There was
further improvement in the area covered under the Rabi crop, as measured by the
shrinking lag from last year. The Ministry of Power gave an update on progress
in rural electrification, with 160 villages having been electrified in the
first week of January alone, across various states.
As per the
World Bank’s latest forecasts, too, the Indian economy is expected to grow at
the fastest rate among major world economies at 7.3% in 2015 and 7.8% in 2016.
While the bank has cut its overall growth forecasts for both years, the
softening in growth expected in India is likely to be much lesser than for
emerging economy peers like Brazil and Russia.
On the
policy front, the Union Cabinet approved the creation of a credit guarantee
fund, the MUDRA bank and also gave a go ahead for the Stand Up India scheme.
While the credit guarantee fund and MUDRA bank were first announced during the
last budget, the Stand Up India scheme was announced during the PM’s speech on
the previous Independence Day. All three initiatives are geared towards
supporting the small entrepreneur, and particularly SC/ST and Women
Entrepreneurs, through provision of a target number of loans, and handholding
support for them.
The FM
stated that the government will continue public spending next year as well,
despite pressure on its resources, during a pre-budget consultative meeting.
This is an Executive Summary of the Orbis Economics's weekly report - India Macro Weekly. To know about subscription, write to orbis.economics@orbiseconomics.com
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