrial investment, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.What is worse, the 6.8 percent industrial expansion in January has been drastically revised to 1.14 percent with Chief Statistician T C A Anant admitting "slippages" in data collection.

Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan said the government is setting up a committee to tighten sources of data gathering.

As per the IIP data released on Thursday, the growth in factory output for the cumulative April-February 2011-12 period more than halved to 3.5 percent from 8.1 percent from a year ago."These (IIP) figures will have bearing on monetary policy announcement scheduled for next week. The government along with RBI will take required steps to revive activity in the economy," Mukherjee said.

Key segments like manufacturing, consumer goods, consumer durables and intermediate items, are among the worst hit. In fact, consumer durables and intermediate goods slipped into negative zones.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also described the IIP figures as "very very disappointing".

Industry said decline in industrial growth is a "cause for concern" and urgent steps are needed to bring reforms back to the forefront.

On the revision of IIP figure for January 2012 from 6.8 percent to 1.14 percent, Mukherjee said, "this is disappointing ... the revival in manufacturing in the last quarter of 2011-12 has not materialised as anticipated."

The revised growth rate in January will also have a bearing on the industrial output for the 2011-12 fiscal.

After taking into account the revised figures, the April-February 2011-12 IIP works out to be 3.5 percent, down from 8.1 percent in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

"There have been some slippages on that (IIP) and so we are reiterating that to ensure that such type of error do not occur (in future) ... I have taken up the matter with principal ministries and waiting for their response how they will respond to it. We will see that everybody improves the time of reporting," Anant said.

Mukherjee attributed the slowdown to, "uncertainty in the global economy coupled with monetary tightening in the past have impacted investment recovery".

According to the data, output of the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index, rose by just 4 percent in February, compared to 7.5 percent in February 2011.

Consumer goods output has also shown a slowdown as the production declined by 0.2 percent percent in February, as compared to 13.4 percent in the same month last year.

Besides, the consumer durables segment output contracted 6.7 percent in February, as against robust 18.2 percent growth in the same month last year.

However, the capital goods sector witnessed a growth of 10.6 percent, as against a contraction of 5.7 percent in the same month last year.

Mining output too has shown some improvement at 2.1 percent in February, as against 1.2 percent growth in the year-ago month.

NEW DELHI--As India prepares to harvest a record grain crop for the second year in a row, fears are rising that its state granaries won't be able to handle the surplus and food that could feed the nation's hungry millions will go to waste.Food ministry officials say the government will add between 3 million tons and 4 million tons of storage capacity by May or June, just ahead of this year's wheat harvest, and a further 11 million tons by the end of next year. The combination of plentiful monsoon rains and high minimum purchase prices for wheat and rice means the country is forecasting an all-time-high grain production of 250.42 million tons in the crop year ending June 30.The government says it will have 75 million metric tons of grain stocks by June, but state-run warehouses have a capacity of no more than 63 million metric tons.
Food Minister K.V. Thomas, in an interview, said the government was taking steps to reduce stockpiles, including allowing traders last year to export wheat and rice surpluses and increasing food allocations for poor people.Even if the government meets targets to expand storage capacity by June, that would still leave around 8 million tons of grains out in the open -- vulnerable to weather and attacks by rodents. The government will likely also have to store 20 million tons in makeshift spaces, covered by water-proof sheets and resting on wooden platforms erected over bricks. Pre-monsoon showers already have damaged some of the newly-harvested wheat crop in the breadbasket state of Punjab in western India."Harvest of the wheat crop is not yet in full swing...We fear that the storage problem will only increase when government procurement picks up," said a senior agriculture official in the Punjab state government.

Illiteracy is costing Indian economy more than USD 53 billion a year, a report has estimated. According to the report titled 'Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy' by World Literacy Foundation, illiteracy costs India an estimated USD 53.56 billion. The losses to China are pegged higher at USD 135.60 billion. Russia at USD 28.48 billion and Brazil at USD 27.41 are placed at the third and fourth places respectively. Literates constituted 74 per cent of the total population in India aged seven and above, and illiterates form 26 per cent, as per the provisional data of the 2011 census. The report, which looks at the cost of illiteracy in emerging and developing countries, as well as the cost of functional illiteracy in the developed world, said that illiteracy costs the global economy more than USD 1.19 trillion a year. "800 million people across the world lack the basic reading and writing skills needed to accomplish simple tasks such as reading a medicine label or filling out a job application, costing the global economy more than USD 1.19 trillion a year," the report said. The report said illiterate people earn 30-42 per cent less than their literate counterparts. "We need to treat illiteracy as a disease that we are aiming to eradicate. We need to understand that early intervention can avert a lifetime of hardship, poverty and pain for a child, young person or adult who is struggling to read or write," World Literacy Trust CEO Andrew Kay said. "No matter whether you live in the developed or developing world, poor illiteracy is ruining lives and is linked with an array of poor life outcomes, such as poverty, unemployment, social exclusion, crime and long term illness," he added.