Economy

Following are some of the important functional factors responsible for adoption of decentralised planning in the present context in India: Considering the huge size and proportion of rural population in India, it is felt that proper linkages must be established between dispersed small villages and also between such villages and adjacent small towns by developing … Read more

Nutrient bases subsidy scheme is to ensure balanced use of fertilizers and to improve agriculture productivity. The major features of NBS are: Under the NBS Policy, a fixed amount of subsidy decided on annual basis isprovided on each grade of the subsidized Phosphatic & Potassic (P&K) fertilizersdepending upon its nutrient content.Minimum Retail Price (MRP) of … Read more

. First and the foremost reason for this is the high cost of rail movement arising out of policy  of cross subsidization by IR. Passenger fares especially sleeper class are underpriced and  made up through increased freight fares. In India, passenger rail fares are highly politically  sensitive. However, this is also because of the social … Read more

. Besides the huge resources required there are structural issues like, one of the highest  Aggregate Transmission and Distribution (AT&D) losses of 25 per cent the highest in the  world. There are other issues like power thefts which along with distribution losses result  in losses to the State Electricity Boards (SEBs), under pricing, mounting losses … Read more

Cost-push inflation occurs when overall prices increase due to increases in the cost of production. Higher costs of production can decrease the aggregate supply (total production) in the economy. If the demand remains unchanged, the prices of commodities increase causing a rise in the overall price level which then is passed on to consumers creating … Read more

When in an economy aggregate demand falls short of aggregate supply at full employment level, i.e. the production is more than the demand, the demand is said to be deficient demand and the gap is called deflationary gap. Causes of the deflationary gap are: Fall in aggregate demand (AD) due to: Fall in exports (global … Read more

. In order to boost the MSME sector, several schemes are operational. Some of the major initiatives taken for the development of this sector are : Many financing bodies like IDBI and SIDBI provide concessional loans. Credit Guarantee Fund was established in 2000 to ensure supply of credit without  Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Credit … Read more

It is a e governance too which stands for Crime and Criminal Tracking network system. It aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing through e governance.  It is envisaged as a countrywide integrated database on crime incidents and criminals. It aims to connect all police stations, with their crime and criminal … Read more

  Advisories are being issued, to state govt. to take strict action against hoarding and black marketing and effectively enforcing the essential commodities act,1980 for commodities in short supply. Regular review meeting on price and availability situation, inter ministerial committee, price stabilisation fund management committee. Higher MSP so as to incentivise production and thereby enhance … Read more

Viability Gap Funding (VGF): Under the Ministry of Finance ‘Scheme for Support to Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure’ in the form of capital grant at the stage of project construction will be given as per the VGF guidelines. The total Viability Gap Funding under this scheme shall not exceed twenty percent of the total project … Read more

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment made by a company or individual in one country in business interests in another country, in the form of either establishing business operations or acquiring business assets in the other country, such as ownership or controlling interest in a foreign company.   Concerns with FDI:   FDI has … Read more

Lack of infrastructure–Approximately 95.2 per cent of schools are not yet compliant with the complete set of RTE infrastructure indicators according to survey conducted in 2010.They lacks drinking water facilities, a functional common toilet, and do not have separate toilets for girls. Number of boards causes non uniformity of curriculum throughout India so maintenance of … Read more

Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) is a joint venture of MHRD Government of India and Canara Bank for financing creation of capital assets in premier educational institutions in India as part of rising 2022 HEFA’s scope is greatly expanded to cover school education, educational institutes under Ministry of health etc.HEFA is registered under Section 8 … Read more

Social Equity Another principle on which labour legislation is based on social equity. Legislation based on social justice fixes a definite standard for adoption for the future, taking into consideration the events and circumstances of the past and the present. Social Justice In an industrial set up, social justice means an equitable distribution of profits … Read more

Capital Account Convertibility (CAC) is not just the currency convertibility freedom, but morethan that, it involves the freedom to invest in financial assets of other countries.The Committee on Capital Account Convertibility (1997, Chairman SS Tarapore) in its reporthas given a working definition for the CAC which is as following:“CAC refers to the freedom to convert … Read more

Growth is said to be inclusive when it is distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all. Growth is inclusive when it  permeates evenly across all sectors, to every nook and corner of country and take all stakeholders along. Salient features of Inclusive growth are as follows: Equity-More opportunities are available to enable upward … Read more

Decentralized Planning is a type of planning where local organisations and institutions formulate, adopt, execute actions and supervise the plan without interference by the central body. Decentralized planning in the State operated mainly through the following institutions and instruments; Grama Sabha (GS): People’s participation in decentralization was sought to be ensured mainly through meetings of … Read more

Current account:       Current account refers to the account maintained by every government of the world in which every kind of transaction is shown, this account is maintained by the central banking body. Current transactions of an economy in foreign currency all over the world- export, import, interest payments, foreign investments in share.   Capital account:         … Read more

The fourth industrial revolution is a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another. The 4threvolution will be characterized by the advent of cyber-physical systems which, while being reliant on the technologies and infrastructure of the third industrial revolution, represent entirely new ways in which technology becomes … Read more

Unemployment is a phenomenon that occurs when a person who is capable of working and is actively searching for the work is unable to find work. Different types of unemployment are as follows: Frictional Unemployment:The minimum amount of unemployment that prevails in an economy due to workers quitting their previous jobs and are searching for … Read more

Start up India was launched to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country which will drive economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.  Start Up India scheme shows government recognition of the potential of start ups. It tries to utilise India’s IT prowess and to converge it to develop … Read more

The PM SVANidhi scheme was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, on June 01, 2020. It aims to provide affordable working capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to the coronavirus lockdown. It targets over 50 lakh street vendors who would be eligible to avail … Read more

Financial inclusion refers to delivery of financial services, including banking services and credit, at an affordable cost to the vast sections of disadvantaged and low-income groups who tend to be excluding.   Financial inclusion can lead to inclusive growth in following ways:   Formalization of economy:    A well spread out financial system engenders economic … Read more

Ministry of Commerce & Industry throughExport Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) has introduced a new Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) called NIRVIK to enhance loan availability and ease the lending process.Enhanced cover will ensure that Foreign and Rupee export credit interest rates will be below 4%and 8% respectively for exporters.Under ECIS, insurance coverpercentage has also been … Read more

JAM Trinity holds the key to one of the biggest pieces of reform ever attempted in India — direct subsidy transfers.  An abbreviation for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile number. The government is pinning its hopes on these three modes of identification to deliver direct benefits to India’s poor.   Benefits of JAM are as … Read more

A negotiable instrument is a signed document that promises a sum of payment to a specified person or the assignee. In other words, it is a transferable, signed document that promises to pay the bearer a sum of money at a future date or on-demand. The payee, who is the person receiving the payment, must … Read more

Globalisation means integration of economies and societies through cross country flows of information ,ideas ,technologies , goods, services, capital finance and people. The current wave of globalisation, which started after 1991had profound effects on the labour market and the employment situation of workers all over the world. The changes in pattern of employment and labour … Read more

InVITS:  An Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs) is like a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of small amounts of money from possible individual/institutional investors in infrastructure to earn a small portion of the income as return. InvITs work like mutual funds or real estate investment trusts (REITs) in features. InvITs can be treated as the … Read more

Black money is defined  as assets or resources that have neither been reported to the public authorities at the time of their generation nor disclosed at any point of time during the possession. The problem with  black money is huge . It has serious socio-political and economic implications. According to sources the estimate of GDP … Read more

Base erosion and profit sharing is a tax avoidance strategy by multinational companies, where in profits are shifted from shifted from jurisdiction that have high taxes to jurisdiction that have low tax. Base erosion and profit shifting project is a joint initiative between G20 countries and the OECD , towards the development of a coherent … Read more

The Mega Food ParksScheme aims to provide a mechanism to bring together farmers, processors and retailers and link agriculture production to the market so as to ensure maximization of value addition, minimization of wastages and improving farmers’ income. The primary objective of the Scheme is to provide modern infrastructure facilities for the food processing along … Read more

. Capital Account Convertibility is a feature of a nation’s financial  regime that centers on the ability to conduct transactions of local financial assets (money, stocks, bonds,  real estate, FDI, FII, account receivable, inventory etc) into foreign financial assets freely and at market  determined exchange rates. In layman’s terms, full capital account convertibility allows local … Read more

Foreign capital flow in a country can take place either in the form of investment, concessional assistance, foreign aid. Foreign Investment includes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) / Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). FPI includes the amounts raised by Indian corporate through Euro Equities, Global Depository Receipts (GDR’s), and American Depository Receipts … Read more

Pros Economic planning is assumed to modify the restraining influence of limited resources by recogniz­ing the existence of particular constraints and by choosing and coordinating investment projects so as to channel these scarce factors into their most productive outlets. Planning is necessary to take care of the poor and the downtrodden who have little asset … Read more

All such issuances in terms of quantum to be raised, pricing is left to the company,  however, regulated by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which has the  following objectives: To ensure that all companies accessing the primary market are making complete disclosures about their company and their functioning. Pricing has been determined through … Read more

Historically, India has classified and tracked its economy and GDP in three sectors: agriculture, industry and services. Agriculture includes crops, horticulture, milk and animal husbandry, aquaculture, fishing, sericulture, aviculture, forestry and related activities. Industry includes various manufacturing sub-sectors. India’s definition of services sector includes its construction, retail, software, IT, communications, hospitality, infrastructure operations, education, health … Read more

Gujarat: Online consent system for environment clearances Geographic Information System (GIS)-based land identification system Maharashtra: Unified process with single identification for Value Added Tax and Professional Tax registration Time required for getting an electricity connection has been reduced to 21 days from 67 days and procedures involved has been cut down to 3 from existing … Read more

Minimum wages is the minimum wage to be given to workers as per rule and law. The non payment or below payment of wages attract Penalty and sanctions. As per the International Labour Organisation India wage report one in every three wage workers in India is not protected by the minimum wage act. As per … Read more

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was enacted in 2016 to facilitate a time-bound resolution for ailing and sick firms. It could either be through closure or revival, while protecting the interests of creditors. Under IBC, either the creditor (banks) or the loaner (defaulter) can initiate insolvency proceedings. It is done by submitting a plea … Read more

a) Tax havens: A tax haven is a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at low rate or not at all. The basic features of tax havens are nil or nominal rates, lack of effective exchange of information, no requirement of substantive local presence.     b) BEPS: Base erosion and profit sharing … Read more

The significant openness which started becoming visible in the nineties intensified from  2000 onwards with a sharp focus given through the FTP has resulted in a reversal of the  declining trend in global trade. However, the growth of the Indian economy in recent  times has outpaced the trade growth or that trade growth has lagged … Read more

Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India (DARPAN) is aimed at realizing financial inclusion of un-banked rural population. The Project shall increase the rural reach of the Department of Posts and enable Branch Post Offices to increase traffic of all financial remittances, savings accounts, Rural Postal Life Insurance, and Cash Certificates etc.  … Read more

Impact of the Pandemic on India’s future energy demand Securing supplies for India’s economic growth What does energy transition and the climate agenda mean for India? Natural Gas in India’s Energy Mix: What’s the pathRefining & petrochemicals: Strategies midst surplus The pace of innovation: Biofuel, hydrogen, CCS, electric vehicles and digital transformation Market and regulatory … Read more

PDS was establish to procure gain and other cereals from farmers and distribute it through a subsidised scheme to those most vulnerable to hunger. It was started in the late 1960s and was subsequently expanded to rural districts.   The scheme in principal can be faulted but in practice the result have been abysmal. According … Read more

Fiscal deficit refers to the excess of total budget expenditure over total budget receipts excluding borrowings during a fiscal year. Fiscal Deficit = Total Budget Expenditure – Total Receipts excluding borrowings = Revenue Expenditure + Capital Expenditure – Revenue receipts – Capital Receipts of only non-debt type   Implications of high fiscal deficit on economy: … Read more

Objectives of the Agriculture Export Policy are as under:   To double agricultural exports from the present US $ 30+?Billion to US $ 60+?Billion by 2022 and reach US $ 100 Billion in the next few years thereafter, with a stable trade policy regime. To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high value and … Read more

India’s imports comprises of essentials such as crude petroleum, machineries and  fertilizers which become expensive raising their prices facilitating ‘import’ of inflation.  India is very susceptible to a stubborn and sticky inflation. It hurts the masses in terms of  across the board higher prices. All imports become expensive including raw materials, goods and machineries which  … Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Make in India initiative on September 25, 2014, with the primary goal of making India a global manufacturing hub, by encouraging both multinational as well as domestic companies to manufacture their products within the country. The initiative aims to raise the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25% of … Read more

Several factors and writings of a number of persons contributed to the origin of their political ideology: The collapse of feudalism is an important cause of the origin of liberalism. Let us explain it briefly. In the feudal period the feudal lords practically controlled the economy and politics along with the church and its fall … Read more

Positives:   Introduction of modern technology. The improvement in technology will also mean that coaches that now require maintenance after running 4,000 km will need maintenance after every 40,000 km, which translates to either once or twice a month. Reduction in journey time comparable to operation by Indian railways due to technology introduce by private … Read more