HENCY R SHAH AND ASSOCIATES

India Loses Billions of Dollars Due to Internet Shutdowns Internet shutdowns are a growing problem around the world. In 2022, there were 114 major deliberate internet outages in 23 countries, affecting 710 million people. These shutdowns had a significant economic and social impact. A study by Top10VPN found that internet shutdowns in 2022 cost the global economy $24.67 billion. This includes losses in productivity, tourism, and foreign investment. The shutdowns also had a negative impact on education and healthcare, as people were unable to access online resources. India lost $1.9 billion in the first half of 2023 due to internet shutdowns. It also found that the shutdowns also led to the loss of 21,000 jobs and $11.8 million in foreign direct investment. The most affected country in 2022 was Russia, which suffered a loss of $21.59 billion due to internet shutdowns. This was followed by Myanmar ($1.09 billion), Iran ($773 million), and India ($582.8 million). The study also foun...

Unleashing India's Demographic Dividend for Economic Prosperity India possesses a demographic dividend that holds tremendous potential for driving robust economic growth. To capitalize on this opportunity, it is imperative to empower the workforce with the essential skills required to meet the demands of the global economy. Recent UN data has revealed that India has surpassed China to become the world's most populous country. The discourse on population growth and economic development has been a recurring topic among economists since the 19th century. Thomas Malthus famously argued that a burgeoning population would inevitably lead to diminished living standards due to limited resource availability, potentially resulting in strife and famine. Fortunately, history has proven this theory wrong. Malthus failed to account for the power of human ingenuity, innovation, and technological advancements, which have continually improved productivity and resource utilization over time. In ...

"Empowering Entrepreneurs: Celebrating the 8th Year of Mudra Loans and counting" MUDRA loan is a financial initiative launched by the Government of India on 8th April 2015, to provide financial support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India. MUDRA stands for Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. It is a subsidiary of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and acts as a refinancing agency for microfinance institutions, which provide loans to small businesses. The primary objective of MUDRA loan is to promote entrepreneurship and boost the growth of small businesses in India by providing them with easy access to credit. The loan scheme is available for various sectors such as manufacturing, trading, services, and agriculture. MUDRA loans are classified into three categories based on the loan amount, namely, Shishu, Kishor, and Tarun. Shishu: This category covers loans up to INR 50,000, which are typically provided to small businesses that ar...

  US Banks Collapse: Could the US bank crisis be blessing in disguise for Nifty bulls, OR are we heading back to 2008? A week after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed, First Republic Bank is considering a sale following a dramatic 60 percent drop in its stock price over the past week. The bank also received $70 billion in emergency loans from JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Reserve. Eleven of the biggest U.S. banks Thursday announced a $30 billion rescue package for First Republic Bank in an effort to prevent it from becoming the third to fail in less than a week and head off a broader banking crisis. The rescue package brought back memories of the 2008 financial crisis, when banks collectively came to the aid of weaker banks in the early days of the crisis. Banks then bought each other in hurried deals in order to keep the crisis from spreading further. With FIIs pulling out more dollars from India after back-to-back collapse of three US banks, including Signature and...

Crypto under PMLA: New rules of the game The central government has tightened regulatory control over virtual digital assets, more commonly known as cryptocurrencies. According to a gazette notification, the government has mandated that a host of trading activities in such assets will now come under the ambit of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In other words, going ahead, trading between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies or among cryptocurrencies and other such services can be investigated by agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax department. The move should be seen in light of the government’s efforts to bring cryptocurrencies under greater regulation. In April 2022, for instance, the government introduced a 30% income tax on gains made from cryptocurrencies. Later in July 2022, the government brought in rules regarding 1% tax deducted at source on cryptocurrency. Broadly speaking, greater regulation of cryptocurrencies is advisable. ...

G20, IMF, FSB to work on policy formulation of crypto assets The Indian Administration has proposed a joint specialized paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to "integrate the macroeconomic and administrative points of view of crypto-resources". These associations are supposed to introduce their joint paper during the fourth G20 Money Clergymen and National Bank Lead representatives Meet, planned next October. This would assist in the detailing of a planned and far reaching strategy with drawing closer to crypto resources, when numerous nations including India didn't have an administrative system for crypto resources. A few conversations on the issue are normal over the span of G20 gatherings this year, which will help "construct informed banter inside the G20 gatherings and lead to the detailing of composed and extensive strategy approach," as per a Press Data Department discharge. The IMF-JSB paper is "expe...

Companies Restructure, Cut 3,00,000+ Jobs In 2022: Will 2023 Bring Stability?   We are at the business end of the year 2022, which has hardly been a smooth ride for the Corporate Job ecosystem. The year 2022 marked the end of Covid-19 restrictions and the resumption of most economic activity. However, be it recession, inflation, employment crisis, or economic downfall, the ghosts of the pandemic can still be seen in various forms. Adding up to the crisis were job cuts that turned out to be one of the biggest crises that hit the world on the sidelines of the 2019 global health emergency. Be it cost-cutting, performance-linked layoffs, restructuring purposes, or something else, we saw lakhs of job cuts this year. Worst of all, the economic downhill ride that began nearly three years ago has still not been curtailed. Amazon and Meta, two of the biggest tech behemoths, kicked out several thousand employees in 2022. Besides them, nearly other 600+ enterprises laid off more than 3,0...

Exploring tech, legal provisions to keep e-Rupee transactions 'anonymous' RBI is exploring technological solutions to keep retail transactions using the digital rupee ‘anonymous’. RBI could also explore legal provisions to keep the transactions anonymous. It will weigh its options as things evolve but will ensure the anonymity of transactions up to a certain limit, which is a basic feature of cash transactions. The basic distinction between Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and digital rupee transactions is that UPI is a payment mode, which involves the intermediation of banks, and the digital rupee is money. So, all UPI transactions hit banks’ core banking solution (CBS). But in the case of a digital rupee, once the money is withdrawn from the bank and reaches the customer’s wallet, the transaction that takes place following this process is essentially a transfer of money between two wallets. Experts have suggested that when a bank ...

IMF, World Bank sound alarm about global economic outlook T he International Monetary Fund, World Bank and others raised concerns about a worsening global outlook, while hopeful that China’s reopening will help support world growth. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said indicators show further downgrades to global growth are likely. Speaking Friday after a meeting with China’s Premier Li Keqiang in Anhui province, Georgieva said China’s recalibration of its Covid policies would be a good thing for the domestic economy and the rest of the world. The IMF currently forecasts global growth will be 2.7% next year, slowing from 3.2% this year. The meeting was part of the “1+6” dialogue that China holds every year with heads of the IMF, World Bank, OECD, World Trade Organization and others. David Malpass, head of the World Bank, was also downbeat about the global outlook. "I’m deeply concerned that the world is at risk of a global recession,” Malpass said, warning of the potent...

How will the new National Logistics Policy be a game changer for the Indian economy The National Logistics Policy has come at the right time, as seamless connectivity, superior infrastructure, and strong export and logistics efficiency are essential to achieve these ambitious goals.  India aims to become a $20 trillion economy by 2040 and a developed nation by 2047. The National  Logistics  Policy has come at the right time, as seamless connectivity, superior infrastructure, and strong export and logistics efficiency are essential to achieve these ambitious goals.  Currently, the logistics costs in India are 13-14% of the GDP, compared to 7-8% in developed countries. Prime Minister  Narendra Modi , while launching the policy, said that the aim is to bring the logistics cost to single-digit as soon as possible. The higher logistics costs are reducing the competitiveness of India’s exports. Reports suggest that hig...