Author: Ashish Paikray

After eight months when India’s forex reserve touched a record high of $642.54 billion in September 2021, but after that, it was falling and now stands below the $600 billion mark amid capital outflow due to the pandemic and strengthening dollar.   RBI released a statistical supplement on its website which is updated on weekly basis. On 6th May our forex reserve stood at $597 billion which on 29th April was above $600 billion. Within a week a sharp decline of $2.6 billion was quite astonishing.   If we compare the present with Sept. 2021 then we can observe our forex reserves…

The federal reserve has hiked interest rates by 50 basis points which is the biggest hike in 22 years. With this introduction, it is clear the United States is tightening the purse strings but the question is how far will this effect go? The pandemic has claimed thousands of lives, the world economy is on its edge, and with rising prices and sluggish growth, nobody knows what will happen next. Another war is the last thing we need but for central banks the biggest priority is inflation. On Wednesday India hiked interest rates to tame inflation and hours later the…

The Monetary Policy Survey (MPC) is conducted once every two months. Conducted as recently as April with the next one in June, but in a shocking press meeting organized last afternoon RBI Governor Shktikanta Das announced a 40-basis point rise in the repo rate and 50 basis points in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) This move by RBI is mainly focused to suck out liquidity and control the rising inflation but has led to a market crash in which investors have lost around Rs. 6.27 lakh crore. The Possible Consequences Interest rates in the banking system are set to go up…

Nepal is heading the Sri Lanka way and there’s every possibility but the only thing that can save Nepal is a change in policy at the right time. After being hit by China for the Virus accompanied by rising oil prices like the rest of the world and thanks to the Russia-Ukraine war. Unlike the rest of the world, Nepal has suffered Political instability and with weak economic fundamentals, it is caught in China’s debt trap. Ban on import of luxury goods. Ban on Lays, Kurkure, and Playing cards. The import ban is to save its economy and conserve Nepal’s…

Coal reserves at Indian power plants have declined by 17% since the start of April and are barely a third of the required levels.    Indian railways have come forward to address this situation by canceling passenger trains and calling it an interim measure.    The 600+ trains are canceled till the third week of May. The trains canceled include more than 500 mail and express train trips along with 148 commuter train trips.    Of the canceled trains, 34 are from the coal-rich South East Central Railway (SECR) belonging to the states of Odisha, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, while 8 are from…

Russia is walking out of the international space station, but it won’t happen immediately as Russian cosmonauts will leave the facility in 12 months.   At the moment 3 of them are working at the ISS, and just a few weeks back, they undertook a spacewalk in which they installed a robotic arm (Made in Europe)    This announcement comes following the western sanctions.   ISS (International Space Station) is a symbol of global cooperation, which orbits the earth 16 times a day at a height of 250 miles from the earth’s crust.   Astronauts from a dozen of different countries have been living…

Iran is in the headlines again and this time not for its nuclear program but for something very controversial i.e., “Capital Punishment”.   A new report says Iran executed more than 300 people since last year but what were they for?   The crimes are debatable, some were executed for blasphemy, some for-drug consumption, and some for their sexual orientation.    The Islamic Republic of Iran has long been a leading executioner. It executed more people per capita than any other country.   Let it be child offenders, religious dissidents, drug consumers, homosexuals, and if caught and found guilty they all meet the same…

A SpiceJet flight operating Sunday evening from Mumbai to Durgapur in West Bengal underwent severe turbulence that resulted in mild to serious injuries to at least 12 passengers on board the Boeing 737-800 At least 40 people on board a SpiceJet flight from Mumbai to Durgapur in West Bengal on Sunday evening have suffered injuries. The aircraft took off from Mumbai a few minutes after 5 pm on Sunday and was on its approach to Durgapur’s Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport after a two-hour flight when it encountered severe turbulence. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has deployed a multi-disciplinary…

Coal reserves at Indian power plants have declined by 17% since the start of April and are barely a third of the required levels. Indian railways have come forward to address this situation by canceling passenger trains and calling it an interim measure. The 600+ trains are canceled till the third week of May. The trains canceled include more than 500 mail and express train trips along with 148 commuter train trips. Of the canceled trains, 34 are from the coal-rich South East Central Railway (SECR) belonging to the states of Odisha, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, while 8 are from…

ED seizes Xiaomi. In the last decade, Xiaomi has gone from being one of many Chinese companies to becoming one of the biggest brands in India. A market leader in almost every electronic device we use these days, Xiaomi has become a part of our everyday lives. However, things haven’t been going well for Xiaomi and the Indian government, which led to the ED (Enforcement Directorate) seizing the company’s assets. Why did ED take action against Xiaomi? Xiaomi has been accused of breaching the foreign exchange laws of India. This led ED to seize the sum of 5,551 crores from…