India Economics Weekly Bond index inclusion, rupee settlement mechanism If media reports are to be believed, Indian local-currency bonds are on the cusp of being included in major bond indices for the first time. That could lead to a pick up in foreign inflows, but... 9th September 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly GDP oddities, a long-term view of the rupee We’ve revised down our GDP growth forecast for 2022 following the weaker-than-expected data for Q2. But with policymakers appearing comfortable with the health of the economy, we aren’t inclined to... 2nd September 2022 · 4 mins read
India Economics Weekly Surging capital inflows unlikely to be sustained Foreigners’ net purchases of Indian equities have surged to near record levels in recent weeks, helping to fuel the strong rally in the Sensex. We doubt that this can be sustained as global policy... 26th August 2022 · 7 mins read
India Economics Weekly Inflation to fall back only gradually We now expect CPI inflation to fall back to the 6% ceiling of the RBI's target range by the end of the year as food and energy inflation drags the headline rate lower. But beyond that, we still expect... 19th August 2022 · 4 mins read
India Economics Weekly Political wranglings weaken BJP’s hand For all its power in parliament’s lower house (Lok Sabha), a majority in the upper house (Rajya Sabha) has remained elusive for PM Modi’s BJP. As the main party in the National Democratic Alliance... 12th August 2022 · 6 mins read
India Economics Weekly Exports coming off the boil, RBI continues frontloading Data released this week show that Indian exporters are not immune from the broad weakening in demand as the global growth outlooks deteriorates. Meanwhile, the RBI continued frontloading policy... 5th August 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly More left in the locker The drop in FX reserves to the lowest level in almost two years has raised concerns in some quarters that the RBI’s policy of FX intervention to slow the depreciation of the rupee is not sustainable... 29th July 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly Remittances to take edge off current account concerns Data released this week showed that remittances flows into India dwarfed those to elsewhere in the world last year, helping India to maintain a small current account deficit and supporting the... 22nd July 2022 · 4 mins read
India Economics Weekly Birth of the international rupee? We doubt the RBI’s new mechanism to allow international trade to be settled in rupees will see widespread use. One area where it may see some use is in trade with Russia - a rupee settlement mechanism... 15th July 2022 · 3 mins read
India Economics Weekly Policy tweaks should provide some relief to rupee New measures to reduce gold imports are unlikely to lead to a substantially narrower current account deficit and support the rupee, not least because the decision to discourage fuel exports will have... 8th July 2022 · 7 mins read
India Economics Weekly GST hikes add to inflation concerns The Finance Ministry’s announcement this week of hikes to GST rates doesn’t signify a tighter fiscal stance, but it does add to the upside risks to inflation. This reinforces our belief that the RBI... 1st July 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly Bullion bonds are back In response to the surge in gold imports to meet demand for a hedge against inflation, the government is relaunching the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, first introduced in 2015. By making it more... 24th June 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly Market turmoil tests RBI’s appetite for FX intervention Although the rupee fell to a record low against the US dollar this week amid a broad-based sell-off in global financial markets, it held up better than most other EM currencies. That’s probably down... 17th June 2022 · 3 mins read
India Economics Weekly Food inflation, new MSPs, RBI policy The Reserve Bank stepped up the pace of tightening by hiking the repo rate by 50bps to 4.90% this week. It also upped its inflation forecasts substantially, primarily due to food inflation. We agree... 10th June 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly Resilient economy reinforces case for frontloading GDP data for Q1 released this week showed that the economy weathered the Omicron wave pretty well, and the timelier data suggest a solid performance so far in Q2. That said, there were also further... 3rd June 2022 · 4 mins read
India Economics Weekly RBI spoiler alert, sugar export ban Comments from RBI Governor Das this week provided more support for our view that the RBI will frontload its monetary policy tightening with a 50bp hike in June, and that the Reserve Bank will continue... 27th May 2022 · 6 mins read
