Tag: India growth

Exclusive: Jamie Dimon wants India to fight for its inclusion in the bond index

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of the largest bank in the US is hopeful that India will be included in the JPMorgan Global Bond Index.

In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, Jamie Dimon, Chairman, and CEO of JPMorgan Chase said that inclusion in a major bond index for India will be a sign of a country growing and becoming bigger and well known.

“You should fight for and I can’t get involved in that because research is independent, so by law,” he said. But if I was India I actually will be part of it and if I didn’t get in, I asked why. And then I try to accomplish those things get in.”

Dimon also cited attracting plenty of foreign investment as an advantage of being included in a bond index.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO is certain that markets will remain volatile in the near future. While he is unsure of the US Dollar strengthening any further, he doesn’t see it weaken either.

Last night, the US Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by another 75 basis points and also highlighted that there are more of them coming. With inflation persisting near the highest level in four decades, the central bank hiked rates to 3-3.25 percent, the highest since early 2008.

Dimon anticipates rates to go up by another 50-100 basis points. “That will have much more effect on growth stocks than value stocks,” he said.

“In India you have a lot of growth stocks. Your growth prospects are so good for so long, it’s just going to have a different effect on people investing long-term money in India,” he said.

For full interview, watch accompanying video

Also Read: Exclusive: Jamie Dimon believes fintech requires a huge amount of investment

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: ‘India ka time aa gaya hai’; ace investor says country to grow at 10% by 2025-26

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on Thursday sounded very optimistic in his outlook for India, going so far as to say India will grow at 10 percent by 202-5-26.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Jhunjhunwala said India needs a plank — such as ease of doing business — and said, “India ka time aa gaya hai.”

Jhunjhunwala also emphasised the need for housing to develop at the same pace as other infrastructure, such as metro rail connectivity. He said with the development of infrastructure comes urbanisation and thus, the need for housing. He said the role of housing in driving urbanisation must increase. Jhunjhunwala said the pace of Indian urbanisation needs to pick up, overusing that currently, it half the level of urbanisation in China.

Also read: Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bullish on commercial real estate sector

“You go to London, wherever the metro goes, housing has developed. So, Mumbai is making 40km of metro and it has been made–as the transport systems come, the potential for housing is going to go through the roof. Your cities are going to get decongested and urbanisation in India is today half of China–45 percent, as urbanisation comes, housing has to come,” Jhunjhunwala said.

Speaking against the backdrop of how he had done so much business sitting at home in the past two years, Jhunjhunwala called on the government to broadbase this model.

In an earlier interview to CNBCTV-18, Jhunjhunwala said he believes India is following China with respect to its provisions on digital currency. Highlighting the point further, he explained that Budget 2022 has in fact made RBI the sole authority capable of promoting digital currency, thereby killing all other cryptos in the process. This especially assumes significance since the Cryptocurrency Bill is yet to be tabled in Parliament.

“I think what government wants to do is that it wants the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to promote digital currency and kill all other currencies, just like China is doing, which in a way is the right approach also.”

Also read: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala investing $50 million in Akasa Air, says he’s got a game plan for aviation sector

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Q2 GDP: Economy just about grows to pre-COVID size, but some sectors lag badly

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The key takeaway from the second-quarter GDP numbers is that the overall economy has grown back to the pre-COVID levels. Total output in constant prices was at Rs 35.73 trillion versus Rs 35.61 trillion in Q2 of FY20. The pace of growth both, year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, is an impressive 8.4 percent, a good half a percentage point higher than the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) forecast of 7.9 percent.

The economy has grown largely on the shoulders of agriculture and allied sectors, whose output stands at a cool 7.5 percent over the July-Sept 2019-levels, i.e., a CAGR (compounded annual growth) of 3.5 percent.

The “Public Administration and Personal Services” have also grown handsomely by 6.5 percent over the July-Sept 2019-levels. Within this, we know public administration hasn’t grown much, so clearly personal services have recovered sharply.

Manufacturing and — to a lesser extent — construction have grown back to and even beyond pre-COVID levels, albeit marginally.

The bad news comes from the large services sector called “Trade, Hotels, Transport and Communication”. Its size at Rs 5.79 trillion is still 10 percent lower than the Rs 6.38 trillion in Q2 of FY20. From being 1/5th of the economy, this sector has shrunk to 1/6th of the economy. This is worrying because this sector employs a bulk of India’s MSMEs and self-employed.

GDP from the expenditure side has shot up largely due to higher capex. Gross fixed capital formation is now 32 percent of GDP, which is excellent. The economy is re-investing one third of what it produces, pointed out Dr Sudipto Mundle, economist and a member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission of India. This may be an engine for future growth. But the laggard is the hitherto powerful engine of India’s growth: private final consumption expenditure or PFCE.

The PFCE at Rs 19.7 trillion is 3.5 percent below the pre-COVID level, reflecting lower consumption by those who lost jobs in trade, commerce and transport. Government final consumption has done even worse, falling short by 17 percent versus its pre-COVID comparable quarter.

Valuables, i.e., savings invested in gold, tripled over Pre-COVID levels, probably reflecting a hedge against inflation.

The key takeaway from the Q2 GDP numbers is that we need to restore the informal sector and MSME jobs in the trade, commerce and transportation space. Government spending and consumption too needs to grow. But the economy has shown some innate recovery as evidenced in the 11 percent year-on-year jump in capital formation. This growth can extend further given the low interest rates and the deleveraged balance sheets of companies and cleaned up books of banks. But for capital formation to climb sustainably, private consumption needs to surge.

This requires some of the capital to be invested in construction and services which are more labour intensive. Job growth can spur private consumption which is the second important engine that needs to fire for the economy to grow. It’s possible India makes it to double digit growth in FY22, unless, like CEA Krishnamurthy Subramaniam said, the virus has other plans.
But for sustained 7 percent growth thereafter, we have to persist with job creation and skilling.

To read other articles by Latha Venkatest, click here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India looks at close to double-digit growth this year: Sitharaman

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India is looking at near close to double-digit growth this year and the country will be one of the fastest-growing economies, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. The minister also emphasised that she expects the economic growth next year to be in the range of 7.5-8.5 per cent, which will be sustained for the next decade.

As regards the growth of India, we are looking at near close to double-digit growth this year and this would be the highest in the world. And for the next year, on the basis of this year, (the) growth would definitely be somewhere in the range of eight (per cent), Sitharaman said here on Tuesday during a conversation at Harvard Kennedy School. She noted that while the Ministry of Finance has not done any assessment as yet about the growth number, but the World Bank, IMF and rating agencies have all come nearer to this kind of growth number for India. So, the next year would also be somewhere in the range of eight to nine (per cent), 7.5 to 8.5 (per cent) would be the growth. And I expect that to be sustained for the next decade because of the rate at which expansion in core industries is happening, the rate at which services are growing, I don’t see a reason for India to be any way lesser than in the next coming decades, she said.

During the conversation with Professor at Harvard University Lawrence Summers during the talk organised by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Sitharaman, when asked about the state of the global economy, said: I don’t think you can have one picture for the entire globe. The emerging market economies are likely to recover speedily and are likely to have a growth trajectory, which will probably be even the title of engine for growth. They are the ones who are going to be pulling forward the global economy. And in that, at least from the data which has been released yesterday and the week before, I can say that India’s growth this year will be the highest in the world, of course, based on a lower base of last year, but that will continue into the next year. And even there, we will be one of the fastest-growing economies, she noted. She added that some other countries in the emerging market areas will also record high growth rates. The developed world will also catch up because their base is very high. So, the growth that they can show off will not be closer to double-digit but certainly will be also adding to the global growth, she said, adding that she sees “different picture in different regions.

When asked about the sustained growth of 8 per cent, a historical rarity, her medium and long term vision of where that growth is going to come from, Sitharaman underlined that the growths post-pandemic of any country can be compared with what had happened earlier, prior to the pandemic. The reset which the globe has seen itself tells you a narrative that the way in which countries are going to plan their growth is going to be very different from what it was earlier, she said. She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic itself is one of the reasons for the reset, which is happening from certain geographical territories where people are coming out of it, looking for other places where they can run their businesses from because no longer you have the transparency and rule of law in certain geographical territories. Therefore, the industry is the first one to get out. Investments are the first ones to get out and they are looking for destinations where certain assumptions can be taken up – rule of law, democracy, transparent policies and assurance that you’re with a broad global frame of things and that you are not an outlier, that you will not have anything to do with the global scheme of things, and it’s no good for us. The minister said all these are extraneous factors that helped India to attract industries to set businesses there. She also pointed out that India itself is a huge market.

Today, our demographic dividend is not a dividend without reason. It’s a dividend, which has great purchasing power ability. The middle class in India has the money to buy things, she said, adding that the people who are moving from other destinations to invest in India and to produce in India will have a captive market. The same demographic dividend also gives us another advantage – the youth population of India today is a skilled set of youngsters skilled in various different areas, most of them in STEM, the minister noted. Sitharaman said India will attract investments and have the purchasing power to demand the best of things from whoever produces it.

India is even today best in agriculture. The food security of many countries depend on imported food. Many in the Middle East depend on India for their basic food materials. We will be one of the largest exporters of food and food processed materials, she added. Similarly, labour intensive units, partly-skilled labour-intensive sectors such as textile, footwear, leather, and certain parts and components for the industry are all manufactured in India. So, I see every reason to believe that this 7.5 to 8.5 (per cent) growth is absolutely sustainable for the next decade. These are features that don’t exist in any one country all put together. You may have one in one country, and the other in a different country. But India has it all, the minister said.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IMF lowers global growth forecast to 5.9% for 2021, sees India growing by 9.5% this fiscal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its projection for global growth this year on supply disruptions impacting growth outlook for advanced economies, and worsening pandemic dynamics in low-income economies.

Its latest World Economic Outlook report pegs world economic growth at 5.9 percent for 2021, marginally lower than its July forecast of 6 percent. The global growth forecast for 2022 was left unchanged at 4.9 percent, IMF said.

“The outlook for the low-income developing country group has darkened considerably due to worsening pandemic dynamics. The downgrade also reflects more difficult near-term prospects for the advanced economy group, in part due to supply disruptions,” Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist at IMF, said in a blog.

The modest headline revision in the growth forecasts masks large downgrades for some countries, Gopinath said.

If COVID-19 was to have a prolonged impact into the medium-term, IMF warned, it could reduce global GDP by a cumulative $5.3 trillion over the next five years relative to its current projection.

The report also pointed out that dangerous divergence in economic prospects across countries remains a major concern. “Aggregate output for the advanced economy group is expected to regain its pre-pandemic trend path in 2022 and exceed it by 0.9 percent in 2024. By contrast, aggregate output for the emerging market and developing economy group (excluding China) is expected to remain 5.5 percent below the pre-pandemic forecast in 2024, resulting in a larger setback to improvements in their living standards,” Gopinath said.

According to IMF, these divergences are a consequence of the ‘great vaccine divide’ and large disparities in policy support. While over 60 percent of the population in advanced economies are fully vaccinated and some are now receiving booster shots, about 96 percent of the population in low-income countries remains unvaccinated.

Also Read: Basic scientific research a key driver of economic growth, says IMF 

Furthermore, many emerging markets and developing economies faced with tighter financing conditions and a greater risk of de-anchoring inflation expectations are withdrawing policy support more quickly despite larger shortfalls in output, the report pointed.

Supply disruptions pose another policy challenge, IMF said. “On the one hand, pandemic outbreaks and climate disruptions have resulted in shortages of key inputs and lowered manufacturing activity in several countries. On the other hand, these supply shortages, alongside the release of pent-up demand and the rebound in commodity prices, have caused consumer price inflation to increase rapidly in, for example, the United States (US), Germany, and many emerging market and developing economies,” IMF Chief Economist said.

She added that food prices have increased the most in low-income countries where food insecurity is most acute, adding to the burdens of poorer households and raising the risk of social unrest.

According to the report, the emergence of more transmissible and deadlier SARS-CoV-2 variants, more persistent supply-demand mismatches, price pressures, faster-than-anticipated monetary policy normalization, financial market volatility, smaller US fiscal package, greater social unrest, and more adverse climate shocks are among key downside risks to its growth forecast.

On the other hand, faster vaccine production and distribution, and a spurt in productivity growth would impart upside risks to the growth forecast.

IMF retained India’s growth outlook for both the current and the next fiscal. It pegs India’s real GDP growth at 9.5 percent for FY22, at 8.5 percent for FY23 and at 6.1 percent by FY27. It sees India’s consumer prices rising by 5.6 percent in FY22 and 4.9 percent in FY23. ​

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India on track to achieve world’s fastest growth: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India is on track to achieve the world’s fastest growth due to strong demand even as fresh infection numbers dropped to the lowest in more than six months, according to the latest survey results compiled by Bloomberg.

India’s economic losses have been limited so far, and it will be boosted by factors such as better-adapted firms, stable financial conditions and robust global growth spillovers, the Bloomberg report said quoting Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.

Economic activity next year in Malaysia and India, two of the countries most affected by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to recover faster than earlier forecast, according to the survey.

While Malaysia’s growth outlook was upgraded by the most in the region — 85 basis points to an expansion of 5.65 percent next year, India was a close second, with its economy expected to grow 6.7 percent, 80 basis points faster than previously seen.

Except for Thailand and New Zealand, which saw their outlooks slashed by at least 20 basis points, economists have raised their growth projections for most Asian countries. Indonesia’s outlook saw only a slight change.

Malaysia, which posted one of the world’s highest daily new infection rates over the past month and witnessed a change of guard, does not face any immediate economic risks. The country’s economy was supported by growth in domestic demand and strong exports, as the second-quarter gross domestic product grew 16.1 percent.

The survey on consumer price trends showed the biggest revision to New Zealand’s outlook, with inflation there seen accelerating by 90 basis points to 2.3 percent next year. Meanwhile, Singapore and Australia are likely to see headline inflation rising by at least 40 basis points.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Union Budget 2021: IMF welcomes India’s focus on growth

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The IMF on Thursday welcomed India’s Union Budget for focussing on growth and said fiscal policy can and should play an important role in facilitating a strong and inclusive economic recovery.

Gerry Rice, Director of Communications at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at a press conference here said the Union Budget rightly focuses on health, education, public infrastructure and, if fully implemented, can help increase India’s growth potential.

We welcome the Indian government budget’s focus on growth. Fiscal policy can and should play an important role in facilitating a strong and inclusive economic recovery, Rice said, responding to a question on the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on February 1. We also welcome measures to improve fiscal transparency by including food subsidies in the budget. Of course, a medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy will be important to ensure credibility, he said.

And we also agree with the need to further strengthen the financial sector and look forward to the details of the proposed measures in that area, Rice said. Finance Minister Sitharaman on Monday proposed a sharp increase in expenditure on infrastructure, doubling of healthcare spending and raising the cap on foreign investment in insurance in her Budget for the next fiscal in a bid to pull Indian’s economy out of the pandemic-induced economic crisis.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Economic Survey 2020 likely to peg FY20 GDP growth at 5%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s growth rate in FY21 is being seen in the range of 6-6.5 percent by the Economic Survey, which will be tabled later today in both houses of the parliament, signalling that the crushing slowdown is finally releasing its grip on the economy.

For the current year, the survey forecasts India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 5 percent — the slowest pace in 11 years — against the earlier estimate of 7 percent in July 2019, people familiar with the matter told CNBC-TV18. They asked not to be named.

The document, which maps the state of India’s economy and is prepared by a team of economists based in India’s finance ministry, believes that the downward slide in the country’s GDP has bottomed out. The overarching theme in this year’s economic survey is “Wealth Creation” and spells out 10 new ideas to achieve this, they said.

Annual economic growth slowed to 4.5 perecent in the July-September quarter, the weakest pace since 2013, owing to weakening demand and private investment. Earlier this month, the ministry of statistics said in a statement that GDP is estimated to grow 5.0 percent in 2019-20, slower than the 6.8 percent growth of 2018-19.

Slowing growth has put pressure on the government to expedite reforms as five rate cuts by Reserve Bank of India have hardly helped. It will also likely push finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to go for extra fiscal stimulus when she presents the annual budget on Saturday.

The government is expected to announce tax concessions for individuals and increase spending on infrastructure after cutting corporate tax rates last year, according to officials.

Among other policy recommendations, the survey is understood to have recommended “Assemble In India For The Globe” strategy for the manufacturing sector. Moreover, Economic Survey 2020 also calls for super specialisation of India Inc in labour-intensive manufacturing sectors.

Chapters in the document analyse the reason for the slowdown in the economy, the effectiveness of price control measures, and the need for more Ease of Doing Business measures. The Economic Survey calls for strong reforms in Public Sector Banks and suggests the use of Artificial Intelligence to better utilise the wealth of data created by the government-owned banks.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Davos 2020: Geopolitical tensions hurting global growth, according to WEF president Borge Brende

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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What began as an idea to bring together political and business leaders to discuss global opportunities and challenges 50 years ago, still today it remained the meeting ground of the powerful, the rich and the influential.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) was setup with an endowment of 25,000 Swiss francs and Davos was chosen as the host for the Forum’s first meeting. In 1987, the European forum was rechristened as the World Economic Forum in keeping with its aspiration to play a pivotal role in shaping the global narrative. Davos has been witness to many changes in the global political and economic order. It would be fair to say it has played a crucial role in pushing for free trade, multilateralism and conflict resolution.

Borge Brende, president of World Economic Forum told CNBC-TV18: “The world is unsettled and we see polarisation. We also see that big powers not always talk to each other, we also have seen trade wars but there are also some silver linings  last week, we saw that the two largest economies in the world, China and US, signed the first phase of the trade deal.”

“We have also seen that world leaders met in Berlin and agreed on a weapon embargo in Libya. So, there is a mixed picture but we are in a much more integrated world than before and then our response is very fragmented.”

On geopolitics he said: “We unfortunately see quite a synchronised situation when it comes to lower global growth and we now need a synchronised response to that. Geopolitical situation is affecting the global growth negatively through the trade wars. So, if we can have less protectionist measures being taken and some new initiatives on the trade side, I think that can contribute positively.”

Speaking on India, he said: “India has taken many important steps. I think the tax reform, also that you have more integration between the different states is important. We are seeing that the growth is now slowing, it is also partly a result of slowing global growth. On long term I am very optimistic on India. ”

“It is 1.3 billion people, very talented entrepreneurial people, it is still the largest democracy in the world but there are also big inequalities.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

UN projects India’s growth rate at 5.7% for 2019-20

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The UN projects India’s economy to grow by 5.7 percent in the current fiscal year and expects it to rise to 6.6 percent in the next.

The projection in the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects report released on Thursday is higher than the 5 percent made by the World Bank earlier this month.

The UN growth estimate for the current fiscal is drastically lower than the forecast of 7.6 percent made in last year’s report in January and 7 percent in the May update.

The head of UN’s Global Economic Monitoring Branch, Dawn Holland, told IANS that although there has been a steep decline in growth, India was still one of the high performers globally.

She said that it was expected to improve its growth rate in the coming year because of the steps being taken.

According to the report, only China has a higher growth rate than India among the world’s large economies with a 6 percent forecast for the current calendar year.

Briefing the media about the report, UN’s Chief Economist Elliott Harris presented a dire picture of the global economy last year when the world’s gross product growth rate dropped to 2.3 percent, the lowest in a decade.

He said that rising tariffs and rapid shift in trade policies were responsible for the lower growth rate with the United States-China trade disputes playing a significant part.

In South Asia, Bangladesh is forecast grow by 8.1 percent this fiscal year and 7.8 in the next, while Pakistan’s growth rate estimated at 3.3 percent for 2019-20 is projected to slip to 2.1 percent next year.

Associate Economics Affairs Officer Julian Slotman, the UN’s point-person for Indian and South Asia, said in an interview to IANS that “a huge decline in investment and in private consumption” were the major reasons for the economic slowdown in India.

External factors have also contributed to the lower growth, he said.

“Globally we have seen a large impact of trade tensions, particularly between the US and China, but also other major economies, that have affected growth rates across the globe and also, of course, India which is a very open economy, that has a lot to gain from international trade,” he said.

In India, he said, the government has responded to those issues by announcing some stimulus steps, “which we do expect to improve economic growth in 2020 going forward. However, fiscal stimulus in itself will not be enough.”

He mentioned two areas where India could do better: Labour and green energy.

“The labour markets are not performing optimally with high levels of informality (and) gender barriers that effectively limit the participation of women,” he said.

In addition, a high number of youth is neither working nor undergoing training, he said.

“This is something the government will have to address to both improve long-term economic growth and to reach (the UN’s) sustainable development goals,” he said.

Access to clean and affordable energy is another major area for improvement, both to improve growth in the long-term and to reach green energy goals for sustainable development, Slotman said.

Moreover, “India being an importer of energy has much to gain from improving access to clean and affordable energy” even if it has to put up with high upfront costs, he added.

Another barometer of economic growth in India and the world will be coming out on Monday when the International Monetary Fund releases its World Economic Outlook report.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow