Opinion: Palash Baruah and D L Wankhar. For the first time, there would be recording of the Body Mass Index of all Assam Police personnel. When India celebrates 76 years of Independence on August 15 this year, we are going to witness a health page turning for the police personnel in Assam. For the first... Read More
Opinion: Sonalde Desai: Global Hunger Index is riddled with inadequate and poorly described data and a lack of conceptual clarity. The problem with indices of this type is that it directs governmental attention to cross-national comparisons, sometimes resulting in the rejection of underlying issues and sidetracking the public discourse The world seems to have gone... Read More
Opinion: Sanjib Pohit: The oft-cited 14% of GDP is an overestimate, arrived at by a consulting £rm using a model built for developed countries. India’s logistics cost is estimated to be around 14 per cent of GDP — a figure that has all of a sudden become cast in stone. High logistics cost, without doubt,... Read More
Earlier this year, the United Nations published data to show that India would surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2023. According to the 2018-19 Economic Survey, India’s demographic dividend will peak around 2041, when the share of the working age population is expected to hit 59%. In this context, does India need... Read More
Interview of Dr Mridul Saggar, IEPF Chair Professor at NCAER and former MPC member, with Latha Venkatesh, discussing September CPI inflation data, was aired on CNBC TV18 on Thursday, 13 October 2022. Watch the programme here. For the full discussion, watch the video Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Citi India's Samiran Chakraborty and former MPC member, Mridul Saggar... Read More
Opinion: Mridul Saggar: Open economy challenges may haunt policies ahead as spillovers intensify A common economic sophism is that fiscal policy can prop up growth even when monetary policy is assigned to bringing inflation under control. In the short run, lifting demand amid supply constraints will only fuel inflation and the twin deficits, with a... Read More
Opinion: Mridul Saggar: Amid high inflation and exchange rate pressures, rate hikes and tight liquidity are the best bet. The RBI has been broadly getting its act right amid difficult circumstances. In my assessment, it has traversed about three-fourths of the amplitude of the current rate hiking cycle, but the economy is stronger than before.... Read More
Opinion: Poonam Gupta and Arvind Panagariya: Dominance of banking by PSBs has also been a hurdle in the way of improving the regulatory regime, which, in turn, hampers the modernisation and, therefore, healthy growth of the sector. This is because RBI has limited regulatory jurisdiction over PSBs. Indeed, this fact has at times provided RBI... Read More
IEPF Chair Professor Dr Mridul Saggar speaks to Latha Venkatesh, CNBC TV18 on “RBI’s Monetary Policy Announcement in the CNBC Indianomics program, 30 September 2022. Watch the Video
Opinion: Sanjib Pohit and Anupma Mehta: Immersion of idols laced with harmful chemicals does an irreparable damage to a river, time to stop sinning against salvator. It is that time of the year again, when the devout prepare fancy and exotic idols of gods and goddesses, venerate them for a few days and then consign them... Read More
Opinion: Sonalde Desai: While collecting official statistics will always be a purview of state institutions, they must be governed by independent governing bodies that can ensure scientific integrity and broad oversight. We seem fascinated with statistical soundbites, vacillating between the bizarre and the expedient. In October 2021, major newspapers featured stories that claimed that over... Read More