[🇮🇳] India---News & Views

[Bilal9]

lol very little offends me, and certainly not stuff like this.

My point was exactly that, that it is old news.

About the bald vid, I made a whole thread about it, and included other travel tubers' reaction vids on it. Not offended there either, theek bola.. India is, large swathes anyway, a total dump.. but as above, so below wala scene, man.

Anyway, as a recon Indian now having made an ingresses into this thread and scoped it out.. I shall now call for backup, arty fire support and strafing gun runs on your posts

@Krishna with Flute @Guru Dutt @Vsdoc

Please do not call India a "total dump". It is a varied landscape. It is what it is.

I have been to Navi Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon, I have also been to Dharavi.

Mehnati folks trying to eke out a living in the less fortunate parts, and not entirely because of their own fault.

It is the govts. responsibility to give them subsistence jobs, and they failed.

There are 26 lakh Indians (most of then illegal) working in garments factories in Bangladesh.

No one is asking them to leave. Kahan jaiga ye sub log?

 

[Lulldapull]

The best travel pisstake on India was by that American guy who lives in Japan .. small brained American, he funny as hell, and was traveling with bald and backpacker Ben.

you seen his xhit @Lulldapull ?

Man anybody colored putting down the subcontinent and its culture, whatever it is, is just hurting himself. Trump ka ulla coming online soon and he's just goin fukkin make life hard for the colored people living out west.

Our community needs to get a reality check, and whoever so gotta leave, should leave ASAP, specially if they've got immigration or naturalization dramay goin on.

I'm warning everybody here. Trump will bring in his neo-nazis into the foray and there will be no mercy over the next 4 years for the colored migrants. And the EU toady will follow suit.

It is what it is, whether yous muzlim or not.........if yous colored bhai, good luck.

 

[Sharma Ji]

Man anybody colored putting down the subcontinent and its culture, whatever it is, is just hurting himself. Trump ka ulla coming online soon and he's just goin fukkin make life hard for the colored people living out west.

Our community needs to get a reality check, and whoever so gotta leave, should leave ASAP, specially if they've got immigration or naturalization dramay goin on.

I'm warning everybody here. Trump will bring in his neo-nazis into the foray and there will be no mercy over the next 4 years for the colored migrants. And the EU toady will follow suit.

It is what it is, whether yous muzlim or not.........if yous colored bhai, good luck.

Dekho, hum toh desi hai.. Trump shump se koi lena dena nahi much, as such.

btw, un angrejon ne theek bola, jab hai gandgi apne deshon me, to hai..

My great hope is that being shamed for it may trigger some to actually bother about it and not trash it. Basic civic duty, don't throw your mess and make it a slum.. I comply and do not throw kachra everywhere.

 

[Vsdoc]

Moderator Warning: White trash or other offensive content will not be allowed.

All offensive posts will be deleted. And if reinstated, as has happened, deleted once more.

Kindly take a deep breath and post sensibly.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Nepal map on currency note stirs up border row with India
10 May 2024, 12:00 am
AFP :

The boundary dispute between India and Nepal has heated up once again after the Nepali government last week announced a new currency note featuring a map that shows three border areas claimed by New Delhi.

The dispute involves the territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, which are currently under Indian control.

The new map adds 335 square kilometres of land to Nepal, and the country's central bank is expected to take up to a year to print and issue the new note.

India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar slammed Nepal's decision, saying it will not change the reality on the ground.

"Our position is very clear. With Nepal, we are having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform. In the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side," Jaishankar told media persons.

"But by doing something on their side, they are not going to change the situation between us or the reality on the ground," he added. The boundary dispute between the two countries began to escalate after New Delhi issued a political map in November 2019 that placed the contested area within India's territory.

Relations became more strained when India inaugurated an 80-kilometer-long roadway that passes through Lipulekh, a disputed area that lies at the strategic Nepal-India-China tri-junction.

The unilaterally built motorway links India's Uttarakhand state to Tibet's Kailash Mansarovar via the Lipulekh Pass, a territory historically claimed by Nepal and considered one of the shortest and most practicable trade routes between India and China.

The small Himalayan nation challenged India's inauguration of the road by publishing a new map showing the contested areas – including the areas of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura – as lying inside Nepal's borders.

Nepal, which was never under colonial rule, has long claimed these areas in accordance with the 1816 Sugauli treaty with the British Raj following the Anglo-Nepalese (Gurkha) War.

The treaty recognized the Kali River as Nepal's western boundary with India and the land lying east of the river is Nepalese territory. However, these areas have been under India's administrative control since the early 1960s.​

Nepal and India are brothers. This is a fight in family. When you have so much love for each other, no problem is difficult to resolve.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

We have a moderately good relationship with some ups and downs. The main reason why it did not turn into all whether friendship is those radical Ayatollahs who are dysfunctional. They have a narrow and short vision of any relations, and they do some cheap gimmick in between. Not only they have not very good relations with India but they do not have very good relations with any neighbors. Our Pakistani friends here were hyping Iran and their mediocre missiles here and meanwhile Iran Bombed Pakistan.

MSN

 

[Saif]

We have a moderately good relationship

That's why you are illegally occupying Kala-pani of Nepal.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

That's why you are illegally occupying Kala-pani of Nepal.

Bad Mix up. While I am talking about India Iran Relationship, you quote me and posts the issue with Nepal.

 

[Saif]

Manmohan Singh passes away at 92

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, passed away in New Delhi last night. He was 92.

www.thedailystar.net

Manmohan Singh passes away at 92

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. File photo

Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose economic reforms made his country a global powerhouse, has passed away in New Delhi last night. He was 92.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed Singh's death, posting on X that India "mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders."

Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home yesterday evening, but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9:51pm local time, according to a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Singh, who was twice prime minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2014, has been in indifferent health for the last few months.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her mother Sonia Gandhi reached the hospital soon after the news of Singh's hospitalisation broke.

Singh, who was the finance minister under the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation that is widely believed to have changed the course of India's economic trajectory.

Singh is credited with having overseen an economic boom in Asia's fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint.

Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation and never held elected office before taking the nation's highest office.

His life was a testament to service, scholarship and leadership.

He earned a Master's degree in Economics from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and obtained a doctorate from the University of Oxford.

Singh's village, where he was born, lacked a school, healthcare, and electricity, forcing him to walk miles to an Urdu-medium school and study by kerosene lamp at night.

He attributed his rise to the "system of scholarships" for poor students that existed at the time.

Singh worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations.

Amid one of the worst financial crisis in India's modern history, Congress PM Narasimha Rao appointed his as finance minister to pull the country back from the brink. And he did exactly that.

Later, in his first term as PM, Singh steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending the country the international clout it had long sought.

He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the US that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs.

Known as "Mr Clean", Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public.

Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won.

But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Modi, won a landslide.

Singh -- who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors -- became a vocal critic of Modi's economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India's democracy.

Singh paid an official visit to Dhaka in September 2011, a trip that was overshadowed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's opting out of it at the eleventh hour opposing the Teesta river water-sharing accord which, as a result, could not be signed.

Singh contested Lok Sabha elections only once from the South Delhi constituency in 1999 and suffered defeat. After that, he never again ran for the Lok Sabha poll.

However, Singh has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 1991, where he was the Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004.

In April this year, he retired from Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Most learned Prime Minister, Great visionary, great economist. RIP doctor saheb. Finding a clean person like him in politics is very rare. You will live in our memories for ever sir.

Manmohan Singh passes away at 92

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, passed away in New Delhi last night. He was 92.

www.thedailystar.net

Manmohan Singh passes away at 92

View attachment 12208
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. File photo

Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose economic reforms made his country a global powerhouse, has passed away in New Delhi last night. He was 92.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed Singh's death, posting on X that India "mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders."

Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home yesterday evening, but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9:51pm local time, according to a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Singh, who was twice prime minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2014, has been in indifferent health for the last few months.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her mother Sonia Gandhi reached the hospital soon after the news of Singh's hospitalisation broke.

Singh, who was the finance minister under the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation that is widely believed to have changed the course of India's economic trajectory.

Singh is credited with having overseen an economic boom in Asia's fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint.

Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation and never held elected office before taking the nation's highest office.

His life was a testament to service, scholarship and leadership.

He earned a Master's degree in Economics from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and obtained a doctorate from the University of Oxford.

Singh's village, where he was born, lacked a school, healthcare, and electricity, forcing him to walk miles to an Urdu-medium school and study by kerosene lamp at night.

He attributed his rise to the "system of scholarships" for poor students that existed at the time.

Singh worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations.

Amid one of the worst financial crisis in India's modern history, Congress PM Narasimha Rao appointed his as finance minister to pull the country back from the brink. And he did exactly that.

Later, in his first term as PM, Singh steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending the country the international clout it had long sought.

He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the US that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs.

Known as "Mr Clean", Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public.

Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won.

But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Modi, won a landslide.

Singh -- who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors -- became a vocal critic of Modi's economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India's democracy.

Singh paid an official visit to Dhaka in September 2011, a trip that was overshadowed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's opting out of it at the eleventh hour opposing the Teesta river water-sharing accord which, as a result, could not be signed.

Singh contested Lok Sabha elections only once from the South Delhi constituency in 1999 and suffered defeat. After that, he never again ran for the Lok Sabha poll.

However, Singh has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 1991, where he was the Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004.

In April this year, he retired from Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament.​

Nary, Great economist

 

[Saif]

Manmohan Singh: Tributes pour in ahead of today's funeral

Manmohan Singh, 92, who passed away on Thursday night, will be accorded state funeral tomorrow at 11:45pm

www.thedailystar.net

Manmohan Singh: Tributes pour in ahead of today's funeral
Manmohan Singh passes away

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. File photo

Amidst a nationwide outpour of grief and tributes, Indian President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders cutting across party lines yesterday paid homage to former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence in New Delhi.

The Indian cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi held a special meeting today, passed a condolence resolution in memory of Manmohan Singh and paid homage to him by observing a two-minute silence.

India has already declared a seven days of national mourning till January 1, 2025 when the national flag will be flown half-mast throughout India. The National Flag will also be flown at half-mast in all the Indian diplomatic missions abroad for seven days.

Manmohan Singh, 92, who passed away on Thursday night, will be accorded state funeral today at 11:45pm.

Singh is survived by his wife Gursharan Kaur, a professor of history, and three daughters.

The cabinet's condolence resolution said Manmohan Singh "has left his imprint on our national life. In his passing away, the nation has lost an eminent statesman, renowned economist and a distinguished leader."

Several leaders across the political divides also paid their tributes to Singh, the former two-term prime minister who died on Thursday night.

President Murmu and Vice President Dhankhar visited the residence of Singh and paid their last respects to him and met his wife and other family members.

Foreign leaders, including of the US, Canada, France, the Maldives and Sri Lanka expressed grief over the death of Singh and recalled his contributions to strengthening bilateral relations.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wrote a touching tribute to Manmohan Singh recalling how the Indian leader offered scholarships for his children when he was in prison.

On a post on X, Ibrahim described Singh as "the midwife of India's emergence as one of the world's economic giants".​

 

[Saif]

Manmohan Singh: technocrat who became India’s accidental PM

Manmohan Singh’s father may have believed his bookworm son would one day lead India, but the understated technocrat with the trademark blue turban, who died Thursday at the age of 92, never dreamed it would actually happen.

www.newagebd.net

Manmohan Singh: technocrat who became India’s accidental PM
Agence France-Presse . New Delhi 27 December, 2024, 21:33

File photo shows Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh waves to Congress Party supporters during a Congress election public rally in Udaipur 70 km south of Agartala, capital of Indian northeastern state of Tripura, on February 19, 2008. | AFP photo

Manmohan Singh’s father may have believed his bookworm son would one day lead India, but the understated technocrat with the trademark blue turban, who died Thursday at the age of 92, never dreamed it would actually happen.

Singh was pitchforked into leading the world’s largest democracy in 2004 by the shock decision of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to turn down the role after leading the party to an upset win over the ruling Hindu nationalists.

He oversaw an economic boom in Asia’s fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint.

Known as ‘Mr Clean’, Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public.

As finance minister in the early 1990s, he was hailed at home and abroad for initiating big-bang reforms that opened India’s inward-looking economy to the world.

Known as a loyalist to the Gandhi political dynasty, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation and never held elected office before becoming PM.

But he deftly managed the rough and tumble of Indian politics -- even though many said Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, was the power behind the throne.

Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh moved to the holy Sikh city of Amritsar as a teenager around the time the subcontinent was split at the end of British rule into mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.

His father was a dry-fruit seller in Amritsar, and he had nine brothers and sisters.

He was so determined to get an education he would study at night under streetlights because it was too noisy at home, his brother Surjit Singh told AFP in 2004.

‘Our father always used to say Manmohan will be the prime minister of India since he stuck out among the 10 children,’ said Singh. ‘He always had his nose in a book.’

Singh won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his PhD.

He worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations.

Singh was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history -- currency reserves had sunk so low the country was on the brink of defaulting on foreign loans.

Singh unleashed sweeping change that broke sharply with India’s Soviet-style state-directed economy.

In his first term he steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending the country the international clout it had long sought.

He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the US that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs.

But by 2008 there was growing disquiet among the ruling alliance’s left-leaning parties about the pact, while high inflation -- notably food and fuel prices -- hit India’s poor hard.

Still, voters remained drawn to his calm, pragmatic persona, and in 2009 Congress steered its alliance to a second term.

Singh vowed to step up financial reforms to drive economic growth, but he came under increasing fire from critics who said he had done nothing to stop a string of corruption scandals on his watch.

Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won.

But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, won a landslide.

More recently, an unflattering book by a former aide titled ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ portrayed him as timid and controlled by Sonia Gandhi.

Singh -- who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors -- became a vocal critic of Modi’s economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India’s democracy.​

 

[Saif]

Dr Manmohan Singh: A brilliant political leader and visionary thinker

Religion was important for Manmohan, including religious customs.

www.thedailystar.net

Dr Manmohan Singh: A brilliant political leader and visionary thinker

Manmohan Singh had hugely important things to say to India and to the world. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

To say Manmohan Singh was a great man would be to state the obvious. He was a brilliant political leader, a visionary thinker, an outstanding economist, a superb academic, a fabulous leader of administration, a splendid husband, father and grandfather, and an immeasurably sympathetic human being.

For me personally, he was also the warmest of friends for nearly 70 years. From the time, 69 years ago, I went to see him in his undergraduate rooms at St John's College in Cambridge, I have remained immensely impressed by his wisdom, modesty and kindness.

We were extraordinarily happy at the Delhi School of Economics when we successfully persuaded Manmohan to join us. He was a terrific teacher and a darling of the students, but he also had time to talk with his colleagues.

I have been immensely privileged in having the opportunity of interacting with Manmohan in his many different roles: First as a fellow student, then as an international civil servant, then as a wonderful colleague at Delhi School of Economics, then as a senior civil servant, followed by the time when he was running the international South Commission based in Geneva, then as a statesman, including his time as the most innovative finance minister in the history of modern India, and finally as the prime minister of the world's largest democracy. We talked on thousands of subjects on what seem like millions of occasions. I always learnt hugely from our conversations.

I am glad, however, that Manmohan was less than successful in teaching me to be as modest as he himself was. I have many memories of the prime minister of India patiently waiting for others around the table to finish before speaking himself. Waiting for others to finish can take a long time in India.

Other than feeling good about Manmohan's failure to educate me to his level of courtesy, I wish he had been less educated in modesty himself and spoke more often. He had hugely important things to say to India and to the world. It would have been wonderful if some of the things that figured, with inescapable hesitation, in his private conversations had figured more—and in greater length—in his public statements.

Manmohan had the same well-mannered reticence everywhere, but he could be amazingly eloquent and profound when pushed. The only occasion I have had the privilege of dining next to Michelle Obama was when the Obamas gave their first ever gala dinner at the White House in honour of Manmohan—I had a wonderful placing as Manmohan's guest. Michelle asked Manmohan repeatedly to say what he thought on various subjects and got extraordinarily illuminating answers. I wish someone as brilliant as Michelle Obama had done a "one-on-one conversation" with Manmohan for sharing with the world.

Manmohan's understanding of the great need for unity and for social justice in India comes back to me whenever I think about these persistent problems. I know that Manmohan is mainly thought of as the architect of economic liberalisation of India (which he certainly was), but we must also note that he never lost sight of the need for equity in economic progress, and in particular of increasing employment and income of the poor. Cultivating rich—and super rich—plutocrats was never his priority.

I wish Manmohan could have done more on elementary health care for all and in expanding general education, and also more in removing the inequities of caste divisions. It is particularly unfortunate that he achieved considerably less than he wanted in these areas and could not get the practical politics of India more excited about these objectives. These are areas in which Manmohan could have fruitfully been less reticent, especially in making his private concerns more public. We often had discussions on Ambedkar's vision of India, but that vision did not receive as much attention in Manmohan's speeches, though his frustration did get airing.

To move to another area, Manmohan's focus on secularism was extraordinarily firm. Both his private conversations and his public priorities reflected that strongly. As the commitment to secularism has weakened in India, and religion has entered into Indian politics in a big way, Manmohan's secular priorities are especially important to recall.

His clear understanding of the necessity of unity in India remains strikingly important today. The distinction between religion and religious politics was important for Manmohan. In addition to keeping religion out of politics, there was another aspect to Manmohan's religious neutrality.

Religion was important for Manmohan, including religious customs. When I went to his room in St John's College in 1956, I remember stumbling against his freshly washed turbans which he had hung across his room in an attempt to dry them. But his Sikh identity was never in tension with his supportive acceptance of other people's religion and religiosity.

When, a long time ago, I talked with Manmohan on this, I remember thinking that this is quite a different aspect of religion-neutrality from the standard secularism of keeping religion out of politics. This different form of religion-neutrality reminded me, rather, of a remark of Gautama Buddha in one of my favourite Sanskrit books, Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra, which in its Chinese translation by Kumarajiva, done in 401 AD, had the distinction of becoming the first printed book in the world (printed in 868 AD). In the book, often known as the Diamond Sutra, Buddha told his disciple Subhuti: "Those who set forth on the path of bodhisattva know, see, and believe all dharmas but know, see, and believe them without being attached to the perception of one singular dharma."

Since Buddha included atheism and agnosticism among possible dharmas, I could inform Manmohan that I, too, could count on his support if he were to go along the path of bodhisattva, which his good behaviour indicated he had been doing.

The importance of Manmohan's recognition of the plurality that surrounds us remains as strong today as it has always been. I so much wish that his vision will remain an indispensable part of the understanding of what we are. We will not take Manmohan's modest hesitation as an answer.

This article was originally published in the Indian Express on January 15, 2025.

Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate, is Thomas W Lamont University professor and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University.​

 

[Saif]

India’s economy faces slowing growth ahead of new fiscal year

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may seek to arrest slowing economic growth in the world’s fifth-largest economy and prepare for an uncertain year of global trade when his government presents the federal budget on February 1.

www.thedailystar.net

India’s economy faces slowing growth ahead of new fiscal year

A vendor arranges spices and dry fruits at a spice market in New Delhi. Economists expect that policy changes aimed at strengthening consumption will boost growth. Photo: AFP/file

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may seek to arrest slowing economic growth in the world's fifth-largest economy and prepare for an uncertain year of global trade when his government presents the federal budget on February 1.

Economists expect policy changes aimed at strengthening consumption and tariff cuts to encourage local manufacturing as ways to boost growth.

Below are some of the key economic indicators that will be considered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the budget.

SLOWING GROWTH

A weaker manufacturing sector and slower corporate investments are seen dragging India's growth to 6.4 percent in 2024/25, the slowest pace in four years.

Private investment is seen rising by 6.4 percent in 2024/25, lower than 9 percent growth in the previous year, while consumption, which accounts for nearly 58 percent of GDP, is estimated to expand by 7.3 percent year-on-year compared to 4 percent in the previous fiscal year.

The chart shows the difference between projections in the economic survey and the actual GDP growth rate. The chart shows the difference between projections in the economic survey and the actual GDP growth rate

Weak growth in wages has impacted discretionary spending of urban middle-class Indians, according to large consumer companies on their quarterly earnings calls, even as rural demand has improved due to a strong monsoon in 2024.

The growth slowdown amid global volatility has wiped out a recent stock market rally.

INFLATION

India's retail inflation in December eased to a four-month low of 5.2 percent, raising hopes the country's central bank would start cutting interest rates in February.

But inflation in food items, which account for nearly half of the consumption basket, continued to remain high at 8.39 percent in December, with vegetable prices rising at an eye-watering pace of 26.56 percent.

The Dow gained about three-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 added over nine-tenths and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed more than 2 percent.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Modi continues to face criticism for not creating enough jobs in the world's most populous country. Government estimates of India's unemployment rate and those by private forecasters vary widely.

Government estimates show, opens new tab the unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above fell to 3.2 percent in 2023-24 from 6 percent in 2017-18.

Private forecaster Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) pegs the unemployment rate in the same category at a much higher 8.05 percent in 2023-24 compared to 7.56 percent in the previous year.

FISCAL DEFICIT

Modi's administration is looking to contain its fiscal gap under 4.9 percent for 2024-25 as initially targeted, and aims to bring it down below 4.5 percent in the next financial year. The country's fiscal gap had ballooned to 9.3 percent in 2020-21 during the pandemic.

From 2026-27, the country will move away from targeting the fiscal deficit and prioritise lowering India's debt-to-GDP ratio.

The general debt-to-GDP ratio, that includes state government debt, is estimated at 82.6 percent in 2024-25, according to the IMF.

A roadmap to reduce the ratio will likely be released alongside the budget.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) FLOWS

Net foreign direct investment between April and November 2024 in the current fiscal year stood at $479 million, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a sharp fall compared with a net inflow of $8.5 billion a year earlier.

Repatriation of funds and outbound investments have weighed on net inflows, the RBI said in its January economic bulletin.

Even though India is trying to attract foreign investment and supply chains moving out of China, FDI inflows have been weak for a while now.

The prospects for financial flows are risk-laden, with the outlook for FDI still subdued and with portfolio flows displaying 'home bias' and high volatility, the RBI said.

TRADE, CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT

India's merchandise trade deficit in April-December prose 11 percent year-on-year to $210.77 billion, due to strong imports and weaker goods exports.

But the current account deficit in July-September narrowed marginally from a year earlier, helped by a rise in services exports that have outperformed goods shipmemts.

The current account deficit stood at $11.2 billion, or 1.2 percent of GDP, in the quarter, compared with a deficit of $11.3 billion or 1.3 percent of GDP in the same quarter a year ago.​