The Economic Times

Join the Great Chain of Being

India must buck up and increase its participation in global value chains The latest World Development Report (WDR; bit.do/fo3VE) of the World Bank focuses on global value chains (GVCs), which have become vital for production and trade. Items once designed, …

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Counting Correctly Counts

Statisticians are not crooks. But their methodologies do need to change Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar The government has junked the 2017-18 National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) consumption survey which, accordingly to a leaked report, showed total consumption declining by 3.7% …

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Truth Be Told and Collected

People lie in surveys. Which is why India needs a new methodology to gather data A leaked National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey says India’s consumption fell 3.7% between 2011-12 and 2017-18, rural consumption fell 8.8%, and rural food consumption crashed …

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Do Not Hold Your Breath

Indian exports have grown very little since 2013. No economy in the world has had GDP growth of 7% for a long period — the definition of a miracle economy — without double-digit export growth. Hence, the recent fall in …

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What Dronacharya Wants

India needs to expand its drone strategy, and have a major production programme Last month, Saudi Arabia was hit by an attack on its oilprocessing facilities by drones and cruise missiles, probably made by Iran. The damage was quickly repaired, …

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The Beginning of a Start?

Cutting corporate tax to accelerate growth could be the first step to structural change Bravo, Nirmala Sitharaman. After becoming finance minister and presenting a second-rate Budget, you have seemed a timid tinkerer, making dozens of marginal changes to try and …

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Make America Grate Again

President Donald Trump’s trade wars may turn out to be political suicide Auto sales are falling, workers are being laid off in droves, and manufacturing is in reverse gear. I am not writing about India but about the US. General …

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How Not to Create Jobs

Nitin Gadkari’s proposal to make kulhads at tea stalls mandatory is harmful Nitin Gadkari is one of the best minds in the current Cabinet. Yet, he now seeks to revive an old failed policy. Once, tea in shops was served …

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Where’s the Competition?

Tackle the factors that make India uncompetitive, long-term growth’s greatest threat The Indian economy keeps sliding downward. GDP decelerated steadily from 8.2% in the first quarter of 2018-19 to 5.8% in the last quarter. Is this a short-term blip, or …

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Indira Gandhi’s Achhe Din

Bank nationalisation was an economic failure, but a smashing political success Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar The 50th anniversary of the nationalisation of big banks by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has attracted limited comment. Some critics call it a terrible economic …

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