Ishan Bakshi

Ishan Bakshi writes: There are several uncertainties surrounding states’ revenues and expenditures. This makes it hard to assess general government fiscal boost to economy for the coming financial year.

Ishan Bakshi writes: Several considerations, including the underlying technological architecture and impact on cash circulation and banks, will determine how it is designed

Union Budget 2022-23 Explained: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday presented the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament. Here are the highlights from Sitharaman’s Budget speech, and an explanation and analysis of it.

🔴 Ishan Bakshi writes: Between April 2020 and September 2021, 23 per cent of India’s formal labour force availed of an advance from EPFO to meet Covid-19 expenses

🔴 Ishan Bakshi writes: It has adversely affected chances of social mobility. This could combine with already high levels of inequality of opportunities and precipitate greater demands for income redistribution.

Ishan Bakshi writes: Increasing push towards solar energy, shifting of hitherto cross-subsidising private entities to renewable energy has compounded perilous position of utilities making need for reforms more urgent.

Ishan Bakshi writes: It points towards a continuing divergence in the fortunes of the formal and informal parts of the economy.

Ishan Bakshi writes: In a capital-deficit country, rather than welcoming capital, we seem to be creating more and more hoops for it to jump through

Centre has routinely stepped in to rescue discoms in distress, but dues have continued to rise. Minor tinkering will no longer help.

Amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code framework are a step towards addressing lacuna in its original architecture. The code is transitioning away from a creditor-centric approach.

States have spent less in this year, may focus on fiscal consolidation in the year to come. This belies hopes of a public-spending-led recovery.

Few would have faulted governments for spending more to counterbalance the effects of a once-in-a-century crisis. There is a time for aggressive consolidation. This was not it.

While job creation typically tends to follow economic recovery, surely, by now, given that value added by almost all sectors is around 90 per cent of last year’s levels, the distress in the labour market should also be showing signs of easing.

Some unconventional measures may well be needed at the current juncture. But discarding the principles of sound public policy, though it sounds appealing, could end up doing more harm than good.

The central bank must develop a clear strategy on what to do. At the one end, it is legally bound to an inflation target. Yet, at this juncture, there is a strong argument to look past the current spurt in inflation, and test the limits of both conventional and unconventional monetary policy.

As a neutral arbiter of Centre-state relations, the Finance Commission should seek to maintain the delicate balance in deciding on contesting claims.

Any intervention to “correct” pricing essentially involves placing a higher weightage on the assumed losses of competitors/producers than on the consumer’s apparent gains. This is not a straightforward exercise.

Union Budget important points Explained, highlights: Here's an explanation and analysis of the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament today.

Growth of GST collections has slowed since Q4FY19, in line with the fall in corporate tax collections, indicating the impact of sluggish economic growth.

An eloquent account of how public policy needs urgent re-imagination

The introduction of the IBC marked a structural change in the resolution architecture in India. The shift to a time-bound resolution process was a tool to help tackle the bad loan problem.

The journey of economists from university campuses to the White House

In other words, despite the Modi government’s emphasis on digital payments and a less-cash economy, the official printing presses are churning out more currency notes than before, both in volume and value terms.

The Centre has asked the 15th Finance Commission to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security should be set up. What are the implications for the finances of the states?