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Showing posts from July, 2020

RBI on Financial Stability of India and outlook on Govt finances

RBI has come out with its latest Financial Stability Report of the country last week.This is the first report after the outbreak of Covid 19 since this report is released once in six/seven months by RBI.The last report was released in Dec 2019. Some of the macro financial indicators like CRAR(capital to risk-weighted assets ratio)at 14.8% ,, PCR (provision coverage Ratio) at 65.4% and GNPAs at 8.5% of all SCB improved all but marginally between Sep 2019 and March 2020. But the bad news is GNPAs can worsen due to economic distress induced by  Covid pandemic and the Stress tests due to credit risk show a probability of this widening  to anywhere between 12.5% and 14.7% by March 2021. Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI) which is published every week on Monday says in its latest published on July 27th that the Business Resumption shows signs of flatenning due to increase in Covid nos..According to  its short term outlook  the Indian Business which was ...

Hammer and Dance strategy- both with Corona and China!!

Initially, when COVID 19 started spreading in India, PM Modi announced a war on Covid 19 and every single citizen abided by his exhortation. Many newspapers and media personnel screamed Modi is going hammer and tongs at Covid 19 virus in order to scorch it totally. But after a few lockdowns, both PM and the common man understood with humility that Covid demands hammer and dance strategy to deal with it. So we are now reconciled to the fact that we must learn to live with Covid 19 at peace instead of waging a losing war. Adapting to its speed and spread, the common man is now equipped with mask, social distancing etc. to tackle it and dance with it. Govt adopts the hammer and the common man adopts dancing with it. Hopefully, this will become a considered foreign policy also with China, the birthplace of Covid19. Hammer at LAC and then dance with it in commercial and trade space!!Also, dance with China to wean it off Pakistan!!

Government's asset monetisation

Policy prescriptions are flying thick and fast and on my part, I am adding one more . All Economists including me are prescribing deficit monetisation, pump priming etc. taking a leaf out of Modern Monetary Theory. As against this,Central Govt. has an alternative which is called Asset monetisation, according to me.Govt calls it Disinvestment/Divestment of PSUs. When the whole world is reeling under Covid pandemic , will there be a suitor for Air India? Even if there is a good buyer will he be willing to pay the right price for Air India.What will be the benchmark for its valuation when the whole industry is bogged down by this pandemic and its repercussions on the travel industry. In such unprecedented situations , it is best advised not to go in for outright sale transactions of Government stake in PSUs including Air India, BPCL,etc. Similarly, other intangible but real assets are Spectrum waves ( link ), Mining/Abiotic  ,Biotic Resources which are hidden inside the Ear...

Immediate prescription for demand stimulus!

Sri. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to Central Govt,yesterday, has gone on record saying that further demand stimulus measures will be announced after vaccine becomes available. Why should we link stimulus to vaccine availability is not clear. What kind of vaccine he is expecting and if the vaccine falls short of his expectations whether he would not allow roll out of stimulus? I t may become too late to wait till then.Why because, the common man has started saving his meagre earnings due to his fear about his future earnings and not due to Covid pandemic per se.In order to allay his fear about his employment and future earnings, Govt must sacrifice some near term revenue and announce some economic incentives  for kick starting the economy.What better place to start than with Indirect Tax cuts. Auto sector is the biggest in manufacturing in terms of GDP and reducing GST on it from 28% and converge it with Revenue Neutral Rate(RNR) of 18% will give a huge ...

வேண்டுதல், வேண்டாமை ....

அன்பே தெய்வமென்று சொல்வது உண்டு;       அன்பே விலங்கானால் உடைப்பதும் உண்டு; இன்பமே விரும்பி ஏங்குவதும் உண்டு;         இன்பத்தை விலக்குவதும் உண்டவன்; பழத்துடன் பால் வேண்டி அலைவதும் உண்டு;          கூழே போதுமெனக் கேட்டுண்பது உண்டு; குழந்தை செல்வம் வேண்டிப் பெறுவதுண்டு;          குழந்தை பேறு வேண்டாமென வேண்டுவதுண்டு; கைநிறைய வேண்டும் காசென்பதுண்டு;        கையளவு பணமே அதிகம் என்பதுண்டு; வையகமே தனக்கென வரங்கேட்பதுண்டு;          கையளந்த ஆறடி நிலமே கேட்பதுமுண்டு; எப்பொருள் வேண்டாமென சொல்லி நின்றாலும்,            மெய்ப்பொருள்  வேண்டாமென சொல்வதும் உண்டோ?

India's research, design and manufacturing capabilities!

If you do a SWOT analysis of India's capabilities, certainly Software prowess will be among the top in the list in terms of technological leverage. Pharma will come next to it and there are others like leather goods, cotton textiles, garments etc. There is one niche area where India has excelled in all- Research, Design and Manufacturing capabilities and that is two-wheeler production. Even though India borrowed the technology from Japanese manufacturers initially, now India has its own name in the world for 2 wheeler manufacturing competing and even outshining the best in the world. Yesterday I was listening to a panel discussion on defence manufacturing. Two out of the four panelists predicted in about 5 to 10 years time, India will be among the first three in terms of Research, Design and Mfg. of niche defense equipment incl high-end weapons built on the cutting end technology. According to them ,it has been made possible by the coherent, calibrated and painstaking efforts ...

நட்சத்திரம்!

ஏழைக் குடிசையின் ஓலைப் பொத்தல்கள்- வானக் குடையில் வாரித்தெளித்த ஓட்டைகளின் வழியாய் ஒளிப் புள்ளிகளோ?!! நீதி தவறிய பாண்டியன் முன் சினத்துடன் வீசிய சிலம்பினின்று சிதறாமல் சிரித்த சிறந்த முத்துக்களோ?!! வானத்து நகரத்தில் வானவர்கள் கடைத்தெருவில் ஒளிரும் கணக்கில்லா மின் விளக்குகளோ?!! இரவெனும் அழகியின் கிரீடத்தில் பதித்த மின்னும் வைரக் கற்களோ?! மனிதனின் பலவித ஆசைகளை ஆண்டுகள் பல அசையாது நின்று கண்டுச் சிரிக்கும் அறிஞர்களோ?! உலகமெனும் நாடகமேடையில் நடைபெறும் நாடகத்தை கண் சிமிட்டி களிக்கும் வானவெளி ரசிகர்களோ?!! கவிஞர்கள் வியந்து பாட்டு எழுதவே பரந்த கறுப்புப் பட்டாடையில் இயற்கை வரைந்த எழிற்க் கோலமோ?!!

We are born without locks!

Whenever any discussion happens on the human mental states, usually the discussion starts with Sigmund Freud. His Id, Ego and Alterego interpretations of the human mind in both conscious and subconscious levels have been the subject matter of debate throughout the world. If you construct a matrix grid with Child, Parent and Adult ego states of Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis of social behaviours exhibited by human beings,  blended with Freud's human personality types of psycho analysis , then the two-axis grid will present what Eric Berne envisaged. However, I went one step further and tried to blend the basic gunas as outlined by the Indian philosophy of yonder: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. The complex matrix will be like the above. According to me the middle axis of a combination of Ego, Parent and Rajas will give a stability to the human life and existence through the ages. It is Sattva which will primarily drive the Adult behaviour and bear on the Alterego for the so...

Reforms in Power sector.

Central Govt announced Rs.90K cr rescue package for power gencos through PFC and REC.But PRAAPTI ( Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators) website shows that the total overdue amount to be paid to Gencos stood at Rs.113.8K cr at the end of May 2020 continuously going up for the last 18 to 24 months. The total outstandings were Rs.125.6K cr. link . Apart from this, there is renewable energy generation pending to be adjusted against captive consumption of factories which is not yet visible.This may be another iceberg submerged. After clearing Rs.90K cr.as per GOI plan  stated above, how the state discoms are going to manage their future liabilities. With a negative gap between Average Cost of Supply(ACS) and Average Revenue Realised at Re.0.41 per unit on an All India basis, it is a losing game. AT & C loss is also still very high at 18.72% link .UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) commitments lie in tatt...

எது நல்லது , எது கெட்டது-பகுத்தறிவு!

குழி தோண்டி விதை விதைக்கிறேன்! உடலைக் கிழித்து உயிரைக் காக்கிறேன்! களை பிடுங்கி பயிரைக் காக்கிறேன்! சத்தம்  போட்டு அமைதி  படுத்துகிறேன்! பொய் சொல்லி உண்மைக்கு வாதாடுகிறேன்! குண்டு வெடித்து சமாதானம் கேட்கிறேன்! உயிரைக்  கொன்று உரிமை கேட்கிறேன்!