The 2-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded with a 25 basis point rate hike. This takes the Fed rate level to a range of 0.75%-1.00%. The indications were already there. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, the probability of a rate hike in March (as implied by the Fed …
The state elections are gone. While the BJP has clearly swept Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it was the Congress that made hay in Punjab. The final shape of the government in Manipur and Goa will take some time, but the Congress has at least managed to redeem itself in both these places. But one thing …
As is the normal practice, the Monetary Policy Committee published its minutes of the discussion leading to the Monetary Policy on 08th February. It may be recollected that in the Feb 08th policy, the MPC had chosen to maintain status quo on rates. This was contrary to market expectations as the equity and bond markets …
India’s trade numbers announced for the month of November have been largely in line with expectations. While the Trade deficit at $13 billion for the month of November is definitely at a 2-year high it is in line with previous cycles. However, there are some key components of the trade data that India needs to …
After an encouraging 2.7% growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of January 2017, the expectations were quite high for the month of February 2017. However, the overall IIP numbers disappointed the street with a negative growth of (-1.2%). Needless to say, it was manufacturing that applied negative pressure on the …
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of December 2016 came in at (-0.4%), sharply lower than the positive number of 5.6% growth recorded in the month of November. The pressure on IIP was expected to manifest itself in the month of December due to the cumulative impact of 2 months of demonetization. …
The trade data for the month of December 2016 was gratifying in that the exports were up by 15% on a sequential basis. Like the IIP numbers, the exports data also surprised on the upside because it was expected that the exports would slow down due to the impact of demonetization. However, demonetization did not …
What does a power company do when the price of its inputs go up? The answer is that the power company either absorbs the higher cost or passes it on to the customer. A basic pass versus absorb decision pertaining to power companies in India has become the pivot of a lot of controversy. The …
The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement, ruled that sale of BS-III vehicles will not be permitted effective from April 01st 2017. The date of April 01st is critical because it is on this date that the BS-IV norms will take effect, entailing more rigorous standards of pollution control and environmental sustenance. It is essential …
On 29th of March, the cabinet cleared the four key bills that will facilitate the timely implementation of the GST effective from July 01st this year. The Lok Sabha passed the Central GST Bill, State GST Bill, Integrated GST Bill and the GST Compensation of States bill in the Lok Sabha. The GST bills were …
