News– All-India Mobile Retailers’ Association recently threatened to approach the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Chinese phone-maker Xiaomi’s alleged bias in favour of online marketplaces over offline retailers. Recently Supreme court allowed CCI to go ahead with an investigation against e-commerce players Flipkart and Amazon. In all these cases terms like Relevant market, dominant position occurs recurrently. India’s Competition Act,… Continue reading Covid impact on what we may call a relevant market
India-Russia Relations: Russia, a legacy relationship with limitations
News: Recently, 21st India – Russia Annual summit took place. The summit highlighted the “all-weather” partnership between India and Russia. Must read: Recent developments in India-Russia Relations – Explained, pointwise What are the challenges associated with India-Russia relations? 1. There is little organic, people-to-people content to the relationship, 2. India-Russia bilateral trade is around U.S.$10 billion,… Continue reading India-Russia Relations: Russia, a legacy relationship with limitations
Don’t ignore context of NFHS data
News: The NFHS data evolved much from the Demographic and Health Survey and became a well-structured one. Must read: NFHS-5 and its findings – Explained, pointwise What are the challenges associated with NFHS? Read here: The nine lives of India’s National Family Health Survey Why the challenges against NFHS are wrong? According to the author,… Continue reading Don’t ignore context of NFHS data
Repealing AFSPA will not weaken, only strengthen Constitution
News: The death of 14 civilians in Nagaland by the security forces raised the long-pending demand for repealing the AFSPA in the region. What is AFSPA? Why demand for repeal of AFSPA is justified? Read here: Explained: AFSPA and the Northeast The repeal of AFSPA is necessary not just for restoring constitutional sanity, but also as a… Continue reading Repealing AFSPA will not weaken, only strengthen Constitution
Low tobacco tax, poor health
News: The absence of an increase in tax on tobacco products post-GST has impacted revenue and could worsen public health What is the status of tobacco consumption in India? India is the second-largest consumer of tobacco in the world, with 28.6% of adults above 15 years and 8.5% of students aged 13-15 years use tobacco in… Continue reading Low tobacco tax, poor health
RBI must tackle surplus liquidity on way to policy normalisation
News: Recently, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to maintain status quo on policy rates. Some of the key decisions that were taken at the recent the Monetary Policy Committee meeting are – – The repo rate is maintained at 4% and the reverse repo rate at 3.35%. – Forecasts of FY22 GDP growth and… Continue reading RBI must tackle surplus liquidity on way to policy normalisation
Real Cost of MSP For All Crops
News: Even as the central government has announced its withdrawal of the three farm laws, the demands for legalising MSP have grown stronger. Why Legalising MSP is a bad idea? Firstly, The expansion of MSP would impose trillions of rupees worth of additional burden on the taxpayer in the forthcoming decade. With the current procurement… Continue reading Real Cost of MSP For All Crops
Open banking puts banks on notice-Digitise or perish
News– India has unveiled Account aggregator framework in september,2021 that can that could revolutionize investing and credit, giving millions of consumers greater access and control over their financial records and expanding the potential pool of customers for lenders and fintech companies. What is Account Aggregator (AA) framework? An AA is a new class of NBFC approved by the Reserve Bank of India… Continue reading Open banking puts banks on notice-Digitise or perish
A window of opportunity
News– How we can leverage the advantages that are generating due to Strict COVID policy of China and other restrictions going parallel to it. Where we stand vis-a-vis China? China’s economy is over five times of India’s. it has a $14-trillion economy, to India’s $2.7-trillion economy. We are too dependent on China for everything from active pharmaceutical ingredients to smartphones. And… Continue reading A window of opportunity
High LPG prices are scorching the air pollution fight
News– How Removal of LPG subsidy and subsequent Price rise is affecting the air pollution and its wider acceptance in low income and rural households. As Per the India residential energy survey (IRES), LPG has now replaced biomass as the most common cooking fuel. Nearly 85 percent of Indian households have an LPG connection Compared to only 30 percent a decade… Continue reading High LPG prices are scorching the air pollution fight
