How China’s economic pain will help US Fed rate cuts
Asia’s largest economy, not long ago considered a contender to supplant the US, is having a rough patch. Growth has struggled after the pandemic, foreign investment is waning, and real estate companies are failing. But the most pernicious development has been deflation. It will help drive inflation down around the world
India’s farmers need a better deal
One option is that when the harvest is sold to private parties below the MSP, the state would have a legal duty to pay the farmer the difference as cash, directly into their bank accounts. In case traders band together to underpay farmers who would bargain less because New Delhi would pick up a part of the tab, farm producers’ organisations acting as buyers of last resort could check the collusion problem
Bangladesh: New US and China plays pose fresh headache for India
India has more than enough clout in present-day Bangladesh to go it alone. So the US attempt to rebuild bridges with Sheikh Hasina could reduce her dependence on India. The US is evidently concerned about the strides that China is making in Bangladesh. Now is the time for India to play the aces up its sleeve and show both countries that is the resident power in the region
The Eastern Window | PM’s unique outreach to the Muslim world: Is the tide turning?
Strapline: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to UAE and Qatar was a game-changing development because they took extraordinary steps to prove their friendship towards India. The inauguration of a temple in Abu Dhabi and the release of Navy veterans in Qatar are significant moves. India is now rivalling China for influence in the Middle East at a time when the region is undergoing major changes
Much ado about Sora
The text-to-video generator by OpenAI is just a distraction from the really important issues that need attention, such as the thousands of cases that are now being fought in the US and the EU over the fact that GenerativeAI companies had trained all their wonderful models on content created by media organisations and independent artists and writers without taking any permission or paying them
Why Western sanctions on Russia proved ineffective
Sanctions typically result in trade diversion to third parties, who are not directly involved in the conflict. This occurs as both the sanctioned and sanctioning countries actively seek alternative markets amidst disrupted trade channels
Chart of the Day | Inflation-adjusted corporate sales growth in good health
Overall inflation-adjusted sales growth for the non-financial listed corporate sector during the December 2023 quarter has been higher than in the year ago quarter
Will the farmers' protests affect the BJP's prospects in the Hindi heartland?
The three specific reasons why the BJP is more confident this time are: the Ram mandir effect; Jat leader Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) joining hands with the saffron party; and the conferring of Bharat Ratna to Charan Singh, the late Jat patriarch of Western Uttar Pradesh
Farmers’ protests: What do the economic data say?
There is no alternative to moving people out of farming into more productive occupations
Talks in harmony can resolve farm issues, violent protests are for electoral gains
Sanghnomics: Bharatiya Kisan Sangh believes that organisations fighting in the interest of farmers should find solutions to the problems of the farmers with harmony. The farmer has the right to get remunerative price on the basis of cost and he must get it. But BKS is worried that the so-called farm leaders with political intentions who produce chaotic consequences are arousing negative feelings against farmers
Karnataka budget's puzzling question: Why has the govt cut capex by nearly 28 percent?
Big jump in non-scheme-based expenditure. Set to grow to 61 percent of the state’s total revenue receipts in 2024-25, up from 56 percent in 2023-24 and further higher than 48 percent in 2022-23. This is a red flag that would prompt fiscal purists to stand up and take notice
For battered Europe IPOs, two years in the stock market is a lifetime
The macroeconomic environment may be exacerbating poor performance of IPOs — higher interest rates tend to hurt risk appetite — but so are structural issues like skimpy analyst coverage of small companies and weak retail participation in Europe’s stock markets. Many companies are likely to leave the stock market, and their new owners may simply wait a few years before taking them public again — in the US
Sandeshkhali and the emerging political narrative in Bengal
BJP has seized on a potentially gamechanging line of attack against the ruling TMC by homing in on alleged atrocities committed by a local TMC functionary. Against BJP’s charge of lawlessness, minority appeasement and violence against women, TMC will lie low for the moment and later up the ante by playing the victim card against central agencies while also attempting to consolidate minorities
Moneycontrol Pro Panorama | Keeping finance clean
In today's edition of Moneycontrol Pro Panorama: Indian stock markets succumb to US data, creation of quality jobs must be incentivised, bank woes could be short-lived, sharp drop in crypto trading in Indian exchanges, and more
UK Recession: Stagnating economy is crying out for rate cuts
The message from this week’s economic data is pretty gloomy. GDP shrank by 0.3% in the final three months of last year, after a 0.1% contraction in the previous quarter. For all of 2023, the economy grew just 0.1%; more worrying is 1% compression in the private sector in the final nine months of last year
Europe may now be Ukraine’s only hope. That’s scary
The rate at which Russian cruise and ballistic missiles are striking Ukrainian cities has risen to 50% from about 10% as air defense missiles supplies run low. On the front lines, now that Russia is on the offensive again it needs about three times the force of Ukraine to break through
Odisha: Cosy BJD-BJP ties come into focus ahead of simultaneous Lok Sabha-assembly elections
While BJD facilitating a Rajya Sabha win for Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw can be explained away by the state ruling party as a way of taking care of Odisha’s interests, it is getting harder for BJD and BJP to dispel perceptions of an informal alliance. BJP’s Mission 400 and Naveen Patnaik’s desire for unfettered power in Odisha are coalescing seamlessly as the polls near with Congress in no position to seize the opposition space
Why we need to incentivise the creation of quality jobs
While our unemployment rates are low, these numbers hide a multiplicity of types of employment, most of which are not considered desirable. People opt for them because the alternative is doing nothing at all
Did Infosys lose from Murthy’s insistence on keeping family away from the business?
This isn’t the first time the 77-year-old doyen of the Indian IT industry has referred to the issue of keeping family members of the founders away from the company, a rule that he, along with the others, was instrumental in instituting at the company
Blue Card: Football should crack down on abuse of referees
While the proposed 'blue card' after the familiar yellow and red card may create complications, the brow-beating of referees, especially by players during games but also by managers afterward, is a disfiguring feature of modern professional soccer
Could recessions actually help save lives?
A new research paper by professors from top US universities notes that age-adjusted mortality in the US fell by 2.3% during the Great Recession They suggest that mortality rates rise in good times and fall in hard times. The hypothesis for such findings leads to a recession causing massive job losses that in turn leads to lesser air pollution, people having more time to exercise, and less money to spend on alcohol and drugs
How does stubborn inflation in US affect Indian stock markets?
FIIs have turned skittish, volatility has increased, which means the near term looks uncertain. Has the long term outlook changed too?
BJP's opponents have benefited from electoral bonds as well
In the long term the country needs a transparent and effective channel by which political parties can collect funds to contest elections
Chart of the Day: Banks’ margin woes could be short-lived
The main reason for margin compression was the catching up of deposit rates with lending rates for most banks. Bankers have indicated that margins could compress for one more quarter
Electoral Bond Judgment: Supreme Court promotes increased democratic participation
The judgment is important for two reasons. First, it is rooted in the reality of politics and money, and second, it furthers the citizen’s right to information for a meaningful participation in a democracy. SC also discussed viable alternatives like Electoral Trusts. However, the Court’s job ends with suggestions as creating policy is within the domain of the Executive
