India’s Students Short On Cash After Demonetisation Exercise

Source: Study International

In November 2016, India’s government suddenly declared that all 500- and 1,000-rupee notes no longer held any value, sending citizens across the country scrambling to exchange their now-worthless bills. In the aftermath, university students are finding it difficult to get a hold of the cash they need for daily expenses, such as buying food, printing documents, and getting top-up for their mobile phones.

To view the complete article, visit Study International.

Canada Will Profit By Providing More Opportunities to International Grads

Source: Conference Board of Canada via Academica

Canada must encourage more international students to stay and work in the country if it wants to make the most of their economic potential, according to a new report from the Conference Board of Canada. The report highlights how international students generate up to $10B annually in economic activity and account for 11% of total postsecondary enrolments in Canada. The report argues that Canada would benefit economically by changing immigration policy to help more international students work in the country after graduation. “International students generate billions of dollars of economic activity at Canadian Post-Secondary institutions and in the surrounding communities. They also provide considerable social and cultural value to Canada,” said Conference Board Vice-President, Industry and Business Strategy Michael Bloom. “On the other hand, the great majority of international students do not stay in Canada after their studies and hence do not employ their skills and expertise in our economy.”

Canada Needs Better Data if it Wants to be An Innovation Leader

Source: Globe & Mail

At a recent conference in Ottawa, where speakers included Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Advisory Council on Economic Growth chair Dominic Barton, a challenge was laid on the table.

We live in a low-growth world and Canada is not immune – we’ve experienced sluggish growth for much of the past decade and our GDP growth rate is not predicted to breach the coveted 3-per-cent mark without bold action now.

So what do we do?

For the full article, visit The Globe & Mail.

Inflation likely to ease to 6.5% by March-end: PMEAC

Source: Press Trust of India via Indian Economic Business News

Prime Minister’s key economic advisor C Rangarajan hoped that inflation will come down to 6.5% by end-March and suggested that steps should be taken to release more food stocks to ease price pressure. The wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation eased to 6.62% in January, from 7.18% in December, 2012, as per official data. “The decline in inflation is a welcome and reassuring sign. I expect March end inflation to be 6.5%,” said Dr. Rangarajan, the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman, adding that January inflation has moderated more than expected. This is the fourth straight month of decline in the WPI numbers. Retail inflation, however, remained in double digits at 10.79% in January mainly on account of higher prices of vegetables, edible oil, cereals and protein-based items. Dr. Rangarajan said with the moderation in manufacture or core inflation in January, there was a need to focus on supply side easing of food articles. Inflation in manufactured items category witnessed a decline and stood at 4.81% in January, from 5.04% in the previous month.

Economy should be better next year: Jamshyd N Godrej

Source: Press Trust of India via Indian Economic Business News

Striking a positive note, Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company CMD Jamshyd N Godrej recently said the economy should be in a better position next year. “It is difficult to say (when the economy will recover). I think next year should be better,” he said. “The government is talking about six to seven per cent growth rate.” It was difficult to forecast the kind of growth, but if the government puts right policies in place, things would change for better, he said. Showing persistent sluggishness, India’s economy grew by 5.5 per cent in the April-June quarter, mainly on account of poor performance of manufacturing, mining and farm sectors. The gross domestic product had expanded by 8 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2011-12. Besides, the economic growth in the January-March quarter last fiscal was at nine-year low of 5.3 per cent.

Economy can grow around 6% in 2013: Kaushik Basu

Source: Press Trust of India via Indian Economic Business News

India’s economy could expand by around 6 per cent in 2013, World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said, attributing the current slowdown to global factors. Amid global slowdown impacting India, the government had lowered the country’s economic growth for the 2012-13 fiscal to 5.7-5.9 per cent from its earlier projection of 7.6 per cent. The GDP had expanded by 6.5 per cent in 2011-12, which was nine-year low. On India’s current account deficit (CAD) which widened to record 5.4 per cent of GDP in the July-September quarter, Mr. Basu said that though it is a cause of worry, there are market factors which will come into play to stabilise it. “India has proper floating exchange rate, it (CAD) is not as worrying because there are automatic market stabiliser which will begin to kick in,” he said. The CAD, which represents the difference between exports and imports after considering cash remittances and payment, was $18.9 billion in the same period of a year ago and $16.4 billion in the first quarter (April-June).

PM for new approaches to address challenges in economy

Source: Economic Times via Indian Economic Business News

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underlined the need for new approaches to address challenges in infrastructure, education, energy, water and agriculture. In his inaugural address at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 8, the Prime Minister dwelt at length on the state of the economy and pointed out that despite the impressive performance and change on an enormous scale in the past two decades, India faced persisting challenges of poverty, equity, sustainability and opportunity. “Vulnerable sections of society, including our women, face enduring prejudices and continuing problems in a rapidly changing India,” he said. “Among the most positive stories out of India in recent years are the acceleration in the rate of poverty reduction, stronger growth in the poorest States and improved productivity and increased real wages in our agriculture sector. This is significant, given that 65 per cent of our population still relies on agriculture,” he noted. The country has just embarked on its 12th Five-Year Plan with the ambition to sustain an annual growth rate of 8 per cent. For this, we will require enormous resources, reforms in policies and institutions, new models of public-private partnership and community participation and innovation-driven science and technology.

Indian economy to grow at 6.5% in 2013: Goldman

Source: Economic Times via Indian Economic Business News

The Indian economy is likely to grow 6.5 per cent in 2013 driven by favourable external demand outlook and domestic structural reforms push, a Goldman Sachs report said. According to a research note by the investment banking major, growth is likely to pick up gradually to 6.5 per cent in 2013 and further to 7.2 per cent in 2014. This is on the back of “easing financial conditions, in part driven by some reduction in policy rates, a continuation of reforms boosting confidence, and a normal agricultural crop’’, it said. The report further noted India’s GDP growth is likely to accelerate from 5.4 per cent in 2012 to 7.2 per cent in 2014, and remain high through 2015-2016, provided the Government continues with its reforms push. A continuation of structural reforms is an important assumption underlying these views, it said. “While allowing FDI in retail, the goods and services tax, direct cash transfer of subsidies, and dedicated freight corridor will help, we believe further reforms on fiscal consolidation, financial liberalisation and infrastructure growth will be needed to sustain an improvement in trend growth,” the report said.