Views on Economy, Society and the world around us

  As the GDP numbers are out for the Indian economy for the quarter ending June 2020 (Q1), we were staring at a historic low of negative 23.9 percent GDP. This is the first time since independence that India has seen such a sharp contraction in growth, thereby earning the dubious distinction of ‘fastest shrinking major economy’ in the world. Even though the loss in GDP growth was on expected lines owing to nationwide lockdowns since March, such a sharp contraction is a cause for concern. It now calls for careful planning for corrective action taking into account the options available. According to the recent National Statistical Organisation (NSO) data both private consumption and investment contracted by 26.7 percent and 16.3 percent respectively. Private Consumption is the engine of India’s GDP growth which has fallen from 56.23 percent in Q1 of 2018-19 to 54.3 percent in 2020-21. Similarly, investment by private entities, the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) has also fal

There is every reason to believe that the fall out of this pandemic would be much deeper in the global economy as compared to Financial Crisis of 2008 and in case, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) estimation of global economy shrinking by 3% during 2020 turns out to be true; this period would mark the steepest downturn since the ‘Great Depression’ of 1930s.  Great Depression started with a stock market crash in United States of America and it soon had almost the entire world in its clutches. In mid crisis period, John Maynard Keynes published his book titled “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” in the year 1936. Later Keynes came to be known as the father of ‘Macroeconomics’ since he was the one to provide the solution to the crisis which eventually worked. Present crisis situation is unique in the sense that we are not only witnessing a massive demand shock but also a supply shock due to disruption of supply chains across the world. In the present situation, t

These are unprecedented times, when the entire world is fighting with a common enemy –the corona virus or COVID 19. The World Health Organisation has declared it to be a pandemic since this disease has spread throughout the world. Like all other countries, India a country of 1.35 billion population is faced with a crisis of huge proportions. The country is facing umpteen challenges in these times – from creating awareness about the disease, ensuring adequate health infrastructure to take care of the patients, building the testing infrastructure to test a large population, providing stimulus packages to cover income losses of people and also ensuring that stranded Indians from around the world are brought back to their home country safely. The challenge is humungous and it requires all kinds of cooperation from all strata of society. Under leadership of Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India has taken valuable steps to ensure regional cooperation between SAARC nations by taking