Category: Government

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Building a pipeline of urban infrastructure projects

The Financial Express ($) Over the last month, two important reports on urban India came out in quick succession: The World Bank’s report on “Financing India’s urban infrastructure needs” and the Reserve Bank of India’s “Report on Municipal Finances”. The World Bank report peers into the future to detail the quantum of investments required in urban India over the next decade and a half; … Read More Building a pipeline of urban infrastructure projects

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Winner’s Curse

Strategies to understand and mitigate it Last month, at a leadership development program, I went back to my alma mater, IIM Ahmedabad. It is always fantastic to go back to the classroom and that too at IIMA! A topic that we detailed deeply there was Winner’s Curse. For an investor, entering into auctions can be fraught with the risk of overbidding such that while … Read More Winner’s Curse

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Net Finance – A companion to Net Zero

The Financial Express India made five commitments at COP26: (1) it will increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030; (2) it will meet 50 percent of its energy requirements through renewable energy by 2030; (3) it will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes until 2030; (4) by 2030, it will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy … Read More Net Finance – A companion to Net Zero

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Fiscal considerations of the Green transition

State of public finances has a direct impact on Green policies that Government can pursue – the range of policy options gets shaped by the need for more revenues or the ability to spend them Financial Express India’s commitment to Net Zero by 2070, has well and truly set the course for a Green transition in the country. Many aspects of this once-in-a-lifetime change … Read More Fiscal considerations of the Green transition

India’s Union Budget FY2023 – Impetus for investments and capex

Financial Express Indian government presented an investment-oriented budget with a focus on getting future ready. Increasing public investments and capital expenditure are expected to take the combined (Centre plus States) public capex to more than 4% of GDP in FY2023 from ~3% over the last few years. Advance growth estimates for FY2022 of 9.2% make India the fastest growing large economy: the increased capex … Read More India’s Union Budget FY2023 – Impetus for investments and capex

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Sequestering the fiscal bounty

The notional ‘saving’ of ~Rs 1 lakh crore on the fiscal deficit front offers India an opportunity to create a fund to deal with climate change Financial Express Fiscal year 2021-22 has been volatile, to say the least. The Budget for FY2022 was presented on Feb 1 last year at a time when the first wave of Covid-19 was firmly behind us. However, soon … Read More Sequestering the fiscal bounty

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India: Getting ready for global macro resets

Second wave of Covid-19 is now behind us. Localized lockdowns are opening, economic activity is coming back to pre-pandemic levels, and vaccinations are now proceeding apace with large, assured supply over the next few months. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased monetary conditions for the stressed sectors and Government has extended its program for support to the vulnerable. With fiscal space available as … Read More India: Getting ready for global macro resets

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Urban development and green finance: Blending two mega trends

Financial Express Writing on LinkedIn recently, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said, “The 15th Finance Commission and several academics have emphasised the crucial importance of sound property taxation. The third reform required states to notify floor rates of property tax and of water & sewerage charges, in consonance with stamp duty guideline values for property transactions and current costs respectively, in urban areas. … Read More Urban development and green finance: Blending two mega trends

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Modelling the vaccine market in India

A new chapter has opened up in India’s fight against Covid-19 with three big changes in April. Starting May, vaccines are now available for all adults in India. The central government is no longer the only purchaser – the vaccine manufacturers are now free to sell to the state governments and also to private sector (hospitals, companies, etc.). Also, many new vaccines are entering … Read More Modelling the vaccine market in India

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‘Moving epicenters’ – preparing India for future waves of Covid

India faced a severe second wave of Covid-19 – actionable public policy recommendations to prepare ourselves better An unexpected, unprecedented 16X surge Around end March 2021, with rapidly reducing active cases, India was getting back to its pre-Covid days in its economic and mobility indicators. Record-high Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection of Rs 1.24 trillion in that month underscored the return of the … Read More ‘Moving epicenters’ – preparing India for future waves of Covid

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Larger incomes to tax or larger taxes on incomes?

Budget 2020 cares for people’s economic aspirations, says Axis Bank’s Akhilesh Tilotia

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Finding investors for State debt

As States issue more debt, finding the investors who will subscribe to the issue will require expanding the current pool of investors and making the investment more lucrative. While there have been many deliberations in these pages on the growing amount of debt that the various tiers of the government (Centre and States) will have to raise, little discussion has gone into who they … Read More Finding investors for State debt