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Economy

Budget 2017

Blinded by neoliberalism

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley outside his office in North Block holding the briefcase containing the Budget papers on February 1.

All that the government has is its unfounded belief that mere “reform” in the form of demonetisation, digitalisation and GST will deliver growth. By C.P. CHANDRASEKHAR

Editorial

Stubborn blindness

Jaitley’s attempt to underplay the damage caused by demonetisation contrasts with the somewhat more sober assessment of the Economic Survey prepared by his Ministry.

Budget 2017

Worrying failure 1

Students preparing for examinations on the pavement under street lights in Mumbai in February 2016. The outlay for education has come down and is just 0.21 per cent of the GDP.

In the face of raised expectations post demonetisation, the Budget metes out miserly treatment to most areas of crucial social spending such as education, health care and social security. By JAYATI GHOSH

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Taxation

A killer tax

At the Hyundai Motor India Ltd plant in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu.

The euphoria over the Goods and Services Tax masks the deadly assault on tax policy as a means of promoting equity. By V. SRIDHAR

Economic Perspectives

A candid assessment?

The Finance Ministry’s mid-year review of the economy talks of positives, which are more in the nature of disappearing negatives, but it cannot conceal the fact that there has been little advance on the development front.

Stock market

Market mayhem

The Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai on August 24 when the Sensex registered its biggest single-day decline.

The recent collapse of the stock market punctures the euphoria that has been driving Indian stocks since the Modi government assumed office. By V. SRIDHAR and ANUPAMA KATAKAM

Taxation policy

For tax harmony?

An aerial view of the Walayar inter-State checkpost in Kerala's Palakkad district. States are apprehensive about losing revenue following the introduction of a single GST in place of a number of taxes.

Enforcing a national market by removing trade barriers through a harmonised commodity tax and reducing the fiscal autonomy of federal institutions is what the Goods and Services Tax system seeks to achieve in India. By R. SRINIVASAN

Industry

Small and ignored

At an SME Loan Expo organised by Corporation Bank in Coimbatore. The government has announced that loans to SMEs from public sector banks will be brought under priority sector lending.

The myopic proposal to create a dedicated bank for MFIs does not address the systemic problems in the banking sector that work against the interests of small enterprises. By SAGNIK DUTTA

Panama Papers

The Panama connection

A marquee of the Arango Orillac Building lists the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama City. Panama's president says his government will cooperate “vigorously” with any judicial investigation arising from the leak of a vast trove of information on the offshore financial dealings of the world's rich and famous.

The Panama Papers expose, the biggest leak ever of a database, made possible by a unique journalistic venture, rocks governments, shines a light on politicians and the super rich and exposes their secretive connections with tax havens across the world. By V. SRIDHAR

Economic policies

Price of economic policy failures

In central Athens on February 20, 2015, when Germany and Greece were facing off in yet another eurozone meeting in search of a bailout compromise, with Berlin insisting Athens accept continued austerity in return for fresh debt aid.

Those responsible for the implementation of wrong and unnecessary economic policies are never blamed for them, and they continue to impose their power and expertise on economic policies and on governing institutions.

Depreciation of the yuan

No case for complacence

The Chinese decision to use depreciation of the yuan as an instrument to address its own crisis can trigger a chain of events that can convert the recession the world has been trapped in for the past six years into another deep and full-fledged crisis. By C.P. CHANDRASEKHAR

China’s surplus & strategy 1

(Clockwise from left) European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso at a G7 summit in The Hague on March 24, 2014. The G7 countries are not the source of global surpluses anymore though they are still in control of global financial institutions.

China takes control of its foreign exchange surplus and leverages it in Asia’s infrastructure development, an area long abandoned by governments and banks, redrawing the Bretton Woods-derived world financial architecture in the process.

Economy

Public funds to push neoliberal agenda

The Budget resorts to drastic cuts in expenditures in welfare projects such as the rural employment schemes in order to ensure fiscal consolidation.

The Modi government has apparently realised that the private sector is not up to the task of driving growth. It hopes to fund its neoliberal dream of India becoming the fastest-growing emerging market through a combination of off-Budget borrowing and drastic expenditure reduction in key social sectors. By C. P. CHANDRASEKHAR

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Economy
Recent Articles

Blinded by neoliberalism

Stubborn blindness

Worrying failure

Blinded by neoliberalism

Stubborn blindness

Worrying failure

The Panama connection

A killer tax

Small and ignored

For tax harmony?

No case for complacence

Old economics, new stirrings

The feel good factory

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New Age gurudom Sir I am not respecting him because he is a yoga teacher,Mystic,Philosopher,padma vibushan winner,Newyork Times best seller book 'Inner Engi...» posted by Mohan on Feb 28, 2017 at 12:47 IST

The game wins Thank Lodha committee which held BCCI bull by its horn, thus taming the noholds barred opulent sports body whose greed led to gross defiance...» posted by C.Chandrasekharan on Feb 28, 2017 at 22:23 IST

‘They started ill-treating me’ He has no moral ground to talk about his ill-treatment now. He is now playing foul game. He was part and parcel of all allegations against J...» posted by R Raju on Feb 28, 2017 at 23:48 IST

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New Age gurudom
Sir I am not respecting him because he is a yoga teacher,Mystic,Philosopher,padma vibushan winner,Newyork Times best seller book 'Inner Engi...»

posted by Mohan on Feb 28, 2017 at 12:47 IST

The game wins
Thank Lodha committee which held BCCI bull by its horn, thus taming the noholds barred opulent sports body whose greed led to gross defiance...»

posted by C.Chandrasekharan on Feb 28, 2017 at 22:23 IST

‘They started ill-treating me’
He has no moral ground to talk about his ill-treatment now. He is now playing foul game. He was part and parcel of all allegations against J...»

posted by R Raju on Feb 28, 2017 at 23:48 IST