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
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
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
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
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
Budget 2020 cares for people’s economic aspirations, says Axis Bank’s Akhilesh Tilotia
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
India can learn a lot from its experience in managing cash – getting a billion people what they need can be planned effectively. A vaccine for Covid-19 is expected to come sometime over the next few months – hopefully in this year. Once a vaccine is available, getting it to India’s billion plus people is a logistical challenge with many moral and ethical questions … Read More Getting the vaccine to a billion plus people
Budget 2020 cares for people’s economic aspirations, says Axis Bank’s Akhilesh Tilotia. India’s response to its dilemma will determine whether budgets of the next decade will have larger incomes to tax or larger taxes on incomes. This Budget Speech of the finance minister was one of the longest in recent history. Her previous Budget speech in July last year was around 11,000 words. This … Read More Larger incomes to tax or larger taxes on incomes?
As the Centre and States try to find GST compensation cess monies, it is time to look beyond the present, to see how the future could unfold for State finances. The financial relationship between states and the Centre has been in news recently. The Fifteenth Finance Commission submitted its report to the president; there have been some delays in payment of the GST compensation … Read More State finances: Finding the monies
Akhilesh Tilotia 