'Global funds have turned net sellers of India’s sovereign bonds for the first time in four months, as expectations grow of a wider budget deficit. Foreign investors sold Rs 11,000 crore ($1.5 billion) of government bonds so far in January, set for its first sell-off in four months, according to data from Clearing Corp. of India, compiled by Bloomberg. An increasing number of analysts predict that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will again announce a record borrowing plan at the 1 February budget.
'The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine may have achieved new heights for the Bharatiya Janata Party electorally, but it has presided over an unbelievable level of mediocrity on all other fronts. The Modi government’s monumental HR crisis is beginning to show. From a sagging economy to foot-in-the-mouth ministers to an uninspiring cabinet, the BJP government’s bench-strength is abysmal in most parts, and in the remaining, just about average...
'The bad run for the Indian economy continues with the latest victim being the government's direct tax kitty, where collections have now entered the negative zone for the very first time. Government sources said that direct tax collection in the current fiscal up to 15 January has fallen by 6.1% compared with the corresponding period of previous year. While the development would test the government's ability to manage its finances and contain the deficit, it has the potential to virtually seal the fate of any big tax cut announcement in the coming Union Budget...'
'At least two in every five young Indians are not part of the workforce or have no link with education or any form of training, a UN report has said, putting the country behind Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on these parameters. The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 report, released here on Friday, said over 40 per cent of Indians aged between 20 and 34 were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) for the period between 2010 and 2018...'
'An unsuspecting 56-year-old Swedish woman tourist was fined over ₹2.5 lakh after she was found in possession of over ₹50,000 in demonetised currency notes at the Cochin International Airport Limited on Tuesday. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the airport, which had beefed up the security and tightened baggage screening ahead of the Republic Day, detected 49 demonetised notes of ₹1,000 and another five notes of ₹500 in the woman’s luggage. The invalid and now illegal currency was later handed over to the Customs authorities...'
'NCRB data show fake notes of Rs 2,000 entered the market days after PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation announcement. Today they are the biggest contributors to the value of seized counterfeit currency in India... While Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes were banned overnight, the government introduced new banknotes with denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500. It said these banknotes have additional security features which would make them difficult to be copied by counterfeiters, hence check the menace of fake currency...
'For the past five months, Trupti Kamle has been torn between two difficult choices: either saving money for her son’s education or ensuring that he is fed well. The reason for her dilemma is something that has been plaguing households across India in recent months – unprecedented food inflation. A domestic worker from suburban Mumbai, Kamle has always kept aside half of her income – currently Rs 12,000 a month – as savings for her six-year-old son.
'At least 10,349 people working in the farm sector ended their lives in 2018, accounting for 7.7% of the total number of suicides in the country which was 1,34,516, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The 2018 figure is less in comparison to 2016 when 11,379 farmers killed themselves, according to the agency which is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data... The data of 2017 was not made public by the NCRB in its report released on Wednesday. According to the report, a vast majority of farmers who killed themselves were men...'
'Gujarat showed signs of distress related to economy when state authorities recorded 294 suicides in 2018 where reason for ending life was termed as ‘poverty’. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ released on Thursday, 318 persons ended their lives citing ‘unemployment’ as the reason. The figures were 163% and 21% more than the ones recorded in 2017...'
'India lost over $1.3 billion in internet shutdowns across the country — lasting 4,196 hours in 2019 — making it the third-most economically affected country after Iraq and Sudan, says a new study. The report, titled The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns, in 2019 by internet research firm Top10VPN, worked on calculating the data in major regions of the world using the COST tool. The tool was developed by internet monitoring NGO Netblocks and advocacy group The Internet Society, and uses indicators from the World Bank, ITU, Eurostat, and US Census...'
