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Reuters August 19, 2019 The German economy could have continued to shrink over the summer as industrial production drops amid a dearth of orders, the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bundesbank, said on Monday, suggesting that the euro zone's biggest economy is now in a recession. German growth contracted in the second quarter on slumping exports as a global trade war, China's own slowdown and Brexit uncertainty sapped confidence, dealing a blow to an export-focused economy. “Overall economic performance could again decline slightly,” the Bundesbank said in a monthly report. “The main reason for this is the continuing downturn in industry,” the central bank said, pointing to a significant decline in orders and a big drop in sentiment indicators for manufacturing firms. While domestic consumption continues to isolate the economy, the jobs market is already showing signs of weakness and confidence in the services sector is also dropping, the Bundesba...

The Print 15 April, 2019 ANURAG JOSHI and RONOJOY MAZUMDAR Loans for projects came to Rs 520 billion in March quarter, the highest since 2011, compared with Rs 144 billion in previous quarter. Financing deals for Indian infrastructure projects are surging on market expectations that the next government will come through with at least some of the spending that politicians are promising now during a heated election campaign. Local-currency loans for projects came to 520 billion rupees ($7.5 billion) in the quarter to March 31, the highest since 2011, and compared with 144 billion rupees in the previous three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. As India aims to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024, the government is pushing to eliminate bottlenecks to growth, and is responding to voters’ frustration with problems such as an inadequate number of expressways, crowded commutes and congested airports. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said it will seek capital...

Jimmy Leivon | Imphal | Updated: August 9, 2018 7:17:12 am In a landmark event, Myanmar government on Wednesday officially opened the Indo-Myanmar international land border in a grand ceremony held at Tamu, Myanmar. Myanmar’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population Permanent secretary U Aye Lwin and Consul General of India in Myanmar attended the opening ceremony. The opening of the land border marked the abolishing of special land entry permission which was previously required for visitors entering the country via land routes. “This is a historic day for both the countries, a giant step in our bilateral relations and Act East policy,” said Nandan Singh Bahisora, Consul General of India, in Myanmar during the event. According to official sources, the agreement on land border crossing was signed between the two countries at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar during the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on May 11 last month. Wednesday’s event not only opened lan...

Business Line OUR BUREAU  February 05, 2018 ‘Will spur construction activities, provide relief for realtors, too’ NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 5 Infrastructure status given to the affordable housing sector will enable projects associated benefits such as lower borrowing rates, tax concessions and increasing flow of foreign and private capital, according to Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. Speaking at an institutional investor event in Delhi on Monday, Puri said additional measures such as Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016, higher tax breaks on home loans etc have also been introduced which will spur the housing and construction activities. “These will be effective in spurring the housing and construction activities, providing huge relief to real estate developers. Also, these would attract private a...

The Indian Express: January 28, 2018 Prof Pulak Ghosh and Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh are respected academics. They created a minor storm recently when they claimed that 70 lakh new ‘payroll’ jobs will be created in India in the organised sector in 2017-18. The authors explained that ‘payroll’ job is a job where the employee has enrolled under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) or Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) or National Pension Scheme (NPS) or Government Provident Fund (GPF). Enrolment under one of the four schemes is certainly evidence that the employee is on the payroll of an employer — private sector or public sector or government or parastatal body. Seventy lakh new jobs is a claim that will take one’s breath away. In the same article, the authors reported that the total ‘payroll’ stock as on March 31, 2017, was 919 lakh. So, it has taken the country 70 years to create a ‘payroll’ stock of 919 lakh jobs but, miraculously, in just 12 months, the ...