India’s fiscal problems need solutions and actions
Credit to large corporates grew at a mere 1 percent, year on year; so industrial growth recession continues, despite the 7.4 percent GDP growth.
Interest rates are reaching for the stratosphere, with the 10-year treasury breaching 8 percent, and AAA-rated borrowers picking up loans at north of 8.5 percent. These are not propitious for a pick-up in private investment, which is a condition precedent for sustained economic growth.
The Current Account Deficit (CAD), which had moved to a surplus, is again blinking red at 2.5 percent. The rupee is at a historical low, shooting past Rs 69 to the US dollar. Foreigners have pulled out a record $ 7 billion dollars just in the current calendar year from the debt/equity markets.
The government has done a “phantom disinvestment” by forcing ONGC to pay Rs 35,000 crore for buying HPCL, both dominant public sector companies. So the cash has moved from one government pocket to another, without any genuine inflow. A similarly specious plan is being hatched for re-capitalising IDBI Bank’s battered balance sheet, with LIC picking up the tab. Air India’s sale proved an embarrassing cropper, without a single bidder. more