Current State of the Indian EconomyCurrent State of the Indian EconomyCurrent State of the Indian EconomyThe current scenario of Indian economy has been characterised by optimistic growth and strong macro-economic fundamentals, particularly with tangible progress towards fiscal consolidation and a strong balance of payments position. The advance estimates (AE) of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at factor cost for 2006-07 has been placed at 9.2 per cent.
The industrial sector has shown impressive growth in the current year. Year-on-year industrial growth of 10.6 per cent in the first nine months of 2006-07 was the highest recorded since 1995-96. The main reason being the robust growth in manufacturing sector. In seven of the eight months of the current year, the year-on-year growth of the manufacturing sector was in double-digits.
India’s telecom sector has been one of the biggest success stories of market oriented reforms, and India is now amongst the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. Tele-density has increased from 12.7 per cent in March 2006 to 16.8 per cent in December, 2006. The total number of telephones has increased from 54.63 million on March 31, 2003 to 142.09 million on March 31, 2006 and 189.92 million on December 31, 2006. With this growth, the number of telephones is expected to reach 250 million by the end of 2007.
The infrastructure sector has been expanding on a massive scale. The overall index of six core industries having a direct bearing on infrastructure registered a growth of 8.3 per cent in the current year, which is higher than the 5.5 per cent growth registered during the previous year. In the first nine months of 2006-07, crude petroleum, refinery products and electricity generation registered an acceleration in their growth rates, but there was a decline in the growth rates of coal, cement and finished steel. Also, the Government is actively pursuing Public Private Partnership (PPPs) to bridge the infrastructure deficit in the country. Several initiatives have been taken to promote PPPs in sectors like power, ports, highways, airports, tourism and urban infrastructure.
Q14. How much more should you consider your own local government?
A15. In terms of local government, Australia’s current financial situation is worse than Australia’s, so it’s not unusual for a local government to need assistance in order to meet its needs, especially in times of economic crises or a decline in labour standards. One of the major challenges facing public sector organisations is ensuring that their budgets are appropriately allocated, to ensure that people can have an honest view of their own needs. Some governments are, for instance, already experiencing a decline in public sector pension payments but other governments are also struggling after years of slow growth, especially with the ongoing economic crisis.
Q16. What are the key challenges facing a national government in government to ensure it has the assets and resources to meet its needs, given the state of our economy?
A17. To provide an effective national government, it must be able to sustain a healthy national economy, to make sure that we can have a credible economic engine to support growth, and to be able to take government to its core. Unfortunately the most obvious case as we see it with public sector pension spending, has been the pension system’s failure to do this as an efficient tool for the national economy. There exists, of course, many instances where we have failed to provide an efficient means of saving and investing the taxpayers’ money on the pensions. Many of these instances represent a problem not unique to public sector pensions but also some in public life such as our elderly, our disabled and our homeless pensioners. The recent Bank of Australia survey showed that Australians had a higher expectation of providing a good pension than in general government funding, with the biggest reason being that there was a high amount of funding available (for example, public services through the pension system, for example). Given the general level of interest paid by the public, it is not surprising that there are a lot of problems inherent in providing a great public service. A number of these problems included: rising crime, poor performance in schools and the lack of adequate public infrastructure support.
Q18. What should we do about the increasing numbers of people living in poverty, for whom health, education and employment have all been a major part of Australian lives?
A19. In the Australian context, we want every family to have the dignity and ability to live in the best possible circumstances. In the current economic circumstances we’re seeing the greatest decline in the number of family members in our society and our country. Unfortunately in the short term, public pensions are going to fall as rapidly as they come. The fact is that there is a major gap in funding between the health and other needs of Australians in terms of income, and our state government should be in a position to make sure public finances provide equal and fair value for all Australians.
Q20. Where would you like your government to expand the role of social workers – and this could include an increased role for community or small business providers?
A21. An increase in social workers in Government would be an important focus. This will assist State and local Government agencies to
Q14. How much more should you consider your own local government?
A15. In terms of local government, Australia’s current financial situation is worse than Australia’s, so it’s not unusual for a local government to need assistance in order to meet its needs, especially in times of economic crises or a decline in labour standards. One of the major challenges facing public sector organisations is ensuring that their budgets are appropriately allocated, to ensure that people can have an honest view of their own needs. Some governments are, for instance, already experiencing a decline in public sector pension payments but other governments are also struggling after years of slow growth, especially with the ongoing economic crisis.
Q16. What are the key challenges facing a national government in government to ensure it has the assets and resources to meet its needs, given the state of our economy?
A17. To provide an effective national government, it must be able to sustain a healthy national economy, to make sure that we can have a credible economic engine to support growth, and to be able to take government to its core. Unfortunately the most obvious case as we see it with public sector pension spending, has been the pension system’s failure to do this as an efficient tool for the national economy. There exists, of course, many instances where we have failed to provide an efficient means of saving and investing the taxpayers’ money on the pensions. Many of these instances represent a problem not unique to public sector pensions but also some in public life such as our elderly, our disabled and our homeless pensioners. The recent Bank of Australia survey showed that Australians had a higher expectation of providing a good pension than in general government funding, with the biggest reason being that there was a high amount of funding available (for example, public services through the pension system, for example). Given the general level of interest paid by the public, it is not surprising that there are a lot of problems inherent in providing a great public service. A number of these problems included: rising crime, poor performance in schools and the lack of adequate public infrastructure support.
Q18. What should we do about the increasing numbers of people living in poverty, for whom health, education and employment have all been a major part of Australian lives?
A19. In the Australian context, we want every family to have the dignity and ability to live in the best possible circumstances. In the current economic circumstances we’re seeing the greatest decline in the number of family members in our society and our country. Unfortunately in the short term, public pensions are going to fall as rapidly as they come. The fact is that there is a major gap in funding between the health and other needs of Australians in terms of income, and our state government should be in a position to make sure public finances provide equal and fair value for all Australians.
Q20. Where would you like your government to expand the role of social workers – and this could include an increased role for community or small business providers?
A21. An increase in social workers in Government would be an important focus. This will assist State and local Government agencies to
Q14. How much more should you consider your own local government?
A15. In terms of local government, Australia’s current financial situation is worse than Australia’s, so it’s not unusual for a local government to need assistance in order to meet its needs, especially in times of economic crises or a decline in labour standards. One of the major challenges facing public sector organisations is ensuring that their budgets are appropriately allocated, to ensure that people can have an honest view of their own needs. Some governments are, for instance, already experiencing a decline in public sector pension payments but other governments are also struggling after years of slow growth, especially with the ongoing economic crisis.
Q16. What are the key challenges facing a national government in government to ensure it has the assets and resources to meet its needs, given the state of our economy?
A17. To provide an effective national government, it must be able to sustain a healthy national economy, to make sure that we can have a credible economic engine to support growth, and to be able to take government to its core. Unfortunately the most obvious case as we see it with public sector pension spending, has been the pension system’s failure to do this as an efficient tool for the national economy. There exists, of course, many instances where we have failed to provide an efficient means of saving and investing the taxpayers’ money on the pensions. Many of these instances represent a problem not unique to public sector pensions but also some in public life such as our elderly, our disabled and our homeless pensioners. The recent Bank of Australia survey showed that Australians had a higher expectation of providing a good pension than in general government funding, with the biggest reason being that there was a high amount of funding available (for example, public services through the pension system, for example). Given the general level of interest paid by the public, it is not surprising that there are a lot of problems inherent in providing a great public service. A number of these problems included: rising crime, poor performance in schools and the lack of adequate public infrastructure support.
Q18. What should we do about the increasing numbers of people living in poverty, for whom health, education and employment have all been a major part of Australian lives?
A19. In the Australian context, we want every family to have the dignity and ability to live in the best possible circumstances. In the current economic circumstances we’re seeing the greatest decline in the number of family members in our society and our country. Unfortunately in the short term, public pensions are going to fall as rapidly as they come. The fact is that there is a major gap in funding between the health and other needs of Australians in terms of income, and our state government should be in a position to make sure public finances provide equal and fair value for all Australians.
Q20. Where would you like your government to expand the role of social workers – and this could include an increased role for community or small business providers?
A21. An increase in social workers in Government would be an important focus. This will assist State and local Government agencies to
In terms of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), annual point-to-point inflation was 6.11 per cent on January 20, 2007, as compared to 4.24 per cent in the corresponding week of the previous year. Similarly, primary articles recorded an inflation rate of 9.76 per cent on January 20, 2007 as compared to 5.87 per cent a year ago, and contributed 34.87 per cent to over-all inflation this year as against 29.73 per cent last year.
The monetary sector also continues to be growing at a sustainable rate during 2006-07 to reconcile the twin objectives of facilitating the momentum of economic growth and containing inflation. During the current year, on January 19, 2007, year-on-year growth in M3 and credit to the commercial sector were at 21.1 per cent and 26.9 per cent respectively.
In the secondary market, the uptrends continued in 2006-07 with BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty indices closing above 14,000 (14,015) and 4,000 marks (4,024) for the first time, respectively on January 3, 2007. The pick up in the stock indices could be attributed to impressive growth in the profitability of Indian corporates, overall higher growth in the economy, and other global factors such as continuation of relatively soft interest rates and fall in crude oil prices in international