India’s services sector growth eased slightly in May, but registered the second-strongest rate of growth in close to 13 years, on favourable demand conditions and new client wins, a monthly survey said on Monday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell from 62 in April to 61.2 in May. Despite falling from April, the latest reading indicated that output increased at the second-quickest pace since July 2010. For the 22nd straight month, the headline figure was above the neutral 50 threshold. In Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) parlance, a print abov ..read more

It’s a weather event so decisive for India’s economy that a former president once called it the nation’s “real” finance minister. But climate change is making the annual monsoon more difficult to forecast, and raising the stakes of getting those predictions wrong. That’s why researchers at the India Meteorological Department have spent more than a decade fine-tuning a new way to divine when, and how much, rain will fall each year. The National Monsoon Mission, which set out in 2012 to move the nation over to a system that relies less on historical patterns and more on real-time, on-the-ground ..read more

The monetisation of public-sector brownfield assets unlocked capital worth Rs 1.4 trillion in FY23, up 44% on year. The achievement was against the target of Rs 1.62 trillion. Coal blocks and other mineral assets, highway stretches and power transmission lines pushed the drive. The total monetisation value had stood at Rs 97,000 crore in FY22, including accruals and private investments, as against taggetted Rs 88,000 crore. For the second consecutive year, the monetisation of coal and other mining assets has turned out to be much better than expected. While the target for this segment was enha ..read more

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will maintain the policy repo rate at 6.5 per cent during its upcoming June 8 announcement, considering the easing of retail inflation in April and the potential for further decline, indicating the effectiveness of previous policy rate actions, anticipate experts. Headed by Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, a meeting of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled for June 6-8. The decision of the 43rd meeting of the MPC would be announced on Thursday, June 8. After the last MPC meeting in April, the RBI paused its rate hike cycle and stayed ..read more

Private sector investment is set to witness a significant increase, as capacity utilisation in several key sectors has already crossed 80 per cent and economic growth is estimated to be 6.7 per cent in the current financial year, newly elected CII President R Dinesh said on Sunday. He also exuded confidence that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will maintain status quo on interest rate in the next bi-monthly monetary policy to be announced later this week. On why the government unsuccessfully keeps on nudging private companies to increase investment, the CII president told PTI that the period b ..read more

India’s import of cheap Russian oil scaled another record in May and is now more than the combined oil bought from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE and the US, industry data showed. India took 1.96 million barrels a day from Russia in May, 15 per cent more than the previous high in April, according to data from energy cargo tracker Vortexa. Russia now makes up for nearly 42 per cent of all crude oil India imported in May. This is the highest share for an individual country in recent years. The rise in Russian share came at the cost of traditional suppliers in the Middle East. Shipments from Saudi Arabi ..read more

 About 88 per cent of wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) was made through the Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS) in May, the Union rural development ministry said.In a statement, the ministry also said that out of the total 14.28 crore active beneficiaries, Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.75 crore. Against these seeded Aadhaar, 12.17 crore have been authenticated and 77.81 per cent are now already eligible for ABPS, it said.In May, about 88 per cent of the wage payment was made through the ABPS, the ministry said. Under the MNREGS, the ABPS h ..read more

Debt-ridden Pakistan‘s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that his country would not default on any sovereign commitments and overcome the current economic problems through long-term reforms.Speaking to a delegation of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), which called on him here ahead of the finalisation of budget 2023-24, Dar also said that there is not a single day’s delay in Pakistan’s sovereign commitments. “Pakistan would not default and overcome the current economic problems through long-term reforms. The government’s top priority was to ensure that there is not ..read more

Indian American Ajay Banga on Friday took over as the President of the World Bank, making him the first person of colour to head either of the two global financial institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. On May 3, the Executive Directors of the World Bank selected Banga, 63, as the 14th President of the World Bank for a five-year term. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would nominate Banga to lead the World Bank. “Join us in welcoming Ajay Banga as the new President of the World Bank Group. We are committed to creating a world free from poverty on ..read more

At its meeting on June 8, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy committee (MPC) will likely vote to keep its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 6.50%, 14 economists polled by FE said. A higher-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.1% in the fourth quarter of FY23, retail inflation easing to an 18-month low of 4.70% in April and expectation of further correction in retail inflation in May are the key reasons cited by economists for a rate pause. After raising the repo rate cumulatively by 250 basis points since May 2022, the MPC had voted unanimously for a pause in Ap ..read more