Economy Updates

  A country in which less than half of the working-age population is even looking for a job is not one that will be able to escape poverty. By the middle of this century, India will have 1.6 billion people. That’s when the country’s population will finally start to decline, ending up at perhaps a billion by 2100. While that is still around 250 million more people than China will have then, every time India’s population is projected, its peak seems to come earlier and crest lower. While India will be a young country for decades yet, it is aging faster than expected. The latest round of India’s massive National Family Health Survey underscores the point. The average Indian woman is now likely to have only two children. That’s below the “replacement rate” of 2.1, at which the population would exactly replace itself over generations. A few decades ago, this would have been considered miraculous in a country dismissed as a Malthusian nightmare. As modern health care became

About 2.5 million ceremonies are estimated to have taken place since mid-November, around a quarter of this year's expected annual total.  A quick glance at social media feeds in India over the past month shows a flurry of weddings as couples rush to tie the knot following a lifting of some virus curbs. About 2.5 million ceremonies are estimated to have taken place since mid-November, around a quarter of this year’s expected annual total, after the government eased some restrictions around gatherings. It’s a stark turnaround for India’s jewelers, who have seen demand hammered for almost two years as the coronavirus led to the postponement of many weddings -- a key source of demand for the nation that considers buying and gifting of gold as auspicious -- while broader financial hardship further curbed purchases. The bumper festival season may help push India’s gold imports to as much as 900 tons this year, the highest in six years, Metals Focus Ltd said. That’s up from about 350 ton

Gopinath's comments come at a time when the government is looking to bring a Bill on cryptocurrency regulation International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath said on Wednesday that cryptocurrencies were proving to be a challenge for emerging markets and that strong regulation was needed for the sector. She, however, said there were practical obstacles to banning cryptocurrencies, given their decentralised nature. Gopinath’s comments come at a time when the government is looking to bring a Bill on cryptocurrency regulation. It is learnt however, that the Union Cabinet on Wednesday did not take up the Bill for consideration. With the current Winter Session ending on December 23, the chances of it being tabled in Parliament seem remote. Speaking at an event organised by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Gopinath also said that India’s fiscal and monetary policies will both need to be accommodative for the next few quarters, given the continuing un

  The government had listed the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 for tabling and passage in this session A Union Cabinet meeting on Wednesday did not discuss a Bill regulating cryptocurrencies, which means that Parliament’s Winter Session ending on December 23 is unlikely to take up the legislation. The government had listed the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 for tabling and passage in this session. While the written listing had said that the Bill would prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, it was later clarified that the descriptor had been carried over from the listing of the Budget Session of Parliament. ger more updates on Economy & Policy here The Bill had not been introduced then and was not listed for the Monsoon Session either. Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other officials have made two things clear: Cryptocurrencies will not be allowed as legal tender, and they may be allowed as reg

  Domestic fabless players to get support via design-linked incentive Economy & Policy : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a comprehensive Rs 76,000-crore ($10-billion) package to build a much-needed semiconductor ecosystem in the country. The incentives will be extended to a range of new units -- greenfield chip fab and display fab units, apart from compound semiconductor and ATMP (assembly, testing, marking, and packaging) facilities. The package also gives a fiscal push to the fledgling homegrown semiconductor product design companies (fabless players). And backing this effort is support to universities to train 85,000 engineers under the “chips to start-ups” programme. Semiconductor and display fab units under the scheme will be offered financial support of up to 50% of the project cost. This will be given to eligible players that have the technology, as well as the capacity to execute such high capital and resource incentive projects. The government is targeting