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Economy's health is good but the common man misses "the feel-good" factor

                                GDP growth projections by Global Institutions of Advanced Economies and Emerging Market Economies including India are given in Table 1 herein below: Table 1: The above chart indicates that the GDP growth of Indian economy in Calendar year 2023 has  been revised upwards by OECD from 5.7% to 6% and downwards by World Bank from 6.6% in Jan 2023 to 6.3% in June 2023. The convergence is between 6-6.3% with RBI and Department of Economic Affairs of Ministry of Finance are projecting 6.5% growth in FY2024 with risks evenly balanced.IMF is projecting at below 6% .However all these forecasts are showing slowdown from the growth attained in the last two fiscal years at 9.1% in FY22 and 7.2% in FY23.  Table 2: Key Fiscal Indicators (as a  per cent of GDP)    Indicator 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 Actuals ...

Reduce "GDP" for "Acche-din" feel-good factor!!

  Private consumption is the spending of households and individuals on consumption of goods and services.Private consumption in India during FY22-23 rebounded in India due to two reasons-1)one is due to the "pent-up" demand after the pandemic years of suppressed private consumption ;2) The increase in private consumption  during FY22-23 signals that households have more disposable income in their hand which in turn drives economic growth. Private consumption expenditure which comprises 61 per cent of the GDP estimates, grew by 7.5 per cent during FY22-23, higher than the pre-pandemic five-year average of 6.9 per cent.But the worrying point is that the private consumption growth was weak at 2.8% (YOY)in Q4 of FY22-23. Since private consumption accounts for approx 58-61% of GDP, Govt's policies must support them by enabling the households to have more disposable income in their hands.For that to happen, GOI will have to work on two pronged strategy 1)look at avenues for inc...

India's Sovereign Ratings- Challenges for Improvement in Ratings

  - Brief overview of India's sovereign ratings:  India's sovereign rating is a measure of the country's creditworthiness and ability to repay its debts. It is determined by various credit rating agencies based on factors such as economic growth, fiscal policies, political stability, and external debt. India's current sovereign rating stands at BBB- with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor's, Baa3 with a negative outlook from Moody's, and BBB- with a stable outlook from Fitch Ratings. Despite challenges such as high public debt to GDP ratio necessitated by Covid and widening fiscal deficit , India has been able to retain Investment Grade Ratings due to sustained improvements in public finances. (Fiscal deficit trend)   - Sovereign rating is crucial as it reflects the creditworthiness of a country and its ability to repay its debts. It also affects the interest rates that a country has to pay on its borrowings, which in turn impacts its economic growth an...