Seize the slowdown

The government needs to take a decisive approach on the financial architecture in India: It needs to take an axe to the system, as a scalpel will no longer suffice.Written by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: August 30, 2019 10:45:03 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) The economy has slowed. Now that there … Read more

Improving supply of animal products

The provisional data from the livestock census shows improving productivity and geographical spreadNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at August 23, 2019 11:45 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) The government, once every five years or so, conducts a livestock census, counting all domesticated animals. The 20th livestock census was conducted last year … Read more

Opening a window

Budget takes a calculated risk to fund part of borrowings through foreign currency bondsWritten by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: July 8, 2019 12:12:20 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) The government has chosen to retain the fiscal deficit target presented in the interim budget, continuing its commitment to the path of fiscal … Read more

Signs of a maturing bond market

The bond market has been stress-tested, and is seeing structural strengtheningNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at July 3, 2019 02:30 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) How worried should one be about the bond market? In a financial market that is constrained for capacity, the bond market was expected to step into … Read more

The stimulus should be monetary, not fiscal

Fight against the last vestiges of inflation threatens to undo significant policy gains of recent yearsNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at June 5, 2019 02:18 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) It is rare for consensus to emerge among hundreds of millions of humans. When it does, like it did in the … Read more

How to use the mandate

New government should utilise its enormous political capital to introduce economic reformsWritten by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: May 31, 2019 2:05:12 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) Hundreds of millions of people rarely agree on who should make decisions on their behalf. The BJP now has an overwhelming majority in the Lok … Read more

Are financial savings under-reported?

If the real repo rate, the term premium and credit spread were to normalise, borrowing rates could fall by more than 2 percentage pointsNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at April 30, 2019 21:37 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Are we saving enough? Like it is for households, the question is an … Read more

No More Half-Measures

The constraints in the financial system have further worsened the monetary tightness. As growth continues to slow and inflation stays below the target, interest rates may keep falling, but likely not fast enough to revive growth quickly.Written by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: April 17, 2019 7:38:21 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) … Read more

Why elections don’t impact markets

Besides the difficulty in predicting election results, there are four other reasonsNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at April 3, 2019 00:06 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) What do you think will happen in the elections? This is a question that comes up in every investor meeting these days. I usually start … Read more

What can be done to revive growth?

Economic growth solves many problems. Can lower interest rates help reverse the slowdown?Neelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at March 6, 2019 01:08 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Debatable as the analytical utility of quarterly GDP statistics in India may be, the continuing drop in growth rates as recently reported for the … Read more