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By Nantoo Banerjee

By Nantoo Banerjee The Supreme Court verdict, last week (July 27), upholding the validity of inquiry, arrest and bail provisions of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), could not have come at a more appropriate time when as many as 122 sitting and ex-legislators are facing money laundering cases […]

The post SC Verdict On PMLA And ED’s Power Comes At A Crucial Time first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee It is a matter of great concern that for the country’s millions of educated youth, degrees and certificates have become as useless as wastepapers as they fail to provide jobs and help brighten their future. Going by the official records, in the academic year of 2018 about 64.7 lakh students passed out […]

The post Rising Jobless Educated Youth Outpace India’s Economic Growth first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee The best way to stabilise the Indian Rupee is to contain inflation and imports. Simply put: the inflation rate should be below four percent and the country’s massive annual trade deficits need to be reduced to zero. The country should totally focus on making goods in India to reduce avoidable imports and […]

The post Internationalising Rupee Is Unlikely To Stabilise The Currency first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee The European Commission’s decision just ahead of last month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Germany to mobilise Euro 300 billion (US$340 billion) by 2027 to invest in public and private infrastructure around the world is most welcome though it came several years after a similar initiative by China. With US President Joe Biden […]

The post China’s Nine-Year Old BRI Finally Finds A Challenger first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee It is good to see that a host of large Indian business houses and public sector enterprises have rapidly stepped up imports from Russia taking full advantage of hefty price discounts offered by Russian suppliers on a host of goods in the face of multiple trade sanctions from the NATO countries, European […]

The post Top Indian Business Houses, PSUs Push Up Imports From Russia first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee It is a matter of concern that India, sitting over the world’s fifth largest proven coal reserves of well over 111 billion tonnes, produces only around 800 million tonnes of coal per annum and continues to be a major global coal importer year after year. China, ranked 4th in coal reserves with […]

The post There Is Little To Justify India’s Coal Shortage first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be a very happy person today as his dream to make his home state Gujarat an epicentre of India’s economic development has finally come true. Modi has been relentlessly trying to make Gujarat the country’s choicest investment destination since he became the state’s chief minister in 2001. […]

The post Gujarat Glows As Epicentre Of India’s Development first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee There is nothing to be surprised about the continuous exit from the Indian stock market by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). It has been going on for the last several months. The market is overheated. It has been out of sync with the country’s economic growth since 2017 and corporate performance in general. […]

The post Foreign Portfolio Investors Find Indian Market Hot first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee It is a matter of serious concern that India’s public debt level is among the highest in emerging economies while the country’s debt affordability is among the weakest. Generally, the average threshold limit prescribed for public debt-to-GDP ratio is 77 percent with each additional percentage point of debt costs 0.017 percentage points […]

The post India’s Public Debt Level Is Too High To Become Comfortable first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee China’s fast growing strategic and economic ties with Russia are becoming a major concern for India. Facing the heat of increasing Western financial sanctions on the country apart from large supplies of military and monetary aid from the US-led NATO countries to Ukraine, Russia is fast getting closer to China, the world’s […]

The post Growing China-Russia Ties Put India Under A Trap first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee India’s domestic wheat market is on fire ever since the government said it was targeting record shipments this year after exports from the Black Sea region plunged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.  Wheat prices in India rose to record high levels in the last three months. In some spot markets, […]

The post Traders Behind Soaring Wheat Prices In India first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee Few will disagree that the US-led 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is using Ukraine to test Russia’s military capability and patience. The increasing supplies of arms, money and even clandestinely despatching soldiers to Ukraine indicate that NATO is fighting a proxy war against Russia cleverly using Ukraine as a pawn. The […]

The post The West Is Using Ukraine To Fight A Proxy War Against Russia first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee No external credit can save Sri Lanka from its current deep financial crisis. The country is simply not in a position to repay its huge outstanding external loans — sovereign or commercial. Tourism, tea and garments export and overseas employment are among its 22.40-million strong population’s key sources of income. Foreign jobs […]

The post IMF Alone Can Save Sri Lanka From Financial Collapse first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee Indian consumers are reeling under high inflationary pressures. The costs of food, clothes, housing, transportation, medicine and healthcare have all gone up by 50 to 60 percent or even more since the middle of last year. The high fuel prices are impacting the prices of almost all commodities and services. The trend […]

The post Union Government’s Price Indexes Are Not Reliable first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee The international financial system governed by western powers no longer offers safety to foreign currency deposits in their chests from other parts of the world.  Even foreign private deposits and investments in assets are being frozen. The latest financial sanction imposed on Russia and its oligarchs freezing their accounts may appear to […]

The post Parking Funds In Foreign Banks, Treasuries Now Look Less Safe first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s offer to India to consider a rupee-ruble mechanism to settle trade in goods between the two countries to avoid sanctions imposed by the US-led NATO comes at a time when the Indian economy is reeling under high prices of oil putting the country’s energy security at risk.  […]

The post India’s Energy Security Can Not Be Compromised first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee Prices are bubbling up. Food, fuel and fertiliser costs are surging almost daily. Inflation seems to have got a free pass in India. The country’s wholesale price index, which tracks goods at factory gates, rose almost 13 percent from a year earlier in January. The gauge has recorded double-digit increases for 10 […]

The post RBI Has Failed To Check Surging Inflation first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee There were writings on the wall. Only India’s official economists seemed to have failed to read and report to the government. Oil rally was expected to continue through 2022 as demand outstripped supply. By January 29, this year, oil posted its sixth straight weekly gain as a growing global chorus predicted the […]

The post Surging Inflation Can Upset India’s Economy first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee The Russian attack on Ukraine seems to have given a wakeup call to countries in Europe and Asia to substantially step up their annual defence expenditure to protect themselves from possible external assault. Given the ominous security situation in Europe, a number of countries, including Germany, Sweden, Romania, Latvia, Finland, the Netherlands […]

The post Several Countries Plan To Step Up Military Spending first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By Nantoo Banerjee The US-led western trade, economic and financial sanctions on Russia seem to be working instantly, but less to the discomfort of Russia than the rest of the world. The sweeping sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have led to a massive spurt in global oil and gas prices — over 20 percent […]

The post Sweeping US, EU Sanctions Hit World Economy More Than Russia’s first appeared on IPA Newspack.