Editor's Desk

Indian Unemployment & Broken Job conundrum – Will Modi Govt Act ?

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India is likely to be characterised by an excess labour supply of ~70mn persons in FY20. From a sectoral perspective, even as the Agricultural and Industrial sectors deal with excess labour supply, the Services sector will be characterised by a shortage of adequately skilled workers.

Even if we assume that India’s real GDP continues to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% p.a. from FY17 until FY20, the supply of labour in India in FY20 at ~500mn persons is likely to exceed the number of jobs that the Indian economy can create at ~430mn. The mismatch

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Black Money crackdown set to Intensify

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As per state election results declared by the Election Commission on March 11, 2017 the BJP performed exceedingly well in the largest Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where it managed to capture 77% of the seats. It is worth noting that this is a historic victory as is evident from the time-series data on the seat share and vote share captured by the winning party as compared with the previous UP elections.

Policy-making in India is likely to

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New Income Tax Cost Inflation Index for FY 2017-18

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The Finance minister in his Budget Speech on Feb-01-2017, revised the Cost Inflation Index used by the Indian Income Tax Department to calculate Long Term Capital Gains Tax with Indexation benefit. The revision was shift in base year from 1981 to 2001. What does this mean ? This means any “asset” as defined by the Indian Income Tax department and which comes under the purview of Long Term Capital Gain [For Example – Real Estate] and if acquired before 2001, then for the purpose of determining the Indexed Cost of Acquisition, the base year henceforth will be 2001.

Let us illustrate with an example. Suppose you bought a Plot of Land in 1980 for Rs 10,000. You plan

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Modi’s Demonetisation Execution Failure will Cost BJP Uttar Pradesh Assembly

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The Opinion poll survey conducted by Lokniti-CSDS on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh (UP) election in Feb-Mar 2017 suggests that no single party will be able to get a majority on its own in a 404-seat assembly. The survey hints that the BJP might finish at number two in the total seat tally. Since the last survey done in August 2016, nothing seems to have changed in Uttar Pradesh (UP) when it comes to the assembly election results. The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) is still leading in terms of vote share and seat share but none of them is in a position to

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Will Modi Launch Universal Basic Income scheme in India ?

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The demonetisation move announced by the Narendra Modi led Government is creating a great deal of inconvenience for the electorate. We had therefore said that we expect the Government to consider launching a Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme on a pilot basis in FY18.

What is the Concept of Universal Basic Income Scheme ?
Dr. Vijay Joshi in his recent book titled “India’s long road – The search for prosperity” expounds the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI). According to him, the current system of subsidy disbursements is extremely inefficient since the system has limited success in targeting the deserving and also suffers from leakages. He proposes that a basic income of about

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NHAI / REC Reduce Interest Rates on 54EC Capital Gain Tax Exemption Bonds

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Breaking NewsKeeping in mind the reducing trend in interest rates on FDs and other fixed income securities after the Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by the most respected Government of India, both REC and NHAI have decided to reduce the rate of interest for 54EC Capital Gain Tax Exemption bonds wef 01.12.2016. The new rate of interest for these bonds will be 5.25 % per annum. The amount invested in REC 54EC Capital Gain Tax Exemption Bonds where the amount of investment is credited in REC’s Collection Accounts on or after 1st December, 2016 and where deemed date of allotment for the bonds is 31st December, 2016 or a later date, the coupon/ interest rate will be 5.25 % per annum.

Capital Gains Bond After Real Estate / Property Sale
These Capital Gains Bonds are very popular with Indians after selling their Real Estate / Property

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