Economy

Off-budget borrowings are a means by which the government keeps its fiscal deficit in check by making quasi-government entities borrow on its behalf.

The latest poll projected the central bank to extend that pause - keeping its repo rate on hold at 5.15 per cent at its February meeting and until at least October.

Petrol, Diesel Rate Today: Currently, oil marketing companies such as state-run Indian Oil review the domestic rates of petrol and diesel on a daily basis and implement any changes at fuel stations with effect from 6 am.

"Although some improvement in FY21 is expected, these risks are going to persist. As a result, the Indian economy is stuck in a phase of low consumption as well as low investment demand," India Ratings said.

India, however, is not a victim of trade wars. Its slowdown is self-inflicted, caused by the evaporation of consumer demand, proliferation of bad loans and erosion in business confidence.

With the economy facing its worst growth, investment and jobs crisis in more than a decade, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needs to offer support for individuals and businesses.

In September 2019, the government banned export of onions to increase availability of the commodity in the domestic market and contain rising prices.

Mr Abheek Barua, Chief Economist, HDFC Bank, said in a report that the upcoming budget is unlikely to mark a departure from past budgets. There may not be any major fiscal stimulus to ramp up growth as the finance ministry itself has capped government spending in Q4 FY20. And there may only be minor tweeking of tax slabs as a cut in income tax is unlikely to be enough to boost consumption, given the narrow tax base (only 5.7% of India's population paid income tax in FY19) Suvodeep Rakshit, Senior Economist, Kotak Institutional Equities, also favoured demand-side incentives on the part of the government. "The government should aim to boost consumption in the near term through accelerated spending on rural infrastructure and employment generation (such as PMGSY, NREGS, PM-KISAN, etc)," he emphasized.

Things haven't gone according to plan though, largely because of a worsening slowdown in the economy, which has put pressure on government revenue and the fiscal deficit.

India's current unemployment rate stands at 7.5 per cent as per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). However, the unemployment rate for graduates stands at 18.5 per cent - more than twice the headline rate, according to data for the end of 2019 compiled by CMIE.

IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said growth in India slowed sharply owing to stress in the non-bank financial sector and weak rural income growth.

The IMF said global growth would reach 3.3 per cent in 2020, compared to 2.9 per cent in 2019, which was the slowest pace since the financial crisis a decade ago.

Imports of thermal coal - used mainly for electricity generation - fell 10.7 per cent to 15.62 million tonnes in October.

Petrol, Diesel Rates Today: Currently, oil marketing companies such as state-run Indian Oil review the domestic rates of petrol and diesel on a daily basis and implement any changes at fuel stations with effect from 6 am.

Petrol, Diesel Rate Today: Currently, oil marketing companies such as state-run Indian Oil review the domestic rates of petrol and diesel on a daily basis and implement any changes at fuel stations with effect from 6 am.