ECONOMY


The world seems to be in turmoil. There seem to be problems everywhere. It got me thinking about an article I had written 25 years ago (in Amar Ujala), in a similar situation - and I decided to reproduce it, since it is relevant:    "When we travel around the world, we cannot help noticing...

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Moneylife Digital Team 03 September 2025
Finance ministers from eight Opposition-ruled states met on Wednesday ahead of the 56th goods and services tax (GST) council meeting, seeking compensation for potential revenue losses following the proposed GST rate revisions.   The states—Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala,...

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Moneylife Digital Team 03 September 2025
Countering concerns that rationalising goods and services tax (GST) rates would dent revenue collections, an analysis by State Bank of India (SBI) on GST 2.0 argues that experience shows rationalisation tends to strengthen revenues over time, with the Union and state governments emerging as net...

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On 15th August, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, used his Independence Day address to announce a sweeping simplification of the country’s goods and services tax (GST). The patchwork of four main rates—5%, 12%, 18% and 28%—will be collapsed into two: 5% and 18%. A punitive 40% levy will...

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Moneylife Digital Team 29 August 2025
While India’s economy remains resilient and is expected to sustain robust growth in FY25-26, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned on escalating global trade protectionism, especially tariff actions by US, which poses a potential downside risk to exports and investment sentiment.   In its...

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President Trump’s 50% tariff threat on Indian exports in mid-2025 sent shockwaves through Indian’s power elite. Policy-makers, business leaders and economists say it is a wake-up call: India must act decisively—or risk losing ground in the global economy.   Former NITI Aayog chief executive...

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Moneylife Digital Team 20 August 2025
The Indian government’s proposed goods and services tax (GST) 2.0 rationalisation could become a major demand-side stimulus, boosting consumption, moderating inflation and sustaining growth, with little impact on the fiscal deficit, says a research note from State Bank of India (SBI).   The...

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Moneylife Digital Team 20 August 2025
Marking a major shift after years of strained ties, India and China on Tuesday announced a package of confidence-building measures aimed at creating a 'stable, cooperative and forward-looking' relationship. The decisions followed wide-ranging talks between Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and...

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Moneylife Digital Team 18 August 2025
The comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) has raised serious concerns over the management of the Union government’s reserve funds, revealing that out of receipts worth Rs241,220 crore collected between FY18-19 and FY22-23, only Rs344 crore was actually transferred to the designated...

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Last week, US president Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on select Indian exports, and soon escalated it to a threat of 50%, primarily over our continued import of Russian oil. This amounts to punitive sanctions reserved for enemies. Unless reversed quickly, it will deal a hard blow to a few...

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Moneylife Digital Team 14 August 2025
A staggering one billion Indians, nearly three-quarters of the population, are left with no money for discretionary spending after meeting their basic needs, according to the Indus Valley Annual Report 2025, published by Blume Ventures. The report paints a sobering picture of the financial...

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Moneylife Digital Team 14 August 2025
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Washington could impose higher secondary tariffs on India, depending on the outcome of president Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.   “We have put secondary tariffs on Indians for buying Russian...

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Moneylife Digital Team 12 August 2025
India’s export-oriented sectors, particularly diamond polishing, shrimp, home textiles and carpets, face sharp earnings blow after the US announced steep tariffs on imports from India, according to an assessment by CRISIL Ratings.   An additional 25% tariff, effective from 27th August, as a...

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Moneylife Digital Team 12 August 2025
The Lok Sabha on Monday pushed through two major financial reform bills and key sports legislation during a stormy Monsoon session marked by loud opposition protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.   The Income-Tax Bill, 2025, and the Taxation Laws (Amendment)...

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KBS Sidhu 08 August 2025
Cheap Russian Oil, Yet Petrol Pumps Stay Costly India’s Russian oil imports tell a striking story in numbers. Over the past two years, India has been importing crude oil at discounts ranging from 25% to 50%, amounting to US$5–USUS$30 per barrel below global prices. Yet petrol prices remain...

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Moneylife Digital Team 07 August 2025
India has strongly condemned the US decision to impose an additional 25% tariff on Indian imports, calling the move 'unfair, unjustified and unreasonable'. The sharp response came after US president Donald Trump issued an executive order that doubles the total tariff on most Indian goods to...

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Moneylife Digital Team 06 August 2025
As expected, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its third monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting for FY25-26, decided to keep the repo rate, the central bank's rate for short-term loans to banks, by 50bps (basis points) unchanged at 5.5%. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate...

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Moneylife Digital Team 05 August 2025
In a rare and sharply worded rebuttal, the Indian government has forcefully rejected US president Donald Trump’s threat to 'substantially' raise tariffs on Indian goods over its continued import of Russian oil, calling the criticism 'unjustified and unreasonable' and exposing what it described...

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KBS Sidhu 01 August 2025
The 25% jolt: Can Indo-US trade weather Trump’s new tariff storm?   President Donald Trump on 30 July 2025 declared that every good entering the United States from India will face a 25% ‘reciprocal’ tariff, plus an unspecified penalty, from 1 August 2025. In a Truth Social post, he wrote in...

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Moneylife Digital Team 30 July 2025
US president Donald Trump has announced a sweeping new trade measure imposing a 25% tariff on Indian imports starting 1 August 2025, escalating tensions between the two countries over long-standing trade issues. In a post on his social media platform, TruthSocial, the president accused India of...

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