Economis IAS Current Materials GS III 2020

 Economis IAS Current Materials GS III 2020

1.               Elephant Bond- high level advisory constituted in sep 2018 for suggestion to improve India’s trade, come up with significant recommendation to tackle menace of black money.Chaired by  economist Dr Surjit S Bhalla , ask govt to allow people to declare undisclosed income with mandotry condition to invest 50% in a govt bond, which should be utilised only for insfracture project.

2.               India moved up one place to rank 43^rd most competitive economy in world in annual competitiveness ranking compiled by International Institute for Management Development position in 2018 is 44.

3.               Reserve bank of India constituted a task force to suggest policy and regulatory intervenion required for development of secondary market in corporate loans . officaly name- TASK FORCE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY MARKET FOR CORPORATE LOANS. Six member body headed by Canara bank chairman TN Manoharan. Recommendation on- development on secondary market , sterssed assets , creation of a loan contract registry to remove information asymmetries between buyers and sellers.

4.               Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman announced ad additional income tax exemption of 1.5 lakh for purchaser of electric vehicle in budget 2019-20, GST rate on these vehicle is 5%, India has started taken tiny steps. Requirement is Battery, Center for Battery Engineering and Electric Vehicle at IIT Madras working on for four years. Govt do everything that can- funding factories , funding lithium cells, electric infrastructure, vehicle and subsiding user behavior  

5.               Data released by National Bureau of Statics that economy grew by 6.2% in II qtr its lowest in 27 yrs. Due to slump in export, china’s ongoing trade war with US and downturn witness by Sectors such as housing construction. Worst may not yet be cover for china and economic growth could further worsen, china relient on export and trade war with US shows no signal of coming to an end. Chinese govt tried to grow economy through a- tax cut, b- Increase public spending, c- encourage bank for lending  for domestic demand for its good – China ‘s Economy

6.               Asian Development Bank lowered India’s GDP growth forecast to 7 % for the current year on the back of fiscal shortfall concerns. (About ADB-  HQ- Manila, Philippines)

7.               India’s vision 5 trillion economy a sky vision without agriculture , insufficiant investment in the agriculture over past 30 yrs resulted – low productivity , stagnant production.

8.               SEBI needs financial autonomy to remain effective as the chief market regulator, center’s decision to clip the wings of the SEBI , as a part of the Financial bill introduced in parliament , the centre had proposed amendments to the Securities and Exchange board of India Act , 1992 that were seen as affecting SEBI’s financial autonomy., amendment required that after 25% of its surplus cash in any year is transferred to its reserve fund , SEBI will have to transfer the remaining 75% to the govt. amendmet to SEBI act seems to be clearly motivated by the desire to increase control over the regulator rather than by financial consideration. Require SEBI to seek approval from the govt to go ahead with its capital expenditures plan. Lack of financial autonomy can effect SEBI’s plan to improve the quality of its operation by investing In new tech & other equipment to upgrade market infracture.RBI and National Sample Survey Office have come under pressure in recent month., worries about independent agencies being subordinate by the govt. Centralization of power will be risky

9.               India’s share in global Textile Exports is 6% in 2017. Share of top three textile exporting countries in global textile exports is China (33.6%), USA (6.3%) and India (6%). Textile sector export contributon in India’s total exports is 12.2% in 2018-19.

10.           Govt panel headed by Senior bureaucrat Subash Chandra Garg  calling complete ban on private cryptocurrencies in India. Recommended a fine of up to 25 crore and jail term of up to 10 years if found owning or handling private crytocurrencies. Alternative to private  the panel recommended the introduction of a single cryptocurrency for the whole country that is backed by the Rserve Bank Of India(*RBI)  Point Against- risk done by investor , not the govt, banning the consumption of good or service doesn’t mean that people will stop consume it.  Fever  although risk is taken by inverstor but wealth losing chance by nation. Think if 2 lakh of any investor lose in unregulated currency definitely it harms the interest of nation. 

11.           Reserve Bank Of India has relaxed external commercial borrowing norms for corporates, non banking lenders as a move towards easig Liquidity., liberalisation will be applicable to ECBs taken for working capital general corporate purpose loans or repyment of rupee loans. External commercial Borrowing is an instrument used in India to faciliate Indian companies to raise money outside country in foreign currency. ECBs availed of by resident are governed by the forign exchange management Act 1999 along with th eforeign exchangement (borrowing or lending in foreign exchange ) regulation 2000.

12.           Govt Opf India launched Atal Community  Innovation Centre in New Delhi to encourage the sprit of innovation at the community level. Initiative has been launched under the Atal Innovation Mission a flagship initiative of NITI aayog. Purpose- to make innovation ecosystem socialy inclusive as well as to ensure equitable distribution of insrastructure for innovation across country.

13.           IMF’s Annual Observation Report of the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) . India failed to comply , a practice mandatory for all IMF members. IMF launche SDDS in 1996 to guiode members to enhance data transparency and help financial market participation with adequate information to access economic situation of individual countries.  Report lists Three types of deviations- The First Deals with delays in data dissemination, Second – member country do not list a data category in their advance release calenders  despite the category being mandated by the SDS.THIRD-  ehrn data is not desseminated at all for a particular period.

14.           Mars Solar Conjuction- mars and Earth will be on Opposite side of the Sun solar conjuction occuers every two years.

15.           To boost Economy Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a number of measures- (1) Withdrawn of Controversial surcharge on Foreign Portfolio Investers. (2) Violation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules will not be treated as criminal offences. (3) Govt decided to front load the Rupee 70,000 crore of capital infusion in public sector Banks. (4) Additional rupee 20,000 crore of liquidity to the housing finance companies.

16.           India jumps 14 places on world Banks’s Ease of doing Business ranking. Now at 63 position from last 77. No.-1 New Zealand 2- Singapore, 3- Hong Kong,        China -31, Russia-23, Brazil- 124. Indiacator for Ease of Doing Business – Starting Business, Construction Permits, Getting electricity, Registering Property, Getting Credit , Protecting minority interests, Paying taxes, trade , Enforcing contracts, Resolving insolvency. From 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2020 a significant upward journey. Latest improvement has come on the back of implementation of the Insolvancy and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).  India’s rank has improved from 108 to 52 in the resolving insolvancy” Country’s ranking in the “ Trading across borders” category jumped 12 places from 80 to 68 signifying the abatement of paperwork in favour of electronic filing of documents. Dealing with construction permits – ranking has improvd by 25 places from 52 to 27.

17.           Calling for more “openess to reform andf specific reform such as more local courts, settng up a fast track commercial dispute resolution mechanism, land data digitisation and contract enforcement protections. World Bank President David Malpass says India must focus o Structural improvementto improve its growth rate.

18.           Govt of India has accorded ‘Maharatna’ status to public sector undertaking’s (PSU’s) Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Power Grid Corporation.

 

       Maharatna CPSEs-

           1.   Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited

           2.   Bharat Petrolium Corporation Limited

           3.   Coal India Limited

           4.   GAIL ( India) Limited

           5.   Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

           6.   Indian Oil Corporation Limited

           7.   NTPC Limited

           8.   Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited

           9.   Power Grid Corporation of India Limited

          10.               Steel Authority of India Limited

      Navratna CPSEs

           1.   Bharat Electronics Limited

           2.   Container Corporation of India Limited

           3.   Engineers India Limited

           4.   Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

           5.   Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

           6.   National Aluminium Company Limited

           7.   NBCC (India) Limited

           8.   NMDC Limited

           9.   NLC India Limited

           10.               Power Finance Corporation Limited

            11.               Oil Iondia Limited

            12.               Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited

             13.               Rural Electrification Corporation Limited

             14.               Shipping Corporation of India Limited

The CPSEs fullfilling the following creteria are eligible to be considered for grant of Maharatna Status-

       1.   Should be already a Navratna Company

        2.   Should have annual turnover of more than Rs 25000 crore during last 3     yrs

       3.   Average annual net profit after tax should be more than Rs 5000 crore    during last 3 yrs.

      4.   Should listed on Indian stock exchange with minimum prescribed public   shareholding under SEBI regulation.

      5.   Should have average annual net worth of more than rs 15000 crore during last 3 yrs.

     6.   Should have signuificant presence globally.

19.             Fugitive Economic OffendersAct (FEOA) became a law on Jul 31,2018. It defined offender as an individual who has committed offences involving an amount of 100 crore ruppees or more and has run away from India to avoid criminal proscution.

20.             Twin Trouble-Low Groeth , high inflation – (root cause of crisis), Economic data showing that India stepping even closer to stagflation (persistence high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnan demand ), Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) contracted 3.8% in Oct , comparing 8.4% during same month last year.Retail inflation jumped to 40 month high of 5.5% in Nov(Food prices)

21.             15^th Finance Commission- NK Singh(Chairman), Arvind Mehta(Secretary), Members(Shashikant Das, Anoop Singh, Ramesh Chand, Ashok Lahiri)- Devolution Formula spells out how the centre plans to share the taxes collected by it with the states, govt either accept or reject the suggections. Finance Commission was constituted by President of India under Article 280 of the Constitution on 27^th Nov 17to make recommendation for the period of five years from 01^st Apr 20 to 31 Mar 25. Necessitated after Article 370 amended.Last time interim report was submitted during the term of 11^th Finance Commission (2000-05), when the new states of Jharkhand , Uttarakhand and Chatishgarh were created.

22.             The United Nations development Programme (UNDP) released the 2019 Human Development Report (HDR) entitled “Beyond income , Beyond average, Beyond today: inequalities in humandevelopment in the 21^st century. India ranks 129 out of 189 countries from 130^th position last year.In the Gender InEquality Index(GII) India is at 122 out of 162 Countries. Neighbourers China (39), Sri lanka(86), Bhutan(99), Myanmar(106), were placed above India.