1) Government Clarifies on Swachh Bharat Cess
- The Finance Ministry on 12th November said that service tax on restaurant bills will go up from 5.6 per cent to 5.8 per cent following the levy of 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess on all taxable services from November 15.
- The ministry, however, clarified that the cess will not apply on those services for which payments have been received prior to November 15 and invoices raised before November 29. It would mean that the Railway and flight tickets booked before November 15 will not attract the additional levy.
- The Swachh Bharat cess, will be levied only on the portion of taxable services (after abatement) and will go towards funding of the cleanliness drive, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Finance Ministry clarified that all provisions including those related to computation of taxable value, assessment, exemption, payment, penalty applicable to service tax would apply to the Swachh Bharat cess.
- Explaining the provisions, it said, the cess would be calculated on the abated value or value arrived as per the Service Tax (Determination of Value) Rules, 2006. For restaurants or eating joints having air-conditioning facility, the cess would be 0.5 per cent of 40 per cent of the billed amount i.e 0.2 per cent.
2) President inaugurates 35th IITF in New Delhi
- Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has said that India can become a ten trillion dollar economy in the next two decades through manufacturing and innovation. Inaugurating the 35th edition of India International Trade Fair, IITF, in New Delhi on 14th November, Mr Mukherjee said, reforms of the government are on the right track. He said, India has stood well despite global slowdown and the initiatives taken by the government are now showing results.
- He hoped that India will be able to achieve the target of 3 per cent fiscal deficit as the current account balance and foreign exchange reserves have improved. He said IITF would help preserve, protect, promote and reinforce the Indian brand. He said, the annual celebration of trade is to develop India`s bilateral relations with the rest of the world. Over 7,000 firms from India and overseas are participating in the 14 day fair.
3) NCAER lowers GDP forecast to 7.4 per cent for next fiscal
- Economic think tank NCAER on 14th November marginally lowered GDP forecast at 7.4 per cent because of slowdown in agriculture due to deficient monsoon. This marginal fall is due to the anticipated slowdown in the agriculture sector. Industrial growth continues to gather strength while the outlook for the services remains mixed according to National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said in a statement. In August, it had projected economic growth at 7.5 per cent for the current fiscal.
- The Finance Ministry has pegged the growth rate for the financial year 2015-16 at around 8.1-8.5 per cent, which now looks difficult to achieve as the growth in the first quarter worked out to be only 7 per cent. It further said the overall demand remains sluggish because of weak external demand and dampened rural demand, while investment shows weak signs of revival.
- The industrial sector performed better with 4 per cent growth in the first half of the FY16 against 2.9 per cent in the comparable period of the last fiscal, it said.
- The improvement is mainly driven by the manufacturing sector with 4.2 per cent growth in the first half of the 2015-16 compared to 2.2 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
- With regard to agriculture sector, it said, the actual rainfall received during June-September period of 2015-16 was below normal.
- Despite deficit rainfall, it estimates overall food grain output during this year’s kharif season likely to be marginally higher compared to last year due to better rainfall conditions in areas where coarse cereals and pulses are grown, it said. On inflation, NCAER said, it has declined over the period of the last one and half years.
4) Govt. forms committee to review drug pricing policy
- The government has formed an inter-ministerial committee to review the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013, following the Supreme Court verdict this year that termed the drug pricing policy as irrational and unreasonable.
- The committee will look into the drug pricing mechanism as there have been complaints that the companies are making significant profits which go up to few thousand per cent.
- In July this year, while hearing the petition of NGO All India Drug Action Network, the Supreme Court had observed that the Centre was fixing maximum price of a medicine above the retail price of the leading company.
- One of the five issues to be considered by the government relates to NGO’s plea that MBP (Market Based Pricing) was never used for any price regulatory purposes and under the new policy, simple average ceiling prices were, in many cases, higher than the market leader price.
- The committee will look into the pricing of medicines, and specifically in the market based pricing formula which is being used at present under DPCO 2013. The NGO had in a petition also alleged that the market based pricing was never used for any price regulatory purposes and this was making medicines costlier.
- The NGO had also sought inclusion of more life-saving medicines of diseases such as diabetes and tuberculosis in the list of drugs whose prices would be regulated by the government. As stipulated under DPCO 2013, drug price regulator NPPA fixes the ceiling price of essential medicines of schedule-I.
- So far, the authority has fixed the ceiling price of 530 formulations from the list. And no one is authorised to sell any scheduled medicine to a consumer at a price higher than the one notified by NPPA under the order. While fixing the ceiling price, 16 per cent margin is allowed for retailers.
5) India becomes world`s 7th most valued nation brand: Report
- As per the annual report on world`s most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance, India has moved up one position to become the world`s seventh most valued nation brand with an increase of 32 per cent in its brand value to 2.1 billion dollars.
- According to the report, the US remains on the top with a valuation of 19.7 billion dollars, followed by China and Germany at the second and the third positions.
- It said the surge of 32 per cent in India`s nation brand value is the highest among all the top-20 countries on the list. China has retained its second position despite a decline of one per cent in its brand value to 6.3 billion dollars. The report also said that India`s `Incredible India slogan has worked well, while Germany suffered due to the Volkswagen crisis.
5) Facebook to set up wi-fi in rural India
- Current Affirs Boosting government`s ambitious `Digital India` drive, social media giant Facebook has come forward to facilitate state-run BSNL in setting up 100 wi-fi sites in rural areas of western and southern India. Facebook will spend Rs 5 crore per annum for sponsoring these 100 wi-fi hotspots in the country.
- Facebook has partnered with BSNL to sponsor 100 wi-fi hotspots in villages across west and southern India. It will pay Rs 5 lakh for BSNL bandwidth for each hotspot per annum. BSNL has already set up 25 hotspots under the agreement. The agreement between Facebook and BSNL is for three years and it can be further extended for two more years.
- BSNL has also received interest from Member of Parliaments for setting up wifi hotspots in villages which they have adopted under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) to make it a model village by 2016.
6) India’s exports will do relatively well in 2016, says UN report
- Exports from India and Vietnam are expected to relatively do well in 2016 as their shipments are largely directed to advanced economies in Europe and North America that are expected to expand in the coming year, a United Nations report has said.
- The Asia-Pacific region, which includes India, China, Japan, Russia, and the ASEAN nations, among others, will hold its position as the largest trading region in the world despite the lowering of trade growth prospects due to global slowdown, the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2015 brought out by UN ESCAP on 2nd November, pointed out.
- Countries, heavily dependent on China for their exports, however, will not do well, due to the slowdown in the country’s economy, the report added.
- On Indian economy, the report pointed out that it was unlikely to compensate for sluggish performances elsewhere as India’s market remains only “weakly and selectively’’ integrated with the Asia-Pacific region overall.
- The report emphasises that countries need to adjust to both cyclical and structural changes, especially in light of the global slowdown and an expected reduction in China’s growth rate.
- Total exports and imports from the region, which also includes South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Mongolia, grew by only 1.6 per cent in 2014. However, when excluding China from the regional total, exports from the Asia-Pacific region registered a decline of 0.4 per cent.
7) Moody`s ups Indian banking sector outlook to stable
- Moody`s Investors Service 2nd November upgraded its outlook for India`s banking system to `stable` from `negative` on expectation that a gradual improvement in the operating environment for lenders will lead to lesser growth in bad loans in future.
- Moody`s had assigned a negative outlook to the Indian banking system in November 2011 as it was of the view that the asset quality of the lenders was deteriorating. In the report Moody`s said the stable outlook is based on assessment of five drivers -- improving operating environment, stable asset risk and capital, stable funding and liquidity.
- Moody`s, however, said the capital levels of public sector (PSU) banks are low and the government`s announcement of injecting Rs 70,000 crore into PSU banks over the next four years is "clear positive".
- Moody`s rates 15 banks in India that together account for around 70 per cent of system assets. Four are private-sector banks and the remaining 11 are PSU banks.
8) Telangana Govt announces land, building regularisation scheme for Greater Hyderabad
- The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits, the Telangana Government has announced a scheme that enables people to regularise their land and buildings.
- The Government has kept open the validity of the regularisation scheme for 60 days from November 2. Under the land regularisation Scheme (LRS) and Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS), all lands and buildings, the latter constructed as of October 28 are eligible to avail the provisions of the scheme.
- As per the scheme, applicants under the LRS/BRS scheme can apply online by paying Rs. 10,000. After being examined at various departments, within six months it would be finalised.
- The State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, basing on a number of representations for land and building regularisation, had appointed a Committee headed by the State Minister Srinivas Yadav as Chairman to look into various aspects and come out with appropriate suggestion for regularisation. Based on the suggestions by the Committee for Regularisation, the Chie Minister formally approved the scheme.
- The panel also decided to come down heavily on illegal constructions and layouts and cases would be filed against those who violate various provisions. It is also proposed to set up a separate tribunal after consulting the law department.
- In order to curb illegal construction, the committee suggested a separate enforcement wing. It is proposed to come out with a single window clearance for building and house approvals, which is aimed at expediting the process of clearance with least interference.
9) IRDAI toughens norms for global reinsurers
- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has toughened its norms for foreign reinsurance companies opening up branch offices in India.
- With appointment and chief executive remuneration to be monitored by the regulator apart from higher retention within the country, reinsurers are of the view that these firms may not open up multiple offices in India.
- Presently, foreign reinsurers operate in India through representative offices which will have to be closed within six months of grant of certificate of registration to function as a branch office.
- In its final norms on setting up branches by foreign reinsurers in India, the regulator said that they have to get prior approval on the appointment, reappointment, removal and managerial remuneration payable to Chief Executive Officer of the branch office. To open offices in different parts of the country, all of these reinsurers require IRDAI approval.
- These norms would be applicable only to foreign reinsurers setting up branches in India. Newer domestic reinsurers who are granted license would have a different set of rules applicable to them. Regulatory officials expect 5-6 foreign reinsurers to apply for branch license.
- Apart from a good credit rating from rating agencies, Rs 100 crore will also have to be infused into the branch office. IRDAI has said that it will take a decision on the number of reinsurers that will be permitted to set-up branches in a year keeping in view the orderly growth of the insurance and reinsurance market, national interest, and any other related aspects.
- One another provision, according to reinsurers that could deter foreign reinsurers from setting up Indian offices, is that every Indian insurer would have to give first preference to Indian reinsurers in their offer for participation in its facultative and treaty surpluses.
- India has General Insurance Corporation of India as its sole domestic reinsurer, though some other domestic entities have applied for reinsurance license.
- Every branch office has to maintain a minimum retention of 50% of the Indian reinsurance business. Further, these branch offices granted approval would not be eligible for order of preference for cessions by Indian insurers as those available to Indian Reinsurer for a minimum period of 3 years.
- Consultants who have been advising global reinsurers entering India are of the view that while a branch office will help in a closer review of the risk thereby improving pricing for the clients, restrictions on number of offices each year could be detrimental.
10) France to give €2 billion for smart cities
- France has become the first country to make a financial commitment towards the National Democratic Alliance government’s ambitious ‘smart city’ project. Around €2 billion will be provided to convert Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry into smart cities, ambassador of France in India Francois Richier announced on 4th November.
- While other countries, including the US, Japan, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Singapore have entered into partnerships and have chosen their preferred cities to invest in, no figure was mentioned earlier, experts working in the area pointed out.
- Estimates suggest that building a new smart city with one-million population would cost around Rs 20,000 crore a year for the next 10-15 years, while building on existing cities would be cheaper depending on the nature of retrofitting work required. The Centre had decided to spend Rs 50,000 crore and the remaining was expected to come from states and private entities.
- The global opportunity for smart cities by 2020 is $1.7 trillion, according to estimates. In India, the smart city segment could mean an opportunity of $50 billion.
11) SIT on black money calls for more vigilance to check shell companies
- Special Investigation Team, SIT on black money has called for more vigilance by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, with regard to companies which are operating from same address.
- The SIT in its third report on black money dealing with Shell Companies and Beneficial Ownership noted that over 2600 persons are directors on more than 20 companies which is violation of Companies Act.
- The report said, at least 20 companies are operating from the same address at 345 place. Finance Ministry in a release said, as per the provisions of erstwhile Companies Act, 1956, more than 77,000 companies were found violating the norms relating to Directorship.
- The SIT, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge has suggested proactive detection of creation of shell companies and deterrent penal action against persons involved in such activities. The Team has also requested the Ministry of Corporate affairs to take necessary action with respect to violation of the Companies Act.
- The SIT was notified last year by the government on the directions of the Supreme Court to go deeper into the cases of black money where Indians have stashed their assets abroad and also suggest policy measures to combat the illegal activity.
12) Panel suggested forming ‘Insolvency Regulator’
- The TK Viswanathan-headed committee on Bankruptcy Law Reforms has proposed an easy exit option for low-income individuals unable to repay debts.
- The comprehensive draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill, part of a report on ‘Bankruptcy law reforms’ that was submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 4th November, envisages two distinct processes — Fresh Start and Insolvency Resolution — to deal with individual bankruptcy.
- In the Fresh Start process, indigent individuals with income and assets lower than specified thresholds (annual gross income not exceeding Rs. 60,000 and aggregate value of assets not exceeding Rs. 20,000) shall be eligible to apply for a discharge from their “qualifying debts”.
- A resolution professional will investigate and prepare a final list of all qualifying debts of the individual within 180 days from the date of application.
- On the expiry of this period, the adjudicating authority will decide whether to discharge the debtor from the qualifying debts and accord him an opportunity to make a fresh start financially.
- In the Insolvency Resolution Process, the creditors and debtor will negotiate to arrive at a mutually agreeable repayment plan under the supervision of a resolution professional.
- The bankruptcy of an individual can be initiated only after the failure of the resolution process. The bankruptcy trustee will be responsible for administration of the estate of the bankrupt and for distribution of the proceeds on the basis of priority, said the panel’s report.
13) India`s solar power rates at historic low
- Solar rates in India touched a new low in the tender for a 500-Mw solar park in Andhra Pradesh issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). US-based SunEdison won the bidding round by quoting Rs 4.63 a unit.
- In a close fight during the first reverse auction for solar projects held on the online platform, 10 bidders quoted below Rs 5 per unit. Around 15 companies quoted below Rs 5.5 a unit, which was hailed to be the average tariff for solar power this year by the government.
- Solar power would be bundled with thermal power from state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), which will further bring down the final sale price to Rs 3.5 a unit — the lowest ever — said a person close to the development.
- The lowest solar bid earlier had come for Madhya Pradesh at Rs 5.05 a unit from Malaysia-based Sky Power. The government has increased solar power capacity addition targets five times to 100,000 Mw by 2022. Of this, nearly 60,000 Mw would be met through grid-connected projects.
14) Cabinet hikes MSP for major crops including wheat, gram and pulses
- Union Government has hiked Minimum Support Price (MSP) of pulses by Rs 250 per quintal and wheat and barley by Rs 75 a quintal for for 2015-16 rabi season. A decision in this regard was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
- According to Power Minister Piyush Goyal, MSP for wheat has been raised from Rs 1,450 to Rs 1,525 per quintal, for barley from 1,150 to 1,225 and gram from Rs 3,175 to Rs 3,425 per quintal. The MSP on mustard has been raised by 250 to 3350 rupees. Additional bonus of Rs 75 per quintal will be given for gram and masoor dal.
- CCEA has also given approval to allocation of additional 27 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to BPL and APL families through Public Distribution System.
- This will be for states which have yet not implemented National Food Security Act. So far 20 States have implemented the Act and by March next the rest of the states will implement the ACT.
15) PM launches gold schemes, coin with Ashok Chakra, Gandhi image
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5th November launched three ambitious schemes to reduce the physical demand for gold and fish out 20,000 tonnes of the precious metal lying idle with households.
- The Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), 2015 will offer option to resident Indians to deposit their precious metal and earn an interest of up to 2.5 per cent.
- Under the Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme, investors can earn an interest rate of 2.75 per cent per annum by buying paper bonds.
- Mr Modi also unveiled the first ever Indian gold coin and bullion, bearing national emblem Ashok Chakra on one side and Mahatma Gandhi`s image engraved on the other side. Initially the coins will be available in denominations of 5 and 10 grams. A 20 gram bullion will also be available through 125 MMTC outlets.
- According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has surpassed China as the world`s largest gold consumer, buying 562 tonnes of yellow metal so far this year, against china`s 548 tonnes.
16) Govt clears financial restructuring package for power discoms in select states
- The Cabinet has cleared financial restructuring of debt of power distribution companies under a new scheme namely Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna(UDAY). It provides for the financial turnaround and revival of Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs), and also ensures a sustainable permanent solution to the problem.
- Power Minister Piyush Goyal said Rs 4.3 lakh crore of debt have accumulated with discoms in the country and it has diminished their capacity to buy additional electricity.
- He said the restructuring plan is conditional on mandatory metering, use of smart meters and coal swapping for generating cheapest power. Mr. Goyal said states can take over 75 percent of the debt of discoms and can issue government security linked bonds. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana distribution companies are the most loss making entities.
- The minister said UDAY will accelerate the process of reform across the entire power sector and ensure that power is accessible, affordable and available for all.
17) Ratan Tata inaugurates Rs. 40-cr start-up incubator in Telangana
- Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata on 5th November inaugurated T-Hub and called that as a new face of India”.
- Set up with an investment of Rs. 40 crore, the first phase of T-Hub would house 300 start-ups and can seat 800 employees. The Indian School of Business, International Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad) and National Law University, Nalsar, are also associated with the hub.
- This is the biggest start-up incubator in the country. The hub has signed MoUs with Nasscom and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) that would bring in 10X accelerator to Hyderabad.
18) Govt to impose 0.5% Swachh Bharat cess on services from Nov 15
- The Centre has decided to impose Swachh Bharat Cess of 0.5 per cent on all services which come under the purview of Service Tax. This will result into a tax of 50 paisa only on every one hundred rupees worth of taxable services.
- According to the Finance Ministry, the new cess will come into force from 15 th of this month. The Cess will create funds for financing and promoting Swachh Bharat initiatives. The Cess is not another tax but a step towards involving each and every citizen in making contribution to Swachh Bharat.
- A provision was made in current financial year`s Budget for levying a Swachh Bharat Cess on all or any of the services for the purposes of financing and promoting Swachh Bharat initiatives.
- Increased allocation for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan can prevent many of diseases including malaria, dengue, diarrhea and jaundice with consequential benefit to one and all. According to the Government estimates, expenditure on health adds up to 6,700 crore rupees annually or Rs 60 per capita on medical treatment.
19) State, district co-op banks can offer `view only` net banking
- RBI has allowed state and district central co-operative banks to offer internet banking to its customers subject to certain conditions. A notification issued by RBI from Mumbai said that internet banking guidelines have been revised and accordingly all cooperative banks that have implemented Core Banking Solution and migrated to Internet Protocol Version 6 may offer internet banking (view only) facility to their customers, without prior approval of RBI.
- View only facility means the customers can only use online services such as balance enquiry, balance viewing, account statement download and request for supply of cheque books.
- RBI has however added that cooperative banks that wish to provide internet banking with transactional facility must get RBI approval with the conditions that their capital adequacy ratio is not less than 10 per cent, net worth is 50 crore rupees and gross non-performing assets are less than 7 per cent.
- RBI has further said that the applicants must have a track record of regulatory compliance, with no monetary penalty being imposed on them for violation of RBI guidelines during the last two financial years.
20) Govt sets target of 300Mt production capacity of steel, iron ore by 2025
- According to Union Minister for state for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai, the government has fixed a target of 300 million tonnes production capacity of steel and iron ore by 2025 and ministry is working out action plan and strategies to achieve this target.
21) Microsoft to fund smart city start-ups: Satya Nadella
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that the tech giant will fund hundreds of new generation entrepreneurs in India`s `smart cities` space. Unveiling the new cloud start-up initiative to empower the smart cities, Nadella said start-ups can apply for individual access up to 80 lakh Indian rupees worth of Azure computing to help India’s smart cities explore solutions and run smart city digital pilots.
- He explained start-ups aligned to smart cities will be able to use Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL and also Microsoft Surface Pro 4 to develop solutions for farming, healthcare and education.
- Describing the pace of growth of e-commerce and start-up ecosystems as "pretty mind boggling”, Nadella said most of these start-up ideas are pretty good and seriously innovative. The Microsoft CEO said he is extremely impressed with the adoption level of cloud computing in the country since it opened three data centres in Pune, Mumbai and Chennai 12 months ago.
- According to Microsoft, this initiative is anticipated to impact over 50 smart cities in the next year through a catalogue of over 50 start-ups and ISV solutions. Meanwhile, Nadella informed that 2 pilot projects are already running in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh since the past few months.
22) Rajasthan first state to plug into discom revival plan
- States are readying plans for reviving their power distribution utilities after the central government put the ball in their court. Officials said Rajasthan, whose power distribution utility had the highest debt exposure among all states, would be the first to sign up for the Centre`s scheme.
- The Union Cabinet on 4th November cleared the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana to revive power distribution and provide relief to lenders. Distribution utilities owe a cumulative Rs 4.3 lakh crore to financial institutions.
- The plan, designed by the Centre and open to all states, will be implemented through memoranda of understanding with state governments and distribution utilities.
- States have been asked to take over 75 per cent of the debt of their distribution utilities over the next two years. State can issue bonds against this debt. For the next two financial years, the central government will not include the debt taken over by the states in the calculation of their fiscal deficit.
- ICRA in a report on 5th November said the debt takeover was likely to translate into a Rs 46,000 crore savings in interest costs. This would translate into Rs 0.50 a unit (kilowatt per hour) lower cost of electricity supply nationwide by March 2018, it added.
- The impact on the cost of supply for distribution utilities in four states - Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana - would, however, be significantly higher, in the range of Rs 1-2 a unit," ICRA said.
- Distribution utilities in Rajasthan owe Rs 85,000 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 70,000 crore, Uttar Pradesh Rs 32,000 crore and Haryana Rs 10,000 crore.
- The scheme requires power distribution utilities to reduce their aggregate technical & commercial losses to 15 per cent by 2018-19. Other measures include improving last-mile distribution, comprehensive metering, a separate feed for agriculture and procuring power from cheaper sources. The difference between average revenue realisation and the average cost of procurement will have to be brought down to zero by 2018-19. The state electricity regulatory commissions will also conduct quarterly tariff revisions.
23) PM announces Rs. 80,000 cr package for all-round development of J&K
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7th November announced an 80,000 crore rupee package for all-round development of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that government in the centre has set a target that not a single village across the country would remain without electricity by 2022.
- He inaugurated the 450 Mega Watt Baglihar Hydro Electric Power Project Stage-II constructed on river Chenab and laid the foundation stone for four-laning of Udhampur-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal sections of crucial Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at Chanderkote, Ramban in Jammu and Kashmir
- He said that, government is looking forward to generate unprecedented 175 gigawatts electricity through solar and wind energy. He also appealed to people to shift to the using of modern gadgets and save electricity as saving electricity is as important as generating it.
24) WEF says, India positioned much more favourably than China in terms of growth in coming years
- According to World Economic Forum, India is positioned much more favourably than China in terms of growth in coming years. It said there is now a consensus among analysts that there are only a few bright spots in the global economy and India is one of them.
- Viraj Mehta, head of India and South Asia for World Economic Forum, said that India`s growth accelerated this year to around 7.5 per cent.