Column

High Speed Rail: A necessary step forward

by

A frequent criticism has been whether the funds being used for HSR would not have been better used in improving safety and expanding Neelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at September 13, 2017 23:50 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) A decade after Indian Railways first proposed High Speed Rail (HSR) routes, the … Read more

A fog descends on a house under renovation

by

Prolonged uncertainty can be detrimental to growth: The economy may need monetary and fiscal helpNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at September 4, 2017 23:22 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) The “weak near term for a strong long-term” view of the Indian economy is now consensus. Structural changes such as millions of … Read more

Think in India, for India

by

‘Think for India’ campaign would require less publicity than Make in India, and may yet be impactfulNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at July 31, 2017 23:02 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) That 70 years after Independence, with more or less continuous democratic rule, we are still far from providing basic services … Read more

The missing learning curve

by

We need to build institutional memory, improve decision-making. Let’s start with dataWritten by Neelkanth Mishra | July 3, 2017 1:48:55 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) Humans have incredible powers of learning and adaptation. Every few years, looking back, one feels the younger version of oneself was so unwise. But as human … Read more

The income pyramid is hard to dig into

by

Is high growth inevitable for companies operating in under-penetrated sectors?Neelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at June 5, 2017 22:56 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Is high growth inevitable for companies operating in under-penetrated sectors? Many of us implicitly assume as much, particularly investors when they indiscriminately invest in such companies despite … Read more

There is still hope for agriculture

by

In Madhya Pradesh, agri is now 38% of its total output, versus 17% (and falling) average for IndiaNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at May 1, 2017 22:44 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) saw a 30 per cent increase in agricultural output last year. While it … Read more

Are regulators behind the curve?

by

The Union govt can only enforce fiscal deficit targets for states as long as states owe it moneyNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at April 3, 2017 23:31 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Are regulators behind the curve on state governments’ bond issuances? In the past seven years, even as the absolute … Read more

Beyond the farm

by

Recent surveys suggest a sharp drop in agricultural employment. What must the government do?Written by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: March 30, 2017 12:00:16 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) We stand at a critical point in India’s economic history, when jobs finally appear to have started shifting away from agriculture. During the … Read more

Capital rush shows plumbing problems

by

The ratio of bank loans to GDP, a measure of banking penetration, is among the lowest in the worldNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at March 6, 2017 22:50 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Growth in bank loans is at a 50-year low when financial savings are rising: As a percentage of … Read more