The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of retail inflation, touched a five-month high of 3.81% for the month of March 2017. The higher retail inflation was on the cards due to pressure from oil prices. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has in the past highlighted the possibility of upside risks to inflation due to …
The minutes of the discussion of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that concluded on 06th April were released on 20th April. Like the previous 3 MPC meetings in October, December and February, there was absolute consensus among the 6 members on the need to maintain status quo on rates. However, the MPC seems to be …
The Core Sector number for the month of March 2017 and the PMI Manufacturing number for the month of April; both surprised on the upside. The Jan-Mar quarter was the first full quarter after the impact of demonetization and the negation of the lag effects of demonetization was supposed to be over by the end …
The Year 2016 was a tumultuous year in many ways. The year began with a tremendous sense of uncertainty and ambivalence. The global markets lost nearly $12 trillion in value in the first few weeks of 2016. That immediately brought back memories of 1992, 2000 and 2008. All these were nerve racking years for markets …
For too long there have been demands for greater transparency and accountability in the area of real estate transactions. Laws were too ambiguous, recourse methodologies were opaque, home buyers were not organized and the legal process was overloaded. It was to address these pressing issues that the Real Estate Regulation & Development Act (RERA) was …
The trade data for the month of March 2017 had few surprises in store. The exports continued to grow positively for the 6th consecutive month. However, the growth in imports was much faster than expected leading to a slightly higher trade deficit for the month. The sharp rise in imports is slightly surprising considering that …
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) constituted by the RBI will meet on April 05th and 06th to decide on the monetary policy stance going ahead. In the previous 2 monetary policy review of December and February, the RBI had opted to maintain status quo on rates. The question is whether the RBI may consider a …
As the Nifty stands at a new high and the Sensex just a few hundred points shy of a new high, the question arises about the outlook for equities in the coming financial year. While at a very broad level, valuations may be at the upper end of the historic band, there could be some …
The Q3 estimates for GDP were, probably, the most awaited statistics in the last few months. That is hardly surprising! The Q3 GDP growth refers to the Oct-Dec 2016 period when the Indian economy had to put up with the pain of the demonetization exercise. Demonetization had created a liquidity crunch across most urban and …
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act was passed in 2003 to bring about an institutional mechanism to keep fiscal deficit under check. Fiscal deficit represents the deficit of the government that has to be met through borrowings as it is the gap that cannot be met through a combination of revenue and capital …
