When asked whether her ministry had worked out the effects of the Government’s demonetisation drive on investments and job-loss during a recent media interaction, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman simply smiled and shook her head — indicating that no such exercise had been carried out.

While some journalists thought the minister was just trying to avoid unpleasant discussions, the GDP projections announced by the Centre the following day proved that she had been stating a fact. The Government projected a 7.1 per cent GDP growth for the ongoing fiscal with a disclaimer that the effects of demonetisation had not been taken into account while arriving at the number. Does the Government actually need more time to analyse the impact of demonetisation or it is just blissfully ignorant?

Who will be the lucky one?

The buzz is that the list of candidates in the race to head the country’s capital market regulator, SEBI, has narrowed down to eight. And from this eight the Finance Sector Regulatory Appointments Committee will make a selection of three. The final choice will be from this list, and will be announced by the Government.

Also, the names shortlisted finally will not be in order of ranking, said a person in the know of the process, without disclosing the names. Those who applied for the post included senior bureaucrats, economists as well as some private sector employees. So whether it will be a babu or an economist or a private sector employee will be known soon, as the interviews of the shortlisted eight (or less) could happen shortly. The suspense is killing.

Lending no clarity

Everyone in the Government is suddenly talking about banks being flush with funds thanks to demonetisation. Now the banks will lend, is the general thinking. But, can these commercial entities be pushed into lending? That’s what the critics are asking.

“Banks will have to follow due diligence, so what is the guarantee that they will lend?” a senior economist asked. Turn to the Government for an answer and all you get is: “They have money and they should lend.” If that’s not passing the buck...

Back to slack

Thanks to demonetisation, the second half of the financial year — traditionally a busy season — has turned out to be a ‘slack’ season for many bankers. So much so that credit growth in the economy is expected to grow 6-7 per cent at best this fiscal. Indeed, yet another sub-optimal show, say critics. Nothing new.

As quirky as it gets

In a quirky turn of events, both the ministers of state for external affairs, VK Singh and MJ Akbar, shared the dais for the first time to address the media for a mid-term press conference. It was quite obvious that Akbar, a veteran journalist, had much better play with words than his esteemed colleague Singh, who was trying every trick possible to gain the media’s attention. The latter, meanwhile, was lapping up every word Akbar uttered. Maybe Singh was also mindful of the fact that in the absence of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, he had to address precisely those people whom he refers to as ‘presstitutes’. Nevertheless, while answering a query on Indo-Nepal ties, Singh spoke in fluent Nepali to convey that bilateral ties between the two countries were as robust as ever. Thereafter, when Akbar was asked to answer a query on India-Bangladesh ties, Akbar said he was tempted to speak in Bengali— but Singh did not allow him!

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW