Do it yourself

  The fourth letter of the English Alphabet “D” has held a prominent position in financial market jargon, at least since the Great Depression in the late 1920s. In the past two decades the terms like Dematerialization, Demographics, Depression, Decoupling, Demonetization, De-Dollarization, Digitalization, Deflation etc., have attracted immense interest from the market participants. Some of these “Ds” have had significant impact on the global economy; while the others have been mostly limited to being topics of interesting discussions and statistical analysis. In the current Indian context specifically, I find three “Ds”, viz., Digitalization, Deflation and Demographics most relevant for the economy and therefore markets. The current global situation – investment mix, geopolitics, global trade and gradual shift in strategic power – implies that supply shocks could be more frequent and much more intense in the next decade or so at least. ·        ...

Self-Reliance (Atamnirbharta) has been one of the key policy objective of Indian government, especially during the second term of the incumbent prime minister. It is clarified that self-reliance does not connotes self-centred systems; rather it encompasses a concern for the whole world’s happiness, cooperation and peace. The stated aim is to make the country and its citizens independent and self-reliant in all senses. The five primary focus area identified to achieve the objective of self-reliance are — Economy — Quantum jumps in various growth parameters, not just incremental changes. Infrastructure — Building infrastructure that represents modern India. Systems — Making systems technology driven. Demography — Making the population vibrant. Demand — Realizing full potential of the power of demand. A number of programs, schemes and incentives have been announced in past one year under the umbrella of Self-Reliant India, encompassing support to a variety of sectors like ag...