Anil Sasi

Despite repeated requests by the Ministry to relax the default norms, the central bank refused to budge. The rate hike has now ruffled feathers in the government.

Through the first increase in repo rate since the NDA came to power four years ago, the Reserve Bank has underlined the upside risk to inflation projections, and reiterated its mandate to check rising prices.

Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel components, was at 5.92 per cent in April while general CPI (Consumer Price Index) inflation stood at 4.58 per cent in the same month.

Rajiv Kumar says a series of reforms in the last four years of the government has laid the “foundation of a solid growth story going forward.”

In February this year, even as SBI, amid increased pressure of stressed assets, reported its first quarterly loss in 17 years for the three months ended December 2017, the bank’s management claimed that the bad loans had topped out.

Even as GDP growth figures issued by the Central Statistics Office Thursday showed that the ongoing recovery strengthened in the last quarter of 2017-18, there are concerns over whether the rebound can be sustained amid surging oil prices.

SIDBI has so far committed Rs 1,285 crore to 27 local venture capital funds under the FFS scheme, of which Rs 141 crore —only about 11 per cent — has been disbursed to these funds till April 2018.

Pronab Sen said that the GST may have triggered companies to register and added to the EPFO enrollment numbers, which is not equivalent to “creating a new job”.

A steady supply of uranium is good news for the country’s nuclear power sector, something that is expected to boost the performance of Indian nuclear power plants, as well as of several fuel cycle facilities.

While the total taxpayer base grew at an average rate of about 7.9 per cent a year, individual taxpayers recorded an average annual growth rate of 8.2 per cent in these five years, inching up from 94 per cent in AY 2011-12 to 94.9 per cent in AY 2016-17, according to official data.

Since April 1, 2017, nearly 48 per cent of the total currency notes supplied are lower denomination notes of Rs 200 and below, according to RBI data until December 31, 2017.

Inflation may compel the US Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, and this may lead to capital outflow from emerging markets as American investors look to chase better returns back home.

Gopal Singh has been holding charge at the helm of the Rs 1.22 lakh crore state-owned firm since September 1, despite figuring in a list of six candidates rejected by the PESB when it conducted interviews for the post in June last year.

The average rate of construction of National Highways (NHs) per day has come down from 22.5 km in 2016-17 to 20.7 km in 2017-18 (data till December 2017), according to fresh data compiled by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

It said that during investigations, the allegations against Mittal “were not found corroborated”.

Various govt initiatives, aimed at fishing out yellow metal lying idle with households, have failed to achieve the desired results. The 22 tonnes mobilised under SGB scheme in last 3 years translates to just about 1% of India's physical demand in that period.

India’s exports of steel and aluminium to the US are not significant; protectionist American tariff hikes are unlikely to immediately dent the Indian metals sector. The impact, however, may come through an indirect route.

Of the 13,353 operational ITIs today — from just 6,906 in 2009 — about 11,000 are privately run, with this segment growing annually at the rate of 15 per cent. Accreditation qualifies ITI operators to access funds under the government’s skilling programme.

Since India is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the country cannot directly take part in the construction of nuclear power plants in other countries. However, it has individual pacts with Bangladesh and Russia for collaborations in the nuclear sector.