Economy

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which undertook the study on  the feasibility of this prestigious project, submitted its report in July 2015. The project  was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, in December 2015, to  be implemented with Japanese technical and financial assistance. The memorandum of  understanding for cooperation between India and … Read more

Net domestic product (NDP) represents the net book value of all goods and services produced within a nation’s geographic borders over a specified period of time. Net domestic product provides insight into the age or obsolescence of a country’s assets, as well as how much the country has to spend to maintain its current GDP. After all, if the country … Read more

Investment – For sustaining high growth, the economy need to continuously add to its “production capacity” through new investment flows. • Productive investment is money that is spent for – building roads, ports (and other public infrastructure), factories, and workforce quality enhancement. • Currently, India is seeing a sharp decline in the rate of investments … Read more

Discrimination against women and girls is a pervasive and long-running phenomenon that characterises Indian society at every level.  India’s progress towards gender equality, measured by its position on rankings such as the Gender Development Index has been disappointing, despite fairly rapid rates of economic growth. In the past decade, while Indian GDP has grown by … Read more

Poverty, low per capita income, under-development, unemployment, prompted the newly established Indian polity to adopt economic planning for the development of the country. The idea of economic planning can be traced to 1934, when M. Visvesverayya in his book ‘Planned Economy of India’, advocated for planning to increase the national income. It was taken up … Read more

The Bibek Debroy Committee is a high level committee for “Mobilization of Resources for Major Railway Projects and Restructuring of Railway Ministry and railway board. It gave various suggestions to address the concerns. Some of them are as follows: Transition to commercial accounting as it is next to impossible to find out the profit with the … Read more

NPCSCB has been carefully designed to lay the foundations for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian Culture and sensibilities and remain connected, with their roots, while they learn from the best institutions and practices across the world. The Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online … Read more

The food processing sector comprises of three segments based on the levels of processing Primary processing of food Primary processing of food comprises of sorting, grading and packaging of fruits and vegetables, milk, rice, spices, etc. Secondary Processing of Food Secondary processing of food comprises of re-shaping of food for ease of consumption. It includes … Read more

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana  (PMMVY) is a Maternity Benefit Programme that is implemented in all the districts of the country in accordance with the provision of the National Food Security Act, 2013.Providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentive s so that the woman can take adequate res t before … Read more

NITI aayog(National Institute for transforming India)  is a policy think tank of the Government of India to achieve sustainable development goals and to achieve cooperative cooperative federalism by enhancing the role of state government in the economic policy making and to make bottom up approach a reality. The role of NITI aayog will be: Bring … Read more

Financial inclusion has been recognised as a key building block which will form the foundation for achieving several of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.  As a construct, it provides much more than access to financial services.  In a country like India, till a few years ago, a bank account was a source of pride.  If properly … Read more

Theoretically any one can participate in the market. Yet market practices and regulatory pronouncements have placed certain restrictions on participation for each of the sub-markets in the money market. Central Government The Central Government is an issuer of Government of India Securities (G-Secs) and Treasury Bills (T-bills). These instruments are issued to finance the government … Read more

Effect of Black Money on Indian Economy Black money is a socioeconomic evil. The existence of rapidly growing black money in our economy has grave and disastrous consequences. The major effects of black money are discussed below: Dual Economy The increase in the amount of black money in India over a period of time lead to the … Read more

The Finance Commission is constituted by the President under article 280 of the Constitution, mainly to give its recommendations on distribution of tax revenues between the Union and the States and amongst the States themselves. Two distinctive features of the Commission’s work involve redressing the vertical imbalances between the taxation powers and expenditure responsibilities of … Read more

Government liabilities are classified as debt contracted against the Consolidated Fund of India (defined as Public Debt) and liabilities in the Public Account, called Other Liabilities. Public debt is further classified into internal and external debt. Internal debt consists of marketable debt and non-marketable debt. Government dated securities and treasury bills, issued through auctions, together … Read more

In 2005, another expert group to review methodology for  poverty estimation, chaired by Suresh Tendulkar, was constituted by the Planning Commission.  The reason for formulation of committee was : Issues with the adjustment of prices for inflation, both spatially and temporally. Earlier poverty line assumed that health and education would be provided by the state  … Read more

Rural people in India depend on a wide range of bioresources for their nutrition and livelihood security.  The report recommends: Preserving traditional rights of access to biodiversity, which include access to non-timber forest products including medicinal plants, gums and resins, oil yielding plants and beneficial micro-organisms; Conserving, enhancing and improving crops and farm animals as … Read more

  Full Budget deals with both expenditure and revenue side but Vote-on-account deals only with the expenditure side of the government’s budget. The vote-on-account is normally valid for two months but a full budget is valid for 12 months (a financial year). As a convention, a vote-on-account is treated as a formal matter and passed … Read more

A sovereign credit rating is the credit rating of a sovereign entity, such as a national government. The sovereign credit rating indicates the risk level of the investing environment of a country and is used by investors when looking to invest in particular jurisdictions, and also takes into account political risk. The “country risk rankings” … Read more

With increase in the average expectancy age , the issue of elderly population will arise in the near future. The economy has to look into to take care of the elderly population. But there are some issues attached with ageing population: Lack of uniform and accessible pension system. Premium rates are different and there are … Read more

Major advantages:   It will help to regulate the highly unregulated real estate sector. Will help to deal with the undue delay in project implementation. Will help to streamline the data of the project across the country and hence will bring homogeneity and rule bas e pricing in the sector. It will enhance the transparency … Read more

While globalization does provide for means of betterment for economies, it has some  inherent challenges which will have to be addressed: While decisive thrust on exports is required, there would be pressures for liberal imports which could create issues in the domestic sector by making imported goods  cheaper threatening domestic goods. Already, the Indian market … Read more

The Ease of Doing Business Rank (EODB) is a measure of an economy’s position to the best regulatory practices. Though World Bank used to publish the ‘Doing Business’ reports from 2003, the ranking of economies started only from 2006. The EODB study tries to capture the experience of small and mid-sized companies in a country with their … Read more

A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. A geographical indication right enables those who have … Read more

Characteristics of a Healthy work Culture A healthy work culture leads to satisfied employees and an increased productivity. Employees must be cordial with each other. One must respect his fellow worker. Backbiting is considered strictly unprofessional and must be avoided for a healthy work culture. One gains nothing out of conflicts and nasty politics at … Read more

GST as a reform has a far reaching consequences. MSME sector is going to get benefit in the long run. But in the short run as per CII, the MSME sector is facing following issues:   A complicated compliances system and a rigid taxation regime place added limits on the growth potential of small enterprises. … Read more

India is largely a informal economy where various MSME units are there. But these units find hard to access to the formal systems of credit. Before the inception of MUDRA, this sector gets only 4% of its credit needs from banks. The sector used to borrows unspurious rates of interest of 120% and beyond. MUDRA … Read more

Merchant discount rate on debit cards is the amount that a merchant has to pay to its service providers when a consumer swipes her card on the merchant’s point of sales terminal. It is also applicable for online transactions and QR based transactions.  The amount that the merchant pays for every transaction gets distributed among … Read more

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to safeguard the health of women & children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG, so that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra … Read more

The Indian peninsula juts 1,980 km into the Indian Ocean with 50% of the Indian Ocean basin lying within a 1500 km radius of India, a reality that has strategic implications. Between the Gulf of Aden and Malacca Strait, is seen as India’s sphere of influence. India is one of very few countries in the … Read more

Protectionism is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. Protectionist policies help immune the producers, businesses, and workers of the import-competing sector in the country from foreign competitors.   Impact on India   Positive: India has … Read more

Ministry of Human Resource Development has announced a new PPP Scheme, National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) for using technology for better learning outcomes in Higher Education. The objective is to use Artificial Intelligence to make learning more personalised and customised as per the requirements of the learner. This requires development of technologies in Adaptive … Read more

IPO is an abbreviation of Initial Public Offer. FPO is an abbreviation of a Follow-On Public Offer. Key Difference: IPO vs. FPO IPO is the first public issue of the shares of a private company that is going public whereas FPO is the second or subsequent public issue of the shares of an already listed … Read more

Recently Trump administration decided to do away with relaxation to major importers of Iran’s oil resource. US govt. has decided to be more proactive and want more imposition of sanctions on Iran to derail Iranian economy and eventually dis courage nuclear activity and funding to terrorist groups. This step is going to affect India as … Read more

Economic growth is inclusive when growth percolates to all the sectors of the economy and the development is not concentrated to certain pockets but in all region.  The growth should reduce the inequality between the rich and the poor. SALIENT FEATURES OF INCLUSIVE GROWTH Participation– People are able to participate fully in economic life and … Read more

AIR India is facing a severe crisis and at every functional aspect the PSU is on downward side. AI has a total debt of near about 50,000 cr.  The major reasons for the failure of PSU are as follows: Less income generation in passenger revenue. This is corroborated by the audit report of CAG also. … Read more

Always keep in mind the following equation for writing answer: Overall GDP= C+I+G+X-M Measure to improve investment: Lowering of corporate tax rate to increase investment. Lowering of the repo rate by 135bpsc. To increase the access to finance. Easier of FDI norms. Most of the FDI is allowed by automatic route and others via government … Read more

GINI INDEX: The Gini index is a simple measure of the distribution of income across income percentiles in a population. A higher Gini index indicates greater inequality, with high income individuals receiving much larger percentages of the total income of the population. Global inequality as measured by the Gini index increased over the 19th and … Read more

Pink revolution primarily focuses on modernisation of meat and poultry industry. It has  attained India the number 1 position in the world in exports of buffalo meat in 2012, exporting  approximately 1.5 million metric tons of beef. chicken sector has witnessed a 30 percent growth rate since the year 2009, at the same  time it … Read more

  The stability of FDI even during the crisis period led many developing countries to favour FDI over other forms of Short-term inflows. The Foreign Countries Investors are willing to invest in Developing countries because it allows them to seek highest returns. It also reduces the risk faced by the owner of capital by allowing … Read more

Open market operations is the sale and purchase of securities, bills and bonds of government as well as private financial institutions by the Central Bank. This is one of the qualitative too available with the central bank to deal with inflation and money supply in the economy. Functioning:  If the central bank sells these instruments, … Read more

Merchant Banks:      A bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. They manage and underwrite new issues, provide consultancy and corporate advisory services for corporate clients on raising finds and other financial aspects. b) Venture Capital Fund: Usually the financial institutions are hesitant to finance new products because the profitability of new products is uncertain and … Read more

Foot loose industries can be located in a wide variety of places. They are not dependent on any specific raw material, weight losing or otherwise. They largely depend on component parts which can be obtained anywhere. They produce in small quantity and also employ a small labour force. These are generally not polluting industries. The … Read more

Angel tax is a term used to refer to the income tax payable on capital raised by unlisted companies via issue of shares where the share price is seen in excess of the fair market value of the shares sold. The excess realisation is treated as income and taxed accordingly. The tax was introduced in … Read more

Monetary policy is made by the central bank to manage money supply to achieve specific goals- such as constraining inflation, maintaining an appropriate exchange rate , generating jobs etc.   There are basically two types of monetary policies. They are expansionary and contractionary.   Expansionary: This means increase in the total supply of money in … Read more

. It refers to the effect of tax avoidance strategies used by  multinational corporations on countries’ tax basis. The term was used for the first time by OECD. In an  increasingly interconnected world, national tax laws have not kept pace with global corporations, fluid  capital, and the digital economy, leaving gaps that can be exploited … Read more

A government bond is an instrument to raise money from the market with a promise to repay the face  value at the maturity  date and a periodic interest. A bond issued for the purpose of recapitalisation is called recapitalisation bond.   Working of Recapitalisation bond: The government will issue recapitalisation bond, which banks will subscribe … Read more

Operation Twist is a program of quantitative easing used by the Federal Reserve. The so-called “twist” in the operation occurs whenever the Fed uses the proceeds of its sales from short-term Treasury bills to buy long-term Treasury notes. Short-term instruments mature in three years or less while long-term notes and bonds have a term between … Read more

National Career Service is a Five Year Mission Mode Project launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 20th July, 2015. The project is being implemented by the Directorate General of Employment, Ministry of Labour & Employment. National Career Service (NCS) is a one-stop solution that provides a wide array of employment and career related services … Read more

Since the beginnings of the last decade as a part of the economic reforms programme, the taxation system in the country has been subjected to consistent and comprehensive programme.  Indian government over the years have introduced tax reforms from time to time.     Direct tax reforms: Reduction and rationalisation of rates- there are only … Read more