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Govt meets fiscal deficit target of 3.5% at Rs 5.92 trillion for 2017-18 Nayar said the revival in investment activity was not broadbased because fresh capacity was being added by companies only in a few sectors. "Other indicators offered differing trends, such as the 7.1 per cent contraction observed in the capital spending of a sample of 10 state governments (Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh) in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. Moreover, the value of new projects and completed projects contracted on a year-on-year basis in during the quarter," she added. Government spending growth, shown by public administration, defence and other Services touched 13.3 per cent, against 7.7 per cent in the previous quarter. The fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 was revised to 3.5 per cent of GDP from 3.2 per cent due to lower-than-expected revenue from the GST that was rolled out from July 1, and less-than-anticip

RBI monetary policy: Economists see rate hike latest by August Garg said he did not see any correlation between oil prices and GDP growth, and the fiscal deficit would remain within target. Investment activity, a proxy for gross fixed capital formation, posted 14 per cent growth, the highest in several quarters, compared to 9 per cent, year on year, in the previous quarter. "The 9 per cent growth rate for capital goods and the expansion in the government's capital spending in January-February led to the healthy expansion of gross fixed capital formation in the quarter," said Aditi Nayar, principal economist, ICRA.  The Business Standard, New Delhi, 1st June 2018

Core sector growth gains pace, marginally up 4.7% in April That it was largely led by the government's infrastructure push is indicated by the fact that the construction sector growth recovered to 11.5 per cent during the fourth quarter, against 6.6 per cent in the third quarter, and 3.1 per cent in the second. Led by manufacturing and construction, growth in all sectors, except for services, speeded up sequentially in the fourth quarter. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 1st June 2018

India's agriculture growth slips to 4.5% in Q4 on higher base For 2017-18, overall full year, growth in agriculture and allied activities was estimated at 3.4 per cent as against 6.3 per cent clocked in 2016-17 India’s agriculture growth in the January to March quarter of 2017-18 dipped to 4.5 per cent as compared to 7.1 per cent in the same period last year despite a bumper production largely because of higher base. Though, the 4.5 per cent growth in agriculture and allied activities clocked during the fourth quarter of 2017-18 was highest in the year, but it wasn’t good enough to pull overall farm sector growth to over 4 per cent in 2017-18 full year. For 2017-18, overall full year, growth in agriculture and allied activities was estimated at 3.4 per cent as against 6.3 per cent clocked in 2016-17. Going forward, experts believed that if monsoon remains fairly normal in 2018 also, India might clock a 4 per cent growth in agriculture and allied activities. Graph Gross Va

Tax Reforms to Expand Revenue Base: Moody's Tax reforms are likely to expand revenue base in fast growing economies like India but they will be most effective when accompanied by lowering of fiscal deficit and effective management of expenditure, Moody’s Investors Service said on Thursday. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 1st June 2018

RBI withdraws rule exceptions for NBFCs owned by govt The decision will ensure both types of NBFCs stand on an equal footing on compliance with specific RBI rules The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ended the special dispensations granted earlier for non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs) owned by the government. Instead, it has specified a roadmap, stretching till 2021-22, for these lenders to meet the norms on capital adequacy, provisioning and corporate governance. Among the entities affected are IFCI, Power Finance Corporation, India Infrastructure Finance Company, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency and Housing & Urban Development Corporation. “It has been decided to make the NBFC regulations applicable to government NBFCs, as per the timeline” provided in the new circular, states RBI’s notification. Some of the changes that government NBFCs would now have to comply with include the treatment of income recognition, beside

  Bank strike: Digital operations, delayed salaries to give some pain ahead Various rounds of wage negotiations between banks and unions have failed to make headway Branch-level operations, including cheque clearance and cash deposits, took a hit on Wednesday after 1 million bank employees participated on the first day of a two-day nationwide strike called by unions demanding wage hike. While ATM functions were not affected much, about 80 per cent were operational, some digital transactions were hit. A total of 3.9 million instruments, including cheques and demand drafts worth Rs 217 billion could not be processed by banks during the day, said C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees' Association. The impact is expected to be similar on Thursday. The strike resulted in the shutdown of around 85,000 branches of public sector banks and some of those of the older private sector banks, for the full day, Venkatachalam said. However, operations of ba